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China's National People's Congress: One country, two sessions, multiple tweaks

Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
Wed, 06 Mar 2019 00:00 UTC
Chinese National People's Congress
© AFP/The Yomiuri ShimbunThe Chinese National People’s Congress begins at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, on March 5, 2019.
Contrary to Western doom and gloom interpretations, China's two sessions now taking place in Beijing offer a fascinating mix of realpolitik and soft power. Every year, the two sessions involve the National People's Congress (NPC) - the legislative body - and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) - the political advisory body - laying down the Chinese equivalent of the state of the union.

Premier Li Keqiang's report acknowledged that Beijing foresees "graver and more complex" risks and "both predictable and unpredictable" challenges, with the conclusion that China must be "prepared to fight tough battles" in 2019. It was undiluted realpolitik.

An economic growth target in the range of 6.0% to 6.5% is still massive in terms of the expansion of global capitalism - irrespective of the usual suspects carping on about China "stalling" or mired "in deep crisis." A deficit-to-GDP ratio set at 2.8% - slightly higher than the 2.6% last year - is not exactly a problem for such a huge economy.

What's quite intriguing is how "Made in China 2025" - the full designation - simply vanished from the 2019 Government Work Report.

Yet the policy remains - transmuted in the report on the expansion of "smart plus." By extending tax cuts for manufacturers and small-business taxpayers, Beijing will keep driving no holds barred toward what Li defined as "building up a powerful manufacturing country" - from industrial development to tech innovation.
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Padlock

Manafort's sentence: Four years in prison for financial crimes unrelated to Russia


RT
Thu, 07 Mar 2019 23:44 UTC
Manafort
© Reuters/Jonathan ErnstPaul Manafort
Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort was sentenced to 47 months in prison for fraud and other financial crimes entirely unrelated to Russia, in the only trial so far to emerge from Robert Mueller's 'Russiagate' probe.

Manafort found himself in special counsel's crosshairs as the manager of President Donald Trump's campaign between March and August 2016, but the bank fraud, tax fraud and failure to declare a foreign bank account - the eight charges on which he was found guilty last August in a federal court in Virginia - have nothing to do with the 2016 presidential election, and everything to do with Manafort's lobbying activities in Ukraine.

"He is not before the court for anything having to do with colluding with the Russian government," Judge T.S. Ellis III told the courtroom on Thursday.

After lengthy consultations with both prosecutors and defense, Ellis said that Manafort "lived an otherwise blameless life," so the sentence requested by prosecutors was "excessive." His final verdict, which came around 7 pm local time, was 47 months - just short of four years - and a $50,000 fine. Manafort was also told to pay $24.8 million in restitution.
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Pirates

Syrian War report: Army delivers massive strike on terrorist infrastructure as ISIS cells re-emerge


South Front
Thu, 07 Mar 2019 00:00 UTC
TIP TurkistanIslamicParty
© People's Daily OnlineEast Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) Turkistan Islamic Party is a separatist organization founded in 1989 by Uygur militants in western China.
On March 6, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) delivered a massive rocket strike on positions of the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) in Jisr al-Shughur in the northwestern part of Idlib province. This was the first such strike in this area in five months. The strike reportedly came in response to the recent increase in militant shelling of government-held areas in northwestern Hama, which has been causing civilian casualties on a regular basis.

Separately, the SAA carried out a rocket strike on the headquarters of Jaysh al-Izza near the town of Khan Shaykhun in southern Idlib. The HQ was fully destroyed and 7 militants, including the group's prominent field commander Majid al-Said, were eliminated.

Jaysh al-Izza is one of the key allies of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda) in northern Hama and southern Idlib. Despite this, mainstream media outlets describe it as a moderate opposition group. At various different times during the war, Jaysh al-Izza was receiving supports from the US, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

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Airplane

Suspected: US deploys Avenger drones to Syria for mystery missions


Sputnik
Thu, 07 Mar 2019 12:59 UTC
DroneMoon
© P Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth
Earlier, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed to have hacked into over half a dozen US drones flying over Syria and Iraq in recent years.

