Tuesday, May 16, 2017

US - Trump Sacking FBI Director


Here are the latest news on another breathtaking chapter of Trump's presidential rule.


USA Today Headline:
Trump's contacts with FBI Director James Comey break longstanding precedent.

[Read the complete article: "USA Today" on May 15, 2017
and/or listen to their Podcast: Trump fires Comey; chaos ensues. Now what?]


Express (UK) Headline:
White House will NOT reveal if secret FBI Comey tapes exist after Donald Trump's tweet.

The Trump administration has refused to reveal if secret recordings of conversations between the President and former FBI director James Comey exist after US lawmakers threatened to force their release.

[Read the complete article: "Express (UK)" on May 16, 2017]


A visit to "blueprint news" from FBI Criminal Justice Information Systems was detected on
September 10, 2013. It came from Clarksburg, West Virginia, where the FBI is using an
extended area for the installation of its state-of-the-art high-tech information system:



Under the spreading chestnut tree
I sold you and you sold me
There lie they, and here lie we
Under the spreading chestnut tree


Mysterious tune related to a scene from George Orwell's "1984",
a dark perception of some totalitarian state exerting total control
over its citizens, its adage being: "Big Brother is watching you!"


By the way, the location of Chestnut Street where all the trators should be lying is a reminder of an old blogspot of mine that is dealing with U.S. spying on its allies. Some visitor to "blueprint news" and who came from Toledo, Spain, brought it to my attention again.

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




Sunday, May 14, 2017

North Korea - New Missile Launch




最新消息:朝鲜再度进行导弹试验!

Latest News: North Korea again carried out a missile test !


According to official South Korean sources, North Korea should have launched a ballistic missile this morning at 05:27 local time from its North Pyongan Province 평안북도 / 平安北道龟城. The missile should have followed a 700 km trajectory.

S Korean president Moon Jae immediately summoned officials from the relevant departments for a meeting of the National Security Council.

[搜狐, China, on May 14, 2017, 02:26 local time]




韩联参警告朝鲜若再挑衅将遭韩美强力应对

South Korea's Joint Staffs are warning the North from provoking a disastrous
and forceful reply by South Korea and the U.S. in case it provokes again.


[Yonhap, Chinese language site of the S Korean
news agency on May 14, 2017, 11:31 local time]




战争近在眼前? 美情报机构称朝鲜年内试射洲际导弹

War soon under our eyes ? U.S. intelligence community says that
North Korea will test an intercontinental missile within a year.


[Anti-Communist NTD TV quoting the New York Times on May 12, 2017]


Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Syria - US Arming Kurdish Units


Only some hours ago, the Trump administration declared its intention to arm Kurdish units in their efforts to reconquer the Syrian town of ar-Raqqa from ISIL (Daesh) which is their most important stronghold after the Iraqi army earlier regained essential parts of Mosul.

This is going to provoke a harsh Turkish reaction as Turkey's president Erdogan already warned the U.S. to support Kurdish fighters. It should be noted that ar-Raqqa is located far away from traditional Kurdish territory.




أميركا تسلح "الوحدات الكردية" بسوريا لاستعادة الرقة

The U.S. are arming "Kurdish units" in Syria to reconquer ar-Raqqa.


قالت وزارة الدفاع الأميركية (البنتاغون)، اليوم الثلاثاء، إن الرئيس دونالد ترمب أجاز تسليح المقاتلين الأكراد في سوريا "كإجراء ضروري لضمان تحقيق نصر واضح"، في هجوم مقرر لاستعادة مدينة الرقة من تنظيم داعش.ـ

On Tuesday [May 09] the U.S. department of defense (Pentagon) said that president Donald Trump authorized the arming of Kurdish fighters in Syria "as a measure necessary to ensure a clear victory" in the attack intended to reconquer the town of ar-Raqqa from ISIL organization.


[Al-Arabiya العربية on May 09, 2017. Same news are available from Al-Hayat الحياة.]




أردوغان: على أميركا وقف دعم "حماية الشعب الكردية"ـ

Erdogan to America: Stop supporting the "garde of the Kurdish people".


