Video claiming to show a directed-energy weapon is actually an edited clip of an explosion in Russia | AP News https://t.co/4DMdx3Ps0Q
— Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) July 7, 2024
Month: July 2024
Who are the top choices to replace Biden if he decides not to run?
If President Joe Biden decides not to seek re-election, who are some of the top choices to replace him on the Democratic ticket?
In a brief speech on Monday night from the White House, President Joe Biden appeared once again to struggle to speak without a teleprompter. He spoke for only five minutes and refused to take questions from even friendly members of the press, spurring ongoing doubts about his health.
Biden’s disastrous June 27 debate performance opposite Donald Trump is front of mind for the Democratic and Republican parties, as well as American voters. As the fallout from the Biden-Trump debate continues, more questions than answers have surfaced.
Here are a few that the White House and Democrats need to answer about the health of our nation’s commander in chief:
It’s clear that Biden struggles to be coherent and cognizant, especially when he’s required to process and respond to questions spontaneously, as opposed to giving a speech with a teleprompter. During the debate, Biden trailed off repeatedly, murmuring and slurring his words. In a few cases, he was unable to articulate a complete thought. Pundits, politicians and the American public noticed, leading to multiple calls for the Democratic Party to reconsider Biden as their nominee.
This raises one of the most pertinent questions Democrats must answer: When did members of Biden’s inner circle know about the president’s steep decline?
It’s clear, based on his debate performance and other gaffes we’ve seen in public, that Biden’s decline must have been obvious to those closest to him.
It also explains why Biden rarely fields questions from reporters, or gives speeches without a teleprompter and is largely shielded from the public. The effort to shield Biden and to hide the truth from voters was intentional. Democratic leaders need to be honest about how long they have known Biden has been declining.
Now that it’s obvious how much Biden has been struggling, even Democrats are calling for Biden to be replaced as the party’s nominee. While it’s a bit shocking to see how quickly Democrats have turned on their own leader, their acknowledgement of the president’s problems raises other questions: If Democrats think Biden is unfit to be the nominee, how can he continue to be president? How will he function as the nation’s chief executive for another six months?
A day after the debate, I posted on X, “Just think: Foreign leaders who have met with Biden in the last year knew about his cognitive decline before you did. They knew and they snickered and felt a sense of schadenfreude.”
That same day, the Wall Street Journal posted a story, “The World Saw Biden Deteriorating. Democrats Ignored the Warnings.” It’s a damning picture that reveals something uncomfortable: Foreign dignitaries likely knew more about Biden’s health than the American people did. Biden, after all, was shielded from the American public but had to be present in person in meetings with foreign leaders.
Americans often forget: The world is watching us. They’re watching for strength. They’re also watching for weakness.
When allies and enemies meet with President Joe Biden, what have they seen? If Biden’s presidential debate performance is any clue, he likely struggled to converse and articulate U.S. stances on policy and defense. Why would Democrats knowingly put the United States in a position to look anything but strong − whether in meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping or the newly defeated British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak?
In “The Art of War,” Sun Tzu said to “appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.” I fear that when foreign dignitaries have met with Biden that America has appeared weak − and has been weak.
I’m no fan of former President Donald Trump. I don’t think he’s a good presidential candidate or a good representation of the Republican Party. He’s an arrogant, thin-skinned narcissistic buffoon. He’s a convicted felon battling additional indictments. Americans deserve better.
For years, Democrats have weaponized Trump’s character flaws: At least our guy isn’t a fraud or a felon. Yet, their guy has shown the world he isn’t fit mentally or physically to be president.
Now that Biden’s poor condition has been exposed, even I can’t help but wonder: Is Trump actually worse than Biden?
That doesn’t mean I think Trump is any good, but are we at the point where we can acknowledge that both are pretty bad, just in different ways?
The debate exposed the truth. Democrats gaslighted Americans about Biden’s cognitive decline.
Let’s frame this another way: Trump’s flaws have long been exposed for everyone to see − and to decide for themselves his fitness to serve in elected office. But suppose the Republican Party had been propping up a guy who was in serious cognitive decline and denying to the American pubic that he actually was in decline? Would Republicans ever hear the end of it?
Wouldn’t Democrats weaponize such a scandal until the end of time? Of course they would.
It’s time to weigh the serious flaws of both Biden and Trump: Is one worse? Are they both awful? If so, where do we go from here?
Now that we know that Democratic leaders knew about Biden’s decline, why did they hide it for so long?
The answer is important because there are only two possible responses, and neither of them is good.
Happy birthday, America: Why this aging millennial still loves America, even if Gen Z doesn’t get it
Either Democrats hid Biden’s poor condition because they don’t respect Americans or the public’s right to full disclosure.
Or Democrats hid what they knew about Biden because they want to maintain power − no matter the cost to America’s well-being.
Is their thirst for power greater than their respect, empathy and goodwill toward the American public?
Do Democrats dare to answer honestly?
Nicole Russell is an opinion columnist with USA TODAY. She lives in Texas with her four kids. Sign up for her newsletter, The Right Track, and get it delivered to your inbox.
