Thread: President Joe Biden

Starts at 15:45

• Biden vows united front with Ukraine in face of Russian war

President Biden on Wednesday capped a three-day visit to Lithuania for the NATO summit by vowing that the U.S. and its allies would maintain a united front with Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.

“We stand at an inflection point, an inflection point in history where the choices we make now are going to shape the direction of our world for decades to come. The world has changed. Will we turn back naked, unchecked aggression today to deter other world-would-be -aggressors tomorrow?” he said in remarks in Vilnius.

Biden spoke to a crowd of around 10,000 Lithuanians, foreign diplomats, members of the Belarusian opposition and others, all surrounded by and waving American and Lithuanian flags.

“We will not waver. I mean that,” Biden said. “Our commitment to Ukraine will not weaken. We will stand for liberty and freedom today, tomorrow, and for as long as it takes. We all want this war to end on just terms.”

“Our unity will not falter, I promise you,” he added.

The location of the president’s speech Wednesday was symbolic, as Lithuania shares a border with Russia. Lithuania’s membership in NATO is seen as a critical deterrent to potential Russian aggression.

“Every day, we have to make the choice. Every day, we must summon the strength to stand for what is right, to stand for what is true, to stand for freedom, to stand together,” Biden said.

Biden’s address came at the conclusion of a NATO summit that was dominated by talk of continued support for Ukraine in its war against Russia but also exposed tensions over what path Ukraine might have to join the alliance.

Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday expressed frustration about the skepticism from Biden and some other world leaders about Ukraine joining NATO, a move Biden has said should wait until after the war with Russia has ended. By Wednesday, Zelensky acknowledged Ukraine would not be able to join the alliance while the war was ongoing.

While the president didn’t mention Ukraine’s potential membership into NATO during his remarks, he highlighted that NATO members have an obligation to defend one another. Biden and other allies have warned that taking Ukraine into NATO at this time would mean all allies are at war with Russia.

“It is a sacred oath, an attack against one is an attack against all,” Biden said.

Biden noted that his meeting with Zelensky on Wednesday follows their other one-on-one meetings since the Russia invasion held in Washington, Kyiv, and Hiroshima. He also blamed Russia for not seeking an end to the conflict.

“One country cannot be allowed to seize its neighbors territory by force. Russia could end this war tomorrow,” he said. “Unfortunately, Russia has shown thus far no interest in a diplomatic outcome.”

The U.S. and its Group of Seven (G7) allies on Wednesday announced plans for security negotiations with Ukraine to ensure it had the military support it needed in the short-term and in the future to defer further Russian aggression.

The U.S. has provided billions of dollars in military and financial aid to Ukraine since Russia first invaded in February 2022. Biden last week announced the U.S. would send Ukraine cluster munitions, a controversial weapon outlawed by dozens of countries.

Biden opened his remarks acknowledging that NATO welcomed Finland and reached agreement on Sweden to join the alliance.

“President Erdogan kept his word,” he said, referring to the president of Turkey who on Monday agreed to not block Sweden’s membership into NATO.

And, he praised the people of Ukraine for this strength in the nearly year and a half since the Russian invasion, saying they “remain unbroken.”

“Ukraine remains independent, it remains free,” he said.

Biden also praised people of Lithuania and other Baltic nations for supporting Ukraine, saying the older citizens there know “better than anyone how precious the fight to determine your future is.”

“My message to all of you is keep it up, keep it going, keep reminding the world of hope that Lithuania embodies,” he said.

NATO Summit: Stoltenberg says Ukraine will become a member when conditions are met – YouTube

• Biden is closing out his Europe trip by showcasing new NATO member Finland

President Joe Biden will close out his five-day trip to Europe on Thursday standing alongside Nordic leaders in an effort to show NATO’s expanding power and influence against a burgeoning Russia.

The brief stop in the shoreline Finnish capital is the coda to a Biden tour that was carefully sketched to highlight the growth of the military alliance that the president says has fortified itself since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Finland joined as NATO’s newest member earlier this year, an entry that effectively doubled the alliance’s border with Russia.

Biden arrived in Helsinki after what he deemed a successful annual NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, where allies agreed to language that would further pave the way for Ukraine to join the military alliance. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the summit’s outcome “a significant security victory” for his country but nonetheless expressed disappointment Kyiv did not get an outright invitation to join NATO.

Biden and other administration officials also held what aides said were pivotal conversations with Ankara shortly before Turkey reversed course and dropped its objections to Sweden joining NATO.

