Tag: china

US wants to exploit bases in Brazil and provoke the country over its role in BRICS

The plan by American diplomats to achieve rights for the United States to use Brazilian military bases is a radical maneuver and a political provocation against Brazil, particularly given its relationship with BRICS partners, especially China.

US diplomats linked to President Donald Trump’s Republican Party have been discussing in informal meetings with Brazilian interlocutors the unrestricted use of the Fernando de Noronha Airport base in the Atlantic Ocean and the Natal Air Base in Rio Grande do Norte.

According to DefesaNet, the excuse given to defend the plan is the so-called “historical right of operational return” for investments made by the US during the Cold War. Washington’s argument is also based on the fact that military assets financed in other countries can be reactivated based on tacit agreements or the principle of hemispheric reciprocity, especially in the context of a global threat, as well as contractual elements.

Despite being broken in 1977, the Brazil-US Military Assistance Agreement continues to be cited by US policy-making think tanks, such as the RAND Corporation, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and The Heritage Foundation, as a reference to the so-called “hemispheric interoperability tradition.”

Furthermore, the Technological Safeguards Agreement (AST) — signed in 2019 under the administration of former president Jair Bolsonaro, created to enable the use of the Alcântara base — is often cited as a political and diplomatic precedent for new modalities of US military access to sensitive facilities under Brazilian control.

Behind the scenes, sources from the Ministry of Defense emphasize that Washington’s plan is unconstitutional since the 1988 Constitution prohibits the use of military installations by foreign forces without prior authorization from the National Congress.

At the same time, the request for bases by US diplomats has no real or concrete objective since neither the US nor Brazil is at war, and, therefore, there is no operational need. Rather, this is a political provocation made by the Trump administration. Given the fact that Brazil has a special relationship with Russia and China, countries that form the core of BRICS, Trump intends to create external and internal embarrassment for Brazil with this unreasonable request.

There are similarities with the US demands against Greenland, Canada, and Panama.

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The Pentagon Is Using a Fabricated Chinese Threat to Build Genetically Engineered Soldiers

On April 8, a bipartisan commission chartered by Congress warned that China is rapidly advancing a terrifying new military threat: genetically engineered “super soldiers.”

The report by the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology (NSCEB) urges the U.S. to respond with a sweeping effort to militarize biotechnology. It offers little concrete evidence that such Chinese programs even exist.

In the name of national security, Washington is now pushing for deregulation, massive government investment, and human experimentation. Experts say this effort echoes Cold War-era paranoia and threatens to erode ethical boundaries in science and warfare.

A Congressional Research Service fact sheet on the report claims its contents “describe how biotechnology could potentially revolutionize agricultural production in the U.S., transform U.S. health care, and change the future of computing power.” While that may sound promising, the report’s focus is overwhelmingly on using biotechnology for military purposes, including the creation of “genetically enhanced soldiers.” The report also states that “biotechnology’s impact on surveillance could be … transformative.”

The report argues that biology could revolutionize warfare just as airpower did in the 20th century, promising new advantages in stealth, logistics, and real-time physiological monitoring of soldiers. It calls for “a fundamental rethinking” of how the U.S. uses biotech in combat.

Biotechnology also promises new advantages in stealth and mobility. Dynamic biological camouflage, for instance, could shield warfighters from thermal detection, while wearable biosensors could adjust mission parameters based on real-time physiological data. Taken together, these advances demand a fundamental rethinking of how biology supports sustained, agile military operations, revolutionizing what it means to defend the U.S., including building for, nourishing, and healing forces in the field.”

The report argues that “winning” the global biotech race will “require de-risking the domestic production of defense-related biotechnology products” and changing “military specifications” to enable biotechnology companies to sell their products to the Pentagon more easily. Repeated references are also made to the need to “reduce or remove regulatory hurdles for familiar products.” Although the report never defines “familiar products,” the term may refer to controversial and experimental technologies such as CRISPR gene editing and mRNA therapeutics.

