/qnotables20/ - ===Q Notables 2020===

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/11930590 (070317ZDEC20) Notable: Australia is standing up to China’s bullying. It needs U.S. support - Washington Post Editorial Board - washingtonpost.com, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: President_elect_Joe_Biden_speaks_in_Wilmington_Del_on_Nov_25.jpg

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>>181019

>>181152

Australia is standing up to China’s bullying. It needs U.S. support.

Washington Post Editorial Board - Dec. 5, 2020

PRESIDENT-ELECT Joe Biden has pledged to work with other democracies to counter China’s mercantilism and growing belligerence. That’s a good policy, and a good place to launch it would be in Australia, a staunch U.S. ally that lately has borne the brunt of Beijing’s bullying.

Since it called last April for an investigation of China’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak, Australia has been the target of mounting de facto economic sanctions from its largest trade partner — including bans, tariffs and other disruptions of exports of barley, coal, lobsters and wine. Meanwhile, Chinese diplomats and state media have been waging a vile propaganda war against the government of Prime Minister Scott Morrison. The campaign reached a new low week with the tweeting by a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman of an illustration portraying an Australian soldier holding a knife to the throat of an Afghan child. That was a crude exploitation of recent findings by the Australian military of unlawful killings by its troops in Afghanistan — an act of accountability that China would never contemplate for its own security forces in Xinjiang or Tibet.

Chinese authorities have concocted pretexts for the trade sanctions, such as the tariffs of up to 200 percent slapped on wine on Nov. 27. But they also haven’t hesitated to spell out their real agenda, which is almost entirely political. Last month, Chinese diplomats met with Australian journalists to publicize a list of 14 grievances, which included not only Australia’s call for a coronavirus investigation but also government criticism of China’s crackdown in Hong Kong, critical reporting about China by the Australian media and academics, and reports by a government think tank.

The nature and scope of the demands implicit in this broadside is stunning, as is their public advertisement. In essence, the regime of Xi Jinping is demanding that in order to continue selling its products to China, the Australian government must not only censor itself but also silence the country’s media and academics. Its breathtaking aim is to export the repression it enforces inside China to every other nation. No doubt Beijing is aware that there is no chance a rich and stable democracy such as Australia would succumb to such demands. But the message will be heard clearly by weaker countries, especially in Asia, that depend heavily on Chinese trade and investment. They will be watching closely to see if other democracies, starting with the United States, rally to Australia’s defense.

That’s not likely to happen in the waning weeks of the Trump administration, which has pursued its own slapdash sanctions against China — from trade tariffs to travel restrictions on Communist Party members — but has done little to help other nations facing Chinese pressure. Mr. Biden should remedy that quickly once he takes office. He should look for concrete ways to show solidarity with Australia, such as sanctioning Chinese officials involved in the campaign against the country. He should back Australia’s calls for an investigation of the coronavirus’s origins, which is not only justified but sorely needed. And perhaps he should invite Americans to sample a bottle or two of Australian wine.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/australia-is-standing-up-to-chinas-bullying-it-needs-us-support/2020/12/04/666475fa-3656-11eb-8d38-6aea1adb3839_story.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/11931540 (070451ZDEC20) Notable: Google, Facebook and Twitter panned for proposing “watered down” version of European Union Code of Practice on Disinformation for Australia, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Mobile_applications_of_Instagram_Snapchat_Twitter_Facebook_Google_and_Facebook_Messenger_are_seen_on_a_tablet.jpg, Minister_for_Communications_Paul_Fletcher_aid_the_development_of_a_voluntary_code_was_an_important_step_in_addressing_information_quality_on_digital_platforms_.jpg

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>>181066

Voluntary tech ‘bullies’ code panned

Tech giants Google, Facebook and Twitter have been accused of “watering down” the discredited European Union Code of Practice on Disinformation and passing it off as an Australian model.

Ahead of the Morrison government’s mandatory media bargaining code legislation going into parliament this week, which will force Google and Facebook to pay for news, The Australian understands a fresh fight is looming over an industry-led voluntary code on disinformation.

DIGI — the Australian lobby group representing tech companies including Facebook, Google and Twitter — has been accused of putting forward a model with “no teeth and no transparency”.

Amid a wave of disinformation peddled by nation states and amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic, Reset Australia executive director Chris Cooper said “self regulation” led by the tech giants “will not work”.

Reset Australia is part of a global initiative working to counter digital threats to democracy, which is funded by The Sandler Foundation and Luminate. Luminate is linked to eBay founder Pierre Omidyar.

Following the ACCC’s Digital Platforms Inquiry, the Australian Communications and Media Authority asked DIGI to develop a voluntary code, which had been due to be in place by the end of December.

Separately, Josh Frydenberg developed a News Media and Digital Platforms Bargaining Code — described as a world first — which would force Facebook and Google to pay for news content and share data collection methods. The mandatory bargaining code legislation, which has gone through cabinet, will be put into parliament this week following the Coalition party room and Labor caucus meeting on Tuesday.

Mr Cooper said DIGI’s disinformation code “watered down the failed EU disinformation code”.

“The DIGI code offers no transparency around how the platforms profit from and perpetuate disinformation,” Mr Cooper told The Australian. “There is no independent oversight and no consequences for platforms that ignore the code.

“Australia can be a leader in addressing the harms of social media, but first we need to crack down on these global tech bullies.”

Mr Cooper said ACMA offered a “real chance of collaborating on policy, and instead the platforms have just reheated an already failed approach, hoping we wouldn’t notice that it hasn’t worked overseas”.

In a policy submission sent from Reset Australia to DIGI, the group outlined a raft of recommendations they say is required to deliver on ACMA’s request.

They include broadening the code’s definition of disinformation to include misleading advertising and “clearly partisan” news and commentary.

Another recommendation is that a third-party organisation, which is independent, objective and “prioritises the public interest”, is chosen to be the code’s administrator.

Reset Australia also believes there should be clear data sharing arrangements in place to allow researchers, think tanks and public regulators to research disinformation and audit algorithms to understand how diaspora communities in Australia are targeted through social media.

A DIGI spokeswoman said the lobby group had proposed the new code as “part of an industry effort to collaborate with the federal government on the regulation of disinformation and news credibility signalling”.

“Our approach to the development of the code is informed by learnings from international examples such as the European Union Code of Practice on Disinformation,” she said.

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said the development of a voluntary code was an important step in “addressing information quality on digital platforms”. He said ACMA would report to the government on the “adequacy of the platforms’ measures and the broader impacts of misinformation” by next June.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/voluntary-tech-bullies-code-panned/news-story/60a2017e2f3208f880bcfb5e8e8136be

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/11932237 (070635ZDEC20) Notable: (2019) AFP investigation in Sydney and Philippines leads to rescue of a girl, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Authorities_inside_premises_0.jpg, Location_of_premise_is_above_store_on_second_level.jpg, Location_shot_2.jpg, Location_shot.jpg, PNP_deliver_pre_resolution_briefing_to_partner_agencies.jpg

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>>181177

AFP investigation in Sydney and Philippines leads to rescue of a girl

27 October 2019

A joint investigation between the Australian Federal Police (AFP), the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the International Justice Mission (IJM) has resulted in the arrest of a woman and rescue of a young girl believed to be the victim of live-streamed child abuse involving a Sydney man.

The investigation stems from a referral from the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) in July 2019. The referral related to an Australian user who had uploaded child abuse material to social media. The user was subsequently identified as being a NSW-based man.

AFP investigators from the NSW Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team (JACET) subsequently commenced Operation Culgoa, an investigation into the 63-year-old Sydney man and possible offenders and victims residing in the Philippines.

On 18 September 2019, NSW JACET investigators executed a search warrant at the man’s home in the Greater Sydney suburb of North Rocks, where they seized electronic devices allegedly containing child abuse material.

The 63-year-old man was arrested and charged with:

• 1 x Procuring child to engage in sexual activity outside Australia, contrary to section 272.14 of the Criminal Code (Cth) – carrying a maximum penalty of 15 years imprisonment;

• 1 x Use a carriage service to solicit child pornography, contrary to section 474.19 of the Criminal Code (Cth) - carrying a maximum penalty of 15 years imprisonment;

• 1 x Transmit child pornography material, contrary to section 474.19 of the Criminal Code (Cth) - carrying a maximum penalty of 15 years imprisonment;; and

• 3 x Possess child abuse material, contrary to section 91H of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) – carrying a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment.

He is next due to appear in the Parramatta Local Court on 22 November 2019.

Police will allege that the man communicated with people offshore to procure the children – via a trusted adult – to produce and transmit child abuse material at his request. Further arrests cannot be ruled out.

Due to the suspected offshore offending, the AFP requested international assistance via the Philippine Internet Crimes Against Children Centre (PICACC) and a PNP investigation commenced.

On 25 October 2019, PNP officers, accompanied by the AFP, attended a premises in the city of Rizal, about a two hours’ drive from Manila. There, the PNP arrested a 39-year-old woman and rescued a 12-year-old girl.

The AFP’s Senior Officer in Manila, Federal Agent Andrew Perkins, said the international investigation demonstrated the importance of cross-border collaboration to stop the abuse of children.

“Today’s outcome demonstrates the commitment of the AFP, the PNP and our international partners to protect children no matter where they live.

“Sadly there is an appetite for child abuse material online which leads to vulnerable children becoming pawns in a form of abuse that can have devastating impacts.

“The arrest and rescue sends a strong message that, if you are taking part in this vile industry, law enforcement will find you.” Federal Agent Perkins said.

Investigations continue and charges are expected to be formally laid against the woman in the near future. The girl has been placed into the care of the Philippines’ Department of Social Welfare and Development.

The PICACC was inaugurated in Manila in February 2019 as a collective effort to combat child abuse across the Philippines. It involves representatives from law enforcement and non-government agencies from the Philippines, Australia and the United Kingdom. Further details available here.

https://www.afp.gov.au/news-media/media-releases/inauguration-philippine-internet-crimes-against-children-center

Members of the community who have information about persons involved in child abuse material are urged to report their suspicions through the ‘Report Child Abuse’ link of the AFP website, via Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or their social media provider.

http://www.accce.gov.au/report

Note to media: USE OF TERM ‘CHILD ABUSE’, NOT ‘CHILD PORNOGRAPHY’

Use of the phrase “child pornography” benefits child sex abusers because it:

• indicates legitimacy and compliance on the part of the victim and therefore legality on the part of the abuser; and

• conjures images of children posing in ‘provocative’ positions, rather than suffering horrific abuse.

• Every photograph captures an actual situation where a child has been abused. This is not “pornography”.

https://www.afp.gov.au/news-media/media-releases/afp-investigation-sydney-and-philippines-leads-rescue-girl

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/11932345 (070701ZDEC20) Notable: Exploited, mistreated and threatened, all for less than $10 an hour - Human trafficking-style network feeding international workers to Australian farms, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Mr_D_was_forced_to_work_every_single_day_for_as_little_as_10_an_hour.jpg, Exploitation_is_still_rife_in_Australia_s_horticulture_industry.jpg

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Working in human waste for less than $10 an hour, seven days: This is where your vegies come from

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A human trafficking-style network is feeding international workers to Australian farms, where they’re being exploited, mistreated and threatened – all for less than $10 an hour, explosive allegations reveal.

Mr D, a man in his 50s from Inner Mongolia, is blowing the lid on his experience on one of NSW’s biggest horticulture farms.

Mr D, who asked not to be named for fear of repercussions, came to Australia in July 2018 and has worked cash-in-hand jobs on farms while applying for a bridging visa.

His most recent experience was so bad it has forced him to come forward.

“This is horrible. It should not happen in a civilised country like Australia,” he told The New Daily through a translator.

The farm near Coffs Harbour employs about 50 workers, who are forced to start at 6am every day and pick until 6pm.

In summer, they work until 9pm.

There are no days off, not even breaks.

“There’s no rest on Sunday or Saturday, whatsoever,” he said.

Mr D took the picking job at the farm after seeing an advertisement in a Chinese language group on Facebook.

It promised good working conditions and hourly pay, but the reality was very different.

He did two stints on the farm – the first last year and then, desperate for money and lured back with promises that conditions had improved, again this year, for 100 days.

On the farm, there are only five toilets for 50 people, and if workers don’t get up early enough, they have to go in the greenhouses, next to the crops.

“It looks so dirty because they don’t have a toilet. So workers pee on the vegetables and you know, they have poo everywhere,” Mr D said.

“It’s horrible.”

The showers are the same. There are only 10, so to get one you have to line up early. The doors don’t work. There’s no privacy.

$50,000 for a job

The farm owner, who has connections in China, employs only Chinese workers, many from poor areas who have been brought over on the promise of making big dollars in Australia.

“The master of the farm, he gets agents to go to mainland China to Hubei province and Fujian province, poor places in China,” Mr D said.

“Those workers have to pay the traffic agents or the farmer a large sum of money to come to Australia to be exploited like this.

“I know at least three people who paid 250,000 yuan to come to work in this farm. This is equivalent to $50,000 Australian.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/11932492 (070733ZDEC20) Notable: Former Big Brother and Family Court psychologist Bob Montgomery sentenced to four years in prison for historic child sex offences, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Bob_Montgomery_pleaded_guilty_to_historical_child_sex_abuse_charges.jpg

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Bob Montgomery sentenced to four years in prison for historic child sex offences

Robert Bruce Montgomery, 76, who was once a prominent psychologist, has been sentenced to four years in prison over child sex offences committed in the 1960s.

Montgomery was a Scout Leader in Edgecliff in Sydney's eastern suburbs when he abused three boys over a number of years.

In 1965 he was made to resign from the organisation after it was made aware of his offending but no formal legal action was taken.

In 1966 as a teacher at a Marrickville High School he sexually assaulted a fourth boy.

He later had a prominent career as a psychologist and was president of the Australian Psychological Society from 2009 to 2011.

In 2018 Montgomery was extradited from Queensland and charged after his victims reported the abuse.

He will be eligible for parole in 12 months.

His victims, who are now adults, cried and hugged one another in court after the sentencing.

Montgomery was supported in court by his wife.

He handed her his wedding ring prior to the sentencing in anticipation of his incarceration.

The court heard Montgomery had a distinguished career which included working with reality television show Big Brother and preparing reports for Family Court matters.

His role for the Family Court included assessing the credibility of child sex abuse allegations in custody disputes.

In sentencing, Judge Paul Conlon said through Montgomery's study of psychology he would have developed a strong understanding of the suffering of his victims.

Judge Conlon said in regard to the length of the sentence consideration had been given to the fact Montgomery had several health issues including moderate to severe dementia.

An expert medical opinion given to the court estimated he would live another 3.75 years.

'Justice has found its mark

Outside court one of Montgomery's victims said he agreed with the reasons given by the judge.

The man said it had been a harrowing several years since the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse had given him the confidence to come forward.

"Justice has found its mark and accountability, its rightful place," he said.

The victim impact statement that man read to the court detailed decades of instability in his life which he attributed to Montgomery sexually assaulting him at age 12.

"I have developed an acute awareness of how the abuse has had such a devastating impact and effect on my entire life thus far," he said.

"It became clear to me just how the abuse actually has been responsible for so many failings and shortfalls, trials and tribulations, bad choices, paranoia, heartache and mental anguish for myself.

"And just what those people close to me have had to endure because of it."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-07/australian-psychological-society-bob-montgomery-child-sex-abuse/12956704

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/11936928 (071819ZDEC20) Notable: Alan Jones refuses to deny having sex with schoolboys when he was a teacher in defamation case against the SBS, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: ClipboardImage.png, ClipboardImage.png, ClipboardImage.png, ClipboardImage.png, ClipboardImage.png

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Alan Jones refuses to deny having sex with schoolboys when he was a teacher in defamation case against the SBS

Alan Jones has refused to deny having sex with schoolboys in a detailed list of 30 questions as per the below email that I sent to him via his lawyers regarding his defamation case against the SBS and presenter Alex Lee with Jones claiming one of the alleged imputations was that “Mr Jones was a paedophile”.

I emailed Alan Jones’ lawyers again today (7/12/20) and asked them to answer the questions I sent them and again they have not responded as per the below email.

Alan Jones is in a lot of trouble and has either been poorly advised legally or has ignored the advice he has received which I outlined in my article in October titled “Alan Jones sues SBS for defamation for implying he is a paedophile, racist and liar. So where’s the defamation?“

SBS filed their defence on Wednesday (2/11/20) and they clearly plan on fighting hard for what is right. It has been reported:

SBS has just filed its defence, denying the meanings claimed by Jones’ lawyers and pleading honest opinion; a truth defence; that other meanings in the broadcast which were more damaging to Jones are true; and finally that Jones’ reputation is so bad he couldn’t be damaged by SBS’ broadcast.

This last category offers most fireworks. How do you show a reputation is too bad to defame? SBS’ lawyers will be trawling through almost every aspect of Jones’ career.

That’s before SBS details what it describes as romantic letters he wrote to two schoolboys while a high school teacher in the 1970s. (Click here to read more. It’s behind The Financial Review paywall)

Below is the email I sent to Alan Jones’ lawyers today (7/12/20)

More

https://kangaroocourtofaustralia.com/2020/12/07/alan-jones-refuses-to-deny-having-sex-with-schoolboys-when-he-was-a-teacher-in-defamation-case-against-the-sbs/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/11945497 (080457ZDEC20) Notable: Australian Federal Police seize home of pedophile using proceeds-of-crime laws in “aggressive” new strategy to target assets of child sex offenders, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: The_Adelaide_home_of_the_accused_child_sex_offender.jpg

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Police seize home of pedophile

The home of an accused pedophile has been restrained for the first time using proceeds-of-crime laws, in an “aggressive” new federal police strategy to target the assets of child sex ­offenders.

The $300,000 Adelaide home was restrained in the ­Supreme Court of South Australia in a case that is unique ­because the alleged offender is not accused of profiting from crimes against children.

Instead, police are attempting to confiscate the home on the grounds the man allegedly used the property when he ordered and instructed the abuse of children that he watched live and remotely online.

The man is alleged to have communicated with people in Southeast Asia to procure several children so he could watch them being sexually abused.

He is facing numerous charges, with penalties ranging from 15 to 25 years’ imprisonment.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw said the AFP-led Criminal ­Assets Confiscation Taskforce restrained the home on November 13. Mr Kershaw had ­announced in September that the homes, cars, cash and other assets of child sex offenders would be ­targeted in a “new and aggressive criminal asset-confiscation ­strategy”.

“This is the first time the AFP has restrained the home of an ­alleged child sex offender, who is not accused of profiting from his crimes, but of allegedly using his property to commit serious offences,” he said on Monday. “This significant civil action … should be a warning to anyone who preys on children.”

Federal proceeds-of-crime laws allow authorities to restrain a person’s property where there are reasonable grounds to suspect they have committed a serious ­offence.

Authorities can seize both proceeds and instruments of crime, using a civil standard of proof that does not require a criminal conviction. The police case is that by allegedly using the privacy and confines of the single-level brick home to commit offences, the property was an instrument in the crimes and could be confiscated.

If the court allows confiscation, the home will be sold and the proceeds will go towards crime prevention and other community initiatives.

“The commonwealth’s proceeds-of-crime laws are a powerful tool to target serious criminality,” Mr Kershaw said. “They have been used to restrain and then ultimately confiscate the homes, goods and cash of outlaw motorcycle gangs, serious ­organised crime syndicates and drug dealers.

“Committing sexual acts against children, and viewing and producing child exploitation ­material is a serious crime.

“If the homes of drug dealers are confiscated, so should the property of child sex offenders. In principle there should be no ­difference in the application of these laws.”

The investigation, Operation Tatsuta, began after Australian Border Force officers examined the man’s belongings in Melbourne on his arrival on a flight from Singapore in February.

Child abuse material allegedly discovered on his iPhone was referred to the AFP and the man was charged. The South Australia Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team, comprising federal and state police, charged him with further offences in April. He is due in court again next year and is yet to enter a plea.

Other similar confiscation cases are expected to follow. Mr Kershaw said the AFP had this year charged 160 people with 1282 offences relating to child abuse, and had removed 106 children from harm. The average number of images seized from ­arrested ­offenders was on the rise, he said.

“In the early to mid-2000s, a child sex offender had about 1000 images, now it’s between 10,000 to 80,000 images and videos. This is not a victimless crime,” he said.

“I make no apologies for using the full force of the law to prosecute, disrupt and deter those who target our children, whether in Australia or abroad.”

Federal police recently succeeded in seizing the assets of a Belgian tourist, Bryan Loyson, who paid for his Australian holiday by selling child abuse videos and photos. Two bank accounts, camera equipment, a drone and scuba diving gear, worth a combined $30,000, were restrained in the Supreme Court of NSW by the CACT in October. Final ­orders allowing confiscation were granted on November 30.

Loyson is not connected to the man whose home has been seized.

The CACT is made up of the AFP, Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, Australian Taxation Office, AUSTRAC, and Australian Border Force.

It restrained more than $250m in assets in Australia and overseas last financial year, the first step in the confiscation process. Proceeds from confiscated and sold assets go into the commonwealth’s confiscated assets account, used by the Home ­Affairs Minister to fund law enforcement-related and other community initiatives.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/police-seize-home-of-pedophile/news-story/7d2feb1da39bec10d30de3101315bb4c

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/11945885 (080535ZDEC20) Notable: US intelligence chief John Ratcliffe slams China’s economic ‘domination’ plan, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: US_national_intelligence_chief_John_Ratcliffe_has_written_a_bombastic_missive_slamming_China.jpg, Chinese_firm_Sinovel_was_convicted_of_stealing_tech_secrets_from_a_US_firm.jpg, Australia_s_top_25_exports_to_China_2019_2020.jpg

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US intelligence chief slams China’s economic ‘domination’ plan

A senior US official has said China has a plan to unfairly dominate the world’s economy – and it can be summed up in just three words.

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China has a plan to “dominate” the world “economically, militarily and technologically” and a key way it will do it can be summed up in just three words.

That’s the conclusion of the US’ director of national intelligence who has furiously denounced the People’s Republic.

“China believes that a global order without it at the top is a historical aberration,” John Ratcliffe wrote in The Wall Street Journal.

He described China as the “greatest threat to America today” and said industrial espionage has been and continued to be the cornerstone of China’s power grab.

The warning comes as US military leaders have also sounded the alarm over the pace of development of Chinese weaponry.

This week retired general and Joe Biden adviser, Stanley McChrystal, told Axios “China’s military capacity has risen much faster than people appreciate.”

Meanwhile, Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley has warned the US needs to face up to the rapid development of robotic weapons.

“They would like to not only match us but exceed us, dominate us, be able to beat us in armed conflict by mid-century,” he told the US Naval Institute this week.

But a leading Australian expert on China told news.com.au this characterisation of the nation’s growth as based solely on intellectual theft was “grossly unfair” and “beyond lazy’.

Mr Ratcliffe said three words encapsulated Beijing’s grand plan.

“I call its approach of economic espionage ‘rob, replicate and replace’.

“China robs US companies of their intellectual property, replicates the technology, and then replaces the US firms in the global marketplace.”

Mr Ratcliffe cited Chinese wind turbine manufacturer Sinovel. In 2011, an employee of US technology company AMSC was bribed by Sinovel to steal key wind turbine software.

After the theft, Sinovel ceased paying the US firm for its technology. It was a good deal for the Chinese firm which bribed the employee just $US20,000 ($A27,000) to avoid paying potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in future payments to AMSC.

“Today Sinovel sells wind turbines worldwide as if it built a legitimate business through ingenuity and hard work rather than theft,” Mr Ratcliffe said.

Earlier this year, FBI head Christopher Wray said there were 1000 investigations underway regarding Chinese technology theft in the US. It’s estimated the crime costs American firms between $US300 and $US600 billion ($A200 billion and $A800 billion) a year.

Mr Ratcliffe also said there had been “frequent arrests” of Chinese nationals at US universities, and even of some US academics who have been charged with passing secrets to China.

China has been accused of hacking into and stealing information in Australia, from organisations as diverse as miner Rio Tinto and the Bureau of Meteorology.

Australia and China have signed agreements not commit cyber espionage. It’s also difficult to conclusively prove where any attack may have originated from or what information was taken.

But a 2018 report by think tank the Australian Strategic Policy Institute said the strong suspicion was Beijing was still using espionage to steal technology secrets.

“Beijing doesn’t appear to have ceased commercial cyber espionage activities in Australia,” it said. “China has also improved its tradecraft, making detection harder and perhaps leading to a mistaken perception that activity has become more focused.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/11945932 (080539ZDEC20) Notable: China is national security threat No. 1 - John Ratcliffe - The Wall Street Journal, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: John_Ratcliffe.jpg, Chinese_soldiers_applauding_during_a_military_parade_at_the_Zhurihe_training_base_in_China_s_northern_Inner_Mongolia_region.jpg, US_and_Chinese_flags_outside_a_hotel_in_Beijing.jpg

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>>181186

China is national security threat No. 1

JOHN RATCLIFFE, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL - DECEMBER 4, 2020'

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As Director of National Intelligence, I am entrusted with access to more intelligence than any member of the US government other than the president. I oversee the intelligence agencies, and my office produces the President’s Daily Brief detailing the threats facing the country. If I could communicate one thing to the American people from this unique vantage point, it is that the People’s Republic of China poses the greatest threat to America today, and the greatest threat to democracy and freedom worldwide since World War II. The intelligence is clear: Beijing intends to dominate the US and the rest of the planet economically, militarily and technologically. Many of China’s major public initiatives and prominent companies offer only a layer of camouflage to the activities of the Chinese Communist Party.

I call its approach of economic espionage “rob, replicate and replace.” China robs US companies of their intellectual property, replicates the technology, and then replaces the US firms in the global marketplace.

Take Sinovel. In 2018 a federal jury found the Chinese wind-turbine manufacturer guilty of stealing trade secrets from American Superconductor. Penalties were imposed but the damage was done. The theft resulted in the U.S. company losing more than $US1 billion in shareholder value and cutting 700 jobs. Today Sinovel sells wind turbines worldwide as if it built a legitimate business through ingenuity and hard work rather than theft.

The FBI frequently arrests Chinese nationals for stealing research-and-development secrets. Until the head of Harvard’s Chemistry Department was arrested earlier this year, China was allegedly paying him $US50,000 a month as part of a plan to attract top scientists and reward them for stealing information. The professor has pleaded not guilty to making false statements to US authorities. Three scientists were ousted in 2019 from MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston over concerns about China’s theft of cancer research. The US government estimates that China’s intellectual-property theft costs America as much as $US500 billion a year, or between $US4,000 and $US6,000 per U.S. household.

China also steals sensitive US defence technology to fuel President Xi Jinping’s aggressive plan to make China the world’s foremost military power. US intelligence shows that China has even conducted human testing on members of the People’s Liberation Army in hope of developing soldiers with biologically enhanced capabilities. There are no ethical boundaries to Beijing’s pursuit of power.

China is also developing world-class capabilities in emerging technologies. Its intelligence services use their access to tech firms such as Huawei to enable malicious activities, including the introduction of vulnerabilities into software and equipment. Huawei and other Chinese firms deny this, but China’s efforts to dominate 5G telecommunications will only increase Beijing’s opportunities to collect intelligence, disrupt communications and threaten user privacy worldwide. I have personally told US allies that using such Chinese-owned technology will severely limit America’s ability to share vital intelligence with them.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/11946365 (080656ZDEC20) Notable: North East Lincolnshire man, David Wilson sentenced to seven years jail for historic child sex offences after being extradited from Queensland, Australia, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Comparison_of_images.jpg

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Man sentenced to seven years in jail for historic child sex offences

NORTH EAST LINCOLNSHIRE - ENGLAND

Humberside Police - 7 Dec 2020

A ‘perverted’ 78-year-old man has been sentenced to spend the next seven years behind bars and the rest of his life on the sex offenders register, after admitting to historic child sex offences dating back to the 80s and 90s which ‘stole the innocence’ of two girls and two boys.

