‘America First’ is America at its best

‘America First’ is America at its best

It's disingenuous to link the movement with pre-World War II isolationists

By Keith Kellogg and Fred Fleitz 

OPINION:

As former Trump Administration national security officials who deeply believe in an America First approach to U.S. national security policy, we strongly object to the May 14 Washington Post editorial, “‘America First’ is America at its worst,” which smeared the “America First” movement by associating it with isolationists of the 1930s and ’40s who tried to keep the United States out of World War II and claims those who support America First oppose providing Ukraine with more military aid.

These claims are false and misleading. We asked The Washington Post to run this rebuttal of their editorial, but they refused to publish this full response. Typical for the Post, it refuses to give the conservatives it attacks a fair opportunity to respond.

While there may be others in Washington who casually call themselves “America First,” we at the America First Policy Institute served alongside former President Donald Trump in senior positions at the White House and in departments and agencies throughout the Executive Branch. We are among the leaders of the America First Movement. We have been abundantly clear in condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin’s destructive invasion of Ukraine and the vile atrocities his military is committing there. We have repeatedly stated the urgency that the United States provide Ukraine with all the weaponry it needs to defend itself against Russia’s unjustifiable invasion. 

It was disingenuous for the Post to associate the America First movement with isolationism or pre-World War II isolationists who opposed the United States entering World War II. Today’s America First calls for an independent and secure America with a strong military and alliances. We want to ensure America’s supply chains and economy are stable and robust, and its people are safe. Through internal strength, our nation is best poised to lead and engage in the world and accomplish more for the American people and the peace, prosperity and freedom of others. America First is not isolationism. Rather, it is purposeful transactional engagement with other nations to serve American interests first.

As a result, although we support providing additional military support to Ukraine, including the recent approval by the House of $40 billion for this purpose, we share the concerns of some members of Congress that these funds be well spent, and alliance members contribute equitably. Frankly, we have strong concerns that, once again, America is doing more than its European allies. Sen. Rand Paul has a proposal to name an inspector general to oversee this funding. The special inspector general for Afghanistan was created for this purpose during the U.S. presence in Afghanistan. Given the current problems plaguing the U.S. economy and the fact that Ukraine is now the number one recipient of U.S. military aid, we believe it is essential to ensure accountability for the large sums America is committing to help Ukraine defend itself against the Russian invasion.

America First foreign policy and strong U.S. leadership make the world safer and represent America at its best. Contrary to many liberals, conservative hawks and deep state leakers, the leadership of Mr. Trump did not make the world less safe; it did exactly what it was designed to do — make America strong again and the world a safer place with a purposeful, transactional foreign policy that put the interests of our nation and the American people first.

As history shows us, the only time this century Russia didn’t invade a neighbor was during the four years when Mr. Trump served as commander in chief. America First does not mean America alone. As the only true guardians of America First foreign policy, we unquestionably oppose the Russian invasion of Ukraine; we want the United States to send the Ukrainian military the weapons it needs and ensure accountability for the military aid we are providing to Ukraine.

• Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Keith Kellogg was an assistant to the president and national security adviser to former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence. He is currently co-chair of the Center for American Security at the America First Policy Institute. Fred Fleitz was chief of staff of the National Security Council in the Trump administration and a former CIA analyst. He is vice chair of the Center for American Security at the America First Policy Institute.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/may/19/america-first-is-america-at-its-best/

Gosh, There Sure Is a Lot of Hunter Biden News These Days

Gosh, There Sure Is a Lot of Hunter Biden News These Days

BY STEPHEN KRUISER 

 

AP Photo/Charles Dharapak

Top O’ the Briefing

Happy Monday, dear Kruiser Morning Briefing friends. Egg salad is off the menu until Ralph gets his act together.

These last couple of years have certainly had that bad dream quality, haven’t they? The first couple of months of 2020 were spectacular and there was a lot I was looking forward to throughout the year. Heck, I was even looking forward to the presidential election.

