China’s Rare Earths Export Curbs May Sink US’ Microchip Manufacturing Ambitions
By Ilya Tsukanov – Sputnik – 01.08.2023
Chinese export controls on germanium and gallium have stepped into effect amid fears that this will mean more expensive microchips, solar panels, cars, and even weapons. More significantly, the restrictions threaten to sink the Biden administration’s ambitious domestic microchip manufacturing goals, says China-US trade expert Thomas Pauken II.
China’s rare earths restrictions officially stepped into force on Tuesday, with the measures, announced last month after Beijing said it needed to protect its “national security and interests,” expected to cause a sharp jump in the cost of an array of advanced manufactured goods, particularly electronics.
The export controls, which will require companies seeking to export the pair of rare earth metals to apply for licenses, come in retaliation to a long list of US hostile measures, including restrictions on the import of Chinese high-tech goods.
“This is just the beginning,” former Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Wei Jianguo said last month, warning that “China’s tool box has many more types of measures available” should Washington try to retaliate to the rare earths semi-ban.
China produces upwards of 80 percent of the world’s gallium, and 60 percent of its germanium, with experts predicting that it could take “generations” for the US to replace lost Chinese capacity.
The rare earths restrictions show that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s trip to Beijing last month to try to smooth over tensions clearly failed to get China to alter its position, with the Asian nation taking a harder line in retaliation to Washington’s tech and trade war, and attempts to box in Beijing in East Asia, earlier this year, starting by sanctioning US semiconductor giant Micron Technology in May.
Gallium and germanium are used in the manufacture of complex semiconductors, including chips with military applications, but also ordinary transistors, diodes, and other electronic components, for use in everything from smartphones and laptops to solar panels, vehicles, and medical equipment.
Move Could Sink Biden’s Semiconductor Scheme
“Obviously, these consequences are going to be devastating to US efforts to promote their manufacturing industry, to create these factories where they’re reshoring back home,” Thomas Pauken II, a veteran consultant and commentator on Asia-Pacific affairs, told Sputnik, referring to the $50+ billion push announced by the Biden administration last year to restore the US’ domestic electronics component manufacturing capabilities. “The thing is, you need these ingredients that are necessary for the chips and the semiconductors,” he said.
“So now I’m hearing that TSMC,” the Taiwan-based semiconductor giant, “is now having a rethink about doing their fab or semiconductor foundry that they were thinking about opening in Arizona. Also, there’s another story about Intel. They were going to open up this major chip manufacturing plant in Ohio, and now suddenly they’re saying, ‘Well, maybe we won’t open up this factory in Ohio because we lost all our Chinese customers. And because of these export controls we don’t have the ability to create all these chips,’” Pauken said.
US Caught Unprepared
Pauken believes the US and its allies may not have expected Beijing to go through with its rare earths export restriction threats, judging by the limited reporting on the matter, apart from specialized Washington-based think tanks warning about the “devastating impact” such export controls could have on the US, Europe, Japan, “and much of the world.”
“I think the real story is that the West maybe thought China was bluffing. Maybe they thought that China wasn’t being serious about these export controls. And now that they are starting to go into effect, they are realizing how destructive they can be. The fact of the matter is that the US has not done proper preparations to deal with the counter-sanctions or the counter-attacks led by China…They just thought that if they made all these announcements that they were going after China and all these other countries were following them, then somehow, China was going to wimp out, look scared, and then change their mind under the pressure. But in reality, what China has learned is that you cannot back down under peer pressure coming from Washington,” the observer said.
Pauken expects the export restrictions to put a “big hurt” on the global economy, but not so much on Beijing, which could even receive a boost to its domestic manufacturing industry as rare earths that once went to other countries will stay in China.
The expert stressed that if Washington were clever, it would “rethink” its China policy, and recognize that the get-tough approach to Beijing hasn’t been working, and won’t work, and has instead “been a disaster for the US economy.” Unfortunately, he added, “it doesn’t seem like the US has learned any lessons… so it seems as if they will just continue on with their anti-China legislation.”
“So basically it’s a case of if you’re tough to China, China will fight back just as tough. If you’re nice to China, then China will be nice. Right now, Europe decided they want to support the US and want to push back against China. So, of course, China is not only going after the US, but they’re also hitting Europe,” the observer said.
Options Limited
The escalating China-US tensions over rare earths has prompted US officials to begin a global search for alternatives, including Mongolia, a landlocked northeast Asian nation estimated to contain nearly 17 percent of global rare earths deposits.
