Obama DOD Started 'Indoctrinating Our Troops' on Racism and 'Privilege,' New Docs Show

On Thursday, Judicial Watch obtained 1,483 pages of teaching materials from the Department of Defense (DOD) produced by the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute (DEOMI) during President Barack Obama’s tenure. The DOD’s “equal opportunity advisors” use the documents to train service members on diversity topics.

Among other things, the training materials attribute opposition to reparations or affirmative action to a form of racism, claim the idea that “human similarities are more important than differences” is a form of “ethnocentrism,” warn against “sexual orientation privilege” and “religious privilege,” and claim that those who raise religious objections to same-sex marriage are engaging in discrimination.

“These documents show that the Department of Defense has been indoctrinating our troops with anti-American and racially inflammatory ‘training,'” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement. “We must protect our military servicemembers from being brainwashed by the divisive, anti-American propaganda fueling the leftist insurrectionists who are right now trying to destroy our country.”

In a chart on “Racist Behavior” from an April 2015 training on racism, DEOMI laid out four models of racism. The chart includes a wide range of attitudes that are not racist at all. It defines “traditional” racism as the belief in “biological superiority,” that minorities are “innately inferior,” and that discrimination is “justifiable and desirable.” Yet other forms of “racism” are so subtle to … not be racism at all.

For instance, “symbolic” racism (circa 1965) includes the ideology that “individual effort is key to success,” preaches that minorities “could succeed if [they] worked harder,” and ignores “systematic barriers to advancement.” “Modern” racism (circa 1978) teaches that “people get what they deserve,” that minorities are “undeserving of special efforts to redress past inequities” (like reparations or affirmative action), and that discrimination is “a thing of the past.”

Finally, “aversive” racism (circa 1986-Today) teaches that “all people should have equal political, social, & economic rights,” views minorities as “victims of past injustices,” and supports “non-discriminatory practices,” but according to the chart, this is still racism and results in “avoidance, interracial anxiety, unintentional discrimination.”

Not only does this document brand attitudes of self-sufficiency and political stances against affirmative action or reparations a form of “racism,” but it also claims that modern leftist approaches to rooting out racism are themselves racist.

In a chapter on “individual diversity,” the January 2015 guide claims that in the process of embracing people from other cultures, people often operate in one of six phases of two main stages (“ethnocentric” and “ethnorelative”). The “ethnocentric” stage includes a “minimization” phase: “Individuals in this level recognize cultural differences, but trivialize them. Individuals at this level believe that human similarities are more important than differences.”

In other words, the attitude that human beings have more that unites us than separates us is just an incomplete and “ethnocentric” approach to cultural and racial diversity.

https://pjmedia.com/culture/tyler-o-neil/2020/07/16/obama-dod-started-indoctrinating-our-troops-on-racism-and-privilege-new-docs-show-n654787

Texas Department of Health removes over 3,000 'probable' COVID-19 cases from overall count

In one Texas county, individuals could be declared coronavirus-positive even if they weren't confirmed with a test.

The Texas Department of State Health Services removed over 3,000 cases from its statewide COVID-19 cases total because the San Antonio Metro Health District was including probable cases in their case totals.

The Texas Department of Health reported 10,791 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, but admitted they removed thousands more because they were "probable" and not "confirmed."

Texas health officials removed 3,484 coronavirus cases Wednesday from the state's total COVID-19 count. The Texas Department of State Health Services made the announcement on its official Facebook page:

"The San Antonio Metro Health District has clarified its reporting to separate confirmed and probable cases, so the Bexar County and statewide totals have been updated to remove 3,484 probable cases. The local case count previously included probable cases identified by antigen testing but not those from antibody testing or other sources."

"Since we report confirmed cases on our dashboard, we have removed 3,484 previously reported probable cases from the statewide and Bexar County totals," Chris Van Deusen, a spokesman for the health agency, told the Austin American-Statesman.

"The State of Texas today had to remove 3,484 cases from its Covid-19 positive case count, because the San Antonio Health Department was reporting 'probable' cases for people never actually tested, as 'confirmed' positive cases," KDFW-TV news anchor Steve Eagar tweeted on Wednesday. "What other departments make this same mistake?"

