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Swalwell Spoke At Same 2013 Event As Alleged Chinese Spy Who Worked For Dianne Feinstein
DailyCaller.com ^ | December 10, 2020 | Chuck Ross

Posted on 12/10/2020 7:29:01 PM PST by ETL

California Rep. Eric Swalwell, whose contacts with a Chinese spy were revealed this week, spoke at a same event in 2013 as another alleged Chinese agent who worked for decades for California Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

The event was hosted by the group led by Christine Fang, a Chinese national whose relationship with Swalwell was the subject of a report published this week by Axios. There is no indication of wrongdoing on Swalwell’s part.

The California State University, East Bay Chinese Student Association hosted both Swalwell and Russell Lowe, who then worked for Feinstein, at an event to commemorate the Chinese Lunar New Year on Feb. 9, 2013, according to the group’s Facebook page.

Photos from the event show Swalwell and Lowe speaking to a group of dozens of students at the event. The photo of Lowe shows him holding what appears to be a letter that Feinstein wrote to the student group for its celebration.

The association posted a photo of the letter from Feinstein on its Facebook page.

Swalwell posted a photo of himself at the event on his Twitter account.

Swalwell’s office did not respond to a request for comment on whether he knows Lowe.

Politico reported in 2018 that a staffer for Feinstein had for years provided political intelligence to Chinese officials. He operated at the direction of officials in the Chinese consulate in San Francisco, according to Politico.

Feinstein, who is a longtime member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, issued a statement at the time saying that the FBI had briefed her about the staffer. She said that the employee did not have access to any classified information, and that he left her employ after the FBI briefing.

Lowe was described as a driver for Feinstein, but he was also a liaison between her office and the Asian-American community in the Bay area. He attended functions at the Chinese consulate in San Francisco, which has long been known as a hotbed of Chinese spy activity.

The Daily Caller News Foundation identified Lowe in 2018 as the likely Chinese agent working in Feinstein’s office.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: California
KEYWORDS: california; christinefang; diannefeinstein; russelllowe; swalwell
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1 posted on 12/10/2020 7:29:01 PM PST by ETL
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To: ETL

She is not pretty.


2 posted on 12/10/2020 7:31:20 PM PST by Jeepers43
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To: ETL
I was discussing with friends today that there had to be some kind of connection between Feinstein and Swalwell, and here we begin to see it.

They shared CCP spy handlers.

I'd put money on it that there are many more traitors in the U.S. Congress, State, IC spookworld, gov contractors, etc.

Tip of the iceberg.

3 posted on 12/10/2020 7:34:44 PM PST by Jeepers43
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To: All
C'mon man - Imgflip

“Biden has said China isn’t a threat and has downplayed their ongoing campaigns to undermine the U.S. geopolitically, militarily and economically.

“China is going to eat our lunch? Come on, man,” Biden said during an Iowa campaign stop last summer. “I mean, you know, they’re not bad folks, folks. But guess what? They’re not competition for us.” “The fact of the matter is we can do all we need to do without punishing anybody,” he continued.

Biden’s position on China is dangerous and not based in reality. For years the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been sending Chinese students to America’s top doctorate programs in order to gain access to university research labs. There, they steal intellectual property from the highest levels of U.S. science.

Now, we know China’s dangerous handling of viruses in its own labs has led to one of the most devastating and fastest economic destructions in global history.”

The Hill, Katie Pavlich, opinion contributor — 04/29/20

4 posted on 12/10/2020 7:35:04 PM PST by ETL (REAL Russia collusion! DEMOCRAT-Russia collusion!! Click ETL...)
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To: All
The primary alliance we're up against, despite the Dems' ongoing BS allegations of "Russia collusion" involving TRUMP, is the notoriously treasonous DEMOCRATS, Russia, China, Venezuela, Iran, and the highly newly energized communist groups here in the US.

Russia, China, Venezuela, and Iran are all tightly allied militarily. All obviously want a very weak United States, as does the communist left here.

Recall, Bill Clinton's treasonous ChinaGate scandal began in late 1996...

From the Sino-Russian Joint Statement of April 23, 1997:
"The two sides [China and Russia] shall, in the spirit of partnership, strive to promote the multipolarization of the world and the establishment of a new international order."

__________________________

"Joint war games are a logical outcome of the Sino-Russian Friendship and Cooperation Treaty signed in 2001, and reflect the shared worldview and growing economic ties between the two Eastern Hemisphere giants."
______________________________________________________________________

Peace Mission 2005

Peace Mission 2005 was the first ever joint military exercise between China and Russia.

The exercise started on August 19, 2005, and consisted of combined land, sea, and air elements simulating an intervention in a state besieged by terrorists or political turmoil.

It concluded on August 25, 2005. The force practiced air and naval blockades, an amphibious assault, and occupying a region. Approximately 8,000 Chinese troops took part along with 2,000 Russian troops.

China initially wanted to hold the exercise near the Taiwan Strait, Russia wanted to hold the exercise in Northwestern China near central Asia, but instead settlement was made on the Shandong Peninsula.

There are a number of reasons for the exercise, including:

China is the largest consumer of Russian military technology. The exercise will showcase the Russian weapons including the Tupolev Tu-22M and Tupolev Tu-95 long range bombers.

The two countries are by far the most influential in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the exercise will help to strengthen military ties.

Both countries have stated that the exercise is not directed at any one country, but many believed to be a show of force against the United States and particularly Taiwan.

The United States was not invited to observe the exercise, but did observe using satellite reconnaissance.[citation needed] The stated reason for the exercise is counter-terrorism; however, many analysts agree that the use of such heavy firepower, including long-range bombers, is not necessary. ...”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_Mission_2005
______________________________________________________________________

Below, from The Ministry of Defense for the Russian Federation website, Feb 3, 2020...

About 10 thousand servicemen will take part in the anti-terrorist exercise “Peace mission-2020”

About 10 thousand military personnel of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member States will take part in a joint anti - terrorist exercise, which will be held for the first time at the Yurginsky training ground in the Kemerovo region in August this year.

Military representatives of the member States of the Shanghai cooperation organization (SCO) signed a joint Protocol on the results of the second round of consultations and staff negotiations.

The signed agreement includes issues of comprehensive support of troops and the plan of the exercise stages. Also, during the joint work, the participants visited the Yurginsky training ground, where they conducted reconnaissance of the main stage site.

In addition, the foreign military inspected the place of overcoming the water crossing on the equipment. This will be the first experience for some participating countries.

The consultations were attended by representatives of 8 countries - Russia, India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The negotiations were led by the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Central Military District, Major General Rustam Minnekayev.

The anti-terrorist exercise “Peace mission-2020” will be held in August on the territory of the Central Military District at the Yurginsky training ground in the Kemerovo region.

During the exercise, the military personnel will have to work out the tasks of preparing and conducting an anti-terrorist operation by the joint group of troops (forces) of the SCO member States.

Press Service of the Central Military District

https://eng.mil.ru/en/news_page/country/more.htm?id=12280242@egNews
______________________________________________________________________

2015: First Russia-China naval war games underway in Mediterranean

By Carol J. Williams
May 11, 2015

Reporting from Moscow —

Neither Russia nor China has one inch of coastline on the Mediterranean Sea, making it an unlikely and provocative venue for their first joint naval war games.

The 10 days of maneuvers that got underway Monday will include live-fire exercises in the strategic sea connecting Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The point is lost on no one: A powerful new alliance of eastern giants is flexing its muscles in the very backyard of Western Europe — much as China has done on its own in the Pacific.

The war games follow Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow, where he headlined Victory Day celebrations and spent three days making billion-dollar deals with Russian President Vladimir Putin. ...”

https://www.latimes.com/world/europe/la-fg-china-russia-joint-naval-maneuvers-20150511-story.html
______________________________________________________________________

Russia and China’s Growing Military Interaction; Surprised?

by Peter Zwack | September 9, 2018

The drums are already rolling for the upcoming Russian “Vostok” (east) wargames commencing on September 11. With its focal point in the Trans-Baikal region of eastern Siberia adjoining Chinese Manchuria and Mongolia, this is a nationwide Russian military and societal event.