"A certain government agency" has been flying missions in Syria using the Q-11, a variant of the General Atomics Avenger drone also known as the Predator C, The Drive has reported, citing statements by the drone's manufacturer.

"We know for a fact that a handful of Avengers are flying under some classified umbrella for a certain government agency and that they have been active in the Middle East, and Syria, in particular," the outlet alleged.


Comment: See also:

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Briefcase

Treacherous Mike Cohen is suing Trump Organization, wants it to pay legal fees

Jim Mustian
Yahoo
Thu, 07 Mar 2019 00:00 UTC
M. Cohen
© Getty ImagesMichael Cohen arriving to testify before the House Intelligence Committee.
President Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen filed a lawsuit Thursday claiming the Trump Organization broke a promise to pay his legal bills and owes at least $1.9 million to cover the cost of his defense.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in New York state court, claims the Trump Organization stopped paying Cohen's mounting legal fees after he began cooperating with federal prosecutors in their investigations related to Trump's business dealings in Russia and attempts to silence women with embarrassing stories about his personal life. It alleges breach of contract and seeks damages on Cohen's behalf.

Messages seeking comment have been left with the Trump Organization.


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Star of David

Netanyahu: Israeli Navy prepared to 'block' Iranian oil transit

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Thu, 07 Mar 2019 20:05 UTC
Iranian tanker
© Kuwait TimesIranian oil tanker
Short of last month's incident wherein Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared via Twitter that he's seeking "war with Iran", new comments issued this week represent the most aggressive declaration of how far Israel is willing to go to thwart Iran in the region.

Echoing the Trump administration's desire to bring Iranian exports to zero through sanctions, Netatyahu said on Wednesday that he's considering ordering Israel's Navy to target Iranian oil tankers to prevent them from selling oil abroad. This as a number of other signatories to the P5+1 nuclear deal have vowed to continue buying despite US sanctions and threatened repercussions from Washington.

"Iran is trying to circumvent the sanctions through covert oil smuggling over maritime routes, and to the extent that these attempts widen, the navy will have a more important role in blocking these Iranian actions," Netanyahu said.

Of course what the Israeli prime minister calls "covert oil smuggling" Iran would see simply as its right to conduct valid and legal shipping as a sovereign economic power. But given the tightening economic noose and expansive US naval presence in international waters, Iran has reportedly been switching off location transponders on its ships as well as other measures to conceal its maritime traffic (using "ghost ships" to flout US sanctions), including even altering names of ships or flag registries.

Comment: See also:

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Black Cat

Porshenko's warmongering against Russia descends into electioneering hysteria


The Strategic Culture Foundation
Fri, 08 Mar 2019 18:44 UTC
Poroshenko
Poroshenko with Ukranian army soldiers
This week the head of Ukrainian armed forces Viktor Muzhenko claimed that Russia was prepping a massive invasion of his country with up to 80,000 troops. Such incendiary claims have been made before by Kiev, only to be proven false over and over.

How is that such a reckless regime is not hauled before an international court for incitement against peace owing to its crazed claims? Of course, because it is patronized by Washington and European allies who are not exactly averse to incitement against peace as can be seen with regard to Venezuela, Syria and countless other countries.

Another twist this week in the tortuous "Russians are coming" scaremongering fable were Ukrainian media claims that eight Russian submarines were spotted in the Azov Sea. Presumably that lurid vignette was intended to amplify public fears of a naval offensive in conjunction with the alleged mass troop invasion from "north, east and south".
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Snakes in Suits

Feds gorge themselves on lobster as part of $97bn end-of-fiscal year spending spree - report


RT
Fri, 08 Mar 2019 19:31 UTC
lobster
© Global Look Press / M. Stolt
Federal agencies splurged on lobster tail and other gratuitous frills in just one month in a convoluted plot to avoid future budget cuts, a new report claims. The spending orgy has received dozens of 1-star reviews on Twitter.

