BREAKING NEWS ~ Continuously Updated

[onawah]

That video was first posted here: https://projectavalon.net/forum4/sho...=1#post1688227
and Bill Ryan commented on it here: https://projectavalon.net/forum4/sho...=1#post1688241
to which I replied here:https://projectavalon.net/forum4/sho...=1#post1688310
Hopefully there will be more substantial reports incoming, but Xi's health is a very guarded topic.

Posted by John Hilton (here)
Xi Jinping Hospitalized After Stroke 9-10-25 - three sources. Body double might be deployed. Or illness could be faked. Discussion video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdwHMookiK4

[onawah]

The reports warning what an enormous disaster the failure of the 3 Gorges Dam would cause have been so numerous that the subject has become somewhat tedious, but for the millions of Chinese people living in the path of the Yangtse River who would perish if/when the dam fails, it's still an ongoing nightmare, and a good example of what can be expected from the CCP's faulty infrastructure projects. This year's rainy season was exceptionally hazardous.

China’s Three Gorges Dam Nightmare: Cracks Reveal a Looming Disaster!
China Undercover
78.9K subscribers
Sep 14, 2025

(The first part of this video is about the dam, the second part is about China's financial decline, starting at 21 minutes into the video.)

"In the summer of 2025, floods swept across China before the official rainy season had even begun. From northern factories to southern farmlands, rivers swelled beyond control—by July 4, over 300 had crossed the danger line. But this isn’t just about weather. At the center of the storm stands the world’s largest dam—the Three Gorges. Once hailed as a triumph of engineering, it now raises urgent questions: is it protecting the nation, or amplifying the crisis?"

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=yGLGanxqju0

Posted by onawah (here)
China’s New VIRAL Mega Bridge is Embarrassing - HUGE Scandal Exposed - Episode #284
The China Show
370K subscribers
Scheduled for Oct 10, 2025 4pm CST

( Nearly an hour long segment starting at 33 minutes into the video about the bridge and what it's really all about {propaganda}, plus lots of examples of bridges the CCP built recently which have fallen apart, with many lives lost. {Not to mention the countless CCP-built highways, dams, buildings etc. that suffer the same fate, both in China and in countries where the CCP has put Belt & Road Initiative projects.}
No doubt the newest glamour project will follow suit, but if the 3 Gorges Dam fails (which is estimated by experts to be just a matter of time), it will all seem somewhat inconsequential by comparison.)

"We uncovered the sinister truth behind China's mega bridge."

[Jaak]

Reminded me of this video from Practical Engineering channel.
All dams are temporary .

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=XiUOBdEUqjY

[Jaak]

Afghanistan says that its forces are attacking military installations used as launch sites for drones that enter Afghan territory and violate its airspace.

It also states that one of the reasons for the attack is Pakistan’s bombing of Kabul and the province of Paktika in southern Afghanistan.

So far, Afghan forces have taken control of several border posts inside Pakistan.

[Ravenlocke]

I just stocked up on bird food too.

Russia 🇷🇺

🕊Today is World Migratory Bird Day – a celebration of the sky’s travelers

From Russia, cranes, thrushes, redpolls & others set out on incredible journeys across continents – and always find way back home

Nature’s finest navigators – no GPS required 😎 GLONASS optional too

https://x.com/Russia/status/1976965256061894885

Audubon Society

Happy #WorldMigratoryBirdDay!

This year's theme is Shared Spaces: Creating Bird-friendly Cities and Communities.


Learn how we can create healthy habitats and ensure safe spaces for our feathered friends: https://bit.ly/48gNRk5

https://x.com/audubonsociety/status/1977039514074788266

[Jaak]

[John Hilton]

I'm a bit late with this one. So much to do! How did I ever manage before I retired?

Spain’s COVID restrictions declared unconstitutional: over 90k fines struck down
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/sp...s-struck-down/

[Ravenlocke]

Sputnik Mundo

Auto-translated by Grok
🇮🇹 A fire devours a historic monastery in Italy

🗣 "Since last night, firefighters have been working to extinguish the fire at the Bernaga monastery, in La Valletta-Brianza. The flames are under control and extensive cleanup operations are being carried out in the affected area," reported the country's fire department, as cited by local media.

The fire forced the evacuation of the 22 nuns who were inside.

Founded in 1628, the Bernaga monastery, near Milan, was the place where the "millennial saint" Carlo Acutis, recently canonized, received his first communion.

https://x.com/SputnikMundo/status/1977430911596507383

Silere non possum

🔥 Tragedy in La Valletta Brianza 🔥

A massive fire has devastated the Monastery of Bernaga, a historic 17th-century building also known for being the place where Saint Carlo Acutis received his First Communion.

The flames, which likely started in a room within the nuns’ living quarters, quickly spread throughout the entire convent, largely made of wood.

🙍‍♀️ The 22 cloistered nuns, many of them elderly, were all evacuated safely, and no one was injured. However, the damage is immeasurable: most of the structure has been destroyed, and the fate of the sacred furnishings remains uncertain.
Mayor Marco Panzeri mentioned a possible short circuit, though investigations will determine the exact cause.
The sisters, still in shock, have been temporarily housed at Nostra Famiglia facilities in Bosisio Parini and Ponte Lambro.

🙏 A deep wound for the community and for the spiritual memory tied to this sacred place.

#Bernaga #LaVallettaBrianza #SanCarloAcutis #Fire #Monastery #SilereNonPossum

https://x.com/silerenonpossum/status...42305448824854

[Ravenlocke]

RT_India

Oct 11
🇮🇳 Sacred Buddha Relics Flown to Russia by Indian Air Force

An Indian Air Force aircraft has delivered replicas of sacred relics of Buddha Shakyamuni to Elista, the capital of Kalmykia. The N.N. Palmova National Museum will receive 16 artifacts, including statuettes, bas-reliefs from the 2nd to 11th centuries, scenes from the life of Buddha and Sanskrit manuscripts.

India is also gifting the Kangyur, a collection of 108 volumes of Buddhist scriptures in the Mongolian language, to Kalmyk State University and the Trinity Khurul. Regional head Batu Khasikov called it a major moment in India–Russia cultural and religious ties.


https://x.com/RT_India_news/status/1977013410689958233

International Buddhist Confederation (IBC)

The Holy Buddha #Piprahwa Relics from India arrived in Republic of #Kalmykia, Russia. The Sacred relics along with the delegation led by Hon’ble Deputy CM of Uttar Pradesh Shri
@kpmaurya1
were received by H. E. Mr. Batu Sergeyevich Khasikov, the Head of the Republic of Kalmykia along with Indian Ambassador
@vkumar1969
, His Eminence Shajin Lama of Kalmyk people and other monks and dignitaries.
#RelicsInKalmykia

@IAF_MCC

https://x.com/IbcWorldOrg/status/1977012871973253382

[onawah]

All dams may be temporary, but some last a whole lot longer than others.
Hoover Dam being one good example, which was completed in 1936.
The 3 Gorges Dam was completed in 2006 and has been a disaster from the start, causing disastrous floods and fatalities in villages and cities every year during the rainy season, presenting numerous structural problems from cracks to the reservoir filling up with silt, to erosion and landslides all along the banks of the river downstream.
With issues like that, steps should be taken to ameliorate the problems asap, but nearly everything the CCP has constructed just presents with yet more problems.
One more reason why such a huge, ambitious project like the 3GD was so ill advised in the first place, as experts warned all along.
It will not only be the Chinese people who will pay the price in the end, but lots of people worldwide who do business with the CCP, as the failure of the dam will also cause a massive financial disaster.
It was a gamble no one is placing bets on anymore.

Posted by Jaak (here)
Reminded me of this video from Practical Engineering channel.
All dams are temporary .

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=XiUOBdEUqjY

Posted by onawah (here)
The reports warning what an enormous disaster the failure of the 3 Gorges Dam would cause have been so numerous that the subject has become somewhat tedious, but for the millions of Chinese people living in the path of the Yangtse River who would perish if/when the dam fails, it's still an ongoing nightmare, and a good example of what can be expected from the CCP's faulty infrastructure projects. This year's rainy season was exceptionally hazardous.