“Mongolia is facing a generational opportunity. And that generational opportunity is a need for us to find critical minerals and rare earths in order to achieve our clean energy goals,” Under Secretary of State Jose Fernandez, who traveled to Mongolia in late June, recently told US media.
But it’s not as simple as investing in Mongolian rare earths production and extracting resources, Pauken said, pointing to the country’s landlocked status, and US efforts to irritate both of Mongolia’s neighbors, Russia and China.
“Obviously, you can’t go through Russia,” he said, citing anti-Russian sanctions. “So then they would have to go through China. And obviously, if Europe and the US decide to continue putting pressure on China, then they’re going to make it more difficult for the Mongolian miners to transport their products to the shipping ports,” the observer summed up.
Israeli Power Manifest in the US Visa Waiver Program
Biden bows to Israeli pressure and discrimination against Palestinian-Americans will continue
BY PHILIP GIRALDI • UNZ REVIEW • AUGUST 1, 2023
When I began this article early in the morning last Tuesday it must have been “let’s talk about antisemitism and holocaust denial day” on the internet. On my Yahoo home page headlines display there were glaring back at me featured pieces condemning Greg Gutfeld of Fox News and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for comments made by the two men that were interpreted to be antisemitic. Kennedy, who made the mistake of suggesting that the COVID virus appeared to be made in a lab to be genetic specific, sparing inter alia Jews and Chinese ethnics who might be resistant to it, seems to be on a never ending apology tour as he has done everything but crawl on his belly as he asserts his great love for the Jewish state, and I would not doubt that the belly crawl might be coming up.
Poor Gutfeld was hammered twice, once for the “dangerous holocaust” comment that he reportedly made suggesting that some Jews survived the experience by developing useful skills in the camps, and once for the distinction of being personally rebuked by the White House. Andrew Bates, deputy White House press secretary issued a statement saying “What Fox News allowed to be said on their air yesterday — and has so far failed to condemn — is an obscenity. In defending a horrid, dangerous, extreme lie that insults the memory of the millions of Americans who suffered from the evil of enslavement, a Fox News host told another horrid, dangerous and extreme lie that insults the memory of the millions of people who suffered from the evils of the Holocaust.”
As I settled in for my cup of coffee, I wondered what we might be hearing later in the day about Gutfeld from the hideous Jonathan Greenblatt of the reliably rabid Anti-Defamation League (ADL), who has already weighed in on Kennedy’s sins. And even as I was wondering, the ADL response popped up: “It is not clear from Gutfeld’s comments if he is arguing that Jews learned skills in the Holocaust, or that Jews who had skills had a better chance of staying alive. The latter is something that is well-documented, while the former is nonsense. That said, many millions of Jews, who, in Gutfeld’s words, had ‘utility,’ were still murdered.”
The piling on then began, with an unverifiable report that even Fox News staffers, speaking anonymously, described Gutfeld’s remarks as “disgusting,” saying “at any other place, his career would be over.” The Auschwitz Memorial and Museum also got into the fray with “We must not overlook the larger picture of the Holocaust. Nazi Germany’s ultimate goal was to exterminate all the people it considered Jews.”
And to ice the cake, an article that I had not seen about the Democrats who chose to boycott the recent Joint Session of Congress speech by Israeli President Isaac Herzog also appeared, stating that “Such behavior is virulently anti-Israel and absolutely reprehensible. Each of these folks is a shame to the United States of America. And to the Democratic Party.”
That all of the responses fit in comfortably with the Israeli and Zionist group standard holocaust narrative of perpetual Jewish suffering, together with the inflated victim count which does not stand serious scrutiny, should surprise no one and after I finished perusing the articles the first thought that came to mind was “Wow, if you needed any proof of the power of Jews in this country and their persistence in punishing critics, this is it!” But that was before I read an article that went well beyond the usual propaganda stream, one describing how Israel is apparently about to be approved for probationary access to the US Visa Waiver program, which will allow Israelis to travel freely to the United States. According to the article, Washington and Jerusalem have signed a “memorandum of understanding” as a first step to full waiver status which presumably will be granted after a trial period ending on September 30th.
There are currently 40 nations admitted to the program, mostly from Europe, enabling their passport holders to enter the US freely without a visa and allowing them to stay for up to 90 days. Israel and its friends in the US have been agitating for years to have Israel accepted into the program, which would likely lead to more free spending American tourists and more corporate investment in the Jewish state, but there has been a major hurdle that Israel has been unwilling to address seriously and that is the issue of “reciprocity.” That means in practice that if anyone carrying an Israeli passport is free to enter the United States anyone carrying an American passport must be free to travel to Israel and enter the country. And lest there be any misunderstanding, US law requires full reciprocity to US citizens seeking entry – without regard to race, religion, or national origin. This means that if an American Jew and a Palestinian-American both holding US passports arrive at an Israeli port of entry they must be treated exactly the same when processing through customs and immigration.
