China Has Quietly Won the Trade War—and Now Leads the World

China has quietly won the trade war and is now reshaping global leadership—not through force, but through strategy, stability, and vision. It’s time for the West to learn, adapt, and embrace a shared future led by a preponderant China.

“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.”
—Vladimir Lenin

China Has Quietly Won the Trade War—and Now Leads the World (archived)

H/T: The Most Revolutionary Act

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Quote Origin: Days Into Which 20 Years Are Compressed

Poorly trained recruits contribute to loss of Ukrainian territory on eastern front + The US Is Sending $125 Million in New Military Aid to Ukraine

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Some new Ukrainian soldiers refuse to fire at the enemy. Others, according to commanders and fellow fighters, struggle to assemble weapons or to coordinate basic combat movements. A few have even walked away from their posts, abandoning the battlefield altogether.

While Ukraine presses on with its incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, its troops are still losing precious ground along the country’s eastern front — a grim erosion that military commanders blame in part on poorly trained recruits drawn from a recent mobilization drive, as well as Russia’s clear superiority in ammunition and air power.

Poorly trained recruits contribute to loss of Ukrainian territory on eastern front, commanders say

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Reuters: Russia and Ukraine report gains as some Ukrainians flee strategic city

But although the incursion is an embarrassment for Russia, Moscow’s forces have continued their gradual advances of the past few months against tired Ukrainian troops in eastern Ukraine worn down by 2-1/2 years of heavy fighting.

Moscow said its troops had taken control of the village of Mezhove in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, and that they had beaten back an attempt by a Ukrainian force to infiltrate its border in a different region to Kyiv’s Aug. 6 incursion.

Ukrainian authorities say Russian troops are now just 10 km (six miles) outside Pokrovsk, an important transport hub in eastern Ukraine, and this week started evacuating elderly residents and children.

Moscow’s capture of Pokrovsk, which lies at an intersection of roads and a railway line, would give Russia options to advance in new directions and also cut supply routes used by the Ukrainian military in the Donetsk region.

WSJ: Ukraine Moves to Encircle Russian Troops in Kursk and Digs In for Long Fight

The incursion hasn’t, so far, shifted the dynamic on the war’s main battlefields in eastern Ukraine, where Russia is advancing in toward Pokrovsk, a key Ukrainian logistical hub, and Toretsk, a city on strategically important high ground.

The US Is Sending $125 Million in New Military Aid to Ukraine, Officials Say

On the strategic relationship between Venezuela and China

During a state visit to the People’s Republic of China in September 2023, Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro met president Xi Jinping and both agreed to strengthen the relationship of their countries by establishing seven sub commissions to elevate it to the level of ‘all-weather strategic partnership’. This is the culmination of a relationship that began with president Hugo Chavez’s first visit to Beijing in 1999, the very first year of his presidency.

On the strategic relationship between Venezuela and China

Iraq unveils $17bn infrastructure project linking West Asia to Europe

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani on 27 May unveiled a $17 billion infrastructure project to link West Asia and Europe and make Iraq a regional transportation hub.

Iraq unveils $17bn infrastructure project linking West Asia to Europe

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Iraq partners with UAE and Chinese firms to develop six oil and gas fields

US eyes new military base in Iraq’s oil-rich region and in northern Syria

As Biden Eyes More War, South Yemen Intensifies Push for Secession

The UAE-backed National Assembly of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) called on its forces to secure a military takeover and annexation of the entirety of Yemen’s southern territory during a meeting on Monday, the Arab Weekly reported. The STC is intensifying its push for secession, seeking a partition corresponding with the borders of the former states of North Yemen and South Yemen, which existed prior to the country’s 1990 unification.

As Biden Eyes More War, South Yemen Intensifies Push for Secession

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The Yemen War Can Be Over — if Biden Wants It

YouTube: Erik Sperling on the US Attempt to Keep the War in Yemen Going

Vance: Biden Admin ‘Moralizing And Lecturing’ Other Countries While China Builds Roads And Feeds People + More

Republican Ohio Senator J.D. Vance accused the Biden administration of “moralizing and lecturing” other countries in a floor speech opposing a new diplomatic nominee late Wednesday.

Vance: Biden Admin ‘Moralizing And Lecturing’ Other Countries While China Builds Roads And Feeds People

Video via African Diaspora News Channel

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Get Progressive Politics Out of Foreign Policy, Says JD Vance

“Right now, you know that Joe Biden is not sending weapons to Taiwan, weapons that we promised the Taiwanese, because we’re sending those weapons to Ukraine or elsewhere,” Vance said.

Though Vance said he admires the brave people of Ukraine, he said America should remove troops and resources from Ukraine.

“It’s time to manufacture our weapons in the United States,” the Ohioan said. “And it’s time to send a message to the world that America is the arsenal of democracy, but we cannot do that unless you get out and stop the focus on Ukraine.”

Arsenal of Democracy

“The great arsenal of democracy” came to specifically refer to the industry of the U.S., as the primary supplier of material for the Allied war effort [WWII].

Meanwhile, he wants to pull a Zelensky back home. /s

Life in an IDF Firing Zone: For These Palestinians, It’s a Daily Nightmare

Fewer than six months after a court order expelling the inhabitants of Masafer Yatta from their homes, life in the area has changed beyond recognition. Day-to-day existence had always been difficult in the eight small villages scattered through the area in the absence of basic facilities, even before Israel declared the area a military firing zone, but in recent months it has grown even worse amid the constant presence of the Israeli army and live-fire training. Roadblocks between the villages make it harder for the inhabitants to get in and out, and roads are closed to non-residents. As a result, many villagers have stopped using their cars. As in the old days, they ride donkeys or they walk.

Life in an IDF Firing Zone: For These Palestinians, It’s a Daily Nightmare

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Classified document reveals IDF ‘firing zones’ built to give land to settlers

Washington’s Africa Strategy Seeks to Counter Russia and China

Geopolitical competition has no limits. This is especially the case when superpowers with global ambitions compete. As long as the competition is fair, it could drive development (although it might still have its socio-political and economic discontents). But when competition itself is projected as a phobia, it becomes more of an anomaly than a driver of growth and development. The most recent example of the super-power rivalry being framed in terms of ‘Sinophobia’ and ‘Russophobia’ is Washington’s newly revealed ‘Africa Strategy’ – a document that seeks to insert the US in Africa not as a competitor but as a country solely responsible for imparting ‘democracy’ and ‘openness’ to the so-called ‘backward’ societies of Africa. This is classical colonial statecraft reframed as a strategy for ‘engagement’ and ‘development.’ The document stipulates a US strategy to “foster … open societies”, “deliver democratic and security dividends”, and “support conservation, Climate Adaptation, and a Just Energy Transition.” This is an ambitious agenda with very ambitious objectives. But are these the real objectives?

Washington’s Africa Strategy Seeks to Counter Russia and China