Andrew Feinberg looks at how UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer could soon face a president with a drastically different view of Ukraine’s future as the new PM meets with US President Joe Biden in Washington, DC

Biden and Keir Starmer meet in Washington DC to discuss key global issues

Biden and Starmer meet at the White House as questions over Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles grow. While they met, Starmer will be face-to-face with a new US leader in just a few months.

With Donald Trump looming as one of two possible occupants of the White House come January, the stakes for Ukraine’s future could not have been higher as US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer met in Washington for the second time in the last three months.

It added a new level of intrigue to Friday’s face-to-face between Starmer and Biden. The two allies gathered at the White House to talk about Ukraine policy, but in just a few months, Starmer will have to work with – or oppose – a new US leader.

Biden, who announced nearly two months ago that he would stand down from his bid for re-election, will be leaving office on January 20.

The person who replaces him might be Trump, who has all but declared that his approach to Russia’s war on Ukraine will be to cut off American aide, let Russia win, and perhaps go as far as pulling America out of the NATO alliance.

Democrat nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris, meanwhile, has adopted the polar opposite stance, and reaffirmed American commitment to Ukraine if she is elected. Starmer won’t know who he is dealing with until November at the earliest, and they won’t take the office until January.

As Starmer plots a course of Ukraine, he will be dealing with Donald Trump or Kamala Harris in months – and they will have their own thoughts on Russian policy.

Pope Francis slams both presidential candidates, saying “whether it is the one who is chasing away migrants, or the one who that kills children… both are against life.”

Pope’s remarks come following an arduous 12-day tour through Southeast Asia and Oceania.

Pope Francis has criticised both former US president Donald Trump over his plan to deport millions of immigrants and Vice President Kamala Harris over her stance supporting abortion.

Asked on Friday about the US presidential election on his flight back to Rome from Singapore, the Pope said not welcoming migrants is a “grave” sin, and likened having an abortion to an “assassination”.

He said US Catholics would have to “choose the lesser evil” when they vote in November, without elaborating.

Francis was speaking in a press conference with journalists after a demanding 12-day tour across Southeast Asia and Oceania.

Although the pope did not use Trump and Harris’ names, he referred specifically to their policies and their genders.

Despite criticising both candidates, he said Catholics should vote.

“Not voting is ugly,” the 87-year-old pontiff said. “It is not good. You must vote.”

“You must choose the lesser evil,” he said. “Who is the lesser evil? That lady, or that gentleman? I don’t know. Everyone, in conscience, (has to) think and do this.”

American Catholics, numbering roughly 52 million nationwide, are often seen as crucial swing voters. In some battleground states, including Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, more than 20 percent of adults are Catholic.

Francis, leader of about 1.4 billion Catholics globally, is usually careful about weighing in on national political elections.

But he frequently criticises abortion, which is forbidden by Christian teaching, in sharp terms. He has also previously criticised Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric.

On Friday, Francis said both candidates’ policies are “against life”.

“Whether it is the one who is chasing away migrants, or the one who that kills children,” said the pope. “Both are against life.”

The pope called immigration “a right,” citing Bible passages that call orphans, widows and foreigners three kinds of people that society must care for.

“Not giving welcome to migrants is a sin,” said the pope. “It is grave.”

Francis said abortion “is killing a human being”. He said there could be no excuses for an abortion. “It is an assassination,” he said. “On these things we must speak clearly. No ‘but’ or ‘however’.”