News of the World

[kyonides]

USA

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Several Articles

U.S. Asks China to Ask Iran to Ask Houthis to Stop Attacking Red Sea Shipping

The Financial Times reported on Wednesday that the Biden administration has asked top Chinese officials to pressure Iran to make its Houthi proxy terrorists in Yemen halt their attacks on Red Sea shipping.

According to the Times’s sources, these pleas from top Biden officials — all the way up to White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken — have fallen on deaf ears in Beijing.

The Biden team has reportedly been asking China for help for “the past three months” but saw “little evidence China had put any pressure on Iran to restrain the Houthis.”

The best Beijing could do was a bland statement asking all parties to guarantee the safety of Red Sea shipping. The Houthis responded by assuring China and Russia that ships flying their flags would not be attacked. Terrorist attacks on the vessels of other nations continued unabated.

Pinprick airstrikes by United States and United Kingdom forces against Houthi missile batteries have not convinced the terrorists to halt their attacks or significantly degraded their ability to threaten commercial vessels, so Biden officials are now talking to reporters on background about a significant escalation of military action against the Houthis.

That favor Biden has asked China fully demonstrates what a moron he is.  And Blinken and Sullivan are no better than their own boss. They don't even understand the Middle Eastern mentality at all.

President Joe Biden Halts Decisions on Liquefied Natural Gas Exports to Combat ‘Climate Crisis’

President Joe Biden’s (D) administration announced Friday it is temporarily pausing pending decisions on liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports as part of a move to combat so-called “climate change.”

In his statement, Biden said there will be a pause but “with the exception of unanticipated and immediate national security emergencies.”

He added that officials will probe the “impacts of LNG exports on energy costs, America’s energy security, and our environment. This pause on new LNG approvals sees the climate crisis for what it is: the existential threat of our time.”

“While MAGA Republicans willfully deny the urgency of the climate crisis, condemning the American people to a dangerous future, my Administration will not be complacent. We will not cede to special interests,” the president claimed.

However, Fox News reported Friday that environmentalists have recently urged officials to make such a move.
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While it is unclear which proposed projects the action will affect, a senior administration official told reporters at least two have a larger capacity and two have a smaller capacity. Another official added that the pause implemented Friday will only impact projects that have gone through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) lengthy approval process and are ripe for DOE approval.

In his statement Friday, Biden said his administration has been working to combat the so-called “climate crisis” in America and abroad, then touted his energy policies.

Open Editorial

The problem is that CO2 won't kill people or animals. To the contrary, trees and crops depend HEAVILY on high levels of CO2 in the air. No tree will get thicker and thicker in a short period of time like 10 years if it can't find water and CO2. The colder an environment gets, the thinner the rings of a tree will be. Scientists are fully aware of that fact.

CO2 might raise the temperature a bit more in the next few years? Good. A warm climate helps food production a lot. Go check the stats on crop yields yourselves. Here's the related study as well. It clearly shows how farmland area has no reason to dramatically increase its coverage of soil to produce better results. One of the important reasons behind this increase is the warm temperatures.

This doesn't mean that there is no ceiling that could be reached in the (distant?) future. Government can implement policies that can slow it down significantly. Some agricultural practices can also affect the soil negatively like not rotating crops every year. The lack of access to potash can also prove to be quite harmful for several economies around the world.

Do you care about preserving current soil conditions? Well, there are people already working on possible solutions to several issues.

Increasing the productivity of existing agricultural land will also have environmental consequences (Tilman et al., 2002), but the negative consequences are generally less onerous and in some cases can be positive, depending upon how the land was previously used. Increased use of nitrogen fertilizers, a concern with both methods of increasing production, can increase nitrous oxide emissions, reduce water quality, and increase the size of hypoxic zones (Donner and Kucharik, 2008). However, incremental yield increases can be achieved on existing agricultural land through conservation tillage or transgenic insect control. Conservation tillage can decrease erosion, conserve soil moisture, and increase soil organic matter (Lal, 2004), and transgenic insect control can reduce broad spectrum insecticide use (Qaim and Zilberman, 2003; Cattaneo et al., 2006).

Anyway, it's not hard to prove that stopping the production of oil and gas does nothing to prevent the so called climate change. Yet, it does put at risk the current levels of food production that sustain the modern lifestyle. Heck, it can impair the production of medicines that also depend on oil because it is one of its raw materials! Then you'll have no excuse to complain that Americans or Europeans depend too much on China and India to get your medicines. Keep in mind they're still burning fossil fuels!

