The New Cold War

bem ti kakav je progres doneo ovaj novi hladni rat, pogledajte kakav american english cepa ovo vojno lice iz vookoyebine formerly known as istočna evropa

Why? There is a satisfactory status quo which preserves the de facto independence of Taiwan without provoking China. Why poking the bear? https://t.co/dBUapp16Bf

— Gérard Araud (@GerardAraud) February 14, 2023

Ovaj Žerar ladno zajebava brata Sija, i zove ga medvedom (Winnie the Pooh). Pa spektakl!

WaPo:

U.S. tracked China spy balloon from launch on Hainan Island along unusual path

The large Chinese surveillance device that flew across Alaska and the continental United States may have been diverted on an errant path caused by atypical weather conditions

By Ellen Nakashima

, 

Shane Harris

 and  

Jason Samenow

 

Updated February 14



By the time a Chinese spy balloon crossed into American airspace late last month, U.S. military and intelligence agencies had been tracking it for nearly a week, watching as it lifted off from its home base on Hainan Island near China’s south coast.

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U.S. monitors watched as the balloon settled into a flight path that would appear to have taken it over the U.S. territory of Guam. But somewhere along that easterly route, the craft took an unexpected northern turn, according to several U.S. officials, who said that analysts are now examining the possibility that China didn’t intend to penetrate the American heartland with its airborne surveillance device.

The balloon floated over Alaska’s Aleutian Islands thousands of miles away from Guam, then drifted over Canada, where it encountered strong winds that appear to have pushed the balloon south into the continental United States, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive intelligence. A U.S. fighter jet shot the balloon down off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4, a week after it crossed over Alaska.

This new account suggests that the ensuing international crisis that has ratcheted up tensions between Washington and Beijing may have been at least partly the result of a mistake.

Meanwhile, the White House on Tuesday said that three other objects shot down over North America in the last week may have posed no national security threat, striking perhaps the clearest distinction yet between those flying anomalies and the suspected spy balloon. John Kirby, the National Security Council’s coordinator for strategic communications, told reporters that the U.S. intelligence community “will not dismiss as a possibility” that the three craft instead belonged to a commercial organization or research entity and were therefore “benign.”

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has sent spy balloons over Guam before, as well as Hawaii, to monitor U.S. military installations, officials have said. But the days-long flyover of the continental United States was novel, and it sparked confusion inside the Chinese government as diplomats scrambled to disseminate a cover story that the balloon had been blown off course while it was collecting innocuous meteorological data, U.S. officials said.

The furor caught Beijing on its back foot. Initially it expressed “regrets” over what it insisted was a wayward weather balloon. Then it shifted to criticizing Washington for what it said was overreacting, and this week it accused the United States of sending 10 spy balloons over China. The White House has strongly denied the claim as false. “We are not flying surveillance balloons over China. I’m not aware of any other craft that we’re flying over — into Chinese airspace,” Kirby said Monday

U.S. intelligence and military agencies tracked the balloon as it launched from Hainan Island. Intelligence analysts are unsure whether the apparent deviation was intentional or accidental, but are confident it was intended for surveillance, most likely over U.S. military installations in the Pacific. Either way the incursion into U.S. airspace was a major misstep by the PLA, prompting a political and diplomatic furor and deeper scrutiny by the United States and its allies of Beijing’s aerial espionage capabilities.

Its crossing into U.S. airspace was a violation of sovereignty and its hovering over sensitive nuclear sites in Montana was no accident, officials said, raising the possibility that even if the balloon were inadvertently blown over the U.S. mainland, Beijing apparently decided to seize the opportunity to try to gather intelligence.

The U.S. is monitoring Chinese balloons around the world

The U.S. is not seeking a new cold war with China

Biden will soon have a conversation with Xi Jinping
2/2

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) February 16, 2023

"The descriptions of all three unidentified objects shot down Feb. 10-12 match the shapes, altitudes and payloads of the small pico balloons, which can usually be purchased for $12-180 each, depending on the type"

— Dave Brown (@dave_brown24) February 16, 2023

I za ovo se nadam da je tačno.

Vanzemaljci propo.

Al pazi sad kad svi krenu da kupuje te jeftine balone i da troluju državu.

a ti bajdenovac se praviš blesav, a?

