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Everything going according to plan in China - Cold War strategy intensifies

Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
Mon, 24 Aug 2020 00:00 UTC
Chinese President Xi Jinping
© AFP
Chinese President Xi Jinping
The contours of China's long-term strategy for the new Cold War are quickly coming into view

Let's start with the story of an incredibly disappearing summit.

Every August, the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) converges to the town of Beidaihe, a seaside resort some two hours away from Beijing, to discuss serious policies that then coalesce into key planning strategies to be approved at the CCP Central Committee plenary session in October.

The Beidaihe ritual was established by none other than Great Helmsman Mao, who loved the town where, not by accident, Emperor Qin, the unifier of China in the 3rd century B.C., kept a palace.

2020 being, so far, a notorious Year of Living Dangerously, it's no surprise that in the end Beidaihe was nowhere to be seen. Yet Beidaihe's invisibility does not mean it did not happen.

Exhibit 1 was the fact that Premier Li Keqiang simply disappeared from public view for nearly two weeks - after President Xi chaired a crucial Politburo gathering in late July where what was laid out was no less than China's whole development strategy for the next 15 years.
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Георгиевская ленточка

Russo-Syrian task force obliterates 327 ISIS terrorists as retribution for assassination of a Russian general

Drago Bosnic
Fort Russ
Wed, 26 Aug 2020 20:20 UTC
russia turkey syria
© AP
Russian and Syrian special forces conducted a joint anti-terrorist spec op against resurgent ISIS cells in the desert regions of eastern Syria. The special operation took place in the provinces of Homs and Deir Ez-Zor, in the time period from August 18 to August 24, in response to new ISIS terrorist attacks, a representative of the Russian military in Syria stated, according to RIA Novosti.

"Airstrikes of the Russian Aerospace Forces and the Syrian Arab Air Force, artillery fire and actions of special surveillance and reconnaissance groups in the 'white desert' liquidated 327 militants, destroyed 134 shelters, 17 observation posts, seven warehouses with equipment and five underground storage facilities for weapons and ammunition," RIA Novisti quotes the statement.
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Bullseye

Belarusian opposition leader Tikhanovskaya is cozying up to Washington, a serious strategic blunder

Bradley Blankenship
RT
Thu, 27 Aug 2020 18:27 UTC
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya
© Reuters / Vasily Fedosenko
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya leaves the central election commission in Minsk, Belarus July 14, 2020
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the face of the Belarusian opposition, has met with the US deputy secretary of state. This could have an effect opposite to what was intended - and consolidate support for Alexander Lukashenko.

Exiled former presidential candidate Tikhanovskaya met with Stephen Biegun in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on Monday to discuss "strengthening democracy and human rights in the country." Tikhanovskaya's status as an "opposition leader," now cozy with the US as perhaps a hand-picked leader, has led some to bill her as Belarus' version of Venezuela's Juan Guaido. Conversely, her meeting with Biegun reveals that she is actually not a US State Department asset and, similarly to Guaido in at least one way, is also not a clever political operator.

Tikhanovskaya's willingness to turn to Washington has accomplished several things: it has drawn serious attention from Moscow, it has given credence to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's claims that outside forces are trying to topple the country and, if it hasn't already, it certainly will create friction within an already disunited opposition.

Comment:

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Stock Up

Putin: The worst of coronavirus impact on Russia's economy is over


RT
Thu, 27 Aug 2020 12:28 UTC
Putin
© Unknown
Russian President Vladimir Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin says the country has already passed the peak of the economic problems caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, paving the way for economic recovery next year.

In an interview with the Rossiya 24 TV channel, the president said the country's key macroeconomic indicators are stable, despite the aftermath of the coronavirus crisis. According to Putin, low inflation levels and rising gold reserves offer yet more proof that the national economy is on the path toward recovery.
"We believe the peak of our problems has passed and I hope we will gradually begin to recover. We are not much different from other countries in the world - I think our recovery will be secured next year."
While some forecasts expected the Russian economy to shrink by over eight percent this year, Putin says analysts now predict a much lower contraction of between five and six percent - in line with the expected contraction of the global economy. According to Putin, this is the result of timely government action to limit problems from the crisis.
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Pirates

UN: Over 10K Islamic State fighters active in Iraq, Syria

Edith M. Lederer
Military.com
Tue, 25 Aug 2020 00:00 UTC
IS fighter and gun
© AP
IS fighter firing his weapon during clashes with Syrian troop in Souseh, eastern Syria.
More than 10,000 Islamic State fighters are estimated to remain active in Iraq and Syria two years after the militant group's defeat, and their attacks have significantly increased this year, the U.N. counter-terrorism chief said Monday.

Vladimir Voronkov told the U.N. Security Council that Islamic State fighters move freely "in small cells between the two countries."

He said the Islamic State extremist group — also known as IS, ISIL and ISIS — has regrouped and its activity has increased not only in conflict zones like Iraq and Syria but also in some regional affiliates.
"However, in non-conflict zones, the threat appears to have decreased in the short term. Measures to minimize the spread of COVID-19, such as lockdowns and restrictions on movement, seem to have reduced the risk of terrorist attacks in many countries. Nonetheless, there is a continued trend of attacks by individuals inspired online and acting alone or in small groups, which could be fueled by ISIL's opportunistic propaganda efforts during the COVID-19 crisis."
He said the COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the challenges of eliminating the threat of terrorism, pointing to actions by IS and other terrorist groups seeking "to exploit the far-reaching disruption and negative socioeconomic and political impacts of the pandemic."