And nope, that's not the only reason they plan to convince you of not relying on fuels. They also need you to shorten your trips as proven with all the Tesla and electric charger stations articles published on NOTCW thread. If you go full electric, you'll lose your independence and will get stuck in the middle of nowhere and a gas-powered Ford will have to come to your rescue. Literally speaking.

Georgia State Senate Approves Subpoena-Powered Probe into Fani Willis

The Georgia State Senate on Friday approved launching a subpoena-powered investigation into Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis by a 30-19 vote.

The investigation will be run by a Senate committee... This follows Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s ® refusal to launch a criminal investigation into Willis, citing the need for a currently non-operational oversight committee to open the probe.

Willis stands accused of misconduct and corruption during her prosecution of former President Donald Trump. Republicans became alarmed by a court filing by Mike Roman, a political operative and co-defendant of Trump in the Georgia election case, who leveled four explosive allegations against Willis in January about her conduct while prosecuting Trump.
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The Senate committee will hold subpoena power to “secure the attendance of witnesses or the production of documents and materials” related to Willis, the resolution put forth by Georgia State Sen. Greg Dolezal (R-Forsyth) read.

The committee, the only type of its kind in the state of Georgia, will comprise nine senators, only three of whom will be Democrats. The Committee on Assignments will appoint members to the committee.

“The Georgia legislature has a responsibility to hold public officials accountable,” Georgia Lieutenant Gov. Burt Jones exclusively told Breitbart News on Monday. “Recent reports have been deeply troubling, and I appreciate Sen. Dolezal’s leadership on this issue.”

House Committee Announces Date to Mark Up Alejandro Mayorkas Impeachment

Republicans on the House Committee on Homeland Security are moving forward with their impeachment of embattled Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

The committee announced it will convene on Tuesday, January 30, to mark up articles of impeachment against Mayorkas for high crimes and misdemeanors.

Chairman Mark Green (R-TN) touted the committee’s yearlong “comprehensive investigation” into Mayorkas as well as “the causes, costs, and consequences of the unprecedented crisis at America’s borders, holding 10 hearings, publishing six reports totaling roughly 400 pages, and conducting extensive interviews with chief patrol agents for the U.S. Border Patrol.”

The announcement comes as Senate negotiations pairing border security and foreign aid reach a low point. With that deal seemingly on life support, the House sending articles of impeachment to the Senate — which would almost certainly kill the resolution — could be another step in highlighting Democrat inaction on the border.

The committee published excerpts of transcripts from chief and deputy chief patrol agents at the Southwest border regarding what it calls “a number of consequences of Secretary Mayorkas’s open borders”:

• Never before have agents seen such historic numbers of illegal crossings.
  
• The lack of consequences enforced by this administration for illegal entry
  
• Mass releases functioning as a pull factor for millions of illegal aliens
  
• Illegal aliens are now turning themselves in to Border Patrol, knowing they will be released into the interior.
  
• The expansive degree of cartel control at the Southwest border
  
• Agents are being taken out of the field in order to help process and release illegal aliens.
  
• Illegal aliens are spreading the word of our open border back home, encouraging more crossings.
  
• The operational impacts of open borders, including closed checkpoints and national security/public safety risks
  
• Border Patrol sector chiefs contradict Secretary Mayorkas and say they do not have operational control in their sectors.
  

U.S. Stops Funding UNRWA After Staff Involved in Hamas October 7 Terrorist Attack

The U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), an organization for decades facing accusations of fueling radical Islam and antisemitism in Gaza, announced Friday it was suspending some staff over allegations they joined the horrific Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel.

U.N. chief Antonio Guterres “is horrified” by the accusations and an “urgent and comprehensive independent review of UNRWA will be conducted”, said his spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

A statement setting out the move was issued by Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General, declaring:

To protect the Agency’s ability to deliver humanitarian assistance, I have taken the decision to immediately terminate the contracts of these staff members and launch an investigation in order to establish the truth without delay. Any UNRWA employee who was involved in acts of terror will be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution.

UNRWA reiterates its condemnation in the strongest possible terms of the abhorrent attacks of 7 October and calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all Israeli hostages and their safe return to their families.

