Tag: Food Security

South China Sea: Marcos inks laws on PH Maritime Zones, Archipelagic Sea Lanes + Responses of China and the United States

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
YouTube

MANILA – President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Friday signed laws declaring the maritime zones under Philippine jurisdiction and designating sea lanes in the country for foreign vessels and aircraft.

Marcos inks laws on PH Maritime Zones, Archipelagic Sea Lanes

Related:

South China Sea: Philippines’ legal moves reveal its expansionist goals

U.S. State Department On the Philippines Maritime Zones Act

Arnaud Bertrand’s Twitter thread (ThreadReader)

Regarding the South China Sea Arbitration:

The South China Sea Arbitration did not rule on sovereignty, and China does not recognize it because the Arbitral Tribunal lacked jurisdiction. “The Arbitral Tribunal violated the principle of state consent, exercised its jurisdiction ultra vires and rendered an award in disregard of the law. This is a grave violation of UNCLOS and general international law, Wang said.” The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is an international treaty that establishes a legal framework for all marine and maritime activities.  The Permanent Court of Arbitration is not an agency of the United Nations. The PCA rents space in the same building as the UN’s International Court of Justice.  A Congressional Research Service report, dated August 2023, stated that the U.S. has not declared its position regarding sovereignty over any of the geographical elements that comprise the South China Sea.  

The racial and class question

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The racial and class question

Virtually forgotten due to the discourse of Ukrainian unity and the general lack of interest in analyzing the nuances of events, the racial and class question is going virtually unnoticed in this war. If the Donbass conflict had a proletarian aspect that the press mocked in the first weeks of the DPR due to those Soviet-looking press conferences of workers and academics, in the current context, there have not even been any such comments. Presented as a war of national liberation, no aspect other than nationalism has deserved much mention in the Western press or in academia. Volodymyr Ishchenko and Ilya Matveev, who have sought to study the class aspect in the outbreak of the conflict, are the rare exception. To Ischenko’s surprise, RFE/RL published an article last September that dealt, albeit in generalities and without great depth, with the increase in inequality that war implies, an aspect that is, on the other hand, perfectly evident. “As the war drags on, the gaps in Ukrainian society are widening,” the American media headlines.

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President AMLO’s Sixth & Final Informe

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Friends:

Today I present to you and to the people and the nation my last government report and I do so more convinced than ever that the best of Mexico is its people, heirs of civilizations that flourished long before the arrival of the European invaders. Thanks to the roots of those pre-Hispanic cultures of that deep Mexico, the Mexicans of today are, in their vast majority, hard-working, supportive and honest. The legacy of good principles that were transmitted from generation to generation and that have not disappeared – despite oppression, classism and racism – is what distinguishes us and places us as a country of virtues and greatness.

President AMLO’s Sixth & Final Informe

Maduro vs. US Election Interference: A Battle for Venezuela’s Future

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

With upcoming elections scheduled for July 28, the United States is working overtime to dislodge the socialist government of Nicolás Maduro. Ten individuals are vying for the position, including nine in opposition to Maduro, who heads a coalition of 13 leftist groups.

Maduro vs. US Election Interference: A Battle for Venezuela’s Future

Related:

Venezuela: Chavismo on course to another victory

Apparently, Alan hasn’t seen that the Biden administration has using Lula and Gustavo Petro as intermediaries to interfere in Venezuelan politics:

PSUV Deputy Warns that Far-Right Opposition Plans to Announce Electoral Results Ahead of Time

Juan Guaidó (I call him Greedo) has made an appearance on Colombian media, as well.

Gaza Aid Flotilla With 1,000 Passengers, Tons Of Supplies Poised To Sail – As IDF Awaits

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

A flotilla of ships packed with a thousand activists, human rights observers and more than 5,500 tons of food and medical supplies is ready to sail from Istanbul to for Gaza. To do so, they’ll need the Turkish government to let them leave the port, and then run the risk of being subjected to a deadly Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) attack — as their predecessors were in an infamous 2010 incident.  

