Month: September 2018

By Gennie Gebhart, Associate Director of Research, Electronic Frontier Foundation

Add “a phone number I never gave Facebook for targeted advertising” to the list of deceptive and invasive ways Facebook makes money off your personal information. Contrary to user expectations and Facebook representatives’ own previous statements, the company has been using contact information that users explicitly provided for security purposes—or that users never provided at all—for targeted advertising.

A group of academic researchers from Northeastern University and Princeton University, along with Gizmodo reporters, have used real-world tests to demonstrate how Facebook’s latest deceptive practice works. They found that Facebook harvests user phone numbers for targeted advertising in two disturbing ways: two-factor authentication (2FA) phone numbers, and “shadow” contact information.

Two-Factor Authentication Is Not The Problem

First, when a user gives Facebook their number for security purposes—to set up 2FA, or to receive alerts about new logins to their account—that phone number can become fair game for advertisers within weeks. (This is not the first time Facebook has misused 2FA phone numbers.)

But the important message for users is: this is not a reason to turn off or avoid 2FA. The problem is not with two-factor authentication. It’s not even a problem with the inherent weaknesses of SMS-based 2FA in particular. Instead, this is a problem with how Facebook has handled users’ information and violated their reasonable security and privacy expectations.

There are many types of 2FA. SMS-based 2FA requires a phone number, so you can receive a text with a “second factor” code when you log in. Other types of 2FA—like authenticator apps and hardware tokens—do not require a phone number to work. However, until just four months ago, Facebook required users to enter a phone number to turn on any type of 2FA, even though it offers its authenticator as a more secure alternative. Other companies—Google notable among them—also still follow that outdated practice.

Even with the welcome move to no longer require phone numbers for 2FA, Facebook still has work to do here. This finding has not only validated users who are suspicious of Facebook’s repeated claims that we have “complete control” over our own information, but has also seriously damaged users’ trust in a foundational security practice.

Until Facebook and other companies do better, users who need privacy and security most—especially those for whom using an authenticator app or hardware key is not feasible—will be forced into a corner.

Shadow Contact Information

Second, Facebook is also grabbing your contact information from your friends. Kash Hill of Gizmodo provides an example:

…if User A, whom we’ll call Anna, shares her contacts with Facebook, including a previously unknown phone number for User B, whom we’ll call Ben, advertisers will be able to target Ben with an ad using that phone number, which I call “shadow contact information,” about a month later.

This means that, even if you never directly handed a particular phone number over to Facebook, advertisers may nevertheless be able to associate it with your account based on your friends’ phone books.

Even worse, none of this is accessible or transparent to users. You can’t find such “shadow” contact information in the “contact and basic info” section of your profile; users in Europe can’t even get their hands on it despite explicit requirements under the GDPR that a company give users a “right to know” what information it has on them.

As Facebook attempts to salvage its reputation among users in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, it needs to put its money where its mouth is. Wiping 2FA numbers and “shadow” contact data from non-essential use would be a good start.

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Google has brushed aside consumers’ complaints about its lack of transparency surrounding what personal data it collects (including users’ location) and how it monetizes that data. And apparently, the company is subjecting foreign governments to the same treatment.

As Reuters reported Friday, Google’s steadfast refusals to blur satellite images of sensitive military sites has provoked the Belgian defense ministry into suing the US tech giant and Alphabet subsidiary. This despite the fact that Google has complied with similar requests from other governments pertaining to the exposure of sensitive sites via its Google Earth, Google Maps and Google Street View. For example, the company has blurred French sites.

“The Ministry of Defence will sue Google,” the spokeswoman said, without giving further details.

In response to the lawsuit threats, Google claimed that it has been working with the Belgian government for more than two years to address sensitive sites that have been flagged. Though this dubious claim begs the question: How long does it really take to blur out a few military bases on Google maps?

“It’s a shame the Belgium Department of Defense have decided to take this decision,” said Michiel Sallaets, a spokesman for Google in Belgium.

“We have been working closely with them for more than two years, making changes to our maps where asked and legal.”