[Al-Arabiya on April 30, 2017]

Wednesday, May 03, 2017

N Korean Threats - Chinese Fears


From the regular press conference
summoned by China's ministry of
foreign affairs on 2nd May 2017:



朝鲜部署新潜射弹道导弹基地

North Korea installs new base for submarines able to launch ballistic missiles.

[Editor's Note: This is referring to a location at the N Korean coastline of the Yellow
or Western Sea 西海 which stretches between the Korean peninsula and China]


问:美方今天宣称在韩国部署的“萨德”反导系统已经可以启用了,中方对此有何回应?

Question: Today the U.S. declared the antimissile system THAAD which is deployed in South Korea as being already fully operational. What is China's answer to that ?

答:在“萨德”反导系统问题上,中方的立场是非常明确的,也是坚定的。我们反对美国在韩国部署“萨德”反导系统,敦促有关方面立即停止部署进程。 同时,我们将坚决采取必要措施,捍卫自身利益。

Answer: As to the question of the THAAD antimissile system, China's position is unusually clear-cut and firm. We are opposing the U.S. deployment of a THAAD antimissile system in South Korea, and we urge the concerned sides to immediately stop the deploying process. At the same time we firmly take the necessary steps to defend our interests.


[Source: SINA 新浪 on 2nd May 2017]




Editor's Note:

Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), formerly Theater High Altitude Area Defense, is a United States Army anti-ballistic missile system designed to shoot down short, medium, and intermediate range ballistic missiles in their terminal phase using a hit-to-kill approach. The missile carries no warhead, but relies on the kinetic energy of impact to destroy the incoming missile. A kinetic energy hit minimizes the risk of exploding conventional warhead ballistic missiles, and nuclear tipped ballistic missiles will not detonate upon a kinetic energy hit.

The Chinese reaction comes shortly after western sources reported the missile-defense system had gone into operation in South Korea last week as a protection against North Korean short and long range missiles. More on NY Times: U.S. Antimissile System Goes Live in South Korea.

Among all that stuff that has been written on North Korea, here's an interesting article on North Korea's economy and its manifold links with China to open your eyes:

How we’ll know when China really is working with the US on North Korea




Sunday, April 30, 2017

Hot Spot North Korea


Important Update added on 2nd May 2017



特朗普:朝鲜若再核试我会不开心 不排除军事反应

Trump: If North Korea resumes its nuclear tests, I cannot
be pleased and cannot rule out a military response.


[Source: Global Network 环球网 on April 30, 2017]



North Korea claims the buildup of US troops in Darwin, Australia, is proof America is getting ready for nuclear war.

Its main newspaper is accusing the US of trying to optimise its nuclear readiness in the region, noting it's the largest US military presence in Australia since World War II.

The leader of the Darwin based air-strike force says it's in a strategic location and the US 'stands ready to fight'.

The US deployment to Darwin has been conducted since 2012 and at around 1250 Marines and naval personnel is half the 2500 originally proposed under an agreement between the US and Australia.

Former US Ambassador to Australia John Berry said the situation in North Korea would likely head discussions between President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull next week.



[Source: Skynews Australia on April 26, 2017]




The US aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson on Saturday, April 29, kicked off a joint drill with the South Korean navy, officials said, as tensions rose over North Korea's latest test-fire of a ballistic missile.

"Immediately after the aircraft carrier arrived in the Sea of Japan, South Korea and the US strike forces launched a drill from 6:00 pm (0900 GMT) Saturday", a defence ministry spokesman told AFP.

The drill came hours after the North launched a ballistic missile in apparent defiance of a concerted US push for tougher international sanctions to curb Pyongyang's nuclear weapons ambitions.

[Source: SBS News, Australia, on April 30, 2017]


Late Evening News on April 30:



[Source: Al-Jazeera - Photo provided by U.S. Navy via AP]


Don't miss Al-Jazeera's related English website
N Korea warns of 'catastrophic consequences'
that is providing further background information.




