Sep 26

Today’s News 26th September 2023

  • Escobar: War Of Economic Corridors – The India-MidEast-Europe Ploy
    Escobar: War Of Economic Corridors – The India-MidEast-Europe Ploy

    Authored by Pepe Escobar via The Cradle,

    The India-Middle East-Europe transportation corridor may be the talk of the town, but it will likely go the way of the last three Asia-to-Europe connectivity projects touted by the west – to the dustbin. Here’s why.

    The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) is a massive public diplomacy op launched at the recent G20 summit in New Delhi, complete with a memorandum of understanding signed on 9 September. 

    Players include the US, India, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and the EU, with a special role for the latter’s top three powers Germany, France, and Italy. It’s a multimodal railway project, coupled with trans-shipments and with ancillary digital and electricity roads extending to Jordan and Israel. 

    If this walks and talks like the collective west’s very late response to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), launched 10 years ago and celebrating a Belt and Road Forum in Beijing next month, that’s because it is. And yes, it is, above all, yet another American project to bypass China, to be claimed for crude electoral purposes as a meager foreign policy “success.”  

    No one among the Global Majority remembers that the Americans came up with their own Silk Road plan way back in 2010. The concept came from the State Department’s Kurt Campbell and was sold by then-Secretary Hillary Clinton as her idea. History is implacable, it came down to nought.  

    And no one among the Global Majority remembers the New Silk Road plan peddled by Poland, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Georgia in the early 2010s, complete with four troublesome trans-shipments in the Black Sea and the Caspian. History is implacable, this too came down to nought.   

    In fact, very few among the Global Majority remember the $40 trillion US-sponsored Build Back Better World (BBBW, or B3W) global plan rolled out with great fanfare just two summers ago, focusing on “climate, health and health security, digital technology, and gender equity and equality.” 

    A year later, at a G7 meeting, B3W had already shrunk to a $600 billion infrastructure-and-investment project. Of course, nothing was built. History really is implacable, it came down to nought. 

    The same fate awaits IMEC, for a number of very specific reasons.

    Map of The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC)

    Pivoting to a black void 

    The whole IMEC rationale rests on what writer and former Ambassador M.K. Bhadrakumar deliciously described as “conjuring up the Abraham Accords by the incantation of a Saudi-Israeli tango.”

    This tango is Dead On Arrival; even the ghost of Piazzolla can’t revive it. For starters, one of the principals – Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman – has made it clear that Riyadh’s priorities are a new, energized Chinese-brokered relationship with Iran), with Turkey, and with Syria after its return to the Arab League. 

    Moreover, both Riyadh and its Emirati IMEC partner share immense trade, commerce, and energy interests with China, so they’re not going to do anything to upset Beijing.

    At face value, IMEC proposes a joint drive by G7 and BRICS 11 nations. That’s the western method of seducing eternally-hedging India under Modi and US-allied Saudi Arabia and the UAE to its agenda. 

    Its real intention, however, is not only to undermine BRI, but also the International North-South Transportation Corridor (INTSC), in which India is a major player alongside Russia and Iran.  

    The game is quite crude and really quite obvious: a transportation corridor conceived to bypass the top three vectors of real Eurasia integration – and BRICS members China, Russia, and Iran – by dangling an enticing Divide and Rule carrot that promises Things That Cannot Be Delivered. 

    The American neoliberal obsession at this stage of the New Great Game is, as always, all about Israel. Their goal is to make Haifa port viable and turn it into a key transportation hub between West Asia and Europe. Everything else is subordinated to this Israeli imperative. 

    IMEC, in principle, will transit across West Asia to link India to Eastern and Western Europe – selling the fiction that India is a Global Pivot state and a Convergence of Civilizations. 

    Nonsense. While India’s great dream is to become a pivot state, its best shot would be via the already up-and-running INTSC, which could open markets to New Delhi from Central Asia to the Caucasus. Otherwise, as a Global Pivot state, Russia is way ahead of India diplomatically, and China is way ahead in trade and connectivity. 

    Comparisons between IMEC and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) are futile.

    IMEC is a joke compared to this BRI flagship project: the $57.7 billion plan to build a railway over 3,000 km long linking Kashgar in Xinjiang to Gwadar in the Arabian Sea, which will connect to other overland BRI corridors heading toward Iran and Turkey. 

    This is a matter of national security for China. So bets can be made that the leadership in Beijing will have some discreet and serious conversations with the current fifth-columnists in power in Islamabad, before or during the Belt and Road Forum, to remind them of the relevant geostrategic, geoeconomic, and investment Facts.

    So, what’s left for Indian trade in all of this? Not much. They already use the Suez Canal, a direct, tested route. There’s no incentive to even start contemplating being stuck in black voids across the vast desert expanses surrounding the Persian Gulf. 

    One glaring problem, for example, is that almost 1,100 km of tracks are “missing” from the railway from Fujairah in the UAE to Haifa, 745 km is “missing” from Jebel Ali in Dubai to Haifa, and 630 km is “missing” from the railway from Abu Dhabi to Haifa. 

    When all the missing links are added up, there’s over 3,000 km of railway still to be built. The Chinese, of course, can do this for breakfast and on a dime, but they are not part of this game. And there’s no evidence the IMEC gang plans to invite them. 

    All eyes on Syunik 

    In the War of Transportation Corridors charted in detail for The Cradle in June 2022, it becomes clear that intentions rarely meet reality. These grand projects are all about logistics, logistics, logistics – of course, intertwined with the three other key pillars: energy and energy resources, labor and manufacturing, and market/trade rules. 

    Let’s examine a Central Asian example. Russia and three Central Asian “stans” – Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan – are launching a multimodal Southern Transportation Corridor which will bypass Kazakhstan. 

    Why? After all, Kazakhstan, alongside Russia, is a key member of both the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). 

    The reason is because this new corridor solves two key problems for Russia that arose with the west’s sanctions hysteria. It bypasses the Kazakh border, where everything going to Russia is scrutinized in excruciating detail. And a significant part of the cargo may now be transferred to the Russian port of Astrakhan in the Caspian. 

    So Astana, which under western pressure has played a risky hedging game on Russia, may end up losing the status of a full-fledged transport hub in Central Asia and the Caspian Sea region. Kazakhstan is also part of BRI; the Chinese are already very much interested in the potential of this new corridor.    

    In the Caucasus, the story is even more complex, and once again, it’s all about Divide and Rule. 

    Two months ago, Russia, Iran, and Azerbaijan committed to building a single railway from Iran and its ports in the Persian Gulf through Azerbaijan, to be linked to the Russian-Eastern Europe railway system. 

    This is a railway project on the scale of the Trans-Siberian – to connect Eastern Europe with Eastern Africa and South Asia, bypassing the Suez Canal and European ports. The INSTC on steroids, in fact. 

    Guess what happened next? A provocation in Nagorno-Karabakh, with the deadly potential of involving not only Armenia and Azerbaijan but also Iran and Turkey. 

    Tehran has been crystal clear on its red lines: it will never allow a defeat of Armenia, with direct participation from Turkiye, which fully supports Azerbaijan.

    Add to the incendiary mix are joint military exercises with the US in Armenia – which happens to be a member of the Russian-led CSTO – cast, for public consumption, as one of those seemingly innocent “partnership” NATO programs. 

    This all spells out an IMEC subplot bound to undermine INTSC. Both Russia and Iran are fully aware of the former’s endemic weaknesses: political trouble between several participants, those “missing links” of track, and all important infrastructure still to be built. 

    Turkish Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for his part, will never give up the Zangezur corridor across Syunik, the south Armenian province, which was envisaged by the 2020 armistice, linking Azerbaijan to Turkey via the Azeri enclave of Nakhitchevan – that will run through Armenian territory.

    Baku did threaten to attack southern Armenia if the Zangezur corridor was not facilitated by Yerevan. So Syunik is the next big unresolved deal in this riddle. Tehran, it must be noted, will go no holds barred to prevent a Turkish-Israeli-NATO corridor cutting Iran off from Armenia, Georgia, the Black Sea, and Russia. That would be the reality if this NATO-tinted coalition grabs Syunik. 

    Today, Erdogan and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev meet in the Nakhchivan enclave between Turkiye, Armenia, and Iran to start a gas pipeline and open a military production complex.   

    The Sultan knows that Zangezur may finally allow Turkiye to be linked to China via a corridor that will transit the Turkic world, in Azerbaijan and the Caspian. This would also allow the collective west to go even bolder on Divide and Rule against Russia and Iran. 

    Is the IMEC another far-fetched western fantasy? The place to watch is Syunik.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 09/26/2023 – 02:00

  • Bill Kristol's "Republicans For Ukraine" Ad Says 'War Is Good'
    Bill Kristol’s “Republicans For Ukraine” Ad Says ‘War Is Good’

    Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

    A new group formed to rally GOP support for Ukraine released an ad this weekend that said US spending on the war in Ukraine is good for the US because it “weakens” Russia.

    The ad was made by Republicans for Ukraine, a campaign launched by Defending Democracy Together, an organization led by neoconservative Bill Kristol. The effort comes as support for arming Ukraine is waning among GOP voters, with a recent CNN poll finding 71% of Republicans were against Congress authorizing more Ukraine aid.

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    “When America arms Ukraine, we get a lot for a little. Putin is an enemy of America. We’ve used 5% of our defense budget to arm Ukraine, and with it, they’ve destroyed 50% of Putin’s Army,” the ad says.

    The ad is blunt and does not attempt to frame US support for Ukraine as a fight for democracy as the Biden administration does, and claims hurting Russia will also hurt China.

    “The more Ukraine weakens Russia, the more it also weakens Russia’s closest ally China. America needs to stand strong against our enemies, that’s why Republicans in Congress must continue to support Ukraine,” the ad says.

    Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin used similar language in the early days of the war, saying one of the US goals in Ukraine was to “weaken Russia,” leaving no doubt the conflict is a proxy war.

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    Hawks in Congress have adopted similar talking points to justify more spending on the Ukraine war. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) recently said the US was getting its “money’s worth” in Ukraine because Russia is taking losses and no Americans are dying.

    The argument shows a lack of concern for Ukrainian lives.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 09/25/2023 – 23:40

  • Toymaker Lego Abandons Oil-Free "Breakthrough" Brick As ESG Push Derails 
    Toymaker Lego Abandons Oil-Free “Breakthrough” Brick As ESG Push Derails 

    ‘Woke’ toymaker Lego has discontinued its sustainability effort to manufacture bricks made from recycled plastic. This decision came after discovering recycled plastic was actually contributing to higher carbon emissions, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

    Niels Christiansen, chief executive of Lego, told FT that utilizing recycled polyethylene terephthalate (RPET) for brickmaking would have led to increased carbon emissions over the product’s lifetime. He said the reason was primarily due to the need for new machines. 

    “In the early days, the belief was that it was easier to find this magic material or this new material” that would solve the sustainability issue, Christiansen said, but “that doesn’t seem to be there. We tested hundreds and hundreds of materials. It’s just not been possible to find a material like that.”

    In the summer of 2021, Lego first unveiled a sustainable prototype brick made from recycled plastic sourced from US suppliers. 

    “We are super excited about this breakthrough. The biggest challenge on our sustainability journey is rethinking and innovating new materials that are as durable, strong and high quality as our existing bricks – and fit with LEGO elements made over the past 60 years. With this prototype we’re able to showcase the progress we’re making,” Vice President of Environmental Responsibility at Lego Tim Brooks said in 2021.

    FT pointed out, “Lego has instead decided to try to improve the carbon footprint over time of oil-based ABS, which currently needs about 2kg of petroleum to make 1kg of plastic.” 

    Lego’s sustainability goal to eliminate all petroleum-based plastics from its bricks by 2030 has hit a roadblock. It raises questions about whether the toymaker knew that its ESG objectives were unattainable from the start. 

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 09/25/2023 – 23:20

  • Vaccination Offers 'No Meaningful Protection' Against Long COVID: Study
    Vaccination Offers ‘No Meaningful Protection’ Against Long COVID: Study

    Authored by Marina Zhang via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Findings in a new study challenge the mainstream narrative that COVID-19 vaccinations prevent long COVID. The study found that while previous infections reduce the risk of long COVID by 86 percent, vaccination status prior to COVID infection is irrelevant to a person’s risk of developing long COVID.

    “The notion had been that both previous infection as well as vaccination reduce the chances of subsequent long COVID should you become infected,” Dr. William Schaffner, professor of preventive medicine and health policy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told The Epoch Times.

    Syringes of COVID-19 vaccines at a vaccination site in Los Angeles on Feb. 16, 2021. (Apu Gomes/AFP via Getty Images)

    These investigators have poured “cool water” on that concept, he continued.

    Researchers from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, an over-500-year-old research university in Germany, found that people with the highest risk of long COVID or post-COVID condition, as the authors wrote, were unvaccinated people infected with the Wuhan variant, followed by unvaccinated and vaccinated participants infected with the alpha variant.

    While not explicitly discussed in the study, the study’s diagram and supplementary tables showed that with the exception of infection with the Wuhan variant, unvaccinated people tend to have a slightly lower risk of long COVID than their vaccinated counterparts.

    Furthermore, unvaccinated people infected with the omicron variant had the lowest risk of long COVID.

    “Vaccination offered no meaningful protection against developing PCC [post-COVID condition] in case of an infection. In contrast, there was … strong evidence that a previous infection reduced the risk of PCC,” the authors wrote.

    Based on Online Questionnaire

    Nearly 49,000 people in the German population responded to the survey. Participants were recruited through postal mail. They were then asked to fill out an online questionnaire that included a list of symptoms.

    Participants self-reported if they tested positive for COVID-19 and the symptoms they experienced afterward.

    The study authors asked for symptoms present from the four- to 12-week post-infection window and for symptoms that persisted after the 12th week. Symptoms that did not persist beyond that were not deemed as long COVID.

    Depending on the date of infection, the authors categorized the participant as being infected by the dominant variant at the time.

    “We categorized infections before January 1, 2021 as caused by the Wildtype (Wuhan) variant, infections between January 1, 2021 and June 30, 2021 as caused by the Alpha variant, infections between July 1, 2021 and December 20, 2021 as caused by the Delta variant, and infections from December 21, 2021 as caused by the Omicron variant,” the authors wrote.

    Of all the surveyed people, around 17,000 had at least one COVID-19 infection, with around 2,800 reporting long-COVID symptoms.

    None of the participants in the study was physically examined nor did they present lab tests on their health.

    Doctors are engaged in a debate over the study’s findings and its methodology.

    Many were concerned that the questionnaire was too subjective. Like many large population-based studies, the findings are provocative, “but they’re often not definitive. You have to do other follow-up studies, many of which are much smaller but much more precise, and they eliminate a lot of the uncertainty,” Dr. Schaffner said.

    Dr. Cody Meissner, a professor of pediatrics at the Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine, argued that the study’s participant is “so heterogeneous” and that he is not sure what to conclude from the study.

    As the study authors admit, none of the participants was given an actual diagnosis of long COVID nor tested for comorbidities. It is possible that any of the patients could have been suffering from another disease that may have been unrelated to COVID-19.

    Long COVID Is Hard to Define

    Another major problem plaguing long-COVID research is that everyone has a different definition of long COVID.

    “There is a post-COVID symptomatology … But I don’t think we understand the biological basis; we can’t define it very clearly. So to make a statement that it was more or less common after certain variants or vaccines is pretty difficult,” Dr. Meissner said.

    Retired associate professor of Brown University Dr. Andrew Bostom agreed that the long-COVID condition is poorly defined in the literature, so it is hard to conclude if the symptoms are long COVID or if it is something else entirely.