Touted by Russian minister of defense Sergei Shoigu as “unprecedented in scale, both in terms of area of operations and numbers of military command structure, troops, and forces involved,” Russian state press is declaring that up to three hundred thousand troops and one thousand aircraft will be involved, with the majority from the Eastern and Central Military Districts.

This would be even larger than the near-legendary Zapad-81 maneuvers held in the western USSR during the depths of the Cold War. ...”

5 posted on 12/10/2020 7:36:26 PM PST by ETL (REAL Russia collusion! DEMOCRAT-Russia collusion!! Click ETL...)
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To: Jeepers43

No question tip of the iceberg.


6 posted on 12/10/2020 7:37:08 PM PST by ETL (REAL Russia collusion! DEMOCRAT-Russia collusion!! Click ETL...)
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To: ETL

Okay, is this the same guy that farted on national TV?


7 posted on 12/10/2020 7:38:29 PM PST by truthluva
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To: Jeepers43

Obama: “We Welcome China’s Rise”

--CBS News ^ | January 19, 2011 | Stephanie Condon

Does the United States of America bows to the People's Republic of China?

Cyber-War Surrender: Obama Will Bow to China's Dictators

_____________________________________________________

[2012] Obama [figuratively and literally] bows to Chinese ‘enemy’

“President Barack Obama “bows” and “scrapes” to America’s Chinese “enemy,” House Science Committee Chairman Ralph Hall said Wednesday.

After a long grilling of White House science adviser John Holdren by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) about why the United States shouldn’t be pursuing scientific collaborations with China, Hall, a Texas Republican, said:
I don’t think you’re gonna get the answer that you expected to get, Mr. Rohrabacher. I too have seen our president bow and scrape to the enemy on many occasions.”

There was no response to Hall’s comment.

Rohrabacher had asked Holdren at the committee hearing why the Obama administration was so committed to collaborating with China, given the country’s human-rights record and history of technological espionage against the United States.

“Why is it that you feel — this administration feels — so compelled to reach out to the world’s worst human-rights abuser that is already in the process of stealing so much from us and who we have examples, over and over again, that scientific cooperation has turned into a transfer of wealth and technology to our adversary, to what appears to be economic, if not military and political adversary?” Rohrabacher said.

—DARIUS DIXON | Politico | June 20, 2012

___________________________

[2011] Obama’s betrayal to China

President Obama is creating a post-American world - one that is ushering in the dominance of China.

Mr. Obama is fostering U.S. economic and military decline while simultaneously empowering Beijing’s rise to superpower status.

China’s communists are on the march. Unless Americans wake up to the growing threat, both internal and external, our victory in the Cold War will have been useless.

This is the disturbing theme of “Bowing to Beijing: How Barack Obama Is Hastening America’s Decline and Ushering a Century of Chinese Domination” ...”

It is a dire warning that China has become what America once was to Great Britain: the ambitious upstart determined to eclipse the global colossus. The result will be not only the end of the American moment, but the triumph of a belligerent authoritarian communism hostile to democracy and the West. ...”

—by Jeffrey T. Kuhner, Nov 11, 2011, The Washington Times

8 posted on 12/10/2020 7:38:53 PM PST by ETL (REAL Russia collusion! DEMOCRAT-Russia collusion!! Click ETL...)
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To: ETL

Why isnt feinstein locked up?

Seriously?


9 posted on 12/10/2020 7:40:09 PM PST by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not Averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: ETL

Gezzz. A colossal disgrace.


10 posted on 12/10/2020 7:41:16 PM PST by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
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To: All; Secret Agent Man

“We like your president [Bill Clinton]. We want to see him reelected,” former Chinese intelligence chief General Ji Shengde told Chinagate bagman Johnny Chung.

