WASHINGTON — A year ago during his first meetings with Group of 7 and NATO leaders, President Joe Biden vowed that "America is back," promising the world's other industrialized democracies that they could once again count on the U.S. to shore up alliances and the global order.
In response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in late February, Biden led a reinvigorated transatlantic alliance that has gone to great lengths, often in spite of narrower national interests, to punish President Vladimir Putin and support Ukraine with tens of billions in aid.
Beyond Ukraine, however, Biden has struggled to deliver on his lofty rhetoric and the promise of a reinvigorated multilateralism. He has been hamstrung by record inflation and domestic politics, forced to confront a geopolitical reality that's more complicated than the president often suggests when dividing the world into democracies and autocracies.
