As Washington’s grip on global affairs continues to loosen and more countries reject the western development model, the current order will progressively weaken clearing the way for a multipolar world badly in need of a new security architecture. Western elites, who are unable to accept this new dynamic, continue to issue frenzied statements expressing their fear of a future in which the United States no longer dictates global policy.
At the 2019 Munich Security Conference, Chairman Wolfgang Ischinger, underscored many of these same themes. Here’s an excerpt from his presentation:

“The whole liberal world order appears to be falling apart – nothing is as it once was… Not only do war and violence play a more prominent role again: a new great power confrontation looms at the horizon. In contrast to the early 1990s, liberal democracy and the principle of open markets are no longer uncontested….

There are suggestions that the US and China may now sign a trade agreement in May. However, it seems unlikely that this will be the great victory over China that Trump promised, as recent events indicate.

Just a month ago, the European Union (EU) appeared to have jumped aboard the anti-Chinese bandwagon of the Trump administration, when it labelled Beijing a “systemic rival” over what it viewed as unfair trade practices. It also stated that it was rolling out its own strategy to counter China’s influence. While the EU is likely to want to pushback against China and counter it wherever necessary, recent developments do indicate that there is very little the EU and the US can do to scale back China’s influence without resorting to outright war, and are looking to cooperate and engage with China instead.

Why is a nation with no polar shoreline building nuclear icebreakers? Hydrocarbons and trade routes.

Despite earlier good news on the US-China trade deficit, U.S. soybean exports have plunged to their lowest levels since the early days of the U.S.-China trade war in what is an alarming sign for farmers pleading with the Trump administration to resolve all trade disputes.

Current data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) revealed that the total U.S. soybean exports reached 460,700 metric tons last week, down from 888,700 tons in the previous week and just above 446,500 tons in the same week a year ago. Of the soybean shipments last week, only 130,200 tons were loaded on vessels for China.

it’s clear that the US desires to dismantle Iran and Venezuela’s supposedly interconnected influence networks in Latin America as the next step in fortifying “Fortress America“, and while “deep state” wars such as this one have been going on for decades, it’s hitherto unprecedented for any country to make such a crusade public since the end of the Old Cold War when the US used to make similar claims about the USSR and its communist proxies.

The US Department of State has approved a half a billion dollar possible sale of F-16 pilot training, spare parts and supply equipment to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States (TECRO), the Defence Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said in a press release.

"The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to TECRO in the United States for the continuation of a pilot training program and maintenance/logistics support for F-16 aircraft currently at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona for an estimated cost of $500 million," the release said on Monday.

TECR0 is responsible for maintaining bilateral relations between Taiwan and the United States.

U.S. envoy Brent Christensen, the de facto American ambassador to Taiwan, on Monday pledged continuing U.S. support for Taiwan to join international organizations like Interpol and the World Health Organization (WHO) despite China’s campaign to isolate the island nation.
At a symposium held on the 40th anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act, Christensen called for Taiwan to be granted “full membership in international organizations that do not require statehood” and “meaningful participation” in those that do. Taiwan exists in an uneasy autonomous relationship with mainland China, which frequently threatens to use military force against the island should it declare full independence.

The Chinese ambassador to Santiago called US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo “a hypocrite” after he tried to dissuade the South American nation from dealing with Beijing, as the US and China remain locked in a trade war.

“Pompeo has lost his mind and gone too far,” Beijing’s envoy to Chile, Xu Bu, said, slamming the attacks against Chinese economic activities in the region as “malicious” and “absurd.”

Mike Pompeo earlier called Chinese investment projects in the South America “debt deal traps” during a visit to Santiago. Beijing “often injects corrosive capital into the economic bloodstream, giving life to corruption, and eroding good governance,” he said.

To the concern of Germany, France, Holland and other EU countries, Italy’s coalition has just signed a Memorandum of Understanding with China to join China’s Belt Road Initiative, the so-called New Economic Silk Road. Italy is the only industrial G7 country so far to opt in to the BRI. The China dealhas the potential to change the geopolitics of not only the EU but also most of the world. It’s about who controls which major maritime ports of world commerce.

While much attention has focused on the role of high-speed rail infrastructure as the backbone of the ambitious China BRI project, little attention has been so far given to what may be a far more strategic geopolitical development in China’s BRI, namely China’s ability to own or control the most vital ports of Asia, of Africa, major parts of Latin America and now,evidently, of the European Union.

Even after China led the global grounding of Boeing's 737 MAX 8 following the March 10 crash of ET302 - the second deadly crash under similar circumstances within five months - and even with Boeing's planes becoming a top target for Beijing in the ongoing trade spat with the US, it's possible that the aerospace company might lead the ranks of American firms seeking to cater to President Xi's "One Belt, One Road" initiative - much to Washington's consternation, we imagine.

According to the South China Morning Post, Boeing sees potential for an aircraft that would make more routes viable between nations involved in the BRI - something that could fly on medium range routes where the 737 is too small to accommodate airlines' needs and the larger 787 are too big and costly to fly.

POTSHERDS and obscure publications: These are at the heart of a detailed list of ‘historical evidence’ being used to justify Beijing’s claim of sovereignty over the entire South China Sea.

The China Daily timeline infographic, republished by Chinese news service Xinhuanet, reaches back as far as the 21st century BC, claiming pearls, shells and turtles from the South China Sea had been presented as tribute to the rulers of the Zhou Dynasty.

Han Dynasty pottery shards dating from 206BC were found on Taiping Island (in the Spratley chain), the graphic claims, while documents dating from as early as 280AD refer to a sea known as “Zhanghai” being mapped and patrolled.

The collection of nine panels goes on to list a series of obscure modern international publications as recognising China’s claims, as well as a selection of 1960s and 70s Vietnamese reference books using Chinese names for some islands and uninhabited reefs and shoals between the two nations.

A new op-ed in Bloomberg Quint has noted what the United States should really be worried about regarding Beijing's intentions after a year of tense China-US Navy encounters in the South China Sea. This potential threat, which is "far harder to discern," involves the world's some 380 underwater cables carrying more than 95% of all data and voice traffic between the continents. Could China be stealthily hacking them? It is certainly now in a better position to do so.

The piece details how the Chinese conglomerate Huawei Technologies — already at the center of a broader US-China dispute over theft of trade secrets and unlawful dealings with sanctioned regimes like Iran — now has contracts to construct or improve nearly 100 submarine cables globally.

In the latest show of military muscle in the South China Sea, the U.S. has apparently sailed its USS Wasp amphibious assault ship near a strategic reef claimed by Beijing and Manila that lies just 230 km (140 miles) from the Philippine coast.

Filipino fishermen near the site known as the Scarborough Shoal initially spotted what appeared to be the massive U.S. vessel on Tuesday, according to ABS-CBN News. It said planes were seen landing and taking off from the ship, some 5 km (3 miles) away from the fishermen’s boat. A video clip shown by the news network appeared to corroborate their account.

Japan's military reported on Tuesday that it lost contact with an F-35 stealth jet some 84 miles off the east coast of Aomori prefecture in the Pacific, and that the hunt was on for the pilot and the downed plane.

But if Russia or China, who both maintain a heavy naval presence in the region, find the plane first, the future of US airpower could be over before it started.

As a Technocracy, China is driven to create infrastructure and develop the global supply chain, both of which are central to its Belt and Road initiative. Europe is playing both sides of the fence with America on one hand, and China on the other. ? TN Editor

The multipolar transformation that is occurring across the Eurasian continent confirms the industrial and diplomatic cooperation between China and the European continent in spite of strong opposition from the United States.

Xi Jinping’s visit to Europe confirms what many of us have been writing about over the past few months and years, namely, the reality of an ongoing global transformation of a world dominated by the United States to a pluralistic one composed of different powers collectively shaping a multipolar world.

China has defended Russia's recent deployment of troops to Venezuela amid U.S. statements suggesting Moscow and Beijing had no right to support a Latin American government disavowed by Washington.

The U.S. has attempted to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by supporting opposition-controlled National Assembly head Juan Guaidó, who declared himself acting president earlier this year in a political challenge to the country's socialist leader. While Washington has secured support from a number of allies, Beijing and Moscow were among those backing Maduro. Over the weekend, Russian troops were seen disembarking military aircraft at Caracas’s international airport to attend what a diplomatic source as described as "bilateral consultations" to Russia's state-run Sputnik News.

China and North Korea on Monday opened a new “highway port” border crossing in Ji’an City on the Sino-DPRK border, the local municipal government announced in a statement. In a ceremony held in the presence of local officials, the bridge reportedly opened to the public this week, with 120 Chinese visitors then allowed to cross.

On Friday we reported that this weekend, on April 6th, the world was facing another mini "Y2K" event, this time on GPS devices, as they roll over from “week 1024” to “week 1.” If you have a Garmin or a TomTom on which you rely for navigating, you could run into trouble.

Ahead of the big day, navigation technology manufacturer TomTom NV told users on its website that there was “no need to worry” if you frequently update your device, but said those who don’t may find “navigation impossible” among other problems. Separately, GDP nav giant Garmin said its testing had shown the “vast majority” of its GPS devices would handle the rollover without issue, and those that were affected would see an incorrect date and time displayed but “the positioning accuracy will not be affected.”

Chances are you've seen the stories, with headlines like "AI-driven technologies reshape city life in Beijing" or "Robots serving up savory food at Chinese artificial intelligence eateries" splashed across the page, a photo of a robot ominously beckoning you to believe one message: China is winning the artificial intelligence (AI) race in its quest to become the global superpower.

You would be wrong.

On Thursday US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged NATO leaders to confront the “emerging threats” posed by the Russian and Chinese militaries across the globe, but especially in Venezuela.

“We must adapt our alliance to confront emerging threats… whether that’s Russian aggression, uncontrolled migration, cyberattacks, threats to energy security, Chinese strategic competition, including technology and 5G, and many other issues,” Pompeo said. Though he more specifically linked Russia with the Venezuela crisis in comments to reporters, China remained a talking point as part of the discussion throughout.

Moscow and Beijing are working out joint actions at the UN Security Council that will give impetus to the process of resolving the situation on the Korean Peninsula, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov said on Thursday.

As China continues its efforts to eradicate Christianity and other faiths, Communist Party officials in Guangzhou (shown), the capital of China’s Guangdong province, are offering a reward to residents who can provide information about underground churches, secret Christians, and others involved in unsanctioned religious activity.

Guangzhou’s Department of Ethnic and Religious Affairs recently announced on its website that it would pay up to 10,000 Chinese yuan (around $1,500) for information leading to the apprehension of unsanctioned religious leaders. That amounts to about two months’ salary for the average resident. Officials are offering smaller rewards for information about churches and other religious meeting places built or used without permission from authorities. Informers can also cash in for ratting on people who incite “religious extremism,” says the website.

The mystery of the Terracotta Army's shiny swords and spears has been solved, according to British scientists.

The world famous Terracotta Army of Xi'an consists of thousands of life-sized ceramic figures representing warriors.

Chrome plating on thousands of their bronze weapons was thought to be the earliest form of anti-rust technology - thousands of years before it arrived in the West.

But the steely grey metal formed by chance through a chemical reaction between a decorative and the low organic content of surrounding soil, the research claims.

The lacquer was used to treat wooden parts of the weapons - such as shafts, grips and scabbards.

With 4 minutes to go before the close of trading and stocks within spitting territory of red for the day, someone had to take control of "price discovery" and with the FT's street cred already used up after it's "90% done" report last night, it was up to Bloomberg to preserve the "trade talk optimism" which it did when it reported fresh details on the ongoing trade deal being finalized (and we use the term loosely) between the US China, which according to Bloomberg source would give Beijing until 2025 to meet commitments on commodity purchases and allow American companies to wholly own enterprises in the Asian nation.

Authored by Federico Pieraccini via The Strategic Culture Foundation,

The multipolar transformation that is occurring across the Eurasian continent confirms the industrial and diplomatic cooperation between China and the European continent in spite of strong opposition from the United States.

Xi Jinping's visit to Europe confirms what many of us have been writing about over the past few months and years, namely, the reality of an ongoing global transformation of a world dominated by the United States to a pluralistic one composed of different powers collectively shaping a multipolar world.

Europe therefore finds itself in fortuitous position, balanced as it is between its old world links to the United States on the one side and the fledgling Eurasian one being ushered in by Russia and China on the other.

The reported arrival of Chinese military personnel in Venezuela last weekend is undoubtedly a major event in world politics.

Unlike Russia, which has a history of force projection abroad, this is an extremely rare Chinese move. Although vital Chinese interests are at stake in the war against terrorist groups in Afghanistan and Syria, China refrained from publicising any such deployment.

The reports mention that the group of Chinese military personnel is 120-strong and arrived on the Margarita Island in the Caribbean Sea off the Venezuelan mainland on March 28 ‘to deliver humanitarian aid and military supplies to the government forces.’ After delivering the humanitarian supplies, the Chinese PLA troops were apparently transferred to a Venezuelan military facility.

While the delivery of aid is one of many expected shipments, according to government officials, the arrival of Chinese military personnel was under-reported in international press.

Chinese nuclear bombers. Chinese hypersonic missiles. Chinese carrier killer missiles. Chinese cyberattacks. Chinese anti-satellite weaponry. Chinese militarization of the South China Sea. Chinese Huawei spying.

So many Chinese “malign intentions”. And we’re not even talking about Russia.

