US rejects ‘inexorable decline’ in global power amid inability to stop wars, genocide

In an interview with the Financial Times, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken rejected claims that U.S. global power is in “decline,” countering the widespread notion that the U.S. has low influence in critical global matters.

Despite the U.S.’ inability to prevent Israel’s atrocities in Gaza, and prevent Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 during Blinken’s term, the outgoing U.S. secretary of state rejected the notion of American decline, highlighting the Biden administration’s achievements. Blinken implied that the Biden administration was successful in reversing such a perception.

He cited major domestic investments and strengthened alliances as evidence that the U.S. is now operating from a position of strength.

Blinken’s term: Ukraine war, Gaza genocide

In a Financial Times interview, Blinken discussed challenges like Syria’s post-Assad transition, China’s dual-use exports aiding Russia, and nuclear tensions with Moscow.

Blinken highlighted U.S. leadership in mobilizing allies against global threats, from Ukraine to the Indo-Pacific, while asserting the importance of engagement with Beijing to prevent conflict over Taiwan.

He defended Biden’s cautious approach to Gaza and Ukraine while noting the administration’s significant military and financial support for allies.

Blinken “remains” optimistic about America’s global standing but underscored diplomacy’s complex and often fraught nature.

Blinken: Biden works on cease-fire

The U.S.’ outgoing Joe Biden administration is “working intensely” to achieve a cease-fire in the Palestinian besieged enclave of Gaza within the next two weeks, Blinken said in a statement on Jan. 6.

“We very much want to bring this over the finish line in the next two weeks,” Blinken told a news conference in the South Korean capital Seoul, pointing to Jan. 20 when the Biden administration leaves the White House.

He said there had been an “intensified engagement” including by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas on reaching a deal, “but we are yet to see agreement on final points.”

Blinken paid a two-day trip to South Korea, where he held talks with his counterpart Cho Tae-yul, as part of his final visit before the Jan. 20 inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

Later the duo addressed a joint news conference.

“We need Hamas to make the final necessary decisions to complete the agreement and to fundamentally change the circumstance for the hostages, getting them out, for people in Gaza, bringing them relief, and for the region as a whole, creating an opportunity to actually move forward to something better, more secure for everyone involved,” Blinken said.

“If we don’t get it (cease-fire) across the finish line in the next two weeks, I’m confident that it will get its completion at some point, hopefully sooner rather than later,” said Blinken.

The Israeli army has continued a genocidal war on Gaza that has killed more than 45,800 people, mostly women and children, since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, despite a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.

In November 2024, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its deadly war on the enclave.