Thread by @WholePicture_

@AFP Here a Thread about Antony Blinken and #JoeBiden and what they did in their past:

@AFP Antony John Blinken (born April 16, 1962) is an American government official and diplomat serving as the 71st and current United States secretary of state.

@AFP He previously served as Deputy National Security Advisor from 2013 to 2015 and Deputy Secretary of State from 2015 to 2017 under President Barack Obama

@AFP During his tenure in the Obama administration, he helped craft U.S. policy on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the nuclear program of Iran.[3][4] After leaving government service, Blinken moved into the private sector, co-founding WestExec Advisors, a consulting firm.

@AFP Blinken was born on April 16, 1962, in Yonkers, New York, to Jewish parents, Judith (Frehm) and Donald M. Blinken, the former United States Ambassador to Hungary.

@AFP [5][6][7] His maternal grandparents were Hungarian Jews.[8] Blinken's uncle, Alan Blinken, served as the American ambassador to Belgium.

@AFP His paternal grandfather, Maurice Henry Blinken was an early backer of Israel who helped establish the American Palestine Institute, and commissioned an economic feasibility study which argued that an independent Jewish state was economically viable there.

@AFP So he will be pro Israel and maybe won’t support a new nuclear deal with Iran, like Israel wants.
Israel doesn’t wants a nuclear deal with Iran.
He supported the U.S.–led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

@AFP From 2009 to 2013, Blinken was Deputy Assistant to the President and National Security Advisor to the Vice President. In this position he helped craft U.S. policy on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the nuclear program of Iran.

@AFP Of Obama's 2011 decision to kill Osama bin Laden, Blinken said "I've never seen a more courageous decision made by a leader".[32] A 2013 profile described him as "one of the government's key players in drafting Syria policy",[5] for which he served as a public face.

@AFP Blinken was influential in formulating the Obama administration's response to the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in the aftermath of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution.

@AFP Blinken supported the 2011 military intervention in Libya[33] and the supply of weapons to Syrian rebels.

@AFP He condemned the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt and expressed support for the democratically elected Turkish government and its institutions, but also criticized the 2016–present purges in Turkey.

@AFP In April 2015, Blinken voiced support for the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen.

@AFP He said that "As part of that effort, we have expedited weapons deliveries, we have increased our intelligence sharing, and we have established a joint coordination planning cell in the Saudi operation centre."

@AFP Blinken worked with Biden on requests for American money to replenish Israel's arsenal of Iron Dome interceptor missiles during the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict.

@AFP In May 2015, Blinken criticized the persecution of Muslims in Myanmar and warned Myanmar's leaders about the dangers of anti-Muslim legislation,[41] saying that Rohingya Muslims "should have a path to citizenship.

@AFP The uncertainty that comes from not having any status is one of the things that may drive people to leave."

@AFP WestExec's clients have included Google's Jigsaw, Israeli artificial-intelligence company Windward, surveillance drone manufacturer Shield AI, which signed a $7.2 million contract with the Air Force

@AFP So he is pro War!
In 2017, Blinken co-founded WestExec Advisors, a political strategy advising firm, with Michèle Flournoy, Sergio Aguirre, and Nitin Chadda.

@AFP the firm's clientele includes "the defense industry, private equity firms, and hedge funds"

described WestExec's role as facilitating relationships between Silicon Valley firms and the Department of Defense and law enforcement

@AFP

@AFP Blinken praised the Trump administration-brokered normalization agreements between Israel and Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.

@AFP Blinken told the Jewish Insider that a Biden administration plans to "undertake a strategic review" of the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia "to make sure that it is truly advancing our interests and is consistent with our values"

@AFP Blinken told JI that Biden administration "will continue non-nuclear" sanctions against Iran "as a strong hedge against Iranian misbehavior in other areas.

@AFP Blinken said the Trump administration helped China by "weakening American alliances, leaving a vacuum in the world for China to fill, abandoning our values and giving China a green light to trample on human rights and democracy from Xinjiang to Hong Kong"

@AFP Furthermore stating that "we are very clear eyed" about the problems posed by an expansionist Turkey, which is "not acting like an ally", Antony Blinken indicated that he would consider sanctioning Erdogan's government.

