NTD NYHETER: VECKA 45

Hello and welcome to NTD News. My name is Dan Alfjorden. Here are our headlines. How can you prevent terrorist groups from avoiding sanctions? Historical background to the state of Israel. An unexpected death notice. We take a closer look at the previous Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang's legacy. Finland suspects Chinese ship in investigation of damaged gas pipeline. META reveals pro-Chinese influence campaign from the CCP. How can the United States and its allies prevent Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran from avoiding sanctions and financing terrorism? At the inquiry on October 25 in the House of Representatives for Financial Services, they tried to find answers to this problem. Here are the main points. The US has for decades a history of economic sanctions against Iran. Iran continues to finance terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah and continues to avoid economic sanctions. Congress leader against Blaine Luthgemeier says that the sanctions worked until the US changed its policy against Iran. A witness discussed Iran's increased role in Hamas financing. Jason Brodsky is policy chief for the group United Against Nuclear Iran. An Israeli security source told Reuters recently that Iran raised its funding for Hamas' military ring over the last year from 100 million to around 350 million dollars per year. A solution was to abolish sanctions on other countries, except Iran, to stop supporting these terrorist groups. The Qataris and the Turks need to be held accountable. We can't sit here today and empower countries to host Hamas leaders, to give them money, to give them ideological support, to use their media, their state media, to amplify their propaganda and disinformation. Lock down the money. Lock down the 6 billion. Don't forget about the 10 billion dollars that was made available over the summer, transferred out of Iraq to Oman. We have no information on that money today. Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah receive millions through crypto currencies. A witness explained the difficulty in shutting down the source of income. The problem is not primarily onshore in the United States. The problem is offshore. Crypto financial service providers that refuse to play ball with US law enforcement because they don't have to. Richard Goldberg from Foundation for Defense of Democracies took up the question of political split. And this is a moment to restore bipartisanship on issues that used to be completely bipartisan and can be again. This is a moment. If this is not going to be the moment, I don't know what will be. This is just the first in a series of questions that are planned to address this issue. How did Israel become a state? Both Jews and Arabs have connections to the country. NTD speaks with Israel's former chief archivist to explore the historical background of the Jewish state. In the early 1900s, the Ottoman Empire ruled the country where Israel is now. At that time, the area was inhabited mostly by Arabs. The Ottoman Empire was on the losing side in the First World War and ceased to exist. After the war, Great Britain took over the areas that today are Israel and the Palestinian areas. In the Balfour Declaration from 1917, Great Britain expressed its support for establishing a home for the Jewish people on this land. After World War II, more and more Jews moved to the area. In 1947, the UN created a plan to divide the country into Jewish and Arab states. The Jews liked the plan, but the Arabs didn't. When the state of Israel was officially founded in 1948, the surrounding Arab countries opposed this violently. Jakob Lossowick is Israel's former chief archivist. He says that the Jewish right to the land is rooted in history. The Jewish presence there goes back over 3,000 years. The Jewish people wrote their writings there. Jesus, who was a Jew, lived there. Jerusalem is the center of the Jewish world, and both the Bible and even the Koran refer to the Jewish people's connection to the country. A few years after the Crusaders conquered in 1099 and murdered all the Jews, and then didn't let them back in. But other than that, there have been Jews here always. The surrounding Arab countries are not convinced of this story. Many of these countries claim that the country was mainly populated by Arabs, and that it is entirely their country. So the conflicts around this continue to this day. The authoritarian axis, a powerful phrase that is now returning as the global crisis increases. Earlier this year, Andrea Kendall Taylor, senior fellow at the Center for New American Security, CNAS, described China, Russia and Iran as the new authoritarian axis. Here are more of her comments. On the surface, China and Iran seem to be unlikely allies. The Chinese Communist Party advocates an atheistic society, while Iran is a strictly Islamic country. Andrea Kendall Taylor, senior fellow at the Center for New American Security, highlights what led to the partnership and warned of a major defect. She says that by cooperating, the threat they pose together becomes more than the result of each individual provocation if they worked on their own. China and Iran have a common enemy, the United States. In addition, China needs Iranian oil. The last milestone in their friendship stretches back to 2021, when China and Iran signed an agreement on strategic partnership. The huge 25-year agreement included both economic and military cooperation. It is also part of Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative, a massive infrastructure project that is believed to spread Beijing's influence beyond the country's borders. Chinese media commented on the agreement at that time and said that the two countries have a common opponent, a group of Western powers led by the United States. How can China and Iran otherwise help each other? One of the most important ways for Beijing to support Iran is by buying up its oil. In 2020, the United States imposed sanctions on Iran's oil sector because the country supported the Quds Force, a terrorist organization in the Middle East. But China continued its fuel purchases, which meant that the money also continued to flow. The Chinese ambassador to Iran, Chang Hua, said in 2021 that China was the only country that still bought oil from Iran. According to Kepler, a platform for global trade information, almost 90% of the Iranian oil went to China last month. Officially, China denies that it bought fuel from Iran. In addition to oil, the two countries also believe in cooperation on weapons. Reports have accused Beijing of supporting Iran's nuclear weapons program by transferring technology and equipment. Strategic and defensive cooperation between China and Iran. China has