US Tariffs - China Strikes Back

Last Update: March 25, 2018

It didn't take long for the Chinese government to respond to protective tariffs US president Trump imposed on China. The Economic Survey Network 经济观察网 and which is related to the Beijing University of Technology 北京理工大学 wrote:




中国开始反击！中美贸易战爆发，全球化的冬天正在来临？

China Starts Striking Back !
Outburst of a Sino-US War of Trade.
The Winter of Globalization already in Progress ?

几个小时后，中国开始了反击。上午7点，中国商务部发布了针对 美国进口钢铁和铝产品232措施的中止减让产品清单并征求公众意见， 拟对自美进口部分产品加征关税，以平衡因美国对进口钢铁和铝产品 加征关税给中方利益造成的损失。该清单暂定包含7类、128个税项产品， 按2017年统计，涉及美对华约30亿美元出口。

Some hours later, China started striking back. At 7 o'clock in the morning China's trade ministry announced to target US import of steel and aluminium products by using 232 steps to suspend and reduce [the availability of] products [specially] requested by public opinion and contained on a detailed list that was drafted because of raised tariffs on part of products imported by the US. Balanced Chinese benefits would [otherwise] suffer from losses due to the raised US tariffs on steel and aluminium products. The [Chinese] list would temporarily contain 7 sorts of and 128 [single] taxed products. According to 2017 statistics, US exports to China make up for about 300 million US$.

[Economic Survey Network 经济观察网, Beijing, on March 23, 2018]




The above list is comprising 120 US products for which protective tariffs of 15% have been
fixed by China's ministry of trade. These products comprise fresh and dried fruit products
as well as wine among other goods. The overall value of such goods imported by China
makes up for some 9.77 million US$.

Another group of US products, including pork meat and recovered aluminium products, are
subject to a different tariff of 25%. The total volume of trade for these products makes up
for some 19.92 million US$.

[Chinanews Network 中国新闻网 on March 23, 2018]




贸易战不打了！中国经济沙皇与美国财长同意谈判和解收场

A war of trade doesn't really hit !
China's economy "tsars" and America's [wealthy tycoons] agree to talks and a to [untie the knots].

This brandnew video from a Hong Kong source is partly using cartoons to explain the disadvantages of a war of trade. It was published on March 24, 2018.

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Visitor to "blueprint news" coming from Hanoi, Vietnam.

N Korea - Chinese Wishful Thinking ?

Yesterday, March 13, and on the occasion of his visit to Miramar naval base in S. California, US president Donald Trump expressed his hopes for an "outstanding" development in the North Korean issue. This refers to an eventual meeting between Trump and the N Korean leader Kim Jong-un before May 2018.

It was the same day, Trump fired his foreign secretary, the rather moderate Rex Tillerson, and replaced him with CIA director Mike Pompeo, a notorious falcon when it comes to respond to North Korean aggression.

The Chinese source "China News Network", however, doesn't refer to such latest news from the White House and is quoting instead Trump's comment on the planned meeting with Kim, even one day after the US president made his widely unexpected move.




特朗普称5月前与金正恩会面

Trump says he will meet with Kim Jong-un before May.

特朗普：朝鲜半岛问题有望产生“非常积极”的结果

Trump: The Korean peninsula issue will
hopefully deliver an "outstanding" result.

[China News Network 中国新闻网 on March 14, 2018]

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US visitor to "blueprint news" reminding the end of World War II.




My newsblog, including the experimental Chinese language site, is being screened
by some Chinese visitor(s) on a daily basis. Any direct identification of Chinese
visitors, however, remains a rare event, even though different points of access to
the internet could be detected in different parts of China in the past.

Iran - Israel Preparing for War

Since tensions between Israel and Iran began to rise over the military presence of Iran and its regional ally Hezbollah in Syria, a war between both adversaries has become increasingly realistic.



Photo above: Israeli air force helicopter

صحيفة: ضربات أمريكية إسرائيلية محتملة في سوريا

Newspaper: Joint US-Israeli strikes possible in Syria.

