Thank you for bringing us up to date about AUKUS, Five Eyes, the Quad and the African American Union. These are topics not often covered in such depth. Biden’s experience and expertise in foreign affairs is definitely showing in how he’s maneuvering to make sure that the US is seen as an ally and global force for good.
Sorry, but the submarine contract hits me on a raw nerve, Francophile Australian citizen that I am. It happened on the watch of the Trumpian prime minister we've voted out, monumentally, this year. Everything was running normally, the preparations had been taking longer than expected because the Australian side kept changing their mind about nuclear or not, there was no budget blowout, Australian staff and their families had moved to France, French staff and families had moved to Adelaide, and a communiqué had gone to the French manufacturer confirming that the next stage could now proceed. Then Boris Johnson went into a huddle with Morrison and Biden, on the chilly beach in Cornwall, and talked them into "AUKUS", which was part of his personal rescue plan to show the British people how clever he was at patching the Brexit holes. Never mind that the UK has no vested interests in the Pacific - what's it got to do with Britain? I won't go into the embarrassing details of his visit to Washington, but in typical BoJo style he did his cultured English statesman act, and then slid out of sight. Macron was livid. When asked by a reporter if he thought Morrison had lied, he replied, "I don't think. I know." Morrison was not only obliterated in the election, he's now being investigated over an odd little manoeuvre a few months ago when he appointed himself to several ministries, without mentioning it to anyone. Well, Johnson has gone, Morrison has gone, we've got a good team in government at last, but no wonder the diplomatic honey is being spread around liberally. Sorry to hijack the topic, but I haven't really - and my blood boiled to see that Heather was quoting the wrong story.
Thank you so much for sharing your perspective and on the ground facts. It just shows that in spite of the immediacy and global reach of the internet there is a lot that is filtered by the choices of local media coverage.
Thank you for that perspective. I'm happy to see that, despite this 'slight', Macron is making friendship and an open mind with the U.S. as a priority. That's mature, classy, and oh so healthy for the world.
Thank you for this. I too was angry that my country (U.S.) moved in on France, but after reading this morning's newsletter and understanding that France's limits on nuclear power, it makes sense. Need to do research on the huddle at Cornwall.
All of this should remind US how fortunate we are to have a president with his eyes set on climate change and a world livable for all. The complexities would overwhelm a lesser person. His history and ability to surround himself with good and experienced people is a gift to all of US and us.
Amen!! I sick and tired of all the negative press he gets about his age. He has more experience and knowledge and capable people than many past presidents. We need to support him!
Thank goodness, at home, he had a smart wife who loves and supports him.
The Hill still reporting that most Dems do not want him to run again. My guess is they're behind on that. Many people have come around and are supporting him.
I actually believe his age is an advantage right now.
It wasn't the US, it was Johnson. And he's got away with it. I can see them now (video), Jill Biden, and Carrie, newly minted wife of Johnson, playing with the toddler Wilfred on the beach, while the three men talked together, far from any microphones - out of sight of the other delegates.
Thank you. Grateful for this picture you draw. But we do owe so much to France and I am grateful for that picture also. I keep thinking about the French Revolution and the Dreyfus Affair....can't help it.
Thanks, Kathy. Macron's rival, mentioned by Heather, never got over failing to win the presidential election - twice - and throughout the whole of Macron's mandate he's done everything he can to stir up trouble (weaponizing the "yellow vests" for example), in strenuous efforts to dislodge him. He sells himself as a hearty man of the people, all bushy grey hair and eyebrows, never mind all this elegance and good manners. I'll leave it at that, but Macron is young, strong, smart, and brave - and he actually cares about what he does and its effect.
Kathy Without the French, we would have lost the American Revolution. More recently the French have been somewhat prickly allies, especially during the de Gaulle years.
The American eagle doesn’t have smooth flying with French frogs or British lions. I do remember, after the U-2 incident prompted Khrushchev to explode at Ike when walking out of the Paris conference, de Gaulle walked over to Ike to tell him that Ike could count on him 100%.
Ditto with the Cuban missile crisis. I believe that it was Dean Acheson who personally took U-2 photos to de Gaulle. De Gaulle said ‘I don’t need to see these. Tell President Kennedy that I support him 100%.
Quite different than during WW II when Churchill referred to a cantankerous de Gaulle as his ‘cross of Lorraine.’ Ike also had galling experiences with de Gaulle, but nothing like Macron faced with Trump.
Thank you for this clarifying post. I am not up at all on the ins and outs of this sort of maneuvering. That Boris Johnson was the main actor does not surprise me at all. I am glad to see him and your former PM gone.
Ask that master strategist Boris Johnson. He ignored New Zealand, too. And Scott Morrison who doesn't have two brains to rub together was only concerned with self-aggrandizement.
It is my understanding that the petroleum giant BP is head quartered in London. As the Pacific is the gateway to the Arctic oil fields it would seem there is a vested interest in the pacific theater albeit in northern latitudes. China, Russia, the U.S., and the Uk have a keen interest in where global warming may take maritime shipping routes, especially as pertains to a possible northern route. Submarine fleets are no doubt an important consideration in maintaining control. Having lived and worked in Prudhoe Bay this isn’t science fiction rather jockeying by nations anteing up and holding hands at the table. The British company, British Petroleum, controls the Prudhoe Bay venture. Japan, Korea, and Australia are all players as well. As are Canada, Iceland and Greenland.
When I was stationed at NSA in 1966, there were classified documents that said CANUKUS EYES ONLY. At that time Hong Kong was still British and of course our Atlantic Alliance from WWII.
I also found it amusing that papers from GCHQ had those red sealing wax stamps from centuries past with their emblem pressed into it. It was a different era.
Anne-Louise, there are many Brexit holes that cannot be plugged certainly not by any Tory government past or present but, shifting to the technical side of nuclear sub systems that are vulnerable in 2022 into the next decades to space, surface & subsurface defenses are you aware of any public sources accurately evaluating Russian, US, French or other countries systems? Per defensenews.com, the 1st of 4 third generation FRENCH nuclear powered subs will not be delivered until 2035. The national costs are in the billions.
"French officials have not disputed that there were difficulties, as there might be with any big contract, but said Canberra never suggested it wanted nuclear propulsion, even when Paris brought up the subject. Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian last week called the cancellation "a stab in the back."
"On the same day as the #AUKUS announcement, the Australians wrote to France to say that they were satisfied with the submarine's achievable performance and with the progress of the program. In short: forward to launching the next phase of the contract," France's Armed Forces Ministry spokesman Herve Grandjean said on Twitter on Tuesday.
An official from the French Embassy in Canberra told Reuters on Tuesday that an intergovernmental agreement should have allowed for confidential discussions between ministers about changes to political or strategic circumstances.
"No warning, no proposals for discussion were offered," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Thank you! "Political, strategic & propulsion matters noted. Thank you for the Learning Link as well.
On 'Music Historian Subject re World Musical History & Insruments: The "MIM" museum on the north side of Phoenix, AZ covers all continents & all musical eras. Also, Fascinating historical details on AZ musicians from the recording studio of Duane Eddy to Linda Ronstadt's Father's early musical history in Tuscon. African drums, US Jazz, a gigantic Wulitzer for kids & a magnificent Steinway are all there to enjoy.
Upon admission you are issued earphones. All you have to do is to walk up to an exhibit and tasty riffs play in your ears automaticaly. :)
Can't find the toddler-on-beach picture, but here's an extract from Australian ABC news. Mentioned elsewhere but not here: unusually, no video cameras were allowed inside the meeting.
Boris Johnson joins Scott Morrison's first meeting with US President Joe Biden at G7 summit
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It was widely thought Scott Morrison's first meeting with US President Joe Biden would be a bilateral encounter, as is usual on the sidelines of a leaders' summit.
But instead, unexpectedly and unusually, the Prime Minister’s anticipated one on one with the US leader became a three-man affair.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson turned up too.
Mr Morrison said it was a "unique opportunity" and a "mutual" decision.
Nevertheless, it marked Mr Morrison’s first encounter with the new US President and an opportunity to reset the alliance and relationship in a post-Trump world.
"Australia has no greater friends than the United States and the United Kingdom, and we've been working together on our respective security issues for a very long time,” Mr Morrison said after the encounter that lasted for 40 minutes.
Mr Morrison was invited as a guest to the G7 summit in Cornwall.(Supplied: Australian Government)
But while united with Australia on countering China, Mr Biden does not agree with Canberra's approach to climate change and is demanding a firm commitment to the 2050 target for zero net emissions. Mr Johnson has pressured the Australian leader on that front too; However, Mr Morrison said the topic was not raised during the three-way talks.
And this is from the Financial Review, months later:
When British Prime Minister Boris Johnson “gatecrashed” a planned one-on-one meeting between Scott Morrison and US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Cornwall in June, there was a pile-on from Labor and Morrison’s many other detractors.
The optics of Johnson being added at the last minute to what was expected to be the first bilateral meeting between Morrison and Biden was widely interpreted as a Biden snub because Morrison had been too close to Donald Trump and because Australia was a laggard on climate change.
After announcing on Thursday one of the biggest decisions by an Australian government in decades – a new trilateral regional security alliance, AUKUS, underpinned by a decision to develop eight nuclear-powered submarines as the first instalment of a regional arms race – Morrison said the Cornwall meeting was “probably the most important trilateral meeting Australia has had for the past 70 years”.
It was where the leaders agreed in principle to AUKUS.
Wow. Thanks, Anne-Louise. And... what about Canada being included as one of Australia's greatest allies?? Welcome to a post-cheeto - post-Morrison - post-BoJo world!! (BoJo!! Love it!! Hahahaha)
Anne-Louise I have posted more on the sub situation. Frankly whether the Aussies would get a French diesel sub by around 2030 or get a nuclear sub from the US/UK about 2040 while they have 6 creaky Collins subs in the meantime smacks of military irreverence.
Exactly - and diesel wasn't what the French were proposing in the first place. The French knew what they were doing, the Australians didn't. In the end the customer is always right, even if they're wrong.
Bryan Diesel subs should be in a naval museum. I was on a French sub at the Philly naval yRD DUEING WW II. Stank, extremely uncomfortable, and dangerous. Watch movie DAS BOAT. Why any major power would want diesel subs today, much less through 2030, leaves me gobsmacked.
Danke. Watched Das Boot many times & retain a CD copy. Satellites are capable of monitoring water displacement of Subs with powerful thrust from the screws.
We just get an overview from these brief daily letters, but it is rare (and refreshing) to see these topics covered at all. I don't think I have previously encountered the alliances you mentioned above.
And I second the depth of this writing today. In particular, all the different parts of Macron's visit define the alliance between our countries in the delicate balance Biden supports with his expertise in global affairs. Listening to "La Marseillaise" amid the pageantry of the formal speeches was almost the same as listening to the words Heather uses : ".....the idea that people have the right to consent to the government under which they live". Ahhhh......history, history, history.
When I was working in COMINT (Communications Intelligence) in the early 1960s, I was aware of the Five Eyes arrangement. What was ‘fuzzy’ was how this related to American COMINT intercepts involving British Commonwealth countries. My lips remain sealed under a secrecy agreement. Relationships between ‘friendly’ intelligence agencies have not always been straight forward.
