Biden Secretly Altered U.S. Nuclear Strategy

Posted on August 21, 2024August 21, 2024 by Denise Simon

Note there is no mention of Iran and it’s advance toward a viable delivery of the weapon. Just a couple of weeks ago –>

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday said that Iran’s breakout time – the amount of time needed to produce enough weapons grade material for a nuclear weapon – “is now probably one or two weeks” as Tehran has continued to develop its nuclear program.

The assessment marks the shortest breakout time that US officials have ever referenced and comes as Iran has taken steps in recent months to boost its production of fissile material.

“Where we are now is not in a good place,” the top US diplomat said at the Aspen Security Forum Friday.

“Iran, because the nuclear agreement was thrown out, instead of being at least a year away from having the breakout capacity of producing fissile material for a nuclear weapon, is now probably one or two weeks away from doing that,” he said.

“They haven’t produced a weapon itself, but that’s something of course that we track very, very carefully,” Blinken added.

Blinken said the policy of the US is to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and that the administration would prefer to stop that from happening through diplomacy.

Over a year ago a top US Defense Department official said that Iran could now produce “one bomb’s worth of fissile material” in “about 12 days.”

The Biden administration engaged in more than a year of indirect negotiations with Iran aimed at reviving the Iran nuclear deal, from which the US withdrew in 2018 under the Trump administration.

Those efforts collapsed in late 2022, as the US accused Iran of making “unreasonable” demands related to a probe by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a UN nuclear watchdog, into unexplained traces of uranium found at undisclosed Iranian sites. In the months that followed, the administration maintained that the Iran nuclear deal was “not on the agenda.”

President Biden has reportedly altered the U.S. strategic nuclear plans toward opposing China’s burgeoning nuclear arsenal and preparing for possible nuclear coordination between China, Russia and North Korea.

According to a report Tuesday evening in The New York Times, the highly classified “Nuclear Employment Guidance” was altered in March without any public announcement.

“The document, updated every four years or so, is so highly classified that there are no electronic copies, only a small number of hard copies distributed to a few national security officials and Pentagon commanders,” the Times reported.

Congress is expected to be notified of the changes in unclassified form before Mr. Biden’s term in the White House ends in January.

But, The Times reported, two separate top officials have received permission to refer to the changes in public speeches, albeit only in “carefully constrained, single sentences.”

“The president recently issued updated nuclear-weapons employment guidance to account for multiple nuclear-armed adversaries,” said Vipin Narang, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology nuclear strategist who served in the Pentagon.

“In particular,” he added, the guidance reacted to “the significant increase in the size and diversity” of China’s nuclear arsenal.

Pranay Vaddi, the National Security Council’s senior director for arms control and nonproliferation, referred to the document in June, saying it emphasizes “the need to deter Russia, the PRC and North Korea simultaneously,” using the acronym for the People’s Republic of China.

Pentagon officials have warned for years about a nuclear-arsenal breakout from China.

Although Beijing has had nuclear weapons since the 1960s, for decades it had only a minimal deterrent force that barely measured up to the arsenals of Britain and France, much less those of the U.S. or the Soviet Union/Russia.

But the commander of U.S. Strategic Command, Air Force Gen. Anthony Cotton, testified to Congress in February that the size and rapid pace of Beijing’s nuclear buildup is “breathtaking.”

Current Chinese strategic stockpiles are estimated to be around 500 warheads and will increase to as many as 1,500 by 2030, with the most dramatic move being the building of more than 300 intercontinental ballistic missile silos in western China.

The war in Ukraine has Added to the Food Crisis/Inflation in the U.S.

Posted on August 21, 2024August 21, 2024 by Denise Simon

It is well known that Russia had been stealing Ukrainian cargo ships loaded with wheat and other food commodities and then reselling as their own. When it comes to the supply chain related to food, transportation and inflation, neither Biden nor Harris have bothered to report this crisis much less punish Russia for such actions.

But let us understand what Ukraine supplies to not only Africa but to the global inventory and supply in the first place…adding to the shortages in total.

***

How could the war in Ukraine impact global food supplies?

Both Ukraine and Russia are some of the world’s largest food exporters. How could global food be impacted?

By: Hannah Ritchie

March 24, 2022

Ukraine has been one of the world’s largest contributors to the World Food Programme – the UN agency that provides food aid to countries in crisis. The Head of the WFP – David Beasley estimates that it provides 40% of its wheat.

