Pelosi has landed in Taiwan

Submitted by snoopydawg on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 10:00am

US Air Force jet with Pelosi aboard lands in Taiwan

Video of the event in article. The other article doesn’t have much new information.

From CNN

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi landed in Taipei on Tuesday, marking a significant show of support for Taiwan despite China’s threats of retaliation over the visit.

Pelosi’s stop in Taipei is the first time that a US House speaker has visited Taiwan in 25 years. Her trip comes at a low point in US-China relations and despite warnings from the Biden administration against a stop in Taiwan.

A Taiwanese official told CNN that Pelosi is expected to stay in Taipei overnight.

Pelosi’s stop in Taiwan was not listed on the itinerary of her congressional visit to Asia, but the stop had been discussed for weeks in the leadup to her trip. The potential stop prompted warnings from China as well as the Biden administration, which has briefed the speaker about the risks of visiting the democratic, self-governing island, which China claims as part of its territory.

So much for Pelosi sacrificing herself for the gawds of war. What response will we see from China? They made a lot of noise about the consequences of her visit.

Op-Ed

Slow march to war: What happens after Pelosi’s Taiwan visit

At around 10pm Taipei time (2pm GMT), US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi is expected to land in Taipei. Although she omitted the visit to the island from her public itinerary, insider US and Taiwan officials have since told the media that the trip is going ahead. Pelosi is expected to spend the night in Taipei and meet President Tsai Ing-wen the next day, before heading onwards to South Korea and Japan. Meanwhile, China has made it clear that the move constitutes a massive provocation, undermines the foundation of US-China relations, and would cause Beijing to retaliate. The US has since sought to turn the tables and frame China as the aggressor for threatening a response.

In the past few hours, China has begun to enact its reaction. Airspace in its Taiwan-adjacent province of Fujian has been closed. New sanctions have been tabled on Taipei in retaliation for being complicit in the visit, which have amounted to a sweeping ban on food exports from 100 companies, Chinese planes have crossed the “Median Line” of the Taiwan strait, and more military-based responses appear to be in store. However, one should be prudent to note that, for all the anxiety and uncertainty, this is not going to be a declaration of war or an invasion. China’s intention is to make a show of force and deterrence, to stake its position on the Taiwan issue, not to spark a catastrophe.

However, the danger does not lie in potentially destructive short-term reactions. Pelosi’s visit – the fact of it happening, not the substance of what she does in Taipei – will set the stage for further US-China confrontation in the long term. It isn’t worth going to war over Nancy Pelosi, and China with so much to potentially lose, isn’t that stupid. Still, the severity of this visit cannot be underestimated – it is not a one-off event, but adds to a long pattern of provocations from the US, which is actively aiming to undermine the legitimacy of the One China Policy.
….

This means that unless Beijing’s reaction – whatever it is – makes Washington rethink its behaviour, which if you look at the grander scheme of things appears extremely unlikely, the issue is going on a slow march to war. US foreign policy doctrine, as we see with Ukraine, is based on the premise that in order to maximise US advantages, America must not compromise at any cost and always must utilize the fulness of its capabilities in order to attain its unilateral preferences. We see this with Ukraine and NATO expansion, North Korea and denuclearization, Iran and the JCPOA, and of course China and Taiwan.

Well that slow March to war has already been planned by the war hawks in congress and especially the republicans. I’m disappointed with the people who saw Russia gate was a scam cooked up by democrats falling for the upcoming China gate nonsense. Trump started it with his idiotic China flu. If it did come out of the Wuhan lab I think the blame should go to Fauci and his mad scientist friends. Weird how the China phobic never mentions that.

From Kosovo to Taiwan, Washington’s tried and trusted recipe for chaos rears its ugly head again

It’s no doubt an uncanny coincidence that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held official talks with Kosovo's leadership right before the trouble kicked off there last weekend. It came just as officials in Pristina geared up to refuse to recognize licence plates or documents issued by the central Serbian government (before postponing the measure right before it was due to come into effect on Monday night).

We can also wonder what are the odds that the “President” of the partially recognised state, Vjosa Osmani, is now talking about Russia, saying that “we will continue to need the steadfast support of the United States, as well as our European allies, to make sure that the plans of Russia as well as its proxies in the region are stopped.” Or that Blinken is also evoking Pristina’s “firm support for Ukraine” — which is amusing since Ukraine doesn’t even officially recognize Kosovo’s independence from Serbia.

Not to mention that Kosovo is home to a large NATO military base, and that NATO has issued an official statement citing its interest in “intervening” in Kosovo, if need be. How convenient.

It’s probably also just a total accident that Serbia just happens to refuse to back down in its support for Russia, seeks increased trade with Iran, and military cooperation with Russia-allied Belarus. And that its Interior Minister, Aleksandar Vulin, said just last week that it wouldn’t join sanctions against Russia over Ukraine, and won’t be NATO’s “foot soldier” against Russia. Or that NATO, in the late 90s, under the “moral” leadership of then-US President Bill Clinton, carved out the Serbian province of Kosovo on "humanitarian" grounds, and has been using it as a tool to dial up or down pressure on Serbia (and, to some degree, its friends in Moscow) ever since.

