Americas press review

Headlines: Mixed opinions after Joe Biden's State of the Union address

President Joe Biden during his State of the Union address to Congress, March 1, 2022 on Capitol Hill in Washington.

© Jabin Botsford/AP

Text by: Stefanie Schüler Follow

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Joe Biden gave his first State of the Union speech on Tuesday evening, in prime time and in front of the elected representatives of Congress in full.

The least that can be said is that the American editorial writers have obviously remained unsatisfied.

“ 

By focusing on Ukraine, Mr. Biden certainly drew a lot of applause from Democrats and Republicans.

This was also one of the objectives of the speech: to arouse this demonstration of bipartisanship, rare in Washington today

 ”, notes

The Hill

.

The

Washington Post

salutes these elected Republican congressmen who have thus " 

unmarked from the shameful praise given to dictator Putin by their party’s presumptive 2024 presidential candidate, Donald Trump

 .”

But, as the

New York Times

notes , the US president “ 

did not deliver a vision.

But the question today is how America will emerge from Vladimir Putin's attempt to dismantle a world order largely designed in Washington 

.

Same story in

USA Today

 which wonders: “ 

How to explain that Joe Biden did not take into account the idea of ​​​​the Republicans to ban all imports of oil and gas from Russia?

At the same time that we are sending various forms of aid to the courageous Ukrainians, the United States continues to import hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil from Russia every day 

", underlines the editorialist before concluding: " 

This begs the question : does the American president really want to isolate Vladimir Putin

 ”.

A few months before the midterm elections, Joe Biden also wanted to score points for the Democratic Party

As the

Los Angeles Times put it

: “

The speech was aimed at Vladimir Putin and the election polls 

.”

And on this second point " 

it's missed

 ," says the

Wall Street Journal

.

“ 

More defense spending to respond to threats from autocrats?

No.

A new appreciation of the contribution of fossil fuels to American and European security?

Not a word.

A comment on the fact that government spending has contributed to the highest inflation in 40 years?

No

 ”.

For the conservative tabloid

New York Post

, things are clear: Joe Biden " 

can't bring prices down, he can't get his Build Back Better reform through, he can't keep businesses in America

 ," writes the newspaper. columnist.

In Latin America, Moscow's allies will suffer from sanctions against Russia

Meanwhile, international sanctions against Russia will have economic consequences for Moscow's allies in Latin America.

The

Miami Herald

explains that Nicaragua and Cuba depend on Russia economically.

But the country that will probably be most affected is Venezuela.

“ 

Because after the beginning of the American sanctions against the regime of Nicolas Maduro under the Trump administration, a significant number of Venezuelan government companies began to use Russian banks to make payments abroad 

”, specifies the newspaper. from Florida.

This did not prevent the Venezuelan president from once again giving his explicit support to Vladimir Putin.

During a telephone interview, Nicolas Maudro " 

expressed his strong support for the key actions of Russia and condemned the destabilizing activity of the United States and NATO 

", can we read in a press release from the Russian Embassy in Caracas, taken over by

Efecto Cocuyo

.

Mexico will not take sanctions against Russia

Meanwhile, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who denounces the Russian offensive in Ukraine, announced on Tuesday that his country was not going to join the train of sanctions against Russia.

“ 

We are not going to decide on any economic sanctions because we have to maintain good relations with all the governments of the world.

And we want to be able to speak with the parties in conflict 

,” the Mexican president said.

The Excelsior

daily

reports that Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador also spoke out against the ban on Russian media.

“ 

It is akin to censorship.

We cannot on the one hand want to promote freedom and on the other hand limit 

it”, declared the Mexican president.

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