BEIJING (AP) — The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps are holding joint exercises in the South China Sea at a time of heightened tensions with Beijing over the shooting down of a suspected Chinese spy balloon.
US holds drills in South China Sea amid tensions with China
Tag: South China Sea
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).
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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.
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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.
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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
Filipinos Protest US Military Deal Eying China
The decision to grant the U.S. access to more bases — announced during the U.S. defense secretary’s visit — was decried by peace advocates as part of the Pentagon’s push into the Indo-Pacific, with an intent to encircle China.
Filipinos Protest US Military Deal Eying China
Center for a New American Security & MICIMATT say, “Be Afraid, Very Afraid” Of China
By Richard Fontaine, the chief executive officer of the Center for a New American Security.
China’s Balloon Could Be America’s Awakening
Related:
Center for a New American Security (funding and employees):
Read More »What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?
By Herman Tiu Laurel
“What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?” The question is appropriate when applied to the South China Sea contentions (the term “dispute” is already too loaded).
What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?
Erich Vad: What are the war aims?
Erich Vad is an ex-brigade general. From 2006 to 2013, he was the military policy advisor to German Chancellor Angela Merkel. He is one of the rare voices who spoke out publicly against arms deliveries to Ukraine early on, without political strategy or diplomatic efforts. Even now he speaks an uncomfortable truth.
Erich Vad: What are the war aims?
Steve Bannon And China’s Deep State
Steve Bannon And China’s Deep State
Although a century has passed since Coudenhove-Kalergi’s pan Europa was founded, the same principles are shaping the contours of our current age. Just as vast systemic crises threatening the lives of the majority of souls living on our planet press ominously against our future as they had a century ago, similar techniques of controlled opposition and games within games are used by the same oligarchical class who have orchestrated the current state of affairs. Many good people whose hearts are too large and understanding too shallow have already gotten absorbed into false narratives that frame those mortal enemies of the West as either Russia or China, while ignoring the causal hand of those same oligarchical agencies seeking to reduce all sovereign nations and cultures to rubble under a new Crusade.
Don’t fall for it.
Related:
How a Tycoon Linked to Chinese Intelligence Became a Darling of Trump Republicans
The inscrutable aims of Steve Bannon’s enigmatic Chinese benefactor
The US’ Scorched Earth Policy for Taiwan
How a Tycoon Linked to Chinese Intelligence Became a Darling of Trump Republicans
Guo Wengui has been trailed by scandals involving corruption and espionage. What is he really after?
How a Tycoon Linked to Chinese Intelligence Became a Darling of Trump Republicans
Related:
Lavrov Says Russia, China Stepping Up Military Cooperation in Response to NATO
Facing similar pressure from the West, China and Russia have naturally become closer
Lavrov Says Russia, China Stepping Up Military Cooperation in Response to NATO
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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