Before his surprising decision to withdraw from a campaign he promised to conduct to the bitter end, Joe Biden had achieved one uncontestable distinction. Even without a second term, he had become the oldest occupant of the White House in US history.

Although some, including Biden himself, deem him “a great” president, a group of historians less impressed by his achievements ranked him as the 14th best president. The man who inherited a number of often contestable policies put into practice by his three predecessors — George W Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump — did very little to distinguish himself as the first to do much of anything really memorable.

Biden’s three predecessors will be remembered for their distinctive roles in 21st century history. Bush was the first to invade multiple countries using the original concept of “preventive war.” Obama was the first black person to be elected president. And Trump distinguished himself by being the first “stable genius” seeking to innovate in so many interesting ways. His most spectacular contribution to US political culture was to demonstrate that one could govern by tweeting. In contrast, Biden, who had promised to become the new FDR, in the end simply prolonged existing policies, even the contestable ones, already in place.

It was therefore edifying to learn from Biden’s own testimony that he believes he’s first in one area that seems to have escaped most people’s notice. “I’m the first president this century,” Biden read from a teleprompter, “to report to the American people that the United States is not at war anywhere in the world.”

Today’s Weekly Devil’s Dictionary definition:

Report (verb):

To say something that may or may not be true, which, if the speaker happens to be a politician, is more likely to be the opposite of true.

Contextual note

Taken literally, Biden is telling the truth. He’s undoubtedly the first president to “report” that America is not at war anywhere in the world. The reasons other presidents before him didn’t do so lies in the simple fact that such a “report” would have appeared to be a bald-faced lie. A quick review of US history tells us that during the terms of every other president — with the possible exception of Jimmy Carter — the US has been involved in overseas wars. Carter was too modest to make such a boast.

Biden is thus incontestably the “first to report” such a claim. From the public’s point of view, the outrageous claims a lame duck makes no longer matter. But anyone who reads the newspapers, watches cable news or even overhears a conversation in a public bar will understand that the US is very much involved in at least two wars: in Ukraine and Israel. To Biden’s mind, proxy wars and economic warfare, sanctions — though wreaking untold damage on civilian populations — don’t count. It’s a bit like Bill Clinton when he famously said, “I didn’t have sexual relations with that woman.” He believed he was telling the truth. For him, “sexual relations” meant full genital intercourse.

Biden follows the same logic. Technically, the US is not at war with Russia since no US troops are currently fighting in Ukraine, although, as The New York Times reported in February, US intelligence operators have been totally involved in both preparing and conducting the war for the past ten years. In December 2023, Biden himself evoked the eventuality of “American troops fighting Russian troops.” And he repeatedly committed to backing the war “as long as it takes,” which he biw appears to have planned to last a decade following the ten year U.S.-Ukraine Bilateral Security Agreement signed in June.

The US is avidly providing financial, operational, logistical and diplomatic support for two governments waging war. We also know that the primary aim of the war, as revealed by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, is not to secure Ukraine’s sovereignty but to “weaken Russia.” So, yes, Biden can truthfully claim that he did not have “military relations” with Ukraine, in the Clintonian sense.

By “reporting” this reassuring news of his administration’s deep commitment to peace in the world, Biden is seeking to distract the American public from what has become obvious to all serious observers. The risk is not just war, but war with a nuclear power. In this period in which Biden reports there are “no wars,” the world has now come closer to a nuclear conflict than at any moment in the past. Former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter explains why the risk is likely to materialize by 2026, as a direct result of Biden’s policies. The former marine intelligence officer claims that by removing safeguards that have been in place for decades, the Trump and Biden administrations have created “a situation that exceeds the Cuban Missile Crisis in terms of the risk of a nuclear war by an order of magnitude or more.”

Historical note

In the sentence preceding Biden’s “report” that the US was no longer at war, the president (mis)read these words from his teleprompter: “I will keep working to ensure American [sic] keeps strong.” He thus finds a way to associate appearing “strong” with staying out of war. That would mark a clear historical shift. In the years of peace following World War II, the US developed the habit of projecting its strength by engaging enthusiastically in wars intended to demonstrate its strength to the rest of the world.

This shift should remind us that in recent years the paradigm for wars conducted by nation states has evolved. Traditionally, a war was the occasion for a collective effort of a nation. Everyone remembers Rosy the Riveter in WWII. The nation needed to focus on producing the weaponry its military could successfully deploy in the theaters of war. Uncle Sam and Uncle Joseph (Stalin) needed “you” (the people), not only to fight but also to supply the military’s needs.

The paradigm began shifting with Vietnam in 1964, when the US officially entered the fray. For the first time, large swathes of the nation’s citizens refused to identify with the government’s war. Only three years earlier, President Eisenhower had warned of the risks associated with a military-industrial-Congressional complex (MIC) leading the nation towards extreme militarization and the encouragement of conflict.

The confrontation at home turned traumatic. Violating the basic principle of its mission, the CIA mounted Operation Chaos aimed at dissident Americans. In 1970, the National Guard at Penn State University murdered four student protesters. In 1974, with the war nearing its denouement, The New York Times revealed the CIA’s operation, further embarrassing President Nixon, who had expanded the war to Cambodia. But already, in 1973, Nixon had discovered the foolproof solution to dissidence: abolish the draft. He thus provided a miracle solution for the MIC’s future wars: a volunteer army of US citizens. Since then, the trend has continued, with an orientation towards mercenary armies and drone wars. Killing was still the norm but the Vietnam problem was solved. Americans must never see “our boys” (every mother’s kids) dying.

Everyone in Washington agrees, including Biden and Senators Mitt Romney, Mitch McConnell (“No Americans are getting killed in Ukraine. We’re rebuilding our industrial base.”) and Roger Wicker (“The Ukrainians are willing to fight the fight for us if the West will give them the provisions. It’s a pretty good deal.”). Let Ukrainians die in place of Americans. Our Slavic friends have generously accepted to take on the role of that valuable commodity known as martyrdom. We have thus succeeded in convincing them that, despite the obvious fact that for the past ten years the US has actively provoked and even created the conditions that made the conflict inevitable, their martyrdom is the result of one thing alone: Russian aggression.

Obama prolonged Bush’s wars but got drones to do the donkey work, saving US lives. Biden did Obama one better by engaging in wars fully supported by the US, in which Ukrainians and Israelis die, which is a real pity. Russians also die, which is considered good news. And Palestinians as well, which leaves Beltway citizens largely indifferent. But Israel’s sovereignty, like Ukraine’s, trumps all other considerations.

And so Biden “reports,” we are not at war. Our boys are safe and, of course, our defense industry prospers. 

*[In the age of Oscar Wilde and Mark Twain, another American wit, the journalist Ambrose Bierce produced a series of satirical definitions of commonly used terms, throwing light on their hidden meanings in real discourse. Bierce eventually collected and published them as a book, The Devil’s Dictionary, in 1911. We have shamelessly appropriated his title in the interest of continuing his wholesome pedagogical effort to enlighten generations of readers of the news. Read more of Fair Observer Devil’s Dictionary.]

[Lee Thompson-Kolar edited this piece.]

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy.