#14285

>>11172876 Six Defendants Charged in Scheme to Defraud Student Loan Programs of More Than $12 Million.

>>11172953 Five Alleged MS-13 Members Charged Federally for Their Participation in a Violent Racketeering Conspiracy Including Eight Murders and Four Attempted Murders

>>11172996 Three red banners movement

>>11173018 Al Qaeda-Trained Jihadist Who Recruited Other Inmates to Join ISIS Sentenced to 300 Months

>>11173042 50,000 Children’s Surgeries Postponed, Deaths on Transplant Waiting List Near-Doubled Due to Lockdown: Report

>>11173064 Flashback: Obama Campaign Denied Biden Backed Bill Because Of Payments To Hunter

>>11173076 Members of Joe Biden's 2008 VP transition team

>>11173100 MarkMeadows Court Declaration in FOIA lawsuits clarifies declassification

>>11173108 'Joe Biden is a criminal and you're a criminal for not reporting it!' Trump lashes out at Reuters reporter

>>11173109 What are Joe Biden’s dealings in Romania, invoked by Donald Trump’s lawyer?

>>11173117 Senate panel delays vote to subpoena Twitter, Facebook CEOs as some Republicans waver

>>11173149, >>11173177 China “Pwns” Us: How the Chinese Are Buying Up America

>>11173150 Former senior intel official reveals HE provided the NYT with three infamous UFO videos

>>11173192 WATCH: Police Standby as Hundreds of BLM Protesters Gather in London, While Cracking Down on Anti-Lockdown Demos

>>11173195 Everything You Need to Know about Obamagate The Movie!

>>11173197 Joe Biden with Pres Obama sold out 36 CIA informants and 20+ of them were executed all at once by the CCP

>>11173215 Trumps calls on CNN for being fake news in interview in 1990

>>11173220 Text of a Letter from the President to Certain Congressional Committees

>>11173225 Swamp Judge Jan Jurden Gave DuPont heir Probation in Incest Child Rape for 3 Years Case

>>11173231 Dismantling Qanon FFS

>>11173267 NATO Envoys Openly Rooting For Trump Defeat, Vow Early Summit If Biden Wins

>>11173301 University Of Chicago Faculty Demands Reparations

>>11173319 Goldman To Pay $2.8BN In Long-Awaited 1MDB Settlement Deal; Asian Unit To Plead Guilty

>>11173336 Memorandum on Space Policy Directive-5—Cybersecurity Principles for Space Systems

>>11173363 Former FDA head says the US is entering the 'biggest wave' of the coronavirus pandemic and calls Trump 'problematic' for holding large rallies

>>11173369 ClintonHarris2020 Ticket Domain Registered 8/15/2020 4:24 PM

>>11173413 Facebook suspends account of Ukrainian lawmaker and Rudy Giuliani associate who made claims about a second laptop linked to Hunter Biden

>>11173440 Retired special ops chief who led Osama bin Laden raid endorses Biden

>>11173497 France closes Paris Mosque, raids militant networks in terror crackdown following teacher's murder

Patriot bun

comms/ are a Mossad/C_A teamwho are here to gatekeep the information we find and keep it from those who only check notes. They have also ruined the scrappers ability to pick up notes.

This is my evidence!

Keep fighting! God is with us not them.

Social Media Trying to Destroy our Freedom

I was preparing to add a chapter on what is becoming the Greatest Political Manipulation in world history to the Manipulating the World Economy, which would be about the US 2020 election and the COVID-19 world lockdown to further the Great Reset. Now even Amazon is reserving its right to ban any book that is critical of coronavirus lockdown. We have entered the era where history repeats like the Nazi book burning. Even Elon Musk has come out against Amazon.

I warned that the computer projected this would be the MOST politically corrupt election in American history. NEVER in my personal imagination would I have EVER assumed that the high-tech companies would be conspiring against our freedom. They are simply greedy. They are following this Marxist Utopia and think that they will be exempt and get a piece of every transaction in the entire world by supporting this move to digital currencies.

I am thoroughly disgusted. The election in the Roman Republic of 53BC was always on my top 10 list of corrupt elections in history. The elections of 53BC effectively degenerated into a bidding war between the various factions. Under the pretense of helping candidates with their expenses, the bottom line was simple bribery. We know from various contemporary authors of the time that the intense bribery caused interest rates to jump from 4% to 8% during those elections. This bidding war was so serious that the Senate of Rome was forced to act because it became so public.

