Biden’s Legacy: A Fitting End to Decades of Service to the Permanent Regime I
With Donald Trump taking office this week, there has been a flurry of articles declaring and debating Joe Biden’s legacy and his foreign policy record, and he has said that he is leaving Trump “a strong hand”.[i] There are some, like Donna Brazille and others, who call Biden ‘transformative’ and enormously successful, citing legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act and his rallying of democracies to support Ukraine against the revanchist Russia.[ii]
However, one must wonder if Biden’s foreign policy record is truly his, given that he is a zombie incapable of coherent speech or thought. In the past, some Hollywood films were credited to the pseudonym ‘Allan Smithee’ when its director wanted to disown a film. Perhaps US presidents are merely the political equivalents of Allan Smithee, a name to misdirect blame and distract from who really controls US foreign policy, the permanent regime.
Before going into his plethora of failures, it is important to note that Biden does have a major achievement in his foreign policy record, one that both his former boss and predecessor/successor promised to enact in their respective presidential campaigns, the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. Biden deserves credit for this, as during the withdrawal, which was messy and mishandled, he stood his ground and defended his decision, remarking that “there was never a good time to withdraw US forces.”[iii] Many pundits were harshly critical of Biden’s decision to pull out of Afghanistan, even outlets that typically worship Biden, like CNN and NBC.[iv] Despite this criticism and condemnation, it was the right move, and the best decision Biden made as president. However, to many, especially the conservative elite, Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan is one of his myriad foreign policy failures. Some even argue that Biden showed America to be weak and cowardly, emboldening the so called ‘axis of evil’.[v] Republicans in the House Foreign Affairs Committee in Congress released a report in September 2024 that argues Biden ignored warnings from his military advisers and diplomats, using his executive authority to mandate the withdrawal.[vi] They depict this as a grave abuse of authority, but the president has the power to order military withdrawals, as there is supposed to be civilian control of the US military. For once in his career, Biden disobeyed the permanent regime.
Elsewhere, he obeyed their every desire. As he leaves the White House, the US military is still in Iraq, they are still occupying a third of Syria, and as a result of Bashar Al-Assad’s fall and the takeover of the government by jihadists (who once enjoyed Western support), as well as Turkey’s continued incursion against the Kurds in the North of the country, American forces will remain in place. The Biden regime also put a bounty on Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, declaring his re-election invalid and asking for him to be arrested, they escalated the trade war with China, dismissed the WTO, built more military installations in the Philippines as part of their containment strategy, and did not renegotiate the Iran Nuclear Deal, choosing to keep most of the Trump era sanctions on Tehran in place.[vii] Biden promised to end blank checks to governments who abuse human rights during his 2020 campaign.[viii] He swore that he would isolate Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Yet, as president he maintained these alliances and sold them weapons.[ix] He also approved a trove of arms sales to Israel, Nigeria, and the United Arab Emirates, who all have poor human rights records.[x] The US led trade embargo on Cuba remains, half of the prisoners detained in Guantanamo Bay have been released but it is still open.[xi]
In his final days, Biden has claimed credit for the recent ceasefire agreement between Israel and Gaza, even though it was Trump and his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff who strong armed Benjamin Netanyahu into accepting an agreement.[xii] This makes Biden look even more foolish and useless, as for months he refused to put any pressure on Netanyahu, nor did he attach any conditions to US arms sales to Israel. As president, Biden did what he has done for his entire political career, he served the permanent regime loyally and without question. Outside of his withdrawal from Afghanistan, he submitted to the war machine. While he did negotiate Julian Assange’s release, the plea deal still led to Assange being charged for conspiring to obtain and disclose classified documents.[xiii] This is barely an accomplishment, as Assange should have been pardoned and lauded for his role in exposing the imperial war machine. Instead, Biden lauded and rewarded the likes of Liz Cheney and George Soros, giving them Presidential Citizens Medals, honoring their alleged ‘service to democracy’. The world that Biden leaves behind is a world ravaged by his political class for decades. His zombified state proves that the president is little more than a glorified submissive to the permanent regime.