Israel, however, has historically not quite seen it quite that way and reserves the right to block entry by Americans, an option particularly exercised against Americans of Palestinian origin, and other Americans like myself who come up on their data bases as being critical of the Jewish state. Palestinian-American Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib has even been denied entry in a recent attempt to travel to visit her grandmother. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who has been a critic of Israeli’s oppression of the Palestinians, has also been barred from entering the country.
There are other issues, including the fact that Israelis are way overrepresented in current visa fraud when they travel to the United States, often overstaying the time limit on their entry permission and working while in the country. Israelis in the country illegally and working were among the art students, Dead Sea cosmetics peddlers and the “Dancing Shlomos” movers who figured in the 9/11 saga, some of whom were known to be intelligence officers spying on American Muslims. Intelligence and law enforcement sources suggest that an open door to Israeli passport holders will lead to the entry of a new wave of Mossad officers who will be working against US Palestinian and Arab groups as well as against critics of Israel.
Israel is seeking approval to enter the program and is claiming that it has now initiated a trial period that will merge into a two-year pilot program that will ease the entry process and eliminate the many complaints about the harassment of Palestinian Americans and others. US citizens of Palestinian descent have frequently reported being harassed, detained, and denied entry by Israeli officials. Arab-Americans have told of being “strip-searched, questioned for hours about family and property histories, and even forced to give access to their social media accounts.” The US Embassy for its part only very rarely submits toothless complaints to the Israeli authorities about the treatment.
Because of that history, there is, inevitably, considerable skepticism about Israeli intentions. To cite only one example, Palestinian-Americans still cannot travel to the West Bank through Ben-Gurion Airport located near Tel Aviv, and are instead forced to fly into Amman, Jordan, before traveling overland to the West Bank. Furthermore, throughout the MOU, the US grants to Israel the freedom to deny any and all visitors entry for undefined security concerns – a variation on the “Israel has a right to defend itself” slogan and in itself a violation of the statuary requirements that established the Visa Waiver program. And even personal relationships are subject to scrutiny after one succeeds in entering the occupied territories. Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) requires any foreign national to “report the start of a romantic relationship with any Palestinian ID holder within 30 days.”
There is particular concern that Israel will behave during the trial period and once it obtains waiver status it will return to its old ways of denying Palestinian Americans entry. One Palestinian critic observes how the problem is institutional: “What we are seeing is representative of how Israel applies its apartheid laws to Palestinians everywhere, both in the occupied territory and abroad. Israel targets Palestinians simply for being Palestinians.” Even under the proposed pilot program, for example, Palestinian Americans will be able to apply for a 90-day travel pass to enter Israel but the restrictions on visiting the West Bank remain in place only for them and not for Jews visiting the illegal settlements. They are also blocked from visiting Gaza even if they have family there. The Palestinians will still need to apply to the Israeli government official for additional internal travel permits, which can easily be denied.
There is widespread belief that the so-called pilot program is a back door way for the Joe Biden Administration to bring Israel into the Visa Waiver Program without requiring it to end its systematic discrimination and abuse directed against Palestinian-Americans. It demonstrates yet again that the rule of US-Israel relations is what it always has been – zero accountability for Israel. And, together with the recent decision to permit a visit to the White House and Congress by major human rights violator Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu it is just one more indication of who holds the reins of power in Washington.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen regards the new arrangement as a done deal, boasting how “After we finish all the necessary legislative procedures, I estimate that Israeli citizens will be able to visit the US without the need for a visa by the end of the year.” That freedom is, however, the fruit of a shameful move by the Biden Administration as it is conceding to the Israelis the right to continue to apply a race card to some American passport holders. It seems that whenever there is a conflict over issues vexing Washington and Tel Aviv it is the Jewish state that always emerges as the winner.
Philip M. Giraldi, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest, a 501(c)3 tax deductible educational foundation (Federal ID Number #52-1739023) that seeks a more interests-based U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Website is councilforthenationalinterest.org, address is P.O. Box 2157, Purcellville VA 20134 and its email is inform@cnionline.org.
US forced Saudi Arabia, UAE to freeze investments in Syria
The Cradle | August 2, 2023
All promises of humanitarian aid and investment in Syria by Gulf countries such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia have been frozen as a result of US warnings and threats, Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar reported on 2 August.
