Ford Motor Company to invest $500 million in EV startup Rivian

The Ford Motor Company announced that it has invested $500 million in Rivian, an electronic vehicle (EV) startup. Ford will build an EV using Rivian's technology the two companies announced.

The new vehicle's production will not have any effects on two other EV's Ford is developing an EV version of the popular F-150 and the Mustang-inspired crossover according to Ford CEO Jim Hackett.

The announcement

In addition to the investment the companies have agreed to work together to create an all-new next-generation battery electirc vehicle for Ford's growing number of EV vehicles using Rivian's skateboard platform. RJ Scaringe, founder and CEO of Rivian said: “This strategic partnership marks another key milestone in our drive to accelerate the transition to sustainable mobility. Ford has a long-standing commitment to sustainability, with Bill Ford being one of the industry's earliest advocates, and we are excited to use our technology to get more electric vehicles on the road.”

Bill Ford, Ford's executive chair, said: “We are excited to invest in and partner with Rivian,” said Bill Ford, Ford’s executive chairman. I have gotten to know and respect RJ, and we share a common goal to create a sustainable future for our industry through innovation.”

Few details about the new vehicle

Although few details about the new car have been released it will use RIvian's "flexible skateboard platform" that includes the battery pack, the electric drive-train, and the electrical architecture that will power also Rivian's own EVs. At present these include the R1T electric pickup an the R1S SUV both scheduled to arrive late next year. Ford will also gain a minority stake in Rivian through its investment.

Although Ford has decided what kind of vehicle it will build on the Rivian platform, it has yet to specify what it will be.

Rivian received investment from Amazon

Only two months back, Rivian announced there had been a $700 million investment in the company spearheaded by Amazon. Rivian also had talks with GM but it is reported Rivian backed out of an exclusive deal. However, Scaringe claimed that Rivian was making several models for other companies. The deal with Ford is looser. Scaringe said that the company is very much focused on the relationships it has developed along with launching its own products. It wants to make sure it executes on deals.

Ford is committed to large investments in EVs

Ford Motors announced previously that it will invest $11 billion into the development of EVs. An all-electric Mustang-style crossover is scheduled to be revealed later this year. Joe Hinrichs, Ford's president of automotive operations said: “We have a lot of experience in electrification. But there’s also a lot we don’t know, and there’s also things we can still learn. We don’t have all the answers, and we don’t pretend to.” Hinrich said that Ford has a lot to learn from Rivian. Hinrich will serve on Rivian's board of directors.

Hinrich claimed that the deal with Rivian represented an opportunity to get a new EV on the market faster and cheaper than if it had developed one on its own from the ground up. Scaringe said: “One of the great benefits you get from working with a startup company like Rivian, with RJ personally, is the opportunity to go faster. So speed is an important part of this...There’s absolutely an opportunity for us to learn from Ford in terms of their manufacturing expertise, particularly when it comes to lightweight structures, and, of course, how they effectively manage production."

Previously published in Digital Journal

Foirmer Tesla chief engineer for Model 3 becomes CEO of Lucid Motors

The former chief engineer in charge of development of the Tesla Model S sedan, Peter Rawlinson, has now taken over as CEO of the EV startup Lucid Motors as the former CEO has retired.

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Rawlinson was already at Lucid

Rawlinson left Tesla in 2013 and joined Lucid Motors as the chief technology officer. He will retain that post. The announcement said in part: "Since joining Lucid in 2013, Rawlinson has held the position of Chief Technology Officer, being responsible for all design and engineering activities, including Lucid’s first car, the all-electric Lucid Air luxury sedan."

Robertson said: “It is an honor to be appointed CEO of Lucid at such an exciting time for the company and the industry. While the convergence of new technologies is reshaping the automobile, the full potential has yet to be realized, inhibiting the pace at which sustainable mobility and energy are adopted. Lucid has the product vision, the core in-house technology, and the depth of talent to realize this potential. Working collaboratively, our outstanding team will create landmark future products, commencing with Lucid Air in 2020.”

