Tensions are growing between the world's two biggest superpowers as Beijing ratchets up its threats over a possible visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan in the coming days.
From Brussels to Paris, EU officials have been reluctant to weigh into the dispute in public, even as China edges closer to the risk of a military standoff with the U.S. Behind the scenes, however, European diplomats accept there is clearly a danger that the situation could spiral out of control.
Analysts are now urging EU leaders to pay attention and prepare for trouble ahead.
"Worst-case scenarios sometimes do come to pass," said Boris Ruge, vice-chairman of the Munich Security Conference, citing Russia's invasion of Ukraine as an example. "Europeans would do well to prepare for contingencies, backing up Taiwan while remaining in close contact with Beijing, and helping to deescalate."
Comment: It would be unsurprising if the EU thought it could achieve all the contrary objectives above, because, after all, it thought it could get by without Russia's energy supplies; and we can see how that's turning out.
Pelosi announced on Sunday that she is taking a congressional delegation on a tour of Asia. A rumored stop-off in Taiwan — which has provoked a fierce backlash from Beijing — was not mentioned in her official itinerary but could still happen.
China insists that a visit to Taiwan by Pelosi would be a blatant breach of the "one China" policy governing the territory's status, and a signal of American support for Taiwanese independence.
Chinese President Xi Jinping underlined his position last week during a tense call with Joe Biden. "Those who play with fire will perish by it," China's foreign ministry quoted Xi as saying. "It is hoped that the U.S. will be clear-eyed about this." China's defense ministry has warned that the "Chinese military will never sit idly by" if Pelosi's trip goes ahead.
Analysts believe Xi will want to show a strong repose to any sign the U.S. is moving to support Taiwanese independence, in part because he is seeking a norm-breaking third term in office this fall.
Comment: it's unlikely Xi's reelection plays a significant role here, because, like Russia with Ukraine, China is being forced to respond.
The U.K. has suggested arming Taiwan, warning that the West must not make the same mistakes in failing to stand up for the Taiwanese as it did over Ukraine. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock recently described the "self-confident and above all robust appearance of China" in relation to Taiwan as "a global challenge."
Comment: Not quite, it's only really parts of the West that want to challenge China, the rest of the planet wants to work with it.
In public, however, most other European capitals have been more cautious in their comments. When asked about China's threatened military response to a Pelosi visit, the French foreign ministry and the EU's foreign policy arm would not comment.
One EU diplomat said silence at this stage is to be expected, given Taiwan is primarily regarded as a U.S. interest, but "the reaction will be different if words become action."
Comment: Biden doesn't exactly look tense...
Asked if the tensions were a concern for NATO, a senior European diplomat said: "Not yet, but it could easily escalate." The "worst case" would see American attention diverted away from Ukraine to tensions with China over Taiwan, the senior diplomat said.
Comment: The US is choreographing this distraction because of its failing proxy war in Ukraine, one might suppose the recent flaring of tensions in Kosovo serves, or will be used to serve, a similar agenda.
A third senior European diplomat said the risk of the clashes between Washington and Beijing boiling over is being "closely watched."
Urmas Paet, a vice-chair of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, warned that the intensifying Ukraine war had increased the risk of Chinese aggression toward Taiwan "exponentially."
Comment: Strong delusions from the vice-chair.
"The European Union must also be able to keep an eye on China's actions, including in relation to Taiwan," Paet said. "Full cooperation between the EU and the U.S. is very important both in terms of Russian aggression against Ukraine and also in relation to China's actions in its neighborhood."
Until relatively recently, Europe had shied away from talking about Taiwan — a democratic island of 23 million that Beijing claims is part of China. The mood soured further as China pledged a "no limits partnership" with Russia, and toed the Kremlin line on its so-called "special military operation" against Ukraine.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has prompted European policymakers to mull over the previously unimaginable consequences of imposing economic sanctions on the world's second-biggest economy, should Beijing make a military move against Taiwan.
Comment: Because the anti-Russia sanctions were so successful.
"In the event of a military invasion, we have made it very clear that the EU, with the United States and its allies, will impose similar or even greater measures than we have now taken against Russia," the EU's incoming ambassador to China, Jorge Toledo, said earlier this month.
Reader Comments
sell their dollar debts, quit sending rare earths, and release everything they have on the Bidens.
Im sure Pelosi is safe.
~
Now if you got some fresh chicken liver and you want to enjoy it in the raw (so to speak), then crack an egg and lightly batter it and then fry it in oil. Hmm, hmm good! Southern-style!
~
Peace!
ps - that chicken you present it is in the puzzle I still haven't finished - it is one of the more tricky chickens in the puzzle because of the combination of colors, but I'll get that jigsaw puzzle finished, then I'll glue it up and hang it on the wall and every time I look at it I will think about an internet friend of mine named: Chicken Farmer - You remember the puzzle don't you? From Hobby Lobby?
