four years ago today, Trump was holding one of his covid disaster-conferences and trying to downplay a pandemic that went on to kill more than a million Americans with some flu whataboutism
This tracks with a number of studies.
Putin is mortgaging Russia’s future for a sick obsession.
Putin’s Russia Is Going Broke Fast. Here’s Why. Follow
@newrepublic
Yep. The emerging DC zeitgeist seems to be: Don’t accept the legitimacy of CCP govt. China can’t change. War is inevitable. The debate is how best to weaken China & prepare for war.
— with a mature nuclear state & No.1 trade & capital exporter.
Bon chance
@ElbridgeColby
Bridge, This is pure incendiary alarmism in its worst form (i.e., designed to rile up a base) and you know it. You had been getting more reasonable in your posts, and I've applauded these posts. And now this.
Let's dissect this a bit, shall we?
First, this is literally
@ForeignPolicy
On what planet? US policy in the Middle East for past 40+ years has a series of bumbling disasters.
If this has been success, I’m terrified to know what failure would look like.
Give it a rest, you fool. Hearings along the lines of Nxon & Clinton impeachment, rules set by Republicans. And look in the mirror before you toss out such epithets.
We know your M.O. is calling people things you know apply to you. Tiresome.
Corrupt politician Adam Schiff’s lies are growing by the day. Keep fighting tough, Republicans, you are dealing with human scum who have taken Due Process and all of the Republican Party’s rights away from us during the most unfair hearings in American History......
2nd wave outbreaks in China, South Korea, singapore. Shld be a Red Flag for US & states re-opening despite lack of criteria.
Wuhan reports first new coronavirus cases since end of lockdown | Free to read via
@financialtimes
You sound like an ignorant fool. US spyplanes have flown over China's airspace for years -- despite their protests. Nations spy on each other & have for 5000 years. Stop with the "I'm tougher than you" BS posturing.
China would never let a spy balloon fly through their airspace. No strong leader would. And now, it’s flying above South Carolina. Capture the balloon. See what they are collecting. Hold Xi accountable. We need American strength back.
Brilliant strategy to compete w/ China: train Chinese & Indian PHd scientists & engineers, then deny them an H1B visa so they can go home and compete against us.
Sounds like a Marx Bros movie.
What you're asking is: What does the US accept as China's legitimate interests? If the answer is accepting US Primacy in perpetuity, that is a recipe for conflict.
No, the government didn’t massacre billions of birds and replace them with drones. The Birds Aren’t Real conspiracy is pure parody, meant to mirror the absurdity of conspiracy theories that have taken flight across the country, says founder Peter McIndoe
BREAKING: Another evening, another mall shooting. At least 10 shots fired inside the Wolfchase mall In Memphis, TN.
So sad that Americans deal with this crap as if it was normal. No reports on victims or fatalities as of yet.
Chip war update: Nvidia CEO warns that US tech is at risk of "enormous damage". Why? Because they won't be able to sell their products to China - their largest market - and China "will just build [the chips] themselves"
Extremely obvious from the start...
SCOOP: China's envoy urged European diplomats to split from US and urge immediate cease-fire, leaving Russia in possession of the parts of Ukraine it now occupies,
@bopanc
and
@kimmackrael
report. via
@WSJ
Chip Roy: As we are looking at what’s happening in Ukraine… we’re looking at that and we’re talking about war crimes, I want to talk about the crimes against humanity that has been perpetrated by Anthony Fauci, the CDC, and the federal government against the American people
Part of the Exceptionalist pathology is that it’s a Manichean world. We’re the righteous good guys and xxx is evil, thus no sense of causality or security dilemma. Evident now also re: China.
For decades, U.S. officials have widely recognized that enlarging NATO, especially to Ukraine, ran at least some risk of putting the United States on a collision course with Russia. Below are some quotations that I didn't have room to include in my piece.
Sad stuff. Trusted partners, US-ROK, FTA, WTO. Not to mention large Hyundai, KIA FDI factories in US.
Free & Open? rules-based order -- apply to US?
Embarrassing & Credibility costly.
'Worse Than MAGA’ – South Korea Erupts Over Biden’s Trade Policy
Trump: "We're respected again as a country. You know, we're respected again. You may not feel it. Although I think you do. You may not see it. You don't read it about it from the fake news. But this country is respected again."
How does that work if the US bans China from AI and Supercomputer chips and chip-making equipment, seeking to prevent them from the top end of tech?
Seems pretty clearly aimed at choking off growth in that area, one key to future econ growth.
An Asian diplomat recently: Many in China think the US is trying to suppress China's growth, to hold the country down.
I think it's vital the US make clear that is *not* our goal. In fact, that the best way for China to continue developing is to work with a balance of power. 1/
@WhiteHouse
staff does cleanup and walk back. “Officials privately sought to clarify Wednesday with the Chinese that Biden’s description of Xi does not reflect a new talking point or official policy shift by the administration.“
What Chutzpah and BS. His rejection of JCPOA unleashed all the Iran activities he is complaining about. This is heads I win, tails you lose.
