Wednesday, December 21, 2022

Wolsey's Concern Is Also Mine. Another Biden FP Disaster. What Happened? More.

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Massive Offensives by the Russians to Terminate Ukraine -
Peace between Jordan and Israel unraveling, report says -
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Former CIA Director, Wolsey, has said this is his biggest concern. Wolsey was one of our better CIA Directors and I, therefore, am impressed by his expressed concerns.


I believe the attached article is alarmist in terms of time but not in terms of eventual execution. We, and all developed nations, are vulnerable to a burst that could destroy our nationwide electrical systems.
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Dr. Leo has a special message for readers today. It's important so keep reading...
Could Americans be without power - as early as next week? 

I'm talking no electricity. 

Zero air conditioning. 

Zero phones. 

Zero internet. 

That's what the CIA now warns… if Putin acts on his newest threat. 

And I'm not talking about nukes, either. 

Yes - we know the Soviets have missiles pointed at America. 

But this new threat? 

It's something else… something just as terrifying.

In fact… 

My blood ran cold when I saw where and how they plan to attack America.

If CIA predictions are true…

The USA could plunge into total darkness - in just days from now.

No town, city, or state will be safe.

And your neighbors? 

They could turn into cruel bandits who'll steal from you or even kill to survive.

Now, Government officials are urging Americans to prepare for the worst.

Find out how to survive this deadly and urgent threat now.

-Dr. Leo Shub
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America Is Stronger Than Biden’s Foreign Policy
Like his predecessors, he hasn’t inspired much confidence in U.S. leadership.
By Walter Russell Mead

As President Biden’s first term nears its halfway mark, many in the administration feel reasonably good about America’s position in the world. True, hopes of sidelining Russia so that the U.S. could focus on China undisturbed haven’t come to fruition. The expectation that relations with Iran would stabilize with a new administration willing to return to the nuclear deal proved equally wrong. And the president’s signature move—the withdrawal from Afghanistan that Mr. Biden forced through—was executed so poorly that it left a permanent mark on the team’s reputation.

Relations with allies and partners across the Indo-Pacific also look strong. Japan is doubling its defense spending. The Quad (the U.S., India, Australia and Japan) continues to develop. For the first time ever, a South Korean president attended the NATO summit last June. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in the Philippines seems to value a deeper defense relationship with Washington.

The world’s democracies may be muddling along in their usual half-satisfactory way, but it looks a lot better than the car crashes that authoritarian regimes in Russia, China and Iran have been facing lately. Mr. Putin’s war, China’s economic and pandemic troubles, and Iran’s thuggish assault on its own people have taken the shine off the authoritarian model.

Neither American democracy nor the world capitalist order crashed in 2022. The usual chorus of voices predicting the imminent collapse of both has proved, yet again, to be premature. But the Biden administration would be ill-advised to pat itself on the back. If things are looking up for America, it isn’t because Team Biden is getting most things right. Things are looking good for America because our international power rests on such sturdy foundations that, within limits, other countries step up when America fumbles.

The global maritime system of commerce and security—built by the British in the 18th century, led by America since World War II and still dominant today—is a lot tougher and more resilient than it looks. When the hegemon grows weary, other powers that benefit from the system step in to support it—as the U.S. did for Britain in the world wars. As China and Russia become more threatening, their neighbors are eager to build coalitions to offset them. That makes countries such as Finland, India and Japan interested in deepening their relations with the U.S.

Bidenites high-fiving each other and claiming, “Diplomacy is back!” need to understand that America’s allies are becoming more active because they fear American decline. Given the inconstancy of 21st-century American presidential leadership (George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Joe Biden), few of our allies are confident about where we’re headed. Japan is stepping up defense spending because the American foreign-policy establishment, during two decades of passive incompetence, failed to anticipate, counter or deter China’s massive military buildup. Germany’s Zeitenwende, or turning point, resulted from the Biden administration’s failure to deter a weakened Russia in Ukraine. The Abraham Accords in the Middle East are best understood as a regional vote of no confidence in American leadership and reliability.

While the surge of military activism and strategic engagement by powers such as India, Germany and Japan helps balance the scales against Russia and China, the multipolar world emerging from the remains of the Pax Americana will create as many problems as it solves. After World War II, Americans sought to reduce great-power rivalries by maintaining an overwhelming military power that deterred adversaries, reassured allies and prevented the destabilizing arms races and economic rivalries that in the past had often led to major international conflicts. The kind of multipolar arms race now emerging in the Indo-Pacific is exactly what past American presidents sought to prevent, not encourage.

Meanwhile, shortsighted economic policies here and abroad are undermining the integrated world economy that underpins both American prosperity and global peace. A perverse synthesis of Trumpian trade policy, half-baked green-energy initiatives and knee-jerk progressive regulatory overreach won’t make the world a better or safer place.

