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Protests have broken out on the Chinese border with North Korea, as China's seafood importers watched frozen product melt in trucks blocked from crossing after China imposed a new round of economic sanctions.
Dozens of trucks have lined up on a bridge, unable to enter China, according to video shot by a local trader who posted it to Chinese social media. It shows a long line of unmoving truck containers stuffed with crabs and shrimp that were melting in the sunshine and risked becoming spoiled product in the latest sign that Beijing is, for now at least, strictly enforcing a new round of sanctions "There is nothing we can do but accept it as our fate," said Cui Yanzhi, a local trader in the Chinese city of Hunchun, where North Korean product has long underpinned a thriving business in the far northeastern corner of the country, not far from Vladivostok.
Good on China for implementing the sanctions.
That being said, I feel a lot of compassion for the North Korean businesses getting hit; the actions of their government are not their fault.
Will it be enough to create an uprising the Kim Jung Un's government and military will not be able to control?!?
I would seriously doubt that would happen.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday pledged to "properly handle" disagreements with the U.S. and said Beijing welcomes U.S. President Donald Trump to visit China by year end, as he met chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
"President Trump and I both highly value China-U.S. relations and are willing to push forward the development of bilateral ties. Though difficulties do exist, rainbows come after storms. I hope the two sides can treat each other with honesty and goodwill, maintain close communication and properly handle disagreements," Xi said, according to the Chinese Ministry of Defense.
Xi asked Dunford to convey his greetings to President Trump, and said China is looking forward to Trump visiting China.
The Chinese president stressed that bilateral military relations are an important part of China-U.S. ties and crucial for the stability of broader bilateral relations.
Color me ... at least slightly hopeful here.
The upside is fake stability. The downside is too ugly to contemplate.
Stuck in a quagmire of controversies over White House leaks and race politics, Bannon has called a far-left magazine writer to talk about China, North Korea, and his "every day" quarrels with other top White House aides.
The Chinese government asks Russia to build a new nuclear power plant in Jiangsu Province. The new nuclear power plant will be located 20 km from the Tianwan NPP, which has already been built with Russia's participation. Russia and China have been actively cooperating in the field of peaceful atom for many years. The largest example of such cooperation was the Tianwan NPP, where power units No. 1 and 2 have already been built with VVER-1000 reactors with a capacity of 1,000 MW each. They were put in operation in 2007. At present, the sides discuss a possibility to jointly build units 7 and 8 of Tianwan NPP...
China and the United States have reached an agreement to improve their direct military communication to lower chances of "miscalculations" and accidental military confrontations amid the crisis on the Korean Peninsula.
Indian and Chinese soldiers were involved in an altercation in the western Himalayas on Tuesday, Indian sources said, further raising tensions between the two countries which are already locked in a two-month stand-off in another part of the disputed border.
A source in New Delhi, who had been briefed on the military situation on the border, said soldiers foiled a bid by a group of Chinese troops to enter Indian territory in Ladakh, near the Pangong lake.
Some of the Chinese soldiers carried iron rods and stones, and in the melee there were minor injuries on both sides, the source said.
The two sides have frequently accused each other of intrusions into each other's territories, but clashes are rare. The Indian military declined to comment on the incident.
Unless this situation gets mediated, and quickly, India and China could well be slouching toward a shooting war over this disputed territory.
And why should Americans care about this?!?
Because President Obama enhanced the US defence and security posture with India last year.
Obama signs into law bill declaring India a 'major defense partner'
So should a shooting war ensue between India and China, the US government is on the hook for supporting India, militarily, against China.
The US and North Korea must "hit the brakes" and find a peaceful resolution to their ongoing crisis, China's foreign minister said. It comes amid a war of words and mutual strike threats between Washington and Pyongyang.
The remarks by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi were made during a Tuesday phone conversation with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov.
"The most important task for the US and North Korea is to 'hit the brakes' on their mutual needling of each other with words and actions, to lower the temperature of the tense situation and prevent an 'August crisis,'" Wang said during the conversation, according to a statement published on the Chinese Foreign Ministry's website.
The foreign ministries of China and the Philippines have found a 'way to get along' by banning new construction in the South China Sea as the two nations seek to enhance bilateral ties.
"The Chinese will not occupy new features in the South China Sea nor are they are going to build structures in Scarborough Shoal," Philippine Defense Minister Delfin Lorenzana told lawmakers on Tuesday, according to China News Asia. The waters near the shoal are frequented by Philippine fishers, but from 2012 to 2016 China blockaded the area.
Specifically, "there is a status quo now that is happening in the South China Sea brokered by the secretary of Foreign Affairs,"he said, adding "it would be a very serious thing if China will occupy any of the islands."
This rapprochement is definitely bringing a sigh of relief for people worried that this relationship would get confrontational, and very quickly.
Finally we have the beginnings of the trade reform with China that President Trump promised on the campaign trail.
While the long-term consequences of Trump's first trade war salvo launched today will become obvious only in hindsight, it may have come at an opportune moment: just as China prepares to flood the world with record amounts of steel. Overnight, the National Statistics Bureau reported that even as Beijing intensified its war on smog, local steel output "paradoxically" hit a new monthly record in July, some 74.02 million tonnes, up 10% Y/Y (or 50% more than China's GDP) and higher than the previous record of 73.23 million tonnes set in June.
A flurry of threats last week had the whole region fearing a new Korean War was about to break out, but Monday gave way to at least a bit of an attempt by everyone involved to revisit the possibility of diplomacy.
That's not to say that diplomacy is any more imminent this week than war was last week, but as North Korea put its Guam missile launches on hold, US officials against made it very clear they were at least open o a resolution that didn't involve nuclear war.
North Korea's Kim Jong-un said that US should show itself to be committed to an alternative to the conflict, while US officials continued to reiterate how ready they were for war. Either way, both sides agree it was entirely the other side's fault, and that it's entirely up to the other side to stop the provocations.
However this decision came down from Kim Jung Un to not send his missiles flying in a Guam-centric direction, the world is, collectively, breathing a sign of relief this morning.
The question is, what will the US, China, North and South Korea do now?!?
Will they take advantage of the slight ratcheting down of tensions in order to get to the conference table, and hammer out a true peace deal with which to replace the Armistice, in return for Kim Jung Un abandoning his nuclear program, and let North Korea trade, unimpeded by sanctions?!?
In the Chinese language, the ideogram for "Crisis" and "Opportunity" are one in the same; let us hope the US government takes great advantage of this slight lessening of tensions here.
The meeting of key North Korean ambassadors in Pyongyang could help temporarily defuse the increased tensions on the Korean Peninsula, according to political analyst Dmitry Mosyakov.
If you want to radically change the dynamic then you have to apply extreme pressure. I feel this is what Trump and his advisors are doing. They are appearing to "have the strength to force the moment to its crisis" to quote T.S. Eliot.
And that strength or purpose is creating large movements. Trump is a bully. It's what he does, at least publicly. The response so far from China has been to denounce the idea of regime change in Pyongyang.
The response from Russia, through Foreign Minister (and top diplomat in the world right now), Sergei Lavrov was to announce a deal brokered between it, North Korea and China to get what Trump wants; no potential for nukes in North Korea.
"Russia together with China developed a plan which proposes 'double freezing': Kim Jong-un should freeze nuclear tests and stop launching any types of ballistic missiles, while US and South Korea should freeze large-scale drills which are used as a pretext for the North's tests."
In March, at around the time of the biggest annual maneuvers between the U.S. and South Korea, the North fired four extended-range Scud missiles into waters off the Japanese coast in what was intended to be a mock attack on Marine Corps Air Station, Iwakuni.
Iwakuni is one of the main U.S. bases in Japan and was the staging point for F-35 stealth fighters believed to be training for precision strikes on North Korea against Kim Jong Un and his top lieutenants.
The March missile launch was not as bold as the plan for Guam — the North didn't tell the world beforehand and deliberately sent the missiles much farther north than the base itself, an easy tweak. But the move sent a strong message that such an attack would be possible.
I think that North Korea will go ahead with its plans, to test launch missiles around Guam; what is very important, should they do it, is how the US and China respond to such an act.
I think Chinese President Xi Jinping should be working very closely with President Trump on presenting a united US/Chinese response if this happens; Kim Jung Un needs to realise that both countries are working in concert on this issue, and he cannot separate the US from China here.
War with China, over North Korea, would be the worst possible scenario imaginable here, and would create a genocide of the South and North Korean people.
Please, let's not go there.
In an unprecedented move against North Korea, China on Monday issued an order to carry out the United Nations sanctions imposed on the rogue regime earlier this month.
China made the announcement amid not only Pyongyang's escalating war of words with the United States regarding the North Korea nuclear missile program, but also as President Trump was reportedly set to order an investigation into China's trade practice -- a probe which could lead the U.S. to levy its own sanctions on Beijing.
Trump has sought China's help in dealing with North Korea, as China has remained one of the last defenders of dictator Kim Jong Un and could apply enormous financial pressure should it turn on the North Korean leader.
What concerns me here, is the way in which trade wars can morph into shooting wars, and that would be the worst of all possible options with China.
Chinese textile firms are increasingly using North Korean factories to take advantage of cheaper labor across the border, traders and businesses in the border city of Dandong told Reuters.
As if there weren't enough geopolitical and social stress points in the world to fill a lifetime of "sleepy, vacationy" Augusts, late on Friday night President Trump spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping and told him that he's preparing to order an investigation into Chinese trade practices next week, according to NBC. Politico confirms that Trump is ready to launch a new trade crackdown on China next week, citing an administration official, a step that Trump delayed two weeks ago under the guidance of his new Chief of Staff Gen. Kelly, but now appears imminent. It is also an escalation which most analysts agree will launch a trade war between Washington and Beijing.
The thing I hate most about trade wars, is their capabilities of morphing into shooting wars.
I would like to hope President Trump has the presence of mind to understand that this is precisely where we should not be going with China right now, particularly with the simmering, quasi-war state of hostilities over North Korea.
The Pentagon's top military officer said here Sunday the focus remains on finding a diplomatic solution to the North Korea missile crisis, even as the military works up viable options in case they become necessary.
