Miscellaneous News

Temstar said:

The problem here is they still try to picture China's long term strategic planning on what they would do. In their mind if you sign a security agreement with a country it's because you want to build a military base.

But a PLAN base in Solomon Island doesn't make much sense at this time. While power projection capability of PLAAF and PLAN have greatly improved Solomon Islands all the way in south pacific seems a bit far for a secure base.

China's game plan here is the old silver bullet > lead bullet, winning without fighting thing. Prove to the other island nations that if you ditch ROC and sign up with PRC you will get plenty of economic development. Then they will one by one jump onboard similar arrangements and you end up with a string of China friendly nations all the way to South America, then once it spreads there as well it will be even harder to isolate China.

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Indeed. The PLA is still not ready with its power projection capabilities.

However, in the meantime, you can still do plenty of things with replenishment at the port in SoloMon Islands.

A base could happen 6-10 years later.
For now, intelligence gathering, training, showing the flag missions, and grayzone warfare would be more suitable.

Strangelove said:

Anything from the UK press needs to be taken with a spoonful of salt, still its a welcome sight to see western political clowns one up each other

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Macron's fury over Boris Johnson's talks in Kyiv: French president 'ranted to advisers' over PM's 'capacity to put himself front and centre' as trip ruined his own plans for a secret visit​

• French president reportedly fumed when he saw Boris Johnson's secret Kyiv trip
• The British PM 'cut the grass from under his feet', one French newspaper noticed
• Macron ranted: 'He hasn't actually done very much since the start of this'
• Johnson won plaudits for his secret visit to the war-torn Ukrainian capital

PUBLISHED: 00:05 BST, 23 April 2022

Mr Macron had been working on travelling to Kyiv to pose as the EU’s de facto leader and bolster support in the tight national elections. But Mr Johnson ‘cut the grass from under his feet’, French satirical newspaper Le Canard Enchaine said.

Macron (pictured campaigning) has sought to be the EU's de facto leader during the war
British PM Johnson walks through Kyiv with President Zelensky

Mr Macron is said to have ranted to his advisers: ‘It’s so annoying to see Johnson still has this capacity to put himself front and centre when he hasn’t actually done very much since the start of this. 'Johnson just “does Johnson” – it’s populism. ‘He keeps repeating “Putin must fail” but there’s nothing behind the words.’

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Elensky: Macron not welcome. Macron has empty hands.

Leaders who plan to visit Ukraine "should not come with empty hands," Zelensky says​

From CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq in Atlanta




Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that leaders who plan to visit Ukraine "should not come here with empty hands." Zelensky made the comments when asked about what he expects from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's visit to Kyiv on Sunday.

"Why is it important for leaders to come to us? I will give you a pragmatic answer; because they should not come here with empty hands. We are waiting not just for presents or cakes; we are expecting specific things and specific weapons," Zelensky said during a presser in Kyiv.
"That's why we will be able to get an agreement with the United States or some part of the package of armament which we agreed before. This is why I believe this is a positive signal," he added.

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"The same about the leaders of other countries; they know we discussed these things in quietness, as our diplomats say, it's quiet diplomacy. I don't like very much, but it exists," Zelensky said.
"We will be happy to see you, but please bring to us the assistance which we discussed, which you have or which you have the opportunity to bring," Zelensky said. He added, "that's why the visit from the US is very important."

B.I.B. said:

I wonder when all this has settled, Ursula, Borell, Scholz, B J will still have their respective positions.

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Ursula was not elected in the first place. Neither was Borrell. They are EU swamp creatures.
Scholz was only elected recently. Only reason why I think he will not be immediately kicked out. But who knows.
He is a member of a coalition government in the first place. So he might indeed be kicked out.
As for B J I think he will be kicked out. He will probably resign due to economic crisis. Partly created by UK government actions.

B.I.B. said:

Some people think Ursula, who is a real Russia hater would like to see Russia declared bankrupt when the interest on the bonds is not paid.
To work around the bank sanctions, why can't China pay the interest with her own U.S. dollars with Russia quietly reimbursing China with gas or oil supplies. Russia could also reimburse China with those useless US dollars or Euros Russia has accumulated.?

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China should not bother with something like that. The West froze $300 billion USD in Russian Central Bank reserves. And Russia owes $40 billion USD in government bonds. So if Russia "defaults" it will clearly be an artificial default provoked by them. If China did provide the funds, they would just sanction whichever government and bank those funds came from. At this point it is just pure thievery and piracy on their part.

Lmao! They are losing it

Peter Dutton made the extraordinary admission during a wide-ranging interview with News Corp Australia. He claimed his fears over China’s military strength and strategic position were echoed by defence chiefs across the country.

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“I think the circumstances are as dire as they were in the 1930s. I’m happy to present the facts … and then people can draw their own conclusions,” he said.

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“It’s conceivable that there could be a chemical warfare attack on a capital city of one of our allies and so could you be drawn back into a conflict in the Middle East,” he said.

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Projection. China should be careful. The US must be preparing something

Overbom said:

Lmao! They are losing it

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Projection. China should be careful. The US must be preparing something

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I'd like to equate the Ozzie Dutton with the US Bolton - Bunch of war hawks.

They would never be happy as long as China is not burning and they couldn't get their fair share of bonuses from the media-military industrial-complexes (MMIC).

Coalescence said:

So if US is ramping up, would this make China more likely to do an armed reunification before the balance is tilted in US favor?

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The balance right now is in US' favour and the more China waits, the more it builds up, insulates economy and becomes favorable for Beijing.
The wisdom in Washington is to fight China right now and not in 2030 when she's a fully developed 25 trillion dollar economic behemoth that can outspend and outgun the US

I wonder why...

Russia’s customs service has decided to temporarily suspend publication of import and export data in order to exclude errors and “speculation”, the head of the service said on Thursday.

The move will make it much harder to gauge the impact on trade of sweeping western sanctions imposed against Russia since it sent its troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 in what it calls a special military operation.

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B.I.B. said:

Meanwhile I think China should ask PNG/ on whether they would consider a similar arrangement like the one that was made with the Solomons.

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Early last year, there were leaks documents of Chinese planning to build a mega city on an island in the Torres Strait just 200 kilometres from Australia. But was dismissed by Morrison as just speculations at the time. Nothing happened since.

Overbom said:

I wonder why...

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Possibly to protect foreign business working and trading with Russia, and make it harder for US to impose sanctions on them.

Although we could accuse them of hiding the impact of sanctions to their own population, its still really helpful to keep US from knowing the full extent of their damage, so they can't recalibrate or test out new sanctions, this maybe good for China too, as they are likely going to the same for China.

Topazchen said:

The balance right now is in US' favour and the more China waits, the more it builds up, insulates economy and becomes favorable for Beijing.
The wisdom in Washington is to fight China right now and not in 2030 when she's a fully developed 25 trillion dollar economic behemoth that can outspend and outgun the US

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@Topazchen bro from Sun Tzu,

“The art of war is of vital importance to the State. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.”
― Sun Tzu,

And from your first question about timid China, Russia helps a lot by launching a Denazification of Ukraine, buying time for her to rearm and prepare.

“There is no instance of a nation benefitting from prolonged warfare.”
― Sun Tzu,

“Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.”
― Sun Tzu,

IF the US plan on taking action now with the Ukraine crisis still brewing then it's a reckless action bordering on insanity, they're overstretch and domestically vulnerable. And Here I believed the Chinese are given precious time (at least 2 years) to prepare for any shock as the Collective West launch a full spectrum attack on Russia. And we should thank the Russian for the lesson, her sacrificed will not be in vain as both will prepare a counter measure and survived this ordeal.