Global News- Governments Vie for World Control

But their shoelaces get in the way...

<finish this news roundup and then see if you can name the building pictured above>

US Convincing UK To Approve F-16 Fighters To Argentina Amid Reports Of Chinese Military Base In South America

The EurAsian Times, January 7, 2023

China is allegedly making behind-the-scenes moves in Argentina to secure permission to establish a new naval base in the city of Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego province, which would effectively grant Beijing access to Antarctica.

French news site Intelligence Online reported in November 2022 that Argentina-based Chinese Communist Party (CCP) official Shuiping Tu had achieved a breakthrough with local officials in the Tierra del Fuego province for a new naval base that would enable the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy to control a critical passage connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

The proposed facility would be accessible only to the Chinese military personnel, from where they will be in the position to monitor communications throughout the southern hemisphere, reported Intelligence Online.

“A possible Chinese base in Ushuaia would allow Beijing to have a permanent enclave in the Southern Hemisphere, with a projection toward the South Atlantic, which, depending on the conditions negotiated with Argentina, could allow for the construction of facilities, as well as the presence of naval units and military contingents in this quadrant,” Alberto Rojas, director of the International Affairs Observatory at Chile’s Finis Terrae University, told Diálogo, a digital military magazine published by the US Southern Command.

“China could intercept all regional communications with a clear economic and strategic impact, in addition to gaining the potential to maintain permanent monitoring of maritime transit,” he continued…

(Read the article, to learn the history of Argentina’s military forces and its role in the Falklands’ war).

So, there is still hope for the US, which wants to sell these surplus Danish F-16s to Argentina to keep China from gaining a foothold in South America. The USNI report argues that London must reconsider its arms embargo on Argentina, emphasizing that it is preferable to have Argentina’s military personnel influenced by the US instead of China.

This article buries the lead. Here it is:

Argentina controls the farthest tip of Strait of Magellan at Tierra del Fuego. This is the point natural passage connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. This is what many in our government fear China will eventually control. But this isn’t the only South American passage that China is investing in.

Chinese Investment Near Panama Canal, Strait of Magellan Major Concern for U.S. Southern Command, article in USNA News states that the US has concerns

Restrictions to the passage of traffic through the Panama Canal and the Strait of Magellan as China moves aggressively to expand its footprint across Central and South America are the top concerns of the current U.S. Southern Command head told a Senate panel.

“[Those] very strategic lines of communication that must be kept open,” said Army Gen. Laura Richardson in a Thursday hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

In Panama, PRC-based companies are engaged in or bidding for several projects related to the Panama Canal, a global strategic chokepoint, including port operations on both ends of the canal, water management, and a logistics park,” according to Richardson’s written testimony.

“We have a lot of ground to make up” with the government of Panama in investing in projects important to [Panama] as Beijing has done, she added. Richardson cited a Corps of Engineers major water project as a step in the right direction.

Likewise, the Chinese have invested heavily in a space-research project in Argentina that would allow Beijing to track U.S. satellites and also won the rights to build facilities near the Magellan Strait that would also give China access to Antarctica.

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Turning to the Ukraine Russian war, this bit of news from the EurAsian Times was intriguing. Showing more evidence that social media can be used in ways not imaginable two decades ago.

Thanks To TikTok, Ukraine Is Raining Missile On Russian Troops With Pinpoint Accuracy & To A Devastating Effect

January 6, 2023

Ukrainian forces have been precisely targeting Russian troops, wreaking havoc on their command and control centers throughout the ongoing war.

However, it appears that the unapproved use of smartphones by Russian soldiers prompted Ukrainian forces to execute devastating missile attacks on the places where they were stationed. 

Even during the initial stages of the invasion, some Russian soldiers advancing on Kyiv made telephone calls and posted videos to the social media platform TikTok, revealing their whereabouts to Ukrainian forces. 

In early 2022, it was reported that military experts were using TikTok to track the movement of Russian tanks and other heavy armor.

Nearly a year later, despite a ban on personal cellphone use, Russian personnel still use them in the war zone to contact their families and put themselves in danger of Ukrainian bombings.

