Biden's candidacy faces new perils

President Joe Biden’s imperiled reelection campaign hit new trouble Wednesday as House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi said merely “it’s up to the president to decide” if he should stay in the race, celebrity donor George Clooney said he should not run and Democratic senators and lawmakers expressed fresh fear about his ability to beat Republican Donald Trump.

Late in the evening, Vermont Sen. Peter Welch called on Biden to withdraw from the election, becoming the first Senate Democrat to do so. Welch said he is worried because “the stakes could not be higher.”

The sudden flurry of grave pronouncements despite Biden’s determined insistence he is not leaving the 2024 race put on public display just how unsettled the question remains among prominent Democrats.

On Capitol Hill, an eighth House Democrat, Rep. Pat Ryan of New York, and later a ninth, Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, publicly asked Biden to step aside.

“I want him to do whatever he decides to do,” Pelosi said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” rather than declaring Biden should stay in. While Biden has said repeatedly that he’s made his decision, she said, “We’re all encouraging him to make that decision, because time is running short.”

It’s a crucial moment for the president and his party, as Democrats consider what was once unthinkable — having the incumbent Biden step aside, just weeks before the Democratic National Convention that is on track to nominate him as their candidate for reelection.

Biden is hosting world leaders in Washington for the NATO summit this week with a crowded schedule of formal meetings, sideline chats and long diplomatic dinners, all opportunities to showcase he is up for the job despite a worrisome performance last month in the first presidential debate with Trump.

His party at a crossroads, Biden faces the next tests Thursday — in public, at a scheduled news conference that many Democrats will be watching for signs of his abilities, and privately, as his top advisers meet with the Senate Democratic caucus to discuss their concerns and shore up support.

Welch said in a Washington Post opinion piece published Wednesday evening, “We cannot unsee President Biden’s disastrous debate performance.”

The first-term senator said Vermont loves Biden and he was calling on the president to withdraw from the race “with sadness.”

To be sure, Biden maintains strong support from key corners of his coalition, particularly some in the Congressional Black Caucus on Capitol Hill, whose leadership was instrumental in ushering the president to victory in 2020 and is standing by him as the country’s best choice to defeat Trump again in 2024.

“At this moment, the stakes are too high and we have to focus,” Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota told The Associated Press earlier in the week, saying Democrats are “losing ground” the longer they fight over Biden’s candidacy. “Democracy is on the line. Everything we value as Democrats, as a country, is on the line, and we have to stop being distracted.”

Pelosi has been widely watched for signals of how top Democrats are thinking about Biden’s wounded candidacy, her comments viewed as important for the party’s direction as members weigh possible alternatives in the campaign against Trump.

Because of her powerful position as the former House speaker and proximity to Biden as a trusted longtime ally of his generation, Pelosi is seen as one of the few Democratic leaders who could influence the president’s thinking.

The lack of a full statement from Pelosi backing Biden’s continued campaign is what lawmakers are likely to hear most clearly, even as she told ABC later she believes he can win.

Her remarks came as actor Clooney, who had just hosted a glitzy Hollywood fundraiser for the president last month, said in a New York Times op-ed that the Biden he saw three weeks ago wasn’t the Joe Biden of 2020. “He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.”

Democrats have been reeling over whether to continue backing Biden after his poor showing in the June 27 debate and his campaign’s lackluster response to their pleas that Biden, at 81, show voters he is ready for another four-year term.

Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat from Colorado, spoke forcefully late Tuesday about the danger of a second Trump presidency and said it’s for the president “to consider” the options.

Stopping just short of calling for Biden to drop out, Bennet said on CNN what he told his colleagues in private — that he believes Trump “is on track to win this election — and maybe win it by a landslide and take with him the Senate and the House.”

Bennet said, “It’s not a question about politics. It’s a moral question about the future of our country.”

By Wednesday, Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said he was “deeply concerned” about Biden winning the election, which he called existential for the country.

“We have to reach a conclusion as soon as possible,” Blumenthal said on CNN.

Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia told reporters, “I have complete confidence that Joe Biden will do the patriotic thing for the country. And he’s going to make that decision.”

