{"id":140891,"date":"2022-10-28T06:21:12","date_gmt":"2022-10-28T10:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=140891"},"modified":"2022-10-28T06:21:12","modified_gmt":"2022-10-28T10:21:12","slug":"who-neutered-the-senate-foreign-relations-committee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=140891","title":{"rendered":"Who neutered the Senate Foreign Relations Committee?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Senate Foreign Relations Committee\u00a0<\/span>Asleep on the Job<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

by Renee Parsons<\/p>\n

As the Democrats and its mockingbird media remain panic-stricken with the promise of the 2022 mid term elections bringing a red-hot tsunami, the question is whether the tyrannical Anglo Saxon Alliance (ASA) (as represented by the US and UK) will escalate the Ukraine conflict to create a nuclear related threat sufficient to defer the upcoming election.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is noteworthy that as the Ukraine conflict threatens world peace, Congressional Committees with jurisdiction, such as the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, have rarely bothered to exhibit any leadership qualities in the pursuit of peace.\u00a0 <\/span>The Committee has provided no justification to militarily support Ukraine\u2019s Nazis with a near total lack of recognition of any foreign policy implications as Congress continues to mindlessly acquiesce its policy responsibility to the grievously misguided Biden Administration.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In addition, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a shell of its former self, has conducted no meaningful public hearing in light of an on-going full scale military war whether continued US financial, military or political involvement with NATO and Ukraine are in the best interests of the American people. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Having once produced eight<\/span><\/a> US presidents, today\u2019s Committee remains a dumbed-down substitute as its May 12<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> hearing<\/span><\/a> featured second rate witnesses to address vague policy goals as the current Democratic leadership along with its acquiescent minority continue to sidestep its historic role of public inquiry.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Given that the Administration and its Democratic elite cabal have brought the US to the sharp edge of multiple extreme crises, one calamity after another, the Senate Foreign Relations Affairs<\/span><\/a> Committee remains strangely indifferent to conducting a public analysis into whether the US – NATO proxy war is justified, whether NATO\u2019s militarist presence on its borders represents an existential threat<\/span><\/a> to Russia or whether the existence of a \u2018dirty bomb\u2019 (aka radiological dispersal device) is of sufficient global concern.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As the Committee remains AWOL about Ukraine\u2019s accelerate<\/span><\/a><\/span>d<\/span> attacks on Russia, the war has reached a new level of nuclear tensions.\u00a0 <\/span>With an aggressive<\/span><\/a> increase in military strikes within Russian borders; including the explosion of the Nord Stream pipelines and the Kerch Strait Bridge daring Russia to forcefully respond<\/span><\/a><\/span>,<\/span> the US Army\u2019s 101<\/span>st<\/sup><\/span> Airborne<\/span><\/a> has been deployed to a combat zone for the first time since WW II.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

US troops are to back up NATO troops which are now fully engaged militarily in Ukraine even as Biden had previously confirmed he \u2018will not send American<\/i> servicemen to fight in Ukraine<\/i>.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>Once the 101<\/span>st<\/sup><\/span> enters Ukraine, the Russians have promised to protect four recently annexed<\/span><\/a> Ukraine Districts from attack.<\/span><\/p>\n

In response to the Kerch Bridge destruction, Russia retaliated against Ukraine\u2019s energy and water infrastructure as retired\u00a0 <\/span>General David Petraeus predicted that a \u2018new coalition of the willing,\u2019<\/i><\/span><\/a> a US led multi national force, would occupy Ukraine. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

For anyone who has followed the Ukraine war, it is a no-brainer that the war began with the Maidan coup<\/span><\/a> in 2014 at the initiation of the Obama State Department to force a confrontation<\/span><\/a> with Russia and the ultimate removal of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Ukraine is merely the inconveniently located prop as the necessary excuse for NATO to make its move on Russia under command of the ASA. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As a reminder, Russia\u2019s Special Military Operation (SMO) of February 2021 was initiated when Ukraine (and the ASA) refused to enforce the Minsk Agreement<\/span><\/a> that would have protected Russian sovereignty from NATO\u2019s provocative presence; a stone\u2019s throw from the Russian border. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As the war takes front and center with American troops prepping for combat with Russia, Congress remains conspicuously absent from any serious participation on the direction of US foreign policy.\u00a0 <\/span>One obvious benefit of a full Committee hearing is to better inform the American public on those topics that warrant further elucidation regarding its impact on the country.\u00a0 <\/span>Without full committee hearings, the American public is easier to manipulate, to control their level of knowledge, maintain a disinformation campaign and politicize American foreign policy options. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Some might even suspect that the lack of Congressional full committee hearings is a deliberate strategy meant to keep the American public in the dark as the Uniparty maintains its hegemony over Congress and public policy. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

