Chinese Admiral Wants To "Sink Two US Aircraft Carriers" Over South China Sea

Mere days after Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed to "resolutely" defend China's security interest - a veiled reference to maintaining its domination of the South China Sea - News.au has published details from a speech delivered two weeks ago by one of China's leading military commanders where he outlined a strategy to rebuff the US Navy should it take an even more interventionist posture within the nine-dash line. Rear Admiral Lou Yuan told an audience in Shenzhen that the simmering dispute over the East and South China Seas could be decisively ended by sinking two US aircraft carriers. Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported that Admiral Lou gave a long speech on the state of Sino-US relations, where he declared that the trade spat was "definitely not simply friction over economics and trade," but a "prime strategic issue." And that if China wants the US to back off, it must be willing to attack US ships when they intrude in Chinese territory.

During the Dec. 20 speech to the 2018 Military Industry List summit, Lou declared that China’s anti-ship ballistic and cruise missiles were capable of hitting US carriers, even when they were in the middle of a "bubble" of defensive escorts. "What the United States fears the most is taking casualties," Admiral Lou declared. He said the loss of one super carrier would cost the US the lives of 5000 service men and women. Sinking two would double that toll. "We’ll see how frightened America is."

Lou also explained what he described as the US's five vulnerabilities, and insisted that China must not hesitate to strike back at any of them should a US fleet even dare to stop in Taiwan. In his speech, he said there were ‘five cornerstones of the United States’ open to exploitation: their military, their money, their talent, their voting system — and their fear of adversaries. Admiral Lou, who holds an academic military rank - not a service role - said China should "use its strength to attack the enemy’s shortcomings. Attack wherever the enemy is afraid of being hit. Wherever the enemy is weak …" "If the US naval fleet dares to stop in Taiwan, it is time for the People’s Liberation Army to deploy troops to promote national unity on (invade) the island," Admiral Lou said.

Should Taiwan become increasingly restive, China possesses the capability to stage a military takeover of the island in 100 hours, Lou said. This eventuality is more likely than many might believe, Lou said, adding that 2018 could be a "year of turmoil" for Taiwan, and that a military conflict was possible. Achieving China’s complete unity is a necessary requirement. The achievement of the past 40 years of reform and opening-up has given us the capability and confidence to safeguard our sovereignty. Those who are trying to stir up trouble in the South China Sea and Taiwan should be careful about their future." The PLA is capable of taking over Taiwan within 100 hours with only a few dozen casualties," said retired lieutenant general Wang Hongguang. 2018 is a year of turmoil for Taiwan, and a possible military conflict may take place in Taiwan soon. (But) As long as the US doesn’t attack China-built islands and reefs in the South China Sea, no war will take place in the area."

US military commanders have long warned that China's growing military presence in the Pacific is a serious threat to US security, and China has underscored these concerns by organizing military drills explicitly to threaten Taiwan. Indeed, a military conflict with China remains one of the most widely cited "black swan" risks to global security - a possibility that has only been exacerbated by the trade conflict.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-01-01/chinese-admiral-wants-sink-two-us-aircraft-carriers-over-south-china-sea

The Only Meddling "Russian Bots" Were Actually Democrat-Led "Experts"

Cybersecurity “experts” in the United States have long alleged that “Russian bots” were used to meddle in the 2016 elections. But, as it turns out, the authors of a Senate report on “Russian election meddling” actually ran the false flag meddling operation themselves.

A week before Christmas, the Senate Intelligence Committee released a report accusing Russia of depressing Democrat voter turnout by targeting African-Americans on social media. Its authors, New Knowledge, quickly became a household name. Described by the New York Times as a group of “tech specialists who lean Democratic,” New Knowledge has ties to both the U.S. military and the intelligence agencies. The CEO and co-founder of New Knowledge, Jonathon Morgan, had previously worked for DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), the U.S. military’s advanced research agency known for horrific ideas on how to control humanity. Morgan’s partner, Ryan Fox, is a 15-year veteran of the NSA (National Security Agency) who also worked as a computer analyst for the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). Their unique skill sets have managed to attract the eye of authoritarian investors, who pumped $11 million into the company in 2018 alone, according to a report by RT.

Morgan and Fox have both struck gold in the “Russiagate” scheme, which sprung into being after Hillary Clinton blamed Moscow for Donald Trump’s presidential victory in 2016. Morgan, for example, is one of the developers of the Hamilton 68 Dashboard, the online tool that purports to monitor and expose narratives being pushed by the Kremlin on Twitter. And also worth mentioning, that dashboard is bankrolled by the German Marshall Fund’s Alliance for Securing Democracy – a collection of Democrats and neoconservatives funded in part by NATO (North AtTreaty Tready Organization)and USAID (United States Agency for International Development).