Nice try, Mikey.
A personal note: I have departed the Atlantic Council and joined the Stimson Center as Distinguished Fellow in the Reimagining Grand Strategy program. Strategic Foresight and other projects to come.
Police says the shooting at a mall in Allen,
#Texas
has left an unspecified number of people dead and sent at least eight others, between the ages of 5 and 61, to hospitals.
@ezraklein
It’s straight out of Goebbels. Big lies repeated often enough are believed. Make tons of false fraud accusations, then charlatans like Cruz say, oh, there’s all these allegations. Must investigate.
Like a Marx Bros movie.
Except millions take it seriously.
Taiwan is manifestly underpreparing for the PLA threat.
Democracies don't always prepare for threats. Look at the lead up to WWII in France and Great Britain, and indeed in America.
Ultimately Taiwan's voters aren't going to determine whether China invades. Beijing will. 1/
Jill Dougherty on CNN: Putin has essentially disappeared, though Kremlin saying he is informed. indicating he does not want to be associated with this.
@ForeignPolicy
Flaws of Biden’s policy notwithstanding, can’t get past the point that none of this would have had any pretext— nor likely would this enrichment have happened if Trump had not broken the word of the US & exitedvthe agreenent.
Earth is hottest in 125,000 years, but Saudis say ‘what, me worry.
Are we headed toward an air-conditioned self-extinction?
G20 deal on fossil fuels blocked after Saudi opposition via
@FT
Funny how there’s never any causality in anything the US does.
Really no change re: Taiwan over past decade? You can be for it or against it, but don’t pretend everything was just fine until BJ went nuts.
What's getting lose in the debate about Pelosi's Taiwan trip is that it's China's leaders who are shooting missile's around & destabilizing the region. No one is making them do this. It's their choice & its not their only option.
WHO is flawed & inexcusably sucked up to China, But allies are right, we need global coordination and a stronger, reformed WHO. Like defunding the Fire Dept when your house is on fire.
US allies l condemn Trump’s WHO funding suspension via
@financialtimes
I was struck by Indonesia’s bewildering diversity: It has 1,300 ethnic groups speaking 700 languages spread across 1,000 inhabited islands. Yet somehow it has stayed together since winning its freedom from Dutch rule. It has even become a democracy.
Incredibly illustrative: only 22 bills were signed into law this year by Biden (the lowest ever) BUT Congress introduced a crazy 616 anti-China bill that went nowhere.
Effectively all about grandstanding to look "tough on China" but getting nothing done.
We both know what is ridiculous -- injecting bleach, rejecting medical science and making fun of masks, calling it a hoax, magical thinking "like a miracle it will go away.."no national testing or vaccination plan.
#bloodonyourhands
, Caligula.
The number of cases and deaths of the China Virus is far exaggerated in the United States because of
@CDCgov
’s ridiculous method of determination compared to other countries, many of whom report, purposely, very inaccurately and low. “When in doubt, call it Covid.” Fake News!
NYT: "America can’t build a green economy without China... The US cannot build a competitive renewable or electric vehicle industry from scratch... US engineers will progress in these industries only when they can work with their Chinese counterparts."
Then Stone implicitly threatened to spill the beans unless Trump granted him clemency and then Trump commuted his entire sentence including court fines.
@SpeakerRyan
@HouseGOP
BS, you twit. You will take away in healthcare and other safety net far more than you give them back in tax cut that wasn't needed. (should have done just corporate tax cut, that was needed.)
America has been trying to change China since the days of missionaries in the 19th century.
Apparently the mission civilisatrice has no learning curve.
Pierre Rosanvallon, probably the greatest living expert on democracy, says a democracy has 3 essential elements:
1) that those who govern truly represent the people
2) that there's trust by the people in those who govern them
3) that the decisions taken by those who govern are
“In our nation’s 246-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump."
-Dick Cheney
#NeverTrump
#TBT
In case you wondered why China has invested so much in Congo and across Africa.
China set to tighten grip over global cobalt supply as price hits 32-month low
Oh Please stuff it. Beijing punished Drs who warned of COVID started, covered up its human spread for 3 weeks, enabling it to more easily spread. You owe the world transparency of the origins of COVID. IT is a global public health good. Not blame game, just truth.
We don't take seriously a range of alternative Chinese futures and then design policy to manage downside scenarios while ensuring we have policies robust across all futures. No. We pick one dystopian extrapolation from the darkest interpretation of today.
“South Korea and India have joined the US, Japan and European countries in supporting the Philippines in its maritime disputes with Beijing in the SCS, as China’s recent use of water cannon against a Philippine resupply ship creates a global backlash.”
As Beijing speaks out for Palestine, China is closing and demolishing hundreds of mosques, "as part of the government’s efforts to restrict the practice of Islam." important new report from Human Rights Watch.
Reagan and Gorbachev once agreed the people of the planet would come together to face the threat of an alien invasion. Our history with facing common threats from COVID to climate to nukes suggests otherwise. Happy New Year, it's my latest.