supported Iran's efforts to modernize its military equipment and doctrine by transferring military technology and sales of commercial weapons and tactical ballistic missiles and cruise missiles against ships. This despite the West's attempt to limit the country's warheads. In 2015, Iran signed an agreement with several world powers, including the United States and China. Iran promised to limit its nuclear program in exchange for relief from U.S. sanctions. Former President Donald Trump issued the agreement in 2018. He said that the agreement failed to limit Iran's nuclear program and that the country managed to bypass the sanctions. Under the Biden administration, the U.S. is now trying to revive the agreement. An unexpected death notice. China's former number two Li Keqiang has died of a heart attack at the age of 68. What was Li's greatest merit as prime minister? And how will his death affect China? The country's former prime minister Li Keqiang has passed away at the age of 68, which has shocked many in China. State media report that he died of a heart attack, but speculation is growing about what caused his death. It is because such sudden deaths are extremely unusual for such a high population. These officials have access to high-level medical care, and many prominent leaders of the Communist Party have lived to the age of 80 or 90. If you look at his term in office, what was Li's biggest impact on China? Analyst Tang Qingyuan says that he is generally seen as one of the weaker prime ministers in modern China. Economically, politically, he didn't have any prominent achievements. Not only that, as Chinese leader Xi Jinping expanded and consolidated his power, it became even harder for Li to achieve anything. Li ruled China's economy for a decade before he resigned in March this year. However, he had become more and more isolated from Xi Jinping. Outside of China, he is known for the term Li Keqiang Index. It is a measure of China's economic progress. What distinguishes Li from other top officials is that he is a technocrat. He did not come from a family of highly educated party officials before him. Li stepped up after taking two doctoral exams from China's leading university. And he was once seen as a challenger to China's highest leadership. Li's departure caused great concern in China's social media. Many expressed their participation, but comments that expressed shock over his sudden death were censored. Analyst Tang Qingyuan said that many Chinese citizens are dissatisfied with Xi's rule, and they use Li's death to vent their dissatisfaction. Li's passing has sparked a huge impact inside China and the Communist Party. The reactions mostly come from a collective dissatisfaction with Xi Jinping's rule. They need a chance to vent. A lot of people have empathy for Li because he was pushed aside by Xi during his time. Tang said that it is unlikely that Li's death will lead to a bigger upheaval. He added, however, that the future effects are yet to be seen. During his term in office, Li has repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction with the highest leader, Xi Jinping. The comments were heavily censored in China. But those that were shared publicly have shocked people in and outside China. China has 600 million people whose monthly income is barely 1,000 yen. In January 2020, Li visited China's finances and transports and stopped at an important port. He told the staff there that China needed to open up more and indicated that China's trend at that time could not change direction otherwise. Many believe that he was aiming at pointing out strict policies and measures to curb China's economic growth. But the video clip with his comments was removed from Chinese websites shortly thereafter. This indicates that not even a high-ranking official can speak freely in the country if it goes against Beijing's highest directive. Here is a clip from his last speech before he left his post during China's state council meetings in March. People often say the heavens have been watching what people are doing. It appears as though the heavens have eyes. The Chinese Communist Party suggests that ISIS is part of its fundamental ideology. It is very unusual for a high-ranking official in China to refer to the idea of ​​a higher power. After the previous Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang's death, the CCP keeps an eye on the public offerings. Is a nationwide protest on the way? And what impact can his departure have on the country? We talked to Bradley Thayer, head of China Policy at the Center for Security Policy, about this. The impact of his passing really has two major elements. One, it shows that Xi Jinping might have had a role in the death. He evidently died in a pool. If the death is natural, it eliminates a potential rival, which is useful for Xi Jinping. And if his death was not natural, then it also not only eliminates a rival for Xi Jinping, but certainly consolidates his power. Secondly, in broader context, it shows that opposition to Xi Jinping from established party officials is waning. Hu Jintao was thrown out of the 20th Party Congress. Jiang Zemin passed away. Now, with Li's death, with foreign ministers disappearing, defense ministers disappearing, generals disappearing, it's quite clear that his grip and his control over the party is tightening, which is not a good thing for the Chinese people and not a good thing for stability in international politics. I want to zoom in on some of these differences. So as an economist, Li took different stances from Xi Jinping, whether that was on the COVID lockdowns, even on poverty. Li Keqiang had a very famous speech where he said 600 million Chinese people were living under the poverty line without saying they were living under the poverty lane. How do you read these different comments he was taking from the party narrative? Well, it shows that there were profound tensions within the party concerning its economic policy and the emphasis that it should place on certain priorities. What has happened, however, is under Xi, the economy, of course, has had this profound downturn post-COVID with the collapse of essentially the real estate market and with other structural problems coming to the fore in the Chinese economy. So what Li might have done differently, I think, is at one level moot. It really shows that the policies that Xi dominated and brought into force have really brought China to the economic crisis that it faces. And the big question then is how will it weather that and whether those crises successfully. And given that Li Keqiang was an economist and a former premier, what does his passing mean for China's economy and more broadly, the U.S.