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The United States Department of Justice has labeled New York City, Portland and Seattle as “anarchist jurisdictions” that have failed to control violent riots while defunding local police departments. Attorney General William Barr released a statement on September 21 condemning these cities and threatening to cut off their federal funding if they did not take steps toward performing the basic function of government.
“When state and local leaders impede their own law enforcement officers and agencies from doing their jobs, it endangers innocent citizens who deserve to be protected, including those who are trying to peacefully assemble and protest,” stated Barr. “We cannot allow federal tax dollars to be wasted when the safety of the citizenry hangs in the balance. It is my hope that the cities identified by the Department of Justice today will reverse course and become serious about performing the basic function of government and start protecting their own citizens.” New York City slashed $1 billion from the New York Police Department’s budget even as its July shooting rate increased 177 percent. Federal officials also noted that some New York City district attorneys have refused to prosecute people arrested for disorderly conduct and unlawful assembly during George Floyd protests.
Eighteen Chinese aircraft, including bombers and fighter jets, were deployed dangerously close to the sensitive midline of the Taiwan Strait on September 18, in response to the United States Undersecretary of State Keith Krach’s visit to Taiwan. Two bombers from the People’s Liberation Army Air Force escorted 16 fighter jets to hold combat exercises in Taiwan’s air defense identification zone. “Those who play with fire are bound to get burned,” said Col. Ren Guoqiang of China’s Defense Ministry.
China is forcefully opposed to the diplomatic meetings held between the U.S. and Taiwan. The Global Times, a Chinese paper controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, wrote that the “collusion” between the two nations could lead to “uncertainties in the entire region.”
Taiwan has been doing its best to bolster its defensive capabilities. President Tsai Ing-wen wants to increase the defense budget by 10 percent. Days before the diplomatic visit, White House officials announced that the U.S. and Taiwan would soon agree to a $7 billion arms deal, which would see the U.S. supply Taiwan with drones, fighter jets, cruise missiles and ground control stations. This deal likely rankled Beijing, as China has often reiterated its desire to reclaim the “renegade province” of Taiwan.
Germany’s K130 corvettes are due to be repaired and modernized in 2025, but a cost-benefit analysis concluded that it would be cheaper to build new warships. Germany also intends to update its warships with additional rbs15 Mk3 anti-ship missiles and the installation of laser cannons. The Bundeswehr’s five K130 corvettes that were delivered to the Navy in 2008 are currently involved in the United Nations mission to secure peace between Lebanon and Israel and to prevent arms smuggling. In 2017, the Bundestag decided that the Bundeswehr should have 10 operational corvettes available, so the construction of five more K130s was commissioned in a consortium of North German shipyards. Now, the order of a third batch is being discussed.
“[T]he old corvettes suffer from ‘obsolescence’; in other words: Their technology is out of date. From 2025, they would have to be overhauled anyway,” Handelsblatt noted on August 31. “New construction instead of permanent repairs: The Navy would like to order five more new warships instead of having the existing corvettes K130 extensively repaired and modernized in 2025. The Navy has a good chance that the Bundestag will fulfill this wish, which is expected to cost [$3.3 billion].”...... click image to read more
The Pentagon released its annual report to Congress about China’s military power on September 1, concluding that the People’s Liberation Army (pla) has surpassed America in the number of naval ships and missile development and is on the fast track to become a “word-class” military power.
The 200-page document, titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2020,” marks the 20th annual report on the pla that the Department of Defense has delivered to Congress. The tone of this year’s analysis is unambiguously more urgent than in previous years, as Pentagon officials seek to waken United States policymakers to the dangers of China’s rapidly growing firepower.
The report says the overarching aim of the People’s Republic of China, or prc, is to “develop a military by mid-century that is equal to—or in some cases superior to—the U.S. military, or that of any other great power that the prc views as a threat.” This has “serious implications for U.S. national interests and the security of the international rules-based order.” Toward the conclusion, it states that China has “marshaled the resources, technology and political will over the past two decades to strengthen and modernize the pla in nearly every respect.” And the nation has already crossed some major milestones. ...... click image to read more
United States Gen. Frank McKenzie announced on Wednesday that the U.S. would soon withdraw 2,200 troops from Iraq, hoping to accomplish this before Election Day on November 3. Despite the Trump administration’s optimism about fulfilling its campaign promise to bring the troops home, this withdrawal signifies another Iranian victory in the chain of American defeats.
“The United States has decided to reduce our troop presence in Iraq from about 5,200 to 3,000 troops during the month of September,” said General McKenzie. “This reduced footprint allows us to continue advising and assisting our Iraqi partners in rooting out the final remnants of [the Islamic State] in Iraq and ensuring its enduring defeat.”
According to the Fox News report, at the height of America’s troop surge in the Iraq War, the U.S. had approximately 170,000 troops stationed in the war-torn country. Now, the U.S will be left with a meager force of only 3,000 troops in the country—less than the number of troops stationed in Spain. Given America’s recent withdrawal from more than a dozen military bases and posts in Iraq, and its withdrawal of all but 600 troops in nearby Syria, more reductions may be planned for the future...... click image to read more
Soldiers captured Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta on August 18, threatening to worsen what is already the world’s deadliest jihadist insurgency. With European powers using Mali as a base to fight radical Islam across the region, the coup has implications far beyond Mali’s borders. Keïta’s capture has led to regime change in Mali. He quickly announced his resignation on television saying, “I want no blood to be spilled to keep me in power.” He continued, “If today, certain elements of our armed forces want this to end through their intervention, do I really have a choice?” Protests against government corruption and mismanagement of the jihadist threat have accelerated in recent months. The military has also been unhappy with the government’s decision making, as many of their soldiers have died fighting terrorists who still have free rein in the north of the country. Low wages have contributed to their dissatisfaction. This recent coup looks strikingly similar to the military coup in 2012. Displeased with the Malian government’s handling of the Tuareg rebellion, the military attacked the presidential palace in Bamako, forcing then President Amadou Toumani Touré into hiding. The coup was criticized internationally and many nations imposed sanctions on Mali. At the same time, Tuareg rebels and jihadists took advantage of the chaos in Bamako and seized control of the northern part of the country. Mali was forced to turn to France for help. In January 2013, France intervened, sending 3,500 ground troops, fighter jets and..... click image to read more
The Communist Party of China may be spying on you. The popular video-sharing platform TikTok collects troves of personal data from its users. If you use this app, the company ByteDance has your age and phone number, your gps location, your phone and social media contacts, your browsing and search history, and the content of messages you exchange with others on the app. Since ByteDance is an Internet technology company based in Beijing, people are concerned that their data is being turned over to the Chinese government. In reality, they should be concerned about a lot more than TikTok’s surveillance. “If you are an American adult, it is more likely than not that China has stolen your personal data,” Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray warned on July 7. The United States House of Representatives voted on July 20 to bar federal employees from downloading the TikTok app on government-issued devices. President Donald Trump issued an executive order on August 6 directing the Secretary of Commerce to come up with a list of TikTok transactions that should be banned. ByteDance is trying to sue the U.S. government over this executive order, but the Trump administration is adamant that it helps prevent the Chinese government from spying on American citizens.
