In less than four days, the US presidential elections will be held, and with them the presidency of Joe Biden, the forty-sixth US president (46), will practically end, regardless of who wins, whether it is the Democratic candidate, Kamala Harris, or the Republican, Donald Trump, knowing that Biden will not leave the White House as US president until January 20, 2025.

According to experts, the United States and much of the rest of the world are in a much worse position than they were when he took office (January 20, 2021). While President Biden is frequently hailed by members of the foreign policy establishment as a successful foreign policy leader, his tenure has been marked mostly by deepening U.S. involvement in foreign conflicts that show no signs of ending anytime soon.

“US policies under Biden have only served to fuel destabilizing conflicts, and the president has shown no inclination to end any of the wars Washington currently supports,” Daniel Larison, a columnist for Responsible Government, writes in the magazine.

“The Biden presidency has shown the world how corrupt American foreign policy is, and most other countries will not forget what the restored American ‘leadership’ has done in the foreseeable future,” Larison adds. “Biden ran on a promise to end America’s forever wars, but after the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, he spent much of his presidency doing his best to involve the United States in conflicts where no vital American interests were at stake.”

Experts believe that the risk of great-power conflict has risen significantly under Biden, as he has pursued a policy of containment and competition with China that the United States cannot afford, while U.S.-Russian relations have sunk to new lows over Ukraine. In the Middle East, Biden has enabled Israel’s 13-month-old genocidal campaign in Gaza, backed its invasion of Lebanon, and supported its attacks on Iran. He has helped Israel sow chaos across the region and committed the United States to a new, open-ended, illegal war in Yemen.

Those who scrutinize Biden’s behavior believe that the president’s ideological fixation on Israel has led to an untenable policy of unconditional support that has fueled, and continues to fuel, the slaughter of civilians in Gaza and created one of the worst man-made famines in modern times. The president’s aversion to serious diplomatic engagement has meant that the United States has continued the disastrous economic wars against Iran, Venezuela, and North Korea that Trump launched. Biden’s refusal to re-enter the Iran nuclear deal has ensured that no progress has been made in negotiations with Tehran.

“It now seems clear that the administration’s efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza were a face-saving exercise, a smokescreen, so the United States could claim it was doing something to end the war while continuing to arm the Netanyahu government up to its neck,” Larison says. “The United States has not even pretended to care about a ceasefire in Ukraine, and on almost every front, the Biden administration’s response has been more militarization. The Biden administration has brought the United States closer to direct conflict with Iran thanks to Washington’s support for Israel. The United States and Iran could still be at war in the next few months.”

“It would be bad enough to enter an unnecessary war to support an ally, but to do so when the client is also killing and starving civilians is inexcusable,” Larison adds. “US support for the wars in Gaza and Lebanon is a strategic and moral disaster, and Biden should not be let off the hook for putting the US in that position.”

Even if the United States and Iran avoid war again, observers say, it is a measure of how dangerous the administration's policy was that it came so close to the possibility of war with Iran.

“Washington also bears no real responsibility for the atrocities and crimes committed by our leaders, by all accounts,” Larison says. “It is doubtful that Biden administration officials will face legal or personal consequences for their role in these atrocities. Regardless, Americans and others should remember that Biden and his administration were willing accomplices in mass starvation and genocide. Their complicity should never be forgotten, and they deserve all the shame the world has to offer them.”

The result of Biden’s decisions, strategic analysts acknowledge, is that US military foreign policy is already worse than it was before. The administration’s limited diplomatic efforts have been consumed by the president’s obsession with giving Saudi Arabia, for example, a security guarantee in exchange for normalization with Israel. Biden has done serious damage to the reputation and interests of the United States, they say, and will likely be remembered as one of the two worst foreign policy presidents of the past 50 years, along with George W. Bush (Jr.). Biden’s foreign policy legacy is fueling the flames of war and destroying innocent lives.