Month: June 2020

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Quick Analysis

U.S. Moves on Arctic Protection

The White House has just responded to Russia and China’s threatening Arctic moves.

Over the past several years, Russia has moved unprecedented amounts of armed forces into the Arctic region.  It has near total military supremacy on the top of the planet, and it is continuing to add to its domination. Russian sources quoted the Kremlin’s Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu boasting that Russia’s Northern Fleet has added the Ilya Muromets icebreaker, the Elbrus supply ship, the Admiral Gorshkov frigate and the Ivan Gren landing ship, and the Pashin fuel tanker, all of which add to Moscow’s growing supremacy of the Arctic.

In 2018, Moscow’s North Fleet received five combat ships, five supply ships, 15 aircraft and 62 radar stations and missile-radar complexes. RT added that “Russia has continued construction of military bases in Arctic regions and conducted exercises in extreme conditions to boost the combat readiness of military personnel.”

Moscow is not alone in its Arctic moves. Former U.S. State Department official Daria Novak recently noted that China, if unchecked, could move from a strategy of war by other means to one of limited open conflict over the abundant natural resources in the Arctic and the military and economic benefits gained by controlling the new Transpolar Passage.

In response, the White House, on June 9, issued a “Memorandum on Safeguarding U.S. National Interests in the Arctic and Antarctic Regions.”  The purpose of the move is “ To help protect our national interests in the Arctic and Antarctic regions, and to retain a strong Arctic security presence alongside our allies and partners, the United States requires a ready, capable, and available fleet of polar security icebreakers that is operationally tested and fully deployable by Fiscal Year 2029.”

Specifically, the U.S., according to the document, will develop a polar security icebreaking fleet acquisition program to defend U.S. and allied interests in both the Arctic and Antarctic regions.  The fleet may not look like the traditional strong-hulled vessels currently employed, and it will not include just ships. According to the Memorandum, it will include “unmanned aviation, surface, and undersea systems; space systems; sensors and other systems to achieve and maintain maritime domain awareness; command and control systems; secure communications and data transfer systems; and intelligence-collection systems.  This assessment shall also evaluate defensive armament adequate to defend against threats by near-peer competitors and the potential for nuclear-powered propulsion.” Russia has used armed, nuclear powered vessels to gain dominance of the region.

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America’s primary means to have a presence in the Arctic is the aging Coast Guard vessel Polar Star. In an effort to replace it, Washington will examine an array of options, including possibly buying or leasing icebreakers from allied nations with proven experience in this special brand of shipbuilding.

Arctic affairs are becoming increasingly vital. With reduced ice cover now occurring during the warmer seasons, it provides an important shipping route. In addition, its strategic location makes it a potential source of military conflict. Russia has forty icebreakers, and is arming them with advanced and powerful weaponry.  By comparison, the U.S. has only the Polar Star, and the Polar Sea, and a smaller vessel, the Healy.

Looming over all the other considerations is the Arctic’s vast mineral wealth.  As one Russian source explains,  “The Arctic contains a wealth of petroleum and mineral resources. Currently, the region produces about one tenth of the world’s oil and a quarter of its natural gas.”

Beyond energy, both mineral and seafood resources are heavily abundant, making the region a relatively untapped source of vast wealth. Considering the aggressive moves by both Moscow and Beijing, the U.S. and its allies are being forced to move quickly to prevent being shut out of gaining a fair share.

Photo: US Coast Guard

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Quick Analysis

Should Cuomo Replace Biden?

A recent Rasmussen survey found that “Most Democrats now think their party is likely to hold an open convention in which the delegates choose a candidate rather than rely on the primary results…The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 55% of Likely Democratic Voters see an open convention as likely…Interestingly, separate surveying finds that Democrats are evenly divided when asked whether Biden or New York Governor Andrew Cuomo would make a better challenger against President Trump in November. Cuomo is not a candidate for the nomination but has earned positive reviews for his response to the coronavirus while questions have arisen about Biden’s mental health.”

There is little doubt that Biden is a fundamentally flawed candidate, based on his highly questionable treatment of females, history of family corruption, diminished ability to engage in conversation and speeches, and his dramatic misreading of the COVID crisis. Remember, he called President Trump’s travel ban on China racist and xenophobic.  Former President Barack Obama’s obvious reluctance to endorse his former vice president speaks volumes.

The former Vice President’s involvement in the unmasking of General Flynn may prove to be a fatal landmine for his candidacy.

Biden’s Democratic primary opponents never captured broad public support.  The most significant challenge came from socialist Bernie Sanders, who has since given his endorsement.

Should the former VP falter, Cuomo is the most likely replacement.  His skillful speeches and commanding screen presence have greatly enhanced his position throughout the nation. But a closer look, which would surely occur in a presidential campaign, could reveal potentially fatal flaws. Indeed, Cuomo’s record is wide open to criticism. 

