A critical look at President Joe Biden’s first week in office, the promises kept and forgotten

Joe Biden has been inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States, several of his cabinet appointees have also been confirmed by the Senate. What did we learn from these confirmation hearings and his latest executive actions regarding both his domestic and foreign policy?

Roughly one year ago, Joe Biden's candidacy looked miserable and dead in the water, he was struggling to raise money for his presidential campaign from small dollar donations and had even tapped out all his wealthy Wall Street donors, his hopes of getting to the White House didn't look very promising at all.

And yet here we are one year later and Joe Biden has managed by some miracle to be elected the 46th, president.

We heard over and over warnings from the mainstream media and politicians alike how a progressive like Bernie Sanders just wasn't going to cut it against an existential threat like Donald Trump, and that it was imperative to get someone more moderate, like Joe Biden, into office, and then as soon as he got into the White House, everything would be fine.

Joe Biden’s first week in office

Joe Biden has been inaugurated as 46th president of the United States, and several of his cabinet appointees confirmed by the Senate.

So now that he's the president, what does his first week in office look like? Well, the mainstream media wasted no time celebrating. In fact, the entire day of his inauguration was spent celebrating Trump's departure by salivating over Joe Biden, and even expressing joy over former presidents Bush, Obama and Clinton, who were also in attendance.

This hysteria in the media manifested itself with several reporters referring to this reunion of war criminals, as some sort of superhero event.

The, the sight of the Clintons and the Bushes and the Obamas, you know the the Avengers, sort of the Marvel superheroes, back up there together, all in one place.

J Heilemann, US Journalist

It's frankly amazing how quickly the media forgets that these are the same presidents who started the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, and ruined the lives of millions of people.

After this performance was finally over the first thing Biden did as president was to sign a slew of executive orders. Among them, rejoining the Paris Climate accords, as well as the World Health Organisation, which Trump had pulled out of. He reversed a few other decisions made by Trump like the controversial Muslim ban that Trump introduced in 2017.

However, what the media doesn't tell you is that this original law was crafted under Obama's presidency, when Joe Biden was Vice President, The Visa Waiver Programme Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015.

This is the framework that was introduced by the Obama administration listing countries like Iran, Syria, Iraq, Sudan, as areas of concern and safe havens for terrorists and placing hurdles for anyone who's visited these countries.

Trump, of course, built on that to ban dual nationals entirely, which Biden did rollback, but he hasn't gotten rid of the original legislation from 2015, which singles out these very same countries.

Now absent among any of Biden's first moves are the $2,000 stimulus checks. We heard repeatedly throughout his presidential campaign, and from Democratic candidates and politicians that as soon as Biden is elected, Americans will get $2,000 stimulus checks.

We will be able to pass $2,000 stimulus checks for the people next week.

Jon Ossof, Senator for Georgia

The promise of restoring hope, decency and honor

If you send Jon Ossoff to Washington those $2,000 checks will go out the door, restoring hope, and decency and honour for so many people are struggling right now.

US President, Joe Biden

Well, those checks still haven't arrived. As a matter of fact, Joe Biden has tried knocking them down to $1,400, claiming that the $600 issued under Trump a few months ago, is to be counted as a part of that.

It's frankly mind boggling to see the president of the richest country in the world rob his own citizens in such a way during both a pandemic and economic crisis. And even then, those checks are still no closer to being sent out or anywhere near enough and not retroactive.

On the issue of health care, throughout his campaign, again, Joe Biden would say that health care is a human right. Keep in mind that millions of Americans are unemployed and have lost their health insurance as a result.

Joe Biden isn't saying that health care is a human right anymore, he's saying he wants to give Americans easier access to health care. Joe Biden has signed two executive actions reopening enrollment for the Affordable Care Act, until May.

This is, again, a largely performative gesture and does not guarantee, health care. Even if one were to sign up for the Affordable Care Act, most Americans can't afford the deductibles or out of pocket payments required for the insurance to kick in, making this effectively useless and leaving millions of Americans still underinsured.