TN has repeatedly warned that the China model of Technocracy and Scientific Dictatorship was coming to America, and here it is. Detroit, New Orleans and San Diego are all bent on total surveillance of their citizens. ? TN Editor
The push to turn America’s cities into Chinese-style surveillance networks has found a new partner in Detroit, Michigan

The only difference between what is happening in San Diego and what is happening in Detroit is, they are not using the same smart street lights to spy on everyone. Detroit uses Intellistreets a company known to have strong ties to Homeland Security.

What started out as a ‘voluntary’ police-cam share program in Saginaw, Michigan has morphed into a massive 1000 surveillance camera network which includes 500 businesses in Detroit.

Detroit’s Project Green Light, spies on people in real-time at gas stations, retail stores and public housing.

Several Russian banks have joined the China International Payments System (CIPS), to ease operations between the two countries, according to a senior official at the Central Bank of Russia (CBR).
“As for the cooperation on payment systems, a range of banks are already connected to CIPS, allowing to facilitate payments routing procedure,” Vladimir Shapovalov, who heads a division dealing with foreign regulators at the CBR’s international cooperation department, said earlier this week during the international Russian-Chinese forum.

With Russia actively dumping US dollars and buying gold at the fastest paced in decades, the writing is on the wall when it comes to what the Kremlin thinks of any possibility for a detente in the painfully strained US-Russian relations.

China announced on Monday that it would ban all variants of the powerful opioid fentanyl, a move that could slow the supply of a drug that in recent years has caused tens of thousands of overdose deaths in the United States.

By declaring that all varieties of fentanyl are now controlled substances, China made good on a pledge that the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, made to President Trump late last year.

China’s export of the drug, which American officials say accounts for the vast majority of the fentanyl that ends up in the United States, has long been a source of tension in relations. More recently, it has also become tangled up in the continuing trade war.

I met journalist and friend Rafiq Lutf and cameraman Abdul-Mun’aim Arnous in January 2018 and I was honoured when Rafiq asked me to work with him on his film project, The Veto.

As Dr Shaaban said to me in August 2016, “Western propaganda is paid for in Syrian blood”. This is true. The horrifying bloodshed and loss of life in Syria could never have happened without the colonial media manufacturing consent for another illegal war against a Sovereign nation.

The Veto tracks the evolution of the propaganda campaign waged by Western media against Syria. From Baba Amr in Homs 2011/2012 until the modern day “propaganda construct” – the NATO-member-state funded White Helmets. It honours Russia and China’s vetoes that have consistently defended Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the UN.

On March 25, a group of fringe neocons and alt-rightists surfaced in Washington to declare propaganda war against China. The group, led by Steve Bannon, Frank Gaffney, Fred Fleitz, General Jerry Boykin and a handful of others, announced the formation of the Committee on the Present Danger: China (CPDC). The original Committee on the Present Danger was launched in the mid-1950s to spread the call for a Cold War arms buildup, but was soon shut down when President Eisenhower, an opponent of the group, coopted several leading members into his administration and effectively ended it. A second iteration of CPD surfaced in 1976 and did play a role in electing Ronald Reagan as President. A mid-2000s version never got off the ground. Not much chance of the current version--CPD 4.0--faring any better.

Several Russian banks have joined the China International Payments System (CIPS), to ease operations between the two countries, according to a senior official at the Central Bank of Russia (CBR).

“As for the cooperation on payment systems, a range of banks are already connected to CIPS, allowing to facilitate payments routing procedure,” Vladimir Shapovalov, who heads a division dealing with foreign regulators at the CBR’s international cooperation department, said earlier this week during the international Russian-Chinese forum.

Commercial satellite images have provided the first photographs of a secret Chinese anti-satellite laser base in western Xinjiang province, along with other high-technology weapons facilities.

The laser facility is located near a lake and is about 145 miles south of the Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang.

The facility was discovered by retired Indian Army Col. Vinayak Bhat, a satellite imagery analyst who specializes on China.

China is using its satellite tracking stations located throughout the country as a means of identifying and targeting satellites.

"Once the accurate satellite path and other data is known, directed energy weapons located at five different places can take over the task," Bhat said.

The Xinjiang base is one of those laser bases that include four main buildings with sliding roofs that Bhat assesses contain high-powered chemical lasers powered by neodymium.

Just recently, the US military launched a full-on invasion of an island in the East China Sea to send a strong message to China, and yet barely any mainstream media outlet has covered the story or its massive implications.
Last week, US marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit invaded a tiny island in Japan’s Okinawa archipelago, known as Ie Shima. Ie Shima is approximately 23 sq km, holds an airstrip, a fishing port and a local population of about 4,500 inhabitants.

