The Tribune

With CHARLIE HARPER

When US President Joe Biden stumbles over a word or phrase when speaking in public, delivering everything from prepared orations to large audiences to impromptu remarks to a few reporters shouting questions at him from a distance, he tends to react the same way. He reflexively closes his eyes for a brief moment, brow furrowed in likely frustration at the exposed imperfection, corrects himself and ploughs on.

He did so several times during his first State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night. Some media, both left and right politically, will doubtless harp on that. But as his 62-minute address gained momentum, something else happened. Viewers could see it. Biden hit his stride – perhaps for the most visible and perhaps even for the first time in his presidency so far.

Whether he was castigating Russia and its venomous President, reassuring Americans that “we’re going to be OK” or touting his many legislative proposals that have mostly foundered on the shoals of partisan opposition in the Senate, this President, despite the stumbles noted above, did just fine.

He was especially strong on subjects he cares about, and at several points Biden rolled along with a kind of kinetic power that was actually mesmerizing.

Resolute Republican foes of Biden like House minority leader Kevin McCarthy and his top assistant Steve Scalia of Louisiana rose to join Democratic applause – reluctantly – on several occasions, and so did many other Republicans. Biden wisely led off with harsh words and policy announcements directed at Putin and his government. “He (Putin) has no idea what’s coming,” Biden boasted of future sanctions and other financial measures.

Feeling and looking expansive, Biden then declared that “we’ll defend Poland, Romania, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania” – the NATO countries that border Russia or its near satellite Belarus, or Ukraine, whose future is so parlous just now. Biden didn’t specifically mention Article 5 of the NATO alliance charter that mandates defence by all other alliance members if any member nation is attacked from abroad, but it was that precept that he was emphatically reinforcing.

Biden simply will not give up on congressional bipartisanship, and referred on several occasions to legislation he feels should enjoy support from every member of Congress regardless of party or place on the political spectrum. It often seems he just cannot acknowledge the Republican Party and most of its congressional leadership aims only to weaken and sabotage his presidency sufficiently that the GOP returns to power in the House and the Senate.

In that spirit, he touched on numerous Democratic and liberal priorities like abortion rights and support for workers’ rights to organize into labour unions, but did not dwell on them. It felt like he knew he needed to reference these divisive subjects, but was determined to rush past them before the Republicans had a chance to organize a boo or even a groan. He elicited that response only when criticizing his predecessor’s 2017 tax cuts that were criticized for benefitting mostly the richest American corporations and individuals.

There is still an everyman quality about Biden, despite the fact he is the American President. Who knows what the polls will show when they are breathlessly revealed in the days to come, but for one observer, this man reminded his countrymen and women why they voted for him, and why the man he defeated so presciently identified him as the candidate most likely to be his most troublesome opponent.

Right man for the job

You’d expect that the top career professional in the British Embassy in Washington would be a “top man”. After all, it’s no secret the elegant low-slung chancery building on Massachusetts Avenue in the shadow of the National (Episcopal) Cathedral and practically next door to the official residence of the American Vice President is the most critical bilateral British mission anywhere overseas.

Michael Tatham, CMG, Oxford-educated and the son of a veteran diplomat, doesn’t disappoint. In his capacity as the second-in-command at this key mission, Tatham agreed to a lengthy discussion of the situation in Ukraine with a private audience the other day. He has been at his current post for nearly four years, including service as Charge d’Affaires for a while after previous ambassador Kim Darroch, KCMG, resigned his post in 2019 five months after his sharply critical assessments of then-President Donald Trump were leaked to the press. Darroch was appointed to the House of Lords not long after his return to Britain.

In his interview, Tatham reflected the increasingly tough line of Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his government, calling Russian President Vladimir Putin “cynical and hypocritical” in launching his cause-free invasion of Ukraine. But at the same time, the diplomat lauded the “impressive shared resolve, substantive and clearly infectious,” of both the European Union and the G-7 group of top industrial nations in responding to the Russian invasion with sharp measures delivered with alacrity.

He opined that based on what he has observed, the Western “locker of potential financial (sanctions) is hardly empty”. Tatham confidently asserted some of those measures now held in reserve “will go much further than what we have seen so far, and far exceed what the Russians appear to have expected.” He pointed out that many of the sanctions now being directed at Moscow have been marinating for eight years, ever since the Russians seized Ukraine in 2014.

“Today, more than 25 nations have agreed to send defensive aid to NATO nations who are now on the front lines facing the threat of further Russian aggression,” he said. “My government has committed over $200 million for support of Ukraine and refugees from the area, and deployed over 1,000 troops to ensure proper delivery of that aid. We expect that we may eventually welcome as many as 200,000 refugees to Britain under family reunification schemes.”

That such petroleum giants as BP and Shell have pulled out of Russia and their partnerships with Russian firms will be “massively self-defeating” for the Russians, Tatham predicted. Asked about the attitude of the Chinese government toward the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he said he has noticed “a degree of unease in Beijing at what Russia has done,” despite the current rapprochement between the two.

Finally, Tatham noted Russia has become a “sports pariah,” which will hurt Moscow with soccer and other sports fans all over the world.

Selling the family jewels

Speaking of sports in general and soccer in particular, Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine has shone the bright public spotlight on Roman Abramovich. This Russian oligarch, with a fortune estimated at $13 billion from gaining ownership stakes in key Russian commodities and energy monopolies after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, 12 years later purchased ownership of English Premier League soccer club Chelsea, based in southwest London.

Since that purchase, this reputed Putin confidante has bankrolled the transition of what was previously an average mid-table club to a powerhouse that has won more championship trophies than any other in England since Abramovich took control. During just this past year, Chelsea has won the world’s toughest club competition, the European Champions League; the Super Cup matching the winners of Europe’s top two tournaments, and the Club World Cup, which features the winners of all the soccer competitions on every continent.

Now Abramovich is the subject of rampant rumours that he faces imminent British sanctions. Yesterday’s press was full of stories about his frantic efforts to sell Chelsea football club, purchased for $140 million 20 years ago. Boris Johnson faced sharp questioning in Commons the other day. One member said

“we must stand up to Putin and those who prop up his regime. Roman Abramovich is the owner of Chelsea Football Club and various other high-value assets in the United Kingdom,” according to the Guardian.

Meantime, in the midst of all this, Chelsea faced Liverpool Sunday in the final of the football League Cup (now sponsored by energy drink Carabao), before 85,000 fans at Wembley Stadium in London.

“This was the best 0-0 draw any of us is likely to see in our lifetimes,” said one commentator. Liverpool won after added time on a Chelsea missed penalty shot. These were two brilliant teams led by skilled German managers. It will likely be the best match of this season.