The war has now reversed this flow: the WFP is now working to provide Ukrainians with the supplies they need in this crisis.

The war in Ukraine could have profound impacts on global food supplies, with far-reaching consequences for hunger and food security across the world. But it doesn’t have to – there is time to react and to contain a larger crisis.

In this article, I present the data we need to understand the scale of their contribution, and which countries are most reliant on Ukraine for their food supplies.

Ukraine and Russia are among the world’s largest exporters of cereal crops and oils

Ukraine and Russia both play a major role in global food markets. They are net exporters of several of the leading cereal crops: wheat, maize (corn), and barley. Both are also dominant exporters of sunflower oil, one of the world’s dominant vegetable oils. Some countries – such as India – rely heavily on imports of sunflower oil for domestic food supplies.

In the charts I show their contribution to global food exports (how much is traded between countries); and global food production.

The charts show that in 2019 around one-quarter of global wheat exports come from Ukraine and Russia. One-fifth of global maize, and barley too. They are the source of nearly two-thirds of traded sunflower oil, with Ukraine alone accounting for almost half of global exports.

Which countries are most reliant on food imports from Ukraine and Russia?

The potential impacts of reduced food outputs from Ukraine and Russia will not be felt equally everywhere. Some of the most vulnerable are countries that import directly from these countries.

But it will not be contained to these direct importers. Food prices are rising, which means that all countries that are net importers of these commodities could feel significant impacts.

To identify the countries that are most vulnerable – and might need assistance in the months ahead – I have brought together country-by-country import data from these key crops. In the data explorer below you can see the global situation for a range of commodities and metrics.

You can see which countries import the most wheat, maize, barley or sunflower oil; which countries import from Ukraine and/or Russia; and how dependent they were on imports for the domestic supply.

We can see, for example, that many countries across the Middle East and North Africa rely heavily on wheat imports from Ukraine and Russia; they supply more than two-thirds of imports in Egypt, Libya and Lebanon. For maize, the reliance on Ukraine and Russia has a larger geographical reach with countries across East Asia and Europe also importing a large share from them.

To maintain consistency between production, domestic supply and import metrics I have sourced all of the underlying data for these calculations from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. It is all based on physical units i.e. tonnes of crops.¹

Joe’s Most Jobs Added is Officially Declared a Fraud

Posted on August 21, 2024August 21, 2024 by Denise Simon

Democrats build economies; republicans destroy them pic.twitter.com/tFi0i4OoKy

— Bill Pascrell, Jr. 🇺🇸🇺🇦 (@BillPascrell) April 16, 2023

Even former President Obama in his speech at the DNC declared that same thing….millions of jobs created. Ehhhh not so much. When Joe Biden was in fact running for a second term, he often declared he created more jobs than any other president in history. What about Kamala….did she ever question the numbers as she has an under graduate degree in political science and economics. Nah…so the truth is the numbers are a fraud, a lie. Add this lie, a big lie to the many others we have been told and as such, likely more lies to come.

In just one year by the way…

source

From MarketWatch:

The U.S. added 818,000 fewer jobs than previously reported from the spring of 2023 to the spring of 2024, indicating the labor market began to cool off earlier and faster than it appeared at the time.

The government’s revised estimate of employment growth showed the economy gained about 2.1 million jobs from April 2023 to March 2024. Originally the increase in employment during that span was put at 2.9 million.

The updated employment figures mean the economy created an average of 173,000 jobs a month during the period in question instead of 242,000 under the old estimates.

The lower number of new job created gives further impetus for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates in September as widely expected. The central bank is required under the law to keep inflation low and employment high.

With inflation gradually slowing toward the Fed’s 2% target, the bank has put greater weight on the health of the labor market in considering when to reduce high U.S. interest rates.

The Fed jacked up a key short-term rate to a 23-year peak in 2022 and 2023 to quell the highest inflation in 40 years.

***

In part from the New York Times:

The U.S. economy added far fewer jobs in 2023 and early 2024 than previously reported, a sign that cracks in the labor market are more severe — and began forming earlier — than initially believed.