    Apart from the loss of smell and taste, all other symptoms that characterize the long-COVID condition can manifest through psychosomatic triggers, Dr. Bostom said.

    The study’s findings “look interesting, particularly to people like me that have been disappointed in how such short shrift was given to natural immunity,” Dr. Bostom, who has extensive experience working on pharmaceutical clinical trials, told The Epoch Times. But it’s hard to conclude prior infection is protective against long COVID “if you’re not really sure what the post-COVID condition is.”

    Study Findings Validate What Some Doctors See

    Dr. Joseph Varon, chief of the Critical Care and COVID-19 Department at the United Memorial Medical Center, told The Epoch Times that he can look past the flaws in the methodology since the study findings validate what he sees in his clinic.

    The study did not discuss if vaccinations put people at risk of long COVID. Its graph showed that the vaccinated cohort tended to have a slightly higher risk of long COVID than the unvaccinated, when they were infected by the same variant.

    Dr. Varon interpreted this to suggest that vaccinations may put people at a greater risk of long COVID, which is what he has been seeing in his clinic.

    “What I’m seeing is that the higher the number of boosters that you have, the more chances … you’re going to have long haul syndrome,” he said, adding that the majority of his long-haul patients are those who took four or more doses of the vaccine rather than those who took up to three doses or were unvaccinated.

    Dr. Varon also found that the study’s findings on the most prevalent symptoms very accurately mirror what he sees in his clinic, with fatigue and cognitive impairment being the most common symptoms among his patients.

    Psychiatrist Dr. Adonis Sfera at Patton State Hospital agreed that the study’s symptoms are mostly representative of what he sees in his clinic, though the primary symptoms are fatigue and shortness of breath.

    He also agreed with the notion that more vaccinations may put people at risk of long-haul symptoms since the vaccinations would induce the production of more spike proteins, which can cause organ damage and symptoms.

    “The vaccines make our cells express the spike antigen. So the more vaccinated you are, the more likely you are to express the antigen,” he said.

    Hide Vaccine Injuries From Scrutiny?

    Nurse practitioner Scott Marsland, who shares the Leading Edge Clinic, a long-COVID and vaccine-injury practice, with pulmonary critical care physician Dr. Pierre Kory, expressed concern that the study findings may hide vaccine injuries from scrutiny.

    “[The paper] helps perpetuate the narrative that … it doesn’t make a difference whether or not [someone] got the vaccine; it’s all about whether or not they got infected and which variant they got,” Mr. Marsland said.

    Long COVID and vaccine injury can share very similar symptoms, but detailed patient records would show that the symptoms appeared after different exposures.

    Mr. Marsland was concerned that the study dismisses the cumulative effects the vaccines may have on patients, which contradicts what he sees in his clinic.

    Some of his patients developed mild symptoms after their first or second shot, but they did not link it temporally to the vaccines until “they got the booster or a second booster” and their symptoms became severe, he said.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 09/25/2023 – 23:00

  • While Hot War Is Raging In Eastern Europe, The Cold War In Asia-Pacific Is Well And Truly Underway
    While Hot War Is Raging In Eastern Europe, The Cold War In Asia-Pacific Is Well And Truly Underway

    By Benjamin Picton, Senior Macro Strategist at Rabobank

    Comprehensive, But Not Strategic

    Equities finished last week lower again as the ‘higher for longer’ narrative continues to be priced in by markets. This despite the Bank of Japan turning the dial a little back towards the dovish side as they left official rates unchanged and dissembled over Governor Ueda’s comments a week or two ago that there may be sufficient evidence of enduring inflation to start lifting rates before the end of the year. Nevertheless, US 10y yields closed the week 10bps higher at 4.43% after briefly touching 4.50% earlier on Friday (the highest since 2007), and crude oil was (mercifully) a little lower, but not by much.

    Shifting to geopolitics, we have seen a number of announcements recently of countries entering into ‘comprehensive strategic partnership’. The United States and Vietnam elevated their relationship to a CSP in early September, as did Australia and the Philippines. Back in July, China raised alarm in the Asia-Pacific by entering into a CSP with the Solomon Islands and they have done so again by entering into a similar agreement with Timor-Leste over the weekend.

    Part of the agreement with Timor-Leste involves the latter’s recognition of the One China Principle, which carries with it a declaration by Timor-Leste that Taiwan is an “inalienable part of China’s territory and [we] oppose any forms of ‘Taiwan Independence’”. The quid pro quo here is that Timor-Leste gets to participate in the largesse promised by Xi Xinping’s Belt and Road initiative, and perhaps enjoy the Schadenfreude of watching the foreign affairs and defence establishment in Canberra squirm about as China places itself firmly between US naval bases in Guam, Hawaii and the Marshall Islands and Australia’s northern approaches.

    So, while the world is quite understandably fixated on the hot war raging in Eastern Europe, the Cold War in the Asia Pacific is well and truly underway, with the major belligerents jockeying for the best strategic positioning. It is in the Asia Pacific where Thucydides Trap will actually play out, or not. Taiwan is undoubtedly the hair trigger, so overt picking of sides on the Taiwan question is a very big deal in the politics of the region.

    The United States has been busy trying to ensure that small countries pick their side, so the G7 belatedly stitched together the B3W initiative back in 2021 as a challenger to Belt and Road. Unfortunately, much has happened since that time and the deficit-wracked budgets of the USA and her (mostly) European allies that make up the G7 have so far not seen fit to provide the promised $600bn of funding to seed infrastructure investments in the developing world.

    A further strategic initiative was announced on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly last  week. The ‘Partnership for Atlantic Cooperation’ emphasizes better economic integration for countries along the Atlantic coastline, and perhaps provides a firewall of sorts to the series of coups moving through central Africa towards the Atlantic coast. Crucially, the agreement includes Brazil, a BRICS+ nation that, like India, is becoming more important in global affairs and has to-date been happy to walk on both sides of the street on the USA/China rivalry.

    India itself has been a focus of diplomatic overtures from the G7, but tensions have flared after the Canadian government accused India of assassinating a Sikh separatist leader in British Columbia. This episode undoubtedly creates new headaches for US foreign policy objectives. Former US Defence Department official Michael Rubin pithily described it as “an ant picking a fight with an elephant.”

    So, the overall picture is of a US strategic apparatus spread thin and playing whack-a-mole with geopolitical flare-ups that its allies are not much help in solving. While the Russia-Ukraine conflict and tensions in the Atlantic provide a distraction for policymakers, China continues to build relationships in the Asia Pacific and Middle East, where fellow BRICS+ nation Saudi Arabia is playing a similar game to Brazil. Europe’s capacity to assist is severely hamstrung by its own economic stagnation (witness the poor PMIs released last week) and modest hard power means. In such an environment, US foreign policy has by necessity become comprehensive, but not strategic.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 09/25/2023 – 22:20

  • Watch: Tucker Carlson Spits Fire In Anti-Abortion Speech
    Watch: Tucker Carlson Spits Fire In Anti-Abortion Speech

    Tucker Carlson gave quite the sermon last Thursday as the key note speaker at a gala fundraiser thrown by the Center for Christian Virtue at the Cleveland Marriott.

    In it, the former Fox News host whose audience just went vertical on “X” railed against abortion, referring to it as ‘human sacrifice’ – a notion which Tucker said is antithetical to the biological drive to continue the human race, and which therefore must have been planted in people’s heads by ‘outside forces.’

    “It’s not a natural human function to want to kill your own children,” said Carlson. “Actually that’s an idea an Impulse that was introduced. Outside forces are acting on people at all times throughout history, in every culture on the planet, to convince people that if they sacrifice their children they will be happy and safe – and that’s exactly what this is,” said Carlson.

    One can’t help but conclude that Carlson’s comments – and those from Ron Paul (from a different angle) – are a direct pushback to a notion floated by former President Donald Trump that Republicans should soften their stance on abortion – perhaps agreeing on a certain number of months during which killing an unborn child is acceptable.

