Taiwan has revealed its first-ever domestically produced submarine, with leader Tsai Ing-wen hoping the move would make the island more “self-reliant.” The developer of the $1.5-billion sub previously dubbed it a “magical weapon in asymmetric warfare” with Beijing.
Tsai oversaw the vessel's launch ceremony on Thursday, set to be the first of eight new submarines to enter service by 2025. They will join just two other subs in Taipei’s fleet, both obtained from the Netherlands some four decades ago. “In the past, a domestically developed submarine was considered an impossible task. But, today, a submarine designed and manufactured by our country's people sits before our eyes,” she said, adding that “Taiwan must take this step and allow the self-reliant national defense policy to grow and flourish on our land.” The announcement comes amid repeated warnings from Taiwanese officials about Chinese military activity in the airspace and waters around the island, with Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng recently pointing to a string of “land, sea, air and amphibious” drills by the People’s Republic. The submarine project was launched in 2016 and has cost Taipei over $1.5 billion, with the first prototype named “Hai Kun” – or “mythical sea creature” in Chinese. Keeping with its moniker, the developer of the sub, CSBC Corp, has described the vessel as a “magical weapon in asymmetric warfare,” a claim echoed by Taiwan’s leader on Thursday. A representative for China’s Defense Ministry responded to the news during a daily press briefing later on Thursday. Asked about the new hardware and whether it could “prevent the People's Liberation Army from entering the Pacific” in the event of a conflict, spokesman Wu Qian dismissed the idea as “nonsense.” “It is just a mantis trying to use its arms to stop a chariot, and it will eventually lead to its own destruction,” Wu said, referring to Taiwan’s military modernization efforts. The official added: “No matter how many weapons the [Taiwanese] authorities build or purchase, they cannot stop the general trend of the reunification of the motherland.” Beijing views Taiwan as part of its sovereign territory, claiming the right to reunify with the island by force should it ever declare independence. Though few nations recognize Taipei as a sovereign state, the US and several allies maintain informal but strategic relations with the self-governing territory, frequently drawing the ire of China. The Chinese military has launched major wargames following high-level meetings between US and Taiwanese officials over the last year, including a massive simulated blockade after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island in 2022. A similar demonstration was held last April following a sit-down between Pelosi’s successor, Representative Kevin McCarthy, and Tsai.
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SpaceX has signed its first contract with the Pentagon to provide satellite services as part of its new ‘Starshield’ program. CEO Elon Musk described the effort as a military alternative to the “civilian” Starlink system, although it will apparently rely on the existing constellation of satellites.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday, Musk weighed in on reports that SpaceX had reached a deal with the US Space Force, confirming that the Starshield project would be “owned by the US government and controlled by [the Department of Defense].” “Starlink needs to be a civilian network, not a participant to combat,” he said, referring to the use of the satellites in Ukraine throughout the conflict with Russia, adding “This is the right order of things.” However, despite Musk’s stated reluctance to be involved in the fighting, the new Space Force contract will see SpaceX effectively lease out part of its Starlink network to the Pentagon, providing service over the same satellites, according to Bloomberg. With a $70 million price ceiling, the deal “provides for Starshield end-to-end service via the Starlink constellation, user terminals, ancillary equipment, network management and other related services,” Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek told Bloomberg News. The outlet noted that Musk’s aerospace firm is now competing for nearly $1 billion in Pentagon contracts extending into 2028, as the Space Force seeks to repurpose existing communications satellites for military use as part of its “Proliferated Low Earth Orbit” program. Musk has come under fire from US officials for SpaceX’s decisions in Ukraine, after allegedly refusing Kiev’s demands to use the Starlink network to aid strikes on Russia’s Black Sea fleet last year. The billionaire’s biographer, Walter Isaacson, revealed earlier this month that Musk had developed a “military version of the Starlink” as a way to wash his hands of the project. “I've talked to him during this whole thing, and late one night, he said, ‘Why am I in this war?’ He said, ‘I, you know, created Starlink so people could chill and watch Netflix movies and play video games. I did not mean to create something that might cause a nuclear war,’” the author recalled in comments to the Washington Post. Isaacson went on to say that Musk “decided to sell and give total control over a certain amount of Starlink equipment… to the US military so that he no longer controls the geofencing,” referring to geographic limitations that can be imposed on the satellite network. Musk previously claimed that American sanctions on Russia had prevented SpaceX from extending Starlink coverage into Crimea, insisting the company is “not actually allowed to turn on connectivity to… the country without explicit [US] government approval.” However, he has also said that he did not wish to be “complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation,” suggesting the decision was not solely due to US restrictions. Investigative journalists have been carrying out their own research to solve the Nord Stream whodunnit, leading to sometimes sensational, if unconfirmed, reports.
