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President Biden's National Security Strategy

Thierry Meyssan
Voltairenet.org
Fri, 09 Apr 2021 00:00 UTC
Biden
© Florida Politics
US President Joe Biden
The Biden Administration is full of good will, but ignorant of the world as it is. Under the authority of a senile president, it proposes to restore democracy in the world, without being aware that the social classes that made this political regime are disappearing. It hopes to re-establish the American Empire, feared by a majority of peoples, with the conviction that it is doing them a favour. Finally, it intends to continue the "endless war", but without sacrificing the lives of US soldiers. But it does not know how to explain this.

Each administration defines US national security policy after consulting with the armed forces and its own experts. This process is necessarily long - one to two years. So the Biden administration, which intends to break with Donald Trump's anti-imperialist "mistakes" without delay, has already made public the new national security principles of the United States, even if it means clarifying them later [1].

The central idea is to revitalise democracy as a system of government, so as to be able to mobilise allies and maintain the current organisation of international relations. This strategy is in line with what Joe Biden announced in Foreign Affairs a year ago during his election campaign [2].

The guidelines he has just published are extremely clear, but do not answer the questions he will have to face. The president has listed a number of themes to work on (the pandemic, the climate crisis, nuclear proliferation, the fourth industrial revolution), but he has not set out the new problems that have arisen (the decline in US production, the financialisation of the economy, the fall in the US technical level, the dizzying inequality of wealth).

Comment: Biden is not in charge. He repeats whatever he is told. Other presidents have done the same but none have been as obvious. There should be no doubts in the minds of the public, at this point, that the president is a figurehead. To his credit, Trump gave it his best shot.

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Laptop

Newly unearthed emails place Hunter Biden at West Wing meeting with then VP Biden and Devon Archer

Mike McCormick
The National Pulse
Wed, 07 Apr 2021 00:00 UTC
Hunter & Joe Biden
© New York Post
Hunter Biden • US President Joe Biden
In a previously unreported email reviewed by The National Pulse, Rosemont Seneca Partners employee Joan K. Peugh advises Hunter Biden - who is addressed by his given name, Robert - that he is scheduled for a White House meeting on April 16th, 2014.

Prior to today, it was known that Devon Archer had attended the meeting in the West Wing, and corporate media outlets excused the matter as an "art project" discussion. Today, that version of events ends.

Just days after this meeting, then Vice President Joe Biden visited Ukraine, and both Hunter and Archer would start receiving whopping checks from energy company Burisma, an industry in which they had zero experience.

Hunter Biden recently admitted the previously dismissed "hard drive from hell" actually "could" be his.
email Joan Peugh
© screenshot
Email with new timeline
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Briefcase

Mueller investigator assisting NY prosecutors in Trump Organization case

Daniel Chaitin
Washington Examiner
Thu, 08 Apr 2021 07:14 UTC
Trump/Magionos/Manifort
© AP/Patrick Semansky/FTI Consulting/Reuters/KJN
A former FBI official who was part of Robert Mueller's special counsel investigation is assisting New York prosecutors in an inquiry into the Trump Organization, according to a new report.

Morgan Magionos, an ex-FBI forensic accountant, is part of a group of outside experts from FTI Consulting aiding the Manhattan district attorney's investigation into the dealings of former President Donald Trump and his company, CNN reported on Thursday. Investigators are looking for possible bank, tax, or insurance fraud.

A former member of the bureau's international corruption unit, Magianos played an instrumental role in the prosecution of 2016 Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, who was later pardoned by Trump. She left the FBI in 2019 to join FTI Consulting, a business-advising firm headquartered in Washington, D.C., which was hired by BuzzFeed to verify parts of British ex-spy Christopher Steele's discredited anti-Trump dossier.

"As a matter of policy, we do not comment on, confirm or deny reports of client engagements or potential engagements," Matthew Bashalany, managing director for media relations and communications at FTI Consulting, told the Washington Examiner when asked for comment on the report.
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Dollar

Biden requests $753B defense budget, a slight increase

Rebecca Kheel
The Hill
Fri, 09 Apr 2021 11:00 UTC
Pentagon/Money
© Frontpage/Shutterstock/KJN
The Pentagon Money
President Biden is requesting a $753 billion defense budget for next fiscal year, with $715 billion of that going to the Pentagon. The fiscal 2022 proposed budget represents a slight increase over this year — likely to upset both progressives, who had sought cuts to Pentagon budgets, and defense hawks.

The budget outline released Friday does not detail exactly what the money would buy, with a more comprehensive proposal expected later this spring. A fact sheet released by the White House said the Defense Department budget "prioritizes the need to counter the threat from China as the department's top challenge."

