Month: March 2020

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Quick Analysis

Startling Revelations from the Corvid-19 Crisis

There have been several harsh revelations that are related to the Covid-19 crisis, beginning with the reality that China’s delay in informing the world of the start of the Corvid-19 outbreak indicated that the Beijing regime is not a trustworthy member of the global community.

At home in the U.S., the apparent media confusion over which branch of government has first-line responsibility for dealing with the most intimate decision-making is apparent. It is not the federal government’s role to decide, for example, to close local schools or suspend recreational activities. That is in the portfolio of state and local governments.

The contrast between those local governments that have acted responsibly and those that have not is substantial.

According to Education Week, As of March 12, 10,000 K-12 schools around the country had shut down at some point in response to the virus, affecting at least 4.9 million students, according to Education Week. Ohio has closed all K-12 schools in the state in response to the spread of the novel coronavirus, as has Maryland, New Mexico, and Washington.

 Over 150 universities have either closed or moved to exclusively on-line learning.

But in New York City, Mayor Bill De Blasio, in a rambling, disjointed press conference, refused to do the same, despite the reality that his jurisdiction is one of the hardest-hit in the nation. He was eventually forced by public pressure to o so.

The crisis has also highlighted America’s dangerous dependence on Chinese pharmaceuticals.

President Trump, even before his inauguration, warned about the implications of the off-shoring of the American pharmaceutical industry, a reality that may be hampering the U.S. drive to produce test kits and, eventually, a vaccine. A 2017 Industry Week review reported: “President-elect Donald Trump on January 11 attacked U.S. companies who ship jobs offshore, singling out the pharmaceutical industry for high drug prices and for manufacturing overseas. Trump said U.S. companies relocating production offshore are ‘getting away with murder…’”

In July, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission warned:

“The United States is heavily dependent on drugs that Fused with the pangolin, peach kernel, safflower, etc, the Fuyan pills are intended to cheap viagra india soften and dispel the clot in blood. Importance buy cialis without prescription http://www.slovak-republic.org/ski/ of Education: A prospective teacher needs to be trained in child psychology. You do not have to go through the embarrassment of going to their physician for something like cialis 5mg price, then great, online pharmacies are a one-stop shop for all their medicinal requirements! Unfortunately, the biggest problem with many sites is the quality of each levitra items and even in all levitra on line pills, which have an adequate measure of quality to fabricate men’s ability for sexual associations. To get effective result, it is generally recommended to add folate-rich foods to your diet on daily basis to spice up your sexual life. viagra pfizer achat are either sourced from China or include [Active Pharmaceutical ingredients] APIs sourced from China. This is especially true for generic drugs, which comprise most prescriptions filled in the United States. Drug companies are not required to list the API country of origin on their product labels; therefore, U.S. consumers may be unknowingly accepting risks associated with drugs originating from China… The development of China’s pharmaceutical industry follows a pattern seen in some of its other industries, such as chemicals and telecommunications, where state support promotes domestic companies at the expense of foreign competitors. China’s pharmaceutical industry is not effectively regulated by the Chinese government. China’s regulatory apparatus is inadequately resourced to oversee thousands of Chinese drug manufacturers, even if Beijing made such oversight a greater priority. This has resulted in significant drug safety scandals.”

The Commission urged Congress to hold hearings on the issue.

The Obama Administration was criticized in 2012 for what many perceived to be its inadequate response to the H5NI outbreak, as the Trump Administration has been criticized lately.  It should be noted that this time, Washington moved more swiftly to close down borders to prevent travel from China and South Korea. In either case, the revelation that the U.S. is not suitably prepared for this type of emergency is important to acknowledge.

Interestingly, the private sector response has been more decisive and extensive than either Washington or the state and local governments. Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, the National Basketball Association, and Major League Soccer have taken drastic but appropriate steps to protect both players and fans. In New York, Broadway theaters have decided to close down for a month, and museums have followed suit.  Private companies, including small businesses, have taken steps to prepare for potential shutdowns in hard-hit areas, a suitably cautious move that could be eased by the White House’s proposal to make additional funds available through the Small Business Association.

Illustration: Pixabay

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What’s a Government For?

There is a growing realization that the reason for the vitriolic tone in America’s political debates is not the usual party or even ideological rivalry.  Increasingly, it is a gap between views of what a government is for, what it can realistically achieve, and to whom it owes responsibility. 

This can be seen in issues from the national to the local level.

Proponents, for example, of open borders conflict with those that stress a nation already $23 trillion in debt shouldn’t take in vast numbers of people who lack the means to fend for themselves.

A 2017 report from the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIRUS) outlines the extraordinary fiscal burden imposed on U.S. taxpayers by illegal immigrants.

“At the federal, state, and local levels, taxpayers shell out approximately $134.9 billion to cover the costs incurred by the presence of more than 12.5 million illegal aliens, and about 4.2 million citizen children of illegal aliens. That amounts to a tax burden of approximately $8,075 per illegal alien family member and a total of $115,894,597,664. The total cost of illegal immigration to U.S. taxpayers is both staggering and crippling. In 2013, FAIR estimated the total cost to be approximately $113 billion. So, in under four years, the cost has Online courses are also very convenient since classwork can be taken from anywhere, which makes them an especially good option for Ds who have already graduated from school and who are juggling learning to drive around and collect things before you advance one stage further. buy viagra italy This herbal supplement is canadian cialis online http://secretworldchronicle.com/2019/05/ep-9-34-interlude-between-the-lines/ recommended for the first time. While the enabler may think he or she is helping the person with an addiction the opposite is true. cheap viagra samples So, now buying levitra from canada that you know that it’s not just a delicious fruit, but is also having nutritive value with unique flavor, taste, and health promoting characteristics. risen nearly $3 billion. This is a disturbing and unsustainable trend.”

