It didn’t make the U.S. news, but last week Israel conducted a series of deadly airstrikes in Syria and reportedly targeted military sites in Damascus, Homs, Hama, and Latakia. Al Jazeera, citing Syria’s SANA news agency, reported that the airstrikes occurred last Tuesday and Israeli planes fired the missiles from Lebanese air space. The Syrian Observatory for Human...
Category: TRENDS IN GEOPOLITICS
Post
IRAN DEPLOYS WARSHIP TO ATLANTIC
An Iranian destroyer and support vessel have reached the Atlantic Ocean and their destination is believed to be Venezuela, The Associated Press reported, citing U.S. officials. The report identified the ships as the destroyer Sahand and the Makran, which has been described as an intelligence-gathering vessel. An Iranian admiral told The AP only that the mission is the longest...
Post
HONG KONG’S FUTURE AS GLOBAL FINANCIAL HUB IN JEOPARDY
It is being reported that Hong Kong’s role as a global financial hub is in question due to the city’s inability to reopen its borders and the unwillingness of its population to get the COVID Jab. “We are effectively signaling that we are closed for business,” an American banker in the city told The Financial Times....
Post
CHINA PUTS BRAKES ON ITS EFFORT TO REDUCE EMISSIONS
China’s carbon dioxide emissions rose 9 percent in the first quarter of 2021, Reuters reported. The report said 70 percent of its surge was due to the increased consumption of coal. The Wall Street Journal reported that China’s President Xi Jinping pledged to achieve net-zero emissions by 2060. The country is the world’s worst emitter. The report pointed out...
Post
NATO LEADERS SIDE WITH BIDEN, DECLARE CHINA A GLOBAL SECURITY CHALLENGE
President Joe Biden made his first visit to Europe and held high-profile meetings at the G-7 conference in the English coastline resort of Carbis Bay and then with NATO members in Brussels. And a top focus during both meetings was a country that was not even there: China. Biden, who has made countering China a...
Post
CHINA-EUROPE FREIGHT TRAINS: SHARP JUMP IN SHIPMENTS
While America’s infrastructure keeps rotting and Washington remains unwilling to rebuild it as it instead directs trillions of dollars into the military/industrial/intelligence complex each year, China’s infrastructure development keeps speeding ahead. It was reported last week that China-Europe freight trains, as of May 2021, transported 3.4 million twenty-foot equivalent units to 22 European cities, which...
Post
U.S. SENATE PASSES LAW AIMING TO COUNTER BEIJING IN TECH
The U.S. Senate, in a 68-32 vote, passed a $250 billion bill last Tuesday it hopes will allow Washington to counter China’s technological and military growth. The Washington Post reported that the vote was a “rare accord” between Democrat and Republican members. The paper reported that about $50 billion in the funds are earmarked for computer...
Post
CHINA RETALIATES AFTER BIDEN MOVE TO BAR INVESTMENTS
The Trends Journal has been reporting extensively on President Biden’s attempt to counter China in the next decade. Last week, in an article titled, “BIDEN BARS U.S. INVESTING IN 59 CHINESE FIRMS,” we pointed out that the administration put in place a ban on Americans from investing in 59 Chinese companies that have ties to Beijing’s defense...
Post
CHINA POWER SHORTAGES: LESS COAL, MORE CLEAN ENERGY?
With China’s economy strong and our forecast that it will grow some 8 percent this year, its factories are having a hard time keeping on top of pent-up demand. The Financial Times reported on Thursday that Beijing ordered factories in industrial areas to use less power… and, in some cases, even close for a few days...
Post
TENSIONS HIGH: ISRAELI POLICE ATTACK RUNNERS
Israeli police in Sheikh Jarrah on Friday were accused of injuring 23 runners who took part in a run to offer solidarity with families facing eviction in the city. Al Jazeera reported that the two-mile race drew hundreds who wore white T-shirts with “7,850” written on them, representing the number of people who face eviction....