On Wednesday, the Labor Department said that monthly payroll figures overstated job growth by roughly 818,000 in the 12 months that ended in March. That suggests employers added about 174,000 jobs per month during that period, down from the previously reported pace of about 242,000 jobs — a downward revision of about 28 percent.

The revisions, which are preliminary, are part of an annual process in which monthly estimates, based on surveys, are reconciled with more accurate but less timely records from state unemployment offices. The new figures, once finalized, will be incorporated into official government employment statistics early next year.

The updated numbers are the latest sign of vulnerability in the job market, which until recently had appeared rock solid despite months of high interest rates and economists’ warnings of an impending recession. More recent data, which wasn’t affected by the revisions, suggest job growth slowed further in the spring and summer, and the unemployment rate, though still relatively low at 4.3 percent, has been gradually rising.

A little bit more About that Harris Joy Campaign

Posted on August 19, 2024August 19, 2024 by Denise Simon

In her recent campaign speech in Arizona, VP Kamala said there is hard work to do and WE ARE GOING TO DO IT WITH JOY. A joyful campaign…a peculiar description.

It has been reported and righty so that Kamala has complete disdain for Prime Minister Netanyahu and is clearly on the side the the Palestinians. Associated Press revealed that Kamala and her team have met often secretly with ‘uncommitted’ voters especially in Michigan. Only in the last few days did she meet with the mayor of Dearborn, Michigan, Abdullah Hammoud who applauded the October 7 attack on Israel…How is that for JOY?

While the DNC hosted in Chicago is full of protestors including anti-capitalists and pro-Hamas, Palestinians and even communists….check this out….about JOY.

Now, exactly where did this ‘joy’ thing originate? well let us go back to 1933 in Germany shall we? Well upon a little digging….check this out.

In part:

Nazi leaders hoped that the athletic and cultural programs of “Strength through Joy” would improve the health and productivity of the German workforce while easing class tensions within the so-called “national community” (“Volksgemeinschaft”). Providing organized alternatives to unstructured leisure time, the first “Strength through Joy” programs focused on filling workers’ evening and weekend time with classes, concerts, theatrical performances, art exhibitions, and sporting events.² The program also began providing cheap vacation packages to German workers in 1934, but ambitious plans to expand German mass tourism further were abandoned in 1939 with the beginning of World War II.³

The featured photograph shows a “Strength through Joy” event held on the outskirts of Berlin on April 24, 1937. A large group of adults and children are gathered on the popular public beach at Strandbad Wannsee to perform exercises led by a “Strength through Joy” representative holding a bullhorn.⁴ The public beach facilities shown in this photograph were first constructed during the Weimar Republic (1918–1933) as part of a growing movement toward outdoor recreational activities that would greatly influence Nazi-era public health policies.⁵

Within months of the establishment of the Nazi regime in early 1933, local officials and business owners began banning Jews from public swimming pools.⁶ Strandbad Wannsee barred Jews from its beach and its public programs later that summer. As the first Nazi-era acts to exclude all Jewish Germans from public spaces, these prohibitions became a precedent for the increasing marginalization and segregation of Jews from German public life.

Although Jews were barred from visiting Strandbad Wannsee under the Nazi regime, the beach continued to be a popular getaway for Berlin’s “Aryan” citizens—even during the last years of World War II. In fact, Strandbad Wannsee has remained a popular destination for generations of Berliners ever since the years of the Weimar Republic. The sun decks and walkways on the upper level of the buildings in the featured photograph have fallen into disrepair over the decades, but these very same facilities at Strandbad Wannsee continue to offer public recreation courses to Berlin-area beachgoers.

Where would some of this creepy stuff come from…what is the basis? Well have you met Phil Gordon, her national security advisor? Phil Gordon, le plus europhile du clan de Kamala Harris - Le Temps

Phil Gordon, le plus europhile du clan de Kamala Harris - Le Temps

US Vice President Kamala Harris is stonewalling a congressional inquiry into her national security adviser Phil Gordon’s ties to an Iranian government influence network in the US, according to the Washington Free Beacon.

The network known as the Iran Experts Initiative was exposed in a joint investigation by Iran International and Semafor last September.

Last month, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) initiated an investigation into Gordon’s ties. The inquiry focuses on Gordon’s longstanding association with Pentagon official Ariane Tabatabai, a senior Department of Defense official involved in an Iranian government operation to expand Tehran’s influence in the United States.