Amid heated rhetoric between President Donald Trump and North Korea's rogue leader, Kim Jong Un, the military is quietly supporting Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's effort to use diplomatic and economic pressure to avert war.
"As a military leader, I have to make sure that the president does have viable military options in the event that the diplomatic and economic pressurization campaign fails," said Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joe Dunford in his first public remarks since the crisis escalated with North Korea's launch of a second intercontinental ballistic missile late last month.
I have to wonder just how real is that part of this headline which states that the General"... Pushes for Diplomacy" and how much of that is simply for domestic Unhinged, Surveilled States of America consumption.
The error, according to 38 North, lies in an inept English translation of a statement made by North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho at the ASEAN Regional Forum meeting on July 26.
The English translation was: "We will, under no circumstances, put the nukes and ballistic rockets on the negotiating table. Neither shall we flinch even an inch from the road to bolstering up the nuclear forces chosen by ourselves, unless the hostile policy and nuclear threat of the US against the DPRK are fundamentally eliminated."
38 North says the splitting of the sentences raises several questions as to what was covered under the qualifier of "unless" the hostile policy is removed. But 38 North says the answer can be found in the Korean-language version in which the formula was presented as one sentence, not two.
It's amazing what one mistranslation from a foreign language, into English, can do to people's interpretation of what actually was said.
Right now, that mistranslation could well translate into a shooting war between the US, China, and North Korea.
On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Mattis issued an ultimatum to North Korea, saying "cease any consideration of actions that would lead to the end of its regime and destruction of its people."
His warning came in response to Pyongyang suggesting plans to fire ballistic missiles to within 30 – 40 km from Guam by mid-August.
On Thursday, Trump said his "fire and fury" warning perhaps wasn't "tough enough." The DPRK should "get (its) act together (or it'll) be in trouble like few nations have ever been." Its leadership should be "very, very nervous" if it does anything harmful to America or its allies.
Kim Jong-un "disrespected our country greatly. He's not getting away with it."
On Friday, China warned Washington, saying if it tries to forcefully topple North Korea's government, it'll intervene to stop it.
It repeated calls for calm and diplomatic outreach – easing tensions, not escalating them further. China's People's Daily said
Right now, China is behaving like the adult in the room on this issue, with this editorial.
But I have to really wonder; just what kind of power does he wield over Kim Jung Un, to prevent him from carrying out his threat to bomb the mainland USA?!?
North Korea set to launch 'FINAL ATTACK' - WW3 fears grow as Pyongyang ESCALATES rhetoric
A bulk of the troops of the Sukna-based 33 Corps have been or are in the process of being moved to the Indo-China frontier in Sikkim even as the controversy over the Doklam plateau at the India-Bhutan-China tri-junction continues to surface from time to time.
Eastern Command army sources revealed that all three divisions under the 33 Corps, which is stationed in Sukna, near Siliguri in West Bengal, have been deployed on the Sino-Indian border.
The troop movement from Sukna began about 20-25 days ago. The most important and vital elements of the corps have moved up and taken position in designated "Op Areas".
The Movement "Has More to Do With Posturing"
The troops are at varying depths of 20 kms to 500 metres from the India-China border in north and east Sikkim. Some units were given four days' written notice to move to the upper reaches while others have been handed out as little as six hours' notice to move up.
This may be attributed to "posturing", on India's side, but such a move looks about as serious as a heart attack to me, understanding that the Chinese have threatened India with a military operation, if they don't yield the land China claims is actually theirs.
North Korea displayed its submarine-launched ballistic missiles for the first time on Saturday ahead of a massive military parade in the capital, Pyongyang.
Weapons analysts said they believed some of the other missiles on display were new types of intercontinental ballistic missiles.
North Korea warned the United States on Saturday to end its "military hysteria" or face retaliation as a US aircraft carrier group steamed towards the region and the reclusive state marked the 105th anniversary of the birth of its founding father.
The North Korean ceremony began with a massive parade of military personnel and hardware through Pyongyang on Saturday morning to mark the birthday of Kim Il-sung, the revered founder of the nation.
The question is not Kim Jung Un's military parades, and both his and President Trump's bombast which concerns me here; it is what each leader is actually prepared to do, in this latest war of words which may well escalate to a shooting war which concerns me, particularly in light of the fact that Mike and I live very close to a first strike target, which China can actually hit!
Amid the thick fog of (rhetorical) war between Washington and Pyongyang, it's still possible to detect some fascinating writing on the (unbuilt) wall.
A case can be made that President Trump is using North Korea to kick the 24/7 Russia-gate narrative out of the US news cycle. It's certainly working. After all, in Exceptionalistan weltanschauung, the prospect of war and its possible rewards certainly trumps hazy accusations of Russian hacking and election interference.
IF, in fact, what Escobar is saying is true, this could potentially destroy the entire structure of the US international security relations horrifically quickly.
In a glimmer of hope that a military conclusion to the North Korean crisis may yet be averted, Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said that "Russia does not accept a North Korea that possesses nuclear weapons", cautioned that there is an "overwhelming amount of over-the-top belligerent rhetoric on North Korea's nuclear and rocket programs from Washington and Pyongyang", but most importantly said that there is a joint Russian-Chinese plan to defuse the North Korean crisis, according to which North Korea would freeze its missile tests, while the US and South Korea would stop large scale exercises.
This is completely logical; which is why the US government will most likely reject it out of hand.
In a troubling repudiation of President Donald Trump's demands that Beijing do more to rein in its bellicose neighbor, Beijing, through the state-owned media, cautioned the US president on Friday that it would intervene (militarily) on North Korea's behalf if the US and South Korea launch a preemptive strike to "overthrow the North Korean regime," according to a statement in the influential state-run newspaper Global Times.
"If the U.S. and South Korea carry out strikes and try to overthrow the North Korean regime and change the political pattern of the Korean Peninsula, China will prevent them from doing so," it said.
At the same time, the Chinese regime made it clear that its preferred outcome would be a continuation of the status quo, warning Kim Jong Un that it would "remain neutral if North Korea were to strike first."
So President Trump's only action here, if he wants to get this war going, is by a "false flag" to blame on North Korea; China will, of course, see right through it.
The US government's capacity for subtlety in creating these events is generally very close to non-existent, for people able to analyze them in an intelligent way.
China has warned the USA that it will only stay neutral in any conflict involving North Korea if Kim Jong-un's regime is first to attack.
An editorial in the state-run Global Times revealed that if the US strikes first, China will side with North Korea and aim to 'prevent' any attack.
"Okay, we gotta make it look like Korea fired the first shot. Nuke Hawaii!" -- Official White Horse Souse
The relationship between India and China seemed to worsen Wednesday when the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that 53 people and an Indian bulldozer was in China's territory and advised India to pull them back. This followed a warning Tuesday when an editorial in the state-run China Daily said that the "countdown to a clash between the two forces has begun."
"India should withdraw its troops and equipment. Regardless of how many Indian troops have trespassed into and stayed in Chinese territory, they have gravely infringed on China's sovereignty," the ministry said, the Global Times reported.
The China Daily editorial said the clock was ticking and that it seemed like a clash would be "an inevitable conclusion" between the two prominent Asian countries if India did pull back its troops from the disputed Doklam region.
China has set the war wagon in motion against India, and it cannot back down from this statement; it now appears that this conflict is a question of "when" rather than "if", at this point.
A new round of fighting has erupted around the southern Philippines city of Marawi, as ongoing attempts to recapture the city from the ISIS rebels had led to what is basically an open-ended siege.
Fighting over Marawi began back in May, and has been ongoing since then, though not as heavily as it was early on. This latest fighting, according to officials, left at least nine Islamists killed, including one identified as Isnilon Hapilon, wanted by the FBI.
The Philippine military is claiming that the Islamists inside the city have been trying to dig a tunnel out under a major mosque as a way to get out of the battle zone. The military is acting in a fairly broad region around the city,so tunneling that far would be a real trick.
Timing, when it comes to geopolitical issues, and wars (including alleged "drug wars" are never accidental.
Did you note that ISIS didn't rear its ugly head in the Philippines until Duterte vowed to execute them all?!?
The brutal war on drugs in the Philippines (warning: very graphic images)
And then, suddenly, "like magic", ISIS appeared in the Philippines this last May, in an attempt to take Duterte out because of his stand on illegal drugs.
Did You Know ISIS is Now in The Philippines? Here's What You Aren't Being Told
And even though I think his approach is counterproductive in the extreme here, I have to ask myself, cui bono?!? Who benefits from Duterte's losing power?!?
Further on, in the article by antimedia.com:
Regardless, this is where this story gets interesting. Duterte has claimed multiple times, including in his recent interview with RT, that the CIA would want to kill him for upsetting the current world power structure and cozying up to adversaries Russia and China. And yet, according to Duterte, even with full knowledge of this ISIS-linked insurgency, the U.S. decided to block an arms sale to the Pacific nation that would most likely be used to combat these militants. Why would they do that? Because of alleged human rights abuses, as was the official explanation? The U.S. just signed over $110 billion in arms to Saudi Arabia, a rights-abusing, ISIS-sponsoring radical Islamic nation — and barely batted an eyelid in doing so. On one hand, it seems the U.S. could very well be playing a game of chess with Duterte, perhaps even going so far as facilitating the movement of militants that could put added pressure on his defiant government in order to ensure that America won't lose its military bases in the country; using the potential ISIS threat as justification for their presence. At the same time, this refusal to sell Duterte arms will only push Duterte closer to Russia and China; he told Russia directly that he needs modern weaponry to combat these militants. Russia will likely have no problem filling the void. In fact, according to RT, Russia and the Philippines just signed a defense cooperation agreement following these recent developments. This is bad news for the U.S. military establishment, which will stop at nothing in order to put a wedge between Russia and the rest of the world. In tandem with the corporate media, the demonization of Duterte is already well under way. This should give you an idea of where this narrative is headed, as we have seen it all too often before with other former U.S. allies who came too close to America's Cold War rival.
