theduran--2020-04-13--The Problems Ignored by Joe Biden’s ‘Plan’ Against Coronavirus

On Sunday , April 12th , Joe Biden finally came up with his ‘ Plan ’ against coronavirus “ My Plan to Safely Reopen America ” .
It ’ s just a string of goals , with no measures described for meeting them ; and it ignores the real barriers that must be overcome in order to achieve its goals .
The hundreds of reader-comments to it at a popular Democratic Party website , were worshipful : “ Ah , President Biden !
You can not take over fast enough ” was the most-popular .
Biden ’ s platitudes pleased @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ignoring the real issues .
He said there : “ First , we have to get the number of new cases of the disease down significantly .
That means social distancing has to continue and the people on the front lines have to get the supplies and equipment they need.
” How ?
He doesn ’ t say .
“ Second , there needs to be widespread , easily available and prompt testing — and a contact tracing strategy that protects privacy.
” How ?
He doesn ’ t say .
“ Third @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our hospitals and health care system are ready for flare-ups of the disease that may occur when economic activity expands again .
Reopening the right way will still not be completely safe .
Public health officials will need to conduct effective disease surveillance .
Hospitals need to have the staff and equipment necessary to handle any local outbreaks.
” How ?
He doesn ’ t say — not for any of that .
What are the real problems ?
The real problems aren ’ t just the goals , such as he pretends @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Such as : Triage starts in government bailouts : Who will get the money ?
Right now , the money is going overwhelmingly to corporations , not to workers , and not to consumers — most of the money is aiming to boost profits , not to prevent people from being laid-off or losing their homes .
America ’ s bipartisan bailout package to overcome the coronavirus ‘ recession ’ is twofold : One part is printing money for employees and consumers , so that they won ’ t be thrown out onto @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as mortgages , car-loans , credit cards , and student loans .
Another part is printing money for bondholders and stockholders , so that their investments will still have value and there won ’ t be panicked selling of them as corporations accumulate soaring losses because consumers are staying home and are cutting way back on expenses .
The top-down part of the bailout ( the part that ’ s for investors ) will merely add to the wealth of the already-wealthy , while everybody else sinks financially into oblivion .
( On @ @ @ @ @ @ @ site explained in detail why even bailing out the airlines would hurt the economy more than help the economy . )
The top-down part supplies the money to the corporations instead of to their employees and consumers , and is therefore supply-boosting instead of demand-boosting .
Supplying money to the corporations that the Government selects to protect will enable those corporations to buy up assets and corporations which during the crisis are being auctioned off by the ones that go out of business , and this will leave the nation ’ s wealth @ @ @ @ @ @ @ epidemic struck .
The bottom-up part ( the part for workers and consumers ) will be exactly the opposite of that : it will help prevent another Great Depression .
By boosting purchases , instead of bailing-out billionaires and such , it will enable the economy to keep functioning , and it will not increase the concentration of wealth .
However , employees and consumers don ’ t have many lobbyists , but billionaires do , and billionaires also own ( through political donations and lobbyists ) almost all members of Congress ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and they not only own , but are represented by , one inside the White House , who is surrounded there by others , and by representatives of others , so that the concerns of the wealthiest will be very well represented by America ’ s Government , and will end up dominating the bailouts , so that only the insiders , who are well-connected in Washington , will be protected .
( And Joe Biden would be no improvement over Donald Trump , though his rhetoric is different . )
Already , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ -reports , that there is ‘ chaos ’ etc .
in the U.S. Government ’ s response to the crisis , but what ’ s not being reported in the mainstream ‘ news ’ -media is that there very much is method to this seeming madness , and it is the method of the well-practiced and well-funded takers , definitely not of their victims , from whom they ( and their Government ) have been , and now increasingly are , taking .
The takers own the Deep State , and are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the bailouts will go to them .
The vast bulk of the bailouts will go to suppliers ( investors ) , not to their workers and consumers .
Printing money for bondholders and stockholders will predominate .
It won ’ t be like Franklin Delano Roosevelt ( FDR ) did during the first Great Depression , when the federal money went to the public , instead of to the megacorporations ; it will be the opposite .
This will be a supercharged concentration of wealth .
Money is power , and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ increased ; the power of the public will go to absolute zero .
The inevitable result of this will be enormous spreading poverty , and , ultimately , so many dollars being owned by the billionaires , so that hyperinflation will result if this continues for more than a few months , and it will not be able to be overcome by any form of monetary response , because it will instead be a problem about the distribution of actual wealth ( not mere money ) ; and , as Raoul Pal phrased @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not make the dollars available .
They get stuck in the financial system and hoarded ” ( by the wealthy ) , at a time like this .
So : there still will be wealth , but increasing percentages of it will be owned by the super-rich ; and , so , their corporations will experience plunging sales .
Everything ( except , perhaps , gold , etc . )
will actually be worth less than it was before , even though inflation will be soaring .
More dollars will be chasing fewer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ purchased .
The stock and bond markets will then crash .
The result will be like Germany during the Weimar Republic .
But the cause of it will be different ; it won ’ t be war-reparations payments ; it will instead be the almost unimaginable corruption at the very top of the U.S. Government and economy .
People who accept money [ from lobbyists ] aren ’ t bad people .
But it ’ s human nature .
You go out and bundle $ 250,000 for me , all legal , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ elected , and say “ I would like to come and talk about something.
” You didn ’ t buy me , but it ’ s human nature , you helped me .
I ’ m going to say , “ Sure , come on in.
” It ’ s called “ crony capitalism.
” Or “ Pay to play.
” He has admitted there that megadonors will get served first .
They ’ ve bought access , and they will get access .
( In that video clip he went on to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ things are , he will change it once he becomes President .
He thinks that voters believe in the tooth-fairy .
He has no new proposal to fix the system .
Unlike Bernie Sanders , his career has thrived because of corruption .
The leopard will not change its spots , and Joe Biden will not change his friends .
This is who he is — basically like Trump . )
The problem with Trump ’ s handling of the situation is , in this sense , exactly the same as the problem @ @ @ @ @ @ @ should get bailed-out , but they are getting bailed-out , and Biden doesn ’ t so much as mention this and the other real problems .
He offers nothing but promises and platitudes — just like Trump , who had promised to “ Clean the swamp.
” And just like Barack Obama , who had promised a public option but dropped it within mererly days after he won election in 2008 .
There was no public option , and there was no cleaning of the swamp , and Biden is just like Obama @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will end , but the world after it will be worse , not better , because of the coronavirus bailouts to the rich .
Biden , like Trump , ignores the real problems .
Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author , most recently , of They ’ re Not Even Close : The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records , 1910-2010 , and of CHRIST ’ S VENTRILOQUISTS : The Event that Created Christianity .

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
Eric Zuesse
On Sunday, April 12th, Joe Biden finally came up with his ‘Plan’ against coronavirus “My Plan to Safely Reopen America”. It’s just a string of goals, with no measures described for meeting them; and it ignores the real barriers that must be overcome in order to achieve its goals. The hundreds of reader-comments to it at a popular Democratic Party website, were worshipful: “Ah, President Biden! You cannot take over fast enough” was the most-popular. Biden’s platitudes pleased his Party’s faithful, despite ignoring the real issues.
He said there:
“First, we have to get the number of new cases of the disease down significantly. That means social distancing has to continue and the people on the front lines have to get the supplies and equipment they need.” How? He doesn’t say.
“Second, there needs to be widespread, easily available and prompt testing — and a contact tracing strategy that protects privacy.” How? He doesn’t say.
“Third, we have to make sure that our hospitals and health care system are ready for flare-ups of the disease that may occur when economic activity expands again. Reopening the right way will still not be completely safe. Public health officials will need to conduct effective disease surveillance. Hospitals need to have the staff and equipment necessary to handle any local outbreaks.” How? He doesn’t say — not for any of that.
What are the real problems? The real problems aren’t just the goals, such as he pretends, but are what he ignores. Such as:
Triage starts in government bailouts: Who will get the money?
Right now, the money is going overwhelmingly to corporations, not to workers, and not to consumers — most of the money is aiming to boost profits, not to prevent people from being laid-off or losing their homes.
America’s bipartisan bailout package to overcome the coronavirus ‘recession’ is twofold:
One part is printing money for employees and consumers, so that they won’t be thrown out onto the streets for non-payment of debts such as mortgages, car-loans, credit cards, and student loans.
Another part is printing money for bondholders and stockholders, so that their investments will still have value and there won’t be panicked selling of them as corporations accumulate soaring losses because consumers are staying home and are cutting way back on expenses.
The top-down part of the bailout (the part that’s for investors) will merely add to the wealth of the already-wealthy, while everybody else sinks financially into oblivion. (On April 9th, the Zero Hedge financial site explained in detail why even bailing out the airlines would hurt the economy more than help the economy.) The top-down part supplies the money to the corporations instead of to their employees and consumers, and is therefore supply-boosting instead of demand-boosting. Supplying money to the corporations that the Government selects to protect will enable those corporations to buy up assets and corporations which during the crisis are being auctioned off by the ones that go out of business, and this will leave the nation’s wealth in even fewer hands than before the epidemic struck.
