Vladimir Putin recently made comments on the seriousness of global conflicts that can lead to nuclear conflict. Patriots worldwide should pay close attention as the globalists build their dangerous nuclear arsenal.
In stark contrast to attempts in numerous western countries to stifle free speech online, Russian President Vladimir Putin defended Internet freedom during a conference...
A prominent Swedish lawmaker asserts that Hungarian billionaire George Soros's influence on European politics and policies make him "one of the most dangerous men,"
The "worst case" trade war scenario was avoided in Osaka on Saturday when Trump agreed to restart trade talks with Xi, holding off new tariffs on Chinese exports, and signaling a pause in the trade hostilities between the world’s two largest economies; Trump added that while existing tariffs would remain in place the
US president eased restrictions on Huawei as part of what is now the
second ceasefire between the two superpowers in two months, removing an
immediate threat looming over the global economy even as a lasting peace
remains elusive.
"We had a very good meeting with President Xi of China, excellent, I
would say excellent, as good as it was going to be," he said. "We
discussed a lot of things and we're right back on track and we'll see
what happens", Trump told reporters after an 80-minute meeting with
Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of a summit of leaders of
the G-20 major economies in Osaka, western Japan.
“We’re holding back on tariffs and they’re going to buy farm products,” he said vaguely at a news conference, without giving any details of China’s future agricultural product purchases. “If
we make a deal, it will be a very historic event.” He gave no timeline
for what he called a complex deal but said he was not in a rush. “I want
to get it right.”
Whereas Trump and top admin officials alleged that Beijing had
reneged on provisions of a tentative trade deal, it was not immediately
clear if Xi agreed to return to previous agreements as part of the new
truce.
Trump, however, did relent on one of the major sticking points, saying U.S. firms would be allowed to sell components to Huawei, the
world’s biggest telecom network gear maker, where there was no national
security problem. The president said the U.S. commerce department would
meet in the next few days on whether to take it off a list of firms
banned from buying components and technology from U.S. companies without
government approval.
"I like our companies selling things to other people, so I allowed
that to happen," Trump said. “We’re talking about equipment where
there’s no great national security problem with it.” In recent months,
the Trump administration has been lobbying allies around the world not
to buy Huawei equipment, which the U.S. says could be used for Chinese
espionage.
Huawei was delighted by the news on its verified Twitter account:
“U-turn? Donald Trump suggests he would allow #Huawei to once again
purchase U.S. technology!”
Predictably, China also welcomed the step. “If the U.S. does what it
says, then of course, we welcome it,” said Wang Xiaolong, the Chinese
foreign ministry’s envoy for G20 affairs.
Trump said he had not yet decided how to allow U.S. companies to
continue selling to Huawei or whether to remove the tech giant from the
Commerce Department’s entity list. He said he would meet with advisors
next week to determine how to proceed.
U.S. microchip makers also applauded the move. “We are encouraged the
talks are restarting and additional tariffs are on hold and we look
forward to getting more detail on the president’s remarks on Huawei,”
John Neuffer, president of the U.S. Semiconductor Association, said in a
statement. Recently, Broadcom warned of a broad slowdown in demand as a
result of Huawei sanctions and slashed its revenue forecast.
And yet, it was not clear how long the exemption would last. Trump
said he had agreed with Xi to wait until the very end of trade talks to
resolve broader issues around Huawei, including Washington’s lobbying
campaign against allies buying its 5G equipment.
“Huawei is a complicated situation,” Trump said. “We’re leaving Huawei toward the end. We’ll see where we go with a trade agreement.”
The concession will likely draw criticism in Washington where
national security hawks have urged Trump not to ease any pressure
against Huawei. The company has long been the target of concern at the
Pentagon and intelligence agencies in part over what the U.S. claims are
its close ties to the Chinese military.
Huawei is one of few potent levers we have to make China play fair on trade.
If President @realDonaldTrump backs off, as it appears he is doing, it will dramatically undercut our ability to change China’s unfair trades practices.https://t.co/rja8CDs2T4
By agreeing to weaken restrictions on #Huawei, Trump not only undermined his own government, he undermined the entire argument #Huawei is a real national security threat. #facepalmhttps://t.co/BzuM8QA0Na
In exchange for his Huawei concession, Trump said Xi Jinping had promised to buy “tremendous” amounts of U.S. agricultural products. “We’re
going to give them a list of things we’d like them to buy,” Trump said
at a news conference following the Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan.
However, as Bloomberg notes, the first indications the second fragile
truce will collapse soon is that the Chinese official media reports said
only that the U.S. president hopes China will import more American goods as part of the truce, without an actual confirmation it will do so.
For now, however, the second truce, after a similar ceasefire was
announced on December 1 at the Buenos Aires G-20 summit, has been
achieved, offering relief from a nearly year-long trade standoff in
which the countries have slapped tariffs on billions of dollars of each
other’s imports, disrupting global supply lines, roiling markets and
dragging on global economic growth.
In a lengthy statement on the two-way talks, China’s foreign ministry
quoted Xi as telling Trump he hoped the United States could treat
Chinese companies fairly. On the issues of sovereignty and respect, Xi
said that "China must safeguard its core interests."
“China is sincere about continuing negotiations with the
United States ... but negotiations should be equal and show mutual
respect,” the foreign ministry quoted Xi as saying.
