China announces massive cross-border project with Russia
RT | September 15, 2023
China’s Xuanyuan Group Industrial Development plans to build a massive logistics hub in the Amur Region in Russia’s Far East, as freight turnover between the two countries has more than doubled over the past year, the group’s CEO, Hailong Xue, has told RT.
The project is one of several deals the Chinese industrial group has clinched with Russian investors on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, and will offer equal opportunities for Russian and Chinese companies to participate in it.
The hub will be located between the city of Tongjiang in China’s Heilongjiang province and the town of Nizhneleninskoye and is designed to facilitate Russia-China cargo transfers.
“The location of this hub is very important as it will be right between our borders. There is a narrow stretch between our frontiers which makes cargo transfer rather problematic. But, with our project, we estimate that freight transportation will reach 10 million tons annually,” Hailong said. He expects cargo traffic between Russia and China to increase fourfold in the next few years.
According to the Xuanyuan Group CEO, the project envisages the construction of a terminal for storage and transportation of hazardous and nonhazardous goods, such as liquefied natural gas (LNG), liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), aviation fuel, helium, and other technological goods.
Hailong revealed that the estimated cost of the project will be between $600 and $700 million, with the launch of the cargo terminal scheduled for 2027.
EU has ‘globalized’ Ukraine crisis – Hungary
RT | September 14, 2023
The European Union’s response to the Ukraine crisis is causing the world to fragment, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has claimed. He added that Budapest wants to see initiatives that can unify states, such as China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
The EU “has given a very bad answer to the war in Ukraine that unfortunately seems to be ending up in a world being divided into blocs again,” the Hungarian diplomat told CNBC on the sidelines of the Belt and Road summit in Hong Kong.
Brussels “should have isolated this war, but instead of that the EU has globalized” it, he said in the interview broadcast on Wednesday.
Szijjarto argued that a lack of communication between opposing countries has led to them giving up on achieving peace, while states that benefit from good East-West relations – such as Hungary – have been hurt economically.
The minister contrasted this to how the BRI aims to bring the world together for mutual prosperity and security, which is why Hungary welcomes China’s presence.
He criticized rich Western European nations who are now talking about decoupling from the Chinese economy or “derisking” due to political concerns. Quietly, they seek Chinese investment just like small nations, Szijjarto said.
“They can be hypocritical, they can afford [it],” he argued.
Unlike those countries, Budapest states its foreign policy openly, the diplomat said, warning that if ‘decoupling’ with China were to succeed, it would “kill the European economy.”
The Hungarian government has been a vocal critic of the Western response to the Ukrainian conflict since its outset. It has called for peace talks, while speaking out against sanctioning Russia and arming Ukraine. Most EU nations, following in the US lead, have pledged to support Kiev for “as long as it takes” to defeat Moscow.
China releases ‘blueprint’ for integrating with Taiwan
RT | September 13, 2023
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has pitched an economic-integration plan for Taiwan, while at the same time deploying a historically large fleet of warships and aircraft surrounding the self-governing island.
Released on Tuesday by the CCP’s Central Committee and Beijing’s State Council, the proposal was touted as a “blueprint” for Taiwan’s future development. Under the plan, the coastal province of Fujian would become a “demonstration zone” for the integrated development of Taiwan.
The proposal calls for allowing Taiwanese residents to live, work, and study on the mainland, initially in Fujian. Taiwanese businesses would also be allowed to hang a shingle in the neighboring province and would be encouraged to list their shares on Chinese stock exchanges.
Tensions in the Taiwan Strait have escalated in recent years amid rising concerns that China will attack the island. Washington has ramped up weapons sales to Taipei, and US politicians have made controversial visits to the island. China, which claims sovereignty over Taiwan, has vowed to reunify with the breakaway province – by force if necessary. Only 13 nations recognize Taiwan as a sovereign country.
“Solving the Taiwan issue and realizing the complete reunification of the motherland is the unswerving historical task of the Communist Party of China, the common aspiration of all Chinese people, and the inevitable requirement for realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,” the CCP said in its proposal.
