The world after Trump
Joe Biden plans to reverse some of Trump's decisions by decree on his first day as US president. According to his chief of staff, Biden wants to return to the Paris Climate Agreement, introduce protection for underage migrants and adopt new measures in healthcare. For Europe's media the key question is what direction US foreign policy will move in.
The principle remains the same
The euphoria over Biden's victory will not last for long, political scientist Frédéric Thomas writes in Le Soir:
“Media coverage has focused on personal questions - even of personality - and left little room for critical analyses of structural trends in North American politics. Since hopes for a change of course are disproportionately high, they're likely to be disappointed all the faster when the White House's strategy remains unchanged. ... What distinguishes Biden from Trump is ultimately less a question of principle - ensuring Washington's primacy on the international stage - than method: he's banking on free trade instead of (relative) isolationism.”
Biden can save his own disarmament treaty
The Trump administration terminated key arms control treaties with Russia. Biden has the chance to turn things around, economist Vladislav Inozemtsev writes in a Facebook post published by newsru.com:
“The New Start Treaty signed by Obama and Medvedev in 2010 is the only significant deal that remains - and that too is due to expire two weeks after the inauguration of the new president. ... Biden and his team now have the chance to save a document that was signed when Biden himself was vice president. Such a step would be a good start to a new stage in US-Russia relations. While experts note deep scepticism on the part of Biden and his colleagues towards the Russian leadership, in this case the president would be continuing his own policy.”
Good times for the Turkish opposition
Joe Biden said in an interview in December 2019 that the Turkish opposition needed help in order to defeat Erdoğan. Now the opposition sees light at the end of the tunnel, says Sabah:
“In the joyful expectation of coming to power with the help of transatlantic support, they are now stepping forward one after the other. The PKK and HDP are making no secret of their hopes that their former cooperation with the Pentagon will be resumed on the playing field in northern Syria. They know that at some point they will be needed again for alliances in the cities, as they were in the Istanbul local elections. And Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, as leader of the largest opposition party, was also faster than all the others. He congratulated Biden even before the representatives of the state leadership of the Turkish Republic did.”
The US is no longer a model
After the debacle of the election, the US should give up the role of democratic referee, says Večernji list:
“Even Alexander Lukashenka, called the 'last dictator in Europe' by the West, is making fun of the American election. ... America will no longer be able to preach to anyone in the world about democracy and the rule of law. A historical era in which the US played the role of the world's leading democratic hegemon thus comes to an end. ... The Americans have called themselves a 'beacon' of democracy and a referee who has the right to decide which countries are democratic. And at times they have exported their democracy with the help of weapons and war, which has often led to catastrophe.”