It was not the high note Joe Biden would have hoped for in his last speech at the UN.
With the world in crisis on so many fronts in the dying months of his presidency, there was little hope of that.
President Biden has built so much of his political career in foreign policy and yet his legacy overseas is now unravelling.
Follow latest: Hezbollah commander ‘killed’
It was far from his finest speech. He went through the list of achievements and challenges. His words lacked conviction. His tone was flat.
The president’s overriding message seemed to be the world and America have faced crises before – “every age has its challenges”, he said, but they have passed.
Image: Joe Biden addresses the UN General Assembly. Pic: AP
That will be little consolation to the people of Ukraine, heading into a third winter at war with Russia.
President Biden can be credited with forming a coalition against Putin and holding it together. But it has failed utterly to reverse Russian aggression, too timid and cautious, say critics, and overly fearful of the spectre of escalation.
But most of all the speech was overshadowed by the spiralling crisis in the Middle East. On that, the president seemed tin-eared.
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Airstrikes on Hezbollah targets
He spoke of the ceasefire deal his diplomats have tried to forge over Gaza.
It is, for now, dead in the water, but not for Joe Biden: “Now is a time for the parties to finalise terms.”
With Israel’s war with Hezbollah in Lebanon threatening to tip the region into a much bigger conflict, President Biden was pointing out the obvious: “A full-scale war is not in anyone’s interests.”
We are assured diplomacy is under way. One White House official told Sky News: “We’re going to work really hard at it, it’s too soon to say if we’ll be successful but we’re trying.”
Read more:Lebanon ‘will pay big price’ if Hezbollah ‘gambles’ on escalationThe UN’s attempt at a buffer zone
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A UN Security Council meeting has been called, but not until Thursday.
What the region needs now is urgent diplomatic intervention by the US and its allies here at the UN.
There was little sign of that urgency from the president in this speech. He seemed to be going through the motions in the twilight of his presidency.
The big fear is events in the Middle East are moving at a pace far outstripping diplomatic efforts to contain them.
Source : Sky News
