(OT) Team Obama Changes Course, Appears to Accept China Air Defense Zone, Says Foreign Policy Magazine

Japan looks so solidly under the bus now, even as the ruling coalition of Liberal Democratic Party and Komei Party (plus Your Party and probably Japan Restoration Party) pushes the passage of the State Secrecy Protection Law in the Upper House of the Japanese national Diet, trying to do the bidding - supposedly - of the US Obama administration.

From Foreign Policy (12/4/2013; part, emphasis is mine):

Team Obama Changes Course, Appears to Accept China Air Defense Zone

Top Obama administration and Pentagon officials signaled a willingness to temporarily accept China's new, controversial air defense identification zone on Wednesday. Those officials expressed disapproval for the way in which the Asian power has flexed its muscles, and cautioned China not to implement the zone. But they also carved out wiggle room in which the United States and China ultimately could find common ground on the issue, indicating that they may be willing to live with the zone for now -- as long as China backs off its demand that all aircraft traveling through it check in first.

"It wasn't the declaration of the ADIZ that actually was destabilizing," said Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, America's highest-ranking military officer. "It was their assertion that they would cause all aircraft entering the ADIZ to report regardless of whether they were intending to enter into the sovereign airspace of China. And that is destabilizing."

That's a change from just a few days ago, when U.S. Vice President Joe Biden demanded that China take back its declaration of the zone. And it's another demonstration that China's recent decisions have forced the United States to tread carefully. On Wednesday, Biden met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing for more than five hours, according to a senior administration official. In brief public remarks midway through the marathon session, Biden didn't mention the air defense zone at all.

...In meetings in Beijing on Wednesday, Biden laid out the U.S. position in detail, reiterating that the United States does not recognize the new zone and has deep concerns about it, a senior administration official said. Biden told Xi that the United States wants China to take steps to lower tensions in the region, avoid enforcement actions that could lead to crisis, and to establish communication with Japan and other countries in the region to avoid altercations, the administration official added. Privately, Biden did not call for the air defense identification zone it to be rolled back -- something administration officials had done Monday while Biden was visiting Japan. Instead, the vice president asked the Chinese leader to be careful about how his country operated the zone going forward.

"He indicated to Xi that we are looking to China to take steps as we move forward to lower tensions, to avoid enforcement actions that could lead to crisis, and to establish channels of communication with Japan, but also with their other neighbors to avoid the risk of mistake, miscalculation, accident or escalation," the official told reporters in Beijing.

(Full article at the link)

"As long as you don't actually implement and enforce it, your ADIZ is OK with us in the US (wink wink)" is essentially what VP Biden and General Dempsey are saying.

Much like President Obama issuing executive orders to let businesses break the law (Obamacare) for one year without penalty.

Meanwhile, after the all-night session in the Upper House that covered pending legislations including the State Security Protection Law, the Special Committee for National Security of the Upper House is in session right now. There is no TV station covering the proceeding, and the livecast of the Upper House is sketchy at best due to a large number of access requests from net citizens. So here's Yahoo Japan, if you're interested and understand Japanese, who has started the netcast:

Live streaming video by Ustream

The choreography is that the Committee vote is expected in the afternoon, and then the bill goes to the full Upper House floor either in the evening for vote or tomorrow, by extending the Diet session by one day. Watching the questions and answers in the Committee, neither side - the Abe administration and the ruling coalition, or the opposition - doesn't seem to quite know what they are talking about.

Remember Boy Wonder, aka Mayor of Osaka City of comfort women fame? He's trying his best to get his name printed in the newspaper by making fuss about the law that he and his party are quite in favor of. Right now, Boy Wonder is saying he thinks the law is necessary, but he doesn't agree with the vote today.

Just like in the Lower House, his party will be happy as long as the bill is not voted on today.

It is all happening as the US has thrown Japan under the bus and Japan doesn't even know it.

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US Vice President Joe Biden to Visit China, Japan, and MONGOLIA

Now that's interesting.

Remember the US and Japan have been pushing for the nuclear fuel final processing facility to be built in Mongolia. Toshiba's president supposedly sent a letter to a high-ranking US official urging them to proceed quickly. Toshiba owns 100% of Westinghouse Electric.