These shocking allegations come as more than 2 million people in Gaza depend on lifesaving assistance that the Agency has been providing since the war began. Anyone who betrays the fundamental values of the United Nations also betrays those whom we serve in Gaza, across the region and elsewhere around the world.

The United States was the agency’s biggest bilateral donor in 2022, contributing more than $340 million, according to UNRWA’s website.

The U.S. State Department also reacted quickly to the news by stating it has paused additional funding for UNRWA while it reviews the allegations “and the steps the United Nations is taking to address them.”

Twelves workers from UNRWA currently face accusations they willingly participated in the deadly Hamas terror attack. The State Department declared that in light of the investigations:

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke with United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres on January 25 to emphasize the necessity of a thorough and swift investigation of this matter.  We welcome the decision to conduct such an investigation and Secretary General Guterres’ pledge to take decisive action to respond, should the allegations prove accurate.

LATIN AMERICA

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Maduro Hates The Opposition

Venezuela Kills Presidential Election After Clinching Sanctions Relief

Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro declared on Thursday that the deal signed between his socialist regime and the Venezuelan “opposition” to hold a “free and fair” 2024 presidential election was “mortally wounded,” implying the cancellation of the election.

The agreements, signed in Barbados in October through the mediation of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, committed Maduro to taking steps towards holding a “free and fair” presidential election in the second half of 2024. Some of the steps included the lifting of bans on opposition politicians from running for office — including a ban on María Corina Machado, Maduro’s presumptive rival in the hypothetical electoral event. Maduro never lifted the ban and never fixed a date for the election at the time he declared the plan dead.

In exchange for the apparently defunct promise of elections, the administration of leftist President Joe Biden awarded the rogue socialist regime a generous oil and gas sanctions relief package that is presently allowing the state-owned PDVSA oil company to once again freely sell Venezuelan oil and gas in the U.S. and international markets.

Well, that last part is inaccurate to say the least. Venezuela never stopped selling oil and gas to US. Companies like Chevron or ExxonMobil just had to ask for an extension on a preexisting extraction and transport license and it has been continually renewed year after year. Both Trump and Biden administrations have granted the extensions without issues for years.

“Today, the Barbados agreements are mortally wounded. I declare them in intensive care, they were stabbed, they were kicked,” Maduro said during an official event. Maduro, despite never showing any signs of respecting his commitments, claimed that he hoped the agreements could be saved and that both sides could “push, through dialogue, great agreements of real national consensus, face to face, without hidden cards, without macabre plans.”

Maduro’s statements followed the launch of a crackdown on dissidents this week labeled “Bolivarian Fury,” an alleged response to the purported discovery of “foreign conspiracy plots” to kill Maduro and generate “violent and seditious actions” against the ruling socialist regime.

The first hours of the “Bolivarian Fury” crackdown saw the kidnapping of three of Machado’s campaign administrators, as well as attacks on the local headquarters of Machado’s party, Vente Venezuela, in at least ten of the nation’s states. Other political parties and civil organizations also reported vandalization.

Vente Venezuela released a statement on Thursday asking U.S. authorities to address the situation, given their involvement in the collapsing election deal.

EUROPE

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Several Articles

Questions Remain Unanswered as Russia and Ukraine Blame Each Other for Transport Jet Crash

Questions remained Thursday over the military plane crash that Russia said had killed dozens of captured Ukrainian soldiers ahead of a planned prisoner exchange, with Moscow and Kyiv trading accusations at the UN Security Council.

Russia has blamed Ukrainian forces for downing the IL-76 transport plane over the southern Belgorod region on Wednesday.

It said 65 captured Ukrainian soldiers were on board, as well as their escorts and the crew.

Videos on social media showed a large plane in the region plummeting from the sky on its side before crashing in a fireball, in what the Kremlin called a “monstrous act”.

Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said it had opened a “terrorism” probe into the crash, saying the plane was downed by a “missile from the territory of Ukraine”.

It released a 39-second video of the scene that mainly showed aerial shots of a large blackened stretch in a snow-covered field with some damaged trees.

The video also showed a block of twisted metal and wires, as well as a hand and an arm — though it was unclear if they were from one or two people. No other human remains were shown.