“All the Emirati and Saudi promises to help Syria and activate investment in it on several levels remained words on tongues and ink on paper, and none of them were translated into reality,” Arab diplomatic sources told Al-Akhbar.
According to the sources, the UAE “underestimated the ability of US sanctions to prevent” these investments and aid transfers from materializing.
“It became clear that US sanctions and warnings … by the Americans to Emirati and Saudi officials … have already managed to thwart any new investment attempts in Syria … There are Emirati investment projects that already exist in Syria, but work in them has been frozen, under the pretext of the unstable security conditions,” the newspaper cites the sources as saying.
Following the 6 February earthquake that devastated Turkiye and Syria, an Arab embrace of Damascus was initiated – with a number of Arab states, including most notably Saudi Arabia, restoring diplomatic ties with the government of Bashar al-Assad.
While this initially carried the hope of facilitating a swift end to the Syrian crisis and a reconstruction of the country, US sanctions and political pressure campaigns against normalizing with Assad have stalled such hopes.
US lawmakers have even introduced legislation aimed at targeting countries that normalize ties with the Syrian government.
On 31 July, Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad accused western leaders of threatening to sanction Arab states to stop the normalization of ties with Syria. However, he added that “our Arab brothers will not submit to western blackmail,” stressing that there are talks with Arab nations “far from US influence.”
As some Arab states remain adamant about opposing Syria, such as Qatar, others, including Iraq, have continued to push for its full reintegration into the regional fold.
Despite US attempts to drive a wedge between Baghdad and Damascus, as Al-Akhbar describes, the two states have continued close cooperation in several fields.
As part of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s recent visit to Syria and meeting with Assad, many things were discussed, including increased energy cooperation to combat severe shortages caused by US occupation.
While the US is systematically obstructing the Arab rapprochement with Damascus, its occupation forces in the country are reportedly preparing for new military action – coinciding with preparations being made by Iran-backed resistance groups.
According to Al-Akhbar, the US is attempting to strengthen its Kurdish proxy, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – as well as other factions and extremist armed groups who are being trained inside the US base in Syria’s southeastern Al-Tanf region.
“The declared goal [is] occupying the city of Al-Bukamal to cut off the road between Damascus and Baghdad,” the report reads, thereby obstructing access “to the Iranian depth.”
However, this US “move will be an opportunity for the … the axis to pounce on the American forces in the Syrian desert and expel them from this sensitive area.”
The newspaper adds that there are “military preparations” – most likely jointly coordinated by Syria, Iran, and Russia – in the Badia desert region and in Suwayda, “can be considered preparation for a ground attack on the US Al-Tanf base, perhaps preceded by an attack with drones and ballistic missiles.”
As the threat of such an attack looms over the US occupation, Washington has been significantly reinforcing its occupation in Syria recently.
An anonymous US military official recently said that there is a jointly coordinated Russian-Iranian campaign being waged with the aim of pressuring Washington’s troops to withdraw from Syria.
US Arms Firms Reportedly Given $9.7 Billion to Replace Weapons Sent to Ukraine
Sputnik – 01.08.2023
The US defense contractors have received nearly $10 billion in new Department of Defense weapons orders to replace systems sent as aid to Ukraine, US media reports said.
Citing official Defense Department figures released Tuesday, US media reported the Pentagon has currently used $9.7 billion to replenish its depleted weapons and ammunition stockpiles, out of a total $26 billion already approved for that purpose by the US Congress.
Lockheed Martin is already getting almost $2.3 billion of a potential $6 billion committed to it as well as $1.4 billion out of an eventual total $1.9 billion more for its joint venture with RTX, previously known as Raytheon Technologies to refill its arsenal of Javelin anti-armor weapons, media said.
Lockheed is also expected to receive $1.4 billion of a potential $5.2 billion to replace guided missiles for the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS). RTX will reportedly get another $844 million to replace the Patriot PAC-3 MSE anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems that have been sent to Ukraine.
RTX will get $581 million of a potential $624 million to replace US armed forces supplies of Stinger anti-aircraft missiles and Congress also has appropriated $18.6 billion to provide for Ukraine’s long-term defense needs. So far, $7 billion of that money has been obligated to US companies, the report added.
RTX reportedly has Pentagon commitments for $1.2 billion of a potential $1.4 billion to supply Ukraine with its long-range NASSAM air defense systems. General Dynamics and other contractors companies will receive $901 million out of a likely $1.4 billion to supply Kiev with more 155mm howitzer ammunition.
