Major European Internet Cables Cut In Suspected Retaliation for Nordstream Sabotage

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A major internet cable in the south of France was reportedly severed on Wednesday night, triggering internet issues across the world – and it occurred just hours within a “major incident” that left residents of the Shetland Isles off the coast of Scotland without connectivity following damage to a submarine cable. According to cloud security company Zscaler Trust, the damage to the cable in France impacted connectivity to Europe, Asia, the US and potentially other parts of the world. The incident reportedly affected three cable links: Marseille-Lyon, Marseille-Milano and Marseille-Barcelona. Zscaler reported that its “customers may see packet loss and or latency for websites and applications which traverse these impacted paths”.

While the incident has since been resolved, Zscaler CEO Jay Chaudhry has claimed that it was an “act of vandalism”.

He wrote on Linkedin: “Zscaler detected a strange traffic anomaly. From Europe to India, access to certain applications became sluggish. Latency to impacted applications spiked, but others kept on operating normally. Our investigation identified that the issues were a result of a severed fibre cable in Marseille, France. . .

Mr Chaudhry also that this cable that he suspects was likely targeted was a hugely important one, further raising his suspicions. . .

This also comes after reports emerged that the French Presidency was consulting with leading experts to strengthen the security of submarine cables amid growing fears that France could be Russia’s next target, following its suspected “sabotage” of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines last month. (Read more from “Major European Internet Cables Cut In Suspected Retaliation for Nordstream Sabotage” HERE)

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U.S. Navy’s Top Officer Says China May Invade Taiwan in Days

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China could invade Taiwan as early as this year, speeding up naval experts’ predictions of a 2027 attack, the Navy’s top officer said Wednesday.

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday said China’s 20-year track record of delivering “every promise they’ve made earlier than they said” indicated the Communist country could try to take Taiwan by force any day now.

“It’s how the Chinese behave and what they do,” Gilday said during an Atlantic Council event. “So when we talk about the 2027 window, in my mind, that has to be a 2022 window or potentially a 2023 window.”

The comments increase what Navy watchers call the “Davidson window,” named for retired Adm. Phil Davidson — who told Congress last year as the military’s Indo-Pacific Command chief that he expected China could invade Taiwan by 2027.

The prediction coincides with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s promise to make 2027 the year to bring China to the forefront of global power, as it will mark the end of what the country considers its “hundred years of humiliation.” (Read more from “U.S. Navy’s Top Officer Says China May Invade Taiwan in Days” HERE)

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Pro-Democracy Protests Turn Deadly in African Nation

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Pro-democracy protests in Chad turned deadly amid clashes on Thursday between protestors and security forces.

Newly-appointed Prime Minster Saleh Kebzabo said the protests, which took place in the capital of N’Djamena and several other cities, led to 50 deaths and 300 injuries, according to Reuters. The process of compiling casualties remains ongoing.

The protests centered around frustration over the decision of Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno to delay a transition to democracy in the African nation, according to Reuters. Thursday was originally supposed to mark the end of the transitional period. . .

The International Federation for Human Rights and associated organizations in Chad outlined reports of violent repression on the part of governmental security forces involving the use of live bullets along with the arbitrary detention and torture of protestors, Reuters reported.

Four people died outside the U.S. embassy in N’Djamena, the BBC reported. U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price in a statement condemned the violence in Chad and emphasized American support for a peaceful transition to democracy in the country. (Read more from “Pro-Democracy Protests Turn Deadly in African Nation” HERE)

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DRAMATIC ESCALATION: Russian Jet Fires Missile While Tailing Hi-Tech British “Nuke-Sniffer” Plane Near Ukraine; Russia Envoy to U.S.: Channel That Stopped Nuclear War 60 Years Ago Is Dead

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By The Sun UK. [British] Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the unarmed RAF Rivet Joint was on routine patrol in international airspace last month when it was tailed by two Russian Su-27 fighter jets. . .

“During that interaction however, it transpired that one of the SU-27 aircraft released a missile in the vicinity of the RAF Rivet Joint beyond visual range. . .

The RAF RC-135W “soaks up” enemy signals and is also known as a ‘nuke sniffer’ because of its capability to test the atmosphere for evidence of radioactivity. . .

Fears of an imminent nuke test on the Ukraine border were raised earlier this month after a train was seen carrying supplies.

