[Arutz 7] - The admiration that Western elites have for exotic dictatorships is long and never ending and the Western fascination with communism remains one of the puzzles of our century. Andy Warhol even made Mao a pop icon. It does not matter that everybody knows the Chinese regime’s numerous abuses; our hypnosis remains intact.
That time of romanticism is gone. There is no longer even that in China. Its former slums have become hypermodern giants of steel and glass and the country’s economic growth today is three times that of the United States.
This assumes that the statistics put out by the ruling Chinese Communist Party are remotely accurate, of course.
Half of the world's cars, 80 percent of its computers, 90 percent of telephones and basic medicines are now manufactured in China.
No other country has ever achieved such rapid social and economic progress over such a short period of time.
... or with so much international investment. What is happening as that continues to taper off?
China has built the longest highway system in the world, the largest high-speed rail network in the world, and enough homes to move 600 million people from the countryside to the cities.
So-called “ghost cities”, built on spec and almost entirely uninhabited because nobody wants to live so far away from everything, no matter how nice the kitchen island finishes.
Beijing dreams of the "overtaking" of the West. But it wasn't enough - they had to go and play with biological weapons. And, couldn't even keep these under control.
...China is infiltrating the European political class by funding political parties and inviting European politicians to China. President Xi Jinping even donated a statue of Karl Marx, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of his birth, to the German city of Trier.
Beijing has bought and invested in assets worth at least $318 billion over the past decade, 45 percent more than the United States. The Chinese consensus in Europe travels on mega investments, on Xi's ability to present himself as a champion of globalization in the liberal financial coterie of Davos.
European universities are now heavily infiltrated by China, through donations, the Confucius Institute and academic agreements.
But somewhat less than a month or two ago, after President Trump starting looking into who was being welcomed here, and who is most enthusiastically welcoming. Sunshine is the best medicine.
China, which boasts the highest prison rate of journalists in the world, has managed to enter into agreements with major European television and news agencies for the broadcast of its propaganda services in foreign countries.
Beijing has been able to penetrate international institutions, starting with the United Nations, presenting itself as the great standard-bearer of that "multilateralism" which has always attracted Westerners in an anti-American key and which allows China to dominate the international scene (just think of the management scandal in WHO during the Covid-19 pandemic).
I seem to recall President Trump doing something about US involvement in that...
Xi made it clear to Congress that China will work to promote "a new form of international relations" and build "a community with a shared future for humanity." Seductive formulas, to say the least, for a post-Western Europe.
China has brilliantly studied Western pathologies, such as its "identity politics" and multiculturalism, an authentic civil religion in Europe and now the US, with the result that the least diversified nation in the world that has detention camps for Muslims, Christians, Tibetan monks and Falun Gong, today manages to present itself as the victim of Western racism and xenophobia.
Take what has happened in the last year:
-China crushed the resistance of Hong Kong.
...and President Trump started treating Hong Kong as part of China instead of independent...
-It bears very serious responsibility for Covid.
-It is now threating Taiwan.
Didn’t we just agree to sell Taiwan more weapons?
-It promoted a campaign of forced abortions and forced sterilization of the Uighurs, managing to silence Europe’s criticism.
Silencing European criticism is easy. America is harder.
-It signed a pact of submission with the Vatican.
2020 will be remembered as the year China defeated the West. Only if Trump loses in November.
#2
With enemies all around China. Aging population with not enough replacement children being born. Extreme weather disasters. Manufacturers leaving. The paper dragon is deflating day by day.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
09/30/2020 12:41 Comments ||
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#5
China always plays the "long game" and knows that a Trump re-election only means four more years. The problem is that some junior Chinese official will run off and "do something stupid" and precipitate a crisis.
#8
#7 yes indeed. I do see a withdrawal from the world. They do not have the dynamic leadership required to maintain current strength. A maintenance mode or self induced coma in order. However a mix of capitalism and communism might work as capitalism and socialism works in Norway. Question is could they allow such a freedom, there's the rub.
[Reuters] U.S. intelligence reports are warning that violent domestic extremists pose a threat to the Nov. 3 election. This report produced by Chris Dignam.