Dutch military intelligence warned the CIA of a Ukrainian plan to blow up the pipelines three months before the attack, Dutch broadcaster NOS and Germany’s Die Zeit and ARD reported in June. The Washington Post made a similar claim. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly denied his country was behind the sabotage. “I would never do that,” he told Germany’s Bild newspaper, adding he would “like to see proof”. In March, The New York Times wrote that US officials had seen intelligence indicating a “pro-Ukrainian group” was responsible, without Zelenskyy’s knowledge. German media have focused on the Andromeda, with reporters from Der Spiegel magazine and broadcaster ZDF recreating the journey they believe was made by the six-person crew. According to their reporting, a forged passport used to hire the sailboat leads back to a Ukrainian soldier, while the charter fee was paid by a company registered in Poland with ties to a woman in Kyiv. In June, The Wall Street Journal reported Germany was trying to match DNA samples found on the vessel “to at least one Ukrainian soldier”. The Journal also said evidence found in the investigation included data from Andromeda’s radio and navigation equipment, satellite and mobile phones, and Gmail accounts allegedly used by the perpetrators. Danish media have reported a Russian naval vessel specialised in submarine operations, the SS-750, was photographed near the site of the blasts days before the attack. US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh reported in February the US was behind the blasts and that Norway assisted. It was dismissed as “fiction” by the White House. Was it a false flag operation? Experts have not ruled out a “false flag” operation by Russia, with clues deliberately placed to pin the blame on Ukraine. Andreas Umland, an analyst at the Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies, said he sees Russia as “the most likely” culprit. Any suspected involvement by Kyiv in an attack on Europe’s energy infrastructure could threaten the support of allies, which would benefit Russia. At the same time, the destroyed pipelines could help Gazprom avoid compensation claims for undelivered gas, even though the company was reluctant to keep the taps open before the blasts. Moscow may have sought “to kill two birds with one stone”, Umland said. The Kremlin has strongly denied responsibility. Moscow blames the US Russia has alleged the US was behind the attack, noting the sabotage “occurred after the repeated threats to the Nord Stream by the leadership of the United States”. In March, Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed the argument that Kyiv was behind the explosions, instead laying blame on the US. “Who is interested? Theoretically, the United States is interested in stopping the supply of Russian energy to the European market and supplying volumes of its own,” he told an interviewer. “Such an explosion, so powerful and at such depth, could only be conducted by experts backed by the entire potential of a state that has relevant technologies,” said Putin. Diplomatically sensitive investigations ongoing The blasts occurred in the economic zones of Sweden and Denmark, so both countries launched investigations into the incident. So far, they say the explosions were deliberate, but they have yet to single out who was behind the blasts. Germany also launched an investigation with federal prosecutors searching a yacht in January that might have been used to transport the explosives. They seized objects from the vessel and found traces of explosives. Germany’s flagship airline Lufthansa has warned that it would need to consume half of the country’s entire electricity output if it were to shift to green fuels such as e-kerosene, Bloomberg reported on Monday.
Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr reportedly stated that synthetic fuels manufactured using renewable energy represented the best approach to decarbonize aviation. However, it is unlikely that there is sufficient green electricity in Germany to generate them, the executive warned. “We would need around half of Germany’s electricity to create enough of the fuels,” Spohr was quoted as saying at an aviation conference in Hamburg. “I don’t think Mr. Habeck is going to give me that,” he added, referring to Economy and Energy Minister Robert Habeck. According to the report, synthetic fuels such as green kerosene, which is derived from water, are seen by aviation industry executives as the only technically viable way to decarbonize air travel. The industry has been working to set up a market for a carbon-neutral version of the kerosene that powers most modern aircraft. However, the process requires huge amounts of electricity generated from renewable resources in order to ensure carbon neutrality. The attempts to decarbonize air travel come at a time when Germany has to rely on imported electricity because it can no longer meet its demand with domestically generated power. The EU’s largest economy has had to ramp up electricity imports this year after the government decided to shut down the country’s last remaining nuclear power plants in favor of renewable energy sources. Germany has also been struggling due to the reduction in Russian energy deliveries, which were almost entirely halted after the EU imposed sanctions on Moscow last year in response to the Ukraine conflict. Prior to 2022, Germany relied on Russia for roughly 40% of its natural gas. German industry executives have sounded the alarm over looming electricity shortages that could endanger the competitiveness of Germany as an industrial hub. House Speaker Anthony Rota praised Yaroslav Hunka, 98, as a ‘Ukrainian hero’ at Canada’s Parliament, with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Justin Trudeau attending and applauding.
