Congress should require a new investigation by the State Department’s arms compliance office into the possible role of China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology in the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, a report by two former State Department officials says. The Biden administration earlier this year canceled a probe begun under President Trump into the virus’s …
Continue reading “Suspended virus origins probe should continue”
The Chinese President is not just trying to rein in a few big tech and other companies and show who is boss in China. He is trying to roll back China’s decadeslong evolution toward Western-style capitalism and put the country on a different path entirely, a close examination of Mr. Xi’s writings and his discussions …
The planned city of Telosa. No, it’s not a mirage in the desert haze. Nor is it Elon Musk’s latest plan to colonise Mars. These are the designs for the city of Telosa, the latest project from billionaire investor Marc Lore and celebrated architect Bjarke Ingels’s firm BIG. Lore and Ingels’s ambitious plan would see …
Continue reading “It might not really be Green but it has the Look”
“We believe Beijing would only be compelled to step in if there is a far-reaching contagion causing multiple major developers to fail and posing systemic risks to the economy.” On Thursday, Evergrande has an $83.5 million interest payment it is likely to miss, which would cause more market turmoil. NYT
Let them work at Taco Bell. Maspeth High School created fake classes, awarded bogus credits, and fixed grades to push students to graduate — “even if the diploma was not worth the paper on which it was printed,” an explosive investigative report charges. Principal Khurshid Abdul-Mutakabbir demanded that teachers pass students no matter how little …
In responding to the secretive U.S.-British move to sell nuclear-powered submarines to Australia, a decision that the Australians used to nix the prior French deal, Mr. Macron could choose to escalate. One idea doing the rounds in France is for the country to withdraw from NATO’s integrated military command structure, which it rejoined in 2009 …
Data collected from 18 states between March and August suggest the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine reduces the risk of being hospitalized with COVID-19 by 91% in the first four months after receiving the second dose. Beyond 120 days, however, that vaccine efficacy drops to 77%. Meanwhile, Moderna’s vaccine was 93% effective at reducing the short-term risk of …
Continue reading “Not all vaccines are equal; study says some fade”
New at the Belmont Club. How well did my thinking on Australian naval strategy hold up to the test of time?
Preparations for the assassination began after a series of meetings toward the end of 2019 and in early 2020 between Israeli officials, led by the Mossad director, Yossi Cohen, and high-ranking American officials, including President Donald J. Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the C.I.A. director, Gina Haspel. NYT
DHS said that in response to the more than 10,000 migrants sheltering under the Del Rio International Bridge that connects the city with Ciudad Acuna in Mexico, it was accelerating flights to Haiti and other destinations within the next 72 hours. It said it was working with nations where the migrants began their journeys – …
Continue reading “US ramps up plan to expel Haitian migrants stranded at Texas bridge”
Whereas name-brand drugs can be so expensive that people can’t afford them, generics are often so cheap that companies stop making them or cut corners to turn a profit. Competition for market share at rock-bottom price points has led to chronic shortages, unpredictable price-spikes, allegations of illegal price-fixing, and substandard and even dangerous practices. Production …
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A survivor of an errant U.S. drone strike that killed 10 members of his family demanded Saturday that those responsible be punished and said Washington’s apology was not enough. The family also seeks financial compensation and relocation to the United States or another country deemed safe, said Emal Ahmadi, whose 3-year-old …
Continue reading “Biden’s over-the-horizon scheme annihilates innocent family”
There are 2 alliances against China. The Quad, consisting of Japan, India, Australia and the US. This is an immensely regional powerful coalition with multiples of China’s population, land area and GNP. Two coalition members, India and Japan, are in current territorial conflict with China. AUKUS consists of a coalition not directly in conflict with …
An investigation by U.S. Central Command has determined that an Aug. 29 drone strike in Kabul killed an innocent aid worker and nine members of his family, not a member of the ISIS-K terrorist group, a top general announced Friday. Politico
WASHINGTON—France has recalled its ambassadors to Washington and Canberra in response to a new deal among the U.S., U.K. and Australia to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarine technology, the French foreign minister said, in an unprecedented diplomatic rift among close allies. WSJ
The trilateral security cooperation aims to ensure peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific, US President Joe Biden said in a press conference, and its first initiative is to deliver a nuclear-powered submarine fleet for Australia. This new arrangement has resulted in Australia scrapping a $90 billion contract signed with France in 2016. On Thursday, France’s …
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is calling for a moratorium on the use of artificial intelligence technology that poses a serious risk to human rights, voicing concerns that it “enables discrimination, invades our privacy and undermines our rights.”
The media mostly reports stories about the new anglo military alliance against China, the forthcoming Quad summit in Washington, the coming new cold war with Beijing without pointing out the single most important thing: it represents the total collapse of the 21st century dream of a ‘rule based global world order’ and a reversion to …
The indictment, returned by a Washington, D.C., grand jury on Thursday, charges attorney Michael Sussmann, of Perkins Coie, a law firm tied to the Democratic party, with making a false statement during a meeting with officials of the Federal Bureau of Investigation shortly before the 2016 election. WSJ
New at the Belmont Club. Australia, the UK and the US form the AUKUS alliance to contain China as the Aussies acquire nuclear subs for the first time. Inside the Quad is an anglophone alliance.