That kinda went sour.

Mainstream and social media malpractice since March of 2020 has been one of the greatest threats this once-great Republic has faced. We are now saddled with a president who rarely knows where he is and may actually gaffe us into World War III, all because coastal liberals had their delicate feelings hurt by Donald Trump.

Trump, for those not paying attention, did not get us into WWIII.

Despite what Democrats and their flying monkeys in the media keep saying, there were myriad “irregularities” throughout the 2020 presidential election. One of the biggest shady dealings was the social and mainstream media-wide collusion to suppress the story of Hunter “Sleaze Prince” Biden’s laptop. Several polls since the election have revealed that some truthful reporting on the story would have gotten people to change their votes.

Now that they’ve got Ol’ Drools safely installed in the Oval Office, the MSM hacks feel comfortable admitting that the laptop exists and that it might be problematic.

We had a couple of stories over the weekend about the laptop that raised a few eyebrows. The first is from Kevin:

Vyacheslav Volodin, Russia’s State Duma speaker, claims the emails are solid proof that Hunter and Gropey Joe Biden are involved in Ukraine’s bioweapons research.

According to the New York Post, “US intelligence officials had earlier dismissed Russia’s messaging as war propaganda, explaining that Ukraine’s network of biological labs dedicated to pathogen research were not secret, and had publicly received funding from Washington.”

Although the statement was posted on Tass, Russia’s state-run propaganda outlet, the New York Post, said Volodin’s claim is “accurate” based on emails from Hunter’s laptop reviewed by both The Post and the UK Daily Mail.

Volodin further declared, “US President Joe Biden himself is involved in the creation of bio laboratories in Ukraine. An investment fund run by his sun [sic] Hunter Biden funded research and the implementation of the United States’ military biological program. It is obvious that Joe Biden, as his father and the head of state, was aware of that activity.”

That seems like something worth reporting, doesn’t it?

Robert wrote the other story:

Old Joe Biden’s chip off the old block, Hunter Biden, has been many things: board member of the Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma; vice chairman of the National Railroad Passenger Corporation; sought-after artist; and international bon vivant, but he has never been known to have served in the Department of Defense. So why does his infamous laptop contain, on top of everything else that is incriminating on it, Defense Department encryption keys that are not available to private citizens?

Sam Faddis, a retired CIA Operations Officer who served in the Near East and South Asia, disclosed on Sunday that “the ongoing analysis of the hard drive of Hunter Biden’s laptop” revealed the Defense Department encryption keys, and this was not an insignificant find: “These keys allow access to DOD email accounts and databases.” As is characteristic of Hunter Biden from what we know of him already, he didn’t just dabble; he went all in. “The exact number of these keys is still unknown. There may be dozens.”

Enterprising dude, that Hunter. When he isn’t busy with hookers and questionable investment practices, his cocaine-covered fingers are possibly glomming onto things that could jeopardize national security.

And his daddy is our commander-in-chief!

If history is ever written honestly again, the shameful behavior of the MSM since 2016 will be roundly condemned. Sadly, academics are leftist lunatics as well, so we probably shouldn’t hold our collective breath waiting for that truthful recap.

The members of the MSM haven’t been honest about almost anything since Trump was elected in 2016. Their abuse of their First Amendment protections has been borderline criminal. Everyone involved in the Hunter Biden laptop cover-up in 2020 isn’t set up well in the karma department.

Anytime one of Trump’s adult kids (who all actually work for a living) so much has hiccupped the MSM  reported on it for days. Hunter Biden gets a free pass because they’re all breaking their backs carrying water for his old man.

I think I’m going to go live at a brewery until 2024.

