Hello everyone, welcome to “Current Affairs Focus”. I am Jin Ran. Please subscribe to our channel, support us, like, leave comments, and share our program.
Today’s focus: Shanghai turns into a demon city – the apocalyptic scene of the biggest typhoon; Trump escapes another attack – gunman once planned to target Hong Kong students; Ukrainian military’s bizarre tactics disrupt Russia’s major counterattack – Ukrainian intelligence chief reveals Russia’s fears.
On Monday, China’s largest city, Shanghai, faced the strongest typhoon in 75 years, with wind speeds reaching up to level 14. This led to flight cancellations, closure of highways, and city streets in chaos.
Typhoon “Beijing” bypassed northern Taiwan, landing in Shanghai’s Pudong area on the morning of September 16. Local residents revealed that the night before the typhoon made landfall, the sky over Shanghai suddenly turned purple-red, giving the city a real “demon city” appearance. The scene during the typhoon’s arrival in Shanghai truly had the immediate sense of a doomsday blockbuster like “The Day After Tomorrow.”
As the typhoon approached, the 1000-ton damper installed on the 125th floor of the Shanghai Tower began to sway. The role of the dampers in skyscrapers is crucial to reduce building swaying significantly. With the arrival of typhoon “Beijing,” the damper in the Shanghai Tower swung over 1 meter. Let’s take a look.
The fierce winds and heavy rain from the typhoon uprooted many large trees in Shanghai, damaging numerous vehicles along the streets. Coming from Miami in the U.S., where I lived for several years and experienced hurricanes annually, it is a reminder: during typhoons or hurricanes, never take chances, especially stay indoors as it is very dangerous outside. Some captured footage shows vehicles being hit by falling trees, and pedestrians being trapped.
Aside from the danger of falling trees along the streets, the most unpredictable danger in typhoons is the possibility of various objects being swept into the air and falling at any moment. This typhoon also serves as an inspection of the building quality in Shanghai. Videos show that the most dangerous incidents involve billboards, high-rise walls, and steel windows being blown off.
Even without encountering objects falling from the typhoon, many Shanghai residents outdoors still find themselves in precarious situations amidst the strong winds.
Have you noticed that in every disaster, there are always some peculiar and amusing scenes to be found? This time, the most famous might be the man pictured below, enjoying a sky-high pool during the typhoon, with a rainfall massage extra – truly showcasing that as long as there is a sea in the heart, anywhere can be the Maldives.
But that’s not all, have you ever seen a wedding taking place during a typhoon? Witness the groom holding the bride, braving the storm for love.
By Monday afternoon, the typhoon gradually left Shanghai, continuing to wreak havoc in mainland China, particularly in Wuxi, Suzhou, Kunshan, and Nantong. For instance, in Nantong, Jiangsu on September 16, a truck almost toppled on a bridge, but was fortunately shielded by a larger vehicle from behind and safely left the scene.
The China Meteorological Administration stated that after making landfall, typhoon “Beijing” will continue to move west-northwestward. By the morning of September 17, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Sichuan Basin, and other areas are expected to experience heavy to torrential rains. Even areas such as Henan, Inner Mongolia, Shandong, Henan, and Anhui may face torrential rains, causing unpredictable disasters in large areas of China in the coming days.
As mentioned earlier, the state of Florida in the U.S. often faces hurricanes. While the weather is currently peaceful, a shooting incident targeting Trump on Sunday has stirred up a storm in American politics once again.
On September 15, former U.S. President Trump was playing golf at his golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida when he narrowly escaped a second shooting incident. The gunman, armed with an AK47 rifle equipped with a scope, was preparing to attack from a thicket about 300 meters away while Trump was at the 5th hole preparing to putt. A Secret Service agent promptly spotted the gunman and opened fire, causing the gunman to flee the scene and eventually be captured on a Florida interstate highway.
Following the incident, more details emerged. The 58-year-old white gunman, Ruse, has a history of making multiple donations to Democratic candidates recently.
Interestingly, Ruse had entered Ukraine two years ago seeking to join the Ukrainian military to resist Russian aggression, but his lack of military background led to his rejection by Ukraine. He had even been interviewed by the American “Newsweek” at that time. Ruse’s actions in different international affairs are filled with contradictions: supporting Ukraine but opposing Israel, backing Palestine; supporting Taiwan but sending tweets to Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam during the Hong Kong student protests, indicating support to the Chinese Communist Party in suppressing Hong Kong student leaders.
In May 2020, he even invited Kim Jong-un to vacation in Hawaii, calling it an “honor” to host Kim Jong-un on a Hawaiian beach.
The captured gunman appeared in court swiftly this time – arrested on the 15th and in federal court on the 16th. Interestingly, he is charged with two counts: 1. Illegal possession of a firearm; 2. Removing the serial number from the firearm he possessed. However, there are no charges related to the attempted shooting of Trump. Nevertheless, since the incident occurred in Florida, the Republican Governor DeSantis has announced a separate investigation into the attempted shooting case outside of the FBI.
Currently, there is a significant question in the public: how did the gunman quickly know that Trump decided to play golf last minute, and how did he set up an ambush nearby? When the Secret Service mentioned that because Trump is not the incumbent president, it is hard to provide thorough security, over a thousand retired military personnel across the U.S. have expressed willingness to form a private security team voluntarily to protect Trump.
Recently, the situation on the Kerch battlefield in Russia’s Kursk has become very delicate. A few days ago, Russia publicly announced the plan to recapture Kursk and launch a major counterattack. However, ever since the Ukrainian military infiltrated behind the Russian counterattack forces and attacked at the Russian-Ukrainian border, the fervor for the grand counterattack in Russia’s social media has drastically cooled down. Initially thought that the Ukrainian troops would immediately flank from the southeast forming a counter-encirclement. Unexpectedly, the Ukrainian troops continued advancing northward, causing confusion among Russian forces.
You might ask how I know where the Ukrainian troops are headed. It’s not from any intelligence source; actually, it was the Russian governor who told us.
Taking a look at this map, here is the Kursk area originally occupied by Ukrainian troops. This is the latest area where the Ukrainian troops have penetrated, and the acting governor of Kursk Oblast, Smirnov, just announced the forced evacuation of a large number of civilians from the Kholmutoivka and Rileyka districts in the western Kursk Oblast. How large is this evacuation area? 1100 square kilometers. This implicitly indicates that the Ukrainian troops are advancing towards this area, and it appears with great momentum, necessitating an evacuation.
Yet, the situation remains uncertain. The Ukrainian military’s tactics are unpredictable, akin to being inspired by the Art of War, and one cannot be sure if they will truly execute a grand about-face to encircle the Russian counterattack forces.
Zelensky’s recent statements on the 15th in New York surprised many. Zelensky stated, “After 8 months of deadlock, before the U.S. Congress approved aid, we had utilized all the weapon reserves in our warehouses, even diverting all the weapons intended for the reserve brigade.” Zelensky requested NATO and the U.S. to immediately allow the use of Western-supplied long-range missiles to strike Russian airports. Regarding the situation in the Kursk area, Zelensky boldly stated: “We are exerting pressure on Russia and doing everything possible to make the Russians feel that the war has come to their homeland, it is they who brought this war from there to Ukraine.”
At the same time, the most mysterious figure in the Ukrainian military, the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Budanov, stated: Russia is eager to end the war by 2025 because they anticipate “all of Russia’s major crises will erupt in the summer of 2025.” Budanov pointed out that the recent deep strikes by the Ukrainian military on Russian territory are causing Russians to lose confidence, implying that the once-mighty Russia is a thing of the past.
That concludes this edition of “Current Affairs Focus.” We appreciate your support, please subscribe to our channel, support us, like, leave comments, and share. Your direct financial support would be greatly appreciated. Until next time.