Two years into the Biden era, the report card is mixed. To the frustration of our rivals, the inherent strengths of the Anglo-American strategic approach to world affairs continue to bolster American power and support American interests. Yet confidence in America’s leadership continues to decline, and the political and economic foundations of the Pax Americana continue to erode.
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Another Biden  foreign policy disaster .
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China’s Deal with Saudi Arabia is a Disaster for Biden
by Con Coughlin, GATESTONE 

Nothing better illustrates the utter ineptitude of the Biden administration’s dealings with the Middle East than Saudi Arabia’s decision to forge a strategic alliance with China.

Biden set the tone for his strained relationship with the Saudi royal family during the 2020 presidential election contest when he denounced the kingdom as a “pariah” state over its involvement in the murder of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in 2018, although there has never any audible distress from the Biden administration over Iran’s 2007 abduction and presumed death of ex-FBI agent Robert Levinson.

By any standard, the deepening military cooperation between Russia and Iran should serve as a wake-up call to the Biden administration to redouble its efforts to reaffirm its commitment to key allies in the region such as the Saudis, who are committed to resisting any attempt by Tehran to expand its malign influence in the region.
That Riyadh is now moving away from its traditional alliance with the US and strengthening its ties with Beijing is a strategic disaster of epic proportions, and serves as a damning indictment of the Biden administration’s careless treatment of the Saudis, for which the president is personally to blame.

That Saudi Arabia is now moving away from its traditional alliance with the US and strengthening its ties with China is a strategic disaster of epic proportions, and serves as a damning indictment of the Biden administration’s careless treatment of the Saudis.

Nothing better illustrates the utter ineptitude of the Biden administration’s dealings with the Middle East than Saudi Arabia’s decision to forge a strategic alliance with China.

This is a time when Washington should be working overtime to strengthen its ties with long-standing allies like the Saudis to combat the mounting threat Iran poses to the region’s security.

Apart from the deeply alarming progress the ayatollahs are said to be making with their efforts to produce nuclear weapons,

The new “axis of evil” that has been formed between Moscow and Tehran in recent months means Iran will soon be taking delivery of state-of-the-art Russian warplanes to add to its military arsenal.

In what both the White House and Downing Street described as “sordid deals” between the two countries, Iran is due to take delivery of Russian Su-35 fighter jets next year as well as other advanced military equipment and components, including helicopters and air defence systems. In return Iran is providing Russia with hundreds of its Shahed-131 and Shahed-136 so-called kamikaze drones, which self-destruct on hitting their target.

As US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby explained at a briefing in Washington, Moscow has “offered Iran an unprecedented level of military and technical support”, which “transforms their relationship into a full defense partnership”.

Biden administration officials added that Iranian pilots were already being trained in Russia on how to fly the Su-35 fighter.

By any standard, the deepening military cooperation between Russia and Iran should serve as a wake-up call to the Biden administration to redouble its efforts to reaffirm its commitment to key allies in the region such as the Saudis, who are committed to resisting any attempt by Tehran to expand its malign influence in the region.

Riyadh’s determination to resist Iran’s aggressive conduct was reflected in recent comments made by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud who warned that “all bets are off” if Iran succeeds in its goal of acquiring an operational nuclear weapon.

“We are in a very dangerous space in the region… you can expect that regional states will certainly look towards how they can ensure their own security,” he said.

Riyadh’s robust approach to Iran’s bellicose conduct is exactly the sort of response Washington needs to see from its allies as it faces up to the Iranian threat. Yet, thanks to the Biden administration’s wilful neglect of its relations with the Saudis, Riyadh is instead looking to build a partnership with Beijing, as was evident from the lavish reception given to Chinese President Xi Jinping during his state visit to the kingdom this month.

Rarely has a visiting leader been the recipient of such lavish state pageantry as Xi after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spared no effort to afford the Chinese leader a warm welcome, which included a jet escort on his arrival.

During his three-day visit, Xi held extensive talks with the Crown Prince, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, as well as other senior Saudi officials and signed a strategic partnership agreement that will deepen ties between Riyadh and Beijing on a range of issues, from defence to technology.

One particularly eye-catching aspect of the agreement was a deal with the Chinese tech giant Huawei to supply the Saudis with cloud computing services and allow “high-tech” complexes to be built in Saudi cities, according to Saudi officials.

Huawei has been designated a potential security threat by the US, with intelligence officials claiming that the company has close links to China’s ruling Communist Party and could be used to conduct spying operations.

That Riyadh is now moving away from its traditional alliance with the US and strengthening its ties with Beijing is a strategic disaster of epic proportions, and serves as a damning indictment of the Biden administration’s careless treatment of the Saudis, for which the president is personally to blame.