The bottom-up part (the part for workers and consumers) will be exactly the opposite of that: it will help prevent another Great Depression. By boosting purchases, instead of bailing-out billionaires and such, it will enable the economy to keep functioning, and it will not increase the concentration of wealth.
However, employees and consumers don’t have many lobbyists, but billionaires do, and billionaires also own (through political donations and lobbyists) almost all members of Congress (and also the mainstream press), and they not only own, but are represented by, one inside the White House, who is surrounded there by others, and by representatives of others, so that the concerns of the wealthiest will be very well represented by America’s Government, and will end up dominating the bailouts, so that only the insiders, who are well-connected in Washington, will be protected. (And Joe Biden would be no improvement over Donald Trump, though his rhetoric is different.)
Already, we see, in the ‘news’-reports, that there is ‘chaos’ etc. in the U.S. Government’s response to the crisis, but what’s not being reported in the mainstream ‘news’-media is that there very much is method to this seeming madness, and it is the method of the well-practiced and well-funded takers, definitely not of their victims, from whom they (and their Government) have been, and now increasingly are, taking. The takers own the Deep State, and are protected by it. The vast bulk of the bailouts will go to them. The vast bulk of the bailouts will go to suppliers (investors), not to their workers and consumers.
Printing money for bondholders and stockholders will predominate. It won’t be like Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) did during the first Great Depression, when the federal money went to the public, instead of to the megacorporations; it will be the opposite. This will be a supercharged concentration of wealth. Money is power, and the power of billionaires will thus be enormously increased; the power of the public will go to absolute zero.
The inevitable result of this will be enormous spreading poverty, and, ultimately, so many dollars being owned by the billionaires, so that hyperinflation will result if this continues for more than a few months, and it will not be able to be overcome by any form of monetary response, because it will instead be a problem about the distribution of actual wealth (not mere money); and, as Raoul Pal phrased this problem, “Money printing does not make the dollars available. They get stuck in the financial system and hoarded” (by the wealthy), at a time like this. So: there still will be wealth, but increasing percentages of it will be owned by the super-rich; and, so, their corporations will experience plunging sales. Everything (except, perhaps, gold, etc.) will actually be worth less than it was before, even though inflation will be soaring. More dollars will be chasing fewer goods and services that are actually being purchased. The stock and bond markets will then crash. The result will be like Germany during the Weimar Republic. But the cause of it will be different; it won’t be war-reparations payments; it will instead be the almost unimaginable corruption at the very top of the U.S. Government and economy.
Joe Biden has said:
People who accept money [from lobbyists] aren’t bad people. But it’s human nature. You go out and bundle $250,000 for me, all legal, and then you call me after I am elected, and say “I would like to come and talk about something.” You didn’t buy me, but it’s human nature, you helped me. I’m going to say, “Sure, come on in.”
It’s called “crony capitalism.” Or “Pay to play.” He has admitted there that megadonors will get served first. They’ve bought access, and they will get access. (In that video clip he went on to say that though this is the way things are, he will change it once he becomes President. He thinks that voters believe in the tooth-fairy. He has no new proposal to fix the system. Unlike Bernie Sanders, his career has thrived because of corruption. The leopard will not change its spots, and Joe Biden will not change his friends. This is who he is — basically like Trump.) The problem with Trump’s handling of the situation is, in this sense, exactly the same as the problem with Biden’s. No corporations should get bailed-out, but they are getting bailed-out, and Biden doesn’t so much as mention this and the other real problems. He offers nothing but promises and platitudes — just like Trump, who had promised to “Clean the swamp.” And just like Barack Obama, who had promised a public option but dropped it within mererly days after he won election in 2008. There was no public option, and there was no cleaning of the swamp, and Biden is just like Obama and Trump were.
The coronavirus plague will end, but the world after it will be worse, not better, because of the coronavirus bailouts to the rich. Biden, like Trump, ignores the real problems.
—————
Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of They’re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010, and of CHRIST’S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity.
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theduran--2020-04-13--Ukraine Eyes America for Gas But Still Relies on Russia

Submitted by InfoBrics , authored by Paul Antonopoulos , Research Fellow at the Center for Syncretic Studies… Despite strong attempts by Ukraine not to buy Russian pipeline gas , they will not be able to receive U.S. liquefied natural gas ( LNG ) for at least another five years according to Polish experts from the consulting company ESPERIS .
According to the agreement between the U.S. and Ukraine signed in March , the U.S. will sell 6-8 million cubic meters .
The Polish experts say that despite the fact that Ukraine stopped the official importation of Russian gas in 2015 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fuel produced in Russia , since in reality Russian gas still reaches Ukraine via the European Union countries of Slovakia , Hungary and Poland .
The Polish experts explain that “ By the end of 2019 , all the natural gas imported into Ukraine from the EU was shipped via physical reverse from the direction of Slovakia ( since 2016 average 8.7 bcma ) , Hungary ( average 2.7 bcma ) and Poland ( average 1.1 bcma ) .
” Physical reverse means that effectively Slovakia , Hungary and Poland will buy gas @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ukraine .
Through this way Ukraine is not buying Russian gas while receiving Russian gas through other means .
The ironic part is that as the ESPERIS report explains , “ Natural gas imported from the European suppliers , such as DXT , RWE or PGNiG , is in fact mostly produced in Russia and then sent via Ukraine to EU .
Thus , the ultimate independence of Ukraine from the Russian supplies can be reached only by opening of a new source of supply.
” The problem is that Ukraine does not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The report explains that “ the Ukrainians tried to build LNG importing terminal in Odessa or Ochakiv for several years , but as for now the project seems to be dead at all.
” Romanian LNG terminals may not be possible as Turkey may refuse tankers with raw and highly explosive materials to pass through the Bosporus .
The route through Croatia is not profitable due to transit fees and transportation costs .
Therefore , the only realistic port of delivery available for Ukraine would be at the Swinoujscie regasification terminal in Poland @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for Ukraine is not enough .
Ukraine will be able to receive U.S. gas only through Poland , where the floating regasification terminal is planned to be launched in Gdansk , but these deliveries can not begin before 2025 and only if the Polish side is ready to invest large amounts of money in this construction .
Warsaw advocates the construction of a new pipeline between the gas transmission systems of Poland and Ukraine .
However , the Polish report explains that this project requires large expenditures on the part of Kiev and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ afford to do it .
Despite the reality that Ukraine is entirely reliant on Russian gas , on April 8 the head of Ukraine ’ s new gas transit system operator Sergey Makogon declared that the country was ready for zero gas transit from Russia despite not having the means to do so .
On January 31 , it was reported that the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine since the beginning of that month had increased its price by 2 % and could cost more than $ 7 billion in five years @ @ @ @ @ @ @ volume of traffic for five years will be 225,000 million cubic meters and the pumping cost will be $ 31.72 per 1,000 cubic meters , including all taxes and fees .
On December 31 , 2019 , it was reported that Gazprom and the Ukrainian operator signed a transit agreement for Russian has to reach Europe .
According to the document , in 2020 , 65,000 million cubic meters of Russian gas will pass through Ukraine .
Then , until 2024 , annual deliveries will drop to 40 billion cubic meters .
Although @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it somehow also does not want to use Russian gas for its own domestic consumption .
Russia has the largest reserves of gas in the world and in the future the consumption of natural gas will grow because coal and oil consumption will be reduced .
In 2018 alone , Gazprom , Russia ’ s largest gas company , supplied the European Union with more than 40 % of its natural gas imports .
Although Ukraine is working towards independence from Russian gas , it is in the vague hope that this move @ @ @ @ @ @ @ closer to the European Union despite most of the continent relying on and using Russian gas .
The Polish report concluded that “ Without the upgrade of pipelines and import terminals in the region neither Ukrainian energy independence nor U.S. LNG export to Ukraine will develop.
” Effectively , as Ukraine has the ambition to become “ energy independent ” from Russia , it has neither the finances or infrastructure to achieve this .

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
Submitted by InfoBrics, authored by Paul Antonopoulos, Research Fellow at the Center for Syncretic Studies…
Despite strong attempts by Ukraine not to buy Russian pipeline gas, they will not be able to receive U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) for at least another five years according to Polish experts from the consulting company ESPERIS. According to the agreement between the U.S. and Ukraine signed in March, the U.S. will sell 6-8 million cubic meters.
The Polish experts say that despite the fact that Ukraine stopped the official importation of Russian gas in 2015, it does not have independence from fuel produced in Russia, since in reality Russian gas still reaches Ukraine via the European Union countries of Slovakia, Hungary and Poland.
The Polish experts explain that “By the end of 2019, all the natural gas imported into Ukraine from the EU was shipped via physical reverse from the direction of Slovakia (since 2016 average 8.7 bcma), Hungary (average 2.7 bcma) and Poland (average 1.1 bcma).”
Physical reverse means that effectively Slovakia, Hungary and Poland will buy gas from Russia then reverse its flow into Ukraine. Through this way Ukraine is not buying Russian gas while receiving Russian gas through other means. The ironic part is that as the ESPERIS report explains, “Natural gas imported from the European suppliers, such as DXT, RWE or PGNiG, is in fact mostly produced in Russia and then sent via Ukraine to EU. Thus, the ultimate independence of Ukraine from the Russian supplies can be reached only by opening of a new source of supply.”