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/social-media-trying-to-destroy-our-freedom/

New Zealand Suffers from Fake News & Propaganda

In New Zealand, you can see this press interview is extremely hostile and she shuts down any mention that the death rate of COVID-19 is not greater than other viruses which she will not allow him to say and calls it “rubbish” proving she is by no means a real journalist. Once upon a time, the press was our defenders. Now, they are a wholesale part of the effort to deny our freedoms.

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/new-zealand-suffers-from-fake-news-propaganda/

New Bill Gives Immunity to Military Over Australians During Emergencies & Canada Internment Camps

The entire purpose of lockdowns was supposed to flatten the curve because so many people would get sick and die in the millions, there would not be enough bed space. They keep changing the excuse to keep the power going continually. Welcome to what Authoritarian/Totalitarianism looks like in the 21st century. A new bill has been introduced in the Australian federal parliament that gives civil and criminal immunity to foreign military forces and police operating in Australia during an emergency which is obviously this hyped COVID-19 and could even be bushfires. The Defence Legislation Amendment (Enhancement of Defence Force Response to Emergencies) Bill 2020 amends the Defence Act 1903 and the Defence Reserve Service (Protection) Act 2001 (DRSP Act) to allow members of the Australia Defence Force (ADF) Reserves, to be called in and to be given total immunity for performing duties that they may be called upon to do. The bill will also grant immunities to members of the ADF, as well as all other defense personnel, and members of even foreign forces called on during a civil emergency.

Meanwhile, in Canada, they are creating quasi-interment camps. An Ontario politician condemned the Canadian federal government’s Covid-19 quarantine sites as “internment camps” which has led to the presumption that they intend to jail Canadians. I have even heard the rumors that you can call them and say you think someone has COVID-19 and they will be sent off the jail. These statements are generally false at this moment. However, the sites do exist and are facilities rented by the federal government for “travelers” who have NO alternative for mandatory quarantine. The danger with this is very clear, it opens the door to forced quarantines as in New Zealand. In Thailand, you must quarantine for 2 weeks in a hotel designated by the government at your own expense.

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/new-bill-gives-immunity-to-military-over-australians-during-emergencies-canada-internment-camps/

California Senator and Biden VP Pick Kamala Harris Held Secret Meeting with Planned Parenthood to Target Reporter Who Uncovered Their Harvesting of Late Term Abortion Body Parts

In 2016 Kamala Harris met with senior leaders of Planned Parenthood in California and targeted the man who outed Planned Parenthood for harvesting and trafficking late term abortion body parts.

In July of 2015 a team led by David Daleiden began releasing the videos of their interviews with members of Planned Parenthood. For a couple of years starting in 2013 his team had gone undercover to investigate actions Planned Parenthood was taking with baby body parts harvested after late term abortions. Within a week of releasing their video more than 3 million people had viewed it and Congress announced it would begin investigations into the matter.

On April 5, 2016, the California Department of Justice came for the man who had outed horrendous crimes related to Democrat darling Planned Parenthood. David Daleiden, went outside his residence and was immediately met by a multiple agents from the California Department of Justice. About five or six agents went into his house with a search warrant while another five or so stood outside his apartment with AR-15’s.

What Daleiden knows now is that Kamala Harris at the explicit instruction of Planned Parenthood had targeted Daleiden to enforce the California video recording law against him and to punish him for speaking the truth about her powerful campaign donors at Planned Parenthood.

Just two weeks prior to the search at this home, Kamala Harris had a secret meeting in Los Angeles with Planned Parenthood leadership. The leadership of Planned Parenthood demanded Daleiden’s video and video equipment be seized in order to shut him up.

Daleiden states that Planned Parenthood and their politicians like Kamala Harris are shameless and will do all they can to reach their goals. They will do all they can to force their agendas through.

Kamala Harris is the single greatest threat to first amendment civil liberties that our country has ever seen. If Kamala Harris is elected to be a heartbeat away from the highest office in the United States of America, you will have someone in the White House who has a radical content and disrespect for first amendment civil liberties. Someone who believes she’s entitled to use the powers of her office in order to punish the viewpoints of citizens who disagree with her.

http://www.cuzzblue.com/2020/10/california-senator-and-biden-vp-pick.html

JOHN BRENNAN: How did a card-carrying communist get to be Director of the C.I.A.?

The untold truth about Obama’s former CIA director, John Brennan

Why does John Brennan need a security clearance other than to commercially exploit it?