Zelensky Announces Plans For ‘Historically Ukrainian’ Regions of Russia

Speaking to mark Ukrainian Unity Day, a state holiday marking the 1919 Unification Act proclaiming the short-lived Ukrainian People’s Republic — largely absorbed into the Soviet Union the same year — President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke on Ukrainian pride and identity. While saying he was moving to give passports to all ethnic Ukrainians worldwide, President Zelensky also said he wanted to develop the “restoration of truth about the historical past” of Ukrainian areas in Russia.

The Ukrainian President said: “Today we must take steps not only to strengthen the unity of Ukraine and our people, but also to act for the unity of rights and freedoms, the truth about Ukrainians, the truth about us and the truth about our history. To this end, today I signed the decree ‘On the territories of the Russian Federation historically inhabited by Ukrainians’.”

The timing of the announcement to coincide with Ukrainian Unity Day offers some insight into what the President may have been referring to, given parts of 1919 Ukraine which it commemorates are now inside modern-day Russia.

Indeed, even beyond those short-lived borders, ethnic Ukrainians historically extended eastwards into modern-day Poland near Lublin and Krakov, and westwards beyond Crimea into Rostov and Saratov on the Volga in Russia.

Russia Jails Putin Critic on ‘Extremism’ Charges

A Russian court on Thursday sentenced a woman to 27 years in prison for a cafe blast that killed a prominent pro-war blogger after he was given a bust of himself that later exploded.

In a separate proceeding, a Moscow court convicted a former leader of separatist rebels in Ukraine who called President Vladimir Putin a coward of extremism and sentenced him to four years.

Darya Trepova, 26, was convicted by a court in St. Petersburg of carrying out a terrorist attack, illegal trafficking of explosive devices and forging documents in the April 2 blast at the cafe in which Vladlen Tatarsky was killed and 52 others were injured.

Tatarsky, 40, was an ardent supporter of the Kremlin´s military action in Ukraine and filed regular reports on the fighting from the front lines.

Trepova was seen on video presenting Tatarsky with the bust moments before the blast at the riverside cafe in the historic heart of Russia´s second-largest city where he was leading a discussion.

She insisted that she didn´t know the bust contained a bomb. Russian authorities have blamed Ukrainian intelligence agencies for orchestrating the bombing. Authorities in Kyiv have not directly responded to the accusation.

The court also convicted Trepova’s acquaintance Dmitry Kasintsev of concealing a grave crime for sheltering her after the blast and sentenced him to 21 months in prison.

NATO Signs $1.2 Billion Artillery Contract

NATO signed on Tuesday a $1.2-billion contract to make tens of thousands of artillery rounds to replenish the dwindling stocks of its member countries as they supply ammunition to Ukraine to help it defeat Russia’s invasion.

The contract will allow for the purchase of 220,000 rounds of 155-millimeter ammunition, the most widely sought after artillery shell, according to NATO´s support and procurement agency. It will allow allies to backfill their arsenals and to provide Ukraine with more ammunition.

“This is important to defend our own territory, to build up our own stocks, but also to continue to support Ukraine,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters.

“We cannot allow President (Vladimir) Putin to win in Ukraine,” he added. “That would be a tragedy for the Ukrainians and dangerous for all of us.”

Ukraine was firing around 4,000 to 7,000 artillery shells each day last summer, while Russia was launching more than 20,000 shells daily in its neighbor´s territory, according to European Union estimates.

Russia´s arms industry far outweighs Ukraine´s and Kyiv needs help to match Moscow´s firepower.

But the shells will not arrive quickly – delivery on orders takes anywhere from 24 to 36 months, the NATO agency said.

 Can any nation going through a war survive for up to a year and a half without enough ammo supplies?

NATO seems to "care" for Ukraine but at the same time it takes its time to do something impactful enough that could deter Russia from invading more and more regions.

Currently No ‘Direct or Imminent Threat’ to Alliance Members From Russian Invasion, Says NATO Chief

Contrary to alarming claims by top military officers in recent weeks, there is no “direct or imminent” threat to NATO nations, the alliance’s head has said.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has toned down the rhetoric on future conflict, returning to the alliance standard of emphasising the importance of deterrence to prevent war rather than making bold claims about the likelihood of approaching war. Speaking in Brussels on Tuesday as NATO signed a new deal for buying artillery ammunition to restock member states’ inventories emptied by donations to Ukraine, Stoltenberg was questioned on the likelihood of “Russian tanks” entering a European capital city in the next decade.

