Donald Trump Escalates War with Taliban, Peace Talks Are ‘Dead’

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By Breitbart. President Donald Trump said Monday that talks with the Taliban about peace with Afghanistan were over, citing the terrorist attack last week in Kabul.

“They’re dead as far as I’m concerned,” Trump said when asked about the proposed talks with Taliban leaders.

Trump spoke to reporters as he left the White House, after he canceled a meeting scheduled with the Taliban at Camp David for Sunday.

The president called the Taliban attacks “a big mistake.”

He said that the United States had escalated attacks against the Taliban in response to the terrorist attack that killed 12 people as well as one U.S. soldier and one Romanian solder in Kabul. (Read more from “Donald Trump Escalates War with Taliban, Peace Talks Are ‘Dead’” HERE)

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After Trump Calls off Talks, Afghanistan Braces for Violence

By The New York Times. President Trump’s decision to break off peace talks with the Taliban, at least for now, left Afghanistan bracing for a bloody prelude to national elections this month, while the administration declined on Sunday to rule out a withdrawal of American troops without a peace accord.

In a round of television interviews, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blamed an attack by the Taliban for the cancellation of talks at Camp David this weekend that the administration had expected would lead to the signing of a peace agreement.

Mr. Pompeo said that the Taliban had “tried to gain negotiating advantage by conducting terror attacks inside the country,’’ resulting in the death of an American soldier in Kabul. “We’re going to walk away from a deal if others try to use violence to achieve better ends in a negotiation,’’ he said. (Read more from “After Trump Calls off Talks, Afghanistan Braces for Violence” HERE)

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Surprise: India and Russia Challenging China in South China Sea

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India is challenging Chinese influence in the South China Sea with its outreach to regional powers, including Russia, with which it has agreed to launch a maritime route that would partly go through the hotly contested waters, analysts said.

Under the memorandum of understanding signed by India and Russia – two traditional security allies – during a regional economic forum this week, a new Indo-Pacific sea route will extend from the port city of Vladivostok, in Russia’s Far East, to Chennai, on the Bay of Bengal in eastern India.

The shipping route will partly traverse the South China Sea, the scene of numerous territorial disputes involving China and neighbouring countries over the years.

In addition to cooperating on the planned maritime route, India and Russia could ramp up their alliance in the military and technological spheres, according to a joint statement released at the economic forum in Vladivostok. . .

“This could signal that India’s cooperation with Russia is now coming to a substantial phase,” Hu Zhiyong, a research fellow at the Institute of International Relations of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said in an interview. (Read more from “Surprise: India and Russia Challenging China in South China Sea” HERE)

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Bahamas Hurricane Damage ‘Like Nuclear Bomb’

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Head of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has compared the damage from Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas to that of a nuclear bomb.

Mark Green said he had taken a flight to observe the damage caused by the storm on Grand Bahama and the Abacos islands.

Dorian ripped through the Bahamas last Sunday with category five winds with some gusts reaching 300km/h (200mph).

So far 43 people are confirmed dead however the number is expected to rise.

Prime Minister Hubert Minnis called the loss of life “catastrophic and devastating”. (Read more from “Bahamas Hurricane Damage ‘like Nuclear Bomb'” HERE)

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Trump Had Secret Meeting Planned with Taliban

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President Donald Trump revealed on Saturday that he had a secret meeting planned with leaders of the Taliban to try to bring peace to the country, and that he canceled at the last minute when he learned that they were responsible for an attack that killed an American soldier.

“Unbeknownst to almost everyone, the major Taliban leaders and, separately, the President of Afghanistan, were going to secretly meet with me at Camp David on Sunday,” Trump tweeted. “They were coming to the United States tonight. Unfortunately, in order to build false leverage, they admitted to an attack in Kabul that killed one of our great great soldiers, and 11 other people. I immediately cancelled the meeting and called off peace negotiations. What kind of people would kill so many in order to seemingly strengthen their bargaining position?”

“The Pentagon announced Friday that Sgt. 1st Class Elis Angel Barreto Ortiz was killed in Afghanistan,” CNN reported. “Barreto, a 34-year-old paratrooper from Morovis, Puerto Rico, died when a car bomb exploded at a checkpoint near NATO headquarters and the US embassy in Kabul. Barreto is the 16th US service member to be killed in Afghanistan in 2019, and three other American service members have been killed in recent weeks.”

(Read more from “Trump Had Secret Meeting Planned with Taliban” HERE)

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2,000 Human Bones Discovered at Luxury Apartment Dumping Ground in Mexico

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Members of the State Brigade for the Search of Disappeared Persons were searching the landfill near a private residential complex in Culiacán, Sinaloa, on August 24 when they came across bags of bones and body fragments on the ground, some from hands and some from feet.