March of the Rogues in Europe
In Europe, Biden has given over 69.8 billion dollars to Ukraine to aid them in their resistance against Russia’s invasion.[xiv] He just sent them an aid package of 500 million dollars, which includes missiles and munitions. They imposed another round of sanctions on Russia as well.[xv]
Under the Biden regime, NATO, the ultimate cause of Russia’s rash decision to invade Ukraine (this in no way justifies this decision), expanded, adding Sweden and Finland to its membership. The only US senator to vote against this expansion was Josh Hawley, who voted against it not because he thought it was ill advised to expand NATO, but because he thinks the US should be focusing all its attention on China.[xvi]
Billions have been sent to Ukraine by Biden, and other Western powers, along with myriad sanctions on Vladimir Putin and his cronies, to seemingly no effect. Some countries in Europe have turned away from the West’s strategy in Ukraine against Moscow, choosing to discuss cutting off aid and weapons sales to Ukraine or simply remaining cordial in relations with Putin. The triumph of political candidates the Western empire sees as ‘pro-Putin’, which means insufficiently submissive to the West, is being treated with contempt and hostility by Western elites. For example, in Romania, the election results were outright nullified by the courts.[xvii] This nullification stands, and new elections will be held in May this year. The Romanian court’s decision is based on documents declassified by the Romanian intelligence services who allege that there were cases of voter manipulation and deception on social media platforms, mainly Tik Tok, illegal campaign financing, and ‘suspected’ Russian interference.[xviii] The winner of the election, ‘far right and pro-Putin’ candidate Calin Georgescu challenged the court’s decision and lost. He has called this a “formalised coup d’etat’.[xix] Additionally, as part of the court’s decision, he may be ineligible to run in the new election, as some of the charges allege that Georgescu failed to disclose campaign financing through Tik Tok.[xx] Thus, because he claimed that he spent nothing on his campaign, he has violated Romanian election laws. Suppose this is true. Is this the primary reason that Georgescu’s election is being overturned? No, of course it isn’t. The EU is trying to bar any candidate who dares to challenge their, and by proxy, America’s, imperial order.
In Georgia as well, we see a similar strategy being employed. In elections held last year, the Georgian Dream Party, a ‘far-right pro-Putin’ party, won and the opposition leader, Salome Zourabichvili, claimed the vote was falsified and it was a stolen election.[xxi] She called on her supporters to protest the election results. She, along with the Georgian parliament has demanded that new elections be held. A resolution was passed in the European Parliament that declares the elections in Georgia be held again due to ‘irregularities. They also demanded that the Georgian Dream Party not be recognized by the EU.[xxii] On January 9th, the “Georgian Nightmare Non-Recognition Act” was introduced in the US Congress by Republican Congressman Joe Wilson and Democratic Congressman Steve Cohen.[xxiii] This bill calls for a prohibition on relations with the new government in Georgia, and any recognition of the Georgian Dream government is prohibited as well. The bill also states that the former president, Salome Zourabichvili, be recognized as Georgia’s legitimate leader.[xxiv] On December 27th last year, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced sanctions on the founder of the Georgian Dream party, Bidzina Grigoris Dze Ivanishvili, “for undermining the democratic and Euro-Atlantic future of Georgia for the benefit of the Russian Federation.”[xxv] Whether or not a bill is passed to render the Georgian Dream party illegitimate, the Biden regime and its minions in the EU have cast so much doubt on Georgia’s election that it is but another example of the supposed ‘march of the pro-Putin far-right’ across Europe, adding it to the list of countries like Hungary, Italy, Slovakia, and the Netherlands, who dare cross the permanent regime. This narrative, that there is a blossoming coalition of pro-Putin regimes on the rise in Europe, who are being boosted by Moscow, is dangerous and results in a shutting down of debate over support for Ukraine and how Russia should be contained, not on if it should be contained.
The Biden regime, with its expansion of NATO and condemnations of European election that do not yield their preferred victors, has ensured that turmoil will continue in Europe, even if the war between Russia and Ukraine is ended under Trump. This us vs. them mentality is only hurting the US and the West, not Russia and its allies. If sanctions were the answer, they already would have succeeded. If sending billions more to Ukraine were the answer, they’d have won already. Biden authorizing Ukraine to strike inside of Russia was a fitting end to his tenure, as it proves the goal of US policy is not to aid Ukrainian democracy or freedom, it is to stifle and degrade Moscow, and to chastise US allies in Europe should they deviate from the EU line.
