++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++what goes around comes around?
And:
Sometimes what goes around you avoid at all costs.
https://www.foxnews.com/politi
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Biden is either a virtuous, lying, cheating philanderer or made a mistake and went to the wrong address, time and again. You decide
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Benny Gantz is in America discussing the potential sale of F 35's and has every right to discuss the potential dangers and implications but I am sure it will be resolved to the satisfaction of all interested parties.
Arab allies should mean more to Israelis than airplanes
Friends of Israel fear the impact of a sale of American F-35s to the UAE. But Begin’s lost AWACS fight with Reagan teaches a lesson about seeing potential friends as enemies.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz went to Washington this week to officially concede defeat on an issue regarding his country’s security. While many in the Jewish state have been hoping that the Trump administration can be talked out of selling F-35 stealth fighter jets and advanced arm drones to the United Arab Emirates, it now appears that the sale is a done deal. As JNS reports, Gantz’s trip appears to be an attempt to get the administration to soften the blow by giving Israel more of what it wants in terms of military hardware so as to preserve the Jewish state’s Qualitative Military Edge (QME) over any possible combination of foreign foes.
Critics of President Donald Trump assert that the sale of the advanced fighter jet is a sign that all the fuss over the normalization and peace agreements signed by the UAE and Bahrain with Israel is overblown. They say this proves that the agreements are merely business deals to increase arms sales and have nothing to do with peace.
But the attempt to depict the F-35 sale as a failure of Israeli diplomacy or a betrayal of the Jewish state is false. While the Israeli security establishment would prefer that the UAE not get the jets, they are a small price to pay for normalization deals that do far more to advance the Jewish state’s security than any piece of military hardware.
Opponents of the sale should also consider whether the outcome of one of the most rancorous debates in the history of U.S.-Israeli relations—the 1981 controversy in which the government of Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and AIPAC pulled out all the stops to try to stop the Reagan administration’s plans to sell AWACS surveillance planes to Saudi Arabia—should put a damper on their alarmism.
Opponents of the sale fear that a regime change event or a shift in regional alliances could put a decisive weapon in the hands of Israel’s armed foes. And even if the UAE doesn’t drift away from its current stance as a friendly nation, its possession of the same military technology as Israel threatens the country’s QME over any potential enemy or combination of foes—the maintenance of which is a principle that has been sacred to every Israeli government for the last generation.
Israel was the first foreign nation to purchase the F-35. As of July 2019, the Israel Air Force deployed 16 of the advanced jets that have the ability to slip through radar screens. The first operational use of the planes was reportedly in 2018 when the IAF attacked Iranian targets in Syria. Allowing any other armed force in the region to have them theoretically undermines Israel’s position as a regional superpower that cannot be challenged by any combination of local foes.
While the threat to the QME is a potent argument, those worries don’t justify potentially undermining normalization with the Arab world.
For the last decade, the Gulf States have been steadily moving towards Israel. The reason is twofold. On the one hand, they have grown tired of the Palestinians exercising a veto over the Arab world’s ability to normalize relations and trade with the Jewish state. There is also Iran, which they fear far more than they ever did Israel. The Emiratis not unreasonably believe that it ought to be obvious that anything that strengthens their military deterrent against Iran is also good for Israel.
Even if the sale were to go through soon, it might be as much as eight years before the UAE could put them into service. Israel would then have a decade’s head start in employing them and perhaps already be ready to move on to the next generation of fighter that might put the F-35 in the shade.
In response, the Israeli military establishment asks where they would be if the UAE’s committee of princely rulers were overthrown by Islamists or Iranian proxies. That’s the standard argument the pro-Israel community has employed against any and all arms sales to the Arab world, and it has validity.
The pro-Israel community, however, isn’t revving the machinery for a fight against the sale. That makes sense because such a battle would be futile and seem ungrateful after all that the Trump administration did to help secure the agreements with the UAE and Bahrain, as well as the realistic hope that other Arab and Muslim nations will follow in their footsteps.
Pro-Israel advocates would do well to remember the near apocalyptic fears that the sale of AWACS planes generated among American Jews four decades ago. The arguments about the Saudis using the planes to aid future invasions of Israel not only failed to persuade Congress to rebuke the Reagan administration; they also proved unfounded.
At the time, the 1973 Yom Kippur War—when the Saudis sent 3,000 troops to fight on the Syrian front—and the Arab oil embargo that followed were still recent events. The case that Saudi interest in advanced military equipment was about efforts to destroy Israel made sense. Critics of the sale didn’t comprehend that the Saudis’ real worry at the time was how to defend themselves in a region in which the newly installed Islamist regime in Iran and Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi dictatorship stood as potential threats.
The Saudis never used the AWACS planes against Israel. Though it would be many years before their close under-the-table relations with the Jewish state would become a reality, Riyadh remained focused on potential foes on the other side of the Gulf.
