Badlands News Brief

Taiwan Tensions, More Leaks & Biden's Fall

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The News Cycle is almost impossible to track these days. At least, to do so fully.

That’s where we come in.

In the Badlands News Brief, the Badlands Media team hand picks news items of interest from the previous days to give you an overview of the biggest goings-on relevant to the Truth Community.

Some items feature original commentary from members of our growing team of citizen journalists. Feel free to follow the corresponding link to see their other work.

Now, onto the news from Monday, April 10 …

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Chinese Aircraft Carrier 'Seals Off' Taiwan, Sends 58 Planes To Buzz Island

China has continued its major show of force aimed at Taiwan in the wake of last week's meeting between Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California last week. 

The PLA military says it is rehearsing "sealing off" Taiwan for its third day of wargames, with Monday reports citing at least 58 planes buzzing the island as well as nine warships coming toward its territorial waters. 

On Sunday the day saw at least 70 Chinese aircraft total breach the island's air defense identification zone and eleven military ships encircle it. This included breaches by a group of J-15 fighter jets, which is rare if not unprecedented for that particular advanced Chinese aircraft.

State broadcaster CCTV on Monday announced the drills had "simulated joint precision strikes against key targets on Taiwan island and surrounding waters”, adding that forces “continued to maintain the situation of closely encircling the island."

Further, aircraft, ships and troops were sent into "the maritime areas and air space of the Taiwan Strait, off the northern and southern coasts of the island, and to the island’s east," according to a PLA army statement. All of this includes simulating "maritime blockades" and "targeted ambush assaults on enemy mooring vessels."

"Forces in the command is ready for combat at all times, and will resolutely destroy any type of ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist or foreign interference attempts," the military statement cited in the CCTV report added. — ZeroHedge

Our Take: “This week in a conversation with Just Human on DEFECTED, I delved into my personal theory on what form 'escalation' is going to take between China and Taiwan through the lens of the War of Stories refrain.

I floated a series of escalating stand-offs in the Taiwan Straight, the "buzzing" of aircraft, and the eventual involvement of Japan/Australia/US Navies.

Not only does this reading of the increasing tensions between China and Taiwan map onto Donald Trump’s WW3 and Peacemaker Narrative Seeding, but I also believe it maps onto Just Human’s Regions of Responsibility concept, wherein a rebalancing multi-polar world order starts to take shape as the US withdraws as the world’s watch dog/enforcer.

And the cascade could begin with a new Gulf of Tonkin-style mass psychological, near-kinetic event.

As Just Human often says, Understanding > Reacting.” — Burning Bright

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US Is Spying On Zelensky: Here's What's Known So Far From The Leaked Intelligence Files

The highly classified Pentagon documents which were leaked online in recent weeks, but which began being confirmed and reported as authentic by The New York Times and others only in the past few days, contain some embarrassing revelations. This has sent DOJ and US intelligence officials scrambling to discover the source of the leaks.

CNN is confirming Monday based on one of the documents which appeared online that the US has been spying on Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky - a disclosure which has caused officials in Kiev to be "deeply frustrated".

"One document reveals that the US has been spying on Zelensky," CNN reports. "That is unsurprising, said the source close to Zelensky, but Ukrainian officials are deeply frustrated about the leak."

The US intelligence document suggests that American officials have been worried about possible Zelensky decision-making to strike deep into Russian territory, which would escalate the war and potentially bring Russian and NATO into direct clashes:

The US intelligence report, which is sourced to signals intelligence, says that Zelensky in late February "suggested striking Russian deployment locations in Russia’s Rostov Oblast" using unmanned aerial vehicles, since Ukraine does not have long-range weapons capable of reaching that far.

An additional possibility is that the US intelligence community might be monitoring the Ukrainian presidency's office as part of efforts to oversee and account for how the tens of billions in aid sent to Kiev is being utilized. 

The Washington Post details that "many of the documents seem to have been prepared over the winter for Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other senior military officials, but they were available to other U.S. personnel and contract employees with the requisite security clearances." — ZeroHedge

Our Take: “If bicameral thinking—multivariant thinking—as I like to call it, was ever needed, it's now. The Pentagon documents appear to give a glimpse in the seedy underbelly of the intelligence community. Bear in mind, the CIA and other US agencies were born from a seedy alliance between the mob, mafia, and private intelligence services.

We also have historic accounts reaching back to the 18th, 17th, and 16th centuries about the use of intelligence agency style tactics to blackmail, intimidate, and otherwise manipulate sovereign nations and administrations.

In this instance, the material that has surfaced (listed in the linked article above) appears to provide supporting testimony for the idea the intelligence agencies are working with the globalist deep state to manipulate Russia, Europe, and possibly China, in and through the proxy state known as Ukraine. This has been fairly well established over the past eight years or so, through films like Ukraine On Fire and other related presentations of the color revolution that Victoria Nuland and other actors (John McCain) helped orchestrate in 2014.

The Pentagon leaks can also be interpreted to support the theory that Zelinsky might himself be a double agent, working with white hat elements to take down the globalists. These are just two avenues of interpretation.

