- Greece Fined €200MM Over Chinese Tax Fraud Network
While president Trump is cracking down on Chinese technology
theft“transfer” in the US, with Canada somehow caught in the middle of the ongoing crossfire (as random Canadians are now getting arrested on the mainland in retaliation for Trump’s aggressive practices), it has emerged that China’s Belt and Road initiative may be nothing more than one giant, global tax fraud/trade laundering operation.Take Greece for example, where the European Union’s Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) just issued a fine of more than 200 million euros to Greece for failing to stop a wide-scale tax fraud by Chinese criminal gangs importing ultra-cheap goods through the country’s largest port of Piraeus, Politico reported on Monday.
The Chinese criminal network, which took advantage of Greece’s arguably most valuable asset, the port of Piraeus which has been dubbed “China’s Gateway into Europe“, dodged import duties and value-added tax on imported footwear and clothing items, and represents merely the latest “loophole” that Chinese criminals utilize to bypass China’s draconian firewall.
“OLAF can confirm that it has concluded an investigation concerning the fraudulent import of undervalued textiles and shoes into Greece in the period 1 January 2015 to 31 May 2018,” OLAF was quoted as telling Politico in a statement when asked on the investigation it had conducted.
“Based on its findings, OLAF has issued a financial recommendation to Greek Customs to recover the sum of 202.3 million euros in lost customs duties related to the fraudulently under-declared values for such products,” it added.
Piraeus is part of China’s Belt and Road infrastructure project; it was acquired by China’s COSCO Shipping, the largest shipping company in the world, in 2016 when the Chinese shipping giant acquired a 51% stake. This cemented the entrepôt’s significance to the future of Sino-European trade and its critical position on China’s Maritime Silk Road as China’s critical hub into the Mediterranean Sea and from there, into the Atlantic Ocean and beyond.
As Altay Alti, associate professor at Turkey’s Koç University affirmed: ‘Piraeus has become a gate of entry into the European market for the Chinese.’ Indeed, this is no secret and is highlighted as a main priority in the port authority’s strategic plan.
The Port of Piraeus and the surrounding regions have long functioned as a Mediterranean gateway for peoples, goods, ideas and beliefs. And now Greece’s historic gateway is nothing more than an easy way for Chinese “criminal gangs” to avoid paying taxes. And with countless other such “Belt and Road” gateways…
… one should perhaps ask if China’s economy is in dire straits as a result of an unprecedented rise in China’s underground economy.
- Re-Colonisation
Authored by Therry Meyssan via Voltaire Network,
One of the consequences of the successive ends of the bipolar and unipolar world is the re-establishment of colonial projects. One after the other, the French, Turkish and English have publicly declared the return of their colonial ambitions. We still need to know what form they will adopt in the 21st century…
The French Empire
The French Empire “bestows” civilisation
For a decade we have been revealing the incongruity of the French desire to re-establish its authority over its old colonies. This was the logic behind the nomination by President Nicolas Sarkozy of Bernard Kouchner as Minister for Foreign Affairs. Kouchner replaced the French Revolutionary idea of « The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen » with the Anglo-Saxon notion of « Human Rights ». Later, his friend President François Hollande declared, during a Press conference on the fringes of the UN General Assembly, that it was time to re-establish a mandate over Syria. The great grand-nephew of ambassador François George-Picot (of the Sykes-Picot agreement), ex-President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, spoke of this even more clearly. This should help us better to understand the desire of President Emmanuel Macron to continue the war against Syria, without the United States.
There has always been a « colonial party » in France which crosses all political parties and acts as a lobby in the service of the wealthy class. Just as in every period when it becomes difficult for unscrupulous capitalists to crush the national work-force, the myth of colonial conquest resurfaces. If the « Yellow Vests » revolt, let us continue with the « exploitation of men by other men » on the backs of the Syrians.
Long ago, this form of domination hid, according to the words of Jules Ferry – under whose auspices François Hollande consecrated his son mandate – behind the duty of « bestowing civilisation ». Today, it aims at protecting the people whose elected leaders are qualified as « dictators ».
France is not the only ancient colonial power to act in this way. Turkey quickly followed on.
The Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire is founded on the ignorance of its subjects. It has closed schools in the Arab world.
Three months after the attempted assassination and aborted coup d’état of July 2016, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan gave his inaugural speech from the university which bears his name (RTEÜ). He delivered a list of the ambitions of the Turkish Republic since its creation and those of his new régime. Making an explicit reference to the « National Oath » (Misak-ı Millî), which was adopted by the Ottoman Parliament on 12 February 1920, he justified his irredentism.
This Oath, which was the foundation of the passage of the Ottoman Empire to the Turkish Republic, lays claim to the territory in the North-East of Greece (Western Thrace and the Dodecanese), all of Cyprus, the North of Syria (including Idlib, Aleppo and Al-Hasakah), and the North of Iraq (including Mosul).
Currently, the Empire in re-formation already occupies the North of Cyprus (the pseudo « Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus »), the North-West of Syria, and a small part of Iraq. For all these areas, where the Turkish language and currency apply, prefects (« wali ») have been nominated, and their offices are situated in the White Palace of Ankara.
* * *
The British Empire
The British Empire on which the sun never sets
As for the United Kingdom, it has been hesitating for two years about its future after the Brexit.
A little after the arrival of Donald Trump at the White House, Prime Minister Theresa May went to the United States. Speaking to the representatives of the Republican Party, she proposed re-establishing the Anglo-Saxon leadership of the rest of the world. But President Trump has been elected to liquidate these imperial dreams, not to share them.
Disappointed, Theresa May then travelled to China in order to propose that President Xi Jinping share control of international exchanges. The City, she said, was ready to ensure the convertibility of Western currencies into Yuan. But President Xi had not been elected to do business with an heiress of the power which had dismantled his country and imposed on the Chinese their opium war.
Theresa May tried a third version with the Commonwealth. Some of the ex-colonies of the Crown, like India, are today enjoying powerful growth and could become precious commercial partners. Symbolically, the heir to the throne, Crown Prince Charles, was raised to the Presidency of this association. Mrs. May announced that we are on our way to a Global Britain.
In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph on 30 December 2018, the British Minister for Defence, Gavin Williamson, published his analysis of the situation. Since the fiasco of the Suez Canal in 1956, the United Kingdom has implemented a policy of decolonisation, and has withdrawn its troops from the rest of the world. Today, it conserves permanent military bases only in Gibraltar, Cyprus, Diego Garcia and the « Falklands », to give these islands their imperial title. For the last 63 years, London has been oriented towards the European Union, invented by Winston Churchill, but to which, initially, he never imagined that England would belong. The Brexit « tears this policy to shreds ». From now on, « the United Kingdom is back as a global power ».
London is planning to open two permanent military bases. The first will probably be in Asia (Singapore or Brunei), and the second in Latin America – most likely in Guyana, in order to participate in the new stage of the Rumsfeld-Cebrowski strategy of the destruction of those regions of the world which are not connected to globalisation. After the « African Great Lakes », the « Greater Middle East », it’s time for the « Caribbean Basin ». The war will probably start with an invasion of Venezuela by Colombia (pro-US), Brazil (pro-Israëli) and Guyana (pro-British).
* * *
Taking no notice of the smooth speechifying of the French, the English built an empire with the collaboration of multinational companies in the service of which it placed its army. They divided the world into two parts, which may be summed up as follows – the sovereign was the King of England (and therefore submitted to political tradition over here ) and the Emperor of India (in other words subjected to the private East India Company and unlimited autocrat over there).
Decolonisation was a corollary of the Cold War. It was forced on the States of Western Europe by the duopoly of the USA and the USSR. This held during the time of the unipolar world, but now meets no obstacles since the US withdrawal from the « Greater Middle East ».
It is difficult to anticipate what form this future colonisation will take. Long ago, it was made possible by the huge differences in the level of education. But today ?
- "Bolsonaro Is Hitler!" Exclaims Venezuela's Maduro In Escalating Spat With Brazil
When in doubt, desperately reach for the Reductio ad Hitlerum argument. Venezuela’s self-styled socialist “liberator” President Nicolas Maduro has dubbed Brazil’s newly elected right-wing leader Jair Bolsonaro “a Hitler of the modern era.”
Speaking in front of members of Venezuela’s Constituent Assembly on Monday, Maduro decried that Brazil was “in the hands of a fascist.” And in a sign he’s perhaps been watching too much vapid American media punditry (though CNN is currently expanding in South America) which knows little beyond the tired argumentum ad Nazium in expressing outrage toward political enemies, he said: “Bolsonaro is a modern-day Hitler. He is. What he doesn’t have is courage and his own decisions because he’s the puppet of a sect.”
The “puppet of a sect” remark is a reference to the fact that Bolsonaro has a huge base of support from the country’s conservative Evangelical Christians, often branded by leftists as “fascist” for their adherence to traditional values like marriage between a man and a woman.
The two leaders have been trading barbs for months, with President Bolsonaro among an increasing chorus of regional and world leaders declaring Maduro’s inauguration last week as “illegitimate” while simultaneously voicing strong support to the opposition. Maduro, for his part has consistently condemned his Brazilian counterpart, dubbed by local media as the “tropical Trump”, as a “fascist”.
Meanwhile, some international reports have gone so far as to speculate that with both men fully in power and trading verbal blows in the neighboring South American countries, open conflict could develop to the point of leading to military confrontation. The heated rhetoric took on new geopolitical importance when the Brazilian president said he’s open to the idea of his country hosting an American base in the near future. “Depending on what happens in the world, who knows if we would not need to discuss that question [hosting a US military base] in the future,” Bolsonaro said early this month. He further called the controversial Brazilian embassy move to Jerusalem a “done deal”.
via the AFP The new Brazilian government has made clear it stands by Bolsonaro’s desire to see Maduro ousted from power, with Brazil’s now foreign minister Ernesto Araújo publicly stating in December that “all of the world’s countries must stop supporting him and come together to liberate Venezuela.”
A Washington Post op-ed this week summarized the results of Maduro’s first term after he was just sworn in for a second last Thursday, describing “an implosion unprecedented in modern Latin American history: Though his country was not at war, its economy shrank by 50 percent.”
The editorial described further, “What was once the region’s richest society was swept by epidemics of malnutrition, preventable diseases and violent crime. Three million people fled the country.”
And yet the Post finds, “Maduro, having orchestrated a fraudulent reelection, presses on with what the regime describes as a socialist revolution, with tutoring from Cuba and predatory loans from Russia and China.”
- From Baghdad To Finland And All Across The World: What's The US Up To?
Why does the US Embassy in Helsinki need a big warehouse near Malmi Airport and what are the contents of thousands of kilograms of cargo sent to Helsinki from Baghdad?
A dilapidated warehouse in Malmi is being used by the US Embassy for unknown operations after a Wikileaks release revealed its location.
The anonymous looking building on Takoraudantie is notable only for the new 427 meter perimeter fence that according to the Wikileaks’ database was ordered by the US Embassy in April 2018.
…
More than a million kilograms of cargo were shipped from Baghdad to different parts of the world, reveals US embassies procurement documents.
Mysterious cargo shipments from the US Embassy in Baghdad to other American embassies and consulates around the world have been revealed on a Wikileaks’ database. Procurement orders of US embassies are public documents, but Wikileaks put them in a searchable database making it easier to analyse.
Here are two critical articles on this subject from Helsinki Times, dated December 29, 2018 and January 1, 2019 respectively.
GUARDED WAREHOUSES NEAR AIRPORT AND MYSTERIOUS CARGO FROM BAGHDAD
Situated across the street from the main entrance of Malmi Airport, the warehouse with its 3 meter high security fence appears an unlikely location for official embassy business. Neighbouring companies include a car yard and a tyre warehouse.
Helsinki Times visited the perimeters this weekend. Security personnel, young Finns in uniforms with American flags on their arms, appeared nervous and suspicious when asked to comment on the warehouse and refused to even confirm the order of the new fence structure which now surrounds the compound. At one point a security guard appeared in a second floor window to carefully monitor this reporter’s movements along Takoraudantie.
US embassy warehouse near Malmi airport. This image from Google street view is from 2011. The newly built permitter fence can not be seen in this image.
Mysterious parcels from Baghdad
The Wikileaks’ database has also revealed mysterious packages being sent to the US Embassy in Finland from their embassy in Baghdad.
The database displaying US embassy procurements around the world shows that tons of cargo are being distributed to Helsinki and other US embassies via regular airfreight cargo deliveries from Baghdad.
Twelve consignments, each logged at 5000 kilograms are recorded as sent to Helsinki and 23 other West European US embassies – an average of 2500 kilograms per US embassy.
The reason for such a vast volume of embassy deliveries from Baghdad is as yet unknown but this latest disclosure follows Wikileaks news that the US Consulate in Frankfurt was a purchase and postal centre for distributing spy equipment to other US embassies worldwide. Concerns are now raised that the US Embassy in Baghdad is also being used as a main distribution centre for secret operations.
In addition to Finland and Western Europe, the Wikileaks database shows that the US embassy in Baghdad disseminates hundreds of tons worldwide, with more than 300,000 kilograms recorded as being delivered Stateside alone.
Incoming diplomatic mail between embassies receives customs clearance and is automatically classified as a US government shipment.
The 80 page order list also details massive movements of road and air freight between Basra in the south of Iraq and Erbil in the north. No indication of the cargo contents are provided but the order sheets reveal convoys of trucks and vehicles were hired by Baghdad’s US embassy for the mysterious shipments.
The warehouse is equipped with several big gates suitable for lorries to drive in. Containers and a forklift in the yard indicate heavy duty use. A special antenna is on the roof.
Spy gadgets and surveillance operations
The disclosure of the building’s use by the US Embassy in Finland comes in light of revelations about US embassy spying activities worldwide, as featured in the Wikileaks’ US embassy shopping list database. In a published list of more than 16000 miscellaneous items, requests also appear for recording devices disguised as pens, lighters, glasses, watches and even spy shirt buttons.
Although US embassy procurements are public information, Wikileaks new database allows for country specific searches, giving clearer evidence of US embassy involvement in secret surveillance operations in certain parts of the world.. The timing of this latest Wikileaks’ release came just hours after its Twitter accounts were cyber attacked late on Friday, ahead of the Christmas holiday.
According to the database, requests made by the US Embassy in Finland appear to be for everyday items. Procurements include a tractor as well as services for snow removal, plumbing, gardening and cleaning. However, in light of ‘Tactical Spy Equipment’ purchased by US embassies elsewhere the existence of the warehouse compound near Malmi Airport raises concerns about potential secret operations closer to home. US Embassy official responsible for ordering the warehouse perimeter fence, was unavailable for comment.
Strategically located US embassy complex in Helsinki and the newly built “Innovation Center”.
Worldwide, the Wikileaks’ online data reveals that Latin America is the main target for purchases of spying equipment. Camera hats and USB drives as well as night visors and binoculars were among items procured for the US embassy in Colombia. But topping the list for requested surveillance items was the US embassy in El Salvador where the purchase of ‘Tactical Spy Equipment’ totalled 94 items.
Back in 2017 Wikileaks documents revealed that the American consulate in Frankfurt had served as a covert base to carry out digital spy operations. Using the US Embassy shopping list database, Germany’s Der Spiegel has now identified the consulate as a main buyer of spy equipment for diplomatic missions across Europe.
These latest Wikileaks’ revelations further highlight the role of US embassies in espionage activities across the globe. Some reports suggest over 80 US embassies worldwide conceal joint NSA-CIA “Special Collection Service” radio and electronic surveillance equipment. Such concerns add to the questions concerning activities at the Malmi warehouse and the secrecy surrounding it.
However, the database of US embassy shopping lists reveals some less concerning items too with one evoking the craziness of an Inspector Clouseau rather than a cold, calculating 007: A person to count fish and clean the pond was sought by the consulate in Guayaquil, Ecuador after officials lost track of how many fish they possessed.
The searchable Wikileaks database and info about Finland related activities can be found HERE.
* * *
WHAT DOES THE US EMBASSY IN BAGHDAD EXPORT TO FINLAND AND DOZENS OF OTHER COUNTRIES?
The database displaying worldwide US embassy orders of goods and services reveals Baghdad as a postal and shipping centre for tonnes of freight.
Though military freight might be expected between the US and Iraq, records show that embassies across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, the Americas and Africa are all receiving deliveries from Baghdad too.
According to Wikileaks’ database, orders to ship more than 540 tonnes of cargo to the US were made in May 2018. The same document shows other main delivery destinations included 120 tonnes of freight to Europe, and 24 tonnes to South Africa, South America and Central Africa respectively. In comparison, only two and a half tonnes of freight were moved within Iraq between Baghdad, Basra and Erbil International Airports. So, the export of items from Iraq appears to be the primary activity.
The content of the deliveries is as yet unclear, though the order contract suggests household items, rugs, electrical goods, linen, kitchenware, furniture, pianos, refrigerators, books, chinaware, clothing as well as mail could be among the items dispatched. According to the website movers.com, an average one bedroom apartment of furniture weighs approximately one tonne but the practicality of moving many types of household objects across continents is doubtful. It also remains unclear whether the quantity of tonnage relates to many small deliveries or a small number of very large ones.
The lack of disclosed orders moving cargo and services into Iraq highlights that the movement of diplomats and their families into such a dangerous region on a large scale is unlikely. Transfers of military personnel back and forth would normally go through the US airbases in Iraq and not via the Embassy administration. So discounting the movement of more than a thousand staff members out of Iraq to countries around the world means that the content and purpose of the shipments remains a mystery.
The Wikileaks’ database findings coincide with the discovery of a previously undisclosed US Embassy warehouse near Malmi Airport, a storage facility suitable for receiving large truckloads of incoming freight. Documents also show that the US Embassy in Finland ordered a new security perimeter fence for the warehouse compound in April 2018. The purpose for the warehouse remains unknown.
This latest uncovering of unusual US embassy activity follows the 2017 exposure of the US Consulate in Frankfurt being used for surveillance operations and as a buying and postal dispatch centre of spying equipment for other US consulates. These latest Wikileaks revelations raise concerns that the US Embassy in Baghdad may also serve as a hub for secret operations worldwide.
The database also reveals that items listed as ‘Tactical Spy Equipment’ were ordered for US embassies in Latin America, with Colombia and El Salvador receiving a range of spy cameras disguised as pens, glasses, hats, USB drives and even shirt buttons.
* * *
So , as Eric Zuesse asked, why is America’s Baghdad Embassy the world’s largest embassy – and the largest by far?
— Iraqi Sheikh Qassim Al Ta’ee, as quoted on 27 December 2011 in Al Iraq News and translated by Ibrahim Zaidan from the original Arabic by Nicholas Dagher
Secret government tends to be costly for taxpayers, and also tends to add a lot to the governmental debt. An unauditable governmental department, such as the Defense Department is, cannot function, at all, without an enormous amount of corruption. This is the reality about America’s military. However, there’s much propaganda contradicting it. The news-media also serve those same billionaires.
How likely, then, is it, that America’s Baghdad Embassy serves the US public? It certainly does not serve the Iraqi public. But it does serve the people — whomever they are — who control the US Government. And that’s the Deep State. That’s the reality, but what’s promoted is fantasyland. And this fantasyland, which is promoted, is called “American democracy”. Just ask Big Brother, and he’ll tell you all about it. He always does.
- Watch YouTube Star's Million-Dollar McLaren Explode And Melt Down
YouTube star Alejandro Salmondrin was devastated after his 789 horsepower McLaren Sienna caught fire after just 11 days of ownership and 400 miles under its belt.
A former Hollywood filmmaker turned supercar blogger and entrepreneur, Salmondrin has a giant social media footprint with over 1.5 million YouTube subscribers and over a million on Instagram.
While driving with his wife one night in October, Salmondrin noted flames coming out from underneath his Sienna which he says he paid $1 million dollars for (a “market adjustment” on top of a MSRP of $837,000). He dropped the car into neutral, pulled over, tried to put the fire out with a bottle of water, and then whipped out his camera to film it melting to the ground.
Watch:
The aftermath:
Here’s the McLaren’s last drive before the fire:
Salmondrin made a blog post about the incident:
I’ve gotten a lot of questions from you and to me the most notable ones are:
1 – HAS MCLAREN REACHED OUT TO YOU?
Yes, I messaged a few of the principals at first, because I was interested in getting another car and to make them aware of the problem but NOT A SINGLE question has been made about the incident.
This worries me a lot, because I’m not sure what the process is like in a situation like this. But I would assume you want to learn more about the cause of the accident to perhaps stop other cars from having the same problem and putting lives at risk. I could be totally wrong and this is ‘standard procedure’.
2 – Will insurance or warranty cover you?
I’m the first registered owner of the car, but I did pay the market adjustment on top of the actual price of the car. However, I insured the car for the value of what I paid for.
In most cases when an incident like this one occurs, insurance will try to pay you MARKET VALUE AT THE TIME OF THE INCIDENT, but since I bought the car 11 days before it burned to the ground it’s safe to say THAT’S MARKET VALUE.
3 – WHY RELEASE THE VIDEO NOW
Insurance is taking their time to go look at the car, and I hope this puts pressure on them. And I hope McLaren looks into this even closer, because I have a few messages like the screenshot I’ve attached at the bottom of the comment section where it indicates another Senna has burned too In Europe.
The only ‘McLaren official’ (if you can call it that) Is the owner of McLaren Scottsdale (@mclaren_scottsdale). The only reason why I bring it up is because he went out of his own way to tell everyone he thinks I’m committing some sort of Insurance Fraud (as per the screenshots attached at the bottom of the comment section). Now this could either be:
A – perhaps that is indeed what McLaren thinks and that’s why they haven’t inspected or done anything with the car for that reason…
Or B – He’s just one of those peanut butter and jelly guys.
I hope it’s not B, because then he would be: clueless about business or insurance in general, because what do I get out of buying a car for a million dollars and then the car burns down 11 days later and I just get my money back? Hahaha! And additionally, he owns several dealerships 🙁
Either way. That’s what happened and where I stand with this. I only wanna ask you guys for one favor. Please do not harass Mclaren or the dealer. All I want is for them to take action to avoid more incidents like this. Oh.. and get my insurance money back.
- Truth, Treason, & The National-Security State
Authored by Jacob Hornberger via The Future of Freedom Foundation,
Inadvertently released federal documents reveal that U.S. officials have apparently secured a secret indictment against Julian Assange, the head of WikiLeaks who released secret information about the internal workings of the U.S. national-security establishment. In any nation whose government is founded on the concept of a national-security state, that is a cardinal sin, one akin to treason and meriting severe punishment.
Mind you, Assange isn’t being charged with lying or releasing false or fraudulent information about the U.S. national-security state. Everyone concedes that the WikiLeaks information was authentic. His “crime” was in disclosing to people the wrongdoing of the national-security establishment. No one is supposed to do that, even if the information is true and correct.
It’s the same with Edward Snowden, the American contractor with the CIA and the NSA who is now relegated to living in Russia. If Snowden returns home, he faces federal criminal prosecution, conviction, and incarceration for disclosing secrets of the U.S. national-security establishment. Again, his “crime” is disclosing the truth about the internal workings of the national-security establishment, not disseminating false information.
Such secrecy and the severe punishment for people who disclose the secrets to the public were among the things that came with the conversion of the federal government to a national-security state.
Recall that when the U.S. government was called into existence by the Constitution, it was a type of governmental structure known as a limited-government republic. Under that type of governmental structure, the federal government’s powers were extremely limited. The only powers that federal officials could lawfully exercise were those few that were enumerated in the Constitution itself.
Under the republic form of government, there was no enormous permanent military establishment, no CIA, and no NSA, which are the three components of America’s national-security state. That last thing Americans wanted was that type of government. In fact, if Americans had been told that the Constitution was going to bring into existence a national-security state, they never would have approved the deal and would have continued operating under the Articles of Confederation, a type of governmental system where the federal government’s powers were so few that it didn’t even have the power to tax.
Under the republic, governmental operations were transparent. There was no such thing as “state secrets” or “national security.” Except for the periodic backroom deals in which politicians would make deals, things generally were open and above-board for people to see and make judgments on.
That all changed when the federal government was converted from a limited-government republic to a national-security state after World War II. Suddenly, the federal government was vested with omnipotent powers, so long as they were being exercised by the Pentagon, the CIA, or the NSA in the name of “national security.”
Interestingly enough, the conversion of the federal government to a national-security state was not done through constitutional amendment. Nonetheless, the federal judiciary has long upheld or simply deferred to the exercise of omnipotent powers by the national-security establishment.
An implicit part of the conversion was that the Pentagon, the CIA, and the NSA would be free to exercise their omnipotent powers in secret. Secrecy has always been a core element in any government that is structured as a national-security state, especially when it involves dark, immoral, and nefarious powers that are being exercised for the sake of “national security.”
One action that oftentimes requires the utmost in secrecy involves assassination, which is really nothing more than legalized murder. Not surprisingly, many national-security officials want to keep their role in state-sponsored murder secret. Another example is coups initiated in foreign countries. U.S. officials bend over backwards to hide their role in such regime-change operations. And then there are the surveillance schemes whereby citizens are foreigners are spied up and monitored. Kidnapping, indefinite detention, and torture are still more examples.
Of course, these are the types of things that we ordinarily identify with totalitarian regimes. The reason for that is that a national-security state governmental system is inherent to totalitarian regimes. For example, the Nazi government, which was a national-security state too, had an enormous permanent military establishment and a Gestapo, which wielded the powers of assassination, indefinite detention, torture, and secret surveillance. And not surprisingly, to disclose the secrets of German’s national-security state involved severe punishment.
But it’s not just Nazi Germany. There are many other examples of totalitarian regimes that are based on the concept of national security and structured as a national-security state. Chile under Pinochet. The Soviet Union. Communist China. North Korea. Vietnam. Egypt. Pakistan. Iraq. Afghanistan. Saudi Arabia. Turkey, Myanmar. And the United States. The list goes on and on.
And every one of those totalitarian regimes has a state-secrets doctrine, the same doctrine that the Pentagon, CIA, and NSA have.
A newspaper in Vietnam, which of course is ruled by a communist regime, reported that a Vietnamese citizen named Phan Van Anh Vu was sentenced to 9 years in prison for “deliberately disclosing state secrets.”
A website for the Committee to Protect Journalists reported that the Chinese communist regime charged a Chinese journalist named Yang Xiuqiong with “illegally providing state secrets overseas.” The Chinese Reds have also charged a prominent environmental activist named Liu Shu with “revealing state secrets related to China’s counterespionage work.”
The military dictatorship in Myanmar convicted two Reuters reporters for violating the country’s law that prohibits the gathering of secret documents to help an enemy.
RT reports that the Russian military will “launch obligatory courses on the protection of state secrets starting next year.
US News reports that the regime in Turkey is seeking the extradition from Germany of Turkish journalist Can Dunbar, who was convicted of revealing state secrets.
Defenders of Assange and Snowden and other revealers of secrets of the U.S. national security state point to the principles of freedom of speech and freedom of the press to justify their disclosures.
I’ve got a better idea: Let’s just dismantle America’s decades-long, nightmarish Cold War-era experiment with the totalitarian structure known as a national-security state and restore a limited-government republic to our land.
- China's Undergound "Great Wall" Missile Defense System Can Block Hypersonic Attacks
China has created a vast underground defense complex capable of intercepting hypersonic missiles which can defeat conventional missile defenses, according to a scientist who has worked on the system and received China’s highest science and technology award last week.
Speaking with The Global Times, Qian Qihu, 82, said that China’s “Underground Steel Great Wall” could “guarantee the security of the country’s strategic arsenal” against attacks – including those from hypersonic weapons.
The “Underground Steel Great Wall” is a series of defense facilities located deep under mountains. While the mountain rock is thick enough to resist enemy attacks, entrances and exits of these facilities are often vulnerable and Qian’s work was to provide extra protection for these parts. –The Global Times
According to Qian, the system is China’s “last national defense line,” and is capable of withstanding a nuclear attack before the country responds with strategic weapons, which Qian’s work safeguarded along with launch and storage facilities and key military personnel.
“The development of the shield must closely follow the development of spears. Our defense engineering has evolved in a timely manner as attack weapons pose new challenges,” said Qian.
According to the academician, hypersonic weapons that move 10 times as fast as the speed of sound are capable of changing trajectory mid-flight and penetrate any anti-missile installations.
US media outlet CNBC reported that in March 2018 during a State of the Nation address, Russian President Vladimir Putin debuted new nuclear and hypersonic weapons, which he described as “invincible.”
The US is also trying to develop hypersonic weapons, as then US Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, now acting secretary of defense, said in October. “We are going to fly sooner and more often than people have ever expected,” CNBC reported. –The Global Times
China has gone to great lengths to keep up with advanced weaponry as well as a largely unpredictable international environment, says Qian, citing the Trump administration’s consideration of a lower bar for the deployment of nuclear weapons, including low-yield nukes, as reported in January 2018 by the Wall Street Journal.
Military experts have suggested that US weapons which use low-yield nuclear warheads would be bunker-busters, with a higher surgical strike capability than conventional ground-penetrating munitions.
US is playing catch-up
As we reported in December, the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) warned that the current ballistic missile defense system in the US is powerless against hypersonic missiles from China and Russia.
The missile’s speed, altitude, and maneuverability could defeat all networked sensors (including space-based) and ground- and sea-based radars; ground- and sea-based interceptor missiles; and render the Pentagon’s command, control, battle management ineffective in a hypersonic missile attack.
“China and Russia are pursuing hypersonic weapons because their speed, altitude and maneuverability may defeat most missile defense systems, and they may be used to improve long-range conventional and nuclear strike capabilities,” the report said.
The report admits: “There are no existing countermeasures.“
That doesn’t mean the US government is sitting on its hands. In November we reported on DARPA’s “Glide Breaker” project, which looks to knock hypersonic gliders out of the sky using a “hard-kill interceptor.”
First artist’s concept for Glide Breaker, a Darpa-funded technology to defeat hypersonic weapons, revealed at #darpa60. More coverage to follow in @AviationWeek. pic.twitter.com/Ep6HmBVHzu
— Steve Trimble (@TheDEWLine) September 6, 2018
So far, there are few other publicly available details about the program. In its budget request for the 2019 Fiscal Year, DARPA did not ask for any money for Glide Breaker specifically or for research and development of hypersonic defense systems broadly.
It’s also not clear how Glide Breaker may be related to the Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) own hypersonic defense project, which you can read about in more detail here and also includes plans for some sort of anti-hypersonic missile weapon system. As of February 2018, MDA expected to spend more than $700 million in total on that research and development project through at least 2023 –TheDrive
On the offensive side of things, a joint program by the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA)/ US Army Operational Fires (OpFires) has picked a total of three defense companies to develop and demonstrate a novel ground-launched system enabling hypersonic boost-glide weapons to penetrate the world’s most advanced air defenses and quickly and accurately engage critical time-sensitive enemy targets.
Aerojet Rocketdyne, Exquadrum, and Sierra Nevada Corporation have each received contracts to immediately start work on design and development for the next generation of propulsion systems that will power America’s hypersonic weapons, DARPA announced in November.
DARPA/OpFires program manager US Army major Amber Walker said: “OpFires represents a critical capability development in support of the Army’s investments in long-range precision fires.”
“These awards are the first step in the process to deliver this capability in support of US overmatch,” Walker added.
The system calls for a mobile ground-based launch system, plus propulsion systems that will launch hypersonic missiles at land-based targets.
In October, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow would deploy their new Avangard hypersonic glider warheads in the “coming months,” which was followed by December reports that the system had been tested and would be ready to deploy this year.
In other words, the US defense industry better hurry up.
- Student Debt Crisis Worsens: Florida Board Of Health Suspends Licenses Over Defaults
Authored by Mac Slavo via SHTFplan.com,
The Florida Board of Health has suspended thousands of healthcare licenses over defaults on student loans many used to earn their licenses. But many are concerned that the new crackdown may only worsen the student loan crisis.
The revocation of licenses came after the student loan industry lobbied the government to enact punishments for those who can’t or won’t repay the money they borrowed.According to ABC Action News, only Florida is enforcing this law as of right now. The state also has the power to garnish up to 100% of a worker’s wages until the loan is repaid and the license is reinstated. Under Florida law, once the state suspends a license for student loan default, the only way to get it back is to pay a fine equal to 10 percent of the balance, plus other costs.
Investigative Reporter Adam Walser uncovered the state’s Board of Health suspended more than 900 health care licenses – including professional certifications for registered nurses, Certified Nursing Assistants, pharmacists, and opticians – in the just the past two years alone.
The I-Team found 12 other states (Alaska, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas) still have the power to take away health care licenses for unpaid student loans, but officials in those states told ABC Action News they have not suspended any licenses over loan defaults in the past two years. –ABC Action News
Tampa student loan attorney Christie Arkovich says Florida’s law goes too far.
“We’re not saying that people shouldn’t repay their loan,” said Arkovich.
“We’re just saying that getting them fired probably isn’t the best way to go about that.”
And anyone with a basic understanding of economics could comprehend this. If they aren’t paying their loans while they have an income, what makes anyone think they’ll start paying the loans once they have no income?
“You take their license, you take their way of working, how are you going to get your lump sum?” said registered nurse Andrea Chandler.
“How are you going to get your payment? You’re already not getting your payment.”
Dr. Gabriel Picone, an economics professor at the University of South Florida, said the decision to suspend licenses for nonpayment of student loans puts a strain on both employers and patients. Health care workers are already in short supply and those who lose their licenses will likely go from earning paychecks to depending on taxpayer-funded welfare.
“It’s trying to take too much away,” Picone said.
“This person may end up on Medicaid, receive food stamps. All this is more money that we will have to pay.”
The United States Department of Education estimates more than 10 percent of student loan borrowers are in default. The federal government estimates Americans owe $1.2 trillion in student debt. That figure is now larger than all outstanding U.S. credit card and vehicle debt combined.
Florida law requires 45-days written notice before the state can suspend any licenses because of a default on student loan debt. Experts say if you get one of these notices,you should immediately contact your lender to try to negotiate a repayment plan.
- Yuan Extends Slide After Massive PBOC Liquidity Injection
Having risen almost non-stop since the start of the year – despite dismal economic data, a still-tightening Fed, and an increasingly ‘easing’ PBOC – the last two days have seen offshore yuan start to fade.
Following stimulus headlines overnight (“but not a flood of liquidity” according to the PBOC), US Sen. Grassley admitted today that Sino-US trade talks had made “little progress” – both of which sent yuan notably lower.
This drop was interrupted by cable’s surprise surge (squeeze) after the Brexit vote (stronger pound, weaker dollar, stronger yuan), but yuan has reverted back down again to the lows after the PBOC injected a near-record amount of liquidity into the financial system.
China’s central bank injected a near-record amount of liquidity via open-market operations amid tax payments and the looming ‘annual’ year-end liquidity crisis.
The PBOC injects net 350b yuan into the banking system using 7-day reverse repo contracts – the largest one-day addition of 7-day money on record, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
And the aggregate net 560 billion yuan liquidity injection is nearly the largest ever…
The move is aimed at “keeping reasonable and sufficient liquidity in banking system as liquidity falls relatively fast during peak season for tax payments,” according to a statement from the PBOC.
With the Lunar New Year falling on Feb 5th this year (two weeks earlier than last year), we suspect liquidity provisions will be a daily occurrence from here (the last 3 days have seen 340 billion yuan for a 28-day term injected – to cross the new year liquidity threshold).
Do not mistake this for ‘stimulus’ as it will be withdrawn or rolled and merely plugs a hole – that we suspect will grow larger as trade data suggested capital outflows are re-accelerating.
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