Background photo credit: https://thegrayzone.com/2020/09/11/challenging-war-pelosi-shahid-buttar-assange-latin-america-palestine
By Gregory Brundage
July 31, 2022
US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s “tentative” visit to Taiwan has most certainly upset the leadership in Beijing and has the potential to launch WWIII.
China Holds Live-Fire Drills Near Taiwan as Pelosi Heads to Asia
Speaker refuses to give any details, citing security concerns
US has no ‘tangible’ indication of China preparing response
“Live-fire drills,” and “no tangible indication of China preparing a response?”
That’s a head scratcher.
If WWIII doesn’t start in the next week or two, it won’t be due to lack of effort from the Biden administration. Should there be any kind of military conflict as the result of a visit to Taiwan by Ms. Pelosi, President Biden might find himself in a quandary as to why he didn’t order her off in advance. She is a democrat after-all and there is something called “party discipline.” Questions regarding his “cognitive decline” will most certainly be raised, at minimum.
It seems this writer is not the only one questioning the sanity of that visit.
The line of succession
Should President Biden retire for whatever reason, the line of succession to become president first falls to Vice President Kamala Harris, and second to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.
Given that VP Harris isn’t that popular, and Ms. Pelosi – who went against all sound reasoning and hopes for peace - went ahead and visited Taiwan bringing the US into potential direct military conflict with China - won’t be that popular either.
Who then is next in the line of succession and what’s his agenda?
The answer is President Pro Tempore of the Senate, Patrick Leahy followed by Anthony Blinken. All of the above give the “appearance of conflict of interest” between their government duties and private industry money, and thus the potential for WWIII, and even a civil war within the US loom large.
Strangely, 99% of the people in the world probably don’t have any idea of who Nancy Pelosi is, or the significance of her “playing with fire” in the South China Sea.
Desensitized to war and human suffering
To most Americans who don’t pay that much attention to world news anyways, Speaker Pelosi is just some harmless old lady that’s going to poke the Panda bear, the same way good ol’ President Biden has poked the Russian bear. Why not? Ha, ha, ha. This, is the kind of image coming from mainstream news media. Mature? No. Exceedingly dangerous? Yes. Russia and China are not Afghanistan and Iraq.
Most Americans appear to have a rather casual attitude towards US wars. It’s merely some entertainment on TV between ball games and beer commercials, so, party on!
Lest one forget, a quick review of US attempts at so-called “regime change” in far away countries always deserves review.
“Instances of the United States overthrowing or attempting to overthrow a foreign government since the Second World War.”
(* indicates successful ouster of a government)
“China 1949 to early 1960s, Albania 1949-53, East Germany 1950s, Iran 1953*, Guatemala 1954*, Costa Rica mid-1950s, Syria 1956-7, Egypt 1957, Indonesia 1957-8, British Guiana 1953-64*, Iraq 1963*, North Vietnam 1945-73, Cambodia 1955-70*, Laos 1958 *, 1959 *, 1960*, Ecuador 1960-63*, Congo 1960*, France 1965, Brazil 1962-64*, Dominican Republic 1963*, Cuba 1959 to present, Bolivia 1964*, Indonesia 1965*, Ghana 1966*, Chile 1964-73*, Greece 1967*, Costa Rica 1970-71, Bolivia 1971*, Australia 1973-75*, Angola 1975, 1980s, Zaire 1975, Portugal 1974-76*, Jamaica 1976-80*, Seychelles 1979-81, Chad 1981-82*, Grenada 1983*, South Yemen 1982-84, Suriname 1982-84, Fiji 1987*, Libya 1980s & 2011, Nicaragua 1981-90*, Panama 1989* Bulgaria 1990*, Albania 1991*, Iraq 1991, Afghanistan 1980s*, Somalia 1993, Yugoslavia 1999-2000*, Ecuador 2000*, Afghanistan 2001*, Venezuela 2002*, Iraq 2003*, Haiti 2004*, Somalia 2007 to present, Honduras 2009*, Libya 2011* to present, Syria 2012 to present, Ukraine 2014*”
https://williamblum.org/essays/read/overthrowing-other-peoples-governments-the-master-list
To that list one must add:
Yemen 2014, Turkey 2016, Venezuela 2019, Bolivia 2019*, Iran 2017 to present, Nicaragua 2018, China 2018 to present and Russia 2022.