The problem is that Ukraine does not have its own LNG regasification means. The report explains that “the Ukrainians tried to build LNG importing terminal in Odessa or Ochakiv for several years, but as for now the project seems to be dead at all.”
Romanian LNG terminals may not be possible as Turkey may refuse tankers with raw and highly explosive materials to pass through the Bosporus. The route through Croatia is not profitable due to transit fees and transportation costs.
Therefore, the only realistic port of delivery available for Ukraine would be at the Swinoujscie regasification terminal in Poland. However, Swinoujscie’s capacity for Ukraine is not enough. Ukraine will be able to receive U.S. gas only through Poland, where the floating regasification terminal is planned to be launched in Gdansk, but these deliveries cannot begin before 2025 and only if the Polish side is ready to invest large amounts of money in this construction.
Warsaw advocates the construction of a new pipeline between the gas transmission systems of Poland and Ukraine. However, the Polish report explains that this project requires large expenditures on the part of Kiev and therefore remains frozen as it cannot afford to do it.
Despite the reality that Ukraine is entirely reliant on Russian gas, on April 8 the head of Ukraine’s new gas transit system operator Sergey Makogon declared that the country was ready for zero gas transit from Russia despite not having the means to do so. On January 31, it was reported that the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine since the beginning of that month had increased its price by 2% and could cost more than $7 billion in five years. According to RBC, the total volume of traffic for five years will be 225,000 million cubic meters and the pumping cost will be $31.72 per 1,000 cubic meters, including all taxes and fees.
On December 31, 2019, it was reported that Gazprom and the Ukrainian operator signed a transit agreement for Russian has to reach Europe. According to the document, in 2020, 65,000 million cubic meters of Russian gas will pass through Ukraine. Then, until 2024, annual deliveries will drop to 40 billion cubic meters. Although Ukraine will become a transit country, it somehow also does not want to use Russian gas for its own domestic consumption.
Russia has the largest reserves of gas in the world and in the future the consumption of natural gas will grow because coal and oil consumption will be reduced. In 2018 alone, Gazprom, Russia’s largest gas company, supplied the European Union with more than 40% of its natural gas imports. Although Ukraine is working towards independence from Russian gas, it is in the vague hope that this move will somehow allow the country to move closer to the European Union despite most of the continent relying on and using Russian gas.
The Polish report concluded that “Without the upgrade of pipelines and import terminals in the region neither Ukrainian energy independence nor U.S. LNG export to Ukraine will develop.” Effectively, as Ukraine has the ambition to become “energy independent” from Russia, it has neither the finances or infrastructure to achieve this.
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theduran--2020-04-13--Washington Violates International Space Law

Submitted by InfoBrics , authored by Lucas Leiroz , research fellow in international law at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro… The global pandemic is being used by the United States as a smokescreen for illegal actions in the international scenario , which , due to the media focus on coronavirus coverage , are not reported and happen unnoticed .
The new American foreign policy target is the outer space .
Washington conducted a dangerous legal and political maneuver in the space race of the 21st century , approving measures that violate public international law in its new decree @ @ @ @ @ @ @ American President Donald Trump passed a decree establishing the United States ’ right to extract mineral resources from the outer space .
In the document , it is possible to read : “ Americans should have the right to engage in commercial exploration , recovery , and use of resources in outer space , consistent with applicable law .
Outer space is a legally and physically unique domain of human activity , and the United States does not view it as a global common ” .
The American government seems to be once @ @ @ @ @ @ @ space has its own law and a specific legal status that can not be violated by a simple presidential decree .
With the emergence of space technology in the 1950s , the collective fear that it would be used for military purposes made international society choose to create an international treaty for outer space , being celebrated in 1957 the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Cosmic Space , Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies ( or simply “ Space Treaty ” ) .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ has the legal status of “ international territory ” , which means that it is a common space of humanity and of all nations , and a country or individual can not claim ownership or sovereignty over it .
With these data alone , we can already contemplate the conflicting nature between the presidential decree and the Space Treaty ( that was signed by the USA ) , since the decree does not recognize space as a common global territory .
In practice , the American government is unilaterally granting US citizens the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ far from the legal domain of Space Law .
In addition , the decree provides that partnerships should be sought with other countries and private companies for the conclusion of strategic agreements in the space mining sector , which means that the American plan aims to expand violations of the Space Treaty on a global level , causing Space Law ’ s reduction to legal insignificance .
The American decree , however , must be analyzed in depth , taking into account other facts and circumstances .
Indeed , there is nothing exactly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ States has long been tightening its strategic policies on outer space .
In 2015 , the so-called “ Space Act ” was approved , an audacious and permissive law that establishes the legal regime for private space exploration in the USA , with a special focus on the issue of mineral resources and water .
The private sector already seems to be the dominant one in terms of extraction and industrialization of mineral resources from the outer space , which undoubtedly constitutes a real danger to the security of these operations due to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the international level .
So , what will it be like to deal with practical issues like space debris , safety and pollution inside and outside the Earth ?
In fact , the coming scenario is one in which we will take our internal problems out of the Earth , exploiting space resources in disarray and unsustainably polluting the extraterrestrial environment .
It was not in vain that Donald Trump hurried to create a Space Force as a new member of the American armed forces .
With this measure , the American @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and secure these explorations and future strategic operations .
And all these measures appear in a favorable global context : as the resources of our planet become increasingly scarce , with pollution and overconsumption depleting our natural reserves , causing a growing concern for the environment , nothing more strategic than to seek these resources from an abundant source like outer space , where water and minerals seem to be infinite .
With depleted or very weak reserves , we will soon be dependent on resources from space exploration .
How will it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hands of private multinationals interested only in their own profit ?
This is the vital importance of the Space Treaty in our time : to prevent space technology from leading us to a future of more inequality , misery and violence .
Washington seems to be wanting to expand its hegemonic status beyond the planet , guaranteeing dominance over the most abundant and secure source of natural resources .
What is starting now is a true gold rush .
Whoever is in a hurry to establish strategic space exploration policies will be above @ @ @ @ @ @ @ these policies must be established within a legal standard common to all peoples .
The Space Treaty is far from being a perfect law , but it is the only way we currently have to prevent the degradation of the outer space .

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
Submitted by InfoBrics, authored by Lucas Leiroz, research fellow in international law at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro…
The global pandemic is being used by the United States as a smokescreen for illegal actions in the international scenario, which, due to the media focus on coronavirus coverage, are not reported and happen unnoticed. The new American foreign policy target is the outer space. Washington conducted a dangerous legal and political maneuver in the space race of the 21st century, approving measures that violate public international law in its new decree on space mining.
Last week, American President Donald Trump passed a decree establishing the United States’ right to extract mineral resources from the outer space. In the document, it is possible to read: “Americans should have the right to engage in commercial exploration, recovery, and use of resources in outer space, consistent with applicable law. Outer space is a legally and physically unique domain of human activity, and the United States does not view it as a global common”.
The American government seems to be once again completely ignoring the fact that outer space has its own law and a specific legal status that cannot be violated by a simple presidential decree. With the emergence of space technology in the 1950s, the collective fear that it would be used for military purposes made international society choose to create an international treaty for outer space, being celebrated in 1957 the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Cosmic Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (or simply “Space Treaty”). According to this document, outer space has the legal status of “international territory”, which means that it is a common space of humanity and of all nations, and a country or individual cannot claim ownership or sovereignty over it.
With these data alone, we can already contemplate the conflicting nature between the presidential decree and the Space Treaty (that was signed by the USA), since the decree does not recognize space as a common global territory. In practice, the American government is unilaterally granting US citizens the right to freely explore space resources, far from the legal domain of Space Law. In addition, the decree provides that partnerships should be sought with other countries and private companies for the conclusion of strategic agreements in the space mining sector, which means that the American plan aims to expand violations of the Space Treaty on a global level, causing Space Law’s reduction to legal insignificance.
The American decree, however, must be analyzed in depth, taking into account other facts and circumstances. Indeed, there is nothing exactly new in this law. The United States has long been tightening its strategic policies on outer space. In 2015, the so-called “Space Act” was approved, an audacious and permissive law that establishes the legal regime for private space exploration in the USA, with a special focus on the issue of mineral resources and water. The private sector already seems to be the dominant one in terms of extraction and industrialization of mineral resources from the outer space, which undoubtedly constitutes a real danger to the security of these operations due to the greater difficulty in controlling private actions at the international level. So, what will it be like to deal with practical issues like space debris, safety and pollution inside and outside the Earth? In fact, the coming scenario is one in which we will take our internal problems out of the Earth, exploiting space resources in disarray and unsustainably polluting the extraterrestrial environment.
It was not in vain that Donald Trump hurried to create a Space Force as a new member of the American armed forces. With this measure, the American government created the force that will support and secure these explorations and future strategic operations. And all these measures appear in a favorable global context: as the resources of our planet become increasingly scarce, with pollution and overconsumption depleting our natural reserves, causing a growing concern for the environment, nothing more strategic than to seek these resources from an abundant source like outer space, where water and minerals seem to be infinite.
