We are just a group of retired spooks that discuss things that you’ll not find anywhere else. It makes us unique. Take a look around. Learn a thing or two.
In fact, it was her right index finger. And when I was growing up I was told that the reason why it was gone was because she stuck her finger in a fan when she was a little girl. And, that fan chopped her finger off.
Right at the knuckle.
And I, and all the rest of the kids, believed that story.
As I got older, and took care of my aging mother, and learned some history… I’m not so sure that was the REAL story.
My mother’s mother (my grandmother) was a famous (well, in the Pittsburgh area) dancer during the roaring 20’s. She was pretty talented, and she had all these publicity poses and pictures of her.
She also had a very powerful boyfriend. He was NOT my grandfather. But, this powerful boyfriend was quite the stylish fellow. He drove a fancy Ford automobile, at a time when very few people owned cars. He also wore a big bear skin coat that made him look kind of iconic, with a flat straw hat of the period. And he had an ugly bulldog as a pet.
When looking at the pictures of my grandmother in her “glory days”, I noticed that all her fingers were on her hand. So… yeah, that finger came off after she was with this powerful and stylish boyfriend.
Guys… how does an adult … man or woman lose a finger?
If it was an accident, then certainly other parts of her would be scarred; he arm and her hand. Nope. All normal. Just a missing finger before the knuckle bone.
I never got a real answer.
My mother just cryptically told me that
"...it was important to know who you were going to date and associate with. That sometimes they can hurt you in ways that you can never recover from."
China is turning the global economy into an expanded version of the Chinese global economy by introducing new technologies and products globally just as fast as they were previously introduced in the China domestic market.
The G-7 nations, led by the US, are resisting this; this was what Janet Yellen meant when she was talking about “overproduction”. It is natural for the US and G-7 nations to close their markets to new Chinese technologies and products because they don’t want China to profit from this strategy.
But it won’t make a difference because instead of selling to G-7 markets, Chinese companies will sell their products to other markets.
Example: There has been extensive coverage of Chinese EVs piling up at German ports. The Wall Street Journal has been reporting that the Chinese export plans which worked in the past will not work now because western markets are now closed to Chinese markets.
It won’t make a difference because Chinese automakers have enough production capacity for 50% of the world’s automobile demand.
My guess is that those Chinese EVs stuck in German ports will be loaded onto auto carriers and taken to South America or African ports, and even sold at port-side auctions where payment must be in cash.
Mexico will have more technologically advanced EVs than the US and Canada, and at a lower price.
That is the world we are heading into…
Jo Jo Gunne – Run Run Run
What’s something you did as a child that you still feel bad about as an adult?
I am not an adult yet, but there something I did as a child that I really feel bad and sad about when I think about it.
If you want to skip all the context, just scroll down.
I was maybe 8 or 9, can’t seem to remember when exactly, anyways, my mother had met someone at the time, and she was so happy and proud to be with this man. Though I hated him, this with passion; there was something that really frustrated me about him.
Then he started to sleep at our house, and be with us more and more often, that is when my anger turned towards my dear mother.
It started with being not respectful to her, then not joining them at dinner time, often not eating at all, I would stop talking to her and ignoring her, even if the guy was not there.
Then it really started to go in a wrong way, I began to lock myself in my room for the entire night, therefore not seeing her for days, because I would leave for school before she wake up, and get home before she did. I would eat before she get home, and lock myself until I would fall asleep, this every single day, for months… Our conversations were; her trying to talk and understand me, though I would just yell, at the top of my lungs, to go away.
One day, back from school, like usual, I grabbed food and went to my room, though this time the handle had been removed. There was just a hole in my room’s door.
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(Not my picture, though it was like that)
When she got home, she immediately came in my room, and asked me if I wanted to talk, I would always answer angrily to go away.
As days passed, she eventually thought all this ‘thing’ had to stop… She came in my room again, but this time didn’t leave when I yelled her to, she stood there waiting and looking at me yelling and crying of anger…
Then my dear mother approached me to simply talk to put things straight, and I just instinctively kicked her in the stomach with my foot and yelled to go away and to never come back, as she was no longer my mother.
I feel so sorry and sad now, to think about this event, just seeing her backing off with difficulties to even breath and tears in her eyes filled with sadness. All she wanted is to find someone that would take care and love her after all those years of being a single mother… And there I was ruining everything again…
I love you so much mom, and I wish I could do something for that scar I created…
EDIT: For those who want to know what happened afterwards, it continued like this for months, until she broke up with the guy and from there things got better and better over the course of a year or two.
What is the most ridiculous reason for which you have been fired?
This happened several years ago. I had been working in a position for about 5 years. I was out of town on vacation when I got a call from the boss telling me he sent me an email and to please read it. No other explanation. I opened the email and there was a statement asking me to open the attachment. Again, nothing else. The attachment was the budget for the upcoming year. I noticed an awful lot of zeros next to positions, which I assumed meant those positions weee no longer being funded for the upcoming year…. just zeros nothing else. I was a program director in the agency, and followed those zeros on up to my line on the budget. As you have probably guessed by now… yup, there was a zero for my position. I found out I was being laid off at the end of the fiscal year (2 months from then) via email.
I did call my boss back to clarify the zeros and I did indeed read it correctly. He then asked me to please not leave before the end of the year because there was so much to do to “finalize projects.” I used that time to help myself and about 10 soon to be laid off employees find other jobs.
It turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I ended up in a new career that I love and make a ton more money..
NOT in my worst nightmare did I think the US could revert us to puppet status in less than two years, a status that ended when a nationalistic Senate kicked out American military bases here in 1999, despite the popular Corazon Aquino’s huge efforts to retain them.
Ironically, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the son of the dictator whom Aquino believed had her husband killed, has now trampled on our independence to make the country the US’ certified vassal — the squire-member more accurately of “trilateral alliances” among the US, Japan and Australia, designed to contain the rise of China, the superpower challenging US hegemony.
We’re now Asia’s Ukraine.
But the vassal state is in a boiling-frog situation: While its puppetry right now has put it in the tepid waters of a pan, it is under a fire that will slowly boil, not perceiving the mortal danger it is in until it is too weak to escape.
In the Chinese view, the US has prodded Marcos to quarrel with China over the control of the Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal. With its expertise in propaganda and control of local and global media, it succeeded in portraying China as a bully, water-cannoning and blocking Filipinos from that area that is “Philippine territory.” US propaganda has portrayed Beijing as having no basis at all for claiming that group of islands we call the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) and which the Chinese call Nansha Qundao, and that it is an imperialist power. This is, of course, false, as China had claimed the area as a sovereign territory even before World War II, even centuries before.
The Philippine claims are based on President Ferdinand E. Marcos’ 1978 annexation of the island group and its patently false interpretation of exclusive economic zones (invented by the treaty called Unclos that took effect only in 1994) as superior to sovereign territory and territorial waters. The US also has successfully brainwashed even intelligent Filipinos that China’s claims are based on its arbitrary “nine-dash” line, which China has never claimed.
Basis
We have to understand the basis of our claims in the Spratlys, as well as that of other claimants, as US propagandists have effectively used the disputes to paint China as our enemy rather than just another claimant, the others being Vietnan, Taiwan and Malaysia, pursuing their own interests based on their understanding of history and international law.
Marcos, goaded by the US, insists that Ayungin Shoal is within our EEZ. China insists that it is within its sovereign territory, Nansha Qundao, which is clearly mapped in its maps as early as 1947. Marcos ignores that claim and sends his Navy Coast Guard, contracting civilian wooden vessels, to assert the Philippines’ rights as EEZ holder of the shoal to supply with repair materials the BRP Sierra Madre that had been deliberately grounded there in 1999. China claims Marcos is violating an agreement in 1999 not to do that, which was honored by the Estrada, Arroyo and Duterte administrations.
For the first time since the dispute emerged mainly in the 1950s, the US openly backs the Philippine claims, and declared that it will militarily defend the country if conflict breaks out, if China blocks Filipino vessels from supplying the all-but-sinking Navy ship.
What is a nuclear superpower like China, which has a bigger Navy in Asia than the US, to do? Be cowed by the US nuclear arsenal and its Seventh Fleet? The fact that it was China’s Ministry of National Defense, and not its foreign ministry, which recently “[vowed] to take resolute measures against the Philippines should it continue to challenge China,” is a very strong signal that the Chinese could be moving toward a military stance against the Philippines to resolve the Ayungin issue.
My bet is that it will be gradually raising the temperature of the waters of the pan where we have been placed by Marcos. At first, we will hardly notice as the Chinese stop all investments in the Philippines and reduce the number of tourists coming here.
Move
Its last move would be for its authoritarian government to order the slowdown and then cessation of trade with us on the grounds that the Philippines has joined the de facto military alliances that the US has set up to contain its rise, and in particular, to battle with it when it takes over its rogue province Taiwan. China probably won’t declare such a move, but it will do so quietly and gradually.
In 2012, President Aquino 3rd started backing down from his belligerent stance against China after Filipino fruit exporters lost hundreds of millions of pesos when their banana exports were left to rot in Chinese ports, with Chinese officials claiming they had to check the reported presence of pests in those shipments.
A trade cessation or even just a major slowdown of our trade with China will result in an economic catastrophe for our country.
China is our biggest trading partner, accounting for 20 percent of our trade, twice that of the US. The Philippines, on the other hand, accounts for 2 percent of its trade, which means the Chinese would hardly feel the loss of that market. Our imports from China in 2023 totaled $29.4 billion, or 23 percent of our total $126.2 billion imports. By comparison, the US accounted for only 7 percent. While the US is officially our biggest export market, accounting for 16 percent of the total, China is on its heels, accounting for 15 percent. Add exports to the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong to that figure, and China accounts for 27 percent of our exports.
value
Are you sure you want a quarrel with this country? DTI DATA
Check out how many made-in-China products fill supermarket shelves, and you will be surprised. What has also not been noticed is that China is the fastest-growing source of petroleum products, ranking third in 2022 with a 15.4 percent share. Its share is actually higher, as Singapore, the second-biggest supplier of gasoline here, gets much of its petroleum products from China. Many of the never-heard ubiquitous gasoline stations in areas outside the metropolis import their gas and diesel from China. We’ll have a transportation crisis the day China orders its state-owned companies to stop selling gas and diesel to us.
Quarrel
Do we really want to quarrel with China? Or just swallow our pride, stop the US from using us as its pawn, and give up a dilapidated, rusting-to-its-core WW II-era vessel that will, except by some miracle, soon sink to the bottom of the sea, which we proudly claim symbolizes our sovereignty over a useless permanently submerged tiny shoal that can fit in half of Taal Lake.
I sincerely hope I’m wrong.
Unlike our political-economic elite and even our Congress, half of whom I estimate have houses in the US and Spain, my family and I are stuck here in an unlucky country ravaged by an uncaring ruling class. Indeed, a top-ranking Marcos official who has been the No. 1 spokesman against China late last year made a down payment for an apartment in New York. Maybe he was already on his second glass of Scotch when I talked to him since he even intriguingly told me, “Where will I go if someone with a monosyllabic name becomes president?”
Viewed from all angles, quarreling with the superpower in our neighborhood is insane. Our Asean neighbors, two of which are claimants themselves, are laughing at our asininity, happy that whatever trade and investments China would have brought here would instead flow to them.
We’re now the US’ puppet state, and a boiling frog
NOT in my worst nightmare did I think the US could revert us to puppet status in less than two years, a status that ended when a nationalistic Senate kicked out American military bases here in 1999, despite the popular Corazon Aquino’s huge efforts to retain them.
Note: The Philippines won’t be relevant here which is lucky. Because Mindanao, Phillipines communists and other minorities have real power in the country to prevent Marcos from doing stupid things. However, the country will miss out on economic opportunities as it has lost to many others especially Vietnam.
Is America Really Better Than Europe? || FOREIGN REACTS
OMG! This is amazing!
Ukraine SitRep: The Power Plant War – Ideological Losses – More Signs Of Corruption
The Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenski is lobbying Congress through U.S. media for more weapons and monetary support. It requires him to finally depict the situation as dire as it is:
Speaking to the PBS news hour on Tuesday, April 16, Zelensky underlined Ukraine’s air defences’ critical condition.“I’ll give you a very simple example,” he said.
“Eleven missiles were launched towards the Trypillya [thermal power] station, upon which the electricity supply in the Kyiv region depends. We managed to intercept the first seven, but the remaining four hit Trypillya. Why? Because we had zero missiles left. We have exhausted all the missiles that were defending Trypillya,” the President added.
…
In response to the targeting of critical infrastructure, Zelensky used this example to once again call upon Ukraine’s allies to urgently supply the weapons Kyiv needs, particularly air defense launchers and missiles.
“Frankly speaking, without this assistance, we stand little chance of victory, because we need to be significantly stronger than our adversaries. The current ratio of artillery shells stands at 1 to 10. Can we endure for much longer? No,” Zelensky said.
It is good to see that Zelenski is finally noticing the situation Ukraine is in.
The electricity infrastructure is indeed a critical point. John Helmer, via Naked Capitalism, suggest that Russia is using the destruction of Ukrainian power plants to press for its unconditional surrender.
Boris Rozhin, whose Colonel Cassad military blog broadly represents General Staff thinking, reports the operational breakthrough demonstrated on April 11, and explains what the maps of current targeting foreshadow for the next round of strikes, and the rounds after that. Rozhin republishes his analysis from RT, the state media organ.“By the evening of April 11, Ukrainian sources reported that air-launched X-69 missiles could be used to hit the Tripolskaya TPP [Thermal Power Plant]. So far, there is no confirmation of this information, but it is worth studying these missiles in more detail. Their range is almost 20 times less than that of the X-101 missiles [equivalent to about 250-500 kilometres], the carriers of which are strategic aircraft of the Aerospace Forces [Tu-95]. In their [X-69] function, they are closer to the foreign [Anglo-French] Storm Shadow/SCALP missiles, which are being attempted for strikes on the Crimean Bridge. The [X-69’s] long range of the 300 km could be enough if the launches of missiles were carried out from the territory of the Bryansk region. If the use of missiles is confirmed in the future, it will mean that no energy facility of the Ukraine on the Dnieper River can work safely, and the strike capabilities of the Aerospace Forces have multiplied.” https://t.me/rt_russian/197065
The lack of power supply is not the only unsolvable problem Zelenski has.
The situation at the frontline is deteriorating. One of the critical sectors in now Chasiv Yar, some 10 kilometer west of Bakhmut, where the Russian forces recently managed to make some crucial progress.
Ground that had been held by parts of the 67th Separate Mechanized Brigade had been given up very quickly.
The Ukraine command investigated and found the root cause in the ideological framework of the ‘nationalist’ brigade:
After losing some positions on the Chasiv Yar front in Donetsk Oblast, where heavy fighting has been ongoing since the beginning of 2024, the 67th Separate Mechanised Brigade of the Right Sector Ukrainian Volunteer Corps is being investigated and the military personnel who served as the brigade’s backbone are being transferred to other units.
…
One of the factors revealed by the audit was issues within the brigade. The leadership allegedly separated the soldiers from the Right Sector and those who were transferred from other parts during the recent replenishment (they were referred to as “pixels”, in reference to the pattern on the Ukrainian military uniform). The attitude toward the “pixels” was even worse; they were the first to be sent into combat, and their lack of experience made them lose territory.According to a source of Ukrainska Pravda, this was not the only reason for the brigade’s combat capacity deficiencies, as revealed by the audit.
According to a former Ukrainian Volunteer Corps fighter who served in the unit during the 2014-2018 anti-terrorist operation in Ukraine’s east and the first year of the full-scale invasion, the current problem stems from the inability to reform the former volunteer unit into a regular brigade of the Armed Forces.
Following the reformatting of the Ukrainian Volunteer Corps into the 67th Brigade, volunteers were forced to live “according to military tenets”, as determined by the newly formed army command. The former Ukrainian Volunteer Corps leaders lacked the military experience necessary for high positions.
The street gangs and hooligans of the fascist Right Sector, who played a major role during the so called Maidan revolution, were not keen to be real soldiers. They put the least experienced mobilized men into the frontline and kept their ideological brethren in the back.