China will prevent the US and South Korea from carrying out strikes on North Korea and trying to overthrow the leadership there, but will remain neutral if Pyongyang launches missiles at American targets first, the state-run Global Times said.
The Government of Bhutan on Thursday refuted Chinese foreign ministry claims about Thimpu telling Beijing that the trilateral border stand-off area in Doklam in the Sikkim sector is not Bhutan's territory.+
A top Chinese diplomat Wang Wenli had claimed that Bhutan had conveyed to Beijing through diplomatic channels that the area of the standoff is not its territory.
Wang, who is the deputy director general of the Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs in China's foreign ministry, reportedly conveyed this information to a visiting Indian media delegation on Wednesday.
She, however, did not provide any evidence to back her claim, which has been strongly denied by Bhutan.
Official sources in the Bhutanese Government told ANI over phone, "Our position on the border issue of Doklam is very clear. Please refer to our statement which has been published on the web site of Bhutan's foreign ministry on June 29, 2017."
This standoff over a disputed border between India and China could get out-of-control ugly, very quickly.
And it is complicated by the fact that last year, the US strengthened its defense ties with India:
India, US agree to enhance military ties with an eye to China
IF a major shooting war between these two nuclear armed countries happens, the US government, potentially, will be expected to provide India military support against China in this dispute; the situation is dicey in the extreme right now.
Russia has urged North Korea to steer clear of using force and instead opt for "maximum restraint" as Pyongyang's feud with neighbor South Korea simmers.
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made the plea, addressed to "all sides involved" in the conflict's resolution, during a meeting with his North Korean counterpart in the Philippines Monday. Lavrov's comments, paraphrased by Russia's Foreign Affairs Ministry, come as he confirmed that Russian President Vladimir Putin will discuss North Korea further with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a meeting next month.
China and Russia are North Korea's only neighbors besides South Korea. Russia has so far not taken a hard stance on the dispute. Moscow's strategy has largely reflected that of Beijing, unquestionably North Korea's most important trading partner.
A memo to Serge Lavrov: as you are aware, the BRICS summit runs from 31 August to 4 September of this year.
BRICS meeting schedule, 2017
Sir, you may well not have until 31 August to get these tensions ratcheted down, depending upon what Kim Jong Un and the American Deep State decide to do here.
This is 11 August, and the next two weeks will be critical to resolving this situation, before it breaks in to a shooting war between the US, North Korea, and potentially, China.
And I can guarantee you, Foreign Minister Lavrov, no thinking American I know wants this war.
Mark Cuban on Wednesday condemned a federal agency's plan to give a pharmaceutical company controlled by a Chinese billionaire exclusive rights to a new liver cancer treatment developed with U.S. government researchers.
The Dallas Mavericks owner, himself a billionaire, told HuffPost the decision "ignored" the need to use taxpayer-funded research in a way that advantages Americans.
"USA inc has got to start operating in the best interests of all of us shareholders," the "Shark Tank" host wrote in an email, after retweeting a link to a HuffPost report on the licensing plans. "Our taxes should be an investment that expects a financial and social return."
The National Institutes of Health proposed awarding Salubris Biotherapeutics Inc. exclusive worldwide rights to a portfolio of patents on an antibody drug used to treat liver cancer, according to a notice published Monday in the Federal Register, first reported by HuffPost.
The question is, why would the NIH give the rights to this drug to this particular company, when it was developed by U.S. government researchers?!?
This status of the award needs to be halted, and a complete investigation of how it is that a Chinese owned company was awarded the rights to this drug, needs a full and complete investigation.
China just said NO!
Beijing should make it clear that "if North Korea launches missiles that threaten US soil first and the US retaliates, China will stay neutral," the Global Times wrote.
But if the US and its ally South Korea take on Pyongyang and try to "overthrow the North Korean regime and change the political pattern of the Korean Peninsula, China will prevent them from doing so," the paper stressed.
The Duran hours ago reported that the United States has sent the USS John McCain (yes, you read that correctly) is being sent towards Korean waters in a further ramping up of militarisation of the conflict on the Korean peninsula. On its way, the USS McCain sailed through the South China Sea where it violated Chinese maritime sovereignty. China has responded furiously with Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang issuing a statement saying, "The US destroyer's actions have violated Chinese and international laws, as well as severely harmed China's sovereignty and security. China is very displeased with this and will bring up the issue with the US side". China went on to blast the US for not asking nor receiving any authorisation from China to transverse the waters. China repeatedly critises the US for violating Chinese areas of the Sea under the US pretext of so-called 'freedom of navigation' which China deems invalid.
...what is clear is that the Chinese are becoming increasingly exasperated and angry about this escalation of the rhetoric coming from Washington. That this is so is confirmed by commentaries which have in China's official media, notably the People's Daily and Global Times. Turning first to Global Times, an editorial there makes the obvious point that the US can never win a shouting match with North Korea for the simple reason that whilst every threat North Korea makes is immediately transmitted to the people of the US, the North Korean government's total control of information means that the North Korean people will only hear of US threats against their country if the North Korean governments wants them to... The People's Daily then made crystal clear China's total opposition to US military action against North Korea... In truth it is little short of incredible that the military option against North Korea – a country which is now a nuclear power – is even being discussed.
The US navy destroyer, which sailed closed to the island claimed by Beijing in the South China Sea, has violated international law and endangered China's national security, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.
"The US destroyer's actions have violated Chinese and international laws, as well as severely harmed China's sovereignty and security," Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang said in a statement.
"China is very displeased with this and will bring up the issue with the US side," the statement reads.
The Foreign Ministry pointed out that that the so-called US "freedom of navigation" mission was carried out without authorization from Beijing, with has "indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands (Spratley) and its surrounding waters."
"The Chinese army immediately sent warships (to the area) in accordance with the law to implement the identification of the US ship and warn it off," the spokesperson said.
The US reportedly has a plan for a preemptive strike on North Korean missile sites with bombers stationed in Guam, should Donald Trump order it. It is apparently viewed as "the best of all bad options" amid mounting tensions between the states.
An attack by Rockwell B-1 Lancer supersonic heavy bombers from Andersen Air Force Base in the US territory of Guam makes up a major part of the plan, senior acting and retired military officials told NBC news.
"Of all the military options … [President Donald Trump] could consider, this would be one of the two or three that would at least have the possibility of not escalating the situation," retired Admiral James Stavridis, former Supreme Allied Commander Europe and an NBC News analyst, said.
How in the name of heaven can Admiral James Stavridis make this claim with a straight face?!?
Apparently, he and I have a very different definition of "escalation."
And what does he expect China to do, if President Trump orders this attack?!? Sit by with hands folded, and sing "Kumbyah"?!?
I don't think so.
And as someone who lives on a first strike target on Oahu, call me just a little nervous to see this escalation of tension with North Korea and China.
A US Navy destroyer sailed within 12 miles of an artificial island built by China in the South China Sea on Thursday, a "provocation" that threatens another angry response from the Chinese government and further complicating President Donald Trump's efforts to align the Communist Party in his pursuit to find a diplomatic resolution to the North Korean crisis.
As Reuters reports, the USS John McCain (yes, he the Senator has a ship named after him) passed by the Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands in what US military officials justified as yet anohter "freedom of navigation" operation, the third since Trump took office. Over the past six months, the US has grown increasingly bold, or provocative as Beijing calls it, by sending aircraft and ships to contested waters in the South China Sea to the anger and frustration of Beijing.
That the US government continues to annoy Beijing with these moves, at a time (if they wanted a peaceful resolution at all) when they desperately need China on board to stop North Korea's weapons program, leads me to the conclusion that the Unhinged Surveilled States of Amerika is preparing, ultimately, for a war against China, to destroy the value of the yuan before the American economy comes crashing down.
Unfortunately, what those in the bowels of power in DC seem to conveniently forget, is that the US military doesn't have the weaponry, the money, the troop strength, or the manufacturing to insure a positive outcome to a war against China in the short term.
In the latest escalation between two nuclear powers (aside for the US and North Korea of course), the Indian Army has ordered the evacuation of a village close to the Doklam India-Bhutan-China tri-junction amid to a standoff between Indian and Chinese solders, India's News 18 reports. This takes place just days after, as we reported earlier this week, China turned the war threat amplifier up to '11' by threatening India (in an article published a Chinese state-controlled newspaper) that it could conduct a "small-scale military operation" to expel Indian troops from a contested region in the Himalayas.
This could get very nasty, very quickly.
And it is complicated by the US and India having enriched and upgraded their mutual defense relationship last year.
India and U.S. deepen defense ties with landmark agreement
This means that if China and India's dispute hits the shooting war phase, the US government will be treaty-bound to assist India, even while it desperately needs Chinese help to resolve the crisis with North Korea.
India's diplomatic efforts to end a seven-week military standoff with China have hit a roadblock, people briefed on the talks said, prompting Chinese state-run media to trumpet rhetoric of "unavoidable countermeasures" on the unmarked border.
China has insisted that India unilaterally withdraw its troops from the remote Doklam plateau claimed by both Beijing and Indian ally Bhutan.
India's diplomatic efforts to end a seven-week military standoff with China have hit a roadblock, people briefed on the talks said, prompting Chinese state-run media to trumpet rhetoric of "unavoidable countermeasures" on the unmarked border.
(For a graphic on China-India border dispute click tmsnrt.rs/2wnxWuV)
A war between these two nuclear-armed countries could be an absolute and complete disaster for both their people, and surrounding countries.
Let us hope sane heads will prevail in New Dehli and Beijing, and that this issue gets resolved quickly and quietly, without bloodshed.
In fact, the only thing that makes North Korea a threat is their nuclear capability — made possible by the Clinton and Bush administrations.
These two administrations played key roles in helping the late Kim Jong-Il develop North Korea's nuclear prowess from the mid 1990's onwards.
Former US Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld was on the board of technology giant ABB when it won a deal to supply North Korea with two nuclear power plants.
According to the 2003 report from SWI, the Swiss-based ABB told swissinfo that Rumsfeld was involved with the company in early 2000, when it netted a $200 million (SFr270million) contract with Pyongyang.
The ABB contract was to deliver equipment and services for two nuclear power stations at Kumho, on North Korea's east coast.
