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Some of Donald Trump’s case appointments and pronouncements have grave implications for China, and they have been dominating the news media. The Chinese have noticed.

In response to Trump’s attempts to force China out of the US business, they are signaling some of the way they did act. You may also suggest they’re reacting pre-emptively.

Trump has chosen China hawks for his ambassador to China ( David Perdue ), national security adviser ( Mike Walz ), and secretary of state ( Marco Rubio ). He has repeatedly made the pledge to impose levies of 60 % on Chinese goods. The other day, he threatened the nine people of the BRICS union, which include China, with 100 % taxes if they attempt to replace the US dollar as the world’s supply money.

The BRICS states aren’t really threatening to do that – any time soon, at least. China would have to release its controls on the flow of capital for the Foreign yuan, which is the obvious prospect, to enjoy the reserve-currency part. It doesn’t want to accomplish that.

However, BRICS is a significant component of China’s response to the possibility of serious restrictions on its ability to enter the US marketplace. The concept is growth, meaning that both imports and exports are dependent on various trading partners. As US producers may readily imagine, Brazil– the B in BRICS – is near the top of China’s party cards.

The additional response China is signaling is retribution. It took China less than 24 hours to respond when the Biden administration placed fresh restrictions on exports of crucial nutrients to China that China generally supplies in early December.

Growth, though, may show a particularly significant part of the strategy. China is already the world’s largest trading partner of more than 100 countries. More business with nations with somewhat large economies is what it needs to make up for the decline in the US market. Several of the BRICS countries fall under that umbrella.

The union people are Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Malaysia are all submitting applications for membership, and potential others will pursue.

China may win large with India. It has the nation’s largest people and, by one estimate, the second largest gross domestic product. But India and China are competitors.

Many of the international buyers who are leaving China are being drawn to India. The two places have a long-running borders debate. Although they’ve made progress just in de-escalating conflicts, their political connection has been described as “frosty”.

Brazil has a population over 200 million and the world’s eighth largest business, bigger perhaps than Russia’s. Since 2009, China has been its biggest trading partner. Brazil is one of the few nations, according to the Economist, with a business deficit with China.

During Trump’s first phrase, the Economist calculates, Brazil’s imports to China almost doubled. As China responded to Trump’s taxes by shifting more of its ag-product buys from the US to Brazil, company exports played a key position.

In Trump’s subsequent expression, that switch might become even more perceptive. According to a study from the American Soybean Association and the National Corn Growers Association, extreme fresh US tariffs on Chinese goods would cost American soybean farmers$ 8 billion in lost value and$ 5 billion in corn farmers.

China hopes to increase its exports to Brazil. Electric vehicles manufacturers there are already selling electric cars, and two of them, BYD and Great Wall, intend to start energy car companies in Brazil in the following month. Without a doubt, those factories did buy a lot of components from China. SpaceSail, a Taiwanese opponent to Elon Musk’s Starlink in satellite communications, recently signed an agreement to do business in Brazil.

China and Brazil are drawing closer socially, also. China just raised the position of its ties to Brazil. Brazil’s left-wing leader, Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva, joins Chinese President Xi Jinping in supporting the BRICS ‘ dreams for what one expert perfectly calls” a planet buy independent of US hegemony”.

China and Brazil tried investing in their own currencies last year instead of cash. Although the transaction’s price was small, others may follow. If they do, they’ll determine whether Trump is serious about imposing 100 % tariffs on nations that reject the money.

Brazil isn’t the whole truth for China, to be sure. However, it may help some in making up for US business opportunities that were lost.

British farmers and ranchers must expect that in the US, a marketplace of comparable size will make up for what they might drop in China in the years to come.

Urban Lehner, a former long-time Asia editor and writer for the Wall Street Journal, is now editor professor of DTN/The Progressive Farmer. &nbsp, This&nbsp, content, &nbsp, initially published on December 12 by the latter news business and then republished by Asia Times with authority, is © Copyright 2024 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved. &nbsp, &nbsp, Follow&nbsp, Urban Lehner&nbsp, on X @urbanize.

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Drones have been portrayed as the end of the Russian-Ukrainian War, but new advances in laser weapon technology demonstrated by a new UK laser weapon test may maintain tanks on the frontlines of future battles.

Defense News studies that British Army soldiers tested a cutting-edge light tool mounted on a Wolfhound armored personnel carrier this month. Difficulty robots were effectively destroyed by the weapons at Radnor Range in Wales.

The 16th Regiment Royal Artillery, which is a specialist in weather protection, was involved in the tests, according to Defense News, which were part of the UK Ministry of Defense’s Land Laser Directed Energy Weapon Demonstrator system.

This initiative is cited in the report because it addresses the growing risk of unmanned aerial systems, especially in the Russo-Ukrainian War, where robots are frequently used.

The statement quotes Stephen Waller, directed-energy arms team leader in the commission’s Defense Equipment &amp, Support business, emphasizing the need for cost-effective options to protect forces. It notes that the light tool, developed in collaboration with Raytheon UK under a GBP16.8 million ( US$ 21 million ) deal, offers a virtually limitless weapons source, making it a potentially more affordable choice than traditional measures.

The laser tool has almost unlimited ammunition, making it a potentially more affordable option than conventional countermeasures.

Defense News notes that the ministry is currently evaluating additional development requirements as a result of the effective trials, which represent a significant step in the direction of operational deployment. According to the report, similar attempts by the US and France highlight a global trend toward developed laser-based protection systems to combat the growing drone threat.

The Russo-Ukrainian War has established little, inconsequential drones as an efficient mainstream anti-armor tool. The fight has sparked the development of improvised countermeasures, which have rekindled debates about the value of tanks in contemporary war.

One such protection that was hastily improvised in the early days of the war is” Cope cages.” In a review from April 2024, Julien Potin mentions deal cages, improvised metallic grilles mounted atop container turrets, as a well-known but contentious addition to modern warfare.

Potin notes that they originate from the need to counter top-attack threats, aiming to pre-detonate warheads from anti-tank guided missiles ( ATGM ), rocket-propelled grenades ( RPG) and drone-dropped explosives– but their effectiveness is hotly debated.

He says proponents argue that cope cages offer low-cost, easily installed protection, especially against drone-dropped improvised explosive devices ( IEDs ), noting that their ongoing use by Russian, Ukrainian and Israeli forces, alongside production-line versions displayed at military expos, are indications of growing institutional acceptance.

But, he points out that critics claim that cope cages are inadequate against sophisticated ATGMs like the Javelin. He adds that the taller tanks make them more obvious to the army makes because of their increased level. They even impede team activity and leave, while restricting access to top-mounted arms. &nbsp,

So-called “turtle tank” force the cope cage concept more. A structure like this one covers the best, sides, and back of the tank.

Oliver Parken mentions that the turtle ship’s additional gear considerably blocks the captain’s vision and the main car’s passage in a May 2024 post for the War Zone.