The speaker of Canada’s House of Commons has apologised for praising an individual who served in a Nazi unit during World War II in a session attended by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Speaker Anthony Rota recognised Yaroslav Hunka, 98, as a “Ukrainian hero, a Canadian hero”, saying “we thank him for all his service” before the Canadian Parliament on Friday. Hunka served in World War II as a member of the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, according to the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights group, that demanded an apology. The centre said Hunka’s ties to the Nazi war machine “are well-documented”. Both Zelenskyy and Trudeau joined in acknowledging Hunka during the parliament session with applause. Rota took responsibility for what he characterised as an oversight, calling the initiative “entirely my own”. “I have subsequently become aware of more information which causes me to regret my decision,” he said in a statement issued on Sunday, offering his “deepest apologies to Jewish communities in Canada and around the world”. The recognition came following the visit to parliament by Zelenskyy, who thanked Canada for its assistance in Ukraine’s war against Russia. Rota said no one, including fellow parliamentarians or the Ukrainian delegation, was aware of his plans or remarks beforehand.
2023 FORMULA 1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP CONSTRUCTOR STANDINGS
Ajax-Feyenoord was postponed on Sunday in the Johan Cruijff Arena after three instances of the crown throwing objects onto the pitch. Feyenoord were winning 3-0 at the time due to goals from Santiago Gimenez.
Ajax was missing captain Steven Bergwijn after he got an allergic reaction from a dentist appointment where he had his wisdom tooth pulled. Silvano Vos started for Ajax. The young midfielder impressed with his performance after coming on against Marseille on Thursday despite getting sent off late on with a second booking. Feyenoord manager Arne Slot started the game with Igor Paixao coming in for Luka Ivanusec, who got injured in the Champions League match against Celtic on Tuesday. Santiago Gimenez returned having been suspended for that match. Despite a determined start and a positive atmosphere in the Johan Cruijff Arena, Feyenoord took the lead after nine minutes played. Quinten Timber was too strong for Anton Gaaei and played Gimenez in, who did not hesitate smashing the ball into the net. It got worse for Gaaei as the Danish right-back was at fault for the second goal. His wayward pass went straight to Gimenez, who dribbled past Jorrel Hato before putting the ball past Jay Gorter and into the Ajax net. The match was suspended after this goal for just under ten minutes after a cup was thrown onto the pitch. Gaaei was substituted when it restarted for Devyne Rensch. The 20-year-old ran straight down the tunnel. Feyenoord made it three after 37 minutes. Borna Sosa's shot from a corner was blocked, going straight into the path of Gimenez. Ajax had just one defender back, leaving Gimenez with plenty of space to play the ball across the box to Paixao, who knocked it home. Shortly before halftime, a flare was thrown onto the pitch from the F-side area of the stadium. The F-side is the Ajax hooligan group. However the match was restarted again until the F-side threw another couple of flares onto the pitch leaving the officials with no choice but to abandon the match. The KNVB will now discuss how the rest of this match will be played. Ajax have another match at home in three days against FC Volendam.
2023 Formula 1 World Championship Drivers' Standings
The US and Vietnam are discussing a potential deal to sell American-made F-16 fighter planes to Hanoi, Reuters reported on Saturday, citing two people familiar in the matter.