Taiwanese MP Wang Ting-yu, a member of the island’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, called the integration blueprint “ridiculous.” Speaking in a video message on Wednesday, he said, “China should think about how it can take care of its bad debts, but not how it can conduct united-front work against Taiwan.”
Dozens of Chinese military planes and warships, including an aircraft carrier, were deployed in the Taiwan Strait this week. The display of military might was reportedly one of Beijing’s largest in recent years.
China and India have ‘low intellectual potential’ – top Zelensky aide
RT | September 13, 2023
The people leading India and China lack the ability to predict the long-term consequences of their policies, a senior aide to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has claimed.
Mikhail Podoliak pointed to what he called “the problem of the modern world,” singling out India and China, in an interview with Ukrainian media on Tuesday.
“The problem with these countries is that they do not analyze the consequences of their own moves. These countries, unfortunately, have low intellectual potential,” he said.
Podoliak suggested that even though India has a lunar exploration program, it “does not mean that this nation understands what the modern world precisely is.”
The dismissive remarks were in the context of Beijing and New Delhi’s refusal to support Kiev in its conflict with Moscow. Podoliak complained that India, China and Türkiye were “profiting” from the war by maintaining trade with Russia.
“Technically, it is in their national interests,” he acknowledged, before presenting his view of what would benefit China in the long-run.
“China should be interested in Russia disappearing, because it is an archaic nation that drags China into unnecessary conflicts,” he claimed.
“It would be in their interest now to distance themselves from Russia as far as possible, take all the resources it has, and take part of the Russian territory under their legal control. In fact, they will do that,” he added.
Following the interview, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman urged Podoliak to clarify his remarks, when asked about them during a media briefing on Wednesday.
Podoliak has a record of lashing out at nations, organizations and public figures seen as not sufficiently supportive of Kiev.
Among his latest targets was Pope Francis, whom he had branded an “instrument of Russian propaganda” who “continues to reduce the influence of Catholicism in the world to zero.” The pontiff had encouraged Russian Catholics to cherish their nation’s historic legacy.
The Ukrainian official also recently hit out at Elon Musk, who Podoliak claimed “enabled evil” by refusing Kiev’s request to use his Starlink communications system to launch drone attacks against the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
Podoliak isn’t the first high-ranking Ukrainian official to make derogatory remarks about Asian countries. In August, Aleksey Danilov, the head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, suggested that Asian people were less humane compared to Europeans, including Ukrainians. “I’m fine with Asians, but Russians are Asians. They have a completely different culture, vision. Our key difference from them is humanity,” Danilov said.
The Reported Russian-North Korean Military Deal Is All About Geostrategic Balancing
BY ANDREW KORYBKO | SEPTEMBER 12, 2023
Many observers believe that Russia and North Korea have decided to strengthen their military ties due to shared threats from the West. Reports claim that they’re exploring a swap whereby Russia would share hypersonic, nuclear, satellite, and submarine technology with North Korea in exchange for Soviet-era ammunition and artillery. The first part of this deal would balance the emerging US-South Korean-Japanese triangle while the second would keep Russia’s special operation going into next year.
There’s likely a lot of truth to this assessment since it makes sense for them to help each other against their shared opponents in the New Cold War, but there’s more to it than just that. For starters, the preceding report about their impending swap doesn’t account for Russia’s growing edge in its “race of logistics”/“war of attrition” with NATO that’s responsible for defeating Kiev’s counteroffensive. Even without North Korea’s Soviet-era supplies, Russia is still impressively holding its own against all of NATO.
This proves that Russia’s military-industrial complex (MIC) already meets its needs in the present and beyond, thus raising the question of why Russia would countenance a military deal with North Korea in the first place, let alone such a seemingly lopsided one. A cogent explanation is that Russia’s MIC might struggle in that scenario to meet its military-technical obligations to third parties, ergo the need to purchase lower-quality supplies so that production facilities can prioritize higher-quality exports.