“I’m feeling good about the trip,” Biden told reporters shortly before boarding Air Force One for Finland. “You know, we accomplished every goal we set out to accomplish.”

The president’s trip this week — a meticulously choreographed endeavor meant to showcase international opposition to Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine — played out nearly five years to the day since then-President Donald Trump infamously stood alongside Putin in Helsinki and cast doubt on his own intelligence apparatus. That was just days after Trump tore through a NATO summit where he disparaged the alliance and from which he threatened to withdraw the United States.

In contrast, Biden has heartily embraced the tenets of multilateralism that Trump shunned, speaking repeatedly of having to rebuild international coalitions after four tumultuous years led by his predecessor. The garrulous former Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman is in his element at summits abroad, and speaks of how his background in international policy is proof positive that decades of experience on the world stage has mattered for the presidency.

While in Finland, Biden will meet with the country’s president, Sauli Niinistö, as well as leaders from other Nordic nations including Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. Sweden is poised to join NATO as its 32nd member country after it pledged that it would cooperate more with Turkey on counterterrorism efforts while backing Ankara’s bid to join the European Union.

Biden is also scheduled to hold a press conference with Niinistö before departing for Washington.

Extra: Joe Biden admits he is considering sending Ukraine long range missiles that could hit Russia

HELSINKI, Finland — Biden told Niinistö how he had warned Putin that he would bring NATO to his doorstep if Moscow worked to weaken the defense alliance. The two countries share an 830-mile border.

“You may remember my telling you, I said to our friend in the east that if he wants the Finlandization of NATO, he’s going to get the NATOization of Finland,” Biden said on Thursday.

Biden said it took him “about three seconds to say yes” when Niinistö called to ask about joining the alliance after Russia invaded Ukraine, ending a decades-long promise of neutrality adopted by Helsinki after the Cold War. He called it “the fastest ratification that occurred in modern history.”

• Readout of President Joe Biden’s Meeting with President Sauli Niinisto of Finland

President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. met in Helsinki with President Sauli Niinistö of Finland on July 13 ahead of the third U.S.-Nordics Summit meeting. The leaders reaffirmed their unwavering commitment to support Ukraine as it continues to defend itself against Russian aggression. President Biden congratulated Finland on becoming our newest NATO Ally and welcomed its role as a regional security provider. Both leaders welcomed the recent agreement between Türkiye, Sweden and NATO for President Erdoğan to send Sweden’s NATO accession protocol to Turkish parliament for ratification, and underscored their desire to welcome Sweden into NATO as soon as possible. President Biden and President Niinistö also took note of the recently signed co-financing agreement between the U.S. and Finnish export credit agencies, which will enable the United States and Finland to partner more closely on high priority projects like 5G telecommunications and climate.

___________

• President Joe Biden wrapped up his five-day European trip in Helsinki on Thursday after showcasing Finland's NATO membership, which Western nations see as standing for a reinvigorated and expanding alliance in the face of Russian aggression.

The stop came after Biden attended a high-profile NATO summit in nearby Lithuania, where much of the focus was on on Ukraine’s path to membership. However, the United States and its allies touted Finland becoming the defense alliance’s newest member as one of the crowning achievements of the gathering.

Finland shares an 830-mile border with Russia and had until recently maintained relatively cordial relations with Moscow. But it applied for entrance to NATO soon after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine last year.

On Wednesday evening, Biden pledged that Western partners would not back away from Ukraine’s defense despite having not agreed on a path or timeline for it to become a NATO member, which Kyiv desperately wants. At the end of the summit in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, he said that “the defense of freedom is not the work of a day or a year. It’s the calling of our lifetime — of all time.”

Originally Posted by S Landreth

“President Erdogan kept his word,” he said, referring to the president of Turkey who on Monday agreed to not block Sweden’s membership into NATO.

How can you post this shit ?

• Biden administration announces $650 million to plug orphaned gas and oil wells

The Interior Department on Monday announced more than $650 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding to plug abandoned oil and gas wells.

The $660 million in funding, available to 27 states, will go toward the plugging of so-called orphan wells, wells abandoned for extraction by the oil and gas industry.

Orphan wells are associated with major safety and health hazards, many of them associated with methane leaks. Methane is also a major driver of climate change, due to its capacity to trap more heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.

The Environmental Defense Fund estimates about 14 million Americans live within a mile of an orphaned well. Separate research indicates such infrastructure particularly affects communities of color, which due to the practice of redlining host a disproportionate amount of urban gas and oil wells.

