Panic in global metals markets as China rare earth export bans close brokerage hubs
Inside China Business | December 26, 2024
China has tightened its export bans on materials with military applications. Its customs office is approving sales only to well-known end users, and for non-military use only. China also has successfully closed off access to its markets by brokers and resellers. These hubs in Hong Kong, Tokyo, New York, and London report being unable to procure any metals in 2024. The Chinese bans are pushing metals prices violently higher, and causing panic across defense sectors where these materials are vital for aerospace, ballistics, and munitions. US miners are reluctant to invest in new production, arguing that China could simply relax restrictions in the future and prices would fall below their cost of production. But industry insiders admit that any production in North America and Europe would fall far short of demand, and would take years to come online.
Resources and links:
Substack, for video transcript and direct links https://open.substack.com/pub/kdwalms…
Bloomberg, Tiny But Vital Metal Markets Rush to Adjust to Chinese Clampdown https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl…
Yahoo! Finance, Tiny But Vital Metal Markets Rush to Adjust to Chinese Clampdown (Abridged, non-paywalled) https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tiny-v…
China Dials Up US Trade Tension With Tit-for-Tat Metals Ban https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl…
Bloomberg, China Sets Precedent by Banning Others From Selling Goods to US https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl…
De-risking Gallium Supply Chains: The National Security Case for Eroding China’s Critical Mineral Dominance https://www.csis.org/analysis/de-risk…
Reuters Explainer : What is ‘FDPR’ and why is the U.S. using it to cripple China’s tech sector? https://www.reuters.com/technology/wh…
Russia to launch new gas pipeline to China – deputy PM
RT | December 25, 2024
Russia has begun developing a new gas pipeline to China via Kazakhstan that will have a planned annual capacity of 45 billion cubic meters (bcm), Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Novak told the broadcaster Russia 24 on Wednesday.
China will receive 35 bcm of gas per year via the conduit, while the remainder will go to Kazakhstan.
The official highlighted the project’s strategic importance during discussions on bilateral energy cooperation.
“The process has been launched,” Novak said, adding that it includes technical and economic feasibility studies and negotiations to finalize the framework of the agreement.
As part of the deal, Kazakhstan, which will host part of the pipeline’s infrastructure, is set to receive up to 10 bcm of gas annually.
Kazakh Energy Minister Almasadam Satkaliyev confirmed the country’s interest in the project, emphasizing its benefits for the country’s energy supply. “Kazakhstan fully supports this project [that] will [supply] our northern regions,” he told journalists on Tuesday.
China is Russia’s biggest trade partner and the economic cooperation between the two nations has been steadily increasing despite unprecedented Western sanctions on Moscow. Bilateral turnover is expected to surpass $200 billion by the end of the year, Russian Ambassador to China Igor Morgulov said back in October.
Russian energy major Gazprom reported a new daily record for gas deliveries to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline earlier this month. Under a bilateral agreement, Russia will supply 38 bcm of gas annually to the Asian country via the pipeline starting in 2025.
‘Forced labor’ narrative on Xinjiang chili pepper ‘one lie after another’: FM
Global Times | December 20, 2024
Spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Lin Jian on Friday slammed Western media saying that chili pepper products sold in UK and US supermarkets contain ingredients from Xinjiang are probably produced using “forced labor” by citing a report by an anti-China academic Adrian Zenz, noting that the so-called report mentioned by certain media outlets is deeply flawed, and it pretentiously quotes some vague accounts by so-called anonymous witnesses, but does not provide any factual basis, and even lacks the most basic field investigation.
Lin said that, the fact is, the farming process of chili peppers in Xinjiang has largely been mechanized already in some major production areas, 100 percent of the chili peppers are now harvested by machines. “Is the report suggesting that there is ‘forced machine labor?'” he asked.
Earlier this week, an international symposium on employment and social security was held in Urumqi, said Lin, noting that more than 200 participants from over 40 countries, regions and international organizations attended the event, and many said the Xinjiang they saw is very much different from the false propaganda they had seen from sources outside China.