As RT points out, these unblurred targets could make it easier for terrorists to carry out attacks against key infrastructure. Some of the bases that can be viewed in granular detail host US Air Force assets, as well as US nuclear weapons.

“…The military fears that the unblurred maps would make things easier for terrorists planning attacks on the sites. For example, Kleine Brogel Air Base was among the planned targets of Tunisian jihadist Nizar Trabelsi, who was associated with Al-Qaeda. The facility, which is currently home to the United States Air Force (USAF), reportedly stores US nuclear weapons and the site is clearly visible on Google Maps.”

Kleine Brogel Air Base can be seen below:

Florennes Air Base, where the US has stationed F-16 Fighting Falcons, can also be viewed easily.

A national crisis center in the heart of Brussels where the country responds to terror threats like the 2016 bombing at the Brussels airport and metro.

The plotters of the 2016 airport bombing had reportedly planned to attack Brussels nuclear power stations, which could provoke an unmitigated disaster as intense radiation is unleashed on the country’s residents.

Those sites could also be vulnerable.

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Authored by Judith Bergman via The Gatestone Institute,

• Feras, an illegal alien to begin with, and a convicted felon, was allowed to stay in Sweden for the sole reason that he committed a violent hate crime against Swedish Jews. This despite the fact that Sweden had rejected his asylum request, and he therefore lacked any legal right to stay in the country.

• The precedent that this case establishes is highly disturbing: If you commit crimes against Jews that can “be perceived as a serious political crime directed against other Jews,” then you might be eligible for asylum in Sweden. The rights of Sweden’s vulnerable Jews have apparently ceased to matter.

• In Sweden, and perhaps other places as well, it appears that that the “human rights” of foreign aspiring murderers are more important than the human rights of law-abiding citizens.

The synagogue in Gothenburg, Sweden, which was firebombed on December 9, 2017. (Image source: Lintoncat/Wikimedia Commons)

Are you in a European country illegally, flouting your deportation order and committing arson? No problem. If the country to which you are to be returned might conceivably harm you, instead you are welcome to stay in Sweden, commit more crimes and harm Swedes.

A Swedish Court of Appeal recently overturned the deportation ruling against one of three convicted perpetrators of an arson attack against the synagogue of Gothenburg in December 2017, on the grounds that it would be in contravention of his “fundamental human rights”.

The 22-year old Arab man from Gaza, known as Feras, was in Sweden illegally when he committed the attack. His asylum request had been rejected by the Swedish Migration Agency (Migrationsverket); he had apparently been told to leave the country, but he did not. For reasons that are unclear, he was not held for deportation, but still walking around freely in Sweden.

Feras used that freedom to participate in an attack on the Gothenburg synagogue. Approximately 10-15 other young men, of whom only three were charged, joinedhim. It seems that while young Jews were gathered for a party in an adjacent building, Feras and his friends threw burning objects at cars parked inside the synagogue fence. No one was hurt and the fires were quickly extinguished by rain, leaving only marginal material damage. The court therefore refused to categorize the crime as attempted murder, as the prosecution had requested. Both the lower court and the Court of Appeal did find, however, that the arson attack constituted an anti-Semitic hate crime.

Previously, the lower court had convicted Feras of “grossly unlawful threats and attempted serious damage” and had sentenced him to two years in prison and subsequent deportation. The Court of Appeal nevertheless said that Feras “…committed grossly unlawful threats with the intention of violating members of the Jewish congregation, but that the act can also be perceived as a serious political crime directed against other Jews.”

“Given the possible interest of Israel in the matter and the insecure situation prevailing at the border crossings to Gaza and the West Bank and in the areas themselves, the Court of Appeals considers there is reasonable reason to fear that NN’s fundamental human rights would not be safeguarded if he were expelled to Palestine. The Court of Appeal therefore rejects the prosecutor’s request for deportation…”

The court also referred to reports concerning human rights and democracy in Israel and “Palestine” by Sweden’s Foreign Ministry.