Over a number of years, he integrated himself into families with the intention of abusing vulnerable children.

David Wilson of Yaru Street, Queensland, Australia pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent assault, four counts of indecent assault on a male person and two counts of indecency with a child at an earlier court appearance and was sentenced in Grimsby Crown Court today (Monday 7 December) to seven years imprisonment.

He was the target of a 25-year manhunt by police, after failing to appear in Grimsby Crown Court in 1995 charged with indecent assault against the two now women, who were both under 14 when the abuse occurred.

Within that time, officers explored every possible avenue to try and track him down. In 2013, the two men, who had been abused by Wilson when they were less than 14-years-old, came forward to police, providing new lines of enquiry to investigate.

The painstaking investigation uncovered that David Wilson had changed his identity a number of times to avoid detection, holding a number of passports and driving licenses in Australia and New Zealand under different names and dates of birth. He travelled between the two countries on a number of occasions between 1995 and 2020.

After a coordinated effort between Humberside Police and Australian authorities, he was extradited to the UK in July 2020, seeing a team of detectives fly to Australia during a global pandemic to bring the ‘vile’ paedophile back to Grimsby to stand trial for the devastation he had caused to the four victims.

Detective Constable Nichola Oakley, who has been leading the enquiry since 2013, said: “Firstly, I would like to applaud the bravery and strength of the four victims for disclosing what had happened to them and working with us on what I know has been a long road to justice.

"The sentence reflects the serious nature of the abuse by a person in a position of trust and reinforces that the passage of time does not reduce the impact or severity of the crime.

“Despite him now being behind bars, I know that his actions will forever live with these victims.

“I would like to provide reassurance to others who may have suffered at the hands of sexual abusers that no matter when the abuse occurred, we will listen to you.

“I know that it is often incredibly difficult to come to terms with abuse, and victims can be too frightened to speak out, but as can be seen from this case, we are persistent and will make use of every resource and upgrade in technology to catch predators.”

https://www.humberside.police.uk/news/man-sentenced-seven-years-jail-historic-child-sex-offences

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/11947028 (080940ZDEC20) Notable: Richard George Aldinger: Sydney man jailed for Philippines child sex abuse videos, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: The_AFP_investigation_resulted_in_the_girl_being_rescued_in_the_Philippines.jpg, Aldinger_s_solicitor_Trudie_Cameron_and_Federal_Prosecutor_Robert_McCaw_leaving_Parramatta_Court_today.jpg

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>>181177

>>181178

Richard George Aldinger: Sydney man jailed for child sex abuse videos

Married 64-year-old father Richard Aldinger has left court in handcuffs after admitting he received and sent sickening child abuse material from the Philippines over a Facebook group.

Child protection organisations have blasted a “slap on the wrist” given to a Sydney man for a string of child abuse charges, including paying to watch “depraved” videos of a 12-year-old Filipino girl being abused.

Richard George Aldinger, 64, admitted in 2019 to seven charges of procuring a child outside Australia and possessing, soliciting, accessing and transmitting child abuse images.

Even though the charges each carry a maximum penalty of 10 to 25 years in jail, Aldinger, was sentenced to at least two years and nine months in prison before he would be eligible for parole in September 2023, with a maximum of four years and six months.

Child protection organisation Bravehearts executive director Hetty Johnston said she was “disgusted” by the sentence.

“This type of character will never be different to who he is. I’m disgusted. There is nothing preventive about that sentence,” Ms Johnston said.

“It makes me furious the Commonwealth brings in these tough sentences and the courts disregard the intent.”

Registered charity Fighters Against Child Abuse Australia president Adam Washbourne questioned why there were maximum sentences when they were never used.

“He’s been given a slap on the wrist,” Mr Washbourne said.

Federal attorney general Christian Porter was contacted for comment.

District Court Judge Justin Smith said Aldinger’s acts became “more explicit and depraved” as time went on.

The married father-of-two used the aliases ‘Debbie Mendoza’ and ‘Ricky Nixon Jones’ on Facebook and sent payments of $80-100 to a Filipino woman in return for sexual photos and videos of her teen daughter, including one where she uses a sex toy.

The facts reveal Aldinger said to the mother: “I wish (the girl) was more sexual ... I just masturbated looking at (the girl’s) pictures.

And in a message sent on March 22, 2017, Aldinger sent a video of him penetrating a sex doll.

“It became more explicit and depraved over time,” Judge Smith told the court.

Aldinger recorded a video chat with himself and a 12-year-old girl while she touched a woman’s breasts and in another, he is filmed on the floor masturbating while a young girl mimicked his hand movements.

Other videos found in raids on his home last year included one showing an eight-year-old girl being abused by a dog, a girl with her hands tied behind her head with thick yellow rope and wearing a collar while being abused, a boy being abused by a woman and a two-minute video of a man having sex with a girl between four and seven years old.

Despite all of this, Aldinger told authorities he did not have any sexual interest in children.

Aldinger told police the behaviour was his “dark secret” and a “fantasy world” where he could “escape from reality”, according to agreed facts.

In total, 1737 files were seized.

“Possession of child (abuse material) is a callous and predatory crime. The material can not come into existence without the exploitation and abuse of children,” Judge Smith said.

The young victim in the videos with Aldinger was rescued from Rizal and her mother was charged.

In a statement to the court, the girl said she was used by her mother who took money off foreigners because her father was unemployed.

Judge Smith said Aldinger’s acts were “unplanned and unsophisticated” and that he was remorseful and unlikely to reoffend.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/police-courts/richard-george-aldinger-sydney-man-jailed-for-child-sex-abuse-videos/news-story/e1ec6fba9d56d0ca914647e5c203d391

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/11959941 (090653ZDEC20) Notable: Parliamentary inquiry to examine extremism in Australia amid increasing far-right threat, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Far_right_extremists_are_increasingly_forming_global_links_according_to_a_new_study.jpg

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Parliamentary inquiry to examine extremism in Australia amid increasing far-right threat

The parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security is set to examine extremist movements in Australia, including the rising threat posed by right-wing extremism.

An inquiry into extremism in Australia will go ahead following a push by Labor for the government to look at the rising threat specifically posed by right-wing extremists.

However, the inquiry will look at all forms of extremism in Australia, not just the increased threat posed by the far-right.

The parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security has signed off on an inquiry to examine the concerns following a referral from Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton.

This comes after vocal demands from Labor’s Home Affairs spokesperson Kristina Keneally for parliament to examine Australia’s preparedness against the increasing threat presented by right-wing extremism.

Senator Keneally said she welcomed the government’s move to back the inquiry.

“The emerging threat of right-wing extremism demands that we take seriously the advice of our national security agencies,” she told reporters in Canberra.

“And that we as a parliament take seriously our ability to keep Australia safe.”

Committee chair and Liberal MP Andrew Hastie said the committee would examine the nature, extent and threat posed by extremist movements and persons holding extremist views in Australia.

This includes examining the motivations, objectives and capacity for violence of extremist groups including - but not limited to - Islamist and right-wing extremist groups.

It will also look at how these have changed during the COVID-19 pandemic amid warnings far-right groups have attempted to exploit the crisis to recruit new members and push its ideology.

The committee will also review the geographic spread of extremists in Australia and their links with international organisations.

Another focus will be examining possible changes that could be made to the Commonwealth’s terrorist listing laws to address current and emerging terrorist threats.

Labor MP Anne Aly said it was important the differences between right-wing extremism and other forms were recognised.

“We know right-wing extremist groups [are] a real threat to Australia,” Dr Aly told reporters.

“We know that there are young people who are being radicalised here.”

Amid these concerns, the inquiry will review the role of social media, encrypted communications platforms and the dark web in allowing extremists to communicate online.

It will also examine the readiness of Australia's counter-terrorism strategy to prevent radicalisation to extremist views and what steps could be taken to disrupt and deter hate speech.

The rising right-wing extremist threat

Australia remains the only country within the five eyes intelligence network to so far avoid listing any right-wing extremist groups as banned terrorist organisations.

However, the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation recently said up to 40 per cent of its counterterrorism caseload had become linked to right-wing extremism.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw has also identified a “steady increase” in operations directed towards right-wing extremism.

An 18-year-old NSW man espousing neo-Nazi and other right-wing extremist was also arrested on Wednesday after allegedly encouraging a mass casualty terrorist attack.

He had been communicating on social media platforms, most of which were mainstream, about various extremist issues and had accessed material on bomb-making.

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/parliamentary-inquiry-to-examine-extremism-in-australia-amid-increasing-far-right-threat

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/11960003 (090704ZDEC20) Notable: Pamela Anderson Tweet: @POTUS please #pardonjulianassange, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Actress_Pamela_Anderson_attends_Harper_s_Bazaar_Icons_celebration_during_NYFW_Spring_Summer_2017_at_the_Plaza_Hotel_on_Friday_Sept_9_2016.jpg, PA_JA_2.jpg, Eopu6LSUwAArLGv.jpg, Eopu6rfUUAAu_zo.jpg

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>>181094

Pamela Anderson dons bikini, asks President Trump to pardon Julian Assange

Pamela Anderson is stripping down to a bikini in hopes of getting President Donald Trump’s attention.

The former “Baywatch” star and Playboy model shared two black-and-white photos on Twitter Monday, including one of herself in a two-piece swimsuit, while asking Trump to pardon WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

“@POTUS please #pardonjulianassange,” Anderson wrote as she held signs that said “Bring Julian Assange home Australia” and “I am Julian Assange.”

The 53-year-old actress was reportedly rumored to have dated Assange, an Australian citizen, when he was living in London’s Ecuadorian Embassy from 2012 to 2019. He sought refuge to avoid rape and sexual assault allegations in Sweden, as well as espionage charges in the United States.

Assange, 49, was evicted from the embassy last year and arrested on allegations he directed former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to leak classified information. The U.S. charged him with violating the Espionage Act by publishing thousands of documents, which included the identities of confidential sources for American armed forces and diplomats.

The Associated Press reports Assange, who has been in a London prison since April 2019, has argued that he is a journalist and entitled to First Amendment protections for publishing leaked documents that exposed U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan. They also say the conditions he would face in a U.S. prison would breach his human rights.

According to The Guardian, Assange’s lawyers said earlier this year that ex-Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) claimed Trump offered Assange a pardon if Assange would say Russia was not involved in leaking Democratic emails. The former Republican congressman later denied it, saying Trump had not offered the pardon but Rohrabacher said he would ask Trump to pardon Assange if he denied Russian ties.

Assange’s partner, Stella Moris, has also asked Trump to pardon the WikiLeaks founder.

“These are Julian’s sons Max and Gabriel,” she wrote on Twitter on Thanksgiving, along with a photo of their young children. “They need their father. Our family needs to be whole again. I beg you, please bring him home for Christmas @realDonaldTrump.”

https://twitter.com/pamfoundation/status/1336002200380698624

https://www.syracuse.com/us-news/2020/12/pamela-anderson-dons-bikini-asks-president-trump-to-pardon-julian-assange.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/11960061 (090717ZDEC20) Notable: Vatican risks going broke slowly, former treasurer Pell says, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Australian_Cardinal_George_Pell_looks_on_during_an_interview_with_Reuters_in_Rome_Italy_December_7_2020.jpg, Australian_Cardinal_George_Pell_gestures_as_he_speaks_during_an_interview_with_Reuters_in_Rome_Italy_December_7_2020.jpg

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Vatican risks going broke slowly, former treasurer Pell says

ROME (Reuters) - Former Vatican treasurer Cardinal George Pell said the world’s smallest state risked slowly “going broke” unless it tamed ballooning deficits, and expressed hope his successor would be spared the resistance to reform that he said thwarted him.

Pell, 79, was cleared of sex abuse charges in his native Australia in April. His book “Prison Journal”, published this month, recounts his 13 months in solitary confinement in tiny cells following one of the most divisive trials in the country’s history.

In a 90-minute interview with Reuters in his Rome apartment across the street from a Vatican gate, Pell discussed his darkest moments, how his faith kept him from falling into despair, the harm the worldwide sexual abuse scandal had done to the Church and the current state of affairs in the Vatican.

“Look, it was bad, it wasn’t like a holiday, but I don’t want to exaggerate how difficult that was. But there were many dark moments,” he said late on Monday, wearing a black clergyman suit with a silver cross around his neck.

Pope Francis appointed Pell, the former archbishop of Sydney, in 2014 to head the newly-created Secretariat for the Economy and mandated him with cleaning up the Vatican’s murky finances.

Pell ran into resistance from some Vatican officials, particularly Italian Cardinal Angelo Becciu, then deputy secretary of state who wanted Vatican departments to continue controlling their own funds.

Becciu forced out external auditors brought in by Pell as well as the Vatican’s first auditor general.

In September, Pope Francis fired Becciu, accusing him of nepotism and embezzlement. Becciu, who also has been caught up in a scandal involving the Vatican’s purchase of a luxury property in London, denies all wrongdoing.

Pell went to Australia in 2018 to face charges and never resumed his Vatican duties. He returned to Rome in September and has met quietly with his successor as treasurer, Jesuit priest Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves.

BALLOONING DEFICITS, SHAKY PENSION FUND

“I think we are much, much better placed than we were,” Pell said of the state of reform of Vatican finances, including new accounting and controls.

“The great challenge that lies before the Vatican is that it’s slowly going broke. Now that’s a bit of an exaggeration (but) it’s slowly happening,” he said, adding that he was basing his comments on public information.

Growing Vatican deficits - the 2020 shortfall is expected to be more than 50 million euros - and a looming deficit of hundreds of millions of euros in the Vatican’s pension fund means potential future trouble.

“You can’t go on like that forever,” Pell said. “The only thing that I’m keen on is that people, in a very clear-headed way, face up to the situation.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc with Vatican finances, forcing it to dip into reserves and implement tough cost controls. The Vatican Museums, a once-dependable cash cow, have been closed for months, resulting in a loss of millions of euros in revenues.

Pell said he had no doubt that Guerrero was honest and up to the job. “What is important is that he continues to have the support of the pope and that he is not thwarted the way I was thwarted,” he said.

He called the London deal “an absolute fiasco, even in terms of competence,” with “enormous losses” that will have to be written off. Vatican magistrates are investigating the deal.

Pell said the lowest point in his prison ordeal was when his first appeal was rejected in August, 2019.

“I was down. I was very disappointed. I came to be very cross,” he said. “(But) I said my prayers and got on with things.”

https://uk.reuters.com/article/vatican-pell/vatican-risks-going-broke-slowly-former-treasurer-pell-says-idINKBN28I2GS

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/11960083 (090722ZDEC20) Notable: Leading cardinal George Pell says Church needs rules on status of ex popes, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Australian_Cardinal_George_Pell_looks_on_during_an_interview_with_Reuters_in_Rome_Italy_December_7_2020.jpg

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>>181194

Leading cardinal says Church needs rules on status of ex popes

ROME (Reuters) - Cardinal George Pell, a leading Roman Catholic conservative, said the Vatican needs clear rules to govern the status of future popes who resign rather than rule for life and that such a move would help Church unity.

Pell is one of the highest-ranking Church figures to speak publicly on the need for rules since 2013, when former Pope Benedict, 93, became the first pontiff in 700 years to abdicate.

Church law says a pope can resign, as long as he does so willingly and not under pressure, but it lacks specific rules on his status, title, and prerogatives.

“The protocols on the situation of a pope who has resigned need to be clarified, to strengthen the forces for unity,” Pell, 79, writes in his book, “Prison Journal”, which is being published this month and recounts 13 months he spent in solitary confinement.

Pell, who has always maintained his innocence, was cleared of sex abuse charges in his native Australia in April and has returned to Rome. He was Vatican treasurer until 2018.

Since stepping down, Benedict has occasionally allowed his views on specific subjects to be aired outside the Vatican, to the joy of some fellow conservatives who have used them as ammunition to contest his successor Pope Francis’ more open-minded and inclusive papacy.

“While the retired pope could retain the title of ‘pope emeritus’, he should be re-nominated to the College of Cardinals so that he is known as ‘Cardinal X, Pope Emeritus’, he should not wear the white papal soutane (cassock) and should not teach publicly,” Pell writes.

Days before Benedict abdicated on Feb. 28, 2013, he scripted his own rules, investing himself with the title pope emeritus, deciding to continue to wear white and to live in the Vatican.

But his presence has caused some confusion among the faithful, with some extreme right-wing conservatives still refusing to recognise Francis as pope.

“There is only one pope,” Pell said in a wide-ranging 90-minute interview with Reuters late on Monday in his Rome apartment across the street from a Vatican gate.

In the book, Pell writes that “probably the measures would be best introduced by a pope who had no surviving predecessor”. That means that in the present Vatican situation, Francis would have to wait until after Benedict dies.

Others have suggested that since a pope is also the bishop of Rome, a former pontiff should be called ‘bishop emeritus of Rome’.

He would then be subject to the same written rules, last updated in 2004, that cover retired bishops.

Those rules say any bishop emeritus “will want to avoid every attitude and relationship that could even hint at some kind of parallel authority to that of the diocesan bishop, with damaging consequences for the pastoral life and unity of the diocesan community”.

https://www.reuters.com/article/idCAKBN28I330

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/11960489 (090904ZDEC20) Notable: Ginger Gorman Tweet: In case you are interested, these are the questions Pornhub did not answer about child sex exploitation on their site, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Ginger_Gorman_1.jpg, EoxGIYRVEAAvMp9.jpg

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>>181197

Ginger Gorman Tweet

In case you are interested, these are the questions Pornhub did not answer about child sex exploitation on their site:

CC @AvriSapir

https://twitter.com/GingerGorman/status/1336520644381458432

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/11960538 (090916ZDEC20) Notable: Miranda Devine: What was Bill Clinton doing on Jeffrey Epstein’s private island? - Miranda Devine - dailytelegraph.com.au, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Former_US_President_Bill_Clinton_and_convicted_sex_offender_Jeffrey_Epstein.jpg, Little_St_James_Island_in_the_U_S_Virgin_Islands_a_property_owned_by_Jeffrey_Epstein_which_was_known_as_Orgy_Island.jpg, Epstein_accuser_Virginia_Roberts_Giuffre.jpg

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Miranda Devine: What was Bill Clinton doing on Jeffrey Epstein’s private island?

Bill Clinton may have some explaining to do now that a witness has placed him at Jeffrey Epstein’s notorious Caribbean retreat, writes Miranda Devine.

Miranda Devine - December 9, 2020

1/2

A bombshell story vanished without a trace in the US last week. Naturally, it was about the Clintons.

Turns out former US President Bill Clinton visited Jeffrey Epstein’s private island, after all — according to one of his most trusted former aides.

For anyone keeping track of Epstein’s criminal exploits before he conveniently hanged himself in a Manhattan jail last August, allegedly, while awaiting prosecution on sex trafficking charges, Clinton was firmly in the frame as a frequent flyer on the sexual predator’s private jet, aka the “Lolita Express”.

Clinton’s name appears at least 26 times as a passenger between 2001 and 2003 in flight logs obtained by Fox News.

But while Clinton, 74, admits to indulging in a few private flights on the Boeing 727, and there are photos of him aboard, he always has denied it conveyed him to Epstein’s private ­Caribbean island, Little St James, also known as “Orgy Island”.

As recently as July, a Clinton spokesperson issued a statement denying allegations from Epstein’s one-time “sex slave”, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who now lives in Australia, that she once saw Clinton on the ­island with “two young girls” from New York. She also told a court that sexual orgies were a feature of life on the island.

Clinton has maintained he only took four trips on the Clinton Foundation donor’s jet and knew “nothing about the terrible crimes Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to”, according to a 2019 statement from The Clinton Foundation.

But last week, in an interview with Vanity Fair, one-time Clinton “body man” turned “counsellor” Doug Band, who worked for the former president for nearly two decades, spilled the beans on his former boss.

Band, 48, corroborates Giuffre's recollection, and claims Clinton flew on the convicted sex offender’s jet to the island in January 2003.

“Confessions of a Clintonworld Exile,” chronicles the spectacular falling out between Band and the Clintons in 2015 that was triggered when Bill and his only daughter Chelsea wanted a bigger slice of the Clinton Foundation booty Band was profiting from with a lucrative global consulting business.

Band quickly went from Bill’s “surrogate son” to persona non grata and, five years later, now that the Clinton power is waning, has ­decided to unload on his former ­mentor.

His claims are all the more plausible because of photos which surfaced earlier this year of Clinton receiving a neck massage in an airport chair from one of Epstein’s air hostesses, then-22-year-old Chauntae Davies, who went on to accuse Epstein of rape.

Clinton also was photographed at the door of the jet with Epstein pal Ghislaine Maxwell, who currently is in jail on charges of grooming underage girls.

Maxwell also attended Chelsea’s wedding in 2010.

“Ghislaine had access to yachts and nice homes,” Band told Vanity Fair. “Chelsea needed that.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/11960610 (090933ZDEC20) Notable: Google and Facebook forced into world-first Australian media deal - Tech giants forced to pay for news content and share data collection methods, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Josh_Frydenberg_says_the_reforms_are_a_world_first_and_the_world_is_watching_what_happens_here_in_Australia_.jpg, KEY_POINTS.jpg

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>>181176

Tech giants forced into media deal

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Google and Facebook will be forced to pay for news content and share data collection methods with media companies and public broadcasters, under world-first laws that will deliver funding lifelines for community, regional and national outlets.

Josh Frydenberg said the government’s mandatory news media bargaining code was ­designed to level the playing field and ensure the “rules of the digital world mirror the rules of the physical world”.

The Treasurer, who will put legislation into parliament on Wednesday giving him the authority to designate other companies under the code, including YouTube and Instagram, warned of the need to arrest a free-fall in traditional advertising revenue sparked by digital disruption.

Mr Frydenberg said for every $100 of online advertising spend, $53 went to Google, $28 to Facebook and $19 to other participants. “This is a huge reform. This is a world first and the world is watching what happens here in Australia,” the Treasurer said.

“Our legislation will help ensure that the rules of the digital world mirror the rules of the physical world.

“That has been our intention all along … to sustain our media landscape here in Australia.”

After attacking the draft code Mr Frydenberg released in July, Google and Facebook secured concessions in the legislation. The government inserted a “two-way value exchange” clause factoring-in benefits media companies gained from “having eyeballs on their product”.

News Corp Australia, which publishes The Australian, said the code was a “significant step forward in the decade-long campaign to achieve fairness”.

News Corp Australasia executive chairman Michael Miller said he was more “focused on the outcome of negotiations than the code itself”. He added that the two-way value exchange was a concession.

“I dare say we have differing views of that value," Mr Miller said. “They do push traffic to our sites, but it’s our content which drives people to their sites. In many ways, it’s a co-dependency.”

A Nine Network spokeswoman said: “The continued concessions to the digital platforms only entrench both their monopoly power and the significantly unfair imbalance in regulation.

“These companies pay little or no tax, contribute little and often negatively to our culture, and employ no creative teams.”

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said the ABC had pledged to redistribute revenue raised from commercial deals with Google and Facebook into its regional journalism operations.

“ABC and SBS are included,” Mr Fletcher said. “That’s so they have the benefit of the remuneration provisions of the code. I should add that the ABC has given the commitment that revenue it earns under the code, it will dedicate to increased regional journalism.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/11960645 (090939ZDEC20) Notable: Canberra turns spotlight on Victoria's Belt and Road deal as veto laws pass, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Foreign_Minister_Marise_Payne_will_have_the_power_to_rip_up_agreements_between_states_and_foreign_governments.jpg, Rory_Medcalf_head_of_ANU_s_National_Security_College_will_address_the_National_Press_Club_on_Wednesday.jpg

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>>181145

Canberra turns spotlight on Victoria's Belt and Road deal as veto laws pass

1/2

The federal government will immediately examine whether it should scrap Victoria's Belt and Road agreement with China, as one of Australia's top national security academics says states must equip themselves with national security units to better manage foreign influence.

Powerful new foreign veto laws, which passed Federal Parliament on Tuesday, give Victoria three months to explain to the federal government why its deal with the Chinese government is in Australia's national interest.

The Age and Sydney Morning Herald can reveal the process of dissecting an agreement does not have to begin after the three-month period, and the Commonwealth will begin immediately scrutinising some foreign agreements that are of most concern to national security agencies.

Federal government sources confirmed Victoria's Belt and Road Initiative, which Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas again defended on Tuesday, would fall into this category.

The Andrews government has been seeking legal advice in recent months on whether its Belt and Road deal would fall foul of the new laws. Amid rising tension between Australia and China, the Commonwealth will now have the power to cancel or proactively block agreements reached by states, territories, local governments and public universities with foreign governments if they are deemed to compromise Australia's foreign interests.

Professor Rory Medcalf, head of the National Security College at the Australian National University, will use a speech at Canberra’s National Press Club on Wednesday to warn of the "unsustainable absurdity" that state governments are underqualified for their level of international engagement – for example, Victoria and its Belt and Road deal.

Professor Medcalf will tell the Press Club that beyond the new legislation, it is now incumbent on Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s government to adopt a security ethos that loops in states and territories, business and the broader community.

"There is no hiding from the fact that state and territory governments can be seen by foreign powers as weak links in the protection of Australian sovereignty or the nation’s ability to present a unified foreign and security policy to the world," he will say.

"States and territories are where it gets real. They don’t deal with the abstractions of diplomatic talking points or strategic analysis, but the tangible day-to-day elements of national resilience and national vulnerability – critical infrastructure, front-line geography, and the daily decisions and livelihoods of Australian citizens."

A former senior analyst with the Office of National Intelligence, Professor Medcalf suggests every state should establish a national security unit within the premier’s department, led by a team of five or six officials with high-level security clearances, giving them access to classified Commonwealth security information.

He believes such units would have better informed decisions such as Victoria’s engagement in China’s Belt and Road strategy, signed in 2018 as a memorandum of understanding, and the NSW government’s 2016 deal to sell electricity distributor Ausgrid to two Chinese and Hong-Kong-based companies, which was later overturned by the Commonwealth, citing national security concerns.

"If state governments can afford to maintain quasi-diplomatic trade offices with highly paid trade commissioners in foreign cities, they can afford to invest in co-contributing to the nation’s security too," Professor Medcalf will say. "For its part, the Commonwealth needs to be willing to share security information and intelligence with the new state and territory units."

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/11960719 (090949ZDEC20) Notable: Etsy seller providing childlike sex dolls modelled off 14-year-old Instagram star, Border Force reveal spike in products being sent to Australia, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Australian_Border_Force_officers_have_seized_more_than_100_child_sex_dolls_in_just_five_months_as_it_s_revealed_the_child_abuse_material_is_being_openly_sold_online.jpg, An_Etsy_store_was_taken_down_after_openly_selling_sex_dolls_and_offering_to_change_the_look_of_them_to_match_images_of_children_The_headshots_above_are_computer_generated_images.jpg

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Etsy seller providing childlike sex dolls modelled off 14-year-old Instagram star

An online seller has given a disturbing justification for selling ‘vile’ sex dolls online, with Border Force revealing a spike in the products being sent to Australia.

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Vile child sex dolls are being sold brazenly on a popular online retail site, as authorities reveal more than 100 have been seized from Australians in the past five months alone.

One seller openly gloated on online sales platform Etsy that the sex doll they were providing was modelled off a 14-year-old Instagram star.

The seller, with the username Sexy Lady Fox, unwittingly revealed the horrific inspiration for the sex dolls when contacted by an Australian sexual assault advocacy group posing as an interested buyer.

The sex dolls are advertised as being 156cm tall — the average height of a 13-year-old girl — and are able to be customised to look like specific children if a photo is provided, according to disturbing texts sent to a member of advocacy group Collective Shout.

“We can change the wig,” Sexy Lady Fox said in reply when provided with two computer generated images of young children.

“I think it is very similar to the images you send me.”

After NCA NewsWire notified Etsy of the seller, it swiftly deactivated the shop from the sales platform.

When contacted by NCA NewsWire, ‘Sexy Lady Fox’ gave an extraordinary justification for providing the disturbing product, which is regarded as child sex material in Australian law and carries a penalty for importation of up to $555,000 and 10 years’ imprisonment.

“We are selling the most required real dolls on the market,” the seller said, who identified themselves simply as Federica.

When asked if it was the intention to make the dolls look underage, they said: “To be honest, if I think that somebody (will) buy and use a real doll instead doing something wrong with a young girl, I’m grateful.”

This horrific justification was rejected by Collective Shout as “self-serving”.

“Men who are found with child abuse dolls are also (often) found with other forms of child sex abuse material, including things like photos and videos of children and babies being raped and tortured,” said Collective Shout campaign manager Caitlin Roper, who is also completing a PHD at RMIT University researching sex dolls and robots.

“There are reported scenarios from this year of men still incorporating living children into their child sex abuse doll use.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/11968449 (100717ZDEC20) Notable: Global Times editor Hu Xijin lunches with Australia’s Ambassador to China Graham Fletcher, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Australia_s_Ambassador_to_China_Graham_Fletcher_with_editor_in_chief_of_the_Global_Times_Hu_Xijin_at_the_Australian_embassy_in_Beijing.jpg

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>>181030

>>181110

Global Times editor Hu Xijin lunches at Australia’s embassy in Beijing

Australia’s Ambassador to China Graham Fletcher had the editor-in-chief of the Global Times Hu Xijin over for lunch at the embassy on Wednesday, hours before the nationalistic tabloid decided that “China-Australia relations need to improve”.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Wednesday lunch with one of Australia’s most influential critics in China.

Editor Hu was less discreet, posting a lengthy account in Mandarin on his personal Weibo social media account.

“I was invited to have lunch with the Australian Ambassador to China Mr Graham Fletcher. China-Australia relations are so tense now, I believe it is not easy to be an ambassador to China now,” Mr Hu wrote in a note posted to his 24 million Weibo followers.

Not surprisingly, their discussion focused on the bilateral relationship, a subject the Global Times has covered stridently throughout China’s eight month long trade retaliation campaign against Australia.

According to Mr Hu, he told Australia’s ambassador: “In the eyes of the Chinese, Australia is currently the most unfriendly country to China besides the United States.”

“In particular, Australia has taken the lead in excluding Huawei from the construction of its 5G network, and has taken the lead in passing the ‘Anti-Foreign Interference Law’ against China. On the South China Sea issue, it has jumped higher as an extra-regional country than an intra-regional country,” Mr Hu recalled saying, using almost identical language used in his tabloid’s Thursday lead editorial titled: “Among US Allies, why is Australia keen to attack China?”

Ambassador Fletcher has not commented on the published exchange – or what Australian produce was served at lunch – but according to Mr Hu he said Australia was doing what was necessary to safeguard its interests.

The experienced diplomat, widely considered to be one of Australia’s top China hands, noted its policy towards Huawei was the same as Japan.

“He does not think that Australia has turned to the United States. He asked me to note that Australia’s attitude on many issues related to China is different from that of the United States. He emphasised that Australia hopes to improve relations with China. At the same time, he also said that Australia is an ally of the United States and this cannot be changed,” Mr Hu recalled.

Again echoing Thursday’s Global Times editorial on Australia, Mr Hu said many Chinese were bemused by the poor state of relations.

“I said: ‘Japan and South Korea are all allies of the United States, and so are many European countries. Japan and South Korea are very close to China and there are many frictions, while China and Australia are so far apart. There is no territorial friction. Australia’s relations with China should be better than Japan’s relations with China. But now, Australia-China relations are worse than Japan-China relations, and they are completely incomparable with South Korea-China relations,” Mr Hu recalled.

Ambassador Fletcher disagreed, according to Mr Hu’s recollection, with the Global Times’s world view that the Australia government’s attitude towards China is different from that of European countries.

Ambassador Fletcher, Mr Hu continued, added that Australian public opinion, including the opposition party, supported maintaining normal relations with China. That observation was also noted in Thursday’s editorial, albeit without attribution.

Published during the final sitting week of the federal parliament in 2020, the Global Times’s editorial finished optimistically, at least by its standards.

“2020 is almost over. Looking to 2021, China-Australia relations need to improve.”

However, the end of the editor-in-chief’s lunch recollection contained a sting to worry those Australian businesses worried about joining the $7b-and-growing list of victims of Beijing’s retaliatory trade campaign.

“I am afraid Australia needs to really change its attitude towards China and make adjustments in its actions, instead of helping the United States bite China while making a cheap statement of ‘take no sides’. Otherwise, I predict that China-Australia relations will hardly pick up, and Australia will continue to pay the price for its unreasonable China policy,” he finished.

Still, he turned up for lunch with Australia’s man in Beijing. By the end of 2020, that’s something.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/global-times-editor-hu-xijin-lunches-at-australias-embassy-in-beijing/news-story/6640f34457a6b214e17719bb54405320

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/11968481 (100729ZDEC20) Notable: Among US allies, why is Australia keen to attack China?: Global Times editorial - globaltimes.cn, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: China_Australia_Illustration.jpg

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>>181207

Among US allies, why is Australia keen to attack China?: Global Times editorial

Global Times - 2020/12/9

China and Australia have been locked in strained ties, and exchanges at the ministerial level and above have been suspended for more than a year. Many voices in Australian public opinion portray China as a major external threat and challenge, while in the eyes of most Chinese, the image of Australia has been degraded to a US lackey at the forefront of the crackdown on China, from an important trading partner and a sound destination for overseas study and tourism. It's fair to say the mutual understanding of the two countries has undergone profound changes.

But what's surprising is that China and Australia have seemingly fallen afoul of each other for no reason at all. Even if many Chinese international relations scholars could find geopolitical reasons for this change, they find it inconceivable. Geographically, China and Australia are far away from each other. They have no historical feud or enmity, but have developed sound trade. There are enough reasons and resources for the two countries to maintain a friendly and cooperative relationship for a long time.

However, the reality is: In the eyes of the Chinese people, Australia is the most unfriendly country to China, second to the US. Australia took the lead in excluding Chinese tech company Huawei from the 5G rollout. It became the first developed country to pass laws against foreign interference that targeted China. Despite being an external country, it hyped the South China Sea issue harder than countries within the region. Chinese people generally believe Australia has returned China's goodwill with evil at Washington's prodding.

The Australian government said it won't pick sides between China and the US at the same time it intensified friction with China by issuing a series of policies that undermined China's interests and reputation. It argued it's a misinterpretation to say Australia is helping the US contain China.

Some Australian officials emphasized that Australia is doing what is necessary to safeguard its own interests, and its policy on Huawei is the same as Japan's. They also said Australia's attitude on many China-related issues is different from those of the US.

Australia thinks China should accept the reality that Canberra is an ally of Washington and any action taken by Canberra based on the alliance. It also believes China should respect Australia's freedom of speech and show no objection to Australia's attacks on China. It hopes it could interfere in China's internal affairs, while China should keep silent on Australia's affairs.

Not long ago a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson tweeted a cartoon showing the atrocities of Australian soldiers in Afghanistan, which led to a strong reaction from Canberra.

As we see it, Canberra attaches too much importance to US allies and values, two factors which should not have led to the deterioration of Australia's ties with China. The US has many allies. There are also many Western countries who share the same values as Australia. Take Japan. Japan is a US ally who has territorial and historical disputes with China. The conditions for cooperation between China and Australia are far better than between China and Japan. But Australia has behaved more aggressively than Japan recently. Australia-China ties can't compare to ties between South Korea and China.

We hope Australia can reflect upon itself from this perspective. Many Western countries need to face the so-called challenges brought about by China's rise. But Australia is much more on guard than average Western countries. It is hard to find a justifiable excuse for its actions from whatever perspective.

We've noticed that there isn't much objection to Australia improving ties with China from Australian public opinion or the opposition party. Australian Prime Minister Morrison said recently that tension between Australia and China has been driven by incorrect assumptions shaped by the China-US rivalry.

2020 is almost over. Looking to 2021, China-Australia relations need to improve. The crux is that Australia should truly alter its attitude toward China and make adjustments rather than serving as a lap dog of the US while verbally saying it does not pick a side. Or else, it will continue to pay a price for its unreasonable China policy.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1209532.shtml

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/11978606 (110622ZDEC20) Notable: Daniel Andrews staffer Nancy Yang linked to mysterious Chinese investment fund, Arem Pacific Corporation, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Victorian_Premier_Daniel_Andrews_with_long_serving_staffer_Nancy_Yang.jpg, Nancy_Yang.jpg, Nancy_Yang_right_with_Labor_s_Federal_Opposition_Deputy_Leader_Richard_Marles.jpg, Nancy_Yang_with_former_Labor_Prime_Minister_Julia_Gillard.jpg

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Daniel Andrews staffer Nancy Yang linked to mysterious Chinese investment fund, Arem Pacific Corporation

A Daniel Andrews staffer with Chinese Communist Party links has served as the secretary, director and chief marketing director of a mysterious Chinese international investment fund which last year established a US-listed joint venture worth almost AUD$70m, and owns a massage chain with outlets at almost every major Melbourne shopping centre.

Nancy Yang, who works part time in the Victorian Premier’s Mulgrave electorate office in Melbourne’s southeast was listed in 2015 as holding a 1.8 per cent stake in Arem Pacific Corporation, which floated on the US stock exchange in 2019 as part of a $US50m joint venture.

The Australian is not suggesting any wrongdoing by Ms Yang, or Arem Pacific Corporation.

Ms Yang’s involvement in an international investment fund worth tens of millions of dollars is unusual given her relatively junior part time role in Mr Andrews’ office and that of neighbouring Labor MP Meng Heang Tak. The electorate officer role attracts a full time equivalent salary of approximately $80,000.

Arem Pacific Corporation’s website lists headquarters in Melbourne’s Collins Street, the US city of Scottsdale, Arizona where it was founded in 1990, and Guangzhou, China, where its NASDAQ-listed joint venture launch was held in September 2019.

The website also details the company’s ownership of the Zen Oriental Holistic Health and Green Palm Massage chains, which have outlets at major shopping centres across Melbourne including Chadstone, Melbourne Central, Victoria Gardens, Eastland, Northland and Highpoint, many of which demand cash only payment for services.

A document filed with the US stock exchange in 2015 lists Ms Yang among five company directors. “Ms Nancy Yang has been our Secretary and a Director since January 2014,” the document reads. “From 2010 to the present, she has been Chief Marketing Director of the Company.

“From 2008 to 2009, she was a Visa and Evidencing Officer for the Chinese Embassy in Melbourne, Australia. She graduated with double Masters in Commerce and Business/Information Technology from RMIT University, Australia. Ms Yang brings to our Board of Directors several years of management, administration and quality control.”

The Australian has previously revealed Ms Yang’s posting in March of articles on social media suggesting coronavirus was created by the US and taken to China by the US Army, as well as her role as founder and chair for a decade of the CCP United Front-linked Melbourne Chinese Youth United Association, during which she helped to mobilise thousands of Chinese who travelled to Canberra to participate in an at-times violent counter-protest against human rights campaigners at the Olympic Torch relay in 2008.

The other five directors of the company include Chinese-born, Melbourne-based medical doctor Thomas Tang, who is CEO and president, chairman Rocco Scarpari, who is described as owning a small vineyard and orchard near Shepparton in northern Victoria, chief financial officer Allan Qiu who the document says was also CFO of “affiliated Australian company” Arem Marketing Corp, and Shandong University-educated Xin Jin, who as company vice president is described as being responsible for managing the company’s “physiotherapy wellness business”.

“We take pride in building long-term relationships with our clients,” the company’s website boasts. “Our stock is currently held by more than 500 shareholders. Besides its current physiotherapy & health chained outlets in Australia, Arem keeps expanding its business into profitable areas.” Neither Ms Yang nor Arem Pacific Corporation responded to requests for comment.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/daniel-andrews-link-to-communist-massage-staffer/news-story/273ad5e30f5232afa4922fdb0f52f33c

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/11978719 (110640ZDEC20) Notable: China replies over latest wine tariffs after Australia’s Trade Minister Simon Birmingham lashes out, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: China_and_Australia_have_reached_a_diplomatic_low_point_amid_a_stoush_over_tariffs_and_a_recent_cartoon.jpg, A_woman_tasting_red_wine_from_Australia_at_the_Food_and_Agricultural_Products_exhibition_at_the_third_China_International_Import_Expo_CIIE_in_Shanghai_last_month.jpg, GT_5.jpg, GT_6.jpg

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China replies over latest wine tariffs after Australia’s Trade Minister Simon Birmingham lashes out

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China’s state media has described its latest move against Australian wine makers as a “destructive blow” that could see prices triple and shoppers ditch Aussie products in a new article overnight.

It comes after Trade Minister Simon Birmingham lashed out at China over its “false” claims surrounding the Australian wine industry in some of his harshest words against Beijing yet, saying he will continue to “call out” China’s bad behaviour.

In an article in Chinese state mouthpiece The Global Times, an importer of Australian wine claimed he has “he has started to explore wine from other countries, including Chile, and he expects the demand for Australian wine to crater.”

“Chinese customers chose Australian wines mostly because of the prices advantage compared with other countries’ wines, and I expect the volume imported Australia will drop sharply,” Long Guanyu, the general manager of a wine importer based in Xiamen, told the Global Times.

It comes as the world’s eyes focus on China’s tough action on Australia, with the BBC describing some of Birmingham’s comments his “strongest yet” against Xi Jinping.

Mr Birmingham warned this week the world is watching as China bans more Aussie products.

“Australia is not the only country that has seen these types of punitive measures and I expect the rest of the world will be watching quite closely what is happening in Australia,” he said.

Overnight the European Council on Foreign Relations said China’s recent actions against Australia “show how far it is already willing to go on economic coercion”.

Yesterday, China – which is Australia’s number one trading partner – slapped Australian wine makers with even more tariffs than the original 107-212 per cent rise it hit producers with last month.

China’s Commerce Ministry said it would impose temporary anti-subsidy tariffs on imported Australian wines of an added 6.3 per cent to 6.4 per cent, concluding “Australian subsidies have caused substantial damage to China’s domestic wine industry”.

The Global Times piece claims the move is “not linked to the deteriorating bilateral ties” but Australia has been singled out with a series of complicated and bitter trade disputes erupting in recent months.

In August, China launched an “anti-dumping investigation” into Australian wine exports, which accused Australia of flooding China with cheap wine at cost or below cost prices in an effort to skew the market in Australia’s favour.

Australia vehemently rejects the claims, with Mr Birmingham telling the ABC’s Patricia Karvelas that Beijing doesn’t have the evidence to support the claims and that “we appreciate there’s a bigger picture and issue here”.

“The idea that Australian winemakers dump their product in China, as was originally claimed by China, or that they are subsidised by government to some extent to export to China, is just false,” he said.

“The evidence is very clear in the Australian wine industry’s favour, and we will continue to defend the wine industry by using the domestic processes available in China and, ultimately, considering the appeal rights of the independent umpire through the World Trade Organisation.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/11978765 (110651ZDEC20) Notable: University of Queensland’s Australian COVID vaccine terminated due to HIV ‘false positives’, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: CSL_had_a_deal_with_the_University_of_Queensland_to_produce_its_candidate_vaccine.jpg

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Australian COVID vaccine terminated due to HIV ‘false positives’

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A billion-dollar deal for the Morrison government to buy more than 50 million doses of the University of Queensland’s potential coronavirus vaccine has been abruptly terminated after several trial participants returned false positive HIV test results.

UQ, working in partnership with Australian global biotech company CSL, will abandon its current clinical trials following the discovery. It informed the federal government of the initial data on Monday, which was then referred to health authorities for urgent medical advice.

Sources with knowledge of the current trials said pathology tests had in the past weeks confirmed the positives were in fact false and the health of the participants has not been put at risk.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the national security committee of cabinet agreed to terminate the purchasing agreement on Thursday, following expert health advice and fears the revelation would severely damage the Australian public’s confidence in the COVID-19 vaccination program, which is expected to begin early next year.

"We have prepared for this. We have planned for this. And now we're making decisions in accordance with this," he said on Friday morning.

He said the government had "spread the risk" by entering into multiple agreements and had secured 20 million new doses from Oxford University-AstraZeneca and another 11 million from Novavax to cover for the 51 million doses the home-grown product was to supply.

"The net out-take of this is we are more likely to have the entire population vaccinated earlier rather than later by the ability to bring this manufacturing capability forward," Mr Morrison said.

The UQ vaccine candidate used a protein and adjuvant platform, containing the COVID-19 spike protein and a "molecular clamp". A small component is derived from the human immunodeficiency virus, known as HIV, that is not able to infect people or replicate.

A source with knowledge of the clinical results said although the HIV protein fragment posed "absolutely no health risk to people", they had identified that some trial participants who received the vaccine produced a partial antibody response to it.

The partial antibody response had the potential to interfere with some HIV screening tests that look for the antibodies – leading to a false positive test result. It is unclear how long participants would continue to return false positive results.

The source said although all participants had been told there was a remote possibility HIV markers could be found in tests during the trial, medical researchers had not expected it to occur.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/11978972 (110731ZDEC20) Notable: Almost 200 allegations against Victorian teachers reported to education regulator in 2019-20, including claims of physical and sexual misconduct, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Commissioner_for_Children_and_Young_People_Liana_Buchanan.jpg, Reportable_allegations_made_to_the_Commission_for_Children_and_Young_People.jpg

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Almost 200 allegations against teachers reported to education regulator

Almost 200 allegations against Victorian teachers, including claims of physical and sexual misconduct, have been referred to the state education regulator over the course of a year.

The new figures also show allegations of child abuse reported to the Commission for Children and Young People doubled in January to March this year, which the commission attributed to publicity of the St Kevin’s College child-grooming case.

Liana Buchanan, the Commissioner for Children and Young People, said the number of allegations reported to her office showed offences against children did not stop with the child abuse royal commission.

“It tells us if we think institutional child abuse is a thing of the past, we are kidding ourselves,” Ms Buchanan said.

The figures are from the commission’s reportable conduct scheme, which requires organisations such as schools, religious bodies and the out-of-home care sector to notify the commission of allegations against workers and volunteers to enable independent oversight.

The education sector accounted for 23 per cent of reports to the commission for 2019-20, with the greatest increase in reports coming from Catholic schools, which rose by 59 per cent.

Sexual misconduct was the most prevalent allegation from independent and Catholic schools, while most reports from government schools were about physical violence.

The commission referred 191 allegations about registered teachers to the Victorian Institute for Teaching. More than 500 teachers have been referred since the scheme began in 2017.

More than a quarter of notifications from schools were about people who weren't registered teachers, such as school crossing supervisors, sport coaches and music tutors.

The number of reports from the public in January to March this year doubled from 30 to 60 compared with the same period last year.

The commission, while it didn’t name St Kevin’s, attributed the increase to the Four Corners report into the school’s handling of a child-grooming case.

“Certainly at that time we saw a surge in parents, past students and community members contacting us both about sexual misconduct in schools, but also about other forms of abusive behaviour to children in schools,” Ms Buchanan said.

The Toorak school's acting principal has been before the Fair Work Commission this week over the sacking of a veteran maths teacher while the school was in crisis over the Peter Kehoe case.

Mr Kehoe, a former volunteer coach, was convicted of grooming year 9 student Paris Street in 2015.

Ms Buchanan, who would not comment on the St Kevin's case, said though institutions could do better to protect children, many schools are trying to do the right thing.

“We have seen really significant improvements from a number of schools and a number of organisations in how they respond to child abuse,” she said.

Catholic Education Commission Victoria executive director Jim Miles said the care, safety and wellbeing of children and young people were a central and fundamental responsibility that Catholic schools take seriously.

"No circumstance where there is reasonable suspicion of harm to children will be tolerated or should go unreported in a Catholic school," Mr Miles said.

"Mandatory reporting is not only a legal requirement in our schools but forms a vital component of our overall response to providing child-safe environments. It is non-negotiable."

Out of all the allegations reported to the Commission for Children and Young People since the scheme began three years ago, about 30 per cent have been substantiated. Almost 60 per cent were referred to Victoria Police for investigation.

According to the commission's latest annual report, charges were laid or are pending in only seven per cent of allegations referred to police. Almost half had investigations completed with no further action.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/almost-200-allegations-against-teachers-reported-to-education-regulator-20201210-p56mf1.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/11979016 (110740ZDEC20) Notable: Ghislaine Maxwell pledges $30 million bail in an attempt to secure freedom before Christmas, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Ms_Maxwell_is_currently_in_a_detention_centre_in_Brooklyn_in_a_9ft_by_7ft_cell.jpg

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Ghislaine Maxwell pledges $30 million bail in an attempt to secure freedom before Christmas

Lawyers for Ms Maxwell will go to court in the coming days to argue for her release ahead of trial next year

Ghislaine Maxwell and her new husband will pledge $30 million bail in an attempt to secure her freedom before Christmas.

Lawyers for Ms Maxwell will go to court in the coming days to argue for her release ahead of a trial next year.

Friends of Ms Maxwell have accused the US authorities of “demonising” Ms Maxwell to cover up their “incompetence and embarrassment” over the death of her former partner Jeffrey Epstein, who was found hanged in his cell last year while awaiting child sex charges.

Her husband Scott Borgerson, 44, a wealthy tech entrepreneur, is proposing a bail bond of close to $25 million as security which the couple would forfeit should Ms Maxwell then go on the run. Friends say Mr Borgerson is devastated that she remains behind bars.

Ms Maxwell’s siblings, including her brothers Kevin and Ian Maxwell, have agreed to post a further $5 million in bail guarantees. A private security company stands to lose an additional $1 million if Ms Maxwell evades its surveillance. Ms Maxwell wants to be bailed under a form of house arrest, in which she will also wear an electronic tag.

A friend told The Telegraph she is also willing to forfeit any right to prevent her extradition from France, given she has a French passport as well as ones for the UK and US, in a further undertaking designed to demonstrate she does not wish to flee but instead face trial.

Ms Maxwell, 58, the daughter of the disgraced tycoon Robert Maxwell, is languishing in a detention centre in Brooklyn in effective solitary confinement in a 9ft by 7ft cell. She is subject to checks every 15 minutes even during her sleep. Her lawyers argue she is being treated worse than any terrorist or murderer. She has lost 15lbs in weight and her hair is falling out, according to her lawyers.

Ms Maxwell, a one-time socialite, was arrested in July after a dawn raid by the FBI and police at her home in New Hampshire and charged with enticement of minors, sex trafficking and perjury over her association with Epstein. She was denied bail by a judge who deemed her a flight risk and concerns that France does not extradite its citizens.

But Brian Basham, a close family friend who is orchestrating the Get Ghislaine Out campaign, said: “The State has reverse engineered the whole case, to mask its failure. There was no indication that Ghislaine was in the frame at all whilst Epstein was alive.

“She had plenty of opportunity to flee but she stayed put. Her lawyers knew where she was but she hid from the tabloid press who were hunting her – one even offered £10,000 for news of her whereabouts. She was never charged with anything.”

Mr Basham insists the attitude of the US authorities towards her changed after Epstein’s suicide. He said: “Through appalling mismanagement Epstein died in custody. The United States Attorney General William Barr has said he was 'livid' about that and vowed Ghislaine will not be allowed to die in jail. That’s why overzealous prison staff are waking her every 15 minutes throughout the night and shining a flashlight in her face.”

He added: “Having lost the opportunity to boast brilliance in an all-singing-and-dancing trial, the State is covering its incompetence and embarrassment by demonising Ghislaine, first in a show trial press conference and now by incarcerating her quite literally in worse conditions than even the most dangerous terrorist.

"The State is engaged in a near criminal conspiracy to mask its incompetence by keeping Ghislaine illegally imprisoned and by parading her as a proxy for Epstein, with whom she has had no relationship for years.”

He insisted Ms Maxwell had done nothing wrong and that the allegations against her are historic and not corroborated. “Maxwell is not Epstein and, definitively, she is innocent,” he said.

The size of the bail bond dwarfs that of other alleged high-profile sex offenders who were freed pending trial. Harvey Weinstein, who was subsequently convicted of sex crimes, was allowed to remain at large on $1 million bail and after surrendering his passport. Bill Cosby was also set free after posting $1 million bail. He was also subsequently convicted and sentenced to three to 10 years in prison.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/12/10/ghislaine-maxwell-pledges-30-million-bail-attempt-secure-freedom/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/11979222 (110823ZDEC20) Notable: The power of information in the contemporary battlespace - Australian Defence Force's Head of Information Warfare Division, Major General Marcus Thompson, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: MAJGEN_Marcus_Thompson_Information_Warfare.jpg

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On Point: The power of information in the contemporary battlespace

Information is often described as the ‘oil of the 21st century’ and is a key enabler for civilians, businesses, government and militaries. Staying ahead of the curve and guaranteeing information supremacy is critical to the success of the ADF.

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Across the ADF, transformation, evolution and digitisation are at the centre of the development and modernisation of the Army, Navy and Air Force.

At the core of this process, beyond the next-generation mega platforms like the Army’s new fleet of Boxer combat reconnaissance vehicles, man-portable unmanned aerial systems and integrated air defence capabilities, Navy’s Hobart Class air warfare destroyers and future frigates, and Air Force’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, is one key component: information.

Meanwhile, net operating concepts like ‘Accelerated Warfare’, Plan Pelorus 2022 and Air Force Strategy 2020, Plan Jericho and the development of a ‘Fifth-Generation Air Force’ all depend on the ADF and an allied capacity to gather, analyse and disseminate information from a range of inputs to inform decision-makers.

The scope of information sources, from traditional human intelligence (HUMINT), electronic and signals intelligence (ELINT and SIGINT, respectively), and increasingly the interconnected, digitised world of cyber space are all critical components of the next-generation ADF.

In this issue of On Point, Defence Connect speaks to the Australian Defence Force's Head of Information Warfare Division, Major General Marcus Thompson, AM, to discuss the power of information in this new era of conflict.

Defence Connect: For those who don’t know the history of the Information Warfare Division, could you give us a little background about the IWD and how it fits within the ADF?

MAJGEN Thompson: The Information Warfare Division was created in July 2017.

It came about as a result of a key recommendation from the first principles review that your [readers] might recall from 2015. And the observation was that defence hadn't paid appropriate attention to some of these capabilities that don't necessarily neatly fit within the Navy, the Army or the Air Force.

A lot of people would know them as glue capabilities, these are the essential combat functions that tie joint combat functions together.

Building on that, the observations related to emerging capabilities, such as cyber and electronic warfare and the proliferation of IP-based technology, the command and control systems, and of course how that all fits into intelligence, information operations, and other capabilities.

Our work is not operational, so to speak. The actual operations piece tends to be the responsibility of the Chief of Joint Operations, and of course the Australian Signals Directorate, including the Australian Cyber Security Centre.

Our role within Information Warfare Division is to develop and manage the capabilities that those people use on a day-to-day basis, on an as-required basis.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/11979293 (110839ZDEC20) Notable: New laws will give Australian intelligence officers power to probe suspected spies in a bid to tackle foreign interference, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Australian_intelligence_officers_now_have_the_power_to_compulsorily_question_suspected_foreign_spies.jpg

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>>180845

>>180859

New powers to put foreign spies under microscope

New laws will give Australian intelligence officers power to probe suspected spies in a bid to tackle foreign interference.

Australian intelligence officers now have the power to compulsorily question suspected foreign spies after new laws passed on Thursday.

The Director-General Security of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Mike Burgess welcomed the new powers and said there had been multiple occasions this year when it would have helped investigations into espionage and foreign interference.

ASIO already had the power to compulsory question terror suspects.

“Attempts at foreign interference and espionage are at extreme levels – foreign spies and their proxies from a range of countries are trying to steal our secrets, undermine our sovereignty and intimidate diaspora communities.” Mr Burgess said.

“The Bill contains strong safeguards, imposes rigorous oversight, and will meaningfully assist us to protect Australia and Australians from threats to their security.

“I anticipate circumstances will require us to use some of the new powers within months.”