Surprise result in 🇫🇷 with the leftist alliance coming out on top and the Macron alliance doing better than expected. The hopes of the far right were clearly dashed. pic.twitter.com/M54lcHAsLK
— Carl Bildt (@carlbildt) July 7, 2024
ХОДОРКОВСКИЙ: Путин начнет еще одну войну. Чего ждать от Белоусова https://t.co/GrU77p7ox1 via @YouTube
— Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) July 7, 2024
ХОДОРКОВСКИЙ: Путин начнет еще одну войну. Чего ждать от Белоусова https://t.co/GrU77p7ox1 via @YouTube
— Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) July 7, 2024
БЕЛОУСОВ ПОЙМАЛ С ПОЛИЧНЫМ! Дело Попова, Подоляка и Бородин о мигрантах!… https://t.co/RzJOt8fEGA via @YouTube
— Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) July 7, 2024
БЕЛОУСОВ ПОЙМАЛ С ПОЛИЧНЫМ! Дело Попова, Подоляка и Бородин о мигрантах!… https://t.co/RzJOt8fEGA via @YouTube
— Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) July 7, 2024
🤡 Главный клоун в цирке Путина. История Вячеслава Володина. https://t.co/Tpzm3kLpyY via @YouTube
— Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) July 7, 2024
A Russian spy plot that sought to sow “panic and terror” in the West has been revealed in a joint-investigation.
Leaked emails from Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) obtained by independent Russian site The Insider and the German newspaper Der Spiegel reveal an elaborate plan masterminded in 2022, dubbed “Project Kylo.”
Just months into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, in May 2022, a group of SVR employees unveiled the operation at a private roundtable discussion in the Russian Senate. Leaked communications showed that Moscow sought to sow disinformation campaigns in the West about Ukraine, “stoke existential fears and create animosity to [Ukrainian] refugees fleeing the war.”
Newsweek couldn’t independently verify the claims made in the investigation and has contacted Russia’s Foreign Ministry for comment by email.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is pictured in Astana, Kazakhstan, on July 4, 2024. A Russian spy plot which sought to sow “panic and terror” in the West has been revealed in a joint investigation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is pictured in Astana, Kazakhstan, on July 4, 2024. A Russian spy plot which sought to sow “panic and terror” in the West has been revealed in a joint investigation.
SERGEI GUNEYEV/POOL/AFP/Getty Images
The proposal, first put forward by Mikhail Kolesov, a 45-year-old SVR officer, was designed to “inject a new scheme into the Kremlin’s propaganda approach” that was “systematic, targeted and active, offensive in nature,” according to the investigation.
The SVR officer suggested that instead of pushing typical pro-Russian arguments about the conflict, the operation should “deepen internal contradictions between the ruling elites” in the West, including in the U.S., which is known among the special services as Russia’s “main adversary.”
This involved SVR recruits creating fake advertisements disguised as news headlines, fake NGOs and websites, publishing manipulative content on social media platforms including YouTube, and hiring individuals to take part in protests in the West with the aim of filming them and disseminating the content online.
At a time when some Western politicians were suggesting that Ukrainian refugees who fled the war were becoming burdens on state resources, SVR recruits attempted to exploit the situation by creating fake news websites and running articles with headlines such as: “How Ukrainians are robbing Germany of economic prosperity.”
Hundreds of thousands of social media accounts attempted to direct internet users to these sites by publishing images with “sensationalistic slogans” such as “Germany is sinking into homelessness” and “Even bread is a luxury” and linking back to them.
The “leitmotif of our cognitive campaign in the [Western] countries is proposed to be the instilling of the strongest emotion in the human psyche—fear,” one leaked document said. “It is precisely the fear for the future, uncertainty about tomorrow, the inability to make long-term plans, the unclear fate of children and future generations. The cultivation of these triggers floods an individual’s subconscious with panic and terror.”
Do you have a tip on a world news story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about the Russia-Ukraine war? Let us know via worldnews@newsweek.com.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
МОСКВА (ИА Реалист). После того, как в конце мая Алексей Дюмин сместил на должности секретаря Госсовета влиятельного Игоря Левитина, поползли слухи, что президент России Владимир Путин готовит себе преемника.
О том, насколько оправданы эти слухи и кем на самом деле является Алексей Дюмин рассуждает научный сотрудник-консультант программы «Россия и Евразия» в лондонском Chatham House, профессор кафедры политологии ВШЭ Николай Петров.
Профессор считает, что нынешнее повышение Дюмина представляет собой второе по серьезности кадровое изменение в рамках путинской перестановки элит, уступающее только замене Сергея Шойгу на посту министра обороны Андреем Белоусовым.
«Замена Левитина Дюминым, несомненно, — значительный шаг вперед для бывшего телохранителя, но влечет за собой ослабление института: Дюмину не хватает навыков и поддержки, необходимых для того, чтобы вести бюрократическую игру так же успешно, как это делал Левитин», — полагает Петров.
Он полагает, что продвижение Дюмина — часть модели, согласно которой Путин все больше полагается на членов своей «преторианской гвардии» при выборе кандидатов на важные посты.
В качестве примера, профессор называет фамилии Дмитрия Миронова, назначенного на пост помощника президента в октябре 2021 года, Александра Куренкова, получившего кресло министра по чрезвычайным ситуациям в мае 2022 года, Валерия Пикалина, ставшего главой Федеральной таможенной службы в мае 2024 года.
«Короче говоря, Дюмин никогда не был первым кандидатом Путина, и маловероятно, что его новое назначение указывает на какой-либо особый статус в мышлении российского президента относительно его преемственности. Включение Дюмина в списки возможных преемников Путина, похоже, стало результатом специальной информационной кампании Кремля. Более того, Путин может назначить на свой пост любого, кого пожелает. Нет никаких норм или правил, ограничивающих его — и он, скорее всего, не будет косвенно сигнализировать о своем выборе, прежде чем сделать его», — полагает Петров.
Он подчеркивает, что даже если Дюмин станет президентом, что, по его мнению, маловероятно, он хоть и будет обладать атрибутами власти, но не будет иметь реальную власть.