- —The Idiot’s Guide to Chinagate - by Richard Poe, May 26, 2003
_________________________

Bill Clinton 'lost vital White House nuclear codes'

“We like your president [Bill Clinton]. We want to see him reelected,” former Chinese intelligence chief General Ji Shengde told Chinagate bagman Johnny Chung.

The Idiot’s Guide to Chinagate

by Richard Poe, May 26, 2003

“Most Americans have heard of the so-called “Chinagate “ scandal. Few understand its deadly import, however. Web sites such as “Chinagate for Dummies” and its companion “More Chinagate for Dummies” offer some assistance. ...”

When Bill Clinton took office in 1993, China presented little threat to the United States. Chinese missiles “couldn’t hit the side of a barn,” notes Timothy W. Maier of Insight magazine. Few could reach North America and those that made it would likely miss their targets.

Thanks to Bill Clinton, China can now hit any city in the USA, using state-of-the-art, solid-fueled missiles with dead-accurate, computerized guidance systems and multiple warheads. ....”

“In 1997, Clinton allowed China to take over the Panama Canal. The Chinese company Hutchison Whampoa leased the ports of Cristobal and Balboa, on the east and west openings of the canal respectively, thus controlling access both ways.

A public outcry stopped Clinton in 1998 from leasing California’s Long Beach Naval Yard to the Chinese firm COSCO. Even so, China can now strike U.S. targets easily from their bases in Panama, Vancouver and the Bahamas.

How did China catch up so fast? Easy. We sold them all the technology they needed – or handed it over for free. Neither neglect nor carelessness are to blame. Bill Clinton did it on purpose.

As a globalist, Clinton promotes “multipolarity”– the doctrine that no country (such as the USA) should be allowed to gain decisive advantage over others.

To this end, Clinton appointed anti-nuclear activist Hazel O’Leary to head the Department of Energy. O’Leary set to work “leveling the playing field,” as she put it, by giving away our nuclear secrets. She declassified 11 million pages of data on U.S. nuclear weapons and loosened up security at weapons labs.

Federal investigators later concluded that China made off with the “crown jewels” of our nuclear weapons research under Clinton’s open-door policy – probably including design specifications for suitcase nukes. ...”

“In his book The China Threat, Washington Times correspondent Bill Gertz describes how the system worked. Defense contractors eager to sell technology to China poured millions of dollars into Clinton’s campaign.

In return, Clinton called off the dogs. Janet Reno and other counterintelligence officials stood down while Lockheed Martin, Hughes Electronics, Loral Space & Communications and other U.S. companies helped China modernize its nuclear strike force.

“We like your president. We want to see him reelected,” former Chinese intelligence chief General Ji Shengde told Chinagate bagman Johnny Chung.

Indeed, Chinese intelligence organized a massive covert operation aimed at tilting the 1996 election Clinton’s way.

Clinton’s top campaign contributors for 1992 were Chinese agents; his top donors in 1996 were U.S. defense contractors selling missile technology to China.

Clinton received funding directly from known or suspected Chinese intelligence agents, among them James and Mochtar Riady who own the Indonesian Lippo Group; John Huang; Charlie Trie; Ted Sioeng; Maria Hsia; Wang Jun and others. ...

More at:
—The Idiot’s Guide to Chinagate - By Richard Poe, May 26, 2003

11 posted on 12/10/2020 7:45:04 PM PST by ETL (REAL Russia collusion! DEMOCRAT-Russia collusion!! Click ETL...)
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To: ETL
"There is no indication of wrongdoing on Swalwell’s part."

The spy would not have hung around if she wasn't gathering intel from Swalwell.

12 posted on 12/10/2020 7:45:31 PM PST by null and void (My President is a Person Of Color, Orange is a Color...)
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To: ETL
Biden’s position on China is dangerous and not based in reality.

It is dangerous, and it is based in reality.

The reality is that the bidens are wholly owned subsidiaries of the Chinese Communist Party.