“They condemned the ‘forced labor’ narrative, calling it a lie that deprives people in Xinjiang of their right to work, subsistence and development,” Lin said.
Lin stated that from cotton to tomato and now to chili pepper, a handful of Western media and long-time disinformation manufacturers have concocted one lie after another about Xinjiang.
“But what’s made up will not hide the truth; and a lie is still a lie even if it’s told a thousand times. For those behind these same old clumsy theatrics, it is high time they quit this ‘creative’ business for good,” Lin said.
Chinese Military Calls US Biggest Threat to Global Security After Alarmist Pentagon Report
Sputnik – 21.12.2024
BEIJING – The Chinese Defense Ministry on Saturday denounced the Pentagon’s recent report on China’s rapid military development, saying that the United States itself had an increasingly confrontational military strategy that was turning it into the biggest threat to global security.
“The evidence shows that the US military strategy is becoming increasingly confrontational, offensive and adventurous. The US, addicted to war, has become the biggest destroyer of the international order and the biggest threat to global security,” Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Zhang Xiaogang said on WeChat.
Zhang accused the US of taking advantage of its military superiority to “preserve its unipolar hegemony, carry out forced power changes and provoke ‘color revolutions.'”
The Chinese defense spokesman pointed to Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan as examples of how US military interventions have led to humanitarian disasters and hundreds of thousands of deaths.
The US Department of Defense released on December 18 the congressionally mandated report, which alleged that China presented “a significant, persistent cyber-enabled espionage and attack threat.” It claimed that China’s stockpile of operational nuclear warheads surpassed 600 as of mid-2024 and was projected to top 1,000 by 2030. China is believed to be rapidly expanding its nuclear forces amid an intensifying strategic competition with the United States. At the same time, the Pentagon said it remained committed to maintaining open lines of communication with China to ensure that competition does not veer into conflict.
China urges US to shut Guantanamo prison, end ‘occupation’ of Cuba
Lin Jian, spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, attends a press conference on March 18, 2024 in Beijing, China. [VCG/VCG via Getty Images]
MEMO | December 20, 2024
Read also: Guantanamo’s cruelty is medieval. It’s a horror story. And it’s true.
Syrian ‘end-game’ will change the Middle East
By Salman Rafi Sheikh – New Eastern Outlook – December 20, 2024
The fall of the Assad regime in Syria may have been a geopolitical loss for Iran (and Russia), but the fact that Islamists have overthrown the regime threatens both Iran and Arab states, creating prospects for their cooperation in the near future and minimising whatever gains the ‘winners’ of this ‘end-game’ may have made.
The ‘Winners’ and the ‘losers’
There are clear ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ in the fall of the Assad regime in Syria. But geopolitics is a very dynamic field in which gains and losses are hardly one-sided. In some ways, the fall of the Assad regime – and the inability of Iran to rescue its key ally in the region – may have been an outcome of Israel’s war on Palestine and Hezbollah, but it does not necessarily mean a permanent weakness of Iran and a permanent gain for Israel. For now, Israel is consolidating this gain by a) seizing Syrian territory, and b) bombarding the Syrian military positions to decimate its ability to launch any counter-offensive at all.
In other words, Israel’s steps show a clear direction. First, it weakened Hezbollah by engaging it in a brutal war. Second, it is now supporting the Islamist takeover of Syria. The Islamists have declared that they have no problem with Israel as their neighbour. Israel’s Netanyahu, on the other hand, has already claimed the credit for “reshaping” the Middle East.
Another clear ‘winner’ is Turkey, which had long wanted Assad to go. For years, the Turkish military had been maintaining a direct presence in Syria’s Idlib province, which also happened to be the main province under (partial) control of the so-called “rebel” Islamists. For years, Turkish forces shielded these groups from the Syrian (and Iranian and Russian) strikes and offensives. In addition, the fact that Turkey allowed these groups to conduct trade across the Turkish border provided these groups with economic support too. Now that Assad is gone, Turkey finds itself in a much better position than it was earlier to counter Kurdish groups.
