A Pentagon official said after the talks that ‘competition remains the defining feature’ of the US-China relationship
Lloyd Austin Holds In-Person Talks With Chinese Counterpart
Tag: strategic competition
Macron rejects ‘confrontation’ as he relaunches Asia strategy
Macron rejects ‘confrontation’ as he relaunches Asia strategy
“We don’t believe in hegemony, we don’t believe in confrontation, we believe in stability,” Macron said.
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Macron said a coordinated response was needed to tackle the overlapping crises facing the international community — from climate change to economic turmoil triggered by Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“Our Indo-Pacific strategy is how to provide dynamic balance in this environment,” he said.
“How to provide precisely a sort of stability and equilibrium which could not be the hegemony of one of those, could not be the confrontation of the two major powers.”
The Indo-Pacific Strategy doesn’t sound as innocent as Macron makes it out to be:
The new US Indo-Pacific Strategy document released in February has two interesting components, one overt and one covert. The document overtly declares the US is an “Indo-Pacific power.” Covertly, its aim is to “tighten the noose around China.” Arguably, minus the military might, China’s nearly a decade-long “Belt and Road Initiative” cannot be perceived as a grand national strategy aimed at controlling Eurasia or the Asia Pacific or any region for that matter. Yet the BRI is mythologized into such a geostrategic game-changer that it has rattled the US and its allies in the Asia Pacific. The BRI, at best, is nothing more than a mere geopolitical overland and maritime “chessboard” based on trade and investment.
BRI and the ‘Indo-Pacific’ Strategy: Geopolitical vs. Geostrategic
Kamala Harris Heads to Philippines to Pick a Fight With China
The vice president has evoked a steady stream of face palm reactions at home and abroad in response to a series of foreign policy gaffes, from her praise for the US alliance “with the Republic of North Korea,” to her cringe-worthy “Ukraine is a country in Europe” explanation of the Ukrainian security crisis.
Kamala Harris Heads to Philippines to Pick a Fight With China
US Senators call for Biden to shut down a chip center located in China
A group of Republican Senators want to shut down a chip center to snub Huawei but have failed at every turn to keep the telecom giant down
US Senators call for Biden to shut down a chip center located in China
Open Letter on Haiti Intervention to ALBA Secretary General Sacha Llorenti
Haitians are in the streets against puppet governments, harsh austerity measures, poverty and neglect, and decades of foreign coups and invasions. Stop the new US led re-invasion and occupation of Haiti!
Send an email to US and UN Authorities to demand NO FOREIGN INVASION IN HAITI!!!
Open Letter on Haiti Intervention to ALBA Secretary General Sacha Llorenti
Related:
The US is ushering a new foreign policy doctrine through “The Global Fragility Act.” We need to not only understand these new forms of imperial practice, but to also see the cunning use of language in the service of US imperialism.
Prologue: The Global Fragility Act, April 2022
The Wolfowitz Doctrine Led to the Disastrous War in Iraq: Now it is Leading to a Potentially Even More Cataclysmic War in Asia
The Project for a New American (Racist )Century is omnipresent in the capitals of Europe today. From Dublin to Berlin—Ukrainian colors are on flagpoles, bus stops and buildings. The subtext is blonde hair and blue eyes.
The Wolfowitz Doctrine Led to the Disastrous War in Iraq: Now it is Leading to a Potentially Even More Cataclysmic War in Asia
The Straw That Broke the Camel’s Back: The Best Way to Respond to Saudi Arabia’s Embrace of Putin
The Best Way to Respond to Saudi Arabia’s Embrace of Putin
But this claim is unjustified. OPEC has never cut production in such a record tight market and these production cuts will lead to unsustainably low oil inventories, sending the price of oil skyrocketing out of any “acceptable band.” Furthermore, the G-7 oil price caps plan is not targeted at OPEC; it is strictly limited to Russian oil.
Nor can this Saudi move be justified by the non-existent global recession its leaders cite. Presently markets are very tight, with lush 73 percent profit margins for Saudi Arabia. In other words, there was no immediate need for Saudi Arabia to reduce supply unless they were seeking to harm the U.S. to the benefit of Russia.
Non-existent global recession?!? Low oil inventories?!? Maybe Biden shouldn’t be releasing our oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve?! As for never cutting production, before, looks like they have!? 🤷🏼♀️
Coast Guard encounters Russian and Chinese military in Bering Sea
The Coast Guard Cutter Kimball crew on a routine patrol in the Bering Sea encountered a People’s Republic of China Guided Missile Cruiser, Renhai CG 101, sailing approximately 75 nautical miles north of Kiska Island, Alaska, September 19, 2022.
Coast Guard encounters Russian and Chinese military in Bering Sea
Pentagon Opens Review Of Its Clandestine Psychological Operations
The move came after a report on fake US military-linked accounts that were promoting pro-Western narratives on Facebook and Twitter
Pentagon Opens Review Of Its Clandestine Psychological Operations
Related:
Pentagon Opens Sweeping Review of Clandestine Psychological Operations
With the rise of Russia and China as strategic competitors, military commanders have wanted to fight back, including online. And Congress supported that. Frustrated with perceived legal obstacles to the Defense Department’s ability to conduct clandestine activities in cyberspace, Congress in late 2019 passed a law affirming that the military could conduct operations in the “information environment” to defend the United States and to push back against foreign disinformation aimed at undermining its interests. The measure, known as Section 1631*, allows the military to carry out clandestine psychologic operations without crossing what the CIA has claimed as its covert authority, alleviating some of the friction that had hindered such operations previously.
US Treasury recommends exploring creation of a digital dollar
The Biden administration is moving one step closer to developing a central bank digital currency, known as the digital dollar. Administration officials say it’d help reinforce the U.S. role as a leader in the world financial system.
US Treasury recommends exploring creation of a digital dollar
H/T: PFYT2
Related:
A digital dollar would allow Americans to directly open up an account at the Fed
And while some have suggested that the Fed could potentially launch a digital dollar on a public network like Ethereum, Luther suspects that it would instead choose to launch on its own dedicated blockchain.
“A public blockchain would limit the government’s ability to control access and monitor transactions. I am not convinced it will give up control and oversight, even if doing so would be in the best interest of society.”
Fed’s Powell: a U.S. digital dollar could help maintain international primacy
The development of an official digital version of the U.S. dollar could help safeguard its global dominance as other countries issue their own, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said on Friday, weighing in with generally positive remarks on a hot-button topic at the central bank that has left policymakers divided.
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Ten countries have already launched central bank digital currencies and another 105 countries are exploring the option, according to the Atlantic Council, leading to fears the dollar could lose some of its dominance to China.
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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