    Carlson starts out lamenting the current state of political discourse vs. those of past decades.

    “For most of that time, the debates that we had in the political sphere were over competing visions for how to improve people’s lives,” he said, using the example of minimum wage – and how both Republicans and Democrats were ” at least pretending to try to improve the lives of the people who voted for them.”

    But now, the two top ballot initiatives now encourage actions Carlson sees as fundamentally destructive: advocating for abortion and drug use.

    “When you wind up in an election with the two top ballot initiatives are one encouraging people to kill their own kids and two encourage their kids to do drugs, who’s benefiting here?” asked Carlson, who argued that these issues are of no benefit to society – and instead erode its very foundation.

    Abortion

    Carlson then segues into abortion, arguing that the left is promoting anti-family values, when “the point of life is to have children and to watch them have grandchildren.”

    “Anyone telling you don’t have children, kill your children, is not your friend, is your enemy,” he continued, adding that the current debate about abortion transcends politics; it is a spiritual battle. No longer confined to discussions about unwanted pregnancies resulting from unfortunate circumstances, the contemporary narrative, according to Carlson, posits that the left has championed abortion as a pathway to joy in itself.

    Carlson also took a shot at the Episcopal Church, which he ‘grew up’ in, but which “crumbled around us and became this very aggressively Pagan institution.”

    Watch:

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    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 09/25/2023 – 22:00

  • China's Shipbuilding Capacity More Than 200 Times Greater Than US: Leaked Navy Slide
    China’s Shipbuilding Capacity More Than 200 Times Greater Than US: Leaked Navy Slide

    By J.M.Phelps of The Epoch Times

    A leaked U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) slide is garnering concern about the Chinese regime’s continued capability to produce naval vessels at an alarmingly faster rate than the United States.

    Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning (C) participates in military drills in the South China Sea on Jan. 2, 2017

    The leaked graphic depicts shipyards in China as being able to build new naval vessels at a rate that’s 232 times greater than that of the United States. The ONI confirmed its authenticity to The Drive, which first published the slide.

    This outsized capacity to support China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy has caused some analysts to raise the alarm that the United States won’t be able to close the gap for many years to come.

    Retired Capt. James Fanell, a former director of intelligence and information operations for the U.S. Pacific Fleet, doesn’t share the same level of pessimism, although he does acknowledge the challenges involved in rebuilding the United States’ shipbuilding capacity.

    He says closing the gap with the Chinese regime will require “a dramatic shift in the policy of unaccountable engagement that now characterizes the Biden administration.”

    “The challenges are also greater than just political will,” Mr. Fanell told The Epoch Times. “There is an issue of America’s shipbuilding industry that has gone into disrepair since WWII.”

    Despite a few political hurdles, “America is a nation of optimism and the can-do attitude that will be essential to any effort to close that gap,” he said.

    According to the ONI, the Chinese regime’s navy consisted of 355 vessels in 2020, while the United States had 296 vessels. By 2035, China is expected to reach an estimated 475 ships, while the United States would reach 305 to 317.

    “While U.S. Navy leadership is concerned about the growth and capabilities of the PLA Navy, what has not happened is that any single U.S. Navy Admiral resigns their commission over the lack of response to this threat to America’s national security,” Mr. Fanell said.

    “The recent ONI slide is a stark reminder of the cataclysmic decline in the U.S. shipbuilding industry, one that the United States dominated just 80 years ago during World War II. America became a great power because it was a seafaring nation, and we will suffer defeat the more we deny this history.

    “In 1949, more than a dozen U.S. Navy admirals were willing to put their careers on the line to speak out about what they felt was a dangerous approach to defeating the USSR with just strategic bomber aircraft.

    “Their willingness to put national security before their careers paid off as the U.S. Navy laid the foundations for creating a nuclear aircraft carrier fleet that ruled the waves of the globe for the next 60 years and ensured the safety and prosperity of America, our allies, and even our enemies.”

    How to Close the Gap

    Mr. Fanell says Congress must pass and fund similar legislation to the Two-Ocean Navy Act that was passed in 1940 and allowed the country to increase its naval presence and capabilities in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

    “The similarities between the strategic environment today and 1940 are too great to ignore,” he said.

    For example, Russia has invaded Ukraine—threatening Europe—while the Chinese regime continues to conduct large-scale operations with warships and aircraft around Taiwan and into the Philippine Sea, Mr. Fanell said.

    “America’s ingenuity should be unleashed to build up our fleet of warships,” he said.

    “For instance, we should be able to build a fleet of unmanned warships, along with equipping our existing mothball fleet with supersonic/hypersonic anti-ship cruise missiles that could turn these retired combatants into arsenal ships that could be used to sink the People’s Liberation Army Navy invasion fleet.”

    “It’s disturbing how ill-informed and naive the average American is on China,” U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Michael Studeman said (pdf) during a presentation at a naval conference in February.

    Americans are “ignorant of the threat from the [People’s Republic of China] and their Navy,” Mr. Fanell said.

    But he doesn’t blame the American people.

    Continue reading here.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 09/25/2023 – 21:40

  • Southern Border Hit With 'Single Highest Daily' Migrant Encounters As Chaos Worsens
    Southern Border Hit With ‘Single Highest Daily’ Migrant Encounters As Chaos Worsens

    President Biden’s disastrous open southern border policies have sparked the worst border crisis in American history. The chaos continued this past weekend as the situation worsened by the hour. 

    On Monday morning, FOX News correspondent Griff Jenkins posted on X that US Customs and Border Protection sources revealed “approximately 11,000 migrant encounters at the SW border in the last 24 hours.” 

    Jenkins said the CBP source pointed out this is the “single highest day in recent memory.”

    He added in Eagle Pass, Texas, alone, the epicenter of the latest surge in illegal crossings, “there were more than 4000 from Fri-Sun/weekend.” 

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    Biden’s reckless open border policies have led to a surge in human trafficking, an exponential rise in drug overdose deaths nationwide, warnings from cities about financial stress due to the migrant crisis, and the proliferation of criminal organized migrant gangs undermining US laws. 

    This is unacceptable. 

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    The facts are clear: President Biden has gone against the will of the majority by enforcing unpopular, disastrous border policies embraced by a fringe minority of elites that have caused nothing but chaos for the country and quickly spread across major metro areas.

    To get fully up to speed on the migrant crisis that re-started in recent weeks, refer to our latest reporting:

    Around noon, Fox News White House correspondent Edward Lawrence posted on X, “Defense Department plans to send 800 US Troops to the southern border. 400 will be replacing troops ending their mission there. The exact location of the troops has not been announced.” 

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    The Biden administration could care less that the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll showed 62% of Americans disapproval of their efforts on the border. It appears the administration is more concerned about flooding metro areas with migrants ahead of the presidential election cycle. Why?

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 09/25/2023 – 21:20

  • Mask Mandates Back For Health Care Workers In Several California Counties
    Mask Mandates Back For Health Care Workers In Several California Counties

    Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours)

    Several Bay Area health agencies in California announced last week that mandatory masking would return to hospitals and health care settings for the fall and winter months.

    A health care professional prepares to enter a patient’s room, in a file photo. (Megan Jelinger/AFP via Getty Images)

    Contra Costa, Sonoma, Alameda, and San Mateo counties issued mask orders for health care staff in hospitals and other care facilities. The orders start on Nov. 1 and last until April 30, 2024, officials said, citing recent increases in COVID-19, influenza, and other respiratory viruses that are typically commonplace during the colder months.

    “Each year we see that higher rates of influenza, COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses that can cause severe respiratory infections occur annually between late fall and spring,” Dr. Karen Smith, the Sonoma County interim health officer, said in a statement last week.

    Contra Costa Health Services CEO Anna Roth told the county’s board of supervisors last week that the mandate will be enacted, according to local media reports.

    “We are issuing the health order today around masking for high-risk facilities, health care facilities specifically,” Ms. Roth said. “So again, masking in hospitals, masking in skilled nursing facilities, masking in high-risk facilities.”