The court, in other words, speculated that because Feras tried to burn Jews, which “can also be perceived as a serious political crime directed against other Jews,” Israel has a security interest in questioning him. For that reason alone — with no evidence or details set forth — returning him to the region of Israel and Gaza would supposedly be in contravention of his “fundamental human rights”.

The Court of Appeals’ ruling meant that Feras, an illegal alien to begin with, and a convicted felon, was allowed to stay in Sweden for the sole reason that he committed a violent hate crime against Swedish Jews. This despite the fact that Sweden had rejected his asylum request, and he therefore lacked any legal right to stay in the country. After he finishes serving his two years in prison, he will be out, and free possibly to commit new hate crimes against Jewish citizens in Sweden.

The precedent that this case establishes — if the case is not appealed and reversed by the Supreme Court — is disturbing: If you commit crimes against Jews that can “be perceived as a serious political crime directed against other Jews,” then you might be eligible for asylum in Sweden. The rights of Sweden’s vulnerable Jews have apparently ceased to matter.

Actually, no Swedish citizens’ rights appear to matter in the Swedish court system anymore. In 2017, a report showed that 75% of foreigners who were sentenced to prison and subsequent deportation for serious crimes were nevertheless set free after serving their sentences and allowed to stay in Sweden for a variety of reasons. In the years 2000-2014, Swedish courts did not even sentence to be deported 20% of convicted foreign rapists, who were registered to the same address in Sweden. For pedophile rapists the number was even lower: 17%. According to more recent statistics, 9 out of 10 convicted foreigners in Sweden are not deported.

The problem extends to terrorists as well. In 2017, for example, a Syrian who arrived in Sweden as a “refugee” in 2015 was acquitted in court of attacking Shia Muslims with firebombs. However, having said in monitored conversations that he saw himself as a jihadist who wanted to become a martyr, and considering that he had been in touch with ISIS, Swedish intelligence evidently deemed him too dangerous to stay in Sweden. The immigration authorities sought to have him deported to Syria, but they did not succeed. It seems the law does not permit his deportation to Syria: he risked being arrested or executed there. Instead, he was also released to walk freely around in Malmö.

In Sweden, and perhaps other places as well, it appears that that the “human rights” of foreign aspiring murderers are more important than the human rights of law-abiding citizens.

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Authored by Peter Korzun via The Strategic Culture Foundation,

The UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York is a place where world leaders are able to hold important meetings behind closed doors. Russia, China, the UK, Germany, France, and the EU seized that opportunity on Sept. 24 to achieve a real milestone.

The EU, Russia, China, and Iran will create a special purpose vehicle (SPV), a “financially independent sovereign channel,” to bypass US sanctions against Tehran and breathe life into the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which is in jeopardy. “Mindful of the urgency and the need for tangible results, the participants welcomed practical proposals to maintain and develop payment channels, notably the initiative to establish a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to facilitate payments related to Iran’s exports, including oil,” they announced in a joint statement. The countries are still working out the technical details. If their plan succeeds, this will deliver a blow to the dollar and a boost to the euro.

The move is being made in order to save the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. According to Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the SPV will facilitate payments for Iran’s exports, such as oil, and imports so that companies can do business with Tehran as usual. The vehicle will be available not just to EU firms but to others as well. A round of US sanctions aimed at ending Iranian oil exports is to take effect on November 5. Iran is the world’s seventh-largest oil producer. Its oil sector accounts for 70% of the country’s exports. Tehran has warned the EU that it should find new ways of trading with Iran prior to that date, in order to preserve the JCPOA.

The SPV proposes to set up a multinational, European, state-backed financial intermediary to work with companies interested in trading with Iran. Payments will be made in currencies other than the dollar and remain outside the reach of those global money-transfer systems under US control. In August, the EU passed a blocking statute to guarantee the immunity of European companies from American punitive measures. It empowers EU firms to seek compensation from the United States Treasury for its attempts to impose extra-territorial sanctions. No doubt the move will further damage the already strained US-EU relationship. It might be helpful to create a special EU company for oil exports from Iran.

