All posts tagged: Biden administration

The Ukraine war is ripping up the special relationship

The Ukraine war is ripping up the special relationship

Published by Sam

The United Kingdom and the United States retain a special relationship. This relationship is especially close between the Royal Navy and the US Navy, and the two countries’ respective signals intelligence services, GCHQ and the National Security Agency. Still, disagreements between London and Washington are growing over strategy toward Ukraine. Since the February 2022 start of the war in Ukraine, the UK has always been more aggressive than the US in its support of Kyiv. British special forces have been operating in Ukraine far closer to the front lines than is commonly understood. This actionable presence and associated influence with the Ukrainian military is best evinced in the raids and drone attacks that Ukraine has carried out inside Russian territory. So-called “deep strikes” are a preeminent doctrine of the British Army’s 22nd Special Air Service regiment. In contrast, US military and CIA special forces deployments to Ukraine have been far more restrictive in scale and operational flexibility. I’ve heard CIA gripes in Washington that the British are doing cool stuff while CIA officers must repeatedly …

University of Vermont cancels UN ambassador’s address amid Gaza protests 

University of Vermont cancels UN ambassador’s address amid Gaza protests 

Published by skeptic

The University of Vermont (UVM) has canceled United Nations Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield’s commencement speech amid pro-Palestinian protests on campus as protests sweep colleges across the nation. “We are looking forward to the upcoming Commencement ceremonies and the opportunity to celebrate our 2024 UVM graduates,” Suresh Garimella, the university’s president, said in a message to the university community Friday obtained by The Hill.  “After their years of hard work and commitment to success, they deserve a weekend of ceremony and celebration befitting their accomplishment,” Garmimella continued. “It is with regret that I share that our planned speaker, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, will not be joining us to deliver the Commencement address.” An Instagram post by UVM’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine celebrated the cancellation, calling Thomas-Greenfield a “war criminal.” Pro-Palestinian protestors on college campuses across the country have aimed their ire at President Biden and his administration for their handling of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas amid the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The Democratic National Committee’s college outreach arm, the College Democrats of …

Bolton hits Biden for putting ‘enormous pressure’ on Israel to not ‘do more’ to Iran

Bolton hits Biden for putting ‘enormous pressure’ on Israel to not ‘do more’ to Iran

Published by skeptic

Former national security adviser John Bolton criticized President Biden for putting “enormous pressure” on Israel to not “do more” to Iran Friday, after the country launched retaliatory strikes on Israel following an attack earlier this month in Syria. Early Friday, the Israeli military struck close to a major air base and nuclear site in Iran. The strike seemed to be a response to the drone and missile strikes that took place last weekend. “I think what Israel did, as far as it went, was fine,” Bolton said Friday on the “Cats & Cosby” radio show, hosted by John Catsimatidis and Rita Cosby. “I think they were under enormous pressure, I mean, enormous pressure, from the Biden administration not to do more, and I can appreciate that, it’s a difficult position to be in.” “But even within the war Cabinet in Israel, people believe that opposition leader Benny Gantz wanted to go further,” he continued. “And I think they should have. I think Iran was very, very lucky here.” Despite Israeli officials previously threatening a strong …

Biden praises NATO on alliance anniversary amid Trump threats

Biden praises NATO on alliance anniversary amid Trump threats

Published by skeptic

President Biden praised the NATO alliance to mark its 75th anniversary Thursday, amid threats from former President Trump to encourage aggression towards “delinquent” members. Biden called NATO “the greatest military alliance in the history of the world,” adding that for the last 75 years, the “United States and our fellow Allies have chosen to come together to stand up for freedom and push back against aggression.” The president outlined that the alliance stood united during the Cold War, invoked Article 5, which declares that an attack on one ally is an attack on all, after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, and has stood united during Russia’s war against Ukraine. He also touted Finland and Sweden recently becoming members and argued that now, “NATO is larger, stronger, and more determined than ever before.” At a February rally, Trump told a story of an unidentified foreign leader questioning his threat not to defend members who do not hit the alliance’s defense spending targets. He said he told them he would “encourage” Russia to do whatever it wishes and recounted saying, …

Most Americans favor hiring more border agents, immigration judges: Survey

Most Americans favor hiring more border agents, immigration judges: Survey

Published by skeptic

Most Americans in a new survey said they support the Biden administration hiring more border patrol agents and immigration judges as migrant surges persist at the U.S.-Mexico border. The Associated Press-NORC Center survey, released Friday, found that the majority of the public agrees with policy ideas related to immigration and security at the southern border, as legislation regarding the issue is currently stalled in the divided Congress. Roughly 58 percent of respondents said they strongly or somewhat favor the U.S. hiring more immigration judges and court personnel to speed up the process for asylum seekers. The survey also found that 64 percent strongly or somewhat favor hiring more border patrol agents. When broken down by party, 79 percent of Republicans said they support hiring more border patrol agents, compared to 54 percent of Democrats and 56 percent of independents who said the same, per the poll. About half of the respondents agreed that the country should reduce the number of migrants allowed to seek asylum in the U.S. when they arrive at the southern border, …

