Tag: joe biden

How Ukraine Lost Its Future

As the endgame looms over the proxy war in Ukraine, the catastrophic costs of the unwarranted conflict continue to soar. There was an alternative future for Ukraine, based on development. But it was purposely denied.

Since the onset of hostilities in Ukraine three years ago, I have argued that, whatever its stated rationales, the war would “penalize severely Ukraine, Russia, the US and the NATO, Europe, developing economies and the global economy.”

The war in Ukraine was not only avoidable but there was an alternative and more peaceful future. It was purposely collapsed because it did not fit the neoconservatives’ plans for Ukraine. 

Zelensky’s Dream of Ukraine as China’s Bridge to Europe          

Even as Ukraine-Russian tensions began to escalate a decade ago, trade ties between Ukraine and China expanded after President Viktor Yanukovych’s state visit to Beijing in 2013. Four years later, Ukraine, now under President Poroshenko, joined China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). And in 2019, China bypassed Russia as Ukraine’s biggest single trading partner.Together, China, Ukraine’s new economic partner, and Russia, its historical trade partner, absorbed a fourth of Ukraine’s exports. That figure was over six times the share of the US.

In June 2021, China and Ukraine signed a deal to strengthen cooperation in multiple areas, particularly in infrastructure financing and construction. In 2021, overall trade boomed to $19 billion, having soared 80% since 2013. To Ukraine’s President Zelensky, the BRI meant an alternative future that would be more stable and prosperous. And so, in a phone conversation with President Xi Jinping, he called China “Ukraine’s No. 1 trade and economic partner in the world.” expressing hope that Ukraine could become “a bridge to Europe for Chinese business.”

In just a year, major Chinese companies started operations in construction, food and telecoms. New contracts signed by Chinese companies in the Ukrainian engineering market exceeded $2 billion for two consecutive years.

But this was not the future that was planned for Ukraine in the White House. 

Hammering Ukraine Into a Military-Industrial Hub              

From 1991 to 2014, the US flooded Ukraine with $4 billion in military assistance , even though it wasn’t a NATO member. By 2021, over $2.7 billion was added to the figure, plus over a billion provided by the NATO Trust Fund.

To Erik Prince, it heralded a great money-making opportunity, Iraq déjà vu. As the founder of the private US military contractor, then known as Blackwater, Prince had long supplied mercenaries to the CIA, Pentagon and State Department for covert operations, including torture and assassinations. In early 2020, Prince outlined a roadmap for the creation of a “vertically integrated aviation defense consortium” that could bring $10 billion in revenues.

Prince desperately needed the Motor Sich factory, which already had a deal with Beijing Skyrizon Aviation. The Chinese company had bought its 41% stake already in 2017. However, Biden’s election win undermined Prince’s plan. Moreover, his Ukrainian partners got under criminal investigation for alleged efforts to sway the 2020 presidential election and the investigation included President Biden’s son and his stakes in Ukraine. Washington blacklisted the Chinese firms involved, then Ukrainian court froze their holdings for reasons of “national security” and Chinese companies and dealmakers were sanctioned.

Nonetheless, the idea of a Ukrainian military-industrial complex remained attractive to the US and Ukraine, where the state-controlled defense sector employed more than 1 million people and had been moving, with rising US influence, toward military procurement since 2014. To the Biden administration, it offered a massive military-logistical hub that could serve both the US and NATO.

Yet, by late fall 2022, even European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen acknowledged Ukraine’s losses in the war with Russia amounted to 100,000 soldiers and 20,000 civilians.

Today, three years later, the total cost of reconstruction and recovery in Ukraine is estimated at $524 billion over the next decade – almost three times Ukraine’s GDP 2024.

The military aid has brought neither peace nor security. But it has prolonged Ukrainians’ suffering. To date, the US alone has provided $67 billion in military assistance since February 2022 and $70 billion in military assistance since 2014. These have been coupled with military assistance via the presidential emergency authority by up to $32 billion from Pentagon’s stockpiles.

That’s a total of $167 billion – in wasted lives, economic prospects and global prospects.

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Guatemala Requests Migrant Children Back – But Biden Judge Blocks Reunification to Keep Children Trapped at American Shelters

The Gateway Pundit first reported this weekend that Biden-appointed U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan blocked the deportation of more than 600 unaccompanied Guatemalan minors. 

The Trump administration had begun removal flights after advocacy groups sued, and the Biden judge quickly issued an emergency restraining order to stop them.

But there is a new and even more disturbing layer to the story. The government of Guatemala has now formally requested that these children be returned home. 

These minors are not “stateless,” nor are they abandoned. All have self-reported that their parents live in Guatemala, and the Guatemalan government is publicly asking for their reunification. 

