From Suicide to Dead and Buried… Germany Now Provokes China

 

 
By Finian Cunningham

Not content with committing its nation to economic suicide from deteriorating Russian relations, the German government now wants to bury the corpse by sabotaging trade relations with China.

Robert Habeck, Germany’s trade minister, has riled Beijing by telling a G7 summit last week that Berlin was aiming to adopt a new China policy to “reduce economic dependency”. Habeck said Germany would strive to take tougher controls over Chinese foreign investment and move away from German reliance on China for key commodities such as semiconductors, batteries and other electronics.

Sounding tough in front of other Western members of the G7 forum (a redundant elite club if ever there was one), Habeck said, “the naivety towards China is over”. He said that trade relations would no longer be viewed in isolation from alleged human rights violations and other international concerns, presumably meaning China’s alleged hostility towards Taiwan.

Beijing slammed Habeck’s remarks and retorted that he was the one who is being “naive” in seeking to damage mutually beneficial bilateral relations.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz doubled down on the provocation at the weekend when he was asked about China’s position on Taiwan. Scholz implied that Beijing was the hostile party in recent tensions over the breakaway island territory. He cautioned China: “It is important that we ban violence from international relations.”

It was another red flag being waved by Berlin in China’s face. Scholz doesn’t seem to realize, or doesn’t want to realize, that Taiwan is a sovereign part of China. That is the legal fact of treaties at the United Nations and the internationally accepted One China Policy. It is the United States, Britain, Australia, France and Germany that are increasingly deploying military forces in China’s territorial waters that are causing dangerous tensions and obliging Beijing to take a tougher position on defending its sovereignty, including its rightful claims over Taiwan.

What are the German leaders playing at? The recklessness of their stance and the damage being inflicted on the nation’s economy make you wonder whose interests are they serving. Certainly, it would seem, not the interests of the German population.

Germany, the economic engine of the European Union, is crashing headfirst from its insane sabotage of energy trade with Russia. It reminds you of those slow-motion car crash tests where dummies are flung into the windscreen. Now it’s heading for a Chinese wall.

The self-imposed cutting off of gas supply from Russia is wrecking German industry and plunging the population into a winter of misery of untold poverty and hardship. Many observers including Russian President Vladimir Putin are baffled by the willful embrace of economic suicide that the German government is rushing into.

 

For decades, the German export-led economy has been driven by a copious supply of low-priced Russian natural gas and oil. The coalition government in Berlin, which took over from Angela Merkel’s administration at the end of last year, has cut off links with Moscow as part of its support for Washington’s policy to isolate Russia. Germany has gone all in to support the U.S.-backed Kiev regime with heavy weapons supplied to Ukraine in a war with Russia.

So much for Scholz’s admonition to China to “ban the use of violence in international relations”. Berlin is fueling the conflict in Ukraine and along with the U.S. and other NATO powers is preventing any diplomatic process to find a peaceful resolution with Russia.

If the death blow to the German economy was not bad enough from the reckless policy toward Russia, now Berlin wants to kill relations with Beijing.

China is Germany’s top trading partner for the past six years. Bilateral trade has grown steadily. This year’s commerce is heading to surpass the 2021 record high of over $240 billion in Chinese-German trade.

With its 1.4 billion population, China is a vital market for Germany’s exporters, especially the all-important auto industry that drives the German economy. Nearly 40 percent of global sales for Volkswagen, Audi, BMW and Mercedes are in China, spurred by the latter’s phenomenal economic development.

The Berlin government is putting its economic lifeline with China at risk by adopting a policy of wantonly provoking Beijing. In this, the German “leaders” are following Washington’s bidding. They have done this with regard to sabotaging Russian relations. Now they are bent on repeating the folly toward China.

It is notable that Habeck, the German trade minister, is a member of the Greens in the coalition government with Scholz’s Social Democrats. The other senior Green in the coalition is Annalena Baerbock who is the foreign minister. Both of them are pushing an irrational ideological position of damaging Russian and Chinese relations. The Greens want to convert Germany to renewable energy sources like wind and solar power. That’s how they justify doing away with Russian hydrocarbons. But the calculation is woefully misplaced. German industries and the wider population need Russian gas to run their factories and heat their homes. The folly of cutting off Russian energy is backfiring big time. The absurdity is that Germany is now going back to dirty fuel from coal in order to desperately fill the power vacuum that has been self-inflicted by Green ideologues.