Parken information that the turtle ship’s gear properly counters rocket-propelled grenades and gentle anti-armor weapons yet leaves gaps prone to precision-guided munitions. Although the frog ship’s heavy weapons offers a lot of security, its sluggish speed makes it a top target for drones, and its less maneuverability and situational awareness pose significant functional challenges.

Both sides have begun equipping their tanks with vehicle-mounted jammers as skilled operators can accurately action drones into the gaps of cope cages and turtle pond improvised gear.

Tom Porter makes the claim in a February 2024 Business Insider article that while Russian jamming capabilities are better than those of Ukraine, they are not distributed equally across the front lines. Unprotected vehicles, according to Porter, can be a weak link.

Among other solutions on offer, fiber-optic drones are immune to jamming and radiolocation, with their control signals sent via a cable akin to wire-guided ATGMs. However, the length of their fiber-optic control cables restricts their range, which may pose a risk to their operators. Control cables can also get tangled or damaged.

In a 2023 article for Military Review, Curtis Buzzard and other authors make reference to the renewed debates over the relevance of the tank in contemporary warfare, arguing that tank supporters claim that they can use essential firepower, mobility, and survivability to form combined arms teams, enabling breakthrough operations, and projecting national power, as seen in the Invasion of Iraq and the 1967 Six-Day War.

However, Buzzard and others point out that critics highlight tanks ‘ vulnerabilities to ATGMs, drones and loitering munitions, as demonstrated by heavy Russian tank losses in Ukraine. Additionally, they criticize tanks for their logistical demands and for their large electromagnetic signatures, which make them detectable.

While critics may call the tank obsolete, Buzzard and others argue that tanks remain crucial but must evolve through integration, concealment, and enhanced mobility to meet future threats.

Advancements in laser weapon technology may soon make them a viable drone defense for armored fighting vehicles, even though improvised solutions like cope cages, turtle tanks, and vehicle-mounted jammers have varying degrees of effectiveness against rapidly evolving drone warfare capabilities.

In an October 2024 article for the Wall Street Journal ( WSJ), Alistair MacDonald cautions that, despite their promise, laser weapons face significant limitations, including high energy requirements, limited range and susceptibility to adverse weather conditions.

According to MacDonald, these limitations prevent lasers from performing well in dynamic combat situations because they struggle to maintain focus and power over long ranges and during atmospheric disturbances.

Additionally, he claims that the bulkiness of the required cooling and power supplies makes it harder for them to be deployed on mobile devices.

However, MacDonald says technological advancements have made vehicle-mounted counter-drone lasers more feasible. He mentions that fiber lasers increase efficiency and compactness by combining light from several strands into a single, potent beam.

He claims that the incorporation of high-energy lasers onto vehicles like the US Army’s Stryker armored fighting vehicle has also been made possible by the development of smaller, stronger power generators and cooling systems.

According to MacDonald, these improvements provide a cost-effective and essentially limitless ammunition supply and allow for quick, precise targeting of drones. He mentions that the successful trials of these systems demonstrate that they have the potential to improve combat capabilities, making a significant advancement in counter-drone technology.

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The Palestinian Arab Army’s fast fall in response to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s advance, which the UN Security Council has labeled a terrorist organization, has attracted international attention from their ranks.

The Tamils from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region rank first and foremost among those foreigners. They previously fought China as East Turkestan Islamic Movement members, but they later changed their names to Turkistan Islamic Party.

Regardless of what brand they go by, the organization has been active in Idlib since 2017 when information about its provinces in that region of Syria started to surface. The group has a history of working with criminal organizations like Al Qaeda to aid in the eviction of a Uyghur express from China. The UN Security Council designated it as a criminal organization for this reason. In later 2020, the United States removed its unique title for being dormant, blatantly indicating that the organization had fallen into hibernation, but it is now known that this was untrue.

A movie released by members of the organization urging violent jihad against China recently emerged from Syria. Under the heading” China has cause to be terrified of rebel-run Syria,” Yang Xiaotong wrote a thorough Asia Times article on the subject. The Turkistan Islamic Party is recruiting people from Central Asia, and it could restore itself in Afghanistan by attacking the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, two of the most crucial factors.

The hall is considered to be the Belt and Road Initiative’s lineup project, and for years it’s been the target of attacks by the Balochistan Liberation Army, which Pakistan, China and even the US have designated as a criminal business. Since the Afghan Taliban reclaimed Afghanistan and provided refuge to the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, the BLA has increased its problems.

The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan and the Balochistan Liberation Army are now viewed as casual friends. Both parties want to obliterate Muslim soil: the TTP wants to establish a radical Islamist dictatorship, while the BLA wants to cut out an independent Balochistan.

Some people also believe that the Afghan Taliban would demand the cession of Pakistan’s Pashtun-majority Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ( previously known as the Northwest Frontier Province ) as retribution for their contributions to the TTP’s rise to power because the Afghan Taliban do not recognize the Durand Line.

Because the Afghan Taliban have good relations with China, they might not be interested in having the Turkistan Islamic Party there. The problem, though, is that the Afghan Taliban don’t have total power over their territory– while is proven by the continued presence of ISIS-K cells it. Additionally, they recently hosted the Turkistan Islamic Party in accordance with the tenet of offering shelter to all like-minded Muslim organizations with the condition that they don’t endanger others.

Thus, it’s possible that the Afghan Taliban and the Turkistan Islamic Party can form again in Afghanistan. From that, it may launch an attack on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, just as the half Afghan-based Balochistan Liberation Army has been doing.

It is possible that the Turkistan Islamic Party may strategically desire to beat China’s sweet spot in order to increase the organization’s profile, while the Balochistan Liberation Army attacks the corridor for ultra-nationalist reasons, asserting that the megaproject is exploiting the local Baloch by privying them of the riches derived from the region’s natural resource wealth.

For unscrupulous motivation may also have some application in Central Asia, aside from attacking Pakistani-based Belt and Road tasks. From that, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham even has sourced some of its international fighters– especially Uzbeks, who are the country’s most popular people.

The Turkistan Islamist Party was recruit recruits from Uyghur communities in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, whether they carry out attacks on Belt and Road projects in Pakistan, border crossings in Xinjiang, education in Afghanistan or Syria, or both.

These plausible scenarios raise questions about Turkiye’s indirect sponsorship of the party as a result of Ankara’s covert acceptance of the Turkistan Islamists ‘ alliance with the Turkish-backed Hayat Tahrir al-Sham ( commonly abbreviated HTS), the group that recently conquered Syria.

Although Turkiye considers itself to be the leader of the Organization of Turkish States, which includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, its citizens, particularly Uzbeks, have now received HTS education and gained related field expertise in Syria under HTS control. When Turkiye allowed some of its citizens to become potential terrorist threats without raising a finger to stop them, it will be difficult for the country to demonstrate itself as a trustworthy partner for those countries.

