President Biden’s gaffes

 

When President Trump was in office the U.K. media and some on this site sought to argue that most of what he said was unacceptable. Now we have President Biden making a string of dangerous gaffes in a series of worrying international conflicts these critics of the USA go quiet.

President Biden’s premature, sudden and ill judged withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan was unhelpful. President Trump wanted to get the troops home but made it conditional, leaving him unable to withdraw before the election as he wished. Joe Biden did not  bother about conditions and did not understand he was giving the country to the Taliban after 20 years of fighting them. He failed to consult allies. Once he had done it he threw away all the lives and treasure spent on trying to build an Afghan democracy.He also let the Presidents of China, Russia, North Korea and others think the West was weak, allowing them scope to plan power grabs of their own.

Tested in Taiwan he them misspoke in too tough a way. He invented a military guarantee of Taiwan’s independence which the US has never expressly granted. His staff rushed out a reiteration of the official policy of studied ambiguity. The US might go to war over Taiwan . The President accepted the correction.

Worse was to come over Ukraine. The President before Putin had crossed the borders with troops said his response would be more modest if any Russian incursion was limited. It seemed to give a green light to Russia grabbing more of the Donbas and may have egged Putin on with his military plans.

Now we have the President saying he wants regime change in Russia. Commentators and the public can wish that but if the President says it US resources have to be deployed to achieve it. His  staff moved quickly to deny it is a US policy aim.

This is all unhelpful. Relations with countries like Russia, China and North Korea need consistent firmness from the leader of the free world. There  must be no doubt what the rules are or where the red lines lie.

 

85 Comments

  1. Richard1
    March 28, 2022

    Disagreeable as he often was, the World was a safer place with President Trump.

    1. Ian Wragg
      March 28, 2022

      If Trump was president pootin wouldn’t have invaded. It’s only because of sleepy Joe, s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan that gave h the courage.
      Newsflash today wind is its lowest ever producing 0.63% of demand .The Lord have mercy on us

      1. Lifelogic
        March 28, 2022

        I suspect you are right. Blair’s idiotic and failed wars plus sleepy Joe (and the UK’s) botched withdrawal from Afghanistan surely encouraged Putin with his appalling invasion.

        1. Ed M
          March 28, 2022

          Trump. Biden. Corbyn. Blair.
          What’s going on in this world? (Let alone brutal dictators)

          1. Ed M
            March 28, 2022

            And Bush the Younger and Cheney and Rumsfeld (at least Trump wasn’t a life-wasting and money-wasting war-monger).

        2. DavidJ
          March 28, 2022

          +1

      2. Nottingham Lad Himself
        March 28, 2022

        Oh, had it not been for covid19 then it appears that Putin would have been in Ukraine long ago, highly emboldened by both brexit and Trump’s Putin-assisted victory.

        NATO would have been expressly weakened by him for one thing.

      3. Ian Wragg
        March 28, 2022

        Update wind now 0.16gw or 0.44%.
        Can you bring g this to the attention of the morons in charge of energy policy.

    2. Lifelogic
      March 28, 2022

      Well we can all surely admire his general self-effacing modesty.

    3. John Hatfield
      March 28, 2022

      Disagreeable how? Because the democratic luvvies noses were put out of joint? Trump was a true populist. He worked for the people not business cronies.

  2. Mark B
    March 28, 2022

    Good morning.

    The Russian response to what President Biden said clearly took into account the current issues surrounding the US President. It was restrained and diplomatic. I think they are as aware the cognitive challenges the US President has as they are with that of our hen-pecked PM.

    Last year I saw on an YT clip President Biden being asked a simple question by a journalist as he was entering a building. He stopped and turned to the journalist to answer the question. This was not the important bit, what was, was the reaction of those around the President, including Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. They looked very worried that the President was going to answer a question that was not scripted for him. Thankfully he did not say anything controversial and they visibly looked relieved.

    What President Biden says is not the issue here. What is the issue and the question we must be asking is, who actually is in charge ?

    1. John Hatfield
      March 28, 2022

      Who actually is in charge ? I would say that that question also applies to our (the UK) government

  3. Peter Wood
    March 28, 2022

    Good morning,

    The scripture says, ‘Let him without sin….etc’ Well, perhaps all our elected representatives (and their close family members), especially those in government, and members of the upper house, declare any and all contacts with sanctioned Russian oligarchs.