Just hours after the joint statement on the SPV, US President Trump defended his unilateral action against Iran in his UNGA address. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo condemned the EU initiative, stating:

“This is one of the most counterproductive measures imaginable for regional global peace and security.”

To wit, the EU, Russia, and China have banded together in open defiance against unilateral steps taken by the US. Moscow and Beijing are in talks on how to combine their efforts to fend off the negative impacts of US trade tariffs and sanctions. A planned Sept 24-25 visit by Chinese Vice-Premier Liu, who was coming to the United States for trade talks, was cancelled as a result of the discord and President Trump added more fuel to the fire on Sept. 24 by imposing 10% tariffs on almost half of all goods the US imports from China. “We have far more bullets,” the president said before the Chinese official’s planned visit. “We’re going to go US$200 billion and 25 per cent Chinese made goods. And we will come back with more.” The US has recently imposed sanctions on China to punish it for the purchase of Russian S-400 air-defense systems and combat planes. Beijing refused to back down. It is also adamant in its desire to continue buying Iran’s oil.

It is true, the plan to skirt the sanctions might fall short of expectations. It could fail as US pressure mounts. A number of economic giants, including Total, Peugeot, Allianz, Renault, Siemens, Daimler, Volvo, and Vitol Group have already left Iran as its economy plummets, with the rial losing two-thirds of its value since the first American sanctions took effect in May. The Iranian currency dropped to a record low against the US dollar this September.

What really matters is the fact that the leading nations of the EU have joined the global heavyweights — Russia and China — in open defiance of the United States.

This is a milestone event.

It’s hard to underestimate its importance. Certainly, it’s too early to say that the UK and other EU member states are doing a sharp pivot toward the countries that oppose the US globally, but this is a start – a first step down that path. This would all have seemed unimaginable just a couple of years ago – the West and the East in the same boat, trying to stand up to the American bully!

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Even as Nike stock has outperformed its benchmarks so far this year, contributing to a badly needed 9% return last year for New Jersey’s $78 billion public worker pension fund, the board supervising the fund is considering dumping its roughly $44 million stake at the behest of representatives of the state’s retired police and firefighters, who have complained that the company’s Colin Kaepernick ad campaign is deeply offensive.

New Jersey’s pension fund is among the worst-funded in the country (you can catch up on our analysis of its ongoing troubles here). Its finances are in such dire straights that even though Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy allocated $3.2 billion to the fund as part of his budget for the 2018 fiscal year – the state’s largest contribution in ages – that amount is only 60% of the full amount called for by the actuaries.

Still, NJ.com reported that Marty Barrett, a representative of retired police officers and firefighters, asked the State Investment Council to consider divesting from its Nike holdings because of the ad – a request that was readily honored, with the board voting unanimously to review its holdings, which include 311,500 equity shares valued at $26 million and 20 million principal valued at $18 million.

As Bloomberg pointed out earlier this month, four other public pension funds that manage police pensions (in Colorado, Wisconsin, Ohio and Oregon) also own Nike stock.

Barrett declared during his presentation to the council that Nike made “one of the worst business decisions of all time” when it created the ad campaign.

Nike’s use of the sports figure, whose protests of police brutality during the National Anthem drew controversy, has triggered boycotts of the brand.

Barrett said Thursday that Kaepernick’s protest disrespects members of the military and first responders who were killed on 9/11.

Nike “made one of the worst business decisions of all time” in making Kaepernick the face of its ad campaign, Barrett said.

Perhaps unsurprisingly for a blue state, New Jersey’s SIC has divested stakes in gun manufacturers and private-prison companies following pressure from left-wing groups.

But will they grant the same courtesy to police and firefighters that they did to high school students and the Latin American community? Of course, the fund’s decision to dump the stake could also dampen Nike’s banner performance this year. And once the first domino falls, others could soon follow.

