Free Republic

Chinese electric auto-giant BYD has released a bold supercar concept through its premium Fang Cheng Bao brand. The Super 9 rocks no roof, the barest hint of windscreen, and lascivious scissor doors – and it's apparently headed for production. BYD is the world’s largest EV producer. It produced 20% of the 10 million EVs sold globally last year, from Tesla (13%), Volkswagen (9%) and General Motors (6%) – those are all very rough figures for simplification purposes. For stats – go here. It is also the dominant brand in the world’s largest and fastest growing automotive market, at a time...

A North Korean delegation led by the cabinet minister for international trade is visiting Iran, the North’s official media says in a rare public report of an exchange between the two countries believed to have secret military ties. The minister for external economic relations, Yun Jong Ho, left Pyongyang on Tuesday by air leading a ministry delegation to visit Iran, the North’s KCNA news agency says. It gives no other detail. North Korea and Iran have long been suspected of cooperating on ballistic missile programs, possibly exchanging technical expertise and components that went into their manufacture.

Smoke machines, same as you'd use on gophers only bigger...

WASHINGTON – Few people are entirely neutral in their assessment of the work and influence of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Whether revered, feared or reviled, AIPAC is seen by some as an icon of pro-Israel advocacy – or the bogeyman symbolizing everything that's wrong with America's political lobbying and fundraising scene. But no matter how it's characterized, AIPAC's political evolution over the past three years has been one of the defining stories of U.S. politics.

'elite' hoho unit annihilated...

An F-35A Lightning II assigned to the 354th Fighter Wing (FW) takes off during an Agile Combat Employment exercise on Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, July 13, 2021. Agile Combat Employment exercises ensure the 354th FW is able to deploy, disperse and maneuver combat capability to create dilemmas for near-peer adversaries. Photo: US Air Force / Airman 1st Class Jose Miguel T Tamondong The Warzone reported that the full-rate production decision came more than four years later than planned, with the primary reason for the latest holdup being delays with the Joint Simulation Environment tests. Those tests, the source mentions,...

Shark Tank star and investor Kevin O’Leary said Friday on Fox News Channel’s “The Story” that he or somebody else American will buy TikTok so it is not shut down. Guest host Gillian Turner said, “Some folks are saying I depend on TikTok to run my marking for my small business. I even run TikTok as a platform to sell and close transactions. If it’s banned eventually, what does that mean for the small business economy?” O’Leary said, “It not going to get banned. I’m going to buy it. Somebody will buy it. It won’t be Meta and Google. A...

If NATO is so much against sending troops to Ukraine, why doesn’t NATO demand that the soldiers already there be sent home? On Monday, February 26, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that Germany would not provide its Taurus long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine because doing so would require German troops to be sent there to operate them, just as the British are operating the Storm Shadow air-launched cruise missiles. The British cried foul and accused Scholz of a “flagrant abuse of intelligence” – meaning that Scholz confirmed what everyone already knows, that NATO officers and trained personnel are in Ukraine...

The battery will not catch fire or explode in response to punctures or even gunshots, unlike some current batteries that can be unsafe if damaged or exposed to high temperatures, says Chinese startup Betavolt ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chinese company Betavolt claims to have developed a battery that could power mobile phones that never need to be charged and drones that can fly forever. Photo: Betavolt.tech ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A Chinese startup claims to have developed a new battery that could power smartphones for 50 years without the need for charging. Beijing-based Betavolt said its nuclear battery is the first in the world to realise...

I'm hearing a lot of chatter tonight that the Ukrainian position in Avdeevka has all but collapsed. Evidently the air defense base anchoring their southern defenses was flanked and rapidly overrun, with the Russian flag planted on it. I'm also hearing: The Neo-Nazi Azov brigade (disingenuously referred to simply as the 3rd Brigade in Washington/MSM propaganda today) was sent to bolster Ukrainian defenses on the flanks while troops in forward positions retreated, but they were caught in the open field, massacred, and are refusing to follow orders. This would help explain the general collapse scenario. Maybe it is not so...

Rumors are making the rounds in Kiev that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will fire the head of his armed forces, General Valerii Zaluzhny. Zelensky and Zaluzhny have been at odds for some time. The excuse is likely to be losses in and around Avdeevka, which is a Ukrainian military stronghold just north of Donetsk. The rumor says that Kyrylo Budanov, head of military intelligence, will replace Zaluzhny. Field reports show that the Russians have advanced in the southern part of the town, knocking out numerous trenches and fortifications, with the Russian operation gaining momentum and strength as new troops are...

Connecing the dots. Iranian Islamic Republic poison infecting Chinese... a new hate front. Ever wondered why TikTok - algorithm is a new major player in modern 'Der Sturmer'... ____ NewswekIran Joins Middle East Propaganda War on China's TikTok. Newsweek, 23 oct 2023. By Aadil Brar, China News Reporter. Iran has used the short video app Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, to spread propaganda about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while Chinese state media outlets have shared the Iranian propaganda, spread via Douyin, to promote a pro-Hamas and pro-Iran narrative. Far from the conflict between Israel and Hamas, a battle for the...

According to what Bloomberg News describes as a US intelligence report, Chinese authorities discovered that some of their missiles’ fuel tanks were filled with water – and that this was a marquee example of corruption whose unraveling led to Chinese President Xi’s recent military purge. Bloomberg reported that it got the information from unnamed people who were “familiar with” a US intelligence assessment and that those US sources also said that new Xinjiang missile field silos were fitted with lids that were not installed properly and would not work – taken as another example of corruption. Pentagon officials and “experts”...

U.S. military forces conducted strikes on facilities used by Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated groups in Iraq, the U.S. Defense Ministry said in a statement on Monday. These strikes are a response to a series of strikes against U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-sponsored militias, including an attack by Iran-affiliated Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated groups on Erbil Air Base earlier on Monday, which led to three injuries to U.S. personnel, the statement said.

President Joe Biden is pushing hard for more Ukraine money and resisting, at least so far, Republican efforts to put strong border security provisions into the aid bill. There are negotiations between the White House and Republicans on the border issue, but so far there has been no breakthrough. It looks more and more as if Biden will try and stonewall the Republicans and get his Ukraine money without strings. That helps explain why Biden has invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Washington. Zelensky just attended the inauguration for Argentina’s new president, Javier Milei. His appearance in Argentina (where he...

Western pundits like to make fun of the supposedly “no limits” partnership between China and Russia. But if they really want to know what no limits means in a state-to-state relationship and how tremendous self-harm can result, they need to look no further than that between the United States and Israel. What Israel wants, Israel gets; and does not even have to ask first when it comes to emergency financial aid and weapons. As Israel bombs its way across the Gaza Strip and Jewish settlers commit murder to seize Palestinian land in the West Bank, the weapons they are using...

... The misunderstanding has historical, cultural and political roots but fundamentally it can be attributed to the universalist, Manichean (good vs evil) worldview of what Brown refers to as the Enlightenment West – and the projection of that attitude onto a civilization that doesn’t share the same history. “The distinctiveness of the intellectual and cultural history of inhabitants of the space now occupied by the People’s Republic of China is undeniable,” Brown writes. “In terms of language, modes of governance, economic behavior, and fundamental view about how the world operates and how society should be shaped, the Chinese tradition is...

A number of people have asked why does Socrates say that the United States will lose this war. One states: “The standalone American firepower without UK/ France, etc, itself is tremendous. How does Socrates say that America will lose the war? It may lose financially. The Chinese have the worst track record in any war.” Perhaps I should just say, cyclically – it’s just TIME. The Neocons are in charge of this war. They are trying conventionally for their constant goal of REGIME CHANGE. They are doing what Khrushchev had threatened Communism would win and we will bury you. This...

As congressional Republicans increasingly clamor for a ban on the popular video-sharing app TikTok, at least one is speaking out against the idea: Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky. In an op-ed for the Louisville Courier Journal, Paul argued that seeking a ban on TikTok was not just bad policy, but bad politics. "Congressional Republicans have come up with a national strategy to permanently lose elections for a generation," he wrote. According to TikTok, the app now has 150 million active monthly users in the United States.

Central European countries like Croatia, Hungary, and also recently Austria too are beginning to emerge as voices of reason in the West after their de facto New Cold War bloc’s proxy war on Russia through Ukraine over the past year failed to defeat that Great Power. They rightly realize how counterproductive this NATO-led campaign has been for their collective interests, ergo why they’re urging restraint and even an outright reversal of policy at this point in time. Croatian President Zoran Milanovic is unexpectedly giving Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban a run for his money when it comes to being the...