AFP

President Joe Biden marked the second anniversary of the murder of George Floyd on Wednesday, on day after a school shooting that came as a cruel reminder of his powerlessness to rein in America’s violent demons.

It was to be a ceremony symbolizing reconciliation, in one of the White House’s state rooms, with families of victims of police violence alongside police representatives.

But the school massacre in Uvalde, Texas — in which 19 schoolchildren and two teachers died — was on everyone’s mind when Biden signed a decree described as historic by his administration, aimed at promoting accountability and tightening standards among federal law enforcement.

It came two years to the day after the death of Floyd in Minneapolis, which sparked protests against racism and police brutality that spread across the United States and globally.

The executive order is proof of “what we can do together to heal the very soul of this nation,” Biden said, repeating one of his favorite expressions.

Floyd, an African-American, was murdered by a police officer who knelt on his neck for nearly 10 minutes during an arrest.

Biden told Floyd’s seven-year-old daughter, Gianna, she was “getting so big” during the ceremony, surrounded by elected officials, members of the African-American community and the families of other victims of police violence.

He also reminded the crowd that the United States was a “great nation” made up of a vast majority of “good people” — remarks that rang slightly hollow following the massacre in Uvalde.

The president also announced he and his wife, Jill, will soon travel to Texas.

But the anniversary of Floyd’s death, the massacre in the school in Texas and the recent racist massacre in Buffalo are all cruel reminders of Biden’s failure to keep his promises to curtail the violence.

– Healing –

The executive order, which took months to thrash out, provides for a series of measures related to federal law enforcement: it establishes a national database of police misconduct, mandates the use of body cams and largely bans the use of chokeholds and carotid restraints.

But these restrictions will not be imposed on state and local authorities: that would require legislation, which the Democratic president has failed to push through Congress. 

Nor has Biden managed to toughen gun laws, from banning assault rifles to mandating mental health and criminal background checks on clients when buying weapons.

As with police reform, the administration has been limited in its efforts on curbing firearms to ruling by decree — for example, increasing restrictions on so-called “ghost guns.”

– Institutional paralysis –

Biden’s inability to curb the violence is partly due to the institutional landscape: despite an image of enormous power, an American president has to count on alignment with the legislative branch and the judiciary to assure his vision.

The Democratic Party has only a very slim majority in Congress and some of its senators are reluctant to blow up the procedural rules that would allow them to override Republican stonewalling on a host of issues.

In addition, Biden faces a Supreme Court which now has a resolutely right-leaning slant thanks to his predecessor Donald Trump, who appointed three conservative justices during his one term in office. 

Add to all this the personality of the 79-year-old Democrat, a centrist at heart who would like to govern by consensus, which in today’s America seems impossible.

While the United States has experienced a surge in the number of shootings since the beginning of the year, the president has still not succeeded in appointing a director to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The agency in fact hasn’t had a permanent leader since 2015.

A first nomination attempt by the White House — a candidate known as a fierce supporter of firearms regulation — was withdrawn after a fierce backlash.

Biden has put forward a new candidate, former prosecutor Steve Dettelbach, who will undertake the Senate confirmation hearing process this week, where he is likely to face unanimous Republican opposition.

Fierce battles raged in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday, with Russian troops on the verge of encircling a key industrial city, as President Volodymyr Zelensky issued a bitter rebuke of the West for not doing enough to help Kyiv win the war.

Lugansk regional governor Sergiy Gaiday described fighting outside of the industrial city of Severodonetsk, a key military goal for Russia, as “very difficult,” saying Russian troops were shelling the city from the outskirts with mortars.

“The coming week will be decisive,” Gaiday said in a video posted on Telegram, adding he believes Russia’s goal is to “capture the Lugansk region no matter what cost”.

“There is a colossal amount of shelling,” he added. 

Earlier in the day, addressing the World Economic Forum in Davos, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry Dmytro Kuleba compared the battle for Donbass to the epic battles fought in World War II and said his country “badly” needs multiple launch rocket systems to match Russian firepower.

In Kyiv, Zelensky echoed that plea.

“We need the help of our partners — above all, weapons for Ukraine. Full help, without exceptions, without limits, enough to win,” Zelensky said in his daily address to the nation.

And he called out the international community for paying too much attention to Russia’s interests and too little to Ukraine’s.

The Ukrainian president blasted a recent New York Times editorial and other similar statements by influential Western figures suggesting that Ukraine might have to sacrifice some territory to end the conflict.

“We must do everything in our power so that the world develops a firm habit to take Ukraine into consideration, so that the interests of Ukrainians don’t get overtaken by the interests of those rushing to yet another meeting with the dictator,” Zelensky said.

– ‘Clear blackmail’ –

Russia’s February 24 invasion of its pro-Western neighbour has caused global shockwaves, with the latest being fears of food shortages, particularly in Africa.

