Beltway Insider: Biden/U.S. Israel Military Operation, G7, Foreign Aid, Ukraine, UAW, Trump Trial

Details: Category: Beltway Insider; Published on Sunday, 21 April 2024 11:00; Written by Janet Walker

President Biden sent Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on behalf of the United States to meet with the leaders of the G7, as discussions on de-escalating the tensions in the Middle East intensified with Israel's recent retaliatory strikes.

The President's job approval rating, according to the website fivethirtyeight.com, for the period ending April 21, 2024, decreased by 0.03% to 39.0% of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President and those who disapprove of his effectiveness increased by 0.02% to 56.1% of those polled who disapprove of his effectiveness. A slight 3% of the population polled have no opinion. Ratings are calculated weekly.

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U.S. Israel Military Operations

During a White House Press Briefing, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre appeared to cautiously deflect reporters' questions on the changes in the relationship between Israel and the United States and Palestine. The suddenly guarded press secretary said more with her silence than she wanted to convey.

From the small bits of information she explained, the readout, which offered a high level overview of the newly convened U.S.-Israel Strategic Consultative Group (SCG) created to consult on a series of issues in the wake of Iran's unprecedented missile and drone attack against Israel was a chronological overview without any in-depth explanatory information.

This prompted the journalists covering the White House to press Jean-Pierre for additional information. She explained simply, "So, obviously, the readout speaks out for itself. And as it says, the United States and Israel agreed on the shared objective to see Hamas defeated in Rafah. The U.S. side — side continued to express concerns with various courses in a- — in action in Rafah, and Israeli participants agreed to take these concerns into account and to have further follow-up discussions between experts."

And as the exchange went further it became obvious that the effort to protect civilians had not ceased, and indiscriminate bombing and killings of humanitarian aid workers and innocent children occurred recently, this past week, when an Israeli strike hit a refugee camp.

As the White House Press Corp continued to push for more insight into the president's plan to address the egregious humanitarian crisis and worse the killing of those attempting to assist in alleviating this shocking attempt at starvation. Forcing the Gazans into refugee camps with only starvation rations is history repeating itself.

The G7 Summit

The G7 Nations met this week in Italy and as restraint, in word and action, seemed to be the pervasive mood of the day, the host nation leader, "Italy's foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, later boasted to reporters on Friday that the G7's collective calls for restraint deserved credit for "the small scale of the event,"' The New York Times reported.

As the White House refused to discuss the diplomatic relations, collectively the Group of 7 leaders, explained the two major conflicts, Israel, and Ukraine, were widely discussed and all attempts to intensify tension in the middle east had taken precedent, especially in the wake of Iran's attempt to escalate a full out Middle East regional war.

Israel, who is in war-mode and determined to fight every enemy, equally and without restraint, has yet to agree to any cease-fire, and to date the retaliation from the October 7, coordinated Hamas attacks have killed 33,000 Gazans and effectively dismantled Hamas war rooms, weapons cache, and safehouses, operating in the Gaza Strip.

Israel's recent small scale retaliatory strike against Iran was intended to effectively explain to the Ayatollah that we can annihilate your nation at any time and as we showed restraint, we will not in the future.

"The nighttime operation, in the vicinity of a military facility and nuclear labs located in central Iran, seemed designed to send a message to Tehran without triggering an immediate backlash, dampening an increasingly volatile tit-for-tat spate of attacks in recent weeks," reported The Washington Post.

World News: Endless Tensions in the Middle East

House Approves Ukraine, Israel Aid Package

The U.S. House of Representatives, led by Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, (R-LA), overwhelming approved a sweeping $95 billion foreign aid package that will benefit the Ukraine, Israel, and Gaza.

"With chants of "Ukraine!" and blue and yellow flags waving on the House floor, all Democrats present and a minority of Republicans broke a months-long legislative logjam and approved $60 billion in aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia," reported The Washington Post.

Johnson, who had become the target of the far-right radical republicans, many of whom came to power during the Trump presidency riding on his disgruntled Americans bandwagon, vowed to call a vote to oust him as Speaker. However, they seemed less enthusiastic over the possibility of another very public and publicized round of Speaker of the House voting failures, especially with the November election looming once the legislation had passed the house.

The bill, which allotted $60-billion in aid to Ukraine, $26-billion to Israel which includes $9-billion to Gaza, and $8-billion to allies who are targets of Chinese aggression, and now advances to the democratically controlled Senate, where it is expected to pass. President Biden has also expressed his support for the House's efforts to create this legislation and is expected to sign it when it arrives on his desk.

Ukraine Targets Russian Infrastructure

As the war between Ukraine and Russia continues to escalate, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has begun to prepare a counter-offensive that should have been a part of the initial strategy. To cripple Russian and Putin's initiative, Zelenskyy needs to be increasingly aggressive and targets strategic Russian infrastructure.

