North Korean troops could join Putin's invasion of Ukraine under a new pact

with Russia, experts warned - as Kim Jong Un welcomed his despot to Pyongyang

Troops from North Korea could join the invasion of Ukraine under a new pact with Russia, experts warned last night.

The chilling prospect of waves of Kim Jong Un's military flooding into the battered nation emerged after the dictator signed a defence agreement with Vladimir Putin in Pyongyang yesterday.

The Russian president was on a two-day state visit to North Korea, where he was greeted enthusiastically by tens of thousands of well-wishers.

During events yesterday, the two despots embraced and – according to North Korea state media – shared 'pent-up innermost thoughts' as they were driven to the Kumsusan state guest house.

Footage of Putin's welcome ceremony in Pyongyang showed an honour guard and a crowd of civilians gathered in the Kim Il Sung Square by the Taedong River.

Children waved balloons in celebration and the square was adorned with huge portraits of the two leaders and their national flags. Streets of the city were lined with images of Putin, and the facade of the unfinished Ryugyong Hotel was emblazoned with the message: 'Welcome Putin'.

Analysts agree that the arrival of thousands of Kim's soldiers on Russia's front line would be a game-changer in the conflict, significantly strengthening the Kremlin's hand. North Korea is also expected to supply Russia with a further five million ammunition rounds – having already supplied as much in recent months.

Last night, former British Army intelligence expert Philip Ingram said: 'I do think North Korea probably will supply troops as part of the new defence pact. This is very worrying. They will add numbers but how adaptable they will prove on the battlefield remains to be seen.

'Russia's tactics have been so primitive, sacrificing vast numbers of soldiers in the so-called 'meat grinder'. The Kremlin is probably more interested in quantity of personnel rather than quality.' Meanwhile, ex-British Army commander Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon suggested Kim could exchange soldiers for nuclear technology.

He said: 'It would show how absolutely desperate they both are; Putin for troops and Kim for knowledge.' North Korea's People's Army is believed to consist of up to 1.3million active personnel. The majority are engaged in the country's historic stand-off with South Korea.

After suffering some 500,000 casualties in Ukraine, Russia needs to bolster its front-line forces. The arrival of North Korean troops would further reduce Ukraine's chances of reclaiming its eastern provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk, which have been held by Russia since early 2022.

Putin and Kim's pact includes a joint obligation to intervene on each other's part in any conflict. This could see Russia supporting North Korea against South Korea. With no formal text being made public, however, its implications remain open to interpretation. Kim told reporters the country would respond 'without hesitation' to threats facing North Korea or Russia.

Kim added that the new treaty would help create a 'new multi-polar world' and described his nation's support for Russia as 'unconditional'. Putin said the countries would provide 'mutual help' in the event of 'aggression' towards one another.

North Korea is already heavily sanctioned by the West over its attempts to develop nuclear weapons, so it has little to lose by supporting Russia's invasion.

Last night, Putin flew to Vietnam, a Communist-ruled country, where he is scheduled to meet leaders today.

n OUTGOING Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte is expected to become Nato's next secretary general after Hungary withdrew its objection to his selection.

Nato agreed to a request by Hungary's prime minister Viktor Orban for Hungary to be excluded from a Ukrainian support package – an agreement which Rutte has agreed to honour if selected.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13548683/North-Korean-Putins-Ukraine-Russia-Kim-Jong.html

>>21052186

1) The chilling prospect of waves of Kim Jong Un 's military flooding into the battered nation emerged after the dictator signed a defence agreement with Vladimir Putin in Pyongyang yesterday

2) The Russian president was on a two-day state visit to North Korea, where he was greeted enthusiastically by tens of thousands of well-wishers

3) Footage of Putin's welcome ceremony in Pyongyang showed an honour guard and a crowd of civilians gathered in the Kim Il Sung Square by the Taedong River

4) Russia's President Vladimir Putin and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un attend an official welcoming ceremony at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang

Kim Jong done?

CIA analyst says North Korean dictator 'doesn't look great'

amid rumors he is gravely unwell

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un revived a Cold War-era mutual defense pledge on Wednesday.