But if it can't possibly all be the result of chance, then a Western blueprint for regime change becomes a plausible explanation.

That blueprint involves the creation of a proxy state and/or fighters whom Western officials sell to the public as victims of the “regime” in question — that is, the geopolitical rival that the West has in its crosshairs.
….

The same pattern is playing out in Asia right now, as Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plays coy about any plans to travel to Taiwan amid her Asia tour. Only 13 countries recognize Taiwan as independent from China — and the US hasn’t been among them since 1979. But the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979 has been a Trojan Horse for American militarization inside China ever since. The law requires Washington to “make available to Taiwan such defense articles and defense services in such quantity as may be necessary to enable Taiwan to maintain a sufficient self-defense capacity as determined by the President and the Congress,” which explains why the neocons in the Western political establishment and military industrial complex have had a Taiwan fetish for decades.

….

The same sort of exploitation of proxies can be seen in Washington’s support of the neo-Nazi Azov fighters in Ukraine against Russia in the run-up to the Ukraine conflict, or in the CIA and Pentagon’s backing of Syrian rebels in a failed years-long attempt to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, or with the training and equipping of Mujahideen fighters in Afghanistan in the CIA-led operation against the Soviets, or with the CIA’s recruitment of 500 Nicaraguan rebels (known as the Contras) to overthrow the leftist Sandinista leadership in Nicaragua, or the attempt by various US officials over several years to foment regime change in Iran by promoting and supporting the Iranian opposition group known as the Mujahadeen-e-Khalq (MEK).

What’s funny about the fact that America and it’s good friends the Saudis have been creating terrorists to fight their wars is that congress wants the state department to label Russia a state sponsor of terrorist. Just like it has Iran, Cuba, North Korea and Syria.

Here’s an article on congress pushing Blinken to brand Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism and Russia’s response to his doing so.

If the hawks in the US Congress get their way and have Washington designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism, it would likely result in a full breakdown of diplomatic relations between the two nations, The Russian Foreign Ministry warned on Tuesday.

“If people in Washington decide to fully stop any interaction with Moscow, we can live with that. There should be no doubt about that,” ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova told journalists during a media briefing.

The idea to add Russia to the blacklist, which already includes Iran, North Korea, Syria and Cuba, is championed by some lawmakers, like Senator Lindsey Graham. A non-binding resolution calling on the US Department of State to take such a move was passed by the Senate last week.

A similar move by the House is strongly advocated by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who drew media attention this week due to her potential visit to Taiwan. China called the trip a serious provocation.

“I hope that the flying speaker will soon return to her home base and discuss [branding Russia a sponsor of terrorism] with people who have at least some interest in how the diplomacy trade works,” Zakharova remarked.

Russia stands with China

“We see this, it is being recorded by all countries of the world. We stand in absolute solidarity with China here. Its sensitivity to this issue is understandable. It is justified. And instead of respecting this the US is choosing the path of confrontation. It doesn’t bode well,” the Kremlin spokesman said, adding that Washington’s decision is “only regrettable.”

Peskov also noted that in the event that a military conflict breaks out as a result of the ongoing tensions between China and the US over Taiwan, Russia’s borders would be secured by its own army.

“Regardless of the emergence of some provocative situations, the security of our borders is reliably ensured along the entire perimeter of these borders by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation,” Peskov proclaimed.

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Submitted by CB on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 10:18am
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Pelosi provocation over Taiwan leads US, the world into age of disorder and instability: Martin Jacques
Published: Aug 02, 2022

Donald Trump's election as US president in November 2016 marked the end of over four decades of relative stability in US-China relations. Ever since, it has been downhill all the way with barely a pause. Five years have passed and we have seen two US presidents. It would be an exaggeration to suggest that relations are in freefall, but the relationship is patently now unhinged. Predictability has been replaced by uncertainty. Trust has evaporated. It is impossible to predict what the state of the relationship will be after the US congressional elections in November, or after the next presidential election in 2024. The huge uncertainty surrounding the much-mooted visit by Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan this week summed up the present highly charged and intensely volatile nature of US-China relations. It is a salutary fact that neither President Xi Jinping nor even President Joe Biden knew whether that visit would actually go ahead.

This is a very dangerous situation. The relationship has lost all predictability. Where previously the US-China relationship was based on a well-established and deep mutual understanding and respect for each other's position, now there is very little, at times seemingly none. The guardrails that prevented the relationship suddenly swerving off course are no longer in place, as we have seen so dramatically over the last week or so. What makes the situation even more dangerous, frightening in fact, is the growing power vacuum in the US. Biden, up until the last minute, did not appear to know whether fellow-Democrat Pelosi would go to Taiwan. As we have seen, on two different occasions his aides intervened to reassure the media that had to reinterpret his suggestion that the US would come to Taiwan's defence in the event of Chinese military action.
...
For China, nothing is more important than the return of the lost territories and the reunification of China. For China this is an existential question. Notwithstanding this, the PRC has shown great patience ever since the illegal occupation of the island by Chiang Kai-shek in 1949. Mao made it clear to Kissinger that China would be patient providing the One-China policy was strictly observed and the Taiwanese government did not declare independence. According to Kissinger, Mao said, "We can do without Taiwan for the time being, and let it come after 100 years."