In a grander sense, the documents can help us learn how to develop multivariant thinking, to analyze and strategize the complex world of global politics by taking a data point and asking how it takes away from or advances a perceived agenda, such as the globalist agenda. No doubt the full impact of these leaks will unfold as time goes on, and might become more relevant in the future.” — Justin Deschamps

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Echoes Of New Century's Collapse Amid Sudden Firesale Of Real Estate Loans As Morgan Stanley Sees 40% Downside

Those who peaked below the surface of the latest H.8 statement which, as discussed previously, saw the biggest drop on record in bank loans and leases in the last two weeks of March…

… found another, perhaps even bigger surprise. As we detailed over the weekend when breaking down the weekly change in small bank loans and leases by their subcomponents, we found that whereas in the first week after the bank crisis (the one ending March 15) the bulk of the collapse in loans was in the traditionally volatile C&I space, the latest week was a surprise: that’s because while the plunge in C&I loans moderated substantially to just $6.9BN from $25BN the week before, the biggest slide was in one of the anchor pillars of the small bank sector: real estate loans.

The biggest drop among small bank loans in the latest week was the $18.7BN decline in real estate loans, this was a continuation of the $19.2BN drop in the previous week. Combining the two weeks adds to a $37.8BN plunge in real estate loans in the second half of March. This number is notable because it is the biggest since the collapse of the country’s then-second largest subprime lender, New Century Financial in March 2007, which as most traders over 40 recall, was the catalyst that ushered in the global financial crisis, and within the year led to the collapse of Bear Stearns and, eventually, Lehman. — ZeroHedge Premium

Badlands Media Sponsor & Financial Analyst Dr. Kirk Elliott Weighs in: “We've seen structural problems in our global financial system before, and now those same symptoms are beginning to present in our current crisis. While mainstream economists and talking heads argue over whether we're in a recession or not, the wise are preparing for a cascade of economic disasters from banking failures to world wars.”

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Biden Recruits ‘Army of Influencers’ for 2024 Race

President Joe Biden, who has yet to officially announce he is running for reelection, is reportedly going to rely on an “army” of online “influencers” for his reelection campaign and they could have their own “briefing room” at the White House.

The president’s campaign seeks to “boost Biden’s standing among young voters who are crucial to Democrats’ success in elections” and will be used to counter former President Donald Trump’s “massive social media following” if he is the nominee, Axios reported.

The report noted that the president’s digital strategy team would like to connect with influencers across the county to help Biden tout his record to those who do not follow the social media accounts of Biden, the White House, or the Democratic Party. Reportedly, there are four Biden digital staffers — run by Rob Flaherty, who has been named assistant to the president and will hold the same rank as press secretary — focused on influencers and independent content creators on the White House payroll, not the Biden campaign. — Breitbart

Our Take: “If you thought that Joe Biden's expiration date was up, guess again! It looks like he will have the best campaign dark money can buy!

While the left continues to drive nails into the coffin of this country, Biden's PR strategists are hard at work whipping up the most influential posse of young stars to somehow make it seem like it's a good decision to vote for him, which is a ridiculous notion. The idea that you should vote for somebody because your favorite Hollywood puppet says so is absurd, but when it comes to our friends on the left, absurdity is compulsory.

Does anyone else remember not too long ago when AOC and her cult-of-personality droogs said the Republican Party was made up of old white men, only to see the Democrat's front-runners were two old, white men? Now, Biden has said he’s recruiting an army of young influencers—probably those same young influencers whose big gripe was that the RNC was made up of old white men ... Their hypocrisy knows no bounds.

Some people believe that the individuals pulling Biden's strings will stop him and push Newsom, which may be true, but if so, why is Biden trying to stay in the fight? You'd think he would just follow orders, which is likely what he did his entire career. It might matter little which deep-state plant is installed in the White House, but at least with Biden, we are seeing people reach common ground over how unfit he is for the job.

Maybe that was the patriot's plan all along? Maybe they benefit from Biden and Harris being there and showcasing their ineptitude to the world rather than a more polished actor like Newsom? Let us know what you all think.” — Ryan DeLarme

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Europe must resist pressure to become ‘America’s followers,’ says Macron

Europe must reduce its dependency on the United States and avoid getting dragged into a confrontation between China and the U.S. over Taiwan, French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview on his plane back from a three-day state visit to China.

Speaking with POLITICO and two French journalists after spending around six hours with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his trip, Macron emphasized his pet theory of “strategic autonomy” for Europe, presumably led by France, to become a “third superpower.”

He said “the great risk” Europe faces is that it “gets caught up in crises that are not ours, which prevents it from building its strategic autonomy,” while flying from Beijing to Guangzhou, in southern China, aboard COTAM Unité, France’s Air Force One.

Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party have enthusiastically endorsed Macron’s concept of strategic autonomy and Chinese officials constantly refer to it in their dealings with European countries. Party leaders and theorists in Beijing are convinced the West is in decline and China is on the ascendant and that weakening the transatlantic relationship will help accelerate this trend. — Politico

Our Take: “The ‘real’ war is happening both below and above the Narrative War.

The war is against the US Petrodollar, the economic cudgel of the Globalist Central Banking System of Systems.

Most in this community agree that the petrodollar and fiat currencies must end.

This is the path there:

• More & More Nations accepting BRICS currencies in trade

• Development of New BRICS Currencies based on the Real

• Saudi Arabia Domino at the annual BRICS Summit in August

• Western Central Banks Siloed/Cut Off

• Former NATO puppets and allies turning on each other like the hyenas they truly are

When [their] system of usury and false finance comes crumbling down, only a system built on the Real can save us.” — Burning Bright

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We hope you enjoyed this brief look back at the major news items you might have missed in this ever-escalating and ever-accelerating news cycle as the Information War continues to rage on around us.

The Badlands Media team will continue to combine our cognitive powers in order to slow things down and find the signal amidst the noise as this series expands.

As always, if you have any thoughts on these news items or the MANY others swirling in the digital ether, drop into the comments below to share them with your fellow Badlanders.