    This should be done within the week, and mi5 notified to make any necessary inquiries. And while you’re at it, any member with close contacts with any Chinese PRC passport holder. Let’s see whose been a silly boy/girl.

  4. BOF
    March 28, 2022

    President Biden is a Dem so of course can do no wrong. He is an appalling President and wholly unfit for office. He does not engage brain at all when he opens his mouth. There is much doubt too about his mental health. Other Western leaders, especially ours, are too weak to say anything against him.

    That is what happens when the left is prepared to go to any lengths to get their man in office. Now electoral fraud is coming to light of serious large scale. Many Americans regret the election result.

    1. Nottingham Lad Himself
      March 28, 2022

      Far from it – his remarks are very unhelpful.

      We, the world, in Putin, are dealing clearly with a psychopath, a megalomaniac, and a paranoiac, but who has 9,000 nuclear warheads.

      Biden could at least try to look as if something serious is happening, and cut the silly grandstanding.

      However, none of this would justify Trump’s having successfully overthrown US democracy, thereby giving us, the world, a matching pair.

      1. Peter2
        March 28, 2022

        Explain how President Trump overthrew American democracy NHL
        I thought he won an electiin like Obama and Biden

        1. Peter Parsons
          March 29, 2022

          One suspects NHL is referring to Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 results.

          As for Trump winning an election like Obama and Biden, not really. Obama and Biden both finished first in the popular vote with a vote share of over 50%. Trump finished second in the popular vote with a vote share somewhat less than 50% both times. It’s only the inherent imbalances of the USA’s electoral college system which, just like the UK’s FPTP system, does not regard all votes as having equal value, which put Trump into office in 2016. Trump polled nearly 3 million votes fewer than Clinton did.

          1. Peter2
            March 30, 2022

            Amazing that Biden got many more votes than even the hugely popular Obama.
            A record.
            How did that happen?

        2. Nottingham Lad Himself
          March 29, 2022

          Do a bit of grammar research, Peter, particularly “verbs of mood, conditional”.

          1. Peter2
            March 30, 2022

            Trump didn’t overthrow democracy as you claimed.

      2. Mickey Taking
        March 29, 2022

        and your opinion of Kim Jong-un is…..?

        1. Mickey Taking
          March 29, 2022

          and your opinion of Xi Jinping is
..?

          1. Nottingham Lad Himself
            March 29, 2022

            Trees are known by their fruit. We now have that bitter harvest in Putin’s case, not really for XJ as yet.

  5. DOM
    March 28, 2022

    From where does woke fascism derive its authority? This extremism that brought down Trump is destroying the western world

    1. Shirley M
      March 28, 2022

      +1 DOM and the majority of politicians are all too eager to go along with it. Why?

    2. Nottingham Lad Himself
      March 28, 2022

      “Extremism” being a majority, of millions of Americans, voting for a somewhat less extreme right wing president than Trump, and, as proven fact, having won the presidential election.

      It’s a curious use of the word, as ever.

      1. Peter2
        March 30, 2022

        It places you on the political spectrum NHL, when you think Biden is just a little bit les extreme right wing than Trump
        As amazing as it is hilarious.

    3. DavidJ
      March 28, 2022

      +1

  6. Philip P.
    March 28, 2022

    Of course the Democrat-friendly press is giving Biden a comfortable ride. But I don’t mind the US president saying he wants a change of leadership in the Kremlin. It surely can’t be a gaffe to say what’s been obvious anyway: the US is after regime change in Russia and that is why it’s doing what it’s doing. The Soviet Union was severely weakened by its war in Afghanistan, so it was reasonable to think that something similar would occur if Russia is drawn into an unwinnable war in Ukraine. Biden is telling Russia what to expect if it doesn’t find a way of getting out of the warzone. Endless guerilla war supplied and supported by the West, as in Syria, but this time on its frontiers. The calculation is that the Russian public will not stand for it.

    1. Mitchel
      March 28, 2022

      There is also something of a holy war about this conflict,at least partially resulting from the CIA’s encouragement of a schism in the Orthodox church,with the Ukrainian branch breaking from the Russian a few years ago.

