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Bashing Trump, Biden vows 'I will not bow down' to Russia
US President Joe Biden vowed Thursdayhe will not "bow down" to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, fiercely criticizingrival Donald Trump in his State of the Union address.
From the very first moments of his annual address, Biden lashed out at hispredecessor and presumed Republican rival in November elections and urged thedivided Congress to approve stalled military aid to Ukraine.
"Putin of Russia is on the march, invading Ukraine and sowing chaosthroughout Europe and beyond," Biden said.
"If anybody in this room thinks Putin will stop at Ukraine, I assure you hewill not."
"It wasn't long ago when a Republican president named Ronald Reaganthundered, 'Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall," Biden said, invoking thefamous 1987 Berlin speech in the waning days of the Cold War.
"My predecessor, a former Republican president, tells Putin, 'Do whatever thehell you want,' That's a quote," Biden told the joint session. "I think it's outrageous, it's dangerous and it's unacceptable," Biden said.
"My message to President Putin, who I've known for a long time, is simple --We will not walk away," Biden said.
"I will not bow down," Biden said. "In a literal sense, history is watching."
Biden welcomed in the gallery Sweden's prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, hoursafter the Nordic country formally entered NATO, the Western alliancedisparaged by Trump as unfairly burdening the United States.
Sweden had been officially nonaligned for two centuries but, alongsideFinland, applied to join NATO after Russia's February 2022 invasion ofUkraine, reports BSS.