Category: Diplomacy

This is what you get when a senile clabberhead takes office and it’s simply impossible for his handlers to keep him hidden away: contradictory chaos.

Biden press conference gives Putin less than nothing to fear.

President Joe Biden didn’t make a lot of news with his press conference after sitting down with NATO leaders Thursday, and what he did make was confusing at best, and fundamentally discouraging.

That came in answer to a question about what NATO would do if Vladimir Putin uses chemical weapons in Ukraine, as Biden warned before going to Europe seems to be a real possibility.

“It would trigger a response in kind,” the prez said. Huh? Unless someone’s hiding them, no NATO power has chemical weapons. At best, this seems to mean some serious destructive action against Russia’s forces in Ukraine.

But maybe not, since Biden then added that NATO would decide what to do “at the time.”

Meaning: They haven’t worked it out ahead of time, and will wait ’til it happens to start figuring it out.

NATO has 30 members, some of them highly reluctant to confront Putin; if they all have to agree on a response, it’ll take days if not weeks. Some countries may well demand more proof.

This is the very opposite of what we’ve called for — namely, for Biden to publicly identify in advance a specific US (at least) hard-power response to Putin’s use of chems (or other weapons of mass destruction).

Vague threats aren’t enough, and the suggestion that we’ll negotiate the response with 2½ dozen other countries after Putin strikes makes it not a threat at all.

This is even worse than Biden’s pre-invasion comment that the West might not do anything if Putin merely grabbed a few pieces of Ukraine.

The other notable part of the presser was Biden’s heated insistence that he’d never said the threat of sanctions was meant to deter Putin from invading in the first place.

This is Joe Biden: reversing himself and pretending angrily that it never happened. Why should Putin believe any of his threats?

Someone get the president a war-time consigliere.

Biden not trusted on secret Iran deal: Poll.

America does not trust President Joe Biden’s effort to negotiate a secret new Iran nuclear deal, fears it more than Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and would support a military strike on the enemy nation’s facilities, according to an expansive new survey provided to Secrets.

On the issue of having confidence in Biden’s talks, including with Russian President Vladimir Putin, 52% said they don’t “trust” the administration to cut a deal that will prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons. Just 32% do.

And in a timely question in the McLaughlin & Associates survey, 63% believe that providing Iran a path to building the weapons is a bigger threat to the United States than Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (at 21%).

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Russia’s top negotiator said Thursday that an Iran deal could come before Monday.

Biden is hoping to revive an agreement made during the Obama administration and scuttled by former President Donald Trump as too pro-Iran. Iran, meanwhile, has walked away from some of the concessions it gave former President Barack Obama.

No matter what the outcome, the public is wary of any deal, pollster John McLaughlin told Secrets.

“If Americans think that President Biden’s weakness and corruption have endangered America, blacked out by the media is the Biden administration’s plan to reenter the deal with Iran allowing them to build a nuclear weapon,” he said.

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“They think any re-entry into the Iran nuclear deal should be made public in the U.S.,” he added.

Sanctions are expected to be a part of the deal, and if Iran tries to get nuclear weapons, 45% would back a strike on their facilities — more than the 27% who would prefer the carrot of loosening sanctions to nudge Tehran into giving up the weapons.

Is This World War III?

Don’t fool yourself that Vladimir Putin’s ambition stops at Ukraine’s borders.

We don’t need to dwell on the question of who is at fault for the war. Suffice to say, if you voted for Joe Biden, or called the theft of the 2020 election a conspiracy theory, then changing your Facebook profile picture to include a little Ukrainian flag won’t quite make up for it. All those people who bewailed Donald Trump as a threat to humanity and a Russian pawn should be upset right now, watching their friends in Washington, D.C., bring about everything they claimed was going to happen under the previous administration. Instead, these people are trying to figure out how they can still blame Trump while he looks on from his comfortable compound in Mar-a-Lago.

CNN claims Trump is endorsing Putin when he points out how much smarter Putin is than Biden, but it doesn’t stick. The lie lacks conviction. It’s obvious to most people that Biden can say “We won’t defend Ukraine” only so many times before Putin says, “Well, OK, then . . .”

Now we cap off a year of smashing our economy with a new world war. But is it a world war? It could be, but there is still time to prevent it.

Last March in this publication, I explained how America’s weakness and Europe’s greed would lead to a new global conflict with Russia and China. Here we are at its doorstep. Part one of the predicted disaster—Russian aggression westward—is reality. But part two—Chinese aggression eastward—hangs in the balance.

