Category Archives: Foreign Policy

Here’s a link to a CNBC report on the Nord Stream pipelines: Russian pipeline leaks spark climate fears as huge volumes of methane spew into the atmosphere

Here’s a link to a Wall Street Journal article about NATO formally blaming sabotage for the leaks: NATO Formally Blames Sabotage for Nord Stream Pipeline Damage

Here’s a Reuters piece: Putin accuses West of blowing up pipelines as Europe steps up vigilance

Here’s a Washington Examiner piece: Russian ships observed near area of explosions that caused Nord Stream pipeline leaks: Report

Tucker Carlson, the most watched primetime FOX pundit was quick to blame the US for the Nord Stream pipeline leak. He has been against the US and Europeans aiding Ukraine all along. Among right-wing media, this buzz gained traction with the line “Why would the Russians blow up their own pipeline when they could just shut off the gas? This seems like a stupid argument to me. Somehow, these right-wing hot takes that “only this argument makes sense” with no real information seems to be the default right-wing media ecosystem these days.

John Brennan, the former Obama CIA director, rushed to blame Putin.

Here’s the thing, I have no way of knowing for sure, but I will say the argument Tucker Carlson made, rushing to point the finger at the US seems reckless and designed to foment more divides in America and was intended to turn Americans on the right against the US government and against aiding Ukraine. To state that the US or Europeans sabotaging that pipeline is the only possible explanation, with no real evidence, is as reckless as Brennan rushing to blame Putin.

Russia is currently not shipping more gas via that pipeline, but Russia knew there was still gas in that pipeline that will now not be delivered to Europe with winter approaching, is my understanding at this point. I could be wrong. And at the same time Russia was trying to annex parts of Ukraine this week. Russia is not above trying to fuel divides in America over support for Ukraine and certainly not above staging elaborate false flag operations. Russia also is not against sending stronger messages to US and European leaders, that Russia will not hesitate to escalate the economic war.

The gas that was still in the pipeline should be gone by Sunday according to the Reuters article: “Gas will continue to pour out of Nord Stream 1 until Sunday, the Danish energy agency said on Friday, though the leak on Nord Stream 2 is expected to cease on Saturday.” Russia had already shut off the gas – that’s the key part and a short-lived leak, that sent a strong message to the Europeans that Russia won’t be sending more gas, while at the same time blaming the US and the West for the leaks doesn’t seem beyond Putin to me.

I distrust the Biden administration and I certainly distrust John Brennan, but at the same time, Putin has shown himself to be ruthless and there’s a long, long history of Russian false flag operations against the West.

At this point, I’m just waiting to see what happens next.

This post is going to be more about the Pelosi trip to Taiwan. China ratcheted up the saber-rattling and today China cut off talks with the US on climate and military matters: China halts climate and military dialogue with the U.S. over Pelosi’s Taiwan visit. China wants to make the Biden administration look weak and impotent (and is succeeding).

John Kerry, former Obama Secretary of State and current Biden administration climate special envoy, was on Twitter appealing to China a few hours ago.

China knows full well what a cowardly, groveling bunch this Biden White House is, because they and all of America’s adversaries watched eight years of this during the Obama administration. John Kerry, as Secretary of State, was willing to grovel to Iran in 2016, when Iran captured US sailors. At that time, the Obama administration wanted to make the Iran nuclear deal work – no matter what. Kerry worked out the release of the captured US sailors and hailed it as a new era of diplomacy. And immediately following that Iran released demoralizing videos of US sailors and propaganda to make our American sailors look weak and like crybabies. It was totally disgraceful:

Rather than speak out and support Pelosi’s trip and stand up to China, the Biden administration continued to waffle today and China is playing this for all it’s worth. Kerry will likely sell American dignity and our country down the river again, to try to salvage the climate deal with China – no matter what. And just like with Iran, who never abided by any of the agreements on nuclear issues, China has no intention of abiding by the West’s green energy deals.

Russia, China and our adversaries will continue to bolster their fossil fuel capacities while the US and West rush down this green-energy transformation yellow brick road. Here are some links on China’s energy plans:

China sees biggest growth in energy and coal use since 2011

China continues to snap up Russian coal at steep discounts

This map shows the massive gas pipeline that Russia and China are building

China pays lip service to green energy goals, but China is the world’s biggest polluter Here’s a stat from an article, Most polluted countries in the world: 2022 ranking:

1. China with 9.9 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions, largely due to the export of consumer goods and its heavy reliance on coal;
2. The United States with 4.4 billion tonnes of CO2 emitted;
3. India with 2.3 billion tonnes of CO2 emitted.

 I expect John Kerry to sell America down the river again and grovel to China. Pathetic!

8/6/2022 – Afterthought: China is unhappy with increased aid being considered in Congress: Senators slated to take up bill to expand security support to Taiwan amid high-stakes Pelosi visit. My guess is I think China also hopes that their escalated big drama they’re enacting will pressure either the Biden WH to apologize to China for Pelosi visiting Taiwan or that Pelosi will apologize for visiting Taiwan. Either of these actions would signal an American abandonment of Taiwan and send a powerful signal to every other country in that region that America does not have their back.

This blog post is about politics, foreign affairs, and some of my thoughts on the global progressive movement.

