Trump in Beijing - A Subtle Confrontation

UPDATE on May 16/17

Latest Development on May 17: Prof. Zhang Weiwei, a known Chinese expert on politics, says No More Rare Earth Metals for the U S Military. This will effectively slow weapons production for US & Israel. Editor's Comment: The so-called Rare Earth elements or Lanthanides are not as rare as their name might imply. They can be classified as Light Rare Earth elements (Lanthanum La, Cerium Ce, Praseodymium Pr, Neodymium Nd, Promethium Pm, Samarium Sm, Europium Eu) and Heavy Rare Earth elements (Gadolinium Gd, Terbium Tb, Dysprosium Dy, Holmium Ho, Erbium Er, Thulium Tm, Ytterbium Yb, Lutetium Lu). Because of their similarity, two other elements are usually added to these Lanthanide elements (Scandium Sc, Yttrium Y). For some special reason, it is their physical similarity that makes it difficult to separate and enrich them by chemical means. As a result, their individual properties are impossible to determine and apply in a specimen, usually containing all of them in a different content. Years ago, I had to analyze a specimen that contained all light rare earth elements at once, even the slightly radioactive Europium. They could be localized in small oxide particles embedded in a steel matrix. It can therefore be assumed that these particles served some metallurgical purpose. As a consequence, the real problem is not exploration and mining of rare earth minerals, but rather their separation and individual refinement in a complicated process that needs to be developed. In that field China has taken the lead. Information that US company Critical Metals recently secured control of one of the largest heavy rare earth deposits on earth in Greenland should therefore be seen as well from another point of view.

US president Trump received at the airport by an employee of the Chinese President's office.

US-CHINA: THE SUMMIT OF TECHNOFEUDALISM

1/ The CEOs who traveled with Trump to China aren't his entourage; they are the Board of Directors of the new economic system dominated by the big tech corporations. Those that Varoufakis defined, warning us, as "Technofeudalists":

2/ When BlackRock, Apple, Nvidia, Goldman Sachs, and Tesla sit at a table with Xi Jinping, it's not about diplomacy—it's the 'board' of a nation whose president is merely the elected manager. A nation whose leadership no longer follows the outdated logics of democracy.

3/ This visit has ended the democratic illusion and the rhetoric of separation between State and Market. Foreign policy, as can be seen, is technological and isn't being decided in the State Department, but in the offices of those who manage the world's GDP.

[Quotations from the X-account of Adrián Ramírez, a journalist based in Buenos Aires and Madrid]

Trump in Beijing posing for the US Midterm Elections

Results of the Meeting:

The visit ends and the real inspection begins.

Trump has now left China, but the impact of the visit is just beginning to show.

If summed up in one sentence, the outcome of the visit was: Politically, the tone has been redefined, mechanisms have been set up on economic and trade, and communication has been resumed on security, but the agreement in substance remains to be seen.

This is not a summit to completely resolve the structural contradictions between China and the United States, nor is it a visit to publish a large-scale agreement package. It's more like a stability summit: Both sides realize that Sino-US relations cannot continue to be pushed out of control by the tariff war, the Taiwan issue, the technological blockade and the international crisis, so communication channels and negotiation frameworks need to be reset.

[Chinese Radio Seattle, US based station on May 15, 2026]



Deutsche Welle, German state TV discussing results of the US-China summit. President Xi invites Trump into the garden of his residency in Zhongnanhai, showing him trees that had already been growing for hundreds of years, at the time the United States of America were founded 250 years ago. On Trump's request, if there were regular diplomatic receptions in this hermetically sealed garden, Xi denied, then adding that only Putin had once been here.

Further News from Germany

● This week, national German media came with the news that Germany's Federal Agency for the Protection of the Constitution (BVS), the country's Secret Service for the Interior, decided to buy their new software system for screening terrorist elements and related dangers from another European partner in France. The US alternative Palantir was rejected.

In the decision against Palantir, promoted by US billionaire Peter Thiel, it should have played a key role that Thiel is known to be a prominent supporter of Donald Trump's MAGA movement. The Agency immediately played down such allegations, saying that they are continuously searching for reliable software in every direction, but the fact remains on the agenda.

● At a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg on May 12, Spain and Ireland renewed demands to halt the EU-Israel Association Agreement — the framework governing political dialogue and trade ties between the two sides since June 2000.

But the proposal ran into immediate resistance from Germany and Italy.

● In Germany, an increasing movement is opposing the suffocating need to avoid certain items in public discussion like the German-Israeli relations, at a time when Israeli shelling and the expulsion of Arab inhabitants from Ghaza and southern Lebanon is confirming the suspicion of Israel's genocidal intentions. [Public opinion polls]

Such German fears are partly related to a law, established only some years ago, where any kind of so-called “antisemitism“ is being accused. The law is an elaborated juridical construction, ready to be used against anybody who dares to utter more than a tiny word against Israel and the Jews. What is even more remarkable is the fact that a German minister (=> Greens party) from the lately outvoted coalition government publicly declared that Jewish rights in Israel and their protection by German authorities are obligatory for every German citizen and have to be seen as a “Reason of State“.

