My sources corroborate Seymour Hersh’s report that the US was behind the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage. (My sources are logic, common sense, and public statements by US government officials.)
My Sources Corroborate Sy Hersh’s Nord Stream Report: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix
Tag: great power competition
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).
…
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.
…
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.
…
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
The zombification of US national security
A recent New York Times commentary by conservative columnist Bret Stephens asks this question: “Are We Sleepwalking Through a ‘Decisive Decade’?” To which he answers resoundingly, in so many words, yes.
The zombification of US national security
Why China’s belt and road plan is facing threat of jihadist terrorism
Why China’s belt and road plan is facing threat of jihadist terrorism
Afghanistan and China share a 74km-long border along the mountainous Wakhan Corridor. At Beijing’s insistence, the Taliban relocated TIP militants from Badakhshan province, near the border, to other areas last year. However, some TIP elements are believed to have rebuilt their bases in Badakhshan.
Isis-K’s anti-China rhetoric may also be intended to attract Uygur militants to its fold. The more the Taliban regime curtail TIP activities, the greater the chances of Uygur militants gravitating towards Isis-K. According to a United Nations Security Council report, Isis-K has reached out to disgruntled fighters from other terrorist groups, and as many as 50 Uygur militants have joined it.
Notes for self:
- ISIS-K, likely supported by the US, is actively recruiting members from groups like TIP, ETIM, and Uygur extremists to target China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
- According to the Jamestown Foundation, a hawkish think tank, the Voice of Khorasan Magazine is produced by the al-Azaim Foundation for Media Production.
- It’s noteworthy that ISIS-K adopted a name reminiscent of Voice of America, a US-funded media outlet, which raises questions about potential symbolic connections.
Inside the Trilateral Commission: Power elites grapple with China’s rise
Inside the Trilateral Commission: Power elites grapple with China’s rise (original)
Each new candidate for Commission membership is carefully scrutinized before being allowed entry. As a rule, members who take up positions in their national governments — which is uncannily common — give up their Trilateral Commission membership while in public service. Those include U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Jake Sullivan, the U.S. national security adviser, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
This revolving door between the commission and senior government ranks has always been fodder for conspiracy theorists. Its first director in 1973, Zbigniew Brzezinski, later became U.S. President Jimmy Carter’s national security adviser. The very existence of the commission, meanwhile, seems predicated on the question of whether governing should be left to the people. It is a question the commission itself has tackled head-on since 1975: Is democracy functioning? Or does someone need to guide it?
That year, three scholars — Michel Crozier, Samuel Huntington and Joji Watanuki — wrote a report for The Trilateral Commission titled “The Crisis of Democracy.” In it, Huntington wrote that some of the problems of governance in the U.S. stem from an “excess of democracy.”
Related:
Western paternalism in Africa reaches its limits
Decades of failed policy, including US and French counterterrorism programs, have some African leaders looking for alternatives.
Western paternalism in Africa reaches its limits
10/22/22 Patrick MacFarlane on the Populist Right’s Taiwan Hypocrisy
Disclaimer: The views expressed herein are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Ms. Cat’s Chronicles.
Scott is joined by Patrick MacFarlane, the Justin Raimondo Fellow at the Libertarian Institute, to discuss an article he wrote recently as well as the new direction he’s taking his podcast Vital Dissent. Scott and MacFarlane first dig into the growing tension between Washington and Beijing over Taiwan’s sovereignty. MacFarlane points out that some of the best opposition to both the policies that provoked Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and NATO’s subsequent response is from populist right-wingers. But those very same people throw all their logic out the window when the topic turns from Russia to China.
Discussed on the show:
– Nothing But Welfare Queens: American Aid to Zelensky and Tsai Ing-wen
10/22/22 Patrick MacFarlane on the Populist Right’s Taiwan Hypocrisy
How Biden’s New National Security Strategy Gets China Wrong
It is hard to square a zero-sum characterization of the presumably dire threat that China poses to the world with the document’s assertion of a need to constructively engage Beijing.
How Biden’s New National Security Strategy Gets China Wrong
Big Tech can’t complete, so they psychologically project their own shortcomings onto their ‘enemies’.
What Tim Pool Should Know About Our Cold War With China
Since September 2020, several notable libertarians have established a rapport with political commentator, journalist, and YouTuber Tim Pool. These interactions have resulted in a string of appearances by prominent libertarians on Pool’s daily talk show, Timcast IRL.
What Tim Pool Should Know About Our Cold War With China
Related:
2019 RAND Paper Warned US of Failure During Ukraine Conflict
Sep 1, 2022 As far back as 2019, US Army-commissioned studies examined different means to provoke and antagonize Russia who they acknowledged sought to avoid conflict. However, they also warned that if Russia was pushed too far, it could trigger an escalation that would spiral out of Washington’s control. Today we are watching this conflict unfold. Just how accurate was the study’s predictions?
2019 RAND Paper Warned US of Failure During Ukraine Conflict (Odysse) via The New Atlas
References:
Read More »
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
You must be logged in to post a comment.