Quote:

---

Originally posted by THG: Saturday, June 5, 2021 9:15 AM

China to 'welcome the Taliban back' in bid to extend Belt and Road into Afghanistan

China plans to link Afghanistan to the Belt and Road Initiative as the withdrawal of NATO forces from the country clears the way for Beijing’s return to one of the ancient Silk Road nations.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/china-to-welcome-the-taliban-back
-in-bid-to-extend-belt-and-road-into-afghanistan/ar-AAKJErZ?ocid=msedgntp

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by THG:



It shows a complete lack of understanding of how to use diplomacy to further their policies.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by THG:
Has China's Shanghai Turned Into 'Ghost Town'?

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 1kiki:

That's what happens when you outsource critical industries in the name of profit.

tic tac

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

Shut up, Ted. You don't have close the the necessary IQ necessary to talk about 90% of the things you talk about here.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 1kiki:

That's what happens when you outsource critical industries in the name of profit.

tic tac

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by THG:


Don't Be Surprised by China's Collapse

---

Quote:

---

Fast forward to May 2000 to the passage of House Resolution 4444 China Trade Bill. In one of the most profoundly mindless and ignorant statements of America’s foreign and economic policy, Bill Clinton proclaimed that:

“Today the House of Representatives has taken an historic step toward continued prosperity in America, reform in China and peace in the world. If the Senate votes as the House has just done, to extend permanent normal trade relations with China, it will open new doors of trade for America and new hope for change in China. Seven years ago, when I became president, I charted a new course for a new economy—a course of fiscal discipline, investment in our people and open trade. I have always believed that by opening markets abroad we open opportunities at home. We’ve worked hard to advance that goal of more open and more fair trade since 1993, all the way up to the landmark legislation I signed just a few days ago to expand trade with Africa and the Caribbean Basin.”

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Our dependent relationship with China all began with Bill Clinton

Quote:

---

Fast forward to May 2000 to the passage of House Resolution 4444 China Trade Bill. In one of the most profoundly mindless and ignorant statements of America’s foreign and economic policy, Bill Clinton proclaimed that:

“Today the House of Representatives has taken an historic step toward continued prosperity in America, reform in China and peace in the world. If the Senate votes as the House has just done, to extend permanent normal trade relations with China, it will open new doors of trade for America and new hope for change in China. Seven years ago, when I became president, I charted a new course for a new economy—a course of fiscal discipline, investment in our people and open trade. I have always believed that by opening markets abroad we open opportunities at home. We’ve worked hard to advance that goal of more open and more fair trade since 1993, all the way up to the landmark legislation I signed just a few days ago to expand trade with Africa and the Caribbean Basin.”

---

MORE AT https://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/2023/10/thirty-months-later.html

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 1kiki:

That's what happens when you outsource critical industries in the name of profit.

tic tac

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 1kiki:

That's what happens when you outsource critical industries in the name of profit.

tic tac

---

Quote:

---

Millions Of Americans Are Walking Into A Chinese-Made Trap
Saturday, Nov 18, 2023 - 03:40 PM

Authored by John Mac Ghlionn via The Epoch Times,

According to a new Pew report, a growing number of U.S. adults admit to regularly getting their news on TikTok. “This,” notes the report, “is in contrast with many other social media sites, where news consumption has either declined or stayed about the same in recent years.”

This should concern all readers who care about the United States. As this piece clearly demonstrates, TikTok is an incredibly dangerous app that is most likely being weaponized by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

---

Quote:

---

More specifically, it's being used

---

Quote:

---

by the CCP to further divide a country that is already dangerously divided.

The Pew report states that, since 2020, the percentage of U.S. adults who regularly get their news from TikTok “has more than quadrupled,” from 3 percent three years ago to 14 percent in 2023. Today, add the authors of the sobering report, “43% of TikTok users say they regularly get news on the site, up from 33% who said the same in 2022.”

It’s not often that journalists on both sides [????] of the political aisle agree on a particular issue. However, with TikTok—from the New York Post to The New York Times, The Washington Post to the Washington Examiner—everyone seems to agree that TikTok is a destructive app.

---

Quote:

---

This explains why Nepal recently chose to ban TikTok, saying the platform spreads content that negatively affects "social harmony." Nepal’s neighbor, India, has also banned TikTok—for good reason.

---

Quote:

---

Earlier this year, The Guardian published a piece meticulously outlining how TikTok appears to be part of the CCP's “cognitive warfare campaign.”

---

Quote:

---

TikTok is the latest addition to the CCP’s cognitive domain of military operations.

---

Quote:

---

In short, the human mind is the new battlefield, and what better way to conquer it than by weaponizing an app currently used by 150 million Americans?