The official German position in daily politics is, therefore, still referring to the extermination of Jews under Nazi rule in the "holocaust", now 80 years ago.

Middle Eastern History - The Sassanid Empire

Update on May 13

=> History PDF - Thousand and One Nights (5 pages / 1.5 MB) <=
By the way, if you check the above map, you'll find out
that Iraq and the United Arab Emirates once belonged
to the Sassanid Empire

Middle East - Chinese Discovered New Oil Field

Update added on May 8

Further Regional News:

Trump's "Project Freedom" collapsed after Saudi Arabia and Kuwait suspended US military access to their bases, airspace and overflight rights, as has been reported by NBC News & other sources.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman blocked the US from flying aircraft out of Prince Sultan Airbase, such completely grounding the operation and removing the air defense umbrella protecting ships in transit.

Bin Salman reportedly was "furious" after Trump announced Project Freedom on Truth Social without notifying him. Same goes with Qatar and Oman.

Economic Background:

根据彭博社报道，沙特公共投资基金已开始在上海运营一个新办公室，这是其深化与中国投资关系举措的一部分。

更广阔的图景：中国是沙特石油的最进口国。 两国关系正逐步从“仅能源”转向： 投资 、 工业 、 技术 、 融资等。

According to Bloomberg, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund has begun operating a new office in Shanghai as part of its initiative to deepen investment ties with China.

The Broader Picture: China is the largest importer of Saudi oil. The relationship between the two nations is gradually shifting beyond a "purely energy" focus to encompass investment, industry, technology, finance, and other sectors.

[باب المعرفة - أدرك, an Arabic news provider, published this message
on May 6; the Chinese shortcut was provided by 'Ulysses' on May 8.]


According to Washington Post on May 7, the US Court of International Trade in NY dealt a blow to the 10 percent global import tax imposed by US president Trump after losing on tariffs at the Supreme Court.

The U.S. Court of International Trade (pictured) ruled today, by a vote of 2 to 1, that the global 10% tariffs implemented by President Trump lacked a legal basis, finding that the 1970s-era statute he cited was insufficient to support the measure. The court ordered the defendants to comply with the judgment within five days and mandated the refund of tariffs already paid by the plaintiff importers. [Chinese professional on X, May 8]

War on Iran - US Losses & Costs of War

Latest First:
US navy has stopped "Operation Freedom"
in a volatile situation after only one day ...
Rubio says "to give negotiations a chance".

I happened to watch the quoted documentation broadcast by CNN and remember the pictures ...

A Central Asian news center quoted US media on "plannings to deliver a final blow on Iran".

US-Iranian Negotiations - Trust is Everything

Updated until 1st May

The above photo is referring to an earlier visit of US Vice-President J.D. Vance
in Pakistan. It has been published on April 14, 2026, and seems to be genuine
because neither evidence of AI generation nor photoshop manipulation could
be detected.

... especially when it comes to using weapons inside USA

What we hear from the shooting at a press gala held at Washington Hilton:

A law enforcement official identified the suspect as Cole Tomas Allen, a Los Angeles-area resident about 31 years of age. City officials said the suspect, who will be arraigned in court on Monday on firearm and assault charges, appeared to have been a guest at the hotel. He was armed with a shotgun, handgun and knives.

Little was immediately known about Allen's background, but social media postings suggested he was a teacher in Torrance, California, near Los Angeles.

He was taken to a local hospital to be evaluated but it was too soon to say what his motivation was, Washington interim Police Chief Jeffery Carroll said. Based on preliminary ⁠information, he was believed to have been a guest at the hotel, Carroll added.

This was the 3rd shooting in the environment of US president Trump that made it into media reports. First was the iconic ear shot. Next came a shooting at Trump's resort of Mar El Largo. And now it's the shooting at a Washington press gala.

Portrait of an Enemy of State A profile of the shooting suspect soon emerged in social media posts and showing him as a highly educated tutor and amateur video game developer. A May 2025 profile photo of Allen appears to match the appearance of the man in a photo of the alleged attacker being taken into custody and which was posted by Trump Saturday night. The photo, posted to the social networking site LinkedIn, shows him in a cap and gown after graduating with a master’s degree in computer science from California State University, Dominguez Hills. Allen earned a bachelor’s degree in 2017 in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. He listed his involvement there in a Christian student fellowship and a campus group that battled with Nerf guns. A local ABC station in Los Angeles included an interview with Allen during his senior year of college as part of a story about new technologies to help people as they age. He had developed a prototype for a new type of emergency brake for wheelchairs. Allen contributed $25 to a Democratic Party political action committee in support of Kamala Harris for president in 2024, according to federal campaign finance records. Cole Allen's full manifesto is available on the following X-account @MarioNawfal (... and which is not connected with my own blog). The whole story bears some resemblance with another historic assassination atttempt. On 8 November 1939, the carpenter Johann Georg Elser installed a time bomb in Munich's Bürgerbräukeller with the intention to assassinate Adolf Hitler. The attack failed and Elser was arrested. Shortly before the end of fascist rule in 1945, he was killed in Dachau Concentration Camp. German artist Silke Wagner created a memorial for him, consisting of neon tubes that are automatically glowing at night, such reminding the exact time of explosion. By X - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10392956 In a TV movie, showing Elser's final interrogation by some police agent who questioned his motives for the bombing, he was quoted as saying: "Finally, somebody had to do it."