Biden and his campaign are working more intently now to shore up support, and the president met with labor leaders Wednesday, relying on the unions to help make the case that his record in office matters more than his age.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer invited Biden’s campaign to address senators’ concerns, and redoubled his backing of the president. “As I have made clear repeatedly publicly and privately, I support President Biden and remain committed to ensuring Donald Trump is defeated in November,” he said.

The president’s team is sending senior Biden advisers Mike Donilon and Steve Ricchetti, and Campaign Chair Jen O’Malley Dillon to meet with Democratic senators privately Thursday for a caucus lunch, according to both a Senate leadership aide and the Biden campaign.

There were some concerns, however, that it could backfire. One Democratic senator who requested anonymity to speak about the closed-door meeting said it could be a waste of time if Biden would not make the case to senators himself.

Pelosi said Biden “has been a great president” who is beloved and respected by House Democrats. The Californian said she watched as he delivered a forceful speech at the NATO summit Tuesday, and she recounted his many accomplishments.

While foreign leaders are in Washington this week and Biden is on the world stage hosting the event at a critical time in foreign affairs, Pelosi encouraged Democrats to “let’s just hold off” with any announcements about his campaign.

“Whatever you’re thinking, either tell somebody privately but you don’t have to put that out on the table until we see,” she said, how it goes “this week.”

 Courtesy: The Associated Press

Pezeshkian to take oath on July 30

A member of the presiding board of the Parliament announced that the oath taking ceremony of Masoud Pezeshkian the elected president of Iran will be held on Tuesday, July 30.

According to IRNA, Mojtaba Yousefi, a member of the presiding board of the Parliament, announced that the oath taking ceremony will be held on July 30.

The head of the Judiciary, the speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, the chief of the Supreme Court, members of the Guardian Council, and several foreign ambassadors will participate in the ceremony. 

Masoud Pezeshkian was elected as the ninth president of Iran in the second round of the presidential elections with the majority of votes, and the inauguration ceremony and the implementation of the leadership decree will take place on July 30, 2024.

 

NATO statement full of belligerent rhetoric and lies

According to Reuters, the NATO summit in Washington's planned statement is full of "belligerent rhetoric" and the China-related content has provocations and lies, a spokesperson for the Chinese mission to the European Union said.

The draft communique said China has become a decisive enabler of Russia's war effort in Ukraine and Beijing continues to pose systemic challenges to Europe and to security.

"As we all know, China is not the creator of the crisis in Ukraine," the spokesperson said, according to a statement released by the Chinese Mission to the EU on Thursday.

"The declaration of the NATO summit in Washington is full of Cold War mentality and belligerent rhetoric, and China-related content is full of provocations, lies, incitement and smears," the spokesperson said.

Leaders of NATO countries stressed a membership pledge for Ukraine, took a stronger stance on China's support for Russia, and the declaration strengthened past NATO language on China.

"China's core position on the Ukraine issue is to promote peace talks and political settlement, which has been widely recognized and appreciated by the international community," said the spokesperson.

Beijing put forward a 12-point paper more than a year ago that set out general principles for ending the war, but did not get into specifics. It received a lukewarm reception at the time in both Russia and Ukraine.

For its part, China has repeatedly lashed out at NATO criticisms and has warned against its expansion into the Asia-Pacific region.

Leaders of Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia, in attendance at NATO, have forged stronger ties with the security alliance amid rising concerns over China's aggressions in the South China Sea.

On Wednesday, a spokesperson for China's foreign ministry said, "We firmly oppose NATO acting beyond its characterization as a regional defensive alliance, inserting itself into the Asia-Pacific to incite confrontation and rivalry, and disrupting the prosperity and stability in this region."

 

 

 

 

Pezeshkian wants better ties with Iraq and Pakistan

Iran's president-elect, Masoud Pezeshkian, has emphasized the importance of strengthening relations with both Iraq and Pakistan in separate phone calls with the leaders of both countries. 

During his conversation with Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid, Pezeshkian highlighted the strong bonds between Iran and Iraq, stating, "The extent of political, economic, cultural and religious ties between Iran and Iraq needs no explanation." He expressed hope that these relations "will be further deepened in the new era with the cooperation of the high officials of the two countries." 