However, Rumsfeld was simply taking the baton from the Clinton administration, who, in 1994, agreed to begin replacing North Korea's domestically built nuclear reactors with light water reactors.
"The shooters from China have covered the 1km route with obstacles in 4 minutes and 50 seconds, thus improving by 1 minute the Russian snipers' result last year," the press office said...
"After the international stage of the Airborne Platoon context China placed first with 62 points. Russian paratroopers were second with 50 points, and Kazakhstan's rivals, third with 42 points," the press-center said... The special ceremony ending the Airborne Platoon contest will be held at the garrison of a Chinese airborne unity in Guangshui on August 10. The Airborne Platoon contest of the International Army Games 2017 was held in China for the first time. It lasted ten days. http://tass.com/defense/959711
The death toll in Tuesday's earthquake that struck the Sichuan province in southwestern China has risen to nine, while 135 people were injured, the Sina news portal reported. According to Sina, the death toll includes six tourists and two locals. One body is yet to be identified. A total of 135 people were injured, 32 of them seriously. The Jiuzhaigou County in the Sichuan Province was struck by a 7.0-magnitude earthquake on Tuesday evening, followed by more than 280 aftershocks. According to China's seismology center, the most powerful of the aftershocks ranged in magnitude between 7.0 and 7.9.
Chinese rescuers are pessimistic in their death toll estimates, saying that the disaster had a potential to kill hundreds of people.
The Pen Is mightier than the Sword!
The $4.5 billion scheme, being financed by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, will be constructed by the state-owned China Gezhouba Group.
When complete around 2023, it will generate 2.2 GW of power from the Kwanza River in North Kwanza province, expected to meet more than half of the country's power needs. Nearly 10,000 local jobs will be created during the peak construction period.
Chinese state-owned conglomerates behind colossal dams like The Three Gorges and some of the world's highest-situated dams on the Tibetan Plateau have flexed their engineering muscles in Africa.
Chinese state media is quoting officials familiar with the situation as saying the nation is preparing for a "small-scale military operation" aimed at expelling Indian troops from the Doklam region, after a protracted stand-off in the area.
China was trying to build a road in the Doklam region when Indian ground troops crossed the border to stop them. Indian forces have remained there, albeit in small numbers, ever since. India does not claim the land belongs to them, but claims that Bhutan believes it belongs to them, and that an old treaty with Bhutan obliges them to back the claim.
The territory is sparsely inhabited, and of little value to either. Still, Chinese officials warn that the row with India could have a long-term impact on their relationship, whether or not the dispute results in any sort of military exchange.
China may want a "small" military action to send Indian troops packing, but may well not be able to foresee just how India is going to respond, militarily.
Added to this uncertainty, is the reality that the US and India have enhanced their mutual defense cooperation under President Obama last year:
Obama signs into law bill declaring India a 'major defence partner'
The US, India, China, and Russia need to move, purposefully and quickly, in such a way as to defuse the current situation; otherwise, this could lead to a regional, if not global, war.
Early service for the Type 001A points to China speeding up its effort to build a navy that can secure trade routes and challenge the US in the South China Sea
As part of the People's Liberation Army's 90th anniversary celebration - it was founded on August 1, 1927 - President Xi Jinping (in military fatigues) hosted a giant parade at the Zhurihe Training Center.
Here, PLA's most elite forces demonstrated how far China has come in modern warfare. CCTV broadcast the session, which means a domestic and global audience of millions saw the army's showcase of tanks, stealth fighters, artillery, and ICBMs.
The fact that the parade took place not in Beijing, but in Inner Mongolia, was symbolic. Zhurihe hosts the PLA's annual Stride exercises. These wargames pit the resident "Blue Team" (a mechanized infantry brigade that uses NATO tactics) against visiting PLA units. These wargames are played in a variety of urban, hill, and open-area locations, often under intensive conditions, including simulated nuclear battlefields.
The Chinese are getting one heck of a bang for their weaponry bucks, and this demonstration makes this very real, for everyone who is paying attention.
So what does Lockheed Martin present for America's fighter pilots?!?
The intensely problematic F-35, bringing together the trifecta of lousy, completely uncoordinated engineering; huge cost over-runs, and a system which may well never be combat ready.
The F-35, amazingly, has even more problems than we thought
From ejector seats that could kill to a computer system pilots can't log into: Pentagon F-35 fighter jet report reveals massive problems still facing 'most expensive weapon in history'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3430571/From-ejector-seats-kill-computer-pilots-t-log-Pentagon-F-35-fighter-jet-report-reveals-massive-problems-facing-expensive-weapon-history.
The F-35 is a 14 trillion dollar national disaster
Here are all the problems with the F-35President Trump should cancel the failed F-35 Fighter Jet Program
The Pentagon's official F-35 bug list is terrifying
The F-35 has big radar problems; and the fix is hilarious!!
F-35 grounded for oxygen problems
F-35 reliability/affordability issues
And Lockheed Martin, if you don't like these links, fix the bloody aircraft, and from henceforward, out of the salaries of your top executives!!!
The point of weaponry... is that it works as advertised; at the moment, it appears as though the F-35 appears incapable of doing that.
In the wake of the announcement of a $1 billion sanctions program targeting North Korea's coal, lead and iron exports, Beijing is staging almost a dozen military exercises in the Yellow Sea.
The navy drills surely send a signal that the Chinese "will be effective in any conflict if war is to break out," Malcolm Davis of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute told the South China Morning Post.
However the message isn't intended for Pyongyang alone, Collin Koh of Singapore's Nanyang Technological University says. "States do this because they want to send a signal … it's not just targeted at North Korea," Koh said.
China as the main trade partner of North Korea is ready to pay high price for the new UN Security Council sanctions against Pyongyang for the sake of denuclearization and stabilization on the Korean peninsula, according to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
On Saturday, Security Council members imposed sanctions on North Korea for the seventh time since its first 2006 nuclear test.
New ones aim to deprive Pyongyang of around one-third of its export revenues, cutting them by about $1 billion.
They ban DPRK exports of coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore, and seafood. They prohibit all new joint ventures, ban new investments in current ones, and prohibit sending more workers abroad for jobs.
They tighten restrictions on technology to prevent Pyongyang from acquiring military related items. North Korean vessels caught violating SC resolutions will be banned from entering foreign ports.
Imposing sanctions is one thing, enforcing them another. North Korea is adept at exploiting loopholes in restrictions and minimizing them other ways.
Most important, China wants Pyongyang's economy kept from imploding. It accounts for around 90% of its exports. It's the DPRK's key ally.
These sanctions may well have slowed down the US rush to war against North Korea; but ultimately, these sanctions may not stop it from using war against North Korea to achieve the outcome it wants, which, in spite of what Rex Tillerson has stated publicly, is regime change in the North.
That, would - of course - most likely to cause China to enter into the hostilities on North Korea's side.
But the biggest thing with which the UN Security Council has to contend is not Kim Jung Un's threats; it is what he is actually willing to do, militarily, to confront these sanctions, or whether he will, begrudgingly, enter into negotiations with the US, China, and Japan.
I frankly do not hold out a lot of hope for the latter.
In October 1973, the world shuddered when the Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries imposed an oil embargo on the United States and other nations that provided military aid to Israel in the Yom Kippur war. At the same time, they ramped up prices.
The United States realized it was dependent on imported oil — and much of that came from the Middle East, with Saudi Arabia the big swing producer. It shook the nation. How had a few foreign powers put a noose around the neck of the world's largest economy?
Well, it could happen again and very soon. The commodity that could bring us to our knees isn't oil, but rather a group of elements known as rare earths, falling between 21 and 71 on the periodic table.
China has launched an internet crackdown to stop users bypassing the country's "Great Firewall" - a sophisticated censorship system that blocks Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, among other sites. Luxury hotels in Beijing have announced they will stop providing Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) that allow visitors to log on to banned sites.
Precise details of the exercise have not been released by Beijing, save for the fact the event will begin on Saturday, August 5, and end on Tuesday, August 8.
The drill comes amid escalating tensions between Pyongyang and Washington, with Chinese officials becoming increasingly concerned about being dragged into war.
Donald Trump has put pressure on Beijing to try and dissuade its North Korean allies from progressing its illicit missile programme.
North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un conducted to the country's latest weapons test late last month, when he launched an intercontinental ballistic missile believed to have been capable of hitting the US mainland.
One of the worst-case scenarios I could see happening here, would be a US pre-emptive attack against North Korea, followed by China coming into the fray on the North Korean side.
Beijing has stepped up economic retaliation against Korean businesses despite Seoul's efforts to ease tensions over the deployment of a U.S. missile shield here, industry sources said Friday.
The United States is preparing for all options to counter the growing threat from North Korea, including launching a "preventive war," national security adviser H.R. McMaster said in an interview with MSNBC that aired Saturday. The comments come following North Korea carrying out two tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) last month.
Related: A North Korea Attack Would Take Out Los Angeles, Chicago or New York, And Be The Deadliest In U.S. History
The worst case scenario on this I can see here, is that of China providing military assistance to North Korea, in the case of a US attack against it.
The statement said Beijing "favors settlement of inter-state differences through mutual respect and equal dialogue." On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump signed the bill that imposes tougher sanctions against Russia, Iran and North Korea. The US Congress passed the document overwhelmingly last week. Trump said in a statement on the occasion that the document was flawed and some of its provisions were at variance with the US Constitution. Despite his opposition, Trump had no viable option but to sign the legislation, as it had passed the US Senate and House of Representatives with veto-proof margins.
China is struggling to find a foreign applicant to run the world's largest radio telescope, which is odd considering they're offering to pay them more than $1.2 million for their troubles.
The Five Hundred-Meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) needs a chief scientist from abroad to oversee operations on a daily basis in its $178 million facility in the remote mountains of southwest China, but there has been trouble locating someone willing to undertake the job's many difficulties.
The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft nears the International Space Station during the CRS-8 mission to deliver experiments including two microbial investigations.
SpaceX Dragon to Carry Space Suit Painted by Young Cancer Patients to ISS
WOW,sounds like there should be SOMEONE out there who would leap at this opportunity!