But that wasn't all that North Korea watchers noticed during Putin's visit to the hermit kingdom.

Sue Mi Terry, a former CIA analyst, said Kim looked ill.

'My first reaction looking at Kim Jong Un was, "Oof, he doesn't look too great to me,"' she told CNN.

'There was a time when he lost a little weight and he looked better. So my initial reaction was that he didn’t look, in terms of being healthy, because his health is something that we always track anyway.'

The state of Kim's weight is not just the preserve of gossips.

An entire industry has grown up around monitoring the ups and downs of his waistline.

Without a publicly named successor, intelligence chiefs fear his sudden incapacitation could tip the dirt-poor, nuclear-armed country into chaos.

Collins explained that the lack of reliable information from North Korea meant analysts studied images of Kim to get a sense of how he was doing.

South Korea's National Intelligence Service keeps a particularly close watch.

Three years ago it said Kim had lost 44 pounds. It estimated his weight fell from about 308 pounds to about 264, according to lawmakers briefed on its findings.

Putin's overnight visit offers the chance to study a raft of fresh images of the North Korean leader looking bloated and red faced.

Questions about his health surface every year or so.

Last year he disappeared from public view for more than a month, triggering speculation that he was ill.

Some of the most serious concerns arose in 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic enveloped the world.

A website run by North Korean defectors said he had been struggling with heart trouble for months.

CNN reported that Washington was monitoring intelligence that Kim was in 'grave danger.'

It was followed up in the Japanese media with an unconfirmed report that he was in a 'vegetative state' after surgery to relieve pressure in an congested blood vessel.

Then President Donald Trump later weighed in to say the rumors were 'incorrect.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13548069/kim-jong-sick-north-korea.html

>>21052224

>CIA analyst says North Korean dictator 'doesn't look great'

1) Kim Jong Un welcomes Russian President Vladimir Putin 2:25

2) North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin in his capital Pyongyang on Tuesday and Wednesday as they agreed a defense pact

3) Analyst Sue Mi Terry said Kim appeared to have put on weight and looked unhealthy

4) South Korea's National Intelligence Service used images of Kim in 2021 to estimate that the North Korean leader lost 44 pounds

>>21052224

>CIA analyst says North Korean dictator 'doesn't look great'

>>21052252

>Kim in 2021

>>21052256

>who is his successor

sister or daughter

June 11, 2018

https://''postlmg.cc/V5PTC9pc'

>>21052224

https://postimg.cc/Hrf8pkX0

House Committee Establishes Working Group to Counter China’s Control of Critical Mineral Supply Chains

The working group will be responsible for producing legislation and promoting awareness to combat the CCP’s dominance of critical minerals.

A bipartisan working group to counter China’s dominance in critical mineral supply chains was formed by the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, the panel said on June 18.

The Critical Minerals Policy Working Group will be responsible for producing legislation and promoting awareness via committee events to combat the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) dominance in critical minerals.

“Critical minerals are the building blocks of everything from basic consumer goods to advanced military technology. America’s reliance on the Chinese Communist Party’s control of the critical mineral supply chain would quickly become an existential vulnerability in the event of a conflict,” Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), the committee’s chairman, said in a statement.

“The CCP has already weaponized its monopoly on some minerals by imposing export restrictions on rare earth elements like gallium, germanium, and graphite, as well as mineral processing equipment.”

Mr. Moolenaar and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), the committee’s ranking Democrat member, announced the working group’s formation. Mr. Moolenaar said he set up the group to “help Congress declare independence from CCP-controlled supply chains.”

The group will start by basing its work on a December 2023 report from the committee titled “Reset, Prevent, Build: A Strategy to Win America’s Economic Competition with the Chinese Communist Party.” The report made nearly 150 recommendations to Congress, outlining a strategy to “fundamentally reset the United States’ economic and technological competition” with the Chinese communist regime.

“These recommendations will reset the terms of our relationship with [China], prevent the flow of American capital and technology from supporting its military advances and human rights abuses, and build collective economic resilience in concert with our allies and partners while ensuring American leadership for decades to come,” the committee said in a statement at the time.