The decisive factor will be how Putin fares in Ukraine, and how we respond in America. Biden’s February 22 speech in which he said that the Ukraine crisis is “unfolding largely as we predicted” wasn’t exactly helpful.

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He basically did the same thing with the Ossetia region in 2008 and went to war with Georgia over it. And letting him get away with ‘annexing’ the Crimea in 2014 just encouraged him more.

Putin recognizes Ukrainian separatist regions Donetsk and Luhansk as independent

Following a lengthy speech on Russian state TV, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decrees that recognized the “independence and sovereignty” of two eastern Ukraine provinces, Donetsk and Luhansk.

In his address, Putin rejected the idea of Ukrainian nationhood, calling it “madness” that the country had independence and claiming incorrectly that the country was only the product of power-brokering during the beginning of the Soviet Union.

“We have every reason to say it’s Bolsheviks and Vladimir Lenin that created Ukraine,” Putin declared, arguing that “modern Ukraine was completely created by Russia.”

Putin directly threatened pro-democracy activists and civil servants who had led the pro-democracy push in the country after the 2014 revolution ousting a pro-Russian government.

“We know their names, and we will find them and bring them to justice,” he said.

Putin claimed, without evidence, that Ukraine was preparing to develop its own nuclear weapons that could threaten Russia.

Ukraine had been an independent country and a member of various imperial blocs, including the Russian empire, for centuries before becoming a member state of the Soviet Union during the 20th century. Historians are in broad agreement that there has long been a linguistic and cultural Ukrainian identity distinct from Russia.

A recognition of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states has major implications. The Russian-backed rebels fighting the Ukrainian military there do not control all the territory they claim. Russian recognition of the full claim sets the groundwork for military support into Ukrainian territory.

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Sparks Fly in Must-See Exchange After Reporter Presses White House on ‘False Flag’ Claims

Skepticism is building around the White House’s narrative regarding Ukraine and Russia, and that boiled over today during the press briefing at the US State Department. In a rare act of journalism, Matt Lee of the Associated Press excoriated State Department spokesman Ned Price in a must-see back and forth.

The issue at hand involved the Biden administration’s latest claims that Russia is spreading “misinformation” and seeking to commit a “false flag” attack to offer a pretext for war. While most reporters would have just accepted the government’s word as fact, Lee was having none of it. He lit into Price, comparing the claims to “crisis actors,” and describing them as “Alex Jones territory.”

The full five minutes is worth the watch.

The context of Lee’s frustration is simple: The government has, time and time again, shown itself to be completely untrustworthy in relaying information to the public. At times, the dishonesty has come via omission. At other times, it’s manifested in outright lies. In the exchange, the AP reporter cites the lead-up to the Iraq War and the Biden administration’s claims about Kabul not being in danger as examples of past falsehoods.

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Comment O’ The Day
The  problem isn’t that this was a gaffe. The problem is that this revealed what an incoherent clown show the Biden administration’s policy toward the whole matter actually is.

Joe Biden’s gaffe may have inadvertently revealed the truth about his Ukraine policy.

It was 28 minutes into Joe Biden’s press conference when the gaffe came – and it was a jaw-dropper. Especially if you were watching in Kyiv or the Kremlin.
The US President appeared to say that, if Vladimir Putin were to make only a “minor incursion” into Ukraine, then Russia would not face devastating sanctions.
His exact words were: “Russia will be held accountable if it invades. And it depends on what it does. It’s one thing if it’s a minor incursion and we (in Nato) end up having to fight about what to do and what to not do, etcetera.
“But if they actually do what they’re capable of doing, it is going to be a disaster for Russia if they further invade Ukraine.”
The comment whizzed around the world and, as the implications of what he had said sank in, a journalist read it back to him.
Was Mr Biden giving “permission” for a “minor incursion” by Russia into Ukraine, the journalist asked.
Mr Biden laughed and said: “Good question. It did sound (like) that, didn’t it…”
In Kyiv, there were accusations Mr Biden was giving a “green light” to the Kremlin, and anger that he would publicly make a distinction between different levels of Russian attack.
According to the Ukrainians, that was a particularly dangerous thing to do as Mr Putin’s preferred option is believed to be a limited incursion.
It led to suspicions a deal was being done behind Ukraine’s back. Indeed, the fear in Kyiv was that Mr Biden had not so much been wrong, but that he had inadvertently told the truth.
Whatever he meant, it was an example of Mr Biden saying too much, and talking loosely, a failing for which he has form.
In his first press conference for 78 days, the President was perhaps seeking to demonstrate his command of detail, ultimately speaking for almost two hours.
But the moment he finished White House officials desperately scrambled to “clean up” the remarks on Ukraine. Continue reading “”

Observation O’ The Day

Biden was put forward as being the ‘answer’ to restoring a purported loss of the U.S.’s reputation and creditability. Instead, with Afghanistan and these latest idiocies, he and his puppet masters have plowed it under.
As we said of stupid failure in the military: “Hmmm, it briefed well.”

