In Washington Good News Becomes Bad News

A dangerously incompetent administration alienates friends and makes new enemies

PHILIP GIRALDI • DECEMBER 7

The good news is that today is Pearl Harbor Day, which brought about the US entry in World War II, a war that never would have been fought if sanity had prevailed among leading statesmen of that era. The lesson-learned for today should be about the steps that could have and should have been taken to avoid war. And there is more good news in that the United States National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), that pork laden mish-mosh that pretends to be serious legislation responsive to the nation’s actual defense needs, is hung up in the Senate, something that has not happened for the past sixty years. But then comes the bad news. The bill is being blocked by several Republican Senators who want to make it nastier, using increased sanctions to halt the Russo-German Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline while also banning imports from China’s Xinjiang region, where some administration officials have accused the government of carrying out genocide against Uyghur Muslims.

The GOP Senators also want to sanction the gas pipeline to warn Russia of consequences over possible military action against Ukraine, putting even more pressure on Germany to pull out of the deal, which is already under severe strain due to Washington’s sanctions. The ban on trade with China is likewise intended to send a signal to Beijing that even what it does internally is not off limits if one wants to avoid the wrath of the US Congress.

The bumbling about America’s place in the world is unfortunately bipartisan. Witness how the Joe Biden Administration entered into office with a pledge to fix the alleged lack of confidence in Washington’s leadership due to some of the actions undertaken by his predecessor Donald Trump. To be sure, Trump’s impetuous brand of decision making sometimes confounded friends and while also confusing potential enemies, but Biden, in spite of his commitment to “build back better,” whatever that is supposed to mean, has up until now little enough to show for his efforts.

The president’s team had hoped to recoup the high ground through adroit management of the possible US role in the climate crisis but not many nations will rallied around the American flag when it came to taking actual steps and establishing targets that would cripple their energy dependent economies. In the US, soaring gas and heating fuel prices have already clearly stifled the potential popular support for reducing carbon emissions. As winter closes in on North America it will be interesting to see how voters react to the Biden climate initiatives, whatever they turn out to be.

Even though the media has obligingly stopped its coverage of the continuing immigration disaster along the nation’s southern border, the Biden Administration’s failure to take effective steps to curb the flow is evident to voters. Team Biden has allowed tens of thousands of illegals to enter the country, with the Immigration Service even providing ongoing flights to enable them to be spread throughout the nation. They are supposed to appear before an immigration judge at some future point, but hardly any of them will bother, while the Democrats will do all they can to enable them to vote by mail. New York City has already announced that it will allow non-citizens to vote in local elections. And oh yes, the Biden immigration program came complete with a mooted plan from the White House to compensate some of those who were caught crossing the border illegally if children were separated from their parents. It might be the first time in American history that criminals were so rewarded, possibly to the tune of $1 million per family, but the good news is that the initiative has apparently been dropped as a result of a popular uprising over the issue.

Should one go on? There was a hopelessly bungled evacuation from Afghanistan that is already passing from memory, a process that will be assisted by a Hollywood movie forthcoming featuring the heroism of the soldiers and Marines who risked their lives to get the American citizens and vulnerable Afghans out before the Taliban came in. One wonders if it will include a recreation of the chowderheads in the White House holding the meeting in which they decided to close the secure Bagram Airbase before the evacuation started? Not very likely as Hollywood is called the “Dream Machine” for good reasons and it is overloaded with Democrats.

And should one mention the relentlessly absurd invocation of new variants of the COVID virus, together with a constantly growing vaccination mandate applied to nearly everyone the government can somehow put pressure on to comply? And the printing of money to support Democratic Party promoted social programs that many find wildly excessive and will inevitably fuel inflation and explode the national debt. It has only been a little over ten months and the vultures are gathering! No wonder Biden’s presidential approval rating is the lowest ever, and his dangerously incompetent Vice President Kamala Harris, who has been thankfully largely invisible, ranks even lower.

So, one should not be surprised that Biden is doing what many of his predecessors have done – to divert the criticism, he is looking for enemies to blame. Now make no mistake, there are a lot of countries that don’t like the United States very much, mostly with good reason based on what Washington has been doing, but the countries most frequently surfaced as “problems” continue to be Iran, Russia and China.

The persistence in seeking out enemies is somewhat peculiar as the United States, protected geographically by two oceans, has undoubtedly the most powerful military in the world backing up strategic deterrents including deliverable nuclear weapons that could annihilate any foe. It spends more on “defense” than the next seven countries combined measured by military expenditures do and has an estimated seven hundred military bases worldwide. Nearly half of all the military spending in the entire world is done by the US.