Such behavior had been fine under the former Commander in Chief General Zaluzhni who has a well known affinity for the hard right ‘nationalists’ units. But the new Commander in Chief General Syrski needs real soldiers, not amateurish terrorists:
During the tenure of former Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the backbone of the Ukrainian Volunteer Corps, particularly Andrii Stempitskyi, was able to maintain some autonomy in the brigade while receiving assistance from the General Staff.Quote: “And when Sirskyi was appointed, they were confronted with the fact that they must only do activities that are appropriate for their official position. They saw it as political persecution. For highly ideological Ukrainian Volunteer Corps combatants, this appears to be the end of a movement, but it is actually the system bringing its combat units up to standard.”
Stranaadds a bit of history (machine translation):
Recall that the” Ukrainian Volunteer Corps “(DUK) was formed in 2014 by the “Right Sector” during the anti-terrorist operation. After that, for a long time he was not a member of any of the official law enforcement agencies of Ukraine, which raised questions about the ambiguity of his legal status. This continued until 2018, after which most of the DUK joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Like other fascists groupings in Ukraine, i.e. Azov, the DUK or ‘Right Sector has multiplied during the war. It has infiltrated more units:
In 2023, the Ukrainian Volunteer Corps was split into two parts: one joined the Special Operations Forces and the other formed the 67th Separate Mechanised Brigade. In February 2024, a portion of the Da Vinci Wolves Unit transferred from the 67th Brigade to the 59th Separate Motorised Infantry Brigade.
‘Reforming’ the ‘nationalist’ brigades will be quite a task for the new command under Syrski. As he was born in Russia they may in the end declare him to be their ultimate enemy.
Another problem Zelenski should, but wont, care for, are the signs of corruption which due to the war have only increased:
By law, Ukrainian officials such as lawmakers, prosecutors, and judges must declare their assets to the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NACP).The NACP received some 664,000 documents by March 31, which was the submission deadline for 2023, Economic Pravda reported.
The news site reported Wednesday that it randomly selected declarations for 2,200 officials to see how their fortunes had changed from 2022 to 2023.
It found that every sixth official had bought an apartment or house, and every third one a car. They purchased 721 cars, 268 apartments, and 90 new houses.
Meanwhile, even with the new asset purchases, the officials’ savings increased.
Economic Pravda found that the cash and bank deposits of the declarants increased by about a quarter during the two years of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The dire economic situation of Ukraine leaves no explanation but corruption for this (machine translation):
In Ukraine, record sales of luxury foreign cars were recorded last year. Some premium brands were included in the top 10 best-selling cars, which was not even in peacetime. And the number of Tesla cars in Ukraine has increased almost 10 times compared to 2021.Such a boom in demand for expensive cars in a warring country, at first glance, looks at least strange. But there are explanations for this.
Used Teslas have become a bit cheaper in Ukraine. But the main reason why the sales of luxury cars in Ukraine is booming is this:
Third (and this is the main thing), there is a category of new applicants for luxury cars-people whose welfare has grown significantly since the beginning of the war.”Before the war, a man drove a modest Volkswagen. And then he sat down on the stream, got money, decided to upgrade the car, bought a Range Rover. And there are a lot of them,” one of the car dealerships in Kiev told us.
According to employees of the salon, massively upgrading cars to something “more decent”, are in particular, the security forces.
In addition, a whole layer of people appeared in the country, who became very rich during the war. Including on corruption schemes for supplies to the army. They are also a major category of luxury car buyers. Yes, and other expensive things. For example, one of the dealers of luxury watches told Strana that in the last year its sales are breaking records for the entire existence of the business.
While Zelenski is begging Congress it should consider that someone will have to pay for those who ‘sit down on the stream’ and gain from it.
Posted by b on April 16, 2024 at 15:04 UTC | Permalink
By now, most of the world knows that Iran launched a multi-faceted attack against Israel about 48 hours ago. The “fallout” from that attack is now becoming frighteningly clear, and it has Defense Experts TERRIFIED.
As the attack was in-progress, Iran undertook a very unusual, and apparently foolish, series of steps. They announced they had launched drones and then cruise missiles against Israel. They announced this despite the fact the drones and missiles still had 57 more minutes to travel before reaching their targets!
Expert Observers thought it very strange – and foolish – that an attacker would give out such information while the very weapons they launched had not yet arrived. It gave Israel and its allies time to go after those weapons, which they did.
Well . . . it turns out this was not strange or foolish – it was planned. Iran launched the old dregs of their arsenal! First generation drones. First generation cruise missiles. What they launched was the junk they had laying around for years! Slow moving, loud, junk.
Many of the drones simply fell out of the sky from malfunctions. Others were easily intercepted by fighter jets from Israel, the US, and the UK, with some help from French naval assets in the Mediterranean Sea.
There was a much-heralded “99% interception success rate” broadcast around the world for all to hear. Turns out, there’s a problem. A MAJOR problem: Iran’s Ballistic Missiles. A few of them, got through.
Almost no one noticed this “problem” because there has been no media coverage of it, until this article.
The hint there was a BIG problem, came today. US Media reported:
“U.S. National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan stated today that the Department of Defense alongside U.S. Central Command is continuing to Increase the Readiness and Integration of Air Defenses and Early Warning Systems in the Middle East, in order to Erode the Effectiveness of Iran’s Missile and Drone Capabilities.”
When I read that, I thought to myself “Who asked you?” Why say something like that? Unless . . . . unless. . . . there’s a big problem. So I started looking, and asking questions. Here’s what I found:
The missiles that hit the two bases in the Negev region didn’t just “get through.” They did so against the most-heavily-defended area in the world, protected with the most advanced, integrated, Anti-Ballistic-Missile (ABM) systems known to exist in the West.
Two Israeli Bases in the Negev region and one Intelligence Base in the far north of Israel on Mount Hermon, got hit by Iranian missiles.
In the north, the secret intelligence base in the north of the occupied Golan Heights located in Jabal al-Sheikh (Mount Hermon), got hit and seriously damaged.
In the south, the Israeli Nevatim and Ramon Bases got hit and THIS is where the problem reared its ugly head.
According to secret intelligence information, at the Nevatim Air Base in the Negev Desert, Hangar to Israel’s F-35 Stealth aircraft and Mossad Spy aircraft, at least Forty-four (44) Mossad personnel were killed.
But for the Defense sector, that pales in comparison to what took place for Iran to achieve that.
Nevatim was defended by the world’s most advanced integrated anti-missile defense shield which incorporated Arrow 2, David’s Sling, THAAD, and Patriot 3 with the AN/TPY-2 X-band surveillance and targeting radar. This system was designed to exclusively defend against the Iranian medium-range ballistic missile threat.
Below is an actual photo of the actual radar deployed to protect those bases. Here is what it looks like:
US advanced Radar Negev Desert Israel
And yet . . . 5 to 7 missiles hit Nevatim. The Israelis have acknowledged 2 runways and three warehouse structures hit.
Not a knockout blow — it wasn’t intended as such.
But any Battle Damage Assessment (BDA) expert would note that the point of impact was center mass, a clear indication of precision guidance.
5-7 missiles hit the world’s most heavily defended location, defeating an integrated ABM defense that was custom built to defeat the very missiles it failed to shoot down.
THAT has some people in the Defense sector, literally panicked. You see, if 5-7 missiles got through, then it is a given that others can get through. And simple math reveals that had Iran fired thirty (30) missiles at that base, the base would no longer exist.
The Iranians know this now. They __know__ Israeli “missile defenses” cannot stop their medium range ballistic missiles with any great reliability.
While Jordan fired US PATRIOT missiles to down a few Iranian missiles, Jordan’s PATRIOTS are now completely depleted. They have NONE left.
Fighter jets did down a few additional Iranian missiles, but not many.
As such, Israel is not only vulnerable, there is no “filler” technology that can be quickly inserted into the advanced, integrated system, to make things better for Israel. Put simply, right now, Israel is factually defenseless from any large salvos of these missiles.
Think about that for a moment.
The most advanced, integrated air defense radar system in the world, its mission is to detect Iranian missile launches, and pass targeting data to Israeli Arrow, David’s Sling, and U.S. THAAD ABM batteries deployed to protect sensitive Israeli sites, including Dimona and the Nevatim and Ramon air bases.
Iranian missiles struck both Nevatim and Ramon air bases.
The best surveillance radar in the world, working in concert with the most sophisticated anti-missile defenses in the world, were impotent in the face of the Iranian attack.
What has galled Israel is not the attack itself, it was that the most advanced missile defense systems in the world couldn’t stop the very missiles they were built to stop!
Iran has now achieved a “strategic deterrence” of Israel. Israel now knows Iran will hit them, but can also hit them at-will with missiles Israel cannot stop.
Even worse, now that the “junk” is gone from Iran’s inventory, they can bring out the Second and third generation versions of their drones and missiles. Hezbollah did that TODAY. Hezbollah utilized almost silent, very-much-faster, jet powered drones to hit Israel in the north today.
People on the ground did not hear the drones until they were dive bombing the targets!
If Iran starts using these, the speed alone will cut down flight time, by half or more, making it even harder to intercept such drones if launched.
What the second or third generation cruise missiles might be able to do, none of us know yet.
We’ve now seen what Iran’s Ballistic Missiles can do – nasty!
The Iran response to the Israel attack up the Iranian Embassy in Syria, has opened a chasm in the Middle East balance of power. The world changed that day. Not in ways the general public knew – until now.
So true – no middle class
In what way has China surpassed Japan?
I haven’t had lots of Quorans yelling at me all at once, so let’s take a trip down Nostalgia Lane…
My first trip to China was in 1985. This photo was taken on the major road through the center of Beijing, the one that runs past the Forbidden City.
At that point 80% of the population lived in poverty. 30 years later, 800 million people had been lifted out of poverty, an accomplish never before done, by anyone, in the history of the world.
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My first trip to Shanghai was in 1990. The road from the airport to our hotel was largely dirt, and we had to stop frequently for cattle crossings and other disruptions. Jump forward 15 years and we were able to take the world’s first maglev train into the city, at a top speed of 431 km/hr.
By contrast, one of my first jobs as a copywriter in the early 1980’s was doing an ad for Hitachi’s maglev train. It’s now 2024 and the train still isn’t in commercial operation.
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Now jump ahead to 2018. In the downtown Shanghai subways there are photos on the walls so that it looks like a 2D supermarket. Scan the items you want on your phone, and they’ll be waiting for you at your stop when you get off. Nothing like that exists in Japan, which shunned e-money until COVID made everyone afraid of touching coins and bills that had passed through unknown numbers of unknown hands.
Those are the stories; here are the points:
China has a very strong central government. You can make complaints about censorship, access to social media, etc., but when it comes to public works — including poverty reduction — I’d argue it’s the most effective in the world. (My Indian colleagues were late to a meeting because they kept walking the streets of Shanghai in wonder, saying “Why can’t our government do this?”)
That’s also the point of the maglev story. Japan has 2nd generation trains you can ride on a test track, but permitting in one prefecture has blocked commercialization. Japan created the tech; China utilized it.
China is a LOT more advanced technically than most people know. 9 of the world’s Top 20 tech companies are in China, and 3 of the Top 10. We’re seeing this a lot recently as China now dominates the EV market once owned by Tesla. The pace of innovation has been stunning, and while there are cheap options available, this is NOT a case of low-tech EV’s made with cheap manufacturing labor. BYD has a truly impressive ecosystem that covers everything from chips to ships.
Fortunately, China and Japan are in close proximity, so a lot of Japanese leaders — both political and business — understand just what China is capable of.
The US? Not so much.
Russia Hits FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION TROOPS in Ukraine
On April 13, this website reported the arrival of French Foreign Legion troops into Slavyansk, Ukraine. Overnight, those troops were hit and mostly killed by the Russian Army.
The French military brought the CAESAR self-propelled gun to Slavyansk
According to the Military Chronicle, the brigade artillery group consists of 12 to 15 wheeled howitzers, as well as several Renault trucks with auxiliary equipment. According to preliminary information, the equipment was transferred for storage to the Starokramatorsky Machine-Building Plant from Dnepropetrovsk.
In Slavyansk itself, in the area of clay quarries, as well as to the south (in the Cherevkovka area), firing positions have already been prepared for these guns: a road has been rolled out and ammunition supply routes have been equipped.
Most likely, we are talking about the potential use of the French CAESAR for barrage fire in the event of an attack by the Russian Armed Forces on Slavyansk, but we cannot exclude the use of this technology in the defense of Chasov Yar and its likely transfer to units of the 54th Mechanized Infantry Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (as well as the direct participation of the French within this division.)
When firing extended-range projectiles with a bottom gas generator from the Belenkoye area (between Kramatorsk and Slavyansk), the entire eastern part of Chasov Yar, including the western part of Bogdanovka and the entry point of Russian troops in the area of vocational school No . 77 in the Kanal microdistrict, may be in the CAESAR destruction zone.
Those French troops and their CAESAR artillery were demolished overnight by the Russian Army.
Russia had previously warned NATO countries that if they sent troops into Ukraine, those troops would become legitimate targets. Now, Russia has made good on its word (again) and a slew of French Foreign Legion troops are now dead.
This Healthy Broccoli Cheddar Soup Recipe is a healthier version of the classic broccoli and cheddar soup. Made with milk instead of cream and loaded with Broccoli, carrots, and celery. Easy to make, filling, and the perfect side dish to add to your dinner table.
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If you love the broccoli cheddar soup at Panera then you will love this soup. This recipe for broccoli cheddar soup is comforting food at its best for this looming cold weather. It is so filling delicious, and the ultimate comfort food that one bowl won’t be enough. It is made without any heavy cream, made with milk, broccoli, broth, low-fat cheese, and some simple pantry-staple ingredients that you won’t need to run to the store to grab.
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Why you will love this recipe
Tasty: This light broccoli cheddar soup is packed with flavor and not as creamy and dense as what you get at restaurants that are just too buttery and creamy.
East-to-make: Easy to follow directions on making this simple homemade broccoli and cheddar cheese soup that will be ready in under an hour.
Healthy and good for you: A much healthier option than what you get at a restaurant and carry-out soup. Made without any heavy cream and a lot less cheese. Full of nutrients and fiber.
Broccoli Cheddar Soup Ingredients
Butter or Ghee: Give a rich taste to the soup and a great option for a keto-soup, but you may use oil instead
Olive Oil: or avocado oil
Gluten-Free Flour: or any other flour of your choice.
Chicken or Vegetable Stock: for vegan-option use vegetable broth or water.
Milk: 2% milk or unsweetened almond milk for vegan
Medium Sweet Yellow Onion
Garlic Cloves: use fresh garlic instead of garlic powder
Carrot: Do use fresh carrots and not canned
Fresh Celery thinly sliced
Fresh Broccoli florets: frozen broccoli can also be used.
Cayenne Pepper: this ingredient is optional
Low-fat Grated sharp Cheddar Cheese
HOW TO MAKE BROCCOLI CHEDDAR SOUP
Making this creamy broccoli cheddar soup recipe is quite easy.
In a small bowl, whisk flour and cold stock until well combined. Heat olive oil and butter/ghee in a large skillet on your stovetop over medium-high heat. (butter is fine for the keto version)
Saute the onions until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add in carrots, celery, and garlic, and cook for an additional 3-4 minutes.
Add in broccoli, cayenne pepper, milk stock, and flour mixture, and simmer until veggies are tender and soup is creamy. About 8-10 minutes.
Transfer about half of the soup to a blender. Blend until smooth, then stir the mixture back into the pot or dutch oven.
Stir in Cheddar cheese and season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to your taste. Enjoy!
How to thicken broccoli cheddar soup
Based on your dietary needs there are different ways to thicken your broccoli cheddar soup:
Add some flour- about 2 tablespoons mixed in with either milk or cold water
Corn starch
arrowroot powder
blended soup – blend a bit of your soup and add it back in
Recipe Variations and Notes
For a Vegan option: If you would like to make a vegan version of this homemade Broccoli Cheddar Soup recipe you can swap a few of the ingredients to make it into a vegan soup. Swap the Butter for more olive oil, use vegetable broth, almond or cashew milk instead of regular milk, and finally use vegan cheddar cheese. You can find this at health food stores.
