Now it's Taiwan
5 responses | 0 likes
Started by metmike - April 6, 2023, 9:18 a.m.

Totally a political stunt intended to generate attention for self serving agenda.........looking tough on China which all the polls show is what Americans want.

There is nothing but bad things that will come of it in our relations with China that we continue to push from being an adversary to being an outright enemy.

These reckless politicians with self serving objectives to manipulate the American people with DISinformation and propaganda that include using our foreign policies are leading to the rapid demise of the United States.

China warns it won’t ‘sit idly by’ over US reps’ meeting with Taiwan president

https://nypost.com/2023/04/05/china-warns-it-will-not-sit-idly-by-over-us-lawmakers-meeting-with-taiwan/


Taiwan's President Tsai meets Kevin McCarthy despite China's warnings

https://www.npr.org/2023/04/05/1167872114/kevin-mccarthy-taiwan-president-tsai-meeting-california-china


Hear why Fareed Zakaria thinks McCarthy's meeting with Taiwan's president was a 'bad idea'

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2023/04/06/taiwan-president-meeting-kevin-mccarthy-tsai-ing-wen-china-response-sot-zakaria-ac360-vpx.cnn


Comments
By metmike - April 6, 2023, 9:57 a.m.
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The thing that makes this so blatantly stupid and self serving is that McCarthy went out of his way to extend the invite and INSIST on this visit, despite China objecting and knowing it would tick them off to the max........and make the headlines, exactly as it did with him being depicted as  tough on China.

If you think that this sends some sort of message to China which strengthens Taiwans independence then you're just buying the propaganda. China knows that it was a publicity stunt at their expense and that's the complete opposite action of what a country trying to get along with another country takes. 

That's the loud and clear message that China got.

The US could do this sort of thing with impunity for decades..........Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and so on and the other countries couldn't punch back.(except for events like 9-11-01).

But this is 2023 and we are picking the WRONG battles half way around the world. Countries that not only can punch back but with China, they can make us regret that we intervened in the affairs of something we should stay out of. We can't be the world's police, trying to enforce our political believe system on countries we select for reasons that we select like we could in the past without suffering potentially devastating consequences. 

The propaganda, which is all that your eyes and ears get is misleading you to think otherwise. 


                Killing the US dollar in global markets          

                        https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/94351/


Our country is drowning in catastrophic debt and we are flushing hundreds of billions down the toilet in counter productive causes halfway around the world, one in particular thats killed hundreds of thousands and will require 1 trillion from the US for rebuilding.

Interest Costs on the National Debt Are on Track to Reach a Record High

https://www.pgpf.org/blog/2023/02/interest-costs-on-the-national-debt-are-on-track-to-reach-a-record-high

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) just released updated budget and economic projections, which highlighted the nation’s unsustainable fiscal outlook. One of the most significant findings from that report is that the federal government’s borrowing costs have increased rapidly over the past year and will grow through the next decade. Most notably:

  • Interest payments on the national debt were $475 billion in fiscal year 2022 — the highest dollar amount ever.
  • Interest costs grew 35 percent last year and are projected to grow by another 35 percent in 2023.
  • Relative to the size of the economy, interest costs in 2030 will reach 3.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), exceeding the previous post-World War II high of 3.2 percent of GDP, which was recorded in 1991.
  • Within 10 years, net interest costs will exceed federal spending on crucial programs like Medicaid and defense.
  • Spending for net interest will become the largest “program” in the federal budget within the next 30 years, outpacing spending on Medicare and Social Security.

Rising interest payments can crowd out other priorities in the federal budget and lead to a cycle of higher deficits, growing debt, and even more interest payments in the future.

 +++++++++++++++++

Some/much of the higher interest rate hikes causing this, from the Fed are to control the inflation that the Ukraine war caused from the massive, global supply side dynamics  resulting from  energy and food disruptions.

No problem-o. Just call it "The Putin price hike" and pretend we didn't play any role. 

Just like this weeks conflict with Taiwan is all China's fault. They forced McCarthy to insist on the Taiwanese president coming to the US to have personal meetings with him. 

Then, when/if China reacts, it will have nothing to do with anything the US caused/did.

Just think about all the good things that all that money used to obliterate Ukaine and kill their people(and Russians) could have done for our people/country!!!

Or to help the really needy/poor people in the world.

We are wasting our money/resources and killing our country and the only entity benefiting is the military industrial complex........which lavishes lobby and contribution bribes to the corrupt politicians to keep it going. 


https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/94068/#94116

https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/94068/#94117




By metmike - April 7, 2023, 3:06 p.m.
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China sanctions US organizations for hosting Taiwan leader during stopover  

  https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/07/china/china-sanctions-hudson-institute-ronald-reagan-library-intl-hnk/index.html

      Beijing’s overall response to the latest meeting has appeared muted so far compared with its actions following Pelosi’s visit.    