The role of Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence agency is another thing to keep in mind. GUR was implicated in HTS’s offensive in Syria, according to The Washington Post. So it isn’t surprising that Kyiv backs HTS because it had previously supported Tuareg militants in Mali against the allegedly Wagner-backed Rapid Support Forces in Sudan. Nevertheless, the contemporary GUR is also a CIA project, as the Washington Post reported in late 2023. &nbsp,

Thus, it is possible that the CIA will use GUR as a blatantly unfeigned proxy to control or at least encourage the Turkistan Islamist Party’s expansion in the geostrategic Central Asian region between Russia and China. Even if Turkiye opposes it, it might happen. By demilitarizing and demobilizing its armed formations, Ankara could preemptively defuse that scenario by using its influence over HTS to oust the Turkistan Islamist Party inside Syria. Uyghurs who are deported to China may also be deported.

Of course, that would require tremendous political will, which Turkiye might not have at present. Recep Tayyip Erodgan, president, has previously defended himself as a champion of the Uyghurs ‘ political cause, but he has since toned down such rhetoric out of pragmatism to strengthen ties with China. Thus, he might face accusations of betrayal from his domestic base, as well as from those who support his Islamist-driven foreign policy abroad.

If he doesn’t take decisive action right away, even if only to the extent that he won’t allow other Uyghurs, Central Asians, or Chechens to train there via Turkiye for training with that organization or HTS, he might find himself with a serious issue on his hands that could harm his foreign policy. After all, those people traveled to Syria with the covert support of his country for training and battlefield experience, so Erdogan is ultimately held responsible for any attacks they might carry out in the future.

Pakistan is one of Turkiye’s close partners. Therefore, it will be incredibly scandalous if Syrian-based Uyghurs eventually travel to Afghanistan to engage in a hybrid war against China and Pakistan, which is also thought to be Pakistan’s economic development’s foundation.

The question is whether the Turkistan Islamists do it on their own or in concert with the CIA-sponsored GUR, since Turkiye will still be held accountable for a portion of it. Russia, China, the Central Asian republics, and Pakistan are therefore watching very closely to see what Erdogan will do.

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In the first decades of 2017, two American traveled to Syria where they met individually with that country’s despot, Bashar Al-Assad.

One of them was Tulsi Gabbard, therefore a Hawaii Democratic congressman, then President-elect Trump’s find to be director of national intelligence. &nbsp, Another American, arriving in Damascus less than two weeks later, &nbsp, was me.

It’s fair to say our discussions with Assad, and the information we after relayed to the world about what was taking area inside his land, &nbsp, couldn’t have been more diverse.

Gabbard flew covertly to Syria in the middle of January that year, becoming the first member of Congress to do so since 2011, when Syrian forces massacred peaceful protesters and imprisoned thousands of others at the top of the Egyptian Spring. The fight between anti-Assad troops and the Arab military escalated into something unprecedented, and it even got worse in 2015 when Russia’s Vladimir Putin dispatched unique causes and aircraft to battle “rebel” neighborhoods in cities like Aleppo. &nbsp,

However, Gabbard was unimpressed by Assad’s repeated use of chemical arms against his own citizens or the indiscriminate Russian attack. Her journey — privately&nbsp, funded&nbsp, by a Cleveland-based Muslim United group friendly to Assad — turned into a propaganda coup for the Arab program. Gambard and Assad met twice, but nothing was revealed about what they truly said to one another.

These classes with the tyrant were, to say the least, questionable. ” To say I’m disgusted would be an understatement”, said Republican senator Adam Kinzinger on the House floor. ” By meeting with the large criminal of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, Tulsi Gabbard has legitimized his tyranny and, in turn, legitimized his murder against the Arab people”.

Gabbard, for her part, defended&nbsp, herself, &nbsp, writing in a blog&nbsp, post&nbsp, ( and in a later CNN&nbsp, interview&nbsp, ) that she would be ready to meet with anyone “if there’s a chance it can help bring about an end to this war”. She later&nbsp, said&nbsp, Assad is” certainly the army of the United States” .&nbsp,

However, what she said about him and how she addressed the world about the Palestinian issue itself was what really added to Assad during this journey. &nbsp, She adopted wholesale the Syrian ( and Russian ) government&nbsp, line that the main forces resisting Assad were not the Free Syrian Army and other rebel groups&nbsp, pledged&nbsp, to creating a&nbsp, democratic free Syria but Al Qaeda and ISIS terrorists — supported by the United States government, no less. ( It should be noted that the US military was attempting to target and destroy the ISIS caliphate in Iraq at the time. ) &nbsp,

” There is no difference between’ moderate’ rebels and al-Qaeda ( al-Nusra ) or ISIS—they are all the same”, Gabbard wrote in her blog post.

Even more impressive, she later released a three minute YouTube&nbsp, video&nbsp, about her journey, showing bombed-out structures as well as babies in hospitals&nbsp, and maimed citizens with amputated limbs, portraying them all as victims of the Arab “terrorist” rebels. &nbsp, ( Fact check: According to the UK based Arab Network for Human Rights, as of 2022, &nbsp, 228, 893&nbsp, residents had been killed in the government’s civil war — with more than 90 percent of these deaths caused by the Syrian government or its Russian allies. )

&nbsp, On her legislative website, she posted&nbsp, photos&nbsp, from the trip, including one of her meeting with Palestinian religious leaders, each of whom, she wrote, called for” an end to international support of terrorists who are trying to rid Syria of its liberal, pluralistic, completely society”. ( Fact check: Freedom House, which does annual rankings of the state of freedom in every country in the world, ranked Assad’s Syria close to the bottom of its list, below North Korea, China&nbsp, and Iran, &nbsp, calling it “one of the world’s most oppressive regimes” which “harshly&nbsp, suppresses freedom of speech and assembly” with “enforced disappearances, military trials and torture … rampant in government-controlled areas”. )

All of this was nothing new for Gabbard. In 2015, Mouaz Moustafa, a Washington-based anti-regime activist serving as the executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Forces, traveled with Gabbard and other House members to the Syrian-Turkish border with a congressional delegation two years prior to her meeting with Assad. They had a conversation with displaced civilians there who described how constant Syrian and Russian bombings had driven them from their homes. Much to Moustafa’s astonishment, Gabbard was openly skeptical. How do you know whether Assad or the Russians carried out the bombings? she asked them. ” How do you know it wasn’t ISIS”?

