What does one shallow dictator do when another delicate dictator visits a land of freedom?
The @WhiteHouse puts up screens to block #Xi's view of protestors during visit. Bad move. Insult to American values. pic.twitter.com/ktz6HERJnz
— Marion Smith (@smithmarion) September 25, 2015
Warning, some of the content is graphic. Sketchy details. The blast reportedly happened at approximately 11:30 p.m. local time in the Chinese city of Tianjin, or 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time. 
At least 7 people are reported killed, hundreds injured. • Latest report says the explosion happened in an explosive manufacturing facility. • 18 Fire Squads responded and actively battling blaze. • Most injuries from flying debris. Two firefighters missing. • Death toll now 18 with 400 wounded.
In the grand scheme of all things current this might seem a little insignificant. But for those who are intent on knowing the “why” behind the activity from DC it is a Biden-esque deal.
For months I have been trying to identify “the play”, “the juice”, that Tom Donohue held over President Obama and the White House regarding the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.
What play could Tom Donohue possibly hold that was so significant it would force Obama to defy his left-wing base and support a trade deal that only benefits Donohue and the Wall Street interests he represents.
The Mitch McConnell support was a no-brainer, the GOPe machine is in the back pocket of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and Tom Donohue, and has been for a long time.
The TPP trade deal was, and is, antithetical to U.S. main street business interests – but I couldn’t figure out why President Obama was willing to buck Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and the like-minded anti-Wall Street ideologues. (more…)
(Reuters) […] On Wednesday, more than 500 China-listed firms announced trading halts, bringing the total number to around 1,300, almost half of China’s roughly 2,800 “A share” listed companies.
[…] China’s stock market has so far tumbled 30 percent from its mid-June peak, reversing a year-long, highly-leveraged bull run, and wiping out nearly $3 trillion in market capitalization.
A slew of government support measures, including direct purchases of blue chips, a central bank pledge of liquidity support, and a halt in initial public offerings, has not been able to stem the slide. (more…)
Who, I mean WHO, in their right mind would go along with this idea?
For an administration so singularly focused, tuned-in, and twitchy about “optics”, and control thereof, this had to be an intentional set-up to allow ridicule of President Obama in China. There is no other reasonable explanation.
(@03:45 Video) John Kerry: […] One of the issues that we’re going to discuss today, no doubt, is the situation in Hong Kong. And as China knows, we support universal suffrage in Hong Kong accordant with the Basic Law, and we believe in open society with the highest possible degree of autonomy and governed by rule of law is essential for Hong Kong’s stability and prosperity. And we have high hopes that the Hong Kong authorities will exercise restraint and respect for the protestors’ right to express their views peacefully.
(PENTAGON) […] Earlier this week, a Chinese fighter jet pulled off a similar stunt with a U.S. spy plane. On Monday, Aug. 18, a Chinese Su-27 fighter jet intercepted a U.S. P-8 Poseidon surveillance plane near Hainan Island. The P-8 had likely been monitoring a massive Chinese military exercise nearby, and the Su-27 flew dangerously close to its American opponent, a clear mark of the Chinese government’s displeasure at U.S. surveillance activities off the Chinese coast.
At a briefing Friday, Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby provided more details on the encounter. The Chinese jet flew directly in front of the P-8 at a 90-degree angle about 40 feet from the modified Boeing 737. Kirby said the Su-27 passed the P-8 with its belly facing the plane, most likely to display its weapons’ load to the American pilots. The Chinese plane then pulled up alongside the P-8 and performed a barrel roll over the U.S. plane.
No word on whether the Chinese aviator flipped the bird in the direction of the Americans. (read more)
ON THE night of June 3rd–4th 1989 the Chinese army unleashed its tanks in the centre of Beijing to crush a protest that had begun seven weeks earlier against the Communist Party’s autocratic rule.
Ever since, Chinese officials grow nervous in the run-up to the anniversary of the crackdown. This year they are especially jittery, fearful that the symbolic passage of a quarter of a century might encourage some dissidents to be more daring than usual in their public remembrance of the hundreds, perhaps thousands, who were killed.
Security forces around the country are on heightened alert, particularly in Tiananmen Square, the plaza that has become synonymous with the unrest. (more…)