5 Mar, 2023 14:54

China boosts defense spending

Beijing has announced its biggest defense budget increase since 2019

China’s defense spending will rise by 7.2% to$230 billion this year, according to information contained in Beijing’s national budget, released on Sunday. Premier Li Keqiang also called upon Beijing’s armed forces to “boost combat preparedness” as they expand their military capabilities amid tensions with Taiwan.

The 7.2% increase is the sharpest surge in China’s defense spending since 2019. It follows a 6.8% uptick in 2021 and 6.6% in 2020. In 2019, Asia’s leading military power oversaw a 7.5% increase in its defense budget to 1.19 trillion yuan – around $172 billion. The latest hike is the eighth consecutive single-digit annual increase in Beijing's military budget.

Briefing an annual session of parliament with a report prepared by the Finance Ministry, Li said on Sunday that the hike in spending would allow China’s military to be “well-coordinated in fulfilling major tasks.”

“Our armed forces, with a focus on the goals for thecentenary of the People’s Liberation Army in 2027, should work to carry out military operations, boost combat preparedness and enhance military capabilities,” he said.

The spending increase will be proportionatelyhigher than the country’s overall economic growth of 5%, as China seeks to rebound from sluggish growth throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. Beijing’s economy is “staging a ready recovery and demonstrating vast potential and momentum for further growth,” Li added.

China, which has been accused by the US of potentially being open to supplying Russia with military aid – an allegation which it denies – should also “stay committed to an independent foreign policy of peace,” Li said, making no mention of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Li also said the Chinese leadership should promote relations with Taiwan to advance “peaceful reunification,” while also taking “resolute steps to oppose ‘Taiwan independence.’”

Beijing has also recently expressed security concerns about US naval and air missions in the disputed South China Sea region. The defense budget announced by Beijing is around one quarter of Washington’s proposed spending, and around 4.5 times greater than Japan’s budget.

China, which has the world’s largest number of military personnel, says its spending is defensive in nature. Among the new hardware being invested in by the Chinese military will be aircraft carriers and stealth fighters.

https://www.rt.com/news/572500-china-defense-spending-increase/

5 Mar, 2023

Iran makes pledge to UN nuclear watchdog

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi says Tehran has agreed to reverse a “reduction” in monitoring activities, giving experts more access

Iran has assured the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it will restore the UN watchdog’s access to some of the monitoring tools at its nuclear facilities, the IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi has revealed.

“Over the past few months, there was a reduction in some of the monitoring activities” including cameras and other equipment “which were not operating,” but the nuclear watchdog and Iran “have agreed that those will be operating again,” Grossi told journalists in Vienna on Saturday.

Earlier that day, Grossi sat down with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and several other top officials in Tehran.

A statement published in the wake of those meetings stressed both parties’ commitment to cooperating and resolving “outstanding safeguards issues.”

Moreover, Iran pledged to grant the nuclear watchdog “further information and access” to three of its nuclear facilities. Grossi told reporters upon his return from Tehran that Iran would allow a 50% increase in inspections at its Fordo nuclear site.

Tehran has also agreed “on a voluntary basis” to allow the “IAEAto implement further appropriate verification and monitoring activities,” the joint statement reads.

Commenting on these pledges, Grossi emphasized that “these are not words. This isvery concrete,” according to the Associated Press news agency.

The IAEA boss noted a “marked improvement” in the level of the watchdog’s interactions with Iran, the report said.

“I hope we will be seeing results soon,” the official said, as reported by AP.

Grossi’s visit to the Islamic Republic came shortly after the IAEA distributed a confidential quarterly report on Iran’s nuclear activities to the organization’s member states. According to multiple media outlets, which claim to have seen the document, the UN watchdog had found uranium particles enriched up to 83.7% at Iran’s underground Fordo nuclear site. This level reportedly falls slightly short of that needed to produce nuclear weapons.

Commenting on media reports, Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) dismissed them as “slander and a distortion of the facts.” The official insisted at the time that the “presence of uranium particles above 60% during the enrichment process does not mean enrichment above 60% level.”

Iran agreed to impose restrictions on its nuclear industry, including enrichment activities, under a 2015 deal with world powers. The agreement was torpedoed by then-US President Donald Trump, who pulled out in 2018 to pursue a so-called “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions. Iran eventually started reneging on its commitments, and announced it was enriching uranium to 60% purity at its Natanz facility in 2021 and at the Fordo site in 2022.

The nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was touted as a way to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, an ambition that Tehran denies having.

https://www.rt.com/news/572487-iran-pledges-nuclear-watchdog-inspections/

Why is this guy bowing while shaking his hand?

5 Mar, 2023 19:45

Israel’s national airline can’t find pilots for PM’s trip – media

El Al has reportedly been unable to find any volunteers to staff Benjamin Netanyahu’s flight to Rome amid judicial reform protests

Israel’s government has reportedly looked to find another airline to fly Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Rome after the country’s national air carrier, El Al, was unable to find any pilots or flight attendants to staff this week’s state visit to Italy.

Transportation Minister Miri Regev intends to open up bidding to other airlines, such as Arkia and Israir, after El Al missed a 2pm Sunday deadline to confirm Thursday’s flight, according to Israeli media outlets. The national carrier couldn’t find any pilots or cabin crew members to volunteer for the mission amid massive protests in the country over the ruling coalition’s proposed judicial reforms, the Jerusalem Post said.

El Al blamed the staffing issue on a shortage of pilots who are qualified to fly a Boeing 777, the aircraft requested by the prime minister, “among other reasons.” Media reports suggested that airline employees were unwilling to volunteer because of opposition to the government’s planned judicial overhaul.

Netanyahu is scheduled to fly on Thursday to Rome, where he will meet with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and return to Israel on Saturday. Meloni was quick to congratulateNetanyahu when he won a majority in Israel’s election last November, returning to power as PM after an 18-month absence. He reportedly plans to follow up his Italy trip with a visit to Germany next week.

All but three of the 40 reserve pilotsin the Israeli Air Force’s 69th fighter squadron announced on Sunday that they won’t attend a scheduled training session on Wednesday, in protest against the proposed judicial reforms.

Protests against the plan have dragged on all year. Netanyahu said on Sunday that the demonstration’s organizer is a “dangerous group” that only wants to “burn down the house and create chaos in the country.”

El Al, which is dependent on loans and financing guarantees from the government, could face punitive measures over its failure to staff Netanyahu’s trip, Regev told public broadcaster Kan. The airline said later on Sunday that it “proudly carries the Israeli flag”and will handle Netanyahu’s flight as scheduled, but the Jerusalem Post claimedit still hadn’t found a co-pilot or cabin crew.

https://www.rt.com/news/572506-el-al-pilots-refuse-netanyahu-trip/

Larry Hogan Disappoints Dozens, Deciding Not to Run for President in 2024. Kekkity

March 5, 2023 | Sundance |

Former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan announced today that he will not seek the republican nomination for 2024. [Video Here]

[Transcript] – FORMER GOVERNOR LARRY HOGAN: I was struggling, because my heart was telling me to run. My head was telling me, no, that just does not make sense for a whole host of reasons. And my gut was flipping back and forth. So it really came down to, if I wasn’t 100 percent convinced, then I shouldn’t do it.

ROBERT COSTA: You were torn?

FORMER GOVERNOR LARRY HOGAN:I was torn.

ROBERT COSTA: Toughest decision of your political career?

FORMER GOVERNOR LARRY HOGAN: Absolutely, toughest decision I ever made.

ROBERT COSTA: Politically, by staying out of the race, it’s a smaller field, may be tougher for Trump to get the nomination?

FORMER GOVERNOR LARRY HOGAN: I didn’t want to have a pileup of a bunch of people fighting. Right now, you have Trump and DeSantis at the top of the field soaking up all the oxygen, getting all the attention, and then a whole lot of the rest of us in single digits. And the more of them you have, the less chance you have for somebody rising up.

(Why is Acosta feeding him answers?)

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/03/05/larry-hogan-disappoints-dozens-deciding-not-to-run-for-president-in-2024/

Sunday Talks, Joe Manchin Wants Energy Permitting Reform He Was Promised in Order to Support Debt Ceiling and Budget

March 5, 2023 | Sundance | 29 Comments

On July 31, 2022, According to Manchin a deal between himself, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden included his support for the green energy spending bill, in exchange for two new items in future legislation: 1) Streamlined energy permitting/regulation; and 2) Increased development of Oil, Coal, Gas. After getting his vote, Biden, Pelosi and Schumer reneged on the deal.

