Is the US Still the ‘Essential Nation’?

On Nov. 18, US President Joe Biden put his name to an opinion piece published by the Washington Post. The title of the article, and its primary theme, was that the “US won’t back down from the challenge” of Hamas and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Declaring that the US was the “essential nation,” Biden sought to link his administration’s posture in opposing Russia in Ukraine and Hamas in Gaza as a singular objective that personifies the struggle between the forces of democracy and autocracy that has served as the foundation of his national security. . .