NEW ZEALAND - New Zealand has been rocked by a 6.6 magnitude earthquake off its east coast just days after a string of quakes in the same region sparked tsunami fears and mass evacuations. A series of tremors were recorded on Tuesday morning - four days after two powerful earthquakes triggered evacuations along a 100-mile stretch of the country's coast. The most significant was a quake off the north-east coast with a 6.6 magnitude recorded at 8.35am local time. A less powerful 4.9 magnitude tremor was felt further away from the mainland in the Kermadec Islands region north of New Zealand a minute later at 8.36am. No tsumani warnings have so far been issued.

SWITZERLAND - Always seeming to have a front row seat when tragedy approaches, Schwab’s proximity to world-altering events likely owes to his being one of the most well-connected men on Earth. As the driving force behind the World Economic Forum, “the international organization for public-private cooperation,” Schwab has courted heads of state, leading business executives, and the elite of academic and scientific circles into the Davos fold for over 50 years. More recently, he has also courted the ire of many due to his more recent role as the frontman of the Great Reset, a sweeping effort to remake civilization globally for the express benefit of the elite of the World Economic Forum and their allies. The last question that should be asked about the real motivations behind the actions of Herr Schwab, may be the most important for the future of humanity: Is Klaus Schwab trying to create the Fourth Industrial Revolution, or is he trying to create the Fourth Reich?

CHINA - Sometime between 2015 and 2020, China’s Navy crossed a critical threshold: it fielded more battle force ships than the US Navy, making it the world’s latest navy numerically. Today, at around 360 hulls, it exceeds its American rival by more than sixty warships. The gap continues to grow rapidly. And China has two other fleets subordinated to its armed forces: the Coast Guard and Maritime Militia. In total: three sea forces, each the world’s largest numerically, that total over 700 ships even by conservative accounting.

CHINA - An arms race is heating up in the seas around East Asia - the US is planning to increase its military spending aiming to contain China, while Beijing is set to secure its regional periphery from encirclement. China’s governing party announced on Friday that it would be increasing the country’s annual defence spending by 6.8 percent – taking it up to a total of $280 billion – and affirming its strong opposition to “Taiwan separatism”.

CHINA - China’s state-run Global Times reported on Friday that the Communist government plans to increase carbon emissions for at least nine more years. Many Western environmentalists claim to believe China’s promises to cut back on pollution, even as the Chinese litter the world with coal-burning, carbon-spewing power plants and plan for industrial growth that is wholly inconsistent with a sharp turn to “green energy.”

The latest pronouncements from Beijing flatter that illusion while maintaining an unwavering determination to generate as much power as it takes to fulfill the Communist Party’s industrial goals, by any means necessary — including extensive use of nuclear power plants, ostensibly the greatest sin against Western environmentalism.

The Global Times pretended China still plans to “peak” its carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and become “carbon neutral” by 2060, but even that pretense included a clear declaration that China dramatically increased its reliance on nuclear power instead of fiddling around with solar panels and windmills. China insists its nuclear plants are the safest and most advanced in the world.

USA - Freedom House on Wednesday released the 2021 edition of its annual Freedom in the World report, charting an alarming “deterioration of democracy” around the world in 2020. The report cited the “malign influence of the regime in China” as one of the most “profound” factors in the rising tide of authoritarianism. Of course, the pandemic that swept out of China to destabilize the world was a major factor as well, and it was a powerful force multiplier for the identified malevolence of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

GERMANY - The German government will be constructing a house of worship for all faiths in Berlin, at a site where a church was torn down in East Germany by the Soviet Union while the side was under occupation, following the end of World War II. The House of One in Berlin, being referred to as "churmosquagogue," is intended to bring those of all faiths and no faiths together as a sign of coexistence and solidarity, according to a report by The Guardian. “The idea is pretty simple,” said Christian theologian Roland Stolte, one of the organizers of the project, according to The Guardian. “We wanted to build a house of prayer and learning, where these three religions could co-exist while each retaining their own identity," he said. “There are many different ways to God, and each is a good way," said Andreas Nachama, a rabbi involved with the project, according to the report. “It is more than a symbol. It is the start of a new era where we show there is no hate between us.”

GERMANY - Not since the demise of Nazi Germany have fears — and ambitions — of a so-called “Fourth Reich” reached their current level of intensity, according to the author of a new book. In “The Fourth Reich: The Specter of Nazism from World War II to the Present,” historian Gavriel D Rosenfeld brings his counterfactual “what if” approach to the idea of a new empire based on Nazi ideals. It’s a dystopian future founded on a decades-old phenomenon.

