Because China

[Simon Tan]

Cliques are bad. They are ultimately destructive in their seeking of power. This is a lesson learned time and again. The Mainland has evolved compared to the diaspora which is still stuck in Ming/Qing mindset. Get rich, dont worry about government.

[RETAC21]

16 minutes ago, Simon Tan said:

Cliques are bad. They are ultimately destructive in their seeking of power. This is a lesson learned time and again. The Mainland has evolved compared to the diaspora which is still stuck in Ming/Qing mindset. Get rich, dont worry about government.

But unavoidable in a dictatorship, as parents seek to secure their children's future.

[sunday]

The Chinese Tocqueville, or how Xi is trying to stop the Westernized decay of Chinese society.

Quote

(...)
Either way, our world is witnessing a grand experiment that’s now underway: China and the West, facing very similar societal problems, have now, thanks to Wang Huning, embarked on radically different approaches to addressing them. And with China increasingly challenging the United States for a position of global geopolitical and ideological leadership, the conclusion of this experiment could very well shape the global future of governance for the century ahead.

 

[Simon Tan]

Joe Biden. Donyou want Joe Biden? Because he is the embodiment of Western Values. The irony. 

[sunday]

Simon, Were you aware of Wang Huning?

He probably will not be the Mainland Lee Kuan Yew, as he has not executive duties, but he has been performed a same role of ideologue, using a LKY-like mentality, for the last three PRC head honchos.

[lucklucky]

 

[DB]

Can't remember which topic was banging on most about China demographics, but there is an interesting visualisation here, based on an alternative estimation method compared to that used by the UN.

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/world-population-2100-country/

Nigeria having the second largest population in the world raises an eyebrow - it would mean about double the density of  that of England.

[rmgill]

Not surprising with all those wealthy princes. 

[Ivanhoe]

I hope no one was surprised by this;

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/foreign/federal-reserve-targeted-ccp-thousand-talents-senator-warns
 

Quote

 

The Federal Reserve has been repeatedly targeted by the Chinese government as part of a large-scale economic espionage effort, according to a Republican investigator.

Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) released a minority staff report for the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that details how the Federal Reserve System has been targeted by Beijing. The FBI has repeatedly warned about China’s Thousand Talents economic espionage program.

“A Federal Reserve counterintelligence analysis identified 13 persons of interest as having connections with known Chinese talent recruitment plan members or ‘having similar patterns of activity the [Federal Reserve] analysts deemed’ of potential concern,” the new report says. “Federal Reserve investigators dubbed these individuals, representing no fewer than 8 of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks, as the P-Network.”

 

It seems safe to assume that the Federal Reserve, Dept. of Labor, and a variety of other federal government agencies have sympathizers and agents of the PRC. I envision a 4-phase process; become a major financial benefactor of university departments*, ensure faculty is chock full of friendlies, then ensure grad students are friendlies, then infiltrate .gov.

* Confucius Institutes are obvious, but there are probably other organizations...

https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2021/12/09/the-middle-kingdom-meets-higher-education/

 

[Ivanhoe]

So, Nancy Pelosi has the chattering classes all aflutter.

I haven't had time to read up on the situation, but on face value it seems to me that Pelosi's position is good. The Biden administration is sending peculiar messaging of late.

There's quite a bit of condemnation about Pelosi issuing messaging that is different from the WH, but I haven't seen Pelosi critics criticizing the WH ambiguous and seemingly weak messaging. Interestingly, Grassley is supporting Pelosi's actions and positions.

[futon]

Will of course be best to rely on the US regarding Taiwan and with Pelosi's visit. The PRC has ramped up military presence around Taiwan and sustained that presence for a year now. But relaying on a US that was in character with something like 1980s America would be preferred. Today's America is dry and less inspiring in its one self and in its handling of China. Movies, music, etc of the 1980s was fresh, top notch, and original. Today's feels like just mass produced CG and good ideas all used up. Past political seen has been less inspiring as well. Latest wave of BLM and wokism, women studies on the one hand and massive amount of cost in getting out the latest stuff of the undustry such as JWST and SLS. Then there's the near monopoly on information technology and other software such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Adobe, things monopolyke that.. so it feels like control mechanism with such dominating posture in the field. Then there's US China relation itself in which 1980s America would later betray its own esposed values. 1990s come and US (both R an D) allows CCP China onto the WTO while CCP China was smack in the middle of its persecution of falun gong. US-China trade goes up and up, Iraq War, China buys carrier from Ukraine, China steal intel property, the trade goes on, so much blah blah of hypocrisy, I've no heart to spew it. The matter with Taiwan was for anyone to assume would happen on the trajectory things were going unless the US just sells out Taiwan. Had it been 1980s America making the stand for Taiwan, then it would be awesome. But the current one will have to do. At least its willing to do it and still the better alternative to CCP China. But would prefer if Japan somehow was able to take central lead in Taiwan's security instead.