While it is true that sixty nine Members<\/span><\/a> of the House, including fifty four Republicans and fifteen Democrats voted against<\/span><\/a> Biden\u2019s $1.5 trillion omnibus spending package with a hefty $15 billion or so going to \u2018aid\u2019 Ukraine,\u00a0 <\/span>thirty one<\/span><\/a> Republican Senators voted against the \u2018reckless spending\u2019 as\u00a0 <\/span>Ukraine President Zelensky made a personal Zoom<\/span><\/a> appeal to the Senate in support of Ukraine\u2019s fight against Russia. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

However, none of the Congressional votes translated into direct opposition for the war as the US Congress continues to provide an inordinate share of American weapons and seemingly unlimited taxpayer funds without constitutional authorization.<\/span><\/p>\n

As the Ukraine war continued, <\/span>the Committee held a closed-to-the-public<\/i> briefing, \u2018Update on the Russian Invasion<\/i><\/span><\/a>\u201d on September 29<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> featuring testimony by Biden\u2019s Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland.\u00a0 <\/span>A zealot neocon, Nuland came to public attention in 2014 handing out cookies to Ukraine\u2019s Maidan protestors as she cursed out <\/span><\/a>the EU in support of Ukraine\u2019s neo-Nazis.\u00a0 <\/span>There is no public video or transcript of her testimony. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

* * * * <\/span><\/p>\n

In 1786, Delegates gathered to amend the Articles of Confederation<\/span><\/a> which was little more than an alliance of independent states without formation of a centralized government.\u00a0 <\/span>Hence, the Articles contained inherent weakness as it no longer provided the necessary organizational and legal framework to strengthen the fledgling country such as the conduct of foreign policy.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Thanks to James Madison, the most experienced legislator at the time, the newly recognized United States Constitution<\/span><\/a> (1787) included three branches of government, a system of checks and balances and a bicameral legislative Congress. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As conceived by Madison, the Senate would act \u201cwith <\/i><\/span>more coolness, with more system, and with more wisdom<\/i>\u201d<\/span> and would consist of \u201cgenerally a more capable set of men\u201d <\/i>than the lower House.\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>Committee Chair John Dickinson suggested that the Senate consist of \u201cthe most distinguished characters, distinguished for their<\/i><\/span> <\/i>rank in life and their weight of property, and bearing as strong a likeness to the British House of Lords as possible<\/i>.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Thus, by 1867 the Senate came to be regarded as the \u201cworld\u2019s most deliberative body<\/i><\/span><\/a>\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>although less obvious today with its laissez-faire approach on a variety of vital international challenges.\u00a0 <\/span>T<\/span>he once-prestigious Senate Foreign Relations Committee does not carry the same quality or authority it once did as it was meant to be a powerful instrument in developing and broadly influencing US foreign policy (including arms sales and ally training) has deteriorated considerably to a lesser standard of legislative achievement. \u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

* * *<\/span><\/p>\n

While the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has lost its moral authority to a weakened, corrupt executive branch to totally usurp<\/span><\/a> foreign policy considerations including its constitutionally delineated war powers; hypothetically speaking, soon-to-be elected Senators JD Vance<\/span><\/a> (Ohio) and Blake Masters<\/span><\/a> (Arizona), among others, are desperately needed to reinvigorate the lackluster committee which remains dormant in the face of multiple international crises and return the Committee to its celebrated and constitutional oversight role with courage, commitment and consciousness. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Renee Parsons served on the once prestigious ACLU\u2019s Florida State Board of Directors and as president of the ACLU Treasure Coast Chapter. She has been an elected public official in Colorado, staff in the Office of the Colorado State Public Defender, an environmental lobbyist for Friends of the Earth and a staff member of the US House of Representatives in Washington DC. She can be contacted at <\/i>reneedove3@yahoo.com<\/i><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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