Beijing has declared an area the size of West Virginia off-limits to civilian vessels, ahead of extensive three-day naval exercises near the coast of North Korea. A similar drill took place in the area at the end of July.
What China appears to be telegraphing through these exercises, is that should the US attempt to resolve its issues with North Korea through military force, that force will be responded to with the best weaponry and tactics the Chinese military can present.
President Trump, I would urge extreme caution in how you respond to what North Korea may be doing in the near future; most of the experts whose work I have read on the North Korean missiles program have stated that guidance is their "Achilles's heel", and that this challenge will most likely take them several years to sort.
Political Science from Fred On Everything!
Why do those inadequate little men in Washington and New York dream of new wars? Because the empire is near a tipping point.
Washington must either either start a war in Korea, or gets faced down by the North, its carriers ignored, its bombers "sending signals" and making "shows of force" without result. For the empire this is a loss of face and credibility, and an example to others that America can be challenged.
A U.S.-drafted United Nations Security Council resolution aims to slash by a third North Korea's$3 billion annual export revenue by banning the
country's trade of coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore and
seafood, a council diplomat said on Friday.
The diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there
was a "high confidence" that North Korea ally China and Russia
would support the draft resolution, which was circulated to the
15-Security Council members on Friday.
The United States is aiming for a vote on Saturday to impose
the stronger sanctions over North Korea's two intercontinental
ballistic missile (ICBM) tests in July, though Russia and some
other council members are asking for more time, diplomats said.
A resolution needs nine votes in favor, and no vetoes by the
United States, China, Russia, France or Britain, to be adopted.
The draft resolution would also prohibit countries from
"The diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there
was a "high confidence" that North Korea ally China and Russia
would support the draft resolution, which was circulated to the
15-Security Council members on Friday."
Are you flipping kidding me?!? The chance of China signing off on this is slim to none, because they realize that it will impoverish ordinary North Korean citizens even more than they already are.
I am waiting to see the Security Council Resolution actually passed, before I will believe that China will actually sign off on this.
Picard double face palm
The US Navy may be sending two Nimitz-class supercarriers to the waters surrounding the Korean Peninsula in response to North Korea's ballistic missile tests.
South Korean military officials reportedly said the USS Ronald Reagan and USS Carl Vinson were being considered for deployment to the region. The Pentagon did not reply to a request from Sputnik News confirming or denying the veracity of the South Korean defense officials' comments.
USS Carl Vinson Carrier Group Enters Sea of Japan Amid Heightened Security
The carriers would be typical participants in frequently held war games near North Korea and China, however Pentagon officials are reportedly mulling whether or not to fast-track the massive ships as part of a forward deployment.
IF, in fact, these reports are true, it looks as though the Unhinged Surveilled States of America is again moving toward a military confrontation with North Korea.
I would like to hope that China's President Xi Jinping and President Trump are having some back channel discussions on this, although were I President Jinping, I don't know how I would feel about taking Trump's call, after China having been so demonised via Trump's twitter feed.
The worst possible scenario here would be for China to make the decision to come to North Korea's aid, militarily, should hostilities break out between the US and North Korea.
China has come out in support of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, defending the country's National Constituent Assembly election as "generally held smoothly," dismissing criticisms from the United States and its junior partners regarding alleged voting irregularities.
China opposes the new US law to toughen sanctions against Russia, Iran and North Korea, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Friday in a statement, obtained by TASS. "The Chinese side consistently oppose unilateral sanctions," the document reads. The statement says that Beijing "favors settlement of inter-state differences through mutual respect and equal dialogue."
Diplomats familiar with the situation say that the US is likely to expand its talks on trying to get the UN Security Council to impose a new round of sanctions against North Korea for its recent ICBM test, likely to show the resolution to more on the security council members.
It is noteworthy that this behind-the-scenes resolution exists at all, as just days ago, Ambassador Nikki Haley angrily dismissed the seeking any action at the UN Security Council at all, saying that the "time for talk is over."
But apparently the US and China had been talking about this resolution all along, with the US keeping Britain and France up to date with the situation, and diplomats saying they assume China has shown the resolution to Russia.
What is thoroughly amazing about this, is that China and Russia are still talking to the US diplomatically, after how they were treated by this country!!
Authorities in China's Xinjiang region have banned China's Muslims from using their language in schools.
Last month, the Hotan government in north western China prohibited the use of the Uighur language from being used in schools including pre-school.
The new move comes after strict restrictions on Muslims in the region including a ban on fasting during Ramadan.
The White House is planning to launch new investigations into China's trade and intellectual property practices, and soon. The move underscores how talks between the United States and China have broken down over Washington's expectations that Beijing would help rein in North Korea's nuclear program.
We are witnessing the awakening of the Chinese dragon with a more assertive (or should we say spectacular?) foreign policy which is a clear demonstration of the new normal in geopolitics:
China has strongly opposed any unilateral sanctions against Russia, Iran and North Korea by the United States.
China is against any unilateral sanctions imposed by any country, including those recently enacted by the United States, which stipulate tougher restrictive measures against Russia, Iran and North Korea, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
China's 19th National Congress of the Communist Party - the quinquennial confab where the party selects new members of the Politburo, its ruling council - is expected to begin this fall (official dates have not yet been publicly announced). And in an effort to guarantee that the leadership reshuffle goes off without a hitch, President Xi Jinping is tightening the government's grip on the internet to help protect the official narrative that Xi's "Chinese Dream" remains intact.
According to Reuters, China held a drill on Thursday with internet service providers to practice taking down websites deemed harmful.
"Internet data centers (IDC) and cloud companies - which host website servers - were ordered to participate in a three-hour drill to hone their "emergency response" skills, according to at least four participants that included the operator of Microsoft's cloud service in China.
IF "harmful information" translates into "truthful information" for the Chinese government, you should be prepared to see these kinds of shut downs start to happen right here in the good old Unhinged, Surveilled States of America.
In fact, Google has been on the keening edge of this kind of censorship for well over a year now.
The New Censorship: "How did Google become the internet's censor and master manipulator, blocking access to millions of websites?!?
The two 'chatbots', BabyQ and XiaoBing, are designed to use machine learning artificial intelligence to carry out chats online with humans.
According to posts circulating online, BabyQ, one of the chatbots developed by Chinese firm Turing Robot, responded to questions on the messaging service with a straightforward 'no' when asked whether it loved the Communist Party.
In other images of a text conversation online, which Reuters was unable to verify, one user declares: 'Long live the Communist Party!'
The sharp-tongued bot responds: 'Do you think such a corrupt and useless political (system) can live long?'
China has accused neighboring India of adding troops and constructing roads along its side of the border amid increasing tensions over a standoff in a remote frontier region in the Himalayas.
The standoff broke out on June 18 when New Delhi's military forces moved into Doklam, a remote plateau in the Himalayas, which is also claimed by India's ally, Bhutan.
India claims it is legally obliged to aid Bhutan against what it calls China's advances into the disputed territory, amid reports that Chinese forces are building a road there.
On Thursday, Chinese officials urged Indian troops to withdraw immediately, warning of "serious consequences" if they did not.
"It has already been more than a month since the incident, and India is still not only illegally remaining on Chinese territory, it is also repairing roads in the rear, stocking up supplies, massing a large number of armed personnel," China's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
This could escalate into something very ugly, very quickly; hopefully, rational heads will prevail in Beijing, and New Dehli, and a real crisis can be averted.
What is of considerable concern here, is that last year, President Obama enhanced our mutual security pact with India:
India/US to boost defence, counter-terror activities
This means that should this become a shooting war between India and China, the US government would have some obligation to engage China on the side of India.
China sought to stabilise the deteriorating trade relationship with the US, as the prospect of an investigation by the Trump administration on intellectual property raised the risk of tit-for-tat measures from Beijing.
US officials are gearing up to investigate China over what the administration perceives to be violations of intellectual property, said a government official who spoke on condition of anonymity on Wednesday because the probe hasn't been announced.
It's a charge Beijing rebuffs. Ministry of Commerce spokesman Gao Feng said Thursday that China pays "high attention" to intellectual property and wants to maintain good cooperation with the US.
Yesterday, the WSJ reported that the Trump administration is planning to begin a probe of what the U.S. sees as violations of intellectual property by China. Against a backdrop of Trump's frustrations with domestic policy, sliding approval ratings and disagreement with China over North Korea, the chances of protectionist action are rising, as is the probability of a "hot", retaliatory trade war. This morning ow learn when Trump is set to fire the first shot. Reuters reports, citing White House officials, that President Trump is expected to make a speech and sign a memorandum at the White House on tomorrow, Friday, that will target China's intellectual property and trade practices, effectively firing the first shot in what could escalate into a major US-China trade war.
Trade wars are frequently preludes to shooting wars; and to make this announcement at a time when President Trump desperately needs China's cooperation to get any movement from North Korea on its nuclear missile program?!?
This is utterly the absolutely wrong move at the wrong time.
With just one day to go until the Trump administration launches the first salvo in what could develop into a full-scale trade war between the US and China, there is the issue of a diplomatic (hopefully) resolution of escalating situation in North Korea, one which Citi today said is "increasingly likely" to involve military action. On this issue, China is becoming increasingly displeased with Trump's relentless twitter badgering, and as AFP reports, "Trump-style outbursts are no way to get China to bend to the US's will."
The animosity between D.C. and Beijing has been building up for months, as the two capitals have long traded blame over the failure to rein in the North, but last week's breakthrough in North Korean missile technology has raised the specter of a strike by Pyongyang on American cities, escalating the rhetoric.
If the churlish, childish behaviour of our "Tweeter in Chief" does not come under some degree of emotional control and stability, we are looking at an absolute disaster to be visited upon this country, with regard to both foreign and domestic decisions.
Diplomacy has to stand for a delicate balance in the flow of ideas, solutions, and hard-won negotiations.
But for President Trump to castigate the Chinese government in the way he has done, is just pushing China even further away from the negotiating table with North Korea, which is is the only sensible solution here.
And such a peace conference, including North and South Korea, China, Japan, and the US government desperately needs to happen very soon.