China’s Three Gorges Dam Nightmare: Cracks Reveal a Looming Disaster!
China Undercover
78.9K subscribers
Sep 14, 2025

(The first part of this video is about the dam, the second part is about China's financial decline, starting at 21 minutes into the video.)

"In the summer of 2025, floods swept across China before the official rainy season had even begun. From northern factories to southern farmlands, rivers swelled beyond control—by July 4, over 300 had crossed the danger line. But this isn’t just about weather. At the center of the storm stands the world’s largest dam—the Three Gorges. Once hailed as a triumph of engineering, it now raises urgent questions: is it protecting the nation, or amplifying the crisis?"

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=yGLGanxqju0

Posted by onawah (here)
China’s New VIRAL Mega Bridge is Embarrassing - HUGE Scandal Exposed - Episode #284
The China Show
370K subscribers
Scheduled for Oct 10, 2025 4pm CST

( Nearly an hour long segment starting at 33 minutes into the video about the bridge and what it's really all about {propaganda}, plus lots of examples of bridges the CCP built recently which have fallen apart, with many lives lost. {Not to mention the countless CCP-built highways, dams, buildings etc. that suffer the same fate, both in China and in countries where the CCP has put Belt & Road Initiative projects.}
No doubt the newest glamour project will follow suit, but if the 3 Gorges Dam fails (which is estimated by experts to be just a matter of time), it will all seem somewhat inconsequential by comparison.)

"We uncovered the sinister truth behind China's mega bridge."

[TrumanCash]

"An Inconvenient Study" film by Del Bigtree now available for watching

In 2016, journalist Del Bigtree issued a challenge to the head of infectious disease at one of the most prestigious medical institutions in the world: conduct the most thorough vaxxed vs. unvaxxed study that has ever been done. The expert took up the challenge and ran the study to prove Del wrong. That study never saw the light of day... until now.

Rumble: https://rumble.com/v708dfw-an-inconv...s=src_v1_ucp_a

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=mvEuMMAafF8

[onawah]

Did Xi Just Have a Stroke? (Again?)
LEI: HOW XI'S COLLAPSE TRIGGERED TRUMP'S 100% TARIFF BLITZ TRADE WAR
Forbidden.News
Oct 13, 2025
https://substack.com/home/post/p-176006517

(VIDEO: "How Xi’s Collapse Triggered Trump’s 100% Tariff Blitz and Trade War" Pub. Oct 11, 2025 by Lei's Real Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHfdl3aP9lw )

"Out of the blue last Thursday, China's commerce ministry announced that starting on December 1st, a license will be required for foreign companies to export products with more than 0.1% of rare earths from China or that are made with Chinese production technology.

As Dean Ball, a former White House Science and Technology Policy advisor wrote, China's policy "Gives it the power to forbid any country on Earth from participating in the modern economy." He says this imbalance has created an opportunity for "Every country on Earth that wants to control its destiny [to] build a new supply chain designed to withstand unilateral weaponization by a single country."

On Friday, President Trump responded that he would impose an additional 100% on top of the current 30% tariff on China and limit US exports of software.

This caused China to vow to retaliate against the US' retaliation, accusing the US of "acting unilaterally" – after China had acted unilaterally.

This is an abrupt break from the rather stable relations between China and the US over the past 6 months. As Lei's Real Talk points out, China has lately been sending amicable and conciliatory signals, with the TikTok deal and with Premier Li Qian recently announcing at the UN that China would give up its 'Developing Country' status at the WTO and with him in a private meeting with US business leaders and think tank figures reviving Wang Yang's old analogy about the US-China 'marriage', suggesting that the two countries should coexist and complement each other like a couple, rather than compete.

But out of nowhere, Beijing flipped. Lei likens the rare earths announcement to a "surprise Pearl Harbor-style economic strike" and after weighing all of the possibilities, she assesses that this directive is actually a cover-up for what may be Xi's severe health crisis.

Since July 2024, Chinese dissidents have spread unsubstantiated rumors that Xi Jinping suffered a stroke during the Third Plenary Session of the Chinese Communist Party.

Last Friday, Lei reported on rumors that Xi had suffered another more serious stroke last Thursday, just 11 days before the upcoming Fourth Plenary Session.

For months, Lei's Real Talk has reported that China's political and military establishment has become divided into a pro-Xi hardliner faction that insists on fighting the US and the more US-friendly anti-Xi faction headed by retired CCP elders, including Hu Jintao, Wen Jiabao and the active duty General Zhang Youxia, that wants to ease tensions and to restore good relations.

It's Good Cop, Bad Cop and Lei explores opinions about how either faction could be playing both roles. However, in her opinion, the surprise rare earths directives are coming from the pro-Xi faction, likely because he is gravely ill.

"It is Xi Jinping’s camp making this 180-degree turn on the surface, against the will of the party elders who have been trying to mend relations with Washington in the past couple of months.

"But why? Well, the key lies in the timing. Think about it: It's just 10 days before the CCP's Fourth Plenum. It's in the middle of damaging rumors that Xi could step down at the plenum. It's while China's Premier Li Qiang is away in North Korea and right when speculation about Xi health is getting feverish.

"And remember, on the very day the rare earth restrictions were announced, which was Thursday, the rumor that Xi had suffered a stroke was all over social media outside China. It's very likely that this is a desperate move by Xi's team to conceal his health crisis.

"To prove Xi Jinping is still actively in charge, they had to roll out policies that bear his personal signature: Heavy-handed, hardline measures that scream 'Xi Jinping!' all over. And these actions may look irrational, but that's because the motive behind them is desperation...

"If you want to understand what's really happening in Beijing, in Zhongnanhai, then the next five minutes or maybe seven minutes is crucial…

"Even though Xi Jinping has lost the core of his power, he's still the leader. His loyalists have been purged from the military and key posts but many technocrats in those ministries still follow his orders, because by training, that's what they do. So as long as Xi Jinping remains in his position – even in name only – his command chain isn't completely paralyzed.

"One analyst estimates that Xi Jinping still controls about 10% of the military, 20% of personnel decisions, 50% of economic policy, 80% of foreign affairs, and nearly all propaganda. So on average, he still has 50% of the power left. So the CCP machine continues to operate as if Xi were fully in charge...

"And to cover up his health crisis, his team likely instructed those bureaucrats in the foreign ministry, in the commerce ministry and in the transport ministry to carry out the new directives. None of them would dare challenge their superiors in the CCP's system. And remember, Premier Li Qiang, who oversees these ministries, is currently out of country in North Korea to attend Kim Jong-un's military parade. So that helps, too.

"Xi Jinping must be in such a bad shape that his people resorted to such drastic moves. And the goal is to buy time by creating chaos, chaos that the anti-Xi camp will have to clean up."

Interestingly, Trump's post over the weekend kind of seemed to reflect an understanding of this:

NY Post: "Trump says ‘don’t worry about China’ after Beijing responds to 100% tariff threat" - Pub. Oct 12, 2025
Regardless of whether Xi is ill, Lei believes the hardline rare earths directives can serve as a way to get the bureaucracy to consolidate around him.

Something Lei never talks about and doesn't seem to be aware of is the role of the CCP in stealing the elections of 72 countries, including those of the US over the past two decades.

President Trump has never discussed this publicly. He's said the 2020 election was stolen but he's never gotten into exactly who did it. This is because the answer is very complex and the subject of an active investigation by the Department of Justice.

Gary Bertsen and Ralph Pezzullo book, 'Stolen Elections' summarizes the global election theft operation as being run out of Belgrade, Serbia, using giant Chinese Huawei servers, running Venezuelan software operated by hundreds of engineers from Venezuela, Cuba, China, Iran and Serbia. They also say that members of the FBI, CIA and DHS were recruited into this operation and that the media has been completely bought off to lie about this by the Venezuelan Cártel de los Soles.

But the election theft operation is not really a Venezuelan or a Chinese operation. It's a Globalist operation, as with COVID, the mail-in ballot hoax and with the nanotech bioweapon.