NSCEB also calls for large-scale “biological databases” to be treated as a “strategic resource.” It urges Congress to direct the Pentagon to build commercial facilities across the country to biomanufacture products deemed “critical for DOD needs.” The U.S. government “will need to shoulder some of the risk of early-stage financing for biotechnology and encourage private investment,” such as “[streamlining] regulatory processes to alleviate unnecessary burdens and accelerate the commercialization.”

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How Beijing’s 1995 Disappearance of the Panchen Lama Enabled Crimes Against Humanity

Thirty years ago today, Chinese authorities disappeared a six-year-old Tibetan boy and his family. They haven’t been heard from since – but the impunity enjoyed by the Chinese government continues to fuel threats to religious freedom, collective punishment, enforced disappearances, and arbitrary detention. 

In early 1995, the Dalai Lama identified a young boy, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, as the incarnation of the Panchen Lama, Tibetan Buddhism’s second highest-ranking monk. But the government, then headed by Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Jiang Zemin, refused to acknowledge the Dalai Lama’s decision, and identified another child for the role. To prevent Tibetans from becoming loyal to the boy chosen according to religious traditions, authorities opted to abduct him and his family. 

But this story didn’t end in 1995: the genuine Panchen Lama and his family are far from Beijing’s only Tibetan victims of enforced disappearances and arbitrary detention. Databases of Tibetans wrongfully detained currently reflect grim descriptions: “life imprisonment,” “forcible disappearance,” and, chillingly, “no further information.” Chinese government restrictions on information make definitive conclusions difficult, but research that likely underestimates counts of political prisoners shows that while Tibetans comprise only half a percent of China’s total population, they made up 8 percent of all prisoners of conscience sentenced between 2019 and 2024.

In 2017, United Nations human rights experts tasked with tracking arbitrary detention assessed the case of Tashi Wangchuk, a Tibetan shopkeeper, and determined that he had been wrongfully detained for his wholly legal advocacy in support of Tibetan-medium education. In the same decision the experts also argued that the scope and scale of such abuses across China might be so great such that they might constitute a crime against humanity. 

It is possible Beijing will never clarify how, let alone how many, Tibetans have died in state custody. Even in high-profile cases authorities have refused to provide the remains of and key information to family and religious community members. The body of revered monk Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, who died in July 2015 after being tortured in prison, was swiftly cremated, preventing an investigation. Questions are swirling about Tulku Hunkar Dorjee, a well-known monk who fled political pressure to Vietnam, where he died under highly questionable circumstances in April 2025; he too was cremated without family consent, but with Chinese officials present.

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Chinese ‘Kill Switches’ Found in US Solar Farms

Chinese ‘kill switches’ have been found hidden in American solar farms, prompting calls for Ed Miliband to halt the rollout of renewables over security concerns. The Telegraph has the story.

On Thursday, the Energy Secretary was urged to impose an “immediate pause” on his green energy blitz to review whether UK solar plants are also at risk.

The components found in the US included cellular radios capable of switching off the equipment remotely, raising serious concerns about grid security, according to Reuters.

They were found inside power inverters manufactured by unnamed Chinese companies.

Power inverters are the key links between solar or wind farms and the rest of the power system, converting their electricity so the wider grid can use it.

One source told Reuters that compromising such equipment would give Beijing the ability to inflict blackouts on the West, claiming it would create “a built-in way to physically destroy the grid”.

China has dismissed the claims as a smear. But the discovery has sounded alarm bells within the US Government and is likely to prompt a similar scramble in Britain.

Andrew Bowie, the Shadow Energy Minister, on Thursday said the “worrying revelations” should spark serious concern for Mr Miliband and called for an urgent investigation.

He said: “We were already aware of concerns being raised by the Ministry of Defence and the security and intelligence services surrounding possible monitoring technology on Chinese-built wind turbines – but given the dominance of China in solar, these developments are equally if not even more worrying.