Comment: Many now argue that lockdown, fear-inciting health warnings and stringent protocol edicts, are attacks perpetrated on the global population - adding to the terror level, not decreasing it. Terrorists are in our government and wear a suit. Terrorists advise our medical practitioners and local authorities. Terrorists are the global elite wielding their money and influence as their sword. And, they are us if we let them.

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Eye 2

The rot runs deep: How Democrats and Republicans made deals to pass Magnitsky Act

Lucy Komisar
The Komisar Scoop
Wed, 19 Aug 2020 18:35 UTC
browder
© Luke MacGregor/ Bloomberg/ Getty Images
Bill Browder, founder of Hermitage Capital Management and world-class fraudster
As the Democratic Convention is in progress, it is fitting to look at how Democrats in Congress and the White House, with Republican collaboration, were responsible for the Magnitsky Act, the law that protects tax fraudster William Browder and his henchman Mikhail Khodorkovsky by erecting a wall against their having to face justice for their financial crimes. And ramps up hostility to Russia.

Here is a half-hour interview about this I did today on this subject for Fault Lines. And a 15-minute interview for The Critical Hour. Below is an expanded version of what I said.

William Browder in the mid-1990s became manager of the Hermitage Fund, set up with $25 million from Lebanese-Brazilian banker Edmond Safra and Israeli mining investor Beny Steinmez to buy shares in Russian companies.

He says he started the fund, but that is a lie. He was brought in to manage other people's money. But after some years, when the two investors either died or confronted major financial problems, Browder gained control.
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Star of David

Reports of gunfire & explosions as IDF launches flares in response to 'security incident' at Lebanese border - videos


RT
Mon, 24 Aug 2020 23:59 UTC
Outpost
© Reuters/Baz Ratner
Israeli soldier monitors the Israel-Lebanon border near the Manara kibbutz.
The Israeli military said it responded to a "security incident" along the border with Lebanon, firing off a barrage of flares amid reports of explosions and gunfire in the area.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reported an unspecified incident near Manara, a kibbutz straddling the Israeli-Lebanese border, late on Tuesday night, saying it had closed a number of roads in the area. It later ordered residents from Manara and nearby communities to remain indoors and cease "activity in open areas," though did not provide a reason.


Videos purporting to show IDF flares illuminating the night sky have circulated on social media, "dozens" of which were fired along the border over concerns of a "possible infiltration," according to the Jerusalem Post.
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Heart - Black

Lincoln Project ad depicts 175,000 caskets as 'Trump's wall'

Justine Coleman
The Hill
Tue, 25 Aug 2020 09:32 UTC
Trump image
© Infowars
The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump GOP group, released a new ad Tuesday attacking President Trump's handling of the coronavirus outbreak by highlighting the pandemic's death toll and tying it to his signature border wall proposal.

The group's latest ad paints a dark portrait of Trump's border wall concept, portraying 175,000 caskets from COVID-19 fatalities lined up to form the wall structure. The group released the minutelong ad, dubbed The Wall, about an hour before the start of the second night of the Republican National Convention, which is seeking to gin up enthusiasm for Trump's reelection bid.


Comment: This political ad is a low and despicable conflation by Trump's opposition.

For more about The Lincoln Project and those who run it, see also:
The Grifter Project: Meet the RINOs attempting to split the Republican vote this November

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Star of David

Netanyahu vs Gantz: Gaza escalation as reflection of Israel's political rivalry

Ramzy Baroud
Palestine Responds
Tue, 25 Aug 2020 00:00 UTC
Gantz, Netanyahu masks
© Unknown
Masked mauraders 'Gantz' and 'Netanyahu'
Only recently, the Palestinian group, Hamas, and Israel seemed close to reaching a prisoner exchange agreement, where Hamas would release several Israeli soldiers held in Gaza while Israel would set free an unspecified number of Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons.

Instead of the much-anticipated announcement of some kind of a deal, on August 10, Israeli bombs began falling on the besieged Strip and incendiary balloons, originating in Gaza, made their way to the Israeli side of the fence.

So, what happened?

The answer lies largely - though not entirely - in Israel, specifically in the political conflict between Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing political camp, on the one hand, and their government's coalition partners, led by Defense Minister, Benny Gantz, on the other.

The discord between Netanyahu and Gantz is concentrated on a fierce budget conflict currently underway in the Knesset, which has little to do with government spending or fiscal responsibilities.

Gantz, who is supposed to serve his term as Prime Minister, starting November 2021, believes that Netanyahu plans on passing a one-year budget to disrupt the coalition agreement and to call for new elections before the leadership swap takes place. Therefore, Gantz insists on extending the budget coverage to two years, to avoid any possible betrayal by Netanyahu's Likud party.

Comment: Israel leadership is so far down the 'psycho path' of destruction, it has no other place to go. It matters not if it is Gantz or Netanyahu.

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Red Flag

'In Fauci We Trust'? C.S. Lewis foresaw scientific authoritarianism

David Klinghoffer
Evolution News
Thu, 20 Aug 2020 07:45 UTC
Fauci
© DonkeyHotey/CC
Dr. Anthony Fauci Caricature
A friend sends out an email each morning, welcoming recipients to whatever day it may be since the 14-day COVID shutdown began here in Washington State. Today it's welcome to Day 150. Who would have predicted all that Americans have experienced in the past five months? Economic catastrophe, shrugged off by the permanently employed class in our government and media. Endless isolation with all its social ills. Cities committing suicide, plunged into chaos and squalor by fake news, as the government winks at violence and undercuts the police. An upcoming election whose results seem guaranteed to be disputed, leading to more chaos.

Something is very wrong in our country, as you don't need me to tell you. But what is going on? I suggest that you watch this important video by political scientist John West, our Discovery Institute colleague. He sheds a fascinating light on the outcomes when what C. S. Lewis called "scientocracy" is put in charge:

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