Keto-option: To make a keto version of this easy cheddar broccoli soup, use butter or ghee instead of olive oil, skip the flour and use arrowroot powder, or just blend some of the soup to give a thick consistency. Consider adding 1 cup of heavy whipping cream along with 1 cup of milk instead of 2 cups of milk. Also, use whole-fat cheddar cheese.
Add more protein: Want to add more protein to make this a complete meal? Add some leftover shredded chicken or Rotisserie Chicken. Serve it with some crusty bread or dinner rolls.
Don’t have a blender? You may use an immersion blender instead
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Storage and reheating recommendations
Storage: Store your leftover cheddar and broccoli soup in a sealed container and store it in the fridge for up to 4 days. Allow the soup to cool first before storing it. Freeze for up to 3 months in a freezer-friendly container.
Reheating: You may either reheat the leftover soup in the microwave or a saucepan over medium heat.
Do not settle
What is your opinion on Philippine President Duterte’s recent comments about the Spratly Islands dispute with China?
Duterte is a good man, he just doesn’t want the war to happen in his own country.
Last night, Iran launched missile and drone attacks on Israel, causing damage to Israeli buildings and casualties.
This is the first time that Jews have experienced attacks on their own territory since the establishment of Israel in 1947. Groups of Israelis were frightened and screamed loudly and ran to underground air defense facilities to take shelter. The scene was very chaotic.
However, the United States has no intention of sending troops to join forces with Israel.
U.S. Defense Secretary Austin’s latest statement highlights: “We do not seek conflict with Iran…”
Israel is the most staunch ally of the United States and the spiritual home of American Jews.
The United States and Israel have signed a mutual defense agreement: when Israel is attacked, the United States is obliged to provide protection, but the United States has actually violated the agreement.
The relationship between the Philippines and the United States is far less close than the relationship between Israel and the United States.
Israel is a thousand times more important to the United States than the Philippines. But even so, the United States still does not intend to send troops to fight jointly with Israel.
Duterte is very clear that if a war breaks out between the Philippines and China over the Spratly Islands issue, the United States will not provide the protection they say. The Philippines is just a pawn that the United States can discard at any time.
It’s okay for Filipinos to die for the United States, but don’t expect Americans to die for the Philippines.
China is a superpower and its military power in the South China Sea is stronger than that of the United States. Americans are cunning and will instigate Filipinos to become cannon fodder. When you ask American’s sons to die defending the Philippines, no American citizen will agree.
Also, Many Taiwanese people believe that if Taiwan faces war, the United States will help defend Taiwan. Haha, believing in the empty promises of the United States is equivalent to believing that pigs can fly.
Iran is a nuclear power and the United States will not have a direct war with Iran.
The United States will avoid direct armed confrontation with superpowers such as Russia and China.
The US statement of providing protection to the Philippines and Taiwan is nothing more than an empty promise.
What is an incident that changed your life?
Ok, Let me tell you, It was around 9 PM . A well dressed boy,he must be around 23 years old entered into a footwear shop with a big smile on his face and the conversation started
Shopkeeper: Namasthe sir, what kind of foot wear do you want?
He: I want a good pair of slippers for my Mother,which must be durable
Shopkeeper: okay sir! What is the foot measurement of your mother?
He: I don’t know her foot measurement. But I had this one (He given a paper which was folded 4 times )
The shocked by seeing the paper on which her mother footlines were drawn by him and asked
Shopkeeper: Sir I want the number for measurement
He:Sorry I don’t have her foot measurements.Actually my mother never worn slippers.she is a laborer and she always work hard for money which are used only for my studies and food to us .Today I got my first salary,so I wanted to buy a good pair of slippers to her.
The shopkeeper showed good pair of durable slippers
Shopkeeper: Is this okay for you?These are very durable and it costs 1500
The boy was ready for that price
Shopkeeper: Sir, please don’t mind.How much salary do you earn?
He:At present, 15000. 5 to 6thousand for my room expenses and food ,5 thousand for my mother.
Shopkeeper: Sorry sir! Then 1500 are more to spend for slippers
He: No, It’s worthy !
The shopkeeper packed them and the boy gave the money to the shopkeeper
Shopkeeper: Sir what is your name?
He: I’m Ayyapan son of Lakshmi.
Shopkeeper: Sir! Will you give me one thing?
He: What is it?
Shopkeeper: The paper on which you drawn your mother footlines.
The boy given that paper to him
Shopkeeper: Sir,take this.This is an another pair of slippers to your mother by your brother
He: Thank you sir.
He went out of the shop happily.
The shopkeeper placed that paper in his worshipping area and said to his son to worship it bcz theses are Goddess Lakshmi Devi footsteps which are taken by his true devotee and this brings a lot of benefit to our business.
Ps: I have read this story when I’m studying 11th standard .It changed me a lot.Being inspired from that story I had a thought of taking my mother footlines too.Not because to buy footwear but to keep them with me ,in my college bag. So I took those with my mother permission.
I’m living in hostel, whenever there’s an exm or whenever I miss her I used to touch those footlines🥰
"In France, it is acknowledged that Macron's statements about supporting negotiations on Ukraine's accession into the EU are merely a façade.
They are made solely out of solidarity with Kiev.
In reality, there is a conviction that Ukraine has no place in the European Union, because the accession of the world's largest grain producer would be a fatal mistake for the union.
In the same France, it was confirmed that the statements of Ukraine's imminent accession to the EU are short-term assistance to the Kiev regime.
This is one of the elements for possible peace negotiations on Ukraine's exit from the armed conflict.
But in reality, these statements have nothing worthwhile underpinning them, as the EU is well aware that Ukraine's entry would structurally change everything within the union.
In the US, a different idea has been expressed—Ukraine could give up its agricultural sector in exchange for EU membership.
And here lies all the irony.
First, the West stripped Ukraine of its industry.
Now, it plans to deprive it of the agricultural sector as well, making the Kiev regime's statements about turning Ukraine into an 'agricultural superpower' unattainable dreams.
What then is Ukraine to live on, having become infested with debts over the last decade with the help of the very same West, as a dog is with fleas?"
-Message posted by former Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov on his Facebook page, April 14, 2024.
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Love or control
What is really ironic?
1. The most shoplifted book in America is the bible.
2. Four of the original actors who played the Marlboro man in the tv adverts died of lung cancer.
3. The first man to survive going over Niagara Falls in a barrel died after slipping on an orange peel.
4. A Canadian university was promoting safe sex by handing out condoms with safe notes attached to them. The condoms were recalled because the staples punctured holes into the condoms.
5. The building holding the patent to the fire hydrant burned down in 1836.
6. Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia ” is the fear of long words.
7. Barry Manilow’s 1976 hit ‘I Write The Songs,’ was written by Bruce Johnson.
8. Gary Kremen, the founder of match.com, lost his girlfriend to a man she met on match.com.
9. Charles Darwin, infamous for his theory of evolution and survival of the fittest, married his cousin.
10. McDonalds’ employee health page, which is now shut down, once warned against eating McDonald’s burgers and fries.
MODERN WOMEN reacting to the SOFT GUY ERA “Drizzle “Drizzle ” trend part 2
Asking of Filipinos currently in The Philippines: what is your opinion of Bongbong Marcos? What are your thoughts, and the general feeling “on the street” of his closeness to the United States, and his feelings towards China.
Sawaga Bisayawa
Lives in The Philippines (2022–present)
I can only speak for the Bisaya people, who form the majority ethnic group in the Visayas and Mindanao regions.
Most of us hate him, and we want him removed as soon as possible.
SWS: Satisfaction with President Marcos lowest in Mindanao
There are large rallies and press conferences from the leaders of the Bisaya regions of Visayas and Mindanao, condemning Marcos for his foreign policies, drug use, corruption and poor handling of key domestic issues, namely the economy and safety.
A large rally against Marcos just happened last night in Tagum City, Mindanao, attended by more than 10,000 people.
The theme of these rallies are the same.
Promoting peaceful cooperation with China and the rejection of American warmongering, including the demand for the immediate removal of American bases in our country.
Urging the military to remove Marcos from power, and replace him with the vice president Sara Duterte.
Criticize Marcos’ handling of the economy and safety.
Expose Marcos’ alleged cocaine use.
Expose Marcos’ corruption and theft of public funds.
Reject the changing of the constitution by Marcos and his allies.
Marcos’ trust rating is currently at a low 33% according to the latest Publicus Asia survey.
From the same survey, distrust for Marcos is highest in the Visayas and Mindanao regions at 34% where the Bisaya people form the majority ethnolinguistic group.
Below, we see approval ratings of the previous Aquino and Duterte administrations compared to the current Marcos administration from Pulse Asia.
As you can see, Marcos’ popularity has dipped heavily (red) even after only being two years into office, while the previous Duterte administration (green) enjoyed a relatively high approval rating during the 7th quarter of his term (2nd year in office).
Source for graph: @IanIsland3 on X.
graph
Marcos’ unpopularity is in sharp contrast to the still very popular Rodrigo Duterte, who is labeled as “pro-China” and authoritarian by his critics, both locally (neoliberals and communists terrorists) and abroad (mostly neoliberal and liberal Westoids).
Duterte remains to be the most popular president in Philippine history.
The biggest concern for Filipinos is the economy, while the dispute with China is at last place at only 9%.
Fall season calls for hearty and delicious soup dishes and this Homemade roasted tomato soup recipe will be your perfect bowl of comfort on your dinner table. It is an easy vegan tomato soup recipe that the whole family will enjoy and is perfect all year round.
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This easy and healthy roasted tomato and garlic soup is one of our favorite soup recipes that we make all year long and even in the summertime when we have freshly grown tomatoes in abundance. The fresh tomatoes are oven-roasted with shallots and garlic, herbs, and some simple ingredients, and then blended to make a perfectly warm and comforting bowl of soup. It can be served as a meal on its own or as a side dish. It is low in calories and vegan-friendly.
This Vegan homemade tomato soup recipe is going to be your new favorite weeknight meal. It is just a perfect bowl of comfort that’s bursting with flavors. It’s the healthier version of your classic tomato soup with no added cream or sugar. Made with comforting and feel-good heart-healthy ingredients.
Recipe highlights
Simple and Easy: Making this homemade tomato basil soup can’t get any easier. With simple ingredients needed, roasting the tomato, garlic, and onions, and then blending.
Heart healthy: Did anyone ever tell you tomatoes are good for your heart? They are right! Tomatoes are loaded with an antioxidant called lycopene which is so good for your heart. They are also high in Vitamin C and Potassium.
Comforting: There is something about a bowl of warm Tomato soup that will warm you all over and comfort you in all the best ways.
Low in calories: Tomatoes are low in calories which makes it an easy meal option to get full and not worry about high calories.
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Ingredients needed
Ripe tomatoes cut in half: Please use fresh tomatoes instead of canned
Garlic cloves: we recommend fresh garlic cloves instead of garlic powder.
Smoked paprika: if you do not have smoked paprika powder, normal paprika will work
Shallots (Purple Onions): If you have white onions, you can use that as well.
Dried oregano: if you do not have this ingredient, use Italian seasoning.
Extra virgin olive oil: or avocado oil
Organic or homemade vegetable broth: for vegan-option, only use vegetable broth, otherwise chicken stock works
Balsamic Vinegar: We love adding this for a bit of a tangy Flavor. Makes a difference
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Sprigs of fresh basil: to garnish or you may chop some and toss in the soup towards the end.
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How to make this Roasted tomato Soup recipe
Preheat the oven to 375F
Prepare a large baking sheet pan. Place tomatoes cut-side up together with garlic and shallots.
Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with oregano, and paprika, and season generously with sea salt and black pepper. Roast for 40 minutes to 1 hour, or until the tomatoes are soft and sticky.
Once veggies are done roasting, place them into a large pan, and pour in the stock.
Roughly chop and add the basil stalks with most of the leaves. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 10 minutes
Add in balsamic vinegar, then blend with a hand blender until smooth.
Pour into bowls, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, and garnish with fresh basil. Enjoy
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As a doctor, what is the saddest thing you’ve been asked by a patient?
It was not the hardest thing I heard, it is what I saw.
An uninsured patient came in with a back problem. It was bad. She had callouses on her knees and elbows because she could not really walk and was crawling around her residence.
I took x-rays and decided she needed an MRI. Did I mention she was uninsured?
The other fact was that I was the biggest rainmaker my hospital had ever seen. So I declared her an emergency. I told her to (lie) that she was losing bowel control. Whatever.
She had the MRI which showed she had a large herniated disc.
I proceeded to tell the hospital that they would do the operation for free. They did, I did. She got better. It cost her $100.
I made the world better and caused a hospital to make her life better. 1.5 hours in the OR and 23 hours in the hospital did not cost them much.
I got Christmas cards for years. A Thank You is sometimes more important than anything you could ever have been paid. Have a heart. No I wasn’t paid at all and never submitted a bill. I got good Karma from it.
ETA: If you think I stole money from the poor little hospital, that hospital was THE MOST PROFITABLE HOSPITAL in the entire chain of for profit hospitals. They made $10 million a year profit on just what I did.
I have a salesman in the UK who used to live in the ‘States.
Once, when he visited me here in China, he reflected on what he observed about the United States.
He told me that the United States is a pendulum. (Well, he referred to it as a meter.) It swings from one extreme to the other over a decade, but the over all effect is that (in the long view) it seems that the pendulum seems to stay centered.
Hum…
Sort of like this…
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…
Maybe.
I view it quite differently, however, let’s give his observation some credit.
Following his observation, to me, it seems that the pendulum swung so hard to one side that the meter broke, and the needle (pendulum) is stuck in the region of broken glass. The USA has entered totalitarian dictatorship of the most basic historical norms; serf and peasants toiling for the mega-wealthy.
The needle is broke.
The meter needs to be replaced.
It simply cannot be repaired.
2023 10 14 07 41
It needs to be pulled out of the wall, and completely thrown in the trash, and a nice new digital one put in it’s place.
…
That’s my opinion, folks. Yours might be different.
“The popular conception is that companies come to China because of low labor costs. I’m not sure what part of China they go to, but the China stopped being the low labor cost country years ago. That is not the reason to come to China from a supply point of view. The reason is because of the skill.”
I just searched around and found that no one pays attention to Ukraine anymore, neither the Western media, nor the Western governments, who have turned their attention to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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And the Russian army is in high morale and has now captured Avdiyevka, But nobody in the Western world cares about Ukraine anymore.
Putin is right. The Yanks are treating Ukraine as an “expendable“.
Ukraine needs help now, so the American people should donate money to Ukraine!
Talk is cheap. Don’t just shout slogans in the media, support Ukraine with real action. Do you understand?
Americans hope that Taiwan will become Ukraine 2.0, but Taiwanese people do not want to become toilet paper that Yanks throw away immediately after use.
What Taiwanese want is for American soldiers to rush to the front and become cannon fodder. 😅 Stop the cheap’s talk, The Taiwanese are waiting for Americans to sacrifice their children for the cause of “Taiwan independence”.
In response to the current world situation，Bulletproof vest manufacturers in Yiwu, Zhejiang Province, China, have received a large number of orders, and workers are working overtime to catch up.
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DJI’s newly released drone-mounted LiDAR adds Arabic language and Hebrew language to the original Russian language.
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These are civilian items, not weapons, and it won’t explode.
Whether it is the Russian-Ukrainian war or the Palestinian-Israeli war, the Chinese Government has always called on both sides to exercise restraint and engage in peaceful negotiations. Why is no one listening?
The US once invaded Iraq, ignored the opposition of China, overthrew the Saddam regime, and supported a pro-American Iraq government.
The US spent $3 trillion in subsequent Iraqi governance, which was borrowed from China. The US military did not make Iraq more peaceful, but created the monster ISIS.
The Iraq government in Iraq later realized that the US military could not help Iraq’s reconstruction, US companies do not have the capacity for large-scale reconstruction, so it approached China for cooperation.
Today, most of Iraq’s oil extraction rights are vested in China, far surpassing the US, Britain, and Russia.
Later, the US Secretary of Defense mentioned in his speech that the US owed China a lot of money during the Iraq War, and all interests belonged to China. The US’ Iraq war was fought for China! This is an unexpected ending for the US government.
Stupid Yanks! A state that has no history and knows only the use of barbaric violence can only perish.
In addition, Saudi Arabia requires all ministerial officials to study the ancient Chinese classic “Zhan Guo Ce”.