Moustafa could barely stop&nbsp, himself from blurting out the blindingly obvious: ISIS doesn’t have an Air Force! &nbsp, He&nbsp, came away clear-eyed about Gabbard’s world view. ” She’s like the perfect product of RT propaganda”, he said. &nbsp,

Confronting Assad&nbsp,

I arrived in Damascus in early February, not long after Gabbard had left in late January. The Lebanese American brother of the Cleveland-based organization that paid for Gabbard’s trip, which I was working for at the time, only paid the brother as a fixer in my situation. If he was expecting another sympathetic report on Assad and his regime, however, he was soon to be sorely disappointed. &nbsp,

The trip was tense and at times nerve-wracking. The Damascus airport was shut down because Syria was a war zone. A Yahoo News cameraman and I had to travel by armed caravan through the Bekaa Valley to the Syrian border from Beirut to Beirut. Our fixer — with clear approvals from up high — had arranged for the Syrian military to provide us with safe passage, avoiding “rebel” areas, &nbsp, as we made our&nbsp, way to the capital. I stayed there before arriving at a five-star Intercontinental hotel constructed in the days before Assad’s regime became a global pariah. &nbsp,

But on the morning of my scheduled interview, I was torn. My reporting on the so-called Caesar photos, which were tens of thousands of brutal photos taken inside Assad’s torture chambers, showed rows of naked, bruised, burned, and emaciated bodies, shocking images that immediately drew comparisons to those from Nazi concentration camps. &nbsp, ( Indeed, they would later go on display in a special exhibit at the&nbsp, Holocaust Museum. ) A regime photographer, codenamed Caesar, who had taken the photos had defected and smuggled them out of the country in thumb drives concealed in his shoes because he was so sickened by what he was given the task of documenting: the torture and murder of Assad’s prisoners. The late Senator John McCain claimed he looked at the photos every day and kept them on his desk as a reminder of the regime’s atrocities.

I contacted Moustafa before I left on my trip and requested copies of some of the Caesar photos to bring with me. I had watched past interviews of Assad and knew that, whenever confronted with questions about the grotesque excesses of his regime, he invariably responded:” Oh, do you have the evidence? Can you show me the evidence”? I wanted to have the evidence to show him if I was going to ask him about the Caesar photos. &nbsp, &nbsp, &nbsp, &nbsp,

And then, I hesitated. What if the bodyguards of Assad’s regime attacked me when I arrived and discovered the photos? My only purpose for attending the interview would be blown up. I was genuinely uncertain whether it was worth the risk — until I logged onto the internet in the hotel’s business center and saw the lead&nbsp, story&nbsp, in that day’s New York Times.

&nbsp,” Amnesty Report Accuses Syria of Executing Thousands Since War Began”, read the headline. Up to 13, 000 people were executed in mass hangings at Assad’s infamous Saydnaya military prison, according to a new report from the Amnesty International organization. Further, the report further details how the detainees at Saydnaya were subjected to severe and repeated beatings, most of whom were imprisoned for organizing anti-government demonstrations, were later found guilty while blindfolded in sham military trials that sometimes lasted just a few minutes.

In short, Assad’s brutality was very much international news on the day of my interview. I was now determined to advance the narrative. I could be the first journalist to confront him with the Caesar photos in addition to posing questions to him about the Amnesty International report. &nbsp,

Vest pocket weapon

I hopped into my fixer’s car on the way to Assad’s presidential office, &nbsp, and hurried caution to the wind by putting my copies of the photos in the inside pocket of my jacket as well as another document I figured would be useful. &nbsp,

It was all strange, of course. I’m relieved to find that I passed through security without any issues because the Syrian security personnel never looked through the pocket of my jacket. &nbsp, Assad, tall, awkward and somewhat herky-jerky in his&nbsp, movements — odd, I thought for a London-trained&nbsp, ophthalmologist — greeted me as I walked in, &nbsp, asking if we could&nbsp, have an informal chat before the interview began. He wanted to talk about the state of the American media, relating in the course of our somewhat stilted conversation how he liked to watch conservative BillO’Reilly’s Fox News show and, no doubt for balance, the leftwing&nbsp,” Young Turks” YouTube show.

After that, we moved to a nearby office where Syrian TV cameras would record the interview and give us a copy of the tape, repeatedly assuring us that no editorial content would be removed. This was done in exchange for the assurance that no editorial content would be removed. I started the&nbsp, session&nbsp, slowly and respectfully, asking Assad whether he had had any communications with the new Trump administration in Washington ( no, he hadn’t ) and whether he saw a path to an improvement in US-Syria relations under the new president. ( Sure, he said, as long as the US works with his government, the Russians and the Iranians to fight the “terrorists” threatening his country. ) &nbsp, &nbsp,

And when it came to the Syrian civil war, he offered his standard talking points, the same ones that&nbsp, had just been repeated to the world by Tulsi Gabbard, using virtually the identical language. &nbsp,

Who backed the rebels and referred to them as “moderate rebels” as they transitioned from Syria to ISIS and Al-Nusra? he said. ” We didn’t. So it’s not our responsibility…. Your country supported them”. ( Fact check: the US not only didn’t support Al-Nusra, it had designated it as a terrorist group. In the complexity of the war, however, some US aid to opposition groups indirectly benefited Al-Nusra. ) &nbsp, &nbsp, &nbsp, &nbsp,

About&nbsp, halfway in, I started to press him about his human rights record. Things&nbsp, started to get testy. I brought up the Amnesty International Report which described the military prison at Saydnaya as a “human slaughterhouse” .&nbsp, &nbsp,

” What do you know about what’s going on in that prison”? I asked. &nbsp,

He dismissed the question as irrelevant. Why question him about human rights when the United States has” this close, very close relation” with Saudi Arabia? &nbsp, &nbsp, &nbsp,

” I’m not interviewing the King of Saudi Arabia right now”, I responded. ” I’m interviewing you. I’m asking you about reports of human rights abuses in your prison, in your country”.

” Yeah, of course. You own the question. I own the answers. So that’s my answer”, Assad, replied with a nervous laugh.

” The United States is in no position to talk about human rights”, he said. ” Since the Vietnam War til this moment, they killed millions of civilians. You don’t talk about the 1.5 million]killed ] in Iraq without any assignment by the]UN] Security Council” authorizing the invasion of that country, he added. &nbsp, As for Amnesty International, “it’s always biased and politicized” .&nbsp,

I made it clear that the report was based on interviews with former prisoners, doctors, and, as a bonus, three former Syrian judges, who claimed the Syrian government’s minister of defense or Army chief of staff had both been “deputized acting on behalf of President Bashar al-Assad.”

” It means nothing”, he replied.

“Nothing?” 

” No. When you need to make a report, you need evidence, concrete evidence”. Then he suggested that Amnesty had compensated the witnesses who spoke to him for their testimony. &nbsp,” You can forge anything these days”.

Photo finish

It was now time to move on to the Caesar photos, questions he was likely not expecting. I informed him that a Syrian woman had just filed a lawsuit in Spain against nine senior Syrian government and intelligence officials who claimed her brother had vanished from one of his prisons, and that she was using Caesar photos to support her claims of abuse. &nbsp,

” Have you seen the photos? I asked him. &nbsp,

” No, I didn’t. Do you have a photo?”

” I do have the photos.”

” Can you show it to me?”

” Yes, I’d be happy to,” I replied, reaching into my inside jacket pocket and handing them to him”. Here.”