The co-founder and CEO Sam Weng founded the company back in 2007 as "Atieva" and was focused on developing and making batteries for electric vehicles. It began to change its focus on electric cars in 2016 and underwent a name change as well to Lucid Motors. It still uses the name Atieva for some of the battery technology.

Saudi Arabian wealth fund is investing in Lucid

In September of 2018 the company announced that Saudi Arabia's wealth fund would invest more than $1 billion into Lucid.

The announcement came a month before the murder by some Saudis associated with the government of Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post journalist. In late October Lucid attended the Saudi Arabia hosted "Davos in the Desert" even though a number firms bowed out after the murder.

The Lucid Air

The EV Lucid is producing is called the Air. It is a luxury all-electric EV. The company promises it will have the long range of 400 miles on a charge. It will be able to accelerate from 0 to 60 miles per hour in jut 2.5 seconds.It will have a huge 1,000 horsepower. It will be very costly with the first units costing over $100,000. The company is hoping to make about 50 Lucid Airs by the end of next year. Rawlinson claims a fleet of test cars are to be built later this year.

Eventually Lucid plans to release cheaper version and it is also developing an all-electric SUV.

Production of Air is behind schedule

Originally, it was announced that the Air would go into production in 2018. It was to build a $700 million factory in Arizona but had problems lining up funding to build it. The Saudi Arabian investment helped the company overcome its problems. The company had two agreements in 2017 where it used it intellectual property as collateral for loans to help deal with its cash crunch. The company now plans to break ground on its Arizona plant within the next two months. Rawlinson said that during its "fallow period" the company was still able to make significant advances in technology especially with respect to the Air's electric motor.

The car is capable of incredible speeds as shown on the appended video. More information on Lucid Motors can be found at Wikipedia.

Previously published in Digital Journal

CIA claims Huawei gets funding from Chinese government agencies

The UK newspaper, The Times citing a UK source says that the US Central Intelligence Agency told UK intelligence services Huawei gets funds from the People's Liberation Army, China's National Security Commission and a 3rd intelligence branch.

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Other Five Eyes nations were also informed

The Five Eyes intelligence group is described by WIkileaks as follows: "The Five Eyes, often abbreviated as FVEY, is an anglophone intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. These countries are parties to the multilateral UKUSA Agreement, a treaty for joint cooperation in signals intelligence.[1][2][3]The origins of the FVEY can be traced back to the post–World War II period, when the Atlantic Charter was issued by the Allies to lay out their goals for a post-war world. During the course of the Cold War, the ECHELON surveillance system was initially developed by the FVEY to monitor the communications of the former Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc, although it is now used to monitor billions of private communications worldwide.[4][5]"

Recent documents of the FVEY show that the group are intentionally spying on each other's citizens and sharing the information with each other. This is done to circumvent restrictive regulations or bans on domestic spying. So those restrictions become null and void and the arrangement in effect allows members to freely spy on their own citizens. Shami Chakrabarti, director of the advocacy group Liberty claims that the arrangement allows member states to subcontract their dirty work. Edward Snowden revealed a considerable amount about the way FVEY works. He ended up having to flee to Russia to avoid prosecution. Snowden described FVEY as a supra-national intelligence organisation that doesn't answer to the laws of its own countries. Indeed part of its function is to circumvent them.

The CIA is said to have “awarded a strong but not iron-cast classification of certainty” to its findings.

The US actions against Huawei

The US has urged other countries and the EU as a whole to ban Huawei from 5G networks. But as a recent article notes they have never provided any concrete evidence. Now the US obviously providing "evidence" from their own intelligence presumably to other intelligence agencies such as those in the UK. The Chinese response seems reasonable in that there has been no concrete significant public evidence produced. The US is introducing evidence claims through intelligence reports which the public has no means of confirming. The US has even threatened to withhold intelligence from those countries that use Huawei 5G equipment. Australia one of the five eyes has agreed with the US banning government use of Huawei equipment. However, so far the UK has not acted to ban Huawei.

The EU does want to increase security around 5G networks, but it hasn’t proposed a ban on Huawei equipment. However, as a recent Digital Journal article reports the UK has identified further risks from Huawei.