I was always tempted to pick up the red telephone in my helicopter and pass myself off as Ho. Looking back I wish I had. “ Uh, mistah plesident my name Ho Che Minh. How you been? Not well I hope.” Just for amusement, Keith. Do you think Nixon would have found that funny.
Pat I doubt that Tricky Dick would have responded Ho Ho Ho.
You remind me of one of my COMINT experiences. I had been reading the intercepts of a ‘baddie’ who was in Stanleyville as a diplomatic rep to the Congolese rebel government. Later he was transferred to Leopoldville, where he became my tennis doubles partner. I was sorely tempted to ask him a few delicate questions, but secrecy prevailed.
You guys are cracking me up. I realize now how lucky I am to have been drafted in his place. I should send him a campaign contribution as I hear he is running for conductor of the Rock Island line up.
AUKUS ( minus the Brits), Five Eyes, and perhaps the Quad — all an attempt to rebuild what would have already been in place (including Canada) had Obama’s TPP not been torpedoed.
Until 1960, I think, I could identify every independent nation on Earth, and knew their capitals, and in almost all cases could identify their flags. The. France declared more than a dozen of its colonies in Africa independent, and I haven’t caught up since. So now with AUKUS (awkward), it’s clear that I’ve lost the battle of the acronyms, too.
Jon I believe that there are over 50 African countries today. When I first went to Anglo-Egyptian Sudan in 1954, there was only 1 (Ethiopia). It’s even more confusing, as some African countries have changed their names or splintered.
Now I wonder if any American states may change their names.
I didn't know a lot of this. Contrasting to former guy's and supporters "America first." So how do we get across to average Americans why this is so important?
The strategic acumen and intelligence at work in the Biden administration, deftly applied to international relations for the good of the nation and indeed the safety and well being of the entire world, is wonderful to behold. The contrast with the brash, destructive incompetence of the previous administration in this arena is breathtaking!
Not perfect, but still breathtaking especially in comparison to Trumpian idiocy. I still remember Trump's remark about African countries being shithole countries.
My take on reading that only South Africa had been included is that racism is at play as it always has been when dealing with Africa. I hope that they will be included this time. I was a Peace Corps volunteer for thee years in Sierra Leone and in a study abroad program at Fourah Bay College for six months before that. I remember meeting some Americans in Freetown who had the same type of hubris and basically had the idea that we were living in some kind of end of the world uncivilized place. Of course, this was also the British mantra all over the world as they were bringing all these places up to being able to govern themselves...you know, The White Man's Burden. Never mind, that all these places had been doing just fine until Europeans showed up. So many of the world's problems today go back to this.
Yes! United States of America is fully participating in the World. It’s not just politics. It’s acknowledging our connections, how decisions of one country affect all others. A stark contrast to the chaotic previous four years. Even more than rebuilding, it’s responsibility. My hope is that climate change policies and collaboration are enough of a world priority that we see productive change before it’s too late.
It's wonderful!! So valuable until another administration takes over, changes everything again, and everyone learns - again - that we aren't to be trusted. We MUST find a way to stop that from happening! It IS our history... :-(
"The contrast with the brash, destructive incompetence of the previous administration in this arena is breathtaking!" I could not have said it better Ed. Today's letter has allowed a calmness to come over my body that has not been there for a long time. Despite what many of my friends say, we are in the best of hands with the present administration! I thank Dr. Richardson for bringing this to our attention. I only wish this were headlines in All sorts of media instead of that T guy and what he's coming up with next as a distraction.
MANOHMANOHMAN Anyone who does not see and appreciate all that President Biden has been doing for the U.S. and the world is, in my dad's words, ¨a numbskull¨.
Like you already know, I grew up in Texas and went to Tesas A&M. Every day I read the school paper which featured George Will and William F Buckley exclusively as the opinion writers. Never a student opinion.
So? I voted for Reagan against the last excellent President, Jimmmy Carter. A travesty that I still feel ashamed about.
The same here.😔 My husband told me since he was military, we should vote Republican. It was 1972, when the voting age was lowered to 18. I had just turned 20 & he had just turned 21. We didn't have a clue.
What percentage of the US population is Republican?
A total of 36.4 million registered voters identified themselves as Republicans, representing 29.2% of registered voters in these states. Approximately 38.8 million registered voters identified themselves as independents or members of third-parties.
Hard to know where to slot this into the dialogue, but it's something I wanted to point out that is sort of related to the above. I opined this point in the comments section of the NYT a few days ago. After the runoff election in Georgia, I kept reading people's outrage that "48-point-whatever-% of Georgians STILL voted for/supported Walker". Now I know my state has a LOT to answer for in some things, but this is simply not true. Walker got 1.7 million votes. Warnock got 1.8 million. There are over 11 million residents in Georgia. Estimates I saw in the AJC recently said 3.5 million eligible voters in the state simply did not vote. Do the math. To say that 48-point-some-odd-% of 11 million residents were "for" Walker is WAY off the mark. Neither candidate received what one could call a "ringing endorsement" from an overwhelming majority of the state's residents. This voter apathy, especially among the 32% of our population that is African-American, is what people like Stacey Abrams recognize and have been trying to address. Yes, there are a lot of ignorant knuckle-dragging rubes in this state, but I find it a huge mistake to assert that almost half of the state's population (that'd be 5-point-something million) were in favor of Walker. A corrected statement would be "48.something% of the people that bothered to vote, voted for Walker..." The runoff, as was predicted, came down to questions of turnout. That around half of the state's eligible voters actually got out to vote, while an improvement over races in the past, is nevertheless still pretty bad. We're still a pretty red state--all the top government officials, from the governor all the way down to insurance commissioner, are all Republican, as is our state legislature. I remain convinced that if EVERY eligible voter in this state actually voted, we'd probably be looking at a very different scenario here. It echoes what is said above that half or sometimes even smaller percentages of active voters are the ones actually deciding who holds power. It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking, as in the case here, that nearly 50% of this state were dumb enough to vote for Walker, when in actuality it was, more or less, a quarter of the total electorate. That's still a lot, but HALF of our state??? Nope. Republicans love to give the impression that there's more of them than there actually are--"the squeakiest wheels, always get the most grease", y'know.
Bruce, thank you for a more accurate picture of the number of eligible voters that actually turned out to vote in Georgia's runoff election for senator.
The issue of how many Americans don't vote and why is related to our concerns about democracy in the country. How may laws restricting access to voting effect voting participation?
'Turnout in U.S. has soared in recent elections but by some measures still trails that of many other countries'
'Voter turnout in the 2020 U.S. general election soared to levels not seen in decades, fueled by the bitter campaign between Joe Biden and Donald Trump and facilitated by pandemic-related changes to state election rules. More than 158.4 million people voted in that election, according to a Pew Research Center tabulation of official state returns, amounting to 62.8% of people of voting age, using Census Bureau estimates of the 2020 voting-age population.'
'The 2020 voting surge followed unusually high turnout in the 2018 midterm elections, when about 47.5% of the voting-age population – and 51.8% of voting-age citizens – went to the polls.'
'This year, some political analysts are predicting another heavy turnout in this month’s midterms. According to a recent Center survey, 72% of registered voters say they’re “extremely” or “very” motivated to vote this year, and 65% say it “really matters” which party wins control of Congress – a level roughly on par with the run-up to the 2018 vote.' (PewResearchCenter)
Surge or not, voting in 'the land of the free and home of the brave' is mighty low!
I looked up the part you left out. Balletopedia also reports 48 million registered voters in these areas identified themselves as Democrats. At 38.78%, Democrats represented the single largest share of registered voters in the states that report party affiliations.
Yep. I just gave some brief examples to counter the prevailing popular myth that Republicans are this massive, teeming voting block. They just seem so massive due to being so darn loud and scary.
Rick Wilson said it best. "There are more of us than them. And we will win."
I use this to sustain myself in the darkest of times.
Thank you, Barbara ... it's always nice sprinkle in some actual numbers and facts. Better place to start than listening only to opinions and judgments based on agendas.
Reading a Louise Penny mystery for a time-out from reality. The eccentric poet, Ruth, refers to the second in command at the Quebec Surete as a numbskull. So that's currently my go-to phrase when someone cuts me off in traffic.
I have to latch onto that word and use it more often than what usually comes out of my mouth. It reminds me of the old "Bowery Boys" but it now has such a valid meaning.
President Biden and his appointed leaders in foreign affairs have been doing a wonderful job restoring and elevating US foreign relations. Even so, the United States lags behind other countries. There has always been a lack of cultural sensitivity and expertise that leads to the sobriquet of the "ugly American".
I personally speak about Africa and SE Asia. I was in Uganda in the Peace Corps from 1968-1972 thru the Idi Amin coup. I now am retired living in Bali, Indonesia. United States foreign policy in SE Asia and Africa has been never been what you might call leading edge. In the case of Vietnam, truly a disaster. And there is the US interference in Indonesian politics leading to the Suharto government.
We can be dismissive of some of the "ugly Chinese" foreign investments and policies, but the size of the investments and projects dwarfs anything from the United States. For instance, the Chinese and Japanese are helping with construction of high speed rail. The high speed rail will be a $90+ billion investment. And the high speed rail is nothing the United States can even do since there is no high speed rail in the United States (so sad). The high speed rail on the island of Java should transform the island into an economic powerhouse when it is completed.
From the ground up, the United States could learn more from programs like Reach Uganda: https://reachforuganda.org/ Reach for Uganda has grown over the past 20 years into a substantive model for Uganda and maybe beyond. Kudos to Richard and Carol Burke with whom I served in the Peace Corps in Uganda for the years long effort that has established a sustained program important to people in Eastern Uganda. Reach for Uganda deserves all the accolades it receives.
The United States does not demonstrably prove that it is capable of the programs and investments the Chinese, Japanese and other Asian nations make in SE Asia or Africa. Time for the United States to leave behind the broadway Rogers and Hammerstein "South Pacific Bali Ha'i" understanding of other countries on all continents. Substantive investment projects are needed in Africa and SE Asia. At the local level programs that actually perform like Reach for Uganda are more what the programs should do. Less push on American ideals and values wouldn't hurt either. Those ideals and values will come naturally after showing American foreign policy, investment, and local efforts can walk the walk.
BUT, the Biden administration has definitely put their feet down in the right directions. Something that hasn't happened in ANY other previous administration. Let's hope the forward momentum and development of foreign policy, investment and local efforts expands and grows up.
Thank you very much for your service in the Peace Corps and for the insights and wisdom it gave you, and now us. I served in the National Health Service Corps in Appalachia - a remarkable experience - and I support expansion of both programs. Maybe when someone finds the missing $billions in the military budget it can instead be used for peace, health and democracy.
Thank you for sharing this information and your life history. I do think the US is making great strides under the Biden administration but agree we have quite a ways to go. The Peace Corps was established by JFK in 1961 which you already knew. I feel that was one of our smartest investment projects. The fact that it still exists after 61 years, is remarkable. Thank you for your service.
"Less push on American ideals and values wouldn't hurt either. Those ideals and values will come naturally after showing American foreign policy, investment, and local efforts can walk the walk." YES!!
"The United States does not demonstrably prove that it is capable of the programs and investments the Chinese, Japanese and other Asian nations make in SE Asia or Africa."
Correct. While we were busy carpet bombing the poor folks of Afghanistan and Iraq, China was quietly moving to support infrastructure projects world wide.
