Month: November 2020

International Challenges For Biden

We now have a new president-elect and he needs to set about repairing all the damage 4 years of Trump and his corruption have created.

And there are a few things he can begin with that would go a long way to re-establish the US as a serious partner in world affairs…..

Stop the war in Yemen: This years-long conflict, which benefits no one but the oil-rich rulers of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, has killed more than 100,000 people and caused the preventable deaths of 113,000 children. Biden could immediately freeze weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, forcing them to stop bombing civilians and withdraw their troops. It would be one step toward ending unpopular, endless wars.

Lift Trump’s unilateral oil blockade of Cuba and restore normal diplomatic relations: Trump has gone further to economically attack Cuba than any other President. He cut off much of Cuba’s oil supplies from Venezuela by applying sanctions against international shipping companies. This, combined with a halt in foreign tourism, has wrecked the Cuban economy. Public transport doesn’t have enough gasoline; trucks can’t bring produce from the countryside.

Rejoin the Iran nuclear accord: Trump unilaterally withdrew from the internationally binding Iran nuclear accord and imposed harsh economic sanctions on the Iranian people. This policy of “maximum pressure” has failed to change Iranian domestic or foreign policy. Biden should immediately rejoin the accord and lift all sanctions related to nuclear issues.

End attacks on China: Trump initiated a trade war against China. He tried to ban Chinese technology from being used in the US and even sought the arrest of a top Chinese corporate executive. But, of course, China retaliated. Trump’s policy against China has been a massive failure, with the US losing nearly 300,000 jobs as of September 2019.

(antiwar.com)

A good place to start the process of repair.

But speaking of China…..

Joe Biden said the US needs to work with its allies to counter China’s growing influence. Biden’s comments came after China signed a major trade deal with 14 other countries, known as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

The RCEP includes major US allies in the region, like Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. Biden was asked if he would join the trade pact when in office but declined to answer, saying he hasn’t been sworn in yet and that “there’s only one president at a time.” Biden said the US and its allies should set the rules for global trade.

“We make up 25 percent … of the economy in the world,” the former vice president said. “We need to be aligned with the other democracies, another 25 percent or more so that we can set the rules of the road instead of having China and others dictate outcomes because they are the only game in town.”

President Trump withdrew from a trade deal for the region negotiated by the Obama administration in 2016. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was signed by 12 countries, including Asian and South American countries. It’s not clear if Biden would try to revive the TPP. In 2019, Biden said he would not “rejoin the TPP as it was initially put forward” but instead renegotiate parts of the deal to join the countries together to “to hold China accountable.”

(antiwar.com)

Biden’s challenges are massive…..and this could start the return of the US as a world partner.

Next he needs to work on domestic problems that Trump created……post to follow…..

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A Station Of His Own

Closing Thought–17Nov20

Departing (we hope) Pres. Trump has been using FOX News as his personal news source…that is until he was contradicted by FOX on air….and he now has a hard on for the news group.

What to do….what to do?

About 4 years ago I wrote a couple of posts about the idea that Trump would try and start his own news network…..(the post did not appeal to many and got very little attention)…..here are the posts I one cares to read what I wrote before I go on…..

https://lobotero.com/2016/10/19/trump-news-network/

https://lobotero.com/2016/10/29/trumps-news-network-or-reality-show/

Now that my reader is caught up….the news is that Trump may start his own news group to get his message of hate and discord out more readily…..since FOX is not in his corner so much now….

President Donald Trump is considering launching a digital media company to challenge Fox News‘ supremacy among right-wing viewers, according to a report published at Axios on Thursday.

According to the report, Trump is fuming over Fox’s coverage before and during the 2020 election—especially the way the network preempted other corporate media outlets in calling the close race in Arizona for President-elect Joe Biden.

The president’s vexation with Fox—whose opinion program hosts including Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, and Laura Ingraham have been among his staunchest media allies—was apparent even before the Arizona controversy during an Election Day appearance on “Fox & Friends,” another Trump safe space.

“Fox has changed a lot,” Trump said. Discussing the different results of the 2016 and 2020 elections, the president remarked: “Somebody said, what’s the biggest difference between this and four years ago? And I say Fox.”