No nation in world history ever tried to overthrow that many governments (67 at minimum), directly or via proxies.
So, is it a surprise the US now tries to provoke a war with China? One might think yes, given that the global economy still has not recovered from the COVID-19 epidemic, but doesn’t slow down the world’s most indebted nation from trying to provoke another war.
In regards to the possibility of Nancy Pelosi becoming President, she probably is very aware VP Kamala Harris isn’t that popular anyways.
Photo Credit: https://nypost.com/2022/07/28/the-week-in-whoppers-kamalas-gas-price-gaslighting-and-more
VP Harris’ popularity or the lack of it
Though some might think at least the black community would support VP Harris, that might not be the case. Black Agenda Report is the sole African American online alt-news journal, and they have published some rather critical reviews of her and her career.
Kamala Harris Has a Distinguished Career of Serving Injustice, by Marjorie Cohn, 10 Jul 2019
https://blackagendareport.com/kamala-harris-has-distinguished-career-serving-injustice
Also see:
https://blackagendareport.com/kamala-harris-embodies-most-dangerous-myth-american-exceptionalism
https://blackagendareport.com/kamal_harris_new_obama
And so on.
She might not be too popular with the alt-right either.
The Alternative Right, commonly known as the "alt-right," is a set of far-right ideologies, groups and individuals whose core belief is that “white identity” is under attack by multicultural forces using “political correctness” and “social justice” to undermine white people and “their” civilization.
https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/ideology/alt-right
According to the US Department of Homeland Security, National Terrorism Advisory System, June 07, 2022:
Summary of Terrorism Threat to the United States
The United States remains in a heightened threat environment, as noted in the previous Bulletin, and several recent attacks have highlighted the dynamic and complex nature of the threat environment. In the coming months, we expect the threat environment to become more dynamic as several high-profile events could be exploited to justify acts of violence against a range of possible targets. These targets could include public gatherings, faith-based institutions, schools, racial and religious minorities, government facilities and personnel, U.S. critical infrastructure, the media, and perceived ideological opponents.
https://www.dhs.gov/ntas/advisory/national-terrorism-advisory-system-bulletin-june-7-2022
That does rather read like the alt-right might just be behind that terrorism.
There is a reasonably good chance VP Harris becoming president would rather stir up the alt-right generating all kinds of problems, so she might not be the best choice for president, unless the whole purpose of the Ukraine (proxy) War was to train a new generation of white supremacists in urban guerilla warfare so they can rush back home to the USA and finally exterminate all minorities – an alt-right kind of thing to do.
In any case, VP Harris would probably not last long as president, in this writer’s humble opinion.
The incompetence of Speaker Pelosi
If the mantle of the presidency falls to Speaker of the House Pelosi, after her visit to Taiwan, she will have proved herself incompetent as a US leader having led the US to the brink of thermonuclear war with China. Would Americans accept a leader known to have had profit motive in triggering or even attempting to trigger WWIII, thereby escalating the Game of Thrones? Probably not. On the other hand, there might not be many Americans or Europeans left after she provokes the final war to end all wars.
President pro tempore of the Senate Patrick Leahy
Leahy doesn’t approve of torture but doesn’t mind profiting from war either
So, who is next in line to become president after Speaker Pelosi?
That would be president pro tempore of the Senate, Patrick Leahy. At age 82 he has had a spectacular career in politics and his CV is 20 miles long. It is a bit difficult to guess if he would accept the position of becoming president should his number come up. Why not?