Becoming What We Seek to Destroy
What many, even conservatives and war hawks, point to as Biden’s primary accomplishment is his policy related to China and ‘curbing its aggression’.[xxvi] This includes policy with Taiwan and allies in the Indo-Pacific region like Japan and Philippines and export controls. Biden signed the CHIPS and Science act in 2022, which incentivizes high-tech research and development in the US and aims to reshore semiconductor manufacturing.[xxvii] He also implemented export controls on advanced semiconductor technology in 2022, which was updated in October 2023, and again last week, on January 13th. The stated goal of the Biden regime is three-fold, they aim to bar China from accessing high end chips, prevent them from producing their own equivalent technologies, and to protect US industry by letting China sell lower end technologies. Effectively they are being blocked from accessing chips with AI capabilities or cloud computing.[xxviii]
As well as export controls, Biden and his USTR representative, Katherine Tai, not only kept Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs in place, but after a years long review, decided to impose additional tariffs and Tai also responded to the WTO’s argument that the US that Trump’s 2018 round of steel and aluminum tariffs are illegitimate and break global trade rules, and also that the spurious national security grounds on which they were justified were not based in reality, as it is not a time of war or emergency.[xxix] Biden’s USTR spokesman, Adam Hodge, first responded to the WTO’s ruling by stating that the WTO has “no authority to second-guess the ability of a WTO member to respond to a wide range of threats to its security.”, and Tai later echoed these concerns about WTO bureaucrats proclaiming what is and isn’t a threat to US national security by saying that it is “very challenging… to have unelected, not really accountable, decision-makers in Geneva second guess” what the US government deems a threat to its national security.[xxx] This rhetoric echoes Trump’s trade advisers, who Daniel J. Ikenson referred to as Trump’s ‘Protectionist Triumvirate’, comprising Peter Navarro, Wilbur Ross, and Robert Lighthizer, who imposed the tariffs in 2018 on orders from Trump.[xxxi] Navarro, Ross, and Lighthizer all avidly defended the tariffs at the time and until 2020, when Trump left office. They have since expressed concern about whether Biden would undo Trump’s ‘greatest success’.
What many scholars and commentators argue and fret about as Trump returns to the White House is his disdain for international institutions, however, the Biden regime has lambasted the WTO, regarding its decisions on how US trade policy with China as illegitimate. Biden not only continued Trump’s trade war with China, but he also continued to send heaps of cash to allies in Asia to help contain China. For example, Biden sent 500 million dollars to the Philippines to help bolster and advance their military, and in the NDAA for 2023, there is a provision which guarantees that Taiwan will receive 2 billion dollars every year from 2023 to 2027.[xxxii] Further, in the NDAA for 2024, the US Department of Defense is authorized to spend up to 300 million dollars to assist the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, which establishes an informal security relationship between the US and Taiwan, allowing them access to training and weapons.[xxxiii]
Biden has again refused to concretize the US position on Taiwan, instead opting to continue strategic ambiguity, which as I’ve argued before is a wishy washy and unsustainable position. The debate over Taiwan is still how it should be defended, which is included in the latest NDAA, not whether it should be defended at all, if it’s worth it, and the consequences of the contradictions inherent in US-Taiwan policy. This issue remains unresolved, and it is almost certain that Trump will not resolve it.
As far as checking or containing China, the overarching goal of US-China policy, a common argument is that the notable difference between Biden and Trump’s China policy is Biden’s reliance on allies and diplomacy, versus Trump’s ‘America First’ transactional lone wolf approach. Some note that America’s allies in Asia are wary of Trump’s return to the White House, however, the US approach to China and by proxy its ‘allies’ in the immediate region has always been transactional. The difference with Trump as president is that this truth is undeniable.
In this new cold war against China, one of Biden’s final acts as president is deciding not to enforce a ban on Tik Tok, which was passed through Congress and the Senate, and was then brought to and argued in the Supreme Court, who just unanimously upheld the ban.[xxxiv] Trump just signed an executive order that gives Tik Tok more time to find an American buyer.[xxxv] This ban on Tik Tok, as I argued a while ago, is the latest in a series of moves by the US government to combat its despotic adversaries by becoming more despotic itself.
Conclusion
The US withdrawal from Niger, where a coup deposed the government and then Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland was humiliated in a visit to the new regime, is a harbinger of what is to come for the American empire.[xxxvi] The US will either be driven out of countries it occupies, or it will be forced out.