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Authored by William Craddick via DisobedientMedia.com,

Two years into his Presidency, Donald Trump’s accomplishments are constantly lauded by his followers. America’s finance and business worlds are on the road to recovery and diplomatic relations with North Korea are improving so substantially that a peace accord on the peninsula may be in store down the road. ISIS, while still maintaining a global network that threatens the United States, has been routed from much of the territory they once openly occupied in the Middle East.

But Trump’s tenure has also revealed the presence of a number of flaws. He overemphasizes his economic recovery, ignores attacks on his supporters in the real and digital world, is apparently unaware that his own officials are likely waiting till the end of his administration to pursue negative foreign policy objectives, and seems unwilling to go after his former friends, business colleagues and social acquaintances. All of these factors, combined with his constant desire to be well liked by even his enemies are beginning to create the very real risk of undermining goals of the movement that elected him.

I. Overemphasis On Economy While Supporters Marginalized

While the rapid growth of American economy and a rising stock market have created wealth and opportunity, it has come at the cost of the attention President Trump gives to his constituents. While Trump’s Twitter feed is a ticker tape of Fox News headlines and recent stats about the booming economy, he very rarely, if ever tweets about violence directed towards his supporters.

Attacks or threats of attacks on members of Trump’s movement have occurred as recently as September 11th, 2018 without comment from the President. Social media giants such as Facebook and Google directly allow foreign interests such as China to take a leading role in censoring communications of any right wingers, populists or anti-war proponents. This collaboration has dire implications for US security. Trump has yet to take action against groups targeting his base outside of strong words or probes that have not yielded real solutions to these problems.

Discriminatory focus on particular topics isn’t an anomaly for Trump. He also criticizes certain criminal, terrorist or extremist groups such as ISIS or MS-13, yet never mentions others like Antifa or Mexican cartels, giving these groups more space to operate due to decreased scrutiny. A walking contradiction, Trump will intervene in a foreign country over his concern for injured children yet not take similar forceful action against rampant crime and trafficking in Sanctuary Cities such as Chicago.

The tendency to ignore the pain of his people to spotlight the economy makes for a hollow victory. Trump himself frequently mentions that his economic recovery is fragile and could be immediately reversed by his predecessor. There is, however, an even more dangerous element likely not being considered by either Trump or his base:

Dramatic economic recovery can be a precursor to the outbreak of war.

Observers seeking to guess at which countries America might engage with militarily need only look where US sanctions are being applied – locations such as Iran, Syria, Turkey, China, Venezuela, Russia, or the European Union where anti-American sentiment has been on the rise. Sanctions provide valuable intelligence on the ability and resolve of a targeted country to respond militarily and economically in a conflict.

It’s doubtful that Trump is actively seeking to start foreign wars with these countries himself. A booming economy, sanctions and a newly robust military are all useful tools to employ in immediate negotiations with foreign states. But many groups delayed by Trump’s election will still proceed with their goals when he leaves the Oval Office. Trump’s tenure will only be another two to six years. The various factions who make up the bureaucratic class play the long con and will continue to exist after his administration has run its course.

The DNC has openly admitted that they can rig their primary process if they please. After Trump stormed the GOP in 2016, there is little doubt that they too will take steps to ensure that such an upset could never happen again. Anti-war supporters expecting that Trump’s successor to be a non-interventionist along the lines of Rand Paul are fooling themselves. The President after Trump will likely be open to entanglement in war. They will care even less about Trump’s base despite the fact that the “Resistance” openly state their long term goals of wiping out the opposition. Trump’s Presidency is merely delaying the inevitable.

II. Lack Of Resolve To Go After Old Acquaintances

Trump has done nothing to go after individuals undermining his administration, though in some cases he has publicly espoused a supposed desire to take strong action. A blatant example of this are the Clintons, who Trump and his family have a historied friendship with. Trump’s long time friend Bill Clinton encouraged Trump to run for President in 2015. Ivanka Trump, who has been accused of leaking administration secrets in the past, was also an old pal of Chelsea Clinton’s. The hard truth is that despite Trump’s bluster about Hillary Clinton and the crimes she is claimed to have committed nothing will ever happen to her.