Today Senator Manchin inferred he wants that promise fulfilled in order to gain his support for a debt ceiling increase and a budget package. [Transcript Below] Manchin also hedged on his own political aspirations for 2024, saying he will make a decision at the end of this year. WATCH:

Back in 2015, in Mount Carbon in West Virginia, we had a derailment, 27 cars, tanker cars carrying Bakken oil. It went off the tracks and derailed and exploded and caused a tremendous problem there. And it was very, very dangerous. It could have been a little — a lot worse, if it had been a little farther down the tracks, could have torn up a whole town.

But with that we were recommended that the electronic pneumatic brakes should be something — should be considered that might prevent this, routine maintenance checks and auditing and things of this sort. I don’t think any of that has been done.

And it’s time for us to get serious about this. We’re moving many, many products, many more products on the rails and on our roads than we ever did before. And we have a lot of people who don’t want any pipelines. Pipelines would help alleviate a lot of this problem with the oil that we need in our country and we will be using for quite some time to do it safer.

But out of sight, out of mind. They are thinking, if you don’t have a pipeline, you won’t be using the product. Well, that’s far from the truth. And this is the results of people just not making good decisions. And it’s what’s broken in — in — in West Virginia. And — and…

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.

SENATOR JOE MANCHIN: … broken across the country as far as in Washington, the politics.

MARGARET BRENNAN: I want…

SENATOR JOE MANCHIN: It’s broken. It needs to be fixed.

MARGARET BRENNAN: I want — I want to come back to energy in a moment.

You’re saying it’s broken. You gave a pretty fiery speech a few days ago in the Senate. You’re at odds with the White House and with many in your own party because you are saying that Democrats need to talk about out-of- control spending and are refusing to negotiate.

You did ding Republicans for not offering specific cuts. If you are the dealmaker — you seem to be positioning yourself there — where is it that you see room for negotiation?

SENATOR JOE MANCHIN: Well, Margaret, first of all, I encourage Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

I was hoping that he would, first of all, take things off the table that doesn’t cause a conflict, but most — most importantly, sit down with the president. And reached out to the White House. They did sit down, had a meeting. I’m encouraging much more of that.

But what we can do is, can’t we get together and just talk about how do we have this much debt accumulated this — in this short of a period of time? Within 10 years, Margaret, we have accumulated the greatest amount of debt in the history of our country in the shortest period of time. Can’t we at least find out what we did and how we expanded?…

It’s obviously a liar or Idiot, he believed them or he didn’t really care as long as he could blame them.BTW, this is the guy that said to the WEF, we’ve got a problem in the US with the free press

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/03/05/sunday-talks-joe-manchin-wants-energy-permitting-reform-he-was-promised-in-order-to-support-debt-ceiling-and-budget/

Neil Oliver Takes on the Media

March 5, 2023 | Sundance |

U.K. pundit Neil Oliver has been taking some flack for opposing the dictatorial narratives in Great Britain. In his monologue this week Mr. Oliver notes the media’s refusal to retract their prior false positions around COVID-19, the “vaccinations” and so much more. Worse still, many of these same media outlets are continuing to promote the lies.

[Transcript] – I’m telling you now – if you’re still getting your latest news from the traditional Mainstream media, then it’s not news. It’s not investigation in search of the truth.

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/03/05/neil-oliver-takes-on-the-media/

https://youtu.be/ogX_qApkUkg

>>18451971

I agree,We Will Never Forget! We have the receipts.

>>18452118

Sick, Polish leaders praise the war from Ukraine against Russia, they say disgusting things.

Thank God for America for now, until we get punished for what we believe

Anons stop the interaction with All caps red text guy

>>18452113

She is a traitor to Trump, WTF cares what her little opinion is?

>>18452103

Absolutely

>>18452079

Yep, anon has been saying that since the beginning

>>18452062

I can’t stand this guy!

>>18452063

Oh you’re the asshole on twitter that’s trying to destroy Flynn and his family! Go away! It’s a prayer man, get over it

>>18452063

Why are you afraid of prayers or spiritual beliefs that may be different than yours?

Oh thats right you are a atheist and are an Antifa fan, I’ll find your new twitter since you were banned before.

Fuck off right now

>>18452203

You’re right. Duda and the others have lost their minds. They’ve wanted to annex Ukraine and parts of Russia for years. They’ve been the most aggressively supporting Ukraine against Russia. Did NATO threaten them like Hungary? Meanwhile they are punished by the EU like Hungary

>>18452198

You are retarded I haven’t commented about Flynn, so you are just trying to insult without any knowledge. So once again Fuck Off

>>18452169

No do whatever you want

>>18452157

What anon said and I think she didn’t support Trump when he announced, but I have to track it down first

>>18452157

Don’t know if this qualifies, but ghosting him seems weird!