Biden set the tone for his strained relationship with the Saudi royal family during the 2020 presidential election contest when he denounced the kingdom as a “pariah” state over its involvement in the murder of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in 2018, although there has never any audible distress from the Biden administration over Iran’s 2007 abduction and presumed death of ex-FBI agent Robert Levinson.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, though, forced Biden to rethink his attitude towards the Saudis when it suddenly dawned on him that he needed the Saudis to increase oil supplies to ease the pressure on global prices.

His efforts achieved little: the Saudis were apparently unimpressed with Biden greeting the Crown Prince with a fist-bump when he visited the kingdom in the summer, and he came away empty-handed, with the Saudis and other Gulf states ignoring his plea to increase oil production.

Apart from being dismayed about Biden’s obsession with reviving the controversial nuclear deal with Tehran, which they regard as a flawed agreement — it allows the Iranian regime soon to build as many nuclear weapons as it likes as well, as the ballistic missiles to deliver them — the Saudis and other Gulf leaders are unhappy with the lack of support they have received from Washington over the constant threat they face from Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, whom Secretary of State Antony Blinken removed from the US list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations just a few weeks into Biden’s term, and who since then regularly fired Iranian-made missiles and drones into Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Now, thanks to Biden’s incompetent management of the US-Saudi relationship, Riyadh is looking to China to protect its interests, a move that confirms the alarming decline in US influence in the region that has taken place under the vacuum in Biden’s leadership.

Con Coughlin is the Telegraph‘s Defence and Foreign Affairs Editor and a Shillman Journalism Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
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Far too many Americans of today are not like those of the past. They are a different breed.  They are a sad lot of sniveling leeches and  self indulgent, hypocrite progressives.  What happened to make them the way they are?
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is meeting President Biden at the White House and addressing Congress today. It's his first visit since Russia invaded, and Biden will announce nearly $2 billion in new security aid for Ukraine.
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Finally: Naked truth. 1/6 was a charade to take attention from Democrat shenanigans that reach the highest level of sedition in my life and history of the presidency.  Pelosi knew what she was doing and thought she would not be caught or Hunter's lap top would be discovered.

The corrupt FBI was engaged and this also undercuts Pelosi's efforts to destroy Trump and have him in the cell Hillary should be occupying.

No wonder faith in government is in shambles.  We can no longer trust those we have given power to and the government and agencies they have corrupted.
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Jan. 6 Panel’s Criminal Referral of Trump ‘Clearly Unconstitutional’—Here's Why      READ MORE

The naked truth on the Hunter Biden laptop coverup
By Michael Goodwin

The Hunter Biden investigation is now getting compared to Watergate.The FBI reportedly used Twitter and other social media platforms to censor reports about the Biden family.

We can thank Watergate and the fall of Richard Nixon for numerous words and quotes that continue to shape public understanding of political scandals. There’s “hush money” and “Deep Throat,” a “modified limited hangout” and “follow the money.”

But half-a-century later, two other Watergate phrases are key to comprehending the FBI’s sordid role in suppressing The Post’s initial coverage of Hunter Biden’s laptop. 

The first is, “What did the president know and when did he know it?” 

In a 1973 Watergate hearing, the question about the president’s knowledge was asked by Sen. Howard Baker to White House counsel John Dean. Essentially, it was whether Nixon knew about the plan to break in to the Democratic Party’s offices, the so-called “third-rate burglary.” 

At first blush, the question would seem to have no relevance to the FBI’s use of Twitter and other social media platforms to censor reports on Biden family corruption. After all, the president in the fall of 2020 was Donald Trump. 

But that’s exactly the point and a key element that makes the evolving scandal so distinct. It shows the FBI, the nation’s premier law enforcement agency, secretly working to defeat the sitting president of the United States and elect Joe Biden. 

The FBI secretly worked to defeat the sitting president of the United States and elect Joe Biden. 

Recall that, under former Director James Comey’s band of dirty cops, the agency had done something similar in 2016. Then it spied on the Trump campaign and many top FBI leaders actively worked to flip the election to Hillary Clinton.

So, unlike Nixon during Watergate, Trump not only didn’t know about the “dirty tricks,” he was the victim of them. Numerous reports show that enough Biden voters said they would have voted for Trump to change the outcome had they known Biden was “the big guy” slated to get a secret 10% cut of his son’s China payoff.

