There comes a time when a person has no more tongue to bite.  Joe Biden speaking to U.S. troops in Poland about “democracies at an inflection” point in history, is jaw-dropping when you consider the behavior of every western government leader over the past two years.

Once again, Joe Biden, the same authoritarian who mandated that every American worker undergo a medical procedure in order to qualify as a person who might earn a living, sits atop his high-horse and pretends that western government leaders have some inherent claim to the protection of democracy.

Given their collective behavior over the past two years, the hypocrisy of this continued talking point is beyond outlandish.

[Transcript] …”We’re in the midst of — and I don’t want to sound too philosophic here — but you’re in the midst of a fight between democracies and oligarchs.  Xi Jinping — who I’ve spent more time with, they tell me, than any other world leader — points out to me that he believes, in China, that democracies can’t succeed in the 21st century.  The reason is things are moving so fast, change is happening so quickly that democracies require consensus, and we can’t put together consensus as quickly as autocrats can.

So, what’s at stake — not just in what we’re doing here in Ukraine to try to help the Ukrainian people and keep the massacre from continuing — but beyond that, what’s at stake is: What’s — what’s — what are your kids and grandkids going to look like in terms of their — their freedom?  What’s happening?  The last 10 years, there have been fewer democracies that have been formed than we’ve lost in the world. 

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With less than a quarter of the U.S. population having any confidence in Biden’s ability to handle the Ukraine crisis [AP Poll], the installed White House occupant headed to NATO to discuss consensus opinion.

Cliff Notes from Presser – Biden was bullish about the NATO alliance, yet everyone essentially agreed to resist Ukraine’s call for them to enforce a no-fly zone in the country.  During the presser [VIDEO], Biden said he wanted Russia’s ouster from the G20 but conceded it likely won’t happen and deferred to the larger group. Biden unveiled new sanctions but acknowledged that they haven’t been and will not be a deterrent. Then said while his administration wants to get Europe to stop relying on Russian energy, he recognizes it can’t be done.

When Biden was questioned about potential food shortages, he admitted the discussion did actually take place. “With regard to food shortage… it’s gonna be real,” Biden said, while admitting the price of the sanctions is not just going to surface in Russia and Europe but is likely to show up in other nations including the United States.

Don’t downplay the food shortage issue.  The absence of food can change things very quickly.  How the various national leaders respond to food shortages, and/or prices for food that makes food insecurity a very real issue, is an unknown.  However, a food crisis -and the subsequent solutions- could change the direction of many policies.

Call me crazy or whatever, but when you watch and listen to all of these NATO members either individually or collectively, you can get the distinct impression that they’re waiting on advice from some other organization and/or entity that usually provides them instructions.

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Perhaps it’s only a lie if he believes it.  However, what Joe Biden said in front of an assembled group of G20 leaders was not only a lie, it was so transparently false that world leaders knew Biden was just making stuff up.  Truly this is such a false statement you have to wonder if the script writer was intentionally setting up Joe Biden for ridicule.

Unfortunately, none of the media fact-checkers are likely to call him out for this; but, believe me, those world leaders sitting around the table know this level of propaganda is beyond anything even Baghdad Bob would attempt.  And yes, it’s also in the transcript.

Given all of the economic impacts crushing the United States working class, Joe Biden’s team thought it would be a good idea politically for his administration to select “Supply Chain Resilience” as the U.S. selected discussion topic for the G20 group.  During his introductory propaganda remarks (obviously he did not write), Joe Biden said the following [video at 02:34]:

TRANSCRIPT – […] “Just a few weeks ago, we were able to facilitate an agreement with key unions, retailers, and freight movers to begin operating two of the largest ports in the United States that account for 40 percent of the imports on the West Coast: the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach, California. So, we got them to move from 5 days a week, 8 hours a day, to 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.” (read more)

The Port of Los Angeles (POLA) and Port of Long Beach (POLB) have never worked 8hr/days Monday through Friday.  That is complete, abject and utter nonsense.  That statement is so far away from the truth, the light from where truth begins could not catch that statement in a year.  Even the ASL interpreter seemed to notice (see below).

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The current occupant of the United States White House, the optical head of the U.S. government, participated in a global summit to discuss climate change issues.

Apparently he fears being exposed to COVID-19 electronically, while the rest of the world leaders do not….  or something.

Apparently excerpts from former National Security Advisor John Bolton’s dossier have been released to the media.  The Bolton dossier makes some of the most outlandish claims imaginable; and only the most incredibly silly media would ever believe them.  So yeah, that’s exactly what’s happening.

One example within the Bolton Dossier comes from John Bolton himself as he wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal.  Before citing the Bolton article it’s worth remembering CTH was following every detail of the Osaka G20 meeting closely. We took notes on every background and foreground contact and meeting, because the U.S-China Osaka meeting was at a very critical juncture.   [My favorite picture from Osaka, Japan]

Bolton puts this goofball framework to the Osaka, Japan, G20:

(Wall Street Journal) […] In their meeting in Osaka on June 29, Xi told Trump that the U.S.-China relationship was the most important in the world. He said that some (unnamed) American political figures were making erroneous judgments by calling for a new cold war with China.

