- Mr Duterte first threatened to end the VFA in early 2020
- Analysts say Mr Duterte is hesitant to end military links with the US due to rising tensions with China over contested waters
International laws
China warns UK as carrier strike group approaches South China Sea – China News
Comment by tonytran2015: In the provocation stage, weaker powers like England, EU have more chance than USA of suffering surprise strikes by the other side.
https://chinanews.net.au/2021/07/30/china-warns-uk-as-carrier-strike-group-approaches/
…China has warned the UK’s Carrier Strike Group, led by the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth not to carry out any “improper acts” as it enters the contested South China Sea.
‘The People’s Liberation Army Navy is at a high state of combat readiness’ says the pro-government Global Times, seen as a mouthpiece for the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)…
China Aims to Dominate Global Governance
https://www.nationandstate.com/2021/07/29/china-aims-to-dominate-global-governance/
Though the dangers to the world of China becoming a global powerhouse are evident, a few frilly words from China seem to be all that is needed for Western elites to disbelieve their eyes. Go to Source Author: {American Thinker}… Read more
German company Leifeld refused to supply high-precision equipment to the Ukrainian KB LUCH | Ukraine Today .org
The German company Leifeld refused to supply high-precision equipment to the State Kyiv Design Bureau Luch.
The Odessa forum “Effective for the defense industry,” said chief designer DKKB “Ray” Oleg Korostelev, said in the article Valentine Badrak “With an eye to NATO as the domestic defense industry plans to cooperate with the West” on LB.ua .
“When we needed thermal imagers, we were helped by Turkey, when we needed modern drones, we were helped again by Turkey,” Korostelov said.
Valentin Badrak suggests that the German company refused under the influence of the desire to resume business with Russia…
US-China Tianjin Talks “Stopped Short Of Actually Negotiating Anything”
Comment by tonytran2015: Is there any point in negotiating if the US must let China interfere with its internal matters ?
As we detailed before the Chinese side presented no less than two lists of grievances – or essentially things the Biden administration must rectify before any real diplomacy can take place,
focusing on lifting sanctions and all travel restrictions on Chinese
officials, and revoking policies which see Chinese media as ‘foreign
missions’.
Labor gaslights Australia on China – MacroBusiness
https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2019/05/labor-gaslights-australia-china/
… Perhaps a better way ahead for Labor is to follow the MB path of separating rhetorically and politically the CCP from the Chinese
people. The former may not like it but it is a way of managing the expectations of both the local Chinese Australian and wider communities vis whatever is meant by “China”.
An even better idea is to slash immigration so that the problem doesn’t develop into some kind of domestically generated fatal schism in
strategic policy.
Putin views Ukraine as “the anti-Russia” and the struggle against it as his mission, Shevchuk says | Ukraine Today .org
…
Vladimir Putin considers Ukraine not as a country and nation in its own right but as “’the anti-Russia,’ that is as imply yet another Western project” against which he is called as the successor of Moscow princes to fight against, according to Republic portal commentator Mikhail Shevchuk.
Two weeks after promising to produce an article on Ukraine, Putin issued a 5,000-word essay which speaks to his vision of the world in general and of Ukraine in particular, one that does not promise anything positive for either in the future, the writer says.
The essay, which was released in both Russian and Ukrainian, is mostly devoted to Putin’s vision of the history of Russians and Ukrainians, two peoples, he passionately believes are in fact one because of that history and shared characteristics whatever the members of each actually think.
But Putin’s case collapses because he has no way of dealing with the fact that the existence of Ukrainian nationalism and its anti-Russian nature, which Putin points to, presupposes the existence of a separate Ukrainian nation, the existence of which he completely denies.
“Ukrainian nationalism for Putin, Shevchuk says, is the product established in the first instance by enemies.” It was not created by the Soviets when they agreed to the formation of the Ukrainian SSR and defined the Ukrainian nation primarily in linguistic terms. The current Kremlin leader would like to somehow reverse all that, but he doesn’t offer a way forward.
