By Suzanne Burdick, Ph.D. | The Defender | May 19, 2023

U.S. lawmakers are considering a bill that would grant the U.S. government vast new powers to surveil and censor U.S. citizens.

The RESTRICT Act  the Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology Act, or Senate Bill 686  would give the federal government new powers ostensibly to mitigate national security threats posed by technology products from countries that the U.S. deems adversarial.

The bill would grant the U.S. secretary of commerce the authority to identify, deter, disrupt, prevent, prohibit, investigate, or otherwise mitigate national security risks associated with technology linked to a foreign adversary.

There are only six countries on the foreign adversary list China, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, Russia and Cuba but the bill allows the secretary and Congress to add any other country if it became necessary.

The bill does not stipulate the criteria for adding a country.

Additionally, the bill would give the commerce secretary the power to negotiate, enter into, impose and enforce any mitigation measure in response to national security risks.

The bills broad and vague language puts a great deal of power into the hands of the executive branch, according to critics, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a leading nonprofit organization defending civil liberties in the digital world.

The EFF called the bill a dangerous substitute for comprehensive data privacy legislation.

Meanwhile, the White House applauded the bill, stating that it would empower the United States government to prevent certain foreign governments from exploiting technology services operating in the United States in a w...

Much needless fuss has been generated by President Joe Bidens cancellation of his visit to Australia for the Quad meeting, a now regular gathering of leaders from the US, Japan, India and Australia. He had other things on his mind: dealing with fractious debt ceiling negotiations taking place back in the United States.

Students of US history would, or should have appreciated, the two phenomena that speckle the fiscal landscape in Washington. One is the failure of Congress to pass a budget in a timely, mature fashion. Then comes that plague known as the federal debt ceiling.

Since 1976, 22 federal government shutdowns have taken place because of budgetary tardiness. The results, while affecting employment and the economy, are always seen as minor relative to any failures to lift the debt ceiling. The latter comes with paralysis, the literal shutting down of government, leaving many services undelivered, and staff furloughed and unpaid.

Raymond Scheppach, a public policy academic based at the University of Virginia, is even unsparingly hyperbolic on the consequences of hitting the ceiling. It could bring down the entire financial system. This in turn could devastate the world gross domestic product and create mass unemployment. Such is the wisdom of having a global system so heavily concentrated in the hands of one power and its corporate auxiliaries.

Those most upset were the security propagandists in Australia, straining in their efforts to detect any smoke signals from Beijing. Would these suggest glee and delight, perhaps some gloating that Washington was neglecting the Indo-Pacific in favour of domestic squabbles? Internal fiscal chaos might also be a sign of decline, prompting the mandarins of the Middle Kingdom to rejoice.

The sentiment was odd, even childish, typical of the abandonment complex that percolates through the Australian political establishment. Notice me, please, Daddy seems to be their governing consideration, and not doing so induces a state of anxiety verging on the pathological. James Curran identifies that instinctive zero-sum mentality typical of this confected new cold war, one that leads to tenuous conclusions: a Joe Biden no-show was deemed a win for China, a blow to Americas standing in Asia, a marker of US decline and a humiliating snub to [Australian Prime Minister] Anthony Albanese. For fans and well-wishers for a decline, if not retreat, of sprawling US global power, the only answer would be: If only....

In 2014, the organisation GRAIN revealed that small farms produce most of the worlds food in its report Hungry for land: small farmers feed the world with less than a quarter of all farmland. The report Small-scale Farmers and Peasants Still Feed the World (ETC Group, 2022) confirmed this.    

Small farmers produce up to 80% of the food in the non-industrialised countries. However, they are currently squeezed onto less than a quarter of the worlds farmland. The period 1974-2014 saw 140 million hectares more than all the farmland in China being taken over for soybean, oil palm, rapeseed and sugar cane plantations.  

GRAIN noted that the concentration of fertile agricultural land in fewer and fewer hands is directly related to the increasing number of people going hungry every day. While industrial farms have enormous power, influence and resources, GRAINs data showed that small farms almost everywhere outperform big farms in terms of productivity. 

In the same year, policy think tank the Oakland Institute released a report stating that the first years of the 21 century will be remembered for a global land rush of nearly unprecedented scale. An estimated 500 million acres, an area eight times the size of Britain, were reported bought or leased across the developing world between 2000 and 2011, often at the expense of local food security and land rights. 

Institutional investors, including hedge funds, private equity, pension funds and university endowments, were eager to capitalise on global farmland as a new and highly desirable asset class.  

This trend was not confined to buying up agricultural land in low-income countries. Oakland Institutes Anuradha Mittal argued that there was a new rush for...

Bilderberg 2023 van start, deze Nederlanders zijn van de partij

De politie is in groten getale aanwezig en er zijn zelfs bomhonden ingezet.

Bilderberg 2023 van start, deze Nederlanders zijn van de partij.