Everything Isn’t Awful

https://pjmedia.com/columns/stephen-kruiser/2022/03/28/the-morning-briefing-gosh-there-sure-is-a-lot-of-hunter-biden-news-these-days-n1584762

CHAOS IN THE WHITE HOUSE [UPDATED]

CHAOS IN THE WHITE HOUSE [UPDATED]

BY JOHN HINDERAKER IN BIDEN FOREIGN POLICY, JOE BIDEN

I wrote yesterday about Joe Biden’s Warsaw speech in which, at the end, he called for regime change in Russia: “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.” Predictably, that seemingly unscripted outburst has provoked a crisis in international relations. The Washington Post headlines: “How Biden sparked a global uproar with nine ad-libbed words about Putin.”

Because the WaPo story is behind a paywall, and because Ann Althouse’s comments on the incident and WaPo’s coverage are interesting, I am going to quote from Ann’s site, identifying the Post’s reporting (WP) and Althouse’s comments (AA) for clarity. The Post writes:

WP: It was a remarkable statement that would reverse stated U.S. policy, directly countering claims from senior administration officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who have insisted regime change is not on the table. It went further than even U.S. presidents during the Cold War, and immediately reverberated around the world as world leaders, diplomats, and foreign policy experts sought to determine what Biden said, what it meant — and, if he didn’t mean it, why he said it.

The Post assumes that Biden is a sentient being whose intentions are worth discussing. Many would think, on the contrary, that this kind of imprudent outburst is merely a symptom of his dementia.

Ann makes a comment that occurred to me as well:

AA: Watching the video, I can’t understand the basis for labeling the statement “ad-libbed.” Biden seems to be reading a speech, a bit robotically and on the edge of stumbling, and he slows down a bit and gets quite emphatic. He seems to build up toward that conclusion and fully intend it as a conclusion. I don’t see how it’s “an unwanted distraction to… otherwise forceful remarks.” It’s delivered in a manner that is more forceful than the surrounding remarks.

That is true. Is it possible that someone wrote a speech for Biden that included a significant change in American foreign policy, and he read it off the teleprompter? One of Ann’s commenters writes, “Release the teleprompter script!”

The WaPo story describes how both White House aides back in Washington and the reporters themselves scrambled to pick up after the president:

AA: Some White House official — who? — reacted almost immediately and tried to make it go away with an incredibly lame argument that Biden just meant that “Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region.”

So, the evidence that it was “ad-libbed” is merely that unnamed associates of the President are saying that after the fact. The WaPo writers assist the White House:

WP: Biden’s line was not planned and came as a surprise to U.S. officials, according to a person familiar with the speech who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive situation.

Sensitive indeed! Back to the Post, then Ann’s comments:

WP: In the immediate aftermath of the remark, reporters rushed to find Biden aides and seek clarity on the president seemingly supporting a regime change in Russia. But Biden aides demurred, refusing to comment as they scrambled to craft a response.

AA: Reporters rushed and aides scrambled. This sounds like a description of the in-person scene. One of the article-writers, Pager, was there in Warsaw. I presume he witnessed chaos. This next part sounds like it’s the scene back in Washington. The other article writer, Viser, reported from Washington.

WP: White House officials were adamant the remark was not a sign of a policy change, but they did concede it was just the latest example of Biden’s penchant for stumbling off message. And like many of his unintended comments, they came at the end of his speech as he ad-libbed and veered from the carefully crafted text on the teleprompter.

AA: Do you believe that? I don’t. There is mind-blowing incompetence whether it’s true or false. How can you have a United States President, giving the most high-profile speech on the most dire matter, and accept that he stumbles off message. It’s his penchant. They had a “carefully crafted text,” but he veered.

More at the link. Likely we will have more to say about this matter in the days to come, but for now I will just observe that we are paying the price of having a president and a White House that are utterly incompetent.

UPDATE: Upon arriving back in Washington, a chastened Biden answers “No” when asked whether he was “calling for regime change.”

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2022/03/chaos-in-the-white-house.php

The Horror Of Biden’s Weakness

The Horror Of Biden’s Weakness

Kevin McCullough

Tyranny roams free.