“I’m not complaining, I’m just telling people,” he added. “It’s one of the biggest differences this season compared to last.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/11/12/trump-mulling-streaming-online-channel-challenge-fox-news-report

Being typical to form….Trump will torture and attack anyone that does not show support for his lameass ideas….and that includes FOX News.

Will he be successful?

I believe he can find the funding from the fascists in the business world……and support from the closest fascists in our society.

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Trump’s Troop Withdrawal

I have been writing on one issue that I agree with defeated Trump…..I agree that we should be ending these forever wars and bring our troops home.

Now there is more news on that front…..

The Trump administration is expected to cut the number of US troops in Afghanistan almost in half to 2,500 by Jan. 15, US officials said Monday. The order would stop short of outgoing President Trump’s goal to have all troops withdrawn by the end of the year, which had faced opposition from military and diplomatic advisers. The Pentagon also expects to cut the number of troops in Iraq to 2,500, the AP reports, a reduction of more than 500. The decisions come in the wake of Trump’s shakeup of the Pentagon leadership last week, in which he installed loyalists who share his frustration with the continued troop presence in the war zones. The cuts would give Trump an accomplishment in his final weeks in office. The officials said military leaders were told over the weekend about the planned withdrawals, and an executive order is in the works but has not yet been delivered to commanders. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. There are 4,500 to 5,000 troops in Afghanistan, and more than 3,000 in Iraq.

Under the order, the troop cuts would be completed just five days before President-elect Joe Biden takes office, leaving him with a smaller military footprint in the two key war zones. Military commanders have expressed less concern about pulling more troops from Iraq, where the Iraqi forces are better able to maintain their nation’s security. Trump’s new Pentagon chief, Christopher Miller, hinted at the withdrawals over the weekend in a message to the force that suggested compromise. He said that “we remain committed to finishing the war that Al Qaida brought to our shores in 2001.” But he also made it clear that “all wars must end.” The accelerated withdrawal goes against longstanding advice from Trump’s military leadership, including Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, top commander for the Middle East. But officials suggested this week that commanders will be able to live with the partial pullout, which lets them to keep counterterrorism troops in Afghanistan and allows more time to remove critical equipment.

The GOP may be the Party of Trump now but there are still issue they will not help Trump achieve…..

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) warned against a withdrawal from Afghanistan on Monday amidst reports that say the Pentagon is planning for a drawdown in the country.

McConnell, a staunch ally of President Trump, was careful to praise the administration’s foreign policy record before slamming the idea of an Afghanistan withdrawal. “A rapid withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan now would hurt our allies and delight the people who wish us harm,” McConnell said on the Senate floor.

McConnell went through the typical talking points for arguments against the US ending the 19-year-old war. He said a US withdrawal would “embolden the Taliban,” hand al-Qaeda a “propaganda victory,” and would be “welcome news” to Iran.

(antiwar.com)

What about those troops in Syria?

I know not much said lately about them but make no mistake they are there….even some confusion on just how many are there…..

Four years after signing the now-infamous “Never Trump” letter condemning then-presidential candidate Donald Trump as a danger to America, retiring diplomat Jim Jeffrey is recommending that the incoming Biden administration stick with Trump’s foreign policy in the Middle East.

But even as he praises the president’s support of what he describes as a successful “realpolitik” approach to the region, he acknowledges that his team routinely misled senior leaders about troop levels in Syria. 

“We were always playing shell games to not make clear to our leadership how many troops we had there,” Jeffrey said in an interview. The actual number of troops in northeast Syria is “a lot more than” the roughly two hundred troops Trump initially agreed to leave there in 2019. 

https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2020/11/outgoing-syria-envoy-admits-hiding-us-troop-numbers-praises-trumps-mideast-record/170012/

Keep in mind that Trump ordered the troops home in 2018…..but changed his mind (as he often does)…..

The withdrawal in my opinion is something positive coming from Trump……but I fear that they will (the M-IC) never allow this to succeed…..not to worry after all we have a new president that owes much to the high dollar donors…..in other words….the wars will continue.

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Will ACA Survive?

The program fondly titles as Obamacare has proven to be popular and yet the GOP seems Hell bent on its destruction…..as it comes before SCOTUS yet again.

Once again the ACA (Obamacare) comes before the Supreme Court….and once again it looks like the GOP will be beaten into submission…at least until next session…..