Kaag,  Rutte en andere bekende criminelen.

De komende dagen spreken de aanwezigen over onder meer kunstmatige intelligentie, het bankenstelsel, China, de energietransitie, Europa, fiscale uitdagingen, India, de NAVO, Rusland, Oekrane en Amerikaans leiderschap.

Namens Nederland nemen Ben van Beurden van Shell, Dolf van den Brink van Heineken, professor Victor Halberstadt van de Universiteit Leiden, minister van Financin Sigrid Kaag, Rolly van Rappard van CVC Capital Partners, premier Rutte en Peter Wennink van ASML deel aan de bijeenkomst.

Opvallende namen

Andere opvallende namen zijn: directeur van Vattenfall Anna Borg, Pfizer-baas Albert Bourla, voorzitter van het World Economic Forum Brge Brende, Henry Kissinger, secretaris-generaal van de NAVO Jens Stoltenberg, voorzitter van het Europees Parlement Roberta Metsola en EU-buitenlandchef Josep Borrell.

By Somayeh Khalili | Press TV | May 19, 2023

Syrias triumphant return to the Arab League fold after almost 12 years shows not just that Arab countries now recognize the failure of the regime change project in Damascus but also that they can defy the United States, according to a former British diplomat.

In an exclusive interview with the Press TV website, Peter Ford, a former UK diplomat who served as ambassador in Syria between 2003 and 2006 and before that in Bahrain from 1999 to 2003, said the importance of the recent turn of events in the Arab world goes beyond Syria.

It is a symptom of the development of a new multipolar world order where not just Russia, China and Iran refuse to accept US hegemony but also countries like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Brazil and South Africa. This is the Global South manifesting itself, Ford asserted, referring to Arab normalizations.

Syria has restored diplomatic ties with many Arab countries recently after years of hostility, including Saudi Arabia, and is set to formally return to the Arab League, a 22-member body of Arab states.

This wave of normalization comes more than a decade after Syrias Arab neighbors severed their diplomatic ties with the Bashar al-Assad government in Damascus and demanded his ouster.

On Thursday, Assad touched down in the Saudi port city of Jeddah to attend the Arab League summit, marking another step toward the full restoration of ties between Syria and its Arab neighbors.

Ford said Syrias return to the Arab League, in defiance of US warnings, has raised expectations that the Arab world will now show more support for Palestine and less concern for their ties with Israel.

The Abraham Accords was founded on hostility to Iran and fear of the US. These conditions no longer apply, the former British diplomat told the Press TV website.

On whether these developments will bring regional countries closer in fighting the menace of terrorism, Ford said he expects much more intra-Arab security cooperation now, adding that Syria has more experience with this phenomenon than any country in the world.

The veteran diplomat noted the US interference in the Arab country hasnt ended but that it has got tired and is going through the motions with no real hope of achieving anything.

It keeps up the economic war, the propaganda war and legal war, and it maintains a military presence to control Syrias oil, but its all to no purpose, he said about the US.

The restoration of diplomatic ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia, Ford said, augurs well for the region, as both countries have a shared interest in modernization and the peaceful Persian Gulf.

Just ten weeks ago I was in awe. "This is huge!" I wrote about the surprising news of the restoration of ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran after mediation by China (and Russia). With that it was obvious that the...

RT | May 19, 2023

China has urged against Ukraine joining NATO, saying it would not improve security in the European region, after veteran US diplomat Henry Kissinger claimed membership would serve the interests of both Kiev and Moscow.

Asked about Kissingers comments during a Thursday press briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin argued that Ukrainian NATO membership would only further inflame tensions.

Ukraine should not become the frontier in a major power confrontation, he said, adding that to strengthen or even expand military groups is not a viable way to ensure the security of a region. One countrys security should not be achieved at the expense of the security of other countries.

In an interview with the Economist published on Wednesday, Kissinger said European powers were pursuing a madly dangerous strategy by keeping Kiev out of the US-led military bloc, insisting Ukraine must not become a solitary state just looking out for itself. He claimed NATO membership would not only...

Its official, according to a speech by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, the United States is jumping off the neoliberal globalization bandwagon (a root cause of domestic extremism) and it couldnt come soon enough as institutions of government are sucking up more and more angry exhaust fumes from constituents, as well as encountering a world trade map with China bullying its way across the world of commerce via its massive Belt and Road Initiative encircling the globe, kicking sand into Uncle Sams face.

Neoliberalism is an economic philosophy of capitalism that promotes freedom of markets, very little government regulation, no price controls, low trade barriers, low-low taxes, and most importantly, reducing the role of government via austerity measures and privatization of state assets. Government social programs, like food stamps, are detested like the plague. Neoliberal-minded President Ronald Reagan famously said: Government isnt the solution to the problem; government is the problem.

