Deception, Espionage & Totalitarianism — The Communist China Threat to US National Security

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A lot of the same themes that are put forth in "The Hundred Year Marathon" by Michael Pillsbury. Slowly, the U.S. is waking up to the China threat.
I am 100% pro free-market capitalism (which we don't actually have on the macro-economic scale where we have crony capitalism, but that's still far better than the alternative: central planning), but the Chicoms have clearly proved the truth of the old commie adage, "A capitalist will sell you the rope you hang him with."

Unfortunately, in this case, it's, "A capitalist will provide funding for your rope manufacturing plant, let you steal all of the IP involved without consequences, and then BUY the rope you hang him with, all in the STUPID belief that they will one day have a foothold in your 1.4 billion person market instead of all of the stolen IP being used to develop an indigenous industry they will be shut out of. P.S. They also pretended to justify this by claiming prosperity would reform a brutal communist police state instead of greatly HELPING it to become a HIGHLY TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED brutal communist police state and MAJOR geopolitical adversary that, unlike the Soviet Union, isn't doomed to eventually fail due to a fatally flawed economic system."

I don't know if it was more stupidity or greed which led to the following being ignored - one of several studies:

JOURNAL OF CHINESE ECONOMICS, 2014 Vol. 2. No. 2, pp 73-78
Call for Copy - The Culture of Counterfeit in China
by Ling Jiang

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312388182_Call_for_copy-the_culture_of_counterfeit_in_China

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to deepen the understanding of Chinese counterfeit phenomenon by exploring the effect of culture. Counterfeit activities are shaped by Chinese historical, social and political reasons. Intellectual property rights protections don’t have an obvious presence on Chinese soil. The discussion of counterfeit consumer behavior research via the effect of culture is provided.

Book: To Steal a Book Is an Elegant Offense: Intellectual Property Law in Chinese Civilization (Studies in East Asian Law, Harvard University)

Recent planted "lost wallet" return rate experiment by country. Note what country is at the bottom of the resulting chart. The behavioral drivers are not just cultural. They're also population density driven.:

D9mk_d2UYAIpAdP.jpg
 
Most Americans are TOTALLY clueless about the pervasiveness of all of this. This would NEVER have been allowed with the Soviets. Why? Because no one ever pretended they were our friends because vast sums of MONEY could not be made by doing so.

None of this makes the mainstream news much. Why? Once again, for the same reason our MOVIES are being written or edited to not offend the CCP in order to be allowed to screen in China: MONEY.

California Probes Chinese Communist Police Impersonators
Asian man arrested driving car with People's Armed Police markings; second vehicle sought
27 Sep 2019

https://freebeacon.com/national-security/california-probes-chinese-communist-police-impersonators/

"The circumstances of this case suggest this may be a violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act," said Nicholas Eftimiades, a former Defense Intelligence Agency counterintelligence official.

"There are many examples of China's Communist Party employing the government or party apparatus to intimidate and coerce ethnic Chinese abroad, whether or not they are Chinese citizens."
[there's an entire documentary about that - W]

Screen-Shot-2019-09-27-at-2.13.32-PM-736x503.png


The Real Danger of China’s National Intelligence Law
There’s a bloody history behind the idea that the average Chinese citizen should [NO, is LEGALLY REQUIRED TO if asked - W] defend national security from unspecified threats [by, for instance, SPYING while abroad - W]
23 Feb 2019

https://thediplomat.com/2019/02/the-real-danger-of-chinas-national-intelligence-law/

"Not enough can be said about the insidious and pervasive power of China’s National Intelligence Law, which came into effect in July 2017."

Chinese College Students Being Forced to Spy on US
June 18, 2019

https://www.voanews.com/student-union/chinese-college-students-being-forced-spy-us

Chinese university students in the United States are increasing being pressured to act as pawns in the ever-expanding espionage war that Beijing is running against Washington and its allies.

The allegation, made Monday by a key U.S. lawmaker, comes as security and defense officials are expressing growing concern over Chinese efforts to exploit Western research and technology.

“The overwhelming number of counterintelligence cases in our country now involve Chinese nationals,” Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman, Democrat Mark Warner, told an audience at the Council for Foreign Relations in Washington.

“The Chinese spy services are literally threatening Chinese families,” he said. “’If your son or daughter does not come back [from the US] and come back with intellectual property, you the family will be put in jeopardy," Warner said.

Warner is not the first to raise concerns about Chinese students in the U.S. This past April, FBI Director Christopher Wray warned Chinese intelligence was using a “societal approach” to stealing research and technological advancements – a plan that included leveraging Chinese students in the U.S.


