🤡 Javier Milei aveva promesso ai suoi padrini di rompere i legami con la Cina. Ebbene, indovinate chi ha più da perdere? No, non e' una domanda difficile. 📌La Cina ha sospeso un accordo di swap valutario da 6,5 miliardi di dollari con l'Argentina, e la sospensione rimarrà in vigore fino a quando il presidente Javier Milei non dimostrerà una chiara intenzione di trattare con Pechino in modo adulto e responsabile. Questo swap era una delle poche opzioni di credito che aveva l'Argentina, data la reputazione di inadempienza al pagamento dei debiti della nazione sudamericana.

I fondi, che la Cina ha promesso per la prima volta in ottobre a Sergio Massa, allora ministro dell'Economia argentino, erano destinati principalmente a sostenere le importazioni e a soddisfare gli obblighi nei confronti del Fondo Monetario Internazionale. @LauraRuHK https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3245805/china-reportedly-suspends-us65-billion-currency-swap-agreement-argentina?module=top_story&pgtype=homepage

Meanwhile In the Land of "Freedom" and "Democracy"...

BREAKING| Farouq Khateeb from Ramallah, West Bank, has been released from an Israeli jail. The photos show him before and after being kidnapped by Israeli forces.

Farouq was kidnapped 3 months ago and detained under administrative detention, without charge or trial. https://t.me/QudsNen

⚡️ Ukraine has put the Chinese company China Railway Construction Corporation on the list of "war sponsors"

Kiev said the company builds subways, bridges and roads in Russia.

‼️ The Chinese Foreign Ministry responded by saying that it strongly opposes such a decision and demanded that Ukraine correct the mistake. @LauraRuHK https://t.me/smotri_media/68195

Imagine Zionists making ''fertile'' Argentina their ''promised land'' instead of occupying Palestine!

Here is what Theodor Herzl, the founding father of Zionism, believed about the plan

In case anyone is planning to visit Hong Kong during Christmas, don't forget to pack some warm clothes. 6 degrees wouldn't be my definition of "arctic cold", but again, here you can only warm up in the sauna because without heating and decent insulation, indoor and outdoor temperatures are pretty much the same. I am writing with my hat on and a hot water bottle on my lap.

🔞 WARNING: A "master-debater" pictured.

⚡️ In 2024, Ukraine's serial self-pleasurer, Head of Defense Rustem Umerov, vows to enlist into the military Ukrainian men aged 25 - 60 who are LIVING ABROAD.

Firstly, there is currently no applicable international law to make this happen. Secondly, Umerov's own children received their Ukrainian citizenship while living in Ohio, US, where Umerov studied and owns a swanky home.

According to a Russian investigation (see here), Umerov was recruited into the CIA in 2018, essentially with the goal of killing off the Ukrainian ethnos.

P.S - How can a Ukrainian Head of Defense also be a US citizen? Does it not ring alarm bells for Ukrainians themselves? Anything is possible in Country 404.

Boost here @IntelRepublic

Blood Money: The Top Ten Politicians Taking the Most Israel Lobby Cash

https://www.mintpressnews.com/blood-money-top-ten-politicians-taking-most-israel-money-israel-lobby/286491/

2024 is going to be a very important election year. Hundreds of millions of votes will be cast in the U.S., India, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, the European Union and probably the United Kingdom as well. @LauraRuHK

