Facing growing backlash and ridicule from the majority of Americans; and with a massive drop in approval and polling; and with the world watching the oval office occupant hide in his bunker; the cognitively disconnected dementia patient who was installed into office will attempt to justify his current mess in Afghanistan.

Joe Biden is expected to deliver remarks regarding the ongoing evacuation mission of American citizens, special immigrant visa (SIV) applicants and vulnerable Afghans out of Afghanistan, as the Taliban takes over the country following the withdrawal of U.S. troops and allies.  The effort is scheduled to begin at 1:00pm ET. Livestream Links Below

Fox News Livestream Link – State Dept. Livestream Link – Alternate Livestream Link

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Yesterday during a press briefing, U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley was adamant from his podium when he proclaimed: “There was nothing that I or anyone else saw that indicated a collapse of this army and this government in 11 days.” WATCH (25 secs):

Unfortunately for General Milley, today reports are surfacing that 23 State Department staff at the Kabul embassy informed Secretary of State Anthony Blinken of exactly that…. Kabul will fall quickly to the Taliban:

[Via Wall Street Journal] … “The cable, sent via the State Department’s confidential dissent channel, warned of rapid territorial gains by the Taliban and the subsequent collapse of Afghan security forces, and offered recommendations on ways to mitigate the crisis and speed up an evacuation, the two people said.

[…] In all, 23 U.S. Embassy staffers, all Americans, signed the July 13 cable, the two people said. The U.S. official said there was a rush to deliver it, given circumstances on the ground in Kabul.  The cable was sent to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Director of Policy Planning Salman Ahmed.

Mr. Blinken received the cable and reviewed it shortly after receipt, according to the person familiar with the exchange, who added that contingency planning was already under way when it was received, and that Mr. Blinken welcomed their feedback.” (link – paywall)

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We must be cautious in reviewing any/all media articles about the fluid situation in Afghanistan, as both Leftist and NeoCon media are framing the crisis story to fit their preferred narrative.  All DC media reporting should be viewed through the prism of cynicism and skepticism.

CNN is reporting the State Dept. Narrative that Taliban have surrounded the Kabul airport and there is no safe way for Americans to reach the evacuation point.   However, the Pentagon is reporting that the Taliban is “not interfering in their mission” to facilitate the evacuation of Americans, and  Taliban members “are not stopping U.S. citizens with American passports” from traveling to the airport.

When we review a State Department position (DoS) on anything, it should be noted that DoS personnel are, by ideological tribe, very dramatic, tender and pearl-clutching leftists in their worldview.  State Department officials are the wokeist of the international woke community. As a consequence of their alignment and role,  CNN is almost identically predisposed to the dramatic flair.

CNN takes the DoS bulletin and proclaims that Americans are trapped outside the airport by the Taliban. There is no evidence of this claim being accurate. There’s a difference between “we cannot ensure safe passage”, and “your passage is unsafe.”  Yes, things are sketchy and unstable, but there have been no reports of safety incidents with any Americans.

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How would you like to be one of the 15,000+ American citizens in Kabul, or surrounding region, and getting this notice from the United States State Department:

“A congressional aide tells CBS News we have no partners left in Afghanistan to safely get Americans in-country to Kabul.” (link)

…. But they planned for every contingency right?

The relationship between Beijing and Pyongyang has been obvious since President Trump took office in 2017 and began a series of sunlight diplomacy drops.  What President Trump exposed was the level of control China holds over North Korea.  Essentially, Kim Jong-Un is a hostage to Chairman Xi Jinping with little control over the military aspects of the DPRK.

When this baseline forms the forward analysis, the paradigm of historic western engagement with North Korea takes on an entire new dimension.

If China controls North Korea, specifically the functional leadership within the military, then all military action is essentially not from North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un, but rather controlled and positioned by Chairman Xi.

As a downstream consequence the issue of North Korean nuclear weapons is essentially moot.  Of course the DPRK has nuclear weapon capability, those weapons would come from China and be controlled by Beijing.

