Aug 23

Today’s News 23rd August 2021

  • What Chip Shortage: Inventory At Leading Chipmakers Hits Record $65 Billion
    What Chip Shortage: Inventory At Leading Chipmakers Hits Record $65 Billion

    Something odd emerged as automaker after automaker – most notably Toyota last week – announced they would throttle auto production in coming months due to a historic chip shortage: according to calculations from Financial Times parent, Nikkei, total inventory at the world’s nine leading chipmakers hit a record high of $64.7 billion as of the end of June as “companies quickly moved to ramp up production to alleviate a protracted shortage that has disrupted supply chains in the auto industry and beyond.”

    When demand for chips used in high-performance computers and automobiles outpaced projections due to the coronavirus pandemic which forced many chipmakers to suspend production in Southeast Asia, Taiwan Semiconductor – the world’s largest chipmaker – optimized production lines in January-June, expanding production of automotive chips during the period by 30% from a year earlier.

    Others followed, and according to Nikkei, total inventory at TSMC, Intel, Samsung Electronics, Micron Technology, SK Hynix, Western Digital, Texas Instruments, Infineon Technologies and STMicroelectronics are now at historic highs, as chipmakers expand their stockpile of raw materials to drive production. The share of raw materials in total inventory has steadily been increasing since March 2019 at the seven companies that provide comparable data, and topped 24% as of the end of March.

    At the same time, finished chips are flying off the shelves: while turnover usually falls when total inventory increases, due to the backlog of persistent demand, sales have been growing faster than inventory, and the April-June quarter saw a turnover rate of 7.8, the highest in 18 months.

    Still, as the Japanese publication notes, there is concern that growing inventories are not necessarily an accurate reflection of actual chip demand. For example, many automakers are now shifting away from the just-in-time strategy — or holding as little parts inventory for as short a time as possible — to holding spare inventory in case of supply chain disruptions.

    “We may need to change the way we approach inventory, like by cultivating more chip suppliers,” Honda Motor Executive Vice President Seiji Kuraishi said

    Electronic equipment maker Fujitsu General had also increased its inventory of chips and other components and materials by about 20% in three months as of the end of June. “We are securing more components even if it means a larger inventory in case the semiconductor shortage drags on,” said Vice President Hiroshi Niwayama.

    Of course, while demand is solid there is little risk of excess inventory; but chipmakers worry that these developments could lead to a glut down the line.

    “We have an order book that represents approximately two years of revenue,” said Helmut Gassel, chief marketing officer at Infineon Technologies. “We expect there to be some double ordering, which is, as always, impossible to quantify.”

    But signs of a slowdown are already emerging in memory chips, where three key producers including Micron Technology and SK Hynix reported a steady decline in inventory. The bulk price of 4GB DDRs, which serve as a benchmark for dynamic random-access memory used in computers, roughly stayed flat for the second straight month in July at around $3.20 per chip. Global shipments of smartphones, which require memory chips, also fell markedly in April-June.

    At the start of August, the SOX semi index slumped after Morgan Stanley issued a rare downgrade of core semiconductor names including SK Hynix, Samsung and Micron, warning that “winter is coming” for the DRAM sector, which is expected to peak in Q4 2021.

    “The supply of memory chips will likely surpass demand in the first half of 2022, bringing prices down,” said Akira Minamikawa at research company Omdia, echoing Morgan Stanley’s concerns.

    As a result, Samsung and Micron’s stock prices plunged this month as investors brace for an eventual correction in the chip market.

    Still, leading chipmakers continue to rake in big bucks. The top 10 players by market capitalization booked $276 million in net profit in April-June, an increase of about 60% on the year and their sixth straight quarter of gains. They are also pursuing major expansions, largely in logic chips. TSMC plans to make $100 billion in capital investments over three years, while Intel has announced plans for a new $20 billion plant in Arizona.

    But the chip industry has experienced major fluctuations in the past, saddling manufacturers with excess capacity built up during boom years once the market cools down. Expansions currently underway will go online in two to three years, meaning they may end up dragging companies down.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/23/2021 – 02:45

  • Greece Erects Steel Wall Along Turkish Border Over Afghan Migration Fears
    Greece Erects Steel Wall Along Turkish Border Over Afghan Migration Fears

    Authored by Lorenz Duschamps via The Epoch Times,

    Greece has completed the construction of a 25-mile (40-km) long steel wall and a new surveillance system along the border with Turkey amid concerns about a possible surge of illegal immigrants trying to reach Europe following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan this month.

    “Our borders remain secure and inviolable. The new boundary wall has been completed and is actively guarded,” Greece’s Citizens’ Protection Minister Michalis Chrisochoidis told reporters during a press briefing while visiting the site in the region of Evros on Friday.

    “We cannot wait passively to see the impact of the Afghan crisis,” he added.

    “The high-tech, automated monitoring system is active. Possible refugee flows from Afghanistan will be stopped.”

    About 8 miles of the steel wall has been there for some time along the Evros river, and with the latest extension, the wall is now 25 miles long and 19.7 feet (6 meters) high.

    A policeman patrols alongside a steel border wall at Evros river, near the village of Poros, at the Greek-Turkish border on May 21, 2021. (Giannis Papanikos/AP Photo)

    Greece began bolstering its border defense in recent months and authorities at the border have been warned about a possible new wave of illegal immigrants, likely coming from Afghanistan after the Taliban’s sweeping advance this month, sparking fears in Europe about a new migration crisis.

    The recent events and the seizure of power by Taliban insurgents in the war-torn nation have fuelled the European Union to resist a possible repeat of the 2015 refugee crisis when nearly 1 million people fleeing the Middle East and beyond crossed into Greece from Turkey before traveling north to wealthier states.

    A police car patrols alongside a steel wall at Evros river, near the village of Poros, at the Greek-Turkish border, Greece, on May 21, 2021. (Giannis Papanikos/AP Photo)

    Greece is insisting it will not allow a repetition of the 2015 crisis. Border forces are warned to make sure the country does not become Europe’s gateway again.

    Neighboring Turkey has also expressed concerns over a potential wave of illegal immigrants coming from Afghanistan.

    Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on nations in Europe on Thursday to shoulder the responsibility for people fleeing Taliban forces, warning that Turkey will not become Europe’s “refugee warehouse.”

    Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan listens during the opening session of the virtual global Leaders Summit on Climate, as he sits in his office in Ankara, Turkey, on April 22, 2021. (Mustafa Kamaci/Turkish Presidency via AP)

    “We need to remind our European friends of this fact: Europe—which has become the center of attraction for millions of people—cannot stay out of [the refugee] problem by harshly sealing its borders to protect the safety and wellbeing of its citizens,” Erdogan said.

    “Turkey has no duty, responsibility, or obligation to be Europe’s refugee warehouse,” he added.

    The latest issue on immigration that is possibly going to impact both nations will become “a serious challenge for everyone,” Erdogan told Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in a telephone conversation on Friday. Erdogan said it has also begun reinforcing its border with Iran.

    The government in Greece said last week they are not going to allow illegal immigrants seeking asylum to cross into Europe and will turn refugees back.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/23/2021 – 02:00

  • The Fentanyl Flood Into The US: Why Can't We Make It Stop?
    The Fentanyl Flood Into The US: Why Can’t We Make It Stop?

    Authored by Diane Dimond via The Epoch Times,

    About 11 times every hour, about 250 times a day, an American citizen dies of a drug overdose. The most frequent culprit is fentanyl. The most popular mode of delivery is fentanyl-laced heroin, fentanyl mixed with cocaine, or illegally produced OxyContin pain pills containing fentanyl. And it’s not just hardcore addicts who are dying.

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports overdose deaths skyrocketed to a mind-boggling 93,000 last year, a 29 percent increase over the previous year. The death rate is now so frightening a bipartisan group, called Families Against Fentanyl, asked the president to declare the synthetic opioid an official weapon of mass destruction.

    Think about this. Ninety-three thousand Americans dead in one year. That’s more than we lost during the entire Vietnam War. That’s more than the population of Santa Fe, New Mexico; Palo Alto, California; or St. Joseph, Missouri.

    So, where is all this fentanyl coming from, why does it keep pouring into this country year after year and why has the U.S. government been unable to stop it?

    The short answer to the first question is China, the same country that unleashed the COVID-19 virus upon the world.

    But China is only a cog, albeit the largest one, in a far-flung supply network that seems impossible to disrupt. Laboratories in China produce fentanyl and ship the man-made poison to the United States via international mail. Our postal system tries to control the flow, but it’s an impossible task. Also, Chinese drug lords send large amounts of fentanyl to associates in Mexico and, to a lesser degree, Canada. Operatives then move the deadly product across the U.S.-Mexico border and, less frequently, across our northern border.

    And now, according to a declassified government report, India is getting in on this most profitable business. Labs there produce fentanyl and ship it directly to both China and Mexico. Naturally, much of it ends up in U.S. cities and towns because, sadly, that’s where the demand is.

    It’s clear China is the biggest player here. For years, President Xi Jinping has given us lip service on his willingness to shut down his country’s illegal fentanyl factories. In 2017, the United States began to indict major Chinese manufacturers, but there is no indication the Chinese government ever arrested any of them.

    It is also clear that the unprotected route through Mexico is a major contributor to the fentanyl flood into the United States. As U.S. Border Patrol agents are overwhelmed dealing with immigrants—more than 212,000 of them in July—drug mules find plenty of opportunity to slip through unpatrolled and unfenced border areas.

    Our immigration policy, coupled with the almost unfettered flow of fentanyl, has turned Mexican drug lords into billionaires, if they weren’t already. Not only do the cartels make boatloads of money selling the opioid on American streets, but they also charge immigrants thousands of dollars in exchange for guaranteed safe passage to the U.S. border. Once here, many immigrants are intimidated into working the drug trade. A recent report from Customs and Border Patrol estimated that the cartel’s human traffickers made some $411 million just during the month of February. That’s more than $14 million a day.

    So, wondering what can be done to stop the ever-increasing overdose death rate caused by fentanyl? The answers seem clear. First, clamp down on China with more trade sanctions. And, how about a strict embargo on all mail and packages from China (or Hong Kong) coming into the United States? That maneuver would cripple the Chinese economy and surely make Xi more cooperative in the fentanyl fight.

    Next, seal our borders, especially the southern border with Mexico. Finish the damn wall or recruit legions more Border Patrol agents. It is only logical that if drug mules cannot get into the United States, then neither can their lethal cargo. Something must be done because the status quo is killing our children. It is not acceptable.

    This is not about politics, or who started or stopped building the border wall. Please, let’s get past that paralyzing mindset. This is about losing city-sized populations every single year. Doesn’t that warrant an immediate and forceful reaction?

    The government’s primary role is to protect its citizens. The fentanyl death rate is an obvious tragedy in need of immediate attention.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 08/23/2021 – 00:00

  • Biden Administration Bans Russian-Made Ammo Amid Shortage 
    Biden Administration Bans Russian-Made Ammo Amid Shortage 

    On Friday, the U.S. Department of State announced it would stop accepting new and pending permits for Russian firearms and ammunition importation for 12 months as part of a new round of sanctions against Moscow over the 2020 poisoning of Russian Dissident Aleksey Navalny. 

    The Department of State released the new sanctions under the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 (the CBW Act), which reads: 

    Restrictions on the permanent imports of certain Russian firearms. New and pending permit applications for the permanent importation of firearms and ammunition manufactured or located in Russia will be subject to a policy of denial.

    Shipments of firearms and ammunition from Russia that have already been approved will enter the U.S. But Russian firms who want to expand their footprint at U.S. gun stores won’t be able to for a 12-month period. The move could adversely impact gun and ammo prices.

    The Firearms Regulatory Accountability Coalition questioned the State Department’s rationale behind the ban. The group suspects the move is part of a plan by the Biden administration to tighten firearm supply and increase ammunition prices to make it unaffordable – a highly complex way to squeeze gun-loving Americans. 

    “The law in question was intended—and rightfully so—to hold the Russian government accountable,” the group told The Reload. “With this rule, however, the State Department appears to be using the attack on Mr. Navalny and this law primarily to further the current administration’s campaign to undermine the firearms industry and American consumers’ access to firearms and ammunition.”

    The ban of new and pending permits to import Russian-made ammo and guns couldn’t have come at the worst time as the U.S. is facing an ammo shortage. 

    Over the last 24 hours, gun-loving Americans in almost every state are panic searching “Russian ammo ban” and are concerned about AK-47 ammo chambered in 7.62×39mm. 

    Say goodbye to cheap 7.62×39mm ammo from Russia? 

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/22/2021 – 23:30

  • Ron Paul: The Secret Ronald Reagan Told Me About Gold And Great Nations
    Ron Paul: The Secret Ronald Reagan Told Me About Gold And Great Nations

    Authored by Ron Paul via The Mises Institute,

    Last week [August 15] marked 50 years since President Richard Nixon closed the “gold window,” ending the ability of foreign governments to exchange United States dollars for gold. Nixon’s action severed the last link between the dollar and gold, giving the U.S. a fiat currency.

    America’s experiment with fiat has led to an explosion of consumer, business, and—especially—government debt. It has also caused increasing economic inequality, a boom-bubble-bust business cycle, and a continued erosion of the dollar’s value.

    Nixon’s closure of the gold window motivated me to run for office. Having read the works of the leading Austrian economists, such as Ludwig von Mises and Murray Rothbard, I understood the dangers of abandoning gold for a fiat currency and wanted a platform to spread these ideas.

    When I first entered public life, support for restoring a gold standard, much less abolishing the Fed, was limited to so-called “gold bugs” and the then tiny libertarian movement. Even many economists who normally supported free markets believed the fiat system could be made to work if the Federal Reserve were forced to follow rules.

    These rules were supposed to provide the Fed with clear guidance as to when to increase or decrease the money supply. This may sound good in theory, but a “rules-based monetary system” still allows the Federal Reserve to manipulate interest rates, which are the price of money, causing artificial booms and very real busts.

    The stagflation of the Carter era did increase interest in monetary policy. The rise of the “supply-siders,” who supported a limited role for gold, helped increase interest in the issue.

    Ronald Reagan once told me that no nation has abandoned gold and remained great. As president, he supported the creation of the Gold Commission. However, he did not stop the establishment from stacking the commission with defenders of the monetary status quo.

    The commission’s two pro-gold members, Lewis Lehrman and myself, produced a minority report, written with the aid of Murray Rothbard, making the case for a gold standard. The report was published as The Case for Gold. It can be downloaded at Mises.org.

    By the mid-1980s, any interest among the political and financial elites in questioning the Fed’s power had disappeared. This was due to acceptance of the myth that Paul Volcker tamed inflation. In the 1990s, a virtual cult of personality arose around the “Maestro” Alan Greenspan, who once told me that the Fed had learned how to “replicate” the results of a gold-backed currency.

    While my warnings that the Fed was leading the American economy over the cliff were dismissed in Washington, they found a receptive audience outside the Beltway. The response to my 2008 presidential campaign led to a birth of a new liberty movement that put monetary policy front and center.

    The 2008 meltdown, big bank bailouts, and the Fed’s subsequent failure to reignite the economy despite unprecedented money creation fueled the growth of the new movement. My Campaign for Liberty organization mobilized the new liberty movement to make Audit the Fed a major issue in Congress.

    Fifty years after Nixon closed the gold window, prices are heading toward 1970s-era increases.

    Yet the Fed cannot increase interest rates as long as the politicians keep creating billions of new debts.

    It is clear that America is heading toward another Federal Reserve–created economic crisis. The good news is the impending crisis gives us an opportunity to spread our message, grow our movement, and finally force Congress to audit and end the Fed.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/22/2021 – 23:00

  • Australian Town Council Sparks Outrage After Killing Rescue Dogs To Prevent Covid Spread
    Australian Town Council Sparks Outrage After Killing Rescue Dogs To Prevent Covid Spread

    Outrage was sparked after an Australian town council shot dead several rescue dogs in order to prevent volunteers from breaking quarantine to pick them up last week in the city of Cobar, NSW, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, citing the Office of Local Government.

    “OLG has been informed that the council decided to take this course of action to protect its employees and community, including vulnerable Aboriginal populations, from the risk of COVID-19 transmission,” said a spokesman for the government agency.

    According to the report, the shelter volunteers had Covid-safe measures prepared to handle the dogs – one of which was a new mother.

