Commies Will Kill Your Dog
Russia blows up a satellite and European minds, Biden stays up late for call with Xi
Joe Biden’s staff granted him permission to stay up late for an evening call with Chinese boss Xi Jinping on Monday, originally billed as a “summit” between the two leaders. Xi was good enough to be camera ready by 8:45 am Beijing time to accommodate a 7:45 pm ET call from Washington. Biden cannot handle anything later.
The call took place in the wake of an outpouring of outrage in China over the brutal killing of a pet corgi who was named “Chaofen” after a noodle dish. Officials sweeping an apartment complex in the name of Covid-19 safety were filmed cornering the terrified dog just past its cow-print bed, striking it in the face with a metal rod, and then following it as it fled to another room to beat it to death. The owner, who watched the attack live on her phone through a security app, activated a speaker and begged the officials to stop.
Such nice people who make up the CCP.
Biden of course did not bring up the killing of Chaofen in his call, nor did he bring up much of anything. The call could have easily taken place in the 2000s or early 2010s, before Donald Trump changed the tone with China to reflect reality. Biden, in contrast, suggested toning down disputes and disagreements with Xi, which is exactly what Xi wants since he would just assume not be accountable for spreading and possibly creating Covid-19, threatening to invade neighboring countries, killing freedom in Hong Kong, and incarcerating 1-2 million of his own citizens in political concentration camps for having the wrong religion. The Biden administration is fond of saying that we don’t need to have a cold war with China, overlooking the reality that Beijing also gets a vote in cold war or peace and made up its mind.
Laughably, the White House thought it entered the non-summit in a position of strength given passage of infrastructure pork bill. In reality, while Xi does not practice democracy, he understands it well, and is aware that Biden’s public support is in the toilet. Speaking of toilets, Xi is also undoubtedly aware of the rumor that Biden crapped his pants in a meeting with the pope and continued his gastrointestinal assault in Britain with a prolonged flatulence in the company of the wife of England’s future king. Then there is also humiliation in Afghanistan, an unrequited attempt to romance Iran, prolonging of the coronavirus crisis, and worsening inflation to round out Biden’s summer and fall. As I noted on Fox News, something odd is going on China and keeping Xi from traveling, but his own weakness is nicely concealed by Biden’s monumental state of collapse.
“We’ll Always Have Paris.” And Donbas.
French President Emmanuel Macron told Russian President Vladimir Putin that he is willing “to defend the territorial integrity of Ukraine.” Sacre bleu! Such fortitude from the rear guard of Dunkirk and Dien Bien Phu. Meanwhile, the Brits have a force of 400-600 men on alert which can “fly to Ukraine and either land or parachute in.” (For comparison, the Wichita Police Department has 900 members; the Russian military has 1 million uniformed members, 900,000 civilians, and 2 million reservists.) Not to be left out lest its obsolescence be more apparent, according to Reuters, “NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned Russia on Monday that the western military alliance was standing by Ukraine amid a large and unusual concentration of Russian troops on Ukraine's borders.”
Why all of the preening? As it did earlier this year, Moscow has massed troops on Ukraine’s eastern border, probably just because it can. While military exercises and buildups can be preludes to actual invasions, they are often about sending a message, especially drawing attention to one’s own capabilities. That seems to be precisely what Putin has done again, and he is playing western leaders like a fiddle. They can condemn him for not cooperating with their neoliberal dreams, but there is little they can actually do. In contrast, in Russia’s near abroad, there is a great deal Moscow can do.
Should Paris, London, and Brussels be heralded for sort of standing up to the theoretical possibility of Russian invasion of Ukraine? On the contrary: the fools in charge of the UK and France are once again writing checks that the USA would have to cash. Remember western military intervention in Libya? That actually began as a French and British operation about which President Obama was deeply skeptical. When the two European countries ran out of smart bombs in about a week (one week!), they begged Obama for urgent, face-saving help. Are our European allies at it again, but this time with the prospect of America having to fight Russia instead of a Libyan dictator?
Ukraine is not a part of NATO, is not an ally, and the USA has no vital national interests there. If Europeans feel obliged to defend Ukraine with their own militaries, then they should be informed that the only U.S. involvement would be selling arms to combatants on a cash-and-carry basis. Of course the Biden administration won’t say that, and instead will join the chorus of bluster against Russia that just makes us look weak.
Right on cue, the State Department used some mighty tough language to condemn Russia for blowing up one of its own satellites in low-Earth orbit as part of a weapons test. Foggy Bottom declared on Monday that, “Russia’s dangerous and irresponsible behavior jeopardizes the long-term sustainability of outer space and clearly demonstrates that Russia’s claims of opposing the weaponization of space are disingenuous and hypocritical. The United States will work with our allies and respond to Russia’s irresponsible act.” Oh really? The statement came from State Department spokesman Ned Price, who brings to mind a quote from Lawrence of Arabia when Auda abu Tayi’s character tells a British colonel: “Be thankful that when God gave you a face, He gave you a fool’s face.”
Why did Russia destroy one of its own obsolete satellites? Probably because it could, just as it can mass troops at will within Russian territory on Ukraine’s border. The chief risk to the rapidly growing number of satellites in low-Earth orbit is actually cyber-attack, but Moscow is playing to its conventional military strength. The USA and the Soviet Union previously tested conventional and nuclear anti-satellite weapons, and China littered space in a 2007 conventional test.
The outrage and vague promises of retaliation are nothing new. Biden officials and Biden himself previously vowed serious consequences for Russian cyber-attacks on the USA without any actual consequences. As with Obama’s “red line” in Syria that he never enforced, U.S. adversaries see Biden’s words as just that—words.
Sayonara Europe
The company soon to be formerly known as Royal Dutch Shell announced it will end its weird corporate structure whereby it has been jointly headquartered in London and The Hague. The company will headquarter itself exclusively in London and rename itself Shell. The company said on Monday that the move had nothing to do with a recent Dutch court decision ordering it basically to commit suicide by cutting carbon emissions by an arbitrary and extreme level. What that denial means is that the move is precisely because of the court decision. Shell is trying to toe a middle line trying to appease climate change alarmists, while making promises to cut carbon emissions, just not as fast as climate radicals demand. This approach leads invariably to everyone being unhappy—the climate nuts and the shareholders who thought they were investing in an oil company. If you want to make money in energy, you should probably skip the oil majors.
Go Woke, Go Broke
In the latest episode of Simon and Whiton, Mark and I discussed how an airline, of all organizations, is actually talking down to its customers and the public at large about race. Can’t the company just content itself with providing mediocre service? Similarly, an exercise company whose stock recently fell out of bed and continues to decline nonetheless expended the effort to censor its members for poking fun at Joe Biden. In addition to those corporate mediocrities, Mark and I discussed why Taiwan always loses on trade. Check us out on YouTube (video) or all major podcast platforms and remember to subscribe.
Podcast (audio): https://anchor.fm/rockies-aria
Video below.