Colonel Robert Brodie announced the planned operations in a Marine Corps statement last week. According to Colonel Brodie, because the Indo-Pacific region is “incredibly dynamic” the US Marines are preparing and training daily for “real world crises” coming about as a result.

The crises he is referring to is the loss of the Indo-Pacific region to an adversarial state, being China.

Officials in the Chinese city of Guangzhou have announced that rewards are being offered for those who report “illegal religious activities,” a term that applies not only to terrorist activities, or those who “use religion to … undermine national unity,” but also those who “establish religious venues without authorization” or “conduct religious education and training without authorization.”

The announcement, entitled “Measures for the People in Guangzhou to Report Unlawful Religious Activities,” was posted online on March 20 by the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Ethnic and Religious Affairs.

It asks residents to report those who “[p]romote, support, or fund religious extremism, or use religion to endanger national security, public security, undermine national unity, split the country and terrorist activities, violate citizens’ personal rights, democratic rights, hinder social management order, and infringe public and private property.”

About three hours ago, as US stocks were beginning a run back toward their highs of the session, a frequently used mouthpiece for the Communist Party dropped a hint that all was not well in the ongoing US-China trade talks, and that some disappointing (for equity bulls) news might be imminent.

Hu Xijin, the editor of the English language Global Times, affirmed that talks were making progress, but said that China kept its statement on this week's talks brief because it "doesn't want to raise the public's expectations."

China has defended Russia’s recent deployment of troops to Venezuela amid U.S. statements suggesting Moscow and Beijing had no right to support a Latin American government disavowed by Washington.

White House national security adviser John Bolton tweeted Monday that the U.S. “will not tolerate hostile foreign military powers meddling” within the Western Hemisphere. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that Washington “will not stand idly by as Russia exacerbates tensions in Venezuela,” according to State Department.

Asked about these developments, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang told a press briefing Tuesday that “countries in the Western Hemisphere, including Latin American countries, are all sovereign states,”so “they have the right to determine their own foreign policy and their way to engage in mutually beneficial cooperation with countries of their own choosing.”

Could the next great Chinese advanced missile threat come disguised as an innocuous looking shipping transport vessel? A new report in The Washington Free Beacon suggests so, as it details China's new long-range cruise missile which can be launched directly from a shipping container device, which is meant to conceal detection of the threat right up until the moment of launch.

Alarmingly, it's already being flight tested, according to analysts cited in the report, which further finds the technology "could turn Beijing's large fleet of freighters into potential warships and commercial ports into future missile bases." If cruise missiles can be hidden in international shipping containers, China could be a major threat to western targets simply as it moves millions of tons of goods every year.

Although there has so far been no official information about the intention of the US to fulfil a request from the Taiwanese Defence Ministry for the sale of 60 upgraded F-16V fighter jets, Beijing has already protested against the possible military supplies. Sputnik has asked a military analyst and a researcher to comment on the situation.

Following a request from Taiwan for the US to sell an improved version of the F-16 jet, media reported that Donald Trump's advisors have been pushing for the request to be approved.

Let’s start with the essential background for the meeting in Paris on Tuesday between Chinese President Xi Jinping and three EU heavyweights – French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President of the European Commission (EC) Jean-Claude Juncker.

As imperfect as these figures may be, economic growth for the past 10 years after the 2008 financial crisis – which was a made in the West phenomenon – do tell an enlightening story.

China’s growth: 139%. India’s growth: 96%. the US’ growth: 34%. EU growth: a negative 2%.

With relations between China and Western powers in the South China Sea showing little sign of cooling down, the US Marine Corps has decided to refresh its island-hopping skills, practicing storming an island in Japan last week and on the California coast this week.

Several USMC units "attacked" the island of Iejima last week, establishing a beachhead, seizing the island's airfield and shuttling in heavier assets to strike more enemy positions. Iejima is one of the Ryukyu Islands and sits just a few kilometers off the coast of Okinawa. The small island houses a US Marine Corps auxiliary facility.

Two B-52H Stratofortress bombers with the US Air Force recently flew over the East China Sea for an "integration training" mission with the US Navy and the Japan Air Self Defense Force (Koku Jieitai).

A statement released by the US Pacific Air Force (PACAF) last week indicates that the two B-52 bombers departed from the US Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, and that they trained with F-15C Eagles assigned to the Kadena Air Base in Japan. The mission took place March 20. Additional details regarding the operation were not provided by the service.

Training missions and patrols of the contested waters are not unheard of, having become a regular exercise by American forces. The US' use of bombers in the region has been going on for more than 10 years as part of its Continuous Bomber Presence, a mission Washington says is "in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific."