Biden visits U.S. troops in Poland, will meet Ukrainian refugees
Global News
President Joe Biden visited U.S. troops stationed near Poland's border on Friday and was getting a first-hand look at the growing humanitarian response to the Ukrainian refugees.
President Joe Biden visited U.S. troops stationed near Poland’s border with Ukraine on Friday and was getting a first-hand look at the growing humanitarian response to the millions of Ukrainians who are fleeing to Poland to escape Russia’s assault on their homeland.
Biden’s first stop was with members of the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, visiting a barber shop and dining facility set up for the troops, where he invited himself to sit down and share some pizza. The Americans are serving alongside Polish troops.
He arrived Friday afternoon at the airport in Rzeszow, the largest city in southeastern Poland, where some U.S. troops are based.
With the troops, he shared an anecdote about visiting his late son, Beau Biden, while he was deployed in Baghdad and going by his mother’s maiden name so as not to draw attention to himself. The president jokingly razzed one service member about his standard-issue short haircut and seriously praised the troops, too.
“You are the finest fighting force in the world and that’s not hyperbole,” Biden said before sitting down on a folding chair to eat with the group.
He later addressed a group of soldiers in more formal remarks, telling them the nation “owes you big.” Biden also borrowed the words of the late Secretary of State Madeline Albright to underscore their place in a fragile moment for the U.S. and its European allies.
“The secretary of state used to have an expression. She said, `We are the essential nation,”’ Biden told the troops. “I don’t want to sound philosophical here, but you are in midst of a fight between democracy and an an oligarch.”
He will be in Warsaw on Saturday for talks with Polish President Andrzej Duda and others. The Polish leader was to welcome Biden at the airport on Friday, but his plane was delayed by a technical problem.
X, formerly Twitter, was down for tens of thousands of users worldwide on Friday, according to outage tracking website Downdetector.com.
The U.S. was joined by Iranian dissidents in rebuking the government’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests that activists say has killed at least 2,600 people.
Venezuela's acting president Delcy Rodríguez, who has been under pressure from the U.S. to fall in line, said oil sales revenue would go to bolster domestic services.
Canada's strained relationship with Iran goes back more than a decade, when a Conservative government under former prime minister Stephen Harper cut diplomatic ties with Tehran.
Billy Long's reported comment came amid Trump's rhetoric about a U.S. takeover of Iceland's neighbour Greenland, as well as his past quips about making Canada the '51st state.'
Denmark's prime minister says the country is standing firm in its commitment to 'prevent' a threatened U.S. takeover of Greenland after a meeting with American leaders.
It was an unexpected finish to a mission that began in August and left the orbiting International Space Station with only one American and two Russians on board.
Troops from several European countries are arriving in Greenland in a show of support for Denmark following an unsuccessful meeting with the United States.
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado’s meeting at the White House comes less than three weeks after Maduro was seized by U.S. forces.
Greenland is an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, which is a member of the U.S.-led NATO. Last week, Trump hinted at potential action.
The mission, which comes at the request of Denmark, aims to explore possible military contributions to bolster the security of the region, a German defence ministry statement said.
The U.S. State Department said the move would apply to countries whose nationals are deemed likely to require public assistance while living in the United States.
The United States said it was withdrawing some personnel from key bases in the Middle East as a precaution given heightened regional tensions.