Even if that’s the case, then it doesn’t answer the question of why Russia would be willing to share such potentially game-changing military technology with North Korea for these supplies instead of simply paying for them with hard currency, nor why it either can’t or won’t try to get them from China. Likewise, one might also wonder why North Korea can’t receive the aforesaid military technology from China and would have to request it from Russia as part of their reported swap.
The answer to those three questions concerns China’s reluctance to burn all bridges with the West as well as Russia and North Korea’s shared interests in preemptively averting potentially disproportionate dependence on the People’s Republic. Beginning with the first balancing act, while President Xi arguably envisages China leading the creation of alternative global institutions as strongly suggested by his decision to skip last weekend’s G20 Summit in Delhi, he’d prefer for this to be a smooth process.
Any abrupt bifurcation/”decoupling” would destabilize the global economy and therefore sabotage his country’s export-driven growth, but the US might force this scenario in response to China’s large-scale arming of Russia and/or transfer of game-changing military technology to North Korea. For that reason, President Xi likely wouldn’t agree to either of those two deals except if they were urgently required to prevent their defeat by the West, but neither is facing that threat so China won’t risk the consequences.
As for the second part of this balancing act, even if President Xi offered to meet Russia’s and North Korea’s military needs, those two would still probably prefer to rely on one another for them instead of China in order to not become disproportionately dependent on the People’s Republic. Both regard that country as one of the top strategic partners anywhere in the world, but each would feel uncomfortable if they entered into relationship where Beijing plays too big of a role in ensuring their national security.
From Russia’s perspective, it’s a matter of principle to never become disproportionately dependent on any given partner since such ties could curtail the Kremlin’s foreign policy sovereignty even if its counterpart doesn’t have any nefarious intent. In the Chinese context, relations of that nature might make some policymakers less interested in maintaining their country’s balancing act between China and India, thus leading to them subconsciously favoring Beijing and pushing Delhi closer to Washington.
Should that happen, then the global systemic transition to multipolarity would revert back towards bipolarity (or rather bi-multipolarity) as Russia turbocharges China’s superpower trajectory in parallel with India helping the US retain its declining hegemony. The result would be that only those two superpowers would enjoy genuine sovereignty while everyone else’s would be greatly limited by the natural dynamics of their competition. Russia obviously wants to avoid this scenario at all costs.
Unlike Russia’s global interests, North Korea’s are purely national, but they’re still complementary to Moscow’s. Pyongyang had been disproportionately dependent on Beijing since the end of the Old Cold War after the USSR collapsed, but China later leveraged this relationship to expand ties with the West by approving UNSC sanctions against North Korea. Russia did the same for identical reasons, but North Korea wasn’t dependent on Russia so Pyongyang didn’t hold a grudge against Moscow like it did Beijing.
It was this growing distrust of China that inspired Kim Jong Un to seriously explore Trump’s ultimately unsuccessful de-nuclearization proposal in order to rebalance his country’s relations with the People’s Republic. The same motivation was why Myanmar agreed to a rapprochement with the US under Obama that also ultimately failed. Both countries felt that their disproportionate dependence on China was disadvantageous and accordingly sought to rectify it by rebalancing ties with the US.
Since the American dimension of their balancing acts didn’t bear any fruit and is no longer viable, each is now looking towards Russia to play that same role in helping them relieve their disproportionate dependence on China. Russian-Myanmarese relations were explained here while Russian-North Korean ones will now be elaborated on a bit more. From Pyongyang’s perspective, even if Beijing gave it game-changing military technology, this could always be cut off one day if China reached a deal with the US.
In fact, China probably wouldn’t consider giving North Korea such technology anyhow since that could make it more difficult for Beijing to ever leverage its influence over Pyongyang again in pursuit of such a deal with Washington, thus limiting China’s own foreign policy sovereignty. The likelihood of Russia reaching a major deal with the US anytime soon is close to nil after all that’s unfolded over the past 18 months, so North Korea believes that Russia will be a much more reliable long-term military partner.
