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Foreign ownership of US cropland is drawing attention from Washington as concern rises about possible threats to food supply chains and other national security risks.

The topic of China’s ownership of US farmlands is starting to boil over.

Six months after we reported that a “Bipartisan Bill Aims To Block Chinese Purchase Of US Farmland”, more are starting to pay attention yet as even Bloomberg notes that America “is seeing more and more of its most fertile land snapped up by China and other foreign buyers” the big problem remains: it’s difficult to know just how much farmland China has bought due to problem with how the US tracks such data.

Here’s what we do know: according to Department of Agriculture data foreign ownership and investment in US farmland, pastures and forests jumped to about 40 million acres in 2021, up 40% from 2016; but an analysis conducted by the US Government Accountability Office — a non-partisan watchdog that reports to Congress — found mistakes in the data, including the largest land holding linked with China being counted twice. Other challenges include the USDA’s reliance on foreigners self-reporting their activity.

As a result, foreign ownership of US cropland is drawing attention from Washington as concern rises about possible threats to food supply chains and other national security risks. And, as we reported last summer, lawmakers have called for a crackdown on sales of farmland to China and other nations.

Foreign investors own 37.6 million acres of U.S. agricultural land, which is 2.9% of all privately held agricultural land and 1.7% of all U.S. land.
(Source: USDA)

“Without improving its internal processes, USDA cannot report reliable information to Congress or the public about where and how much US agricultural land is held by foreign persons,” the report said.

The GAO made six recommendations, including that the USDA share more timely and complete data with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, an interagency panel led by the Treasury Department that reviews foreign business deals. And yet, with typical bureaucratic “speed”, it is certain that none of these will be implemented for years, in the meantime allowing Chinese state and private oligarchs to keep snapping up fertile US farmland.

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NATO Officially Mobilizes 90,000 Troops To Prepare For War With Russia, Warns Jack Posobiec

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Ron DeSantis has dropped out of the presidential race field and endorsed Donald Trump…….just like Vivek Ramaswamy did last week. The Florida governor, once considered a strong contender for the party’s nomination, quit ahead of […]

The post DeSantis Drops Out Of Presidential Race & Endorses Trump appeared first on The People’s Voice.

Russia has repeatedly warned that aid will only serve to prolong the conflict and any cargo entering Ukraine will be considered a legitimate military target.

The United States has already spent more than $113 billion providing military and other aid to Ukraine.

Russia has repeatedly warned that aid will only serve to prolong the conflict and any cargo entering Ukraine will be considered a legitimate military target.

National Security adviser Jake Sullivan and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told lawmakers during a private meeting that Russia could win the conflict in Ukraine in a matter of weeks or months if Congress does not approve additional aid for the Kiev regime, US media reported on Friday.

According to two people familiar with the meeting, via US media, the two high-ranking aides said that Ukraine will soon run out of air defense missiles and lose its artillery capabilities. One White House official described the description as “incredibly stark.”

In December, the US announced that it had allocated the last tranche of aid to Ukraine that has been approved by Congress.

“We have given now Ukraine the last security assistance package that we have funds to support right before New Year’s, right after Christmas. And we’ve got to get support from Congress so we can continue to do that,” Sullivan told reporters at the time.

Ukraine is facing more than a funding crisis, it is also facing a lack of personnel on the frontline. It was reported in Western media outlets last fall that the average age of a Ukrainian soldier had increased to 43 years. It also lifted restrictions on female soldiers, putting them into machine gunner, tank commander and other frontline roles.

Even with its air defense operational, Russia has shown its capability to hit targets all over the country.

Still, an influx of military aid for Ukraine could prolong the conflict longer, resulting in more deaths. For months, US President Joe Biden has demanded that Congress pass an additional $60 billion in aid, which would be the largest single package sent to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s special military operation.

While the US Senate has at times seemed ready to pass a compromise funding bill that would include Biden’s request, House Republicans have steadfastly blocked it, demanding significant border security reforms that most Democrats would have difficulty selling to their voter base.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is insisting that a border bill include stronger border barriers and reforms to make it easier to arrest and deport asylum seekers and undocumented migrants already living in the United States.

“We’re not insistent upon a particular name of a piece of legislation, but we are insistent that the elements have to be meaningful,” Speaker Johnson told reporters after the White House and Senate Democrats said they planned to reject a House-passed border bill.