Trump had threatened to extend existing tariffs to almost all Chinese
imports into the United States if the meeting brought no progress on
wide-ranging U.S. demands for reforms.
The return to the negotiating table ends a six-week stalemate that has unnerved companies and investors, and
at least temporarily reduces fears that the world’s two largest
economies are headed into a new cold war, which they still are but only
after the current stalemate ends allowing the S&P to rise above
3,000 in the the meantime. Because, as Bloomberg notes, it’s
unclear how they can overcome differences that led to the collapse of a
previous truce reached at the G-20 in November.
* * *
While Trump and Xi were all smiles at their press briefing, the bad
blood between the two leaders behind the scenes is clearly still there.
Xi spent much of the summit’s first day Friday promising to open up the
Chinese economy, and attacking the U.S. (without naming it) for its
attack on the global trading system. As Bloomberg reported, Xi took a
"not-so-subtle swipe" at Trump’s “America first” trade policy in remarks
to African leaders on Friday, warning against “bullying practices” and
adding that “any attempt to put one’s own interests first and undermine
others’ will not win any popularity.” Xi also called out the U.S. over
Huawei and said the G-20 should uphold the “completeness and vitality of
global supply chains.”
For now, however, there is optimism.
“Returning to negotiations is good news for the business community
and breathes some much needed certainty into a slowly deteriorating
relationship,” said Jacob Parker, a vice-president of China operations
at the U.S.-China Business Council. But "now comes the hard work
of finding consensus on the most difficult issues in the relationship,
but with a commitment from the top we’re hopeful this will put the two
sides on a sustained path to resolution,” he said.
Others were more skeptical, and warned the pause - just like the first ceasefire - will not last.
“Even if a truce happens this weekend, a subsequent breakdown of
talks followed by further escalation still seems likely,” Capital
Economics said in a commentary on Friday, quoted by Reuters.
The United States says China has been stealing American intellectual
property for years, forces U.S. firms to share trade secrets as a
condition for doing business in China, and subsidizes state-owned firms
to dominate industries. Meanwhile, China has said the United States is
making unreasonable demands and must also make concessions.
The talks collapsed in May after Washington accused Beijing of
reneging on reform pledges. Trump raised tariffs to 25% from 10% on $200
billion of Chinese goods, and China retaliated with levies on U.S.
imports.
The U.S.-China feud had cast a pall over the two-day G20 gathering,
with leaders pointing to the threat to global growth. In their
communique, the leaders warned of growing risks to the world economy but
stopped short of denouncing protectionism, calling instead for a free,
fair trade environment after talks some members described as difficult.
* * *
Finally, global markets will breathe a sigh of relief on news of the
resumption in U.S.-China trade talks, even as an official deal remains
elusive, and there is no indication of how the two countries will bridge
the most difficult aspect of a feud that has emerged beyond simple
trade and now affects most aspects of US and Chinese life.
The flip-side is that with trade talks back on, the Fed will feel far
less pressure to ease in July, and since in June stocks exploded higher
on hopes that the Fed will cut rates as much as 50bps next month, such a
reversal in US-China relations could potentially prevent Powell from
capitulating, and leave the Fed on hold, an outcome which would lead to a
sharp drop in US capital markets. Indeed, in recent weeks, the S&P
has returned to record highs, treasury yields have tumbled to their
lowest level in years. The Japanese yen, a traditional beneficiary of
flight to quality, has gained, while the U.S. dollar has slipped across
the board, including against China’s yuan.
The Trump-Putin meeting in Japan is crucial for both leaders—and for the world.
Despite determined attempts in Washington to sabotage such a “summit,” as I reported previously,
President Trump and Russian President Putin are still scheduled to meet
at the G-20 gathering in Japan this week. Iran will be at the top of
their agenda. The Trump administration seems determined to wage cold,
possibly even hot, war against the Islamic Republic, while for Moscow,
as emphasized by the Kremlin’s national security adviser, Nikolai Patrushev, on June 25, “Iran has been and will be an ally and partner of ours.”
Indeed, the importance of Iran (along with China) to Russia can
hardly be overstated. Among other reasons, as the West’s military
alliance encroaches ever more along Russia’s western borders, Iran is a
large, vital non-NATO neighbor. Still more, Teheran has done nothing to
incite Russia’s own millions of Muslim citizens against Moscow. Well
before Trump, powerful forces in Washington have long sought to project
Iran as America’s primary enemy in the Middle East, but for Moscow it is
a necessary “ally and partner.”
In normal political circumstances, Trump and Putin could
probably diminish any potential US-Russian conflict over Iran—and the
one still brewing in Syria as well. But both leaders come to the summit
with related political problems at home. For Trump, they are the
unproven but persistent allegations of “Russiagate.” For Putin, they are
economic.
As I have also previously explained,
while there was fairly traditional “meddling,” there was no “Russian
attack” on the 2016 American presidential election. But for many
mainstream American commentators, including the editorial page editor of The Washington Post,
it is an “obvious truth” and likely to happen again in 2020, adding
ominously that Trump is still “cozying up to the chief perpetrator,
Russian President Vladimir Putin.” A New York Times columnist goes further,
insisting that Russia “helped to throw the election” to Trump. Again,
there is no evidence whatsoever for these allegations. Also consider the
ongoing assault on Attorney General William Barr,
whose current investigation into the origins of “Russiagate” threatens
to conclude that the scandal originated not with Russia but with US
intelligence agencies under President Obama, in particular with the CIA
under John Brennan.
