Biden Prepares For Simultaneous Wars With Russia, China And Iran

When asked by a reporter if the U.S. would defend Taiwan if it were attacked by China, Biden responded: 'Yes ... That's the commitment we made.'"

"We agree with a One China policy," Biden said. "We've signed on to it and all the intended agreements made from there. But the idea that, that it can be taken by force, just taken by force, is just not, is just not appropriate."

A White House official said Biden's comments did not reflect a policy shift for the United States, a point echoed more firmly by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, asked by reporters if Biden's answer indicated the U.S. would do more to help Taiwan than it has done to help Ukraine and whether the U.S. was making a commitment to send troops to help Taiwan in the event of an invasion.

"As the president said our One China policy has not changed," Austin said at the Pentagon. "He reiterated that policy and our commitment to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. He also highlighted our commitment under the Taiwan Relations Act to help provide Taiwan the means to defend itself. So, again, our policy is not changed."

But Biden's words drew a sharp response from mainland China, which has claimed Taiwan to be a rogue province.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin expressed "strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition" to Biden's comments. "China has no room for compromise or concessions on issues involving China's core interests such as sovereignty and territorial integrity."

He added, "China will take firm action to safeguard its sovereignty and security interests, and we will do what we say."

The White House moved swiftly to clarify President Joe Biden's comments, but his assertion Monday that the U.S. will militarily defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion attempt may actually pave the way to conflict in the Taiwan Strait.

It's the second time since October that aides have had to walk back Biden's comments that appear to reverse the longtime policy of "strategic ambiguity" regarding U.S. willingness to defend Taiwan. [...]

Observers say Biden's verbal commitments to defend Taiwan may encourage rather than deter Chinese aggression against Taiwan. Some analysts argue that it could prompt preemptive military action by Beijing while China's military offensive capabilities outstrip U.S. capacity to defeat them.

"I still think this is Biden's gut instinct reflected in mindless wording, not a policy reversal, but it is needlessly unsettling ... if Biden keeps doing this, it could be a ‘big deal' indeed," Winston Lord, former U.S. Ambassador to China, told POLITICO in a statement. "We should maintain strategic ambiguity. We can deter Chinese attacks on Taiwan without destroying our ambiguous one-China policy, which has been a core element of our relations with Beijing for a half century."

The U.S. relationship with Taiwan is spelled out in the U.S.-China Three Communiqués, the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act and the 1982 Six Assurances. The TRA commits the U.S. "to maintain the capacity of the United States to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security, or the social or economic system, of the people on Taiwan." None of those documents specifically obligate the U.S. to military intervention to protect Taiwan in the face of a PRC invasion. But the TRA suggests an active U.S. role in maintaining the island's status quo.

"It's simply not correct to say that we have a commitment to come to Taiwan's defense ... the fact that [Biden] keeps misstating the policy ends up undermining deterrence," said Bonnie Glaser, Asia Program director at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. "It might well provoke the attack that we are trying to deter because Xi Jinping could conclude that China should act while it still has a conventional advantage. He might feel pushed into a corner by a U.S. direct challenge to Beijing's claim to sovereignty over Taiwan."

A Rand Corporation report published Monday backs Glaser's assessment of the balance of power across the Taiwan Strait. The report warns that the U.S. currently lacks the capacity to deter and defeat an economic blockade of Taiwan, let alone a full-scale invasion of the island. "The force requirements for the United States are likely to be heavy. The majority of U.S. reactions require sizable military forces. This force needs to be available shortly after the United States decides to react if the response is to be in any way effective," the report said.

"For god's sake this man can not remain in power!"

After denying NATO enlargement has anything to do with destabilizing Russia, Biden closes his Poland address with a stentorian demand for regime change in Moscow.

Washington's ultimate goal, made plain. pic.twitter.com/vjg6Vxs7dw

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) March 26, 2022

The US Air Force is joining apartheid Israel to do military exercises simulating entering Iranian territory and launching airstrikes.

The US and Israeli militaries are blatantly threatening Iran with war.https://t.co/j8upZD96FR

— Benjamin Norton (@BenjaminNorton) May 17, 2022

An IRGC Colonel, allegedly identified as Hassan Sayad Khodayari, has been shot 5 times and killed in Tehran by Israeli Mossad.

Iranian media claims "to have arrested some of the plotters" pic.twitter.com/8dg2Tr0EA5

— Lebanese News and Updates (@LebUpdate) May 22, 2022

🚨 Israel implicitly takes credit!

"At exactly 8 p.m., all three major Hebrew-language television networks reported that the senior IRGC member assassinated in Tehran, oversaw and planned attacks against Israelis and Jews worldwide."

— Lebanese News and Updates (@LebUpdate) May 22, 2022

CIA added two stars today to its Memorial Wall, which commemorates officers who gave their lives in service. There are now 139 stars on the wall. pic.twitter.com/4gI8hiusOo

— Olivia Gazis (@Olivia_Gazis) May 23, 2022