OMNI
BIDEN’S FOREIGN POLICY SAME OLD IMPERIAL MILITARISM, NEWSLETTER #1
NOVEMBER 23, 2021
Compiled by Dick Bennett for a Culture of Peace, Justice, and Ecology
omnicenter.org/donate/
CONTENTS 2020-2021
Kuzmarov, Hawk Biden’s Foreign Policy
Prashad, Biden Will Keep the Cold War Rolling
Rich War Hawks in Biden’s Foreign Policy Team
Tom Introduces Alfred McCoy on Biden’s Continuation of Obama’s Pivot toward China
Amy Frame, “Biden Oks $1 Billion in Weapons Sales to Saudis”
Erica Fine, “Apocalyptically Dangerous” Nuclear Weapons Development
Biden’s Secretary of State Sees No Change in Foreign Policy
TEXTS in chronological order of publication
“Beware of the Hawk: What to Expect from the Biden Administration on Foreign Policy”
By Jeremy Kuzmarov on Nov 08, 2020 04:56 am
Millions of people around the world breathed a sigh of relief with the defeat of Donald Trump in the 2020 U.S. election and victory of the Biden-Harris ticket. Joe Biden’s victory speech exuded a feeling of optimism in its call for a new era of bipartisanship and decency in politics. However, it is unlikely that decency will prevail in the realm of foreign policy.According to a profile in The Atlantic Magazine, Biden prides himself on his close interpersonal relations with world leaders, which enables the advancement of mutual foreign policy goals.However, if the leader is unsavory, then these interpersonal relations become problematic.
Empirical Recalibration
As Vice-President under Barack Obama, Biden cultivated a close relationship with Iraqi leader Nouri al-Maliki who was known as the “Shia Saddam” for his sectarian policies that led to the growth of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS).
Biden was also very close with Ukrainian President Petro Porosehnko, who was installed in a U.S. backed coup in 2014 and initiated a civil war in Eastern Ukraine that left over 13,000 people dead.[1]
In some circles, Biden is lauded for being a cautionary voice in the Obama administration on issues of war and peace.
In fact, he championed drone strikes and Special Forces operations as an alternative to the heavy deployment of ground troops, which is the CIAs preferred strategy.
Following the U.S. NATO bombing of Libya,Biden bragged that “we didn’t lose a single life” and that the war “served as a prescription for how to deal with the world as we go forward.”[2]
Image of destruction in Libya. Should this be the prescription for how we deal with the world going forward? [Source: Boston.com]
This statement is deeply disturbing in light of the fact that hundreds of Libyans were killed in U.S. air strikes and the country was left in ruins after its leader, Muammar Qaddafi was overthrown and lynched.
If this is the prescription for dealing with the world as we go forward, we are all in trouble.
From Dove to Hawk
MORE https://covertactionmagazine.com/2020/11/08/beware-of-the-hawk-what-to-expect-from-the-biden-administration-on-foreign-policy/
Biden’s evolution from a dove to a hawk reached its tragic denouement with his sponsorship of hearings in the Senate that brought together anti-Saddam dissidents who wanted regime change. Biden through these hearings helped secure support for the invasion of Iraq which resulted in over a million deaths. The young idealist who rode the wave of the 1960s protest movements into office had evolved by this time into a seasoned and unscrupulous political operator who had sold his soul for power. https://covertactionmagazine.com/2020/11/08/beware-of-the-hawk-what-to-expect-from-the-biden-administration-on-foreign-policy/
Jeremy Kuzmarov is Managing editor of CovertAction Magazine and author of four books on U.S. foreign policy including: Obama’s Unending Wars: Fronting the Foreign Policy of the Permanent Warfare State (Atlanta: Clarity Press, 2019).
|
Chloe Rafferty. “Why the Military Establishment Backed Biden.” Red Flag News. Mronline.org (11-18-20).
The U.S. military establishment will breathe a sigh of relief at Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election. Nearly 800 former high-ranking military and security officials penned an open letter in support of the Democratic candidate during the campaign. | more…
AND Arms Sales, US LEADER AT WEAPONS BAZAAR
Biden OKs $1 Billion in Weapons Sales to Saudis?
| ||||
Dick — during their first year in office, the Biden administration has approved billions of dollars in weapons sales to Egypt, India, Israel, the Philippines — and over $1 BILLION in arms sales to Saudi Arabia alone in just the past few weeks.
All despite these buyers’ dismal human rights records, poor levels of transparency and accountability of the sales themselves, and increased insecurity.
It’s just another way the failed status quo of U.S. foreign policy prolongs war and human suffering worldwide — but that’s where we come in. Our team is pulling out all the stops to build support to pass legislation to change these rules and finally and permanently block arms sales to human rights abusers — and we need your support.
Thanks for all you do to work for peace.
— Amy
_________________________
Dick — President Biden has quietly greenlit over $1 BILLION in arms sales to Saudi Arabia in recent weeks.
But that’s not all: during their first year in office, the Biden administration has also approved billions of dollars in weapons sales to Egypt, India, Israel, and the Philippines — despite their appalling records on human rights. Weapons from sales like these have been used by oppressive governments to kill their own people, get sold on the black market in Yemen, and have wound up in the hands of the Islamic State.