Russia and North Korea’s complementary balancing acts at the global and national levels vis-a-vis China coupled with China’s reluctance to burn all bridges with the West as it begins building alternative global institutions are the real driving forces behind the first two’s reported military deal. This grand strategic insight enables one to better understand the true state of relations between these countries and therefore helps objective observers produce more accurate analyses about them going forward.
Western exodus from Russia a boon for Chinese companies – leading entrepreneur
RT | September 10, 2023
Chinese companies have greatly benefited from the pullout of Western companies from the Russian market, Zhou Liqun, chairman of the Chinese Entrepreneurs’ Union of Russia, told RT on Sunday.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok, Zhou said Chinese businesses have been actively filling the niches left by the exit of Western companies and are eager to expand their presence in Russia further.
“The withdrawal of Western companies from Russia has created vast opportunities for Chinese businessmen and enterprises to cooperate with Russia. For example, in the vehicle manufacturing sector: many Chinese carmakers have entered the Russian market throughout the past year. While previously they made up only 5-6% of the market, now it is almost 40%,” Zhou stated.
He noted that China has been among Russia’s major trade partners for the past 14 years, and both countries have created many platforms and opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation.
“Our cooperation framework is very convenient for both sides, stable political relations between our countries promote the development of trade and business relations. Chinese businessmen are interested in Russia’s raw materials, Russian businessmen are interested in Chinese machinery and equipment. This makes our cooperation mutually beneficial and opens up potential for development,” he added.
Zhou noted that since the introduction of Western sanctions on Moscow, Russia and China have accelerated the use of their own currencies in trade, which has benefitted both nations. To date, 80-85% of all transactions between Russia and China are carried out in either yuan or rubles, and given the rapid expansion of mutual trade and cooperation, this percentage is likely to grow further.
“Businesses in both Russia and China are already accustomed to using national currencies in cross-border transactions. It is very convenient for direct cooperation. We expect the ratio of yuan and ruble transactions in mutual trade to grow to 90%, depending on the type of product,” he said.
Zhou added that China takes great interest in the development of Russia’s Far East, both as a supply source and trade partner. He noted that to date, China is involved in 58 projects in the area, including the construction of a petrochemical complex in Amur Region, as well as a number of projects in agriculture and infrastructure.
“China’s cooperation with the Far East has great potential,” Zhou said.
Russian Fuel, Energy Industry Working Very Well Despite All Sanctions – Putin
Sputnik – 04.09.2023
MOSCOW – The Russian fuel and energy industry is working very well, is protected from external shocks and retains key positions in this sphere despite all sanctions, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday.
“In general, in the current difficult conditions, Russia not only confirms its energy self-sufficiency, independence, and protection from external shocks, but also occupies key positions in the global energy sector. Without any exaggeration, we work confidently and self-sufficiently,” the president stated at a meeting on the implementation of the Murmansk liquefied natural gas (LNG) project.
Russia’s fuel and energy sector should contribute to protecting the interests of the country’s economy, the needs of all consumers and tackling the issues of accessibility and prevention of serious price hikes which should be constantly monitored, Putin added.
Moreover, Russia is considering the possibility of accelerating the construction of the Far Eastern route, as well as the main Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline, the president stated.
“Given the good prospects for expanding cooperation with friendly countries, we are considering the possibility of accelerating the construction of the Far Eastern route, as well as the Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline,” Putin stressed.
The Power of Siberia is a gas pipeline operated by Russian state-owned company Gazprom that is a part of the eastern gas route from Siberia to China.
The Power of Siberia 2 is a planned gas pipeline that is to contribute to Russian gas exports to China through Mongolia. The construction is expected to start in 2024, according to a statement by Mongolian Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai on July 18, 2022.
China warns neighbors against repeat of ‘Ukraine tragedy’ in Southeast Asia
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi
Press TV – September 4, 2023
China says Southeast Asian countries must be cautious about being used as geopolitical pawns by foreign players sowing discord in the region for their own gain.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a recent video address at a think-tank conference hosted by the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia in Jakarta that the Southeast Asian states must refrain from following in the footsteps of Ukraine and should not allow themselves to be used by “external forces.”
