Joe Biden

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Should Joe Biden do an Andrew Little?

Written By: - Date published: 10:31 am, June 29th, 2024 - 30 comments

Jo Biden’s recent debate with Donald Trump did not go well.

Should America elect a well intentioned but hapless President or an evil and dangerous President?

Written By: - Date published: 9:58 am, February 11th, 2024 - 30 comments

Robert Hur, the Republican prosecutor investigating President Biden’s retention of classified documents has concluded he should not face trial because he was “well-intentioned, but sometimes hapless and forgetful”.

Labour and the Democrats

Written By: - Date published: 9:34 am, January 20th, 2024 - 64 comments

Both the US Democrats and NZ Labour need to take hard looks at themselves. Failure is not inevitable. But there is now only one English-speaking centre-left democracy left in the world: that is the state of where we are now. 

Genocide in Gaza

Written By: - Date published: 8:49 pm, January 7th, 2024 - 57 comments

South Africa has taken a case that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza to the International Court of Justice. A group of prominent New Zealand lawyers have asked the New Zealand Government to join South Africa in support of their application. I think we should.

Saudi/Iran peace deal brokered by China

Written By: - Date published: 4:57 pm, March 13th, 2023 - 14 comments

Veteran Indian diplomat MK Bhadrakumar describes the resumption of diplomatic relations between Shi’ite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia brokered by China as a “Suez moment” in the history of the Middle East. Peace in Yemen is only one of the possible benefits.

The 2022 midterms and what happens next in US politics

Written By: - Date published: 12:04 am, January 10th, 2023 - 3 comments

Overall, the 2022 midterms were the best for any sitting Democrat President since 1978. Whilst losing control of the House is disappointing, the Republican majority is slim. Should hardliners try to block the Biden agenda as they did with Obama, they risk moderate Republicans breaking ranks. Further, hardline Republicans overplaying their hand in Congress may scare moderate voters away from the party and at the same time motivate the Democrat base to win back the House in 2024. Add to that the prospect of Trump returning in 2024, it could be about to get very messy in the Republican Party.

Things To Do By The Time You’re 80

Written By: - Date published: 9:35 am, November 22nd, 2022 - 10 comments

As Joe Biden celebrates his 80th birthday in office and Donald Trump announces he will stand for President again in 2024, here’s a list of what Biden has done in his last few years. He’s still low in the polls, but the delivery is very strong.

Red ripple in US

Written By: - Date published: 8:22 am, November 10th, 2022 - 29 comments

Except in Florida, where Ron DeSantis led a convincing set of Republican gains, the Republican party in the US have had a disappointing mid-term election. The Democrats expecting to face a mid-term vote against incumbents, will be pleasantly surprised. There are still a lot of votes to count. This being the US, lawyers will be trying to set court dates.

Democracy is on the Ballot – watershed US midterms this week.

Written By: - Date published: 1:46 am, November 7th, 2022 - 3 comments

At a campaign event last week President Biden said that in these mid-term elections “democracy is on the ballot”. This is absolutely true, and the outcome will be decided by those who show up to vote.

Labour’s Ardern and Democrats’ Biden: Learnings

Written By: - Date published: 7:47 am, August 28th, 2022 - 47 comments

For those fishing around for a progressive playbook in this fractious world, Biden and Ardern are pretty similar. But Biden appears to be turning the fortunes of the Democrats around but Ardern is currently unrewarded. Is there anything to learn?

Crisis, What Crisis?

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, March 22nd, 2022 - 88 comments

There is only so much New Zealand and its government can do to soften the blows of the instability that are besetting the world.  And the problem is without dramatic change New Zealand will remain one of the most car-addicted, petrol reliant societies on earth for several decades to come.

The US withdraws from Afghanistan and the inevitable happened

Written By: - Date published: 9:57 pm, November 29th, 2021 - Comments Off on The US withdraws from Afghanistan and the inevitable happened

The withdrawal in August of US and allied troops from Afghanistan saw the return of the Taliban in control of that country. This sadly was always going to be the outcome once the US and its allies withdrew.

No Nukes!

Written By: - Date published: 10:10 am, September 17th, 2021 - 148 comments

Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom have publicly announced they have formed a new security grouping that will assist Australia in the construction of nuclear powered submarines.