      Then, Beijing launched extensive military drillsaround the island following the Speaker’s departure and suspended several lines of communication with Washington.  

        This time there has been little clear military response toward the island, which sees regular incursions into its air defense identification zone and patrols in surrounding waters by the Chinese military

      The chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee told reporters that “we are doing everything in our power to expedite [weapon delivery],” and that the bipartisan congressional delegation he is leading is “in broad agreement that this absolutely needs to be done, to provide the deterrence for Taiwan to promote peace in the region.”      

      McCaul said that potential ways to do so included reprioritizing weapon sales to Taiwan or through third-party sales.    

      The US maintains an unofficial relationship with Taiwan and Tsai’s transit in the country was therefore not an official visit in order to keep Washington aligned with its longstanding “One China” policy.    

      Under the policy, the US acknowledges China’s position that Taiwan is part of China, but has never officially recognized Beijing’s claim to the island of 23 million.  

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The military industrial complex with its contributions and lobby money bribing, exerting its power over our corrup leaders once again!


It might be shocking to know that BLUE on the map below are the countries that recognize Taiwan. 

https://wisevoter.com/country-rankings/countries-that-recognize-taiwan/#united-states-of-america


This is what makes this meeting so extremely retarded foreign policy that nobody is discussing.

The US is clearly at war with Russia and the Middle East just told us clearly what side they are on (in case there were still doubters) by making more oil cuts to help Russia and hurt us.

China's leader just returned from a visit with Putin in Russia where he referred to Putin as "a dear friend". Trade between the country's has  picked up and basically, China and India and others have been Russia's safety net, keeping the US sanctions from working and in fact, causing our attempts to economically bleed out Russia to boomerang back on us with much higher energy and food prices and very damaging inflation.


It's suspected that he's been shipping arms to Russia but  China wants to remain as neutral as possible in a military sense as long as possible in the eyes of the world.

Even with all the massive US military assistance in Ukraine, there is no sign that they are winning or will win the war. Best case scenario is holding their own in a war of attrition IN UKRAINE where the damages continue to be much greater to Ukraine than Russia by a couple orders or magnitude. It's not Russian civilians being killed for instance or Russian buildings being decimated. 

The last thing the US wants is for China to step up assistance to Russia. The US trying to fight 2 super powers on the other side of the planet, where they live would be game over for us and Ukraine.

China is pretty smart and doesn't want to stick its neck out and become vulnerable to unintended consequences aiding Russia unless there's something obviously beneficial to China.

Or, they might want to send a message to the United States.

The US is clearly sending confrontational messages to China in their visits with Taiwan. When China responds, how are we to know what form that will take?

If there was no war with Russia right now, the risks to what Pelosi and McCarthy did are minimal. 

However, with the war with Russia, and China clearly declaring what side they are on, we're extremely vulnerable. 

With that being the case, why would we flaunt visits to Taiwan, then host a visit by them here?

I'll tell you why.

1. Pelosi did it as a reckless, attention getting political stunt knowing she was going to be replaced in a few months by the voters. To make her look ultra tough on supporting democracy around the planet.

2. McCarthy had to follow up, as the new speaker doing the same thing for the same reason. Couldn't let Pelosi one up him. 


Isn't it sad, for one of the few times that both parties agree with each other on something, it's the path we are taking to WW-3. War propaganda from both sides from politicians bought and paid for by the military industrial complex and sounding tough with foreign policy rhetoric. 

We just NEVER learn. All the causes for every war and its atrocities were effectively sold to Americans by both parties.

Then, after each war, everybody looks back at those atrocities and acts like we learned something............then goes on to the next war.

It took Biden less than a year after pulling out of the last Middle East war to find a new one........that's even worse in every way shape and form........except its not killing Americans...........so Americans are gung ho.......as long its just those Ukrainians dying by the hundreds of thousands to support the US war against Russia. 

https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/94397/

20 Years After U.S. Invasion of Iraq, Updated Estimates of Human and Budgetary Costs

https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/

Summary

  • Over 929,000 people have died in the post-9/11 wars due to direct war violence, and several times as many due to the reverberating effects of war
  • Over 387,000 civilians have been killed as a result of the fighting
  • 38 million — the number of war refugees and displaced persons
  • The U.S. federal price tag for the post-9/11 wars is over $8 trillion 
  • The U.S. government is conducting counterterror activities in 85 countries
  • The wars have been accompanied by violations of human rights and civil liberties, in the U.S. and abroad
  • Over 7,050 U.S. soldiers have died in the wars.

