Untold stories of Biden’s historic visit to Germany

 

Your leadership is to thank that Putin’s plan failed, that Ukraine was not overrun in just a few days, and instead through the bravery of its soldiers and the support of many countries … has resisted Russian imperialism for more than two and a half years

By Bryn Stole, Christiane Jacke and Michael Fischer, dpa

 

BERLIN – US President Joe Biden called Germany his country’s “closest and most important of allies,” as he visited Berlin for talks with European leaders on Friday.

The talks in Berlin with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer are expected to focus on foreign policy matters, including Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East.

In a joint appearance with Scholz ahead of the talks, Biden praised the German chancellor for supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia, saying Berlin “rose to meet the moment” in the wake of Moscow’s full-scale invasion.

“You showed the wisdom to recognize that this war marked a turning point in history,” he added, while highlighting that “America and Germany are the two largest supporters of Ukraine in its fight for survival as a free and independent nation.”

Scholz, in turn, credited Biden’s leadership for bringing together the NATO alliance and strengthening support for Ukraine at critical moments around the launch of the full-scale invasion in February 2022.

“Your leadership is to thank that Putin’s plan failed, that Ukraine was not overrun in just a few days, and instead through the bravery of its soldiers and the support of many countries … has resisted Russian imperialism for more than two and a half years,” Scholz said.

He said that Germany will “stand on the side of Ukraine as long as necessary.”

Biden said Ukraine would need further support heading into a third winter of war, and while the cost is likely to be significant to Western allies, “it pales in comparison to the cost of living in a world where aggression prevails, where large states attack and bully smaller ones simply because they can.”

Biden further applauded Germany’s support for Israel since the October 7 attacks.

Israel’s killing of Yehya al-Sinwar, the leader of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, was a “moment of justice,” Biden stated.

“He had the blood of Americans, Israelis, Palestinians and Germans and so many others on his hands,” Biden said of al-Sinwar.

Biden honoured by Germany

Earlier on Friday, Biden was awarded Germany’s highest honour, the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit, by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at a ceremony in Berlin.

Steinmeier told Biden that Germany was bestowing the award, a special class reserved for heads of state, for “your decades-long dedication to the trans-Atlantic alliance, your outstanding political leadership in Europe’s most dangerous moment and your lasting moral example of service, sincerity and decency.”

Steinmeier also described Biden as “a beacon of democracy” at a time when political extremism has placed it under threat.

Biden is only the second US president to receive the award, after George H. W. Bush, who was president during the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and helped usher through German reunification.

Steinmeier said Biden’s election in 2020 “restored Europe’s hope in the trans-Atlantic alliance literally overnight.”

“Let me say, in the name of my country, thank you, Mr President,” Steinmeier said.

After accepting the award, the 81-year-old Biden noted the dramatic changes in the US relationship with Germany during his lifetime.

“When I was born, our countries were at war,” Biden said, before adding that he recalled visiting a divided and occupied Berlin as a young man.

“The achievement of a Germany, whole and free, lives on, exceeding, I think, everyone’s expectations,” Biden said. “The dream of Europe, whole and free, remains the work of our time. Nowhere is that work more urgent than in pushing back against [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s vicious attack against Ukraine.”

Conflicts focus of talks in Berlin

Biden arrived in Berlin just hours after Israel’s bombshell announcement that it has killed Hamas leader Yehya al-Sinwar, offering an opportunity to end the year-long conflict in Gaza and free remaining Israeli hostages.

His meeting with Scholz, Macron and Starmer is also expected to include discussions over Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s long-awaited “victory plan,” which Zelensky made public this week amid further Russian advances in eastern Ukraine.

The proposal includes a demand for Ukraine to immediately be invited to join NATO, as well as requests for permission to use Western long-range weapons against targets deep within Russia, with the aim of forcing Moscow to negotiate an end to the war.

Scholz and Biden have resisted Zelensky’s latest demands, fearing being drawn into direct confrontation with Russia.

Re-arranged visit to last 19 hours

Biden’s trip comes over a week after he cancelled his original plans to travel to Germany due to Hurricane Milton, a deadly storm that struck the south-eastern United States.

He had been due to carry out the first official state visit to Berlin by a US president since Ronald Reagan, as well as attending a key international summit on aid for Ukraine at the US air base in Ramstein in western Germany.

Instead, the hastily re-arranged visit is now expected to last just 19 hours before Biden returns to Washington.

Biden’s trip comes just three months before the end of his term in office, and just weeks before Vice President Kamala Harris faces former president Donald Trump in November’s election, with significant implications for the future of trans-Atlantic ties.