[Peace-discuss] FW: Biden: A War Cabinet?

[Robert Naiman]

Insider Jewish press has claimed that AIPAC tool Chris Coons "has the
inside track" to be Secretary of State.

Hence, this petition in support of Chris Murphy.

@JoeBiden: If you win, tap @ChrisMurphyCT at State to End Yemen War,
Restore Iran Deal
https://sign.moveon.org/petitions/joebiden-please-ask-chrismurphyct-to-be-your-secretary-of-state



On Mon, Nov 2, 2020 at 10:11 AM David Johnson via Peace-discuss <
peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net> wrote:

>
>
> NOVEMBER 2, 2020
> Biden: A War Cabinet?
> <https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/11/02/biden-a-war-cabinet/>
>
> BY MARIAMNE EVERETT <https://www.counterpunch.org/author/mrmnvrtt9292/>
>
> https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/11/02/biden-a-war-cabinet/
>
> Biden: A War Cabinet? - CounterPunch.org
> <https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/11/02/biden-a-war-cabinet/>
>
> “Let’s bring decency and integrity back to the White House." I can’t count
> the number of times I have heard and read this phrase uttered by U.S.
> expats here in Paris, France. As one of many American expats living here,
> of course I share in the desire for an end to a Donald Trump presidency.
> But at what cost? And will a Biden presidency -- which promises a return to
> “normalcy” -- really merit the sigh of relief that so many think it will?
> Below I summarise some of the most troubling information I have uncovered
> about some of the most likely foreign policy picks for key positions in a
> Biden cabinet.  More
>
> www.counterpunch.org
>
> “Let’s bring decency and integrity back to the White House.” I can’t count
> the number of times I have heard and read this phrase uttered by U.S.
> expats here in Paris, France. As one of many American expats living here,
> of course I share in the desire for an end to a Donald Trump presidency.
> But at what cost? And will a Biden presidency — which promises a return to
> “normalcy” — really merit the sigh of relief that so many think it will?
> Below I summarise some of the most troubling information I have uncovered
> about some of the most likely foreign policy picks for key positions in a
> Biden cabinet.
>
> *Susan Rice for Secretary of State*
>
> Susan Rice, who was also reportedly being considered for the role of
> Biden’s Vice President, served as United States Ambassador to the United
> Nations and as National Security Advisor, both under the Obama
> administration.
>
> While Benghazi has been the focus of much criticism of Rice, she has
> received virtually no scrutiny for her backing of the invasion of Iraq and
> claiming that there were WMDs there. Some of her statements:
>
> “I think he [then Secretary of State Colin Powell] has proved that Iraq
> has these weapons and is hiding them, and I don’t think many informed
> people doubted that.” (NPR, Feb. 6, 2003)
>
> “It’s clear that Iraq poses a major threat. It’s clear that its weapons of
> mass destruction need to be dealt with forcefully, and that’s the path
> we’re on. I think the question becomes whether we can keep the diplomatic
> balls in the air and not drop any, even as we move forward, as we must, on
> the military side.” (NPR, Dec. 20, 2002)
>
> “I think the United States government has been clear since the first Bush
> administration about the threat that Iraq and Saddam Hussein poses. The
> United States policy has been regime change for many, many years, going
> well back into the Clinton administration. So it’s a question of timing and
> tactics. … We do not necessarily need a further Council resolution before
> we can enforce this and previous resolutions.” (NPR, Nov. 11, 2002;
> requests for audio of Rice’s statements on NPR were declined by the
> publicly funded network.)
>
> She has also been criticised extensively for her record on the African
> continent, which judging by the following quote
> <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/10/opinion/susan-rice-africa.html> at
> the beginning of the 1994 Rwandan genocide seems to have been to adopt a
> “laissez faire” attitude : “If we use the word ‘genocide’ and are seen as
> doing nothing, what will be the effect on the November [congressional]
> election?”
>
> Susan Rice’s past rhetoric also includes choice generous words for
> African dictators
> <https://www.africa-talks.com/2012/12/01/the-case-against-susan-rice-enamored-with-africas-dictatorships/>.
> One great example is former prime minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi, a man
> who ordered security services to open fire on protestors
> <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6064638.stm> during its controversial 2005
> election, has a track record of imprisoning journalists