    “We are deeply distressed and completely appalled by this callous dog shooting and we totally reject the council’s unacceptable justifications that this killing was apparently undertaken as part of a COVID- safe plan,” Animal Liberation regional campaign manager Lisa Ryan told the Herald.

    NSW, Australia’s most populous state, re-entered a strict lockdown two weeks ago, as officials deployed the military and threatened to go “door-to-door” to enforce mandatory COVID restrictions and tests on Australians, according to Victoria Premier, Daniel Andrews.

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    Meanwhile in the land of dog murder, one Australian was involuntarily admitted to a mental institution for refusing the jab. 

    Indeed, it seems the inmates are running the asylum in the land down under.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/22/2021 – 22:30

  • COVID-19 Cases Rising Within The Homeless Population
    COVID-19 Cases Rising Within The Homeless Population

    Authored by Vanessa Serna via The Epoch Times,

    As California witnesses a surge in CCP virus cases, homeless individuals are among the most vulnerable, officials say.

    “People experiencing homelessness are at high risk of severe COVID-19 disease due to underlying health conditions, age, or both,” Los Angeles County Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer said in an Aug. 18 statement.

    “As we partner with others to reach people experiencing homelessness that are not yet vaccinated, layering protection at programs serving this population is critical.”

    The number of CCP virus cases among the homeless has increased in the past month as of Aug. 18, according to the Los Angeles County of Public Health. This past week alone, homeless individuals accounted for 185 new cases. In total, nearly 8,000 unhoused people have tested positive in Los Angeles County, with 218 recorded deaths.

    CCP virus cases in homeless individuals peaked back in December when 638 cases were recorded. Since then, case numbers have been on the decline prior to recently increasing.

    With the CCP virus vaccines becoming more accessible, over 51,322 doses have been administered to homeless individuals in the county, with over 25,000 being fully vaccinated.

    Similarly in Orange County, Douglas Becht, director of operations at the Orange County Health Care Agency, told The Epoch Times the county is working collaboratively with health centers and 35 emergency shelters to educate and administer vaccines to homeless individuals.

    As of Aug. 19, over 1,500 doses of the CCP virus vaccine have been administered to homeless individuals in Orange County. While it is unclear how many homeless have become ill with the virus, 14 deaths have been reported.

    The data provided by Los Angeles and Orange counties comes a day after federal health officials recommended booster shots for CCP virus-vaccinated citizens.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/22/2021 – 22:00

  • Beijing Considers Making US Listed Companies Hand Over Data Control To Chinese State Firms
    Beijing Considers Making US Listed Companies Hand Over Data Control To Chinese State Firms

    On Friday, Chinese tech stocks swooned for the nth time, sending the Hang Seng index into bear market territory, after Beijing approved a new privacy law to prevent data collection by domestic technology companies. As we reported then, China’s most powerful legislative body, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, passed the Personal Information Protection Law that will go into effect on Nov.1.  The move sent tech stocks plunging and leaving investors bewildered over the intensity of Beijing’s regulatory crackdown that has slammed countless sectors. 

    It turns out that when it comes to control over data, Beijing is nowhere near done and late on Friday Reuters reported that as part of Beijing’s unprecedented scrutiny of private sector firms, Chinese regulators are considering pressing data-rich companies “to hand over management and supervision of their data to third-party firms” if they want to list in the U.S.

    The regulators believe bringing in third-party information security firms – ideally state-backed – to manage and monitor IPO hopefuls’ data could effectively limit their ability to transfer Chinese onshore data overseas. That, Reuters notes, would help ease Beijing’s growing concerns that “a foreign listing might force such Chinese companies to hand over some of their data to foreign entities and undermine national security” a increasingly sensitive topic for public Chinese firms such as Didi whose stock price plunged amid an ongoing feud with Beijing over who gets to control the company’s data trove.

    The plan is one of several proposals under consideration by Chinese regulators as Beijing has tightened its grip on the country’s internet platforms in recent months, including looking to sharpen scrutiny of overseas listings.

    The crackdown, which has smashed stocks and badly dented investor sentiment, in the process hammering US hedge funds who as we noted on Friday have been especially exposed to Chinese stocks…

    … has targeted unfair competition and internet companies’ handling of an enormous cache of consumer data, after years of a more laissez-faire approach. A final decision on the IPO-bound companies’ data handover plan is yet to be made, said the Reuters  sources.

    The regulatory officials have discussed the plan with capital market participants, said one of the sources, as part of moves to strengthen supervision of all Chinese firms listed offshore.

    IPO advisers are hopeful a formal framework on the data handover issue could be delivered in September, said the source.

    Chinese regulators have recently put companies’ overseas listing plans, particularly in the United States, on hold pending new rules on data security. Last month, the CAC proposed draft rules calling for companies with over 1 million users to undergo security reviews before listing overseas .

    With US policymakers already worried that Chinese firms are flouting U.S. rules requiring public companies to disclose a range of potential risks to their financial performance, Beijing’s data handover plan sparked renewed calls for caution.

    “This is one more piece of evidence that private companies do not actually exist in the People’s Republic of China – they are all under the control of the Chinese Communist Party,” U.S. Representative Michael McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs committee, said in a statement.

    “Any company that does business in the PRC must answer to the CCP, threatening investor transparency, consumer privacy, and national security,” he added, according to Reuters.

    Senator Bill Hagerty, who sits on the Senate Banking Committee, echoed this statement to Reuters: “The Biden Administration and the SEC must continue to take action to ensure that Americans are aware of all the risks of investing in companies that are in anyway subjected to the Chinese Communist Party’s rule, including the CCP’s management of key data.”

    The plans to step up supervision of Chinese companies going public overseas came days after Beijing launched a cybersecurity investigation into ride-hailing giant Didi Global on the heels of its $4.4 billion U.S. stock market listing. Didi is now in talks with state-owned Westone Information Industry Inc to handle its data management and monitoring activities, Reuters reported earlier this month. The proposed restrictions on Didi could become a possible template for other data-rich Chinese companies that look to go public in the United States.

    As noted above, Beijing’s increasing sensitivity about the collection and usage of onshore data comes as the top legislative body on Friday passed a new law designed to protect online user data privacy. It will implement the policy starting on Nov. 1. In September, China is also set to implement its Data Security Law, which requires companies that process “critical data” to conduct risk assessments and submit reports to authorities.

    The government has in recent years increasingly seen user data as key to the country’s financial and social stability and pushed tech giants including Ant Group, Tencent and JD.com to share consumer loan data to prevent excess borrowing and fraud, Reuters reported in January. read more Ant is also in the process of spinning off its consumer-credit data operations, as part of the business revamp to revive its public share sale.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/22/2021 – 21:30

  • Stranded Afghans Delete Social Media As Taliban Seizes US Surveillance Equipment
    Stranded Afghans Delete Social Media As Taliban Seizes US Surveillance Equipment

    Authored by Ken Silva via The Epoch Times,

    Concerned that they could be targeted by Taliban online surveillance operations, U.S. Afghan allies are reportedly scrambling to delete their social media profiles in droves. Meanwhile, privacy advocates are raising the concern that the U.S. data program possibly inherited by the Taliban could lead to blowback threatening civil liberties in America.

    The New York-based group Human Rights First announced on Aug. 16 that Taliban fighters captured U.S. surveillance tools. These devices, known as Handheld Interagency Identity Detection Equipment (HIIDE), were used by soldiers to scan the biometrics of Afghans to match fingerprints on improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and for other such forensic investigations.

    “We understand that the Taliban is now likely to have access to various biometric databases and equipment in Afghanistan, including some left behind by coalition military forces,” the human rights group said.

    “This technology is likely to include access to a database with fingerprints and iris scans, and include facial recognition technology.”

    The Human Rights First advisory included multilingual guides for Afghan allies on protecting their digital identities.

    The warning corresponds with numerous reports of Afghans deleting their social media profiles in an attempt to protect their privacy from the Taliban. USAID reportedly circulated emails to its partners in Afghanistan to “remove photos and information that could make individuals or groups vulnerable.”

    Former U.S. Army prosecutor John Maher told The Epoch Times that this specific warning about the Taliban taking HIIDE equipment is probably overblown.

    Maher, who worked with the Afghan biometrics program during his time as program manager of the Justice Center in Parwan, said that HIIDE devices are password-protected. And after a soldier uses the device and uploads the data at the central database, protocol says to wipe the device clean, said Maher.

    “Even if [Taliban] can get into that device, they’ll get an unclassified list of their own people,” added Maher, who has also used Afghan biometric evidence in the successful—though controversial—campaign to have Donald Trump pardon a soldier convicted of killing civilians.

    On the wider issue of Taliban conducting surveillance operations to locate their enemies, Maher said he thinks they would have to be aided by more sophisticated governments such as China or Iran.

    “I’m skeptical that Taliban are that sophisticated,” said Maher, who also told The Epoch Times that he’s been helping Afghan allies leave the country via his U.S.-Afghan firm Misbah Maher Consultancy.

    While the HIIDE devices may not pose a risk to Afghans, Taliban fighters have previously used biometric systems to target their enemies. In 2016, for instance, they reportedly used a government database to check whether bus passengers were security force members, according to a 2016 TOLOnews report.

    American Enterprise Institute senior fellow Klon Kitchen said the security risks posed by the abandoned U.S. surveillance equipment is just one of the many consequences of a sloppy U.S. withdrawal.

    A proper withdrawal would have entailed deleting all digital files in U.S. facilities and servers in Afghanistan, destroying all computers and other physical equipment, and working with tech companies and social media platforms to protect Afghan identities, Klon said in his weekly newsletter.

    Meanwhile, the biometric information collected on tens of millions of Afghans remains on U.S. government databases, to potentially be used by the FBI, DHS, and other agencies for investigations, according to Maher. “It’s interagency data now,” he said.

    The DoD did not answer numerous Epoch Times inquiries about the status and security of the Afghan data, including whether any centralized databases remain in Afghanistan.

    Societal Implications

    More broadly, the DoD’s biometrics program has sparked discussion about the role such technology should play in society.

    “It’s nothing more complicated than fingerprint data, which is over 100 years old,” Maher said of the concerns about government biometrics collection.

    Proponents point to the crime-fighting benefits. Along with the countless cases solved by fingerprint collection, forensic experts have made breakthroughs on DNA analysis—helping law enforcers solve mysteries such as the “Golden State Killer” case.

    Proponents also say that collecting biometric data on citizens allows governments to establish digital identities—allowing people to more easily travel, open bank accounts, receive medical care, and access other social services.

    “Imagine a world where onboarding does not take five days but only four hours. Where to prove you are eligible to receive your UN pension it only takes two minutes from the smartphone in the palm of your hand, compared to two months using the old regular post,” says a United Nations website touting the UN Digital ID. “The UN Digital ID is the same underlying engine that will power all these and many other use cases.”

    However, civil liberties and privacy advocates have raised concerns about governments using biometrics for repression.

    In her book on the DoD’s biometrics project, “First Platoon,” author Annie Jacobsen compared the Afghan program to the Chinese Communist Party’s “Physicals for All” program foisted on the Uyghur Muslims there.

    “In addition to the DNA samples, the Physicals for All program netted biometrics on 36 million Uyghur Chinese—including iris scans, facial images, voice prints, and more,” Jacobsen wrote.

    “Human rights groups are right to call this out, but they have yet to acknowledge that this Physicals for All program is modelled directly after the Pentagon program in Afghanistan.”

    Jacobsen further argued that the Afghan program could come home to the United States in the form of contact tracing and vaccine passport technology. She pointed out that the same company that built software for the Afghan program, Palantir, is now working with the U.S. Health and Human Services Department (HHS) “to bring disparate data sets together and provide better visibility to HHS on the spread of COVID.”

    “The argument that what is happening in China—that is, the mandatory data-banking of a whole population’s biodata, including DNA—could never happen in America is an optimistic one,” she wrote.

    “The pandemic of 2020 has resulted in enthusiasm for government-led contact-tracing programs in the U.S., opening the door for military-grade programs to data-bank biodata of Americans.

    “Because disease lies at the center of this new threat, the reality that citizens’ DNA cell samples are of interest to the government is no longer science fiction.”

    Antiwar activist Scott Horton agreed with Jacobsen’s thesis, arguing that domestic blowback is the predictable consequence of overseas wars.

    “Just look at the Patriot Act: That was supposed to protect us from terrorists, and yet they use it all the time on everybody,” he said.

    This time, it’s conservatives who could be victims of the blowback as U.S. federal agencies ramp up their domestic surveillance activities, said Horton, the editorial director of antiwar.com and author of “Fool’s Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan.”

    “You know, the people who supported the war are now taking the brunt,” Horton told The Epoch Times.

    “It’s the war on terror come home. That’s what always happens.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/22/2021 – 21:00

  • Japan Emerges As Biggest Driver Behind Recent Plunge In Yields
    Japan Emerges As Biggest Driver Behind Recent Plunge In Yields

    As frequent readers will recall, one of the catalysts behind the forceful emergence of the reflation trade in the first quarter was the powerful move higher in yields which many interpreted as markets pricing in higher long-term inflation. In reality, we have since learned that this move – which coincided perfectly with the end of Japan’s fiscal year on March 31  – was largely, if not exclusively, a byproduct of Japan’s giant pension fund, the GPIF, drastically shifting out of treasuries as it slashed its US Treasury exposure by a record amount.

    Furthermore, as Morgan Stanley said earlier this month when news of the GPIF’s asset reallocation first emerged, “it is important to avoid the trap of forcibly goalseeking a narrative to lower yields, a trap investors dealt with merely four months ago“:

    Treasury yields rose sharply in March, largely due to selling from Japanese investors, based on their fiscal year-end considerations.

    Yet, most investors mistook the rise in yields as validation for a super-hot economy, and the consensus bought into the idea that 10-year yields were headed above 2%. We cautioned investors that yields had overshot relative to the economic reality. Over the coming weeks, economic data in the US couldn’t keep up with unrealistic expectations, and 10-year yields started grinding lower.

    In other words, GPIF’s decision to dump US Treasuries fooled the world into believing the recovery was accelerating, but now that yields are collapsing again, the asset gatherers and commission-rakers conveniently brush it off as “QE-driven distortion.”

    Fast forward to today when we may be experiencing a remarkable reversal of events from the first quarter.

    As most know, in recent weeks the market has been obsessed with the ongoing plunge in yields with most interpreting this development as spelling the end of any reflationary hopes and signaling perhaps outright deflation. Yet as Morgan Stanley again points out, it could very well be that the recent sharp move lower in yields is again merely the result of country-specific asset reallocation. The country in question? Again Japan.

    As Morgan Stanley’s rates strategist Matthew Hornbach writes in his latest weekly Global Macro Strategist note, global macro markets continue to grapple with the fallout from rising Covid cases driven by the Delta variant, albeit to different extents. With higher vaccination rates, booster vaccines, and stronger fiscal support, most developed economies have some scope for mitigating the economic damage from the rise in cases. As Fed chair Powell noted earlier this week, he doesn’t see “important effects” for the US economy just yet.

    Powell, on August 18: I would say it’s not yet clear whether the delta strain will have important effects on the economy. We’ll have to see about that.

    But while Powell may not have changed his view for the economy based on rising Covid cases yet, markets are grappling with the risk case that the rise in the Delta variant will have a negative effect on the economy. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the recent plunge in 10Y nominal yields to 1.15% and the crash in real yields to all time lows.

    Of course, there is nothing revolutionary in arguing that the move lower in yields is a direct result of economic slowdown fears arising from the wide spread of the covid Delta variant which has already prompted fresh lockdowns in various countries such as Australia, Japan and New Zealand… but how much is too much? According to Morgan Stanley, “the decline in Treasury yields in the last two months, coincident with a rise of the Delta variant globally, already prices in that downside risk to a sizeable degree.”

    But a far more actionable observation courtesy of Morgan Stanley’s Matthew Horbnach, is that the buying of Treasurys (i.e., reducing yields) is hardly a uniform event. In fact, as shown in the chart below, the decline in yields has been coming exclusively from overnight buyers, particularly from Asian buyers – i.e., Japan, the same Japan which in Q1 was busy dumping Treasurys –  while US investors as well as European investors seem relatively bullish.

    As shown in the chart below, yields have declined in August only in the Tokyo session, while rising in London and NY sessions.

