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Is China Preparing for War?
War with China is on the drawing board of the Pentagon. China has responded to US threats and military deployments in the Indo-Pacific region. President Xi Jinping has ordered the People’s Liberation Army to prepare for a possible war.
Addressing China’s Central Military Commission, Xi said
“(a)ll military units must correctly understand major national security and development trends, and strengthen their sense of unexpected hardship, crisis and battle.”
“The world is facing a period of major changes never seen in a century, and China is still in an important period of strategic opportunity for development.”
Xi ordered stepped up military training and exercises, saying China’s armed forces must “prepare for a comprehensive military struggle from a new starting point”, adding:
“Preparation for war and combat must be deepened to ensure an efficient response in times of emergency.”
Days earlier, a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Daily editorial stressed there’s “no time for slackening in war preparation.”
Part of what’s going on is what Xi called his aim for “peaceful reunification” with Taiwan. Beijing considers the island state a breakaway province, reunification inevitable, by force if “democratic consultations” fail to “reach transitional arrangements for the peaceful development of cross-strait ties,” adding:
“Chinese don’t fight Chinese,” while saying his government “makes no promise to renounce the use of force and reserves the option of taking all necessary means” for reunification, stressing no tolerance for “foreign intervention.”
“(O)ne country, two systems” is the way forward, he said, the approach adopted in reunification with Hong Kong and Macau.
Xi’s remarks followed enactment of the US Asia Reassurance Initiative Act (ARIA), discussed in a separate article – legislation authorizing funding for Washington’s imperial Indo/Pacific agenda, mainly by its military footprint in a part of the world not its own, the way it operates globally.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
US Rage for Endless Wars Threatens World Peace in the New Year
US Rage for Endless Wars Threatens World Peace in the New Year
Washington’s hegemonic aims, under Republicans and undemocratic Dems, represent the greatest threat to world peace and humanity’s survival.
At his annual marathon Q & A news conference last week, Vladimir Putin warned about possible nuclear war, a growing threat because of Washington’s reckless geopolitical agenda, including withdrawal from the Iran (JCPOA) nuclear deal and INF Treaty, as well as its reluctance to negotiate extending New Start (April 2010) on reducing and limiting strategic weapons, expiring in February 2021 if not renewed.
Based on bad advice from regime hardliners, Trump falsely called New Start a bad deal favoring Russia. It’s nothing of the kind. It’s even-handed, shifting things to less war and more peace globally.
Last October, John Bolton called for withdrawing from New Start. He convinced Trump to abandon the JCPOA and INF Treaty. He advocates greater US toughness against all sovereign independent countries.
Before becoming Trump’s national security advisor, he urged terror-bombing Iran and North Korea, sanctions not enough, he said, diplomacy “a waste of time.”
He claimed “Iran will not negotiate its (nonexistent) nuclear (weapons) program.” He urged “military action like Israel’s 1981 attack on Saddam Hussein’s Osirak reactor in Iraq…”
He said “(t)he way to end (North Korea’s nuclear program) is to end the North.”
New Start calls for reducing the number of strategic nuclear missile launchers by half. It limits the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads to 1,500.
It also limits the number of ICBMs, submarine-launched ballistic missile launchers, and nuclear capable heavy warplanes.
It calls for satellite and other monitoring, as well as annual on-site inspections to assure both sides comply with terms agreed on.
Bolton, Pompeo, and other Trump regime hardliners want restraints on its weapons development and deployments eliminated, part of Washington’s permanent war agenda.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Diplomacy a Waste of Time with Washington
The US is a serial lawbreaker, operating by its own rules, no others.
Time and again, it flagrantly breaches international treaties, Security Council resolutions, and other rule of law principles, including its own Constitution.
Diplomacy with Republicans and undemocratic Dems is an exercise in futility. Trump’s JCPOA pullout and threatened INF Treaty withdrawal show Washington can never be trusted.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s proposed US outreach to discuss INF Treaty bilateral differences is well intended – despite knowing nothing is accomplished when talks with Washington are held, so why bother.