And NATO warned Russia has deployed its giant new Belgorod submarine which can be armed with terrifying nuclear “doomsday drones”. (Read more from “DRAMATIC ESCALATION: Russian Jet Fires Missile While Tailing Hi-Tech British “Nuke-Sniffer” Plane Near Ukraine” HERE)

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Russia Envoy to U.S.: Channel That Stopped Nuclear War 60 Years Ago Is Dead

By Newsweek. Asecret, direct channel between the Kremlin and the White House helped to prevent nuclear war 60 years ago, as Moscow and Washington engaged in a nuclear standoff known in the United States as the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Today, however, with U.S.-Russia relations at their lowest point since the end of the Cold War and new talk of nuclear contingencies emerging from both sides, Moscow’s envoy in Washington has told Newsweek that no such communication now exists, setting the stage for a new and dangerous era for the two nations, and for the rest of the world.

Anatoly Antonov, Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., recalled the words of his predecessor, Anatoly Dobrynin, who said in his time that “the Cuban missile crisis revealed the mortal danger of a direct armed confrontation of the two great powers, a confrontation headed off on the brink of war thanks to both sides’ timely and agonizing realization of the disastrous consequences.”

Antonov also quoted U.S. President John F. Kennedy, who, shortly after the October 1962 crisis resolved with an agreement for Moscow to withdraw missiles from Cuba and Washington to pull back its own weapons in Turkey, told Soviet Council of Ministers First Deputy Chairman Anastas Mikoyan, “What we have now is, although our two countries do not challenge each other directly, we keep running into each other almost everywhere, which in our nuclear age is fraught with serious dangers for world peace.” (Read more from “Russia Envoy to U.S.: Channel That Stopped Nuclear War 60 Years Ago Is Dead” HERE)

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Chilling Formula for Predicting Nuclear War Reveals Terrifying Odds World Is Heading For WW3

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By The Sun UK. The odds of an apocalyptic nuclear world war are now as low as six to one amid escalating tensions with Russia, a top scientist has warned.

As mad tyrant Putin’s doomed invasion of Ukraine continues to stall, a Swedish scientist has claimed the chances that he decides to push the nuclear button are now the same as losing a game of Russian roulette.

Vlad announced his “special military operation” in Ukraine on February 24, confidently predicting his army would blitz through the country to reach the capital Kyiv in just three days.

But Ukraine’s resolve has held out and now, almost eight months on, President Volodymyr Zelensky remains in power.

Because of this, experts warn, the Kremlin is likely to throw ever more caution to the winds as hopes of regime change in Kyiv fade. (Read more from “Chilling Formula for Predicting Nuclear War Reveals Terrifying Odds World Is Heading For WW3” HERE)

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Russia Says Seized Ukrainian Lands Are Under Its Nuclear Protection

By Reuters. Russia said on Tuesday that four Ukrainian regions whose annexation it proclaimed last month are under the protection of its nuclear arsenal.

The statement from the Kremlin came at a moment of acute tension, with both NATO and Russia expected to hold military exercises shortly to test the readiness of their nuclear weapons forces.

Asked by reporters if the regions were under Moscow’s nuclear umbrella, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “All these territories are inalienable parts of the Russian Federation and they are all protected. Their security is provided for at the same level as [it is for] the rest of Russia’s territory.”

President Vladimir Putin said last month that Moscow was ready to use nuclear weapons if necessary to defend Russia’s “territorial integrity”. U.S. President Joe Biden said on Oct. 6 that his threat had brought the world closer to “Armageddon” than at any time since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, when many feared a nuclear war might be imminent.

Nearly eight months into his invasion of Ukraine, some analysts believe the likelihood of Putin resorting to nuclear weapons has increased since his army suffered a series of major defeats. Putin’s ally Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, warned the West last week against backing Russia into a corner. (Read more from “Russia Says Seized Ukrainian Lands Are Under Its Nuclear Protection” HERE)

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Putin ‘Willing to Do Anything’ to Avoid Defeat in Ukraine

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Russian President Vladimir Putin is “willing to do anything” to avoid defeat in his war against Ukraine, including targeting civilians, a Russia expert has said, as Moscow launched a fresh wave of strikes in multiple regions of the country.

A day after targeted strikes in Kyiv killed at least four people on Monday morning, Russia conducted massive airstrikes on residential areas and energy infrastructure in many regions of Ukraine, including the capital city, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Zhytomyr.

An air alert was declared throughout Ukraine on Tuesday morning.

Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Tuesday morning that a critical infrastructure facility in the city’s Desnyansky district was hit, while Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, said three explosions rocked an energy supply facility. (Read more from “Putin ‘Willing to Do Anything’ to Avoid Defeat in Ukraine” HERE)

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Xi Jinping Declares China the Leading World Power at Communist Party Congress

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Dictator Xi Jinping opened the 20th Chinese Communist Party National Congress on Sunday with a “report” to the Central Committee, which he nominally serves, that claimed China has ascended to global leadership in economics, diplomacy, clean government, and military power.

