China’s first overseas military base in the small African country of Djibouti is “probably the first of many” the country intends to build around the world, which could bring its interests into conflict with the U.S., according to American intelligence officials.
“China has the fastest-modernizing military in the world next to the United States,” according to insights provided Thursday by U.S. intelligence officials, who asked not to be identified discussing the information. That will create “new areas of intersection -- and potentially conflicting -- security interests between China and the United States and other countries abroad,” according to the officials.
The People’s Liberation Army announced the establishment of a logistics support base in Djibouti in July, saying it would back up China’s military’s naval escort, peacekeeping and humanitarian missions in Africa and western Asia as well as military exercises and emergency evacuation.
As part of China’s expanding military and economic clout, the country is taking a stronger stance on territorial claims in the South China Sea, relations with Taiwan and in promoting its “One Belt, One Road” trade initiative. Where Chinese interests conflict with the U.S., Beijing is “actively seeking to undermine U.S. influence,” according to the officials.
According to the intelligence officials, “Chinese leaders see the U.S.-led world order, most notably the U.S. alliance network and promotion of U.S. values worldwide, as constraining China’s rise and are attempting to reshape the world order to better suit Chinese preferences and growing clout.”
Former Trump adviser Stephen Bannon has called the transfer of U.S. technology to China “the single biggest economic and business issue of our time,” adding that “if we don’t get our situation sorted with China, we’ll be destroyed economically.”
The U.S. intelligence officials suggested China’s government is aware of the threat that perception poses to its ambitions.
“Beijing is trying to downplay concerns that this state-led technology acquisition drive creates an unlevel playing field, forces technology transfer to China, limits foreign companies’ access to the Chinese market, and is a threat to U.S. and other countries’ economic strength.”
A strong earthquake late Friday shook northeastern Japan off the coast of Fukushima, the region hit by a massive quake and tsunami in 2011 that triggered a nuclear plant meltdown, but there were no reports of damage or injuries.
The Japan Meteorological Agency said there was no danger of a tsunami. It said the quake struck at about midnight and measured a preliminary magnitude of 5.9. It was centered about 50 kilometers (30 miles) below the ocean's surface, it said.
The shaking was felt 240 kilometers (150 miles) away in Tokyo, Japan's capital. Public broadcaster NHK said local trains stopped temporarily for safety checks but then resumed service.
Audio from the Las Vegas Police Department during Sunday evening's mass shooting was captured and leaked, providing interesting details of what police saw and heard.
As police closed in on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel, they were also suspicious that another shooter existed on the 29th floor.
“We have a four-man team up here and we have another element moving to us. We will need the 29th floor,” one officer said. “It sounds like it’s confirmed, there are at least two shooters with fully-automatic weapons.”
Additionally, the audio recordings also reveal that a black Chevy dually pickup truck fled the parking lot during all of the commotions and that an older white male who was wearing fatigues and carrying a black bag was spotted retreating into a white RV by the Tropicana and the Motel 6. Pedestrians said that the man came from the area of the shooting.
Pedestrians said that the man came from the area of the shooting and a team eventually converged on the white RV.
At one point, a police car was commandeered by an unknown suspect while the two elements on the 32nd floor were cleared for 335 Zebra’s approach to the northernmost room.
“This is 335 Zebra. I need to know if we have that floor evacuated other than our suspects. We got […] sniper going up,” a voice called out over the radio.
That’s when 720 called in an confirmed he had a 12 man element entering the east side of the Mandalay Bay.
There continue to be those who claim there was a lone wolf gunman and that was it. However, as more and more evidence emerges, it appears that there were at least two shooters.
In fact, though Sheriff Joe Lombardo hasn't come right out and said that alleged shooter Stephen Paddock was assisted in the shooting itself, he did say that he had help.
“Look at this," Lombardo said. "You look at the weapon obtaining the different amounts of tannerite available, do you think this was all accomplished on his own, face value?”
“You got to make the assumption he had to have help at some point, and we want to ensure that’s the answer," he added. "Maybe he’s a super guy, superhero–not a hero, super–I won’t use the word. Maybe he’s super — that was working out this out on his own, but it will be hard for me to believe that.”
We have other witnesses, such as the person staying next door to Paddock who claimed there were multiple shooters as well.
Witness Wendy Miller, also from Australia, said she too, saw a security guard being chased.
She was staying at the Luxor Hotel (next to the Mandalay Bay) with her husband.
But they had been at a bar in the Mandalay Bay when she saw what she described as a “man of interest” run by.
“We managed to make our way back to our room…” she told The Courier-Mail. “We are in lockdown. Our door is deadlocked and a chair against the door.” Miller said she saw the man sprint through the hotel after coming off an escalator from the Mandalay Bay.
“The man that they [security] were chasing was wearing a security jacket like them,” she said.
So often in some of these mass shootings, the witnesses clearly spell out that more than one shooter was involved. It seems that police believed it too.
Two days ago, Clark County Sheriff Lombardo for the first time expressed his conviction that Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock had to have help at some point during the tragic mass shooting, either in the preparation or the execution stage, or both.
“Look at this. You look at the weapon obtaining the different amounts of tannerite available, do you think this was all accomplished on his own, face value? You got to make the assumption he had to have help at some point, and we want to insure that’s the answer. Maybe he’s a super guy... Maybe he’s super — that was working out this out on his own, but it will be hard for me to believe that.”
“Here’s the reason why, put one and one–two and two together, another residence in Reno with firearms, okay, electronics and everything else associated with larger amounts of ammo, a place in Mesquite, we know he had a girlfriend. Do you think this is all self-facing individual without talking to somebody, it was sequestered amongst himself.”
According to NBC, the investigators are "puzzled" by two discoveries: First, a charger was found that does not match any of the cellphones that belonged gunman, Stephen Paddock. And second, garage records show that during a period when Paddock's car left the hotel garage, one of his key cards was used to get into his room. While there are several possible explanations for these anomalies, investigators said they "want to get to the bottom of it."
It gets better: according to Paddock's IRS records, the gunman was not only a legacy millionaire, he was a successful gambler, earning at least $5 million in 2015. Some of that could be from other investments, but most of it was from gambling, officials told NBC.
Separately, and this goes to Paddock's potential ISIS links which the Islamic State has tripled down on over the past week, CNN reports that in addition to his frequent forays into casinos and gun shops, Las Paddock took 20 cruises, many of them in Europe and the Middle East. In addition to stops at ports in Spain, Italy, Greece, the cruises also stopped in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, according to information provided by a law enforcement source. Paddock's girlfriend, Marilou Danley, accompanied him on nine of the cruises.
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