Billionaire philanthropist and political activist George Soros is one of Trump’s biggest opponents, dumping millions into various organizations of the Resistance movement. He has been accused of attempting to foster a color revolution to destabilize the United States. But Trump has not mentioned Soros’ name once since the 2016 Presidential debates. He has never mentioned Soros on Twitter.

Indeed, the President did business with Soros, who leant the real estate mogul capital for the construction of his tower in Chicago. When Trump became active in the Tea Party movement, he openly defended Soros from criticism. Upon assuming the Presidency, he brought on Steve Mnuchin, who worked for Soros-backed SFM Capital Management and Soros Fund Management LLC, as Secretary of the Treasury.

Trump doesn’t seem to be planning to go after a single former social or professional contact he maintained in his old life.

This is no more obvious than in the case of Jeffery Epstein, the billionaire philanthropist caught running an underage sex trafficking ring, sometimes recording encounters between adults and underage women for the purposes of blackmail. Epstein was let off the hook with a single charge of soliciting a minor. None of the other individuals accused of wrongdoing in the scandal faced legal repercussions, though some cases were hotly debated in the legal community. The attorney who cut such an atrocious deal for Epstein is now serving as Trump’s Secretary of Labor.

Trump certainly knew what Epstein was doing, surely as he must know what some of his other acquaintances in New York were involved with – Disobedient Media has previously reported the known history of connections between philanthropic events and child trafficking networks. It would seem that such a case would be ripe for review by an avowed anti corruption administration. Yet he has not gone after high profile offenders even as his administration leads a major charge to clean up the trafficking networks themselves. Are these connected and influential figures simply above the law, even in Trump’s “great” America?

III. Will The Right Solve It’s Own Problems?

None of this is put forward to suggest that Trump doesn’t care about the United States, or doesn’t love his country. But it does show that for all the appeal to his supporters, Trump is a flawed individual. His Presidency was heralded as a new era of reform. A more realistic outlook began to set in when Trump made the hypocritical decision to bomb Syria in the first few months of his Presidency despite decrying such a move previously.

Trump is the dam holding back the floodwaters of total chaos that are bubbling over in the United States. When he is gone, no one with any meaningful power will lift a finger to stop the establishment’s inevitable purge of conservative, nationalistic and patriotic Americans. The great gulf that has begun to divide the country will soon be beyond repair.

This administration is likely the United States’ last chance to fix its systemic issues before real calamity sets in.

Many don’t wish to acknowledge this. They don’t want to accept the very real danger represented by corrupt and incompetent establishment figures still active in the administration, and their stagnation in the face of a resurgent far Left. There is more interest in maintaining the excitement of a nonstop pep rally than acting to secure the country. Trump’s personality and desire to be liked by demographics who will never accept him are preventing his supporters from realizing their potential and achieving anything that will have a lasting effect.

For a true return to an American golden age, the ‘Make America Great Again’ movement must learn to accomplish their goals in spite of their beloved leader and his flaws.

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A pair of Japanese rovers have sent back a group of photos and the first-ever video recorded on the surface of an asteroid, Gizmodo reports.

Watch the footage below:

Rover-1B succeeded in shooting a movie on Ryugu’s surface! The movie has 15 frames captured on September 23, 2018 from 10:34 – 11:48 JST. Enjoy ‘standing’ on the surface of this asteroid! [6/6] pic.twitter.com/57avmjvdVa

— HAYABUSA2@JAXA (@haya2e_jaxa) September 27, 2018

Japan’s MINERVA-II rovers – MINERVA II2 and MINERVA II1 – traversed the surface of Ryugu, an asteroid located 174 million miles from Earth’s surface and documented what they found. Minerva stands for Micro Nano Experimental Robot Vehicle for Asteroid (2nd generation).

The robots took a series of snapshots as they bounded across the asteroids surface, taking advantage of the low gravity to travel more than 50 feet per leap, a journey that would take up to 15 minutes to complete.

The rovers were sent by Japan’s Hayabusa2 space probe, which has been orbiting the asteroid since June.

The 15-frame video was captured by MINERVA-II2, also known as Rover 1B, on September 23, the same day that it and its companion, MINERVA-II1, landed on Ryugu, an asteroid located 174 million miles (280 million kilometers) from Earth. The rovers were dispatched by Japan’s Hayabusa2 space probe, which arrived in orbit around the asteroid back in June.

According to RT, the 900m-wide Ryugu (also known as asteroid 162173) is believed to be a relic from the earliest days of our solar system. The mission was intended to examine the space rock in the hopes of finding more clues about the formation of Earth.

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Authored by Philip Giraldi via The Strategic Culture Foundation,

Perhaps it is Donald Trump’s business background that leads him to believe that if you inflict enough economic pain on someone they will ultimately surrender and agree to do whatever you want. Though that approach might well work in New York real estate, it is not a certain path to success in international relations since countries are not as vulnerable to pressure as are individual investors or developers.

Washington’s latest foray into the world of sanctions, directed against China, is astonishing even when considering the low bar that has been set by previous presidents going back to Bill Clinton. Beijing has already been pushing back over US sanctions imposed last week on its government-run Equipment Development Department of the Chinese Central Military Commission and its director Li Shangfu for “engaging in significant transactions” with a Russian weapons manufacturer that is on a list of US sanctioned companies. The transactions included purchases of Russian Su-35 combat aircraft as well as equipment related to the advanced S-400 surface-to-air missile system. The sanctions include a ban on the director entering the United States and blocks all of his property or bank accounts within the US as well as freezing all local assets of the Equipment Development Department.

More important, the sanctions also forbid conducting any transactions that go through the US financial system. It is the most powerful weapon Washington has at its disposal, but it is being challenged as numerous countries are working to find ways around it. Currently however, as most international transactions are conducted in dollars and pass through American banks that means that it will be impossible for the Chinese government to make weapons purchases from many foreign sources. If foreign banks attempt to collaborate with China to evade the restrictions, they too will be sanctioned.

So in summary, Beijing bought weapons from Moscow and is being sanctioned by the United States for doing so because Washington does not approve of the Russian government. The sanctions on China are referred to as secondary sanctions in that they are derivative from the primary sanction on the foreign company or individual that is actually being punished. Secondary sanctions can be extended ad infinitum as transgressors linked sequentially to the initial transaction multiply the number of potential targets.

Not surprisingly, the US Ambassador has been summoned and Beijing has canceled several bilateral meetings with American defense department officials. The Chinese government has expressed “outrage” and has demanded the US cancel the measure.

According to media reports, the Chinese Department purchased the weapons from Rosoboronexport, Russia’s principal arms exporter. This violated a 2017 law passed by Congress named, characteristically, the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, which sought to punish the Russian government and its various agencies for interfering in in the 2016 US election as well as its alleged involvement in Ukraine, Syria and its development of cyberwar capabilities. Iran and North Korea were also targeted in the legislation.

Explaining the new sanctions, US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert issued a statement elaborating that the initial sanctions on Russia were enacted “to further impose costs on the Russian government in response to its malign activities.” She added that the US will “urge all countries to curtail relationships with Russia’s defense and intelligence sectors, both of which are linked to malign activities worldwide.”

As engaging in “malign activities” is a charge that should quite plausibly be leveled against Washington and its allies in the Middle East, it is not clear if anyone but the French and British poodles actually believes the rationalizations coming out of Washington to defend the indefensible. An act to “Counter America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions” is, even as the title implies, ridiculous.

Washington is on a sanctions spree.

Russia has been sanctioned repeatedly since the passage of the fraudulent Magnitsky Act, with no regard for Moscow’s legitimate protests that interfering in other countries’ internal politics is unacceptable. China is currently arguing reasonably enough that arms sales between countries is perfect legal and in line with international law.

Iran has been sanctioned even through it complied with an international agreement on its nuclear program and new sanctions were even piled on top of the old sanctions. And in about five weeks the US will be sanctioning ANYONE who buys oil from Iran, reportedly with no exceptions allowed. Venezuela is under US sanctions to punish its government, NATO member Turkey because it bought weapons from Russia and the Western Hemisphere perennial bad boy Cuba has had various embargoes in place since 1960.