Don’t underestimate this book, it may change the future landscape of the Middle East.
3 trillion US dollars, the Americans should pay off their debts to China quickly!
44 days left in the US government shutdown!
The economic growth rate of China in the second half of the year is estimated to be over 6%.
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro (coriander) leaves
Salt, to taste
Instructions
In a medium saucepan, preheat the olive oil to medium-high. Sauté the onion in hot oil until transparent. Add the garlic, curry powder and coriander; continue to sauté for another minute or two.
Stir in the canned and fresh tomatoes; bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and cook gently until the sauce has thickened, stirring occasionally.
Stir in the okra and chicken-style broth; return to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low and cook gently for about 10 to 15 minutes, or just until the okra is tender.
Just before serving, stir in the cilantro. Add salt to taste.
Serve promptly for best color and freshest taste.
Hip-Hop Fan REACTS To Oliver Anthony – Rich Men North Of Richmond
When they met my dad was studying for becoming a doctor. His main passions were video games and music. He’s always been kind of a genius academically. He is very reserved and does not talk a lot at first.
My mom, on the other side, was a high school student. She was the president of the Students Council, a gymnast and a photo model. She was always surrounded by many friends, she liked parties and having fun. Despite being skilled, she wasn’t a top student, her sassy behavior didn’t help either.
My dad was supposed to meet a girl for a date. The girl asked my mom to go with her just to check that everything would go smoothly and well. However, it was love at first sight between my parents. They dated for seven years, for a period of time they even lived in different cities, but their love never ceased. They married in 1994, one year later my older sister was born.
So, my parents got married for love. They are so different from each other, yet so perfect. They complete one another.
Mandarin learning boom in the Middle East
Saudi Arabia is the latest country to mandate Chinese language education in schools as the region embraces closer ties with Beijing.
While interest in learning Mandarin declines in the West, Middle Eastern children are attending classes in China’s official language as part of a geopolitical shift in the region.
Last month, Saudi Arabia, the largest Arab country in the region, mandated Mandarin lessons in all public and private secondary schools, which are expected to extend classes to second-year pupils during this academic year. The extension of Mandarin education in Saudi secondary schools follows a 2019 agreement, struck during the Crown Prince’s visit to Beijing, to have Mandarin lessons at all levels of school.
The long-standing US ally is looking to bolster its ties with China beyond the oil trade to technology, infrastructure, and even arms, in an economic diversification blueprint backed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Last month, Saudi Arabia, together with Iran and the UAE, were among six countries invited to join Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa in an expansion of the BRICS association of leading emerging economies.
The United Arab Emirates – with a population of 9.3 million and the world’s seventh-largest oil reserves – was the first Gulf state to include Mandarin in its national education system. With Beijing’s help, the UAE started a Chinese language program in 100 schools in 2019 that expanded last year to 158 public schools, according to figures from the Chinese embassy in Abu Dhabi.
In 2020, Egypt signed a memorandum of understanding with China to adopt Mandarin as an elective for a second foreign language subject at primary and secondary school levels. Later that year, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi endorsed a law adding Mandarin to the list of foreign languages that can be taught in middle and high schools across the country.
In my late teens I worked as a school cook. It was a private boarding school mostly for military and diplomatic families, it gave the kids stability as the parents were posted all over the world. Part of the job was to supply lunch to the board of governors once per month. A guy came into the kitchen, said he was the chairman of the board of governors and asked if he could have more pudding. Lucky for him there was some left so I filled his bowl and off he went a happy chap. The following month he came back and every month I worked there he would come into the kitchen for more pudding. I started to call him Oliver as he was asking for more. He was particularly fond of the steamed jam rollypolly so always filled his bowl. He told me that he had told his cousin and her family about my puddings and how nice they were. His wife came in once to tell me not to give him so much as he was putting on weight!
A few years later I was visiting my parents who lived next to the lifeboat shed and a new lifeboat was being presented and dedicated. I saw “Oliver” in the crowd and shouted him over. Asked what he was doing there, seems he was with the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) and he was there to present the new boat. Later my dad asked if I knew who I had been talking too. So I told him the above. Then dad told me that the man I knew as Oliver was a Duke and cousin to the queen!!
Edit :
It’s over forty years since these events I don’t follow royal circles and memory gets vague with time! I have been told that the man I knew as “Oliver” died sometime in the late eighties so have changed the answer in response to this sad news, he was a nice bloke.
It was a regular day at the bank. I was speaking to one of our high-net clients, AH. He needed help with his account and I was explaining some transactions to him. Suddenly we heard a loud retching followed by a thud.
Both of us looked towards the source of the sound and saw a guy sprawled on the floor just inside the branch entrance. People rushed towards him. The branch wasn’t crowded, thankfully. There were just a few customers present at that time.
As I neared the guy, I realised that he was a regular visitor… an office boy who used to come in almost daily to deposit cheques and for other mundane chores. I called out to our support staff and requested him to get water. The guy had fainted after vomiting, perhaps due to the extreme heat outside. While I gently tapped his shoulder and called out his name to wake him, one of my colleagues attempted to manoeuvre his way to figure out how to pick him up.
AH, who had been observing us all along, coolly walked to the prone figure (without bothering about the messy floor), bent down and cradled the collapsed guy’s head. He gently raised him, supported his arms and helped him to the seating area. The guy, who was regained consciousness by then, looked at us numbly. While our staff handed him a glass of water, AH removed a pristine white handkerchief from his pocket and gave it to the guy to wipe his vomit stained face. After ascertaining that the guy didn’t need any more immediate help, AH excused himself and discreetly asked to be directed to our washroom where he could clean his hands.
As I sat down with AH after some time, I couldn’t help but marvel at the complete ease with which he helped out a stranger in a situation that would make most people balk. His nonchalance towards the mess was at complete odds with his concern for another fellow being. And while others were either panicking or fumbling, he handled the matter with maturity and an ease that spoke volumes about him! When I gushed over his actions he shushed me down with a simple logic. ‘I would like to be helped should I ever face some issue like this. What I expect, I should be ready to offer as well.’
AH didn’t remain a mere high-net client from that day on. He became a highly respected one too!
Actions speak louder than words they say. In this case, they did more… they revealed and taught!
Achieved Mass Production Achieved in 180 Days! China Breaks Foreign Monopoly in the Chip Industry！
I was given full and sole conservatorship (read “custody”) of my daughters after my wife of 20 years walked out on us for someone else.
About 3 years later, my ex managed to scrape together enough money to engage a lawyer to challenge the custody order. I was totally freaked out, tbh. I sold a car and borrowed a couple thousand dollars from my brother to get my own lawyer. I had gathered evidence and my daughters were prepared for private conferences with the judge. As they were only 11 and 14 at the time, you can imagine their stress and upset as well.
When the day of the hearing rolled around, however, my ex’es lawyer turned out to be a dud. An exceptional dud, at that. He stood before the judge and basically argued for a change of custody based on the fact that my ex really, really wanted the order to be changed. The judge left the custody order intact.
I can only assume that my ex was victimized by a predatory lawyer who made promises he could never keep. I had new ulcers and was 3000 dollars in the hole…but my kids stayed safe with me. It was the sheer ineptitude of the lawyer that amazed me. My lawyer just had to shake his head and laugh.
I’ve been alone, single, and heartbroken. And I’ve been in the most amazing intimate relationships imaginable.
I’ve traveled the world, made friends, lost friends, and tried things I never thought I would.
At the end of the day, I’ve realized that living a good life is a lot simpler than people try to make it out to be.
And here are my 15 best tips for achieving it.
1. Sleep 9 Hours a Night
Plain and simple. You’ll feel better, look better, be more productive, be happier, and be less likely to suffer from obesity and chronic diseases.
Sleep isn’t a weakness. It’s a necessity.
Get 7.5–9 hours a night and I promise your life will change.
2. Be Happy Now
Happiness is a choice (even though we’d like to think otherwise).
So stop trying to achieve happiness and just decide to be happy. You can make the most out of terrible situations and learn to find joy and gratitude in even your darkest times.
Your life is better than 99% of the human beings who lived on this planet before you.
So be happy now.
3. Create Passive Income Asap
It’s worth 10x working income and creates ultimate freedom in your life.
If you can build a website, write a book, or launch a product that generates $5,000 a month semi-automatically, your life will change forever.
4. Exercise Everyday
There’s no reason to go a day without exercise. You don’t have to lift heavy everyday, but you must MOVE.
You’ll be happier, stronger, smarter (literally), and more productive.
It takes less than 30 minutes to get a good sweat on and it can add years to your life. No excuses.
5. Prioritize Lifestyle > Money (But Money Also)
Money is great. But living a life of freedom is better. Prioritize living a great life and embrace minimalism. Make money, sure. But don’t make money at the expense of living your life.
6. Stop Eating Sugar
It’s basically poison and has no nutritional value. A cookie here and there isn’t a big deal, but the less of this crap you eat, the better you’ll feel and the more effectively you’ll perform.
7. Do The Things YouWant to Do
Life is too short to live for other people.
So your parents want you to be a Doctor? So what! They don’t have to live your life or shoulder your regrets.
Do what you want to do and remember that life is too damn short to follow other people’s dreams.
8. Only Take Advice From People You’d Trade Lives With
If someone doesn’t have the life that you want or at least a life that you’d want. Don’t take their advice.
This includes me.
If you want to be a billionaire mega investor and rule the world, don’t listen to a word I say.
If you want to have a life of happiness, financial freedom, and lifestyle independence, I might have a thing or two to teach you.
9. Travel More and Travel Longer
You’ll never regret it. It will open your eyes to new ways of living, thinking, and being and will be the most transformative experience of your life.
If you have the opportunity to travel somewhere new, always say “Yes.”
10. Make Time to Think
Don’t get so caught up in doing things that you forget to make time to think.
Ponder deep questions, ask yourself what you really want out of life, figure out innovative solutions to your problems.
Make time for deep thought and you’ll be amazed at how your life will change.
11. Quit Complaining
It doesn’t help you, it pisses off the people around you, and makes you less attractive.
Remind me again why you think it’s a good thing to bitch about traffic all the time?
12. Stop Lying
To your friends, family, and most importantly… Yourself.
Live in truth. Be authentic. Stop making crap up and pretending you’re ok to make other people happy.
You can only change your life from a place of truth.
Be honest about your reality, desires, and obstacles and you’ll find that the solutions come easier.
13. Read as Much as You Can
Never pass up an opportunity to expand your mind and broaden your horizons. Read about everything.
Science, psychology, self help, business, history, biographies, fiction. You name it.
The more you read, the more well rounded you’ll become and the better your life will be.
14. Be Nice to Yourself
You’re the only person you have to live with for the rest of your life. So try being nice to yourself.
Watch the negative self talk. Believe in yourself. Treat yourself with love and respect.
Before you do, say, or pursue anything, ask yourself, “If a close friend was in this situation, how would I respond or what would I encourage him/her to do?”
15. Don’t be a Dick
Seriously…
Life is too short to yell at the Verizon customer support agent over a payment dispute. The poor gal wasn’t the one who double charged your account, so don’t take it out on her.
Life has a funny way of reprimanding mean people.
So be nice to people and stop being a dick, m’kay?
Hope this helps
Stay Grounded, Andrew
ALIEN WAR and The Horrors of Dulce Underground Base
It’s the 14th century. John the Blacksmith comes home from the forge to find his wife crying in the kitchen.
“What ails ye, wife?” he asks.
“Our son,” she wails. “He’s been taken, John!”
John runs to the bed chamber, his stomach churning with fear. Young Luke… gone… he’d have the whole village up and searching within the hour, and damn the darkness. Except, when he opens the door, he finds the child standing in his cot, staring at the walls and singing nonsense to himself.
“What nonsense is this, woman?” he shouts back to the kitchen. “He’s right here!”
“It’s not him,” she sobs. “A mother knows. It’s not him!”
John frowns. He’s heard the stories, of course, but he never believed they were actually true. He walks up to young Luke, calls his name. Luke looks up, then looks away. He doesn’t smile, just carries on singing the same tune over and over.
John returns to the kitchen, and holds his wife as she cries.
“I told you,” she said. “It was the faeries, John. They’ve taken our son, and left a changeling in his stead.”
John nods. His grandmother’s stories were true. She’d said once that his own uncle had been taken by the faeries, that the child they’d left behind grew up… strange. He’d lived by himself in the woods for many a year; the village left him be, and he left them alone in turn. Granny had said the faeries would come back to the same family again. He’d brought this curse upon them.
“What do we do, John?”
He shook his head. “We have to raise him, wife, as though he were our own. Sometimes… they bring them back. Sometimes. But they won’t unless we raise theirs in return.”
“And if they don’t?”
He had no answer for that.
A lot of autistic children seem normal in their early years – one reason why diagnosis is unreliable when they are very young. It’s been suggested before that the myth of the changeling – a faerie child swapped for an identical human one – could derive from those small children seeming “different” to their parents as they get older. It would be nice to think that they were still raised by their parents and found a place in society, even on the fringe of it – however, given the high rate of infant mortality back then, it’s entirely possible that a lot of them were abandoned or even killed.
It’s also quite plausible that a lot of them were given to the Church. What better way to drive out any demons that may possess them? And a monastic life would probably suit many autistic people – minimal distractions, a set routine, limited social interaction…
The point is, autism has been around as long as humans have. We just didn’t know what it was. Those who were high functioning enough to be part of the village were considered a bit weird but generally tolerated. Those who weren’t, if they survived, would be outsiders. And those that couldn’t function were entirely reliant on their families to survive – if those families were willing to help them.
Brian Berletic: China DESTROYS US War Plans as Europe Rejects Taiwan Independence
USA : Please help us to end the Ukraine War so that we can concentrate War in the island of Taiwan with you.
I was about eighteen, shy, thin, poor, and an artist. I was living in a factory town that did not appreciate anyone who didn’t fit in and I didn’t.
I was raised to be a gentleman and to be nice to everyone. This is not a popular thing when you are young and it is often misunderstood.
I was getting gas for my vehicle and I was dealing with rejection a few hours earlier from a girl that I really liked. She had just told me that I was too polite and nice.
I paid for my gas and walked to the convenience store doorway. I was on the cusp of deciding to stop being polite and nice.
I stepped out and noticed an older black man, who was likely in his eighties, dressed as if he was coming from church was coming up to the door. Without thinking, I held it open for him, nodded, and smiled.
So much for my tough guy plan.
He doffed his porkpie hat to me and said the words that changed my life. With a twinkle in his eyes, he said, “You sir, are a gentleman.”
I beamed. Yes, he’s right. That is who I am, and as importantly, who I want to be.
He probably never knew just how important his kind words were to the man that I would become.
I remember him and the gas station, but don’t even remember the name or even face of the woman who had told me I was too nice.
Life is grand when we treat everyone with kindness and care.
This is it. The roadmap & Plan for the post-American-led global world order. This document, is lengthy, but is being followed by MOST OF THE WORLD outside the West. -MM
Trump Latinos Charles J. Jones & Forgiato Blow – America Uncanceled
This one is really great. A bit “red neck”, but I really like that people are trying to fight back from the insanity of Washington DC. But it’s gonna take more than singing…
The new announcements from Huawei just keep on coming:
Huawei announces new 5.5G wireless standard which is already implemented on the Huawei Mate 60 Pro family;
Tencent, owner of WeChat, announces full support for Huawei’s HarmonyOS. WeChat has more than 1B accounts in China alone
Significantly, Huawei is going ahead with its new technology announcements without seeking approval through tech standards committees which are dominated by western tech companies.
In 2024, many new chip fabs which were hiding will start going into production for chips over >5nm. These fabs will be coming online at the same time, and there will be a price war as they fight for sales.
Qualcomm, based in San Diego, is a leading maker of wireless transceivers, and has announced the layoff of 1,200 personnel in December 2023.
Leading American tech brands will be hit badly as Chinese makers eat into their business.
China WARNS Neocons of Consequences as Biden, Blinken Sink to New Low
In the 1980s my Dad bought a complete set of Encyclopedia Britannica, including the children’s version. My Dad passed away in 2002 and my Mom has held on to them. Last year she was cleaning house and she asked me if I wanted them for my kids. I told her that my kids would have no use for them. She tried giving it to a local orphanage in Nairobi (Kenya) and they, too, declined to take them. They did ask if we could donate a computer instead. So in 2023, encyclopedias are pretty much worthless even for orphanages in developing countries.