“The crisis in Ukraine has sounded the alarm for mankind, and similar tragedies must not be staged in Asia,” the top Chinese diplomat said. “We must promote regional security through dialogue and cooperation and oppose seeking absolute security at the expense of other countries.”
Wang warned of a “backstage manipulator,” apparently referring to the United States, which is fanning the flames of controversy over the South China Sea territorial dispute. “This black hand hiding behind the scenes must be exposed.”
“China is always willing to work with relevant countries to properly resolve differences through dialogue and seek effective ways to control the maritime situation.”
The Pentagon has sought to forge closer military ties with those countries in the region that have territorial disputes with China.
The Philippines, for instance, agreed earlier this year to allow US forces to use four additional bases in the country. Beijing warned that Manila was binding itself to a “chariot of geopolitical strife.”
China and its neighbors must work together to safeguard the “hard-won peace” in the region by properly managing differences, Wang said.
The Chinese diplomat predicted that foreign efforts to spur conflict in the South China Sea won’t succeed.
“We should abandon the Cold War mentality and oppose zero-sum games, keeping the region away from geopolitical calculations, and not become pawns in the great power competition,” Wang said.
Relations between China and the United States have deteriorated in recent years amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict and rising tensions over Washington’s constant meddling in Taiwan.
Beijing has repeatedly accused Washington of various military provocations in the South China Sea, Taiwan Strait, and elsewhere across the region.
Indonesia rubbishes Pentagon’s ‘joint statement’ on China and Russia
RT | September 1, 2023
Indonesia’s military chief has denied issuing any shared statements with his US counterpart during a visit to Washington last week, after the Pentagon published a “joint” press release attributed to Jakarta which criticized Moscow and Beijing.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto said the US statement does not reflect his country’s positions, stating that Indonesia seeks friendly relations with both Russia and China.
“There is no joint statement and no press conference. What is important for me to underline is that our relationship with China is very good. We respect each other, we already have mutual understanding. I conveyed that in the US,” he said, adding “We are close friends with China, we respect America, and we seek friendship with Russia.”
The official went on to announce plans to visit Beijing and Moscow in the coming months, voicing hopes that Jakarta could serve as a “bridge” between rival states.
The Pentagon missive, published on August 24 was titled ‘United States DoD and Indonesia MoD Joint Press Statement’ and took on a different tone. It claimed that both the US and Indonesia “shared the view that the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) expansive maritime claims in the South China Sea are inconsistent with international law.” It also went on to “jointly” condemn Moscow’s actions in Ukraine, demanding a “complete and unconditional withdrawal” of Russian forces.
Though Indonesia’s Defense Ministry noted Subianto’s meetings with Pentagon head Lloyd Austin, it made no mention of any joint statement with Washington, and offered no comments about Russia or China.
Beijing was quick to jump on the American statement, with China’s embassy in Jakarta claiming the remarks had not been approved by Indonesian officials beforehand.
“We’re informed by the Indonesian side that what the US side described is not true. In fact, no such content can be found in the press release by the Indonesian side at the same meeting,” the embassy told reporters last weekend, slamming US efforts to “to sow discord and stir up trouble.”
During Subianto’s trip to the US, the two countries agreed to boost military cooperation, including joint war games and additional US weapons sales. The Pentagon further said Washington would help Jakarta’s military modernization drive, proposing “fighter aircraft upgrades, new multi-role fighter aircraft, and additional fixed and rotary wing transport aircraft,” among other gear.
Highlighting the growing military ties, Indonesian officials announced a deal to purchase 24 Sikorsky S-70M Black Hawk transport helicopters from US arms giant Lockheed Martin last week, soon after signing a major contract with Boeing for two-dozen F-15 fighter jets. Jakarta is working to revamp its air fleet, which currently operates systems from several different countries, including both US- and Russian-made fighter jets.