      Metropolitan Mitrofan of Murmansk,one of the most senior figures in the Russian Orthodox church,has declared it a “sacred mission” and a “war against Antichrist”in a recent sermon:

      “Today,the very question of Orthodoxy is being decided…if we succeed to re-unite,to remove the darkness that has embraced our neighbouring brotherly(Ukrainian) people,then the Church will breath with a full breath and there will be no more divided soul……Russia is the last barrier.You and I are the last ones to oppose Antichrist.we are the last ones that can fulfill this historical mission that has fallen on our shoulders – to die for truth,for justice and for faith.”

      The Second Chechen war was encouraged by the West-on Russia’s frontiers-but that was resolved satisfactorily for Russia and the Chechen leader is now one of Mr Putin’s most ardent supporters-his forces,specialists in urban warfare, are currently clearing out the last of the Azov forces in Mariupol.I think something similar could happen in Ukraine(rather than the Afghan scenario),particularly as Russia has said right from the start it is not looking to occupy the country.

      1. Nottingham Lad Himself
        March 29, 2022

        The Orthodox church’s seat in Istanbul did not oppose the split.

        Anyone reading the Moscow patriarch’s CV can see why Ukraine would want that too.

        He seems rather worldy for a spiritual chap, if you ask me.

  7. Nottingham Lad Himself
    March 28, 2022

    Sir John expresses a preference for a US ex-president who urged a violent coup to overthrow a properly-elected president, and who pressured officials to subvert the US electoral process.

    Just think about that.

    1. Peter2
      March 28, 2022

      No he didn’t NHL

  8. Old Albion
    March 28, 2022

    The American people have a long record of electing the less than suitable as President. Not helped by their peculiar election system.

    1. Mark B
      March 29, 2022

      You need vast amounts to be a Senator, a Congressman and a President. That there compromises you to undue influences. The system they use is due to the fact that no one part of the State has so much power. No more Kings !

    2. Nottingham Lad Himself
      March 29, 2022

      They certainly did last time but one, with fewer votes than the loser, eh?

  9. Bryan Harris
    March 28, 2022

    When President Trump was in office the U.K. media and some on this site sought to argue that most of what he said was unacceptable. Now we have President Biden making a string of dangerous gaffes in a series of worrying international conflicts these critics of the USA go quiet.

    As if we needed any more evidence that MSM is totally dishonest.

    There is no longer a free press – MSM stories and the misinformation they provide are dictated to them by those that don’t want us to know what is really going on – The Global DEEP STATE. That’s why so many of us now rely on alternative reporting that HMG is determined to shut down through their ONLINE Safety Bill.

    The whole sorry tale of how Biden became president is one of deceit, not just from MSM who did everything they could to vilify Trump while ignoring the many problems with Biden, but also those holding the strings of power. It’s how the world now works.

    YES, Biden is a disaster, but he won’t face any real criticism because MSM and the Deep State are totally behind him and in fact support him, no matter what.

  10. a-tracy
    March 28, 2022

    Can you imagine the uproar had Trump ever appeared so dithery and said such things! This is why the media should scare us all. We now only get shown and told what ‘certain people’ want us to know.

    Our leaders are an embarrassment, all of them.

  11. Denis Cooper
    March 28, 2022

    This was an internal dispute, and then a civil war, until outside powers intervened. I was only browsing when I came across this April 2014 Guardian article blaming the US not Russia:

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/30/russia-ukraine-war-kiev-conflict

    “It’s not Russia that’s pushed Ukraine to the brink of war”

    “The attempt to lever Kiev into the western camp by ousting an elected leader made conflict certain. It could be a threat to us all”

    “The threat of war in Ukraine is growing. As the unelected government in Kiev declares itself unable to control the rebellion in the country’s east, John Kerry brands Russia a rogue state. The US and the European Union step up sanctions against the Kremlin, accusing it of destabilising Ukraine. The White House is reported to be set on a new cold war policy with the aim of turning Russia into a “pariah state”.

    And so forth, it is well worth reading that article.

    If Boris Johnson had wanted to be a true friend to the people of Ukraine, all of them not just those whose inclinations are to the westwards, then he would have done everything he could to prevent war, not help to foment it and fuel it. It may or may not have proved possible to establish Ukraine as a neutral state with regional autonomy for those whose inclinations are to Russia, or maybe it would have been necessary to split of some eastern parts, which is what is likely to happen, but the attempt should have been made.