President Rashid reciprocated these sentiments, congratulating Pezeshkian on his election victory and describing the relationship between the two countries as "deep, strong, and in line with the interests of the two nations." He added that Iraq is "interested in maintaining and promoting these relations and also creating a basis for further cooperation in the new era."

In his conversation with Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Pezeshkian reiterated his commitment to strengthening ties between the two nations, stating, "I express my desire to further deepen relations between the two brotherly nations."

Sharif echoed this sentiment, highlighting the positive momentum built during the late President Ebrahim Raisi's visit to Pakistan, stating, "The agreements between the two countries... paved the way for a mutually beneficial partnership." He further emphasized Pakistan's commitment to "developing all-out ties with Iran" and discussed ways to enhance cooperation "particularly in trade, commerce & investment, and foster a stronger partnership for regional stability." He concluded by stating, "As brothers and neighbors, our two countries have a shared vision for building a better future together for our people."

Iran, which shares its longest borders with Iraq and Pakistan, has been adamant about advancing cooperation with the two countries, particularly in trade and security. It signed security pacts with both states during the Raisi administration in order to tackle terrorist groups funded by extra-regional forces. 

Pezeshkian has vowed to continue the late Raisi’s path, who emphasized the strengthening of ties with neighboring and regional countries. Additionally, the president-elect pledged to enhance cooperation with Russia and Turkey during separate phone calls on Monday.

The president-elect has also addressed Resistance forces in recent days, indicating that he plans to continue the previous administration’s support for freedom fighters in the region.

In his letter to Hezbollah’s secretary-general, Pezeshkian vowed Iran would continue to back the Resistance, dashing Zionist hopes for a diminished emphasis on resistance groups with a reformist Iranian government in office. 

 

China Edible Oil Scam

A scandal over the handling of cooking oil has renewed concerns over food safety in China and cast a harsh spotlight on a major state-owned company.

An undercover report by the state-backed Beijing News alleged that it is an "open secret" that "to save costs," tankers used to transport fuel and chemicals are also used to move cooking oil and syrup without any cleaning. The report, published last week, named state-owned grain company Sinograin as one of those involved in the apparent misbehavior.

On Tuesday, official media reported that the State Council's food safety commission will investigate.

Following the news, shares of leading cooking oil supplier Yihai Kerry, known as Jin Long Yu in Chinese, plunged more than 8% in Shenzhen at one point during Wednesday morning trading, touching a record low.

The scandal has sparked a furious backlash on social media in a country where food safety is a long-running concern. After a week's silence, state broadcaster CCTV posted an unusually harsh commentary on the danger, saying that such misconduct could "consume the lives" of citizens.

It is not clear where the contaminated cooking oil was sent or how much. Multiple publicly listed companies have denied any such mishandling of oil in their supply chains "after internal investigations."

Sinograin said in a statement that it has blacklisted the tanker operator as a partner and has begun an internal inspection.

Hu Xijin, former editor-in-chief of state tabloid Global Times, also called for a thorough investigation. "Sinograin is a powerful state-owned enterprise," he wrote in an online post Monday. "I am not fully convinced that only Sinograin behaved this way while all other companies seem clean."

Mixed use of fuel tankers is not new in China. Over the past two decades -- for example in 2005, 2011 and 2015 -- local media outlets in different parts of the country reported that food companies were using such vehicles to transport cooking oil in between other types of shipments.

Since a 2008 scandal over baby formula that contained lethal amounts of the industrial chemical melamine, which affected around 30 million children nationwide and cost Beijing 2 billion yuan (US$275 million) in compensation, Chinese consumers have increasingly opted for imported food if they have the means.

Melamine-contaminated baby formula reemerged in 2010, but most of the diary brands ensnared in the scandal still exist.

A Beijing-based political scientist who declined to be named said strict inspections may bring about some regulatory changes but are unlikely to completely prevent such misconduct, especially in the current tough environment Chinese companies face. Already, in 2014, a regulation was imposed that cooking oil should be transported in dedicated tanks.