China has built, quietly and without a shot fired, friends all over the world where they are building infrastructure.
Rather than wasting all of Chinese manpower and brains on weapons and war, like the US has done, China is building real partnerships and friends world wide.
Without killing a single innocent person walking their kid to school.
TWENTY YEARS of our "foreign policy" was just bombing a bunch of innocent civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Just look at pictures of Mosul BEFORE America and AFTER America. Heartbreaking.
Amazingly stupid. Beyond amazingly stupid.
Maybe Biden can turn the stupid train. He pulled us out of Afghanistan (and then let the folks there starve last winter).
Yes! And China has been quietly and strategically building in-roads, literally and figuratively on the African continent for the past decade. The US is prob too little too late. Additionally, all the west knows how to do is strip mine and undermine when we enter other emerging countries/continents. We don’t even know how to treat and care for our own poor--and I’m serious here, we can’t export what we don’t even grow in our own country, in this instant I’m speaking of all forms of investment. It might be a good thing for things to balance out across the globe and the US might stop acting like and treating it’s citizens like a playground for the rich and an experiment in race for the bottom because intelligence is difficult to low-key control. I’m on a tangent, however our macro-culture on down can be quiet painful and hard to behold.
Growing pains, we’re like the child-star who got fame and fortune so early s/he never had time to figure out how to act with such riches!
Having lived for extended periods in both China and South Africa, I sadly agree with your remarks. Our (US) intentions have certainly improved, but we have a ways to go to dispel the “Ugly American” image. Nevertheless, I believe that Biden’s African geo-political goals are genuine.
I’m optimistic about our (US) prospects, domestic and internationally, for the long game. I’m also aware that by long game, I’m speaking about my grandchildren or great grandchildren’s world. The reality is we still have some past ugliness to resolve from our great/grandparents eras to resolve and we are living this right now. Biden knows this too, which is the reason he referred to himself as a potential “bridging” presence during his candidacy. I have a deep and abiding respect for this man; he was satisfied with what he attained with Barack, he had no desire to run after that--and he is an example of the era of the statesman. He knew what was best for the country and set his personal desires (and retirement) aside to answer that call.
The reality is my gen (gen x), boomers, and the greatest gens need to die off. Entire past ideologies and connections will fall off with us. I do have faith and optimism in the younger generations because they have a deeper understanding in the urgency of now, and the dire straits awaiting them, and most importantly, they will understand how problems are always simply waiting for their sister solution(s).
Beautifully said, Marguerite. I must agree with you on all points. Also a boomer gramma, i dearly hope that our grandchildren and their children and grandchildren will be able to pick up, rearrange the pieces and do what's best for all. Heal wounds and messes they didn't create and find creative ways to those sister solutions. Youngest members of Congress give me lots of hope!!
@Suz-an, I love how you expressed, “heal wounds and messes they didn’t create...” maybe, like Biden, boomers and their progeny x-es are simply bridging generations to get us to critical mass numbers for cultural growth. We did some good things but, my --what generations of toxicity and damage we had to assess and manage. What to keep...what to throw away :-) what to heal. xxo
I agree with much of what you say. The Chinese do have their shortcomings. Their financing of projects comes with heavy consequences. They essentially buy the property and project. Some countries have cancelled the projects. The Chinese think they own the places they build.
Yes, some of the relationships are fraught. But, I would not expect anything less where two cultures come together to try to do something.
But, a fraught peaceful relationship that is attempting to do positive work (although, some of the infrastructure projects, like all infraastructure projects, do extreme environmental damage) is better than any anything the US has offered in the last 60 years.
US Foreign Policy can be summed up: Shock and Awe.
“Ugly American”, a sobriquet that aptly describes deplorables? Albeit, there were millions more than a basketful in the 2016 & 2020 POTUS elections. I’m still grieving the loss of my naive view of “Americans”. I used to feel surrounded by love and good will in a room full of strangers. Now I am untrusting of the good will of others in so many public places. MAGAS peeled back the skin to reveal the rot.
Today I am so very grateful for Heather and so many of the commenters here for the extraordinary information they have shared which I have missed from our national news.
I am even more grateful for the 81,283,501 who made sure their vote was counted to seat Joseph R Biden in our Oval Office for 4 years in 2020. 🙏🙏
Perhaps if we put our resources into these kinds of projects instead of the MIC... it could help? Evidently, that's what these other countries are doing.
Thank you so much for this informative piece, Stephen. And thank you for being a part of the building (instead of fighting) processes.
Grateful to hear from so many people here who have firsthand knowledge and experience in various projects around the world. Astonishing to read these comments today.
Today's letter has me very hopeful that the US is repairing the Trump foreign policy disasters and some of Biden's misteps as well. America needs to coounteract China's inflence in the Indo Pacific and in Africa as well as Russia's influence in Africa through the Wagner Group providing "security" forces in several African counties. Many of theses countries in the emerging markets areas of the world have been leaning more towards authoritarianism and having worsening ethnic divisions. They are also facing the most damage from global warming and are undergoing the beginnings of the largest and most rapid demographic migrations due to food and water insecurity and excessive heat that the world has ever seen.
These are the places where there will be the most risk of human suffering, the most potential for economic development, and the highest risk of conflict all at once.
Today’s letter well illustrates the enormity, the complexity, of the job of the President of the United States. Joe Biden demonstrates once again he’s probably the sharpest tack in Washington at the moment. The front of a doddering, stuttering old man is just that; a front that lets Biden get out in front of his opponents.
Imagine Ron DeSantis, Ted Cruz, or any other Republican pretender to the presidency summarizing the details of US foreign policy in the western Pacific region as HCR has this morning ing in describing President Biden’s various foreign policy initiatives.
Excellent letter showing us how President Biden is bringing the world together in both military and economic alliances. Thank you for showing us the global interconnections. Impressive.
Yikes Heather. Do I really have to learn all those new acronyms? What an amazing trove of knowledge you've imparted on an area of the world that doesn't get a lot of attention but certainly deserves it. Nice to know that the Biden administration is doing such a comprehensive, total approach to touching all the bases around the globe. It will pay off, especially with those students who have will be studying in our country. The future is with education and youth. Bravo Joe and your State Department.
Damn, I thought NASA was the acronym champ. He will do what he can, but like previous commenter said, political losers will do anything they can to stir up trouble, especially the isolationist arses In This country…
Acronyms do to the flow of prose what a dead cow does to the flow of a stream. They should be used as sparingly as possible, except for those that are in common parlance, like NASA, MPG, and DNA.
Thanks for this summary. Now please research and comment regarding investigations into the U.S. Pentagon's recent failed audit, its fifth failed audit in a row. In fiscal year 2022, the Department of Defense (DOD) had $1.64 Trillion distributed among its 6 sub-components. But each year hundreds of billions are virtually unaccounted for. The hawks are in charge of the coop without any demonstrable oversight or accountability.
Hundreds of billions could be put to good use, so where does it go? Can it be that there is no recorded chain of custody? Do you have a link or two for a good overview?
When I first heard this I almost screamed! Where in the bloody Hell did that amount of money go? One would think the MSM would be all over this or maybe I just missed the reporting of it?
The lack of reporting on this is generally owed to four reasons: 1) The dearth of investigative reporters. Over the decades, media organizations gutted actual in-depth investigative reporting because it is viewed as "not profitable." The replacements? Cut and pasters, commentators, and influencers. 2) The Pentagon has walls behind walls behind dead-end walls like nowhere else on earth. Donald Trump may not be able to legally slap "Classified" and "Top Secret" on any government document he chooses, but the Pentagon sure can. 3) The last people one wants to piss off--along with local gangs, Russian mafia, and the IRS--are the Pentagon entities. As J. Edgar Hoover amply demonstrated, they can make life a living hell for "troublemakers." 4) Political inquiries don't go far enough because, Hey, who's not for "National Defense"? Given the choice between fiscal and ethical integrity and office-holding power, those who should be demanding accountability continually and cravenly keep their mouths shut.
I don't begin to understand the nuances of international trade, but it seems to me that China might not now be quite so worrisome to so many had the US had not so eagerly transferred tons manufacturing technology and capacity to China. Good for Biden for trying to encourage more US manufacturing. Too bad it's so late in the game.
"had the US had not so eagerly transferred tons manufacturing technology and capacity to China"
That is the heart of it, is it not? From the late 1980's, starting with Jack Welch's destruction of GE, and continuing until today, every single American corporation recognized they could move their manufacturing work to China and pay slave wages while the Chinese worked slave hours AND while white, male, American managers could collect historically gigantic bonuses.
US Foreign Policy? Had nothing to do with China's rise to power. The fact that China reverse engineered everything that was being manufactured by American corporations and now sells their own version?
THAT is what built China.
By the way, those corporations are not going anywhere. Apple? Still has FoxConn building everything for them ($17 per day is what Chinese people get for their 12 hour day).
Yep. Foreign Policy is one thing. But, BONUS policy is the real thing.
FOXCONN was going to the big return of manufacturing for Wisconsin. Amountedto nothing. Heavy incentives from state government, imminent domain land acquisitions, promises to UW, but investing in high speed rail was a non-no..
Totally agreed, but THAT is ultimately a result of US law and policy. It's not like the structure of the physical universe makes it impossible to hold US companies accountable, and is not US law (theoretically) of, by and for "the people"? Corporations take actions (such as elaborate tax dodges) and everybody pretends it's as immutable as the speed of light, but no, it's US law. When law and those entrusted to craft, interpret, and apply law act to advance a self-serving agendas at the expense of the common weal, is that not classic corruption? But we seem to take corruption of granted, as inevitable, as the nature of the beast. In addition to dodging US labor laws (at home and abroad) ever larger and more powerful corporations also dodge taxation and environmental law. Their stooges foisted on the Supreme Court expand corporate prerogatives while reducing their responsibilities. It's corruption on a RICO scale.
During the Subprime Crash, Obama's AG said " I am concerned that the size of some of these institutions becomes so large that ... if you do prosecute, if you do bring a criminal charge, it will have a negative impact on the national economy, perhaps even the world economy." From this I infer that some of these companies have become too "large"; but the government's remedy was to restore their fortunes without fundamental conduct requirements on the part of the recipients (including bonuses for the bankrupt) and made "so large" even larger. To this day the largest of corporations continue to agglomerate into unaccountable financial black holes under administrations by either party, with Biden chipping away more than most, but very much outgunned. Except that things can change, and fast, on those occasions when the public decides to focus.
That "transfer" is just one more example of how this country is run by oligarchs. Profits over people all day long, every day. American jobs that never happened because shareholders are valued over workers. It is a structural spiral dive into national poverty and dependence on rival nations for the basics of life. This "transfer" is one of the most stupid and blatant examples of unregulated capitalism undermining the very foundations of a democracy and the welfare of it's inhabitants.
People could afford to buy Apple phones if they were made here. They would just be much more expensive. Folks just wouldn't buy a new one every year or two. So what? Our society might have been less casually disposable as a result. And there are plenty of fine Android based phones at a tiny fraction of the famous fruit phone. And that fry pan at Walmart that's $9.99 - maybe we would treat it better if it were $25.99.
