1/ Secretary of Defense nominee Lloyd Austin at Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing:

"Globally I understand that Asia must be the focus of our effort and I see China in particular as a pacing challenge for the Department"

2/ SecDef nominee Lloyd Austin on advance policy Qs

"Globally...most significant challenge I will face will be to ensure DOD's contd efforts to prepare & strengthen the US military for a dynamic, future security landscape driven by accelerating competitions w China & w Russia.."

3/ SecDef nominee Austin in written answers says strategic competition w/ China & Russia primary challenges but "because of its ascent and the scope and scale of its military modernization, China is the top priority"

4/ SecDef nominee Austin in written answers on his assessment of the military threat posed by China...

5/ SecDef nominee Austin on whether the NDS needs to be revised notes: "For example, the pace of China’s military modernization, its increasingly aggressive actions in the INDO-PACIFIC and its ability to threaten the US Homeland are concerning and must be continually reexamined"

Thread: Deputy Defense Minister for Armaments, Alexey Krivoruchko, gave his annual end of the year interview summarizing the year's arms deliveries. He said 2020's state defense order (GOZ) was fulfilled at

New CIA Fren update: jumping out of windows edition

https://t.co/j8wD7rb9C5

It’s true that Labour cannot form the next government without winning back most of the “Red Wall” seats it lost.

But the leadership has come to some odd decisions over its Brexit strategy as a result.

Let’s look at the polling. From @OpiniumResearch last week, we can see that of 3 options:

a trade deal with close alignment to the EU
a trade deal with a clear break from the EU
No Deal

Only the close alignment option is acceptable to more people than unacceptable. 2/12

If we just look at the people who find each option unacceptable, out of All Voters, Labour voters *and* 2019 Labour Leave voters, all groups find a deal with a clear break more unacceptable than a deal with close alignment. 3/12

So it hardly feels like electoral suicide for Labour to explicitly argue for a deal with close alignment. This is particularly true since Labour’s current poll lead with @YouGov comes mainly from the one third of 2019 Lib Dem voters who now say they would back Labour. 4/12

75% of 2019 Lib Dem Remainers think a “clear break” deal is unacceptable, so there is considerable risk in alienating these voters by Labour backing a Tory deal with the EU which will inevitably mean a very hard Brexit.

I'm going to share a timeline below of statements and actions from Alex Jones/Infowars in the days leading up to the failed insurrection at the US Capitol building.

The key takeaways are:
1. Alex Jones says he spent nearly $500,000 organizing the event that culminated in the mob storming the Capitol.
2. Jones says he did this in coordination with the White House.
3. Jones made several speeches in DC where he used very violent rhetoric.

On December 31, Infowars released a promo video for its event. A man says that "liberals think they can just do whatever the fuck they want" because "we sit there and we say we want to talk it out." Jones can then be heard saying "it's 1776 time" in the promo.

During his Jan 2 and Jan 3 broadcasts, Jones again discussed how much money he says he spent to organize the event. He asked people to buy products from the Infowars Store to support his efforts to fund "the second American Revolution."

Jones, Infowars host Owen Shroyer, and other Infowars employees then traveled to D.C. During a daytime Jan 5 speech, Jones again riled up a crowd with a line about "1776."

The reality of demagoguery is you cannot control the hate & division you unleash.

You seeing America? Pls notice the distinct absence of the National Guard though the president set the agenda for this rally.

This is his legacy. This is #MAGA. This is America

There AREN'T "good people on both sides", Trump.

He told them to stand back & stand by. Here they are.

Guilliani said at today's rally "trial by combat"

The ugly truth is they've weaponised fear & hate BUT they didn't create it. They weaponised what was already there.

A collosal failure of so many institutions. His entire presidency was leading to this moment and law enforcement weren't ready?

That's the reality that a lot of people are unwilling to confront. It's not just Trump. He is a distilled manifestation of what has never been exorcised. All of it was just waiting there for decency to be replaced with blind ambition & greed.

The levers of white supremacy & racism are as present as they ever were. All it took was for someone to say fuck being decent, tap into the primal. It happened in the UK first and then, having resorted to the same playbook, lightning struck again Nov. 16

American democracy has suffered attacks over the past decade.

It’s time for change.