We should therefore not be surprised, despite possible
positive national security results of the Trump-Putin summit in Japan,
if the US president is again widely accused of “treason,” as he so
shamefully was following his meeting with Putin in Helsinki in July
2018, and as I protested at that time. Even the Times’
once-dignified columnist pages thundered, “Trump, Treasonous Traitor”
and “Putin’s Lackey,” while senior US senators, Democrat and Republican
alike, did much the same.
Putin’s domestic problem, on the other hand, is economic and
social. Russia’s annual growth rate is barely 2 percent, real wages are
declining, popular protests against officialdom’s historically endemic
corruption are on the rise, and Putin’s approval rating, while still
high, is declining. A public dispute between two of Putin’s advisers has
broken out over what to do. On the one side is Alexei Kudrin, the
leading monetarist who has long warned against using billions of dollars
in Russia’s “rainy day” funds to spur investment and economic growth.
On the other is Sergei Glaziev, a kind of Keynesian, FDR New Dealer who
has no less persistently urged investing these funds in new domestic
infrastructure that would, he argues, result in rapid economic growth.
During his nearly 20 years as Kremlin leader, Putin has generally sided with the “rainy day” monetarists. But on June 20, during his annual television call-in event,
he suddenly, and elliptically, remarked that even Kudrin “has been
drifting towards” Glaziev. Not surprisingly, many Russian commentators
think this means that Putin himself is now “leaning toward Glaziev.” If
so, it is another reason why Putin has no interest in waging cold war
with the United States—why he wants instead, indeed even needs, a
historic, long-term détente.
It seems unlikely that President Trump or any of the
advisers currently around him understand this important struggle—and it
is a struggle—unfolding in the Russian policy elite. But if Trump wants a
major détente (or “cooperation,” as he has termed it) with Russia,
anyone who cares about international security and about the well-being
of the Russian people should support him in this pursuit. Especially at
this moment, when we are told by the director of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research that “the risks of the use of nuclear weapons…are higher now than at any time since World War Two.”
This commentary is based on Stephen F. Cohen’s most recent weekly discussion with the host of The John Batchelor Show. Now in their sixth year, previous installments are at TheNation.com.
The Central Bank of Russia reported purchasing 8.5 million troy ounces of gold in January-November 2018. With its 67.6 million ounces of gold Russia is now the world's fifth largest holder behind the US, Germany, France and Italy.
China dropped to sixth place as it reported an increase in gold reserves just once in more than two years – to 59.6 million ounces in December 2018 from 59.2 million ounces in October 2016.
Industry sources told Reuters that Western sanctions against Russia lifted the country’s gold buying to record highs in 2018. One of the reasons Russia's Central Bank was betting on the yellow metal was because it could not be frozen or blacklisted, sources explained.
“It seems that there is an aim to diversify from American assets,” said a source in one of Russia’s gold producers, referring to the Central Bank's holdings.
While purchases of the precious metal by Russia jumped last year the country continued getting rid of US Treasury securities.
Earlier this month, Russia’s Central Bank reported that it cut the share of the US dollar in the country’s foreign reserves to a historic low, transferring nearly $100 billion into the euro, the Japanese yen and the Chinese yuan. The step came as a part of a broader state policy on eliminating reliance on the greenback.
According to sources, the Central Bank has been purchasing a significant portion of Russia's domestic gold production, which is also rising.
The world's third largest gold producer, Russia boosted its 2017 gold output by six percent. Data from Russia's Finance Ministry showed the country produced 8.5 million ounces (265 tons of gold) in January-October 2018. The Russian gold mining sector has nearly doubled its volume of extraction over the last two decades.
Near the United Nations Glass Palace in New York, there is a metallic sculpture entitled “Evil Defeated by Good”, representing Saint George transfixing a dragon with his lance. It was donated by the USSR in 1990 to celebrate the INF Treaty concluded with the USA in 1987, which banned land-based short- and mid-range nuclear missiles (a reach of between 500 and 5,000 km). Symbolically, the body of the dragon is in fact made with pieces of US Pershing-2 ballistic missiles (originally based in West Germany) and Soviet SS-20 missiles (originally based in the USSR).
But the nuclear dragon, which in the sculpture is shown as dying, is now being reborn. Thanks to Italy and other countries of the European Union, which, at the United Nations General Assembly, voted against the resolution presented by Russia on the “Preservation and Implementation of the INF Treaty”, rejected by 46 to 43 with 78 abstentions.
The European Union – of which 21 of its 27 members are part of NATO (including the United Kingdom, which is currently leaving the EU) – has thus taken a uniform stance with the position of NATO, which in turn has taken a uniform stance with that of the United States.
Source: PandoraTV
The Obama administration first, followed by the Trump administration, have accused Russia, without any proof, of experimenting with a missile from the forbidden category, and have announced their intention of withdrawing from the INF Treaty. At the same time, they have launched a programme aimed at renewing the installation of nuclear missiles in Europe to guard against Russia, while others will also be based in the Asia-Pacific region against China.
