Chinese military even more aggressive than Xi

by | Aug 1, 2016 | News

China’s increasingly aggressive military is pushing the nation’s also aggressive Communist political  leadership to be willing to attack the U.S. and other nations that are pushing back against China’s attempt to take over the South China Sea through military threats.  But so  far, anyway, the government of President Xi Jinping has shown some wariness of provoking a direct armed clash with the United States.

China has called for a peaceful resolution of South China Sea disputes through talks at the same time as it continued to build up its military in the sea, especially by militarizing reefs and shoals.

To read a Japan Times article on this, please hit this link.

South African election may redraw political map

by | Aug 1, 2016 | News

 

South Africans will vote on Aug. 3 on elections for mayors and local councillors and in so doing they might end up redrawing the nation’s political map.

The Guardian reports that for the first time since taking power in 1994, the African National Congress (ANC) may win less than 60 percent of the votes. and lose control of the biggest cities.

“Surveys show the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) – which calls for a total renewal of South African politics, but has so far had difficulty breaking out of its stronghold in the west of the country – ahead in the most important cities,” the paper reported.

To read The Guardian’s article, please hit this link.

 

French premier wants controls on mosque financing and training of imans

by | Jul 29, 2016 | News

 

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on  July 29 that he would consider a temporary ban on foreign financing of mosques after a wave of  lethal attacks by Muslim terrorists.

In an interview with French daily Le Monde, Mr. Valls said he was “open to the idea that — for a period yet to be determined — there should be no financing from abroad for the construction of mosques.”

Mr. Valls also called for imams to be “trained in France, not elsewhere.”

To read an article on this, please hit this link.

Pro-Chinese hackers disrupt Vietnamese aviation

by | Jul 29, 2016 | Initiative

 

Hackers, presumably directed by the Chinese government, have attacked the Web site of Vietnam’s two biggest airports and its national airline, Vietnam Airlines, with pro-Chinese messages about China’s attempts to take control of most of the South China Sea. The attacks come after a ruling  by an international tribunal  earlier in July in the Hague that China’s claims are almost entirely spurious.

Vietnamese state media said the hackers criticized the Philippines and Vietnam and their comparatively modest claims in the South China Sea.

Vietnamese officials said the hackers directed browsers to what Vietnam Airlines called   “bad Web sites overseas”.

To read an Agence France-Presse article on this, please hit this link.

FBI chief warns of terror ‘diaspora’

by | Jul 29, 2016 | News

 

Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey warned that if the Islamic State  is defeated in the Middle East: a “diaspora” of the group’s fighters could infiltrate Western Europe and the U.S. and stage many terror attacks there.

“This is an order of magnitude greater than any diaspora we’ve seen before,” Mr. Comey said. “A lot of terrorists fled out of Afghanistan in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This is 10 times that or more.”

To read The Wall Street Journal’s article on Mr. Comey’s warning, please hit this link.