And of course, all that ties back to wages that haven't budged in decades. There is a loop of a "con" here. Keep wages low so that the working class consumer becomes dependent upon Walmart prices which justifies making the junk using cheap overseas labor - and who gets rich? Pretty good scheme if you are of the shareholding class or better yet, one of the oligarchs who orchestrates all this and enjoys his yacht in the Virgin Islands.
We have seen the enemy and it is us. We let the nobles rule the peasants.
"People could afford to buy Apple phones if they were made here. They would just be much more expensive."
My brother-in-law still likes his old iPhone but the battery died. I strapped a flat, compact external battery to it and he still uses it. Maybe people could afford iPhones if you could easily change the battery (what I have repeatedly read in the press that making the battery accessible would destroy the phone's water resistance is complete crap). Last I heard, Apple modified the circuitry so that even if you manage to replace the battery with an OEM Apple battery, the software won't let you use it. What's is the long term cost to the consumer and the planet when phones are made to be throw away? What is the cost to US worker-consumers when jobs are exported and wages suppressed? Who gains and who loses? What are the impacts on our rapidly deteriorating environment? Or upon our fortunes as a nation? Upon, as the Preamble says, "our Posterity"?
From what I understand, the rise of Chinese manufacturing capacity was largely enabled by investors from Taiwan (roughly $1 Trillion to date), followed closely by Japan and the US.
As far as new technologies go, one indicator I use is the number and quality of research papers on subjects I know a bit about (e.g. vaccinations) coming out a a country/region. The number of research papers from China (pop. ~1 billion) on vaccinations equals that of Denmark (pop. ~5 million). It is small wonder their COVID-19 vaccine does not work so well (hence all the lock-downs). The point is China's economic success is due mainly to perspiration (of a large group of hard-working people who work cheap) rather than innovation. That's why they have to steal the intellectual property of others, and why the rest of the world will stay a step ahead of them.
For now. I am under the impression that China is putting money into educating it's population, at least educating them about some things. It seems like Republicans starve education. Ignorance is supposed to be strength.
In other words, the Biden administration is working to strengthen US relations and alliances with all nations that share our interest in peace, security and democracy in contrast to US politicians and administrations that have preferred unilateral go it alone policies or cozing up to authoritarian actors.
China is also working to strengthen Chinese relations and alliances with all nations that share their own interest in peace and security.
However, China is not doing that by picking out countries that have no military capability (like Afghanistan and Iraq) and then carpet bombing them for 20 years.
China is sending bright, motivated, multilingual people to other countries to leverage Chinese engineering and financing for infrastructure projects. And has been doing that for 25 years now.
That Chinese approach builds skill and experience in engineering, foreign relations, linguistics across a broad swath of Chinese people who are on assignment in other countries.
THAT is what the Chinese have been doing while we, the USA, were carpet bombing civilians in Afghanstan and Iraq and ignoring the entire rest of the world.
The USA had NO foreign policy and, as a consequence, is SO far behind the good will building of China that we will never catch up. Plus, we don't have the money or the capability to do what the Chinese do. Just the Chinese multilingual force abroad dwarfs anything we have.
We, the USA, are probably just looking for the next country we can find to bomb and use our drone technology in.
Because, that is where we put all of our energy and resources. Very, very sadly.
As long as our economy is based on and ruled by our military-industrial-congressional complex, along with Big Oil, the results will be as you describe, Mike. Much work to un-do.
Yes, and the saddest thing is: Eisenhower could see the problem, spoke to the problem and could not do anything about the problem in 1959.
"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."
Saddest. It was Eisenhower who wanted to add "Congressional" but thought better of it:
"...Eisenhower’s speech has become known for that one phrase and much has been ascribed to it. But the speech reportedly went through at least 30 edits over almost 18 months and it changed as circumstances did.
Eisenhower was going to call this new animal the “military-industrial-congressional complex,” which most would agree today is a pretty accurate description of the system since it includes all the players. But the outgoing president, apparently worried about political blowback, deleted “congressional,” leaving us with the more sinister –and aurally compelling — term.
But the “complex” that Ike warned us about had yet to be established. Instead, his warning actually helped create the very system he warned against."
Foreign policy is complex. So many moving parts, so many threats real and potential to consider. We are in good hands with this administration, especially considering the dark forces aligned against democracies. The Biden administration is doing a first-rate job — far better than any others in years, regardless of party.
Just the fact that Biden pulled the US Military out of Afghanistan to give the poor civilian population a break from being bombed and shot is a big accomplishment. Yes.
Biden, in an attempt to not dismiss everything Trump had done, followed Trump’s Timetable and plan for pulling out of Afghanistan. Trump lied about what he had put in place and the Taliban lied about what they would when they took over. The pullout did not proceed as expected, and the Afghan people continue to suffer under the rule of extremists. Hind-sight is always 20-20, but it would appear many others could be held to account in this debacle, as well as, and in addition to Biden. By making your laser-focused criticism all about Biden, you diminish the true nature of the problems in that country and the region, which is the poster for “42 reasons to not allow religious extremists to rule a poor country”.
I agree that Biden is innocent of most of the issues in Afghanistan although he was Vice President for eight years under Obama when Obama actually ramped the human carnage in both Iraq and Afghanistan up.
... the true nature of the problems in that country and the region, which is the poster for “42 reasons to not allow religious extremists to rule a poor country”.
Though here in Germany, we are reeling from the uncovered putsch attempt by right extremists, it is really good to read this letter of good news. Thank you, Heather.
Rosalind, it was a very frightening event to hear about! Extremists seem to be everywhere. At least German intelligence fortunately thwarted their plans.
As our world shrinks, third world countries are finally breaking the clique-ish barriers of world alignment. The importance of world alignment will redefine political and economic discourse as geo-political tensions face challenges that the worlds people are beginning to awaken to. How we respond now as we begin to accept the utter waste of finite resources such as Putin’s Grab as being unacceptable will be the only opportunity to move forward from the Age of Enlightenment to the Age of Opportunity where we all matter. Power has led all ages of human political strife, defining who does and who does not. Political alliances will be cemented henceforth from aggregates, and those alliances comprised of all sizes will be the strongest.
Seems like months ago since we were discussing who would be speaker, but its only been a few days--was it really only last Tuesday that Warnock won?? Time flies.
CNN is finally reporting on the idea of Democrats working with a few Republicans to elect a moderate alternative to McCarthy. McCarthy seems ready to cave in to demands from his far right colleagues on rules changes and Committee assignments. If I was Hakeem Jeffries I would have a Repulican lined up and as many Dems as I could muster to vote for, for a first round knockout.
Georgia, it would be wonderful if there was a “bipartisan” ( I say that loosely.) collaboration for speaker. I heard a couple of weeks ago that the R’s were floating Newt Gingrich's name. I started shivering. Hakeem is quite the negotiator and I belive has the respect of both sides of the House. Surely he can help sway a few R’s in their votes. I absolutely abhor the thought of Qevin being given the gavel as much as I hold my nose that Gym Jordan will head the judiciary committee!
The problem is that it is a roll call vote. I think it would be much easier to get to a bipartisan compromise if it was by secret ballot so that there would be less fear of retribution among the Rs.
The other issue is that Jeffries is already hearing from the progressive wing that they won't vote for ANY R. "Jeffries or no one"I don't understand how any D could want life under McCarthy. This really is a case needing to accept the lesser evil of a moderate R. Just think of Jim Jordan as Speaker.
The only way Jeffries could be elected speaker is if the Rs miscount and too many don't show up to protest against McCarthy. If that did happen I am sure the Rs would take it to SCOTUS for a do-over and get it.
I agree! The Dems, however, have always been the compromising type so if enough R’s and D’s can come up with someone who appeals to them, then Qevin will be out. That would be my dream to see his tail go between his legs.
Thank you for bringing us up to date about AUKUS, Five Eyes, the Quad and the African American Union. These are topics not often covered in such depth. Biden’s experience and expertise in foreign affairs is definitely showing in how he’s maneuvering to make sure that the US is seen as an ally and global force for good.
Sorry, but the submarine contract hits me on a raw nerve, Francophile Australian citizen that I am. It happened on the watch of the Trumpian prime minister we've voted out, monumentally, this year. Everything was running normally, the preparations had been taking longer than expected because the Australian side kept changing their mind about nuclear or not, there was no budget blowout, Australian staff and their families had moved to France, French staff and families had moved to Adelaide, and a communiqué had gone to the French manufacturer confirming that the next stage could now proceed. Then Boris Johnson went into a huddle with Morrison and Biden, on the chilly beach in Cornwall, and talked them into "AUKUS", which was part of his personal rescue plan to show the British people how clever he was at patching the Brexit holes. Never mind that the UK has no vested interests in the Pacific - what's it got to do with Britain? I won't go into the embarrassing details of his visit to Washington, but in typical BoJo style he did his cultured English statesman act, and then slid out of sight. Macron was livid. When asked by a reporter if he thought Morrison had lied, he replied, "I don't think. I know." Morrison was not only obliterated in the election, he's now being investigated over an odd little manoeuvre a few months ago when he appointed himself to several ministries, without mentioning it to anyone. Well, Johnson has gone, Morrison has gone, we've got a good team in government at last, but no wonder the diplomatic honey is being spread around liberally. Sorry to hijack the topic, but I haven't really - and my blood boiled to see that Heather was quoting the wrong story.
Thank you so much for sharing your perspective and on the ground facts. It just shows that in spite of the immediacy and global reach of the internet there is a lot that is filtered by the choices of local media coverage.
Thank you for that perspective. I'm happy to see that, despite this 'slight', Macron is making friendship and an open mind with the U.S. as a priority. That's mature, classy, and oh so healthy for the world.
Still... we need to not be taking him for granted.
Absolutely.
Thanks Anne-Louise for the clarification. So interesting to learn the truth!
Thank you for this. I too was angry that my country (U.S.) moved in on France, but after reading this morning's newsletter and understanding that France's limits on nuclear power, it makes sense. Need to do research on the huddle at Cornwall.
All of this should remind US how fortunate we are to have a president with his eyes set on climate change and a world livable for all. The complexities would overwhelm a lesser person. His history and ability to surround himself with good and experienced people is a gift to all of US and us.
Amen!! I sick and tired of all the negative press he gets about his age. He has more experience and knowledge and capable people than many past presidents. We need to support him!
Thank goodness, at home, he had a smart wife who loves and supports him.
The Hill still reporting that most Dems do not want him to run again. My guess is they're behind on that. Many people have come around and are supporting him.
I actually believe his age is an advantage right now.
Absolutely!!!! He is truly a man among men.
He is just amazing. And so few know.
Amen!! 🤩🤩
It wasn't the US, it was Johnson. And he's got away with it. I can see them now (video), Jill Biden, and Carrie, newly minted wife of Johnson, playing with the toddler Wilfred on the beach, while the three men talked together, far from any microphones - out of sight of the other delegates.
Galilee See my extensive commentary on Aussie subs earlier today..
Trying to find it.
Thank you. Grateful for this picture you draw. But we do owe so much to France and I am grateful for that picture also. I keep thinking about the French Revolution and the Dreyfus Affair....can't help it.
Thanks, Kathy. Macron's rival, mentioned by Heather, never got over failing to win the presidential election - twice - and throughout the whole of Macron's mandate he's done everything he can to stir up trouble (weaponizing the "yellow vests" for example), in strenuous efforts to dislodge him. He sells himself as a hearty man of the people, all bushy grey hair and eyebrows, never mind all this elegance and good manners. I'll leave it at that, but Macron is young, strong, smart, and brave - and he actually cares about what he does and its effect.