The group will focus on increasing transparency about the nation’s dependence on the critical mineral supply chain and “develop a package of proposed investments, regulatory reforms, and tax incentives to reduce that dependency,” according to a June 18 statement.

“Dominance over global supply chains for critical mineral and rare earth elements is the next stage of great power competition,” Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.) said in a statement. “We must secure American access to these materials that are integral to the technology we rely on in our daily lives and for our national defense.” …

https://www.theepochtimes.com/china/house-committee-establishes-working-group-to-counter-chinas-control-of-critical-mineral-supply-chains-5671281

>>21052497

China Tightens Export Control on Rare Earth Metals Amid Tensions With West

China is a monopoly supplier of rare earths in the world.

China on Nov. 7 told traders to report real-time export information of rare earths as part of its latest efforts to control the supply chain of critical minerals amid tensions with the West.

Exporters of rare earth minerals will be mandated to immediately disclose details such as the destination, quantity, shipping particulars, and other transaction information, according to a statement published on the website of China’s Ministry of Commerce. The new restrictions were enacted on Oct. 31 and will last for two years.

The new rules are Beijing’s latest efforts to tighten its grip on rare earths, a group of 17 elements used in many things from commercial technology like electric cars to military equipment. China, a monopoly supplier of rare earths worldwide, required exporters to obtain permits to ship the critical material.

The mandate of real-time reporting for rare earths is part of the commerce ministry’s decision to revise its import and export regulations of bulk commodities that were published two years ago.

However, rare earth minerals are the only products being added to the export list. Other items named in Tuesday’s document are on the import list, including crude oil, iron ore, copper concentrate, and potassium fertilizers.

Chinese Monopoly

China dominates the global supply chain of rare earths. In 2022, China accounted for 70 percent of global rare earth mined protection, up from 59 percent in 2021, according to data compiled by the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

At the processing level, China accounted for 85 percent of the global capability to transform the mined minerals into usable materials for manufacturers, according to a 2019 research by Adamas Intelligence, a consultancy firm.

The United States imported most rare earths from China, though that reliance has eased in recent years. From 2018 to 2021, China was responsible for 74 percent of rare earths imported to the United States, down from 80 percent between 2014 and 2017, the USGS data shows.

…

Wake-up Call

There have been growing concerns that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) uses its monopoly in rare earths and other critical materials as bargaining chips, especially in trade competitions with the United States. China has designated rare earths as a strategic material since 1990.

Indeed, the Chinese authorities temporarily blocked the export of rare earths to Japan in 2010 as tensions between the two Asian powers escalated over disputed islands following the arrest of a captain of a Chinese ship.

In 2019, China’s powerful state planning agency threatened to limit the sale of rare earths to the United States after then-U.S. President Donald Trump blacklisted Huawei, a Chinese telecom giant with close ties to the CCP’s military.

With tensions simmering between communist China and the United States, Beijing’s dominance in critical materials is under renewed scrutiny.

In July, the Chinese commerce ministry unveiled a plan to curb exports of two rare metals for manufacturing semiconductors—gallium and germanium—in apparent retaliation for the United States and other Western countries over their efforts to limit China’s access to advanced chips.

China accounts for 80 percent of the gallium production in the world and 60 percent of germanium, according to the Critical Raw Materials Alliance.

Although Beijing’s export controls may not cause immediate disruptions in U.S. supply chains, experts advise that they should serve as a wake-up call for the West, warning that Beijing is seeking to gain leverage in the trade competition with Washington.

Tuesday’s announcement from China’s commerce ministry precedes meetings between U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and her Chinese counterpart, He Lifeng, in San Francisco this week. It remains uncertain whether China’s export controls—one of the contentious issues in bilateral relations—will be discussed during their two-day talks.

The U.S.–China relationship has been strained over various issues, including the CCP’s military aggressions in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, as well as U.S. export controls and investment restrictions on advanced technologies to counter the regime’s military modernization.

