/qnotables21/ - ===Q Notables 2021===

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/13553502 (010054ZMAY21) Notable: Elbit Battle Management System shut down - "The more research into this decision undertaken, the stranger it gets. No notice. No reason given.", MISSING MEDIA/FILES: LAND75PH3.jpg, elbit_bms2.jpg, 20171128adf8209508_1882.jpg

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>>125446

Elbit Battle Management System shut down

Katherine Ziesing - 29 April 2021

Australian Defence Magazine (ADM) understands that Elbit Systems Australia has been given notice earlier this month to cease use of the existing deployed BMS version with Army, effective from mid next month. The news was given to the company with no explanation as to the reasoning behind the decision, with Defence confirming that they have no interim solution to replace the capability.

The program also signed a multimillion dollar follow-on sustainment contract earlier this month which would see elements of the capability upgraded and expanded.

At this point, Defence has spent billions on the program over the past decade, with the last contract extension in 2017 signed for $1.4 billion alone.

ADM understands that Elbit Systems Australia program employs approximately 190 highly skilled local people across the nation to support this program for Army. There is also a significant local SME workforce that supports the program.

Neither Defence or Elbit Systems Australia would comment about the program or its consequences as this article went to press.

Background

The BMS forms the digital backbone of Army operations. Delivered under Land 200 nomenclature, it is the combination of the following projects/phases:

• Land 75 Phase 3.2 & Phase 3.3. Battlefield Command Support System (BCSS)

• Land 75 Phase 3.4. Battle Management System – Mounted (BMS-M)

• Land 125 Phase 3. Battle Management System – Dismounted (BMS-D)

The BMS is the central component of the Battle Group and Below Command, Control and Communications System (BGC3) that is being jointly delivered by the Land 75 Phase 3.4, Land 125 Phase 3A, and JP 2072 Phase 1 projects. It incorporates a mobile, data capable communications system, and be able to exchange combat information with BCSS and other Land BMS.

Defence applied to Government to delay First Pass approval for Land 200 Phase 3 Battlefield Command System by 12 months to at least February 2022 due to overall movement in committee approval processes and COVID-19 in October last year.

The program came under examination from the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) with less than stellar results in 2019, noting issues with how the various related programs interacted.

“The 2015 sole-source procurement process for the Army’s BMS was ultimately effective, but the procurement was delayed pending resolution of affordability issues affecting Land 200 Tranche 2 as a whole. Defence addressed affordability issues by adopting a ‘design to price’ strategy, significantly reducing project scope and assuming additional risk and cost by taking on the role of Prime Systems Integrator. Defence has assessed that it can achieve value-for-money outcomes following these adjustments,” the report said.

ADM Comment: The more research into this decision undertaken, the stranger it gets. No notice. No reason given. No viable replacement. Relatively large extension contract signed less than a fortnight before. No senior Defence figure was in the loop or would admit to being in the loop. Both ministers have been thrown in the deep end with furious questions being asked all round.

For a government that has been open in its drive to support intellectual property (IP) transfer from global primes and the practical application of Australian Industry Capability (AIC), the decision is simply baffling.

While the program has seen issues over the years (show me a perfect program?) the suddenness of the decision is truly startling.

And neither party would speak to ADM about the issue in any form. Stay tuned as more information comes to light.

https://www.australiandefence.com.au/news/elbit-bms-shut-down

https://www1.defence.gov.au/project/battle-management-system

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/13555102 (010507ZMAY21) Notable: Scott Morrison’s partisan interpretation of biblical passages is disturbing for democracy - Kevin Rudd - theguardian.com, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Scott_Morrison_apparently_believes_he_s_not_only_the_chief_minister_of_the_commonwealth_but_also_its_chief_priest_.jpg

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>>125406

>>125411

>>125424

Scott Morrison’s partisan interpretation of biblical passages is disturbing for democracy

More fundamentally, it is worrying if the prime minister believes God somehow speaks to him directly

Kevin Rudd - 1 May 2021

1/2

When the federation’s founding fathers were framing Australia’s constitution in the 1890s, there was intense debate about whether organised religion should get a guernsey. Fortunately, despite the religiosity of the Victorian era, sounder heads prevailed. Unlike in the United Kingdom, our antipodean commonwealth would have no established religion.

Admittedly, “Almighty God” makes a single appearance in the constitution’s preamble, but the founders consciously decided to give divinity no institutional role. Instead, they resolved that our commonwealth should be secular, governed by a secular executive and accountable to a secular parliament.

The founders knew too well how much blood had been previously spilled at the intersection of religious fervour and the political powers of the state.

This isn’t to discount the profound effect of Christianity on our nation’s history. The churches were largely responsible for our earliest efforts to provide education, health and welfare services for the poor. It took decades for the state to assume primary responsibility for what are now regarded as essential functions of government.

Equally, Christians of various denominations have been elected to parliament over the past 120 years. But whether MPs were Christian, Jewish, Muslim, atheist or agnostic, they have conducted the substantive business of parliament in secular terms.

Irrespective of whether members’ positions have been influenced by theology, philosophy or pure political pragmatism, the terms of debate have been anchored in rational argument, empirical evidence and party philosophy. In other words, in the great contest of ideas, proposals are forced to stand on their merit, rather than relying on the self-evident “truths” of divine relation. By and large, our secular political system has worked. Our democracy has been stable, and our parliament preserved from the theocratic impulses of our more extreme religious denominations.

Whenever concerns are raised about Scott Morrison’s Pentecostal belief, it has become customary to point the finger at my own religious practice as a Labor prime minister of Christian faith. The argument goes: why should Morrison be held to any particular scrutiny since Rudd and his family regularly attended their local Anglican church, calling press conferences in the churchyard?

Like many things in political life, this has become an accepted meme of the Liberal National party and the Murdoch media. The only problem is, it isn’t true.

Yes, throughout our adult lives, Therese and I have professed Christian faith. She was raised Anglican, myself a Roman Catholic, so we started attending one church together as a family. In Brisbane, we attended St John’s in Bulimba, and in Canberra, St John’s in Reid, for more than 30 years.

When I entered politics, journalists would occasionally arrive without invitation to pepper me with questions about the news of the day, either before or after services. It was a convenient stakeout for them. Despite my wishing that they wouldn’t gather there, I learned to stop and answer a few questions outside the church gate to avoid a media circus.

I have never believed that God was “on my side” in any election campaign – a position, which if held by any prime minister, would be borderline theocracy – nor have I ever believed that God could speak to me or send me revelations about what to do as a politician.

My simple, garden-variety theology is this: the God of the New Testament gives preference to the poor, the outcast and the oppressed and, to the greatest extent possible, I should do the same, while also being a good custodian of the planet.

From what we can discern from the public record, Morrison’s political theology is radically different.

His tradition, Pentecostalism, often emphasises the highly individualised “health and wealth gospel” – that if you are godly, then you will be both healthy and wealthy. Questions of human sexuality tend to elicit a deeply conservative, fundamentalist answer. The Pentecostal tradition also includes communicating with God through “speaking in tongues” and the ability to discern God’s will by being attentive to those with the prophetic “word of knowledge”. In other words, some Pentecostal leaders believe they can communicate directly with God in the here and now, and then proceed to act as God wishes them to. These Pentecostal tenets can present problems for our secular democracy, as elucidated by Morrison’s speech to a Pentecostal conference on the Gold Coast last week.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/13555538 (010640ZMAY21) Notable: Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin's Regular Press Conference on April 30, 2021, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Foreign_Ministry_Spokesperson_Wang_Wenbin_s_Regular_Press_Conference_on_April_30_2021.jpg

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>>125450

Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin's Regular Press Conference on April 30, 2021

Beijing Media Network: The Australian Alert Service, the weekly publication of the Australian Citizens Party, recently published an article titled Australian politicians back "East Turkistan" terrorism apologists, revealing how local politicians colluded with the East Turkistan Australian Association (ETAA) to advance an anti-China agenda. Do you have any comment?

Wang Wenbin: We also noticed the article. It exposed the separatist, terrorist and extremist nature of "Xinjiang independence" organization in Australia and the collusion of anti-China Australian politicians with terrorist organization for selfish gains. The article points out sharply that the ETAA, an organization closely associated with terrorism and extremism, is "getting a free pass" in Australia just because the country it's targeting is China. The articles ask: "How does Australia deal with threats of extremist violence, and how would Australians feel about a country that promoted organisations that excused extremist violence against us?" As some Western media are awash with lies and smears targeting Xinjiang, such objective and rational voices show that justice will eventually prevail. We urge certain Australian politicians not to stand on the wrong side of history and to stop endorsing anti-China separatist activities and terrorist organizations to avoid getting burned itself. We also believe that more and more people with insight in the world will speak up for justice and tell the truth about Xinjiang.

https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/2511_665403/t1872887.shtml

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/13555653 (010708ZMAY21) Notable: Border can’t open until the world is vaccinated: Australian Ambassador to the US Arthur Sinodinos, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Ambassador_to_the_US_Arthur_Sinodinos_at_White_Oaks_the_ambassador_s_residence_in_Washington.jpg

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Border can’t open until the world is vaccinated: Sinodinos

ADAM CREIGHTON - MAY 1, 2021

Ambassador to the US Arthur Sinodinos has raised the prospect of indefinite restrictions travel in and out of Australia, suggesting the border couldn’t open until “the world is vaccinated”.