The budget, according to the fact sheet, also
"proposes executable and responsible investments (in the Navy fleet) supports ongoing nuclear modernization programs while ensuring that these efforts are sustainable, continues to ensure that U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and guardians remain the best trained and equipped force in the world, while also supporting Pentagon plans to divest legacy systems, support efforts to plan for and mitigate impacts of climate change (on Defense Department facilities) and invest in power and energy research and development."
The overall defense budget includes both Pentagon funding and non-Pentagon programs such as Department of Energy nuclear weapons funding.

Friday's release officially kicks off the jockeying over the defense budget on Capitol Hill, though lawmakers have already been drawing their battle lines.
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Footprints

Biden's border czar stepping down as crisis deepens, criticism mounts

John Solomon
Just the News
Fri, 09 Apr 2021 08:56 UTC
Roberta Jackson
© Alex Wong/Getty Images
Roberta Jacobson, former Mexico ambassador and Biden border czar, speaks at White House news conference.
President Biden's border czar is stepping down less than 100 days on the job as a humanitarian crisis among surging migrants deepens and criticism of the administration's stewardship grow.

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan announced Friday afternoon Roberta Jacobson's planned departure at the end of April as the Coordinator for the Southwest Border at the National Security Council.

Jacobson had previously served as U.S. ambassador to Mexico. And while Sullivan praised her "invaluable contribution," the sudden departure was a stark signal the administration recognizes it needs to pivot after weeks of a growing migrant crisis that has sullied Biden's efforts to project competence and confidence in the early days of his presidency.
"Consistent with her commitment at the outset to serve in the Administration's first 100 days, Ambassador Jacobson will retire from her role as Coordinator at the end of this month. She will do so having shaped our relationship with Mexico as an equal partner, having launched our renewed efforts with the Northern Triangle nations of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, and having underscored this Administration's commitment to reenergizing the U.S. immigration system."
Jacobson's departure came less than two weeks after the president named Vice President Kamala Harris to take point on the border crisis, and Sullivan said "the Vice President is overseeing a whole-of-government approach supported by outstanding public servants."

Comment: It seems the Biden administration is full of 'crisis deniers', while those with more objectivity fearlessly state it as such:
Jacobson's retirement was announced less than a month after she admitted that the White House was sending "mixed messages" to migrants from Latin America, saying "it is difficult at times to convey both hope in the future and the danger that is now."

Biden administration reportedly is considering sending cash payments to Central Americans in a bid to prevent them from making the trek north and as Harris, tapped by Biden to to handle the crisis, still has yet to visit either the border or Central America. Although the White House has clarified that Harris is addressing the "root causes" of the migrant crisis, her office has disclosed few details about her efforts.

Last week, Harris spoke with Guatemala's president, but she has not spoken with the leaders of El Salvador or Honduras — which together with Guatemala form the so-called "Northern Triangle" from which many migrants travel. Harris spoke Wednesday with Mexico's president.

Meanwhile, migrant parents already in the United States say they are not being given regular — if any — updates about the location or well-being of their children in federal custody. And it's reportedly costing US taxpayers more than $60 million a week to care for 16,500 unaccompanied migrant teenagers and children now in federally run shelters.

Customs and Border Protection announced this week that the number of illegal immigrant encounters at the southern border has exploded — rising more than 71 percent since February.

Former US ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, who also was acting intelligence director last year, tweeted, "Biden blames and fires a woman for his disastrous border policy."

"Roberta Jacobson, who admitted Biden's immigration policies 'may have driven people' to the border, is now stepping down as border czar. So who is in charge?" tweeted Chad Gilmartin, a communications aide to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). "VP Harris is absent from the border, while CBP data contradicts WH claims the surge is seasonal."

Earlier Friday, a California man whose brother was slain in 2018 by an illegal immigrant blasted Biden's immigration policy, saying, "We absolutely have a crisis."

"If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, it's not a cow, it's a duck," Jody Jones said on Fox & Friends. "So don't sit there and tell me there's not a crisis down at the border, because there is."

White House officials have repeatedly refused to call the situation 'a crisis'.
See also:



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Piggy Bank

Biden's $2 TRILLION 'infrastructure plan' is pork-laden corporate welfare

Aadi Golchha
Foundation for Economic Education
Sat, 10 Apr 2021 19:57 UTC
Biden limousine
© Flickr-Paris Malone | CC BY NC ND 2.0
Lookin' out for you, my corporate buddies!
President Biden has just unveiled a new $2.3 trillion "infrastructure" plan, but a shockingly large portion of this bill is actually unrelated to infrastructure.

The plan includes massive subsidies for corporations as well as state and local governments, and comes right after the administration's proposed increase in the corporate tax rate, which would raise the rate from 21 percent to 28 percent.

There's $300 billion for manufacturing, $100 billion for electric utilities, $100 billion for broadband, $174 billion for electric vehicles, and a whole lot more. A significant portion of this spending is directed at subsidizing big corporations.

