China banned sale of these minerals to the U.S. It matters to all of us
The ban will challenge many semiconductor manufacturers in the coming months. After two years of flat consumer demand, exacerbated by the global semiconductor shortage, many companies are predicted to struggle to stay afloat. Access to critical raw materials like gallium, germanium, and antimony is becoming increasingly important due to the heightened demand for electronics due to AI.
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Analysts believe that while Vietnam appreciates the gesture, it is unlikely to influence Hanoi’s strategy in the disputed waters.
Philippines sides with Vietnam in South China Sea dispute, hoping it will ‘return the favour’
Related:
BowerGroupAsia: Dr. Prashanth Parameswaran
Prashanth is concurrently a fellow at the Wilson Center, a senior columnist at The Diplomat magazine and an instructor for institutions including the U.S. State Department. He is the founder of the twice-weekly ASEAN Wonk newsletter, which offers research insights and analysis on the geopolitics and geoeconomics of Southeast Asia and the Indo-Pacific region.
Stratbase ADR Institute Non-Resident Fellow: Dr. Prashanth Parameswaran
Dr. Parameswaran has held various roles across think tanks, governments, media and companies, including the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Associated Press. In those capacities, he worked on various issues including geopolitical and geoeconomic statecraft, Southeast Asia foreign and security policy, regional institutions, major power engagement in the Indo-Pacific as well as alliances and partnerships.
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Dr. Parameswaran holds a Ph.D. and MA focused on international business, international relations, Asian affairs, and U.S. foreign policy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He earned a BA from the University of Virginia, where he studied foreign affairs and peace and conflict studies with a focus on Asia. He regularly advises groups and individuals seeking to advance conversations on Indo-Pacific affairs and serves on the board of several institutions.
US policies pushing China, Philippines to brink of conflict
The China-Philippines maritime dispute does not, in of itself, reflect anything approaching an existential conflict. It has, however, become an increasingly dangerous proxy and potential flashpoint for underlying China-U.S. tensions in the South China Sea.
FYI, this article is full of disinformation. I’m posting it to point out that there’s an information war going on in the South China Sea (using embedded journalists, civil society activists, and various US think tanks). The Philippines plans on building a military base, on the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, to replace the BRP Sierra Madre (which is about to break apart). Marcos is also re-starting oil exploration, in the Reed Bank, which is part of the disputed territory.
Related:
US Shapes Philippines into Southeast Asia’s “Ukraine”
Why the US is Picking a Fight with China in the South China Sea
Beijing rejects tribunal’s ruling in South China Sea case
Paul Reichler, of the law firm Foley Hoag LLP, who who coordinated the Philippines’ legal team, said: “The tribunal’s ruling not only benefits the Philippines, it also benefits other states bordering the South China Sea like Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam. If China’s nine-dash line is invalid as to the Philippines, it is equally invalid to those states and, indeed, the rest of the international community.”
Thailand’s recently renewed commitment toward finishing the already under-construction Thai-Chinese high-speed railway may help move the Southeast Asian nation forward, out of the shadow of years of Western-induced political instability, and into the light of peace and prosperity as it and the rest of the region rise with China.
Thailand to Speed Up Construction of Joint-Chinese High-Speed Railway
Even after Italy’s BRIexit, the central government, companies, and local authorities will likely continue, and even boost, relations with China across the board.
Italy Wants to Exit the Belt and Road – But Without Curbing Ties With China
It is just as well that Antony “Guardrails” Blinken has called off his long-scheduled visit to Beijing, which was due to begin Tuesday. It would have been his first since taking over at State and the first by a secretary of state in four years. But Blinken would not have got any guardrails in place or built any exit ramps, which he seems to consider his highest calling. Let us wonder, parenthetically, if our Tony wasn’t meant to be a transportation engineer.
Patrick Lawrence: The Pentagon’s Balloon Floats On
The chief architect of Philippine foreign policy is the President.
It appears that the sitting President has been somewhat slow in defining it but certainly he knows that buck of responsibility stops with him.
Our Foreign Policy on China Is Clear, But Is It to The United States?
Related:
Are Freedom of Navigation Operations and Innocent Passage Really the Same?
U.S. destroyer challenges China’s claims in South China Sea
Kamala Harris Heads to Philippines to Pick a Fight With China
The Solomon Islands, a sovereign country in the Pacific, broke ties with Taiwan and allied with China. So the US backed a failed violent coup attempt. Australia now calls the area its “backyard,” and media moguls demand an invasion to prevent the nation from signing a security pact with Beijing.
New cold war neocolonialism: West threatens Solomon Islands over China alliance
Previously:
US Torches Solomon Islands for Choosing China
US to reopen Solomon Islands embassy to counter Chinese influence
One of the filters in the Propaganda Model propounded by professors Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky was stoking a fear of communism. [1] The establishment’s anti-communism has never abated in the United States. The elitists require a populace fearful of communism to protect their own misbegotten wealth accumulation. Thus, the bugaboo of communism must be opposed wherever it arises. At its worst, the US would wage war against communist countries such as North Korea, Viet Nam, Cambodia, and Yugoslavia. When not militarily attacked, communist governments will be demonized by a relentless campaign of disinformation designed to bring about the fall of the government and its replacement by a government amenable to the US establishment, as happened in the Soviet Union. That is the nature of imperialism and predatory capitalism.
Targeting Cuba and China: Disinformation against Communism
Iran exile group blacked out in Biden policy shift
However, the MEK’s history of violence is not confined to aggression against Iranian citizens. The group subscribed to a fierce anti-American ideology in the 1970s and hit several American targets inside Iran in a string of bombings that hit the US information office, Pepsi Cola, PanAm and General Motors.
A State Department inquiry in 1992 found the MEK guilty of killing six American citizens, including three military officers and three men hired by Rockwell International, a manufacturing company that ceased its operations in 2001.
US politicians that support these terrorists should be tried for treason!
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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