America is the only nation that can project significant military power globally, so why is there extreme paranoia about foreign threats? Some might argue that it is all a sham, that it is done to keep the cash flowing to the defense contractors, but that explanation is simplistic and it may be better to look at how a combination of factors have transformed America into the world’s “arsenal of democracy.” Or perhaps it would be better described as relentless “democracy promotion.”

Looking at the three enemies of choice one observes that Iran, which does not threaten the US at all, is only on the list because of Israel. The powerful Israel Lobby in the United States has a tight grip on Iran policy, dominating the debate in Congress, such as there is one, and consistently placing its proxies in the White House’s national security cabinet. Talks to reinstate the JCPOA, monitoring Iran’s nuclear program, are very much in America’s national interest but are going nowhere by design because Israel objects. Israeli Prime Minister has recently warned that the talks should be ended as Iran is using “threats” to obtain favorable treatment. As Israel is the only nuclear armed power in the Middle East, the argument borders on the ridiculous.

Russia, the only one of the three that could inflict serious damage on the United States, has likewise been a neocon project since the Soviet Union collapsed. Moscow only has one overseas base, in Syria, and has only limited resources or interests to do more than that, though it is very engaged in making sure that its neighboring states do not slip into the Western orbit any more than has already taken place. Russia’s view of the friendship or hostility of its neighbors is a vital interest, unlike Washington’s involvement in the region.

Nevertheless, the US Foreign Policy establishment, largely under the control of neocons and their associated think tanks, has succeeded in depicting President Vladimir Putin and his government as totalitarian monsters when they move troops within their own borders. The notorious Victoria Nuland, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, recently warned after a NATO ministerial meeting that “All of the NATO allies were in solidarity with Ukraine today and making clear that we are resolute in supporting [its] independence, and we are also resolute in sending the message to Moscow that if it moves again to internally destabilize Ukraine or use its forces to enter the country that it will be met with high impact economic measures the likes of which we have not used before from all of us.”

Another recent ridiculous proposal by Barack Obama’s incompetent Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul has the US deterring Russia by increasing sanctions while also entering into a virtual military alliance with Ukraine, which, if anything would provoke rather than deter a war. The US media, which could argue against such precipitate action, has gone along with the charade, misrepresenting Russian action vis-à-vis Ukraine, and supporting American and NATO military provocations in the Black Sea and Baltic. Unfortunately, the relentless propaganda campaign has been effective with fully half of the US public willing to commit American soldiers to “defend” Ukraine.

Some Congressmen are already on board with poking the Russian bear, actually calling for US combat troops to be stationed in the Ukraine to deter Moscow. Secretary of State Tony Blinken has recently warned Russia “not to make a serious mistake” over Ukraine. Why? Maybe because Washington spent $5 billion to overthrow Ukraine’s existing government in 2014 and the country now has a Jewish head of state and both its economy and government are largely in the hands of Jewish-Israeli oligarchs. It is the usual tie that binds, and then there is also the Hunter Biden “gets rich in Ukraine” back story which benefits from being hidden by the status quo.

But China, which has of late risen to the top of the enemies’ chart, is a bit harder to understand. China is a legitimate global competitor with an economy now estimated to be larger than that of the US, but it has never suggested in any way that it wants a war. Against that, President Biden has declared that the United States has a “commitment” to defend Taiwan if China should attempt to retake control of the island. If that conflict were to come about and the US engages in a conventional war against Beijing, it would find that the Chinese have considerable advantages in that they would be fighting on interior lines while the modern hypersonic missile technologies that they would deploy could devastate obsolete American aircraft carrier battle groups. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley has described the new Chinese missiles as “very concerning” and “very close” to being a “Sputnik moment,” when a panicked US accelerated its arms and space races against the Soviet Union in 1957.

And one should not forget that China is a major trading partner with the United States, producing many consumer items that are no longer manufactured in America. Beijing also holds tens of billions of dollars-worth of US Treasury bonds. If two countries ever had good reasons not to go to war it would be China and the US, but the threats coming mostly from Washington have been nearly continuous ever since President Barack Obama initiated his tilt to Asia.

