On September 13, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) announced that it was appointing Victoria Nuland to its Board of Directors, effective immediately.
Analysts believe that while Vietnam appreciates the gesture, it is unlikely to influence Hanoi’s strategy in the disputed waters.
Philippines sides with Vietnam in South China Sea dispute, hoping it will ‘return the favour’
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BowerGroupAsia: Dr. Prashanth Parameswaran
Prashanth is concurrently a fellow at the Wilson Center, a senior columnist at The Diplomat magazine and an instructor for institutions including the U.S. State Department. He is the founder of the twice-weekly ASEAN Wonk newsletter, which offers research insights and analysis on the geopolitics and geoeconomics of Southeast Asia and the Indo-Pacific region.
Stratbase ADR Institute Non-Resident Fellow: Dr. Prashanth Parameswaran
Dr. Parameswaran has held various roles across think tanks, governments, media and companies, including the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Associated Press. In those capacities, he worked on various issues including geopolitical and geoeconomic statecraft, Southeast Asia foreign and security policy, regional institutions, major power engagement in the Indo-Pacific as well as alliances and partnerships.
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Dr. Parameswaran holds a Ph.D. and MA focused on international business, international relations, Asian affairs, and U.S. foreign policy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He earned a BA from the University of Virginia, where he studied foreign affairs and peace and conflict studies with a focus on Asia. He regularly advises groups and individuals seeking to advance conversations on Indo-Pacific affairs and serves on the board of several institutions.
- The West has spent years accusing China of “genocide” in its western region of Xinjiang despite producing no evidence to substantiate such claims;
- China has since opened up Xinjiang to international tourism where people from around the globe including the West can see for themselves there is no “genocide;”
- The collective West now seeks to reassert control over the narrative by questioning travel vloggers reporting back from China regarding their experiences;
Western Media Urges Public: Believe Our Lies, Not Your Own Eyes (archived)
Sources:
Read More »China says two citizens killed, one injured in Pakistan ‘terrorist attack’
In August, the BLA launched coordinated attacks in the province, in which more than 70 people were killed. It has claimed attacks in Balochistan, including the killing of seven barbers in Gwadar in May and the April killings of several people abducted from a highway.
The BLA specifically targets Chinese interests – in particular the strategic port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea – accusing Beijing of helping Islamabad to exploit the province.
In March this year, five Chinese engineers and a Pakistani national were killed in an attack near the China-backed Dasu hydropower project. Nine Chinese engineers were killed in a similar attack near Dasu in 2021.
The BLA has also attacked Beijing’s consulate in Karachi.
The Port Qasim project involves the construction of two power plants near Karachi and is funded by China.
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Pakistan is due to host the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in two weeks.
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The drill in the disputed waters follows joint manoeuvres by the Philippines, US, Australia, Japan and New Zealand
PLA stages National Day drill in South China Sea in wake of 5-nation exercise
Related:
Biden Approves $567 Million in Military Aid for Taiwan, Angering China
Leaked docs reveal that prior to the toppling of Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina, the US govt-funded International Republican Institute trained an army of activists including rappers and “LGBTQI people,” even hosting “transgender dance performances,” to achieve a national “power shift.” Institute staff said the activists “would cooperate with IRI to destabilize Bangladesh’s politics.”
Leaked files expose covert US government plot to ‘destabilize Bangladesh’s politics’
Previously:
Atlantic Council’s Ali Riaz to lead commission on constitutional reforms for Bangladesh
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro expressed the solidarity of the Venezuelan government and people with the peoples of Palestine and Lebanon, victims of military attacks carried out by Israeli occupation forces with the support of the US army. Before thousands of people in the city of La Guaira, President Maduro condemned the Zionist entity for killing more than a thousand people in its attacks on civilian areas of Lebanon this week, including around 500 children, a massacre added to the genocide being perpetrated for almost a year in the Gaza Strip, with nearly 42,000 people killed, around 10,000 missing, and some 100,000 wounded.
US’ $1.6 billion fund for ‘Info-War’ vs. China
The fund is assigned to the US State Department and USAID for spending over the next five years to “subsidize” media and civil society sources around the world and “counter Chinese ‘malign influence’ globally.
In the Philippines, this funding is already showing in many State Department and USAID funded reports in mainstream media outlets such as the Philippine Star and popularly known US shills such as Rappler.
These two US info-war outlets I mentioned regularly publish reports on “Chinese influence operations” basing all on materials provided by AidData and Internews, both of which are verifiable as US-funded anti-China operations.
There are tons of evidence of the AidData and Internews ties to the State Dept. and USAID. As well, there are more than enough proof that Philippine Star, Rappler and their ilk are “agents of influence of the US.”
Rappler and AidData for example jointly “launched a journalism training for Filipino journalists, and students” just this September. Philstar of course has Christina Chi and a staff of four writing about “Chinese influence ops” all based on Internews and AidData reports.
Our “mosquito” think tank, Asian Century Philippines Strategic Studies Institute (ACPSSII) has researched Internews and AidData, and we discovered the usual US oligarchs and US government donors to Internews. These include Omidyar (which donated at least $1.5-million to Rappler in 2018), Rupert Murdock’s Sky News and stated previously, the State Dept. and USAID.
Likewise, AidData and its parent organization, College of William and Mary’s have links to USAID, a fact that is open for anyone to see on the Internet.
Rappler, of course, has been “convicted” of violating Philippine law for being a foreign owned company which it eventually skirted when its foreign investors agreed to “donate” its PDR investment to Rappler’s 14 directors.
I find this very profitable for the directors and for the information warfare of the State Department courtesy of the highly “malleable” Philippine justice system, especially when it is the US pushing the levers of justice behind the scene.
Marites Vitug, Rappler editor-at-large was recently ‘honored’ by the US. Rogue State’s top foreign policy rag, ‘Foreign Affairs,’ by publishing her rubbish article. “America and the Philippines Should Call China’s Bluff.”
Related:
Read More »Burkina Faso Junta Claims “Destabilisation Plot” Thwarted
He disclosed that Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who was deposed in 2022, had spearheaded the “military aspect of this conspiracy”. Damiba had seized power in a coup in January 2022, ousting elected president Roch Marc Christian Kabore.
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Sana also disclosed that several individuals, including Ahmed Kinda, a former leader of the country’s special forces, had been detained in connection with the plot.
Damiba was trained by the U.S. military. Burkina Faso needs to kick out the United States. They also fired their Ambassador to Ghana, Sini Pierre Sanou for his alleged involvement.
Related:
Burkina Faso foiled an attempt to destabilize the country – Security minister
Burkina Faso’s Security Minister Mahamadou Sana said on national television Monday night that “individuals residing in Cote d’Ivoire have been involved in subversive activities against.” Burkina
The minister accused namely 14 people of plotting the destabilization attempt. Among them junta opponents, the leader of the Jan. 2022 coup, two former ministers, two journalists. Unidentified conspirators included Western intelligence officials.
Authorities say an elaborate three-phased plot was devised by some Burkinabé civilians and servicemen living abroad who paid and trained armed groups to conduct attacks.
Economic operators and leaders of the civil society were allegedly involved in destabilization efforts.
Ibrahim Traoré rejects the Washington Consensus, so the tools of imperialism lie about him
MANILA (Reuters) – The United States has no immediate plans to withdraw a mid-range missile system deployed in the Philippines, despite Chinese demands, and is testing the feasibility of its use in a regional conflict, sources with knowledge of the matter said.
US Keeps Missile System in Philippines as China Tensions Rise, Tests Wartime Deployment
Previously:
Philippines aims to acquire Typhon missile launcher as regional arms race intensifies
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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