Who is Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III? – An Alt-News Review
He, along with dozens of other Clinton era officials including Nancy Pelosi are “giving the appearance” of “classic corruption.”
Feb. 3, 2023
Sec. Def. Austin III along with dozens of other Clinton era officials including Nancy Pelosi are “giving the appearance” of “classic corruption.” He and officials including Anthony Blinken, Senator Saxby Chambliss, Senator Tom Daschle, Senator Byron Dorgan, Michèle Flournoy, Representative Dick Gephardt appeared to try to hide illegal dual government/lobby work behind the mask of ‘special purpose acquisition companies’ (SPACs ) via the “private equity fund,” Pine Island Capital.
Feb. 3, 2023 front page news showed the courageous American War Hero, Lloyd J. Austin III, charging bravely forward a few months behind Ms. Pelosi, except to the Philippines, eager to shower them with money, money, money, and buy all the friends we need to build four more military bases there and prepare to “stick it to China,” though for exactly what is a bit nebulous at best. Knowing the US as most readers do, one can safely presume something will be arranged.
US set to boost military presence near China - Washington and the Philippines have announced plans for four more American bases, Feb. 2, 2023
“The US military will be deployed to four new bases in “strategic areas” of the Philippines, the two countries announced on Thursday. The agreement was reached during the ongoing visit of US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who met Philippine President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr in Manila.
“The two nations are set to “accelerate the full implementation” of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), a framework regulating the deployment of US troops to the Philippines, which is listed among Washington’s “major” non-NATO allies.
“The United States has allocated over $82 million toward infrastructure investments at the existing five sites under the EDCA, and is proud that these investments are supporting economic growth and job creation in local Philippine communities,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
“Apart from further development of the existing bases, the US military will be deployed to four new sites in unspecified “strategic areas of the country.”...
https://www.rt.com/news/570878-us-philippines-military-bases
Can the reader imagine the conversation that took place to send Def. Sec. Austin III to the Philippines with that big slap in the face for Beijing hiding behind his back? Rook to d5 in chess notation? A highly aggressive move.
He was well chosen, for someone with a sick sense of humor.
In spite of the irony, given all available evidence it appears Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III has some troubling “conflict of interest” issues.
In the world of DC-speak however, he’s a super-clean, loyal patriotic member of the US government defense establishment with all the right friends in all the right places, above reproach, Teflon coated, and so on.
Personally, having grown up more in the Midwestern US, AKA Bible Belt than any other single location, I’m a fan of vernacular (plain simple common) English and the evidence looks very strongly like Sec. Def. Austin is a dirty politician along with what appears to be most or all of Biden’s top administration officials.
In the language of “Legalese,” he “gives the appearance” of having conflict of interests between his official duties and consultation work.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin Earned Millions After Military Career by Dan Clarendon, Sep. 13 2021
“…Lloyd Austin has an estimated net worth of $7 million.
“In June, Forbes estimated that Austin had a net worth of $7 million. When he retired from the military in 2016, he had earned a pension of about $15,000 per month, but it was the board positions next that got him the bulk of his wealth, the magazine reported.
“In 2016, he joined the board of United Technologies Corporation, a conglomerate with $56 billion in sales. He remained a director when the company merged with defense contractor Raytheon. The post has got him $643,000 in cash and an estimated $1.1 million in equity awards, Forbes stated.
“The following year, Austin became a director of the steel manufacturer Nucor—ultimately earning $411,000 in cash and about $500,000 in stock awards. In 2018, he joined the board of the hospital company Tenet Healthcare Corporation and got $328,000 in cash and an estimated $1.5 million in stock awards, according to Forbes.”
But that’s just a tiny taste compared to what comes upon his next retirement from his esteemed position now, not to mention the speaking engagements, private consulting contracts and so on.
In the Citizen’s United vs. FEC Supreme Court decision, the majority wrote to the effect there is no evidence of quid pro quo relationships between government and industry. With all due respect for the esteemed justices, that is pure balderdash.
Oceans of human blood have been poured upon the grounds of primarily the developing world due to exactly that “quid pro quo” relationship, and Def. Sec. Austin III, Nancy Pelosi and dozens if not hundreds of other appointed and elected officials “give the appearance” of being living examples of it.