More than Green ideology, however, is the real underlying ideology of Russophobia and Sinophobia. Habeck and Baerbock are blinded by their subservience to Washington’s transatlantic agenda of dividing Europe from having normal neighborly relations with Russia and China.

Washington’s agenda is to promote U.S. hegemony and its presumed unipolar dominance in international relations. In short, American imperialism.

An extension of that agenda is to incite antagonism toward China. The encirclement of Russia goes hand in hand with the encirclement of China. It is no coincidence that as Washington escalates tensions with Moscow over Ukraine and NATO encroachment, it is also feverishly inciting tensions with China over Taiwan and dubious allegations of human rights violations by Beijing.

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration and Congress are pumping weapons into Ukraine and Taiwan in a deliberate and one could say criminal bid to provoke military confrontation. The U.S. capitalist economy needs tensions and conflict to sustain its military-industrial complex, the beating heart of American capitalism.

If Germany’s Chancellor Scholz had any independence of thought, he would be better to remonstrate with Washington over the use of violence in international relations.

But there is no chance of Scholz and his government ever doing that. They are lackeys for Washington and are hopelessly brainwashed with ideological nonsense, Russophobia and Sinophobia.

This winter is already coming with dread for Germany and the wider European population over the policy choice to trash the cornerstone of Russian energy relations. With the further damage to German-Chinese relations, the Berlin political elite are shooting Germany and Europe in the head – twice.

German industries, businesses and workers are incensed by the stupidity of their so-called government which is more accurately described as a Washington-backed regime in Berlin. Angry protests on the streets witnessed in recent weeks in Germany and elsewhere across Europe against self-inflicted economic misery are but a foretaste of the explosive social unrest brewing.

Latest Space Alert interview with Margaret Flowers

 

  

Margaret Flowers is the director of Popular Resistance and host of Clearing the FOG.

She serves on the administrative committee of the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) and on the executive committee of the US Peace Council.

 

She is a pediatrician, public health advocate and activist. After 17 years of practicing medicine, she became an advocate for a single-payer insurance system, organized against US imperialism, and has been active in the US Green Party.

 

Margaret is interviewed by Global Network coordinator Bruce Gagnon.  

Western powers can't stand real democracy

 

Western media (no surprise) are trashing the referendums throughout eastern Ukraine today. 

 

The only voices you here on US media are people claiming they don't support the vote to rejoin with Russia.

 

Here is another side to the story which you will never experience on corporate media.

 

 

 

Graham Phillips

 

I'm sure you join me in wishing the people of Donbass all the best! To be on my mailing list, send an email to - gwplondon@gmail.com - thanks, Graham   

This is how propaganda is spread

 

 

Don't forget that the BBC is a government sponsored media which has a long history of lies, distortions and propaganda.  

The video above uses BBC reporting on the death of former North Korean leader and the succession by his son to illustrate the recent death of the queen in England. 

And for some good laughs we can hear the new king call comedian Jimmy Dore....

 

Interesting anti-NATO protest in Trieste

 

 

With English sub-titles

Protest calls for end to US-NATO war using Ukraine against Russia.

Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provinces.  

 

What about it?

 

 

George Galloway

You want to talk to me about national sovereignty? 

The United States is currently occupying one third of Syria and stealing their oil reserves in their region that happens to have oil.

Pelosi visit: Regime change coming for Armenia?

 

 

The New Atlas

Many have noted the suspicious and very convenient timing regarding Azerbaijan-Armenia hostilities which serve as an additional distraction for Russia amid its special military operation in Ukraine and its ongoing operations in Syria. 

 

In addition to a recent visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Armenia, anti-CSTO protests promoted by US government-funded media organizations in Armenia point toward events being much more than convenient timing and instead similar to US-engineered unrest [regime change] seen in Ukraine in 2014.

New Space Force anthem: Master of Disaster

 

 

The U.S. Space Force, the newest military branch established in 2019, has officially adopted its own song titled “Semper Supra” that was unveiled during the 2022 Air Force Association Air, Space and Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, Sept. 20.  

Global Network board member Koohan Mander Paik tipped us off to the existence of the song and wrote this brief review:  "What a hokey-ass song." 

Yes, right.

Some of the Space Force lyrics include: 'Watchful eye, Guardians of the blue, Standing guard, Space Force on high'.