朝鲜:我们军队不可战胜 美航母和潜艇将变废铁

North Korea: Our troops cannot be defeated. - America's aircraft
carrier and submarines will be turned into scrap iron.


[Chinese Source SINA on 1st May 2017]



Late Evening News on 1st May:



朝鲜称半岛目前局势为50年来最严重

North Korea says the peninsula's current situation
is getting the most critical one in 50 years.


[Source: Global Network / Xinhua 环球网 / 新华社 on 1st May 2017
are quoting a spokesman for the North Korean ministry of foreign affairs:
…… 朝鲜外务省发言人当天发表谈话,
称目前的半岛局势是50年来最严重的
]





特朗普:若条件合适 将会晤金正恩

Trump: If the conditions are suitable, I will meet with Kim Jong-Un.


[Source: SINA 新浪网 on 2nd May 2017 local date]



Other Regional News:



On Sunday, April 30, three Chinese Navy vessels arrived on a three-days surprise visit in Davao / Mindanao, hometown of the Philippines' President Duterte who then boarded China's missile destroyer Chang Chun. Earlier tensions about territorial disputes in the South China Sea are seemingly forgotten, while Duterte recently concentrated on North Korea which he said was willing to "end the world".







日本军港内军舰鳞次栉比

Inside Japan's naval base - Row upon row of warships


佐世保军港是日本海上自卫队最重要的军港之一,该军港内驻扎了第5、第6、第8、第13护卫队,拥有15艘各型主力军舰。

Sasebo naval base is among the most important military seaports for Japan's maritime self-defence. Inside that naval base are stationed the 5th, 6th, 8th and 13th guard units. It hosts 15 main force warships of different types.


Editor's Note:
"U.S. Fleet Activities Sasebo" is a United States Navy base in Sasebo, Japan, on the island of Kyūshū. It makes part of the Japanese Sasebo naval base in Nagasaki Prefecture. The U.S. base provides facilities for the logistic support of forward-deployed units and visiting operating forces of the United States Pacific Fleet and designated tenant activities.

[Source: Global Network 环球网 on 2nd May 2017]

Thursday, April 27, 2017

China's Navy - 2nd Aircraft Carrier Launched




我国第二艘航空母舰下水仪式26日上午在
中国船舶重工集团公司大连造船厂举行。


Yesterday, April 26, at 9 am local time and on the 68th birthday of China's navy PLAN, China's 2nd aircraft carrier of the Liaoning-class has been floated off its dry dock at Dalian. The ceremony was attended by members of the Central Committee of China's Communist Party and many high-ranking military leaders.

While the first carrier "Liaoning" was based on the semi-finished Soviet-era vessel "Varyag" which belonged to the Kuznetsov-class, China's second carrier has been completely home-built. Its name is still unknown, but rumours are saying it might probably be named "Shandong" on a later occasion.

A Chinese language news portal quoted by western sources had previously reported that the ship will have an aircraft capacity of 28-36 aircraft split between Chinese Shenyang J-15 fighters and helicopters, which is the same as that of the Liaoning. According to the new vessel's outward apperance, the most significant change from the "Liaoning" seems to be a reconfiguration of the phased array radar panels, with those on the new ship facing diagonally outward on both sides of bridge fore and aft.

“瓦良格”号原先在舰艏部的甲板下装有12枚巨大的SS-N-19重型反舰导弹,虽然在改装为辽宁舰时拆除了,但受制于原始设计,无法扩成机库。[金融界]

The new 50.000 tons aircraft carrier like the fully-operational "Liaoning" might still be able to use heavy SS-N-19 anti-ship guided missiles but which has never been confirmed. 12 SS-N-19 missiles of Soviet-era origin once belonged to the armament of a Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier and might present a serious danger to western ship units if still available, especially when used with a nuclear warhead.

[Source: People's Network and other Chinese and western military sources on April 26/27, 2017]




Related Military News:

On today's press conference, summoned by China's Ministry of Defence, navy officer Zhang Zheng was specially praised for his outstanding abilities. Zhang Zheng served as the commander of China's first aircraft carrier "Liaoning" from September 2012 until May 2016 and was later promoted to the position of a Deputy Chief of Staff of the People's Liberation Army Navy PLAN. [People's Network on April 27, 2017]


美国若军事打击朝鲜 中国会介入吗?