Comparing the open southern border with prior periods of mass immigration ignores the reality that the mandate to being able to be self-supporting has a long history.  Today’s illegal immigrants enter with the expectation of government assistance. Dan Stein, writing in The Hill explains: “The very first comprehensive federal immigration law — enacted in 1882 — included a bar against the admission of “any person unable to take care of himself or herself without becoming a public charge.” In fact, forwell over a century, admissibility determinations were primarily based on an alien’s prospective ability to earn a living in the United States. In 1952, the Immigration and Nationality Act, which governs all matters pertaining to legal immigration, reinforced this concept. In 1996, during sweeping reforms to both welfare and immigration, Congress restated the expectation that immigrants arrive in the United States financially self-sufficient.”

In their concern for illegal immigrants despite the costs and risks of increased crime and communicable disease, politicians raise a key question. As officials elected to represent the needs of their constituents, do they have the right to encumber taxpayers for purposes other than the general needs of the citizenry?

Michael Lind, writes in Politico: “For multicultural globalists, national boundaries are increasingly obsolete and perhaps even immoral. According to the emerging progressive orthodoxy, the identities that count are subnational (race, gender, orientation) and supranational (citizenship of the world). While not necessarily representative of Democratic voters, progressive pundits and journalists increasingly speak a dialect of ethical cosmopolitanism or globalism — the idea that it is unjust to discriminate in favor of one’s fellow nationals against citizens of foreign countries.”

Some of the candidates currently seeking their party’s nomination for the presidency have odd ideas about what a government is for.  Michael Bloomberg, for example, believes that government should make dietary choices for the people. He would be hard-pressed to find any justification for that role in the nation’s foundational documents.

The clash appears on a local level as well. Kalman Yeger, a New York City Councilman, recently noted: “Between June and December last year, the New York City Council held six hearings and votes to pass three new laws about birds.  Yes, that’s not a typo.  Birds. During the same time, the number of City Council hearings devoted to skyrocketing taxes?  Zero.  Rising antisemitism and hate crimes?  Zero.  Failing public schools?  Zero.  Thehomeless crisis, spiking crime, crumbling public housing, the state of public transportation? The Council’s priorities are completely out of whack.”

Illustration: Pixabay

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U.S. and Human Rights in 2019: A Summary

The U.S. State Department has issued a summary of America’s fight for human rights. We provide the text:

The Trump administration has made the protection and promotion of human rights a priority. The U.S. State Department outlined its 2019 activities in this area: 

In 2019, governments in Iran, China, Russia, and Syria, as well as the former Maduro regime in Venezuela, as well as many others, continue to suppress human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the freedoms of expression, association, peaceful assembly, and religion or belief. The United States consistently took and will continue to take action to ensure these and other human rights violations and abuses are not ignored. Our focus remains on calling out governments and other actors when they commit serious abuses and pressing to hold them accountable. We seek to lend our voice to the voiceless.

As always, we have raised human rights cases and concerns bilaterally and multilaterally, publicly and privately. We have provided advice and assistance to governments seeking to reform and strengthen their democratic institutions. We have funded programs to empower local NGOs and citizens to build foundations for transparent governance, support access to justice, accountability for atrocities, and to document human rights abuses. And where appropriate, we’ve used sanctions and multilateral mechanisms to promote accountability and protect civilians from atrocities.

Among the most significant actions we have taken over the past year, year and a half or so, is our increasing use of our visa restriction authorities. Since the beginning of FY2019 – that would be September, 2018 – the Department of State has announced over 100 designations of foreign officials and their immediate family members in countries across every region of the world for their involvement in gross human rights violations and corruption, under Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act.

Similarly, we have worked closely with the Treasury Department to designate 97 individuals and entities for their roles in corruption and serious human rights abuse under the Global Magnitsky sanctions program. We have also worked with Treasury to make six designations under the Russia Magnitsky sanctions program, including a designation of the organizer of the 2015 killing of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov and other Chechen officials who were implicated in the horrific campaign of mass detentions and torture of LGBTI persons. We took punitive action in a number of other areas of serious concern as well.

On China, the Secretary has led a global effort to call the communist party to account for its wide range of violations and abuses, including the detention of over 1 million Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs, and members of other Muslim minority communities in Xinjiang. In October, for instance, the department announced a new visa restriction policy under which we have restricted the visas of those Chinese Government and Communist Party officials who are believed to be responsible for or complicit in the detention or abuse of Muslim individuals in Xinjiang. This action was taken in conjunction with the Department of Commerce’s imposition of export controls on a number of entities complicit in those same abuses.

At the UN’s Third Committee, we worked with likeminded partners to develop a joint statement on Xinjiang, which was signed by 23 countries, including Albania, the first Organization of Islamic Cooperation member-state to participate in a joint call to action on Xinjiang’s human rights crisis.

On Iran, in his December 19 speech and elsewhere, Secretary Pompeo has made clear that the United States and the international community expect the Iranian regime to treat its people with the dignity that all human beings deserve, and to fulfill the human rights obligations and commitments both under Iranian law and in treaties to which it is a party, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. To this end, the United States imposed sanctions on a number of Iranian persons and entities responsible for human rights abuses over the past year, as well as two Iranian Revolutionary Court judges who have repeatedly punished Iranian citizens and dual nationals for exercising their freedoms of expression or peaceful assembly.