Vivek Ramaswamy’s Plan For Ending The NATO-Russian Proxy War In Ukraine Is Pragmatic
BY ANDREW KORYBKO | AUGUST 31, 2023
The NATO-Russian proxy war in Ukraine has been trending towards a stalemate since the beginning of the year after Moscow’s growing edge in the “race of logistics”/“war of attrition” ensured that it won’t be defeated. NATO is unlikely to be defeated either, however, since it’ll probably intervene directly – whether as a whole or via a Polish–led mission that draws in the bloc via Article 5 – to freeze the Line of Contact in the event that Russia achieves a breakthrough and threatens to sweep through Ukraine.
The counteroffensive’s spectacular failure and the subsequently vicious blame game between the US and Ukraine strongly suggest that talks with Russia will resume by year’s end for freezing the conflict. Ahead of that happening, these wartime allies are frenziedly trying to convince their respective people that the other is responsible for this debacle simultaneously with formulating an attractive post-conflict vision of the future. The first is served by their vicious blame game while the second will now be discussed.
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who’s now polling third after winning last week’s debate and had earlier attracted enormous media attention for his outspokenness on sensitive issues, just published his “Viable Realism & Revival Doctrine” in an article for The American Conservative. Of relevance to this piece is his plan for ending the NATO-Russian proxy war. Liberal–globalist policymakers and their media allies responded with fury, and it’s not difficult to see why.
Ramaswamy describes the conflict as a “no-win war” that’s needlessly depleted Western stockpiles to China’s benefit. With a view towards more effectively containing the People’s Republic in the Asia-Pacific, he therefore suggests extricating the US from its proxy war with Russia as soon as possible. To that end, he proposes recognizing the new ground realities in Eastern Europe, ending NATO expansion, refusing to admit Ukraine to the bloc, lifting sanctions, and having Europe shoulder the burden for its own security.
The explicit goal is to “get Putin to dump Xi”, and that’s why he says that the quid pro quo is “Russia exiting its military alliance with China.” Ramaswamy is convinced that his plan will “elevate Russia as a strategic check on China’s designs in East Asia” if it’s implemented into practice, but the problem is that no such “military alliance” exists between those two. Moreover, it’s unrealistic to imagine that the US will “get Putin to dump Xi” since they’re good friends and their countries are strategic partners.
Having clarified that, this plan does have its merits. From the Russian side, it ensures that country’s objective national security interests and gives it the chance to rely on the EU for preemptively averting potentially disproportionate economic dependence on China upon the lifting of sanctions. On the home front, Ramaswamy’s plan appeals to the pragmatic policymaking faction whose influence is on the rise as proven by the success over the summer of their policy towards India that was detailed here.
The timing couldn’t have been better. The US is looking for a “face-saving” way to resume peace talks as previously explained, and the rising influence of pragmatic policymakers could lead to them overruling the liberal-globalists’ objections to this, though their rivals could still try to sabotage this. The enormous media attention that Ramaswamy has already generated, not to mention what he’s now receiving as a result of his proposal, could reshape the national discourse on the proxy war’s endgame.
Americans are becoming fatigued with this conflict but no one had yet articulated an attractive post-conflict vision of the future until now. Irrespective of Ramaswamy’s political future, his plan serves to spark a wider conversation at all levels about the pragmatism of compromising with Russia in order to free the US up for more effectively containing China in the Asia-Pacific. This can in turn facilitate the resumption of talks with Russia, especially if it emboldens pragmatic US policymakers.
The vicious blame game between the US and Ukraine over the counteroffensive’s failure leads to the inevitable one over who’s responsible for losing this proxy war, with all of this preceding America’s formulation of an attractive post-conflict vision of the future for its people and policymakers alike. The first dynamic is continually intensifying and making more headlines by the day, while the second is also presently unfolding but mostly in silence, and it’s this dynamic that Ramaswamy’s plan contributes to.