Xi’s address was triumphant as expected, with little concern for how it might sound to a world still coping with fallout from the coronavirus pandemic China unleashed. The pandemic was old news for Xi, who had no interest in conceding the smallest error in how China handled the crisis.

Instead, Xi’s theme was China’s overwhelming success at creating a “modern socialist country” with “high-quality development,” a slogan that seems designed to sweep aside concerns that China’s economy is in more trouble than the Communist Party wants to admit.

“We must fully and faithfully apply the new development philosophy on all fronts, continue reforms to develop the socialist market economy, promote high-standard opening-up, and accelerate efforts to foster a new pattern of development that is focused on the domestic economy and features positive interplay between domestic and international economic flows,” the dictator said.

Xi seemed at pains to reassure observers who thought China would use the 20th five-year National Congress, and his own claim of an unprecedented third term in power, to pivot away from growth and modernization to deal with internal issues and intensify its focus on militarization. (Read more from “Xi Jinping Declares China the Leading World Power at Communist Party Congress” HERE)

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Tesla Wins Tax Breaks From China After Elon Musk’s Taiwan Comments: Report

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Elon Musk’s electric car maker Tesla has been granted tax exemptions from China just days after the tech mogul was praised by Beijing for saying that Taiwan should become a “special administrative zone” ruled by the Chinese Communist Party.

The Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology unveiled its latest list of electric vehicles that are eligible for purchase tax exemption.

The list includes the latest Tesla Model S and Model X units with 100 kWh battery packs, according to the Teslarati news site. The site reported that two Model S variants — the MSP2P and the MSP2LR — as well as the Model X variants MXP2P and MXP2LR were on the list of exempt vehicles.

Their inclusion on the list suggests that Tesla could soon begin delivering the cars to China soon, according to Teslarati.

Last Friday, Musk generated headlines and controversy after he told Financial Times that he thought Taiwan, the self-ruling island and US ally which China sees as a part of its country, should cede control to Beijing to avoid a broader conflict that would have global economic ramifications. (Read more from “Tesla Wins Tax Breaks From China After Elon Musk’s Taiwan Comments: Report” HERE)

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‘Dangerously Depleted’: The US Is Sending So Many Weapons to Ukraine That Experts Are Starting to Worry

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The U.S. needs to seriously invest more in weapons and ammunition if it wants to continue supporting Ukraine and brace for conflict with other great powers, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Global efforts to support Ukraine’s resistance to the Russian invasion have triggered billions in spending to bolster Ukraine’s military, depleting U.S. stocks and raising concerns that the West may cripple its military opposite the rising threat from China. The U.S. will have to dramatically ramp up production, or otherwise risk further weakening the U.S. arsenal and adversely affecting America’s ability to react to dangers from China and other potential foes, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“For U.S. policy makers, the critical question regarding our policy towards Ukraine is quickly becoming more a what we can do for Ukraine, not necessarily what we should do,” Dan Caldwell, a senior advisor to Concerned Veterans for America and vice president for foreign policy at Stand Together, told the DCNF. “U.S. stockpiles of munitions are becoming dangerously depleted and it will take years for U.S. production capacity to catch up.” (Read more from “‘Dangerously Depleted’: The US Is Sending So Many Weapons to Ukraine That Experts Are Starting to Worry” HERE)

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China’s Xi Issues Dark Warning on Taiwan as He Prepares to Consolidate Power Over CCP

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Chinese leader Xi Jinping, poised to seize a third term in full control of his nation, signaled a pending move on Taiwan, did a victory lap over Bejing’s defeat of Hong Kong’s democracy aspirations and vowed to defeat COVID in a Sunday speech.

The 69-year-old Xi, who became the head of the Chinese Communist Party 10 years ago, struck a stridently nationalistic tone at the opening of the 20th Party Congress, which appears set to affirm him as its leader for life. He seemed to embrace that his muscular government is on a collision course with the West and intends to take over Taiwan.

Xi referred to “rapid changes in the international situation,” which experts inferred meant China’s increasing alienation from the West and burgeoning alliance with Russia.

Xi claimed victory over both Hong Kong’s stalled independence movement and COVID, crediting his government with having “protected people’s lives and health.” Mentioning Taiwan as the third of three major challenges met by his regime was deemed a signal that Beijing may be closer than ever to make a move on Taiwan, a self-governing democracy Beijing claims as its own.

The speech was delivered inside Beijing’s Great Hall of the People to 2,300 of the CCP’s most powerful members. They cheered wildly when the president mentioned “reunification” with Taiwan. Although he pledged to try to achieve the goal peacefully, he issued a dark warning. (Read more from “China’s Xi Issues Dark Warning on Taiwan as He Prepares to Consolidate Power Over CCP” HERE)

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