@AFP During his response to junior USA Senator from Kentucky Rand Paul Blinken reaffirmed his support for keeping the NATO's door open for Georgia, a country in the Caucasus, and raised the argument that countries that have joined NATO have not been targets of "Russian aggression".

@AFP He voiced support for "the provision to Armenia of security assistance".

@AFP In 2015, Blinken said judging between Turkey and the Syrian Kurdish YPG was "not even a matter of discussion" since Turkey is "an important U.S. ally". He criticized President Trump's decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northern Syria.

@AFP In October 2020, Blinken opposed Turkish president Recep Erdogan's call for "a two-state solution in Cyprus", stating that the Biden administration is committed to reunification of Cyprus

@AFP Blinken is a long-time advisor of President Biden and has a long history of pushing for US intervention in places like Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Yemen.

@AFP Were these Wars succesfull?
No, these wars laid the foundations for a flourishing terrorism.
Violence creates more violence

@AFP When it comes to Syria, Blinken has lamented that the US has not done enough in the country.

@AFP In 2011, Biden and Blinken disagreed over whether or not the US should intervene militarily in Libya. Blinken supported the intervention and defended his choice during last week’s Senate confirmation hearings.

@AFP But one conflict he and President Biden say they are willing to end is the war in Yemen. During his confirmation hearing, Blinken said Biden will end US support for the war in “very short order.”

@AFP Blinken played a crucial role in the early stages of the US support for Saudi Arabia’s intervention in Yemen. As deputy secretary of state in April 2015, Blinken announced that the US was expediting weapons deliveries and bolstering intelligence sharing with the Saudis

@AFP . Since then, the coalition has regularly bombed civilian targets, including food supplies, leading to widespread food shortages and mass starvation.

@AFP Blinken advised Obama on foreign policy, that's the result:
historyguy.com/wars_by_presid…

@AFP Barack Obama (2009-2017)
:Inherited
Ongoing hostility with Iran
War in Afghanistan
War in Iraq-The U.S. officially withdrew from Iraq in December of 2011
Conflict with al-Qaida-includes Drone War against al-Qaida and other Jihadist groups in Pakistan, Yemen, Libya, and elsewhere.

@AFP :Initiated/Engaged
Libyan War of 2011
War with ISIS-The U.S. military returned to Iraq in 2014 to fight against the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL).

@AFP This war also takes place in Syria, Libya, Yemen, and other nation
U.S. aid to France in Mali War (2014)-U.S. provides air support, logistics, and other aid as France intervenes to stop Jihadist offensive in Mali

@AFP Kony conflict-U.S. troops aid Ugandan and other African militaries hunt down Joseph Kony U.S. intervention in Joseph

@AFP U.S. Intervention in Libyan Civil War (2014-Present)-U.S. involvement is primarily directed against Jihadist elements in Libya
U.S. Intervention in Yemen Civil War -U.S. involvement is primarily directed against Jihadist elements in Yemen

@AFP U.S. Intervention in Somali Civil War U.S. involvement is primarily directed against Jihadist elements in Somalia

@AFP You don't have to be a Trump fan, but the fact is, that he startet less new wars than Obama and Joe Biden and Antony Blinken:

@AFP Donald J. Trump (2017-2021)
:Inherited
Ongoing hostility with Iran. This ongoing conflict escalated sharply in December and January of 2020, with Iranian-proxy forces (Iraqi Shiite militias) attacking U.S. bases in Iraq, killing American personnel.

@AFP The U.S. responded by killing a Shiite militia leader and a major figure in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Iran responded with missile attacks on two U.S. bases in Iraq, injuring over a hundred American troops.

@AFP War in Afghanistan
Wars Against ISIS, al-Qaida and other Islamic Jihadist groups in Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, Yemen, Libya, Somalia, northern Africa and elsewhere

@AFP

@AFP Sure, Trump uses the technology and tries to protect the soldiers as best as possible and, if possible, to replace them with drones. Drones can be used to explore enemy positions or to drop bombs. There are also drones with machine guns.