The current US-NATO navies, constantly bumping up along the Chinese coast in the South China Sea, is done in the name of 'freedom of navigation operations'. These are provocative attempts to pump up conflict and even war with China. The US has repeatedly declared that China is an 'existential threat' to the US. Joe Biden just last weekend declared that the US would 'come to the aid' of Taiwan if Beijing decided to intervene there. 

That is in spite of the fact that official US policy has recognized that Taiwan is part of China. So any Washington intervention in Taiwan would legally be defined as an invasion of a sovereign China.

 

Similarly the Pentagon is attempting to create the rationalization that the Space Force has the 'right and duty' to guard the heavens by patrolling the sky to determine just who is allowed to venture in and out of space. They call it 'freedom of space navigation operations'.

As mining the sky becomes possible in coming years, having the ability to 'control space, dominate space, and deny others the use of space' (see Space Command 1997 document Vision for 2020) becomes a key strategy for the US imperium. 

The US has set in motion the 'most expensive industrial project' in the history of the planet Earth - as boasted by the aerospace industry over many years. This will be the ultimate boondoggle, the biggest heist in recorded history. The crime of all crimes.

And guess who will be paying the freight? The Pentagon has been ordered to round up the NATO allies to get them to help pay for space warfare tech because even after Washington destroys Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and what is left of the social safety net, it still won't be enough to cover the costs.

But even though the allies are being brought in to help pay for Star War$, the US will still control the tip of the spear. 

Why? Because Washington wants to be the master of the universe. Simple as that.

Bruce 

Getting hotter in Ukraine: Putin calls out the west & NATO

 

 

Sputnik

Referendums on joining Russia will be held in the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, as well as the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions of eastern Ukraine on September 23-27 - events that will come as Russia continues its special military operation in Ukraine.

In an address to the nation on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin focused on a number of pressing issues related to the West's stance on Russia and Moscow's special military operation in Ukraine.

'The West Wants to Destroy Russia'

Putin pointed out that the West’s current goal is to "destroy Russia."

“The purpose of the West is to weaken, divide and ultimately destroy our country. They are already directly saying that in 1991 they were able to split the Soviet Union, and now the time has come for Russia itself, and that it should disintegrate into many mortally warring regions,” the Russian president stressed.

According to him, such plans have been hatched in the West for a long time, as they encouraged gangs of international terrorists in the Caucasus, promoted the installation of NATO's offensive infrastructure close to Russia's borders [US first-strike missile launch facilities in Poland and Romania] and made "total Russophobia their weapon."

Putin said that the Western elites are targeting Russia with their aggressive policy in order to maintain their dominance.

“[We talk] about the aggressive policy of a number of the Western elites, who are striving with all their might to maintain their dominance, and for this purpose they are trying to block or suppress any sovereign independent centers of development in order to further brutally impose their will on other countries and nations, to plant their fake values,” according to the Russian president.

Putin also said that the West “has crossed every line in its aggressive anti-Russian policy,” adding that “we constantly hear threats against our country and our people.”

"Some irresponsible politicians in the West talk about plans to organize the supply of long-range offensive weapons to Ukraine, systems that are capable of launching strikes against Crimea and other regions of Russia”.

In his TV address on Wednesday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that Russia was at war with the collective West rather than Ukraine.

“In reality, we are fighting the collective West plus NATO. When we speak about it, we mean not only the weapons being supplied [to Kiev] in huge batches, but also about [space-based] systems of communication and information processing systems,” Shoigu said.

The Western states as well as NATO, he said, are supplying Kiev with "huge" amounts of weapons. The minister went on to stress that the Ukrainian forces are increasingly using Western weapons to target civilian infrastructure, including hospitals.

He stressed that more than 70 military satellites and 200 civilian satellites are working to aid Ukraine and added that some 150 Western military specialists have been deployed to Kiev, de facto leading Ukrainian forces.

Military Losses of Russia and Ukraine

Touching upon the issue of the military costs of the armed conflict in Ukraine, Sergei Shoigu estimated that Kiev has lost half of its army, which originally had about 200,000 troops at the initial stage of Moscow’s special operation.

"Over this time, their losses amount to over 100,000 [military casualties]. This includes 61,207 deaths and 49,368 troops who were injured," Shoigu said. 

“Our losses to date are 5,937 dead,” Shoigu revealed. 

From the front lines of the Donbass

 

Graham Phillips

From Lysychansk with truth, once more! Thanks again for all your support of my work, if you'd like to be on my mailing list, send me an email at gwplondon@gmail.com - thanks again, Graham.