(ha, ha....).
Ken
You see it don't you?
2nd row from the bottom - chicken in the middle with a chick nearby.
Tonight there is a town council meeting and if the opportunity presents itself I'm gonna speak up in opposition to the ordinance that in theory keeps me from having chickens in the yard.
Wish me luck!
Ken
Here's a funny paleo based diet rap: [Link]
Best of luck Ken.
When I'm around the campfire I like to talk about chickens and chicken livers if that is the topic of discourse. I'll talk about any subject basically around the campfire and it is good to be around the campfire with friends.
Ken
ps - that video is funny as hell!
Best of luck friend!
I've learned a lot through the years, but by no means am I an expert. But, I love helping others to get a flock started. And love talking chicken!
Thanks,
Ken
And the idiotic Europeans, bleating about sanctions on China, are simply poseurs looking to boost their re-election chances. Neither the USA or Europe manufactures anything any more. Even the cars are merely assembled with parts sourced from China and Japan. Sure, sanction China all you like. No more solar panels for you woke assholes bleating about CO2 emissions. No more TV's. No more appliances of any type. No more clothes. Nothing, from laptops to paper clips. What will you do? Paint yourselves blue and live in mud huts like you used to do two thousand years ago? Right.
All Wars are Bankers Wars, by Michael Rivero [Link]
Tucker did a good segment on this with Col McGreggor:
[Link]
The video by Michael Rivero is very good. I knew all of it already, but t's a useful synopsis to share with those who don't know.
It's shocking how casually they can destroy lives and entre civilizations all in pursuit of more and more wealth. It's never enough for them. They are a parasitic class which never seems to go away.
The bank Brown Brothers Harriman mentioned in the video is of particular note. Prescott Bush was an executive of that bank, and was sanctioned for supporting the Nazis while we were at war with Germany. (The Harrimans were one of the initial shareholders in the Federal Reserve, along with the Warburgs, the Schiffs, and others.) BBH was acquired by Alex Brown, which was acquired by Deutsche Bank, and became Deutsche Bank Alex Brown. This was the bank through which all the stock options on the airlines and insurance companies were placed right before 9/11, which raised flags in all the bourses all over the world, but when the source of the optins was identified, the investigation was dropped.
One of Deutsche Bank Alex Brown's major clients was the Carlyle Group, whose investors include the Bush crime family, the Bin Laden family, the Al Saud family, and many prominent people like John Major, James Baker, and so on - many of the richest people in the world, and all of them players in the 9/11 false flag operation. IMHO, the kingpin and organizer of the 9/11 plot was GHW Bush, who had been uniquely not only President, but also Director of the CIA, and thus knew personally most of the heads of intelligence agencies and heads of state around the world. The 2000 election, with its hanging chads fiasco and the unconstitutional interference of the Supreme Court, was rigged to get Baby Bush into the White House, where he could be controlled and collaborate with the 9/11 plot.
There's a lot more, but I need to stop there, or this will end up as a book. Be well, LG.
Let's look at the current narratives of war. Ukraine is being attacked by evil Putin, Serbians and Kosovans fighting, and Pelosi provoking a war with China. What is the intent of all of these? War. The globalists have lost control of all of their other narratives. They want and need a more global war for genocide and totalitarian powers.
We wear fig leaf
Swinging on vines over Heinrich Square
And the old people tell of the house fight
At a barbecue in the ruins of the German bank
Birds' nests in a holey neon sign
We warm ourselves by a burning German flag
And if someone sleeps on a park bench
Then only because a girl leans on his arm
Three hours of work a day because that's all it takes
Tonight we'll think of names for stars
Thank that bomb 10 years ago
And make love till the sun can see
Remember when we used to carve the desks in the schools?
Please father don't forgive them, for they know what they do.
Underneath the cobblestones the sandy beach waits
If I rap, I rap with a pump shotgun
And we sing in the nuclear shelter
Hooray, this world is ending!
Hooray, this world is coming to an end!
Hooray, this world is ending!
And we sing in the nuclear shelter
Hurrah, this world is coming to an end!
Hooray, this world is coming to an end!
On the ruins the paradise
Grab your bow and arrow, we'll shoot a treat
There's no more jail, we'll barbecue on the prison bars
Burnt McDonald's bear witness to our exploits
Since we chased Nestlé from the fields
Apples taste like apples and tomatoes taste like tomatoes
And we cook our food in the soldiers' helmets
You want a smoke? Then go pick something in the garden
But our present life can also be endured soberly
Let's go for a ride in the moss-covered
In the moss-covered halls of the Reichstag
Our front doors no longer have to have locks
Money became confetti and we slept better
A gold bar is the same as a brick to us
The fireplace goes out, throw in another Bible
The kids get spooked cause I tell them about the pope
This life is so beautiful, who needs a life after? (who needs an afterlife?)