Unlike some other politicians he doesn’t appear to be completely evil. Evidence? It appears Leahy doesn’t approve of torture. Imagine that!
Cowardice in the Time of Torture, by Ray McGovern
“I used to take a certain pride by association with prominent Bronxites who have “made it.” Cancel that for Attorney General Eric Holder and former Secretary of State Colin Powell.”
You might think that as African-Americans, they would be especially outraged by torture, given what blacks have suffered at the hands of white torturers in this country and abroad.
Why is it that they seem to value more their admittance into a privileged white-dominated ruling class than doing the right thing? How else to explain their stunning reluctance to hold torturers accountable and thus remove the stain of torture from our nation’s soul and reputation?
One might say that Attorney General Holder is proving himself to be part of that “nation of cowards” that he called the United States in a different context, i.e., our unwillingness to address the issue of race. What about when the victims of torture are Muslims? Where’s Holder’s courage then? ...
Looks very much as if Cheney sized up Holder correctly. During his confirmation hearings, Holder manfully agreed with Sen. Patrick Leahy that waterboarding, which subjects a person to the panicked gag reflex of drowning, is torture.
But Holder has been out to lunch since then, no doubt leaving Cheney and his torture-friendly friends smirking at having been correct in taking the measure of the new Attorney General. Call it chutzpah, intimidation, bullying — whatever; it does seem to be working.
Cheney endorsing waterboarding; Holder labeling it torture; and — Hello? Anyone home? Deafening silence.
Never mind that Holder, like President Barack Obama, took a solemn oath to faithfully execute the laws of the land. Why are they still afraid of Dick Cheney, whom even the neo-con editors of the Washington Post in 2005 branded “Vice President for Torture?”...
I know Powell. In the early 1980s, when he wore but one star as military assistant to the Secretary of Defense – and I was a CIA intelligence briefer – I used to do him the courtesy of pre-briefing him, to the extent I could, on what I was about to discuss during my early-morning one-on-ones with his boss, Casper Weinberger. I found Powell to be anything but naïve.
He and I had a good bit in common — growing up at about the same time a mile from each other in the Bronx, “Distinguished Military Graduates” commissioned via Army R.O.T.C. — he from City College in 1958, I from Fordham in 1961.
Initially, I was blissfully unaware of the many times he had compromised himself — in doing Weinberger’s bidding on Iran-Contra, for example. And so in 1989, I took a certain pride by association when Powell made it to the very top as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
That pride dissipated quickly as I watched Powell bend to those who were bent on launching a war of aggression on Iraq. Republican elder statesman James Baker, who was secretary of state under George H.W. Bush, has referred to Powell as the one person who could have stopped that war. Baker is right.
Caving on Torture
More to the point, Colin Powell betrayed the U.S. Army and the nation on the issue of torture...
A well-written article worth reading in full written by a former CIA man and graduate of Fordham University, the premier recruiting grounds of CIA back in the 50s. In any case, it appears Patrick Leahy does NOT approve of torture.
On the other hand, he does appear to have a hand in the so-called Department of Defense cookie jar.
Other recipients of BAE Systems largesse in 2020 included: Dianne Feinstein, Rafael Warnock, Jon Ossoff, James Risch, Dick Durbin, Marco Rubio, Tom Cotton, Bernie Sanders, Patrick Leahy, Tammy Duckworth, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; Adam Smith, Elizabeth Warren, and Amy Klobuchar. All voted for billions in arms shipments to Ukraine since the war started. 2020 Presidential candidates Pete Buttgieg and Andrew Yang also took money from BAE Systems.
20 out of 29 BAE Systems lobbyists in 2021 and 17 out of 26 in 2022 previously held government jobs—an excellent example of the so-called revolving door. The bill that the lobbyists pushed for the most was H.R.4350: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022, which promoted $777 billion in military spending.
And what exactly is BAE?
BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenues.