Kyle Bass @Jkylebass
27 Sep 2019

Maybe Bloomberg should read through the final judgement of the U.K. China Tribunal on organ harvesting. He’s right, Xi isn’t a run of the mill dictator, he’s a genocidal killer whose evil knows no parallel in the 21st century. [Who has appointed himself as "leader" for life; actually, I'd rate his NK buddy Kim Jong-un as worse or, at least, more openly sinister. - W]

Kyle Bass @Jkylebass
27 Sep 2019

Why is it that Chinese companies that sell stocks and bonds in the US to US investors don’t have to submit themselves to PCAOB covered audits or be Dodd/Frank compliant? The US should require any securities sold in the US to adhere to US Securities Laws. Crazy huh?

Treasury’s Weak Denial Acts as Confirmation: US Weighs Crackdown on Capital Flows to Chinese Companies, Stocks & Bonds, Listed in the US or China - Stocks of Chinese companies listed in the US have turned into a fiasco.
Sep 28, 2019

https://wolfstreet.com/2019/09/28/t...610b99d264f8382a0963eb9205b52b#comment-206559

Exactly what happens when Chinese stocks are NOT required "to adhere to US Securities Laws.":

The China Hustle (2018 documentary)

From the producers of Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room, a Wall Street heist story about Chinese companies, the US stock market and a still-unfolding financial crime so big, it has the power to affect all of our wallets.

https://www.amazon.com/China-Hustle-Dan-David/dp/B07BQRKGLG
 
Better than nothing, but undoubtedly just a drop in the bucket...

California man charged in elaborate Chinese spy operation
Edward Peng was caught acting as a courier for China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) after the U.S. launched a “double agent operation” in March 2015
30 Sep 2019

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/ju...rged-elaborate-chinese-spy-operation-n1060446

A California man has been charged with acting as an illegal foreign agent as part of an elaborate FBI sting operation targeting Chinese intelligence operatives working in the U.S., the Justice Department said Monday.

Edward Peng was caught acting as a courier for China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) after the U.S. launched a “double agent operation” in March 2015, according to a criminal complaint obtained by NBC News.

As part of the investigation, a confidential FBI source met with MSS intelligence officers, provided them with classified information relating to national security concerns, and received financial payments in return, the criminal complaint says.

On six separate occasions, Peng showed up to collect packages left at hotels around the country, the criminal complaint says.

The operation began after a March 2015 meeting in which an MSS intelligence officer set up a trial run for passing along classified information that involved placing an SD card in a book, wrapping it in a bag marked for “Ed” and leaving it at the front desk of a hotel in Newark, Calif.


How a Chicago college student ended up in the middle of an FBI investigation into Chinese spying
26 Sep 2019

https://www.chicagotribune.com/inve...0190926-xh74yrhorzakjpsnojyx4aapfm-story.html

Ji Chaoqun easily blended in among the 2,900 international students at the Illinois Institute of Technology, a private school just off the Dan Ryan Expressway near White Sox park.

Except Ji was not just any student on campus. Federal authorities allege he was secretly working for a Chinese spy agency.

Chinese spies focused on stealing the secrets of major U.S. aerospace companies had recruited Ji for assistance in Chicago, according to court records. Ji is alleged to have secretly met with his handlers in China and was tasked with gathering biographical information on eight Chinese nationals working in the U.S. Prosecutors say the Chinese government planned to try and recruit the eight as spies — most of whom worked for defense contractors as scientists and engineers.

Ji now finds himself in the middle of an ongoing national security investigation that also led to the arrest and unprecedented extradition to the U.S. last year of Ji’s handler, a senior intelligence officer in China’s main spy agency. It marked the first time a Chinese spy has been brought to this country to face criminal prosecution.

His case symbolizes a growing area of worry for U.S. authorities: a sophisticated and far-flung mission by the Chinese government to have spies and foreign agents steal ideas and technology from firms and defense contractors across the country.
 
GREATLY aiding and enabling THIS, through trillions in financial investment and entirely PREDICTABLE (see above) advanced IP theft was probably THE DUMBEST FREAKING THING this country's "elites" have ever done!

Eight minutes long:



Two hours long:



Four Of The Biggest Revelations From China's Massive 70th Anniversary Military Parade
The spectacle in Tiananmen Square was full of previously unseen advanced Chinese military developments.
1 Oct 2019

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zo...inas-massive-70th-anniversary-military-parade

https%3A%2F%2Fapi.thedrive.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F10%2Fdf-17-top.jpg%3Fquality%3D85


China's High-Speed Drone Is Rocket-Powered And All About Doing What Satellites Can't
The aircraft is designed to rapidly gather intel in contested areas by surprise and especially when key satellites are no longer operational.
1 Oct 2019

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zo...ered-and-all-about-doing-what-satellites-cant

https%3A%2F%2Fapi.thedrive.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F10%2Fasdda2424.jpg%3Fquality%3D85


China Showcases Stealthier Sharp Sword Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle Configuration
The rear of the design on display during a parade to mark the 70th founding of Communist China is completely different from an earlier prototype.
1 Oct 2019

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zo...ord-unmanned-combat-air-vehicle-configuration

https%3A%2F%2Fapi.thedrive.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F10%2Fsharp-sword-top-2.jpg%3Fquality%3D85
 
I know it is a small step, but I really do try to avoid buying stuff made in China. I am not obsessive about it, but if there is an American made alternative to a Chinese product I buy the American one. If more people did this we would be better off.
 