With depleted or very weak reserves, we will soon be dependent on resources from space exploration. How will it be if these resources keep in the hands of private multinationals interested only in their own profit? This is the vital importance of the Space Treaty in our time: to prevent space technology from leading us to a future of more inequality, misery and violence. Washington seems to be wanting to expand its hegemonic status beyond the planet, guaranteeing dominance over the most abundant and secure source of natural resources. What is starting now is a true gold rush. Whoever is in a hurry to establish strategic space exploration policies will be above other nations. Our point is that these policies must be established within a legal standard common to all peoples. The Space Treaty is far from being a perfect law, but it is the only way we currently have to prevent the degradation of the outer space.
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theduran--2020-04-13--AG Barr: Prosecutions for Russiagate coming soon (Video)

The Duran ’ s Alex Christoforou and Editor-in-Chief Alexander Mercouris discuss more Russiagate revelations surrounding Michael Flynn ’ s ongoing legal battle , Carter Page and the Steele Dossier , and Attorney General Barr stating that the FBI was out to sabotage the Trump presidency .
Subscribe to The Duran on YouTube – Find us on BitChute .
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Former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn ’ s previous defense team turned over recently discovered emails and handwritten notes Wednesday to his new counsel , suggesting that the delay @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to technical issues since being ordered by the presiding federal judge six months ago to turn over all documents .
On July 25 , 2019 presiding Federal Judge Emmet T. Sullivan , ordered the well-known law firm of Covington and Burling LLP to ‘ promptly turn over the entire file ’ on Flynn to his new defense attorney Sidney Powell .
The order was made under threat of a hearing before the District of Columbia Ethics Counsel .
The law firm turned over what is described as a ‘ voluminous ’ amount of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all the documents .
On Wednesday , the law firm turned over more documents and suggested in a supplemental notice filed with the court that there may be even be more documents not yet produced .
“ In reviewing materials in response to the Court ’ s March 6 , 2020 Order ( Doc .
174 ) to respond to Mr. Flynn ’ s specific allegations in his Supplemental Motion to Withdraw Plea of Guilty , however , we have found emails and two pages of handwritten notes that were not previously transferred @ @ @ @ @ @ @ submitted by Flynn ’ s former lawyers Robert Kelner and Stephan P. Anthony stated .
“ With respect to the emails , this appears to have resulted from errors in the process of collecting and searching electronic materials that were not contained in the working case file .
The two pages of notes appear to have been inadvertently missed during the file transfer process.
” Flynn ’ s new defense team is combing through the new trove of documents , suggesting that the appropriate action by the DOJ would be to dismiss Flynn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ government misconduct .
“ It ’ s an interesting new production of documents from the Flynn file .
It will be even more interesting to see what the firm has to say about them .
We are really looking forward to a hearing in court on all the issues that will exonerate General Flynn , ” said Powell , who spoke to SaraACarter.com .
“ Meanwhile , the government still refuses to produce the original 302 and the DOJ memo of January 30 , 2017 that exonerated him of any Russia issue , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ case because of the egregious government misconduct from the inception of this persecution—including slipping an FBI Agent secretly into a presidential briefing in August 2016—before the election—to collect information on nominee Trump and General Flynn , ” she added .
“ The country and Justice would be best served if the DOJ would take responsibility for these outrageous actions and the deliberate attempted destruction of an honorable man .
The agents who interviewed him knew he was honest with them .
They later altered the 302 until it was approved by Andrew McCabe.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ was filed by prosecutors to delay the anticipated April 3 status report hearing to April 24 .
Justice Department prosecutors contend that the documents provided by Flynn ’ s former legal counsel “ are voluminous , span numerous topics that arose during Covington ’ s 30-month representation of Mr. Flynn , and include many pages of sometimes difficult-to-decipher handwritten notes.
” “ The government needs additional time to digest this information and any additional information that Covington may provide , ” the status report stated .
“ In order to allow the government @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have been produced and to request , receive , and review any follow-up information or documents , the government respectfully asks this Court to allow the government three additional weeks to provide a further status update and , if feasible , a proposed briefing schedule , ” the prosecutors stated .

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
The Duran’s Alex Christoforou and Editor-in-Chief Alexander Mercouris discuss more Russiagate revelations surrounding Michael Flynn’s ongoing legal battle, Carter Page and the Steele Dossier, and Attorney General Barr stating that the FBI was out to sabotage the Trump presidency.
Support Free Speech:
Subscribe to The Duran on YouTube – Find us on BitChute.
The Duran Audio Podcast:
Follow on Soundcloud – Subscribe on iTunes.
Via Sara Carter…
Former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn’s previous defense team turned over recently discovered emails and handwritten notes Wednesday to his new counsel, suggesting that the delay in turning over the documents were due to technical issues since being ordered by the presiding federal judge six months ago to turn over all documents.
On July 25, 2019 presiding Federal Judge Emmet T. Sullivan, ordered the well-known law firm of Covington and Burling LLP to ‘promptly turn over the entire file’ on Flynn to his new defense attorney Sidney Powell. The order was made under threat of a hearing before the District of Columbia Ethics Counsel. The law firm turned over what is described as a ‘voluminous’ amount of documents but it apparently wasn’t all the documents. On Wednesday, the law firm turned over more documents and suggested in a supplemental notice filed with the court that there may be even be more documents not yet produced.
“In reviewing materials in response to the Court’s March 6, 2020 Order (Doc. 174) to respond to Mr. Flynn’s specific allegations in his Supplemental Motion to Withdraw Plea of Guilty, however, we have found emails and two pages of handwritten notes that were not previously transferred to successor counsel,” the notice submitted by Flynn’s former lawyers Robert Kelner and Stephan P. Anthony stated. “With respect to the emails, this appears to have resulted from errors in the process of collecting and searching electronic materials that were not contained in the working case file. The two pages of notes appear to have been inadvertently missed during the file transfer process.”
Flynn’s new defense team is combing through the new trove of documents, suggesting that the appropriate action by the DOJ would be to dismiss Flynn’s case entirely based on egregious government misconduct.
“It’s an interesting new production of documents from the Flynn file. It will be even more interesting to see what the firm has to say about them. We are really looking forward to a hearing in court on all the issues that will exonerate General Flynn,” said Powell, who spoke to SaraACarter.com.
“Meanwhile, the government still refuses to produce the original 302 and the DOJ memo of January 30, 2017 that exonerated him of any Russia issue, and it still refuses to dismiss the case because of the egregious government misconduct from the inception of this persecution—including slipping an FBI Agent secretly into a presidential briefing in August 2016—before the election—to collect information on nominee Trump and General Flynn,” she added. “The country and Justice would be best served if the DOJ would take responsibility for these outrageous actions and the deliberate attempted destruction of an honorable man. The agents who interviewed him knew he was honest with them. They later altered the 302 until it was approved by Andrew McCabe.”
Last week, a status report was filed by prosecutors to delay the anticipated April 3 status report hearing to April 24. Justice Department prosecutors contend that the documents provided by Flynn’s former legal counsel “are voluminous, span numerous topics that arose during Covington’s 30-month representation of Mr. Flynn, and include many pages of sometimes difficult-to-decipher handwritten notes.”
“The government needs additional time to digest this information and any additional information that Covington may provide,” the status report stated.
“In order to allow the government adequate time to review the materials that have been produced and to request, receive, and review any follow-up information or documents, the government respectfully asks this Court to allow the government three additional weeks to provide a further status update and, if feasible, a proposed briefing schedule,” the prosecutors stated.
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theduran--2020-04-13--The Quango and the Collapse

The Quango and the Collapse

By commissioning Wall Street behemoth BlackRock to manage its corporate debt purchase program the Federal Reserve has outsourced bail-outs to a key component of Wall Street ’ s corruption , where there is no potential for BlackRock to do the right thing .
Because there is so little known about the SMCCF and the PMCCF corporate credit facilities and how they will operate , the Federal Reserve must publish full details of all contracts managed by BlackRock .
Since the Fed quango is using these acronym programs to obfuscate and make their operations opaque , Congress must require the Fed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ including the current and future investment process operated by BlackRock .
Congress must be prepared to confront Mr Mnuchin and his cronies too , with some hope to divulge explicit investment program details .
The Fed chairman and Treasury secretary must testify before Congress about these BlackRock-managed programs , including provision of stated goals where changes , additions , or amendments to the programs must be publicly revealed , and Congress must publicly televise the hearings .
The Fed must detail conflict of interest policies and procedures and audit BlackRock to ensure it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of individuals executing the IMC ( Investment Management Control ) by BlackRock is mandatory .
And under Congressional oversight the Fed must reveal any inevitable effort by BlackRock to profit by and promote its own investment products by these programs .
Companies impacted by this pandemic have seen their credit rating downgraded making them ineligible for federal corporate debt programs , where fossil fuels and the energy sector have been hardest hit .
Note that small and large oil companies alike have seen rising bankruptcies and the coal industry is in terminal decline @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in decline for years too and must inevitably wind down when shale resources evaporate and climate concerns intensify .
Supporting inefficient industries with QE cash subsidized by the public via the Fed ’ s purchase of junk bonds is not only immoral but criminally corrupt .