The Supreme Court heard its third challenge to ObamaCare on Tuesday, and a decision won’t be out until next spring. But the early assessments after oral arguments wrapped up should give backers of the Affordable Care Act some comfort—it looks like the law will survive again. Coverage:

  • “Most of the Affordable Care Act appeared likely to survive,” writes Sam Baker at Axios. He notes that Chief Justice John Roberts and Brett Kavanaugh “suggested they’re unlikely to throw out the entire health care law, as Republican attorneys general and the Trump administration have urged. Their votes would be enough to save it.”
  • That assessment is a common one. “The bulk of the Affordable Care Act … appeared likely to survive,” writes Adam Liptak in the New York Times. He, too, concluded that Roberts and Kavanaugh would join the court’s three liberal justices in saving the bulk of the law, even though Republicans scrapped a key component of it, the individual mandate. “In legal terms, they said the mandate was severable from the rest of the law,” writes Liptak.
  • At the AP, Mark Sherman agrees with all of the above. It’s possible the court will determine that the mandate itself is unconstitutional, but it doesn’t appear that Roberts and Kavanaugh would be willing to kill the entire law if that’s the case. He quotes Roberts: “Would Congress want the rest of the law to survive if the unconstitutional provision were severed? Here, Congress left the rest of the law intact. That seems to be a compelling answer to the question.”
  • John Kruzel of the Hill agrees, too, and he quotes Kavanaugh to make the point: “Looking at our severability precedents, it does seem fairly clear that the proper remedy would be to sever the mandate provision and leave the rest of the act in place, the provisions regarding preexisting conditions and the rest.”
  • Ditto at the Washington Post, whose story is written by multiple reporters. They note that Roberts wrote the 2012 opinion keeping the law intact and say he (and Kavanaugh) seem inclined to do that again. Another Roberts quote, in regard to the individual mandate: “I think it’s hard for you to argue that Congress intended the entire act to fall if the mandate were struck down when the same Congress that lowered the penalty to zero did not even try to repeal the rest of the act,” Roberts told Texas solicitor Kyle Hawkins. He suggested lawmakers wanted the court to do that for them, “but that’s not our job.”

How long before the next challenge comes?

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Biden’s Pentagon

I have written in the past that I think a Biden admin will be hawkish…….first here….

Then his transition team for the Pentagon signals that he will be a Hawk….why?

So far they are all war profiteers, chicken hawks, corporate stoolies…..https://thegrayzone.com/2020/11/14/bidens-transition-team-war-profiteers-chickenhawks-corporate-consultants/

Look at his transition team members….

Two members of the transition team come from the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), Susanna Blume, a former Pentagon employee, and Ely Ratner, who served as deputy national security advisor to then-vice president Joe Biden from 2015 to 2017.

CNAS is another think tank that enjoys hefty donations from weapons makers, major corporations, and governments. From 2019 to 2020, CNAS received at least $500,000 from the US State Department and at least $500,000 from Northrop Grumman. Other donors include Google, Facebook, Raytheon, and Lockheed Martin.

Three more team members list their latest employer as the RAND Corporation, Stacie Pettyjohn, a wargaming expert, Christine Wormuth, who held a few roles in the Obama administration, and Terri Tanielian, a behavioral scientist.

RAND is another hawkish think tank that receives the bulk of its funding from the US government, including the US Army, Air Force, and Department of Homeland Security. RAND is also funded by the UAE, Qatar, and NATO.

A report from In These Times found at least eight out of the 23 team members come from organizations that receive funding from US weapons makers (not including RAND). Besides the CSIS and CNAS employees listed above, In These Times includes Sharon Burke, who works for New America, Shawn Skel­ly, from CACI International, and Vic­tor Gar­cia, from Rebellion Defense.

(antiwar.com)

The only positive thing I can say about this team is that the majority are women.

So the burning question of the campaign because it was never addressed by either candidate ….so the question was Will Biden be a Warmonger or Peacemaker?

Keep in mind that his so-called front runner is the person that is leader of CNAS which most of his transition team comes from…..gives her the inside lane….I would say.