.....................................

Strait of Malacca - No Intention for Maritime Traffic Tolls

Indonesian Finance Minister wanted to charge for
Strait of Malacca & all three countries responded

According to a report by the Global Times, citing Reuters on the 24th, Indonesian Finance Minister Purbaya Yudi Sadeva said that day that Indonesia had no intention of charging tolls for ships passing through the Strait of Malacca.

Sadeva pointed out at the time that if similar measures are taken in the Strait of Malacca, considerable economic benefits may be brought, but only if Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore advance together.“ If the three parties jointly distribute the proceeds, the scale may be considerable.”

However, he immediately adjusted his stance that night, emphasizing that Indonesia would not charge ships passing through the Strait of Malacca. Indonesian Foreign Minister Sujyono also stated on the 23rd that Indonesia has no intention of imposing relevant fees and emphasized that the relevant policies must be in line with the international law of the sea framework.

As Malaysia and Singapore already declared their rejection of maritime traffic tolls, it is now clear that all ship traffic passing the Strait of Malacca remains uncharged.

[Chinese source quoting another: Global Times on April 25]

... while US Blockade is Going Global

After US Hormuz Blockade ..... US Trying to Survey Strait of Malacca

Last Update: April 23

After US closure of Hormuz Strait, there is new intelligence about the US trying to suffocate, as well, Iranian oil deliveries to South-East Asia passing through the Strait of Malacca.

The following information came from a regional media source in the Chinese language on April 17, 2026. First rumours reached me some days earlier via a US based X-account I already knew and which suddenly threatened to punish my own X entry with immediate deletion.

(Jakarta Comprehensive News) Iran and the United States have launched a blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, making the Strait of Malacca, the most critical maritime throat in Southeast Asia, the focus of attention. All parties are once again worried about the fragility of Asia, the lifeblood of energy and trade. uneasy.

The Strait of Malacca is about 900 km long, with Indonesia's Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore on both sides, and is only 2.7 km at its narrowest point, less than one-tenth of the narrowest point in the Strait of Hormuz; however, this waterway carries about 40% of the world's trade transport and is the main channel for Middle Eastern crude oil to Asian economic engines such as China, Japan and South Korea.

The U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet has long patrolled the Strait of Malacca, and for a long time in the eyes of the Chinese leadership, once war begins, this strategic channel will be a weak link. This so-called “ Malacca dilemma ” was often mentioned during Hu Jintao's tenure as Chinese President in the 2000s.

At a time when Iran and the United States are in a stalemate over the blockade and anti-blockade operations in the Strait of Hormuz, Western media reported that the Strait of Malacca and surrounding waters have become an important area for Iran's ghost fleet to transfer oil to other ships, as a cover-up Tehran sells oil to Asian countries, especially China.

..........

In addition, tensions within the South-East Asian Zone have emerged during the weeks when the Strait of Hormuz was blocked. Singapore opposed negotiations with Iran on payment of tolls for the Strait of Hormuz; Malaysia defended its related contacts with Iran. Some officials also expressed dissatisfaction with Singapore's Foreign Minister Balakrishnan's statement that traffic in the Strait of Hormuz is a transit right expressly granted by international law.

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto took Indonesia's proximity to the Strait of Malacca as a geopolitical advantage and wanted to deepen military cooperation with the United States. The Indonesian Defense Ministry confirmed last week that it was considering the Trump administration's proposal to allow U.S. military aircraft to fly over Indonesian airspace; the matter was hotly debated within the Indonesian military and government.

..........

The Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs later stated that the proposal to fly over Indonesian airspace was still under consideration and that there was no policy to allow any foreign party to use Indonesian airspace without restrictions.

Spain & EU - No Association Agreement with Israel

Last Update on April 25, quoting
a dwindling US support for Israel.

The time has come for the EU to break its Association Agreement with Israel.

We have nothing against the people of Israel; quite the contrary. But a Government that violates international law and, therefore, the principles and values of the EU cannot be our partner.

NO TO WAR.

Sánchez calls for termination of the EU Association Agreement with Israel

Spain's Prime Minister accuses Israel of violating international law. He argues the country should not be an EU partner. Ireland and Slovenia also intend to review the Association Agreement.

... while US Popular Support is Dwindling As Well

Even US Republicans are now increasingly refraining from support for Israel, as we learn from US broadcaster CNN. Here some clarification for non-US readers: The US Republican Party is sometimes referred to as GOP or "Grand Old Party" because it was founded before the US Democratic Party.