Even if a total war crisis does not unfold over Taiwan, which is uncertain, the US empire will keep crumbling under Trump’s brash unilateralism. If anything, he is a catalyst for what is to come. Biden was a manger of decline, or, more aptly, a prop overseeing decline while the permanent regime lives in an eternal state of denial, desperately holding onto a US led world order that is splintering. As Alfred McCoy notes, there are three principal crises that are going to tire the US empire and accelerate its decline.[xxxvii] These are the quagmire in Ukraine, which seems to have replaced the quagmire that was America’s 20 year long war in Afghanistan, Israel’s war in Gaza, which may have subsided for now because of Trump, but could reignite at any moment from either side, and the Taiwan Strait. Trump may force an end to the war in Ukraine this year, but having goons like Marco Rubio and Mike Waltz in his administration may make this difficult, despite Rubio’s statements during his Senate confirmation hearing that echo Trump’s sentiments on the war needing to end.[xxxviii] Even after the war is ended, the US and its allies in Europe will likely be burdened with the reconstruction of Ukraine. As for the Israel-Gaza crisis, we must wait and see if the ceasefire holds and if Trump continues to put pressure on Netanyahu, though he has already done more than Biden, before he even took office.
A crisis over the Taiwan Strait is the most likely to spell the end of the US empire, as there is no way the US can stop China from controlling Taiwan. If China imposes a blockade on Taiwan, then the US will send its fleet on a suicidal mission to try to break it, as McCoy points out, the US is sure to lose at least 2 aircraft carriers. Then the US would have to retreat and negotiate China’s terms of reunification, and “Such a humiliating reversal would send a clear signal that, after 80 years, American dominion over the Pacific had finally ended, inflicting another major blow to U.S. global hegemony.”[xxxix] Biden has not mitigated any of these crises. Contrary to his claim, he has not left Trump with a strong hand.
A world without the US as a hegemon may be inconceivable now, but such a world is not far away. In that world, the time of US domination will already be a bygone era. McCoy captures this when he writes that “American global hegemony would fade with surprising speed, soon becoming little more than a distant memory.”[xl] Biden is not a significant character in the freakshow that is Western politics, he is, as I noted in my previous essay, a mere prop. It is fitting that the final president before America’s steep decline is a carcass, who spent his presidency doing nothing but stumble and mumble.
Biden’s legacy is curious because what makes it distinct from his predecessors is that he doesn’t have one, and what he has done will be undone by Trump. Richard Haass makes this point and concludes that Biden’s “biggest legacy could be the lack of one.”[xli] Some historians may try to pretend Biden was transformative and definitive, but this will be a hard sell, especially as Trump and band of misfits and political arsonists reenter the White House and reverse all his imperial orders.
Biden and his state of decay mirrors the state of the US body politic. Just like having been president will seem like a distant memory in his own mind, the corrosion of the American empire will seem like a distant memory years from now. In the space of the new empire, whatever it is, all our hubris and self-importance will look absurd and overblown. It will be like the giant sculpture in Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem “Ozymandias”, which describes a sculpture inscribed with the words: “My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;/Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!”, and yet, “Nothing beside remains. Round the decay/Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare/The lone and level sands stretch far away”[xlii] It’s as if Ozymandias and his mighty empire never existed, though in its prime it must have felt far too vast and majestic to fail. Biden is the last of an aging political class that tried desperately to cling onto US hegemony, despite its overt unsustainability, he may be gone, a distant memory, but the permanent regime lives on- for now.
[i] Madhani, Aamer, Colleen Long, and Matthew Lee. “Biden Says He’s Leaving Trump with a ‘Strong Hand to Play’ in World Conflicts.” AP News, January 13, 2025. https://apnews.com/article/biden-foreign-policy-afghanistan-mideast-ukraine-russia-c774c706bdd2bf377dce6aaa0b90d841.
[ii] Brazile, Donna. “Biden Is One of Our Greatest Presidents — Smears Won’t Tarnish His Legacy.” The Hill, December 20, 2024. https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/5048539-biden-presidency-transformative/., Freedland, Jonathan. “Take Another Look at Joe Biden. His Is the Presidency Progressives Have Been Waiting For.” The Guardian, September 8, 2023, sec. Opinion. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/sep/08/joe-biden-presidency-progressives-donald-trump., Noah, Timothy. “Biden Withdraws: The Final Twist in a Surprisingly Great Presidency.” The New Republic, July 21, 2024. https://newrepublic.com/article/184072/biden-quits-but-was-an-effective-president.
