China eyes global economic leadership as U.S. turns inward

In this photo taken Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2016, Kenyan laborers and a Chinese foreman work to finish the construction of an existing bridge that goes across a corner of Nairobi National Park in Nairobi, Kenya. A controversial Chinese-built railway project involving an even larger 6km bridge that would go all the way over the beloved protected area in Kenya’s capital has divided conservationists in this East African country. (Photo: Ben Curtis, AP)

 

This year, a 300-mile railway will begin slicing through Kenya, cutting travel time between the capital, Nairobi, and one of East Africa’s largest ports, Mombasa, from 12 to four hours and breeding hopes of an economic and tourism revival in the region.

The country’s most significant transportation project since its independence in 1963 is being built courtesy of China.  China Road and Bridge, a state-owned enterprise, leads construction of the $13.8 billion project, which is financed nearly 100% by the Export-Import Bank of China.

The railroad is one of a host of infrastructure projects China spearheads around the world in an ambitious quest to reinforce its emergence as the world’s next economic superpower while President Trump turns his back on globalization.

China cuts official contact with Taiwan over new president

BEIJING: China said Saturday (Jun 25) that communications with Taiwan had been suspended after the island’s new government failed to acknowledge the concept that there is only “one China”.

Relations between the two sides have grown increasingly frosty since President Tsai Ing-wen won Taiwan’s leadership by a landslide in January and took office in May, ending eight years of rapprochement.

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“The bilateral communication mechanism has been suspended,” TAO spokesman An Fengshan said on its website.

Has the Pope Abandoned Europe to Islam?

In 2006, Pope Benedict XVI (left) said what no Pope had ever dared to say — that there is a link between violence and Islam. Ten years later, Pope Francis (right) never calls those responsible for anti-Christian violence by name and never mentions the word “Islam.” (Image source: Benedict: Flickr/Catholic Church of England | Francis: Wikimedia Commons/korea.net)

 

 

• In 2006, Pope Benedict XVI said what no Pope had ever dared to say — that there is a link between violence and Islam. Ten years later, Pope Francis never calls those responsible for anti-Christian violence by name and never mentions the word “Islam.”
• Pope Francis does not even try to re-evangeize or reconquer Europe. He seems deeply to believe that the future of Christianity is in the Philippines, in Brazil and in Africa. Probably for the same reason, the Pope is spending less time and effort in denouncing the terrible fate of Christians in the Middle East.
• “Multiculturalism” in Europe is the mosque standing on the ruins of the church. It is not the synthesis requested by Pope Francis. It is the road to becoming extinct.
• Asking Europe to be “multicultural” while it experiences a dramatic de-Christianization is extremely risky. In Germany, a new report found that “Germany has become demographically a multi-religious country.” In the UK, a major inquiry recently declared that “Britain is no longer a Christian country.” In France, Islam is also overtaking Christianity as the dominant religion.

To scroll the list of Pope Francis’s apostolic trips — Brazil, South Korea, Albania, Turkey, Sri Lanka, Ecuador, Cuba, United States, Mexico, Kenya, Uganda, Philippines — one could say that Europe is not exactly at the top of his agenda.

Iran’s War of Terror in Africa

And how will this whirlwind prophecy be done? Likely through a European Army created by the German-led United States of Europe, if it isn’t NATO.

 

Iranian soldiers (CHAVOSH HOMAVANDI/AFP/Getty Images)

 

The Islamic Republic’s terrorist reach extends well beyond the Middle East.

Even to the casual observer, Iranian meddling in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Yemen, Bahrain and other Middle Eastern nations is abundantly evident.

Iran is fighting both directly and indirectly against rebel forces in Iraq and Syria. It has tremendous clout in Lebanon via its Hezbollah proxy, and its determination to “wipe Israel off the map” is widely known. Recently, an Iranian general declared that his nation “must make efforts to bring Bahrain back into Iranian territory and transform it into a part of [its southwestern province of Bushehr].” And in the past four months, three Iranian shipments of weapons have been intercepted in the Middle East. The most recent of those arms shipments was intended for Houthi rebels in Yemen.

What’s less apparent, however, is Iranian meddling in Africa.

China sends sharp warnings to Taiwan’s new president as she preps for office

Taipei, Taiwan — When the Chinese government persuaded Kenya to deport 45 Taiwanese citizens to Beijing recently as part of a fraud investigation, outraged officials in Taipei accused China of kidnapping.

But the controversial expulsions are a veiled warning as to how the mainland is ready to treat Taiwan under its next president, Tsai Ing-wen, say analysts here, if she abandons the current government’s Beijing-friendly policies and insists on maintaining a cautious distance from China, as she has pledged to do.

Are Terrorist Attacks Following the 8.6 Year Frequency?

 

We have many readers in Brussels. My sincere sympathy for what is taking place in Europe. I have hesitated to be an alarmist with this aspect of our war cycle. But one reader sent in this note today:

Dear Martin,

I could have been one of the victims today since I passed the Maalbeek subway station (100m from my work) 15min before the attack. This is a really strange thing to experience.

Will this be an important, post 2015.75, game changer since it was in the middle of the European district?

Is China Moving Closer to a Military Base on the Horn of Africa?