The foot and hand fragments belonged to more than 150 people – according to forensic experts, coming from both adults and children. . .

El Universal reported that several damaged bags – due to sun, water and animals ripping and rummaging through them – were placed in an area not accessible by car.

Over the last two decades, 57,861 people have disappeared in Mexico – family members of the missing formed the brigade in 2016 to be more organised in their search. . .

According to El Universal, bodies have been found outside the complex for years. On the path that leads to the dumpsite, you can see several crosses in memory of the found corpses. (Read more from “2,000 Human Bones Discovered at Luxury Apartment Dumping Ground in Mexico” HERE)

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After Months of Protests, Hong Kong’s Leader Finally Scraps Undemocratic Bill That Would Have Extradited Residents to Mainland China

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Following months of protests, the leader of Hong Kong has agreed to scrap a bill that would have allowed residents of the former British territory to be extradited to mainland China to stand trial.

Here’s what we know

Carrie Lam, the leader of Hong Kong appointed by the Chinese government, announced the decision on Wednesday.

“We must find ways to address the discontent in society and look for solutions,” Lam said on Wednesday, according to CNN. “After more than two months of social unrest, it is obvious to many that this discontentment extends far beyond the bill.”

Before this, the government of Hong Kong had shelved the bill, but had refused to get rid of it entirely. More than one million of the city’s roughly 7.2 million inhabitants had participated in protests over this issue.

Since Hong Kong was returned to China by the United Kingdom in 1997, it has seen some of its freedoms slowly chipped away. China had promised to utilize a “one country, two systems” model of governance for Hong Kong for at least the first fifty years, in order to ease the transition, but has periodically put laws in place to bring Hong Kong more into line with Chinese rule.

This extradition bill was just the latest example of this type of anti-democratic change. The people of Hong Kong feared that the Chinese government would use it to make opposition leaders disappear.

It is not unreasonable for the people of Hong Kong to fear this outcome. Over the past few years, China has rounded up more than one million of its own people who belonged to the mostly Muslim Uighur minority and placed them in re-education camps.

Olivia Enos, the senior policy analyst for the Heritage Foundation’s Asian Studies Center, called Lam’s decision to withdraw the bill “an unmitigated win for protesters.”

“Unlike her previous declaration that the bill was dead, but it still technically remained in play, there is not threat of the bill resurfacing,” Enos told Blaze Media. She said that the bill had “posed an existential threat to freedom in Hong Kong.”

The government refused to budge on any other demands

In addition to getting rid of the extradition bill permanently, the protesters had also demanded reforms in Hong Kong including free elections and a halt to the prosecution of the more than 1,000 protesters who had been arrested (a demand Lam called “contrary to the rule of law”), as well as the creation of an independent commission that would investigate the city’s police department.

The protesters had also demanded that the government stop referring to them as “rioters,” but Lam dismissed this idea, saying that there was “no legal effect on how such incidents are described or categorized.”

Lam specified in her address on Wednesday that the government would not budge on any of these four additional issues. She urged the protesters to disband now that the extradition bill was gone, saying, “Let’s replace conflicts with conversations, and let’s look for solutions.”

(For more from the author of “After Months of Protests, Hong Kong’s Leader Finally Scraps Undemocratic Bill That Would Have Extradited Residents to Mainland China” please click HERE)

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Iran Threatens: We Can Produce 20 Percent Uranium in Two Days or Less

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On Tuesday, Iranian officials asserted that the theocratic terror-supporting regime in Iran could produce 20% uranium in two days or less.

Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, boasted, “If Iran decides, it can have 20% enriched fuel within one to two days.” He added, “If the signatory states to the nuclear deal delay selling the 20% (enriched nuclear) fuel, it is Iran’s right to provide its needed fuel,” according to the Times of Israel, which added, “Uranium needs to be enriched to 90% to be used in a nuclear weapon and 20% purity is considered an important benchmark toward reaching weapons grade level.”

On Monday, Kamalvandi stated, “Iran’s uranium stockpile is on the rise and its heavy water equipment are working with full capacity,” according to Radio Farda. He added, “With the continuation of the inaction of the Europeans in carrying out their commitments [to the nuclear deal] … Iran will take a third step [in reducing commitments] in approximately one month,” as The Hill reported. The Hill noted, “Kamalvandi did not specify what Iran’s next violation would be, but Tehran warned last month it could reactivate centrifuge machines and ramp up enrichment of uranium even further.”