Most importantly, his placement of COVID-19 patients in nursing homes was a deadly mistake, resulting in a vast number of unnecessary deaths.

Cuomo gained significant acclaim for his COVID-related speeches.  But his actual record on that issue is not particularly noteworthy.

A Federalist article found that “While New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo blames the president and the federal government for the lack of beds and ventilators in his state, the power to determine the number of these critical medical supplies in New York hospitals falls squarely upon the shoulders of the governor.”

On March 1, noted ABC News, Cuomo claimed that general risk in the state “remains low.”

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The New York Governor has a spotty record on corruption. In response to extensive calls to address state government corruption, Cuomo established the Moreland Commission. But it proved to be little more than window dressing. He directed the Commission away from investigations that were politically embarrassing. His actions prompted federal prosecutors to investigate, and although they said the evidence was “insufficient” to file charges, it is evident that the Governor sidelined his own commission to protect himself.

The New Yorker emphasized that “he shut down the investigation even though the Legislature failed to make significant political reforms. Bharara and the other prosecutors obtained the commission’s files only because Bharara publicly expressed his outrage at Cuomo’s action.  Cuomo’s explanation ignored the symbolism: How could there ever be a legitimate reason, in a state long beset with corruption in its Legislature, for the governor to short-circuit his own marquee attempt to clean it up?”

Cuomo was also criticizing for “re-interpreting” regulations allowing him to take campaign donations from his own appointees, allowing him to rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars from them.  

Perhaps Cuomo’s most significant weakness is his lack of tolerance for those with differing views.  Both the GOP and the Democrats will need to attract voters beyond their solid supporters to win.

The Washington Times reported that the Governor warned those that disagree with his positions on gun control and abortion have “no place” in his state. But it’s not just those on the right who have been disaffected by Cuomo. 

The Atlantic notes that Cuomo has a history of antagonistic relations with progressives.  That will not play well in gathering the solid support he will clearly need from the Democrat left, a group already disaffected by the Party leadership’s treatment of Sanders in 2016 and 2020.

The New York Governor’s significant error in placing COVID patients in nursing homes resulting in a devastating number of deaths, a potential blow to any presidential aspirations.

The idea of a Cuomo candidacy has, perhaps, more appeal than an actual candidacy would.

Photo: Cuomo official site

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Quick Analysis

Foreign Policy Update

CHINA

“The United States is not forcing Europe to choose between the free world or China’s authoritarian vision.  China is making that choice between freedom and democracy,” accord to Secretary of State Pompeo. While speaking at a German Marhsall Fund’s Brussels Forum 2020 meeting, he said that the United States has accepted High Representative Borrell’s proposal to create a U.S.-EU Dialogue on China. This is a new mechanism for discussing the concerns the US has about the threat China poses to the West and its shared democratic ideals with Europe.

Data on China is what is important, according to Pompeo. He said there needs to be realism in Europe about the threat posed by the Communist Party in China. 

“First, data.  The truth.  We need to acknowledge what’s happening,” he added. “I talked about the People’s Liberation Army’s provocative military actions.  They include its continued aggression in the South China Sea, deadly border confrontations in India, an opaque nuclear program, and threats against peaceful neighbors. I talked about how the CCP has broken multiple international commitments, including those to the WHO, the WTO, the United Nations, and the people of Hong Kong. I talked too about the CCP’s predatory economic practices, such as trying to force nations to do business with Huawei, an arm of the Chinese Communist Party’s surveillance state. And I talked about many of its violations of European sovereignty, including its browbeating of companies like HSBC. I talked about Beijing’s legion human rights abuses, which continue to shock us all. That’s it; just the facts.

Pompeo admitted the United States was slow to recognize the China threat and the reality of the rising authoritarian regime and the implications it has for free societies. He pointed out that Europe was slow, too, but the CCP’s coverup of the coronavirus, an outbreak that began in Wuhan, China has accelerated the west’s awakening.

VENEZUELA

Over the last two weeks, Secretary Pompeo said, the illegitimate Venezuelan supreme court has decreed a new, regime-aligned electoral commission and stolen the name and branding of two major political parties, replacing their leadership with Maduro’s lackeys.

“These are unconstitutional actions. They make a mockery of democratic processes, and the Venezuelan people are fighting to protect those very freedoms that they so richly deserve.”

The best pathway out of the Venezuelan crisis, according to Pompeo, is through a broadly acceptable transitional government to administer a free and fair presidential and parliamentary elections.

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He announced the United States is “sanctioning five Iranian ship captains who delivered around a million and a half barrels of Iranian gasoline to Venezuela in support of the illegitimate Maduro regime.” These captains’ assets will be blocked, and they won’t be able to operate in US waters. Pompeo also reiterated US support for the National Assembly, Interim President Guaido, and the Venezuelan people in their quest to restore democracy.

