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New Delhi, Mar 10 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the launch of Mahtari Vandan Yojana in Chhattisgarh via video conferencing, on Sunday.
Hard Numbers: India & EFTA sign trade deal, Oppenheimer's Oscars, Biden's big haul, Portuguese polls, Irish vote down constitutional change, New hope for Libya
100 billion: India has signed a trade agreement with the four members of the European Free Trade Association — Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland — aimed at integrating supply chains and opening new opportunities for trade and investment. The deal includes a commitment to invest a whopping $100 billion in India over the next 15 years to create 1 million jobs.
7: The big winner at the Oscars on Sunday was "Oppenheimer," director Christopher Nolan's historic drama about the invention of nuclear weapons, which took home seven prizes, including Best Film. The documentary "20 Days in Mariupol" also won Ukraine its first Oscar.
10 million: The Biden campaign says it raised over $10 million in the 24 hours following the State of the Union, which served as a de facto campaign event. It’s the campaign’s largest one-day haul yet. With a long eight-month campaign ahead, the Biden team has been stockpiling a war chest as Trump fought contested primaries (not to mention legal battles).
79: The Portuguese center-right Democratic Alliance took 79 seats in Sunday's elections, ousting the incumbent socialist party but falling well short of the 115 seats it would need for a majority government. The party's leader, however, swore he would not work with the far-right Chega party, which surged in the polls, to establish a majority.
73.93: On Friday, Irish voters rejected proposed constitutional changes concerning the concept of family and care in a nationwide referendum. The first proposal would have recognized “family” as a couple without regard to their sex, while the second aimed to strip reference to the role of women in the home. Well over half, some 67.7% of Irish voters, opposed the first, while 73.93% said no to the second.
3: Progress in Libya’s long conflict may soon be at hand: On Sunday, three leaders agreed on the need to form a new unified government to supervise the country’s long-delayed elections. Elections were due in December 2021, but fell apart owing to disputes over who was eligible to run.
Biden's vigorous SOTU speech aims to prove doubters wrong
Jon Lieber, head of Eurasia Group's coverage of political and policy developments in Washington, DC, shares his perspective on US politics.
What's going on with the Biden State of the Union?
So big week in US presidential politics. Super Tuesday basically effectively ended both primaries for the Republicans and the Democrats. We now have two all but official candidates. Joe Biden gave his fourth State of the Union address this week. Big question around Joe Biden, is he up to the task? 75% of Americans say that he is too old to run for a second term, but he is a attempting to prove them wrong like he did last night in Washington with a vigorous speech where he spoke for an hour, which officially kicked off his campaign.
Biden spoke about themes of income inequality, he spoke in favor of aid to Ukraine, and he rolled out a couple of tax increases that Republicans don't like. There's a lot of risk in every public appearance that Biden gives these days because of the fact that Democrats are very concerned that he's going to make a verbal flub or that he's going to look physically frail. That did not happen last night, and I think that's a good sign for Biden for now.
But every time he goes on stage for the rest of the year, there's going to be concern about how old he looks. So the campaign can now begin in earnest. Biden didn't mention Donald Trump by name in the speech, but he did indirectly attack him, talking about how Republicans are the party of the rich and how the threats to democracy represented by this election. At least that's how Joe Biden wants to frame it.
US President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., on March 7, 2024.
Rowdy SOTU sets the tone for 2024
With both parties’ nominees locked in, Thursday’s State of the Union played more like a campaign-rally-cum-stand-up-comedy — complete with crowd work and hecklers.
President Joe Biden took advantage of the bully pulpit to highlight his administration’s successes and contrast them disfavorably with those of his predecessor on everything from economic performance to foreign policy. He did so without once using Donald Trump’s name.
Biden opened by urging Congress to pass weapons aid to Ukraine, saying Russian President Vladimir Putin will not stop there if Kyiv’s defenses falter. He also called out Trump for saying he would let Moscow “do whatever the hell they want” to NATO allies that don’t meet spending commitments. His message to Putin was simple: “We will not walk away. We will not bow down.”
On the more politically sensitive subject of Gaza, Biden defended Israel’s right to go after Hamas while decrying the humanitarian nightmare that is unfolding there. He announced the construction of a temporary pier in Gaza overseen by the US military that may be able to increase the amount of food entering the enclave amid rising starvation. He promised, however, that there would be no US boots on the ground.
On the domestic front, Biden played to women and middle-class workers, key elements of the electoral coalition he hopes will deliver him a second term in November. He promised to reinstate a constitutional right to abortion and crack down on domestic violence, telling Republicans they had “no clue” about the power of women.
He gave Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers, a shout-out for leading a successful strike last year and pointed to his own union bona fides and record of reviving the US auto industry. Biden will be relying on union voters to secure swing states in the upper Midwest like Michigan and Wisconsin that pushed him over the line against Trump in 2020.