And just as I did, the cameras went off, the lights went out, and the room became completely dim. &nbsp,

It was a surreal moment. Without saying a word, I was sitting face to face with Assad in the dark, hardly giving a second to the tortured victims. His press release quickly announced that a fuse had blown and that they were putting things right. Given the timing, I was, to say the least, skeptical. I assumed nervous aides were deliberating whether to allow the interview to continue in a back room of a presidential suite. &nbsp,

But after a few minutes, they decided they&nbsp, would — likely concluding, &nbsp, quite correctly, that if they cut off the interview at that moment it would be the principal focus of my story. The interview was resumed as the lights turned on. ( You can watch the entire exchange&nbsp, here &nbsp, with the interregnum in darkness cut out in the edit room by Syrian TV producers. )

” Have you verified” the photos? Assad demanded”. You can’t mention a picture like that without checking who those are, where, and everything else. ” The photos were no doubt doctored, he argued. &nbsp,

I made it clear that the US State Department had sent 242 of the photos to the FBI Crime Lab for analysis. &nbsp, I then whipped out the other document I had taken with me in my jacket: &nbsp, the FBI report on the Caesar photos. I read it to him”. No artifacts or inconsistent patterns that would suggest they have been manipulated are present in the depicted bodies and scenes. As a result of the above observations, all of these 242 images appear to depict real people and events.”

” Who said that?”” The FBI. Have you seen the report? ” I handed it to him.

” Whether, if the FBI says something, it’s not some — something it’s not evidence for anyone, especially for us … It’s just propaganda. It’s just fake news.”

And with that, Assad gave me my&nbsp, lead. The now-US president was using a phrase titled “fake news” that had been coined on the 2016 campaign trail. It was a brand-new, lethal American export that authoritarians around the world were looking for to disprove and mock inconvenient truths for. &nbsp, &nbsp,

And Assad, no doubt emboldened by the PR boost he had just gotten from his new friend, the congresswoman from Hawaii, was happy to join the chorus.

The well-known author and investigative journalist Michael Isikoff has worked for Newsweek, NBC News, and Yahoo News. This article was first published in the Substack newsletter SpyTalk on November 21, 2024. It is republished with permission.

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Australia’s submarine ideas are slipping due to aging Collins-class warships and AUKUS risks, forcing difficult decisions on its future underground warfare skills.

This month, Naval News&nbsp, reported&nbsp, that the American government has designated the Collins class regular underwater sustainment program as a “product of concern”, following a Defense Australia&nbsp, recommendation&nbsp, to strengthen supervisory oversight of this important capability.

According to Naval News, this statement highlights the difficulties that these boats face in extending beyond their original design’s lifetime. The Albanese government is reportedly committed to investing AUD 4 to 5 billion ( US$ 2.56-3.2 billion ) over the next ten years to ensure that the Collins school is in place until its planned withdrawal in 2030.

The Australian Shipbuilding Company has a fresh AUD$ 2.2 billion sustainment agreement, which was signed in June 2024, according to the report. This agreement replaces the one under the previous coalition government that included an Hey 120 million efficiency dividend.

The Collins school has experienced significant problems, including unprecedented levels of erosion, which necessitated complete remediation measures, according to Naval News. It states that the title of “product of problem” aims to address these issues through better oversight and a upcoming summit in early 2025.

According to the report, this initiative is a part of a wider effort to ensure that no capability gaps exist until the transition to typically military, nuclear-powered submarines is finished.

Underscoring the weight of the issue, American Broadcasting Corporation News&nbsp, reported&nbsp, in November 2024 that the Royal Australian Navy is grappling with a major operational problem. According to the review, the navy now has just one of its six Collins-class ships that is fully operational.

This condition is brought on by immediate repairs and scheduled upgrades that the aging ship, which has experienced exceptional ship erosion, are required, according to ABC News. The report says two ships are stationed at Adelaide’s Osborne factory, where employee cuts are causing difficulties in their extensive repair, known as full-cycle landing.

Additionally, the report mentions three ships are at Western Australia’s Garden Island marine center, with at least one awaiting documentation to return to support.

Despite these difficulties, ABC News maintains that Defense Australia can match the government’s operational presence goals, even though certain submarines ‘ specific locations and accessibility are unknown for security reasons.

Australia may hope to re-establish its underwater warfare capabilities by purchasing nuclear attack submarines ( SSNs ) under the AUKUS framework, but that prospect has an uncertain future.

Asia Times&nbsp, mentioned&nbsp, this month that Australia’s nuclear submarine ambitions under the AUKUS security pact face significant challenges due to a weak US production base, uncertainties from a second Trump administration and reluctance to share nuclear technology.

A recent US Congressional Research Service ( CRS ) &nbsp, report&nbsp, suggests that US SSNs could perform Australian and US missions in the region in lieu of Canberra’s acquiring nuclear attack submarines ( SSNs ) under AUKUS. Similar arrangements already exist between the US and its NATO allies. The report provides alternative strategies for reinvesting funds used for SSNs into other military assets, including forward rotations of US and UK SSNs to Australia. The report warns that if Australia’s SSN plans reach a cost-accounting death spiral, it could reduce funding for other military capabilities, impacting deterrence against China.

Critics claim that Australia should leverage its distance from China to avoid projecting military power into China’s near-mainland and that the AUKUS SSN project lacks a clear strategic rationale.

US President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House raises concerns about the future of AUKUS, with potential demands for increased Australian contributions. Further, Australia’s reluctance to cooperate on nuclear power complicates its SSN ambitions.

Australia might have to reconsider acquiring SSNs from an alternative source given Australia’s looming underwater warfare capability gap and the uncertain future of AUKUS.

In an&nbsp, article&nbsp, for the Strategist this month, Peter Briggs argues that Australia should prepare to acquire at least 12 French Suffren-class SSNs, as the current AUKUS plan for eight SSNs faces increasing risks.

According to Briggs, the AUKUS plan, which includes three US-built and five British-built SSNs, is unlikely to meet deadlines due to production delays and design challenges. He claims that the Australian government, which will be elected next year, should choose the French design to ensure deliveries by 2038 by 2026.

He mentions that the Suffren class, already in service with the French Navy, offers a more feasible solution with its 5, 300-ton displacement, 70-day endurance, and 60-person crew. He claims that this ship’s design is best suited for anti-submarine warfare and can accommodate missiles and special forces.

Briggs says the AUKUS SSN plan’s mixed designs and oversized UK submarines, driven by reactor dimensions, are unsuitable for Australia’s needs and pose significant crew and cost challenges. He adds that the AUKUS plan is further complicated by US and UK submarine production issues, making the French Suffren class a more affordable and practical choice.

He claims that this change would allow Australia to continue to offer SSN training to its allies in the US and the UK and establish a joint construction program with France to meet its maritime security requirements.

However, acquiring 12 French-built Suffren-class SSNs would require a radical shift in Australia’s defense posture, away from the AUKUS arrangement and toward dependence on French defense infrastructure.

The Suffren class is a capable SSN, but the political and strategic risk associated with reneging on the AUKUS framework and the need to invest in nuclear infrastructure over the long term makes it so.

There are ongoing debates about whether the AUKUS framework was the best way to restore Australia’s underwater warfare capabilities in light of Australia’s aging Collins submarines and the uncertain future of its AUKUS SSN plans.