In this October 6th podcast with Michael Jaco, Juan O Savin began to speak about who's really behind all of this and who "They" are, at around 43 minute mark:

"What is, at first look, China; to understand that there is a royalist component; these people seeking their empire and to continue with their empire, their imperialist ideals out into the next centuries, they want to destroy humanity as we now know it. They believe that they can own the future by killing the rest of the planet off; starving us to death, choking us to death, through war and seeing us destroyed.

"And so, we will see the American component of that; where they have infiltrated, become part of our government, been supported, funded to bring America back under the heel of these royals and the organizations that they operate and fund, in plain sight that seem so 'benign' or 'American'.

"It's not just one, it's multiple organizations that seem disconnected at one level, but at another level are totally connected. It's not 33 degrees, it's 360 degrees of various, groups and people working together – most of the time, even those individuals not understanding how completely interconnected their actions are at the highest, highest levels…

"What I'm going to put a lot of my energy into [is] helping to connect all of those dots, so that people see that even these minions who seemed so powerful, here in America at various times and got their way, there's other chessboards that are out-of-sight, where these manipulators are moving and working from, to try to control the course of the world for their advantage – and to destroy the world with their wars and famines and stuff like that, for their desired outcome, which is a depopulated planet where only their Chosen Ones get to be part of the future.

"And I want people to understand that, think about it. We'll try to, to pull the pieces together as much as possible to make it clearer and clearer. And I think as these prosecutions go through, that's what I hope, within this audience and other similar that begins to gel and make sense, so we see beyond the visible people, just like you would see beyond Soros, himself and understand he's just a figurehead for something much larger, a conflict that's much greater.

"And then understanding that, you know, we're only at some level, at a midpoint, as we begin to go and pluck up some of these useful idiots that are even in powerful positions, who, themselves are just pawns in a much larger game to own and control the world." "

[onawah]

"Something UGLY Is About To Hit America..." | Whitney Webb
Whitney's Fan Club
46.6K subscribers
Oct 12, 2025

"As the U.S. races to dominate artificial intelligence, a dangerous question emerges: can America outpace China without becoming a mirror image of its authoritarian techno-state? In this compelling analysis, the speaker challenges the growing call for civil-military fusion in the U.S.—a model China has aggressively pursued—which increasingly resembles a corporatist architecture that blurs the line between democracy and technocracy. Is this convergence a national security necessity, or a quiet surrender of American civil liberties in the name of power?

Digging beneath the surface, the discussion unveils the deep entanglement between U.S. financial elites, Big Tech, and Chinese state-linked corporations. From Henry Kissinger’s long-standing ties to Beijing, to Wall Street oligarchs like Larry Fink and Steve Schwarzman straddling both Chinese and American power circles, the speaker argues that transnational capital—not ideology—is driving this AI arms race. The implications reach back decades, connecting today’s elite with shadowy scandals like Chinagate and the suspicious death of Commerce Secretary Ron Brown. And now, with figures like Howard Lutnick poised to lead U.S. commerce, and Elon Musk simultaneously entangled with both U.S. defense and Chinese tech, the question becomes unavoidable: how secure is national security when capital knows no borders?

This video forces a reckoning with AI not just as a technological frontier, but as a vehicle for a creeping global technocratic order—one shaped not by nations, but by unaccountable economic power. If the future is programmable, who’s holding the code?"

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=g2LnreoMSNQ

[onawah]

China hacking America’s critical infrastructure, retired four-star general warns | 60 Minutes
60 Minutes
3.8M subscribers
Oct 12, 2025

"Retired Gen. Tim Haugh, the former head of the NSA, warns that China is targeting the U.S. military, industry and also America’s critical infrastructure. He believes he knows why it's happening."

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=43vxbytjDSM

**********************

How China could use U.S. farmland to attack America
60 Minutes
3.8M subscribers
Oct 12, 2025

"National security experts are concerned about farmland Chinese entities own in the U.S. that is next to sensitive sites, including critical infrastructure and military installations."

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=vFu63JNtIZ4

[Ravenlocke]

DD Geopolitics

🇺🇸📰Major media walkout at the Pentagon.

Dozens of reporters from nearly every major U.S. outlet left their Pentagon offices and surrendered their press badges at 4:00 pm, after all but one outlet refused to sign Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s new “pledge” imposing stricter rules on the Pentagon Press Corps.

Only One America News (OAN) signed the pledge, becoming the sole network with Pentagon press accessunder the new system.

The other outlets argue the pledge would severely limit independent reporting on military matters.

https://x.com/DD_Geopolitics/status/1978582841262010496

[rgray222]

After Years in the Dark, Iran's [Oil] Tankers Switch AIS Transponders Back On


Tanker traffic shown on VesselFinder.com on October 15, including tankers at Iranian terminals

For reasons not yet apparent, Iranian flagged tankers have turned their AIS transmitters back on. For the past seven years, since 2018 when the United States re-imposed sanctions, most Iranian-flagged tankers have travelled the seas with their AIS transmitters turned off in a bid to disguise sanctions-breaking traffic.

The phenomenon has been reported independently by several AIS signal aggregators, and is visible in location plots provided by VesselFinder.com and MarineTraffic.org. Kpler report that 80% of Iranian tankers have transmitted a location signal within the last 48 hours.

It is not clear why AIS systems have been turned back on, simultaneously and across the Iranian-flagged fleet, a move that seems counter-intuitive since snap-back sanctions were re-imposed on Iran by the United Nations on September 28.

Dalga Khatinoglu, an oil & gas analyst writing for Iran International, speculates that the move may be an attempt by Iran to assert legitimacy. It may also be connected to warnings by the United States that travelling without AIS transponders switched on is a contravention of International Maritime Organisation rules, and hence legitimate cause to interdict any such tankers travelling ‘dark’ at sea. Khatinoglu also speculates that the move may have been a response to requirements issued by China, which imports 90% of the oil exported by Iran.

AIS non-transmission and spoofing is associated with transshipments at sea, where it is important for the success of transshipment operations that the location of both the donor ship and receiver be either hidden, or better still to be spoofed to a non-contentious location. In a business where capital costs are very high, chartering time costs money. On top of the cost of involving two VLCCs on at least two transshipment operations per cargo, the process extends shipping times to an average of 10 weeks per shipment.

These extra costs, when compared with straightforward three-week terminal-to-terminal shipments, are expenses borne by Iran on top of the need to discount cargos by up to 10% per barrel. A reversion to conventional tankering operations would thus save Iran considerable sums of money - provided China will still accept cargos. The switch-on of AIS transmitters may be an indication indeed that China has provided such assurances.

Bringing Iran to heel, with a ceasefire still shakily in place in Gaza, has now assumed greater importance in terms of the United States midwifing a wider peace in the Middle East. Both China and Iran may be concerned that any American attempt to increase pressure on Iran, which is evidently in a precarious position in terms of domestic stability, would involve interceptions of Iranian tankers at sea. Hence the Iranian move to remove the clandestine element to their export of oil may be an attempt to safeguard oil as a critical source of finance, and to make legitimization of seizures at sea more difficult.

https://www.maritime-executive.com/a...onders-back-on

[TrumanCash]

U.N. to Vote on First-Ever Global Tax Trade Punishing Shipping Emissions

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is meeting in London to vote on new rules to cut “greenhouse gases” by imposing a first-ever global tax on shipping emissions.

The meeting of the U.N. agency ends Friday and is expected to finalize a “Net-Zero Framework (NZF)” where commercial ships would pay for emissions over a set limit as defined by the IMO, while vessels that meet tougher standards could trade or bank so-called “surplus units.”

The Trump administration unequivocally rejects the proposal and has threatened to retaliate if nations support it, setting the stage for a fight over the climate deal.

As Breitbart News reported, the IMO first drew up the draft rules and regulatory framework in April, targeting ocean-going ships over 5,000 gross tonnes, which are responsible for about 85 percent of international shipping’s total CO2 emissions.

The organization said they want the shipping industry to reach carbon neutrality “by or around 2050,” with interim targets of 20 percent reductions by 2030 and 70 percent by 2040.