In case of a U.S. military attack on North Korea,
will China know how to interfere ?


中国官方的《环球时报》日前发表社评说:“如果朝鲜继续开展严重的核导活动,美国对其相关设施开展外科手术式打击,北京应予以外交抵制,但不必军事介入。”

A few days ago, China's official paper "Global Times" said in its editorial: " If North Korea continues its activity of developing serious nuclear missiles, the U.S. will carry out an attack against its related facilities in some kind of a surgical operation. Beijing would then react with diplomatic resistance, however not feel obliged to interfere. "





[Quotation of Chinese source by DW 多维新闻 on April 26, 2017]


Crocodile Camp



特朗普:将和习近平有非常良好关系

Trump: Enjoying unusual fine relations with Xi JinPing.


Xi JinPing's U.S. visit on April 6 / 7, 2017
[Singapore Morning Post 新加坡早报]


Tuesday, April 18, 2017

N Korea - Culmination of Tensions Preparing US Strike ?


The following text is a summary from Australian and other western sources on a recent culmination of tensions between North Korea and the U.S. administration of Donald Trump:

North Korea threatens ‘merciless military strikes’ against US, as U.S. vice president Mike Pence visits the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea.

The isolated nation has trotted out three of its most senior officials to amp up its war rhetoric against the US.

North Korea’s deputy foreign minister, Sin Hong-chol, has told Al Jazeera that its army is on “maximum alert” after US Vice President Mike Pence visited the demilitarised zone between the two Koreas on Monday.

“The time of dictating orders by brandishing the US military might has gone,” Mr Sin told the Arabic broadcaster. The official made a passing swipe at Mr Trump and his administration, referring to him not as the President but as a “businessman”.

“If those businessmen in power in the US thought of intimidating us by any military or sanction threats — as the [Barack] Obama administration used to do and failed — they will soon find out such threats are useless,” Mr Sin said.

“If we notice any sign of assault on our sovereignty, our army will launch merciless military strikes against the US aggressors, wherever they may exist, from the remote US lands to the American military bases on the Korean Peninsula, such as those of Japan and elsewhere.”

"Mr Trump has tried to use trade incentives to pressure China into doing more to stop North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons", but Mr Sin implied this tactic would not work.

“The nuclear weapon in our possession is not illusion; it is not a commodity that may be traded for American dollars, nor is it for sale. So it cannot be put on the negotiating table with the aim to rip it off,” he said.

The country’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Kim In Ryong, has called the US a “gangster” hellbent on “disturbing peace and stability”. He accused the Trump administration of turning the Korean peninsula into “the world’s biggest hotspot” and creating “a dangerous situation in which a thermonuclear war may break out at any moment”.

“If the United States dares opt for a military action … the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] is ready to react to any mode of war desired by the Americans,” Mr Kim told a news conference at the UN headquarters in New York. “We will take the toughest counteraction against the provocateurs.” He said North Korea was acting in self defence and would respond to any threat of nuclear weapons or intercontinental ballistic missiles “in kind”.

North Korea’s vice foreign minister has also maintained the threatening language, telling the BBC there would be “all-out war” if the US took military action. “We’ll be conducting more missile tests on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis,” Han Song-Ryol said. Mr Trump’s remark that North Korea has “gotta behave” was made off the cuff on Monday when he was asked whether he had any message for North Korea or its leader, Kim Jong-un. His comment comes after a tense weekend on the Korean Peninsula where the North celebrated the 105th birthday of its founding father, Kim Il-sung, with an elaborate military parade on Saturday that showed off its growing missile arsenal. The triumphant procession, intended to show off the nation’s military might, was followed by a major embarrassment for the current leader. A ballistic missile test launched near a submarine base on the country’s east coast failed seconds after lift-off Sunday morning.