In a June 2024&nbsp, debate&nbsp, published by the United States Studies Center, Richard Dunley argues that the plan is optimal given limited alternatives. He emphasizes the acquisition of Virginia-class SSNs from the US as a” stopgap” solution that accelerates Australia’s nuclear submarine capability. He also makes a point of mentioning the benefits of supporting a joint industrial base by co-developing the UK’s SSN.

Elizabeth Buchanan, in contrast, points out that the AUKUS SSN is too expensive and ambitious and advocates for a more practical approach that uses US and UK submarines using Australia’s “pit-stop power.” This arrangement, she argues, better aligns with Australia’s strategic and resource constraints.

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After Hezbollah was defeated by Israeli activities in Lebanon in September and Donald Trump’s election as Republican presidential candidate in the US in early November, simple changes have occurred in Sino-Russian relations. &nbsp,

Some Chinese critics believe that the Assad regime’s fall on December 8 made the differences between China and Russia’s political interests wider. &nbsp,

According to all these instances, Dmitry Medvedev, president of the United Russia party and deputy president of Russia’s Security Council, visited Beijing on December 12.

Medvedev was reportedly presented with a letter signed by Putin by the Taiwanese president after meeting with him. The letter, according to the statement, expressed Putin’s joy over a new visit to China on the situation of the 75th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China’s formation of diplomatic relations with Russia. &nbsp,

However, according to Chinese experts, Medvedev’s most recent meeting with Liu Jianchao, a top Chinese diplomat and current head of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP ) International Department, should be watched. &nbsp,

Medvedev stated to Liu during their meeting that” Russia is ready to begin negotiations with Ukraine if Kyiv takes into account the challenges of today and the suggestions made by Putin.”

According to some spectators, Medvedev’s talk suggests that Beijing is only interested in maintaining business relations with Europe in the Trump 2.0 time while Putin is reluctant to engage in a ceasefire discussion with Kyiv.

A Hebei-based author called” Bo Ge” says in an article published on December 12 that Medvedev’s remark showed that Moscow wants to “maintain its democracy and seek to achieve powerful connection in specific matters” in Russia-China relationships. &nbsp,

Although China and Russia have cooperated on some power and anti-terrorism issues, he claims that their corporate interests are drastically different in terms of political problems related to Middle Eastern and European security concerns. The heavy ice between China and Russia hasn’t been broken by Medvedev’s most recent trip to Beijing.

A Henan-based journalist using the surname” A book retailer in the sea” published an article with the subject” China and Russia didn’t form an alliance, Medvedev has made a decision” on December 12.

He claims that the Syria and Ukraine troubles were discussed at the Liu-Medvedev conference. He claims that the lack of complete control over the new Syrian government may encourage violence and, in turn, harm China’s hobbies in the Middle East. &nbsp, &nbsp,

According to the author, Putin may have written a letter to China and Russia asking for more strategic cooperation to strengthen Moscow’s bargaining positions on the front lines before ability peace negotiations are started by US President-elect Donald Trump, who will take business in the White House on January 20th, 2019. &nbsp,

He reiterates Beijing’s approach that China and Russia does not form an alliance.

Southwestern Silk Road&nbsp,

Beijing may keep a close eye on the social situation in Syria, according to some Chinese critics, but it is only doing it for the sake of it, not to aid Russia. &nbsp,

” Some folks think the decline of Assad’s regime did hurt China’s passions, but really the affair is a great opportunity for China”, a Hong Kong-based blogger writes in an article. ” China’s interests will be hurt only if Syria becomes chaotic” .&nbsp,

He claims that Bashar al-Assad, the former leader of Syria, failed for many years in his efforts to boost the local market and oust anti-government troops and ISIS, making China able to complete the Southern Silk Road’s connection with Europe via Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Iran, Iraq, and Syria. &nbsp,

He points out that China’s complete direct purchase in Syria was just US$ 13.24 million at the end of 2022, which is a significant drop from the$ 300 billion figure that bloggers have claimed. &nbsp, &nbsp,

” By offering humanitarian aid, China may establish a good relation with the new Palestinian state”, he says. China and Syria can cooperate economically, while China can support their restoration projects it.

A Beijing-based contributor says setting up the Northen Silk Road to join China and Europe via Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus and Poland may not be a smart choice for Beijing.

” For then it’s certainly a question of passing through Russia as Sino-Russia relationships are good”, he says. What if, one time, we need to approach Russia for assistance? How much do we have to spend?” he continues, noting that Poland may not be a trustworthy trade partner.

Turkey may slip through the Middle East nation, according to him, but Beijing will likely request a sizable sum of money, he claims. Then, he says, Syria is a new opportunity for China to construct its Silk Road.

Sino-Russia diplomatic deal

In the first 10 weeks of this year, the bilateral trade between China and Russia grew 2.8 % year-on-year to US$ 202 billion, according to the Chinese traditions. Nevertheless, the number dropped 5 % year-on-year to US$ 20.5 billion in November.

China’s exports to Russia also fell 10.5 % year-on-year in November after growing 24.4 % in October.

Due to this, in September, China approved the Rules on Civil-Military Dual-Use Products after G7 countries raised fears in April about Chinese firms ‘ shipments of weapons parts to Russia. In order to avoid US sanctions, the nation earlier this year urged local financial institutions to stop accepting payments from Russia in the renminbi. &nbsp,

As Beijing keeps Moscow at arm’s length, the customs department of Russia’s eastern city of Vladivostok has imposed a 55.65 % tariff on China-made furniture parts since autumn. &nbsp,

The Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade announced a plan to gradually raise the country’s “recycling fee” for auto buyers from current levels to 70-85 % by 2030. The fee, which is seen as another form of tariff targeting Chinese vehicles, will increase by 10-20 % from the beginning of 2025. &nbsp,

Read: First salvo of a Russia-China trade war

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Dr. Maximilian Krah is one of the most important figures in Germany’s liberal group, the Other für Deutschland. He addressed Asia Times in response to accusations that AfD and the present a menace to European Jews. David P. Goldman, the assistant director of Asia Times, and I spoke with him in German for a brief period of time.

Asia Times: Dr. Krah, &nbsp, the leader of the Central Council of German Jews, Josef Schuster, had this to state on November 29:” If a group like the Other für Deutschland were to have responsibility for governing Germany, one would have to beg in all seriousness whether Hebrew living in Germany &nbsp, were&nbsp, also feasible. I have looked at every blog on the&nbsp, AfD&nbsp, site concerning Jews and the State of Israel, and without exception they defend Israel’s right to exist and reject racism in Germany. How do you discuss this gap?

Krah: &nbsp, I believe&nbsp, that Schuster is just stuck in a universe that no longer exists. &nbsp, There&nbsp, is no question that, generally speaking, &nbsp, antisemitism&nbsp, was common on the right, while nowadays it is at home on the left. That was genuine in Germany. We see that in Hungary, also. &nbsp, The aged Hungarian appropriate was racist, but that was a long time ago. &nbsp, Today ‘s&nbsp, Viktor Orban is no longer racist, and we&nbsp, see the same thing&nbsp, all&nbsp, over the world.

