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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
David Smith in Washington

Biden rises to the moment as Ukraine makes battle against autocracy real

‘I’m sure when Joe Biden was running for president, the last thing on his mind was a revival of the cold war,’ said one former adviser to President Bill Clinton.
‘I’m sure when Joe Biden was running for president, the last thing on his mind was a revival of the cold war,’ said one former adviser to President Bill Clinton. Photograph: Patrick Semansky/AP

When Joe Biden made the struggle between democracy and autocracy the lodestar of his presidency, it was widely assumed that his principal antagonists would be China’s Xi Jinping abroad and America’s own Donald Trump at home.

But it is Vladimir Putin of Russia who has made the contest more immediate and literal than anyone expected, launching a bloody invasion of Ukraine that threatens to bring down a new iron curtain in Europe.

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