According to KSAT-TV, the Texas Department of State Health Services can declare a person to be COVID-19-positive without getting a polymerase chain reaction diagnostic test as long as the individual meets two of three of the following criteria:

A positive quick-result antigen test

Experiencing COVID-19 symptoms

Close contact with a confirmed positive COVID-19 case

Technically, a person could go to a clinic, tell the physician that they are experiencing coronavirus symptoms and that they know a co-worker or relative has coronavirus, and the person could be declared to be coronavirus positive without actually being tested.

This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expanded COVID-19 symptoms:

Fever or chills

Cough

Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing

Fatigue

Muscle or body aches

Headache

Loss of taste or smell

Sore throat

Congestion or runny nose

Nausea or vomiting

Diarrhea

The PCR test is a molecular diagnostic testing technique that inserts a 6-inch-long swab into the nasal cavity to detect the genetic material from the virus. Results take one day to a week.

Antigen tests are quick-response tests that "usually provide results diagnosing an active coronavirus infection faster than molecular tests, but antigen tests have a higher chance of missing an active infection," according to the Food and Drug Administration. Antigen tests, which are the less expensive test, detect proteins of the novel coronavirus in samples. Results usually take less than an hour.

San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg defended the decision to include probable cases as confirmed cases.

"From a science perspective and medical perspective, it doesn't make any sense to not count these test results, as they are just as accurate in determining positive cases," Nirenberg said Friday. "This gives us a better sense of where the infections are so we can control it."

Earlier this week, the Florida Department of Health was exposed for having extremely high coronavirus positivity rates. Hospitals and clinics were reporting 100% or near 100% COVID-19 positivity rates, despite a report showing that they had a fraction of that.

https://www.theblaze.com/news/coronavirus-probable-cases-confirmed-texas

State-Linked Chinese Firm Uses Own Workers As Guinea Pigs In Unregulated Vaccine "Pre-Test"

A major Chinese state-run pharmaceutical company is going to extreme, and some might say dangerous, lengths to develop a coronavirus vaccine at a moment the global race is on to get one safely out.

The company announced this week that its Chinese employees and even top executives stood in as guinea pigs for a "pre-test" of its potential new vaccine.

SinoPharm said that 30 of its own "special volunteers" had the experimental vaccine administered to them prior to it going through a rigorous regulations and official approval process. It's bringing up serious ethical questions over to what degree state-linked Chinese firms are coercing their employees into participating in unregulated and experimental pharmaceutical tests.

The Associated Press reported of the company statements:

SinoPharm’s claim that 30 “special volunteers” rolled up their sleeves even before the company got permission for its initial human study raises ethical concerns among Western observers. The company’s post cites a “spirit of sacrifice” and shows seven men in suits and ties — a mix of scientists, businessmen and one Communist Party official with a background in military propaganda.

The SinoPharm statement touted that its employees were “giving a helping hand in forging the sword of victory.”

China's state media propagated the firm's statement via English language outlets:

Top Chinese executives at SinoPharm say they are proud to receive experimental shots ahead of government approved testing in people. The online post “giving a helping hand in forging the sword of victory,” highlights the world’s race to find a vaccine for #COVID-19. pic.twitter.com/nz72kiLANp

— CGTN America (@cgtnamerica) July 16, 2020

Currently there's some eight experimental vaccines in various stages of testing being developed in China, and many more at labs worldwide.

https://www.zerohedge.com/health/state-linked-chinese-firm-uses-own-workers-guinea-pigs-unregulated-vaccine-pre-test

Space Force Selects More Than 2,400 Airmen to Join the New Service

The U.S. Space Force has selected the first active-duty airmen to transfer into the new service.

It announced Thursday that it has chosen 2,410 members within the space operations (13S) and space systems operations (1C6) career fields, who will start transferring Sept. 1.

"This is an exciting and historic time for these space operators, who will be some of the first members to join the Space Force," said Lt. Gen. David "DT" Thompson, Space Force vice commander, in a release. "Each one of them has an important responsibility to contribute bold ideas to shape the Space Force into a 21st century service."

Officials said in June that approximately 8,500 active-duty airmen across 13 eligible officer and enlisted career fields had signed up to move permanently into the Defense Department's sixth military branch, which is part of the Department of the Air Force. The branch, which was signed into existence by President Donald Trump on Dec. 20, 2019, is currently operating with the aid of 16,000 airmen and civilians detailed temporarily from what was formerly known as Air Force Space Command.

