“The system is blinking red right now,” an unnamed senior FBI official was quoted as saying in a recent report from the Center for Strategic and International studies (CSIS). “We have not seen this level of Chinese intelligence and influence activity in and around the U.S. homeland ever.”
It is hard to tell when a crisis in a dictatorial regime, such as the sudden breakdown of China’s economic model, is not about this or that, but about the regime itself. My own experience in this regard is very discouraging. In 1984, my book Grand Strategy of the Soviet Union contained many pages about nationalities I claimed were heading towards independence — not just the well-known if still very obedient Baltics, Armenians and Georgians, but others occupying vastly larger territories, the then barely known Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Kyrgyz, Tajik and Turkmen (I readily confess that it never occurred to me that Ukrainians might join them).
It’s no wonder that Canadians are among the most skeptical people in the world when it comes to confidence in their government’s capacity to deal with climate change. That was the finding of a global Ipsos survey earlier this year, and there’s no reason to think that this summer’s record-breaking wildfires across Canada will change things much.
A single Chinese spy is using LinkedIn profiles to try to lure thousands of British officials to hand over state secrets in exchange for large sums of money and lucrative business deals, The Times has learnt.
The intelligence officer for Beijing’s main spy agency created a string of aliases and fake companies to target security officials, civil servants, scientists and academics with access to classified information or commercially sensitive technology.
When will Prime Minister Justin Trudeau call a public inquiry into Chinese interference in Canadian elections? Answer: never, if he can help it. There is no upside in this exercise. It is like getting a root canal for a rotten tooth or fixing a leaky sewer system: a lot of pain, disruption, and expense for no visible improvement. Few see what lies beneath the surface, and most won’t appreciate it when it is fixed.
Remember the 1990s? It was an innocent time when globalization was lifting all boats. Massive, multilateral trading agreements were all the rage. And any trade disputes were modest irritations that could be smoothed over with a few glasses of chardonnay.
Fast forward to the 2020s, and everything has shifted. The brave new world of neoliberal economics has been rocked to its core. And now geopolitical tensions are sparking some very unpleasant shocks to global trade.
If the Babylon Bee claimed Canada’s environment minister was an official climate advisor to the Chinese communist regime, you’d call it too heavy-handed for effective satire. When he really is on the executive committee of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development which our aid money helped found, you’d call reality too heavy-handed for effective satire.
What is Guilbeault thinking being the only foreign government official on this body? What is his boss thinking letting him? And what does the Politburo even want him for?
This shows how deep Trudeau has his head up Xi Jinping’s butt and the contempt he holds for Canada.
The country’s total fertility rate has fallen to a record low
The fall in Chinese birthrates might be the biggest story of the 21st century.
Unfortunately, the data — or lack thereof — has been found wanting. A must-read analysis by Liyan Qi for the Wall Street Journal points out that China’s National Bureau of Statistics “stopped releasing annual data on total fertility rate in 2017”.
As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau insists that despite months of delay, his government is “moving forward” with a foreign interference inquiry, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is accusing him of standing in the way.
On Monday, asked by reporters whether the delay in what months ago seemed an imminent announcement of a public inquiry into foreign meddling, was because the Liberals couldn’t lock in someone to lead the process, Trudeau said “no.”
“We continue to work very closely with all opposition parties on making sure that the terms of reference, the person who will be leading it, and the work that is done, is in the best interests of all Canadians… without the kind of partisan toxicity we saw during the fall,” Trudeau said in Charlottetown, P.E.I.
Junior is probably waiting for Xi to approve his choice. They are gonna rag this forever if possible.
Canada’s spy agency says that the Chinese police stations on Canadian soil are part of a network to track down high-level targets overseas and suppress dissent, according to recently released records.
The document, which was obtained by La Presse through the access to information regime and reported on Aug. 21, says the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) believes the stations are but one element the Chinese regime uses to conduct foreign interference.
The Mounties say a retired RCMP officer charged this summer with conducting foreign interference on behalf of China was targeting a wealthy Vancouver real estate entrepreneur named Kevin Sun as part of his alleged activities for Beijing.
Confidential law-enforcement information from the RCMP and FBI provided to The Globe and Mail lays out the reasons why William Majcher faces two charges for alleged offences under the Security of Information Act.
A model Chinese property developer in a sector replete with risk takers is teetering on the edge of default. Short of cash, one of China’s biggest asset managers has missed payments to investors. And billions of dollars have flowed out of the country’s stock markets.
In China, August has been a dizzying ride.
When Vijay Jayaraj was growing up in India, power blackouts were frequent. He said the blackouts affected everything from schooling to employment—because when there was no power, it was difficult to get much done.
He pointed to the cotton industry of South India, a major employer.
“But all the industries were disrupted whenever there were phases … of continuous blackouts, eventually translating into thousands of lost jobs,” he told The Epoch Times
The “rent-a-womb” industry pipelines children born of surrogates in the United States to parents in China, a researcher said. Babies born this way automatically gain U.S. birthright citizenship.
Chinese “rent-a-womb” industry, has been burgeoning in the United States for about a decade, particularly in California, where laws regulating commercial surrogacy and in-vitro fertilization (IVF) are permissive, said Emma Waters, a research associate for the Center for Life, Religion, and Family at The Heritage Foundation.
Surrogacy, a practice where a woman carries a pregnancy and gives birth to a baby for another person or couple, is completely banned in China
So Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault is going to Beijing from Aug. 26–31 to cuddle up to the Chinese Communist Party.
If you think that is too strong a contention, consider how Guilbeault is executive vice chairperson on the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED).
Guilbeault’s loyalty is not to Canada.