13 posted on 12/10/2020 7:48:21 PM PST by null and void (My President is a Person Of Color, Orange is a Color...)
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To: null and void
Very few people it seems are aware of the increasingly serious military alliance between Russia and communist China. Also in this alliance are Venezuela and Iran.

"RUSSIA COLLUSION"

The “Trump-Russia collusion” story was of course a hoax, a COVER, to hide what THEY (the notoriously traitorous Democrats) were doing, as the only evidence for Russia collusion involves THEM!

1) Soon-to-be unclassified docs reportedly state (surprise-surprise) Russians actually wanted HILLARY to win, not Trump! Obama CIA chief Brennan hid the evidence!!

2) Top Putin aids (Vladislav Surkov and Vyacheslav Trubnikov) provided disinformation (fake ‘dirt’) on Trump! (via RUSSIAN AGENT Igor Danchenko) for Clinton campaign/DNC paid-for Steele dossier!!

3) Obama-Biden DENIED desperately requested military assistance to Ukraine
...during the 2014 Russia invasion of Crimea!!

4) $3.5 MILLION from the wife of a former mayor of Moscow! (Elena Baturina) The former mayor of Moscow (Yuri Luzhkov) was a strong advocate for Russia grabbing Crimea. The $3.5 million reportedly passed hands on or very soon after the SAME MONTH that Russia invaded Crimea! (Feb-Mar 2014). Obama admin did nothing but provide them food rations and blankets! They had begged him for military equiptment.

5) Burisma owner [Mykola Zlochevsky] was/is a RUSSIA ALLY! Joe Biden’s son worked for and brought in millions from Burisma. Joe is ON VIDEO BRAGGING about extorting the Ukrainians into firing the prosecutor who was investigating his son and the corrupt RUSSIA-ALLIED owner of the company.

6) For 8 years the Obama-Biden-Clinton admin immensely HELPED the Russians, via Obama’s promised and delivered “flexibility” on missile defense, the Russia-favoring New Start nuke treaty, the Putin-loving Iran deal (Iran and Syria are pawns of Russia in the oil/gas-rich Middle East), the Uranium-One deal, where Obama-Hillary allowed Russia to take ownership of 20% of our uranium production!

7) They (Obama-Biden) deliberately slashed OUR military to pieces. Fortunately, Trump has since brought it back times 10.

14 posted on 12/10/2020 7:51:35 PM PST by ETL (REAL Russia collusion! DEMOCRAT-Russia collusion!! Click ETL...)
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To: ETL

Eric Swalwell is the adult version of the odd looking obnoxious loner kid on your school bus who you never wanted to make eye contact with for fear he’d sit next to you and endlessly prattle on about Ligers.


15 posted on 12/10/2020 8:01:18 PM PST by LittleBillyInfidel (This tagline has been formatted to fit the screen. Some content has been edited.)
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To: Jeepers43

One of the “Russia, Russia, Russia” boys chicken’s come home to roost?


16 posted on 12/10/2020 8:01:21 PM PST by Bullish (CNN is what happens when 8th graders run a cable network.)
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To: ETL
Kamala Harris is caught in the same net: Why Are Kamala Harris and BLM Helping the Chinese Progressive Association Finance the Black Futures Lab?
17 posted on 12/10/2020 8:02:34 PM PST by Fedora
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To: Fedora

So-called “Black Lives Matter” was in Venezuela in 2015 helping out with their elections. Could they have been there “collaborating” to help rig the 2016 elections here? Meanwhile, Russia, China, and Iran all are closely allied with Venezuela militarily.


18 posted on 12/10/2020 8:15:09 PM PST by ETL (REAL Russia collusion! DEMOCRAT-Russia collusion!! Click ETL...)
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To: Fedora
Re: Maduro allies

The Links Between Black Lives Matter and Nicolas Maduro Revealed

PanAm Post ^ | June 23, 2020 | PanAm Post Staff

[excerpt]
"...while Black Lives Matter claim to oppose police abuse and racism around the world, the organization is simultaneously a great supporter of some of the world’s most brutal and repressive dictators. In particular, the founders of BLM have been staunch supporters and allies of the sanguinary Venezuela dictator Nicolas Maduro and of the Castro regime in Cuba.