This has a lot to do with Israel. In 1967, Israel faced opponents who were all armed by Moscow. The Free World’s next wish in the Middle East at the time was Israel. Intelligent liberals in&nbsp, the USA and Western Europe realized that it is absolutely pointless to continue to think of Immigrants as socialists, because&nbsp, they were in fact&nbsp, the only ones fighting socialists, and items have been changing since then. I believe that Schuster is&nbsp, an honorable gentleman, but he is also very&nbsp, out of date, &nbsp, and has not yet &nbsp, grasped&nbsp, that&nbsp, racism has migrated&nbsp, from the right to the left. He claims that we were still in the 1960s. He has veered off from right to left, and he appears to be implying that we will spend another 60 times together. That is unfortunate, &nbsp, but I didn’t alter it. Because people are aware without a doubt that what he is saying is incorrect, no one takes him seriously again.

AT: When I look at the German political environment, I note that Viktor Orban is Israel’s best companion in Europe. Orban quickly invited Netanyahu to Budapest as a host of the Hungarian position when he was charged by the International Criminal Court. Geert Wilders, the head of Holland’s Freedom Party, went so far as to identify the German right-wing events as” German Zionists. Is there any racism left over from the German right?

Krah: &nbsp, There’s always something, and I haven’t set my hand in the fire to exclude that chance. There is no hatred at all at the amount of the group leaders and the plan makers, though. &nbsp, The reality&nbsp, has changed entirely, and for that reason no one holds onto this century-old&nbsp, crazy..

The remaining has embraced hatred, &nbsp, for two factors. Second, Israel is then a strong supporter of the United States, and it is a business market rather than a socialist job: It is anything but communism, where everyone is supposed to live in a community. The next issue, of course, is the remaining ‘s&nbsp, strong&nbsp, aid for emigration. For them, the refugee is a hobby. They want to see the greatest conceivable emigration, especially from the Middle East and North Africa. These are Muslims who are very angry to Israel and, consequently, usually pretty anti-Semitic. The remaining gets tied up in the immigration issue, and refuses to address the issue of immigrant hatred. For these reasons hatred is at home on the left, while none of the leading characters on the right&nbsp, has been affected.

AT: Jewish people in Europe are currently concerned about their physical health. There have been racist demonstrations, attacks on churches and attack against individual Jews. Where does all of this come from? Have&nbsp, their&nbsp, been any problems than can be ascribed to the appropriate wing of European politics?

Krah: There is not a single attack on Jewish institutions that comes from the right, despite the fact that all of these attacks are perpetrated by refugees or by left-wing extreme terrorist organizations affiliated with them. A lone offender wanted to attack a church in Halle. He was never a right-winger&nbsp, but an isolated person who had a computer full of ridiculous ideas but&nbsp, was in no way connected to the&nbsp, AfD&nbsp, or to&nbsp, any&nbsp, right-wing activity. There is not a single attack that is in any way associated with&nbsp, organizations&nbsp, on the political right. And&nbsp, that applies&nbsp, not just in Germany, &nbsp, but&nbsp, across&nbsp, all of Europe. We do not protect synagogues or&nbsp, other&nbsp, Jewish institutions from&nbsp, the&nbsp, political&nbsp, right. We protect them&nbsp, from&nbsp, al-Qaeda, from Islamist violence and from left-wing extremists.

AT: Could you elaborate on the political leaders of Europe who support more Near Eastern immigrants?

Krah: As of now, we are talking about all the politicians who opened the border, for example Angela Merkel, who is a Christian Democrat, that is, from the political center. The only ones who want to close the border are &nbsp, the right. But the Greens, the Social Democrats, the Liberals] Free Democratic Party ] and the Christian Democrats all support open borders, and open borders in Europe means immigration rom Afghanistan, from Syria, from Algeria and from sub-Saharan Africa – that is, from countries that are shaped by Islam, and therefore have problems with the State of Israel and with Jews in general. Only the right wants to close the borders. All the others want to keep them open, some very wide, others a little less, but they all concur, and for this reason it is obvious that they are all to blame for the rise in anti-Semitism. &nbsp,

AT: &nbsp, The&nbsp, AfD, of course, opposes this. &nbsp,

Krah: &nbsp, There is a&nbsp, study out of&nbsp, Denmark about where immigration is economically useful or harmful. &nbsp, immigration from Afghanistan and Syria&nbsp, does not help either economically&nbsp, or culturally. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t individual success stories among these migrants, but in the big picture it is damaging economically as well as culturally. It is particularly bad for the&nbsp, sitiuation&nbsp, of European Jews, who have come under increasing threat.

AT: There is&nbsp, an organization of Jewish members of&nbsp, the AFD. Tell us about this.

Krah: &nbsp, It ‘s&nbsp, is&nbsp, a small group &nbsp, of&nbsp, Jews who are not left-wingers. But in Germany, &nbsp, most Jews are &nbsp, on the&nbsp, left or in the&nbsp, center. That’s understandable for historical reasons, there are very few German Jews left. Many&nbsp, of the Jews living in Germany todays&nbsp, immigrated from the former Soviet Union in the 90s. &nbsp,

AT: &nbsp, You are a committed Christian. The” civilizational” parties of Europe who view Christianity as a pillar of the character of Europe are largely unrepentant toward Jews. Can you elaborate on the Jewish contribution to European civilization from a personal perspective?

Krah: There is&nbsp, a&nbsp, renowned&nbsp, German-Jewish&nbsp, symbiosis. That&nbsp, has something to do with the fact&nbsp, that both&nbsp, the Germans and the Jews had the idea that social advancement was achieved through education. &nbsp, How did one become part of the middle class in Germany? &nbsp, The German’&nbsp, socialization&nbsp, mechanism&nbsp, was the university. Unfortunately, &nbsp, our universities no longer do this, but&nbsp, classically speaking, the Germans&nbsp, achieved&nbsp, success&nbsp, through&nbsp, education and that is exactly what we have in common with the Jews. In the 19th century, the Jews had no power&nbsp, and&nbsp, no influence, but what they&nbsp, had was a high&nbsp, intelligence. &nbsp, If you look at the universities of the&nbsp, German&nbsp, Empire, 20 % &nbsp, of the&nbsp, professors&nbsp, were Jewish, although the&nbsp, Jewish population was 2 % of the total. &nbsp, I believe that over 50 % of the Nobel Prizes that we received were awarded]to Jews]. That was &nbsp, our&nbsp, golden age&nbsp, of&nbsp, German-Jewish symbiosis. &nbsp, That was &nbsp, was &nbsp, then destroyed by the Nazis and that also destroyed the Germans intellectually That is&nbsp, an&nbsp, undisputed&nbsp, fact. If you look at the time of the founder of the empire, Bismarck, his favorite poet was Heinrich Heine. &nbsp, The Nazis tore down Heine’s monuments and&nbsp, banned the recitation of his poems.