But while all this is going on, there is an ironic—and eerie—silence.
Neither Google llc nor Apple Inc. have commented on the debate over TikTok. Why not? Possibly because ..... click image to read more
Australians may face mandatory vaccination if a coronavirus vaccine is found.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced Wednesday that his government had secured an international deal to produce a vaccine, if test results prove successful. Morrison set a target of 95 percent of the population being vaccinated. Such a number would leave no room for refusal.
“I would expect it to be as mandatory as you could possibly make it,” Morrison told a Melbourne radio host. “There are always exceptions for any vaccine on medical grounds, but that should be the only basis.” The announcement drew instant support and criticism. There is a vocal anti-vaccination movement in Australia. According to leftist news outlets, such as the Daily Mail, “thousands of moronic anti-vaxxers” took to social media to protest the plan. Derision, scorn and contempt from the media and political elites are nothing new to such groups. By Thursday—perhaps sensing a growing opposition to his extreme curtailing of civil liberty—Morrison walked back his comments. Taking on radio again, Mr. Morrison assured listeners, “It’s not going to be compulsory to have the vaccine. … There are no mechanisms for compulsory. … I mean, we can’t hold someone down and make them take it.” This should prove little comfort to Australians. In an unguarded moment, the prime minister exposed his truly radical take on the coronavirus pandemic.
Stepping From Behind the Facade.... click image to read more
Two companies have dominated the news cycle in Germany this summer: Wirecard and Augustus Intelligence. Both of these companies were considered possible options to succeed in fields dominated by China and the United States. Wirecard is an electronic payment company, and Augustus Intelligence is an artificial intelligence company. Both were granted unusual government favor. But now, both have been accused of fraud and corruption. One interesting common denominator between the two companies is Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg.
The former defense minister left German politics in 2011. But he frequently visits Berlin, visiting top government ministers and holding private meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. He was involved with both Wirecard and Augustus Intelligence.
Millions of Germans once viewed Guttenberg as Germany’s great hope. After a plagiarism scandal over his doctoral thesis forced him from office, all seemed lost. That has changed, however. Speculations about his political comeback are on the rise. He still holds great influence over government officials and has connections worldwide. It recently became public that Guttenberg re-obtained a doctorate in 2019 at the prestigious University of Southampton in England.
Wirecard was a small Bavarian start-up that grew so large as to replace Commerzbank on Germany’s dax stock market index in 2018. Many expected the company to make a notable mark in the emerging sector, and it received major funding from Deutsche Bank, the largest bank in the nation. However, Markus Braun, then ceo of Wirecard and adviser to Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, was denied a meeting with Chancellor Merkel. Guttenberg was later granted a meeting, and soon after, the chancellor discussed the company ..... click image to read more
United States senators threatened “crushing” economic sanctions against a German port operator on August 5. Fährhafen Sassnitz GmbH operates Mukran Port on Germany’s Baltic coast and is a key base for work on Germany’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Senators Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton and Ron Johnson suggested that Mukran Port may qualify for sanctions the U.S. has already enacted against companies that participate in the construction of Nord Stream 2.
While Mukran Port has yet to publicly announce it would assist in this project, it is harboring two Russian ships, the Fortuna and the Akademik Cherskiy, that Moscow is planning to use to lay the pipeline.
Nord Stream 2 is an extension of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline that carries natural gas from Russia’s port of Vyborg across the Baltic Sea to Germany. Nord Stream 2 would double the pipeline’s capacity and carry gas to the rest of Europe. However, American sanctions on the project have slowed its development significantly.
Central and Eastern European states like Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia and Estonia are concerned that Nord Stream 2 will increase Europe’s energy dependency on Russia. It wasn’t that long ago that these countries were under Russian control. Some fear Russia is trying to bring them back into Moscow’s orbit.
The main concern is that Nord Stream 2 allows Russia to bypass its many pipelines in Ukraine. This could allow Russia to blackmail Kiev with the threat of turning off the taps, which happened in 2009, when Russia cut off energy to Ukraine for 13 days.
For these and other reasons, U.S. President Donald Trump.
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For the first time, Israeli pilots are training in German airspace. This follows German pilots training in Israel in November 2017 and November 2019 during the biennial multinational “Blue Flag” military exercises. Where is this historic deepening partnership between Israel and Germany leading?
The August 17–28 “Blue Wings 2020” war games has enormous symbolic importance for many Israeli pilots. One officer, who is the grandson of a Holocaust survivor, told Agence France-Presse it is a “very moving event for all.” The officer said that some of the other pilots participating are also descendants of Holocaust victims. “We had the impression that we had to come to Germany for the first time in history to show how much we value them,” the officer said.
Gen. Amikam Norkin, commander of the Israeli Air Force, flew into German airspace, where he was met by three German Eurofighter jets and escorted to the Nörvenich Air Base. He was received there by inspector of the German Air Force Lt. Gen. Ingo Gerhartz. The officer quoted by the afp characterized the welcoming ceremony as the “warmest hug one can give.”In addition to planned flights over historical sites, a German-Israeli formation flew over the Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base to memorialize the 1972 massacre of Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Olympics in Munich. ..... click image to read more
Afghanistan’s government, with the consent of its Loya Jirga (grand assembly), on Sunday approved the release of the final batch of 400 prisoners out of 5,000 that the Taliban required as a condition for starting peace talks.
These final prisoners to be released within days are considered “hard core” Taliban prisoners. Reuters reported that among these 400 prisoners are 44 individuals listed in the United States and other countries as a serious security concern for their role in high-profile attacks, over 150 inmates on death row, and others accused of playing a role in “major attacks against civilians and foreigners, including a 2017 truck bombing near the German Embassy in Kabul that killed more than 150 people—the deadliest attack in the 19-year insurgency.”