Let’s get something clear from the start. In 1976, in his 20s, John Brennan was a card carrying communist who supported the then Soviet Union, at the height some might say of the Cold War, so much so he voted and assisted Gus Hall, the communist candidate for President against a devout Christian, Jimmy Carter who ultimately won the Presidency.

Yet under four years later, just after the then Soviet Union invaded, just weeks before, Afghanistan and months after the tumultuous Iranian revolution of 1979, which at the time many thought the Soviet Union had a hand in, Brennan was accepted into the CIA as a junior analyst.

At that time, John Brennan should have never got into the CIA, or any Western Intelligence agency given his communist background.

Think on that carefully as you continue to read this.

Also reflect on the fact that Brennan, later in his CIA career, was surprisingly elevated from junior analyst to the prestigious position of Station Chief in Saudi Arabia where he spent a few years.

Its said he was appointed purely for ‘political’ reasons, alleged to have been at the direct request of Bill Clinton and other Democrats not because of a recommendation or merit from within the Agency.

Its further said that the Saudis liked Brennan because he became very quickly ‘their man’ so to speak. Some reports, unsubstantiated, even allege Brennan became a Muslim while there to ingratiate himself with the Saudis.

Important to read is an NBC news article entitled ‘Former Spooks Criticize CIA Director John Brennan for Spying Comments’ by Ken Dilanian dated March 2nd, 2016.

The article contains many revealing facts and evidence, while giving a flavour, of the feelings of many in the CIA who felt that Brennan was totally unsuitable and unqualified to be Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

(This is the link to the above referenced article: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/ us-news/brennan-joking-when- he-says-cia-spies-doesn-t- steal-n529426. )

A final controversy is the little known fact of Brennan’s near four year departure from the CIA into the commercial world, having been ‘left out in the cold’ from the CIA, from November 2005 to January 2009 when he was CEO of a private company called ‘The Analysis Corporation’.

So why was he then reinstated into the CIA, to the surprise of CIA’s senior management, by newly elected President Obama, to head the CIA? No answer is available as to why he left the CIA in 2005.

(An important link that gives background to his experience in the commercial world can be read here: http://www.thedailybeast.com/ cia-slammed-brennans- disingenuous-contract-bid- wikileaks-show)

Lastly let’s not forget Brennan’s many failures as CIA head in recent years, one most notable is the Benghazi debacle and the death of a US Ambassador and others there. Something else to ponder.

Back to the present an the issue of security clearances.

http://theduran.com/the-untold-truth-about-obamas-former-cia-director-john-brennan/

San Diego School District Announces It Will Eliminate Grading Standards To "Combat Racism"

The San Diego Unified School District has announced that it will eliminate its previously used grading standards in order to “combat racism”.

The move came about after it was revealed that just 7% of D or F grades are handed out to white students, while 23% went to Native Americans, 23% of failing grades went to Hispanics and 20% went to black students.

However, instead of trying to develop an actual understanding of why this is taking place, the school district simply announced that “discrimination” and “racism” were to blame before embarking on a complete do-over of the grading system in order to combat this apparent injustice.

Academic grades will now not be dependent on early tests (meaning students could flunk them and not have it affect their final grade), and grades “will now focus on mastery of the material, not a yearly average.”

Teachers will also not be able to consider non-material factors like bad behavior in the classroom and not handing in work on time when grading students.

The horrific irony of this of course is that is will simply incentivize already underperforming students to act out in class and miss coursework deadlines.

“The board will also review potential student disparities stemming from its zero-tolerance disciplinary policy on cheating in the coming weeks,” reports NBC News.

Once again, this will only have the impact of encouraging underperforming students to cheat more.

“This is part of our honest reckoning as a school district,” said SDUSD Vice President Richard Barrera.

“If we’re actually going to be an anti-racist school district, we have to confront practices like this that have gone on for years and years.”

All of these measures are guaranteed to harm non-white students, not help them.

By way of the bigotry of low expectations, predominantly white liberal education officials are enacting policies that will increase the chances of Native American, Hispanic and black students leaving school with lackadaisical mental attitudes and poor skill sets, making their entry into the jobs market even harder.

“This epitomizes the liberal strategy for eliminating the racial disparities they endlessly obsess on: bring everyone down to a lowest common denominator. This debases education, as moonbattery debases everything it touches,” writes Dave Blount.

“Allowing progressives to take over the schools was a catastrophic error.”