Neoliberalism in harmony with globalization has dictated American policy for several decades, thanks to Reagan. However, thats about to change as US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan announced changes for Americas role in the world in a very significant recent speech: Remarks by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Renewing American Economic Leadership at the Brookings Institution, The White House, April 27, 2023.

As a backgrounder to that speech, over the past few decades America sent high-paying union jobs offshore to find the lowest common denominator wages (globalization) but it really started in earnest with Clint0ns NAFTA deal. Back in the day Ross Perot nailed it: You implement that NAFTA, the Mexican trade agreement, where they pay people a dollar an hour, have no health care, no retirement, no pollution controls, Perot said during the second presidential debate in October 1992, and youre going to hear a giant sucking sound of jobs being pulled out of this country. (Source: Ross Perot was Ridiculed as Alarmist in 1992 but his warning turned out to be Prescient, Salon, July 21, 2019)

Americas $15-20-35/hour union jobs that spun-off into the wilderness of NAFTA originated from todays red states. NAFTA and expansive globalization (SE Asia & China) undercut union wages, crushing a vibrant middle class that was content to work 40-hours per week for wages that supported family, school, vacations, and a good retirement. Today, former union members are red-faced, angry, frustrated, searching for a voice to avenge decades of misery at the hands of elites that crushed middle class livelihoods. Trumps early campaign promises beckoned interest: The three most dangerous voices in America, academic elites, political elites, and media elites captured the heart and soul of displaced Americans by voicing one word, Elites.

The Biden administration knows this....

BY ANDREW KORYBKO | MAY 19, 2023

Two new narratives were introduced into the Wests information ecosystem over the past week. The first concerns the need to adapt to multipolar processes by engaging more with the Global South, which was expressed by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, former US National Security Council member Fiona Hill, and Goldman Sachs President of Global Affairs Jared Cohen all on the exact same day last Monday. The next narrative complemented this one and came two days later on Wednesday.

Global affairs guru Henry Kissingers lengthy interview with The Economist from late April was published on that day, in which he devoted considerable time explaining why the US should revive its talks with China on a New Dtente that were unexpectedly derailed by Februarys balloon incident. CNN then reported on that same day that Biden administration looking at arranging high-profile visits to China by senior officials, which suggests that it was briefed earlier about his proposal and heeded his advice.

The first narrative about engaging more with the Global South complements the second one about reviving talks with China on a New Dtente in the sense that the former is one of the three prerequisites for successfully accomplishing the latter, at least according to how American policymakers likely view it. They want to signal that the US wont voluntarily cede influence in the Global South to China, but instead plans to compete with it there via economic and diplomatic means.

This goal will be greatly advanced through a combination of pragmatic engagement with the Global Souths informal Indian leader, whose Prime Minister visits the US late next month, and coordinating between Americas Buil...

As the planets biggest investor, with $9 trillion in assets under management and an army of tech-savvy analysts trained on the scent of easy money, numbers are BlackRocks bread and butter. A giant with such an enormous appetite should find room for all kinds of facts and figures but this ones a bit of a picky eater.

The BlackRock Annual General Meeting is on May 24, and resolutions submitted by shareholders will be going to a vote. The board advocates for or against those resolutions in a statement released last month. One resolution they unanimously recommend shareholders vote against is Item 7 the Impact Report for Climate-Related Human Risks of iShares U.S. Aerospace and Defense Exchange-Traded Fund resolution, submitted by CODEPINK.

The resolution simply calls on BlackRock to research and publish the climate impacts of this industry-wide investment offering (ticker code ITA). Among the dozens of companies represented in ITA are Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Boeing companies that profit directly from mass killings. Lockheed Martin developed the bombs Saudi Arabia used on a Yemeni school bus full of children in 2018, and Raytheon is the contractor behind the expansion of the US nuclear arsenal.

But the significant climate impact of these companies often goes unmentioned. By providing ballistic missiles and aerospace tech to the Pentagon, these companies fuel the latters carbon emissions making the U.S. military the planets largest institutional emitter of greenhouse gasses, and thus a leading cause of our present climate crisis. This is one of many reasons that BlackRocks continued acknowledgement of the severity of the climate crisis is at serious odds with the investment platforms it sells.

If BlackRocks CEO and chairman Larry Fink has a catchphrase, its we are a fiduciary to our clients. In the guise of displaying the firms humble loyalty to investors, this line is usually delivered with an exculpatory tenor: Sure we call the shots, but its our investors who pull the trigger. For a corporation that is second only to the US and China in terms of the financial power it wields, this is an extremely convenient way to pass the buck. But Finks M.O. is to publicly play both roles on one hand a duty-bound servant, on the other, a super-powerful arbiter of global financial affairs.

For years, activists have worked to expose the problem with these incongruencies, and its paid off. In his 2020 letter to investors, Fink underscored the reality of the climate cris...