Officials have said that about 6,000 of those temporary personnel will be offered the opportunity to formally transfer into the Space Force by year's end.

The service currently has only 88 members. They include Gen. John "Jay" Raymond, the chief of space operations and head of U.S. Space Command; Chief Master Sgt. Roger Towberman, the senior enlisted adviser of the Space Force and command senior enlisted leader of Space Command; and 86 new lieutenants who graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in April.

The Air Force ran an application program in May. Officials have said there will be windows for the other service members such as those in the Army and Navy to apply and join, but news of a limited inter-service transfer will not be announced before next year. Any Army and Navy personnel chosen to move will not do so until fiscal years 2022-23, according to the release.

The 13S and 1C6 career fields are considered "organic space specialties," officials said Thursday. Those chosen will soon receive messages via the MyPers website on the next steps for their commission or enlistment into the Space Force.

"While most members will execute their transfers around Sept. 1, some members awaiting various administrative processes, such as a pending promotion board, will transfer at a later date when those actions are completed," the release states. "The actual number of members who complete transfers may differ slightly from the number approved for transfer as members make this personal decision based on their individual and family circumstances at that time."

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/07/16/space-force-selects-more-2400-airmen-join-new-service.html

Spot the Liar: President Trump’s Niece, Mary Trump Tells Rachel Maddow She’s Heard Trump Use Anti-Semitic Slurs and the N-Word

President Trump’s niece, Mary Trump, has been on the fake news circuit peddling her new book titled, “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man.”

Mary Trump is another grifter using Donald Trump’s presidency to make money and become famous.

Mary Trump on Thursday told conspiracy theorist Rachel Maddow that she has heard Donald Trump use anti-Semitic slurs and the N-word.

Donald Trump Jr. said that he hasn’t seen Mary Trump in approximately 20 years.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/07/spot-liar-president-trumps-niece-mary-trump-tells-rachel-maddow-heard-trump-use-anti-semitic-slurs-n-word-video/

https://twitter.com/JudicialWatch/status/1283906760562970624

https://www.judicialwatch.org/petitions/demanding-an-investigation-in-rep-ilhan-omar/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=petition&source=46

Hundreds demonstrate against Netanyahu near his official residence, again

In calmer gathering than Tuesday’s, ‘Black Flag’ protesters urge PM to resign over corruption allegations; police warn participants they can’t hold planned sleepover at site

Hundreds of people demonstrated outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official residence in Jerusalem on Thursday, demanding that he resign over his indictment on corruption charges.

It was the second such demonstration this week at the junction of Gaza Street and Balfour Street, the road where the Prime Minister’s Residence is located. The previous protest, attended by several thousand people on Tuesday, turned violent and dozens were arrested during clashes with police.

Although organizers had called for protesters to spend Thursday night sleeping on the sidewalk, police warned that the demonstration must end on time at 11 p.m. and that participants would not be permitted to sleep on the street.

Some protesters blocked the capital’s Gaza Street, disrupting traffic.

Organizers called the rally a “Siege of Balfour” and said the event was also to protest the government’s reported plans to introduce weekend lockdowns and ban public gatherings as part of the efforts to halt the spread of the coronavirus.

“Preventing public gatherings and applying a lockdown is only intended to free Netanyahu from the siege,” organizers said in a statement reported by the Walla website.

While Thursday’s protest was relatively calm, the memory of Tuesday’s clashes with police remained vivid in the minds of some protesters.

“Tuesday was insane, huge, historic. We can’t recreate it, even if we wanted to. It was unreal. It was important to experience it to understand what happened,” said Sasha, a 19-year-old Jerusalem resident.

“At one point I needed to hide behind an announcement board with a bunch of other people to avoid being attacked by cops on horseback. It was terrifying,” Sasha said.

