Western experts and military officials continue to issue dates for a prospective China invasion of Taiwan. The latest such example is a prediction by US Air Force General Mike Minihan that a war will occur between the United States and China over Taiwan in 2025. This was written in a memo which was obtained by the news media.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has announced the extension of the military draft to one year from the current duration of four months, citing the perceived need for increased military preparedness.
Republican lawmakers in the US House of Representatives are calling for increased confrontation with China, and should this party take power in next week’s midterm elections, they may exercise significant influence on US foreign policy in the Asia-Pacific region.
In a move that critics are calling a “dangerous escalation,” the United States is reportedly preparing to deploy up to six nuclear-capable B-52 bombers to northern Australia, where they would be close enough to strike China.
A group working for peaceful relations between the United States and China has sent a letter to leaders of both countries imploring them to end or limit “dangerous and provocative military maneuvers” in the South China Sea and near Taiwan that could lead to all-out war.
Western nations have recently taken up a mantra that claims they will never allow “changes to the status quo by force,” but when it comes to the dangerous crisis in the Taiwan Strait, it’s not entirely clear that all Western commentators even understand what the diplomatic “status quo” is all about.
As US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi departs for an Asian trip that may include a stop in Taiwan, anti-war voices are sounding the alarm over a visit they say would needlessly provoke China during a time of already heightened global tensions from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
After the Senate’s decision over the weekend to acquit former US President Donald Trump for inciting the January 6 violence on Capitol Hill, Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has announced that she has authorized a 9/11-style commission to further probe the events of that day.
In a wide-ranging discussion, Matt Taibbi and Paul Jay discuss why the Democratic Party is losing large sections of the working class, and how politics has become a religion.
Abby Martin, host of The Empire Files, and Paul Jay discuss how working people and the left should respond to the presidential election.
