While conceiving this column I came upon an observation about the difference between the Biden and Trump presidencies. Trump’s administration was chaos, but our lives were normal. Biden’s administration is normal, but everything else is in chaos.
When speaking about President Biden, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates stated, “I think he has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.” That statement made in January 2014 was long before Biden ran as an experienced individual who then became President overseeing our country’s foreign policy. Matters have gotten even worse since he ascended to his current position.
There are many decisions Biden has made along with both his feeble Secretary of State and National Security Advisor. There are so many well-known decisions that have gone sideways and then there are others.
For example, there is the teams’ disastrous decisions regarding Brazil — the most significant country in South America. Biden did not like the positions of Jair Bolsonaro who was a staunch supporter of the United States and our allies. Because Bolsonaro was branded a “Trump-like individual,” Biden pushed the candidacy of Lula da Silva, a man convicted on corruption charges. Da Silva won by a smidgeon and has turned on the United States. He has cut a major deal with China to the detriment of the U.S. and has been undercutting our currency by arguing for others to stop using our currency as the international reserve currency. He has also come out against our ally Israel, accusing the country of genocide in Gaza and compared Israel’s actions to Hitler’s campaign to exterminate Jews. That was all in less than a year in office.
The Houthis are a special case. Trump put the group on the lists of Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists. The Biden gang took them off the list saying they wanted to “negotiate” with the Houthis. We all know the real reason is Biden’s childish behavior saying anything Trump did was bad and must be reversed. We see the results of Biden’s negotiations with the Houthis ending at the virtual closing of the Red Sea transportation lanes to anyone except the Chinese and now the Russians.
At least Biden finally reversed his terrible decision and decided at some time to put the Houthis back on the lists after coming to the realization they are simply handmaidens of the real culprits, Iran. At the same time, they exempted the Houthis from sanctions for receiving revenue from the sale of Yemen’s oil. The Bidens can’t even get sanctions correct on a group like the Houthis.
Then there is his fascination with trying to make peace with Iran. Biden was part of the Obama team that shipped truckloads of money to Iran and had some fantasy the mullahs were going to normalize their operations. The mullahs spent the money to arm their many surrogates including those well-known ones: Hezbollah, Houthis, and Hamas. Research indicates apparently Iran did not fund Boko Harum due to religious differences. This list doesn’t include the groups in Iraq and elsewhere. Trump left Iran broke. What did Biden do? He entered fantasyland and gave them access to hundreds of billions of dollars so Iran can wreak havoc all over the world. A sterling example of a horrific foreign policy.
Here is another disaster Biden has not managed – South Africa. Though he and his team did not create this mess, they have done nothing to stop it. In 2024, we are obligated to provide $393 million to South Africa. What are they doing with our money? Making nice/nice with Hamas and Russia and charging our ally, Israel, with genocide for fighting back against Hamas. If Mr. Blinken made any effort to stop them from doing these things, I am not aware. Where are the threats to cut them off? Why do we keep funding countries who do things against our country’s interests?
Biden has negotiated a disastrous deal with the dictator of Venezuela. Biden was caught in a vice because of soaring gasoline prices after cutting off many avenues of American energy development to appease his Green Wing. He went hat in hand to Maduro and allowed him to sell us oil. In exchange, we agreed to take in what is estimated between 500,000 and 800,000 refugees (who knows, no one is counting) fleeing his country that he has destroyed. Now Maduro has reneged on his part of the deal to have open, free elections. What a lousy negotiator.
Then there is the special case of Afghanistan. No need for a major rehash here. Just a reminder that we had only 2,500 troops there as part of an allied force totaling 10,000. Biden did not notify our allies of his departure and mayhem ensued. We now have a country run by people living in the 12th century.
Not to mention the threats from Russia and China which have accelerated because of their geopolitical strategy.
Mr. Blinken is now trying to circumvent the Israelis and create a state for the Palestinians in Gaza without the Israelis having a say. He says they will have security assurances. As my friend Cliff May, founder of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, stated in a recent column, “Like the security assurances Israelis received from the U.N. Security Council after they withdrew from Lebanon? Like the security assurances Ukrainians received from the U.S. when they gave up their nuclear weapons? Like the security assurances Hong Kong received when the British turned the territory over the China’s Communists?”
You get the point. The leadership of this Administration has manufactured chaos all over the world. And these people want another four years.