People with a thirst for power and control are going to any lengths to possess them. Useful idiots enable them to keep going and they hope to gaslight (or kill) anyone who questions it.

If you believe I’m speaking of Vladimir Putin, you wouldn’t be wrong. But the same applies to Joe Biden.

The *President took to the State of The Union speech and more or less declared the opposite on nearly every position and issue of the day than what his administration and party has held since he became *president.

Feigning a pretend toughness (which is whole cloth different than strength) Biden spoke so fast he rammed his words together, raised his voice and leveled shouted talking points about his admiration for the Ukrainian people.

Laughing at Biden a world away Putin began using indiscriminate vacuum and cluster bombs. And while Biden had his morning jello and coffee the next day, more children and civilians died in Ukraine than were lost in the entire fighting in 2014.

Biden said and did nothing.

You see to Biden it’s about feelings and appearances. But to Putin it’s about crushing his opponents without mercy. Bend to his will or die for not doing so.

To Biden, as long as he can appear to care, allow everyone else at the table to come up with the plan, and give some sort of statement that’s been empathy-tested for dramatic effect then he’s “doing his job.”

The brave President of Ukraine, his military, and his people are willing to die to protect their freedom. But they are outmatched, outnumbered and even though they’ve repelled Putin in some areas and resisted much longer than any believed they could, they are still up against impossible odds. 

Putin knows this and he knows the world won’t stop him. And while he lies to the Russian people—telling them Russia has not taken casualties while simultaneously burning Russian bodies in battlefield incinerators—he has an entirely conscripted fighting force that is more or less unlimited. So it doesn’t matter how many die, because he’ll plug the holes with more.

The oft-addled Biden can barely take questions from “reporters” from the same mainstream press that has given him a free pass since he announced his candidacy.

The ruthless Putin has a complete blackout on coverage in Russia, according to one source this weekend, has already sent more than 6,000 protestors including journalists to the gulags.

Biden is so weak—on all aspects of foreign policy—that his administration continually capitulates (loses) to a hobbled Iran at the negotiation table, where Putin’s team is now taking the lead in the on going talks.

Biden wants desperately to be liked, and he has the worst approval ratings in the modern era. Putin doesn’t care what anyone says about him he wants his Soviet Union back.

Lawless tyranny roams free.

We are obviously in a different place than the world was in the 1940’s. They had no internet then. No 24 hour News cycle. And no nuclear weapons. I’ve sat reflecting over this now more-than-ten-day-war, and wondered as Hitler annexed the Sudetenland and then invaded and bombed Poland, what the world was thinking. Nobody stopped him when tyranny roamed free.

And please don’t read this as a case for American troops to be embedded in a European land war.

But under a different President—who did not particularly care about making people feel things and give himself slaps on the back—Putin dared not to try this offensive.

That same President put air defense systems in NATO countries that could be next targets for Putin.  That move angered Putin. 

Nothing the USA is doing now causes him to even think about us.

Because of that reality, women are being raped, children are being vacuum-bombed, and evil is on the March.

Tyranny roams free.

World leadership is scared of a maniacal monster.

Scared because America’s leaders cower in the back of the room. This emboldens Putin’s drive like a jolt of cocaine to the bloodstream.

God help the Ukrainian people.

And Godspeed to everyone who will be counted to stop evil’s march

https://townhall.com/columnists/kevinmccullough/2022/03/06/the-horror-of-bidens-weakness-n2604186

Is This the Dumbest Claim Jen Psaki Has Ever Made?

Is This the Dumbest Claim Jen Psaki Has Ever Made?

BY MATT MARGOLIS 

 

AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

Sometimes, I wonder about Jen Psaki. How did she get picked to be White House Press Secretary? How has she kept her job? Sometimes I can’t tell if she is deliberately lying to the American people or if she living in an alternate universe and actually believes the horse manure she’s shoveling.