In the real-world, the costs are all we know for sure and profits remain elusive and contingent.

BY CHARLES HUGH SMITH | OF TWO MINDS | MAY 15, 2023

No one knows how the flood of AI products will play out, but we do know its unleashed a corporate frenzy to get our own AI up and running. Corporate fads are one of the least discussed but most obvious dynamics in the economy. Corporations follow fads as avidly as any other heedless consumer, rushing headlong into whatever everyone else is doing.

Globalization is a recent example. Back in the early 2000s, I sat next to corporate employees on flights to China and other Asian destinations who described the travails and costly disasters created by their employers mad rush to move production overseas: quality control cratered, proprietary technologies were stolen and quickly copied, costs soared rather than declined, and so on.

So lets talk about costs of AI rather than just the benefits. Like many other heavily-hyped technologies, Large Language Model (LLM) AI is presented as stand-alone and free. But its actually not stand-alone or free: it requires an army of humans toiling away to make it functional: We Are Grunt Workers: The Lowly Humans Helping Run ChatGPT Make Just $15 Per Hour (Zero Hedge ).

We are grunt workers, but there would be no AI language systems without it. You can design all the neural networks you want, you can get all the researchers involved you want, but without labelers, you have no ChatGPT. You have nothing.

The tasks performed by this hidden army of human workers is euphemistically sanitized by corporate-speak as data enrichment work.

Then theres the stupendous costs of all the extra computing power needed to deliver AI to the masses: For tech giants, AI like Bing and Bard poses billion-dollar search problem

What makes this form of AI pricier than conventional search is the computing power involved. Such AI depends on billions of dollars of chips, a cost that has to be spread out over their useful life of several years, analysts said. Electricity likewise adds costs and pressure to companies with carbon-footprint goals.

Corporations are counting on the magic of the Waste Is Growth / Landfill Economy to generate higher margins from whatever AI touches don&#8217...

By Michael Rectenwald Mises Wire 05/16/2023

Corporate intrigue reached a fevered pitch on May 6, 2023, in Omaha, Nebraska, when a shareholder was arrested during the annual shareholder meeting of Berkshire Hathaway. The shareholder challenged the affiliation of Warren Buffett with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Bill Gatess association with Jeffrey Epstein, who was convicted in Florida for procuring a child for prostitution and soliciting a prostitute, and who reportedly committed suicide in a New York jail while facing charges for sex trafficking and conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking.

Peter Flaherty, the chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), stood to offer proposal number eight, which called for the roles of Berkshire CEO and chair to be separated and held by two persons. Flaherty argued that the separation of roles was necessary so that Berkshire would be less identified with Mr. Buffetts personal political activities. Speaking of Buffett, Flaherty stated:

Hes donated tens of billions to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. As Bill Gates explained when the couple was still together, although the foundation bears our names, basically half our resources have come from Warren Buffett.

If woke culture is a disease, then philanthropy is the virus.

The Gates Foundation bankrolls the teaching of Critical Race Theory around the country, including that math is inherently racist.

The Gates Foundation offers a Gender Identity Toolbox which asserts that gender is the result of socially and culturally constructed ideas.

This is a lie. Gender is not a cultural construct. It is a genetic and biological fact. (emphasis mine)

Flaherty was interrupted by a Berkshire representative and pleaded to the chair (Buffett) to be allowed to continue. Buffett agreed that Flaherty could continue but warned him of the three-minute time limit for shareholder proposals. Flaherty then proceeded to throw down the gauntlet, until his microphone was shut off:

We know how much Bill Gates cares about children. He met and traveled with Jeffrey Epstein many times after Epstein was convicted of sex crimes.

The Gates Foundation had a huge influence over the COVID response fiasco.

Bill Gates defended Chinas COVID policies and still discounts the possibility that the virus originated from a lab, even though U.S. intelligence agencies disagree. The Gates Foundation may be the largest single donor to the dark money machine known as Arabella Associates. . . .

It funds caus......

There is not a day that goes by without breaking news on escalating tensions in the South China Sea, as regional powers like Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia increasingly contest Chinas efforts to exert dominance of the strategic waterway through which moves a fifth of global trade. Yet beneath these rising tensions, the spectre of European colonialism lurks undetected.

The unexpected link between present day tensions and past misdemeanors comes through a seemingly obscure international legal dispute which last February resulted in an award of nearly $15 billion against the government of Malaysia, on behalf of nine heirs to a colonial-era Sultanate in the Sulu region of the Philippines.

The award is not only the second largest of its kind in the history of international legal arbitrations, it may also be linked to current geopolitical tensions in the region in surprising ways. According to former NATO analyst Maurizio Geri, the lawyers for the Sulu heirs are closely tied to US tech giants competing with China to dominate subsea cabling routes through which pass the worlds internet data.