[iii] BBC. “Biden Defends ‘Messy’ US Pullout from Afghanistan.” BBC News, August 17, 2021, sec. US & Canada. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-58238497.
[iv] Collinson, Stephen. “Analysis: Biden’s Botched Afghan Exit Is a Disaster at Home and Abroad Long in the Making.” CNN, August 16, 2021. https://edition.cnn.com/2021/08/16/politics/afghanistan-joe-biden-donald-trump-kabul-politics/index.html.
[v] Clark, Robert. “As an Afghan Veteran, I Say Joe Biden’s Legacy Is One of Betrayal and Weakness.” The Telegraph, August 16, 2024. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/16/afghanistan-withdrawal-anniversary-joe-biden-legacy-veteran/., Rothman, Noah. “Joe Biden’s Provocative Weakness.” National Review, January 19, 2024. https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/01/joe-bidens-provocative-weakness/. and Sasse, Ben. “Worse than Saigon.” National Review, August 16, 2021. https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/08/worse-than-saigon/.
[vi] Beitsch, Rebecca. “GOP Releases Critical Report of Biden Withdrawal from Afghanistan.” The Hill, September 8, 2024. https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4868649-gop-report-afghanistan-withdrawal/. and Luce, Dan De. “Biden Officials ‘Watered Down’ Warnings about Crumbling Security before Afghan Withdrawal, New House GOP Report Says.” NBC News, September 8, 2024. https://www.nbcnews.com/investigations/biden-officials-warnings-crumbling-security-afghan-withdrawal-rcna170121.
[vii] Malu Cursino. “US Announces $25m Reward for Arrest of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro.” BBC, January 10, 2025. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g9ezyw0keo., Al Jazeera. “US Gets New Philippine Bases with South China Sea, Taiwan in Mind.” http://www.aljazeera.com, March 22, 2023. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/3/22/us-gets-new-philippine-bases-with-south-china-sea-taiwan-in-mind.,Though it is true that Biden did offer Iran some sanctions relief early in his presidency, see: Lederer, Edith M. “Biden Withdraws Trump’s Restoration of UN Sanctions on Iran.” AP NEWS, February 18, 2021. https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donald-trump-iran-united-states-united-nations-aa8f38fa3bf7de3c09a469ec91664a3c., He did impose sanctions on Iran, notably after their attack on Israel, see: Stratford, Michael. “Biden Slaps New Sanctions on Iran after Attack on Israel – POLITICO.” POLITICO. Politico, April 18, 2024. https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/18/joe-biden-iran-sanctions-israel-00153007.
[viii] Welch, Haydn, Sheridan Cole, and Seth Binder. “Broken Promises: Biden’s Retreat from Saudi Arabia Accountability – MEDC.” MEDC, December 17, 2024. https://mideastdc.org/publication/broken-promises-bidens-retreat-from-saudi-arabia-accountability/. and Woods, Lauren. “Despite Rhetoric, Biden Is Continuing Trump’s Weapons Sales.” War on the Rocks, August 8, 2022. https://warontherocks.com/2022/08/despite-rhetoric-biden-is-continuing-trumps-weapons-sales/.
[ix] Hoffman, Jon. “Ten Years after Coup, the U.S. Still Supports Tyranny in Egypt.” Lawfaremedia.org, 2023. https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/ten-years-after-coup-the-u.s.-still-supports-tyranny-in-egypt.
[x] Nasser, Afrah. “US Resuming Arms Sales to UAE Is Disastrous.” Human Rights Watch, April 15, 2021. https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/04/15/us-resuming-arms-sales-uae-disastrous., Thurston, Alex. “Selling Attack Helicopters to Nigeria Won’t Increase Its Security.” Responsible Statecraft, April 20, 2022. https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2022/04/20/selling-attack-helicopters-to-nigeria-wont-increase-its-security/.
[xi] Mishra, Vibhu. “General Assembly Renews Long-Standing Call for End to US Embargo against Cuba.” UN News, October 30, 2024. https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/10/1156316. and Cuddy, Alice. “US Moves 11 Guantanamo Bay Detainees to Oman.” BBC, January 7, 2025. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg3k2v11k5o.