Among those to be released are members of the Haqqani network. While the network is considered part of the Taliban, it maintains a separate chain of command. It was founded by Jalaluddin Haqqani, who was considered one of Osama bin Laden’s chief mentors. Haqqani’s son Sirajuddin is the network’s current leader and retains close ties to al Qaeda. The Haqqani network is responsible for some of the worst terrorist attacks in Afghanistan. Releasing these 400 prisoners has been difficult, especially because reports show that many of the previously released prisoners have returned to fighting against the government. ..... click image to read more
United States Attorney John Durham’s ongoing investigation into the origins of spying on the Trump campaign and Trump administration in 2016 and 2017 has taken its first target. On Friday, Durham filed charges against Kevin Clinesmith, who is expected to plead guilty to “deliberately fabricating evidence in a Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act [fisa] warrant application.”
At the time of his crime, Clinesmith was not an agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation but a lawyer in the agency’s Office of the General Counsel under former fbi Director James Comey. He also worked as a member of Mueller’s Special Counsel. Therefore the charges against him implicate both the fbi and Mueller’s team.
Clinesmith was responsible for helping fbi agents complete fisa applications. He was responsible for filing the four fisa warrants to spy on Carter Page, a key affiliate in the Trump campaign at the time. By spying on Page, the fbi was able to spy on much of the Trump campaign.
In the first three applications, Clinesmith made no mention of Page’s history helping the Central Intelligence Agency to investigate suspected Russian agents in America—pivotal information proving that Page was not a Russian spy working for the Kremlin. As the fisa applications started to leak in 2017, the fbi (Mueller’s Special Counsel) needed to include more details about Page’s past in the fisa application.
On August 4, the German frigate Hamburg departed from its home base in Wilhelmshaven to its new mission in the European Union Naval Force Mediterranean Operation irini (eunavfor med irini). The frigate will take over the second German contingent for this EU military operation, reported the German military on its website. Libya is on the verge of becoming a second Syria. Germany wants to prevent another war-torn nation at Europe’s doorstep, but it is clashing with the interests of another major force in the region. In January, Germany made Libya one of its geopolitical priorities. On January 16, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas visited Benghazi. On January 19, various government officials gathered in Berlin to discuss the situation in Libya. “These events mark what could be the beginning of an expanded German role in Libya,” Trumpet contributor Daniel Di Santo wrote in “Why Is Germany Leading the Push for a Libyan Peace Process?” Germany is concerned about Libya’s future. Since the beginning of the irini mission, Germany has been involved with a P-3C Orion maritime reconnaissance aircraft. On May 7, the Bundestag mandated the participation of its own armed forces, including 300 soldiers to enforce an arms trafficking embargo.
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China dispatched its 122-meter-long icebreaker, the Snow Dragon ii, from Shanghai to the Arctic on July 15. It is intended to patrol the Northern Sea Route and establish a Chinese presence in the east-west maritime corridor. This comes during a time of increased Russian military presence along the same route and an America in retreat.
While China has publicly stated that its main interest in the region lies in protecting the Arctic environment, the Northern Sea Route has emerged as a valuable trade route, running from eastern Norway to the Bering Strait, just south of the Arctic Circle.
As the Arctic ice caps melt away, this route provides a shipping lane providing safe passage for container ships from the Bering Sea, off the coast of Alaska, along thousands of miles of Russian border, all the way to Norway, and from there, out into the Atlantic. This is of significant importance because it connects the Arctic to the already existing trade route from Vladivostok in Eastern Russia, through the Strait of Malacca and the Suez Canal, reaching Western Europe. Russia has had a reestablished presence in the region for over a decade, having had strategic air patrols off the Alaskan coast in 2007. In 2014, it created a new military district for the entire region and, in 2017, began construction of icebreaking vessels capable of antisubmarine warfare.
However, Russia does not have..... click image to read more
As police forces throughout America lose funding, the inevitable has begun: People are stocking up on guns and ammunition.
Background checks prior to gun purchases have shot upward. In July of this year, the Federal Bureau of Investigation performed 3,639,224 of these checks. In July 2019, they performed only 2,030,661. That’s an increase of 79.2 percent.
June, the month major riots began sweeping through America, saw an even steeper increase. fbi data indicates 2.3 million guns were sold in June 2020—an increase of 145.3 percent over June 2019. Meanwhile, police in major cities are being deprived of their ability to enforce the law. On July 28, the Minneapolis Police Department circulated “robbery prevention tips” telling citizens, “Do not argue or fight with the criminal. Do as they say,” and “be prepared to give up your cell phone and purse/wallet.” Understandably, many are taking their safety into their own hands and purchasing firearms. The fbi estimates that 10 million guns have been sold since 2020 began. Many of these sales were made to first-time buyers, of which many were black. A recent survey conducted by the National Shooting Sports Foundation found that the “highest overall firearm sales increase comes from black men and women who show a 58.2 percent increase in purchases during the first six months of 2020 versus the same period last year.
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07:30 Obama’s Anti-American ‘Eulogy’ (17 minutes) . . Listen now, click here. .
During his address at the memorial service for John Lewis, former President Barack Obama attacked the United States, praised the “peaceful demonstrators” razing federal buildings, and compared President Donald Trump to the violent segregationists from the 1960s.
On Wednesday, July 29, Iran launched a series of ballistic missiles from a camouflaged underground silo. The tests were part of massive Iranian war games taking place along the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow water choke point from which flows over a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil.
According to Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (irgc) aerospace division, this was the first time Iran achieved such a launch. “During the recent drills, we managed to fire ballistic missiles from deep underground for the first time in the world. In other words, without using launchpads and other conventional equipment, the buried missiles abruptly crack the ground and hit their targets with precision,” Hajizadeh said.
Drone footage was captured of the launch and published by the Tasnim News Agency, a media organization with ties to the state.
The launch of the missiles put two United States bases in the region on high alert. U.S. troops stationed at the Al-Dhafra Air Base in Abu Dhabi and the Al-Udeid Air Base, the headquarters of the U.S. Central Command in Qatar, took cover during the launch. “The incident lasted for a matter of minutes and an all-clear was declared after the threat … had passed,” said U.S. Army Maj. Beth Riordan, a Central Command spokeswoman.
Wednesday’s ballistic missile launch coincided with other Iranian military actions as part of their yearly military exercises named “Payambar-e Azam 14,” translated into English as “The Great Prophet—14”
The yearly military games, now in its 14th year, are often used to portray the Islamic Republic as a counterforce to the United States.
In 2015, Iran destroyed a life-size replica of a U.S. aircraft carrier as part of the exercises. The carrier had since been repaired and was seen being pulled out to sea earlier in the week. Read more, click image
The United States Space Command said on July 23 that it has proof showing that Russia recently tested an anti-satellite weapon in space.
The Russians carried out the test in mid-July using the Kosmos 2543 satellite, which they had launched into orbit in June 2017 inside its parent satellite. The 2543 is the same satellite that made headlines this February after the Russians navigated it dangerously near to a U.S. spy satellite. Gen. John “Jay” Raymond, the commander of U.S. Space Command, called the 2543’s in-orbit maneuvers “disturbing.”