-China economic ties? Well, he was seen among the engagement school in the United States as a positive force, an individual who was, if you will, to borrow from Margaret Thatcher in her comments about Gorbachev, a man with whom you could do business. I think his passing shows that the alternatives or the potential futures that do not entail a large role for Xi Jinping are occluded. They're disappearing. The party, Xi's party, and alternative voices within it are being removed by retirements or by eliminations of one means or another. And Bradley, you and I have talked about how Xi Jinping is doing more of a return to Mao on the ideological front. As you also mentioned, the real estate crisis, China's economy is not doing well. On the political front, though, in terms of Li's passing, how might we see unrest or are we not going to see anything happen? I think it's less likely we'll see anything happen. What you might have would be the symbols of protests that surrounded China in 1989, where you had significant unrest in 88, really, and then in 1989, or the White Page protests that we witnessed, really, December of last year, December into January 22 and 23. The resentment towards Xi and the resentment towards the party is ample. However, it's devilishly hard in a way that it was not in Deng's China to protest against Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party because of the effectiveness of the omnipresent and seemingly omniscient surveillance state that exists. So there should be protests, but I think as a practical matter there won't be because it's so difficult to mobilize. Bradley Thayer, thank you so much for your time. It's my pleasure to join you. Thank you. Finland issues a damaged gas pipeline, and according to a statement on October 20, a Chinese ship has been mainly suspected. The damage to the pipeline occurred in the Finnish bay earlier this month. Early this morning, the border guard found clear damage in that pipeline. So it was not a leak. It was clear damage. The history of which, in the light of the information we have, appeared to have been caused by an external operator. According to the Finnish police, the ship has been linked to both the time and location of the damage. The police also found a lost anchor on the site. This led them to investigate which ship it belonged to. Now Finland says that the Chinese ship is at the top of the list of suspects. Beijing says it will keep information to the investigation, according to international law. The damage to the pipeline is a major loss for Finland and its partner countries. The repairs are expected to continue at least until the end of April next year. Thousands of accounts on social media are involved in the world's largest disinformation campaign. The driving force behind this is the Chinese Communist Party and their machinery to change people's opinions about China. Facebook and Instagram's parent company, Meta, say they have launched a disinformation campaign linked to Chinese crime. The company has removed more than 7,700 Facebook accounts and over 900 pages. Meta linked these accounts to a previous disinformation campaign called Spamouflage. The company made a statement in its new quarterly threat report and said, We at Spamouflage appreciate the fact that the operation has so far been the biggest, platform-accessible secret attack so far. The account linked to the Spamouflage network usually publishes content that praises China and criticizes US and American policy. One example is a text about the origin of COVID, which was translated into eight different languages and published in separate content. The English version of the content read, Good guidance. Suspected American fish and skulls were caught before the outbreak at the Huanan Seafood Market. However, these accounts do not seem to be particularly successful, Meta said to CNBC. These operations are big, but they are clumsy, and we can't see any real sign that they are building an authentic audience on our platform or anywhere else on the Internet. In its quarterly threat report, Meta also said that they have found malicious activity from Russian accounts. According to the report, the company blocked thousands of harmful websites and attempted to run false accounts and websites. These accounts were primarily aimed at changing people's perception of the war between Russia and Ukraine. Music-loving New Yorkers gathered in Lincoln Center on October 22 for the first performance of the Canyon Symphony Orchestra for the year. After a standing ovation, some of the audience described it as a healing experience. The performance of the Canyon Symphony Orchestra was met by a lively and welcoming audience in New York City. It is the first performance in four years with two exhilarating concerts in Lincoln Center on October 22. Calm is my soul and we need that. It's beautiful. Very uplifting and nourishing to the spirit. The orchestra is unbelievable. The composer, you can tell, is very talented. The sound of a gong that rang through the hall was introduced by the orchestra to the performance of one of the Canyon's most celebrated compositions, Salvation During End Times. The program included original music written by Canyon Performing Arts' own composers as well as Western classical favorites such as Dvorak's From the New World and Sibelius's Finland. The orchestra also performed a well-known classical Chinese piece called The Butterfly Lovers. The Canyon Symphony Orchestra draws inspiration from 5,000 years of Chinese civilization and brings stories and legends to life. The music emphasized Asian culture and I felt like the history, so much history of our own lives and of other people's lives were represented in the room. I saw movies. It sounded like a movie soundtrack. I could just see things going on when I heard the music. It just lights me up. It's so gorgeous. The New York-based orchestra combines both Western and Eastern instruments and mixes classical Chinese instruments and melodies with a classical symphony orchestra. The audience called the performance uplifting. The audience said that the Canyon Symphony Orchestra brings out the positive and elevates their mood. It's very good energy. It's very positive. It makes you feel good when you're listening to it. In today's times it's very nice to have such a positive experience. Understanding that beauty is part of our heart and the essence of every human being is very much a traditional value. And things that elevate the spirit, like this music, awaken us to our conscience and make better people. Canyon Performing Arts shows classical Chinese dance with newly composed music in order to revive the traditional Chinese culture before communism. The company presents completely new performances every year. Canyon starts a new tour in December. Thank you for watching and goodbye!