Charlie Brown in the White House

Friday, June 18, 2021

Grothman | Jun. 19, 2021

2 - White House News in Chinese (weebly.com)

Joe Biden Urged to Replace Kamala Harris in Letter Signed by 24 Republicans

Jun 19 - Two dozen GOP lawmakers have written a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to replace Vice President Kamala Harris in her role of leading attempts to control illegal immigration at the southern border.

letter states that the Republicans members of the House of Representatives have "serious concerns" about Harris' appointment to resolve the situation, branded a border crisis by her political foes, amid record breaking numbers of encounters there.

Harris was personally tasked by Biden to try and control the surge of migrants crossing the border... more

Related Articles:

The 56 lawmakers, led by Rep. Glenn Grothman, R-Wis., penned a letter on Thursday with the scathing review of Harris' performance

House Republicans demand Joe Biden remove Kamala Harris as immigration crisis czar as she STILL hasn't visited the border or met with CBP agents in 85 days

Jun 19 - ...Republicans claim it is important for her to actually go to the border for her to truly understand problems with illegal immigration and have blamed Biden administration's rolling back of the Trump administration's policies for recent surges of illegal immigrants at the southern border.

The 56 Republicans claimed that 'the exclusive focus on Central American countries ignores the fact that we see many migrants attempting to illegally cross our southern border from countries all over the world, including Russia, Brazil, Cuba and Haiti.'
'We are also aware of no dramatic changes in Central American countries over the last few months that would result in such a wide gap of encounters at the southern border compared to last year,' the Republicans wrote... more

Equal pay

Speaking in support of Walker's decision to repeal the Wisconsin Equal Pay Act, Grothman said that the alleged pay differential is explainable: "Once you break it down by married and unmarried, the differential disappears."[20] However, a study by the American Association of University Women in 2007 found that life choices and family circumstances explain only a portion of the difference in pay between genders. Grothman rejected that study, further claiming, "You could argue that money is more important for men. I think a guy in their first job, maybe because they expect to be a breadwinner someday, may be a little more money-conscious. To attribute everything to a so-called bias in the workplace is just not true"... from Wikipedia

“普拜会”后俄美关系仍冷美军欲在亚太“可作战”？ 20210618 |《今日关注》CCTV中文国际
Jun 19, 2021

Biden White House says report US held back Ukraine aid is 'nonsense'

Jun. 19 - The White House denied reports President Joe Biden's administration froze military aid to Ukraine following the announcement of a summit this week with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"The idea that we have held back security assistance to Ukraine is nonsense. Just last week — in the run-up to the U.S.-Russia Summit — we provided a $150 million package of security assistance, including lethal assistance," said press secretary Jen Psaki in a press release Friday.

The response from the White House came hours after Politico reported the Biden administration temporarily halted a military aid package to Ukraine that would have included lethal weapons to address aggressive Russian troop advancements along the Ukraine border earlier this year. The report cited four sources familiar with internal discussions on the matter who claimed the package would be worth up to $100 million.

Psaki said the administration had "now provided the entire amount appropriated by Congress through the Ukraine security assistance initiative."

The press secretary also restated Biden's comments two days before the summit in Geneva, in which he said the administration would maintain putting Ukraine "in the position to be able to continue to resist Russian physical aggression."

Ukraine has been battling Russian-backed separatists in the eastern Donbass region of its country, which provides vital land access to the Sea of Azov and the Crimean Peninsula. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and a protracted war in Ukraine still simmers seven years later.

"We have also prepared contingency funds in the event of a further Russian incursion into Ukraine," Psaki said.

