US President Joe Biden considers European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen the best candidate to lead NATO in 2024. London’s Daily Mail took offence at Biden choosing the German instead of UK Secretary of Defence Ben Wallace, writing in their headline: “He really DOES hate Britain!”
Wallace was long tipped to lead the alliance but failed to garner enough support from member states. This means that current NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is in charge for another 12 months since a successor could not be agreed upon, thus extending his leadership into a tenth year.
Unsurprisingly, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba hailed Stoltenberg’s extension in a tweet as “excellent news” because “tough times demand strong leadership. Jens Stoltenberg has demonstrated just that.”
Stoltenberg is fanatically Russophobic, reflected in his unapologetic support for the neo-Nazi Kiev regime. In this sense, he has served his role as NATO chief perfectly, so from Kiev’s perspective, there can be at least 12 months of continued consistency from the alliance bureaucracy. For this reason, Biden is also carefully choosing whom to back to become secretary general.
According to an unnamed NATO source cited by The Telegraph on July 4, the American leader is trying to convince her to lead NATO as she is a worthy replacement for Stoltenberg.
“We’re going to have a problem next year when it becomes clear that the field is no stronger than this year,” a source said.
And another source from the newspaper reported that in recent years a “strong bond” has emerged between Biden and von der Leyen, which has strengthened transatlantic interaction regarding China, Ukraine, and climate issues.
According to the article, the head of the European Commission now “[relies] on Washington for intelligence,” which means abandoning the previous approach even though European intelligence agencies were considered the main ones.
It is still not clear why Biden has decided not to back Wallace, especially considering the strong ties between the countries in the context of the Anglo-Alliance, but it is evident that he places more trust in the German and British media are outraged by this.
Biden needed Amanda Sloat, his special assistant and senior director for Europe at the national security council, to clarify in April that the US president “is not anti-British” following accusations made by the former Northern Irish Democratic Unionist party leader Arlene Foster that he “hates the UK.”
Despite this clarification, the notion that Biden “really does hate Britain” has stuck, as evidenced by the Daily Mail.
The British outlet complained that Biden “frequently boasts about his Irish heritage and has faced accusations of being ‘anti-British’. On a recent visit to the island of Ireland, he spent a few hours in Northern Ireland before touring the Republic for days and snubbed displaying a Union Jack on his ‘Beast’ limo.”
The newspaper also complained about Biden making a “joke” about beating the Black and Tans, which they describe as “an auxiliary police force deployed by Britain a century ago.” They were British World War I veterans recruited to suppress the Irish War of Independence brutally.
This suggests that the British establishment, represented through its media, is frustrated that the most powerful leader of the Anglo-Alliance is an Irish Catholic. Rather than elevating an Anglo to be secretary general of NATO, in this case, Ben Wallace, Biden has instead decided to back a German, something which has evidently angered the Daily Mail.
For the US, the informal Anglo-Alliance with the UK, Canada, and Australia is nothing more than another mechanism to impose and project its own interests under the veneer of serving the entire Anglo world. The US does not have true allies, just partners that serve its interests.
Although the Anglo-Alliance is undoubtedly the premiere organisation for the US despite its own self-serving interests, even surpassing a divided NATO, for the British press, Biden hates the UK and is therefore not serving the best interests of the Anglos but that of only the US. This suggests that the British establishment still holds elitist and arrogant attitudes by believing they are entitled to leadership, which is again demonstrated in their belief that they have a rightful claim to the helm of NATO.
Nonetheless, Biden’s backing of von der Leyen is a strange choice considering her time as German defence minister is perceived as a failure by most.
In February 2021, Dutch MEP Derk Jan Eppink called for von der Leyen to stand down as president of the European Commission, which the Spectator described as “fairly disastrous.”
“I did not vote for your candidacy for president of the European Commission because I knew of your past as a minister of defence in Germany,” Eppink said. “You have run away but I will say it anyway, you are to be blamed.”
From this angle, it is understandable why the British are mortified that Biden is putting his faith in von der Leyen. Yet, the truth is, whether it is Wallace or von der Leyen, NATO will continue serving as a vehicle to impose the US’ anti-Russia agenda on member states.
By: Ahmed Adel
