The stakes in this year’s presidential election are the biggest of my life.
So, as a way to frame the choice for voters, I offer these foreign policy questions for the president: Joe Biden and the former president donald trump in the debate:
President Biden, for months you have called on Israel to refrain from invading Rafah and to allow more food into the Gaza Strip. Yet Israel invaded Rafah and half a million Gazans are reportedly starving.
And isn’t that due to his tendency to overestimate how much he can convince people (Senate Republicans)Xi Jinping, Benjamin Netanyahu) to cooperate with you?
Will he use serious influence beyond charm to try to achieve peace in the Middle East?
Agreements?
Mr. Trump, the Abraham Accords that you achieved between Israel and several Arab countries were a legitimate success foreign policy, but you largely overlooked the Palestinians.
Perhaps as a result, these agreements were one of the reasons why Hamas carried out its terrorist attack against Israel on October 7, to prevent Saudi Arabia from joining Israel and recognizing it.
So did the Abraham Accords bring peace or sow the seeds of war?
Isn’t it a mistake to ignore the Palestinians and give Israel what it wants, like moving the US embassy to Jerusalemwithout getting anything in return?
President Biden, you have been pushing a plan for Gaza that involves a ceasefire and a tripartite agreement with Saudi Arabia, the United States and Israel leading to a path to a Palestinian state.
Maybe everything will work out, but if not,
If this war is prolonged or expanded to include the Lebanon and maybe to Iran,
How do you propose to address the Middle East more effectively than you have done so far?
Mr. Trump, you have suggested that Israel is taking too long to end the war in Gaza.
So what exactly are you defending?
Are you saying that Israel should use more bombs of £2,000 to further raze Gaza and kill many more civilians?
Or are you saying that Israel should reach a deal that leaves Hamas in place and then withdraw?
Threats
President Biden, Iran has enriched uranium to near-bomb levels.
In days or weeks, it could probably produce enough fuel to three nuclear weapons (although mastering a launch system would take longer).
Can we live with an Iran that is a quasi-nuclear power?
What is the alternative?
Mr. Trump, the reason Iran is so close to having nuclear weapons is that you withdrew from the international nuclear agreement in 2018, prompting Iran to greatly accelerate its nuclear program.
Since you created this dangerous situation, how do you suggest we get out of it?
If you become president again, do you contemplate solving this problem through a war with Iran, a war that could now involve nuclear weapons?
Or will it accept a nuclear Iran as a consequence of its historical error?
President Biden, under pressure from voters, you have reversed course and taken a much tougher stance on immigration.
But the biggest crisis on the Mexican border is not the people crossing it, but the Fentanyl, methamphetamine and other drugs.
Chinese companies send drug precursors to Mexico, where they turn them into fentanyl and other banned substances and then ship them north, and now we have more than 100,000 Americans who die every year from overdose.
How will you address that crisis seriously?
Mr. Trump, you have spoken of military attacks on Mexico to tackle drug cartels, but experts believe military strikes would end Mexican cooperation and worsen drug and immigration problems.
He talks tough, but drug overdose deaths skyrocketed during his presidency.
At the same time, his administration separated children from their parents at the border and did so so incompetently that some 1,200 immigrant childrenThey have not yet been reunited with their families.
So what would you do on the Mexican border in a second term that would work better?
President Biden, you have united the world behind Ukraine and has given that country enough weapons to survive, but not enough to win.
It has delayed some weapons systems due to concerns that Russia may respond with tactical nuclear weapons, but isn’t it dangerous to signal to China and Iran thatand we give in to nuclear blackmail?
Mr. Trump, are you willing to abandon Ukraine and force a peace agreement that would be a victory for aggression and for Vladimir Putin?
And are you worried that your own former national security advisers will denounce you, while some of those who have worked hard to elect you are Russians?
President Biden and Mr. Trump, a joint question:
What should the United States do about humanitarian crises in places like Sudan, which now teeters on the brink of famine and genocide?
Are you open to military interventions to prevent mass atrocities?
Or use diplomatic and intelligence tools to do more to save lives in places where our interests may not be at stake but our values are?
President Biden, you have stated four times that you would use military force to defend Taiwan, although his assistants sometimes try to retract it.
Has US policy shifted toward a clear commitment to defend Taiwan?
And what about the South China Sea, where a dangerous situation is creating?
If China attacks Philippine warships, will US forces be sent to defend the Philippines, even if it means war with China?
Mr. Trump, you have suggested that perhaps Taiwan can fend for itself.
You talk about the importance of projecting strength, so why in the case of Ukraine and Taiwan are you so willing to project weakness?
And after a first term characterized by chaos and global ridicule of his leadership,
Why should we expect a second term to be better?
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