On July 15, this “disturbing” behavior continued when Kosmos 2543 released a new object into orbit and used it to conduct a test of a space-based weapon. “Russia released this object in proximity to another Russian satellite,” U.S. Space Command wrote in an online statement, “which is similar to on-orbit activity conducted by Russia in 2017, and inconsistent with the system’s stated mission as an inspector satellite.”
The Russian test was apparently nondestructive. But General Raymond said it makes clear the destructive nature of Russia’s space goals: “This is further evidence of Russia’s continuing efforts to develop and test space-based systems,” he said, adding that it was “consistent with the Kremlin’s published military doctrine to employ weapons that hold U.S. and allied space assets at risk.”
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Ford said the event “highlights Russia’s hypocritical advocacy of outer space arms control, with which Moscow aims to restrict the capabilities of the United States while clearly having no intention of halting its own counterspace program.” Ford said this is clear both for Russia’s ground-based anti-satellite weaponry and the Kosmos 2543, which appears to be “actual in-orbit anti-satellite weaponry.”
The United States has hundreds of satellites in orbit that the country depends on for everything from weather monitoring, banking services and television broadcasting to telephone and Internet technologies. Read more, click image
As Japan’s uneasy relationship with the United States comes under intensifying pressure, Russia is extending an olive branch to Tokyo that could inspire a historic reorientation for the Asian nation.
On the island of Okinawa, where 26,000 American troops are stationed, a significant coronavirus outbreak among U.S. soldiers and affiliated personnel has the Japanese shaken. “It is extremely regrettable,” Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki said on July 12, “that the infections are rapidly spreading among U.S. personnel when we Okinawans are doing our utmost to contain the infections.”
Japan has been largely successful at containing covid-19, and had only seen 148 confirmed cases on Okinawa before the outbreak among U.S. servicemen. And though the U.S. has vowed that infected personnel are under strict quarantine, Japanese authorities are not placated. “Okinawans are shocked by what we were told,” Tamaki said. “We now have strong doubts that the U.S. military has taken adequate disease prevention measures.”
Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono echoed Tamaki’s sentiments on July 14, saying that “several problems” persist with the U.S. military’s response to the pandemic.
President Donald Trump’s speech at Mount Rushmore was a warning to America.
When the president decided he would speak there on the eve of Independence Day to commemorate the birth of the United States, the cancel-culture mob and the media immediately expanded its onslaught on American history to target one of this nation’s greatest monuments. Look closely at the reaction of the leftist mainstream media. Look closely at the words of President Trump’s speech. There is something massive, something inevitable, churning in America. It is impossible that it won’t affect you and me.
We’ve got to face it, and face it now.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial depicts U.S. presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, 60-foot-high sculptures in a granite South Dakota mountainside. The sculptor chose these four men to represent the birth, growth, development and preservation of this nation. During the most recent election, when Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders visited, he stared admiringly at the monument and said, “This is our country at its very best.” cnn associated Sanders with the “majesty” of a monument of “four great American presidents.” But reporting on President Trump’s July 3 visit, this same news organization called Rushmore “a monument of two slave owners and on
The United States Navy has moved three aircraft carriers and several hundred aircraft into the contested South China Sea for the first time in three years, the Navy reported on June 12. The deployment of the vessels is intended to send a message to China that the U.S. won’t be leaving it to its own devices in the region.
China claims the South China Sea as its own, even though it is contested by the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam and Brunei. Over the last few months, while the world has been distracted by coronavirus, China has moved to further secure its interests and position of power in the Pacific.
At the same time, the U.S. has struggled to maintain a significant presence in the Pacific, as its naval forces struggled with the pandemic. However, the Navy has now rebounded and is determined to assert itself in the region once more.
Its movement has been swift. Three aircraft carriers, the uss Theodore Roosevelt, the uss Nimitz in the Western Pacific and the uss Ronald Regan in the Philippine Sea have all been dispatched. With each vessel carrying at least 60 aircraft and supported by all its forward-deployed attack submarines, destroyers and cruisers, this is the biggest deployment of U.S. vessels in the Pacific since tensions with North Korea were at their peak in 2017.
The Roosevelt and Nimitz carrier strike groups are scheduled to carry out defense drills and naval exercises in what Rear Adm. Doug Verissimo called “a great opportunity for us to train together in a complex scenario.”
Law enforcement officers are public enemy number one in America. The death of George Floyd has set off an unprecedented level of rioting and protest. United States President Donald Trump has had his unfair share of blame for all that has taken place. White supremacy has also been decried as the source of all the trouble, as has systemic racism. However, the main channel through which all these purportedly pervasive evils are believed to have been sustained is through the police.
And so, a movement has begun to reduce, and in some cases completely abolish, law enforcement in America. The subject of police brutality is based on the belief that racism is endemic in law enforcement. The issue has returned to the fore after four black people were killed by the police over six months in 2014. For many in the black community, it harkened back to the 1991 Rodney King beating and the subsequent acquittal of the responsible police officers, resulting in the Los Angeles riots. Black Lives Matter was founded after the acquittal of the policemen involved in the 2014 killings. Its mission is to “eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on black community by the state and vigilantes.” The organization aims to create a world where “Black lives are no longer systematically targeted for demise” (emphasis added throughout).
The United States promised to withdraw its forces from Iraq during a video conference on June 11. The joint statement by the State Department said that the U.S. “reiterated that it does not seek nor request permanent bases or a permanent military presence in Iraq” and that it “would continue reducing its forces from Iraq.” As a result of Iran’s persistence and political subterfuge, its goal of driving the U.S. out of Iraq is about to be fully realized.
Under Secretary of State David Hale leads U.S. delegation during June 11 virtual U.S.-Iraq Strategic Dialogue meeting. The United States and Iraq re-committed to their broad and strategic partnership. pic.twitter.com/tbiAszaPIL
— NEA Press Office (@NEAPressOffice) June 11, 2020
Despite previous statements by U.S. President Donald Trump, he is now expediting America’s withdrawal. In February 2019 on cbs This Morning, Mr. Trump expressed no desire to leave Iraq. In fact, he said he wanted to keep the Al Asad Air Base in order “to watch Iran.” Again, in January, when tensions between Iran and the U.S. were at a peak, Mr. Trump said the U.S. military wouldn’t leave Iraq anytime soon, calling a U.S. withdrawal “the worst thing that could happen to Iraq.” Two months later, however, the U.S. began consolidating its troops and handing over its military bases to Iraq. And now, the State Department says it has no desire for a permanent base or military presence in Iraq as it continues to withdraw troops.
id you know that Iranians held a candlelight vigil for George Floyd? Did you know that murals of Floyd with the words “I can’t breathe” were painted on the Berlin Wall and on a landmark in the Idlib province of Syria? Did you know that English Premier League soccer players took a knee at midfield, and soccer stars in Germany marked goals scored by displaying the message “Justice for George Floyd”?