USA - California, and Southern California in particular, is bone dry. The calendar says spring officially begins with the equinox March 20, but the meteorological winter — consisting of December, January and February — is already in the record books. In other words, the wettest months are over. Let's take a look at where the Golden State stands. Downtown Los Angeles received 1.84 inches of rain in December, when it normally would get 2.33 inches. Some 2.44 inches of rain fell in January, when LA normally expects 3.12 inches. And just a trace (that is, not enough to be measured) fell in February, when 3.80 inches normally falls. January and February are normally the two wettest months in LA, after which the chances for rain diminish rapidly with the approach of spring and the end of the rainy season.

USA - I didn’t think that this would happen. A few years ago when the US national debt crossed the 20 trillion dollar mark, I didn’t think that it would ever get to 30 trillion. But at this moment the US national debt is around 28 trillion dollars, and our politicians in Washington are about to pass a 1.9 trillion dollar “relief bill”. We are going to have to borrow every single dollar that we spend in that bill, and that will be on top of all of the “normal” borrowing that we are already doing. So by the end of 2021, the US national debt will cross the 30 trillion dollar mark.

USA - Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced on Thursday he will join Texas state Senator Bryan Hughes on Friday to discuss the proposed bill prohibiting far left social media companies from censoring viewpoints. Governor Abbott follows Florida Governor Ron DeSantis who announced legislation in February that would prevent Twitter, Facebook-Instagram, Google-YouTube, Amazon, and Apple from censoring content or selling users’ data. According to a press release, Governor Abbott will be joined by Senator Bryan Hughes to discuss Senate Bill 12 (SB12) which “will help prohibit social media companies from censoring Texans based on the viewpoints they express.”“I am joining @SenBryanHughes to announce a bill prohibiting social media companies from censoring viewpoints. Too many social media sites silence conservative speech and ideas and trample free speech. It’s un-American, Un-Texan, & soon to be illegal. — Greg Abbott, March 5, 2021”

GERMANY - The German Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Verfassungsschutz) may not call the largest opposition party in the German parliament “suspect” of extremism, the Cologne District Court ruled Friday. The secret political police “may not term the plaintiff a 'suspect', surveil or monitor them, or make any public announcement to this effect”, the verdict read. Publicly denouncing a certain political party violates the principle of equal treatment, the Cologne court ruled, finding “indications that the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution violated its non-disclosure agreement, or did not ensure procedural information does not become public.” Alice Weidel, AfD co-chair in the Bundestag, commented: “This is a major setback for the Verfassungsschutz‘s dirty PR campaign. The propaganda onslaught against the AfD is now revealed to be nothing but mud slinging by the ruling parties. I wonder if the retraction will be as widely publicized as the announcement of the surveillance” of the AfD, Weidel wrote on Twitter.

USA - Can anyone just tell us who is running our federal government right now? A weird Tron video this week appeared to show Mr Biden interfacing with House Democrats in Congress. Digitally, of course. He droned on for a few minutes using scripted psycho-pablum, sitting alone at a table. The table was empty except for his instruction manual. As he spoke haltingly, he looked up at a giant screen from which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stared awkwardly, fake smiling. The digital president then opened the floor for questions. “I’m happy to take questions,” he said, pretending for a moment to actually be the leader of the free world. They immediately issued a long censorship “beep.”

USA - It is just a matter of time before one of the big volcanoes on the west coast erupts again. For years, I have been warning about Mount Rainier, and I will continue to sound the alarm about it. When it finally goes, the death and destruction it causes could be off the charts. Of course there are other volcanoes along the west coast that we need to be watching as well. Although it doesn’t receive as much attention as Mount Rainier, some experts are becoming concerned that Mount Hood could soon erupt. On Monday, dozens of earthquakes shook the volcano for 45 minutes, and the USGS is trying to calm the frayed nerves of nearby residents… Hopefully the USGS is correct in this instance.

USA - Cybersecurity firm FireEye has warned Americans that they’ll be targeted by the next big cyberattack, whether they know it or not. Disrupted supply chains and the chaos of cellular and internet networks crashing will follow. “The next conflict where the gloves come off in cyber, the American citizen will be dragged into it, whether they want to be or not. Period,” FireEye CEO Kevin Mandia told Axios on HBO on Sunday.