[YouTube] Lei’s Real Talk: As tensions rise across East Asia, a quieter shift may already be unfolding inside South Korea. From real estate acquisitions in strategic locations to growing influence in media, academia, and online discourse, concerns are mounting over how deeply Beijing’s reach extends into Korean society. With nearly a million Chinese nationals living in South Korea, expanding access to residency and voting rights, and increasing economic dependence, some analysts warn that influence is no longer external—it may already be shaping decisions from within. This episode breaks down the networks, the numbers, and the strategic implications behind what some are calling a “Beijing presence” in Seoul—and why it could matter far beyond the Korean Peninsula.
[Breitbart] Republican lawmakers in the United States have accused the European Union of intervening to subvert Hungary’s democratic process, putting its thumb on the scale against Prime Minister Viktor Orbán as he seeks re-election on Sunday.
New Jersey Congressman Chris Smith and Maryland Representative Andy Harris wrote to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen — who controls the unelected federal branch of the European Union — accusing Brussels of using its financial and other powers to pressure Hungarian voters into backing a more pro-EU government.
It comes as Prime Minister Orbán faces his toughest re-election campaign since coming to power 16 years ago, amid economic difficulties stemming in large part from the war in neighbouring Ukraine and from financial sanctions imposed by the EU on Hungary over so-called "rule of law" violations.
In total, the EU is currently withholding around €18 billion ($21.11bn) in funds from Hungary, including for domestic legislation restricting the promotion of LGBT content on children’s television and for barring lewd public demonstrations, such as gay Pride parades. Hungary is also facing the prospect of hefty fines for refusing to take in illegal migrants from other EU countries, which Budapest has argued is a punishment for having secured its borders while others failed or refused to.
Republican Representatives Smith and Harris said that the EU’s "persistence and timing of these measures—particularly during an electoral period—have reinforced perceptions that they are being applied in a politically selective manner.
"This perception is strengthened by the case of Poland, in which the EU put similar pressures against a conservative government — and then cynically dropped its pressures entirely as soon as a progressive government was in power in Poland, without that government having made the rule-of-law changes that the EU had previously demanded. The cumulative effect is to create the appearance that EU institutions seek to strongly shape the political environment of a member state during a democratic election," they wrote.
#3
Swalwell turned out not to be as untouchable as he thought that he was.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/12/2026 4:20 Comments ||
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#4
pretty sure that the major media outlets in SF-Oakland knew all about Swalwell's behavior since 2016 or so.
but they kept quiet because he's a Democrat
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
04/12/2026 10:18 Comments ||
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#5
Interesting allegations. I suspect cover to avoid deeper probes into just exactly how many congress critters were/are on the take for China in some fashion. Couldn’t have that played out in public.
I’ve covered Eric Swawell since he was a member of the Dublin City Council. Shortly after being elected to Congress in 2013, his behavior towards women was known by all levels of our local government and the Alameda County Democratic Party.
#7
a few minutes ago, swalwell called off his run for Governor
will be newspaper headlines tomorrow am
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
04/12/2026 21:03 Comments ||
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#8
Thank you for being on top of that for us, Lord Garth. May his retirement be precisely as hellish as he deserves. A successful prosecution for something or other would not go amiss, as well.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