  12. agricola
    March 28, 2022

    The presidency of Biden is an unmitigated disaster. If he is the best the US Left, egged on by the US press and social media can offer, the sooner it is over the better. The marmite Trump became a hate figure of that press and social media such that they stepped out of the bounds of what is expected in a democracy and continue to do so. I sincerely hope that the US people understand where they are being led and dismiss it at their next election.

  13. Ed M
    March 28, 2022

    What’s wrong with the modern world?
    The Ancient World got leaders such as Cyrus the Great (the abilities of a leader are transferable to any age). We get Joe Biden (and Trump and Bush the Younger – all more-a-less as bad as each other – and we get Corbyn over here).
    Every MP in Parliament should be given a free copy of the Life and Leadership of Cyrus the Great (how many MPs have heard about it him let alone studied and enjoyed reading about him). And a great big statue placed of the great Persian alongside Sir Winston Churchill opposite Parliament. I know Churchill would approve.

    1. Nottingham Lad Himself
      March 29, 2022

      Corbyn???

      1. Ed M
        March 29, 2022

        I mean we had Corbyn up until a year or two ago ..

        1. Nottingham Lad Himself
          March 30, 2022

          Had him as what?

          He was never PM.

      2. Mickey Taking
        March 29, 2022

        Yeah – which Corbyn?….both equally deranged.

  14. Christine
    March 28, 2022

    What has happened to the quality of our statesmen and women? We seem to be run by weak stupid politicians who don’t have a clue how to care for their own people. The media whipped up the hatred against Trump which resulted in Biden being elected. They should hang their heads in shame.

    1. DavidJ
      March 28, 2022

      +1

    2. Nottingham Lad Himself
      March 29, 2022

      You liked it when they whipped up hatred against the European Union though, didn’t you?

      Incidentally, according to the Financial Times, Russia has dropped demands that Ukraine is “denazified” and is prepared to let it join the European Union, as long as it is not militarily aligned.

      Shot your fox rather that, hasn’t it?

  15. hefner
    March 28, 2022

    ‘these critics go quiet’: It seems that E. Macron, N. Zahawi, T.Ellwood, Der Spiegel (R.Pfister), 
 appear to have criticised Biden.

    As for the last sentence ‘Relations with countries like Russia, China and North Korea need consistent firmness from the leader of the free world’. Was this really something steadfastly provided by 45? I would think this sentence contradicts the spirit of the previous five paragraphs.

    1. Nottingham Lad Himself
      March 29, 2022

      Damn those facts yet again eh, Hefner?

  16. Ed M
    March 28, 2022

    And Cyrus was great because he was both Strong and Benevolent.
    You can be a Strong Leader but a Tyrant or a Benevolent Leader but a Wimp. A country needs both qualities in a Leader: Strength & Benevolence.
    Then everything flourishes: The Economy / Culture / Civilisation / Family Life / People taking responsibility for their own lives – because a great leader doesn’t just keep order and helps create opportunities and growth in general sense he also INSPIRES (men saying, ‘I want to be like him in my personal life’ – a real man, a real leader). And then the whole country benefits hugely.

  17. Sea_Warrior
    March 28, 2022

    This state of near-war reminds us just how useless our leaders are. Both Biden and Johnson should be kept away from ‘gotcha’ journalists and only be allowed to speak to an autocue. The ministerial media-round can be done away with too, as that’s as dangerous as having a beginner go off-piste.

    1. Nottingham Lad Himself
      March 29, 2022

      Agreed, SW.

  18. Mark Thomas
    March 28, 2022

    Sir John,
    You’re talking about the President who won with 81 million votes, more votes than Obama. All while campaigning from his basement.
    Donald Trump lost with 74 million votes, a big increase on 2016 and more than any other sitting President. This was after a series of rallies across the country, all well publicised and attended. Indeed he just had another big rally in Georgia on Saturday.
    The Democrats, mainstream media, big tech, the establishment (the swamp), RINOs and all the other Trump haters succeeded in getting their man into the White House. No matter how unfit for office he and his Vice President has shown themselves to be.
    Now we’re all paying for it.

  19. turboterrier
    March 28, 2022

    People thought Trump was dangerous and a liability? They were having a laugh. If this keeps on it is going to get more embarrassing and serious.