We are out planned and out executed.
Don't be pissed at them - be pissed at ourselves.
We were lied to by our corporate and political "elites" who were blinded by greed and wishful thinking in the pursuit of short-term financial gain and by the resulting cash flow to promoters of that in both political parties. But, hey, what's new?

I don't blame the Chinese. Like I've said, the Chinese have simply proved the truth of the old commie adage, "A capitalist will sell you the rope you hang him with."
 
Amazing. Exactly what I recently referred to above.

‘South Park’ Is Erased in China After Mocking Censors
Oct. 8, 2019

“Like the N.B.A., we welcome the Chinese censors into our homes and into our hearts,” the show’s creators said in a tongue-in-cheek response. “We too love money more than freedom and democracy.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/08/arts/television/south-park-china.html

HONG KONG — “South Park,” the long-running Comedy Central cartoon whose mockery has spared few touchy topics, was erased from major platforms in China after an episode last week taunted Chinese censors and the far-reaching effect they often have on American entertainment.
The government’s censors, who routinely quash news and commentary deemed undesirable by the ruling Communist Party, wiped out video clips and discussions of the show, which premiered in 1997 and has lasted 23 seasons. Once known mostly for the raunchy humor coming from the mouths of its elementary-school-age main characters, the show has in recent seasons focused on political and cultural satire, without abandoning its boundary-pushing ways.

Last week’s episode, called “Band in China,” appeared to cross a new line for the Chinese authorities. On Baidu Tieba, a popular discussion platform, searches for “South Park” on Tuesday returned the following message: “According to the relevant law and regulation, this section is temporarily not open.”


EGS6BaHVUAEjRaL.jpg


South Park S23E02 "Band in China" October 2, 2019

 
THE 'WOKE' NBA BECAME 'JOKE.' BUT PAMPERED PLAYERS AREN'T THE ONLY FOOLS HERE
14 Oct 2019

https://www.newsweek.com/charlie-ki...players-arent-only-fools-here-opinion-1465078

There is a famous line, variations of which have been used since the 20th century, that has been attributed (without evidence) to Vladimir Lenin. The first version of the mysterious quote goes like this: "When it comes time to hang the capitalists, they will vie with each other for the rope contract." While various permutations exist, the quote's central meaning remains unchanged—and empirically true. For decades, the capitalist West has displayed a suicidal willingness to crawl into economic bed with those intent on effectuating its demise.

Building China's Comac C919 airplane involved a lot of hacking, report says
One of China's most brazen hacking sprees involved intelligence officers, hackers, security researchers, and company insiders.
14 Oct 2019

https://www.zdnet.com/article/build...rplane-involved-a-lot-of-hacking-report-says/

A report published today shines a light on one of China's most ambitious hacking operations known to date, one that involved Ministry of State Security officers, the country's underground hacking scene, legitimate security researchers, and insiders at companies all over the world.

The aim of this hacking operation was to acquire intellectual property to narrow China's technological gap in the aviation industry, and especially to help Comac, a Chinese state-owned aerospace manufacturer, build its own airliner, the C919 airplane, to compete with industry rivals like Airbus and Boeing.

A Crowdstrike report published today shows how this coordinated multi-year hacking campaign systematically went after the foreign companies that supplied components for the C919 airplane.

Infographics at links:

https://zdnet2.cbsistatic.com/hub/i...752/ae3379dea94edf30a086834addb0dcb4/c919.png

https://zdnet3.cbsistatic.com/hub/i...5d5e591ca7e24142a179524ed96/mss-jssd-gang.png
 
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The "Sputnik moment" as this columnist cleverly calls it seems to have finally and belatedly arrived.

The NBA's fight with China has revealed the dangerous ambitions of the Communist Party
China wants nothing less than to become the dominant global superpower, breaking our alliance system and ending our economic and military preeminence - 22 Oct 2019

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opini...ngerous-ambitions-communist-party-ncna1069781

China’s plans are far more ambitious than the subjugation of a professional sports league. China wants nothing less than to become the dominant global superpower, overtaking the United States, breaking our alliance system and ending America’s economic and military preeminence. The Communist Party doesn’t just want to impose its dictates on the speech and practices of American basketball players, but on America and our allies around the world. This may sound too extreme to contemplate for people without direct exposure to China and its system of government. However taking on the NBA has, perhaps for the first time in a long time, made the problem of China a household headline in America.

