Biden and the Democrats pivot to proxy war

James Carden

May 12, 2022

WASHINGTON – The Russian war on Ukraine has seen ‘the Blob’ reassert itself with a vengeance in the 11 weeks since Russia announced the commencement of hostilities on February 24.

This article will examine the forces shaping President Joe Biden’s approach to the Ukraine crisis, and then move on to explore the state of foreign policy debate, or lack thereof, within Biden’s Democratic Party.

Former high-ranking military officials, intelligence analysts and diplomats who served at various points during the Clinton, Bush, Obama and Trump administrations paint a picture in recent conversations with Asia Times of the likely policy options being presented to President Biden as he faces the gravest crisis on the European continent since the Second World War.

Finland and Sweden will join NATO at the expense of everything

 Anatol Lieven

5/13/2022

There is a sad and rather pathetic irony about the expected application of Finland and Sweden to join NATO.

Throughout the Cold War, the Soviet Union was a military superpower, it occupied most of central Europe, its troops were stationed in the heart of Germany, and Soviet Communism— for a while at least  — seemed to be a genuine threat to Western capitalist democracy. Throughout those decades however, Finland and Sweden remained officially neutral.

I led talks on Donbas and Crimea in the 90s. Here’s how the war should end

 John Quigley

MAY 9, 2022

As the war in Ukraine continues to take thousands of lives, distressingly little attention is being devoted to bringing it to an end.

Negotiations are stalled, and other governments are not pushing for a resumption. At some point, however, hopefully sooner than later, there will be a negotiated settlement that will need to deal with the Donbas region in Eastern Ukraine. The Donbas was the focus of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decree he issued three days before invading recognizing the claimed separate status of the region’s two provinces.

Bret Stephens: Can we still be optimistic about America?

 Bret Stephens

 May 14, 2022, 10:00 a.m.

The pessimism comes in many flavors. There is progressive pessimism: The country is tilting toward MAGA-hatted fascism or a new version of “The Handmaid’s Tale.” There is conservative pessimism: The institutions, from primary schools to the Pentagon, are all being captured by wokeness. There is Afropessimism: Black people have always been excluded by systemic, ineradicable racism. There is the pessimism of the white middle and working classes: The country and the values they’ve known for generations are being hijacked by smug, self-dealing elites who view them with contempt.

Biden’s Folly In Ukraine

APRIL 5, 2022DOUGLAS MACGREGORAmericans find it difficult to determine whether the Biden administration’s policy decisions regarding Ukraine are the product of a deliberate strategy, extraordinary incompetence, or some combination of both. Threatening Russia, a nuclear armed power, with regime change and then annunciating a nuclear weapons policy that allows for the United States’ first-strike use of nuclear weapons under “extreme circumstances”—responding to an invasion by conventional forces, or chemical or biological attacks—suggests President Biden and his administration really are out of touch with reality.

Five Reasons To Be Increasingly Worried About the War in Ukraine

Ted Snider

May 7, 2022

The New York Times reported on May 1 that "the Biden administration" – the same one that ignored Putin’s warnings about Russia’s red line regarding NATO expansion to Ukraine – "increasingly casts aside fears expressed by some early in the war that too much American assistance to Ukraine risked a direct conflict with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia."

As direct assistance to Ukraine by the US, UK and its other allies intensifies dramatically, there are several reasons to be increasingly concerned.

Who Is The Hero?

 Lawrence Davidson

 April 25, 2022

Part I—The Hero

Our image of a hero has two aspects to it. The first aspect consists of generic, stereotypical traits: bravery, determination in the face of adversity, achievement against heavy odds—the kind of person who saves the day. The second aspect is more culturally specific, describing and contextualizing the circumstances of bravery and determination, and the nature of achievement in terms that are narrowly defined. In other words, cultural descriptions of bravery are most often expressed in terms compatible with the social and political conditions of the hero’s society.

Heroes are ubiquitous. For instance, there are American heroes, Russian heroes, Israeli heroes, Arab heroes, Ukrainian heroes, and so on. Where does good and bad come into it? Well, that too becomes a cultural judgment. Below are two examples of “heroes.” I will leave it to the reader to decide who is good and who is bad.