They use their influence as politicians to stimulate international tensions and aggression, and they profit from the weapons and related industries that profit from the wars they help to start and escalate. Austin’s trip to the Philippines was an aggressive action designed to drive the arms race in preparation for what appears to be an intent for invasion of China as ridiculous as it sounds. Their goals however will be limited: Carve off Tibet, Xinjiang, and Hong Kong at least, and divide the rest of China into two warring halves rather like Sudan. This however is very unlikely to happen for a legion of reasons.
Whatever their intent, the actions of Biden’s top administration officials are consistent with that of organized crime, and it is surprising an AG has not hit them all with RICO charges. Given he would immediately be replaced, the next AG and the one after that and the one after that would all have to insist on prosecuting Biden’s top officials with violation of innumerable laws including those relating to the Clinton Foundation. The Democrats even more so than the Republicans have supported many foreign terrorist organizations (FTO) and have indicated no intention to stop engaging in such wildly illegal actions.
That most certainly gives the appearance of conflict of interest, classic corruption and a quid pro quo relationship because that’s exactly what it is in vernacular (common) English.
Biden’s Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III – At the revolving door
“The mass media are reporting that the Biden camp has selected former general Lloyd J. Austin III to be the next secretary of defense…
“As has become the standard ritual for Biden's cabinet picks, the mass media are holding a parade to celebrate the fact that Austin would be the first black chief of the US war machine, while virtually ignoring the murderous agendas he has facilitated throughout his career. As head of Central Command, Austin actively campaigned to resurrect the Pentagon's spectacularly failed program of trying to arm "rebels" in Syria to fight ISIS, and in 2014 he backed immunity for US troops from war crimes prosecutions by the government of Afghanistan. He helped spearhead the Iraq invasion, and he 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 firm” will be addressed later.
And now he’s globe trotting for the Unified Western World, in it’s endless war to rule the entire world forever, also known as: hegemony in perpetuity, by doling out huge money to the Philippines and inserting four bigger and better naval bases!
The official party line however sounds noble and patriotic: “He’s strengthening US bonds in the Pacific to counterbalance China’s ‘aggressive,’ moves,” as if 800 military bases around the world were not “aggressive,” and loading as many of China’s neighbors as full of weapons as possible, and playing confrontational games with jets and naval battle groups in the South CHINA SEA were not aggressive.
Lloyd J. Austin III is also an old buddy of Hillary Clinton, one of the chief architects of the notorious “Arab Spring” revolutions responsible for the deaths of thousands of children in Syria alone in addition to Libya, Yemen, Egypt and several other nations.
“I've known Lloyd Austin for 15 years, and worked closely with him from both the Senate and as Secretary of State. He will make history, and serve this country well.”
5:34 AM · Dec 9, 2020·Twitter Web App
That ought to send a chill out to everyone on earth who values peace.
Hillary Clinton Never Met a War She Didn't Want Other Americans To Fight, by Doug Bandow, Contributor, Sep 26, 2016
“Never before were the two leading presidential candidates so disliked. Both major parties have nominated candidates that most Americans desperately want to reject…
“The two major parties have done their best to nominate the worst candidates possible. On foreign policy the Democratic Party won this dubious contest. If you want more conflict and war, the obvious choice is Hillary Clinton”
Alt-News Review Editor Comment: That was a member of the Cato Institute writing in Forbes, and thus even some scions of respectability agree with this author in regards to the habits (as defined by law) of Mrs. Clinton.
Former President Obama could not have selected a more dangerous Secretary of State; dangerous to the world, the security of the US and his own legacy.
Ajamu Baraka, Editor of the most outspoken of the Black Press publications in the US, Black Agenda Report (BAR) had some insights into what is going on with, what is sometimes called, the “Black Misleadership Class.”
The Obama Two-Step on Syria, Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist, Sept. 23, 2015
“It was a pathetic spectacle, another black face in a high place in the person of General Lloyd J. Austin III, head of the United States Central Command, came before the Senate’s Armed Services Committee to report to incredulous members that the 500-million-dollar program to train 5000 so-called moderate rebels in Syria had only resulted in the training of a few dozen.
“He went on to report that of that number, half had already been either captured, or some say “integrated,” into the al-Qaeda’s official Syrian affiliate, the al-Nusra Front, leaving just four or five individuals in what must be a record for the most expensive training process in human history.