> <https://archives.cjr.org/behind_the_news/zenawis_legacy_and_the_future.php>,
> used food aid as a political tool
> <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/9556288.stm> and stole
>  land
> <http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/21/ethiopia-centre-global-farmland-rush> in
> south Ethiopia. In her speech at his funeral, Susan Rice described him as
>  “brilliant” <https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-africa-19454803> and a “close
> friend <https://twitter.com/AmbRice44/status/237988932493651968?lang=ca>”.
>
> Although Rice has often been portrayed as someone who is anti-Israel
> <https://mondoweiss.net/2020/06/biden-vp-front-runner-susan-rice-has-a-history-of-criticizing-israel-while-also-letting-its-government-do-whatever-it-wants/>,
> her mild criticisms pale in comparison to her staunch record and discourse
> on the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
>
> In a speech
> <https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2012/03/08/ambassador-susan-rices-remarks-aipac-synagogue-initiative-lunch> given
> at the AIPAC Synagogue Initiative Lunch back in 2012, Rice boasted about
> vetoing a UN resolution that would deem Israeli settlements on occupied
> Palsestinian land as illegal, and further characterized the Goldstone
> Report as “flawed” and “insisted on Israel’s right to defend itself and
> maintained that Israel’s democratic institutions could credibly investigate
> any possible abuses.” Her position has changed little since then, as
> recently as 2016, she proclaimed
> <https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2016/06/06/remarks-national-security-advisor-susan-rice-american-jewish-committee> that
> “Israel’s security isn’t a Democratic interest or a Republican
> interest—it’s an enduring American interest.”
>
> *Tony Blinken for National Security Adviser *
>
> Tony Blinken is also an old member of the Obama administration, having
> served first as VP Biden’s National Security Advisor from 2009 to 2013,
> Deputy National Security Advisor from 2013 to 2015 and then as United
> States Deputy Secretary of State from 2015 to 2017.
>
> Blinken had immense influence
> <https://theintercept.com/2019/07/24/joe-biden-nicholas-burns-foreign-policy/> over
> Biden in his role as Deputy National Security Advisor, helping formulate
> Biden’s approach and support for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
>
> “For Biden…”, he argued
> <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/12/us/politics/joe-biden-iraq-war.html>,
> “and for a number of others who voted for the resolution, it was a vote for
> tough diplomacy.” He added “It is more likely that diplomacy will succeed,
> if the other side knows military action is possible.”
>
> The two of them were responsible for delivering on Obama’s campaign
>  promise
> <https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2011/10/21/president-obama-has-ended-war-iraq> to
> get American troops out of Iraq, a process so oversimplified and poorly
> handled that it led to even more chaos
> <https://www.huffpost.com/entry/joe-biden-iraq-invasion-isis_n_5d02d4e4e4b0dc17ef06d77a> than
> the initial occupation and insurgency.
>
> Blinken seems to be of the view
> <https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-foreign-policy-adviser-antony-blinken-on-top-global-challenges/> that
> it is upto the US, and only the US, to take charge of world affairs : “On
> leadership, whether we like it or not, the world just doesn’t organize
> itself. And until this [Trump] administration, the U.S. had played a lead
> role in doing a lot of that organizing, helping to write the rules, to
> shape the norms and animate the institutions that govern relations among
> nations. When we’re not engaged, when we don’t lead, then one or two things
> is likely to happen. Either some other country tries to take our place –
> but probably not in a way that advances our interests or values – or no one
> does. And then you get chaos or a vacuum filled by bad things before it’s
> filled by good things. Either way, that’s bad for us.”
>
> Blinken also appears to be steering
> <https://www.richardsilverstein.com/2020/05/22/bidens-dumbed-down-pro-israel-pandering/> Biden’s
> pro-Israel agenda, recently stating
> <https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/michael-f-brown/democrats-pushing-against-biden-confront-ossified-views> that
> Biden “would not tie military assistance to Israel to any political
> decisions that it makes, period, full stop.” which includes an all out rejection
> of BDS
> <https://www.jpost.com/american-politics/biden-blasts-bds-why-it-matters-632301%22%20/t%20%22_blank>,