According to CNN, Biden is going to Mongolia to promote "democracy".

From CNN (8/16/2011):

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will depart Tuesday for a trip to China, Mongolia and Japan that will include meetings with China's top leaders.

The trip to China is at the invitation of Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping as part of planned reciprocal visits by the two nations' top deputies announced earlier this year, according to a White House statement.

Xi is considered the likely successor to President Hu Jintao.

Biden will meet with Xi, Hu and Premier Wen Jiabao while in China, according to the statement. The vice president's itinerary also includes a visit to Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province in the southwest.

Biden will also go to the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar to demonstrate U.S. support for democratic development there as well as growing diplomatic ties between the countries, the statement said.

In Japan, Biden will "express steadfast U.S. support for its close ally in the wake of the recent earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear emergency" and will also thank U.S. civilian and military personnel who aided the disaster response, the statement said.

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GOP Leading Candidate for 2012 Mitt Romney Calls Mubarak a "Monarch-Type Figure"

From The Hill GOP12 (2/1/2011):

On CNN tonight, Mitt Romney called Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak a "monarch-type figure", but not a dictator.

"He is the leader of his country. He is a monarch-type figure.

I probably would avoid the term 'dictator', but what I would say is that the country has not had the kind of representation from its people. They've not had the kind of economic freedom, of political freedom which they aspire to."

Joe Biden recently took heat for claiming that Mubarak is not a dictator.

The Hill's link has the video clip.

He is definitely, absolutely, not getting my vote.

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Biden: Mubarak No Dictator, Should Not Step Down

So that's the official stance of the Obama administration?

Try to tell that to Egyptians...

From Christian Science Monitor:

Joe Biden says Egypt's Mubarak no dictator, he shouldn't step down...

... and wonders what the Egyptian protesters want.

Vice President Joe Biden spoke to the PBS NewsHour tonight with the most direct US governent comments yet about the gathering Egypt protests against President Hosni Mubarak's 29-year reign.

Mr. Biden's comments are unlikely to be well-received by regime opponents, as they fit a narrative of steadfast US support for a government they want to bring down. About eight protesters and one policeman have died this week as Egypt has sought to bring down the heavy hand of the state against opponents. Since the US provides about $1.3 billion in military aid to Egypt a year, the repressive apparatus of the state is seen by many in Egypt as hand in glove with the US.

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Gaza Flotilla Raid: "What's the Big Deal?"

says Joe Biden, who, by the way, is a self-declared Zionist.

What's the big deal?

Here's what, from Karen Kwiatkowski over at Lewrockwell.com:

"The blockade of Gaza is in the world news, but thanks to a healthy, well-financed and deeply entrenched political fifth column for all things Likud, not so much here in the United States. I suspect that fewer than one person in 1 million in this country knows what Israel’s government has already shared: the Freedom Flotilla was unarmed beyond poles and kitchen knives; two former US ambassadors and a retired American Army colonel were on board and taken prisoner, the Israeli attack occurred 85 miles off shore in international waters on a clearly marked Turkish-flagged ship, and that a young American citizen was shot in the head four times at close range, with a fifth coup de grâce to the chest. Honestly, I don’t know the order of the five shots. The boy is dead, and he was one of ours. There has been more media coverage on the death of the Gore marriage, or the status of a Kuwaiti blogger this week than the Israeli murder on the high seas. I’m almost tempted to wonder if the Israelis have heard of tasers? But as the Gaza and West Bank situations have testified for decades, proportionality of response isn’t an Israeli forte. Kind of like living with an alcoholic parent, I guess." [Emphasis is mine.]

And the vice president of the United States asks "What's the big deal?"

Guess nothin' to you, Joe.

With extrajudicial killing of US citizens by the US government openly authorized by his boss, I guess it's no big deal. I guess we should be thanking Israeli commandos for doing our CIA's work. (Of course hardly anyone in MSM paid a bit of attention to the fact that Obama had authorized the assassination of US citizens, even though it was openly discussed in a Congressional hearing.)

For those who still care, you can read Karen Kwiatkowski's article "Gazan Survivalism" (6/5/2010 Lewrockwell.com). She is a retired USAF lieutenant colonel who writes about defense issues with a libertarian perspective.

