Strategic Culture Foundation | June 16, 2023

Russias economy is performing strongly, according to recent forecasts from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The outcome defies earlier predictions by the United States and its European allies which held that Western sanctions would bring the Russian economy to its knees and force it to submissively Cry Uncle.

When the conflict in Ukraine escalated 16 months ago (after eight years of NATO-sponsored aggression using the Kiev Neo-Nazi regime), various Western politicians and pundits were relishing the prospect of the Russian economy collapsing from Total War launched against its international banking and trade.

Well, it didnt turn out like that. Far from it. As the World Bank noted above, the Western sanctions have simply helped Russia boost alternative markets in China, India, and elsewhere around the globe. A principal earner for Russia is energy exports of oil and gas. Increased sales to Asia have maintained revenues despite the loss of European markets due to Western sanctions.

The paradoxical thing is that U.S. and European sanctions against Russia while intended to cripple the Russian economy have actually made the latter stronger.

Michael Hudson, an American global economics analyst, points out: The sanctions have obliged Russia to become self-sufficient in food production, manufacturing production and consumer goods.

Hudson also notes that the U.S. geopolitical strategy is to use sanctions in order to make its supposed European allies more dependent and subservient to Washington.

Another respected commentator, Glenn Diesen, a Norwegian geoeconomics professor, likened the use of Western sanctions to the self-destructive behavior of self-harm. The United States and European Union, he says, have handed over a huge market to the rest of the world.

Diesen also observes that 85 percent of the worlds population lives in countries that do not comply with Western sanctions against Russia. This global majority is more than ever creating new forms of trade and finance that obviate Western control. A major impetus for this positive development is the necessity bequeathed by Washingtons systematic abuse of power and privilege.

The repercussions...

The US and the UK strong-arm their own followers, Russian FM Lavrov has said.

RT | June 16, 2023

London and Washington run the show in the rules-based world order, trying to dictate policy to their own allies as well as countries outside the West, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told RT on Friday.

Russia fully understands that building relations with other countries needs to be based on mutual benefits and equal partnerships, Lavrov said in an interview with RT at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

This is not what we see in the West these days. The Anglo-Saxons are basically running the show, controlling the rest of the collective West. They are using the current situation, which they created through Ukraine this war against Russia to remove competition, Lavrov elaborated.

They see us as a competitor, they see China as a competitor. Their doctrinal documents clearly state that. But they are also removing their competition in continental Europe. Its obvious. The economic and social processes in Germany are grim. Other co...

Breathtaking insanity. Via: serpentza:

Press TV June 15, 2023

The United States has imposed fresh punitive measures on North Korea, targeting the countrys missile program despite a recent warning from the Treasury that sanctions are pushing many countries to seek alternatives to the dollar for settlements.

The US Treasury Department issued the punitive action on Thursday after South Korea earlier said its neighbor fired two short-range missiles, Reuters reported.

The South Korean military said North Korea fired two short-range missiles off its east coast on Thursday after Pyongyang warned of an inevitable response to the military drills staged by several thousand South Korean and US troops on the Korean Peninsula.

The Treasury in a statement said it imposed sanctions on two North Korean nationals, accusing them of being involved in the procurement of equipment and materials for the countrys ballistic missile program.

The United States is committed to targeting the regimes illicit procurement networks that feed its weapons programs, said the Treasurys Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Brian Nelson.

The sanctions also targeted a Beijing-based representative for the Second Academy of Natural Sciences, which the US claimed is responsible for research and development for North Koreas advanced weapons systems. His wife was hit with sanctions as well.

The Treasury in the statement said North Korea continues to use a network of representatives abroad to import components necessary for its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Earlier in the day, South Korean and US troops held joint live-fire exercises in the region. A total of 2,500 troops took part in the maneuvers in Pocheon, northeast of Seoul.

President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea personally watched the live-fire exercises. He said the drills were the largest of their kind ever held with the United States.

North Korea released a statement on Thursday, with a defense ministry spokesperson saying the exercises were targeting the DPRK (North Korea) by massively mobilizing various types of offensive weapons and equipment.