Geri claims that apart from traditional trade routes, control of the global internet is the real prize at stake in the South China Sea. Indeed, in early May, US and EU officials wrote urgently to Malaysia citing risks to national security and foreign investment due to a Malaysian government review which could gift Chinas Huawei a major role in building Malaysias 5G network.

He argues that with the Sulu heirs case being financed by unidentified Western investors through the third-party litigation funding firm Therium Capital, it might well exacerbate Malaysian perceptions of Western hostility to Malaysias national interests.

But the case itself is based on flawed misreadings of the history of Spanish and British colonialism in the region. The Sulu heirs rest their case on an 1878 colonial-era land deal in which the sultan leased his territory in the Sabah region of present-day Malaysia to two British colonists for the sum of around $1,000 a year. Malaysia paid the fee until an armed invasion of Sabah by followers of the Sulu heirs in 2013, which resulted in 71 people killed.

The decision of the arbitrator in the Sulu heirs case is premised on the assumption that the 1878 treaty between the Sultan of Sulu and two British colonialists, Alfred Dent and Baron de Overbeck, is the historic legal foundation of modern Malaysias sovereignty over the North Borneo region containing what is today known as Sabah.

Thats just false. British colonial records reviewed by several specialist historians show that the Sultan of Sulu did not in fact have ownership or control over the lands of North Borneo...

By New Zealand/Aotearoa for a World BEYOND War, May 18, 2023

A New Zealand peace network says the budgets record military spending will please our most dangerous ally the United States but dramatically increase the risk of propelling us into a nuclear war.

World BEYOND War spokesman and former Disarmament Minister, the Hon. Matt Robson, says the dramatically increased military spending a record $6.6 Billion is not driven by any real security needs but rather that Prime Ministers Ardern and Hipkins signed up to the containment policies of nuclear armed NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation).

The steady increases over the last five years, and the planned future big ticket items to make New Zealand interoperable with NATO, are  justified by the lie that New Zealand is threatened by China and Russia, he says.

The real security threat is New Zealand having a dangerous ally in US- led NATO, which is increasing its  bases and  concentrating its military might on Chinas doorstep, says Mr Robson.

As an Asian partner, along with big military spenders Japan, Australia  and South Korea the price tag of interoperability with  NATO is to continually increase military spending, he says.

Our biggest trading partner China has but two military bases outside of its territory, while the US and its NATO allies have them globally with almost 500, and expanding, in the Pacific.

The US is now seeking to add Papua New Guinea to that list. That tells you which country  is driving militarisation of the Pacific our most dangerous ally, the US, says Mr Robson.

World BEYOND Wars Vice President Liz Remmerswaal says this spending takes away from New Zealands social and economic needs at a time when people are hurting.

We are dealing with the effects of a global pandemic as well as cyclone damage and a climate crises, she says.

New Zealands social and economic development, the basis of our actual security, require cooperation with China on multiple levels, including climate change and development strategies with and for our Pacific neighbours, and this should be our focus, says Mrs Remmerswaal.

Our security is not served by going deeper into the nuclear arms of NATO and being at war with China and Russia.

The...

• Litang Liang, of Massachusetts, was arrested for allegedly acting as an agent of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) without notifying the U.S. Attorney General.
• Liang was indicted on charges of acting as an agent of a foreign government without notification and conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government without notification.
• According to charging documents, Liang provided information on Boston-area individuals, organized a counter-protest against pro-democracy dissidents, and shared dissidents information with PRC officials without disclosing his status as a PRC government agent. Read More

The post Massachusetts Man Indicted for Acting as Illegal Chinese Agent appeared first on The Clarion Project.

• A Nevada man, David Chou, has been charged with 98 counts of federal hate crimes, weapons offenses and explosives offenses for his involvement in the shooting and attempted bombing at the Irvine (Calif.)Taiwanese Presbyterian Church in May 2022.
• Chou allegedly killed one person and attempted to kill 44 others using firearms and explosive devices inside the church. Five individuals were also injured by gunfire during the incident.
• If convicted, Chou could face the maximum penalty of death or life in prison without parole. He is currently in state custody awaiting state criminal charges. Read More

The post Nevada Man Charged for Irvine Calif. Church Shooting appeared first on The Clarion Project.

Dr. Mobeen Syed | May 15, 2023

Blindness HR 2.19 Associated with mRNA Vaccines

This study by Taiwanese and Stanford researchers on the US vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals shows an alarming statistical increase in the retinal vascular occlusion. Lets review.

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May 18, 2023 Source: Al Mayadeen English By Janna Kadri  The Chinese-brokered agreement emerged in retaliation to the US as the latter continues to wage a series of provocations aimed at destabilizing Chinas domestic stability with regard to Taiwan. Under the auspices of China, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to restore diplomatic relations on March 10. []

RT | May 17, 2023

A letter signed by over 250 former heads of state, cabinet ministers, diplomats, and scientists urged the G7 on Wednesday to not allow nuclear arms control talks to fall victim to the current great power confrontation.

