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Race Virus 301 – Coronavirus Investigation News – Part 1
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Section 3: CCP
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Foxconn enters the state of lockdown/People try to force their way out of blockade in several cities
Nov 8, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWeyJQOtFEw
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Zero-COVID Shanghai: The Lockdown That Scarred A Generation | CNA Correspondent | China
Aug 3, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_JOVJAKCqs
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Why a huge missing population in China/hundreds of millions of cameras can’t solve systemic problems
Mar 29, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0CgEibFKPQ
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China’s boiling point? Protests spread over zero-covid policy • FRANCE 24 English
Nov 28, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H89sKTIuPP0
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Gravitas LIVE | Chinese Covid: Was the US an instrument in the cover-up? | Latest News | WION
Dec 6, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x–pMEOAlPo
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Whole Beijing is feverish/CCP faces largest rotten tail project: 3-year zero-COVID abruptly exited
Dec 13, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tQEb6ojT9o
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Where her company is found, there is an outbreak/Why the outbreak in China lasted for 3 years?
Dec 15, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4Ku54pLAo8
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China: Local Governments Race To Get People Infected/After lifting the lockdown, cities remain empty
Dec 21, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZYRQVKVWl4
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A Million People Could Die in China’s New Covid Surge
Dec 24, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwrrHIXoNOE
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HUGE Protests Over Zero Covid Lockdown in Guangzhou
Nov 18, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dcc0cFV2EDs
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Chinese Women TIED UP Because of COVID???
Nov 28, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_biRHslh_Q
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Tens of thousands of people storm the blockade, workers free to escape Guangzhou/Foxconn Updates
Nov 18, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcOTkaC0UxQ
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Revolution Is Brewing in China
Dec 10, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx1cWTqlUt0
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China: zero-Covid policy | Eastern Express | TVP World
Dec 12, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ea-25apG1p4
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Did Protesters Force China to Back Down on Zero Covid?
Dec 9, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZUb-iXSXLw
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China Reverses Zero Covid, and It’s Chaos
Dec 23, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qs_Kipghczg
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China in Panic – Full 180 on Zero Covid! – Episode #138
Dec 9, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9LZQvW_bUI
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China eases anti-COVID measures following protests
Dec 7, 2022
China rolled back rules on isolating people with COVID-19 and dropped virus test requirements for some public places Wednesday in a dramatic change to a strategy that confined millions of people to their homes and sparked protests and demands for President Xi Jinping to resign.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gykfOqiJ9GM
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Nucleic Acid Testing ‘Now Accounts for 1.3% of China’s GDP‘
November 7, 2022
https://www.thatsmags.com/china/post/35295/nucleic-acid-testing-now-accounts-for-1-3-of-china-s-gdp
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WHO: End of COVID-19 pandemic is in sight | DW News
Oct 17, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCa-MQy54yo
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Covid Is Overwhelming Chinese Hospitals
Dec 14, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiV4P8F0-CY
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Chinese Police Stations are Opening Up in Your Country!
Sep 18, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owrKD1d3nXw
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China is Not Safe
Aug 30, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPBnhBB8l-c
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Chinese Citizens Are Trying to Escape the Country
Aug 27, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9akIH8HNlk
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“Remove Dictator Xi”: Protests in Beijing and Overseas/4 Richest Cities under large-scale Lockdown
Oct 18, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJdCSZse6XM
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SHOCKING Beijing Protest Calls to Remove “Traitor” Xi Jinping
Oct 14, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHt69EnJVE8
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Exim Bank of China
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exim_Bank_of_China
The Export–Import Bank of China (Chexim – China Exim Bank) (simplified Chinese: 中国进出口银行; traditional Chinese: 中國進出口銀行; pinyin: Zhōngguó Jìnchūkǒu Yínháng) is one of three institutional banks in China chartered to implement the state policies in industry, foreign trade, economy, and foreign aid to other developing countries, and provide policy financial support so as to promote the export of Chinese products and services. Established in 1994, the bank is subordinated to the State Council.
Mission
The bank is a policy bank and along with other Chinese policy institutions like China Development Bank and Sinosure implement the economic policies of the government. The focus of the bank is to promote foreign trade and investment. Commercial lending forms the backbone of the bank. Commercial activity includes export credits mainly in the infrastructure fields (roads, power plants, oil and gas pipelines, telecom, and water projects) and investment loans for Chinese businesses to establish overseas in the energy, mining and industrial sectors. Another function is to administer concessional loans which are no interest or very low interest loans provided as foreign aid by the Chinese government. Exim is the sole provider of Chinese government concessional loans.
Exim does not publish figures for overseas loans. However, U.S. officials estimate that it finances more than the total export financing of the Group of Seven industrialized nations combined. The Financial Times estimates that in 2009 and 2010, China Eximbank and China Development Bank (CDB) together signed loans of at least $110 billion to other developing country governments and companies, more than the World Bank over a similar period.
Rival export financing institutions that have seen a decline in influence, such as the U.S. Export–Import Bank through Chairman Fred Hochberg, have complained that Exim of China doesn’t follow the export financing guidelines promulgated by the OECD and so has an unfair advantage.
Foreign aid
The bank is a part of the Chinese foreign aid system and administers the Two Preferential Loan Program (两优贷款业务). The concessional loan (优惠贷款) and preferential export buyer’s credit (优惠买方信贷) are the two main loan products under the preferential loan program.
For concessional loans the bank advances a no interest or very low interest rate loan to a developing country government or agency to build a project (e.g. power plant, road, water treatment facility). The term of the concession loan is up to 20 years and a maximum grace period of 7 years is given. The preferential export buyer’s credit is provided to a foreign borrower to purchase Chinese goods or services (e.g. construction contractor building the project). Like the concessional loan, this type of loan is also subsidized by the Chinese government. Interest rates are below market rates at around 3 to 6%. However, the preferential export buyer’s credit is generally classified as a commercial loan rather than foreign aid even if the interest rate is very low because the purpose is to promote Chinese exports. These two types of loans are a major part of the financing support for China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
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China’s Overseas Lending – KIEL Kiel Institute for the World Economy
June 2019
https://www.ifw-kiel.de/fileadmin/Dateiverwaltung/IfW-Publications/Christoph_Trebesch/KWP_2132.pdf
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Can Laos profit from China rail link despite being US$1.5 billion in debt?
Dec 10, 2019
Part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, the high-speed railway will connect Kunming in Yunnan province to Vientiane by 2021, and subsequently to Malaysia and Singapore
But Laos must plan well to benefit from the rail link’s operations and not fall into a debt trap
https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3041394/can-laos-profit-china-rail-link-despite-being-us15-billion-debt
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China’s Secret Belt and Road in South Korea
Jun 22, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsWfrBUPSXY
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Singapore gives a major shocker to China, rejects Chinese Telecom companies
Jun 25, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hOGMmI5FpA
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Concerns Over the Three Gorges Dam Grow, as China Begins Censoring News of the Floods | Crossroads |
June 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5W5rePZLQRU
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More Chinese Cities On Lockdown; Third Flood Wave Forms In China; Slave Labor Exposed
June 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AL2Zk26sKbM
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Authorities Flood 200,000 Homes by Opening A Dam; US Orders China Close Houston Consulate in 72 Hrs
7-22-2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Uez8NaF-po
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China Orders U.S. to Close Chengdu Consulate in Retaliation
July 25, 2020
https://altrighttv.com/2020/07/25/china-orders-u-s-to-close-chengdu-consulate-in-retaliation/
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China vows retaliation after U.S. ordered its Houston consulate closed within 72 hours
July 23, 2020
https://altrighttv.com/2020/07/23/china-vows-retaliation-after-u-s-ordered-its-houston-consulate-closed-within-72-hours/
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5 earthquakes in 1 day; Severe floods in China; Houston China consulate epicenter of theft: official
Jul 23, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecagKrk67xI
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China Opened the Three Gorges Dam, Flooding Cities; Swine Flu 2.0 | Crossroads | Joshua Philipp
Jun 30, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdx7r3UcHzk
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Malaysia Hits Brakes on China’s Corrupt Investment
July 11, 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThedGta_zr4
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Bad Chinese Dams Could Kill Thousands in Malaysia
Nov 21, 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd5ZUOdJ4cU
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Floods in China Reach Biblical Proportions; Why Would TikTok Spy On Americans | Crossroads | Joshua
Jul 2, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CQY0lgvLSw
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China bridge guardrail crumbles under man’s touch; officials warn flooding will last through summer
July 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3pCyoEFX9I
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China Overseas Dams List
https://www.internationalrivers.org/resources/china-overseas-dams-list-3611
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Chinese dam builder eyeing major Amazon mega-dam contract
CTG’s record of violations in other nations
2-26-2016
The China Three Gorges company arrived in Brazil almost twenty years after being founded for the purpose of building the largest hydropower plant in the world, the Three Gorges Dam, on the Yangtze river, in China.
https://news.mongabay.com/2016/02/chinese-dam-builder-eyeing-major-amazon-mega-dam-contract/
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China’s Three Gorges pays 4.8 billion reais, takes over Brazil dams
7-1-2016
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ctgpc-brazil-dams-idUSKCN0ZH5EM
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Brazil-China fund greenlights $2.4 bln in potential loans
May 9, 2018
https://www.reuters.com/article/brazil-china-investment/brazil-china-fund-greenlights-2-4-bln-in-potential-loans-idUSL4N1RI4YT
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Brazil’s Petrobras to pre-pay Chinese loans, end oil supply obligation
8-14-2019
https://www.reuters.com/article/petrobras-debt/brazils-petrobras-to-pre-pay-chinese-loans-end-oil-supply-obligation-idUSE6N21601S
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In Bolsonaro’s Brazil, dams are ticking time bombs
11-5-2019
https://newint.org/features/2019/11/05/bolsanaro-brazil-dams-are-ticking-time-bombs
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Pollution Science 101 – Brazil – Emergency Report
https://pollutionscience101brazil.blogspot.com
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China continues to cut back Latin America loans
4-3-2020
https://dialogochino.net/en/trade-investment/chinese-investment-latin-america-cut-back/
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Malaysia Warns Philippines Over China Debt | Mahathir Mohamad Warns Duterte about CCP Loans
Mar 11, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY6FZioxlgw
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Did China Buy the Philippines With False Investment Promises?
Aug 8, 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=401ZvQ11euA
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Is This a Chinese City in Malaysia?
Jun 8, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDkKqHG1BFE
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Macau: The Story of China’s Golden Child
Mar 25, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5fM1ANvAd4
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Portugal plans to double its territory
May 10, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYSm8rla5jY
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How China Is Taking Over Europe’s Ports | CCP Trade, Economy, and Politics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XHdGPT11fk
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European seaports and Chinese strategic influence
18 Dec 2019
https://www.clingendael.org/publication/european-seaports-and-chinese-strategic-influence-0
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Sri Lanka, Struggling With Debt, Hands a Major Port to China
2017
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/12/world/asia/sri-lanka-china-port.html
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Sri Lanka hands port formally to Chinese firm, receives $292 mln
12-9-2017
https://www.reuters.com/article/sri-lanka-china-ports/sri-lanka-hands-port-formally-to-chinese-firm-receives-292-mln-idUSL3N1O908U
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Jamaica has China to thank for much-needed infrastructure — but some locals say it has come at a price
Nov 28, 2019
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/china-power-belt-and-road-caribbean-jamaica-1.5374967
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Caribbean Islands becoming hot spots for Chinese investment
3-25-2019
Marco Rubio, says he is ‘very concerned’ about China’s efforts to extend influence into Latin American and the Caribbean
https://www.rollcall.com/2019/03/25/caribbean-islands-becoming-hot-spots-for-chinese-investment/
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Watch Out For China Buying Spree, NATO Warns
Apr 18, 2020
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2020/04/18/watch-out-for-china-buying-spree-nato-warns/#614fb56f1758
Watch out for Chinese companies swooping in with buckets of cash to buy strategic stakes, or majority control in U.S. and European companies as asset prices fall due to the pandemic.
NATO sounded the alarm this week, though without naming names.
“The geopolitical effects of the pandemic could be significant,” said NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in web conference of defense ministers on Wednesday. “Some allies (are) more vulnerable for situations where critical infrastructure can be sold out,” he said. Of course he meant China. China has been busy buying Greek ports.
It already pretty much runs Italian textiles. It’s a wonder Italy even makes an espresso machine anymore.
China Overseas Shipping Company, aka COSCO, owns 90% of the only terminal operator in Belgium. COSCO has a 51% stake in and managerial control of port terminals in Valencia and Bilbao, Spain. They also have minority stakes in other terminals in Antwerp, Las Palmas and Rotterdam, according to a December 2019 study by a Netherlands think tank, seen here.
John Sawers, former MI6 chief told Sky News this week that, “We need to do more to protect Western technology from being bought up by Chinese companies. I don’t think it’s an existential threat in the way the Soviet Union was in the Cold War, but nevertheless there is going to be deep rivalry over control of technology,” he reportedly said.
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US security concerns force Cosco-owned Orient Overseas to sell Long Beach port in California
30 Apr, 2019
https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3008324/us-security-concerns-force-cosco-owned-orient-overseas-sell-long
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China Is Buying Up The World’s Ports…And No One Is Talking About It
Jul 14, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgIz7yTwSuA
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With Acquisition of California Port, China Broadens Influence on US Commerce
6-5-2018
https://amac.us/with-acquisition-of-california-port-china-broadens-influence-on-us-commerce/
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Chinese company to sell Long Beach Container Terminal for $1.78 billion
4-30-2019
The sale was required by the U.S. government last year. Port Executive Director Mario Cordero said the change in ownership wouldn’t be disruptive for the port.
https://www.presstelegram.com/2019/04/30/chinese-company-to-sell-long-beach-container-terminal-for-1-78-billion/
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LA Business Journal: China investing heavily in Los Angeles
1-4-2017
They are buying up Hollywood studios. They are making huge investments in L.A. real estate. Their consumer products are driving the local economy.
While those alarms sound very much like they are being sounded over the spate of recent Chinese investment activity in Los Angeles, they also recall the apprehension when Japanese investors came knocking 30 years ago.
Even as the growing inflow of Chinese money makes headlines today, Japanese companies are still the top foreign investor in Los Angeles, according to a recent economic report. China didn’t even make the cut for the top 10 foreign job creators in Los Angeles County.
https://laedc.org/2017/01/04/la-business-journal-china-investing-heavily-los-angeles/
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From International to Interstates: Assessing the Opportunity for Chinese Participation in U.S. Infrastructure
https://www.uschamber.com/sites/default/files/documents/files/ChinaInfrastructure_Final_0.pdf
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Should We Allow the Chinese to Buy Any US Company They Want?
Jan 09, 2018
Letting Chinese corporations acquire American companies, especially energy or technology-based companies is the biggest threat to rebuilding American manufacturing.
https://www.industryweek.com/the-economy/article/22024894/should-we-allow-the-chinese-to-buy-any-us-company-they-want
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The Chinese purchase more U.S. residential real estate than buyers from any other foreign country, but Trump’s trade war may change that
May 16, 2019
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/chinese-investors-buy-more-us-residential-real-estate-than-any-other-country-but-trumps-trade-war-could-soon-end-that-2019-05-15
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How Chinese Real Estate Money is Transforming the San Francisco Bay Area
8-22-2017
https://macropolo.org/chinese-real-estate-money-transforming-san-francisco-bay-area/
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Foreign purchases of American homes plunge 36% as Chinese buyers flee the market
Jul 17 2019
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/17/foreign-purchases-of-american-homes-plunge-36percent-as-chinese-buyers-flee.html
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China to Spend $1.5 Trillion Buying Companies Abroad
Aug 08, 2017
Government policies encouraging Chinese companies to invest in manufacturing capabilities, particularly for advanced technology, and international trade will help maintain deal flow.
https://www.industryweek.com/the-economy/emerging-markets/article/22023938/china-to-spend-15-trillion-buying-companies-abroad
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Why China’s infrastructure investment may be doing more harm than good
https://review.sbs.ox.ac.uk/Why-Chinas-infrastructure-investment-may-be-doing-more-harm-than-good.html
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Chinese Investment in Europe and North America Hits 9-Year Low; Signs of Recovery for 2020
1-8-2020
https://www.bakermckenzie.com/en/newsroom/2020/01/chinese-investment-in-europe-na
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CalPERS is Heavily Invested in Chinese Companies
10-10-2019
https://californiaglobe.com/world-news/calpers-is-heavily-invested-in-chinese-companies/
As NBA frets over PRoC, Yu Ben Meng bets big with dollars from America’s largest pension fund
On October 1st, 2019, the People’s Republic of China celebrated its 70th anniversary. The centerpiece of their festivities was a massive military parade down the streets of Beijing, and the centerpiece of that parade was China’s newest intercontinental ballistic missile, the Dongfeng-41. This missile travels at a speed of Mach 25, carries multiple nuclear warheads, and can reach the United States in under 30 minutes.
California’s public employees should know that their retirement funds have invested in companies controlled by the Chinese military, which manufacture parts for the DF-41 missile, along with a range of aircraft, unmanned aircraft systems, and airborne weapons.
For that matter, these pension funds not only invest in Chinese companies (and index funds, tracked by mutual funds, that are heavily weighted with Chinese companies) directly involved in manufacturing military equipment and surveillance equipment, they also invest in Chinese companies involved directly or indirectly in human rights, labor rights, and environmental protection violations all over the world.
California’s largest public employee pension fund, CalPERS, provides a case in point. Despite its quest for the elusive 7 percent annual return, CalPERS nonetheless foregoes investments in Iran, Sudan, assault rifles, tobacco products, and thermal coal. Yet CalPERS continues to invest in Chinese companies.
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CalPERS loses $69 billion in biggest market losses since Great Recession
3-22-2020
https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/the-state-worker/article241391841.html
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Coronavirus Side Effect: CalPERS Drops to 60% Funded
May 5, 2020
It is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish the Coronavirus Crisis from the California Pension Crisis
https://californiaglobe.com/section-2/coronavirus-side-effect-calpers-drops-to-60-funded/
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For the U.S., the biggest financial threat from China might not be the coronavirus
3-12-2020
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/12/us-biggest-financial-threat-china-might-not-be-coronavirus/
The coronavirus crisis has revealed the severe supply-chain risks inherent in tying the U.S. economy to China. But a potentially even bigger problem is Wall Street indexes and related funds drastically increasing their stakes in opaque and often criminal Chinese companies, without disclosing the risks to millions of American investors.
Senior U.S. officials, lawmakers and experts are sounding the alarm about huge pension funds increasing their holdings of Chinese assets, despite economic and national security concerns. The retirement savings of millions of U.S. investors are becoming dependent on the success of Chinese companies that lack real transparency, are connected to the Chinese military or stand accused of complicity in mass atrocities.
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California Pension Fund Board Slams CIO for Selling Off Hedges ahead of Coronavirus Market Downturn
April 22, 2020
https://www.nationalreview.com/news/california-pension-fund-board-slams-china-linked-cio-for-selling-off-hedges-ahead-of-coronavirus-market-downturn/
Yu Ben Meng — the chief investment officer of California’s public pension who has ties to Chinese espionage — sold off the fund’s investments in hedges against market downturn without the approval of the pension’s board, a move that cost the fund a billion-dollar payout following the coronavirus market crash.
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Why China’s First Military Base Abroad is in Africa
Sep 6, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cg6u1rwgbkY
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CHINA vs FRANCE: Battle for AFRICA? – VisualPolitik EN
Jun 20, 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY8pCRSBd_o
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The Top Ten African Countries With the Largest Chinese Debt
October 2nd, 2018
https://www.africanexponent.com/post/9183-here-are-the-top-ten-countries-in-africa-bearing-the-largest-chinese-debt
1. Angola
Angola is the most indebted African country to China. It has an estimated debt of over US$25 billion. Shocking, but that’s the reality at hand. Most of Angolan oil is going towards the repayment of Chinese debts, despite Angola being the second largest producer of oil in Africa.
2. Ethiopia
All those Chinese infrastructural development projects in the East African country are coming at a heavy price. Ethiopia has an estimated debt of US$13.5 billion. The debt levels have slowed down some projects due to repayment issues, but there is now a new structure for these debts that makes it a little bit affordable for Ethiopia to repay.
3. Kenya
Even after the discovery of oil in the northern part of the country, nothing in essence is working towards cutting down the levels of debt to China. Kenya has an estimated debt of US$7.9 billion. The country has been taking money to facilitate the fruition of its infrastructural projects. But as lack of transparency and accountability come into play, a lot of money has been lost to corruption.
4. The Republic of Congo
Congo, which may be popularly known as Congo-Brazzaville, has an estimated debt of US$7.3 billion. Again, corruption has played a major role in ballooning the debt to such egregious levels.
5. North Sudan
The conflict-torn country has an estimated debt of over US$6.4 billion. Although China has written off the country’s debt incurred in 2015, it still has a long way to go.
6. Zambia
Zambia is increasingly getting mired in the tentacles of Chinese debt. The Chinese have sponsored a lot of projects in the country. The country has an estimated debt of US$6 billion. China is taking Zambian firms as part of repayment plans, and there were reports that ZESCO, the national power utility, was being taken over by China, even ZNBC, the country’s national broadcaster.
7. Cameroon
Cameroon has an estimated debt of US$5.5 billion. However, it was recently revealed that China was in talks to cancel part of the country’s debt. But with China, nothing is so certain.
8. Nigeria
The West African country has an estimated debt of US$4.8 billion. Nigeria has accepted the Chinese yuan as a reserve currency.
9. Ghana
Ghana stands at number 9 with an estimated debt of US$3.5 billion. The country’s opposition has involved the IMF to help look into the country’s debt
10. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
The DRC could easily be one of the richest countries in the world considering how it is abundantly endowed with precious natural resources and minerals. However, plundering of these resources has set the country back, including unending conflict. It has an estimated debt of US$3.4 billion. DRC was quick to exchange mineral resources for loans with China.
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Here is Why Socialism Failed in Africa
July 27th, 2020
There was little order when private firms were acquired by the various governments.
The emergence and development of socialism in Africa came as a result of finding a new rallying point to foster economic growth in Africa. African nationalism had already united people together for the independence cause and African socialism stood as the new ideology for economic prosperity. It was a middle ground between Western capitalism and Soviet communism (the latter which adopted socialism for the administration of the whole Soviet Union). But as time progressed, the inefficiencies and loopholes of socialism in Africa got apparent and it was clear that the intended purposes of the ideology had failed to usher in comprehensive economic success for the continent.
As several African countries got their independence in the 1950s and 60s, the rejection of capitalism grew in popularity. Colonialism had brought capitalism and its evils to the continent. The rejection of capitalism at that time was a natural reaction by African leaders and a way to garner wide public support. It was lauded as a viable alternative regarding the economic prosperity of the continent. Between 1950 and the mid-1980s, 35 countries in Africa had adopted socialism in various forms. The wave of independence that swept across the continent at that time was supposed to empower the continent with true economic liberation, but this was not to be the case as the leaders dismally failed at executing their noble ideas.
The main inspiration for African socialism obviously came from the Union of the Soviet Socialists Republic (USSR, later Russia) and with how rapid industrialization was taking place in the USSR, there was a proven track record that socialism premised on the pre-colonial African society would work. The socialist running of the USSR also served as an inspiration for African countries because it was a departure from the capitalist machinations of the West. The way that the USSR was catching up with the United States of America and other European economic powerhouses compelled African leaders to think that they could also rival these Western superpowers…
https://www.africanexponent.com/post/7726-here-is-why-socialism-failed-in-africa
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Uproar in Nigeria Over Fears that Chinese Loans Are Jeopardizing Sovereignty
July 30, 2020
https://chinaafricaproject.com/2020/07/30/uproar-in-nigeria-over-fears-that-chinese-loans-are-jeopardizing-sovereignty/
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Loans: China can seize assets if Nigeria defaults – Amaechi
July 30, 2020
https://www.africahousingnews.com/2020/07/30/loans-china-can-seize-assets-if-nigeria-defaults-amaechi/
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Is Zambia Africa’s first casualty in China’s takeover after defaulting on loan repayment?
September 07, 2018
https://face2faceafrica.com/article/is-zambia-africas-first-casualty-in-chinas-takeover-after-defaulting-on-loan-repayment
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China’s Ugly Exploitation of Africa—and Africans
Mar. 06, 2018
Beijing is often a step ahead of Washington in Africa, as Secretary of State Tillerson is likely to find out this week. But China’s not exactly winning friends.
The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has said if Nigeria defaults on loans repayment, China has right to take over those assets and run them until it recovers its money. The minister spoke to journalists on Wednesday at Idu train station in Abuja during a COVID-19 protocol compliance and inspection after rail operation resumed.