It’s just a matter of time before the US breaches another promise. They’re hollow when made. Kremlin good intentions aren’t enough to overcome US duplicity and implacable hostility toward Russia.
“We are ready to continue the dialogue in appropriate formats on the entire range of problems related to this document on the basis of professionalism and mutual respect, without putting forward unsubstantiated accusations and ultimatums. Our proposals are well known and remain on the negotiating table,” said Zakharova, adding:
“We have admitted (US) documents for further consideration. This text again includes accusations in the form of unfounded and unsubstantiated information about Russia’s alleged violations of this deal.”
Comments to Washington like the above and similar remarks are like talking to a wall. The US demands all countries bend to its will, offering nothing in return but betrayal – especially in dealings with Russia, China, Iran, and other sovereign independent governments it seeks to replace with pro-Western puppet ones.
Not a shred of evidence suggests Russia violated its INF Treaty obligations. The accusation is baseless like all others against the Kremlin.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Highest Greenhouse Gasses in Millions of Years
Atmospheric greenhouse gasses absorb infrared radiation from the sun, releasing it, including the sun’s heat.
As natural and man-made greenhouse gasses increase, more heat is retained in the atmosphere instead of escaping into space. Heating the earth is called the greenhouse effect – from water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, and fluorocarbons.
Since the mid-18th century industrial age onset, atmospheric carbon dioxide alone increased by 40%. Use of coal, oil and natural gas fossil fuels are the major contributors to global warming – along with use of nuclear power.
Contrary to government and industry disinformation – even during normal operations, nuclear power generation causes significant discharges of greenhouse gas emissions, as well as hundreds of thousands of curies of deadly radioactive gases and other radioactive elements into the environment each year.
Splitting the atom may turn out to be catastrophic. In her book titled “Nuclear Madness,” physician, anti-nuclear activist/expert Helen Caldicott said the following:
“…(N)uclear technology threatens life on our planet with extinction. If present trends continue, the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink will soon be contaminated with enough radioactive pollutants to pose a potential health hazard far greater than any plague humanity has ever experienced.”
Failure to rely on clean, renewable energy may doom us. Of all sources of energy today, nuclear power is by far the most dangerous.
Although power plants release no carbon dioxide (CO2), the primary greenhouse gas, a vast infrastructure is required. Called the nuclear fuel cycle, it uses large amounts of fossil fuels.
Each cycle stage exacerbates the problem, starting with the enormous cost of mining and milling uranium, fossil fuel needed to do it.
Disposing mill tailings produced in the extraction process requires great amounts of greenhouse emitting fuels to remediate.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
WaPo Urges Increased US Spending for Militarism and Warmaking
WaPo Urges Increased US Spending for Militarism and Warmaking
What’s euphemistically called defense spending is all about funding America’s war machine – always active, never idle, inventing enemies to attack.
None existed since imperial Japan formally surrendered in 1945. Yet America is permanently at war directly or indirectly – at home on streets in minority (mainly Black) communities turned into battlegrounds, abroad in multiple theaters, new ones pending.
The Washington Post (WaPo): “The Pentagon and the welfare state have been locked in brutal combat for decades, and the Pentagon has gotten clobbered.”
“Protecting the country was once the first obligation of government. No more. Welfare programs – Social Security, Medicare, food stamps and other benefits – dwarf defense spending. As a result, we have become more vulnerable.”
Fact: The neocon Washington Post is connected to America’s intelligence community, mainly the CIA, operating as its virtual house organ, promoting militarism and warmaking, deploring world peace and stability.
Mackenzie Eaglen is a resident fellow at the hard-right American Enterprise Institute’s Marilyn Ware Center for Security Studies.
She works on defense strategy, defense budgets, and military readiness – earlier worked on these issues with House and Senate officials, as well as at the Pentagon’s Office of the Secretary of Defense.
WaPo quoted her saying “(t)he United States now fields a military that could not meet even the requirements of a benign Clinton-era world.”
“The services have watched their relative overmatch and capacity decline in almost every domain of warfare…for nearly two decades.”
