Taiwan Seeks Bigger Military to Protect Itself From China

 

The Taiwanese are bracing for the possibility that China will use military force to attempt to assert control over their island.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen promised on October 10 to boost Taiwan’s national security in order to counter an increasingly aggressive China. Taiwan will not allow Communist China’s efforts to seize control of the island, Tsai said.

The Rise of China as a Superpower

Shanghai, China (ISTOCK.COM/LIUFUYU)

 

 

It is one of the most impressive economic and political miracles in modern times. And it isn’t over yet.

China is a sovereign state with a population of over 1.3 billion people. The nation possesses the world’s largest economy by some measurements, the world’s largest population and the fourth-largest territory.

These are the building blocks of a superpower. While the world anticipates China gaining superpower status, analysts debate over when and whether its rise will be peaceful.

The Trumpet forecasts that China will continue to grow as a formidable power, combining its strength with Russia. Further, we forecast that it will play a major role in waging economic war that will devastate America.

Where do these forecasts come from?

Leading the Multipolar Revolution: How Russia and China Are Creating a New World Order

The replacement for the American global hegemony is all there. The alternative global infrastructure is built and only a switch needs to be flipped on. The only questions remaining are when and how America will be replaced as a global leader.

 

 

The last thirty days have shown another kind of world that is engaging in cooperation, dialogue and diplomatic efforts to resolve important issues. The meeting of the members of the Belt and Road Initiative laid the foundations for a physical and electronic connectivity among Eurasian countries, making it the backbone of sustainable and renewable trade development based on mutual cooperation. A few weeks later, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting in Astana outlined the necessary conditions for the success of the Chinese project, such as securing large areas of the Eurasian block and improving dialogue and trust among member states. The following AIIB (Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank) meeting in ROK will layout the economical necessities to finance and sustain the BRI projects.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) have many common features, and in many ways seem complementary. The SCO is an organization that focuses heavily on economic, political and security issues in the region, while the BRI is a collection of infrastructure projects that incorporates three-fifths of the globe and is driven by Beijing’s economic might. In this context, the Eurasian block continues to develop the following initiatives to support both the BRI and SCO mega-projects. The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CTSO) is a Moscow-based organization focusing mainly on the fight against terrorism, while the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is a Beijing-based investment bank that is responsible for generating important funding for Beijing’s long-term initiatives along its maritime routes (ports and canals) and overland routes (road, bridges, railways, pipelines, industries, airports). The synergies between these initiatives find yet another point of convergence in the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). Together, the SCO, BRI, CTSO, AIIB, and EEU provide a compelling indication of the direction in which humanity is headed, which is to say towards integration, cooperation and peaceful development through diplomacy.

Taiwan Loses Panama to China

Panama’s Vice President and Foreign Minister Isabel de Saint Malo (L) and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi shake hands as they exchange documents after signing a joint communiqué on establishing diplomatic relations, in Beijing on June 13, 2017. GREG BAKER/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

 

The island just got lonelier.

Taiwan has lost one of its precious few allies. Panama cut diplomatic relations with Taiwan on Tuesday. The Panamanian government said there was “only one China” and Taiwan is part of it. This is another blow to the independence of a small island nation trying to keep free from the Communist control of China.

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China is the second biggest user of the Panama Canal. Since 1997, the Trumpet has tracked and reported how Chinese companies have gained control of the majority of the ports and loading bays of the Panama Canal, the latest of which was bought in June of last year. Chinese investment in the Central American nation is growing as Chinese companies are developing the purchased ports in Panama and developing the land around the Panama Canal.

Latin America: Front Line of Trade War

Caption: Demonstrators during a protest rally against Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto meeting with President Donald Trump, in Mexico City on September 15, 2016. (ALFREDO ESTRELLA/AFP/Getty Images)

 

America’s new protectionism is forcing Latin America to seek new partners.

America’s influence in Latin America is decreasing, while the influence of other world powers in the region is growing. If it continues, this trend could destroy America.

Dominance of the Caribbean basin is integral to America’s safety and essential to its ability to project power globally. If a rival power were able to establish a significant presence in the Caribbean, it could threaten the American heartland. The Caribbean is also key to United States’ trade. The majority of all U.S. waterborne foreign trade travels to or from U.S. ports on the Gulf of Mexico. When you include goods traveling through the region from other ports, no other part of the world is more essential to America’s trade.

