RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/07/two_huge_events_shake_americas_top_allies_and_sleepy_joe_botches_the_responses_to_both.html

Joe Biden, the man “elected” to the presidency because of his supposed foreign policy chops, is out to lunch as two huge events shake America’s top allies east and west.

Start with Japan, where the shocking assassination of a former prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has occurred in a nation where this kind of activity is not normal.

According to Reuters:

NARA, Japan, July 8 (Reuters) — Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japan’s longest-serving leader, died on Friday hours after he was shot while campaigning for a parliamentary election, shocking a country in which political violence is rare and guns are tightly controlled.

The shooter opened fire on Abe, 67, from behind as the former premier addressed members of the public on a drab traffic island in the western city of Nara. Japanese media reported that the weapon appeared to be a homemade gun.

Something like this, done by some kind of local freak who made his own gun, is bound to shake Japan, which has always been an open society for politicians to reach out to the voters through street campaigning.  It wasn’t just an attack on a former politician who made a big impact on Japan’s economy and global standing in the world, getting Japan’s military out there as an important check on China, it was an attack on Japan’s tranquil way of life.  Yes, Japan will be shaken by this.

Nation after nation poured in with tributes: 

More from Germany, France, U.K., Sri Lanka, India, Australia, Turkey, Netherlands, Ukraine and other nations in this Axios roundup here.

Joe’s reaction? 

Well, nothing.  Nobody home at the White House.

https://bit.ly/3O0lQj7

*A major goal of President Biden’s July, 2022 visit to the Middle East – in addition to increasing the Saudi and Emirati oil production – is the restoration of the US stature as a reliable strategic ally of the pro-US Arab regimes, and stop their drift toward Russia and China.

*At the same time, Biden pursues a JCPOA-like agreement with Iran’s Ayatollahs and embraces the Muslim Brotherhood.

*However, the attempt to restore the US’ strategic reliability, while aiming for a JCPOA-like accord with Iran’s Ayatollahs and embracing the Muslim Brotherhood, constitutes a contradiction in terms, since all pro-US Arab regimes view Iran’s Ayatollahs and the Muslim Brotherhood as lethal threats. Moreover, they are convinced that a JCPOA-like accord would bolster (as did the 2015 JCPOA) the Ayatollahs’ regional and global subversion, terrorism, fueling of civil wars, drug trafficking, money laundering and the proliferation of advanced military systems to rogue entities in the Middle East and beyond.

They are also frustrated by the State Department’s underestimation of the fanatic vision of the Muslim Brotherhood, and taking lightly its terror network throughout the Middle East and beyond (e.g., India and Thailand).

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18641/latin-america-china

China is now Latin America’s largest trading partner (excluding Mexico).

China’s relationships with Latin American countries however, are about far more than trade.

“It is not necessary to show malevolent PRC intentions with respect to its activities in Latin America and the Caribbean to conclude that the current and long-term implications of that engagement are grave for prosperity, democracy, and liberties in the region, as well as the security and strategic position of the United States.” — Professor Evan Ellis, US Army War College, “Testimony before the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission,” May 20, 2021.

China also has another advantage: No regard for human rights or democracy. It is more than happy to invest in and trade with authoritarian dictatorships like itself.

“… U.S. influence has been diminishing in the continent.” — Martha Bárcena, former Mexican ambassador to the United States, The New York Times, June 9, 2022.

The odds of Biden’s new plan winning over Latin American countries — where China has already massively invested in building roads, railways, harbors, bridges and a host of other infrastructure and communications projects, with no questions asked on the environment, climate or “inclusivity” — are probably low. Even Biden administration officials do not seem to harbor any illusions about the new plan’s ability to change facts on the ground….

“As long as China is ready to put its cash on the table, we seem to be fighting a losing battle.” — U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, Reuters, June 8, 2022.

“Latin American governments complain that there’s a lot of talk but ask ‘where is the money’?” — Welber Barral, Brazil-based partner at BMJ Consultores Associados, Reuters, June 8, 2022.

“The U.S. is losing Latin America to China without putting up a fight, Ecuador’s ambassador to Washington told Axios.”

“And China is waiting, saying, ‘We’re here. We’re giving you money.’ They want control of course, but they don’t say that.” — Ivonne Baki, Ecuador’s ambassador to the US, Axios, September 23, 2021.

China has overtaken the United States in trade terms “in large swathes of Latin America,” according to a recent Reuters analysis of UN trade data from 2015-2021. Reuters added that “outside of Mexico, the top U.S. trade partner, China has overtaken the United States in Latin America and widened the gap last year.”

https://thehill.com/opinion/international/3544622-us-is-playing-risky-game-with-saudi-arabia-and-iran/

“This summit,” Khaled Al-Suleiman, a Saudi Arabian columnist, wrote of President Biden’s upcoming trip to Saudi Arabia, “may be a golden opportunity for the American president to restore the [regional countries’] faith in America as a trustworthy historical ally with a solid policy that can be relied upon.

“For the alternative,” he warned, “is that these countries will actually change the map of their international alliances in order to safeguard their interests and enhance their ability to overcome the miscalculations of some of their traditional Western allies regarding the need to defend them from the threat of Iran, whose aggression is known to all and which never stops threatening and igniting fires and wars in the region!”

As Riyadh was planning to seek Biden’s assurances that Washington remains a reliable partner in confronting Iran’s regional expansionism, U.S. and Iranian officials met in Doha in hopes of reviving the 2015 global nuclear deal with Iran — the very deal that Riyadh opposes because it won’t prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons over the long term and because it would do nothing to curb Tehran’s terror sponsorship and other destabilizing regional activities.