Related: This Explains a Lot About Jen Psaki

Case in point: In response to a question about John Bolton’s bizarre speculation that Trump might have pulled the United States out of NATO in a second term, Psaki claimed that the American people are “grateful” for Biden’s different approach to foreign relations.

“Well, I think that’s […] you know, another reason why the American people are grateful — the majority of the American people — that President Biden has not taken a page out of his predecessor’s playbook as it relates to global engagement and global leadership,” she said. “Because, certainly, we could be in a different place.”

We most certainly would be in a different place, if Biden had showed the strength and resolve that Trump did.

Of course, the premise of the question to which Psaki gave her inane answer was absurd. It’s hard to understand precisely where Bolton got the idea that Trump would have pulled us out of NATO, as the former president made robust efforts to get other NATO nations to pay their dues and make the alliance stronger. “There would be no NATO if I didn’t act strongly and swiftly,” Trump said last month. “Also, it was me that got Ukraine the very effective anti-tank busters (Javelins) when the previous Administration was sending blankets.”

But moving on from that, Psaki was utterly wrong about what Americans think. A recent poll found that 62% of voters believe Putin would not have invaded Ukraine if Trump were still in office.

Psaki made her stunning comment the same day that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg admitted that the administration would consider buying oil from terrorists instead of increasing domestic production, and on the heels of Psaki inadvertently admitting that Putin tends to invade other countries when Democrats are in the White House.

“You know, I was at the State Department, the president was the vice-president, the last time Russia invaded Ukraine,” she said last week. “This is a pattern of horror from … President Putin and from the cronies around him.”

Does Psaki really believe that Americans are grateful for Biden’s approach to “global engagement and global leadership” when that approach allowed for Putin to invade Ukraine, gas prices to skyrocket, and our tax dollars to fund terror-sponsoring nations?

President Trump’s leadership strengthened NATO and kept Russia at bay. The only Americans who could possibly be grateful for Biden’s approach would have to be Putin apologists.

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/matt-margolis/2022/03/07/is-this-the-dumbest-claim-jen-psaki-has-ever-made-n1564345?utm_source=pjmedia&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl_pm&bcid=15803c7fc8c68b6fd1f0a5e7f4b59fc49df45d48335d4339ad60f7b0a0c7404d&recip=28668535

CONSERVATIVES, UKRAINE AND RUSSIA

CONSERVATIVES, UKRAINE AND RUSSIA

BY JOHN HINDERAKER IN CONSERVATISM, LINDSEY GRAHAM, RUSSIA, UKRAINE

Conservatives are currently under attack on two contradictory grounds: 1) they are pro-Vladimir Putin, and 2) they are warmongers trying to embroil the U.S. in a war against Putin. Of course, it is possible that there are some conservatives in each of these alleged camps. Still, it is odd to be attacked from two utterly antithetical directions at once.

I know hundreds of conservatives, and not one of them, to the best of my knowledge, thinks highly of Vladimir Putin. Likewise, not a single conservative has expressed the view to me that we should send U.S. troops to Ukraine to fight against Russia. Indeed, one striking aspect of the current crisis is how united Americans are in their views of it. Pretty much everyone is pro-Ukraine, but very few want to send American troops to fight for Ukraine. (But hold that last thought.)

Those who accuse conservatives of being pro-Putin mostly refer to statements by fringe characters or hot takes on Twitter. Has any elected Republican official expressed support for Putin and his regime? Not that I know of. The closest any significant mainstream conservative has come to expressing a pro-Putin or pro-Russia view is Tucker Carlson, who questioned why Americans should presumptively be on Ukraine’s side in a conflict in which we have no interest, and at one point said he was “rooting for Russia,” a view he recanted after the Russian invasion.