If adopted, it will mark the first-ever international climate fee for a single industry – a move with major implications for international trade and competitiveness.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/202...ing-emissions/

Trump's Response Via the US Dept. of State:

Taking Action to Defend America from the UN’s First Global Carbon Tax – the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) “Net-Zero Framework” (NZF)

President Trump has made it clear that the United States will not accept any international environmental agreement that unduly or unfairly burdens the United States or harms the interests of the American people.

Next week, members of the IMO will vote on the adoption of a so-called NZF aimed at reducing global carbon dioxide gas emissions from the international shipping sector. This will be the first time that a UN organization levies a global carbon tax on the world.

The Administration unequivocally rejects this proposal before the IMO and will not tolerate any action that increases costs for our citizens, energy providers, shipping companies and their customers, or tourists. The economic impacts from this measure could be disastrous, with some estimates forecasting global shipping costs increasing as much as 10% or more. We ask you to join us in rejecting adoption of the NZF at the October meeting and to work together on our collective economic and energy security.

The NZF proposal poses significant risks to the global economy and subjects not just Americans, but all IMO member states to an unsanctioned global tax regime that levies punitive and regressive financial penalties, which could be avoided. The United States is considering the following actions against nations that support this global carbon tax on American consumers:

• Pursuing investigations and considering potential regulations to combat anti-competitive practices from certain flagged countries and potential blocking vessels registered in those countries from U.S. ports;
  
• Imposing visa restrictions including an increase in fees and processing, mandatory re-interview requirements and/or revisions of quotas for C-1/D maritime crew member visas;
  
• Imposing commercial penalties stemming from U.S. government contracts including new commercial ships, liquified natural gas terminals and infrastructure, and/or other financial penalties on ships flagged under nations in favor of the NZF;
  
• Imposing additional port fees on ships owned, operated, or flagged by countries supporting the framework; and
  
• Evaluating sanctions on officials sponsoring activist-driven climate policies that would burden American consumers, among other measures under consideration.

The United States will be moving to levy these remedies against nations that sponsor this European-led neocolonial export of global climate regulations. We will fight hard to protect our economic interests by imposing costs on countries if they support the NZF. Our fellow IMO members should be on notice.

https://www.state.gov/releases/offic...-framework-nzf

[Ravenlocke]

MintPress News

David Ellison — son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison — is reportedly preparing a formal bid to merge Warner Bros., HBO, and CNN.

If approved, it would mark one of the largest media consolidations in recent years.

Larry Ellison, among the world’s wealthiest tech figures, has been a major donor to Israeli organizations and defense initiatives, according to public filings.

Analysts say this latest round of mergers, alongside ongoing efforts to purchase other platforms such as TikTok, reflects the growing concentration of global media power in a few hands — raising concerns about how ownership shapes editorial independence.

https://x.com/MintPressNews/status/1978841913949409590

[onawah]

Too many continue to ignore what the CCP is up to, go on believing CCP propaganda (on which prodigious amounts of $ is being spent by the CCP globally)--at everyone's peril...

Posted by Tintin (here)
This is very interesting......published in The Times:

EXCLUSIVE:

China compromised the system used to transfer highly secret data around Whitehall and obtained “vast amounts” of classified government information over a period of many years, Dominic Cummings has said

Cummings, who served as a senior adviser to Boris Johnson, said that he and the then prime minister were informed about the breach in 2020. He said he was warned at the time that disclosing some specific details of the breach would be a criminal offence

It included “Strap” material — which is the government term for the highest level of classified information.

Cummings told The Times: “The Cabinet Secretary said, ‘we have to explain something; there’s been a serious problem’, and he talked through what this was

“And it was so bizarre that — not just Boris — a few people in the room were looking around like this. ‘Am I somehow misunderstanding what he’s saying? Because it sounds f***ing crazy’.”

He added: “What I’m saying is that some Strap stuff was compromised and vast amounts of data classified as extremely secret and extremely dangerous for any foreign entity to control was compromised.

“Material from intelligence services. Material from the National Security Secretariat in the Cabinet Office. Things the government has to keep secret. If they’re not secret, then there are very, very serious implications for it.”

He said he would be willing to share what he knew about the data breach with MPs and claimed that the most senior officials in Whitehall had covered it up.
Cummings refused to say how the system had been breached.

“If the MPs want to finally have an inquiry about it, I’d be happy to talk about it,” he said. And many people know that what I’m saying is true and many people will back it up.

“And many people know that after the PM was notified about this in 2020, officials from the Cabinet Office then went round telling everybody in the meeting that it was illegal for them to discuss this with the media.”

He declined to say how the system was compromised

He said that he found the collapse of a China spy trial because the government refused to describe Beijing as a threat to national security as “ludicrous”.

“Anyone who has been read in at a high level with the intelligence services on China knows that the word threat doesn't even begin to cover it,” he said.

“The degree of penetration in espionage, in all kinds of operations, penetration of critical national infrastructure, theft of intellectual property, the whole range of things is absolutely extraordinary. A hundred times worse than it's in the public domain.

”Everybody who has been briefed on the critical analyses of these things from the intelligence services knows this is true. The idea that it is somehow a difficult semantic question of whether to define them as a threat or how much of a threat is absolutely puerile nonsense. And everybody in the heart of Whitehall knows this.

“The strap system was compromised. All sorts of systems were compromised. Fundamental infrastructure for transferring the most sensitive data around the British state was compromised for a long time. For years.”

https://thetimes.com/article/a0e5efa...3d34ad054aa436
2:34 PM · Oct 15, 2025

Bessent Identifies CCP Official Who Threatened to ‘Unleash Chaos’
China in Focus - NTD
787K subscribers
10/15/25

"In a rare moment in diplomacy, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent names a Chinese official who threatens global chaos if the U.S. imposes port fees on China. "I think his name is Lee Chenggang," Bessent said. "And, you know, threatening, saying that China would unleash chaos on the global system if the U.S. went ahead with our docking fees for Chinese ships."

In a tit-for-tat trade war, President Donald Trump is warning he may block Chinese cooking oil imports after Beijing stopped buying U.S. soybeans.

A new report reveals that more than 500 U.S. universities may be helping China’s military advance its technology. We take a closer look at what this means for U.S. national security.

Millions of Chinese electronics are disappearing from U.S. online stores over national security concerns. We take a closer look at what’s next for the FCC.

Japan’s confirmation of a new prime minister has been delayed until after Oct. 20. An expert offers insights into Sanae Takaichi’s potential premiership and her commonsense policies on defense.

00:00 Intro
00:52 Bessent Names CCP Official for Being Disrespectful
01:42 Bessent: CCP Commerce Official Threatens Global Chaos
04:53 World Financial Leaders Aim to Deter China’s Curbs
07:47 U.S., China Clash Over Soybean, Cooking Oil Trade
09:25 Top State Dept. Adviser Arrested Over Secret Documents
10:19 Report: 500+ U.S. Colleges Work With China’s Military
11:46 FCC Pulls Millions of Chinese Electronics From Stores
12:48 Netherlands Takes Control of Chinese-Owned Chipmaker
13:48 EU Seeks U.S. Alliance to Counter CCP Rare Earth Crackdown
15:24 UK Sanctions Chinese, Indian Firms Over Russian Oil
16:33 Takaichi’s Bid to Redefine Japanese Leadership "

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=tvV0KLnhuNM

Posted by onawah (here)
China hacking America’s critical infrastructure, retired four-star general warns | 60 Minutes
60 Minutes
3.8M subscribers
Oct 12, 2025

"Retired Gen. Tim Haugh, the former head of the NSA, warns that China is targeting the U.S. military, industry and also America’s critical infrastructure. He believes he knows why it's happening."

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=43vxbytjDSM

**********************

How China could use U.S. farmland to attack America
60 Minutes
3.8M subscribers
Oct 12, 2025

"National security experts are concerned about farmland Chinese entities own in the U.S. that is next to sensitive sites, including critical infrastructure and military installations."