5G Issues

“The tide is turning against Huawei as citizens around the world are waking up to the danger of the Chinese Communist Party’s surveillance state,” according to Secretary Pompeo. Huawei’s deals with telecommunications operators around the world are evaporating because countries are only allowing trusted vendors in their 5G networks. He provided examples including the Czech Republic, Poland, Sweden, Estonia, Romania, Denmark, and Latvia. 

According to Pompeo, some of the largest telecom companies around the globe are also becoming “Clean Telcos.” The momentum in favor of secure 5G is building with more countries, companies, and citizens asking whom they should trust with their most sensitive data. It appears the answer is not the Chinese Communist Party’s surveillance state.

UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL

Venezuela, and now Cuba and China sit on the United Nations Human Rights Council. “It is a grave disappointment to those genuinely seeking to advance human dignity” according to Secretary Pompeo. The United States, which is following rule of law in the case of George Floyd, has been subject to a unfair resolution by the Council, he pointed out.  

“Unfortunately, the Council has once again reaffirmed the wisdom of our decision to withdraw in 2018. If the Council were serious about protecting human rights, there are plenty of legitimate needs for its attention, such as the systemic racial disparities in places like Cuba, China, and Iran. If the Council were honest, it would recognize the strengths of American democracy and urge authoritarian regimes around the world to model American democracy and to hold their nations to the same high standards of accountability and transparency that we Americans apply to ourselves,” Pompeo said.

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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Quick Analysis

Chinese Oppression

Terrorism is the pretext China uses to legitimize abusing its ethnic and religious minorities. Draconian detention centers, torture, and death at the hands of Chinese authorities, are just a few of the findings in the State Department’s recently released, Congressionally mandated, 2019 Annual Country Report on Terrorism. It points out that the Chinese government recently developed a new set of legal guidelines and domestic law enforcement tools to expand its repressive campaign against groups such as the Uyghur minority in western China. 

Although PRC officials failed to respond in detail to US requests for additional information about terrorism-related incidents inside the country, the State Department says it was able to ascertain the Chinese government has expanded its capabilities in four specific areas related to its campaign to eliminate what it calls “extremism” in China. These include: 1) expanding its capabilities to repress the Uyghurs with pervasive, arbitrary, high-tech surveillance; 2) collecting personal data including DNA samples; 3) compulsory stays by PRC officials in Uyghur homes; and 4) expanded controls on the expression of cultural or religious observations.  

The document outlines Beijing’s poor handling of internal dissent using law enforcement and border security. The leadership has imprisoned over 1 million Muslims of the Uyghur minority in Xinjiang, claiming they are “extremists.” The CCP lack the evidence to back up its claims. Beijing’s State Council Information Office published a white paper in March called “The Fight Against Terrorism and Extremism and Human Rights Protection in Xinjiang.” The State Department report says China falsely claimed the detention centers were “vocational training and education centers” designed to aid detainees in learning skills such as Mandarin, and absorbing ideas to counter “extremist thinking.”  More accurately and bluntly stated, China is indoctrinating opposition to the CCP leadership using extreme measures that include forced sterilization and sexual abuse, prolonged detention under horrific conditions and without trial, and physical abuse. The CCP leadership also ordered the removal of Islamic icons and Arabic language signs from across the region. 

During the past year China continued to use terrorism as the pretext to target its 13 million Turkic Muslims, including Uyghur and other religious minorities in the country, along with human rights activists, according to the report. In Beijing’s effort to continue leveraging its domestic technology sector to bolster surveillance, the report says the police “deepened use of closed-circuit television camera networks paired with facial recognition, iris scanning, and other technologies to track, discover, or predict threats to public safety.” It also notes that this technology is employed to monitor and control domestic dissidents and ethnical and religious minorities. 

In April 2017 authorities launched a mass re-education campaign, under the guise of countering extremism among the Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other Muslim groups. Two years later, in December 2019, Shohrat Zakir, chairman of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region and CCP deputy party chief in Xinjiang announced that the “training” participants had “graduated” but that the centers would remain open so that local residents could receive “deradicalization training.” At the United Nations China promotes its repressive approach to counterterrorism and attempts to self-promote as a global leader in the field. 

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Hong Kong is another emerging area of dissent. Although there were no recorded terrorist incidents there in 2019 Beijing maintained a Police Counterterrorism Response Unit as a strong deterrent presence with tactical and professional support from existing police specialist units. Beijing falsely claims that protesters in Hong Kong shows “signs of terrorism,” although it is viewed to be at medium-low risk of terrorism and terrorist financing.  

According to Human Rights Watch, it is not about terrorism. “Authorities also tried to silence Chinese human rights defenders abroad by harassing and detaining their families in China. In January 2018, Guangzhou authorities forcibly disappeared Li Huaiping, wife of Chen Xiaoping, a US-based journalist for the Chinese-language Mirror Media Group. The disappearance came shortly after Chen interviewed Guo Wengui, a Chinese billionaire fugitive who exposed corruption among China’s ruling elite… [and the CCP persecuted] them “like in the Cultural Revolution.”