Damn, losing political rivals doing everything they can to stir up trouble. Sounds like a Repub playbook.
Jeri Chilcutt "Damn, losing political rivals doing everything they can to stir up trouble. Sounds like a Repub playbook."
𝘋𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘙𝘦𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘒𝘢𝘳𝘪 𝘓𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘍𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘥𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘳.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/election-denier-kari-lake-sues-arizona-elections-officials/ar-AA156VY9?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=23e521d057714abb8cc5f6da446afb60
Of course she did. Let’s hope it gets thrown out of court.
Kathy Without the French, we would have lost the American Revolution. More recently the French have been somewhat prickly allies, especially during the de Gaulle years.
The American eagle doesn’t have smooth flying with French frogs or British lions. I do remember, after the U-2 incident prompted Khrushchev to explode at Ike when walking out of the Paris conference, de Gaulle walked over to Ike to tell him that Ike could count on him 100%.
Ditto with the Cuban missile crisis. I believe that it was Dean Acheson who personally took U-2 photos to de Gaulle. De Gaulle said ‘I don’t need to see these. Tell President Kennedy that I support him 100%.
Quite different than during WW II when Churchill referred to a cantankerous de Gaulle as his ‘cross of Lorraine.’ Ike also had galling experiences with de Gaulle, but nothing like Macron faced with Trump.
Thank you for this clarifying post. I am not up at all on the ins and outs of this sort of maneuvering. That Boris Johnson was the main actor does not surprise me at all. I am glad to see him and your former PM gone.
Oh, so are we!
and the Truss-er, too
Correct, the UK has no vested interests in the Pacific. Canada, however, does and I'm mystified as to why we were left out of AUKUS.
Ask that master strategist Boris Johnson. He ignored New Zealand, too. And Scott Morrison who doesn't have two brains to rub together was only concerned with self-aggrandizement.
It is my understanding that the petroleum giant BP is head quartered in London. As the Pacific is the gateway to the Arctic oil fields it would seem there is a vested interest in the pacific theater albeit in northern latitudes. China, Russia, the U.S., and the Uk have a keen interest in where global warming may take maritime shipping routes, especially as pertains to a possible northern route. Submarine fleets are no doubt an important consideration in maintaining control. Having lived and worked in Prudhoe Bay this isn’t science fiction rather jockeying by nations anteing up and holding hands at the table. The British company, British Petroleum, controls the Prudhoe Bay venture. Japan, Korea, and Australia are all players as well. As are Canada, Iceland and Greenland.
Crucial pieces to this puzzle... thank you, Pat!
Australia doesn't need subs north of the tropic of Cancer.
When I was stationed at NSA in 1966, there were classified documents that said CANUKUS EYES ONLY. At that time Hong Kong was still British and of course our Atlantic Alliance from WWII.
I also found it amusing that papers from GCHQ had those red sealing wax stamps from centuries past with their emblem pressed into it. It was a different era.
Anne-Louise, there are many Brexit holes that cannot be plugged certainly not by any Tory government past or present but, shifting to the technical side of nuclear sub systems that are vulnerable in 2022 into the next decades to space, surface & subsurface defenses are you aware of any public sources accurately evaluating Russian, US, French or other countries systems? Per defensenews.com, the 1st of 4 third generation FRENCH nuclear powered subs will not be delivered until 2035. The national costs are in the billions.
No, Bryan, I'd have to do a lot of internet trawling - I'm a music historian! I can offer this - and Caleb Larson would appear to have some good information : "https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/france%E2%80%99s-new-nuclear-attack-submarines-are-killers-186433" You have to leap over some large ads, but keep scrolling. And this, from Reuters:
"French officials have not disputed that there were difficulties, as there might be with any big contract, but said Canberra never suggested it wanted nuclear propulsion, even when Paris brought up the subject. Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian last week called the cancellation "a stab in the back."
"On the same day as the #AUKUS announcement, the Australians wrote to France to say that they were satisfied with the submarine's achievable performance and with the progress of the program. In short: forward to launching the next phase of the contract," France's Armed Forces Ministry spokesman Herve Grandjean said on Twitter on Tuesday.
An official from the French Embassy in Canberra told Reuters on Tuesday that an intergovernmental agreement should have allowed for confidential discussions between ministers about changes to political or strategic circumstances.
"No warning, no proposals for discussion were offered," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Thank you! "Political, strategic & propulsion matters noted. Thank you for the Learning Link as well.
On 'Music Historian Subject re World Musical History & Insruments: The "MIM" museum on the north side of Phoenix, AZ covers all continents & all musical eras. Also, Fascinating historical details on AZ musicians from the recording studio of Duane Eddy to Linda Ronstadt's Father's early musical history in Tuscon. African drums, US Jazz, a gigantic Wulitzer for kids & a magnificent Steinway are all there to enjoy.
Upon admission you are issued earphones. All you have to do is to walk up to an exhibit and tasty riffs play in your ears automaticaly. :)
MIM ... so great to know about!! LOVE AZ!! Thank you, Bryan!!
Wow 🤩 today’s letter/comments is a gold mine of information. 🙏🏼
🙏
Sounnds great (no pun intended)! The Musée de la musique in Paris has a similar audio arrangement. Magic!
Thanks, Anne-Louise! Appreciate your 'internet trawling' <-- term of the day!! :D
Can't find the toddler-on-beach picture, but here's an extract from Australian ABC news. Mentioned elsewhere but not here: unusually, no video cameras were allowed inside the meeting.
Boris Johnson joins Scott Morrison's first meeting with US President Joe Biden at G7 summit
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It was widely thought Scott Morrison's first meeting with US President Joe Biden would be a bilateral encounter, as is usual on the sidelines of a leaders' summit.
But instead, unexpectedly and unusually, the Prime Minister’s anticipated one on one with the US leader became a three-man affair.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson turned up too.
Mr Morrison said it was a "unique opportunity" and a "mutual" decision.
Nevertheless, it marked Mr Morrison’s first encounter with the new US President and an opportunity to reset the alliance and relationship in a post-Trump world.
"Australia has no greater friends than the United States and the United Kingdom, and we've been working together on our respective security issues for a very long time,” Mr Morrison said after the encounter that lasted for 40 minutes.
Mr Morrison was invited as a guest to the G7 summit in Cornwall.(Supplied: Australian Government)
But while united with Australia on countering China, Mr Biden does not agree with Canberra's approach to climate change and is demanding a firm commitment to the 2050 target for zero net emissions. Mr Johnson has pressured the Australian leader on that front too; However, Mr Morrison said the topic was not raised during the three-way talks.
And this is from the Financial Review, months later:
When British Prime Minister Boris Johnson “gatecrashed” a planned one-on-one meeting between Scott Morrison and US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Cornwall in June, there was a pile-on from Labor and Morrison’s many other detractors.
The optics of Johnson being added at the last minute to what was expected to be the first bilateral meeting between Morrison and Biden was widely interpreted as a Biden snub because Morrison had been too close to Donald Trump and because Australia was a laggard on climate change.
After announcing on Thursday one of the biggest decisions by an Australian government in decades – a new trilateral regional security alliance, AUKUS, underpinned by a decision to develop eight nuclear-powered submarines as the first instalment of a regional arms race – Morrison said the Cornwall meeting was “probably the most important trilateral meeting Australia has had for the past 70 years”.
It was where the leaders agreed in principle to AUKUS.
Wow. Thanks, Anne-Louise. And... what about Canada being included as one of Australia's greatest allies?? Welcome to a post-cheeto - post-Morrison - post-BoJo world!! (BoJo!! Love it!! Hahahaha)
Anne-Louise I have posted more on the sub situation. Frankly whether the Aussies would get a French diesel sub by around 2030 or get a nuclear sub from the US/UK about 2040 while they have 6 creaky Collins subs in the meantime smacks of military irreverence.
Exactly - and diesel wasn't what the French were proposing in the first place. The French knew what they were doing, the Australians didn't. In the end the customer is always right, even if they're wrong.
Diesel Subs & Collins Subs are way too loud ... LOUD ... LOUD! subsurface.
Bryan Diesel subs should be in a naval museum. I was on a French sub at the Philly naval yRD DUEING WW II. Stank, extremely uncomfortable, and dangerous. Watch movie DAS BOAT. Why any major power would want diesel subs today, much less through 2030, leaves me gobsmacked.
Danke. Watched Das Boot many times & retain a CD copy. Satellites are capable of monitoring water displacement of Subs with powerful thrust from the screws.
❗️❗️❗️
Thanks, Anne-Louise.
Thank you for this. Need to hear it.
We just get an overview from these brief daily letters, but it is rare (and refreshing) to see these topics covered at all. I don't think I have previously encountered the alliances you mentioned above.
And I second the depth of this writing today. In particular, all the different parts of Macron's visit define the alliance between our countries in the delicate balance Biden supports with his expertise in global affairs. Listening to "La Marseillaise" amid the pageantry of the formal speeches was almost the same as listening to the words Heather uses : ".....the idea that people have the right to consent to the government under which they live". Ahhhh......history, history, history.
When I was working in COMINT (Communications Intelligence) in the early 1960s, I was aware of the Five Eyes arrangement. What was ‘fuzzy’ was how this related to American COMINT intercepts involving British Commonwealth countries. My lips remain sealed under a secrecy agreement. Relationships between ‘friendly’ intelligence agencies have not always been straight forward.
I was always tempted to pick up the red telephone in my helicopter and pass myself off as Ho. Looking back I wish I had. “ Uh, mistah plesident my name Ho Che Minh. How you been? Not well I hope.” Just for amusement, Keith. Do you think Nixon would have found that funny.
Pat I doubt that Tricky Dick would have responded Ho Ho Ho.
You remind me of one of my COMINT experiences. I had been reading the intercepts of a ‘baddie’ who was in Stanleyville as a diplomatic rep to the Congolese rebel government. Later he was transferred to Leopoldville, where he became my tennis doubles partner. I was sorely tempted to ask him a few delicate questions, but secrecy prevailed.
🤣🤣🤣 That’s one for Trump, who wouldn’t have recognized the name.
Had Trump been in office Virginia, I would have begged to be sent to Hawaii to recuperate from my bone spurs.
Pat And in Hawaii you could have looked for Obama’s birth certificate.
You guys are cracking me up. I realize now how lucky I am to have been drafted in his place. I should send him a campaign contribution as I hear he is running for conductor of the Rock Island line up.
AUKUS ( minus the Brits), Five Eyes, and perhaps the Quad — all an attempt to rebuild what would have already been in place (including Canada) had Obama’s TPP not been torpedoed.
Ah, TPP. There is that piece of the story .
Until 1960, I think, I could identify every independent nation on Earth, and knew their capitals, and in almost all cases could identify their flags. The. France declared more than a dozen of its colonies in Africa independent, and I haven’t caught up since. So now with AUKUS (awkward), it’s clear that I’ve lost the battle of the acronyms, too.
AUKUS is a rift on 'caucus'. Someone thought it was clever.
Jon I believe that there are over 50 African countries today. When I first went to Anglo-Egyptian Sudan in 1954, there was only 1 (Ethiopia). It’s even more confusing, as some African countries have changed their names or splintered.