We have now caught the first tiny glimpse of what it would mean for China to, as its leaders desire, eventually rule the world.


Document Number Nine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Document_Number_Nine

Document Number Nine (or Document No. 9), more properly the Communiqué on the Current State of the Ideological Sphere [1] (also translated as the Briefing on the Current Situation in the Ideological Realm[2]), is a confidential internal document widely circulated within the Communist Party of China in 2013 by the General Office of the Communist Party of China.[3][4] The document was first circulated in July 2012.[5] The document warns of seven dangerous Western values, allegedly including media freedom and judicial independence. Teaching on any of the seven topics is forbidden.[6] There is an emphasis on controlling and preventing communication using the internet of ideas subversive to one party rule. The document was issued in the context of planned economic reforms and increased calls for political reform.[7] It has been described as a critique of the "liberal ways of thinking".[8]
The document was not made available to public by the Communist Party or any branches of the Chinese government, but in July 2013 was allegedly leaked by Chinese dissident journalist Gao Yu, who was in turn sentenced to a seven-year imprisonment for "leaking state secrets".[9][10]

It is unclear whether this document is official Chinese policy or just a faction within the party.[11] However, The New York Times suggests that it "bears the unmistakable imprimatur of Xi Jinping". [12] It is thought that Document No. 9 was issued by the Central Committee General Office, and would have required the approval of Mr. Xi and other top leaders.[12] A harsh crackdown against human rights lawyers, media outlets, academics, and other such independent thinkers has followed the document's publication.[11]

The document is highly critical of what can be broadly described as "Western values" (the document itself uses terms such as "Western values", "Western principles", "Western standards", "Western ideas", and more precisely, "Western constitutional democracy" and "Western-style theories of governance", as well as making references to "Western anti-China forces").[1] The document is critical of "extremely malicious" ideals spreading in the Chinese society, such as ideas of (Western) constitutional democracy, civil society, universal values (freedom, democracy, and human rights), neo-liberalism, and freedom of the press (described as the "Western news values").[1][2][13] The document warns that such subjects undermine the Chinese Communist Party's control over Chinese society.[2] The document also promotes ways of dealing with these problems, which include "Unwavering adherence to the principle of the Party's control of media."


Germany wakes up a bit, too:

China's digital power raises global fears | DW News



But not nearly enough. They haven't banned Chinese 5G which is a major security threat:

 
China, in general, bothers me but I wonder how much is a reality and how much of it is Memorex? Think of the Cold War and Russia.
 
China, in general, bothers me but I wonder how much is a reality and how much of it is Memorex? Think of the Cold War and Russia.
But EVERYTHING is cool with Russia now?

They are no threat to the US, everyone on TRF should obsess over China and ignore Russia?

.
 
But EVERYTHING is cool with Russia now?

They are no threat to the US, everyone on TRF should obsess over China and ignore Russia?

.
We love Russia. They once sold us a huge tract of land complete with lots of gold and oil, for about the cost of cable.
And Both Russia and China were our WW II allies.
Oh wait, different Russia and China.
China may be much better Capitalists than we give them credit for. Maybe they can provide us with faster, cheaper, and more secure internet and cable?
 
But EVERYTHING is cool with Russia now?

They are no threat to the US, everyone on TRF should obsess over China and ignore Russia?
Absolutely not. However, as a HUGE factor, their GDP is smaller than California's and only slightly larger than Texas' while China's is second only to ours:

Russia: 1.578 trillion USD (2017)
California: $2.751 trillion (2017)

I've always been amazed by how much Russian's can do and have done with what little they actually have.
 
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U.S. officials worried about Chinese control of American drug supply
"Basically we've outsourced our entire industry to China," retired Brig. Gen. John Adams told NBC News. "That is a strategic vulnerability."
12 Sep 2019

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/heal...chinese-control-american-drug-supply-n1052376

Antibiotics, which turn life-threatening infections into minor nuisances, are considered the single biggest advance in modern medicine. But imagine if the supply of antibiotics to the United States was suddenly cut off.

American national security officials are worrying about that scenario as they come to grips with this little understood fact: The vast majority of key ingredients for drugs that many Americans rely on are manufactured abroad, mostly in China.

As the U.S. defense establishment grows increasingly concerned about China's potentially hostile ambitions, the pharmaceutical supply chain is receiving new scrutiny.

"If China shut the door on exports of medicines and their key ingredients and raw material, U.S. hospitals and military hospitals and clinics would cease to function within months, if not days," said Rosemary Gibson, author of a book on the subject, "China Rx."

Or, Gibson told NBC News, China could potentially "weaponize our medicines. They can sell us medicines without any medicine in them. They can sell medicines that have lethal contaminants in it."