In November Melbourne man Di Sanh Duong was charged with foreign interference offences.

Mr Duong was charged with planning an act of foreign interference following a 12-month investigation by ASIO and the Australian Federal Police.

Police suspect he was involved with a foreign intelligence agency.

“ASIO already has the power to compulsorily question suspected terrorists; allowing us to compulsorily question suspected spies will close a critical intelligence gap,” Mr Burgess said. “There have been multiple occasions already this year when compulsory questioning would have assisted ASIO investigations into alleged espionage or foreign interference.”

On December 2 last year a new taskforce was created to hunt foreign spies.

The Federal Government announced $87.8 million would be ploughed into the Counter Foreign Interference Taskforce.

The taskforce is led by a senior ASIO officer and includes AFP investigators and representatives from AUSTRAC, the Australian Signals Directorate and the Australian Geospatial Intelligence Organisation.

“I acknowledge ASIO is granted extraordinary powers – but they are rightly subject to strict safeguards and oversight,” Mr Burgess said.

“Australians should be confident that ASIO acts in a targeted, proportionate, ethical way, and wherever possible, uses the least intrusive method available to collect security intelligence.”

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/new-powers-to-put-foreign-spies-under-microscope/news-story/431dcb35348297638870f473806c3dab

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/11979446 (110913ZDEC20) Notable: Marise Payne warns China over fishing in Torres Strait - China’s Fujian Zhonghong Fishery Company's $200m operation in Papua New Guinea, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: A_Chinese_fishing_vessel_is_apprehended_in_Indonesian_waters_in_2016.jpg, Foreign_Minister_Marise_Payne.jpg

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Marise Payne warns China over fishing in Torres Strait

Marise Payne has warned Australia won’t tolerate Chinese vessels plundering Torres Strait fisheries under a $200m fisheries operation in Papua New Guinea’s Western Province.

China’s Fujian Zhonghong Fishery Company signed a memorandum of understanding in November with the PNG government and the Western Province administration to build a “multifunctional fishery industrial park” on the island of Daru.

The prospect has alarmed Australian border and national security officials, given the track record of Chinese vessels in illegal fishing and maritime militia operations.

The Foreign Minister told the Senate on Thursday the Australian government had been in contact with PNG to ensure Australian interests “are fully safeguarded” under its deal with the Chinese company.

She said Australian Border Force vessels would strictly police the Torres Strait’s traditional-only fishing rules.

“We expect all fishers in the Torres Strait region to follow respective Australian and Papua New Guinea laws, and international obligations,” Senator Payne said.

“Commercial scale fisheries would not be considered a traditional activity under the Torres Strait Treaty and would not be permitted.

“Only residents of the protected zone are able to undertake such activities, which is intended to protect the air, the sea, the land of the Torres Strait, including the native plant and animal life, including the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild flora and fauna such as dugong and turtles.”

Independent Senator Rex Patrick, who raised the matter in the Senate, said the establishment of a permanent Chinese fishing operation in Daru, on the edge of the Torres Strait, “would be contrary to Australia’s national interests, including our security”.

“Such a facility in Daru would provide a new foothold for Chinese government influence in resource-rich PNG and would raise significant security issues for Australia.

“Chinese fishing fleets also have a well-known tendency towards over exploitation of marine resources, so there is also a potential threat to the delicate marine ecosystems of the Torres Strait.”

He urged Senator Payne to work with PNG to develop an alternative proposal that would not jeopardise Australian interests.

Chinese Ambassador to PNG Xue Bing said the new fisheries-focused industrial park was “a vast opportunity for Papua New Guinea”.

But Jeffrey Wall, a former adviser to PNG’s government, said the waters around Daru were “not known for an abundance of fisheries”, raising questions about China’s motives.

“The fact that the plant will lie just a few kilometres from Australian island communities is a likely reason,” he said in an article for the Australian Strategic Policy Institute site, The Strategist.

“It’s hardly comfortable, and certainly not in Australia’s strategic interest, to have a major Chinese government resource exploration project right on our northern doorstep.”

The project falls under Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative.

“If Australia is to stop the project from proceeding any further, it will need to move fast,” Mr Wall said.

“Whatever Australia opts to do, its response will have to be substantial, people focused and readily achievable.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/marise-payne-warns-china-over-fishing-in-torres-strait/news-story/51015ec26c81d0b331f1eca7047811b5

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/11979509 (110930ZDEC20) Notable: Communist China, a repressive regime with diametrically opposed strategic objectives, now dominates our research horizons - Peter Jennings, ASPI - theaustralian.com.au, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Drew_Pavlou_and_fellow_University_of_Queensland_students_protest_against_the_university_s_Confucius_Institute_earlier_this_year.jpg, A_screen_shows_Chinese_President_Xi_Jinping_delivering_a_speech_via_video_for_the_opening_ceremony_of_the_3rd_China_International_Import_Expo_CIIE_.jpg

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>>181202

>>181203

On China, we've sold ourselves out

Communist China, a repressive regime with diametrically opposed strategic objectives, now dominates our research horizons.

PETER JENNINGS - December 10, 2020

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Here’s a priority list for Marise Payne’s foreign arrangements taskforce to apply the government’s new veto power: Victoria’s Belt and Road Initiative memorandum of understanding with China; a dozen Confucius Institutes at Australian universities (NSW removed one from its Department of Education last year); and, at last count in 2018, 1741 agreements between Australian and Chinese universities.

According to peak body Universities Australia, there were 488 Australia-China university agreements in 2007. Close to a fourfold increase in little more than a decade should have sounded warning bells. By comparison in 2018 there were 996 agreements with US universities, 568 with Japan, 558 with Germany and 502 with the Britain. We have co-operated with these countries for decades, have comparable university systems and research cultures that are proudly independent of government, similar values and shared strategic outlooks.

Yet in a mere 10 years, co-operation with communist China, an authoritarian and repressive regime that does not share our values and has diametrically opposed strategic objectives, has come to dominate our universities’ international research horizons.

Under a policy known as military-civil fusion, Xi Jinping has subordinated much of the science and technology research effort of Chinese universities to the priorities of the People’s Liberation Army and China’s wider security and intelligence sector.

Research led by Alex Joske at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute shows that thousands of PLA researchers have studied at Western universities and disproportionally at Australian institutions compared with our Five Eyes intelligence partners.

Can anyone be surprised that the Morrison government saw a pressing need to review the international engagements pursued by our universities? Apparently so. UA chief executive Catriona Jackson says “(We) remain concerned that the laws will deter international partnerships, which are the lifeblood of research, knowledge and job creation.”

One test DFAT may like to apply in assessing these agreements is whether they advantage the Chinese military and intelligence apparatus more than our own. There are likely to be rich research funding opportunities for the first Australian universities that break away from the China income stream to focus on science and technology supporting Australian and allied security.

No doubt there are areas of research taking place between Australia and China that are benign, but across time Australians will probably be shocked to learn how tightly we have linked research activities in areas that have obvious military application.

That is because Beijing, through its Made in China 2025 plan, has a laser-like focus on buying or stealing the best science and technology knowledge from democracies to give it an unassailable lead in critical areas.

Was it ever intelligent to link our university sector so closely to that of the People’s Republic of China? In a world where China wants to supplant the US as the dominant military power in the Indo-Pacific and Beijing angrily will reject any Australian expres­sion of sovereign independence, how can it be good for our universities to be connected like this?

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/11979604 (110953ZDEC20) Notable: Xi Jinping knows who has the real power in trade dispute; it’s not him - Robert Gottliebsen - theaustralian.com.au, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: China_s_President_Xi_Jinping_doesn_t_have_the_upper_hand_in_the_trade_dispute_with_Australia.jpg

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Xi Jinping knows who has the real power in trade dispute; it’s not him

ROBERT GOTTLIEBSEN - DECEMBER 10, 2020

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Chinese officials invited into the office of President Xi Jinping in the Zhongnanhai (the Chinese equivalent of the White House) know not to mention that dreaded word, “Australia” and Xi’s plan to bring our nation to its knees so we would seek forgiveness for our sins.

In simple terms Xi’s “Australia plan” is not going well and China is being hit harder than Australia

It’s true that Australia’s largest wine maker, Treasury Estates, is being hit hard by the China tariff along with many other wine makers. A number of reports had Treasury marketing some its wine into the Taiwan market under the label “freedom wine”. Somewhat sadly I report that Treasury says very firmly that it is not doing that and will investigate whether wine brand counterfeiters in Taiwan are the culprits. I fully accept their statement.

In Beijing many of Xi’s friends enjoy a Penfolds and the wine from Chile is not quite the same. And ordinary Australians are enjoying cheaper wines.

China’s coal bans have hit Australian coal exporters but the Chinese steelmakers have also been impacted because the price of inferior non-Australian coal has jumped. Some of Xi’s rural bans are going well but, sadly for China, Australia’s gigantic wheat exporters have been smart and China is a relatively small part of their markets.

And then comes what for Xi is the saddest situation of all — iron ore. When Xi was planning his Australian attack as punishment for a series of criticisms of China from Australian ministers and public servants, the iron ore price was around $US80 a tonne. Now it is soaring above $US140 a tonne.

The China dispute is pumping almost $A600 million a month in extra revenue into the Australian coffers and it’s going a long way to funding the massive JobKeeper program and swamping any impacts China’s trade blows have created.

The reasons for the iron ore price rises are straightforward. To get China through the COVID-19 pandemic Xi stepped up public works on top of a large set of investments as part of the Belt and Road initiative.

That substantially increased the demand for steel and at the same time Brazil did not produce the amount of iron ore that that Xi had expected. To date overall, Australian has been conciliatory, looking to find a way to normalise relations, although the doctored imagine of Australian soldiers enraged the Australian Prime Minister, who is clearly not buckling to China’s pressure.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/11979707 (111020ZDEC20) Notable: Scott Morrison defiant as UN bans Australia from virtual Climate Action Summit, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Scott_Morrison_insists_he_s_not_bothered_by_the_snub.jpg, The_Morrison_government_was_reportedly_angered_by_the_UK_s_decision_to_opt_against_inviting_Australia.jpg, The_government_had_planned_to_walk_back_its_use_of_Kyoto_carry_over_credits_at_the_summit.jpg

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Scott Morrison defiant as UN bans Australia from climate conference

Scott Morrison claims he’s not bothered by the UN snubbing his bid to attend a global summit just days after he said he would be there to ‘correct the record’.

Scott Morrison is sure an international climate summit that banned Australia will be “very nice” but insists he is not bothered by the snub.

The Prime Minister will not be among 70 world leaders invited to speak at the UN’s virtual Climate Action Summit this weekend after Australia’s climate ambitions were deemed unacceptably weak to be offered a place.

Countries were invited to make a proposal before the summit, outlining concrete steps to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Mr Morrison had planned to announce Australia would ditch its controversial use of Kyoto carry-over credits to meet its Paris Agreement commitments. But the pledge was not considered significant enough to warrant an invitation.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will co-host the online forum, and the snub has reportedly angered the Morrison government. But Mr Morrison said Canberra and London had agreed on the need for a consensus on energy technology.

He told reporters on Friday his government would “continue to just get on with the job” despite the rejection.

“I wish them well for the summit. I’m sure it’ll be very nice,” he said.

“What matters here is what you get done, not what you talk about. Australia’s getting it done, and I’m very proud of what Australians are achieving.

“I’m very thankful for the support that we’ve had both from households around the country as well as industry and farmers.”

The government had argued it was entitled to use “carry-over credits” from the Kyoto agreement but has since signalled it would reverse course on the policy. The credits are from overachievements under the Kyoto Protocol between 2008 and 2012.

Christiana Figueres, who ran negotiations for the historic Paris Agreement in 2015 at the UN, described their use as “cheating” last week.

“It is just a total lack of integrity and not something that does Australia proud,” she said.

But Mr Morrison said the credits had been “earned” and reiterated the government was “well on track” to meet its 2030 targets.

Labor climate spokesman Mark Butler said the snub showed the Morrison government had become increasingly isolated on the world stage.

The incoming Biden administration has committed a net zero emissions target by 2050, and the opposition has urged the government to join the President-elect’s commitment.

Mr Morrison has so far resisted the demand.

He told parliament last week he would attend the summit to “correct mistruths” about his government’s climate change policies.

But he revealed on Thursday that Australia had not been invited, saying he was not fixated on international approval.

“The only approval I seek apologies from for my side of government is for the Australian public. That’s it,” he said.

“The only people I answer to in this place is the Australian people. Our government stands to serve the Australian people.”

https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/climate-change/scott-morrison-defiant-as-un-bans-australia-from-climate-conference/news-story/ec7e824ccdac5c08678069b2fe9b6595

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/11989583 (120225ZDEC20) Notable: Prince Andrew and Virginia Roberts: the explosive dossier - Daily Mail investigates Virginia Roberts' claims she slept with Prince Andrew three times, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Prince_Andrew_left_Virginia_Roberts_aged_17_centre_and_Ghislaine_Maxwell_right_at_Ghislaine_Maxwell_s_townhouse_in_London_March_13_2001.jpg, Princess_Beatrice_has_absolutely_no_recollection_of_the_Pizza_Express_birthday_party_her_father_has_claimed_to_have_attended_at_Pizza_Express_Woking_pictured_.jpg, MYSTERY_OF_HIS_ROYAL_MAN_ICURE.jpg

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Prince Andrew and Virginia Roberts: the explosive dossier: The Mail has spent months investigating Virginia Roberts' claims she slept with Prince Andrew three times. The results are troubling and deeply revealing...

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A blustery, wet Saturday morning and St Swithun's, a girls' public school in Winchester, is about to host a lacrosse fixture against St George's School, Ascot.

It is always a keenly fought affair. But there is a heightened anticipation in the home changing rooms on that morning of March 10, 2001. Among the Swithunites' opponents in a junior match will be a genuine VVIP: she is Her Royal Highness Princess Beatrice, elder daughter of the Duke of York. The Queen's granddaughter, no less.

The result of this clash has been lost in the mists of time. It is no longer of any consequence. But the same cannot be said of other events involving the York household as that Saturday unfolded.

For this was the 'day of days' as far as the Duke's involvement in the Jeffrey Epstein paedophile scandal is concerned. In London early that evening Andrew is said to have been introduced to a 17-year-old American called Virginia Roberts.

Miss Roberts was less than five years older than Beatrice. But unlike the Princess, her childhood had not been one of great privilege; rather she suffered sex abuse, homelessness and drug problems before being recruited by the Wall Street billionaire as his personal 'masseuse' and ultimately became one of his groomed 'sex-slaves'.

That evening, she says, she and Andrew danced together at Tramp nightclub. She claims they then returned to the Belgravia home of Andrew's old friend and Epstein's then-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, where HRH put his arm around the teenager's bare midriff to pose for that photograph.

'Foreplay' in the bathroom led to royal 'ecstasy' in an adjoining bedroom.

In short, the ruin that is the Duke's reputation, his banishment from public life and the U.S. Department of Justice's ongoing desire to question him about his part in the Epstein affair, can be traced back to Saturday, March 10, 2001.

The Duke emphatically denies having had sexual relations with Miss Roberts or any minor. He has said he cannot recall ever having met her, not least in an infamous interview last year with Newsnight's Emily Maitlis.

There is no doubt whatsoever that Miss Roberts was a victim of Epstein. She distressingly recounts how she was groomed and pressured by him into having sex with numerous men, all of them strangers. One can only imagine what a devastating effect this would have had on a 17-year-old girl.

BUT WAS SHE ALSO A VICTIM OF THE DUKE?

Over a number of months the Mail has conducted a forensic investigation of her allegations against Andrew.

We have secured the testimonies of previously unheard eyewitnesses, found new top-level sources and confidential documents, and analysed thousands of legal exhibits from Epstein cases that have been released into the public domain.

The Mail has examined the as-yet unexplained variations and discrepancies within Miss Roberts' various accounts.

Commenting on any inaccuracies, she has said: 'You are left with a foggy memory sometimes, you really are,' and: 'I might be wrong on dates absolutely and I might be wrong on places even, sometimes.'

Given the awful trauma that she suffered at Epstein's hands, this is entirely understandable. And what she alleges took place almost 20 years ago. Memories fade.

Nonetheless she has accused the Duke of having had three sexual encounters with her in 2001. Public opinion is against him and his protestations of innocence. At the heart of this hostility are the alleged events of March 10, 2001, and the infamous photograph which appears to corroborate her claims of intimacy between them.

Now, for the first time, the story of that day can be told up to the point where their two narratives collide.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/11989681 (120230ZDEC20) Notable: Inside the house where Virginia Roberts and Prince Andrew had 'sex in the bath' - so is the tub REALLY too small for two people to fit like Ghislaine Maxwell claims?, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Compact_The_layout_of_Ghislaine_Maxwell_s_London_mews_house_showing_the_cramped_bathroom_and_Andrew_in_the_house_with_Virginia_Roberts_and_Maxwell.jpg

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Inside the house where Virginia Roberts and Prince Andrew had 'sex in the bath' - so is the tub REALLY too small for two people to fit like Ghislaine Maxwell claims?

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Four doors opened onto the first-floor landing of Ghislaine Maxwell's London pied-a-terre. Viewed from the top of the stairs to the ground floor, the door on the right led into a master bedroom.

That is where Epstein and Maxwell slept together that Saturday night, a source claims. The door on the left (against which the Duke and Miss Roberts are seen in the photograph) led to the study-cum-second bedroom. That was Miss Roberts's room.

Directly opposite the top of the stairs were two further doors; an airing cupboard and the entrance to the bathroom. The latter was 'where I led (the Duke)', Miss Roberts recalled in the manuscript of her memoir. 'It was a beige marble tiled floor with porcelain Victorian-style bathtub in the middle of the room and nowhere near the size of Jeffrey's residences.'

She wrote: 'I turned on the taps for the tub and the heat from the water began to steam up the small room . . . Trying to do the best of my youthfulness to try and act seductive, I gradually began to strip off my clothing, piece by piece . . . He loved every second of it as I went over to where he was waiting and watching, then began to undress him . . . We kissed and touched each other before submersing into the hot water, where we both continued to re-enact foreplay. He was adorning (sic) my young body, particularly my feet . . . It wasn't hard to get him wound up to the point where he just wanted to have the rest of me.'

The explosive conclusion to this encounter took place in her 'bedchamber', she said. But it is the bathroom and, in particular, the bath and its dimensions, that has been the focus of legal interest.

Under oath during Miss Roberts' defamation action against her, Maxwell said: 'The tub is too small for any type of activity whatsoever.'

In his book Relentless Pursuit, Miss Roberts' lawyer Brad Edwards wrote that the bath was discussed when he met Epstein in a Starbucks in Boca Raton, Florida, in 2015. The tycoon had contacted him out of the blue.

He claimed that Epstein had said to him: 'If I could show you how small Ghislaine's tub was in that apartment, it would be tough for two people to fit in there.'

Edwards said he dismissed the comment, suggesting it was a weak legal point to force. But other lawyers have tried. Are trying.

The Mail understands that Miss Roberts' legal team has not had access to the disputed bathroom. But two members of Maxwell's legal team — she still owns the property — have climbed into the bath together, fully clothed, to test the physical possibility of an assignation such as that described in Miss Roberts' account.

They claimed not to be persuaded, a source said.

BATH CRAMMED INTO AN ALCOVE

So the Mail conducted our own inquiries. We have found a floorplan of the bathroom, taken from a 1987 planning application. We have also had access to much more recent images of the room.

There are two observations. One is that the bathroom is indeed 'small', as both sides agree; cramped, if one wished to perform anything other than solo ablutions.

The second? There is not a free-standing Victorian bath tub in the middle of the room, as described by Miss Roberts, in either iteration of the bathroom designs.

The historic plan shows a 'standard size' — 5ft 6in by 2ft 4in — alcove bath, boxed in on two sides by walls and on a third by the back of the airing cupboard.

The remaining 36 sq ft is largely taken up by a bidet, a lavatory and large sink. It is very bijou.

The recent images show almost the same layout. A sink still faces the door, a shower stall has replaced the bidet on the left, next to a lavatory. An alcove bath is on the right.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/11989732 (120234ZDEC20) Notable: Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweet: Check his “fake” hands- do they look like they’ve just been manicured??, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: VRG_75.jpg, VRG_76.jpg

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>>181226

>>181227

Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweets

The layout of the bathroom in the floor plans is wrong unless Ghislaine had it remodelled. The bath tub was a deep long tub in the middle of the bathroom adjacent from the shower. I remember everything of that night- can Prince Andrew say the same? #pizzagate #ChildTrafficking

https://twitter.com/VRSVirginia/status/1337551429016322049

—

Check his “fake” hands- do they look like they’ve just been manicured??

https://twitter.com/VRSVirginia/status/1337552284692058112

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12000402 (122305ZDEC20) Notable: Video: New ‘high-level push’ to free Julian Assange - Sky News Australia

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New ‘high-level push’ to free Julian Assange

Sky News Australia

12 Dec 2020

As WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange remains imprisoned - awaiting a decision on his extradition case related to the publication of confidential documents - there is a new “high-level push” to have him released, says Sky News host Brent O’Halloran.

This week marks 10 years since the WikiLeaks founder was first detained in the UK; he is currently held in London’s Belmarsh prison and is fighting against extradition to the US to face charges.

If convicted, the charges, which include the new allegations of conspiring to hack government computers and espionage, could lead to a maximum sentence of 175 years behind bars.

Interpretations of Mr Assange’s actions vary greatly as a result of the sensitivity of the confidential documents at hand; exposing wrongdoing earned him and his company many awards, but also put him under scrutiny from US officials.

Mr O’Halloran said he can now exclusively reveal a new “high-level push to bring him home – with the help of US President Donald Trump”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2zHaH2YrrA

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12000417 (122306ZDEC20) Notable: Video: Nationals MP George Christensen heads campaign to have Julian Assange pardoned by Donald Trump - Sky News Australia

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>>181234

Nationals MP George Christensen heads campaign to have Julian Assange pardoned by Donald Trump

Sky News Australia

12 Dec 2020

Nationals MP George Christensen has exclusively told Sky News about his campaign to have US President Donald Trump pardon WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange before he leaves the White House.

Mr Assange is currently held in London’s Belmarsh prison, awaiting a decision on his extradition case related to the publication of confidential documents.

Many believe his exposure of wrongdoing is not something he should face charges for.

Mr Christensen has created a website which features a letter directed to President Trump and an e-petition which will be sent to the White House.

“Julian Assange has been a target of the Democrats actually,” Mr Christensen told Sky News host Brent O’Halloran.

“Hillary Clinton hates his guts, obviously for exposing who the real Hillary was.”

Mr Christensen said President Trump pardoning the WikiLeaks founder is “one way which he can stand up for free speech”.

“I’m hoping that he will pardon Julian Assange, it’s the right thing to do and I’m encouraging people to do that with this website.”

https://www.georgechristensen.com.au/pardon-julian-assange

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3SS5XjPN5w

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12000437 (122309ZDEC20) Notable: Video: Australian government must ‘pick up the phone’ on Assange case - Sky News Australia

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Australian government must ‘pick up the phone’ on Assange case

Sky News Australia

12 Dec 2020

Julian Assange’s partner, Stella Morris, has told Sky News the Australian government needs to “pick up the phone and speak to its closest allies” to express appropriate concern about the case and secure the release of the WikiLeaks founder.

Mr Assange is currently held in London’s Belmarsh prison, awaiting a decision on his extradition case related to the publication of confidential documents.

Ms Morris told Sky News host Brent O’Halloran her partner is “very unwell”.

“He’s in atrocious circumstances; the prison is a dangerous place, suicides and murders are commonplace.”

Discussing the involvement of Australian officials in the situation, Ms Morris said none of them have come to Mr Assange with any advice.

“I know that Marise Payne supposedly raised the case with Mike Pompeo … but no one came to us to ask what’s the latest in the case, we haven’t been contacted after that meeting,” she said.

“The Australian government should just pick up the phone and speak to its closest allies and show its concern and secure his safe release.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2F-BwcSC5Ks

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12000485 (122313ZDEC20) Notable: Video: Chinese media use Julian Assange saga as a 'propaganda tool' against Australia - Sky News Australia

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>>181236

Chinese media use Julian Assange saga as a 'propaganda tool' against Australia

Sky News Australia

12 Dec 2020

The partner of Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange has backed a new push to have President Donald Trump pardon the Wikileaks founder and argued the high-profile legal case is being used against Australia by China.

In an exclusive interview with Sky News host Brent O’Halloran, Stella Morris said she has reached out to key figures in the United States regarding a possible release 10 years after Mr Assange was first detained.

Ms Morris said, “the Australian government should just pick up the phone and speak to its closest allies and show its concern and secure his safe release”.

She also suggested Chinese state television networks were using the Julian Assange saga as a “propaganda tool” to undermine trust in Australia’s commitment to freedom.

Mr Assange is currently held in London’s Belmarsh prison, awaiting a decision on his extradition case related to the publication of confidential document which included information regarding war crimes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTXoAaufgG0

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12001900 (130059ZDEC20) Notable: Five Eyes partners mull joint sanctions as allies hit back at China trade coercion, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: China_action_affecting_Australian_exports.jpg

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Five Eyes partners mull joint sanctions as allies hit back at China trade coercion

The Five Eyes allies are quietly discussing a plan to retaliate against China’s aggressive new trade tariffs that have hit Australia hard.

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Exclusive: The Five Eyes allies are quietly discussing a plan to fight back against China’s aggressive new trade tariffs by introducing joint retaliatory sanctions on Chinese goods and produce.

News Corp understands officials from some of the Five Eyes nations have been discussing how best to respond to China’s attempts to pressure Australia by harming some of our export markets, notably beef, wine and coal.

One option is that all five nations – Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand – respond with their own sanctions on Chinese goods and services.

A second option would be for Australia to respond with retaliatory tariffs on inbound products from China, and the four allied nations support the move by refusing to buy extra product from China if Beijing looked to make up its losses elsewhere.

Talks are at a preliminary stage, but the idea is gaining traction in Canberra, and is being seriously considered in Washington.

News Corp has been told the problem had been discussed at high levels within the Morrison Government, but that talks so far remained at the level of officials.

The discussions come as the Five Eyes alliance, formed decades ago as an intelligence-sharing agreement, continues to expand into diplomatic and economic policymaking, largely in response to concerns about Chinese aggression.

“Five Eyes co-operation is off the charts at the moment,’’ a source said, pointing out even the Social Services Minister Anne Ruston had a recent Five Eyes link-up with her fellow ministers.

Under options being discussed to respond to China’s trade hostilities, the Five Eyes security agencies would jointly conduct an intelligence assessment of each new sanction announced by Beijing on Australian exports.

If the agencies deemed the sanctions to be a coercive economic move designed to pressure Australia for political purposes, a retaliatory sanction would be imposed, to the same or a higher value than the one imposed on Australia.

The other Five Eyes nations would then ensure China could not turn to them to make up any shortfall in sales.

Alternatively, each Five Eyes nation could respond with sanctions of their own.

Fergus Hanson, the director of the International Cyber Policy Institute at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, authored a report in September which recommended the Five Eyes consider a “collective economic security measure’’ along the lines of NATO’s article 5, which states that an armed attack against any one NATO country would be treated as an attack against them all.

“The Chinese Communist Party is trying to cause political pain in Australia to attempt to get the Australian government to change some of their decisions,’’ he told News Corp.

He said retaliatory sanctions would “look to do the same thing in China to make sure the CCP realise it’s a two-way street.’’

The aim was to “push the CCP into normal ways of doing business’’ and resolve trade disputes through recognised channels such as the World Trade Organisation or formal negotiations.

“I think it’s pretty clear our current approach is not a solution to this problem. What we are doing now is a failing strategy,’’ he said, of Australia’s current decision not to take China to the WTO or publicly accuse Beijing of economic coercion.

“It is absolutely critical we turn the tide on this.’’

“You’d only have to do it once to demonstrate coercive diplomacy was now too costly.’’