Edited August 3, 2022 by futon

[glenn239]

8 hours ago, Ivanhoe said:

I haven't had time to read up on the situation, but on face value it seems to me that Pelosi's position is good. The Biden administration is sending peculiar messaging of late.

Not too much comment around here on Nancy's diplomacy in Taipei, I assume because we're all just awaiting further developments before making conclusions.   I bet Putin is happier than either Xi or Biden about it.

Edited August 3, 2022 by glenn239

[rmgill]

Let's all ask the question. How does Pelosi's visit not violate the Hatch Act? 

[MiloMorai]

Agencies and employees prohibited from engaging in partisan political activity
Employees of the following agencies (or agency components), or in the following categories, are subject to more extensive restrictions on their political activities than employees in other departments and agencies.

Administrative law judges (positions described at 5 U.S.C. § 5372)
Central Intelligence Agency
Contract Appeals Boards (positions described at 5 U.S.C. § 5372a)
Criminal Division (Department of Justice)
Defense Intelligence Agency
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Election Commission
Merit Systems Protection Board
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
National Security Agency
National Security Council
Office of Criminal Investigation (Internal Revenue Service)
Office of Investigative Programs (Customs Service)
Office of Law Enforcement (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives)
United States Office of Special Counsel
Secret Service
Senior Executive Service
Employees identified at 5 U.S.C. § 7323(b)(2)(B)-(3)

I don't see Member of Congress on the list.

[rmgill]

Would someone in the Trump Administration be on that list? 

[Josh]

12 hours ago, Ivanhoe said:

So, Nancy Pelosi has the chattering classes all aflutter.

I haven't had time to read up on the situation, but on face value it seems to me that Pelosi's position is good. The Biden administration is sending peculiar messaging of late.

There's quite a bit of condemnation about Pelosi issuing messaging that is different from the WH, but I haven't seen Pelosi critics criticizing the WH ambiguous and seemingly weak messaging. Interestingly, Grassley is supporting Pelosi's actions and positions.

Actually Mitch came out for her as well which was particularly surprising. Not the position, just that he made it public. I think everyone is having a hard time condemning her when its pretty clear China is the antagonist in this case above all party politics. I'm glad she went through with it; I'm enjoying all the noise coming from the mainland.

[Josh]

2 hours ago, rmgill said:

Would someone in the Trump Administration be on that list? 

Not since January 2021, presumably.

[Tim the Tank Nut]

it's almost as if Pelosi recognizes that her time in the sun is limited and would rather be remembered for something worthwhile rather than the destruction she's helped visit on the United States.

In any event there is nothing objectionable about the Speaker of the House visiting a foreign nation to make a point on behalf of the official position of the US government.  The quantifiable interest is "did Pelosi go to Taiwan because Biden is not in a position to make the point himself due to conflicts of interest involving his family portfolio" or did Pelosi go at the behest of the administration to minimize said conflicts?

Much like Wikipedia's troubles with the word recession, China's temper fit over the visit is counterproductive.  For such a long lived society they have the maturity of five year old children.

[Stargrunt6]

1 hour ago, Tim the Tank Nut said:

it's almost as if Pelosi recognizes that her time in the sun is limited and would rather be remembered for something worthwhile rather than the destruction she's helped visit on the United States.

In any event there is nothing objectionable about the Speaker of the House visiting a foreign nation to make a point on behalf of the official position of the US government.  The quantifiable interest is "did Pelosi go to Taiwan because Biden is not in a position to make the point himself due to conflicts of interest involving his family portfolio" or did Pelosi go at the behest of the administration to minimize said conflicts?

Much like Wikipedia's troubles with the word recession, China's temper fit over the visit is counterproductive.  For such a long lived society they have the maturity of five year old children.

Their reaction to her visit has a lot of "abusive ex" energy.  

[urbanoid]

Had no idea where to post that, probably too new to be 'archeological'.

 

[futon]

It's a very scenic view in China so this is a fitting thread. 

[JWB]

 

[JWB]

 

[Josh]

The shadow banking system represents a huge economic risk. If it fails, it likely will fail all at once everywhere.

[JWB]