    Furthermore, as Hornbach notes, the lack of follow-through in Treasury yields after the sharp decline in the University of Michigan consumer sentiment – which curiously saw yields rise despite the most bearish economic signal in the survey’s recent history – “is encouraging in that regard.”

    Paradoxically, this bizarre dump out of Japan may also explain a strange observation in equities: as we noted last week, in the past month the S&P is down 4% in the overnight session and it is up 3.5% from 930am to 4pm. This is a stark reversal of the familiar “overnight futures ramp” which has led to most of the market’s gains in the past decade.

    So is the recent slide in yields the result of aggressive Japanese hedging and/or outright buying of Treasurys? After GPIF’s Q1 stunner, when yields blew out as the pension fund was dumping its Treasury exposure, it certainly is conceivable that Japan’s skittish bond managers have once again taken the entire bond market for the proverbial ride. Throw in the fact that Japan would be wrongfooting the entire market for the second time in six months, and the irony of all those rates experts being confounded by one nation’s bond flow would be complete.

    There’s more: even if the move in rates is more than just “Japan”, the bond market has now taken its downbeat view of the Delta variant too far. Just yesterday, we reported that according to the CDC, the Delta wave has “likely peaked across the Northeast.” This confirms what Morgan Stanley said 10 days ago when it predicted that the Delta wave “will peak in 1-2 weeks.” It’s now almost two weeks later.

    Also two weeks ago JPMorgan’s Marko Kolanovic said that Delta cases are about to turn lower, an inflection point which prompted the quant to call for a bottom in yields and cyclicals.

    Picking up on this, Hornbach writes that the “second derivative of daily cases in the US is peaking, which is in line with our biotechnology analysts’ view that daily Covid case in the US could be peaking in late August/early September.” As shown in the next chart, the rise and fall in Treasury yields over the last few months has a degree of inverse relationship with the rate of change of daily Covid cases (2nd derivative of total cases). In other words, “If Covid cases indeed peak, we would expect Treasury yields to rise.”

    And finally, Hornbach who was broken with Wall Street’s dovish trend and expects 10Y yields to hit 1.80% by year end, notes that there may actually be long-term positive effects from the current wave of Covid cases in that it allows the US population to move faster toward herd immunity. This is because (1) more people have been vaccinated after the recent rise in cases, and (2) given the fast spread of the Delta variant in the unvaccinated population, more people gain immunity by developing antibodies after infection.

    On that note, it is remarkable that the latest serological testing in New York City shows that 75% of the population has some form of antibody immunity vs. Covid – immunity whether due to vaccination or actually having defeated the virus – and thus the US is getting ever closer to “herd immunity”.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/22/2021 – 20:30

  • Connecticut Allows Patients, Their Doctors, & Local Health Officials To Access COVID-19 Vaccination Records
    Connecticut Allows Patients, Their Doctors, & Local Health Officials To Access COVID-19 Vaccination Records

    Authored by Ella Kietlinska via The Epoch Times,

    Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont issued an executive order that allows patients and their doctors to access patients’ own COVID-19 vaccination digital records stored in the state information system. The order also permits local health officials and school nurses to access the vaccination status of people in their communities.

    Gov. Lamont announced on Thursday that patients and their health care providers would be granted access to patients’ COVID-19 vaccination history, according to a statement.

    Connecticut state statutes currently prevent vaccination records from being released to patients and health care providers, the statement said.

    The decree will allow individuals to obtain a copy of their immunization records to satisfy vaccine mandates put in place by employers and businesses.

    Health care providers will be allowed to see their patient’s vaccination history, for example, if they needed to administer vaccine boosters, instead of keeping track of it on their own, the statement said.

    Local health authorities will be permitted to access the vaccination status of people within their jurisdictions to assess the vaccination status of their community, the statement said.

    According to the statement, many communities in Connecticut are still below herd immunity thresholds for COVID-19, so vaccination status data will be used to inform community outreach efforts.

    “Specifically, school nurses and local health directors will be equipped with timely information about the vaccination status of their communities,” the statement said.

    The disclosure remains in effect until the end of September, but it can be modified or terminated, the executive order stated.

    “Without this order, patients will continue to be frustrated that they are blocked from accessing their own vaccination records, and doctors and healthcare providers will be unable to easily lookup when and with what vaccine their patients were administered a COVID-19 vaccine,” Lamont said in the statement.

    Several Connecticut hospitals, health centers, and health center associations expressed their support for the governor’s order.

    Marna Borgstrom, CEO of Yale New Haven Health, said in the statement, “Vaccinations are the only safe and proven way to end this pandemic and giving all Connecticut residents access to their vaccination records will allow us all to return to doing all the things we love with those we love.”

    Connecticut’s immunization information system was created in 1998 and has been recently updated to include vaccination against COVID-19, the disease caused by CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.

    In order to use the system, all health care providers, school nurses, and local health department users are required to sign a confidentiality agreement that needs to be renewed every two years, according to the statement. Access to the system is monitored and logged, and inappropriate activity can be investigated and addressed, the statement said.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/22/2021 – 20:00

  • "At Least" 17 Top Staffers Leave Blue Origin After SpaceX Awarded $2.9 Billion NASA Contract
    “At Least” 17 Top Staffers Leave Blue Origin After SpaceX Awarded $2.9 Billion NASA Contract

    Jeff Bezos’ space exploration company, Blue Origin, saw “at least” 17 of its top staffers defect from the company shortly after Bezos made his publicized trip into outer space.

    One employee, a lead engineer, left to take a job at SpaceX, according to reporting by Insider. Another employee wound up at Firefly Aerospace.

    CNBC then followed up, noting that “many other engineers and key leaders” also left the company. Some of the defectors were part of the team that tried to land a NASA lunar contract that eventually went to SpaceX, the report said.

    The report laid out all of the confirmed departures:

    New Shepard senior vice president Steve Bennett, chief of mission assurance Jeff Ashby (who retired), national security sales director Scott Jacobs, New Glenn senior director Bob Ess, New Glenn first stage senior director Tod Byquist, New Glenn senior finance manager Bill Scammell, senior manager of production testing Christopher Payne, New Shepard technical project manager Nate Chapman, senior propulsion design engineer Dave Sanderson, senior HLS human factors engineer Rachel Forman, BE-4 controller lead integration and testing engineer Jack Nelson, New Shepard lead avionics software engineer Huong Vo, BE-7 avionics hardware engineer Aaron Wang, propulsion engineer Rex Gu, and rocket engine development engineer Gerry Hudak.

    About a dozen of the additional employees who left were also confirmed by Fox News.

    A Blue Origin spokesperson told CNBC: “Blue Origin grew by 850 people in 2020 and we have grown by another 650 so far in 2021. In fact, we’ve grown by nearly a factor of four over the past three years. We continue to fill out major leadership roles in manufacturing, quality, engine design, and vehicle design. It’s a team we’re building and we have great talent.”

    The departures came shortly after NASA announced in April that SpaceX would get a $2.9 billion contract for a moon lander. Blue Origin had appealed not getting the contract back in April, but the appeal was rejected by the Government Accountability Office in July. 

    Blue Origin still has about 4,000 employees and is headquartered in Kent, Washington.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/22/2021 – 19:30

  • Biden Stands By Kabul Evacuation, Laughs When Confronted With Poll Suggesting Majority No Longer See Him As "Competent Or Effective"
    Biden Stands By Kabul Evacuation, Laughs When Confronted With Poll Suggesting Majority No Longer See Him As “Competent Or Effective”

    There was a remarkable moment in Biden’s press conference on Sunday afternoon. Asked by a CBS journalist Ed O’Keefe – who had to obsequiously preface his question by saying “I am sorry, I am just the messenger” – what Biden thinks about the first full post-Kabul poll which found that a “majority of Americans no longer consider Biden competent, focused or effective” the president laughed, denied seeing the poll and cited various statistics about the total number of dead and wounded in Afghanistan, read from a notecard,  oblivious of the fact that the question did not refer to the overall strategy of withdrawal from Afghanistan which a majority of Americans approve, but his bunged retreat which has left thousands of Americans in harms way, not to mention leaving Afghanistan a smoldering mess.

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    Biden’s response: “I think that history is gonna record this was the logical, rational and right decision to make.”