  20. Excalibur
    March 28, 2022

    It is not just President Biden’s gaffes, JR. There has been a dismal lack of leadership from NATO generally and from individual Western leaders. It is not surprising that Volodymyr Zelenskyy asks if NATO is being controlled by Putin ? Where for example is the pressure on India to supply Mig 29 aircraft to Ukraine. I have mentioned before in these columns the readiness of Narendra Modi to obtain military hardware and other resources from Russia. India has 67 Mig29s. Just half of these would be a huge boost to the defence of Ukraine whose pilots are predominantly versed in this type of aircraft. Modi also expressed a willingness to buy cheap oil from Russia to offset the reduced flow to Germany.

    The bravery and determination of the Ukrainians has not been sufficiently recognized and rewarded. It is noble and generous to take in refugees, but what Ukraine needs is more material help from the West to conduct its war against Russia’s thuggery. Allowing Russia freedom of the skies is not going to make Putin rethink his objectives. We should have stopped Putin when he annexed Crimea. We are paying that price now. Where, one asks, is OUR Zelenskyy ??

    1. turboterrier
      March 28, 2022

      Excalibur
      Where is our Zelenskyy?
      Been banished to the back benches for years been writing lots of books and running this site.

    2. Clough
      March 29, 2022

      Excalibur, ‘putting pressure’ on large and powerful countries such as India to do NATO’s bidding wouldn’t work. They have their own national interests to think about. Just because our leaders have forgotten where this nation’s interests lie doesn’t mean that India’s leaders should too. Their population has to be fed, and needs fuel and energy supplies. If that means trading with Russia, that’s what they’ll do. Famines are a still a living memory for people in India.

  21. Denis Cooper
    March 28, 2022

    So this American chap John Mearsheimer has been saying for many years now that Russia saw the prospect of Georgia and Ukraine joining NATO as an “existential threat”:

    https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2022/03/06/32357/#comment-1304508

    “… the trouble in this case really started in April 2008, at the Nato Summit in Bucharest, where afterward Nato issued a statement that said Ukraine and Georgia would become part of Nato. The Russians made it unequivocally clear at the time that they viewed this as an existential threat, and they drew a line in the sand.”

    And now we have this other chap Edward Lucas writing an article in the Times headlined:

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/defeat-in-ukraine-will-spell-doom-for-russia-w3x6f8zl3

    “Defeat in Ukraine will spell doom for Russia”

    and finishing with:

    “The question now is whether Russia’s hubristic war leads to nemesis quickly or slowly, and at what cost. Our answer should be to ignore the conventional wisdom and give Ukrainians the tools to finish the job.”

    He doesn’t seem to realise that on his own argument Putin/Russia simply cannot afford to lose this war, whatever the human and economic cost to Russia and its people or to Ukraine and its people, and that is not something to be celebrated or encouraged in any way, including through the supply of arms to Kiev.

    1. Mitchel
      March 29, 2022

      Lucas is a professional propagandist-he has been writing knocking copy on Russia for 20 years usually through the medium of the Economist or,in recent years,The Times,and always predicting Russia’s imminent demise.In fact The Economist has been predicting/hoping for Russia’s disintegration for more than a century.

  22. X-Tory
    March 28, 2022

    I genuinely don’t understand why people objected to Trump. He was clearly more favourably disposed to the UK than either his predecessor or his successor.

    As for Taiwan, they are safe from invasion as long as China does not have mastery of either the sea or the skies. Without control of these they cannot invade the island and resupply their troops, and without secure logistics an attack would be doomed to the same disaster as is befalling Russia’s moronic war on Ukraine. So we should be selling Taiwan both air defences and submarines. We should be trying to win multi-billion pound military contracts. And we should start by recognising Taiwan’s independence, which would get us to be viewed very favourably by their government. China will object, of course, but we must stop kow-towing and break our reliance on them – they are NOT our friends! We must build our relationship with all the other countries of the South China Sea, especially Vietnam and the Philippines, as well as Malaysia, Indonesia etc. Unfortunately the traitor and coward Boris Johnson will do none of these things. God, what contempt I have for him.

    1. Mark B
      March 29, 2022

      Because he was not one of them – A puppet.