“These investments are good for our climate, for the health of our communities, and for American workers,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in remarks Monday in Kansas with Rep. Sharice Davids (D-Kan.). “With this additional funding, states will put more people to work to clean up these toxic sites, reduce methane emissions and safeguard our environment.”

Kansas has already received $25 million in initial funding to plug its abandoned wells, and is eligible for another $25 million of the new funding. The bipartisan law includes a total of $4.7 billion for orphan well management, including the $2 billion in grants from which the $660 million derives.

The administration previously announced $560 million in grants to plug orphaned wells in August 2022, with eligible states plugging nearly 3,000 wells so far using that funding.

States have until Dec. 31 to apply for the next round of grants. Potential grant amounts range from $1.6 million for Alabama to $79.6 million for Texas. The administration is also set to offer performance grants under the infrastructure law, guidance for which will be issued later in the year.

Originally Posted by S Landreth

“These investments are good for our climate, for the health of our communities, and for American workers,”

Any thing in it for Hunter and 'the Big Guy' ?

• EPA proposes stricter regulations on lead exposure in residential buildings

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing tighter rules for exposure to lead in residential buildings and child care facilities.

The new draft rule from the EPA would lower its lead dust hazard level to any level greater than zero — meaning any amount of lead found in a building would be considered hazardous.

The Biden administration is also reducing the dust lead clearance levels that limit how much lead can remain after cleanup has taken place.

According to the agency, the rules would be expected to limit lead exposure for 250,000 to 500,000 children younger than 6 annually.

Exposure to lead can damage a child’s brain and nervous system and cause slowed growth and development as well as learning, hearing and speech problems.

“The Biden-Harris Administration is taking a whole-of-government approach to ensuring that the most vulnerable among us — our children — are protected from exposure to lead,” EPA Deputy Administrator Janet McCabe said in a statement.

“This proposal to safely remove lead paint along with our other efforts to deliver clean drinking water and replace lead pipes will go a long way toward protecting the health of our next generation of leaders,” she added.

The U.S. banned residential use of lead paint in 1978. But according to the EPA, 31 million homes built before that time are estimated to still contain lead paint, and 3.8 million contain at least one child younger than 6.

The agency expects the rule to cost between $536 million and $748 million per year based on potential compliance expenses for landlords, remodelers and others.

The rule garnered praise from environmentalists, including those who sued in the past to get the limit reduced.

“EPA is finally proposing to do what the law requires, adopt truly protective lead standards,” Eve Gartner, director of Crosscutting Toxics Strategies at Earthjustice, said in a written statement.

“This is a leap forward in the country’s long-delayed efforts to eliminate lead exposures in millions of residences and childcare facilities that still have lead-based paint,” Gartner added.

The Trump administration had also tightened lead dust rules, but environmentalists said at the time that those rules did not go far enough to adequately protect public health.

Originally Posted by helge

Any thing in it for Hunter and 'the Big Guy' ?

Still lonely?

You didn’t see it in the Hunter Biden thread?

Originally Posted by S Landreth

Republicans have heralded Luft as a whistleblower in the Hunter Biden laptop probe.

Luft faces up to 100 years in prison

• Think tank leader who claims to have given FBI info on Hunter Biden charged by Justice Department

Originally Posted by S Landreth

Still lonely?

You didn’t see it in the Hunter Biden thread?

I'm sure you got my message, Sheepy

• Biden’s economic dream is becoming reality — but how long can he sustain it?

President Joe Biden is enjoying the economic recovery of his dreams, complete with cooling inflation, a still-hot jobs market and diminishing odds of a recession.

Now he just needs to figure out how to keep it that way.

A White House that has bet Biden’s political future on the economy’s resilience — so much so that they’re branding it with the president’s name — got the latest encouraging sign Wednesday that its strategy is paying off, with new data showing a sharper than expected slowdown in consumer costs.

The measure is a major reversal of fortune for Biden, after two years battling soaring inflation and accusations his agenda had contributed to the pain. But it’s just the latest in a string of economic developments that’s bolstered the administration’s confidence it can set the U.S. on a glide path without first plunging it into a downturn.

“Despite repeated forecasts that recession is just around the corner, the U.S. recovery is solid,” National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard said in a speech at the Economic Club of New York shortly after the inflation data came out Wednesday. “The economy is defying predictions that inflation would not fall absent significant job destruction.”

Yet even as fears of a disastrous recession fade, Biden and his allies are already turning their attention toward a range of smaller obstacles that threaten to dampen the White House’s political narrative. There remains a wariness within the ranks that taking a full victory lap on the economy could invite political troubles down the road — and that the administration lacks the tools to deal with a serious setback should one occur between now and the election in 16 months.