Speaking at an online event on Friday at the Washington DC-based Hudson Institute, Mr Sinodinos suggested reopening the border was an “economic imperative” but unlikely to happen soon, especially given popularity of restrictions.

“We have major industries like international education which require people coming in, immigration has been big driver of Australian growth and that’s really tailed off. For us there’s a real economic imperative to getting borders open,” he said.

“Because we’ve done well on community transmission there isn’t same pressure from the public to get the vaccines out … it’s not like the US and elsewhere where there’s been a real urgency,” he added.

Australia’s international border has been shut to foreigners since March 20 last year and returning residents subject to 14 day hotel quarantine, even if vaccinated, at a cost of $3000 per person.

“Until the world as a whole is vaccinated, and I’m thinking here of India, and other places, then we’re never going to be completely out of this.

“This is a genuine externality problem, or public good problem, where we’re all in this together and people in developing countries being vaccinated is as important as people in our own countries being vaccinated,” the ambassador said.

His comments follow Health Minister Greg Hunt’s recent remarks that even if the whole country were vaccinated the border wouldn’t open.

In a wide-ranging online discussion with American journalist Walter Russell Meade, Mr Sinodinos played down the impact of the federal government’s tearing up of Victoria’s Belt and Road deal with China.

“In terms of how it makes the relationship any worse … I’m not sure about that,” he said. “The relationship has reached a certain equilibrium … I don’t think we can see an early reset.”

Mr Sinodinos said in its series of economic sanctions on Australian exports, including on wine, barely and coal, China was trying to set an example to other nations that if they behaved like Australia, they too would face economic consequences.

“We’re finding now China increasingly lashing out at any country which appears to be in any way critical or seeking to take then on in terms of their behaviour,” he said.

On climate change policy, Mr Sinodinos played down the perception Australia and the new Biden administration were at odds in the wake of President Biden’s climate summit last week, revealing the government would have a “dialogue with the US” on “ambition and technology” in the lead up to the UN’s climate summit in Glasgow later this year.

“The reality is Australia reviewed its Nationally Determined Contributions at end of last year, so the thinking within the Australian government prior to the recent climate summit was we have the period until Glasgow to see what more we can do,” he added.

The ambassador also dismissed the “stereotype that’s been developing” that New Zealand was a less willing participant in the Five Eyes intelligence network which also includes Australia, the US, UK, and Canada.

“They see a lot of value [in the group]. I don’t detect on their part some wish to disassociate,” he said.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/border-cant-open-until-the-world-is-vaccinated-sinodinos/news-story/05be2e90d8e9568734ba85deef113df3

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/13555657 (010709ZMAY21) Notable: Video: Walter Russell Meade: A Conversation with Australian Ambassador Arthur Sinodinos - Hudson Institute

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>>125453

A Conversation with Australian Ambassador Arthur Sinodinos

Hudson Institute

1 May 2021

Join Hudson Institute’s Ravenel B. Curry III Distinguished Fellow Walter Russell Mead and Ambassador Arthur Sinodinos, Australia’s Ambassador to the United States, for a discussion on U.S.-Australia relations and key foreign policy challenges.

How can the free world work together to confront threats ranging from the fallout from COVID-19 to coercion that undermines Indo Pacific security and prosperity and the open rules-based order? Ambassador Sinodinos and Walter Russell Mead will discuss U.S.-Australian cooperation on these and other issues at the next installment of Hudson’s Ambassadors Series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUlq_6RUQfc

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/13562235 (020706ZMAY21) Notable: Tearing up BRI deal will hit Australia’s influence in South Pacific - Qin Sheng - globaltimes.cn, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Crystal_clear_seawater_along_the_Lalomanu_beach_at_southern_part_of_Upolu_Island_Apia_Samoa_Oct_19_2019.jpg

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>>125196

>>125197

Tearing up BRI deal will hit Australia’s influence in South Pacific

Qin Sheng - May 01, 2021

1/2

Australia has stood on the opposite side of the South Pacific countries by tearing up agreements signed between Victoria state and China on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). China has signed BRI deals with all the 10 Pacific island countries that have diplomatic ties with China. Australia can neither force these countries to cancel the deals, nor can it move its neighbors away. Confrontation with China will not help Australia gain more influence in the South Pacific region.

Australia and Pacific island countries have had deep and extensive ties in history, politics, economy and security. As China deepens its relations with Pacific island countries, Australia does not regard China as a positive force promoting development of the South Pacific. Instead, it regards China as a threat and an unwelcomed competitor. Australia is afraid of losing influence in the South Pacific, and such a zero-sum mindset is drifting these regional countries apart from Australia.

Since 2018, Australian officials have repeatedly disregarded reality. They have criticized China's infrastructure projects in Pacific island countries and promoted the so-called "debt diplomacy" conspiracy and "China threat" theory. However, BRI projects are based on thorough communication with local governments. Smearing these projects is not only smearing China, but also negatively impacts the governments of the Pacific island countries and the local people. Australia's attack on the BRI has aroused dissatisfaction among leaders of Pacific island countries. For example, Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele said in 2018 that Australia's criticism of China's aid program is to "question the integrity, wisdom and intelligence of the leaders of the Pacific islands" and may "destroy" Australia's relationship with the region.

After the COVID-19 outbreak, Australia has politicized the pandemic and promoted the so-called COVID-19 source investigation in the international community. After the WHO released report on global tracing of COVID-19 origins, Australia joined the US and other countries to question the report. In sharp contrast with Australia, Pacific island countries shared anti-epidemic information and experience with China through video conferences in March and May 2020, which greatly improved their own ability in the COVID-19 fight. The pandemic has not blocked exchanges and cooperation between China and Pacific island countries, but has instead promoted their political mutual trust and bilateral ties. Pacific island countries are still some of the countries with the best control of the epidemic, but Australia has experienced new waves.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/13569454 (030657ZMAY21) Notable: Video: Noosa Temple of Satan want Satanism taught in state schools - A Current Affair

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Push to teach Satanism in schools

A Current Affair

3 May 2021

The Noosa Temple of Satan want Satanism taught in state schools, saying current religious discrimination laws entitles the group to teach their faith to school students. Originally broadcast on May 1, 2021.

Comments are turned off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6ucUZfL0Tg

>PURE EVIL.

>HOW MANY IN WASHINGTON AND THOSE AROUND THE WORLD (IN POWER) WORSHIP THE DEVIL?

>Conspiracy?

>Fake News?

>The World is WATCHING.

https://qanon.pub/?q=satan

https://qanon.pub/?q=devil

https://qanon.pub/?q=evil

https://qanon.pub/?q=god

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/13569618 (030824ZMAY21) Notable: Dutton vows to call out Beijing and declares everyday Australians are with the government, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Defence_Minister_Peter_Dutton_says_the_ADF_needs_to_be_able_to_defend_Australia_s_northern_and_western_approaches.jpg

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>>125398

Dutton vows to call out Beijing and declares everyday Australians are with the government

Anthony Galloway - May 3, 2021

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Defence Minister Peter Dutton has vowed to speak out more openly about China’s acts of aggression, declaring everyday Australians are with the government and understand the threats posed by Beijing.

Mr Dutton warned Australia was “already under attack” in the cyber world and suggested the nation’s cyber spy agency would need to be beefed up in the coming years to fight against the escalating wave of hack attacks.

In an exclusive interview with The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, Mr Dutton said the Australian Defence Force was prepared for action, saying the country needed to be in a position to defend its waters in the north and west as a clear priority.

The comments confirm a recent hardening of the Morrison government’s rhetoric, including towards China, and suggest it wants to have a more public discussion with Australians as it looks to spend more on defence capabilities amid a regional arms race fuelled by China’s growing assertiveness throughout the Indo-Pacific.

The Defence Minister last week angered the Chinese government by saying a conflict over Taiwan could not be discounted, while Home Affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo declared the “drums of war” were beating without naming any potential adversaries.

The comments sparked China’s ambassador to Australia, Cheng Jingye, to issue a veiled threat that Chinese students and tourists will be reluctant to return to Australia because of a hostile environment.

But Mr Dutton was unapologetic about the remarks, saying China had been “very clear about their strategy, their approach and their desires and so pretending it’s not being said or turning a blind eye to it is not in our national interest”.

“The views that matter to me are Australians who are living across cities, towns and suburbs across the country. And they know that we are saying is factually based,” he said.