"As President Biden told President Putin directly, we will stand unwavering in support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity," the press secretary added. source from

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DEFENDER EXERCISES STRENGTHEN SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE’S DETERRENCE WITH RUSSIA

Donbas | Jun. 18, 2021

2 - White House News in Chinese (weebly.com)

The most common definition in use today refers to the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, whilst the historical coal mining region excluded parts of these oblasts, and included areas in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and Southern Russia.[6] A Euroregion of the same name is composed of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in Ukraine and Rostov Oblast in Russia.[9] Donbas formed the historical border between the Zaporizhian Sich and the Don Cossack Host. It has been an important coal mining area since the late 19th century, when it became a heavily industrialised territory.[10]

In March 2014, following the Euromaidan and 2014 Ukrainian revolution, large swaths of the Donbas became gripped by unrest. This unrest later grew into a war between pro-Russian separatists affiliated with the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics (neither of which are recognized as legitimate by any of the UN member states[11]), and the post-revolutionary Ukrainian government. Until the ongoing war, the Donbas was the most densely populated of all the regions of Ukraine apart from the capital city of Kyiv.[citation needed]

Before the war, the city of Donetsk (then the fifth largest city of Ukraine) had been considered the unofficial capital of the Donbas. Large cities (over 100,000 inhabitants) also included Luhansk, Mariupol, Makiivka, Horlivka, Kramatorsk, Sloviansk, Alchevsk, Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk. Now the city of Kramatorsk is the interim administrative center of the Donetsk Oblast, whereas the interim center of Luhansk Oblast is the city of Severodonetsk. On the separatist side, Donetsk, Makiivka and Horlivka are now the largest cities in the Donetsk People's Republic, and Luhansk and Alchevsk in the Luhansk People's Republic.
from Wikipedia

The crash of the Malaysian Boeing-777
MH17 case: All pieces of evidence demonstrated

The judges pay a lot of attention to phone talks between militants involved in that disaster

Jun 18 - The Hague district court that looks into the case of MH17 downing over Donbas in 2014 has all pieces of evidence demonstrated.

According to NOS, the judges pay a lot of attention to phone conversations between Russian mercenaries, as well as to the cell network data, which allows investigators to figure out the location ofthose who participated in trasnportation of Buk missile launcher and deployed it. On June 17, during the process, the jury discussed the role of Igor Girkin, who is considered an important figure, taking into account the intercedpted conversations. He is supposed to be the one who ordered to bring the Buk to occupied Donbas from Russia on July 17, 2014.

Suspect Oleg Pulatov, the only onsuspect who cooperates with the investigation claimed that the militants knew about wiretapping, so they allegedly exchanged fake information in their conversations. Another suspect, Sergei Dubinsky stated that the records of conversations were fake.

The proseuction denied the allegations that the evidence in this case contains misinformation.

The review of this case on the merits began on June 7. The witnesses of the launch of Buk missile already spoke before the jury. They were questioned by both representatives of the JIT and the investigating judge. source from

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MH17 case: Hague Court shows Buk’s route from Russia to Ukraine

National security adviser Jake Sullivan said Biden (left) would welcome a chance to speak further to China's Xi.Jinping (right).
Biden sees pushback on China but ready to see Xi, says aide

Jun. 18 - ..."The previous president had ceded that mantle and this president has now emphatically reclaimed it," Sullivan said, referring to Donald Trump, who frequently clashed with US allies.

The summits have "laid the groundwork for proving out the case that democracies can deliver for their own people and for people around the world," Sullivan said.
His remarks came after expected criticism from Trump's Republican Party, which accused Biden of not being forceful enough.

The Biden administration, keeping the substance if not the tone of Trump's hawkish approach, has identified China as the pre-eminent global challenge due to its increasingly assertive policies both at home and abroad.
But Sullivan said that Biden would welcome a chance to speak further to Xi.

The two had a lengthy phone call in February but in-person interaction has been limited to a tense meeting in March between Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken and top Chinese officials in Alaska.

After meeting another frequent US adversary, Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Geneva on Wednesday, Biden said there was no substitute for in-person talks.

Biden's view "also applies to China and President

Xi Jinping. He will look for opportunities to engage with President Xi going forward," Sullivan said.
He said there were no plans scheduled to meet Xi but noted that both presidents were likely to take part in a summit in October in Italy of the Group of 20 major economies.

"Soon enough we will sit down to work out the right modality for the two presidents to engage," Sullivan said.
source from

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Biden queries China's desire to find origin of coronavirus

China's President Xi Jinping speaks during a bilateral meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., April 7, 2017.
White House considering talks between Biden and China's Xi

Jun 18 - The White House will consider arranging talks between President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, as the two countries spar over issues including human rights, a top U.S. official said on Thursday.

Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that the two leaders are due to "take stock of where we are in the relationship."

Beijing fumed over a communique issued at Biden's urging by the Group of Seven leaders on Sunday. It scolded the country over human rights in its Xinjiang region and Hong Kong while also demanding a full and thorough investigation of the origins of the coronavirus in China. read more

"Soon enough we will sit down to work out the right modality for the two presidents to engage," Sullivan told reporters on a conference call.

"It could be a phone call, it could be a meeting on the margins of another international summit, it could be something else."
Biden and Xi are both expected to attend the G20 meeting in October hosted by Italy, one possible venue for such talks. Sullivan said no final decisions have been made.

Asked if he would call on Xi to push for an investigation in COVID-19 origins, Biden on Wednesday told reporters: "We know each other well; we're not old friends. It's just pure business." source from

首脑会晤前导弹竞赛白热化美俄握手难消对峙 20210616 |《今日关注》CCTV中文国际
Jun 17, 2021

Thursday, June 17, 2021

Guantanamo | Jun. 17, 2021

2 - White House News in Chinese (weebly.com)

In this Wednesday, April 17, 2019 photo reviewed by U.S. military officials, the control tower is seen through the razor wire inside the Camp VI detention facility in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba.
Conditions at Guantánamo Bay suddenly got worse after Biden took office, prisoners and advocates told VICE

Jun. 17 - Conditions at the Guantánamo Bay detention facility in Cuba have rapidly worsened under the Biden administration, prisoners and their advocates told VICE News.

According to the Wednesday report, detainees said they've been denied access to medical care, like aspirin and band-aids, had services restricted, and said guards refuse to speak to them.

Some of the detainees have engaged in a hunger strike to protest their treatment, according to the report.
"How can it be that we are waiting for Biden to come, and it has become so much worse than when Trump was president?" Abdul Latif Nasser, who has been detained at the facility for 19 years, told VICE News through his lawyer.

The change in treatment was "abrupt," Nasser told VICE.
The conditions at the facility have also deteriorated, according to the report, with detainees experiencing broken toilets and burned-out lightbulbs.

President Biden has quietly taken action to begin closing the facility, NBC News reported earlier in June. The facility was created by former President George W. Bush following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. source from

Related Articles:
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Watch LIVE: Pres. Joe Biden holds summit with Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin in Geneva (2021)
Jun. 16, 2021

US president Joe Biden arrives to board an airplane after the US - Russia summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, on Geneva Airport
Biden, Putin paper over splits as both claim victories

Biden said the meeting was an important opportunity to lay out the US position face to face

Jun. 17 - ...But concrete accomplishments were hard to define, and both leaders were in vintage form. Shrugging off questions about human rights in Russia, Putin spent much of his post-summit news conference on Wednesday criticising the US over issues ranging from CIA black sites in the early 2000s to the January attack on the US Capitol.

“What about Guantanamo -- it’s still working,” Putin said. “And it doesn’t come under any kind of law, international, American, nothing. CIA prisons which were opened in lots of states and exercised torture, was that human rights?”...

There was never any expectation that the meeting in Geneva would solve the many problems between the US and Russia. The US wants Russia out of Crimea, to end interference in elections abroad, allow democratic debate at home and stop backing strongmen from Belarus to Venezuela. Putin -- whose popularity has fallen amid the Covid-19 crisis and quickening inflation -- wants an end to U.S. sanctions and, less tangibly, to reconfirm the sense that Russia is respected abroad.

On that last point, he got some of what he wanted from Biden, who called Russia a “great power” and a “proud” nation, an improvement from former President Barack Obama’s dismissive reference to Russia being a “regional power.”

The summit was seen as a success in Moscow, said Andrey Kortunov, head of the Kremlin-founded Russian International Affairs Council. “Putin got the recognition he wanted from Biden.”

But Biden also said he couldn’t pass up an opportunity to pressure Putin over human rights and cases such as that of imprisoned opposition leader Alexey Navalny.

“How could I be the president of the United States of America and not speak about the violation of human rights,” Biden said. “That’s why we’re going to raise our concerns about cases like Alexey Navalny.”