Biden's campaign promise to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour also seems to be out the window, with Democrats now introducing legislation aiming to push for this in the year 2025!

The democrats control the House, The Senate and the White House, and this is the best they can do?  It is frankly shameful, and will leave a large portion of the working class in a dismal state and with growing resentment towards Washington.

Once again we're seeing the same behaviour we saw during the Obama years when democrats had a supermajority and refused to do anything of substance with it.

Now in terms of foreign policy we've had some interesting developments. As expected Joe Biden’s appointee for Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, was approved by the Senate and is now the first black man to ever lead the Pentagon.

Austin is another familiar face from the Obama era, serving as the head of US Central Command, which oversaw things like the intervention in Syria and the occupation of Iraq.

 Another part of his resume that the media seems to gloss over so often is the fact that Austin sat on the board of weapons manufacturer Raytheon, which is one of the largest contractors to the US military.

This conflict of interest didn't seem to matter to the Senate, which overwhelmingly voted to approve him 93 to two.

Biden's nominee for Secretary of State Antony Blinken had his confirmation hearing in the Senate. During a four hour session, he was asked about a wide array of topics covering China Venezuela, Iran, and more.

Blinken, who served under Obama as Deputy Secretary of State and supported the regime change conquests in Libya and Syria, was grilled by Senator Rand Paul over his support for these failed imperialist endeavors.

Why do the wars continue? Why do the wars in Syria and Libya and Somalia and Afghanistan continue? Because the more things change, the more they stay the same. Mr Blinken has been a full throated advocate of military intervention in the Middle East.

Rand Paul, US Senator

It is safe to say that when Joe Biden claims diversity, and the media class and political class are breathing a sigh of relief, claiming a return to normalcy, their meaning of normal constitutes the same failed policies that resulted in the displacement and the deaths of countless innocents. That's what it really comes down to.

So, Joe Biden is now president, he's been inaugurated on his first day he signs a bunch of executive orders and he rejoins the Paris Climate accords The World Health Organisation, so he reverses some of Trump's policies. Could he have done more for the working class in the United States?

100% I mean, what he should have done is he should have come into office and the first thing he should have done was immediately get out relief checks for people, that should have been his first priority right away and he campaigned on that.

A week before he was elected, he was saying, it's on video, Get us elected, get the democrats, get us in the Senate in Georgia, and we're gonna get you $2,000 checks. Democrats were campaigning on that issue and now, you know, we're back to negotiating. Maybe 1400, maybe we'll have it by March, and I was expecting this ... Biden is your kind of typical centrist right wing Democrat.

Rania khalek, Journalist

Democrats do the least they can get way with

He is doing exactly what democrats do, which is the very very least, the very very least they can get away with any you know there's I mean there are some of course some good things that we should be happy about like of course he overturned some of Trumps more draconian policies with regard to, for example, the Muslim ban.

But you know he was also applauded for ending private prisons. Well, he didn't actually end private prisons, he signed an executive order that ended Justice Department contracts with private prisons, but also that's just a reversion to what happened under Obama, so it was just doing something that Trump had done.

And I think one of the more alarming aspects of his incoming administration on the domestic front has been really trying to ramp up fear around this new domestic war on terror and trying to get support for the idea of more anti terrorism legislation, which we don't need in the US.

I mean, we already have enough laws on the books in the US to put all of us in jail for thinking the wrong things at this point. After 20 years of this endless war on terror the last thing we need is more laws like that. There's already plenty of laws on the books to deal with what we have known for more than a decade now is one of the biggest threats in America, which is the rise of the far right violence.

The US is in an economic crisis right now, people are facing economic ruin, the COVID virus is still completely out of control, and obviously he's only been in office for like a week or so. But still, I mean, there should be way more measures being taken to try and help people or you know what they're going to have way more riots in the streets, God, you know, after a few more months or another year of this.

