Biden announced this intention in remarks on diplomacy to State Department employees last Thursday afternoon.  He made the following points:

• “We must meet the new moment — accelerating global challenges — from the pandemic to the climate crisis to nuclear proliferation — challenging the will only to be solved by nations working together and in common.” “We can’t do it alone.”
• He continued: “That must be this — we must start with diplomacy rooted in America’s most cherished democratic values: defending freedom, championing opportunity, upholding universal rights, respecting the rule of law, and treating every person with dignity. That’s the grounding wire of our global policy — our global power. That’s our inexhaustible source of strength. That’s America’s abiding advantage.”
• In another part of his speech, he spoke about “rebuilding” America’s relationship with “many of our closest allies,” including Canada, Mexico, the UK, Germany, France, NATO, Japan, South Korea and Australia.
• The president claimed that Trump hurt these alliances with policies of “neglect” and “abuse.”
• He also spoke about the approach his administration will take with some of America’s enemies, including Russia and China.  “I made it clear to President Putin in a manner very different from my predecessor that the days of the United States rolling over in the face of Russia’s aggressive actions interfering with our elections, cyberattacks, poisoning its citizens are over,” he said.
• However, he took a more vague, non-confrontational approach toward China, simply saying, “We’ll confront China’s economic abuses, counter its aggressive coercive action to push back on China’s attack on human rights, intellectual property, and global governance.”

The words sound lofty and reasonable, but when you look behind them, they take a completely different meaning.  The globalism focus means involvement in issues in other countries that we might better stay out of.  The implication is that the US will support democracies around the world, but to many countries that are struggling with governance that support is seen as being the target of US muscle—the US will impose democracy–its form of democracy.  The US is going to do what about Russia poisoning its citizens—launch nucs?

The world is a more complex place than it was when Obama tried a globalist approach 12 years ago.

• China has emerged as a global threat if not militarily, economically.  It is flexing its muscles in the South China Sea and the straits of Taiwan.
• Russia wants to be super power again and is building/rebuilding its nuclear arsenal and meddling in places it shouldn’t.
• US superiority is no longer appreciated in places that don’t want the US meddling in their affairs.
• Climate change concerns are truly only a US issue, but it will be used by the US to cause structural changes both domestically and internationally.

The push to democratize the world and pursue climate change will have an adverse impact on the status of non-violent change.  A quote from the Pakistani Tribune reflects many international views.

“The kind of democracy the US likes to install around the world is a code word for furthering US interests. Respecting alliances in the real world means a smooth path for the sale of war machinery and a combined pressure on whichever nation decides to look out for its own interests. Amid all this rhetoric, there is something getting ritualistically confused. They are getting things backwards. The self-congratulatory rhetoric goes that democracy would now grow around the world with an interventionist America under Biden.”

Note the concern with intervention.  Many analysts equate globalism with intervention and armed conflict.  The use of military force to enforce climate or governmental change becomes prevalent.  This trend occurs just as the commander of the US Strategic Command, Vice Admiral Richard has warned that: “There is a real possibility that a regional crisis with either China or Russia could escalate quickly to a conflict involving nuclear weapons, if they perceived a conventional loss would threaten the regime or state.”  He went on to argue that the US must prepare to meet such an eventuality. 

If one ties Biden’s globalism with the STRATCOM commander’s concerns it is clear that now is not necessarily the correct time to be rushing into a globalist foreign policy that failed under Obama with more military engagement than under Trump.  Trump’s speak softly but carry a big stick ala Teddy Roosevelt reduced conflict in the world and disengaged US forces around the globe.  Service men and women wish that such a condition would continue.

Not mentioned in his speech but a clear part of Biden’s agenda is to open the US borders so that foreigners can cross easily.  Ultimately the Democrats hope to increase their voter base with this cheap labor.  A whole article needs to be devoted to the immigration issue, but for our purposes here suffice it to say that US citizens will lose jobs and Charles Koch can get cheap labor. Also not mentioned but there seems to be some effort to undo some of what Trump accomplished in the middle-east. Again a subject for another article.