قالت صحيفة كويتية إن سوريا باتت في مرمى ضربات أمريكية وإسرائيلية وشيكة، ونقلت عن مصادرها أن رئيس الوزراء الإسرائيلي بنيامين نتنياهو ناقش مع الرئيس دونالد ترامب خلال لقائهما منذ أيام في واشنطن، خطة إسرائيلية موسعة.ـ

A Kuwaiti newspaper said that Syria is now a target of imminent US-Israeli strikes and that its sources reported that Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had discussed extended Israeli plannings with president Donald Trump during their meeting in Washington some days ago.

[Sputnik - Arabic News quoting the Kuwaiti newspaper الجريدة on March 10, 2018]




Sputnik on March 6, 2018: Israel notifies the US that it prepares for military activities.




كاتب إسرائيلي: حرب مع إيران قد لا تتعارض مع مصالح روسيا

Israeli journalist: A war with Iran might not be in conflict with Russian interests.

[Arabi 21 quoting the Israeli newspaper Maariv on March 11, 2018]




Algérie Patriotique, Algier, on February 20, 2018:
Israel's army is preparing for a long-standing war with Iran in 2018.

This article is referring to an interview which Israel's chief of operations Tsahal,
general Nitzan Alon (photo above), granted to the pro-Israeli website i24 News.

Iran Preparing Showdown with Israel ?

Last Update: March 5, 2018

Iran Storing Rockets in the Neighbourhood of Israel

A brandnew military facility allegedly stuffed with short- and medium-range rockets in the outskirts of Damascus could trigger off a dogfight between Israel and Iran in Syria. The notorious US channel Fox News seems to be at the source of these news. Here are some repercussions from Arabic language news centers:




إيران تخزّن صواريخ في سوريا لضرب كلّ الأراضي الإسرائيلية

Iran stores rockets in Syria to hit all of Israel.

[euronews, Lyon/France, on 1st March 2018]




قاعدة إيرانية جديدة في سوريا: تمهيد لضربة إسرائيلية؟

New Iranian base in Syria: Prelude of an Israeli attack ?

[Al-Modon المدن, Beirut/Lebanon, on 1st March 2018]




Above photo: Iranian soldiers mourning their commander who lost his life in Syria.

إسرائيل تحذّر إيران في سوريا ... قاعدتكم الجديدة ستختفي قريباً

Israel warning Iran in Syria ... Your new base will soon disappear !

[Al-Qurtas القرطاس, Baghdad/Iraq, on March 2, 2018]




Above photo: Palestinian citizens being dragged away by Israeli Police.

ـ«يوراسيا ريفيو»: الحرب بين إيران و«إسرائيل» أوشكت على البدء

"Eurasia Review": The war between Iran and "Israel" is about to begin.

[RASSD News شبكة رصد الاخبارية is a Cairo based news service popular in different Arab countries; article published on March 4, 2018]


Read here opinion from Israel In Syria Force Will Prevail, an article published by Haaretz on March 5, 2018.

N Koreans Abroad - A Secret Army ?

美媒：金正恩派2000名間諜到美國 預謀破壞

US media: Kim Jong-un sent 2.000 spies to America - Premeditated Destruction

儘管美國政府的報告顯示，自2006年開始給予脫北者難民身分起， 迄今只有不到200名朝鮮人進入美國， 但成立教會組織協助脫北者出逃的韓國基督教牧師千基元（Chun Ki-Won）表示， 實際的人數比這個多很多。

A US government report is stating that since help started in 2006 for those who escaped from the North with a refugee status, so far only up to 200 North Koreans have entered the USA.

Chun Ki-won, however, a South Korean Christian minister from the establishment of church organizations assisting defectors from the North, showed that realistic numbers of people are much higher than this.

千基元說：「有數千名朝鮮難民湧入美國。官方數字是200人，但實際數字比較接近2,000人， 他們都是非法移民。政府不知道他們是誰，或他們在哪裡。」

Chun Ki-won said: " There are several thousand North Korean refugees emerging into the USA. The official number is 200, but a realistic number is rather near to 2.000 people. They are all illegal immigrants. The government neither knows who they are nor where they are. "

他還說，在過去18年來，他救了1,100名脫北者，並把他們安置在歐洲、亞洲和美國。 以美國而言，脫北者群居在華盛頓特區、芝加哥、紐約和洛杉磯。

He added that in the past 18 years he helped 1.100 people to escape from the North and to settle in Europe, Asia and America. In the case of America the refugee group from the North is living in Washington DC, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles.