James Giordano, an expert in the weaponization of technology, agrees. Co-director of the O'Neill Institute-Pellegrino Center Program in Brain Science and Global Health Law and Policy at Georgetown University, Mr. Giordano told me that the CCP considers TikTok a key cog in the evolution of psychological operations (PSYOPs).

---

Quote:

---

Mr. Giordano—whose research revolves around the misuse of neuroscientific techniques and technologies in medicine, public life, and military applications—believes that “both TikTok and more sophisticated forms of collective psychological intelligence/assessment and engagement will increasingly be used to leverage influence in narratives, image meanings, and contextual interpretations.”

---

Quote:

---

The app's effects on “a variety of public and personal media,” he suggests, will likely increase, especially with the presidential election—arguably America’s most significant one of the 21st century—only a year away.

Psyops, according to the expert, “constitute a defined domain of China's 'three [non-kinetic] warfares.'” The first domain involves the psychological evaluation of rivals’ collective cognitive patterns and beliefs. This is one of the reasons why TikTok is so dangerous. The app can be used to gauge the “temperature” of the United States’ political climate. After gauging the temperature, the second stage involves controlling various media outlets via specific psychological messaging. The final step involves the injection of pro-CCP narratives or modifications to narratives that benefit Beijing. The main aim here, Mr. Giordano says, involves the creation of "disruptive messaging and influence programs that access and affect key variables of US and Western cognition, emotions, and behaviors.”

---

Quote:

---

When someone as qualified as Mr. Giordano speaks, we should listen.

---

Quote:

---

After all, this is communist China we are talking about, a country that has stolen the personal data of 80 percent of American adults.

---

Quote:

---

It’s quite likely that TikTok is being used not just to influence Americans’ minds but also to steal their personal data.

In February this year, Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) called on Apple and Google to immediately remove TikTok from their respective stores, citing national security concerns. A Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mr. Bennet wrote a strongly worded letter, asking why "Chinese Communist Party dictates should have the power to accumulate such extensive data on the American people or curate content to nearly a third of our population." Not only did the question go unanswered, TikTok is still available on Apple’s App Store and via Google Play.

This is not okay.

In September, a Microsoft threat analysis report clearly outlined how CCP-aligned influence and disinformation campaigns are targeting both American voters and political candidates on both sides of the aisle.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

In September, a Microsoft threat analysis report clearly outlined how CCP-aligned influence and disinformation campaigns are targeting both American voters and political candidates on both sides of the aisle.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 1kiki:

That's what happens when you outsource critical industries in the name of profit.

tic tac

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 1kiki:

That's what happens when you outsource critical industries in the name of profit.

tic tac

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 1kiki:

That's what happens when you outsource critical industries in the name of profit.

tic tac

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 1kiki:

That's what happens when you outsource critical industries in the name of profit.

tic tac

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 1kiki:

That's what happens when you outsource critical industries in the name of profit.

tic tac

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Yeah. Let's bring all the jobs back here.
I'm sure that will help out the already unaffordable prices on everything for most Americans.

/sarcasm

--------------------------------------------------

Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Yeah. Let's bring all the jobs back here.
I'm sure that will help out the already unaffordable prices on everything for most Americans.

/sarcasm

--------------------------------------------------

Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

---

The reason why re-industrializing America wouldn't help Americans is bc of the unconscionable profits that industries and especially financialists have become accustomed to taking off of cheap Chinese/ Indian/ (fill in the blank) labor. They would want to continue raking unconsionable profits off America labor as well, leading to unconsionable prices.

Still, unless our nation maintains essential production and a neutral balance of payment we will not be independent and durable.

One thing re-industrializing would be good for is waking Americans up to the mousetrap that we're caught in. THE INTERESTS OF THE ELITE ARE NOT THE INTERESTS OF AMERICA OR AMERICANS. The ultimate red pill moment.



-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM

---

Quote:

---

Ok ok ok fine I'll do it. For the past few months I've been putting out videos on a host of topics, and I've mentioned as an aside that electric vehicles are on average a bad idea that will not be with us all that much longer, but I've failed to make good on the promise of "a topic for another video"...until now.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Yuan Overtakes Yen For 4th Place In Global Payments



- SIGNYM

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Yuan Overtakes Yen For 4th Place In Global Payments



-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by THG:
Try to keep up Jack...

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Dollar’s Share in Central-Bank Reserves Declines, IMF Data Shows
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-12-22/dollar-s-share-in-c
entral-bank-reserves-declines-imf-data-shows

For context, that means...

US Dollar Share of Global Foreign Exchange Reserves Drops to 25-Year Low
https://www.imf.org/en/Blogs/Articles/2021/05/05/blog-us-dollar-share-
of-global-foreign-exchange-reserves-drops-to-25-year-low

*****

First of all, the dollar isn't going to disappear. It isn't even going to lose its reserve status for a long time. Not in the next five years, anyway.