The House of Representatives in their probe of Chinese loans to Nigeria found that the agreements ceded Nigeria’s sovereign right on the assets financed by the loans to China if there was payment default. But Amaechi said: “What the Chinese normally do is that they go after the same asset to recover their money. So what is wrong with that? You are asking for $5.3bn.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/chinas-ugly-exploitation-of-africaand-africans?ref=scroll
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China has spent billions in Africa, but some critics at home question why
Sep. 3, 2018
https://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-china-africa-20180903-story.html
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How China Benefits from African Debt
February 5, 2018
https://geopoliticalfutures.com/china-benefits-african-debt/
The level of debt owed by African governments in countries such as Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique, and Tanzania has increased markedly since the 2008 financial crisis. Problematic though sub-Saharan African debt may be, debt levels vary country by country and therefore mitigate the possibility of a continent-wide crisis. Still, widespread default could create opportunities for outside powers that covet the region’s natural resources.
How It Happened
In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, global interest rates were low, and money was cheap. Investors who sought greater returns turned to riskier investments, including African sovereign debt. Countries across the continent took on debt to fund infrastructure and other development projects. Countries such as Nigeria and Botswana still have debt burdens of under 50 percent of GDP—the level at which debt is generally considered high for developing countries. Other countries such as Mozambique and South Africa have debt burdens of more than 100 percent of GDP. Median public-sector debt in sub-Saharan Africa was 48 percent in 2016.
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Chinese lending to African countries jumped tenfold in the last five years
November 15, 2018
China’s loans to African states have been caught between local realities and debt anxieties. In the five years from 2012 to 2017, Chinese lending to sub Saharan African countries jumped to more than $10 billion a year, up from less than $1 billion in 2001, according to credit analysts at Moody’s.
Over the last two decades, China has pledged billions of dollars to countries in loans, grants, and development financing. Through its Belt and Road initiative, agreements with the African Union, and at the forum on China-Africa cooperation, the Chinese extended their “win-win” economic policy by investing in railway, highway and port projects besides industrialization…
https://qz.com/africa/1463948/chinese-lending-to-african-countries-jumped-tenfold-in-the-last-five-years/
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Twice as many African presidents made it to China’s Africa summit than to the UN general assembly
October 5, 2018
By Quartz’s count 51 African leaders were in Beijing compared with 27 in New York.
https://qz.com/africa/1414004/more-african-presidents-went-to-chinas-africa-forum-than-un-general-assembly/
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US bickers with China over Africa Covid-19 loans relief
June 26 2020
https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/news/world/us-bickers-with-china-over-africa-covid-19-loans-relief-1443926
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Coronavirus in Djibouti increases risk of China debt trap
April 26, 2020
Horn of Africa nation sees rapid infrastructure development, but with trade-offs
https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Belt-and-Road/Coronavirus-in-Djibouti-increases-risk-of-China-debt-trap
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No, China is not taking over Zambia’s national electricity supplier. Not yet, anyway.
September 18, 2018
https://qz.com/africa/1391111/zambia-china-debt-crisis-tests-china-in-africa-relationship/
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Chinese Loans to Africa: Know how Much your Country Owes China; Angola, Ethiopia, Kenya and Zanbia lead the pack.
4-16-2020
According to the Overseas Development Institute, “Almost 40% of Sub-Saharan African countries are in danger of slipping into a major debt crisis”. This issue is true in part due to the new found partnership between Africa and China.
https://kenyanreport.com/2020/04/16/chinese-loans-to-africa-know-how-much-your-country-owes-chinaangolaethiopiakenya-and-zambia-lead-the-pack/
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China’s expensive bet on Africa has failed
May 1, 2020
Coronavirus crash in commodity prices has wasted $200 billion in investment and loans
https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/China-s-expensive-bet-on-Africa-has-failed
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China May Agree to Delay, Not Forgive, $150 Billion Africa Debt
May 18, 2020
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-18/china-may-agree-to-delay-not-forgive-150-billion-africa-debt
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It’s a (Debt) Trap! Managing China-IMF Cooperation Across the Belt and Road
https://www.csis.org/npfp/its-debt-trap-managing-china-imf-cooperation-across-belt-and-road
Five years ago, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced his flagship foreign policy project, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Currently, total Chinese BRI investment is estimated at over $1 trillion, more than eight-times the size of the Marshall Plan in today’s dollars.1 When it was launched, China heralded BRI as a “golden opportunity” to “revitalize” the region. Today, many countries are wary about China’s intentions. Unlike the Marshall Plan, which mainly dispersed aid in the form of grants that did not have to be repaid, China uses loans that often come at commercial interest rates. While the BRI provides vital infrastructure funding to developing countries, it also leaves many with unsustainable debt. For example, China is funding a high-speed rail line in Laos that will cost equivalent to half the country’s GDP.2
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), China, and other stakeholders should cooperate to help countries along the Belt and Road facing financial imbalances and high debt. This will not be easy. Before providing aid, the IMF will require transparency into BRI loan terms, which are notoriously opaque and can burden countries with high debt.3 China has resisted international involvement in BRI, yet the foundation for cooperation already exists. To reconcile these competing perspectives, the IMF and China should expand communication channels and launch pilot reforms that address problems on both sides. If these conditions are met, the United States should encourage IMF assistance to BRI countries to protect sovereignty and promote higher lending standards.
BRI spending in developing countries has raised serious concerns about debt sustainability. A recent Center for Global Development report found eight BRI recipient countries—Djibouti, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, the Maldives, Mongolia, Montenegro, Pakistan, and Tajikistan—are at a high risk of debt distress due to BRI loans. 4 These countries will all face rising debt-to-GDP ratios beyond 50 percent, with at least 40 percent of external debt owed to China once BRI lending is complete. These countries will need support to service BRI loans as repayments peak and will likely turn to the IMF and other smaller lenders. Discussions for an IMF bailout have already begun in Pakistan, where China has invested $62 billion, or one-fifth of Pakistan’s GDP, in infrastructure and energy projects.5
The IMF has scrutinized multiple aspects of the BRI, repeatedly warning of unsustainable debt levels, predatory lending, and the lack of project transparency. 6 To assuage these concerns, the IMF will request greater clarity on foreign currency payments, including the details of BRI loans, before authorizing a credit line. An IMF program should include BRI debt restructuring or reevaluating proposed infrastructure investments to determine if they are financially sound. At a minimum, the IMF will need to see the terms of BRI loans to complete the necessary debt sustainability analysis.7
Given these constraints, there is a possibility for disagreement between the IMF and China over the future of BRI projects in debt-distressed countries. Chinese loans violate several international lending best practices involving procurement, transparency, and dispute settlement. Chinese contractors dominate infrastructure projects, and Chinese-funded loans are less transparent than those from multilateral development banks.8 Beijing has demonstrated a reluctance to abide by international investment standards, establishing two courts to resolve BRI-related disputes outside of existing settlement venues.9 China also enshrined BRI into its constitution last year, putting pressure on state companies and officials to continue lending.
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How China Is Colonizing Africa Using Trade, Aid, and Debt-Trap Diplomacy
2018
https://www.panafricanalliance.com/china-africa-colonialism/
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Debt-trap diplomacy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt-trap_diplomacy
Kenya
Further information: China–Kenya relations
Between 2006 and 2017, Kenya took out loans of at least $9.8 billion (Sh1043.77 billion) from China. Chinese debt accounts for 72% of overall foreign debt.
China lent Kenya extensive funds to build highways and the a standard gauge railway between Mombasa and Nairobi. Totalling over US$6.5 billion as of 2020. In late December 2018 Kenya reportedly came close to default on Chinese loans to develop its largest and most lucrative port, the Port of Mombasa. This could have forced Kenya to relinquish control of the port to China. Kenyan media has debated whether Chinese loans are worth the risk, drawing analogies with § Sri Lanka, and some commentators have said that these loans could jeopardise Kenyan sovereignty.
South Africa
Further information: China–South Africa relations
South Africa is estimated to owe the equivalent of 4% of its annual GDP to China. The country has received multiple tranches of Chinese loans, some of which have raised concerns around their opaque conditions and alleged links to corruption in South Africa. This includes a controversial US$2.5 billion loan from the Chinese Development Bank to state-owned South African electrical utility Eskom arranged during the Jacob Zuma government, the conditions of which were not made public.[deprecated source] Another US$2.5 billion loan from a private Chinese company, Huarong Energy, to Eskom, was found by the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into state corruption to be improper prompting Eskom chairperson Jabu Mabuza to publicly state that Eskom would not be repaying the loan due to irregularities and corruption involved in the issuing of the loan.
An additional R370 billion (US$25.8 billion) loan from the China Development Bank during the presidency of Cyril Ramaphosa was given to promote a 2018 economic stimulus package. The South African government initially described the loan as a “gift” whilst the details of the loan were not made public thereby causing significant public controversy. The government justified the loan by stating that the interest rate was not exorbitant, and also that it could not be disclosed due to confidentiality clauses. The loan was criticised by the opposition Democratic Alliance political party for possibly pushing the country into a “debt trap”.
Rest of Africa
Nigeria: US$3.1 billion of the country’s total US$27.6 billion foreign debt is owned by China. Nigerian financial publication Nairametrics warned of falling into a Chinese debt trap given Nigeria’s notable problems with corruption.
Zambia: US$7.4 billion of the country’s total $US8.7 billion of debt is owned by China, a large debt burden given the relatively small size of Zambia’s economy. In 2018, Zambian lawmakers debated whether Chinese loans, characterised as reckless and difficult to repay, put Zambian sovereignty at risk. The Zambian government was in talks with China about in total surrender of the state electricity company ZESCO as debt repayment since the country has defaulted on multiple Chinese loans for infrastructure projects.
Djibouti: Loans to develop a strategic port. Chinese loans total 77% of the country’s total debt. Djibouti owes over 80 per cent of its GDP to China and in 2017, became host to China’s first overseas military base.
Republic of the Congo: An estimated $2.5billion is owed to Chinese lenders. The exact number is unknown even to the Congolese government.
Egypt: China is financing the country’s new capital of New Cairo. In an interview, Gen. Ahmed Zaki Abdeen, who heads the Egyptian state-owned enterprise overseeing the new capital, criticised American reluctance to invest in Egypt, saying: “Stop talking to us about human rights,” he says. “Come and do business with us. The Chinese are coming — they are seeking win-win situations. Welcome to the Chinese.”
In Latin America
See also: China–Latin America relations, China–Venezuela relations, and China–Ecuador relations
An article in CNBC said that Chinese investment in Latin America has been burgeoning and that the project has been heavily criticised amid allegations of debt-trap diplomacy and neo-colonialism. These concerns have been pronounced especially in Venezuela and Ecuador.
Argentina: Argentina has been denied access and oversight of a Chinese satellite tracking station on its territory.
Ecuador: Ecuador has agreed to sell 80 to 90 per cent of its crude oil to China through 2024 in exchange for US$6.5 billion in Chinese loans.
Venezuela: An article published by Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy said that China’s loans in Venezuela are not debt trap diplomacy nor “creditor imperialism,” but simply “lose-lose” financial mistakes where both parties stand to lose. An article in Quartz summarised the Carnegie article accordingly: “counter to the dominant narrative about Chinese debt ensnaring other countries, the country that needs to fear excessive and unsustainable Chinese lending the most is China.”
In Asia
Sri Lanka
Critics cite the example of a loan given to the Sri Lankan government by the Exim Bank of China to build the Magampura Mahinda Rajapaksa Port and Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport as an example of debt-trap diplomacy. The state-owned Chinese firms China Harbour Engineering Company and Sinohydro Corporation were hired to build the Magampura Port for US$361 million which was 85% funded by China’s state-owned Export-Import Bank at an annual interest rate of 6.3%. Due to Sri Lanka’s inability to service the debt on the port, it was leased to the Chinese state-owned China Merchants Port Holdings Company Limited on a 99-year lease in 2017. This caused concern in the United States, Japan, and India that the port might be used as a Chinese naval base to contain China’s geopolitical rivals.
Indonesia
In 2003, Suramadu Bridge was built by a consortium of Indonesian companies working with China Road and Bridge Corporation and the China Harbor Engineering Company. The total cost of the project, including connecting roads, has been estimated at US$445 million.
The coal-fired 990 MW Indramayu West Java 1 power plant was inaugurated in October 2011. Construction began in 2007 and was managed by a consortium of contractors: China National Machinery Industry Corporation, China National Electric Equipment Corporation, estimated cost: $870 million
In 2011, Sumatra coal railway, estimated cost US$1.5 billion
In 2015 Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail, estimated cost: around US$5.5 billion
In 2015 Central Kalimantan Puruk Cahu-Bangkuang coal railway, estimated US$3.3 billion
In April 2018, Indonesia and China signed five contracts worth $23.3 billion contract consists of several infrastructure projects such as a hydropower plant development and a facility to convert coal into dimethyl ether, among other projects.
In March 2019 Indonesia and China will execute an investment plan worth US$91.1 billion for 28 national projects under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), according to the first meeting of the Joint Steering Committee for the Construction of Regional Comprehensive Economic Corridors for Cooperation between the countries in Bali.
Malaysia
Further information: China–Malaysia relations and 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal
China financed $22 billion worth of projects in Malaysia during the leadership of former Prime Minister Najib Razak.[18] On 31 May 2014, then-Prime Minister Najib Razak made a state visit to China where he was welcomed by China’s Premier Li Keqiang. China and Malaysia pledged to increase bilateral trade to US$160 billion by 2017. They also agreed to upgrade economic and financial co-operation, especially in the production of halal food, water processing, railway construction, and ports.
After his inauguration in 2018, the then PM Mahathir Mohamad canceled projects worth approximately $2.795 billion with China Petroleum Pipeline Bureau for oil and gas pipelines, saying Malaysia would not be able to repay its obligations. 90% of the cost of several of the pipelines in Borneo and from Malacca to Johor had been paid, but only 13% of the construction had been completed. Mohamad further stated that some of the funding from the Exim Bank of China had been misappropriated as part of the 1MDB scandal.
Mohamad and his Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng criticised the projects, saying they were expensive, unnecessary, not useful, uncompetitive as open bidding was not allowed, secretive, conducted with no public oversight and favoured Chinese state-owned firms and those affiliated with Najib’s United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) party at inflated prices. Locals in the city of Malacca also complained that the port was unneeded and the small company that was awarded the contract had ties to the previously-ruling UMNO political party.
When confronted with the China’s String of Pearls strategy in the Indian Ocean, and China’s motives in Malaysia and the Strait of Malacca, Malaysian Deputy Minister of Defense Liew Chin Tong said:
“You look at a map and you can see the places where China is plotting ports and investments, from Myanmar to Pakistan to Sri Lanka, on toward Djibouti. What’s crucial to all that? Our little Malaysia, and the Malacca Strait. I say publicly that we do not want to see warships in the Strait of Malacca or the South China Sea.”
However the loans and their terms were later renegotiated and Mahathir Mohamad pledged support for the BRI and became one of the key opening speakers of the BRI Summit in Beijing in 2019.
Other examples
The Chinese have made loans the Malaysian government of Najib Razak, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Tajikistan, the Maldives, Mongolia, and to build a national highway in Montenegro, as part of the Belt and Road Initiative. It has also made US$19 billion worth of loans to Pakistan, as part of the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and other projects. A New York Times investigative report from December 2018 reported on emerging military dimensions of the investments, which it termed a debt-trap and stated are under poor governance and transparency. China also made a US$115 million loan to Tonga to redevelop its infrastructure, and US$2 billion in loans to Papua New Guinea totalling almost a quarter of its total debt.
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The Countries Most in Debt to China
Oct 14, 2019
According to research recently published by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, there are seven countries in the world whose external loan debt to China surpasses 25 percent of their GDP. Three (Djibouti, Niger and The Republic of the Congo) are located in Africa, while four (Kyrgyztan, Laos, Cambodia and the Maldives) are in Asia.
Yet, the world map of debt to China amassed through direct loans (excluding debt holdings and short-term trade debt) shows that a majority of countries heavily in debt to China are in Africa, but that Central Asia and Latin America follow close behind.
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Kenya holds third highest Chinese debt in Africa
September 20, 2018
https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/business/2018/09/kenya-holds-third-highest-chinese-debt-in-africa/
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Tanzania Says No to Chinese Loan, Mocks Terms and Conditions
2020/05/01
https://www.visiontimes.com/2020/05/01/tanzania-says-no-to-chinese-loan-mocks-terms-and-conditions.html
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China’s loans to South Africa – IV
24 January 2019
https://www.politicsweb.co.za/news-and-analysis/chinas-loans-to-south-africa–iv
The first brief gave an overview of South Africa’s debt situation, how the loans from China fit into this, and why it is we need to look at the experiences other countries have had with Chinese debt. The second and third briefs covered the experiences Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Argentina, Zambia, Kenya and Ethiopia have had with Chinese loans. The final brief looks at why the BRICS Bank was not used, on what basis government is able to refuse disclosing further information on the loans, and finishes with a conclusion for the series.
THE LESSONS LEARNED
In the points below, I begin by summarising each lesson learned from the six countries researched, followed by a synopsis of how it might apply to South Africa.
1. Repayment difficulties:
None of the six countries analysed have been able to, or will likely be able to, avoid repayment difficulties on their Chinese loans, or national debt generally. Zambia was never able to turn a profit from the TAZARA railway line, and the debt could not be paid back over several decades and governments. It is unlikely that Kenya’s SGR railway line will be able to turn a profit either. Ethiopia has begun debt restructuring despite having one of the world’s fastest growing economies. Pakistan looks likely not to be able to generate enough revenue for repayment, and Sri Lanka defaulted on their loan. Argentina has continued to struggle with debt repayments generally, and at the end of last year asked to be released from a $50 billion loan from the IMF. However, there is yet to be reports on repayment issues specific to Argentina’s Chinese loans…
2. Cost overruns:
Cost overruns of the infrastructure projects have been experienced in almost all the countries analysed, resulting in higher than the planned debt levels and linked interest expenses.
Because cost overruns have been the general rule with Chinese as well as South African infrastructure projects – such as the cost overrun of over R 52 billion on the Medupi and Kusile power stations – I can see no reason why any new infrastructure projects off the back of Chinese loans would not experience the same. It would therefore be prudent for the government to plan its infrastructure spend to be below the total initial amount of the loans, similar to Argentina’s downward renegotiation of its contracts.
3. Corruption:
Corruption has tainted the loans to at least four of the six countries analysed. There are few reports of corruption in the Zambian loans, but when taking into consideration Zambia’s current score of 37 out of 100 on the Transparency International Corruption Index (South Africa scores 43), the lack of corruption reporting could be because of the lack of information about the loans, amongst other possible reasons.
In South Africa, China South Rail has already allegedly been complicit in the irregular awarding of a tender worth over R25 billion by Transnet in 2014. This included a R5 billion kick-back to Gupta linked Trillian Capital for ‘consulting fees,’ and R509 million more being spent than should have been on one train deal alone. Without transparency, incentives and the opportunities for corruption can only rise. It is therefore essential that all terms and conditions of the loans, and full details of the projects attached to them, be made publicly available in order to deter corruption and hold all those involved to account.
4. Lender of last resort:
For Zambia, Kenya and Sri Lanka, because certain projects did not pass feasibility studies, China was the lender of last resort. In Argentina’s case it simply could not find funding elsewhere. As such, China was naturally in an opportune position when negotiating the terms of the loans.
It has become general knowledge that South Africa’s largest parastatal, Eskom, has in the last year or more been unable to raise enough of its required financing through the bond markets – where it had traditionally raised funds in the past. In light of this, the R37 billion loan from China to Eskom last year makes it reasonable to presume that China has become South Africa’s lender of last resort, making it all the more probable that the terms of the loans are largely skewed in China’s favour.
5. Terms for construction inputs:
In Zambia, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, a term of the loans was that China was to supply the vast majority of the inputs. As such, local labour, suppliers and construction companies could not directly benefit from the projects.
Given the economic slump in which South Africa finds itself, the high unemployment rate and having lost out on the last commodity rally as a result of the ‘lost decade’ during Zuma’s presidency, negotiating the terms of inputs along the lines of those achieved by Kenya, by giving priority to South African inputs, is an absolute must.
6. Transparency:
Only in Zambia, Pakistan and Argentina were the terms of the loans largely unknown, so while secrecy is a common feature of Chinese loans around the world, it is not the rule. As discussed in the first brief in this series, President Ramaphosa and other officials have unfortunately given inadequate reasons as to why secrecy should be the case here.
7. Chinese loan dependency:
Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Argentina have become heavily dependent on Chinese loans and would likely not have adequate funding without them. If China is or becomes South Africa’s lender of last resort and government does not manage to adequately service its debt or find funding elsewhere, South Africa runs the risk of becoming Chinese loan dependant. That or go into debt restructuring at the behest of the IMF.
8. Threats to national sovereignty:
In Sri Lanka the Chinese loans resulted in an assault on the country’s sovereignty on potentially two fronts. First, China now owns the Hambantota port and 15 000 acres of land surrounding it. Second, there have been reports that a Chinese state owned company working in Sri Lanka actively tried and influence the country’s general elections. In Argentina’s case, land was allocated to China for a satellite hub as collateral, rent free for 50 years.
None of the six countries analysed have been able to, or will likely be able to, avoid repayment difficulties on their Chinese loans, or national debt generally. Zambia was never able to turn a profit from the TAZARA railway line, and the debt could not be paid back over several decades and governments. It is unlikely that Kenya’s SGR railway line will be able to turn a profit either. Ethiopia has begun debt restructuring despite having one of the world’s fastest growing economies. Pakistan looks likely not to be able to generate enough revenue for repayment, and Sri Lanka defaulted on their loan. Argentina has continued to struggle with debt repayments generally, and at the end of last year asked to be released from a $50 billion loan from the IMF. However, there is yet to be reports on repayment issues specific to Argentina’s Chinese loans.
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SA confirms receipt of $1 billion Covid-19 relief loan from NDB
July 29, 2020
South Africa received the $1 billion emergency loan that it secured from the New Development Bank to assist in fighting the coronavirus pandemic on July 20, according to National Treasury.
The disbursement from the lender, which serves the BRICS nations – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – means the country will get the bulk of funds borrowed from international finance institutions by the end of this week. It is due to receive the $4.3 billion facility granted by the International Monetary Fund on Wednesday.
https://www.news24.com/fin24/Economy/South-Africa/sa-confirms-receipt-of-1-billion-covid-19-relief-loan-from-ndb-20200729
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Reality Check: Is China burdening Africa with debt?
5 November 2018
Africa is facing a looming debt crisis, say leading development economists.
“Almost 40% of sub-Saharan African countries are in danger of slipping into a major debt crisis” according to the Overseas Development Institute, ahead of a major conference on debt being held in London this week.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-45916060
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How Chinese loans are making Africa poorer | Morning Express Press Review
Sep 12, 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGv_RigOwpg
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Ghana leverages natural resources to secure $15bn loan from China
27 Jun, 2017
https://www.rt.com/business/394262-ghana-china-loan-natural-resources/
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Chinese Loans to Africa Database
https://www.chinaafricaloandata.org/
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New study uncovers China’s massive hidden lending to poor countries
18 July, 2019
New report shows the extent of China’s hidden power as the developing world’s creditor.
Over 50 developing countries’ Chinese debt accounts for on average 15 percent of their individual GDP.
New report shows that the majority of the world’s developing country’s debt to China is considered “hidden.”
China’s loans for poor countries are primarily for crucial infrastructure.
China’s overseas lending, which was virtually zero before the turn of the century — well, about $500 billion in 2000 — stands today, ostensibly, at around $5 trillion. Indeed, they are now the world’s largest creditor, being twice as large as both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, combined.
As much of what China does is under a veiled curtain of secrecy, it’s been difficult to track how all the money is flowing. A new comprehensive study though, by Sebastian Horn and Christoph Trebesch of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, and Carmen Reinhart of Harvard University, has provided some new insights about China’s official credit lending empire. What did the researchers discover? More than half of China’s lending to developing countries is what they term “hidden” money — loans that haven’t been reported to any of the international funds, such as the World Bank.
https://bigthink.com/politics-current-affairs/china-loans
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Chinese loans to poor countries are surging
Jul 12th 2019
https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2019/07/12/chinese-loans-to-poor-countries-are-surging
Nearly half of China’s credit is hidden; much of it goes to vulnerable borrowers
LOAN TALKS with Belarus; funding for bridges in Liberia; a possible gas project in Timor-Leste; accusations of exploitation in Tanzania; a corporate dispute in India; pledges to support the Rwandan private sector. And that was just the past few weeks. Such is China’s frenetic pace in its overseas lending that its outstanding loans, mainly to poorer countries, have gone from almost nothing in 2000 to more than $700bn today, making it the world’s largest official creditor, more than twice as big as the World Bank and IMF combined. Yet tracking the money is difficult because of limited transparency in its disclosures.
A new study by Sebastian Horn and Christoph Trebesch, both of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, and Carmen Reinhart of Harvard University, creates the most comprehensive picture yet. They find that nearly half of China’s lending to developing countries is “hidden”, in that neither the World Bank nor the IMF have data on it. The problem appears most severe for the most vulnerable borrowers.
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China is thinking twice about lending to Africa
2019
https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2019/06/29/china-is-thinking-twice-about-lending-to-africa
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China renegotiated $50bn in loans to developing countries
https://www.ft.com/content/0b207552-6977-11e9-80c7-60ee53e6681d
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Flush With Cash, China Continues to Borrow Billions From The World Bank
January 31, 2019
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/01/31/689960866/flush-with-cash-china-continues-to-borrow-billions-from-world-bank
During the Cold War, communist China shunned the capitalist World Bank. But once China embraced the institution in 1980, it quickly became one of the bank’s largest borrowers of all time — having taken out loans totaling more than $60 billion over the past four decades.
Today China is sitting on cash reserves of some $3 trillion. It is the world’s second-largest economy, behind the U.S. It directly lends more money to other nations each year than the $2 billion or so it borrows from the World Bank annually.
So some analysts are questioning whether the World Bank’s subsidized loans could be better deployed elsewhere in the world.
The World Bank, based in Washington, D.C., was established after World War II to help European countries rebuild. Its mission has evolved over the years and is now to finance development in low- and middle-income countries with the goal of eliminating extreme poverty. Once a borrowing country’s annual per capita income exceeds a certain threshold — roughly $7,000 at the moment — the country is supposed to be weaned off the World Bank’s loans. China passed that income threshold in 2016 yet was the bank’s largest borrower the next year, securing access to $2.4 billion in 2017.
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Vladimir Putin signed dozens of MOUs with African countries this week but can’t match China
October 25, 2019
https://qz.com/africa/1735708/vladimir-putins-russia-africa-promises-wont-match-china/
By the time the inaugural Russia-Africa Summit closed on Thursday afternoon in Sochi, Russia, president Vladimir Putin and his administration had signed dozens of memorandums of understanding (MOU) and other agreements with the African countries that attended.
The agreements include military cooperation, agricultural development, biotechnology, and oil and gas. They range from the minor, like Democratic Republic of Congo’s deal to sign data storage software, to more ambitious, like Ethiopia’s plan to build two 12,000 MW nuclear reactors.
Overall, Russia made big pledges across the two days in its effort to reestablish itself as a premier power on the continent and challenge China’s trade dominance. Russian trade with Africa has more than tripled to $18 billion in the past nine years, and Putin stated in his opening address that he wants to double that figure in the next five years.
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Japan has a plan to challenge China’s influence in Africa
September 2, 2019
https://qz.com/africa/1700181/japan-promises-20-billion-private-sector-investment-in-africa/
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U.S. Exim Bank Out to Displace China After Record Loan in Africa
Jul 23, 2020
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/u-s-exim-bank-out-to-displace-china-after-record-loan-in-africa-1.1469524
(Bloomberg) — The Export-Import Bank of the U.S. opened a new front in the trade war between America and China with its biggest loan yet in sub-Saharan Africa, as it plans to compete more aggressively on the continent.
The lender has just provided $4.7 billion to fund a Mozambican gas project — the largest share of about $15 billion raised for the development.
The deal helped secure U.S. jobs and displaced earlier financing efforts by China and Russia, according to Stephen Renna, Exim’s chief banking officer.
“China is our competitor and one that we want to compete with to win,” he said. “We do have a mandate from Congress to emphasize what we can do in sub-Saharan Africa so we’re clearly open for business there.”
The investment comes as tensions between Washington and Beijing escalate amid a bruising trade war and President Donald Trump’s orders to end Hong Kong’s special status and sanction Chinese officials responsible for clamping down on dissent in the city.
Africa Starts to Have Second Thoughts About That Chinese Money
China is Africa’s biggest trading partner, with two-way flows totaling more than $180 billion — almost four times that of America. Over the past decade, Exim has authorized about $12.4 billion for U.S. exports to sub-Saharan Africa, the lender said in February.
Exim became fully functional again after being reauthorized in December, with the mandate to offer loans that rival rates and terms offered by China. At least $27 billion of the agency’s total financing has been directed toward this purpose.
The bank’s board quorum was also re-established in May last year after more than three years during which it was unable to approve transactions greater than $10 million.
‘Push Back’
Exim first approved the loan for the Mozambique liquefied natural gas project when it was led by Anadarko Petroleum Corp. Though it was later sold on to French oil major Total SA, the project will still support U.S. companies that have been awarded contracts worth billions of dollars to help build the facility that by the bank’s count could back 16,700 American jobs.
Beating Chinese banks outright may not always be so clear cut. Exxon Mobil Corp. is planning to develop a facility next to Total’s, with China National Petroleum Corp. as one of its partners.
Africa’s Biggest Investment Takes Shape Amid Islamist Threat (1)
The participation of the state-owned Chinese company may not prohibit Exim from supporting the project, even though the goal is to “push back” against China, Renna said. Exxon did have an application with the bank before it was withdrawn when a final investment decision was delayed.
Exim has provided financing for a rural electrification project in Senegal. Solar and storage projects could also see funding, though Renna notes the bank is not the policy arm of the government and doesn’t choose the projects pro-actively.
In addition to power developments, there’s also a focus on telecommunications where concerns over new technology is increasing, according to Renna.
“A number of African governments have reached out and said: ‘We want to turn away from China, we’re concerned about the security of the information in our system,’” he said. “Alternatives have to bring financing and so that’s where we’re trying to step up and step in.”
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US Debt to China, How Much, Reasons Why, and What If China Sells
July 25, 2020
Why China Is America’s Biggest Banker
he U.S. debt to China was $1.08 trillion in May 2020.1 That’s more than 15% of the $6.8 trillion in Treasury bills, notes, and bonds held by foreign countries. The rest of the $26 trillion national debt is owned by either the American people or by the U.S. government itself.2
China has the second-greatest amount of U.S. debt held by a foreign country. Japan tops the list owning $1.26 trillion.
https://www.thebalance.com/u-s-debt-to-china-how-much-does-it-own-3306355
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How is ETHIOPIA Escaping POVERTY? – VisualPolitik EN
Aug 26, 2018
Ethiopia: Africa’s China?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Xcaw7QDI64
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China remains to be top foreign investment source of Ethiopia in 2019: UN report
2020-01-29
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-01/29/c_138741928.htm
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China-Ethiopia relations to strengthen after pandemic: ambassador
2020/4/28
https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1186956.shtml
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Nigeria and Covid-19: Fact-checking claims about vaccines and lack of research
18 June 2020
https://africacheck.org/reports/nigeria-and-covid-19-fact-checking-claims-about-vaccines-and-lack-of-research/
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The other side of Chinese investment in Africa
3-27-2019
https://www.ft.com/content/9f5736d8-14e1-11e9-a581-4ff78404524e
Wilson Wu has big plans for the free trade zone he manages in Igbesa, a scruffy town in Ogun State, some 60km from the frenzy of Lagos, Nigeria’s huge commercial capital.
Casting his gaze over what is today a small cluster of industrial warehouses surrounded by mud roads and bush, Mr Wu can see an altogether brighter future. “We will have a five-star hotel, a golf club, a Walmart,” he says in a well-rehearsed pitch. “It will be like Dubai.”
An electrical engineer by profession, Mr Wu’s journey to west Africa followed an assignment as a young man in Myanmar, where he worked for Power Construction Corporation of China, a state-owned group, upgrading the electricity grid. In 2011, hungry for more adventure, he packed his bags and headed for Nigeria, where, still barely 30 years old, he was tapped up to manage the Ogun State free trade zone, a private-public project in which the local government provides the land and Chinese enterprise the capital.
Mr Wu is one of hundreds of thousands of Chinese citizens — a common estimate is about 1m — who have ventured to Africa over the past two decades to seek their fortune. Like many who have ended up there, he sees in Africa’s raw energy and ambition an echo of the forces that were unleashed by Deng Xiaoping’s reforms of 1978.
“It is like the China of the 1970s and 1980s when you could open a business and maybe earn a fortune,” he enthuses. “Those kind of fortunes are not possible in China today.”
People like Mr Wu have been persuaded to test their ambition in far-flung corners of the world by tougher business conditions in China, where rising labour costs, industrial overcapacity and more stringent environmental standards are taking their toll. While many entrepreneurs have looked closer to home, to countries such as Cambodia, others have struck out to Africa.
It is China’s massive infrastructure projects, including dams, railways, ports and telecommunications networks, that capture most attention. Between 2000 and 2014, the stock of Chinese investment in Africa went from 2 per cent of US levels to 55 per cent. McKinsey estimates that, at the current breakneck pace, China will surpass US levels within a decade.
Washington has belatedly woken up to China’s growing presence which is transforming both the physical and diplomatic landscape of Africa. In December John Bolton, President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, accused China of using “bribes, opaque agreements and the strategic use of debt to hold states in Africa captive to Beijing’s wishes and demands”.
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Ethiopia could be the first African country to show China it has bargaining power
7-29-2019
Construction on the railway commenced in December 2011 with China’s Export-Import Bank providing 85% of the funding for the project.
https://www.theafricareport.com/15757/ethiopia-could-be-the-first-african-country-to-show-china-it-has-bargaining-power/
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China-Ethiopia relations to strengthen after pandemic: ambassador
2020/4/28
https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1186956.shtml
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BREAKING: Research Scientist Confirms Sterilants Added To Vaccines To Sterilize Africa – Dr. Andrew Wakefield In Studio
Sep 9, 2022
https://banned.video/watch?id=631b9bcc6d410059a0d7efbe
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The Dark Side of China’s Deep Ties With South Africa
Jan 3, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FgpIMwBOvI
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South Africa to be put on England’s travel red list over new Covid variant
25 Nov 2021
Flights from six countries will be banned as officials review travel measures after scientists voice concern over variant
Flights from southern Africa will be banned, with six countries placed under England’s red list travel restrictions, after scientists raised the alarm over what is feared to be the worst Covid-19 variant yet identified.
Whitehall sources said the B.1.1.529 variant, which is feared to be more transmissible and has the potential to evade immunity, posed “a potentially significant threat to the vaccine programme which we have to protect at all costs”.
Hundreds of people who have recently returned from South Africa, where the variant was detected, and neighbouring countries are expected to be tracked down and offered tests in an effort to avoid the new variant entering the UK.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/25/scientists-call-for-travel-code-red-over-covid-variant-found-in-southern-africa
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Major setback for China’s African Safari.
Jun 26, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjeXUuiX9lU
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The CHINESE Conquest of the MIDDLE EAST – VisualPolitik EN
Nov 22, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl1FmLNevw0
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SHEIKHS in Distress: CRISIS in the PERSIAN GULF – VisualPolitik EN
Jun 21, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7E4os06SAA
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China Infiltrates the Middle East | China Uncensored
Feb 5, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eKP-a-jH7s
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China’s Secret Military Base Near Afghanistan | China Uncensored
Feb 22, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLu5zOmTBuQ
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What are CHINA’S Interests in AFGHANISTAN? – KJ Vids
Dec 19, 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yTMQHnFp4I
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Can CORONAVIRUS end the IRAN regime? – VisualPolitik EN
May 3, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EumKBS7iQek
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RUSSIANS vs SAUDIS: CORONAVIRUS and the new OIL WAR – VisualPolitik EN
Apr 8, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DebpajQGRV0
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How to befriend PUTIN and EUROPE at once – VisualPolitik EN
Jan 20, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b53GmKAcZU
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How is PUTIN isolating UKRAINE? – VisualPolitik EN
Dec 30, 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqyziIEYFpE
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Why is GERMANY so dependant on RUSSIAN GAS? – VisualPolitik EN
Nov 20, 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDsDzGuhlD8
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Coronavirus and OIL in the USA: COLLAPSE in TEXAS? – VisualPolitik EN
May 14, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pt8ZaYa_Wo
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PETROYUAN, CHINA’s strategy to DEFEAT the DOLLAR – VisualPolitik EN
May 16, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCkXtMAeP5o
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Is CHINA LYING about it’s GDP growth? – VisualPolitik EN
Dec 11, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G632a6M2hC0
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Why is CHINA investing in the BALKANS? – VisualPolitik EN
Mar 26, 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCe2fTCBpkc
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Will CHINA takeover EUROPE? – KJ Vids
Oct 14, 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBABIdKFzfQ
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How Greece Is Stopping China’s Plan For World Domination
Jul 25, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2LImA6gro0
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Palace of the Parliament: Romania’s Communist Monster
Jun 16, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opoGlCP20Co
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Fake Chinese Foods That May Actually Kill You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ODZfJ7nY3I
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Chinese flock to USA to give birth to U.S. citizens
2015
Will Donald Trump end the Chinese boom in US birthright citizenship?
- Agencies flooded with calls from the public seeking advice after US president says he plans to end the system through executive order
Trump has Chinese birth tourists running scared
Global Western Genocide 24 – Russia, Mexico & China
{Our video out Russia and China in Central and South America}.
https://archive.org/details/GlobalWesternGenocide24
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Divided island: How Haiti and the DR became two worlds
2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WvKeYuwifc
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83 Tons Of Fake Gold Bars: Gold Market Rocked By Massive China Counterfeiting Scandal
06/30/2020
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/83-tons-fake-gold-bars-gold-market-rocked-massive-china-counterfeiting-scandal?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=miximedia&utm_campaign=zerohedge
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Fact-check: Can CDC detain anyone with a fever indefinitely during coronavirus pandemic?
Mar 17, 2020
https://www.statesman.com/news/20200317/fact-check-can-cdc-detain-anyone-with-fever-indefinitely-during-coronavirus-pandemic
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Mass. health bill would allow warrantless arrests, quarantines
September 3, 2009
https://www.pogowasright.org/mass-health-bill-would-allow-warrantless-arrests-quarantines/
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China’s Profitable Business of Concentration Camps
Apr 29, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxvYcByv2M8
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How Chinese Doctors Who Harvest Organs Get Away With Murder
2019
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ewelinaochab/2019/01/08/how-chinese-doctors-who-harvest-organs-get-away-with-murder/#1f4ba635c103
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Alex Jones Freaks Joe Out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixxTwcAELB8
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Organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners in China
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organ_harvesting_from_Falun_Gong_practitioners_in_China#United_States
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Overflooding dam threatens 500 million; US seizes 13 tons (26,000 pounds) of human hair from China
Jul 1, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQ7G2Ndb0vk
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Mexican cartel member busted for child organ trafficking
2014
https://nypost.com/2014/03/18/mexican-cartel-member-busted-for-child-organ-trafficking/
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Mexican cartel henchman arrested for killing children to harvest their organs
Atrocities committed by Mexican narcotics syndicates have reached a new low with the announcement that a henchman for the vicious Knights Templar has been arrested on suspicion of killing children by removing their internal organs.
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/mexican-cartel-leader-accused-killing-children-harvest-organs-article-1.1725522
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Police nab cartel member in organ trafficking case
2014
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/03/17/cartel-mexico-organ-trafficking/6548691/
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Inside The Mexican Cartel’s Unspoken Child Organ Harvesting Ring
https://www.ranker.com/list/mexico-child-organ-harvesting/amandasedlakhevener
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Mexican Radio to Beam Chinese Propaganda
8-13-2018
U.S. probes links between buyer of Tijuana station and China’s Phoenix TV
https://freebeacon.com/national-security/mexican-radio-beam-chinese-propaganda/
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Can MEXICO get worse with LOPEZ OBRADOR? – VisualPolitik EN
Jun 13, 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN5mZYWTWr4
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Party of the Democratic Revolution
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_of_the_Democratic_Revolution
The Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD, Spanish: Partido de la Revolución Democrática) is a social democratic political party in Mexico.
The PRD originated from the Democratic Current, a political faction formed in 1986 from the PRI. The PRD was formed after the contested general election in 1988, which the PRD’s immediate predecessor, the National Democratic Front, believed was rigged by the PRI. This sparked a movement away from the PRI’s authoritarian rule.
As of 2018, the PRD is a member of the Por México al Frente coalition and one of Mexico’s full members of the Socialist International, the other one being the PRI. The members of the party are known colloquially in Mexico as Perredistas.
1988 Presidential Election
On October 12, 1988 Cárdenas became the Authentic Party of the Mexican Revolution’s presidential candidate. Cárdenas still remained an independent candidate due to electoral laws which meant that many parties could choose Cárdenas as their candidate. The groups of the independent left that supported Cárdenas were the Socialist Mexican Party which included the Unified Socialist Party of Mexico, the Mexican Workers’ Party, the Patriotic Revolutionary Party, the Communist Left Unity, and the People’s Revolutionary Movement. The parastatal groups, state-owned enterprises that are separate from government, that supported Cárdenas were the Authentic Party of the Mexican Revolution, Popular Socialist Party, and the Party of the Cardenist Front of National Reconstruction, which made up the National Democratic Front. Other groups that supported Cárdenas were the Social Democratic Party, Ecologist Green Party of Mexico, Democratic Unity, Movement for Socialism [es], Critical Point Revolutionary Organization, and Neighborhood Assembly.
In the 1988 presidential election Cárdenas had come closer than any other political candidate to winning against the PRI, which had been in power since 1929. The victory of the PRI’s candidate, Carlos Salinas de Gortari, in 1988 was largely considered electoral fraud after the computers tabulating votes had reportedly crashed. Years later, it was determined that there was indeed electoral fraud in the election.
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Nicaragua, How to HIJACK a Country? – VisualPolitik EN
Jul 24, 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1xawF2fi9w
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China signs on for ‘gigantic’ investment in El Salvador infrastructure
12-3-2019
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-el-salvador-china/china-signs-on-for-gigantic-investment-in-el-salvador-infrastructure-idUSKBN1Y7266
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China increasingly involved in Brazil’s ambitious Amazon rail network
11-8-2018
https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/china-increasingly-involved-in-brazils-ambitious-amazon-rail-network/
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3 scenarios for VENEZUELA’s future – VisualPolitik EN
Aug 21, 2018
China gives Venezuela 60 billion dollars.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xw_D3sAWWdg
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Venezuela: a new Chinese Colony? – VisualPolitik EN
Dec 2, 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-gXvOjvMhE
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OCASIO-CORTEZ: Socialism in AMERICA? – VisualPolitik EN
Jun 6, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4rJFEYSyCo
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China and the New Triangular Relationship in the Americas
China and the Future of US-Mexico Relations
https://clas.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/shared/docs/papers/China%20and%20the%20New%20Triangular%20Relationships%20in%20the%20Americas-%20China.pdf
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USC Pacific Asia Museum reopens with surprising Mexico-China exhibit
12-7-2017
The museum highlights unexpected ties across the Pacific as it reopens after a yearlong renovation project
https://news.usc.edu/132572/usc-pacific-asia-museum-reopens-with-surprising-mexico-china-exhibit/
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Money Talks: Relations between Greece and China
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Is Google Helping China’s Military? | Trump vs Google on CCP | China Uncensored
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China’s Secretive Spy Agency | CCP Politics | China Uncensored
China’s Dystopian Social Credit system
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The Mass Exodus of Foreigners from China
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Why China is building islands in the South China Sea
China Is Not As Powerful As You Think
5 Reasons Why The Chinese Military Is WEAKER Than You Think
5 Countries That Have Fallen into China’s Debt Trap
Barred from Leaving China!
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China’s Trillion-Dollar P2P Loan Industry Goes Bust
Why Is China Treating North Carolina Like the Developing World?
How lax regulation made it cheaper for China to outsource pork production – and all of its environmental and human costs – to the U.S.
March 2018
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/why-is-china-treating-north-carolina-like-the-developing-world-w517973#content-start
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China Removes Presidential Term Limits, Enabling Xi Jinping To Rule Indefinitely
China Yuan Crude Oil Market Opens March 26! Will China Destroy the PETRODOLLAR?
Feb 16, 2018
http://www.investmentwatchblog.com/china-yuan-crude-oil-market-opens-march-26-will-china-destroy-the-petrodollar/
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EMERGENCY ALERT: Communist Chinese Now Taking Over US Media
Jan 26, 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeG7C7X36yI
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China social media giant buys stake in Warner Music, Universal, Spotify; Study warns of CCP takeover
June 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lV7H8zv9lQ
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Singapore gives a major shocker to China, rejects Chinese Telecom companies
Jun 25, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hOGMmI5FpA
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Why Is China Trying to DESTROY This Show?
Dec 23, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H13NWTDTRk
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China air force enters Taiwan airspace; US blocks pro-Beijing media; China virus cases 37x higher?
Jun 23, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVkXf4KRHIk
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How China’s Spies Became World-Class
Jan 6, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDJNV1VyvXk
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Chinese Billionaire Warns America: China Has 25,000 Spies Who Are “Ready To Destroy The U.S.”
America is a severely compromised nation that is in no position to fight another world war
7-12-2017
https://www.infowars.com/chinese-billionaire-warns-america-china-has-25000-spies-who-are-ready-to-destroy-the-u-s/
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China’s Secret War Against the US | China Uncensored
Jun 19, 2015
For over a decade, the Communist Party of China has been engaged in a full scale war with the United States. But the average American doesn’t know, because China never declared war or fired a single bullet. Nonetheless, the Communist Party of China is engaged in a full-scale, multi-billion-dollar war with the United States, and it threatens every American worker and taxpayer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hlr_AUIxvIs
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China Poised to DEMAND US Land As Payment for Debt
Jun 4, 2015
Could real estate on American soil owned by China be set up as “development zones” in which the communist nation could establish Chinese-owned businesses and bring in its citizens to the U.S. to work?
That’s part of an evolving proposal Beijing has been developing quietly since 2009 to convert more than $1 trillion of U.S debt it owns into equity.
Under the plan, China would own U.S. businesses, U.S. infrastructure and U.S. high-value land, all with a U.S. government guarantee against loss.
Yu Qiao, a professor of economics in the School of Public Policy and Management at Tsighua University in Beijing, proposed in 2009 a plan for the U.S. government to guarantee foreign investments in the United States.
WND has reliable information that the Bank of China, China’s central bank, has continued to advance the plan to convert China’s holdings of U.S. debt into equity owned by China in the U.S.
The Obama administration, under the plan, would grant a financial guarantee as an inducement for China to convert U.S. debt into Chinese direct equity investment. China would take ownership of successful U.S. corporations, potentially profitable infrastructure projects and high-value U.S. real estate.
The plan would be designed to induce China to resume lending to the U.S. on a nearly zero-interest basis.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iln_HcAgLTs
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Stop China’s Infiltration of US Railroads
November 26, 2018
https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2018/11/stop-chinas-infiltration-us-railroads/153025/
America shouldn’t be buying Chinese railcars, ceding control of its rail industry, or injecting spyware-laden rolling stock into its transportation network.
A myriad of problems has led to a “surprising level of foreign dependence on competitor nations,” according to the White House’s long-awaited report on the severe challenges facing our manufacturing and defense industrial base. A look at one field — manufacturing the railroad cars that carry America’s commuters and freight — reveals growing dangers that demand urgent action.
Transportation is among the priority sectors under the Made in China 2025 industrial policy, which aims to help Chinese firms in various sectors reach the highest levels of the global manufacturing chain. In the business of railcars, the banner is being carried by China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation, a massive state-owned conglomerate with deep ties to the Communist Party of China.
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America is Up for Sale! | China Uncensored
Mar 30, 2013
Even if the rest of the world doesn’t, China still believes in buying American. So much so that the Chinese government has started buying up land, communities, businesses, infrastructures…the US owes China over a trillion dollars in debt and pays millions of dollars A DAY in interest on that. Is the Chinese Communist Party silently taking over the country? Has the Chinese regime become the nation’s greatest enemy? Suddenly my student loan debt doesn’t sound so terrifying.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK9fWNuC3U0
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{We should not honor China trying to buy up the infrastructure of the entire world so that the CCP can have more control over the world. China continues to try to buy up infrastructure of different countries. We should declare these acts of China buying up infrastructure in other countries illegal. We should take away rights from the Communist Chinese government from trying to own infrastructure in other countries. We should also make it illegal for China to cause other nations go into debt to China, this is done so that China can try to take control of the infrastructure of the country in debt to China}.
