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[–]chakokat[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

In a setting they usually dominate, top Biden administration officials and U.S. lawmakers found themselves in an unusual position at the glitzy annual gathering this week — a defensive crouch.

Day after day, the officials faced questions about the political tussle over providing more aid to Ukraine, congressional polarization, the optics of supporting Israel despite the suffering of Palestinians and a growing bombing campaign against the Houthis in Yemen. And day after day, they had to reassure foreign counterparts that the U.S. had everything under control, that these were complicated times but nothing America and its allies couldn’t handle.

The last time American officials were in this high-society ski town, just a year ago, they boasted about how Western support put Ukraine on the front foot against Russia and how investments in clean energy made the U.S. more competitive — even if it led to a major-but-temporary spat with Europeans. The talk of Davos wasn’t about what was wrong with America, but what was right.

Not this time.