Now I wonder if any American states may change their names.
Biden is busy building bridges, of all sorts and for the good of the planet!
I didn't know a lot of this. Contrasting to former guy's and supporters "America first." So how do we get across to average Americans why this is so important?
Reading George Lakoff’s book Moral Politics has helped me to meet my conservative friends on our areas of agreement.
I will look for it.
I agree with you Mary.
The strategic acumen and intelligence at work in the Biden administration, deftly applied to international relations for the good of the nation and indeed the safety and well being of the entire world, is wonderful to behold. The contrast with the brash, destructive incompetence of the previous administration in this arena is breathtaking!
Good consider, Ed! Biden is masterful, bringing Africa to the table is a beautiful thing.
Not perfect, but still breathtaking especially in comparison to Trumpian idiocy. I still remember Trump's remark about African countries being shithole countries.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-referred-haiti-african-countries-shithole-nations-n836946
My take on reading that only South Africa had been included is that racism is at play as it always has been when dealing with Africa. I hope that they will be included this time. I was a Peace Corps volunteer for thee years in Sierra Leone and in a study abroad program at Fourah Bay College for six months before that. I remember meeting some Americans in Freetown who had the same type of hubris and basically had the idea that we were living in some kind of end of the world uncivilized place. Of course, this was also the British mantra all over the world as they were bringing all these places up to being able to govern themselves...you know, The White Man's Burden. Never mind, that all these places had been doing just fine until Europeans showed up. So many of the world's problems today go back to this.
Only South Africa included in what? I am confused.
The G-20.
Mr. DeMeo, that was my first impression. It's as if an adult has walked into a room full of pre schoolers having a food fight.
Yes! United States of America is fully participating in the World. It’s not just politics. It’s acknowledging our connections, how decisions of one country affect all others. A stark contrast to the chaotic previous four years. Even more than rebuilding, it’s responsibility. My hope is that climate change policies and collaboration are enough of a world priority that we see productive change before it’s too late.
It's wonderful!! So valuable until another administration takes over, changes everything again, and everyone learns - again - that we aren't to be trusted. We MUST find a way to stop that from happening! It IS our history... :-(
Agreed. I was in awe as I read today's letter.
"The contrast with the brash, destructive incompetence of the previous administration in this arena is breathtaking!" I could not have said it better Ed. Today's letter has allowed a calmness to come over my body that has not been there for a long time. Despite what many of my friends say, we are in the best of hands with the present administration! I thank Dr. Richardson for bringing this to our attention. I only wish this were headlines in All sorts of media instead of that T guy and what he's coming up with next as a distraction.
Competency not just applied to international relations but on every single level! A bull in the china shop with gasoline and matches....
MANOHMANOHMAN Anyone who does not see and appreciate all that President Biden has been doing for the U.S. and the world is, in my dad's words, ¨a numbskull¨.
Gailee,
We know 73 million of them do we not?
:-)
Yes we do, many in Texas, where propaganda is the norm…
Like you already know, I grew up in Texas and went to Tesas A&M. Every day I read the school paper which featured George Will and William F Buckley exclusively as the opinion writers. Never a student opinion.
So? I voted for Reagan against the last excellent President, Jimmmy Carter. A travesty that I still feel ashamed about.
We only know what we know. We know what we are taught. Learning takes work. Belief (which is easier) takes over for learning.
Hey Mike. We all do the best we can in each moment 😉
Nothing to be ashamed of. Propaganda is powerful. I am still angry that FOX is being piped into our military bases! Crazy!
that IS crazy!
Mike, you may now step away from the ass-kicking machine. You have since redeemed yourself in my eyes
I'll go you one better in the "ashamed" department...the very first time I voted, it was for Nixon. Wow...did I learn MY lesson!
The same here.😔 My husband told me since he was military, we should vote Republican. It was 1972, when the voting age was lowered to 18. I had just turned 20 & he had just turned 21. We didn't have a clue.
Oh, my, Bruce!
Suz-an,
Well, thank you for being happy I am on the board. Not everyone is.
:-)
Suz-an,
If you son voted good for him because this year? A&M moved the voting from the Student Center on campus to downtown Bryan, Texas SEVEN miles away.
Specifically to minimize the votes of college students.
They are everywhere…
"The number of registered voters for the Republican Party is approximately 38.8 million." World Population Review 2022
And some fun data. (If you like that sort of thing--I do).
https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/number-of-registered-voters-by-state#:~:text=79.98%25-,Number%20of%20Registered%20Voters%20by%20State%202022,-Voter%20registration%20requires
And
What percentage of the US population is Republican?
A total of 36.4 million registered voters identified themselves as Republicans, representing 29.2% of registered voters in these states. Approximately 38.8 million registered voters identified themselves as independents or members of third-parties.
Partisan affiliations of registered voters - Ballotpedia Ballotpedia.org/Partisan_affiliations_of_registered_voters
Hard to know where to slot this into the dialogue, but it's something I wanted to point out that is sort of related to the above. I opined this point in the comments section of the NYT a few days ago. After the runoff election in Georgia, I kept reading people's outrage that "48-point-whatever-% of Georgians STILL voted for/supported Walker". Now I know my state has a LOT to answer for in some things, but this is simply not true. Walker got 1.7 million votes. Warnock got 1.8 million. There are over 11 million residents in Georgia. Estimates I saw in the AJC recently said 3.5 million eligible voters in the state simply did not vote. Do the math. To say that 48-point-some-odd-% of 11 million residents were "for" Walker is WAY off the mark. Neither candidate received what one could call a "ringing endorsement" from an overwhelming majority of the state's residents. This voter apathy, especially among the 32% of our population that is African-American, is what people like Stacey Abrams recognize and have been trying to address. Yes, there are a lot of ignorant knuckle-dragging rubes in this state, but I find it a huge mistake to assert that almost half of the state's population (that'd be 5-point-something million) were in favor of Walker. A corrected statement would be "48.something% of the people that bothered to vote, voted for Walker..." The runoff, as was predicted, came down to questions of turnout. That around half of the state's eligible voters actually got out to vote, while an improvement over races in the past, is nevertheless still pretty bad. We're still a pretty red state--all the top government officials, from the governor all the way down to insurance commissioner, are all Republican, as is our state legislature. I remain convinced that if EVERY eligible voter in this state actually voted, we'd probably be looking at a very different scenario here. It echoes what is said above that half or sometimes even smaller percentages of active voters are the ones actually deciding who holds power. It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking, as in the case here, that nearly 50% of this state were dumb enough to vote for Walker, when in actuality it was, more or less, a quarter of the total electorate. That's still a lot, but HALF of our state??? Nope. Republicans love to give the impression that there's more of them than there actually are--"the squeakiest wheels, always get the most grease", y'know.
Bruce, thank you for a more accurate picture of the number of eligible voters that actually turned out to vote in Georgia's runoff election for senator.
The issue of how many Americans don't vote and why is related to our concerns about democracy in the country. How may laws restricting access to voting effect voting participation?
'Turnout in U.S. has soared in recent elections but by some measures still trails that of many other countries'
'Voter turnout in the 2020 U.S. general election soared to levels not seen in decades, fueled by the bitter campaign between Joe Biden and Donald Trump and facilitated by pandemic-related changes to state election rules. More than 158.4 million people voted in that election, according to a Pew Research Center tabulation of official state returns, amounting to 62.8% of people of voting age, using Census Bureau estimates of the 2020 voting-age population.'
'The 2020 voting surge followed unusually high turnout in the 2018 midterm elections, when about 47.5% of the voting-age population – and 51.8% of voting-age citizens – went to the polls.'
'This year, some political analysts are predicting another heavy turnout in this month’s midterms. According to a recent Center survey, 72% of registered voters say they’re “extremely” or “very” motivated to vote this year, and 65% say it “really matters” which party wins control of Congress – a level roughly on par with the run-up to the 2018 vote.' (PewResearchCenter)
Surge or not, voting in 'the land of the free and home of the brave' is mighty low!
Bruce,
Dang, redeeming your state by noting that almost nobody votes?
May not be a good method.
LOL! Not exactly redeeming...more a case of, "Well, at least we're not THAT bad as to be a place with so much support for Walker!"
I looked up the part you left out. Balletopedia also reports 48 million registered voters in these areas identified themselves as Democrats. At 38.78%, Democrats represented the single largest share of registered voters in the states that report party affiliations.
Yep. I just gave some brief examples to counter the prevailing popular myth that Republicans are this massive, teeming voting block. They just seem so massive due to being so darn loud and scary.
Rick Wilson said it best. "There are more of us than them. And we will win."
I use this to sustain myself in the darkest of times.
loud, scary and gerrymandered.
Not exactly a huge majority of folks is it?
But, they sure are loud. Deafening some days.
Yes they are. And the media makes sure to give them the biggest microphones.
Thank you, Barbara ... it's always nice sprinkle in some actual numbers and facts. Better place to start than listening only to opinions and judgments based on agendas.
Indeed we do, Mike.
Reading a Louise Penny mystery for a time-out from reality. The eccentric poet, Ruth, refers to the second in command at the Quebec Surete as a numbskull. So that's currently my go-to phrase when someone cuts me off in traffic.
Love love love the Louise Penny series!
🥰🥰🥰
I have to latch onto that word and use it more often than what usually comes out of my mouth. It reminds me of the old "Bowery Boys" but it now has such a valid meaning.
Thank your Dad, Gailee, for reminding me of it.
My dad's strongest swear word was ´horse feathers¨.
I would say Uninformed
President Biden and his appointed leaders in foreign affairs have been doing a wonderful job restoring and elevating US foreign relations. Even so, the United States lags behind other countries. There has always been a lack of cultural sensitivity and expertise that leads to the sobriquet of the "ugly American".
I personally speak about Africa and SE Asia. I was in Uganda in the Peace Corps from 1968-1972 thru the Idi Amin coup. I now am retired living in Bali, Indonesia. United States foreign policy in SE Asia and Africa has been never been what you might call leading edge. In the case of Vietnam, truly a disaster. And there is the US interference in Indonesian politics leading to the Suharto government.
We can be dismissive of some of the "ugly Chinese" foreign investments and policies, but the size of the investments and projects dwarfs anything from the United States. For instance, the Chinese and Japanese are helping with construction of high speed rail. The high speed rail will be a $90+ billion investment. And the high speed rail is nothing the United States can even do since there is no high speed rail in the United States (so sad). The high speed rail on the island of Java should transform the island into an economic powerhouse when it is completed.
From the ground up, the United States could learn more from programs like Reach Uganda: https://reachforuganda.org/ Reach for Uganda has grown over the past 20 years into a substantive model for Uganda and maybe beyond. Kudos to Richard and Carol Burke with whom I served in the Peace Corps in Uganda for the years long effort that has established a sustained program important to people in Eastern Uganda. Reach for Uganda deserves all the accolades it receives.
The United States does not demonstrably prove that it is capable of the programs and investments the Chinese, Japanese and other Asian nations make in SE Asia or Africa. Time for the United States to leave behind the broadway Rogers and Hammerstein "South Pacific Bali Ha'i" understanding of other countries on all continents. Substantive investment projects are needed in Africa and SE Asia. At the local level programs that actually perform like Reach for Uganda are more what the programs should do. Less push on American ideals and values wouldn't hurt either. Those ideals and values will come naturally after showing American foreign policy, investment, and local efforts can walk the walk.