“I think part of the public is frankly ahead of where the public debate is because there’s just so much information available online. People see the reported comments of the ambassador and the vice ambassador here, as well as the spokesman out of Beijing.”

He said he wanted to have a “more frank discussion with the public” about China’s intentions.

However, former Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd said “the public language of Morrison, Dutton and Pezzullo on China, Taiwan and the possibility of war in the last week serves zero national security purpose”.

“Australia already has a highly problematic relationship with China,” Mr Rudd said.

“Much of this is because of changes in Chinese policy and posture under a much more assertive Xi Jinping. But it is also because Morrison et al. are addicted to the drug of ‘standing up to China’ every day of the week because of its perceived domestic political utility. ”

Mr Dutton said he would not rule out naming the countries behind cyber attacks if the government was certain and doing so didn’t reveal any previously secret capabilities of the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD).

“Where it’s in our interests to call out – whether it’s Russia or China or North Korea or somebody else – we will call them out,” he said. “There’s a lot of capacity that Australia has in the cyber space that clearly we wouldn’t talk publicly about, but gives us a very significant edge over many adversaries, even sophisticated adversaries.”

He said the ASD was “quite remarkable and world-leading” but “there’s more that we need to do”.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/13569625 (030830ZMAY21) Notable: ‘Strategic own goal’: Defence reviews Port of Darwin’s Chinese ownership, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: The_Defence_Department_is_reviewing_Landbridge_s_ownership_of_the_Port_of_Darwin.jpg

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>>125398

>>125427

‘Strategic own goal’: Defence reviews Port of Darwin’s Chinese ownership

Anthony Galloway - May 2, 2021

The Morrison government has asked the Department of Defence to review the Northern Territory’s 99-year-lease of the Port of Darwin to the Chinese-owned company Landbridge – a deal that has unsettled national security figures in the federal government since it was signed six years ago.

Defence officials are looking at whether the company, owned by Chinese billionaire Ye Cheng, should be forced to give up its ownership of the port on national security grounds under critical infrastructure laws passed in 2018.

The federal opposition and national security experts have questioned the deal since it was signed in 2015.

Defence Minister Peter Dutton confirmed the National Security Committee of Cabinet had tasked his department to “come back with some advice, so that work is already under way”.

Asked whether the options would include forced divestment, Mr Dutton said the government needed to wait for Defence to provide its advice and, “we can look at options that are in our national interests after that”.

Mr Dutton’s comments follow Prime Minister Scott Morrison suggesting last week his government would act on the port’s ownership if he received advice from the Department of Defence or national security agencies.

“If there is any advice that I receive from the Department of Defence or intelligence agencies that suggest that there are national security risks there then you’d expect the government to take action on that, and that would be right,” Mr Morrison said.

Michael Shoebridge, director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s defence program, said he would support forcing Landbridge to divest from the asset but the company should consider doing so themselves.

“I would wonder whether it is in the company’s commercial interests to continue operating that port for 99 years in the strategic environment they find themselves,” he said.

“I think it’s obvious that if the Darwin port lease was being considered today, the result would not be to lease it to a Chinese-owned company for 99 years.

“So with that realisation, how do you undo the damage and more importantly how do you develop Darwin as an increasingly important naval and defence facility in the darker strategic environment we and our partners and allies find ourselves in?”

Mr Shoebridge said the alternative to forced divestment was to develop the port around the section owned by Landbridge, “treating that part of Darwin port like the sand in the oyster”.

“It seems a strategic own goal for one of the best parts of Darwin harbour to be in the control of a Chinese-owned operator,” he said.

In 2015, the NT government signed the $506 million agreement with Landbridge, giving the Chinese company total operational control of the port and 80 per cent of ownership of the land and facilities of East Arm wharf including the marine supply base.

The federal government then tightened the foreign investment rules, requiring the Foreign Investment Review Board to approve the sale of critical infrastructure such as ports to private companies.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/strategic-own-goal-defence-reviews-port-of-darwin-s-chinese-ownership-20210502-p57o49.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/13577336 (040659ZMAY21) Notable: Conflict with China a ‘high likelihood’, says former Australian special forces commander Major-General Adam Findlay, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Major_General_Adam_Findlay_says_Australia_must_prepare_for_the_high_likelihood_tensions_with_China_may_spill_over_into_actual_conflict.jpg

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>>125398

Conflict with China a ‘high likelihood’, says top Australian general

Nick McKenzie and Anthony Galloway - May 4, 2021

1/2

One of the nation’s top military commanders told his troops that Beijing is already engaged in “grey zone” warfare against Australia and they must plan for the high likelihood this may spill over into actual conflict in the future.

The candid and confidential briefing by Major-General Adam Findlay to Australia’s special forces soldiers last year gives the most detailed insight yet made public into how the nation’s top military planners view the threat of China.

The then-special forces commander, who has since stepped down but who still advises the Australian Defence Force, highlighted the steps Australia’s military was taking to prevent war but also described a “high likelihood” that actual conflict could break out due to the unpredictable nature of foreign affairs.

“Who do you reckon the main [regional] threat is?” General Findlay asked his troops and officers before answering: “China”.

“OK, so if China is a threat, how many special forces brigades in China? You should know there are 26,000 Chinese SOF [Special Operations Forces] personnel.”

Details of the April 2020 briefing have been obtained by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald from multiple sources who have requested to remain anonymous because they are not authorised to speak publicly. They say General Findlay told his troops that, if the threat of conflict was realised, the ADF needed to rely not only on traditional air, land and sea capabilities but also on Australia’s ability to use cyber and space warfare.

He also highlighted the need for the ADF to reassert its presence and play “first grade” in south-east Asia and the south-west Pacific, describing how the military had uncovered information showing China was seeking to exploit “our [Australia’s] absence” in the region.

“We need to make sure we don’t lose momentum … get back in the region,” General Findlay said, highlighting Australia’s close ties to Indonesia.

In the past week the Australian government’s language on China has hardened. Defence Minister Peter Dutton has said a war over Taiwan could not be discounted, that Australia was “already under attack” in the cyber domain and that he wants to have a “more frank discussion with the public” about China’s intentions. Mr Dutton said the Australian government’s first priority was “continued peace in our region”, but warned the country needed to be able to defend its waters to the north and west as a priority.

Influential public servant Michael Pezzullo, the Department of Home Affairs secretary, warned the “drums of war” were beating.

However, former prime minister Kevin Rudd has said the escalating rhetoric “serves zero national security purpose” and risked inflaming tensions with Beijing. Former foreign minister Bob Carr wrote in The Age and Herald that “Australian diplomacy ought to be identifying the off-ramps that will avoid this nightmare” of war over Taiwan.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/13577349 (040701ZMAY21) Notable: Major-General Adam Findlay tells dark story about the “grey zone” threat from China, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Chinese_President_Xi_Jinping_centre_in_green_uniform_poses_with_soldiers_on_a_navy_ship_in_2018.jpg, Major_General_Adam_Findlay.jpg

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>>125464

Military commander tells dark story about the threat from China

Anthony Galloway - May 4, 2021

Major-General Adam Findlay has provided more detail on the threats facing the nation than has previously been publicly revealed.

Firstly, the secret briefing by the special forces commander, revealed by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, shows just how concerned Australia’s senior military planners are about the escalating threat of China’s “grey zone” tactics.

The grey zone – which includes cyber attacks and disinformation campaigns – refers to aggressions that fall somewhere between the traditional conceptions of war and peace. Authoritarian states such as China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are very good at competing in this space, while democracies are just learning.

According to Findlay, China has learnt to stay within the grey zone because it knows from history that Western democracies tend to still think in the old binary fashion, and when states cross the line “we start bombing people and we start getting angry”.

It is notable that Findlay mentioned the Brereton war crimes inquiry in this context, considering that the Chinese government last year posted an offensive tweet featuring an illustration of an Australian soldier slitting the throat of an Afghan child – a grey zone attack if ever there was one.

Findlay said the special forces needed to address the response to the Afghanistan war crimes inquiry “with purpose” so they can finally put it behind them and “get out from this”.

“At the same time, we have got to tool up for a new adversary. So this is the end point of the valley of hell that we are going into,” Findlay said.

But Findlay’s speech did not stop in the grey zone, and this is where it gets scary. He warned there was a “high likelihood” of a “kinetic war” – a military euphemism for actual warfare encompassing lethal force. He said there are now five warfare domains – land, sea, air, information/cyber and space – and fighting in this multidimensional field will require “a lot of work”.

To address these escalating threats, Findlay said we need to do three things: put the adversary at a disadvantage; place Australia at an advantage; and stop war from breaking out. This meant boosting Australia’s military presence in the Pacific and becoming the preferred security partner for countries in the region.