“Ed Miliband’s Made in China transition – clean power at the expense of everything else – is a threat to our national security and makes a mockery of his claims on energy security.

“It is essential that an immediate pause and review is carried out to ensure the safety and security of our energy system.”

One industry source on Thursday said that British solar farms used inverters from a variety of sources, including Chinese, American, German and Israeli suppliers.

A UK Government spokesman said: “We would never let anything get in the way of our national security, and while we would not comment on individual cases, our energy sector is subject to the highest levels of national security scrutiny.”

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Rogue communication devices found in Chinese solar power inverters

U.S. energy officials are reassessing the risk posed by Chinese-made devices that play a critical role in renewable energy infrastructure after unexplained communication equipment was found inside some of them, two people familiar with the matter said.

Power inverters, which are predominantly produced in China, are used throughout the world to connect solar panels and wind turbines to electricity grids. They are also found in batteries, heat pumps and electric vehicle chargers.

While inverters are built to allow remote access for updates and maintenance, the utility companies that use them typically install firewalls to prevent direct communication back to China.

However, rogue communication devices not listed in product documents have been found in some Chinese solar power inverters by U.S experts who strip down equipment hooked up to grids to check for security issues, the two people said.

Over the past nine months, undocumented communication devices, including cellular radios, have also been found in some batteries from multiple Chinese suppliers, one of them said.

Reuters was unable to determine how many solar power inverters and batteries they have looked at.

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Zuckerberg’s free speech charade

Mark Zuckerberg wants America to believe he has had a “Road to Damascus” conversion on free speech. Since President Trump’s return to office in January, Mr. Zuckerberg has positioned himself as a champion of the First Amendment, condemning “cancel culture” and claiming that Meta platforms now welcome diverse political viewpoints, all while ignoring the obvious subtext that his platforms are hostile to conservative speech.

It is his recent aggressive actions to silence a whistleblower that expose the deep hypocrisy of his recent and convenient conversion to a supposed free expression champion.

By now, most of the world has heard of Sarah Wynn-Williams’ bombshell book, “Careless People,” which reveals shocking details about Mr. Zuckerberg’s yearslong crusade to enter the Chinese market by creating sophisticated censorship tools for the Chinese Communist Party to use on Facebook, all the while playing innocent to the American public. According to Ms. Wynn-Williams’ account, Mr. Zuckerberg was willing to compromise every personal and political principle belonging to American citizens, including the security of American users, to gain access to the profit margins that Chinese consumers would bring to Facebook’s revenue streams.

Most disturbing is what, according to Ms. Wynn-Williams’ Senate testimony, Mr. Zuckerberg traded away to build his $18 billion business in China. America is in an artificial intelligence war with China, and it is winner-take-all. Yet Ms. Wynn-Williams’ revelations show that, for years, Mr. Zuckerberg has been transferring the technological expertise he and his company have to the Chinese Communist Party. Detailed briefings on data centers, facial recognition and, of course, artificial intelligence — all mission-critical to our country’s future.

Rather than address these serious allegations, Mr. Zuckerberg has hidden behind lawyers, invoking arbitration clauses and gag orders to silence Ms. Wynn-Williams, who, it must be said, clearly has a steel spine that Mr. Zuckerberg can only dream of. The irony couldn’t be more stark: While publicly posturing as a free speech advocate to curry favor with the Trump administration, he uses legal maneuvers to suppress whistleblowers from warning the public and lawmakers of these critical truths about his company.

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Former astronaut Sen. Mark Kelly started spy balloon company funded by China

Before becoming a senator, Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., was not only an astronaut, but he also co-founded a company that specializes in spy balloons, which was funded, in part, by a venture capitalist in China with close ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

Kelly, who is reportedly on a short list of running mate contenders under consideration by Vice President Kamala Harris, co-founded Tucson, Arizona-based World View in 2012 with a vision to provide space tourism using stratospheric balloons.