According to newly released transcripts of testimony from the House Jan. 6 Select Committee, former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany ghosted former President Donald Trumpwhen he tried to call her after she received a subpoena as part of the committee's investigation.

McEnany revealed this during an interview with Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), one of the committee's two Republican members.

"I believe, shortly after I was subpoenaed, I received a call from President Trump, but I did not answer the call," said McEnany. "As I noted to the committee, I have not spoken with him since being subpoenaed. But that's all to the best of my recollection. I might have received another text I'm forgetting about."

"And have you talked to anybody in the Trump family about the investigation?" asked Cheney, according to the transcript.

"To the best of my recollection, no," said McEnany. "I paused because Lara Trump and I are friends, so she might have texted me. But I don't — I don't recall any texts regarding the committee. More, you know, 'I see you on Fox & Friends. Great Job. Good to work with you at Fox.' That kind of thing." She went on to say Trump administration officials Stephen Miller and Kash Patel also reached out to her, and that she had conversations with a family member who works for House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) prior to giving testimony under the subpoena.

This comes after prior reporting that McEnany deliberately avoided Trump in the immediate aftermath of the 2020 presidential election because she was concerned he would lean on her to push voter fraud conspiracy theories in the media.

https://www.salon.com/2022/12/24/i-did-not-answer-the-call-kayleigh-mcenany-ignored-phone-call-after-receiving-subpoena_partner/

>>18452175

Oh yeah I forgot about the hannity texts

>>18452073

Thats funny

>>18451990

Cat ladies are crazy, you gotta get professional help with them

>>18451976

Thats excellent

>>18451945

I like O’Keefe Files

5 Mar, 2023 23:14

Zelensky aide sees ‘symbols of aggression’ in Louis Vuitton ad

Ukrainian activists interpreted the French luxury brand’s new ad as an expression of support for Russia

A senior adviser to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has joined a chorus of pro-Ukraine activists claiming that French fashion icon Louis Vuitton has blood on its hands for posting an advertisement that features one of the company’s decades-old symbols.

At issue is a Louis Vuitton ad, promoting its show at Paris Fashion Week on Monday, showing the unfurling of a large flag with the blue, red and white stripes of the French tri-color. The flag features a large V in the middle symbolizing Vuitton, just like the V in the company’s logo.

It has flown above the company’s flagship store in Paris since at least 2014, long before the Russia-Ukraine conflict escalated last year, and it has been emblazoned on some of the designer’s products, such as T-shirts and sweatshirts. In fact, Louis Vuitton has used the flag-V logo since at least 1901, as evidenced by its appearance on bags in the brand’s museum.

Nevertheless, Zelensky’s senior adviser Mikhail Podoliak blasted Louis Vuitton on Sunday, saying the company was trying to allude to Russia’s red, blue and white flag and the V symbol used by its military.

An elite fashion house focused on Russian nouveau riche chose to publicly toy with the symbols of aggression,” the adviser said in a Twitter post. “Luxury smells better when it’s drenched in blood, right Louis Vuitton?”

Although the French and Russian tri-colors are similar, the Louis Vuitton banner matches the arrangement of the blue, red and white stripes in France’s flag. The Russian flag has a white stripe on top, blue in the middle and red on the bottom. The Russian military uses V as a symbol meaning “strength in truth” and the letter Z meaning “for the victory.”

Last March, Louis Vuitton faced a similar wave of negative feedback for its jewelry collection, even as it is difficult to imagine that company is somehow secretly supporting Moscow. Louis Vuitton was among the first major fashion brands to pull out of the Russian market after Moscow’s special military operation against Kiev started in February 2022. Eight days after the offensive began, French luxury group LVMH, announced the closure of its 124 stores in Russia. In fact, Hermes, Cartier and LVMH were the first major luxury goods companies to suspend operations in Russia.

https://www.rt.com/russia/572509-ukraine-louis-vuitton-aggression/

(Weirdos one and all)

>>18452532

Their hatred and violence is out of control. What do they feed these people meth?

>>18452314

I put that up and I’m on here many hours a day every day, why the paranoia