Fears over Chinese purchases of US cropland are vastly overblown. Lawmakers should slow down before imposing damaging new restrictions.
No, China Isn’t Gobbling Up America’s Farms
Related:
Bill Gates: America’s Top Farmland Owner
Bill Gates Finally Explains Why He’s Buying So Much U.S. Farmland
I’m more worried about ‘Farmer Bill’, who claims that he owns “less than 1/4000 of the farmland”.
After Russia invaded Ukraine, the West formed what looked like an overwhelming global coalition: 141 countries supported a United Nations measure demanding that Russia unconditionally withdraw.
The West Tried to Isolate Russia. It Didn’t Work.
The “humanitarian exemptions”, on Syrian sanctions, are conditional!
The U.S. Treasury announced a decision on February 9 claiming to allow an easing of sanctions imposed on Syria for the ensuing six months until August 8, as part of “earthquake relief efforts.”
Did the U.S. really lift sanctions off Syria temporarily?
The decision allows for “third parties” to transfer aid to Syria without fear of U.S. sanctions, but should only be intended for aid to earthquake-effected areas. Nonetheless, the sanctions programs applied to Syria for many years, the most severe of which are the Caesar Act (2019) and Captagon Act (2022), provide for “humanitarian exceptions,” but are conditional on U.S. approval.
Related:
Did the U.S. lift sanctions on Syria?
So any earthquake relief effort must take place away from the Syrian state. In other words, it must contribute to undermining the sovereignty of the Syrian state, or it will not take place.
Update on Russian military operations in Ukraine for February 13, 2023 + US sanctions deliberately compounding Syrian earthquake relief efforts:
West Admits Jets for Ukraine will Take Years + US Sanctions Blocking Syrian Earthquake Relief (Odysee) via The New Atlas
BEIRUT (Reuters) – A top U.N. humanitarian official said damage to roads, fuel shortages and harsh winter weather in Syria were hampering the agency’s response to an earthquake on Monday that killed more than 1,200 in the country and left millions in need of aid.
Quake Response in Syria Faces Obstacles, Says Top U.N. Aid Official
Previously:
Western selective humanitarianism, Syria earthquake falls on deaf ears
Iran’s Su-35 Aircraft Procurement Is More Dangerous Than You Think
Related:
The Difficulty of Disrupting Iranian Drones
Russia and Iran Are Building a Trade Route That Defies Sanctions
In all of this, some analysts see echoes of an idea that dates back more than a century and is reckoned to be the foundation of geopolitical thinking. It focused on the struggle between an oceangoing world power—the UK then, the US today—and the land giants of Eurasia. [Heartland Theory]
As the world celebrated the end of 2022 and the arrival of 2023, the Donbass experienced New Year’s Eve with the sound of guns and multiple rocket launchers. Unfortunately, the Ukrainian army’s New Year’s bombardment caused many civilian casualties.
Donbass – A New Year’s Eve 2023 with the sound of guns and multiple rocket launchers – Donbass Insider
Related:
Six killed by Ukrainian shelling of Lugansk hospital
US-Funded New Voice of Ukraine: Ukrainian army reportedly attacks Wagner mercenary base in occupied Donbas
London’s City AM: Ukraine says 63 Russian soldiers were killed in strike on military base
The Strategic Communications Directorate of Ukraine’s Armed Forces claimed on Sunday that some 400 mobilised Russian soldiers were killed in a vocational school building in Makiivka and about 300 more were wounded.
That claim could not be independently verified. The Russian statement said the strike occurred “in the area of Makiivka” and did not mention the vocational school.
According to the governor of Russia’s Samara region, Dmitry Azarov, an unspecified number of residents of the region were among those killed and wounded by the strike on Makiivka.
Ramiro Gomez – February 28, 2022
I am writing this trying to contain the rage and indignation I feel at the reactions of the Western left and society in general about the Russian counter-attack against Ukraine.
The Hypocrisy of a Leftist “No to War” that Comes Too Late
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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