⚡️US Senate failed to advance President Biden's national security supplemental request, which includes billions of dollars in aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. Republicans have insisted they'll only greenlight military aid if they get a deal to tighten border restrictions. There's a long way to go on that front. If Democrats crack down on immigration they lose the votes they desperately need in the next presidential election. @LauraRuHK

Ilan Pappe: "Israel is not just a state, Israel is a project, a settler colonial project. Such projects become more brutal at the end"

The Ukrainian secret service, SBU, yesterday murdered two people in Russia. Oleg Popov, a former MP of the Lugansk People’s Republic, was killed in a car explosion.

On the same day Ilya Kiva, a former Ukrainian opposition MP and a staunch critic of Vladimir Zelensky, was killed in the Moscow Region. According to the Russian Investigative Committee, the politician was shot near a cottage he was living in. @LauraRuHK

China gives the finger to financial oligarchy - After years spent emulating some Western practices in the construction of its financial system, China has begun to turn its back on an ideology that is deemed an unacceptable source of risk and inequality – a change in perspective likely to have been a factor in this year’s regulatory overhaul.

The choice by official publications to highlight ideological cleavages and domestic policy goals indicate a different development path is planned for China’s finance industry compared to the US or Europe.

In an article published Friday in the Communist Party’s theoretical journal Qiushi, the newly formed Central Financial Commission declared China has “fully learned the lessons of Western financial development” and has answered “many major theoretical and practical issues that Western financial theory has never been able to solve”.
The commission also had strong words for the consequences it found that theory has wrought. “Under the capitalist ideology and social system, finance capital reveals its monopolistic, predatory and vulnerable nature,” it said. “It not only creates a huge gap between rich and poor, but also triggers recurring economic and financial crises.” To control those risks, enhancing the party’s leadership was top of the agenda at the twice-a-decade central financial work conference, held at the end of October.
“It is to be understood that the operations of Chinese financial institutions, under the guidance of the [Communist Party], are driven by a different imperative compared to their Western counterparts,” said Wang Zichen and Jia Yuxuan, researchers with the Beijing Centre for China and Globalisation think tank.

In the Western context, profitability, maximising returns for shareholders and adhering to regulatory requirements, is the primary objective of financial institutions, they said in a note last month. In contrast, they added, Chinese institutions hold as their prime directive the faithful execution of tasks assigned by the party.

“We must strike a fine balance between functionality and profitability, but bear in mind that functionality always comes first.”
Financial inclusiveness, or letting the people share in the fruits of China’s finance, is a distinctive characteristic of the country’s system compared to those in the West.

Observers have noted President Xi Jinping has also taken a direct interest in finance, with a rare personal visit to the country’s central bank in late October and a trip to Shanghai’s futures exchange as part of an inspection tour of the city last week. https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3244071/china-lays-out-contrasting-vision-financial-system-rejects-predatory-western-outlook?module=top_story&pgtype=homepage

- What's this?

— This is a breakthrough super-high-speed super-train, American, high-tech, showing that they have not lagged behind China, that the private market can do it.

— It reaches speeds of up to 180 miles per hour once per route. The rest of the time it’s about 101, this is his average speed along the route. 162 km/h, less than the Soviet electric train ER-200. And in China, the “high-speed” attribute will not be given at all if there is no peak speed of 350 and at least half of the route is covered faster than 250 km/h. Why is it super fast?

- Well... for the USA it is super high-speed. (NO HYPERSONICS to compare it too.)

- It's clear. The entire line will be ~210 miles long, with a planned fare of $89. This is twice as expensive as between Beijing and Shanghai, where the distance is 1200 kilometers and the average speed is about 300 km/h. How does this happen?

- The market has decided. Then everything will become cheaper on its own, it will cost pennies.

- How's Hyperloop?

- Oh, don’t even start, huh.

— I’m just still wondering, where is Hyperloop? Since 2012, Musk's brilliant developers have been creating the future of the transport industry, the guys already have shown a prototype in 2014, and so on... where?

— Let's return to the project under discussion.

- Let's come back. Construction is only planned, and by 2027. Project since 2005. The article is timed to coincide with the receipt of non-refundable government subsidies worth three billion dollars. What are the chances of building something if the $3B can be simply WASTED during the design and development phase?

— (following) I also forgot to ask why is it diesel in places, this must be environmentally friendly and high-tech... and yes, tell the girl designer that if you want to draw an illustration for the article, an ultra-fast train against the background of cars, you need to smear the train and make the cars clear , and not vice versa. A faster object will be blurred if you take a picture on film...