Huawei reactions

As well as denying the US government charges, China has filed a suit at the federal level. The US also ordered the arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver Canada. She is subject to an extradition process to face charges of sanctions violations laid in the US. She has sued the Canadian government over her arrest as well as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

Unlike the US, Huawei's Meng Wanzhou shows little fear of US based Apple's products. When arrested she had a MacBook, an iPhone, and an iPad. On the latest revelations Huawei said it “did not comment on unsubstantiated allegations backed up by zero evidence from anonymous sources.”

Huawei has recently offered Germany a "no-spy agreement" and urged the Chinese government to do so also as reported in a recent Digital Journal article. A March Digital journal article discusses Huawei as a security risk and measures that can be used to lessen security risks.

Equipment from countries other than China could be security risks

Other countries than China notable the United States and no doubt many others also produce equipment that are subject to security risks some even worse than spying. Consider the Iran Stuxnet virus case. which not only gathered information but causing centrifuges to tear themselves apart. If Iran had done something similar to the US it would probably have been attacked and the attack seen as an act of war. The the attack was probably carried out by the Equation Group described in part by Wikipedia as follows: "The Equation Group, classified as an advanced persistent threat, is a highly sophisticated threat actor suspected of being tied to the Tailored Access Operations (TAO) unit of the United States National Security Agency (NSA).[1][2][3] Kaspersky Labs describes them as one of the most sophisticated cyber attack groups in the world and "the most advanced ... we have seen", operating alongside but always from a position of superiority with the creators of Stuxnet and Flame.[4][5] Most of their targets have been in Iran, Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Syria, and Mali.[5]"

Kaspersky has uncovered hundreds of examples of their malicious software no doubt one of the reasons the US has attacked Kaspersky alongside the fact it has links to Russia. The US bans the government and its agencies from using Kaspersky security software which is highly rated. Not everyone agrees that it was a good idea to ban Kaspersky from the US government and agencies. A Wired article notes: "Kaspersky is an industry leader on endpoint security and cyber threat intelligence. Security researchers often rely on the company's high-quality analysis of cyber threat groups, especially those from Russia. Today, the issue is one company, but plenty of technology firms have ties to intelligence services and governments. If this ban moves ahead, it is easy to foresee its use against Chinese, French, or Israeli firms. If such bans come, these firms’ national governments will be sure to make US tech firms share the pain, with retributive discrimination against US products."

One can see the US acting against Chinese firms as it is with Huawei but I imagine Israel has little to worry about. The US could end up not sharing in cutting edge advances of technology as Huawei is at the forefront of developing 5G technology. The US may find itself falling behind in part because of its own security policies.

Previously published in the Digital Journal

Tesla gets a restraining order against a Tesla short seller

(April 21) Randeep Hothi a prominent critic on Twitter of Tesla has been hit with a restraining order by the Alameda County Superior Court in California last Friday.

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Tesla's claims against Hothi

Tesla claims that Hothi "stalked, harassed, and endangered" three of its employees who were driving the Model 3 on a Bay Area highway this last week. Tesla claims Hothi "pursued these employees on the public highway for about 35 minutes, variously driving ahead of beside, and behind them, and swerving dangerously close to the vehicle" Tesla even claims that once the swerve was so close to the Model 3 that the car's crash avoidance system was set off.

Tesla also makes claims that this February Hothi struck one of its employees, while trespassing and surveilling Tesla's Fremont California factory. The claim says Hothi did not stop and fled the scene.

Restraints on Hothi

Hothi is required to stay at least 100 yards away from Tesla's factory in Fremont and also from the employees named in the restraining order. He must also stay at least 10 yards away from any Tesla vehicle with manufacturer plates within five miles of the factory. The order is effective up until May 7th when a hearing is scheduled. Neither Tesla nor Hothi have responded when asked for comments on the order.

@skabooshka on Twitter

Hothi posts on Twitter under the username @skabooshka. He published images of the Model 3 on Thursday. He said there were cameras mounted to the rear and inside the car. Hothi believes that photographs were being taken ahead of the April 22 Autonomy Investor Day event.Hothi also claimed that he saw the car violate speed limits. He said the car performed simple tasks such as lane changes implying that Tesla would misrepresent the footage on Monday.

