Displaying posts categorized under

FOREIGN POLICY

Wartime Confidantes by Lawrence Kadish

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18327/wartime-confidantes

By anyone’s definition, US President Joseph Biden has become an American war president.

Which begs the question – who are his closest confidantes at a time of extreme peril?

Lincoln had Edwin Stanton who was an unflappable War Secretary Lincoln could depend upon during the darkest days of the Civil War.

Woodrow Wilson sought the advice of “Colonel” Edward House, who served as his diplomatic representative in dealing with our European Allies during World War I and in the months that followed the armistice.

FDR depended on the likes of Harry Hopkins, General George Marshall, and Admiral William Leahy – smart strategists who understood the existential threat that faced America and the free world during World War II.

And Joe Biden? Who is advising this president to confront and outplay Russian President Vladimir Putin at a time when Russian rocket strikes are creeping ever closer to our NATO ally, Poland? Who is giving Biden the type of insight and analysis he needs, given that any misstep could see an exchange of weapons of mass destruction?

Vice President Kamala Harris, whose unimpressive performance during her recent diplomatic mission to Eastern Europe must have given our allies much pause for thought?

This author raised the question of Biden’s unofficial circle of advisors in the Fall of last year when the issues were domestic and Washington’s policies had created such massive national debt that it was capable of triggering historic inflation. (And here we are.) While history teaches us that failed economic models can destroy a nation (such as Germany in the 1920s and the Soviet Union in the 1980s), war can leave a field of ruin where great cities once stood.

We reported then that published reports revealed that John Podesta, Clinton’s former chief of staff and senior counselor to Obama, was actively lobbying Democratic Congressmen on behalf of Biden’s “Build Back Better ” agenda. We also noted that Podesta’s older brother, Anthony, a longtime Democratic lobbyist and fundraiser, was the subject of a New York Times story that reported Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei had hired Podesta despite the fact that Huawei was identified as a national security threat by the Trump administration, and even the Biden administration.

Why Are the Biden Administration, EU, Appeasing the Iranian Regime? by Majid Rafizadeh

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18315/biden-administration-eu-iran

Many Iranians, meanwhile, in defiance of Iran’s regime, gathered outside the Ukrainian embassy in Tehran to express their support for the Ukrainian people, criticize the Iranian government for supporting Russia, and chanted “Death to Putin”.

As police began cracking down on the protesters, the Biden administration and the EU remained silent.

Why are the Biden administration and the EU appeasing the Iranian regime, which has for four decades attacked Americans and carried out terrorist activities and assassinations?

The Biden administration and the other members of the JCPOA nuclear deal negotiated in 2015 (China, France, Russia, the UK and Germany) — with the European Union — instead of holding Iran to account, are evidently determined to reward it. It is not quite clear for what. For years of unspeakable behavior, both to its own citizens and internationally?

Meanwhile, as the US has been negotiating this new agreement, US intelligence services have just identified “at least two Iranians” as trying to assassinate former officials of the Trump administration. The Biden administration is said to have been trying to cover up the plot lest it derail the negotiations to shower Iran with “rewards”.

The Iranian regime, an official state sponsor of terrorism, has carried out terrorist activities around the world for almost four decades. Why are the Biden administration and the EU not implementing the same policies towards Iran’s regime as they are towards Russia?

While the European Union has leveled different kinds of sanctions on Russia, including restricting access to the EU’s capital and financial markets, the EU nevertheless continues to appease Moscow’s staunch ally, the world’s largest sponsor of state terrorism, Iran.

Biden Dispatches ‘The Joker’ to Europe . By Charles Hurt

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2022/03/11/biden_dispatches_the_joker_to_europe_147320.html

This is what you get when you take more than 200 years of hard fought history, fearless progress and unrivaled leadership in the world to build the greatest global power ever devised by humans on earth — and hand it to an imbecile.

Asked at a press conference in Poland about the massive and growing humanitarian crisis caused by the savage Russian invasion of Ukraine, Vice President Kamala Harris burst into her signature cackling laughter.

The crazed woman really is the most terrorizing Joker ever played on the big screen. Jack Nicholson and Joaquin Phoenix sit in dark rooms before flickering TVs marveling in jealousy at her terrorizing performances.

And she does it all without smeared, garish makeup.

Her stunned host, Polish President Andrzej Duda, proceeded to answer the question about the refugees in light of the hilarity Kamala Harris found in the flood of widowed women and orphaned children gathering at Poland’s border.

Russian Roulette and High Treason: Sarah Stern

https://emetonline.org/russian-roulette-and-high-treason/

While all eyes are, understandably, on the horrific war Russia inflicted upon Ukraine, scant little attention has been paid to the Iran nuclear negotiations in Vienna and the imminent deal. What seems to have also escaped public purview is that America, which was not even allowed into the room to negotiate directly with the Iran, has allowed Russia interlocutor Mikhail Ulyanov to be our water carrier in these critical negotiations. 

