"Tower 22", the U.S. base in NE Jordan where three American troops were just killed, overlooks a Syrian refugee camp called Rukban, where 15,000 people have been living for years. It is also near the Al-Tanf Garrison, where a couple hundred U.S. troops are based. This is a crucial node between Iraq and Syria that Iranian militias have long sought to control. There have been several drone attacks on Tanf since Oct. 7. This is a brazen escalation.

Elisha Weisel, head of the Elie Weisel Foundation, opens this hearing of @committeeonccp:

“We say never again. But genocide is in fact happening again. And it is happening on our watch.”

#FreeUyghurs Committee ranking Democrat @CongressmanRaja: “This evening let’s make sure the leaders of the CCP hear us loud and clear. Their genocide must end.”

He brought @RushanAbbas founder of @CUyghurs to the State of the Union address as his guest,

#freeuyghur

The State Department's new human rights report on Saudi Arabia is damning. This is just the summary list of abuses:

"Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: unlawful or arbitrary killings, including extrajudicial killings; enforced disappearances;... ...torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by government agents; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; political prisoners or detainees; transnational repression against individuals in another country;...

"Beijing’s latest, horrible abuse of the Tibetan people is to forcibly collect their DNA, their last remaining vestige of privacy. What’s worse, U.S. companies are still working with the authorities perpetrating these atrocities..."

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@washingtonpost The Chinese government is leveraging technology, including artificial intelligence and big data, to identify people by their faces, their voices, their individual styles of walking and, now, even their cellular makeup...

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Former @CDCgov and virologist Director Robert Redfield: “I still believe today that the data indicates that the outbreak of Covid 19 was more likely the result of a lab leak than as a result of a natural spillover event.” @GOPoversight @OversightDems Redfield: “It is my opinion that we should impose a moratorium on gain of function research…” until we are able to have a national debate over its usefulness and the safety risks involved.

New: The investigation into covid’s origins must continue washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/… by me @PostOpinions "The significance of the Energy Department’s disclosure — along with the FBI’s subsequent revelation that it too believes that the coronavirus emerged because of a Wuhan lab leak — is that the government’s investigations are continuing and still turning up new information."

.@semafor has officially partnered with a Chinese think tank affiliated with China's United Front foreign influence operations. events.semafor.com/chinaandglobal… Read all about @semafor's new partner, the Center for China and Globalization, and its ties to CCP foreign influence operations and the United Front Work Department in this paper by @ASPI_org

aspi.org.au/report/party-s…

“This is an existential struggle for what life will look like in the 21st century.” - Chairman @RepGallagher opening the first hearing of the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party “We seek a durable peace. That’s why we have to deter aggression… The CCP is counting on us being divided. We must prove them wrong.” - Ranking member @CongressmanRaja #ChinaCommittee

🧵: Here is the text of the China section of Biden’s #sotu2023 speech.

“People’s Republic of China was increasing its power and America was falling in the world.
 
Not anymore.
 
I’ve made clear with President Xi that we seek competition, not conflict…” “… I will make no apologies that we are investing to make America strong. Investing in American innovation, in industries that will define the future, and that China’s government is intent on dominating…”

New bipartisan letter to China’s @AmbQinGang led by @SenDanSullivan & @SenJeffMerkley:

“We are following the current peaceful protests in China over your government’s policies very carefully. We are also closely watching the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) reaction to them…” “… In 1989, the Chinese Communist Party and People’s Liberation Army undertook a violent crackdown on peacefully protesting Chinese students, killing hundreds, if not thousands…”

New: The Biden-Xi meeting shows that U.S.-China relations will get worse, not better washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/… by me @PostOpinions Despite Biden’s oft-repeated belief that “all foreign policy is personal,” there was no substantive progress made in the 3½-hour confab. That’s because the problems in the U.S.-China relationship are structural, not personal.

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"The struggle inside the GOP could have a massive impact on Ukraine’s fight for survival against Russia."

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@washingtonpost According to several lawmakers and senior congressional staffers, McCarthy and other GOP House leaders are already discussing how to alter the Ukraine aid package in the next Congress to respond to a wide array of concerns within their caucus.

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"Syrians and Ukrainians are teaming up to seek justice for Russia’s victims and force accountability on Russian war criminals — and Putin is at the top of their list."

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by me @PostOpinions

#Syria #Ukraine #Russia #Putin #WarCrimes @PostOpinions Nobel Peace Prize winner @avalaina: “Russia tries to break people’s resistance and occupy their country using the tool of immense pain on civilians... We document this pain. In parallel, we are searching for a complex strategy of justice..." @ccl_ua

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New: The China-Russia alliance is pushing Ukraine toward Taiwan washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/… by me @PostOpinions #China #Russia #Ukraine #Taiwan Ukrainian MP @ChairOlek: “I view China as an ally of Russia, an ally of the enemy. They are not neutral... They are working in support of Russia."

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@ipacglobal

New: The U.N. finally calls out China’s atrocities. So where’s U.S. action? washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/… by me @PostOpinions @PostOpinions The damning findings are shocking — but they should come as no surprise, considering the world has known about these abuses for years. So why isn’t the U.S. government doing more to stop them?

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New: The real crisis over Taiwan will start after Pelosi comes home washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/… by me @PostOpinions #Pelosi #Taiwan #China "The larger impact of Pelosi’s visit will play out after she goes home, over weeks, months and years."

"The pace and intensity of U.S.-China competition are set to go up, changing the relationship forever, with Taiwan caught squarely in the middle."

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This is the current location of #SPAR19, the US Air Force plane that took off from Honolulu last night. It may carry Pelosi and her delegation. Seems like it’s headed for Singapore but also could be Taiwan. #SPAR19, the USAF plane that may hold the Pelosi delegation, has left Guam (after refueling presumably) and is headed west. Still unclear if it’s headed towards Singapore or #Taiwan.

Why is the TikTok executive on @ReliableSources telling @brianstelter all the videos Americans see are made in the US when, as Brian said, that’s obviously not true. If TikTok is trying to build trust, it’s failing. He also keeps claiming the “national security experts” and “the CIA during the Trump administration” said the data TikTok collects is not of national security importance. This is the spin? Awfully weak and transparently incorrect spin from TikTok.

#Breaking: At the naming ceremony just now, Dave Chappelle announced he is not placing his name on the Duke Ellington High School theater after all and instead he decided it shall be called the Theater for Artistic Freedom and Expression. Chappelle rejected the criticism from students of his special The Closer, saying they didn't know him and were just repeating someone else's agenda:

“These kids didn’t understand that they were instruments of oppression.”

.@SecDef Austin: “We’re seeing growing coercion from Beijing. We’ve witnessed a steady increase in provocative and destabilizing military activity near Taiwan. That includes PLA aircraft flying near Taiwan in record numbers in recent months—and on a nearly daily basis.” #sld22 .@SecDef Austin: “We do not seek confrontation or conflict. And we do not seek a new Cold War, an Asian NATO, or a region split into hostile blocs.” #sld22 @IISS_org

The Cold War taught us that exploiting brain drain is a smart and righteous strategy. But now, some in the GOP have forgotten that lesson.

My new column @PostOpinions

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/… @PostOpinions The US risks blowing its greatest opportunity since the Cold War to bolster our competitiveness at the expense of our adversaries, because some Republicans are more dedicated to thwarting immigration than competing with Russia and China.

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