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/san-diego-school-district-announces-it-will-eliminate-grading-standards-combat-racism

Biden Defector Bevan Cooney’s Emails Reveal Hunter Biden’s Associates Viewed Direct Pipeline to Obama Administration as “Currency”

Hunter Biden’s business associate Bevan Cooney flipped after being imprisoned for being the “fall guy” and he has since handed over his Gmail password to various investigative reporters.

According to another tranche of emails from Bevin Cooney’s Gmail account, Hunter Biden’s associates viewed his direct pipeline to the Obama Administration through Joe Biden as “currency.”

In one email thread, Devon Archer expressed his desire to “bring Hunter into the mix” and “to leverage Hunter more” in a way that didn’t involve John Kerry’s stepson Chris Heinz — Heinz had expressed he was uncomfortable with their foreign business dealings.

In October 2013, Devon Archer discussed their need to use a “Rosemont Seneca SPV” (special purpose vehicle) because Rosemont Capital was too close to Chris Heinz, who eventually severed ties with Hunter and Devon Archer.

Breitbart reported:

Another benefit of the Rosemont Seneca SPV was, per an October 5 email from Hunter Biden and Devon Archer’s business associate Bevan Cooney to Archer, it “would be good to put some honey in Hunter’s pocket.” That same day Archer responded: “Agreed. I also have more autonomy with that company as I own it with Hunter and he’s willing to take on risk… Hunter will work if we need him too [sic] as well.”

Five days later, Biden’s business associate Jason Galanis confirmed to Archer that he had changed the corporate references in the proposal to include a Hunter Biden-controlled firm. Archer replied, clearly pleased. “Perfect. Let’s just keep to that. We get the Biden lift and stay out of Heinz panties.” Archer had noted he would use Rosemont Seneca Partners instead of Rosemont Capital, in which Heinz held a stake. Hunter Biden and Devon Archer’s Rosemont Seneca Partners would play a pivotal role in their future deals.

In a separate email thread, Hunter Biden’s other business associate Jason Galanis discussed using Hunter Biden’s connection to the Obama Admin as currency:

Via Peter Schweizer and Seamus Bruner of Breitbart:

Hunter Biden’s business associates spoke candidly in emails about Hunter Biden’s role in the business, particularly as it related to foreign ventures, apparently viewing the Biden name as a form of “currency,” and bragging that they had a “direct…pipeline” to the Obama-Biden Administration.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/10/biden-defector-bevan-cooneys-emails-reveal-hunter-bidens-associates-viewed-direct-pipeline-obama-administration-currency/

'Terminal Lance,' Kyle Carpenter and Mattis Just Made the Commandant's Reading List

Marines' recommended reads got a big overhaul this week, with a new podcast and titles – including the first-ever graphic novel to make the list, based on the "Terminal Lance" comic strip.

Gen. David Berger released his Commandant's Reading List on Tuesday. The list includes 46 books, most of which are new additions, including several focused on high-tech warfare. The reading list, Berger said, is just one of several efforts to get Marines thinking through problems with different lenses.

"A major emphasis for me in the coming year is updating our training, education and manpower systems," he said. "…The Commandant's Professional Reading List is an opportunity for Marines of all ranks to expand their thinking and prepare for the unknown in future conflict."

Books focused on naval integration stayed in the rotation because they're aligned with Berger's planning guidance for the force, said 1st Sgt. Monica Cervantes, senior enlisted adviser at the Lejeune Leadership Institute in Quantico, Virginia. That includes titles such as Merrill Bartlett's "Assault from the Sea: Essays on the History of Amphibious Warfare" and "Fleet Tactics and Naval Operations" by Wayne P. Hughes and Robert Girrier.

But one title stands out as an unlikely choice for the top general officer's professional reading list. "The White Donkey" by Maximilian Uriarte is the first-ever graphic novel to hit the Commandant's Reading List. Based on the often-salty "Terminal Lance" comic strip, its inclusion came as a surprise even to the author.

Uriarte said it's "immensely humbling" to know his famous characters resonate with so many Marines, from junior enlisted to the Corps' most senior officer. "The White Donkey" shows the more serious side of his comic strip's characters' journey as they deploy to Iraq and back.

"It's really just breaking down that experience that we had as Marines and really trying to just be honest with ourselves," he said. "It's like holding up to a mirror and being like, 'This is us. This is who we are. This is what we went through, and this is how we feel about it.' I think that's a valuable thing."

Uriarte is one of several Iraq or Afghanistan veterans to have their books added to the list. Also included are "After Action: The True Story of a Cobra Pilot's Journey" by Dan Sheehan; Medal of Honor recipient Kyle Carpenter's "You Are Worth It: Building a Life Worth Fighting For;" and "Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead" from former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.

Berger's personal book pick is "The Kill Chain: Defending America in the Future of High-Tech Warfare" by Christian Brose. The commandant said he chose it to give Marines a glimpse at what they're up against.

"I chose 'The Kill Chain' mainly [so] Marines can familiarize themselves with how we as a Marine Corps and a joint force will compete against peer adversaries, understand threats, make quick decisions and take decisive action, presumably from expeditionary advanced bases," Berger said. "We live in a time where technology is advancing at a rapid pace and Marines must understand how to stay out in front of these advances."

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/10/20/terminal-lance-kyle-carpenter-and-mattis-just-made-commandants-reading-list.html

US Welcomes Russia’s Offer to Extend New START for One Year

State Department says the US is ready to finalize a deal

On Tuesday, Moscow said it is ready to offer the US a mutual one-year freeze on both sides’ nuclear arsenals to extend the New START treaty for the same period. The freeze on warheads is a key US demand to extend the treaty, which will expire in February 2021 if an agreement is not reached.

“Russia offers to prolong New START for one year, and it is ready to take on the political obligation along with the USA to freeze the amount of its nuclear warheads for that period. This position can be implemented strictly on the understanding that the freezing of the warheads will not be accompanied by any additional demands from the side of the US,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

US State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus welcomed the statement and said the US is ready to finalize a deal with Moscow. “We appreciate the Russian Federation’s willingness to make progress on the issue of nuclear arms control,” Ortagus said in a statement. “The United States is prepared to meet immediately to finalize a verifiable agreement. We expect Russia to empower its diplomats to do the same.”

A senior Trump administration official told The Wall Street Journal that the US and Russia are close to making a deal. “We are very, very close to a deal,” the official said. “Now that the Russians have agreed to a warhead freeze, I do not see why we cannot work out the remaining issues in the coming days.”

The New START limits the number of warheads each side can have deployed at 1,550. But the mutual freeze would cap all warheads in each country’s arsenal, including those in storage, making verification difficult.

The Journal quoted Kingston Reif of the Arms Control Association on the difficulties of verification. “A freeze on all warheads has never been done before,” Reif said. “Defining and verifying such a freeze is far from a simple matter.”

According to the Journal, under the administration’s plan, each side would declare the number of warheads they have deployed on launchers of all ranges and in storage and pledge not to exceed that number.

The Trump administration said the US isn’t demanding that a verification system be in place before the New START expires in February. But the US wants to begin technical discussions before that time on how to implement verification.

Talks between the US and Russia to extend the New START have been ongoing for months. Moscow has offered to extend the treaty for five years with no preconditions, as the agreement allows. But the Trump administration has made additional demands, although it seems the US has dropped the more unreasonable ones for now.

The purpose of a temporary extension is to buy time to negotiate a future treaty that would replace the New START. The Trump administration says a future pact should include China. But Beijing has no interest in trilateral arms control since its nuclear arsenal is much smaller than the US and Russia’s.

The Trump administration is looking to reach an agreement with Russia to secure a foreign policy victory ahead of November’s presidential election. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s policy plan says he will pursue an extensions of the New START and use it as a foundation for new arms control treaties.

https://news.antiwar.com/2020/10/20/russia-offers-us-one-year-warhead-freeze-to-extend-new-start/

Mainstream Media panic as evidence points to laptop belonging to Robert H. Biden

https://theduran.com/mainstream-media-panic-as-evidence-points-to-laptop-belonging-to-robert-h-biden/

USA SITREP: FBI indited Russian trombone player as a “GRU hacker”

A federal grand jury sitting in the Western District of the US state of Pennsylvania without citing any laws domestic or international, basing it’s decision purely on an opaque act of “violation of accepted norms” indited six Russian citizens. All six, as the FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich claims, are Russian military intelligence officers and their “crimes” go back to 2015.

In Russia, people immediately went on searching for any information about named individuals and they truly dug up something interesting about one of those indited, YURIY SERGEYEVICH ANDRIENKO.

https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/cyber/yuriy-sergeyevich-andrienko

A Russian citizen born in Minsk, says the indictment, he is a GRU officer. “Andrienko is alleged to have been a Russian military intelligence officer, assigned to Unit 74455. He was last known to be located in Moscow, Russia.” He is being accused by the Pennsylvania judges in “Conspiracy to Commit an Offense Against the United States; False Registration of a Domain Name; Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud; Wire Fraud; Intentional Damage to Protected Computers; Aggravated Identity Theft.”