Accept the DPRK as a proxy province to China and the issues look completely different.  We can debate the level of Beijing’s control, but it is certainly evident the military -which is essentially the important part of the DPRK government- receives instructions from China, not from Kim.  Chairman Kim Jong-un is essentially riding a dragon he does not control.  That was the subtle diplomacy visible inside the relationship as expressed between President Trump and Chairman Kim.

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To say the first major diplomatic summit between the United States and China was an unmitigated mess would be an understatement.  Apparently U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken thought it would be of value for the domestic audience if he was to lambast the Beijing delegation in public and on camera.  His efforts were a complete fail as the Chinese knew everything was presented for domestic consumption… so, the Red Dragon threw fire right back onto the purple hair and obviously stunned an unsettled U.S. Secretary.

The train wreck was started by challenging China publicly, in front of the international press, likely believing such an aggressive posture would weaken Republican criticism about the Job Biden administration being soft/weak on China. However, using a joint press conference as the forum only provided insult to the Beijing delegation.

Public insults are expressions of weakness, not strength.

It was visibly obvious that Secretary Blinken stupidly did not anticipate the Chinese officials would retaliate in their remarks responding to him.

The Chinese diplomatic team is exceptionally skilled at verbal combat; they use facts and evident weakness to their advantage. Blinken’s foolish decision gave the Chinese officials a rare opportunity to dress down the Secretary of State very publicly in front of the international media.

Secretary Blinken was visibly shocked and destabilized by the strength of the returning words from the Chinese team. His response was extremely defensive; ‘he doth protest too much’, and he was incoherent. Blinken also repeated JoeBama’s ridiculous catch-phrase “America is back.”

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“Peace is the prize” ~ President Donald Trump

White House Senior Advisor Jared Kushner discusses three years of diplomacy culminating with a historic agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

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The U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Korea (ROK) is Harry Harris.  The U.S. Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, has posted a banner on the building in support of Black Lives Matter.  [Source]

At first blush it might seem a little disconcerting for the U.S. Department of State to be advocating on issues of political divisiveness around the BLM agenda; however, the BLM banner has simply replaced the rainbow banner (support of the LGBTQ community).  In essence, the U.S. embassy in Korea is always advocating for social justice causes.

Ambassador Harry Harris likes to draw attention to himself and insert himself in the conversation whenever possible.  Well known as an effeminate ambassador, Harry Harris enjoys parading around while politically twerking his social justice bona-fides to the global community as a way to engage in his own brand of U.S. diplomacy.

The diplomatic cocktail corps; unique ASEAN members who enjoy white wine spritzers & luncheons of crust-less triangle sandwiches; like Harry Harris very much.  Moon Jae-In is the South Korean version of President Obama.  President Moon Jae-in loves Harry Harris.

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Hat Tip GKJoe

I knew there was something sketchy about Dr. Anthony Fauci.  Within the WikiLeaks HRC email files there are letters from Fauci to Hillary Clinton through her aid/lawyer Cheryl Mills: “rarely does a speech bring me to tears”?… “please tell her I love her more than ever”?… “please tell her that we all love her”… “Please tell her that we all love her and are very proud to know her.”  LOOK:

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A few months later:

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CTH held off reporting on this explosive story until we could see if a tell-tale consequence surfaced; perhaps it has.   On Friday the National Security Council senior director for European and Russian affairs, Andrew Peek, was escorted from the White House grounds and is currently under a security investigation.
There are few details about why Peek was physically removed and is under a very serious investigation; however, some of Andrew Peek’s professional background details tell a story.  The connection to Gen. John Allen is a MASSIVE warning flare.
Andrew Peek, the senior director for European and Russian affairs at the National Security Council, has been placed on administrative leave pending a security-related investigation, people familiar with the situation tell Axios.
First the Daily Mail:

[…] Peek had been in the NSC role for just two months, after most recently working as a deputy assistant secretary of state with responsibility for Iran and Iraq.
[…] Peek had been expected to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland next week with Trump and other top aides. However, he is currently on leave pending a security-related investigation, people familiar with the situation told Axios.

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