Congress must prevent the Federal Reserve from purchasing junk bonds to bail-out these losing industries and their cronies , as well as predatory hedge fund managers and failed private equity firms who have defaulted on their poorly run corporate scams .
In a true market economy , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not bailed-out by the privately held quango known as the Federal Reserve , via its out-sourced MMT scam trades as subsidized by public funds .
In other words , Congress must ensure that the Fed ’ s deal with BlackRock is not a bailout for doomed-to-fail industries which results in greater loss for implicated financial counterparties .
Such action will only highlight the corruption at the heart of the US financial system where the United States is now the most corrupt nation globally .
( For example , most Wall Street share buybacks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the last financial crash . )
The Federal Reserve has been co-opted by the US Treasury and the Treasury is being run by one of the most dangerous and notorious predatory Oligarchs of the US financial collapse – the 2008-2009 collapse that disgraced the United States monetary system in the eyes of the world .
Secretary Mnuchin and Mr Trump have weaponized the dollar with the pending failure of the US dollar as global reserve currency , now more imminent than ever .
Note that the Federal Reserve is not an independent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been co-opted by the US Treasury- Executive branch and there is no reason for any quasi-governmental function to exist when the Fed ’ s operations are dictated by the US Treasury secretary and president .
Now the people of the United States have been forcibly coerced into an MMT monetary nightmare with zero recourse .
As such , the Federal Reserve must be forced to wind down when its crony-predatory bail-outs ( again ) fail and plunge the US monetary system into chaos now that the Fed and Treasury have effectively merged .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ on track , Congress must support a resilient green agenda to handle shocks to the financial system from loss of employment .
Building clean industries and new infrastructure in the United States to get off fossil fuels should be a top priority , to promote full employment and reduce reliance on foreign capital and globalist subversion .
The management of clean green-oriented industry to rebuild US infrastructure is paramount and Congress must not leave the financing of such to a crony-capital predator like BlackRock .
Thus Congress should undertake stringent oversight of this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , or otherwise gaming these programs .
Companies seeking bailout funds or other rescue funds must not be eligible for corporate bond-buying or allowed to buy back their shares with taxpayer-subsidized MMT funds .
The American people must be informed about BlackRock ’ s role , fully overseen and regulated .
Thus a financial Inspector General must be re-appointed as soon as possible and a financial oversight committee created — free from Executive or Treasury interference — with the power to prosecute via a newly empowered SEC .
In closing , we trust @ @ @ @ @ @ @ aware that the people are of course watching and waiting to see how US Congress will act to represent them in this crisis , instead of representing the far less than 1 % per usual .
For the Fed/Treasury to hand out trillions to newly bankrupt trillionaires will only result in a much more serious crisis this time ( than experienced ten years ago ) perhaps resulting in civil unrest and ever deeper societal and political decline .
NB : The above is a complete rewrite of a “ Friends of the Earth @ @ @ @ @ @ @ BlackRock Steve Brown is the author of “ Iraq : the Road to War ” ( Sourcewatch ) editor of “ Bush Administration War Crimes in Iraq ” ( Sourcewatch ) “ Trump ’ s Limited Hangout ” and “ Federal Reserve : Out-sourcing the Monetary System to the Money Trust Oligarchs Since 1913 ” ; Steve is an antiwar activist , a published scholar on the US monetary system , and has appeared as guest contributor to Fort Russ News , Lew Rockwell Report , SOTT , and Strategika51 .
Twitter : @ @

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
Submitted by Steve Brown…
“Dear Member of Congress,
By commissioning Wall Street behemoth BlackRock to manage its corporate debt purchase program the Federal Reserve has outsourced bail-outs to a key component of Wall Street’s corruption, where there is no potential for BlackRock to do the right thing.
Because there is so little known about the SMCCF and the PMCCF corporate credit facilities and how they will operate, the Federal Reserve must publish full details of all contracts managed by BlackRock. Since the Fed quango is using these acronym programs to obfuscate and make their operations opaque, Congress must require the Fed to publish full details of the contracts including the current and future investment process operated by BlackRock. Congress must be prepared to confront Mr Mnuchin and his cronies too, with some hope to divulge explicit investment program details.
The Fed chairman and Treasury secretary must testify before Congress about these BlackRock-managed programs, including provision of stated goals where changes, additions, or amendments to the programs must be publicly revealed, and Congress must publicly televise the hearings. The Fed must detail conflict of interest policies and procedures and audit BlackRock to ensure it abides by them, where a list of individuals executing the IMC (Investment Management Control) by BlackRock is mandatory. And under Congressional oversight the Fed must reveal any inevitable effort by BlackRock to profit by and promote its own investment products by these programs.
Companies impacted by this pandemic have seen their credit rating downgraded making them ineligible for federal corporate debt programs, where fossil fuels and the energy sector have been hardest hit. Note that small and large oil companies alike have seen rising bankruptcies and the coal industry is in terminal decline. The oil services sector has been in decline for years too and must inevitably wind down when shale resources evaporate and climate concerns intensify. Supporting inefficient industries with QE cash subsidized by the public via the Fed’s purchase of junk bonds is not only immoral but criminally corrupt.
Congress must prevent the Federal Reserve from purchasing junk bonds to bail-out these losing industries and their cronies, as well as predatory hedge fund managers and failed private equity firms who have defaulted on their poorly run corporate scams. In a true market economy, failing industries are allowed to fail and not bailed-out by the privately held quango known as the Federal Reserve, via its out-sourced MMT scam trades as subsidized by public funds.
In other words, Congress must ensure that the Fed’s deal with BlackRock is not a bailout for doomed-to-fail industries which results in greater loss for implicated financial counterparties. Such action will only highlight the corruption at the heart of the US financial system where the United States is now the most corrupt nation globally. (For example, most Wall Street share buybacks were financed by public QE cash resulting from the last financial crash.)
The Federal Reserve has been co-opted by the US Treasury and the Treasury is being run by one of the most dangerous and notorious predatory Oligarchs of the US financial collapse – the 2008-2009 collapse that disgraced the United States monetary system in the eyes of the world. Secretary Mnuchin and Mr Trump have weaponized the dollar with the pending failure of the US dollar as global reserve currency, now more imminent than ever.
Note that the Federal Reserve is not an independent Central Bank. The Federal Reserve has been co-opted by the US Treasury- Executive branch and there is no reason for any quasi-governmental function to exist when the Fed’s operations are dictated by the US Treasury secretary and president. Now the people of the United States have been forcibly coerced into an MMT monetary nightmare with zero recourse. As such, the Federal Reserve must be forced to wind down when its crony-predatory bail-outs (again) fail and plunge the US monetary system into chaos now that the Fed and Treasury have effectively merged.
Should the US economy ever get back on track, Congress must support a resilient green agenda to handle shocks to the financial system from loss of employment. Building clean industries and new infrastructure in the United States to get off fossil fuels should be a top priority, to promote full employment and reduce reliance on foreign capital and globalist subversion.
The management of clean green-oriented industry to rebuild US infrastructure is paramount and Congress must not leave the financing of such to a crony-capital predator like BlackRock. Thus Congress should undertake stringent oversight of this infrastructure program to prevent BlackRock from skimming, or otherwise gaming these programs.
Companies seeking bailout funds or other rescue funds must not be eligible for corporate bond-buying or allowed to buy back their shares with taxpayer-subsidized MMT funds. The American people must be informed about BlackRock’s role, fully overseen and regulated. Thus a financial Inspector General must be re-appointed as soon as possible and a financial oversight committee created — free from Executive or Treasury interference — with the power to prosecute via a newly empowered SEC.
In closing, we trust that you and your staff are well aware that the people are of course watching and waiting to see how US Congress will act to represent them in this crisis, instead of representing the far less than 1% per usual. For the Fed/Treasury to hand out trillions to newly bankrupt trillionaires will only result in a much more serious crisis this time (than experienced ten years ago) perhaps resulting in civil unrest and ever deeper societal and political decline.
Sincerely,
Steve Brown”
NB: The above is a complete rewrite of a “Friends of the Earth” campaign letter to Congress, regarding BlackRock
Steve Brown is the author of “Iraq: the Road to War” (Sourcewatch) editor of “Bush Administration War Crimes in Iraq” (Sourcewatch) “Trump’s Limited Hangout” and “Federal Reserve: Out-sourcing the Monetary System to the Money Trust Oligarchs Since 1913”; Steve is an antiwar activist, a published scholar on the US monetary system, and has appeared as guest contributor to Fort Russ News, Lew Rockwell Report, SOTT, and Strategika51. Twitter: @newsypaperz
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Drowning not waiving

While UK civil liberties are eroded and national lockdown prevails , in the tech world a land-grab is underway .
The British Government and the Civil Service are occupied elsewhere , no wonder MPs are having to take up the slack .
We are in a liquidity crunch .
Anyone who tries to get a credit card will tell you this .
A mortgage anyone ?
A business loan for the self-employed to tide over a small or medium sized company during lockdown , anyone ?
The same goes for the tech sphere .
In these times you must be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the dust settles and Covid-19 is behind us , and it will be behind us , many companies all over the UK will have gone into liquidation , unable to survive without trading and starved of funding .
This is already happening , and the large companies and corporates are there to watch them fall and to acquire them .
This will be at the expense of market diversity and innovation , and of the middle classes , who will have been squeezed out of the market .
So the corporates get more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ down further , making the gap between the relative rich and the relative poor even greater .
The virus is a perfect environment for M & A ’ s .
If the mere mention of the the word ‘ China ’ sends you into a paroxysm of ‘ wokism ’ it shouldn ’ t , because this is not about China .
This is about the contempt that neoliberal Western governments have for their own people , products and security , and how the CCP ( Chinese Communist Party ) have for many @ @ @ @ @ @ @ already beginning to recover from Covid-19 , is looking to expand its tech base further whilst the rest of the world , with few exceptions , is still in lockdown .
Cheap labour costs plus direct access to one of the largest and fastest growing tech markets in the world .
The Chinese are tech-hungry .
It is a surveillance state with a huge market .
However , outsourcing of Intellectual Property ( IP ) will eventually turn the UK into an empty vessel on the periphery of innovation , it will have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , it is stuck between a rock and Huawei .
The Chinese will take it and run with it , they have been doing this for years , because we let them .
With the rest of the world including China under financial stress , this is a good time to work under the radar .
Buy cheap , go long .
China is behaving like any other global business corporation .
It is just a little more disciplined and a little less tolerant of dissenters .
It has its strategy , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The CCP needs to invest in infrastructure to keep growing .
It needs to ensure those at the top are in a position to implement that policy and are protected and able to make decisions on a unilateral basis .
This is not China ’ s fault .
It is the fault of the West for letting it happen .
Western governments appear too stupid to make China pay a fair price for IP and tech , and unable or unwilling to see that selling it on compromises it ’ s own security @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is why governments have regulators , to prevent and scrutinise the selling off of strategic assets overseas .
But in practice these regulators , at least in the UK , are woefully naive or complicit .
One example of outsourcing that we are all having to deal with is that of our medicines , medical supplies , equipment and component parts to China .
Why would you give one country , one source , one corporate , one body , the power over life and death .
In a situation such as Covid-19 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it went into lockdown and the West was at the back of the line .
This is logical .
If it were your country , everything else would be secondary , the safety of your population comes first .
This is what China did .
In the last few weeks the UK has paid China millions for Covid-19 test kits and equipment only to find that they do not give consistent results , that PPE ( Personal Protection Equipment ) is delayed or is faulty or does not turn up at all .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ money back .
China has the supply and the rest of the world has the demand .
It is the key supplier of the one thing that the world needs .
The Chinese people are as much victims as we are , It is Western governments that have been prolifically myopic , so lacking in judgement , and so naive to have put their nations in this vulnerable position .
It ’ s not as if the West has not had previous warnings , governments just chose to ignore them .
The acquisition @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has been going on for years .
China have been vacuuming up IPs for decades .
In the US , Trump has taken on the monumental task of trying to correct this asset stripping .
He ran part of his 2016 election campaign on it .
What are the UK and Europe doing ?
They are facilitating the CCP for short term profit without a long term plan at the expense of their nations ’ security and prosperity .
It ’ s all about the supply chain .
The pandemic has proved that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ public when the UK needs those jobs , particularly now .
That expertise , that innovation should rightly remain in the UK , otherwise it just becomes asset stripping and any other M & A , until the UK becomes China Inc .
In an economic and technological war , you don ’ t give the CCP your big guns .
In September 2017 , Imagination Technologies was bought out by Canyon Bridge for £550 million after Imagination ’ s share price plummeted in April of that year when it was dumped by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Graphics Processing Unit ) IP ( Intellectual Property ) provider .
Apple generated over half of Imagination ’ s revenue .
Imagination Technologies is a British based company whose website says it provides products including ‘ Graphics Processors PowerVR , Vision and AI , Connectivity Solutions , and IP ’ , basically all of the stuff most of us non techies know little about , but are told is essential and security sensitive .
China Reform Holdings , a Beijing backed Chinese global private equity fund specialising in M & A and technology @ @ @ @ @ @ @ engaging in ‘ fund investment , financial services , asset management , equity operations , and overseas investment ’ .
It is also the major investor in Canyon Bridge .
Despite fears the 2017 deal handed too much power to the Chinese , Canyon Bridge acquired Imagination Technologies without regulatory intervention .
Recently , Canyon Bridge attempted a board takeover of Imagination .
Chinese investors , no longer prepared to be just ‘ passive investors ’ , saw an opportunity to appoint 4 new board members from China , effectively facilitating a takeover @ @ @ @ @ @ @ IP to China .
Imagination is not a company you want to relocate to China .
It is staggering that just such a deal was about to get under the wire of the UK regulators .
This takeover has been averted for now whilst an investigation is held in Whitehall headed by Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden .
In January 2020 Apple signed a new multi-year deal with Imagination Technologies giving Apple access to a wider range of Imaginations IPs .
Imagination came close to being lost this week but for the diligent work @ @ @ @ @ @ @ CEO , has stepped down from Imagination Tech and been replaced by Ray Bingham , executive Chairman of Imagination .
Ray Bingham is also on the board of Canyon Bridge and a co-founder of that company .
Isn ’ t this like giving the fox the key to the hen house ?
2017 was clearly a busy year for takeovers in the semiconductor business .
A few weeks earlier in the United States , the very same Canyon Bridge was blocked by Donald Trump and the US Committee on Foreign Investments ( CFIUS @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Lattice Semiconductor because of National Security issues and relocation concerns .
You would think this would be enough to flag up possible future concerns that the same company , Canyon Bridge , having failed to acquire Lattice , would then make its move on Imagination .
Why did UK regulators not take notice of these concerns of the US for their security ?
Are UK regulators blind to security issues when it comes to China ?
In a US 2017 Report to Congress of the US-China Economic Review Commission reported : “ Other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the United States via U.S.-based shell companies .
One notable example is Canyon Bridge Capital Partners ’ failed November 2016 bid to acquire U.S. chipmaker Lattice Semiconductor for $ 1.3 billion .
Canyon Bridge was a newly created private equity firm based in California and funded solely by China Reform Holdings , an investment holding company controlled by China ’ s State Council with indirect links to the Chinese governments ’ s space program .
China reform Holdings entered into initial talks with Lattice in April 2016 , a few months before @ @ @ @ @ @ @ China ’ s ties to Lattice started as early as 2004 , when Lattice paid a $ 560,000 civil fine for illegally exporting products to China .
in 2012 , two Chinese nationals were indicted for violating export controls after trying to smuggle Lattice chips to China .
four years later , Chinese state-owned chipmaker Tsinghua Unigroup purchased a 6 percent stake in Lattice – around the same time China Reform Holdings first contacted Lattice about a potential deal – before selling off its shares a few months later , just weeks before @ @ @ @ @ @ @ November 2016 .
There Chinese government ’ s repeated attempts to access Lattice ’ s technologies raise national security concerns , with the acquisition potentially motivated by political factors ( such as furthering industrial policies laid out by the CCP ) rather than commercial considerations .
Although Lattice does not sell chips to the U.S military , it manufactures a type of military-grade microchip that its two biggest rivals , Xilinx Inc , and Intel Corp ’ s Altera , sell to the U.S. military , making Lattice ’ s acquisition a potential @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are the ideal partner for Imagination Technologies – strategically minded , astute , and connected to important channels in China to which they have enabled our access .
Their support for our investments in R & D , new strategic initiatives , and key partner engagements have been instrumental to our progress.
” RON BLACK , ex CEO , IMAGINATION TECHNOLOGIES The Culture Secretary , Oliver Dowden sought an urgent meeting with Imagination ’ s bosses and owners last weekend after concerns over national security were flagged by MPs .
Resignations were offered @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Iain Duncan Smith should be praised for their work and speedy intervention in this matter .
They demanded protection of an ‘ important British strategic asset.
’ In 2018 , Arm Holdings , one of Britain ’ s most successful technology firms went the same way , when Japanese Softbank who only acquired Arm in 2016 with promises to keep the base in Britain , sold off 51 % of Arm ’ s Chinese subsidiary to a group of Chinese led investors .
This sale significantly enriched China ’ s ability to produce @ @ @ @ @ @ @ At this time , US and China business relations were particularly strained , yet that deal in the UK would make it easier for China to access chip and IP technology .
While the British government are stuck in the quagmire of Covid-19 , other forces are at work which , if not dealt with , will undermine all that Brexit was supposed to achieve .
Who is looking after the interests of the British people at this vulnerable time ?
There is no entitlement to freedom , it ’ s something you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will tell you .
The British public voted for Brexit to , among other things , take control of it ’ s security and it ’ s borders .
David Davis and Ian Duncan Smith flagged up Imagination on this possible board takeover , having realised that 600 British jobs could be outsourced to China along with all that expertise and valuable IP .
It is exactly this kind of takeover and outsourcing that Trump has been grappling with for the last 4 years , in an attempt to reverse the disastrous relocation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to China under previous administrations .
Trump ’ s intention has been to bring industries home , and with them jobs , IP , and to protect national security .
In the UK few government ministers have much experience of management or business , and an education that largely consists of the Oxford Syllabus of PPE , Politics , Philosophy and Economics , so loved by professional politicians as a fast track to Parliament .