Rania khalek, Journalist

Despite the confirmation of Austin Lloyd  as the first black secretary of defense or Secretary of State Blinken, the new administration is not really that diverse. These are the same people who supported regime change and intervention in Syria and Libya and now they have been given job promotions and cabinet positions, rewarded for supporting these horrible policies under Obama.

To be part of the foreign policy establishment in the US, you have to support all those wars

(The confirmation of Austin Lloyd) wasn't even a question and answer session, it was like an interrogation by the neocons who run foreign policy in Washington DC, some of the most belligerent ones, he had to sit there and basically submit to, and bow down to, the most warmongering stances proposed by Lindsey Graham, and he was happy to because he actually agrees with those people.

It's not like he was really pretending, he actually agrees with the things that he said, I mean he was pro regime change, pro recognizing Juan Guido, pro sanctions on Venezuela that are killing 40,000 people a year.

You know he was, he was pro ramping up the cold war with China. He was you know he repeatedly, repeatedly, bragged about his support for arming the right wing neo nazis in Ukraine though that's not how he says it.

I mean the list goes on, one thing after another, and you know even on Iran I will say that's probably the one point of difference between a Biden administration and the Trump administration that's quite drastic is the desire to go back to the Iran nuclear deal, mostly because people like Anthony Blinken were involved with helping negotiate it so it's like near and dear to their hearts, they have like an emotional attachment to it, but at the same time when it comes to Iran, even though that's a difference between them at the same time the same underlying narrative about Iran remains the same between these two parties, Mike Pompeo and Anthony Blinken are very difficult to tell apart when they're actually talking about Iran, because they say the same exact things.

Rania khalek, Journalist

In Blinken's first press briefing he essentially said that he wants Iran to take the first step towards reestablishing the JCPOA. This is confusing since the United States is the one who left the deal. Shouldn't the US be the first to show some goodwill some good faith in re entering the deal first?

Well, that would be logical right and that's what's funny is you, you see these pronouncements coming out of the Biden administration about how, yeah, Iran has to go back to the deal first and it's like you're, you're the one who broke the deal, like it was you.

Your Trump administration came, and not only did they break the deal, they over and over and over repeatedly committed acts of aggression and provocations for war.

They killed Iran's top general on foreign soil. That's unprecedented! like you don't do that, they broke so I mean that the US behaved like a rogue state completely and the sanctions, I mean, if there was some more powerful country came along and implemented sanctions on the US, the way the US has implemented on Iran the US would nuke them, because that's an act of war, putting a country under economic siege like that is an act of war.

So it's completely outrageous for anybody in the Biden administration to think they have the upper hand morally whatsoever, or in any kind of position to be telling Iran that you're the one who has to make concessions first.

Rania khalek, Journalist

Who is the new US special envoy for Iran?

The Biden administration has named Robert Malley as the US special envoy for Iran. But who is Malley?

We're seeing that, apparently, a lot of Zionists and pro Israel individuals seem to be against Robert Malley, who was the lead negotiator on the JCPOA (the Iran nuclear deal). We know from the get go that Netanyahu and co oppose the deal but they seem to have a particular issue with Malley, why is that the case?

Because when Robert Malley was inside of the Obama administration, he was a voice of reason when it came to not just Iran, he was a voice of reason when it came to the war in Syria, and when it came to Libya.

And basically he was an obstacle to the neoconservative designs for the Middle East, because not only did he have these viewpoints that he would then in his advisory role to the President, you know, express, but he also acted as somebody who connected the White House to back channels between these countries that the Israelis and the neo cons and the US want the US to destroy.

Biden admin insists on Iran’s full compliance for return to JCPOA

The administration of newly-elected US President Joe Biden has expressed contradictory remarks about its return to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, saying Tehran must make the first move and resume full compliance before Washington will be ready to rejoin the pact.

