The world is unsure whether to recognise Joe Biden as US president-elect or not. Is it time for congratulations?
Surprisingly, leading US media declared Democrat Joe Biden the winner of the election, but American lawyers say that the official results for the states have not been summed up, and a recount of votes is required.
Many recollected the 200 election in the US, when mass media outlets rushed to announce Al Gore the winner, although he eventually lost to Republican George W. Bush after the recount in Florida.
US President Donald Trump, judging by his tough statements, plans to stand tall and defend his position to identify as many cases of election fraud as possible in order to call Biden an illegitimate president.
As a result, the United States may face a constitutional crisis, and the winner, as in 2000, will be announced by the US Supreme Court.
A number of leading politicians of the world were quick to congratulate Biden: the head of the European Council Charles Michel and all leaders of EU member states, with the exception of Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša, who preferred to congratulate Trump on the morning of November 4. He explained his decision with personal reasons and referred to the fact that Trump's wife is Slovenian. But his follow-up tweet was more serious.
Interesting that you appear to show zero respect for the #RuleOfLaw and for each and every vote cast- many of which have not yet been legally tallied. And by the way: how is George?" Janša tweeted and out a smilie face at the end of his tweet.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed Biden's "election" as a "new and exciting chapter" in transatlantic ties, whereas Japan's new Prime Minister, Yoshihide Suga, pledged to work to bring peace, freedom and prosperity to the Indo-Pacific. Clearly, Germany is expecting a move to refuse from the pressure of sanctions on Nord Stream-2 and withdrawal of claims related to the need to fund NATO. In turn, Japan is waiting for a move, in which it would be relieved of the need to pay for the US military "umbrella."
Indian leader Narendra Modi and President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte congratulated Biden. Turkish President Recep Erdogan also expressed a desire to cooperate, so did Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and Iranian Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri.
These are the leaders of the countries that are heavily dependent on the United States. They fear losing USA's support and hope that Biden would come to mitigate Trump's policies.
Benjamin Netanyahu's congratulations look like betrayal. Biden will undoubtedly retrieve the status quo for the Arab-Israeli conflict - the recognition of the right of Palestine to Jerusalem and a state as part of the UN Security Council resolution within 1967 borders. This once again shows that Israel, without the support of the United States in any form, is nothing like a sovereign state.
President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky and President of Kazakhstan Zhomart-Kasym Tokayev were two leaders from post-Soviet space who sent their congratulations to Biden. With Ukraine, everything is clear, but Kazakhstan clearly does not want sanctions that it might get from an alliance with Russia. The elite of Kazakhstan has not been an ally of Russia for a long time already - it feeds on US grants in the form of cooperation programs for post-Soviet countries. Noteworthy, they have to be approved by security forces in the first place. Accordingly, the money, and hence the hearts of the Kazakh elite belong to the United States.
The leaders of China, Russia and Brazil have not congratulated Joseph Biden yet. Curiously, in addition to the aforementioned Slovenia, members of the Estonian government rebelled against the "outcome" of the US election: finance and interior ministers Martin and Mart Helme.
On Sunday, they appeared together on an Estonian radio show, where Martin Helme stated that there was "no question that these elections (in the United States) were falsified.'' "If this (U.S. election result) goes through, then the Constitution will no longer apply in America,'' he added.
His father, Estonia's far-right interior minister, Mart Helme, resigned Monday, after he called President-elect Joe Biden and his son Hunter "corrupt characters." The "deep state" operates by pushing forward "dirtbags, corrupt dirtbags that can be blackmailed. Joe Biden and Hunter Biden are corrupt characters," Helme senior said on the show.
The President of Mexico surprised everyone with his intelligence, courage and self-esteem, who endured insults against Mexicans in connection with the construction of the wall on the border and the cancellation of the NAFTA agreement. Andres Manuel López Obrador said that he would wait for a court decision before congratulating the new president.
"With regard to the U.S. election, we are going to wait until all the legal matters have been resolved," López Obrador said. "I can't congratulate one candidate or the other. I want to wait until the electoral process is over."
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko called the US election "a disgrace and a mockery of democracy." It appears that Lukashenko has made a decision to leave politics.
Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping are silent without showing any sings of courage like Obrador did. Obviously, Russia and China believe that they have nothing to choose from, not even the lesser of the two evils. Biden will work to promote liberal values, he will poke his nose into internal affairs of all states that profess other teachings.
Biden called both Putin and Xi Jinping "daredevils" and vowed to lead an international campaign to pressure, isolate and punish China and Russia as the greatest threat to the United States."
He will certainly fight the "genocide" of Muslims in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which Trump did not allow himself.
"The United States does need to get tough with China," Biden wrote earlier this year in a "Foreign Affairs" article titled "Why America Must Lead Again: Rescuing U.S. Foreign Policy After Trump." He put forward an idea to build a single front of allies and partners to counter China's behaviour.
As for Russia, with Biden in the office Washington is likely to resume engagement with NATO and other allies to "contain" Russia, so Moscow will definitely see more and more sanctions from the Biden administration, if it comes into reality.
The Russian president probably understands that congratulating Biden will not change anything in the Russian-American relations. If the Kremlin waits for the announcement of official results, something may change for the better.
In fact, congressional elections are more important for the US political system than the presidential election. US Congress can block any initiative of the president, including international ones, and it does not work vice versa.
Following the results of the last elections, the Democratic Party will worsen its result compared to the 2018 elections, losing seven seats in the House of Representatives, whereas the Republicans will have a majority in the Senate.
The Republicans are likely to improve their positions in the lower house (by-elections will take place in two years), since the Democratic policy will work for the banking sector, rather than for real economy. Therefore, those who now support the Republicans by refusing to congratulate Joe Biden are making a wise step. Liberalism is dead anyway, but conservatives will return to American presidency being stronger in four years.