Covid-19 ensures the centre of British government and the civil service are occupied elsewhere .
It has been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ MPs to be guardians of the state .
While Boris Johnson recovers , the press speculate as to who is really in charge , others are capitalising on Britain ’ s vulnerability .
In the world of technology and business nothing could be more damaging than uncertainly and a weak hand at the helm .
Britain learnt the hard way in the wilderness years , 3.5 of them , between the referendum on Brexit and the implementation of that mandate given to the government by the people .
Uncertainty puts jobs at risk @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an economy already under serious strain into a deep freeze along with it ’ s citizens .
In the New Year it felt as if the wilderness years were over , and that the UK was ready to capitalise on Brexit opportunities , and gain self-confidence once more .
Covid -19 has put on ice any expansion for months , and when the UK needs to be engaged and engaging with new trade deals , being imaginative and innovative whilst sorting out those Brexit negotiations with Brussels , it seems to be asleep @ @ @ @ @ @ @ let the British people be caught in a crash .
The mainstream media have seized control of the narrative in Britain .
It is wall to wall Covid , and few are challenging the new powers the police are enjoying and those that are , are vilified for even mentioning the erosion of civil liberties .
Terrifyingly , the government are endorsing a new NHS surveillance tracking app , the government have a fantastic record of inadvertently selling your data .
This appalling erosion of freedoms could go on for months , years @ @ @ @ @ @ @ find itself a surveillance state , even more so than it already is .
Just like China .
Except the data would be monitored by China because the CCP would have ultimate control of the tech .
None of this should be slipping under the radar , let alone be endorsed by the government or regulators .
British regulators should not be facilitating Chinese dominance of the tech market .
The attempt by Canyon Bridge to take over Lattice was blocked by the US regulator because of the involvement of Chinese investors and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the public domain .
Why didn ’ t our regulators pick up on this , or if they did , why did it not matter to them ?
The UK has had over a decade of selling out and selling off it ’ s assets at bargain basement prices and allowing ill-advised takeovers .
It is shortsighted and immoral .
Don ’ t let the free trade market fool you into thinking that IP does not matter .
It is easy to forgot there is other news out there .
News that will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our lives and the economies of the world , not to mention the power balance in the sphere of global geo-politics .
It is sad that we have to hunt out that news .
This virus is a wake up call , it will re-define alliances and supply chains , and it should .
We are now in a position where much of our medicine and medical supplies are manufactured in China .
This has had a catastrophic effect .
With the lack of access to Personal Protection Equipment ( PPE ) in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ silent on the importance of face mask protection for the general public .
They have to be .
They can ’ t get any face masks .
They are mostly supplied by China .
The government can not afford to create a demand because there is no supply .
Do you really want that same country that has sold you faulty Covid kits and withheld PPE equipment to produce and own most of your tech ?
The UK is part of the Five Eyes ( FYEY ) , but seems not prepared to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Canada , US and New Zealand , with regard to Huawei , .
These are important trading partners , perhaps the most important .
In going up against them the UK risks its own security as well as theirs .
The UK Government needs to decide which block of nations for national security purposes it wants to align itself with .
Is it the Five Eyes , all of whom have rejected Huawei on security grounds and with whom the UK have a longstanding commercial and security relationship , or does it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ CCP ?
The United Kingdom appears to be ignoring advice and research on purely economic grounds .
With Covid -19 it has been made clear that letting any one country be the sole supplier of goods , technology , manufacturing , and in this case medicines , medical supplies and components , has been catastrophic to life and economically disastrous .
The UK Government seem to have disappeared into a metaphorical bunker .
Wake up Boris , remember who your friends are .
China are in acquisition mode and the UK is vulnerable @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and strategically placed too .
If you want to shift the balance of world power in favour of China then do so , just be honest with the British people that this is your intention and be prepared for the consequences , I don ’ t think the British public will be too pleased .
China are in the ascendent .
Regulators are selling out the British public when it is their job to protect them from profiteering .
Worse , the British tax payer is paying these regulators to protect them .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the UK turned into a subsidiary of China Corp. Wall Street and the City of London have facilitated this Chinese business model , and the West ’ s citizens are paying the price .
The UK did not give up its monetary sovereignty , so why give away its assets ?
It will be a huge fight to wrestle that production , supply and IP back from China , so at the very least stop giving it away .

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
Submitted by M.A. Richardson…
While UK civil liberties are eroded and national lockdown prevails, in the tech world a land-grab is underway. The British Government and the Civil Service are occupied elsewhere, no wonder MPs are having to take up the slack.
We are in a liquidity crunch. Anyone who tries to get a credit card will tell you this. A mortgage anyone? A business loan for the self-employed to tide over a small or medium sized company during lockdown, anyone? The same goes for the tech sphere. In these times you must be nimble, mercurial and creative. Once the dust settles and Covid-19 is behind us, and it will be behind us, many companies all over the UK will have gone into liquidation, unable to survive without trading and starved of funding.
This is already happening, and the large companies and corporates are there to watch them fall and to acquire them. This will be at the expense of market diversity and innovation, and of the middle classes, who will have been squeezed out of the market. So the corporates get more corporate and the middle class gets pushed down further, making the gap between the relative rich and the relative poor even greater. The virus is a perfect environment for M&A’s.
If the mere mention of the the word ‘China’ sends you into a paroxysm of ‘wokism’ it shouldn’t, because this is not about China. This is about the contempt that neoliberal Western governments have for their own people, products and security, and how the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) have for many years exploited this weakness.
China, already beginning to recover from Covid-19, is looking to expand its tech base further whilst the rest of the world, with few exceptions, is still in lockdown. Cheap labour costs plus direct access to one of the largest and fastest growing tech markets in the world. The Chinese are tech-hungry. It is a surveillance state with a huge market. However, outsourcing of Intellectual Property (IP) will eventually turn the UK into an empty vessel on the periphery of innovation, it will have given it all away. Even now, it is stuck between a rock and Huawei. The Chinese will take it and run with it, they have been doing this for years, because we let them. With the rest of the world including China under financial stress, this is a good time to work under the radar. Buy cheap, go long.
China is behaving like any other global business corporation. It is just a little more disciplined and a little less tolerant of dissenters. It has its strategy, and its ideology of acquisition and implementation. The CCP needs to invest in infrastructure to keep growing. It needs to ensure those at the top are in a position to implement that policy and are protected and able to make decisions on a unilateral basis.
This is not China’s fault. It is the fault of the West for letting it happen. Western governments appear too stupid to make China pay a fair price for IP and tech, and unable or unwilling to see that selling it on compromises it’s own security and that of its people. This is why governments have regulators, to prevent and scrutinise the selling off of strategic assets overseas. But in practice these regulators, at least in the UK, are woefully naive or complicit.
One example of outsourcing that we are all having to deal with is that of our medicines, medical supplies, equipment and component parts to China. Why would you give one country, one source, one corporate, one body, the power over life and death. In a situation such as Covid-19, China needs those supplies too; it went into lockdown and the West was at the back of the line. This is logical. If it were your country, everything else would be secondary, the safety of your population comes first. This is what China did.
In the last few weeks the UK has paid China millions for Covid-19 test kits and equipment only to find that they do not give consistent results, that PPE (Personal Protection Equipment) is delayed or is faulty or does not turn up at all. The UK are trying to get their money back.
China has the supply and the rest of the world has the demand. It is the key supplier of the one thing that the world needs. The Chinese people are as much victims as we are, It is Western governments that have been prolifically myopic, so lacking in judgement, and so naive to have put their nations in this vulnerable position. It’s not as if the West has not had previous warnings, governments just chose to ignore them.
The acquisition of Western assets both intellectual and physical has been going on for years. China have been vacuuming up IPs for decades. In the US, Trump has taken on the monumental task of trying to correct this asset stripping. He ran part of his 2016 election campaign on it.
What are the UK and Europe doing? They are facilitating the CCP for short term profit without a long term plan at the expense of their nations’ security and prosperity. It’s all about the supply chain. The pandemic has proved that.
Regulators are selling out the British public when the UK needs those jobs, particularly now. That expertise, that innovation should rightly remain in the UK, otherwise it just becomes asset stripping and any other M&A, until the UK becomes China Inc. In an economic and technological war, you don’t give the CCP your big guns.
In September 2017, Imagination Technologies was bought out by Canyon Bridge for £550 million after Imagination’s share price plummeted in April of that year when it was dumped by Apple as it’s GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) IP(Intellectual Property) provider. Apple generated over half of Imagination’s revenue. Imagination Technologies is a British based company whose website says it provides products including ‘Graphics Processors PowerVR, Vision and AI, Connectivity Solutions, and IP’, basically all of the stuff most of us non techies know little about, but are told is essential and security sensitive.
China Reform Holdings, a Beijing backed Chinese global private equity fund specialising in M&A and technology management, is an investment holding company engaging in ‘fund investment, financial services, asset management, equity operations, and overseas investment’. It is also the major investor in Canyon Bridge. Despite fears the 2017 deal handed too much power to the Chinese, Canyon Bridge acquired Imagination Technologies without regulatory intervention.