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=vFu63JNtIZ4

[onawah]

City-States Without Limits – Part 2
by Iain Davis Unlimited Hangout
October 16, 2025
https://unlimitedhangout.com/2025/10...limits-part-2/


"In Part 1, we discussed the NRx technocrats’ ideas and how they have influenced the city-state model that seeks to capitalise on the global proliferation of Special Economic Zones (SEZs). We examined the role of functional oligarchies in this endeavor. In Part 2, we look at how that city-state model manifests internationally and what it implies, not just for global governance structures, but for humanity.
The model of “government” the NRx technocrats propose is unlike anything we are currently familiar with. It is much more akin to the kind of authoritarian dictatorships exercised by the feudal monarchs of Medieval Europe. These gov-corp Technates, as envisaged, effectively amount to dictatorial city-states under the direct control of oligarchs.

The NRx technocrats seek to break nation-states apart into technologically governed “enclaves” (gov-corp Technates). These “realms” will form an international “Patchwork,” with each enclave or “network archipelago” represented as a digital node, almost certainly on a single, overarching blockchain or “unified ledger.” The digital access permissions to the node, which serves as the digital twin for the physical realm of the city-state “enclave,” will be controlled by the “founder” or their selected administrators of the realm. This forms a gov-corp Technate ruled by a CEO King (oligarch) where “nothing officially exists” unless it is represented digitally on the realm’s ledger (blockchain).

The citizens of the realm are customers of the sovereign corporation (sovcorp) that rules the gov-corp Technate. The customers will have no individual sovereignty unless they purchase it from the “founder.” All value is digital in the realm. The life of your “digital twin,” monitored through the requirement to use digital ID, seamlessly links a customer’s offline life to that of their online digital twin.

By controlling the programmable digital currency allotted to the customer’s digital twin, via their digital ID, any misbehaviour can be punished by the founder or their delegated system administrators. For example, by freezing “their deposits” or locking people “out of all doors for a time period as a punishment.” There are no means of recourse in a gov-corp Technate. The only option open to the persecuted customer is to flee, if they have the means.

We also discussed how governments around the world have already started carving out nascent gov-corp Technates in the form of thousands of Special Economic Zones (SEZs). Some of which, such as Shenzhen in China, have already been established as de facto city-states with their own increasingly independent jurisdictions and embryonic city-state governments.

At the heart of this effort to create a global patchwork of city-states are the NRx technocrats, perhaps most notably Peter Thiel, Elon Musk and Marc Andreessen in the US, and venture capital firms like NeWay Capital and Pronomos Capital. But they are far from alone. The NRx technocrat network is global and, at the highest governmental and intergovernmental level, the hope is to bring about the global governance of a patchwork of city-state gov-corp Technates.

Smart-City-States Without Limits
NRx technocrats want to create a global “patchwork” of digital surveillance societies where “nothing officially exists unless it’s on-chain.” All value is digital and the private founder[s], by virtues of the supreme sovereignty they have purchased with their investment, control their private fiefdoms as CEO “kings” of the ruling corporations. In effect, by exploiting digital technology and, most notably, Artificial Intelligence (AI), the NRx technocrats want to create a global network of privately financed smart-cities.

A smart-city can be said to be “an urban area where technology and data collection help improve [. . .] the sustainability and efficiency of city operations. [. . .] Technologies to collect data—including real-time data—are central to smart-city initiatives.” The objective of smart-city design is to control the urban environment and its inhabitants’ behaviour.

Taking a positive view of smart-city behavioural control, researchers from the Indonesian Journal of Information Systems and Informatics nonetheless noted:

The influence of smart city technology on consumer behavior in urban environments and people’s daily routines and lifestyle habits is significant. [. . .] The development of smart-cities through the application of various technologies such as smart transportation systems, traffic management applications, and smart sensors [. . .] has changed the behavior of people. [. . .] Thus, the application of smart city technology not only transforms city infrastructure and services, but also brings significant changes in citizen behavior.

Though behavioural control exercised by smart-city operators could possibly be benign, it could also be abused by despots to effectively program our lives. That is certainly what the NRx technocrats have in mind—engineering the “unthinking demos” whose sovereignty will be treated with “derision.” Regardless of the risks, smart-cities are being constructed the world over.

The China Global Television Network (CGTN) is part of the state-run China Media Group. In July of this year, CGTN reported how the Chinese government was “accelerating” the development of smart-cities. CGTN revealed that Shenzhen won an international award for smart-city of the year from the 2024 Smart-City Expo World Congress (SCEWC).

The SCEWC emphasised how the congress was impressed with Shenzhen’s application of the Chinese “Smarter City, Better Life” policy initiative that seeks to address “urban challenges” through the rapid deployment of technology. Just like the NRx technocrats in the West, Chinese policy think tanks apparently see technology as the solution; full stop.

The SCEWC said:

The initiative has pursued an aggressive digital transformation strategy to address these challenges across various sectors. Key components include the development of high-speed broadband networks, using digital twin technology to model and manage city systems, and integrating artificial intelligence and data-driven governance into city operations. [. . .] The city has also fostered an environment that encourages technological innovation and has attracted significant investment from private companies developing smart-city technologies.

Again, there is no notable difference between the stakeholder capitalist—public-private partnership—finance model for smart-city construction in China’s SEZs than that found anywhere else.

The SCEWC continued:

Shenzhen has pioneered the “4321+X” model for smart community development, emphasizing integrating government networks, video networks, IoT sensor networks, and the internet to create comprehensive data and service platforms. These platforms provide a foundation for various smart city applications, including public safety management, community governance, and the delivery of public services.

The 4321+X smart-city “community” is controlled based upon a set of clearly defined processes. The “4” refers to the integration of four data networks: the government’s network, private community CCTV networks, the internet, and specifically the Internet of Things (IoT). The “3” relates to the three areas of community activity to be integrated within and surveilled through the four networks: all business, public security (public conduct), and the local governance of services, including local security services. The “2” Refers to two major service sectors—called “platforms”—that combine to effect the monitoring of the three key areas of activity linked to the four networks. The two “platforms” are local government and law enforcement.

Finally, the “1” refers to the master database which, when Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT)—such as blockchain—is used, could be called the “unified ledger.” The ledger ties all the surveillance of the entire smart-city, combining 4, 3, and 2 together, into one centrally administered smart-city system. The smart-city supposedly facilitates “X” which is the artificially intelligent delivery of governance and services to the citizen.

The unified ledger (“1”) is monitored and controlled by the “Urban Brain” or “City Brain” which is the central command system for the smart-city. The Urban Planning Society of China—a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that operates by approval from China’s Ministry of Construction and Ministry of Civil Affairs—states that the purpose of the “Urban Brain” is to allocate “public resources” and enhance “social governance” in order to provide “new pathways for promoting sustainable economic and social development.”

As we noted in Part 1, China’s modern technological innovation is overwhelmingly the result of public-private partnership. In Hangzhou, for instance, the City Brain is managed by one global corporation:

Alibaba is the powerhouse of the technology from data platforms to advance analytics algorithm that enables all the smart city application.

In NRx technocrat terms, Alibaba Group is the sovereign corporation (sovcorp) of the city of Hangzhou, with a considerable ability to potentially control the lives of its nine million citizens or “customers.” As with all smart-city developments, the media only reports the realised or projected social benefits. The likely pitfalls are studiously ignored. To understand the danger we all face, if we take to living in such cities, we first need to consider how social credits systems are intended to work.

There are many, persistent myths peddled in the West about China’s Social Credit System (SCS). The mainstream media will sometimes have you believe that it is already a totalitarian nightmare and some in the independent media will try to convince you that is doesn’t exist. The truth lies somewhere in between.



China is the only country to have formally established an SCS, but it is not the only country to have implemented one. The purpose of social credit is to reward or punish citizen behaviour, not through the courts or any legal process, but through the enhanced or restricted access to both public and private services. Operation Choke Point in the US saw the Department of Justice collaborate with private banks to cut-off access to finance for entirely legal small to medium size businesses deemed to present a “reputational risk.” Similarly, in Canada, the government worked with private banks, and insurers to shut down the small businesses of lawful and legitimate protestors. These are just a couple of the many clear examples of SCS operating in the West.