Whether Xi meant to finger the Democrats or some of us sitting on the U.S. side of the table, I don’t know, but Trump immediately assumed that Xi meant the Democrats.

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The leaders of the twenty-nine NATO member nations are scheduled to meet next week in London, England.  Amid consistent pressure on the member states for increased defense spending to live up to their prior 2014 promises (Wales summit); and with NATO economies in a stalled geopolitical stasis due to their attachment to China (5G telecom), Russia (Nordstream II), and Iran; this summit holds increased possible ramifications.
This NATO summit could very well expose the duplicity and hypocrisy of the EU depending on how far U.S. President Donald Trump is willing to call them out.
There are going to be a lot of nervous snake handlers around the table(s), and with the U.K. elections in the near future there is a great deal at stake. The summit is Tuesday and Wednesday.  Here’s the White House background briefing:
[Transcript] – SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I just want to thank everyone for being here today, Friday after Thanksgiving.
Just up front, this call is going to be on background, attribution to a senior administration official, and there will be an embargo on the contents of this call until it’s completed.
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In the bigger picture… Within the trade team, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is positioned with primary responsibility toward the EU and India. Ross clear-cuts through the politics, explains Trump’s objectives amid the trade proposals, and paves a path for U.S. Trade Rep Bob Lighthizer to engage his counterparts.
India has always been a key strategic nation within the global trade-realignment taking place by the Trump administration.  Under all of the banter, the “Indo-Pacific” strategy is structurally the decoupling of the U.S. from China. As a part of the strategy President Trump has positioned the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) as benefactors in manufacturing & trade as an outcome of the U.S. decoupling from China.

However, India has genuine concerns about the global dynamic. Specifically, India is worried about allowing the multinationals to have influence over their economy and social structure. In this regard India is not wrong; their concerns are not unfounded.
We can all see, heck we’ve lived through, massive multinational corporations quickly gaining too much influence; including -eventually- corporate influence over the politics of a nation. That inherently leads to corruption.
When Americans see it in other nations we call it “bribery and corruption”, but when it happens in Washington, DC, we call it “lobbying”; the process is exactly the same.
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Michael Pillsbury traveled to Hong Kong recently to help explain the goals and objectives of President Trump’s U.S-China trade position.  During an interview, Mr. Pillsbury warns Beijing interests not to interpret the current U.S. position as aggressive, because the dragon has yet to see the severe side to Trump’s position.

During an interview with the South China Morning Post, Pillsbury points out there are a great many more ways that President Trump is prepared to respond if the combative trade position from China remains hostile to any concessions.  This first option was their best option.  However, should they choose further trade conflict, President Trump will happily oblige.
CTH research on Trump’s outlook, vis-a-vis China, has led us to believe there is no upper limit to the economic weapons President Trump is willing to deploy; and considering that Pillsbury can be relied upon to deliver honest, accurate and deliberate remarks about the White House position, these warnings from a close advisor to the President should be weighted accordingly.

(South China Morning Post) – The United States is set to ramp up the pressure on China if a trade deal is not agreed soon, a key White House adviser said, adding that Washington has so far imposed only “low level tariffs” on the Asian giant.

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An article from Reuters discussing the position of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is interesting.   Essentially the IMF is warning that “global economies” will contract by $455 billion next year due to the ongoing trade conflict between the U.S., China, the EU and to a lesser extent, Japan.  Yes Alice, there are hundreds of billions at stake.
There’s really no reason to doubt the amount estimated, though I think it’s on the short side, but the yearly value seems in line.  I have no doubt President Trump will cost the “Global Economy” $455 billion…. because that money will be transferring back to the America First economy. That’s what happens as MAGAnomics reverses the IMF trade (wealth distribution) model.

The IMF is correct in part (the effect), incorrect in part (the cause), and mostly hypocritical.  The Euro-minded IMF rails against the high value of the U.S. dollar, but simultaneously ignores the motives behind the intentional devaluation of currencies that are pegged against the dollar.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday the U.S. dollar was overvalued by 6% to 12%, based on near-term economic fundamentals, while the euro, the Japanese yen and China’s yuan were seen as broadly in line with fundamentals.

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Gordon Chang appears on Fox News with Charles Payne (filling in for Bartiromo) to discuss the downstream consequences from the G20 meeting between President Trump and Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping.
While he generally frames the picture accurately, lately Chang has been hit or miss.  He accurately outlines how a win/win trade deal is not possible from the perspective of Beijing and their zero-sum outlook; however, he misses on the issues around Huawei; misses the entire hostage dynamic with Kim Jong Un; and then hits again on Hong Kong.

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♦ On China President Trump appears to be working on a complete and total decoupling from the U.S. However, there are steps required in the interim that are in flux (EU and USMCA). Once those matters are resolved we will likely see the decoupling.
♦ On North Korea, just because DPRK state media spouts something doesn’t mean Kim Jong-Un has any control over it.  Beijing has majority influence over DPRK officials.
♦ On Hong Kong, after the Kim hostage rescue; and while the China decoupling is underway; we can expect Hong Kong to be a larger part of Trump’s Indo-Pacific initiative.
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