在2016年投奔韓國的前朝鮮駐英國大使館公使太永浩（Thae Yong Ho）曾警告各國領導人說， 要提防鋌而走險的金正恩發動攻擊。

In 2016, Thae Yong-ho, a former counsellor at the North Korean embassy in Britain, defected to South Korea, [on that occasion] warning national leaders: Beware of a desperate attack launched by Kim Jong-un.

太永浩在2017年接受美國國家廣播公司（NBC）採訪時說， 如果金正恩擁有核武和洲際彈道導彈，他什麼事都做得出來。

In an interview granted to the US national broadcaster NBC in 2017, Thae Yong-ho said: If Kim Jong-un is in the possession of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles, [he can do whatever he wants].

他說：「金正恩是個可以做出任何超越正常想像的事的人。 …………

He said: Kim Jong-un is somebody who could do anything beyond the imagination of normal people.

[Epoch Times 大纪元, Chinese anti-communist daily on 2nd March 2018]

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美国总统特朗普2月23日宣布史上最大规模的朝鲜制裁案名单，包括27家货运和贸易公司、33艘船只，以及台湾商人张永源。美国日前将这份名单提交给联合国安理会，但却遭中国成功挡下。

On February 23, US president Trump announced the largest list of sanctions in history against North Korea and which included 27 shipping and trading companies, 33 vessels, as well as Taiwan businessman Tsang Yung Yuan. The US submitted that list to the UN Security Council, but met with China successfully blocking the approach.

[Editor's note: This might not be meant as a final rebuke from China but could be interpreted, as well, in a way that China needs more time to investigate in the matter using own intelligence.]

[早报, Singapore, on March 3, 2018]

N Korean Leaders Using Fake Identities

[香港01, Hong Kong, on February 28, 2018]


Related information from BBC News was published two days later on 1st March 2018:

[ North Korea and the Brazil passports: Why were they used by the Kims? ]

Munich Conference - Iranian Reply to Israel

In the frame of growing tensions between Israel and Iran emerging at the Munich Security Conference, Iran now hinted at the possibility that even "invincible" Israel could end up receiving a bloody nose.

It should be noted that Israel's air force made incursions into Syria in 2007 when Israeli fighters destroyed a Syrian nuclear facility and has regularly targeted the neighbouring country since the beginning of the civil war seven years ago. In these missions Israel officially never lost a single plane.

This time, however, the first direct attack on alleged Iranian positions in Syria delivered a different result. The attack of eight Israeli fighters was triggered off by an Iranian drone entering Israeli airspace and which could be seen as a calculated Iranian provocation to put Israel to the test. During the proceedings of an Israeli operation of revenge one of their fighter jets was downed.


وزير خارجية إيران: انهيار"أسطورة (إسرائيل) التي لا تقهر"ـ

Iran's foreign minister: Debacle for "invincible Israel"

قال وزير الخارجية الإيراني محمد جواد ظريف يوم الأحد إن إسقاط طائرة إسرائيلية مقاتلة بعد قصفها موقعا إيرانيا في سوريا حطم ما يقال عن أن إسرائيل "لا تقهر" وذلك في رد على كلمة ألقاها رئيس الوزراء الإسرائيلي بنيامين نتنياهو في مؤتمر ميونيخ للأمن في وقت سابق يوم الأحد.ـ

On Sunday [Feb. 18] the Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that the downing of an Israeli war plane after its shelling of Iranian positions in Syria has demolished what is being said about "invincible" Israel and that is what he replied to the brilliant speech of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier held at the Munich Security Conference on Sunday.

[Source: Swissinfo SWI, Arabic language service, quoting Reuters on February 19, 2018]

US and China - A Strategic Competition

美专家：美国正在输掉与中国的战略竞争

US experts: America is losing in strategic competition with China.