This speech was made 12 months ago, and some of Findlay’s rhetorical flourish can be put down to a need to fire up his regiment in the wake of the Brereton inquiry. But the substance is an extension of what Australian officials and politicians are now conveying publicly. This suggests the political establishment is now starting to catch up – at least in public – to the military thinking of last year.

Home Affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo drew plenty of criticism last week when he pointed out that while Australia should be striving for peace, the “drums of war” were beating. While his language was colourful, Pezzullo’s statement was unremarkable.

No serious person is saying China wants to go to war; they are saying the tensions over a number of flashpoints – including Taiwan – are reaching a point where the danger of a major miscalculation could result in war.

Defence Minister Peter Dutton told this masthead over the weekend that Australia needed to protect its western and northern approaches as a “clear priority.” He said he wanted to have a “more frank” conversation with the public on the threats facing the nation.

Publicly, Australian politicians and officials are saying the chances of conflict have increased. Behind closed doors, the message is even darker than that.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/military-commander-tells-dark-story-about-the-threat-from-china-20210503-p57oc7.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/13577356 (040703ZMAY21) Notable: Video: China already engaged in 'grey zone' warfare with Australia: Major-General Adam Findlay - Sky News Australia

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>>125464

China already engaged in 'grey zone' warfare with Australia: Major General

Sky News Australia

4 May 2021

A top Australian military commander has told soldiers Beijing is already engaged in “grey zone” warfare against Australia and the nation must plan for the likelihood of an actual conflict.

Major General Adam Findlay delivered these lines reportedly during a confidential briefing and background conversations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIMIrE6aKkE

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/13577360 (040705ZMAY21) Notable: Foreign Minister Marise Payne blasts Beijing tactic of ‘debt trap diplomacy’, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Marise_Payne_says_Australia_will_work_with_indispensable_international_partners_to_show_the_demonstrable_improvements_that_democratic_values_could_deliver_to_people_s_lives.jpg

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Payne blasts Beijing tactic of ‘debt trap diplomacy’

BEN PACKHAM and WILL GLASGOW - MAY 4, 2021

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Foreign Minister Marise Payne has attacked efforts to “buy influence’’ and “pick off’’ individual countries in a diplomatic rebuke aimed at China ahead of two weeks of international talks with some of the world’s biggest democracies on strengthening global security.

Senator Payne, who will visit London for G7 Plus talks ­before high-level meetings in ­Geneva and the US, said the benefits of free and open societies had “never been clearer’’.

Her comments, in an opinion article for The Australian, follow a warning by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that China was acting “more repressively” and “more aggressively” as it ­pursued greater global influence.

As Beijing’s Belt and Road deals have saddled developing ­nations with potentially unsustainable debt, Senator Payne said Australia would work with “indispensable” international partners to show “the demonstrable improvements” that democratic values could deliver to people’s lives.

“We do not try to buy influence to advantage our individual countries; rather, we know that a stable, secure neighbourhood of sovereign states, in which we have networks of familiarity and trust, are good, safe places for our people to live and thrive,” she said.

“Our focus and our ability to solve practical problems stem from our understanding that these efforts create regional and global stability, not because by doing so we expect to achieve targeted ­influence in individual countries that we pick off as notches on our belts.”

After a series of trade sanctions on Australian beef, wine, barley and coal imposed by the Chinese government as retribution for calls for an independent inquiry into the origin of the coronavirus, Senator Payne called for a rules-based trading order.

“If there is a spreading of influence it is the spreading of openness, freedom and trade that benefits everybody because we compete fairly based on rules,’’ Senator Payne writes.

“It is not a mercantilist approach, rather one that seeks to support a productive and peaceful international community.’’

Senator Payne will visit Washington on the final leg of her trip, for the Morrison government’s first face-to-face ministerial talks with the Biden administration.

“When it comes to indispensable relationships, there is no keystone of the architecture I have described that is more indispensable than the Australia-United States alliance,” she said.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/13577468 (040724ZMAY21) Notable: Port of Darwin: Chinese owner Landbridge Group says it will “actively respond to the call of the state”, as it works toward “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation”, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: A_ship_at_the_Port_of_Darwin_where_Landbridge_has_a_99_year_lease.jpg

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>>125398

Port of Darwin: Chinese owner Landbridge Group ‘here for the state’

BEN PACKHAM - MAY 4, 2021

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The Chinese company operating the Port of Darwin says it will “actively respond to the call of the state”, as it works toward “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation”.

Landbridge, whose 99-year lease of the port is being reviewed on national security grounds, has argued against claims since the deal was signed in 2015 that it is too close to the Chinese Communist Party to resist doing its bidding.

But the company, in a little-watched corporate video posted in late 2019, says it follows Chinese government directives, and is actively working to implement Xi Jinping’s blueprint for a globally dominant China.

“Landbridge Group follows the One Belt and One Road to the world, so that the world can feel the speed and strength of Chinese national enterprises,” it says on the video, accessed via the company’s Hong Kong website. “In the future, Landbridge will continue to ­actively ­respond to the call of the state, take the initiative to undertake major national strategic mechanisms, always adhere to the ­national interest … and strive to become the most influential multinational enterprise group on the Eastern Coast of China.”

Defence is reviewing the Landbridge lease of the port on the orders of the national security committee of cabinet, amid concerns it could be associated with espionage, sabotage or economic coercion. Australian Strategic Policy ­Institute director Peter Jennings said he hoped Defence “takes this shot at redemption”, after its “dreadful policy error when it concluded in 2015 that the lease was not a problem”.

“Darwin is emerging as a strategic location not just for Australia, but for our allies and partners. Control of the port matters even more now than it did in 2015,” Mr Jennings writes in The Australian on Tuesday.

He says it is unsurprising ­Chinese businesses “will go to considerable lengths to please the CCP”. “The only sensible national response is to ask what Chinese business support for CCP objectives might mean for Chinese- owned and controlled Australian critical infrastructure — ports, the electricity grid, gas pipelines, information-technology, agricultural businesses — at a time when the CCP is ‘punishing’ Australia,” Mr Jennings says.

The chairman of parliament’s intelligence and security committee, James Paterson, said even Chinese business people “with the most innocent and pure motivations” were subject to CCP ­coercion. “There is no such thing as a purely private business in China. Just ask (Alibaba founder) Jack Ma,” Senator Paterson said.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/13577477 (040725ZMAY21) Notable: Video: Landbridge Group Worldwide Corporate Video (English) - Landbridge Group

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>>125468

Landbridge Group Worldwide Corporate Video (English)

Landbridge Group

4 Sept 2019

English Version Ver. 15 Aug 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1R8gj0MHZk

https://www.landbridge.com.hk/about.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/13577485 (040727ZMAY21) Notable: Opinion: We need Darwin Port back in our hands - Peter Jennings, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: The_Port_of_Darwin.jpg

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>>125468

>>125469

We need Darwin Port back in our hands

PETER JENNINGS - MAY 4, 2021

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Defence Minister Peter Dutton has asked his department “to come back with some advice” about the future of the 99-year lease by Chinese company Landbridge of the Port of Darwin. Hopefully, Defence takes this shot at redemption, correcting a dreadful policy error when it concluded in 2015 that the lease was not a problem.

Leave to one side that policy snafu and ask what has happened since 2015 that should force a rethink of the lease. The answer is that strategic change is reshaping our region, raising serious risks to stability and forcing fundamental shifts in our Defence planning.

First and most obviously, Xi Jinping’s China is on an aggressive course to dominate the Indo-Pacific, supplant the US as the region’s leading military power, weaken its allies and brook no dissent against Beijing’s wishes.

In 2017 Australia’s foreign policy white paper said: “The government is committed to strong and constructive ties with China. We welcome China’s greater capacity to share responsibility for supporting regional and global secur­ity.”

That line could not believably be written today. The truth of the matter is that Beijing has no interest in sharing responsibility for regional security. In the South China Sea, over Taiwan, at the border with India and in its dealing with Australia, Beijing shows its aim is to destroy the international order and replace it with its own authoritarian control.

A second change is that the economic relationship we once welcomed with China is being used by Beijing as an instrument of coercion and punishment. In the view of the Chinese embassy, Australia is responsible for everything negative in the relationship.

China’s deputy ambassador told a Canberra audience recently that those who “sabotage the friendship between our two countries … will be casted (sic) aside in history. Their children will be ashamed of mentioning their names in the history.” In this state of mind any Australian point of difference will be treated as “sabotage” to be punished.

Third, Xi is consolidating Chinese Communist Party control over Chinese and Hong Kong businesses to ensure they advance the party’s priorities. In 2017 Beijing adopted a National Intelligence Law, saying: “Any organisation and citizen shall, in accordance with the law, support, provide assistance, and co-operate in national intelligence work, and guard the secrecy of any national intelligence work that they are aware of.”

The June 2020 National Security Law for Hong Kong claims to apply the same coercive powers over Hong Kong citizens and businesses. Beijing asserts in article 38 of the law that it can apply to anyone, anywhere in the world.