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12015508 (140244ZDEC20) Notable: Chinese Communist Party membership leak - Party insiders in the ranks: Communists infiltrate Western consulates - Sharri Markson - theaustralian.com.au, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: The_leak_of_the_Communist_Party_membership_database_shows_how_the_system_under_President_Xi_Jinping_operates_by_setting_up_branches_inside_companies_and_government_agencies.jpg

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Party insiders in the ranks: communists infiltrate Western consulates

SHARRI MARKSON - DECEMBER 14, 2020

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The Chinese Communist Party has infiltrated the Australian, British and US consulates in Shanghai, with a government-run recruitment agency placing advisers into Western embassies for more than a decade.

A leak of official membership records — the first in the world — has exposed details of 1.95 million CCP members, including their position, birthdate and ethnicity, after being extracted from a Shanghai server by whistleblowers.

An investigation by The Australian has found that at least 10 consulates in Shanghai have CCP members employed as senior political and government affairs specialists, clerks, economic advisers and executive assistants.

Foreign affairs experts warn the employment of CCP members in the consulates, some for up to 16 years, could be part of a “state-sponsored spy ring”, while intelligence officers labelled it a breach of protocol and a risk to national security.

The database has also revealed CCP members working in global companies such as Boeing — which has billions of dollars in ­defence contracts — inside Pfizer and AstraZeneca, pharmaceutical companies which are developing coronavirus vaccines, and at Western universities.

Even ANZ has at least one CCP branch — with 23 members — in its Chinese operations. An ANZ spokesman said the bank did not interfere with its employees’ ­involvement in political groups. While there is no evidence that anyone on the party membership list has spied for the Chinese government — and many become members to boost their career prospects — the new revelations have raised concerns about what safeguards are in place at consulates and major corporations. But CCP members, of which there are 92 million, must pledge an oath that puts the party’s interests above all and “be ready at all times to sacrifice my all for the party”.

Thirty British MPs, including former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith, will soon table an urgent question about the issue in the House of Commons.

The database shows CCP members have been or are currently employed in Australian, US, British, German, Swiss, Indian, New Zealand, Italian and South African missions in Shanghai.

An investigation by The Australian has uncovered how the ­Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade directly hires local staff through a Chinese government agency, the Shanghai Foreign Agency Service Department.

According to the database, the SFASD has at least 12 active CCP branches with 249 members.

DFAT has been hiring staff through the SFASD for at least five years, with the most recent advertisement for an Australian consulate-general public diplomacy, research and visits officer placed on the agency’s website in September, offering an annual base salary of 160,840 yuan ($32,526).

Australian job advertisements indicate that hires of local Chinese nationals all need to go through the SFASD.

A 2016 job placement advert for a consulate “research, visits and public diplomacy manager”, which “reports to the deputy consul general” stated: “The successful applicant will need to meet the requirements of, and be employed through the Shanghai Foreign Agency Service Department.”

SFASD’S website currently lists job vacancies for the Australian, US, Czech, Ethiopian, Brazilian, Chilean and Hong Kong consulates in Shanghai from July 2020.

A senior executive assistant who worked for the Australian consulate in Shanghai, and has been involved in organising parliamentary delegations, is listed on the database as a CCP member. The Australian has chosen not to publish the assistant’s name but sent DFAT questions about the security clearance undertaken.

A spokesman said: “DFAT is used to operating within different overseas contexts … Our recruitment, security and risk-management processes are robust.”

“There is a clear distinction in the roles, responsibilities and work of Australians who are posted and locally engaged staff at our embassies and high commissions.

“We value the contributions of our locally engaged staff members. We do not comment on the ­details of individual security clearances.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12015557 (140248ZDEC20) Notable: Names, positions of Chinese Community Party operatives revealed in major security leak - Sharri Markson - theaustralian.com.au, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: An_investigation_has_revealed_that_global_companies_with_sensitive_defence_contracts_in_Australia_have_hundreds_of_Chinese_Communist_Party_members_in_their_employ_who_are_in_the_pocket_Mr_Jinping_pictured_.jpg

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Names, positions of Chinese Community Party operatives revealed in major security leak

By SHARRI MARKSON - DECEMBER 14, 2020

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Global companies that hold billions of dollars worth of sensitive defence contracts in Australia and the US, along with companies developing coronavirus vaccines, have hundreds of Chinese Communist Party members in their employ, an investigation has revealed.

The Australian has obtained a leaked database listing the personal details of almost two million CCP members — including their party position, birthdate, national ID number and ethnicity — in a major security breach expected to embarrass Chinese President Xi Jinping.

It is the first time a list of its scale has been leaked and it unveils the secrecy shrouding CCP operations and exposes how party branches are embedded in some of the world’s biggest companies, with intelligence experts warning China is using the structure to achieve global dominance.

This list has revealed many major companies — from manufacturing giants Boeing and Volkswagen to financial services firms including HSBC and ANZ — not only employ CCP members but also have branches embedded within their Chinese operations.

While there is no evidence anyone on the party membership list has spied for the Chinese government — and many become members to boost their career prospects — the new revelations have raised concerns about what safeguards are in place at consulates and major corporations.

China experts and intelligence agents interviewed by The Australian have warned that the employment of CCP members — even in their Chinese subsidiaries — risks sensitive information falling into the hands of Beijing’s intelligence services and intellectual property being stolen.

The revelations come after the US imposed tight visa rules on CCP members and their families — allowing them to visit for one month, down from 10 years.

The leaked database of CCP members includes academics in Australia and Britain, including at the University of NSW and employees in private companies working in Australia.

Shanghai-based Australian scholar Chen Hong — who had his Australian visa revoked in September after the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation assessed him as a possible security risk — is listed on the database.

Professor Chen’s listing states that he is a “party member whose membership is reserved at CCP Working Committee for the Organ of the East China Normal University”. Reserved party membership occurs when a CCP member has left the country for more than six months, but can be restored when the member returns.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12015678 (140256ZDEC20) Notable: Video: Major leak 'exposes' members and 'lifts the lid' on the Chinese Communist Party - Sky News Australia

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>>181239

Major leak 'exposes' members and 'lifts the lid' on the Chinese Communist Party

Sky News Australia

13 Dec 2020

A major leak containing a register with the details of nearly two million CCP members has occurred – exposing members who are now working all over the world, while also lifting the lid on how the party operates under Xi Jinping, says Sharri Markson.

Ms Markson said the leak is a register with the details of Communist Party members, including their names, party position, birthday, national ID number and ethnicity.

“It is believed to be the first leak of its kind in the world,” the Sky News host said.

“What's amazing about this database is not just that it exposes people who are members of the communist party, and who are now living and working all over the world, from Australia to the US to the UK,” Ms Markson said.

“But it's amazing because it lifts the lid on how the party operates under President and Chairman Xi Jinping”.

Ms Markson said the leak demonstrates party branches are embedded in some of the world’s biggest companies and even inside government agencies.

“Communist party branches have been set up inside western companies, allowing the infiltration of those companies by CCP members - who, if called on, are answerable directly to the communist party, to the Chairman, the president himself,” she said.

“Along with the personal identifying details of 1.95 million communist party members, mostly from Shanghai, there are also the details of 79,000 communist party branches, many of them inside companies”.

Ms Markson said the leak is a significant security breach likely to embarrass Xi Jinping.

“It is also going to embarrass some global companies who appear to have no plan in place to protect their intellectual property from theft. From economic espionage,” she said.

Ms Markson said the data was extracted from a Shanghai server by Chinese dissidents, whistleblowers, in April 2016, who have been using it for counter-intelligence purposes.

“It was then leaked in mid-September to the newly-formed international bi-partisan group, the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China - and that group is made up of 150 legislators around the world.

“It was then provided to an international consortium of four media organisations, The Australian, The Sunday Mail in the UK, De Standaard in Belgium and a Swedish editor, to analyse over the past two months, and that's what we've done".

Ms Markson said it, “is worth noting that there's no suggestion that these members have committed espionage - but the concern is over whether Australia or these companies knew of the CCP members and if so have any steps been taken to protect their data and people”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OumhrE6JV3A

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12015759 (140301ZDEC20) Notable: Video: Major leak has provided an 'unprecedented view' into the Communist Party of China - Sky News Australia

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>>181240

Major leak has provided an 'unprecedented view' into the Communist Party of China

Sky News Australia

13 Dec 2020

The leak exposing nearly two million members of the CCP has provided an "unprecedented view" into the structure and method of operations of the Communist Party of China, says cyber security analyst and co-founder of Internet 2.0 Robert Potter.

"It's not something that's easily seen. It's not something that becomes available every day," Mr Potter told Sky News host Sharri Markson.

"It shows how the party has increasingly taken on a global view the way that it interacts with foreign companies, the way that it seeks to influence and engage in operations abroad," he said.

The major leak of official records from the Chinese Communist Party comes at a time of rising tensions in the relationship between Australia and China.

The leak contains a register with the details of Communist Party members, including their names, party position, birthday, national ID number and ethnicity.

Mr Potter said the leak provides a view "into the operations of an institution that you don't always get to see".

"It does give us insight into how a rising power on planet Earth is seeking to exercise its power globally, and the degree to which it influences and permeates all degrees of Chinese society".

Ms Markson said the leak demonstrates party branches are embedded in some of the world’s biggest companies and even inside government agencies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZLY-h3kGJM

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12017586 (140542ZDEC20) Notable: Victoria’s contact tracing system was unfit for purpose during coronavirus second wave, parliamentary inquiry finds, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: _Greater_transparency_from_the_Andrews_government_and_a_willingness_to_acknowledge_and_take_responsibility_for_failings_would_increase_public_trust_and_confidence_in_Victoria_s_contact_tracing_and_testing_regime.jpg

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Victoria’s contact tracing system was unfit for purpose during coronavirus second wave, parliamentary inquiry finds

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The use of manual data entry processes until part-way through Victoria‘s second wave of coronavirus “meant that the system for contact tracing and recording of testing was not fit to deal with any escalation of cases and led to significant errors,” a state parliamentary inquiry has found.

The Legislative Council Legal and Social Issues Committee found that “greater transparency” from the Andrews government and ”a willingness to acknowledge and take responsibility for failings” would increase public trust and confidence in Victoria‘s contact tracing and testing regime.

Victoria‘s Department of Health and Human Services had just 57 people working in the state’s public health team when the COVID-19 pandemic began, and less funding in the 2019-20 budget than was provided in 2016-17, prompting public health experts to warn in July that Victoria’s was the worst-resourced health system in Australia.

The department conceded during the committee‘s hearings that some positive cases were never contacted at the height of Victoria‘s second wave of coronavirus, with one elderly woman’s family contacted by contact tracers a month after she contracted the virus and a week after she had died.

As a result of the second wave, more than 18,000 people contracted the virus and 801 died.

During the course of the second wave, Victoria‘s contact tracing team was boosted to more than 1000 people, who have been contracted until June next year.

The IT system, which initially involved pens, paper and fax machines, has also been overhauled and replaced with a client management system designed by Silicon Valley software company Salesforce.

“The overarching issue for many stakeholders was a perceived reluctance from the Victorian government to appropriately prepare for the COVID-19 pandemic,” the multi-partisan committee found.

“This meant that much of the government’s responses have been crisis built and reactive leading to several mistakes and shortcomings that significantly impeded the effective operation of the system.”

The committee noted the Andrews government‘s engagement of IBM to create an analytics platform in July, finding it was a “misguided and costly mistake given the platform’s known lack of AI capacity”. The IBM system is no longer being used.

Upper House MPs who contributed to the work of the committee, chaired by Reason Party leader Fiona Patten, include Liberals Georgie Crozier, Edward O‘Donohue and Matthew Bach, National Melina Bath, Labor MPs Harriet Shing, Lee Tarlamis, Enver Erdogan and Sheena Watt, Greens leader Samantha Ratnam, Liberal Democrat Tim Quilty, Hinch Justice Party MP Stuart Grimley, Transport Matters MP Rod Barton, and independent Catherine Cumming.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12017829 (140611ZDEC20) Notable: Alan Dershowitz interview: I can prove Prince Andrew's accuser is guilty of perjury - Camilla Tominey - telegraph.co.uk, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: In_his_countersuit_Mr_Dershowitz_pictured_alleges_Ms_Giuffre_has_a_history_of_extorting_prominent_men_in_Epstein_s_circle_among_them_the_billionaire_owner_of_lingerie_firm_Victoria_s_Secret_Leslie_Wexner.jpg, Virginia_Roberts_Giuffre.jpg

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Alan Dershowitz interview: I can prove Prince Andrew's accuser is guilty of perjury

Harvard law professor was accused by Jeffrey Epstein survivor Virginia Roberts of having sexual relationships with minors

Camilla Tominey - 13 December 2020

1/3

Boasting what the local estate agent describes as “stunning coastal opulence”, the picturesque and peaceful Ocean Reef complex is one of Perth, Australia’s most prestigious addresses.

Offering breathtaking 180-degree panoramic views of the Pacific ocean, the latest property to be sold on the sought-after estate provides luxurious accommodation over 450 square metres including six bedrooms, four bathrooms, a powder room and entertainment room.

Outside there is a below-ground solar-heated swimming pool, surrounded by a cedar-lined English-thatch gazebo with sprawling views all the way to Freemantle.

Last week, it was revealed that the £1 million property has become home to Virginia Roberts Giuffre, 37, the most prominent and outspoken survivor of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, after she posted a picture on Instagram posing in front of the sold sign with her husband Robert and their three teenage children.

The family’s relocation 4,400km from Cairns where it is thought they also own a £800,000 property comes after the couple became equal shareholders in a proprietary company named Witty River Pty Ltd in October.

The timing has become a source of intrigue to those closely following developments in the on-going Epstein saga, after Ms Giuffre (pictured below) settled for an undisclosed sum with both the billionaire financier’s estate and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell following a defamation action in 2017.

Ms Giuffre claims Ms Maxwell “pimped” her out to a string of high-profile men including Prince Andrew and the retired Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz.

Both men vehemently deny the claims.

Yet in spite of starting a new life in Western Australia, the legal wrangling is far from over Ms Giuffre. Following her arrest in July, Ms Maxwell is facing trial charged with enticement of minors, sex trafficking, and perjury over her association with Epstein.

On Friday, The Telegraph reported Ms Maxwell and her husband Scott Borgeson, 44, a wealthy tech entrepreneur, will pledge a £22.5 million bail in an attempt to secure her freedom from a detention centre in Brooklyn before Christmas.

Ms Giuffre also has her own high-profile trial next year after launching a defamation suit against Mr Dershowitz for calling her a “certified, complete, total liar.”

She has said of the case: “I know he’s going to put up a good fight. But, at the end of it, I know we’re gonna win. We’ve got the truth on our side.”

In his countersuit, Mr Dershowitz alleges Ms Giuffre has a history of extorting prominent men in Epstein’s circle, among them the billionaire owner of lingerie firm Victoria’s Secret Leslie Wexner.

Having granted Epstein power of attorney over his vast fortune when he was a little-known money manager, the reasons for Mr Wexner’s close association with Epstein have long been unclear amid suggestions Epstein abused his position by posing as a recruiter to exploit young underwear models.

Mr Dershowitz’s lawyer Howard Cooper issued broad subpoenas to both Mr Wexner and his attorney John Zeiger earlier this year, prompting the latter to insist: “No extortion demand was ever made, no settlement was entered into, and not a penny (or other consideration) was ever paid.”

Ms Giuffre’s lawyer David Boies has since described Mr Dershowitz’s assertion that there was an extortion attempt as a “smokescreen.”

The forthcoming case is certainly clouded by a number of factors. When The Telegraph spoke to Mr Dershowitz at his New York home on Wednesday, he continued to both protest his innocence and accuse Ms Giuffre of making up claims that first surfaced in a December 30, 2014, Florida court filing alleging that he was one of several prominent figures, including Prince Andrew, who had participated in sexual activities with a minor.

Insisting he has never even met Ms Giuffre, Mr Dershowitz, 82, said of his ongoing litigation, which is thought to have already cost in excess of £2 million: “The reason I can do this is I have nothing to hide. I have no secrets. They picked on the wrong, innocent person.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12018222 (140707ZDEC20) Notable: 'Ghislaine put the Spitting Image puppet's hand on Virginia's breast' - Duke's visit to the puppet master Epstein's mansion… this time for the night, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Johanna_Sjoberg_pictured_told_a_Sunday_newspaper_of_an_alleged_encounter_with_the_Duke_at_the_East_71st_Street_mansion_at_Easter_2001_.jpg, Steve_Wright_a_55_year_old_puppeteer_from_Yorkshire_says_he_met_the_Duke_at_a_Buckingham_Palace_reception_in_2003.jpg

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>>181246

'I sat on Andrew's lap... Ghislaine put the Spitting Image puppet's hand on Virginia's breast. Then he put his hand on mine': Duke's visit to the puppet master Epstein's mansion... this time for the night

1/3

After Jeffrey Epstein had admitted in court in 2007 to procuring underage girls, Johanna Sjoberg told a Sunday newspaper of an alleged encounter with the Duke at the East 71st Street mansion at 'Easter 2001'.

She had been asked by Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell to go to New York.

She recalled that she returned to the apartment after some 'sightseeing' and 'Prince Andrew was there and a couple of other girls my age. Andrew was very charming . . . She (Ghislaine) came down with a present for him — a latex puppet of him from Spitting Image.'

She added: 'We had a picture taken. Virginia, another girl there, sat on a chair and had the puppet on her lap. Andrew sat on another chair.

'I sat on his lap — and he put his hand on my breast. Ghislaine put the puppet's hand on Virginia's breast. Then Andrew put his hand on mine. It was a great joke. Everybody laughed . . . Ghislaine . . . had a very dirty sense of humour.'

This was the Duke in the world of Jeffrey Epstein before the advent of #MeToo.

Ms Sjoberg recalled this episode again in a deposition she gave under oath in 2016. Only fragments of this testimony have been released into the public domain, but the similarity is clear.

Ms Sjoberg said the Duke had thought the puppet 'funny because it was him'.

Then 'I just remember someone suggesting a photo and they told us to get on the couch. And so Virginia and Andrew sat on the couch and they put the puppet on her lap.

'And so I sat on Andrew's lap, I believe of my own volition, and they took the puppet's hands and put it on Virginia's breast and so Andrew put his on mine.' It was all done in 'a joking manner'.

According to her accounts, the Duke, while being inappropriately tactile to say the least, had not caused offence. She had sat on the lap of this famous stranger of her own volition. She thought him 'charming'.

'THEY RETIRED TO THE DUNGEON'

But what took the alleged encounter into a whole new sphere were the subsequent testimonies of Virginia Roberts.

In interviews with a Sunday newspaper in 2011, her unpublished memoir written in the same year, a deposition under oath given in 2015 and various later TV interviews, she corroborated Ms Sjoberg's 'Spitting Image' story (though on Panorama she says the puppet was put against Johanna's breast rather than her own).

But she also went on to claim that after the puppet photograph interlude she and Andrew retired to a massage room — 'the dungeon' — where they had sex. She claims they had first had sex in London, a month before this.

Miss Roberts has previously said, 'You are left with a foggy memory sometimes, you really are,' and, 'I might be wrong on dates absolutely and I might be wrong on places even, sometimes.'

Given the length of time that has elapsed since these alleged incidents, that is only natural.

However in the deposition she said: 'I had sex with Prince Andrew . . . in Epstein's New York mansion in spring 2001. I was 17 at the time. Epstein called me down to his office. When I got there Epstein was there, along with Maxwell, Johanna Sjoberg and Andy. I was very surprised to see him again. Epstein and Maxwell were making lewd jokes about 'Randy Andy'. 'I had the impression that Andy had come there to see Epstein and to have sex with me. There was no apparent purpose for Andy to be there.'

She said Epstein paid her $400 for this service.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12033555 (150549ZDEC20) Notable: Five Eyes alliance plotting against China will backfire on themselves - globaltimes.cn, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Five_Eyes_alliance_plotting_against_China_will_backfire_on_themselves.jpg

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>>181238

Five Eyes alliance plotting against China will backfire on themselves

Global Times - 2020/12/14

With Australian exporters suffering from mounting pressure amid increasingly fraying relations with China, the Five Eyes Alliance still refuses to de-escalate the tensions.

Under a seemly unified effort to push back against China with trade and economic sanctions, the Five Eyes members are reportedly cooking up a "lesson" for China, however, this overrated cabal of allies should watch for backstabbers in its own midst.

Five Eyes members are plotting "fight-back" against China, considering options such as launching sanctions on Chinese exports, or Australia rolling out retaliatory tariffs with others showing support by refusing to make up the shortfall in Chinese exports, according to a report by the Daily Mail.

It may not be China that needs to be taught a "lesson". Canberra, obviously, has not realized that its allies are benefitting from its poorly managed relationship with its largest trade partner. For instance, Canada's Teck Resources is looking to boost shipments of steelmaking coal to China next year, hoping to seize the chance of Australia's declining coal export to China, Reuters reported.

China has been the largest trade partner for over 120 countries and regions across the world. Combined Australia, the UK, Canada and New Zealand together represent about 6 percent of China's export, according to data from China's General Administration of Customs in 2019. Australia, who has been shipping over 30 percent of its export to China, purchased less than 2 percent of Chinese exports in 2019.

While the US, the only one of the Five Eyes countries with a purchasing proportion over 16 percent, is in no state to endorse the Five Eyes' lesson for China given its own grim domestic situation, including its chaotic power transition to a new administration amid a rocketing number of COVID-19 infections and deaths.

Hanging onto the cold-war mentality, the US-led anti-China clique has been promoting its decoupling campaign for years, and the nations have already proved how ineffective they could be and how unrealistic the campaign was.

Even with governmental subsidies, only a handful of foreign enterprises showed intention to relocate their businesses out from China, industrial surveys from the US and Japan showed. As global firms are coping with their supply-chain disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, China remains the most attractive market place for cross-border trade and production, according to the latest survey by credit insurer Euler Hermes. The survey found that 30 percent of UK companies that are considering changing suppliers put China in the top three.

The Five Eyes are looking at different directions based on varied interests, it is hard for the global industries to omit the Chinese market, especially as China may be the only major economy to mete out a positive economic growth this year.

What's really worth discussing is that as China increasingly holds a pivotal role in the international supply chain, it is also facing increasing responsibility to improve and safeguard free trade and multilateralism.

Thanks to decisive government actions and concerted efforts of 1.4 billion Chinese people, China managed to get the pandemic under control in less than three months and is now busy finalizing its next Five-Year Plan (2020-25).

In responding to the purposeful assaults from the Five Eyes Alliance, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian in November told a press conference in Beijing that "the Chinese people will not provoke troubles, but we never flinch when trouble comes our way. No matter how many eyes they have, five or ten or whatever, should anyone dare to undermine China's sovereignty, security and development interests, be careful not to get poked in the eye."

The article was compiled based on an interview with Gao Lingyun, an expert from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing closely following the China-US trade tensions. bizopinion@globaltimes.com.cn

https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1209938.shtml

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12033623 (150557ZDEC20) Notable: Five Eyes turn blind by fantasizing CPC infiltration: Global Times editorial - globaltimes.cn, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: CPC.jpg

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>>181239

>>181240

Five Eyes turn blind by fantasizing CPC infiltration: Global Times editorial

Global Times - 2020/12/14

According to UK and Australian media, a Chinese "dissident" passed on a document through an encrypted instant messaging app to the anti-China group of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China. The leaked database has the personal information of 1.95 million registered members of the Communist Party of China (CPC), including their names, data on birth and ethnicity and some with their addresses and phone numbers. The Australian media said CPC members have "infiltrated" the US, British and Australian consulates in Shanghai and foreign companies. The UK media asserted that many CPC scholars have studied in British universities and taken part in research of sensitive areas.

Is this list real? We have no idea. But if foreign embassies and consulates in China do not especially exclude CPC members, it is highly likely that their employees include CPC members. For one reason, CPC members constitute a high proportion in the Chinese population. For another, CPC members are more likely to be talents. If a foreign embassy employs dozens of Chinese, none of whom are CPC members, then the average level of those people may be below the medium level of Chinese society.

The US-launched smear campaign against the CPC has become more and more pointless. What is even more absurd is that it appears poker-faced and turns an upright thing into Five Eyes-style fiction.

The CPC has more than 90 million members. Besides meeting the political requirements, one has to be morally integrated and motivated and have a collective sense to become a CPC member. They are ordinary people in society. They also play a positive role at the grass-roots level. They are everywhere to contribute to society.

If foreign entities expand their staff in China, they are bound to have CPC members. There is no need for China to launch any "infiltration." As long as these entities are operating legally in China, they are part of China's opening-up process. CPC members are more likely to harmoniously co-exist with their employers and make more contributions than non-CPC members.

Viewing CPC members as infiltrators and spies is the result of the US' hysterical and ideological campaign against China. The Chinese people will only mock the ignorance of the countries of the Five Eyes alliance and find it unbelievable when they see their neurotic behavior.

Suppose Chinese institutes in the US hire local staff. If they check whether their employees are Republicans when the Republican Party takes the rule to avoid infiltration risks, isn't it ridiculous?

The Washington-led smear campaign against the CPC has clear political goals. It deliberately distorts the reality of Chinese society and violates the basic logic of exchanges between Western countries and China. It is stabbing the relations between China and Five Eyes countries. In the end, such a smear campaign could only convince the Western world with deceit.

It is such a pity that Western opinion allows such a deceptive trick to brew, with no force having the courage and ability to inform the Western public of the true story of the CPC. Some Western opinion agencies, with the instigation of politicians, even take an active role in framing China and the CPC. It is pathetic to see the West's degradation.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1209955.shtml

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12033786 (150617ZDEC20) Notable: China extends full open gesture to imported coal except for Australia - Chi Jingyi - globaltimes.cn, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Aerial_photo_taken_on_May_22_2020_shows_a_bulk_carrier_loading_cargoes_at_a_newly_built_coal_berth_of_Caofeidian_Port_in_Tangshan_north_China_s_Hebei_Province.jpg, China_s_coal_import_volume_in_2020.jpg

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China extends full open gesture to imported coal except for Australia

Domestic, overseas suppliers will take up share with easier clearance

Chi Jingyi, Global Times - 2020/12/13

China's top economic planner on Saturday gave approval to power plants to import coal without clearance restrictions, except for Australia, in a bid to stabilize coal purchase prices.

Analysts said that China has various sources of coal, including Mongolia, Indonesia and Russia. Moreover, China is reducing coal use to curb carbon emissions, which will mean lower demand for coal in the next few decades.

The National Development and Reform Commission said in a meeting with 10 major power enterprises that the coal purchase price should not exceed 640 yuan ($97.8) per ton and it ordered power plants to share inventory to reduce the purchase of high-priced coal in the market. At present, the inventory of coal at key power plants is about 86 million tons.

Wang Yongzhong, director of the Institute of Energy Economy at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that China has stable and sufficient domestic coal supply, while having rich import sources.

"China's major coal import source countries used to be Australia, Indonesia, Russia and Mongolia. Since Mongolia has a geographic advantage that allows lower transportation costs than any other exporters, it could take a large share from Australian coal, as the relationship between China and Australia has been deteriorating and Australia is gradually losing the Chinese market. Domestic suppliers can also grab some market share," Wang told the Global Times on Sunday, adding that even the US and Canada could be import sources, though they are the last choices as transportation costs would be very high.

China has been the biggest coal importer in the world for over 10 years, with imports of 299.674 million tons in 2019, up 6.3 percent from a year earlier. From January to November, China's coal imports were 264.826 million tons, down 10.8 percent year-on-year, according to statistics of the General Administration of Customs.

A manager surnamed Chen at a company that provides carbon emission reduction solutions told the Global Times that some clients with businesses related to coal only use domestic sources, while some others have up to 50 percent supply from imports. So far, no clients have reported any shortage.

