‘Hurricane may be just a pretext for cancelling Biden’s visit to the US’ – political analyst
9 October 2024 14:19
EXCLUSIVE
U.S. President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will not travel to Berlin for a meeting of the Ramstein contact group on Ukraine’s defence, which is to be held in the format of heads of state. The official reason given by Washington is the threat of hurricanes hanging over the United States. The American leadership must be present in the country to respond adequately to these challenges. "Komersant Ukrainian" asked political analyst Igor Reiterovich whether Biden and Blinkin really need to stay in the country, or whether there are some pitfalls that Ukrainians should be aware of.
The expert does suggest that the official reason for the cancellation of the visit may turn out to be just a formal excuse.
“I do not rule out that this is just a pretext [not to go to Ramstein]. There may be deeper reasons, for example, some concern about what may happen in the Middle East these days. And they are trying to keep their finger on the pulse of events, to control and react quickly. And if they are at Ramstein, it will definitely distract the US attention from certain issues, and they will have to be addressed in some other way,”
– says the political scientist.
However, the expert does not rule out that the situation may change quickly, and American leaders will still appear in Europe.
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“We’ll see. In fact, if it’s really only about the hurricane, then depending on how the situation develops, Biden can change his position quite quickly and fly to Europe. This is not a problem. Blinken can do the same,”
– explains Ihor Reuterovych.
At the same time, the possibility of an alternative format for the meeting should not be ruled out, he says:
“They can come up with some kind of remote format and hold the meeting in a slightly different way, not the way they planned it in advance.”
As 
reported, the US is currently looking for alternatives to Biden’s planned trip to Germany. Thus, during a briefing by Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh, she was asked whether the option of postponing the “leadership Ramstein” to 17-18 October, when NATO ministers are due to meet, was being considered. The spokesperson replied that a final decision was being sought.
for the first time, the “Ramstein” is to be held at the level of heads of state, not defence ministers, as was the case in the past. At this meeting, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy plans to present the “Victory Plan” to his partners.
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