Episode 160 Show Notes- How China, Russia, and Others Taunt America
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Episode Description
China, Russia, and other adversaries Taunt America and the Biden administration. When any new administration comes into office, America’s adversaries look to challenge the new administration. However, China, Russia, and other adversaries have taken it to a new level and are openly trolling the Biden administration. As America’s adversaries see weakness, they are seeking to exploit this weakness in an effort to increase their power and influence in the global community.
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Show Transcript- How China, Russia, and Other Adversaries Taunt America
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Intro
Welcome everyone to another episode of The PAS Report Podcast.
Today, I’m going to focus on the international front because we are witnessing something truly remarkable and unique. Anytime you have a new administration come in, our adversaries begin to challenge that new administration.
They poke and they prod, they want to determine how far they can push, and when they need to pullback. It’s not really a secret, and usually, our institutions are ready for the challenges.
However, something different is going on. We’re not seeing the same type of challenges. Instead, it’s much worse. Our adversaries, countries like Communist China, Russia, North Korea, and others, are openly trolling President Biden. They’re mocking him and it’s embarrassing.
And it’s not that they are simply trolling the President. It’s also clear they don’t respect President Biden and they have little fear of his administration.
I’m going to breakdown what it all means. I want to focus on what our adversaries are doing and why I’m concerned. We are witnessing a direct challenge to America’s power and influence around the world, and there are far-reaching implications.
Before I begin exploring this topic, go to The P.A.S. Report website. Sign up for The P.A.S. Report Newsletter and make sure to follow the podcast so you never miss an episode.
Levels of Analysis
I want to start off by bringing up the Levels of Analysis. Now, I’ve spoken in-depth about the Levels of Analysis in previous episodes, so I’m not going to rehash every aspect of the Levels of Analysis.
But for those listeners who are new to The P.A.S. Report, which I will say you made a wise decision by choosing to listen to this podcast, the Levels of Analysis is a tool political scientists use in an attempt to understand why countries and leaders behave the way they do. It also allows us to try and predict what countries and their leaders are likely to do.
Remember, international politics is like a chess match, and you should always be 2-3 steps ahead of your opponents, even your allies. Unfortunately, in America, our policymakers have a habit of playing checkers, and only looking at the short term rather than the long game.
There are three Levels of Analysis- System-Level Analysis, State Level Analysis, and Individual Level Analysis. For our purposes, I’ll mostly focus on the System Level Analysis because I’m going to take the macro approach.
And one of the key aspects we need to examine when using System-Level Analysis is by focusing on the distribution of power. We need to understand how power is distributed in the international arena because that’s critical to understanding how and why nation-states, countries, behave the way they do.
Power is essential in the international system. It’s the necessary vehicle to achieve foreign policy goals. Foreign policy is a difficult game because it usually consists of self-interest strategies designed to protect national interests and allows a nation to achieve its goals on the world stage.
Here’s the problem, foreign policy is difficult because what may be in one nation’s interest, is not in the interests of other nations. So, it requires a delicate balance.
There is always a competition for power between both allies and adversaries. But to easily understand what I’m talking about; our foreign policy is designed to maintain our power and influence around the world. Where if we look at Russia or China, their foreign policy is to increase their power and influence around the world thereby making them natural adversaries.
Power is a zero-sum game, meaning that when one nation is losing power, that power doesn’t just evaporate. It has to go somewhere. So, when a nation is losing power, it means other countries are gaining power.
Understanding that, you may be asking yourself, “Well, what is power?” Power is the sum of a country’s capabilities, and it includes all aspects- political, militarily, economically, culturally, and socially. Power is essential to practice statecraft.
Statecraft is how a country applies its national power and capabilities to achieve its foreign policy objectives.
Power is an asset and goal of all nations. The more power you have, the more successful you’ll be as a country.
Why is this important?
The background information I’m giving you, essentially a crash course in international politics 101, is extremely important to fully understand what’s currently going on.
When a superpower like the United States is losing power and influence, it introduces instability in the international system. As instability increases, the chances for conflict also increase.
The international system is chaotic. There’s a lot of anarchy because of all the different actors involved pushing their own self-interests.
Former President Trump
When we truly examine international politics, you see the complexity, and the first UN Secretary-General, Trygve Lie (Trig-ve Lee), said it best when it comes to diplomacy. He said diplomacy is the art of slitting your neighbor’s throat without them realizing it.
When President Trump was elected in 2016, my only concern was the foreign policy arena. I was concerned because I know how world leaders operate as snakes, and while President Trump had business experience on the international front, that doesn’t equate to successful diplomacy on the governmental level.