His choices have answered the question…the arms industry wins ergo so does armed conflict.  For further analysis….https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon/2020/11/10/biden-landing-team-for-pentagon-announced/  and more here….https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/11/11/will-the-biden-team-be-warmongers-or-peacemakers/

Looks like very little will change within the Pentagon with the exception of the secretary who has already resigned/fired…..

More analysis to follow…

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Biden And North Korea

North Korea….remember them?

We have seen just how impotent the Trump policies have been in the curtailing of NK’s nuclear ambitions.

Well we have a new president and he has his finger on foreign policy….or so we are told….

What is Biden’s thoughts?

Look for familiar names from the presidency of Barack Obama to deal with North Korea after the inauguration of Joseph Biden as president on Jan. 20. Biden, having served as vice president for two terms under Obama, knows these old-timers well and may be inclined to name some of them to influential positions in hope, finally, of bringing North Korea to terms on its nuclear program.

The chances of Kim Jong-un saying, “right, we agree, and we’re giving up our nukes and missiles and the facilities for making them” range from nil to zero, but Christopher Hill, who led the Americans in failed six-party talks on North Korea’s nukes and then in frustrating negotiations with North Korea’s Kim Gye-gwan, never loses hope. In a Biden presidency, he said in a recent panel discussion, “There will be a little more focus on the substance of engagement and why we are willing to engage.”

…

…Biden’s “first order of business is going to be to fix the alliances.” No, he said, “it’s not just NATO,” the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that formed the bulwark of allied defenses against the old Soviet Union in the Cold War era and now faces Russia, whose president, Vladimir Putin, definitely would prefer Trump. For nearly four years, Trump did his best to undermine NATO, blasting its members for not contributing, cutting back on U.S. forces and, disgracefully, trying to finesse a trade-off with Ukraine on military assistance against Russia in return for Ukraine digging up dirt on Biden’s son, Hunter. 

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2020/11/353_299127.html

New president…will US troops stay in South Korea?  Will Kim remain the social outcast or will a new day dawn in US/NK relations?

It will be interesting to see just in what direction the policies involving the Korean Peninsula will travel.

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Closing Thought–16Nov20

Do you have a right to own a gun?

*****Before the insults and bullshit starts…..this short video is provided as an educational opinion on the debate that has been raging for decades…..I am not advocating one way of the other……so please keep the lameass insults to yourself*****

I have written about this subject several times from social perspective to my theory of why historically…..

I offer this video as a way for a conversation to begin…a real conversation…..not some slug-fest of insults and lies….

https://youtu.be/rEqGBOt32NM
 
I also include a few other videos as to keep the interest alive…..
 
One more and after that you may go back to sleep….
 
 
But in case you are interested in my historic perspective…..https://lobotero.com/2013/01/30/why-the-2nd/
 
 
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“lego ergo scribo”

The Violence Has Arrived

I have been reading several articles that predicts that Trump and his mouth and sycophants will make violence possible…..

Historians and other experts on Thursday warned that President Donald Trump’s attempt to remain in power despite his loss in the 2020 election is growing increasingly dangerous as Republican leaders willingly participate in the disenfranchisement of millions of voters and back the president’s refusal to accept the election results. 

In an op-ed at The Hill, journalist Albert Hunt wrote that Trump’s “deceitful charge” that the Democratic Party stole the election and allowed “illegal votes” to be cast—claims that have yet to be backed up by evidence—”undermines confidence in our Democratic system, but it could also threaten to unleash a dangerous wave of violence.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/11/12/coup-underway-experts-warn-election-lies-trump-and-gop-leaders-could-unleash-violent

…….and so it has over the weekend….

Pro and Anti-Trump protesters met at the SCOTUS building in DC….

Several thousand supporters of President Trump in Washington protested election results and hailed Trump’s passing motorcade before nighttime clashes with counterdemonstrators sparked fistfights, at least one stabbing and at least 20 arrests. Several other cities on Saturday also saw gatherings of Trump supporters unwilling to accept Joe Biden’s Electoral College and popular vote victory. Cries of “Stop the Steal” and “Count Every Vote” continued in spite of a lack of evidence of voter fraud or other problems that could reverse the result. After night fell, the relatively peaceful demonstrations in Washington turned violent, reports the AP. Videos on social media showed fistfights, projectiles, and clubs as Trump supporters clashed with those demanding they take their MAGA hats and banners and leave. The tensions extended to Sunday morning. A variety of charges, including assault and weapons possession, were filed against those arrested, officials said. Two police officers were injured and several firearms were recovered by police.