Note: Graham Phillips is from England and has been reporting on the war against the Russian-ethnic Ukrainian citizens by the US-installed right-wing regime in Kiev even before the coup of 2014. He has essentially been declared 'persona non grata' by the UK government and had his bank account seized by London for trying to tell the truth about the Donbass.

U.S. AFRICOM means colonization not democracy

 

 Amidst the Biden Administration’s Forever-Wars Policy in Africa, 

The Black Alliance for Peace Launches A Month of Action Against AFRICOM 

(U.S. Africa Command)

For Immediate Release            

Media Contact
communications@blackallianceforpeace.com
(202) 643-1136

SEPTEMBER 19, 2022—October 1, 2022 is the 14th anniversary of the launch of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM). Yet, jihadist terrorist violence on the African continent has increased since the founding of AFRICOM and NATO’s destruction of Libya resulting in civilian casualties and instability, which the West has used as pretext and justification for the continued need for AFRICOM. Since its founding, coups carried out by AFRICOM-trained soldiers have also increased.

That is why the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) is organizing an International Month of Action Against AFRICOM in October. This is an effort to raise the public's awareness about how the presence of U.S. military forces exacerbates violence and instability throughout the continent.

Despite its rhetoric, the purpose of AFRICOM is to use U.S. military power to impose U.S. control on African land, resources and labor to service the needs of U.S. multinational corporations and the wealthy in the United States. It also serves as a major boon to “defense” contractors.

AFRICOM is a direct product of NATO via the U.S. European Command (EUCOM), which originally took responsibility for 42 African states. In 2003, NATO started expanding; four years later, in 2007, EUCOM commander James L. Jones, who was also NATO commander of operational forces, proposed the creation of AFRICOM.

NATO has become a huge global axle in the wheel of the military industrial complex, which includes more than 800 U.S. military bases around the world as well as  joint bases or relationships with almost all African countries. These are all controlled by the U.S. empire for realizing the U.S. policy of Full Spectrum Dominance, which is driven by the ferocious appetite of international finance  capital.

NATO continues today in the form of AFRICOM facilitating wars, instability and the corporate pillage of Africa. This hypocrisy explains why 17 African nations abstained from the March 2 United Nations resolution condemning Russia. One African state, Eritrea, even voted no. Their experiences with NATO and AFRICOM ensure skepticism of self-proclaimed noble motives.  

 

Motives such as bill H.R. 7311, the “Countering Malign Russian Activities in Africa Act',' a racist affront to African sovereignty designed to dictate what bi-lateral relations African states are permitted to have.

That is why we call on our friends and allies to endorse this month as an individual or organization. Beyond that, we are calling on you to participate each week using our calls to action, for which we have provided materials on our webpage. Each week’s call to action ranges from watching our kick-off webinar to organizing mass actions like banner drops, facilitating teach-ins using our materials and spreading the word using BAP’s custom graphics.

The Black Alliance for Peace calls for the dismantling of NATO, AFRICOM and all imperialist structures. Africa and the rest of the world cannot be free until all peoples are able to realize the right of sovereignty and the right to live free of domination.

We demand:

•     The complete withdrawal of U.S. forces from Africa;

•     The demilitarization of the African continent;

•     The closure of U.S. bases throughout the world; and

•     The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) oppose U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) and conduct hearings on AFRICOM’s impact on the African continent, with the full participation of members of U.S. and African civil society.

Link to online version: https://blackallianceforpeace.com/bapstatements/africommoa2022

Cindy Sheehan interviews Bruce Gagnon

 

For this edition of the Soapbox, Cindy interviews peace activist Bruce Gagnon about the worsening situation in Ukraine, and the upcoming annual Keep Space 4 Peace Week.

Listen to Cindy's podcast here  

Also see the recent testimony of a captured Ukrainian soldier at this link.

He was surprised how he was treated by the Russians after what his command had told them. 

Protests in Niger demand that French soldiers leave their country

A man holds a placard reading 'Clear off criminal French army' as people demonstrate against French military presence in Niger on September 18, 2022 in Niamey.  French forces first intervened in the Sahel's jihadist emergency in 2013, sending troops to support Malian forces fighting a regional insurgency. It widened the effort a year later with Operation Barkhane, eventually deploying some 5,100 troops, warplanes and drones in former colonies Chad, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania and Niger. (Photo by Boureima HAMA / AFP)

 

Sputnik

Thousands of French troops are being stationed in Africa's Sahel region on the pretext of fighting terrorism. However, over the past years, the French presence has become more and more unpopular among Africans.