For Washington, the question is whether it can have its cake and eat it too — reassure a leader of Sunni Arab nations that seek to contain Shia Iran and reach a nuclear modus vivendi with the latter. The risk, of course, is that Washington will lose on both fronts — fail to revive the nuclear deal and feed more concerns among Saudi officials that Riyadh may need to reconsider its heavy reliance on Washington for regional security.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2022/07/bidens-middle-east-follies-donald-losman/

From his first day in office, President Biden’s Middle East policies, a seemingly “win them over with kindness” approach, have been misguided and self-defeating. From the start, Biden strongly sought a new Iran deal, as if financially rewarding Iran for its signature would ensure its compliance. Indeed, one basis for the first deal was Iran providing its nuclear history—Iran lied. Apparently we did not learn. During the deal’s tenure Iran consistently cheated, obstructed inspections, and ramped up its ballistic missile program, which was foolishly left out of the first agreement. Iranian efforts to bring uranium enrichment to weapons-grade has continued, supposedly due to Trump’s withdrawal from the deal—talk about excuses! The mullahs are clearly determined. Over the past two years the International Atomic Energy Agency has regularly complained about Iranian non-compliance, finally issuing a resolution in early June condemning Iran after traces of uranium were found at three undeclared locations.

But isn’t it strange, or very convenient, that a country whose self-declaration is peaceful use of nuclear materials would then block 27 inspection cameras. To bring Iran to the now-interrupted negotiating table, the Administration accepted its demand that we cannot be in the negotiating room, which should have stopped everything then and there.  Instead we huddled outside while Putin’s Russia represented us! Further sweetening things, the Administration earlier rescinded the foreign terrorist organization designation of the Houthis, a group armed and abetted by Iran, one which occasionally lobs missiles into Saudi Arabia or the UAE when it takes a respite from augmenting the Yemen civil war. Iran now requires that sanctions against its Revolutionary Guards be dropped before any negotiations proceed. Congress apparently has had enough, resisting this almost silly ceremonial demand, while the Administration currently tries to work around this latest obstruction. There is a clear pattern —the more we overlook and the more we give, the more intransigent Iran becomes. Alas, Robert Malley, previously Obama’s point man, and now Biden’s, has pursued this holy grail mission with enormous, but blind passion. Unfortunately, his dream is likely to become the world’s nightmare.

https://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/2022/06/30/how-desperate-are-you-to-cut-a-deal-with-iran-mr-biden/

Here is what happens when a country cedes control of its foreign policy. The 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was a bad deal. The Iranians cheated on the baseline, the commitment, and the execution, and then President Donald Trump walked away. Approve of any given decision or not, the president controlled the action of the United States. Now however, looking for a way to reconstruct the deal, the Biden administration has outsourced American policy.

First, President Joe Biden agreed to Iran’s demand that the U.S. not be in the negotiating room in Vienna, but be represented by intermediaries—including China and Russia.

Then, Washington gave theoretical agreement to Iran’s demand that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) be removed from the U.S. designated terror organization list. After strong bipartisan objection in Congress—owing to the fact that the IRGC is responsible for hundreds of American military deaths—Mr. Biden appears to have told Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in May that he wouldn’t do it.

But also in May, Enrique Mora, the European Union official coordinating the Vienna talks, visited Tehran. As reported at the time, “Western diplomats are expecting Tehran to put forward potential alternative demands, giving Washington a chance to think about other concessions it could offer. The aim is to find a way around the IRGC hurdle that will let both governments sell the deal domestically.”

The latest such concession is the current American plan to give visas to Iranians who have been drafted into the IRGC, trained by it, and employed by it, “provided they satisfy relevant agency authority that the individual…poses no danger to the safety and security of the United States.” According to The Jerusalem Post, other factors taken into consideration include whether the individual had any “intent or desire to assist a terror organization or activity or had prior knowledge of targeting ‘noncombatant persons, US citizens, or US interests.’”

Sleepers, anyone?

While America grovels in Vienna, it turns a blind eye to Iran’s continuing violations of its nuclear agreements.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18631/iran-sanctions-violated

The Biden administration’s weak leadership — to hold accountable those who are violating Iran sanctions — is likely a critical reason the Iranian regime is flamboyantly ignoring the US and forging ahead — soon, most likely, to become a nuclear state.

Presumably to take even further advantage of the Biden administration’s weak leadership, the Iranian regime is also signing long-term agreements with its oil clients to permanently insulate its economy from the US sanctions.

The ruling mullahs are now producing more oil and selling it at levels close to the pre-sanctions era to countries such as China, which desperately needs more oil, while the Biden administration has cut off US oil exploration.

One of its terms [of the deal recently signed between China and Iran] is that China will invest nearly $400 billion in Iran’s oil, gas and petrochemicals industries. In return, China will have priority to bid on any new project in Iran that is linked to these sectors. China will also receive a 12% discount and can delay payments by up to two years. China will also be able to pay in any currency it chooses. It is also estimated that, in total, China will receive discounts of nearly 32%.

The Biden administration must impose drastic economic sanctions on Iran’s energy and financial sectors: that would threaten the ruling clerics’ hold on power, forcing the leadership to recalculate its priorities. The US must hold those who violate the sanctions strictly accountable, and make clear to the ruling mullahs that if they continue advancing their nuclear program, military options are on the table.

With total disregard to the Biden administration and the European powers, the ruling mullahs of Iran are defiantly and rapidly advancing their nuclear program to a point where they are now reportedly only few weeks away from manufacturing nuclear weapons according to the International Atomic Energy Agency and the White House.