Recently, Canyon Bridge attempted a board takeover of Imagination. Chinese investors, no longer prepared to be just ‘passive investors’, saw an opportunity to appoint 4 new board members from China, effectively facilitating a takeover and probable relocation of the company and IP to China. Imagination is not a company you want to relocate to China. It is staggering that just such a deal was about to get under the wire of the UK regulators. This takeover has been averted for now whilst an investigation is held in Whitehall headed by Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden.
In January 2020 Apple signed a new multi-year deal with Imagination Technologies giving Apple access to a wider range of Imaginations IPs.
Imagination came close to being lost this week but for the diligent work of a few MPs. Ron Black CEO, has stepped down from Imagination Tech and been replaced by Ray Bingham, executive Chairman of Imagination. Ray Bingham is also on the board of Canyon Bridge and a co-founder of that company. Isn’t this like giving the fox the key to the hen house?
2017 was clearly a busy year for takeovers in the semiconductor business. A few weeks earlier in the United States, the very same Canyon Bridge was blocked by Donald Trump and the US Committee on Foreign Investments (CFIUS) from buying the US tech company Lattice Semiconductor because of National Security issues and relocation concerns. You would think this would be enough to flag up possible future concerns that the same company, Canyon Bridge, having failed to acquire Lattice, would then make its move on Imagination. Why did UK regulators not take notice of these concerns of the US for their security? Are UK regulators blind to security issues when it comes to China?
In a US 2017 Report to Congress of the US-China Economic Review Commission reported:
“Other Chinese firms attempt to obscure their dealings in the United States via U.S.-based shell companies. One notable example is Canyon Bridge Capital Partners’ failed November 2016 bid to acquire U.S. chipmaker Lattice Semiconductor for $1.3 billion. Canyon Bridge was a newly created private equity firm based in California and funded solely by China Reform Holdings, an investment holding company controlled by China’s State Council with indirect links to the Chinese governments’s space program.
China reform Holdings entered into initial talks with Lattice in April 2016, a few months before Canyon Bridge was created. However, China’s ties to Lattice started as early as 2004, when Lattice paid a $560,000 civil fine for illegally exporting products to China. in 2012, two Chinese nationals were indicted for violating export controls after trying to smuggle Lattice chips to China. four years later, Chinese state-owned chipmaker Tsinghua Unigroup purchased a 6 percent stake in Lattice – around the same time China Reform Holdings first contacted Lattice about a potential deal – before selling off its shares a few months later, just weeks before the Canyon Bridge deal was announced in November 2016. There Chinese government’s repeated attempts to access Lattice’s technologies raise national security concerns, with the acquisition potentially motivated by political factors (such as furthering industrial policies laid out by the CCP) rather than commercial considerations. Although Lattice does not sell chips to the U.S military, it manufactures a type of military-grade microchip that its two biggest rivals, Xilinx Inc, and Intel Corp’s Altera, sell to the U.S. military, making Lattice’s acquisition a potential national security concern.”
By contrast, from Canyon Bridge website:
“Canyon Bridge are the ideal partner for Imagination Technologies – strategically minded, astute, and connected to important channels in China to which they have enabled our access. Their support for our investments in R&D, new strategic initiatives, and key partner engagements have been instrumental to our progress.” RON BLACK, ex CEO, IMAGINATION TECHNOLOGIES
The Culture Secretary, Oliver Dowden sought an urgent meeting with Imagination’s bosses and owners last weekend after concerns over national security were flagged by MPs. Resignations were offered by the board. David Davis and Iain Duncan Smith should be praised for their work and speedy intervention in this matter. They demanded protection of an ‘important British strategic asset.’
In 2018, Arm Holdings, one of Britain’s most successful technology firms went the same way, when Japanese Softbank who only acquired Arm in 2016 with promises to keep the base in Britain, sold off 51% of Arm’s Chinese subsidiary to a group of Chinese led investors. This sale significantly enriched China’s ability to produce tech and chip design in house. At this time, US and China business relations were particularly strained, yet that deal in the UK would make it easier for China to access chip and IP technology.
While the British government are stuck in the quagmire of Covid-19, other forces are at work which, if not dealt with, will undermine all that Brexit was supposed to achieve. Who is looking after the interests of the British people at this vulnerable time? There is no entitlement to freedom, it’s something you have to fight for as previous generations will tell you.
The British public voted for Brexit to, among other things, take control of it’s security and it’s borders. David Davis and Ian Duncan Smith flagged up Imagination on this possible board takeover, having realised that 600 British jobs could be outsourced to China along with all that expertise and valuable IP.
It is exactly this kind of takeover and outsourcing that Trump has been grappling with for the last 4 years, in an attempt to reverse the disastrous relocation of much of US manufacture and IP to China under previous administrations. Trump’s intention has been to bring industries home, and with them jobs, IP, and to protect national security.
In the UK few government ministers have much experience of management or business, and an education that largely consists of the Oxford Syllabus of PPE, Politics, Philosophy and Economics, so loved by professional politicians as a fast track to Parliament. Covid-19 ensures the centre of British government and the civil service are occupied elsewhere. It has been left to a few vigilant and experienced MPs to be guardians of the state.
While Boris Johnson recovers, the press speculate as to who is really in charge, others are capitalising on Britain’s vulnerability.
In the world of technology and business nothing could be more damaging than uncertainly and a weak hand at the helm. Britain learnt the hard way in the wilderness years, 3.5 of them, between the referendum on Brexit and the implementation of that mandate given to the government by the people. Uncertainty puts jobs at risk, and it puts the growth of an economy already under serious strain into a deep freeze along with it’s citizens.
In the New Year it felt as if the wilderness years were over, and that the UK was ready to capitalise on Brexit opportunities, and gain self-confidence once more. Covid -19 has put on ice any expansion for months, and when the UK needs to be engaged and engaging with new trade deals, being imaginative and innovative whilst sorting out those Brexit negotiations with Brussels, it seems to be asleep at the wheel. Don’t let the British people be caught in a crash.
The mainstream media have seized control of the narrative in Britain. It is wall to wall Covid, and few are challenging the new powers the police are enjoying and those that are, are vilified for even mentioning the erosion of civil liberties. Terrifyingly, the government are endorsing a new NHS surveillance tracking app, the government have a fantastic record of inadvertently selling your data. This appalling erosion of freedoms could go on for months, years or maybe for good. Britain could find itself a surveillance state, even more so than it already is. Just like China. Except the data would be monitored by China because the CCP would have ultimate control of the tech.
None of this should be slipping under the radar, let alone be endorsed by the government or regulators. British regulators should not be facilitating Chinese dominance of the tech market.
The attempt by Canyon Bridge to take over Lattice was blocked by the US regulator because of the involvement of Chinese investors and CCP links. That information was in the public domain. Why didn’t our regulators pick up on this, or if they did, why did it not matter to them?
The UK has had over a decade of selling out and selling off it’s assets at bargain basement prices and allowing ill-advised takeovers. It is shortsighted and immoral. Don’t let the free trade market fool you into thinking that IP does not matter.
It is easy to forgot there is other news out there. News that will have far more long term effects on our lives and the economies of the world, not to mention the power balance in the sphere of global geo-politics. It is sad that we have to hunt out that news. This virus is a wake up call, it will re-define alliances and supply chains, and it should.
We are now in a position where much of our medicine and medical supplies are manufactured in China. This has had a catastrophic effect. With the lack of access to Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) in a pandemic, the UK government remain silent on the importance of face mask protection for the general public. They have to be. They can’t get any face masks. They are mostly supplied by China. The government cannot afford to create a demand because there is no supply. Do you really want that same country that has sold you faulty Covid kits and withheld PPE equipment to produce and own most of your tech?
The UK is part of the Five Eyes (FYEY), but seems not prepared to listen to its other partners, Australia, Canada, US and New Zealand, with regard to Huawei,. These are important trading partners, perhaps the most important. In going up against them the UK risks its own security as well as theirs.
The UK Government needs to decide which block of nations for national security purposes it wants to align itself with. Is it the Five Eyes, all of whom have rejected Huawei on security grounds and with whom the UK have a longstanding commercial and security relationship, or does it wish to align with China and the CCP? The United Kingdom appears to be ignoring advice and research on purely economic grounds.
With Covid -19 it has been made clear that letting any one country be the sole supplier of goods, technology, manufacturing, and in this case medicines, medical supplies and components, has been catastrophic to life and economically disastrous.
The UK Government seem to have disappeared into a metaphorical bunker. Wake up Boris, remember who your friends are. China are in acquisition mode and the UK is vulnerable. UK inc is just another commodity and strategically placed too. If you want to shift the balance of world power in favour of China then do so, just be honest with the British people that this is your intention and be prepared for the consequences, I don’t think the British public will be too pleased.
China are in the ascendent. Regulators are selling out the British public when it is their job to protect them from profiteering. Worse, the British tax payer is paying these regulators to protect them. Regulators, do your job or see the UK turned into a subsidiary of China Corp.
Wall Street and the City of London have facilitated this Chinese business model, and the West’s citizens are paying the price. The UK did not give up its monetary sovereignty, so why give away its assets? It will be a huge fight to wrestle that production, supply and IP back from China, so at the very least stop giving it away.
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