[xii] Roth, Andrew. “Biden or Trump – Who Should Claim Credit for the Gaza Ceasefire Deal?” the Guardian. The Guardian, January 16, 2025. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/16/gaza-ceasefire-deal-hamas-israel-biden-trump-credit-press-conference.
[xiii] US Department of Justice. “Office of Public Affairs | WikiLeaks Founder Pleads Guilty and Is Sentenced for Conspiring to Obtain and Disclose Classified National Defense Information | United States Department of Justice.” http://www.justice.gov, June 25, 2024. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/wikileaks-founder-pleads-guilty-and-sentenced-conspiring-obtain-and-disclose-classified.
[xiv] Masters, Jonathan, and Will Merrow. “How Much U.S. Aid Is Going to Ukraine?” Council on Foreign Relations, September 27, 2024. https://www.cfr.org/article/how-much-us-aid-going-ukraine.
[xv] Contini, Kerry B. “Biden Administration Sanctions Hundreds of Parties under the Russia Sanctions.” Global Sanctions and Export Controls Blog, January 19, 2025. https://sanctionsnews.bakermckenzie.com/biden-administration-sanctions-hundreds-of-parties-under-the-russia-sanctions/. and Marquardt, Alex. “Biden Administration Announces Its Final Military Aid Package for Ukraine before Leaving Office.” CNN, January 9, 2025. https://edition.cnn.com/2025/01/09/politics/us-ukraine-aid-biden/index.html.
[xvi] Hawley, Josh. “Hawley Op-Ed: Why I Won’t Vote to Add Sweden and Finland to NATO – Josh Hawley.” Josh Hawley, August 2022. https://www.hawley.senate.gov/hawley-op-ed-why-i-wont-vote-add-sweden-and-finland-nato/.
[xvii] Anda Iulia Solea. “Why Romania’s Election Was Annulled – and What Happens Next?” The Conversation, December 16, 2024. https://theconversation.com/why-romanias-election-was-annulled-and-what-happens-next-245779. and Paun, Carmen. “Romania Sets New Election Date but Risks Same Result.” POLITICO, January 8, 2025. https://www.politico.eu/article/romania-election-2025-hungary-national-liberals-social-democrats-law-court/.
[xviii] Solea. “Why Romania’s Election Was Annulled – and What Happens Next?”
[xix] Starcevic, Seb. “Romanian Far-Right Chief’s Bid to Reinstate Election Result Fails in European Court.” POLITICO, January 21, 2025. https://www.politico.eu/article/european-court-of-human-rights-slaps-down-romania-far-right-candidate-calin-georgescu-bid-to-reinstate-canceled-election/.
[xx] Solea. “Why Romania’s Election Was Annulled – and What Happens Next?”
[xxi] Kirby, Paul. “Georgia Election: PM Rejects Vote-Rigging Claims as President Calls Mass Rally.” BBC, October 27, 2024. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c78ddj25kgvo.
[xxii] Gavin, Gabriel. “Georgia Election Was Not Fair and Must Be Re-Run, European Parliament Concludes.” POLITICO, November 28, 2024. https://www.politico.eu/article/georgia-election-was-not-fair-must-be-re-run-european-parliament-statement-membership-candidacy-eu/.
[xxiii] Joe, Wilson. “Amendments – H.R.243 – 119th Congress (2025-2026): To Prohibit United States Recognition of Bidzina Ivanishvili or Any Government of Georgia That Is Led by Bidzina Ivanishvili, and for Other Purposes.” Congress.gov, 2025. https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/243/amendments.
[xxiv] Wilson. “Amendments – H.R.243 – 119th Congress (2025-2026): To Prohibit United States Recognition of Bidzina Ivanishvili or Any Government of Georgia That Is Led by Bidzina Ivanishvili, and for Other Purposes.”
[xxv] Howard, Jacqueline. “US Sanctions Billionaire Founder of Georgia Dream Party.” BBC, December 27, 2024. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crk01xyd22eo.
[xxvi] Richburg, Keith B. “Trump Talked the Talk, but Biden May Prove Tougher on China | the Strategist.” The Strategist, January 18, 2021. https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/trump-talked-the-talk-but-biden-may-prove-tougher-on-china/. Though many scholars have commended Biden as tough on China, there are some conservatives who insist that he was too soft, for example: Mazza, Michael, and Shay Khatiri. “Confronting China, Washington Speaks Loudly but Carries a Feather.” National Review, September 12, 2023. https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/09/confronting-china-washington-speaks-loudly-but-carries-a-feather/.