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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Nuclear Deterrence In a Growing Threat Era

The U.S. Department of Defense has released an important new analysis of the nuclear threats facing America.  The New York Analysis of Policy and Government presents the full document.

NUCLEAR DETERRENCE: America’s Foundation and Backstop for National Defense

THREAT

The United States and our allies face an increasingly threatening and complex strategic environment. Russia and China are increasing the role of nuclear weapons in their strategies and have been increasing the size and sophistication of their nuclear forces. Rogue regimes like North Korea and Iran are destabilizing regions through their pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.

RUSSIA

The United States and our allies face an increasingly threatening and complex strategic environment. Russia and China are increasing the role of nuclear weapons in their strategies and have been increasing the size and sophistication of their nuclear forces. Rogue regimes like North Korea and Iran are destabilizing regions through their pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.

Russia is modernizing an active stockpile of up to 2,000 non-strategic nuclear weapons employable by ships, planes, and ground forces.

CHINA

Over the next ten years, China is expected to at least double the size of its nuclear stockpile while implementing the most rapid expansion and diversification of its nuclear arsenal in its history. China is developing, testing, and fielding new generations of land-based ballistic missiles, increasing the range of its submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and pursuing a new bomber. Further, it is expending significant resources on advanced nuclear-capable systems and hypersonic vehicles.

NORTH KOREA

North Korea continues its illicit pursuit of nuclear weapons and missile capabilities in direct violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions. It has conducted increasingly sophisticated nuclear and ICBM flight tests, which pose a threat to the U.S. homeland and our allies.

IRAN

Iran has developed and fielded a substantial arsenal of ballistic missiles that can strike targets throughout the region. These ballistic missiles are a key component of Iran’s efforts to dominate its region of the world and intimidate U.S. allies and partners. Additionally, Iran’s current attempts to launch a space vehicle could provide valuable information that would aid its effort to develop an ICBM capability.

POLICY

While the United States has taken concrete steps to reduce the role and number of nuclear weapons in our national security strategy, others have increased the number of nuclear weapons they field and have increased the role of nuclear weapons in their security strategies. Until nuclear weapons can prudently be eliminated from the world, the United States must maintain a credible nuclear force by modernizing where necessary to ensure the security of the United States, our allies, and our partners. The 2018 Nuclear Posture Review reaffirms that the United States will pursue a safe, secure, survivable, and effective nuclear deterrent while simultaneously pursuing nuclear nonproliferation and arms control efforts. The highest U.S. nuclear policy and strategy priority is to deter potential adversaries from nuclear attack of any scale. The United States would only consider employing nuclear weapons in the most extreme circumstances to defend our vital interests and those of our allies and partners.

STRATEGY

The three legs of the U.S. nuclear Triad are complementary, with each component offering unique strengths. Together, the Triad ensures the United States can effectively withstand and respond to any attack.

With 400 ICBMs, no adversary can disarm the U.S. nuclear deterrent without attacking hundreds of targets simultaneously.

A portion of the SSBN fleet and its 240 SLBMs is always on patrol, making them very difficult to find and track.

The 60 nuclear-capable bombers are a clear and visible signal of U.S. intent and resolve during a crisis, and provide the President a variety of options.

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 U.S. nuclear weapons deter nuclear and strategic non-nuclear aggression, including chemical, biological, and large-scale conventional attacks. Our nuclear posture demonstrates to any adversary that nuclear strikes will result in far greater costs than any benefits the adversary could achieve. U.S. nuclear weapons provide assurance to allies and partners that the United States is committed to their security. Extended deterrence allows allies and partners to abstain from pursuing their own nuclear weapons, thereby contributing to our nonproliferation goals. Should deterrence fail, nuclear operations would adhere to the law of armed conflict as the United States will strive to end any conflict and restore deterrence at the lowest level of damage possible. The United States will continue efforts to create a more cooperative and benign security environment, but must also hedge against prospective and unanticipated risks.

POSTURE

Most U.S. nuclear weapons delivery systems have been extended far beyond their original service lives and cannot be sustained beyond the 2025 to 2035 timeframe. Although still reliable and credible, our current delivery systems, weapons, command and control systems, and infrastructure are rapidly aging into obsolescence.

The FY 2021 Budget Request funds all critical DoD nuclear modernization, sustainment, and operational requirements, helping to ensure modern replacements will be available before the nation’s Cold War legacy systems reach the end of their extended service lives.

Delays in funding for replacement systems will adversely impact military operations and undermine the deterrence mission.

PROGRAMS

COLUMBIA-Class Ballistic Missile Submarines will replace the nearly 40-year-old OHIO-Class submarines.

Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent program will replace the nearly 60-year-old Minuteman III ICBM.

 B-21 Bomber will supplement the B-52 bomber and will have both conventional and nuclear roles.

Long-Range Standoff Missile will replace the nearly 40-year-old Air-Launched Cruise Missile with a missile capable of penetrating defended airspace.

Trident II (D5) Life Extension 2 Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missile Life Extension program extends the D5’s service life for deployment on both OHIO- and COLUMBIAClass submarines.

 Sea-Launched Cruise Missile will reintroduce a flexible, sea-based, non-strategic nuclear capability to improve U.S. capabilities for deterring limited nuclear use and assuring our allies that we will meet our extended deterrence commitments.

F-35 Dual-Capable Aircraft will replace F-15E DCA to support our allies through extended deterrence.

COST

The nation’s nuclear modernization program is affordable. The United States seeks only what it needs to maintain a credible nuclear deterrent.

DoD’s FY 2021 request for nuclear forces is roughly 4.1% of the total DoD budget, and the request to modernize these nuclear forces is about 1.7% of the total DoD budget request.

 The 2018 Nuclear Posture Review projects that the total cost to modernize, sustain, and operate U.S. nuclear forces over the next 20 years will account for about 6.4% of the Defense budget at its highest level of funding in 2029, returning to about 3% for sustainment and operations upon completion of modernization.

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) FY 2021 budget request for Weapons Activities is approximately $15.6B for nuclear modernization, sustainment, and operations. NNSA is responsible for the nation’s nuclear warheads and supporting infrastructure.

Illustration: Pixabay

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Defunding the Police, Left Wing Insanity

The conclusion of Judge John Wilson’s (ret.) analysis of the bizarre concept of ending police protection of the American people.

Views on what defunding the police actually means range across the spectrum.  According to CNN, “some supporters of divestment want to reallocate some, but not all, funds away from police departments to social services. Some want to strip all police funding and dissolve departments.”  One of the co-founders of Black Lives Matter, Patrisse Cullors, said that defunding the police “means that we are reducing the ability for law enforcement to have resources that harm our communities…It’s about reinvesting those dollars into black communities, communities that have been deeply divested from.” 

There is no basis in reality for the claim that black communities have been “deeply divested from.”  In fact, a review of the 2019 Minneapolis City budget reveals that of the $349.9 million in taxes collected in 2019, $20 million was budgeted for the “Minneapolis Homes program which provides affordable financial assistance to create homeownership opportunities; and a new Healthy Homes, Healthy Schools program which aims to provide housing stability for City of Minneapolis families with students enrolled in Minneapolis public schools”; provides for “major investments in Community Police Relations across multiple departments”; and includes this statement –  “As we continue a near decade-long economic expansion, we know that the effects of the expansion are not being felt equally amongst all communities within our city. This budget invests in continuing to grow our economy through inclusion – rather than accepting disparate outcomes as given.” 

Other cities have joined the “Defund the Police” bandwagon.  In New York, Mayor Bill DeBlasio has vowed to cut the budget of the NYPD, and give the money to “Youth and Social Services,”  while Los Angeles Mayor Gil Garcetti wants to cut up to $150 million from his budget as part of a broader effort to reinvest more dollars into the black community. 

Meanwhile, on the federal level, “House and Senate Democrats…are expected to unveil the new ‘Justice in Policing Act of 2020,’ which includes major overhauls for how police officers around the country will do their jobs.  (The bill) includes prohibiting the use of chokeholds, lowering legal standards to pursue criminal and civil penalties for police misconduct, and banning certain no-knock warrants.” 

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All this talk of “reinvesting in black communities,” and “rebuilding a new model of public safety” begs several crucial questions.  While funding is diverted to Youth and Social programs, who will address reports of burglaries, robberies, rapes and murders?  Who will place suspects of violent crimes under arrest, and who will investigate these crimes?  Who will Jeremiah Ellison and Patrisse Cullors call if their wallet is stolen, or their car broken into?

For a glimpse of what supporters of defunding the police have in mind, we can turn to the Occupy Wall Street protest of 2011.  When women reported rape or sexual molestation, “Brendan Burke, 41, who help(ed) run the security team in Zuccotti Park…admitted there have been times when members of the community have taken it upon themselves to chase off men who exposed themselves in the park.  “If there is a consensus that someone is bothering another person, the community will take care of it,” he said.” 

How will the community take care of this issue?  In 2011 the protest organizers released this statement; “As individuals and as a community, we have the responsibility and the opportunity to create an alternative to this culture of violence…We are working for…a world in which survivors are respected and supported unconditionally… We are redoubling our efforts to raise awareness about sexual violence. This includes taking preventative measures such as encouraging healthy relationship dynamics and consent practices that can help to limit harm.” 