The world badly needs more nuclear arms control, not less, said the letter, jointly organized by two nonprofits, the European Leadership Network and the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network. In the darkest hours of the Cold War, the Soviet Union and US were able and willing to discuss and agree measures to reduce the risk of nuclear war. This statement supports a return to this diplomacy, and protection of nuclear arms control as a global imperative.

Ahead of the G7 summit in Japan, the signatories called on the five nuclear powers on the UN Security Council Russia, the US, China, France, and the UK to ensure that nuclear arms control will not be made yet another victim of geopolitical competition.

The collapse of the New START, the only surviving nuclear arms control treaty between the US and Russia, would threaten a destabilizing arms race and make it more difficult to bring China, France, and the UK into a multilateral arrangement, according to the signatories.

The letter called on Russia and the US to compartmentalize the issue from their conflict over Ukraine, resume their full obligations under the treaty, and commit to good faith negotiations on replacing New START before it expires in 2026.

Russia suspended its participation in New START in February, citing Ukraines drone attacks on Russian strategic air force bases and the ongoing US support for Kiev in pursuit of a strategic defeat of Moscow.

The open letter had a total of 256 signatures from 50 different countries, including six former heads of state, 26 former foreign and defense ministers, 30 former ambassadors, and many scientists, experts, and anti-nuclear campaigners.

One of the most prominent Chinese signatories is Professor Chen Dongxiao, the president of Shanghai Institutes for International Studies. Other notable names included former MI6 head John Scarlett, retired US General Philip Breedlove, and retired German General Klaus Naumann.

The letter was published ahead of the G7 summit in Japan, scheduled to start on Friday. PM Fumio Kishida reportedly plans to have his guests visit his hometown of Hiroshima, which was destroyed in 1945 by a US atomic bomb.

It is not clear what any of that has to do with Russia, however, which was expelled from the group in 2014, after Washington accused Moscow of invading Ukraine following...

India slammed in new US report on religious freedom

Middle East and North Africa led rise in recorded executions in 2022, Amnesty says

Brian Berletic In a development that will surely impact growing US-Chinese tensions, US-backed opposition parties have won Thailands May 14, 2023, general elections. A US-backed client regime taking power in Thailand will impact Chinas Belt and Road Initiative, threaten bilateral trade and tourism, and perhaps even undermine regional security. This is particularly so should Thailand...

M. K. Bhadrakumar Pope Francis (L) meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a private audience at The Vatican, May 13, 2023  Simply put, the foreplay has begun. It is not the Ukrainian counteroffensive, stupid! Russia and China should expect some nasty surprises.  President Vladimir Zelenskys tour of Rome, Berlin and Paris has been...

Vladimir Platov The desire of Russia, along with China and its friendly countries, to implement the international integration project for Greater Eurasias development, which involves the EAEUs cooperation with the SCO, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and, until recently, the European Union, has recently caused increasing rejection by the US and its Western allies....

A CHINESE COURT HAS sentenced a United States passport holder to life in prison on espionage charges, following a brief closed-door trial. However, no information has been made available about the precise charges against him.

Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

The Group of Seven (G7) Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting that ended on Saturday did not name China in the joint statement, nor did it mention the so-called economic coercion that has been hyped for a long time. Nonetheless, it is hard to say the G7 is returning to rationality on the issue of China. It is more likely retreating for the sake of advancing. The G7 has hinted that at the Hiroshima summit held from May 19 to May 21, the main statement is set to include a section specific to China with a list of concerns that include economic coercion.

If this is the case, it means that after blatantly interfering in Chinas Taiwan question, the G7 is attempting to expand the front to contain China to a new area where politics and economy are integrated. This mainly reflects the intention of Washington, but Japan, who holds the rotating presidency of the G7 this year, has been more active and radical than the US in promoting joint actions and mobilization to contain China. The G7 is undergoing a functional transformation, and the Chinese people must keep a high degree of vigilance against it. This time, the G7 meeting was held at the door of China, and the Chinese could feel the new Cold War atmosphere emanating from there at close range.

Japan in particular should be warned. China has expressed its strong dissatisfaction with Japan on the negative trends against China at relevant G7 meetings and Japans negative role in them, and lodged stern representations. How the G7 summit will be held depends on the attitude of the host country. If China is provoked, a considerable part of the account will be charged to Japan. If the G7 meeting is used to spread and magnify the maliciousness toward China, it will definitely have a negative impact on Japan itself. Todays Japan acts as a leading party to bring in foreign forces into East Asia, and it is bound to suffer the consequences.

It is absurd to choose the so-called economic coercion as an attack point against China, especially when such accusations come from Washington and Tokyo. Speaking of economic coercion, there is a well-known case in which the US and Japan were the protagonists the Plaza Accord signed in the 1980s. In order to reduce the fiscal deficit and trade deficit, the US forced the yen to appreciate sharply, leading the Jap...