Accepting the impossibility of Russia abandoning its mutually beneficial cooperation with China and acknowledging that lifting the sanctions likely won’t happen either, the rest of his proposals could form the parameters of a potential Russian-American deal for ending their proxy war in Ukraine. That former Soviet Republic wouldn’t join NATO, nor would that bloc expand any further, and the West would de facto recognize the new ground realities in Eastern Europe while the EU bears the burden for its security.
Russia would obviously have to agree to some regional compromises too in that scenario, such as Ukraine’s privileged post-conflict relationship with NATO and the hard security guarantees that the Anglo-American Axis will likely provide, but these could be acceptable if its other interests are met. If there’s any movement in this direction, then it shouldn’t be maliciously spun as Russia conspiring to facilitating the US’ containment of China, but seen for what it truly is: Russia putting its interests first.
Will This Man Prevent World War Three?
By Patrick MacFarlane | What They’re Not Tellin’ You | August 28, 2023
In April, Tucker Carlson, the most popular show host in American news media, was unceremoniously fired from Fox News.
He has since taken to the platform “X,” formerly Twitter, to continue publishing his own program.
Last week, during the first Republican primary debates, Tucker posted an exclusive (softball) interview with former President Donald Trump.
The episode received 260 million “impressions” within the first day.
Although an “impression” on Twitter only counts as an appearance in someone’s feed, if only one-tenth of those impressions equated to one view, the viewership would still be 23 million people. In comparison, Tucker’s Fox News program, Tucker Carlson Tonight, averaged 3.25 million viewers in March 2023.
The exclusive interview with Trump was a master stroke by both figures. It allowed Donald Trump to get his message across in a long format without actually muddying himself on the debate stage. Meanwhile, Vivek Ramaswamy played, in effect, the role of Trump’s stand-in, but still won the debate in his own right.
Tucker walked away with incredible numbers, even if not as spectacular as the 230 million impressions would suggest.
Yesterday, RT reported that Tucker Carlson has “strongly” requested a meeting with Vladimir Putin, ostensibly to publish as an episode of his new program.
With all these developments, an attempt to decode the former Fox News host’s real role in the media landscape is akin to cracking a modern-day enigma.
Many laud Tucker as a rogue voice, fighting the establishment, using a microphone as a holy scepter.
It cannot be denied that on some critical issues like opposing escalation over Ukraine, Tucker Carlson’s voice is vitally important. But, Tucker Carlson has his own interests, and a background that does not suggest he is some populist hero, or an antiwar dove (of critical importance, he certainly is not on China).
That said, it would be immensely valuable for the West to see an intimate and honest one-on-one interview between Vladimir Putin and Western news media—one that was not intent on painting Putin as the new Hitler.
Maybe Tucker Carlson, though imperfect, is the figure best positioned to do it?
When America’s Commander-in-Chief, Joe Biden, still has not spoken with Putin since the February 2022 invasion, its puzzling that the job defaults to the United States’ most popular current events news host.
Exactly what does that mean—and what will come of it?
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From the Archives
Wartime internment camps in Australia
National Archives of Australia
World War I
During World War I, for security reasons the Australian Government pursued a comprehensive internment policy against enemy aliens living in Australia.
Initially only those born in countries at war with Australia were classed as enemy aliens, but later this was expanded to include people of enemy nations who were naturalised British subjects, Australian-born descendants of migrants born in enemy nations and others who were thought to pose a threat to Australia’s security.
Australia interned almost 7,000 people during World War I, of whom about 4,500 were enemy aliens and British nationals of German ancestry already resident in Australia.
Records of World War I internment camps
World War II
During World War II, Australian authorities established internment camps for three reasons – to prevent residents from assisting Australia’s enemies, to appease public opinion and to house overseas internees sent to Australia for the duration of the war.
Unlike World War I, the initial aim of internment during the later conflict was to identify and intern those who posed a particular threat to the safety or defence of the country. As the war progressed, however, this policy changed and Japanese residents were interned en masse. In the later years of the war, Germans and Italians were also interned on the basis of nationality, particularly those living in the north of Australia. In all, just over 20 per cent of all Italians resident in Australia were interned. … continue
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