It remains to be seen how “encouraging healthy relationship dynamics” will lead to the arrest, prosecution and incarceration of a sex offender, or how additional funding for Youth and Social Programs will lead to the arrest of the man who pushes your Grandmother to the ground, breaking her hip, and stealing her purse.

Illustration: Pixabay

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Defunding the Police, Left-Wing Insanity

This article was contributed by the distinguished jurist, Judge John Wilson (ret.)

For a brief moment, the country stood united.  No one of good will watched the video of Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on the neck of George Floyd and believed that the officer’s actions were appropriate.  No one has seriously argued that Officer Chauvin should not be charged with one degree or another of murder.  No one can seriously argue that the authorities in Minneapolis did not handle this matter quickly and effectively.

And yet, despite this unity, there are those who found their opportunity to divide us once again, and put forth the most ludicrous and unreasonable methods of dealing with the alleged epidemic of police brutality.

In fact, there is no increase in police violence.  According to John Hirschauer in National Review,  “last year, according to the Washington Post’s database of police-involved shootings, nine unarmed black people were shot and killed by the police, compared to 19 unarmed white people. Assuming that the use of lethal force was unjustified in each of those nine cases — not always a safe assumption — the resulting deaths are no less tragic for being so statistically improbable.” 

This is not to say that those who believe there is a disparity between the treatment of whites and blacks by police officers are utterly wrong.  According to the National Violent Death Reporting System,  “victims were majority white (52%) but disproportionately black (32%) with a fatality rate 2.8 times higher among blacks than whites. Most victims were reported to be armed (83%); however, black victims were more likely to be unarmed (14.8%) than white (9.4%) or Hispanic (5.8%) victims.”  

On this statistical basis alone, people who wish to highlight this difference between the treatment of blacks and whites by law enforcement and seek redress are not unreasonable.  However, reasonable discourse and practical solutions regarding this issue have been hijacked by extremism and its enablers among legislators.

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In response to the death of George Floyd, 9 of the 13 members of the Minneapolis City Council have decided to “defund” their police force.   “‘We committed to dismantling policing as we know it in the city of Minneapolis and to rebuild with our community a new model of public safety that actually keeps our community safe,’ Council President Lisa Bender told CNN.”   One of the leaders of the “defund the police” movement in the Minneapolis City Council is Jeremiah Ellison – the son of Minneapolis Attorney General Keith Ellison, who happens to be prosecuting Officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd.  

Both father and son have expressed extreme radical views in the past.  Keith Ellison was associated with the Nation of Islam in his youth, and was a strong defender of its leader, Louis Farrakhan.  According to CNN,  “in one scathing column from 1990 unearthed by CNN’s KFile, Ellison accused the president (of the University of Minnesota) of chilling the free expression of black students by openly criticizing a controversial speaker invited to speak on campus by the Africana Student Cultural Center. That speaker, Kwame Ture (also known as Stokely Carmichael), had publicly claimed that Zionists had collaborated with the Nazis in World War II and has been quoted as saying ‘Zionism must be destroyed.'” 

His son Jeremiah, has publicly expressed his support for ANTIFA, stating  “Unless someone can prove to me ANTIFA is behind the burning of black and immigrant owned businesses in my ward, I’ll keep focusing on stopping the white power terrorist THE ARE ACTUALLY ATTACKING US!”  His father, while deputy chief of the DNC, also expressed his own support for ANTIFA by endorsing a handbook for the group. 

The Report concludes tomorrow

Illustration: Pixabay

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Quick Analysis

Insurrection

Over the past several years, extraordinary proposals have been made to, as Barack Obama promised, “Fundamentally change” America.  The former president was never specific about what he wanted to change America into, and a supportive media never pressed him on the issue.

A clear and disturbing picture has emerged, one which eliminates traditional Constitutional forms of justice, basic American governmental rights, and essential national security.

Democrats have seriously discussed eliminating the Electoral College, a move which would mean that Progressive-run New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and a few other major cities would essentially decide each and every presidential election. Some have even discussed eliminating the entire U.S. Senate, a move which would ensure that a few large Leftist states would forever dominate the entire nation.

The concept of the rule of law is on the “Fundamentally change” chopping block. Progressive judges across the nation have replaced the concepts of adherence to precedent and statutes with their own personal beliefs. One of the most basic purposes of law, protecting citizens from criminal activity, has been challenged by Leftist moves to empty out jails under any convenient excuse. 

 The Washington Times reports that “Protesters arrested for looting or rioting in several American cities appear to have been let off the hook as prosecutors drop charges or new laws put them back out on the streets quickly. In St. Louis, the District of Columbia, Philadelphia and New York, serious charges against hundreds of people arrested for stealing and torching property have been dismissed. Those dismissals have come from the federal level in the nation’s capital, from district attorneys elected with millions in campaign cash from left-wing activist George Soros, and in New York from a bail reform measure that went into effect this year.”