Thursday’s protest, by contrast, had an almost carnival-esque atmosphere. Young people intending to sleep at the protest, wearing pajamas and clutching teddy bears, sat in meditation circles on the ground. A handful of circus performers entertained the crowd by spewing fire from their mouths. An activist at the protest told The Times of Israel that she was planning a dawn yoga session for the sit-in.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/hundreds-demonstrate-against-netanyahu-near-his-official-residence/

George Soros' Clandestine Takeover of DA Offices! - Rudy Giuliani

https://youtu.be/vCRRVctGEjo

‘China’s goal is to replace you’: AG Barr warns Hollywood, Big Tech & US academia not to ‘kowtow’ to Beijing

Attorney General William Barr just hardened the Trump administration’s line on China, accusing Beijing of wanting to replace the US as the dominant economic and political global power, with the help of America’s own institutions.

China is engaged “in an economic blitzkrieg, an aggressive, orchestrated, whole-of-government – indeed, whole-of-society – campaign to seize the commanding heights of the global economy and to surpass the US as the world’s preeminent technological superpower,” Barr said on Thursday in a speech at the Gerald Ford Presidential Museum in Michigan.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) wants “to overthrow the rules-based international system and make the world safe for dictatorship,” he added.

Barr made it clear from the start that he would be harsh, noting that last week’s speech about China by FBI Director Chris Wray was described in Beijing as “particularly disgusting,” and that he was aiming for “despicable” himself.

While Wray tried to have it both ways, accusing China of widespread economic and political espionage against the US but stopping short of advocating a break in trade relations, Barr barreled right on through, warning US industries and academia that China means to co-opt, destroy and eventually replace them altogether.

“The ultimate ambition of China’s rulers isn’t to trade with the US, it is to raid the US,” he said. While appeasing the People’s Republic of China may be profitable in the short term, “in the end, the PRC’s goal is to replace you.”

https://www.rt.com/news/494990-barr-china-speech-blitzkrieg-tentacles/

Kentucky Man Sentenced for Role in Concealing Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars in Corporate Contributions to U.S. Senate Campaign

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/kentucky-man-sentenced-role-concealing-hundreds-thousands-dollars-corporate-contributions-us

Gov. Cuomo: With Mask Debate Trump Let Politics Kill 40,000 More Americans

Thursday on MSNBC, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) said President Donald Trump not implementing a nationwide mask policy was “allowing politics,” to let Americans die.

Anchor Nicolle Wallace said, “How much of this is on Donald Trump? How of this is his failure?”

Cuomo said, “Well, without getting into politics, by the federal government’s own admission, Nicolle, they did a report today from the CDC that is damning. The CDC report today says what we believed in New York, that the virus first came to New York from Europe. They traced the viral strain, and the CDC says their travel ban was too late. By the time they did the China travel ban and the European travel ban that the president likes to tout, the virus was already in New York and had been circulating. That was the first mistake. The federal government that was supposed to protect our public health and homeland security failed. That’s how the virus came the first time. There’s going to be a second failure, which is now all this explosion across the rest of the country was totally predictable. We still don’t have the operation set up. We’re going to see that infection comes back to New York and reinfect New York unless we’re very lucky. It’s not only the first failure that allowed the virus to come. It’s the second failure that four months later, we’re still talking about eight days to get testing results.”

Wallace said, “For all of the tragedy and strain on our hospitals and our city and our state, are you surprised to see governors like Governor Kemp twiddling his thumbs about something like a mask which is the lease invasive sort of the least offensive way to slow the spread?”

Cuomo said, “Nicolle, that we’re still talking about masks is indefensible. You have the IHME projection model, which is the model that the White House follows. It’s funded by Gates. They say 40,000 more Americans will die because we didn’t have a mask policy. Forty thousand people will die because we didn’t have a mask policy? Every health expert says it. Every federal health expert says it. The CDC says it. The NIH says it. That we’re allowing politics to allow Americans to die is a level of dysfunction that we haven’t seen in this country before.”

He added, “Look, we know what the real virus is. The virus that we are dealing with is not the COVID virus. It’s the virus of American division and partisanship and the virus of government incompetence. That’s what this nation is dealing with. That’s the pandemic. The division and government incompetence. We have to recognize it, treat it with science. We have to unify. Otherwise, we’ll never defeat this virus.”

https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2020/07/16/gov-cuomo-with-mask-debate-trump-let-politics-kill-40000-more-americans/

Pompeo: C.C.P. Hid Human-to-Human Transmission of COVID, W.H.O. ‘Co-Opted’

On Thursday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Bill Hemmer Reports,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated that the Chinese Communist Party knew of person-to-person transmission of the coronavirus before they told the rest of the world about it and that the World Health Organization “was co-opted” into the effort to hide needed knowledge from the rest of the world.