It should be noted that sanctions earn a lot of ill-will and generally accomplish nothing. Cuba would likely be a fairly normal country but for the US restrictions and other pressure that gave its government the excuse to maintain a firm grip on power. The same might even apply to North Korea. And sanctions are even bad for the United States. Someday, when the US begins to lose its grip on the world economy all of those places being sanctioned will line up to get their revenge and it won’t be pretty.

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Just when you thought it wasn’t possible for Chinese real estate “creativity” to jump the shark further, a recent report reveals that one of the next major real estate projects in China is going to be a full recreation of Stratford-upon-Avon, together with copies of houses where William Shakespeare lived.

Not content with its replicas of the Eiffel Tower, London’s Tower Bridge, and Jackson Hole, this particular recreation is the latest in a series of generally pointless – if GDP boosting – projects to give real estate companies and construction developers a change of pace from building empty apartment buildings in cities that have no citizens.

The Financial Times reported that the project contract was signed last week between the city of Fuzhou, and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, which owns the Shakespearean heritage sites in the United Kingdom. The contract paves the way to begin construction on the world’s first recreation of the two houses where Shakespeare was born, lived and died.

The Chinese’s track record of recreating replica sites has been spotty, if entertaining for the rest of the world. The replica of Tower Bridge in London (pictured above) was built with four towers instead of the original’s two. The replica Eiffel Tower that the country built was only about a third of the height of the original. But the Birthplace Trust doesn’t seem too excited with developers taking creative liberties. The fee for the project has been undisclosed, but the Trust is adamant that they want the replicas to be as close to the originals as possible.

Philippa Rawlinson, deputy chief executive of the trust, told FT: “We know that the Chinese laugh at themselves for creating Tower Bridge double width et cetera. But this is our intellectual property and… there needs to be a contract and something that means we can fundamentally manage our reputation and manage the story.”

As part of this, they’re going to offer “expert guidance” on how to make the project using traditional building materials and methods. They’re also going approve all stages of design and interpretation. The construction is slated to begin next year as part of – in true Chinese fashion – the construction of an entire new town called San Weng, which is supposed to be completed in 2020.

Getting the details right but might be more difficult than it seems. The original house where Shakespeare lived until his death no longer exists, after it was demolished in 1702. It will have to be re-created using archaeological clues and guidance from the Trust. Building techniques have also changed significantly, making a truly authentic replica especially complex:

Much of the charm of Shakespeare’s birthplace comes from the sensation of stepping back in time. The visible undulation of the flagstone floors, the ancient timber beams, the narrow bed on which Shakespeare slept and the graffiti left by visitors from hundreds of years ago are all features that are difficult, if not impossible, to copy. Such features mean that some compromises on authenticity need to be made.

The Trust’s project manager, Nic Fulcher, stated: “(They) are not building a timber frame building, but the interior and exterior finish have got to be appropriate.”

So why is China bothering with yet another Western replica instead of growing out its own, domestic culture? Simple: for the city of Fuzhou, the construction of the new town of San Weng represents a big investment that is intended to rebrand the area as a centre for culture, bringing in revenues from tourism and real estate.

And any time one sees “big investment” when it comes to China, what one should read is “GDP growth”… along with the token amount of corruption and skimming off the top.

In addition to the town’s envisaged “Stratford quarter”, other precincts will be built in styles that are reminiscent of Cervantes, the great Spanish novelist, and Tang Xianzu, a native of Jiangxi province most famous for the classical work The Peony Pavilion. By coincidence, Shakespeare, Cervantes and Tang Xianzu all died in 1616.

So we know why, although a logical counterargument is that perhaps China should first consider filling out its empty cities and apartment buildings before taking on new projects. Then again, that activity does not “boost” GDP and involves government bureaucrats doing actual work, which explains why the status quo will continue indefinitely.

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