The latest move to defund the police is a key objective to replace the rule of law with Leftist-oriented politicized mob rule. The New York Post notes that “Hillary Clinton’s ex-press secretary Brian Fallon tweeted, ‘Defund the police.’ The progressive outfit the Working Families Party did the same. A Brooklyn College sociology professor, Alex Vitale, called for abolishing the police. [Left wing] celebrities rich enough to afford private security — Natalie Portman, Brie Larson, the Weeknd, John Legend, Jane Fonda, Lizzo, etc. — all signed an open letter drenched with lies calling for public funds to be turned away from policing and toward more nebulous goals such as ‘public health.’”

What would take their place? Law Enforcement Today reports that “One of the self-proclaimed leaders of the Black Lives Movement in New York says they plan on launching an armed branch of “peace officers.” In some places, a so-called “all volunteer-led civilian patrol organization,” Muslim Community Patrol & Services, drive around in police look-alike vehicles

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Police forces themselves have been intimidated by leftist public officials into kneeling before protesters—a scene that should viscerally disturb everyone—and agreeing to budget cuts. Ludicrous restrictions have been placed upon them by Progressive mayors, such as the Portland, Oregon mayor who told his cops that couldn’t use loudspeakers to breakup riots.

None of these moves have anything to do with George Floyd.  That terrible crime is only the excuse to push these long-brewing radical ideas.

Basic protections under the Bill of Rights are under constant attack.  Senator Schumer has proposed weakening the First Amendment, and universities largely ignore freedom of speech.  Major social media sites overtly censor those on the center and right.  Numerous cities act as though the Second Amendment doesn’t exist.

In an attempt to weaken the percentage of Americans who remain devoted to the Constitution, leftists continue to push for open borders.

All of these acts are dangerous in the extreme, especially when taken together.  However, a great nation cannot be annihilated without first killing its soul.  That attempted murder is where Progressives have made the most headway.  The educational establishment has adopted biased and inaccurate textbooks and curriculum designed to denigrate the American experience.  Several generations have now been taught to hate their own nation.  The entertainment industry, now heavily influenced by Chinese money, casts a malicious and false portrayal of American society. Social media giants and the mainstream media are dominated by those who hate the nation.

All of these actions have one central goal: the replacement of American rights and Constitutional order with the type of “Progressive” rule seen in places such as Venezuela, Cuba, and China. It can happen here, and the battle is being fought now.  

Illustration: Pixabay

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Quick Analysis

Foreign Policy Update

CHINA

Yang Jiechi, a member of China’s Politburo, met with Secretary of State Michael Pompeo this week for six hours. In a read out for the press Pompeo said that the US is engaging China over its aggressiveness in a way that hasn’t occurred for the past 20 years. He said that the Trump Administration will not respond to Chinese coercion by retreating or having a nonreciprocal relationship. Assistant Secretary of State David Stilwell said that the Chinese were not forthcoming in the meeting despite US attempts to hold productive talks.

Pompeo said “It’s no longer enough to listen to what the Chinese Communist Party is saying.  We can see their actions.  I ticked through a few of them: Hong Kong, Tibet, Xinjiang, what they’re doing in India, what they’ve done in the economic zones along the Philippines and Malaysia and Indonesia and Vietnam, the coercion on Australia – when they had the audacity to demand that there would be an investigation of how this virus got from Wuhan to Milan, how this virus got from Wuhan to Tehran, how this virus got from Wuhan to Oklahoma City, and to Belgium and to Spain, and decimating the global economy.” 

China did, he said, what authoritarian regimes do: “they disappeared doctors, they squirreled information away, and they denied the world the access it needed to respond to this virus in a way that could have reduced a lot of risk and a lot of costs.” Pompeo added that the US plans to closely watch the upcoming elections in Hong Kong. Pompeo said there is concern that the elections might be cancelled or postponed if Beijing thinks it won’t get its way. According to Stilwell, the Chinese have said one thing and done another which is the root of the lack of trust between the two countries. The trade deal, he pointed out, will be a good acid test of their commitment and trustworthiness.

GERMANY

In 2017, according to Pompeo, the Administration decided to evaluate the country’s entire structure of how the US engages the world, including how US troops are deployed globally. 

He said troop deployment to places like Germany has two dimensions. “One, their location, and second, a dimension of should these be permanent bases or are we better off in a more modern world to have rotational deployments where we can get the right equipment at the right time.” Deployments now revolve around “big air forces, big cyber capabilities, big capabilities that are in different pockets,” he pointed out.  The US in 2020 is concentrating on how it can collectively best respond not only in Europe, but also in the Middle East to meet today’s challenges. 