Nisam davno reko da nema jake?

Ne pratim detaljno i nisam znao da je brat Un nabudžio IKBR sa dometom dovoljno dalekim za... sve

Approximate trajectory flown by the #ICBM that #NorthKorea tested today. A highly lofted trajectory.
(reconstruction based on Japanese DoD info).

When launched on a 'normal', non-lofted trajectory, the range would be 18000+ km, i.e. capable of reaching any place on Earth pic.twitter.com/9b2cGlXtav

— Dr Marco Langbroek (@Marco_Langbroek) February 18, 2023

Del Cap wrote:Ne pratim detaljno i nisam znao da je brat Un nabudžio IKBR sa dometom dovoljno dalekim za... sve

Approximate trajectory flown by the #ICBM that #NorthKorea tested today. A highly lofted trajectory.
(reconstruction based on Japanese DoD info).

When launched on a 'normal', non-lofted trajectory, the range would be 18000+ km, i.e. capable of reaching any place on Earth pic.twitter.com/9b2cGlXtav

— Dr Marco Langbroek (@Marco_Langbroek) February 18, 2023

Kim Jong-un’s wife has been spotted wearing a pendant in the shape of North Korea’s largest intercontinental ballistic missile ahead of a military parade to flaunt the pariah regime’s nuclear firepower.

Па није то висуљак него отварач за деколте.

Kad smo kod uže porodice:

North Korean authorities force anyone sharing name with Kim Jong Un’s daughter to pick new one (...)
In recent months, state media has been shining a spotlight on [Kim Jong Un’s daughter] Kim Ju Ae as she accompanies her father at important events, fueling speculation that she could be next in line to lead the country – or that she is part of an effort to cast her father as an approachable family man.
Ironically, her name has not yet been officially revealed to the public. Instead state media refer to her as the “Noble Child,” “Respected Child” or “Beloved Daughter.” (...)
Forcing people to change their names because they share it with a member of the ruling family has occurred three other times in North Korea’s history, but each time it was because those names, Il Sung, Jong Il and Jong Un, were the same as a sitting leader.

https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/ju-ae-02132023191054.html
 
Ima navodno troje dece, ali samo nju (srednje dete) voda okolo odnedavno. Čak je ponekad stavljaju u sredinu fotki (videti i gornju sliku), što je obično mesto rezervisano za trenutnog vođu.
 

 
[/size]

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, his wife Ri Sol Ju and their daughter Kim Ju Ae attend a military parade to mark the 75th founding anniversary of North Korea's army, at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, on Feb 8, 2023. (Photo: KCNA via REUTERS)

Il Sung, Jong Il and Jong Un

Паз кад сам трипут морао да памтим како се текући зове... Нешто их често мењају. У гарантном року, изгледа.

.@ischinger asks Wang Yi to reassure the audience a military escalation over Taiwan is not imminent. Wang declined:

“Let me assure the audience that Taiwan is part of Chinese territory. It has never been a country and it will never be a country in the future.” #MSC2023

— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) February 18, 2023

Kim opet nabio kilazu, a lepo se stesao pre nekog vremena

Мислим да ту пола публике дели моје мишљење.

Vrv bi se ova tema trebala sagledavati u kontekstu topika, pa eto ovde:

WASHINGTON, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Iran could make enough fissile for one nuclear bomb in "about 12 days," a top U.S. Defense Department official said on Tuesday, down from the estimated one year it would have taken while the 2015 Iran nuclear deal was in effect.

Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl made the comment to a House of Representatives hearing when pressed by a Republican lawmaker why the Biden administration had sought to revive the deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)

"Because Iran's nuclear progress since we left the JCPOA has been remarkable. Back in 2018, when the previous administration decided to leave the JCPOA it would have taken Iran about 12 months to produce one bomb's worth of fissile material. Now it would take about 12 days," Kahl, the third ranking Defense Department official, told lawmakers.

Exclusive-US seeks allies' backing for possible China sanctions over Ukraine war -sources

Wed, March 1, 2023 at 9:16 PM GMT+1·4 min read
By Trevor Hunnicutt and Michael Martina

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States is sounding out close allies about the possibility of imposing new sanctions on China if Beijing provides military support to Russia for its war in Ukraine, according to four U.S. officials and other sources.