"The issue of the fuel tankers is just a microcosm of the 'involution' problem among Chinese companies," he said, using a Chinese buzzword that refers to an increase in labor input that does not yield proportional increases in output.

"Like most industries, profit in the transportation sector is very low. If every company were to use dedicated tankers for transporting cooking oil, they would have to bear the cost of empty return trips, in addition to tank cleaning fees of over $100" each time, the political scientist said. "This would potentially eliminate all the profit, and companies would not do that."

Some on social media have defended the companies, arguing that the contaminated cooking oil might be for industrial use. But public tracking records of a particular truck, featured in the Beijing News report, showed the vehicle had been in different coal oil and cooking oil factories in the past few months.

Yun Wuxin, a Beijing-based writer on biology and food engineering, said in a social media post that such behavior is a "serious violation of food safety operation regulations" and that once a container has been used to hold nonfood materials, it becomes "nonfood grade."

To regain "food grade" status, a highly complex cleaning process is required, followed by an inspection with much stricter standards than for new containers. "The operational cost is very high," Yun said.

Zhu Danpeng, a food and beverage analyst in Guangzhou, observed, "The mixed use of oil tankers has crossed the bottom line of food safety and represents the lack of supervision in companies' quality control system."

Courtesy: Nikkei Asia

Iranian naval ship capsizes during repair

One of Iranian newest warships capsized in port over the weekend while undergoing repairs, an incident that could damage key war-fighting systems and put the ship out of commission for up to half a year, reports Saudi Gazette.

The 311-foot-long was at a dock in the port of Bandar Abbas when it “lost its balance” after water leaked into its tanks, according to a report from the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).

A photo from the semi-official Tasnim News Agency showed the warship, with a displacement of about 2,000 tons, resting on its left side in the Bandar Abbas port.

The ship, which Tasnim said entered service in December 2018, is one of the bigger vessels in Iran’s fleet, equipped with antiship cruise missiles and an electronic warfare system.

Naval analyst Carl Schuster, a former US Navy captain, said it would take Iran four to six months to repair the ship once it can be refloated.

“Seawater severely damages electronics and gets into everything. So, all electronics will have to be removed and chemically cleaned to remove the salt,” he said.

It also affects mechanical parts, which could lead to engine failure if the parts are not thoroughly cleaned, he added.

“Salt encrustation destroys piston linings and turbine blades and interferes with combustion so if they take short cuts to get that ship back into service, they will pay a heavy price for doing so,” Schuster said.

Ships like the Sahand tend to have a lot of “top hamper,” weight from electronics and weapons above their center of gravity, Schuster said.

If lower fuel tanks are emptied, something prudent during a repair process, the higher up weight should have been removed to keep the ship in balance, he said.

“Otherwise, you risk capsizing the ship, particularly if there are high winds,” he said.

Schuster said the photo released by Tasnim suggests the ship rolled over quickly, rather than sinking and settling on the relatively shallow harbor bottom at Bandar Abbas.

“Its motion (was) stopped only by the mast and stack encountering the harbor bottom,” he said.

Several people sustained minor injuries in the incident and were taken to a hospital, IRNA reported.

The Iranian news agency reports said the warship was “being returned to balance.”

That’s a process likely to take a week or more, according to Schuster, with cranes, floatation bladders and portable pumps needed.

The Sahand is the most recent ship to carry that name for the Iranian navy. The previous Sahand was sunk by the US Navy in 1988 during Operation Praying Mantis, which launched after a US frigate was crippled by an Iranian mine in the Gulf

Lee Sasakawa Peace Foundation Visiting Fellow

The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars has appointed Shin-ae Lee as a Sasakawa Peace Foundation Visiting Fellow for summer 2024. 

Dr. Lee will spend two months as a residential scholar with the Wilson Center’s Indo-Pacific Program from July to August 2024.

Her research will focus on prospects for military cooperation between the DPRK and Russia and its impact on Indo-Pacific security relations.

Dr. Lee is currently a research fellow in the Security Studies Program at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, and also teaches part-time at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.

Her academic interest centers on Japan’s security policy and relations between Japan, the ROK, and the United States.