Joe Biden and Donald Trump Have Thoughts About Your Next Car

Joe Biden and Donald Trump Have Thoughts About Your Next Car

Published by skeptic

Get ready for the EV election. Doug Mills / The New York Times / Redux March 20, 2024, 6:32 PM ET The Biden administration earlier today issued a major new rule intended to spur the country’s electric-vehicle industry and slash future sales of new gas-powered cars. The rule is not a ban on gas cars, nor does it mandate electric-vehicle sales. It is a new emissions standard, requiring automakers to cut the average carbon emission of their fleets by nearly 50 percent by 2032. It would speed up the transformation of the car industry: The simplest way for automakers to cut emissions will likely be to shift more of their fleets to electric and hybrid models, and the Biden administration estimates that the rule would result in electric vehicles making up as much as half of all new cars sold by 2032. It also gives the country more of a chance of meeting the administration’s goal of cutting U.S. emissions in half by 2030 and eliminating them by 2050. The final rule is a less …

Biden’s Muslim American judicial nominee threatened by smear campaign

Biden’s Muslim American judicial nominee threatened by smear campaign

Published by Sam

(RNS) — Late last year, President Biden nominated the first Muslim American to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals. But in the wake of Israel’s war on Gaza, that nomination may now be in jeopardy. Biden’s pick, Adeel Abdullah Mangi, has a distinguished two-decade career as a corporate litigator based in New Jersey. Born in Pakistan and educated at Oxford and Harvard, he has also done pro bono legal work focused on fighting for religious liberty. But when Mangi, 47, went up to Congress for a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in December, he was not grilled about his judicial philosophy but about his views on terrorism and Jews. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz asked him, “Do you condemn the atrocities of Hamas terrorists?” Another suggested he was antisemitic. Mangi was even asked: “Do you celebrate the anniversary of 9/11 in your home?” To many Muslims and others, the questions on the part of Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee were unvarnished examples of Islamophobia. “I think in the climate we are in …

Jerusalem Palestinians prepare for Ramadan amid holy month’s uneasy politics

Jerusalem Palestinians prepare for Ramadan amid holy month’s uneasy politics

Published by Sam

JERUSALEM (RNS) — The stores near the Damascus Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem are filled with holiday sweets, and the butcher shops are overflowing with lamb and beef. Ramadan lamps and extra-large bags of charcoal for nightly iftar break fasts greet customers at the minimarkets. Despite the bustle of holiday prep, “Ramadan feels different this year, sadder because of the war,” said a shopper named Layla, who, like many East Jerusalem Palestinians, preferred not to share her last name due to caution about publicizing their views.  The Israel-Hamas war that began on Oct. 7, when Hamas killed about 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 250 more, and Israel’s subsequent military onslaught in Gaza, has gutted Muslims around the world, but none more perhaps than those in the Palestinian neighborhoods of Jerusalem. “How can we have big festive iftar meals when we know that the people in Gaza don’t have enough food?” said Fadi, a young East Jerusalem resident who works in a sporting goods store. Nearly all of the more than 2 million …

Biden’s New Doomsday Option Against Israeli Settlers

Biden’s New Doomsday Option Against Israeli Settlers

Published by skeptic

On February 1, Joe Biden took the biggest step any U.S. president has ever taken against Israel’s settler movement. He issued an executive order “imposing certain sanctions on persons undermining peace, security, and stability in the West Bank” and used this new authority to punish four Israeli settlers for violence against Palestinians and Israeli peace activists. But because the president’s directive dealt with the West Bank and not the war in Gaza, and was initially applied to only a handful of people, it was largely overlooked—or cast by critics as a symbolic sop to disaffected Arab and Muslim voters in places like Michigan. A careful reading of the order and conversations with officials both inside and outside the U.S. government, however, reveal that the move was no PR exercise. It was a warning shot—part of a deliberate strategy to splinter Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition and to advance the cause of the two-state solution. In time, it could even upend the U.S.-Israeli relationship. For more than a decade, Israel has struggled to contain a …

Van Jones: Biden should stress in speech that a ‘good grandpa’ is better than a ‘bad grandpa’

Van Jones: Biden should stress in speech that a ‘good grandpa’ is better than a ‘bad grandpa’

Published by skeptic

CNN analyst Van Jones suggested Monday that President Biden push back against concerns around his age in this week’s State of The Union address by emphasizing a “good grandpa,” is better than “a bad grandpa.” “Unfortunately he cannot get any younger, so there’s not much they can do about it. He has a chance this week though, to remind people sometimes having a good grandpa on the case is better than having a bad grandpa on the case,” Jones said of the president during an interview with CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer. “And that’s really … he’s got to lean into it.” Jones was likely referencing former President Trump, the GOP primary front-runner and likely Republican nominee for the White House, whom he has criticized on numerous occasions. He was responding to a recent New York Times/Siena College poll that found 73 percent of registered voters polled strongly or somewhat believed Biden, 81, is too old to be an effective president, including 56 percent of Democrats. About 43 percent of registered voters said the same about Trump.  Biden is …