Biden’s Indo-Pacific cold-war tour ends in chaos
Security experts call for a negotiated peace in Ukraine
Biden’s trip was aimed at bolstering support for Ukraine, combating climate change, and tackling global inflation. But more than any other issue, it is meant to counter China, a global superpower that will not be at the meetings but will be very much top of mind. (Washington Post)
Experts call the war in Ukraine a ‘disaster.’ Urge Biden to negotiate peace.
A full-page ad by a group of national security experts in The New York Times calls the war in Ukraine an “unmitigated disaster,” and urges President Joe Biden and Congress to help bring it to an end “speedily through diplomacy.”
While condemning Russia’s invasion, the statement provides a more objective account of the crisis in Ukraine than those offered up by the US government or the New York Times, write Medea Benjamin & Nicolas J. S. Davies from Code Pink.
This call for diplomacy by wise, experienced former insiders—U.S. diplomats, military officers, and civilian officials—would have been a welcome intervention on any one of the past 442 days of this war. Yet their appeal now comes at an especially critical moment in the war. On May 10, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that he is delaying Ukraine’s long-awaited “spring offensive” to avoid “unacceptable” losses to Ukrainian forces.
On May 10th, President Zelenskyy announced that he is delaying Ukraine’s long-awaited “spring offensive” to avoid “unacceptable” losses to Ukrainian forces. Western policy has repeatedly put Zelenskyy in near-impossible positions, caught between the need to show signs of progress on the battlefield to justify further Western support and arms deliveries and, on the other hand, the shocking human cost of continued war represented by the fresh graveyards where tens of thousands of Ukrainians now lie buried.
Biden’s anti-China tour ends in chaos
The Quad was back in the news today after Biden pulled out of his planned Australian visit with Quad members to “deal with domestic issues.” The Quad, you may recall, is the alliance of anti-China Cold military/economic powers, US, Australia, Japan, and India which came together as part of AUKUS, armed with nuclear subs and hypersonic missiles to make sure the Indo-Pacific region stays free from "coercion” (Don’t laugh).
US cold warriors were compelled to recruit Japan and India as an appendage to their white, English-speaking AUKUS alliance with Britain and Australia to avoid the embarrassing appearance of an old-style white, colonial united front against China.
Instead, Quad nations are expected to have a sideline meeting at the G7 summit in Hiroshima this weekend, with all four leaders still attending.
The Guardian called the canceled Quad summit in Australia “a win for China and a self-inflicted blow to the US’s Pacific standing.”
“We even declared a national public holiday for Biden’s historic visit only to be thrown under the bus by the US,” wrote Martyn Namorong, a [Papau New Guinea] blogger and political activist. “The US keeps shooting itself in the foot as it stumbles to maintain its grip in the region.
Speaking of Hiroshima… Before rushing home to try and put out the budget crisis fire, Biden will stopover in Japan today, including a visit, probably alongside Ambassador and former Chicago mayor, Rahm Emanuel, to the city of Hiroshima, where the Americans dropped the atomic bomb in 1945. The blast destroyed the city and killed more than 100,000 people.
He’s not expected to travel to Nagasaki. In February, Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue met with Emanuel and requested that Biden visit the city.
When journalists asked if Biden planned to apologize for the atomic bombings, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby quickly moved off the topic.
"The President plans to visit the memorial and honor the memory of the innocent people who died in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima."
To date, no U.S. president has apologized for President Truman’s decision to use atomic bombs on Japan at the end of World War II… And yet, here’s Japan back in its imperial mode in Asia, blocking with nuclear-armed Western allies to try and contain China. History shows that can’t end well.
Thanks, Mike Until I read this, I was not aware of the NY Times ad or the pull out of the US from the mtg in Asia.
The Ad makes one wonder how much of Ukraine these experts want to cede to Russia, whether Ukraines wants to or not. There's a rough 'red line' here: Once it's OK for one 'great power' to use armed force to redraw borders in Europe, how long before someone else wants to to it in Europe, or elsewhere? That's a cat better left in the bag. Stick to the UN Charter and the 5 Principles.