And the gates of the world shall be taken away:

 

Plus, details on China’s five-year plan, more on the Ma-Xi meeting, and a US delegation in Tibet. Friday China links.

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The chief of the general staff of China’s People’s Liberation Army, General Fang Fenghui, visited Djibouti this week, where he met with the president, foreign and defense ministers, and the chief of staff of the Djibouti Armed Forces. China Military Online has an outline of Fang’s visit.

Three Reasons Why Iran Is the ‘King of the South’ of Bible Prophecy

Would you believe that an incredibly accurate description of this exact situation appears in the Bible? About 2,500 years ago, the Prophet Daniel recorded an extensive description of the major powers that would dominate this specific region. Then, over the course of four centuries, that description came to pass—in detail! (Prove Daniel’s prophecy out for yourself: Read our free booklet History and Prophecy of the Middle East.)

But there’s something else. Part of Daniel’s astonishingly accurate prophecy remains to be fulfilled “at the time of the end.” That period is the modern era we’re living in now!

And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.

How China Is Building the Biggest Commercial-Military Empire in History

 

China’s outsized latticework of global infrastructure is said to be rooted in a fierce sense of competitiveness which they claim they learned from 19th century America.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, the sun famously never set on the British empire. A commanding navy enforced its will, yet all would have been lost if it were not for ports, roads, and railroads. The infrastructure that the British built everywhere they went embedded and enabled their power like bones and veins in a body.

Great nations have done this since Rome paved 55,000 miles (89,000 km) of roads and aqueducts in Europe. In the 19th and 20th centuries, Russia and the United States established their own imprint, skewering and taming nearby territories with projects like the Trans-Siberian and the Trans-Continental railways.

Now it’s the turn of the Chinese. Much has been made of Beijing’s “resource grab” in Africa and elsewhere, its construction of militarized artificial islands in the South China Sea and, most recently, its new strategy to project naval power broadly in the open seas.

Vatican Warning: Don’t Be Pontius Pilate

Don’t abrogate the responsibility to prevent radical Muslims from murdering Christians.

Western people and institutions could do more to prevent the slaughter of Christians, a Vatican cleric implied on the day after al-Shabaab’s Muslim militants besieged a university in Garissa, Kenya, and discriminately killed Christians.

German leader urges E. Africa to copy EU integration

German President Joachim Gauck on Thursday urged East African countries not to be discouraged by setbacks and criticisms in their ongoing East African Community (EAC) integration process.

“EAC partner states should borrow a leaf from the European Union’s book,” President Gauck told members of the EAC secretariat and the East African Legislative Assembly, the EAC’s legislative arm.

Chinese naval base for Walvis Bay

STRATEGY … Walvis Bay is set to be part of China’s overseas military bases.

 

DISCUSSIONS are under way at the ‘highest levels’ regarding plans by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy to build a base at Walvis Bay in the next 10 years.

According to reports in the Chinese media, Walvis Bay will be one of 18 naval bases that will be established in various regions: Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Mynanmar in the northern Indian Ocean; Djibouti, Yemen, Oman, Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique in the western Indian Ocean; and Seychelles and Madagascar in the central South Indian Ocean.

“These three strategic lines will further enhance China’s effectiveness in taking responsibility for maintaining the safety of international maritime routes thereby maintaining regional and world stability,” the media reports said.

Leaked DHS Report Reveals 13 Foreign Suspected Terrorists Illegally Entered Canada from US

Please see the article source for the document.

LUBBOCK, Texas — At least 13 men from Africa with terrorist-related records illegally entered Canada from the U.S. since 2010, according to a leaked Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Intelligence Information Report exclusively obtained by Breitbart Texas. The data pertains only to one small region of the vast U.S.-Canadian border. The report reveals that as of September 9, 2014, there have been 155 encounters in the area “involving 344 ethnic Somalis, 21 ethnic Ethiopians, five ethnic Kenyans, two ethnic Djiboutians, two ethnic Nigerians, and one ethnic Sudanese and Congolese subjects who have attempted or succeeded in entering Canada illegally near the Pembina, ND Port of Entry (POE) since June 2010. These encounters INCLUDE 13 SUBJECTS WITH TERRORIST-RELATED RECORDS [Emphasis Added] who have utilized this method of circumventing designated POEs.”

Risk of war as new Nile treaty delays

Countries that share the Nile waters on Monday warned that the region could go to war unless a new treaty on the use of the Nile waters is drawn up.

Nile Basin countries have increased pressure on Egypt to get back to the negotiating table for discussions on how the waters of the world’s longest river can be used.

On Monday, participants gathered at Nairobi’s InterContinental Hotel for the Fourth Nile Basin Development Forum warned the region might face conflicts over water in future if a new agreement is not reached.

Central banks’ investment in yuan puts currency nearer reserve status

At least 40 central banks have invested in the yuan and several others are preparing to do so, putting the mainland currency on the path to reserve status even before full convertibility, Standard Chartered said.

Twenty-three countries have publicly declared their holdings in yuan, in either the onshore or offshore markets, yet the real number of participating central banks could be far more than that, said Jukka Pihlman, Standard Chartered’s Singapore-based global head of central banks and sovereign wealth funds.