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US President Joe Biden said he “will not bow down” to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, calling on Congress to approve more US military aid to Ukraine to “stop Putin”.

During his State of the United States address, the Democratic president accused his Republican predecessor and rival Donald Trump of kowtowing to Vladimir Putin, which he called “dangerous” and “unacceptable.”

“Freedom and democracy” are under “attack”

“Freedom and democracy are under attack” in the US, President Joe Biden said in his State of the Union address.

Since the days of “President Lincoln” and the American Civil War, “never have our freedom and our democracy been under attack in our country as today,” the Democratic president said in his address to Congress.

“The whole world envies our economy”

US President Joe Biden boasted, during his State of the Union speech, about his achievements in the field of economic policy, assuring that the whole world is today “envious” of the US economy.

“I inherited an economy that was on the brink. Now the whole world is the envy of our economy. 15 million jobs were created in just three years, that’s a record. And the unemployment rate is the lowest it’s been in 50 years,” assured the Democrat, a candidate for re-election in November, in his full-length speech, addressing the full session of the US Congress.

Attack on Donald Trump

Unusually aggressive, Joe Biden launched an attack on his predecessor and rival Donald Trump from the first minutes of his long State of the Union address last Thursday night (in the early hours of today Greek time), accusing him of submitted, “bowed down” to Vladimir Putin and judging that “freedom and democracy” in the country are under “attack”.

In the imposing semi-circle of the US Congress, cheered wildly by members of his own faction, while the opposition Republicans remained seated in their seats, the Democrat, 81, who is running for re-election in November, assured that “I will never bow down” to the Russian president , who in February 2022 ordered his armed forces to invade

“My predecessor, a Republican ex-president, tells Putin ‘do whatever you want.’ Indeed, a former president said this, bowing to a Russian president. It’s a scandal. It is dangerous. It’s unacceptable!” he said, never uttering Donald Trump’s name

Honesty, dignity, equality

The US president, according to the text of his speech released by the White House before it was delivered, said he wants America’s future to be based on its “fundamental values”: “honesty, dignity, equality”.

“But some other people my age see another story,” that of an America given over “to disgust, to revenge,” he added, again referring to his 77-year-old opponent.

Trump wants a debate

Donald Trump wants to “get revenge” for his defeat in the 2020 election, which he never accepted. Although he is facing legal proceedings.

The former president had promised to “correct” his opponent directly. Yesterday he accused the Democratic president of turning the US into a country where the situation is worthy of a “horror movie”, while he asked for a debate between them.

Countering the rhetoric of US “decline” used by Donald Trump, Joe Biden assured that during his presidency, the country recorded the “greatest recovery” in its history, after the pandemic of the new coronavirus.

“The American people make history”

“You won’t read it in the headlines, but in thousands of cities and towns the American people are making history with the greatest recovery ever told in history,” the US president said.

That means “a future full of promise,” according to Joe Biden, who seems determined to play the optimism card, countering his opponent.

Against the ban on abortion

He also campaigned against repealing federal abortion laws, promising to “restore” right-of-way protections to American women if citizens elect a pro-choice Congress.

“Clearly, those who brag about overturning” the Supreme Court’s protection of abortion rights “have no idea about the power of women in America,” she said.

“But they discovered it when reproductive freedom was judged at the polls and won in 2022, 2023 and they will discover it again in 2024,” added the Catholic, who however wants to be seen as a defender of the right to artificial termination of pregnancy.

Criticism of Biden’s age

Joe Biden has taken an aggressive tone as concerns and criticisms about his age continue to be voiced.

In the traditional opposition response to the presidential address, Republican Sen. Katie Britt referred, based on excerpts of her deposition, to Joe Biden’s age. “Right now” the president “is not leading” and “the free world deserves better than a leader who hesitates and has diminished ability,” she said in her speech.

Temporary port in the Gaza Strip

Joe Biden announced to Congress that he had ordered the US military to set up a temporary port in the Gaza Strip to enable the delivery of greater amounts of humanitarian aid to the civilian population in the besieged Palestinian enclave.

About an hour before the US president’s speech, slogans about the war on the Gaza Strip could be heard in downtown Washington: protesters holding Palestinian flags gathered near the White House, while others blocked a road leading to the Capitol. The presidential motorcade moved through roads that avoided the protesters.

I will not ‘demonize immigrants’

US President Joe Biden said in his State of the Union address that he “will not demonize” immigrants like his Republican rival Donald Trump, calling on the US Congress to adopt a bill to impose stricter border controls.

“I will not demonize immigrants by saying they are ‘poisoning the blood of our country,'” said the Democrat, referring to a recent statement by Donald Trump, without naming him either this time. “We can argue about the border issue, or we can solve it,” he added emphatically.

“Immediate ceasefire” of at least six weeks in Gaza

US President Joe Biden reiterated his call for a six-week “immediate ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip in his address to the US Congress on Thursday and called on the Israeli government to do more to allow humanitarian aid to reach the civilian population. population in the Palestinian enclave.

“We are working tirelessly to secure an immediate ceasefire of at least six weeks” that would allow the release of Israeli hostages still being held in the Gaza Strip, the Democrat said in his State of the Union address. He demanded that the Israeli government “allow more aid to enter Gaza”, noting that “humanitarian aid cannot be treated as something secondary, nor as a bargaining chip”.