Tesla short-sellers are a lively presence on Twitter

Short-sellers are those who in effect bet money on a stock declining in value. They sell stock on loan or that they have and then when the price declines they buy them back but paying a lower price so they can pocket the different. The practice is called selling short. Usually people buy stock in the hope it goes up or go long rather than go short. Naturally Tesla short sellers do everything they can to cast Tesla in a bad light and hope the stock price goes down. Those who think that a stock price will go up are called bulls. Those who think it will go down are called bears. On the appended video a bear is interviewed about Tesla stock.

The Tesla short-sellers on Twitter use the hashtag #TSLAQ, They try to identify fraudulent activity by Tesla and also outspoken Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Hothi and others have often posted photos of Tesla employee parking lots to gauge whether the company is operating at full capacity. They also photographs lots where inventory is held to find out demand. Tesla's crowd-sourced research also often ends up at the website tslaq.org.

Musk responds to short-sellers

Musk seems to enjoy fighting with the short-seller. He has promised to burn them a number of times by ensuring his stock goes up. By filing the restraining order Musk has now outed one of the most prominent of the short sellers. Musk is known for tweets on social media that are outspoken and some of which have gotten him into trouble.

Previously published in the Digital Journal

Peace talks on Afghanistan in Qatar postponed indefinitely

The Qatari government which is hosting peace talks with the US, Taliban and Afghan representatives announced that the talks are postponed indefinitely as they never even started even though they were scheduled to begin earlier this week.

A big blow to peace efforts

US and Taliban representatives have been working for months to arrange the talks. The Taliban refuse to negotiate with the Afghan government as they consider it a puppet of the United States. This is probably behind the problems as the Afghan government has been a drag on the process. This move may have stopped the process altogether. It certainly has for now as no dates to resume the talks have been set.

The probable cause of the situation

The Afghan government appointed a large 250 member delegation but when they arrived at the airport the government stopped their departure. No reason was given for the action. Some signs are the Afghan president Ghani was annoyed that many of those chosen to attend the talks were not his direct allies. The delegation included many other political factions other than his own and his allies. No doubt without such a selection the Taliban would not have agreed to the talks. A Taliban spokesperson also complained of the size of the delegation. A commentator on the appended video suggests this as part of the cause for the talks not taking place.

Another account of the situation

Another article notes that Sultan Barakat who is director of the Qatar Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies which is sponsoring the talks said the postponement was necessary to build further confidence as to who should participate in the talks.

The talks were scheduled to begin on Friday and were considered a significant step in finding a solution to end the war and for the eventual withdrawal of US troops ending America's longest lasting war.

A senior official claimed that the problem was that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani opposed a list of participants announced by Barakat's organization, a list of 243 people announced by Qatar on Thursday. Ghani has submitted his own list of 250 people which an official said contained many more women. No doubt they along with the others were allies of Ghani. The Taliban will not recognize any officials sent as part of the government except as ordinary Afghans. A Taliban spokesperson questioned the size of the delegation.

It seems clear that Afghan government will sabotage the talks if president Ghani does not get the Afghan representatives he wants to be there. However, if he does it is not clear the Taliban will agree to the talks. Perhaps there will be pressure on Ghani to agree to a compromise as it seems reasonable that groups other than Ghani's allies should represent Afghans at the talks. If all the Afghans are Ghani supporters it is not clear that even if the Taliban accept them that there would be any progress possible. It is clear that a consensus about which Afghans and how many should take part in the talks is needed.

Published earlier in Digital Journal

Venezuela funnels oil money through Rosneft to avoid US sanctions

Venezuela's president Nicolas Maduro is funneling funds from the sale of Venezuelan oil through the Russian state energy giant Rosneft. This avoids the sanctions the US has designed to economically cripple Venezuela and drive Maduro from power.