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OK - this little news report made me chuckle…

Russia Wants Its Liaoning Aircraft Carrier Back That China Purchased From Ukraine For ‘A Few Bottles Of Vodka’

EurAsian Times, January 7, 2023

When the erstwhile Soviet Union disintegrated, Ukraine sold the Kuznetsov-class cruiser carrier to China. More than two decades later, a Russian political party has made a pitch to the Russian government to buy back the aircraft carrier from Beijing.

On January 5, a leader of the Russian Liberal Democratic Party, Sergey Karginov suggested that the Russian government buy back the Soviet aircraft carrier that Ukraine had previously sold to China, RIA Novosti reported.

The Liberal Democratic Party is a right-wing, ultranationalist party that supports the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Karginov told the media: “The unfinished aircraft carrier Varyag was handed over to Ukraine and then sold to China to convert it into a casino. After China received the ship, it completed its construction and renamed it the Liaoning ship. The ship was originally supposed to become one of the main ships of the USSR.”

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Wikipedia’s habit of playing hide and seek with facts is starting to catch up with them. As the “antics” of various governments to control the narrative on Wiki gets more main-stream media exposure. As corrupt governmental organizations, Industry leaders and NGOs try to control the narrative by skewing Wiki articles. The organization’s corruption knows no bounds.

This is just one country’s effort to corrupt Wiki which has been exposed -

Saudi Arabia jails two Wikipedia staff in ‘bid to control content’

The Guardian, January 5, 2023

Saudi Arabia has infiltrated Wikipedia and jailed two administrators in a bid to control content on the website, weeks after a former Twitter worker was jailed in the US for spying for the Saudis.

One administrator was jailed for 32 years, and another was sentenced to eight years, the activists said.

An investigation by parent body Wikimedia found the Saudi government had penetrated Wikipedia’s senior ranks in the region, with Saudi citizens acting or forced to act as agents, two rights groups said.

“Wikimedia’s investigation revealed that the Saudi government had infiltrated the highest ranks in Wikipedia’s team in the region,” Democracy for the Arab World Now (Dawn) and Beirut-based Smex said in a joint statement.

Dawn, which is based in Washington DC and was founded by slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and Smex, which promotes digital rights in the Arab world, cited “whistleblowers and trusted sources” for the information.

There was no immediate comment from the Saudi government or from Wikimedia, which puts free educational content online through initiatives like Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, and Wiktionary.

Dawn and Smex’s statement comes after Wikimedia last month announced global bans for 16 users “who were engaging in conflict of interest editing on Wikipedia projects in the Mena [Middle East and North Africa] region”.

In an investigation that started last January, Wikimedia said it “was able to confirm that a number of users with close connections with external parties were editing the platform in a coordinated fashion to advance the aim of those parties”.

Shocking, right? Not for me. Anyone who has been over the falls in a Wikipedia editing barrel knows what is going on there on a daily basis.

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Speaking of corrupt organizations, known to skew with the intent to defame Wiki Bio articles (such as my own…), there is this little gem.

MI5 on lookout for recruit able to see into the future

“The Security Service is seeking a James Bond character. . . preferably one with access to a crystal ball”
Daily Crunch, December 21, 2022

MI5, the UK's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency, is advertising a job that involves looking into the future and anticipating security threats that could occur up to and including the year 2030.

For £56,000 a year, the successful employee must figure out what technology and techniques could be used by cyber criminals and rogue foreign states in the future. The information technology researcher will need to possess expert knowledge on how wireless networks are used to wreak havoc on British businesses and governmental departments.

In an advertisement, MI5 bosses say: “The research you will be developing will be future focused, looking out between three and seven years, and based on a research theme area.” According to an article on the Daily Star website, candidates should have an interest in vehicle computer systems to help track and collate information on specified targets.

They are looking for all this and more - for the grand salary of $67,000. USD a year! That will surely buy some serious forecasting brainpower. British civil servants - you gotta love-em!

“One of MI5’s biggest recruiting needs is people who can pretend to be someone entirely different for extended periods of time,” said a senior spook known only as SW.”

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