The watchdog for US spending on Afghanistan told Responsible Statecraft in an interview that he expects “pilferage” of US aid to Ukraine.
Afghanistan Watchdog Says ‘You’re Gonna See Pilferage’ of Ukraine Aid
On March 29, the Senate voted to repeal two Authorizations for the Use of Military Force, (AUMF’s), one passed in 1991 and another in 2002. The repeal now goes to the House. But those Authorizations are irrelevant to the present; they apply only to the Iraq war. But a third AUMF, passed in 2001, was left untouched. And that AUMF is the only one that has a bearing on the present moment, because it provides legal cover for the many US military operations, open and secret, around the world.
Senate Leaves AUMF for Secret Wars in Force
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) plans to block a bill introduced by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) that would ban the popular video-sharing app TikTok, The Hill reported Wednesday.
Sen. Rand Paul to Block Sen. Josh Hawley’s Bill to Ban TikTok
Section 230 is vital to free speech on the internet, and its critics are often misguided or wrong about the law.
Why repealing or weakening Section 230 is a very bad idea
This past Thursday US Senator Josh Hawley gave a speech at the Heritage Foundation — a warmongering think tank with immense influence in the DC swamp — that is a perfect representation of a couple of interesting dynamics occurring in US foreign policy thought today.
Imagine If China Did To The US What The US Is Doing To China
The White House “claimed” the Pentagon downed an unknown object off the coast of Alaska. The Joe Biden administration downplayed the incident claiming the craft was only shot down as a precaution.
US Military Shot Down Unidentified ‘Object’ Near Alaska
Related:
Washington Is Upset Beijing Did Not Take Hotline Call After Balloon Shootdown
Washington being upset with Beijing for being unavailable for talks is ironic as last week, America’s top diplomat scrapped high-level meetings in China. The State Department claimed it did not want Blinken’s meeting with China’s foreign minister, and potential Chinese President Xi Jinping, to be dominated by conversations about the balloon.
I was hoping that they were done with the balloons! At least, I get to use some more balloon memes! 😉
China’s suspected spy balloon had Western-made components with English writing on them, report says
Related:
EXPLAINER -What we know and don’t know about the Chinese balloon
By looks and by size, it resembles balloons made by U.S. firm Aerostar, whose own balloon was mistaken for the Chinese one while flying over Memphis.
Aerostar is an aerospace and defence contractor that supplies stratospheric balloons to the likes of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) made out of polyethylene film that can fly for over 200 days and carry hundreds of pounds.
It also previously had a deal with Google to use such balloons to provide internet to rural areas.
Other companies that develop stratospheric balloon systems include U.S. space tourism firm World View and French firm CNIM Air Space.
Stratollites can maintain position over specific areas of interest for days, weeks, and eventually months on end. This allows for more sustained measurements and monitoring capabilities over a targeted area. Stratollites can carry a wide variety of commercial payloads (sensors, telescopes, communications arrays, etc.), launch rapidly on demand, and safely return payloads back to earth after mission completion.
Worldview Stratollites are commercial high altitude balloons like Google Loon – Worldview had an explosion December 2017
For several decades the American public has been instilled with an intrinsic fear of and hatred for China.
No singular event in this seemingly inevitable march to war is more emblematic of the American public’s warped psyche than the “Chinese Spy Balloon” narrative—perhaps due, in part, to its facial absurdity. The happening eclipses even similarly nonsensical yarns such as widespread TikTok paranoia (see the NSA’s PRISM program), China’s American farmland purchases (Chinese firms account for <.5% of all foreign-owned land in the U.S.), and the “invasion” of Chinese fentanyl through the Southern border (fentanyl trafficking is illegal in China).
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While some populist Republicans have bravely departed from the establishment’s support for Ukraine, many led the chorus of voices urging escalation—and not diplomacy.
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The banner narrative favored by mainline Republicans and the populist Right alike—that Joe Biden is weak—is insidious, because it implies that Biden should be more aggressive. Furthermore, it excuses Biden’s objectively ultra-hawkish policy against China.
Just in the last few weeks, the Biden administration continued its redoubling of the Asia Pivot launched by Barack Obama and furthered by Donald Trump: the U.S. Marine Corps opened a new base in Guam as the U.S. opened an embassy in the Solomon Islands, furthered diplomatic measures meant to militarize Japan, announced the opening of new military installations in the Philippines and Palau, and furthered a deal that would secure it exclusive military access to Micronesia, an area of the Pacific Ocean as large as the continental U.S.—all with the express and stated aim of confronting China.
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Unfortunately, the prevailing narrative won the day—while Americans’ heads were in the clouds, imagining a biowarfare attack, or falsely reporting the balloon carried explosives, Sino-American relations deteriorated even further. Distressingly, the American public exhibited its eagerness to rush to just about any conclusion concerning China.
An Overblown Balloon Headline Inflates False Narrative on China
Insurrectionist sprinter Josh Hawley has joined the growing chorus of GOP politicians who’ve spent years doing jack shit about U.S. consumer privacy abuses, and now want to pretend that banning a single app — TikTok — will protect American consumers from a problem they themselves created.
Josh Hawley Wants In On The TikTok Moral Panic Attention, Proposes Nationwide Ban
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi probably won’t be fond of the legislation that Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri is cooking up.
GOP Senator Announces ‘PELOSI’ Act and While It Doesn’t Mention Nancy, It’ll Surely Infuriate Her
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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