Sowing Doubt About China - But At What Cost?

On December 27 2021 I mocked headlines and pieces which reported on China's achievements but questioned the cost:

When China Does Great Question Its Cost

There seem to be general meme directives for 'western' outlets with regards to official enemies.

Russia is said to weaponize everything. The position of China is not (yet) seen as in military terms. The emphasis is on economic competition. Any undeniable Chinese achievement must be declared to have been a bad investment. The directive thus reads:

"When writing about China's achievements - question their purported cost."

The results:

• Global Markets – 1st quarter 2007 : China powers ahead – but at what cost?
  - Fin Law, Feb 09, 2007
• China pumps up the Cambodian economy, but at what cost?
  - Taipei Times Apr 07 2011
• ...

The list, which included 43 headlines, ended with these:

• ...
• China is now controlling the weather. What’s the environmental cost?
  - Euronews, Dec 9 2021
• Ultra-leftist voices are making themselves heard in China, but at what cost?
  - SCMP, Dec 24 2021

Time has past but the directive to always question China's cost is still in place. Here are a few, new and additional, entries:

• At What Cost Stealth?
  The biggest obstacle to China developing a fleet of stealth J-20 fighters could be the cost of producing them.
  - The Diplomat, Jan 31 2011
• Clean Air at What Cost? The Rise of Blunt Force Pollution Regulation in China
  - Semantic Scholar, 2017

Cont. reading: Sowing Doubt About China - But At What Cost?

Palestine Open Thread 2025-012

News & views related to the war in Palestine ...

Ukraine Open Thread 2025-011

News & views related to the war in Ukraine ...

Open (Neither Ukraine Nor Palestine) Thread 2025-010

News & views not related to the wars in Ukraine and Palestine ...

Preventing Peace With Russia Russia - By Sanctions And Kinetic Means

The U.S. and its NATO proxies are losing on the battle fields of Ukraine. The Biden administration, attempting to  'Trump proof', i.e. prolong, the conflict, is thus (again) trying to defeat Russia by targeting its economic means.

This predominantly by cutting the sales of Russian resources. That third parties, the buyers in need of those products, will also be hurt by this is not of concern but can be seen as an additional feature.

The new wave of measures started on January 1 with the blocking of the last pipeline through Ukraine from Russia to Europe:

President Volodymyr Zelensky said the move means Russia can no longer “earn billions on our blood”.

His energy minister, Herman Halushchenko, confirmed on Wednesday morning that Kyiv had stopped the gas flows “in the interest of national security”.

“This is a historic event,” he wrote on the social media platform Telegram. “Russia is losing markets and will incur financial losses.”

The deal had allowed for Russian gas to travel through Ukraine’s pipeline networks into European countries, primarily Hungary, Slovakia and Austria.

With the end of this pipeline Ukraine will lose $640 million rent per year. It will expect the Europeans to make up for this. At the same time Hungary, Slovakia and Austria will now have to pay significant higher prices for gas.

For Russia though the losses due to selling that gas through other channels, like the TurkStream pipelines, are marginal.

The next step followed last week with the announcement of additional sanctions:

Cont. reading: Preventing Peace With Russia Russia - By Sanctions And Kinetic Means

Trump's Action Demonstrates Biden's Failure In Stopping The Genocide

The current phase of the genocide in Gaza might soon come to an end.

The resistance has continued to kill its occupiers day by day:

Five Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed and 10 were wounded in an explosion in northern Gaza on Monday, the military said, raising Israel’s toll in over 15 months of fighting in the Strip to 407.

It has steadily increased the pressure on the Israeli government to finally end the slaughter. It is looking likely that it has now achieved one of its aims:

Hamas has accepted a draft agreement for a Gaza ceasefire and the release of hostages, officials say - AP News

Hamas has accepted a draft agreement for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of dozens of hostages, two officials involved in the talks said Tuesday. Mediator Qatar said Israel and the Palestinian militant group were at the “closest point” yet to sealing a deal.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the proposed agreement, and an Egyptian official and a Hamas official confirmed its authenticity. An Israeli official said progress has been made, but the details are being finalized. The plan would need to be submitted to the Israeli Cabinet for final approval.

The deal, about a hostage exchange and ceasefire, is similar to one that has been on offer since many, many month ago. That deal had been agreed to by Hamas but was sabotaged again and again by Netanyahoo and his coalition allies:

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir sparked outcry Monday when he claimed he had repeatedly foiled a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas over the past year, while calling on Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to join him in thwarting an emerging agreement.
...
In a post on X, together with a video in which he called on far-right ally Smotrich to join him in telling Netanyahu that they would bolt the coalition if the current hostage deal proposal went through, Ben Gvir said that they have managed to stop previous efforts to reach an agreement.

“In the last year, using our political power, we managed to prevent this deal from going ahead, time after time,” he wrote.

However, Ben Gvir said he now lacks the power to stop what he termed the “surrender deal” because Netanyahu expanded the coalition by bringing in Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope party in September last year.