    In Alameda County, which includes the city of Oakland, the mandate will go into effect for “operators of specified Health Care Facilities” because of COVID-19, RSV, and influenza, according to KRON 4 television. Staff are now mandated to wear “high quality” and “well-fitting” masks while inside patient care settings, officials said several days ago.

    At about the same time, the San Mateo County Health Department issued an order that also mandates masks in patient care settings for health care workers for the same aforementioned period, starting on Nov. 1. Health care staff who don’t comply may face fines and misdemeanor charges.

    “Please read this order carefully. Violation of, or failure to comply with, this Order is a public nuisance subject to citation, abatement, or both, as well as a misdemeanor punishable by fine, imprisonment, or both,” it reads.

    Health officials in Santa Clara County, which includes the city of San Jose and Silicon Valley, already set a mandate in March that will require masks in patient care areas between the late fall and the spring.

    “Historical data show higher rates of infection by COVID-19, influenza, RSV and other viruses in Contra Costa County annually between late fall and spring,” Dr. Ori Tzvieli, the county’s health officer, wrote in the order at the time.

    Signs reminding people of social distancing and wearing face masks remain at a mall in California on June 14, 2021. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)

    “This seasonal increase in circulation of multiple respiratory viruses poses a particular risk to people more likely to experience severe disease and death if infected, including infants, older adults, and people with impaired immunity.”

    A similar rule was initiated in San Francisco. The city, which is also a county, already enforces year-round masking for health care staffers, visitors, and patients, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

    While the Bay Area county health agencies all cited an increase in COVID-19, data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggest that the current rise in reported cases is far lower than the historical average—especially previous surges of the virus.

    Since August, several hospitals across the United States have reimplemented mask mandates, although some have only made face coverings mandatory for employees—not patients or visitors. A smaller number of schools and some private businesses have also made masking mandatory in recent weeks, sparking fears of a repeat of COVID-19 mandates that were imposed over the past several years.

    Republican officials have expressed alarm about the return of mandates, with several 2024 GOP presidential candidates speaking out against them. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis earlier this month said his state wouldn’t reimplement the mandates, and former President Donald Trump released a video on social media calling on Americans to resist the rules, which he described as tyrannical.

    Milder Symptoms?

    Earlier this month, a handful of doctors revealed that symptoms of COVID-19 appear to be getting milder. Some said it’s difficult to distinguish COVID-19 from influenza, the common cold, or even allergies without testing.

    “It isn’t the same typical symptoms that we were seeing before. It’s a lot of congestion, sometimes sneezing, usually a mild sore throat,” Dr. Erick Eiting, vice chair of operations for emergency medicine at New York’s Mount Sinai, told NBC News in a Sept. 16 interview.

    He noted that “just about everyone who I’ve seen has had really mild symptoms,” referring to urgent care COVID-19 patients at his hospital.

    “The only way that we knew that it was COVID was because we happened to be testing them,” he said.

    Dr. Dan Barouch, head of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, said the mild symptoms may be, in part, due to prior immunity.

    “Overall, the severity of COVID is much lower than it was a year ago and two years ago,” he said. “That’s not because the variants are less robust. It’s because the immune responses are higher.”

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 09/25/2023 – 21:00

  • Oracle's Larry Ellison Touts Tesla Cybertruck As 'Next-Gen' Police Cruiser 
    Oracle’s Larry Ellison Touts Tesla Cybertruck As ‘Next-Gen’ Police Cruiser 

    Former Tesla board member and Oracle founder Larry Ellison revealed: “Our next generation of a police car is coming out very soon – it’s my favorite police car – it’s my favorite car actually – it’s Elon’s favorite car – it’s incredible, and I know too much about it.” 

    Who knew Oracle had a police station? 

    Ellison was giving a keynote speech last week when he spoke highly of the new Tesla Cybertuck. 

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    “The Oracle executive seemed serious about the company deploying its technology to make the Tesla Cybertruck a law enforcement vehicle because he said that they planned on using the existing screen and cameras inside the vehicle to deploy their software solutions,” EV blog Electrek wrote. 

    Ellison noted, “We don’t have to add cameras to it because we actually use their existing cameras and screen to put our application on it.”

    There is no word if the EV police truck will be equipped with bulletproof windows and or batteries. 

    Electrek said, “It will be interesting to see if the Cybertruck becomes the new electric vehicle of choice for the police department.” 

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 09/25/2023 – 20:40

  • Oregon Sheriffs Association Says FBI Position Makes It Impossible To Legally Buy Guns
    Oregon Sheriffs Association Says FBI Position Makes It Impossible To Legally Buy Guns

    Authored by Scottie Barnes via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Hunting rifles are displayed at a store in Ottawa in a file photo. (The Canadian Press/Jonathan Hayward)

    Legal gun sales will end in Oregon should Ballot Measure 114 survive ongoing court challenges, according to guidance provided to all county sheriffs by the Oregon State Sheriffs Association (OSAA).

    Because the FBI has stated that it will not conduct background checks for the new law, no enforcement officer will be able to issue a permit to purchase a weapon as required by the measure.

    Doing so would be a crime, the legal guidance states.

    In addition, OSAA advised sheriffs that virtually all firearm magazines would be banned after the law takes effect.

    Anyone possessing them would be committing a crime and could be arrested.

    That includes off-duty police officers.

    Tougher Rules

    Voters approved Measure 114 last year with 50.7 percent of Oregonians saying “yes.”

    To qualify for a permit under the measure, an applicant would need to complete an approved, in-person firearm safety course, pay a fee, provide personal information, submit to fingerprinting and photographing, and pass an FBI criminal background check.

    The permits would be processed by local police chiefs, county sheriffs or their designees, and Oregon State Police (OSP) with information then submitted to the FBI.

    The measure also bans magazines that are capable of holding, or being modified to hold, more than 10 rounds.

    Measure 114 has been in litigation since November 2022.

    Plaintiffs in Oregon Firearm Federation v. the State of Oregon received the first hearing on Dec. 2, with oral arguments before Federal Judge Karin Immergut.

    On Dec. 6, Judge Immergut denied plaintiffs a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the implementation of the measure but granted the state’s request for a 30-day delay on the permit-to-purchase portion of the new rules.

    In that hearing, the Oregon Attorney General’s Office reassured the court that the permit-to-purchase system required by the new measure would be ready by Dec. 8 when the law was to take effect.

    The court’s public gallery erupted in laughter at the pledge, as many gun rights advocates were skeptical that the state police or local sheriffs could have such a system in place in such a short period of time.

    In fact, according to OSSA’s legal guidance, it is still not ready.

    Also on Dec. 6, Harney County Circuit Court Judge Robert Raschio issued a TRO for the entire measure on the grounds that it violates the state constitution.

    After a federal trial in June, Judge Immergut ruled the entire measure is constitutional.

    Plaintiffs in that case filed an appeal in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. This could move the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

    The trial in Harney County began on Sept. 18 and should conclude early next week.

    FBI Rules on Permit to Purchase

    According to OSSA’s legal guidance to sheriffs, Oregonians will be unable to obtain the “permit to purchase” required by the measure because the FBI has “explicitly stated” that it will not provide the requisite federal background check.

    In an FBI memo obtained by The Epoch Times, the bureau states that it “will not perform fingerprint-based background checks for permit applicants based on their determination that Ballot Measure 114 does not meet the requirements of Pub. L 92-544.”

    That law passed in 1972, empowers the FBI to make determinations regarding background checks for non-criminal matters.

    Those standards also include that the authorization must exist as the result of legislative enactment.

    As a voter-approved ballot measure, the FBI stated that Measure 114 does not meet that standard.

    OSSA subsequently provided legal guidance to all 36 county sheriff’s offices in the state.

    “The Oregon State Police (OSP) have informed OSSA and the Oregon Chiefs of Police that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has flatly refused to provide a criminal background check for a permit to purchase as required by the measure,” wrote OSSA General Counsel Elmer Dickens in his Aug. 29 legal guidance.

