Final Word from Monday, July 29, 2024

Joe Biden explained in an address to the nation last week why he had pulled out of the presidential race. He decided to put the defense of democracy before his own ambition, he said, and he indicated that the biggest threat to U.S. democracy is posed by the election of Donald Trump. Biden also spoke of two specific crises. The climate crisis, he said, is an existential threat, and his government overcame the major economic crisis that it inherited from Trump. Biden didn't say anything about the world being at a "boiling point" or "teetering dangerously on the edge of a global conflict," as Dir. Michal Koudelka of the BIS counterintelligence agency did late last week. According to Koudelka, the security situation in the world is extremely serious. Whom should we believe? The U.S. president assures his people on Wed. that the U.S. has "emerged stronger, more prosperous and more secure," and an intelligence chief in a small ally nation warns his own people a few days later that everything is about to explode. [ Czech Republic United States of America Oval Office ČTK president Pres. counter-intelligence ]