Biden said he made clear to Putin that if Navalny dies in prison, “the consequences of that would be devastating for Russia.”

Putin shrugged that off. He faulted the opposition leader for seeking medical treatment abroad -- after he was poisoned, allegedly by state security services -- and compared democracy protests led by Navalny to violence at some anti-racism demonstrations in the US last year, saying he didn’t want Black Lives Matter-type disturbances brought to his country.
He also gently warned Biden that new sanctions would lead to “another missed opportunity” for the US... quoted from

Guantanamo Bay Naval Base (Spanish: Base Naval de la Bahía de Guantánamo), officially known as Naval Station Guantanamo Bay or NSGB, (also called GTMO, pronounced Gitmo as an acronym, by the U.S. military [1]) is a United States military base located on 45 square miles (117 km2) of land and water[2] on the shore of Guantánamo Bay at the southeastern end of Cuba. It was first leased by the United States for use as a coaling station and naval base in 1903 and is the oldest overseas U.S. naval base.[3] The lease was $2,000 in gold per year until 1934, when the payment was set to match the value in gold in dollars;[4] in 1974, the yearly lease was set to $4,085.[5]

Since the Cuban Revolution of 1959, the Cuban communist government has consistently protested against the U.S. presence on Cuban soil and called it "illegal" under international law, alleging that the base "was imposed on Cuba by force." Since 2002, the naval base has contained a military prison, for alleged unlawful combatants captured in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other places during the War on terror.[6] Cases of torture of prisoners[7] by the U.S. military, and their denial of protection under the Geneva Conventions, have been criticized. from Wikipedia

俄美峰會提前落幕，老手PK好對手，“普拜會”為俄美關係定調？
Jun 17, 2021
俄羅斯總統普京與美國總統拜登在瑞士日內瓦舉行的俄美峰會已經落幕。首場的普拜會，哪個人的表現更勝一籌？持續3個多小時會談，為何比原定的5小時少了一個多小時結束？俄美為何不召開聯合記者會？普京和拜登獨自召開的記者會又對首次“普拜會”有怎樣的表述？這次峰會對未來俄美兩國關係定下怎樣的基調？今天的節目中，我們將請何亮亮先生為我們深入分析與點評。

Wednesday, June 16, 2021

US-EU | Jun. 16, 2021

2 - White House News in Chinese (weebly.com)

Russian, US leaders may agree on secondary issues during Geneva summit, says expert
However, the expert doubts that the parties will be able to achieve a breakthrough on key issues such as, for example, sanctions

SHANGHAI, June 16. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Joe Biden may come to a consensus on secondary issues during the upcoming meeting in Geneva, which may be the beginning of the renewed dialogue between both states, Sun Chenghao, a researcher with the Institute of American Studies of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations stated, quoted by China News Service.

According to the expert, certain analysts predict that both leaders may come to an understanding on a number of secondary issues, including climate change, and the fight against the pandemic. "The US and Russia may come to a consensus in these spheres. Through these secondary issues, they may begin to build or recover dialogue. I think that this is the main goal of the meeting," the Chinese expert said.

Sun Chenghao admitted that the meeting would take place against the backdrop of ongoing "Russophobia and anti-Russian sentiments" in the US, as well as Biden’s inability to conduct a softer policy on Russia than his predecessor Donald Trump over accusations against Russia of it being involved in the US election and hacker attacks. However, the expert notes, Russia is also unable to adopt a softer position due to the diplomatic and sanctions pressure of the US.

According to the news agency, Sun Chenghao also pointed out the symbolism of Biden meeting Putin after the G7 and NATO summits in Europe, which is meant to show Russia that the Western world is united when it comes to security issues, ideological values and economic cooperation. Thus, the US wants to demonstrate with this meeting that it is not only Washington that is talking to Moscow, it is the entire European world. Besides, a meeting with Putin right after the G7 and NATO summits will help the US avoid the distrust of its European partners over any potential secret agreements with Russia, the expert pointed out.

The Chinese expert noted that sanctions remain a key issue in Russian-US relations... more

Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (German: [ˈʊʁzula fɔn deːɐ̯ ˈlaɪən] (listen); née Albrecht; born 8 October 1958) is a German politician and physician who has been President of the European Commission since 1 December 2019.