As far as the Trump administration is concerned, criticism of a UAE government that has gone out of its way to demonstrate friendship for the Jewish state and disdain for the Palestinians makes no sense. Ensuring security for the UAE would help Israel and weaken Iran for the foreseeable future.
The extra hardware the United States will sell Israel in order to maintain the QME will more than make up for any possible danger. Saying no to the Emiratis about the jets won’t help increase the number of nations that are recognizing Israel or make it more secure.
The F-35 sale might be shot down by a Biden administration next year. Whether or not that happens, those who worry about the ultimate disposition of the jet should remember that Begin and AIPAC turned out to be wrong about AWACS. Israel’s military edge is not in any real danger, and far from a betrayal by Trump, his push for Arab states to recognize Israel is the ultimate act of friendship. Normalization with a growing number of Arab nations and acquiring new allies does more to strengthen Israel than any plane.
Jonathan S. Tobin is editor in chief of JNS—Jewish News Syndicate. Follow him on Twitter at: @jonathans_tobin.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Malkin comments:
https://www.rasmussenreports.c
Senate report slams Bidens for conflicts of interest, flags possible criminal activity
GOP-led investigation cites 'glaring' evidence of Burisma bribe, suspicious foreign money transfers and sex trafficking.
By John Solomon
A year-long Senate investigation concluded Wednesday that Hunter Biden's efforts to cash in on foreign business deals during his father's vice presidency raised alarm among U.S. government officials, who perceived an ethical conflict of interest and flagged concerns about possible criminal activity ranging from bribery to sex trafficking.
The long-awaited joint report by the GOP-led Senate Homeland and Government Affairs and Senate Finance Committees delivered several blockbuster revelations less than two months before Election Day, suggesting Obama administration officials ignored clear warning signs about ethical conflicts and possible extortion risks involving Joe Biden's family.
Perhaps the most explosive revelation was that the U.S. Treasury Department flagged payments collected overseas by Hunter Biden and business partner Devon Archer for possible illicit activities.
The so-called Suspicious Activity Reports flagged millions of dollars in transactions from the Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings, a Russian oligarch named Yelena Baturina, and Chinese businessmen with ties to Beijing's communist government, the report said. Senate investigators have yet to determine if the FBI or others investigated the concerns.
"The Treasury records acquired by the Chairmen show potential criminal activity relating to transactions among and between Hunter Biden, his family, and his associates with Ukrainian, Russian, Kazakh and Chinese nationals," the 87-page report disclosed, confirming an earlier report in Just the News.
The report, citing U.S. government records, also raised concerns about possible ties to sex and human trafficking rings. "Hunter Biden paid nonresident women who were nationals of Russia or other Eastern European countries and who appear to be linked to an Eastern European prostitution or human trafficking ring," the report said.
An attorney for Hunter Biden has yet to respond to a emailed request for comment.
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson told Just the News Wednesday morning that the sheer volume of suspicious activity in Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings left the Vice President vulnerable to illicit influence or extortion.
“The report raises serious questions that former Vice President Biden needs to answer. There are simply too many potential conflict of interest, counterintelligence and extortion threats to ignore,” he said.
You can read the full report here: FINAL DRAFT_CLEAN COPY (2).pdf
The findings are certain to roil the final weeks of the presidential election and present a starkly different picture of the Biden family than the one House Democrats offered a year ago when they impeached President Trump for seeking a Ukrainian investigation into Hunter Biden's dealings with Burisma while his father served as vice president.
Back then, Democrats insisted any concerns about Joe Biden and Hunter Biden were Russian disinformation or debunked conspiracy theories.
But State Department records and testimony from Obama-era appointees confirmed Just the News' extensive reporting over the last year that State officials held serious concerns that Burisma was corrupt and had paid a $7 million bribe in 2014 to Ukrainian prosecutors while under investigation during Hunter Biden's tenure there.
In addition, State official George Kent, one of the Democrats' star impeachment witnesses, testified and wrote in contemporaneous memos that Hunter Biden's role on Burisma's board created the appearance of an "awkward" conflict of interest that undercut U.S. anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine being led by Vice President Joe Biden, the report said.
Kent was so concerned that he canceled a State Department partnership with Burisma, reported the alleged Burisma bribe to the Justice Department, and tried to raise concerns directly to Vice President Joe Biden but was rebuffed, the report said, citing testimony and U.S. government records.
In October 2015, another senior State Department official, energy adviser Amos Hochstein, raised concerns with Joe Biden, as well as with Hunter Biden, that Hunter Biden’s position on Burisma’s board enabled Russian disinformation efforts and risked undermining U.S. policy in Ukraine. But nothing further happened
"The Obama administration knew that Hunter Biden's position on Burisma's board was problematic and did interfere in the efficient execution of policy with respect to Ukraine," the report concluded. "Moreover, this investigation has illustrated the extent to which officials within the Obama administration ignored the glaring warning signs when the vice president's son joined the board of a company owned by a corrupt Ukrainian oligarch."