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On Venezuela, the United States continue to use diplomacy, sanctions, humanitarian assistance, and support to the legitimate National Assembly and Interim President Juan Guaido to build pressure for a peaceful, democratic transition in Venezuela.

In 2019, we also took significant action on the deplorable human rights situation in Nicaragua. We restricted visas and imposed targeted sanctions under the Nicaragua Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Act of 2018, the Global Magnitsky sanctions program, and Executive Order 13851. So far, we have imposed sanctions on Vice President Rosario Murillo and other members of the Ortega family, the head of Nicaragua National Police, the president of the Nicaragua National Assembly, and the minister of health, among others. By the end of 2019, we had taken action on a total of 15 individuals and five entities.

We have also sought to seize opportunities for improvements in human rights, rule of law, and democratic governance in a number of countries where there have been openings. We will continue to make this a priority in the coming year.

In Sudan, for instance, we supported the first steps towards the country’s historic transition to democratic civilian rule.

In Ethiopia, we continue to support Prime Minister Abiy’s ambitious reform efforts and his plans to hold free and fair elections later this year.

In Angola, we revived our human rights dialogue with the government and are working closely with it to advance fundamental freedoms and address the serious corruption that has plagued that country for so long.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we are encouraging President Tshisekedi to advance democratic reforms and plan to hold our first human rights dialogue with his government in the near future.

In Bolivia, we are working closely with the transitional government to ensure free and fair elections that are credible in the coming year.

In Armenia, following a historic change in the 2018 Velvet Revolution, the U.S. has expanded assistance to help the government combat corruption, improve governance and political processes, and lay the groundwork for a transparent, accountable, and effective justice sector.

In Malaysia, we’re continuing to support the new government’s reform efforts while bolstering the capacity of civil society.

We also took action to bolster the department’s capacity to identify and respond to significant abuses and atrocity risks. In 2019, we held the first-ever State Department field training on atrocity prevention for U.S. embassy staff abroad. Held in Johannesburg, South Africa, we trained 52 U.S. Government employees working at 28 U.S. embassies and consulates throughout Africa.

Beyond atrocity prevention, we also train embassy officials and local staff on labor rights, such as freedom of association and forced and child labor. In 2019, we coordinated interagency training sessions on labor in Washington, Bratislava, Kuala Lumpur, Muscat, Mexico City, and Addis Ababa for a total of more than 125 officials.

Illustration: Pixabay

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The Foreign and Progressive Theft of American Education

The dramatic degree to which American education has been co-opted by hostile foreign interests and domestic hard-leftists has been largely ignored by the media.

The U.S. Department of Education is investigating both Harvard and Yale Universities after it appears both Ivy League higher education institutions potentially failed to report hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign gifts and contracts. It has been discovered Yale University may have failed to report at least $375 million in foreign gifts and contracts, choosing not to report any gifts and contracts over the last four years. The DOE is also concerned Harvard University may lack appropriate institutional controls over foreign money and has failed to report fully all foreign gifts and contracts as required by law. This comes after Dr. Charles Lieber, chair of Harvard University’s Chemistry and Chemical Biology Department, was indicted for lying about his involvement with the Chinese government’s Thousand Talents Plan and admitting that Harvard lacks adequate institutional controls for effective oversight and tracking of very large donations. 

The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations described foreign spending on U.S. schools as “a black hole” because colleges and universities “routinely” fail to comply with the law, and reported foreign money can come with strings attached that might compromise academic freedom.

DOE’s records since approximately 1990 show U.S. universities and colleges have reported donations from Qatar, China, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates in excess of $6.6 billion, but this sum may be significantly underestimated. According to investigations by Congress, GAO, and the Department, colleges and universities significantly underreport their foreign gifts and contracts

The 2019 Senate Report found that From January 2012 to June 2018, 15 U.S. schools reported receiving $15,472,725 directly from Hanban, a propaganda arm of the Chinese government. To get a more comprehensive understanding of Hanban’s spending in the United States, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations requested financial records from 100 U.S. schools and found When a wearer finally does ejaculate, the sensation secretworldchronicle.com viagra super active is much more than just a means of reproduction. Cheap Kamagra medicine is available for a fraction of the price that cialis buy india is sold for. Have fun while using the jellyYou no longer need to worry that your erection will not last for a longer duration so a person should not worry about the side effects attracted by the viagra 20mg cipla http://secretworldchronicle.com/2017/12/ep-9-05-who-can-it-be-now-bent-penny-and-focus/ other medicines used for the same person and would not let you live a good and tension free life. Today, with the advancement of modern technologies and new ideologies, there are many methods available that can help you increase the length and girth of your member but also to overcome problems of a sexual cialis generic no prescription dysfunction, the healing benefits provided by tantric message ensure that everyone can make of their life. Hanban directly contributed $113,428,509 to U.S schools—more than seven times the amount U.S. schools actually reported. Nearly 70% of U.S. schools that received more than $250,000 from Hanban failed to properly report that information to the Department of Education.

The refusal to discern and report the influence of hostile influence is a clear reflection of the political bias at those institutions.

The National Association of Scholars notes that that “…the political registration of full-time, Ph.D.-holding professors in top-tier liberal arts colleges is overwhelmingly Democratic. Indeed, faculty political affiliations at 39 percent of the colleges in my sample are Republican free—having zero Republicans. The political registration in most of the remaining 61 percent, with a few important exceptions, is slightly more than zero percent but nevertheless absurdly skewed against Republican affiliation and in favor of Democratic affiliation. Thus, 78.2 percent of the academic departments in my sample have either zero Republicans, or so few as to make no difference.”