“Good news is good news for the White House at this point,” said Tobin Marcus, a former economic adviser to Biden. “It doesn’t rule out the possibility that things do go rougher than they hope.”

The administration is bracing for the mass resumption of student loan payments this fall, which could send a financial shock through millions of households that have benefited from the three-year reprieve. Congressional Republicans, meanwhile, are already signaling plans to wage a budget battle likely to shut down the government and further shake the nation’s political stability. And then there’s the Federal Reserve, which remains determined to hike interest rates in pursuit of lowering inflation to 2 percent, despite warnings it could end up tipping the U.S. into recession.

“Do we want to sacrifice the economy to the altar of the 2 percent inflation rate?” Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics, said earlier this week. On Wednesday, he tweeted that the latest inflation report served as more reason to “rethink” the Fed’s strategy.

Biden allies insist those are each manageable elements on their own. But the White House is already struggling to convince Americans that the economy is, in fact, good at a time when all the major indicators are moving in the right direction. And together, those looming hurdles represent a reminder that Biden and his team can only exercise so much control over the economy’s path in the run-up to 2024.

“There’s going to be cooling because economies just cool down — they can’t grow endlessly,” said one economic adviser to the White House, who was granted anonymity to speak freely. “The only thing I worry about is the shock that I can’t predict.”

Biden himself has shown some restraint in how he frames the economic recovery, even amid an extended road tour to claim credit for strengthening conditions across the country. In an otherwise triumphant June speech meant to formally outline his Bidenomics agenda, Biden closed by cautioning, “I’m not here to declare victory.”

He repeated the disclaimer in South Carolina last week, warning that “we have a lot more work to do.”

Inside the administration, aides described their focus more on alleviating voters’ existing misgivings about the state of the economy rather than promising a rosy future. The White House has long harbored deep frustrations with media coverage that officials view as obsessed with the threat of recession, even as the underlying data showed consistent signs of strength — a dynamic they blame in part for the public’s dim view of how Biden has handled the economy.

“We have heard doomsayers saying a recession is around the corner for more than a year,” said one White House official, who was granted anonymity to describe the outlook inside the building. “Obviously, there will always be bumps on the road, but we have dealt with unexpected bumps and our economic recovery has powered through.”

The administration has sought to smooth out some of the impending bumps that it can predict. After the Supreme Court struck down Biden’s bid to cancel billions of dollars in student debt, the White House rolled out a new strategy that will ease repayment penalties for financially vulnerable borrowers over the next year.

The “on ramp” policy won’t avert the anticipated drop in borrowers’ spending that could ripple through the economy and slow its progress. But it could help spread some of the impact over several months, rather than having it hit all at once.

“The hardship for households in some cases is going to be very real,” Marcus said. “Macroeconomically, I don’t see that being the thing that tips us into recession.”

Biden has also begun taking aim at individual Republicans over economic issues. Having navigated a potentially disastrous debt ceiling showdown, he is now moving to insulate himself from the political fallout of a potential government shutdown. In particular, the White House has been highlighting GOP lawmakers who opposed his policies — even as they tout the ways in which their districts have benefited from them.

But beyond that bully pulpit, Biden has few major levers remaining to stabilize the economy if it falters more significantly, especially as much of the pandemic aid that proved a critical financial cushion over the last few years expires.

Though the White House has steered clear of commenting on the Fed, aides and allies have kept close watch on a rate-hiking campaign many privately worry will go too far in its bid to lower inflation.

There’s also some trepidation over how much longer the economy can keep up its pace, and whether even small signs of cooling around this time next year could unravel all the work officials are doing now to sell voters on Biden’s economic record.

But for now, Biden has navigated through two years of pitfalls and emerged with a strengthening economy in hand. Voters may say they don’t yet feel it. Still, it’s a frame the White House is increasingly willing to embrace — for as long as it lasts.

“The story of almost every recession in modern American history is something bad happened, and it was something bad we didn’t see coming,” said Justin Wolfers, an economist at the University of Michigan. “What could happen between now and 2024? A shit-ton of bad things. You know what else could happen? Good things.”

• Biden administration announces $39 billion in student debt relief for 804,000 borrowers

The Biden administration has announced that it will provide $39 billion in total student debt relief for 804,000 borrowers, its latest step since President Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan was struck down by the Supreme Court.