Zelenskyy, during a recent meeting with Vice-President Kamala Harris, at the, "Munich Security Conference in February, she told the Ukrainian leader something he didn't want to hear: Refrain from attacking Russian oil refineries, a tactic U.S. officials believed would raise global energy prices and invite more aggressive Russian retaliation inside Ukraine," reported The Washington Post.

Unfortunately, Ukraine can't push back Russian forces without dismantling critical infrastructure, one of which are the oil refineries. Finally, Zelenskyy has chosen to fight against Russian, through traditional means of immobilizing the ability of Russian forces to advance.

These actions should result in destroying transportation hubs, any land or sea transportation that allows access, communications, seaports, bridges, oil refineries, military staging grounds. This is not the time to show restraint. The counter-offensive must be brutal and dismantle the structure of the Russian Forces.

As "Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov signaled Russia's intent to seize Kharkiv City in a future significant Russian offensive operation, the first senior Kremlin official to outright identify the city as a possible Russian operational objective following recent Ukrainian warnings that Russian forces may attempt to seize the city starting in Summer 2024," reported Critical Threats.org.

With this information and the arrogance of Putin and the Russian Forces, Zelenskyy is left without option, either dismantle access or confront an intense defeat with the capture of Kharkiv City.

Coronavirus Totals

According to the World Health Organization the increase in cases resulting from the variant JN.1 have migrated in a similar pattern as the original Covid-19 virus. The CDC has recommended every person from age six months, including senior citizens, should receive at least one shot of an updated covid vaccine. Vaccines and boosters are still considered the most effective agents against contracting the Coronavirus.

For the 7-day period ending April 21, 2024, the total of confirmed coronavirus cases reported by The World Health Organization remained at 775,293,630 confirmed cases, increasing by 41,851 confirmed cases. The total worldwide death toll increased by 997 to 7,044,637 deaths. The United States has stopped providing Covid data to the World Health Organization. (Data updated April 7, 2024, from The World Health Organization).

COVID U.S. Totals

As hospitalizations and infection rates continue to rise in the United States, some jurisdictions are suggesting new mask mandates. For the 7-day period ending April 21, 2024, new Covid hospitalizations in the U.S. increased by 6,718 to 6,924,128. The coronavirus has claimed 1,188,991 total U.S. deaths, adding 713 deaths, over the past 7 days. (Data updated April 13, 2024, posted April 19, 2024, from the CDC).

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UAW Unionizes Tennessee

The United Auto Workers, after two failed attempts, successfully rallied to unionize the German Automaker's Volkswagen Plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the first successful attempt in more than 40 years for the UAW.

With wages and benefits at the heart of the UAW's efforts, workers at the Volkswagen plant were barely earning a living wage, and after the UAW provided proof of their victories against the big three automakers that boosted wages on the factory floor to nearly double, the unionizers began to see support for unionizing. The workers, in Tennessee, have made better health care and retirement benefits their priority.

"The organizing effort caps off a strong year for the U.S. labor movement, which has won record wage increases in several industries through strikes and tough bargaining. The Teamsters scored big wins for UPS employees, while Hollywood actors and writers, and Kaiser nurses secured better wages and working conditions by staging walkouts," reported The Washington Post.

The UAW has on its list automakers Honda, Toyota, Hyundai and Tesla and with recent victories across the board in multiple industries workers are now realizing the protection and benefits that come from having a strong union behind them.

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Road to the White House – Trump's Legal Troubles Continue

Trump Hush Money Trail Sit Jurors, Alternates

With the first week of "The People of the State of New York against Donald J. Trump" controversary over juror revelations of personal information, which was so closely aligned to them, that their identities were exposed and resulted in juror selection being a revolving door of voir dire, the heart of the selection process, which allows attorney's from both sides to question any aspect of the juror's actions, beliefs, ideas, ideologies, and opinions, before being selected, and then excused, and others selected, and finally a seated 12 person jury with four alternatives. No information will be released regarding the jury.

Two of the dismissed jurors spoke with The New York Times, after they were excused and said, "Both were put off by efforts by Mr. Trump's lead lawyer, Todd Blanche, to assess prospective jurors' views of Mr. Trump. The man said Mr. Blanche seemed "folksy" in a way he found disingenuous, while the woman was sharper, describing a "witch hunt" to root out people sympathetic to Democrats on the panel — a phrase Mr. Trump uses often to criticize the various prosecutors investigating his conduct."

The trial will begin this week with both sides presenting opening statements to the jury. Although Manhattan Alvin Bragg should begin presenting evidence this week, the possibility of further delays is also real, if to simply rattle the prosecution. The prosecution case will also present witnesses, who have already been convicted for their part in "larger scheme orchestrated to avoid negative press."

For more information on President Joe Biden www.whitehouse.gov.