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Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that the United States was ready to confront China where need be, calling the Asian power the "biggest geopolitical test" of the century.
In his first major speech, Blinken vowed that President Joe Biden's administration will emphasize diplomacy over military action and build cooperation with the world on global challenges such as climate change and Covid-19.
<p>"We will manage the biggest geopolitical test of the 21st century: our relationship with China," Blinken said at the State Department.</p><p>He promised to champion the rights of Hong Kong and the ethnic Uighurs, saying that if not, "China will act with even greater impunity."</p><p>"China is the only country with the economic, diplomatic, military and technological power to seriously challenge the stable and open international system -- all the rules, values and relationships that make the world work the way we want it to," he said.</p><p>"Our relationship with China will be competitive when it should be, collaborative when it can be and adversarial when it must be. And we will engage China from a position of strength."</p><p>Blinken indicated that Biden would be sparing in military action despite ordering an air strike last week in Syria against Iranian-linked Iraqi Shiite paramilitaries.</p><p>He did not mention a fresh attack Wednesday on a base in Iraq in which a US contractor died from a cardiac episode.</p><p>"In future cases when we must take military action, we will do so only when the objectives and mission are clear and achievable, consistent with our values and laws and with the informed consent of the American people," Blinken said.</p><p>"And we'll do it together with diplomacy."</p><p>Blinken voiced alarm over an "erosion of democracy" worldwide that includes the United States, pointing to the January 6 siege of the Capitol by supporters of defeated president Donald Trump.</p><p>Unless the United States promotes democracy, "we play right into the hands of adversaries and competitors like Russia and China who seize every opportunity to sow doubts about the strength of our democracy," Blinken said.</p><p>But he said Biden had no interest in bringing democracy to the world "through costly military interventions or by attempting to overthrow authoritarian regimes by force."</p><p>"We have tried these tactics in the past. However well intentioned, they haven't worked."</p><p>He was likely alluding to the war in Iraq as well as the 2011 operation, which he supported, that backed an uprising that overthrow dictator Moamer Kadhafi in Libya, ushering in a decade of chaos.</p>
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In a report published at Medium by the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab, Jacob Chansley, better known as the "QAnon Shaman," had a small but growing online following as a "QAnon micro-influencer." But after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol -- which he partook in and was later arrested for -- viewership of his content skyrocketed.
"Before January 6, Chansley's two Twitter accounts, @USAwolfpack and @starseedacademy, registered roughly 5,400 and 2,800 followers respectively," DFRLab reports. "Chansley, who also went by the name Jake Angeli, began by cultivating his brand on YouTube, as YouTube suited the long-form format of his videos. He would later migrate to alt-tech platform Rumble following de-platforming, as many QAnon influencers did after major social media platforms begin enforcing their rules more stringently against them."
<p>The Trump-supporting conspiracy theorist apparently had a perverse incentive to become involved in the Capitol riot. After analyzing his social media history, DFRLab found that Chansley saw a rise in engagement "that correlated with a rise in the amount of Q related content he was involved in."</p><p>"Perhaps most alarming is that the Q-Shaman brand appears to have benefited from his action at the Capitol," reports DFRLab, adding that the YouTube subscriber count associated with Chansley's "spiritual guidance" channel, Starseed Academy (SSA) grew substantially in the wake of the Capitol attack. "As Chansley leaned into posting more extreme content, the channel's subscriber count grew as well."</p><p>Chansley was charged in January with "knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, and with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds."</p><p>In a statement, the the US attorney's office for the District of Columbia alleged that Chansley was "the man seen in media coverage who entered the Capitol building dressed in horns, a bearskin headdress, red, white and blue face paint, shirtless, and tan pants," while carrying a long spear with an American flag tied to it.</p><p>Chansley's seeming resemblance to singer Jay Kay sparked a worldwide buzz on social media, prompting the Jamiroquai frontman to issue a statement making clear that he was nowhere near Washington when the pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol.</p><p>Chansley had described himself as a "digital soldier" of the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory that claims Trump is waging a secret war against a global liberal cult of Satan-worshipping pedophiles.</p><p><em>With additional reporting from AFP</em></p>
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WATCH: Amy Klobuchar destroys Ron Johnson for conspiracy theory blaming Jan. 6 on 'provocateurs'
March 03, 2021
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) on Wednesday pushed back against Sen. Ron Johnson's (R-WI) conspiracy theory claiming that insurrectionists who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6 were simply "provocateurs."
At a joint Senate hearing on the Jan. 6 attack, Johnson focused on proving his earlier claim that the incident does not qualify as an "armed insurrection."
<p>
"Seeking out the truth, that's what I'm trying to do," the senator explained, noting that he had been accused of spreading "conspiracy theories" after reading a conservative column into the record at an earlier hearing. The column used the phrase "agents-provocateurs" to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/23/politics/ron-johnson-january-6-capitol-attack/index.html">downplay the role of supporters of then-President Donald Trump</a>.
</p><p>
At Wednesday's hearing, Johnson again entered a news report into the record claiming that the attackers were "provocateurs."
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But Klobuchar, who was chairing the hearing, refused to let the remark slide.
</p><p>
"These people that were assaulting the Capitol in military gear and were pinning an officer between a door and were using bear spray on officers in the Capitol, would you title them provocateurs?" Klobuchar asked FBI Counterterrorism Division Director Jill Sanborn.
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"It would all depend on the evidence behind the case," Sanborn hedged.
</p><p>
"Do you think there were some very serious violent people involved insurrection?" Klobuchar pressed.
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"100%" Sanborn agreed. "And there were some officers that were injured and a lot of damage was done."
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"And would you describe the atmosphere as festive?" the senator wondered.
</p><p>
"Absolutely not," Sanborn said.
</p><p>
Watch the video below.
</p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/581LewmEOTM" width="560"></iframe>
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