BUT THIS IS NOT  Afghanistan or Iraq or Syria or Vietnam or Korea. It's Russia and China. We want to play by the same war game rules as with the previous wars. The propaganda, like always has worked on Americans. But we are pumping out weapons at breakneck pace to send to Ukraine with US tax dollars, amassing more debit, with higher interest rates that will be our demise from just that fact. 

https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/94338/

And the rest of the world is concerned about the US dollar as the global currency because of our reckless nature.

https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/94351/

https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/94351/#94408

By metmike - April 8, 2023, 10:05 p.m.
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Taiwan threat from China serious, House GOP chairman says

The chairman of the House Select Committee on China says the U.S. must take seriously the threat Beijing poses to Taiwan

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/taiwan-threat-china-house-gop-chairman-98452555

WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the House Select Committee on China said Saturday the U.S. must take seriously the threat posed to Taiwan, as Beijing launched military drills around the island in the aftermath of the Taiwanese president's meetings with American lawmakers.

Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., who attended the meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen in California last week, told The Associated Press that he plans to lead his committee in working to shore up the island government's defenses, encouraging Congress to expedite military aid to Taiwan.

“I think it all just points to what is obvious,” Gallagher told the AP, arguing that Chinese President Xi Jinping is intent on reunifying Taiwan with the mainland.

"We need to be moving heaven and earth to enhance our deterrence and denial posture, so that Xi Jinping concludes that he just can’t do it," Gallagher said.


Gallagher said he wants Congress to work on stepping up its military commitments to Taiwan. He said the U.S. should be more quickly sending weapon systems to Taiwan for its defense.

In 2022, China responded in the aftermath of Pelosi's visit with its largest live-fire drills in decades, including firing a missile over the island.

++++++++++++++++


By metmike - April 12, 2023, 12:57 a.m.
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US politicians playing to their base to score political points and for sure Bidens war in Ukraine can take at least part of, if not all the the credit for this one!

Military exercises suggest China is getting ‘ready to launch a war against Taiwan,’ island’s foreign minister tells CNN    

https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/11/politics/taiwan-foreign-minister-interview/index.html

 Now the US can have a war against both the other super powers on the planet(them united) and the Middle East on their side too. 

This was so predictable.........only the propaganda from our dishonest media, government and arrogant, self serving politicians are painting a distorted picture of the realities so people are oblivious to why this is happening, not in spite of their actions but exactly  BECAUSE OF THEM!

                STOP THE WAR!!!            

                            Started by metmike - April 4, 2023, midnight            

https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/94338/

By metmike - April 12, 2023, 10:05 a.m.
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Taiwan says it convinced China to rein in no-fly zone plan

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/taiwan-determined-safeguard-freedom-democracy-president-tsai-says-2023-04-12/

TAIPEI/BEIJING, April 12 (Reuters) - Taiwan said on Wednesday it had successfully urged China to drastically cut its plan to close airspace north of the island, averting wider travel disruption in a period of high tension in the region due to China's military exercises.


China initially notified Taipei it would impose a no-fly zone between April 16-18, but Taiwan's transport ministry said that was later reduced to a period of just 27 minutes on Sunday morning after it objected.

The no-fly zone follows days of intense military drills it has staged around Taiwan in response to President Tsai Ing-wen's meeting with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California last week.

Beijing said the drills - in which it practised blockading the self-ruled island it claims as its own - were "a serious warning against the collusion and provocation of Taiwan independence separatist forces and external forces".

It was against this backdrop that word of the closure stoked concern of travel disruption across the region.

When China imposed airspace restrictions during military drills last August,(because of Pelosi's visit) there were significant disruptions to flights in the region, with some aircraft required to carry extra fuel, according to OPSGROUP, an aviation industry cooperative that advises on flight risks.

A senior Taiwan official familiar with the matter told Reuters that due to the potential disruption it had used "multiple channels" including diplomacy, intelligence and aviation authorities to dissuade China from carrying out its original plan.

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Our military industrial complex, bought and paid for politicians, like Pelosi and McCarthy exploiting extremely dangerous foreign policy as a tactic to grandstand fake power over China because it misleads Americans at home, who believe the propaganda.......at the continued expense of maintaining peace are outrageously  irresponsible. 

At least the president of Taiwan isn't the president of Ukraine, taking Biden's advise or she would have told China to shove it instead of using effective diplomacy or  we might have another war.