Biden warns Russia on Ukraine ‘invasion’
Washington/Moscow, Jan. 20: US President Joe Biden said Thursday that any entry of Russian troops into Ukraine will be treated by the West as “an invasion”, as he tried to clarify confusion over an earlier suggestion that a “minor” attack could invite a lesser response.
“If any, any assembled Russian units move across the Ukrainian border, that is an invasion,” Mr Biden said, adding he had been “absolutely clear” with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“That will be met with severe and coordinated economic response that I have discussed in detail with our allies, as well as laid out very clear with President Putin,” Mr Biden told reporters at the White House. “Russia will pay a heavy price,” he said.
However, expanding on comments he made Wednesday that a “minor incursion” by Russia will be treated differently, Mr Biden said Moscow would not necessarily mount a standard invasion and that “we have to be ready”.
Russia, meanwhile, on Thursday announced sweeping naval drills in several parts of the world this month, and claimed the West was plotting “provocations” in Ukraine. Amid the buildup of 100,000 Russian troops near the Ukraine border and massive wargames with Belarus, Russia’s defence ministry said it will also conduct manoeuvres involving the bulk of its Navy.
“The drills are intended to practice Navy and Air Force action to protect Russian national interests in the world’s oceans and to counter military threats to the Russian Federation,” it said. These will start this month and continue through February.
The exercise will involve over 140 warships and over 60 aircraft, and will be conducted in both littoral waters and more distant “operationally important” areas like the Mediterranean, northeastern Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean.
Washington, Jan. 20: President Joe Biden ends his first year in the White House with a clear majority of Americans for the first time disapproving of his handling of the presidency in the face of an unrelenting pandemic and roaring inflation, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
More Americans disapprove than approve of how Biden is handling his job as president, 56% to 43%. As of now, just 28% of Americans say they want Biden to run for reelection in 2024, including only 48% of Democrats. Asked on Wednesday at a wide-ranging news conference about his flagging popularity, Biden responded, “I don’t believe the polls.”
It’s a stark reversal from early in Biden’s presidency. In July, 59% of Americans said they approved of Biden’s job performance in an AP-NORC poll. His approval rating dipped to 50% by late September in the aftermath of the chaotic and bloody US military withdrawal from Afghanistan and amid surging Coronavirus infections and the administration’s fitful efforts to push economic, infrastructure and tax policies through Congress.
The latest poll shows that Americans’ confidence in Biden’s handling of the pandemic — seen as a strength early in his administration — has further eroded as the omicron variant strains the health care system and further exhausts an American electorate that had hoped life would be back to a semblance of normalcy by now.
Just 45% say they approve of Biden’s handling of Covid-19, down from 57% in December and from 66% in July 2021. Americans are even more downbeat about his handling of the economy, with just 37% approving.
Growing angst about his economic policies comes as inflation rose at its fastest pace in nearly 40 years last month, a 7% spike from a year earlier that is increasing household expenses.