The Education Department said Friday the relief is being provided on income-driven repayment plans, in which the federal government cancels remaining balances for the borrower after they have made their payments for 20 or 25 years.

The department said the “fixes” will more accurately count monthly payments that qualify under the plans, and it will notify borrowers who are eligible for the relief in the upcoming days.

The Supreme Court struck down Biden’s plan to give $10,000 of student debt relief to low- and middle-income borrowers and up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients in a 6-3 decision last month. The majority found Congress had not directly authorized the president to forgive debts worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

Biden announced after the decision that his administration would continue to work to provide student debt relief despite the court’s ruling. He said he would base his debt relief plan on a different law, the Higher Education Act, which proponents argue allows the education secretary to “compromise, waive or release” student loan debt.

The administration must undergo a public comment period before the plan can go into effect, delaying its potential implementation.

Have you not seen (paying attention to) what he has accomplished with NATO?

I have an article related when the page turns

Originally Posted by Switch

You publish all the great things achieved by th “Biden administration” but many of us outside the US still see the man himself a a dozy old, error prone fart.

He is a puppet who constantly gets it wrong, while his “Administration” is reactionary, trying to cover up his many faux pas. It just makes him look even worse.

I am one of many outside the US who remains unconvinced.

It's OK, he's got VOA telling everyone what a great job he's doing. They gave him all the credit for Erdogan allowing Sweden into NATO even though he was off having tea with wingnut and the EU did all the heavy lifting.

Originally Posted by Switch

I am one of many outside the US who remains unconvinced.

More like one of the few

Originally Posted by S Landreth

• Most countries express confidence in Biden, US: poll

Most people around the world in a new survey have largely positive views of the U.S. and President Biden, according to data from the Pew Research Center.

The poll, released Tuesday, found that 59 percent of people surveyed globally view the U.S. favorably, with 30 percent responding unfavorably. Similarly, 54 percent of respondents have confidence in Biden, compared to 39 percent with little confidence.

Support for the U.S. is strongest in Poland, Israel, South Korea, Nigeria, Japan and Kenya. Much of the increase in support in Poland is due to U.S. support for the war in Ukraine, researchers said.

Only Hungary did not have a majority-favorable view of the U.S. among surveyed countries.

Researchers this spring polled over 27,000 people from 23 countries all over the world, many of which are U.S. allies.

In previous surveys, confidence in the president was lower during the Trump administration. The difference was most significant in middle-income nations like Brazil, researchers said. There, Biden’s 44 percent confidence rating this year is a significant improvement from Trump’s 29 percent in 2019.

Similarly, in Mexico, confidence in the president has returned to near the levels of the Obama administration to 43 percent, rising from near-single digits during the Trump administration.

The survey also analyzed respondents’ thoughts on America’s role in the world and influence through media, culture, education and economics.

A strong majority, 82 percent, of those surveyed agreed that the U.S. interferes in other countries’ affairs, but about half said that interference contributes to world peace.

A rising number of respondents also said that the U.S. is the strongest economic power over China, with 41 percent answering the U.S. and 33 percent China. Researchers noted double-digit improvement in that metric compared to 2020 in Germany, Sweden and Japan.

• NATO summit: Biden can leave Vilnius feeling like he got almost everything he wanted

President Joe Biden got almost everything he wanted from the NATO summit.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shot for the stars and reached the moon – securing a permanent rearmament pipeline well into the future from G7 nations but failing to win the collective defense guarantee that membership in NATO would bring.

And Russia saw its strategic and military failure entrenched but will surely view the institutionalizing of support for Ukraine as confirming its suspicions of the West.

Poignantly, the meeting hosted by a former Soviet vassal state whose NATO status secured the freedom, independence and prosperity that Zelensky craves for his country, was overshadowed by the torment of the Ukrainian people.

“It’s just like something out of the 14th century the way they are acting,” Biden said, narrowing his eyes in disbelief at the Russian assault on civilians.

Zelensky, who came into the summit as a guest boiling with frustration at the alliance’s unwillingness to give him a timeline for NATO membership, nevertheless contextualized what US and Western help means, in moving remarks to Biden.

“You spend this money for our lives. And I think that we save the lives for Europe and for all the world,” Zelensky told Biden.

- What the summit achieved

The summit ended on Wednesday with a joint declaration from G7 leaders for their nations to negotiate long-term bilateral security commitments for Ukraine to build up its land, sea and air defenses to deter future Russian attacks. The move is a halfway house measure designed to tide Ukraine over until a future moment when it could join NATO and enjoy the “attack on one, is an attack on all” umbrella its members enjoy – a moment that the alliance has yet to determine.