But there are no ‘losers’
All of this apparently translates into crucial geopolitical gains for Israel (Washington) and Ankara, except there are no permanent ‘losers’ here. The fall of the Assad regime has brought to power a well-known Islamist group globally designated as terrorist. It is said to be only previously allied with al-Qaeda, but the way it controlled Idlib for years provides a sufficiently sound snapshot of where the group stands as an ultra-orthodox network, with serious questions remaining about whether the group was ever able to shun its ideological past.
Still, there is little denying that the ability of armed Islamists to overthrow Assad and capture power has upset not only Tehran but also Riyadh, Doha, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, and even Cairo. All of these states previously faced actual, or prospects, of popular discontent during the so-called ‘Arab Spring’. All of these states are Muslim-majority states, which makes them vulnerable to groups operating both regionally and domestically to overthrow monarchies and/or existing regimes. Can any of them face similar prospects as Syrians did? Let’s not forget that the “rebels” first emerged in Syria in the wake of the so-called ‘Arab Spring’. If the end of the Asad regime is the continuation of the same ‘movement’, there is no denying that it can reach other states too. A clear logic for these states to cooperate with each other against this Islamist threat, backed as it is by Turkey and Israel, exists.
Therefore, while Iran may have become ‘isolated’ and the fall of the Assad regime may have blocked its ability to support Hezbollah via Syria, Iran’s prospects of developing new – and deeper – relations with the Arab world have also increased manifold. Therefore, while Netanyahu might be right in claiming that he is “reshaping” the Middle East, the new shape might not be exactly to his liking. The coming together of Iran and Arab states would directly undermine Israeli ability to defeat Iran in the short and long run.
Iran and the Arab world
They are already cooperating. Iran, Saudia, Qatar, and Iraq were all quick to oppose Israeli incursions into Syrian territory. A Saudi official statement called the Golan Heights “occupied” territory. This is not an isolated development triggered by Israeli actions. It is an outcome of an ongoing policy convergence between Riyadh and Tehran vis-à-vis Israel. On Nov. 11 at a summit of Islamic nations in Riyadh, the Saudi crown prince called on the international community, i.e., the US mainly, to compel Israel to “respect the sovereignty of the sisterly Islamic Republic of Iran and not to violate its lands.” At the same gathering, he described the Israeli war on Palestine as “collective genocide.”
In Egypt, the fall of the Assad regime has brought back echoes of the fall of the Mubarak regime more than a decade ago. When the present Egyptian ruler overthrew the government of Mohammad Morsi, a Turkish ally, Erdoğan said he would never talk to Sisi. Yet, he met Sisi twice in 2024. The fact that Turkey is now backing Islamists – and it has always supported the Egypt-based Muslim Brotherhood – there is yet again every reason for Egypt to align its policies in ways that might help keep the Islamists at bay. This way includes closer ties with the rest of the Arab world, plus Tehran.
Quoting senior Western diplomats, a recent report in Middle East Eye described the situation as particularly unravelling for the UAE, which has “been unnerved by the US’s manoeuvring to open backchannels of communication to HTS via Turkey”. The report also mentions the UAE’s efforts to “broker talks between the government of Bashar al-Assad and the US. The UAE wanted to strike a grand bargain to keep the Assad family in power”. The only reason why the UAE wanted Assad to stay in power was that the alternative to Assad would cause more damage to Emirati interests than any potential benefits. The Islamists are that alternative now that no one, except the Turks and the Israelis, wants.
Therefore, a logical response of these states (Arab and Iran) is to develop coordinated action to thwart any prospects of an Islamist revival, including the revival of the Islamist State, which has a sizable presence in Afghanistan. This is probably the only way that the Arab states can collectively outmanoeuvre Turkey and Israel. There is also little denying that any effort to deepen Gulf-Iran cooperation will be squarely seen as a welcome development in Moscow and Beijing, both of which have vital interests in the region.
Salman Rafi Sheikh is a research analyst of International Relations and Pakistan’s foreign and domestic affairs.
