• U.S. Commerce Department Secretary Gina Raimondo was among senior U.S. officials whose emails were hacked by a group based in China, according to a person briefed on the matter.
• Secretary of State Antony Blinken conveyed to Chinas top diplomat that any action targeting the U.S. government, companies, or citizens is a matter of concern and that appropriate action will be taken.
• Microsoft revealed a Chinese hacking operation that exploited a flaw in its software to break into email accounts of 25 organizations, including the Commerce Department, State Department, and U.S. House of Representatives. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs dismissed the accusations as disinformation.  Read More

The post Chinese Hackers Breach US Commerce Chiefs Emails appeared first on The Clarion Project.

• Gal Luft, co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, a Maryland-based think tank, has been indicted on multiple charges related to international criminal schemes.
• The charges include willful failure to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), arms trafficking, Iranian sanctions violations, and making false statements to federal agents.
• Luft is accused of conspiring to advance the interests of China in the U.S., illicitly brokering arms transactions, and attempting to broker deals for Iranian oil in violation of U.S. sanctions.
• Luft has made allegations of corruption against Biden family members, and Rep. James Comer, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said he hoped to interview Luft as part of his investigation into the Biden family.  Read More

The post Think Tank Director Indicted for Acting as Unregistered Foreign Agent appeared first on The Clarion Project.

Caitlin Johnstone CaitlinJohnstone.org July 7, 2023

Professional psychopath John Bolton has an article out with The Hill titled America cant permit Chinese military expansion in Cuba which inadvertently spells out exactly whats wrong with the way the US empire keeps amassing heavily armed proxy forces on the borders of its large Asiatic enemies.

Citing a Wall Street Journal report from last month in which anonymous US officials claim that Havana has entered negotiations with Beijing for a possible future joint military training facility in Cuba, Bolton argues that the US must use any amount of aggression necessary to prevent this facilitys construction, up to and including regime change interventionism.

The potential of significant Chinese facilities in Cuba is a red-flag threat to America, Bolton writes, arguing that such activities could well camouflage offensive weapons, delivery systems or other threatening capabilities.

For example, hypersonic cruise missiles, already harder to detect, track, and destroy than ballistic missiles, are natural candidates for installation in Cuba, a prospect we cannot tolerate, along with many other risks, like a Chinese submarine base, he adds.

All of which are arguments that could be made pretty much note-for-note by Russia and China about the ways the US has been threatening their security interests with war machinery in their immediate surroundings.

Do sovereign countries have the right to host foreign militaries on their soil without their neighbors complaining, or do they not?

Bolton, always a maniac, suggests this is worse than the Cuban Missile Crisis. Imagine how aroused he got when writing this: https://t.co/gfDVCSlZE8

Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) July 6, 2023

Arguing that the US is bound by no commitment limiting our use of force, Bolton advocates Revoking diplomatic relations with Cuba; increased economic sanctions against both China and Cuba; and far stricter implementation of existing sanctions as an immediate response to this reported development, advocating regime change interventionism as an ultimate solution to Cubas disobedient behavior.

Had Presidents Eisenhower or Kennedy acted more forcefully and effectively against Castro, we might have avoided many per...