[Jpost] A Chinese professor accused by US prosecutors of helping steal American technology to benefit China's Huawei Technologies on Friday pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, but is expected to be allowed to return home after prosecutors decided not to pursue a more serious charge.
The professor, Bo Mao, had been charged with conspiring to defraud Silicon Valley's CNEX Labs and faced up to 20 years behind bars. He was a visiting professor at the University of Texas when he was arrested in August 2019.
Mao, 37, pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of making a false statement in a video appearance before US District Judge Pamela Chen in Brooklyn. He is expected to be sentenced to time served and leave the United States on Dec. 16. He was in jug for six days after his arrest.
[Jpost] The US State Department said late on Friday it has terminated five cultural exchange programs with China, calling them "soft power propaganda tools."
"While other programs funded under the auspices of the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act are mutually beneficial, the five programs in question are fully funded and operated by the (Chinese) government as soft power propaganda tools," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.
The programs affected are the Policymakers Educational China Trip Program, the US-China Friendship Program, the US-China Leadership Exchange Program, the US-China Transpacific Exchange Program and the Hong Kong Educational and Cultural Program.
The schemes were set up under a 1961 law signed by US President John F. Kennedy and aimed at boosting academic and cultural exchanges with foreign countries.
[DW] Berlin hopes the bid to halt US troop withdrawals will buy time for talks with Washington — or lead to the plans being scrapped altogether. President Donald Trump ...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons...... 's plans would see 12,000 troops pulled from Germany..
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas expressed relief on Friday over a move by US politicians to halt planned troop reductions that would see thousands of soldiers leave Germany.
"As things stand we have never been given any information about the troop reductions that were announced in July, so we can't say what the plans are or if they even exist," Maas told news hounds.
"But we are glad that there appears to be agreement between Republicans and Democrats in Washington on revisiting this decision," he added. "American soldiers are welcome here. They contribute not just to Germany's but also to Europe's security."
WHAT DID US POLITICIANS AGREE?
Late Thursday, US politicians from both parties agreed a final version of the nation's annual defense spending bill — which included a section expressing support for US troops to remain in Germany.
The bill bars the withdrawal of any troops in Germany for 120 days until the secretary of defense submits an analysis of the impact of the withdrawal. The bill still needs to pass Congress and also faces a potential veto from outgoing President Donald Trump.
In July, Trump announced plans to withdraw some 12,000 soldiers out of the approximately 34,500 stationed across Germany. There has been a major US military presence in Germany ever since 1945, with troops in the former West Germany effectively the advanced guard for a feared Soviet invasion during the Cold War.
'STEP FORWARD' IN GERMAN-US RELATIONS
Other German politicians have welcomed the move, saying it could signify a renewal of German-US relations.
Thomas Silberhorn, a junior minister at the German Defense Ministry, told DW the move at the very least buys German officials time to hold talks with their US counterparts.
"It is a preliminary hold — in order to reconsider the situation, in order to define American interests and also in order to have consultations with Germany and Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... as NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... allies, and we hope to be able to take this opportunity, to put forward our arguments," he said.
Roderich Kiesewetter, an MP and parliamentary foreign policy expert for Angela Merkel ...chancellor of Germany and the impetus behind Germany's remarkably ill-starred immigration program. Merkel used to be referred to by Germans as Mom. Now they make faces at her for inundating the country with Moslem colonists... 's Christian Democrats (CDU), described the development as "step forward" in trans-Atlantic ties.
Kiesewetter, who is a former military officer, said the presence of US troops in Germany was significant not only for Washington's ties with Berlin, but also for wider defense decisions in the region.
"It's not only a question of reassurance, it's also not only a question of tradition — it's a sign [...] that US policy, accepts the threat assessment of the Eastern European countries, and it accepts as well the hospitality of the German society."
#2
If the bill is approved by Trump before the Jan. 15 deadline to withdraw troops, it also would appear to freeze his plan to slash troop levels in Afghanistan to 2,500 from 4,500. Trump’s withdrawal could then only go ahead after a risk assessment, a lengthy, labor-intensive process.
Committee aides said they expected the House would pass the bill early next week, sending it to the Senate. After that, it would go to the White House, for Trump to sign or veto.
#4
With the controls of the governments in Western Europe in the hands of Muslims , can Western European countries be considered to be first world countries ?
#6
OK the US/USSR Cold War ended 29 years ago with USSR going bankrupt and Germany reunification.
Germany, in the last 20 years has generally become resentful of US Troops and US Citizens in country.
The Germany Economy has made out like bandits during the US occupation.
The US has repaired and Donated well over a 12,000 Apartment/ Housing area units to Germany as we started draw downs of troop numbers.
eg. Patrick Henry Village and Mark Twain Village, Giessen, Bitburg,Rhein Main, Prum, Stuttgart and many many others were donated to Germany. Their estimated value.... $10 Billion. Not including the repairs and upgrades the US made BEFORE turning them over to the Germans. Which now rent the units out for $$$$.
We have our own CONUS issues to deal with. So let the EU handle and pay for their own since they are ranting about the US now.
We can use that OCONUS $$$$$ here state-side for ADDED Security Defenses. Hell we can't even secure our own borders without a elected Pro-Socialist subversive element in the US fighting us.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