US chip suppression won’t stop Chinese industries’ development, will only make them stronger: China chip trade group
By Zhang Yiyi and Wang Cong | Global Times | December 13, 2024
On December 3, one day after the US government announced yet another round of restrictions on chip sales to Chinese firms, four Chinese industry associations, including the China Semiconductor Industry Association (CSIA) and the Internet Society of China (ISC), issued firmly worded statements declaring that US chip products are no longer safe and reliable.
Behind the strongly-worded statements are the profound indignation among Chinese industries over the US government’s relentless campaign to target an ever-growing number of Chinese companies, and the determination to ensure safe and reliable chip supplies for relevant Chinese industries, according to Wei Shaojun, vice chairman of the CSIA.
“The US government has repeatedly suppressed Chinese semiconductor companies, and CSIA members have been very outraged about this. So, it is the CSIA’s responsibility to speak out,” Wei told the Global Times in an interview on Thursday, noting that more than 240 Chinese semiconductor companies have been added to the US’ so-called Entity List so far, accounting for one-quarter of the CSIA members, or one-third, if affected foreign CSIA members are included.
In the statement on December 3, the CSIA blasted the US government’s latest move of adding more than 140 Chinese firms to its so-called Entity List, saying the US arbitrary export control measures against Chinese firms have affected the stable supply of US chip products. “US chip products are no longer safe and reliable and relevant Chinese industries will have to be cautious in purchasing US chips,” it said.
Also making the same determination are three other Chinese industry associations that represent the main buyers of chips – the ISC, the China Association of Communications Enterprises, and the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. Relevant Chinese ministries, including the Ministry of Commerce, also slammed the US move and vowed to take “necessary” measures to resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights and interests.
China’s innovation edge
The statements from the Chinese industry associations showed a “stronger-than-before attitude” and “they expressed our strong indignation,” Tu Xinquan, dean of China Institute for WTO Studies at the University of International Business and Economics and a consultant for the CSIA, told the Global Times.
As the US government is bent on escalating the crackdown measures, “we must take some necessary measures to firmly safeguard our legitimate rights and interests,” Tu said, “we must accordingly encourage and support the purchase of reliable and safe products, whether they are made by Chinese companies or in other countries or regions.”
For domestic internet companies, they need to “promptly adjust their foreign cooperation and development strategies,” Pei Wei, Deputy Secretary General of the ISC, told the Global Times in an interview. “They need to diversify the supply chain layout, especially for the procurement of key technologies and components, to reduce the reliance on a single source.”
Chinese internet companies should establish partnerships with chip manufacturers in countries and regions outside the US, strengthen support for domestic and locally produced chips, so as to diversify risks and enhance supply chain security and stability, Pei further noted.
“At the same time, we must also improve our internal capabilities and continue to build independent research and development, production and manufacturing capabilities,” Pei said.
Wei also urged support for reliable chip supplies in the face of the US’ relentless crackdown campaign.
“We call on the Chinese government to support the stable development of reliable semiconductor suppliers; we also call on semiconductor companies in relevant countries and regions to strive to become reliable semiconductor industry suppliers,” he said. “Suppression will not stop us from development. Chinese industries will become stronger and more confident in our development.”
Broader cooperation needed
In response to the US government’s relentless crackdown campaign, Chinese industries should also remain open for cooperation with their foreign counterparts, the leaders of the industries also said.
“The current success and achievement of the semiconductor industry are the result of global competition and cooperation. Closed development is not conducive to technological progresses and breakthroughs in the industry, and will harm the interests of global consumers,” Wei said, urging the US to return to the stage for fair competition.
Tu noted that it is the US government’s policies, not US companies, that make US chip products unsafe and unreliable. “The restrictions are on exports, so they are actually restrictions on US companies,” he said.
Pei of the ISC also called for principles of openness, inclusiveness and win-win results for international cooperation. “Chinese and foreign industries can conduct deep cooperation in areas such as research and development, market exploration and talent training to share the development results,” Pei said.