华盛顿 — 美国国会众议院军事委员会星期四就美国与中国的战略竞争举行了听证会。 美国的中国问题专家在听证会上表示，美国过去25年的对华策略失败了， 美国正在输掉与中国的战略竞争。不过他们认为，美国仍然能够阻遏中国的势头， 防止中国主导的非自由秩序在亚洲以及世界其他地方发展壮大。

On Thursday, the military committee for the House of Representatives within US Congress held an informative meeting regarding US-Chinese strategic competitiveness. On that meeting US experts of the Chinese subject demonstrated that America has lost against Chinese tactics during the last 25 years and is losing against China's strategic competition. They are considering that America is still able to counter China's impetus and prevent China's non-liberal style domination of the expanding development in Asia and other places in the world.

[Source: Voice of America VOA, Chinese Service on February 16, 2018]




哈里斯：中国军事高速发展对美国形成挑战

Harris: China's military is developing at high speed
and is forming a challenge for the US.

This is referring to Admiral Harris, up to now commander of the US Pacific Command 美军太平洋司令部司令哈里斯海军上将

值得注意的是，哈里斯上将刚刚被川普政府提名为驻澳大利亚大使的哈里斯， 而中国一直将哈里斯认为是鹰派将领，对特朗普提名他出任澳大利亚大师非常不高兴， 官媒新华社的文章直言说：“哈里斯担任太平洋司令部司令期间， 他的种种言行让太平洋很'不太平'”。

What deserves to be noticed is: Admiral Harris has just been nominated by the Trump administration as an ambassador to Australia. Admiral Harris, however, is being considered by China as a military leader belonging to the 'falcon faction' and whose mission as an ambassador to Australia by appoinment of Trump is not making China happy. An article from the official agency Xin Hua stated outright: " At the time when Harris held the post of a commander of the Pacific Command, his statements and actions made the Pacific Ocean rather 'less pacific' ".

[Source: Radio France International RTI, Chinese Service on February 15, 2018]

Russian Mercenaries in Syria

Today, different US media reported on Russian mercenaries being killed in US air strikes in Syria while fighting side by side with Syrian government-backed troops. Official Russian sources are downplaying such reports. A private Russian military agency named Wagner is allegedly behind the recruiting and deployment of Russian ex-soldiers. Sources are indicating that a former Russian special-forces officer, Dmitry Utkin, is acting on behalf of Wagner, his group numbering as many as 2,500 men. That group is believed to have figured heavily in operations around Palmyra in 2016, serving as “shock troops” alongside the Syrian army, says Mark Galeotti, an expert on Russian security at the Institute of International Relations in Prague. Though the Russian army has not acknowledged Wagner’s existence, Mr Utkin was photographed late last year alongside President Vladimir Putin at a Kremlin reception for military officers in honour of Day of Heroes of the Fatherland.

[Sources: BBC, today two hours ago, and The Economist on November 2nd, 2017]




外媒称数十万俄罗斯雇佣兵遍布全球：广泛参与叙战事

Foreign media are saying that 100.000 Russian mercenaries are
spread all over the world: Broad participation in the Syrian War.

[Source: SINA / XinHua 新华社 on January 31, 2018]




خبير روسي يوضح مصير الاتفاقات المبرمة بين موسكو و واشنطن بشأن سوريا

Russian expert explicates the fate of agreements
between Moscow and Washington related to Syria.

The article is referring to Vitaly Naumkin, director of the Institute of Orientalistic in the Russian Aceademy of Science and the United Nations special envoy for Syria. Vitaly Naumkin is considering all US-Russian agreements on Syria as being intact. "Citizens with Russian passports within the Syrian Army" should therefore not be overestimated, especially because these people are definitely breaking Russian law when joining the Syrian army as well-paid mercenaries.

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Visitor from Singapore interested in Islamic State propaganda.

Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang

Rare encounter in times of conflict !

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The possibility of a U.S. military strike against North Korea has dominated the news in the United States and South Korea and for a good reason. The Trump administration now appears to be downplaying the idea that it is considering a military strike to prevent Pyongyang from crossing the ICBM threshold. But it’s hard to ignore the consistent signals that senior officials had been sending over the past several months.