The US provoked North Korea’s ire when it sent a naval strike group, including aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson and three guided-missile destroyers, to the region ahead of the anniversary, which is one of the biggest days on the country’s calendar.

US vice president Mike Pence visited the South Korean capital Seoul on Monday as part of a tour of Asia, where he warned the North not to test the resolve of the US President on military matters. “The world witnessed the strength and resolve of our new president in actions taken in Syria and Afghanistan,” the US Vice President said. “North Korea would do well not to test his resolve or the strength of the armed forces of the United States in the region.” He said “all options are on the table” in response to North Korea and that the “era of strategic patience is over”. Two North Korean soldiers watched Mr Pence closely as he visited the demilitarised zone on Monday, with one taking photographs of the visiting leader.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Mr Trump would not draw “red lines” over North Korea and he would continue to play his cards “close to his vest” in terms of his military strategy. “The action that he took in Syria showed, when appropriate, this President will take decisive action,” Mr Spicer said, in reference to Mr Trump’s missile attack in April in retaliation to the Middle Eastern nation’s use of chemical weapons against its own people. Mr Spicer also praised China for its “historic” decision to take a “much more active role” against North Korea through economic actions. “I don’t think there’s anybody in the world who would not believe that North Korea’s actions are both provocative and a concern,” Mr Spicer told reporters Monday afternoon.

One security expert told The New York Times, the tension between the US and North Korea looks like “the Cuban missile crisis in slow motion".

Sunday, February 26, 2017

U.S. - North Korean Diplomacy




美拒签朝高官 特朗普就任后首场美朝会谈取消

America refuses visa to North Korean high official.
After his election, Trump cancelled first talks
between U.S. and North Korea.


据《华尔街日报》报道,崔善熙原定于3月1日至2日在纽约与美国官员举行会谈。这是特朗普就任美国总统以来朝美官员首次传出接触计划,也是自2011年以来首次传出朝鲜高级特使要访问美国。

According to the Wall Street Journal, Choe Son Hui should originally start talks with a U.S. official in New York on 1st and 2nd of March [2017]. This is what Trump at first announced as a planned contact between North Korean and U.S. officials after [Trump's] election as a president of the United States. This would have been as well the first announced visit to America of a high-ranking North Korean special envoy since 2011.


[Source: Sina News 新浪新闻中心 on February 26, 2017]

Monday, February 20, 2017

North Korea - Kim Jong Nam Killed


Breaking News Update added on February 24 ........... 中国于朝鲜的联系在时局
On February 27 an external link was added that
offers an overview on different aspects of the
Kim Jong Nam killing in a series of news videos.
A shortcut of latest news was added the same day.

On February 13, Kim Jong Nam (photo), elder brother to North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un was assassinated at Kuala Lumpur airport in Malaysia. While North Korea's ambassador to Malaysia denies the identity of the poisoned victim, saying it was some other North Korean, Malaysia has triggered off a comprehensive investigation and called on Pyongyang's ambassador to cooperate.



Kim Jong Nam (above) is known for having criticized the North Korean regime.



朝鲜大使拒认死者是金正男 称验DNA可笑

N Korean ambassador refuses to accept the dead being Kim Jong Nam
and is calling a DNA test "ridiculous".
[New Tang Dynasty TV, Feb. 20]


An airport surveillance camera is showing Kim Jong Nam being approached by a young woman. Nam was shortly blindfolded by one woman's hands coming from behind his head. That should have been the moment of the poisoning.

Among the arrested persons one woman could be identified as Siti Aisyah, an Indonesian citizen from Serang, West Java (Bantan, Greater Jakarta). She told authorities having been approached in a shopping center the month before by a man who introduced himself as a Japanese delegate and who seemed to be wealthy. He should have given her a tiny sum of money and allegedly convinced her to take part in a TV prank.



In the evening of February 17, Malaysian police arrested as well the 46-year-old Chosun nationality suspect Lee Jong Chol.