It is worth noting that the 600 “Russia-linked” Twitter accounts monitored by the dashboard is not disclosed to the public either, making it impossible to verify these claims. This inconvenience has not stopped Hamilton 68 from becoming a go-to source for hysteria-hungry journalists, however. Yet on December 19, a New York Times story revealed that Morgan and his crew had created the fake army of Russian bots, as well as several fake Facebook groups, in order to discredit Republican candidate Roy Moore in Alabama’s 2017 special election for the U.S. Senate.

From the way it was formed to the secrecy of its "methods" to the blatantly false assumptions on which its claims rest, "Hamilton68" is probably the single most successful media fraud & US propaganda campaign I've seen since I've been writing about politics. It's truly shocking. — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) February 22, 2018

Working on behalf of the Democrats, Morgan and his crew created an estimated 1,000 fake Twitter accounts with Russian names, and had them follow Moore. They also operated several Facebook pages where they posed as Alabama conservatives who wanted like-minded voters to support a write-in candidate instead. In an internal memo, New Knowledge boasted that it had “orchestrated an elaborate ‘false flag’ operation that planted the idea that the Moore campaign was amplified on social media by a Russian botnet.”–RT

This scandal is being perpetrated by the United States media and has so far deceived millions, if not more. The botnet claim made a splash on social media and was further amplified by Mother Jones, which based its story on “expert opinion” from Morgan’s dubious creation, Hamilton 68.

Things got even weirder when it turned out that Scott Shane, the author of the Times piece, had known about the meddling for months because he spoke at an event where the organizers boasted about it! Shane was one of the speakers at a meeting in September, organized by American Engagement Technologies, a group run by Mikey Dickerson, President Barack Obama’s former tech czar. Dickerson explained how AET spent $100,000 on New Knowledge’s campaign to suppress Republican votes, “enrage” Democrats to boost turnout, and execute a “false flag” to hurt Moore. He dubbed it “Project Birmingham.” -RT

There really was meddling in American democracy by “Russian bots.” Except those bots weren’t run from Moscow or St. Petersburg but from the offices of Democrat operatives chiefly responsible for creating and amplifying the “Russiagate” hysteria over the past two years in a textbook case of psychological projection, brainwashing, and Nazi-style propaganda campaigns.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-01-01/only-meddling-russian-bots-were-actually-democrat-led-experts

U.S. agents fire tear gas into Mexico at 'violent mob' near border

TIJUANA, Mexico (Reuters) - U.S. border agents launched tear gas into Mexico early on Tuesday to deter a group of migrants that one official called “a violent mob” from crossing over from Tijuana, according to a Reuters witness and the U.S. government.

Clouds of the noxious gas could be seen wafting up from around the fence at the border. One migrant picked up a canister and threw it back into U.S. territory. U.S. officials said the group had attacked agents with projectiles but a Reuters witness did not see any migrants throwing rocks at U.S. agents. Tijuana has become a flashpoint in the debate over U.S. immigration policy, which has been intensified by the recent deaths of two migrant children in American custody and a partial U.S. government shutdown over U.S. President Donald Trump’s demand for $5 billion in funding for a wall along the border with Mexico.

A previous incident in November when U.S. agents fired gas into Mexico to disperse migrants triggered a call from Mexico’s government for an investigation, as well as international condemnation. Mexico Foreign Ministry spokesman Roberto Velasco said the government “regrets the events” at the border. He said Mexico “advocates respect for migrants’ human rights, security and integrity, while calling for respect for laws on both sides of the border.”

More than 150 Central American migrants approached an area of the border in Tijuana in the Playas neighborhood near the beach late on Monday. Migrants said they thought security measures might be relaxed due to the New Year’s holiday. U.S. security personnel fired tear gas into Mexico after midnight as some migrants prepared to climb a border fence, according to the Reuters witness. During a second attempt, migrants began to pass youths and children over the razor wire along the fencing to the U.S. side.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Katie Waldman called the group “a violent mob” and said they had thrown projectiles at agents who responded with “the minimum force necessary to defend themselves.” “Congress needs to fully fund the border wall,” Waldman said in a statement.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-border/u-s-agents-fire-tear-gas-into-mexico-at-violent-mob-near-border-idUSKCN1OV1TG?il=0