Last Thursday, the National People’s Congress finalized the legislation giving China’s government the authority to impose strict security measures on Hong Kong residents. Showing unanimity, the Chinese legislature passed the strict, new control measures with only one dissent among the 2,878 votes. Beijing said the new law was enacted to stem the influence of foreign...
Category: TRENDS IN GEOPOLITICS
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GLOBAL ROUNDUP
HONG KONG: Pro-democracy leaders harshly criticized a new security law set to be enacted, which they say will weaken the semi-autonomous status of the city with the mainland government. One of the leaders of the activist movement behind the months-long protest last year, Joshua Wong, posted on social media, “After this law is passed, what...
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ISRAEL, LEBANON, IRAN: WAR DRUMS BEATING
In the year 2000, newly elected Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak fulfilled a campaign pledge and withdrew Israeli troops out of the section of southern Lebanon near the border between the two countries. That move ended the protracted conflict between the Israeli-backed South Lebanon Army (SLA) and the Lebanese guerillas led by Iranian-backed Hezbollah. For...
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U.S. MILITARY AGAINST IRAN AND VENEZUELA?
Venezuela and Iran have something in common: both are suffering from plunging economies due in large part to harsh economic sanctions imposed on them by the United States. The two countries are seeking to help each other through a deal to trade gas for gold. Five Iranian tankers are currently heading east over the Atlantic...
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HONG KONG: PROTESTS VS. COVID
As reported in last week’s Trends Journal, protests started heating up again on the streets of Hong Kong after the months-long string of demonstrations were stopped by stay-at-home orders in response to the coronavirus. The city government proclaimed over the weekend that the majority of social-distancing restrictions would remain, including the ban on any public...
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SAUDI ARABIA: WASHINGTON’S 9/11 ALLY
Since the worst attack by a foreign enemy on American soil took place on 9/11, both the mainstream media and Washington have made concerted efforts to underreport the fact that 15 of the 19 hijackers involved in the attack were Saudis. The most recent example was revealed on 13 May when it was reported the...
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IRAN: TRUMP VETOES WAR POWERS RESOLUTION
On 13 February, the U.S. Senate voted in favor of a War Powers Resolution that would require President Trump to get congressional approval before taking any further military action against Iran. The official language called for “the President to terminate the use of United States Armed Forces for hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran or...
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ISRAEL: FIGHTER JETS KILL IRANIANS IN SYRIA
Barely reported in the mainstream news, on 4 May, Israel conducted air strikes in eastern Syria, part of a recent campaign of multiple air attacks over the past two weeks. This most recent bombing killed 14 Iranian and Iraqi soldiers and wounded others, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. On 28 April,...
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HONG KONG: ANTI-GOVERNMENT PROTESTS BACK AGAIN
Last Sunday afternoon, demonstrators were chased by police through a number of shopping malls as protests started heating up, reconfirming the anger of citizens demanding independence from mainland Chinese authority and the resignation of Carrie Lam, the current chief executive of the city. After a period of quiet due to stay-at-home orders to slow the...
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VENEZUELA: WHO BOTCHED THE COUP?
On Sunday, 3 May, Venezuelan security arrested dozens of people involved in a plot to abduct President Nicolás Maduro. The pre-dawn incursion included an attempted beach landing led by two former American special force members at the port city of La Guaira. Eight of the invaders were killed. Later that Sunday, Jordan Goudreau, a U.S....