[Source: China Press 中国报, Chinese news service in Malaysia on February 19, 2017]


姜哲对47岁的朝鲜特工李正哲(Ri Jong-Chol,音译)被捕表示不满,他说:〝上周五,大马便衣警探突击1名朝鲜人位于吉隆坡的公寓,在完全没有搜查令或证据的情况下,用武力逮捕他。〞

As to the 47-year-old special agent Lee Jong Chol, now under arrest, [..... North Korea's am-bassador .....] showed discontent. He said: " Last Friday [i.e. Feb. 17], [.....] plainclothes police attacked a North Korean at some Kuala Lumpur lodging house. That happened in the complete absence of a search warrant or evidence while armed force was applied to arrest [that man]."


[Source: New Tang Dynasty TV 新唐人TV on February 20, 2017]


Headlines from China TV - CCTV 13
Morning News, February 24, 2017.




Photos of all suspects.


马来西亚:一朝鲜籍男子在吉隆坡死亡事件追踪——朝鲜驻马使馆官员不满马方调查

Malaysia: [Covering] the incident of a North Korean male who died in Kuala Lumpur - An official from the North Korean embassy in Malaysia shows discontended with Malaysia's investigation.

朝方提出多个疑点质疑马方调查

North Korea is raising all questionable points [that should be inquired] by Malaysia's investigation.

朝方——马方侵害主权 此举与韩有关

North Korea: The Malaysian side infringes sovereign rights [i.e. of North Korea] - This is in line with South Korea.

朝方:马方不移送尸体

North Korea: The Malaysian side doesn't move the corpse [i.e. back to N Korea] out of bad intentions.


Editor's note: The Malaysian side insists on caring for an autopsy which is taking some time in a complicated case like this.

[Source: China TV - CCTV 13 on February 24, 2017]


Preliminary Analysis Report related to the Kim Jong Nam Poisoning:





Expert: North Korea "highly probably" behind the Kim Jong Nam killing
outside of China where Kim Jong Nam lived under protection in Macao.
[CNN Report]


Please note:
The whole subject has been covered by a series of videos published by CNN. Their site could be seen as a comprehensive source of all events and background information available by Feb. 27. Many other sources of different origin are offering rather bits of information than an overall view on the Kim Jong Nam killing.


Shortcut of latest information available by February 27
assembled from Chinese, Malaysian and U.S. media:

The timeline of the Kim Jong Nam killing now being fully established, it seems that one secretary of the North Korean embassy in K.L. and a representative of the North Korean airline might be involved. Their cooperation has been requested by Malaysian police but was turned down by the embassy. However, Malaysian police is not willing to accept the North Korean position as a high-ranking police officer unequivocally indicated.

During the days of Kim Jong Nam's autopsy, an unauthorized intrusion into the Kuala Lumpur morgue was foiled.

As to the girls who actually committed the assassination, a Vietnamese woman that blindfolded Kim Jong Nam and an Indonesian woman that probably applied deadly VX nerve agent from a vaporizer, their cover story of being convinced to make part of a TV joke has failed to work. At the time VX was found on their bodies, both girls seemed to be either healthy (the Vietnamese) or suffering from "rather small problems" (the Indonesian). This could be seen as a proof that both were prepared in advance with the antidote, a common drug usually available in many hospitals, such that they should have known what they were doing.


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






A visitor from Thailand reminding how Kim Jong Un gets rid of "traitors":
North Korea - Important Change in Staff


U.S. President Trump Mentally Ill ?


A recent letter to the editorial board of the New York Times, that was signed by 35 psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers, put it this way: “We fear that too much is at stake to be silent.” It continued, “We believe that the grave emotional instability indicated by Mr. Trump’s speech and actions makes him incapable of serving safely as president."

But there is more behind it ! Read the original article.






美国35份精神科医生发表公开信:特朗普有精神病

In an open letter 35 U.S. psychiatrists said
that Trump is affected by mental disorder.


在公开信中,医生们描述特朗普需要每时每刻“把反对派踩在脚下”,并且“情绪极度不稳”。

In [that] open letter, psychiatrists describe Trump as needing each [single] hour, each quarter of an hour "some opponent to be crushed under his foot" and moreover [being in an] "extremely unstable mood".