Stoltenberg said that while the new ammunition acquisition was both for members to be able to protect themselves and to continue to supply Ukraine, he didn’t foresee Russian forces crossing into NATO territory soon. He told the room: “we don’t see any direct or imminent threat against any NATO Ally.”

The purpose of NATO’s increased activity on its eastern border — “vigilance, our presence” — is to “prevent an attack on a NATO ally”, he said. Speaking of military competency and readiness as a key means of deterrence, preventing future wars — for decades the raison d’etre of NATO — Stoltenberg continued and said the alliance’s task is “to prevent this war from escalating to full-scale war between Russia and NATO.

“And we did that by deploying more combat troops to the eastern part of the Alliance, by further increasing our defence investments, and also by exercising more.”

The clear emphasis on deterrence comes after weeks of comments by top military figures warning in dire terms about a coming conflict. The most senior military officer in NATO — who works closely with Stoltenberg — said last week the next 20 years would not be “hunky dory” and the public should be prepared to be involved in a “whole of society event” should war with Russia come.

ASIA

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Several Articles

China Mocks Biden for Requesting Help with Houthis

A group of anonymous Iranian officials told Reuters that while Beijing is not interested in helping the United States, it has informed the Iranians that attacks by their Houthi terrorist proxies in Yemen must not damage China’s interests in any way.

Biden administration officials have been flummoxed that China did not take action on its own when rising shipping costs began hurting Chinese companies. The administration has grown increasingly explicit over the past few weeks about asking Beijing to exert its influence with Iran to make the Houthis back down.

China is clearly suffering from the Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping, which have largely cut off a shipping line essential to fast, affordable freight service from Asia to Europe. Chinese export companies are growing increasingly nervous about loss of profit, and possibly even the destruction of entire business models, from skyrocketing freight costs.

The Chinese Communist Party has seemingly been content to absorb these losses because the political and economic damage from the Red Sea crisis is so much worse for the United States and its allies. China put out a few weak statements calling for all parties to respect the safety of shipping, but also insisting that only Israel calling off its military operation against Hamas in Gaza could truly make the Red Sea safe again.
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“Basically, China says: ‘If our interests are harmed in any way, it will impact our business with Tehran. So tell the Houthis to show restraint,’” said one Iranian official.

The Houthis have already promised not to attack Chinese or Russian ships, but China cannot rely exclusively on its own ships to move all of its cargo.
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Instead, China’s emissaries settled for making it clear that Beijing “would be very disappointed with Tehran if any vessels linked to China were hit, or the country’s interests were affected in any way.”

One of the inside sources said that Iran’s response was to assure China that its business was valued, but Iran intends to continue pursuing its regional agenda through the Houthis and other proxies, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.
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There was also no evidence in the Red Sea theater that the Biden administration’s pleas with China have had any effect on the Houthis. The Yemeni terrorists attacked American cargo ships under escort by the U.S. Navy on Wednesday, forcing the cargo ships to turn back, and their owner Maersk to suspend all U.S.-flagged operations in the Red Sea. More missile launches and explosions in the area were reported by UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) on Friday.
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China’s state-run Global Times on Friday mocked President Joe Biden for thinking China would save him from his Red Sea debacle after Washington has been so rude to Beijing for so many years.

“The timing of the news is interesting, as the U.S. has been organizing allied armed escorts in the Red Sea for over a month and conducting military strikes against the Houthi armed group for over two weeks, with little effect in terms of containment,” the Global Times chortled.
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However, since the recent escalation of the Israel-Palestine conflict, US officials have repeatedly asked China to leverage this relationship and exert “influence” on Iran. If they believe the expected results are not achieved, they even criticize China. This obvious contradiction is a perfect portrayal of U.S.’ selfishness and double standards on the international stage.

The Global Times hooted that the failure of the U.S. initiative to protect Red Sea shipping, Operation Prosperity Guardian, and the ineffectiveness of limited punitive airstrikes against the Houthis left Biden looking like “a figure increasingly passive and struggling to cope in the Red Sea.”

Not surprised at all, it's the most natural reaction under the current circumstances.  Who respects Biden nowadays?

Taiwan Begins Extended One-Year Conscription in Response to Rising China Threat

Taiwan began training its first group of recruits under extended one-year compulsory military service on Thursday, a policy proposed by outgoing President Tsai Ing-wen in 2022 in response to growing belligerence from China.