    The state police further said that they will provide a report back to the permit agent (local law enforcement) that they have “completed seven of the eight required steps,” as they are not able to complete the required FBI check, the guidance explained.

    “Our guidance on this issue is clear, unambiguous, and simple—no permit agent should issue a permit to purchase a firearm unless the Oregon State Police reports that the person is fully qualified to obtain a permit, including that they have successfully passed the required FBI background check,”

    Any agent who issues a permit to purchase without the FBI background check would be breaking the law, it continued.

    Creating Criminals

    The OSSA guidance also points out to sheriffs that virtually all firearm magazines, not just those identified as large capacity magazines (LCMs), will be outlawed by the measure.

    “For all magazines that have a detachable base-plate, the reality is that the magazine appears to fit the definition of an LCM because they are readily capable of being adapted to hold more than 10 rounds,” Mr. Dickens wrote.

    “It would appear that even drilling and riveting a base-plate to the magazine in order to more permanently attach it would not take it out of the definition of LCM, since a rivet can easily be removed and thus the magazine could again be capable in the future of holding more than 10 rounds.”

    Anyone who currently owns an LCM would be committing a crime and could be arrested if the measure is upheld, the guidance continued.

    This includes off-duty law enforcement officers, who frequently keep their service weapon with them at all times.

    Those who are arrested can attempt to prove their innocence with “affirmative defense.”

    This puts the burden of proof on the defendant to introduce evidence which, if found credible, will negate criminal liability, Mr. Dickens explained.

    But that language is so convoluted that even he could not give clear guidance.

    “The language of the affirmative defense raises many questions about enforcement of the measure,” he wrote. “Some of these questions do not have a clear answer and we will need further guidance from the judicial branch.”

    Among Mr Dickens’ concerns is the phrase “registered owner.”

    “Oregon has never required a person to register a firearm, and there are literally millions of unregistered firearms in the state,” he wrote.

    “Likewise, there is no process to register ownership of an LCM.”

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 09/25/2023 – 20:20

  • Biden Opens Diplomatic Ties With Cook Islands & Niue In Bid To Steer Pacific Away From China
    Biden Opens Diplomatic Ties With Cook Islands & Niue In Bid To Steer Pacific Away From China

    In what’s being called a jab at China, President Biden in a Monday statement recognized the Cook Islands and Niue as “sovereign and independent” states, and formally opened diplomatic relations with them.

    Bloomberg has underscored this is being done to directly “counter” China: “President Joe Biden announced that the US would establish diplomatic relations with the Cook Islands as his administration seeks to strengthen ties with Pacific island nations and counter Beijing’s growing influence in the region,” a Monday report said.

    Via istock

    Biden is currently hosting the leaders of Pacific Island nations in Washington D.C. for an event called the US-Pacific Island Forum Summit, and during the high-level talks said “the history and the future of the Pacific Islands and the United States are inextricably linked.”

    He explained: “The United States’ recognition of the Cook Islands, and the establishment of diplomatic relations will not only strengthen the ties between our nations, it will help ensure that our shared future is more secure, more prosperous, and more free — for our people and people around the world.”

    The summit includes representation of the following countries: Australia, the Cook Islands, Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu – according to a press release.

    Leaders from these countries were already in the United States throughout last week’s UN General Assembly, and stayed for the key Pacific Island summit.

    But one important nation did not, and its absence highlights growing regional tensions between Washington and Beijing: 

    But the administration was “very disappointed” that Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, who was in New York last week for the U.N. General Assembly, opted not to stick around for the White House summit, according to an administration official. The Solomon Islands last year signed a security pact with China.

    Regarding the Cook Islands, it remains that the US is still far behind China in establishing formal ties. China along with over 50 other countries have already long recognized it. Cook Islands has long had a “free association” arrangement with New Zealand, and most of its residents maintain New Zealand citizenship.

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    Given US recognition is very belatedly coming at a moment of simmering tensions and a low-point for US-China relations, Beijing is likely to see Biden’s announcement as yet more geopolitical maneuvering for influence in the region, aimed at thwarting China alignment among small nations.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 09/25/2023 – 20:00

  • White House Pledges $100 Million Support Kenyan UN Soldiers In Haiti
    White House Pledges $100 Million Support Kenyan UN Soldiers In Haiti

    Authored by Kyle Anzalone via The Libertarian Institute,

    Secretary of State Antony Blinken explained how the US plans to support a proposed UN deployment to Haiti aimed at restoring order in the country. The White House intends to spend $100 million to support the Kenyan soldiers sent to the Caribbean nation. Washington believes the troops could be deployed to Haiti within a few months. 

    On Friday, Blinken hosted a meeting in New York of countries that support Washington’s effort to get the UN Security Council to approve a resolution that would see Kenya lead an international force in Haiti. “As the Haitian National Police works to get to full strength and capacity, security assistance from international partners can play a critical bridging role. That’s why the United States supports the UN-backed Multinational Security Support mission,” the American diplomat said in his address.

    Blinked went on to pledge $165 million in military assistance to Port-au-Prince and Nairobi. “[The US] also announcing an additional $65 million to further professionalize the Haitian National Police and strengthen its capacity to dismantle the gangs and to safeguard communities,” he announced.

    “[The White House] intends to work with our Congress to provide $100 million in support, and our Department of Defense is prepared to provide robust enabling support – including planning assistance, intelligence support, airlift, communications, and medical support.”

    Blinken noted the White House previously provided Port-au-Prince with over $120 million in security assistance. 

    The Joe Biden administration has wanted to deploy an international force to Haiti for over a year. In 2021, more Haitians began to arrive at the US border seeking entry. As a candidate, Biden repeatedly denounced then-President Donald Trump’s immigration policy as inhumane. 

    The situation proved a political nightmare for the White House. US Border Patrol agents were photographed using questionable tactics to round up Haitian migrants near the southern border. The White House has deported tens of thousands of Haitians back to their home country despite the rampant violence. 

    The White House attempted to resolve the issue by helping Haitian leader Ariel Henry restore order. Henry ascended to power in Port-au-Price with the support of Washington after President Jovenel Moise was assassinated in July 2021. While it is unclear who is behind the plot to kill Moise, Henry has been named as potentially involved. 

    Since Henry became Prime Minister, gangs have taken control of more territory. The Haitian leader has responded by supporting Washington’s effort to deploy UN peacekeepers to his country. “Democracy is at peril. Our country needs a return to normalcy,” Henry said. “Improved security must be accompanied by real progress to resolve the political crisis. The support mission will not be a substitute for political progress.”

    Last year, the White House pressured Canada to lead the UN mission to Haiti, but Ottawa resisted the Biden administration’s request. In August, Washington announced it had enlisted Nairobi to lead the mission. 

    There are significant potential issues if UN soldiers are deployed to Haiti. In 2010, UN personnel released sewage into water that contained the country’s drinking supply, causing a cholera outbreak that claimed nearly 10,000 lives. Additionally, according to the State Department, Kenyan security forces routinely commit human rights atrocities. 

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 09/25/2023 – 19:40

  • Toyota Planning To Triple EV Output To 600,000 Vehicles By 2025
    Toyota Planning To Triple EV Output To 600,000 Vehicles By 2025

    Make no mistake about it: the race to head up the electric vehicle war appears to be the sole objective for automakers not just in the U.S., but around the world.

    With that, Toyota is dramatically intensifying its focus on electric vehicles, according to a new report from Nikkei, with plans to triple its EV output by 2025 from planned production numbers for 2024.

    Aiming to stay competitive with EV market leaders like Tesla and BYD, Toyota has informed its primary parts suppliers that it plans to manufacture 600,000 EVs under its Toyota and Lexus brands in 2025, a significant jump from its 190,000-unit target for 2024. The automaker sold just 24,000 EVs in 2022.

    For perspective, Toyota aims to produce more than 10 million vehicles in total for 2023, including approximately 150,000 EVs.