In December 2015 Black Lives Matter sent a delegation, headed by the organization’s co-founder, Opal Tometi, to act as observers during the Venezuelan Parliamentary elections of that year. The Maduro regime did not allow accreditation for observers from the Organization of American States, the UN, or the EU. The only accredited observers where from regimes and organizations friendly to the “revolutionary cause.”

Later that same month Tometi penned an article where she espouses, word for word, the regime’s standard text for international propaganda.

“In these last 17 years, we have witnessed the Bolivarian Revolution champion participatory democracy and construct a fair, transparent election system recognized as among the best in the world ,” wrote Tometi about one of the world’s most corrupt voting systems in history.

Earlier in 2015 Maduro was given an award at the Afro-descenndants Summit” held in Harlem. Maduro was invited at the behest of the Black Lives Matter leadership. ..."

Ivan Pentchoukov on Twitter:
[Venezuelan President] Nicolas Maduro with Opal Tometi (right), co-founder
of Black Lives Matter
, in Harlem, Manhattan, December 2015.

______________________________________________________________________

Also in 2015...

Moscow defense minister inks deals with Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua for joint exercises

by Bill Gertz, February 20, 2015

Russia agreed to provide military training for three leftist regimes in Latin America and increase military visits and exercises following a visit last week to the region by Moscow's Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu, Pentagon officials said.

Shoygu met with defense and military leaders in Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua and signed several agreements on warship visits and military training during the visit, which ran from Feb 11 to 14.

It is not clear whether any new arms deals were completed during the visit.

Defense officials said the Russian leader is seeking bases in the region for strategic bomber flights that Shoygu recently promised would include flights over the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean. ..."

______________________________________________________________________

2020...

Russia to boost Venezuela ties amid US pressure

February 8, 2020 - BBC

Russia has pledged to boost military and economic co-operation with Venezuela to help the South American nation deal with growing US pressure.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s comments came after his meeting with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in Caracas.

Mr Lavrov said any attempts to remove Mr Maduro’s government by force were unacceptable.

The US accuses Mr Maduro of leading a corrupt and brutal regime. ...”

“Russia is a key ally of Venezuela, lending it billions of dollars and backing its oil industry and military.”
______________________________________________________________________

U.S. Military Wary of China’s Foothold in Venezuela

The head of U.S. Southern Command says Beijing is using disinformation and debt diplomacy to dig in as Maduro clings to power.

By
April 8, 2019

In an interview with Foreign Policy, Adm. Craig Faller, the four-star military officer who heads U.S. Southern Command, pointed to a Chinese disinformation campaign designed to blame the United States for the blackouts that devastated Venezuela in recent weeks.

Maduro, whose government is backed by China, Russia, and Cuba, has himself publicly accused the U.S. Defense Department of causing the blackouts. Following the power failures, Beijing offered to help the Venezuelan government restore its grid.

“China came out publicly, a state spokesman, implying the blackouts were attributable to U.S. cyberattacks,” Faller said during a recent trip to Washington, D.C. “That is just such a blatant lie. The blackouts are attributed to Maduro’s inept leadership, corruption, inattention to his people, and lack of concern for any humanity.”

The Pentagon is worried about China in other arenas as well. In the Pacific, China is building up its military capability, intimidating its smaller neighbors, and threatening Taiwan. In Africa, Beijing is using debt diplomacy to gain control of crucial ports and other infrastructure. And in Europe, the Trump administration is pushing NATO to address potential Chinese cyberthreats and commercial threats.

“I think the biggest threat to democracy and the way of life around the world is the trend that we see in China,” Faller said.