@AFP In order to use the information provided by drones, however, you need soldiers on site. If you withdraw soldiers, that means that you can no longer intervene as much directly, but rather act remotely using drones. So you are more dependent on local partners.

@AFP Ultimately, Trump is right about why soldiers send into wars that have already been lost, as in Syria et cetera ...

Regime Change doesn't work.

Antony Blinken only partially understands this and even justifies his earlier interventions.

@AFP his first full day on the job, that he favored cooperation with China on climate change and other issues of shared concern

@AFP @globaltimesnews wrote:

"US can't partner, confront China at the same time"

@AFP @globaltimesnews They mean, that Biden can't work together with #China to fight the #ClimateCrisis . If they want to work together with China, then they have to work together in all topics.

@AFP @globaltimesnews prospect.org/world/how-bide…
strategic consultants help corporations manage tricky regulations, potential crises, and new markets. Their behind-the-scenes work in world capitals can look a lot like lobbying.

@AFP @globaltimesnews With Flournoy as senior adviser, Boston Consulting Group’s defense contracts grew from $1.6 million in 2013 to $32 million in 2016. Before she joined, according to public records, BCG had not signed any contracts with the Defense Department.

@AFP @globaltimesnews Boston Consulting Group is a consulting group for politicans.

@AFP @globaltimesnews He had been Vice President Joe Biden’s right-hand man for almost two decades and finished out the Obama administration as deputy secretary of state. He was known for his unimpeachable ethics.

@AFP @globaltimesnews Having written Biden’s speeches for years, he had started to enunciate with the vice president’s drawl when he appeared on CNN. He had never cashed in on his international connections, years of face time with Saudi, Israeli, and Chinese leaders.

@AFP @globaltimesnews His name was Tony Blinken. With his commitment to join Flournoy as founding partner, a new strategic consultancy was born. They called it WestExec Advisors

@AFP @globaltimesnews Biden was the most modest vice president in recent history, coming into office with a net worth of less than $150,000.

@AFP @globaltimesnews But afterward, he made big money, profiting from a multimillion-dollar book deal and earning $540,000 annually from a University of Pennsylvania center named for him that doesn’t involve any teaching.

@AFP @globaltimesnews He nevertheless promoted himself as Middle-Class Joe. “I work for you—not any industry,” he tweeted last year.

@AFP @globaltimesnews Tasked by Obama to end the Iraq War, Biden supported Nouri El-Maliki, the leader he knew, and rescued the Iraqi prime minister’s career even though it ended up fracturing the country.

@AFP @globaltimesnews When Maliki narrowly lost in 2010, Biden didn’t give Iraqi political parties time to broker a new coalition.

@AFP @globaltimesnews With Biden’s endorsement, Maliki gained a second term; he grew more authoritarian, which is now widely believed to have led to the rise of ISIS. Biden ignored experts who were skeptical of Maliki and preferred to glad-hand.

@AFP @globaltimesnews Nouri Kamil Mohammed Hasan al-Maliki is secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party and was a Vice President of Iraq from 2016 to 2018.

@AFP @globaltimesnews Al-Maliki began his political career as a Shia dissident under Saddam Hussein's regime in the late 1970s and rose to prominence after he fled a death sentence into exile for 24 years.

@AFP @globaltimesnews During his time abroad, he became a senior leader of the Islamic Dawa Party, coordinated the activities of anti-Saddam guerrillas and built relationships with Iranian and Syrian officials whose help he sought in overthrowing Saddam.

@AFP @globaltimesnews . Al-Maliki worked closely with United States and coalition forces in Iraq following their departure by the end of 2011.

@AFP @globaltimesnews While living in Syria, he worked as a political officer for Dawa, developing close ties with Hezbollah and particularly with the Iranian government, supporting Iran's effort to topple Saddam's regime.

@AFP @globaltimesnews The international Committee to Protect Journalists wrote to al-Maliki in June 2006, complaining of a "disturbing pattern of restrictions on the press" and of the "imprisonment, intimidation, and censorship of journalists"

@AFP @globaltimesnews On 30 December 2006, al-Maliki signed the death warrant of Saddam Hussein and declined a stay of execution, saying there would be "no review or delay" in the event.