    By 2025, the company expects to roll out 11 million vehicles overall, with EVs comprising 5% to 6% of that figure. An executive from a parts supplier estimates that, including original equipment manufacturer (OEM) models, Toyota’s EV sales in 2025 could approach 800,000 units, the report says. 

    This ambitious scaling-up includes the launch of an electric Hilux model in Thailand later this year, electric SUVs in China and the U.S. next year, and an electric Lexus ES in Japan by 2025. Moreover, Toyota is collaborating with Suzuki Motor and subsidiary Daihatsu Motor to create electric versions of mini commercial vehicles.

    In the United States, a specialized plant scheduled to become operational in 2025 will primarily produce EV batteries. Production lines for batteries will also be established at two Aichi facilities, with battery subsidiary Prime Planet Energy & Solutions slated for production expansion.

    By 2026, Toyota intends to roll out a next-generation EV platform beginning with Lexus models, featuring gigacasting technology that streamlines aluminum molding for vehicle chassis, thereby conserving time, funds, and labor. The long-term objective is to sell 3.5 million EVs by 2030, with 1.7 million utilizing this new platform.

    Nikkei notes that while the emphasis on electric vehicles is growing, Toyota’s overarching strategy remains committed to diversifying its power sources, including traditional gasoline and hybrid models. However, its current EV offerings face profitability challenges and lag in sales when compared to frontrunners Tesla and BYD.

    EVs have become such a point of contention that the EU recently opened an investigation into China’s EV subsidies, claiming they were disruptive to the market. Chinese state mouthpiece The Global Times published a rebuttal earlier this month, claiming that the EU’s probe would likely “backfire” and that the EU’s economy would suffer as a result. 

    “Clearly, Europe is afraid,” The Global Times wrote. “They are afraid of competition from China, so they want to seek trade protectionism as a protective umbrella for European auto makers who are slowly transitioning toward electrification.”

    China says that the EU should “have enough courage to face competition from their Chinese counterparts directly.”

    At a time when tensions between China and the EU have been simmering for months, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is taking exception with the fact that “the global market is flooded with cheap Chinese cars”, we noted earlier this month, citing Bloomberg.

    Speaking to parliament earlier this month, von der Leyen said: “Their price is kept artificially low by huge state subsidies. This is distorting our market. And as we do not accept this distortion from the inside in our market, we do not accept this from the outside.”

    We also noted this summer that the push for EVs is so crucial, automakers like Ford are voluntarily losing billions on it as they adapt, just to be a the forefront of the industry. 

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 09/25/2023 – 19:20

  • Justin Trudeau's Nazi Hot Take Flexibility: Taibbi
    Justin Trudeau’s Nazi Hot Take Flexibility: Taibbi

    Authored by Matt Taibbi via Racket News,

    Let me get this straight:

    A year and a half ago, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau denounced a Jewish member of parliament named Melissa Lantsman for standing with “people who wave swastikas.” Lantsman had criticized Trudeau for fanning “the flames of an unjustified national emergency” in response to the “Freedom Convoy” trucker protests. The “swastikas” Trudeau referenced were, as even Snopes conceded, virtually all “pictured on signs as a way of mocking and protesting government restrictions,” comme ça:

    By saying Lantsman stood with “people who wave swastikas,” in other words, Trudeau really meant she was standing with “people who called me a Nazi.” He declined to apologize, which of course is his prerogative.

    This week, both Trudeau and House of Commons Speaker Anthony Rota are under fire after Rota invited, and Trudeau applauded, a 98-year-old former soldier from the 14th Waffen-SS Grenadier Division named Yaroslav Hunka to attend an address by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. Rota praised Hunka as a “Canadian hero” from his time fighting the Soviets in World War II when, not that it matters, they were allies to the United States and Canada. Leaving the elderly Hunka out of this for the moment, these politicians could easily have turned up the man’s blogs about joining Hitler’s army, making the applause scene at least approach the max on the cringe scale:

    Amid the subsequent outcry, Trudeau squeaked out a handful of sentences that collectively gave off least a faint aroma of apology, though he personally didn’t apologize for anything, and invoked “mistakes were made” phrasing:

    It’s extremely upsetting that this happened. The Speaker has acknowledged his mistake and has apologized… This is something that is deeply embarrassing to the Parliament of Canada and by extension to all Canadians… I think particularly of Jewish MPs and all members of the Jewish community, celebrating, um, commemorating Yom Kippur today.

    If he’d stopped there, it would have been a merely gross performance. He didn’t, jumping straight from “Yom Kippur today” to:

    I think it’s going to be really important that all of us push back against Russian propaganda, Russian disinformation, and continue our steadfast and unequivocal support for Ukraine, as we did last week with announcing further measures to stand with Ukraine in Russia’s illegal war against it.

    To recap: Trudeau in a clear act of official disinformation smeared thousands of Canadian protesters as Nazis last year with context-twisting descriptions of a few decidedly un-representative photos. Now, after the Speaker of the House of Commons invited an ex-Nazi to parliament in a planned political act that had to be somewhat representative of the thinking of Trudeau’s Liberal government, the Prime Minister is complaining about “Russian disinformation,” as if that were to blame for this optics Hindenburg. As the CBC put it:

    Trudeau warned that this event may fuel Russian propaganda. Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed the Ukraine conflict is about rooting out Nazis.

    Dude, Vladimir Putin didn’t invite a Nazi to parliament, your government did. Do Davosketeers like Trudeau have anything inside, like shame or their own thoughts, or are they just manicured readers of talking points? Sheesh. It’s almost funny, how repugnant these people are.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 09/25/2023 – 19:00

  • US To Keep Paying Salaries For Tens Of Thousands Of Ukrainians During Government Shutdown
    US To Keep Paying Salaries For Tens Of Thousands Of Ukrainians During Government Shutdown

    A newly aired “60 Minutes” segment entitled The unexpected way American tax dollars are being used in Ukraine has uncovered that the US government is paying the salaries of some 57,000 Ukrainian civic services personnel. 

    The report details the various ways non-military aid is being spent at a moment GOP Congressional leaders are intensely debating whether to move forward with a proposed defense budget that includes Biden’s push for $24 billion more in military assistance for Kiev. Watch: 

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    “The U.S. has spent just over $43 billion on military aid to Ukraine since Russia invaded. That’s equivalent to about 5% of the American defense budget. European countries combined have contributed around $30 billion,” the 60 Minutes report narrates. 

    And this includes the following stunning detail: 

    American taxpayers are financing more than just weapons. We discovered the U.S. government’s buying seeds and fertilizer for Ukrainian farmers… and covering the salaries of Ukraine’s first responders – all 57,000 of them. 

    That includes the team that trains this rescue dog – named Joy – to comb through the wreckage of Russian strikes looking for survivors.

    Political commentator Collin Rugg has noted in relation to the potential government shutdown looming for Oct. 1st: “Yes, your tax dollars will be used to fund Ukrainian salaries while American citizens are forced to wait for their pay while the government remains closed,” he said on X.

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    Rugg is referencing the fact that the Biden administration and Pentagon have declared that Ukraine aid will remain exempt from any potential government shutdown. This means Ukrainian salaries will still be paid, even while federal employees aren’t, in the event of a shutdown.

    Here’s more from the 60 Minutes video, featuring a Ukrainian woman “thanking” US taxpayers for footing the bill for Ukrainian employees, thanks to USAID funding: 

    Tatiana Abramova: Especially in the condition of war, we have to work. We have to pay taxes, we have to pay wage– salary to our employees. We have to work, don’t stop.

    Holly Williams: Why does that help Ukraine win the war?

    Tatiana Abramova: Because economy is the foundation of everything.

    American officials from USAID – the agency in charge of international development – helped Abramova find new customers overseas. In the midst of war, her company is supporting over 70 families. 