U.S. Secretary of State Blinken Deletes Tweet Saying U.S. Would ‘Stand with Hong Kong’

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has deleted a statement posted to his official Twitter account on Thursday that said the U.S. would “stand with the people of Hong Kong,” the South China Morning Post reported Friday.

Blinken’s now-deleted tweet, originally posted on September 16, read:

Beijing should let the voices of all Hong Kongers be heard. The PRC [People’s Republic of China]’s disqualification of district councilors only weakens Hong Kong’s long-term political & social stability. We stand with the people of Hong Kong and continue to support their human rights & fundamental freedoms.

The U.S. Secretary of State replaced the statement with a more muted tweet posted later on September 16:

The PRC’s disqualification of seven pro-democracy district councilors undermines the ability of people in Hong Kong to participate in their governance. Governments should serve the people they represent. Decreasing representation goes against the spirit of Hong Kong’s Basic Law.

France accuses Australia, US of ‘lying’ in escalating crisis

France on Saturday accused Australia and the United States of lying over a ruptured Australian contract to buy French submarines, warning a grave crisis was underway between the allies.

The deal extends US nuclear submarine technology to Australia as well as cyber defence, applied artificial intelligence and undersea capabilities

Australia’s decision to break a deal for the French submarines in favour of American nuclear-powered vessels sparked outrage in Paris, with President Emmanuel Macron recalling France’s ambassadors to Canberra and Washington in an unprecedented move.

The row has sparked a deep rift in America’s oldest alliance and dashed hopes of a post-Donald Trump renaissance in relations between Paris and Washington under President Joe Biden.

 

The day The Queen sang the American national anthem in solidarity with the victims of 9/11

When the UK national anthem is played, The Queen stands as the public sings to her. She doesn’t sing a national anthem; she is The Queen. However, one occasion had such an impact, that Her Majesty broke with her tradition and sang the American national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner.”

The occasion was the memorial service held at St Paul’s Cathedral for the victims of the 9/11 attacks in New York City, Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania. As she does not sing anthems, when “The Star Spangled Banner” was played in the cathedral, she joined in and was later seen wiping a tear from her eye.

Referring back to a previous post…………..

Biden declares Russia threat ‘national emergency,’ lobs sanctions; 10 diplomats booted over election meddling

President Biden on Thursday signed an executive order declaring a “national emergency” over the threat from Russia, as his administration slapped new sanctions on the country.

The U.S. Department of State said it is expelling 10 officials from Russia’s bilateral mission.

“Today, we announced actions to hold the Russian Government to account for the SolarWinds intrusion, reports of bounties on U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, and attempts to interfere in the 2020 U.S. elections,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

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Trump receives Morocco’s highest award for Middle East work.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday received Morocco’s highest award for his work in advancing a normalization deal between Israel and Morocco, a senior administration official told Reuters.

In a private Oval Office ceremony, Princess Lalla Joumala Alaoui, who is Morocco’s ambassador to the United States, gave Trump the Order of Muhammad, an award given only to heads of state. It was a gift from Morocco’s King Mohammed VI.

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Now that is a really ‘Big Stick’.

Message to Iran: U.S. sends nuclear submarine through Strait of Hormuz

In this photo made available by the U.S. Navy, the guided-missile submarine USS Georgia, front, with the guided-missile cruiser USS Port Royal, transit the Strait of Hormuz in Persian Gulf, Monday, Dec. 21, 2020. The vessels traversed the strategically vital waterway between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula on Monday, the U.S. Navy said, a rare announcement that comes amid rising tensions with Iran. (Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Indra Beaufort/U.S. Navy via AP)

The U.S. Navy on Monday sailed a nuclear-powered submarine through the Strait of Hormuz, sending an unmistakable message to Iran just a day after U.S. officials blamed Iran-backed militias for a rocket attack on the American embassy complex in Iraq.