And for more on "a healthy, well-financed and deeply entrenched political fifth column for all things Likud" that Dr. Kwiatkowski talks about, here's Glenn Greenwald's latest article on Salon.com.

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Will Stimulus Money Create Jobs As Biden Says?

Vice President Joe Biden is now saying the government underestimated the severity of the recession ("We misread the economy"). Who could have known? Actually a lot of people knew and even told him and other government officials so. And Mr. Vice President is also saying the stimulus money is just about to flow in earnest and it will make a big difference.

Oh really?

So let's take a look at the stimulus bill that was passed back in February, $787 billion monstrosity with 1000 plus pages of the bill that no one in the Congress read but passed anyway. (Just like climate bill the House just passed, just like the bank bailout bill that passed last October - no one bothered to read.) Here's a nice summary table by Wall Street Journal, who clearly read the bill to glean out the information:

Getting to $787 Billion - What's In the Stimulus Bill (2/17/09, Wall Street Journal) [warning: the page is very slow to load. If you are impatient it may crash your computer. I was, and it did.]

Here are top 15 uses of money:

• $116,199 million: $400 payroll tax credit for workers earning up to $75,000; married couples filing jointly get $800 for income up to $150,000


• $90,044 million: Federal aid to states for Medicaid spending


• $69,759 million: Middle-income taxpayers get an exemption from the alternative minimum tax of $46,700 for an individual and $70,950 for a married couple


• $40,600 million: Aid to states to balance education budgets, prevent cutbacks and modernize schools

So far, nothing that would stimulate employment.

• $29,000 million: Grants for highway improvements

Good, finally some seasonal/temporary employments! But the rest...

• $26,960 million: Extension of jobless benefits for up to 33 weeks


• $24,749 million: 65% subsidy for laid-off workers to continue paying premiums for former employer's health plan for nine months


• $19,991 million: 13% increase in food stamp payments


• $17,559 million: Incentive payments to hospitals and physicians who computerize medical-records systems


• $17,114 million: Increase in Pell Grant to $5,350 in 2009 and to $5,550 in 2010, and other increases to student aid


• $14,830 million: Increased eligibility for refundable child tax credit, with all income over $3000 qualifying


• $14,225 million: One-time payment of $250 for retirees, disabled people, SSI recipients, railroad retirees and disabled veterans


• $13,907 million: Tax credit of up to $2500 for tuition and college expenses


• $13,143 million: Extending by three years the placed-in-service date for renewable energy investments


• $13,000 million: Funding for 'Title I' education programs for disadvantaged children

Top 15 spendings make up over $521 billion (66% of stimulus money), with only $29 billion going to job creation, albeit temporary. If other spending categories create jobs, it will do so by adding new program administrators here and there.

Let's go down the list. There are an awful lot of "oversight" costs, which I take to be additional administrative costs to oversee the stimulus programs.

Among lesser items, you find gems like these:

• $2,500 million: Broadband grants to rural communities
• $1,300 million: Grants to Amtrak
• $1,000 million: Extra money for Census [which is now taken over by the White House, which may be unconsitutional]
• $650 million: Coupons, education and consumer support for digital to analogue converter box program [this is a double payment, as the original bill more than adequately funded the program till the end of 2009. I wonder where the money is actually going...]
• $500 million: Extra money for women, infants and children (WIC) special nutrition program
• $50 million: Training high-risk youth in construction job skills [Ummm, construction? Don't you think we have more than enough of people with these particular skills?]

My favorite is this one. I don't know what it is but sounds mighty and strong:

• $100 million: Army "warrior transition complexes"

There are numerous construction projects, for sure, of government offices and facilities. If you read through the list, the biggest beneficiary of this stimulus, to be paid by the U.S. taxpayers, is the government.

We may end up like a stereotypical third world where the new, shiny government buildings hover over the dilapidated roads, commercial buildings, and houses. Oh I forgot. Houses owned by low-income families will benefit. So their houses will be in decent shape.

For the rest of us non-governmental and not qualifying as low income family, good luck to us. We will need a lot of it.

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