In all, Hunter Biden and Archer received more than $4 million from Burisma during a time when the firm aggressively lobbied the State Department to make long-standing corruption allegations go away, at times invoking the vice president's son’s name for pressure.
But the U.S. government's worries about Hunter Biden's globetrotting business pursuits didn't stop in Ukraine.
"In addition to the over $4 million paid by Burisma for Hunter Biden's and Archer's board memberships, Hunter Biden, his family, and Archer received millions of dollars from foreign nationals with questionable backgrounds," the report said.
Senate investigators flagged transactions in at least three other foreign countries:
- Archer received $142,300 from Kenges Rakishev of Kazakhstan, purportedly for a car, the same day Vice President Joe Biden appeared with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and addressed Ukrainian legislators in Kyiv regarding Russia's actions in Crimea.
- Hunter Biden received a $3.5 million wire transfer from Elena Baturina, the wife of the former mayor of Moscow and Russia's only female oligarch.
- Hunter Biden opened a bank account with Chinese national Gongwen Dong to fund a $100,000 global spending spree for the Biden family.
- Hunter Biden had business associations with Ye Jianming, Gongwen, and other Chinese nationals linked to the communist government and the People's Liberation Army. "Those associations resulted in millions of dollars in cash flow," the report said.
The report did not expand much on its sensational claim of alleged links to sex trafficking or prostitutes, reserving most of the discussion to two footnotes.
"There is extensive public reporting concerning Hunter Biden's alleged involvement with prostitution services. Records on file with the Committees do not directly confirm or refute these individual reports," investigators wrote. "However, they do confirm that Hunter Biden sent thousands of dollars to individuals who have either: 1) been involved in transactions consistent with possible human trafficking; 2) an association with the adult entertainment industry; or 3) potential association with prostitution. Some recipients of those funds are Ukrainian and Russian citizens.
"The records note that it is a documented fact that Hunter Biden has sent funds to nonresident alien women in the United States who are citizens of Russia and Ukraine and who have subsequently wired funds they have received from Hunter Biden to individuals located in Russia and Ukraine. The records also note that some of these transactions are linked to what 'appears to be an Eastern European prostitution or human trafficking ring," the footnote added.
The report said the Senate probe will continue in part because investigators have been thwarted by a lack of cooperation and have not yet been able to determine whether the FBI, U.S. intelligence or other agencies fully investigated the concerns about the Bidens.
The report does not accuse either Joe or Hunter Biden of a specific crime; rather it flags warning signs about their conduct and questions whether officials turned a blind eye. Both Bidens have long denied wrongdoing and called the Senate investigation a partisan endeavor.
Democrats are certain to contest the findings, but they will face the awkward challenge that the key evidence supporting the Republicans' conclusions came from Obama-Biden era files and witnesses, including Kent, the bowtied diplomat who was a star witness for Democrats at impeachment.
Kent's testimony and emails cited in the report paint a compelling portrait of the difficulties Joe Biden created by continuing to preside over Ukraine anti-corruption policy as Obama's vice president while his son served on the board of a company under investigation for corruption and run by an oligarch named Mykola Zlochevsky.
"The presence of Hunter Biden on the Burisma board was very awkward for all U.S. officials," Kent wrote in a Sept. 6, 2016 email to senior State officials, including then-U.S. ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.
In his testimony to the committees, he expounded on the impact those concerns had on U.S. policy in Ukraine, especially in fighting corruption.
"People who talk the talk need to walk the walk, and for the U.S. government, collectively, when we talk about the need to have high standards of integrity, again, as I've said, the presence of [Hunter Biden] on the board created the perception of a potential conflict of interest," he testified.
Kent also discussed the extraordinary specter of having to report to the Justice Department that the very firm paying Hunter Biden in Ukraine was believed to have paid a bribe to Ukrainian prosecutors to make corruption allegations disappear.
"Burisma's owner was a poster child for corrupt behavior," Kent testified to the committees. "... I would have advised any American not to get on the board of Zlochevsky's company."
Hunter Biden finally left Burisma in 2019 as his father began his quest to win the presidency in 2020.
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+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ - Barr not tolerant of rioters.
Hi Patriots,
Attorney General William P. Barr is staying true to his earlier word has pushed for aggressive charges to be leveled at protesters.
They turned violent in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd on May 25, and he’s had it!
Here’s What He Wants to See Happen to Them!
Fighting for Freedom,
Chuck Little
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Conservatives tend to pack heat (weapons) liberals like to pack courts. The former is constitutional, the latter questionable.
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