On September 18, Nigeriens filled the streets of the country's capital city Niamey, protesting against French troops deployed in their country.

The protesters reportedly marched from Toumo Square to the National Assembly. They were organized by the M62 movement, a group of NGOs which reportedly describes itself as "peaceful" and committed to "the dignity and sovereignty of the Nigerien people."

Some of the protesters were carrying Russian flags, while others held banners saying “criminal French army - get out” and “The colonial army of Barkhane must go".

“There are anti-French slogans because we demand the immediate departure of the Barkhane force in Niger, which is alienating our sovereignty and which is destabilizing the Sahel“, Seydou Abdoulaye, the coordinator of the M62 Movement, told AFP.

For 10 years French troops have been located in Mali for the implementation of so-called Operation Barkhane, which is aimed, according to French officials, at fighting terrorism in the Sahel.

In August French troops left the country, wrapping up the withdrawal process they started in December 2021.

"This day at 1.00 p.m. (1300GMT), the last detachment of the Barkhane force present on Malian soil crossed the border between Mali and Niger," the French Ministry of the Armed Forces stated in a press release.

At the same time, the end of the operation in Mali was accompanied by Mali's accusation of France supporting terrorists inside the African country.

On August 15, Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop in a letter to the United Nations Security Council stated that the French had repeatedly invaded Malian airspace, using drones, Casa C-295 and Airbus A400M cargo aircraft, Mirage 2000 strike aircraft and Chinook transport helicopters.

"The government of Mali has several pieces of evidence that these flagrant violations of Malian airspace were used by France to collect intelligence for the benefit of terrorist groups operating in the Sahel and to drop arms and ammunition on them,” the letter says.

In recent months, several anti-French demonstrations have taken place in the Sahel.

On May 14, 2022, young natives of Mali demonstrated in support of their country's army whose leaders were said to be adopting a strategy that contradicted French interests.

The next day, students in Chad protested against the presence of French troops in the country, accusing French of stealing its natural resources, and reportedly chanting “Chad is Free and France is out.”

In November 2021 protestors in Burkina Faso and Niger blocked and stoned a large French military supply convoy travelling from Ivory Coast to Mali.

After pulling its last soldiers out of Mali, French Minister of the Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu said that despite the withdrawal of its forces from Mali, France's presence in the Sahel and "reinforced cooperation with the countries of the area, e.g., Niger" will continue.

In April, Nigerien MPs voted overwhelmingly in favor of a text authorizing the deployment of foreign forces on the territory, in particular French, to "fight terrorists."

Hassoumi Massoudou, Niger's Minister of Foreign Affairs, stated that his country wanted "an increase in the intervention of our partners," because "with the departure of French forces from northern Mali, we expect greater pressure from terrorists on our country."

On their part, Nigerien NGOs describe the presence of foreign soldiers as "occupying forces", "a threat to the country's sovereignty" and accused them of an "active support" for "jihadists who spread terrorism from Mali," AFP reports. 

Australian activists oppose war with China

 

Nick Deane (left) and Bevan Ramsden. Photo: Courtesy of Deane

 

AUKUS assists Washington, not Aussie defense: Australian peace activists

 

By Global Times 

Editor's Note:

A year on since AUKUS' announcement, concerns increasingly grow about nuclear proliferation. Voices both outside and inside Australia have expressed opposition. On the first anniversary of the establishment of AUKUS, Global Times (GT) reporter Xia Wenxin talked to Nick Deane and Bevan Ramsden, two peace activists from the Sydney Anti-AUKUS Coalition (SAAC), about their concerns, anti-AUKUS activities, and their plans.

GT: Can you give us a brief introduction of your organization? Who are the people involved?

Ramsden: The Sydney Anti-AUKUS Coalition is one of a number of anti-AUKUS groups around Australia, and the overall organization is the Australian Anti-AUKUS Coalition (AAAC). That is the overall body of which we are members. We're also members of the Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN), which is one of the leading organizations within that coalition.

Deane: There are mainly young people from one of the socialist groups, and then there are a few old people like myself. Dr. Hannah Middleton, a retired academic, is one of the main members. But we're just ordinary people who are concerned about AUKUS and not happy with the way it seems to be leading Australia.

GT: What anti-AUKUS activities have you been involved over the past year?