This is why more Americans ought to be concerned that foreign powers are rapidly moving into the Caribbean, as well into South America itself.

Panama Opens Canal Expansion

Panama officially opened an addition to its fabled sea canal Sunday for a new generation of super cargo ships, capping a nine-year, $5.4 billion expansion project that will double shipping capacity and impact global trade routes.

Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela unveiled the refurbished canal as the giant container ship Cosco Shipping Panama made its way through a string of locks on the 77-kilometer Isthmus of Panama. “This the route that unites the world,” Varela told a crowd of about 30,000 people who gathered to witness the inaugural trip through the vital waterway.

Moscow Building Spy Site in Nicaragua

If you think a Russian presence in Nicaragua is new, you might be in store for a shock. The Soviet-Nicaraguan runs decades long, even before the Cold War.

The Russians actually have built and kept airfields there maintained. They’re large enough to support heavy strategic bombers. These are also decades old, but were built with future use in mind. They also wanted (and likely still want) to build a deep water port there. Nicaragua will be used as a staging ground for a Soviet invasion from an almost undefended Southern United States. This is a strategic spot not only for bombings from America’s south, but also a means to control the strategic sea gate(s) in Panama.

This is likely more than a spy station that they want now, as a spy station is unsettling, but less unsettling than announcing plans for a strategic attack launching area in the open. Either way, it just shows you that Nicaragua was communist and still remains communist, and that the decade old plans for both against the West never died.

Here are three sources on this, one of which is from a Ronald Reagan address to the nation:

Address to the Nation on the Situation in Nicaragua – March 16, 1986

Russia reality check: Red invasion from Nicaragua

Red Dawn Alert: Russia, Nicaragua to reactivate Punta Huete; Soviets built strategic bomber-capable runway in 1987, MiG-21s expected but never arrived

 

Signals intelligence facility part of deal for 50 Russian tanks

The Russian government is building an electronic intelligence-gathering facility in Nicaragua as part of Moscow’s efforts to increase military and intelligence activities in the Western Hemisphere.

The signals intelligence site is part of a recent deal between Moscow and Managua involving the sale of 50 T-72 Russian tanks, said defense officials familiar with reports of the arrangement.

Changing of the Guard

Caption: A cargo ship makes its way through the Miraflores locks as it crosses the Panama Canal. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

 

The decline of U.S.-British control over the world’s sea gates

You’re sitting inside a fenced courtyard where all the gates are locked. At each gate stands an armed guard who will not allow you to leave. You are where?

The correct answer is prison.

Now imagine those burly guards laying down their weapons and handing over their keys to the inmates. That’s essentially what the United States and Britain have done. Prior to World War ii, they controlled every major sea gate in the world. These “gates,” as they are called in the Bible, proved indispensable to Allied success during World War ii. Since that time, however, the U.S. and Britain have, without a fight, surrendered their control as gatekeepers.

The Rise and Fall of a Superpower

An article from 2000 with lessons for today:

 

(©iStock.com/Diane Labombarbe)

 

Building the Panama Canal was one of the greatest chapters in American history. It helps to reveal how America became a superpower, if we understand the complete history. Today we see an almost totally different spirit in our leaders. The meaning behind that change contains the strongest warning ever for America!

How much do Americans understand their own history? We are called the world’s greatest superpower ever! But how did we rise to such heights? Most Americans are ignorant of how it all happened. And that ignorance places us in grave danger!

Our building and now surrendering of the Panama Canal reveals a large part of the story. It gives a powerful insight into the rise and fall of the world’s greatest superpower.

President Theodore Roosevelt led our people to build the Panama Canal. He had a spirit and courage that I don’t see in our leaders today.

Analysis: The security implications of the Panama Papers

What should also be interesting to see is how this scandal is going to be used in the war against cash, being that governments are now wanting to ban it to prevent bank runs in a financial crisis.

