Philippines Could Receive $2.5 Billion in Security Aid from U.S. Defense Bill
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Libertarian City Dream in Honduras Becomes $11 Billion Nightmare + More
Pro-Israel leaders encouraged by Brian Hook’s role on State Department transition team
As questions emerge about how President-elect Donald Trump will handle the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East during a second term, some pro-Israel foreign policy voices say they have been reassured by recent news reports that Brian Hook, a special envoy for Iran in the first Trump administration, is expected to lead the transition team at the State Department.
Hook, who previously worked in the State Department under former President George W. Bush and is now the vice chairman of Cerberus Global Investments, helped to oversee Trump’s so-called “maximum pressure” campaign toward Iran, including punishing sanctions after the U.S. withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal. He was also a key player on the team that negotiated the Abraham Accords, Trump’s signature foreign policy achievement, which the president-elect has pledged to expand when he returns to office.
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Among the candidates rumored to be under consideration for secretary of state are Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a former ambassador to Japan; Robert O’Brien, Trump’s former national security advisor; and Ric Grenell, who served as the former president’s ambassador to Germany as well as his acting director of national intelligence.
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But conservative foreign policy experts surveyed by JI said they did not envision ideological tensions between Hook and Grenell emerging should they serve together. “Grenell mirrors Trump in being a champion-level supporter of Israel and Iran hawk,” said a former official on Trump’s National Security Council, who was granted anonymity to discuss the transition. “There would be no reason for friction.”
Pro-Israel leaders encouraged by Brian Hook’s role on State Department transition team
Previously:
Making Excuses for Trump: Where Does the Buck Stop?
But Trump’s seemingly aimless foreign and national security policies are only part of the problem. More to the point, the president keeps appointing people to senior level positions where they have a hand in shaping the policies ranging from hardline on civil liberties issues to complete interventionism vis-à-vis America’s role worldwide. The list is long and includes John Bolton, Rick Grenell, Mike Pompeo, Brian Hook, James Jeffrey, Robert O’Brien, John Ratcliffe and Gina Haspel. And one might suggest that the latest move might very well be the worst of all, naming Eliot Abrams as Special Envoy on Iran.
What they didn’t show you at the CSIS SCS conference, online
Sources:
Welcoming Remarks & Morning Keynote | Fourteenth Annual South China Sea Conference
Who is Rep. Darrell Issa and what does he have to do with war crimes in the Philippines?
Rep. Issa (CA-48) is one of the richest people in congress and some of his investments are in Black Rock and other war profiteers. He also pushed to send $500 million of our tax dollars to fund war crimes and human rights violations in the Philippines. He stands to benefit personally in the US’ war against China.
At the CancelRIMPACCampaign summit and mobilization, we asked attendees to mobilize with us in front of Rep. Issa’s Escondido office to denounce his support for more military funding to the Philippines. Over a hundred people came out to expose the real conditions of human rights in the Philippines and called for the passing of the Philippine Human Rights Act!
Learn more about the Philippine Human Rights Act
Pass the PHRA Coalition Confronts Rep. Darrell Issa at South China Sea Conference
About the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines
At CPAC, China is the new big bad
At CPAC, China is the new big bad
Roy Liu had not come to CPAC to hear Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville accuse leftists of wanting “one gender,” or to buy a “Biden-Fetterman 2024: It’s a No-Brainer” T-shirt. He, and dozens of other activists with the New Federal State of China, wanted to build support for destroying the Chinese Communist Party.
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At CPAC, those kinds of familiar riffs were supplemented by media and lobbying groups that support regime change in Beijing, and have never been more visible.
The Epoch Times, a newspaper associated with the Falun Gong religious movement suppressed by Xi’s government, had a sprawling presence at the conference, including the screening of “The Shadow State,” billed as “the first documentary about ESG” — another target of conservatives, both at CPAC and on the Hill.
And the New Federal State of China, “declared” three years ago by Steve Bannon and exiled Chinese businessman Guo Wengui, made its first CPAC appearance with a $75,000 sponsorship, and two high-tech booths where volunteers handed out leaflets and explained why the battle to destroy the CCP had to be won in America.
Related:
Thread by @seth_hettena on Thread Reader App
US Senators call for Biden to shut down a chip center located in China
A group of Republican Senators want to shut down a chip center to snub Huawei but have failed at every turn to keep the telecom giant down
US Senators call for Biden to shut down a chip center located in China
China’s neighbors are buying US weapons Washington isn’t delivering
China’s neighbors are buying US weapons Washington isn’t delivering
Even though the United States views these weapons sales as integral to deterring China from attacking Taiwan, some of the deals were publicly announced as far back as 2017.
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The reasons – government delays, supply chain issues and production requirements – are numerous, and the problem won’t be easy to fix, Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, the ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Defense News.
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The U.S. government has approved the sale of 10 weapons systems Taiwan has yet to receive – some of which are not slated for delivery until the end of the decade.
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The United States has flooded billions of dollars in weapons into Ukraine, including items that are part of Taiwan’s backlog, such as Harpoon anti-ship missiles, Stinger anti-aircraft missiles and High Mobile Artillery Rocket Systems.
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For example, several Middle Eastern and eastern European countries are ahead of Taiwan in Lockheed Martin’s F-16 production queue. In 2019, the State Department approved an $8 billion Taiwan sale for 66 F-16s, but Taipei does not expect to receive the aircraft until 2026.
“Saudi Arabia is still ahead of Taiwan on the priority list in some cases,” Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., told Defense News ahead of a July meeting with Taiwan’s Washington envoy. “We need to take a look at that.”
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Israel Wins Big in Washington
$1.2 billion more is on the way!
BY PHILIP GIRALDI • UNZ REVIEW • JUNE 8, 2021
Now let me get this straight. A nation bullies and harasses a much smaller neighbor which eventually leads that neighbor to strike back with largely home-made weapons. The larger and more powerful country, armed with state of the art killing machines, attacks its basically unarmed opponent and kills hundreds of civilians, including a large number of children. It also destroys billions of dollars of infrastructure in the poorer and weaker neighbor. Almost immediately after the fighting stops, senior legislators from a third nation that had nothing to do with the war apart from supplying the larger nation with weapons appeared on the scene and promoted the lie that the larger nation had actually been the victim of an unprovoked attack by the “terrorists” running the small nation. They did so publicly while meeting with and endorsing the actions of the government officials from the large nation, which, it would seem, is about to be investigated by an international body for war crimes. They were joined by an ex-officio former foreign minister of the third nation who likewise echoed the propaganda being put out by the large nation. Several of them also promised to provide military assistance worth $1 billion so the large nation could rearm itself.
Israel Wins Big in Washington
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 