Over the last five years the US has been encroaching on these understandings by increasing weapon sales to Taiwan, boosting military patrols in the region, and giving diplomatic backing to the island through visits by US politicians. A visit by Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Representatives, would raise the bar of provocation. Not since 1997 has an American of her stature visited the island. If Pelosi, then what or who next? A pattern is steadily taking shape. As the relationship between China and the US becomes increasingly unpredictable, Taiwan has become by far the most dangerous source of tension and conflict.

...The danger of a military conflict over Taiwan is now far greater than at any time since the 1970s. Any such conflict would be far more serious than if it had happened previously because China is now the equal of the US and a far more formidable military adversary. It is a conflict that both sides must seek to avoid at all costs.
...

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Submitted by snoopydawg on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 10:31am
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@CB

Thanks. This is such a boneheaded move by American hawks because so much of our economy relies on China. From zippy cups sold at Walmart to parts for our military industrial complex and the fact that China holds so much of our debt. I’m not good with money matters, but have read how China can crash our economy by getting rid of the bonds they hold.

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Submitted by humphrey on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 10:46am

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Submitted by CB on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 11:17am
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@humphrey

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Submitted by snoopydawg on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 11:33am
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@humphrey

because they aren’t written in English. Yesterday some neocon rag said that Taiwan was in favor of Pelosi’s visit and showed 2 white people holding signs spelled with English writing. Plus they had a hashtag which usually means that they are getting paid by Soros. Kidding, sorta. but you get my drift.

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Submitted by CB on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 12:47pm
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@snoopydawg
Take note that the color revolutions target and exploit the young who are easily impressed and manipulated.

The Tiananmen Square protest was one of the first of these "engineered revolutions":

Color Revolutions

The term used to describe a series of remarkably effective CIA-led regime change operations using techniques developed by the RAND Corporation, “democracy” NGOs and other groups since the 1980’s. They were used in crude form to bring down the Polish communist regime in the late 1980s. From there the techniques were refined and used, along with heavy bribes, to topple the Gorbachev regime in the Soviet Union.

In 1985, a social scientist, Gene Sharp, published a study commissioned by NATO on Making Europe Unconquerable. He pointed out that ultimately a government only exists because people agree to obey it. The USSR could never control Western Europe if people refused to obey Communist governments.

A few years later, in 1989, Sharp was tasked by the CIA with conducting the practical application of his theoretical research in China. The United States wanted to topple Deng Xiaoping in favor of Zhao Ziyang. The intention was to stage a coup with a veneer of legitimacy by organizing street protests, in much the same way as the CIA had given a popular facade to the overthrow of Mohammed Mossadegh by hiring Tehran demonstrators (Operation Ajax, 1953). The difference here is that Gene Sharp had to rely on a mix of pro-Zhao and pro-US youth to make the coup look like a revolution. But Deng had Sharp arrested in Tiananmen Square and expelled from the country. The coup failed, but not before the CIA spurred the youth groups into a vain attack to discredit Deng through the crackdown that followed. The failure of the operation was attributed to the difficulties of mobilizing young activists in the desired direction.

Ever since the work of French sociologist Gustave Le Bon in the late nineteenth century, we know that adults behave like children when they are in the throes of collective emotion. They become susceptible, even if for just a critical fleeting moment, to the suggestions of a leader-of-men who for them embodies a father figure. In 1990, Sharp got close to Colonel Reuven Gal, then chief psychologist of the Israeli Army (he later became deputy national security adviser to Ariel Sharon and later ran operations designed to manipulate young Israeli non-Jews). Combining the discoveries of Le Bon and Sigmund Freud, Gal reached the conclusion that it was also possible to exploit the “Oedipus complex” in adolescents and steer a crowd of young people to oppose a head of state, as a symbolic father figure.

On this basis, Sharp and Gal set up training programs for young activists with the objective of organizing coups. After a few successes in Russia and the Baltics, it was in 1998 that Gene Sharp perfected the method of “color revolutions” with the overthrow of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic.
...

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Submitted by snoopydawg on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 1:42pm
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@CB

I wonder if the founders wanted people to make their careers living in congress and on the government teats? Biden has been in government 50 years as has many others like Grassly and others. They have gotten very rich whilst supposedly serving we the people. If any member of the public did insider trading like congress has allowed themselves to do we’d get sent to prison. Even the head of the federal reserve got caught doing it and nothing happened to him.

Remember right after congress got briefed about the Covid crisis some of them dumped their stocks and then bought other ones. That disappeared from the news almost overnight.

IMO every member of congress has committed treason for allowing corporations and foreign countries to dictate what they will do regardless of how much it hurts we the people. How many of them are graduates from WEF? Biden trying to give the WHO authority over our national sovereignty should be treason as well as Obama trying to pass the TPP. Trump killed it but Biden wants to bring it back.

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Submitted by snoopydawg on Wed, 08/03/2022 - 12:04am
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@snoopydawg

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Submitted by CB on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 11:04am
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for both the Chinese people and its government. Keep in mind that upwards of 85% of the people currently trust and support their government. I'm sure this number would increase to well over 95% in case of conflict.

Meanwhile US support for war with China over Taiwan is approximately 50%.

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Submitted by snoopydawg on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 11:28am
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@CB

From my local rag comments on this.

"Biden is stirring up trouble all over the globe."

How has the Biden administration created "global uncertainty and tension" by having, as you say, "stirred the pot with so many nations"? Seriously, how? What nations had he "stirred the pot" with that other administrations have not? What uncertainty has he singlehandedly created where none existed already?

There are none so blind who will not see. Many people think that we should never back down from any threat. I think we should stop stirring up trouble and mind our own business and put the military money back into America and let the oil companies and others that profit from our wars pay for their own security and the consequences for invading to steal resources.

Biden is also doing war games with Israel in the Red Sea. Sure take on Russia, China, Iran and Serbia all at once you demented old fool. NATO countries have been sending their military equipment to Ukraine and how much will be left if war comes to their shores?

Also today the US admitted that they sign off on all strikes Ukraine does using the M
HIMARS. Russia just said that America is now accountable for Ukraine’s war crimes.

Washington bears “political, criminal, and moral responsibility” for “war crimes” committed by the Ukrainian military, Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Tuesday. The statement came in response to an interview by a top Ukrainian spy, who revealed that Kiev consults with Washington before using US-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems and that Washington actually has veto power over decision-making.

“All this irrefutably proves that Washington, contrary to the statements of the White House and the Pentagon, is directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine. It is the Biden administration that is directly responsible for all the Kiev-approved missile attacks on residential areas and civilian infrastructure in the settlements across Donbass and other regions that caused mass civilian casualties,” Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov has said.

According to Moscow, US-supplied HIMARS systems have repeatedly been used by Kiev forces to target facilities that were not legitimate military targets. Arguably the most dire recent example of this strategy was an attack on a penal colony in Elenovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic, which was housing Ukrainian POWs, including fighters with the notorios neo-Nazi Azov regiment. The attack left at least 50 prisoners dead and another 73 injured.

Didn’t democrats accuse Trump for 4 years that he would start WW3? Why yes they did, but will any shitlib call democrats out for trying to do it themselves? Of course not. Wars are good when democrats start them. Gah…80 years ago we had a strong anti war movement. Now it’s mostly Code Pink doing the heavy lifting whilst shitlibs make fun of them and call them Russian apologists and Putin puppets.

Biden is bragging about killing al Zahawri in Afghanistan and most people who were once against extradutial killings is called an AQ lover. Others are cheering his death. Twitter is full of people who think that our poop doesn’t stink.

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There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?

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Submitted by usefewersyllables on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 11:15am
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that they didn't splash her ass last night. There was no operational security- everybody's brother's dog knew that she was in the air, and where she was going.

Now we get to see if they let her *leave*. Ol' Nance may be living out the rest of her life in Taipei, unless they decide to force her plane down and put her up in a nice hotel contained within the chainlink fence of the nearest airbase over on their side of the strait...

Needless to say, I had several bouts of my white-flash nightmare last night. Our government has no, and I do mean *zero*, business thumbing its nose at the world in this manner. Anyone who thinks the Ds are in some vague sense more benign than the Rs is simply not paying any fucking attention.

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Twice bitten, permanently shy.

Submitted by humphrey on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 11:28am

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Submitted by snoopydawg on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 11:53am
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@humphrey

Covid can’t get you if you’re in a kneeling position? Is that why Nancy isn’t wearing her mask properly? Well will wonders never cease.

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There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?

Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.

Submitted by humphrey on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 11:36am

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Submitted by snoopydawg on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 11:49am
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Biden has been doing everything that Trump did with China, but worse, but dumb heads like Marsha, Marsha, Marsha thinks that he’s Xi's puppy just like the dem idiots said Trump was Putin’s. Nary a word from either party on Hunter Biden taking money from Russians and giving 10% to the big guy.

In addition to term limits for congress there should also be an IQ test for them. And speaking of term limits….

8CAC5A00-ACE0-41D6-AD4C-734D18BC42B6.jpeg
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There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?

Harris is unburdened of speaking going forward.

Submitted by QMS on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 11:54am
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of American imperialism. The political elite only see the massive influx of dollars so
it is not a surprise they are playing along with this game. May Pelosi choke on a chop
stick.

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Submitted by on the cusp on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 12:32pm

is to curtail their exports to the US. Or, to stop importing our food.
When we run out of anything on the store shelves, including auto parts, medicines, appliances, computers...we will have our government to thank.
I hope the people of Taiwan survive this attempt to get them set up as a proxy.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Submitted by NYCVG on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 12:44pm

All that fuss

And a safe landing. Lots of the usual video. what?

I am surprised that China seems to have been bluffing. If they did not actually object to this visit, then why all the fuss?

Two nation Kabuki? I do not know.

Yes. We are interested in making news any which way we can to divert and distract the American public.

What can possibly be China's motive?

IDK.

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NYCVG

Submitted by CB on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 1:02pm
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@NYCVG

Notice authorized to be released by Xinhua News Agency
Source: Xinhua
2022-08-02

BEIJING, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Xinhua News Agency is authorized on Tuesday to release the following notice: from 1200 (Beijing Time) August 4 to 1200 (Beijing Time) August 7, 2022, the Chinese People's Liberation Army will conduct important military exercises and training activities including live-fire drills in the following maritime areas and their air space bounded by lines joining:
...
For safety reasons, entering of vessels and aircraft to the above-mentioned sea and air space is prohibited.

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Submitted by snoopydawg on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 1:09pm
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@NYCVG

Many people thought former President Donald Trump was insane and chaotic, yet an unspoken truth is that American foreign policy has actually regressed further under Biden. While Trump pursued narrow self-interests in the name of ‘America first’, which offended friends and foes alike, the Biden administration has not only embraced this doctrine, but refined it into an ideological crusade which strives to force American hegemony on every single front in a way that is both zealous and uncompromising. We should not be dismissive of Trump’s remarks that, if he were president, the conflict in Ukraine would not be happening right now, and he probably would have cut a deal to prevent it.

As a result, the US has continued to deride and press against China’s red line on the Taiwan issue, while at the same time officially claiming at the presidential level its policy remains the same to reassure China. This is a strategy that has been described as ‘Salami Slicing’ by Beijing, which endeavours to gradually shift the status quo towards Taiwan independence, while claiming not to do so to avoid strategic upsets that can create conflict. It is provocative, yet subtle. However, what Biden has not accounted for is the fact that Congress has even less restraint than he does. The onslaught of propaganda concerning US support for Ukraine has made many overconfident in the belief that China has been made to ‘think twice’ over Taiwan, and as a result, ultra-hawks, especially in Congress, are now happy to push this button further in believing they can call Beijing’s bluff.

But if this visit happens, will it lead to war? This might be an overreaction for many obvious reasons. China will not invade Taiwan should Nancy Pelosi visit. However, such a situation nonetheless forces Beijing into a corner to retaliate in a way which re-legitimizes its claim over the island and prevents political humiliation. If their bluff is called, their red line loses credibility, and the logic of deterrence means something has to be done to re-establish equilibrium. Therefore, when promising countermeasures, China means what it says. However, it remains unclear to what extent exactly Beijing will go to address this.

….
This time around, China will undoubtedly react somehow, yet Pelosi and her supporters seem to think they can ridicule this, just like it was believed Russia’s red line over Ukraine could similarly be ignored.

Ultimately, this only goes to show that US foreign policy has degenerated into a form of strategic insanity. Fearing a loss of status over rival states, the country’s political class has become increasingly reckless and destructive in the moves it is willing to make to retain its hegemony. Even if this Pelosi visit does not result in open conflict, which it likely won’t, the damage it will do to strategic trust as a whole will likely be permanent, and could set the stage for conflict further down the line, something many voices in Washington seem to relish.

Poroshenko recently admitted that the Minsk agreement wasn’t a serious agreement cuz it was only to buy time for Ukraine to build up its defenses to eventually take on Russia. Biden saying that Americans still believe in the one China doctrine should be seen on the same line. We say that while flooding Taiwan with weapons and advisers on the ground in Taiwan. I’m pretty sure that China sees that.

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There were problems with running a campaign of Joy while committing a genocide? Who could have guessed?

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Submitted by aliasalias on Wed, 08/03/2022 - 9:35pm

@NYCVG China has announced a series of export bans, including on natural sand, a key element to Taiwan's semiconductor industry.
"...Also on Wednesday, customs of the Chinese mainland announced to suspend the entry of citrus fruits and some frozen fish from the Taiwan island. Taiwan's farming and fishing are mostly concentrated in the southern part of the island, a region that is traditionally the DPP's major voting bloc. So when its voting base is in trouble, the DPP will face the self-made crisis.

Last year, Taiwan island's exports to the mainland totaled nearly $250 billion, with its trade surplus against the mainland exceeding $170 billion. The cross-Straits economic achievements are the results of hard working of and joint efforts of the people on both sides. This momentum of cooperation must not be allowed to be sabotaged by Taiwan secessionist forces..."
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202208/1272157.shtml

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Submitted by snoopydawg on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 1:20pm
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From the saker

So, it appears that Pelosi landed in Taiwan. This is a HUGE victory for the invincible USA and China with all its hollow threats has now lost face. That is how those evil commies are – they only understand the language of force, and when faced with the united forces of democracy they cave.

Right?

Right?!

Well……

Yes, if your expertise in international relation, military matters and China (or Russia) come from reading Tom Clancy’s books, then yes.

But there is another way to look at this:

First, in objective terms, this visit is a pure provocation with no practical effects whatsoever. Pelosi is as much a old teleprompter reading hag as President Brandon. Whatever real dealings the USA and Taiwan had to discuss, they would have done that either remotely or by arranging a meeting between people capable of thinking.

Second, just like Russia many times in the past, the Chinese drew a red line and then let the US cross it. Being the narcissistic civilization that it is, the West only saw this as a sign of “weakness”, “indecisiveness” or even “naivete”. What these folks fail to even think about is this: how do you feel most Chinese will react both to the visit and to the lack of Chinese reaction (so far!)? They will get mad and express their frustrations. Now look at it from the Chinese government’s point of view, rather then spending billions on anti-US propaganda they, instead, let the US humiliate China and thereby solidifying the Chinese population for the day when the real confrontation will take place.

[Sidebar: there is a direct connection between years of Kremlin’s rather weak and mostly verbal protests and the “sudden” appearance of the Russian ultimatum to the West followed by the SMO: the Kremlin literally “cooked” its own public opinion to the point were IT *demanded* strong action. Far from alienating or frightening most Russians, the SMO came as a huge relief to them: “we are FINALLY putting the foot down and taking real action”. That would not have been possible before 2018. Those in the West who saw Putin’s “indecisiveness” simply don’t understand the Russian mindset anymore than they understand the Chinese one. Simply put: you cannot prepare for war without preparing your own population for it! That is what Tom Clancy does to the brains of those reading him]

….
Last but not least. That kind of imperial arrogance is something which not only impact (the already pretty angry Chinese population), it also infuriates all of Zone B, thereby creating the conditions for more defeats for the USA in Asia, Africa, the Indian Subcontinent, Central Asia and Latin America.

Most US Americans have absolutely no idea how offensive their condescending arrogance, constant flag waving, talks about their messianic mission for mankind and general narcissism is offensive to the rest of the planet. But when you look objectively at the endless list of US failures pretty much anywhere on the planet, you can tell that there is something deep going on here. For some reason, the “Yankees go home” thing seems to be very contagious.

I think that Nancy Pelosi deserves our profound gratitude. She should get at least two medals:

- One from the CP of China in gratitude for her endless efforts to rally the people of China around their government and

- One from Russia, for her endless efforts into solidifying the Russian-Chinese alliance.

Truth be told, between Blinky and Pelosi the national security interests of China and Russia are in good hands Smile

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Submitted by CB on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 2:06pm
CB's picture

@snoopydawg
for a direct military conflict with the US in the past. But both have spent the last two decades upgrading their military to the point were they can now challenge the US.

I think the Pentagon and neocons have realized that it is now or never to subdue China and Russia in order to remain the hegemonic power they have enjoyed since the end of WWII: China, with it's rapidly growing financial might, and Russia, with it's advancing military superiority. Russia and China now realize the "trap" that the US is forcing upon them. To be honest I don't think the US is capable of not being #1 - it's been drilled into the American psyche by media and education since they stopped wearing diapers.

Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides's Trap?

When a rising power threatens to displace a ruling one, the most likely outcome is war. Twelve of 16 cases in which this occurred in the past 500 years ended violently.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku8KqQccoUU]

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Submitted by NYCVG on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 3:27pm

@CB But then, if your, our theory is valid, we will see action very soon.

China will not be stronger in a week or a month than they are now and the US will spin this
Win for all it is worth.

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Submitted by NYCVG on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 3:22pm

@snoopydawg 1) US is going for the optics. What The Saker says may be righteous, but is not relevant. The USA/NATO played its people for the fools we are for many, many months with the 100% nonsense that the USA could win in any conflict with Russia.

The US Public, eager to believe what they are told, ( If any of the public is still listening to the Spew from DC) will lap this "win" up.

2) Trump's innate respect for actual power allowed him to see Russia, China and N. Korea through different and more accurate eyes than most befuddled Americans do.

Trump's move to "punish" Syria with a few ---50---missiles fired into vacant hangars filled Raytheon's coffers when they built and charged us for 50 replacements, was cheered by Dems, and hurt nobody.

Not as dumb as the Democrats want to believe. Lunatic narcissist, yes. Idiot? not so much.

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Submitted by snoopydawg on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 1:30pm
snoopydawg's picture

$90 million for her security. And again that amount of money could end homelessness here twice over. HUD is spending $2.2 billion on 7,000 homeless people. We’ve been throwing billions at homelessness for decades and what we have been doing isn’t working. There are more people living on the streets now then just a few years ago. I think that money being spent is just lining a few people’s pockets and is just another racket to make few people rich.

Mississippi is giving homeless people an apartment to live in just like Denmark did. Denmark did it with no strings attached and most people have returned to the workforce there. There are more empty homes here then there are people who need one, but unlike other countries we don’t do anything to remedy it.

Yankees go home indeed and fix your own damn country instead of ruining others!

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Submitted by NYCVG on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 3:23pm

@snoopydawg at The Grand Hyatt

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Submitted by snoopydawg on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 7:32pm
snoopydawg's picture

@snoopydawg

$40 billion can end homelessness. But the money spent for Pelosi’s trip could have gone to better causes here.