Because people are willing to pay a lot for a hamburger.
This is a fundamental rule of economics a lot of folks don’t get. With the exception of some commodity goods, price of a good or service doesn’t depend on the cost of making it. You don’t set the price by taking the cost of production, adding some amount for profit, and then using that for the price.
In technical terms, the input price is disconnected from the output price.
You set the price as high as the market will bear. You do everything you can to drive the cost as low as possible. You keep everything in between.
Suppose people will pay $15 for your burgers. Why would you set the price at $10? You’d have to be a moron to do that. If people will pay $15, you sell for $15.
If the burger costs $8 to make and people will pay $15, you sell for $15.
If the burger costs $6 to make and people will pay $15, you sell for $15.
If the burger costs $2 to make and people will pay $15, you sell for $15.
the real price of the American Dream for Black women & why I gave it up
There is a reason you don’t see other countries “buzz” the carriers. They will buzz destroyers and spy planes, but not the carriers. At least not too closely. Shadow? Sure, but from a fair distance.
If you start interfering with something that expensive containing 5,000+ American lives, the stakes get much bigger much quicker. The carrier and its escorts will absolutely destroy anything they believe to be a threat to the carrier and its operations, even in peace time. Everyone knows this. We are talking about the crown jewels of the US military here, most of the USN is tasked almost exclusively with defending them at all costs.
Carrier escorts will literally throw themselves in front of torpedoes in order to protect the carrier if they have to. In WWII, the Royal Navy was stunned to learn the US planned to do exactly that even with capital ships like battleships if necessary. I am not joking, even today there are protocols where escorts will criss-cross through the wake of the carriers to act as a physical shield against wake homing torpedoes.
The point of “buzzing” isn’t to be an open threat though, its to harass and to voice a general displeasure at your presence.
The problem with harassing a carrier is that the line between harassment and threat is very blurred due to the sheer value of the carrier in both people and treasure. What the CO of an American carrier views as a threat might be very different to what a Russian or Chinese fighter pilot may believe is simply harassment, especially when you have active flight operations on an already chaotic and dangerous floating airport.
It is best to tread carefully near them for all involved. There are plenty of other lesser targets to annoy. You don’t want to get any closer than this for the most part:
“Poor Men South of Portland” by Jon Reep
It’s a massive play on words for a subject that needs attention.
Let me tell you China will 100% not allow the U.S. and the west to ever freely manipulate China, Chinese laws, Chinese systems and policies and Chinese rules and regulations in China.
To China, they have a more effective and efficient democracy and democratic process that has stood the test of time. To the Chinese people and many others in the world we find the U.S. political systems highly ineffective and inefficient and unsustainable. Hence China will never ever adopt the western political system if that Is what you are asking.
China will be as free as it makes sense. For example in China you are free to drink on the street. In the US you can be arrested for drinking on the street. But in China you cannot even carry or have possession of a knife linger that 15 cm in the Public. Weapons of any kind Is totally not allowed by anybody! To us it makes PERFECT sense!
In the West and US you can shout obceneties and curse politicians. But Chinese people prefer cultured respectful dialogue.
Burkina Faso Sacks Chief Of Staff After He Was Caught Selling Out His Country
I was tapping a parking meter with my credit card, and looked down, and saw, not a wallet. But the contents of a wallet. A credit card, a health insurance card, a rewards card, and a debit card.
Since it was a busy pay station, it hadn’t been there for long. I picked it up, ran into my meeting, and looked at the cards. They had an unusual name, so I googled it, and found two people with that last name in the city, and a food critic article, about a new chef, starting a new restaurant, and he had the exact name. So I called the restaurant, and left a message, that I found something of his, and if he could tell me what he was missing, I would return it to him. There was no reply, so I phoned the person with a different initial and the same last name, and left a message, that if they knew the other guy, to have him call me.
Nothing. The next day I left another message at the restaurant, and got no reply. The next day, I left a message saying I was going to drop it off at the police station, and he could do what he wanted, as I was done stressing over it.
I figured, that had I called the restaurant within 5 minutes of the card being lost, and if he was close to where he lost it, he could have it back in ten minutes from the time he lost it, and not have to cancel his cards, so I was trying hard to get it to him, but afterwards, I figured he would have already cancelled the card.
The next day he phones me and tells me that his wife lost the cards, and she only uses them maybe once a week, and never knew that they were missing.
It was only when the police phoned him, that she checked. He figured I was a scammer, and didn’t return my call. He said he had words with his wife, because she had no idea that anything had happened in those three says. Both the credit card and debit card had tap, I probably could have bought $500 bucks a day worth of stuff, for a week, before his wife noticed.
I never got an apology or a thank you, just an explanation.
But despite that, I will continue returning lost wallets, because I once left $200 in a bank machine, and and a young lady chased me down, a half block to return it. So I know there are other good people out there.
Declining US Empire vs Rising China
These two guys are GREAT. Love watching them.
A Global Community of Shared Future:
China’s Proposals and Actions
The State Council Information Office of
the People’s Republic of China
September 2023
Contents
Preface
I. Humanity at a Crossroads
II. An Answer to the Call of the Times and a Blueprint for the Future
III. Deep Roots in History and Cultural Traditions
IV. Direction and Path
V. China’s Action and Contribution
Conclusion
Preface
In the universe there is only one Earth, the shared home of humanity. Unfortunately, this planet on which we rely for our subsistence is facing immense and unprecedented crises, both known and unknown, both foreseeable and unforeseeable. Whether human civilization can survive these has become an existential issue that must be squarely faced. More and more people have come to the realization that rather than amassing material wealth, the most pressing task is to find a guiding beacon for the sustainable development of human civilization, because we all care about our future.
Ten years ago President Xi Jinping propounded the idea of building a global community of shared future, answering a question raised by the world, by history, and by the times: “Where is humanity headed?” His proposal lights the path forward as the world fumbles for solutions, and represents China’s contribution to global efforts to protect our shared home and create a better future of prosperity for all.
To build a global community of shared future, all peoples, all countries, and all individuals – our destinies being interconnected – must stand together in adversity and through thick and thin, navigating towards greater harmony on this planet that we call home. We should endeavor to build an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world that enjoys lasting peace, universal security, and common prosperity, turning people’s longing for a better life into reality.
The vision of a global community of shared future bears in mind the wellbeing of all humanity. It is based on both observation of the present and visionary planning for the future. It lays out goals, charts the path, and offers action plans to achieve them. It concerns the future of humanity and the destiny of every human being.
President Xi Jinping first raised the vision of a global community of shared future when addressing the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in 2013. Over the past decade it has been steadily enriched. He fleshed it out with a five-point proposal [The five points are: We should build partnerships in which countries treat each other as equals, engage in extensive consultation, and enhance mutual understanding. We should create a security environment featuring fairness, justice, joint efforts, and shared interests. We should promote open, innovative and inclusive development that benefits all. We should increase inter-civilization exchanges to promote harmony, inclusiveness, and respect for differences. We should build an ecosystem that puts Mother Nature and green development first.] in his speech at the General Debate of the 70th Session of the UN General Assembly in 2015. He further proposed five goals for the world [The five goals are: We should build a world of lasting peace through dialogue and consultation. We should build a world of common security for all through joint efforts. We should build a world of common prosperity through win-win cooperation. We should build an open and inclusive world through exchanges and mutual learning. We should make our world clean and beautiful by pursuing green and low-carbon development.] in his speech at the United Nations Office in Geneva in 2017. This represents the steady increase in the depth and scope of the vision.
The past decade has seen steady progress in implementing the vision. From bilateral to multilateral and from regional to global dimensions, ground-breaking results have been achieved on every front. The Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative have taken root and borne fruits, bringing prosperity and stability to the world and creating substantive benefits for the people.
Over the past decade, the vision of a global community of shared future has gained broader support. More countries and people have come to the understanding that this vision serves the common interests of humanity, represents popular calls for peace, justice and progress, and can create the greatest synergy among all nations for building a better world. It is now widely recognized in the international community that the vision has nothing to do with self-interest and protectionism. Instead, by presenting China’s vision of the course of human development, it confronts the hegemonic thinking of certain countries that seek supremacy. It is therefore of great significance to promote solidarity and cooperation among all countries and create a better future for humanity.
The Chinese government is publishing this white paper to introduce the theoretical base, practice and development of a global community of shared future. We hope it will improve understanding and expand consensus in the international community, and reinforce the global effort to realize this vision.
I. Humanity at a Crossroads
This is an era of promise, and an era of challenges. At yet another crossroads in history, we have to choose between unity and division, between opening up and closing off, between cooperation and confrontation. With the overall interests of humanity at stake, this choice tests the wisdom of all countries.
1. Interdependence is the prevailing trend throughout history
In its history, humanity has progressed from primitive society to the Agricultural Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, and now the Information Revolution. While this process has seen a steep increase in productivity, one fundamental reality has remained unchanged: The Earth is our one and only home. All countries bear responsibility for the safety of this planet and the future of humanity. If the pursuit of power and profit escalates to vicious competition or even armed conflict, self-destruction will be the certain outcome.
Throughout history, peace and development have been the primary aspirations of humanity. Having experienced the ravages of wars and conflicts, especially the two world wars, people around the globe have built a keener awareness of cherishing peace, expanding cooperation, and seeking common development. The idea that “we are all one human family” is gaining traction, and the desire for a global community grows stronger than ever.
Globalization has improved the allocation of production factors worldwide, including capital, information, technology, labor and management. As if connecting scattered lakes and creeks into an uninterrupted expanse of water, it draws nations out of isolation and away from the obsolete model of self-reliance, merging their individual markets into a global one and combining their respective experiences into world history.
As information technology advances with every passing day, most prominently in the fields of Internet, big data, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence, human exchanges have become deeper, broader, and more extensive than ever before, and countries are more interconnected and interdependent than at any point in the past. Globalization is not an option; it is the reality and the way of life. The global village is getting smaller – the longest distance between two places on earth has been reduced to a flight of no greater than 24 hours, and our planet is becoming flat – one tap on a mobile phone connects us to the other side of the world in a split second. This is an integrated world. Those who turn their back on it will have no place in it.
Living on the same planet, all countries, adjacent or distant, large or small, developed or developing, are members of an emerging community of shared interests, responsibility, and destiny, whose wellbeing and security are interrelated. Only when appropriate attention is paid to the collective future of humanity is it possible that the wishes of every country, people and individual come true. Whatever we may encounter on our journey ahead, the only right choice is to work together for the benefit of all.
2. Global challenges call for global response
Our world is undergoing change on a scale unseen in a century. Various problems old and new and complex issues are converging with and compounding each other, posing unprecedented challenges for human society. Instability, uncertainty, and unpredictability are now the norm.
The peace deficit is growing. Though human society has largely maintained peace since the end of World War II, threats to world peace continue to amass. War has returned to the Eurasian continent, tensions are rising, and a series of flashpoints are emerging. The shadow of the arms race lingers on, and the threat of nuclear war – the Sword of Damocles that hangs over humanity – remains. Our world is at risk of plunging into confrontation and even war.
The development deficit is ballooning. The global economic recovery is sluggish, and unilateralism and protectionism are rampant. Some countries are turning to a “small yard, high fence” approach to wall themselves off; they are pushing for decoupling, severing and “derisking” supply chains. All this has caused setbacks to globalization. At the same time the Covid-19 pandemic has reversed global development, exacerbating the North-South gap, development fault lines, and the technology divide. The Human Development Index has declined for the first time in 30 years. The world’s poor population has increased by more than 100 million, and nearly 800 million people live in hunger.
The security deficit is glaring. Due to more intense global strategic competition and a lack of mutual trust between major countries, the Cold War mindset has re-emerged, and calls for ideological confrontation have resurfaced. Some countries’ hegemonic, abusive, and aggressive actions against others, in the form of swindling, plundering, oppression, and the zero-sum game, are causing great harm. Non-traditional security challenges are on the rise, including terrorism, cyber-attacks, transnational crime, and biological threats.
The governance deficit is more severe. The world is facing multiple governance crises. The energy crisis, food crisis, and debt crisis are intensifying. Global climate governance is urgently needed, and the transition to green, low-carbon development requires dedicated efforts over an extended period of time. The digital divide continues to expand, and sound governance of artificial intelligence is lacking. The Covid-19 pandemic is a mirror through which we have observed that the global governance system is falling further behind the times and keeps breaking down on issues requiring resolution. It has to be reformed and improved.
In the face of global crises, the 190-plus countries in the world are all in the same big boat. Only big boats can withstand battering winds and crashing waves. No country, however strong it may be, can do everything on its own. We must engage in global cooperation. Only when all countries work together, only when we align individual interests with the interests of all, and only when we truly build a global community of shared future, can humanity tide through the crises confronting us and sail towards a better future.
3. The new era calls for new ideas
This is an era when the world is undergoing rapid changes almost every day. We can no longer interpret the reality we are living in or find satisfactory solutions to the conundrums we are facing by means of traditional approaches to international relations. It is increasingly obvious that the idea that “all strong countries will seek hegemony”, the obsession with superior strength, and the zero-sum mentality are in conflict with the needs of our times. Humanity is in great need of new ideas that generate positive developments and conform to positive historical trends.
There is no iron law that dictates that a rising power will inevitably seek hegemony. This assumption represents typical hegemonic thinking and is grounded in memories of catastrophic wars between hegemonic powers in the past. China has never accepted that once a country becomes strong enough, it will invariably seek hegemony. China understands the lesson of history – that hegemony preludes decline. We pursue development and revitalization through our own efforts, rather than invasion or expansion. And everything we do is for the purpose of providing a better life for our people, all the while creating more development opportunities for the entire world, not in order to supersede or subjugate others.
The strong preying on the weak is not a way for humans to coexist. If the law of the jungle is imposed on human society, and the idea that “might makes right” prevails, the principle of sovereign equality will be fundamentally undermined, and world peace and stability will be severely endangered. In the age of globalization, all countries are interdependent and interconnected. Therefore the law of the jungle and the winner-takes-all mindset will lead nowhere – inclusive development for the benefit of all is the right path forward. China has consistently championed equity and justice, and remains committed to friendly cooperation with other countries, on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, in order to advance democracy in international relations.
The zero-sum game in which one wins by causing others to lose is doomed to fail. Nevertheless, certain countries still cling to this mindset, blindly pursuing absolute security and monopolistic advantages. This will do nothing for their development over the long run; it will simply create a major threat to world peace and prosperity. No country should hope for others to fail. Instead, it should work together with other countries for the success of all. China consistently aligns its development with global development, and aligns the interests of the Chinese people with the common interests of all peoples around the world. When the world thrives, China thrives, and vice versa.
II. An Answer to the Call of the Times and
a Blueprint for the Future
Standing at a crossroads, humanity is faced with two opposing options. One is to revert to the Cold War mentality that deepens division and antagonism and stokes confrontation between blocs. The other is to act for the common wellbeing of humanity, strengthen solidarity and cooperation, advocate openness and win-win results, and promote equality and respect. The tug of war between these two options will shape the future of humanity and our planet in a profound way.
To build a global community of shared future is to pursue openness, inclusiveness, mutual benefit, equity and justice. The goal is not to replace one system or civilization with another. Instead, it is about countries with different social systems, ideologies, histories, cultures and levels of development coming together to promote shared interests, shared rights, and shared responsibilities in global affairs. The vision of a global community of shared future stands on the right side of history and on the side of human progress. It introduces a new approach for international relations, provides new ideas for global governance, opens up new prospects for international exchanges, and draws a new blueprint for a better world.
1. Introducing a new approach to international relations
The current international order is facing a myriad of challenges. Some countries, holding to the notion of might makes right, willfully engage in bullying, plundering and zero-sum competition. The development gap is widening and the deficit in security is growing. The isolationist and exclusive practice of alliance-based confrontation runs counter to the trend towards multipolarity and the evolution of international relations in the post-Cold War era. Especially with the rise of a large number of emerging market and developing countries, the current international order is increasingly out of step with the changing times. “What kind of world we need and how to build such a world” has become a vital question with the future of humanity at stake.