The #ForThePeopleAct (#HR1) would enact some of the greatest improvements our democracy has seen in decades. What's in the bill? Here are some of the highlights:

#HR1 will protect access to the fundamental right to vote. It would ensure voters can always register on Election Day and are not wrongfully purged from voter rolls. The bill would also expand the right to vote by mail to every eligible voter.

#HR1 will end partisan gerrymandering & ensure #FairMaps for all. H.R.1 requires the establishment of an independent redistricting commission (IRC) in each state, a reform essential to restoring confidence that every vote matters. Learn more about IRCs:

#HR1 will help ensure transparency in our elections and in digital political advertising. Voters have a right to know which wealthy special interests are spending big money to secretly influence our vote and our government. 4/ #StopSecretSpending

Multiple sections of #HR1 will strengthen protections against foreign influence in our elections, by extending the foreign national spending ban to ballot referenda, improving donor disclosure laws & updating digital transparency requirements. 5/ #GovernmentByUS

THREAD - My thoughts on what happened at the Capitol.

Please read EVERYTHING before commenting.

The violence we saw was unacceptable and must be fully condemned. It has no place in a democracy.

Those committing violence should spend a long time in prison.

1/

Everyone call these State Senators & House Members And Tell them to File An Amicus Brief In The Texas Lawsuit Before 3pm!

China and the EU: 2020

The media and the US think tank complex have persistently touted the narrative that Europe is "turning against China" and presumed instantly that a Biden victory would create a "transatlantic alliance" against it. It's time to look at the details:

2020 has been a bad year for China's relations with the west at large. It would be naïve to assume that this has had no impact on the EU. However, it would be a simplification to assume that such spells an appetite for Pompeo's cold war fanaticism and evidence of this is scant

Firstly, European Union foreign policy is a collective endeavor, than a monolithic one. We should not talk about the EU as "one" thing when it is a bloc of 27 countries who forge common positions through pragmatism and compromise, and is subsequently less dogmatic than the US.

The diversity of Europe means that priorities and perspectives amongst the states subsequently differ, therefore its views on China constitute an aggregation, than a single binary position which the U.S advocates. Some countries in the EU dislike China more than others.

The European Union subsequently operates on an agreement of its collective interest towards a "greater good". Whilst this means it will have some disagreements with China in the process, it also means it has a pragmatic understanding of why Beijing is important too.

Having reviewed the information provided by COG-UK, as well as the UK govt report here is my updated assessment regarding the new strain in the UK. 1/n

1. There is a substantial number of mutations relative to the previously prevalent strain, which is impressive, however viruses present such odd patterns. The number of mutations in the spike protein is worrisome primarily for the vaccine effectiveness.

2. It is generally rare that a new strain dominates at times of high prevalence but if on top of this there is rapid growth due to increased people circulation and contacts, something we saw in London, then even rare strains can dominate by chance without any selective advantage.

3. The strain has been around at least since September and has already been found in other countries in Europe and in Australia. However, so far we have not seen a similar expansion in other countries, which would have been expected if the transmissibility was indeed 70% higher.

4. There have been reassurances that the vaccine will not be affected but given the number of mutations, I would be a bit more reserved about this statement, but of course we all hope it is true.

It's always frustrating to see images go viral with no credit to the incredible photographers who take them. And it's happening with the National Guard at Capitol pics. So this remarkable image was captured by the AP's J. Scott Applewhite.

This is by AFP's @saulloeb.

Excellent one from Sarah Silbiger.

Same scene, different angle from Reuters' Joshua Roberts.

This from EPA's Jim Lo Scalzo says so much.

THREAD: The insurrection we saw in #WashingtonDC yesterday was an example of how political violence isn’t limited to the fringes of the far-right: it permeates even mainstream spaces.

Insurrectionist and right-wing accelerationist dogma that insists on the utility of political violence and terrorism that has flourished within the far-right for decades emerged in our nation’s capital

For almost 2 years, while mostly ignoring the Proud Boys, federal authorities and law enforcement have focused on white power accelerationists as the predominant terror threat on the right, where insurrectionist dogma has played a

This includes Atomwaffen and The Base, two violent hate groups. More about The Base #SoundsLikeHatePod

These apocalyptic visions of war and revolution permeate all corners of the hard right, and the violence implicit in those visions can become very real — as we saw yesterday.