However, one high-profile psychiatrist is opposing his 35 colleagues who wrote to the editorial board of the New York Times:

美国一位知名精神病专家艾伦•弗朗西斯(Allen Frances)认为,很多人非精神病专家都混淆了特朗普的问题,直接把他定义为“自恋型人格障碍” (narcissistic personality disorder)。

One of America's best-known specialists on mental disorder, Allen Francis, considers that many non-psychiatrists are mixing up the Trump case, immediately defining it as narcissistic personality disorder.


[Source: 新浪网 on February 19, 2017]




特朗普:媒体是“美国人民的敌人”

Trump: The media are "the enemies of the U.S. people".


[Source: FT中文网 on February 20, 2017]

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Trump - Fear of Predators ?


Last Update: Feb. 19, 2017.



Embarrassing Donald Trump at least seems to have respect for other predators.
It's all about knowing "the family".





"See you later, alligator !"
Xi JinPing, the "waddling crocodile", while visiting the U.S.A. in 2012.




With a Paper Tiger in the White House, there's time enough to care for the Siberian Tiger.
[The Chinese article is using the expression "Tiger Putin 普京虎" in its headline.]




Trump shrinking back from the American Eagle.


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


On U.S. Guidelines of the Trump Era


On hearing shouts of "America First" and "Buy American" from the White House, those having experienced the cold war era might feel haunted by memories from that time when Eastern and Western politics were dominated by ideology.

Depending on one's personal position there might be different ways of perception for these ambitious adages that are now marking the era of U.S. president Donald Trump.

One possible way to deal with "Buy American" can still be related to the following phrase and which is dating back to the "dark ages" of communism and anti-imperialism:

"We will hang the capitalists with the rope they sell us."


A popular quotation often attributed to different persons like Lenin, Marx and Stalin and who most likely never used that specific stance. Therefore, it might be that this phrase is simply expressing a programmatic adage which doesn't need any personalized origin.

In 1958, Mao Tse Tung adopted that tiny phrase and got even more specific on the subject. The explanation he gave then became a part of his famous Red Booklet:

.....
The United States has set up hundreds of military bases in many countries all over the world. China's territory of Taiwan, Lebanon and all military bases of the United States on foreign soil are so many ropes round the neck of U.S. imperialism. The ropes have been fabricated by the Americans themselves and by nobody else, and it is they themselves who have put the nooses round their own necks, handing the ends of the ropes to the Chinese people, the peoples of the Arab countries and all the peoples of the world who love peace and oppose aggression. The longer the U.S. aggressors remain in those places, the tighter the nooses round their necks will become.


Mao's interpretation of U.S. politics in the 1950ies, seems to be accurate even today and it opens a view on what we recently learnt to be the ultimate guideline of the new Trump era and which should be "America First". One could say Mao is still having the truth, even though China itself has slowly changed from basic socialism to some kind of crude capitalism "à la Américaine" in the meantime.



Nowadays, after persistent political confrontation based on ossified doctrine rather than common sense has given way to complicated supranational conflicts of economic and geopolitical interests in the frame of an irreversible globalization, any national policy of separation might quickly turn out to be counterproductive for the authors of such separation.

The stances "America First - Buy American" could therefore easily turn into some kind of boomerang that hits America where it is intended to hit competing nations. Latest news and comments from different national economies are already pointing in that direction.

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Indonesian Visitor interested in the U.S. response on Trump's Muslim Ban.



A visitor from Dallas/Texas, the town where U.S. President J.F. Kennedy was shot.
The visitor called my blogspot on Barack Obama's first visit to Berlin in 2008 when
Obama was just a presidential candidate.


Monday, February 13, 2017

Iraq - Army Targeting ISIL Leaders




العراق: استهدفنا "البغدادي" بضربة جوية ومصيره غير معلوم

Iraq: We targeted "Al-Baghdadi" in an
air raid and his fate remains unknown.