Other generic drugs whose key ingredients are manufactured in China include medicines for blood pressure medicine, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, epilepsy and depression, Gibson says.

"We can't make penicillin anymore," said Gibson. "The last penicillin plant in the United States closed in 2004."

A Chinese manipulation of drug ingredients or supply may seem like a fairly remote possibility. A state-run Chinese paper said this week that there's little chance the government would deliberately harm Americans by cutting off the flow of antibiotics.


Carcinogen scare sets off global race to contain tainted Zantac
18 Sep 2019

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-09-18/carcinogen-scare-tainted-zantac

Some tainted pills have been found to contain much higher levels. The FDA found NDMA levels as high as 17 micrograms in blood pressure pills recalled starting in July 2018. Online pharmacy Valisure, which tests all the drugs it distributes, detected NDMA levels as high as 3,000 micrograms in [over the counter drug - W] Zantac pills and its generics. Valisure testing that sought to re-create the conditions of the stomach detected NDMA levels as high as 300 micrograms in the Zantac drugs.

The blood-pressure-pill recall that started in 2018 was linked to NDMA that formed during the manufacturing process used by some active-ingredient suppliers in China and India that then sold the medication components to makers of generic drugs who finished the pills.


Carcinogens Have Infiltrated the Generic Drug Supply in the U.S.
An FDA quality-control nightmare reveals how impurities end up in America’s blood pressure pills.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/feat...inted-generic-drug-valsartan-got-past-the-fda
 
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Huawei is the main Chinese company implementing 5G hardware and network infrastructure worldwide. There's one thing I can do: buy nothing made by Huawei. They make smart phones available in the US:

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Huawei&ref=nb_sb_noss

I'd love to be able boycott everything made in China, but besides (for now) some large items like automobiles, what manufactured consumer items aren't?

Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, January 28, 2019

Chinese Telecommunications Device Manufacturer and its U.S. Affiliate Indicted for Theft of Trade Secrets, Wire Fraud, and Obstruction Of Justice
Huawei Corporate Entities Conspired to Steal Trade Secret Technology and Offered Bonus to Workers who Stole Confidential Information from Companies Around the World

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/chin...rer-and-its-us-affiliate-indicted-theft-trade

A 10-count indictment unsealed today in the Western District of Washington State charges Huawei Device Co., Ltd. and Huawei Device Co. USA with theft of trade secrets conspiracy, attempted theft of trade secrets, seven counts of wire fraud, and one count of obstruction of justice. The indictment, returned by a grand jury on January 16, details Huawei’s efforts to steal trade secrets from Bellevue, Washington based T-Mobile USA and then obstruct justice when T-Mobile threatened to sue Huawei in U.S. District Court in Seattle. The alleged conduct described in the indictment occurred from 2012 to 2014, and includes an internal Huawei announcement that the company was offering bonuses to employees who succeeded in stealing confidential information from other companies.
 
Rare Earth (RE) elements aren't that rare. There are only two obstacles to the US once again producing more that it needs, the first one easily fixed: anal US environmental regulations and Chinese dumping of REs which has in the past and will continue to economically destroy any attempt anywhere to break their RE monopoly. For details on a real fix, watch the video below.

U.S. Risks ‘Devastating’ Blow From China’s Rare Earths Monopoly
Bloomberg News
May 29, 2019

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...tating-blow-from-china-s-rare-earths-monopoly

Beijing’s threat to use its dominance of rare earths in the trade war risks serious disruption to U.S. industry, by starving manufacturers of components commonplace in everything from cars to dishwashers and military equipment. And, it’s a stranglehold that might take years to break.

China could wreak maximum havoc by squeezing supplies of the magnets and motors that use the elements, said Jack Lifton, co-founder of Technology Metals Research LLC, who’s been involved with rare earths since 1962. The impact on American industry could be “devastating,” he said from Michigan.


An example of a totally clueless article because the author has not a single clue about the real situation described in the video below:

Rare earth elements aren’t the secret weapon China thinks they are
Despite the name, rare earths just aren’t that rare
May 23, 2019

https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/23/...a-production-america-demand-trade-war-tariffs

THE fix:

Senate Bill 2093 Rare Earth Cooperative 21st Century Manufacturing Act




S.2093 - RE-Coop 21st Century Manufacturing Act

https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/2093
 
National Security, Rare Earth Elements & The Thorium Problem

"The only operating rare earth mine in the United States sends all of their valuable resources to China for processing. Congress does not know this. They think this [mining] company is supplying the U.S. value chain, [and] is supplying the military. It is in-fact, the opposite. They are part of the Chinese monopoly. They're shipping rare earth concentrates and oxides to China, and it comes back as a magnet, or an alloy, or a bolt-on component." - Jim Kennedy

Why can't Molycorp, Lynas or any other 'western' rare earth company succeed?