Moscow blamed the international sanctions imposed after the invasion, while the West says the shortage is mainly down to Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian ports.

“Solving the food problem requires a comprehensive approach, including the removal of sanctions that have been imposed on Russian exports and financial transactions,” said Russian deputy foreign minister Andrey Rudenko.

But Kuleba urged the West not to give in.

“This is clear blackmail. You could not find a better example of blackmail in international relations,” Kuleba said in Davos.

Kuleba also slammed the western military alliance NATO for “doing literally nothing” to stop Russia.

– ‘Extremely heavy shelling’ –

Moscow’s army has plotted a slow but steady course deeper into Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region since withdrawing forces from central and northern regions.

In the eastern town of Soledar, Ukraine’s salt manufacturing hub, the ground shook moments after Natalia Timofeyenko climbed out of her bunker.

“I go outside just to see people. I know that there is shelling out there but I go,” the 47-year-old said after a thundering blast smashed apart a chunk of a salt mine where she worked with most of her friends and neighbours.

Ghostly frontline towns like Soledar are being hammered by Russian artillery as they sit along the crucial road that leads out of besieged Severodonetsk and its sister city Lysychansk.

Twelve people were killed by “extremely heavy shelling and attacks” in the neighbouring region of Donetsk, which also forms part of Donbas, the Ukrainian presidency said.

In a sign that the rest of the country remains at risk, Russian cruise missiles struck the major southern rail hub of Zaporizhzhia, killing one person and damaging dozens of houses, the presidency added.

– ‘It is just war’ –

Russia also sought to tighten its grip over the parts of southern Ukraine that it occupies.

President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday signed a decree simplifying a procedure to obtain a Russian passport for residents of the southern Ukrainian regions of Kherson, under the full control of Russian troops, and partly-occupied Zaporizhzhia.

Kyiv said the plan was a “flagrant violation” of Ukraine’s sovereignty.

Moscow-backed officials are pushing for formal annexation by Russia.

“People are very apprehensive,” Kherson trolleybus driver Alexander Loginov, 47, told AFP from the cabin of his vehicle, during a press trip organised by the Russian defence ministry. 

Day-to-day life remains marked by uncertainty, especially over payment of salaries as “Ukrainian banks are closing,” he said. “To be honest, it is just war.”

Underlining the human cost, about 200 bodies were found in the basement of a destroyed building of the port city of Mariupol, which fell to Moscow recently after a devastating siege, Ukrainian authorities said.

“It is impossible to be within the area due to the corpse smell,” Ukrainian ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova wrote on Telegram Wednesday. “The occupiers turned the entire Mariupol into a cemetery.”

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Aida Hernandez shed bitter tears as she left mass at the Sacred Heart church in the Texas town of Uvalde, a simple gray building where dozens gathered Wednesday to mourn the 21 lives lost in a horrific school shooting.

In the small church off main street, the largely Hispanic congregation sought to process the “horror” of what happened, and pray for the victims of America’s worst school shooting in a decade.

“My experience was of horror and pain. I knew the victims. I’m still in shock,” said Hernandez, in her sixties, who taught at Robb Elementary School until she retired two years ago.

The town of just 15,000 inhabitants, located 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the border with Mexico, was until 24 hours ago like every other small US town: a grid of streets dotted with shopping malls, gas stations and fast food chains.

But on Tuesday everything changed, when an 18-year-old named Salvador Ramos sowed carnage at Robb Elementary School.

Armed with an assault rifle, he made his way to two adjoining classrooms and opened fire, killing two teachers and 19 of their young students — until he was shot dead by police. 

The massacre shook the quiet town to its core and plunged residents into both incomprehension and despair.

“When you teach and you’re in the classroom, that’s your job to protect them,” Hernandez said of the teachers who died.

“They did more beyond what they were supposed to do.” 

– ‘Too many times’ –

A few feet away, Rosie Buantel was equally grief-stricken — but she was outraged, too.

“I’m sad and I’m angry at our government, for not doing more about gun control,” the woman in her fifties told AFP.

“We’ve gone through this one too many times. And still there’s nothing done. They’re still debating.”

Eddie, a local resident in his sixties who declined to give his last name, was also feeling angry.

“I came to show my respects and also to put pressure for a change of laws so guns don’t get in the hands of children,” he said after laying flowers near the elementary school, which was still surrounded by police.

Throughout the day, people in Uvalde made their way to a municipal center, where they could receive psychological support.

On the day of the shooting, many relatives and friends of the victims faced hours of anguished waiting to find out what happened to their loved ones.

In front of the municipal center, in the blazing midday Texas heat, groups of adults and children chatted, coming and going under the watchful gaze of police officers.

Volunteer psychologist Iveth Pacheco traveled from San Antonio, to the east of Uvalde, to provide support to those in need.

“It’s just one of those situations where you just have to be present,” she said. “We have to be ready for the child whatever questions they have, and it’s the same thing with the adults right now.”