Biden was under pressure to demonstrate vigor. Barring a few gaffes, he gave a strong performance, says Clayton Allen, Eurasia Group’s director for the United States, but one good night may not be enough.
“A strong delivery won’t substantially change the fact that 73% of voters still see him as too old, and he has to perform nearly flawlessly over the next 8 and a half months to keep age concerns at bay,” he says.
As has become the pattern in recent years, some Republicans in the audience shouted at the president during the speech – and on occasion, the president shouted right back.
“Spirited back and forth exchanges with Republicans in the audience — what would have been headline-grabbing breaks of protocol a decade ago — tonight were just more confirmation that the US is headed into a bare-knuckle fight of a campaign,” says Allen.
President Joe Biden speaks to the press before boarding Air Force One at Hagerstown Regional Airport in Hagerstown, Maryland, on March 5, 2024.
State of the Elephant downstairs
Here are a few things to watch for.
First, does the 81-year-old Biden look all there? Any slips or gaffes will be internet catnip for those who think Biden is too old to be president – a view now shared by 73% of voters. (About 40% say the same about Donald Trump).
Second, what does Biden say about immigration, trade, or climate policy – issues that could directly affect Canada? Ottawa and Washington have squabbled in recent years over the Made in America provisions of Biden’s signature Inflation Reduction Act.
But most importantly, does Biden make a compelling case for another term? He’s polling poorly despite good data on inflation, crime, wages, and employment. For Biden to pull ahead of Trump, he’ll need to pierce the doom bubble and convince just enough people that he’s a safer option for America’s institutions, economy, and alliances than the Other Guy.
Tonight will be his big shot to do that – can he land it?
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during the State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, U.S, March 1, 2022.
What to watch at the State of the Union
It’s time for everyone’s favorite constitutionally-mandated-but-mostly-meaningless political exercise: The State of the Union. President Joe Biden will address the nation at 9 p.m. ET before a joint session of Congress, and you can expect the theatrics of past years to continue.
The speech: The White House has not released an official preview of the president’s speech, but you can expect quite a litany: Israel and Hamas, Ukraine and Russia, migration, crime, health care, abortion – you know, the usual.
Of course, the challenge for Biden might not be what he says but how he says it. He’s fighting perceptions of senility and infirmity and will be trying to show mental acuity and physical fitness as he delivers his message.
The guests: Democrats are inviting many women who have been hurt by abortion restrictions in GOP-run states since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, including Katie Cox and Kayla Smith. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries will also host 17 relatives of Israelis taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7, while Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) will host Intimaa Salama, who lost 35 family members in Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.
The Republican guest list leans more toward law enforcement, including Border Patrol Agent Brandon Budlong, and New York police officer Zunxu Tian and Lt. Ben Kurian, who were allegedly assaulted by migrants. House Speaker Mike Johnson will have the parents of detained journalist Evan Gershkovich with him.
Not in attendance: Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska and Yulia Navalnaya, the wife of late Russian dissident Alexei Navalny. The White House invited both women to sit with First Lady Jill Biden, but each cited scheduling conflicts. One thing to note: Appearing with Navalnaya may not have played so well for Zelenska at home, as Navalny was viewed with skepticism in Ukraine.
The GOP response: The often thankless task of presenting the Republican rebuttal to the president falls to Alabama Sen. Katie Britt. She’s the youngest woman ever to win a GOP Senate race (and may have the gig because senior figures spurned it). She says "hardworking parents and families" will be the focus of her rebuttal.
Biden's SOTU touts domestic wins but not foreign policy
Ian Bremmer shares his insights on global politics this week on World In :60.
What's your reaction to Biden's State of the Union address?
Well, I mean, a couple things. First of all, even longer than last year's. He has the longest State of the Unions of any president in memory. And he is getting old. He's 80 years old. The first half of the speech, he came across as very strong, pretty compelling. Second half of the speech, he was obviously getting tired. He was having difficulty with some of the sentences. That doesn't show incredibly well. More importantly, has a lot of domestic wins that he's focusing on. This feels like a kickoff to a campaign speech. I fully expect him to announce his run for the presidency formally in the next couple of months, and I think pretty much everyone on the Democrats side does as well.
Very little on foreign policy. The balloon was not mentioned directly. That's good. As I said, I don't think we're going to be talking about that in a few days time, only sort of indirectly. Much more competition with China. No new policy announced on Russia and Ukraine, but in part that's because they've got the money they need for now, and by the time you have to look for more in September, no one's going to remember this speech. And nothing really on the Middle East, nothing really on climate. This was really a campaign speech. This was a domestic speech, and that is absolutely the focus. More protectionism/industrial policy from the United States than you've seen in a long time. That's pretty much where I am. And yes, there was a lot of sort of divisiveness from the Republicans, a lot of booing, and Biden got into a back and forth, and I'm sure you'll see all that on cable news. You don't need it from me. Okay.