Catch up on Twitter’s censorship of The Post’s Hunter Biden laptop story

Happening now: Latest “Twitter Files” reveals how workers pushed for new policy to ban Trump

Our original report: Smoking-gun email reveals how Hunter Biden introduced Ukrainian businessman to VP dad

Editorial: Why has the public turned against “experts”? Twitter’s secret shadow bans show why

Dorsey bows out: Musk warns Dorsey evidence of Twitter censorship “may have been deleted”

Musk’s musings: Elon Musk: Twitter blacklisting proves “the inmates were running the asylum”

The second Watergate phrase that commands our attention now is “The coverup is worse than the crime.”

That’s because we are on the cusp of the coverup phase of what the FBI, and perhaps the CIA and others, did to influence the outcome of the 2020 election. Predictable denials of “nothing to see here” come despite clear proof agents interfered with the First Amendment rights of the American public, and not just on Twitter. 

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said agents warned him about “Russian disinformation” before the election. Those warnings came in weekly meetings FBI agents had in San Francisco with the Big Tech firms and some reportedly mentioned Hunter Biden. It remains an open question to what extent free speech was infringed on by government minders across the media ­landscape. 

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said agents warned him about “Russian disinformation” before the election.

FBI agents ‘on payroll’

Thanks to Elon Musk’s opening of Twitter’s files, we know the FBI had scores of agents monitoring that site’s users and directing compliant employees to ban certain tweets or restrict their reach. Agents also demanded the names and other personal information Twitter had on those users, so additional surveillance, possibly without court orders, likely followed. 

The Post report that at least 12 former agents were on the Twitter payroll, including former FBI general counsel James Baker, depicts a too-cozy relationship that turned Twitter into what one independent journalist calls a “subsidiary” of the bureau. 

Other reports say numerous former agents held jobs at other social media firms, suggesting a sinister revolving door that made the firms cat’s-paws for government snooping. 

Another event in the 2020 election that is still shrouded involves the infamous letter signed by 51 former intelligence officers saying The Post report “had all the earmarks of Russian disinformation.” Naturally, the odious John Brennan, head of the CIA when Biden was vice president, had a hand in the scam.

It’s certainly no coincidence the letter, which allowed Biden to accuse Trump of using false information at a debate, reflects the same talking points the FBI had made to Twitter. It specifically urged company officials to beware of Russian disinformation about Hunter Biden, especially “hacked” materials. 

One of those warnings apparently came just hours before The Post’s first story on the laptop, and may have involved communication between agents and Hunter Biden’s lawyer.

The FBI attempted to suppress The Post’s reporting on Hunter Biden.

Nor is it a coincidence that, while it was issuing such warnings, the FBI had in its hand for 10 months Hunter’s actual computer that contained all the incriminating information about Joe Biden. 

Therefore, one possibility that must be considered is that the FBI knew The Post report was accurate, and set out to make it toxic by specifically warning that anything involving the president’s son would be disinformation and should be suppressed, which is exactly what Twitter and Facebook did. 

Of course, there are also major differences between the current scandal and Watergate, some of which suggest the fight for the truth this time will be a harder one, with no guaranteed results. 

Topping the list is the hyper-partisanship gripping Washington. Howard Baker was a respected Republican senator from Tennessee when he asked John Dean about the break-in, and Nixon had offered to nominate him to the Supreme Court in 1971. 

Yet, despite his closeness to the president, his work on the Watergate hearings was above reproach. 

Now try to imagine a single top Senate Democrat today who could play such a a key role in investigating the FBI’s effort to help Biden win in 2020. Sadly, the species is extinct.

Similarly, the trusted media that drove the Watergate process to its rightful conclusion no longer exists in Washington. The virtual coverage blackout on Musk’s Twitter Files release is the latest in a long line of evidence that today’s largest newspapers and TV outlets are in the tank for Democrats. 

Twitter is being accused of censoring stories about Hunter Biden weeks before the 2020 presidential election.

Media complicit
So what if the FBI violated the First Amendment rights of ordinary Americans? So what if the bureau was part of a conspiracy with intelligence officials to label the Biden laptop disinformation when it knew otherwise?

Generations of fair journalists, seeing themselves as patriots first, would have grabbed this huge, complicated story with both hands. Today, the evidence of FBI interference in an election is met with a media shrug because a shared objective was achieved: removing Trump.

Finally, consider this possibility. Because it has had the laptop and who knows what other sources and information, the FBI has known all along that Joe Biden is a corrupt president who is compromised in his dealings with China and America’s other adversaries. 

If true, there are two implications. 

We have in Biden, as John Dean famously said about Nixon, “a cancer on the presidency.” 

We also have an FBI that has returned to the ethos of J. Edgar Hoover. He kept his job for nearly five decades by keeping files of dirt on presidents, senators, members of Congress, the media and many prominent private citizens, such as Martin Luther King Jr.

Because of inevitable damage to our country, I would be happy to be wrong about the rough road ahead. Unfortunately, I fear the worst-case scenario is true.
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