The time has come to ask: Is Presidentish Joe Biden being blackmailed by foreign powers?
It’s a troubling idea that been at the backs of many people’s minds, but it popped to the very front of mine with yesterday’s news that Biden will at least partly de-sanction Communist Chinese tech giant Huawei.
First, a little background. Huawei owes its success to industrial espionage against former Canadian tech giant Nortel. Huawei stole all the intellectual property it could from Nortel, under the guise of being a friendly “manufacturing partner” in Communist-controlled mainland China.
Huawei then copied Nortel’s business model and forced them into bankruptcy in 2009 before being finally dissolved in 2010.
Since then, Huawei has done worse, allegedly embedding spy routines in its 5G cellular radio gear.
In short, Huawei is run by spies and thieves for the benefit of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The first American president to actually do anything about Huawei was Donald Trump, who set the company back on its heels with crippling sanctions.
This week, just as Biden is preparing to meet with Big Tech CEOs on the vital issue of cyber security, our new-and-disimproved POTUS has approved “license applications worth hundreds of millions of dollars for China’s blacklisted telecom company.”
It was the loss of access to American and Taiwanese chips that had crippled Huawei, which now looks poised to come bouncing back against Western tech firms.
Recommended: Biden Ignored Boris Johnsons’ Frantic Calls for 36 Hours as Bungled Bugout Was Unfolding
All thanks to Biden’s dimwitted largess.
If I had to guess, the only reason Biden hasn’t fully de-sanctioned Huawei is that there are too many well-connected Big Tech firms who don’t want the competition.
But wait, it gets worse.
American automakers have been forced to shut down entire production lines (Jeep Gladiator, GM trucks, Ford Bronco) due to the lack of computer chips required to run the high-tech gear in today’s cars and trucks. The Biden administration, however, has “granted licenses authorizing suppliers to sell chips to Huawei for such vehicle components as video screens and sensors.”
Republican Senator Tom Cotton said, “It’s unacceptable for the Biden administration to ease the pressure campaign against Chinese spy companies like Huawei.”
That’s according to this Reuters report.
If I’m reading this correctly, American automakers are now in competition with Huawei over access to already-scarce chips.
Not to mention the laid-off union guys in Detroit Biden pretends to care so much about.
Slacking off on China isn’t the only place where Team Biden has shown its backside.
White House top priority for space force is-wait for it-combatting climate change-not China, not supporting the military or protecting Americans. If their abuse and misuse of the armed forces were any greater they’d be taking orders from Beijing and Moscow.
— James Jay Carafano (@JJCarafano) August 25, 2021
No big deal. Just Space Force being redirected from protecting our satellites and other communications from foreign meddling in peace and in war, to doing the National Weather Service’s job.
Seriously, is he being blackmailed, or what?
“Literally everyone is thinking it,” is how one of my PJ Media colleagues put it privately.
My PJ Media friend and colleague, Charlie Martin, asked in our Slack channel: “Harder and harder not to credit the hunter laptop blackmail theory, isn’t it?”
Indeed. While I’m not the paranoid kind, it’s impossible to come up with a better explanation for why Biden has effectively abandoned untold numbers of Americans and our allies to the tender mercies of the Taliban, while opening up Afghanistan to Chinese exploitation under the so-called Belt and Road Initiative.
So where will Biden fold next?
It’s impossible to say, but I will say that I’m praying for our Taiwanese friends and hope they have solid bugout plans in place.