    2. Nottingham Lad Himself
      March 29, 2022

      Perhaps because he nakedly intended to subvert, and failing that, encouraged his mobs and militias to overthrow violently the US’s democracy?

  23. XY
    March 28, 2022

    I agree with every word.

    The Democratic Party’s senior people must have known of his condition, so I hope they suffer at the polls for this disgrace. The question is: who is pulling the strings now?

  24. Bryan Harris
    March 28, 2022

    When President Trump was in office the U.K. media and some on this site sought to argue that most of what he said was unacceptable. Now we have President Biden making a string of dangerous gaffes in a series of worrying international conflicts these critics of the USA go quiet.  

    As if we needed any more evidence that MSM is totally dishonest.

    There is no longer a free press – MSM stories and the misinformation they provide are dictated to them by those that don’t want us to know what is really going on – The Global DEEP STATE.   That’s why so many of us now rely on alternative reporting that HMG is determined to shut down through their ONLINE Safety Bill.

    The whole sorry tale of how Biden became president is one of deceit, not just from MSM who did everything they could to vilify Trump while ignoring the many problems with Biden,  but also those holding the strings of power. It’s how the world now works.

    YES, Biden is a disaster, but he won’t face any real criticism because MSM and the Deep State are totally behind him and in fact support him, no matter what.

  25. alan jutson
    March 28, 2022

    The Russian Public probably will not stand for it if they knew the truth, but Putin is controlling the narrative as to what they see and hear.
    Only when the Russian people get the “Truth” may they decide to do something about the situation, even then it will be under the fear of jail or worse.
    Some Ukrainian families who have relatives in Russia simply do not believe Putin would act in the way he has, such is his control at the moment.
    Perhaps the best chance is for the military to do something, but then be careful what you wish for, his replacement may be even worse.

  26. Mickey Taking
    March 28, 2022

    yes we need change of leaders. In China, Russia, N.Korea, USA, France, Scotland, U.K. ……

  27. Glenn Vaughan
    March 28, 2022

    There’s a zombie president occupying the White House who can’t read from an autocue and a Russian psychopath determined to recover a lost empire. China is limbering up on the sideline.

    Not an enviable state of affairs for any sane person to cheer.

    1. Mark B
      March 29, 2022

      Hear hear.

      And on top of all that, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, all countries we hoped to build special relationships with are going all totalitarian.

      1. Nottingham Lad Himself
        March 29, 2022

        Could you list the countries that are not “totalitarian” in your lexicon?

        You seem to be confusing the word with “civilised” or “enlightened”.

  28. forthurst
    March 28, 2022

    Joe Biden won more votes in a Presidential election ever. Obviously he had something going for him; but what?

    1. Mark B
      March 29, 2022

      Access to a lot of voting people residing in the after life.

    2. Nottingham Lad Himself
      March 29, 2022

      Not being Trump, and everything that means.

  29. ChrisS
    March 28, 2022

    The White House inevitably glosses over Biden’s gaffs as if they meant nothing but they are a sign of a far deeper malaise and one that was only too well known in Washington.

    Obama was clearly not impressed with Biden as his Vice President when he reportedly said “Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to f… things up.” What a damning and inciteful comment !

    Biden only reached the Presidency because his name was not Trump. The partisan US media were well aware of Biden’s failings but, being so desperate to get rid of Trump, they studiously avoided asking Biden any serious questions during the campaign. Had they done so, they would have immediately revealed to voters that he was far too weak on the detail to hold the office.

    So as a result, the West is lumbered with this lame duck President whose ratings are at rock bottom. To add insult to injury, his Woke decision to accept the even more inept Harris as his Vice President, was just the first of a long series of gaffs. We now see the Democrat hierachy desperately trying to avoid Harris gaining the nomination when Biden’s wife inevitably decides he cannot run again.

  30. ChrisS
    March 28, 2022

    Why is it that when I now submit a post to this blog, I no longer see my contribution as “awaiting moderation”?

    1. Mark B
      March 29, 2022

      Use another browser. It worked for me.

    2. Narrow Shoulders
      March 29, 2022

      You need to accept all cookies.