The Russian representative at the UN has warned that “this constitutes the beginning of a full-blown arms race”. In other words, he warned that if the United States should once again install in Europe nuclear missiles pointed at Russia (as were the Cruise missiles based in Comiso in the 1980’s), Russia would once again install, on its own territory, similar weapons pointed at targets in Europe (but which would be unable to reach the USA).
Ignoring all that, the EU representative at the UNO accused Russia of sabotaging the INF Treaty, and announced the opposition vote by all the countries of the Union because “the resolution presented by Russia avoids the question under discussion”.
Essentially, therefore, the European Union has given the green light to the possible installation of new US missiles in Europe, including Italy.
On a question of this importance, the Conte government, like its predecessors, has abandoned the exercise of national sovereignty and aligned itself with the EU, which, has in turn adopted the position of NATO, under US command. And across the entire political arc, not one voice has been raised to request that it should be the Parliament which decides how to vote at the UNO. And similarly, no voice has been raised in Parliament to request that Italy observe the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which requires that the USA must withdraw its B61 nuclear bombs from our national territory, and must also abstain from installing here, as from the first half of 2020, the new and even more dangerous B61-12’s.
So this is a new violation of the fundamental constitutional principle that “sovereignty belongs to the people”. And since the politico-media apparatus swaddles Italians in the ignorance of these questions of such vital importance, it is also a violation of our right to information, not only in the sense of the freedom to inform, but also the right to be informed.
We must do this now, or else tomorrow there will be no time to decide – a mid-range ballistic missile can reach and destroy its target with its nuclear warhead in between 6 and 11 minutes.
Trade turnover between Russia and China soared by nearly 30 percent in 2018, reaching a record number of $107.06 billion, according to the latest report released by China’s General Administration of Customs (GAC).
The agency noted that last year Russian imports of Chinese goods increased by 12 percent to $47.98 billion. At the same time, China’s imports from Russia grew by 42.7 percent, reaching $59.08 billion. In December alone, the volume of trade between the neighboring countries reportedly totaled $9.8 billion.
Russia-China trade turnover has grown significantly over recent years. In 2017, mutual trade amounted to $84.07 billion demonstrating a growth of 20.8 percent. In 2016, the trade turnover grew by 2.2 percent in annual terms to $69.52 billion.
Russia became China’s number one partner when it comes to trade growth dynamics, according to the GAC spokesman Li Kuiwen. The spokesman added that China had mostly exported electromechanical goods to Russia, while purchased oil, coal, and wood.
Last week, the Chinese commerce ministry said that mutual trade between the countries in December reached $100 billion for the first time ever. Russia is currently ranked as China’s tenth biggest trade partner. Beijing remained a major importer of Russian produce, accounting for 15 percent of the country’s international trade as of 2017.
CGI showing deployment of an Avangard glider by Russian Defense Ministry
The Russian defense ministry has conducted the final successful test of the Avangard hypersonic glider before its entry into service, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced. The weapon will be deployed in 2019, he added.
A hypersonic glider is a special type of a warhead, which can fly through the atmosphere at a high speed. This extends the range of a missile, potentially increases accuracy and makes defending against it harder through unexpected maneuvers. But prolonged controlled flight requires special protection of the glider from heat and shock produced at hypersonic speeds. China, the US and Russia are considered the most advanced nations in the relevant technologies, and Moscow claims it is winning the race with the Avangard project.
“The test was finished just now in a complete success,” Putin told the cabinet on Wednesday. “All its specifications were confirmed.”
The president said the first regiment armed with missiles carrying Avangard gliders will be deployed in Russia next year.
"It’s a big event for the armed forces, and probably for the entire country. Russia has a new kind of strategic weapons."
In a separate statement, the Kremlin said that the Avangard glider tested on Wednesday was fired from the Dombarovsky site in southern Russia and targeted the test range in Kura in the Kamchatka Peninsula. The glider performed vertical and horizontal maneuvers in flight and accurately hit its intended target at a range, the statement said.
Avangard is one of five advanced weapon systems, which Putin presented in March this year as Russia’s response to the development by the US of anti-ballistic missile systems. Washington insists that its global ABM shield is meant to protect it and its allies from states like Iran and North Korea. Moscow believes it to be deception and sees the American effort as an attempt to undermine Russia’s nuclear deterrence.
The glider allows attacking targets that would normally be protected from a traditional ballistic missile warhead. It can take a course around land sites and warships with anti-ballistic missile capabilities or rely on its speed and maneuverability to avoid interception.
The project remains highly classified and even the appearance of the glider was not shown to the public. The video of the test released by the defense ministry showed only the launch of the carrier vehicle, but not the deployment of the glider, it’s flight or the moment it hit the target. According to Moscow’s statements’ Avangard can travel at the speed of over 20 Mach and its composite material hull withstands temperatures of up to 2,000 Celsius. The weapon is believed to be impossible to counter by any ABM systems for decades to come.
France’s finance minister has called on Europe to become an “empire” so that it can better compete with the United States and China.
Asserting that “it takes courage to stand in the way of the government” of Donald Trump, Bruno Le Maire told Handelsblatt newspaper that, “Europe should no longer be afraid of using its power and [become] an empire of peace.”
“I’m talking about a peaceful empire which is a constitutional state,” he added.
Le Maire’s statement follows French President Macron’s call for a “real European army” to counter Russian threats and reduce dependence on the U.S.