China’s answer to this question of the times is to build a global community of shared future. It means that with their futures closely interlocked, all nations and countries should stick together, share weal and woe, live together in harmony, and engage in mutually beneficial cooperation. The idea is based on a reasonable design for state-to-state relations. It reflects the general consensus and common expectations of the international community, and demonstrates China’s sense of duty as a responsible major country.
In this global village, all human beings are one big family. With their interests intertwined and futures interlocked, countries are turning into a community of shared future. Such a vision rises above the exclusive rules of bloc politics, the notion of might makes right, and the “universal values” defined by a handful of Western countries. It conforms to the trend of the times, echoes the call for global cooperation, and contributes to a more just and equitable international order.
2. Highlighting the new features of global governance
The concept of a global community of shared future holds that all countries share a common future, and envisions a world characterized by openness and inclusiveness, equity and justice, harmonious coexistence, diversity and mutual learning, and unity and cooperation.
– Openness and inclusiveness. Countries should not draw lines based on ideology, target specific countries, or gang up to form exclusive blocs. The ocean is vast because it admits all rivers. To build a global community of shared future, countries should advance democracy in international relations to make sure that the future of the world is determined by all, that international rules are written by all, that global affairs are governed by all, and that the fruits of development are shared by all.
– Equity and justice. The world needs justice, not hegemonism. No country has the right to dominate global affairs, dictate the future of others, or monopolize development advantages. Countries should safeguard the international order based on international law, uphold the authority of the international rule of law, and ensure equal and unified application of international law. The practice of double standards or selective application of law should be rejected.
– Harmonious coexistence. Countries should strive to achieve peaceful coexistence and common development by seeking common ground while reserving differences. Planet Earth is not an arena for wrestling between countries, but a stage for human coexistence. Despite their differences and diverse features, countries can develop together in harmony and unity, and it is precisely such diversity that gives strength to global development.
– Diversity and mutual learning. Different histories, national conditions, ethnic groups, and customs have given birth to diverse civilizations. Diversity of human civilizations is a basic feature of our world. Mutual learning among civilizations provides important impetus to human progress. Countries should respect one another and jointly pursue common development through exchanges and mutual learning.
– Unity and cooperation. Countries should act for the greater good. Pursuing development behind closed doors can only result in poverty. Viewed from a “country-first” perspective, the world is small and crowded, and locked in “fierce competition”; viewed from the perspective of a shared future, the world is vast, and full of opportunities for cooperation. No country can overcome global development challenges on its own. Cooperation among all countries is the only viable option.
3. Opening up new prospects for international exchanges
China has made a five-point proposal for building a global community of shared future in the areas of partnerships, security environment, development, inter-civilization exchanges, and ecosystem. This has opened up new prospects for international exchanges.
We should build partnerships in which countries treat each other as equals, engage in extensive consultation, and enhance mutual understanding. The principle of sovereign equality runs through the UN Charter. All countries are equals. The big, the mighty and the wealthy should not bully the small, the weak and the poor. We should uphold multilateralism and reject unilateralism. We should replace the outdated mindset of winner takes all with a new vision of seeking win-win outcomes for all. We should forge global partnerships at both international and regional levels, and embrace a new approach to state-to-state relations, one founded on dialogue rather than confrontation and that seeks partnership rather than alliance. In handling their relations, major countries should follow the principles of no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect, and win-win cooperation. Big countries should treat small countries as equals and take the right approach to friendship and interests, pursuing both friendship and interests and putting friendship first.
We should create a security environment featuring fairness, justice, joint efforts, and shared interests. In the age of economic globalization, the security of all countries is interlinked, and each has an impact on the others. No country can maintain absolute security on its own, and no country can achieve stability by destabilizing others. The law of the jungle leaves the weak at the mercy of the strong; it is not the way for countries to conduct their relations. Those who choose to oppress will invite harm to themselves, like lifting a rock only to drop it on their own feet. We should reject Cold War mentality in all its manifestation, and foster a new vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security.
We should promote open, innovative and inclusive development that benefits all. Development is meaningful only when it is inclusive and sustainable. To achieve such development requires openness, mutual assistance and mutually beneficial relations. Long-term global development cannot be founded on one group of countries becoming increasingly prosperous while another group of countries remain chronically poor and backward. Development should be placed high on the international agenda, and efforts should be made to reduce inequality and imbalance in global development, leaving no country or individual behind.
We should increase inter-civilization exchanges to promote harmony, inclusiveness, and respect for differences. There are more than 200 countries and regions, over 2,500 ethnic groups and a vast number of religions in our world. Such cultural diversity is what makes the world colorful. Diversity breeds exchanges, exchanges lead to integration, and integration brings progress. Only by upholding the equality, mutual learning, dialogue and inclusiveness of civilizations, and working for mutual respect, experience sharing, and harmonious coexistence while preserving diversity, can the world maintain its diversity and thrive. We should respect all civilizations, treat each other as equals, and draw inspiration from each other to boost the creative development of human civilization.
We should build an ecosystem that puts Mother Nature and green development first. Humanity may have the ability to utilize nature and even transform it, but it is still a part of nature. We should care for nature and not place ourselves above it. We should reconcile industrial development with nature, and pursue harmony between humanity and nature to achieve sustainable global development and all-round human development. We should respect nature, follow its ways, and protect it. We should firmly pursue green, low-carbon, circular and sustainable development.
4. Outlining a new vision for building a better world
China proposes to build an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world that enjoys lasting peace, common security, and common prosperity. From “the five-point proposal” to “the five goals”, the concept of a global community of shared future has gained a broader historical perspective and deeper meaning, and set a clearer goal and drawn a clearer blueprint for the future of humanity.
We should build a world of lasting peace through dialogue and consultation. It means beating the swords of war into the plowshares of peace. The stone wall at the entrance to the UNESCO headquarters carries the inscription of one single message: “Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed.” Throughout human history, obsession with power and hegemony has led to frequent wars and loss of lives. The lessons are painful and profound, and we need to remove the fuses of war from our minds. Big countries should treat the smaller ones as equals instead of seeking unilateral dominance or imposing their will on others. No country should open Pandora’s box by willfully provoking turmoil and armed conflict or undermining the international rule of law. Countries should respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, respect each other’s core interests and major concerns, and respect the development path and social system chosen by other peoples.
We should build a world of common security for all through joint efforts. It means turning absolute security for one into common security for all. There is no place in the world that enjoys absolute security, and a country cannot build its security on the turmoil of others. Threats to other countries can turn into a challenge to one’s own country. When neighbors are in trouble, instead of reinforcing one’s own fences, one should extend a helping hand. As challenges often take on global dimensions, it is all the more important for countries to cooperate in addressing them, turning pressure into motivation and crises into opportunities. Unilateral action or blind belief in the use of force cannot address the complex international security threats. The only solution lies in cooperative and common security. It is normal for countries to have differences, and they should be properly addressed through dialogue and consultation. As long as we show sincerity, goodwill and political wisdom, no conflict is too big to resolve and no ice is too thick to break.
We should build a world of common prosperity through win-win cooperation. It means bidding farewell to the winner-takes-all mindset and sharing development achievements. In this day and age, the international community has evolved into a sophisticated and integrated apparatus, as the removal of any single part will cause serious problems to its overall operation. We must keep to the correct direction of economic globalization, and oppose any attempt to set up technological blockades, cause technological divides, or seek development decoupling. While we should make the pie of the global economy bigger, it is even more important to divide it well, so that development achievements can benefit people of all countries more equitably, and bring about true cooperation and win-win results.
We should build an open and inclusive world through exchanges and mutual learning. It means bidding farewell to the mindset that one civilization is superior to another and starting to appreciate the strengths of other civilizations. Our world can fully accommodate the common growth and progress of all countries, and success for one country does not mean failure for another. There is no universally applicable development path. A development path that continuously benefits the people is the most viable one. Countries and nations should respect their differences and seek harmony without uniformity, and civilizations should draw strength from each other and make progress together. Exchanges and mutual learning between civilizations should be a driving force for human progress and a strong underpinning for world peace.
We should make our world clean and beautiful by pursuing green and low-carbon development. It means bidding farewell to the destructive exploitation of resources and preserving and enjoying the lush mountains and lucid waters. Humanity coexists with nature. Any harm we inflict on nature will eventually come back to haunt us. We often take natural resources such as air, water, soil and blue sky for granted. But we could not survive without them. Industrialization has created a level of material wealth never seen before, but it has also inflicted irreparable damage on the environment. We must not exhaust all the resources passed on to us by previous generations and leave nothing to our children, or pursue development in a destructive way. Lush mountains and lucid waters are invaluable assets. We must follow the philosophy of harmony between humanity and nature and observance of the laws of nature and pursue a path of sustainable development, so that everyone is able to enjoy a starry sky, lush mountains and fragrant flowers.
Building a global community of shared future is China’s proposed strategy for reforming and improving the international governance system. This does not mean that the international system should be dismantled or started afresh. Rather, it means promoting greater democracy in international relations and making global governance more just and equitable. This important vision reflects the broadest common aspiration of the peoples of all countries in pursuit of peace, development, and stability, and the broadest consensus among countries with different cultural backgrounds and at different stages of development. It transcends outdated mindsets such as zero-sum game, power politics, and Cold War confrontations. It has become the overall goal of China’s major-country diplomacy in the new era, and a great banner that leads the trend of the times and the direction of human progress.
III. Deep Roots in History and
Cultural Traditions
The concept of a global community of shared future has deep roots in China’s profound cultural heritage and its unique experience of modernization. It carries forward the diplomatic traditions of the People’s Republic of China and draws on the outstanding achievements of all other civilizations. It manifests China’s time-honored historical traditions, distinct characteristics of the times, and a wealth of humanistic values.
1. Inheriting the best of traditional Chinese culture
China’s fine traditional culture epitomizes the essence of the Chinese civilization. It provides inspiring insights to help understand and shape the world and address current challenges, and contains elements of the vision of building a global community of shared future.
Harmony is the core concept of Chinese culture, which values the primacy of harmony and harmony within diversity, pursues the ideal of harmony and solidarity towards common progress, and embraces cultural diversity and global harmony.
The Chinese nation believes all nations together are one community, advocates fraternity among all peoples and peace for all countries, follows the principle of interstate relations that the strong do not bully the weak and the rich do not insult the poor, and pursues a world of fairness and justice for the common good.
The Chinese nation champions universal benevolence, holding that the virtuous are never left to stand alone, endorsing good neighborliness with good faith and good will, and pursuing both friendship and interests while putting friendship first.
The Chinese nation observes the rule that “to establish oneself, one must help others to establish themselves first; to succeed, one must help others to succeed first”, believing that helping others is helping oneself. It also upholds the principle that “do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself”, and never imposes its will upon other nations.
The Chinese nation acts on the belief that humans are part of nature and follows the old adage: “Fish with a line but not with a net; when fowling, do not aim at a roosting bird.” It reveres the laws of the universe, loves nature, and pursues harmony between humanity and nature.
2. Showcasing the global vision of the Communist Party of China
Always championing a global vision is part of the valuable experience accumulated by the Communist Party of China (CPC) in its century-long history. Over the past one hundred years and more, the CPC has always sought happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation while pursuing progress for all of humanity and the common good of the world. It succeeded in leading the Chinese people onto a distinctively Chinese path to modernization and developing a new form of human advancement. These successes have laid a solid foundation for building a global community of shared future, charting the course and opening up broad prospects for this great endeavor.
The CPC is committed to seeking progress for China while benefiting the wider world, bringing a good life to the Chinese people and also helping other peoples to prosper, and contributing more to humanity. The report to the 20th CPC National Congress in 2022 drew a great blueprint for rejuvenating the Chinese nation on all fronts by pioneering a uniquely Chinese path to modernization, and pointed out that striving to build a global community of shared future is one of the intrinsic requirements of Chinese modernization, affirming the close bond between the future of China and the future of all humanity.
The CPC leads the Chinese people in blazing and expanding China’s path to modernization based on both China’s distinctive conditions and other countries’ common approaches. Chinese modernization is the modernization of common prosperity for a huge population, coordinated material and cultural-ethical advancement, harmony between humanity and nature, and peaceful development. All these features have provided useful experience for other developing countries and a more robust and sustainable option for jointly building a global community of shared future.
3. Promoting the fine diplomatic traditions of New China
Over the past 70 years and more, China has made notable progress, established fine traditions, and forged a tenacious character and unique strengths in developing foreign relations. The initiative of building a global community of shared future builds on the PRC’s diplomatic philosophies, strategic thinking and traditions, and opens up new horizons for major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics.
After the PRC was founded in 1949, China committed itself to an independent foreign policy of peace and put forward the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, the Three Worlds theory and other principles, policies and ideas. This allowed China to find its place, win respect, and expand its reach in the international community. After the launch of reform and opening up in 1978, China asserted that peace and development are the underlying trends of the times. It advocated multipolarity and greater democracy in international relations, promoted a harmonious world, and achieved significant progress in China’s diplomacy around the world.
In the new era, championing peace, development, and win-win cooperation, China has advanced its major-country diplomacy on all fronts and formed a multifaceted, multilevel, and all-dimensional diplomatic strategy. China has initiated a range of visionary initiatives, including a global community of shared future, a new type of international relations, the common values of humanity, the Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative, and promoted a set of approaches to global governance, to friendship and interests, to security, to development, to cooperation, and to the eco-environment. All these carry distinctively Chinese features, style and ethos.
4. Incorporating the outstanding achievements of other civilizations
The concept of a global community of shared future incorporates the best of the cultures of enduring appeal and impact that have transcended time, space, and national borders in human history. It crystallizes the shared values of people from different regions, cultures, ethnic backgrounds and with different religious beliefs. It draws on the outstanding achievements of cultural integration between diverse civilizations. It embodies the common aspiration of all humanity.
All civilizations around the world have manifestations of the concept of a global community of shared future. Ancient Greek philosophers conducted primary research on this concept based on city-states, believing that humanity as one community should act in concert to pursue common interests and thus must live in harmony. Ancient Indian literature records the motto of “Under Heaven – one family”. The African philosophy of Ubuntu holds that “I am because we are,” emphasizing interdependence of humanity.
The concept of a global community of shared future reflects the common interests of all civilizations – peace, development, unity, coexistence, and win-win cooperation. A Russian proverb holds, “Together we can weather the storm.” The Swiss-German writer Hermann Hesse proposed, “Serve not war and destruction, but peace and reconciliation.” A German proverb reads, “An individual’s effort is addition; a team’s effort is multiplication.” An African proverb states, “One single pillar is not sufficient to build a house.” An Arabian proverb asserts, “If you want to walk fast, walk alone; if you want to walk far, walk together.” Mexican poet Alfonso Reyes wrote, “The only way to be profitably national is to be generously universal.” An Indonesian proverb says, “Sugarcane and lemongrass grow in dense clumps.” A Mongolian proverb concludes, “Neighbors are connected at heart and share a common destiny.” All the above narratives manifest the profound cultural and intellectual essence of the world.
In building a global community of shared future, all countries should observe the widely acknowledged norms of international relations. Since the advent of modern times, a fair and equitable international order has been the long-standing goal of all humanity. From the principle of equity and sovereignty established by the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, to international humanitarianism established by the Geneva Conventions in 1864, then to the four purposes and seven principles established by the Charter of the United Nations in 1945, and later to the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence proposed at the Bandung Conference in 1955, these norms of international relations have evolved into widely recognized principles and become the essential foundations of a global community of shared future.
IV. Direction and Path
The vision of a global community of shared future is the outcome of China’s wisdom in handling contemporary international relations from the perspective of world peace and development – a Chinese plan for improving global governance, and a Chinese proposal to address various challenges in the 21st century. Vision guides action and direction determines the future. The international community should work together to turn the grand blueprint into a roadmap, and a beautiful vision into reality step by step.
1. Pressing ahead with a new type of economic globalization
Economic globalization is an irreversible trend of global economic development, and is in line with the desire for development and cooperation held by people of all countries. Economic globalization has greatly facilitated trade, investment, flows of people, and technological advances, making an important contribution to global economic development.