But when the SWIFT posts about the percent of international transactions in USD, they can only know about payments made thru the SWIFT payment system. (SWIFT is an international bank-to-bank electronic payment system based on Belgium, much like ACH within the USA. SWIFT stands for Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications )

What you probably haven't realized is that there are now several NON-SWIFT payment systems in place, and more coming online soon. Many of them will be based on CBDCs (Central Bank Digital Currencies.)

For example, since Russia has been booted out of SWIFT (an incredibly stupid move, if you ask me) ALL PAYMENTS TO RUSSIA ARE COMPLETELY INVISIBLE to western tracking.

All trade between Russia and China .... poof! Invisible!

All those exchanges between Russia and Iran ... poof!

All those payments that India makes for Russian oil ... poof! All those African payments for grain and nuclear power plants and weapons systems ... poof!

Pretty soon, Saudi Arabia will be selling oil outside of the SWIFT too. Of course, they'll still accept dollars and euros thru the SWIFT system, but it won't be exclusive to that.

So even tho trade and payments bypass the dollar and SWIFT, the BIS/IMF etc won't be able to track it.

THAT is de-dollarization.

*****

And that's OK, as long as our trading partners continue to accept the dollar at current value. The rub comes in if the value of the dollars falls. Then everyone import ... which is a lot ... becomes more expensive.

About SWIFT:
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/swift.asp
- SIGNYM

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

The death of the dollar?

POSTED BY: SIGNYM _ Monday, July 31, 2017 9:45 PM

I'm posting this here because I don't know what to make of it.

I'm used to ZeroHedge always posting about the end of the stock market, the end of the Fed, the end of the dollar, the end of financial system ... the end of something. Ditto gold bugs ... they have been saying (for years) that the dollar is way overvalued and is bound to crash.

But lately ... within the past month or so ... all of those "out there" analysts are only talking about ONE thing, and it's the (planned) end of the dollar. According to them, it's not Russia or China manipulating this, it's the IMF.

So, as best as I can gather, it's supposed to happen like something like this:

The Central Banks will start to sell the assets that they purchased as part of "quantitative easing". Our Fed is already reducing its "balance sheet".

There is going to be a period of debt settlements among nations ... old bonds, even defunct or fraudulent bonds being paid off to square the books. For some nations, there will be debt forgiveness.

The petrodollar will disappear from use. (It already is fading, as Russia, China and Iran are settling their oil and gas payments in yuan, rubles, gold, and rials. IF China insists on receiving yuan from Saudi Arabia, that will be the death knell of the petrodollar.)

The USA will be required to close many of its foreign military bases because it can no longer afford them.

Nations will be required to use the IMF "special drawing rights" (SDR) for international exchange. In other words, they will have to use their currency to purchase SDR from the IMF; the exchange rate will float.

Once the dollar is doesn't have special international significance as either the reserve currency or for oil purchases, demand for the dollar will drop, and so will its value relative to the SDR. There will still be the USD for national exchange, but not international exchange.

The result will be massive inflation in the USA for goods that are sold internationally, even if produced in the USA. I've heard that this will happen mostly in stages, not suddenly and catastrophically.

China will mostly be advantaged under this arrangement.

*****

Normally I would just kind of shrug my shoulders, but both Trump and Christine Lagarde (IMF) have made some strange out-of-place comments about this. Trump said that he would not accept this new currency. New currency?? Christine Lagarde hinted that the IMF might relocate to China because, as pointed out by someone else "China, unlike other nations, actually pays its pledges to the IMF".

I know that China has been hot to trot to be the next global currency. They lobbied mightily - and won- a place in the current IMF SDR basket (along with the USA, Japan, UK, and EU). China and Russia combined have set up a complete international alternate financial system - the Shanghai (and soon to be Hong Kong) gold exchange (London gold fix), the BRICS bank (World Bank), the AIIB (IMF), its place in the SDR basket.

Both China and Russia have been purchasing gold like crazy, and Putin supposedly just spoke with the person who developed the Ethereum model.

It seems to me that the dollar will be replaced as the world currency; it's inevitable. The only thing keeping the value of our USD up is our military- we literally have to bomb nations into using it by bombing those who attempt to avoid it (Iraq, Libya, Iran). If some nation were to come to us with a billion dollars, WHAT could we sell them for that money?? More Treasuries?? More weapons systems?? So, how much is our money really worth??

The question is really when (not if) that will happen, and how badly will our dollar be devalued? 1:3? 1:10? And what will the new world currency be? Will it be the IMF SDR?? Or will the world eventually settle on some alternate, like a gold-backed cryptocurrency?

http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=18&tid=61834

---