Will the earthquake lead to significant downturn in the Turkish economy?
Fortunately, not so much. A horrible loss of life. These are big urban areas that are being hit and they're being completely destroyed, but they're relatively underdeveloped, both in the case of Turkey and in Syria where there's a lot of loss of life, too. Very small part of the Turkish economy, won't have a lot of impact. Will help Erdogan bring foreign policy together. More support from the United States, from the Europeans, from the Greeks, his traditional adversary, and even from the Nordics. That's really important, not only in the run-up for his election in May, but also because after the elections you've got Finland and Sweden that want to join NATO, and he has been basically putting roadblocks there. I think it's pretty clear that they're going to have a smoother way in after Erdogan's election.
How did Zelensky's surprise visit to the United Kingdom go?
It went pretty well. Keep in mind his big relationship is with Boris Johnson, who still has a shot of coming back in the UK. He's much more credible than Liz Truss certainly is, who's kind of re-throwing her hat in the ring. So, it was good for him to see Rishi Sunak, good for him to build that relationship personally. Also, keep in mind that after the United States, the United Kingdom is by far the second most important military supporter of Ukraine's ability to defend and retake its territory.
In that regard, not at all a surprise that the first trip outside Ukraine was to the United States, the second trip to the UK. He is focused absolutely first and foremost on can he continue to defend his country. Remember, after those tanks were provided, he's like, "Thanks to the tanks, how about some planes now?" In the United States that plays as you can never satisfy this guy. In Ukraine, that is he understands that the West is going to lose interest over time and he is absolutely aware of that and desperate to ensure he has as much support as humanly possible to get his territory back now while he can.
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State of the Union a Biden 2024 campaign preview
Jon Lieber, head of Eurasia Group's coverage of political and policy developments in Washington, DC shares his perspective on US politics:
What are three takeaways from Joe Biden's State of the Union address?
The first takeaway is that Joe Biden is definitely going to run for reelection. There was some question about this prior to the midterm elections when Democrats did surprisingly well. But based on the content of last night's speech, which was more of a campaign rally than anything else, where he took a victory lap for his efforts on climate change, where he took digs at his political rivals, the Republicans, and where he really laid out a vision of what the next six years of a Biden presidency might look like, it seems very clear that this man is going to run.
Two, is that foreign policy's just not that important to that reelection effort. In a speech where Biden spoke for over an hour last night, he spent less than five minutes talking about the two major geopolitical issues that will mostly define his legacy. The first being the war in Ukraine, and the second being the geopolitical conflict with China, who just sent a spy balloon over the continental United States last week that Biden didn't address at all. Foreign policy, not on top of mind for American voters, not heavily featured in Biden's campaign speech.
And three is that, while I hate to say it, the State of the Union might be slightly outdated. It used to be that the State of the Union was an annual way for the president to get in front of Congress and one of his key ways of communicating to the American people. But now between social media and wall to wall cable news coverage, the president has so many outlets for getting these messages out that the State of the Union is kind of a dull event. It was a lot of rehashed policy ideas. Biden talked about things that have been on the political agenda for well over a decade, including immigration, healthcare, taxing millionaires and billionaires, and there wasn't that much new or imaginative in this speech, but it was a chance for him to show that he's got the energy, at least for an hour at a time, to run for reelection.
President Joe Biden waves as he delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress.
Biden: We must ‘finish the job’ of repairing US economy
President Joe Biden gave his second State of the Union address Tuesday night to a packed – and maskless – Congress. Seated behind him were VP Kamala Harris and newly tapped Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Much of the speech was dedicated to touting the administration’s legislative achievements over the past two years. That includes the CHIPS Act, aimed at boosting domestic chip manufacturing, and the wide-ranging bipartisan Inflation Reduction Act, which, contrary to the bill’s name, focused on addressing climate change and lowering drug prices. The president celebrated over 300 bipartisan bills passed under his watch.
Biden pitched voters on the resilience of the US economy, highlighting the five-decade-low unemployment rate and strong job growth. But the president also urged Congress to “finish the job” in several areas by lowering drug costs, making Affordable Care Act premium savings permanent, and passing his proposal for a billionaire minimum tax.
Republican lawmakers, meanwhile, heckled Biden as he called on them to raise the debt ceiling without preconditions to avoid a government default on its debt. Indeed, McCarthy shushing members of his own caucus as they shouted at the president over his take on the current debt ceiling crisis was yet another reminder that the Republicans may control the lower chamber, but they are far from united.
Foreign governments, meanwhile, were likely paying close attention when Biden reiterated his commitment to Ukraine for “as long as it takes,” as well as to the “Buy American Act,” which has been a cause of friction with several friends, including Canada and Mexico.
The overarching theme of the speech was about economic progress, with Biden warning that he won’t let the Republicans “take the economy hostage.” Only time will tell if the president’s message resonated with voters, including Dems, who have soured on their man in the White House in recent months.
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