American Pravda: Propaganda-Hoaxes vs. Chinese Reality
Scenes from the Uighur “Genocide” Compared to Those of the Palestinian “Genocide”
By Ron Unz • Unz Review • December 16, 2024
… A major flashpoint in the growing international confrontation [between the West and China] came in January 2020 when top officials of the outgoing Trump Administration joined their counterparts of the incoming Biden Administration in both declaring that China was committing “genocide” against its Muslim Uyghur population of Xinjiang province, with the New York Times and our other leading media outlets endorsing and heavily amplifying those explosive accusations.
Such enormously grave charges soon led many Western companies to ban the use of Chinese products from Xinjiang, a decision that outraged China and prompted economic retaliation.
Both at the time and afterward, I regularly ridiculed those accusations, emphasizing that they seemed based upon no solid evidence and greatly reminded me of the false claims of Saddam’s WMDs that that been used to launch our ill-fated Iraq War. Indeed, none of the world’s many Muslim countries took those claims seriously, with the only supporters being the population of the heavily brainwashed West. And after Israel began its massive campaign to annihilate Gaza’s Palestinians, I noted the huge apparent differences between these two alleged “genocides.”
What made these accusations about Xinjiang seem so totally absurd was that the huge province was completely open to both Chinese and foreign tourists, who regularly traveled there in large numbers, attracted by its scenic vistas and interesting Muslim Turkic culture. The notion that China was committing a “genocide” in a region constantly crisscrossed by tourists seemed like the most mindless sort of dishonest propaganda, aimed at the gullible and the dim-witted.
During several years of this ongoing controversy, I failed to consider that video-loggers had become an important part of the Internet, and that some of these specialized in the stories of their foreign travels. But a commenter recently posted a couple of such videos on one of my articles, and clicking the links I discovered the easy availability of such direct personal evidence about Chinese society.
There are a multitude of such channels, and I recently spent a couple of days exploring the China content of two of them. Nothing I saw much surprised me, but I think that our relations with that huge country would greatly improve if more Americans did the same.
I’m not sure of her last name, but the eponymous host of Katherine’s Journey to the East seems like a very pleasant young woman from the Virginia suburbs of DC:
Global Majority nations are de-dollarizing trade with Panda Bonds and African banks
Inside China Business | December 13, 2024
Top African banks are key in the BRICS push to do more trade outside the US Dollar, and especially outside Western systems. By setting up branches inside China, African banks are able to borrow and lend in renminbi, the Chinese currency. This allows for cross-border trades to be settled in local currencies and RMB, instead of through USD-denominated letters of credit or debt markets. Panda Bonds are another tool, rapidly gaining in popularity and usage. Pandas are RMB bonds, sold to investors in Mainland China who want to diversify their fixed income investments to global borrowers. To borrowers, Panda Bonds offer lower interest costs than USD- or Euro-denominated debt, while also allowing for repatriation and currency swaps that are common in USD loans. Africa’s biggest banks, including those owned by African governments themselves, have set up in Mainland China and are increasingly integrated into China’s financial and industrial sectors. And large Chinese banks are heading the other way, investing heavily in Africa’s raw materials industries, and providing liquidity for Africa’s rising consumer class.
Resources and links:
Substack, for video transcript and direct links https://open.substack.com/pub/kdwalms…
South China Morning Post, African banks set up shop in China as Beijing pushes for yuan to eclipse US dollar https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplo…
Statista, China’s African Trade Takeover https://www.statista.com/chart/26668/…
Africa’s Top 100 Banks 2024: Going global https://african.business/2024/09/fina…
S&P Global, Three Minutes In Panda Bonds: Why Issuance Is Surging https://www.spglobal.com/ratings/en/r…
US mulls ‘aggressive’ sanctions on Russian oil – Bloomberg
RT | December 11, 2024
US President Joe Biden’s administration is preparing harsher sanctions against Russian oil just weeks before Donald Trump returns to the White House, Bloomberg has reported.
The details of the new restrictions are yet to be finalized, but Washington is looking to target some Russian oil exports, the outlet said on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
While the US has already banned imports of Russian oil, Biden had long been reluctant to take a more aggressive action against the country’s crude due to fear of energy costs skyrocketing, especially during the run-up to the presidential election, the report said. However, with oil prices falling amid an expected surplus next year and uncertainty about Donald Trump’s commitment to further support for Kiev, the White House could resort to harsher measures, the outlet noted.
