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Friday, May 17, 2024

Chairman Xi Rolls Out Red Carpet for Putin: “A New Global Arrangement Has Arrived”

Bill Gertz: Russian President Vladimir Putin held a day of talks Thursday in Beijing with Chinese President Xi Jinping, in a visit meant to forge closer strategic ties and portray the United States as an aggressive Cold War hegemon attempting to destabilize the world. The summit comes amid mounting tensions both states are experiencing with Washington. In a joint press appearance, Mr. Putin and Mr. Xi signed a statement that criticized the United States on two hot-button issues — Russia’s war in Ukraine and the growing concern of a U.S.-China clash over Taiwan. “The parties reiterate their serious concern over the attempts of the United States to disrupt the strategic security balance in the region,” the document said, according to Russian press accounts…. “The one-on-one meeting with Xi is sending a different message to the West that a new global arrangement has arrived with China now the leader of the pack and Russia as China’s new proxy, along with Iran and North Korea,” China expert Miles Yu said. (Washington Times).

Michael Cohen “Cornered” By Trump Lawyer in “Extraordinary” Cross-Examination

That’s the description from CNN’s Anderson Cooper, talking about the Thursday in court: “… the last 20 minutes of court today right before the lunch break, it was incredible,” Cooper told CNN host Brianna Keilar. “I mean, it was Elie Honig on my program last night had talked about on a cross-examination lawyers want to kind of put the witness in, build a box around the witness, and then slam it shut. That’s what Todd Blanche did to Michael Cohen” (Daily Caller). Wall Street Journal: Star prosecution witness Michael Cohen conceded on the stand at Donald Trump’s hush-money trial that a key conversation he earlier recounted having with the former president might not have actually happened the way he testified it did. Trump’s onetime fixer had previously testified that he spoke to Trump on the phone in October 2016 to reassure his boss that he was handling a payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about her alleged affair with Trump (Wall Street Journal).

Netanyahu Presses Rafah, Visits Soldiers: Rafah “Is a battle that will decide many things in this campaign”

Jerusalem Post: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubled down on Thursday on the importance of a military campaign in Rafah, one day after Defense Minister Yoav Gallant took him to task for failing to have a day-after plan, and warning of the consequences. “The battle in Rafah is critical,” Netanyahu said, as he visited soldiers in the Bnei Netzarim military base, and focused on the importance of the IDF destroying the last remaining four Hamas battalions in the terror group’s last stronghold in Gaza (Jerusalem Post). Hamas terrorists at a UNRWA facility in Rafah: Video (X).

85 Years After Kristallnacht: Broken Windows in New York’s Upper East Side

Dan Senor: Looks like you can stroll through the Upper East Side these days and see the windows smashed in at one Jewish storefront after another. Welcome to New York City…85 years after Kristallnacht (X)

Yes: The NIH Funded Gain-of-Function Research

Your intuitions have been admitted and confirmed: It’s about time! At long last, National Institutes of Health (NIH) principal deputy director Lawrence Tabak admitted to Congress Thursday that US taxpayers funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China in the months and years before the COVID-19 pandemic. “Dr. Tabak,” asked Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.) of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, “did NIH fund gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology through [Manhattan-based nonprofit] EcoHealth [Alliance]?” “It depends on your definition of gain-of-function research,” Tabak answered. “If you’re speaking about the generic term, yes, we did” (NY Post). Video from Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic: (X).

Yes: The NIH Did Everything It Could to Suppress Transparency on Covid

Jay Bhattacharya: This testimony is amazing. The @nih has done everything it can to suppress public transparency about its activities via foia redactions. Finally the NIH director agrees that Morens conspired to violate foia altogether. It’s time for the NIH coverup of its misdeeds to end (X). David Morens’ email to Peter Daszak: “I learned from our @NIH FOIA lady how to make emails disappear after I am FOIA’d but before the search starts so I think we are all safe. Plus, I deleted most of those earlier emails…” (X)

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Surprise: China Is Funding and Fueling the Campus Protests

No, we should not be surprised. Fox News: A new report from the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) shows a political activist group linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has played a crucial role in funding and organizing anti-Israel protests that have disrupted college campuses across the U.S. in recent weeks (Fox News). NCRI: Due to its potential to exacerbate social unrest and influence institutional decisionmaking in the U.S., the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) assesses that this network represents a significant concern to the internal stability of the United States (Network Contagion).

The Moral—and Financial—Bankruptcy of ESG

Will the fiduciary responsibility of large financial firms signal the end of ESG and DEI? A new report documents how groups like BlackRock are putting politics ahead of profits. From the Committee to Unleash Prosperity: This report … documents which of these financial behemoths are violating their fiduciary duty…. The misplaced focus on ESG issues is a distraction – and often a major headache – for many of the country’s major corporations. When their performance falters, as we’ve seen happen at companies like Target and Budweiser, America’s security and global competitiveness is threatened (Pension Politics). Wall Street Journal: The news this year is that some of the funds are backtracking. The latest report finds that support for ESG resolutions dropped 25% in 2023 from 2022, including a 30% drop among the 25 most active fund families (Wall Street Journal).

UC Irvine Academic Workers Vow to “Maximize Chaos”

Los Angeles Times: The union representing 48,000 graduate student teaching assistants, researchers and other student workers across the University of California’s 10 campuses has voted to authorize a strike and “maximize chaos,” alleging that its workers’ rights have been violated at several universities by actions against pro-Palestinian protests, union leaders announced Wednesday evening (LA Times). This comes after the arrest of some 50 on Thursday: At least 50 people were arrested after hundreds of anti-Israel protesters swarmed the campus of UC Irvine in California and set up barricades, the university confirmed Thursday…. The university moved to remote operations on Thursday (Fox News). Report: The good men and women in blue gained control of the campus in an hour (X).

10.

Conservative Coalition Government in Netherlands Announces Agenda

It will set them at odds with Brussels. Financial Times: The new far right-led government in the Netherlands has agreed on a coalition programme that potentially sets it up for clashes with Brussels on migration, energy and climate policies (Financial Times). Geert Wilders: “The sun will shine again in the Netherlands” and a lot will change, PVV leader Geert Wilders said at a press conference about the newly presented “main lines agreement” between the PVV, VVD, NSC, and BBB. History is being made now that his PVV is in the center of power, Wilders said, NOS reports (NL Times). Youth in Europe are fueling the right: “We can speak of a clear shift to the right in young population,” said Klaus Hurrelmann, on the study’s authors and a professor at the Hertie School in Berlin (Foreign Policy).