Harris did not respond to an August 9 deadline from Cotton and Stefani to explain Gordon’s ties to Tabatabai and the pro-Tehran network.

“You failed to respond by my deadline or to appropriately address this threat to national security emanating from your staff,” Cotton wrote in a letter to Harris on Thursday.

“The presence of such an obvious security risk in your inner circle should have elicited your utmost attention. It raises the question of whether you’ve been aware of Mr. Gordon’s possible links to the Iranian regime and simply find your policies aligned enough with Tehran’s interests that ties to that regime don’t concern you.”

Earlier this month, top lawmakers overseeing US foreign policy threatened to subpoena the State Department following the agency’s failure to provide information about suspended Iran envoy Robert Malley.

In a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Jim Risch and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul expressed deep frustration with the State Department’s lack of transparency regarding the suspension of Robert Malley’s security clearance.

Malley was appointed by President Joe Biden in early 2021 to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, advocating for sanctions relief in exchange for nuclear restrictions. Despite efforts, the deal has not been reinstated since Trump’s 2018 withdrawal. In April 2023, Malley was placed on leave and had his security clearance suspended. Iran International first reported the incident two months later, but the State Department blocked all attempts to find more information about Malley’s case. source

*** Where is the joy now? C’mon readers…we all have work to do.

The Taliban Parades with $85B of American Military Gear

Posted on August 14, 2024August 14, 2024 by Denise Simon

On the third anniversary of the disgusting withdraw from Afghanistan, the Taliban took the day to celebrate and host a parade at the former U.S. military base, Bagram. Not only does it remain humiliating but the parade includes helicopters including Blackhawks.

On and by the way….who was invited to attend? Yes…Chinese and Iranian officials.

There are likely no words from the veterans, the lost souls and the survivors that would express the emotions they feel. Remember this travesty as you are told that Kamala Harris was the last person in the room with Biden when this decision was delivered.

The Taliban are marking their third annual “victory” parade on August 14th, commemorating the day in 2021 when U.S. troops withdrew, leaving behind a significant amount of military equipment. pic.twitter.com/TPRJ4Jp8Zo

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) August 14, 2024

pic.twitter.com/QT7xrjSloH

— Graham Allen (@GrahamAllen_1) August 14, 2024

While the Associated Press barely mentioned the parade, at least Voice of America had to following:

Islamabad — The Islamist Taliban marked the third anniversary Wednesday of recapturing power in Afghanistan with a public holiday and a televised military parade at the former U.S.-run Bagram airbase, among other symbolic events.

The so-called “victory day” celebrations occurred amid ongoing global criticism of the Taliban government, known as the Islamic Emirate, for allegedly creating “the world’s most serious women’s rights crisis” and making impoverished Afghanistan the only country where girls are banned from education beyond sixth grade.

UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters fly during a military parade to mark the third anniversary of the withdrawal of US-led troops from Afghanistan, in Bagram Air Base in the Parwan Province of Afghanistan, Aug. 14, 2024.

The ceremony at Bagram, around 40 kilometers north of the Afghan capital, Kabul, featured a 21-gun salute and speeches from top Taliban leaders, with thousands of people in the male-only audience, including foreign diplomats.

The then-insurgent Taliban swept back to power on August 15, 2021, as the U.S.-led international forces withdrew from the country after their involvement in the Afghan war for almost 20 years.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban-appointed deputy prime minister for economic affairs, inspects the honor guards during a military parade, in Bagram Air Base, Aug. 14, 2024.

The Taliban’s prime minister, Hassan Akhund, stated in a message read by his chief of staff, “Allah granted the Mujahid nation of Afghanistan a decisive victory on this date over an international arrogant and occupying force.” Akhund, largely considered a figurehead, was absent from Wednesday’s event.

Akhund’s message said that the Taliban government “has the responsibility to maintain Islamic rule, protect property, people’s lives, and the honor of our nation.”

De facto Afghan Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani addressing the Bagram ceremony just outside Kabul Aug 14, 2024, to mark the 3rd anniversary of the Taliban takeover.

The de facto Taliban government, not formally recognized by any country, cited the national solar calendar for marking the anniversary of “Afghanistan’s victory and freedom” from the U.S.-led “occupation” a day early.

Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, wanted by the United States for terrorism with a $10 million bounty for his arrest, also addressed the Bagram event, urging global cooperation and engagement with the Taliban administration.