BUT, the Biden administration has definitely put their feet down in the right directions. Something that hasn't happened in ANY other previous administration. Let's hope the forward momentum and development of foreign policy, investment and local efforts expands and grows up.
Thank you very much for your service in the Peace Corps and for the insights and wisdom it gave you, and now us. I served in the National Health Service Corps in Appalachia - a remarkable experience - and I support expansion of both programs. Maybe when someone finds the missing $billions in the military budget it can instead be used for peace, health and democracy.
Amen!’
Thank you for sharing this information and your life history. I do think the US is making great strides under the Biden administration but agree we have quite a ways to go. The Peace Corps was established by JFK in 1961 which you already knew. I feel that was one of our smartest investment projects. The fact that it still exists after 61 years, is remarkable. Thank you for your service.
"Less push on American ideals and values wouldn't hurt either. Those ideals and values will come naturally after showing American foreign policy, investment, and local efforts can walk the walk." YES!!
GOOD one.
Stephen,
"The United States does not demonstrably prove that it is capable of the programs and investments the Chinese, Japanese and other Asian nations make in SE Asia or Africa."
Correct. While we were busy carpet bombing the poor folks of Afghanistan and Iraq, China was quietly moving to support infrastructure projects world wide.
China has built, quietly and without a shot fired, friends all over the world where they are building infrastructure.
Rather than wasting all of Chinese manpower and brains on weapons and war, like the US has done, China is building real partnerships and friends world wide.
Without killing a single innocent person walking their kid to school.
TWENTY YEARS of our "foreign policy" was just bombing a bunch of innocent civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Just look at pictures of Mosul BEFORE America and AFTER America. Heartbreaking.
Amazingly stupid. Beyond amazingly stupid.
Maybe Biden can turn the stupid train. He pulled us out of Afghanistan (and then let the folks there starve last winter).
I have my doubts.
Yes! And China has been quietly and strategically building in-roads, literally and figuratively on the African continent for the past decade. The US is prob too little too late. Additionally, all the west knows how to do is strip mine and undermine when we enter other emerging countries/continents. We don’t even know how to treat and care for our own poor--and I’m serious here, we can’t export what we don’t even grow in our own country, in this instant I’m speaking of all forms of investment. It might be a good thing for things to balance out across the globe and the US might stop acting like and treating it’s citizens like a playground for the rich and an experiment in race for the bottom because intelligence is difficult to low-key control. I’m on a tangent, however our macro-culture on down can be quiet painful and hard to behold.
Growing pains, we’re like the child-star who got fame and fortune so early s/he never had time to figure out how to act with such riches!
Having lived for extended periods in both China and South Africa, I sadly agree with your remarks. Our (US) intentions have certainly improved, but we have a ways to go to dispel the “Ugly American” image. Nevertheless, I believe that Biden’s African geo-political goals are genuine.
I’m optimistic about our (US) prospects, domestic and internationally, for the long game. I’m also aware that by long game, I’m speaking about my grandchildren or great grandchildren’s world. The reality is we still have some past ugliness to resolve from our great/grandparents eras to resolve and we are living this right now. Biden knows this too, which is the reason he referred to himself as a potential “bridging” presence during his candidacy. I have a deep and abiding respect for this man; he was satisfied with what he attained with Barack, he had no desire to run after that--and he is an example of the era of the statesman. He knew what was best for the country and set his personal desires (and retirement) aside to answer that call.
The reality is my gen (gen x), boomers, and the greatest gens need to die off. Entire past ideologies and connections will fall off with us. I do have faith and optimism in the younger generations because they have a deeper understanding in the urgency of now, and the dire straits awaiting them, and most importantly, they will understand how problems are always simply waiting for their sister solution(s).
Beautifully said, Marguerite. I must agree with you on all points. Also a boomer gramma, i dearly hope that our grandchildren and their children and grandchildren will be able to pick up, rearrange the pieces and do what's best for all. Heal wounds and messes they didn't create and find creative ways to those sister solutions. Youngest members of Congress give me lots of hope!!
@Suz-an, I love how you expressed, “heal wounds and messes they didn’t create...” maybe, like Biden, boomers and their progeny x-es are simply bridging generations to get us to critical mass numbers for cultural growth. We did some good things but, my --what generations of toxicity and damage we had to assess and manage. What to keep...what to throw away :-) what to heal. xxo
Gotta turn the ship of state around... and we've been going in a detrimental direction for a while. It's a start!
NOT a tangent, Marguerite!! Central and fundamental to our dysfunction. You are spot ON. Thanks for sharing your wisdom.
At least he tries
Yes, he is doing what he can. But, compared to the massive effort to reach out that China is doing? It is a drop in a big lake.
What do you suggest is the best way to deal with the situation?
Meredith,
Good question.
1. Begin developing multilingual statespeople and priotizing that skill.
2. Begin deploying them at American embassies.
3. Assign them to make proposals on infrastructure projects and human need projects and propose them to the State Department.
4. Take the best proposals through a short review process and take the top 10 and implement them.
Yes
I agree with much of what you say. The Chinese do have their shortcomings. Their financing of projects comes with heavy consequences. They essentially buy the property and project. Some countries have cancelled the projects. The Chinese think they own the places they build.
Shock and Awe is over now. Biden is trying to move on. Let’s help him.
TWENTY years of shock and awe. And hundreds of thousands of dead, innocent humans. Millions of refugees.
Yes, some of the relationships are fraught. But, I would not expect anything less where two cultures come together to try to do something.
But, a fraught peaceful relationship that is attempting to do positive work (although, some of the infrastructure projects, like all infraastructure projects, do extreme environmental damage) is better than any anything the US has offered in the last 60 years.
US Foreign Policy can be summed up: Shock and Awe.
Who wants that?
US foreign policy has been foreign to US Interests. Ill conceived, considered, and executed.
Yes. That is the only word to say.
“Ugly American”, a sobriquet that aptly describes deplorables? Albeit, there were millions more than a basketful in the 2016 & 2020 POTUS elections. I’m still grieving the loss of my naive view of “Americans”. I used to feel surrounded by love and good will in a room full of strangers. Now I am untrusting of the good will of others in so many public places. MAGAS peeled back the skin to reveal the rot.
Today I am so very grateful for Heather and so many of the commenters here for the extraordinary information they have shared which I have missed from our national news.
I am even more grateful for the 81,283,501 who made sure their vote was counted to seat Joseph R Biden in our Oval Office for 4 years in 2020. 🙏🙏
Thanks for your perspective and insight on this.
He's a wise man. Wise and shrewd.
Great post. Thank you.
Perhaps if we put our resources into these kinds of projects instead of the MIC... it could help? Evidently, that's what these other countries are doing.
Thank you so much for this informative piece, Stephen. And thank you for being a part of the building (instead of fighting) processes.
Grateful to hear from so many people here who have firsthand knowledge and experience in various projects around the world. Astonishing to read these comments today.
The comments have been amazing.
Today's letter has me very hopeful that the US is repairing the Trump foreign policy disasters and some of Biden's misteps as well. America needs to coounteract China's inflence in the Indo Pacific and in Africa as well as Russia's influence in Africa through the Wagner Group providing "security" forces in several African counties. Many of theses countries in the emerging markets areas of the world have been leaning more towards authoritarianism and having worsening ethnic divisions. They are also facing the most damage from global warming and are undergoing the beginnings of the largest and most rapid demographic migrations due to food and water insecurity and excessive heat that the world has ever seen.
These are the places where there will be the most risk of human suffering, the most potential for economic development, and the highest risk of conflict all at once.
Today’s letter well illustrates the enormity, the complexity, of the job of the President of the United States. Joe Biden demonstrates once again he’s probably the sharpest tack in Washington at the moment. The front of a doddering, stuttering old man is just that; a front that lets Biden get out in front of his opponents.
Imagine Ron DeSantis, Ted Cruz, or any other Republican pretender to the presidency summarizing the details of US foreign policy in the western Pacific region as HCR has this morning ing in describing President Biden’s various foreign policy initiatives.
The thought makes me laugh too.
Beautifully expressed, Ralph. President Biden is very well-versed in world affairs and diplomacy, more so than is actually acknowledged.
Perfect, Ralph!
Excellent letter showing us how President Biden is bringing the world together in both military and economic alliances. Thank you for showing us the global interconnections. Impressive.
Yikes Heather. Do I really have to learn all those new acronyms? What an amazing trove of knowledge you've imparted on an area of the world that doesn't get a lot of attention but certainly deserves it. Nice to know that the Biden administration is doing such a comprehensive, total approach to touching all the bases around the globe. It will pay off, especially with those students who have will be studying in our country. The future is with education and youth. Bravo Joe and your State Department.
Damn, I thought NASA was the acronym champ. He will do what he can, but like previous commenter said, political losers will do anything they can to stir up trouble, especially the isolationist arses In This country…
Acronyms do to the flow of prose what a dead cow does to the flow of a stream. They should be used as sparingly as possible, except for those that are in common parlance, like NASA, MPG, and DNA.
Thanks for this summary. Now please research and comment regarding investigations into the U.S. Pentagon's recent failed audit, its fifth failed audit in a row. In fiscal year 2022, the Department of Defense (DOD) had $1.64 Trillion distributed among its 6 sub-components. But each year hundreds of billions are virtually unaccounted for. The hawks are in charge of the coop without any demonstrable oversight or accountability.
Therein lies the largest crime of the century.
Hundreds of billions could be put to good use, so where does it go? Can it be that there is no recorded chain of custody? Do you have a link or two for a good overview?
When I first heard this I almost screamed! Where in the bloody Hell did that amount of money go? One would think the MSM would be all over this or maybe I just missed the reporting of it?
The lack of reporting on this is generally owed to four reasons: 1) The dearth of investigative reporters. Over the decades, media organizations gutted actual in-depth investigative reporting because it is viewed as "not profitable." The replacements? Cut and pasters, commentators, and influencers. 2) The Pentagon has walls behind walls behind dead-end walls like nowhere else on earth. Donald Trump may not be able to legally slap "Classified" and "Top Secret" on any government document he chooses, but the Pentagon sure can. 3) The last people one wants to piss off--along with local gangs, Russian mafia, and the IRS--are the Pentagon entities. As J. Edgar Hoover amply demonstrated, they can make life a living hell for "troublemakers." 4) Political inquiries don't go far enough because, Hey, who's not for "National Defense"? Given the choice between fiscal and ethical integrity and office-holding power, those who should be demanding accountability continually and cravenly keep their mouths shut.
"Japan, too, worries about the power of China"
I don't begin to understand the nuances of international trade, but it seems to me that China might not now be quite so worrisome to so many had the US had not so eagerly transferred tons manufacturing technology and capacity to China. Good for Biden for trying to encourage more US manufacturing. Too bad it's so late in the game.
JL,
"had the US had not so eagerly transferred tons manufacturing technology and capacity to China"
That is the heart of it, is it not? From the late 1980's, starting with Jack Welch's destruction of GE, and continuing until today, every single American corporation recognized they could move their manufacturing work to China and pay slave wages while the Chinese worked slave hours AND while white, male, American managers could collect historically gigantic bonuses.