The perfection of the classical style in German music was achieved by&nbsp, Felix&nbsp, Mendelssohn Bartholdy, who&nbsp, also&nbsp, brought&nbsp, Bach back into&nbsp, public &nbsp, awareness. &nbsp, And, again, the Nazis ripped down the Mendelssohn monument in Leipzig. Without the Jewish contribution, there would not be a German culture. And I would add that the language of&nbsp, the&nbsp, European Jews, namely Yiddish, is a German dialect.

Judaism&nbsp, was &nbsp, a cultural force&nbsp, in Europe more&nbsp, than&nbsp, a&nbsp, religious one. Jews like Mendelssohn-Bartholdy&nbsp,, Heinrich&nbsp, Heine or&nbsp, Einstein were Reform Jews who had come out of the ghettos and contributed to the social, political and&nbsp, cultural life of Germany and Europe. &nbsp, No&nbsp, they are &nbsp, are &nbsp, no longer there. &nbsp, So&nbsp, Europe is now intellectually uninteresting. &nbsp, It lacks the curiosity, the impulse to learn that the Jews contributed.

The most crucial role was in this exchange between Europe and the Jews. I regret that Mr. Schuster&nbsp, wants to defend the status quo, rather than becoming involved in the process of change that is coming to Europe. &nbsp, Schuster&nbsp, enjoys&nbsp, the&nbsp, privileges&nbsp, that he has &nbsp, been accorded&nbsp, from the&nbsp, Federal&nbsp, Republic&nbsp, of Germany. But&nbsp, apart from the fact that he&nbsp, is&nbsp, against antisemitism, where is the intellectual input from the Central Council of Jews? There is none. Where is the intellectual curiosity, the creativity, that Jews brought to Germany? What is his future view, exactly? &nbsp, This is a pity. Because, regrettably, we are at an impasse in Germany, the political right will need to look into negotiating with Jews in Israel and the United States.

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After Hezbollah was defeated by Israeli activities in Lebanon in September and Donald Trump’s election as Republican presidential candidate in the US in early November, simple changes have occurred in Sino-Russian relations. &nbsp,

Some Chinese observers believe that the Assad regime’s fall on Syria, a staunch supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, even widened the gap between political interests between China and Russia. &nbsp,

According to all these instances, Dmitry Medvedev, president of the United Russia party and deputy president of Russia’s Security Council, visited Beijing on December 12.

Medvedev was reportedly met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and given a notice signed by Putin. The letter, according to the statement, expressed Putin’s joy over a new visit to China on the situation of the 75th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China’s formation of diplomatic relations with Russia. &nbsp,

However, according to Chinese experts, Medvedev’s most recent meeting with Liu Jianchao, a top Chinese diplomat and current head of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP ) International Department, should be watched. &nbsp,

Medvedev stated to Liu during their meeting that” Russia is ready to begin negotiations with Ukraine if Kyiv takes into account the challenges of today and the recommendations made by Putin.”

According to some observers, Medvedev’s talk suggests that Beijing is only interested in maintaining its trade relations with Europe in the Trump 2.0 time while Putin is reluctant to engage in a ceasefire discussion with Kyiv.

A Hebei-based author called” Bo Ge” says in an article published on December 12 that Medvedev’s remark showed that Moscow wants to “maintain its democracy and seek to achieve powerful connection in specific matters” in Russia-China relationships. &nbsp,

Although China and Russia have cooperated on some strength and anti-terrorism issues, he claims that their corporate interests are drastically different in terms of geopolitical problems related to Middle Eastern and European security concerns. Medvedev’s most recent excursion to Beijing has failed to break the tense relationship between Russia and China.

A Henan-based journalist using the moniker” A book retailer in the sea” published an article with the subject” China and Russia didn’t form an alliance, Medvedev has made a decision” on December 12.

He claims that the Syria and Ukraine troubles were discussed at the Liu-Medvedev meet. He claims that the lack of complete control over the new Syrian government could encourage the growth of violence and ultimately harm China’s hobbies in the Middle East. &nbsp, &nbsp,

Before possible peace negotiations are started by US President-elect Donald Trump, who will take office in the White House on January 20th, the author claims that Putin may have requested a raise in proper cooperation between China and Russia. &nbsp,

He reiterates Beijing’s approach that China and Russia does not form an alliance.

Southwestern Silk Road&nbsp,

Beijing will keep an eye on Syria’s political condition, according to some Chinese critics, but it is only doing it for the sake of keeping an eye on Russia, not to aid Russia. &nbsp,

” Some folks think the decline of Assad’s regime did hurt China’s passions, but really the affair is a great opportunity for China”, a Hong Kong-based blogger writes in an article. ” China’s interests will be hurt only if Syria becomes chaotic” .&nbsp,

He claims that Bashar al-Assad, the former leader of Syria, failed for many years in his efforts to boost the local market and stop anti-government forces and ISIS. This made China unable to finish the Southern Silk Road, which connects China and Europe via Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Iran, Iraq, and Syria. &nbsp,

He points out that China’s complete direct purchase in Syria was just US$ 13.24 million at the end of 2022, which is a significant drop from the$ 300 billion figure that bloggers have claimed. &nbsp, &nbsp,

” By offering humanitarian aid, China may establish a good relation with the new Palestinian state”, he says. China and Syria can cooperate economically, while China does support the restoration projects it.

A Beijing-based contributor says setting up the Northen Silk Road to join China and Europe via Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus and Poland may not be a smart choice for Beijing.

” For then it’s certainly a question of passing through Russia as Sino-Russia connections are good”, he says. What about the need to get assistance from Russia one time? He adds that Poland may not be a trustworthy business partner as well.

He claims that Turkey does go through China’s Southeastern Silk Road, but the Middle East nation will likely request a sizable sum of money from Beijing. Then, he says, Syria is a new opportunity for China to construct its Silk Road.

Sino-Russia bilateral deal

In the first 10 weeks of this year, the bilateral trade between China and Russia grew 2.8 % year-on-year to US$ 202 billion, according to the Chinese traditions. Nevertheless, the number dropped 5 % year-on-year to US$ 20.5 billion in November.

China’s exports to Russia also fell 10.5 % year-on-year in November after growing 24.4 % in October.

Due to this, in September, China approved the Rules on Civil-Military Dual-Use Products after G7 countries raised fears in April about Chinese firms ‘ shipments of weapons parts to Russia. In order to avoid US sanctions, the nation earlier this year urged local financial institutions to stop accepting payments from Russia in the renminbi. &nbsp,

As Beijing keeps Moscow at arm’s length, the customs department of Russia’s eastern city of Vladivostok has imposed a 55.65 % tariff on China-made furniture parts since autumn. &nbsp,

The Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade made a plan to gradually increase its “recycling fee” for auto buyers by 70-85 % from current levels by 2030, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The fee, which is seen as another form of tariff targeting Chinese vehicles, will increase by 10-20 % from the beginning of 2025. &nbsp,

Read: First salvo of a Russia-China trade war

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