Still, Democrats and their allies in the courts are refusing to let them go.

This is not a question of children being left without guardians. Guatemala has agreed to take responsibility. 

The reality is that these children were smuggled into the United States, often at the hands of cartels, and wound up stranded in federal custody. 

Now, instead of being sent back to their families, they are trapped in American shelters. 

Judge Sooknanan’s order blocks their deportation for at least two weeks, but advocacy groups are already seeking a class-action expansion that could tie up the issue for months or years.

It is hard to overstate how absurd this is. A sovereign government is requesting the return of its children. 

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U.S. generals ran cover for Taliban, despite violent attacks during bungled withdrawal

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley and CENTCOM Commander Frank McKenzie repeatedly ran cover for the Taliban’s behavior in 2021, denying that the Taliban had carried out attacks against U.S. and NATO bases during the withdrawal and defending the Taliban’s behavior during the evacuation.

In the weeks after the fall of Kabul, U.S. military brass such as Milley and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin would repeatedly testify that the Taliban had broken every provision of the Doha Agreement but one — its vow not to attack U.S. and NATO forces.

In fact, the Taliban had also violated that provision, because the Taliban attacked U.S. and NATO bases in Afghanistan multiple times, both before and after President Joe Biden’s “Go-to-Zero” order, including attacks on Bagram Air Base when U.S. troops were still there. The Taliban’s official spokespeople would often take credit for the attacks too.

The GOP-led House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) final report from last year had a section about how “Taliban Attacks on U.S. Bases Continue[d]” during the U.S. military withdrawal in the spring and summer of 2021, but nowhere in that section nor anywhere else in the report did it include the key fact that Milley and McKenzie repeatedly and falsely claimed that these attacks hadn’t happened.

Multiple key Biden Administration officials also repeatedly praised the “businesslike” character of the Taliban during the non-combatant evacuation operation (NEO) at Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA), despite clear evidence that the Taliban was beating up some Americans and blocking some U.S. citizens from escaping Afghanistan, and in spite of overwhelming evidence that the Taliban was beating up and even executing some Afghans who wanted to flee Taliban rule. McKenzie played an especially key role in establishing this narrative, although Milley played his part too.

HFAC’s September report also made no mention of McKenzie’s insistence that the Taliban had been “very businesslike” and “very pragmatic” and made no mention of Milley’s claims that the Taliban was not interfering with the U.S. evacuation, nor did the report make any reference to other Biden Administration officials repeating this false “businesslike” mantra about the Taliban.

Biden issued a pardon to Milley on his last full day in office in January 2025. McKenzie and other military leaders were not pardoned. McKenzie is currently listed as the Executive Director for the Global and National Security Institute at the University of Southern Florida. 

McKenzie did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent to him through his email at the school. Nor did he respond to prior Just the News reporting about him.

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Trump cancels Kamala Harris’ Secret Service detail that was extended by undisclosed Biden order

President Donald Trump revoked Kamala Harris’ Secret Service protection on Thursday, according to a copy of a letter reviewed by CNN.

Former presidents receive Secret Service protection for life. Harris, as a former vice president, received six months of protection after leaving office, according to federal law. That period ended on July 21. However, her protection had been extended for an additional year via a directive – not made public until now – signed by then-President Joe Biden shortly before leaving office, according to multiple people familiar with the undisclosed arrangement.

That is the order Trump canceled in his letter, titled “Memorandum for the Secretary of Homeland Security” and dated Thursday.

“You are hereby authorized to discontinue any security-related procedures previously authorized by Executive Memorandum, beyond those required by law, for the following individual, effective September 1, 2025: Former Vice President Kamala D. Harris,” the letter reads in full.

The White House and Secret Service did not immediately respond to CNN’s requests for comment.

Trump’s ending of Harris’ protection comes as she soon embarks on a multi-city, high-profile book tour around the release of “107 Days,” her new memoir on her short presidential campaign, set to be released Sept. 23. That will put her more in the public spotlight than she has been since leaving office, during which time she’s attended only a few public events.

“The Vice President is grateful to the United States Secret Service for their professionalism, dedication, and unwavering commitment to safety,” Kirsten Allen, a Harris senior adviser, told CNN.

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Another Narrative Busted: Bolton Investigation Began Under Biden

For several days the media has been saying the Trump administration FBI targeted John Bolton, hence the FBI raid on his home and office.  However, the New York Times now outlines how the investigation into John Bolton began during the Biden administration and picked up speed after they received access to his email information from an “adversarial country’s spy service.”