Think about it logically for a second. If I’m a businessman, and I want to open a business in another country, I’m investing in that country. I’m hiring a local workforce. I’m going to pay taxes in that country. When you look at it, it’s not that hard of negotiation, because while you’re opening the business for your own self-interests, it’s in the countries self-interest for you to open the business as well. Basically, all negotiating parties are going to benefit someway.
On the foreign policy front, it’s much more difficult because while we are going to negotiate what’s in our interests, many times it may not be in the interests of the country we are negotiating with, particularly when it comes to our adversaries.
However, there was something that worked in President Trump’s favor. Essentially, he was an unknown quantity, and he was largely unpredictable. Countries like to be able to predict how a President is going to react to certain situations, but with President Trump, that was impossible.
President Trump was anything but predictable, and our adversaries were keenly aware of this. They knew they had to be careful when strategizing and developing their foreign policies. See, most politicians are predictable. They have a long track record of policy stances and don’t deviate all that much.
With President Trump, that’s out the window. Here’s a guy that can regularly change positions. He approaches everything from a business standpoint and believes everything is negotiable. He doesn’t have a history of foreign policy decisions, and when you examine his statements over the years, his positions are all over the map. Here’s a person who can contradict himself three times in the same sentence throwing everyone off balance.
And understand this is not by accident. It’s by design, and President Trump set the tone of his foreign policy approach very early in his administration, and he put the international community on notice. Within a month and a half of his administration, President Trump was having dinner with the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping. At this point, North Korea was saber-rattling, and a war of words between President Trump and Kim Jong Un erupted.
President Trump wanted China to rein in the North Korean dictator. Prior to the dinner, reports emerged that the Syrian military launched chemical weapons on their own people. Now, this is disputed, and evidence does exist that contradicts this. However, President Trump used these reports to his advantage. As President Trump and Xi Jinping were having dinner, the President authorized the U.S. military to conduct airstrikes on Syria.
If you think those airstrikes were designed to hurt the Syrian military, think again. President Trump was sending a much broader message to the international community, especially China. Basically, the President was telling the world that he is not afraid to use our power and might in the world when he sees fit, and it serves a strategic interest.
A week later, the President dropped the Mother of All Bombs, a MOAB, on Afghanistan. This set the tone and put the world on notice, especially our adversaries. You factor in these two military strikes, along with President Trump preaching an America First approach, both domestically and abroad, and many foreign governments and their intelligence agencies had to reassess everything they thought. America would now deviate from the last 60-years of foreign policy and our diplomatic efforts. We would embark on a new approach, which isn’t a bad thing given the repeated failures we saw over the years.
And it got even more complicated for foreign governments when the State Department would say one thing, and the President would come out and say the exact opposite. This drove the press and the pundit class crazy. They were constantly bashing the President and his administration for not speaking with one voice and being on the same page.
But it shows how shallow their thought process was. You have all these so-called foreign policy experts going on the media outlets and screaming that our government should speak with one voice. These idiots never thought how this was intentional misdirection to throw our adversaries off-balance. It was also meant to throw our allies off-balance as well. For the last couple of decades, our allies consistently took advantage of the United States, and we willingly allowed it.
Prior to the Trump administration, we constantly felt the need to bow to our allies. The funding of NATO is the greatest example. For decades, many of the European members, particularly those countries considered to be part of old Europe like Germany and France would not live up to their NATO commitments when it came to funding NATO. Behind the scenes, administration after administration would complain to their European partners to no avail.
When President Trump was elected, one of the first things he did was call out our allies publicly, and shame them into paying more. While most of the ruling class here in the United States were aghast, the tactic worked. President Trump did something that previous administrations, both Republican and Democrat, failed to do. Under the Trump administration, NATO contributions by European countries increased by 4.3%.
The Biden Administration
This brings me to President Biden. When then-candidate Joe Biden would emerge from his basement, he consistently bashed the America First approach.
He talked about rejoining the Paris Climate Accords without any renegotiations to make the terms more favorable. He talked about his desire to rejoin the Iran Nuclear Agreement. He criticized President Trump’s withdrawal from the WHO, and our treatment of our allies.
He criticized President Trump’s tough stance towards China when it comes to things like trade. In fact, he specifically stated that China was not a threat to the United States. That China wasn’t competition for us. Take a listen.
Play Sound Clip 1
Hard to listen to, I know. President Biden talked about going back to the foreign policy of old. The media and the ruling class salivated at this. They constantly pushed President Biden’s years of experience when it comes to foreign policy. They talked about how America would once again be liked and respected in the international community. Remember, the elite, the ruling class, are some of the dumbest people around, and they are some of the shallowest thinkers around.