At the time of the port lease, some Australian commentators dismissed concerns about Landbridge’s connections to the CCP as “paranoia”. China Matters director Linda Jakobson wrote in The Australian in November 2015: “The existence of armed militias and connections to the party are integral to the way society functions in China.” We just need to have “a higher degree of comprehension of the way China functions” and stop “fearmongering”. What has become clearer is that the CCP under Xi has significantly reasserted party control of the business sector. As Alibaba’s Jack Ma has found, displeasing the party can lead to public disappearance and hefty fines.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/13577505 (040731ZMAY21) Notable: Northern Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner backflips on praise for Darwin Port lease and Belt and Road Initiative - Sky News Australia

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>>125468

Gunner backflips on praise for Darwin Port lease and Belt and Road Initiative

Sky News Australia

4 May 2021

Chief Minister Michael Gunner has sensationally reversed his original position on the Darwin Port lease to Chinese company Landbridge after the Department of Defence opened an investigation into the controversial deal.

In 2018, the chief minister was full of praise for the both the 99-year lease of the Darwin Port and China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

Speaking to a Chinese Australia Business Function he said, “Today our relationship with China is stronger than it has ever been."

"In many ways I believe our relationship with China is our gift to Australia”.

“The Northern Territory and China are showing the rest of Australia how Chinese investment can work in Australia and how it can work well.”

However, on Monday Mr Gunner was critical of the deal and shifted the blame onto the former Country Liberal Power administration who signed the deal in 2015.

The Darwin Port cost the Northern Territory government hundreds of millions in upkeep and maintenance before the lease was finalised.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xO9OMeRRnw

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/13578139 (040953ZMAY21) Notable: Former corporate titan Ronald Brierley forfeits knighthood after guilty plea to child abuse material, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Ron_Brierley_outside_court_in_2020_He_has_forfeited_his_knighthood.jpg, Brierley_in_1979.jpg

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>>125166

>>125174

Ronald Brierley forfeits knighthood after guilty plea to child abuse material

Sarah McPhee and Georgina Mitchell - May 4, 2021

Sydney-based former corporate titan Ronald Brierley has forfeited his knighthood after pleading guilty to possessing child abuse material and reaching a deadline imposed by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

The 83-year-old millionaire, originally from New Zealand but living in Point Piper in Sydney’s east, was knighted in 1988 for his contribution to business and the community.

He was arrested and charged in December 2019 after police discovered “large amounts of child abuse material” in his carry-on luggage when he was stopped at Sydney International Airport.

Ardern set the process in motion to remove the title after Brierley faced Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney on April 1. He pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing child abuse material.

“The Clerk of the Executive Council wrote to him on 6 April 2021 on behalf of the Prime Minister, giving him 30 days in which to provide any information that he considered relevant before the Prime Minister made her decision,” a statement from Ardern’s office said on Tuesday. The 30-day deadline ended this week.

“Ron Brierley has written to the Clerk of the Executive Council to tender his resignation as a Knight Bachelor. The Queen has been informed.”

The corporate raider founded Brierley Investments - once New Zealand’s largest listed company - and also served on the Sydney Cricket Ground Trust board.

Ardern said Brierley’s history had been “undoubtedly” rewritten and if the knighthood had not been surrendered, “it would have been removed”.

“I think it’s a sad day for the children of New Zealand and, indeed, the world when someone is found guilty of possessing such horrendous images,” she said.

His barrister Lisa-Claire Hutchinson told the court in April her client admitted to being in possession of some images, but the exact figure was “in dispute” and lower than the police allege.

In court documents, it is detailed that one of the charges Brierley pleaded guilty to relates to possessing “photographs of young girls approximately two years to 15 years of age, in sexually suggestive poses”.

The second charge relates to possessing 1615 images on a data storage device, while the third charge relates to possessing one image.

Brierley joins a list of public figures to be stripped of royal honours in recent years.

The Queen last year directed former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein’s appointment as an Honorary Commander of the Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 2004 be cancelled and annulled, and his name erased from the register.

Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison over the rape and sexual assault of two women.

In 2015, at the order of Her Majesty, veteran entertainer Rolf Harris lost the Commander of the Order of the British Empire honour bestowed on him, one step below a knighthood, after being convicted and jailed for indecently assaulting four girls between 1968 and 1986.

Ardern on Tuesday said Brierley could no longer use the title “Sir” and must return his insignia.

He has been committed to the NSW District Court for sentence and his case is next listed in Sydney on May 21.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/oceania/ronald-brierley-forfeits-knighthood-after-guilty-plea-to-child-abuse-material-20210504-p57oro.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/13578193 (041011ZMAY21) Notable: U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan Tweet: The #CCP is engaged in an economic war against Australia, including imposing massive tariffs on Australian wine., MISSING MEDIA/FILES: SDS_1.jpg, Ez6N8wjXEAIDhPv.jpg, Dan_Sullivan.jpg

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>>125287

U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan Tweet

The #CCP is engaged in an economic war against Australia, including imposing massive tariffs on Australian wine. @AusintheUS @A_Sinodinos sent me a poster that captures the “spirit” of the Aussies. Looks like a great way to stand for freedom & w/ our friends down under! #mateship

https://twitter.com/SenDanSullivan/status/1386702498304495619

—

MEET DAN SULLIVAN

Dan Sullivan was sworn in as Alaska’s eighth United States Senator on January 6, 2015. Sullivan serves on four Senate committees vital to Alaska: the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee; the Armed Services Committee; the Environment and Public Works Committee; and the Veterans' Affairs Committee.

Prior to his election to the U.S. Senate, Sullivan served as Alaska’s Attorney General and Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources. As Alaska's Attorney General, Sullivan’s number one priority was protecting Alaskans, their physical safety, financial well-being, and individual rights – particularly Alaska’s most vulnerable. During his tenure he spearheaded a comprehensive statewide strategy – the “Choose Respect” campaign – to combat Alaska’s high rates of domestic violence and sexual assault. Under Sullivan’s leadership, the Department of Law also undertook an aggressive strategy of initiating and intervening in litigation aimed at halting federal government overreach into the lives of Alaskans and their economy.

As Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Sullivan managed one of the largest portfolios of oil, gas, minerals, renewable energy, timber, land, and water in the world. Working closely with Alaska’s Governor and state legislature, Sullivan developed numerous strategies that spurred responsible resource development, energy security, and a dramatic increase in good-paying jobs across a number of critical sectors in the Alaska economy. He also developed a comprehensive plan to streamline and reform the state’s regulatory and permitting system.

Sullivan is one of a select number of Alaskan attorneys who has held judicial clerkships on both the highest federal and state courts in Alaska. He served as a judicial law clerk for Judge Andrew Kleinfeld of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Fairbanks, Alaska and for Chief Justice Warren Matthews of the Alaska Supreme Court in Anchorage, Alaska. Sullivan also served as a judicial law clerk/intern for Judge James L. Buckley on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Sullivan has a distinguished record of military and national security service. He is currently a Colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. Since 1993, Sullivan has served in a variety of command and staff billets on active duty and in the reserves, including: TRAP Force Commander and 81mm mortar Platoon Commander, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable); Weapons Company Executive Officer, Second Battalion, Fifth Marines; Commanding Officer, Delta Company, Anti-Terrorism Battalion; Executive Officer, Echo Company, Fourth Reconnaissance Battalion; and Commanding Officer, 6thAir Naval Gunfire Liaison Company (ANGLICO). In 2004, Sullivan was recalled to active duty for a year and a half to serve as a staff officer to the Commander of U.S. Central Command, General John Abizaid, spending substantial time deployed in the Middle East, the Horn of Africa, and Central Asia. In July 2013, Sullivan was recalled to active duty to serve with a Joint Task Force in Afghanistan focusing on dismantling terrorist networks and criminalizing the Taliban insurgency.

Sullivan served in the Administration of President George W. Bush as the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Economic, Energy, and Business under Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. He focused on fighting terrorist financing, and implementing policies relating to international energy, economic, trade, finance, transportation, telecommunications, and Arctic issues. Sullivan also served as a Director in the International Economics Directorate of the National Security Council staff at the White House.

Sullivan earned a B.A. in Economics from Harvard University in 1987 and a joint law and Masters of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University in 1993. Dan and his wife Julie Fate Sullivan were married over 20 years ago in Julie’s hometown of Fairbanks, Alaska. They have three teenage daughters: Meghan, Isabella and Laurel.

https://www.sullivan.senate.gov/about/bio

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/13586948 (050835ZMAY21) Notable: Australian paedophile priest Paul David Ryan faces extradition to US on fresh charges, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Convicted_paedophile_priest_Paul_David_Ryan.jpg

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Australian paedophile priest faces extradition to US on fresh charges

Farrah Tomazin - May 5, 2021

A defrocked Australian Catholic priest who was jailed for indecently assaulting schoolboys in Victoria could soon be extradited to the US to face a fresh set of sexual abuse charges.