The call for new sanctions underscores the departing administration’s willingness to confront Russia before the end of Biden’s term, especially since despite attempts to cripple the Russian economy, Moscow’s GDP is projected to rise by 3.5% this year.
One of the methods that the US could reportedly use to sanction Russian oil exports is to target potential buyers. In this model, purchasers would face punishment by the US. However, such a move would carry significant risks, as major powers such as India and China are Russia’s top customers, the outlet warned, and such limits could also trigger a spike in global oil prices.
The sanctions will also be aimed at Russia’s oil tanker fleet, often described in the West as a ‘Shadow Fleet’, and could be unveiled in the coming weeks, the source told the outlet.
Western governments have introduced a price cap, along with an embargo on Russian seaborne oil, in an attempt to hurt the country’s economy, while at the same time keeping Russian crude flowing to global markets so as not to trigger price hikes.
The Ukraine conflict-related measures were imposed in December 2022, and were followed in February 2023 by similar restrictions on exports of Russian petroleum products. They ban Western companies from providing insurance and other services for shipments of Russian crude, unless the cargo is purchased at or below $60 per barrel.
In response, Moscow banned Russian enterprises from complying with the cap and rerouted most of its energy exports to Asia, particularly India and China.
The Pentagon’s new plan to protect Pacific air assets from Chinese missiles may be the dumbest ever
Inside China Business | December 5, 2024
Most of the Western Pacific is easily within range of China’s missile brigades, and Pentagon war planners are gravely concerned that Chinese hypersonic missiles would destroy allied naval and air units, within moments of a breakout in hostilities. The Pentagon has embraced a new strategy, called Agile Combat Employment. It involves new construction and additions to over a dozen new airfields across the Pacific, where crews can land heavy bombers and other aircraft in the event the primary bases are too badly damaged. China has over 2,000 ballistic missiles, and a mere two or three would suffice to cripple a major airfield beyond use. It is difficult to imagine how building twelve more will make much of a difference. But even if so, the public affairs officers involved in these projects have shared sensitive data on these plans with major news outlets, including the Wall Street Journal. What’s more, the strategy presupposes a willingness of other nations to host American nuclear weapons platforms during a hot war with China, in perpetuity.
Resources and Links:
Substack, for video transcript and direct links https://open.substack.com/pub/kdwalms…
Scatter and Survive: Inside a U.S. Military Shift to Deny China ‘Big, Juicy’ Targets https://www.wsj.com/world/us-military…
The elitist tyranny of “Western democracy” is exposed and crumbling
By Finian Cunningham | Strategic Culture Foundation | December 6, 2024
The charade of Western democracy is rapidly unraveling as so-called leaders and their dutiful media show themselves to be brazenly unaccountable to citizens while pursuing elitist, criminal interests.
Biden using presidential powers to pardon his drug-addict felonious son – after promising he wouldn’t. Western media claims that the upsurge in conflict in Syria is a “civil war” and not due to NATO-backed terrorist proxies. Western support for genocide in Gaza and a fascist Israeli leader who is mass murdering his way to avoid court prosecution for years of corruption. Western support for a money-laundering NeoNazi regime in Kiev whose proxy war against Russia could spiral into nuclear annihilation. Western sponsoring of anti-government violence in Georgia after pro-EU groups lost an election there. The pro-West South Korean leader declaring police state powers to avoid prosecution for corruption.
That’s just a quick sample of something more ample in the West’s decaying image.
The visit to China this week by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock was another revealing fiasco. The obsessively anti-Russia Baerbock landed in Beijing not to prioritize improving trade relations with the European Union’s biggest global partner but rather to browbeat China with tedious allegations that it was helping Russia’s war effort in Ukraine.
What’s more important? Getting along with China to bolster trade and jobs for millions of Germans and Europeans, or gratuitously grandstand over a wanton proxy war in Ukraine?