"China planned to reduce 100 million tons of coal consumption annually by 2030 to finally accomplish its carbon-neutral goal before 2060, which means fading demand in the coal market. An absence of Australian coal in China is actually beneficial to all other market suppliers," said Wang.

Contracts for a total of 740 million tons of coal were signed at the China Taiyuan Coal Trade Fair on Tuesday in North China's Shanxi Province, a major domestic coal production base.

Apart from domestic coal suppliers, exporters are also eyeing the Chinese market. The latest example is Indonesia, which struck a $1.46 billion coal deal with China in November. The Indonesian Coal Mining Association said in 2021, coal exports to China will increase by 200 million tons.

Russian suppliers plan to increase production to export more to China.

In addition to traditional exporters, newcomers like Kazakhstan have emerged. Kazakhstan's Ministry of Industry and Infrastructural Development announced plans to increase coal output to 120 million tons this year, with 38 million tons for export.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1209840.shtml

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12033793 (150619ZDEC20) Notable: 'Unacceptable': Australia accuses China of diplomacy by media over coal ban, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Trade_Minister_Simon_Birmingham.jpg

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>>181250

'Unacceptable': Australia accuses China of diplomacy by media over coal ban

Trade Minister Simon Birmingham has labelled China's diplomatic treatment of Australia unacceptable after Chinese state media confirmed a ban on Australian coal had been formalised by Beijing.

Declaring Australia would pursue every avenue of restitution, Senator Birmingham said on Tuesday that banning Australian coal imports would harm China's emissions reduction commitments and was potentially a breach of World Trade Organisation regulations.

The weekend decision, taken by China's National Development and Reform Commission at a meeting with 10 Chinese power plants and reported by The Global Times on Monday, meant Australian coal would be blocked indefinitely while China ramps up imports from Mongolia, Indonesia and Russia.

Senator Birmingham accused China of abandoning diplomatic protocols.

"It is certainly unacceptable to see a circumstance where governments, businesses find out about decisions of other businesses or other governments purely via media outlets," he said.

"I can assure everyone that, when the Australian government makes decisions that affect other governments, we work through the proper diplomatic channels to inform those governments and we do so in a manner that is respectful and appropriate."

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that, if the reports of a ban were accurate, that "would obviously be in breach of WTO rules" and it "would be obviously in breach of our free-trade agreement".

Australia exports $14 billion of coal each year to China. The directions from China's planning agency appear to target power-generating thermal coal, which is worth $4 billion a year. But ships carrying Australian coking coal, which is used to make steel, have also been stuck off the coast of China unable to offload their cargo.

"Australian coal is around 1.5 times more efficient in terms of energy production than most other competitor nations, including Chinese domestic coal," Senator Birmingham said.

"That means that, to get the same level of energy generation, China will end up having to use more coal from other sources and generate more emissions from those sources, which will do anything but help China in terms of meeting some of the commitments it has made to the world around emissions reduction as well."

Australia has been criticised for not adopting a net-zero emissions target by 2050 or 2060, while its major trading partners, including China, Japan, Europe and South Korea, move towards the goal.

More than half-a-dozen Australian industries have been hit with trade strikes by Beijing since Australia called for an inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus in April. The dispute has accelerated since Australia criticised China's actions in Hong Kong and the South China Sea and now covers more than $20 billion in Australian exports across beef, barley, wine and coal.

Senator Birmingham said Australia's WTO case on barley was "imminent" after China accused Australian farmers of dumping their product and receiving an unfair advantage through government subsidies.

"We have been working within government to build the strongest possible case in defence of our industry, which, frankly, is pretty easy to build because Australian grain growers and farmers are not subsidised," he said.

"They don't dump their products on global markets and we clearly have the evidence to mount a strong case in that regard."

The WTO has been plagued by delays after the Trump administration blocked key appointments to its dispute resolution panel. Any recourse for Australian farmers is likely to take years to resolve.

Mr Morrison said Australia would not change its values in response to economic pressure from Beijing.

"We decide who invests in Australia. We have a free liberal democracy where members of Parliament can speak their mind and you as a journalist can report in a free press," he said.

"I don't think these are things [over which] we should be bargaining. I think Australia has a long-term position when it comes to human rights issues that this government and many other governments ... have all held a consistent position on [and is not] something that we should be trading away."

https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/world/asia/unacceptable-australia-accuses-china-of-diplomacy-by-media-over-coal-ban-20201215-p56nk7.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12034093 (150656ZDEC20) Notable: Alexander Downer cautions business on China, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Former_foreign_minister_Alexander_Downer.jpg

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Alexander Downer cautions business on China

Alexander Downer has warned business leaders that they risk alienating the public, their customers and their staff if they side with China against the Morrison government to “push up their share prices”.

The nation’s longest-serving foreign minister said Australia’s relationship with China was ­“extremely bad”, but businesses needed to “play the long game” rather than undermining Australia’s national response.

In a podcast with Asialink at the University of Melbourne, Mr Downer said China had behaved in a “childish” manner in circulating its list of 14 grievances with Australia, abandoning its “great traditions of diplomacy”.

He urged Australian CEOs to remain “quietly patriotic”, as Japanese companies did during decade-long tensions between the neighbouring countries that finally eased in 2006.

“The Australian business community needs to be careful too because they don’t want to alienate the Australian population,” Mr Downer said.

“They don’t want to alienate their own workers by sticking up for China just for pecuniary interests, so they can push up their share prices. Seriously, they have to think this through. And that’s what the Japanese business community did. It thought it through.”

Australian businesses have become increasingly agitated over the state of the Australia-China relationship, amid a barrage of targeted trade sanctions at Australian exports.

Former Business Council of Australia president Graham Bradley said last month that he didn’t know “any business leader who thinks the Australian government has handled the China relationship well”.

Mr Downer said such “tut ­tutting” by business leaders was unhelpful. “Little do they realise that that is extremely damaging to their own interests because in the end that will make it harder for this wave to break,” he said.

He said Australia couldn’t stay quiet on issues such as the security crackdown in Hong Kong simply to maintain good trading relations with Beijing.

“Money isn’t everything. Making the rules-based international system work, making sure that there is an appropriate balance of power in the Indo-Pacific region … making sure that Australia maintains its networks around the world with countries which are its natural friends and allies — all these things are more important than just money.”

Mr Downer warned the one-side trade war could get worse, as China tried to reduce its reliance on Australia as much as possible.

The lesson for Australia was to diversify its trading relationships to avoid being “vulnerable to the vagaries of what might happen in Chinese politics”.

He said business leaders could help by maintaining their personal links with Chinese counterparts as best they could.

Back channel “Track Two” diplomacy, which can involve business figures, academics and retired government figures, was “much more important than governments often realise”, Mr Downer said, adding: “I made ­extensive use of those sorts of lines of communication.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/alexander-downer-cautions-business-on-china/news-story/ccce10696b088c2840497cf15038f2de

https://asialink.unimelb.edu.au/insights/asialink-milestones-alexander-downer-on-china-and-playing-the-long-game

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12034483 (150736ZDEC20) Notable: ASIO probes Chinese Communist Party members in Shanghai consulate - Sharri Markson - theaustralian.com.au, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: ASIO_probes_Chinese_Communist_Party_members_in_Shanghai_consulate.jpg

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>>181239

ASIO probes Chinese Communist Party members in Shanghai consulate

SHARRI MARKSON - DECEMBER 15, 2020

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The nation’s top spy agency has begun investigating revelations that Chinese Communist Party members have been working in Australia’s consulate in Shanghai for years.

An investigation by The Australian found at least 10 consulates in Shanghai had CCP members employed as senior political and government affairs specialists, clerks, economic advisers and executive assistants.

The expose has been labelled a “wake-up call” by one member of the US Homeland Security Committee, while Australian parliamentarians are calling for an urgent probe.

The investigation, based on a leak of official CCP membership records from Shanghai — the first of its kind in the world — also revealed how CCP branches were embedded in major companies, ­including those holding sensitive defence contracts with the Australian and US governments.

Two sources familiar with the matter said the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation had begun investigating the revelations that the CCP had infiltrated the diplomatic missions through a government-sponsored recruitment agency, the Shanghai Foreign Agency Service Department.

The database shows CCP members have been or are currently employed in Australian, US, British, German, Swiss, Indian, New Zealand, Italian and South African missions in Shanghai.

“There’s intelligence-gathering going on,” one source said.

The second source said: “ASIO uses a lot of sources as part of its counterintelligence efforts and things like this don’t come along everyday.”

Australian Strategic Policy Institute executive director Peter Jennings warned there was an ­“intelligence risk within the consulate itself” and said Australia had dismissed the significance of the CCP as not being important.

“I think that’s been a fundamental mistake,” said Mr Jennings, a former Defence Department deputy secretary.

“Being a member of the party is not just a casual thing. What that means is that if you want to ­become a member, the party will have an ability to call on you to do what they want you to do.

“If you work at a consulate, you can be guaranteed the party will be aware of that and expecting their party member to furnish them with any info that is useful.”

“You’ve really got to make sure your locally engaged staff are not engaged in anything that involves providing policy advice and are essentially kept away from the inner core of embassy functions.”

The Australian’s investigation followed a leak of official CCP records that exposed the personal details of 1.95 million members. It found members and even party branches at some of the world’s largest companies including vaccine manufacturers AstraZeneca and Pfizer, aerospace giant Boeing and at ANZ.

While there is no evidence that anyone on the party membership list has spied for the Chinese government — many became members to boost their career prospects — the revelations raised concerns about safeguards in place at consulates and major corporations.

CCP members, of whom there are 92 million, must pledge an oath that puts the party’s interests above all and “be ready at all times to sacrifice my all for the party”.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12047897 (160640ZDEC20) Notable: Five Eyes alliance considers sanctioning China, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: The_Five_Eyes_alliance_including_the_US_is_reportedly_considering_sanctions_against_China.jpg, Scott_Morrison_says_China_s_coal_ban_would_be_a_breach_of_WTO_terms.jpg

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>>181238

Five Eyes alliance considers sanctioning China

The members of Australia’s international intelligence network — including the US and UK — are set to team up to take on China.

1/2

Australia’s largest allies may come to its aid in its escalating trade war with China.

The Five Eyes alliance has reportedly held discussions over how to respond after Beijing added coal to a growing list of sanctions imposed on Aussie goods.

The group – made up of Australia, the US, the UK, Canada and New Zealand – has reportedly touted retaliatory trade and economic sanctions.

Mike Green, a former special assistant to ex-US president George W Bush, said the international response needed to be broader than the Five Eyes and should include NATO and the European Union.

“China’s market is so huge (that) it’s unlikely the rest of us will have, in a democratic society, the ability to completely boycott it,” he told ABC Radio.

“The Chinese have a slight advantage there. But what we have is numbers, and we have more and more countries that are alarmed at what China is doing.”

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin appeared to confirm a ban on Australian coal imports on Wednesday.

“The Chinese authorities have recently taken measures against some imported Australian products in accordance with law and regulations,” he said.

“I have repeatedly heard some people from the Australian side claim to be the so-called victims, constantly accusing and attacking China by innuendo, which is completely making a countercharge, confusing right and wrong. China will never accept this.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the government was yet to receive formal notification from Beijing but said it was taking the reports “very seriously”.

“If that were to be true … then that would be in direct contravention to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules. It would also be a complete breach of the free trade agreement,” he told Channel 7.

Agriculture Minister David Littleproud has urged Beijing to rectify the situation. He warned making an example of Australia was a “dangerous” thing to do because China needed to trade.

“The world is watching very closely to the actions of China, not only on coal, but on other matters that they have dealt with the Australian government and Australian exporters,” he told Sky News.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12047991 (160654ZDEC20) Notable: The Australian 'turned' me into a CPC member overnight - Chen Hong - globaltimes.cn, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: The_Australian_turned_me_into_a_CPC_member_overnight.jpg

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>>181240

The Australian 'turned' me into a CPC member overnight

Chen Hong, Global Times - 2020/12/16

Through the kind offices of The Australian and some other media outlets, I became a member of the Communist Party of China (CPC) without even knowing it.

An "exclusive" news story published in The Australian's website in the middle of the night of December 13 leaked an alleged database, containing a list of 1.95 million CPC members, including me.

The following day's follow-up report further disclosed that "(my) membership (to the Party) is reserved at CCP Working Committee for the Organ of the East China Normal University." The report then officiously enlightens readers saying, "reserved party membership occurs when a CCP member has left the country for more than six months, but can be restored when the member returns."

I have never joined the CPC. I have no party membership for any CPC committee to reserve or to restore. Since late 1994, I have never stayed outside of China for over four consecutive months.

I was a member of a minor political party called the Chinese Peasants and Workers Democratic Party for three years.

The sensational "revelation" of the purloined database that The Australian proclaimed to have verified is a list of names of staff for foreign diplomatic missions and international businesses employed through the Shanghai Foreign Agency Service Department, or SFASD. My name and alleged other personal details is on the list.

The simple fact is that I have been a member of the teaching faculty of East China Normal University since 1990, with employment contracts signed directly between me and the university. I do not need, nor am I allowed by the law, to be hired through an HR agency.

Sensationalist report stated the data was acquired by a dissident "risk(ing) their [sic] life to access it." The report also maintains that The Australian "independently obtain(ed) a more complete version of the same database from a confidential source."

With such cloak n' dagger theatrics and "painstaking" verification, how could the most basic facts about me be so erroneous? Anyone with common sense would naturally cast serious doubt about the veracity of the rest of the information of that mysterious database.

The craze and ferocity of the fierce hunt for "the red witches" are now rampaging in Australia beyond belief. Even Chinese citizens in their own country are been questioned and suspected by McCarthyists for their political involvement and activities.

Some members of the Australian government and parliament are chorusing for an investigation because CPC members have been employed by Australian foreign services and other organisations. Is the CPC regarded by Australia as an adversary political organisation, so that members of the party should be suspected and treated as enemy agents?

Such a mind-set and acts are bullying by nature. The hunters for "reds under the bed" had better heed the kind advice by the sagacious Australian literary critic A. A. Phillips who said "the opposite of the Cringe is not the Strut, but a relaxed erectness of carriage."

Author's note: The article was written in response to The Australian's erroneous reports about my alleged CPC membership. It was submitted to The Australian for publication with the purpose of clarification of basic facts. The Australian, however, did not publish this article in full, but only ran a news story containing truncated parts of this article, which regretfully does not completely reflect my thoughts at all.

The author is professor and director of the Australian Studies Centre, East China Normal University. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn

https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1210070.shtml

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12047999 (160655ZDEC20) Notable: I have never been a member of the Chinese Communist Party: Chen Hong - Jared Lynch - theaustralian.com.au, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Chen_Hong.jpg

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>>181258

I have never been a member of the Chinese Communist Party: Chen Hong

JARED LYNCH - DECEMBER 15, 2020

Shanghai-based Australian scholar Chen Hong, who had his Australian visa revoked after ASIO assessed him as a possible security risk, says he has never been a member of the Chinese Communist Party.

He said, however, he had been a member of the Chinese Peasants and Workers Democratic Party.

His name was among almost two million in a leaked database of official CCP membership records from Shanghai obtained by The Australian.

Professor Chen, the director of the Australian Studies Centre at East China Normal University, told The Australian his entry in the database was “totally wrong”. “Throughout my life, I have never joined the (CCP),” he said.

“I have been … a member of a minor political party in China, the Chinese Peasants and Workers Democratic Party, for three years.”

The Chinese Peasants and Workers Democratic Party, founded in 1930, is one of the officially sanctioned minor parties aligned with the CCP under the United Front.

In 2015, President Xi Jinping described the United Front as “an important magic weapon” for strengthening his party’s rule, and central to the aim of realising the dream of the “Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation”.

Professor Chen’s visa was revoked in September when he was out of the country after ASIO said it had assessed him and another academic as security risks.

“The craze and ferocity of the fierce hunt for ‘the red witches’ are now rampaging in Australia beyond belief.

“Even Chinese citizens in their own country are been questioned and suspected by McCarthyists for their political involvement and activities,” Professor Chen wrote in an email.

“Such mindset and acts are bullying by nature. The hunters for ‘reds under the bed’ had better heed the kind advice by the sagacious Australian literary critic AA Phillips that ‘the opposite of the Cringe is not the Strut, but a relaxed erectness of carriage’.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/i-have-never-been-amember-of-the-chinese-communist-party-chen-hong/news-story/aa79e59651a163453c77e2414ec6b4c3

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12048019 (160700ZDEC20) Notable: CCP members in foreign embassies ‘the reality in China’: Foreign Minister, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Chinese_Foreign_Ministry_spokesman_Wang_Wenbin.jpg

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>>181239

CCP members in foreign embassies ‘the reality in China’: Foreign Minister

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has hit back against Australia’s concerns that CCP members have been employed in diplomatic missions in China, declaring that “this is the reality in China.”

The Australian reported on Wednesday that Australia’s embassy in Beijing is using a Chinese government agency to recruit senior staff into the consulate, with intelligence insiders warning this practice is the equivalent of paying China to “put spies into our consulates”.

However Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Tuesday that “states should follow basic norms governing international relations and respect each other’s system and national conditions.”

He argued that the CPC had striven for the “wellbeing of the Chinese people, the peace of the world and the progress of humanity” and argued the party was “open and above board in all its actions.”

“This is no other than hysterical slanders made by certain anti-China elements to tarnish the image of the CPC. Such (an) allegation is logically absurd and has no factual basis, nothing but another version of the ‘China threat theory’.

“China is a country that adheres to the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics under the leadership of the Communist Party of China.

“The Communist Party of China is the vanguard of the Chinese working class, the Chinese people and the Chinese nation. Our 92 million CPC members are playing an exemplary role in various areas.”

The Australian’s investigation exposing the infiltration of Chinese Communist Party members across foreign embassies and companies has triggered a warning from the US State Department of a “wide array of malign activities that the Chinese Communist Party undertakes to influence our societies”.

The Australian revealed the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade used the Beijing Service Bureau for Diplomatic Missions — a Chinese government-controlled agency — as recently as last month to hire a head of mission senior adviser and interpreter, reporting to Australian ambassador Graham Fletcher.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/ccp-members-in-foreign-embassies-the-reality-in-china-foreign-minister/news-story/da50d0674ae957cb086d7968d9c7e939

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12048071 (160709ZDEC20) Notable: George Pell: Senior Vatican figures framed me on pedophilia charges, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: George_Pell_at_home.jpg, George_Pell_at_home_2.jpg

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George Pell: Senior Vatican figures framed me on pedophilia charges

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Cardinal George Pell has confirmed for the first time that he believes senior Church figures conspired to frame him on pedophilia charges in Victoria due to his work trying clean up the Vatican’s murky finances.

In a candid and wide-ranging interview on the flagship program, ‘Sette Storie’ broadcast on the Italian public broadcaster, RAI 1, Tuesday night (AEDT), Cardinal Pell said that historically, every senior figure who has to reform the Holy See’s financial management systems has been subjected to reputational attacks – and worse.

“Every single one, with very few exceptions, has been publicly attacked in one way or another … let’s not forget what happened to [Vatican banker Roberto] Calvi who committed suicide under a bridge in London with his hands behind his back … which is a very strange way to hang yourself,” he told the interviewer, Monica Maggioni.

“And we shouldn’t forget what happened to that other one, Sindona, who was found poisoned in prison …. tempi antichi [ancient times.] Today, more often than not they attack by destroying reputations.”

(Michele Sindona was an Italian banker and member of the so called ‘Propaganda Due’ who died after being served a coffee laced with cyanide while in prison.)

Cardinal Pell said his family are convinced that if the Mafia or the Masons had attempted to destroy his reputation, it would have been preferable to being attacked internally, from inside the Catholic Church: “It is much worse if someone inside the Church wishes to destroy you,” he said.

“It’s for this reason that I hope that there will never be enough evidence to prove that Vatican money was used if not to corrupt directly, at least to poison the public atmosphere against me. I hope there is no proof of this for the good of the Church.”

Cardinal Pell also disclosed that Danny Casey, the Sydney Diocese former business manager who had worked with him in Rome, had had his car set on fire and destroyed: “Of course that was a coincidence because we all know that cars suddenly catch fire all by themselves. Everyone believes there is a connection [between the financial reforms] and what happened in Australia, everyone I work with has no doubt either,” he said.

“We have some evidence but no proof yet but certainly there is a lot of smoke … we have criminals who have been heard to say ‘Pell is out of the game now and we’ve got a clear highway ahead now’. And when the Auditor General [Libero Milone, a former partner with the multinational accounting giant, Deloitte] was sacked, another described that as ‘a second bomb along the road.’”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12048190 (160726ZDEC20) Notable: Survivors reflect on Australia sex abuse inquiry, three years on, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Australia_s_prime_minister_delivered_a_formal_apology_to_those_who_were_sexually_abused_as_children_while_in_institutional_care.jpg, Child_sex_abuse_survivor_Carolyn_Unwin_74_from_Cairns_Queensland_who_travelled_to_Parliament_House_in_Canberra_on_October_22_2018_to_hear_Australia_s_Prime_Minister_Scott_Morrison_deliver_a_national_apology.jpg, The_commission_heard_personal_stories_from_some_8_000_survivors_as_well_as_those_in_positions_of_authority_including_Cardinal_George_Pell_then_the_third_most_powerful_man_in_the_Catholic_Church.jpg

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Survivors reflect on Australia sex abuse inquiry, three years on

The landmark inquiry gave survivors a chance to talk, while legal changes have allowed them to seek redress.

Ali MC - 15 Dec 2020

1/2

Melbourne, Australia – Kym Krasa was just eight years old when she was first sexually abused by a member of the Catholic Church.

A so-called “part” Aboriginal child, she had been taken from her impoverished family and placed in an orphanage.

But instead of being cared for, she was abused, and the abuse would continue for the next decade at the hands of a priest and church parishioners, and as a teenager, by a man for whom she was forced to work as a domestic servant.

It was not until the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was established in 2012 that Krasa, now 67, could finally talk about her experiences. It is now three years since the commission completed its work.

“You couldn’t talk to the nuns because they would not believe you,” she said.

“Do we believe that person – that child – or do we believe a priest? So that’s why I could not talk to anybody about it.’

Abusive experiences were not uncommon for children in Australia in the 20th century, with a 2004 report stating that upwards of 500,000 Australian children were placed into church-run and state institutions. Another inquiry found that at least one in 10 Aboriginal children were removed from their families and made state wards of the government.

The children were put into orphanages, foster homes, missions and other charitable institutions, only to be abused by the very people who were supposed to look after them.

The reasons were varied. Some were child migrants sent from Europe. Some had suffered neglect at home. Some were simply the children of young single mothers who were deemed to be “unfit” to raise their own children.

Aboriginal children, in particular, were removed from their families due to racist laws.

Systemic abuse

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse confronted the sexual abuse of children such as the young Krasa and how the institutions had been able to cover up systemic abuse for so long.

The precise number of children who suffered sexual abuse will never be known, but in five years the royal commission handled more than 42,000 phone calls, received 26,000 letters and emails, and heard more than 8,000 personal stories. Prime Minister Scott Morrison formally apologised to the survivors after the report came out.

Krasa was one of those who told their story in a “private session” with a government-appointed commissioner.

“It was hard to talk about stuff like that to [the commissioners],” she said. “It sort of eased the pain. I still think about things, but it was good to talk to somebody about it.”

Private sessions provided an opportunity for survivors of sexual abuse to tell their story. For many – like Krasa – it would be the first time they would disclose their traumatic secrets.

As well as collating stories of abuse the royal commission also investigated the issue of compensation for survivors.

Historically, churches and other institutions had largely avoided compensation claims, mostly protected by the “Ellis defence” which meant that due to their legal status churches could not be sued.

However, the royal commission helped overturn these and other laws of limitation that had previously prevented survivors from accessing justice.

“What we are seeing now is, whereas survivors literally had no option in the past other than to go begging cap in hand to these institutions, these days survivors have got options,” said Angela Sdrinis, a lawyer who first started working with abuse claims in 1997.

“In the last couple of years, it has been possible in some of the strong cases to achieve million dollar-plus settlements.”

‘We all suffered’

Sdrinis says the investigations and research conducted by the royal commission greatly developed the legal system’s understanding of sexual abuse and the cover-ups that were instigated by churches and other institutions.

“The royal commission produced masses of evidence regarding cover-ups and moving perpetrators around,” she said. “And that information just wasn’t available to us before.

“If we didn’t have the royal commission there would be a whole lot of people missing out because of the nature of these [legal] claims.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12048340 (160749ZDEC20) Notable: Dassi Erlich Tweet: The Justice Minister responds to the latest decision "I intend to sign the extradition order without delay.", MISSING MEDIA/FILES: DE_63.jpg

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>>181155

Dassi Erlich Tweets

BREAKING NEWS!!!!!!!!!!

EXTRADITION APPEAL HAS BEEN DENIED!!

A STAGGERING CONCLUSION TO 74 COURT HEARINGS!

Only one more step - Justice Minister Nissenkorn's signature and Leifer is on the plane to Australia!!!

#nomoreisraelicourtrooms

https://twitter.com/dassi_erlich/status/1338770542933905409

—

The Justice Minister responds to the latest decision

"I welcome the supreme court ruling to extradite Leifer to Australia. After many long and torturous years the time has come to do justice to Leifer's victims. I intend to sign the extradition order without delay.

https://twitter.com/dassi_erlich/status/1338775691165253633

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12048381 (160755ZDEC20) Notable: 'We never gave up hope': Alleged victims relieved as Malka Leifer set to face court in Australia, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Elly_Sapper_Dassi_Erlich_and_Nicole_Meyer_in_May.jpg, DA_1.jpg

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>>181263

'We never gave up hope': Alleged victims relieved as Malka Leifer set to face court in Australia

An alleged victim of former Melbourne school principal and accused pedophile Malka Leifer has expressed relief after the Israeli Supreme Court threw out an attempt to block her extradition.

A Melbourne woman who is an alleged victim of accused paedophile Malka Leifer has expressed her relief after the former school principal failed to block her extradition from Israel to Australia.

Three Melbourne sisters - Dassi Erlich, Nicole Meyer, and Elly Sapper - who have filed police reports about Leifer were pleased with the news.

"It is incredible to reach this point after so many years," Ms Erlich told AAP.

"A decision that we dreamed of happening and never gave up hope. We await the justice minister's signature and facing Malka Leifer in court in Australia."

All three sisters are alleged victims of Leifer, a former Melbourne school principal who has been accused of 74 charges of child sexual abuse.

On Tuesday the Israeli Supreme Court threw out a last-ditch attempt by Leifer’s lawyers to block her extradition to Australia.

Shortly after the verdict, Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn tweeted he welcomed the ruling and would sign off on the extradition order “without delay”.

“After many long and torturous years, the time has come to do justice ... I intend to sign the extradition order without delay,” he said.

Leifer's offending is alleged to have occurred at the ultra-orthodox Adass Israel school more than a decade ago. Leifer has denied the allegations against her.

Leifer left Australia when the allegations against her surfaced in 2008 and has remained in Israel since.

Australia lodged an extradition request for Leifer in 2014, but her case has been repeatedly delayed.

Leifer's lawyers have continually argued she is unfit to face extradition due to poor mental health.

Two years later she was re-arrested, after a police investigation cast doubt on those health claims.

Leifer’s lawyer says that, if she is convicted, any sentence handed down against his client should be served in Israel.

"We note that the Supreme Court acknowledged both Malka Leifer's mental health issues and that the unique nature of her religious way of life will present considerable difficulties for her in an Australian prison,” Nick Kaufman said.

“These are considerations which, in our opinion, fully justified the long battle to safeguard her basic human rights," he told the Associated Press on Wednesday.

Voice Against Child Sexual Abuse chief executive Manny Waks praised the three sisters for their efforts to extradite Leifer to Australia.

“This has been a battle which these sisters should never have had to fight. They have done so with grace and dignity at all times.

"They are heroes in every sense of the word,” he said.

Readers seeking support can contact Lifeline crisis support on 13 11 14, Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467 and Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800 (for young people aged 5 to 25). More information is available at BeyondBlue.org.au and lifeline.org.au.