Zelensky arrived at the summit blasting the bloc’s refusal to offer a timeline as “absurd.” But Biden insisted that granting membership now would mean NATO states having to go to war against Russia – a disastrous escalation he has been desperate to avoid.

And while the leaders eased the pathway for Ukraine’s eventual membership, they deferred a fateful geopolitical decision, possibly for their successors, by stating that it had yet to meet economic and political conditions for joining.

The other landmark moment of the summit was Turkey’s sudden dropping of its veto on Sweden becoming the alliance’s 32nd member – which followed months of behind-the-scenes diplomacy by the Biden administration — overseas and in the US Congress.

The president will highlight the post-Ukraine invasion expansion of the alliance, a significant part of his legacy, later on Wednesday by traveling to another new member, Finland. The two Nordic neighbors left behind decades in Moscow’s shadow to apply for NATO membership, after feeling threatened by Putin’s effort to rewrite the map of post-Cold War Europe. Finland’s entry illustrates how the invasion backfired for Putin on a broader continental stage by delivering NATO a frontier hundreds of miles long with Russia itself.

- How Biden controlled the summit

Biden, NATO’s most important leader, went into the summit determined to maintain his balancing act of bolstering Western support for Ukraine’s existential struggle while avoiding the outbreak of a war with Russia, a nuclear superpower. He also needed to remind Americans why billions of dollars of taxpayer cash must continue to be sent to Kyiv, which is becoming a 2024 campaign issue. And before he left Lithuania, he warned Putin that the summit was evidence the Western alliance would not waver.

“When Putin and his craven lust for land and power unleashed his brutal war on Ukraine, he was betting NATO would break apart … he thought our unity would shatter at the first testing. He thought democratic leaders would be weak. But he thought wrong,” Biden said in a speech at in speech at Vilnius University.

The President told CNN before leaving that membership for Ukraine at this time was impossible, given the raging war with Russia. But he also told Zelensky on Wednesday that he understood how irksome the West’s conditions may seem given the horror unfolding in Ukraine.

“The frustration, I can only imagine,” Biden said.

Involving the G7 nations in a permanent flow of arms to Ukraine was a creative solution to fulfilling its future needs while navigating constraints on a tighter relationship between Kyiv and NATO. If carried out, the scheme could effectively make Ukraine a Western-armed vanguard that may not formally be ‘in’ NATO but will still be a linchpin of its forward posture in Europe. The certainty offered by the prospect of long-term defense purchases may also trigger expansions in defense industries in Europe and the US and ease a crisis in getting sufficient ammunition to Ukraine.

It’s ironic that the G7 was the G8 until Russia was kicked out over its invasion of Crimea in 2014 and will now be the entity that could turn Ukraine into a modern defense state in the future.

The G7 agreement also goes some way to cementing the commitment to Ukraine of US and allied leaders in years to come and making Biden’s policies harder to reverse. Ukraine must worry that a future US president – perhaps the former commander-in-chief, Donald Trump – may downgrade American support. Trump’s former Vice President Mike Pence for instance warned on CNN Tuesday for instance that his ex-boss’s vow to end the war in 24 hours could only be honored by “giving Vladimir Putin what he wants.”

While critics may complain the administration is doing too little to help Ukraine – or in the eyes of some conservatives, too much – the summit highlighted Biden’s comfort on the world stage even if it is not recognized in his rough approval ratings.

The president’s decision to skip a leaders’ dinner on Tuesday refocused attention on his advanced age, 80, which is a legitimate issue in the 2024 presidential race. Yet the president’s choreographing of the summit to meet US goals demonstrated considerable diplomatic skill and papered over splits – notably over Sweden and the desire of some Eastern European members to offer Ukraine a faster track to membership.

His experience on Capitol Hill – and choice of a former Republican senator, Jeff Flake, as US ambassador to Ankara who worked to overcome congressional worries about the sale of F-16 fighters to Turkey – could be the key to greasing Sweden’s entry into NATO. The president’s understanding of political forces weighing on fellow leaders was also noticeable when he twice publicly praised Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for signing up to the G7 aid program for Ukraine.

He also got some good news to return home to Wednesday with new data showing that the rise in the annualized cost of living cooled to 3% in June, raising his hopes of neutering GOP attacks over “Bidenflation.”

- Ukraine won a victory short of its goals

Zelensky barnstormed into Vilnius in typical style, using moral and media pressure to pressure NATO leaders to go further on their guarantees. His tone risked offending foreign leaders who have faced questions at home over bankrolling Ukrainian resistance.