The complete ineptness of US diplomacy also contributes to the sense of threat. Logically, Washington should be playing off Russia against China to diminish any danger of war against two hostile great powers but instead it has chosen to antagonize both of them. Whether the Europeans and the South Koreans and Japanese will follow the US on its march to oblivion is debatable. One of the curious aspects of the news coming out of the White House, Pentagon and Foggy Bottom is just how hypocritical it all is. Witness for example the groupthink assessment made by General Milley, who said “We’re witnessing one of the largest shifts in global geo-strategic power the world has witnessed. They [the Chinese] are clearly challenging us regionally and their aspiration is to challenge the United States globally.” Milley is saying that China in particular, and Russia and Iran as well, cannot develop military technologies and take other steps to defend themselves without Washington’s permission. The absurdity of that position should be obvious to everyone, but it has apparently not yet become clear to those in power in Washington.

Philip M. Giraldi, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest, a 501(c)3 tax deductible educational foundation (Federal ID Number #52-1739023) that seeks a more interests-based U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Website is councilforthenationalinterest.org, address is P.O. Box 2157, Purcellville VA 20134 and its email is [email protected].

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https://www.unz.com/pgiraldi/in-washington-good-news-becomes-bad-news/

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WASHINGTON — The House on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed a $768 billion defense policy bill after lawmakers abruptly dropped proposals that would have required women to register for the draft, repealed the 2002 authorization of the Iraq war and imposed sanctions for a Russian gas pipeline, in a late-year drive to salvage a bipartisan priority.

The legislation, unveiled hours before the vote, put the Democratic-led Congress on track to increase the Pentagon’s budget by roughly $24 billion above what President Biden had requested, angering antiwar progressives who had hoped that their party’s control of the White House and both houses of Congress would lead to cuts to military programs after decades of growth.

Instead, the measure provides significant increases for initiatives intended to counter China and bolster Ukraine, as well as the procurement of new aircraft and ships, underscoring the bipartisan consensus on Capitol Hill for continuing to spend huge amounts of federal money on defense initiatives, even as Republicans lash Democrats for spending freely on social programs.

On the heels of winding down the nation’s 20-year war in Afghanistan, Mr. Biden declared the end of an era defined by ground wars with large troop deployments and pledged that the United States instead would counter threats through military technology and cybersecurity competition. But citing new threats from Russia and China, lawmakers rejected the president’s request to keep military spending essentially flat, and instead overwhelmingly called for increasing it substantially.

“One of the major challenges our military faces right now is dealing with the rapid pace of technology, is getting the Pentagon to better and more quickly adopt the innovative technologies that we need to meet our national security threats,” said Representative Adam Smith, Democrat of Washington and the chairman of the Armed Services Committee. “Those threats are very real.”

The lopsided 363-to-70 vote on Tuesday sent the legislation to the Senate, where it is expected to pass with strong bipartisan support as soon as this week. It came just minutes after the House approved an unusual measure to lay the path for a swift increase in the debt ceiling to avert a first-ever federal default, clearing the way for Democrats in Congress to complete their year-end business and use the remainder rest of their legislative calendar to try to enact Mr. Biden’s marquee social and climate policy bill.

Because it authorizes an annual pay increase for the nation’s troops as well as new Pentagon programs, the defense policy bill has typically been considered a must-pass item, and lawmakers have prided themselves on doing so annually without fail for decades. The House and the Senate usually craft and pass their own bills separately, considering dozens of amendments along the way, before negotiating a compromise version.

But this year, the process has collapsed in an end-of-year spasm of dysfunction unusual even for a legislative body that is plagued by partisan paralysis.

The Senate neither passed its own defense bill nor considered any amendments, denying lawmakers the chance to vote on a number of foreign policy issues. Instead, top congressional officials huddled behind closed doors in recent days to cobble together a bill that could quickly pass both chambers.

In its final form, the legislation would authorize a 2.7 percent pay increase for the nation’s military, call for an independent commission to scrutinize the war in Afghanistan, and prohibit the Pentagon from procuring items produced with forced labor from the Xinjiang region of China, where as many as one million Uyghurs have been detained in work camps.

It also contains a painstakingly negotiated compromise to strip military commanders of authority over sexual assault cases and many other serious crimes, placing them under independent military prosecutors in a move that had long been opposed by military leaders and presidents. Both Mr. Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III endorsed the shift earlier this year.

Other significant changes were left out in the interest of swift passage. Lawmakers tossed out a measure requiring women to register with the Selective Service System for the first time in American history, a step endorsed by a national commission last year that found expanding eligibility for the selective service would be a crucial step toward increasing both gender equity and readiness in the military.

