White House press secretary Jen Psaki speaks during a press briefing at the White House, Monday, Feb. 1, 2021, in Washington. WASHINGTON — A military coup in Myanmar and a mass crackdown on dissidents in Russia are presenting early tests for the Biden administration as it tries to reestablish American primacy as a worldwide pro-democracy leader.
And, while neither situation can be directly tied to domestic political uncertainty in the United States, experts believe foreign governments might be taking cues from the vestiges of America's perceived rudderlessness in the final months of President Donald Trump's term. “The United States remains a country in the world that is looked to for ... leadership, and it’s going to take some time, but he’s certainly committed to doing that,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said of Biden on Monday.
“It’s certainly an early crisis for the Biden administration, and it’s really crystalized the contrast between its support for democracy and the Chinese support for authoritarianism,” he said. There, President Vladimir Putin is using an iron fist to try to quell demonstrations in support of opposition figure Alexei Navalny, flying in the face of warnings from Washington and Europe.
Myanmar is no test at all. If it is, all of Southeast Asia needs a word from Biden because its all pretty much dictatorships now that started or rose under Obama and Trump. Expect nothing, unless Myanmar has quietly grow as a rare-earth supplier in the past four years.
I don't miss the mammoth fake eyelashes that all of Trump's press secretaries had, with the exception of Spicer of course. It's like having the eyelashes of a camel were a job requirement under the Trump administration.