China’s SCS was formally established in 2014. It is a sprawling and often confusing slew of government directives and regulations that each provincial authority has to decipher and apply as best as it can. The overarching objective is to establish a measure of “societal creditworthiness.” This does not just mean “credit” in the financial sense. It relates to the degree of “trustworthiness” the state credits to its own departments and local administrations, to businesses and to individuals.

China’s SCS refers to “entities,” meaning both public and private organisations, including businesses. Much of the SCS is focused upon cleaning up public sector corruption, eliminating the “untrustworthiness” of those entities in order to promote a “harmonious” society.

It also focuses on the “untrustworthiness” of individuals. An SCS objective is to “put untrustworthy individuals on a credit blacklist.” Another is to develop online systems to evaluate individual’s online social credit “trustworthiness” and, for instance, to punish those who engage in online “rumour-mongering;” it talks about systems to assess the “individual character” of citizens and the enforcement of “citizen morality.”

In China, a “natural person” is a legal construct that means a human being or citizen. In its 2025 announced improvements to its SCS, the Chinese government encouraged regional authorities to promote “the credit construction of natural persons” and to establish “sound credit records of natural persons.”

Looking at the development of the smart-city in Shenzhen, and the risks of pooling “big data,” researchers from the Berlin Institute of Chinese Studies found:

[T]he digital systems in Shenzhen entail a creeping centralisation of data that potentially turns lower administrative government units into mere users of the city-level smart platforms rather than being in control of their own data resources. Smart city development and big data ambitions thereby imply shifting stakeholder relations at the local level and also pull non-governmental stakeholders, such as information technology companies and research institutions, closer to new data flows and smart governance systems.
In a world shaped by stakeholder capitalism, “smart governance systems” are invariably controlled by the private sector. Local governments become the “mere users” of the “City Brains” overseen by multinational corporations. The evident objective is to link the behavioural control afforded by smart-city technology to SCS.



As pointed out by MIT Technology Review in 2022, there is currently no crushing, universal social credit score in China that enables totalitarian control:

There’s no evidence yet that this system has been abused for widespread social control (though it remains possible that it could be wielded to hurt individual rights).

Indeed, smart-city technology combined with SCS certainly could be wielded to socially engineer populations. The push towards smart-city developments capable of applying SCS “rules” are by no means restricted to China. It is a global governance policy agenda and the rollout of the necessary digital infrastructure is worldwide. Though most of us are yet to experience the looming overt systematic oppression, it is extremely unwise to ignore that fact that the likely digital panopticon is being erected around us.

If we accept the ongoing transformation of the places we live into smart-cities and smart-suburbs, it is the “trust” we will have placed in our rulers, whoever they may be, that is the salient issue. We will have no choice but to trust that the digital control systems we will live in are purely for our benefit. We will have to trust that the enforcement of the SCS rules will be equitable. There is currently no reason to think that will be the case.

The potential urban future that the oligarchs driving this agenda have in mind is aligned with the ambitions of the NRx technocrats. It appears that our planned smart city-state future is an envisioned tyranny.

Intergovernmental Gov-corp Technates
The global proliferation of SEZs provides plenty of enticing investment opportunities for NRx technocrats and other oligarchs (See Part 1). SEZs, however, are just one avenue for the potential location of gov-corp Technates. The global transition toward urbanization offers many more.

Ironically, the United Nations (UN) both reports on the rampant criminality common to many SEZ developments but also advocates the rapid and significant expansion of SEZs. As noted in Part 1, there is currently little or no evidence that SEZs deliver socioeconomic growth. There is considerable evidence that they seize national territory and transform it into effective private jurisdictions.

Yet, in 2022, the UN established the Global Alliance of Special Economic Zones (GASEZ) to increase the SEZ global footprint. GASEZ claims:

Special economic zones (SEZs) can make important contributions to economic growth and sustainable development. Zones can help attract investment, create jobs, boost exports, and build productive capacity. [. . .] Collectively SEZs can be more effective in modernization and policy advocacy, and bring on board stakeholders, including governments, the private sector and international organizations.

Again, there is virtually no evidence to support GASEZ’ assertions about economic growth. The reason the UN is enthusiastic about SEZ hybrid zone/city developments is that the UN considers them a more effective route for its global “policy advocacy.”

Launching GASEZ in 2022, the UN announced:

UNCTAD [United Nations Conference on Trade and Development ] joined hands with seven global, regional and national associations representing over 7,000 special economic zones (SEZs) to launch a global alliance. [. . .] They [SEZs] go by many different names, including free-trade zones and industrial parks, and are widely used by developed and developing economies. The Global Alliance of Special Economic Zones (GASEZ) seeks to drive the modernization of these zones across the world and maximize their contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). [. . .] A new model of sustainable special economic zones is therefore rapidly taking shape and they are contributing to more inclusive, resilient and sustainable economies in the countries where they operate.

The UN calls the towns and cities we live in “human settlements.” Charter Cities, SEZs with residential capacity, hybrid zone/city developments, resilient cities, 15-minute cities, etc., are all “human settlements” as far as the UN is concerned. Furthermore, all such urban renewal consistently embraces smart-city technology.

In 1977, the UN created the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) in order to promote “socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities.” UN-Habitat states:

UN-Habitat is the focal point for all urbanization and human settlement matters within the UN system. [. . .] UN-Habitat collaborates with governments, intergovernmental, UN agencies, civil society organizations, foundations, academic institutions and the private sector to achieve enduring results in addressing the challenges of urbanization.

Urbanization is the process of the population shift from rural to urban living environments, or human settlements in the vernacular of the UN. UN-Habitat has wholeheartedly adopted the public-private partnership, or stakeholder capitalist, model of development to address “the challenges of urbanization.”

In 2018, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) reported the findings of its research into World Urbanization Prospects:

Today, 55% of the world’s population lives in urban areas, a proportion that is expected to increase to 68% by 2050. Projections show that urbanization [. . .] combined with the overall growth of the world’s population could add another 2.5 billion people to urban areas by 2050, with close to 90% of this increase taking place in Asia and Africa. [. . .] By 2030, the world is projected to have 43 megacities with more than 10 million inhabitants, most of them in developing regions [. . .] many of them located in Asia and Africa. [. . .] As the world continues to urbanize, sustainable development depends increasingly on the successful management of urban growth, especially in low-income and lower-middle-income countries where the pace of urbanization is projected to be the fastest.

With this urbanization prospectus in mind, and with a particular focus on managing urban development in the “Global South”—an umbrella term for developing nations wherever they are located—UN-Habitat released its Strategic Plan 2020-2023:

UN-Habitat, in its role as a focal point, will call upon all development actors and stakeholders, [. . .] to work in concert to assist it in implementing its Strategic Plan. [. . .] An important effort is required to rethink engagement with the private sector to leverage investment in sustainable urbanization and to promote more appropriate models of development.

The “Global South” as defined by the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World, a unit of UNESCO

The UN is eager to liberate private finance in order to construct human smart-megacity settlements, especially in the emerging and developing markets of the Global South, that meet UN sustainable urbanization targets. Sustainable Development Goal 11—SDG 11—defines the global public-private partnership’s city development agenda.

The UN calls this its “New Urban Agenda.” The New Urban Agenda emphasises the importance of building “smart-cities” to meet SDGs:

The New Urban Agenda calls for technology and communication networks to be strengthened and for smart-city approaches that use digitalization, clean energy and technologies. [. . .] Innovative funding opportunities and partnerships need to be explored and the capacity of local governments to effectively procure, test and implement frontier technologies needs to be significantly strengthened. [. . .] To contribute effectively to urban sustainability, frontier technologies and innovations need to be applied.

The “smart-city” is constructed by deploying so-called “frontier technologies” within its infrastructure. A smart-city could be built from scratch or developed in an existing city or conurbation. The UN explains what smart-city frontier technology it considers essential for urban sustainability:

[Frontier technologies] currently include, among others, the Internet of things, sensor networks, machine-to-machine communication, robotics, artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, 3D printing, geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing, autonomous unmanned vehicles, drones, blockchain, cryptographic computing, and big data processing and visualization.
The UN’s “frontier technologies” are, of course, exactly the kind of technologies that the NRx technocrats allege to be the technological solution to everything (see Part 1). Gov-corp Technates are practically indistinguishable from the hybrid zone/city developments envisaged by the UN’s New Urban Agenda.