Established in 2001, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has evolved into a significant regional organization in Eurasia, attracting increasing attention from both member states and observers worldwide. This backgrounder seeks to offer an in-depth understanding of the SCOs history, its strategic motives, and the trends that have emerged over time, while also examining its role and relevance in contemporary geopolitics.

Brief History of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization

The SCO was founded by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan in June 2001. The organization initially emerged from the Shanghai Five, which was formed in 1996 with the aim of demilitarizing the common borders of its members following the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Over time, the organization has grown, incorporating India, Pakistan, and Iran as full members, in addition to multiple observer and dialogue partners like Afghanistan, Belarus, and Mongolia, among others.

A key driving force of the SCOs growth has been in response to the enlargement of Western institutions like NATO and the EU. The increasing great power competition between the West and countries like China and Russia has driven these nations to establish and enlarge regional platforms like the SCO without requiring a common doctrine that impedes sovereignty.

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Human Wrongs Watch

By Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies TRANSCEND Media Service*

In his 1987 book The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, historian Paul Kennedy reassured Americans that the decline the United States was facing after a century of international dominance was relative and not absolute, and is therefore perfectly natural; and that the only serious threat to the real interests of the United States can come from a failure to adjust sensibly to the newer world order.

Drawing by Jerzy Wasiukiewicz

Since Kennedy wrote those words, we have seen the end of the Cold War, the peaceful emergence of China as a leading world power, and the rise of a formidable Global South.

But the United States has indeed failed to adjust sensibly to the newer world order, using military force and coercion in flagrant violation of the UN Charter in a failed quest for longer lasting global hegemony.

In his 1987 book The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, historian Paul Kennedy reassured Americans that the decline the United States was facing after a century of international dominance was relative and not absolute, and is therefore perfectly natural; and that the only serious threat to the real interests of the United States can come from a failure to adjust sensibly to the newer world order.

Kennedy observed that military power follows economic power. Rising economic powers develop military power to consolidate and protect their expanding economic interests.

But once a great powers economic prowess is waning, the use of military force to try to prolong its day in the sun leads only to unwinnable conflicts, as European colonial powers quickly learned after the Second World War, and as Americans are learning today....

Pablo Jofre Leal Today, in the international concert, the United States and its allies seek to counteract the growing influence of the Russian Federation and the Peoples Republic of China in Africa, Asia and Latin America. This, in terms of concretizing a vision and practice of a multilateral policy that breaks with the hegemony that...

Christopher Black On April 26, Mary Zhao, a writer for Radio Free Asia, wrote a bizarre piece attacking China for not providing transgender girls with necessary medicines, exposing once again the absurd lengths to which the US propagandists will go to undermine a nation it has targeted. The same day, they posted a cartoon of French...

In the Great Power competition, everything is connected: Uncertain negotiations between Russia and NATO over Ukraine may be impacted by Turkiyes post-election pivot and Syrias return to the Arab League. West Asia is a region that is currently experiencing a great deal of geopolitical activity. Recent diplomatic efforts, initiated by Russia and overseen by China, secured Continue reading Bold Gambits on the West Asian Chessboard

On March 20, Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. In his article in the Russian media preceding the meeting, Xi enthused that China-Russia trade exceeded 190 billion U.S. dollars last year, up by 116 percent from ten years ago. Though it has reached 190 billion US dollars, it is no longer all being traded in Continue reading The Flight From the US Dollar

After members of the Houses committee on China participated in war games simulating a Taiwan invasion, Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), the committee chair and new face of China hawks in Congress, said the U.S. must arm Taiwan "to the teeth" to avoid a Chinese attack on the island. Members of Congress participating in war games Continue reading "To Avoid a War With China Over Taiwan, the US Needs To Back Down"

The post To Avoid a War With China Over Taiwan, the US Needs To Back Down appeared first on Antiwar.com Original.

One must ask how prepared Manila is to weather potential economic reprisals, especially from Beijing. As US-China rivalry intensifies, pressure on allies and partners grows. Strategic access in return for economic concessions or security assistance plays out in the Indo-Pacific region. Cases abound, from Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Cambodia, Myanmar and the Philippines to the Marshall Continue reading As US-China Rivalry Boils, Manila Should Play its Cards Well 

In other news, Warren Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway Sold 85% of $4 Billion Position in Taiwans TSMC. Via: Antiwar.com: Taiwans defense minister on Monday pushed back against the idea of the US bombing the islands semiconductor factories in the event of a Chinese invasion. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) recently said the US should make it very []

• Meta identified three advanced persistent threat (APT) groups using elaborate fictitious personas on Facebook and Instagram to target individuals in South Asia with social engineering tactics.
• The APT groups masqueraded as recruiters, journalists, military personnel, and romantic connections and relied heavily on social engineering rather than malware to trick victims.
• Meta disrupted 110 accounts linked to Bahamut, 120 accounts associated with a Pakistan-based APT group, and 50 accounts tied to an India-based threat actor dubbed Patchwork.
• Meta also took down six adversarial networks from the U.S., Venezuela, Iran, China, Georgia, Burkina Faso, and Togo that engaged in coordinated inauthentic behavior on various social media platforms. Read More

The post Meta Uncovers Cyber Espionage Operations Across South Asia appeared first on The Clarion Project.