A single act of police brutality in the United States has sparked large protests in Paris, Toronto, Copenhagen, Dublin, Rio de Janiero, Milan, Mexico City and countless other cities. Streets in Vancouver, Canada, had to close to accommodate thousands of demonstrators. Black Lives Matter activists in London shouted “Hands up, don’t shoot” at British police—who don’t carry guns. Eight thousand miles from the Minneapolis street where the tragedy took place, tens of thousands turned out to protest in Auckland, New Zealand.
Why the unprecedented paroxysm of outrage over an incident in Midwestern America?
Marking another low point in Germany’s relationship with the United States, U.S. President Donald Trump has reportedly ordered the withdrawal of up to 9,500 of America’s 34,500 troops in Germany, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. Many were caught off guard by this announcement. “We are close partners in the transatlantic alliance. But it is complicated,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told Bild. “Should a part of the U.S. troops be withdrawn, we will be taking note. We appreciate the decades of cooperation with the U.S. armed forces. It is in the interest of our two countries” (Trumpet translation throughout). “By all accounts,” Spiegel Online noted, “the U.S. government had not previously informed nato partner Germany of the decision as usual. Because of the scope of the plans, this can be seen as a provocation.” Frederick Benjamin Hodges, former head of the Allied Land Command, called the decision “a colossal mistake.” “The Congress was not informed, the U.S. commanders in Europe were unsuspecting, and nobody spoke to Germany or nato,” Hodges told Spiegel.
2:47 Desecrating Historical Figures (18 minutes)
The statues of two of Britain’s most honored historical figures—Sir Winston Churchill and Edward Colston—were desecrated when protesters vandalized one and dumped the other into Bristol Harbor.
20:35 Police Under Attack (13 minutes)
Five years ago, the Trumpet warned about this vicious attack on law enforcement and told you where it was leading.
43:08 Hypocrisy in the Media (13 minutes)
The left-wing media are losing any credibility they had left. First, they told us to stay inside and socially distance ourselves lest we kill someone. Now, we are encouraged to assemble together, closely, and protest for justice.
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At no other time in America’s recent history has the issue of food security been such a major concern. Has the pandemic caused you to question how you, your family, or society at large would cope with a severe food shortage? Many in the developed world are now asking such questions. Americans have seen many changes to their lifestyle, but one stands out in particular: how, what and even when, they eat. In the Western world, food shortages don’t tend to be a subject on the average person’s mind. During coronavirus, that changed. Many began to wonder if they would be able to feed themselves and their families. Some turned to food banks; others stockpiled supplies. People who ate out regularly were forced to cook their own meals. “Coupled with the run on toilet paper that led to severe shortages, recent events are leading Americans to wonder if the nation’s food supply is secure,” wrote Niv Elis at the Hill (April 22). On April 14, Foreign Policy wrote that while many have been focused on the medical aspects of the disease, “[f]ar less attention has been paid to another pandemic-driven shortage lurking over the horizon: food.” As leaders discuss the probability of a second coronavirus wave, few are discussing a possible “third wave” of widespread hunger.
Media coverage of the food shortages during coronavirus raises a vital question: Will famine ever come to America? To Britain, Canada, Australia, or Europe?
China announced on May 22 an increase of 6.6 percent to its defense budget for 2020. This puts total military spending at $178.2 billion, up from $167 billion last year. Though this is the lowest increase for almost 30 years, it’s still an appreciable increase—and it says much about China’s priorities during coronavirus. The 6.6 percent figure can also be misleading. According to Defense News, it actually represents the fifth-highest increase in spending ever, in terms of real purchasing power.
Compared to the same time last year, China’s economy shrank by 6.8 percent during the first quarter of 2020. This made analysts pessimistic about military spending. However, Premier Li Keqiang pledged to protect the armed forces from this economic shock, and it appears his promise is holding up.
This does not bode well for Taiwan. In his statement to the Chinese parliament the day the spending bill was announced, Li dropped the standard use of the word “peaceful” when discussing reunification with the island nation. Hong Kong is also seeing an unprecedented surge in Chinese influence. A highly controversial law targeting “sedition” and “treason” against the Chinese Communist Party is being pushed through parliament. Foreign Policy called it the “final nail in Hong Kong’s coffin” and a “deathblow” for independence.
New global challenges urge Germany to prepare for war on the sea. A total of $5.8 billion is estimated for the procurement of four multi-purpose mks 180 combat ships. According to Handelsblatt, this “is the largest naval order of this type in the history of the Bundeswehr, and it is to be realized—a novelty—under the leadership of the Dutch shipyard mainly in Blohm and Voss in Hamburg” (Trumpet translation throughout). Germany has one of the largest merchant fleets in the world. It is working to acquire the necessary warships to defend that dominance and extend its global power.
Regarding the mks 180, faz.net noted on May 19 that Germany’s “navy in the future should not only be able to help with their ships but also fight.”
The German shipyards previously worked to delay the contract of the mks 180. However, that is now changing. “Earlier this year,” Defense News recounted, “German Naval Yards Kiel lamented an unfair evaluation of its mks 180 bid by the Defense Ministry, announcing it was prepared for a potentially lengthy legal battle.” The German shipyard has now dropped the case, removing one of the last few remaining obstacles for the construction of the warship.
On Tuesday, China delivered a blow to the Australian economy, when it imposed a barley tariff of more than 80 percent. The tariff will last five years and cost Australia an estimated $500 million per year. This comes as Australia struggles to maintain a delicate trade relationship with its increasingly aggressive neighbor. China announced the move after its Ministry of Commerce apparently completed a 16-month investigation into an anti-dumping complaint. China concluded that Australia has been selling barley to it at a lower price than in domestic markets. Australia rejects the notion, claiming China is punishing Australia for backing a covid-19 inquiry. On Monday night, more than 110 countries sponsored the Australian-backed motion for an independent international inquiry into covid-19’s origins. Chinese President Xi Jinping said his country supports a “comprehensive evaluation of the global response.” But Chinese authorities have simultaneously condemned international lawmakers for “politicizing” the pandemic. In other words, China believes the inquiry should not focus on the source of the virus: China. While Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has tried to downplay the motion, it is too late. The dragon has turned on its trade partner. Australian farmers are getting a small taste of the diplomatic and economic statecraft of China.