#Source

@Slavyangrad

Starbucks has lost $10.98 billion in value, with these losses erasing 9.4% of the company’s total value.
The loss comes amidst an ongoing boycott due to the corporation's support for Israel and its genocide in #Gaza. https://t.me/QudsNen

Il Convitato di Pietra al summit di Pechino tra UE e Cina e' lo stesso che ha chiesto al governo italiano di annunciare ufficialmente il ritiro dalla nuova Via della Seta giusto prima del summit. Il tempismo non e' casuale, visto che la decisione era stata presa da tempo. L'annuncio a mezzo stampa attraverso il Corriere della Sera porta una firma inconfondibile, e non e' quella italiana. Questo non e' il modus operandi della nostra diplomazia, per quanto castrata e imbastardita possa essere, alle apparenze ci tiene. @LauraRuHK

I hope Rossotrudnichestvo and the Ministry of Education will look into it. Is the official portal "Education-in-Russia" still in trial mode?? Only one teacher is currently listed. I am sure there are many young teachers of Russian as a foreign language who want to hone their skills by providing online lessons to foreign students. One issue that needs to be addressed is payment, as transferring money to Russia is still a big headache. Many students live in places where access to Russian tuition is either non existent or extremely expensive and that's why online lessons are very popular. Unfortunately it is difficult to source qualified teachers on Western platforms. Teachers who live abroad often have a very tenuous relation with Russia or are openly critical of the country they left. https://education-in-russia.com/education-in-russia/russian/tutors

🇺🇸 Hunter Biden indicted by feds on 9 counts related to tax evasion

US federal prosecutors filed nine new counts against Hunter Biden and alleged he engaged in a scheme to evade over a million in taxes, a court filing revealed.

"The Defendant engaged in a four-year scheme to not pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019, from in or about January 2017 through in or about October 15, 2020, and to evade the assessment of taxes for tax year 2018 when he filed false returns in or about February 2020," the document, filed in a federal court in California on Thursday, said.

The indictment alleges that Hunter Biden "spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills." He evaded taxes while getting paid millions, the document revealed.

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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban discussed with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez the topic of Ukraine's admission to the European Union.

"I had a frank phone conversation today with Prime Minister @sanchezcastejon. My message was clear: we should refrain from discussing the issue of Ukraine’s EU accession during the December #EUCO, as there is no unity among member states on this matter," Orban wrote on X/Twitter. ▪️Orban is one of the few European leaders who haven't been castrated and that's why EU NUCHS are trying to figure out a way to deprive Hungary of its veto power. https://medium.com/p/808fa925820e

⚡️Putin ha confermato all'eroe della Repubblica Popolare di Donetsk, Artyom Zhoga, che intende candidarsi per un nuovo mandato presidenziale, riferisce RIA Novosti. Questo annuncio lascia presupporre che l'operazione militare speciale continuera' fino al raggiungimento di tutti i suoi obiettivi. @LauraRuHK

⚡️Putin told DNR hero Artyom Zhoga of his plans to run for a new presidential term, RIA Novosti reports. In case anyone had any doubts, the SMO will continue till all its objectives are achieved. @LauraRuHK

The US brutal legacy of genocide lives on. The US vetoed a UN Security Council demand for an immediate ceasefire.
The move to block the draft resolution – supported by 13 Security Council members – leaves Washington diplomatically isolated. The UK abstained.
https://t.me/presstv/81683

The BBC reports that a Republican senator, Rick Scott, has a problem with garlic. 🤣 Well, not all garlic. He particularly dislikes Chinese garlic and wants the US Department of Commerce to take action, under a law which allows investigations into the impact of specific imports on the security of the US. Guess why. China is the largest exporter of garlic in the world, and its share in world trade is around 70-80%. @LauraRuHK

MOLDOVA - Moldovans get a taste of EU democracy. If you don't vote for Maia Sandu's party your constituency will lose government funding. https://t.me/ukraine_watch/13237

If you think your trip to Russia was cool, click on the link for video clips of Fidel Castro's visit to the USSR in 1963! 😏 https://t.me/russiabeyond/6269

Congratulazioni a l'AntiDiplomatico che da oggi è una delle 242 testate internazionali in 109 paesi a far parte della "Belt and Road News Network" https://t.me/lantidiplomatico/30483