“My message to the international community is that there is no need for dismay over the fact that you took our independence, and we reclaimed it successfully,” Haqqani said, without naming any country.

“We do not want to hold anyone accountable. We have created favorable circumstances and have good intentions for them to cooperate with us in rebuilding Afghanistan, similar to how they helped during the occupation,” he said.

Haqqani ran his network of militants, staging high-profile suicide bombings and other deadly attacks in support of Taliban insurgents on American and NATO forces during their presence in the war-torn South Asian nation.

The Bagram parade was also an opportunity for the Taliban to showcase the military hardware, including tanks, helicopters, and Humvees, left behind by U.S. and NATO forces.

Taliban Military Vehicles are seen during a military parade to mark the third anniversary of the withdrawal of U.S.-led troops from Afghanistan, in Bagram Air Base, Aug. 14, 2024.

Taliban leaders boasted about their conquest and subsequent achievements, such as establishing “peace and security” and an Islamic system in line with their harsh interpretation of Islam, but none of them responded to allegations of human rights abuses, particularly their sweeping curbs on women’s rights. They did not discuss hardships facing millions of Afghans.

The United Nations and international aid agencies have ranked Afghanistan as one of the world’s “largest and most complex” humanitarian crises. They estimated that 23.7 million Afghans, more than half women and children, need humanitarian relief.

An Afghan man sells Taliban flags along a street on the eve of the third anniversary of Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, in Kabul on Aug. 13, 2024.

Aid groups: Afghanistan at risk of becoming ‘forgotten crisis’

A group of 29 U.N. experts Wednesday jointly called for “stronger and more effective” international action to address the deteriorating human rights situation in Afghanistan.

“We stress that there should be no move to normalize the de facto authorities unless and until there are demonstrated, measurable, and independently verified improvements against human rights benchmarks, particularly for women and girls,” the Geneva-based experts said in a statement.

In a separate joint statement this week, international non-governmental organizations warned of a growing aid funding gap.

Speaking ahead of the three-year anniversary of the Taliban takeover, a top U.N. official on Tuesday urged the world to support Afghan women’s fight for freedom.

FILE - A Taliban fighter stands guard as women wait to receive food rations distributed by a humanitarian aid group, in Kabul, Afghanistan, May 23, 2023.

UN expert condemns Taliban ‘crimes’ against Afghan women, girls

“Three years’ worth of countless decrees, directives, and statements targeting women and girls – stripping them of their fundamental rights, eviscerating their autonomy,” Alison Davidian, the U.N. Women’s country representative in Afghanistan, said while sharing details of the latest survey.

She referred to religious edicts the reclusive Taliban supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, has issued over the past three years to govern the crisis-hit country, most of them leading to restrictions on the freedom of Afghan women and girls. Akhundzada rarely leaves the southern city of Kandahar, regarded as the country’s de facto capital.

“To date, no woman in Afghanistan is in a leadership position anywhere that has influence politically at the national or provincial level. When Afghan women are engaged in the Taliban’s structures, their roles are largely about monitoring the compliance of other women with their discriminatory decrees,” Davidian told reporters in New York.

“We must continue to invest in women. Nothing undermines the Taliban’s vision for society more than empowering the very part of the population they seek to oppress,” she stressed.

Human Rights Watch reiterated its call for the global community to press the Taliban to remove curbs on women.

“The third anniversary of the Taliban’s takeover is a grim reminder of Afghanistan’s human rights crisis, but it should also be a call for action,” said Fereshta Abbasi, the U.S.-based watchdog’s Afghanistan researcher.

Zabihullah Mujahid, chief Taliban spokesperson, talks with reporters in Doha, Qatar, June 30, 2024.

Taliban call on West to build deeper ties, ignore curbs on women

The Taliban have dismissed criticism of their government as interference in internal matters of Afghanistan, saying their policies are aligned with local culture and Islam.

Terrorism-related international sanctions on many top Taliban leaders, isolation of their administration, and continued suspension of foreign development aid have made it difficult for Kabul to address deepening economic troubles.

The World Bank reported in April that the aftermath of the Taliban takeover had seen a stark decline in international aid, leaving Afghanistan without any internal growth engines and leading to “a staggering 26 percent contraction in real GDP.”