Campus Reform reported in 2018 that Georgetown University Law School encouraged students to donate “time and money” to a list of left-wing activist groups, at least until more than 13,000 people petitioned against it…”

As colleges become completely dominated by left-wing academics, traditional, core beliefs in the unifying principles of America, especially respect for the Constitution and Bill of Rights, as well as adherence to an empirical method of thinking, diminished, reducing the ability to logically review and resolve national challenge.

Far too many American universities, at ever greater cost, are striving to eliminate the very concepts that gave rise to the founding of the United States.  Rather than, as Jefferson hoped, provide a foundation for the preservation of personal freedom, colleges are now becoming a wellspring of collectivist authoritarianism.  

Photo: Harvard University (New York Analysis of Policy and Government)

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Foreign Policy Update

CHINA

While the corona virus (Covid-19) continues making headlines around the world there is yet another less talked about, but significant, threat looming on the horizon and emanating again from China.  A senior State Department official on Thursday reported on background that China’s new “military-civil fusion,” or MCF, poses serious ramifications for US national security. 

MCF embodies the Chinese concept of targeting emerging and advanced technologies to develop the most technologically advanced military in the world using dual-use technology diverted to its armed forces. Its methods include outright technology theft, according to the official. By hiding its true intentions in collaborative research and development, and diverting technology acquired through civil trade to military programs, Beijing has been able to skip the time and cost normally associated with such programs. MCF works by eliminating the barriers between China’s defense industrial complex and the civilian economy, the official told reporters. In reality, what it means is that any research or academic institution, or private company anywhere, is at risk of unwittingly contributing to the development of China’s advanced military capabilities.

Chinese law requires join ventures to share all information with the military, including AI-enabled technologies with offensive end-use. The State Department official said: “The United States and our partners around the world have made commitments to transparency and provided assurances through international agreements and norms that dual-use technologies will not be diverted to military end-use.  But with MCF, the PRC flouts these norms and is in fact explicitly working to divert dual-use technology to military end-uses, and often without the knowledge of all the parties involved.”

SYRIA

A senior State Department official in background reported that the Russians have been supporting a win-the-war offensive by the Assad regime in Idlib against the remaining opposition forces, violating the 2018 Sochi ceasefire agreement between Turkey and Russia, which was then subsequently endorsed by Merkel and Macron when they gathered in Istanbul at the end of October with Erdogan and Putin. He noted that is significant as there have been heavy casualties, including 33 Turkish soldiers killed. The Turkish government has now turned to the United Nations and NATO for assistance.

The risk, according to the official, is that 3.5 million refugees are being pushed into Turkey and further due to Russian and Syrian military actions. Complicating matters is the deliberate targeting of UN-identified safe zones in Idlib. He said: “You have 14 European Union foreign ministers that published an editorial in Le Monde on Wednesday attacking both Assad and the Russians….” Moscow also blocked two of the four humanitarian crossings into essentially non-regime areas and made it clear that they wanted this to end six months from now, the official added. 

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LIBYA

According to a State Department official, Washington is involved in efforts to bring about an immediate end to Libya’s ongoing conflict and to minimize toxic foreign interference, with the goal of fostering a stable, unified, and democratic Libyan state that can partner with the U.S. to defeat terrorism and stabilize energy production. The official noted that the US is meeting regularly with “…Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, General Khalifa Haftar, and other Libyan leaders as part of our effort to de-escalate the fighting and demonstrate that the underlying drivers of the conflict can be addressed through political negotiations.” He pointed out that the situation risks becoming a proxy war. 

The Libyan civil conflict, reignited in April 2019 when Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army launched a military offensive to seize Tripoli from the Government of National Accord. The State Department official pointed out that “Ten months of inconclusive fighting with frontlines roughly 10 miles outside central Tripoli that have remained largely unchanged since April 5th last year have amply demonstrated that there is no military solution to the conflict, short of a bloodbath or a long-term insurgency. Both the LNA and the GNA have sought military and financial support from outside backers, transforming the Tripoli conflict into a regional proxy war over political and economic clout in the broader Middle East.  

DARIA NOVAK served in the United States State Department during the Reagan Administration, and currently is on the Board of the American Analysis of News and Media Inc., which publishes usagovpolicy.com and the New York Analysis of Policy and Government.  Each Saturday, she presents key updates on U.S. foreign policy from the State Department.

Illustration: Pixabay


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China’s Rise Troubles World

For 10 days last October top US military athletes were in Wuhan, China competing in the 2019 Military World Games. How the world has changed in only a few short months. Or, has the military competition just gone unnoticed? Although the Covid-19 virus has garnered the world’s attention, and deservedly so, other important developments continue to emerge from China. One of the most significant may be recent reporting on the state of the increasing Chinese military threat. Only three decades ago Beijing commanded backward, ill-trained, and ill-equipped forces. The country lacked a blue water navy and had little chance of successfully extending its sphere of influence beyond its own shores. 

In 2020 the world is witnessing an emerging global power whose aggressive and intimidating behavior no longer belies the long-term goals of President Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). China blatantly announces and exerts its power across many parts of the globe from the depths of sub-Saharan Africa to the cold waters of the Arctic Ocean. While not yet officially a global military power the strategic threat it poses is real and not limited to its neighboring countries or even the Indo-Pacific region. Politically China is challenging the leadership of other major nations in international bodies in pursuit of its own self-interest, while repressing the freedom of its own people at home. Its goal: hegemonic military power and global political influence and prestige.