Pompeo said, “[I]t is the case that the Chinese Communist Party was aware of human-to-human transmission before they shared this with the world. And that the World Health Organization itself was co-opted into the same effort to deny the world the knowledge it needed to respond to this threat, to this threat from the virus that emanated from Wuhan, China.”

Pompeo also stated that the world is currently taking steps to hold China accountable by changing their economic and territorial relationships with China, and stated that, for the past 40 years, American policy, under administrations of both parties, has been to look the other way and ignore China’s bad behavior. He also predicted that the world will unite to hold China’s government accountable for covering up the coronavirus, “when they could have prevented so much of this tragedy.”

https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2020/07/16/pompeo-c-c-p-hid-human-to-human-transmission-of-covid-w-h-o-co-opted/

AG Barr: China Waging ‘Economic Blitzkrieg’ to Replace U.S. as Top Superpower

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), under dictator Xi Jinping, has launched an aggressive, governmentwide, whole-of-society “economic blitzkrieg” to replace America as the globe’s “preeminent superpower,” U.S. Attorney General William Barr warned on Thursday.

China’s “predatory economic policies are succeeding,” Barr conceded via written remarks prepared for delivery during a speech at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Michigan.

“For a hundred years, America was the world’s largest manufacturer — allowing us to serve as the world’s ‘arsenal of democracy,” he continued. “China overtook the United States in manufacturing output in 2010. The PRC is now the world’s ‘arsenal of dictatorship.'”

The AG focused his speech on U.S. President Donald Trump’s policy against the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

Barr declared:

The General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, Xi Jinping, who has centralized power to a degree not seen since the dictatorship of Mao Zedong, now speaks openly of China moving “closer to center stage,” “building a socialism that is superior to capitalism,” and replacing the American Dream with the “Chinese solution.” China is no longer hiding its strength, nor biding its time. From the perspective of its communist rulers, China’s time has arrived.

The People’s Republic of China is now engaged in an economic blitzkrieg—an aggressive, orchestrated, whole-of-government (indeed, whole-of-society) campaign to seize the commanding heights of the global economy and to surpass the United States as the world’s preeminent superpower.

“It is clear that the PRC seeks not merely to join the ranks of other advanced industrial economies, but to replace them altogether,” Barr added later.

https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2020/07/16/ag-barr-china-waging-economic-blitzkrieg-to-replace-u-s-as-top-superpower/

Freedom of Information Dead on Arrival — Another Covid Casualty

“Democracy Dies in Darkness”–Washington Post

“It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there”–Bob Dylan

Another fallout from the Covid crisis is that you can no longer reach public officials and bureaucrats. Phone calls go unanswered and there seems to be a pervasive disinterest in responding to emails now.

This is significant in terms of transparency and the public’s right to be informed. What we are seeing now in daily media reports, wildly contradicting each other as to the nature of the Covid crisis, is compounded by the unaccountability engendered by public officials, who seem to have discarded any semblance of concern about “the public’s right to know.”

Government, as originally conceptualized, was to protect the governed from external attacks. The earliest manifestations of government, tribal government, emerged as family units banded together for a greater protection than a mere clan or family group could provide. The tribal leaders were not despots—indeed, they would be unseated if they evidenced those qualities—and whether one was a singular head or part of a council of elders, a leader was tasked with serving the needs of the community. Later, city-states emerged and gradually, the governors moved away from the community that they governed, not so much in physical location but in adherence to the emerging group of leadership. An “elite” was born—those who led.

The separation of the leaders from the led has now become a fact of so-called democratic forms of government, as well as of oligarchies and monarchies. And this was nowhere more evident in President Trump’s promise to “Drain the Swamp.” The Swamp would be those embedded in government who were not serving the interests of the governed, but rather serving an entity unto itself.

The first hints that Covid-19 was going to kill off whatever crumbs of accountability still remained were evident early on in the crisis. Back in March, California Governor Newsom’s intent to suspend the California Public Records Act during the Covid crisis was first reported. In March, the city of San Diego announced that it was suspending the government’s necessity to respond to Covid-related PRA requests. While the article linked here states that no other cities had launched such measures, it appears that indeed many levels of government have cut off access to public records.

