China

It appears Goldman and the Globalist gang in The White House may have less power and influence than assumed in the absence of Steve Bannon. In what could be one of the most comprehensive (and easily traced) leaks from within Trump's administration, Axios reports details of a small Oval Office meeting with Trump raging at senior staff as they push back against his hawkish trade war position.

Seemingly frustrated at his senior staff's efforts to wage economic war against China, Trump lashed out at his new Chief of Staff General Kelly:

After President Trump declared "economic war" with China, seemingly following Bannon's strategy to maintain hegemony...

“We’re at economic war with China,” he added. “It’s in all their literature. They’re not shy about saying what they’re doing. One of us is going to be a hegemon in 25 or 30 years and it’s gonna be them if we go down this path.”

 

Authored by Eugene Chow via The National Interest,

Hidden in plain sight is an intimidating Chinese weapon that allows it to hold a quarter of the world’s population hostage without firing a single shot. While much attention has been given to the nation’s fearsome new military hardware, a formidable component in its arsenal has largely escaped notice: dams.

Authored by Pepe Escobar via Asia Times,

While the US-backed 'Hunger Games' in South Korea plow on, a 'new strategy' for Afghanistan is really all about business. But China is already there...

There are more parallels between an unfinished 1950s war in Northeast Asia and an ongoing 16-year-old war in the crossroads between Central and South Asia than meet the eye.

Let’s start with North Korea.

Once again the US/South Korea Hunger Games plow on. It didn’t have to be this way.

As wages for Chinese workers’ skyrocket, the country’s manufacturers are scrambling to replace humans with machines, in many cases to preserve thin profit margins that have been choked by debt service.

But according to a report from Bloomberg Intelligence, China’s embrace of automation – its companies are installing machines faster than in any other country – could have unintended consequences for the global economy, as the robots force wages to sink, inequality to balloon, and consumption to collapse.