THE ANATOMY OF A FAILED COLOUR REVOLUTION In Hong Kong Jimmy Lai will be tried for sedition, among other charges. This is going to be a very interesting trial not only because the 76-year-old billionaire who owned Apple Daily, a rabid anti-China rag, is a CIA-linked puppeteer and financial supporter of the Hong Kong rioters who set the city on fire in 2019-20, but also because some of the prosecution's witnesses are activists who took part in this failed colour revolution. ▪️One of these witnesses is Andy Li Yu-hin, who tried to flee Hong Kong by boat and was apprehended in international waters by China. The prosecution will show how Jimmy Lai colluded with foreign forces and funded anti-government activists, but to understand how thousands of people were radicalized we need to look at Andy Li's actions as an Internet warrior. The protests were ignited and fueled by Internet accounts that acted like a swarm. The activists behind these accounts didn't know much about each other, they weren't even sure if they lived in the same city (many didn't). Andy Li became a leader of these keyboard warriors: robot-like, slept little and was online all the time. As it turned out later, he really did not like to leave his room and lived almost exclusively in his Internet bubble.
As demonstrations roiled city streets, apps such as Telegram and the LIHKG online forum had become an extension of the movement. The LIHKG forum, in particular, contributed to the “power and sustainability” of the movement and helped articulate justifications for more radical tactics. Li, a 33-year-old gifted programmer, found his way to the online group Stand With Hong Kong (SWHK) and became one of the many young activists who were driving this new, only apparently leaderless, form of protest.

SWHK activists were anonymous, both to the world and to one another. They worked across cities and time zones. Some were even based in Ukraine.
SWHK grew into a lobbying force, focused on international advocacy, made lists of Chinese officials who would later be sanctioned by the US government, doxxed and threatened residents who opposed the protests (including me). Information on what was underway in Hong Kong was translated and disseminated into different languages; Li was among those who helped with Japanese. SWHK launched several crowdfunding campaigns, which raised millions for their work, including to fund ads supporting the protests in international papers. The funds that were raised on the website GoFundMe were deposited in a U.S. bank account.

Some of the crowdfunded money was transferred to the personal bank account in New York of one of Lai’s executives, Mark Simon, a CIA agent, and eventually to Andy Li’s personal bank account in Hong Kong, according to court documents. Simon was then the group director for Next Digital, Apple Daily’s parent company. ▪️Andy Li has already pleaded guilty under the national security law for his own role in the sedition, and he is expected to tie Jimmy Lai to the foreign conspiracy against Hong Kong and China. @LauraRuHK

MAGICAL THINKING AND ITS PROPHETS - The Chief Foreign-Affairs correspondent of The Wall Street Journal has just published a new book, "Our Enemies Will Vanish". Is it shelved in the Self-help or in the Fantasy section of U.S. bookstores? @LauraRuHK