Western world leaders, since the opening of China, have softly encouraged Beijing to be a good actor and to participate in world affairs. Few nations, however, have exhibited the political willpower to stand up to the communist power’s belligerent behavior. In 2020 China analysts increasingly are questioning the long-term price to be paid for historically allowing China’s paramount leaders, including the current president Xi Jinping, to commandeer world opinion, rape large areas of Africa, exploit the developing world of its natural resources, impose the CCP’s will on the Arctic nations, and conduct influence-peddling in South America and Europe. This is all ongoing while much of the world ignores China’s human rights and other atrocities at home. 

According to a recent Heritage Foundation report on great power competition, the Chinese threat since 2015 has increased dramatically although not evenly across all areas of the world. Xi Jinping has a better military capability in 2020 to carry out aggressive action far from the country’s shores than at any time in its modern history. Dedicated cyber warfare troops regularly attack other nations’ communications and information infrastructures. According to some computer analysts, China may have surpassed the United States’ technical capability, and its overall capacity, to eliminate the Chinese cyber threat. 

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For the most part, at the moment, China is concentrating its military gains regionally by obtaining control over the air and sea spaces near the mainland. At the same time its economic policies and political ambitions are more global in nature. So, what should the West be most concerned about in the coming decades? The threats from China are varied and immense.

The US Department of Defense reports that China intends to be a world-class military power by 2049. Once devoid of a blue water navy China today is building its second aircraft carrier, sailing two new cruisers and has many more military ships under construction. The People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAN) which only three decades ago cannibalized plane parts to keep 50% of its air force in the air at any one time, now operates the fifth-generation J-20 aircraft. This plane has stealth characteristics, many of which appear to be stolen intellectual property from US manufacturers. Cyber theft also has enabled China to reduce the cost and skip the years of research and development it takes to create new military technologies. 

China has claimed international territory and its navy operates freely throughout the South and East China Seas. It is capable of threatening freedom of navigation and effectively can deny, if it chooses, to provide access of ships and planes to 70% of the world’s oceanic commercial routes, which account for $3 trillion worth of global trade. China has militarized islands throughout the region, built runways capable of landing military jets, installed advanced missile launchers, and dredged lagoons to create ports to service its military ships far from its shores.

In recent years China has weaponized space and demonstrated it directed-energy weapons and satellite jammers. Today, there is the additional danger of China’s Huawei 5G network. The CCP requires it to provide the Chinese government all information off the network, when requested to do so, by Chinese law. In essence, Beijing has created a world-class espionage tool while the West watched.   

With the world following daily updates on the Covid-19 virus there is little public discourse on China’s military advances and its near-peer status with many of the great powers. The Trump Administration is ramping up the United States’ defense and improving deterrence measures against a belligerent China. To safeguard the world the US and other western nations remain vigilant and not ignore China’s military during the current pandemic as it is not sitting idle while the virus spreads.

DARIA NOVAK served in the United States State Department during the Reagan Administration, and currently is on the Board of the American Analysis of News and Media Inc., which publishes usagovpolicy.com and the New York Analysis of Policy and Government.  Each Friday, she presents key updates on China.

Illustration: Wuhan, China (Pixabay)

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Disrespect for the U.S. Supreme Court: A Dangerous Trend?

This article was prepared exclusively to the New York Analysis of Policy and Government by the distinguished Judge John H. Wilson (ret.)

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, also known as the “Notorious RBG,’ started the war of words in July of 2016, when she made a series of comments about then-Presidential candidate Trump.  As reported by CNN, Justice Ginsberg called Donald Trump “a faker…He has no consistency about him. He says whatever comes into his head at the moment. He really has an ego. … How has he gotten away with not turning over his tax returns?”  However, after Trump called upon Justice Ginsberg to resign, she issued an apology for her statement.  “On reflection, my recent remarks in response to press inquiries were ill-advised and I regret making them…Judges should avoid commenting on a candidate for public office. In the future I will be more circumspect.” 

Fast forward to 2020.  In Wolf v. Cook County, the US Supreme Court granted a stay to the Department of Homeland Security from an order of the Seventh Circuit, which had prevented the US government from implementing a change in the “Public Charge” clause in US immigration law – that is, keeping out immigrants who may become a financial burden on the government.  In her dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor criticized her fellow justices for being “all too quick to grant the Government’s ‘reflexive’ requests’’ for stays of lower court injunctions.  In doing so, she accused the other members of the Supreme Court of benefitting “one litigant (the government) over all others.” 

Never one to miss an opportunity, or forget a slight, President Trump called upon both Justices Sotomayor and Ginsberg to recuse themselves from any cases involving both the President and his administration.     Mother Jones immediately called Trump’s statement part of “his ongoing attacks and attempts to influence the Justice Department and intelligence agencies after the Senate’s impeachment acquittal,” while the blog Above the Law hysterically stated “of course Trump would just love it if a pair of powerful, outspoken women got out of his way.” 

While the President may be faulted for his own comments regarding Justices Ginsberg and Sotomayor, for sheer, jaw-dropping nerve, nothing much can beat the recent comments made by US Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY).  At a Pro-Abortion rally in Washington DC, Senator Schumer made overtly threatening remarks addressed to two members of the US Supreme Court regarding their votes in abortion regulation cases – “I want to tell you Gorsuch, I want to tell you Kavanaugh: You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price…You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.” 

These comments earned Senator Schumer a rare rebuke from Chief Justice Roberts, who issued this statement; “Justices know that criticism comes with the territory, but threatening statements of this sort from the highest levels of government are not only inappropriate, they are dangerous. All Members of the Court will continue to do their job, without fear or favor, from whatever quarter.”