As for alleged conservative warmongering, John Nolte, generally a sensible guy, writes:

I’m convinced the unholy alliance between Neocons, the corporate media, and the Democrat party is the Seventh Seal.
***
Gas prices, inflation, Biden’s oatmeal brain, Critical Race Theory, teaching gay porn in schools, the invasion over our southern border, and all the rest are vitally important, but not as important as staying out of another stupid goddamned war we cannot win.

Who are the Neocons? Like everyone else, Nolte cites Congressman Adam Kinzinger, who advocated granting the Ukraine government’s request to establish a no-fly zone over the country, lest “we…have to intervene in a bigger way.” A handful of others have said we should consider establishing a no-fly zone, although I don’t know of anyone who has seriously recommended that course after reflecting that it would involve shooting down Russian aircraft. Kinzinger, in any event, is a marginal figure: a never-Trump backbencher who is not running for re-election.

Nolte also cites Lindsey Graham’s suggestion that some patriotic Russian ought to assassinate Putin. Just about everyone has piled on Graham for that rather impolitic remark, although 1) it has nothing to do with sending American troops to Ukraine, and 2) many, including me, hope that the economic damage being wreaked on Russia will lead its oligarchs and others to dispose of Putin–not, presumably, by exiling him to Elba.

So the attacks on conservatives from both directions seem to me to be twin teapot tempests.

That said, Byron York notes that there is a surprising (to me) degree of support in the general public for going to Ukraine’s aid militarily:

A recent Economist/YouGov poll asked whether it would be a good idea or a bad idea to send American soldiers to Ukraine to fight Russian soldiers. Just 19% of those surveyed thought it was a good idea. Fifty-four percent thought it was a bad idea, and 28% of them were not sure.

A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll found a large majority, 71%, supported the U.S. sending weapons to Ukraine. But when asked whether “the United States should send troops to Ukraine to help defend Ukraine from a Russian invasion,” another majority, 63%, opposed the idea, versus 37% who supported it.

Politico says that “[t]he pressure on Biden to intervene is increasing,” but I think there is no chance that Biden, or any Democratic administration, would send troops to war against Russia absent a direct attack by that country on us, or, at a bare minimum, on a NATO ally. If that happens, the day could come when there is a serious split among conservatives about how we should respond. But so far, claims that substantial numbers of conservatives are pro-Putin on the one hand, or are itching to go to war against him on the other, are wrong.

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2022/03/conservatives-ukraine-and-russia.php

Biden White House on the Verge of Making Disastrous Move with Kamala Harris

Matt Vespa

|

 @mvespa1 

What are they doing? The Biden White House is going to ask Kamala Harris to back into the game again? Bench this woman, please. For the sake of our intelligence and human civilization, just put her back into the cardboard box from whence she came. She has failed on the border. She failed in boosting COVID vaccination rates. Harris is a walking failure, who bleeds staff and fosters a toxic work environment. She doesn’t do the work and she doesn’t read the briefings her staff prepare for her, so she doesn’t look like an idiot. She botched the talking points about the sanctions slapped against Russia in the aftermath of their invasion of Ukraine. And now, the White House wants to send her to Poland? Does she even know where that is on the map (via The Hill):

The White House is actively discussing sending Vice President Harris to Warsaw, Poland, and Bucharest, Romania, in the coming days to show solidarity with Ukraine as it faces an escalating Russian invasion, sources familiar with the conversations tell The Hill. 

The discussions involve sending Harris to visit troops stationed in Romania and potentially to the border with Ukraine, where a refugee crisis has seen more than 1 million people flee that country since the Russian attack.

The trip could happen in the coming weeks, one source said, adding that there is no active dialogue about sending President Biden to the region.

“A presidential visit is a heavier logistical lift,” the source said. “The vice president has a smaller footprint and is historically more nimble.”

The vice president's office declined to comment on Harris's travel plans. But a White House official said Harris has been “deeply involved in the administration's engagement with allies and partners.”