National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and others have been talking about a “preventive war,” saying we are “running out of time” to solve the North Korea problem, and that North Korea has brought the world “closer to war.” President Trump, for his part, has warned that the U.S. military is “locked and loaded” and threatened to “totally destroy” North Korea.

Recently the administration withdrew Victor Cha’s nomination to be ambassador to South Korea, reportedly because of his objection to a “bloody nose” strike. Despite appearances at the Olympics, we are now closer to a war on the Korean Peninsula than at any time since 1994, when the Clinton administration considered a military strike to destroy North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear complex.

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Excerpt from an article published by authors near to the The Brookings Institution in the US daily USA Today on February 9, 2018. The Brookings Institution is a think tank located in Washington DC and which is usually considered as a rather conservative and liberal organization.

North Korea Cheating on China ?

Important Update added on February 7 !



朝鲜造假文件向中国运输煤炭获利？ 中方回应

Is North Korea making Profit from Faked Documents
on Coal Transport to China ? China's Response.

问：据悉，联合国负责朝鲜制裁问题的独立调查员在一份报告中称， 朝鲜去年通过出口违禁商品获得2亿美元收入，其中包括通过造假文件向中国运输煤炭， 向叙利亚和缅甸出口武器等。中方是否看到了这份报告？对该报告的有关内容有何评论？

Question: It is said that an independent investigator for the United Nations and who is in charge of the subject of North Korea sanctions, stated in a report: Last year, North Korea gained a 200 million US$ income from undergoing export of sanctioned merchandise, thereby including the falsification of documents for the transport of coal to China and the export of weapons to Syria and Myanmar. Has China seen that report ? What is China's comment on its content ?

答：据我了解，你提到的报告正在联合国安理会有关制裁委员会的内部审议进程当中。 目前，我不便对媒体就报告作出具体评论。

Answer: As to my understanding, you refer to the report that is just being internally discussed by the United Nations Security Council's committee concerned with the sanctions. At the moment I consider it inappropriate to make any specific comment on that report to the media.

这里我想指出，第一，中方始终主张联合国安理会通过的有关决议应该得到全面、 严格执行。第二、中方作为安理会常任理事国，一直带头全面、严格执行安理会有关涉朝决议， 履行我们应尽的国际义务。

Here I want to point out: Firstly, China all along endorses that the United Nations Security Council's related resolutions should be fully and rigorously implemented. Secondly, China as a permanent member of the Security Council is always among the first to fully and rigorously implement the Security Council's resolutions involving North Korea.

[Source SINA on the regular press conference of China's Foreign Ministry held on February 5, 2018]

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中朝边境气氛诡异 中方突增兵30万加导弹部队

Eerie and strange atmosphere at the North Korean border.
China suddenly rushes in another 300.000 troops,
including missile units.

[Source: NTDTV 新唐人 on February 5, 2018]

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Russian visitor from the border region to China and North Korea.

North Korea - Enforcement of Sanctions

Update added !



Another Taiwanese businessman has been questioned on suspicion of transporting oil to a North Korean buyer in the open seas, Taiwan prosecutors said on Friday.

Chuang Chin-hung, 56, was questioned over the alleged sale of 7,000 tonnes of diesel oil to North Korea in December, prosecutors said. He was released on NT$2 million (US$68,400) bail and will face further questioning.

Ship-to-ship transfers of oil violate UN sanctions imposed on Pyongyang over its nuclear weapons programme.

“We have found that Chuang is the owner of a Marshall Island-registered trading company … and used the Jin Hye oil tanker, which he owns, to sell oil in international waters,” a spokesman for the Kaohsiung prosecutors office said on Friday.

Russia warns totally cutting oil supplies to North Korea would be seen by Pyongyang as act of war. [South China Morning Post] North Korean diplomats en route to Moscow for talks over mutual cooperation, the Russian Embassy in North Korea said. [Reuters]

The spokesman said the tanker was found to have loaded oil from Taiwan in November and transported the oil to a North Korean vessel in the East China Sea in December. But in the port and customs documents, Chuang allegedly wrote that the tanker was transporting the oil to Hong Kong.