China's production and market advantage in Rare Earth Elements (REE) is largely the result of NRC and IAEA "Source Material" regulations with unintended consequences.

Source Material: Materials containing any ratio or combination of Thorium and Uranium above .05%. Producing or holding these materials within the regulatory threshold (.05%) requires extensive and wide-ranging licensing, storage, transportation, remediation disposal and compliance costs, including prohibitive liability and bonding issues. Consequently any potential supplier of byproduct / co-product rare earth resources that would be designated as "source material' disposes of these valuable resources to avoid liability and compliance issues.

NRC / IAEA regulations regarding "Source Material" played a key roll in undermining the economic viability of all 'western' rare earth producers and are a critical factor in China's current 'market advantage'. Producers like Molycorp and Lynas, with low Thorium deposits, can never compete with China.

Resources are abundant and available: U.S mining companies currently mine as much as 50% of global Rare Earth Elements demand every year. But these resources are diverted in tailings lakes or are redistributed back into the host ore body, due to NRC and IAEA regulations defining Monazite and other Thorium bearing rare earth resources as "Source Material".




From the video about a previous bill that didn't pass:

We had a bill written, and then worked very diligently with House and Senate members to get the bill introduced in the NDAA, the National Defense Authorization Act. A bicameral, bipartisan congressional briefing heavily weighted with MLAs, which are military legislative assistants.

The folks on the Armed Services Committee take their job very seriously. We had a fantastic congressional briefing. We felt like we'd hit a home run. We felt like we would get unanimous support for inclusion. If we had succeeded, the rare earth bill would become law. We would've been able to solve the rare earth problem.

What happened, unfortunately, is that two or three days after the briefing, we were notified by the senator who sponsored the bill, we were notified by his office, that the Department of Defense, not a Senator, not a staff member, but the Department of Defense intervened to kill the bill, communicated to the members of the Armed Services Committee that they didn't want this bill.

This is problematic. Any estimates by our own government for organically building an alternative value chain are estimated to be 7 to 15 years.

The Department of Defense, due to the dearth of the heavy rare earths, and rare earths in general, there are a couple of particular really good rare earths, just bought their supplies from China for their F-22 fighter.

You mean the components?

Yeah, the actual components that contain the rare earths. That's absurd. That's national security. You've now told them one of your components on a very advanced machine that protects our country, you just told them what it is. You just told them how to make it. You just bought it from them. That's just one example.

It's either the defense contractors trying to maintain a cozy, or let's call it a very awkward and uncomfortable relationship with China, or someone in the defense department is hiding 25 years of failure. I don't know which it is, but by killing the bill, what they've done is they've locked us into Chinese dependence in perpetuity. If we can't break the chain now, it doesn't get easier tomorrow.

You need to demand that someone in the United States Congress enforce the law and end this practice. Anybody with a box of crayons needs to start writing op-eds.

You need to demand that someone in the United States Congress enforce the law and end this practice. Anybody with a box of crayons needs to start writing op-eds. You need to send them to your local paper and you need to send them to the national papers, because the only way we can change the decision by the Department of Defense is to call them out.

They made this decision [in closed committee] and nobody in this room's supposed to know about it. You're never supposed to know that the Department of Defense injected itself into the legislative process to hide 25 years of policy failure.

There's a very good paper you can get off my website, it came out of India, that said regardless of who develops new rare earth applications, technologies, metallurgy, all of the benefits accrue to China because they're the only place in the world that has a value system to the develop them, so what's the point of a national lab? What's the point if anybody's working here if we're dealing with advanced technologies that require any rare earths?

That's where we're at. We basically are looking for a single member of Congress who's willing to force the defense industry to follow federal law.

No one opposed to bill on the bill's merits. The DOD doesn't take a policy position on thorium because it's not the EPA, because it's not the NRC. When the Department of Defense inserts itself, it can only be enacting, or imposing, or communicating concerns related to national security.

There had to be some reason articulated to someone. When we ask who, what, or why, we were told, "You're best off finding that answer out on your own. We won't comment on it." The bottom line is there's no rationale for killing a bill that ends US dependence on China for these important materials. The bill was budget-neutral. The bill had bipartisan support. The bill had support of senior members on the energy and natural resources committee.

Federal law requires defense contractors use US or allied parts or components, so can the Defense Department object on some theoretical ground but say that we want to maintain a status quo where every defense contractor in the United States is violating federal law?

What's the next thing to do then?

Our enemy is not China. That would be unfair. Our enemy is within. Six years, 60 trips to Washington DC, 250 meetings with members of Congress or congressional staff, and intervention by the Department of Defense that assures that our dependence on China will continue.