“As rival nation-states have accelerated their force development, the Department of Defense has stalled out, creating a dangerous window of relative military advantage for potential foes.”
“While the United States continues to field the best military personnel in the world, policy makers have asked them to do too much with too little for too long.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Corrupt US Government Accuses Putin Of Corruption
Corrupt US Government Accuses Putin Of Corruption
The most corrupt government on earth, a government so utterly corrupt that it allows former executives of a handful of corrupt mega-banks to run the economic policy of the US solely in the interest of their banks, denying tens of millions of American retirees any interest income on their savings for 7 years and denying hard-pressed Social Security recipients any cost-of-living adjustments by falsifying inflation measures, a government so totally corrupt that it has destroyed seven countries and millions of Muslims solely on the basis of lies, this irredeemably corrupt government has accused the most admired political leader on earth of corruption.
http://russia-insider.com/en/putin-corrupt-proclaims-most-corrupt-govt-earth/ri12490
The entire world outside brainwashed America, its EU vassals, and Nazified Ukraine is laughing.
The United States, once admired, then feared, is now the laughing stock of the world. The CIA-controlled German media is being abandoned by the German people who have figured out that their media is nothing but a Washington propaganda operation against Russia. The backlash is so strong that the German media might not survive. http://russia-insider.com/en/germany/germans-abandon-major-news-sites-anger-over-slanted-russia-coverage/ri885
Here is Stephen Lendman’s take on Washington’s latest attempt to demonize Putin:
Phony US Claims About Putin’s Corruption
by Stephen Lendman
Relentless US Putin bashing persists, reckless accusations made – including invading Ukraine and murder, evidence backing up claims absent. None exists.
Putin is vilified for forthrightly defending Russian sovereign independence, supporting a multi-polar world, and challenging Washington’s imperial agenda – at the same time seeking world peace and stability along with mutual cooperation among all nations.
Comments by US officials reflect administration policy. Britain’s BBC is state-owned, controlled and operated. Propaganda substitutes for credible news and information.
Its correspondent Richard Bilton asked US Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) director Adam Szubin “if Putin is corrupt.”
He lied, saying “(i)n our view, yes. . . He supposedly draws a state salary of something like $110,000 a year.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
The One Percent Rallies Behind IMF Director Christine LaGarde
The One Percent Rallies Behind IMF Director Christine LaGarde
Washington removed Dominique Strauss-Kahn as the leading contender for the French presidency and as director of the IMF by framing him on phony charges of raping a New York hotel maid. The obviously false charge was proven to be totally fabricated and had to be dropped. In the meantime Strass-Kahn had been forced to resign from the IMF and to drop out of the French election. Washington regarded Strauss-Kahn as insufficiently compliant with Washington’s agendas and moved him aside.
Washington got its vassal, Hollande, elected President of France, and replaced Strauss-Kahn at the IMF with the “rhymes-with-witch” Christine LaGarde.
LaGarde serves only the One Percent. She overturned the decision by the IMF’s professional staff that the Greek debt had to be written down to a sum that the country could afford to service. Instead, LaGarde enabled the One Percent to loot the Greek nation and the Greek people, forcing many young Greek women into prostitution in order to have money for food.
As Stephen Lendman points out below, LaGarde’s crimes have caught up with her. When she was French finance minister she ruled against the interest of France in order to benefit the tycoon Bernard Tapie. Corrupt prosecutors tried to cover it up, but the French judicial system has ruled that she must stand trial. http://www.wsj.com/articles/imf-chief-lagarde-ordered-to-stand-trial-in-france-1450373023 Despite the judicial order that she stand trial, she has not had to resign as IMF director. The One Percent protects its own. The IMF’s executive board “continues to express its confidence in the Managing Director’s ability to effectively carry out her duties.”
No such expression of confidence was given to Strauss-Kahn when he was arrested on obviously false charges.
IMF Chief Lagarde to Stand Trial
by Stephen Lendman
Charges are unrelated to her greatest crimes – representing the US-controlled IMF and Western monied interests at the expense of beneficial social change.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