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The US’s other Debt Crisis – VisualPolitik EN
Nov 18, 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xKTde7-m_c
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Why Are China’s Rich Moving to the US? | China Uncensored
Oct 2, 2015
China’s wealthy are moving to the US and they seem to have taken an interest in real estate. What does their immigration mean for China? Find out on this episode of China Uncensored!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcORDNGqsMQ&list=PLTSP8TRXTny79I-F2E8LWQoiBAfqHznmK
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China and the United Nations | China Uncensored
Mar 27, 2014
What is China’s relationship with the United Nations? One of the world’s biggest violators of human rights and frequent aggressor in territorial conflicts sits not on the United Nations Security Council, but also the UN Human Rights Council as well as a democracy building committee. On top of that, it’s an open secret that the Chinese Communist Party is behind several Chinese NGOs and they use them to push government policy and intimidate and spy on dissidents abroad. On this episode of China Uncensored, discover how the Chinese Communist Party manipulates the United Nations for its own purposes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mmfHjfNNzk
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The Rockefeller Plan for the BRICS New World Order, in their own words… (Update 1 – Putin and Kissinger’s friendship)
2014
http://redefininggod.com/2014/11/the-rockefeller-plan-for-the-brics-new-world-order-in-their-own-words/
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Visa program for wealthy investors maxed out by Chinese demand
Aug 29, 2014
Fueled by demand from wealthy Chinese nationals, an immigration program that exchanges visas for large investments in U.S. businesses has run out of its allotment of visas for the first time in its 24-year history.
A State Department official said this week that no more EB-5 visas will be issued until the beginning of the 2015 fiscal year in October and that procedural changes planned for next year will bring greater delays in obtaining visas. Some people involved in the program say that the time it takes to get new visas could increase from a few months to up to two to three years. About a fourth of all organizations authorized to handle EB-5 money operate in California, according to data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The program’s popularity has exploded in recent years — the number of applicants vying for the annual allotment of 10,667 visas has doubled nearly every year since 2009.
An estimated 85% of the EB-5 funds in 2014 have come from China, where concerns about the country’s environmental and economic health have led many wealthy families to consider migration.
That money been used to build projects across California and elsewhere, including the JW Marriott hotel at L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles.
http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-0830-chinese-visas-20140830-story.html
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Are Chinese Girls “Breed Ready?” | China Uncensored
Mar 16, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR-JFTByewI
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Why So Many Chinese Students Come to America
Sep 6, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVCEvx8JCTQ
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The Chinese Communist Party Is Setting Up Cells at Universities Across America
April 18, 2018
It’s a strategy to tighten ideological control. And it’s happening around the world.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/04/18/the-chinese-communist-party-is-setting-up-cells-at-universities-across-america-china-students-beijing-surveillance/
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Students or Spies? America arrests Chinese spies masquerading as students
Jul 24, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJiyloxPxEk
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US top court denies Trump ‘sanctuary’ cities challenge
15.06.2020
Order a major blow to US president as he seeks to tout his hardline immigration approach ahead of elections
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/us-top-court-denies-trump-sanctuary-cities-challenge/1877943
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New bill seeks to end birth tourism; UK urged to sanction China rights abusers; China floods continue
Jul 11, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1j42r3Ols8
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Foreign students in US: Trump administration drops deportation plans
14 July 2020
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53410285
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Watch: President Trump Spars With W.H.O. As Coronavirus Curve Flattens in U.S. — April 8th
April 8, 2020
Globalist organization livid over prospect of losing American funding for siding with China during pandemic
https://www.infowars.com/live-president-trump-spars-with-w-h-o-as-coronavirus-curve-flattens-in-u-s-april-8th/
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THREE Polls Show Majority Of Americans Agree With Trump Calling Coronavirus ‘Chinese’
April 10, 2020
Scientific journal issues apology for associating virus with China.
https://www.infowars.com/three-polls-show-majority-of-americans-agree-with-trump-calling-coronavirus-chinese/
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Bill Maher Defends Calling Coronavirus ‘Chinese Virus,’ Slams Political Correctness
April 11, 2020
‘This has nothing to do with Asian Americans and it has everything to do with China,’ he says
https://www.newswars.com/bill-maher-defends-calling-coronavirus-chinese-virus-slams-political-correctness/
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Thousands of Americans Join Class-Action Coronavirus Lawsuit Against China
April 10, 2020
Suit seeks reparations from ChiComs over mishandling of virus outbreak
https://www.infowars.com/thousands-of-americans-join-class-action-coronavirus-lawsuit-against-china/
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It’s Time to Stop the Chinese Communist Party’s Shadow Campaign for Power at the United Nations
June 11, 2020
The CCP poses a significant long-term national security and economic threat to the U.S. and our allies.
https://thediplomat.com/2020/06/its-time-to-stop-the-chinese-communist-partys-shadow-campaign-for-power-at-the-united-nations/
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China’s very own treaty of Versailles is coming
May 28, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlPtBw_mgv0
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The Story of How China Ruined Everything
May 4, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpLvioS8GbQ
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China Ruined Everything Career Mode Ep 1: WTF! Channel Got Flagged For Hate Speech
May 10, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNehrEIxvx8
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“Tofu buildings” among disasters in China; Virus Relief Money Went to China-Linked Companies
Jul 10, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57ZJ–MIlEw
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China’s tallest building flooded from 60th to 9th floor; Dam makes flood power 25x stronger
Jul 10, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQBHGk84V5Y
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Chinese diplomat backpedals on blaming US for coronavirus
April 8, 2020
Foreign Ministry spokesman says his tweet reflects ‘righteous anger of many Chinese people’
https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Coronavirus/Chinese-diplomat-backpedals-on-blaming-US-for-coronavirus
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China Rising in the Caribbean
April 10, 2019
About 55 miles east of Palm Beach, Florida on Grand Bahama Island, a Hong Kong-based business is spending about $3 billion on a deep-water container facility, the Freeport Container Port.
The concern is that the port will become another debt-trap, like the port of Hambantota in Sri Lanka. There are concerns that Hambantota will eventually become a Chinese naval base. Will the Pentagon have to contend with Chinese warships at Freeport?
The Chinese military is already in the Caribbean, in Cuba, apparently to collect signals intelligence from the U.S. Washington splashes plenty of cash around the Middle East, for instance, but American policymakers need also to be concerned, urgently, about critical needy locations closer to home.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14050/china-caribbean-sea
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China Offers Caribbean $6 Billion in Loans
September 13, 2011
http://www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog/?p=5662
IN A BOLD declaration of his country’s bold ambitions for the Caribbean region, China’s Vice Premier Wang Qishan yesterday unveiled a suite of measures including a $6.3 billion loan to regional governments, aimed at deepening cooperation between the People’s Republic and the Caribbean.
In an opening address at the Third China-Caribbean Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum, the Vice Premier wasted little time unveiling a series of six concrete steps which his country will take to consolidate its already considerable influence in the region.
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Why is China spending billions in the Caribbean?
April 22, 2011
https://www.pri.org/stories/2011-04-22/why-china-spending-billions-caribbean
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — After the tiny Caribbean island of Grenada severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 2005, it received a token of appreciation from the mainland Chinese government: a $55 million cricket stadium.
It was part of $132 million China doled out to Caribbean countries in aid and soft loans in the years leading up to the 2007 Cricket World Cup. At the time, the investment was seen as a not-so-subtle reward to countries that had broken off formal relations with Taipei in favor of Beijing.
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China vs. Taiwan: Battle for Influence in the Caribbean
March 13, 2012
https://www.coha.org/china-vs-taiwan-battle-for-influence-in-the-caribbean/
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China’s engagement with Trinidad and Tobago
March 26, 2019
https://theglobalamericans.org/2019/03/chinas-engagement-with-trinidad-and-tobago/
From March 18-22, with the help of the U.S. State Department, I had the opportunity to travel to Trinidad and Tobago to speak with businessmen, academics and others regarding Chinese activities in Trinidad and Tobago. My visit coincided with an important meeting on Venezuela between President Trump and Caribbean leaders working to bring a peaceful end to the repressive Maduro regime. Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Keith Rowley, who strongly objects to international efforts to ensure a democratic outcome in Venezuela’s spiraling crisis, was notably not on the guest list.
The increasingly negative tone of the once-close relationship between the U.S. and Trinidad and Tobago coincides with an expansion of the Caribbean country’s economic, political, and security relationship with the People’s Republic of China (PRC), including numerous ongoing Chinese works projects. These include a $500 million Chinese-built drydock and $102 million industrial park in La Brea, significant Chinese positions in the telecommunications sector, gifts of hundreds of police motorcycles, purchases of Chinese buses, and rumors of the PRC acquiring the defunct Petrotrin refinery in Trinidad and Tobago. While the nation is still a functioning democracy, the Rowley regime’s embrace of easy Chinese money, as well as the increasingly dangerous and unpredictable regime in neighboring Venezuela, raises concerns about oil-rich Trinidad and Tobago, strategically located at the entrance of the lesser Antilles. If unchecked, China’s expanding engagement in the country risks leaving a series of economic white elephants and leaving the country under a heavy debt burden. But there are steps the U.S. can take to help.
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China owns almost half Jamaica’s debt to foreign governments
June 2, 2015
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/lead-stories/20150603/china-owns-almost-half-jamaicas-debt-foreign-governments
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China “Takes Over” Island of Dominica
2013
https://www.the-american-interest.com/2013/12/12/china-takes-over-island-of-dominica/
Representatives from China and Dominica put pen to paper on a multi-million dollar investment deal last month in what observers are calling a virtual takeover of the Caribbean island. Here’s the story:
Dominica and China have signed a new 300 million dollars cooperation agreement that includes the construction of a hotel, construction of an international airport and building a new hospital. The sum involved is equivalent to a third of the small Caribbean island GDP, which could mean Beijing virtually is “purchasing” the small territory.
Call it the Caribbean arm of China’s “cabbage” strategy. And Dominica is not the first such country to catch China’s eye. While Washington’s attention has been on trouble spots like Syria and Iran, Chinese companies are engaged in huge construction projects and state-to-state investment and diplomacy all across America’s back yard. Jamaica, for example, recently tied up a $300 million loan from China to improve the island’s infrastructure, and in Nicaragua, a Chinese company plans to dig a massive canal to rival the one in Panama. It’s hardly a powerful counter-move to America’s pivot to Asia, but it’s an interesting trend to watch nonetheless.
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Fox News Says China “Owns” Bahamas, Minister Responds
May 9, 2017
Bahamas, May 9, 2017 – Nassau – A controversial video clip has surfaced of a FOX NEWS Analysis interview, expressing US perspective on The Bahamas’s relationship with China, economic standing and even forecast on election results.
When speaking to the cutting back on economic investments in the US, the representatives from FOX NEWS said “Take the Bahamas, for example. The US, after the great recession, essentially pulled out all governmental and private investments there. The Chinese swooped in and now own the country because they invested so heavily in infrastructure”.
They continued “There’s an election there on Wednesday which could actually swing to the opposition, which is not suppose to happen, solely because of China.”
https://magneticmediatv.com/2017/05/fox-news-says-china-owns-bahamas-minister-responds/
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Bahamas bans US tourist travel due to coronavirus concerns
Jul 20, 2020
https://wgnradio.com/news/bahamas-bans-us-tourist-travel-due-to-coronavirus-concerns/
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Guyana Is Proof of the Pitfalls of Chinese Aid and Investment in the Caribbean
Nov. 9, 2016
https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/20410/guyana-is-proof-of-the-pitfalls-of-chinese-aid-and-investment-in-the-caribbean
The small developing nations dotting the Caribbean have recently become sites for massive amounts of foreign aid from China. Large Chinese-built infrastructure projects and millions in investments have taken their place next to sun-splashed tourists, sprawling resorts and bustling cruise ports.
Earlier this year, thousands of Chinese workers flocked to Jamaica to complete a $730 million mega-highway that cuts through the heart of the island, shaving hours off typical tourist commutes. In Barbados, Chinese officials have pledged tens of millions of dollars to restore gymnasiums, renovate historic sites, and dock a goodwill hospital ship in the capital, Bridgetown, to provide free medical care to Barbadians. In perhaps the greatest example of China’s growing presence in the Caribbean, a Chinese firm has broken ground on a mixed-use facility comprising 450 apartments and 326 hotel rooms on St. Maarten dubbed the “Pearl of China.” The beachfront property aims to become a hub for Chinese business in the region and bring Chinese businessmen and money in droves to the island. …
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China Extends Her Silk Road To Haiti
Aug 04, 2017
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/china-extends-her-silk-road-to-haiti_b_5984927ae4b0bd8232029723
China plans to invest $30 billion in Haiti’s infrastructure according to the Haitian Press Agency (AHP). This week the Mayor of Port-au-Prince, Youri Chevry, hosted the signing of an agreement between the Haitian company Bati Ayiti (Build Haiti), headed by former Senator Amos André, and the Southwest Municipal Engineering and Design Research Institute of China.
The agreement includes the construction of a 600 megawatt power plant to electrify Port-au-Prince, the construction of a new City Hall, markets, thousands of apartments, and eventually a railway from Port-au-Prince to the countryside. The center of the discussion was “the reconstruction of the main building of the Town Hall and the construction of several public contracts on the territory of the commune of Port-au-Prince,” according to LoopHaiti.
20,000 workers will begin work before the end of 2017, backed by an initial infusion of $5 billion. The Chinese Government has a deadline of September 30, 2017 to unblock the funds. In the meantime, Bati Ayiti, the City of Port-au-Prince and their partners continue to work on the recruitment of staff.
Last May, China’s president Xi Jinping hosted the first Belt and Road Forum (“One Belt, One Road”) in Beijing, offering hundreds of billions of dollars to over 100 interested countries for infrastructure projects. Haiti stands to be a beneficiary of the ambitious Chinese initiative, which is modeled on the ancient “Silk Road.” 2,000 years ago China opened up routes of trade that linked the civilizations of Asia, Europe and Africa.
China now stands to have influence in the Caribbean corridor stretching from Cuba to Venezuela.
Some analysts have compared the One Belt One Road enterprise to the Marshall Plan. After World War II, the United States was such a strong manufacturing entity that it was forced to seek markets for its industrial products. The Marshall Plan required that aid to Europe involve a quid pro quo of U.S. investment and imports.
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New Cuba bill puts a strain on U.S.-Caribbean relations
July 16, 2020
A new bill proposed in the United States Senate titled, “Cut Profits to the Cuban Regime Act of 2020,” has put Caribbean states in the line of fire as lawmakers look to advance U.S. policy toward Cuba during the COVID-19 pandemic; a move that has the potential to strain U.S. relations with Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries…
https://theglobalamericans.org/2020/07/new-cuba-bill-puts-a-strain-on-u-s-caribbean-relations/
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Chinese doing well in Barbados
September 10, 2017
https://www.caribbeanlifenews.com/chinese-doing-well-in-barbados/
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China Makes Inroads in Caribbean Nations Through Aid, Trade
2017-08-30
https://www.rfa.org/english/commentaries/caribbean-china-08302017165130.html
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China makes $1bn loan to Latin American and Caribbean countries for access to coronavirus vaccine
July 2020
Mexico, Brazil, Peru and Chile among worst affected by Covid-19
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/china-billion-dollar-load-coroanvirus-vaccine-covid-19-mexico-latin-america-caribbean-a9637991.html
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Desperate for work, these immigrants collect the bodies of Covid-19 victims in Peru
7-20-2020
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/20/americas/peru-venezuela-covid-19-bodies-intl/index.html
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Peru Locked Down Hard and Early. Why Is Its Coronavirus Outbreak So Bad?
May 28, 2020
https://time.com/5844768/peru-coronavirus/
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Latin America and Caribbean exceed 2m cases – as it happened
July 2020
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/jun/21/coronavirus-live-news-chile-raises-death-toll-by-thousands-as-victoria-cases-hit-two-month-high
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China steps in to support Venezuela, Ecuador as oil prices tumble
January 8, 2015
China stepped up its courtship of Latin American countries Thursday, promising to double trade with the region by 2025 and offering fresh loans to support left-wing governments in Venezuela and Ecuador.
At a meeting in Beijing with the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, or CELAC, President Xi Jinping said that annual bilateral trade would rise to $500 billion over the next 10 years, and that China would invest some $250 billion in the region in that period…
https://fortune.com/2015/01/08/china-steps-in-to-support-venezuela-ecuador-as-oil-prices-tumble/
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Number of People Facing Hunger in Guatemala Doubled Due to COVID-19
June 2020
https://reliefweb.int/report/guatemala/number-people-facing-hunger-guatemala-doubled-due-covid-19
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Coronavirus Outbreak Roils Guatemala Textile Plant Where 200+ Test Positive
May 29, 2020
http://www2.laufer.com/coronavirus-outbreak-roils-guatemala-textile-plant-where-200-test-positive.html
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U.S. Fails to Prevent Deportation of Migrants Infected With Covid-19, Guatemalan Officials Say
June 24, 2020
https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-fails-to-prevent-deportation-of-migrants-infected-with-covid-19-guatemalan-officials-say-11593023095
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In Nicaragua, Doctors Who Spoke Up About Covid-19 Also Lost Their Jobs
July 27, 2020
Physicians say the country’s authoritarian government is retaliating against them for signing public letters urging virus-containment measures and protective equipment
https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-nicaragua-doctors-who-spoke-up-about-covid-19-also-lost-their-jobs-11595852072
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Coronavirus met with denial and silence in Nicaragua
July 13, 2020
On June first, more than 700 Nicaraguan doctors who are members of 34 specialist associations, signed a joint statement in which they warned about the collapse in the public and private health systems. They denounced the saturation in hospitals, the lack of supplies and the infections suffered by many health professionals treating patients with COVID-19.
“The working conditions of health personnel in Nicaragua are very precarious. There was no prevention or training plan for patient care nor preparation for personal protective equipment,” said Róger Pasquier, President of the Association of Anesthesiologists of Nicaragua, in an interview with Toward Freedom. “We have heard that doctors are sent to COVID units only with cloth masks, all this makes the level of infections quite high.”
https://towardfreedom.org/story/coronavirus-met-with-denial-and-silence-in-nicaragua/
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Nicaragua doctors ‘fired’ for criticizing govt over COVID-19
June 2020
https://www.france24.com/en/20200610-nicaragua-doctors-fired-for-criticizing-govt-over-covid-19
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Sandinista leaders fall victim to coronavirus outbreak they downplayed
June 2020
Nicaragua’s government denies community spread in the country but an independent tally says deaths are 20 times the official figure
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/08/nicaragua-coronavirus-sandinista-leaders-fall-victim
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Nicaragua’s ‘express burials’ hide true COVID-19 scale: Doctors
May 2020
Nicaragua has confirmed 25 cases and eight deaths, but rights groups and experts believe the numbers are far higher.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/05/nicaragua-express-burials-hide-true-covid-19-scale-doctors-200519145757104.html
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Nicaragua reports more pneumonia deaths, some tied to COVID-19
May 18, 2020
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-nicaragua/nicaragua-reports-more-pneumonia-deaths-some-tied-to-covid-19-idUSKBN22V0CZ
MANAGUA (Reuters) – Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said on Monday that 309 people have died of pneumonia since January in the Central American country, 87 more people than in the same period last year, but that only some deaths were linked to the coronavirus.
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In Nicaragua, People Apparently Die of ‘Pneumonia’, not COVID-19
June 5, 2020
https://globalvoices.org/2020/06/05/in-nicaragua-people-apparently-die-of-pneumonia-not-covid-19/
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Nicaragua Is Likely Hiding The Extent Of Its Coronavirus Loss
June 4, 2020
https://theowp.org/nicaragua-is-likely-hiding-the-extent-of-its-coronavirus-loss/
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We can’t lose sight of Ortega’s abuses in Nicaragua
07/29/20
https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/509629-we-cant-lose-sight-of-ortegas-abuses-in-nicaragua
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Nicaragua’s president has vanished; his wife, the VP, says the coronavirus isn’t a problem
April 12, 2020
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nicaraguas-president-has-vanished-his-wife-the-vp-says-the-coronavirus-isnt-a-problem/
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A Death In Nicaraguan Baseball Puts Pandemic In Public Eye
Jun 8, 2020
https://www.latinousa.org/2020/06/08/nicaraguabaseballdeath/
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Nicaraguan baseball manager fired after speaking about coronavirus
June 9, 2020
https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/29289416/nicaraguan-baseball-manager-fired-speaking-coronavirus
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Free Press, Fake News, and Repression during Covid-19: Venezuela and Nicaragua
June 4, 2020
https://www.csis.org/analysis/free-press-fake-news-and-repression-during-covid-19-venezuela-and-nicaragua
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Nicaraguan doctors say population now fighting two enemies: the government and COVID-19
July 15, 2020
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/article244194112.html
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Video: As COVID-19 curbs patrols in Nicaragua, turtle eggs risk being poached
July 13, 2020
https://news.mongabay.com/2020/07/video-as-covid-19-curbs-patrols-in-nicaragua-turtle-eggs-risk-being-poached/
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Nicaragua closes Costa Rica border to protest virus testing
5-22-2020
https://www.borderreport.com/health/coronavirus/nicaragua-closes-costa-rica-border-to-protest-virus-testing/
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Exporting The Virus: How Trump’s Deportation Flights Are Putting Latin America And the Caribbean At Risk
June 2020
https://theintercept.com/2020/06/26/coronavirus-ice-detention-deportation-haiti-guatemala/
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U.S. Fails to Prevent Deportation of Migrants Infected With Covid-19, Guatemalan Officials Say
June 24, 2020
The U.S. government agreed to test migrants and prevent the spread of the coronavirus in deportation flights to Guatemala
https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-fails-to-prevent-deportation-of-migrants-infected-with-covid-19-guatemalan-officials-say-11593023095
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US deporting illegal immigrants with coronavirus to Guatemala, president says
April 18, 2020
https://nypost.com/2020/04/18/us-allegedly-deporting-illegal-immigrants-with-coronavirus-to-guatemala/
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44 migrants on one US deportation flight tested positive for coronavirus
April 17, 2020
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/17/americas/us-migrants-guatemala-coronavirus/index.html
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Guatemala limits deportations from the U.S. as coronavirus cases surge in both countries
June 30, 2020
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/immigration/article243877427.html
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Coronavirus | Guatemala bans arrivals from U.S., Canada to fight coronavirus
March 14, 2020
https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/coronavirus-guatemala-bans-arrivals-from-us-canada-to-fight-coronavirus/article31066887.ece
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75% of migrants deported to Guatemala on single flight tested positive for coronavirus: Health minister
April 15, 2020
https://abcnews.go.com/International/75-migrants-deported-guatemala-single-flight-tested-positive/story?id=70156471
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“Exporting the virus”: Migrants deported by U.S. make up 20% of Guatemala’s coronavirus cases
April 27, 2020
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/deported-migrants-guatemala-coronavirus-cases/
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Guatemala angry over coronavirus-infected deportees: Live updates
May 2020
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/05/coronavirus-battleground-shifts-latin-america-live-updates-200520230557754.html
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Guatemala turns tables, blocking U.S. deportations because of coronavirus
March 17, 2020
https://www.pressherald.com/2020/03/17/guatemala-turns-tables-blocking-u-s-deportations-because-of-coronavirus/
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How coronavirus has halted Central American migration to the US
April 2, 2020
Border closures and strict lockdowns have led to a steep decline in the number of migrants coming from Central America
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/02/us-immigration-central-america-coronavirus-impact
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Guatemala burying dozens of coronavirus dead before loved ones can identify them
July 30, 2020
https://www.9news.com.au/world/coronavirus-guatemala-burying-dozens-before-loved-ones-can-identify-them/83460585-b4cb-4f84-9aad-11ca151f8a69
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Protesters Demand Guatemala Ease Coronavirus Lockdown Rules
June 18, 2020
https://www.voanews.com/covid-19-pandemic/protesters-demand-guatemala-ease-coronavirus-lockdown-rules
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Coronavirus in Honduras: ‘This pandemic is going to starve us’
July 13, 2020
World Food Programme provides cash transfers, in-kind food baskets and hygiene kits as 250,000 are pushed into hunger
https://insight.wfp.org/coronavirus-in-honduras-this-pandemic-is-going-to-starve-us-fdec39be7cda
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In Honduras, Coronavirus Lockdown is Enforced at Gunpoint
May 7, 2020
https://www.insightcrime.org/news/analysis/honduras-coronavirus-lockdown-gunpoint/
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Coronavirus crisis exposes another pandemic in Honduras: Analysts
March 27, 2020
Analysts worry corruption will exacerbate the crisis facing Honduras’s already strained healthcare system.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/coronavirus-crisis-exposes-pandemic-honduras-analysts-200327183808256.html
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Honduras president hospitalized with pneumonia, COVID-19
June 17, 2020
The hospitalization of Honduras’ president with COVID-19 and pneumonia has drawn attention to another country struggling under the pandemic’s strain as cases rise sharply in the capital
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/honduras-president-lady-test-positive-covid-19-71294924
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President of Honduras says he and his wife have coronavirus
June 17, 2020
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/17/americas/honduras-president-coronavirus-intl/index.html
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Argentina Exceeds 100,000 Cases of Novel Coronavirus
July 12, 2020
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2020-07-12/argentina-exceeds-100-000-cases-of-novel-coronavirus
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Covid-19 restrictions are shattering Argentina’s short-lived political truce
July 2020
Deep-seated rivalries resurfacing amid months of lockdowns
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/14/covid-19-restrictions-are-shattering-argentinas-short-lived-political-truce
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Argentina bans entry to non-residents arriving from coronavirus-hit countries
March 14, 2020
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-argentina-idUSKBN21205A
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How Chile went from coronavirus role model to among world’s worst
June 2020
Chile reports sudden rise in Covid-19 cases after changes in record-keeping
Lockdowns work well for the haves – but not for the have-nots, experts say
https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3089370/how-chile-went-coronavirus-role-model-among-worlds-worst
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Chile counts coronavirus deaths as ‘recovered’
April 14, 2020
https://nypost.com/2020/04/14/chile-counts-coronavirus-deaths-as-recovered/
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Chile’s hospitals under strain as cases near 70,000: Live updates
May 24, 2020
Chile’s healthcare system ‘close to the limit’ after a rapid increase in coronavirus infections.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/05/eid-al-fitr-celebrated-coronavirus-lockdown-live-updates-200523231349229.html
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Chile police train dogs to sniff out COVID-19 patients
Jul 27, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyC0s69pK2k
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Coronavirus turns Chile’s middle classes into new poor
June 30, 2020
https://news.yahoo.com/coronavirus-turns-chiles-middle-classes-poor-014509834.html
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Chinese Loans Hurt South American and U.S. Interests
June 11, 2018
Chinese investment also encourages poor governance and perpetuates corruption in the region.
https://nationalinterest.org/feature/chinese-loans-hurt-south-american-us-interests-26226
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Coronavirus surges on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, doctors warn deaths underreported
July 5, 2020
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-colombia-caribbean-idUSKBN2460IU
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Coronavirus: Colombia surpasses 50,000 confirmed cases
June 15, 2020
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/coronavirus-colombia-surpasses-50000-confirmed-cases-631487
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Colombia reports biggest daily increase in virus cases
May 22nd 2020
https://abc3340.com/news/nation-world/colombia-reports-biggest-daily-increase-in-virus-cases
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Colombia declares coronavirus state of emergency, orders elderly to stay home
Mar 18, 2020
https://nationalpost.com/pmn/health-pmn/colombia-declares-coronavirus-state-of-emergency-orders-elderly-to-stay-home
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Colombian cartels killing those who don’t obey their Covid-19 lockdowns
July 15, 2020
Human Rights Watch calls on government to do more to protect civilians after at least eight murdered by armed groups
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/jul/15/colombia-cartels-rebel-groups-coronavirus-lockdown-human-rights-watch
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Millions living in terror as militias ‘execute anyone who disobeys coronavirus lockdown’
July 19, 2020
Armed militia groups have carried out a string of brutal executions in order to enforce Covid-19 lockdowns in Colombia, it is claimed.
Citizens have been sent chilling leaflets warning that they will be killed if they leave their homes, according to human rights activists.
https://altrighttv.com/2020/07/19/millions-living-in-terror-as-militias-execute-anyone-who-disobeys-coronavirus-lockdown/
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Drug cartels kill people for breaking their COVID-19 rules in Colombia, group says
July 15, 2020
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article244250522.html
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Coronavirus spread threatens Colombia’s Amazonian Indigenous communities
May 29, 2020
https://www.pri.org/stories/2020-05-29/coronavirus-spread-threatens-colombias-amazonian-indigenous-communities
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Risk coronavirus or go hungry: an impossible choice faced by Colombia’s indigenous communities
July 27, 2020
‘I have to go out to work. If I don’t, this pandemic won’t kill us, hunger will’
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/risk-coronavirus-go-hungry-impossible-choice-faced-colombias/
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Colombia economy contracts 20% in April under coronavirus impact
6-18-2020
https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/colombia-economy-contracts-20-in-april-under-coronavirus-impact-2020-06-18
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Coronavirus prompts Colombia’s left-wing ELN rebel group to announce humanitarian ceasefire
March 30, 2020
Colombia’s left-wing National Liberation Army (ELN) rebel group has announced a one-month “active” ceasefire on humanitarian grounds amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The ceasefire will begin April 1 and last until the end of the month as “a humanitarian gesture for the Colombian people who are suffering from the devastation of the Coronavirus,” the guerrilla group said on its website Sunday.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/coronavirus-colombia-eln-rebels-ceasefire
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Inmates in Colombia riot over coronavirus spread, 23 dead
March 23, 2020
https://nypost.com/2020/03/23/inmates-in-colombia-riot-over-coronavirus-spread-23-dead/
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Coronavirus: Colombia foils jail break attempt amid contagion fears
30 April 2020
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-52454524
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Colombia bans entry of non-residents over COVID-19
16.03.2020
All countries in South America have reported cases of coronavirus and are taking drastic measures to prevent its spread
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/colombia-bans-entry-of-non-residents-over-covid-19/1767272
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Colombia closes border with Venezuela over Coronavirus
March 14, 2020
https://news.yahoo.com/colombia-turn-away-visitors-stayed-050225946.html
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Venezuelan migrants face crime, conflict and coronavirus at Colombia’s closed border
June 5, 2020
https://theconversation.com/venezuelan-migrants-face-crime-conflict-and-coronavirus-at-colombias-closed-border-137743
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To Beat The Virus, Colombia Tries Separating Men and Women
4-15-2020
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/15/world/americas/virus-colombia-bogota-men-women.html
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Panama announces separate quarantine days for men and women to help combat spread of COVID-19
April 2020
https://ktla.com/news/coronavirus/panama-announces-separate-quarantine-days-for-men-and-women-to-help-combat-spread-of-covid-19/
Panama is taking a new — if somewhat unorthodox — measure to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus: separation of the sexes.
Starting on Wednesday, only women will be able to leave their homes to buy necessities on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Men in Panama will be allowed to venture outside to run errands on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
Everyone will have to stay home on Sundays. The restrictions will last for at least 15 days, according to government officials.
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Colombia Sees Bouts Of Looting As Coronavirus Fallout Puts People Out Of Work
July 17, 2020
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/07/17/891916303/colombia-sees-bouts-of-looting-as-coronavirus-fallout-puts-people-out-of-work
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Peru coronavirus cases surpass 100,000 as demand sends drug prices soaring
May 20, 2020
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-peru-idUSKBN22W2ZN
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Peru’s coronavirus response was ‘right on time’ – so why isn’t it working?
May 2020
Peru was one of the first Latin America countries to go into lockdown – but the jump in new cases is undeniable, and experts say it’s due to people’s behaviour
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/may/20/peru-coronavirus-lockdown-new-cases
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Photos: Birds claim Peru beach emptied by coronavirus outbreak
3-31-2020
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-03-31/ap-photos-birds-claim-peru-beach-emptied-by-virus-outbreak
LIMA, Peru — Agua Dulce beach is usually a sea of humanity, packed with as many as 40,000 people a day at the height of Peru’s summer, which runs from December to March.
The coronavirus pandemic has changed all that. Peru’s President Martín Vizcarra declared a state of emergency as deaths began to mount and ordered people to stay home, largely emptying the beach of people.
The half-mile-long strip of grayish-brown sand 12 miles south of central Lima is normally a haven for the working classes, a place where visitors from the Andean highlands first dip a toe in the sea.
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Inequality and corruption: Why Peru is losing its COVID-19 battle
01 July 2020
https://www.devex.com/news/inequality-and-corruption-why-peru-is-losing-its-covid-19-battle-97604
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The plight of Peru illustrates the danger of COVID-19 to developing countries
6-17-2020
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/06/the-plight-of-peru-illustrates-the-danger-of-covid-19-to-developing-countries/
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Peru spars with U.S. over letting stranded Americans fly home during coronavirus outbreak
3-21-2020
The South American nation wants assurances that its citizens will be given safe passage back from the U.S. before Americans are allowed to leave, sources close to the situation say.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/21/peru-american-citizens-coronavirus-140803
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Coronavirus: Peru economy sinks 40% in April amid lockdown
6-16-2020
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-53051157
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Coronavirus: Peru limits movement by gender to stem spread
4-3-2020
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-52149742
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Highways of Peru Swell With Families Fleeing Virus
4-30-2020
Fear of the virus and job loss in cities are pushing many back to the countryside, reversing a decades-long trend of urban migration and raising alarm about a public health crisis in rural areas.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/30/world/americas/20virus-peru-migration.html
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Coronavirus: 17 police officers die of Covid-19 in Peru
April 2020
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-52432216
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Military roadblocks, curfews: Latin America tightens coronavirus controls
March 16, 2020
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-latam-idUSKBN2133BY
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More than 900 women and girls missing and feared dead in Peru since coronavirus crisis started
July 2020
‘Peru has one of the highest rates of violence against women in Latin America, and the coronavirus pandemic has worsened what was already a dire situation,’ says campaigner
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/coronavirus-peru-deaths-women-girls-missing-lockdown-a9642021.html
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Covid-19 Is Forcing an Exodus From Peru’s Cities
May 2020
https://www.magnumfoundation.org/news/2020/5/parenting-during-a-pandemic-be9rg
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In Brazil, COVID-19 death rate for black community is higher than for other populations
29 June 2020
https://globalvoices.org/2020/06/29/in-brazil-covid-19-death-rate-for-black-community-is-higher-than-for-other-populations/
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Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro says he has ‘mold’ in lungs following bout with COVID-19
July 31, 2020
https://nypost.com/2020/07/31/brazillian-president-jair-bolsonaro-still-weak-after-coronavirus-recovery/
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The Coronavirus in Latin America
July 29, 2020
https://www.as-coa.org/articles/coronavirus-latin-america
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The United States is Losing Latin America to China
August 15, 2019
In Latin America, hard power is of limited utility; soft power through economic and diplomatic influence will carry the day in the region.
https://nationalinterest.org/feature/united-states-losing-latin-america-china-73906
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Eight countries in danger of falling into China’s “debt trap”
March 7, 2018
https://qz.com/1223768/china-debt-trap-these-eight-countries-are-in-danger-of-debt-overloads-from-chinas-belt-and-road-plans/
Last year, with more than $1 billion in debt to China, Sri Lanka handed over a port to companies owned by the Chinese government. Now Djibouti, home to the US military’s main base in Africa, looks about to cede control of another key port to a Beijing-linked company, and the US is not happy about it.
Beijing “encourages dependency using opaque contracts, predatory loan practices, and corrupt deals that mire nations in debt and undercut their sovereignty, denying them their long-term, self-sustaining growth,” said US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on March 6. ”Chinese investment does have the potential to address Africa’s infrastructure gap, but its approach has led to mounting debt and few, if any, jobs in most countries,” he added.
Some call this “debt-trap diplomacy“: Offer the honey of cheap infrastructure loans, with the sting of default coming if smaller economies can’t generate enough free cash to pay their interest down. In Sri Lanka, acrimony remains around Hambantota and projects like “the world’s emptiest airport.”
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Americans flocking to New Zealand immigration website in hopes of avoiding coronavirus: report
July 2020
https://www.foxnews.com/world/americans-flocking-to-new-zealand-to-avoid-coronavirus-report
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Game of Loans: How China Bought Hambantota
April 2, 2018
The Issue
Unable to repay its debt, Sri Lanka gave China a controlling equity stake and a 99-year lease for Hambantota port, which it handed over in December 2017.
The economic rationale for Hambantota is weak, given existing capacity and expansion plans at Colombo port, fueling concerns that it could become a Chinese naval facility.
https://www.csis.org/analysis/game-loans-how-china-bought-hambantota
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Is China’s CCP backstabbing the world? CCP Coward Attack on Indian Soldiers – Tahir Gora @TAGTV
Jun 19, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeTM6a7DyeM
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China–Pakistan Economic Corridor
China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a collection of infrastructure projects that are under construction throughout Pakistan since 2013. Originally valued at $46 billion, the value of CPEC projects is worth $62 billion as of 2017. CPEC is intended to rapidly upgrade Pakistan’s required infrastructure and strengthen its economy by the construction of modern transportation networks, numerous energy projects, and special economic zones. On 13 November 2016, CPEC became partly operational when Chinese cargo was transported overland to Gwadar Port for onward maritime shipment to Africa and West Asia, while some major power projects were commissioned by late 2017.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China%E2%80%93Pakistan_Economic_Corridor
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CPEC is China-Pakistan corruption corridor. This challenges Indian security in new ways
8 June, 2020
India has always factored in a possible Chinese front in war with Pakistan. Now the second front will also have to be considered in the punishment strategy.
https://theprint.in/opinion/cpec-is-china-pakistan-corruption-corridor-this-challenges-indian-security-in-new-ways/437329/
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Pakistan owes China more money than it owes the IMF
3 Oct 2019
Pakistan has been borrowing from Beijing to tide over a financial crisis.
Pakistan needs to repay China more than double the amount it owes the International Monetary Fund in the next three years, as loans racked-up to boost foreign exchange reserves and bridge a financing gap become due.
The South Asian nation owes $6.7 billion in commercial loans to China over the three years through June 2022, according to the IMF, which this year approved a new program to bail out Pakistan from a crisis.
Islamabad needs to pay the multilateral lender $2.8 billion in the same period.
Pakistan, one of the biggest beneficiaries of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, has been borrowing from Beijing to tide over a financial crisis. Still, the money was enough to only partly bridge a financing gap, pushing the South Asian nation to knock at the IMF’s doors.
“The borrowing picked up after the Belt and Road started,” said Hafiz Faizan Ahmed, head of research at Karachi-based Optimus Capital Management Pvt.
“A bulk of the Chinese lending happened about two years ago when d
https://www.aljazeera.com/ajimpact/pakistan-owes-china-money-owes-imf-191003104027694.html
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CCP Inflated Belt and Road Pakistan Project Costs and running off at the mouth
July 2020
https://gnews.org/267082/
As reported by the Financial Times on 26 June 2020, Pakistan was trying to negotiate Belt and Road repayments after it alleged that Chinese companies have inflated power project costs by billions of dollars.
It is advised that Pakistan suspend all the corrupted cooperation contracts signed with corrupted Chinese Communist Party, CCP, government which is responsible for covering up coronavirus information, deterring international inspection and stealing wealth of the Chinese people through international loans and grants without transparency until CCP is replaced with a democracy state, for example, the New Federal State of China, the Declaration of which upholds principles of rule of law, justice and independent scrutiny.
Inflating charges is just one of the means of stealing money to make senior CCP officials wealthy and increase the balances of their bank accounts in Switzerland and the Wall Street. It is frequently to overcharge fees by inflating set-up cost and other engineering costs in China under the CCP’s rule. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct independent audit on project cost. The related party relationship should be investigated and scrutinized before any project advisory service or audit could commence.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendations are being neglected by greed of those bankers in the Wall Street and Switzerland. The FATF is the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog. The inter-governmental body sets international standards that aim to prevent these illegal activities and the harm they cause to society. With more than 200 countries and jurisdictions committed to implementing them, the FATF has developed the FATFRecommendations, or FATF Standards, which ensure a coordinated global response to prevent organized crime, corruption and terrorism.
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As China colonises Pakistanis, Chinese Companies in Pakistan have banned Namaz during work hours
June 2020
We at TFI have always maintained that it is only a matter of time before Pakistan become a Chinese colony thanks to an incompetent Imran Khan government and the rapidly rising Chinese debt. In what can be read as one of the first manifestations of Chinese colonisation of Pakistan, Chinese companies in Pakistan have banned its Muslim employees from offering Namaz during office hours.
https://tfipost.com/2020/06/as-china-colonises-pakistanis-chinese-companies-in-pakistan-have-banned-namaz-during-work-hours/
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Pakistan’s new government is trying to walk back from alarming Chinese debt
September 10, 2018
https://qz.com/1384295/pakistan-is-trying-to-back-away-from-a-debt-trap-with-china/
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China, Pakistan sign deal to set up secret bio-warfare labs
July 24, 2020
https://defence.capital/2020/07/24/china-pakistan-sign-deal-to-set-up-secret-bio-warfare-labs/
New Delhi: Pakistan and China, two of India’s arch rivals, have reached a secret three-year deal to jointly expand potential biological warfare capabilities, including running several research projects related to the deadly agent Anthrax, people familiar with the development said.
The Wuhan Institute of Virology has signed the covert deal with Pakistan military’s Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DESTO) to collaborate on research in “emerging infectious diseases” and advance studies on the biological control of transmitted diseases, they said.
The programme is being entirely funded by China and is formally titled the “Collaboration for Emerging Infectious Diseases and Studies on Biological Control of Vector Transmitting Diseases”.
China is testing biological agents outside its borders, in Pakistan, in an apparent bid to minimise the “risk of drawing condemnation from the international community”, after its Wuhan leak and spread of the Coronavirus in 2019.
DESTO has been engaged in various dual-use research projects related to anthrax under a covert biological weapons programme, the people mentioned above said.
The covert China-Pakistan project has conducted “successful soil sampling tests” to isolate Bacillus Thuringiensis (BT), which has a “striking similarity” to Bacillus Anthracis – or Anthrax.
The Wuhan lab was providing “extensive training on manipulation of pathogens and bio-informatics” to Pakistani scientists “to help Pakistan develop its own virus collection database,” they said
The secret project was “detached from supervision of civilian universities or government health departments in Pakistan” and was structured so as to allow “unspecified” future operations.
China’s keen interest in the project is driven chiefly by its agenda to engage Pakistan against India and to conduct potentially dangerous experiments on foreign soil, without subjecting its own land and people to risk
The plan was part of a move by Beijing to designate Pakistan a destination for hazardous bio chemical research, while evading use of its own territory for such activities, as it stands the risk of drawing criticism and condemnation from the international community”
The China-Pakistan biological project had already undertaken experiments on the Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Virus (CCHFV). CCHFV is a rapid-onset fever virus that causes death in about 25 per cent of the cases and is similar to the Ebola virus. CCHFV is categorised as a “class-4” microorganism – the highest possible risk category.
Pakistan is allegedly carrying out tests on CCHFV in laboratories, which are not equipped to handle Bio-Safety Level-4 diseases.
There were concerns the Kunming facility, which is controlled by the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, was also handling class-4 diseases without proper protections.
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Pakistan puzzles health experts as virus cases drop
September 02, 2020
Pakistanis have proposed numerous hypotheses
https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/pakistan/pakistan-puzzles-health-experts-as-virus-cases-drop-1.1599017967568
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Pakistan Is Using a Terrorism Surveillance System to Monitor the Pandemic
July 15, 2020
https://slate.com/technology/2020/07/pakistan-isi-terrorism-surveillance-coronavirus.html
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The Latest: Pakistan surpasses 100,000 coronavirus cases
6-8-2020
https://yourvalley.net/stories/the-latest-pakistan-surpasses-100000-coronavirus-cases,163777
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Pandemic Panic In Pakistan: ‘People Are Just Literally Fighting For Beds”
June 19, 2020
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/06/19/878896370/pandemic-panic-in-pakistan-people-are-just-literally-fighting-for-beds
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Coronavirus in South Asia: Is low testing hiding scale of the outbreak?
7-28-2020
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-53420537
India has the third largest number of coronavirus cases in the world after the US and Brazil with 1.4 million infections reported so far.
That’s not surprising given its huge population, but what is the scale of the epidemic in neighbouring countries?
Is the outbreak growing in South Asia?
With cases doubling every 21 days, India’s numbers are rising fast after it relaxed a strict lockdown, imposed in the last week of March.
India has been seeing record numbers of daily cases, as it continues to ramp up its testing, currently conducting over 500,000 tests each day.
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Pakistani Ministers Test Positive for Coronavirus as Cases Rise
July 6, 2020
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-06/pakistani-ministers-test-positive-for-coronavirus-as-cases-rise
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COVID-19 Fans Religious Discrimination in Pakistan
April 28, 2020
Referring to COVID-19 as “the Shia virus.” Denying aid to Christians and Hindus. These are only a few examples of faith-based discrimination in Pakistan.
https://thediplomat.com/2020/04/covid-19-fans-religious-discrimination-in-pakistan/
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Pakistan’s blame game shifts to Iran as coronavirus cases surge
April 2020
https://www.foxnews.com/world/pakistan-coronavirus-cases-surge-blame-iran
All hell broke loose in a coronavirus quarantine site in the Pakistani city of Sukkur last week.
Those inside, including Shiite pilgrims who had just returned from Iran, brought the doors down in protest. The heated crowd included people who had tested positive for coronavirus mixed in with those who were healthy or waiting for their results. Police propelled the crowd back but many are said to have escaped, shouting that the virus was an American conspiracy.
The scene is symptomatic of Pakistan’s handling of COVID-19. The country now has the highest number of confirmed cases in South Asia.
In recent weeks, reports have rolled out that those locked into other isolation camps in remote parts of Pakistan – such as Baluchistan – have attempted to break free from cramped camps after returning from Iran, one of the world’s epicenters of the spread. The first known case was a pilgrim coming back from the neighboring Islamic Republic, whose diagnosis was confirmed on Feb. 23.
“The virus has spread across the regions bordering with Iran, which was a failure on the part of our incumbent government, who didn’t seal borders with them until the catastrophic outbreak struck Pakistan,” Salman Ahmed, assistant commissioner in Central Punjab, which has the highest number of coronavirus cases in Pakistan, told Fox News.
“Despite this, we allowed thousands of Shiite pilgrims stranded in Iran to be transported back home. We have converted hostels and public schools to quarantine facilities, although we are running out of budget,” he added.
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Iran Disinformation and Cover-up of the Coronavirus Crisis Proves That Sanctions Should Be Maintained
April 4, 2020
https://www.redstate.com/redstatestaff/2020/04/04/iran-disinformation-and-cover-up-of-the-coronavirus-crisis-proves-that-sanctions-should-be-maintained/
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Some in Iran die after drinking homemade alcohol to prevent coronavirus: Experts
08 March 2020
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/03/08/Some-in-Iran-die-after-drinking-homemade-alcohol-to-prevent-coronavirus-Experts
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Iran Claims Herbal Medicine Will Treat Chinese Coronavirus
10 Mar 2020
https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2020/03/10/iran-claims-herbal-medicine-will-treat-chinese-coronavirus/
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Alleged Dam Hacking Raises Fears of Cyber Threats to Infrastructure
3/30/16
https://www.newsweek.com/cyber-attack-rye-dam-iran-441940
The U.S. Justice Department unsealed an indictment last week that names seven Iranian nationals who are facing charges related to cyberattacks on 46 companies from 2011 to 2013. While many of the targets were major banks in the U.S., one of the hackers also allegedly tapped into the dam’s control system.
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Iran Says China “Misleads” World With Inaccurate Coronavirus Reports
April 7, 2020
https://caspiannews.com/news-detail/iran-says-china-misleads-world-with-inaccurate-coronavirus-reports-2020-4-7-19/
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China–Iran relations
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China%E2%80%93Iran_relations
China–Iran relations refer to the economic, political, and social relations between the People’s Republic of China and Iran from the 1979 Iranian Revolution to the present. The two civilizations have had a history of cultural, political, and economic exchanges along the Silk Road since at least 200 BC, and possibly earlier. To this day, China and Iran have developed a friendly economic and strategic partnership.
History
Sino-Persian relations (Chinese: 中国–波斯关系, Persian: [same as above]) refer to the historic diplomatic, cultural and economic relations between the cultures of China proper and Greater Iran, dating back to ancient times, since at least 200 B.C. The Parthians and Sassanid empires (occupying much of present Iran and Central Asia) had various contacts with the Han, Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties.
New Silk Road
As of 2019, Iran has signed onto Xi Jinping’s signature One Belt One Road plan, and Iran is considered to be a key part of China’s geopolitical ambitions in central Asia and the Middle East, sometimes described in terms of a new Great Game.
Nuclear technology
Nuclear cooperation began in the 1980s when China helped build a research reactor and supply four other research reactors. Continued aid came in the form of helping Iran construct a uranium hexafluoride enrichment plant near Isfahan and the resumption of construction on a nuclear power plant at Bushehr that was left uncompleted by the French and Germans. In 1991, nuclear exports to Iran were discovered by the International Atomic Energy Association, which contained three types of uranium. A 1990 covert nuclear agreement was also discovered. This discovery was followed by an unprecedented nuclear cooperation agreement in 1992. The agreement was signed despite U.S. protests to have China limit its nuclear cooperation with Iran.
Direct nuclear cooperation has ended but there is speculation over whether there remains indirect nuclear cooperation. For example, in 2005 seven Chinese firms were suspected of selling nuclear weapons technology and all 7 had sanctions placed upon them. Those firms were banned from trading with the United States for two years. There also continues to be Chinese nuclear experts, scientists, and technicians present in Iran.
In 2015 China was part of the Iran nuclear deal framework. Now, China opposes Iran’s possible production and possession of nuclear weapons but does not see the urgency to stop it.
UN sanctions
At first Iran did not originally support China’s bid for United Nations membership but did not veto. It wasn’t until 1969 that Iran displayed open support for China’s membership. Now, Iran relies on China’s membership and especially Chinese veto power on the Security Council to protect it from US-led sanctions.
China is known for its preference of diplomacy over sanctions. This tradition includes China’s (along with Russia’s) opposition to UN sanctions against Iran. In 1980, China refused to support the UN arms embargo against Iran and further abstained from voting on US sanctions against Iran.
Only in 2010 under US pressure, did China join Russia to support the UN sanctions on Iran.
In 2018 the US ordered Canada to arrest and detain Meng Wanzhou, CFO of Huawei, for ‘illegally dealing with’ and allegedly violating sanctions against Iran.
Intermarriage
See also: Category:Chinese people of Iranian descent and Iranians in China
Iran and China have a long history of intermarriages, since at least the Tang and mostly taking place in China (so names are in Chinese). Immigrant communities of Persian Muslims in China intermarried with local women, forming what is now the modern Hui people. At the same time, Persian women also intermarried with Chinese men: see Lin Nu, Liu Chang (Southern Han), Wang Zongyan (married Li Shunxian). Mixed descendants include Li Zhi (philosopher), Hu Dahai.
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Iran and China, the Totalitarian Twins
July 20, 2020
Their ‘partnership’ is less than meets the eye, but it does reveal commonalities between the two regimes.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/iran-and-china-the-totalitarian-twins-11595266709
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Iran’s Military Alliance with China Threatens Middle East Security
July 17, 2020
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16252/iran-china-military-alliance
Announcing Iran’s intention to build a new military base in the Indian Ocean, Admiral Alireza Tangsiri, the commander of the naval attachment of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said that the base would be used to protect fishing and commercial vessels from piracy and “foreign ships”, a reference to the US-led multinational naval task force that is currently protecting Gulf shipping from Iranian interference.
As part of the deal negotiated with Beijing, China is to be allowed access to a number of Iranian ports, including Chabahar, with the Chinese reported to be planning to build a new military base in the vicinity of the port.
The construction of such a base would enable the Chinese Navy to monitor the activities of the U.S. Navy in the area, in particular the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet in the Gulf, which is permanently deployed to protect shipping passing through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important economic waterways.
Any expansion in Iranian and Chinese military activity in the region would also have an impact on the jointly-administered U.S.-UK base on the island of Diego Garcia, one of the Pentagon’s most important military assets in the region.
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China and Iran: a relationship built on trade, weapons and oil
1-9-2020
Beijing supplied military hardware to Tehran in the Iran-Iraq war and has been among its top three arms suppliers in the past decade
China remains Iran’s top trade partner, but oil imports slumped after US sanctions
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3045253/china-and-iran-relationship-built-trade-weapons-and-oil
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China Inks Military Deal With Iran Under Secretive 25-Year Plan
Jul 06, 2020
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/China-Inks-Military-Deal-With-Iran-Under-Secretive-25-Year-Plan.html
Last August, Iran’s Foreign Minister, Mohammad Zarif, paid a visit to his China counterpart, Wang Li, to present a roadmap on a comprehensive 25-year China-Iran strategic partnership that built upon a previous agreement signed in 2016. Many of the key specifics of the updated agreement were not released to the public at the time but were uncovered by OilPrice.com at the time. Last week, at a meeting in Gilan province, former Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad alluded to some of the secret parts of this deal in public for the first time, stating that: “It is not valid to enter into a secret agreement with foreign parties without considering the will of the Iranian nation and against the interests of the country and the nation, and the Iranian nation will not recognize it.” According to the same senior sources closely connected to Iran’s Petroleum Ministry who originally outlined the secret element of the 25-year deal, not only is the secret element of that deal going ahead but China has also added in a new military element, with enormous global security implications.
One of the secret elements of the deal signed last year is that China will invest US$280 billion in developing Iran’s oil, gas, and petrochemicals sectors. This amount will be front-loaded into the first five-year period of the new 25-year deal, and the understanding is that further amounts will be available in each subsequent five year period, provided that both parties agree. There will be another US$120 billion of investment, which again can be front-loaded into the first five-year period, for upgrading Iran’s transport and manufacturing infrastructure, and again subject to increase in each subsequent period should both parties agree. In exchange for this, to begin with, Chinese companies will be given the first option to bid on any new – or stalled or uncompleted – oil, gas, and petrochemicals projects in Iran. China will also be able to buy any and all oil, gas, and petchems products at a minimum guaranteed discount of 12 per cent to the six-month rolling mean average price of comparable benchmark products, plus another 6 to 8 per cent of that metric for risk-adjusted compensation. Additionally, China will be granted the right to delay payment for up to two years and, significantly, it will be able to pay in soft currencies that it has accrued from doing business in Africa and the Former Soviet Union states. “Given the exchange rates involved in converting these soft currencies into hard currencies that Iran can obtain from its friendly Western banks, China is looking at another 8 to 12 per cent discount, which means a total discount of around 32 per cent for China on all oil gas, and petchems purchases,” one of the Iran sources underlined.
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Iran and China draft 25-year trade and military agreement: Report
13 July 2020
The draft proposal would see $400bn of Chinese investment in the Islamic Republic in exchange for heavily discounted oil
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/iran-china-trade-military-agreement
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China’s Giant $400 Billion Iran Investment Complicates U.S. Options
Sep 19, 2019
https://www.forbes.com/sites/arielcohen/2019/09/19/chinas-giant-400-billion-iran-investment-snubs-trump/#6881680584d1
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Iran-China pact turbocharges the New Silk Roads
July 11, 2020
China will invest $400 billion in Iran energy and infrastructure but nothing in strategic pact allows for a Chinese troop presence or island handover
http://thesaker.is/iran-china-pact-turbocharges-the-new-silk-roads/
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Lubricated With Oil: Iran-China Relations in a Changing World
https://mepc.org/lubricated-oil-iran-china-relations-changing-world
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What does Iran’s pivot to China mean for Israel?
July 24, 2020
https://www.jns.org/what-does-irans-pivot-to-china-mean-for-israel/
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Israel confronts reality of China-Iran alliance
July 22, 2020
https://www.thejewishstar.com/stories/israel-confronts-reality-of-china-iran-alliance,19500
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With a Potential Iran-China Deal, Time for Israel to Reassess Its Policy | Opinion
7/26/20
https://www.newsweek.com/potential-iran-china-deal-time-israel-reassess-its-policy-opinion-1520422
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China, Russia and Iran begin joint naval drills
27 Dec 2019
The four-day exercise in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Oman comes at a time of heightened tensions between US and Iran.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/12/china-russia-iran-joint-naval-drills-191227183505159.html
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Sputnik V: Why Russia’s Vaccine Diplomacy Failed
Jan 6, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyJjs-zx_XE
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Senior intelligence official warns Russia, Iran, China targeting U.S. elections
07/24/20
https://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/508890-senior-intelligence-official-warns-russia-iran-china-targeting-us
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Iran, Russia, China, Turkey Celebrating ‘Collapse’ of the U.S.
3 Jun 2020
https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2020/06/03/iran-russia-china-turkey-celebrating-collapse-of-the-u-s-report/
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U.S. indicts Iranians for hacking dozens of banks, New York dam
March 24, 2016
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-iran-cyber-idUSKCN0WQ1JF
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Iran: COVID-19 Disinformation Fact Sheet
March 23, 2020
https://www.state.gov/iran-covid-19-disinformation-fact-sheet/
“I also want to call attention to the Iranian regime’s misinformation campaign surrounding the origination of the Wuhan virus. Instead of focusing on the needs of the Iranian people and accepting genuine offers of support, senior Iranians lied about the Wuhan virus outbreak for weeks.”
The Iranian leadership is trying to avoid responsibility for their grossly incompetent and deadly governance. Sadly, the Iranian people have been suffering these kinds of lies for 41 years. They know the truth: The Wuhan virus is a killer and the Iranian regime is an accomplice.”
-Secretary Pompeo, Remarks to the Press March 17, 2020
FACTS
Iran’s lack of transparency about its coronavirus outbreak has resulted in a catastrophic public health risk to the Iranian people, as well as to Iran’s neighbors.
Instead of halting flights to China when the risk of contagion was clear, the regime threatened and imprisoned dozens of Iranians who told the truth about the outbreak. The regime encouraged large public gatherings to try to bolster its legitimacy, with no regard for the health risk to Iranian citizens.
The regime is hiding a significant amount of information about the coronavirus outbreak. It is likely far worse that the regime is admitting. This lack of transparency poses a significant health risk to the Iranian people, as well as to Iran’s neighbors.
Reports that COVID-19 has spread to Iranian prisons are deeply troubling and demand nothing less than the full and immediate release of all American citizens. Their detention amid increasingly deteriorating conditions poses a serious health risk and undermines their basic human dignity.
The United States has and continues to offer humanitarian assistance to the Iranian people to help address the coronavirus outbreak. It is unfortunate for the Iranian people that their government has rejected this offer. Our priority has been to stand with the Iranian people – and this offer is still on the table.
U.S. sanctions are not preventing aid from getting to Iran. The United States maintains broad authorizations that allow for the sale of food, agricultural commodities, medicine, and medical devices by U.S persons or from the United States to Iran.
The media should know better than to believe and propagate Chinese and Russian propaganda that misleads the public into believing U.S. sanctions are to blame.
Now, regime officials make false claims that the U.S. engineered the virus – focusing their time and resources attempting to deflect blame instead of taking responsibility and providing for the health, prosperity, and rights of Iranians, who deserve far better.
For years, the Iranian regime has prioritized its proxies over the Iranian people and stolen the money the Iranian people deserve and expect to go for their healthcare. In July 2019, one billion euros intended for medical supplies “disappeared” and another $170 million dollars allocated for medical goods were instead spent on tobacco. Since 2012, the regime has spent over $16 billion on terror abroad – the Iranian people know that any sanctions relief would go to sponsor terrorist, not humanitarian activities.
If regime officials are looking for funds to combat the outbreak, they can start by returning money they stole from the Iranian people. Supreme Leader Khamenei runs a hedge fund worth tens of billions of dollars, much of which was “earned” by confiscating resources from the Iranian people.
DISINFORMATION AND MISMANAGEMENT
Instead of taking appropriate precautions against the spread of COVID-19, Iran’s terrorist airline, Mahan Air, operated at least 55 flights between Tehran and China in February, according to public reports.
On February 10, Deputy Health Minsiter Ali-Reza Raisi told reporters: “I declare that there are no cases of coronavirus in the country and our citizens should only follow news released by the Health Ministry on the coronavirus.” The same day, a 63-year-old Iranian woman died from the coronavirus.
The Iranian regime only admitted that coronavirus had entered Iran on February 19, nine days after the first reported death.
On March 5, the head of Iran’s cyber police announced the arrest of 121 Iranians for “spreading rumors” about the coronavirus. The regime also reportedly threatened medical staff against revealing accurate statistics of coronavirus cases and deaths.
In March, the head of the IRGC, Hossein Salami, claimed the spread of COVID-19 in Iran might be due to a U.S. biological attack, and an advisor to the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament claimed coronavirus was being used as biological warfare by the United States.
On March 12, Ayatollah Khamenei falsely claimed that there is evidence that COVID-19 might be a “biological attack.”
On March 17, Iran Foreign Minister Javad Zarif falsely claimed U.S. sanctions are killing Iranian “innocents” with its sanctions. He failed to note the Department of State has offered aid through Switzerland dating back to February.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has also falsely accused the United States of hampering Iran’s epidemic by not lifting sanctions. In fact, on February 28, the Department of State offered aid to specifically address the spread of COVID-19 in Iran, an offer that was conveyed to Iran through the government of Switzerland and rejected by the regime.
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Iran government spokesman tests positive for coronavirus
July 27, 2020
https://aroundworld24.com/2020/07/27/iran-government-spokesman-tests-positive-for-coronavirus/
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Trump joins Iran ‘No to Executions’ protests
July 16, 2020
US President Donald Trump has joined throngs of social media users posting the Persian hashtag meaning “No to Executions” to protest the planned execution of three men over their involvement in demonstrations in November 2019.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200716-trump-joins-iran-no-to-executions-protests/
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China doesn’t want war, but Trump’s strike against Iran could present an opportunity to Beijing
January 7, 2020
https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/07/asia/iran-us-china-middle-east-intl-hnk/index.html
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Iran Seeks Deals with Russia and China To Build Coalition to Resist U.S.
7-2-2020
https://www.newsweek.com/iran-russia-deal-china-agreement-coalition-1519467
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Energy policy of Russia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_policy_of_Russia
Russia’s energy policy which is set out in the government’s Energy Strategy document, first approved in 2000, which sets out the government’s policy to 2020. The Energy Strategy outlines several key priorities: an increase in energy efficiency, reducing the impact on the environment, sustainable development, energy development and technological development, as well as improved effectiveness and competitiveness.
In July 2008 Russia’s president signed a law allowing the government to allocate strategic oil and gas deposits on the continental shelf without an auction procedure. On 17 February 2011, Russia signed a deal with China, stating that in return for $25 billion in Chinese loans to Russian oil companies, Russia will supply China with large quantities of crude oil via new pipelines for the next 20 years.
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Russia’s Transneft signed off on alleged supplier of tainted oil: documents
July 17, 2019
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-oil-certificates-idUSKCN1UC1IP
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The Giant Soviet Pipeline System That’s Full of Tainted Crude
April 26, 2019
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-26/the-giant-soviet-pipeline-system-that-s-full-of-tainted-crude
Russia’s Druzhba pipeline is vital to European refineries
Contamination impacted flows of 1.5 million barrels a day
Russia’s giant Soviet-era oil pipeline is a vital piece of Europe’s energy infrastructure, carrying crude to refineries across the region. This week it’s been hit by probably the biggest crisis in its 55-year history: both branches of the Druzhba pipeline have been closed due to the presence of contaminated crude oil that can cause serious damage to refineries.
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Putin says contaminated oil pipeline scandal has hurt Russia’s image
May 01, 2019
Belarus said earlier on Tuesday that months of work would be needed to restore clean oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline from Russia to Europe.
https://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/oil-and-gas/putin-says-contaminated-oil-pipeline-scandal-has-hurt-russias-image/69124483
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Druzhba pipeline
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Druzhba_pipeline
The Druzhba pipeline (Russian: нефтепровод «Дружба»; also has been referred to as the Friendship Pipeline and the Comecon Pipeline) is the world’s longest oil pipeline and one of the biggest oil pipeline networks in the world. It carries oil some 4,000 kilometres (2,500 mi) from the eastern part of European Russia to points in Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Germany. The network also branches out into numerous pipelines to deliver its product throughout Eastern Europe and beyond.
2019 oil contamination scandal
The delivery of oil was halted on 20 April 2019 due to high concentrations of organic chloride found in the pipeline. These chemical compounds contaminated the pipeline and equipment in Russia and Europe causing an economic impact of billions of dollars. Investigation into the scandal is ongoing with individuals being detained in Russia suspected of having stolen oil and pouring in organochloride to the pipeline to cover up the theft.
Disputes over payment for contaminated oil were ongoing a month later.
By late May, a month after the contamination was discovered, Russia agreed to take back some of the 8-9m tons of contaminated oil remaining in the pipeline.
Estimates of overall contaminated stock, including that still in the pipeline and other stock pumped to tankers or to storage range from 20-40m tons as of end May. This stock will all require dilution before it can be refined.
By the 9th of June Belarus announced that it had cleaned up its sector of the pipeline, returning 450,000 tons to Russia in the process, and that limited flow across the Poland border had resumed at a rate of 65,000 tons a day, the normal rate before the contamination was discovered was 145,000 tons a day. Projections were that full capacity would be reached again by July 2019.
In mid September 2019, almost 5 months after the contamination was noticed, the Polish pipeline operator confirmed their section of the pipeline had been cleared of contamination and was operating normally. 450,000 Tons of Contaminated Oil had been moved to storage.
Also in September 2019 oil companies BP and Total were trying to sell 2.3m Barrels (over 300,000 tons) of tainted oil that they had received earlier from the pipeline.
Belarus–Russia relations
In February 2020, Belarus threatened to take oil from the Druzhba pipeline if Russia did not supply it with the required volumes of crude oil. Russian oil supplies to Belarus have not been agreed for 2020 and shipments have dwindled to 500,000 tonnes, down from a planned 2 million tonnes.[26] Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Moscow hinted at an energy supply deal in exchange for Belarus merging with Russia, which caused talks to collapse.
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Belarus Seizes a Chance to Hit Russia Where It Hurts
May 1, 2019
Its president is happy to play hardball over contaminated oil in an important pipeline to Europe.
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2020 Belarusian protests
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Belarusian_protests
Allegations of foreign interference
According to Russia’s press service statement issued on August 19th, 2020, “Russia pointed out that foreign attempts to interfere in the country’s domestic affairs were unacceptable and could further escalate tensions” As Georgy Saralidze, advisor to the director of the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company on program policy, noted in an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza that western countries had been striving to isolate Belarus away from Russia for several years.
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Alleged Dam Hacking Raises Fears of Cyber Threats to Infrastructure
3/30/16
https://www.newsweek.com/cyber-attack-rye-dam-iran-441940
The U.S. Justice Department unsealed an indictment last week that names seven Iranian nationals who are facing charges related to cyberattacks on 46 companies from 2011 to 2013. While many of the targets were major banks in the U.S., one of the hackers also allegedly tapped into the dam’s control system.
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Iran Increases Cyber Attacks on U.S. Gov’t, Infrastructure: Cyber Security Firms
June 24, 2019
https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2019/06/24/530257.htm
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Mutual interests entail Iran, China to quickly finalize their strategic cooperation document
July 29, 2020
https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/450664/Mutual-interests-entail-Iran-China-to-quickly-finalize-their
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How Much Money Does the World Owe China?
February 26, 2020
https://hbr.org/2020/02/how-much-money-does-the-world-owe-china
In total, the Chinese state and its subsidiaries have lent about $1.5 trillion in direct loans and trade credits to more than 150 countries around the globe. This has turned China into the world’s largest official creditor — surpassing traditional, official lenders such as the World Bank, the IMF, or all OECD creditor governments combined.
On the borrower side, debt is accumulating fast: For the 50 main developing country recipients, we estimate that the average stock of debt owed to China has increased from less than 1% of debtor country GDP in 2005 to more than 15% in 2017. A dozen of these countries owe debt of at least 20% of their nominal GDP to China (Djibouti, Tonga, Maldives, the Republic of the Congo, Kyrgyzstan, Cambodia, Niger, Laos, Zambia, Samoa, Vanuatu, and Mongolia).
Maybe more importantly, our analysis reveals that 50% of China’s loans to developing countries go unreported, meaning that these debt stocks do not appear in the “gold standard” data sources provided by the World Bank, the IMF, or credit-rating agencies. The unreported lending from China has grown to more than $200 billion USD as of 2016.
Hidden Debts and Hidden Risks
Failing to account for these “hidden debts” to China distorts the views of the official and private sectors in three material ways. First, official surveillance work is hampered when parts of a country’s debt are not known. Assessing repayment burdens and financial risks requires detailed knowledge on all outstanding debt instruments.
Second, the private sector will misprice debt contracts, such as sovereign bonds, if it fails to grasp the true scope of debts that a government owes. This problem is aggravated by the fact that many Chinese official loans have collateral clauses, so that China may be treated preferentially in case of repayment problems. As a result, private investors and other competing creditors may underestimate the risk of default on their claims.
And, third, forecasters of global economic activity who are unaware of surges and stops of Chinese lending miss an important swing factor influencing aggregate global demand. One could look to the lending surge of the 1970s, when resource-rich, low-income countries received large amounts of syndicated bank loans from the U.S., Europe, and Japan, for a relevant precedent. That lending cycle ended badly once commodity prices and economic growth slumped, and dozens of developing countries went into default during the bust that followed.
But developing country loans are just one element of China’s overseas lending activities. When adding portfolio debts (including the $1 trillion of U.S. Treasury debt purchased by China’s central bank) and trade credits (to buy goods and services), the Chinese government’s aggregate claims to the rest of the world exceed $5 trillion in total. In other words, countries worldwide owed more than 6% of world GDP in debt to China as of 2017.
Yet another important element to China’s presence in global finance is the growing network of swap lines by the People’s Bank of China (PBoC). Central bank swap lines can be understood as standing lines of credit, where central banks agree on exchanging their currencies to facilitate trade settlements and to address liquidity needs. As of 2018, the PBoC has signed swap agreements with more than 40 central banks (ranging from Argentina to Ukraine), providing the right to exchange more than U.S. $550 billion of their own currencies for Chinese currency (the renminbi or RMB). As a result, nations facing financial strains can turn to China before the international financial institutions, including the IMF. Since 2013, Argentina, Mongolia, Pakistan, Russia and Turkey all have made use of their RMB swap lines in periods of market distress.
Why does this matter? IMF lending is transparent, and it is usually conditioned on a plan to improve national policies. This is not necessarily the case for Chinese lending, which gives rise to important questions of creditor seniority. For example, if a nation indebted to China turns to the IMF, officials should be aware that any funds the IMF disburses may be used to pay another official creditor, China, rather than be used to blunt market strains.
Looking ahead, we find that credit outflows from China have slowed markedly since 2015, in parallel to China’s ongoing domestic economic slowdown. We’ve also documented a recent surge in the number of credit events on Chinese loans, which have not appeared in the reports of international credit rating agencies. Since 2011, two dozen developing countries have restructured their debt to China. This recent increase in the incidence of sovereign debt restructurings of Chinese debt may have a benign interpretation, but given the slower growth and lower commodity prices of recent years, it may well be a sign of brewing liquidity and solvency problems in numerous developing countries. Against this backdrop, much more work is needed to analyze the characteristics and potential impact of China’s lending around the world. If China’s role in international finance continues in the shadows, global risk assessments and country surveillance work will remain dangerously incomplete.
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Can China’s COVID-19 Statistics Be Trusted?
March 26, 2020
From GDP figures to coronavirus counts, China’s government has a long history of manipulating data for political gain.
https://thediplomat.com/2020/03/can-chinas-covid-19-statistics-be-trusted/
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How China Built a Twitter Propaganda Machine Then Let It Loose on Coronavirus
March 2020
ProPublica analyzed thousands of fake and hijacked Twitter accounts to understand how covert Chinese propaganda spreads around the globe.
https://www.propublica.org/article/how-china-built-a-twitter-propaganda-machine-then-let-it-loose-on-coronavirus
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Great Damage to World: US issues Alarming Warning as Tensions Threaten to erupt in South China Sea
Jul 30, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVRk7URDtLI
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Researcher: This new symptom could be a key indicator of COVID-19
Jul 30, 2020
https://wgnradio.com/news/researcher-this-new-symptom-could-be-a-key-indicator-of-covid-19/
DALLAS (NEXSTAR) — A Harvard researcher believes skin rashes could be a new symptom of COVID-19.
Andrew Chan, a professor of immunology and infectious disease at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, has been tracking coronavirus patients using the COVID Symptom Study app. He says the app is picking up more cases of raised skin bumps and inflammation on fingers and toes.
The rashes were placed into three categories:
Hive-type rash (urticaria): Sudden appearance of raised bumps on the skin that come and go quickly over hours and are usually very itchy. It can involve any part of the body and often starts with intense itching of the palms or soles and can cause swelling of the lips and eyelids. These rashes can present quite early in the infection, but can also last a long time afterward.
‘Prickly heat’ or chickenpox-type rash (erythemato-papular or erythemato-vesicular rash): Areas of small, itchy red bumps that can occur anywhere on the body, but particularly the elbows and knees as well as the back of the hands and feet. The rash can persist for days or weeks.
COVID fingers and toes (chilblains): Reddish and purplish bumps on the fingers or toes, which may be sore but not usually itchy. This type of rash, most specific to COVID-19, is more common in younger people with the disease and tends to present later.
Chan’s research focused on rashes involved roughly 336,000 app users in the United Kingdom.
Similarly, an early study on COVID found 17 percent of the 11,546 people surveyed had a rash as their first COVID-19 symptom. Of those who reported suffering from a rash, 21 percent said it was their only symptom.
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COVID-19 survivor who had most of his fingers amputated: ‘This can happen to you’
Jul 24, 2020
https://wgnradio.com/news/covid-19-survivor-who-had-most-of-his-fingers-amputated-this-can-happen-to-you/
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Chief of Cardiology at Northwestern Medicine explains ‘broken heart syndrome’ & the connection to COVID-19
Jul 16, 2020
Chief of Cardiology at Northwestern Medicine, Dr. Clyde Yancy, joins Roe Conn to address how COVID-19 impacts cardiovascular health and answer questions about heart health…
https://wgnradio.com/health/chief-of-cardiology-at-northwestern-medicine-explains-broken-heart-syndrome-the-connection-covid-19/
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Dr. Ali Shaibani explains why COVID-19 increases blood clotting in the body
Jul 16, 2020
https://wgnradio.com/health/dr-ali-shaibani-explains-why-covid-19-increases-blood-clotting-in-the-body/
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Can COVID-19 cause male infertility?
Jul 15, 2020
https://wgnradio.com/news/can-covid-19-cause-male-infertility/
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Young children spread COVID-19 much less than others, study finds
Jul 20, 2020
https://wgnradio.com/news/young-children-spread-covid-19-much-less-than-others-study-finds/
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Researchers find COVID-infected children are major carriers, further complicating the school-reopening debate
July 30, 2020
https://fortune.com/2020/07/30/children-covid-carriers-kids-coronavirus-schools-reopening-viral-load-study/
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CDC director seeing more suicides, drug overdoses than COVID deaths among high schoolers
Jul. 31, 2020
https://video.foxnews.com/v/6176862534001#sp=show-clips
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U.S. drug companies race to find coronavirus vaccine, Congress concerned about safety and price gouging
Jul 21, 2020
https://wgnradio.com/news/u-s-drug-companies-race-to-find-coronavirus-vaccine-congress-concerned-about-safety-and-price-gouging/
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U.S., Florida see decline in new COVID-19 cases, deaths
July 27, 2020
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2020/07/27/US-Florida-see-decline-in-new-COVID-19-cases-deaths/9171595860386/
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Why opioid deaths are rising amid the COVID-19 pandemic
Jul 27, 2020
https://wgnradio.com/anna-davlantes/why-opioid-deaths-are-rising-amid-the-covid-19-pandemic/
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Dr. Michael Roizen: The sleeping position that can help your body fight coronavirus {Debated}
Jul 19, 2020
https://wgnradio.com/dean-richards-sunday-morning/dr-michael-roizen-the-sleeping-position-that-helps-rid-your-body-of-coronavirus/
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North Korea locks down border city over suspected virus case
Jul 25, 2020
https://wgnradio.com/health/nkorea-puts-kaesong-city-in-lockdown-over-suspected-outbreak/
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List: More than half of U.S. states have mask mandates
Jul 23, 2020
https://wgnradio.com/news/list-more-than-half-of-u-s-states-have-mask-mandates/
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Protesters say they were attacked in ‘planned ambush,’ blast police response
29 July 2020
Anti-government demonstrators say suspected far-right attackers launched organized assault against them with weapons, claim cops ignored pleas for help
https://www.timesofisrael.com/protesters-say-they-were-attacked-in-planned-ambush-blast-police-response/
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Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination and COVID-19
12 April 2020
https://www.who.int/news-room/commentaries/detail/bacille-calmette-gu%C3%A9rin-(bcg)-vaccination-and-covid-19
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Trump hosts roundtable on donating plasma; US works against China’s influence on UN; Herman Cain dies
7-30-2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRv5fscD7wc
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Wuhan nurse mysteriously falls from high building and dies; 4207 lightnings hit Shanghai in 3 hours
7-30-2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROg48tjMzQo
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Virus drug video censored; Professor charged for China ties; Senators debate stimulus bill provision
7-29-2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMBh__0gctc
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Facebook, Google/YouTube, Twitter Censor Viral Video of Doctors’ Capitol Hill Coronavirus Press Conference
July 28th, 2020
https://www.allsides.com/news/2020-07-28-1650/facebook-googleyoutube-twitter-censor-viral-video-doctors-capitol-hill
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Business owner on riots impact, U.S. renters owe $21b rent, China banks cool gold rush |NTD Business
7-30-2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8wSRhOFrCA
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Trump’s Taxes Go to Grand Jury, Birth Tourism Targeted, Trump Boosts Hispanic Prosperity | Watch NTD
Jul 9, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVPVmVe8FAw
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Coronavirus: Hong Kong hospitals face ‘collapse’ as outbreak grows
29 July 2020
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-53575875
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The US-China coronavirus blame game is undermining diplomacy
Mar 2020
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/31/us-china-coronavirus-diplomacy
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Coronavirus News updates (WGNRadio.com)
https://wgnradio.com/news/coronavirus/
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Coronavirus updates (GetPocket.com)
https://getpocket.com/explore/coronavirus?utm_source=pocket-newtab
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COVID-19 news updates (www.japantimes.co.jp)
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/liveblogs/news/coronavirus-outbreak-updates/
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Fauci says US could have ‘millions’ of coronavirus cases and over 100,000 deaths
03/29/20
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/490048-fauci-says-us-could-have-millions-of-coronavirus-cases-and-over
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US passes 150,000 coronavirus deaths amid surge in cases – as it happened
July 2020
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2020/jul/29/coronavirus-us-portland-protesters-trump-news-latest-updates
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Global coronavirus cases top 16 million amid debate over new stimulus plan
Jul 26, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOifYkiMeAk
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Live: Fauci, Redfield testify before House on coronavirus crisis
July 31, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-r_C-QsWEak
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Trump enables Jared Kushner’s coronavirus task force, revealing the dangers of nepotism
April 6, 2020
The Trump family has repeatedly used the White House to enrich themselves, but this is about way more than profits.
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/trump-enables-jared-kushner-s-coronavirus-task-force-revealing-dangers-ncna1176511
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Here’s why Jared Kushner’s plan for widespread COVID-19 testing ‘just went poof into thin air’
July 31, 2020
https://www.alternet.org/2020/07/heres-why-jared-kushners-plan-for-widespread-19-testing-just-went-poof-into-thin-air/
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COVID-19: Therapeutics and Their Toxicities
July 2020
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7192319/
Abstract
SARS-CoV-2 is a novel coronavirus that emerged in 2019 and is causing the COVID-19 pandemic. There is no current standard of care. Clinicians need to be mindful of the toxicity of a wide variety of possibly unfamiliar substances being tested or repurposed to treat COVID-19. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has provided emergency authorization for the use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine. These two medications may precipitate ventricular dysrhythmias, necessitating cardiac and electrolyte monitoring, and in severe cases, treatment with epinephrine and high-doses of diazepam. Recombinant protein therapeutics may cause serum sickness or immune complex deposition. Nucleic acid vaccines may introduce mutations into the human genome. ACE inhibitors and ibuprofen have been suggested to exacerbate the pathogenesis of COVID-19. Here, we review the use, mechanism of action, and toxicity of proposed COVID-19 therapeutics.
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Coronavirus disease 2019–associated urticaria with angioedema in a morbidly obese man successfully treated with glucocorticoids
July 2020
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7375290/
The onset of severe urticaria has been linked to viral infections in both children and adults.1 Here, we describe a patient who is a morbidly obese man, smoker, with severe refractory urticaria, angioedema, and systemic symptoms requiring oral glucocorticoids, and who was subsequently diagnosed as having coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and had a successful outcome. The patient was a 36-year-old obese man who presented with a complaint of acute urticaria (Fig 1). He woke up (day 0) with generalized erythema and pruritus with gradual onset of generalized urticaria (palms and soles included). He was seen in an emergency department (ED) and was prescribed methylprednisolone dose pack and an oral dose of diphenhydramine 50 mg twice daily. On day 6, he returned to the ED for a relapse of his symptoms and was continued on a dose of both oral prednisone 20 mg twice daily and oral diphenhydramine 50 mg twice daily; he was also started on a dose of oral cefdinir 500 mg 4 times daily. On day 9, he woke up with generalized erythema, pruritus, urticaria, and angioedema of his lips. When he arrived at the ED (within 20 minutes), he was experiencing dyspnea, cough, and wheezing. He was treated with nebulized albuterol, diphenhydramine, epinephrine, and famotidine, and was administered methylprednisolone intramuscularly and saline intravenously. He responded and was asymptomatic when discharged from the ED. He continued both oral prednisone 20 mg and oral diphenhydramine 50 mg, each twice daily, and stopped cefdinir.
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Acute urticaria with angioedema in the setting of coronavirus disease 2019
2020
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7199726/
This is the case of a 30-year-old female physician with no relevant past medical history except for pine seeds allergy, following a strict nut-free diet since she was diagnosed. Lipid transfer protein syndrome was ruled out at diagnosis. She did not have a family history of hereditary angioedema, and she was not on any medication. In March 2020, she presented with symptoms of odynophagia and dry cough, with rapid onset of fever. The day after the symptoms appeared, a PCR of upper-airway secretions (by nasopharyngeal swab) was performed, revealing severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection. With this positive result, she was instructed to remain in strict home isolation. She evolved satisfactorily, with 4 days of fever and dry cough, followed by 5 days of total anosmia and ageusia from which she completely recovered. On day +11 of disease evolution, after resolution of the previous symptoms, rapidly spreading wheals developed in various locations on her body: face, trunk, abdomen, and limbs. In a few hours, face wheals promptly converted to facial angioedema (Figure 1 ), with preferential involvement of periocular region and mild edema of the lips, without compromise of the tongue, uvula, vocal cords, or the airway. No other symptoms were noted. The appearance of the lesions was not related to food intake (she had not eaten nuts). She had not taken nonsteroidal inflammatory drugs or angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors the previous 15 days. She had not exercised, had not drunk alcohol, nor was on menstrual period. As symptomatic treatment, only an antihistamine was taken (ebastine 10 mg ter in die). Twenty-four hours after the onset of the cutaneous symptoms, both the wheals and angioedema started to fade off, turning into erythematous macules until complete resolution. From there on, she remained asymptomatic. On day +15, upper-airway secretion PCR was performed again, persisting still positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 and therefore proving the presence of this virus in the respiratory tract. After 7 more days of home isolation, repeated PCR on day +22 was finally negative.
———————
Angioedema in COVID-19
22 May 2020
https://academic.oup.com/eurheartj/article/doi/10.1093/eurheartj/ehaa452/5842069
———————-
Experts Revise Anaphylaxis Emergency Plan for COVID-19
April 21, 2020
https://www.allergicliving.com/2020/04/21/experts-revise-anaphylaxis-emergency-plan-for-covid-19/
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Neo bolshevik cuck gets what he fucking deserves
Jul 25, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84NwwtrNVn4
——————-
AntiFa / BLM rioter Garrett Foster final interview just before he’s gunned down
Jul 26, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJVTB9pXxe8
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Austin, TX Mayor Says Take Guns Off the Streets after shooting during BLM protest
Jul 29, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U83V1yBq9S8
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Real Racism and “Bogus” Black Lives Matter (Pt. 1) | Larry Elder | POLITICS | Rubin Report
Jan 25, 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqJnzBHURvs
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COVID-19 In Context: Subversion, Psychological Warfare, and New World Order {Opinion}
March 31, 2020
https://coronacircus.com/2020/03/31/covid-19-in-context-subversion-psychological-warfare-and-new-world-order/
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Section 4: Environment
————————
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———————————————————
NASA satellite sees air pollution drop over northeastern US amid coronavirus outbreak
April 2020
Data from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument on NASA’s Aura satellite shows less air pollution over the Northeast United States in March 2020 compared to average values for the month of March between 2015 and 2019.
(Image: © NASA)
https://www.space.com/nasa-satellite-air-pollution-us-northeast-coronavirus.html
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Coronavirus shutdown leads to ‘alpine’ air in world’s most polluted cities
April 11, 2020
https://nypost.com/2020/04/11/coronavirus-shutdown-leads-to-alpine-air-in-polluted-cities/
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Coronavirus pandemic leading to huge drop in air pollution
Mar 2020
‘Largest scale experiment ever’ shows what is possible as satellite images reveal marked fall in global nitrogen dioxide levels
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/mar/23/coronavirus-pandemic-leading-to-huge-drop-in-air-pollution
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EPA Suspends Enforcement of Environmental Laws
Mar 28 2020
The Trump administration uses the coronavirus crisis as cover to help polluters
https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/epa-suspends-enforcement-environmental-laws
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Trash companies overwhelmed by residential volume amid coronavirus pandemic
Apr 11, 2020
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-trash-collection-coronavirus-20200411-svcf5jdi7jc4vd6umzpcglulk4-story.html
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How coronavirus is disrupting US waste and recycling
April 9, 2020
https://www.wastedive.com/news/coronavirus-us-waste-recycling-disruption-tracker/574324/
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Trash Industry Braces for Potential Deluge of Coronavirus Waste
March 30, 2020
Medical-waste processors are handling more masks and gowns, while collectors worry about infected recycling and garbage
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trash-industry-braces-for-potential-deluge-of-coronavirus-waste-11585560600
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Coronavirus Update: Littering Concerns On The Rise As People Discard Used Gloves, Masks In The Streets
April 2, 2020
https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2020/04/02/coronavirus-gloves-masks-littering/
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Miami Streets Are Littered With Gloves, Masks, and Wipes
April 3, 2020
https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/coronavirus-miami-streets-littered-with-used-gloves-and-masks-11612934
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Pandemic Brings Out Litter Bugs Across City
Apr. 2020
https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2020/04/01/pandemic-brings-out-litter-bugs-who-discard-gloves-and-masks-across-city
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Used gloves, masks litter store parking lots
Apr 9, 2020
https://www.krqe.com/health/coronavirus-new-mexico/used-gloves-masks-litter-store-parking-lots/
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State parks see spike in usage, increased littering during coronavirus pandemic
Apr 7, 2020
https://cumberlink.com/news/local/state-parks-see-spike-in-usage-increased-littering-during-coronavirus-pandemic/article_d0aa9257-6290-55d7-80c1-a1fca0cc7d95.html
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Local stores providing buckets for used gloves, masks disposal to stop littering
Apr 7, 2020
https://www.wwlp.com/news/local-news/hampden-county/local-stores-providing-buckets-for-used-gloves-masks-disposal-to-stop-littering/
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No shortage of masks, gloves littering area parking lots, roadsides
https://www.wral.com/coronavirus/no-shortage-of-masks-gloves-littering-area-parking-lots-roadsides/19050233/
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‘It makes me sick’: Disposable glove litter angers readers
Apr 08, 2020
https://www.mcall.com/opinion/readers-react/mc-opi-let-disposable-gloves-littering-parking-lots-comments-20200408-vqu6k7psonel3gsik7kgv5yhze-story.html
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Coronavirus News: Rash of discarded PPE leads to $1K fine in Southampton
April 7, 2020
https://abc7ny.com/southampton-village-police-department.-coronavirus-long-island-nassau-county-suffolk/6083385/
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Drop your coronavirus personal protective wear in the parking lot? It could cost you $225
April 8, 2020
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/04/08/coronavirus-gloves-masks-littering-ticket-fine/2968869001/
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Man cleans up entire Raleigh park during coronavirus Stay-At-Home orders
April 8, 2020
https://abc11.com/coronavirus-park-litter-daniel-toben/6087441/
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Governor closing state parks, forests due to crowds, litter and vandalism
Apr 09, 2020
https://www.wbay.com/content/news/Governor-closing-state-parks-forests-due-to-crowds-litter-and-vandalism–569504311.html
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Central Jersey towns say don’t flush wipes or litter disposable gloves and masks
4-6-2020
https://www.mycentraljersey.com/news/
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Unlike bacteria, diatoms are picky about microplastics
And that could affect how quickly different types of these tiny plastic particles are degraded
2-23-2020
https://massivesci.com/notes/bacteria-microplastic-diatom-algae-colonizing/
Good news for fans of microplastics in the ocean! The tiny fragments of discarded plastic waste that find their way into marine environments are providing a long-term habitat for aquatic microorganisms.
While working as a doctoral student at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute at Arizona State University, Kassandra Dudek studied the phenomenon of microplastics serving as artificial microbial reefs. Bacteria are known to form biofilms along these materials, building up stable, complex communities. Dudek’s newly published research intended to find out whether certain types of bacteria have preference for settling on certain types of plastic. This could for example influence the movement of pathogens through the environment. It is also relevant because only certain types of bacteria are thought to be able to deconstruct (metabolize) certain types of plastic.
The study showed that the five types of plastic tested, all deriving from common household waste items, did not show any detectable differences in the types of bacteria found colonizing their surfaces. This suggests that it is the physical surface of plastic that quickly attracts bacterial settlers, rather than any chemical features of the specific plastics tested.
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Solving Microplastic Pollution Means Reducing, Recycling—and Fundamental Rethinking
11-12-2018
New practices, and new chemistries, are needed to end the scourge
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/solving-microplastic-pollution-means-reducing-recycling-mdash-and-fundamental-rethinking1/
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Researchers Have Found Microplastics in Human Waste for the First Time
10-23-2018
https://time.com/5431668/microplastics-human-waste-study/
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Microplastics Are Invisible, Scary, and Everywhere
July 25, 2018
“Where do they come from, how do they move around, where do they end up?”
https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2018/07/microplastics-are-invisible-scary-and-everywhere/
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Tiny magnetic coils could help break down microplastic pollution
July 31, 2019
In the lab, carbon nanotubes release chemicals that erode the durable trash
(TINY TRASH PATROL Carbon nanotubes that release plastic-eroding chemicals successfully decomposed waterborne microplastic particles of different sizes and shapes (shown in photomicrographs above).
(NANOSIZE SPRING The MVPs of the new water cleanup technique are tiny carbon nanotubes (one shown in this scanning electron microscopy image), which are twisted into spirals for increased sturdiness. When these nitrogen-coated nanocoils are mixed with a compound called peroxymonosulfate in water, they produce chemicals that break down microplastics).
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/tiny-magnetic-coils-could-help-break-down-microplastic-pollution
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What does Covid-19 tell us about Sustainable Development and the 2030 Agenda?
March 11, 2020
http://cepei.org/en/what-does-covid-19-tell-us-about-sustainable-development-and-the-2030-agenda/
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Despite health crisis, EU presses on with 2030 climate agenda
Apr 3, 2020
https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy-environment/news/eu-presses-on-with-2030-climate-planning/
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Governments urged to attach green strings to long-term coronavirus recovery plans
23/03/2020
https://www.climatechangenews.com/2020/03/23/governments-urged-attach-green-strings-long-term-coronavirus-recovery-plans/
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Coronavirus & Water Pandemics: Doing the Math
March 22, 2020
http://www.ipsnews.net/2020/03/coronavirus-water-pandemics-math/
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Opinion: Sustainable development must account for pandemic risk
https://www.pnas.org/content/117/8/3888
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UN AGENDA 2030: ADULT VACCINATIONS AS A PUBLIC HEALTH INTEREST FOR HEALTHY AGEING
2017
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6244389/
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Immunization Agenda 2030: A Global Strategy to Leave No One Behind
2 April 2020
https://www.who.int/immunization/immunization_agenda_2030/en/
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Scientism: The One World Religion You’ve Been Waiting For
2022
https://www.docdroid.net/KgC58z3/scientism-the-one-world-religion-youve-been-waiting-for-pdf#page=6
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The Great Delusion
How the World was Deceived into Taking the Mark of the Beast
https://www.docdroid.net/f1EonZM/the-great-end-times-delusion-pdf#page=4
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It’s All about the Blood
https://www.docdroid.net/ftzgnT5/its-all-about-the-blood-pdf#page=3
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E-Conference: The Epidemiology and Economics of Coronavirus
25 Mar, 2020
https://www.unsdsn.org/e-conference-the-epidemiology-and-economics-of-coronavirus
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How the World Health Organisation’s failure to challenge China over coronavirus cost us dearly
The international body blithely accepted Beijing’s assurances that there was little to worry about.
5 April 2020
https://www.newstatesman.com/world/asia/2020/04/how-world-health-organisation-s-failure-challenge-china-over-coronavirus-cost-us
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Trump says WHO funding will be halted amid coronavirus pandemic
Apr 14, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVHfS5LUoT4
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Public health professionals plead with Trump not to defund WHO
4/12/2020
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/12/trump-defund-world-health-organization-181166
White House aides and Trump are debating several far-reaching moves to target the World Health Organization.
A trio of public health and medical professionals making the rounds on the Sunday morning news shows called for President Donald Trump not to defund the World Health Organization as the administration weighs punitive measures on the public health organization.
White House aides and Trump are debating several far-reaching moves to target the WHO in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, POLITICO reported Friday, including cutting off U.S. funding and trying to create an alternative institution.
“I don’t think this is a time to defund the WHO, given the fact that I think this is going to become an epidemic in the Southern Hemisphere, in parts of the world that don’t have resources to deal with this kind of a global issue,” Scott Gottlieb, Trump’s former Food and Drug Administration commissioner, said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” Gottlieb added, however, that Trump “raised a lot of valid concerns” about Chinese transparency around the Covid-19 outbreak.
“China was not truthful with the world at the outset of this,” Gottlieb said Sunday. “Had they been more truthful with the world, which would have enabled them to be more truthful with themselves, they might have actually been able to contain this entirely.”
Tom Inglesby, director of Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Health Security, in a separate interview Sunday also called for the U.S. to maintain its support for the WHO.
“The U.S. needs the World Health Organization to function properly,” Inglesby said on “Fox News Sunday.” “It is the organization that helps the world prepare and respond to this. We’re going to need the world to recover from Covid if we’re going to get normalcy back.”
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Trump last week exchanged public comments after the president first threatened, via tweet, to remove U.S. backing from the organization.
“The W.H.O. really blew it. For some reason, funded largely by the United States, yet very China centric. We will be giving that a good look,” Trump tweeted Tuesday morning. “Fortunately I rejected their advice on keeping our borders open to China early on,” he added. “Why did they give us such a faulty recommendation?”
———————
World Health Organisation chief accused of failing to record three cholera epidemics in home country
Questions about Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus have fuelled a bitter row over the global response to the coronavirus pandemic
11 April 2020
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/04/11/world-health-organisation-chief-accused-failing-record-three/
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What’s Going Around: COVID, strep, stomach bug
February 2023
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/what-s-going-around-covid-strep-stomach-bug/ar-AA171xOi
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11 Foods and Drinks to Help Soothe COVID-19 Symptoms
January 5, 2022
https://www.everydayhealth.com/diet-nutrition/foods-and-drinks-to-help-soothe-covid-19-symptoms/
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COVID mask exemption cards are not from the government
June 29, 2020
https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2020/06/covid-mask-exemption-cards-are-not-government
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Evidence for Aerosol Transfer of SARS-CoV2-specific Humoral Immunity.
May 1, 2022
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.04.28.22274443v1.full.pdf
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Can ozone inactivate SARS-CoV-2? A review of mechanisms and performance on viruses
2021 Mar 13
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33752085/
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Section 5: Additional Information
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The Era of One-Shot, Multimillion-Dollar Genetic Cures Is Here
Dec 5, 2022
Gene therapies promise long-term relief from intractable diseases—if insurers agree to pony up.
https://www.wired.com/story/the-era-of-one-shot-multi-million-dollar-genetic-cures-is-here/?utm_source=pocket-newtab
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How to Stop (And Even Reverse) Aging
May 26, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXh0DTP998w
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More life – Decoding the secret of aging | DW Documentary
May 28, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-5VLHcTDSQ
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Scientists Discover a Molecular Switch That Controls Life Expectancy
September 11, 2022
https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-discover-a-molecular-switch-that-controls-life-expectancy/
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Herbal Extract Shows Promise in Treating Diabetes
September 10, 2022
https://scitechdaily.com/herbal-extract-shows-promise-in-treating-diabetes/
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Reduce Your Risk of Death by Up to 31%: New Study Examines the Impact of Exercise
September 10, 2022
https://scitechdaily.com/reduce-your-risk-of-death-by-up-to-31-new-study-examines-the-impact-of-exercise/
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Cellular rejuvenation therapy safely reverses signs of aging in mice
March 7, 2022
Researchers treated mice with anti-aging regimen beginning in middle age and found no increase in cancer or other health problems later on
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220307113027.htm
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Rapamycin
Rapamycin is a potential anti-ageing drug
https://www.newscientist.com/definition/rapamycin/
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Rapamycin for longevity: opinion article
2019 Oct 4
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6814615/
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Could rapamycin be our next weapon in the fight for longevity?