The most he can do is assert what he would like as somehow being historically necessary. “I am convinced, he says, ‘that the genuine sovereignty of Ukraine is possible only in partnership with Russia’” – and it is in this phrase which consists the essence of Putin’s message. He can’t deal with two peoples who are similar in many respects but who want to live separately.
And there are so many examples of this: the US and Canada, Austria and Germany, the Scandinavian countries, Shevchuk continues. Many people who even had a common history for much of the past have chosen to go their own ways. Denying that this happens or trying to reverse it only deepens the divisions….
Human Rights Watch alleges Israeli attacks were not aimed at military targets – ABC News
…HRW said it investigated three Israeli air strikes that killed 62 Palestinian civilians and found there was no evidence military targets
were in the vicinity and that residents were not informed before at
least one attack…
The Deep Seabed Is China’s Next Target
https://www.nationandstate.com/2021/07/23/the-deep-seabed-is-chinas-next-target/
The Deep Seabed Is China’s Next Target By Alex Gray of 19fortygive.com In late 2020, a Chinese submersible, the Fendouzhe, descended over 30,000 feet to the bottom of the Marianas Trench, home to the deepest point in the earth’s oceans, known as Challenger Deep. Loaded with so much surveying equipment that the crew added additional buoyancy materials to…
‘Are they going to bomb Vermont?’ Israel gets skewered after claiming Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream boycott is ‘new form of terrorism’ — RT World News
https://www.rt.com/news/529920-ben-jerrys-ice-cream-terrorism-israel/
Israel’s president has been targeted by a barrage of social
media snark after he bravely compared Ben & Jerry’s decision, to
stop selling its ice cream in the occupied Palestinian territories, to
terrorism.
media snark after he bravely compared Ben & Jerry’s decision, to
stop selling its ice cream in the occupied Palestinian territories, to
terrorism.
The Vermont-based
ice cream brand, which has developed a reputation over the years as a
champion of progressive causes, announced earlier this week that it
would be “inconsistent” with its values to sell its ice cream in Gaza and the West Bank. The boycott was prompted by “concerns shared with us by our fans and trusted partners,” the left-leaning ice cream maker explained.
ice cream brand, which has developed a reputation over the years as a
champion of progressive causes, announced earlier this week that it
would be “inconsistent” with its values to sell its ice cream in Gaza and the West Bank. The boycott was prompted by “concerns shared with us by our fans and trusted partners,” the left-leaning ice cream maker explained.
The
decision sparked both applause and condemnation but, on Wednesday,
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog issued a uniquely extreme analysis of
the move.
“The boycott of Israel is a new sort of terrorism, economic terrorism,” Herzog said, as quoted by Haaretz. “Terrorism
tries to harm the citizens of Israel and the economy of Israel. We must
oppose this boycott and terrorism in any form.”
Also on rt.com
Netanyahu tells Israelis ‘NOT to buy’ Ben & Jerry’s ice cream after company stops sales in ‘Occupied Palestinian Territory’
But his geopolitical assessment of the ice cream blockade
received poor reviews on social media, with many comments openly mocking
the president’s remarks.
“Terrorism is when I can’t buy Ben and Jerries to eat while I bulldoze Palestinian homes,” quipped one Twitter user.
Another observer joked that Israel might be planning on carrying out missile strikes against Ben & Jerry’s Vermont hometown.
Others fired up photoshop to show their disdain for Herzog’s claim.
Those
who took a more serious approach to the Israeli leader’s comments
argued that comparing the boycott to any form of terrorism showed “bad faith” on the part of Tel Aviv.
The pile-on wasn’t unanimous, however. One reply accused media outlets of twisting Herzog’s words by not stressing that he specifically pointed to Ben & Jerry’s alleged “economic” terrorism.
Israel’s
president isn’t alone in using such strong language to push back
against the ice cream company. Earlier this week, Prime Minister Naftali
Bennett claimed that Ben & Jerry’s had rebranded as an “antisemitic ice cream.”
Ben
& Jerry’s, which is owned by consumer goods giant Unilever,
explained that it would remain in Israel, and would only stop sales in
areas considered occupied by that country.