Ramsden: I think to get a picture of what's been happening over the last year, we have to mention that within a week or two of the AUKUS announcement, IPAN and the Australian Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition were able to organize a petition which over the last year has got about 26,600 signatures on it, and it will be presented to parliament on the anniversary - September 16.

That's a fairly big petition for Australia and quite one of the largest ones. But the opposition to AUKUS included trade unions and city councils like Wollongong and Newcastle, both of which opposed having a port developed for nuclear submarines. There's a lot of opposition there, from other trade unions include the Electrical Trades Union in Queensland, the Maritime Union of Australia, the New South Wales Teachers Federation, and so on. There are a very large number of organizations that formed this coalition in opposition to AUKUS's development.

Deane: One of the first things that IPAN did was organizing a Zoom meeting in October last year, and we were amazed because there were more than 100 people who tuned into that Zoom meeting straightaway.

The SAAC organized three AUKUS-specific demonstrations over the year: one on December 11, a student protest on March 16, and we picketed an armaments conference on May 10. We will have a fourth one coming up on the anniversary on Friday, September 16.

The SAAC also took part in the rallies on this year's May Day (May 1) and Hiroshima Day (August 6). It was also involved in an International Zoom Meeting on February 12 and organized a public forum in Sydney on June 15.

There've been articles written as well, quite a lot in the alternative press - not much in the mainstream press - but quite a bit in the alternative media, for example, the Pearls and Irritations.

GT: What are your concerns about AUKUS?

Deane: AUKUS involves the purchase or acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines. These don't really have any particular benefit for Australia in terms of Australian defense. They will only assist the US in its stance vis-à-vis China.

So we're very concerned that what it represents is a step - it's dragging Australia along another step toward being engaged in war with China. And that would be absolutely disastrous for Australia if that came about. And we don't understand why it is that Australia is taking this path. It doesn't make any sense.

What would be more sensible? We acknowledge the fact that China is a rising power; that's obvious. And we've got to learn to live with that and learn to live alongside China. Why it develops into a sort of antagonistic stance is very concerning. And we think that's not in Australia's best interests.

Ramsden: We should point out that a poll was recently conducted by the Lowy Institute about war with China. And actually, 51 percent of Australian people are opposed to Australia getting involved in such a war. And that is a strong base from which to agitate further and persuade our government to change its stance. We're not against having self-defense forces or arrangements, because every country that wants to safeguard its independence needs that. But these big nuclear subs, which are meant for long-distance, hunter-killer operations, are not suitable for the specific task of safeguarding our coastal waters. The smaller diesel-electric subs would, we believe, do a better job and would be more appropriate.

 

Deane: The other thing to mention here is that the AUKUS agreement isn't just about nuclear subs. There are all sorts of other aspects to it. We're seeing greater and greater, closer and closer cooperation between Australian and US defense forces. Recently, there was a military exercise going on in northern territory called "Pitch Black," and it's just indicative of the way that, over time, we seem to be getting drawn closer and closer into the US defense system.

That's very concerning as well. It indicates a loss of independence. There's someone saying that should it come to some sort of a conflict between the US and China sometime in the future, there's really no way that Australia could avoid it. And the previous defense minister said it would be inevitable that Australia would be involved. We want to take that inevitability out of the question.

Ramsden: Both Nick and I and the organization we work within - equally the IPAN - stand for an independent Australia, an independent foreign policy, in which Australia makes decisions in the best interests of its people and doesn't act subserviently to any big power, but plays its part as a responsible international citizen, helping to resolve conflicts peacefully and making its decisions in the best interests of its people.

Now, the problem with alliances is you get caught up in these sorts of conflicts. And IPAN wants to see Australia make a choice about taking an independent position in the world, standing on its own feet, and being a self-reliant country, but seeking peaceful and mutually beneficial relations with all countries. We should be friends of all and enemies of none.

GT: Compared to the Morrison administration, is there any difference in the current government's attitude and approach to promoting AUKUS?

Deane: I can't see any real difference between the two, quite honestly. Our current Minister of Defense, Richard Males, was the opposition spokesman for defense. He was very keen for Australia to join America in their freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea. And I think if anything, he'd be encouraging Australia to join those operations.