    History maybe, but Americans certainly not: as CBS prefaced its own poll, “Most Americans have wanted to withdraw from Afghanistan for a while, and most still do. But not like this.“

    As a result of the botched withdrawal, the poll found a sharp hit on qualities the public saw a positive like competence, focus, and effectiveness — now those are each at least slightly net negative.

    Obviously, the catalyst for Biden’s plunge in the polls was his handling the withdrawal, where mainly Democrats backing him here and a substantial drop since July.

    Biden’s overall approval rating, which had been consistently net positive since he took office also took a hit, dropping eight points and now lands at an even 50-50 nationwide.

    Biden took an especially big hit among independents. They’d given him positive marks in July, but now, more than half disapprove of how he’s handling both withdrawing from Afghanistan and his job overall. His overall approval is down within his own Democratic Party — it’s still high, in the 80s, but off its highs in the 90s. And while he had enjoyed a bit of Republican approval through the summer, that has dropped.

    While he saw sharp drops across most categories, Biden is still positive on handling the coronavirus outbreak, but that is also down from last month.

    But the biggest problem facing Biden, and one which won’t go away, is that two thirds of Americans feel the president does not have a clear plan for evacuating U.S. civilians from Afghanistan.

    Sensing that his Afghanistan planning is his biggest weakness, the president assured the public the “hard and painful” Afghan evacuation is going smoothly, even as officials are struggling to explain the details. He added that placing sanctions on the Taliban “depends on the context.”

    The American military airlifted some 11,000 US citizens, NATO allies, former Afghan employees of the US military, and other “vulnerable” Afghans out of Kabul airport over the weekend, Biden told reporters at a press conference on Sunday.

    After a week of chaos in Kabul, Biden insisted that the evacuation would have been “hard and painful no matter when we started,” a rebuke to pundits and political opponents who described the evacuation as rushed and chaotis.

    “There is no way to evacuate this many people without pain and loss,” Biden stated, adding that his “heart aches” for those who lost their lives at the airport.

    And while Biden touted the US military’s ability to move “thousands” of people out each day, several thousand Americans remain in Kabul, and have been left to make their own way to the airport. Biden refused to say whether US forces were leaving airport grounds to rescue these Americans, but said that “by and large,” Taliban fighters – who run security outside the airport – are allowing them to leave.

    However, Biden’s officials have described the situation less optimistically. Speaking to CBS News earlier on Sunday, Secretary of State Tony Blinken said that the US was depending on the Taliban’s permission to allow Americans to pass through, and in an interview with ABC News, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said that some of these Americans had experienced “tough encounters” with Taliban militants.

    The US’ “first priority in Kabul is getting American citizens out of the country,” Biden told reporters. However, the president also outlined a system where Afghan allies eligible for US visas, as well as an unspecified number of “vulnerable Afghans” would be flown to other countries, vetted, and then shuttled into the United States to be resettled. The resettlement program, he said, “exemplifies the best of America.”

    Biden has acknowledged that future diplomacy with Afghanistan will mean diplomacy with the Taliban, as the militant group seeks “economic assistance” and “legitimacy.” Biden did not say whether the US would provide the former or acknowledge the latter, noting that the Taliban’s promises have thus far been “just words.”

    Depending on how a Taliban government pans out, Biden said that he would possibly support sanctions against the Islamist group, “depend[ing] on the context.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/22/2021 – 19:07

  • One Bank Spots Abnormally Heavy Ethereum Call Volumes, Asks If A Surge Is Coming
    One Bank Spots Abnormally Heavy Ethereum Call Volumes, Asks If A Surge Is Coming

    With seemingly every major bank launching its own regular periodic research report and/or analysis on the state of the crypto industry, last week UBS joined the fray when in addition to its Crypto Compass note published by the bank’s FX team, it also sent out an inaugural Crypto Keys note in which it asked whether ether will steal bitcoin’s crown as the king of cryptocurrencies. According to the note’s author, Moritz Diller, “many believe this is inevitable, especially after ETH 2.0 ushers in the shift to proof-of-stake next year and as DeFi interest builds.” However, UBS is less sure, as “each represents a different value proposition and use case while facing its own challenges and indeed challengers.”

    While there are various, and numerous, considerations listed by UBS on the topic of the “flippening” or that moment when ether overtakes bitcoin, in its latest report UBS focuses on two key factors that could determine the price of the 2nd largest cryptocurrency in coming weeks.

    First, looking at the downside risk, Diller writes that “what should give bulls pause is active addresses failing to show any signs of fresh life. These start from a much higher point than bitcoin, which also looks decidedly lackluster here.”

    And yet the bearish case is not that clear-cut: as UBS notes, traditionally such demand-side indicators of network effects are the most powerful predictors of future price movements. However, what’s occurring instead is that “prices have been lifted largely by HODLing effects, as volumes of ETH sent to exchanges—typically in order to be sold—are plumbing to year-to-date lows.”

    In other words, while activity may be declining sale activity is declining even more, as “believers are squirreling it away.”

    To UBS, such behavior may account for not just ether’s correlation break with FANG-type stocks but an increasingly pronounced inverse relationship.

    UBS conclusion is that while it would be a stretch to say one was being used to hedge the other, it does represent “an intriguing proposition that platforms like Ethereum could represent a strategic threat to established tech.” It also validates what Goldman said back in May when the bank initiated on crypto with a much more favorable view of ETH calling it the “amazon of information“, while panning bitcoin as a “one trick pony.”

    UBS next looks at the vol space which has seen substantial turbulence in recent months, and where as spot rallied so did implied vol, especially at the 3month point where vols rose by over 10 handles for both.

    Whereas such a move would routinely cause the term structure to flatten or even invert, instead the opposite happened with mid-to-longer dated tenors not only trading in premium but near historic realized extremes.

    But this is where the similarities end between the markets for bitcoin and ether, and as UBS observes, “whereas BTC option volumes are hovering around their one year average, which is consistent with periods of upward moving prices, ETH interest stands at levels only seen during May’s sharp sell-off” when the ETH crash sparked a flood of option-driven flows.

    UBS then spots the same pattern in skews, where both flipped to favor calls at the end of July but are now diverging on the back of even stronger topside demand in ETH. In other words, while traders are clearly bullish on the crypto space, they see far more upside for ETH in coming weeks.

    What could be behind this? Here is UBS’ view:

    We’d surmise things aren’t particularly frothy or one-sided but are probably undergoing a reappraisal in terms of medium-term expectations, particularly for ETH. This may reflect reduced retail flow while other market participants are extending their investment horizon—and spending more premium—in anticipation of increased institutional adoption in the fall when US futures-based ETFs may finally get the nod.

    To this we will only add that there is always the possibility of a gamma squeeze in crypto which is lifting spot prices even as overall active addresses shrink. If so, a quick look at the option strikes by market price for BTC and ETH reveals that while Bitcoin’s most active strike is not too far from the current price, some around $50,000, the “max gamma” for Ether is far higher and it could send the crypto currency as high as $6,000, or double the current price, should a gamma squeeze emerge as that’s roughly where the most active – by far strike – is to be found.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/22/2021 – 19:00

  • Taiwan Says China Is Trying To "Emulate" What The Taliban Did In Afghanistan
    Taiwan Says China Is Trying To “Emulate” What The Taliban Did In Afghanistan

    In the latest chapter in what can only be described as a metastasizing sh*tshow between China and Taiwan, Taiwan has now claimed that China wants to “emulate” the Taliban and take over Taiwan the same way Islamic radicals took over Afghanistan.

    Taiwan said the island is “ready to defend itself” against Beijing in the event China tries to seize power, according to RT.

    Taiwan has been watching, along with the world, as the collapse of the Afghanistan has taken place in short order over the last few weeks. Chinese state media has called the events in Afghanistan “a lesson” for Taiwan that Americans can’t be trusted and that they will “abandon” Taipei like they did with Kabul.

    US State Department spokesman Ned Price countered those comments on Friday, stating that the U.S. “considers peace and security in the Taiwan Strait essential for stability in the whole of the Indo-Pacific region”.

    He stated: “Events elsewhere in the world – whether that’s Afghanistan or any other region – aren’t going to change that.” He urged Beijing to “cease its military, diplomatic, economic pressure” on the island, the RT report says. 

    Taiwan foreign minister Wu thanked Washington on Saturday for “upholding the wishes and best interests of the people of Taiwan.” 