The Navy’s demonstration of force in the strategically vital waterway comes as tensions rise between the U.S. and Iran. The military’s strong naval presence in the Persian Gulf also serves as a reminder of the Pentagon’s global reach, even as the number of American ground forces in nearby countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq decrease during the final weeks of President Trump’s tenure.

The Navy’s Fifth Fleet said the Ohio-class guided-missile submarine USS Georgia, along with the missile cruisers USS Port Royal and USS Philippine Sea, moved through the Strait of Hormuz and into the Persian Gulf.

Morocco joins other Arab nations agreeing to normalize Israel ties

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Israel and Morocco agreed on Thursday to normalize relations in a deal brokered with U.S. help, making Morocco the fourth Arab country to set aside hostilities with Israel in the past four months.

It joins the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan in beginning to forge deals with Israel, driven in part by U.S.-led efforts to present a united front against Iran and roll back Tehran’s regional influence.

In a departure from longstanding U.S. policy, President Donald Trump agreed as part of the deal to recognize Morocco’s sovereignty over the Western Sahara, a desert region where a decades-old territorial dispute has pitted Morocco against the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, a breakaway movement that seeks to establish an independent state. Continue reading “”

Trump has done more to move the moslems to peace with Israel than all the rest of the previous Presidents combined. If Biden does take office, we can only hope his puppetmasters have the sense to leave things alone.

Sudan to join UAE, Bahrain in recognizing Israel

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced Friday that Sudan will start to normalize ties with Israel, making it the third Arab state to do so as part of U.S.-brokered deals in the run-up to Election Day.

The announcement came after the North African nation agreed to put $335 million in an escrow account to be used to compensate American victims of terror attacks. The attacks include the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania by the al-Qaida network while its leader, Osama bin Laden, was living in Sudan. In exchange, Trump notified Congress on Friday of his intent to remove Sudan from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.

US Officially Severs Open Skies Treaty With Russia

The U.S. has officially withdrawn from the 1992 Open Skies Treaty, a pact with Russia that permitted unarmed, reconnaissance flights over each other’s territories.

Sunday was the deadline after a 6-month warning on withdrawal, according to State Department deputy spokesman Cale Brown.

“On May 22, 2020, the United States exercised its right pursuant to paragraph 2 of Article XV of the Treaty on Open Skies by providing notice to the Treaty Depositaries and to all States Parties of its decision to withdraw from the Treaty, effective six months from the notification date,” Brown’s statement read. “Six months having elapsed, the U.S. withdrawal took effect on Nov. 22, 2020, and the United States is no longer a State Party to the Treaty on Open Skies.”

The treaty was designed to permit surveillance of military installations around the world, but the Trump administration has warned Russia has not been holding up its end of the agreement anyway, leading to the announcement of intention to withdraw six months ago.

“While the United States, along with our Allies and partners that are States Parties to the treaty, have lived up to our commitments and obligations under the treaty, Russia has flagrantly and continuously violated the treaty in various ways for years,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a May statement, per Fox News. “This is not a story exclusive to just the treaty on Open Skies, unfortunately, for Russia has been a serial violator of many of its arms control obligations and commitments.” Continue reading “”

Israel and Sudan begin normalization process after call with Trump.

Sudan and Israel announced today that they will “end the state of belligerence” between them and start the process of normalizing ties.

Driving the news: The announcement came after a phone call hosted by President Trump with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, and the head of Sudan’s governing council, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

Why it matters: Unlike with Israel’s recent deals with the UAE and Bahrain, there was a state of belligerency between Israel and Sudan for years.

  • Sudan is not designated in Israeli law as an enemy state, but for decades there has been deep animosity and a history of military incidents between the countries, which don’t have diplomatic relations.
  • Under Sudanese law, Sudanese nationals are not allowed to travel to Israel and could face heavy penalties for doing so.

The backdrop: Sudan hosted a Hamas headquarters in Khartoum for years and maintained a military and political alliance with Israel’s enemies Iran and Hezbollah. The Iranians used Sudan as a base for arms smuggling to the Gaza Strip, and established a massive factory for long-range rockets there. Continue reading “”

All of a sudden, the ‘Palestinian Problem’ is theirs, not anyone else’s. This is probably due to the current Trump triumphs in ME diplomacy and the resulting diminution of the access to bribery.

Washington’s Middle East Debate Is Changing.