Trump himself gave an approving nod Saturday morning by dispatching his motorcade through streets lined with supporters before rolling on to his Virginia golf club. People chanted “USA, USA” and “four more years,” and many carried American flags and signs to show their displeasure with the vote tally and insistence that, as Trump has baselessly asserted, fraud was the reason. “I just want to keep up his spirits and let him know we support him,” said one loyalist, Anthony Whittaker of Winchester, Va. The marchers included the Proud Boys. Trump supporters who approached the area were harassed, doused with water and saw their MAGA hats and pro-Trump flags snatched and burned, amid cheers. As night fell, multiple police lines kept the two sides apart. Videos showed some demonstrators and counterdemonstrators trading shoves, punches, and slaps. The “Million MAGA March” was heavily promoted on social media, raising concerns that it could spark conflict with anti-Trump demonstrators, who have gathered near the White House for weeks.

This was not as violent as it could have been …..especially with those hairy gun toters……will this be the extent of the violence or will it escalate?

Trump’s mouth could be the catalyst for either calm or violence.

Things could get worse before it gets better….

Whites make up around over 65 percent of the electorate of the US. Surveys show that 57 percent of white voters (56 percent women, 58 percent men) went for Trump, despite everything—his awful mismanagement of the pandemic, his lies, his anti-science attitude, his divisiveness, and his blatant pandering to white nationalist groups like the Nazis, Klan, and Proud Boys.

…

That is where the danger lies now: the fascist mobilization of a white population that is in relative decline numbers-wise.

History has shown that when large social groups no longer feel they can win by democratic elections, the temptation towards extra-parliamentary solutions becomes very tempting. As the aggregate minority population in the U.S. moves toward parity in numbers with the white population over the next few decades, white nationalism is likely to become more rather than less popular among whites of all ages and across gender lines.

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2020/11/11/things-may-get-worse-they-get-better-us

I believe I know what he will choose…..do you?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

DACA Saved! (For Now)

We all know how much the Trumpian thugs hate immigrants and has been trying to end the DACA program….and their latest attack on immigrants has gone down in defeat….as it should…..

Looks like DACA was wrongly suspended this summer because the acting Homeland Security chief didn’t belong there—at least not in the eyes of the law, NBC News reports. Judge Nicholas Garaufis ruled Saturday that Chad Wolf, acting Homeland Security secretary, “was not lawfully serving” in the role when he suspended the so-called “Dream Act” in July. The Obama-era program protects migrants brought illegally to the US as children. The Garaufis ruling means “the effort in the Wolf memo to gut the DACA program is overturned,” said a lawyer involved in the case. “This is really a hopeful day for a lot of young people across the country.”

Garaufis explained that when former DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen stepped down, she was replaced by Kevin McAleenan even though he wasn’t authorized to do so, per Law & Crime. That means McAleenan’s delegation of the position to Wolf was not “authorized” and Wolf’s suspension of DACA “was not an exercise of legal authority,” the judge said. Wolf made the move after the US Supreme Court blocked a Trump administration effort to terminate the program. CBS News reports that the ruling affects hundreds of thousands of people who can be shielded from deportation by DACA. CNN reports that the US government can appeal the ruling.

You realize that they use that immigrants are a drain on our resources and country…..well that may not be true at all….

The administration has said that refugees – those forced to leave their country to escape war or persecution – do not benefit the U.S. economy. It has portrayed refugees as a drain on resources and argued that a lower number of refugees is required to prioritize the well-being of Americans.

This feeds into the perception among some Americans that immigrants come to this country and either take their jobs or do not work at all and live off of welfare. Both those ideas are false.

In my research, I have found that refugees are far from an economic drain. They are quick to integrate into local economies. And nationally they have high labor force participation rates, which includes people who are employed or looking for employment.

https://theconversation.com/refugees-dont-undermine-the-us-economy-they-energize-it-147146

There is a reason the Trump and the gang do not like facts and figures……those prove them wrong every time.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Senkaku Islands

Huh?

Where the Hell are these islands?