Ramsden: More recently in the US, Males was lecturing over there at some institutes. And he argued not for interoperability of Australian forces with the US but interchangeability with the US military. That means that you lose control of your own defense forces and get dragged into their wars. So we are very unhappy about that position. It's been obvious that the new prime minister and the new foreign affairs minister have gone around the Pacific and to other countries, trying to heal the divisions that were created by the previous government, and they're using more moderate language. But there's been no backing away from AUKUS at all. The defense minister has shown an interest in being even more closely associated with the US and its foreign policy. So that's not very encouraging for us at the moment.

Unfortunately, both major parties have been somewhat in lockstep with each other and with US foreign policy for several decades. That's something which we, as individuals and as part of our organization, are very much concerned about. I'm campaigning for an independent Australia, which is back to breaking that lockstep agreement with the US, and also seeking for one of the parties, the Labor Party hopefully, to change its stance. A lot of its members don't agree with their own leadership on this matter. But nevertheless, they are the dominant force, and unfortunately, they are in lockstep with the US and its foreign policy.

Deane: The AUKUS announcement came only a few months before the election, and I think Labor was sort of scared into supporting it for fear of appearing weak in connection with Australia's relationship with China. That's one of the fears, because there is, I think, within the Australian community, a sort of residual fear of China. Some people actually believe that China is a threat, but that's not a view that Bevan and I share.

Ramsden: That's something which was not so prevalent three or four decades ago, but the media has worked hard in echoing the more reactionary politicians and that influences the way people feel, of course.

GT: Some people think AUKUS has set a dangerous precedent. Do you agree with this?

Deane: AUKUS does set a precedent: If Australia can acquire nuclear-powered submarines, why shouldn't other countries? So it does raise questions about nuclear proliferation. And one of the groups that has been speaking out against AUKUS is the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons because they can see what it means. So there's quite a dangerous precedent in there.

And one of the things that we are seeing is a sort of resurgence of the people who would like to see Australia become a nuclear power - in terms of nuclear energy first, but then you're only a step away from talking about nuclear weapons. So the whole aspect of the nuclear question is very disturbing.

GT: What are your plans to oppose AUKUS in the next stage?

Ramsden: One of the activities that is currently going on and that has been organized by the AAAC is to place newspaper advertisements called "Public Calls for Peace," and this has involved some 600 organizations and individuals. We have raised the money for the advertisements. This advertisement is directed at the Australian government, and it's a very strong statement that these organizations and individuals are making to the new Australian government. It will be printed in The Australian newspaper and there will be a full-page advertisement in The Saturday Paper on September 17.

There are some plans for a big convergence against the Quad when they meet next February. There are definitely plans in hand for increasing the demonstrations, but we have to get deeper into the community. We have to have public meetings in town halls. We have to engage a wider section of the community. For people from that section that doesn't want war with China, we want them out on the streets with us. So the next activity is really to go deeper into the community, engage more people and involve them in the movement.  

EU freezes EUROS for Hungary

 

 

About frozen EU money and the Kállay double dance

 

By Hungarian Community for Peace

Both Brussels and Moscow pay special attention to the Viktor Orbán [Prime Minister elected five times] government's policy regarding the European Union and Russia. While Brussels wants to force Hungary to obey the Western alliance's policy against Russia, the Kremlin treats Hungary as an equal partner and respects its sovereignty, which it supports by meeting additional gas transportation needs.

Although Brussels publicly links the disbursement of the withheld 7.5 billion euros to the condition that our democratic institutions function as it expects, the invisible stake is significantly higher. The EU Commission wants the Hungarian government to abandon its policy of opening to the East and not to veto the sanctions related to Russian energy carriers, nor the so-called price cap. Brussels is being encouraged to do so by Washington, and Brussels is slavishly complying with it.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced on Monday that the case is being "closely monitored". Moscow's attitude towards us obviously depends on whether the Hungarian government has a hostile attitude towards Russia or, if not friendly, at least tries to show a neutral attitude in relation to the circumstances. "Everything depends on how these changes de facto develop," said the Russian spokesman.

While Brussels is trying to make Hungary choose between money or good relations with Russia, Moscow has not made the delivery of Russian gas and oil a political condition. It is proof that even though Hungary, as a member of the EU, is on the Russian list of countries that are unfriendly to Russia, the tap has not been turned off. It was not closed because we were not even willing to negotiate about the EU sanctions related to Russian gas and oil. True, we have to pay for gas in rubles. The Kremlin clearly sees what it means for such a small country to maneuver in the stormy sea of world politics, which is at the same time vulnerable to NATO and EU allies and to Russian gas. Moscow not only simply understands our country's commitment to the West, but also directly appreciates the government's policy of balance, referred to as the "Kállay double danse".