The Yellen-He meeting will take place ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, which starts on Nov. 11. U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are expected to meet on the sidelines of the APEC gathering, which would mark the two leaders’ first in-person engagement in a year. However, Beijing has yet to confirm whether Xi will travel to Washington for the summit.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/china/china-tightens-export-control-on-rare-earth-metals-amid-tensions-with-west-5525794

6/19/2024

First-of-Its-Kind Study Explains Why Some People Don’t Get COVID-19

Even when exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus intranasally, people with faster or more subtle immune responses didn’t become infected.

Researchers have discovered why some people remain uninfected by the COVID-19 virus—even after their nasal cavities are exposed to it.

According to a recent study, these people have faster and more subtle immune responses than those who develop symptomatic COVID-19.

“These findings shed new light on the crucial early events that either allow the virus to take hold or rapidly clear it before symptoms develop,” Dr. Marko Nikolić, senior author of the study and honorary consultant in respiratory medicine at the University College London, said in the press release.

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The study, published in Nature on Wednesday, was a human challenge study conducted by researchers from the UK and the Netherlands. It is the first of its kind wherein participants were deliberately exposed to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

Researchers recruited 16 young, healthy participants under 30 for the study. None had comorbidities, and none had ever previously been infected with COVID-19 or vaccinated.

Before the study received peer review, a preprint of it was made available online in April 2023.

3 Different Immune Responses

The 16 individuals responded to the virus exposure differently and were grouped accordingly.

The first group contained six symptomatic people. The study authors categorized them as having sustained infections.

People in the second group were asymptomatic but still tested positive for COVID-19 with PCR tests. These participants were categorized as having transient infections.

The third type of people were asymptomatic and continuously received negative COVID-19 PCR test results. The authors confirmed that these participants were infected but cleared their infections so rapidly that the infections were dubbed “abortive.”

The second and third groups, who had asymptomatic COVID-19, had faster or more subtle immune responses, according to the authors.

On Day 1, the authors detected immune cells that migrated to the nose—the site of infection—in the asymptomatic groups.

However, people who tested negative for COVID-19 recruited fewer immune cell types, while the COVID-19-positive group recruited all immune cell types.

Symptomatic people with sustained COVID-19 infections had slower and more systematic immune responses. These participants had all types of immune cells going into the nose on Day 5 rather than Day 1. …

https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/first-of-its-kind-study-explains-why-some-people-dont-get-covid-19-post-5671526

>>21052546

>First-of-Its-Kind Study Explains Why Some People Don’t Get COVID-19

Genetic Factors

Individuals with high expression of specific genes, such as HLA-DQA2, “are better at preventing the onset of a sustained viral infection,” the authors wrote.

Other studies have shown that increased activity of HLA-DQA2 in the blood is associated with milder COVID-19 progression.

HLA-DQA2 is one of many human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genes. HLA genes make proteins displayed on the cell surface. When pathogens infect cells, HLA proteins signal to immune cells that they have been infected.

The authors said their data confirm that HLA-DQA2 activity protects against further production of SARS-CoV-2 virus in infected cells.

Symptomatic People Had Systematic Responses

Only people with symptomatic COVID-19 displayed systematic interferon responses. Interferons are messengers of the immune system that help reduce or aggravate immune and inflammatory activities.

The authors were surprised to find that interferons in the blood were activated before those at the infection site. Interferon activity in the blood peaked on Day 3 of the infection; however, interferon activity at the infection site—the nose—was not detected until Day 5.

In the press release, the authors said that slow immune responses in the nose could have allowed the infection to establish itself quickly.

Asymptomatic people did not have systemic interferon reactions and rarely had infected cells.

Unsurprisingly, “infected cells were almost exclusively found” in the nasal cavities of symptomatic people, the authors wrote. The cells lining participants’ nasal cavities start producing SARS-CoV-2 virus, contributing to increased viral load.

“We now have a much greater understanding of the full range of immune responses, which could provide a basis for developing potential treatments and vaccines that mimic these natural protective responses,” said Dr. Nikolić.

>>21052541

<GE

>>21052060

>Arkansas governor

>>21052616

another so called dirt farmer?

>>21052457

>https://twitter.com/DanScavino/status/1803584109517644106