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Anders Åslund
@anders_aslund
, 3 tweets, 1 min read Read on Twitter
In 2018, Saudi Arabia had the 3rd largest military expenditures in the world at $67.6bn, after the US & China, but before India, France & Russia, according to SIPRI.
sipri.org/sites/default/…
To date, no credible information has been given about how or from where the Saudi oil facilities were attacked a week ago. Did them come from Yemen, Iraq or Iran? Were they drones or cruise missiles? Stunning incompetence of expensive US weapons.
Absurdly, @SecPompeo sounded as if the US would go to war for Saudi Arabia. Really?! Freedom House ranks it at the very bottom: "Saudi Arabia’s absolute monarchy restricts almost all political rights and civil liberties."
freedomhouse.org/report/freedom…
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Anders Åslund
@anders_aslund
Why are Giuliani & Trump digging in Ukraine? They want to show that
1. Manafort was innocent.
2. Hilary Clinton guilty of his sentence.
3. Biden wrongly called for the sacking of a corrupt prosecutor
4. & Hunter Biden profiteered.
All these statements are lies.
The reality is:
1. Manafort made by my assessment $185 million from Yanukovych & Deripaska, 2005-14 in Ukraine.
2. Giuliani has picked up the Manafort business model working for organized criminals in Ukraine & other East European countries certainly earning millions each year.
3. The big crooks are of course the Trump family that never miss an opportunity to make money at the expense of the United States & its taxpayers. It is embarrassing to the US that the nation has not been able to offer transparency or stop it as yet.
Read 3 tweets
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Anders Åslund
@anders_aslund
The damage Trump has done to Ukraine:
1. Supported the most corrupt officials in Ukraine against the government.
2. Withheld singlehandedly $400 min of badly needed US aid.
3. Dragged the new Ukrainian President into his world of lies, trying to extort him into crime.
4. Antagonized European allies of the US at each turn, trying to break NATO & the western alliance.
5. Sacked excellent US career ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.
6. Left eminent Ukraine envoy Kurt Volker with no choice but resign.
7. Supported Putin whereever he could.
Add up all these actions by Trump on Ukraine alone & you arrive at treason.
Read 3 tweets
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Anders Åslund
@anders_aslund
The whistleblower's report helps us understand Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko's strange lies.
1. "Giuliani had met on at least two occasions with Mr. Lutsenko: once in New York in late January and again in Warsaw in mid-February."
nytimes.com/interactive/20…
2. "Beginning in late March 2019, a series of articles appeared in an online publication called The Hill. ...Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko — made a series of allegations against other Ukrainian officials and current and former U.S. officials."
3. The point is that Lutsenko's strange lies about VP Biden & US Ambassador Yovanovitch were PLANTED by Giuliani. Lutsenko tried to leverage his relationship with Giuliani (=Trump) in order to stay on as prosecutor general under @ZelenskyyUa.
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IndoPacific_SCS_Info
@IndoPac_Info
Thread: After New Delhi’s CDS call, #India and #France to focus on interoperability between forces - France already has the post of CDS and the appointment of an Indian counterpart will make coordination easier. 👍economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/a…
India & France have decided to ensure interoperability between the 3 branches of their armed forces for better coordination in the Indo-Pacific region & for fighting terrorism, a task made smoother by PM Modi’s recent announcement of appointing a chief of defence staff (CDS).
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Filomena Rocha
@Filomen03258997
3. The Legacy of US, UK, France, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Bahrain, Canada, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Jordan, Nato in Syria

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IndoPacific_SCS_info
@China_SCS_info
#China plans to sell #Pakistan an aircraft carrier and integrate it militarily - I believe a carrier for Pak is far fetched, but the article is very revealing about CN plans for Pak, something that usually gets dismissed @desertfox61I @avarakai sundayguardianlive.com/news/china-pla…
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Shashank Joshi
@shashj
This week's briefing in The Economist is my piece on autonomous weapons. economist.com/briefing/2019/… A thread below on some of the writing & research that I found most useful in learning about the subject.
First of all, Paul Scharre's book, 'Army of None', was a superb overview of the issues. Particularly excellent chapters on the long history of autonomy in weapons, the difficulty of safety in complex and tightly-coupled systems, & neural network spoofing amazon.co.uk/Army-None-Auto…
Heather Roff and Richard Moyes on how to think about "meaningful human control" over autonomous weapons bit.ly/20sYNiB And Roff on "tangled loops" between interacting autonomous weapons bit.ly/2sDEWEa
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Christophe Barraud🛢
@C_Barraud
🇨🇳 #CHINA Q3 GDP Y/Y: 6.5% V 6.6%E (slowest growth since Q1 2009)
*NBS spokesman Mao Shengyong said that the international situation was bringing “downward pressure” on China.
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bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
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Millennial Macro
@MillennialMacro
#demographics #militaries #economies #currencies
#USA
- Best demographics
- Largest military
- Largest economy
- Most used currency
- Liquid financial markets
- Open capital account
- Rule of law
- Best geography
- Can be self sufficient if required
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#USA
Top trade partners as of 30 June 2018:
- China: 15.2% (strategic competitor)
- Canada: 15.1%
- Mexico: 14.6%
- Japan: 5.1%
- Germany: 4.4%

The next 10 years could result in the below:
- Mexico (25%)
- Canada (20%
- Japan (7%)
- South Korea (5%)
- Great Britain (4%)
#USA
Bring the manufacturing (jobs) home while negatively impacting China's economy.
forbes.com/sites/kenrapoz…
cebglobal.com/talentdaily/au…
irishtimes.com/business/econo…
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