‘Facebook Files’ Reveal Despicable Disregard for the Constitution
By Ron Paul | July 31, 2023
Last week’s revelation that Facebook took orders from the Biden Administration to censor even accurate information about Covid is the latest example of the US government’s disregard for our Constitution. Thanks to Rep. Jim Jordan, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, we now know the extent to which the Biden Administration went in its proxy war against the First Amendment.
Getting the information wasn’t easy. It was only after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was threatened with being held in contempt of Congress that he relented and shared information with the Judiciary Committee about Biden Administration pressure to censor Americans on Facebook who disagreed with White House policy on Covid.
What we have discovered thus far is disgusting. For example, in April 2021, a Facebook employee sent a message to top executives in the company complaining that, “we are facing continued pressure from external stakeholders, including the [Biden] White House” to remove posts. In another example, senior executive Nick Clegg complained that Andy Slavitt, a Senior Advisor to President Biden, was “outraged… that [Facebook] did not remove” a particular post, according to Rep. Jordan’s report.
Rep. Jordan revealed that the “offending post” that the Biden Administration wanted removed was simply a joke making fun of possible vaccine injury down the road. The Biden Administration even wanted to “protect” us from jokes that it didn’t like.
The Administration did not stop at targeting what it called “misinformation.” As Constitutional Law Professor Jonathan Turley noted in a recent column, “the administration also demanded the removal of ‘malinformation’ that is ‘based on fact, but used out of context to mislead, harm, or manipulate.’” So the Biden Administration wanted to “cancel” even truthful information counter to its own preferred narrative.
This level of contempt for our Constitution is shocking. As Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. – who was himself censored at the behest of the Biden Administration – testified recently before Congress: “A government that can censor its critics has license for every atrocity. It is the beginning of totalitarianism.”
Who knows how many thousands of Facebook accounts were banned or restricted at the behest of the Biden White House. Early last year I received notice that my own Facebook Page was “restricted” for 90 days because I pointed out that the CEO of Pfizer once claimed that his Covid shot was “100 effective” but later changed his story. The post was completely accurate but still my page was targeted.
Although some are using this information for partisan gain against the Democrats in power, Americans should not delude themselves: left unchecked, there is little reason to believe a Republican Administration would show any more respect for the Constitution than the Biden Administration. Both parties have shown themselves to be selective in their pledged oath to uphold and defend the US Constitution.
It is just as unconstitutional – and thus illegal – for the US Government to violate the First Amendment by proxy – through so-called private companies – as if the government directly attacked our free speech. We must remember that the unprecedented US government censorship of Americans during Covid was just the test run. Be assured that when the next “crisis” comes – and it will – the authoritarians in charge will again ramp up the censorship machine unless we do something about it.
Copyright © 2023 by RonPaul Institute
Musk’s X Corp. Sues Authors of ‘Disinformation Dozen’ Report Over ‘Scare Campaign’ to Chase Away Advertisers
RT | August 1, 2023
X Corp – the company formerly known as Twitter – filed a lawsuit against the UK-based nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) on Monday, accusing the NGO of seeking to stifle free expression and open discussion on X’s platform by scaring away advertisers.
Describing the CCDH as an “activist organization masquerading as [a] research agenc[y], funded and supported by unknown organizations, individuals, and potentially even foreign governments with ties to legacy media companies,” the suit accuses the group of initiating a “scare campaign to drive away advertisers” – whose funding X requires to continue to operate its platform as a free service.
In a blog post accompanying the suit, X also accused the CCDH of “targeting people on all platforms who speak about issues the CCDH doesn’t agree with, attempting to coerce the deplatforming of users whose views do not conform to the CCDH’s ideological agenda, targeting free-speech organizations by focusing on their revenue stream to remove free services for people, [and] attempting to illegally gain unauthorized access to social media platform data and to misuse that data.”
The censorship advocate also “scraped” X’s platform, slurping up all available data – something X’s terms of service forbids – and illegally accessed X’s data via a borrowed login from advertising analytics platform Brandwatch, according to the suit. This data was then used “out of context” to claim a “surge in harmful content” had driven advertisers away from X, it states.
The unnamed Brandwatch user who assisted the CCDH is among the 50 ‘John Doe’ defendants listed in the suit – co-conspirators X claims is working with CCDH to sabotage X, explaining their real names will be added as their true identities are discovered.
X does not put a dollar value on the amount CCDH’s “research” has cost it, referring only to “at least tens of millions of dollars” and demanding that the censorship advocate cease using the stolen data.
