Joe Biden goes to galvanize - and restrain - NATO on Ukraine
Biden has two main jobs on Ukraine at next week's NATO summit, but there's a hitch: they take him in opposite directions. The US president will arrive in Lithuania late Monday on a mission to stoke NATO support for Ukraine while simultaneously pouring cold water on dreams of quickly bringing Ukraine into the alliance.
It's a balancing act that goes to the heart of what Biden considers his biggest foreign policy achievement — uniting the West against Russia, while avoiding wider war with a nuclear superpower. Despite fears that Europe had become too dependent on Moscow and the US Congress was too dysfunctional, Biden quickly managed to marshal both massive sanctions against Russia and dramatic military assistance for Kyiv in the wake of the February 2022 invasion.
Now with Ukraine's summer counteroffensive underway, Biden will join fellow NATO leaders in a determined mood. «Thanks in large part to President Biden's leadership,» said National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Friday, «the president and our allies will demonstrate our unity and resolve in supporting Ukraine.» Biden begins his trip with a quick stop in close ally Britain on Monday and will finish by visiting newly minted NATO member Finland next Thursday.
An extra major item on his agenda all week will be pushing Turkey to drop opposition to approving Sweden's all-but-ready NATO membership. He will also use Vilnius on Wednesday as a backdrop for an address about «his vision of a strong, confident America, flanked by strong, confident allies and partners,» Sullivan said.
Even as he galvanizes the alliance on Ukraine, however, Biden will look to act as something of a restraint. That caution has emerged every time pressure builds from Kyiv — usually backed by
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