The tiny squeeze

Normally, I talk and relate stories about China. And yes, Hong Kong is part of China, but the fact is that it has been “polluted” by the UK and it is sort of a hybrid “Western city” integrated into China. It is interesting in many, many ways. But today, I want to talk about the shopping centers; not the malls… the small grocery stores.

You see, in HK space is at a premium. You cannot get around without bumping into anyone, and some days it is just truly crazy; I mean “soylent green” type of crowding. And because of the massive crowding, the HK folk have devised walk around, and one such work around (or walk around) is the supermarkets.

They are tiny, tiny.

Tiny isles, jam packed with all sorts of food items. Really small grocery carts, and checkout lanes that require you to slide out sideways. LOL

Is it really important to have a four bedroom, three bath, three car garage? Or can you make due with less and spend more time doing OTHER things?

Yes. that is why the HK-Macao-Zhuhai bridge is being so heavily used. Many HK folk have bought homes in Tanzhou (where I live). It’s crazy actually.

Today…

Have you ever known someone who was too perfect?

Definitely. There was a girl at my high school who was as seemingly perfect as one could get – she was pretty, had tons of friends, an amazing figure, good grades, a large social media following, played in the first hockey team…the list goes on. She was nice, too, in a polite, composed sort of way.

This worked for her for a few years. Our school was single-sex and quite prestigious, and for a while the intense and competitive environment often felt like a contest for Who-Can-Be-The-Most-Perfect. Although she never stood out in any way, she was often praised by students and teachers alike for her good work ethic, perfect hair, perfect legs, perfectly pleasant demeanour. As you might be able to tell, the word was thrown around a lot.

Unfortunately, I think it eventually went to her head, twisting her thoughts. She became resistant to change. I suppose it would be an easy position to take; if a flawless person cannot be improved, any alterations are damaging, right? Instead she became obsessed with sustaining her image. As school became more difficult, she studied harder, refusing to let her grades slip. People began describing her as vain – a word I’d never before associated with her name – due to her new, unreasonable concern for her looks and social media persona. Her friends became increasingly frustrated as she fretted over Instagram posts and projects and pimples, and eventually her group of admirers dwindled. I can only speculate that it was in response to this that her fixation with her body began, and continued to develop into anorexia.

In year 11 (2014) she was admitted to hospital because they thought her heart would stop. She remained there for a few weeks, then spent a few months visiting ED specialists. She later moved schools, and from what I have been told and what I have seen from her (much less-used) social media accounts, she seems to have let go of Perfection. Apparently, she’s really happy.

In my experience, a person is too perfect when perfectionism consumes them.

The Sopranos | Wolves

This was actually amazing.

What is it like to date someone from another culture?

It’s eye opening and makes you rethink the things you take for granted.

It took me and my husband a while to know that when we’re talking about the same topic, often times we’re talking about completely different things because our backgrounds are different.

  • Meaning when we talk about abortion, we have different scenarios in mind. Because it’s much more prohibited in Egypt, and because pregnancy outside marriage is a disaster and may endanger the mother, my view on abortion is shaped so differently from his since abortion in his culture isn’t usually caused by these motives.
  • Similarly, when we talk about adoption we’re coming from such different directions ! The percentage of adoption in Egypt is very different from the percentage in the US. I don’t know a single adopted person in my community. So we’re talking about very different experiences.
  • Another example, one time my husband told me “I’m the king of my house”. In my culture this sentence indicates superiority.I got really mad and told him, “I am no servant !” He said “of course you’re not. You’re the queen of the house so I’ll have to spoil you“. I was like “Oh“.
  • We discovered that our definition of control is so different. My tolerance of control is way higher than his. So something like “Stop using your phone and sit with me already” sounds controlling to him. To me the thought doesn’t even come to mind.