Aside from Ben Gvir's and Smotrich's resistance to a deal, it was Netanyahoo personally who was blocking a deal with the hope of assuring his own political survival.

Over fifteen months the Biden administration falsely claimed that it was Hamas which was blocking a deal over Gaza. It falsely claimed that it could not use any pressure against Netanyahoo to finally accept an agreement.

That was of course nonsense as it is the U.S. which was and is financing Netanyahoo's war. 

It only took a few hours and some brashness from Donald Trump to push Netanyahoo towards concessions.

As Haaretz writes (archived):

Last Friday evening, Steven Witkoff, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, called from Qatar to tell Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's aides that he would be coming to Israel the following afternoon. The aides politely explained that was in the middle of the Sabbath but that the prime minister would gladly meet him Saturday night.

Witkoff's blunt reaction took them by surprise. He explained to them in salty English that Shabbat was of no interest to him. His message was loud and clear. Thus in an unusual departure from official practice, the prime minister showed up at his office for an official meeting with Witkoff, who then returned to Qatar to seal the deal.

Other Israeli media add:

Cont. reading: Trump's Action Demonstrates Biden's Failure In Stopping The Genocide

Sanctions - Trump's Only Old/New Iran Policies

I had missed this Friday news item on Iran:

Trump's Ukraine envoy says world must reinstate 'maximum pressure' on Iran

PARIS, Jan 11 (Reuters) - The world must return to a policy of "maximum pressure" against Iran to turn it into a more democratic country, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's incoming Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg told an Iranian opposition event in Paris on Saturday.

Trump has vowed to return to the policy he pursued in his previous term that sought to wreck Iran's economy to force the country to negotiate a deal on its nuclear programme, ballistic missile programme and regional activities.

"These pressures are not just kinetic, just not military force, but they must be economic and diplomatic as well", Retired Lieutenant-General Kellogg, who is set to serve as Trump's special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, told the audience at Paris-based Iranian opposition group National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).

He said there was an opportunity "to change Iran for the better" but that this opportunity would not last forever.

"We must exploit the weakness we now see. The hope is there, so must too be the action."

I wonder how official this is. Is Kellogg, who is supposed to be Trump's envoy for Ukraine, speaking for the future Trump administration?

The Iranian 'opposition event' in Paris was by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), also known as the terrorist organization MEK. It had fought on the side of Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war and was later involved in several high casualty terror incidents in Iran.

The MEK has a cult like structure. It is, at least in parts, financed by the U.S. and Israel. It regularly 'invites' former western officials to rant against Iran at its events while paying them generous speaking fees.

Kellogg seems to be one their regular well paid 'guests':

Cont. reading: Sanctions - Trump's Only Old/New Iran Policies

Palestine Open Thread 2025-009

News & views related to the war in Palestine ...

Ukraine Open Thread 2025-008

News & views related to the war in Ukraine ...

The MoA Week In Review - OT 2025-007

Last week's posts on Moon of Alabama:

• Jan 7 - His Ridiculousness Justin Trudeau Has Resigned
  Related:
  - Justin Trudeau and the Banderites (2023) - The Postil
  - Woke Elvis Resigns (archived) - Matt Taibbi
  - Why be a doormat? - Canadian Dimension
  Canadian leaders are falling over themselves to placate the incoming Trump administration. It doesn’t have to be this way

• Jan 7 - WaPo Editors - Ending The War Is Worse Than Losing
  Related:
  - Ahead of Trump’s return to office, Ukraine and Russia battle for Kursk (archived) - Washington Post
  - The Potential for an Anti-Western Ukrainian Turn to the East - Gordon Hahn (Important!)
  - Total Kievan Debellation - Big Serge

• Jan 8 - To Avoid Fighting Large Conflicts Trump Is Creating Smaller Ones
• Jan 10 - Looting The 'Allies'
  Related:
  - SHAPING GREENLAND'S FUTURE (2007) - Wikileaks
  - USAID’s partnership with Greenland (2020) - USAID
  - Administrator Samantha Power’s Meeting with Prime Minister of Greenland Múte Bourup Egede (2022) - USAID
  
  - Trump unveils the Greater America project - Indian Punchline
  - Can Trump save America from itself? - Alastair Crooke / SCF
  - The mysterious ways of Donald J. Trump - Gilbert Doctorow
  
  - Dollar dominance means tariffs are not the only game in town (archived) - Financial Times
  - The Great Elon Musk Pie-in-the-Face Fest Continues: When the empire gets bratty, the vassals get trampled - Tarik Cyril Amar
  - Trump’s return to the Monroe Doctrine His sabre-rattling betrays a new foreign strategy - Unherd

• Jan 9 - U.S. Loses Fight Against World Anti Doping Agency
  Related:
  - China to Curb Exports of Lithium Battery Tech - Oil Price
  - China’s Shocking Worldwide Economic Dominance Revealed - Austrian China
  - Lockheed Martin, Raytheon hit as China slaps dual-use export ban on 28 US defence firms - SCMP

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Other issues:

Cont. reading: The MoA Week In Review - OT 2025-007