Old Middle East experts probably recall a time not so long ago when the debate over U.S. policy towards the region was dominated by one narrative: The “pro-Arab” crowd versus the “pro-Israel” community. This zero-sum-game forced Americans, the White House and Congress to choose sides.

Even during that period of time, embracing a binary approach to understand U.S. Middle East policy as an outcome of a clash between supporters of Israel and friends of the Arabs, or between the Zionists and the Arabists, did not make sense.

Israel and the Arab oil countries had shared in the 1950s and 1960s common interests in opposing the Pan Arabist movement led by Egypt’s Gamal Abdul Nasser (“Nasserism”). In that context, they found themselves (together with the Shah’s Iran and Turkey) joining in support of U.S. interests in the region. Continue reading “”

How Trump Made It Happen: The Abraham Accords Peace Deal.

Today on the White House South Lawn, Israel, the UAE, and Bahrain signed the Abraham Accords, the first peace deal between Israel and Muslim Arab states in over a quarter-century……….

Trump correctly figured out that many of the moderate Arab States were tiring of the Palestinians refusal to even try to make peace. They were tired of having to carry the Palestinians and were already dealing with Israel behind the scenes. The ones already working with Israel were the Sunni-led states like UAE and Bahrain (and the Saudis), because of their fear of Shia Iran. Continue reading “”

Trump announces Bahrain joining UAE in normalizing ties with Israel

The White House on Friday announced that Bahrain is joining the United Arab Emirates in normalizing ties with Israel.

Driving the news: In a phone call between President Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Bahrain’s King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa, Israeli and Bahraini leaders agreed to establish full diplomatic relations between the two countries.

  • Israeli officials tell Axios that over the last two weeks, the White House has been pressing Bahrain to follow the UAE, which announced last month that it would open full diplomatic relations with Israel.
  • Trump’s senior adviser Jared Kushner and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo traveled to Manama, the capital of Bahrain, recently and asked the king and crown prince of Bahrain to normalize relations with Israel, sources tell Axios.

Why it matters: The deal is a win for the Trump administration, which has sought to broker Middle East peace and strengthen ties with Israel.

  • It’s also a major breakthrough for Israel, which lacks diplomatic recognition in many Middle Eastern countries, but has steadily improved relations in the Gulf, largely due to mutual antipathy toward Iran.

What they’re saying: “Another HISTORIC breakthrough today! Our two GREAT friends Israel and the Kingdom of Bahrain agree to a Peace Deal – the second Arab country to make peace with Israel in 30 days!” Trump tweeted on Friday.

  • The U.S. president told reporters at the White House that when he took office “the Middle East was in a state of absolute chaos.”
  • Trump added that he “can see a lot of good things happening with respect to the Palestinians,” and noted that “something very positive” can happen with Iran.
  • Netanyahu thanked Trump, saying in a statement that “it took Israel 26 years to reach peace with a third Arab country – the United Arab Emirates. Now it took 29 days to reach peace with a forth Arab country – Bahrain.” The Israeli prime minister added that more normalization agreements with other Arab countries will follow.
  • Bahrain’s King Al-Khalifa told Trump and Netanyahu on the phone call that just and comprehensive peace between Israel and the Palestinians must be achieved and should be based on the two-state solution and UN resolutions, the Bahraini news agency reported.
  • The UAE foreign ministry welcomed the Israel-Bahrain deal:
    • “Congratulations to the Kingdom of Bahrain and Israel on their decision to establish full diplomatic relations. Today marks another significant and historic achievement which will contribute enormously to the stability and prosperity of the region.”

What to watch: A “treaty of peace” between the UAE and Israel is expected to be signed next week, mirroring previous agreements between the Israel, Egypt and Jordan.

  • The Trump administration said that the Bahraini foreign minister will also be at the signing ceremony on Tuesday and will sign “a declaration of peace” with Netanyahu.

 

Arab League rejects Palestinian Authority demand to condemn Israel-UAE deal.

The Arab League on Wednesday failed to pass a resolution proposed by the Palestinian Authority (PA) which would have condemned the normalization deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Times of Israel reports.

“After a three-hour debate, some Arab countries refused to include [a] statement condemning [the UAE] for abandoning Arab decisions. Additionally, they struck out a clause which discussed the trilateral agreement” between the UAE, the US, and Israel, the PA representative to the Arab League, Muhannad al-Aklouk, was quoted as having told the Ma’an news agency. Continue reading “”