Former Ballarat priest Paul David Ryan has been indicted in the US state of Virginia on charges of sexual assault against a teenager at a ski resort in 1979.

Ryan had been sent to America to receive “treatment” after Melbourne Catholic authorities became concerned about his sexual activity with other seminarians when he was training to be a priest in Melbourne in the 1970s.

While in the US, he had been assigned to work in Virginia Beach as an ordained priest at Star of the Sea Parish and its affiliated school of the same name.

According to charges filed by Virginia Attorney-General Mark Herring, Ryan took the victim on a ski trip to Massanutten Resort in Rockingham County, Virginia, “under the pretense of a church-sanctioned outing”. Ryan had arranged for the two of them to stay at a house together at the resort, where it is alleged that he sexually assaulted the victim twice.

The charges are the latest in a series of abuse claims against Ryan, who was jailed for a minimum term of 17 months in July 2019 over the historical sexual abuse of three boys, aged 14, 15 and 17 at the time of the assaults.

One victim had been training to be an altar boy and the other two were students at the Warrnambool Christian Brothers’ College, where Ryan worked as a school chaplain and provided sex education classes.

An Age investigation in 2019 also revealed that Ryan was part of a network of paedophiles coalescing in the 1970s around Corpus Christi – the Melbourne seminary that has produced about 1000 priests over almost 100 years, including some of the country’s worst paedophiles.

One former altar boy filed a civil claim in court alleging he was taken to the seminary in October 1976 and left to wait in a communal living room with four or five other boys. Ryan then allegedly picked the boy from the group, took him back to a bedroom and sexually assaulted him.

“I recall that seminarians would come out through the corridor into the sitting room and select a boy to go back with them,” said the former St Peter’s altar boy. “He selected me by pointing at me and ushering me to follow him.”

The latest US charges against Ryan emerged from an investigation by Virginia’s Attorney-General and its state police into whether criminal sexual abuse of children may have occurred in Virginia’s Catholic dioceses.

“Our investigation with Virginia State Police into potential clergy abuse in the Commonwealth remains ongoing and I want to encourage anyone who may have more information about this case or any other instances of abuse to please reach out to us as soon as possible,” Mr Herring said in a statement on Wednesday (AEST).

“I understand that coming forward with this kind of experience can be difficult or scary, but I pledge to you that, no matter how long ago the incident occurred, we will take it seriously and ensure that you get the support and help that you need and deserve.”

The Attorney-General’s office has said it would seek to extradite Ryan. Several accusers in Virginia have come forward against the former priest, now aged 72.

Ryan also spent time at Catholic University in Washington DC; a parish in Dayton, Ohio; and outposts for sexually troubled priests in New Mexico and Maryland.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/australian-paedophile-priest-faces-extradition-to-us-on-fresh-charges-20210505-p57p2e.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/13586955 (050836ZMAY21) Notable: Christopher Steele, ex-British spy who produced explosive dossier alleging conspiracy between Donald Trump and Russia, continued working for FBI while Donald Trump in office, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Former_British_spy_Christopher_Steele.jpg

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Spy worked for FBI while Donald Trump in office

JACQUELIN MAGNAY - MAY 4, 2021

Christopher Steele, the ex-British spy who produced the explosive 35-page dossier alleging a conspiracy between Donald Trump and Russia, continued to work for the FBI even when Mr Trump was in the White House.

The British Telegraph newspaper has revealed that Mr Steele, who was a former MI6 agent continued to supply intelligence ­reports to the US authorities in 2017, well after Mr Trump’s ­January inauguration, expanding on his initial claims about alleged sexual exploits and prostitutes.

This is despite the FBI casting doubt on Mr Steele’s sources following an October 2016 meeting with him in Rome and then dismissing the information after further investigations.

Mr Trump has vehemently ­denied the Steele allegations as fake news and a pile of garbage.

A new book by Barry Meier, Spooked, details how Mr Steele’s main Russia contact was political analyst Igor Danchenko, who passed on information from a school friend, Olga Galkina, a 40-year-old Russian public-relations executive living in Cyprus.

At the time, this late 2016 Rome meeting with Mr Steele was part of the secret counter­intelligence investigation into several Trump associates and the Kremlin that was sparked by a conversation between Australia’s then high commissioner to the UK, Alexander Downer, and one of Mr Trump’s staff, George ­Papadopoulos in May 2016.

Mr Papadopoulos had told Mr Downer that Mr Trump would win the upcoming election ­because the Russians had information that could be damaging to Democrat opponent Hillary Clinton. That conversation was then passed onto the Americans.

The Telegraph reported that the intelligence gathered by Mr Steele for his second dossier is ­believed to have included further details of Mr Trump’s campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

Konstantin Kilimnik, an associate of Mr Manafort, is ­accused of passing Trump campaign polling and strategy information to Russian intelligence sources. Mr Kilimnik is under US sanctions for being a known Russian Intelligences Services agent and there is a $250,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.

During a September 2017 FBI interview in London, Mr Steele revealed his company Orbis had “four discrete and hermetically-sealed main agent networks”.

It is claimed that the second dossier used separate sources than those who provided information for the first reports.

In Spooked, Mr Meier reveals that the public relations company Fusion GPS, which had promoted Steele’s initial dossier to various journalists, then created a non-profit foundation after the 2016 election “that accepted millions of dollars from donors who ­despised Trump and then funnelled money to Fusion GPS and Christopher Steele”.

He says in 2017, its first year of operation, this non-profit, called the Democracy Integrity Project pulled in more than $US7m with $US3.3m paid out in fees to a limited liability company linked to Fusion GPS.

He also wrote that an entity tied to Mr Steele got $US252,000, or about twice as much as it had received during the 2016 campaign from Fusion GPS.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/spy-worked-for-fbi-while-donald-trump-in-office/news-story/a94815e5d1efcdf7e887ba78f5e2ec78

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/13586991 (050851ZMAY21) Notable: U.S. Department of Defense Tweet: Flight mates - A @HiAirGuard F-22 Raptor flies alongside an @AusAirForce E-7A Wedgetail over Oahu, Hawaii, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: USDOD_1.jpg, E0k2CSqXMAM6_pX.jpg

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U.S. Department of Defense Tweet

Flight mates.

A @HiAirGuard F-22 Raptor flies alongside an @AusAirForce E-7A Wedgetail over Oahu, Hawaii. Members of the Royal Australian Air Force provided airborne early warning support during exercise Pacific Edge 21.

https://twitter.com/DeptofDefense/status/1389701374548471808

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/13595127 (060714ZMAY21) Notable: China suspends economic accord with Australia - China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: China_suspends_economic_accord_with_Australia.jpg

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>>125324

China suspends economic accord with Australia

WILL GLASGOW and HEIDI HAN - MAY 6, 2021

Beijing has suspended an annual meeting with Australia’s Treasurer and Trade minister – formalising the diplomatic freeze Xi Jinping’s administration has imposed on Canberra since relations unravelled in 2018.

The immediate suspension of the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue was apparently in retaliation to the Morrison government’s scrapping of Victoria’s Belt and Road deal and review of the 99-year lease of the Port of Darwin Port by the Chinese company Landbridge.

Explaining the decision, China’s National Reform and Development Commission said recent measures taken by the Morrison government had revealed its “Cold War mindset” and “ideological discrimination”.

“Based on the current attitude of the Australian federal government towards China-Australia co-operation, the National Development and Reform Commission has decided to suspend indefinitely all activities under the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue mechanism,” China’s top economic planning body said in a statement on Thursday.

Despite being billed as an annual meeting when it was announced by the Gillard government in 2013, the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue only met three times in 2014, 2015 and for the last time in 2017.

Trade Minister Dan Tehan said it was “disappointing” to learn about the formal suspension.

“The Strategic Economic Dialogue, which was last held in 2017, is an important forum for Australia and China to work through issues relevant to our economic partnership,” Minister Tehan said.

“We remain open to holding the dialogue and engaging at the Ministerial level,” he said.

The Australian dollar was down 0.5pc at US77.07c shortly after the announcement, after trading as high as US77.58c during the morning.

The Australian government has previously described the accord — designed to boost trade between both sides and introduce large Chinese investors — as one of the “premier bilateral economic meetings with China”. But relations between the two have plunged into the deep freeze.

China’s move is the first official halt to bilateral co-operation after it launched a series of trade bans, tariffs and restrictions on imports of Australian imports, including coal, wine, barley, timber and seafood, valued at more than $2bn.

The proclamation comes after the Morrison government scrapped Belt and Road initiatives between the Victorian government and China, which were overseen by the National Development and Reform Commission and which are part of China’s massive infrastructure initiative across Asia and the world.