During yesterday’s Armistice centenary in Paris, Macron also urged world leaders to reject nationalism, claiming it represented a “betrayal of patriotism”.
Given the internal situation in France, it might be advisable for Le Maire and Macron to focus on their own country’s problems.
In an interview published last month, the country’s former Interior Minister warned that mass immigration could bring societal breakdown within five years.
“Communities in France are engaging in conflict with one another more and more and it’s becoming very violent,” said Gérard Collomb, agreeing with the interviewer that some form of societal breakdown like partition or secession was a major concern.
“How much time do we have before it’s too late?” the interviewer asked Collomb, to which he replied, “I don’t want to create fear, but I think there’s very little time left….It’s difficult to estimate, but I would say that within five years the situation could become irreversible. Yes, we have five, six years to avoid the worst.”
President Macron’s failure to deal with Islamic extremism and tensions caused by dislocated communities of migrants has contributed to his approval rating continuing to plummet.
A poll published at the end of last month found that Macron’s approval had dropped a further 4 percentage points to just 26 per cent.
European countries have vowed to maintain “effective financial channels” and to keep trading with Tehran after the US announced that the EU is not among those spared from its sweeping sanctions against Iran.
European countries suddenly discovered that they were not on the list of the ‘lucky ones’ that their ally, the US, decided to exempt from the new wave of all-encompassing sanctions it plans to unleash on Iran. The sanctions, targeting Iran’s shipping, finance and energy sectors, which come into force on November 5, are also designed to punish those countries that dared to do business with the Islamic Republic in defiance of the US pressure.
Only eight nations were graciously granted exemptions by the US, according to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. However, Pompeo made it clear that the EU as a single entity is not on the list, sparking an angry reaction from the US’ western allies. Washington also specifically mentioned thatit plans to target the special mechanism the EU has been creating to circumvent the restrictions, prompting its allies to fight back.
In response, the EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, together with the foreign and finance ministers of Germany, France and the UK, vowed to maintain “effective financial channels with Iran” and in particular to continue buying the Islamic Republic’s oil and gas.
They also said that despite Washington’s pressure the EU is still committed to establishing a “Special Purpose Vehicle” for Iran-EU trade. The European nations will seek to protect its companies engaged in “legitimate business with Iran,” the statement said, adding that the EU will cooperate with Russia and China in particular to achieve these goals.
Since its withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, the US has been pursuing a policy of “maximum pressure” on Tehran, vowing to bring its oil exports to ‘zero’, much to the dismay of the European countries, which praise the agreement as “a key element of the global nuclear non-proliferation architecture” and have re-affirmed their commitment to the deal.
Washington, meanwhile, seems to be ready to stop at nothing to force Tehran to bow to its wishes, with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin even threatening sanctions against the international service SWIFT, if it refuses to block Iran’s transactions.
China is reportedly enrolling military scientists into
western universities to gain intel on areas like “hypersonic missiles
and navigation technology.”
The nation’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) came up with the moniker
“Five Eyes countries” to denote the preferred targets for infiltration
(America, U.K., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand), according to a new
report released by a think tank tied to Australia’s defense ministry.
“Dozens of PLA scientists have obscured their military affiliations
to travel to Five Eyes countries and the European Union, including at
least 17 to Australia, where they work in areas such as hypersonic
missiles and navigation technology,” reads
the official report. “Those countries don’t count China as a security
ally but rather treat it as one of their main intelligence adversaries.”
Additionally, the groundbreaking report details how the PLA has
inserted thousands worldwide over the past decade as “students or
visiting scholars” while continuously augmenting their findings as
peer-reviewed literature in “strategic and emerging technology sectors.”
“The PLA has sponsored more than 2,500 military scientists and
engineers to study abroad and has developed relationships with
researchers and institutions across the globe,” reports the think tank.
“Those scientists work in strategic and emerging technology sectors such
as quantum physics, signal processing, cryptography, navigation
technology and autonomous vehicles.”
Moreover, a PLA outlet bluntly describes the intelligence campaign as “picking flowers in foreign lands to make honey in China.”
Correspondingly, China has pursued other continents for different
reasons, specifically Africa, to such a degree that it has been accused
of engaging in a “new colonialism” and even “debt trap” diplomacy due
to the host countries becoming deeply indebted to Chinese lenders.
For example, in early September, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged $60 billion
to African leaders with “no political strings attached” to expand
China’s “Belt and Road” initiative (BRI) to build ports and other
infrastructure.
BRI could prove to be lucrative for China as the infrastructure
projects will be financed by loans from China’s state-owned banks while
being built by Chinese contractors.
Alternatively, African leaders are historically keen to accept
Chinese offers because they “come without demands for safeguards against
corruption, waste, and environmental damage.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has authorized the addition of 33 alleged
Russian spies, defense and intelligence officials to the US sanctions
list. The blacklisting took place following an executive order from
President Trump authorizing Steven Mnuchin, in consultation with Pompeo,
to employ all powers granted to the President "by IEEPA and certain
CATSAA sections" for implementation of certain sanctions with respect to
Russia.
US is placing nearly three dozen alleged spies and military officers from #Russia on a sanctions blacklist.
A White House official said the new measures were aimed at "imposing costs on Russia in response to its malign activities."