How the system works

The Moscow Times describes how the system works: "Under the scheme uncovered by Reuters, Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA has started passing invoices from its oil sales to Rosneft. The Russian energy giant pays PDVSA immediately at a discount to the sale price – avoiding the usual 30-to-90 day timeframe for completing oil transactions – and collects the full amount later from the buyer, according to the documents and sources. "PDVSA is delivering its accounts receivable to Rosneft," said a source at the Venezuelan state firm with knowledge of the deals, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation."

The sales are the latest sign of the growing dependence of Venezuela's cash-strapped government on Russia. As the US tries to uses economic warfare against Venezuela it is only natural that Venezuela will be driven into the waiting arms of Russia. The US is responsible in effect for the increasing presence of Russia in Venezuela. China will be interested in developing closer relations with Venezuela too as this anti-Maduro article notes.

Venezuela's economy was already suffering from years of depression with a sharp decline in oil production and oil prices. It had been struggling to finance imports and government spending. Washington has added to Venezuela's problem by waging what is in effect economic warfare on the state. There were tough restrictions placed on the state oil company PDVSA in January this year, added to the sanctions and other measures the US has taken.

As a recent Digital Journal report notes US economic warfare now involves sanctioning the Venezuelan Central Bank: "Treasury is designating the Central Bank of Venezuela to prevent it from being used as a tool of the illegitimate Maduro regime, which continues to plunder Venezuelan assets and exploit government institutions to enrich corrupt insiders," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement that accompanied Bolton's speech."

Oil exports crucial for Venezuelan economy

Oil makes up more than 90 percent of exports from Venezuela , a member of OPEC. Income from oil exports constitutes the majority of the state's income. Maduro is right when he accuses the US of waging economic warfare against Venezuela. It is.

This his forced Maduro to try and use US adversaries to circumvent US actions especially a ban on clients paying PDVSA in dollars. Maduro has been in talks with Russia to get around the ban since January. Russia has publicly condemned the US actions as illegal and said it would work with Venezuela to get around them.

Major buyers of Venezuelan oil such as India's Reliance Industries PDVSA's largest cash-paying client has been asked to take part in the scheme by paying Rosneft for its oil. Perhaps the US will now sanction banks dealing with Rosneft. Rosneft did not reply to a request for comment. Venezuela' oil ministry and its information ministry did not respond either.

Russia has a large steak in Venezuela oil

Russia loaned Venezuela almost $16 billion since 2006. The loans are being repaid in oil shipments. Russia has also taken significant stakes in petroleum products. The unusual payment arrangement with Rosneft is one of a series of devices the Maduro government has adopted to obtain cash. This has included selling off Central Bank gold reserves. The UK has refused the Venezuelan government access to its own funds and the US is also keeping Venezuela from its own cash as described in a January Digital Journal article. However, US officials are frustrated at Maduro's ability to counter some of the US economic warfare features. Officials had been hoping for a more dramatic impact that would result in the overthrow of Maduro and the success of their coup with leader Juan Guaido.

Economic warfare has created a crisis in Venezuela

Many western countries have joined in support of the US attempted coup although the UN still recognizes the Maduro regime and agencies such as the Red Cross are working with the Maduro government. Russia, China, Cuba, and others have defended Maduro at the UN. They have provided assistance as well with Russia providing military assistance. This has riled up the US. The US has its own policies to blame for resulting in Russian and Chinese investment in Venezuela which has resulted in their strong support for Maduro. Venezuelan oil exports have halved from the 2.8 million barrels per day when former president Hugo Chavez launched his revolution two decades ago.

Yet the Venezuelan people have so far been able to resist US aggression and fend off the attempted coup. Russia has been a big help in making this possible much to the annoyance of the US.

Rosneft playing a key role in Venezuelan oil

Rosneft has been a key investor in Venezuelan oil. In February of this year, Rosneft estimated its stakes in Venezuelan projects at $2.11 billion. Now Rosneft is also helping by providing cash that will keep PDVSA operational. It can use its large trading division to give it the flexibility to collect from PDVSA clients.