A jaw-dropping study published by a transparency NGO, OpenTheBooks, found that in the last month of fiscal year 2018 (September), the feds forked out an unfathomable $97 billion on essentials such as sirloin steak, snow crab, lobster tail, golf carts, iPads and of course - lest we forget - bombs. The last-minute shopping spree is part of a mind-melting scheme in which federal agencies spend every last penny they have or risk budget cuts in the future.

The Pentagon was particularly eager to take advantage of the "use it or lose it" fiscal policy, shelling out more than $61 billion over 30 days. More than $20 billion went towards the department's bread and butter - guns, ammunition and bombs - but there was plenty of cash left over for some end-of-the-year treats.
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Star of David

Exposing Israel's covert role in the brewing India-Pakistan conflict

Whitney Webb
MintPress News
Fri, 08 Mar 2019 18:22 UTC
modi netanyahu
© Sebastian Scheiner/Associated PressIndian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, left, shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during their meeting at the King David hotel in Jerusalem, July 5, 2017
Well-known British journalist Robert Fisk recently wrote a very telling and troubling article in The Independent regarding the outsized role of the state of Israel in the burgeoning tensions between India and Pakistan, two nuclear powers. The story - despite its importance, given the looming threat of nuclear war between the two countries - was largely overlooked by the international media.

The tit-for-tat attacks exchanged between India and Pakistan last week have seen long-standing tensions between the two countries escalate to dangerous proportions, though Pakistan helped to deescalate the situation somewhat by returning and "saving" an Indian pilot whose plane had been shot down in retaliation for India's bombing of targets in a disputed area administered by Pakistan.

That bombing was retaliation for a car bomb attack launched by Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) militants, a group that both India and Pakistan recognize as a terrorist organization, against Indian forces. Some analysts have speculated that India's decision to bomb this area was made by Indian President Narendra Modi, a Hindu ethno-nationalist, in order to rally his base ahead of upcoming Indian elections in May.

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Yoda

Best of the Web: Chelsea Manning sent back to jail for refusing to testify in secret proceedings against Wikileaks


RT
Fri, 08 Mar 2019 17:54 UTC
Manning grand jury Wikileaks
© Associated Press/Matthew BarakatChelsea Manning was ordered to jail Friday, March 8, 2019, for refusing to testify to a Virginia grand jury investigating Wikileaks.
US army whistleblower Chelsea Manning has been taken into custody for contempt of court after refusing to testify in front of a grand jury in what's believed to be the case against WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange.

Manning received a subpoena from the US District Court in January.

She appeared before a grand jury on Wednesday and invoked her First, Fourth and Sixth Amendment rights. She said the questions pertained to her 2010 disclosures of the American military's misconduct, and she had answered those extensively during her 2013 court-martial.

Comment: More from Fox News:
Manning was ordered to jail by U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton after a brief hearing in which Manning confirmed she had no intention of testifying. She told the judge she "will accept whatever you bring upon me."

"These secret proceedings tend to favor the government," Manning told reporters before her hearing, according to The Washington Post. "I'm always willing to explain things publicly."

Manning's lawyers have asked she be confined to her home instead due to the medical complications she faces.

Chelsea Manning was ordered to jail Friday, March 8, 2019, for refusing to testify to a Virginia grand jury investigating Wikileaks. (AP Photo/Matthew Barakat)

The judge, however, concluded U.S. Marshals could appropriately handle her medical care.

Prosecutor Tracy McCormick said Manning can easily end the incarceration on the civil charge by testifying.
Chelsea Manning embodies the integrity sorely needed in the world today. She is willing to return to incarceration despite having already endured seven years of horror, in the course of upholding her principles and defending the right of US citizens to know what their government is doing in their name.

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