CCDH CEO Imran Ahmed dismissed Musk’s claims, telling CNN the lawsuit “sounds a bit like a conspiracy theory to me” and accusing the billionaire of blaming Ahmed for “his own failings as a CEO.” The CCDH has repeatedly alleged that Musk has made X a haven for bigotry, most recently airing its claims in a July 19 Bloomberg article that asserted: “hate speech towards minority communities increased” under his leadership.
The lawsuit came less than 24 hours after the CCDH published a letter from what was then known as Twitter, dated July 20, accusing the NGO of “regularly” making “inflammatory, outrageous, and false or misleading assertions about Twitter and its operations,” while positioning such assertions as scientifically-rigorous “research.” The CCDH countered that Twitter was trying to “silence honest criticism” via legal intimidation.
Niger junta says France plotting to ‘intervene militarily’
AFP | July 31, 2023
Niger’s new junta on Monday accused France of seeking to “intervene militarily” to reinstate deposed President Mohamed Bazoum as tension mounted with the former colonial power and neighbours.
Bazoum, a western ally whose election just over two years ago was a watershed in Niger’s troubled history, was toppled on July 26 by the elite Presidential Guard.
Guards chief General Abdourahamane Tiani declared himself leader — but his claim has been shunned internationally and the West African bloc ECOWAS has given him a week to hand back power.
Bazoum’s PNDS party on Monday warned Niger risked becoming a “dictatorial and totalitarian regime” after a series of arrests.
On Monday morning, Oil Minister Mahamane Sani Mahamadou — the son of influential former president Mahamadou Issoufou — and Mining Minister Ousseini Hadizatou were arrested, the party charged.
The head of the PNDS’s national executive committee, Fourmakoye Gado, was also arrested, it said.
The junta had previously arrested the interior minister, the transport minister and a former defence minister, the party said.
On Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron vowed “immediate and uncompromising” action if French citizens or interests were attacked after thousands rallied outside the French embassy.
Some tried to enter the compound but were dispersed by tear gas.
‘Plotting intervention’
The junta on Monday accused France of plotting an intervention.
“In its search for ways and means to intervene militarily in Niger, France with the complicity of some Nigeriens, held a meeting with the chief of staff of the Nigerien National Guard to obtain the necessary political and military authorisation,” the putschists said on national TV.
They also said six people needed hospitalisation after the embassy security services fired tear gas against the rally.
A demonstration in support of the junta was also held in Zinder, eastern Niger, on Monday.
Tough ECOWAS warning
On Sunday, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) sounded a tough warning.
The bloc demanded that Bazoum be reinstated within a week, failing which it would take “all measures” to restore constitutional order, which “may include the use of force”.
“No more time for us to send a warning signal… It’s time for action,” said ECOWAS chairman Bola Tinubu, president of Nigeria — Niger’s neighbour to the southeast and the regional superpower.
Russia called for the swift return of “the rule of law” and “restraint from all parties so that this doesn’t result in human casualties”.
Niger became the third Sahel country in less than three years, following neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso, to be shaken by a military coup.
In all three nations, a jihadist insurgency strained fragile governments, stoked anger in the military and rained economic blows on some of the world’s poorest countries.
The overthrow of elected presidents has been accompanied by anti-French, pro-Russian demonstrations.
Crucial ally
Protesters say France, the country’s traditional ally, has failed to shield them against the jihadists, whereas Russia would be a stronger ally.
In Mali, a 2020 putsch led to a bust-up with France which last year withdrew its troops as the junta brought in Russian paramilitaries.
France also quit Burkina Faso after two coups last year brought in a junta that adopted a nationalist line.
The withdrawals prompted France to reconfigure its decade-long anti-jihadist strategy in the Sahel, concentrating on Niger, where it fields 1,500 troops with a major air base near Niamey.
The latest coup, according to the putschists, was a response to “the degradation of the security situation” linked to the jihadist conflict, as well as corruption and economic woes.
International critics have ratcheted up pressure, targeting trade and development aid.
ECOWAS has suspended all commercial and financial transactions, while France, the European Union and the United States, which has 1,100 troops in Niger, have either cut off support or threatened to do so.
Germany suspended financial aid and development cooperation on Monday, and UN humanitarian operations have also been put on hold.
Niger has seen four coups since independence from France in 1960 and numerous other attempts, including two previously against Bazoum.
The 63-year-old is a former interior minister whose elections marked Niger’s first peaceful transition of power since independence.
Vilnius Memo: Who’s Going to Bankroll This War?