The Daily Mail noted that the 2015 nuclear deal that Great Britain, China, France, Russia, Germany and the United States reached with Iran which President Trump exited in 2018 stated that Iran is permitted to enrich fuel by 3.67%, but a U.N. watchdog warned that Iran is already enriching uranium up to 4.5%. (Read more from “Iran Threatens: We Can Produce 20 Percent Uranium in Two Days or Less” HERE)

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WATCH: Brazilian Ambassador, Ex-MMA Fighter, Threatens to Choke out French President over Amazon Fire Controversy

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. .. Brazil’s tourism ambassador and former Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter, Renzo Gracie, has posted a video on Twitter threatening to “choke” French President Emmanuel Macron – along with insulting his wife Brigitte.

“The only fire going on is the fire inside Brazilian hearts and our president’s heart, you clown. Come over here you’ll be caught by the neck, that chicken neck. You don’t fool me,” Gracie told the camera.

Gracie, 52, was appointed to the position last month by Brazil’s controversial far-right leader, Jair Bolsonaro. His job promoting the country’s tourism has been especially hamstrung in recent weeks, as the news of the fires hit the headlines globally. . .

“That gang of clowns only open their mouths to speak badly about our country,” Gracie lamented, referring to Macron. “Of course many will be astonished, they will think I called him a female chicken because his manhood is questionable, but no. I’ve met many gays more manly than this imbecile.”

“I’ll ask you a question, is his wife pretty or ugly? Would you do her? If you criticize our country, get ready to listen to a load of bulls***, and also about your relatives,” he told the outlet. “The fact that he is sleeping with the dragon does not make him a fire expert. She’s ugly, my brother.” (Read more from “Brazilian Ambassador, Ex-MMA Fighter, Threatens to Choke out French President over Amazon Fire Controversy” HERE)

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John Bolton Accuses China of Stealing F-35 Technology to Make a Stealth Fighter. Is This What He Was Talking About?

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US National Security Adviser John Bolton recently accused China of stealing US technology to make a stealth fighter, a charge Beijing has denied.

On a visit to Ukraine last week, Bolton said an unnamed fifth-generation aircraft “looks a lot like the F-35, that’s because it is the F-35. They just stole it”. . .

The FC-31 is made by the Shenyang Aircraft Design and Research Institute, a branch of the state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China.

The aircraft, which made its maiden flight in 2012, has broadly similar specifications to the F-35 although it does have twin engines rather than the American jet’s single engine.

The Chinese fighter has a maximum take off weight of 25 tonnes, a combat range of 1,200km (746 miles) and a top speed of Mach 1.8, or 2,205km/h (1,370mph), whereas the US fighter’s take-off weight varies between 27 and 32 tonnes, has a top speed of Mach 1.6 and a range of up to 2,200km (1,367 miles). (Read more from “John Bolton Accuses China of Stealing F-35 Technology to Make a Stealth Fighter. Is This What He Was Talking About?” HERE)

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LISTEN: Tech Entrepreneur Explains How Wall Street Sells U.S. Out to China

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Foreign states — including China, Russia, and Saudi Arabia — procure intellectual property (IP) developed in America via venture capital (VC) operations, explained entrepreneur Jim Phillips, CEO of NANOMECH and founder of QuSHELL, in a Friday interview on SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Tonight with hosts Rebecca Mansour and special guest host Rick Manning.

Manning introduced Philips as a personal friend, listing some of his professional history, saying, “[Jim Phillips] was involved in an executive or founding role in places like Motorola Skytel, a whole variety of different companies that were at the cutting edge of technology at the time. He’s credited with being instrumental in launching things like instant messaging, cable modems, PCS fixed cellular, [and] machine-to-machine-to-machine communications.”

. . .

Phillips added, “More is going to be invented in the next five years than in the history of mankind, and that’s going to compound. That’s just going to continue to happen. So, while it’s a great time to be alive, we’re also — as a country — incredibly vulnerable right now. We’re at war like we’ve never been. It’s just not bombs. People don’t see it. We have a thing called cyberwarfare with a country called China and other countries that’s just phenomenal.”

“We have competitors [and] adversaries like China and Russia,” continued Phillips, “and they are dying to get into the lead. China has said they want to take over America. Right now, they’re growing three times faster than we are. Before long, their GDP will be greater than ours, and people can’t even fathom what that means [for the future]. To that extent, we have to protect our intellectual property. People don’t realize … 60 to 65 percent of the GDP valuation is based on intellectual property. We’re having it stolen, just non-stop. You hear about it in the news, but you don’t hear a lot about how to prevent it.”

“In one of my companies, for instance, I walk in, [the] FBI’s all over, and they say, ‘You’re the second most-hit firewall in the United States by China,’” recalled Phillips. “I didn’t even know it, and they said, ‘By the way, we’re going to have problems even protecting you. You’re going to have to go into logbooks to protect your science and your technology.” (Read more from “Tech Entrepreneur Explains How Wall Street Sells U.S. out to China” HERE)

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