> the Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions Movement against Israel’s occupation of
> Palestine.
>
> *Michèle Flournoy for Secretary of Defence*
>
> Michele Flournoy was Under Secretary of Defense for Policy from 2009 to
> 2012 in the Obama administration under Secretaries Robert Gates and Leon
> Panetta.
>
> Flournoy, in writing the Quadrennial Defense Review
> <https://history.defense.gov/Portals/70/Documents/quadrennial/QDR1997.pdf?ver=2014-06-25-110930-527> during
> her time as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy under President
> Clinton, has paved the way for the U.S.’s endless and costly wars which
> prevent us from investing in life saving and necessary programmes like
> Medicare for All and the Green New Deal. It has effectively granted the US
> permission to no longer be bound by the UN Charter’s
> <https://www.un.org/en/sections/un-charter/chapter-i/index.html> prohibition
> against the threat or use of military force. It declared that, “when the
> interests at stake are vital, …we should do whatever it takes to defend
> them, including, when necessary, the unilateral use of military power.”
>
> While working at the Center for Strategic and International Studies
> (CSIS), a “Top Defense and National Security Think Tank”
> <https://news.syr.edu/blog/2020/02/12/csis-named-number-one-think-tank-in-the-united-states/> based
> in Washington D.C., in June 2002, as the Bush administration was
> threatening aggression towards Iraq, she declared
> <https://www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/266492469/the-case-against-biden-appointing-michele-flournoy-as-dod-chief>,
> that the United States would “need to strike preemptively before a crisis
> erupts to destroy an adversary’s weapons stockpile” before it “could erect
> defenses to protect those weapons, or simply disperse them.” She continued
> along this path even in 2009, after the Bush administration, in a speech
> <https://csis-website-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/legacy_files/files/media/csis/events/090501_flournoy.pdf> for
> the CSIS : “The second key challenge I want to highlight is the
> proliferation – continued proliferation of nuclear weapons and other
> weapons of mass destruction, as these also pose increasing threats to our
> security. We have to respond to states such as Iran, North Korea, who are
> seeking to develop nuclear weapons technologies, and in a globalized world
> there is also an increased risk that non-state actors will find ways to
> obtain these materials or weapons.”
>
> It is extremely important to note that Flournoy and Blinken co-founded the
> strategic consulting firm, WestExec Advisors, where the two use their large
> database of governmental, military, venture capitalists and corporate
> leader contacts to help companies win big Pentagon contracts. One such
> client being Jigsaw, a technology incubator created by Google that describes
> itself <https://jigsaw.google.com/> on its website as “a unit within
> Google that forecasts and confronts emerging threats, creating
> future-defining research and technology to keep our world safer.” Their
> partnership on the AI initiative entitled Project Maven led to a rebellion
> by Google workers
> <https://theintercept.com/2018/07/22/google-westexec-pentagon-defense-contracts/> who
> opposed their technology being used by military and police operations.
>
> Furthermore, Flournoy and Blinken, in their jobs at WestExec Advisors,
> co-chaired the biannual meeting of the liberal organization Foreign Policy
> for America. Over 50 representatives of national-security groups were in
> attendance. Most of the attendees supported
> <https://prospect.org/world/how-biden-foreign-policy-team-got-rich/> “ask(ing)
> Congress to halt U.S. military involvement in the (Yemen) conflict.”
> Flournoy did not. She said that the weapons should be sold under certain
> conditions and that Saudi Arabia needed these advanced patriot missiles to
> defend itself.
>
> *Conclusion*
>
> If a return to “normalcy” means having the same old politicians that are
> responsible for endless wars, that work for the corporate elite, that lack
> the courage to implement real structural change required for major issues
> such as healthcare and the environment, then a call for “normalcy” is
> nothing more than a call to return to the same deprived conditions that led
> to our current crisis. Such a return with amplified conditions and
> circumstances, could set the stage for the return of an administration with
> dangers that could possibly even exceed those posed by the current one in
> terms of launching new wars.
>
> *Mariamne Everett is an intern at the Institute for Public Accuracy
> currently living in France.*
>
>
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