So that's why he also plays an important role because his time working for the International Crisis Group, a non governmental organisation that has those, those contacts within these different governments the US doesn't talk to you, which is why it makes them important figure like that you know what I mean. So, this is why somebody like Robert Malley, I mean he could make or break a war if he's able to bring  the right messages and right people to an administration that maybe wants to start one or it has some people in it that wants to start one, and he did play that role during the Obama administration there was, you know, especially after the rise of ISIS in Syria.

There [were] times when Robert Malley was able to connect you know to like serve as like this intermediary between these back channels to de escalate the tensions between Syria and the US, which the US started to change its positions, to some degree, after the rise of ISIS because they didn't want ISIS taking over the entire region. But you know neo cons did.

So, it's also I think the you know the attacks on Robert Malley are also the Israel lobby and, you know, the neoconservative think tanks. And that kind of segment of the establishment it's their way of putting a red line. It's like, if they fight something as small as just one advisor, ... it's kind of putting a line in the sand of okay the Biden ministration is gonna be less likely to cross that later.

So it's also just making themselves be heard and just trying to get in the way you know they're desperate they really don't want to return to the Iran nuclear deal, they want a war with Iran and and so this is also their way of trying to make sure that somebody who might be able to stop it isn't there.

Rania khalek, Journalist

With regard to Yemen the Treasury Department has issued a license and suspended sanctions for about one month. We also saw a last minute arms sale to the UAE and Saudi Arabia was paused for review. Could there be some sort of rift in terms of support for Saudi Arabia or is this just symbolism and just for show?

So far I don't see anything beyond symbolism, and it's yet to be seen, Yemen is one place where there may be a change in policy and, and I hope there is because it would definitely prevent a lot of suffering if there were a change in policy in terms of overturning sanctions.

As far as the US relationship with the Emiratis and the Saudis [goes]I mean at the end of the day it's actually quite normal for an incoming administration to pause arms agreements that were made under a previous administration, that's not abnormal. That's not out of the ordinary. And you know, the US I don't think the US is gonna change its entire relationship with these people in the Middle East, these are its allies, it's not going to change overnight.

So I really think… when it comes to Democrats you get a lot of symbolism, I do think in the long term you may see a deterioration in the relationship with the Saudis moving forward because, that's more because the US is shifting away from the Middle East slowly, but it is [also] shifting away from the Middle East being sort of the centre of its foreign policy and strategy making.

The US for the future is much more interested in great power competition with Russia and China, particularly China, you know, something like two thirds of US Naval assets are actually in Asia, and surrounding China.

 So, you know, it's, uh, I don't think this is necessarily because a democrat came into office. I think it has more to do with the fact that liberals, Democrats, they do Empire better, and they're more effective at it.

And this already had started under Obama and they're just kind of continuing the sort of the trajectory of US foreign policy that existed at the end of the Obama administration that got slightly disrupted by Trump but not really that much. And part of that is shifting away from the Middle East, a bit, a little bit.

Rania khalek, Journalist

As we have seen Biden is continuing Trump's policies, stealing the oil from Syria, we're also seeing an uptick of attacks from Daesh, a double suicide bombing in Baghdad and these bus ambushes in Syria. Is this going to be used as some kind of excuse to retain troop deployments or increase them even?

I think what's most likely is that those kinds of things will be used as justifications to keep the remaining troop presence, that America has the troop presence in Syria is accomplishing the goal of making sure that the Syrian government can't access its own oil, and the US presence in Iraq is accomplishing the goal of basically acting as a barrier between Iraq and Syria, that's what that whole that's the whole purpose of that is to keep these countries from connecting with each other, a continuation of what we saw happening under the Obama administration, which was more of a reliance on small Special Operations units and specialized groups of troops, rather than large troop presences as as our way of like doing Empire now.

In the last month, unfortunately, the rest of the Middle East has continued to see destabilization and unrest, there has been an unusual uptick in attacks by Daesh.