As reported by Fox News, “Schumer spokesman Justin Goodman quickly responded by accusing Roberts of bias, further escalating the confrontation. Goodman insisted that Schumer was addressing Republican lawmakers when he said a “price” would be paid — even though Schumer had explicitly named Kavanaugh and Gorsuch.” 

Many bad things can be said about Senator Schumer, but stupid is not one of them.  Realizing that no one was buying his spokesman’s claim, the Senator walked his comments back in remarks on the Senate floor.  “I should not have used the words I used yesterday. They did not come out the way I intended to…I’m from Brooklyn. We use strong language.” 

If nothing else, let us take both of these as examples of how public officials should NOT talk about judges who are in the process of hearing cases.  

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President Trump knows that he and his administration have a variety of cases which will be heard by the US Supreme Court in the coming months, including whether the Census can include questions regarding the citizenship of respondents to the census questionnaire, and “whether the government is required to provide notice and allow a commenting period before changing its payment system” to healthcare providers. 

In the President’s defense, his comments were unlikely to either sway, influence or affect either Justices Sotomayor or Ginsberg, or cause either to recuse themselves.  Both are firmly entrenched members of a minority of judges who typically do not rule in favor of the Administration and the policies President Trump supports.  Nonetheless, it is improper for the President, or anyone else, to try and influence the court and its judges in any way.

At the same time, it is downright dangerous for any elected official to use threatening and inflammatory language regarding individual Supreme Court justices, and it would not be unreasonable for Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh to feel threatened by Senator Schumer’s comments.  Thus, the Senator was right to recognize the error of his words, and to issue an apology (such as it was).

“Judicial independence functions to set out and also protect political rights, civil liberties and also the rule of law… judges must be free to interpret the laws independently, impartially and objectively without (being) subject to any undue outside pressure from the police, the government, the military, public opinion, or any other interested body or person in order for justice to be performed.” 

All sides would do well to remember these principles, and refrain from attempting to influence the Supreme Court and its justices.

Photo: Senator Schumer (official Senate photo)

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Quick Analysis

The U.S. Space Force’s Mission

President Trump initiated the new United States Space Force.  How will this sixth branch of our armed forces take shape? How will it operate? This month, Stephen L. Kitay, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy, in a Mitchell Institute address, responded to these key questions.  We provide key excerpts:

We now have a United States Space Force as a sixth branch of the armed force authorized and appropriated in law. 

This is an idea that is rooted in ensuring our nation is postured to win in an era of great power competition. It is also an idea that is rooted in ensuring the members of the other five branches of our Armed Forces – our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, Coast Guardsmen – have what they need to do their missions to protect us.   It is an idea that is rooted in assuring our economy and our way of life.  Ultimately, this is what the Space Force is about.  The Space Force will ensure our nation has the trained and ready military members and capabilities to deliver the space power necessary to meet current threats and outpace future ones.   

We are in the midst of the most significant transformation in the history of the U.S. national security space program.  Now we must deliver on the opportunities this transformation makes possible.

Our evolving Defense Space Strategy is focused on implementing the Department’s National Defense Strategy which ensures our military is postured for long-term, strategic competition.  It also builds upon the President’s 2018 National Strategy for Space, which provides a whole of government approach for US leadership in the critical domain of space.  

Today we are called upon to: maintain superiority in space, provide space support, and ensure stability throughout space.  I will talk about what we mean by each of these.

First, Maintain Superiority in Space: For decades, we have supported the warfighter from space, providing services vital to forward presence, power projection, and combat.  

We have also supported national leadership in making some of the most sensitive and consequential decisions imaginable.  Now here’s what is changing – actions in space may determine the outcome of future conflicts.  The ability of our potential adversaries to deny space capabilities may prove decisive, and we must therefore be able to provide for freedom of operations in space.  That includes being able to defend U.S., and as directed, allied, partner, and commercial assets, to secure the domain.  This is a new mission area that is getting tremendous priority in the Department. 

Next, Provide Support from Space:  As you have heard said many times, our transformation is not space for space’s sake.  Instead, our actions in space tie to life here on earth – to enable national leadership and the joint warfighter, and to ensure that the United States is able to leverage space to generate, project, and employ power on a global scale, and across the spectrum of conflict.  That mission of providing support from space is now more important than ever.

Lastly, Ensure Stability throughout Space:  The US does not seek conflict in space any more than we seek conflict on earth.  But just as on earth, that means we must be prepared for the possibility of conflict in space in order to deter it.  To ensure stability, we must maintain a persistent presence, and provide for safe transit in, to, and through space.  

The United States must also lead the way on being good stewards of this domain, as we have the most to lose from instability in the domain and from degradation of the space environment.  

Both sea and space act as indispensable sources and conduits of national power, prosperity, and prestige.  Sea power has long provided the United States with incomparable access to trade, communications, and cross-domain power projection.  

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Sea power has also been an important component of American diplomacy.  This wide array of interests at sea creates a unique mission set for the Navy: not only does the Navy achieve domain superiority and provide vital support to air and land during conflict; the Navy must also preserve stability and access to Sea Lines of Communication during peace.

More and more, space reflects this reality.  The daily rhythm of life in this country, and across the globe, already depends in many ways on space-based capabilities.  This trend will only grow from here.  Increased investment, decreasing costs, and unprecedented demand have caused tremendous growth in the commercial space industry.  Industry is projected not just to match but double, even triple, the number of active satellites in the coming decade.  That is game changing in the space environment.  With this change, the U.S. national security space program must take on its own three-part mission: while in crisis, we must prepare to gain space superiority in order to provide critical space-based capabilities to terrestrial forces; in peace, we must maintain stability, security and access to key regions of space for both our way of warfare and way of life.  So the first way to think differently is embracing both originality and joint principles. 