“With howls of criticism coming from right-wing Democrats and Republicans, the impression developing in Congress and the general public is that similar to the debacle that Iraq and Afghanistan became for George Bush, Syria is Obama’s foreign policy disaster.
“Strangely however, while General Austin was falling on his sword in front of the Senate committee, spokespersons for Barack Obama were busy telling anyone who would listen that President Obama could not be blamed for the calamity unfolding in Syria.
“The White House claimed that it is not to blame for the training issue. In what some are calling his “the devil made me do it ” defense, Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary argued that the finger should be pointed at those who convinced President Obama to get directly involved in training Syrian rebels, including by implication the former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton…
“But clearly the most damaging information that revealed the extent of the Obama’s administration moral complicity with the carnage that it unleashed in Syria was the report from the Defense Intelligence Agency ( DIA) written in 2012 that clearly documented that “the Salafist, the Muslim Brotherhood, and AQI [Al- Qaeda in Iraq] are the major forces driving the insurgency in Syria,” being supported by “the West, Gulf countries and Turkey.” And like the report that exposed that white terrorist organizations represented a major threat to domestic security in the U.S., this report was also ignored by the administration.
“The Administration peddled the outrageous fiction that there was a viable force of so-called moderates in Syria that they were supporting at the same time that they knew that the al-Nusra Front, and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) had emerged as the central forces in the anti-Assad insurgency.
“And by early 2013 when it became clear that the al-Assad government would not surrender, the destruction and dismemberment of the Syria State became the goal of U.S. policy. The impact that this decision would have on the people of Syria was of no concern for U.S. planners.
“No, the devil did not make Obama engage in the incredible cynicism that sacrificed an ancient culture and the lives of so many. It was the imperatives of empire and the ethical position that Westerners have the right to determine the leadership of states and what lives have value.
“Being the self-centered narcissist and operating from a colonialist, Eurocentric mindset, Obama is now taking a familiar position that European imperialists have taken for years after committing unspeakable crimes against humanity – they feign innocence.”
“And here is your $500,000,000.00 Christmas present Mr. Terrorists,” sang the old Clinton DC Democratic choir with General Lloyd J. Austin III signing the check. One can only wonder if ancient ghosts followed whispering: “Go forth and slaughter more innocents in the name western white supremacism!”
Stolen oil and profiting from stock dividends are not the only motivating factors leading Congressional members to vote for wars and other illegal foreign aggressions.
‘Biden unveils Pentagon ‘China task force’ to review ‘challenge’ Beijing poses as US military flexes muscles at its doorstep - 10 Feb, 2021
“Led by Eli Ratner, who serves as special assistant on China to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, the task force will be composed of 15 civilian and uniformed defense officials and will deliver its findings to Austin within four months, according to a Pentagon fact sheet, which dubbed the project a “sprint effort.” The panel is not expected to produce a publicly available report, however…”
https://www.rt.com/usa/515206-biden-pentagon-china-task-force
“Eli Ratner, a researcher at the US think tank New American Security Center, is considered a young Chinese expert in the US.”
“The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) is a Washington, D.C.-based think tank established in 2007 by co-founders Michèle Flournoy and Kurt M. Campbell. It specializes in the United States’ national security issues. CNAS focuses on terrorism and irregular warfare, the future of the U.S. military, the emergence of Asia as a global power center, and the national security implications of natural resource consumption.
“CNAS is relatively small, with around 30 employees and a budget under $6 million.[7] Among the organizations top donors include Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, Open Society Foundation, Airbus Group, The Boeing Company, Chevron Corporation, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Raytheon Company, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, the United States government, BAE Systems, BP America and Exxon Mobil Corporation.”
Mr. Ratner was a researcher working for a “think tank” supported by America’s top weapons manufacturers. It is highly likely he had more than a little to do with the inception and actualization of the Strategic Competition Act of 2021.
The Strategic Competition Act of 2021 was a form of “irregular” warfare such as CNAS is tasked with pursuing. How many current or past defense industry employees, lobbyists and/or “consultants” worked on the creation of the Strategic Competition Act of 2021? Would employment with the defense industry create a “conflict of interest” when also working on Congressional documents designed to isolate China from international trade and communications?