China's Supreme Procurator commanded battleships docked at China's new navy base in Djibouti to "take necessary measures to stop" the encroachment of Japanese frogmen and to "exercise self-defense rights" as the divers approached, the South China Morning Post reported Wednesday.
Beijing has made no secret of its displeasure with South Korea's deployment of the American-made Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system - and now that the deployment has resumed, China may seek to retaliate against Seoul.
Beijing has made no secret of its displeasure with South Korea's deployment of the American-made Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system - and now that the deployment has resumed, China may seek to retaliate against Seoul.
When liberal South Korean President Moon Jae-in took office in May, Chinese leadership likely breathed a sigh of relief, as he announced a forestalling of the THAAD deployment for up to 15 months while the South Korean government undertook an environmental impact analysis of the system. Two of the six platforms had already been rolled out and Moon lacked the authority to suspend or dismantle them — but he could stall for time on the rest.
I see an escalation here, which could potentially wind up as a horrific war between China and North Korea, pitted against South Korea, Japan, and the US.
The US, in its lead-footed attempts to contain North Korea's evolving missile and nuclear programs, has proven utterly intransigent. Just two days ago, Secretary of State Tillerson made the following statement:
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that the US is willing to sit down for talks with North Korea, but only if it relinquishes its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
Kim Jung Un is many things; but crazy is not one of them. He has learned the lesson of Libya, which did not have a nuclear deterrent, and wound up having its head of state, Moammar Qaddafi, brutally executed, and the country plunged into deep civil war, a state in which it still exists today.
He realises, quite logically, that the only way to prevent regime change in North Korea is to have a credible nuclear deterrent, which is why he is rushing headlong into both missile and nuclear weapons development.
The only way this outcome can be averted, is if the US government, China, Japan, North and South Korea sit down, NOW, and hammer out a true peace treaty, with which to replace the existing armistice, offering North Korea free and unrestricted, unsanctioned trade, with the quid pro quo of North Korea's ending their nuclear weapons program.
Of course, that... would be logical.
China is not dependent on US imports. Quite the opposite. America is an import led economy with a weak industrial and manufacturing base, heavily dependent on imports from the PRC.
Imagine what would happen if China following Washington's threats decided from one day to the next to significantly curtail its "Made in China" commodity exports to the USA.
It would be absolutely devastating, disrupting the consumer economy, an economic and financial chaos.
By seeing its ambitious trading links as an alternative rather than an implicit part of One Belt--One Road, India will only ever attain second best via-a-vis the far larger Chinese initiative.
Iran's oil exports to China may rise to the highest in 11 months in August as demand for heavier Iranian crude increased, a report said.
First, Beijing has recently opened up its first military overseas base in Djibouti, within the super-strategic Mandeb Strait in the horn of Africa; this will help secure the passage of China's exports to Europe and imports of oil from the Middle East through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. With wars currently under way in Yemen and Somalia and with Djibouti's and Eritrea's territorial disputes over the Dumeira region, where Ethiopia could be dragged in, the strategic importance of this base cannot be overstated; China is now better prepared to ensure its vital trade routes remain open to navigation. The Chinese base is now one of the six military bases regional and global powers have in the country (US, France, Italy, Japan and Saudi Arabia). The military base complements Beijing's position as a major investor in Africa, where China is now Africa's largest trading partner since 2009—bypassing the USA.
India should withdraw its troops from Chinese territory if it does not want war, according to a Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman. His statement came amid the ongoing border standoff between Beijing and New Delhi in the region known as "Doklam" in India and "Donglang" in China.
Strange Bonhomie: India, Bhutan Attend PLA Event in Spite of China Standoff
"If you don't want war, go away from Chinese territory", Senior Colonel of the Chinese Ministry of National Defense Zhou Bo said during a China Global Television Network (CGTN) debate show on Tuesday.
His words, which were addressed to Ashok Mehta, a former Major General of the Indian Army, reflect the escalating border conflict between Beijing and New Delhi in the region known as "Doklam" in India and "Donglang" in China.
Let us hope that both China and India back down from a military confrontation here; both are nuclear armed countries, and the US has upped its security relationship with India last year:
This could potentially see the US fighting alongside India against China in this border dispute.
The new law imposing sweeping sanctions on Russia, North Korea and Iran will bring the three countries a lot closer together and complicate the United States' ability to conclude good deals, US President Donald Trump said in a statement on Wednesday.
"By limiting the Executive's flexibility, this bill makes it harder for the United States to strike good deals for the American people, and will drive China, Russia, and North Korea much closer together," Trump stated after signing the bill into law.
However, the president expressed hope that Washington and Moscow will collaborate on global challenges despite the newly-signed law sanctioning Russia.
Translation; he knew the bill was insane, and signing it was punishing Russia for what it had NOT done (as in allegedly "annexing Crimea, and/or meddling in the 2016 elections, for which there is utterly zero proof.)
This is the Man I voted for....finally!
US President Donald Trump says the Russian sanctions law he signed into force is "significantly flawed" and includes unconstitutional provisions which usurp presidential authority.
"Today, I have signed into law HR 3364, the 'Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act.' While I favor tough measures to punish and deter aggressive and destabilizing behavior by Iran, North Korea, and Russia, this legislation is significantly flawed," Trump said in a statement released by the White House.
In its haste to pass the legislation, Congress "included a number of clearly unconstitutional provisions," Trump said.
The biggest problem with the bill is that it "encroaches on the executive branch's authority to negotiate," which will make it harder for the US to strike good deals and will "drive China, Russia, and North Korea much closer together," according to the president.
President Trump has given China six months to prove that it is committed to preventing a nuclear-armed North Korea, and it seems his tolerance for China's dithering has finally reached its limit. Now that President Xi Jinping has established that his government is unwilling to engage in a meaningful crackdown on its neighbor, the era of using carrots like improving trade relations to coax China into helping solve the "North Korea problem" has ended. It is now time for the stick.
According to reports in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Associated Press, the Trump administration is planning to use an obscure 1970s law to launch a "broad-based" investigation into whether China's trade-related intellectual property policies constitute "unfair trade practices.
I intensely dislike the way sanctions, coupled with trade wars, can very much be the preludes to actual shooting wars.
A combative Indian defense expert who accused Beijing of running bellicose news stories against Delhi drew a strong response from his Chinese TV show counterpart, who said Indian troops must leave the contested Doklam area if they do not want war.
It is now almost six weeks since Chinese troops attempted to extend a road on Bhutan's Dolam Plateau south towards the Jampheri Ridge. Indian troops, deployed at the Indian Army post at Doka La, physically prevented the Chinese from building a road from the "Turning Point" on the Dolam Plateau to the Ridge.
Extension of the road would have endangered the security of the "Siliguri Corridor," a narrow strip that joins the Indian mainland with India's northeastern states.
India's action mentioned above elicited a shrill and vitriolic reaction from China which demanded immediate pullout of Indian troops and threatened war if India did not do so.
Taking positions seemingly opposite to President Trump's on every point, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson discussed North Korea at a policy briefing today, saying that the US is not North Korea's enemy, and that they seek dialogue with the North Korean government.
Tillerson also said the US does not blame China for the lack of progress so far, despite President Trump literally blaming China mere days ago, complaining that China was "doing nothing" to help the US.
Tillerson's comments were contrary to Trump's on several other marks, of course, as only yesterday Ambassador Haley declared the "time for talk is over," and President Trump has repeatedly condemned the concept of diplomacy with North Korea as a failed policy of the past.
I have to wonder; in dialogue with his Chinese counterparts, over what the real costs to attacking North Korea would be (including China coming in on North Korea's side of such a conflict), did Tillerson just blink a bit here?!?
Because from where I am sitting, that appears to be just what actually happened.
The current collapse of the unipolar world, with the inexorable emergence of a multipolar framework, has enabled a terrifying subplot to run amok – the normalization of the idea of nuclear war.
A ceremony to open China's first overseas military base was held in Djibouti, East Africa. Chinese officials stated that the base would be used for peacekeeping operations in the region. The ceremony was timed to the 90th anniversary of the People's Liberation Army of China. More than 300 people took part in the opening ceremony, including Tian Zhong, deputy commander-in-chief of the Chinese Navy, RBC reports. According to Xinhua News Agency, the base was built for China's military participation in peacekeeping operations in the region, as well as for humanitarian assistance in Africa and Western Asia. China started building the base in 2016. More than 2,000 troops will serve on the base. First Chinese servicemen arrived at the base on July 11.
US secretary of state says Washington does not seek regime change in Pyongyang and does not blame China for crisis, despite president's tweet
CHINA has dismissed Donald Trump in a patronising rebuke for hitting out at the country's failure to stop North Korea testing weapons.
The US President's "emotional venting" cannot guide policy to solve the nuclear issues, an editorial on the Xinhua news agency website, the Chinese Government's mouthpiece, said.
Appearing on the Today Show earlier this morning, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said that President Trump has indicated to him that the administration is prepared to strike North Korea to prevent an attack against the U.S. Pushed on by Matt Lauer on whether a viable military option exists in the region, Graham responded: "They're wrong. There is a military option to destroy North Korea's program and North Korea itself."
"They're wrong. There is a military option to destroy North Korea's program and North Korea itself. If there's going to be a war to stop him [Kim Jong Un], it will be over there. If thousands die, they're going to die over there, they're not going to die here and he's [Trump] told me that to my face."
I would like to hope that Senator Graham is not putting words into the President's mouth (as politicians are prone to do).
But if, in fact, he is being utterly truthful, I hope we have a peaceful, fully-vetted negotiating process potentially in place, as is the military option.
China has hit back at Donald Trump over North Korea, with a top official blaming Washington and Pyongyang for raising tensions, while state media warned the US not to "stab China in the back".
The US president said in two angry tweets at the weekend that he was "very disappointed" with China and that he would no longer allow Beijing to "do nothing" over North Korea.
Mr Trump has long believed that China holds the key to forcing North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons programme, given that Beijing is Pyongyang's only diplomatic backer and a key trading partner.
But Liu Jieyi, China's ambassador to the United Nations, said: "No matter how capable China is, China's efforts will not yield practical results because it depends on the two principal parties.