The issue of food security has been in the news after Xi Jinpings recent article on agricultural self-reliance in Qiushi journal, a magazine published by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC). In this article, he pointed out that the Russia-Ukraine crisis has demonstrated that agriculture has become a foundation of national security and called for food self-sufficiency as one of the top priorities in the coming years. Even the government work report for 2023 has declared stabilization of grain output as one of the top priorities for the government and aims to achieve grain output of over 650 million tonnes (referred to as military order by Chinas agriculture minister), which has been continuously achieved since 2015 (Figure 1).

However, during the Xi era, Chinas per capita output of grains has increased only marginally from 462.5 kg in 2013 to 483.5 kg in 2021. This has resulted in growing dependency on imports during the same period, which, according to Xi, is a national security concern. This dependency has created several vulnerabilities for China which can be exploited in times of crisis. China is currently the largest producer as well as the largest importer of several other food items and thus, Chinas food security efforts will inevitably have an impact on the world.

(Figure 1) Source: National Bureau of Statistics

The Extent of Import Dependency

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation has defined three levels of food self-sufficiency below 80% as food deficit, between 80%-120% as food self-sufficiency and above 120% as food surplus country. Chinas food self-sufficiency rate has decreased from 101.8% in 2000 to 76.8% in 2020 and is further expected to decrease to 65% by 2035 if timely measures are not put in place. Rising import depend...

Analysts say the crisis, which has displaced more than 200,000, is damaging foreign perception of Somaliland, long seen as relatively more stable than Somalia.

Since February 6, there has been fighting in the disputed city of Las Anod between forces in the self-declared state of Somaliland and local militia from the Dhulbahante clan in northern Somalia.

The city, also known as Laascaanood, is located between Somaliland and Puntland, a nearby semi-autonomous region in Somalias northeast. Both regions are laying claim to the city.

According to data received from hospitals in Las Anod, the death toll stands at 299, with 1,913 injured and more than 200,000 displaced since the conflict began.

Somalilands forces have retreated approximately 50km (31 miles) further westwards from its military base in Tukaraq, to military bases on the outskirts of Las Anod, reportedly launching attacks from there.

But analysts say beyond causing chaos in Somaliland, long celebrated for relative stability compared with Somalia, the war is also denting the regions campaign for international recognition.

The international community still regards the region as part of Somalia, despite decades of lobbying by regional officials on the foreign scene.

Division and secession

The region sees itself as a successor state to the State of Somaliland which existed for five days in June 1960 on todays territory and had relations with 35 countries, including China, Ethiopia and Israel.

On July 1, 1960, the State of Somaliland voluntarily united with the Italian-ruled south to form the Somali Republic. Three decades later in May 1991 Somaliland declared secession from Somalia, reclaiming the borders of the old British Somaliland protectorate.

The secession came as Somalias military government headed by Siad Barre attacked northern cities to crush a rebellion by the Ethiopia-backed Somali National Movement (SNM).

Today, Somalias federal government consists of five states, including Puntland. Until 2007, when Somaliland seized Las Anod, the city was under Puntland administration.

Since it broke away, Somaliland has been under the dominanc...

Today former prime minister of Pakistan Imran Khan was arrested while visiting the Islamabad High Court in an unrelated case. The arrest comes at a critical point for Pakistan's economy. Behind the scene U.S. and China are wrestling for influence....

Download Episode. Scott was joined by Joseph Solis-Mullen to talk about the overblown fear of a global Chinese takeover. Solis-Mullen has been following the current wave of China fearmongering very closely and gives Scott an overview of what todays hawks are saying. They then dig into the conflict over Taiwan and talk about the probability []

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has emerged as a central factor in regional and global politics, economics, and security. As the flagship project under Chinas Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), it aims to create a network of infrastructure projects, energy production, and trade routes connecting Chinas western region to Pakistans Gwadar Port on the Arabian Sea. Spanning over 3,000 kilometers and with an estimated price tag of over $60 billion USD, the majority of the projects are located in Pakistans Balochistan province and are principally funded by Chinese lenders, including the China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China.

The post CPEC: The Long and Winding Road to Realization appeared first on Geopolitical Monitor.

IN A SERIES OF rare public comments, the director of Taiwans primary intelligence agency has singled out 2027 as a year of paramount significance for Chinas military plans for Taiwan.