September 7, 2022
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/could-rapamycin-be-our-next-weapon-in-the-fight-for-longevity
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Suppressing a cure for more than 40 years! BURZYNSKI: THE CANCER CURE COVER-UP – FULL DOCUMENTARY
Jan 1, 2023
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmxUsAI29fw
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Torsion: The Key to the Theory of Everything
March 5, 2012
https://blog.world-mysteries.com/science/torsion-the-key-to-theory-of-everything/
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The 528 Hz Frequency
Oct 16, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nO48UIzLk8
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Researchers devise tunable conducting edge
September 5, 2022
https://phys.org/news/2022-09-tunable-edge.html
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5G: The Trouble With the New Phone Network
Sep 3, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOvAZPHDogs
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Infrared Radiation
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/infrared-radiation
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Covid: Calcutta scientists offer clue to severe infections
09.08.21
The researchers from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research have detected a biological phenomenon called ‘quorum sensing’ in macrophages
https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/covid-calcutta-scientists-offer-clue-to-severe-infections/cid/1825796
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A fungus that shrinks in size to better infect the brain
September 13, 2022
https://phys.org/news/2022-09-fungus-size-infect-brain.html
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First Ever Organism That Actually Eats Viruses For Nutrition – Halteria
Jan 8, 2023
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq7DaAKIgWI
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Scientists Just Discovered Another Trick Bacteria Use to Avoid The Immune System
22 August 2020
https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-discovered-another-trick-bacteria-use-to-avoid-the-immune-system
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Live antibiotics use bacteria to kill bacteria
June 13, 2017
Prescribing a predator could be the answer to multidrug resistance
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/live-antibiotics-use-bacteria-kill-bacteria
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Regular Use of Ivermectin as Prophylaxis for COVID-19 Led Up to a 92% Reduction in COVID-19 Mortality Rate in a Dose-Response Manner: Results of a Prospective Observational Study of a Strictly Controlled Population of 88,012 Subjects
August 31, 2022
https://www.cureus.com/articles/111851-regular-use-of-ivermectin-as-prophylaxis-for-covid-19-led-up-to-a-92-reduction-in-covid-19-mortality-rate-in-a-dose-response-manner-results-of-a-prospective-observational-study-of-a-strictly-controlled-population-of-88012-subjects
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Researchers find tree compound that has potential to kill drug-resistant bacteria
Sep 01, 2022
https://www.aninews.in/news/science/researchers-find-tree-compound-that-has-potential-to-kill-drug-resistant-bacteria20220901160545/
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Researchers find hydroquinine in trees has potential to kill drug-resistant bacteria
Sep 05, 2022
https://www.aninews.in/news/science/researchers-find-hydroquinine-in-trees-has-potential-to-kill-drug-resistant-bacteria20220905071420/
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Drugs with new lease of life as quorum sensing inhibitors: for combating MDR Acinetobacter baumannii infections
2020 Apr 23
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7180647/
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Multiple small RNAs act additively to integrate sensory information and control quorum sensing in Vibrio harveyi
2007
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1770904/
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Can the Natural Diversity of Quorum-Sensing Advance Synthetic Biology?
2015
https://keep.lib.asu.edu/items/128605
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How Do Quorum-Sensing Signals Mediate Algae–Bacteria Interactions?
27 June 2021
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/9/7/1391
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Can Coronaviruses quorum sense?
26th Mar, 2020
Looking at the various CoV genomes, there are peptides/small proteins, aside from ORF1/2 on the genome, of which functions are unknown. These could circulate and in theory, once in abundance, induce allosteric changes in membrane bound proteins to induce viral shedding alike to bacteriophage Q-sense.
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Can_Coronaviruses_quorum_sense
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Difference Between Quorum Sensing and Quorum Quenching
July 16, 2019
https://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-quorum-sensing-and-quorum-quenching/
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Mast cells tune in to quorum sensing
13 Aug 2019
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scisignal.aaz0499
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Quorum Quenching: A Potential Target for Antipseudomonal Therapy
2020
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32922047/
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Analyzing The Possibility of Quorum Sensing in SARS COV-II
2021
https://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2110399.pdf
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Engineering a light-responsive, quorum quenching biofilm to mitigate biofouling on water purification membranes
7 Dec 2018
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aau1459
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A Quorum Can Kill
5 Apr 2004
Engineered gene circuit could squelch uprisings among worker bacteria
https://www.science.org/content/article/quorum-can-kill
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A Quick Route to Multiple Highly Potent SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease Inhibitors
07 December 2020
https://chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cmdc.202000924
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Quorum quenching -an alternative antimicrobial therapeutics
September 2020
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344377346_Quorum_quenching_-an_alternative_antimicrobial_therapeutics
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Quorum Quenching Agents: Resources for Antivirulence Therapy
2014 May 30
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4071575/
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Exacerbation of antimicrobial resistance: another casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic?
2021
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14787210.2021.1865802
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Quorum sensing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quorum_sensing
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How Quorum Sensing Works
June 12, 2020
https://asm.org/Articles/2020/June/How-Quorum-Sensing-Works
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Quorum sensing in bacteria
2001
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11544353/
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Quorum Sensing
2021
Quorum sensing (QS) is one of the major signaling mechanisms which directly aids in biofilm formation and also helps in the production of synthesis of plant growth hormones.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/immunology-and-microbiology/quorum-sensing
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Quorum sensing inhibitors: an overview
2012 Nov 9
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23142623/
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Quorum sensing in the immune system
2018
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30006523/
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Quorum Sensing in Fungal Species
2021 Aug 4
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34348030/
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Quorum sensing signal-response systems in Gram-negative bacteria
2016
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27510864/
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Exacerbation of antimicrobial resistance: another casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic?
2020 Dec 23
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33322965/
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Evidence of link between quorum sensing and sugar metabolism in Escherichia coli revealed via cocrystal structures of LsrK and HPr
1 Jun 2018
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aar7063
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Structural basis for antiactivation in bacterial quorum sensing
October 16, 2007
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.0704843104
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Quorum sensing affects virulence-associated proteins F1, LcrV, KatY and pH6 etc. of Yersinia pestis as revealed by protein microarray-based antibody profiling
2006 Jul 28
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7110770/
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The Lab Report: UW researchers explore new ways to inhibit bacterial communication, quorum sensing
Apr 15, 2021
The Blackwell Lab examines food pathogen to solve critical, real-world bacterial issues
https://badgerherald.com/news/2021/04/15/the-lab-report-uw-researchers-explore-new-ways-to-inhibit-bacterial-communication-quorum-sensing/
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Deploying Biomolecules as Anti-COVID-19 Agents
2020 Jun 9
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7282542/
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Alzheimer’s Gene Linked to Higher Risk of Severe COVID-19
May 26, 2020
Two copies of the APOE4 variant, which confers a higher risk of dementia, doubles the risk of severe symptoms as a result of infection with SARS-CoV-2, according to a study.
https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/alzheimers-gene-linked-to-higher-risk-of-severe-covid-19-67570
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Association between high serum total cortisol concentrations and mortality from COVID-19
June 2020
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7302794/
In March, 2020, WHO declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. At the time of writing, the UK has the highest number of recorded fatalities in Europe, with London regarded as the epicentre of infection in the UK.
Physiological stress from critical illness and elective surgery increases serum cortisol concentrations and bioavailability by activation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis, decreased metabolism of cortisol, and a reduction in the amount of binding proteins (eg, cortisol-binding globulin).1, 2 The increase in cortisol is an essential part of the body’s stress response, triggering adaptive changes in metabolism, cardiovascular function, and immune regulation.
The effects of COVID-19 on cortisol are currently unknown. It has been suggested that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), the predecessor of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), might trigger an immunogenic response to adrenocorticotropic hormone because of mimicry. Similar mechanisms might apply to SARS-CoV-2, theoretically amplifying morbidity and mortality by inducing a cortisol insufficiency related to critical illness.1, 3 To understand whether this process might be a contributor to the pathophysiology of COVID-19, we did a cohort study describing the acute cortisol concentrations observed in patients with COVID-19.
Univariable analysis of the group of patients with COVID-19 by Cox proportional hazards regression modelling showed that age 75 years and older had the highest risk of acute mortality, and age younger than 75 years was associated with a reduced relative risk of acute mortality (appendix p 5). The presence of diabetes, hypertension, current diagnosis of cancer, chronic kidney disease, or cardiovascular disease was significantly associated with acute mortality. Increased cortisol, CRP, neutrophil to leukocyte ratio, and creatinine were predictive of acute mortality (appendix p 5).
Multivariable analysis showed that a doubling of cortisol concentration was associated with a significant 42% increase in the hazard of mortality, after adjustment for age, the presence of comorbidities, and laboratory tests (appendix p 3). An optimal cutoff for cortisol was selected by use of maximally selected rank statistics. Patients with COVID-19 whose baseline cortisol concentration was equal to or less than 744 nmol/L (268 patients [67%]) had a median survival of 36 days [95% CI 24–not determined]; whereas, patients with COVID-19 whose cortisol value was more than 744 nmol/L (135 patients [33%]) had a median survival of 15 days [10–36] (log-rank test p<0·0001; figure ).
To our knowledge, our analyses show for the first time that patients with COVID-19 mount a marked and appropriate acute cortisol stress response and that this response is significantly higher in this patient cohort than in individuals without COVID-19. In other words, our cohort did not obviously exhibit an adrenal insufficiency with SARS-CoV-2 infection in the acute setting. However, it is possible that patients might exhibit a relative adrenal insufficiency later on in the course of their disease, as has been observed for SARS-CoV infection3 and in the context of an extended stay in intensive care.1 The cortisol stress responses observed in this cohort range up to 3241 nmol/L. Despite the non-linearity of the cortisol assay at this high range, these values indicate a marked cortisol stress response, perhaps higher than is observed in patients undergoing major surgery.2 Until now, data were not available to guide an evidence-based approach to tailor glucocorticoid stress regimens in patients with adrenal insufficiency and SARS-CoV-2 infection. Our data suggest that it is appropriate for patients with hypoadrenalism—a situation quite commonly encountered in the 3% of the population taking systemic glucocorticoid therapy5— to take or be given supplemental glucocorticoids at a high dose to prevent an acute adrenal crisis if they acquire a SARS-CoV-2 infection. Furthermore, we found that high cortisol concentrations were associated with increased mortality and a reduced median survival, probably because this is a marker of the severity of illness.6 In our cohort, cortisol seemed to be a better independent predictor than were other laboratory markers associated with COVID-19, such as CRP, D-dimer, and neutrophil to leukocyte ratio. Nonetheless, we note the following caveats. First, for simplicity’s sake, this study confined itself to the analysis of a single baseline cortisol concentration measured within 48 h of hospital admission for COVID-19. Consequently, this analysis does not consider variations within and between individuals in the dynamics of cortisol response to stress, as we observed in our surgical series.2 Second, although we found that a cortisol concentration cutoff of more than 744 nmol/L was predictive of a reduced median survival, this finding is likely to differ with other cortisol assays. Third, any potential role for cortisol measurement at baseline and later during an inpatient stay with COVID-19 as a prognostic biomarker, either by itself or in combination with other biomarkers, will require validation in a prospective study.
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Use of glucocorticoids in patients with adrenal insufficiency and COVID-19 infection
April 2020
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340877260_Use_of_glucocorticoids_in_patients_with_adrenal_insufficiency_and_COVID-19_infection
… Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis Glucocorticoids have both immune-stimulatory and -inhibitory effects. During the initial phase of viral infection, glucocorticoids prime the immune response to counteract foreign antigens. …
… During the initial phase of viral infection, glucocorticoids prime the immune response to counteract foreign antigens. However, in the advanced phase of viral infection, blunting of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activation may occur that may lead to glucocorticoid insufficiency in the critical illness setting. Given the widespread use of glucocorticoids and the possible risk to patients with adrenal insufficiency (AI), the Society for Downloaded by: Head, Collection Management. …
… Those with AI who contract COVID-19 and require mechanical ventilation or are severely ill, should be dosed according to acute stress dosing guidelines (▶Table 2). Additionally, the use of venous thromboembolism prophylaxis with heparin in patients receiving glucocorticoids is recommended, given the increased risk of thrombotic events in COVID-19. Furthermore, an increased risk to those with posterior pituitary deficits and electrolyte abnormalities has been logically speculated and the need to stock reasonable supplies emphasized. …
… Despite social distancing and isolation measures, the number of affected patients is growing daily. Hyperinflammation and immunosuppression are prominently featured in COVID-19, resulting in a cytokine storm ultimately leading to development of micro-thrombosis and disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC). This cytokine storm is strongly associated with the development of interstitial pneumonia (IP); however, although lungs are the primarily targeted organs, the cardiovascular system is globally affected. …
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COVID-19, hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis and clinical implications
April 28, 2020
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7186765/
A novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has affected over 1,000,000 individuals, claiming more than 56,000 lives in over 200 countries worldwide ever since its mysterious outbreak in Wuhan, China in December 2019. The largest case series from China had shown that majority of the patients belonged to the age group of 30–79 years. Most of the cases were mild (81%), while 14% cases were severe and only 5% critical. The overall case-fatality rate was 2.3%. SARS-CoV-2 primarily affects the lungs, resulting in viral pneumonia often complicated by acute respiratory distress syndrome and sepsis. The virus is able to evade the host immune system by avoiding detection of their dsRNA and by inhibiting the host interferon-I pathway. The pathogen enters the pneumocyte using the host angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) as a receptor. In addition, the enzyme is expressed on the arterial and venous endothelial cells of many organs including the adrenal glands. Autopsy studies on patients who died from SARS (the original outbreak in 2003) had shown degeneration and necrosis of the adrenal cortical cells. The SARS-CoV (the ‘cousin’ of SARS-CoV-2) was in fact identified in the adrenal glands, hinting towards a direct cytopathic effect of the virus. Hence it is likely that cortisol dynamics may be altered in patients with SARS (and COVID-19). However, the literature is scarce is this regard.
One of the primary immunoinvasive strategy employed by the SARS-CoV, like influenza virus, is to knock down the host’s cortisol stress response. To achieve the same, SARS-CoV expresses certain amino acid sequences that act as molecular mimics of the host adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). The first 24 amino acids of ATCH (ACTH1-24) are highly conserved between different mammalian species while ACTH25-39 represents the less conserved region. Six amino acids at position 26, 29, 31, 33, 37, and 39 represent the antigenically important positions for mammalian ACTH. SARS (and influenza virus) contain many permutations of amino acid sequences with homology to these probable ACTH key residues. Antibodies produced by the host to counteract the virus, in turn, would unknowingly destroy the host ACTH, thereby blunting the cortisol rise. This would imply that all patients with SARS might have had underlying relative cortisol insufficiency. However, data on serum cortisol levels in patients with SARS (or COVID-19) are unavailable till date.
SARS (and COVID-19) might affect the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis as well. Biochemical evidence of HPA axis involvement in SARS was first reported by Leow et al. Sixty-one survivors of the SARS outbreak were evaluated at 3 months after recovery and periodically thereafter. Forty percent of patients had evidence of central hypocortisolism, majority of which resolved within a year. A small percentage of patients also had central hypothyroidism and low dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate. The authors had proposed the possibility of a reversible hypophysitis or a direct hypothalamic damage that could have led to a state of transient hypothalamo-pituitary dysfunction [4]. Infact, edema, and neuronal degeneration along with SARS-CoV genome have been identified in the hypothalamus on autopsy studies. Hypothalamic and pituitary tissues do express ACE2 and can therefore be viral targets. The portal of entry of the virus into the hypothalamus-pituitary could be either directly thorough the cribriform plate via hematogenous route. Nevertheless, frank hypocortisolism has never been documented in patients with active SARS (or COVID-19). A prospective study evaluating serum cortisol and ACTH in patients with severe COVID-19 is presently underway (ChiCTR20000301150).
Irrespective of serum cortisol levels, glucocorticoids have been used in patients with critical illnesses including SARS. Glucocorticoids are also being used in patients with COVID-19, although the current interim guidance from the WHO (released Jan 28, 2020) advises against its routine use. Its use in COVID-19 is based on the premise that the virus is able to elicit a cytokine storm in the host that can be averted by the use of glucocorticoids. Glucocorticoids have been used in the treatment of other viral infections, notably, respiratory syncytial virus, influenza, and Middle East Respiratory Coronavirus, however, no clinical data exist to indicate any net benefit. Benefits of glucocorticoids have been documented in patients with septic shock; shock in patients with COVID-19, although seen in about 5% of the cases, is often a result of increased intrathoracic pressure (due to invasive ventilation) that impedes cardiac filling. Thus, in the absence of septic shock, use of glucocorticoids in COVID-19 is debatable. A clinical trial on efficacy and safety of corticosteroids in COVID-19 is currently underway (NCT04273321).
A report by Panesar et al. in patients with SARS had shown that lymphopenia, seen in about half of the patients, was related to prevailing serum cortisol levels. Patients with lymphopenia had higher serum cortisol and than those without lymphopenia. Similar data in patients with COVID-19 is lacking as of now. However, absence of lymphopenia in patients with COVID-19 could be used a marker of hypocortisolism (absolute or relative) and a low threshold could be kept for initiating glucocorticoid therapy in the presence of shock or acute respiratory distress syndrome. Nevertheless, people with known adrenal insufficiency should follow sick-day guidelines and in general, should double the dose of glucocorticoids in times of acute illness. In addition, individuals with adrenal insufficiency have an increased rate of respiratory infection-related deaths, possibly due to impaired immune function and hence need to take extra precautions amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
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AFRICAN AMERICANS HAVE A GREATER SENSITIVITY TO ALPHA1-ADRENOCEPTOR-MEDIATED VENOCONSTRICTION COMPARED TO CAUCASIANS
2013
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3627527/
Abstract
African Americans have increased hemodynamic responses to both physiologic and pharmacologic adrenergic stimulation compared to Caucasians, and this may contribute to the greater prevalence of hypertension in this ethnic group. A small study suggested enhanced α1-adrenoreceptor-mediated arterial vasoconstriction in the forearm vasculature of African Americans compared to Caucasians, but it is unknown whether this reflects a generalized vascular phenomenon. The objective of this study was to examine the hypothesis that there are ethnic differences in venous α1-adrenoreceptor responsiveness. Using a linear variable differential transformer, we measured local dorsal hand vein responses to increasing doses of the selective α1-adrenoreceptor agonist, phenylephrine, in 106 subjects (64 Caucasians and 42 African Americans). There was wide interindividual variability in responses to phenylephrine. The dose that produced 50% of maximal constriction (ED50) ranged from 11 to 5442 ng/min, and maximal venoconstriction (Emax) ranged from 13.5% to 100%. African Americans (geometric mean ED50=172 ng/min; 95% CI, 115 to 256 ng/min) were more sensitive to phenylephrine than Caucasians (310 ng/min; 95% CI, 222 to 434 ng/min; unadjusted P=0.026; adjusted P=0.003). Median Emax was slightly higher in African Americans (89%; IQR, 82% to 98%) compared to Caucasians (85%; IQR, 75% to 95%; P=0.07). Taken together with previous findings in arterial vessels, our results suggest a generalized increased sensitivity to α1-adrenoreceptor-mediated vasoconstriction in African Americans. Increased vascular α-adrenoreceptor sensitivity could predispose to hypertension, and future studies addressing this mechanism’s contribution to ethnic differences in the prevalence of hypertension will be of interest.
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Whites have a More Robust Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis Response to a Psychological Stressor than Blacks
2007
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2253947/
Summary
Objective
Differences in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis response to stress may confer differences in susceptibility to a variety of diseases. We hypothesized that whites would differ from blacks in HPA axis response to a psychological stressor.
Design
Healthy subjects aged 18–30 were recruited from Baltimore, Maryland. At initial assessment, they completed psychometric tests measuring anxiety, mood, and personality. Subjects then participated in the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), which consisted of 10 min of public speaking and mental arithmetic exercises. Subjective anxiety was measured immediately pre- and post-TSST. Race effects on cortisol, adrenocorticotrophin (ACTH), and prolactin responses to the TSST were analyzed by GEE longitudinal analysis methods. The analysis controlled for gender, baseline hormone levels, socioeconomic factors, anxiety, mood, and dimensions of personality.
Results
Ninety-eight subjects participated in the TSST. Whites had 36% greater relative mean cortisol response than blacks (95% CI: 10%–67%, P = 0.004). Whites had significantly higher mean ACTH compared to blacks at 25 min after the start of the TSST, (35%, 95% CI: 16%–58% greater, P < 0.001). There was no difference in prolactin response. Of note, whites and blacks did not differ in subjective anxiety response to the TSST.
Conclusions
In sum, we found that whites have a more robust HPA axis response to the TSST compared with blacks, even after controlling for several socioeconomic and psychological factors. In contrast, we observed no difference in prolactin response. There were no differences in subjective response to the TSST to explain the difference in HPA axis response. Further study is indicated to explain this finding and to test whether it can be extrapolated to other forms of stress.
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The Promise of Adult Stem Cells in Disease Management, Anti-Aging, and Life Extension
Nov 17, 2013
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/11/17/adult-stem-cells-therapy.aspx
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Adrenochrome
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrenochrome
Adrenochrome is a chemical compound with the molecular formula C9H9NO3 produced by the oxidation of adrenaline (epinephrine). The derivative carbazochrome is a hemostatic medication. Despite a similarity in chemical names, it is unrelated to chrome or chromium.
Legal status
Adrenochrome is unscheduled by the Controlled Substances Act in the United States. It is not an approved drug product by the Food and Drug Administration, and if produced as a dietary supplement it must comply with good manufacturing practice.
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Ellen Grills Sandra Bullock On ADREN0CHR0ME Usage – The NPC Show Clips
Jul 9, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjHzVjkNdcc
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Internet Comment Etiquette: “Adrenochrome”
Jul 31, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnWs5I95MH4
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SECRET group of geniuses KILL for fun
Aug 12, 2022
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5/12/2019 – Race Virus 101 – The Eugenics Investigation (The Dysgenics Investigation) –
https://racevirus101.blogspot.com
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4/15/2020 – Coronavirus Investigation News – Race Virus 201 – Pollution Science 101 (COVID-19 & SARS-CoV-2)
https://coronavirusinvestigation.blogspot.com
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8-1-2020 – CCP Virus Investigation – Coronavirus Investigation News – Race Virus 301
https://racevirus301.blogspot.com/
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8/15/2017 – Genetically Modified Vaccines Investigated – The Eugenics Investigation (MonsantoInvestigation.com) – GMOvaccinesinvestigated.blogspot.com
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3/5/2019 – Race Dysgenics: Evolution, Dysgenic De-evolution, Eugenics & Genetic Modification – The History of the Lineage of Man – https://racedysgenics.blogspot.com
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04/19/2018 The Dysgenics Investigation – Race, Science & the Human Genome Project – The Eugenics Investigation (Akoniti) – DysgenicsInvestigation.blogspot.com
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The Cephalic Investigation – Race Eugenics & Dysgenics – Race and Skull evolution
4/10/2020
https://skullevolution.blogspot.com/
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Race Dysgenics Brazil | Eugenics in Brazil
https://eugenicsbrazil.blogspot.com
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July 7th, 2017 – Genetically Modified Humans & Viruses – The Eugenics Investigation – GMOhumansandviruses.blogspot.com
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4/4/2019 – The Rockefeller Dynasty Investigation 2020 – The Eugenics Investigation – https://rockefellerdynastyinvestigation.blogspot.com/
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Pollution Science 101 – China
https://pollutionscience101china.blogspot.com
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Pollution Science 101 – Brazil – Emergency Report
https://pollutionscience101brazil.blogspot.com
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Pollution Science 101 – Mexico
https://pollutionscience101mexico.blogspot.com
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Pollution Science 101- Russia
https://pollutionscience101russia.blogspot.com
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Pollution Science 101 – Ukraine
April 7th, 2022
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Pollution Science 101 – India
https://pollutionscience101india.blogspot.com
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Pollution Science 101 – Pakistan
January 27, 2023
https://pollutionscience101pakistan.blogspot.com
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Pollution Science 101 – Cancer Investigated (California)
https://pollutionscience101cancerinvestigated.blogspot.com
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Pollution Science 101 – Israel
https://pollutionscience101israel.blogspot.com
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King Solomon’s Temple Investigation Marathon
https://solomonstempleinvestigation.blogspot.com/
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Pollution Science 101 – Texas
https://pollutionscience101texasvsbpoil.blogspot.com
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Pollution Science 101 – Solutions
https://pollutionscience101solutions.blogspot.com
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The DuPont Investigation
https://dupontinvestigation.blogspot.com
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Coronavirus Investigation News – Race Virus 201 – Pollution Science 101 (Archive)
2022
https://archive.org/details/covid-news_202302
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Race Virus 301 – Coronavirus Investigation News – Part 1
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PollutionScience@Protonmail.com
Pollution Science 101 