Washington has also imposed new sanctions on a Chinese military unit
over the purchase of Russian jets and missiles.The Chinese sanctions are
to come into effect immediately.
Trump has been criticized by Congress for not using his legal powers
to target Russia’s defense industry and gas export pipelines, and with
the Mueller probe still continuing, Trump has been eager to show an
"unfriendly" side to Putin in advance of the probe's release.
Unlike other occasions, which saw the ruble slide on any incremental
sanctions or blacklist news, today the ruble - following the lead from
the rest of the EM space - is trading stronger on the day, and is the
third best performing currency of the week. Earlier in the day, the
First Deputy Governor of the Russian Central Bank, Ksenia Yudaeva, said
that even if FX drop, the central bank will stick to its recent promise
of not engaging in FX purchases by the end of the year which is why the
Ruble may have more upside to go, even as Russian stocks hit a new all
time high.
One of the most heinous things about taxes is that they support the
very “organs” (to quote a Soviet-era term) of government that crush the
people…even further. The taxes are weapons used by the authorities…and
all authority comes from the barrel of a gun (to paraphrase Mao). The
taxes are used to corral in the masses and keep them upon a continuous
treadmill that sustains the system…the very system that exploits and
enslaves the citizens.
The most heinous of all is the “death tax” of 50% to the government
after you die. If you made a million in money and property at the end of
your existence…paying taxes on it all the way…the original income taxes
on the money you made, and then the interest income tax on what you
made from your investments. You have property taxes on your house. You
are (depending on your state) levied taxes on ad valorem, or
state income taxes, or community (city, town) taxes. You are taxed on
gifts you give to your children. You are taxed when you begin a
business.
Many states have “ingenious” (mostly insidious) means of exploiting
the populace and terming it a “tax,” per se. Maryland has a great one
they instituted a few years ago: the rainwater tax…to actually estimate
the amount of rainfall off of a person’s roof/property, and place it
under “management” of the state….yes, taxed on the amount of rain
falling on you. Cigarette taxes, liquor taxes…the list is endless.
Taxes never decrease: they may present the illusion of decreasing in
one category, but they always rise, and rise with the prices of things.
Go to this site. They’re not hiding anything, and they’ll come out and
tell you what they’re going to take from you. The site is put out by the
U.S. Energy Information Administration (the EIA), and the address is
here: EIA.gov
You can find state-by-state fuel taxes (on average 28 cents per gallon), and the federal taxes of 18.3 cents per gallon…for a total of about 47 cents per gallon. Yeah, isn’t that grand?
Taxes (by their reporting and declaration) also give the government
more control and information about how you live, what you do. Taxes are
used now in an even more sinister manner, beginning with the EU
(European Union). Yes, all of those “happy” messages you see on your
e-mails are harbingers of things to come. On 09/12/2018, Planet Free
Will published an article entitled “Catastrophic: EU Passes Copyright Directive Including Internet ‘Link Tax’ and ‘Upload Filter.”
Here’s an excerpt:
“The European Parliament has passed a controversial
copyright directive that contains provisions which force tech giants to
install content filters and sets in place a potential tax on
hyperlinking. The bill was passed in a final vote of 438 – 226 and will
need to be implemented by individual EU member states. …two key
provisions: Articles 11 and 13, which [have been] dubbed the “link tax”
and “upload filter.” Article 11 is intended to give publishers and
papers a way to make money when companies like Google link to their
stories, allowing them to demand paid licenses. Article 13 requires
certain platforms like YouTube and Facebook stop users sharing
unlicensed copyrighted material.”
The bottom line on this: the government(s) would set in place
bureaucratic agents to scan every page that is uploaded to a
site…superficially to “protect the sacred copyrights,” but in reality, it is a way to accomplish monitoring and censorship of everything that passes across their scanners.
They have to institute stuff such as that to completely quell the
independent media and stop any “non-certified, non-accredited
(State-approved) journalists and news sites. In addition, they’ll levy
taxes on it. Once again, the vicious cycle: pay your taxes or the
Euro-Swat team comes in with MP-5’s, huffs, puffs, and blows down your
house. Pay the taxes…and you’ll then fund their budgets for increased
Draconian measures. Let’s not forget: ICANN (The Internet Corporation
for Assigned Names and Numbers) and the Obama giveaway of the Internet
to the Chinese.
Measure after measure comes into play. Little by little, in the name
of taxes and the protection of rights, governments are instituting even
more intrusive measures into privacy and exploiting their
populaces…generating more wealth and power for themselves and more
control over the life of the average person. There is no more objective,
grassroots reporting or news within the mainstream media. The only
material that is not AP and State-approved comes from outlets of the
independent media.
Keep this in mind: back in the days of the USSR, you would be either
killed or sent to a Gulag for possessing either a Xerox/mimeograph
machine or a typewriter. Do you know why that was? It was because they
did not want any communication among the people in the form of
underground newspapers, memos, letters, or any venue not under State
control. We’re heading in that direction now. First the taxes, to force
our submission while simultaneously funding their oppression. Then the
isolation and identification of non-State-approved reporters. Then the
inevitable shutdowns, confiscations of computers and news media venues,
arrests, and worse.
