Biden’s Honeymoon at the U.N. and the Conflict That Ended It

Biden’s Honeymoon at the U.N. and the Conflict That Ended It
Then-Vice President Joe Biden, center, during a summit at the United Nations headquarters, Sept. 29, 2015 (AP photo by Kevin Hagen).

After four years of relentless attacks on the United Nations under the Trump administration, President Joe Biden has restored “a sense of normality” to U.N. diplomacy, says Richard Gowan, U.N. director at the International Crisis Group. But even as they expressed relief at being able to work with a more multilateralist U.S. president, many diplomats in Turtle Bay were still frustrated by the Biden administration’s decision to block action at the U.N. Security Council when renewed hostilities broke out between the Israelis and the Palestinians last month.

On the Trend Lines podcast this week, Gowan joined WPR’s Elliot Waldman to talk about how Biden’s first few months in office were received at the U.N. and what to expect from Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ likely second five-year term in office.

Listen to the full interview with Richard Gowan here:

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