Chuang, however, said he was unaware that the buyer was North Korea, but was unable to explain the false information in the documents, the spokesman said.

Chuang is the second Taiwanese national suspected of selling oil to North Korea. Last month, prosecutors placed Kaohsiung-based businessman Chen Shih-hsien and his overseas companies on a sanction list for allegedly selling oil to North Korean vessels in international waters.

The Kaohsiung prosecutors office alleged that Chen, who owns two fishing companies in Kaohsiung, was the dealer behind the transfer of oil to North Korea through the Hong Kong-registered Lighthouse Winmore in the Yellow Sea.

The tanker was seized by South Korean officials after it allegedly transferred about 600 tonnes of oil to a North Korean vessel in October.

[Source: South China Morning Post in Hong Kong and Reuters on February 2nd, 2018]

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约旦宣布与朝鲜断交

Jordan declares to cut off diplomatic relations with North Korea.

根据该声明，约旦王室已批准政府这一决定。约旦将不再承认朝鲜驻约旦大使， 约旦也将停止其驻朝鲜大使的工作。

Based on that statement, the Royal Court of Jordan already approved the government's decision. Jordan will no longer recognize North Korea's abassador in its country. It will stop as well the activity of its own ambassador to North Korea.

美国政府去年向一些国家施加压力，敦促它们与朝鲜切断外交和经济联系以孤立朝鲜。

Last year, the U.S. government put pressure on some countries urging them to cut off their diplomatic and economic relations with North Korea in order to isolate that country.

Jordan is therefore joining the regional pro-American alliance in the Middle East as presented by countries like Kuwait that is now hailing the Jordanian decision.

[Source: XinHua 新华 on February 2nd, 2018]

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Newsweek article dating from January 31, 2018.

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美国计划对朝“流鼻血打击” 韩国忧心

The US are planning a "Bloody Nose Strike" on North Korea
South Korea is worried.

[Source: RFA Radio Free Asia 自由亚洲电台普通话, Chinese language site from Washington DC on February 2nd, 2018]

North Korea's Days are Numbered

Just In !

On late January 30, U.S. president Donald Trump in his State of the Union speech made it clear that North Korea's days are numbered.




Ji Seong-ho, North Korean defector and survivor of North Korean torture,
holds up his crutches as symbol of defiance to the North Korean regime
after president Trump details his harrowing journey to freedom.

Comment by Fox News:
History proves time and time again that the yearning for freedom will crush the jackboots of the vilest dictators. Kim Jong Un won’t get much sleep after President Trump’s speech, as he knows time is not on his side. And it took the power of just one man with his old crutches to prove it.





路透：制裁之下，朝鲜通过俄罗斯出口煤炭

Reuters: Under Sanctions ... North Korea is Exporting Coal to Russia.

朝鲜经济特区罗先等待装船的煤炭

In North Korea's special economic zone of Rason, coal is waiting for being shipped.

[Source: VOA Voice of America Chinese language service on January 27, 2018]

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Turkey attacks Kurds in Syria

Today, Turkish forces have started shelling the Kurdish stronghold in Syria in the Afrin region. Latest reports confirm artillery shelling and air raids targeting Afrin. According to BBC, the Syrian regime of Bashir Assad is threatening to shoot down Turkish war planes.



قصف مدفعي تركي مستمر على عفرين

Permanent Turkish Artillery Shelling of Afrin

.....

خبر عاجل :القوات التركية تطلق على عمليتها العسكرية في عفرين اسم "غصن الزيتون"ـ

Breaking News: Turkish forces started their military
operation named "cutting the olive trees" in Afrin.

عملية عفرين ... المهمة و النطاق و الإشكالات السياسية

Operation Afrin ... Mission, Region, and Political Problems.

[Al-Jazeera الجزيرة on January 20, 2018]

China's Fears for 2018

At the beginning of each new year we are inclined to look back at the past year, and we try to predict what trends in political and economic development might become decisive for the year to come.

