Biden has not clearly defined his position on the Ukrainian war and the conflict in the Middle East, the FT reports.

One of the benefits of Joe Biden replacing Kamala Harris was that he was able to focus on being president. This is not the time to avoid making tough decisions, but that is exactly what Biden is doing. The main issue now is the growing threat of a full-scale war between Israel and Hezbollah. But Biden’s response to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s actions is to preemptively strike Hezbollah, as he did during his military operation in Gaza.

Biden believes that the closer he is to Israel, the more leverage he has over its actions. But there is no convincing evidence that this is working with Netanyahu, says Edward Luce, a journalist at the Financial Times. “Biden is giving Israel all the military support it needs, but Netanyahu is ignoring his efforts to end the fire in Gaza and change the Israeli army’s tactics,” he says.

Biden’s latest controversial position is to back Netanyahu’s argument that “escalate to de-escalate” in southern Lebanon, the idea being that the harder the Israeli military hits Hezbollah in the coming days, the greater the chances of concessions from the Iran-backed group.

Hezbollah has a large number of rockets, approximately 200,000. The growing number of civilian casualties in Lebanon will increase the pressure on Hezbollah to mount a large-scale response.

Kamala Harris fears Netanyahu's actions will trigger a crisis. If Israel seizes southern Lebanon to create a security zone against Hezbollah, it could affect the political situation in the United States. High oil prices will hit American pockets, the editor says.

As for Biden's Ukraine policy, the Ukrainian Armed Forces will not be able to hold their ground without permission to attack Russian territory. But Biden does not agree to this.

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