    Meanwhile, a fresh Newsweek headline: US Will Pay Salaries to Thousands of Ukrainians During Government Shutdown…

    “US taxpayers will pay the salaries of thousands of Ukrainians, even as the country faces a government shutdown at the end of September.”

    But as noted above, this is more like tens of thousands of Ukrainian salaries.

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    “A federal government shut down will effectively begin on October 1 if Congress isn’t able to pass a funding plan that Biden signs into law,” Newsweek underscores. “If that happens, federal agencies have to stop all nonessential work and will not send paychecks for as long as the shutdown lasts.”

    Appropriately, the 60 Minutes episode invoked memory of the late John McCain…

    In total, America’s pumped nearly $25 billion of non-military aid into Ukraine’s economy since the invasion began – and you can see it working at the bustling farmers market on John McCain Street in central Kyiv.

    The late senator is revered in Ukraine because he pushed the U.S. government to start sending arms to the country… back in 2014. 

    Here’s how 60 Minutes presents bipartisan support for Biden’s blank check for Ukraine:

    While in Kyiv, we learned that three of McCain’s former colleagues were also in town: Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal and Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham. They don’t normally agree on much – together, though, they’re some of the staunchest supporters of U.S. funding for Ukraine’s resistance.

    Sen. Lindsey Graham: They’re on track to break the Russian army, and the only way they could possibly lose is if we pull the plug on them.

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    Indeed Zelensky himself while meeting with US Senators in Washington last week said something similar – that without continuing American funds, the war effort is doomed. He urged Congress to keep the billions in aid flowing, and sought to present that Moscow will one day expand aggression beyond just Ukraine.

    * * *

    Meanwhile, the “aid from the heart of every ordinary American person” will continue (whether those ordinary Americans like or not)…

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    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 09/25/2023 – 18:40

  • Russia Lifts Ban On Low-Quality Diesel Exports
    Russia Lifts Ban On Low-Quality Diesel Exports

    By Tsvetana Paraskova of Oilprice.com,

    On Monday, Russia tweaked its export limitations on fuels, lifting the temporary ban on exports of low-quality diesel and marine fuel.

    At the end of last week, Russia surprised the markets by announcing a temporary ban on exports of gasoline and diesel to stabilize fuel prices on the domestic market, ending weeks of speculation that authorities would limit exports in the face of soaring prices and shortages due to higher crude prices and weak Russian ruble.

    Fuel already accepted for export by Transneft and the Russian Railways before last week’s ban came into effect is also exempt from the restrictions, according to the Russian government.

    But the export ban on all types of gasoline and on higher-quality diesel remains in place, per a government document cited by Reuters.

    Before the temporary restrictions were enacted, Russia had raised the mandatory supply volumes of motor gasoline and diesel fuel to the commodity exchange to help ease the supply crunch.

    “The temporary restrictions will help raise supply on the fuel market, which in turn will reduce prices for consumers,” the Russian government said last Thursday when it announced the export ban.

    Russia has been considering a fuel export ban since May in an effort to avert domestic fuel shortages and rein in prices after announcing a halving of subsidies to oil refiners that will start this month in order to keep more money in government coffers to fund its military operation in Ukraine.

    Lower diesel supply out of Russia would not only reduce Putin’s revenues but could also tighten an already tight global diesel market.

    Many analysts, however, believe that the temporary ban on fuel exports will not last long, and it could be a matter of only a few weeks before it is lifted.

    Russia doesn’t have much storage capacity, so when the harvest season ends and supply to the domestic market increases, Russia may not be willing to have refineries close fuel processing capacities because of the export restrictions, analysts say.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 09/25/2023 – 18:20

  • Chicago' Problem Is Crime, The Mayor's Solution Is City-Run Grocery Stores
    Chicago’ Problem Is Crime, The Mayor’s Solution Is City-Run Grocery Stores

    Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

    Walmart closed 4 stores. Whole Foods closed another, all due to theft, looting, and worker safety.

    Mayor Brandon Johnson, Grocery Mogul, to the Rescue

    “Will the progressive mayor be willing to stop shoplifting at his government-run stores?” asks the Wall Street Journal in its take Brandon Johnson, Grocery Mogul.

    Mayor Brandon Johnson said recently the city that used to work should consider opening government-run food stores because “all Chicagoans deserve to live near convenient, affordable, healthy grocery options.” He’s upset that at least six grocery stores have closed in the past two years on the city’s South and West sides.

    Walmart closed four stores in Chicago because they were losing tens of millions of dollars a year, and CEO Doug McMillon said annual losses had doubled in the past five years.

    The problem isn’t corporate racism. It’s crime. In 2022 Chicago reported 54,000 thefts and a mere 4% resulted in an arrest. Of the 8,730 retail thefts, there were 1,450 arrests, or less than 17%, according to Wirepoints and the Chicago city data portal.

    Questions Abound

    • What will the mayor do to prevent theft at his government grocery chain?

    • Will Johnson consider it the cost of doing business (supported by higher tax hikes)?

    • Or will Johnson provide more police protection for the stores the city opens? And if so, what won’t get protection that now does?

    • Then again, what is getting any police protection now?

    That’s a lot of questions.

    Meanwhile if you are a store owner in Chicago suffering huge losses to theft or if you are an individual tired of the crime and piss poor public schools, I have a suggestion: leave.

    But think about where your going. Leaving Chicago isn’t enough. I advise leaving the state.

    Just remember It Takes 3 Weeks to Escape Illinois, at least it did for us because all of the U-Haul rentals were leaving.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 09/25/2023 – 17:40

  • Growing Numbers Of American Volunteers Wounded In Ukraine Treated At US Army Hospital In Germany
    Growing Numbers Of American Volunteers Wounded In Ukraine Treated At US Army Hospital In Germany

    The US Army is giving medical care to wounded American fighters who volunteered for Ukraine’s foreign legion and other militias at a hospital in Germany. 

    This is happening with increasing frequency at the US Army’s Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, a New York Times investigation found, which marks “a notable new step in the United States’ deepening involvement in the conflict,” as the report underscored.

    Aerial view of Landstuhl Regional Medical Center

    Landstuhl is the Pentagon’s flagship medical center in Germany, and it for many years was the central treatment center in Europe for wounded American troops evacuated from war theatres like Afghanistan and Iraq.

    The Times observed that the hospital “has quietly started admitting Ukrainian Army soldiers who were wounded in combat, most of them American volunteers.” This is unusual given the hospital would typically only treat active duty personnel. 

    The report described:

    “A group of Ukrainian Army soldiers pierced by Russian grenades and mortar shells arrived at a hospital recently in need of surgery. It would have been a familiar scene from the bloody war grinding on in Ukraine, except for two crucial differences: Most of the wounded soldiers were American…”

    “Though the number so far is small — currently 14 — it marks a notable new step in the United States’ deepening involvement in the conflict,” NYT continued.

    There are still believed to be hundreds of American volunteers fighting alongside Ukrainian forces. In the opening year of the war, there may have been multiple thousands. This after Zelensky in the initial weeks of the Russian invasion begged for foreign volunteers and mercenaries, and Western mainstream press and social media amplified these calls…

    But unlike the early part of the conflict, when there was the constant media drumbeat of claims that Ukraine was “winning” – there has since been a dramatic narrative shift, centered on the failed counteroffensive. This dour turn is reflected in the NYT report in the following: 

    An unknown number of them have been shot, hit by artillery, blown up by mines or otherwise injured in combat. About 20 have been killed. Most of the wounded have had to rely on a patchwork of Ukrainian hospitals and Western charities for help. Now, though, the Pentagon has stepped in to offer some of them the same care it gives to American active-duty troops.

    Some of these Americans are serving under contract directly with Ukraine’s military, while others volunteered with local militias. 

    After some 19 months of war, there have been sporadic reports of Americans dying or being captured, but this is the first time a newspaper of the stature of the New York Times has listed twenty American deaths in Ukraine – a higher figure than what’s previously been disclosed.

    Tyler Durden
    Mon, 09/25/2023 – 17:20

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