 

 

THE BACKGROUND OF THE LEAK

The source of the Panama Papers leak —the largest in history— is apparently a single individual who contacted the widely respected German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung over a year ago. After receiving assurances that his or her anonymity would be safeguarded, the source proceeded to provide the paper with what eventually amounted to over 11.5 million files. They include company emails, banking transaction records, and files of clients that span the years 1977 to 2015. The source asked for no financial compensation or other form of reimbursement in return, saying only that he or she wanted to “make these crimes public”.

Can Americans Finally Trust Communist Cuba?

Also don’t forget what Raúl Castro said in regards to its renewed ties to America not changing a thing about how the Communist nation is run.

 

Likening the United States and Cuba to long-estranged brothers struggling to reconnect, President Obama said in his televised address: “I have come here to bury the last remnant of the Cold War in the Americas. I have come here to extend the hand of friendship to the Cuban people.”

Agents nab Pakistanis with terrorist connections crossing U.S. border

When the U.S. Border Patrol nabbed two Pakistani men with ties to terrorism at the U.S.-Mexico border in September, it marked just the latest instance of illegal immigrants from so-called “special interest countries” using the southern border as a point of entry into the country.

Muhammad Azeem and Mukhtar Ahmad, both in their 20s and from Gujrat, were caught Sept. 20 by agents south of San Diego and just over the international border from Tijuana. When agents checked their identities through databases, they got hits on both of them: Mr. Ahmad popped up as an associate of a known or suspected terrorist, while Mr. Azeem’s information had been shared by a foreign government for intelligence purposes.

Is China Building a Military Base in Djibouti?

As was Biblically written, the beginnings of the changing of the guard is taking place and America will see control of vital sea gates being taken away.

If you didn’t know, exclusive operating rights to the Panama Canal were given away in 1977 by then-President Jimmy Carter, followed by a American withdrawal in 1999 followed by full sovereignty rights being relinquished to Panama in 2000. During this time frame, rights to manage the canal were auctioned off to China in 1996 under Bill Clinton. China completely controls who goes in and who comes out.

Should war against China break out, and the PLA says war is imminent, the U.S. will be forced to go into battle against carrier killers (range = 1000+ miles) before it ever sees one PLAN vessel with only the Pacific Fleet and expect very little strategic reinforcement for quite some time. In summary, this is likely a devastating loss for the U.S..

 

 

In May, Djibouti’s president announced that China was in talks for setting a military base in the small nation in the Horn of Africa. And though Beijing has declined to confirm the reports, the news has already raised some concerns in Washington.

As a fairly stable country positioned between Yemen and Somalia, Djibouti plays an important strategic role for the US. The country additionally overlooks the Bab al-Mandeb straits, one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.

The US military’s headquarters in the region, Camp Lemonnier, is based in the country and is used for covert operations, including anti-terror, in Yemen, Somalia, and across Africa.

Cuban fiasco: Obama throws a lifeline to an imploding, tyrannical, bankrupt regime

Lest we already forget what Raúl Castro mentioned months ago: The Communist revolution is basically triumphant because nothing had to change to make America open the floodgates.

 

In that simplistic jargon characterizing President Barack Hussein Obama’s worldwide “transformation” of U.S. foreign policy, the chief argument for his Cuban shift has been “[T]hese 50 years have shown that isolation has not worked.”

In the facts of history, in this as in so many other instances, Obama is wrong.

The fact is that U.S. policy toward Cuba, with its ups and downs, has been generally successful.

EXCLUSIVE: Screenwriter mysteriously killed in 1997 after finishing script that revealed the ‘real reason’ for US invasion of Panama had been working for the CIA… and both his hands were missing

• Gary Devore, writer of Raw Deal and Time Cop, disappeared in June 1997
• He had finished script alleging ulterior motive for US invading Panama
• Body was found a year later in California Aqueduct but raised questions
• His hands were missing from the car, his script was never found
• There was widespread speculation the CIA was connected to his death
• Now a former White House official has confirmed Devore was working with the agency in Panama
• Coroner revealed the hands sent for autopsy were 200 years old

When the skeletal remains of Hollywood screenwriter Gary Devore were found strapped into his Ford Explorer submerged beneath the California Aqueduct in 1998 it brought an end to one of America’s most high profile missing person cases.

The fact that Devore was on his way to deliver a film script that promised to explain the ‘real reason’ why the US invaded Panama, has long given rise to a slew of conspiracies surrounding the nature of his ‘accidental’ death.