Still, Zelensky’s vehemence is understandable since he doesn’t just have a restless electorate to placate. His troops are fighting bloody battles in which morale is vital and a long-planned offensive moves more slowly than hoped.

Civilians are also under assault. On Wednesday for instance, Russia marked the NATO summit by launching airstrikes against Kyiv region.

Still, Zelensky’s tactics of aiming high and squeezing everything he possibly can out of the West may have worked again in the shape of the G7 program.

The potential for tensions to erupt over what NATO was prepared to offer animated a tense exchange earlier on Wednesday between Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Ukrainian activist Daria Kaleniuk in Vilnius.

“Please advise me: what should I tell my son? That President Biden and NATO didn’t invite Ukraine to NATO because he’s afraid of Russia?” Kaleniuk asked. Sullivan replied that Americans deserve “gratitude” for supporting Ukraine and dismissed questions about Biden’s motives.

By the end of the day, however, Zelensky was declaring “a significant security victory.” He spun G7 aid as “security guarantees” even though it might be more accurately described as security commitments since it lacks the certainty of NATO treaty requirements.

Western leaders, however, know it won’t be long before their indefatigable Ukrainian colleague asks for more. Constant pressure has frequently dismantled their red lines, and secured high-tech weapons systems, tanks and even the promise of F-16 fighter jets for the war effort.

- The costs of Putin’s Ukraine ‘fixation’

The entry of Sweden in NATO and solidified long-term G7 support for Ukraine weakened Russia’s strategic position. Even so, the risk of war against Moscow, including an implicit recognition of its nuclear arsenal, still tempers how far and quickly Biden is ready to go in bringing Ukraine into the Western club.

Russia played into this reality when Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov condemned the summit for its “pronounced, concentrated anti-Russian nature” and complained that Moscow was treated as an enemy not an adversary.

NATO leaders must also worry whether the renewed prospect of alliance membership for Ukraine – even without a date certain – will give Russia a fresh incentive for ensuring the war never ends with a formal peace agreement.

And no one in the US government has illusions about the likelihood of Putin relinquishing his illegal claims on Ukraine while he is still in power.

CIA Director William Burns said at the Ditchley Park forum in the UK earlier this month that he’d spent most of the last two decades trying to understand and counter the “combustible combination of grievance, ambition and insecurity that Putin embodies.” He added: “One thing I have learned is that it is always a mistake to underestimate Putin’s fixation on controlling Ukraine and its choices, without which he believes it is impossible for Russia to be a major power or him to be a great Russian leader.”

Originally Posted by S Landreth

Have you not seen (paying attention to) what he has accomplished with NATO?

I have an article related when the page turns

HE​ has accomplished very little. His party and his administration do all the work! Biden is the public face of the current leadership, and it is doing him no favors at all.

Biden himself achieved very little, other than dodging the bullet of committing NATO to Ukraine membership now.

Biden Approves Mobilization of Reserves to Support Eucom

President Joe Biden today issued an executive order approving the mobilization of select reserve forces with up to 3,000 personnel, augmenting the armed forces in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve.

This operation will be designated as a contingency operation, said Army Lt. Gen. Douglas A. Sims II, Joint Staff director of operations, during a press briefing today.

"This new designation benefits troops and families with increases in authorities, entitlements and access to the reserve component forces and personnel," Sims said.

"This [executive order] reaffirms the unwavering support and commitment to defend NATO's eastern flank in the wake of Russia's illegal and unprovoked war on Ukraine," Sims said.

Spotlight: NATO

U.S. European Command is preparing to use this new authority in continuation of U.S. commitment to NATO's collective security, stated Eucom spokesman Navy Capt. Bill Speaks in a news release today.

"These authorities will ensure long-term resilience in Eucom's continued heightened level of presence and operations. This will not change current force-posture levels in Europe," Speaks said.

These new authorities are an important demonstration of the U.S. commitment to allies and partners and provides Eucom with greater flexibility to provide key entitlements to the forces who support those commitments, Speaks said in the release.

Providing a current assessment of the fighting in Ukraine, Sims said the fighting is severe.

Despite being shot at, bombed, and facing well dug-in Russian defenses in tough terrain, Ukrainian forces are doing a remarkable job with their new equipment and techniques, he said.

___________

Originally Posted by Switch

HE​ has accomplished very little. His party and his administration do all the work!