 

Iran Talks Stall: Does America Even Believe in Diplomacy Anymore?

Ted Snide

April 29, 2022

Joe Biden promised that he would be the president of diplomacy. He promised that, after the turmoil of the bellicose Trump years, he would usher in the age of "relentless diplomacy."

But the US has been absent from negotiations on the war in Ukraine and Secretary of State Antony Blinken hasn’t spoken to his Russian counterpart once since it began. There has been only a weak whisper of diplomacy to Cuba, Juan Guaidó is still the deflated US recognized and backed president of Venezuela and no one seems to remember North Korea.

The resuscitation and survival of the Iran nuclear deal has reached the critical moment. Blinken has recently said that it is still possible to come to an understanding that could pave the way for a nuclear deal.

Russia pivots to the dynamic East and fast developing Global South

John V. Walsh

 April 28, 2022

2014 saw two pivotal events that led to the current conflict in Ukraine.

The first, familiar to all, was the coup in Ukraine in which a democratically elected government was overthrown at the direction of the United States and with the assistance of neo-Nazi elements which Ukraine has long harbored.

Risking Nuclear War for a Corrupt, Increasingly Repressive Ukraine

 Ted Galen Carpenter

 April 26, 2022

Fortunately, President Biden thus far has rejected the most risky policies that hawks are pushing in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Despite being under intense pressure, he continues to rule out proclaiming a no-fly zone, and he flatly rejects suggestions (including from one close political ally) that he consider sending U.S. troops to Ukraine. However, even the policies the administration has embraced entail an unacceptable risk of entangling the United States in a military confrontation with a nuclear-armed power. The United States and some NATO allies are pouring increasingly sophisticated weapons into Ukraine to bolster that country’s resistance to the invasion. Russia recently reiterated its warning that such shipments are legitimate military targets. In addition to lavishing arms on Ukraine, Washington is sharing key military intelligence with Kyiv. The United States is skirting very close to becoming an outright belligerent in an extremely dangerous war.

The Path Out of Ukraine Is Reversing the Path In

 Ted Snider 

Posted onMarch 16, 2022

When you get hopelessly lost in the woods, the best way to find your way out is to reverse the steps you took to get in.

In numerous addresses since the illegal invasion of Ukraine, Russia has clearly set out its terms for ending the invasion "in a moment." The terms usually follow a three part formula: Ukrainian neutrality, meaning not joining NATO; removal of US and NATO troops and missiles from Ukrainian soil; and recognizing Donetsk and Lugansk.

Iraq War Lesson: the seduction may be sweet but the hangover is hell

 MARCH 18, 2022

 Peter Van Buren

Tomorrow is the 19th anniversary of Iraq War 2.0 — the one we fought over Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction. What have we learned over the almost two decades since?

While the actual Gotterdammerung for the new order took place just six months ago in Afghanistan as the last American troops clambered aboard their transports — with Washington seeming to abandon American citizens, a multi-million dollar embassy, and the Afghan people to their fates. The Afghan War did not begin under false pretenses as much as it began under no pretenses. Americans in 2001 would have supported carpet bombing Santa’s Workshop. Never mind we had been attacked by mostly Saudi operators, the blood letting would start in rural Afghanistan and the goal was some gumbo of revenge, stress relief, hunting down bin Laden in the wrong country, and maybe nation building, it didn’t matter.

 

A Biden Blood Bath?

CHARLES M. BLOW

April 17, 2022

A recent poll truly shocked me.

Quinnipiac University found that President Biden’s approval rating had sunk to just 33 percent. You might argue that this was just one poll, but Biden’s approval is down in multiple surveys.

As CNN’s Harry Enten pointed out Friday, there were four major national polls released last week, and in three of them — including Quinnipiac — Biden had the lowest showing of his presidency. In the fourth, he was “one point off the lowest.”

These are just devastating results on the heels of a historic Supreme Court confirmation and only seven months out from the midterms.