It’s just another way the failed status quo of U.S. foreign policy prolongs war and human suffering worldwide — but that’s where we come in. Win Without War is furiously working with allies in Congress to build support to pass legislation to change these rules and finally block arms sales to human rights abusers. Our team is pulling out all the stops to make it happen — and we need your support.
If you've stored your info with ActBlue, we'll process your contribution instantly: |
The United States sells $170 billion worth of weapons to countries across the globe each year — despite buyers’ dismal human rights records, poor levels of transparency and accountability of the sales themselves, and increased insecurity.
The result is more unchecked weapons sales, more unnecessary violence, more civilian deaths.
But for four years, the Trump administration ran with it — going on a weapons selling spree to some of the most despicable dictators and human rights abusers in the world.
We had hoped to turn the page with a new administration, but ten months in, it’s clear President Biden will continue to sell weapons to just about whoever wants them.
Like earlier this month, when the State Department announced it was approving a $650 million sale of Raytheon-made missiles to Saudi Arabia. With this sale, President Biden is breaking his promise to us and doing the exact OPPOSITE of what the UN and other experts tell us would avoid further devastation in Yemen: fueling war with more U.S.-made weapons.
It’s a story we see play out again and again across the globe. And it’s got to end.
Congress is how we stop this. As we head into the last few weeks of 2021, we’ve got an extremely small window of time where we can push Congress to make it happen — that’s why we need your support to give it all we’ve got.
AND NUCLEAR WEAPONS |
Unnecessary, apocalyptically dangerous weapons.
| ) |
|
Dick: As a candidate, President Biden said the United States “does not need new nuclear weapons” — so it’s mind bending that he’s leading us down the path to a nuclear weapons heyday.
Biden’s proposed Pentagon budget includes over $44.5 BILLION for nukes: new navy nukes, a brand new intercontinental ballistic missile, and nearly $100 MILLION to keep the last remaining largest U.S. nukes in service. It’s a blowout, and we wish we were kidding.
But here’s the thing: Biden’s proposed budget wasn’t entirely his own, it was a holdover from the last year of the Trump administration. In fact, the Biden administration is even doing a wholesale review of their nuke policy, called the Nuclear Posture Review, right now.
That means, we have a critical opportunity to press pause on a new nuclear arms race and pull President Biden away from the path he’s on. And our team is seizing the moment, working behind the scenes with allied Biden officials and pressuring Congress — doing everything we can — to draw a line in the sand that sends a loud and clear message: No more nukes.
But to do it, we’ve got to ramp up our advocacy efforts, raise the alarm in the media, and mobilize across the movement — and we need your support:
If you've stored your info with ActBlue, we'll process your contribution instantly: |
The reality is that this flood of cash funds completely unnecessary, apocalyptically dangerous weapons — it’s a windfall for the weapons industry, but devastating for people and the planet.
In fact, one of the biggest risks with nuclear weapons? A simple mistake.
And it’s not hypothetical. In 1980 a single computer chip failure caused random numbers of attacking missiles to be displayed on the early-warning attack systems. Three years ago an emergency alert system told everyone in Hawaii there was an incoming ballistic missile threat and that people should take shelter immediately. The message said it was not a test.
Right now, the global trip wire is incredibly taut as multiple countries ramp up their nuclear weapons development —greatly increasing the risk of technological error and human miscalculation. With the United States poised to plow more money to fuel the fire, every new nuclear weapon we build only increases the tension and incentivizes others to add to their arsenal.
We’re looking at a new nuclear arms race — in an even more unpredictable environment. The stakes couldn’t be higher. We owe it to ourselves and to future generations to never again allow a nuclear nightmare to unfold. And we’re not alone: President Biden’s decades of foreign policy experience make him far less hawkish than defense officials in his own party.
But frankly, that might not be enough. That’s why we’re working furiously to ensure that the administration gets their Nuclear Posture Review right, and pushing back on any funding that might fuel a nuclear arms race.
Together, with your help Dick, we’ve got to remind the White House, and Congress that we want a future free from nuclear weapons. It’s part of a wildly ambitious, multi-pronged and crucially important campaign pushing civil servants, legislative aids, and lawmakers behind the scenes to stop a global nuclear nightmare scenario — and we need your support to keep it all going:
As the only country to use nuclear weapons in conflict, the United States has a moral obligation to lead the world in ending this threat.
There is no overstating the devastation of a nuclear war, and we are one small misstep away from that horror today.
Thank you for working for peace,
Erica, Amy, Faith, and the Win Without War team
© Win Without War 2020
1 Thomas Circle NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20005
(202) 656-4999 | info@winwithoutwar.org
Biden’s ‘Secretary of State for regime change’ indicates no change in U.S. foreign policy. Mronline.org (1-25-21).
The new secretary of state served as a senior foreign policy official in the Obama administration–a period marked by increased global conflict and wars in the Middle East. | more…
END BIDEN’S MILITARISM NEWSLETTER #1, November 23, 2021