19 hours. That’s how long his long-awaited visit will last Joe Biden in Berlin. It is the first time that Joe Biden has visited Berlin during his presidency, and this only a few days before the crucial presidential elections in the USA, while he is heading towards the end of his political term. The last visit of a US president to Berlin was in 2016 under Barack Obama. Donald Trump was at the G-20 Summit in Hamburg in 2017.

It will not be just a farewell visit, although it is of the highest symbolic importance. He will even be awarded the highest honor attributed to Germanythe Grand Cross of the Order of Merit, which has been awarded to Angela Merkel, among others. It is now billed as a “working visit” rather than an “official state visit” as originally planned before it was postponed last week due to Hurricane Milton. Nor will it be combined with an emergency Conference on Ukraine at the US military base in Ramstein, as originally expected. And Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who just last Friday presented the “victory plan” behind closed doors to Olaf Soltz in the chancellery, will not be present.

Political analysts with knowledge of Ukrainian believe that it is no coincidence. No one seems willing to make a concrete commitment to Kiev before (or even after) the US election on Zelensky’s “victory plan,” which now openly calls for strikes inside Russian territory with long-range Western weapons. Western support seems to stop at the outskirts of Kharkiv.

Ukraine and Middle East (after November 5)

The Biden schedule in Berlin is dense. This meeting had to be held now and it could not be cancelled. The first stop is the presidential palace Bellevue for a meeting with the German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier, where he will travel by road in the eight-ton presidential car, the most famous Cadillac on the planet, known as “The Beast”. He will then proceed to the chancellery for a meeting with Chancellor Olaf Soltz. No joint press conference is planned, only joint statements. Then intensive talks behind closed doors. This is followed by the arrival of French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The established photos and new circle of contacts in the shape of a quadrilateral behind closed doors.

The latest developments in the Middle East and the news of the death of Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, as announced at least by the Israeli government, found Joe Biden in the air, flying to Brandenburg airport. The analysis of the consequences of the important development of the last hours and the next moves of Israel and of the Hezbollah-Iran-Houthi triangle are expected to be on the table. Especially after Germany announced the continuation of arms shipments to Israel, while the US is setting conditions and the French president is asking for them to be stopped.

As for the Ukrainian issue, after Zelensky’s now public announcements to the Ukrainian parliament and Brussels, as well as the intensive information about the “victory plan” of Ukraine that Biden, Scholz, Macron and Starmer had, the four leaders of the West want to coordinate the following their steps. Without the presence of Zelensky and before November 5, the day of the presidential elections in the USA. The big question is what role Germany, as Ukraine’s most important ally after the US in terms of sending weapons systems and financial aid, will be able to assume if Donald Trump is elected.

THE Chancellor Soltz he reiterated support for Ukraine last Friday during his joint statements with Volodymyr Zelensky at the chancellery, but there was no allusion to Kiev’s persistent request for German long-range Taurus missiles. Also of interest are the statements of the Liberal German Finance Minister Christian Lindner in a briefing for foreign correspondents in Berlin on Wednesday, according to which aid to Ukraine should only be done within the framework of the real possibilities of the German budget (with respect to the debt brake) and with simultaneous contribution of Ukraine’s remaining allies.

The only thing that is certain now is the following: Washington, Berlin, Paris, London and also Kiev agree that Russia must be invited to the next negotiating table. The chancellery this week reiterated its readiness for a phone call with Putin (the last time was in December 2022).

Fortress Berlin

The German security authorities are in an uproar. The measures until Biden’s departure have been prioritized at “level 0”, which implies the highest degree of preparedness for possible attacks, even for assassination attempts.

The airspace over Berlin will be blocked, the federal police have put in place a plan to prevent drones, and the center of Berlin in a large radius will be inaccessible. As early as Thursday, identity checks, passports or professional credentials were being carried out in the government area, while the security measures around the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Potsdamer Platz, in whose presidential suite the American president spent the night, like Barack Obama, are particularly increased.

Members of the special forces are on full alert on building roofs and in the river Spree. According to the German Police Union more than 3,000 police officers are on foot. At the same time, demonstrations are expected on Friday.