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Submitted by wokkamile on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 7:53pm

@snoopydawg on a reckless, provocative virtue display could have taken 17,547 homeless off the streets and into affordable housing, with enough left for food and utilities plus some xtra cushioning. That lump sum of US$5300 given without strings to homeless people (less those screened out for serious mental illness and drug abuse), in this Canadian study, pays for itself as it saves much more at the back end with that much less spent on various homeless services. https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/21528569/homeless-poverty-cash-transf...

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Submitted by snoopydawg on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 9:46pm
snoopydawg's picture

@wokkamile

Since you can stretch the money farther than the current one. She’s getting $3.3 billion but it will only help 7,000 people. Yep I think the homeless business is a racket.

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Submitted by peachcreek on Wed, 08/03/2022 - 12:46am

@snoopydawg Above, you said $2.2 billion and here $3.3B; both for 7000 homeless people. I'm not sure where you are getting this, but I think you should know: The $2.2 billion number probably came from the time when Ben Carson was HUD secretary, the $3.3B might be from now?

Either way, and I'm no fan of the inefficiencies of homeless funding or HUD, but I think you should know: When Ben C. was secretary, there was $2.2B to fund 7000 or so nationwide *programs*. My understanding is that these monies are divvied out to shelters etc *After they write a grant* explaining and justifying how every penny will be spent. Yeah, not efficient. At all. But, still, I would hope that many more than 7000 homeless were served by 7000 programs.

Everything else you said? Agree 100%. Thanks.

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Submitted by snoopydawg on Wed, 08/03/2022 - 1:01am
snoopydawg's picture

@peachcreek

It’s $2.2 billion going for homelessness and it is Biden’s HUD person who released the information on it. I saw it in my local rag. Found it.

https://www.ksl.com/article/50450183/hud-announces-28b-in-grants-for-hom...

However it looks like I got most of the story wrong. My bad for relying on my memory for what I read.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is providing $2.8 billion in fresh funding for homeless services organizations across the country.

The funding, announced Monday, will be allocated via competitive bids through HUD's Continuum of Care Program, the largest source of federal grant support to housing and services programs for people experiencing homelessness.

HUD funds approximately 7,000 homeless services projects annually through the program. Applications for the new round of funding are due to HUD by Sept. 29.

A HUD statement announcing the funding said that existing Continuum of Care participants can "renew existing projects, apply for new projects and to reallocate resources from lower performing projects to better serve people experiencing homelessness."

The announcement specifies that the new funding will prioritize services for homeless youth and for "survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking."

Other priorities in the funding include an emphasis on racial equity and anti-discrimination polices for LGTBQ+ individuals. Access to the Continuum of Care funding will also be expanded to welcome applicants from Native American tribes and internal tribal housing support programs.

HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge said in a statement that the new funding "will help more Americans experiencing homelessness move into homes and access critical supportive services like health care, education, and job training."

But I still think that homeless services is making some people rich because what we have been doing about it hasn’t solved the problems. Most cities have years long waiting list for people to qualify for hud assisted housing because most states won’t make the huge real estate builders build affordable housing. Nor will they stop gentrification.

Thanks for keeping me on my toes!

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Submitted by Marie on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 2:03pm

I’m disappointed with the people who saw Russia gate was a scam cooked up by democrats falling for the upcoming China gate nonsense.

What people are referring to? If you mean Republicans (or their "libertarian" step-siblings), they never saw through the Russiagate scam.

From the Fact Checking ... article that you linked to:

It is not a matter of holding “opinion” any longer, it is about upholding a “conviction,” not earned with your own personal scrutiny and research, but by your “faith” in such a conviction and the authorities who shape it.

Increasingly, it does not truly matter what the “facts” are, but the question of “whose side are you on?”

If that is what “reality” has been reduced to by those forces controlling the state, then any enemy to those forces controlling that state will be a villain, regardless of their actions, regardless of their ideology; and any ally to those forces controlling that state will be a hero, regardless of their actions, regardless of their ideology.Far too much rational, fact based thinking was required to reach that conclusion.

Less than 1% of the Russiagate critics on the right relied on facts and rational thinking to conclude that it was a scam. Therefore, it's always a bad idea to give any Republican credit for getting anything right.

If their brains were stuffed with anything other than mush, the cognitive dissonance on the Pelosi march to war would result in their heads exploding.

Sadly, the situation isn't much better on the left. Nor has it ever been. However, fact based and rational/logical thinking, as limited in the population as it is, is almost exclusively a feature of "the left." Helps to recall that the anti-Vietnam War movement sprung from the "left" and opposed LBJ etal., and in the beginning was very tiny.

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Submitted by CB on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 3:29pm
CB's picture

discussing China, Taiwan, Kosovo, Russia and Ukraine.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5P85gjCRTc]

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Submitted by MrWebster on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 3:44pm

If I had to predict, short TSMC. Go long on Intel even if they will never catch up to TSMC or Samsung. China is now producing chips competitive with Samsung and TSMC. I think (have not double checked) that the majority of silicon substrate needed to produce chips are made in Taiwan.

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Submitted by NYCVG on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 7:57pm

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Submitted by NYCVG on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 6:03pm

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Submitted by CB on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 6:23pm
CB's picture

@NYCVG
This "blockade" is from August 3 to August 7. Ordinary air flights have not been blocked to Taiwan.

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Submitted by NYCVG on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 7:56pm

@CB @CB It is a relief that they are not backing down.

After all, I was wrong about Russia and until they rolled across the border on February 24th I was doubting that they would.

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Submitted by wokkamile on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 8:40pm

@NYCVG possibility that China after all that very clear, stark rhetoric about the red line was going to meekly toss in the towel. There are various ways of responding, as noted above economically for one. Apparently a military stranglehold around the island might be taking place. China can just ratchet up the pressure against Taiwan and make things uncomfortable in the short term, give Taipei a few moments to reconsider their foolish course. Payback does not need to be a major strike and invasion of the island, for now.

But 3-6 months from now, or whenever China feels the situation has not improved and is intolerable, and when China decides on a propitious time, they will probably act more severely. I'm sure they've been planning militarily for this possibility for years.

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Submitted by NYCVG on Wed, 08/03/2022 - 8:28am

@wokkamile USA "win."

That is all the Media cares about.

By the time the retribution comes, we will be frightened about some other Big Thing.

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Submitted by wokkamile on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 7:56pm

@CB begun a clamp down on exports from Taiwan to China, where most of Taiwan's exports go to the mainland. China can do quite a bit to hit back at Taiwan just on the economic front. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-bans-35-taiwanese-food-exporte...

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Submitted by NYCVG on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 8:14pm

@CB @CB @CB unconfirmed reports that an air space around Taiwan has also been breached.

It was on Sputnik's telegram account. I tried to post it but failed. I'll try again.

OK. Specifically, the claim is that Taiwan ID has spotted 21 Chinese Military craft within its airspace. maybe it is nothing.

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Submitted by CB on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 8:57pm
CB's picture

@NYCVG
The US continually bitches about it.

Taiwan - Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ)

An Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) is an area of airspace beyond a country’s sovereign territory within which the country requires the identification, location, and air traffic control of aircraft in the interest of its national security. Maintaining ADIZ becomes fundamentally relevant from the perspective of international law when such a zone extends into airspace suprajacent to international waters. In international airspace the state of registry generally enjoys exclusive jurisdiction with respect to the aircraft carrying its national mark, but the ADIZ is deemed as exercising quasi-territorial jurisdiction over extraterritorial acts by the state maintaining ADIZ. There is no international law that specifically governs ADIZs, although various norms pertain, especially freedom of navigation.

Taiwan's ADIZ actually extends over mainland China.

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Submitted by usefewersyllables on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 10:54pm
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@CB

how far that ADIZ overlaps *their*, unquestionably continental territory? Wonder how that happened.

This thumb-to-the-nose has been a long time comin’….

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Twice bitten, permanently shy.

Submitted by CB on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 11:31pm
CB's picture

@usefewersyllables
after they helped the Kuomintang government, led by Chiang Kai-shek, escape the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) under Mao Zedong after losing the Chinese civil war in 1949. The Kuomintang ruled Taiwan under martial law from 1949 to 1987.

If you want information about China and the US, read The China Mirage: The Hidden History of American Disaster in Asia by James Bradley:

The China Mirage is a riveting history of U.S.-China relations from the 19th-century opium trade through World War II and on to the Vietnam War. From both Roosevelt administrations to today, Bradley traces a troubled relationship between two nations, showing how the West has often profoundly misunderstood and underestimated the East.
...
Bradley opens with a provocative premise: While most Americans trace the roots of World War II to Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, few know why the attack occurred. It had little to do with the Axis agenda in Europe and was in fact a reaction to U.S. restrictions on oil exports to Japan—a move calculated to force Japan out of China, freeing China to westernize and ally with the United States.

When Mao Zedong rose to power after World War II, Americans lamented that they had “lost” China, when in fact they had never “had” it—only the dream of a nation conjured in the collective imagination. It was a dream that cost millions of Asian and American lives in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and other Asian conflicts.

The China Mirage shows how the gap between American perception and reality in Asia has had disastrous repercussions. Focusing on the presidencies of Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt, Bradley explores the distorted domestic and foreign policy that has defined U.S.-China relations to the present day.

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Submitted by The Liberal Moonbat on Tue, 08/02/2022 - 7:34pm
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https://www.theonion.com/what-to-know-about-pelosi-s-taiwan-trip-1849360985

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In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

Submitted by snoopydawg on Wed, 08/03/2022 - 12:01am
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Or something like that. I forgot what he said, but he said it well.

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Submitted by Battle of Blair... on Wed, 08/03/2022 - 3:42am

Over a nothingburger. Just the Fear du Jour to keep us in control.

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Submitted by aliasalias on Wed, 08/03/2022 - 9:45pm

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