Our response to this is inevitable, said the statement, carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

It said the drills were escalating the military tension in the region.

North Korea has been under harsh sanctions by the United States and the United Nations Security Council for years over its nuclear and ballistic-missile programs.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen admitted during her annual appearance on Tuesday before the House Financial Services Committee that US sanctions were pushing many countries...

Jamaica is a global producer of bauxite, a critical material used to produce aluminum. The Caribbean island, most well-known globally for its vibrant tourism industry, has exploited this red dirt for decades. While the industry remains profitable, there has been significant push-back recently, including a recent landmark Supreme Court ruling against a new mining project.

The importance of Red Dirt

In 2022, Jamaicas bauxite production totaled 7,048kt, up 22% from 2021, and the Caribbean island accounts for 2% of global bauxite production. The major global producers are Australia, China, Guinea, Brazil, and India; Jamaica hovers around the 10th place according to Statista, though other outlets put Jamaica in the seventh spot.

The top mining projects on the island are the St. Ann Bauxite Mine (owned by the government of Jamaica and New Day Aluminium), Windalco Mine (owned by United Company Rusal), and Alpart Project (owned by Jiuquan Iron and Steel: JISCO). In late 2021, United Company RUSAL (UC RUSAL) began making payments towards the US$35 million Bauxite Production Levy owed for the April 2018 to September 2021 period. In early June 2023, Mining Minister Floyd Green met with JISCO Alpart to discuss the companys plans for the reopening and resumption of plant operations, which has been stalled since 2019.

The post Bauxite: Jamaicas Lucrative Red Dirt appeared first on Geopolitical Monitor.

• China has been operating a spy base in Cuba since at least 2019 as part of its global intelligence-gathering efforts, according to a Biden administration official.
• The U.S. intelligence community has been aware of Chinas spying activities in Cuba and its broader expansion of intelligence operations worldwide.
• The Biden administration has intensified efforts to counter Chinas spying operations and claims to have made progress through diplomacy and other actions.
• The existence of the Chinese spy base was confirmed after reports that China and Cuba had reached an agreement to build an electronic eavesdropping station on the island, although the White House called the report inaccurate. Read More

The post US Confirms Chinese Spy Base in Cuba appeared first on The Clarion Project.

In less than a decade, Chinas BRI has fundamentally transformed global geopolitics. It is already far too late for the west to compete. It is important to recognize that the US/NATO proxy war against Russia in Ukraine is simultaneously a war designed to interrupt the progress of Chinas Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). As we Continue reading How the BRI train took the road to Shangri-La

Bi-khim Hsiao, Taiwans Representative in the United States, is a familiar figure in the halls of power but she does not often make public speeches. So a recent talk and press conference by Ms. Hsiao deserve some attention.

The One China Policy, endorsed by the US and UN, does not recognize Taiwan Island as an independent country but as part of China, with the government in Beijing providing the official ambassadors to the US and UN. Hence Hsiao is not an ambassador but a representative, and her organization is known as the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO). Her presence and activities in the US are sensitive points in the US-China relationship, which is why she does not often make public appearances.

We might expect therefore that Hsiao had something of considerable consequence to communicate to an American audience. And so she did, but her message did not center exclusively on Taiwan. Hsiao and the reporters in attendance wished to discuss a country over 8000 km away from Taiwan, almost at the opposite end of Eurasia Ukraine.

The Tragedy of Ukraine in the eyes of Taipeis Representative

In her opening remarks, Hsiao stated: The Ukraine war has actually generated a lot more attention and interest in Taiwans defense needs. And so there has been an increase in initiatives to find ways to support Taiwan so that that tragedy will not be repeated in our scenario.

Tragedy indeed. Hsiao, like everyone else in the world, is well aware of the devastation that has been visited on Ukraine as a result of Bidens cruel proxy war on Russia using Ukrainians as cannon fodder. The tragedy of Ukraine has focused not only Hsiaos mind but mightily distressed all the people of Taiwan Island. This led to the landslide defeat in the 2022 local elections of Hsiaos Party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which is the home of secessionist sentiment and hostility to Beijing. The DPP was soundly thrashed by the Kuomintang (KMT), the Party that wishes to maintain the status quo with the mainland, leave in place the strategic ambiguity of the One China Policy and take a peaceful approach to Beijing.

The first thing that struck me about the press conference was the unreality of Hsiaos purpose, bordering on insanity. Here we had Taiwans envoy discussing war with Mainland China which has the largest PPP-GDP in the world and 18% of all of humanity. Taiwans population is 24 million, and it is the size of Maryland.

The bureau chief of the Christian Science Monitor, and host of the event, expressed a similar incredulity, asking in the opening question: Russia versus Ukraine is one thing, but China versus Taiwan is a much more extreme exampl......

Press TV June 15, 2023

A recently inked defense agreement has granted the US military an unimpeded access to Papua New Guinea (PNG) military bases, as part of Washingtons push to increase its military footprints in the Pacific to counter the influence of China.

The full text of the 15-year agreement was tabled in Papua New Guineas parliament on Wednesday evening and obtained by AFP for the first time, elucidating the details that have been closely guarded since the pact was signed in May.

The defense cooperation was drafted by the United States and Papua New Guinea as equals and sovereign partners, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in the signing ceremony last month.

With Papua New Guineas agreement, the United States will be able to station troops and vessels at six key ports and airports, including Lombrum Naval Base on Manus Island and facilities in the capital Port Moresby, PNGs capital.

Access to Lombrum could be used to reinforce US facilities on Guam to the north, which could be a key base in the event of a conflict over Taiwan.

The agreement grants Washington unimpeded access to the sites to pre-position equipment, supplies and materiel, and have exclusive use of some base zones, where development and construction activities could be carried out.

Another contentious section of the agreement gives US authorities the exclusive right to exercise criminal jurisdiction over US personnel. however Papua New Guinea officials have denied this section in the contract.

Prime Minister James Marape has been forced to defend the deal against a wave of protests and criticism in the countrys universities, with some opponents questioning whether Papua New Guinea was signing away its sovereignty.

We have allowed our military to be eroded in the last 48 years, Marape said to the parliament on Wednesday evening. Sovereignty is defined by the robustness and strength of your military.

Former Prime Minister Peter ONeill slammed the deal with the Americans and warned that the United States is only considering their own interests, which do not align with PNGs security as it will become stuck in the middle of a war between two superpowers.

America is doing it for the protection of its own national interest, we all understand the geopolitics happening within our region, he said.

The Oceania country, which sits on an abundance of natural resources, is located in a key geopolitical zone near critical shipping routes and now is set at the center of a diplomatic tug-of-war between Washington and Beijing. PNG was the site of fierce battles during World War II.

China has repeatedly warned...

Egypt has 'applied' to join Brics, says Russian ambassador

By Ted Snider | The Libertarian Institute | June 14, 2023

There is a revealing difference between the peace proposals for the Russo-Ukrainian War that come from the Global South and peace proposals that come from the NATO-aligned West. For starters, no peace proposals have come from the West, while several have come from the Global South. But when the West talks of a negotiated settlement, they insist on Russia losing the war, granting the essential concessions first and only then negotiating the enforcement. The Global South just wants the killing to stop: first stop the war, then negotiate the settlement.

The West has made its position clear at every stage: dont call for a ceasefire or negotiate during the war. First defeat Russia, then hold talks to impose a settlement. In the early days of the war, when Ukraine was willing to negotiate an end to the fighting, then-United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson was quick to scold Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky that Russian President Vladimir Putin should be pressured, not negotiated with. He added that, even if Ukraine was ready to sign some agreements with Russia, the West was not.

The West refuses to negotiate during the war. Now we see Moscow suggesting that diplomacy take place at the barrel of a gun or as Moscows rockets, mortars, artillery target the Ukrainian people. This is not real diplomacy, State Department spokesperson Ned Price explained. Those are not the conditions for real diplomacy. Dont stop the war by negotiating peace, first win the war, then negotiate. If President Putin is serious about diplomacy, Price said, he knows what he can do. He should immediately stop the bombing campaign against civilians [and] order the withdrawal of his forces from Ukraine.

When China put forward a twelve point peace proposal, the United States dismissed points two through twelve and insisted that the proposal should stop at point one. Point one said that [t]he sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all countries must be effectively upheld. The American script was clear: first Russia concedes and gives into Western demands, then discuss the peace proposal. My first reaction to it, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan ......

By Bakhtiar Urusov New Eastern Outlook 14.06.2023

The US and the EU have now developed the closest positions on the PRC for the past three decades, according to the US Department of State.

On Tuesday, May 30, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was visiting Sweden, made a very ambiguous statement regarding China. At a joint press conference with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson in the port Lulea, the head of the US Department of State said that the countries of the Collective West have developed the closest positions on the PRC in recent decades.

In about 30 years of my work, I really havent seen a time when there has been greater overlap in approaches to China between the United States and Europe and key partners in Asia, said Antony Blinken.

According to the Secretary of State, the US and the EU do not support economic separation from Beijing, but are in favor of neutralizing risks in relations with China. As you may recall, the Western interpretation of risk and threat is anything that contradicts its unconditional dominance and the reign of the rule-based order.

In this light, Blinkens further exhortations that the West is applying various restrictive measures against Beijing not to stop Chinese investment or sever ties, but to ensure its own security, stop Chinas non-market economic practices and that the West does not seek to contain China sound completely unconvincing and are unlikely to deceive the sophisticated reader.

I believe that unity in approach to Beijing is deeply in our common interests Europe, the United States and key Asian countries, the head of the State Department stresses. It should be understood that the approach of the Collective West can be called neocolonial rather than friendly to the PRC.

Recall that earlier, during the G7 summit in Hiroshima that ended on May 21 this year, the heads of the most developed countries of the world have already demonstrated their common approach to China, which resulted in outright attacks on Beijing in the spirit of the Cold War. The communiqu issued after the summit focused heavily on the G7s concerns about Taiwan, the South China Sea, as well as human rights and the PRCs non-market practices. In response, the Chinese Foreign Ministry strongly protested to Tokyo for denigrating the PRC and interfering in the countrys internal affairs. Beijing noted that the G7 has a confrontational and Cold War mentality, and the biggest source of risk to the international order and the functioning of the world economy at the moment is the United States itself.

Sputnik 14.06.2023

BEIJING Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday put forward a three-point proposal to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict during the meeting with his Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas.

First, the basis for settling the Palestinian issue is the establishment of an independent state of Palestine with full sovereignty within the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, Xi Jinping was quoted as saying by the Chinese national broadcaster.

Second, the Chinese president pointed out that the needs of the Palestinian economy should be met and the international community should increase humanitarian and development assistance to Palestine.

Third, the right course of peace negotiations should be followed. Respect the historical status quo of Jerusalems religious shrines, refrain from radical and provocative statements and actions, promote a larger, more authoritative and more influential international peace conference, create conditions for the resumption of peaceful talks and make concrete efforts to help Palestine and Israel coexist...

Four Domains of COVID-19 Vaccine Injury Syndromes Revealed

By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH | Courageous Discourse | June 9, 2023

On Friday June 9, 2023, I returned to the Pennsylvania Senate on request by former military officer and American hero, Senator Doug Mastriano (R-33). The session was co-chaired by Senator Cris Dush (R-25). Co-presenters included Steve Kirsch, Founder of the Vaccine Safety Research Foundation, and attorney Tom Renz. I organized my comments along the lines of this outline:

1. Update on the US design and blueprint of SARS-CoV-2 from Baric et al at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, funding by the NIH and outsourcing of the research plans via the EcoHealth Alliance to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, in Wuhan, China.
2. COVID-19 vaccine injury syndromes
   1. Cardiovascular
   2. Neurological
   3. Thrombotic
   4. Immunological
3. Questions from Senators and Representatives answered
   1. Shedding
   2. Risk benefit analysis of COVID-19 vaccines
   3. Failure of vaccine efficacy
   4. Reason why SARS-CoV-2 was created
   5. Global results of mass indiscriminate COVID-19 vaccinationwinners and losers