We learned, after many misunderstandings, that whenever we discuss something, we’ll have to take a step back and describe what kind of setting we have in mind. Or even ask about the very basics that one normally wouldn’t consider asking while talking with someone from your own culture. The phrase “everybody knows this” is simply thrown out of the window.

It’s definitely thought provoking. But it’s a very enjoyable, enlightening journey.

90’s-Style Swiss Steak

90s style swiss steak
90s style swiss steak

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 pounds boneless beef round or chuck shoulder steaks, cut 1/2 inch thick
  • 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 3/4 cup finely chopped carrots
  • 3/4 cup finely chopped onion
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped celery
  • 1/2 cup prepared picante sauce
  • 1/4 cup ketchup
  • 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
  • 2 1/2 cups uncooked bow tie pasta, cooked

Instructions

  1. Cut beef steak into 6 pieces; pound to 1/4-inch thickness.
  2. Combine flour, salt and pepper. Lightly coat beef with flour mixture.
  3. Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium heat until hot. Brown beef in batches. Pour off drippings.
  4. Return beef to Dutch oven. Add remaining ingredients, except pasta; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover tightly and simmer 1 1/2 hours or until beef is fork-tender. If sauce becomes too thick, stir in a little water.
  5. Serve over pasta.

Huawei’s Explosive Revelation! Huawei Mate 60 Pro Flying off the Shelves, Shining as China’s Pride!

Recently, the most notable queues in China are not found at tourist attractions like the Great Wall or train stations, but at Huawei smartphone stores.

People are lining up in large numbers to purchase the latest Huawei phones, creating winding queues that stretch around corners.

For instance, in Shanghai’s Nanjing Road, customers wait in line outside a Huawei flagship store to get their hands on the newest Huawei smartphone.

The situation is similar in Shenzhen, where a Huawei offline store sees such long queues of customers buying Huawei phones that the store employees have resorted to buying them fried chicken to keep them satisfied.

Huawei exclusive stores in various parts of the country are also experiencing significant queues.

The reason behind this surge in demand is the release of the Huawei Mate60, which marks Huawei’s comeback and allows consumers to partake in its success.

Initially, analysts predicted the sales of the Huawei Mate50 series to be around 5 million units, but they now estimate that the Huawei Mate60 series could surpass 6 million units in sales.

“China Focus” is a YouTube channel created to provide current events and pop culture headlines from China.Here you can get to know a more real China through my video. |

https://youtu.be/E2W8DfTUIYc

The US helped China, Japan, and S. Korea industrialize and become wealthy. Japan and South Korea show their gratitude to the USA by being strong allies. Why does China treat the US as an enemy?

Sorry, I can’t help laughing,good narcissistic question!

I want to correct you, Japan and South Korea allied with the US because they want to rely on the US for development, and the US also wants to use Japan and South Korea to contain China. They each have intention. Besides, the alliance with the United States was not so easy. Both Japan and South Korea were severely emasculated in key areas such as military, and were unable to control their own destinies. So don’t think that America is the god and such great and selfless.

You said China sees the US as an enemy. I don’t see that. Hostility towards a country usually manifests itself in suppressing its economic development, denying its achievements, confronting it, accusing or even stigmatizing it. Isn’t that exactly what the US is doing to China? So you are wrong, it is the US that sees China as a thorn in its side because it feels uneasy about the rise of China. In fact, China wants to be a partner with the United States, not an enemy. Mutual benefit is what China wants to see. China is doing what it can to improve relations with consumer companies around the world, especially in Europe and the United States. But in the past two years, some of America’s actions have been disappointing.

Maybe you are used to the privileged position that the United States has long enjoyed in the world, and when a more confident, unyielding, and tough China appears in front of you, you feel that it is against you. I would urge you to stop looking at things from such “American perspective”. It is normal for countries to have differences, but there are also relations of cooperation and exchanges. Don’t assume that the entire world is succumbing to the United States. This is abnormal and impossible.

