The geopolitical plates are shifting violently as China and Russia form a new axis of evil and once reliable allies are moving away from the United States and toward our adversaries.

Even a major NATO member is openly rejecting American leadership on Taiwan.

But don’t even think about blaming any of this on Joe Biden.

The world is churning but the buck never, ever stops on his desk.

The latest example of his media free pass appears via a front page New York Times article that bemoans what it calls a “dearth of diplomacy.” 

“Bargaining tables sit empty these days. Shuttle diplomacy planes have been grounded. Treaties are more likely to be broken than brokered,” writer Peter Baker declares.

Before the reader gets any ideas that all these empty roads lead to the befuddled man in the Oval Office, Baker assures that “Mr. Biden fervently believes in deal making,” then ticks off a series of hot spots where the president couldn’t make a deal, such as with Iran, or didn’t make an effort, such as pretty much everywhere else. 

“It is widely considered futile to even try to end the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict or negotiate with North Korea at this point,” Baker writes.

“The Russians have suspended the New START treaty, the last major Russian-American arms control agreement, and there appears to be little prospect for diplomacy to halt the fighting in Ukraine in the near term.”

The deal-making drought includes the economic front, where “Mr. Biden opted against rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the sweeping free trade pact negotiated by a previous administration he belonged to, nor is he pursuing any other major free trade agreement, making him the first president not to do so in four decades.”

Baker is a skilled Washington hand and a survivor more than a participant of the Times’ shift to far-left activism, so he cleverly damns Biden with faint praise.

But he’s also careful not to dig too deeply into the cause of this litany of futility, settling for quotes from a former diplomat and others who cite this era as especially difficult for deal making and the fact that big agreements happen slowly.

All true–and yet obviously incomplete.

The real questions are ones that Baker never touches: Why is this happening on Biden’s watch? And don’t great leaders write history instead of being a victim of it? 

After all, Baker concedes that Donald Trump secured the historic Abraham Accords in the Mideast and a new and improved NAFTA trade deal, while failing to get a new trade deal with China.

That’s far more than Biden has done or even tried.

So what’s the problem? 

The answer is something else Baker can’t or won’t say: Biden is the weakest president America has had since Jimmy Carter and the world knows it.

That single fact explains why China, Russia and Iran are making common cause like never before. 

They refuse to make deals with the U.S. because they don’t see any reason to make concessions to what they view as a declining power.

They act without fearing our reaction.

The same can be said about why Saudi Arabia and others are pulling away from America’s embrace.

They neither fear nor trust Biden and obviously don’t believe that following America’s lead is in their best interest.

Instead, they are tilting toward China, a rising power instead of a declining one.

Take two other stunning and recent examples.

French president Emanuel Macron, after a visit to China while the Communist nation was conducting attack drills against Taiwan, said Europe has no interest in pushing the conflict over the island and should become a “third pole” independent of Washington and Beijing.

In an interview with French and American media outlets, Macron said “the worst thing would be to think that we Europeans must become followers on this topic and adapt to the American rhythm or a Chinese overreaction.”

Making it clear Taiwan and China’s other neighbors are on their own, he said Europe “should not be caught up in a disordering of the world and crises that aren’t ours.”

It was a pandering performance, no doubt exactly what Xi wanted to hear.

Nor is the timing irrelevant. 

Enormously unpopular at home, Macron can’t risk international trouble, so he rides the strong horse on the global stage. For most of the post-war years, that horse was America.

Not now.

Had Macron been afraid of Biden’s reaction, he would have stayed home or not advertised his greater fear of China.

It’s possible other NATO members will follow France’s lead in giving China a greenlight.

Given that a number have provided little to no aid to Ukraine in a war in their own neighborhood, it wouldn’t be shocking if they turned their backs on Taiwan.

Another example of an ally shifting allegiance involves Egypt.

The failure of the Pentagon to keep its secrets is causing trouble with a number of partners, including South Korea, but the Egypt case is especially shocking. 

One of the leaked intelligence documents reveals that President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi, a major recipient of U.S. aid, including military aid, wanted to secretly produce 40,000 rockets and ship them to Russia to be used against Ukraine.

According to the Washington Post, the document reflects talks between Sisi and top military aides where they also discuss plans to supply Russia with artillery rounds and gunpowder.

The conversation includes Sisi’s order that the aid be kept secret “to avoid problems with the West.”

The document is dated Feb. 17, but seven weeks later, there’s been no comment from the White House on whether the U.S. objected or if the shipment to Russia happened. 

In each of these examples, the details matter but not as much as the trend.

Around the world, America’s hold on the alliances it created decades ago is slipping and new alliances are forming against us.

It’s dangerous and terrible, but don’t you dare blame Joe Biden.

The Democrats’ choice of Chicago as the site of their 2024 convention is a head-scratcher.

Normally each party picks a city in a swing state or one where it can showcase a rising star mayor.

Illinois is deep blue state and Chicago is a crime-ridden danger zone.

Voters just fired their Dem mayor and elected one whose policies could make things even worse by next year.

So why Chicago?

Reader Fred McNeil has a question about woke grammar rules.

He writes: “He (goes) dancing and she (goes) dancing and they (go) dancing. That was fine for centuries, but now we’ve got individuals that go by they and them.

“Suzy is a transgendered female whose pronouns are they and them. I’ve got that part, but do I write: They go dancing even though there’s only one Suzy, or they goes dancing?”

“Sounds simple, but a person can get fired or beaten up for making a mistake.”