And we sing in the nuclear shelter:
Hooray, this world is ending!
Hooray, this world is ending!
Hooray, this world is ending!
And we sing in the nuclear shelter
Hooray, this world is coming to an end!
Hooray, this world is coming to an end!
On the ruins the paradise
The cows graze behind us, we smoke Ott play Talva
Where Potsdamer Platz used to be
When I wake up I'll stroke your hair once more
"Honey I'm going to work, I'll be right back"
We get up when we want, leave when we want
Look the way we want, have sex the way we want
And not the way the church or porn tells us to
Baby the time with you was so beautiful
Yeah, now it's over again, but our children don't cry
Cause we're raising them all together
Remember when they tried to put out that big fire?
That feeling when our passports melted in the flames?
They really thought their shit would last forever
I show the little ones Monopoly but they don't get it
A 100€ bill? What's that?
Why should I take something from you when we share everything?
And we sing in the nuclear shelter
Hurrah, this world is ending!
Hooray, the world is ending!
Hooray, this world is ending!
And we sing in the nuclear shelter
Hurrah, this world is coming to an end!
Hooray, this world is coming to an end!
On the ruins the paradise
Not for provocation Just to mirror Our Current and future Situation as The way it is here the translation of the song
Clothing is against the Almighty
We wear fig leaf
Swinging on vines over Heinrich Square
And the old people tell of the house fight
At a barbecue in the ruins of the German bank
Birds' nests in a holey neon sign
We warm ourselves by a burning German flag
And if someone sleeps on a park bench
Then only because a girl leans on his arm
Three hours of work a day because that's all it takes
Tonight we'll think of names for stars
Thank that bomb 10 years ago
And make love till the sun can see
Remember when we used to carve the desks in the schools?
Please father don't forgive them, for they know what they do.
Underneath the cobblestones the sandy beach waits
If I rap, I rap with a pump shotgun
And we sing in the nuclear shelter
Hooray, this world is ending!
Hooray, this world is coming to an end!
Hooray, this world is ending!
And we sing in the nuclear shelter
Hurrah, this world is coming to an end!
Hooray, this world is coming to an end!
On the ruins the paradise
Grab your bow and arrow, we'll shoot a treat
There's no more jail, we'll barbecue on the prison bars
Burnt McDonald's bear witness to our exploits
Since we chased Nestlé from the fields
Apples taste like apples and tomatoes taste like tomatoes
And we cook our food in the soldiers' helmets
You want a smoke? Then go pick something in the garden
But our present life can also be endured soberly
Let's go for a ride in the moss-covered
In the moss-covered halls of the Reichstag
Our front doors no longer have to have locks
Money became confetti and we slept better
A gold bar is the same as a brick to us
The fireplace goes out, throw in another Bible
The kids get spooked cause I tell them about the pope
This life is so beautiful, who needs a life after? (who needs an afterlife?)
And we sing in the nuclear shelter:
Hooray, this world is ending!
Hooray, this world is ending!
Hooray, this world is ending!
And we sing in the nuclear shelter
Hooray, this world is coming to an end!
Hooray, this world is coming to an end!
On the ruins the paradise
The cows graze behind us, we smoke Ott play Talva
Where Potsdamer Platz used to be
When I wake up I'll stroke your hair once more
"Honey I'm going to work, I'll be right back"
We get up when we want, leave when we want
Look the way we want, have sex the way we want
And not the way the church or porn tells us to
Baby the time with you was so beautiful
Yeah, now it's over again, but our children don't cry
Cause we're raising them all together
Remember when they tried to put out that big fire?
That feeling when our passports melted in the flames?
They really thought their shit would last forever
I show the little ones Monopoly but they don't get it
A 100€ bill? What's that?
Why should I take something from you when we share everything?
And we sing in the nuclear shelter
Hurrah, this world is ending!
Hooray, the world is ending!
Hooray, this world is ending!
And we sing in the nuclear shelter
Hurrah, this world is coming to an end!
Hooray, this world is coming to an end!
On the ruins the paradise
Time will tell.
Luqas (Luke) 21:9-11 TS2009
And I looked when He opened the sixth seal and saw a great earthquake came to be. And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood. And the stars of the heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its unripe figs, being shaken by a strong wind. And heaven departed like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. And the sovereigns of the earth, and the great ones, and the rich ones, and the commanders, and the mighty, and every slave and every free one, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him sitting on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, because the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”“
Ḥazon (Revelation) 6:12-17 TS2009
"Yell and spit like a mad cat and carry a toothpick" - Lemuel Gulliver