The best way to accomplish that is to overwhelm the people with laws
and gendarmes/jackboots to enforce them. History teaches us, and it
repeats itself in one way, shape, or form. Nothing new under the sun,
and the assault on freedom of the press is not just in the U.S., but is
worldwide. Better plead the 5th Amendment, since you can’t use the 1st Amendment anymore. Keep these words in mind from the Declaration of Independence on abuse of power:
“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations,
pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them
under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw
off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future
security.”
Happening in Europe and coming to our shores soon: the complete
destruction of the independent media, and the creation of “Pravda and
Isvestia” News outlets controlled entirely by the State.
There will be no more delaying the announcement of the $200BN in China tariffs.
Moments ago, Trump said that the "China Trade Announcement" which
likely refers to the $200BN in second round tariffs, will come after the
market close, perhaps so that stocks - which arguably can no longer
discount the future - won't be impacted?
TRUMP SAYS CHINA TRADE ANNOUNCEMENT COMING AFTER MARKET CLOSE
It is unclear if the tariffs will carry a 10% or 25% tax,
although according to the latest reports it will be the former, and
potentially increase if China still refuses to "fold" to Trump demands.
What happens next? First, visually this is what the trade war with China will look like after today:
As a reminder, the list of the first $50bn in tariffs contained 1,333
tariff lines of products. It was based on "extensive interagency
economic analysis", and would "target products that benefit from China’s
industrial plans", such as Made in China 2025, while "minimizing the
impact on the U.S. economy". The second $200bn list share the
same considerations on US economy and consumers, though China's
industrial policy was no longer a focus. All finalized lists also took into account public comments received.
So far the US has carefully avoided consumer and China dependent products. As a result, the trade war so far has had little impact on US economy and consumers.
But this will change as the tariff list expands to by another 200bn.
Within the currently proposed 200bn list, about 78bn are
consumer products (Figure 7). These include different types furniture
(24bn), travel bags(2.2bn), vacuum cleaners (1.8bn), vinyl
flooring(1.7bn), window/wall air conditioners (1.3bn), etc.
Similarly, reliance on China increases sharply for the 200bn products in
tariff pipeline. China import shares are above 20% for most of the
products, and for about half of them, China's share are more than 50%
(Figure 8).
Furthermore, many of the consumer products subject to tariff also happen to have very high China import share. China's import share is about 93% for air conditioners, 78% for vacuum cleaners, and 60-90% for various types of furniture. Therefore,
we believe each dollar of tariff imposed on this 200bn list is a lot
more painful for the US than one dollar of tariff imposed on the first
50bn list.
Not surprisingly, US domestic resistance on the latest $200bn list appeared stronger than before. The majority of the industry representatives were against it during the six-day public hearing. Will the US be able to accommodate their complaints by exempting these products and finding other products to tariff instead?
In other words, while so far US consumers - and capital
markets - have been spared from the tit-for-tat escalation, once Trump
greenlights the next round of $200BN in tariffs, US purchasers of cheap
Chinese imports will find them not so cheap anymore, hitting
not only the pocket book of the US consumer, but also downstream
corporations who will see their profit margins shrink rapidly, and which
also explains the recent panic in various Fed and private sector
surveys about the growing threat of ever greater tariffs.
* * *
Trump's action also means that trade talks with China scheduled for
later this week will be canceled, and all eyes will be on how China
retaliates. Recall that as the WSJ reported last night, Chinese
officials involved in advising the leadership are proposing to
step up the trade fight a notch by restricting China’s sales of
materials, equipment and other parts key to U.S. manufacturers’ supply
chain.
While the announcement is not news, as the market had plently of
warnings, the Nasdaq has slumped to session lows with both the Dow and
the S&P following lower:
The law of unintended consequences has forced China’s hand in Syria.
As the battle for Idlib draws near, China is set to fight Al Qaeda
trained Uyghur jihadists in Syria in order to help the Syrian government
retake their territory, preventing those very jihadist terrorists from
returning to Xinjiang province and sewing the seeds of partition in
China.
The Duran’s Alex Christoforou and International Affairs and Security
Analyst, from Moscow, Mark Sleboda discuss how the American plan to
partition Syria has pressured China to take part in an already crowded
and complicated conflict.
The US policy of permanently balkanizing Syria appears to be a foregone conclusion, even as the Syrian Arab Army and Russian forces proceed with their last major counter-terrorism operation in Idlib.
According to Wolfgang Mühlberger, senior fellow for EU-Mideast
relations at the Finnish Institute for International Affairs, “Idlib is
the very Arab Kandahar with potentially more than 100,000 experienced, battle-hardened Sunni jihadi fighters hiding between the civilians.”
This high number is due to the amalgamation of
all the militants from de-confliction zones or reconquered battle zones
(e.g., Aleppo, Ghouta, Deraa, etc.) throughout Syria that have been
shipped to Idlib over the past couple of years, as well as remnants of
the Free Syrian Army.
However, despite Washington acknowledging that the governorate is an Al Qaeda safe haven for militants from over 100 countries, the tripartite powers of the UK, US and France are now asking Germany to
join planned airstrikes against Syria – as soon as President Bashar
al-Assad gives them the green light by using chemical weapons.
It is not entirely clear why the US believes the
Syrian president would deliberately provoke western airstrikes on
Syrian forces when they are on a winning streak in their war with the
terrorists, but it does seem apparent that Washington intends to prevent
Syria from regaining sovereignty over Idlib.