  31. turboterrier
    March 28, 2022

    Another brilliant entry on the Not a Lot of People Know That website. A very intensive breakdown on who and where are all the Raw Earth materials essential for the manufacturing of EVs

    Biden’s Policies Will Increase US Dependence on Russia & China, Author Larry Bell

    U.S. and European electric vehicle (EV) companies are racing to cash in on markets driven by dependence upon government subsidies which, in turn, rely on scarce and costly materials needed for batteries controlled by foreign adversaries. continued

  32. turboterrier
    March 28, 2022

    Another brilliant entry on the NOT a LOT of PEOPLE KNOW THAT website highlighting the who owns and where are all the Raw Earth minerals essential for EVs to be manufactured.

    Biden’s Policies Will Increase US Dependence on Russia & China.

    U.S. and European electric vehicle (EV) companies are racing to cash in on markets driven by dependence upon government subsidies which, in turn, rely on scarce and costly materials needed for batteries controlled by foreign adversaries.

    Mining required for those EV batteries will soon dominate the world production of many critical minerals, and already accounts for about 40% and 25%, respectively, of all global lithium and cobalt.

    1. dixie
      March 29, 2022

      Can you give a link to the specific page covering “raw earth materials” on the NALOPKT website, I can’t find it maybe it was a different website?

      1. hefner
        March 29, 2022

        not ‘Raw Earth Materials’ but ‘Rare Earth Materials’
        22/03/2022 ‘Biden’s policies will increase US dependence on Russia and China’, Larry Bell, notalotofpeopleknowthat.worldpress.com

        1. dixie
          March 29, 2022

          Thanks, found it.
          The final paragraphs should noted, including – “Many of those same minerals that go into EV’s are also used in an endless variety of 21st century technologies, including, the manufacturing of domestic and strategic military airplanes, computers and smart phones; electricity generation and transmission systems; advanced weapon guidance systems; and yes, those “Green New Deal” priorities like solar panels, wind turbines and batteries for utility-scale energy storage.”

          SO, the problem is already acute while EV growth will exacerbate it, unless alternatives are found/developed.

  33. Geoffrey Berg
    March 28, 2022

    For once I don’t agree with this article. Granted Biden isn’t any good as President or as leader of the free world but I don’t think it important he doesn’t speak in diplomatic language. Nor am I happy that if somebody says what he really thinks it is a gaffe in diplomacy even if he is correct. For instance Boris Johnson has been lambasted for saying the Brexit vote derived from the same wish for national freedom as the Ukrainian resistance even though that was to a considerasble extent true – Nigel Farage’s popular rallying cry at a Brexit meeting I attended was ‘Give us back our country’.
    To be radical diplomacy is usually an expensive waste of money-Tony Abbott, the former and best Australian Prime Minister wrote he got interminable trade negotiations finished by stopping his trade negotiators staying in plush expenses paid hotels. Likewise we should save money by sacking most diplomats . We should slim down our foreign embassies, converting them into trade missions with a sideline of helping Britons in distress abroad.
    What really counts are actions, not words. Indeed there are too many Western leaders who think (like Macron)they ought to be negotiating peace rather than helping Ukraine survive. At least Boris Johnson is much better than other Western leaders on that.

  34. Ed M
    March 29, 2022

    Apologies for ranting about Trump.
    I have zero time for Democrats so doesn’t surprise me they get a Biden (and just as bad Blair and Corbyn over here).
    But I am a strong Republican and I believe the the Republican Party / USA deserved / deserves a lot better than Trump (and Bush Jr) and so on.
    I want a strong Republican / US Leader but a Benevolent one as well. And I don’t think Trump is at all (as a leader, I don’t judge him in his personal life – that’s 100% his business).

  35. Notes from me
    March 30, 2022

    Well said Sir John

    Also, Why were the Democrat election shenanigans not reported on by the UK media? For example, Democrat efforts to legalise activities such as no requirement for matching signatures on ballot documents, extended voting time and greater leniency for absent voting. The Democrats succeeded with theses activities in some states. Thus, in those states there was officially no voting fraud, but in my book, that was because the Democrats legalised fraudulent activity.

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    Additionally I saw plenty of evidence that Biden struggled to string sentences together before he was even elected. Was it not in the interests of the people that this should be more widely known? I certainly heard nothing about it from our media, certainly not the BBC. US left wing media were determined to put Biden in the Whitehouse.

    Too much of the media not only agenda driven, they are truly dishonest and are, too often, a hindrance to fair play and democracy.

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