Taiwan previously required only four months of compulsory service but, as of January 2024, men born after 2005 will be required to serve for one year. Those born before 2005 will continue with four months of conscription.

The new batch of recruits will be expected to not only serve for longer but to train harder, with a focus on combat instruction more comparable to U.S. military training. The new conscripts will also train with anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles.

Eighteen-year-old conscript Yin Hsin-shih told Reuters on Thursday he was “a little bit excited” about his service. He agreed that longer service was necessary to “provide the needed defense power, given that our neighboring country is a great threat to our nation.”

North Korea Says Vladimir Putin Will Visit Pyongyang ‘at an Early Date’

Communist dictator Kim Jong-un had reportedly invited Putin to North Korea in September during a tour of eastern Russia. Kim’s visit to Russia by train was his first since the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic began in 2020 and Putin’s is expected to be the first visit to North Korea by a world leader following the pandemic.

Kim previously welcomed Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chinese senior Politburo member Li Hongzhong to Pyongyang in July to attend a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the Korean War armistice agreement in 1953, which North Korea incorrectly celebrates as a “victory” in the technically ongoing war. The visits were the first of their kind since 2020.

Moscow welcomed Choe, the foreign minister, from January 15 to 17 and scheduled meetings with several high-ranking Russian regime officials, including Putin as well as her counterpart, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and deputy prime minister Alexandr Nobak.

In her conversation with the autocrat, “President Putin expressed deep thanks once again for the invitation of President of the State Affairs Kim Jong Un to visit Pyongyang at a convenient time,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. Putin “expressed his willingness to visit the DPRK [North Korea] at an early date.”

Allies Defend China from Uyghur Genocide Condemnation at U.N. Human Rights Council

Nations with close economic and political ties to China – including both Russia and Ukraine, as well as serial human rights abusers Ethiopia and Iran, among others – applauded the Communist Party for its alleged “progress” on human rights on Tuesday during a periodic review of Beijing’s record at the United Nations.

China is one of 14 countries up for a “universal periodic review” at the U.N. Human Rights Council in 2024, which began on Tuesday. The review consists of the countries on the Council issuing their commentary, advice, and criticism on the countries’ performances on the issue of human rights, as well as a report later compiled by a “working group” of Human Rights Council states.

The Human Rights Council, despite its name, often operates as a haven for the world’s most aggressive persecutors and human rights abusers. The new class of members inducted to the Council in 2023 includes dictatorships such as Cuba, Qatar, Eritrea, and Vietnam, as well as repressive Islamist states such as Pakistan.

China is also on the Human Rights Council. The Communist Party is currently engaging in at least one genocide – against the majority Muslim Uyghur people of East Turkistan – executed through the mass imprisonment of millions of people in concentration camps, forced sterilization campaigns targeting thousands of women, and a state-sponsored campaign to steal children from their families and raise them under Han culture and communist values. China also stands accused of ethnic cleansing campaigns in Tibet, which it recently rebranded under the Mandarin name “Xizang” and littered with “boarding schools” to erase Tibetan language and culture, and in Inner Mongolia, where the government is campaigning to erase the local language and culture.

China also regularly represses its general population, who do not enjoy freedom of religion, expression, or any other basic civil right. It monitors their behavior through a “social credit system” that penalizes them if considered to be insufficiently enthusiastic about totalitarian dictator Xi Jinping and the communist system.

During its periodic review on Tuesday, China received criticism from the United States, Britain, and a small number of Western states.

“We condemn the ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and transnational repression to silence individuals abroad,” the American representative at the reivew, Michèle Taylor, asserted. Her British counterpart urged China to “cease the persecution and arbitrary detention of Uyghurs and Tibetans and allow genuine freedom of religion or belief and cultural expression without fear of surveillance, torture, forced labour or sexual violence.”
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The government of Iran, an Islamist dictatorship with close ties to both Russia and China, similarly praised China’s alleged work in “promoting social, cultural, and economic rights” through “economic programs.”

The representative from Ethiopia, a nation whose government was mired in a civil war against a group representing the ethnic Tigray minority for two years, declared that the nation “applauds China for improving the criminal litigation system.”