@AFP @globaltimesnews Citing the wishes of relatives of Hussein's victims, he said, "Our respect for human rights requires us to execute him."[21] Hussein's execution was carried out on 30 December 2006 (notably, the first Muslim day of the feast of Eid ul-Adha).

@AFP @globaltimesnews Maliki's critics assert that he did his utmost to limit the power of both Kurds and Sunnis between 2006 and 2014. Their view is that Maliki worked to further centralise governance and amass greater controls and power—from militarily to legislative—for his party.

@AFP @globaltimesnews Instead of strengthening and securing Iraq, Maliki's actions have led to a rise in both Kurdish nationalism and Sunni insurgency, which has resulted in civil war and the effective failure of the Iraqi state.

@AFP @globaltimesnews

@AFP @globaltimesnews "aimed at getting Iran to tone down its opposition and ease criticism within Iraq"

@AFP @globaltimesnews In late 2014, Vice President Al-Maliki accused the United States of using ISIL as a pretext to maintain its military presence in Iraq.

@AFP @globaltimesnews He stated that "the Americans began this sedition in Syria and then expanded its dimensions into Iraq and it seems that they intend to further stretch this problem to other countries in their future plans."

@AFP @globaltimesnews The advisors include Blinken Nicholas Burns (The Cohen Group), Kurt Campbell (The Asia Group), Tom Donilon (BlackRock Investment Institute), Wendy Sherman (Albright Stonebridge Group), Julianne Smith (WestExec Advisors) and Jake Sullivan (Macro Advisory Partners).

@AFP @globaltimesnews Another partnership was with Google’s in-house think tank, Jigsaw. WestExec’s Robert Work, during his time at the Pentagon, collaborated with the tech company in an artificial-intelligence venture, as first reported by The Intercept.

@AFP @globaltimesnews That AI initiative, known as Project Maven, led to an insurrection among Google staff upset about collaborating with the military.

@AFP @globaltimesnews The founders told executives they would share their “passion” for helping new companies navigate the complex bureaucracy of winning Pentagon contracts. They told giant defense contractors how to explain cutting-edge technologies to visitors from Congress.

@AFP @globaltimesnews Their approach worked, and clients began to sign up.

@AFP @globaltimesnews One was an airline, another a global transportation company, a third a company that makes drones that can almost instantly scan an entire building’s interior.

@AFP @globaltimesnews WestExec would only divulge that it began working with “Fortune 100 types,” including large U.S. tech; financial services, including global-asset managers; aerospace and defense; emerging U.S. tech; and nonprofits.

@AFP @globaltimesnews The Prospect can confirm that one of those clients is the Israeli artificial-intelligence company Windward. With surveillance software that tracks ships in real time, two former Israeli naval intelligence officers established the company in 2010.

@AFP @globaltimesnews Strategic consultants’ behind-the-scenes work in world capitals can look a lot like lobbying.

@AFP @globaltimesnews WestExec says they do not lobby. “We’ll tell you who to go talk to, but we’re not going to go in there for you, and we’re not going to facilitate the introduction,” said one staffer.

@AFP @globaltimesnews One of their offerings that attracted corporations, the same staffer told me, is an “on-call National Security Council.”

@AFP @globaltimesnews It wasn’t until companies renewed contracts in December 2018 that Aguirre and Chadda felt that their strategic consultancy was in place. The plan was paying off. WestExec didn’t need to do any marketing. CEOs had recommended them to other CEOs.

@AFP @globaltimesnews The group worked through 24 agenda items, and the last one was “The War in Yemen.” Many Obama diplomats had expressed remorse for enabling Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s destructive campaign in the Arab world’s poorest country.

@AFP @globaltimesnews In 2015, Obama had dispatched Blinken to tell Mohammed bin Salman that the U.S. supported Saudi Arabia’s right to defend itself and nothing more. But four years later, the U.S., through its arms sales, was party to an ongoing war.

@AFP @globaltimesnews The death toll was over 100,000 in an asymmetric conflict, and the defense contractor Raytheon had sold Saudi Arabia more than $3 billion worth of bombs.