The downside, from humanity’s perspective, is that at both the global intergovernmental level and at the global multinational corporate-network level, there is a firm commitment to install the biometric digital surveillance state that threatens to enslave us all. Though the UN calls this “sustainable development.”

The Global Governance Patchwork
Not only is the UN amenable to the NRx technocrat’s digital panopticon plans, it also favours their “patchwork of realms” idea. The UN considers the future of global governance to lay in centralised global authority exerted over a transnational network of city-states. Or, as UN-Habitat puts it, “connectivity across urban networks, between cities and their surroundings [. . .] must be strengthened. That requires a country-wide – and sometimes cross-border – approach to development.”

The UN’s global governance model has been moving in this direction or a while. In 2005, then London Mayor Ken Livingston convened the C20 city network, inviting mayors from another eighteen cities to work collectively to reduce so-called climate pollution (CO2 emissions). In 2006, the addition of 22 city mayors created the C40 cities network.

The C40 cities network is financed by, among others, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) which is heavily backed by the Gates Foundation. The aim of CIFF is to improve the lives of children living in the Global South by “lobbying” their governments to create regulatory “enabling environments” to stimulate national carbon trading in the global Emissions Trading Scheme (ETF) markets.

Another prominent C40 funder is Bloomberg Philanthropies, led by oligarch and former New York City mayor, Michael Bloomberg. Always driven by a commitment to UN global governance policies, in 2011, C40 formalised its relationship with the UN by agreeing on a climate action partnership with the World Bank—a specialized agency of the UN. Such UN partnerships are in keeping with UN ambitions to cultivate its global governance through an international network of city-states.

In 2013, American political theorist Benjamin R. Barber (1939 – 2017) published If Mayors Ruled the World: Dysfunctional Nations, Rising Cities. Barber contended that city administrations were more closely connected to their populations and thus more democratically representative than nation-states. He argued that city administrations, in countries around the world, had more in common with each other than they had with their own national governments. Unencumbered by political divisions and national rivalries, he posited that cities were better “building blocks of global governance.”

Advocating a global network of cities, Barber wrote:

If democracy is to survive globalization, imagining a global democratic order with the city at its core may be crucial. Envision not states but cities as building blocks for global governance. [. . .] Global governance in which the city predominates is the aim.

Evidently enthused by Barber’s vision, Michael Bloomberg announced he was stepping down as Mayor of New York and set up the first CityLab summit in 2013. Mayors from cities around the world were invited to network and collaborate in order to “exchange ideas and tackle some of the most urgent issues affecting cities around the world.”

In 2014, a month after officially leaving office in New York, Bloomberg was appointed as the UN’s first Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change. Thus strengthening the link between urban development and the implementation of the global governance agenda.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the objective of creating the post for Bloomberg was for the UN to consult “with mayors and related key stakeholders” in order to “mobilize action among cities as part of [the UN’s] long-term strategy.” Already the president of the board of the C40 cities network, Bloomberg soon established the Compact of Mayors committing city leaders to implement UN SDGs.

In 2016, the UN’s Global Compact of Mayors joined with the similar European Union’s (EU’s) Covenant of Mayors to become the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCoM). Currently acting as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions, Michael Bloomberg is the current co-chair of the GCoM.

The logo of the UN Global Compact’s US-based organisation

The GCoM established the INVEST4CITIES initiative to generate “massive and targeted investment” to construct smart-cities. The private sector investment opportunity is set to provide “$23 trillion in investment potential” by 2030. The public sector’s (local government’s) role is to create “the enabling environments that support local investment.” The GCoM plan is that “large-scale financing instruments” will fund “local implementation” of frontier technologies to construct global governance (SDG) compliant smart-cities.

In the same year (2016) that the GCoM was signed by an international network of mayors, Bloomberg created the Global Parliament of Mayors (GPM) to give the civic leaders formal global governance roles. The GPM was first mooted in 2013 by Bloomberg CityLab based on Benjamin Barber’s “idea of a global governance platform for cities.” Barber was personally involved in the formation of the GPM and, when he died in 2017, the GPM created the annual Benjamin Barber Award, given to the most global governance compliant mayor of the year.

The purpose of the GPM is to attack the supposed political sovereignty of national governments and reimagine international relations. The GPM champions “the city’s right to self-government” and promotes “collective city decision-making across national borders.” The GPM is “actively engaged in decision-making by international organisations.” The GPM is the UN’s expression of Barber’s vision of “global governance in which the city predominates.”

In 2017, adopting the NRx technocrats’ accelerationism, the C40 network started implementing a number of “High-Impact Accelerators.” The C40 accelerators form one of the “project pipelines” that contributes toward the GCoM’s INVEST4CITIES strategy.

The GCoM aims to “accelerate city and local government access to financial resources” by “removing barriers to investor-oriented climate action plans and projects, and unlocking large-scale financing instruments to boost urban action implementation.” As you can imagine, with $23 trillion of investment opportunities in sight, the envisaged ROI is not only mouthwatering, if the planned city-state is a startup project it also promises oligarchs possible city ownership rights (see Part 1).

The UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) convened the Day of Cities in 2019. Mayors from across, what the UN called, “the region”—meaning Europe—met to discuss “how to create smart sustainable cities.” This resulted in the 2020 Geneva Declaration of Mayors. In response to multiple alleged global crises—the pseudopandemic, the climate crisis, natural disasters, etc.—the UNECE mayors noted how the global policy response to the pseudopandemic could be adopted as a model for urban development:

[C]ities were in lockdown – and many industries, transport networks and businesses closed – we [. . .] started to experience an unknown urban life: better air quality, the return of nature to our cities, and empty streets giving space to cyclists and pedestrians. [. . .] The pandemic provided a testing ground for what cities could look like; the transformation of urban spaces happened overnight. If there is only one lesson to learn from this crisis, it is that rapid change of our urban reality is possible [and] behaviour patterns can be adapted. [. . .] Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 calls for action to work towards [. . .] resilient and sustainable cities – it is now in our hands to place the SDGs at the centre of our recovery efforts and create new urban realities.
Today, boasting “over 13,500 cities and local governments” from “6 continents and 147 countries” the GCoM alleges that it represents “more than 1.2 billion people.” It is, however, hard to see how GCoM “represents” anyone other than its public-private “stakeholders.” One wonders how many people who elect their local and city “representatives” in these GCoM coordinated cities and suburbs are told that they are consenting to global governance and the transformation of their communities into smart-city gov-corp Technates.

Empty streets, no cars, drone ports, driverless AI controlled public transport, protein labs growing artificial food substitutes, augmented reality, insect-based snacks, and new religious identities are part of what leading oligarch-led think tank Chatham House (The Royal Institute of International Affairs) predicted in 2021 with its notion of our Futurescape. Whether this is the future city-life any of us want is irrelevant. At every level, NRx technocrats and their fellow oligarchs view such “urbanization” as the pathway to establishing effective global governance.

That the UN considers societal lockdowns as an exemplar of what it calls a “better urban life” betrays the oligarchs’ true intentions.

A rendering of a potential future version of London’s Piccadilly Circus courtesy of the Chatham House initiative, Futurescape

The Global Governance of Smart-Cities
The United Nations (UN) declares that it is responsible for global governance. The UN also says that “governance” means: “the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented.” Therefore, the UN asserts that it is the body which makes and implements decisions—which manifest as government policy—for the world.

UN-Habitat—the UN’s “focal point for all urbanization and human settlement matters”—with its New Urban Agenda to transform the urban environment into a global network of smart-cities, extols stakeholder capitalism and is keen to use the associated public-private partnership model. In 2022, UN-Habitat and the World Economic Forum (WEF) created the The Global Partnership for Local Investment (GPLI). The GPLI immediately set up the G20 Global smart-cities Alliance and clarified its public-private purpose:

Public-private collaborations reflect a form of indirect management in public administration, where [. . .] public, private or non-profit partners make decisions jointly. [. . .] Public-private collaborations can repurpose city assets for the deployment of digital infrastructure. [. . .] Physical assets, such as rooftops, utility poles, street lights, traffic lights, ducts and more, can become smart assets and be used to drive efficiencies and new services. Public spaces and airspace can take on new value as technology, such as drones, enabl[e] [sic] new use cases.