It also comes after Defence Minister Peter Dutton confirmed that his department was reviewing a $500m Port Darwin lease agreement between the Northern Territory and Chinese company Landbridge Group.

Darwin is the most important port on Australia’s north coast, the closest to Asia and a base for US Marines who rotate in and out of the country.

The announcement prompted a furious response from China, which warned of “serious harm” in the already fractured relationship.

Before the suspension announced on Thursday, the last major communication the NDRC had in with Australia was a March 2020 phone call between deputy director Ning Jizhe and Daniel Andrews. Ning reportedly expressed gratitude for the state’s “firm support” for China’s fight against the pandemic and the Victorian Premier’s willingness to “actively explore expansion under the framework of the Belt and Road initiative”.

The last minister-level meetings involving China and Australia were in November 2018 — when Foreign Minister Marise Payne and her counterpart Wang Yi held talks at the 5th Australia-China Foreign and Strategic Dialogue — and then defence minister Christopher Pyne’s visit to China in January 2019.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/economics/china-suspends-economic-accord-with-australia/news-story/083c7ba90f9916772919be9c2f295dfb

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/13595132 (060716ZMAY21) Notable: Proclamation of the National Development and Reform Commission of the People’s Republic of China on the Indefinite Suspension of All Activities under China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Proclamation_of_the_Nationa.jpg

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>>125324

>>125483

Proclamation of the National Development and Reform Commission of the People’s Republic of China on the Indefinite Suspension of All Activities under China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue

2021/05/06

Recently, some Australian Commonwealth Government officials launched a series of measures to disrupt the normal exchanges and cooperation between China and Australia out of Cold War mindset and ideological discrimination. Based on the current attitude of the Australian Commonwealth Government toward China-Australia cooperation, the National Development and Reform Commission of the People’s Republic of China decides to indefinitely suspend all activities under the framework of the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue jointly held by the National Development and Reform Commission of the People’s Republic of China and relevant ministries of the Australian Commonwealth Government.

https://en.ndrc.gov.cn/newsrelease_8232/202105/t20210506_1279176.html

https://en.ndrc.gov.cn/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/13595138 (060718ZMAY21) Notable: China’s suspension of economic dialogue mechanism with Australia ‘a necessary step’ to defend national interests: analysts - Li Xuanmin - globaltimes.cn, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: China_s_suspension_of_economic_dialogue_mechanism_with_Australia_a_necessary_step_to_defend_national_interests_analysts.png

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>>125324

>>125483

>>125484

China’s suspension of economic dialogue mechanism with Australia ‘a necessary step’ to defend national interests: analysts

Li Xuanmin - May 06, 2021

1/2

China’s top economic planner announced on Thursday it is indefinitely suspending all activities under the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue, marking the first time that a diplomatic mechanism between the two countries was frozen on the heels of downward spiraling bilateral relations.

The decision sends a clear signal that China is resolute, and prepared to take all necessary moves to defend its national interests in response to Australia’s provocations, and that more measures would follow if Canberra further escalates its anti-China agenda, observers said.

The suspension is a strong political gesture and means that more bilateral government-to-government communication avenues would likely to be put on hold, and trade deals would shrink drastically if Canberra does not exhibit good faith measures to repair bilateral relations, analysts said.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s top economic planner, announced on Thursday that it will indefinitely suspend all activities under China-Australia strategic economic dialogue, which is jointly held by NDRC and the relevant ministries of the Australian Commonwealth Government.

The decision takes effect immediately.

NDRC said that the decision was based on the current attitude of the Australian Commonwealth Government toward China-Australia cooperation, as some Australian Commonwealth Government officials recently “launched a series of measures to disrupt the normal exchanges and cooperation between China and Australia out of Cold War mindset and ideological discrimination,” according to a statement on the website of NDRC.

The China-Australia strategic economic dialogue, an important mechanism under China-Australia Annual Prime Ministerial Meeting and an important tool to cement bilateral relation mechanisms, was launched in 2014. It aims to conduct strategic dialogue on key bilateral economic and investment areas and strengthen economic ties.

According to media reports, the latest round of dialogue, or the third round under the framework, was held in Beijing in September 2017.

The suspension marks the first time that Beijing has officially frozen diplomatic channels with Canberra, after the Australian federal government, in what viewed as a provocative action against China, uses laws to revoke agreements signed between Victoria state and China on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in April.

“Such suspension is very rare within China’s diplomatic course with major countries, which underscores China’s strong objection to the move and sends a clear warning to Australia that China is determined, and is ready to employ all necessary tools to defend its legitimate interests,” Zhou Fangyin, a professor at the Guangdong Research Institute for International Strategies, told the Global Times on Thursday.

“Morrison should respect China’s bottom line and drop the fantasy that China may retreat on its unreasonable provocation,” Zhou said.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/13595471 (060925ZMAY21) Notable: Disgraced former NSW Labor MP and convicted paedophile Milton Orkopoulos pleads not guilty to historical child sex charges, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Former_Labor_NSW_MP_Milton_Orkopoulos_has_pleaded_not_guilty_to_child_sex_charges.jpg, The_convicted_paedophile_will_head_to_trial_for_child_sex_charges.jpg

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Convicted paedophile Milton Orkopoulos pleads not guilty to historical child sex charges

Convicted paedophile Milton Orkopoulos will head to trial on 23 child sex charges after pleading not guilty in Newcastle Local Court.

Amy Ziniak - May 5, 2021

Disgraced former Labor MP and convicted paedophile Milton Orkopoulos will head to trial over historical child sex charges in the Hunter in the late 1990s.

In Newcastle Local Court on Wednesday, the former Lake Macquarie Cr appeared via video link from Nowra Correctional Centre, and pleaded not guilty to 23 charges against him, relating to two alleged victims in Swansea and Belmont.

Six charges including cause child under 14 to participate in child prostitution and sexual intercourse with a person between 10 and 16 while under his authority were withdrawn.

Court documents revealed Orkopoulos was charged with trying to pervert the course of justice by getting an alleged victim to sign a statutory declaration retracting an allegation of sexual abuse.

Other charges he’s facing include aggravated indecent and sexual assault, commit an act of indecency with a person under 16, sexual intercourse with a person between 10 and 16 and supplying the prohibited drug cannabis.

Orkopoulos has been committed for trial in Newcastle’s District Court in June, where he will be arraigned.

On June 15 last year, Orkopoulos was arrested at Silverwater Jail over 15 fresh historical offences, where police allege the former Swansea MP sexually assaulted two young boys who were known to him on separate occasions in the 1990s, in Lake Macquarie and the Mid North Coast.

Some two months later, he was again charged with eight more offences against two young boys in Lake Macquarie between 1999 and 2003, before additional charges were laid late last year.

Released from Long Bay prison in December last year after spending 11 years behind bars for 30 child sex abuse and drugs offences, Orkopoulos was sent back to jail after breaking his parole conditions on two occasions.

Orkopoulos was sentenced to a two-year community corrections order (CCO) after he pleaded guilty to one count of breaching his parole conditions, with a further four charges of breaching parole taken into account.

Orkopoulos used a mobile phone to download Instagram and follow soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo, and used a fellow resident’s mobile to speak with an 11-year-old relative and call his sister.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/the-newcastle-news/convicted-paedophile-milton-orkopoulos-pleads-not-guilty-to-historical-child-sex-charges/news-story/a15de3c7ed18f4a1b3cc2850c8f1f891

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/13595526 (060940ZMAY21) Notable: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan - Press Release: Japan-Australia Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, May 5, 2021, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Japan_Australia_Foreign_Ministers_Meeting.jpg

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Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan

Press Release: Japan-Australia Foreign Ministers’ Meeting

May 5, 2021

On May 5, commencing at 11:50 a.m. (local time: on May 5 at 7:50 p.m. Japan time) for 20 minutes, Mr. MOTEGI Toshimitsu, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, held a Japan-Australia Foreign Ministers’ Meeting with Senator the Hon Marise Payne, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Commonwealth of Australia, during his visit to the United Kingdom, to attend the Meeting of G7 Foreign and Development Ministers. The overview of the meeting is as follows.

1. At the outset, Minister Motegi mentioned that the range of cooperation between Japan and Australia has been steadily expanding, as shown by the development of security and defense cooperation, as well as in the economic field, cooperation on clean energy including Hydrogen, and confirmed that he would work with Minister Payne to continue to develop the bilateral relationship. In this context, the two Ministers confirmed that they would continue coordination with a view to hold the next Japan-Australia Foreign and Defense Ministerial Consultations (“2+2”) at an early timing.

2. In addition, the two Ministers welcomed the fruitful discussions at the Japan-Australia-India-U.S. Leaders’ Video Conference in March and confirmed the importance to continue to accumulate concrete cooperation. They also concurred that Japan and Australia would promote cooperation with other relevant countries including Southeast Asia and Pacific Island countries towards realizing a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific.”