Biden selected the group of people that surround him. GET FVCKIN’ OVER IT!

Originally Posted by S Landreth

More like one of the few

The economic health of the USA tells a very different story. You are blinded by the same light that keeps Bidens glasses so dark.

Put whatever kind of political spin on it you like. I’m telling you that many, many outsiders believe he is a lost cause for another term as president. It doesn’t matter who opposes him, he is seen as weak, and luke warm at best.

Originally Posted by Switch

The economic health of the USA tells a very different story.

The US is doing fine.

Originally Posted by S Landreth

• Biden’s economic dream is becoming reality — but how long can he sustain it?

Originally Posted by Switch

Put whatever kind of political spin on it you like. I’m telling you that many, many outsiders believe he is a lost cause for another term as president. It doesn’t matter who opposes him, he is seen as weak, and luke warm at best.

You need help. You’re an outsider,………..fvck off

Originally Posted by S Landreth

• Biden and DNC bring in $72M in second quarter

President Joe Biden, the Democratic National Committee and their joint fundraising committees raised a combined $72 million in the second quarter of the year, his campaign said Friday.

Biden also revealed that 394,000 donors contributed to him, the DNC and their committees. The entities together had a combined $77 million in cash on hand as of June 30, when the latest fundraising period ended.

“The Biden-Harris team dramatically outraised the announced totals from every GOP candidate running for president, including Donald Trump by more than 2:1 and Ron DeSantis by more than 3:1.”

Sleepy Joe needs cue cards all the time now.

Biden talks to his hands, stumbles over names during Israeli sitdown

But on the bright side he's got MTG campaigning for him.



https://twitter.com/i/status/1681424737384435713

• What Biden’s SAVE plan means for student loan borrowers

Student loan borrowers could save thousands of dollars over the life of their loans due to changes to income driven repayment (IDR) plans set to go into effect this fall.

The changes are possible despite a blow dealt to debt forgiveness by the Supreme Court late last month.

The Biden administration introduced the Saving on Valuable Education (SAVE) plan to transform the old IDR system into what the Department of Education called “the most generous” student repayment option ever given to borrowers.

Here’s what borrowers should know about the new SAVE plan before payments resume this fall after a three-year hiatus.

What is the SAVE plan?

The plan, announced earlier this year, makes multiple significant changes that will lower the monthly payment for many borrowers, including some who could see their bill go to $0 a month by enrolling in the program.

Anyone with Direct Loans can enroll in the plan, replacing the old Revised Pay-as-You-Earn (REPAYE) student loan system. Those who are already in the REPAYE program will be automatically switched to the SAVE program.

One of the biggest changes in the SAVE plan is the income protected from payments will rise from 150 percent above the federal poverty guidelines to 225 percent.

This means a single person earning less than $32,805 a year will have monthly payments of $0. The same would happen to families of four that make less than $67,500.

The administration touts the new plan will save a single borrower $1,080 a year and families of four $2,244 a year.

And the plan also includes a provision to automatically enroll borrowers who become delinquent on payments.

“The borrowers who are most vulnerable to default, if they’re able to implement automatic enrollment in this plan, effectively, those borrowers when they if they fall behind on their payments, once they’re 75 days delinquent, they’ll be enrolled in this plan,” Jason Cohn, a research analyst at the Urban Institute’s Center on Education Data and Policy, told The Hill.

What does the save plan mean for student loans?

The department will stop monthly interest that is not covered by the SAVE plan so borrowers won’t see their loans grow from unpaid interest.

Prior to the administration’s changes, if a borrower failed to make a payment that covered their interest, it was then added to the loan’s balance.

“With the SAVE plan, the new regulations specify that any accrued but unpaid interest relative to the calculated payment gets waived, disappears, the government pays for it,” student loan expert Mark Kantrowitz told The Hill.

How does the SAVE plan student loans program work?

While President Biden has touted many benefits to the new SAVE plan, there are some mixed feelings on the program.

The Education Department estimates the plan will bring down payments by 40 percent. Yet for Black, Hispanic, American Indian and Alaska Native borrowers, their lifetime payments per dollar will go down by 50 percent.

“This is something that we believe will help millions of people,” said Cody Hounanian, executive director of Student Debt Crisis Center. “I think it’s important to recognize that the SAVE program is going to make a positive difference in people’s lives.”

Little more in the link above.

Biden-Harris Administration Releases State-By-State Data on $39 Billion in Loan Forgiveness for 804,000 Borrowers as a Result of Fixes to Income-Driven Repayment Plans | U.S. Department of Education