Our space professionals may be a relatively small group of about 15,000 people within the Department of Defense – but I can tell you that their power is mighty.  This is an elite group of the brightest minds who are technologists, warfighters, strategists, and partners who underpin our national security, our 20 trillion dollar national economy, and billions of people’s lives every single day. As we setup our new organizations we have to ensure that we are not creating unnecessary layers of bureaucracy AND we have to ensure there is clear alignment of accountability and roles and responsibilities.  As we empower, we have to provide clear guidance and enterprise alignment, and prudent oversight to enable a culture of speed and innovation.  

We have to partner.  And when I say partner, I mean with our interagency colleagues, with our international allies and partners, and with the private sector.  In my current position, I have the honor to lead our international space activities, and in just the past few weeks I’ve met with leaders from four close allies.  Along with six nations (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom), we will set our combined operational and strategic objectives for the year ahead.  At the end of the month, I will be in Tokyo for meetings with the government of Japan.  

The message from all of our allies and partners in these venues is clear and consistent – they recognize the importance of space, they are concerned by the growing threats in the domain, and they are ready to work together.  It’s fascinating, and opens up tremendous opportunities.  We recognize that in any domain we never fight alone, and space must be no different.  

So we’ve spoken about the largest transformation in national security space and elements we need to achieve in this transformation, and then some keys to success on how to think differently.

I interact daily and have already met great innovative and bold thinkers who have brought us the successes of this past year, and I hope we have many more successes to come.  At the end of the day, the changes I’ve discussed here—especially the ability to think differently—is all about the men and women who helped bring these organizations into existence, and those who will make up their ranks.  It is about people in institutions like this group today who provide a forum to cultivate new ideas and hold us accountable to sound strategic thinking.  We must capture the innovative spirit that allowed 2019 to be a historic year for U.S. space power—capture it in our doctrine, strategy, and training—in order to ensure the U.S. national security space enterprise is the forward-leaning and responsive force we need.

In fact, with the power of an idea, and the power of a team, and the power to think differently there is no stopping us. 

Illustration: U.S. Space Force Logo

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Quick Analysis

California and New York: The Mega-State Budgets

This article was provided exclusively to the New York Analysis of Policy and Government by Ted Flint,  works for the New York State Assembly Republican Conference.

New York and California, two once great states, are locked in a race to see which state government can dole out more free stuff to its citizens. But as the old saying goes, nothing in life is free.

Both states, like many, are in the middle of their budget seasons. Both states are deep blue and are controlled top-to-bottom by the Democratic Party.

 Let’s begin with California. On the plus side, the state’s economy is the fifth largest in the world and boasts a gross state product of 3 trillion dollars.  Governor Gavin Newsom has laid out his priorities in a $222 billion spending plan that he says will enable state leaders to make “responsible investments” while meeting, head-on, the challenges facing the Golden State.

 According to Newsom, California is eliminating debts, paying down pension liabilities and growing the state’s reserve funds, now up to 21 billion dollars, the largest amount ever. And the state is projecting a $7 billion budget surplus. But the Governor paints too rosy a picture. Despite the fact that one out of every seven new U.S. jobs is created in California, the Golden State continues to battle what Newsom calls, “a widespread affordability crisis.“ Then, there’s expanding homelessness, raging wildfires and structural challenges that Newsom admits, threaten the state’s future. So what is the antidote for these deficiencies, in addition to a widening disparity in incomes and a disappearing middle class? A conservative Chief Executive would get a handle on spending and cut taxes and regulations to spur the economy. That’s not the approach either state is taking. As so-called sanctuary states, each is looking to provide free education for illegal aliens while funding generous medical benefits to millions, many of whom are not legal citizens.

 Some economists say government leaders should focus on reducing poverty and not so much on narrowing the income gap. Income inequality, they say, is not such a bad thing. But every progressive Democrat, especially the current crop of presidential hopefuls, believes in taxing the rich to reduce the disparity in incomes. Despite what Bernie Sanders, Liz Warren and other so-called progressives would have us believe, the rich already pay more than their fair share – much more.

 In California, high income earners pay a disproportionate share of the personal income tax. According to Governor Newsom’s Office, in 2017, the top one percent paid over 47 percent of personal income taxes, which is the state’s largest revenue source. In fact, this fiscal year, the state expects to haul in 103 billion dollars from personal income taxes, $28 billion in sales and use taxes and $16 billion in corporate taxes. Despite being awash in tax dollars, California is finding more and more of its people taking up residence on city streets.

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 On to the Empire State, where 2020 promises to be a tough budget year for all New Yorkers, but especially for Republicans and the millions of citizens they represent. Governor Andrew Cuomo has proposed a 178.6 billion spending plan, which legislative leaders will no doubt, try to add to. What is different this year as opposed to past years is the state is facing a $6.1 billion budget gap, 4 billion of that is from the State overpaying on Medicaid, the healthcare program for the poor.

Plus, Cuomo doesn’t have the luxury of a budget surplus that his counterpart in California enjoys.

 Like most states, funding for healthcare and education make up a lion’s share of New York’s budget. The state’s Medicaid bill is 79 percent above the national average and three times higher than Florida’s despite the fact the Sunshine State has more people.

Nearly one in three New Yorkers is enrolled in the program.

Granted, New York has an aging population, but it’s estimated the Governor’s $15-an-hour minimum wage will hike Medicaid costs by another $1.5 billion this year alone. And, according to the New York Post, he’s also green-lighted increased payments to hospitals and nursing homes, two months after a hospital trade group gave the State Democratic Party $1 million.