Prior to her current position, she served in the Cabinet of Germany from 2005 to 2019, holding successive positions in Angela Merkel's cabinet, serving most recently as Minister of Defence. Von der Leyen is a member of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its EU counterpart, the European People's Party (EPP).

She was born and raised in Brussels to German parents. Her father, Ernst Albrecht, was one of the first European civil servants. She was brought up bilingually in German and French. She moved to Hanover in 1971, when her father entered politics to become Minister President of the state of Lower Saxony in 1976. As an economics student at the London School of Economics in the late 1970s, she lived under the name Rose Ladson, the family name of her American great-grandmother from Charleston, South Carolina. After graduating as a physician from the Hannover Medical School in 1987, she specialized in women's health. In 1986 she married fellow physician Heiko von der Leyen of the noble von der Leyen family of silk merchants. As a mother of seven children, she was a housewife during parts of the 1990s and lived for four years in Stanford, California, while her husband was on faculty at Stanford University, returning to Germany in 1996.

In the late 1990s, she became involved in local politics in the Hanover region, and she served as a cabinet minister in the state government of Lower Saxony from 2003 to 2005. In 2005, she joined the federal cabinet, first as Minister of Family Affairs and Youth from 2005 to 2009, then as Minister of Labour and Social Affairs from 2009 to 2013, and finally as Minister of Defence from 2013 to 2019, the first woman to serve as German defence minister.[1] When she left office she was the only minister to have served continuously in Angela Merkel's cabinet since Merkel became chancellor. She served as a deputy leader of the CDU from 2010 to 2019, and has previously been regarded as a leading contender to succeed Merkel as chancellor and as the favourite to become secretary-general of NATO.

On 2 July 2019, von der Leyen was proposed by the European Council as the candidate for President of the European Commission.[2][3] She was then elected by the European Parliament on 16 July;[4][nb 1] she took office on 1 December, becoming the first woman in such role.

Von der Leyen is included in Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2020. from Wikipedia

Here's what happened at today's US-EU summit
From CNN's Kevin Liptak

Jun. 15 - US President Joe Biden arrived at a summit with European Union leaders that officials said would focus largely on issues of trade.

Biden has yet to roll back Trump-era tariffs on steel and aluminum, but he did help settle a dispute that had dragged on for nearly two decades over subsidies for Boeing and Airbus.

The two sides were expected to announce a resolution of the aircraft dispute, and signal progress on the metal tariffs without formally announcing their suspension quite yet.

Biden is eager to restore transatlantic ties on his European tour this week, hoping to enter the high-stakes summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin tomorrow appearing united with western allies. That has mostly come in statements of support, but the trade dispute resolution is a concrete signal of his intent to normalize traditional US alliances after four years of strain.

"America is back. We are committed — we have never fully left — but we are reasserting the fact it is overwhelmingly in the interest of the United States to have a great relationship with NATO and with the EU," Biden said as the talks began. "I have a very different view than my predecessor."

His message was welcomed by his hosts, European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

"The last four years have not been easy," said von der Leyen.

Officials want to ease trade tensions ahead of Biden's meeting with Putin to put on a united front against Moscow. source from

Remarks by President Charles Michel following the G7 summit in Carbis Bay, Cornwall

Jun. 13 - The G7 ends today. We spent three days trying to align the positions of the world’s biggest democracies.
The priority was to ensure we can meet the demand for vaccines and here the EU has taken the leadership. Partners have now joined us to accelerate production and delivery of vaccines worldwide.

We also see that liberal democracies and open societies face pressure from authoritarian regimes. This challenge has prompted us to join forces during the G7, not only to be able to respond under pressure or attack but also to spread our values of freedom, rule of law and respect for human rights.

Another point, of special significance to me, is our engagement with Africa. For some years already, with some leaders in Europe we are convinced that this engagement with Africa needs to be at the heart of our future international relations. Increasingly, we’ve been able to unify the positions of European countries on this issue and now we have convinced our partners to further mobilise funds to secure a win-win strategy for Africa and Europe. source from
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