He said China was trying to assert economic control in Venezuela by investing in infrastructure and providing hefty loans that Caracas would have difficulty paying back. Much of Beijing’s financial interest in Venezuela is tied to loans-for-oil deals struck between the two countries in 2007. By 2014, the China Development Bank had provided Venezuela with more than $30 billion in loans tied to oil production.

These loans have served to prop up the Venezuelan government over the past two decades, “far beyond the point at which its bad policies would have historically caused a change,” said Evan Ellis, an analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“There is no other actor in Latin America, with the possible exception of the Cubans, who as much controls the fate of Nicolás Maduro and his henchman as China does,” Ellis said.

China also has a major information technology footprint in the country. The Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE is creating a new ID card that can be used to monitor citizens’ behavior, Faller said. Using information from these cards, the government can trace a person’s finances, medical history, and voting record, Reuters reported last fall.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/04/08/us-military-wary-of-chinas-foothold-in-venezuela-maduro-faller-guaido-trump-pentagon/

=================================================

China Arming Venezuelan Navy With Anti-Ship Missiles

by H.I. Sutton
October 16, 2020 | Updated: October 21, 2020

Venezuela’s propaganda videos are showing off warships armed with new Chinese-made anti-ship missiles. The C-802A missile, supplied by Beijing to the Venezuelan Navy, is designed to take out surface ships at extended ranges. The sea-skimming missile is generally analogous to the Harpoon. This arms deal should greatly increase the reach and potency of President Nicolás Maduro’s navy.

The acquisition was revealed on Sept. 25 by the Venezuelan Navy (formally known as the Armada Bolivariana de Venezuela). Footage of one test firing is now being used in propaganda videos posted online, including by Maduro’s official Twitter account (in Spanish).

The video footage is not actually of a Venezuelan Navy ship. It is taken from a Royal Thai Navy test launch of the C-802A missile. That launch, from the Thai Navy’s frigate HTMS Kraburi, can be viewed on YouTube.

But this does not mean that China has not supplied the system. Misleading images are part and parcel of Venezuelan Navy propaganda. For example, the same video shows a Venezuelan Type-209 submarine, when in fact their boats have not been to sea in years. But the lack of images of it aboard a Venezuelan Navy ship does suggest that they have not yet equipped their own ships with the missile.

According to open sources, the missiles are likely to equip Venezuela’s Guaiquerí-class patrol boats. These are Spanish built Avante 2200 combatants and were delivered without anti-ship missiles. This makes sense because in June 2017 the Venezuelan Navy was taking steps to equip two unspecified offshore patrol vessels with the missile at the sum of $2.9 million. The Venezuelan Navy has three Guaiquerí class ships, so it is possible that one will be left without missiles.

Meanwhile, Venezuela’s two remaining Italian built Lupo-class frigates are fitted for Otomat Mk 2 missiles, as are some missile boats. The Lupos are the most capable warships in the Venezuelan lineup, but are increasingly dated. The other modern warship, the Guaicamacuto-class patrol boats, are optimized for littoral operations and do not have a missile armament. It was one of these ships, Naiguatá (GC-23), which was lost on March 23, 2020. She was attempting to stop the ice-hardened cruise liner RCGS Resolute when the two ships collided. The warship lost the encounter and sank. RCGS Resolute suffered some scratches.

Venezuela’s armed forces have been hit hard by the country’s economic woes, and by international sanctions. They have, however, been able to source advanced weapons from Russia and now China. As well as the C-802A anti-ship missiles, China has been supplying small arms and general equipment. This acquisition is a reminder that despite their economic and internal challenges, they are still focusing on weapons to take on external adversaries.

https://news.usni.org/2020/10/16/china-arming-venezuelan-navy-with-anti-ship-missiles


19 posted on 12/10/2020 8:17:40 PM PST by ETL (REAL Russia collusion! DEMOCRAT-Russia collusion!! Click ETL...)
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To: Secret Agent Man

She got yanked off judicial commitee today for getting senile, probabily more to do with this.


20 posted on 12/10/2020 8:24:44 PM PST by Striperman (Striperman)
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