Apparently, John Bolton used an unclassified email system to send information to his friends and allies.  The emails were intercepted.  Bolton was discussing information that appears to have been the outcome of his access to classified information as National Security Advisor.

CTH has previously outlined how John Bolton’s business model was essentially selling information and influence.  This common DC business model seems to have formed the baseline for him to share sensitive, possibly classified information, of greater value.  This does not come as a surprise.

Selling information is the currency of affluence in Washington DC.  That’s why the removal of security clearances is looked upon as devastating within the beltway.  New York Times story below:

NEW YORK TIMES – The investigation into President Trump’s former national security adviser, John R. Bolton, began to pick up momentum during the Biden administration, when U.S. intelligence officials collected information that appeared to show that he had mishandled classified information, according to people familiar with the inquiry.

The United States gathered data from an adversarial country’s spy service, including emails with sensitive information that Mr. Bolton, while still working in the first Trump administration, appeared to have sent to people close to him on an unclassified system, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive case that remains open.

The emails in question, according to the people, were sent by Mr. Bolton and included information that appeared to derive from classified documents he had seen while he was national security adviser. Mr. Bolton apparently sent the messages to people close to him who were helping him gather material that he would ultimately use in his 2020 memoir, “The Room Where It Happened.”

In a sign of the stakes for Mr. Bolton, he is in talks to retain the high-profile criminal defense lawyer Abbe Lowell. Mr. Lowell, who has represented Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Mr. Biden’s son Hunter, is defending two other prominent perceived enemies of Mr. Trump who are now under scrutiny: the New York state attorney general, Letitia James, and Lisa Cook, a member of the Federal Reserve Board. (read more)

At the time of the raid, we noted the activity of Bolton mirrors that of former Senator John McCain (now dead). “An FBI investigation under the auspices of potential violations of the Espionage Act, where Bolton would have leveraged current or prior classified intelligence information as part of his influence business.

Almost identically to former Senator John McCain, John Bolton was well known to intersect with the nation of Qatar as part of his operation.  Qatar has deep pockets and a long-identified influence operation throughout the Middle East, sometimes playing both sides. Qatar is also the playground for the CIA.

While it is yet unknown which nation and which activity Bolton was likely engaged in, the highest probability centers around the deepest pockets, which would also put Bolton on the CIA radar.

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DOJ Settles With Ten FBI Whistleblowers Targeted By Biden Administration

Ten FBI whistleblowers who say the Biden administration punished them for their “political beliefs” and for disclosing misconduct in the bureau will have their security clearances reinstated and collect back pay, according to a settlement announced Tuesday.

“These ten (whistleblowers) collectively suffered 12-years-worth of unjustified suspension time,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, posted on X after getting word of the settlement. “They were punished (because) of their disclosures/political beliefs. In other words, they were treated like skunks at a picnic. Now they receive justice.”

Sen. Grassley has long advocated for the whistleblowers and has helped navigate the settlements to their retaliation complaints. According to the Senator’s office, under the Biden administration the ten whistleblowers received retaliation that included demotions, loss of pay, and revocation of security clearances.

The legal nonprofit Empower Oversight represented the ten FBI employees. The organization detailed in a 12-page, March 5 letter to the FBI’s general counsel the improper “retaliatory targeting” of the men and women it represented.

The letter also stated:

While it is our belief that new leadership of the FBI has the authority to remedy the wrongs suffered by our clients through management directives and should do so immediately, we are willing to work cooperatively on each of the fronts outlined above in order to explore amicable resolutions in each case.

The New York Post highlighted several whistleblowers and some of their conduct that spawned the reprisals.

One special agent was suspended indefinitely and lost his security clearance after he objected to a SWAT team being used to arrest a January 6 riot defendant on a misdemeanor charge.

Another was suspended without pay and lost his security clearance after being wrongly accused of leaking information to Project Veritas, a conservative undercover journalism operation.

Another agent in New Orleans lost his security clearance when he reported prosecutorial misconduct related to a sweetheart plea deal given to a district attorney charged with sex crimes.

A female FBI staffer was punished for reporting mismanagement and a “gross waste of funds” in connection with how criminal background checks were being processed.

“The actions taken against our clients were in reprisal for protected whistleblowing and/or improper targeting because of their political beliefs,” the March 5 letter by their attorneys stated.

Four of the whistleblowers remained anonymous.

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Milley crafted Biden Admin’s fiction that Afghanistan fell in just ‘eleven days’

Among the litany of mistakes and falsehoods pushed by U.S. military commanders and President Biden in 2021 was the fiction that Afghanistan fell in only “eleven days” in mid-August 2021. In reality, the Taliban takeover unfolded over multiple months following then-President Joe Biden’s disastrous withdrawal “Go-to-Zero” order on April 14, 2021. The architect responsible for that house of cards was then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley. 