I bring up the map question because Harris sounded like she didn’t even know where the hell Ukraine was prior to the State of the Union address this week. Here was her analysis of the war:

So, Ukraine is a country in Europe. It exists next to another country called Russia. Russia is a bigger country. Russia is a powerful country. Russia decided to invade a smaller country called Ukraine. So basically, that’s wrong.”

And we’re going to send this walking dumpster fire to Warsaw? Are we nuts? She’s as radioactive as Chernobyl, but maybe 76th time’s the charm. 

Also, let’s just be frank here. Biden can’t go on this trip because he can’t do it. He’s too old, slow, and stupid. He might fall down the stairs for all to see. He could have a diarrhea of the mouth incident in front of the foreign press there, which could lead to missiles being launched. He already struggles with the softball questions from the White House press corps here. 

Recommended

Lindsey Graham Has a Bold Suggestion on What to Do About Putin

Rebecca Downs

These people are going to get us all killed. 

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2022/03/03/biden-white-house-on-the-verge-of-making-disastrous-move-with-kamala-harris-n2604112

CROWDED ROAD TO KYIV

CROWDED ROAD TO KYIV

BY SCOTT JOHNSON IN BIDEN FOREIGN POLICY, TRUMP FOREIGN POLICY, UKRAINE

Victor Davis Hanson’s American Greatness column today is “The crowded road to Kyiv.” It is long, historically informed, and necessary reading in its entirety. As always, he draws back to provide perspective. He writes with some indignation in the penultimate section of the column designated “Leftwing mania” as follows:

On cue, an embarrassed Left now offers some surreal takes on why Putin went into Crimea and eastern Ukraine in 2014 and again into all of Ukraine in 2022—while mysteriously bookending the four invasion-free Trump years. We are told that hiatus was because Putin got all he wanted from Trump and rewarded him by not invading any of his neighbors.

Really?

Were Vladimir Putin and his advisors more or less delighted that their poodle Trump thankfully flooded the world with price-crashing oil? They were thankful Trump at least had killed Russian mercenaries in Syria?

Putin himself was content that the United States got out of his own advantageous missile deal? Was he thrilled that Trump sold once taboo U.S. offensive weapons to Ukraine? Did the Kremlin grow ecstatic when Trump upped the U.S. defense budget? And was Russia especially thankful that Trump jawboned NATO into spending another $100 billion on defense? Did Putin clap when Trump killed Soleimani and Baghdadi, and bombed ISIS out of existence?

We are left being lectured to now by the ubiquitous retired Lt. Col Alexander Vindman, the political operative remonstrating America on its anemic response to saving his native Ukraine. All this from one of the key operatives of impeaching the one president who, unlike his progressive presidential predecessor, along with the Biden Burisma consortia, really did arm Ukraine and send it offensive weapons embargoed by the Left.

The useful Vindman may have been offered to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. But he never grasped that any country naïve enough to believe the Left’s empty promises about autonomy and freedom reified by mere liberal fiat will be sorely left all alone by its utopian patrons—once a nearby powerful thug invades.

VDH is on a roll. He concludes the column with the section “Biden.” Despite his indignation and seriousness, he had me laughing. Read the whole thing here.

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2022/02/crowded-road-to-kyiv.php

BIDEN’S DISMAL STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS PROSPECTS

BIDEN’S DISMAL STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS PROSPECTS

BY STEVEN HAYWARD IN BIDEN ADMINISTRATION, JOE BIDEN

Most State of the Union speeches are forgettable events, where presidents simply lay out their laundry list of desired policies within a highly unedifying cliche-to-substance ratio. But once in a while a State of the Union speech actually matters, and such is the case with President Biden’s address tomorrow night.

First, most SotU speeches run an hour or more. Can Biden actually make it that long?