UN-Habitat and the WEF highlight the private sector investment opportunity for those with the wealth to capitalise on them—oligarchs:

[S]mart-city services can generate new revenue streams and revenue savings to be shared between partners.
The Futurescape imagined by Chatham House is under construction with the support of the United Nations and the “leading” multinational corporations aligned under the WEF umbrella. It is also a project shared by the BRICS+ group of nations and their corporate partners.

The BRICS have established the General Assembly of Cities and Municipalities which will focus on “inter-municipal cooperation” rather than international cooperation. Following the 2025 BRICS summit in Brazil, the BRICS group issued a joint statement:

One of the key topics shaping the future of the BRICS is the development of smart-cities supported by emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence (AI). [. . .] With the recent expansion of the BRICS to include countries such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, and Iran, the bloc is establishing itself as a leading platform for Global South cooperation [. . .] particularly in the realm of sustainable urbanization driven by technologies such as AI. [. . .] Artificial intelligence is increasingly being adopted in major BRICS cities, notably impacting urban planning, public service management, and civic engagement. China is at the forefront of developing AI-powered smart-cities, particularly in Shanghai and Shenzhen.

The BRICS+ group emphasises the importance of the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) to “finance sustainable infrastructure” and “increase lending for AI-driven public service projects.” The group observes that “South-South cooperation through the BRICS creates active dialogue.”

The UN considers cooperation in the “South-South”—referring to partnerships between Southern hemisphere countries—“a key development modality to accelerate progress towards achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.” The UN Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) collaborates strategically with the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB). In turn, the IsDB has a close working partnership with the NDB. Both the IsDB and the NDB have joined seven other “Multilateral Development Banks” (MDBs) to form a global collaborative partnership coordinated by the UN’s World Bank Group:

A much scaled up global effort is thus required to [. . .] tackle transboundary [meaning cross-national border] challenges. [. . .] We [Heads of MDBs] will deepen our collaboration around joint innovative mechanisms for boosting private capital mobilization, both domestically and globally. [. . .] We recognize the need to explore further avenues for strengthening mobilization of private capital.

Regardless of where you live on the Earth, your government’s commitment to creating a global network of smart hybrid zone/cities financed by “private capital” is unshakable because your government is following a global policy agenda it did not create and cannot change.

In Vietnam, for example, the commitment to constructing smart-cities is significant. Vietnam’s state media, The Voice of Vietnam (VoV), reports:

Vietnam is undergoing a sweeping transformation with a clear goal: to build smart-cities that serve the people. The effort is based on national strategies like the Sustainable smart-city Development Plan 2018-2025 with a vision to 2030, the National Digital Transformation Program until 2025 with a vision to 2030, the E-Government Development Strategy toward a Digital Government, and Project 06 on population data and digital identity.

The VoV states that residents in smart-cities can “report issues directly to authorities, who respond and take corrective action.” Vietnamese digital smart-city citizens can raise concerns relating to “public security[,] environmental management, healthcare, [. . .] education,” and more via their installed smart-city app. The VoV enthusiastically notes that centrally located AI monitored Intelligent Operations Centers (IOCs)—Urban or City Brains—linked to peoples’ devices and their Vietnam Electronic Identification (VNeID), issued by Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS), effectively turn the Vietnamese smart-city citizens’ “smartphones into ‘microphones.’”

The VoV adds:

Citizens must also play their part: verifying VNeID at level 2, uploading personal documents to their digital accounts, using the national portal [. . .] for public services, downloading their local smart-city app, and using cashless payments wherever possible. Every tap on a screen lays another brick in building Vietnam’s vision of modern, intelligent, liveable cities for the future.

The state taking almost unimaginable control of every “citizen’s” life is part of Vietnam’s digital transformation plan—Project 06. The Vietnamese government has already started the process of freezing up to 86 million of Vietnam’s estimated 200 million banks accounts unless they are “verified” using state approved digital ID (biometric authentication or VNeID). So clearly, every citizen “must” comply and the digital transformation, despite all the fluffy rhetoric about inclusion, is avowedly exclusionary.

Project 06 is led by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) working closely with the Ministry of Public Security (MPS). A major part of the role of the MPS is to ensure social order and to collect, analyse and evaluate information with a view to “prevent, detect and defeat any plots and acts of violation against national security and eliminate any threats to national security,” to protect the “Party” and the “State,” and to “implement international commitments and obligations.”

The digital surveillance plan has been promoted by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and other government officials, but the Project 06 policy initiative did not originate with the Vietnamese government. With its stated “vision to 2030,” Project 06 is firmly rooted in the United Nations’ (UN’s) global governance agenda.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Development noted that the country’s digital transformation will contribute to the reduction of (CO2) emissions, though it is obviously designed to enable state surveillance of the population. Speaking in January this year, UN Under-Secretary-General Amandeep Singh Gill said he was impressed with Vietnam’s public-private partnership (multistakeholder) approach to “harness digital technologies for inclusive, sustainable development.”

He added:

I saw with my own eyes how Viet Nam is pushing forward strongly and proactively in the areas of digital transformation and AI. [. . .] [F]rameworks are needed to ensure that everyone benefits from the technical advancement, and that no one is left behind. [. . .] The Global Digital Compact offers such a framework at the global level, and Viet Nam’s willingness to play an active role in key areas of the [sic] is welcomed and appreciated by the United Nations.

The Global Digital Compact, adopted without a vote in September 2024 by UN member states as an annex to the UN’s Pact for the Future, is the UN’s “global framework” to facilitate “multi-stakeholder action” to enable “the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals.” The UN defined “digital public goods” as software, data, AI models, and all content published online. Further, it decided that “digital public infrastructure” essentially meant all hardware and the physical infrastructure for all digital communication systems.

The UN said that it considered “digital public goods and digital public infrastructure to be key drivers of inclusive digital transformation and innovation.” It added that “[g]overnments, the private sector, civil society, technical and academic communities and international and regional organizations” should work together to to “leverage digital public goods and digital public infrastructure to advance solutions for the Sustainable Development Goals.”

In other words, the UN decided that the internet and digital technology, in its entirety, should be leveraged to deliver the UN’s global governance policy agendas. The UN invited the “private sector and philanthropic actors [oligarchs]” to finance the digital transformation.

Populations might not want to go along with the digital transformation of their world, nor the degree of public-private state surveillance foisted upon them. Perhaps anticipating some pushback, the UN decided that anything that questioned its transformative global governance agenda constituted a “form of violence” it calls “misinformation and disinformation”:

We must urgently counter and address all forms of violence, including [. . .] all forms of hate speech and discrimination, misinformation and disinformation. [. . .] We commit to, by 2030, [. . .] assess the impact of misinformation and disinformation on the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. [. . .] We further urgently [. . .] [c]all on social media platforms to provide researchers access to data [. . .] to build an evidence base on how to address misinformation and disinformation and hate speech that can inform government and industry policies, standards and best practices

The idea that governments and private corporations should form “policies” to address “misinformation and disinformation” might sound reasonable at first, but that all depends upon who decides what constitutes misinformation and disinformation. The UN is clear that misinformation and disinformation incudes information that undermines its policies related to “public health and climate action.”

Questioning the global digital transformation that is designed to “advance solutions for the Sustainable Development Goals” threatens “climate action” and is therefore disinformation that governments and private corporations should “counter and address.” Governments around the world are implementing laws and regulations to seize control of the information we can share with that goal in mind.

Of course, this could not be more anti-democratic, but governments serve as functional oligarchies not democracies. None of the governments that have passed or intend to pass online censorship laws are the instigators of these policies or legislative moves. They emanate from the global governance of the UN and its agencies where real Orbital Authority is exercised. "
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