#4
Come, come now fellows. We have it on the best authority that ANTIFA is only an 'idea', and ideas can't hurt anybody...only sticks and stones, and Molotov's and lasers, bricks and skateboards.
#5
Reuters definitely has produced an opinion piece instead of straight reporting. But they admit the existence of extremists on the left as well as right, and that some antiracism protests have become violent.
[Daily Signal] The Black Lives Matter movement is promoting a communist agenda, says investigative journalist James Simpson.
Simpson has done extensive research on the founders of Black Lives Matter and joins the show to explain how the movement is being used to further the goals of the radical progressive left.
Also on today’s show, we read your letters to the editor and share a good news story about how Heritage Action, the grassroots organization of The Heritage Foundation, is backing the blue and rallying all Americans in support of law enforcement.
Listen to podcast below or read the lightly edited transcript.
#2
BLM is the new KKK. Same goals: to control the black vote and ultimately bring back slavery. In the case of BLM it is slavery to the state. Same methods: Terrorism. In the case of BLM its indirect: Vote Democrat or whitey and the cops are going to kill you.
[American Thinker] Chris Wallace’s overt defense of Joe Biden throughout the debate on Tuesday night was so obvious, so blatant, he should be proscribed from ever "moderating" a debate again.
Wallace’s performance was as Biden’s protector, his advocate, and that is undeniable. He stepped in at every moment Biden seemed lost: court-packing, lack of support of law enforcement, and Hunter’s criminality.
The debate was so poorly managed. The questions were designed to aid Biden, to coddle him. No wonder Trump felt duty-bound to interrupt. Trump was debating both Wallace and Biden and only one of them is sentient.
Wallace’s intent was clear — sabotage Trump. Wallace succeeded only in looking like the stooge he is.
Why a two-minute rule? That hardly gives either man time to rebut what was just said about him. Wallace even brought up the Charlottesville charge but did not admit it was a manufactured lie without giving Trump the time to deny the lie.
Wallace completely ignored and tried to derail Trump’s bringing up Hunter Biden’s criminal corruption. Why was that not a viable subject for discussion? Biden lied when he said Hunter had been cleared. Not so. Biden has a long history of lying and financial corruption. Should that fact not be up for review for a candidate for president? If Biden were a Republican, you can bet it would.
Wallace should be fired for his wholesale lack of objectivity. He’s become a cut-rate Dan Rather.
#2
I half thought to not watch the "debate" when I learned Chris Wallace would be the "moderator". No surprise. Who else is Fox going to cough up, Juan Williams? (/sarc)
#8
Not entirely, though not on purpose; in the 3rd period there was about a 5 minute segment when Trump and Wallace were having a nice back and forth, with Joe making, "Hey guys, what about me?" faces.
Considering the number of times Wallace was getting into actual arguments with Trump, all the greater contrast.
#11
Well, nobody mentioned that all "News" gets most of their ad revenue from Progressive Insurance (Soros) and Geico Insurance (Soro's mentor the man from Omaha) so yeah all media is "OWNED".
#12
Not appropriate for this thread, Woodrow, but I expect Comey's pants to ignite any minute now.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
09/30/2020 12:55 Comments ||
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#13
Trump is a street fighter and that's how he behaved. Wallace may or may not have deserved it and Biden certainly did. I say that about Biden because I remember his 2012 vice-presidential debate with Paul Ryan in which he behaved like a complete boor.
But there are many voters who won't remember 2012, let alone the eminently forgettable Paul Ryan. All they remember is how appalled they were at Trump's constant interruptions and how he looked like a junk yard dog on a chain. If Trump ever had a chance to win those voters (I know that's debatable) he blew it.
It seemed to me at the outset that Trump was badgering Biden in the hope that Biden would melt down. It didn't happen. It would seem the rumors of Biden's demise are premature. Average voters will not consider ear buds or performance enhancing drugs because ABCCBSNBCCNN will never mention them. They will never suspect bias on Wallace's part.
