To understand the contemporary geopolitical significance of the Republic of China, Vijay Prashad says it is necessary to examine Cold War history.
Making Taiwan the Ukraine of the East
Category: Japan
China’s suspected spy balloon had Western-made components with English writing on them, report says
China’s suspected spy balloon had Western-made components with English writing on them, report says
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EXPLAINER -What we know and don’t know about the Chinese balloon
By looks and by size, it resembles balloons made by U.S. firm Aerostar, whose own balloon was mistaken for the Chinese one while flying over Memphis.
Aerostar is an aerospace and defence contractor that supplies stratospheric balloons to the likes of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) made out of polyethylene film that can fly for over 200 days and carry hundreds of pounds.
It also previously had a deal with Google to use such balloons to provide internet to rural areas.
Other companies that develop stratospheric balloon systems include U.S. space tourism firm World View and French firm CNIM Air Space.
Stratollites can maintain position over specific areas of interest for days, weeks, and eventually months on end. This allows for more sustained measurements and monitoring capabilities over a targeted area. Stratollites can carry a wide variety of commercial payloads (sensors, telescopes, communications arrays, etc.), launch rapidly on demand, and safely return payloads back to earth after mission completion.
Worldview Stratollites are commercial high altitude balloons like Google Loon – Worldview had an explosion December 2017
Stepping up US war preparations against China, Victoria Nuland visits South Asia
US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland visited Nepal, India and Sri Lanka between January 28 and February 1, before travelling to Qatar. Her trip coincided with US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin’s recent trip to South Korea for high-level meetings with President Yoon Suk-yeol and Defense Minister Lee Jong-seop.
Stepping up US war preparations against China, Victoria Nuland visits South Asia
An Overblown Balloon Headline Inflates False Narrative on China
For several decades the American public has been instilled with an intrinsic fear of and hatred for China.
No singular event in this seemingly inevitable march to war is more emblematic of the American public’s warped psyche than the “Chinese Spy Balloon” narrative—perhaps due, in part, to its facial absurdity. The happening eclipses even similarly nonsensical yarns such as widespread TikTok paranoia (see the NSA’s PRISM program), China’s American farmland purchases (Chinese firms account for <.5% of all foreign-owned land in the U.S.), and the “invasion” of Chinese fentanyl through the Southern border (fentanyl trafficking is illegal in China).
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While some populist Republicans have bravely departed from the establishment’s support for Ukraine, many led the chorus of voices urging escalation—and not diplomacy.
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The banner narrative favored by mainline Republicans and the populist Right alike—that Joe Biden is weak—is insidious, because it implies that Biden should be more aggressive. Furthermore, it excuses Biden’s objectively ultra-hawkish policy against China.
Just in the last few weeks, the Biden administration continued its redoubling of the Asia Pivot launched by Barack Obama and furthered by Donald Trump: the U.S. Marine Corps opened a new base in Guam as the U.S. opened an embassy in the Solomon Islands, furthered diplomatic measures meant to militarize Japan, announced the opening of new military installations in the Philippines and Palau, and furthered a deal that would secure it exclusive military access to Micronesia, an area of the Pacific Ocean as large as the continental U.S.—all with the express and stated aim of confronting China.
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Unfortunately, the prevailing narrative won the day—while Americans’ heads were in the clouds, imagining a biowarfare attack, or falsely reporting the balloon carried explosives, Sino-American relations deteriorated even further. Distressingly, the American public exhibited its eagerness to rush to just about any conclusion concerning China.
An Overblown Balloon Headline Inflates False Narrative on China
Center for a New American Security & MICIMATT say, “Be Afraid, Very Afraid” Of China
By Richard Fontaine, the chief executive officer of the Center for a New American Security.
China’s Balloon Could Be America’s Awakening
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Center for a New American Security (funding and employees):
Read More »Western selective humanitarianism, Syria earthquake falls on deaf ears
‘Take your dirty hands off Turkey,’ Ankara rails against US envoy
‘Take your dirty hands off Turkey,’ Ankara rails against US envoy
On Thursday, Soylu condemned the closures as an attempt to meddle in campaigning for Turkey’s presidential and parliamentary elections, which are scheduled for 14 May. The Turkish interior minister and other officials also suggested that the Western states had issued the security warnings in order to pressure Turkey to tone down its criticism of the sacrilegious move and resolve the NATO dispute.
Video via ShanghaiEye魔都眼
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Turkish minister tells US ambassador ‘Take your dirty hands off Turkey’ as sanctions sparks fly
Turkey’s parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled for May 14 are fast approaching—angry rhetoric from the Erdogan regime, designed to nationalistically rouse its core vote, is no surprise. Nor are angry interventions from US politicians who dislike the unreliability of Turkey as a Nato ally, but at the same time stop short of anything that could irretrievably wreck relations with a country crucially located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
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Brian Nelson, the US Treasury Department’s top sanctions official, visited Turkish government and private sector officials on February 2 to urge more cooperation in disrupting the flow of goods that Russia can put to use in persisting with its war on the Ukrainians.
In a speech to bankers, reported by Reuters, Nelson said a pronounced year-long rise in exports to Russia left Turkish entities ‘particularly vulnerable to reputational and sanctions risks‘, or lost access to G7 markets.
The Pentagon’s Balloon Floats On
It is just as well that Antony “Guardrails” Blinken has called off his long-scheduled visit to Beijing, which was due to begin Tuesday. It would have been his first since taking over at State and the first by a secretary of state in four years. But Blinken would not have got any guardrails in place or built any exit ramps, which he seems to consider his highest calling. Let us wonder, parenthetically, if our Tony wasn’t meant to be a transportation engineer.
Patrick Lawrence: The Pentagon’s Balloon Floats On
CSIS advises US to prepare for possible redeployment of tactical nukes to S. Korea
A Washington think tank is advising the US government to review military exercises in preparation for the redeployment of tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea. The think tank also advised the US to consider partial sanctions relief for North Korea on the condition that it ceases its nuclear weapons and missile tests.
CSIS advises US to prepare for possible redeployment of tactical nukes to S. Korea
H/T: WENT2THEBRIDGE.ORG
Why Is Victoria Nuland Coming to Sri Lanka, Second Time in a Year?
She maybe the highest ranking American official but most Americans do not even know her name. However, she is visiting Sri Lanka twice in one year & that should mean something. Why is she visiting Sri Lanka is however more important. She first visited Sri Lanka days before riots started resulted in the resignation of the former President. Naturally, all eyes are fixed on what is likely to emerge after her forthcoming visit. Over the years, there is no doubt the US has created local “agents” covering all spectrums of society.
Why Is Victoria Nuland Coming to Sri Lanka, Second Time in a Year?
H/T: WENT2THEBRIDGE.ORG
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