Some within PDVSA are angry with the costs of dealing with Rosneft according to a source, anonymous of course: "Rosneft is buying our oil for cheap and selling us very expensive fuel in exchange. We always owe them money." The PDVSA really has no choice if it wants to exports its oil at all. Why does the source not mention US sanctions as a factor. Without US sanctions Rosneft would not be able to do what it is doing. It would be uneconomical.

The US feels it has some right under the Monroe doctrine to itself exploit Venezuelan oil. While it believes its policies will force Venezuela to return to the arms of the United States it is actually forcing Venezuela into the arms of Russia and China.

Previously published in the Digital Journal

US to allow some lawsuits against foreign companies connected to properties seized from US firms

Both Canada and the UK vowed yesterday that they will protect their business from the new Trump policy which will allow lawsuits against foreign companies connected to properties seized from American firms during the Cuban revolution.

Canada warns US move could create chaos and uncertainty

Canada warned that the move would create chaos and uncertainty in North American boardrooms and courtrooms. The Trump administration followed through on a long time threat to allow legal action. This move places many Canadian resource, tourism and financial services companies at risk in US courts.

About a million Canadians take annual vacations in Cuba. Sherritt International has been in Cuba for ages. European countries also have Cuban interest including Britain, France, and Spain that are active in rum, cigars, and tourism.

The EU ambassador to Cuba, Alberta Navarro immediately claimed that the extraterritorial application of the U.S. embargo is illegal and also contrary to international law. He also considered it immoral.

Foreign Affairs minister Freeland and EU's Mogherini respond

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said in a joint statement with Federica Mogherini and EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom: "The EU and Canada consider the extraterritorial application of unilateral Cuba-related measures contrary to international law. Our respective laws allow any U.S. claims to be followed by counter-claims in European and Canadian courts, so the U.S. decision to allow suits against foreign companies can only lead to an unnecessary spiral of legal actions."

The CBC reported: "Canada is "deeply disappointed" with the Trump administration's decision to allow lawsuits against foreign firms operating on properties Cuba seized from Americans after the 1959 revolution, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said Wednesday." Mike Pompeo that US Secretary of State he will not renew a bar on litigation that has been in place for two decades. Lawsuits can be filed starting on May 2 when the present bar ends. Imagine this is happening sixty years after the revolution. The US never gives up on harassing Cuba.

Freeland said the Canadian government has regularly met with US officials ever since January when the issue resurfaced. In a recent trip to Washington she urged Mike Pompeo not to resurrect Title III of the Helms-Burton Act that allows Americans to sue foreign companies linked to Cuban properties confiscated after the 1959 revolution.

US Justice Department already has certified merited claims worth $8 billion

Kimberly Brier, head of the State Dept. America's branch said the US Justice Department has certified about 6,000 claims as having merit for legal action. She believes there could be as many as 200,000 uncertified claims worth tens of billions.

On Wednesday Pompeo said: "Any person or company doing business in Cuba should heed this announcement."

Sherritt Gordon responds

The director of investor relations for Sherritt, Joe Racanelli, said in an email: "Implementation of Title III is not expected to have any material impact on Sherritt or our operations in Cuba." He said it was "business as usual" for its drilling and exploration projects.

Mark Agnes the director of international policy for the Canadian Chamber of Commerce was less optimistic claiming that the move had opened up a giant Pandora's Box. He said many Canadian firms are privately suggesting they fear they will be targeted by a policy they have not had to deal with for decades.

Foreign legislation passed not recognizing Title III judgments

The Canada Foreign Extraterritorial Measures Act as amended in January 1997 provides that any judgment under the Helms-Burton Act will not be recognized or be enforced in any manner in Canada. Other countries have passed similar legislation. It will be very difficult for the US to collect for any claims found justified. The US law came into force in 1996 but then president Bill Clinton postponed the implementation of Title III after Canada, the EU and Mexico lobbied against it. Subsequent presidents have renewed the exemption every six months until Trump's decision.

Aim of the decision

The decision is meant to punish foreign firms who have carried on operating in Cuba in spite of the US ban and also to discourage further foreign business development in the country. What is more likely is that it will even add to the irritants that the US has lately caused some of its allies. It may also provide a boon for lawyers without compensation for those filing suits.