As discussed in a previous Asia Times article,
RAND Corporation drew up a Syria partition plan wherein the US would
occupy the northeast, Turkey the northwest, Russia and Iran the coastal
area and large parts of the Syrian desert, and Israel and Jordan the
southwest.
The US zone would contain oil fields where 90% of Syria’s pre-war oil production took place, while Israel would control the newly discovered oil reserves in
the Golan Heights. Turkey’s control of Idlib as a safe haven for
militants would put continued pressure on the Syrian government, and a
balkanized Syria would be weak and less likely to provide a viable base
for Iran and Hezbollah to attack Israel.
However, the partition of Idlib as a jihadi sanctuary has important
implications for another actor – China. Back in August, there were reports that Beijing would participate in the Battle for Idlib due to the presence of Chinese Uyghur jihadi colonies. If Turkey controls Idlib, China fears Ankara and the West would exploit Uyghur militants as proxies to destabilize Xinjiang.
Idlib proxies to destabilize Xinjiang?
There are historical reasons for this concern, given that the CIA tried to destabilize Xinjiang and supported separatists in Tibet during the Cold War. As Israeli sinologist Yizhak Shichor pointed
out, in the 1950s Washington tried to exploit Muslim grievances against
China and the Soviet Union, by attempting to form a Middle Eastern
Islamic pact to organize fifth columns in these countries.
Brian Fishman, a counter-terrorism expert at the New America Foundation, also noted that in the 1990s Osama Bin Laden accused
the US and CIA of inciting conflict between Chinese and Muslims. After a
series of 1997 bombings in Xinjiang that Beijing ascribes to Uyghur
separatists, bin Laden blamed the CIA in an interview, saying,
“The United States wants to incite conflict between China and the
Muslims. The Muslims of Xinjiang are blamed for the bomb blasts in
Beijing. But I think these explosions were sponsored by the American
CIA.”
Interestingly at the time, Al Qaeda had its eyes on the West and
largely ignored Uyghur separatism as a Chinese domestic issue. But as
Fishman assessed, over time the transnational problem of al Qaeda and
its allies, and the increasing prominence of Uyghurs in jihadi
propaganda, meant that China could no longer avoid them.
Indeed, given that the 2016 bombing of the Chinese embassy in Kyrgyzstan was a joint operation between Al Nusra and its Uyghur affiliate Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP);
the continual supply of advanced weaponry and tacit Western support for
TIP due to its intermingling with the “rebel” opposition; professional
military training by the private security company Malhama Tactical to improve TIP’s warfighting capabilities; and TIPs ultimate goal to attack China, James Dorsey at
the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore argued
that Beijing mulling military intervention in Idlib underscores the
gravity of this threat to China’s core interests.
Currently, China seems to be steering clear of direct military
involvement and instead relies on Syria and Russia, but it would be
concerned should Western powers block Damascus and Moscow’s campaign to
reclaim Idlib and continue to partition a safe zone for Uyghur militants.
Moreover, as Jacob Zenn from
the Jamestown Foundation pointed out, China is also concerned by “the
prospect of re-shaping the borders in the Middle East that could lead to
new conceptions of sovereignty and statehood – not only in the region but elsewhere throughout the Islamic world, including Central Asia and Xinjiang.’
Xinjiang at heart of Belt and Road Initiative
Now it appears that a Western united front is emerging to confront China on human rights issues, using various tools of media coverage, economic sanctions, political activism by NGOs and think tanks to internationalize the Uyghur issue in Xinjiang.
Similar to Israel’s dilemma over the internationalization of
the Palestinian issue, China is bracing itself for a destabilization
campaign and possible call for secession and partition of the province
from Chinese sovereignty.
This perception is due to US backing of the Munich-based World Uyghur
Congress, which aspires to revert Xinjiang to an independent East
Turkistan. The first president of the Congress was Erkin Alptekin, son
of Isa Alptekin, who headed the short-lived First East Turkestan
Republic in Kashgar (November 12, 1933 to February 6, 1934), and also
served as an advisor to the CIA while working at Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty in Munich.
The Alptekin family and Xinjiang secession enjoy strong support from
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who while being mayor of
Istanbul in 1995, named a section of the Blue Mosque park after Isa
Alptekin and built a memorial to commemorate Eastern Turkistani martyrs
who lost their lives in the “struggle for independence.”
Given resource-rich Xinjiang is at the heart of
the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), destabilizing the province would
not only spoil the plan for Eurasian integration and development, but
also weaken China’s economy by cutting off its overland energy supply
from Central Asia and the Middle East, hamper its market access, and
keep Beijing bogged down in an ethnoreligious conflict.
While this may augment current Washington’s trade war against the
Middle Kingdom and weaken the Pentagon’s “peer competitor,” by
deliberately stoking Chinese fears about Xinjiang destabilization and
increasing radicalization, thereby egging Beijing to clamp down on
Uyghurs, is in effect exploiting the ethnic Uyghur’s plight for narrow
geopolitical agenda.
And as Yizhack Shichor perceived,
“Vocal criticism of China related to its Uyghur persecution comes
primarily, in fact almost entirely from outside the Middle East, from
Western non-Muslim countries…[which] may have little do to with loving
the Uyghurs, and much more to do with opposing China.”
Liberteon