Remember:
“The mass media are reporting that the Biden camp has selected former general Lloyd J. Austin III to be the next secretary of defense…
“…He (Austin) helped spearhead the Iraq invasion, and he 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.” (Italics added by this author.)
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).
Though claiming to divest themselves of any investment in Pine Island, just prior to the election Pine Island launched some new ‘special purpose acquisition companies’ (SPACs ) which are essentially shell companies.
According to The Daily Beast:
“The firm raised $218 million for its new SPAC, which is specifically looking to invest in “defense, government service and aerospace businesses,” according to the prospectus, which was amended and re-issued on Nov. 13. And one specific area of government contracting it hopes to plumb for new business ties in the government’s response to the coronavirus.”
Pine Island Capital proudly boasts of its DC connections which includes a who’s who of past and current government, military and industry leaders including:
· Major General Charles F. Bolden Jr., USMC (Ret.)
· Senator Saxby Chambliss
During his tenure in the Senate, he served as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee…, the Senate Rules Committee; and his leadership and experience on homeland security and intelligence matters earned him an appointment to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, where he served as vice chairman from 2011 to 2014, advocating for dramatically improved information sharing and human-intelligence-gathering capabilities. His previous role as chairman of the House Intelligence Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security made him one of the leading congressional experts on those issues.
· Senator Tom Daschle
“Daschle is officially a lobbyist now - The former Democratic leader resisted registering under a loophole that now bears his name.” By Isaac Arnsdorf, 03/29/2016
“After his 2004 upset loss to John Thune, Daschle joined law and lobbying firm Alston & Bird as a “special policy adviser,” earning as much as $2.1 million a year, but he never registered as a lobbyist. His journey through the revolving door, later with DLA Piper and finally Baker Donelson, helped popularize the now well-trodden path for former officials to cash in on K Street without formally registering as a lobbyists...
“Under the statutory definition of a lobbyist, policy advisers don't have to register if they avoid direct contact with lawmakers or spend less than 20 percent of their time lobbying. The provision became widely known as the Daschle loophole... Daschle previously registered with the Justice Department under the Foreign Agents Registration Act to represent Taiwan. He's currently promoting a book co-authored with his Republican counterpart, Trent Lott, now also a lobbyist.”
https://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/tom-daschle-officially-lobbyist-221334
Reframing “lobbyist” as “special policy adviser,” or “consultant” is a con game, the oldest trick in the book.
“Since leaving the Senate, Senator Daschle has remained an active and learned voice among policy-makers... Senator Daschle serves on numerous public and private boards, including the Center for American Progress and the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations."
· Senator Byron Dorgan
· Michèle Flournoy
· Representative Dick Gephardt
· Ambassador Stuart Holliday
· Ambassador Capricia Marshall
· Admiral Mike Mullen, USN (Ret.)
· Senator Don Nickles
· Lieutenant General Vince Stewart, USMC (Ret.)
https://pineislandcp.com/team/
“We have unique insight into how rapidly changing technologies will directly impact the evolving preferences of defense, intelligence and federal government customers.” — company prospectus “We believe that there are still a significant number of potential targets with competitive advantages in ‘big data’ analytics, enterprise IT, secure data processing, seamless inter-agency technology integration, communications and training solutions that would benefit from our deep bench of advisers who contribute decades of relevant government and defense expertise,” the prospectus reads. The document adds, “Our leadership team is well equipped to support a potential target on all key competitive factors of the government services market as we have unique insight into how rapidly changing technologies will directly impact the evolving preferences of defense, intelligence and federal government customers.”
That “unique insight” into “how rapidly changing technologies will directly impact the evolving preferences of defense, intelligence and federal government customers,” sounds like a “potential” breach of confidentiality agreements top Biden Administration officials must have signed when hired to do government work. But then, they are being paid handsomely for something, no?
“But that “revolving door” between government and industry can create perverse incentives and conflicts of interest, ethics experts say. And it’s just that sort of business as usual that Mandy Smithberger, the director of the Straus Military Reform Project at the Project on Government Oversight, says is concerning in this case. “These kinds of conflicts are particularly disappointing given justified criticisms of how the Trump administration has repeatedly used the government to further personal and financial interests,” Smithberger wrote in an email. “While this isn't uncommon, it's still gross.”