Lalo Salamanca | Revenge | GTA IV Theme

“Man was on the vengeance grindset”

‘De-risking’ may kill EU economy — Hungarian minister

The proposals of European politicians on “decoupling” and “de-risking” with China will amount to a knockout of European economy, according to Hungary’s top diplomat.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary Péter Szijjártó told the Belt and Road Summit 2023 in Hong Kong on Sept 13 that these politicians by those terms mean to cut economic ties with China.

What would happen if you cut such ties? You are killing the European economy,” he said, noting the annual trade volume between the EU and China has reached over 800 billion euros ($859 billion).

Therefore Hungary is urging for an even tighter, stronger, more successful and more efficient economic cooperation between China and Europe, the minister added.

Hungary is one of the very few EU member states that have not delivered weapons to Ukraine. And Hungary is aimed at becoming the meeting point of the West and the East, he said.

Szijjártó told a panel discussion that European policies toward Ukraine and sanctions against Russia are total failures.

Europe is in bad shape, to say the least, confronting both security and economic challenges, noting his country’s neighbor Ukraine has been at conflict for the last one and a half years.

He said Europe is bearing the cost of the Ukraine-Russia conflict as European people are dying, its infrastructure is being ruined, and the economy is suffering huge losses.

Unfortunately, the answer Europe has given to this war proved to be a big mistake, a huge failure,” he told the summit, adding that Europe should have isolated this conflict, but instead of that, Europe has globalized it.

Europeans should have prevented the conflict itself, but now everyday even higher risks of escalation keep emerging due to illogical acceptance and following of moves by the world’s top military power. On top of this, Europe has decided to implement a policy based on sanctions, said Szijjártó.

These sanctions proved to be a total failure,” Szijjártó said. This is because the goals of such sanctions, pressing Russia and ending the conflict, have not been fulfilled, while the competitiveness of the European economy is decreasing day by day.

When it comes to the long-term impact of the conflict, the minister said there is another “very serious risk” as the world is going to be divided into blocs again.

The economic development of Europe had been based on a good combination of highly developed technologies and easily accessible and cheap natural resources from Russia. “But now the ties between the two … are now being cut, one by one,” he said.

The Sopranos || SCARS

WADDAYA SAY, WADDAYA HEAR?

How do Chinese people view white Europeans?

Instead of reading answers by non-Chinese telling you how we Chinese view white Europeans, why not listen to an actual Chinese telling you how Chinese might view white Europeans?

It’s very possible and plausible that an actual Chinese person who has lived in Europe might have a more accurate view of how Chinese people might view white Europeans compared to the non-Chinese people trying to tell you what we Chinese think of them.

I lived in Germany for just under a year and in Ireland for about three years and have traveled many times to the UK, and made more than a few trips to France and the Netherlands.

In that time, I’ve made more than a handful of good friends.

The obvious answer would be that I view white Europeans with my eyes.

The boring answer would be that my experiences living with white (and non-white) Europeans tells me that they aren’t different from anyone else.

It’s not like they’re from a different planet.

They bleed red.
They defecate and micturate.
They want to be healthy but can get ill, whether physically or mentally.
They enjoy hanging out with their friends.
They enjoy having a healthy social life.
They treasure their leisure and alone time.
They love their vacation time.
They watch movies and enjoy eating and spending time with friends and family.
Family – parents, siblings, children – are important.
Parents want the best for their children.
There are times when they get their hearts broken – by a woman, by a man, by a friend, by someone they’re close to, by a pet’s death.
There are times when they get their hopes dashed and when they feel frustrated because there are many obstacles in front of them, obstructing the path to their dreams, their goals.
They want to have a good life – with “a good life” having as many different meanings as there are people in their countries.
They like feeling loved, feeling appreciated.
They indulge in stereotypes – just like everyone else on the planet.
Some of them are passionate about football*, and many support their national football teams.
Some enjoy politics, some don’t.