Earthquake and Landslides Rock China

East Turkistan, home of the oppressed Uyghur Muslims, was hit by an earthquake of magnitude 7.1 on Tuesday afternoon, the day after a massive landslide struck the southwestern province of Yunnan. The earthquake killed at least three people, while at least 31 have been killed by the landslide.

China’s state-run Global Times reported that dictator Xi Jinping “demanded an all-out search and rescue” for victims of the landslide in Yunnan.

Xi also “demanded strengthened monitoring and a scientific approach in search and rescue efforts to guard against secondary disasters, as well as ensuring appropriate measures are taken to console the families of the victims and resettle those affected.”

The landslide struck a village called Liangshui in the early morning hours, catching residents by surprise and burying at least 47 of them in their homes. Rescue workers battled heavy snow, icy roads, and freezing temperatures to dig out some of the victims, while hundreds of village residents were evacuated to minimize the risk of another devastating landslide.

“We were all asleep at that time, in the early morning when it was still dark. Suddenly, there was a loud noise, and the ground shook. It felt like a major earthquake,” one of the survivors said.

According to the Global Times, over 900 rescue workers plus dozens of rescue dogs responded to the Liangshui disaster, and more could be on the way from neighboring provinces.

China’s Foreign Ministry Expands ‘Global South’ Outreach in Latin America

China’s state-run Global Times on Sunday praised Foreign Minister Wang Yi for paying his first overseas visits of 2024 to Africa and Latin America, where China wants to build closer ties with developing nations of the “Global South.”

“The strong bond between China and many developing countries is not only based on extensive economic cooperation but also on unwavering support for each other’s core interests, as exemplified by the Taiwan question,” the Global Times said.

No government in Africa or Latin America has a “core interest” in Taiwan. What the Chinese Communist Party newspaper meant was that developing nations were happy to pledge their devotion to China’s claims on Taiwan in exchange for financial and diplomatic incentives from Beijing. Not many government officials or businessmen in Jamaica, for example, would be willing to jeopardize lucrative Chinese contracts by standing up for Taiwan’s right to hold elections and determine its own fate.

The “Taiwan question” has given China a quick and reliable tool for judging if Global South nations are willing to shift away from the Western world and enter China’s orbit. The Global Times repeatedly showered praise on African and Latin American leaders willing to sing hosannas to the “One China principle,” while the United States and Europe insist on supporting Taiwan’s autonomy (while also not recognizing Taiwan’s sovereignty):

Strong consensus in each other’s core interests, as well as on most international affairs, is the solid foundation and prerequisite for China’s ties with developing countries. Take the Taiwan question as an example, most developing countries keep a clear mind and stand firm with the one-China principle, while a few countries, willing to serve as US vassals, always seek to stir up confrontation with China on this question, Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Sunday.

MIDDLE EAST

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Houthis in Moscow

Houthis Visit Moscow Seeking Russian Support for Their War on Red Sea Shipping

Leaders of the Houthi terrorist organization of Yemen reportedly visited Moscow on Thursday, seeking support as they continue a campaign to disrupt global shipping by bombing commercial ships attempting to transit the Red Sea.

Neither the Russian government nor the leadership of the Houthi terror organization, formally referred to as Ansarallah, offered many details on the nature of their discussions. A top Houthi spokesman, Mohammed Abdel Salam, reportedly claimed that his delegation had met with Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov to discuss pressuring America to stop supporting Israel’s self-defense operations against the Sunni terrorist organization Hamas in Gaza.
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The government of leftist President Joe Biden, coordinating with the British government, has engaged in several airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen. The airstrikes have had no significant effect on the Houthi Red Sea piracy campaign; Biden admitted they are doing nothing to stop the attacks but committed to continuing the bombing.

Abdel Salam, the Houthi spokesman, was reportedly seeking Russian support against both the Western airstrikes and the Israeli campaign in Gaza, urging Moscow to advocate for America to “stop the aggression on the Gaza Strip and deliver humanitarian assistance there rather than militarise the Red Sea.”

The spokesman added that the Houthis believed the meeting would help address “the need to increase efforts to pressure” America and Israel.

The Russian government was among the first to condemn the Biden airstrikes while offering no meaningful criticism of the Houthi attacks on random ships.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova declared on January 12, in the aftermath of the first strikes, that they showed a “total disregard for international law in the name of escalating the situation in the region for their own destructive purposes.” The Foreign Ministry branded the airstrikes an “Anglo-Saxon perversion” in a formal statement.