It was only ten days ago that Evgeny Stanislavov, the ambassador of the Russian Federation to Hungary, stated at a lecture-discussion held by the Hungarian Community for Peace: "Hungary takes a responsible position regarding the conflict in Ukraine, it understands the situation well, including the situation of the Transcarpathian Hungarians and other minorities, and does not add fuel to the fire”. And what is particularly important for us, he said that "Hungary's energy security is guaranteed under the current circumstances."

However, the "current circumstances" may change, depending on where the Orbán government is going. Will he choose money or good relations with Russia? He obviously wants both, the question is whether there is a way to do it. If he makes concessions for EU money that harm Russia, we may face problems similar to those in Western Europe. Maybe even bigger than those, since our dependence on Russian gas is much greater than theirs: 80 percent.

The lesson is given. It is open question whether it is possible to answer it with the "Kállay double danse".  

~ For more on this story watch this video

GN Co-Sponsoring India law school space conference

 

 

The main objective of this Conference is to utilise this platform to discuss the contemporary issues and challenges in outer space pertinent to warfare with an analysis based on legal, political, economic as well as the scientific aspect in order to ensure peace and security in the international sphere.

Taking note of the existing warfare in various parts of the world, ICFAI is bringing together researchers, students, academicians, lawyers and professionals from the various legal and scientific fields to share their expertise, experience and wisdom, enabling them to provide insights in their respective fields yielding maximum discussion of conference topic under both legal and technical fronts. We are looking forward to maximum participation, thorough research and a refined writeup. After thorough review, the best articles will be out for publication as a book with ISBN reference.

GN speakers to include Dave Webb, Kate Kheel and Bruce Gagnon

 

Program 

WARS AND TECHNOLOGY:

1. WARFARE IN THE PAST THREE DECADES

2. ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY IN WARFARE

3. JURISDICTION IN OUTER SPACE DURING WARS

4. SUSTAINABLE USE OF TECHNOLOGY: LEGAL CHALLENGES TO PEACEFUL USE FOR THE BETTERMENT OF HUMANKIND

WARS AND CYBERSPACE:

1. FUTURE OF THE CYBER TECHNOLOGY

2. JURISDICTION IN THE CYBERSPACE

3. THREATS TO SOVEREIGNTY OF A STATE BECAUSE OF THE CYBERSPACE

4. SUSTAINABLE USE OF CYBER ECOSYSTEM

WARS AND SATELLITES:

1. SATELLITES AND INTER-STATE WARS

2. MILITARIZATION OF SATELLITES

3. PRIVATIZATION OF SATELLITES

4. SATELLITES AND INFRINGEMENT OF PRIVACY

WARS AND OUTER SPACE TECHNOLOGY:

1. RACE TO EXPLORE AND CONQUER IN OUTER SPACE

2. COMMERCIALISATION OF OUTER SPACE AND ITS IMPACT ON WARFARE

3. JURISDICTION IN OUTER SPACE DURING TIMES OF WAR

4. INVESTMENTS FOR DEVELOPMENT OF OUTER SPACE TECHNOLOGY BY DEVELOPED COUNTRIES

 

For more info click here

Spreading the 'non-existent' Ukraine Nazi message

 

 

A refugee from Ukraine is surprised that the security of a shopping center in the UK is forcing him to remove the swastika he just painted on the floor.

Sovereignty is sacred

 

 

I get deeply saddened to hear people in the 'liberal west' lecture others around the world (particularly in the Global South) about how they should think, live, and govern themselves.

I find this to be the height of arrogance - maybe at times unintended by some - but still reflecting the western ingrained way of thinking and living. Control of the planet by domination - militarily, institutionally, and intellectually.

When I think of nations like China, Iran, India, African continent, Russia, Mexico and many, many more what comes to mind is long history, extraordinary cultural experiences and real struggle to survive. Most of these nations have suffered colonization, slavery, and stealing of their natural and human resources at the hands of the 'enlightened' west.

I do believe in democracy (as defined by the people living in a particular country, not the west) and I believe in national sovereignty. People must be allowed the pure right to decide their own collective fates without interference from the globalist corporate neo-cons.

Simple as that.

We all have so much to learn from one another - a little love and humility can go a long way.

Bruce 

Sunday song