On Thursday the New York Times ran yet another report about Saudi Arabia’s entry into an “Abraham Accord,” but if only certain conditions could be met. It quoted longtime Israel lobby heavyweight Martin Indyk and reported on the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s think tank the Washington Institute for Near East Policy “expert” delegation’s visit to Riyadh to finalize a deal. Then on Friday explosive news broke that China had successfully concluded a secret peace agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Israel and its US lobby Dealt Major Blow by China Saudi Iran Peace Initiative
Tag: Wang Yi
HUGE. In China-Brokered Deal, Iran and Saudi Arabia Restore Diplomatic Ties
HUGE. In China-Brokered Deal, Iran and Saudi Arabia Restore Diplomatic Ties
Regime change for Saudi, or maybe some US-backed terrorist attacks?!
Related:
China brokers Iran-Saudi detente, raising eyebrows in Washington
Though blunting China’s influence in the Middle East and other parts of the world remains a priority for the Biden administration, it is of “two minds” about the latest agreement, said Jon Alterman, a Middle East scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“It wants the Saudis to take increasing responsibility for their own security,” he said, “but it does not want Saudi Arabia freelancing and undermining U.S. security strategies.”
Washington Seeks to Drum Up Support for Sanctions on China
The Joe Biden administration is pressuring allies to sanction China if Beijing decides to send arms to Russia, Reuters reported on Wednesday. Top American officials have claimed the Chinese government is considering providing weapons for Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
Washington Seeks to Drum Up Support for Sanctions on China
Related:
US House committee advances slew of sanctions bills related to China and Taiwan
US military ends search for balloons shot down over Alaska and Lake Huron
Military says objects are thought to have landed in difficult terrain, after hobbyists suggested one could belong to them.
US military ends search for balloons shot down over Alaska and Lake Huron
Most likely, we’ll never know if they really did shoot down a pico balloon. They’re too embarrassed.
Related:
Did an F-22 shoot down an Illinois hobby group’s small radio balloon?
A military spokesperson tells NPR it’s their understanding that the FBI has spoken to the hobbyist group in question — the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade, based just north of Chicago — in an apparent attempt to determine whether their small balloon might have inadvertently caused a big ruckus.
…
When the prediction showed K9YO-15 heading from Alaska over the Yukon, [Dan] Bowen said, “we really hoped it wouldn’t be intercepted. But we knew the moment that the intercept was reported, whose it was and which one it was.”
Asked if he believes the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade’s balloon was shot down, Bowen didn’t hesitate.
“Yes. Absolutely,” he said. “You know, I would say with 98% certainty.”
The Pentagon’s Balloon Floats On
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
Updated: US downs Chinese balloon over ocean, moves to recover debris
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
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.
…
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
Interview with Lawrence Wilkerson
Retired US army colonel Lawrence Wilkerson touches on a number of hot topics, from a potential war between Lebanon and “Israel”, the dwindling Israeli military capabilities, to Biden’s Middle East doctrine, all the while casting doubt on Trump’s re-election.
Former chief of staff to US Secretary of State Colin Powell: Best case scenario for “Israel” in future war with Hezbollah would be a stalemate
Video via Al Mayadeen English
China forgives debt for 17 African nations
China has pledged to forgive 23 interest-free loans for 17 African countries and will also provide food assistance to the struggling nations.
China forgives debt for 17 African nations
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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