While Kelly’s company started out with a focus on space tourism via balloons, the vision evolved with the maturing of the company’s technology.

“As we matured our technology, we recognized an opportunity for immediate use cases for our technology through remote sensing services to defense, scientific and commercial customers,” a spokesperson for World View told Fox News Digital. “Today, our primary business remains providing remote sensing services to the U.S. Department of Defense and her allies by way of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, as well as servicing scientific organizations like NASA, NOAA and others to better understand Earth from the unique atmospheric layer of the stratosphere.”

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German Researcher Calls out Science Magazine for Refusing to Consider Study Pointing to a Wuhan Lab Accident

In one of their many fact-addled news articles, Science Magazine falsely claimed last week that “no compelling evidence supports the allegation that the virus leaked from WIV.” But University Hospital of Wurzburg researcher Valentin Bruttel states that Science constructs this tendentious claim by refusing to even consider publishing studies that point to a possible lab accident.

Bruttel leveled these charges during a wide-ranging interview with the Berliner Zeitung last month. Several German media outlets, including Spektrum and the Frankfurter Allgemeine, reported last year that a British statisician found “blatantly nonsensical” errors in a Science Magazine study that argued against a lab accident.

Bruttel said his paper was accepted by another journal after Science would not even consider looking at it. However, the editor in charge of his paper was dismissed for protesting Israel’s genocide against Gaza. The editor’s replacement then rejected the paper, falsely claiming the journal couldn’t find a reviewer, even though a positive review for the paper had already been submitted to the journal.

“I have made a decisive contribution to clarifying the cause of this pandemic and invested a lot of time in preventing another one,” Bruttel told the Berliner Zeitung. “But I am also a committed democrat. If the majority of Germans are content with the fact that the deaths of millions of innocent people are not addressed, and thus no effective countermeasures are introduced, I have to accept that.”

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Trump vows to end secrecy of foreign & CCP funding on campus after Biden ‘turned a blind eye’

President Donald Trump has vowed to “end the secrecy” surrounding foreign funding and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influence at U.S. colleges and universities after the Biden administration “turned a blind eye” to the problem.

Trump said in a late April executive order that “it is the policy of my Administration to end the secrecy surrounding foreign funds in American educational institutions, protect the marketplace of ideas from propaganda sponsored by foreign governments, and safeguard America’s students and research from foreign exploitation.” 

The president ordered Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Attorney General Pam Bondi to enforce the federal laws surrounding the disclosure of foreign funding on U.S. campuses after Biden Education Secretary Miguel Cardona deprioritized the issue over the previous four years.

“During my first term, the Department of Education opened investigations on nineteen campuses from 2019-2021, which led universities to report $6.5 billion in previously undisclosed foreign funds,” Trump said in the April executive order. “Yet the prior administration undid this work, moving the Department of Education’s specialized investigatory work on foreign funds to a unit ill-equipped to perform it, undermining investigations, and hindering public access to information on foreign gifts and contracts.”

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Treasury Secretary Bessent: “The Chinese Told Us Once Joe Biden Came into Office They Just Ignored Their Obligations”

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent spoke with reporters on Monday following trade talks this past weekend with Chinese officials in Geneva, Switzerland.

As The Gateway Pundit reported on Sunday, Bessent announced that they struck a deal during their eight-hour meetings.

China and the United States have agreed to reduce tariffs by May 14, with China retaining a 10% tariff on American goods while the US retains a 10% reciprocal tariff on Chinese goods. Additionally, China has agreed to help the US “take aggressive actions to stem the flow of fentanyl and other precursors from China to illicit drug producers in North America.”

On Monday morning Secretary Bessent spoke with reporters about the trade talks with China. Bessent told them that China blew off their trade obligations when Joe Biden entered office.

They knew he was weak.

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