The consultations, which are still at a preliminary stage, are intended to drum up support from a range of countries, especially those in the wealthy Group of 7 (G7), to coordinate support for any possible restrictions.

It was not clear what specific sanctions Washington will propose. The conversations have not been previously disclosed.

The U.S. Treasury Department, a lead agency on the imposition of sanctions, declined to comment.

Washington and its allies have said in recent weeks that China was considering providing weapons to Russia, which Beijing denies. Aides to U.S. President Joe Biden have not publicly provided evidence.

They have also warned China directly against doing so, including in meetings between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping as well as during a Feb. 18 in-person meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi on the sidelines of a global security conference in Munich.

The Biden administration's initial steps to counter Chinese support for Russia have included informal outreach at the staff and diplomatic levels, including the Treasury Department, sources familiar with the matter said.

They said officials were laying the groundwork for potential action against Beijing with the core group of countries that were most supportive of sanctions imposed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine a year ago.

Asked about the consultations, a White House National Security Council spokesperson said Russia's war made it difficult for China with Europe and others.

"It's a distraction for China and a potential blow to their international relationships they do not need nor should they want," the spokesperson said.

INTELLIGENCE

One official from a country consulted by Washington said that they had only seen scant intelligence backing up the claims about China considering possible military assistance to Russia. A U.S. official, however, said they were providing detailed accounts of the intelligence to allies.

China's role in the Russia-Ukraine war is expected to be among the topics when Biden meets with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the White House on Friday. Before that in New Delhi on Wednesday and Thursday, the war will be discussed by foreign ministers from dozens of countries, including Russia, China and the United States.

Last week China issued a 12-point paper calling for a comprehensive ceasefire that was met with scepticism in the West.

The initial outreach by Washington on sanctions has not yet led to broad agreement on any specific measures, the sources said.

One source said the administration wanted to first raise the idea of coordinated sanctions and "take pulses" in the event that any shipments are detected to Russia from China, which declared a "no limits" partnership shortly before the invasion on Feb. 24 last year.

"On the G7 front, I think there is real awareness," a second source said, but added that detailed measures focused on China were not yet in place.

COULD CHINA TILT CONFLICT?

The Ukraine conflict has settled into grinding trench warfare. With Russia running low on munitions, Ukraine and its supporters fear that supplies from China could tilt the conflict to Russia's advantage.

As part of a related diplomatic push, Washington won language in a Feb. 24 G7 statement to mark the war's first anniversary that called on "third-countries" to "cease providing material support to Russia's war, or face severe costs."

Though the statement did not mention China by name, the U.S. imposed new penalties on people and companies accused of helping Russia evade sanctions. The measures included export curbs on companies in China and elsewhere that will block them from buying items, such as semiconductors.

"We've tried to signal very clearly, both in private in Munich, and then publicly, our concerns," Daniel Kritenbrink, the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, told Congress this week. "We've talked about the implications and the consequences if they were to do so. And we also know that many of our like-minded partners share those concerns."

Among the challenges the United States faces in putting sanctions on China, the world's second-biggest economy, is its thorough integration in the major economies of Europe and Asia, complicating the talks. U.S. allies from Germany to South Korea are reticent to alienate China.

Anthony Ruggiero, a sanctions expert under former President Donald Trump, said the Biden administration does have scope for economically restricting private actors within China and that doing so could deter the government and banks from providing further support.

"Then the administration can send messages to China in public and in private, with the latter being more explicit, that the U.S. will escalate the sanctions to include targeting Chinese banks with the full range of available options," said Ruggiero, now with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies group.

Washington should make China choose between access to the U.S. financial system or aiding Russia's war, Ruggiero said, citing the sanctions approach to Iran and North Korea.

I kako da im covek sada ne reintegrise Tajvan.

Naravno da Ameri "ne zele konflikt", idealno je da kolonije miruju i da se ne bune. Da Nasa vojska zaposedne pola Hrvatske, ima 300 baza od Dubrovnika do Zagreba, ni ja ne bih zeleo konflikt. Srecom, ne zastupa Ameriku u nekoj ozbiljnoj drzavi ili supersili, na mestima gde su zategnuti odnosi i gde je potreban diplomatski takt i mudrost, pa ne moze da napravi preveliko sranje ili konflikt.