OFF THE GRID

Biden's Balancing Act

Veep assures Ukraine's leaders of U.S. support.

Joe Biden arrived in Ukraine today in order to soothe the concerns of its leaders that the U.S. is more interested in supporting its more powerful neighbor, Russia. "For Ukraine, the most important issues are U.S. guarantees of Ukraine's security, the determination of future Ukrainian-U.S. co-operation in defense and also the continuing support from the United States of Ukraine's process to enter NATO," said the Ukrainian president's deputy chief of staff. But Ukrainian leaders might be too busy dealing with the country's political paralysis and economic problems to work on forging ties with the United States. Biden leaves to visit another ex-Soviet state, Georgia, on Wednesday, also in an attempt to balance out President Obama's Russia visit. The trip is all typical under-the-radar, out-of-the-country work of an old-school vice presidency—just what Obama wanted out of the gaffe-prone Biden.