Understandably, the Chinese authorities were not pleased by Baerbock’s insolence and gave her short shrift. She was snubbed by China’s foreign minister Wang Yi not affording a customary joint press conference after more than three hours of discussions. In a separate statement, China again rejected claims that it was aiding Russia militarily in Ukraine.
So here we have Germany’s top diplomat who is soon out of a job because her coalition government has collapsed and is facing new elections – but she flies to Beijing on taxpayer money to aggravate relations with China, whose annual trade with the EU amounts to over $700 billion.
At her solo press conference in Beijing, Baerbock doubled down in her arrogance, accusing China of jeopardizing peace and security in Europe because it supports Russia.
She claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin was dragging Asia into the war with Ukraine.
The double-think is astounding. Germany, the European Union, NATO, and the United States have done everything to drag the whole world into a war because of its reckless proxy machinations in Ukraine against Russia. The utter failure of that gamble has cost European and American taxpayers a combined $200 billion and could frighteningly escalate into a nuclear conflagration.
Baerbock turned reality on its head when she accused Russia of pulling Asia into the war in Ukraine. It is the United States, NATO, and European Atlanticist leaders who are expanding the proxy war to other regions, including the Middle East and Asia.
Western so-called democracies and NATO are supporting the upsurge in violence in Syria by terrorist militias under the banner of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an internationally proscribed terror organization affiliated with Al Qaeda. Ukrainian military personnel and Turkey (which means NATO personnel) are reliably reported to be assisting the militants in Syria with drone technology.
Evidently, the U.S.-led NATO proxy war in Ukraine is going badly as Russian forces steadily advance against the crumbling Kiev regime. Flaring up the dormant NATO proxy war in Syria is a desperate measure to divert Russian forces to assist its ally, President Bashar al-Assad.
The lame-duck U.S. President Joe Biden is desperately throwing billions of dollars to prop up the Kiev regime before he leaves the White House next month. This is despite Americans voting him out of office partly because they are disgusted by his failed warmongering in Ukraine.
This is the same president who this week pardoned his son’s criminal convictions and spared him from several years in jail.
How much more evidence is needed to show that Western democracies have descended into oligarchies run by elitist politicians who consider themselves above the law and have nothing but contempt for representing ordinary citizens’ interests?
The entire European Union has been captured by Atlanticist elites who have imposed policies that serve hegemonic Western interests and not the interests of ordinary citizens. That’s a definition of treason.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron, Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz and European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen are some of the other bought-and-paid-for politicians who embody the Atlanticist tyranny. Former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who is now NATO secretary-general (sinecures and pay-offs are us), and Polish Premier Donald Tusk are other examples. The feeble Danish, Finnish, Swedish and Baltic leaders are also part of the U.S. vassals club.
Imbued with elitist ideology and deep-seated Russophobia, seduced by bribery, or coerced by the CIA blackmail, all these political prostitutes have been played to betray the interests of European citizens and to make life for the masses incredibly harsh. Russian energy has been cut off leaving European economies shattered. Germany is the most salient case in point where its vital auto industries are collapsing due to higher energy costs.
Another absurd elitist puppet is Kaja Kallas, the former Estonian Premier, who is now the European Union’s foreign minister, taking over from that other Atlanticist tool, Josep Borrell. On her first day in office this week, Kallas visited Kiev to pledge more financial and military aid for the corrupt NeoNazi regime. That’s right. She goes to a NeoNazi regime whose expired president canceled elections, imprisons opposition politicians, censors critical, independent media, and forces military conscription on citizens who want the conflict with Russia to end. Don’t you think Kallas would have been better visiting the EU’s biggest trade partner, China, to repair relations?
While in Kiev, Kallas coordinated with Germany’s Baerbock in Beijing by repeating baseless condemnation of China for its strategic partnership with Russia.
Kallas accused China of prolonging the war in Ukraine simply by maintaining trade relations with Russia, buying Russian gas, and so on.
This politician from a tiny Baltic state of less than 1.5 million people is now running the foreign policy of the EU whose total population is 450 million.
