09:44,
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 20, ARMENPRESS. U.S. President Joe Biden tied the wars in Ukraine and Israel together during a primetime Oval Office address Thursday, making an appeal to the American people to support two fellow democracies that he says are facing existential threats, CNN reports.
The U.S. president has often cast this moment in history as an “inflection point” – a battle between the world’s democracies and autocracies. On Thursday, he argued that “this is one of those moments,” making a direct appeal to the American people as he sought to build support for US funding for wars abroad that could face a challenging path in Congress, where the House of Representatives remains unable to pass legislation in its second week without a speaker.
“Hamas and Putin represent different threats, but they share this in common: They both want to completely annihilate a neighboring democracy, completely annihilate it,” CNN quoted Biden as saying.
“We can’t let petty partisan, angry politics get in the way of our responsibilities as a great nation. We cannot and will not let terrorists like Hamas and tyrants like Putin win. I refuse to let that happen,” he added.”
He laid out the stakes for the American people, calling the wars a national security imperative and a critical moment for the future of American leadership and democracies worldwide.
“American leadership is what holds the world together. American alliances are what keep us in America safe. American values are what make us a partner nation you want to work with,” he said. “To put all that at risk – we walk away from Ukraine, we turn our backs on Israel – it’s just not worth it.”
The U.S. president said support for both wars is “vital for America’s national security.”
“History has taught us that when terrorists don’t pay a price for their terror, when dictators don’t pay a price for their aggression, they cause more chaos and death and more destruction. They keep going. And the cost and the threat to America in the world keep rising,” Biden said, warning, “If we don’t stop Putin’s appetite for power and control in Ukraine, he won’t limit himself just to Ukraine.”
And he warned more broadly that the United States’ adversaries and competitors “are watching.”
“If we walk away and let Putin erase Ukraine’s independence, would-be aggressors around the world would be emboldened to try the same. The risk of conflict and chaos could spread in other parts of the world – in the Indo Pacific, in the Middle East, especially in the Middle East,” Biden said.
The primetime address took place on the eve of the White House requesting north of $100 billion from Congress to deliver aid and resources to Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and the US border with Mexico, even though the legislative branch is paralyzed by the dysfunction in the House of Representatives.
Biden reiterated that he will not put American boots on the ground in Ukraine.
“I will not send American troops to fight in Ukraine. All Ukraine is asking for is help. For the weapons, munitions, the capacity, the capability of pushing invading Russian forces off their land and the air defense system to shoot down Russian missiles before they destroy Ukrainian cities,” he said.
The speech comes after his wartime visit to the Middle East, which went on even after a blast tore through a hospital in Gaza. While his planned stop in Amman, Jordan, to meet Arab leaders was canceled just as the U.S. president was preparing to depart the White House, Biden did spend hours on the ground in Tel Aviv.