But much more important is the substance of the speech. Most SotU addresses start taking shape in the fall, around Thanksgiving. I have previously speculated that the late date of Biden’s first SotU (they are usually in late January or early February, when the president submits his proposed budget to Congress) was set in hopes COVID would have receded sufficiently for Biden to declare an end to the crisis, and I think chances are this will happen. I wouldn’t have said this two weeks ago, but Biden desperately needs some good news to pass along amidst the Ukraine crisis and our inflation-wracked economy.

The White House is likely frantically re-writing the speech in light of the Ukraine crisis, and pondering how to exploit it for some marginal and symbolic steps to relieve the pain at the gas pump. Biden may endorse the proposal to suspend the federal tax on gasoline (18.3 cents a gallon) for the rest of the year, along with releasing more oil from our strategic petroleum reserve. Neither will have much impact on prices at the pump, unless states decide to suspend their gasoline levies, too. (The combined federal and state gas tax in California comes to 53 cents a gallon, which would be a noticeable difference if California followed the feds. Gov. Newsom is reportedly considering the idea.)

Of course what Biden ought to do is reverse his decision canceling the Keystone pipeline, as well as his opposition to a proposed Israeli natural gas pipeline to Europe. (Exactly how Biden has been able to block this pipeline is mysterious to me, but that’s what’s been reported.) And he ought to approve more oil and gas production in the U.S. But the climatistas won’t allow any of this, so don’t expect that from his SotU. And although Biden is unlikely to mention it in his speech, his craven crusade to revive the terrible Iran nuclear deal is based on the view that increased Iranian oil exports, partially restrained by current sanctions at the moment, will help lower oil prices on the world market.

Contrast this with the Germans, who have done one of the most rapid about-faces in modern times:

Nuclear, coal, LNG: ‘no taboos’ in Germany’s energy about-face

BERLIN, Feb 27 (Reuters) – Germany signalled a U-turn in key energy policies on Sunday, floating the possibility of extending the life-spans of coal and even nuclear plants to cut dependency on Russian gas, part of a broad political rethink following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Europe’s top economy has been under pressure from other Western nations to become less dependent on Russian gas, but its plans to phase out coal-fired power plants by 2030 and to shut its nuclear power plants by end-2022 have left it with few options.

In a landmark speech on Sunday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz spelled out a more radical path to ensure Germany will be able to meet rising energy supply and diversify away from Russian gas, which accounts for half of Germany’s energy needs.

“The events of the past few days have shown us that responsible, forward-looking energy policy is decisive not only for our economy and the environment. It is also decisive for our security,” Scholz told lawmakers in a special Bundestag session called to address the Ukraine crisis. “We must change course to overcome our dependence on imports from individual energy suppliers,” he said.

This will include building two liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, one in Brunsbuettel and one in Wilhelmshaven, and raising its natural gas reserves. . .

Germany is also weighing whether to extend the life-span of its remaining nuclear power plants as a way to secure the country’s energy supply, the country’s economy minister Robert Habeck, a member of the Greens, said.

This is what a serious country does. When you’ve got the Green Party on board. . .

Chaser:

In Foreign Policy U-turn, Germany Ups Military Spending, Arms Ukraine

It took an invasion of a sovereign country nearby, threats of nuclear attack, images of civilians facing off against Russian tanks and a spate of shaming from allies for Germany to shake its decades-long faith in a military-averse foreign policy that was born of the crimes of the Third Reich.

But once Chancellor Olaf Scholz decided to act, the country’s about-face was swift.

“Feb. 24, 2022, marks a historic turning point in the history of our continent,” Mr. Scholz said in an address to a special session of Parliament on Sunday, citing the date when President Vladimir V. Putin ordered Russian forces to launch an unprovoked attack on Ukraine.

He announced that Germany would increase its military spending to more than 2 percent of the country’s economic output, beginning immediately with a one-off 100 billion euros, or $113 billion, to invest in the country’s woefully underequipped armed forces.

 https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2022/02/bidens-dismal-state-of-the-union-address-prospects.php