    “China dreams of emulating the Taliban, but let me be blunt: We’ve got the will and means to defend ourselves,” Wu said. 

    Washington remains the largest arms supplier to Taiwan.

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    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/22/2021 – 18:30

  • Sen. Joe Manchin Dares To Admit: "The Coal Industry Has To Be Saved"
    Sen. Joe Manchin Dares To Admit: “The Coal Industry Has To Be Saved”

    Authored by Joseph Lord via The Epoch Times,

    In a notable break with progressives, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said in an interview that the coal industry “will be saved, has to be saved, because the country can’t survive without it.”

    Others in the Democratic Party have asserted that the coal industry contributes to global warming and that it should be replaced with other sources of “clean” energy like wind turbines, solar panels, and alternative, low-to-zero emission fuels. Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) budget resolution includes provisions to encourage green energy sources and to discourage traditional energy sources. In 2016, then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton threatened to put the coal industry “out of business.”

    Manchin has long been castigated by some progressives for his moderate policy positions. This defense of the coal industry is his latest break with the left wing of his party.

    However, the West Virginia Democrat’s defense of the coal industry is not surprising. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, coal is the energy source for a staggering majority of electricity generation in his state.

    In May 2021, coal provided nearly five million MWh of electricity to West Virginia, while the next most used source, natural gas, provided less than 300 thousand MWh. Green energy sources in the state provide even less: hydroelectric accounts for 134 thousand MWh and non-hydroelectric renewables (like biomass, solar, and wind) account for only 106 thousand MWh. This means that nearly 91 percent of all electricity in the state is sourced by burning coal. In short, West Virginia would simply not be able to abandon coal over any brief timespan.

    Manchin went one step further and repudiated the idea that America’s coal industry was “polluting the world and the climate.” He argued that it “has no effect whatsoever compared to the impact of Asia.” According to the International Energy Agency, this is true. China surpassed the United States in carbon emissions in 2006; by 2018, the country pumped nearly twice as much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as the United States.

    Manchin proposed another solution:

    “If you want to help clean up the climate, you’re gonna have to find the technology through innovation to capture the carbon [released from burning coal] and utilize it.”

    Moreover, Manchin believes that there will eventually be “a transition” to other sources of energy like atomic fusion, hydrogen gas, and nuclear power. While he looks forward to the adoption of these kinds of alternative fuels, he strongly rejects a sudden transition to these power sources.

    This commitment to phasing coal out gradually puts Manchin in conflict with Sanders and other progressives. While presenting the $3.5 trillion budget resolution on the Senate floor, Sanders said that $265 billion would go toward funding an “extremely aggressive” transformation of the U.S. energy system away from fossil fuels.

    While Manchin voted before the Senate went into recess to move the bill to debate “out of courtesy to [his] colleagues,” he also said that he was “not making any promises” to vote for it when it came back to the Senate. Beyond opposing this “extremely aggressive” transformation from coal, a move that would hurt his constituents, Manchin has expressed opposition to the extraordinary price tag of the bill and has voiced concerns elsewhere about the effect it would have on the national debt.

    Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) must hold his thin coalition together to get Sanders’s budget passed. Even if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) can calm Democratic disagreement in the House, Manchin’s commitment to protecting the coal industry makes it increasingly unlikely that the resolution will make it to the president’s desk.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/22/2021 – 18:05

  • At Least 22 Dead, 50 Missing After Deadliest Flood Event Ever In Middle Tennessee
    At Least 22 Dead, 50 Missing After Deadliest Flood Event Ever In Middle Tennessee

    Update (1804ET): At least 22 people were killed and 50 others unaccounted for on Sunday afternoon after torrential rains triggered flash floods that swept through two small towns in Middle Tennessee. 

    Humphreys County Emergency Management Agency said the death toll has now reached 22, and 51 people are missing. 

    Search and rescue operations have been ongoing since the flash floods swept through Waverly and McEwen on Saturday. 

    “Things are moving fast and we are finding people left and right,” Rob Edwards, the chief deputy of the Humphreys County Sheriff’s, told the NYTimes in an emailed response. He warned the death toll is expected to increase. 

    Mayor Buddy Frazier of Waverly told local news WKRN that the damage across his town was “staggering.” He said homes and businesses were swept off their foundations by the floodwaters. 

    Edwards said search and rescue operations had been hampered by widespread loss of power, cellphone service, and damage to certain infrastructures, such as roads and bridges. 

    “We have lost a lot of roads, both rural and major highways,” he said. “In my 28 years, it’s the worst I’ve ever seen it.”

    The National Weather Service in Nashville said this was the deadliest flood event in Middle Tennessee history.

    * * * 

    With everyone fixated on the tropical system that is about to smash Long Island or southern New England, another weather event crushed two small towns in Middle Tennessee has left at least ten people dead and dozens missing, according to The Tennessean. 

    Catastrophic flooding struck the small towns of Waverly and McEwen Saturday, where as much as 17 inches of rain fell over a 24-hour period. 

    Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis reports ten dead and 40 missing after the flash floods. Sheriffs and other first responders are conducting door-to-door searches. 

    The Hardin County Fire Department, which is now supporting Humphreys County rescue operations called the destruction nothing short of “unbelievable.” 

    Social media shows posts show destruction is everywhere. The flash flooding wiped homes and businesses off their foundations, submerged vehicles, and left millions of dollars in damage. Infrastructure was also damaged, such as roads and bridges were washed away. 

    The Red Cross has arrived in the devastated county and is erecting emergency shelters on Sunday morning. 

    “Our volunteers and staff will begin the response of surveying the area Sunday morning and will begin to assess the needs of each community we are serving following these storms,” said Joel Sullivan, regional executive director for Red Cross of Tennessee. “We are working with our local partners and government officials to ensure that recovery services are provided to begin helping the residents get back on their feet as quickly as we can.”

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/22/2021 – 18:04

  • Biden Security Advisor Warns Of "Acute" Terror Risk At Kabul Airport As Blinken Says Americans On Their Own Getting There
    Biden Security Advisor Warns Of “Acute” Terror Risk At Kabul Airport As Blinken Says Americans On Their Own Getting There

    Update:  Just when it seemed that things may be stabilizing at the Kabul Airport, Biden’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on CNN’s State of the Union that the U.S. is placing “paramount priority” on defending crowds at Kabul airport seeking to leave Afghanistan against a potential Islamic State terrorist attack.

    “The threat is real, it is acute, it is persistent and it is something that we are focused on with every tool in our arsenal,” Sullivan said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “We are working hard with our intelligence community to try to isolate and determine where an attack might come from.” In Kabul, U.S. commanders “have a wide variety of capabilities that they are using to defend the airfield against a potential terrorist attack,” he said. “We are taking it absolutely, deadly seriously.”

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    In a stunning follow up, Blinken then said that leaving Americans get to the Kabul airport on their own is “the best way to do this.”

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    Sullivan’s comment follows a report from CNN that the US military is establishing “alternative routes” to Kabul airport because of an ISIS terror threat to the airport and its surroundings. “There is a strong possibility ISIS-K is trying to carry off an attack at the airport,” a US defense official told CNN. A senior diplomat in Kabul said they are aware of a credible but not immediate threat by Islamic State against Americans at Hamid Karzai International Airport.

    Two US defense officials described to CNN the military effort to establish “alternative routes” for people to get to Kabul airport and its access gates, with one saying these new routes will be available to Americans, third party nationals and qualified Afghans. The Taliban are aware of the new effort and are coordinating with the US, one of the officials said.

    The report goes on to say that the Pentagon – which was “stunned” by the Taliban’s blitz takeover of the country but apparently now is on top of ISIS terror chatter – has been monitoring the situation around the airport, aware that the swelling crowds on the grounds and around the airfield create a target for ISIS-K (referring to Islamic State Khorasan, the Islamic State’s affiliate in Pakistan and Afghanistan) and other organizations, which may use car bombs or suicide bombers to attack, the second official said. Mortar attacks are another possible threat.

    The broadly sketched-out details call for people to follow new routes and access points in coordination with Taliban on the ground in an attempt to help disperse the gathering of large crowds or avoid the crowds altogether. US personnel would be in a position to observe the movement of people to ensure safety, but the official would not specify if that involves direct observation by nearby troops as well as the use of intelligence sensors.