By Martin Jay | Strategic Culture Foundation | August 1, 2023
Apparently it wasn’t Abert Einstein who said “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results”. But we like to think it was, so it became a quotation attributed to him. How else to describe the West’s stalwart determination to impale itself further with the agony of the Ukraine war as we are led to believe that NATO and the U.S. are determined now to dig in for a long war. The belief is still upbeat, despite the huge anti-climax of Ukraine’s so-called “offensive” which didn’t even break through the Maginot Line which Russia has built along a 900-km fortified line.
The blinded dogma of NATO members at last month’s Vilnius Summit stems from being drunk on their own fake news which media dutifully pumps out each day from the propaganda factory in Kiev. There’s just so much of it, that it’s hardly surprising that Biden and his European lap dogs overconsume on it without looking at the hard facts. It isn’t simply that Ukraine “has run out of ammo” as Biden put it. It’s more than that. It’s that it has been proven over and over again that they don’t have the will, resources or rank ability to take on the Russian army and that sending more and more military hardware will only delay the inevitable loss. Or at least armistice which is bound to happen on an unofficial level at some point, if an official one can’t be signed.
Zelensky looked worried at the Vilnius conference. And it’s hardly surprising. Even when you look at the pledges made by western countries for military hardware, there’s no question that the speed of these deliveries and the actual quantity has radically dropped. So how can Ukraine or NATO believe that it can win the war, even in years to come? Fighting a war without ammunition is like baking bread without flour, after all.
The truth is that most western leaders already know that the time is up. They know that three key elections are going to play a huge role in putting the brakes on the campaign to continuously supply the Kiev cabal, who by some accounts, are buying 7 million euro villas in Cannes with the money which is being syphoned off. War is a racket after all and Ukraine is one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Should we be surprised that a government minister there has this kind of cash to blow on a wedding present for his offspring?
The three elections are of course the UK general election, The U.S. presidential elections and the European parliamentary elections. All three will take place at the end of 2024 and it will be the first time people will have a real opportunity to make a statement about the war and the abysmal hardship it is imposing on people in western countries. It’s as though Joe Biden knows also that it will be very hard for him to stand again as president when he has to explain why he has sent over 130 billion dollars of taxpayers’ money to a country that few Americans can even find on a map of the world.
Money matters. Finally, it matters. The argument on the American side that it doesn’t matter as it is being printed and given over to the industrial military complex has some validity, as this secures jobs and keeps these companies buoyant. But it’s public money. And so, rightfully, people will want to know why couldn’t the same money be spent on the very poor.
For the Europeans it’s very different. They pay a very high price for the Ukraine war and the folly of their governments who indulge themselves with the military aid like children gouging themselves on chocolate cake while the parents are away. Germany’s economy is flat broke. For the UK, homeowners are facing losing their house due to colossal mortgage rate hikes with an entire generation now unable to get on the housing ladder. How will these politicians explain this at the polls?
It really is about the money. NATO knows that it needs much more than just the miniscule offering of 2 % of GDP, which in reality only 11 NATO members adhere to. All western countries’ military stockpiles are depleted and so, not only do NATO and its members need to find trillions of dollars of new cash just to bring their stocks back up to what they were, but also trillions more for Ukraine. The numbers just don’t add up. Even on an EU level, Ursula von der Leyen, who is almost certainly going to be NATO secretary general, when her term as EU Commission president runs out in about a year, has her begging bowl out. She is hoping to raise 20 billion euros to be given to Ukraine over 4 years as military aid. For the Ukraine war, it is pretty meagre.
For the EU itself, there is no clear sign how she will get it when she is already asking member states to contribute 30 billion euros more to the budget to pay for another egregious scam of COVID vaccinations, which at one point she was being accused of having corrupt connections to, until colleagues managed to cover the scandal up. Europe not only has no cash or military kit left to offer Ukraine, it has serious financial problems to tackle of its own for its own elites to retain the power they wield. The only respite would have to be much more cash from the U.S. only which is probably not what Biden is planning on. The Europeans have paid too much. We are an empty Amazon warehouse with all the workers at the foodbank.
US will spend on Ukraine more than it did on Marshall Plan after WWII
By Ahmed Adel | August 1, 2023
John Sopko, Inspector General of the United States Reconstruction Service in Afghanistan, said that the amount of money the US will spend by the end of 2023 will surpass the money spent on the entire Marshall Plan. He also highlighted how Ukraine is a country that is almost just as corrupt as Afghanistan.
“We are spending more money in Ukraine now in one year than we spent in about 12 years in Afghanistan, and by the end of this year, we will spend more money in Ukraine than we did to do the entire Marshall Plan after World War Two,” he warned, emphasising that he supported financial aid, but felt the need to make sure it was done “correctly and under supervision.”