President Biden and the normalization of corruption
Why would President Biden retire anyways?
It could be due to what some have claimed to be “cognitive decline,” or maybe the weight of so many dead upon his conscience, given that he played a key role in starting the criminal Iraq War.
Criminal?
“The invasion of Iraq was neither in self-defense against armed attack nor sanctioned by UN Security Council resolution authorizing the use of force by member states and thus constituted the crime of war of aggression, according to the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) in Geneva.”
A key role?
Joe Biden championed the Iraq war. Will that come back to haunt him now? By Mark Weisbrot
... Biden did vastly more than just vote for the war. Yet his role in bringing about that war remains mostly unknown or misunderstood by the public. When the war was debated and then authorized by the US Congress in 2002, Democrats controlled the Senate and Biden was chair of the Senate committee on foreign relations. Biden himself had enormous influence as chair and argued strongly in favor of the 2002 resolution granting President Bush the authority to invade Iraq.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/17/joe-biden-role-iraq-war
And now he’s got another blood-fest going in Ukraine, dressed up as the mighty Ukraine standing up to the evil Russian empire, aided by the benevolent USA and EU.
Birds of a feather flock together
Never mind that Zelensky is notorious in some circles.
How Corrupt is Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky? By Jeremy Kuzmarov - July 20, 2022
Before the Russian invasion, CIA reports linked him to an oligarch so dirty and so mired in “significant corruption” that the State Department banned him from entering the U.S.
But now CIA propaganda portrays Zelensky as nobler than Winston Churchill and saintlier than Mother Theresa.
https://covertactionmagazine.com/2022/07/20/how-corrupt-is-ukrainian-president-volodymyr-zelensky/
Referring to:
That “connection” wasn’t just an innocent conversation at a cocktail party either. Kolomoysky financed the media blitz that put Zelensky into power.
President Biden got away with murder via his key role in starting the criminal Iraq War, (according to the International Commission of Jurists) and as for his protests that the Ukrainian government is not loaded with US funded and trained neo-Nazis, all do not agree.
https://www.globalresearch.ca/the-u-s-has-installed-a-neo-nazi-government-in-ukraine/5371554
https://jacobinmag.com/2022/02/maidan-protests-neo-nazis-russia-nato-crimea
https://fair.org/home/western-media-fall-in-lockstep-for-neo-nazi-publicity-stunt-in-ukraine
https://fair.org/home/hawkish-pundits-downplay-threat-of-war-ukraines-nazi-ties
https://thegrayzone.com/2022/03/20/us-neo-nazi-ukraine-afghan-insurgency
https://thegrayzone.com/2022/03/18/bombing-mariupol-theater-ukrainian-azov-nato-intervention
https://consortiumnews.com/2022/02/24/what-putin-says-are-the-causes-aims-of-russias-military-action
https://www.globalresearch.ca/the-kiev-regime-is-not-officially-a-neo-nazi-government/5384722
https://thegrayzone.com/2020/07/20/ukrainian-think-tank-neo-nazi-racist-violence
https://thegrayzone.com/2019/12/04/ukrainian-nazis-hong-kong-protests
https://thegrayzone.com/2019/11/23/yes-ukraine-interference-in-the-2016-presidential-election
https://thegrayzone.com/2019/09/23/bomb-extremist-us-soldier-fbi-ukrainian-nazi-azov
https://thegrayzone.com/2018/12/10/nato-ukraine-president-poroshenko-nazi-soldier-totenkopf
https://thegrayzone.com/2018/10/30/c14-ukrainian-nazi-kiev-police-america-house
https://thegrayzone.com/2018/07/10/ukraine-embassy-israel-arming-nazis-max-blumenthal
https://thegrayzone.com/2018/07/09/yuri-biryukov-ukraine-president-adviser-heil-hitler-neo-nazi
https://thegrayzone.com/2018/02/05/max-blumenthal-us-is-arming-neo-nazis-in-ukraine
https://consortiumnews.com/2015/06/12/u-s-house-admits-nazi-role-in-ukraine/
And more.