The Growing Beast
CHINA`S PLAN TO SURROUND AUSTRALIA
BY JEREMIAH JACQUES • MAY 19
China threatened in the early days of the covid-19 outbreak to end the World Health Organization’s (who) investigation if the group announced a global health crisis and the disease’s human-to-human transmission, according to a new Central Intelligence Agency report confirmed to Newsweek on May 12.
China first informed the who of a new pneumonia-like illness emerging in Wuhan on December 31. The Chinese Communist Party (ccp) recognized the danger of the coronavirus even at this early phase of the outbreak, but rather than trying to warn the world of the need to take measures to contain it early, it took exactly the opposite approach. It told the who in January that China would “stop cooperating with the agency’s coronavirus investigation if the organization declared a global health emergency,” Newsweek wrote.
Meanwhile, as the ccp was pressuring the who to downplay the threat, it ordered Chinese embassies and other Chinese organizations in countries around the world to buy up as much medical equipment as possible abroad and ship it to China. In Australia, for example, journalist Liz Storer reported that “Chinese government-backed organizations” ceased normal business operations during January and February to “literally pillage Australia” for epidemic-related supplies, “which they proudly put into massive containers and shipped back to China.”
Why haven’t you heard much about Russia lately? A presidential election is coming up, and the last time we had one of those, we heard nothing but Russia, Russia, Russia. The Democrat media complex spent nearly three years of wall-to-wall coverage trying to convince you that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia in 2016 to rig the presidential election. Now that these allegations have been thoroughly disproved, the journalists are determined never to revisit the subject again. But two major events that occurred on Thursday are forcing the truth back into the spotlight. One has to do with Rep. Adam Schiff, and the other has to do with Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. In 2017, Schiff and many other radical leftists were telling us through abc, cbs, cnn, nbc, the New York Times, the Washington Post and other media outlets that they had received “direct evidence” of collusion during closed-door congressional hearings. Last week, Schiff finally released transcripts from these hearings. As it turns out, the testimony given under oath in 2017 tells a much different story from what Schiff and others were telling the media. James Clapper had been the director of national intelligence for President Barack Obama. In his testimony to Congress, he admitted that he “never saw any direct empirical evidence that the Trump campaign or someone in it was plotting/conspiring with the Russians to meddle with the election.” Evelyn Farkas was one of President Obama’s senior defense officials. She appeared on msnbc in March 2017 and said that information about Trump colluding with Russia existed, and she feared that the new Trump administration would destroy it. She encouraged her former co-workers to leak or spread whatever information they had throughout the intelligence community.
At the end of May 1940, with British troops in full-scale retreat to Dunkirk, and France about to fall, Winston Churchill, British prime minister for only two weeks at this point, faced the biggest decision of the war and of his life: Should he negotiate a peace settlement with “that man”? This decision was made considerably more difficult by the fact that colleagues, led by esteemed Foreign Secretary Viscount Halifax, believed Britain must sue for peace. The pressure on Churchill was immense. Halifax and his supporters were men of prodigious knowledge, experience and eloquence. Their arguments were persuasive. These men were “experts.” Thankfully for us all, Churchill rejected the advice of these experts. In a speech to members of the outer cabinet on May 28, he laid out his view on surrender, concluding the message with these now-immortal words: “If this long island story of ours is to end at last, let it end only when each one of us lies choking in his own blood upon the ground.” Rejecting the counsel of Halifax and his panel of experts was one of the greatest acts of leadership Winston Churchill ever displayed. Ultimately, leadership isn’t about IQ or eloquence. It isn’t about being great at managing a committee or leading like-minded people. It’s not being the loudest or toughest guy (or girl) in the room, or the most creative, talented or sophisticated. <---- Read MORE!!
White House economic officials have considered canceling $1.1 trillion in debt owed to China, reported the Washington Post on April 30. In response, China has threatened to dump United States bond securities. For the time being, both may be only words amid a war of blame. But China’s threat is worth thinking about. When carried out, now or in the future, it will spell the end of the American dollar’s global reign. The U.S. strategy to make China pay a price for mishandling coronavirus would cancel “some or all” of the $1.1 trillion in debt, which the U.S. owes China. This is unlikely to happen, but it did provoke a foreboding response from China. Rather than lose billions of dollars, China threatened to dump treasuries and sell the debt while it still can.
China’s threat to sell U.S. debt bonds should be concerning for everyone, not only Americans. The dollar has been the world’s reserve currency for decades. The global financial order is based upon it. China is well aware of how dependent the U.S. is on other nations buying its debt.
This isn’t a new idea. As South China Morning Post wrote, “In the past decade, there has been no shortage of calls in China for the government to dump its vast holdings of U.S. treasuries.”
In 2019, global military expenditure saw its biggest increase in a decade. According to a report by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (sipri), Germany saw the largest percentage increase of the top 15 spenders.
In 2019, global military spending reached $1.9 trillion, 3.6 percent more than 2018 and, when adjusted for inflation, the highest level since 1988. Germany increased its military spending by 10 percent to $49.3 billion. “Military spending has reached the highest point since the end of the Cold War,” Nan Tian, a researcher at sipri, told afp. The United States, which spent $732 billion in 2019, is still the world’s largest spender. The next two nations on the leaderboard are China and India, spending an estimated $261 billion and $71.1 billion, respectively.
“More and more money is going toward the world’s militaries, with the U.S. and China leading the way,” Deutsche Welle reported. “But no other top-spending country has increased its military expenditure year-over-year as much as Germany.” Due to the coronavirus outbreak, military expenditures are predicted to drop significantly in 2020. Many nations will be forced to invest in better health-care systems, meaning most nations’ military spending will likely suffer. But Germany has been saving for years, and it may now use its reserves to continue to invest in its military.
China appears to be setting off “zero yield” nuclear tests despite its claims of adhering to an international agreement forbidding such explosions, United States officials wrote in a State Department report published April 15.
Zero yield nuclear tests do not ignite an explosive chain reaction of the kind caused by detonating most nuclear warheads. This indicates that the weapons being tested are either tactical nuclear weapons or triggers for larger bombs. In either case, such explosions are easier for a nation to conceal from monitoring agencies, particularly when conducted deep underground. The Chinese tests are believed to have occurred at underground locations at its Lop Nur nuclear test site throughout last year.
The State Department’s report states: “China’s possible preparation to operate its Lop Nur test site year-round, its use of explosive containment chambers, extensive excavation activities at Lop Nur, and a lack of transparency on its nuclear testing activities … raise concerns regarding its adherence to the zero yield standard.”