Among the problems identified by Sopko when overseeing the cost of rebuilding Afghanistan was the lack of coordination of these efforts and a lack of understanding of the ultimate goal. He highlights that in the case of Ukraine, the situation is even more complicated as more parties are involved, such as US agencies and international donors and organisations. In addition, the expert also noted that both Afghanistan and Ukraine are deeply corrupt.
Most alarming, though, for US taxpayers is that Sopko revealed that Washington spends about $2.5 billion monthly on security assistance to Ukraine. In comparison, Washington only spent about $375 million monthly on security assistance to Afghanistan. Since February 2022, the Biden administration has committed more than $75 billion in various types of assistance to Ukraine, with nearly $50 billion spent on weapons and related military equipment.
Biden’s astronomical total spending in Ukraine will only significantly increase when considering that in July alone, the Ukrainian military lost 20,824 troops and 2,227 units of various weapons, including 10 Leopard tanks, 11 Bradley armoured vehicles and dozens of artillery pieces from the United Kingdom, United States, Germany, France, and Poland.
“It is obvious that the Western-manufactured arms supplies do not lead to successes on the battlefield, but only prolong the military conflict,” the Russian Ministry of Defence said in an announcement on July 31, adding that “against the backdrop of the failed so-called ‘counteroffensive,’ the Kiev regime, with the support of Western sponsors, has focused on carrying out terrorist attacks on civilian infrastructure in cities and towns in the Russian Federation.”
Seeing as the counteroffensive has been an utter and humiliating failure for Ukraine and its Western patrons, the Kiev regime has resorted to terrorist tactics against Russia, knowing well that such attacks only hurt citizens and do nothing to strengthen Ukraine’s war effort or deter the Russian military operation.
On the morning of August 1, Mayor of Moscow Sergey Sobyanin announced that Russian air defences shot down “several” drones targeting the Moscow region. This attack marks at least the fifth time drones have reached the Russian capital since May. Thankfully for the citizens of Moscow, two drones were destroyed by air defence systems and a third was jammed and crashed, resulting in no deaths or injuries.
In an attempt to show strength, but instead ended up revealing the truth about the desperate situation Kiev finds itself in despite having more money pumped in a year than 12 years in Afghanistan, Ukrainian president Volodymr Zelensky said on July 30 in his nightly address that the war was coming to Russia, i.e., terrorist attacks.
“Gradually, the war is returning to the territory of Russia – to its symbolic centres and military bases. This is an inevitable, natural, and absolutely fair process,” Zelensky said.
The wording of Zelensky’s announcement suggests that Ukraine is about to embark on a game-changing phase of the war. Instead, Ukraine will only conjure inconveniences for the Russian state and, sadly, some deaths and injuries to citizens. However, it will certainly not be anything that will swing the war in Ukraine’s favour.
Ukraine will likely lose significant drone capabilities as this will become a priority for Russia if terrorist attacks continue in such a manner. In fact, the Russian Ministry of Defence announced on July 31 that an assembly plant for drones in the Kharkov region intended for Ukrainian troops was destroyed.
At the same time, the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine and the Baykar Makina Turkish company recently announced that they agreed to build a repair and maintenance service centre for drones. The agreement to create a service centre for Turkish drones was signed within the framework of the intergovernmental agreement between Ukraine and Turkey about cooperation in the hi-tech, aircraft and space industries sector, which came into force in January 2023.
With Russia already demonstrating its willingness to destroy drone plants, there is little reason why the new Bayraktar centre in Ukraine will not be targeted if the Turkish drones are the reason for Russian deaths.
Nonetheless, despite Zelensky’s promise of bringing the war to Russia, terror attacks on Moscow will not deter the special military operation but will significantly weaken Ukraine’s drone capabilities as its destruction becomes a priority. Ukraine is already a financial blackhole for the West, as seen by the vast resources poured into the country, and the destruction of Ukraine’s drone capability will only add to its misery.
Ahmed Adel is a Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher.
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From the Archives
USS Liberty Massacre: A Pivotal Moment in the Hostile Takeover of America
By Kevin Barrett | Crescent | Dhu al-Qa’dah 24, 1445
In corporate America, hostile takeovers are commonplace. They occur when an aggressor—a larger corporation or rich individuals—seizes control of a smaller corporation without asking permission.
What few recognize is that the United States itself has been subjected to a hostile takeover. Since the aggressor, the illegitimate settler colony known as “Israel,” is much smaller than the US, the takeover has necessarily been surreptitious.
As of June, 2024, Israel’s gradual takeover of the US has become obvious and undeniable—a proverbial “elephant in the living room.” … continue
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