That revolving door did not begin or end with former President Trump and it’s spinning faster than ever now with the Biden administration.
Also see:
“How Biden’s Foreign-Policy Team Got Rich - Strategic consultants will define Biden’s relationship to the world,” by Jonathan Guyer, July 6, 2020
https://prospect.org/world/how-biden-foreign-policy-team-got-rich/
Conflicts of interest? It’s way beyond that
President Trump was hardly unique in crossing the line between government and industry, as President Biden’s cabinet has many picks right out of that same revolving door between politics and industry, including Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and Antony Blinken (of WestExec Advisors fame).
Though not officially a lobby group, WestExec Advisors thrive in the so-called gray zone doing many, most or all of the same things as a lobby group.
Their members include:
Antony Blinken – Antony J. Blinken was sworn in as the 71st U.S. Secretary of State on January 26, 2021.
“In 2015, Obama had dispatched Blinken to tell Mohammed bin Salman that the U.S. supported Saudi Arabia’s right to defend itself and nothing more. But four years later, the U.S., through its arms sales, was party to an ongoing war [Yemen]. The death toll was over 100,000 in an asymmetric conflict, and the defense contractor Raytheon had sold Saudi Arabia more than $3 billion worth of bombs.”
https://prospect.org/world/how-biden-foreign-policy-team-got-rich/
“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.”
That gives the appearance of “crossing the line” between consulting and lobbying. It isn’t an example of the kinds of vague supposition and unsubstantiated allegations one finds from the beginning to the end of the US Strategic Competition Act of 2021, but a very clear and unambiguous “conflict of interest.”
Michèle Flournoy - “Co-Founder and Managing Partner of WestExec Advisors, and former Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), where she currently serves as Chair of the Board of Directors. Michèle serves on the boards of Booz Allen Hamilton, Amida Technology Solutions, The Mission Continues, Spirit of America, The U.S. Naval Academy Foundation, CARE, and sits on the Honorary Advisory Committee of The Leadership Council for Women in National Security. Michèle is also a former member of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, the CIA Director’s External Advisory Board, and the Defense Policy Board, and is currently a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Aspen Strategy Group, and is a Senior Fellow at Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.” (Clearly Ms. Flournoy is one of the alpha “interventionists” of the Biden Administration and appears to have several prominent conflicts of interest.)
“According to a study published last month by the Center for International Policy, nearly half of CNAS’ funding came from Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon, the study found.
“Flournoy has spoken a bit about WestExec’s work with Silicon Valley start-ups to land contracts at the Pentagon, where she sees a need to better leverage new technologies that are not necessarily the forte of larger, more traditional defense contractors.
“The name of the game is how do you enable the Department of Defense to really access that cutting-edge commercial technology and adapt it to military purposes,” Flournoy said in a 2019 podcast interview at the University of Chicago. “It is one of the things that WestExec is trying to help with. How do you let these smaller, cutting-edge technology firms actually navigate the DoD and national security space?”
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/23/westexec-advisors-biden-cabinet-440072
“WestExec is only one of Blinken and Flournoy’s overlapping roles, which keep them updated on trends that others lack access to. Flournoy, for instance, previously served on the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board, the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, and the CIA director’s External Advisory Board; each of these positions gives members access to sensitive information, which in turn provides insights useful to attracting and serving corporate clients. Membership requires ethics disclosures, though none of those documents are publicly available, adding another layer of opacity.
https://prospect.org/world/how-biden-foreign-policy-team-got-rich/
By not registering as a lobby group, WestExec avoids disclosure requirements and thus they can operate in the shadows wherein most criminals likewise thrive.
“But many of the people who work closely with Biden are enmeshed in the opaque world of strategic consultancies and by extension a network of the world’s biggest businesses. If they’ve been consulting for corporations with offshore interests, this spells potential conflicts. “One of the biggest gaps in ethics laws is that we don’t require strategic consultants to register as lobbyists,” said Mandy Smithberger of the Project on Government Oversight.
https://prospect.org/world/how-biden-foreign-policy-team-got-rich/
She may be wrong about that. See H.R.2316 — 110th Congress (2007-2008) below.
