Biden wants to focus on Asia. The Mideast has other ideas.

[DonViejo]

Anne Gearan 26 mins ago

President Biden has a clear idea of where America’s foreign policy should be focused: competing with China “to win the 21st century,” without the distraction of the complex, seemingly endless entanglements that have ensnared other presidents.

Biden and his aides have instead spent the past few days feverishly trying to tamp down an eruption of violence in Israel and the Gaza Strip. The president has made an emergency call to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the White House says other U.S. officials have put in more than two dozen calls of their own.

Despite his vision of forging a new foreign policy path and calls from some Democrats to take a tougher line with Israel, Biden’s recent comments have echoed the long-familiar themes of staunch support for the U.S. ally. Biden has declined to join calls for Israel to temper its response.

“One of the things that I have seen thus far is that there has not been a significant overreaction,” Biden said of Israel on Thursday. “The question is how they get to a point where there is a significant reduction in the attacks, particularly the rocket attacks that are indiscriminately fired into population centers.”

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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/biden-wants-to-focus-on-asia-the-mideast-has-other-ideas/ar-BB1gJQTY