    “There’s a whole canopy of security concerns we have,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said at a press briefing Saturday, as he described the military “fighting against both time and space” in its effort to safely evacuate people.

    Separately, Biden has been meeting with his national security team on Sunday morning and has scheduled a news conference on topics including Afghanistan for 4 p.m. in Washington. The president will hold a virtual meeting with other Group of Seven leaders on Tuesday to coordinate evacuations and discuss humanitarian aid for Afghan refugees, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

    As reported earlier, overnight the Defense Department ordered U.S. airlines to provide 18 planes to transport evacuees, saying the extra capacity will help military aircraft focus on operations in and out of Kabul. Activation of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet program involves four planes from United Airlines, three each from American Airlines, Atlas Air, Delta Air Lines and Omni Air and two from Hawaiian Airlines, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement Sunday.

    The activated aircraft won’t fly into the Kabul airport, site of chaotic scenes as people desperate to leave the Afghan capital have been reduced to desperation. Instead, they’ll be used for onward movement of passengers from temporary safe havens and interim staging bases, Kirby said. It was unclear how providing more aircraft will resolve an evacuation whose bottleneck is ensuring airport access to those who wish to flee.

    The U.S. and its allies airlifted a combined 7,800 people out of Kabul in the latest 24-hour period, Sullivan said. Some 25,000 people have been evacuated since Aug. 14, he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” While the U.S. has sufficient forces on the ground, Biden asks his commanders “every single day” whether they might need more resources, Sullivan said. Several thousand U.S. citizens are still believed to be in Afghanistan, though it’s hard to determine a more exact number, Sullivan said.

    * * *

    Earlier:

    As the world awaits for what the US president will do next over the botched evacuation of US citizens in Afghanistan, with a press conference scheduled for 4pm on Sunday, things at the makeshift US “embassy” at the Kabul remain deadly tense.

    According to Reuters, the Taliban fired in the air and used batons to make people line up in orderly queues outside Kabul airport on Sunday, witnesses said, a day the Britain’s defense ministry said seven Afghans were killed in the crush around the airport on Saturday as thousands of people desperately tried to get a flight out. There have been other stampedes and crushing injuries in the crowds, especially as Taliban fighters fire into the air to drive away those desperate to get on any flight out of the country.

    “Conditions on the ground remain extremely challenging but we are doing everything we can to manage the situation as safely and securely as possible,” the British Defense Ministry said in a statement.

    Sky News showed footage of soldiers standing on a wall on Saturday attempting to pull the injured out from the crush and spraying people with a hose to prevent them from getting dehydrated.

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    “Conditions on the ground remain extremely challenging but we are doing everything we can to manage the situation as safely and securely as possible,” the ministry said in a statement. 

    A NATO official said that at least 20 people have died in the past seven days in and around the airport. Some were shot and others died in stampedes, witnesses have said.  “The crisis outside the Kabul airport is unfortunate. Our focus is to evacuate all foreigners as soon as we can,” the NATO official told the Guardian.

    The good news is that according to Ramsay the situation outside the airport is “calmer” but “could change any time.”

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    Speaking to an Iranian state television channel late Saturday night in a video call, Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem blamed the deaths at the airport on the Americans in what quickly became a combative interview.

    “The Americans announced that we would take you to America with us and people gathered at Kabul airport,” Naeem said. “If it was announced right now in any country in the world, would people not go?”

    The host on Iranian state TV quickly said: “It won’t happen in Iran.” Naeem responded: “Be sure this will happen anywhere.”

    Meanwhile, the United States and other foreign countries including Britain have brought in several thousand troops to manage the evacuations of foreign citizens and vulnerable Afghans, but have stayed away from the outside areas of the airport.

    “Our forces are maintaining strict distance from the outer areas of the Kabul airport to prevent any clashes with the Taliban,” the NATO official said. A Taliban official said on Sunday that “we are seeking complete clarity on foreign forces’ exit plan.”

    “Managing chaos outside Kabul airport is a complex task,” the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told Reuters.

    On Saturday, the United States and Germany told their citizens in Afghanistan to avoid traveling to Kabul airport – one day after Joe Biden said there was “no indication that [Americans] haven’t been able to get, in Kabul, through the airport – as desperate crowds gathered.

    Army Major General William Taylor told a Pentagon briefing on Saturday that 5,800 U.S. troops remain at the airport and that the facility “remains secure”. Taylor said some gates into the airport were temporarily closed and reopened over the past day to facilitate a safe influx of evacuees. He also said that the US flag continues to wave at this makeshift “US embassy.” Taylor said that in the past week the United States has evacuated 17,000 people, including 2,500 Americans, from Kabul.

    Australia ran four flights into Kabul on Saturday night, evacuating more than 300 people, including Australians, Afghan visa holders, New Zealanders, U.S. and British citizens, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.

    On Saturday, speaking at a rally in Alabama, Donald Trump called the botched evacuation of Afghanistan “the greatest foreign policy humiliation” in U.S. history.

    * * *

    And so as thousands wait for their turn to flee Kabul, Taliban leaders are trying to hammer out a new government while the Taliban’s co- founder, Mullah Baradar, has arrived in the Afghan capital for talks with other leaders. Taliban commanders are set to meet former governors and bureaucrats in more than 20 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces over the next few days to ensure their safety and seek cooperation, the Taliban official said on Sunday.

    Meanwhile, fighting has erupted in Afghanistan’s northern Baghlan province, some 120 kilometers north of Kabul. Forces organizing under the banner of the “People’s Uprising” have taken three districts around the Andarab Valley, nestled in the Hindu Kush mountains near Panjshir, the only province still not under Taliban control, where remnants of government forces and other militia groups have gathered.  While details of the fighting remain unclear, it marks the first organized resistance to rise up against the Taliban since they blitzed across the country in under a week to seize the majority of the country and its capital.

    On Sunday, the Taliban published video online showing fighters, including their elite special forces, preparing to head there, possibly to fight the “People’s Uprising” forces. Four officials said the Taliban had gone into the Keshnabad area of Andarab Valley to abduct the children of those opposing them.

    Khair Mohammad Khairkhwa, the former head of intelligence in Balkh province, and Abdul Ahmad Dadgar, another leader in the uprising, alleged that Taliban fighters had attacked people’s homes and burned them while taking children. Two other officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also alleged the Taliban seized fighters’ children. The Taliban did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the fighting.

    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/22/2021 – 17:45

  • WikiLeaks Reviews Some Of Its 'Greatest Hits' Leaks On Afghanistan
    WikiLeaks Reviews Some Of Its ‘Greatest Hits’ Leaks On Afghanistan

    Amid the total unraveling of Afghanistan in the wake of the Biden-ordered US troop withdraw and ongoing severely botched evacuation effort centered at Kabul’s international airport, WikiLeaks has been republishing a few of its more interesting leaks related to the past Afghan war logs, a vast drove of classified US documents which first hit public view over a decade ago.

    Also this past week a 2011 clip of Julian Assange breaking down what’s behind America’s longest ever war has resurfaced and is going viral: “The goal is to use Afghanistan to wash money out of the tax bases of the US and Europe through Afghanistan and back into the hands of a transnational security elite. The goal is an endless war, not a successful war,” Assange said in the old interview footage. 

    Below are some of the more interesting archived leaked documents that WikiLeaks called attention to this past week and into the weekend related to Afghanistan and America’s longest running war.

    1) NATO ‘death squads’ in Afghanistan…

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    2) The CIA attempted to blunt criticism of the US ‘endless’ occupation by creating propaganda that emphasized feminism for “targeted manipulation of public opinion”…

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    3) Complex underground fortresses were built in the 1980’s with Osama bin Laden and CIA cooperation…

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    4) NSA swept up entire country’s communications…

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    5) Sweden wanted to utilize bombing raids over Afghanistan to better market and promote a new fighter jet…

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    6) Corrupt Afghan leaders were known to fly out of the country with millions in cash – in one case a whopping $52 million…

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    7) NATO command consistently told over the years not to discuss an end date to the war…

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    8) Afghanistan war logs exposed large-scale massacres of civilians by US and coalition bombers…

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    9) US intelligence has long understood that Afghan national police were “predatory and corrupt”…

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    10) Assange on “the goal” of the transnational security elite…

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    Tyler Durden
    Sun, 08/22/2021 – 17:40

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