Legalized political corruption – Citizens United vs. FEC
The way to beat political corruption is to just legalize it, right?
For the US to consider any foreigner to be corrupt must mean that guy is really truly unbelievably corrupt given that the US became the world capital of legalized corruption after the Citizens United vs. FEC, Supreme Court (SCOTUS) decision in 2010.
To quote the FEC’s website
The Court also rejected an anti-corruption rationale as a means of banning independent corporate political speech. In Buckley v. Valeo, the Court found the anti corruption interest to be sufficiently important to allow limits on contributions, but did not extend that reasoning to overall expenditure limits because there was less of a danger that expenditures would be given as a quid pro quo for commitments from that candidate. The Court ultimately held in this case that the anti corruption interest is not sufficient to displace the speech in question from Citizens United and that "independent expenditures, including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption."
https://www.fec.gov/legal-resources/court-cases/citizens-united-v-fec
Tossing in the Latin quid pro quo does give that decision the patina of legitimacy, except for one thing; legalized corruption is still corruption, and as for quid pro quo: If it was a dog, it would have bitten them. “As plain as the noses on their faces.”
In the language of science, there is “face validity” to the assertion there will be the “appearance of corruption” when individuals and/or entities (like special interest groups, corporations, etc.) give unlimited amounts of money to politicians and/or political parties and those politicians that received such “donations” then vote for wars wherein the donors directly or indirectly demonstrably profit.
There are certain undeniable “liabilities” associated with legalizing corruption and the world is only now coming around to see this in spite of SCOTUS’ absurd efforts to blame an earlier legal decision (Buckley v. Valeo) to defray their own accountability.
The McConnell record was “over 100,000 pages” long, McConnell I, 251 F. Supp. 2d, at 209, yet it “does not have any direct examples of votes being exchanged for . . . expenditures,” id., at 560 (opinion of Kollar-Kotelly, J.). This confirms Buckley’s reasoning that independent expenditures do not lead to, or create the appearance of, quid pro quo corruption. In fact, there is only scant evidence that independent expenditures even ingratiate. (P. 45)
Evidence of quid pro quo kickbacks is as high as Chomolungma (the peak of mount Everest) and as deep as Challenger Deep, the lowest depth of the Mariana Trench.
https://prospect.org/world/how-biden-foreign-policy-team-got-rich
https://readsludge.com/2020/01/13/the-members-of-congress-who-profit-from-war
And, how about judicial corruption in the US?
Yes, that is Wall Street Journal reporting a very high level of “the appearance of corruption” in the judiciary.
As for some "quid pro quo" for President Biden?
https://nypost.com/2022/04/06/heres-a-dozen-times-joe-biden-played-a-role-in-hunters-deals
https://nypost.com/2022/04/10/jim-jordan-hunter-biden-texts-ties-in-the-entire-family
https://nypost.com/2022/04/09/hunter-benefited-from-joe-bidens-connections-his-whole-career
https://nypost.com/2022/04/09/hunter-biden-frequently-covered-family-expenses-texts-reveal
https://www.globalresearch.ca/trump-biden-russia-ukraine-systemic-interpretation/5698714
And so on.
Political corruption - Still illegal in international law
The above are clear violations of international laws prohibiting corruption.
II. CONFLICT OF INTEREST AND DISQUALIFICATION
4. Public officials shall not use their official authority for the improper advancement of their own or their family's personal or financial interest. They shall not engage in any transaction, acquire any position or function or have any financial, commercial or other comparable interest that is incompatible with their office, functions and duties or the discharge thereof.
