1. Home
  2.  » 
  3. "The War on Terror"
  4.  » 
  5. Afghanistan
  6.  » ‘The defining photo of the Biden presidency’?

Above: Biden crumples during Afghan press briefing

Introduction – Aug 29, 2021

It may only be a matter of time before Biden leaves office. His presidency has been a disaster and the people who placed him in power with a highly questionable ‘election win’ may now decide to remove him, or at least ask him to step down.

For President Biden has become a liability.

His mental lapses and what looks like the early stages of senility are becoming all too obvious. Moreover, his apparent weakness and inability to handle responsibility will only persuade America’s enemies to do more harm wherever they can find a weak spot in the nation’s once seemingly invulnerable international facade.

For Biden is emblematic of a once great power in decline.

Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan all illustrate this. Now, Biden’ s ruinous withdrawal from Afghanistan signals that America may be about to go in as precipitous decline as Russia did when it withdrew from Afghanistan in 1988-89.

They don’t call Afghanistan the “graveyard of empires” for nothing.

After the former Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan the U.S.S.R. went in to terminal decline. Will a similar process now unfold in the United States of America? Is America destined to fragment in the decades ahead into a group of lesser nation states?

The Soviet Union did but from the wreckage Russia remerged as a potent world power. Will anything that emerges from America’s collapse rival Russia? Or will whatever emerges from the United States disintegration be destined for perpetual Third World status?

Esoteric Christian mystic and visionary Rudolf Steiner spoke of a series of world powers. When he spoke in the 1920’s Russia was communist and officially atheist.

Nonetheless, Steiner predicted that Russia would one day see a Christian renaissance and become the foremost global power. Are we seeing the beginnings of that today?

Since Russia shrugged off its communist shackles the Russian Orthodox church has become resurgent. If the U.S. goes into a precipitous decline China and Russia will become the two leading world powers.

It should be noted however, that the lifespan of empires isn’t what it once was. The Roman Empire spanned centuries while the British Empire was at its most potent for little more than a century.

This may be due to improved communications so it’s anyone’s guess how long Russia’s pre-eminence will last.

Neither India or China feature in this equation because, according to Steiner, both had their periods of prominence in the ancient past.

However, Steiner also predicted that Russia would ultimately be superseded by another power, or more precisely, by another way of life. Just as the British Empire saw the Industrial Revolution, the advent of global communications and the dominance of scientific materialism – and Russia will see a global spiritual renaissance – this pre-eminent culture-lifestyle will initially take root in what we know today as America.

I’m not going to speculate as to what it will be like other than to say Biden’s presidency may foreshadow much darker times from which this new America will ultimately emerge. Ed.

The UK Telegraph ran the photo alongside a political commentary stating that Biden ‘has blood on his hands and his presidency will not recover’. Click to enlarge

 

‘The defining photo of the Biden presidency:’ Image of Joe Biden crumpling during tense exchange with reporters at press conference on Afghanistan covers newspapers worldwide

  • Critics mocked Biden over image that showed him hanging his head during a testy exchange with reporter
  • Moment came during an emotional press conference after attack killed 13 US troops in Afghanistan
  • Biden ended the press conference in dispute with Fox News’ Peter Doocy when he hung his head
  • Conservatives called it a ‘defining image’ of Biden’s presidency saying it portrayed weakness
  • Liberals seemed to see the same image as a moment of somber reflection at the death of US troops

Keith Griffith and Geoff Earle – Daily Mail.com Aug 27, 2021

Images of President Joe Biden hanging his head during tense exchanges with reports after the deadly suicide attack in Kabul are being called by some a ‘defining’ moment of his presidency.

The memorable scene unfolded at the end of Biden’s press conference on Thursday, as Fox News reporter Peter Doocy pressed him on the disastrous pullout from Afghanistan, where 13 US troops and scores of Afghan civilians were killed in two suicide blasts.

The 78-year-old president was visibly emotional as he vowed revenge on ISIS-K, but while reporters from a pre-approved list asked him questions, he appeared lost for words at times and and frustrated in others, gripping his notebook and widening his eyes.

During the exchange with Doocy, Biden pressed the reporter to acknowledge that he remembered that Donald Trump had made a deal with the Taliban to withdraw — then hung his head down toward the podium as Doocy pressed him on whether the manner of the withdrawal had been sound.

Photos of the moment quickly spread around the globe, featuring on the front pages and websites of the liberal-leaning New York Daily News and Washington Post as well as the conservative-leaning Fox News and New York Post.

Local daily papers such as the Terre-Haute, Indiana Tribune Star, the Roanoke Times in Virginia, and the Hot Spring, Arkansas Sentinel-Record also featured the image on their front pages Friday.

Internationally, the UK Telegraph ran the photo prominently alongside a commentary stating that Biden ‘has blood on his hands and his presidency will not recover.’

In Germany, WELT ran the image with a story reading: ‘Joe Biden had campaigned with foreign policy experience and reliability. The chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan has ruined that reputation’. Click to enlarge

 

Continues …