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by Paolo Cappelli
January 21, 2021No president of modern times, ever, has inherited the set of problems that greeted Biden as he was sworn in on a clear and cold day and, in a nutshell, the president summed up as follows: "Anger, resentment and hatred, extremism, illegality, violence, disease, unemployment and despair ".
These, for Dan Balz, Washington Post, are the United States that Joe Biden inherits.
And the expectation for a 'new dawn' in America, to quote the words of Ursula Von Der Leyen, no less alive in the rest of the world
The Independent
"Democracy has prevailed."
Taking office with a ceremony unlike any other, Biden promises to unite a nation divided by crisis
The Times
Joe Biden is the 46th president.
Time of unity.
Call for the end of an uncivilized war.
First signatures on 17 executive orders that overturn Trump's policies.
Le Figaro
Joe Biden's dream of unity
The president urges Americans to reconcile themselves around the values of democracy and truth by assuring: 'my whole soul is devoted to this goal'
Editorial: "The world made right"
America is fond of these 'new departures' symbolized by the solemnly staged presidential investiture.
The world witnesses this political folklore with a mixture of admiration and skepticism.
This time there was a sigh of relief everywhere.
After Donald Trump's world turned upside down, Joe Biden's restored world, the promise to international allies and interlocutors of a return to multilateral dialogue and of remaking the United States' the great force for Good in the world ". Europe rejoices for having found a friend in the White House impatient to sign with him a new founding pact for transatlantic relations. But the euphoria seems excessive. Washington's return to the Paris climate accords is not a restoration. Blinken has already reiterated the firmness of Pompeo to China, the embassy in Israel will remain in Jerusalem, resurrecting the nuclear deal with Iran will be difficult Biden is an old school liberal, certainly not a missionary of democracy, and he will have too much to do internally. If they want to find a friend in the Oval Office, the Europeans will have to make themselves useful - this is what America now expects from Europe.
FT
"Democracy
Prevailed
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Biden Begins to Repair the United States
Inaugural Address A Call to Return to US Norms and Values
Since Abraham Lincoln, inaugural speeches have contained calls for unity.
But since then, unity has rarely been as central or repeated as often as yesterday in Joe Biden's speech - but American democracy has seldom felt as fragile as it does today.
To begin rebuilding trust in politicians and institutions, Biden must look closely, with an effort to restore a semblance of a bipartisan agreement in Washington's policies.
This will require the cooperation of his political opponents.
Even though Democrats now control Congress, Republican opposition will be a determining factor in Biden's success.
America has taken a fundamental step to return to a culture of truth.
The incoming administration will also need to repair trust in traditional media, and find ways to curb hate speech and disinformation on social media.
Only if Americans have the feeling that they all live in the same reality can the country really move forward.
Just as Trump's inaugural speech that evoking "American carnage" set the tone for his presidency, so we must hope that Biden's call for an end to the "uncivilized war" defines his.
America - and the world - cannot afford to see it fail.
Kommersant
In his inaugural address to the nation, Joe Biden made it clear to everyone that America is going through a turning point, something not seen very often in its history.
He made it clear that American democracy won a fierce battle and this battle was, in fact, a battle between Good and Evil.
Which means that Joe Biden himself is the leader of the forces of Good.
America has re-elected enemy number one, by Sergei Strokan
The confrontation between Washington and Beijing - Donald Trump's main legacy will continue.
On the eve of the inauguration of new president Joe Biden, future Secretary of State and Defense Minister Anthony Blinken and Lloyd Austin confirmed in a congressional hearing their determination to increase the pressure on Beijing, putting China and not Russia first. among the US threats.
China's global containment policy will be fine-tuned: Washington will focus more on democracy and human rights in the Xinjiang Uyghur region, Hong Kong and Tibet.
Le Soir
"Democracy Won" published: our America is back, by Beatrice Delvaux
The president of the United States is tweeting and not in capital letters.
It is a detail that speaks volumes about the return to normal across the Atlantic, about the deep and intense relief on this side.
These capital letters were so many unbearable attacks that they reminded each post of the turmoil of four years in the White House and the fear they inspired.
Symbols and words aren't everything, but after enduring a presidency where anything seemed possible, many yesterday needed signals that the Trump era was indeed over.
FAZ
a President for All, by Klaus Dieter Frankerberger: Federal President Steimeier said it is a great relief that Joe Biden enters the White House.
Like him, the overwhelming majority of Europeans looked forward to the transfer of power to the United States.
The joyful anticipation expresses the relief that the Trump era is finally over and that we are about to start a new partnership that has suffered as much as the reputation of the United States in recent years.
Joe Biden must give America new support and direction, at home and away.
Of all the tasks and crises that await him, this is the most difficult.
NYT
editorial: "Biden is betting on unity. Can the country listen to him"?
Joe Biden began his presidency on Wednesday with the same guiding philosophy that drove his election campaign: the center can hold.
It is a great bet.
American society is more fragile now than it has been for years.
It is unequal, unhealthy and politically radicalized.
A pandemic is raging almost uncontrolled.
The economy is in pieces.
The environment is in crisis.
Democrats and Republicans don't even agree on the reality before their eyes, let alone delimit the common ground they share.
Biden acknowledged all this in his inaugural address, asking for openness, availability.
"We begin to listen to each other again, to feel, to see each other," he said.
"Show respect for one another. Politics must not be a violent fire, destroying everything in its path. Any disagreement must not be a cause for total war and we must reject the culture in which the facts themselves are manipulated and even fabricated. ".
Biden's call for unity is not a demand that Americans all agree, but rather that they live in mutual tolerance, engaged in the democratic process and peacefully judging their differences until the next inauguration.