For a more complete list of international laws prohibiting corruption see: https://www.unodc.org/pdf/crime/corruption/corruption_intl_legal_instruments_ nov03.pdf
Non-interference in domestic affairs of other nations
And there is the “non-interference in the domestic affairs of other nations” stipulations in the UN Charter, which is considered to be the foundation of international law. First of all, the US seizing Taiwan after their failed effort in their proxy war in China, sometimes inappropriately called China’s “Civil War,” was interference in China’s domestic affairs, and then arming it as an offensive weapon against China(!) is a most egregious violation of China’s sovereignty and scurrilous interference in China’s domestic affairs.
The usurpation of family
To get a feeling for China’s collective feelings on Taiwan, the reader should wonder how if would feel if your son or daughter were kidnapped, programmed to hate you, and then unleashed as a weapon against you.
In Asia in general, and China in particular, family is considered sacred as it is the premier Confucian value.
The One China Policy
The United States' One-China policy was first stated in the Shanghai Communiqué of 1972: “The United States acknowledges that Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait maintain there is but one China and that Taiwan is a part of China. The United States does not challenge that position.”
Similar US agreements made with Russia also smashed and forgotten
Least one should forget, the US also made a number of agreements with Russia that NATO would not move east and broke every one of them too.
Declassified documents show security assurances against NATO expansion to Soviet leaders from Baker, Bush, Genscher, Kohl, Gates, Mitterrand, Thatcher, Hurd, Major, and Woerner
Macho President Biden
It appears Republicans in particular are very hopeful for military involvement if Speaker Pelosi goes ahead with her trip to Taiwan. President Biden has often been accused of being “soft on China.”
Amid Hunter's ongoing scandals, Biden is going soft on China, by Miranda Devine, July 10, 2022
https://nypost.com/2022/07/10/amid-hunters-ongoing-scandals-biden-is-going-soft-on-china
Part of President Biden’s motivation for giving the green light to Speaker Pelosi’s “tentatively” planned trip to Taiwan is to prove what a macho, gutsy sort of guy he really is (pushing an old lady in front of him), as if starting the criminal war against Iraq wasn’t enough.
Counting the number of wars started to fit an American election cycle agenda would be an excellent topic for a dissertation in political science, however in this case starting such a war could lead to species extinction.
Political partisanship, the election cycle and pursuit of hegemony in perpetuity drive American wars
International agreements and law have been relegated to the dust bin of history in the American mad pursuits of each political party attempting to wrest power from the other, combined with a duopolistic, equally insane drive for US “hegemony in perpetuity.” World domination forever? Why not?
“When the Obama administration orchestrated the coup d’état against the democratically elected Viktor Yanukovich government in Kyiv in early 2014, they used a grisly assortment of secret agents, neo-Nazis, and oligarch traitors to depose then-President Yanukovich and install a quisling regime—headed by Petro Poroshenko and now Volodymyr Zelensky.”
Despite radically and successfully escalating that war really started on Obama’s watch in 2014, Democrat President Biden is still desperate to boost his numbers and the popularity of democrats in general, and he doesn’t care how many people he has to kill, or wars he as to start to get that boost before the November 2022 elections.
He clearly isn’t that popular these days in Moscow, or the US either.
Say it ain't Joe: 75% of Democrats want someone other than Biden in 2024, poll shows, by Mark Moore, July 27, 2022
https://nypost.com/2022/07/27/biden-shouldnt-run-in-2024-most-democrats-say
GDP Contracts for Second Straight Quarter as U.S. Economy Enters Recession Territory, by Diana Glebova, July 28, 2022
SUMMARY
If President Joe Biden retires who will be the next president?
It might not matter much. The whole long list is filled with politicians who appear equally unqualified.
Unpopular VP Harris? Professional politician and provocateur Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi? War profiteer President Pro Tempore of the Senate, Patrick Leahy?
And if Patrick Leahy isn’t up to the job? Who is next in line?
Secretary of State Tony Blinken
The doomsday option – warmonger and war profiteer-in-chief Blinken
Secretary of State Tony Blinken
Caitlin Johnstone: Biden's prospective new defense secretary is another professional war profiteer Dec. 8, 2020
Blinken is a member of the same private equity fund which invests in defense contractors as Flournoy and Biden's warmongering pick for secretary of state, Tony Blinken.”