“We understand that there’s concern about the safety, security, sovereignty of Ukraine, but the American people have those same concerns about our own domestic sovereignty, and our safety and our security,” he added.

There have also been signs of cracks behind the scenes between Ukraine and its biggest benefactor. In December, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky skipped a planned speech to the US Senate during which he was scheduled to make his pitch to lawmakers on why they should authorize more aid. When he finally did deliver a speech to lawmakers, on December 22, only 86 of 213 House Republicans showed for the speech and it was reported that those who did attend and were against the aid did not appear convinced.

Biden pledged that the United States would support Ukraine for as long as it took. But in the end, the choice could be taken out of his hands. Congress has turned against it, at least without major concessions on the border. NATO allies have openly opposed further aid. And with dozens – if not hundreds – of videos of Ukrainian Armed Forces forcing men into vans to be shipped to the front line, it’s not clear how many Ukrainians are still willing to fight for the Zelensky regime.

“People are being thrown out, thrown from the streets, the buses,” former Ukrainian diplomat Andrii Telizhenko told Sputnik’s Fault Lines on Wednesday. “Ukrainians don’t want to fight. And their laws are being broken by throwing them to military camps and then throwing them to the front lines right away, without any tactical experience at all.”

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NATO Officially Mobilizes 90,000 Troops To Prepare For War With Russia, Warns Jack Posobiec

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Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) is suffering its ‘worst heart care crisis in living memory’, experts have warned. Figures show what early deaths from heart disease have hit their highest level in more than a […]

The post Experts Warn Britain’s NHS Is Suffering Its ‘Worst Heart Care Crisis In Living Memory’ appeared first on The People’s Voice.

“(Trump) is going to make decisions on his own, without … I’m not even talking about Russia, but without both sides, without us,” said Zelensky. “If he says this publicly, that’s a little scary. I’ve seen a lot, a lot of victims, but that’s really making me a bit stressed.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has lashed out at former President Trump over his Ukraine stance and recent rhetoric, particularly the GOP presidential front-runner’s claim that he can negotiate peace between Kiev and Moscow within 24 hours.

Trump’s persistent statements saying he would intercede diplomatically and end the war has been met with mockery among top Ukrainian officials. Zelensky in a fresh interview with UK’s Channel 4 News has called Trump’s rhetoric “very dangerous”. 

“Donald Trump, I invite you to Ukraine, to Kyiv. If you can stop the war during 24 hours, I think it will be enough to come,” he said in the interview published Friday.

“(Trump) is going to make decisions on his own, without … I’m not even talking about Russia, but without both sides, without us,” Zelensky continued. “If he says this publicly, that’s a little scary. I’ve seen a lot, a lot of victims, but that’s really making me a bit stressed.”

The Ukrainian leader added: “Because even if his idea (for ending the war) – that no one has heard yet – doesn’t work for us, for our people, he will do anything to implement his idea anyway. And this worries me a little.” It was within this context Zelensky followed by saying this is “very dangerous.”

Trump has repeatedly pledged while doing campaign rallies, “I will have it solved within one day, a peace between them.”

The Biden White House has so far resisted any serious efforts to get Moscow at the same table talking to the Ukrainian side, given that realistically it would involve having to make territorial concessions.

The US has only supported Zelensky’s plan, which demands that Russian troops immediately given up all seized territory in eastern Ukraine, relinquish Crimea, and pay war reparations to the Kiev government.

Zelensky and his top officials were at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos this past week pushing for more countries, and especially representatives of the Global South, to get behind the plan.

Last week, Ukraine’s presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak said that Kiev now believes it is crucial for China to be at the table for future talks on its peace formula. “China needs to be involved in talks to end the war with Russia,” the Ukrainian top representative said following diplomatic meetings related to the WEF. China remains the most influential Global South country widely viewed as squarely in Russia’s corner, having refused to rebuke Moscow or join Western-led sanctions after two years of the conflict.

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NATO Officially Mobilizes 90,000 Troops To Prepare For War With Russia, Warns Jack Posobiec

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Harrison Smith lays out what this latest political development means for the 2024 election landscape and what comes next — tune in!

Harrison Smith breaks down Ron DeSantis dropping out of the 2024 election just days before the New Hampshire primary and what it means for the trajectory of the presidential race as Trump continues to surge. Tune in!

Tune into this live broadcast at MadMaxWorld.TV and spread the word!

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