The lack of transparency includes China’s obstruction of data transfers from sensors on Chinese territory that are intended to alert monitoring groups of radioactive releases and seismic activity.
30:00 Making It Up as We Go (10 minutes)
On one hand, CNN’s Chris Cuomo and his wife must separate, even though they have both already had coronavirus. On the other hand, Dr. Anthony Fauci said casual sex with strangers is alright as long as you’re willing to accept the risk. In the United Kingdom, police are kicking people out of public parks for sitting alone and reading a book. At the same time, large crowds in London gather to applaud the service of NHS workers. It’s impossible to make sense of the many new rules.
More than 16,000 United States National Guard members have been deployed across 50 states to help with the coronavirus pandemic by distributing food, running screening facilities, and disinfecting public places. The governors of at least 22 states have approved the use of dual-status commanders to coordinate this response. These commanders report to both the state governor and the command structure of the U.S. military.
“This response isn’t just about delivering food or supporting covid test centers. It’s about protecting our children, parents and grandparents,” Gen. Joseph Lengyel told the Military Times. “Our nation is looking to the National Guard to help, and we can’t let them down.”
Such military response to a domestic problem has never before been activated on a nationwide scale. On March 31, Defense Secretary Mark Esper announced that states have the option of using the National Guard to enforce stay-at-home orders during the coronavirus pandemic. The National Guard in Rhode Island has already been going door to door to enforce state-imposed quarantine orders.
As coronavirus spreads, Americans are preparing for the worst. People are dashing to the stores to buy toilet paper, hand sanitizer, bread, beans, sugar, chicken, respiratory masks, ammunition and guns. On March 16, background checks for firearm purchases were up 300 percent compared with the same day last year, according to federal data shared with the National Shooting Sports Foundation. Several states such as California, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania have now issued shutdown orders demanding that gun stores and other nonessential businesses close up shop during the quarantine.
These orders have led to a debate over whether or not the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution makes firearms stores essential businesses during a pandemic.
As people debate the legality of closing gun shops during a national emergency, many Americans seem to have forgotten an issue that was once a major talking point in gun control debates. Namely, that several government agencies—including the Environmental Protection Agency, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the Small Business Administration, and the Social Security administration—have stockpiled enough guns, ammunition and military-grade weapons to supply a standing army of federal agents.
Following the outbreak of the coronavirus, Bavaria was the first German state to implement a lockdown. State Premier Markus Söder’s March 20 decision was met with much criticism, as he preempted the decision of other states and created scenes like unto those of a police state. But former Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, who was present at the time in Bavaria, strongly defended the decision.
Bavaria first introduced a two-week ban against going outside, which has since been extended. Söder said in a television address: “It’s not easy to make these decisions. We make these decisions according to the best of our knowledge and conscience. There will be a Bavaria after coronavirus, but it will be a stronger one ….”
“We aren’t shutting Bavaria down,” he added. “We aren’t locking Bavaria in. But we are bringing public life in Bavaria to a complete halt.”
As the rest of the world wages war on covid-19 and on their own economies, the Chinese Communist Party (ccp) is waging an increasingly heated propaganda war to deflect blame for the outbreak.
Government spokespeople are on the front lines of the conflict, hurling accusations of racism at any who dare to emphasize the disease’s Chinese origins. Behind them are Chinese state media, lauding the Communist Party’s “effective and responsible governance” in handling the coronavirus. And overseeing it all are high-ranking Communist Party members, some of whom have gone so far as to blame the United States for bringing the coronavirus into Wuhan, the Chinese city where it originated. Meanwhile, some in the Western world are acting as reinforcements for this Chinese campaign, parroting much of the propaganda and heaping praise on Chinese President Xi Jinping and the rest of the ccp.
Racist Names?
Racism is not the right tool to cover your own incompetence pic.twitter.com/LmGDyPsULt
Whether you live in America or somewhere else, right now the biggest problem you’re likely facing is paying your monthly bills. The forced shutdown of the global economy has pulverized national and family budgets. In Canada, it is reported that federal unemployment insurance claims have rocketed to Great Depression levels. Ding-dong, Dorothy, the economy is dead. Last month, many Americans were living paycheck-to-paycheck. This month has seen that paycheck taken away. There is no sense citing endless statistics. Tens of millions of Americans can’t even handle a $400 emergency. Banks and credit card companies are preparing for a tsunami of payment deferrals and loan defaults as consumers buckle. Like boozy wastrels drunk on prosperity, millions have squandered precious time and money in the face of mounting evidence a crash was coming. Instead of having savings for a rainy day, Americans are now facing a financial reckoning that’s going to burn. The toll isn’t only financial; it’s physical, emotional and spiritual. And authorities are seeing a corresponding spike in suicides and substance and domestic abuse.
Whether you are a movie buff or not, the image of Boris Karloff in the 1931 horror movie dressed up as Frankenstein is probably burned into your memory. As a child, you might have seen that fictional image and recoiled in absolute horror and ducked your head into someone’s arms or into your pillow. As an adult, you might laugh the whole thing off. The thought of a scientist piecing together a monster that can terrorize society seems like a script only fit for the movies. In 1931, it was.
Fast-forward to 2020. What if this scenario isn’t so far-fetched? What if scientists are actually creating Frankenstein-type monsters in their laboratories with the potential to terrorize the world—monsters that are being wittingly or unwittingly unleashed on an unsuspecting public? We no longer have to use our imaginations. It is happening before our eyes. As the world continues to grapple with the covid-19 pandemic crisis, with over 14,000 deaths at the time of writing this, researchers have...... Read More
BY ANDREW MIILLER • MARCH 10
Saudi Arabia has launched what could end up being one of the worst oil price wars in modern history, and American oil and gas companies could be caught in the cross fire. With fears about a coronavirus epidemic effecting demand for oil around the world, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (opec) met in Vienna, Austria, on March 6 to propose that total oil output be reduced by 1.5 million barrels a day to prevent oil prices from dropping too fast. Yet Russia refused to cooperate with opec and cut its oil production. This refusal prompted Saudi Arabia to announce that it would not be cutting oil production either. Instead it would increase its oil production by 2 million barrels per day.
In an already oversupplied global market, Saudi Arabia’s announcement caused Brent crude oil prices to plunge 31 percent to a low of $31.25 a barrel, its steepest single-day drop since the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
BY WARREN REINSCH • MARCH 2
United States President Donald Trump signed an agreement with the Taliban on Saturday affirming a temporary truce and a full-scale American withdrawal from Afghanistan. After 18 years of war, spending $1 trillion supporting the war effort, and the death of 2,300 American soldiers and more than 150,000 Afghans, America has conceded defeat.