That's just what the Chinese are doing as well. However, Chinese people are said to be more superstitious than we are in the West. That might be the reason why some Chinese article, published today, is relating the possible dangers to a sound development of China's economy to the influence of nine ominous black swans. The dangers, however, might nevertheless be seen as real.


2018年九大黑天鹅：小心，魔鬼在你背后

In 2018 there will be Nine big Black Swans:
Be careful - The devil might be behind your back !

黑天鹅一号：朝鲜半岛剧变

The 1st black swan: Dramatic changes on the Korean peninsula. [This chapter is referring to the acceleration of political tensions, as observed in 2017.]

黑天鹅二号：石油价格重上100美元

The 2nd black swan: A rise of mineral oil prices above 100 US$ [per barrel].

黑天鹅三号：欧洲复苏失败

The 3rd black swan: Europe's recovering from failure.

黑天鹅四号：美股长牛终结

The 4th black swan: The soaring of US shares might end.

黑天鹅五号：中国通胀再起

The 5th black swan: China undergoing [unstable] expansion.

黑天鹅六号：比特币崩盘

The 6th black swan: A collapse of Bitcoin market quotations.

黑天鹅七号：特朗普风险

The 7th black swan: The Trump Hazard. [What the Chinese call the "Trump Hazard" can be related to the US president's credo of "America first". The Chinese article casually mentions the 2017 National Security Strategy (NSS), which prioritizes U.S. leadership in military, commercial, and scientific components of space， and which is no exception to the Trump administration’s continued desire to “make America great again in space.” As space evolves into a more globally competitive industry, the economic vitality of the U.S. space sector will support key national security goals to “promote American prosperity” and “advance American influence.” This finally shows how the 2017 NSS can be understood.]

黑天鹅八号：中国房地产崩盘

The 8th black swan: A collapse of real estate quotations.

黑天鹅九号：美联储加息超预期

The 9th black swan: Expectations regarding the US [Federal Reserve's] augmentation of interest.

[Kaixian tv 汉丰网, quoting the Shenzhen journal New Fortune 新财富 on January 3, 2018]

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



Visitor from Rome, Italy, and who is interested in Chinese policy.

N Korea on the Brink of Change

Last Update: December 14.

The brand-new article quoted below was published this morning by some usually well-informed however strictly anti-communist Chinese daily, the Epoch Times 大纪元 .



【熱點透視】金正恩翻臉 朝鮮變局走向何方

Hotspot Perspective: Kim Jong-un's sudden turn ...
What's the direction of North Korea's change ?

That article resumes the same position it introduced in an earlier publication some days ago:

In recent days, North Korea showed its rather new inclination to direct talks with its arch-enemy the U.S. administration of Donald Trump.

At the same time it becomes obvious that North Korea's position towards China has changed during the years of fruitless anti-nuclear talks and which finally led to China supporting new sanctions imposed on its former ally.

From there, China has step by step come into the focus of a possible North Korean revenge and which makes China to become just another target for North Korea's nuclear blackmail, even more as many of China's civilian high-value targets are within missile-reach of North Korea.

In the frame of a possible North Korean revenge, the Epoch Times author is considering three potential first level targets like Beijing, Shanghai and the Three-Gorges-Dam, such including the administrative and economic centrals of China.

Further second level targets like China's nuclear power centrals should be endangered as well. Even command operations of North Korean elite troops using biochemical weapons in China should not be excluded.

It is anyway regarded as an established fact that China's leadership is sensing dramatic changes being in progress in North Korea.

How else could it be that China is planning camps to canalize possible waves of North Korean refugees from economic disaster and/or the dangers of war.

Even Kim Jong-un seems to be underway in his own country for some reason. According to the Chinese source he should have travelled to the mountaineous region near Mount Paektu which he hadn't visited during winter time for many years and where nuclear installations are in reach.

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

The following Chinese language document only recently appeared on the web. It is directly referring to the construction of refugee camps for North Koreans in China's Jilin province.



防北韓難民湧入？　傳吉林正規劃設置難民營

To prevent N Korean refugees from surging in ? Jilin is planning to set up refugee camps.

