NEW HAVEN, Connecticut: Former Vice President Joe Biden, still grieving the loss of his son to cancer and unsure whether he’ll run for president in 2020, said Friday that America is in a battle for the nation’s soul.
The Democrat spoke before more than 1,500 people at Southern Connecticut State University, hours after he was in Maryland to accept the Naval Academy Alumni Association’s Distinguished Graduate Award on behalf of Republican Sen. John McCain. McCain is battling glioblastoma, the same aggressive brain cancer Biden’s son, Beau, died from in 2015.
“He’s a very close friend of mine, and a political opponent, and he’s in tough shape and he asked me to go to Annapolis and speak for him,” Biden said. “He’s my friend. So of course I went.”
The New Haven Register reported that Biden talked of being a young senator, the current political climate and losing family members to death during his lecture.
He said only time would tell if he runs for president in 2020. “I have to be able to stand in front of a mirror and know that if I don’t run, it’s not because I’m afraid of losing, it’s because there’s somebody better to do it and/or because I’m not in a position to be all in,” he said “The jury is still out. I’ve done nothing to promote running.”
But Biden — who has traded harsh fighting words with President Donald Trump over who would come out on top in a hypothetical fistfight — said the US can’t afford eight years of the current Republican administration.
“We’re in a battle for the soul of this nation,” he said.
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Former VP Biden: America in battle for “the soul” of nation
Former VP Biden: America in battle for “the soul” of nation
Nordic region seeks deeper ties with Greenland after Trump threats
- Treaty of Nordic cooperation was created in 1962
- Update of treaty would be ‘historic’, Danish minister says
COPENHAGEN: Nordic government ministers will meet in Denmark on Wednesday to discuss elevating Greenland and two other autonomous territories to equal status in a regional forum, boosting cooperation after US President Donald Trump’s push to control the Arctic island.
Denmark and its European allies have rejected Trump’s insistence that the Nordic country must hand Greenland to the United States, launching talks last month between Copenhagen, Nuuk and Washington to resolve the diplomatic standoff.
Wednesday’s meeting will focus on upgrading the Helsinki Treaty, adopted in 1962 by Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Norway, to give full rights to the Danish-ruled territories of Greenland and the Faroe Islands as well as Finland’s Aland.
The autonomous regions have for decades sought equal status in the Nordic forum, but were kept out of meetings focusing on security and related matters such as the war in Ukraine, leading Greenland’s government in 2024 to boycott the format.
“An update of the Helsinki Treaty will be a historic step and a future-proofing of Nordic co-operation,” Denmark’s minister for Nordic cooperation, Morten Dahlin, said in a statement.
Greenland will actively participate in creating a commission to update the agreement, the island’s Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt said in the statement.
“The process surrounding the Helsinki Treaty will be decisive in determining whether Greenland can be recognized as an equal partner in Nordic cooperation,” Motzfeldt said.
While opinion polls have indicated that a majority of the island’s 57,000 people hope to one day gain independence from Denmark, many warn against rushing it due to economic reliance on Copenhagen and becoming overly exposed to the United States.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen earlier this month said that if Greenlanders were forced to choose between the US and Denmark, they would choose Denmark.
Denmark and its European allies have rejected Trump’s insistence that the Nordic country must hand Greenland to the United States, launching talks last month between Copenhagen, Nuuk and Washington to resolve the diplomatic standoff.
Wednesday’s meeting will focus on upgrading the Helsinki Treaty, adopted in 1962 by Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Norway, to give full rights to the Danish-ruled territories of Greenland and the Faroe Islands as well as Finland’s Aland.
The autonomous regions have for decades sought equal status in the Nordic forum, but were kept out of meetings focusing on security and related matters such as the war in Ukraine, leading Greenland’s government in 2024 to boycott the format.
“An update of the Helsinki Treaty will be a historic step and a future-proofing of Nordic co-operation,” Denmark’s minister for Nordic cooperation, Morten Dahlin, said in a statement.
Greenland will actively participate in creating a commission to update the agreement, the island’s Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt said in the statement.
“The process surrounding the Helsinki Treaty will be decisive in determining whether Greenland can be recognized as an equal partner in Nordic cooperation,” Motzfeldt said.
While opinion polls have indicated that a majority of the island’s 57,000 people hope to one day gain independence from Denmark, many warn against rushing it due to economic reliance on Copenhagen and becoming overly exposed to the United States.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen earlier this month said that if Greenlanders were forced to choose between the US and Denmark, they would choose Denmark.
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