NATO Put Ukraine on the Path to Partition

 by David Stockman Posted

April 21, 2022

The gist of our two-part series is this: Unlike Ford automobiles, Ukraine was not "Built to Last!"

First Priority – Avoid US War With Russia

 by Patrick J. BuchananPosted on

April 22, 2022

 Asked if the U.S. should send troops to fight beside the Ukrainians, Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said Sunday the time may have come.

Russian President Vladimir Putin "will only stop when we stop him," said Coons.

"We are in a very dangerous moment where it is important that … we in Congress and the administration come to a common position about when we are willing to go the next step and to send not just arms but troops to the aid in defense of Ukraine."

"If the answer is never, then we are inviting another level of escalation in brutality by Putin."

دین ستیزی

این عبارتی است که زعمای قوم مذهبی اختراع کرده‌اند، که از هر گونه واکنشی به مزخرفات دینی آنان جلوگیری کنند. این مختص به اسلام نیست، چرا که در غرب مسیحی / یهودی نیز به زبانها و گفتار‌های متفاوت این اصطلاح دیده میشود. ستیز به معنای جنگیدن است. بنابراین چنانکه شما در بحثی جمله‌ای را عنوان کنید که انتقاد سازنده‌ای به یک جریان مذهبی باشد، و شخص مقابل بحث به آن جریان مذهبی اعتقاد داشته باشد، با گفتن "لطفا دین ستیزی نکنید" به بحث خاتمه میدهد.ا

Biden’s Hypocrisy on Accusing Russia of War Crimes

 Ted Snider Posted on 

April 14, 2022

Do you want to charge Russia with war crimes? Go for it. Though Russia felt the tide of existential threat at their borders, they were not under imminent attack, and they did not seek Security Council approval. So the moment they launched a war against Ukraine, Russia had broken international law and committed a war crime.

But let there be a common and consistent standard of law established for all countries. And do not allow the one bringing the charges of torture against Russia to be the warden of Abu Ghraib, Bagram and Guantanamo Bay.

 

The Path Out of Ukraine Is Reversing the Path In

 Ted Snider

March 16, 2022

When you get hopelessly lost in the woods, the best way to find your way out is to reverse the steps you took to get in.

In numerous addresses since the illegal invasion of Ukraine, Russia has clearly set out its terms for ending the invasion "in a moment." The terms usually follow a three part formula: Ukrainian neutrality, meaning not joining NATO; removal of US and NATO troops and missiles from Ukrainian soil; and recognizing Donetsk and Lugansk.

 

Let Us Now Praise Amazon Unionists

 Chris Hedges

April 6, 2022

Let us honor those workers who stood up to Amazon, especially Chris Smalls, described by Amazon’s chief counsel as “not smart, or articulate,” who led a walkout at the Amazon warehouse at Staten Island JFK8 in New York at the beginning of the pandemic two years ago to protest unsafe working conditions. He was immediately fired.

Amazon’s high-priced lawyers, however, were in for a surprise. Smalls unionized the first Amazon warehouse in the country. He, along with his co-founder Derrick Palmer, built their union worker-by-worker with little outside support and no affiliation with a national labor group, raising $120,000 on GoFundMe. Amazon spent more than $4.3 million on anti-union consultants last year alone, according to federal filings.

Outrage as Azov Nazi Addresses Greek Parliament

Joe Lauria

April 8, 2022

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been making a virtual world tour with video hookups to parliaments around the globe, as well as to the Grammy Awards and the U.N. Security Council, sometimes with troublesome results. 

On Thursday a major row erupted when Zelensky brought along a Ukrainian soldier of Greek heritage from the city of Mariupol, who just happened to be a member of the ne0-Nazi Azov Regiment. Greece was under Nazi occupation during World War II and fought a bitter partisan war against Nazism (later to be betrayed by Britain and the United States.)  

With Zelensky in the screen, the man, who gave only his first name, told Parliament: “I speak to you as a man of Greek descent. My name is Michail. My grandfather fought against the Nazis in the Second World War. I am born in Mariupol and I am now also fighting to defend my city from the Russian nazis.”