Biden is an idiot. He lied. He obfuscated. He hurled baseless accusations as if Covid-19, forest fires and riots are all Trump's fault, as if Biden could make it all go away even though he can't say how. He had no hard numbers or facts to support any of his assertions.
On points, I would give Trump the overwhelming win. But it would have been better if he could have made his points when it was his turn to speak.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
09/30/2020 13:22 Comments ||
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#14
I must admit that I find a notion of voters being swayed by debates, ahem, odd.
#16
Trump was determined not to be bullied the way pansy Paul Ryan was bullied by this blithering faux-gumba idiot.
Every other goal was secondary to showing that Biden the interrupting bully can never steamroll this Republican. Trump went way over the top, but he still achieved that central objective.
The rest of the spectacle was macho-kabuki. Total waste of everyone's time. We can only hope the other spectacles will now be canceled.
#17
To me, the only reason Biden did so well is this - fifty years of muscle memory with debating people makes it automatic to come up with canned cliches, bromides and all the rest.
Oh - and Biden's eyes looked just like the Great White shark in Jaws.
#19
Trumps tactic was wrong, he'd have been better of playing Elder Stateman to impress the undecided and make those that call him undisciplined look like liars. His record stands for itself, some simple comments about Biden's attempts to rewrite history regarding Covid and the economy and support for riots would have been enough.
#25
A lot of people are saying be statesman-like while the Biden mob are generating far greater numbers of fraudulant mail-in ballots than statesman likeness will ever defeat.
He did the right thing. He went K9 on this corrupt bunch.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
09/30/2020 17:32 Comments ||
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#27
Wasn't even that, it was like French Lizard Guy black, like the foil crowd is saying teleprompter contacts.
Happens towards the beginning of the first period, but I never noticed it again, unless it happens again during the ending segment when I lost Fox Streaming Video; retained Audio.
[The Hill] Democrats face a tough decision with President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, and for many it’s not a question about whether to vote for Judge Amy Coney Barrett. It’s a question of whether to even meet with her.
Barrett had her first round of meetings on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, as Republicans prepare to confirm her to the bench before the Nov. 3 elections, an outcome that appears likely absent an eleventh-hour surprise setback.
With Republicans plowing forward — a reversal from 2016 when they refused to move Merrick Garland, then-President Obama’s final Supreme Court nominee — Democrats are under pressure from progressives to play hardball to show that they won’t treat the nomination as "business as usual."
There are already signs that the question of courtesy meetings with Barrett will divide the 47-member caucus, including members of leadership and Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
[JPost] - Hospitals will soon reach capacity in terms of their ability to take in more patients and handle the workloads caused by the pandemic, according to a report on Tuesday from the IDF Military Intelligence and Heath Ministry information center evaluating the rate of coronavirus infection in Israel.
The report claimed that it is important to note that this evaluation does not address the capacity of coronavirus units, but the ability of hospitals to treat other sick and injured patients. The Health Ministry accepted this report that was written by IDF Military Intelligence Directorate officers.
Sources involved in Israeli security said that that Israelis should be very concerned that a few hundred patients can bring hospitals to their capacity especially in relation to any future war that could break out in the North.
A source said that "these statistics point to a national problem with the country's ability to handle any emergency, from natural disasters to pandemics, but also are a warning sign that in the case of a war in the North, a war expected to cause more destruction and casualties than any of Israel’s previous wars, Israel will not be able to treat patients if a few hundred patients bring hospitals to the limits of their capacity."
The report also found that at the current rate of infection, even if the rate decreases soon, it will take more than three months to reach the government target of 400 infected per day.
...The Health Ministry published on Tuesday that the number of serious patients in hospitals tops 800, which was previously stated as the upper limit that would cause extreme difficulty for hospitals. Recently, hospital officials said that the real limit is 1,300.
Out of 811 serious patients, 239 are in critical conditions, so the number of coronavirus deaths is expected to continue to rise significantly in the coming days.