However, problems and drawbacks also accumulated in the process, and there are attempts at retreating from it. The current model of economic globalization fails to reflect the demands or represent the interests of developing countries. The law of the jungle, zero-sum game, and the “win-or-lose”, “winner-takes-all” mindset have exacerbated the divide between the rich and poor, as evidenced by the widening gap between developed and developing countries, and that within developed countries. Some countries blame their problems in domestic governance on economic globalization or other countries, and resort to unilateral, protectionist, and bullying actions. This has damaged global industrial, value, supply and consumption chains, and caused turbulence and even conflict in the current international trade order.
Promoting a new type of economic globalization is essential for building a global community of shared future. Countries need to pursue a policy of openness and explicitly oppose protectionism, the erection of fences and barriers, unilateral sanctions, and maximum-pressure tactics, so as to connect economies and jointly build an open world economy. Countries should strive to build a system of fair, reasonable, and transparent international economic and trade rules, press ahead with trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and promote further global economic openness, exchange, and integration in order to form an economic globalization that is open, inclusive, balanced and beneficial for all, so that people of all countries can share the fruits of economic globalization and world economic growth.
Opening up should be a two-way journey, not a one-way street; one cannot demand the opening of other countries while closing its own doors. Some countries are seeking to decouple from and break chains with China, enclosing themselves in “small yards, high fences”, which will ultimately only backfire on themselves. Some people overstate the need to “reduce dependence” and “derisk”, which is essentially creating new risks. Risk prevention and cooperation are not mutually contradictory, whereas non-cooperation is the biggest risk and non-development is the biggest threat to security. Pursuing de-sinicization in the name of derisking and reducing dependence undermines opportunities, cooperation, stability, and development.
The current revolution in science and technology marked by artificial intelligence will have a profound impact on the new round of economic globalization and social development. Relevant rules and standards should be established to support scientific and technological innovation and guard the red line of human security. The interests of all countries, especially developing ones, should be taken into account in a balanced manner, to ensure that technological innovation is placed under the rule of law and internationally recognized norms, and ensure that innovation is steered by and works for humanity, and is consistent with human values.
2. Following a peaceful development path
History tells us that for a country to develop and prosper, it must understand and follow the trend of global development; otherwise it will be abandoned by history. The trend now is the pursuit of peace, development, cooperation, and win-win results. The old path of colonialism and hegemonism leads to a dead end and those who follow it will pay a heavy price, whereas the path of peaceful development is the right one for the world to follow.
The pursuit of peace, amity and harmony is deeply rooted in the cultural realm of the Chinese nation and runs in the blood of the Chinese people. For a long time in the past, China was one of the most powerful countries in the world, but it does not have any record of colonization or aggression against other countries. China’s adherence to the path of peaceful development is an extension of the millennia-old cultural tradition of the peace-loving Chinese nation.
China always adheres to an independent foreign policy of peace and has always emphasized that the goal of China’s foreign policy is to maintain world peace and promote common development. China opposes all forms of hegemonism and power politics, and does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. It will never seek hegemony or engage in expansion. These principles are stated in China’s policies, incorporated in its systemic designs, and always adhered to in its practices.
The world needs peace, just like a human being needs air and living things need sunshine. The path of peaceful development is beneficial to China and the world, and we cannot think of any reason not to stay on this path. China follows the path of peaceful development, and hopes that other countries will take this path as well. Only by working together to pursue peace, safeguard peace, and share peace can countries achieve their development goals and make greater contributions to the world. Only when everyone follows the path of peaceful development can countries coexist peacefully, and can there be hope for building a global community of shared future.
3. Fostering a new type of international relations
The new type of international relations is different in that it has created a new path for interactions between countries, opened up a new chapter of world history where different civilizations and countries with different systems coexist in peace and seek common development, and paved the way for building a global community of shared future.
A new type of international relations should be built on the principles of mutual respect, equity and justice, and mutually beneficial cooperation. Mutual respect means treating people with sincerity and equality, and opposing power politics and bullying practices. In upholding equity and justice, countries must discard extreme materialism and overemphasis on competition, and ensure that all countries have equal rights and opportunities for development. Mutually beneficial cooperation means that countries should reject the maximization of self-interest, address the legitimate concerns of other countries while pursuing their own interests, and promote common development of all countries alongside their own development.
The foundations for building a new type of international relations lie in broader and deeper global partnerships based on equality, openness, and cooperation. China adheres to the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence in pursuing friendship and cooperation with other countries. It works to reinforce coordination and positive interaction with other major countries in order to build major-country relations featuring peaceful coexistence, overall stability, and balanced development. Acting on the principles of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit, and inclusiveness, and the policy of forging friendships and partnerships with its neighbors, China strives to increase friendly ties, mutual trust, and converging interests with its neighboring countries. Guided by the principles of sincerity, real results, amity, and good faith and with a commitment to the right approach to friendship and interests, China endeavors to strengthen solidarity and cooperation with other developing countries and safeguard the common interests of the developing world.
Major countries are key actors in building a new type of international relations. The international status of a country is measured by its openness of mind, breadth of vision, and sense of responsibility rather than its size, strength or power. Major countries should direct their primary efforts to the future of humanity and assume greater responsibility for world peace and development, rather than wielding their power to seek monopoly over international and regional affairs. Major countries should strengthen coordination and cooperation, respect each other’s core interests and major concerns, consider the perspectives of other parties and value mutual understanding, and treat smaller countries as equals. By building a global community of shared future, emerging countries and established powers can avoid falling into the Thucydides trap, find the right way to get along in mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation, and build common ground and achieve common development for different civilizations and countries with different social systems.
4. Practicing true multilateralism
Building a global community of shared future requires practicing true multilateralism. Building cliques in the name of multilateralism is no more than bloc politics. Seeking supremacy in the name of multilateralism is still unilateral thinking. “Selective multilateralism” is practicing double standard. The world should be fair and free from domineering practices. China opposes all forms of unilateralism and the formation of camps and exclusive cliques targeting specific countries, and opposes actions that undermine the international order, create a new Cold War or stoke ideological confrontation in the name of the so-called rules-based order.
China firmly upholds the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, as well as the authority and status of the United Nations. The various confrontations and injustices in today’s world do not arise because the purposes and principles of the UN Charter are outdated, but rather because these purposes and principles are not effectively followed. China maintains that for the world, there is only one system, which is the international system with the United Nations at its core, that there is only one order, which is the international order based on international law, and that there is only one set of rules, which is the basic norms governing international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.
China actively participates in and leads the reform of the global governance system. It follows the vision of global governance featuring extensive consultation and joint contribution for shared benefits, that is, global affairs must be discussed by all, governance systems built by all, and benefits of governance shared by all, so that every country is a participant, contributor, and beneficiary of world peace and development.
5. Promoting the common values of humanity
China advocates peace, development, equity, justice, democracy and freedom, the common values of humanity. With an open mind, China understands that different civilizations have different understandings of the nature of these values, and respects the efforts of people in different countries to explore their own development paths. It goes beyond the narrow historical limitations of the so-called universal values, and promotes the common values of humanity embedded in Chinese civilization. These are the values embodied in pursuing a global community of shared future.
Peace and development are a common cause. A tree of peace cannot grow on barren land, nor can it bear the fruits of development amidst the flames of war. The fundamental solution to various global challenges lies in seeking peace and achieving development. Equity and justice are common ideals. No country should act as it pleases, or ride roughshod over others. Democracy and freedom are the common goals of humanity. There is no single model of democracy that is universally applicable, far less a superior one. Democracy is not Coca-Cola, tasting the same across the world as the syrup is produced in one single country. Democracy is not an ornament, but a solution to real problems. Attempts to monopolize the “patent” of democracy, arbitrarily define the “standards” of democracy, and fabricate a false narrative of “democracy versus authoritarianism” to provoke confrontation between political systems and ideologies are practices of fake democracy. Promoting the common values of humanity is not about canonizing the values of any particular country, but about seeking common ground while reserving differences, harmony without uniformity, and fully respecting the diversity of civilizations and the right of all countries to independently choose their social systems and development paths.
The more advanced human society becomes, the more important it is to strengthen exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations. All countries should treat each other with respect and as equals, discard arrogance and prejudice, deepen understanding of the differences between its own civilization and others, and promote dialogue and harmonious coexistence between different civilizations. Every country should value its own civilization, appreciate others, and facilitate their common progress. We should keep our own civilizations dynamic and create conditions for other civilizations to flourish. Together we can make the garden of world civilizations colorful and vibrant. All countries should be open and inclusive, promote mutual learning, strive to remove all barriers to cultural exchanges, and seek nourishment from other civilizations to promote the common development of all civilizations. All countries should progress with the times, explore new ground in development, take in the best of the present age, and sustain the development of civilizations through innovation.
V. China’s Action and Contribution
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Over the past decade, China has contributed its strength to building a global community of shared future with firm conviction and solid actions.
1. Promoting high-quality Belt and Road cooperation
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a vivid example of building a global community of shared future, and a global public good and cooperation platform provided by China to the world. Since introducing the BRI ten years ago, based on extensive consultation and joint contribution for shared benefits, China has pursued open, green, clean, and high-standard cooperation to promote sustainable development and improve people’s lives, and advanced high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. It has laid the groundwork and set up the frameworks of BRI cooperation, delivering tangible results and achieving sustainable progress. Together, participants in the initiative have jointly advanced “hard connectivity”, “soft connectivity” and “people-to-people connectivity”, setting up an important platform that has enabled wide participation, built international consensus and pooled the strengths of all parties.
Policy connectivity continues to deepen. By July 2023, more than three-quarters of countries in the world and over 30 international organizations had signed agreements on Belt and Road cooperation with China. China has successfully hosted the first Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in 2017 and the second in 2019, and will host the third this year, maximizing synergy for advancing high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. Infrastructure connectivity continues to strengthen. A general connectivity framework consisting of six corridors, six routes, and multiple countries and ports is in place. The overall layout of land, sea, air and cyberspace connectivity continues to improve, centered on economic corridors such as the New Eurasian Land Bridge, supported by routes like the China-Europe Railway Express and the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor and the information expressway, and underpinned by major railways, ports, and pipelines. Trade connectivity continues to increase. According to Belt and Road Economics, a report released by the World Bank, the BRI, when fully implemented, will increase intra-BRI trade by 4.1 percent. By 2030, the BRI will generate US$1.6 trillion in annual global revenues. Financial connectivity continues to expand. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Silk Road Fund have been set up, providing financing support for hundreds of projects. People-to-people connectivity continues to strengthen. Roads, bridges and development belts that lead to a happier and better life are constantly emerging in participating countries, and solid progress is being achieved in Juncao, wells, hybrid rice and other small projects that work faster in improving people’s lives, giving local people of BRI countries a stronger sense of gain and fulfillment.
The BRI originated in China, but the opportunities and achievements it creates belong to the whole world. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, since its launch ten years ago, has lent strong impetus to the economic and social development of Pakistan. The China-Laos Railway has realized the long-cherished wish of the Lao people to convert Laos from a landlocked country to a land-linked hub. The Jakarta-Bandung High-speed Railway has become the first railway in Southeast Asia to reach a speed of 350 kilometers an hour. The Mombasa-Nairobi Railway has added more than two percentage points to local economic growth. Malawi’s 600 wells built with Chinese assistance have become “wells of happiness” serving 150,000 local people. The China-Europe Railway Express serves as a “steel camel fleet” between China and Europe. Luban workshops help young people in Tajikistan and other countries acquire vocational skills. Cooperation in the fields of health, green development, digital economy, and innovation is thriving.
The BRI is an initiative for economic cooperation, not for geopolitical or military alliances. It is an open and inclusive process that neither targets nor excludes any party. Rather than forming exclusionary cliques or a “China club”, it aims to help China and the rest of the world to seize opportunities and pursue common development. Rather than a private route for any one party, it is a broad path that can be joined by all interested countries to work together for shared benefits.
The international community speaks highly of the BRI, praising it not simply as some random road or economic belt, but as an initiative to achieve common progress for humanity, an initiative that has opened up new paths for the common development of all countries. The BRI has facilitated the modernization drive of developing countries, leading the world into a new era of transcontinental cooperation.
2. Implementing the three global initiatives
It is widely recognized that peace and stability, material sufficiency, and cultural-ethical enrichment represent the basic goals of human society. Development serves as the material foundation for security and civilization, security acts as the fundamental prerequisite for development and civilization, and civilization provides the cultural-ethical support for development and security. The Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative, and Global Civilization Initiative proposed by China guide the advance of human society across these three dimensions. Resonating and complementing each other, they have evolved into a crucial cornerstone for building a global community of shared future, offering China’s solutions to major challenges pertaining to peace and development for humanity.
– Through the Global Development Initiative, China has issued a resounding call for commitment to development and reinvigorated cooperation, and made its contribution to resolving challenges to development and advancing global development. The fundamental aim of the initiative is to accelerate the implementation of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Its core requirement is a people-centered approach, its foremost philosophy is united, equal, balanced, and inclusive global development partnerships, and its pivotal measure entails results-oriented actions to bolster stronger, greener, and healthier global development and jointly build a global community of development.
China has hosted the High-level Dialogue on Global Development and presented 32 major measures to implement the initiative, such as creating the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund totaling US$4 billion, launching the China-FAO South-South Cooperation Trust Fund (Phase III), and strengthening support for the China-UN Peace and Development Fund. Over the past two years, the international community has extensively responded to the initiative and jointly tackled prominent issues including food security, poverty reduction, and energy security as the implementation mechanism steadily improves and practical cooperation delivers progress. The Global Development Promotion Center is running smoothly, and the library of the Global Development Initiative projects is expanding, with over 200 projects achieving good results. At the same time, China has issued the Global Development Report, and established the Global Knowledge Network for Development, contributing Chinese wisdom to the resolution of developmental challenges. Currently, more than 100 countries and international organizations have expressed support for the Global Development Initiative, with over 70 countries participating in the Group of Friends of the Global Development Initiative established at the UN.
China is committed to propelling global development through its own development. It has thoroughly applied the new development philosophy, with a focus on promoting high-quality development to foster a new development paradigm. Modernization of the more than 1.4 billion Chinese people will create a market rivaling the aggregated size of all developed countries. This will open up more opportunities for all countries and stakeholders to partake in China’s huge market. China has also pioneered major expos and fairs, exemplified by the China International Import Expo, China International Fair for Trade in Services, China Import and Export Fair, and China International Consumer Goods Expo. It has encouraged all countries and stakeholders to share the opportunities presented by China’s institutional opening up and steadily expanded institutional opening up with regard to rules, regulations, management, and standards. It has enforced the Foreign Investment Law and its supporting rules and regulations, implemented the new catalogue for encouraging foreign investment, continued to remove items from the negative list of market access for foreign investment, advanced high-quality development of pilot free trade zones, and accelerated the development of the Hainan Free Trade Port.
China is committed to win-win cooperation and common development. As the largest developing country in the world and a member of the Global South, China has made every effort to aid other developing countries and help recipient countries expand their capacity for development. China is actively engaged in international exchanges and cooperation. It has cooperated with almost 20 international organizations, including the UN World Food Programme, the UN Development Programme, the UN Children’s Fund, the UN Refugee Agency, the World Health Organization, and the International Committee of the Red Cross, and executed over 130 projects in nearly 60 countries including Ethiopia, Pakistan, and Nigeria. “Small but beautiful”, these projects span fields such as poverty reduction, food security, Covid-19 response, and climate change, and have benefited more than 30 million individuals. China worked actively for the adoption of and has comprehensively acted on the Debt Service Suspension Initiative of the Group of Twenty (G20), contributing more than any other G20 member to its implementation. China has signed agreements or reached understandings on the suspension of debt repayments with 19 African countries, helping Africa alleviate debt pressure.
China is committed to building an open world economy. It has become the main trading partner of more than 140 countries and regions, and signed 21 free trade agreements with 28 countries and regions. It has worked for high-quality implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, actively worked to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement, and expanded its globally-oriented network of high-standard free trade areas. It has also promoted the internationalization of the Renminbi, and reinforced financial standards and its level of internationalization, thereby converging its interests closer with other countries.
– Through the Global Security Initiative, China seeks to work with the international community in upholding the spirit of the UN Charter, and calls for adapting to the profound changes in the international landscape through solidarity, addressing traditional and non-traditional security risks and challenges with a win-win mindset, and creating a new path to security that features dialogue over confrontation, partnership over alliance, and win-win results over zero-sum game.