Editorial
WSJ
: "Biden's Message of Unity"
Whatever their party affiliation, all Americans can be proud of yesterday's inauguration of President Joe Biden.
The peaceful transfer of power from one party to another is a sign of the strength of democracy.
It was particularly moving, at least for us, to see new Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband walk down the steps of the Capitol escorting Mike Pence and his wife to their waiting car.
Pence earned this respect after January 6, when he refused to contest the votes of the big voters as President Trump intended.
Biden touched many fitting notes in an inaugural address that will be remembered more for the moment after the Capitol uprising than for his words.
The speech had a personal flavor with references to his Catholicism, such as the quote from Saint Augustine and the prayer for the dead.
The general theme was the call to "unity", even with some excess.
"I know the forces that divide us are deep and they are real. But I also know they are not new," Biden said.
"Our history has been a constant struggle between the American ideal that we are all equal and the harsh and ugly reality that racism, nativism, fear, demonization have long marked and divided us".
So are our political differences between those who believe in American ideals and those who are racists and nativists?
This sounds too much like Barack Obama's habit of viewing differences in ideology or politics as divisions between Enlightenment and fanaticism.
This creates cultural and moral divisions, as the Obama years of creating the political ground for Trump have shown.
Biden is right when he says there is a difference between "truth" and "lies," and too many political speeches are littered with falsehoods.
But that fault lies with the partisans on both sides.
Most of the political differences are not between truth and lies.
They are debates about trade-offs between fundamental principles such as freedom and equality, or about the best means of achieving good ends.
On this point we have heard too little in Mr. Biden's speech to reassure the Conservatives.
If his pursuit of social justice becomes a drive to blame racism for every inequity in American life, it will divide rather than unite.
If he insists that those who disagree on climate change are "deniers" who don't care about the planet, he will alienate millions of Americans.
The proof of Mr. Biden's promise of unity will be in how he governs.
We will give him the benefit of the doubt, which is what every new American president deserves.
Washington Post
Biden pledges to defeat extremism and the culture of lies as he tackles the legacy of Trump, Dan Balz
Biden ran for president with a promise to rebuild a sense of normalcy after the chaos and divisions of the Trump presidency .
But the shocking attack on the Capitol on January 6 underscored that a return to normal will require presidential determination in the face of white supremacist threats to democracy more than the usual demands for bipartisan unity and cooperation that have long been central to Biden.
"Here we are," Biden said, "a few days after a rebellious crowd thought they could use violence to silence the will of the people, to stop the work of our democracy, to get away from this sacred ground. It didn't happen. . It will never happen, not today, not tomorrow, not ever. Never. "
Rarely does a nation need the renewal that is promised at each inauguration.
As expected, unity was the main theme of the speech.
But there was nothing soft about his words.
If anything, as Kate Masur, historian and professor at Northwestern University reminds us, the echo of Abraham Lincoln's inaugural speech in 1861, a time when seven states had already separated from the Union and the nation was heading for a war bloody.
That speech is remembered for the calls for unity, to the "best angels" of America, but for the most part it was a condemnation of the secessionist movement and an iron promise to defend the Constitution and preserve the union.
America today is not at the point where Lincoln spoke a few weeks before the start of the civil war, but the "uncivil war" described by Biden reminds us that what we face today goes beyond the usual talk of political polarization or parliamentary ostracism and they remember the biggest challenge of Biden's presidency to govern a country where a minority of people reject many truths, stick to Trump's words and, in the extreme, are ready to fight.
It will be essential for Biden to move quickly.
That's why he immediately signed the 17 executive orders after his oath, and more in the coming days.
How effective Biden's strategy will be in fighting the pandemic, with vaccines and the nearly $ 2 trillion plan, will determine much of Biden's perception of leadership.
On these priorities, Biden faces a severe test: can he convince Republicans to support the package - and how willing he is to compromise to get this support - or he will decide to stand his ground and get it through with a simple majority vote of the his party?
Trump's impeachment process weighs on the first phase of the presidency, which will still affect the attitude of the Americans.
Biden said yesterday's ceremony is a symbol of the triumph not of a candidate but of democracy.
Democracy passed the stress test between November and inauguration day, but the system remains under pressure.
Biden's job, and that of the nation he seeks to unify, is to ensure that the forces that threatened democracy are faced and defeated.
From the editorial staff
Proceso Digital
Central American bishops ask governments to respect the rights of migrants
The Episcopal Secretariat for Central America (Sedac), has asked that the human rights of members of the migrant caravan not be violated, and that there be a profoundly humanitarian attitude towards them, regardless of their situation.
In the face of possible acts of violence, the Central American bishops have addressed an urgent appeal to the guaranteeing and control institutions, to be vigilant in respecting human rights and constitutional guarantees, constantly monitoring the defense of people, especially women and children.
The bishops remind the governments of Central America to seriously address the structural causes of the phenomenon of immigration.
MK.RU
Russian cosmonauts on ISS rescued from starvation by American supplies
Roscosmos asked NASA for food for 60 days due to the delay of the cargo spacecraft with food on board for the Russian cosmonauts.
Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov were deprived of New Year's gifts, which traditionally came with the last shipment of the year, but also of national food for at least a month.
Due to the lack of traditional Russian dishes on board, the executives of the Russian aerospace agency Roscosmos had to ask the Americans for help.
Roscosmos has indeed moved the launch of the "Progress MS-16" cargo spacecraft from 11 December 2020 to 15 February 2021. There have been more than one interruption in the supply of cargoes for both the Russians and the Americans.
And always the partners of the station shared their rations with the companions.