US Foreign Policy? Had nothing to do with China's rise to power. The fact that China reverse engineered everything that was being manufactured by American corporations and now sells their own version?
THAT is what built China.
By the way, those corporations are not going anywhere. Apple? Still has FoxConn building everything for them ($17 per day is what Chinese people get for their 12 hour day).
Yep. Foreign Policy is one thing. But, BONUS policy is the real thing.
Weren’t there problem’s at the FoxConn factories recently? I saw mention of it, then nothing.
Meredith,
FoxConn has fences around their manufacturing facility so nobody can escape. They also have catch nets outside the dormitories to prevent suicides.
Those factories are hell.
That is so effed up!
FOXCONN was going to the big return of manufacturing for Wisconsin. Amountedto nothing. Heavy incentives from state government, imminent domain land acquisitions, promises to UW, but investing in high speed rail was a non-no..
Yes but all good now. 🙄
Totally agreed, but THAT is ultimately a result of US law and policy. It's not like the structure of the physical universe makes it impossible to hold US companies accountable, and is not US law (theoretically) of, by and for "the people"? Corporations take actions (such as elaborate tax dodges) and everybody pretends it's as immutable as the speed of light, but no, it's US law. When law and those entrusted to craft, interpret, and apply law act to advance a self-serving agendas at the expense of the common weal, is that not classic corruption? But we seem to take corruption of granted, as inevitable, as the nature of the beast. In addition to dodging US labor laws (at home and abroad) ever larger and more powerful corporations also dodge taxation and environmental law. Their stooges foisted on the Supreme Court expand corporate prerogatives while reducing their responsibilities. It's corruption on a RICO scale.
During the Subprime Crash, Obama's AG said " I am concerned that the size of some of these institutions becomes so large that ... if you do prosecute, if you do bring a criminal charge, it will have a negative impact on the national economy, perhaps even the world economy." From this I infer that some of these companies have become too "large"; but the government's remedy was to restore their fortunes without fundamental conduct requirements on the part of the recipients (including bonuses for the bankrupt) and made "so large" even larger. To this day the largest of corporations continue to agglomerate into unaccountable financial black holes under administrations by either party, with Biden chipping away more than most, but very much outgunned. Except that things can change, and fast, on those occasions when the public decides to focus.
Yup!
That "transfer" is just one more example of how this country is run by oligarchs. Profits over people all day long, every day. American jobs that never happened because shareholders are valued over workers. It is a structural spiral dive into national poverty and dependence on rival nations for the basics of life. This "transfer" is one of the most stupid and blatant examples of unregulated capitalism undermining the very foundations of a democracy and the welfare of it's inhabitants.
People could afford to buy Apple phones if they were made here. They would just be much more expensive. Folks just wouldn't buy a new one every year or two. So what? Our society might have been less casually disposable as a result. And there are plenty of fine Android based phones at a tiny fraction of the famous fruit phone. And that fry pan at Walmart that's $9.99 - maybe we would treat it better if it were $25.99.
And of course, all that ties back to wages that haven't budged in decades. There is a loop of a "con" here. Keep wages low so that the working class consumer becomes dependent upon Walmart prices which justifies making the junk using cheap overseas labor - and who gets rich? Pretty good scheme if you are of the shareholding class or better yet, one of the oligarchs who orchestrates all this and enjoys his yacht in the Virgin Islands.
We have seen the enemy and it is us. We let the nobles rule the peasants.
"People could afford to buy Apple phones if they were made here. They would just be much more expensive."
My brother-in-law still likes his old iPhone but the battery died. I strapped a flat, compact external battery to it and he still uses it. Maybe people could afford iPhones if you could easily change the battery (what I have repeatedly read in the press that making the battery accessible would destroy the phone's water resistance is complete crap). Last I heard, Apple modified the circuitry so that even if you manage to replace the battery with an OEM Apple battery, the software won't let you use it. What's is the long term cost to the consumer and the planet when phones are made to be throw away? What is the cost to US worker-consumers when jobs are exported and wages suppressed? Who gains and who loses? What are the impacts on our rapidly deteriorating environment? Or upon our fortunes as a nation? Upon, as the Preamble says, "our Posterity"?
From what I understand, the rise of Chinese manufacturing capacity was largely enabled by investors from Taiwan (roughly $1 Trillion to date), followed closely by Japan and the US.
As far as new technologies go, one indicator I use is the number and quality of research papers on subjects I know a bit about (e.g. vaccinations) coming out a a country/region. The number of research papers from China (pop. ~1 billion) on vaccinations equals that of Denmark (pop. ~5 million). It is small wonder their COVID-19 vaccine does not work so well (hence all the lock-downs). The point is China's economic success is due mainly to perspiration (of a large group of hard-working people who work cheap) rather than innovation. That's why they have to steal the intellectual property of others, and why the rest of the world will stay a step ahead of them.
For now. I am under the impression that China is putting money into educating it's population, at least educating them about some things. It seems like Republicans starve education. Ignorance is supposed to be strength.
There is always new technology.
Think you are correct Georgia; new technology must be viable in 2022, 2030's, ( in 2035 for French new nuclear subs) 2040's & going forward.
Not only the US.
In other words, the Biden administration is working to strengthen US relations and alliances with all nations that share our interest in peace, security and democracy in contrast to US politicians and administrations that have preferred unilateral go it alone policies or cozing up to authoritarian actors.
David,
China is also working to strengthen Chinese relations and alliances with all nations that share their own interest in peace and security.
However, China is not doing that by picking out countries that have no military capability (like Afghanistan and Iraq) and then carpet bombing them for 20 years.
China is sending bright, motivated, multilingual people to other countries to leverage Chinese engineering and financing for infrastructure projects. And has been doing that for 25 years now.
That Chinese approach builds skill and experience in engineering, foreign relations, linguistics across a broad swath of Chinese people who are on assignment in other countries.
THAT is what the Chinese have been doing while we, the USA, were carpet bombing civilians in Afghanstan and Iraq and ignoring the entire rest of the world.
The USA had NO foreign policy and, as a consequence, is SO far behind the good will building of China that we will never catch up. Plus, we don't have the money or the capability to do what the Chinese do. Just the Chinese multilingual force abroad dwarfs anything we have.
We, the USA, are probably just looking for the next country we can find to bomb and use our drone technology in.
Because, that is where we put all of our energy and resources. Very, very sadly.
As long as our economy is based on and ruled by our military-industrial-congressional complex, along with Big Oil, the results will be as you describe, Mike. Much work to un-do.
Yes, and the saddest thing is: Eisenhower could see the problem, spoke to the problem and could not do anything about the problem in 1959.
"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."
Saddest. It was Eisenhower who wanted to add "Congressional" but thought better of it:
"...Eisenhower’s speech has become known for that one phrase and much has been ascribed to it. But the speech reportedly went through at least 30 edits over almost 18 months and it changed as circumstances did.
Eisenhower was going to call this new animal the “military-industrial-congressional complex,” which most would agree today is a pretty accurate description of the system since it includes all the players. But the outgoing president, apparently worried about political blowback, deleted “congressional,” leaving us with the more sinister –and aurally compelling — term.
But the “complex” that Ike warned us about had yet to be established. Instead, his warning actually helped create the very system he warned against."
https://breakingdefense.com/2021/01/ike-was-wrong-the-military-industrial-congressional-complex-turns-60/
Thanks for the added bit of history. Great post and I have copied it thank you.
Ike also helped grow it to some degree, while also warning us about it.
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Good summary!
Foreign policy is complex. So many moving parts, so many threats real and potential to consider. We are in good hands with this administration, especially considering the dark forces aligned against democracies. The Biden administration is doing a first-rate job — far better than any others in years, regardless of party.
Just the fact that Biden pulled the US Military out of Afghanistan to give the poor civilian population a break from being bombed and shot is a big accomplishment. Yes.
Biden, in an attempt to not dismiss everything Trump had done, followed Trump’s Timetable and plan for pulling out of Afghanistan. Trump lied about what he had put in place and the Taliban lied about what they would when they took over. The pullout did not proceed as expected, and the Afghan people continue to suffer under the rule of extremists. Hind-sight is always 20-20, but it would appear many others could be held to account in this debacle, as well as, and in addition to Biden. By making your laser-focused criticism all about Biden, you diminish the true nature of the problems in that country and the region, which is the poster for “42 reasons to not allow religious extremists to rule a poor country”.
I agree that Biden is innocent of most of the issues in Afghanistan although he was Vice President for eight years under Obama when Obama actually ramped the human carnage in both Iraq and Afghanistan up.
So, plenty of blame to go round no doubt.
... the true nature of the problems in that country and the region, which is the poster for “42 reasons to not allow religious extremists to rule a poor country”.
thank you, Meredith
Just like FDR.
This December 9 Letter and the comments provided a wealth of information completely new to me. Thanks, Heather and everyone!
Though here in Germany, we are reeling from the uncovered putsch attempt by right extremists, it is really good to read this letter of good news. Thank you, Heather.
Rosalind, it was a very frightening event to hear about! Extremists seem to be everywhere. At least German intelligence fortunately thwarted their plans.
As our world shrinks, third world countries are finally breaking the clique-ish barriers of world alignment. The importance of world alignment will redefine political and economic discourse as geo-political tensions face challenges that the worlds people are beginning to awaken to. How we respond now as we begin to accept the utter waste of finite resources such as Putin’s Grab as being unacceptable will be the only opportunity to move forward from the Age of Enlightenment to the Age of Opportunity where we all matter. Power has led all ages of human political strife, defining who does and who does not. Political alliances will be cemented henceforth from aggregates, and those alliances comprised of all sizes will be the strongest.
Seems like months ago since we were discussing who would be speaker, but its only been a few days--was it really only last Tuesday that Warnock won?? Time flies.
CNN is finally reporting on the idea of Democrats working with a few Republicans to elect a moderate alternative to McCarthy. McCarthy seems ready to cave in to demands from his far right colleagues on rules changes and Committee assignments. If I was Hakeem Jeffries I would have a Repulican lined up and as many Dems as I could muster to vote for, for a first round knockout.
Still dreaming my dream.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/09/politics/mccarthy-speaker-house-republicans-218/index.html
Georgia, it would be wonderful if there was a “bipartisan” ( I say that loosely.) collaboration for speaker. I heard a couple of weeks ago that the R’s were floating Newt Gingrich's name. I started shivering. Hakeem is quite the negotiator and I belive has the respect of both sides of the House. Surely he can help sway a few R’s in their votes. I absolutely abhor the thought of Qevin being given the gavel as much as I hold my nose that Gym Jordan will head the judiciary committee!
The problem is that it is a roll call vote. I think it would be much easier to get to a bipartisan compromise if it was by secret ballot so that there would be less fear of retribution among the Rs.
The other issue is that Jeffries is already hearing from the progressive wing that they won't vote for ANY R. "Jeffries or no one"I don't understand how any D could want life under McCarthy. This really is a case needing to accept the lesser evil of a moderate R. Just think of Jim Jordan as Speaker.
The only way Jeffries could be elected speaker is if the Rs miscount and too many don't show up to protest against McCarthy. If that did happen I am sure the Rs would take it to SCOTUS for a do-over and get it.
I agree! The Dems, however, have always been the compromising type so if enough R’s and D’s can come up with someone who appeals to them, then Qevin will be out. That would be my dream to see his tail go between his legs.