[xxvii] Kurilla, Michelle. “What Is the CHIPS Act?” Council on Foreign Relations, April 29, 2024. https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/what-chips-act.
[xxviii] Allen, Gregory C. “Understanding the Biden Administration’s Updated Export Controls.” Csis.org, 2024. https://www.csis.org/analysis/understanding-biden-administrations-updated-export-controls., Bureau of Industry and Security. “Biden-Harris Administration Announces Regulatory Framework for the Responsible Diffusion of Advanced Artificial Intelligence Technology | Bureau of Industry and Security.” Bis.gov, 2025. https://www.bis.gov/press-release/biden-harris-administration-announces-regulatory-framework-responsible-diffusion.,
[xxix] Lobosco, Katie. “Biden Finalizes Increases to Some of Trump’s China Tariffs.” CNN. CNN, September 13, 2024. https://edition.cnn.com/2024/09/13/politics/china-tariffs-biden-trump/index.html. and Palmer, Doug. “WTO Says Trump’s Steel Tariffs Violated Global Trade Rules.” POLITICO, December 9, 2022. https://www.politico.com/news/2022/12/09/wto-ruling-trump-tariffs-violate-rules-00073282.
[xxx] Hirsh, Bruce. “The WTO’s National Security ‘Thin Ice’ Moment Could Shatter Reform Talks.” The Hill, January 7, 2023. https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/3802530-the-wtos-thin-ice-moment-shatters-its-national-security-credibility/., Hodge, Adam. “Statement from USTR Spokesperson Adam Hodge.” United States Trade Representative, 2023. https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/press-releases/2022/december/statement-ustr-spokesperson-adam-hodge.
[xxxi] Ikenson, Daniel J. “Lighthizer Completes Trump’s Protectionist Triumvirate.” Cato.org, 2017. https://www.cato.org/blog/lighthizer-completes-trumps-protectionist-triumvirate.
[xxxii] Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “US National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 and Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023.” Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of China (Taiwan), December 30, 2022. https://en.mofa.gov.tw/News_Content.aspx?n=1328&s=99391.
[xxxiii] CNA English News. “U.S. House Passes US$895 Billion Defense Bill; Taiwan Aid Included – Focus Taiwan.” Focus Taiwan – CNA English News, December 12, 2024. https://focustaiwan.tw/politics/202412120009.
[xxxiv] Rhoden-Paul, André. “TikTok Ban: US Supreme Court Upholds Law That Prohibits the App.” BBC, January 17, 2025. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3e18qylq5do.
[xxxv] News, PBS. “Trump Signs Executive Order to Suspend TikTok Ban for 75 Days to Find U.S. Buyer.” PBS News, January 21, 2025. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-signs-executive-order-to-suspend-tiktok-ban-for-75-days-to-find-u-s-buyer.
[xxxvi] Mednick, Sam. “Niger’s Junta Rejects a Diplomatic Visit by Regional and UN Officials over ‘Atmosphere of Menace.’” AP News, August 8, 2023. https://apnews.com/article/niger-coup-victoria-nuland-west-africa-jihadis-4f21ee42f7e87b3747a322709d8d1bbc. and Reuters Staff. “US Military Says It Completes Niger Withdrawal.” Reuters, September 16, 2024. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/us-military-says-it-completes-niger-withdrawal-2024-09-16/.
[xxxvii] McCoy, Alfred. “The American Empire in (Ultimate?) Crisis: The Decline and Fall of It All.” Scheerpost.com, March 12, 2024. https://scheerpost.com/2024/03/12/the-american-empire-in-ultimate-crisis-the-decline-and-fall-of-it-all/.
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[xxxix] McCoy. “The American Empire in (Ultimate?) Crisis: The Decline and Fall of It All.”
[xl] McCoy. “The American Empire in (Ultimate?) Crisis: The Decline and Fall of It All.”
[xli] Haass, Richard. “Joe Biden’s Disappearing Legacy | the Strategist.” The Strategist, January 14, 2025. https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/joe-bidens-disappearing-legacy/.
[xlii] Shelley, Percy Bysshe. “Ozymandias.” Poetry Foundation, 1818. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46565/ozymandias.
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Not Without Incident: Questioning Big Brother's Platitudes 
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