@AFP @globaltimesnews Four hours into the marathon policy discussion, many former officials joined progressive advocates in urging an end to weapons sales. The starting point, per FP4A’s agenda, was to “ask Congress to halt U.S. military involvement in the conflict.”

@AFP @globaltimesnews Most participants supported cutting all weapons sales, but one person stood apart: Flournoy tried to persuade the group that an outright ban on arms sales to Saudi Arabia wouldn’t be a good idea.

@AFP @globaltimesnews Putting conditions on their use was a better compromise, she said, one that defense contractors wouldn’t lobby against, according to two attendees.

@AFP @globaltimesnews Flournoy told me she had made a distinction between offensive and defensive weapons, saying that Saudi Arabia needed advanced Patriot missiles to protect itself.

@AFP @globaltimesnews It was an argument she had been making around the capital, but it didn’t resonate among the left-leaning room and didn’t affect the group’s recommendation. To two people present, it sounded like Flournoy was working for Raytheon, which produces Patriot missiles.

@AFP @globaltimesnews Flournoy would not confirm whether WestExec currently works for them. “Raytheon was not being considered as a client at that point,” she said. “When I take a policy position, I do so because I think it is in U.S. interests, and the views I express are solely my own, no one else’s

@AFP @globaltimesnews Blinken is back to consulting for the vice president. In a video on Biden’s Twitter feed this April, he was introduced as senior foreign-policy adviser, explaining the candidate’s China policy.

@AFP @globaltimesnews At the same time, WestExec advertises on its website that it will “develop a strategy for expanding market access in China” for clients. And a recent post on WestExec’s LinkedIn page displays Obama and Blinken chatting at the end of the board table.

@AFP @globaltimesnews The foreign policy professionals are back, and US allies can rest assured that the United States will once again treat them with courtesy and respect.

@AFP @globaltimesnews Such talk is delusional
The opinions of other countries are worth considering only if they coincide with the views of US policymakers. If they don’t coincide, then they can be discounted.

@AFP @globaltimesnews ‘Protecting civilians’ in Libya
Blinken’s disdain for international institutions was very much in evidence during the Obama administration’s 2011 bombing of Libya. Blinken, at the time Biden’s national security adviser, was an enthusiastic advocate of the bombing campaign.

@AFP @globaltimesnews There was a problem though. The bombing was undertaken ostensibly in order to save the residents of Benghazi who were supposedly under threat from the forces of President Muammar Gaddafi.

@AFP @globaltimesnews However, Resolution 1973, which the US and NATO used to justify the attack, only instructed UN member states “to take all necessary measures…to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack.”

@AFP @globaltimesnews It didn’t say that such “measures” should include bombing. Still less did the resolution authorize the US and NATO to use the bombing in order to topple Gaddafi.

@AFP @globaltimesnews Yet, long after any conceivable threat to the residents of Benghazi had disappeared, NATO governments continued to justify their refusal to call a halt to the bombing by invoking the purported threat Gaddafi posed to Libya’s civilians.

@AFP @globaltimesnews NATO didn’t let up on the bombing until the brutal execution of Gaddafi, a war crime in which NATO took an active part.

@AFP @globaltimesnews ‘Doing too little’ in Syria

Under Operation Timber Sycamore, the CIA was authorized to work with Arab intelligence services to arm and train rebels seeking to overthrow the government of President Bashar Assad.

@AFP @globaltimesnews The weapons, needless to say, in no time found their way into the hands of the worst and most fanatical of the jihadi killers.

@AFP @globaltimesnews Syria seemed to be on the brink of falling under the sway of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS). Strangely enough, Blinken’s only regret about his activities in Syria is that the Obama administration didn’t do more to ensure the overthrow of Assad.

@AFP @globaltimesnews In an interview earlier this year, Blinken made clear that regime-change in Syria was still on his agenda. He ruled out returning Syria’s oil fields to government control because the US needed leverage.

@AFP @globaltimesnews As for the vaunted “international organizations” that Blinken supposedly champions, their role will be to sign off on US projects. If the organizations support US policy, including “regime change” operations, so much the better; if they don’t, they can safely be ignored.