It is nothing short of diplomatic malpractice for the American team, headed by Robert Malley, to let a Russian emissary to the Iran negotiations be our water carrier. For months during these talks, Russia has made its imperial designs on Ukraine quite clear, threatening NATO and all of the West as well.  

It has been made transparent that Russia under Putin has no love lost for the United States and wants to resurrect the Cold War, with Russia emerging as a major player on the world’s stage.  Yet, for some inexplicable reason, Malley depended on Russia to negotiate for us, in what State Antony Blinken promised to be “a longer, stronger deal” with Iran.  

One hoped for an agreement that would address the issues omitted from the 2015 agreement, such as Iran’s malign behavior throughout the region and the globe, its missile development, and the sunset clauses which are all due to expire in nine short years. (UN Security Council Resolution 2231, regarding the arms embargo, expired in October 2021.) 

A recent viral video shows Ulyanov gloating about his wins for the Islamic republic. Here are his exact words: “Iranian clerics are fighting for Iranian nuclear national interests like lions.” (His emphasis.)  “I am absolutely sincere in this regard. Iran got much more than it could expect, much more….Our Chinese friends were also very efficient and useful as co-negotiators. We could rely on each other on many, many points.” 

Biden’s Foreign Policy Inconsistencies Come to a Head in Iran Negotiations By Carine Hajjar

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/bidens-foreign-policy-inconsistencies-come-to-a-head-in-iran-negotiations/

Despite speculations that the Iran deal would drop earlier this week, negotiators in Vienna are still stalling, primarily over Russian demands. EU foreign minister Josep Borrell tweeted that the final text of the agreement is “essentially ready and on the table.” 

Russia continues to demand that U.S. sanctions in response to the brutal invasion of Ukraine do not effect Moscow’s trade with Tehran. 

Given Putin’s needless brutality over the last months, it’s by no means unreasonable to block the Russians from seeking a perk from the proceedings in Vienna. On Tuesday, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland accused Russia of “trying to up the ante and broaden its demands” in Vienna, but said the U.S. is not “playing ‘Let’s Make a Deal.’”

The End of the Unipolar Moment The global chess pieces are moving. Josh Hammer

https://spectator.org/the-end-of-the-unipolar-moment/

“Effective statesmanship calls for recognizing the world as it is, not in wish casting what it could, or should, be. That means recognizing the end of the uni-polar era. Never before has clear-eyed, American national interest–centric realist diplomacy mattered more. But first let’s avoid getting sucked into World War III in Ukraine.”

The defeat of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan in World War II ushered in the Cold War era. For the four and a half decades between the defeat of fascism and the collapse of communism, global affairs unfolded within a bipolar backdrop of “mutually assured” destruction between the two nuclear superpowers: the United States and the Soviet Union. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 ushered in a unipolar moment of unquestioned American economic, diplomatic, military, and geopolitical supremacy on the world stage.

Palestinians: US Weakness Facilitates the Rise of Jihad and Fundamentalism by Khaled Abu Toameh

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18310/palestinians-jihad-fundamentalism

“America is unable to decide on war against Russia, and therefore the US will not be a decision-maker in international politics.” — Musa Abu Marzouk, member of the Hamas “politburo,” Twitter, February 26, 2022.
As far as Hamas is concerned, the weaker the US the greater are their chances of fulfilling their goal of replacing Israel with an Islamic state.
Articles 13 of the Hamas Charter states “There is no solution to the Palestinian problem except by Jihad.”
Washington’s image in the Arab world has been battered to the point at which even its allies are beginning to challenge its policies and decisions, Atallah said.
“Biden [in his State of the Union speech] ignored the Afghanistan issue, especially in light of the confused [US] withdrawal. He was also cautious not to talk about relations with China so as not to provoke it. Biden’s speech confirms with full clarity the loss of a consistent strategic vision with regard to central issues globally. This is a sign of the loss of the prestige of the great country [the US]. Biden’s speech was a message of a historical recognition of the upcoming political defeat and the beginning of the birth of a new international order.” — Hassan Asfour, former Palestinian Authority minister, Khbrpress.ps, March 2, 2022.
“When two Gulf countries refuse to support the US, this means the image of America in the region is deeply tarnished, and that there is a changing mood.” — Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas official, Khbrpress.ps, March 4, 2022.
The Americans need to understand that no matter how many gifts they give to the Palestinians, that will not stop Hamas and many others from continuing to hate the US and look at it as an enemy.
Some Arabs hate the US because of its support for corrupt Arab dictatorships and its war against Islamist terrorist groups. Others see the US as a country that represents the anti-Muslim “infidels” in the West.
The only way for the Americans to deal with these Muslim extremists is by not showing any sign of weakness or appeasement. The weaker you are and the more you try to appease them, the bigger their appetite becomes to fight against the US.
Such voices coming from the Palestinians corroborate claims of the erosion of the US standing, especially among the Arabs. They are responding to an anemic US under the Biden administration that has forfeited its credibility as well as its capacity to stand behind its allies and friends. This US approach does not bode well for the future of the region. The pattern of weakness and inaction are being interpreted as a sign of cowardice posing as “caution,” and as a green light to pursue jihadi and terrorist schemes and establish yet another Islamic fundamentalist state.