In February 2023, China officially released The Global Security Initiative Concept Paper. The document further elaborates the core concepts and principles of the initiative, elucidates its key avenues for cooperation, and presents recommendations and ideas concerning its cooperation platforms and mechanisms. This has demonstrated China’s awareness of its duty to maintain world peace and its firm determination to safeguard global security. As an international public good, the Global Security Initiative serves the interests of and maintains peace for people throughout the world.
China is a pillar in maintaining world peace. It is committed to handling disputes with relevant countries over territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests through negotiation and consultation. It has settled land boundary issues peacefully with 12 of its 14 neighbors along its land borders through negotiation and consultation, and delimited the maritime boundary in the Beibu Bay with Vietnam. China has faithfully fulfilled its responsibilities and missions as a permanent member of the UN Security Council. It is the second largest contributor to the UN regular budget and peacekeeping assessment, and the largest contributor of peacekeeping troops among the permanent members of the Security Council. Over the past three decades and more, having sent more than 50,000 personnel to UN peacekeeping operations in over 20 countries and regions, China has become a key force in UN peacekeeping. China has dispatched more than 100 naval vessels in 45 taskforces to the Gulf of Aden and waters off the coast of Somalia to provide escort for over 7,000 Chinese and foreign ships.
Facing constant flare-ups of hotspot issues, China has been committed to fulfilling its role as a responsible major country, pushing for the resolution of international and regional flashpoints, such as the Korean Peninsula, Palestine, the Iranian nuclear issue, Syria, and Afghanistan. On the Ukraine issue, China has actively promoted talks for peace, put forth four key principles, four things that the international community should do together and three observations, and released China’s Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis. China has dispatched the Special Representative of the Chinese Government on Eurasian Affairs to engage in extensive interactions and exchanges with stakeholders on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis.
Through the mediation of China, Saudi Arabia and Iran have achieved historic reconciliation, setting a fine example for countries in the region to resolve disputes and differences and achieve good neighborly relations through dialogue and consultation, and catalyzing a wave of reconciliation in the Middle East.
China has actively cooperated with other parties in non-traditional security domains such as anti-terrorism, biosecurity, and food security. It has proposed the International Cooperation Initiative on Global Food Security within the framework of the G20, and pushed for the adoption of the Strategy on Food Security Cooperation of the BRICS Countries. It has also officially launched the China-Pacific Island Countries Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Cooperation Center, representing yet another robust action to help developing countries tackle non-traditional security challenges within the context of the Global Security Initiative.
– Through the Global Civilization Initiative, China calls for jointly advocating respect for the diversity of civilizations, jointly advocating the common values of humanity, jointly advocating the importance of continuity and evolution of civilizations, and jointly advocating closer international people-to-people exchanges and cooperation. The Global Civilization Initiative makes a sincere call for the world to enhance inter-civilization exchanges and dialogue, and promote human progress with inclusiveness and mutual learning, inspiring the building of a global community of shared future.
China has hosted gatherings including the CPC in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-level Meeting, the CPC and World Political Parties Summit, and the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations. It has engaged in extensive bilateral and multilateral activities for political party exchanges and cooperation, and promoted diverse forms of civil diplomacy, city diplomacy, and public diplomacy. China has continued to deepen cooperation with the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the UN World Tourism Organization. It now has 43 items inscribed on the intangible cultural heritage lists of UNESCO.
China has celebrated over 30 large-scale cultural and tourist “years” (festivals), such as the China-Italy Year of Culture and Tourism, the China-Greece Year of Culture and Tourism, and the China-Spain Year of Culture and Tourism. It has promoted the steady development of 16 multilateral exchanges and cooperation mechanisms, such as the meeting of BRICS ministers of culture, as well as 25 bilateral cooperation mechanisms. It regularly hosts cultural activities at home, such as the Arabic Arts Festival and the Meet in Beijing International Arts Festival, and has held “Happy Spring Festival” celebrations outside China for more than 20 years in a row. It hosted approximately 2,000 events across over 130 countries in 2017, and has organized activities around the world under such brands as “Tea for Harmony” Yaji Cultural Salon. It has advanced cultural and tourism exchanges under the Belt and Road Initiative, carried out the Cultural Silk Road program, and established the Silk Road international theater, museum, art festival, library, and art museum alliances. It has also established approximately 3,000 pairs of sister cities or provinces with various countries, and launched the “Nihao! China” inbound tourism promotion program.
The international community has spoken highly of these three global initiatives, acknowledging that they reflect China’s global vision and growing international influence and provide comprehensive solutions to the challenges confronting humanity. The Global Development Initiative is highly compatible with the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and resonates, in particular, with the aspirations of developing countries for greater development. The Global Security Initiative upholds the principle of common security, emphasizes comprehensive approaches, pursues sustainable security through cooperative efforts, and makes a valuable contribution to addressing international security challenges. The Global Civilization Initiative calls on all countries to respect the diversity of civilizations in the world, which is conducive to facilitating exchanges and mutual learning among different civilizations.
3. Working with more countries and regions
China has proposed a range of regional and bilateral initiatives on building communities of shared future, and is working with stakeholders to build consensus and expand cooperation, thereby playing a constructive role in promoting regional peace and development.
The China-Africa community of shared future was the first regional proposal. It values sincerity and equality, pursues both friendship and interests and puts friendship first, takes a people-oriented approach in pursuing practical and efficient cooperation, and follows an open and inclusive approach to cooperation. It has set a good example of China and African countries building a community of shared future. The China-Arab community of shared future, China-Latin America and the Caribbean community of shared future, and China-Pacific Island Countries community of shared future have all made swift and steady progress. They are vivid illustrations of solidarity, cooperation, and common progress among developing countries.
The community of shared future among neighboring countries has taken firm root. As the China-ASEAN community of shared future continues to make advances, China-ASEAN cooperation has evolved into the most fruitful, dynamic, and substantive cooperation in East Asia. The two sides have seen a steady increase in mutual trust, engaged in frequent high-level exchanges, and established dialogue and cooperation mechanisms in nearly 50 domains and institutions. The community of shared future of Lancang-Mekong countries continues to make progress. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization community of shared future has yielded substantial outcomes. The building of the China-Central Asia community of shared future has made solid steps forward. The first China-Central Asia Summit was a success and a meeting mechanism at the heads-of-state level between China and Central Asian countries has been established. These efforts have contributed to enduring peace and shared prosperity in the region and the wider world.
At the bilateral level, China is building communities of shared future with an increasing number of partners in different forms. China and countries including Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Pakistan, Mongolia, Cuba and South Africa have published action plans, released joint statements, or reached important agreements on building bilateral communities of shared future. China has also implemented the vision of building a global community of shared future on a bilateral level with all the five Central Asian countries. As this vision gains greater traction among the people, substantial outcomes have been delivered, significantly boosting local development and improving people’s lives.
The global community of shared future is a dynamic, open, and inclusive system. However different countries may be in geographical location, history, culture, social system, size of economy, and development stage, alignment with the core idea of a global community of shared future enables them to seek common ground while shelving differences, achieve harmony in diversity, reinforce cooperation, and pursue win-win outcomes. China will work with more and more regions and countries to build a global community of shared future and contribute to the development of all countries and the progress of human civilization.
4. Boosting international cooperation in all areas
The vision of a global community of shared future addresses the deficits in peace, development, security, and governance facing the world today. As China’s unique contribution to solving global problems, it also offers solutions which have been translated into concrete actions in areas such as health, climate change, and cybersecurity.
Confronted by the rampant Covid-19 pandemic, China proposed to build a community of health for all. It has stood in the frontline of international anti-pandemic cooperation, carrying out global emergency humanitarian relief and providing assistance and support to more than 150 countries and international organizations. China has advocated that vaccines must first and foremost be a global public good, and was among the first countries to make a commitment to supply Covid-19 vaccines as a global public good, to support waiving intellectual property rights on the vaccines, and to start joint production with other developing countries. It has also played a pioneering role in the equitable distribution of vaccines, contributing China’s strength to the global health cause through firm commitment and practical actions.
To address disorder in cyberspace governance, China has proposed the concept of a community of shared future in cyberspace. It actively participates in UN cybersecurity processes and supports the UN in playing a core role in global cyberspace governance. China has hosted the World Internet Conference and established the World Internet Conference Organization as a platform for global internet sharing and governance.
To advance the development of a set of rules for global digital governance, it has launched the Global Data Security Initiative, and released the China-LAS Cooperation Initiative on Data Security together with the League of Arab States and the Data Security Cooperation Initiative of China + Central Asia together with the five Central Asian countries. To ensure that rights and responsibilities are shared among all countries, it promotes the improvement of governance rules in the deep sea, polar regions, outer space, and other new frontiers. Efforts are made to ensure that in formulating new rules for governance in new frontiers, the interests and expectations of emerging market countries and developing countries are fully reflected.
Concerning the fundamental issues in global nuclear security governance, China proposes to build a community of shared future on nuclear security. It firmly safeguards the international nuclear nonproliferation regime, promotes the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and upholds a rational, coordinated and balanced approach to nuclear security. In response to the increasing risk of nuclear conflict, China has pushed for the conclusion of a joint statement among the leaders of the five nuclear-weapon states, reaffirming that “a nuclear war cannot be won, and must never be fought”. China actively advocates the complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons, and it is the only nuclear country that has publicly committed to no-first-use of nuclear weapons, and not using or threatening to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states and nuclear-weapon-free zones.
Faced with increasingly complex maritime issues, China has proposed to form a maritime community of shared future and has always been committed to peaceful resolution of territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests disputes through dialogue and consultation. China has signed and fully and effectively implemented the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea with ASEAN countries, and continues to advance consultations on the code of conduct in the South China Sea. China has proposed to jointly build a partnership on blue economy and strengthen maritime connectivity. It adheres to the path of pursuing joint development while setting aside disputes, and actively explores joint resource development with maritime neighbors at sea.
Faced with the severe and growing global climate challenge, China has proposed important concepts such as building a community of life for humanity and nature and a community of all life on Earth. China actively promotes economic development and transformation, and undertakes to strive to achieve peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060. It has introduced a “1+N” policy system for carbon peaking and neutrality. China has built the world’s largest clean power generation network, contributed 25 percent of the world’s newly added green area since 2000, and enabled an annual economic growth rate of over 6 percent with an average annual energy consumption growth rate of 3 percent. It has the largest installed capacity of hydropower, wind power, and solar power in the world. It actively participates in global environmental governance, advocates the comprehensive and effective implementation by the international community of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, and adheres to the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities”. China tries its best to help developing countries improve their ability to address climate change, and vigorously supports their green and low-carbon energy development. It has inked 46 South-South cooperation documents with 39 developing countries to address climate change, and trained approximately 2,300 officials and technical personnel in the field of climate change for more than 120 developing countries. Holding the presidency of the 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15), China made every effort to ensure the success of the meeting, taking the lead in funding the establishment of the Kunming Biodiversity Fund and contributing to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
Whether dealing with the current crises or creating a better future together, all countries need to unite and cooperate. Faced with profound changes unseen in a century, China has proposed the building of a global community of shared future, calls on all countries to uphold the concept of a shared future, fully communicate and consult with each other, share governance responsibilities, and form broad consensus and take concerted actions to address global issues, so as to inject confidence and momentum into humanity’s drive towards a bright future.
Conclusion
All good principles should adapt to changing times in order to remain relevant. A broad consensus of solidarity and cooperation has developed in the international community behind the proposal and the implementation of the concept of a global community of shared future to address the challenges facing humanity. Looking to the future, it is bound to shine as a pioneering thought with the power of truth that transcends time and space, opening up a beautiful prospect of common development, long-term stability, and sustained prosperity for human society. The future of humanity is bright, but it will not come without effort. Building a global community of shared future is both a salutary vision and a historical process that calls for generations of hard work.
To realize this goal, confidence and determination are of foremost importance. The trend of our times for peace, development and win-win cooperation cannot be halted. Building a global community of shared future is the way forward for all the world’s peoples. However, it is not a goal to be accomplished overnight, and there will be no plain sailing. We need to make unremitting efforts and forge ahead with perseverance. We should never give up on our dreams because of harsh realities; we should never stop pursuing our ideals because they seem out of reach.
To realize this goal, a broad mind and a global vision are central as we live in great times. In the face of common challenges, no person or country can remain isolated. The only response is to work together in harmony and unity. Only by strengthening coordination and cooperation, and ensuring that the interests of the people of every country will be kept in line with those of all others, can all countries move forward towards a global community of shared future.
To realize this goal, a sense of responsibility and a will to act hold the key. The key to success is simple and boils down to action. Building a global community of shared future depends on the joint actions of all countries. All countries should take a sense of responsibility that treats the task as a bound duty, and take concrete actions instead of being bystanders. We should strengthen dialogue, build consensus, promote peace and development, improve governance, and carry out global actions, global responses, and global cooperation.
Our journey ahead will be a lengthy and arduous one. But as long as we press ahead with perseverance, there will be much to expect. Successes and setbacks await us, but hopes abound. When all countries unite in pursuing the cause of common good, plan together, and act together day by day towards the right direction of building a global community of shared future, we can build an open, inclusive, clean, and beautiful world of lasting peace, universal security and shared prosperity, and jointly create a better future for all of humanity.
Cheese Scalloped Zucchini
Italian Cheese Scalloped Zucchini
Ingredients
4 cups diced zucchini, cooked until tender (6 to 8 minutes)
This is a gay sailor sign to ward off Russian submarines.
In 2013, Sweden submerged a Neon sign depicting a gay sailor in its waters to ward off Russian submarines from entering their waters. Below the sailor the neon sign reads;
“Welcome to Sweden-gay since 1944.”
Using sonar the sign omits the message “This way if you are gay” in Morse code.
There have been no reports of Russian submarine sightings ever since.
Even the US is a bit stunned at this announcement and i am sure this 24 hour deadline will be ignored by the Israelis
The Israelis operate on the presumption that they work on credible intelligence when it comes to bombing terrorist targets in the Gaza and it is the Hamas which is placing civilian targets in their way as a kind of collateral damage
That presumption goes to pieces, That narrative goes to pieces if Israel starts bombing and openly killing Civilians, especially in such mass quantities
Even the Nazis didn’t do things so brazenly
.
2023 10 14 07 29
Like they say in Tamil
“Oru flow la sollitaan”
Israel, flushed with a war haze made a statement, they have to necessarily scale back on
Believe me, Netanyahu will be HANGED if he tries this
Not even the US can save him
The EU and US and UK, their entire rhetoric is that Israel is eradicating the Hamas from that area
They equate it to 9/11
Killing Civilians used as collateral is one thing but openly killing civilians could lead to a huge backlash in Europe
You have millions of muslim migrants in these nations who could snap at a moments notice
No way would EU nations go so far as to support this
By now the US would be flooded with phone calls from EU, UK and even India who have almost 20 Crore Muslims
Blinken would talk to Israel and inform them to TAKE IT EASY and not follow through on hitting Civilians openly
The US Military Industrial Complex wants to make money from War
However allowing Israel to directly hit Civilians without a military pretext is a new level of crime
The US can’t recover from such a mistake
Already losing trust, they will lose trust with every muslim in the world
Hell, a Muslim cop who’s never been to Palestine could fire three shots into the chest of Ursula Von Der Leyen and grin as she chokes on her own blood
So No
I doubt Israel will follow this through
2023 10 14 07 30
Even Jaishankar would be calling them and saying “You are going too far you stupid b*******”
EDIT:-
2023 10 14 07 31
There
EXACTLY LIKE I TOLD YOU.
The US have stepped in now and already the deadline is over and will be forgotten
How Starbucks Surpassed by Luckin Coffee? | LKNCY ( China’s Largest Coffee Chain )
Analysis of Luckin Coffee’s extraordinary comeback from its accounting scandal and how it subsequently surpassed Starbucks as China’s largest coffee chain.
Comeback? Yeah. One year ago, all of the Western “news” were making fun of Luckin Coffee. Claiming that it was a sign of “China’s collapse”. LOL.
Never happened.
BTW, I tried this Baijiu version. Pretty tasty, I’ll tell you what.