AUTOPSIA DI UNA RIVOLUZIONE COLORATA
A Hong Kong ha preso il via il processo a Jimmy Lai che deve rispondere dell'accusa di sedizione oltre ad altri capi di imputazione per il quale e' detenuto dal 2020. Sarà un processo molto interessante non solo perché il 76enne miliardario proprietario dell'Apple Daily, un tabloid rabbiosamente anti-cinese, è un burattinaio legato alla CIA che ha finanziato le rivolte che hanno messo a ferro e fuoco Hong Kong nel 2019-20, ma anche perché alcuni dei testimoni dell'accusa sono attivisti che hanno preso parte a questa fallita rivoluzione colorata. ▪️Uno di questi testimoni è Andy Li Yu-hin, che ha cercato di fuggire da Hong Kong ed è stato fermato in acque internazionali dalla Cina. L'accusa mostrerà come Jimmy Lai abbia colluso con forze straniere e finanziato attivisti antigovernativi, ma per capire come migliaia di persone siano state radicalizzate dobbiamo guardare alle azioni di Andy Li, figura di riferimento su Internet. Le proteste sono state innescate e alimentate da account Internet che hanno agito con la modalita' dello sciame teorizzata dalla RAND corporation. Gli attivisti dietro questi account non si conoscevano tra di loro, non erano nemmeno sicuri di vivere nella stessa città (molti vivevano a migliaia di chilometri da Hong Kong!). Andy Li è diventato il leader di questi guerriglieri della tastiera: simile a un robot, dormiva pochissimo ed era sempre online. Come si scoprì in seguito, in realtà non amava uscire dalla sua stanza e viveva quasi esclusivamente nella sua bolla digitale.
Mentre le rivolte stravolgevano la vita della città, applicazioni come Telegram e il forum online LIHKG erano diventati un'estensione del movimento. Il forum LIHKG, in particolare, ha contribuito a radicalizzare il movimento e ha offerto giustificazioni per l'impiego di tattiche sempre più violente. Li, un programmatore di 33 anni, si è fatto strada nel gruppo online Stand With Hong Kong (SWHK) diventando uno degli ispiratori di questa nuova forma di protesta, solo apparentemente senza leader. Gli attivisti di SWHK erano coperti dall'anonimato, lavoravano in città e fusi orari diversi. Alcuni addirittura in Ucraina.
Il gruppo SWHK si è trasformato presto in una lobby di pressione internazionale, ha stilato elenchi di funzionari cinesi che in seguito sarebbero stati sanzionati dal governo degli Stati Uniti, ha minacciato di morte coloro che si opponevano alle proteste e pubblicato in rete i loro dati personali (compresi i miei). Le informazioni su quanto era in corso a Hong Kong venivano tradotte e diffuse in diverse lingue; Li era tra coloro che traducevano in giapponese. SWHK ha lanciato diverse campagne di crowdfunding che hanno raccolto milioni e sono servite anche per finanziare annunci a sostegno delle proteste sui giornali internazionali. I fondi raccolti sul sito web GoFundMe venivano depositati su un conto bancario statunitense. Parte del denaro raccolto dal crowdfunding è stato trasferito sul conto bancario personale a New York di uno dei collaboratori di Jimmy Lai, Mark Simon, un agente della CIA, e infine sul conto bancario personale di Andy Li a Hong Kong, secondo i documenti processuali. Simon era allora direttore del gruppo Next Digital, la società proprietaria di Apple Daily. ▪️Andy Li si è già dichiarato colpevole, ai sensi della legge sulla sicurezza nazionale, per il suo ruolo nella sedizione e si prevede che possa collegare Jimmy Lai alla cospirazione straniera contro Hong Kong e la Cina. @LauraRuHK

🇭🇺 Highlights of Hungarian PM Viktor Orban’s year-end press conference

▪️ The conflict in Ukraine is precisely a special military operation since Russia never declared war on the regime in Kiev, and did not announce general mobilization;

▪️ The European Union should not begin accession talks with Ukraine since the conflict there is ongoing;

▪️ Orban queried whether the EU intends to accept Ukraine along with the new Russian regions;

▪️ It is not in Hungary’s interests to have a border with Russia;

▪️ The launch of accession talks between the European Union and Ukraine is no more than a political gesture, and fails to bring tangible help to the citizens of that country;

▪️ Ukraine cannot be admitted to the EU without the decision of the Hungarian parliament;

▪️Orban stressed he opposed the start of accession talks with Kiev at the EU summit on December 14-15, but could not persuade the remaining 26 EU leaders to change their minds;

▪️EU member countries cannot decide to allocate financial support to Ukraine from the bloc’s budget without the consent of Hungary. They can only agree on extra-budgetary payments, as would be the case if the other 26 countries took out a common loan for this purpose;

▪️The EC has no reason to attempt to strip Hungary of its voting rights under Article 7 of the EU treaty (for violations of the rule of law), since it has just admitted that the country’s judicial system is in order;

▪️The new EU migration rules are flawed and were adopted not unanimously, but by a simple majority.

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Multipolarity means...

Background coordination.

Russian and Iranian oil tankers + Chinese cargo ships in the Red Sea never targeted by Ansarullah.