They only see things at the surface level, and never look to explore things with depth. It’s the reason we constantly get taken advantage of.
First, let’s take President Biden’s experience in the international arena. Just because someone has years of experience in an area, it doesn’t mean they have successes. We constantly harp on the idea that just because someone has been involved in a specific area for a long period of time, that it makes them more qualified than others. But I don’t care what profession you’re looking at, just because they may have the years in, it doesn’t make them good at what they do.
There are doctors that could be in the field for 30-years, but it doesn’t mean they are any good at what they do. The same holds true for teachers, mechanics, chefs, barbers, and of course, politicians.
In fact, former Secretary of Defense Bob Gates, who served in numerous administrations including the Obama administration, said that President Biden has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy question throughout his career.
Secondly, and more importantly, the world keeps a close eye on our internal politics, and what do you think. Do you think they don’t see what everyone else sees? Even if President Biden had a successful track record when it comes to foreign policy, do you think the world doesn’t notice his stumbles? Do you think the international community doesn’t see the confusion in his eyes? Do you think the world doesn’t see that President Biden is a shell of what he used to be?
You were sold a lie by the propaganda press. I know, it’s shocking. During the election cycle, the press consistently stated that Russia and China want President Trump to win and that Iran and Venezuela wanted President Biden to win. What a joke. This was a lie just like a lot of things put out there by the media.
While the world may not have liked President Trump, they did respect him, and they feared him. When President Trump spoke, they listened, and they walked a fine line.
Even if you support President Biden, while our allies may like President Biden, do you really think they fear him? Do you think our adversaries respect or fear President Biden? Be honest with yourself.
Adversaries Openly Mock President Biden
But it’s worse than I imagined. First, when you look at President Biden’s foreign policy, it’s one based on weakness, not strength. It’s one that plays identity politics, not what’s in America’s best interest.
Just look at how fast he rejoined the Paris Climate Accord, without any stipulations that the agreement be renegotiated to level the playing field with China. Look at how fast he rejoined the WHO. Now, the WHO lied throughout the coronavirus, and they protected the communist regime of China, yet we rejoined with no strings attached. No pressure or anything. Just complete capitulation.
We withdrew from the Stay in Mexico policy which kept immigrants in Mexico until their asylum hearings. It’s no wonder our border is being overwhelmed. Washington, DC is a fortress while over 6,000 people a day are crossing the border, and that’s the ones we know about. Imagine all those crossing the border illegally. And since authorities are so overwhelmed, the Biden administration is now going to be releasing these immigrants into the community without even having a court date. We already know that many won’t show up for court even if they are given a date, but now we won’t even be able to find them to give them a court date.
Someone, please explain to me how this is good foreign policy? Someone, please explain to me how this benefits the United States in any way? More importantly, is this sound policy at a time where our economy is in shambles and millions are out of work?
The United States is the one country that put in policies that not only don’t benefit us but are to our detriment. It’s sad and pathetic.
It’s policies like these that make us a laughingstock. And it’s increasingly clear that the world, particularly our adversaries, have zero respect for the President and openly mock him. Last week, was truly stunning. Our adversaries don’t even hide it anymore.
Putin Challenges President Biden
Last week, President Biden gave an interview to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. President Biden made two critical mistakes. It was stunning. Like I said before, just because you may be involved in something for years, it doesn’t mean that you know what you’re doing. These were juvenile mistakes, and President Biden would fail diplomacy 101. Take a listen.
Play Sound Clip 2
So, he calls Vladimir Putin a killer and then makes an overt threat that Putin and Russia are going to pay the price. Now, before the left starts accusing me of being a Russian agent because it appears rather than debate, they just want to label people, I’m not saying Putin is a good person. Most world leaders aren’t.
I’ve said it before, Putin is like the Capo di tutti capi, the boss of bosses. He’s like the head of his own mob syndicate where everyone has to kick up to the boss.
With that being said, he is also the leader of a country that we have to engage with diplomatically. Well, right off the bat, when you insult a leader, particularly one like Putin who looks at the world through the realism perspective and understands the importance of projecting strength, how likely do you think it will be for Putin to capitulate to the demands of the Biden administration? In the rules for effective diplomacy, rule number 2 is understanding the importance of language and words and the possible implications.
Instead of having an adversarial relationship with Russia, that relationship may become a hostile one where Russia may actively seek to challenge us and move closer to China’s sphere of influence.
In international politics, big powers are much more threatened by the superpower on their doorstep than the one thousands of miles away. Smart U.S. policy would be to drive a wedge between Russia and China, but we don’t have smart people developing policy.