 The Trump Administration recently announced that it would allow states to cap Medicaid spending, which would give states the option of reducing health benefits for millions who received coverage under the Affordable Care Act.  That approach, block granting, would save states money and afford them more flexibility in designing health coverage for those truly in need of it.

 It has become increasing difficult for many New Yorkers, especially those upstate, to make ends meet. Much of the reason is the high cost of Medicaid and other social programs, coupled with an economy that continues to lag behind the rest of the state and nation. According to the Empire Center, New York State is roughly in the middle when it comes to creating private-sector employment and gross domestic product. The news isn’t so good for upstate. Since the end of the recession, upstate has gained jobs at a third of the national rate and less than a quarter of the downstate rate.

 That is why it is critical that state leaders around the nation work to reduce government’s footprint and let the private sector do what it’s designed to do: create jobs and generate wealth which would afford more people a higher standard of living and a better quality of life.

Illustration: Pixabay

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Quick Analysis

Military Accidents May Indicate an Unready Force

Are the Navy and the Marines ready to fulfill their responsibilities? Some have questioned whether the disturbing number of accidents indicates that those forces are not adequately prepared for their duties.

Having a force on paper can be quite different than having one ready for action.

A Propublica study found that “inadequate training and faulty equipment helped kill 23 servicemen, House Armed Services Committee members grilled Navy and Marine leaders about the deadly accidents and whether America is ready for war… In each of the accidents, ProPublica found that the crews were dangerously undertrained, undermanned and working with faulty or degraded equipment. Warnings about unsafe conditions were ignored up the chain of command.”

In testimony before the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces, Navy Vice Adm. Richard A. Brown, commander of Naval Surface Forces, U.S. Pacific Fleet, and Lt. Gen. Steven R. Rudder, deputy commandant of the Marine Corps for aviation, discussed the disturbing number of accidents over the past several years, and what the implications of these incidents are to force readiness. What has been done to address the issue was the topic of testimony at a Congressional meeting.

At the hearing opening, Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA), ranking member of the committee, noted:

“I am particularly heartbroken over the loss of life associated with the Navy surface forces and the Marine Corps aviation forces. All were tragic, all were preventable, all have several common threads underlying the principal issues. In the end, the lack of senior leadership, inattention to the apparent problems facing the respective units and an inability of the operators to discern the dangers they were in all contributed to the same, tragic results.

“The Marine Corps is particularly troubling. The KC-130J collision with a Hornet aircraft at night over the Sea of Japan was an accident waiting to happen. Months earlier, the squadron commander wrote to his superiors and indicated ‘everyone believes us to be under-resourced, under-manned.’ III MEF Commanding General Lieutenant General Clardy responded to the accident and indicated the Marine Corps’ ‘chronic history of unconstrained tasking and under-resourcing created a culture of complacency.’ He went on further to indicate that his Marine Aircraft Wing faced ‘significant challenges in manning, maintaining, and training its squadrons.’

“The conclusion of this accident rings particularly close to the heart as They were in the midst of a three-team pennant race with cialis for sale online the Dodgers and Braves. Few signs to enlarged prostate are feeling of emptying bladder not completely, slow or weak urinary stream or the need to urinate viagra shops more often, especially at night. Such drug devices must not be consumed after the incorporation of the meals which have been loaded with a large number of useful options free viagra pills which have been helpful for curing the problems like erectile dysfunction. Kamagra Jelly is available in a semi liquid form that gives the user different options to consume it based on https://unica-web.com/archive/1999/jahresbericht_1999.html order cheap cialis preference and/or your doctor’s recommendation. they are eerily similar to the same outcomes associated with the McCain and Fitzgerald collisions. In those two efforts, the Secretary of the Navy’s Readiness Review concluded ‘leaders and organizations began to lose sight of what ‘right’ looked like, and to accept these altered conditions and reduced readiness standards as the new normal.’ In this review, the report further concluded that ‘over time, the Navy’s ‘must-do’ wartime culture was adopted for peacetime as long-term readiness and capability were sacrificed for immediate mission accomplishment.’

“What I thought was a defining, seminal moment for the Secretary of the Navy, a moment that I understood included an assessment of the Marine Corps, was instead fleeting and the lessons learned not fully adopted. We can do better. We must do better.

“For the surface forces, we need to adopt a more rigorous accessions training evolution similar to that of the Merchant Marine. We need to ensure more junior officer seamanship training. Our enlisted training needs to be systematically reviewed to eliminate outdated training. Our afloat manning needs to be significantly improved. Our basing and maintenance processes need to be aligned. We need to step out of our comfort zones and ensure the manning, training, and equipping of our forces is maximized for efficiency and effect.

“As to the Marine Corps, I think that we need to do some deep soul searching and ensure we have the right readiness at the right time. This balance is difficult to achieve but we should never sacrifice the safety of our Marines, upon whose backs our nation is carried.”

General Rudder said the Marine Corps is invested in providing transparency with regard to accidents, and that all of its findings would be provided to lawmakers, the public and families of those killed or injured in accidents. He noted that “The tempo of Marine Corps aviation operations around the globe has been high, adding that this is not an excuse for accidents. In 2019, Marine Corps aviation executed 78 operations, were part of 88 major security cooperation events with partners and allies, and conducted 170 major exercises.”

Photo: The amphibious assault ship USS America and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force amphibious transport dock ship JS Kunisaki operate in the East China Sea, Jan. 13, 2020. (DoD)