Some conservatives in Congress had long resisted the idea, arguing that it was immoral to force women to fight the nation’s wars, and a bloc of House Republicans had threatened to withhold their support for the bill if it was included. Their votes were needed because of opposition among liberals, who refused to endorse such a large defense budget.

Leaders of the armed services committees also excluded a House-passed bill to repeal the 2002 law authorizing the invasion of Iraq, which has been stretched by multiple administrations to justify military action around the world. Repealing the authorization was expected to win broad bipartisan backing in the Senate.

Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia and one of the lead authors of the measure, told reporters he was “confident” that the issue would get a vote in the “near future,” citing a commitment from party leaders.

Also missing from the final legislation was a provision passed by the House that directed Mr. Biden to impose sanctions over the Nord Stream 2, an undersea gas pipeline running from Russia to Germany that lawmakers fear will give Moscow undue leverage over Central Europe.

“This sends the worst possible message to Ukraine as Putin’s forces stand at its doorstep,” Senator Jim Risch of Idaho, the top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, said of the decision to pull the language from the bill. “So much for Congress reasserting its role in foreign policy.”

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https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/07/us/politics/defense-budget-democrats-biden.html

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Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Joe Biden held a video call on 7 December amid a recent deluge of Western media claims that Russian troops are building up near Ukraine’s border for an alleged incursion. Moscow has repeatedly dismissed the allegations as “propaganda”.

US President Joe Biden should not “rule out first use nuclear action” against Russia over a potential incursion into Ukraine, said Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the number two Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Joined @TeamCavuto today to discuss @POTUS's caIl with Vladimir Putin.

I hope the U.S. will continue to show resolve as Russia masses troops along the Ukraine border. The U.S. and our allies must communicate in strong terms that continued aggression will not be tolerated. pic.twitter.com/DVSSVZOjGj

— Senator Roger Wicker (@SenatorWicker) December 8, 2021

Mississippi's senior senator was appearing in an interview with Fox News' Neil Cavuto from the Capitol to weigh in on Tuesday’s video call between President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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https://sputniknews.com/20211209/gop-senator-urges-biden-not-to-rule-out-first-use-nuclear-action-against-russia-over-ukraine--1091372901.html

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David Brooks is a scorned lover. This refers not to the circumstances surrounding his divorce from his wife of twenty-seven years, finalized in 2014 while he was writing The Road to Character. No, Brooks has instead been scorned by his life’s true love: conservatism. “I fell in love with conservatism in my 20s,” Brooks writes in his latest elegy for the American right in the Atlantic, “What passes for ‘conservatism’ now, however, is nearly the opposite of the Burkean conservatism I encountered then…. The rich philosophical perspective that dazzled me then has been reduced to Fox News and voter suppression.”

Brooks describes an American conservatism that achieved its ideal form in the roughly half century between Barry Goldwater and Mitt Romney. This era of fusionism was a “vibrant, forward-looking conservatism.” The oxymoron between the adjective and the noun of this political program is apparently not a sign of doomed incoherence, but rather of a “fractiousness [that] seemed to work.” Indeed, a progressive ethos colors Brooks’ conservatism throughout. For Brooks, “Perpetual dynamism and creative destruction are big parts of the American tradition that conservatism defends.” During his Golden Age of American conservatism, “You don’t see people trying to revert to some past glory. Rather, they are attracted to innovation and novelty, smitten with the excitement of new technologies.”

What Donald Trump ushered in—or, put more accurately, the discontent within the country that Donald Trump seized—was certainly not a vibrant, forward-looking ‘conservatism.’ It was a response to the failures of that very program.

To his credit, Brooks himself identifies the discontent that made Trump possible:

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https://www.theamericanconservative.com/state-of-the-union/david-brooks-love-affair/

Failure of neoconservatism under Trump?... The failure started a long time ago, way before the US civil war of 1861... Yet despite being half-dead, neoconservatism carried on with its racism, misogyny and the ugly Americanism exceptionalism... The other side, the Democrats were also part of the neoconservatism movement (and still are) at half-mast. The point is that either Democrats or Republicans, all worked (and work) for CAPITALISM. CAPITALISM is the ugly engine of US "democracy"... as debt is used to manipulate the real cost of such "democratic ideal". IT DOES NOT WORK beyond a few dudes who cash in their chips, while the others (us) become enslaved and the environment SUFFERS... For Gus, any journalist who harbour CONservative views are not journalists and never were — as they did not fight for the good oil of social equity, nor for the concept of "nature"...