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China

China

China’s Cyberspying Is ‘on a Scale No One Imagined’–if You Pretend NSA Doesn’t Exist

NOVANEWS By Janine Jackson Global Research People used to joke that NSA stood for “No Such Agency”; a recent New York Times article was written as if mentioning it was still taboo. Stories about cyberespionage–like the data theft at the US Office of Personal Management believed but not officially stated to have been carried out by China–are weird. For one thing, they include quotes about how “we need to be a bit more public” about our responses to cyberattacks–delivered from White House officials who speak only on condition of anonymity. That’s from a July 31 piece by the New York Times‘ David Sanger, which, as Marcy Wheeler of the blog Emptywheel (8/1/15) pointed out, had a certain amount of fiction mixed in with its reporting. Sanger wrote that the administration concluded that the...
China, USA

Mercenary Drone Operators Kill Outside US Chain of Command

NOVANEWS Sputnik The US armed forces are using a growing number of mercenaries or contractors to operate lethal drone attacks as regular troops are increasingly unwilling to do so, experts told Sputnik. “‘Private contractors’, mercenaries, have been involved in US drone surveillance and attack for some time, certainly with the CIA, and most probably not only in intelligence analysis, but also in the roles of pilots and sensor operators,” KnowDrones.com Coordinator Nick Mottern told Sputnik on Friday. The sensor operators are the people who pull the trigger to launch Hellfire missiles and bombs, he said. Mottern noted the need to hire mercenaries indicates that the US military is not able, for whatever reason, to find enough people within its ranks to do such work. “This is… because it is...
China, Russia, USA

How China and Russia are running rings around Washington

NOVANEWS By Pepe Escobar Central Asia is, at the moment, geographic ground zero for the convergence of the economic urges of China, Russia, and India. A geopolitical “big bang” just happened in Eurasia, and it’s not good for United States by Pepe Escobar TomDispatch/ ICH/ Salon Let’s start with the geopolitical Big Bang you know nothing about, the one that occurred just two weeks ago. Here are its results: from now on, any possible future attack on Iran threatened by the Pentagon (in conjunction with NATO) would essentially be an assault on the planning of an interlocking set of organizations — the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization), the EEU (Eurasian Economic Union), the AIIB (the new Chinese-founded Asian Infrastru...
China, Iran, USA

Iran nuclear deal masks US and China arms race

NOVANEWS   My piece for American website Mondoweiss: The global arms race has never been more lucrative. America and China are engaged in unprecedented levels of spending around the world to influence and shape global affairs. The effects are devastating on civilians but Washington and Beijing insists they’re “stabilizing” nations. It’s one of the deadliest myths of the 21st century. Saudi Arabia has executed at least 100 people since January, half of which were for non-violent drug offences. The country’s bombing campaign in Yemen has killed thousands of civilians and exacerbated a humanitarian catastrophe in the Arab world’s poorest nation. None of these facts have any bearing on America’s attitude towards its close Middle Eastern ally. Between 2010 and 2014, both countries re...
China

The Increasing Burden of Diabetes in China

NOVANEWS By Cesar Chelala  China’s economic growth in the last three decades has dramatically transformed the nation’s economic landscape, removing 500 million people from poverty. This progress, however, has been accompanied by an increase in some diseases –such as diabetes– notably associated with increased urbanization and changed lifestyles. Twenty-five years ago, the number of people with diabetes in China was less than one percent. Today, China has more than 114 million people suffering from the disease, the highest number of any country in the world. It is estimated that 11.6 percent of Chinese adults have diabetes, a proportion higher than the U.S. with 11.3 percent. Experts blame the increase in sedentary lifestyles, high consumption of sugary and high-calorie Western diets, exce...
China, Greece, Iran, Russia, USA

Greece’s Lesson For Russia

NOVANEWS by PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS Greece’s debt can now only be made sustainable through debt relief measures that go far beyond what Europe has been willing to consider so far.” — International Monetary Fund Greece’s lesson for Russia, and for China and Iran, is to avoid all financial relationships with the West. The West simply cannot be trusted. Washington is committed to economic and political hegemony over every other country and uses the Western financial system for asset freezes, confiscations, and sanctions. Countries that have independent foreign policies and also have assets in the West cannot expect Washington to respect their property rights or their ownership.  Washington freezes or steals countries’ assets, or in the case of France imposes multi-billion dollar fines, in order ...
China, USA

China Blasts US for 'Brazen' Human Rights Abuses at Home and Abroad

NOVANEWS In U.S., 'minority groups and Indigenous people are subject to unfairness in environment, election, health care, housing, and education,' China says by: Deirdre Fulton The vice premier of China, Wang Yang (left), and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday. (Photo: US State Department/flickr/cc) In a report that covers everything from police violence to income inequality to government surveillance, China has blasted the United States for its "grim problems of racial discrimination," use of "cruel tortures indiscriminately," and "terrible human rights record." The lengthy report, carried by the official Xinhua news agency and issued on Friday in response to U.S. criticism of China's human rights record, says the U.S. is "haunted by spr...
China

Who’s Behind Asia-Pacific’s Growing Tensions? Curbing China’s Rising Power

NOVANEWS By Tony Cartalucci Global Research Increasing tension in the Asia-Pacific between China and nations surrounding its territory, appears to be an unstoppable and inevitable lead-up to regional conflict and perhaps even global war. In reality, for those who have studied history, this is a familiar rerun. Change the characters and place current events in the context of the early 1900’s and we see the lead up to World War II and more specifically, the events that set the stage for the fighting in the Pacific. Some may believe this is a rerun of when Japan was the sole aggressor in the region, expanding beyond its means before finally meeting its match. Predicated on this misconception, these same people would believe that China has now traded places with Imperial Japan, and is ex...
China, USA

The hegemony games

NOVANEWS By Jack Smith The most important political relationship in today’s world is between the United States of America and the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Whichever way the relationship goes will have a major impact on global developments for many decades. Big changes are beginning to take shape. Matters of peace or war are involved. This relationship between Washington and Beijing has existed somewhat uneasily since the early 1970s after the PRC broke with the Soviet Union mainly over intense ideological differences within the communist movement. In effect the Communist Party of China (CPC) joined with capitalist America in an informal tacit alliance against Russia. This was a geopolitical triumph for the U.S. but not for China. In the last couple of years Beijing and Moscow ...
China, ZIO-NAZI

China refuses to let its nationals work in West Bank

NOVANEWS China’s refusal is holding up an agreement on bringing thousands of Chinese workers to Israel China is refusing to sign an agreement allowing its nationals to work in Israel, unless the Israeli government promises they will not be employed in the internationally disputed Jewish settlements of the West Bank. Israel has been trying to negotiate the agreement for a while and has so far refused to give in to the Chinese demand, according to The Marker, the economic daily of Haaretz. But the issue has taken on some urgency in light of plans by the newly appointed Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon to speed up construction throughout the country and thus reduce housing costs. Already a year ago, the previous government decided to increase the number of migrant construction workers, and is ...