Hawks, Or Pigeons In A Bad Mood? American elites have squandered our technological and manufacturing advantage over both Russia and China.David Goldman

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/hawks-or-pigeons-in-a-bad-mood/

Few dispute that the Ukraine crisis brings with it the risk of nuclear escalation. The reverse also might be true: The Ukraine crisis may be the result of a shift in the world’s nuclear balance.

With an economy smaller than the state of Texas, Russia has built strategic weapons superior to many in the American arsenal. These include land as well as submarine-launched hypersonic weapons that can carry nuclear missiles past any American defense, as well as the world’s best air defense system, the S-500. The October 4, 2021, test of Russia’s submarine-launched “Zircon” hypersonic missile was the first-ever underwater firing of a low-altitude weapon that flies at nine times the speed of sound, according to Russian claims. A Russian sub lurking a hundred miles off the American coast could nuke Washington in a flat minute.

A day later Russia test-launched its S-500 air defense system, designed to destroy aircraft and missiles in a 600-kilometer radius, including targets in close space. And last December, Russia claimed to have tested the S-550 upgrade, which allegedly can destroy ICBMs as well as satellites. Russia has sold the earlier S-400 system to India, China, and Turkey; India may be the first foreign customer for an S-500.

Putin’s War Crimes: Reported Heroes and Others by Lawrence Kadish

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18314/putin-war-crimes-heroes

While many extraordinary American companies have voluntarily taken serious financial setbacks as their contribution to defending Ukraine — now the front line in a war on the Free World by Russian President Vladimir Putin — other companies have revealed themselves as indifferent at best.

Putin has curated a long track record of turning Grozny to rubble, flattening Aleppo, devouring Georgia and Crimea, and now has been dropping cluster and vacuum bombs, banned by the Geneva Conventions, on civilian targets in Ukraine. His troops have also attacked and taken over nuclear reactors, and Putin has repeatedly agreed to humanitarian evacuation routes that, when people emerge, the Russians shell — all in sub-zero, dead-of-winter weather. The problem: if Putin is allowed to take Ukraine, it will result in further annexations in Europe. The failure to contain aggressive acts results in further aggressive acts.

It is important immediately to follow the impressive example of worldwide heroes, above all, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. British Petroleum willingly absorbed a $25 billion loss. Elon Musk immediately made his Starlink satellite broadband internet service available in Ukraine and donated Starlink terminals to the people of Ukraine, in the event that their cyber capability was downed.

Kamala invades Poland: Witness the art of cackle diplomacy-Roger Kimball

https://spectatorworld.com/topic/kamala-harris-poland-diplomacy-ukraine/

You can tell that the Biden administration is getting serious. They have unleashed their ultimate weapon, cackle diplomacy.  The warhead is nicknamed Harris, and it is now in Poland cackling away, endeavoring to assemble the high-level Pierogis before Russia flattens Kyiv or Putin decides to go nuclear — and by “go nuclear,” alas, I mean “go nuclear.”

Some observers say that sending Kamala Harris on this mission will give her a chance to “burnish” her foreign policy credentials. Cynical folks — and I would include myself in that group — think it is just another emission of fog by America’s first certifiably senile administration.

“Ukraine is a country in Europe,” Harris recently explained to universal hilarity, “it exists next to another country called Russia. Russia is a bigger country. Russia is a powerful country. Russia decided to invade a smaller country called Ukraine. So, basically, that’s wrong, and it goes against everything that we stand for.”

Did I mention that the hilarity was laced with feelings of appalled panic? This, after all, was the vice president of the United States.

The messaging about Russia has not been particularly consistent. We all hate Putin: that message was clear enough. And we are all supposed to fawn over the latest pin-up from Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky.

There are a few other things that the official directive specifies. We’re not supposed to mention the thirty bioresearch labs that the US maintains in Ukraine. We are not supposed to mention Ukrainian support for Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation, its government’s efforts to undermine Donald Trump, or its connection with George Soros, Klaus Schwab’s “Great Reset,” or its lavish financial support of the Biden family and the families of other high-ranking Americans. All that is off-script, so, even though it is potentially clarifying, I won’t mention it.