Gaza Aid Flotilla With 1,000 Passengers, Tons Of Supplies Poised To Sail – As IDF Awaits (archived)

Armenia is pivoting to the West + More

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
Twitter/X

Link

This claim that Azerbaijan is establishing itself under the autocractic influence of Russia explains most of the perception managing narrative presented via the media lately.

Armenia is pivoting to the West, it’s time for Europe to step up

Related:

‘Armenia is pivoting to the West. It’s time for Europe to step up’

For the past year, I have been working with and advising the Armenian government on their efforts to strengthen their democracy and promote peace in the South Caucasus. This is something I believe deeply in. That is why I launched the independent Friends of Armenia Network – a high-level group that includes former prime ministers, European commissioners, ministers, and sitting parliamentarians. In a report published on March 27, we proposed a detailed approach that the European Union should take to help make Armenia’s Western, democratic trajectory irreversible.

– Anders Fogh Rasmussen

Rasmussen Global: Anders Fogh Rasmussen launches high-level group to support democratic Armenia

Rasmussen’s Report: Deepening EU-Armenia relations: More Europe in Armenia

“Friends of Armenia” turned out to be crooks, schemers and chumps

Russia MFA: Friends of Armenia Network report objective is to tear Armenia from Russia, EAEU

USAID: U.S. Enhances Support For Armenia At The U.S.-EU High-Level Meeting

2002: Divided They Conquer: Armenian Ethnic Lobbies in the United States (Most are still active) – H/T: Penny2

The Gaza Maritime Route Was Netanyahu’s Idea, Maritime Aid Corridor Will Advance the Overthrow of Hamas, & When Will US boots be on the Ground in Gaza?

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Diplomatic source to ‘Post’: Gaza maritime route was Netanyahu’s idea

According to the source, on October 22, two weeks following the war’s outbreak, Netanyahu discussed with President Biden the concept of “delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza via the sea, contingent on an Israeli inspection in Cyprus.”

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Years before the Gaza war, Israel Katz, now the Foreign Minister, had drawn up plans for a maritime route via Cyprus involving a floating island.

The project was never executed. But he revived it after the war began on October 7. 

Related:

Gallant: Maritime Aid Corridor Will Advance Overthrow of Hamas

“The process is designed to facilitate aid directly to civilians and in this way, it advances [our goal] of overthrowing Hamas’ rule in Gaza,” the minister said.

“We will facilitate aid via the maritime route that is coordinated with the United States (security and humanitarian aspects), with the assistance of the United Arab Emirates on the civilian side,” he said. “It will include the appropriate inspections in Cyprus, and the goods will be brought by international organizations with American assistance.”

Air, sea, and land: When will US boots be on the ground in Gaza? Authored by Yonah Jeremy Bob*

Then suddenly, last Thursday, US President Joe Biden announced that the US would also supply maritime aid to Gaza, including building a makeshift artificial port off the coast.

This already imposes a long-term US military footprint in Israeli-Gaza territorial waters rather than a “mere” series of fly-throughs.

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How hard would it be for a small complement of US Marines accompanying the aid deliveries to travel a kilometer or so into Gaza and to place themselves squarely in the middle of where Israel does not want them?

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Moreover, US forces have been and are already on the ground.

US generals and counter-terror experts have been in and out of Israel since the start of the war, including visits to Gaza.

There are also a variety of US military personnel regularly in Israel on military and intelligence exchange programs.

US attempts to reform the PA

Speaking of intelligence, multiple times when a decision was made to try to improve and reform the Palestinian Authority security forces, it was the CIA and US special forces who came to the West Bank and Gaza to help train and prepare these forces.

It seems quite likely that the Jewish state, at some point, will ask Washington to perform the same service again in Gaza.

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A broader version could involve a US-led peacekeeping force handling internal Gaza security for an indefinite period until enough Gazan Palestinians disconnected from Hamas can be convinced that taking on this role will not lead to them being slaughtered later by a resurgent Hamas.

From this perspective, the question about US forces on the ground in Gaza seems less of an if than it does a when, how many, and under more or less coordinated circumstances with Israel.

*Yonah Jeremy Bob was raised in Baltimore and graduated from Columbia University and Boston University Law School, respectively. He previously worked for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Israeli Military International Law Division, and the Israeli Justice Ministry. – Wikipedia