[ON.CC , HongKong, published December 6, 2017]

HongKong based Chinese language media provided the above shown copy together with a hint at some site near the Chinese - North Korean border named "Duck Green River 鸭绿江" and which is referring to the Yalu River. This border region is known as a former battlefield in different wars since the end of the 19th century including the Korean War in the 1950ies.

A better quality copy of the quoted document and which is available from another web source, is showing the origin of that message as follows:

"China messenger service of Jilin province, BaiShan [city] branch" with Baishan 白山 meaning "White Mountain" and which refers to nearby Paektu Mountain in neighbouring North Korea.

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

Most Dangerous Global Security Issue

Update added on December 11.



United Nations envoy Feltman told the North Koreans there can only be a diplomatic solution.



[Time quoting Associated Press AP on December 10, 2017]




朝核讹诈波及北京 学者：中国3种目标或被攻击

North Korea's nuclear blackmail is affecting Beijing.
Scholar: Three targets for probable attack in China.

The article is mentioning the possibility that nuclear blackmail from North Korea could not be restricted to the U.S., Japan and South Korea but as well extend to Chinese targets.

[NTD TV 新唐人 on December 11, 2017]




疑似中移动内部文件 指吉林将设5个难民营

Uncertainty about a problem of interior movement in China.
Indications that Jilin [province] is planning 5 refugee camps.

[Epoch Times 大纪元, an anti-communist Chinese daily on December 7, 2017]

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Trump's Jerusalem Declaration Triggers Violence

Updates added on December 9 / 10.



U.S. embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, under siege of protesters on December 10.

Palestine - Days of Rage

After president Donald Trump's declaration to move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and such recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, riots have broken out all over Palestine and Gaza, leaving a violence toll of two deaths and more than 750 wounded up to now. Protests emerged as well in Berlin, Istanbul, London, Kairo and Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Indonesia and which is the most populated Islamic nation.

While the Arab world is showing its embarresment and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas refuses to meet with U.S. vice-president Mike Pence on his coming visit to the Middle East, Hamas and Hezbollah leadership are calling for a new Intifada or violent uprise against Israel.

Furthermore, United Nations Security Council is holding an emergency meeting on the subject. At that meeting U.S. ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, is standing alone to defend the Jerusalem decision of her boss. [Summary of news from Al-Jazeera الجزيرة published on December 8, 2017]




14 out of 15 council members voted against the change of position made
by U.S. president Trump in his Jerusalem decision. [CTV News, Dec. 8]




شومان: فلسطين ليست ميراثا لأمريكا وممتلكات «ترامب» لا تشمل القدس

Shouman: Palestine is not the patrimony of America and
Jerusalem doesn't belong to the possessions of "Trump".

Editor's Note:
Dr. Abbas Shouman is deputy director of the famous and influential Islamic University Al-Azhar in Kairo and a partner of the movement United Against Violence in the Name of Religion (UVNR). - By the way, the above quoted Arabic word ممتلكات can be used with the meaning of "colonial possessions".

The quoted Arabic source added in another article that Egypt's government officially rejects the ‘illegal’ US embassy move to Jerusalem.

[El-Balad البلد, Egypt, on December 8, 2017]







وزراء الخارجية العرب يرفضون قرار ترامب حول القدس

Arab foreign ministers reject Trump resolution on Jerusalem.

[Al-Quds Al-Arabi القدس العربي, Palestinian Daily on December 9, 2017]


The head of the Arab League has called US President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital "dangerous and unacceptable" and a "flagrant attack on a political solution" to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict.

The statement by Ahmed Aboul-Gheit, the regional bloc's secretary-general, came at the start of an emergency meeting of foreign ministers from 22 Arab states in Egypt's capital, Cairo, on Saturday.

Aboul-Gheit said Trump's decision was "against international law and raises questions over American efforts to support peace" between Palestine and Israel.

The shift in US policy "undermines Arab confidence" in the Trump administration and "amounts to the legalisation" of the Israeli occupation of Palestine, he added.

[Quotation from an Al-Jazeera الجزيرة article published on late December 9, 2017]