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/508991-caitlin-johnstone-biden-raytheon
That “private equity fund,” Pine Island Capital’s partners include Tony Blinken (President Biden's Secretary of State), Michele Flournoy (American defense policy advisor) and retired Gen. Lloyd Austin now Biden's (Secretary of Defense).
And, there's this:
And,
“The fund, Ridgeline Partners, was co-founded by Tony Blinken’s WestExec and “provides strategic insight on U.S. & allied national security capability needs and emerging opportunities.” The companies listed on the Ridgeline website include data and tech start-ups that have seen government contracts, including some deals with the Department of Defense.”
If someone put a gun to my head and said: “Make a choice between that bunch of criminals for US President!” I’d probably go with Leahy, but… it sure would be nice if there were a choice that wasn’t crazy.
New Yorkers are ready!
One should not make light of the potential dangers involved in thermonuclear war, even though it is true, New Yorkers at least are prepared:
NYC Prepares for the ‘Big One’ With Nuclear Attack PSA Video, by Isabella Steger and Carrington York, July 12, 2022
And:
NYT says 'cannibalism has a time and a place' and people are worried, by Ariana Baio
But most of the people in the world are not (prepared for WWIII, because most are not on drugs), and practically nobody has considered that after the obliteration of the USA, there will be revolutions around the world overthrowing US puppet presidents, prime ministers, and more ordinary dictators, and during those revolutions the electrical systems of more than a few nations will go down, which will lead to the freezers in the US 300+ BSL labs around the world going off, leading invariably to countless highly communicable and deadly pathogens being released, and the possibility of human species extinction.
The window of opportunity to prevent WWIII is still open
But it might only be a matter of weeks before it closes
So, before lighting up that next bong, popping open that next brew, and/or downing the next Prozac, this writer strongly suggests any Americans reading this get on your phones and talk to whatever elected representatives you may have, and ever so diplomatically suggest that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi really should cancel any vacations in Taiwan ipso pronto.
US better clear the ‘mine’ of Pelosi’s Taiwan trip beforehand: Global Times editorial, by Global Times, Jul 29, 2022
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has laid a mine where China-US relations and the situation around the Taiwan Straits converge. She lit the match, but it remains uncertain whether she will truly ignite the mine. According to the itinerary of Pelosi's Asia trip as reported by US media, her trip includes Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore, and the island of Taiwan was listed as "tentative." Many believe this is a trick by Pelosi, who is very likely to fly to Taiwan island from Japan and make a sudden visit...
China's response has been clear, as always. "Those who play with fire will perish by it." This was said to Pelosi and the Taiwan secessionist forces that support her. A White House official called it a metaphor that China regularly tends to use. He completely misread and misjudged the essence and weight of this sentence. Any act of stepping on the red line will surely hit the iron wall of China's counterattack. China's repeated public warnings are by no means jokes. Washington should turn to history to see that China has always kept its word...
Much ado about nothing? It appears more than that, potentially a great deal more.
War is not a game
War is more than a break between ball games on TV. It means the very painful deaths of thousands, millions and in this case potentially billions of human beings; completely innocent babies, children, women and men, who will be sacrificed on the alters of political partisanship in the US and the American political hubris leading to a psychotically delusional belief that the US or any nation has a right to rule the world forever, or even for a minute.
It’s time for some phone calls.
Endnote: You might not want to share this link on Facebook:
Meet the Ex-CIA Agents Deciding Facebook’s Content Policy
https://www.mintpressnews.com/meet-ex-cia-agents-deciding-facebook-content-policy/281307/
And: https://thegrayzone.com/2021/02/09/facebook-nato-social-media-censor-ben-nimmo-intel/
Free speech? Now that’s a joke.