As reported in the Los Angeles Times, also in March:

The city of Fresno suspended “immediate responses” to public records requests on Tuesday after the city declared a state of emergency, according to an email from the city attorney’s office. The city will resume responding to requests once the emergency declaration ends.

In the Bay Area, the city of San Leandro is closed to the public and only staffing “essential employees” because of a shelter-in-place order from Alameda County, according to an email from the city manager’s office. The city will need an additional 45 days to respond to records requests after the order is lifted, the email said.

And the city clerk’s office in Fremont told a journalist this week it would not be able to accept public records requests until its offices reopened following an emergency declaration there.

https://www.activistpost.com/2020/07/freedom-of-information-dead-on-arrival-another-covid-casualty.html

New SAS War Crimes Revealed as Australia Braces for Report

Australian media are reporting new war crimes committed by Special Air Services (SAS) troops in Afghanistan, including the mass murder of unarmed civilians and planting weapons on the bodies of civilians to cover up unlawful killings. The new revelations come weeks after Australia’s special forces chief admitted that SAS soldiers committed war crimes in Afghanistan, and just weeks before the Australian military is set to report the findings of a four-year investigation of alleged war crimes committed during the course of the country’s nearly 19-year participation in the US-led war in Afghanistan.

‘Mass Shooting’

An Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) investigation found that SAS troops killed as many as 10 unarmed Afghan civilians during a December 2012 operation in and around the village of Sara Aw in Kandahar province. The raid, believed to be the deadliest unlawful killing of Afghan civilians by Australian soldiers, involved SAS and Afghan special forces searching for Taliban militants, who locals admit were operating in the area.

"There were three Taliban in nomad houses," said local farmer Mohammad Nassim. "They resisted and were killed. But then [the SAS] killed other people, civilians." Abdul Qadus said his brother Adbul Salim was driving a tractor when he was shot dead. "At the time he was carrying a load of onions; he was taking them to the city," explained Qadus. "There were some other people with him as well… I saw them being shot and killed."

"Another one was my cousin, who was sitting and packing onions when they shot and killed him," Qadus added. Another villager identified only by his first name Rahmatullah said that the Australians came after him. "They were shooting people intentionally," he said. "They were mass shooting."

"Some people busy with irrigation were shot, some were shot near the onions," said Nassim. "Some people went to the tractor and were shot there."

https://original.antiwar.com/Brett_Wilkins/2020/07/15/new-sas-war-crimes-revealed-as-australia-braces-for-report/

Xi Jinping Begs Global CEOs to Stay in China

Chinese dictator Xi Jinping sent a letter to members of the Global CEO Council on Wednesday, presented by his state media as a triumphant boast of China’s economic strength.

To more skeptical eyes, the letter appeared as a plea for foreign companies to refrain from disengaging with China after the coronavirus pandemic, the oppression of the Uyghurs, the crackdown in Hong Kong, and China’s increasingly belligerent behavior on its land and maritime borders.

The “Global CEO Council” is a creation of the Chinese Communist Party that includes executives from 39 multinational corporations.

China’s state Xinhua news service reported that Xi’s letter included China’s pledge to “keep deepening reform and expanding opening-up, and provide a better business environment for the investment and development of Chinese and foreign enterprises.”

Xi strove to make China sound as attractive to foreign business as possible, deploying the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) shopworn canards about “win-win cooperation” and responsible global citizenship:

He said China will comprehensively implement major policies and measures aimed at ensuring the six priorities of employment, people’s livelihoods, development of market entities, food and energy security, stable operation of industrial and supply chains, and smooth functioning at the community level, and ensuring stability in the six areas of employment, finance, foreign trade, foreign investment, domestic investment and market expectations.

China will foster new opportunities and create new prospects for Chinese and foreign enterprises, Xi said, adding that those CEOs have made the right choice to stay rooted in China.

In today’s world, the interests of all countries are highly integrated, the human race is a community with a shared future that shares weal and woe, and win-win cooperation is the trend of the times, stressed the Chinese president.

China, he added, will be unswervingly committed to pursuing the path of peaceful development, making economic globalization more open, inclusive, balanced and beneficial to all, and promoting the building of an open world economy.