It gives the entire defense industry a free pass on violating federal laws.

There's got to be a congressman somewhere who cares about the national security validity of our country. There has to be a member of the Senate who believes that the defense contractors need to follow federal law.

We need to find a champion who's going to stand on the floor of the Senate and say, "We're either going to pass this rare earth bill, and solve this problem, or I'm going to order, or the Senate, Congress is going to order the inspector general to do a criminal probe of every defense contractor breaking the law.
 
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Opium Wars

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_Wars

In the late 18th century, the British East India Company or EIC, contravening Chinese laws, began smuggling Indian opium to China through various means, and became the leading suppliers by 1773.[8] By 1787, the Company was illegally sending 4,000 chests of opium to China a year, each chest weighing 170 lbs or 77 kilos.[9] By 1828, opium accounted for 16% of the EIC's total revenue, while 10% of British government taxes came from the tea imported as a result. The EIC paid its opium agents £7,500 per year, a salary higher than that received by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the trade drove the expansion of British India. One factor in the annexation of Sindh in 1843 was to protect the EIC monopoly, which was threatened by the export of opium from Karachi aboard Portuguese trading vessels.[10]

The Chinese Emperor passed many decrees/edicts making opium trade illegal in 1729, 1799, 1814 and 1831, but smuggling still occurred as the British paid smugglers to take opium into China, causing the population to become more and more addicted. This in turn let tons of opium into China's markets [11] Some Americans entered the trade by smuggling opium from Turkey into China. Some of the individual American opium smugglers included the grandfather of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and ancestors of the former US Secretary of State John Forbes Kerry.[12] By 1833, the number of chests of opium trafficked into China soared to 30,000.[9] According to United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the East India Company sent the opium to their warehouses in the free trade region of Canton (Guangzhou), from where Chinese smugglers would take the opium farther into China.[11] The British Empire sponsored opium traffic resulted in 10–12 million Chinese addicts and devastated especially the large coastal Chinese cities.[9]


The West once flooded China with opium. China is returning the favour
China’s pledge to curb fentanyl production may not change much
18 Dec 2018

https://www.economist.com/china/201...hina-with-opium-china-is-returning-the-favour

On December 1st China gave another hint that it was getting tougher on the drug that has blighted America (see article). The country’s president, Xi Jinping, agreed to close loopholes that allow some unlicensed distributors of fentanyl to operate legally. Foreign governments, especially America’s, have for years been calling on the Communist Party to suppress the trade. The White House called Mr Xi’s pledge, made during a meeting with President Donald Trump on the sidelines of a g20 summit in Argentina, a “wonderful humanitarian gesture”. But it is unclear whether much will change as a result, in China or elsewhere.

Mexican Navy Seizes A Whopping 52,000 Pounds Of Fentanyl, Intended For The US
27 Aug 2019

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019...izes-whopping-52k-pounds-fentanyl-intended-us

According to a new report from Mexican newspaper Tabasco Hoy, the Mexican Navy intercepted 23,368 kilograms (51,517 pounds) of fentanyl at the Port of Lázaro Cárdenas, the largest Mexican seaport and one of the largest harbors in the Pacific Ocean.

The Secretariat of the Navy said joint work between the Naval Unit of Port Protection No.63 and the Tenth Naval Zone and Customs at the port uncovered the illicit drug in a 40ft shipping container. Preliminary reports show the container wasn't entirely filled with fentanyl.

The vessel was a several hundred-meter container ship flying a Danish flag, in which according to its freight manifest, the fentanyl was identified as "Calcium Chloride."

Navy and port officials completed a random search of the unnamed vessel, and when they carried out specialized Customs laboratory testing of some of "Calcium Chloride," it turned out to be fentanyl.

Within one container, there were 931 sacks of fentanyl, totaled a gross weight of 23,368 kilograms (51,517 pounds). The container ship came from Shanghai, on China's central coast, and was eventually going to drop off the cargo in Culiacán, the capital of the state of Sinaloa.


US_timeline._Drugs_involved_in_overdose_deaths.jpg


That graph indicates 28,466 deaths, mostly from Fentanyl in 2017. 58,220 Americans were killed during the entire Vietnam War.

Opioid epidemic in the United States

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opioid_epidemic_in_the_United_States

Fentanyl

There have always been drug addicts in need of help, but the scale of the present wave of heroin and opioid abuse is unprecedented.

Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid painkiller, is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine and 30 to 50 times more potent than heroin,[52] with only 2 mg becoming a lethal dose. It is pure white, odorless and flavorless, with a potency strong enough that police and first responders helping overdose victims have themselves overdosed by simply touching or inhaling a small amount.[196][197][198] As a result, the Drug Enforcement Administration has recommended that officers not field test drugs if fentanyl is suspected, but instead collect and send samples to a laboratory for analysis. "Exposure via inhalation or skin absorption can be deadly," they state.[199]

Over a two-year period, close to $800 million worth of fentanyl pills were illegally sold online to the U.S. by Chinese distributors.[200][201] The drug is usually manufactured in China, then shipped to Mexico where it is processed and packaged, which is then smuggled into the U.S. by drug cartels. A large amount is also purchased online and shipped through the U.S. Postal Service.[202] It can also be purchased directly from China, which has become a major manufacturer of various synthetic drugs illegal in the U.S.[203] AP reporters found multiple sellers in China willing to ship carfentanyl, an elephant tranquilizer that is so potent it has been considered a chemical weapon. The sellers also offered advice on how to evade screening by US authorities.[204] According to Assistant U.S. Attorney, Matt Cronin:

"It is a fact that the People's Republic of China is the source for the vast majority of synthetic opioids that are flooding the streets of the United States and Western democracies. It is a fact that these synthetic opioids are responsible for the overwhelming increase in overdose deaths in the United States. It is a fact that if the People's Republic of China wanted to shut down the synthetic opioids industry, they could do so in a day.[205]"

Deaths from fentanyl in 2016 increased by 540 percent across the United States since 2015.[206] This accounts for almost "all the increase in drug overdose deaths from 2015 to 2016", according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.[166]

Fentanyl-laced heroin has become a big problem for major cities, including Philadelphia, Detroit and Chicago.[207] Its use has caused a spike in deaths among users of heroin and prescription painkillers, while becoming easier to obtain and conceal. Some arrested or hospitalized users are surprised to find that what they thought was heroin was actually fentanyl.[52]

Faux_Fentynal_lethal_dose_005_.jpg


 
Wintson is spot on with regards to
"Chinese College Students Being Forced to Spy on US
June 18, 2019

https://www.voanews.com/student-union/chinese-college-students-being-forced-spy-us

Chinese university students in the United States are increasing being pressured to act as pawns in the ever-expanding espionage war that Beijing is running against Washington and its allies."


Several years ago at an airbase that will remain un-named, one of our airmen had gone out for a night on the town and returned with a young Chinese college student. Somewhere in the early night she excused herself to go to the bathroom down the hall. A few minutes went by before it occurred to him that he has a bathroom that he shares with the airman next door. So he goes looking for her, can't find her in the building, and starts to sweat bullets cause he knows he's in the wrong x2. Meanwhile we're closing down the flight line for the night when somebody notices a flash of light in one of the hangars just down the flight line. At the same time, a young Security Forces troop notices a personnel access door open on the back side of the hangar and goes to investigate. The young Chinese student was in the hangar photographing the aircraft/equipment inside.... So ended her US Visa and "college" career!
 
But EVERYTHING is cool with Russia now?

They are no threat to the US, everyone on TRF should obsess over China and ignore Russia?

.

You should relax. There is nothing in my text that implies that I am not worried about Russia. China is a huge threat to the United States and its Allies, but my point is how much. If you have any knowledge outside of the news channels, you know that Russia was less of a threat than we originally thought. I am just saying, how much of the China threat is BS put out by China to scare us.

Personally, I would like to know what professional knowledge other than conjecture. Personally, I wrote 3 papers on the growing threat posed by China in my military professional education. I feel confident that I can go toe-to-toe with 95% of the folks when comes to knowledge of the Chinese and Russian military might. It is the 5% that I am unsure.

I am 100% certain our military can put a hurt on either.
 
Wintson is spot on with regards to
"Chinese College Students Being Forced to Spy on US
June 18, 2019

https://www.voanews.com/student-union/chinese-college-students-being-forced-spy-us

Chinese university students in the United States are increasing being pressured to act as pawns in the ever-expanding espionage war that Beijing is running against Washington and its allies."


Several years ago at an airbase that will remain un-named, one of our airmen had gone out for a night on the town and returned with a young Chinese college student. Somewhere in the early night she excused herself to go to the bathroom down the hall. A few minutes went by before it occurred to him that he has a bathroom that he shares with the airman next door. So he goes looking for her, can't find her in the building, and starts to sweat bullets cause he knows he's in the wrong x2. Meanwhile we're closing down the flight line for the night when somebody notices a flash of light in one of the hangars just down the flight line. At the same time, a young Security Forces troop notices a personnel access door open on the back side of the hangar and goes to investigate. The young Chinese student was in the hangar photographing the aircraft/equipment inside.... So ended her US Visa and "college" career!
Thanks for that anecdote. A case of gonadal interference with proper brain function. But, after all, China is our friend. How else would we allow nearly everything we can buy to have a "Made in China" sticker on it?

At least he wasn't as bad as Phil with his Russian tumbling team friend:

https://abc.com/shows/modern-family/video/vdka6250687
 
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