قال الجيش العراقي في بيان، اليوم الاثنين، إن قواته الجوية نفذت غارة على منزل كان يُعتقد أن زعيم تنظيم داعش أبوبكر البغدادي يجتمع فيه مع قادة آخرين بالتنظيم. ولم يوضح البيان ما إذا كان البغدادي قد استهدف أم لا.ـ

On Monday [Feb. 13], the Iraqui army declared in a bulletin, their air force had executed a raid on some residence that was considered to be the meeting point of ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi with other leaders of the organization. The declaration, however, was not clear about al-Baghdadi being the [primary] target or not.


وذكر البيان أن طائرات أف-16 العراقية استهدفت المنزل الكائن في غرب العراق يوم السبت. ونشر البيان أسماء 13 من قادة التنظيم قال إنهم قتلوا في الغارة الجوية، لكن القائمة لم تشمل البغدادي.ـ

According to the military bulletin, 13 ISIL leaders should have been killed in an air raid executed by Iraqui F-16 fighters in western Iraq on Saturday, February 11. The names on a list of killed leaders, however, does not include al-Baghdadi.

[Source: Al-Arabiya العربية on February 13, 2016]

Monday, February 06, 2017

Trump - Preparing War on Iran ?


An important update included on February 7, 2017:
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei "thanked" Trump for having
revealed the "true face of America" => view video !



In the frame of recent Iranian missile tests, U.S. president Donald Trump is going to loose his temper. After having warned Iran of preferring a policy "less cosy" than that of his predecessor President Obama, the White House is indicating an uncompromising way of treating Iran as the most important source of all evil in Middle Eastern developments.

However, any military blow on Iran that is intended to extinguish its military capabilities (including the nuclear ones) will not be such an easy-going affair like the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq because Iran is an important regional power with own armament industries and an army well-equipped with high-end Russian missile technology.

This might be rather a nice opportunity for some contest by proxy of brandnew U.S. and Russian weaponry with president Putin on the opposite side of the war game and who was only recently defended by Trump as "just one of many other murderers" [Fox News], an evaluation that sounds almost like some kind of "honouring the knight".

If by some "unforeseen" military incident Trump would be "forced" to declare war on Iran and, simultaneously, declare a state of emergency in his own country, this would certainly affect civil rights and the activity of all those who are now still fighting against Trump's rule of madness.




اول اعتراض روسي على ترامب: ايران ليست دولة ارهابية

First Russian protest targeting Trump: Iran no terrorist country.


[Source: Shafaq News شفق نيوز, Iraq, on February 6, 2017]




On February 7, 2017, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
caustically thanked "political newcomer" Trump for having revealed
the "true face of America". [Source: New York Times]




يران تكشف قريبا عن خمسة إنجازات عسكرية

Iran is soon to unveil five military achievements.


أعلنت وزارة الدفاع الإيرانية على موقعها الإلكتروني أنها ستكشف النقاب عما وصفتها بخمسة إنجازات عسكرية جديدة في مجال الدفاع الجوي والبري، وذلك بحضور وزير الدفاع حسين دهقان ومع اقتراب "عيد انتصار الثورة".ـ

The Iranian Ministry of Defense declared on its website that it would unveil what they described as five new military achievements in the area of defense air and land [as published on Twitter] in the presence of Defense Minister Hussein Dehghan with the approach of the "triumph of the revolution" celebrations.


[Source: Al-Jazeera online الجزيرة نت on February 6, 2017]


Videos related to the subject:



Iran warns U.S. not to make a problem over missile test.




Iranian state-of-the-art military drone technology,
partly based on captured U.S. stealth drone used
for spying on Iran. Military hackers diverted the
aircraft and brought it down undamaged [IRNA].




Iran - Military Power 2016




Iran Begins Massive Military Drill Ahead Of Trump Presidency
(Dec.18, 2016 news headlines including an outlook on Trump's
first guidelines of foreign policy)


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Visitor to "blueprint news" interested in the subject of a U.S.-Iranian war scenario.





Some visitor from the U.S. State of Indiana called my "classic" 2012 blogspot on Iran:
Iran - Who is Threatening Whom ?