Comment: From the good old days:

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Newspaper

Muslim Brotherhood leader gets life sentence on terrorism charges in Egypt


Deutsche Welle
Sat, 10 Apr 2021 09:43 UTC
Ezzat

An image of Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood leader Mahmoud Ezzat from October 2010
Mahmoud Ezzat, a top leader in the Muslim Brotherhood, is believed to have incited violence following the ouster of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

An Egyptian court on Thursday sentenced 76-year-old Muslim Brotherhood leader Mahmoud Ezzat to life in prison on terrorism charges, according to the state-run Al-Ahram newspaper. Ezzat was convicted on terrorism charges related to violence after the military ousted former Islamist-aligned Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

Ezzat was arrested in Cairo in August of last year, with police reportedly finding encrypted software in his apartment that he had used to communicate with other Brotherhood members both domestically and abroad. The authorities previously believed he had fled the country.

Comment: See also: Military and political trends of 2020 that will shape 2021

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Bad Guys

Full-scale Ukrainian war would threaten Russian security, Kremlin pledges action to prevent 'humanitarian catastrophe - US war ships set sail for Black Sea


RT
Fri, 09 Apr 2021 13:26 UTC
Donetsk
© Sputnik
A window broken by a recent shelling is pictured in the village of Vesyoloye (Vesele) in the Donetsk Region, self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Eastern Ukraine.
A return to fierce fighting in Eastern Ukraine would amount to a crisis on Russia's doorstep, President Vladimir Putin's spokesman has said, arguing that Moscow could be forced to intervene to prevent such a situation worsening.

Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday that there had been a series of worrying escalations in recent days between Kiev's forces and separatist militants in the Donbass. "The situation on the contact line in Ukraine is extremely unstable," he said. "The dynamics of the development of this state of affairs, and the behavior of the Ukrainian side, creates the danger of a resumption of full-scale hostilities."

The Kremlin spokesman added that such an outbreak would pose a threat to the security of Russia, and that it would contemplate taking steps to prevent this, "in the event hostilities resume." If this were to happen, Peskov said, "no country in the world would stand aside. And all countries, including Russia, would take measures to prevent such tragedies from happening again."

Comment: Perhaps unsurprisingly this is all occurring amidst NATO's 'Defender Europe 2021' war games, which will see 20,000 American troops - the largest deployment of US forces in the 21st century - in and around the waters of the Baltic, along with a 17,000 strong contingent from NATO states, and non-member states like Ukraine:

Also notable is that Turkey recently arrested 10 retired admirals for signing a 'declaration against militarization of the Black Sea'.

See also:

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Eye 2

Keeping us masked forever? The Davos set's dystopian ambitions are very clear

Neil Clark
RT
Fri, 09 Apr 2021 15:54 UTC
face masks people
© Getty Images / Warchi
The WEF's promotion of a Chinese 'smart face mask' that tracks every breath its wearer takes is further evidence that the changes to Western society over the last 12 months of Covid are intended to be permanent.

"It's only for when you pop into Tesco's to do your weekly shop, what's your problem with that, you selfish 'right-wing' libertarian?" That's how the introduction of mandatory face-masks was sold to us in Britain last summer, by its virtue-signalling, "Look at me, I'm such a good citizen" supporters.

Masks would be temporary - restricted to shops - and as soon as the Covid threat had passed they would be dispensed with, like social distancing. Anyone who said these measures were designed to be permanent - and were part of the global elite's plan to keep the plebs muzzled up forever - was dismissed as a 'crank' and 'a conspiracy theorist'.

Well, nine months on, and where are we?

The UK government has issued a 'road map' for taking us - with the speed of a 150-year-old Galapagos Island tortoise on sleeping tablets - out of lockdown. But there's no mention of when masks and social distancing will be dispensed with.

Could that be because there's no intention of masks and social distancing ever being dispensed with? It certainly appears that way.

Comment: See also:

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Snakes in Suits

Norwegian PM fined after breaking lockdown rules at her own birthday party


The Guardian
Fri, 09 Apr 2021 14:32 UTC
Solberg

The prime minister of Norway, Erna Solberg, apologised last month for breaching Covid-19 rules. Photograph: Ints Kalniņš/ReutersReuters in Oslo
Norway's prime minister, Erna Solberg, has been fined 20,000 kroner (£1,713) after breaking coronavirus social-distancing rules when organising a family gathering to celebrate her birthday.

The matter came to light in a report by the public broadcaster NRK, which triggered a police investigation.

The two-term leader has apologised several times for organising the event for her 60th birthday with 13 relatives at a mountain resort in late February, despite a government ban on gatherings of more than 10 people.

Comment: Politicians throughout the West have been telling citizens to hold 'virtual' events of all kinds - from Christmas to funerals - why did the PM decide this did not apply to her? If the PM genuinely thought the coronavirus posed such a risk to life - that she's willing to enforce livelihood destroying lockdowns - why did she stay to celebrate at her in-person birthday party?

Meanwhile in the real world: French clergymen ARRESTED over lockdown-breaking Easter mass attended by hundreds of worshipers

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