In December we saw a horrific ambush take place in the Syrian desert near Palmyra where dozens were killed.

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The Taliban political delegation arrived in Tehran at the invitation of the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

This was followed by another bus attack in Syria in January, In Baghdad, there was a double suicide bombing, which left over 30 dead, and scores of wounded and the latest in Iraq, 12 fighters from the PNF were killed in another ambush by Daesh.

There has been speculation that the recent rise in attacks by Daesh could be used as another excuse by the United States to maintain its forever presence in the Middle East, occupying Syria's oil fields and occupying Iraq as a buffer with Iran.

At least 11 PMU fighters killed in Daesh ambush north of Baghdad

At least 11 fighters from Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), better known as Hashd al-Sha’abi, have been killed in an ambush by Daesh terrorists north of the Iraqi capital, according to security sources.

In many ways, it is very much business as usual, we've seen Israel continue its regular bombing of Syria absolutely unchecked, killing a family of four just the other day. Not a word of condemnation from the international community, or the new administration.

Within one day of Biden's inauguration Syria's Sana News Agency reported that a US convoy of 40 trucks had entered Syria illegally through the Al Waleed border crossing with Iraq. These convoys have been a regular occurrence as Trump has been busy stealing the oil, which he so shamelessly admitted.

We're keeping the oil, we have the oil. The oil is secure. We left troops behind only for the oil.

Former US President, Donald J Trump

The plunder of Syria

It was confirmed in late 2020 during a Senate hearing between Senator Lindsey Graham and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that a US Corporation, Delta Crescent Energy would be plundering Syria's oil under a deal with the Kurdish led SDF.

Bashar Jaffary, Syria's Permanent Representative to the United Nations sent a clear message to the UN Security Council, saying that the new US administration must stop acts of aggression and occupation, plundering the wealth of Syria, withdraw its occupying forces from it and stop supporting separatists militias, illegal entities and attempts to threaten Syria's sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity.

Yemen humanitarian crisis

One area where it looks like there might be some hope however small is Yemen. We saw how the Trump administration on its way out designated Yemen's Houthi movement as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) slapping Yemen with sanctions. Yemen has been gripped by war, famine and disease since the Saudi led coalition began its war against the country in 2015, with support and arms sales from the US and its allies.

80% of Yemenis live in Houthi controlled areas. Now the United Nations calls what's happening there the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, and says that if the sanctions are not removed immediately we can expect to witness the worst famine in decades.

Saudis, allies dropped over 3,000 cluster bombs on Yemen since 2015: Official

Saudi Arabia and its allies have dropped more than 3,000 cluster bombs on Yemen since 2015, says a Yemeni official.

During his presidential campaign Biden said that he would end US support for the Saudi led genocide in Yemen. So far, we've seen a few developments in that direction.

The State Department under Blinken has launched a review of the former Trump administration's terrorist designation of Yemen's Houthi movement or Ansarollah. The Office of Foreign Assets Control, under the Treasury Department, has issued a temporary license that exempts Ansarollah from sanctions. However, this license only lasts one month until 26th February 2021.

While this seems like a step in the right direction, one month might not be enough to convince traders, suppliers and banks to continue operating in Yemen. More importantly, this doesn't fix the original problem which is the terrorist designation itself.

While of course one week might seem too soon to judge a presidency let's not forget that Joe Biden and his cabinet, have been in government for most of their lives and vehemently supported, a lot of these failed policies that caused these problems in the first place.

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Secretary of State Blinken, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, Secretary of Defense Floyd Austin and Joe Biden himself, these are all people who supported intervention in Syria, Libya, Yemen, Iraq, and have given unconditional support to Israel and Saudi Arabia.

We know what their records are. And we know they're cut from the same cloth, fixing the problems they helped start is the bare minimum expected of them. Needless to say, it would be gratifying to be proven wrong, and actually see some concrete steps taken in the right direction.

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