And remember, the communist regime of China has slaughtered millions of their own people. While Putin is a bad actor, he hasn’t committed genocide.
The second major mistake was overtly threatening Putin and Russia saying that the price Putin and Russia will pay will be seen shortly. When you make a threat in the international arena, you better be prepared to follow through on that threat. President Biden violated rules 2, 7, and 8 in the rules for effective diplomacy. Remember rule 2 is to understand the importance of language and words, as well as the implication. Rule 7 is to leave avenues open-ended. You don’t want to box yourself in. And rule 8 is to always follow through on what you say.
President Biden made a specific threat, and he now has to follow through. If he doesn’t, he will seem weaker than he already does. World leaders won’t take him seriously, and adversaries will look to take advantage.
We don’t have to look to far back to see what happens when a President makes a threat and doesn’t follow through. In 2012, President Obama made a specific threat to Bashar al-Assad in Syria. President Obama threw down the gauntlet and threatened that if Assad’s military uses chemical weapons, a red line would be crosses and the United States would use our military and seek a policy of regime change.
A year later, President Obama would be tested on whether he would follow through on the threat. Ultimately, President Obama backed down. Now maybe it was the right decision. Maybe it wasn’t. I’m not debating whether it would have been a good idea to get involved in Syria. In fact, it was a lose-lose. In any event, President Obama did not follow through on his threat, and our adversaries noticed.
They immediately saw weakness and looked to exploit that weakness. Think about what happened following 2013. Russia takes over Crimea and starts unrest in Eastern Ukraine despite criticism from the United States. They also get more entrenched in Syria. Turkey becomes much more aggressive and authoritarian under the Erdogan regime. Iran becomes more emboldened and causes more unrest throughout the Middle East. China becomes much more aggressive in the South China Seas, and against their neighbors. North Korea becomes more aggressive. The Maduro security forces become much more aggressive towards the opposition in Venezuela. Do you think this is all by coincidence?
Nothing in the international arena happens by coincidence. There are actions and reactions. So, President Biden has issued an overt threat.
And Putin has responded to President Biden, and his response reveals exactly what he thinks about President Biden. Take a listen.
Play Sound Clip 3
You now have the President of Russia openly mocking President Biden. It’s obvious he’s questioning President Biden’s mental faculties. He views President Biden as a feeble old man, and to further illustrate how Putin is mocking the President, how he’s trolling the President, Putin challenged Joe Biden to a televised debate.
Now, why would Putin issue that challenge? And why did he emphasize a televised debate? Putin knows that President Biden would never debate. But it illustrates the little respect he has for President Biden. He views President Biden as weak and frail.
North Korea
And Putin isn’t the only one openly trolling the President. Last week, North Korean officials announced that they have been ghosting calls and emails from the Biden administration. North Korea’s Foreign Minister, Choe Son Hui, stated, “We don’t think there is a need to respond to the U.S. delaying time-trick again. We will disregard such an attempt of the U.S. in the future too.”
Remember when all the so-called experts were flipping out about President Trump’s decision to engage in direct diplomacy with North Korea? Remember when these morons said that it’s exactly what North Korea wants, and it normalizes North Korea? How embarrassing is it that North Korea won’t even answer our calls?
And even worse, they are now threatening and preparing to conduct a nuclear test, and possibly an ICBM test. If they do this, it shows they have zero fear of a Biden administration. While President Trump wasn’t able to get the North Koreans to denuclearize, which I called that, he did dramatically reduce the tensions on the Korean Peninsula, and they did respect President Trump.
Mexico
Mexico has started to lash out at the Biden administration. I want you to think about that for a second. The media pushed a narrative that President Trump and Mexico would have an adversarial relationship because of President Trump’s rhetoric and that Mexico despises President Trump.
It turns out that President Trump actually developed a pretty good relationship with Mexico, and the two countries were able to strike a number of agreements that benefitted both countries.
In the irony of all ironies, the Mexican government is now criticizing the United States because of our new border policies. Essentially it’s an open border. The Mexican government has stated that we’ve become too lenient when it comes to illegal immigration and the situation is “untenable.”
The Mexican government says that President Biden’s policies are incentivizing migration and creating big business for the gangs and cartels.
President Obrador said, “They see him as the migrant president, and so many feel they are going to reach the United States.” Think about that a second, they see President Biden as the migrant president. Truly stunning.
Communist Government of China Trolls Biden Administration
But the worst was what happened with China last week. The communist government, the one who is responsible for widespread human rights abuses. The communist regime that’s responsible for covering up the coronavirus allowing it to be unleashed on the world. This regime has shown that they are ready to manipulate and thoroughly embarrass this administration.