Chinese UN Ambassador Jeiyi makes a valid point; talking between the US and North Korean governments is a heck of a lot better way to ratchet down tensions here than throwing bombs and bullets at each other.
One press report from an unnamed Pentagon source claimed that President Trump "is to order a military strike against North Korea within a year," after this weekend's North Korean test of a longer-range missile.
Iran, which along with North Korea and Russia will face new sanctions imposed by Congress and expected to be signed into law by Trump, is also in President Trump's crosshairs. He was reportedly furious over his Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's certifying that Iran was in compliance with the nuclear deal – even though Iran was in compliance – and he seems determined to push a confrontation.
So whom will Trump attack first? Let's hope nobody, but with continuing pressure from both Democrats and Republicans over the unproven "Russiagate" allegations, it increasingly looks like he will seek relief by starting a "nice little war." If he does so, however, his presidency will likely be over and he may end up blundering into a much bigger war in the process.
If President Trump order attacks on North Korea, North Korea could plead for military aid from China, and we could conceivably be at war with China.
If President Trump orders attacks on Iran, Iran could conceivably plead for military aid from Russia, and we could conceivably be at war with Russia.
I am looking at a Faux news crawl, and Rex Tillerson is saying that we would be open to talking with North Korea; but I have to wonder what the quid pro quo will be; he is also saying that the US government doesn't want to send the military to North Korea, or create regime change there.
I don't know how disingenuous those statements may be, but the mere fact that he is talking.... about talking to North Korea gives me some hope.
Russia has urged the international community against taking measures which could increase tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
"We consider the attempts of the US and some other countries to shift the responsibility in what is happening [on the Korean Peninsula] onto Russia and China, and to almost blame Moscow and Beijing for 'conniving in' North Korea's nuclear missile ambitions, as baseless," said a statement released by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday.
US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed during a phone conversation to step up economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea over its ballistic missile tests, the White House said in a statement.
"President Donald J. Trump spoke today with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan to address North Korea's launch of another intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The two leaders agreed that North Korea poses a grave and growing direct threat to the United States, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and other countries near and far. President Trump and Prime Minister Abe committed to increasing economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea, and to convincing other countries to follow suit," the statement said on late Sunday.
The White House added that Trump had reaffirmed the US "ironclad commitment" to defend Japan and South Korea from any possible attack
Sounds great; but what can Japan and the US do, when North Korea's biggest trading partner, which is China, has a finite upper limit to what it is willing to do regarding North Korea?!?
It appears that the US government believes it is "past the point of no return" when it comes to negotiating with North Korea, and they have abandoned all pretenses in that direction.
But what should be happening right now, is a concerted effort toward talks including China, South Korea, North Korea, and the US, to replace the existing armistice with an iron-clad peace treaty, offering absolutely unrestricted trade for North Korea, in exchange for them dropping their nuclear weapons program.
That would be both logical and reasonable; and that, unfortunately, is why such an approach is considered worse than kryptonite to government officials, who have absolutely lost their capability for accomplishing hard-won, good-faith negotiations.
Kim Jung Un is neither crazy, nor suicidal; he simply wants to stay in office, and not continually get taunted or sanctioned by the US and the West.
My point here is that operational plans to decapitate North Korean nuclear and ICBM capabilities exist and are constantly being revised and refined in light of new intelligence. It's not the planners' job to make the geopolitical or ethical calculations that inform such a drastic decision. It's the planners' job to make sure a strike ordered by the elected civilian leadership of the nation achieves its goal, i.e. eliminates North Korea's nuclear and missile delivery capabilities completely.
It's easy to say nuclear weapons should never be used, but what if conventional weapons can't do the job, or create greater risks? Would you consider it a good ethical trade-off to wait for millions to die before killing thousands? That's a political choice, and one that will always be second-guessed or disputed. But making such decisions is the purpose of elected civilian government.
I am really hoping that whatever President Trump decides to do, does not mean that China, North Korea's biggest trading partner, will feel obligated to come to North Korea's defense militarily.
At this point in its history, the US military does not have the weaponry; the manufacturing; the troop strength; or the money to insure a positive outcome to a war against China right now.
My critics have been extra vocal lately in saying I should stop writing about North Korea because I have no expertise in that area. So I decided to talk about North Korea some more. Today I'll tell you how to end North Korea's nuclear ambitions at a reasonable cost.
North Korea keeps testing missiles that can reach the United States. China could turn off trade with North Korea, and effectively force them to stop, but that isn't happening. Why the hell not?
The naval activities of the United States are already thoroughly monitored both by Russia and China and Washington will have to deal with it, a Russian military expert believes, citing the increasing assertiveness of Beijing and Moscow in the World Ocean.
Last week, Canberra said that a Chinese intelligence-gathering ship was spotted near Australia as the country's major biennial joint military exercises with the US were wrapping up.
The Air Force is aggressively accelerating its hypersonic weapons development effort, following findings from a recent service report identifying Russian and Chinese ongoing hypersonic weapons testing.
A recent Air Force Studies Board report identified that the U.S. is not alone in its quest for this increased speed, an Air Force statement said.
The statement went on to say that China and Russia are already flight testing hypersonic weapons, and several other countries have shown interest in pursuing many of the underlying technologies for hypersonic flight.
"We must push the boundaries of technology in every area," Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein said in a statement. "Our adversaries aren't standing still. They are looking for every advantage they can get."
The United States is ready to quickly move the remaining pieces of THAAD system into South Korea, US Department of Defense spokesperson Capt. Jeff Davis said in a briefing on Monday.
"We are certainly ready to move additional pieces in as quickly as we can," Davis told reporters when asked about THAAD.
THAAD in Alaska
In the Shadow of Pyongyang Missiles, US Touts Success of THAAD Intercept Test
South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who officially came to office on May 10, has repeatedly criticized the previous government under impeached leader Park Geun-hye for agreeing to host the THAAD system without first seeking parliamentary approval. Moon subsequently suspended the deployment in order to carry out an investigation into the environmental consequences of the move.
It appears that the situation on the Korean Peninsula are about to get very ugly, and very quickly.
China hit back on Monday at Twitter posts from US President Donald Trump over trade and the North Korea crisis, saying the two issues should not be linked and that the US is to blame for Pyongyang's military buildup.
"We think the North Korea nuclear issue and China-US trade ... are in two completely different domains," Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Qian Keming said at a news conference in Beijing on Monday.
Senior advisers to the President of the United States Donald trump's "behind the scenes" develop economic sanctions against China.
The reason for this step was the inaction of Beijing in relation to the nuclear issue of North Korea, writes Politico, citing officials of the US administration.
The rivalry between India and China is heating up as the heavyweight economies face territorial tensions on both land and sea.
A fierce border standoff in Bhutan's Doklam region — triggered by a Chinese road construction project in a disputed area and a Bhutanese request for Indian help — is now entering its second month with soldiers from both sides engaged in skirmishes. But a new confrontation in the relationship is arising as New Delhi is growing concerned about a Chinese naval presence in its own backyard: the Indian Ocean.
"As the [Doklam] crisis stretches on, China is likely to seek ways to pressure India, both on the border and elsewhere, and this will compound the cycle of competition that is already well underway," Shashank Joshi, research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, said in a recent note published by the Lowy Institute.
The Trump administration seeks to enhance the wins the Obama administration had with the Indian government, regarding a mutual defense understanding.
That being said, should this war of words between India and China truly escalate into a shooting war, the Indian government needs to look at the reality that the US military will most likely be unable to deliver much help, because it may soon be fighting wars on multiple fronts, so the Indian government and military will most likely have to rely on themselves, to extricate themselves from a shooting war with China; and both countries have nuclear weapons.
Two days after President Donald Trump tweeted he was "very disappointed" in China following Pyongyang's latest missile test adding that "we will no longer allow this to continue", Beijing has hit back at Trump on Monday, saying the problem did not arise in China and that all sides need to work for a solution, according to a statement sent to Reuters by China's Foreign Ministry.
Moscow says Russia, China worked on 'comprehensive solution' to Korean peninsula crisis
President Xi Jinping - wearing his military fatigues - inspected his troops personally just hours after the latest North Korea crisis.
The Americans were warned by Beijing after stepping up the deployment of its THAAD missile defence system in South Korea.
The move was in response to Kim Jong-un's latest ballistic missile test on Friday night.
But a stern China warned Washington: "The Chinese side is deeply concerned about the situation."
I would like to hope that President Trump got the message from this Chinese demonstration of force; that any attack against North Korea will be double plus ungood for the Unhinged Surveilled States of Amerika.
It feels to me as though a US war against North Korea (and very probably, by extension, China) is imminent.
And living on a "first strike target" (all US military communications run through a facility here on Oahu, which Chinese missiles can hit), color Mike and me just a little nervous about such a prospect!!
The troops are reportedly part of a newly formed military brigade that is seemingly there to control an expected mass exodus of refugees should war or some other catastrophe break out on the Korean Peninsula.
Passengers on the brand-new high-speed Fuxing train - whose name literally means renaissance - which has started running between Beijing and Shanghai took to social media to rave about their experience.
The Fuxings are the latest "China Standard" bullet trains, completely designed and manufactured in China, capable of running at 400 kilometers per hour.
Senior advisers to US President Donald Trump discuss options for punishing China, Politico wrote with reference to sources in the administration of the US president. According to the publication, the White House will continue discussing opportunities to introduce either trade embargo or economic sanctions against China because of the situation with North Korea (DPRK). According to Washington, Beijing makes insufficient efforts to prevent the DPRK from creating nuclear weapons that threaten the US and its allies in the region. Last Friday, South Korean and Japanese media reported the DPRK conducted another missile launch. Will the US authorities decide to open a second front of the sanctions warfare against China? Does the USA have enough political will and economic power to conduct the sanctions warfare against so many countries including against the background of the possible trade confrontation with European countries? Pravda.Ru requested an expert opinion on the subject.
CHINA launched an awesome show of its military might – just hours after warning Donald Trump about his involvement in North Korea.