Many in the Biden Administration — President Biden himself, then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and others — joined Milley in pushing the “eleven days” claim, although General Austin “Scottie” Miller, the final commander of NATO’s Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan, was among those who later admitted that Afghanistan had not collapsed in just eleven days, but rather over months.

Just the News previously laid out how Milley also wrongly dismissed the comparison between the fall of Saigon and the impending fall of Kabul, massively inflated the size of the Afghan military and police by falsely claiming that they numbered 325,000 to 350,000 strong, and demonstrated he was not tracking the reality on the ground when he underestimated the speed and scope of Taliban district control in the summer of 2021.

Milley then ran cover for the Biden Administration once the situation went sideways by misleading about how quickly the collapse of Afghanistan had occurred. Biden pardoned him on his last full day in office in January 2025.

Milley did not respond to requests for comment sent to him through Princeton University, where he was named a visiting professor last year, and through JPMorgan Chase, where he has been a senior adviser since 2024, nor to Just the News‘ previous reporting.

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DOJ Investigating Whether FBI Under Joe Biden Secretly Destroyed Damaging Classified Documents to Protect Comey and Brennan

The DOJ is investigating whether the FBI during Joe Biden’s presidency secretly destroyed documents to protect James Comey and John Brennan, according to a leak to The New York Times.

James Comey served as the Director of the FBI from 2013 to May 2017, when Trump fired him.

John Brennan served as the Director of the CIA from 2013 to 2017.

According to The Times, the investigation is related to a report that revealed that Kash Patel found thousands of Russia Hoax documents in “burn bags” in a secret room at the FBI.

Last month, Fox News reported that FBI Director Kash Patel found thousands of Russia collusion hoax documents in “burn bags” in a secret room at the FBI.

One of the documents in the burn bags included the classified annex to the John Durham report that includes the underlying intelligence he investigated.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe recently declassified the annex to Durham’s final report and sent it to Senator Grassley, who released it to the public.

Fox News also reported that Kash Patel and his team of investigators discovered a “previously undisclosed” SCIF at the FBI headquarters.

The Times reported that senior FBI officials who worked at the headquarters are also being investigated.

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Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick voids ‘illegal’ $7.4B payment to Biden ally-staffed nonprofit for semiconductor research

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick canceled an Biden administration agreement Monday to distribute billions of dollars for semiconductor research through a nonprofit set up and staffed by former political appointees, according to a letter obtained by The Post.

The 2022 CHIPS and Science Act provided for $11 billion in semiconductor research and development funding to be given out by the Commerce Department’s National Semiconductor Technology Center.

“Rather than establishing these operations within the Department, however, Biden Administration officials spent significant time, effort, and resources creating an unaccountable, outside entity–Natcast–to administer taxpayer funds,” Lutnick wrote Natcast CEO Deirdre Hanford.

Four days before Biden left office on Jan. 20, Lutnick noted, the Commerce Department agreed to set aside $7.4 billion in “advance payments” to Natcast after spending nearly two years setting it up and tapping administration officials, advisers and allies to fill out positions.

That arrangement both effectively removed the incoming Trump administration from being involved in the process and provided “virtually all” of Natcast’s funding — prompting incoming Departments of Justice and Commerce officials to take another look at the Sunnyvale, Calif., nonprofit.

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Cleaning Up Biden’s Mess: Trump Administration Reviewing 55 Million Visas for Violations

The Biden administration, in addition to allowing at least 10 million illegal aliens into the country according to CBP data, failed to deport at least 3,095,577 who had already been encountered. More than 617,000 of these had criminal convictions or pending charges, and 1,323,264 with final deportation orders were still allowed to remain in the United States.

Since President Trump’s inauguration, the State Department has revoked more than twice as many visas as during the same period last year, including nearly four times as many student visas. Building on this trend, the administration has launched a sweeping review of more than 55 million valid U.S. visas under a system of “continuous vetting.”

The review is intended to determine whether visas that were legally issued should remain valid or be revoked. According to the State Department, all current visa holders are subject to screening for overstays, criminal activity, security threats, terrorist links, and other disqualifying factors. If such evidence is found, visas will be revoked, and those already in the United States may face deportation.

The government is on track to deport 400,000 people in 2025, according to New York Times estimates. This effort accompanies widespread raids on restaurants, construction sites, and farms, as well as courthouse arrests of individuals attending civil appointments meant to help legalize their status.

In short, while these individuals currently appear to have valid visas, the ongoing review aims to identify those who may have violated the terms or become ineligible since the visas were granted.

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