Anyone seeking information or support relating to sexual abuse can contact Bravehearts on 1800 272 831 or Blue Knot on 1300 657 380.

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/

http://lifeline.org.au/

https://twitter.com/DanielAndrewsMP/status/1338793476549308416

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/we-never-gave-up-hope-alleged-victims-relieved-as-malka-leifer-set-to-face-court-in-australia

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12048650 (160842ZDEC20) Notable: Pete Evans Has Gone Full QAnon By Dropping Pedophilia Accusations Against CNN Anchor Anderson Cooper On Facebook, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Pete_Evans_Has_Gone_Full_QAnon_By_Dropping_Pedophilia_Accusations_Against_A_CNN_Anchor_On_FB.jpg, Screen_Shot_2020_12_16_at_2_08_2.jpg, Screen_Shot_2020_12_16_at_2_32_1.jpg, Screen_Shot_2020_12_16_at_2_38_4.jpg

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>>180996

Pete Evans Has Gone Full QAnon By Dropping Pedophilia Accusations Against A CNN Anchor On FB

Cam Tyeson - December 16, 2020

Despite loudly declaring that he would be shutting his page down, thereby leaving the platform for good, Pete Evans has not only been on a Facebook posting tear across the past 24 hours, but has now fully enmeshed himself in blatant QAnon posting by dabbling in the movement’s oft-pedalled and deeply bizarre pedophilia accusations.

Evans, in earnest, never actually left Facebook at all, despite stating that he was going to back on November 20th.

Over the course of December, Evans has posted in excess of 200 times to his Facebook page, which maintains a following of just under 1.5 million people.

One post today has risen above the rest as particularly noteworthy, as it shows Evans, now free of the limitations posed by his remaining corporate contracts, fully embracing QAnon posting, heavily inferring baseless claims of pedophilia against CNN anchor Anderson Cooper.

The line of thought connecting Cooper to QAnon’s accusations has tenuous links to anything based in reality, and is rooted in the same conspiracy-laden nonsense that lead to the infamous Pizzagate incident.

That unrestricted style of posting is notable, as QAnon and QAnon-related posts were put in the firing line by Facebook back in October. The baseless, and frequently ridiculous, movement has been classified as a domestic terrorist threat by the FBI in the US, although no such official classification has been officially disclosed by any Australian law enforcement body.

Regardless, Evans’ furious posting on Facebook paints a picture of a man who spends practically every waking moment entrapped in an online bubble of lies, dangerous misinformation, and shameless self-promotion.

A cursory glance of his feed reveals 212 posts have been made to the Chef Pete Evans page on Facebook in December, with the frequency breakdown as follows:

• December 1st: 8 posts

• December 2nd: 8 posts

• December 3rd: 10 posts

• December 4th: 13 posts

• December 5th: 16 posts

• December 6th: 15 posts

• December 7th: 15 posts

• December 8th: 16 posts

• December 9th: 12 posts

• December 10th: 12 posts

• December 11th: 15 posts

• December 12th: 12 posts

• December 13th: 8 posts

• December 14th: 21 posts

• December 15th: 19 posts

• December 16th: 12 posts (so far)

Contained within are an increasingly unhinged pile of pandemic-related memes, anti-vaccination and pseudo-science rhetoric, smug grandstanding, and shilling for products from the barest of bare few companies that maintain a working relationship with him.

Interestingly enough, of those 212 posts, just seven have been flagged by Facebook’s vaunted fact-checking program as being either false or misleading.

The ones flagged as false remain active, but place a disclaimer curtain across the post that people can easily click through.

However the ones merely labelled “misleading” or “missing context” are barely touched; a banner warning is placed below the post, but not in such a way that it is immediately recognisable upon first viewing.

Across December, Evans had one post flagged by Facebook on the 1st, two on the 7th and two again the following day, and one each on the 9th and 13th.

Despite repeatedly sharing material that Facebook’s own internal systems have been flagging as either false or misleading, Evans appears to have suffered no restrictions or consequences from the platform. As his posting frequency clearly shows, he is quite free to post literally what he wants, when he wants.

That Facebook seemingly doesn’t see any of this – from a verified page with a follower count nearing 1.5 million – as much of a problem is, you’ve gotta say, extremely bloody concerning.

https://www.pedestrian.tv/online/pete-evans-qanon-anderson-cooper-cnn/

>https://qanon.pub/#344

>https://qanon.pub/#1894

>https://qanon.pub/#1901

>https://qanon.pub/#4163

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12048923 (160938ZDEC20) Notable: Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweet: Duke of York visited Nygard at his private Bahamas resort in 2000- just around the same time he was besties with Ghislaine Maxwell & Jeffrey Epstein, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: VRG_81.jpg, VRG_82.jpg

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>>181267

Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweets

Canadian Fashion Mogul Peter Nygard Indicted on Sex-Trafficking Charges - Times are changing!! Keep the monsters off the streets and away from our kids!! #SexTrafficking #ModernSlavery #EveryVoiceMatters @elizableu @pink

https://twitter.com/VRSVirginia/status/1338978571176427521

Fashion Mogul Peter Nygard Indicted on Sex-Trafficking Charges

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/15/world/canada/peter-nygard-sex-trafficking-charges.html

—

Duke of York visited Nygard at his private Bahamas resort in 2000- just around the same time he was besties with Ghislaine Maxwell & Jeffrey Epstein. I wouldn’t be surprised if they swapped victims. #TimesUp Prince Andrew- #OwnIt @jebrittan2 @KirbySommers @elizableu @SDNYnews

https://twitter.com/VRSVirginia/status/1339050752388427776

its time for change @pomeinnz

@VRSVirginia

Fashion mogul Peter Nygard is held over alleged sex-trafficking

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9057111/Fashion-mogul-Peter-Nygard-held-alleged-sex-trafficking-teenagers.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12061255 (170428ZDEC20) Notable: Cardinal Pell on Trump, Benedict XVI and a plot against him, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Cardinal_George_Pell_has_a_light_moment_during_an_interview_with_the_Associated_Press_inside_his_residence_near_the_Vatican_in_Rome_Monday_Nov_30_2020.jpg, Cardinal_George_Pell_answers_a_question_during_an_interview_with_the_Associated_Press_inside_his_residence_near_the_Vatican_in_Rome_Monday_Nov_30_2020.jpg, Cardinal_George_Pell_ponders_a_question_during_an_interview_with_the_Associated_Press_inside_his_residence_near_the_Vatican_in_Rome_Monday_Nov_30_2020.jpg

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>>181261

Cardinal Pell on Trump, Benedict XVI and a plot against him

NICOLE WINFIELD - December 16, 2020

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis’ former treasurer, Cardinal George Pell, praised President Donald Trump’s “splendid” Supreme Court appointments and defense of Christian values but questioned his effort to sow doubt in the integrity of the U.S. presidential election.

“It’s no small thing to weaken trust in great public institutions,” Pell told reporters Wednesday in launching his book, “Prison Journal,” about the 404 days he spent in solitary confinement before his sexual abuse conviction was overturned by Australia’s High Court.

In the book, Pell muses on his court case and current events in the Catholic Church and around the world, and at one point says Trump is unfortunately “a bit of a barbarian, but in some important ways, he is ‘our’ (Christian) barbarian.”

During the virtual press conference, Pell said Christians have an obligation to bring their values to the public sphere and said Trump had made a “positive contribution” particularly with his three Supreme Court picks, two of whom are Catholic.

“In other areas, I’m not sure that he’s been sufficiently respectful of the political process and it’s important that people believe they’re getting a fair go,” Pell said. “And if that’s not the case, it needs to be established very, very clearly because it’s no small thing to weaken trust in great public institutions.”

Pell left his job as prefect of the Vatican’s economy ministry in 2017 to face charges that he sexually molested two 13-year-old choir boys in the sacristy of the Melbourne cathedral in 1996. After a first jury deadlocked, a second unanimously convicted him and he was sentenced to six years in prison. The conviction was upheld on appeal only to be thrown out by Australia’s High Court, which in April unanimously found there was reasonable doubt in the testimony of his lone accuser.

Pell again suggested there was evidence — but not proof — that his prosecution was related to his work trying to reform the Vatican’s murky finances. Pell ran into stiff resistance from the Vatican’s Italian old guard during the three years he tried to impose international financial transparency, budgeting and accounting standards on the Holy See bureaucracy.

He repeated unsubstantiated and unsourced Italian media reports suggesting that money was sent from the Vatican to Australia to influence his prosecution. There is no indication an active investigation is under way in either Australia or the Vatican.

“I myself am quite confident that money did go from Rome to Australia about that time, but I’ve got no proof about where that finished up,” he said. “Another image I’ve used is there’s smoke, but we don’t have proof of fire. But I come from a bushfire country, and sometimes the entire state is covered with smoke.”

Pell said he had no intention of seeking damages from the Australian government for his incarceration and said he intended to split his time between Sydney and the Vatican, where he said he has met with many of his old collaborators and friends since returning this fall, including emeritus Pope Benedict XVI.

Pell said he believed Benedict should be made a doctor of the church one day — the church’s highest honor that is bestowed after someone is made a saint, to recognize his or her contributions to Catholic teaching.

But he said going forward, the Vatican must quickly adopt regulations governing resignations of future popes. It was a reference to the unprecedented situation of having two popes living in the Vatican, with Benedict still a point of reference for traditionalists nostalgic for his doctrinaire papacy, some of whom have refused to recognize Francis as pope.

“The unity of the church is not automatic,” Pell said. “I haven’t found a single person here in Rome who doesn’t think there must be protocols for a pope who retires. Obviously we love the popes, we have great respect for them. But the needs of the situation — the unity of the church — is on another level that goes beyond a personality.”

https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-australia-george-pell-elections-rome-229c1d267fbc81b26101dc59dfc04b49

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12061418 (170441ZDEC20) Notable: Malka Leifer set to return to Australia as Israeli minister signs extradition order, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Malka_Leifer_this_week_lost_an_appeal_at_Israel_s_Supreme_Court.jpg

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>>181263

Malka Leifer set to return to Australia as Israeli minister signs extradition order

Israel's Justice Minister said he has signed an extradition order to send former Melbourne school principal Malka Leifer back to Australia to face 74 charges of sexual abuse.

Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn said that after a years-long legal saga, it was Israel's "moral responsibility" to extradite Ms Leifer.

Mr Nissenkorn signed the order a day after Israel's Supreme Court rejected what appears to be Ms Leifer's final appeal.

Ms Leifer, an Israeli citizen, is accused of abusing three sisters during her time as headmistress of the Adass Israel School between 2001 and 2008.

She allegedly fled Australia for Israel in 2008 when she learned the women were planning to file a complaint with police.

Australia lodged an extradition request for Ms Leifer in 2014, but the case has been repeatedly delayed.

In January, a panel of psychiatrists concluded the 54-year-old was faking her mental illness to avoid extradition, which led to the finding in Israel's District Court.

Ms Leifer maintains her innocence and the six-year legal battle surrounding her extradition has strained relations between Israel and Australia.

Mr Nissenkorn did not announce an extradition date.

But Manny Waks, an activist who has represented the victims, said he expected it to take place within 60 days.

"An amazing day for justice!" he tweeted.

Nick Kaufman, a lawyer for Ms Leifer, accused the Israeli Justice Minister of acting hastily.

"The Minister of Justice was meant to exercise his discretion in a considered manner after hearing submissions from the defence and not impetuously in a flagrant attempt to appeal to popular sentiment," he said in a statement.

Mr Kaufman said Ms Leifer would not appeal the decision, but would seek to serve her sentence in Israel if she is convicted in Australia.

"By then, we can only hope to deal with a new minister of justice who will adopt a different attitude to the basic principles of due process and look favourably on such a request," Mr Kaufman said.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-17/malka-leifer-to-return-to-australia-as-israel-signs-extradition/12992346

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12061443 (170444ZDEC20) Notable: Dassi Erlich Tweet: 9 LONG YEARS TO WRITE THESE WORDS...The extradition order has been signed, there are no more appeals. Leifer is coming back to Australia. NOW, IT'S NOT ABOUT IF - BUT WHEN., MISSING MEDIA/FILES: DE_64.jpg, EpYv9sHU0AEWQHa.jpg

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>>181263

Dassi Erlich Tweet

9 LONG YEARS TO WRITE THESE WORDS....

The extradition order has been signed, there are no more appeals.

Leifer is coming back to Australia.

NOW, IT'S NOT ABOUT IF - BUT WHEN.

https://twitter.com/dassi_erlich/status/1339310678197239808

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12061760 (170513ZDEC20) Notable: China's treatment of Australia is a 'sign of things to come' for world, says John Bolton, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Former_US_National_security_adviser_John_Bolton.jpg

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China's treatment of Australia is a 'sign of things to come' for world, says John Bolton

London: Donald Trump's former national security adviser John Bolton says the way China is treating Australia is a "sign of things to come" for the rest of the world.

Bolton was speaking to the Henry Jackson Society, a Westminster think tank which takes a hawkish line on China, on Thursday morning AEDT.

Describing China as "the existential international affairs question for all of us for the 21st century", Bolton was asked by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age how the West could respond to China's increasing economic and diplomatic aggression toward Australia.

"The way China has treated Australia has been a clear effort to intimidate them and, by brute force, get them to back away [from calling for an inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic,]" Bolton said.

China was trying to separate Australia from its strategic ally the United States, just as it had attempted to do with Canada, when it detained the two Michaels more than two years ago, following the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver, at the United States request, Bolton said.

"It was obviously intended to split Canada from the United States, to split Australia from the United States."

"This is the way China behaves now. How are they going to behave when they become more powerful? This is a sign of things to come."

He said the West should be "emulating" China and producing a long-term strategy exploiting Beijing's dependence on energy.

He apologised for the Trump Administration's failure to make enough progress on this work and agreed that President-elect Joe Biden was better suited to the task.

"I think Trump was congenitally unable to do that sort of coalition building. I think Biden is probably better at it."

"We've got to act now, we can't really waste any more time. It's an opportunity for Biden but it's a big test for him too."

China has hit Australia with huge tariffs on barley and wine and banned coal imports, as well as stopped lobster imports from Australia ever since Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for an inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.

Embassy officials in Canberra produced a list of 14 grievances they gave to Nine journalists that they said were the reason the bilateral relationship has broken down. At the same time, Chinese officials have refused to accept phone calls from the Australian government.

The 14 point list included Australia's world-leading Huawei ban which Bolton said the West was grateful to Australia and New Zealand for, as they were the first to identify the threat the Chinese firm could pose to 5G networks.

The World Health Organisation has begun investigations into the source of the virus which emerged in Wuhan, China but Bolton said he doubted the truth would ever be known because of Beijing's cover-up.

Bolton backed the idea of demanding China pay for some of the trillions of dollars in costs incurred by governments in trying to fight the virus which originated in Wuhan, China, possibly by funding some of the cost of vaccinating the world's population.

Bolton, a loyal Republican who fell out with Trump after a year-and-a-half as his national security adviser, has a reputation not just for his hawkish foreign policy views but willingness to speak frankly about the shortcomings of the President he served.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/china-s-treatment-of-australia-is-a-sign-of-things-to-come-for-world-says-john-bolton-20201217-p56o62.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12076653 (180839ZDEC20) Notable: US Department of State - Press Readout - Secretary Pompeo’s Call with Australian Foreign Minister Payne, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Foreign_Minister_Marise_Payne_and_US_Secretary_of_State_Mike_Pompeo_are_worried_about_China_s_escalating_threats_to_their_economies.jpg, Secretary_Pompeo_s_Call_with_Australian_Foreign_Minister_Payne.jpg

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Payne, Pompeo discuss China’s ‘escalating threats’

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne and outgoing US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have emphasised the need for a co-ordinated response to China’s “escalating threats” to the economies of both countries amid Beijing’s campaign against Australian exporters.

The conversation between Senator Payne and Mr Pompeo on Thursday night came as trade experts said the US may support Australia’s challenge to China’s punitive tariffs on barley at the World Trade Organisation.

Chinese officials have also been forced on the defensive about electricity rationing in some provinces that are affecting households and industrial consumers, in the wake of a ban on Australian coal imports.

China’s top economic planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, said on Thursday there had been a “faster than expected growth in power demand” because of cold weather and higher industrial use.

But it claimed power stations had 21 days’ supply, amid a surging spot price.

Australian coal mines normally supply 20 per cent of China’s imported thermal coal, according to resources analyst Wood Mackenzie.

“China’s thermal coal market is in chaos, with prices rocketing after daily price index releases were suspended on December 3,” the analyst said in a note to clients this week.

“We believe there is little scope for increased production from Chinese producers and thermal coal prices will remain high through the peak winter demand period.”

Rare criticism

The power shortages have attracted rare criticism on Chinese social media, with one blogger saying the Chinese government’s sanctioning of Australian goods was actually hurting Chinese consumers.

“Some politicians are so dumb. In fact, we can’t afford a disrupted relationship with Australia because all the goods we imported from Australia, such as coal, iron ore, beef, wine and grain, are very important,” the post published on Weibo said.

“Why Chinese politicians take sanction measures wilfully just because Australian politicians made some unpleasant remarks? We should understand that these Australian politicians’ remarks don’t make any difference to the life of Australians but it does affect the daily life of Chinese citizens. This is to kill 10,000 of our soldiers while removing 1000 enemy soldiers.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison this week said China’s reported ban on Australian coal, if true, was an “obvious” breach under its China-Australia Free Trade Agreement and World Trade Organisation obligations.

In what could be their final conversation before Mr Pompeo’s tenure ends on January 20, he and Senator Payne discussed China’s use of trade sanctions against Australia.

This included “our ongoing co-ordination to counter the escalating threats from the PRC to our economies”, according to a readout supplied by the US State Department.

There has been speculation Western nations including the Five Eyes group could offer mutual support to each other when China threatens trade from one member by agreeing to buy more from the affected country and not filling the gap.

Senator Payne and Mr Pompeo also spoke about the growing importance of the quadrilateral relationship between Australia, the US, Japan and India to advance a “free, open and inclusive” Indo-Pacific region.

Research director for Perth’s USAsia Centre, Jeffrey Wilson, said he expected the US would file an amicus curiae brief backing Australia in its fight against China at the WTO over its 80 per cent anti-dumping tariffs on $600 million of barley sales.

“This is not about Australia or barley any more,” he said. “It’s actually about Chinese exceptionalism and the question is are they bound to core WTO rules that have been developed and refined over the last 70 years or can they make stuff up?”

https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/payne-pompeo-discuss-china-s-escalating-threats-20201218-p56opu

—

Secretary Pompeo’s Call with Australian Foreign Minister Payne

READOUT

OFFICE OF THE SPOKESPERSON

DECEMBER 17, 2020

The following is attributable to Principal Deputy Spokesperson Cale Brown:

Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo spoke today with Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne. During the call, Secretary Pompeo and the Foreign Minister Payne reaffirmed the strength of the U.S.-Australia Alliance, which is based on shared values of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law, common strategic interests, and our enduring “mateship.” The Secretary and the Foreign Minister also discussed the growing importance of the Quad’s collective efforts to advance a free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific region, and our ongoing coordination to counter the escalating threats from the PRC to our economies.

https://www.state.gov/secretary-pompeos-call-with-australian-foreign-minister-payne-2/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12076658 (180840ZDEC20) Notable: Foreign Minister Marise Payne Tweet: My friend @SecPompeo has been a vital partner to Australia as we have addressed the challenges across our region, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: SSMP_10.jpg, FMMP_8.jpg

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>>181907

Secretary of State Michael Pompeo Tweet

It was a pleasure speaking today with Australian Foreign Minister @MarisePayne. The U.S.-Australia Alliance is strong and our collective work in the Quad is increasingly critical as we seek to build a free and open Indo-Pacific region.

https://twitter.com/SecPompeo/status/1339663109745729536

—

Foreign Minister Marise Payne Tweet

My friend @SecPompeo has been a vital partner to Australia as we have addressed the challenges across our region. We spoke tonight, reflecting on the values we share, how our Alliance has grown & the critical role it will continue to play in regional security & prosperity.

https://twitter.com/MarisePayne/status/1339554529612709888

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12087393 (190334ZDEC20) Notable: Catholic Church loses appeal over 1996 sexual abuse settlement with victim of pedophile priest Daniel Hourigan, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: The_Catholic_Church_has_failed_to_stop_a_sexual_abuse_survivor_suing_over_his_1996_settlement.jpg

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Church loses abuse settlement appeal

The Catholic Church has failed to overturn a landmark court decision meaning it can be sued by a Victorian sexual abuse survivor.

The former altar boy earlier this year became the first Australian to overturn a settlement with the church in the state's Supreme Court.

The survivor received $32,500 in 1996 after taking legal action against the church. The Court of Appeal has agreed it was not enough given the wrong done to the man.

He was abused from the age of 12 by Warragul priest Daniel Hourigan, between 1977 and 1980. The priest took his own life after being charged.

"It is, in our view, very plainly just and reasonable to set aside the (1996) deed. Indeed, it would positively be unjust and unreasonable not to do so," appeal justices David Beach, Stephen Kaye and Robert Osborn said in their decision on Friday.

This means the survivor can press ahead with seeking damages for psychiatric injury including severe post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety.

A trial date had been set down for November but this was delayed because of the church's appeal.

Rightside Legal, which represents the man, hopes the trial can go ahead in early 2021.

"No doubt the church will trot out the same second-rate press release saying they feel for the victim and they have changed," senior associate Laird Macdonald said.

"That is obvious rubbish. The church went to the highest court in Victoria trying to justify a pittance it paid to a man whose life was ripped to shreds by a pedophile priest."

The church first learnt of Hourigan's abuse in 1986. It did not tell the police but acknowledged the abuse to its own insurer in 1992.

Hourigan was charged in 1995 with rape, indecent assault, gross indecency and the sexual penetration of a person between the ages of 10 and 16 relating to a number of victims.

He took his life three days later.

The church entered into a deed of release with the survivor now suing it, but only after denying in court that Hourigan perpetrated the abuse while working at the Sale Diocese.

Sale Bishop Greg Bennet said he acknowledged "the enduring trauma experienced by victims of child abuse through the Catholic Church over many years".

"We pledge to provide pathways for survivors and their families to have their experiences respectfully heard, and to redress the harm with practical as well as pastoral means that are determined by the survivor's needs," he said.

Lifeline 13 11 14

https://www.lifeline.org.au/

beyondblue 1300 22 4636

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/

https://thewest.com.au/news/crime/church-loses-abuse-settlement-appeal-ng-s-2042597

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12087817 (190412ZDEC20) Notable: It’s time to declassify the information on Australia’s role in sending in informants and operatives before the investigation “launch date.”, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: GP_286.jpg, GP_287.jpg

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George Papadopoulos Tweets

Materials released today prove that the “investigations” were launched earlier than July 2016. The focus now is on how foreign governments (Australia/UK) worked with the State Department to set up a conspiracy against the campaign. March-April 16 activity critical in London.

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1339656589930766336

—

It’s time to declassify the information on Australia’s role in sending in informants and operatives before the investigation “launch date.” The activity in London between March-April 2016 is critical. We have the info the probe started before. Now need the materials public

https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1340021275322814464

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12088511 (190523ZDEC20) Notable: Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweet: I appeal for our survivor sisters in France, Spain, Brazil & Eastern Europe to come forward. You will not be alone. We are stronger together, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: VRG_83.jpg, VRG_84.jpg, VRG_85.jpg, A_protester_holds_up_a_photo_of_Jeffrey_Epstein_in_front_of_the_federal_courthouse_on_July_8_2019_in_New_York.jpg

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Virginia Roberts Giuffre Tweets

Thankful for all the authorities who helped in amass take down the top tier of the sex trafficking ring ran by Epstein, Maxwell & Brunel. Today are streets are a bit safer.

https://twitter.com/VRSVirginia/status/1339726094207918080

Modeling agent Jean Luc Brunel arrested in Paris in Epstein probe

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/modeling-agent-jean-luc-brunel-arrested-paris-epstein-probe-n1251589

—

It was great working with the French authorities to help take down JLB- This piggy will roll over on EVERYONE to save his own bacon,Those who participated in this sex trafficking ring should be worried, you know who you are!Who’s next? Could be anyone! #BREAKING #EnoughIsEnough

https://twitter.com/VRSVirginia/status/1339728184380559361

Arren J @ggbrokensilence

Two in one week! Nygard and now Jean-Luc Brunel, that's a heaping helping of hellllllllllllll yes!

—

Let’s hope the authorities take it seriously this time. The amount of ruined lives Jean Luc made happen is in the 1000’s. I appeal for our survivor sisters in France, Spain, Brazil & Eastern Europe to come forward. You will not be alone. We are stronger together #Metoo #Enough

https://twitter.com/VRSVirginia/status/1339868230345654273

Kirby Sommers author, feminist, sex slave survivor @KirbySommers

Jean-Luc Brunel, Claude Haddid and John Casablances regularly forced themselves sexually on 12-year-old girls (aka rape).

Everyone in the modeling industry knew.

No one did anything.

—

Modeling agent Jean Luc Brunel arrested in Paris in Epstein probe

Brunel was arrested Wednesday morning at Charles de Gaulle airport as he was attempting to board a plane to Dakar, Senegal.

French modeling agent Jean Luc Brunel has been detained in Paris in connection with an investigation of Jeffrey Epstein’s circle of enablers, according to French prosecutors.

Brunel was arrested Wednesday morning at Charles de Gaulle airport as he was attempting to board a plane to Dakar, Senegal. He was being held for questioning on suspicion of providing underage girls from his modeling agency for Epstein to sexually abuse.

Brunel was facing several charges, including rape, sexual assault of a minor, and trafficking of minors, according to the prosecutor’s office in Paris.

He was taken into custody after he showed his passport and airport authorities noticed that he was identified in an immigration system as being wanted for questioning by the national police, according to a French police source.

An attorney for Brunel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Brunel has previously denied any wrongdoing in a 2015 lawsuit against Epstein in which he alleged the “adverse publicity” surrounding the financier had damaged his reputation.

The arrest comes more than a year after Paris prosecutors opened an investigation into sexual abuse linked to Epstein and his possible accomplices.

One Epstein accuser, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, said she was also abused by Brunel. Giuffre claimed in a 2016 deposition made public last year that Epstein and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell had directed her to provide sexual services for Brunel.

Speaking to NBC’s “Dateline” in a special that aired last September, Giuffre said Epstein told her he slept with “over a thousand women that Brunel brought in.”

Epstein died by suicide inside a New York jail in August 2019 while he was awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.

Maxwell, his longtime confidante, was arrested in July and remains jailed in New York.

Prosecutors say she helped the disgraced financier sexually abuse young girls in the mid-1990s and participated in some of the abuse herself. She has pleaded not guilty to charges of enticing a minor to travel to engage in criminal sexual activity and perjury.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/modeling-agent-jean-luc-brunel-arrested-paris-epstein-probe-n1251589

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12089065 (190636ZDEC20) Notable: Video: QAnon Anonymous - We were given exclusive access to a ‘QAnon Anonymous’ meeting – for people addicted to insane conspiracy theories - The Shovel

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QAnon Anonymous

The Shovel

17 Dec 2020

We were given exclusive access to a ‘QAnon Anonymous’ meeting – for people addicted to insane conspiracy theories, including … wait for it …

This sketch is part of the War On 2020 series, a collaboration between Chaser Digital, The Shovel and a whole heap of other talented writers and performers. This sketch was written by James Schloeffel from The Shovel and directed by Victoria Zerbst. It features Sami Shah, Cameron James, Zoe Norton Lodge, Nina Oyama, Nat Damena, Jenna Owen, Charles Firth and James Schloeffel.

Want more? Go to www.theshovel.com.au

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgsRzTxzC0U

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12090253 (191027ZDEC20) Notable: Video: Kevin Rudd hosts Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in an online forum, Australia warned to not become part of US-led "coalition against China"

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Beijing's new warning for Australia as it calls for 'change' from US

Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has hosted Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in an online forum, where Australia was warned to not become part of a US-led "coalition against China".

