What is your sense as to this reaction internationally as
you sit there in Berlin, European Focus, Ukraine, NATO, in
terms of this momentous decision by President Biden to step
away?
Yeah, Tom.
I mean, for everybody in New York, many of the
mainstream politicians are the biggest nations here.
I mean, Biden was a real breath of fresh air,
particularly after Donald Trump.
We took obviously, quite untraditional approach to many of the
traditional allies here in Europe.
And so I think for many of the leaders here,
you know, namely Olaf Schultz, who is out on Twitter,
for example, saying, thanking Biden, saying that the transatlantic cooperation
is close, NATO is strong, the USA is a good
and reliable partner for us.
And that Biden's decision to not to not run deserves
a lot of respect.
And I think that's the tone we're getting from a
number of leaders here in where it gets, you know,
pretty interesting are the two sort of areas and countries
that really are reliant on Joe Biden and the United
States, both in the form of Zelensky, who says he
will always be thankful for President Joe Bidens leadership supporting
for the country in the most dramatic moment in their
history.
We also heard from you of Gallant, who is the,
you know, the Israeli defense minister who also thanking Joe
Biden for his friendship and, and, and, and all of
these kind of, you know, affirmative messages basically respecting the
president.
The question is going to be for many of these
is not really who the Democratic candidate that replaced him
is, is the question is going to be, how does
this bear now on the presidential race?
Because you have very stark outcomes, very different ones for
between Trump and Biden, particularly when it bears on the
question of Ukraine.
It's going to be watched very closely.
And of course, Benjamin Netanyahu was, I think, on the
plane on his way to DC to go meet with
Biden when all of this transpired.
So we know he'll be there arriving there today, meeting
with Biden and probably Kamala Harris tomorrow.
What do we know of Kamala Harris's foreign policy?
This is Biden is steeped in foreign policy and has
been for decades.
What about the dividing lines with Harris?
Are there any?
Yes.
So listen, this is a really interesting question, Tom, because
really her focus during this administration has really been the
southern border, which is, of course, a sort of international
rule, but not really something that you think about when
you think about Europe and China and all these sort
of broader themes.
I mean, generally speaking, everything is expected to stay more
or less aligned in terms of the questions of Ukraine
support, the questions of NATO, the questions of toughness on
China.
Where things do get a little bit interesting, Tom.
And this is particularly relevant now that Benjamin Netanyahu is
on his way to DC is that she has been,
she was one of the first to call for a
ceasefire in Israel, has been more outspoken on the question
of Israel and it's sort of involvement and how it's
sort of a prosecuted its war with Gaza.
So I think that actually is a pretty interesting first
meeting to have.
And of course, Tom, where this is really interesting is
it really draws a very, very sharp contrast with what
we heard from the RNC last week, particularly from JD
Vance, who is, you know, promoted a much more sort
of isolationist policy and much less multilateralism than you get
from Kamala Harris.