[Reall the “Daschle loophole” above. The legality of that has yet to be challenged and given the potential for encouraging corruption in government, and the deadly consequences of that potential corruption, that challenge should come sooner rather than later.]
In 2011, Flournoy, then Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, and close associate of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton helped persuade President Obama to intervene militarily in Libya an action that has led to 10 years of civil war.
https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/pentagon-leaders_n_871519
(“A new start for the Libyan people,” involved an American backed civil war against a UN backed coalition government.)
“Alleged Torture Victims Target U.S. Property Assets of Libyan Commander, By Jared Malsin and Benoit Faucon. 2020.Nov. 8 - Khalifa Haftar, at one time backed by the CIA, owns millions in U.S. real estate, assets that are being pursued by victims of Libya’s bloody civil war - Haftar is a U.S. citizen and a longtime former resident of Virginia who also owns property in the state...”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/alleged-torture-victims-target-u-s-property-assets-of-libyan-commander-11604840401
She was also a supporter of the American covert and then overt war against the Syrian government led by Bashar Assad, another war which has employed a) massive propaganda campaign, b) lingered on for 10 years killing thousands of innocents, c) silencing whistleblowers, d) starves the poor while denying them medicine, and c) employs known terrorists groups to launch terrorist attacks against the internationally recognize government.
https://www.cfr.org/event/conversation-michele-flournoy
...and leading to millions of “displaced people” and starvation.
“As a result, more than 9.3 million Syrians have become food insecure and over 80 percent of Syrians live below the poverty line…With over 50 percent of the health infrastructure destroyed, and hundreds of thousands without shelter and unable to practice social distancing, the region is increasingly at risk of a devastating outbreak.”
https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2021/country-chapters/syria
Also see:
https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/2018-deadliest-year-yet-children-syria-war-enters-9th-year
https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/01/world/middleeast/at-un-syrian-minister-calls-conflict-a-war-on-terror.html
Primarily US funded
https://www.hrw.org
…incidentally blames Russia for the violence and death there, glibly overlooking the fact the US started that NATO supported war and works with a variety of terrorist groups in that illegal war against the internationally recognized government. Also, incidentally the US is stealing Syrian oil on an ongoing basis, asserting that Syria should pay for the war the USA has forced upon them.
https://www.bbc.com/news/50464561
...and following Trump’s lead, President Biden and his “interventionist” cabinet members continue to steal the wheat from starving children in Syria. This is not different from the use of USAID as a weapon in Venezuela, in which they starve the nation via brutal economic sanctions, and run false flag operations denying starving people access to food aid.
So, who is Def. Sec. Lloyd J. Austin III? The appearances are not reassuring.
His trip to the Philippines is Prima facie evidence of promoting aggression at the intersection of the South China Sea, Philippine Sea, Sulu Sea and the Celebes Sea. He will claim official duty, and indeed it is, however, he is the lead trigger man on this operation.
He, along with dozens of other especially Clinton era Biden officials are killing tens of thousands a year in wars and conflicts, including a new war just about exactly one year old now, while also tinkering with thermonuclear war with either or both Russia and China, while squeezing ever more money from the tax payers for the so-called “defense department” to line their own pockets. This does not require a rocket scientist or lawyer to figure out.
Renaming “lobbyist” in any number of ways like “consultant” does not change the fact, manner, illegal and WWIII suicidally dangerous aspects of it.
Austin’s trip to the Philippines is another bold, outrageous provocation from the real decisionmakers on Wall Street, who profit from war and the compromised politicians that represent only them and not the voters, public, environment or global village at all.
While the world economy struggles to rebuild SMEs and strengthen their economies, the puppet masters on Wall Street, and their advisors in Langley, the Hill, innumerable think-tanks and counsils, can only think of promoting more war to the detriment of everyone on earth. It is so horrid, pathetic, imbecilic, counterproductive, antisocial, and unspeakable rotten, and illegal, it is beyond a moral individuals’ ability to really comprehend.
In regards Def. Sec. Lloyd J. Austin III specifically, so often history repeats; one prays not of course, but... just ask Randall. No doubt he figured that out a long time ago and yet he puts more in the pot, and adds fuel to the flames to the benefit of the very few, with the cost paid by those who can least afford it, and the potential to end civilization as we know it at any time of the day or night.