@AFP @globaltimesnews The “allies” who are now cheering the return of the “professionals” may soon have cause to regret their enthusiasm as the refugee flows from the Middle East return to 2015 levels in response to the Biden administration’s policy of relaunching the regime-change war in Syria.

@AFP @globaltimesnews Should conflict with Russia escalate over Ukraine or the Baltics or the Caucasus, these “allies” may look back with nostalgia to the Trump era when the US largely preoccupied itself with its own national interests.

@AFP @globaltimesnews Antony Blinken, Joe Biden's Secretary of State nominee, said on Tuesday that the new government will use every persuasive tool to stop the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

@AFP @globaltimesnews ntony John Blinken (born April 16, 1962) is an American government official and diplomat serving as the 71st and current United States secretary of state.

@AFP @globaltimesnews He previously served as Deputy National Security Advisor from 2013 to 2015 and Deputy Secretary of State from 2015 to 2017 under President Barack Obama

@AFP @globaltimesnews During his tenure in the Obama administration, he helped craft U.S. policy on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the nuclear program of Iran.[3][4] After leaving government service, Blinken moved into the private sector, co-founding WestExec Advisors, a consulting firm.

@AFP @globaltimesnews Blinken was born on April 16, 1962, in Yonkers, New York, to Jewish parents, Judith (Frehm) and Donald M. Blinken, the former United States Ambassador to Hungary. His maternal grandparents were Hungarian Jews.

@AFP @globaltimesnews His paternal grandfather, Maurice Henry Blinken was an early backer of Israel who helped establish the American Palestine Institute, and commissioned an economic feasibility study which argued that an independent Jewish state was economically viable there.

@AFP @globaltimesnews So he will be pro Israel and maybe won’t support a new nuclear deal with Iran, like Israel wants.
Israel doesn’t wants a nuclear deal with Iran.
He supported the U.S.–led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

@AFP @globaltimesnews From 2009 to 2013, Blinken was Deputy Assistant to the President and National Security Advisor to the Vice President. In this position he helped craft U.S. policy on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the nuclear program of Iran.

@AFP @globaltimesnews Of Obama's 2011 decision to kill Osama bin Laden, Blinken said "I've never seen a more courageous decision made by a leader". A 2013 profile described him as "one of the government's key players in drafting Syria policy", for which he served as a public face

@AFP @globaltimesnews Blinken was influential in formulating the Obama administration's response to the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in the aftermath of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution.

@AFP @globaltimesnews Blinken supported the 2011 military intervention in Libya[33] and the supply of weapons to Syrian rebels.

@AFP @globaltimesnews He condemned the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt and expressed support for the democratically elected Turkish government and its institutions, but also criticized the 2016–present purges in Turkey.

@AFP @globaltimesnews In April 2015, Blinken voiced support for the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen.

@AFP @globaltimesnews He said that "As part of that effort, we have expedited weapons deliveries, we have increased our intelligence sharing, and we have established a joint coordination planning cell in the Saudi operation centre.

@AFP @globaltimesnews Blinken worked with Biden on requests for American money to replenish Israel's arsenal of Iron Dome interceptor missiles during the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict.

@AFP @globaltimesnews In May 2015, Blinken criticized the persecution of Muslims in Myanmar and warned Myanmar's leaders about the dangers of anti-Muslim legislation,[41] saying that Rohingya Muslims "should have a path to citizenship.

@AFP @globaltimesnews The uncertainty that comes from not having any status is one of the things that may drive people to leave.

@AFP @globaltimesnews WestExec's clients have included Google's Jigsaw, Israeli artificial-intelligence company Windward, surveillance drone manufacturer Shield AI, which signed a $7.2 million contract with the Air Force.

@AFP @globaltimesnews So he is pro War!
In 2017, Blinken co-founded WestExec Advisors, a political strategy advising firm, with Michèle Flournoy, Sergio Aguirre, and Nitin Chadda.

@AFP @globaltimesnews the firm's clientele includes "the defense industry, private equity firms, and hedge funds"

described WestExec's role as facilitating relationships between Silicon Valley firms and the Department of Defense and law enforcement

@AFP @globaltimesnews