BREAKING: North Korea has not exported "weapons or ammunitions to Russia" in the past and is not planning to do so either in the future, North Korea's defense ministry official says in a statement. More soon
@nknewsorg
The gravest danger would be a North Korean move on the ROK to achieve lingering reunification fantasies, if the US launched a major military response to a Taiwan contingency.
We should expect increasing collaboration among China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, and others like Pakistan and Cuba.
If China moves against Taiwan, we should assume these others will do things to help it, including by seeking to distract America.
Dangerous Democrats never let crisis go to waste, try to slip socialism into
#coronavirus
emergency bill. Price controls=fewer vaccines. What good is fixed price if not enough supply? Found ways to make flu vaccines available cheap w/o price controls. Can do same with coronavirus
Thanks to a near-broken confirmation process, the US does not have a U.S. Ambassador in:
- Israel
- Egypt
- Lebanon
- Oman
- Kuwait
- No confirmed top USAID official for the Middle East for nearly 3 years
-No State Department Coordinator for Counterterrorism for nearly 2 years
NATO could announce that Ukraine will not be admitted now but in the future, once its war with Russia is over. But that would create a perverse incentive for Russia to keep fighting so as to prevent Ukraine’s entry into the transatlantic alliance.
Trump did America's Mideast allies no favors by pulling out of the nuclear deal with Iran in 2018. According to a senior Defense Department official, Iran could produce enough fissile material to build a nuclear bomb in just 12 days.
Evidence China is sending lethal aid to Putin? US & Der Spiegel report says considering, discussing. If so, huge mistake. It would blow up their narrative, last shreds of credibility & they own the war. Does PRC think it has agency to save Putin from the hole he's in? Very dumb
🧵 Noah has a good piece here: China directly arming Russia changes not just the complexion of this war but the broader geopolitical landscape in ways we probably can’t fully grasp yet.
In the short-term it almost certainly moves the EU into the “anti-China” camp
Plot thickens. Brazil's leftist president Lula says he won't recognize Maduro in Venezuela unless he shows impartial evidence that he won recent election. That's an important step.
Will Mexico's AMLO follow? Colombia's Petro?
@nytopinion
@GovChrisSununu
Sununu: “Trump’s too dumb to be a danger to democracy. Let’s not give him that much credit. … I want everyone to relax. It’s all going to work out.”
Says we survived Civil War, McCarthyism, 1968, 9/11 and even Jan. 6. “Asshole leaders come and go, but our system stands strong.”
GOWDY: If you're president, how would you address the war in Ukraine?
DESANTIS: First, I think what we need to do as a veteran is recognize that our military has become politicized. You talk about gender ideology ...
“The immediate problem America faces is that it no longer has a center-right party that represents traditional conservatism, or even respects basic constitutional principles such as the rule of law,”
@RadioFreeTom
writes in The Atlantic Daily:
Stunning absence of coverage in US press of what was a quite substantive Summit w/ meaty stuff tech cooperation, $40bil in ROK investment in US -- chip and battery production, Vaccine/global health coop, Climate, and accord on dealing w/ NKorea.
I’ll say it again it regarding the sorry state of US-China relations: Is it that we don’t understand one another or is it that we understand one another only too well.
The most likely result of Chinese military aggression in the Indo-Pacific is not nuclear escalation, as many strategists fear—it is a protracted conventional war between Beijing and a U.S.-led coalition, argues Andrew F. Krepinevich, Jr.
BREAKING: Russian military research facility, apparently involved in development of at least some of the S-series surface-to-air missiles and Iskander ballistic missiles, is on fire with dead & many injured.
Anyone in mid to senior USG jobs who has had to fill out endless disclosure forms can attest to the consequences if the got and failed to report a fraction of what Thomas received.
I was a senior NSC official. If I let anyone pay for my kid's tuition and did not report it, I would have been rightly prosecuted because Congress has passed anti-corruption laws.
Why don't the same rules exist for the judicial system?
Thomas has to go, Congress has to act.
Jake Sullivan on State of the Union this morning:
Israel has to abide by the rules of war.
Q: Is Israel abiding by the rules of war?
I'm not going to judge whether Israel is abiding by the rules of war.
Many call for Iran to be held to account for its support of terrorism. But while it’s easy to demand that we stop “appeasing” Iran, it’s much harder to say what we should be doing. This is a strategic problem without a solution.
U.S., Chinese foreign ministers to meet as Taiwan tensions rise
The State Department said it was part of Washington's ongoing efforts to "maintain open lines of communication and manage competition responsibly."
@ryanl_hass
Good pints, all true . But equally worried about the hysterical media/Congress reaction. Nations spy on each itherChina used an unacceptable means & got caught. It wasn’t a 2nd Pearl Harbor. Fear what to think by if it was a real crisis like the EP-3 in 2001.
Capital Economics, a research firm, argues that China’s economy will never become the world’s biggest, instead peaking at 90% of America’s size in 2035.
The big question: is a China that now faces more headwinds than tailwinds less dangerous - or more?