The United States Retreat from Afghanistan

Written By: - Date published: 6:30 am, August 16th, 2021 - 140 comments

President Biden is about to get a Jimmy Carter-scale shellacking with tv footage coming of Afghani Taleban going through Kabul and in short days rifling through the U.S. Embassy as they finally take over the entire country. You don’t win re-election with defeats and withdrawals, and you won’t be thanked for it in the mid-term Senatorial races either.

Biden is serious about climate change

Written By: - Date published: 7:28 am, April 24th, 2021 - 70 comments

One of the many regretful aspects of the Trump presidency was the United States open hostility to doing anything about climate change. It looks like Joe Biden will do his best to make up for lost time.

Biden can reset with China

Written By: - Date published: 10:36 am, March 5th, 2021 - 43 comments

New Zealand should resist China’s authoritarian ways, and U.S. President Biden should too. But it’s all in how he does it.

V for vaccine

Written By: - Date published: 9:18 am, February 22nd, 2021 - 30 comments

The Covid pandemic is entering into an interesting stage with vaccinations being administered at an increasing rate and infection rates declining.  The opportunities for politicising the issue continue however.

President Biden Reaches Out To Prime Minister Ardern

Written By: - Date published: 11:18 am, February 7th, 2021 - 42 comments

Joe Biden’s attempt to redefine the American role in International Politics has been exemplified by a message to Jacinda Ardern on Waitangi day congratulating New Zealand about Waitangi Day and noting that the signing of the treaty was witnessed by the first US Consul to New Zealand in 1840.

PM Ardern and President Biden as a comparison

Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, January 23rd, 2021 - 34 comments

On his first day in office Joe Biden executed 17 executive orders making wide scale change to the Trump Administration’s policies.

Trump loses the presidency, but Trumpism lives on

Written By: - Date published: 12:30 am, November 19th, 2020 - 8 comments

The reality is that the United States is a poor example of a functioning democracy in 2020.

What should the left make of the US election result?

Written By: - Date published: 7:43 am, November 10th, 2020 - 76 comments

Now the dust is settling on the US election result the one question I have is why was it even close?

Lawyers, guns and money

Written By: - Date published: 8:05 am, November 9th, 2020 - 51 comments

Over in the United States of America the country is descending into chaos. But so far the farcical type of chaos as opposed to the violent type of chaos and this is a good thing.

Donald Trump’s letter to Joe Biden

Written By: - Date published: 8:53 am, November 8th, 2020 - 19 comments

It is customary for outgoing Presidents to leave for the incoming President a short letter of introduction. The Standard has managed to obtain a early draft copy of Donald Trump’s letter to Joe Biden drafted while he was playing golf.

If Biden wins, then what?

Written By: - Date published: 11:29 am, November 7th, 2020 - 39 comments

I hope that I am not tempting fate by saying this but a Biden presidency seems almost inevitable. But presuming he prevails the transition is going to be one of the most difficult and most important in America’s history.

On the US election.

Written By: - Date published: 9:42 am, October 30th, 2020 - 30 comments

This year forecasting the U.S. election has an interesting additional element, with Trump and the Republican Party gearing up to steal the election if it is not a landslide for their opponents. It is going to be difficult with Joe Biden currently estimated at a 89% probability of winning the electoral college.

US v China: new Cold War or new Opium War?

Written By: - Date published: 10:27 am, August 25th, 2020 - 23 comments

The Trump administration has declared war on China, and there is much speculation in the punditry as to whether or not this is a new Cold War similar to that waged post World War 2 against Russia. In my opinion, the 19th century Opium Wars may offer a more appropriate analogy, albeit with a likely different outcome.

What Might A Democratic Party-Dominated U.S. Foreign Policy Do?

Written By: - Date published: 1:02 pm, August 19th, 2020 - 24 comments

Inasmuch as tiny, distant New Zealand need worry about the foreign policy of the United States, it’s worth a drill into what a Democratic Party dominated United States foreign policy might look like.

Biden/Harris

Written By: - Date published: 8:50 am, August 12th, 2020 - 53 comments

Joe Biden announces his VP pick.

Go Joe.

Written By: - Date published: 11:23 am, May 9th, 2020 - 50 comments

The clock is ticking on Joe Biden.

Recent Comments

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