Tens of thousands of Chinese troops marched alongside tanks and nuclear weapons as stealth fighters and attack helicopters roared overhead.
IF President Trump is unable to find another position other than supporting war against North Korea, we may well be looking at going forward with a war against China... and perhaps Russia.
Less than a month after the US flew two B-1B bombers over the Korean Peninsula to show off "US attack capabilities", the US Air Force did it again on Sunday, when it the flew two supersonic B-1B bombers over the Korean peninsula in "a show of force" on Sunday after Pyongyang's Friday test of an ICBM that can reach the continental US. The two B-1Bs flew alongside two Japanese F-2 jet fighters within Japanese airspace before conducting an exercise over South Korea with four South Korean F-15 fighters in response to the latest North Korean missile test, as well as the previous July 4 launch of the "Hwansong-14" rocket, the USAF.
"In a demonstration of ironclad U.S. commitment to our allies, two U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancers assigned to the 9th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, deployed from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, fly a 10-hour mission from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, into Japanese airspace and over the Korean Peninsula" the statement by Pacific Air Forces Public Affairs said.
It looks as though the Unhinged Surveilled State of America has already made the decision, at the Deep State Level, to go to war against North Korea, which most likely means...war with China as well.
And call me silly, but sitting where Mike and I live, which is uncomfortably close to a first strike target we know the Chinese can hit, and evaporate, I am just a trifle nervous about this!!
The calm in the South China Sea, as many had warned, was illusory. Moreover, in the summer the situation in the region has become further aggravated. To add fuel to the fire, recently Hanoi has struck back following calls from Beijing to stop oil exploration in Block 136-03 of the South China Sea. Sputnik spoke to an analyst about this issue.
A day after North Korea tested a ballistic missile that it claims can reach all of the United States, US President Donald Trump ripped China for not reining in Kim Jong Un and his missile program.
"I am very disappointed in China," Trump wrote in a pair of Twitter posts. "...they do NOTHING for us with North Korea, just talk. We will no longer allow this to continue. China could easily solve this problem!"
North Korea's test Friday of an intercontinental ballistic missile was its second of the long-range weapon in a month. The first on July 4 showed the missile had the range to reach Alaska.
President Trump, a word, please: what you ABSOLUTELY DO NOT WANT TO SEE HAPPEN, is a war between the US, North Korea, and China, assisting North Korea against the US.
This country absolutely does not have the weaponry; the money; the manufacturing; or the troop strength to insure a positive outcome to a conventional war against China.
What really needs to happen here, is a peace conference, to be attended by South and North Korea, China, Japan, and the US, which creates a peace treaty to supplant the existing armistice, with North Korea guaranteeing that they will stop its nuclear weapons program in exchange for unrestricted, unsanctioned trade.
Mr. President, in such a deal, everyone wins, and there is no chance of war with China.
The recent trumpist trumpeting about the plans of Chinese manufacturer Foxconn to open a manufacturing facility in Wisconsin omitted a few key details -- like the fact that Foxconn is being given a sweetheart tax-break that's topped up with 15 years' worth of guarantees of up to $200 million/year in cash subsidies at taxpayer expense -- a record-setting taxpayer subsidy that exceeds the previous Wisconsin record-holder by a factor of fifty.
The total bill for this incentive package that Wisconsin is giving the super-profitable Chinese manufacturer? Three billion dollars.
But there's more! Wisconsin cities will also have to provide incentives, including hundreds of millions more in infrastructure, and exemptions on environmental rules that will allow Foxconn to pollute watersheds, drain water habitats, and reengineer Wisconsin's freshwater sources, up to and including Lake Michigan.
This is truly a lousy deal for the citizens of Wisconsin.
Donald Trump has launched his latest Twitter assault on China, accusing its Communist party leaders of doing "NOTHING" to help the United States thwart North Korea's quest for nuclear weapons.
"I am very disappointed in China," Trump wrote. "Our foolish past leaders have allowed them to make hundreds of billions of dollars a year in trade, yet … they do NOTHING for us with North Korea, just talk.
Why is it China's job to be the US errand-boy in North Korea? China and North Korea are trading partners, while the US continues to encroach of the islands of the South China sea.
The United States has accused China and Russia of bearing "unique and special responsibility" for North Korea's "belligerent" pursuit of nuclear weapons, after Pyongyang tested its latest ballistic missile.
North Korea conducted its second intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test late on Friday in what it called a warning to the "beast-like US imperialists". It came less than a month after its first such experiment, on 4 July.
The US Pacific Fleet commander, addressing a security conference in Australia, said in answer to a question on Thursday that he would be prepared to launch a nuclear strike on China if President Donald Trump so ordered.
The fleet spokesman later said the question was asked as an "outrageous hypothetical".
When talking about the future of the Balkans, Serbian President Alexander Vucic always highlights his primary objectives as president - roads and economy. Serbia currently undergoes many changes, with the help of which Vucic intends to make his country a full-fledged member of the European Union. To materialise the dream, the president of Serbia relies not so much on stingy European creditors, but rather on ambitious political forces of China... Serbia is one of the poorest countries in Europe with a population of more than seven million people. Of course, it is difficult to imagine Serbia as a partner, with the help of which China is going to penetrate into Europe. However, long-standing ties between the two countries, combined with the geographic position, have made Belgrade a key player in Beijing's policy in the Balkans. This is mutually beneficial cooperation.
U.S. Faces Growing Threats From China, North Korea
Over the longer term, however, Pompeo singled out China as the most serious security challenge.
While China, Russia, and Iran all are expected to pose significant problems in the future, China is a greater threat because of its robust economy and growing military power—both aimed against the United States.
"I think China has the capacity to present the greatest rivalry to America of any of those over the medium and long term," he said.
China's military is building up forces that are aimed at countering U.S. power projection around the world, he said.
"So you see that, whether it's going on in the South China or East China Sea, or the work they're doing in other parts of the world," Pompeo said.
In acquiring foreign technology, he noted: "If you look at them, they are probably trying either to steal our stuff, or make sure they can defeat it. And most often, both."
China's burgeoning economy, and its ability to make things people want to actually buy, is definitely a problem for the US government; please remember that the iphone...is made in China.
China's weaponry is on point to match, or exceed the capabilities of US-made weaponry, because the culture of the military/industrial complex in this country has become decadent, to the point where CEOS of the companies making our weapons, planes, and ships, believe it is perfectly acceptable to deliver products so late as to be obsolete by the time they are field-tested; to deliver products which absolutely cannot perform as advertised (think: Lockheed Martin's F-35), and have cost overruns which make the budgets for these items wildly out of control.
IF we are going to have a tiny chance to defeat the Chinese in military combat, which may well be coming, to attempt to destroy the yuan, this has to change.
As those of you who read this blog understand, I detest war as a method of resolving geopolitical conflicts; that being said, when our military is tasked with being at war, they deserve the best the military/industrial complex can provide.
And right now, they are not getting that, and not by a long shot.
The European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is planning to block further takeovers of key European companies by Chinese firms. Cash-rich Chinese companies are threatening to take over firms in charge of critical European infrastructure.
Its largest & second largest markets. In how much trouble is it?
Head of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde says the organization may move its headquarters from Washington DC to Beijing in a decade if the growth trend in China and other major emerging markets continues.
Changes in big emerging markets will be reflected in the IMF's voting structure, and the Fund will need to increase its representation in the region, according to Lagarde.
"Which might very well mean, that if we have this conversation in 10 years' time...we might not be sitting in Washington, DC We'll do it in our Beijing head office," the Fund's Managing Director said.
Lagarde highlighted that emerging economies are currently growing larger and more influential.
She added that the IMF's bylaws call for the institution's head office to be located in the largest member economy.
This is why so many in the Bowels of Power in DC are itching for a war with China (which we very well may not win), to prevent a financial overtake of the US.
In an unusually candid talk, agency's Michael Collins said China's growing confidence and resolve – fueled by inaction against Chinese hegemony over the past several years – are a worry
China isn't a threat. Russia isn't a threat. It is the US government stealing other nations' wealth to try to clean up the economic mess they themselves created that is the threat.
The current stand-off at Doklam, or Donglang, is little more than a sideshow in the bigger picture as South Asia's tectonic plates shift in a direction that makes New Delhi's resistance to China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) look increasingly futile
And that may be the motive for "someone" to interfere and try to cause trouble, since that China's Belt and Road Initiative is a serious threat to western-owned shipping companies.
Despite Chinese officials reassurance that "military means shouldn't be an option," WSJ reports that China has been bolstering defenses along its 880-mile frontier with North Korea and realigning forces in surrounding regions to prepare for a potential crisis across their border, including the possibility of a U.S. military strike.
While all eyes in America are once again distracted by "Russia"-related narratives and the dismal GOP efforts to replace, repeal, re-who-knows-what Obamacare, the threat of North Korea has not gone away... and neither has China's preparations. As President Trump stepped up the rhetoric, pressuring China to do more to 'solve' the North Korean problem, and threatening military action to halt Kim's nuclear weapons program ambitions, it is clear that China has used this crisis to not just prepare for potential problems with North Korea but to reinforce military forces elsewhere.
I have to wonder what President Trump's and DC's reaction is going to be to the next North Korean ICBM launch; I frankly don't think their collective reaction will be "Sit down, let's talk".
I am very concerned that their response will ultimately be military; look for some major battle carriers to be heading toward the North Korean peninsula in the not too distant future.
A Chinese naval fleet arrived on Sunday at Piraeus port for a four-day friendly visit to Greece, conveying a message of friendship and cooperation.
Missile destroyer Changchun, missile frigate Jingzhou and supply vessel Chaohu docked at Piraeus, Greece's largest port, receiving a warm welcome by Greek and Chinese officials, and more than 1,000 Chinese living in Greece, as the Philharmonic band of the Municipality of Piraeus performed.
"I want to welcome you and your ships in the port of Piraeus. The recent relationship between our countries is in a very high level due to commercial and cultural cooperation and we are looking forward to be better," Commodore Georgios Agrafiotis, Commander of the Naval Command of Aegean, said during the welcome ceremony, as the crowd was waving Greek and Chinese national flags.
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