The negotiations, which are still in the “early stages,” have reportedly been “a key topic” of talks between officials from both sides over the past month in Washington, New York, and Hanoi. “Part of what we’re working on internally as the US government is being creative about how we could try to provide better financing options to Vietnam to get them things that might be really useful to them,” a US official was quoted as saying. Relations between the US and Vietnam started to normalize in 1994 after Washington lifted its 19-year embargo. President Joe Biden visited Hanoi earlier this month, describing the countries, once hostile to one another, as “critical partners at what I would argue is a very critical time.” The reported negotiations come as Washington accuses China of coercing and intimidating Vietnam and other neighbors, with whom Beijing has territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Last month, the State Department approved the sale of F-16 spare parts and equipment to Taiwan, which is in the process of upgrading its fleet of warplanes. The Taipei government said in May that 66 new F-16V jets ordered from the US were expected to arrive by 2026. China has denied stoking tensions in the region and has accused the US of harboring a “Cold War mentality.” Beijing also firmly opposes foreign military aid to Taiwan, which it considers its sovereign territory.
FORMULA 1 LENOVO JAPANESE GRAND PRIX 2023 - Race Results
Recently, actor and comedian Russell Brand has used his celebrity status and his internet-based show to lift up independent-minded people like US presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He questioned the US and NATO involvement in the proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, as well as the mainstream media narrative on Covid-19.
The establishment neoliberals were having none of it. They turned their laser-guided coordinated attacks on Brand, and now he is facing cancelation, MeToo style. He’s been accused of rape and abuse by several women, and as a result has lost his YouTube ad revenue, has had his live shows canceled, has been dropped by his publisher, and has had shows featuring him removed from the BBC’s video-on-demand service, among other things. MeToo started out with a valiant goal, as a movement to empower women to speak out about sexual abuse where they had previously felt pressured into silence. All too quickly it got co-opted by political agendas, becoming a Democrat-backed hashtag used to attack and shut down those who disagree with the establishment narrative. It appears to have faded into relative obscurity since its roaring peak, and this zombie-like return of this style of cancelation comes off as both tiresome and disingenuous. I should know for two reasons: I worked for Democrats, and I was raped by one. The Democrat I was raped by at work is now the president of the United States. There was no investigation into Joe Biden for what he did to me that day, but rather a coordinated attack on me across social media and establishment media alike that lasted years. It destroyed my professional and personal life. The MeToo movement was nowhere to be found for me because the founder of Time’s Up, the primary organization that supported the movement, was on Biden’s payroll. Truth never stood a chance. Even when I came close to testifying before Congress, the DNC machine went full throttle at me, and then there was the part where I had to seek asylum in another country to avoid prosecution or violence. Now, I never expected instant justice. But I never got the justice of even an investigation into him.
I know what it’s like to have the narrative be locked and loaded for your complete destruction, and now so does Russell Brand. The facts on his alleged actions are murky and many of the accusers are anonymous. To date, no criminal charges, investigation, or civil cases have been filed. Just a blurry news program of innuendos latched onto by lap-dog Western media. The allegations against him were brought by Channel 4 Dispatches in a program called ‘Russell Brand: In Plain Sight’ and The Times. The allegations include rape and manipulation. As the news of the journalistic investigation spread, two shows dropped their episodes featuring Brand, and in only a few days, the trial by media had instigated his complete cancelation. Cases involving sexual misconduct, especially when they are about someone famous, are always a headline grabber.
That said, sexual assault and rape are difficult to publicly discuss. On a psychological level, rape is not about sex but power. On a legal level, the issue that swirls around any allegations of sexual assault is consent. Was there consent or not? It seems like a simple enough question, but when it comes to arguing legal definitions, it can get much more complicated, especially when you throw things like capacity to consent and withdrawal of consent into the mix. And then there’s the political level. Rape is a highly politicized issue in the US and the West in general, and no one can politicize it better than the Democrats. When a woman comes forward, her reputation often gets attacked, be it by slut-shaming or through allegations of fishing for attention. The MeToo mantra ‘believe all women’, when co-opted by the Democrat political agenda, is applied very selectively, and it becomes very easy to dismiss a politically inconvenient accuser by destroying her reputation. The accusations themselves then become a tool to deplatform or silence chosen targets. I know what it’s like to have the narrative be locked and loaded for your complete destruction, and now so does Russell Brand. The facts on his alleged actions are murky and many of the accusers are anonymous. To date, no criminal charges, investigation, or civil cases have been filed. Just a blurry news program of innuendos latched onto by lap-dog Western media. The allegations against him were brought by Channel 4 Dispatches in a program called ‘Russell Brand: In Plain Sight’ and The Times. The allegations include rape and manipulation. As the news of the journalistic investigation spread, two shows dropped their episodes featuring Brand, and in only a few days, the trial by media had instigated his complete cancelation. Cases involving sexual misconduct, especially when they are about someone famous, are always a headline grabber. That said, sexual assault and rape are difficult to publicly discuss. On a psychological level, rape is not about sex but power. On a legal level, the issue that swirls around any allegations of sexual assault is consent. Was there consent or not? It seems like a simple enough question, but when it comes to arguing legal definitions, it can get much more complicated, especially when you throw things like capacity to consent and withdrawal of consent into the mix. And then there’s the political level. Rape is a highly politicized issue in the US and the West in general, and no one can politicize it better than the Democrats. When a woman comes forward, her reputation often gets attacked, be it by slut-shaming or through allegations of fishing for attention. The MeToo mantra ‘believe all women’, when co-opted by the Democrat political agenda, is applied very selectively, and it becomes very easy to dismiss a politically inconvenient accuser by destroying her reputation. The accusations themselves then become a tool to deplatform or silence chosen targets.