Kallas, who is obsessed with the Russophobia typical of the Atlanticist elites, has threatened to impose higher trade tariffs on China over tenuous allegations of supporting Russia.
The EU has already shot itself in both feet from slavishly following the U.S. imperialist agenda to “strategically defeat” Russia. Now, these same elitist politicians want to compound their treasonous betrayal of European interests by destroying relations with China.
However, the crass servility to an Atlanticist ideology of bankrupt democratic pretensions is rebounding with self-destruction. Western governments (in reality, regimes) and their discredited elitist charlatans are being run out of office due to growing popular disgust over lies and contradictions.
Every Western state is being shaken to its core as more of its people see rank corruption and deception that for decades masqueraded as “democracy”.
Western ‘democracy’ is like a vampire. It sucked the blood of too many people for too many years – all with impunity under the cloak of being virtuous. But in the light of truth, it is decaying and crumbling.
Featured Video
Iran War Reality BITES – Lt Col Daniel Davis & Mario Nawfal
or go to
Aletho News Archives – Video-Images
From the Archives
The Tragic Consequences of believing Anti-Science
The Naked Emperor’s Newsletter | January 17, 2023
I try not to write about anyone who has died because if it was my family member I would not want to read any speculations about their death. However, in this case I feel that justice has not been given a chance and therefore it needs highlighting. ... continue
Blog Roll
Aletho News- US Superpower Myth Shattered w/ Trita Parsi
- Iran War Reality BITES – SPIN HARDER /Lt Col Daniel Davis & Mario Nawfal
- German arson case: Antisemitism commissioner’s inner circle now top suspects after police raids
- The FCC Wants Your ID Before You Get a Phone Number
- Texas has an Israel Investment Problem
- British journalist faces ‘anti-terror probe’ after Iran visit, reporting on US-Israeli crimes
- Trump’s ’Project Freedom’ just got blown out of the water. What now?
- Cuba, Nicaragua, Mexico – Pentagon Reportedly Eyeing Targets in Latin America
- Rubio ‘lying’: Cuba slams denial of US blockade; claims debunked
- US, Iran inching closer toward one-page MoU to end war: Axios
- If Americans Knew
- Israeli Paper Admits That The Mossad Astroturfed The January Riots In Iran.
- Prominent Christian Zionist Group Is Lobbying U.S. Lawmakers on Israel—Without Revealing It’s Funded by Israel
- Ex-US spy for Israel runs for office on platform of ethnic cleansing in Gaza – Daily Update
- An All-American Retort to Israel’s Invasion of Lebanon
- How Dr. Adam Hamawy’s experience as a surgeon in Gaza inspired him to run for Congress
- Under Trump, Green Card Seekers Face New Scrutiny for Views on Israel
- With World Distracted by War, Extremist Settlers Intensify Attacks in West Bank
- Israel’s brutality toward Gaza flotilla activists – 3 articles
- “Spitting and humiliation are daily. People are afraid to walk in Jerusalem with Christian symbols.”
- How the US-Israel Relationship Weakens America and Harms the World
- No Tricks Zone
- New Study: Declining Trends In 1980-2023 Tropical Cyclone Frequency, Accumulated Energy
- 46 IPCC Scientists Break Rank, Publicly Challenge Long-Standing Dogmatic Climate Claims
- Another Study Links Warming To Cloud Forcing, Shortwave Radiation, Natural Atmospheric Circulation
- Wind Energy Is Toxic, Hazardous To Human Health, Scientific Review Shows
- Oversupply Of Volatile Solar Energy Leads To Record NEGATIVE Prices!
- New Study: Extreme Heat Records, Heatwaves, Extreme Cold Records Declining Across US Since 1899
- It’s The Cold, Stupid! Cold 20 Times More Lethal Than Heat, Multiple Studies Show
- European Institute For Climate And Energy: “Climate Debate is Seldom About Science”
- New Study: The Climate May Be 5 Times More Sensitive To Solar Forcing Than Commonly Assumed
- EV Industry Reached $70 Billion In Losses In 2024 Due To Delusional Green Ideologies
Aletho News 