Mr Wang blamed the US for the bitter trade war and crumbling relationship between the two superpowers that has the world on edge.

He said the relationship between China and the US was at "the lowest level since the establishment of diplomatic ties 41 years ago", and called on President-Elect Joe Biden to change course.

"It is important that the US, toward China, return to objectivity as early as possible," Mr Wang said.

"China was bullied by western powers (but) those days are long gone."

Mr Wang pointed towards US (and Western) concerns over the contested South China Sea, human rights issues in Xinjiang, and Chinese companies being blacklisted by Washington over national security concerns, saying such things were "unacceptable".

The message for change echoed similar sentiments to Beijing's list of 14 grievances with Australia, which 9News initially reported on recently.

An embassy official told 9News relations with Australia would improve if the Morrison government reversed key policy decisions.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has so far refused, saying, "Australia's sovereignty is never for sale".

China has progressively established tariffs on Australian imports, including wine, beef, lamb and coal.

The relationship between the two countries hit a nadir after a Chinese government spokesperson posted a doctored image of an Australian soldier appearing to slit the throat of an Afghani child.

Mr Morrison demanded an apology and was rebuffed, with the stoush attracting international attention.

Mr Rudd said, however, that in the feud between the US and China, concessions would need to be made.

"Both the US and China will have to change some of their policy positions at present if we are to have a common future," he said.

https://www.9news.com.au/national/china-us-tensions-australia-told-not-to-become-part-of-coalition/da474d5a-9969-4d4b-b322-c2522d104670

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvoDkmvBxDQ

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12090289 (191034ZDEC20) Notable: Video: China: State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi, introduced by Asia Society Policy Institute President Kevin Rudd

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>>181915

China: State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi

Asia Society

18 Dec 2020

Wang Yi, State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China will deliver an address. He will be introduced by Asia Society Policy Institute President Kevin Rudd.

To learn more visit: https://asiasociety.org/new-york/events/china-state-councilor-and-minister-foreign-affairs-wang-yi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9c1tPn-Kic

—

China: State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi

Special Event

Asia Society and the Asia Society Policy Institute are pleased to host His Excellency Wang Yi, State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, for a special address. The minister will be introduced by the Hon. Kevin Rudd, President of the Asia Society Policy Institute and former Prime Minister of Australia.

Speakers

H.E. Wang Yi is State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China. He is a member of the 19th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and a member of the Leading CPC Members Group. Previously, he was the Minister and Deputy Secretary of the CPC Committee at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) (2013-2018), Director of the Taiwan Work Office of the CPC Central Committee and Minister of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council (2008-2013), Secretary of the CPC Committee and Vice Minister at the MFA (2007-2008), and Ambassador to Japan (2004-2007), among many other positions at the MFA. He also served as Director General of the Department of Asian Affairs at the MFA (1995-1998), when he also served as a Visiting Scholar at Georgetown University (June 1997-January 1998). He is a graduate from the Department of Asian and African Languages of Beijing Second Foreign Languages Institute where he completed an undergraduate program in Japanese, and he also holds a Master of Economics degree.

The Hon. Kevin Rudd AC is inaugural President of the Asia Society Policy Institute. He served as 26th Prime Minister of Australia (2007 to 2010, 2013) and as Foreign Minister (2010 to 2012). He is Chair of the Board of the International Peace Institute in New York, and Chair of Sanitation and Water for All – a global partnership of government and non-governmental organizations dedicated to the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 6. He is a Distinguished Fellow at Chatham House and the Paulson Institute, and a Distinguished Statesman with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He is also a member of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization’s Group of Eminent Persons.

https://asiasociety.org/new-york/events/china-state-councilor-and-minister-foreign-affairs-wang-yi

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12096629 (192249ZDEC20) Notable: Video: Tucker Carlson Defends Julian Assange’s Journalism as Pardon Campaign Grows

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Tucker Carlson Defends Julian Assange’s Journalism as Pardon Campaign Grows

Amid a growing campaign for the pardon of Julian Assange, Tucker Carlson hosted the WikiLeaks founder’s fiancée, Stella Morris, on his Fox News Channel show last night to make the case for his pardon.

In her comments to Tucker, Morris said that if Assange were extradited to the United States, it would put the WikiLeaks founder at the mercy of the foreign policy Deep State, which worked tirelessly to undermine President Trump’s authority over the past four years.

Morris urged Trump to exercise his legal authority to issue a pre-emptive pardon to Assange to keep him out of the hands of the Deep State.

“Once he [Assange] gets to the U.S. he will be in the hands of the Deep State. That’s why I pleaded with the President to show the mercy the Deep State will not show Julian if he is extradited,” she said.

Carlson defended the work of the WikiLeaks founder as legitimate journalism, a point that has also been made by President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.

Lawyer Alan Dershowitz has also argued that there is “no constitutional difference” between WikiLeaks and the New York Times.

“Whatever you think of Julian Assange and what he did, he is effectively a journalist. He took information and he put it in a place the public could read it,” said Tucker.

“One of the striking things about this case is that he is in jail because he released documents — which he did not steal, he simply provided a platform for those documents — that showed the U.S. government was illegally spying on me, and everybody else in this country,” Carlson continued.

“350 million Americans illegally spied upon by their government. Now, the people who did that — Clapper, Brennan, people who knew about it, participated in it, they are not being punished. But the guy who revealed that they were doing it is.”

“For what it’s worth, I think the President probably does want to pardon him,” said Tucker as he wrapped up the segment.

“I think there are a lot of sinister people who don’t want the pardon to happen.”

Despite staunch opposition from the deep state and foreign policy establishment, pardoning Assange has bipartisan support.

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), a defender of President Trump’s foreign policy and a critic of the Deep State, urged a pardon for both Assange and NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Both, said Rep. Gabbard, helped expose “the deception and criminality of those in the deep state.

Snowden indicated that Assange should have priority with regards to a presidential pardon.

“Mr. President, if you grant only one act of clemency during your time in office, please: free Julian Assange,” said Snowden.

“You alone can save his life.”

https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2020/12/17/tucker-carlson-defends-julian-assanges-journalism-as-pardon-campaign-grows/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U68BClYNwco

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12096649 (192251ZDEC20) Notable: Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin: Julian Assange Deserves a Pardon

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Sarah Palin: Julian Assange Deserves a Pardon

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin added her voice to the growing chorus of conservative figures favoring a pardon of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

“I made a mistake some years ago, not supporting Julian Assange — thinking that he was a bad guy… I’ve learned a lot since then,” said Palin in a short video posted online.

WikiLeaks and Palin were once at odds, the former publishing leaked emails from the latter during the 2008 presidential campaign when Palin was the Republican candidate for vice president.

But Palin appears to have moved on from that incident, offering an unequivocal call for President Donald Trump to use the presidential pardon on behalf of Assange.

Palin said that Assange ultimately worked “on the people’s behalf to allow information to get to us so that we could make up our minds about different issues.”

“He deserves a pardon. He deserves all of us to understand more about what he has done in the name of real journalism, and that’s getting to the bottom of issues that the public really needs to hear about and benefit from,” said the former Alaska governor.

Palin joins a range of figures from across the political spectrum calling for Assange to be pardoned. These include Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), and congresswoman-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican who will represent Georgia’s 14th district in the next U.S. Congress.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson has also weighed in, defending the work of WikiLeaks as legitimate journalism. In a segment on Carlson’s show, Assange’s fiancée, Stella Morris, urged President Trump not to let Assange fall into the hands of the deep state.

“Once he [Assange] gets to the U.S. he will be in the hands of the Deep State. That’s why I pleaded with the President to show the mercy the Deep State will not show Julian if he is extradited,” said Morris.

Lawyer Alan Dershowitz has also argued that there is “no constitutional difference” between WikiLeaks and the New York Times, comparing the WikiLeaks case to that of the Pentagon Papers in the 1970s.

The same comparison was made by the President’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who called the case of Assange a “First Amendment issue.”

“It is stolen property, but it has a different nature when it’s information. Let’s take the Pentagon Papers — the Pentagon Papers were stolen property, weren’t they? They were stolen from the Pentagon!” said Giuliani in a segment on Fox & Friends. “Given to the New York Times and the Washington Post. No one went to jail at the New York Times or Washington Post.”

“We’ve had revelations under the Bush administration… Abu Ghraib, all of that is stolen property, taken from the government against the law.”

“Once it gets to a media publication, they can publish it. They can publish it for the purpose of informing people.”

“You can’t put Assange in a different position than that — he was a guy who communicated. We may not like what he communicated, but he was a media facility. He was putting that information out. Every newspaper, station, grabbed it and published it.”

https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2020/12/19/sarah-palin-julian-assange-deserves-a-pardon/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h-KLfmgRwk

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12096762 (192302ZDEC20) Notable: Why Cardinal Pell’s prison diaries are an inspiring read - Piers Akerman - dailytelegraph.com.au, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Cardinal_George_Pell_s_faith_and_resolve_only_strengthened_during_his_ordeal.jpg, Australian_Cardinal_George_Pell_attends_a_Pope_s_Mass_with_new_cardinals_at_St_Peter_s_basilica_in_The_Vatican.jpg

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Why Cardinal Pell’s prison diaries are an inspiring read

Cardinal ­George Pell’s prison diary may not sound like an uplifting read, but its narrative reveals a man who has grown, transcended even, through his trials.

Piers Akerman - December 19, 2020

A prison diary may not seem like cheery Christmas reading but the first volume of Cardinal ­George Pell’s Prison Journal trilogy is that and more, it’s a tonic, an inspiration and an instruction in humanity and decency in the face of adversity.

Cardinal Pell, now in Rome, spent more than 400 days in solitary confinement after suffering at the hands of the Victorian government’s police and ­judiciary.

It took his final appeal to the High Court nearly nine months ago to ­endorse the view of a single member, Justice Mark Weinberg, of that state’s three-member Court of Appeal, that the cardinal was innocent.

Lesser men than George Pell might well have despaired in the face of the outrageous reporting by the ABC and the Nine Media of the clearly implausible charges, the incomprehensible claims made by the police and prosecution, and the flawed findings of the Victorian Supreme Court but the cardinal’s faith and resolve only strengthened during his ordeal.

It was a truly shameful episode for the Victorian police, already deeply compromised by their corrupt ­engagement of Lawyer X, Nicola Gobbo, as an informant while she was acting as counsel for a number of ­alleged criminals.

Equally grotesque was the decision by Melbourne University Press to rush into print with a disgraceful book by former Moove milk model Louise Milligan, who was disgustingly promoted by the taxpayer-funded ABC and even presented with a Melbourne Press Club Golden Quill award and the Walkley Book award for her work titled Cardinal: The Rise And Fall Of George Pell.

A narrative which has had to be ­corrected and should — if MUP and Milligan had a skerrick of the integrity of Cardinal Pell — be withdrawn with apologies.

Knowing he was innocent, finding solace in his actual suffering, and ­greatly supported by friends and ­family, the cardinal has grown, transcended even, through his trials. I asked him early on Thursday via a Zoom conference, whether he intended to pursue the Victorian government for wrongful or malicious prosecution and whether he would seek damages for the defamatory claims made against him by the Left-wing media, but he told me he would not.

Now 79, he is more focused on the positive experiences he found in prison.

He has, he said, been delighted with the progress on the inquiries into the Vatican finances, which he led before the false charges were laid against him.

The climate for reform is now very different from when he took on the challenge in the face of great ­resistance from powerful forces within the Church.

However, he believes there may have been a connection between his work on reforming Vatican finances and the prosecution though he is clear that there is no proof that money from Rome was used to pervert the course of justice.

“What we can say is that one of the monsignors quoted in the Italian press has said he has seen evidence of money going from Rome to Australia,” he added.

The most depressing thing, he found, was that the Supreme Court of Victoria found that he was guilty when great legal minds around the world pointed out the numerous flaws and fallacies in the case.

He believes that the Victorian police were either duped or that their work was very sloppy and said he had been told the Office of Public Prosecutions had refused three times to consent to the charges going forward and that the gossip was that the Victorian police took the action themselves and paid for the prosecution out of their budget.

Just as the disgraced Gobbo was paid to breach lawyer-client confidentiality to provide Victorian police with information and convictions.

The cardinal said there was a point of view, which he supported, that there was a current of anti-Catholicism ­running through the whole state like osmosis. Through the Labor government, the police, the legal framework, inducing a state of mind which affected even some members of the conservative ­Opposition.

He called it “woke thinking”, or “Green thinking” and said there was a need for greater social conservatism.

On that point, the thousands of ­people who wrote letters of support to Cardinal Pell during his shameful per­iod of imprisonment could only agree.

Merry Christmas. Be uplifted.

Cardinal George Pell: Prison ­Journal Volume 1 is available through Freedom Publishing Books and Ignatius Press.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/why-cardinal-pells-prison-diaries-are-an-inspiring-read/news-story/30ce9b238a277dc51efaa12c11c5e846

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12098003 (200104ZDEC20) Notable: The damage Donald Trump is doing may never be undone - Troy Bramston - theaustralian.com.au, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: US_President_Donald_Trump_speaks_with_former_President_Barack_Obama_and_former_Vice_President_Joe_Biden_during_his_inauguration_ceremony_at_the_US_Capitol_in_Washington_DC_in_2016.jpg

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The damage Donald Trump is doing may never be undone

TROY BRAMSTON - DECEMBER 19, 2020

1/2

Donald Trump’s refusal to accept that he lost the presidential election, his failure to concede to Joe Biden and his many attempts to overturn the result is more than just the deranged and demented actions of a sore loser. It is a repudiation of the grand American tradition of a dignified and graceful transfer of power.

It is convention for the defeated candidate to accept the election outcome, congratulate their opponent, wish them well, and call on their supporters to do the same.

This is a heavy responsibility that every defeated candidate in the past century has readily embraced. And it is fundamental to bringing the country together after an election and legitimising the new president.

Al Smith gave the first radio concession speech in 1928, and Adlai Stevenson gave the first on television in 1952. Some of the greatest speeches have been delivered by candidates in the crucible of defeat, still hurting and disappointed. It usually takes place on election night or in the days or weeks after election day. Trump has not given any such speech.

There is also the customary private phone call between the victor and the vanquished. It requires humility. This convention began with William Jennings Bryan who sent a congratulatory telegram to William McKinley in 1896. There has been no such gracious message or phone call from Trump to Biden.

Then there is the meeting between the incoming and outgoing president. The media are invited to record for history the handshake that is emblematic of a change of government conducted in a spirit of goodwill. Barack Obama invited Trump to the White House in 2016. Biden has not received his invitation. Biden did, however, meet with incoming Vice-President Mike Pence four years ago.

Nor has there been top-level co-operation between the Biden-Harris transition team and the White House. This custom was started by Harry Truman who invited Dwight D. Eisenhower to send his staff and cabinet members to meet his team in 1952. Jimmy Carter — a one-term president like Trump — sent this message to Ronald Reagan in 1980: “I congratulate you and I pledge to you our fullest support and co-operation in bringing about an orderly transition of government.”

Then there is the traditional letter left on the Resolute Desk for the incoming president. Reagan wrote to George H.W. Bush in 1989: “(I) wish you all the very best. You’ll be in my prayers.” Bush wrote to Bill Clinton in 1993: “Your success now is our country’s success. I am rooting hard for you.” Clinton wrote to George W. Bush in 2001: “I salute you and wish you success and much happiness.” Bush wrote to Obama in 2009: “You will have … a country that is pulling for you, including me.” And Obama wrote to Trump in 2017: “Michelle and I wish you and Melania the very best … we stand ready to help in any ways which we can.”

Will Trump pen such a letter to Biden? Not a chance.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12113376 (210602ZDEC20) Notable: BBC Radio 4: Cardinal Pell's prison journal - The man who was once the third most powerful person in the Catholic Church reflects on his time in jail, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Australian_Cardinal_Pell_talks_about_his_time_in_jail_and_his_future_plans_in_Rome.jpg

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Cardinal Pell claims public opinion turned against him because of his 'conservative views'

The former Vatican treasurer also likened jail to being in seminary

Cardinal Pell has said that his “conservative views” turned public opinion against him, as he likened being in prison to being in seminary.

The 79-year-old former Vatican treasurer, who was one of the Pope’s most senior advisors, left the Vatican in 2017 to fight criminal charges in Australia.

However in December 2018 the cardinal, who always maintained his innocence, was convicted of sexually molesting two choirboys in Melbourne cathedral in the mid-1990s. He was the highest-ranking Catholic figure to receive such a conviction and the case rocked the church.

He spent 404 days in prison – much of it in solitary confinement – while his conviction was upheld by the Court of Appeal, before the Australian High Court unanimously overthrew it in April this year.

In his first broadcast interview in the UK following his release, Cardinal Pell said he would not apologise for his conservative views, but had said sorry "many times" for the Church's crimes of sexual abuse.

The Australian cleric rose in prominence as a strong supporter of traditional Catholic values, often taking conservative views and advocating for priestly celibacy.

He was asked if he accepted any responsibility regarding public anger with the Catholic Church at the time of his trial.

In response, he told BBC's Radio 4's Sunday programme: “Public opinion was very hostile to the Catholic Church both because of the extent of the paedophilia, [and] the way it was sometimes dealt with….

“The atmosphere was hostile, I was certainly one of the figures identified with this old bad church.”

He also said there was "no doubt" that his direct style and traditional approach to issues such as abortion had contributed to a hostile atmosphere.

He added: “I think my style is rather direct. I think there's no doubt whatsoever that my social conservatism, the fact that I actually defend christian teachings on life, family, seuxality, beginning and end of life, I think there's no doubt this is irritating to a lot of people.

“My direct style probably contributed, but for my basic Christian positions I make no apology at all, although I've many times apologised for the crimes committed by church people.”

He said that while he regretted what had happened within the Church, he was "able to sleep quite well on most occasions".

"I deeply lament the suffering of so many people, but I am also proud of the efforts that we have made in Australia for over 25 years - as inadequate as those might have been."

Cardinal Pell also likened his time in segregation in prison to being in a seminary, where those training to be priests used to endure periods of silence and isolation.

In his new book, Prison Journal, which marks the first volume of his prison diaries, the Cardinal reflects on being accused and imprisoned, and on the wider meaning of suffering in Christianity.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/12/20/cardinal-pell-claims-public-opinion-turned-against-conservative/

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BBC Radio 4 - Sunday

Cardinal Pell's prison journal

In 2019 Cardinal George Pell was sentenced to six years in prison for 'historical sexual assault offences'. Earlier this year the Australian High Court voted 7-0 to overturn the original convictions. In a frank interview, the man who was once the third most powerful person in the Catholic Church reflects on his time inside jail, what he feels about his past handling of abuse allegations and the man whose accusations put him behind bars for 404 days.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000qhft

22:40

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12113707 (210645ZDEC20) Notable: Ben Roberts-Smith pictured cheering soldiers drinking from the prosthetic leg of a man he shot, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: SAS_soldier_Ben_Roberts_Smith_carousing_with_US_soldiers_and_a_prosthetic_leg_taken_from_an_Afghan_man_whom_he_killed_The_leg_was_used_as_a_beer_drinking_vessel_at_the_SAS_base_in_Afghanistan_and_was_known_as_Das_Boot_.jpg, Mr_Roberts_Smith_s_lawyer_told_the_Federal_Court_last_year_his_client_had_been_disgusted_about_the_use_of_the_leg_as_a_beer_drinking_vessel.jpg

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Ben Roberts-Smith pictured cheering soldiers drinking from the prosthetic leg of a man he shot

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Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith was photographed cheering on an American soldier drinking from the prosthetic leg of a suspected Afghan militant whose death is now the subject of a war crimes investigation into the war hero.

The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald have obtained two photographs that show Mr Roberts-Smith, the country’s most decorated living soldier, posing with the prosthetic leg which was used as a novelty drinking vessel.

The photographs appear at odds with claims made by Mr Roberts-Smith’s lawyer in the Federal Court last year that the war hero was utterly disgusted by the use of the leg as a drinking vessel. Lawyer Bruce McClintock stressed Mr Roberts-Smith “never drank from that thing … Because he thought it was disgusting to souvenir a body part, albeit an artificial one from someone who had been killed in action."

Mr McClintock also told the Federal Court Mr Roberts-Smith had been the one who had killed the disabled Afghan militant, saying he was a member of the Taliban. That killing is suspected by police to be an execution and is now the subject of an Australian Federal Police war crimes inquiry and a preliminary prosecution brief of evidence.

The first photo depicts Mr Roberts-Smith some time after the killing in 2009 fist-pumping as an American soldier drinks a beer from the leg in a makeshift Afghan bar known as the Fat Lady’s Arms set up inside Australia’s special forces base in Tarin Kowt.

In the other photo Mr Roberts-Smith is seen grinning with his arm draped around a different US soldier wearing a cowboy hat and posing with the prosthetic leg.

The Age and Herald reported two years ago that the leg had been removed from a dead Afghan by another soldier in March 2009 and had been taken to use as a beer drinking vessel. In 2018, The Age and Herald reported how the leg was sometimes mounted on a wooden plaque with an Iron Cross and the heading “Das Boot”.

The fake limb gained further notoriety earlier this month when photos of soldiers and non-commissioned officers drinking from it were leaked to The Guardian. The photos supplied to The Guardian did not include any images of Mr Roberts-Smith posing with the leg.

Multiple official sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigations are ongoing, have told The Age and Herald Mr Roberts-Smith will face fresh war crimes inquiries in addition to ongoing federal police taskforces already probing him.

The sources confirmed that the federal police are investigating Mr Roberts-Smith over multiple eyewitness accounts from his fellow Special Air Service Regiment soldiers who allege he executed the unarmed Afghan militant wearing the leg in an operation in Kakarak, Southern Afghanistan, on Easter Sunday, 2009. That alleged execution is the subject of a preliminary criminal brief recently submitted by the federal police to Commonwealth prosecutors.

Police are also investigating allegations, made by SASR insiders, that Mr Roberts-Smith and a second soldier pressured a junior trooper to execute a second Afghan found in the same Kakarak compound in a “blooding” incident. “Blooding” is the pressuring of junior soldiers to summarily execute prisoners. The practice was identified in the Brereton Inquiry report into allegations of war crimes by a small clique of Australian SAS soldiers in Afghanistan.

The Brereton report identified a “warrior culture” that allowed war crimes to be allegedly committed. Without naming any individual, the Brereton report found 25 special forces soldiers may have executed 39 Afghans and called on the federal police to launch multiple fresh inquiries.

It separately criticised the unruly or skylarking behaviour of some soldiers at the Fat Lady’s Arms.

The Brereton Inquiry intensively investigated Mr Roberts-Smith for three years, but his suspected role in multiple war crimes has only been publicly exposed by whistleblower accounts provided to The Age and Herald.

A confidential AFP letter sent in late 2019 stated detectives had obtained “eyewitness” accounts implicating him in suspected war crimes. In addition to the Kakarak killings, the taskforces have also submitted a preliminary brief of evidence to prosecutors about allegations Mr Roberts-Smith kicked a prisoner named Ali Jan off a cliff in 2012.

The AFP letter was revealed in defamation proceedings that Mr Roberts-Smith has launched against The Age and Herald. Mr Roberts-Smith has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12113825 (210701ZDEC20) Notable: 'CLEARLY A WITNESS' - French investigators want to quiz Prince Andrew after charging modelling boss Jean-Luc Brunel with abusing girls, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: French_investigators_want_to_quiz_Prince_Andrew_after_charging_modelling_boss_Jean_Luc_Brunel_with_abusing_girls.jpg, Brunel_was_held_while_trying_to_board_a_plane_to_Senegal.jpg, Brunel_pictured_with_Epstein_s_other_pimp_Ghislaine_Maxwell.jpg, The_Duke_s_royal_status_could_make_it_difficult_for_French_officials_to_get_to_quiz_him.jpg, Brunel_seen_with_a_line_up_of_models_from_his_agency.jpg

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>>181913

'CLEARLY A WITNESS' French investigators want to quiz Prince Andrew after charging modelling boss with abusing girls

FRENCH investigators want to quiz Prince Andrew after yesterday charging a modelling boss with abusing girls.

Jean-Luc Brunel, 74, is alleged to have shared Jeffrey Epstein “sex slave” Virginia Roberts Giuffre with the royal.

Brunel is also accused of supplying girls for an orgy on the billionaire’s “Paedo Island” in the Caribbean.

He and Andrew strongly deny any wrongdoing.

Epstein died in jail last year.

French officials have been probing Epstein’s crimes since August.

A source said: “We have issued numerous appeals for witnesses and Prince Andrew is clearly a witness to Epstein’s conduct over many years.

“Beyond that Andrew is said to have visited Epstein’s home in Paris and had relations with the victims Brunel is accused of abusing.

“Andrew’s testament is crucial and he could of course be summoned.”

Investigators could legally apply to quiz the Duke, 60, in France but his royal status would create difficulties.

Lisa Bloom, lawyer for an alleged victim of Brunel, said yesterday: “At long last another accused Epstein enabler is being brought to justice.

"Prince Andrew — time to make good on your promise of co-operating with authorities, or you may be next.”

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/13526408/investigators-quiz-prince-andrew-model-agent/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/12113891 (210710ZDEC20) Notable: Yang Hengjun - Australian writer detained in Beijing has trial delayed by three months, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Australian_writer_Yang_Hengjun_is_unlikely_to_face_trial_in_China_until_April_next_year.jpg

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Australian writer detained in Beijing has trial delayed by three months

Chinese authorities appear to have delayed Australian writer Yang Hengjun's trial by three months, almost two years after he was detained in Beijing.

Australian officials visited Dr Yang on Thursday last week but government sources said they had still not been informed on the exact details of the allegations being levelled against the University of Technology Sydney PhD graduate.

Dr Yang was formally charged in October with espionage, paving the way for him to face trial later this month or in January. But sources familiar with the case have confirmed the trial has now been postponed by three months, meaning it is likely to be moved to April next year.

There are still no details about the exact nature of the espionage charges against Dr Yang, a pro-democracy blogger who was born in China and once worked for its Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The 55-year-old has been isolated in a Beijing prison and allegedly tortured in an attempt to extract a confession on the unspecified claims. Chinese authorities have been unable to extract a confession from Dr Yang, despite more than 300 rounds of interrogation using forms of alleged torture including severe sleep deprivation.

He was also denied any visits from friends, family and Australian officials for an eight-month period from December, 2019, which Chinese authorities blamed on the COVID-19 outbreak. Prior to that, Dr Yang was allowed a monthly half-hour visit from a representative from the Australian consulate.

Dr Yang was detained in January last year and formally arrested by the Beijing State Security Bureau on August 23 on suspicion of endangering Chinese national security. Chinese authorities have declined to specify the claims against the pro-democracy activist who became an Australian citizen in 2002.

Espionage law in China applies the death penalty to particularly serious cases that involve sabotage causing heavy losses or instructing an enemy attack.

Earlier this year, Amnesty International called on Chinese authorities to release Dr Yang "immediately and unconditionally unless there is sufficient credible and admissible evidence that he has committed an internationally recognised offence and is granted a fair trial in line with international standards".

Pending his release, the human rights group said China needed to ensure Dr Yang had regular, unrestricted access to visits from consular staff and family and lawyers, and give him immediate access to any medical care he may need.

Dr Yang is among several Australians detained by Chinese authorities. Chinese-Australian TV anchor Cheng Lei is also being held by state security on unknown claims.

Concern from friends and family of Australians detained in China have heightened amid an escalating diplomatic and trade dispute between Canberra and Beijing this year.

But earlier this month, Australian citizen Sadam Abdusalam, was able to reunite with his wife Nadila and and three-year-old son Lutfy, members of China's Uighur Muslim minority who had been under house arrest.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/australian-writer-detained-in-beijing-has-trial-delayed-by-three-months-20201221-p56p90.html