QUANDO LO SHOCK PARALIZZA LA CAPACITA' DI REAZIONE - Come e' possibile tenere sotto assedio l'intera popolazione di Gaza, sterminare impunemente donne e bambini sotto gli occhi del mondo? Israele sta commettendo atti di una tale barbarie da traumatizzare emotivamente e quindi lasciare annichiliti coloro che seguono gli eventi dall'esterno. Cio' serve a rendere piu' difficile una risposta politica in quanto la mente umana automaticamente oppone dei meccanismi di difesa psicologica davanti all'orrore, distoglie lo sguardo dalle scene piu' raccapriccianti, si rifiuta di concepire che altri esseri umani siano capaci di tale crudelta'. Dobbiamo mantenere la lucidita' e continuare a denunciare questi crimini, anche quando sembrano eccedere la nostra capacita' di comprensione. Ma la denuncia da sola non basta. La responsabilita' morale, penale e politica del genocidio dei palestinesi e' non solo di Israele ma anche di tutti quei governi che lo sostengono, incluso quello italiano. Chi protegge Israele deve sapere che, quando cambieranno i rapporti di forza (e cambieranno!) verra' giudicato severamente e dovra' rispondere della propria complicita' in questo massacro. Non potra' dire "io non sapevo". @LauraRuHK

UN Security Council approves Gaza resolution ‘neutered’ by US
Both the United States and Russia abstained, but for opposite reasons

The UN Security Council has finally adopted a resolution calling for speeding up aid deliveries to desperate Palestinian civilians in Gaza, after the United States delayed the vote for days and pushed the members to strip the text from any direct calls for a ceasefire or suspension of hostilities between Israel and Hamas.

The 15-member council backed the watered-down text in a 13-0 vote on Friday, with both the United States and Russia abstaining. Just prior to the final vote, the US used its veto power to vote down a Russian amendment that sought to reintroduce the call for an “urgent suspension of hostilities,” instead of a vague plea to “create conditions” for eventual peace.

Moscow’s permanent representative to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, said that Russia was ready to support the original UAE-proposed draft, out of “respect for our Arab friends,” even though the text “was already toothless from the very start.” However, resorting to its “favorite tactics of pressure and blackmail,” Washington made sure the resolution was completely “neutered,” the Russian diplomat stated.

“The United States actually took over the drafting and usurped the work on the text while ‘twisting the arms’ of the delegations of regional states in behind-the-scenes contacts. Under American pressure, the text kept losing important provisions with each new edition,” Nebenzia told the council.

The vote on the UAE-sponsored draft was supposed to take place on Monday, but the delegations spent the entire week trying to avoid a third US veto. Washington previously vetoed two Security Council resolutions on Gaza, on October 18 and December 8.

Nebenzia went on to accuse the US of watering down the text “to give Israel a free hand for further limitless and unrestrained indiscriminate bombardment of Gaza's civilian infrastructure and civilian population.” The adopted resolution was stripped of a request for the UN to monitor humanitarian relief, leaving full control over all aid coming into Gaza in Israel’s hands.

Before abstaining and finally letting the measure pass, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the council, is was “hard to overstate how urgent this is... this resolution speaks to the severity of this crisis, and it calls on us all to do more.”

The Palestinian UN envoy said the resolution was still a “step in the right direction,” even though it took the Security Council some 75 days “to finally utter the words ‘cessation of hostilities’.” (Source: RT) @LauraRuHK

Sources to 'Quds Network': Israel has rejected an official Russian request to establish a field hospital in southern Gaza to assist in treating the wounded. Instead, the Israeli response was to persuade Russia to assist in the displacement of Gaza residents to Egypt by providing medical and humanitarian services on the Egyptian side of the border and exerting pressure on Egypt to accept. However, Russia rejected the proposal.

UN Declares Chinese New Year a Recognized Holiday: A Milestone in Cultural Recognition - On 23rd December 2023, the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly unanimously agreed to declare the Festival a United Nations holiday. This decision has been hailed as a significant recognition of the festival celebrated by millions worldwide, particularly within Chinese communities. @LauraRuHK

On December 22, the cabinet of US puppet 🤡 Kishida Fumio approved 7.95 trillion yen ($55.9 billion) in defense spending for fiscal year 2024, starting in April.

Including U.S. Forces realignment-related expenses, the draft budget will rise by 16.5%, or $7.92 billion, from the current fiscal year. This marked another record figure for the tenth year in a row for Japan’s national defense budget. ▪️ The Japanese government has also agreed to supply the United States with locally produced Patriot missiles, which the Japanese manufacture under license. @LauraRuHK