[JPost] - The now infamous tisch celebration by the Vizhnitz Hassidic community in Bnei Brak on Monday night after the end of Yom Kippur gave graphic and shocking evidence of the fact that some haredi (ultra-Orthodox) rabbinic leaders are simply trying to ignore the massive COVID-19 outbreak among their community and the nation at large.
What is even more striking is that the event in question was not a prayer service, critical religious ceremony or life-cycle event, egregious as mass gatherings for such events still are during the current pandemic, but a traditional and convivial gathering for which there is no religious obligation.
In the haredi world, standards of behavior are largely set by the rabbinic leadership, so if a leading rabbi of a community forbids any particular action, there are few who would dare to publicly contravene such an order. Conversely, if the rabbi permits something, few in the community would second-guess such a position.
...What can the explanation be for what many see as a cavalier and irresponsible approach to the lives of their congregants and the broader country, especially when protecting life is one of the most important injunctions in Halacha?
The haredi world has largely been built on isolationism from the rest of society and on strong communal association, especially in the hassidic communities where their infrastructure and institutions are all-embracing and nurturing.
...Synagogue attendance, and even tisches, are critical parts of communal life, while a connection to the rebbe is a strong bond that binds hassidim to the community. Just like any other sect
The coronavirus pandemic and the resultant social-distancing regulations that have been adopted by governments worldwide have threatened to strike at the heart of this social construct.
...During the shutdown in March and April when yeshivas were closed, many haredi youth found themselves at a loose end and without a solid framework, and many reportedly lost interest in religious life.
According to Prof. Yedidya Stern, an expert on haredi society at the Israel Democracy Institute, ultra-Orthodox leaders who have prioritized communal life and events over health regulations are demonstrating their concern for the greater future of their community over immediate concerns for their physical safety. Also they're used on free-riding on the back of the rest of Israeli society - so why not take advantage of the Israel's medical system? Get herd immunity (they're too ignorant of "apostate science" to realize that herd immunity is a fiction) for their own before the medical system is overwhelmed.
"Belonging to an Eastern European religious sect is very far from being a natural thing in the 21st century," he said.
The potential for disruption to such communities by the COVID-19 pandemic is so large that it could undermine the viability of the ultra-Orthodox model — and this is a risk the rebbes and others are not prepared to take. I sure hope that the thousands yeshiva students in isolation now will be provided with access to internet while there
#6
the article seems to say that haredi and hassidic are the same thing
they are not
some of the biggest hassidic sects in Israel, are, as I understand it, cooperating in the social distancing and mask wearing (specifically Chabad and the bnai ha RIM) but others are not
I know of a number of people who've had pretty hefty fines for violating the rules -- I think if these fines were vigourously enforced, things would be different
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
09/30/2020 12:34 Comments ||
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#7
some of the biggest hassidic sects in Israel, are, as I understand it, cooperating in the social distancing and mask wearing (specifically Chabad and the bnai ha RIM) but others are not
Unfortunately for them the rest of Israelis no longer care about their internal divisions. Their anti-social coronavirus behavior is just the last straw. Their isolation/contempt for the rest of society - in particular their refusal to serve in IDF are the basic causes.
I know of a number of people who've had pretty hefty fines for violating the rules
Unlike the 26,000 yeshiva students who took part in the now defunct plan for capsule learning, under the supervision of the government and the Council of Yeshivas, there are thousands of students in Israel who have studied in institutions that did not participate in the capsule outline, in violation of the law
Now, with the return of these yeshiva students to their homes, Haredi medical officials define this huge group as a "ticking bomb" and warn of a "catastrophe" immediately after the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which ends on October 9.
[AspenBeat] Understand that this former Argentine priest named Jorge Bergoglio was shaped by Argentinian economics and politics. In the early 1900’s, Argentina was wealthier on a per capita basis than Canada or Australia — it was about the tenth wealthiest country in the world.
But political instability and recurrent bouts of socialism and oppressive regulations choked off the economy. Argentina has now deteriorated to the status of an undeveloped country. Inflation runs rampant, politics are unstable and corruption is everywhere.
This is what shaped Bergoglio’s views. The form of capitalism he saw was something we would describe as, at best, "cronyism."
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.