BREAKING: Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has agreed to resign after parliamentary leaders demanded both he and the embattled president step down on the day protesters stormed the president’s residence and office. https://t.co/kJRvIX53L8

— The Associated Press (@AP) July 9, 2022

Today there are reports that Sri Lankan protestors have stormed the presidential palace, so I think this March 5, 2022 article, In Sri Lanka, Organic Farming Went Catastrophically Wrong, from Foreign Policy is very informative on how the global green agenda led to this chaos, just like it led to the chaos unfolding in Europe with the Dutch farmers protesting their government trying to impose new green laws that fall in line with the global green initiatives.

From the Foreign Policy piece on Sri Lanka, the first two paragraphs lay out what happened:

“Faced with a deepening economic and humanitarian crisis, Sri Lanka called off an ill-conceived national experiment in organic agriculture this winter. Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa promised in his 2019 election campaign to transition the country’s farmers to organic agriculture over a period of 10 years. Last April, Rajapaksa’s government made good on that promise, imposing a nationwide ban on the importation and use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides and ordering the country’s 2 million farmers to go organic.”

“The result was brutal and swift. Against claims that organic methods can produce comparable yields to conventional farming, domestic rice production fell 20 percent in just the first six months. Sri Lanka, long self-sufficient in rice production, has been forced to import $450 million worth of rice even as domestic prices for this staple of the national diet surged by around 50 percent. The ban also devastated the nation’s tea crop, its primary export and source of foreign exchange.”

I want to post this, because I did not know about this green push in Sri Lanka and I was completely wrong about saying what happened in Sri Lanka isn’t an indicator of what might happen here, while the Dutch farmer protests are a good indicator. It looks like the menace of the global green movement is at the heart of the problems in Sri Lanka, the Netherlands and the tentacles of the global green movement, with the Biden administration working to supercharge their green policy push in America has already caused gas prices in America to sky-rocket and helped fueled inflation in the retail sector.

The global green movement is a huge part of the global elite progressive movement, but there are other tentacles from the pandemic “trust the science” rules, to the alphabet gender activism, the effort to control information on social media, and in America, there’s a massive progressive push to federalize policing, which President Obama made a top-tier policy goal.

What happened in 2020 with the “Defund the Police” effort was a part of that progressive effort to federalize policing. Every time the left in America demands federal control over issues that constitutionally are state powers, it’s a safe bet it’s another power grab, to hamstring federalism, which is a safeguard against a Big Brother, total federal control over Americans’ lives. That “Defund the Police” effort used a massive spin effort to incite public outrage with the George Floyd case as a cover to destroy local control of policing in America and push for federalizing control of policing.

Along with those big fronts of the progressive movement there’s also a massive, ongoing effort to demonize all traditional civic and religious values.

It’s total insanity fueled by epic hubris. These global elitists who fly into Davos, fund and run these big, progressive foundations and think tanks, I think, believe they’re the smartest, most enlightened people in the world. Almost every “trust the science” Covid mitigation effort now has failed to work as promised by the “experts”- especially the remote learning, when schools closed their doors.

For many years, I’ve believed that protecting and bolstering federalism in America will be our best storm surge barrier against these massive waves of global progressive policies crashing against our constitutional republic framework. And that’s why working to build even small pockets of community, especially local community, matter so much. As these insane global progressive policies create more and more chaos, the wealthy globalist elites sound confident that their big ideas will prevail. There’s often a dismissive tone about ensuing chaos their policies cause, like the collapse of some governments, wars, anarchy, and famine. It often sounds to me like many of these progressives believe these problems will be transitory and just growing pains that are worth the cost.

They believe their massive, complex global systems, will prevail and then people all over the world will submit to their new ideas and new ways of living in this new imposed “equitable and sustainable” paradise. At the heart of this is a belief in global governance managed by a bunch of elites.

The inherit vulnerability with large and overtaxed, complex logistical systems applies to progressive globalist movements just as it does to militaries. In military systems, if you overtax your supply system, small guerilla groups will be able to function, while the military reliant on a failing complex supply chain will lose its effectiveness.

In a totally lawful and peaceful effort, I believe working to build local communities and then networking with like-minded people around the country can allow ordinary Americans to share, barter and sell food and other items that become hard to find as the big supply system we’re used to hiccups and sputters. Building local community also provides a social support network, along with people to turn to in emergencies. A national hotline number to call is useless if you’re facing a personal or local emergency situation. You want people who are nearby, know the area, and can pool local resources quickly.

Simple systems always have a resiliency that complex systems lack, is my belief.

Yes, I’ve been reading more Klaus Schwab crapola… oh my word, it’s a dreary slog.

President Biden had been releasing oil from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve and guess what:

Reuters is reporting: Oil from U.S. reserves head overseas as gasoline prices stay high

Here’s the first paragraph:

“HOUSTON, July 5 (Reuters) – More than 5 million barrels of oil that were part of a historic U.S. emergency oil reserves release aimed at lowering domestic fuel prices were exported to Europe and Asia last month, according to data and sources, even as U.S. gasoline and diesel prices touched record highs.”

Just let that sink in. Oil from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve is being shipped overseas, while American are struggling with soaring prices at the pump.