Xi wrote his missive in response to a letter from the Global CEO Council portrayed by Xinhua as swimming with praise for China’s fantastic handling of the coronavirus crisis, but the New York Post noted that the letter could also be read as a polite request for significant reform, and only 18 members of the council signed it.

The South China Morning Post (SCMP) said Xi’s promises were made against the backdrop of China’s announcement that its economy grew by 3.2 percent in the second quarter of 2020, rebounding from its worst contraction of the modern era, a 6.8 percent decline in the previous quarter.

https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2020/07/16/xi-jinping-begs-global-ceos-stay-china/

US-NATO Seek to Exclude Russia from the Mediterranean. In Libya, Russia is on the Side of Haftar

RAND’s Hope that NATO Opposes Russia in the Mediterranean Is Divorced from Reality

Russia is conducting “military intimidation” in the Mediterranean according to RAND in a newly published article titled “Russia Is Eyeing the Mediterranean. The U.S. and NATO Must Be Prepared.” The authors claim that “As part of its great power exertions Russia seeks more access and freedom of movement in the Mediterranean region, and is bolstering its military footprint to achieve this objective.” The authors also urge the U.S. and NATO to meet “this rising challenge” by developing “a more robust southern strategy with a reinforced air and naval presence.”

RAND is considered the U.S. Air Force’s think tank as it was established by General H. H. “Hap” Arnold, Chief of Staff of the Air Force, and by aeronautical engineer Theodore von Kármán. The bulk of its funding in its early formation was from the Air Force. Therefore, when reading RAND reports it must be noted that articles are written through the eyes of US unilateralism and unipolarity.

The authors argue that “By upgrading its military posture in the region, Russia seems to believe it can be more successful in projecting power and minimizing the influence of the United States and NATO.” However, this would imply that NATO has a unified policy in the Mediterranean when in actual fact the Alliance has never been so divided over its so-called southern flank. The article claims that Russia is in direct conflict with NATO and their interests in the Mediterranean, but ignores that the Alliance is deeply divided in Libya, Syria and the Aegean.

It is especially in Libya where NATO’s division is observed, with Turkey supporting the Muslim Brotherhood Government of National Accord (GNA) based in Tripoli, and Greece and France backing Libya’s House of Representatives based in Tobruk. RAND’s position on Libya is clearly in favor of the Muslim Brotherhood government by claiming it is “United Nations–backed” but omits the GNA’s mandate from the UN to rule was for a two-year period that expired in December 2017. The authors then describe Field Marshal Khalifa Belqasim Haftar as a “warlord” despite being appointed as commander of the Libyan National Army by the Libyan House of Representatives, the only institution that has been elected by the Libyan people. By falsely claiming that the Muslim Brotherhood government is UN-backed and describing Haftar as a warlord demonstrates the very division in NATO as RAND also completely omits that the GNA is attempting to steal maritime space from NATO-member Greece.

Russia is on the side of Haftar, and it is here that RAND is willing to gloss over the fact that the Turkish-backed militias fighting for the GNA are overwhelmingly jihadist and include former ISIS fighters. It is also for this reason that RAND ignores that Haftar was appointed by the only elected body in Libya and has the support of NATO members Greece and France. Therefore, RAND is not dealing with the realities occurring in the Mediterranean and rather expects all NATO members to fall into line and ignore their own strategic and security interests in the Mediterranean for the sake of opposing greater Russian influence in the region.

This expectation led RAND to write that “A greater U.S. and NATO presence might also reassure allies in the Mediterranean, which could help by buttressing their own southern-facing postures.” Greece and France do not need to be “reassured” that Russia is not a threat in the Mediterranean, but rather that Turkey’s plan to steal Greek maritime space is thwarted and the jihadists it arms and trains to fight in Libya do not enter Europe. It appears that RAND is trying to unite NATO under the guise of opposing Russia in the Mediterranean, something that is not a major concern for the Mediterranean NATO members, with the exception of Turkey. A unified front in opposing Russia in the Mediterranean is only in the interests of the US and Turkey and not the entire Alliance. Therefore, RAND is effectively admitting that NATO is just a tool used to strengthen Washington’s influence and demands with no interest of other members’ security concerns.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/rand-hope-nato-opposes-russia-mediterranean/5718468

>>9982511

Michael is skiing

>>9982590