America’s retreat from Afghanistan has been a long-standing Trumpet prediction. In November 2001, when the U.S. first started its war in Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks, we predicted: “The U.S. won’t be the victors in this war. … As we now examine the facts emerging from this war, we can see unequivocally that the terrorist snake will survive America’s aggression—head intact and stronger than ever.”
The coronavirus outbreak is the shape of things to come
WORLD POLITICS REVIEW • FEBRUARY 24
The Wuhan coronavirus, now officially named COVID-19, reveals how vulnerable humanity remains to virulent pathogens. A century after the devastating Spanish flu pandemic, public health officials are scrambling to prevent this latest plague—which as of Feb. 24 had infected more than 79,000 people in at least 29 countries, most of them in China—from becoming another pandemic. As they do, it’s worth taking a step back to consider the stubborn staying power of infectious disease. Far from an anomaly, this outbreak is the shape of things to come…
Today, development and globalization are driving a new era of infectious disease. Since 1980, scientists have discovered new human pathogens at a rate of more than three per year. Nearly three quarters are viruses, and the vast majority are zoonoses, or diseases that leap from one animal reservoir to another, often recombining DNA along the way. As humans exploit and disrupt once isolated ecosystems, they and their domesticates inevitably come into closer contact with wild species and the novel pathogens they host…
T
he tass news agency reported on February 21 that the Russian Ministry of Defense is expected to sign a contract for the construction of its ninth and 10th Borei class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines. Seven of these 10 will be the newer, upgraded and more advanced A-class submarine.
tass quoted an anonymous Russian defense industry source as saying, “A decision has been made to sign a contract at the Army 2020 forum for building two more Borei-A missile-carrying submarines. Under the terms of the contract, both ships will be laid down at the Sevmash Shipyard in 2021.”
Asenior United States Navy admiral warned on February 4 that America’s East Coast has been left vulnerable due to the increased presence of Russian submarines in the Atlantic Ocean.
At a gathering of the U.S. Naval Institute and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Navy Vice Adm. Andrew “Woody” Lewis said, “Our new reality is that when our sailors toss the lines over and set sail, they can expect to be operating in a contested space once they leave Norfolk. Our ships can no longer expect to operate in a safe haven on the East Coast or merely cross the Atlantic unhindered to operate in another location.”
Admiral Lewis is commander of the Navy’s 2nd Fleet, which resumed operation in 2018 to handle the threat of Russian submarines in the Atlantic Ocean.
This threat was highlighted in October 2019 when Russia began its largest underwater exercises since the Cold War. Ten Russian submarines took ..... read more
Russia is replacing older nuclear technology with newer and deadlier options in a trend that the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said on January 29 has Europe “very concerned.”
While Russian President Vladimir Putin has bragged about its intercontinental Burevestnik nuclear propelled missile, all of its tests in 2019 ended in failure. Europe is more worried about Russia’s nuclear modernization program that revolves more around weapons that can threaten European soil.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his National Security Council decided on January 28 to allow Chinese company Huawei access to “non-core” parts of its network, as it builds portions of Britain’s 5G network.
Though the council says that Huawei will not be granted access to “sensitive locations” or nuclear sites, it made the decision despite warnings from the United States that allowing the Chinese company access to its networks could jeopardize trans-Atlantic intelligence sharing.
The council decided to proceed with the deal because, despite Huawei being a “high risk vendor,” it determined that it could safely navigate the cybersecurity risks. The decision was also motivated by the belief that banning Huawei would have resulted in losses of tens of billions of pounds as well as “significant consumer delays,” according to the Telegraph.
Johnson said he would never “jeopardize” Britain’s security relationships. Digital Secretary Baroness Nicky Morgan asserted that high-risk vendors, such as Huawei, “never have been and never will be in our most sensitive networks.”
But U.S. security expert Klon Kitchen warned that Britain’s dual action of trusting Huawei and believing that it can keep Huawei out is a “terrible mistake.” He warned:
Chinese law says that all information—even your information—that transits, is stored on, or in any other way touches the networks of a Chinese company is considered “Chinese information” and, therefore, must be made available to the country’s intelligence services. Huawei’s assurances that your information is protected from these laws are not credible and the fact that these networks can be technically “secured” will do nothing to change this fact.
BY JOSUÉ MICHELS • FEBRUARY 4
“We are now at the finality of a highly accomplished chancellor who led a country through many storms,” former German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said about Chancellor Angela Merkel (Trumpet translation throughout). But now is the time, he said, when “the next to come must lead.” Guttenberg has a clear favorite about who this next leader should be: Merkel’s long-time rival, Friedrich Merz..... READ MORE
BY GERALD FLURRY • JANUARY 27
America’s government has been embroiled in a shameful impeachment charade for months now. The Democrats are demonstrating that there is virtually no limit to what they are willing to do to attack the president and undermine the last election—and the next one. Meanwhile, revelations continue to emerge about their abuse of the intelligence agencies to spy on Americans, even the president himself.
People need to understand what a dangerous threat this is to the very foundation of this nation!
What is happening in the Democratic Party is an extension of and intensification of a process started by the previous president.
When Barack Obama promised to “fundamentally change America” during his 2008 presidential run, few people knew what he really meant. Now that he is out of office, it is becoming clearer all the time that the change he was talking about was something far more dangerous than many people assumed.
He meant changing America from a constitutional republic. And what we are witnessing in the country today shows that, to an alarming degree, he succeeded! READ MORE
BY JEREMIAH JACQUES • JANUARY 17
Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent shock waves around the world once again. In his January 15 State of the Union address, he announced the most sweeping changes to Russia’s constitution since the document was put into force in 1993. This bombshell was immediately followed by the resignation of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and the rest of the Russian cabinet, a move that will facilitate Putin’s overhaul of the Constitution.
Current News
Guttenberg and a ‘Final Wake-up Call’ for Europe
In an interview with Die-Wirtschaft.at, former German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said he hopes that “developments in China and the United States” will provide Europe a “final wake-up call” to unite (Trumpet translation throughout). The Austrian publication wrote on November 27: “According to Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, Europe must quickly move closer together and show strength—also militarily.”
In the interview, Guttenberg was asked how Europe can position itself to play a decisive role in the future. He answered:
First of all, I am convinced that Europe must position itself as a strong pillar and not lose sight of both directions. Whether this will work, however, depends on if, and to what extent, we can create European cohesion. First of all, one needs to see the antagonism between China and the United States, and the resulting lines of conflict, as an opportunity for Europe. If you want to capitalize on China’s drive to expand and the renationalization of the United States, Europe has to be more confident in carrying its unique economic area with over 500 million people forward.