3. The two Ministers also exchanged views and shared serious concerns regarding matters such as China's unilateral attempts to change the status quo and the situation in Hong Kong.

https://www.mofa.go.jp/press/release/press4e_002998.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/13595634 (061012ZMAY21) Notable: Foreign Minister Marise Payne Tweet: (Australia) & (France) are close friends in support of multilateralism, the rules-based international order & cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: FMMP_16.jpg, E0onfW3UUAEC9DS.jpeg

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>>125467

Foreign Minister Marise Payne Tweet

(Australia) & (France) are close friends in support of multilateralism, the rules-based international order & cooperation in the Indo-Pacific. France’s Foreign Minister @JY_LeDrian & I discussed defence & security ties & our deepening response to shared challenges in the region.

https://twitter.com/MarisePayne/status/1389966863367503872

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/13598599 (061840ZMAY21) Notable: New Zealand torn between Western allies, domestic interests in China stance: experts - Chen Qingqing -, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: People_in_Kuqa_county_in_Xinjiang_hold_a_warm_welcome_ceremony_for_tourists_with_singing_and_dancing_on_July_11_2019.jpg

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>>125306

New Zealand torn between Western allies, domestic interests in China stance: experts

Chen Qingqing - May 06, 2021

New Zealand's back-and-forth attitude on whether to call China's Xinjiang policy "genocide" showed that it is struggling to act in line with its "Western identity" while carefully weighing its own interests with China, Chinese experts said.

The New Zealand Parliament unanimously voted for a motion on Wednesday to express grave concern at "severe human rights abuses" against Uygurs in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, calling for the New Zealand government to work with international organizations and partners to end those abuses with all relevant instruments, according to the New Zealand Herald.

However, due to pressure from the Labour Party, the term "genocide" was removed before it was put forward, and some observers saw the subtle changing attitude as signaling much more independence in the country's China policy compared to Australia.

"We should not count on New Zealand to completely drop the Western-led rhetoric on the Xinjiang issue, given the mounting pressure from the US and other major powers. In addition to misleading storytelling about China's Xinjiang, New Zealand is more or less influenced by the overall environment," Chen Hong, a professor and director of the Australian Studies Center at the East China Normal University, told the Global Times on Thursday.

"Such independence has been driving it to strike a balance amid geopolitical wrestling, reflecting its more pragmatic attitude, as it knows where the bottom line is," Chen said.

Unlike its close neighbor Australia, which has taken a hysterically harsh stance toward China, New Zealand has also maintained a certain distance from Five Eyes by disagreeing over the role of the alliance. Its foreign minister, Nanaia Mahuta, expressed some concerns over whether the framework needs to be invoked every time on every issue, especially on human rights issues, according to media reports. Some reports also raised questions such as why New Zealand is not on the same page as its allies in confronting China.

"It's unlikely that New Zealand will take the same aggressive moves as Australia has, which could also be much smarter," Chen said.

The Chinese Embassy in New Zealand voiced opposition on Thursday to the motion by saying that despite the truth and facts in Xinjiang, the parliament made groundless accusations against China over human rights abuses and grossly interfered in China's internal affairs.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202105/1222792.shtml

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/13603511 (070627ZMAY21) Notable: Beijing calls the Morrison government ‘insane’ after Belt and Road retaliation, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Prime_Minister_Scott_Morrison_meets_with_President_Xi_Jinping_during_the_G20_in_Osaka_Japan_in_2019.jpg, Britain_s_Foreign_Secretary_Dominic_Raab_L_poses_with_Australia_s_Foreign_minister_Marise_Payne_on_the_sidelines_of_the_G7_foreign_ministers_meeting_in_London.jpg

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>>125324

>>125483

Beijing calls the Morrison government ‘insane’ after Belt and Road retaliation

WILL GLASGOW - MAY 7, 2021

1/2

Beijing has blasted the Morrison government for its “insane suppression” of the Australia-China relationship, as it justified its tit-for-tat scuttling of a high-level economic and trade dialogue with Australia.

The suspension of the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue on Thursday was apparently in retaliation to the Morrison government’s scrapping of Victoria’s Belt and Road deal and came after the announcement of a review of the 99-year lease of the Port of Darwin by Chinese company Landbridge.

It triggered a sell-off of the Australian dollar, stoked anxiety among China-exposed Australian businesses and was followed by a denunciation of the “wildness of Australian politicians” by a Chinese government adviser.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman blasted Australia at a press conference in Beijing on Thursday evening.

“We urge the Australian side to cast aside the Cold-War mentality and ideological bias, view China‘s development and China-Australia cooperation in a truly objective light, return to the rational track without further delay and correct its mistakes,” Mr Wang said.

“It should stop the insane suppression targeting China-Australia cooperation, stop politicising and stigmatising normal exchange and stop going further down the wrong path,” he said.

“Australia must bear all responsibility for this.”

Speaking in London overnight, Foreign Minister Marise Payne said she was “disappointed’’ that China had suspended economic dialogue with Australia, as it has been a “valuable tool for minister to engage’’ in Treasury and finance.

“We have been very clear that we were willing and able to participate in an ongoing Strategic and Economic Dialogue that is ultimately a decision for China … Australia is very ready to engage in dialogue with our counterparts at any level,’’ she said.

China-exposed businesses were alarmed at the formalisation of a diplomatic freeze Xi Jinping’s administration had unofficially imposed in 2018 after the Turnbull government banned Huawei from Australia’s 5G network.

“Beijing’s decision to suspend the Strategic Economic Dialogue marks a new low in the relationship, one that is of deep concern to the business community,” said Australia China Business Council president David Olsson.

“This is a serious diplomatic challenge that cannot be dismissed as just another case of Beijing ramping up the pressure on Australia,” said Mr Olsson, a partner at the Hong Kong-headquartered law firm King & Wood Mallesons.

Over the past year, China has imposed trade strikes on more than $20bn of annual Australian imports, including coal, wine, barley, timber and lobster.

The Australian dollar on Thursday fell 0.5 per cent to US77.07c after the announcement, but had recovered by Friday.

Trade Minister Dan Tehan said it was “disappointing” to learn about the formal suspension.

“The Strategic Economic Dialogue, which was last held in 2017, is an important forum for Australia and China to work through issues relevant to our economic partnership,” Mr Tehan said.

“We remain open to holding the dialogue and engaging at the ministerial level,” he said.

The Australian government had previously described the accord as one of the “premier bilateral economic meetings with China”.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/13603526 (070629ZMAY21) Notable: Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin's Regular Press Conference on May 6, 2021, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Foreign_Ministry_Spokesperson_Wang_Wenbin_s_Regular_Press_Conference_on_May_6_2021.jpg

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>>125494

Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin's Regular Press Conference on May 6, 2021

RIA Novosti: I have two questions. First, the Pentagon said Wednesday it is following the trajectory of Long March 5B rocket expected to make an uncontrolled entry into the atmosphere this weekend. I wonder if you could provide any details? Second, the National Development and Reform Commission announced today its decision to indefinitely suspend all activities within the framework of the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue. Could you give more details? Will it have effect on bilateral economic cooperation?

Wang Wenbin: On your first question, as a matter of principle, I would like to reiterate that China is always committed to the peaceful use of outer space and stands for international cooperation in this regard. China is ready to work with all relevant parties to make joint efforts for the peaceful use of outer space and safeguarding space security.

On your second question, we always believe that a sound and steady China-Australia relationship is in the fundamental interests of both countries and that bilateral cooperation is mutually-beneficial in nature. That said, mutual respect and mutual trust is the prerequisite of dialogue and practical cooperation between countries. For some time, the Australian side, in disregard of China's solemn position and repeated representations, doubled down on restriction and suppression of China-Australia cooperation projects in trade, culture and people-to-people exchanges by falsely citing "national security" reasons. This has severely damaged mutual trust and undermined the foundation for normal exchange and cooperation. China has no other choice but to make necessary and legitimate responses. The Australian side must take all responsibility for this.

We urge the Australian side to cast aside the Cold-War mentality and ideological bias, view China's development and China-Australia cooperation in a truly objective light, return to the rational track without further delay and correct its mistakes. It should stop the insane suppression targeting China-Australia cooperation, stop politicizing and stigmatizing normal exchange, and stop going further down the wrong path.

…..

FSN: A follow-up on China's decision to suspend economic dialogue with Australia. Is there any impact on trade between the two countries specifically?

Wang Wenbin: As I said, for some time, the Australian side doubled down on restriction and suppression of China-Australia cooperation projects in trade, culture and people-to-people exchanges by falsely citing "national security" reasons. This has severely damaged mutual trust and undermined the foundation for normal exchange and cooperation. China has no other choice but to make necessary and legitimate responses. The Australian side must take all responsibility for this.

https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/2511_665403/t1873782.shtml

Follow-up thread

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>>196

Follow-up thread