Easy remedy to that question…..

Japan-China relations - Jingoist jangles | Asia | The Economist

There seems to be a bit of a problem with the oil and gas fields in and around the islands…..everybody wants a slice of that pie…..especially China….

Let me continue the education…..this is the conflict according to Japan…..

China’s maritime adventurism in the East and South China Seas has lately attracted considerable attention. Fifty percent of China’s claimed jurisdictional waters are competing with neighboring countries in the East Asia.2 The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has named People’s Republic of China (PRC) as a maritime power in the 18th Party Congress in 2012 (People’s daily Online in Japanese, November 12 2012), and the PRC challenges Japan, the U.S.A., and the ASEAN countries. What happens in the East China Sea? China takes the maritime offensive against Japan. The authordefines the word “offensive” not only the military means, but also the political, legal, economic, and psychological means to oppress the competitor.3 If so, the Chinese maritime offensive against Japan includes not only the actual maritime conflict in the East China Sea, but also the natural resources demand at the disputed waters, anti-Japan demonstration inside and outside of China, the sovereignty assertion in relevant to historical issues with Japan, CCP’s internal power struggle, and China’s national integration policy.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/24761028.2019.1626567

The question is what is China’s desire for this region?

China’s recent moves are destabilizing, and Japan clearly stated as much in a newly released defense white paper. In the report, the Japanese government presents the nature of the Chinese challenge to its security — especially to the Senkaku islands — in the strongest terms yet. Chinese authorities are in fact described as “relentlessly” pressing their claims to the islands with ever-increasing levels of maritime activities undermining the status quo. Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono made clear that further intensification of activities might trigger the intervention of Japanese military assets. In response to Japanese concerns, the commander of U.S. military forces in Japan has stated that the United States would help monitor the situation. Every successful step Beijing takes in undermining the status quo around the Senkakus through coercion and force is a direct challenge to the credibility of the U.S.-Japanese alliance and, crucially, to the principles informing the maritime rules-based order centered on the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea. While the United States is not party to this treaty, both China and Japan are, and Abe has clearly articulated why China’s actions around the Senkakus fundamentally undermine the principles enshrined in the convention.

What Is China’s Strategy in the Senkaku Islands?

In recent years the US has been itching for a fight with China…the South China Sea and now the Senkaku Islands……it is so serious that the US has stated that it could send troops to the islands…..

American troops could be sent to disputed islands inthe East China Sea, the head of US forces in Japan said, as the two allies began a high-profile drill amid growing concerns overBeijing’s military activities in the region

“Our arrival today was simply to demonstrate the ability to move a few people, but the same capability could be used to deploy combat troops to defend the Senkaku Islands or respond to other crises and contingencies,” Lieutenant General Kevin Schneider, commander of US Forces Japan,

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3107291/american-troops-could-be-sent-defend-senkaku-islands-us

Just those warmongering words should terrify Americans…they are basically daring China to act…..and the ultimatum could be disastrous…..

Hopefully calmer heads will prevail in January.

Then again those heads may not prevail…….

According to a readout of a call between President-elect Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Suga, Biden recommitted the U.S. to defending the Senkaku Islands as part of the mutual defense treaty between the U.S. and Japan:

Biden confirmed that Article 5 of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty will be applied to the defense of Okinawa Prefecture and the Senkaku Islands. Article 5 stipulates that the U.S. is obliged to defend Japan should its territories come under attack. Former President Barack Obama was the first U.S. leader to declare that the pact applies to the Senkakus.

Biden is reaffirming the position that the Obama administration took in 2014, but that doesn’t make this commitment any wiser or better than it was when it was first made. As a general rule, the U.S. shouldn’t extend its defense commitments to include disputed territories. In this particular case, committing to defend the Senkakus makes even less sense because these are just uninhabited rocks in the ocean. It strains credulity that the U.S. would actually go to war with China for the sake of these rocks, and that makes it more likely that China will test that commitment. The U.S. risks undermining its commitments to treaty allies when it recklessly expands them to include territory that we aren’t going to defend when push comes to shove. Instead of deterring China and protecting a treaty ally, this commitment seems more likely to create an unnecessary flashpoint that could lead to further escalation.

Would You Die for the Senkakus?

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