Previously published in the Digital Journal

Huawei said to offer Germany a "no spy" agreement

Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei offered Germany a "no-spy agreement" designed to address security concerns that Germany has over Huawei's involvement in building Germany's next generation 5G mobile infrastructure, a German magazine has reported.

Statement of Huawei CEO Ren Zhenfei

The German magazine Wirtschaftwoche quoted the Huawei CEO as saying: "Last month, we talked to the German Interior Ministry and said that we were ready to sign a no-spy agreement with the German government and to promise that Huawei will not install any backdoors in the networks." Zengfei urged the Chinese government to sign a similar no-spy agreement and also to adhere to the European Union data protection laws.

Germany sets out tougher rules for vendors

Last month Germany set tougher criteria for vendors supplying network equipment but it stopped short of singling out Huawei for special treatment. Instead, it said the same rules should apply to all vendors. That appears to be a wise fair policy avoiding the ban on Huawei that the US has been pressing European countries to carry out.

US warnings and Huawei response

The US has been using secret intelligence gathering methods to gain info on Huawei as described in a recent Digital Journal article: "US authorities gathered information on Huawei Technologies through secret surveillance obtained under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to use in a case that charges the company with violating US sanctions against Iran." Perhaps the surveillance was also used with respect to 5G network technology.

The UK has also raised security concerns as discussed in another Digital Journal article: ""Further significant technical issues have been identified in Huawei's engineering processes, leading to new risks in the UK telecommunications networks," read annual findings from the Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre (HCSEC) oversight board."

Huawei's main response is to simply deny that there are any security problems and claim that the US has yet to show any hard evidence that there are problems. Huawei argued that even if there were a risk there are ways to mitigate such risks. Earlier in March Huawei even brought a lawsuit against the US government ban on its products, claiming the ban was unconstitutional.

Germany faces tough opposition from the US as it considers adopting Huawei technology, as discussed by Bloomberg.

Previously published in the Digital Journal

Trump's peace plan unlikely to include independent Palestine state

The final version of president Donald Trump's Middle East peace plan has not been completed according to officials. However, indications are that the plan will probably give Israel all it wants with Palestinians getting little or nothing. Peace plan will probably stop short of Palestinian statehood A recent article notes: "President Trump’s proposal for a “deal of the century” to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict promises practical improvements in the lives of Palestinians but is likely to stop short of ensuring a separate, fully sovereign Palestinian state, according to people familiar with the main elements of the effort." The lack of Palestinian statehood is likely to be followed by annexation of West Bank territory. The Palestinians are not likely to get any real self determination. An an article in the Times of Israel shows that the US is not going to pay equal attention to the needs of the Palestinians: "As White House readies its peace proposal, senior official dismisses the need for equivalency as a ‘vestige of talking points from decades ago’. While early talk was that Trump intended to give the Palestinians something at some point, more recently the administration has said the plan will be deliberately biased against the Palestinians, just to prove that the US is supportive of Israel." A senior US official said that the White House views its role as that of a facilitator. The official rejected the notion of equivalency. The TImes article notes: "Rather, the administration is proudly supportive of Israel and does not feel the need to try to counterbalance any pro-Israel statement with some carrots for the Palestinians, or to add a line about Palestinian grievances every time it laments Israeli victims of terror attacks, according to the senior official." If the Palestinians reject the deal, as they probably will this will give Israel ammunition to claim that they have no partner willing to negotiate with them. US paints plan in positive hues Former Trump lawyer Jason Greenblatt, who would lead negotiator to any talks, tweeted to Palestinian leaders last week: “To the PA: Our plan will greatly improve Palestinian lives & create something very different than what exists. It’s a realistic plan to thrive/prosper even if it means compromises. It’s not a ‘sell out’ — if the plan isn’t realistic, no one can deliver it.” Jared Kushner who helped draft the plan and sell it to Arab nations such as Saudi Arabia said: “What we’ve tried to do is figure out what is a realistic and what is a fair solution to the issues here in 2019 that can enable people to live better lives." Previously published in the Digital Journal Trump mideast peace ...  Israel Palestine rel...  Palestine statehood

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