FORMULA 1 LENOVO JAPANESE GRAND PRIX 2023 - Top 10 Qualifying Results
Three Indian martial arts athletes from a region claimed by China have been forced to pull out of the Asian Games in Hangzhou after not receiving clearance from the host country, media reports say.
The three women, competing as wushu fighters, are from the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, a region claimed almost in full by Beijing as “South Tibet”. Wushu, or kung fu, is a multidisciplinary martial art that originated in China. According to the Hindustan Times newspaper, the trio were approved to take part by the Hangzhou Asian Games Organising Committee but were unable to download their accreditation cards, which act as visas to enter China. The rest of the 10-member squad along with the coaching staff left for the games in Hangzhou on Wednesday, the newspaper reported. Neither the Indian Olympic Association nor the Ministry of External Affairs immediately responded to requests for comment by the Agence France-Presse news agency. The Indian wushu team did not travel to the Chinese city of Chengdu for the World University Games in July after the same three athletes were issued stapled, rather than pasted, visas – an indication that Beijing does not recognise India’s territorial claim over Arunachal Pradesh. That move triggered angry reactions from India with the foreign ministry saying it was “unacceptable”. Arunachal Pradesh is on the other side of the Himalayas from Tibet and shares a common Buddhist cultural heritage with its northern neighbour. The Dalai Lama fled through the state in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in his homeland and has lived in India ever since. Beijing briefly occupied most of the territory in a bloody conflict three years after the Buddhist leader’s flight. This year, India reacted strongly after China renamed 11 places in the disputed region. New Delhi consistently maintains that the state has always been and will always be an “integral and inalienable part of India”. Russell Brand has been accused of rape, sexual assaults and emotional abuse during a seven-year period at the height of his fame. Four women, including one who was just 16 at the time, have alleged sexual assaults occurred between 2006 and 2013, when Brand was working for BBC Radio 2 and Channel 4, as well as starring in Hollywood films. The comedian and actor also faces allegations of controlling, abusive and predatory behaviour, following a joint investigation by The Sunday Times, The Times and Channel 4 Dispatches. Brand vehemently denies the allegations and in a video posted online, stated all of his relationships have been “consensual”, before accusing the media of a “co-ordinated attack”. It comes after Channel 4 Dispatches aired a 90-minute film titled Russell Brand: In Plain Sight on Saturday night, which saw four unidentified women detail their allegations, and other women speak of their experiences working with Brand on TV sets. It included Brand’s former personal assistant Helen Berger, who called him a “narcissist” in an interview for the programme. Meanwhile, Brand appeared as scheduled at the 2,000-capacity Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre in north-west London to perform a sold-out comedy gig on Saturday evening. His show, titled Bipolarisation, had been due to begin at 7pm, but was delayed by more than 45 minutes and lasted around an hour. While not directly addressing the allegations, audience members told the PA news agency Brand said he hoped they could “appreciate” there were things he could not talk about during the set. The allegations made against Brand include one woman who claims she was sexually assaulted during a three-month relationship with him when she was 16 and still at school. The woman described his behaviour towards her as “grooming” as he would allegedly provide her with scripts on how to deceive her parents into allowing her to visit him. In 2020, the woman contacted Brand’s literary agent at the time, who was also the co-founder of talent agency Tavistock Wood. A statement given to the PA news agency by Tavistock Wood said: “Russell Brand categorically and vehemently denied the allegation made in 2020, but we now believe we were horribly misled by him. TW has terminated all professional ties to Brand.” |
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