Yay! Foreign news is back! Thanks Eric!
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**China**
And there it is. China bribed Duterte with $24 Billion in funding for oil exploration in the Spratleys and infrastructure development in the Philippines themselves. Ports, airports, rails, mining, industry. All of it meaning jobs, and all of it to be paid for by the Chinese government. China’s recent moves in the Spratleys and Paracels have been largely centered around attempting to take the oil resources in that region, and this would be a bargain price compared to war with the US.
Vatican to Endorse Four Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association Bishops
Once more, Francis blinks. For decades, John Paul I, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI held firm on the independence of the Catholic Church in China and the denial of the legitimacy of the Chinese puppet organization which controls the Church in China. Throughout this period, the Vatican has secretly appointed Bishops and Cardinals to lead the underground church as it did in the Soviet Union’s conquered provinces. This parallel power structure which ran in opposition to the Soviet Union was vital to the creation of Solidarity in Poland and the eventual fall of the USSR in 1989. With China weakened due to demographic, economic, and cultural issues, the Church should be holding firm and throwing even more support behind the House Church movement. Instead, Francis will be giving Beijing a boost of legitimacy just when it would most hurt the cause of liberty in China.
Economists Doubt Official Chinese GDP Numbers
China claims they have grown at 6.7% for the third consecutive quarter. Economists are, understandably, laughing at this claim. According to expert China watchers, this occurs because Beijing is willing and able to do whatever it must to ensure China officially reaches a targeted growth rate. Including outright lying. All of this due to China’s abject fear that a weak economy could result in unrest and uprising.
China Conducts Mass Arrest of Veterans Involved in Protests
Previously, China has relied on local governments to pay for pensions for Veterans while finding them jobs in State-Owned Enterprises. That’s not happening anymore, and Veterans are facing lives of outright poverty and joblessness. Following a number of mass protests in Beijing, the Chinese government has begun mass arrests and interrogation of protesters in the theory it is part of a plan to foment a mass revolt among Veterans and Active Duty PLA soldiers.
**Russia**
Confirmation of Nuclear Weapons in Kaliningrad
Previously reported by Estonia and Lithuania, we now have confirmation. The Russians have nuclear weapons in Europe.
Europe Contemplating New Sanctions Against Russia
After Russia bombarded civilian and civil defense targets in Aleppo, Brussels is planning new sanctions against Russia. Previously, Brussels has been willing to keep their opposition to Russian aggression somewhat conciliatory. After the events in Aleppo, and the recent revelation of nuclear weapons being shipped into Kaliningrad, this has changed entirely. Even Merkel supports more aggressive sanctions against Russia, which is a marked change from her previously conciliatory actions.
**India and Pakistan**
Indian Border Security Force Kill 7 Pakistani Rangers in Border Clash
Occurring at Hiranagar in Kathua district in the Jammu and Kashmir region, well back from the border with Pakistan, the clash was the result of Pakistani sniper fire targeted at Indian BSF Constable Gurnam Singh. Seven Pakistani Rangers and a single terrorist are reported to have died in the clash, though Pakistan is denying any action occurred.
Pakistani Analyst Confirms Indian Surgical Strikes
Per the analyst, Islamabad is denying the strikes on the grounds anything else would require their government to admit a number of things they are unable or unwilling to admit.
Indian TV and Radio Stations Banned in Pakistan
A rather unprecedented step, Bollywood productions are a popular import in Pakistan. This has hurt women in Pakistan, who are bound by shariah law and must remain in the home, more than the men.
Illiterate Berry Picker on Trial for Blasphemy
Asia Bibi, a Christian in Pakistan, was tried and ordered hanged from the neck until dead following a dispute over whether she was pure enough to drink from a cup of water which she had fetched for her Muslim coworkers. Bibi’s previous lawyer, Salman Taseer, was murdered by Mumtaz Qadri, who had been serving as Taseer’s bodyguard. Following Qadri’s execution for the murder back in February, riots ripped through Islamabad for four days. Many of the rioters called for Bibi to be executed for her “blasphemy”. Imams at the notorious Red Mosque in Islamabad have threatened to lay siege to the Parliament building should Bibi be spared.
Modi Set to Use Water to Coerce Pakistan on Terror
The Indus River is the primary source of water for Pakistan. With the majority of the headwaters – both by volume and number of tributaries – located in India, this is a potent threat to the Pakistani government. Any cut off of water could result in the collapse of Pakistan’s agricultural sector (which comprises 24% of the Pakistani GDP) and could see 2/3 of the Pakistani people left without fresh water.
**Europe**
Brussels Continues to Obstruct New EU-UK Trade Deals
Smacking down a petty demand that EU-UK Trade Negotiations must occur in French, Theresa May has scolded Brussels for immaturity. Throughout the lead up to the talks, EU leaders in Brussels have been levelling threats against the Prime Minister of the UK in an attempt to coerce her into remaining within the EU and defying the vote on the Brexit – a vote which succeeded to the British public seeing no other means to redress their growing list of grievances with the bureaucratic and increasingly authoritarian EU political leadership.
Walloon Government Set to Derail EU-Canadian Trade Deal
Canadian Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland has laid the blame entirely on Belgium, the government of which cannot endorse the plan without the approval of the regional government of Wallonia. The deal, known as Ceta, would eliminate 98% of the tariffs between the EU and Canada and would provide guidelines for new laws to better smooth trade between the two parties. However, socialists and environmental activists have repeatedly moved to block the trade deal. Nativists and protectionists in Wallonia have long claimed the deal would harm their agricultural output and their welfare benefits.
European Youth Increasingly Eurosceptic
Poland, Greece, France, and Germany have all seen a rise in Euroscepticism. Only Finland’s youth remain adamantly pro-Europe, but even that seems to be waning. Should this continue, the EU will either need to change or undergo a radical shift in internal policy and away from the supra-state model towards which it has been moving, or it will collapse utterly.
**Middle East**
ISIS Launches Counterattack at Kirkuk, Frees Terrorists From Prison
Iraqi National Army and Kurdish Peshmerga forces have been advancing well ahead of schedule in recent days in the move to encircle and law siege to Mosul – the capital of ISIS’s governorate in Iraq – than had been expected. We now know why. A recent strike by ISIS forces against Kirkuk has killed 19, freed dozens if not hundreds of terrorists and reportedly taken half the city. Peshmerga forces with US air support have diverted units on their way to Mosul in order to retake Kirkuk.
Civilians Caught in crossfire Between Russia/Syria and Al-Nusra Continue to Die
With 500 dead and 2000 injured in air strikes by Russia, Russia and Syria are being accused of deliberately attacking civilians in Aleppo. The UN has declared the Russian air campaign to be potential war crimes.
**South America**
Opposition Leaders Cry Foul After Maduro Cancels Recall
The recall against Maduro has been canceled and opposition leaders have been banned from leaving by courts in Venezuela. The courts which handed down these orders have long been stacked with Maduro and Chavez loyalists.
Socialists gonna socialist.
