When Hezbollah flags up the China and Iran options, the US trembles
By Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai
Meeting Between The Lebanese Cabinet With Ambassador Wang Kejian, The Chinese Ambassador To Lebanon
"Hastily and under the watchful eye of Israeli and US drones, Hezbollah is storing hundreds of tons of food stock, supplied by Iran, in dozens of improvised warehouses on the Syrian-Lebanese border. This new and unusual step by Hezbollah reflects Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s recent promise to prevent the starvation threat looming for the Lebanese population.
The US-Israel war against the “Axis of the Resistance” continues but with different tools. It is progressing from waging wars with armies on the ground as the US did in Afghanistan in 2001 and in Iraq in 2003, and as Israel did in Lebanon in 2006, to the assassination of key figures in Iraq. And now it is the sanctions war on Iran, Syria and Lebanon and the intimidation of Iraq. Last January, following the US’s unlawful targeted killing of Brigadier General Qassem Soleimani – UN rapporteur Agnes Callamard described it as “an act of war” – President Donald Trump threatened to slap sanctions on Iraq “like they’ve never seen before” if Baghdad were to ask for US troops to withdraw from Mesopotamia. Iran has survived 40 years of continuous and escalating US sanctions, and Syria has just been faced with the unilateral and harsh “Caesar’s Act” sanction: the country has already been under EU-US sanctions for the last nine years.
The dire economic situation and the sharp devaluation of the local currency that led to prices of foodstuffs skyrocketing are pressing the Lebanese government and the quasi-state actor, Hezbollah, to look for solutions distinct from the US dictate and objectives. For this purpose, Sayyed Nasrallah proposed that the government look towards the East, to China and Russia, without necessarily turning its back on the West, unless the US continues its harsh punishment which is hitting the entire Lebanese population.
Sayyed Nasrallah’s suggestion that the government “go East” created a storm in Washington, aware of the growing threat of the colossal Chinese economy and its partners around the globe that are threatening US hegemony. US ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea criticised Lebanon’s overture to China in a move indicating the confusion of the US administration. Sayyed Nasrallah’s blow “below the belt” pushed the US administration off balance. Sayyed Nasrallah proposed turning the country’s compass towards the two countries (China and Iran) declared most despicable by the Trump administration. These countries have the capacity to counteract US actions against Lebanon.
This economic strangulation is known as the “soft war” because it costs the US and Israel no human losses. Nevertheless, what US planning did not foresee is the reaction of the opposite camp. The “Axis of the Resistance” has been pushed to be more creative, to learn ways to survive in solidarity, and to overcome the difficult challenges posed by the US and Israel.
Iran promised to support its allies in the Middle East (and in the Caribbean) by exporting oil to Venezuela under the watchful but impotent eyes of the US. Whereas the US treats those who believe they are allies as disposable pawns, interested only in the well-being of Israel. Indeed, the US ambassador, in a private meeting with Prime Minister Diab, raised the Israeli request to establish maritime and land borders between Lebanon and Israel, a request the government in Beirut has always turned down. The US is trying to offer temporary solutions to Lebanon to keep it in limbo and dependent on Washington’s mood and blessing, as long as the Lebanese government doesn’t take that real step towards China for alternative energy and infrastructure.
Hezbollah’s military capability has confirmed a robust seat for the organisation in many theatres around the Middle East. Sayyed Nasrallah’s last speech was not aiming to increase his popularity but was a road map and a plan of action preparing his group to cover some of the needs of the population. The US may indeed be thinking of even further sanctions and other ways to counter Hezbollah. The so-called “soft war” is only just beginning, but the “Axis of the Resistance” seems indubitably ready to produce counter-measures."
https://ejmagnier.com/2020/07/15/whe...e-us-trembles/
A tray full of GOLD is not worth a moment in time.
Economic rebound stronger than expected in Q2
China's economy rebounded substantially in the second quarter with stronger-than-expected GDP growth of 3.2 percent from a year earlier, and economists said that such recovery momentum is likely to be sustained in the coming quarters as policies are expected to remain supportive and flexible.
The country has become the world's first major economy that has shown robust recovery from the damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic as the economy returned to growth from a sharp contraction of 6.8 percent in the first quarter.
Key economic indicators have shown continuous improvement. The country's industrial production is recovering quickly and grew by 4.4 percent year-on-year in the second quarter, contrasting with an 8.4 percent decline in the first quarter, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Thursday.
The service sector expanded by 1.9 percent in the second quarter, reversing the decline of 5.2 percent in the first three months. Both investment and consumption are rebounding as the decline in fixed-asset investment narrowed to 3.1 percent in the first half of the year while the contraction of retail sales narrowed to 3.9 percent in the second quarter from the steep decline of 19 percent in the previous quarter, according to the NBS.
"Generally speaking, the economy overcame the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic gradually in the first half of the year and demonstrated a momentum of restorative growth with greater resilience and vitality," Liu Aihua, an NBS spokeswoman, said at a news conference in Beijing.
Economists said that China's strong economic rebound was helped by factors including the country's effective measures to bring the pandemic under control, strong policy support for business resumption and investment, and better-than-expected export recovery as a result of the country's fast production resumption.
"While the global pandemic situation continues to deteriorate, China's economy has managed to recover quickly with GDP growth rebounding to above 2 percent, which is a remarkable achievement," said Lu Ting, chief China economist at Nomura Securities.
Lu said that China's fast production resumption has helped the country's export recovery and stabilized employment. In addition, timely and effective policies to spur infrastructure investment have also helped to drive up domestic demand.
Economists at US bank Goldman Sachs said in a research note that China's economic performance in the second quarter was well above market expectations thanks to much less drag on the economy from the virus and the government's strong and supportive policy stance.
More policies to boost consumption and domestic demand are expected as the country's recovery has shown some uneven signs with supply recovering faster than demand while investment appears to be rebounding more strongly than consumption, economists said.
Despite the recent steady recovery, the country's retail sales growth remains in negative territory, declining 1.8 percent year-on-year in June as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to restrain consumer spending in catering and other sectors that require physical contact.
Cheng Shi, chief economist of ICBC International, said that the focus of China's economic recovery will likely shift from investment to consumption and the marginal improvement in consumption will likely accelerate in the second half of the year. He forecast that China's retail sales growth is likely to turn positive in the third quarter.
A recent survey by the People's Bank of China, the central bank, showed that the proportion of residents who plan to increase their spending on housing, tourism and expensive goods in the next three months is rising, pointing to the improving spending appetite of domestic consumers.
Economists expect the monetary policy to gradually return to normal in the second half of the year while the overall policy stance will remain supportive and flexible as the country continues to face uncertainties from overseas markets and policymakers are still gauging the impact of the floods in the southern parts of the country on the economic recovery.
Nonetheless, Cheng said that the Chinese economy has shown strong resilience, which will likely make yuan-denominated assets a scarce resource in the global market and may push asset prices higher and attract more international capital into the Chinese market."
Economic rebound stronger than expected in Q2 - Chinadaily.com.cn
National security law for HK a mirror to West
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo continued to troll Beijing on Wednesday via Twitter by congratulating Hong Kong's "pan-democrats" for their "successful" illegal primaries.
The Chinese central government has promulgated national security legislation in Hong Kong to prevent, suppress and impose punishment for offenses of "secession, subversion, organization and perpetration of terrorist activities and collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security in relation to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region." The bold legislation has prompted the Western anti-China "coalition" to throw a hissy fit.
Perhaps the United Kingdom still considers Hong Kong to be a "treaty port" where Western agents, "press soldiers", missionaries, dubious NGOs and powerful foreign interest groups can roam at will. This Western sense of entitlement has to do with the city's "colonial" past. Hong Kong was the last Western stronghold where the Western imperialists (who had conspired to divide and conquer China) could retreat into after China had liberated Shanghai, Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Xiamen and Ningbo from foreign occupation.
The concentration of Western intelligence services and propaganda organs in Hong Kong is unparalleled in Asia (relative to population size). The Anglo-American hold on power extends to many public spheres-media, schools, universities, publishers, banking, finance and think tanks. The anti-China "coalition" regularly fabricates fake heroes, saints and martyrs to propagate the Western cause, who shamelessly condone terrorism and separatist movements in the Xinjiang Uygur and Tibet autonomous regions. The "coalition" has also radicalized and recruited some naive Chinese students as "freedom fighters" for the Western crusade.
Some Hong Kong elites who cooperate with their Western masters are love-bombed and showered with attention, with the most prominent anti-China "activists" getting a chance to meet US presidents, travel the world and speak to TV channels.
Under British colonial rule, some Hong Kong residents were brainwashed into believing they were not really Chinese, but "Hongkongnese" or Cantonese, "special" and "better" than ordinary Chinese-a group of chosen people-and therefore they should try to have a separate country of their own. They were also introduced to white supremacy and the notion that, since the white man had colonized the region, Hong Kong residents were "white by association", more privileged than their Chinese mainland compatriots.
The UK government alone issued over 350,000 British passports to local residents before returning Hong Kong's sovereignty to China. Now the incumbent British prime minister wants to top that with 3 million more passports.
How did it come to this? And how will it end?
Universities teach Western supremacy. Media outlets spread anti-China misinformation, non-stop. Politicians need Western approval. No business can thrive without passing Western gatekeepers. Just take one institution out of many: the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondent Club. If China had a law similar to the US Foreign Agents Registration Act (enacted in 1938), all members of the Hong Kong FCC, with very few exceptions, would have to register as foreign agents. But in Hong Kong such laws don't (yet) exist, although the FCC's main activity seems to be aimed at destabilizing China.
It is understandable that the UK outfit-led by the last British governor and rabid colonialist Chris Patten-sees the national security law as the end of British privilege and entitlement in the territory: the "drought of normal" seems unacceptable to those who once reigned supreme.
The Western anti-China "coalition" sees whatever China does as a political affront against Western hegemony and inimical to the Western global narrative. Which is rather unfortunate because, from July 1 onward, orchestrated subversive activities in the city, no matter whether committed by local residents or foreign agents, might be investigated and the suspects brought to book in a mainland court.
It would be too much to expect the West to abandon its hostility toward China. But by promoting its national security, Beijing has taken a firm step toward ending the riots and violent protests, and restoring law and order in Hong Kong, as well as given Western historians an opportunity to reflect on the West's devastating legacy and double-standard toward the people and economies of other countries."
National security law for HK a mirror to West - Opinion - Chinadaily.com.cn
When Hezbollah flags up the China and Iran options, the US trembles
Oh dear, this is hilarious.
One well placed Israeli missile and it all goes up in smoke.
Silly chinkies, who the fuck do they think they are kidding?National security law for HK a mirror to West
Covid-19 renders the ‘Quad’ rudderless
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s virtual summit with the EU leaders on Wednesday would have convinced him that Europe is singularly disinterested in the US rhetoric to ‘contain’ China. Not a single code word for the US’ regional strategy directed against China appears in either of the two key documents that emerged out of the India-EU summit — the Joint Statement or the India-EU Strategic Partnership: A Roadmap to 2025.
The two documents do not mention even once that tantalising metaphor which the US and Indian pundits bandy about to thumb their nose at China — “Indo-Pacific”. Instead, India and the EU have pledged to “enhance exchanges in the context of Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum on common priorities between India and the EU.” China is a participant in both the ASEM and the ARF, two key regional platforms characterised by consensus-based decision-making and open dialogue.
The EU’s single-minded priority at the moment is the post-pandemic economic recovery. Prime Minister Modi anticipated this, as evident from his opening statement. Clearly, the Europeans are well aware that the US-Indian ‘Indo-Pacific’ doctrine has few takers in the Asia-Pacific. The European powers have correctly sensed that the regional states have prioritised their economic recovery and development, and do not buy into the containment strategy against China espoused by the US and its quasi-allies. Modi did not waste time over the Quad, et al.
The crux of the matter is that the Quad’s leverage should not be exaggerated in a region where China is increasingly achieving its strategic goals through economic statecraft, and where economic factors play a prominent role in shaping the decisions of Southeast Asian leaders on critical issues that divide Washington and Beijing, including the deployment of 5G technologies. Besides, the EU is looking forward to a constructive engagement with China despite the differences between the two sides on a few issues relating to human rights and market access.
Modi would have understood this home truth after yesterday’s high-profile virtual event. The PM set the right tone with his opening remark that “an action-oriented agenda should be created, which can be implemented within a stipulated time frame.”
However, the “Quad” mindset, laden with geopolitics, lingers on among Indian analysts who deliberately misinterpret current events to dovetail them into their own phobias regarding China. Much of it is happening thanks to the versions planted by American analysts in our media. An op-ed in a leading Indian daily today reads China’s post-COVID aggression is reshaping Asia.
The main argument here is that: the Quad is “growing stronger and even expanding”; Covid-19 is “remaking the geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific” and is prompting the ASEAN countries to imbibe “a new seriousness of purpose about the risks of a slow tide toward Chinese hegemony”; and, all this is “handing the Trump administration the opening its has long sought” to push its containment strategy against China.
Now, this is a load of American propaganda directed at gullible / uninformed Indian opinion. It needs some explaining to remove the cobwebs of the mind. Admittedly, the impact of Covid-19 on the ASEAN countries is a complex story but its doesn’t lend itself to a US-China binary. China’s virtual economic standstill has taken its toll on the ASEAN region by disrupting trade, travel, and supply chains. For example, Singapore’s economy contracted by 2.2 percent in the first quarter of 2020 from a year ago, while Malaysia’s economy is expected to contract by as much as 2.9 percent in 2020, with some 2.4 million job losses.
Having said that, a curious diplomatic and political proximity between Beijing on one side and the ASEAN capitals on the other has also appeared under the shadow of Covid-19. In a nutshell, this takes the form of an alignment of the region with China’s practices and standards. What is utterly fascinating is that in the process, the ASEAN too has figured out how to handle China’s rise. This is good news for China’s proactive diplomacy, as there is no more any need to expert external pressure on the ASEAN.
As a scholar at the French Institute of International Relations in Paris noted recently, “The game is not over but what the coronavirus crisis demonstrated is that Southeast Asia is inching closer to the Chinese system via little, imperceptible keystrokes.” Thus, although the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is lately doubling down on Washington’s rejection of Chinese maritime claims in the South China Sea, scepticism remains strong in the region.
Harry Roque, spokesperson for Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said at a press briefing on Tuesday, “our position here is to advance our national interest.” Even Indonesia will not want to rock the boat as it benefits significantly from China’s Belt and Road Initiative and has been able to manage tensions around the Natunas.
To quote Stimson Center senior fellow Yun Sun, “ASEAN’s default position is not to pick a side. I don’t think it is inclined to change that now.” The ASEAN region’s ever-deepening economic ties with China and the complementarity of Chinese and Southeast Asian economies as well as their geographical proximity “makes it very hard for Southeast Asian countries to limit the trade. After all, they (ASEAN) are not in as good a position as the developed countries in Europe and North America to turn away from the Chinese products,” Sun said.
The ASEAN bloc has become China’s biggest trading partner this year. Over the first five months of 2020, trade between the ASEAN bloc and the massive Chinese market reached $240 billion, up 4.2% over the same period of 2019. Chinese imports from Vietnam rose 24% in the first quarter of 2020 compared to the same span of 2019; the value of goods from Indonesia rose 13% year-on-year because of increasingly integrated supply chains. China’s trade with the bloc equals about 15% of its total worldwide. A sort of ‘interdependency’ is developing between China and the ASEAN.
The China-ASEAN trade and economic cooperation has strong underpinnings through a zero-tariff trade deal that took effect in 2010. The proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership will smooth trade further once the ASEAN and China sign it this year. Suffice to say, the pandemic does not appear to be reshaping the regional order in fundamental ways, but it could well accelerate preexisting trends and bolster China’s position and make the mutual alignment stable and predictable as time passes.
Here, the sequencing of economic recovery also becomes important. If China recovers faster from the outbreak, which seems likely, its already advantaged economic position in the region gets reinforced. According to a June survey by the ASEAN Studies Centre at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, even before COVID-19 hit, 79.2% of Southeast Asian policy elites viewed China as the most influential economic power in the region, compared to just 7.9% for the US and 3.9% for Japan. (The relative rating is 0.1% for India.)
All in all, the pandemic’s long-lasting effect on regional politics in Asia will be that it has punctured the aura of American competence and left the Quad rudderless."
Covid-19 renders the ‘Quad’ rudderless - Indian Punchline
chi-bitches are toast, internal civil war will follow the drying up of trade and potential sanctions, they can try a WW3 if they want, but it won't end pretty for them, it'll be a fast-rewind to the Opium wars, when they were half-conquered by Britain.
The Chinese Century is toast. They'll be lucky to get another decade.
With whom are you comparing them with? Having survived for 2+ millennia as an entity.
List of longest-lasting empires | WikiLists | Fandom
Which "trade" statistics are you suggesting indicates the "drying up of trade"?
Which "sanctions" are you suggesting will impact China's economic performance?
Having survived for 2+ millennia a decide becomes somewhat insignificant, don't you agree?
List of longest-lasting empires | WikiLists | Fandom
Some may question whether Europe and ameristan publish more or better economic theory or deliver their "projected" outcomes. Looking at current published date, neither of their economies and social stability are what most be call robustly expanding, yes?
With whom are you comparing them with?
Last edited by OhOh; 18-07-2020 at 03:30 PM.
"with whom are you comparing them with".
It seems HooHoo went to the Ernie Wise Academy of English.
double post
Last edited by OhOh; 18-07-2020 at 03:31 PM.
People’s Liberation Army – Not an army but a band of party goons turned Xi’s personal henchmen
People’s Liberation Army - Not an army but a band of party goons turned Xi’s personal henchmen
Delhi Based techie Atul Kumar Mishra.
About us - TFIPOST
Most informative, thank you for utilising this thread to illustrate your intelligence.
Oh dear, the chinkies will be snivelling again.
Now the UK won't let the chinkies get their grubby hands on anyone for a bit of "retraining" or "disappearing", or perhaps some of that new "handcuff and haircuts" therapy they've been trying out on the Uighurs.
UK suspends extradition treaty with Hong Kong - BBC NewsThe UK government will suspend its extradition treaty with Hong Kong "immediately and indefinitely".
Announcing the move, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the UK "wants a positive relationship" with China.
But he said the "imposition" of the new national security law in Hong Kong by Bejing was a "serious violation" of the country's international obligations.
Labour said it would support changes to the law, calling it a "step in the right direction".
The extradition treaty means that, if someone in Hong Kong is suspected of a crime in the UK, then the British authorities can ask Hong Kong to hand them over to face justice - and vice versa.
The UK fears the arrangement - which has been in place for more than 30 years - could see anyone it extradites to Hong Kong being sent on to China.
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