According to the liberal radio Komsomolskaya Pravda, a group of bloggers decided to find these “cybercriminals” using the Findface service.

https://brl.mk.ru/politics/2020/10/20/yuriy-ili-mikhail-belorusa-ili-barnaulca-obvinila-amerika-v-khakerskikh-atakakh.html

According to their search for Yuri’s photo, the service most likely gives out the pages of Barnaul based trombonist Mikhail Nekhoroshev, who graduated from AGIK or the Altai Academy of Culture and Arts, who used to play in the military orchestras and over the past couple of years performs in bars with live music

https://www.agik22.ru/

https://thesaker.is/usa-sitrep-fbi-indited-russian-trombone-player-as-a-gru-hacker/

Rocket fired from Gaza after cross-border tunnel uncovered

Military says projectile launched by Palestinian terrorists in coastal enclave was intercepted by Iron Dome system

Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip fired a rocket toward Israel on Tuesday evening, the military said.

The rocket was intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Video from a security camera shared on social media appeared to show the interceptor missile being launched. The firing of the rocket set off warning sirens in communities in the border area.

The rocket fire came hours after the IDF said it uncovered a “terror tunnel” dug in Gaza that reached dozens of meters into Israel.

The IDF said that following an “indication” from the barrier system whose installation it is completing on the border, military engineers located the concrete-lined tunnel emerging from the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis.

“The route [of the tunnel] was located as part of the ongoing efforts to find and neutralize tunnels and thanks to the technological and [intelligence] collection capabilities of the barrier,” the IDF said in a statement.

The military said the tunnel did not penetrate Israel’s new underground barrier and did not pose a threat to communities in the area.

The statement did not specify who dug and built the tunnel, but the IDF reiterated it holds Hamas responsible as the Palestinian enclave’s ruler.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/rocket-fired-from-gaza-after-cross-border-tunnel-uncovered/

Israel shooting rockets at itself again expect airstrikes any minute

Defense Experts Blast Biden’s Taiwan Policy Biden, advisers have sought to cut back support for key U.S. ally

Former vice president Joe Biden’s willingness to abandon the Trump administration's efforts to strengthen Taiwan could create major problems in the region and bolster China, defense experts say.

"I don't have very high expectations," said Heritage Foundation national security expert James Jay Carafano. "China will have a lot of cards to play."

"Taiwan is the new Hong Kong, it’s the new canary in the mineshaft," Carafano continued. "For the West not to stand up for Taiwan is a really strong signal that you’re not really going to push back on the Chinese anywhere."

Biden’s own record on Taiwan, as well as the public writings of his top foreign-policy surrogates and advisers, hints at potentially dangerous policies for both the United States and Taiwan. In 2001, Biden authored an op-ed arguing that U.S. support for the country could "draw us into a war across the Taiwan Strait." Meanwhile, recent editorials from some of Biden’s top Indo-Pacific advisers spell out a vision for Taiwan that would downplay U.S. military backing, cut defense spending, and rely on more flexible deterrence to counter Beijing. Zack Cooper, China scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, said such measures would only fuel Chinese ambitions in the region.

"You will see some serious downward pressure on the defense budget," Cooper told the Washington Free Beacon. "I think the Democrats know that this is going to be a real tension."

Carafano lodged similar complaints. "The problem with our enemies is that they can all count," he said. "We can do all this stuff about how we are going to be smarter on defense…. That has zero impact on great-power competition."

The Biden campaign did not return a request for comment about Democrats' past handling of Taiwan, including his eight-year tenure as vice president. Obama and his Asia hands struggled with Taiwanese-U.S. relations, loath to do anything besides the "bare minimum," according to Carafano. The administration could not forge a free trade agreement and was generally reluctant to send senior diplomats to Taiwan. In contrast, the Trump administration sent two senior-level executive branch officials to Taiwan in 2020 and is moving to secure Taiwan's first free trade agreement with Washington.

Obama acted on an "engage and hedge" strategy on Beijing, which meant to cooperate with China on key issues, but to dissuade the Chinese Communist Party when it made decisions contrary to American interests. Experts anticipate a similar "compete but hedge" strategy from the Biden camp, which they say does little to recognize a new era of great-power competition.

https://freebeacon.com/national-security/defense-experts-blast-bidens-taiwan-policy/