Last week, the communist regime and the Biden administration, led by the pathetic Secretary of State Tony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, met in Alaska, for the first face-to-face meeting. At the meeting, the communist regime threw away any niceties and went on the attack. And remember, this was on our own soil. So, I’ll play a brief clip by the Secretary of State as he opened the meeting. Take a listen.
Play Sound Clip 4
Now I listened to the whole statement and it was pretty bland. I mean the Secretary of State didn’t bring up coronavirus or anything of real substance. It was mostly bland and generic.
Now, understand, there are some that said the Chinese were offended by the opening remarks. That’s nonsense. The officials had their prepared remarks and it was stunning how they went on the attack. Take a listen.
Play Sound Clip 5
I mean wow. China criticizing American democracy and accusing the United States of massacres. A little hypocritical there. But they didn’t hold back criticizing our failed wars, particularly in the Middle East. And they clearly were alluding to one of our biggest foreign policy failures when we sought regime change in Libya increasing instability in the region.
But the Chinese delegation wasn’t done yet. Take a listen to this clip.
Play Sound Clip 6
Really. The communist regime has nerve criticizing us on human rights. Listen, have we committed past sins? Yes. Are we a perfect nation? No. However, are we the most just country in the world? Absolutely. Are we the best country in the world? 100%.
However, for communist China to be so overt in their criticisms, and for them to use the Black Lives Matter organization for propaganda purposes, clearly they see weakness. They have absolutely no fear and departed from most diplomatic norms by launching this verbal assault at the first face-to-face meeting with their American counterparts.
Now, Secretary of State Blinken and National Security Advisor Sullivan could have easily rebutted China. The communist regime is ripe for criticism. Whether it be their tyrannical regime and mass surveillance of their own people. The re-education camps where Uyghurs are being tortured and killed, or how about pushing back and holding them accountable for unleashing the coronavirus on the world through lies and manipulation. So, the Secretary of State and the NSA Director can easily rebut China’s criticism and expose Communist China for the type of regime it is.
So how did we respond? Take a listen.
Play Sound Clip 7
Seriously? That’s Secretary of State Blinken’s response? Truly pathetic. Oh. That’s not what we’re hearing in the international community. That will show communist China not to screw with us. And why the hell do we have to defend and justify ourselves to China when it comes to things like human rights?
Alright, so the Secretary of State failed, maybe National Security Advisor Sullivan will do better. Let’s take a listen.
Play Sound Clip 8
Another pathetic response that essentially validates and dignifies China’s criticism of us. Sorry, but we are not on the same moral playing field. Not even close. And the communist regime doesn’t get to dictate to us.
But this is what happens when there is little respect for the administration, and it shows they have no fear. They believe they can advance China’s power and influence under this administration, and they are going full steam ahead.
Closing
This is not to say President Biden hasn’t done anything right. Just the other day, the Biden administration slapped sanctions on high-level Chinese officials that have been responsible for some major human rights abuses. Also, there are reports that President Biden’s team discussed the threat China poses without allies seeking to blunt the communist regime’s attempts to create a wedge between us. As President Biden’s foreign policy takes shape, I’ll be better able to tell if these are superficial moves or if there are actual teeth behind the Biden foreign policy.
But it would be a lie to say I don’t have major concerns. I’m concerned that one of our adversaries may make a dangerous miscalculation. I’m also concerned that the Biden administration may make a miscalculation. What I mean by that is if one of our adversaries does something that requires a response, the Biden administration may overreact in the effort not to appear weak.
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And we don’t do ourselves any favors here in the United States. Consider this, while we’re debating gender pronouns, cancel culture, and constantly bashing the American people as racist bigots, our adversaries are methodically crafting policies in an effort to achieve their strategic goals. They have their eyes on power, and they don’t get bogged down in the BS.
Yet, in the United States, we have a whole bunch of people who will constantly bash their own country as a bad country. An unjust country. There are many within who show nothing but disdain for America, and our adversaries watch and exploit. They exploit these divisions and push their propaganda. We are doing our adversaries’ work for them. The sheer stupidity on display is maddening.
This episode is not meant to scare you. It’s meant to inform you about what’s really going on since our propaganda press fails to focus on real issues that actually matter.
There’s a lot going on domestically, but we also have to pay attention to what’s happening internationally. Remember, the United States is the last great hope in the world, and ask yourself, if we fail, who wins? Do you think the world will be a better place if it’s dominated by communist China? Let that marinate with you for a little.
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