Washington D.C., Mar 2: In his first State of the Union address, United States (US) president Joe Biden said that Russian president Vladimir Putin “badly miscalculated” with his invasion of Ukraine, he was more isolated from the world than ever, and when the history of this era was written, the invasion will leave Russia weaker and the rest of the world stronger.

 

 

 

Declaring that freedom would triumph over tyranny, and framing Russia’s action as a battle between democracy and autocracy, where democracies were rising at the moment, Biden said, “Six days ago, Russia’s Vladimir Putin sought to shake the foundations of the free world thinking he could make it bend to his menacing ways.

 

 

 

But he badly miscalculated. He thought he could roll into Ukraine and the world would roll over. Instead, he met a wall of strength he never imagined. He met the Ukrainian people.” The US president also said Putin had thought the West and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) wouldn’t respond, and that he could “divide us at home”. “Putin was wrong. We were ready.”

 

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With the Russian invasion of Ukraine constituting the backdrop of his speech, Biden outlined measures that would inflict a high cost on Putin, the Russian economy and Russian oligarchs, announced a ban of Russian flights into US airspace, acknowledged that sanctions would have an impact at home, and expressed strong support to Ukraine. With Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States sitting in the audience, right next to First Lady Jill Biden, the President’s remarks on Ukraine drew repeated standing ovations from across the aisle, indicating strong bipartisan hostility to Moscow’s aggression.

 

 

In his speech, the US president also spoke about the economy, Covid-19, voting rights, criminal justice systems and gun violence, innovation, and proposed a four-point bipartisan agenda revolving around battling opioid epidemic, supporting mental health initiatives, supporting veterans and ending cancer. Biden began by acknowledging the strength of Ukraine’s resistance. “From President (Volodymyr) Zelensky to every Ukrainian, their fearlessness, their courage, their determination inspires the world… Let each of us here tonight in this chamber send an unmistakable signal to Ukraine and to the world…we, the United States of America, stand with the Ukrainian people.”

 

 

In what appeared to be a bid to explain to the American people why this moment was important, Biden said that history has shown when “dictators” do not pay a “price for their aggression”, they cause “more chaos”, they keep moving, and the costs and threats to America and the world keep rising. This is why, he said, NATO was created in Europe after the second World War, the US was a member of the alliance, and it mattered. “American diplomacy matters. Americans resolve matters.”