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IRAN

The IAEA Board of Governors passed a resolution this week addressing Iran’s failure for the past year to answer the Agency’s questions about multiple locations in Iran related to its past nuclear program and now it is denying access to IAEA inspectors to potentially sensitive nuclear sites. The State Department’s Special Representative to Iran, Brian Hook, pointed out that Iran is taking destabilizing and irresponsible actions on the nuclear front. He added:  “The news today out of Vienna at the IAEA is significant and it raises serious concerns about Iran’s nuclear program and its lack of transparency.” Hook praised the IAEA, and thanked Washington’s European partners, for holding Iran accountable and hopes the country has nothing to hide, although appears unlikely.   

SYRIA

The Treasury Department and State Department are releasing 39 designations under the Caesar Act and Executive Order 13894 as the beginning of what will be a sustained campaign of economic and political pressure to deny the Assad regime revenue and support it uses to wage war and commit mass atrocities against the Syrian people, according to a statement released by Secretary of State Pompeo this week. It designates the architect of the Syrian people’s suffering as Bashar Al-Assad and his wife Asma al-Assad. 

“For more than nine years, the Assad regime has waged a bloody war against the Syrian people and committed innumerable atrocities, some of which rise to the level of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including killings, torture, enforced disappearances, and the use of chemical weapons,” Pompeo noted. By most estimates, since the conflict began, more than half a million Syrians have died and eleven million people have been displaced.   

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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Quick Analysis

Elite Capture

Elite capture probably is not a political term on the tip of the tongue of most Americans. Yet this CCP tactic is both pervasive and effectively used inside the United States. It is a standard tool in the CCP’s arsenal of influence operations techniques. Some of the most senior leaders in Washington from previous administrations have succumbed to China’s alluring siren offering lucrative benefits. The CCP leadership over the last three decades has developed a multi-prong approach to influence peddling in America that includes highly placed, former US officials, federal officeholders, state legislators, and Ivy League academicians. Add to this cadre the decades-long threat from Chinese media entities intervening in US domestic politics and one can conclude that a fundamental reevaluation of the US response to China’s aggressive moves is needed to protect the country and the foundation of the international system.

China’s strategic planning takes into account the historical lack of American political willpower to oppose Beijing since normalization. It exploits the rules-based order of the international system to push a communist ideology and the authoritarian giant’s global ambitions. Perhaps, worse, it willingly undermines the sovereignty of nation states around the globe to achieve its predatory goals. Its free rein, however, may be coming to an abrupt end. 

The new 2020 White House approach to China has two objectives, according to a recently released “United States Strategic Approach to the People’s Republic of China” White House report. It recognizes that the country must “improve the resiliency of our institutions, alliances, and partnerships to prevail against the challenges the PRC presents,” and second, it must “compel Beijing to cease or reduce actions harmful to the United States’ vital national interests and those of our allies and partners.” The  Administration may be the first in several decades to campaign successfully against Chinese influence. The report indicates the current Administration understands cooperative engagement with multiple stakeholders, including Congress and the private sector, is needed to counter Beijing.

Congress is key to providing the legal avenues and resources needed to achieve Washington’s strategic objectives toward China. However, when former high-ranked legislators, including Senator Max Baucus who also served as US Ambassador to China (2014-2017), join an influential consulting group containing communist Chinese client firms, it is time to question the extent of Beijing’s elite capture inside Washington. And, when a former White House staffer, Andy Purdy, gets hired as the chief security officer for Huawei, it is without question time to STOP Beijing’s elite capture successes inside this country. 

The triumvirate of Chinese challenges to American values, the economy, and US national security require Washington to rethink its approach to handling the US-China great power rivalry since 2000.  During the past three years the US Department of Justice and the FBI have joined forces to begin to identify and prosecute those who violate US law. Unlike previous administrations of late, Washington is directing resources to “prosecute trade secrets theft, hacking, and economic espionage,” according to the White House report. It also is increasing efforts to protect against malign foreign investment in infrastructure, the supply chain, and foreign agents seeking to influence American policy.

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Although the IC (intelligence community) decades ago established an active measures working group to guard against foreign propaganda, disinformation campaigns and influence peddling, it lacked the support of the Oval Office to end Chinese false narratives. Times are changing. Washington in 2020 is “woke” as millennials might say. 

The current Administration, under the direction of the State Department, now requires Chinese diplomats to notify the US Government if they intend to meet with state or local government officials or academic institutions. The FBI is proactively meeting with university administrations to warn of the Chinese threat, although the agents often are rebuffed by the Ivy League schools who call the threat nonexistent.  NIH and the Department of Energy recently revised regulations pertaining to foreign access and compliance. Finally, it appears a US President is working on behalf of the American people to demand that Beijing comply with international norms of behavior. In the end can it succeed against those well-connected Americans who willingly sell their soul to Beijing? And, will the Trump Administration’s whole-of-government approach produce tangible results and constructive outcomes that protect America and the international order? It remains to be seen.

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.