*As an interesting aside, when I was living in Germany, I managed to strike up a conversation with a TOTAL stranger about football – we ended up talking for more than an hour, just about football, nothing else. The funny thing is, this conversation took place not in a pub or biergarten but when I was helping someone else with ther gardening.

As a Chinese, I don’t see Europeans, white or otherwise, as any different than Chinese or any other group on the planet.

Fundamentally, their wants, their needs, their desires are the same as everybody else’s.

Having made more than handful of friends while I was working and living in Europe, I will say this:

Developing real meaningful friendships kills ignorance and prejudice.

Try it and see for yourself.

U.S Lawmakers Banned All Tech Exports To China And Lost The Tech War

Really pathetic to see the USA behaving this way. But, it does expose a desperate attempt to halt it’s decline. Hope more Chinese scientists and skilled experts return to the motherland.

https://youtu.be/YajA1UV0awU

Is it a pleasant surprising movement at G20 where Chinese PM Mr. Li Qiang did a supportive and constructive role by joining unanimously the G20 leaders declaration?

It was BRILLIANT

I always wondered why Li Qiang was at the G20 instead of Wang Yi which is the actual protocol

Now I can see why Xi didn’t come

India, Russia and China bamboozled the G7 completely

They got their G21 and THEY GOT RUSSIA REFERENCE OUT OF THE ORIGINAL JOINT DECLARATION


The Original deal was the G7 would approve of the inclusion of the AU into G20 in return for India agreeing to a joint declaration which indirectly referenced to Russia and it’s Aggression on Ukraine and universally agreed that Russia had to do something to stop the SMO

That’s what the Foreign Ministers Agreed

Then the West would say “The Whole World condemns Putin”

It was a win – win for the West or so they thought

Either they would get a declaration condemning Putin and Russia or they would not get a statement and declaration because China and Russia would object and that would badly affect India with a dead G20 summit and drive a wedge between the three BRICS founders

Cant fool these two old foxes can you?

The Masterstroke was sending Li Qiang

He simply said “I don’t have the authority to accept any declaration other than the one I have been told to accept”

Li Qiang isn’t Head of Government

Had it been Xi, he would have had to refuse and that would have made him look belligerent

Maybe if Modi didn’t get his declaration and the summit ended up a lame duck, the tensions would have widened between the two nations

Instead Li Qiang brilliantly shrugged and sent back the declaration to Beijing and said he needed approval

Lavrov saw the same trick and sent the declaration back to Moscow

Time kept flying as planned

Ultimately Jaishankar as planned moved in and said “Look, we need our declaration to make the summit a success. We have everything else. Let’s forget Russia”

Li Qiang jumped and endorsed everything else including the aggression statement

The West were entirely outmanoeuvred and they HAD NO CHOICE


Lets see now

  • Modi gets his G20 Summit – the Most Fruitful Summit in the last Decade
  • China gets their BRI friends into G20 and widens their influence
  • Russia avoids Global pressure and continues its SMO slowly shrugging off the West

Win, Win and Win

Who Loses?

We found the abandoned white cat with homeless kittens. the mother cat needs help immediately

In scorching heat, we came across a cat and her two kittens by a roadside park, seemingly abandoned. Determined to find a safe shelter, the cat led us on a journey to shelter her little ones. Finally, she settled down, and we offered her water and a creamy treat, hoping to build trust. She eagerly accepted, realizing our care and support. Nourishing food followed, as we felt compassion for her hunger and the intense heat. With her trust gained, we brought the family home, ensuring protection from heatstroke. Witnessing their newfound peace and happiness filled us with deep contentment. Watch the inspiring video till the end and witness the heartwarming journey of a mother cat and her kittens finding hope and a safe home in the face of adversity.

China deHow technologically advanced is China? Can you give some perspective and examples of how advanced in technology they are?

China is the most advanced Nation in the world in terms of Applications of Advanced Technology

They can apply advanced technology on a scale that no other nation to this day can manage

It is undeniable that China is the world’s foremost nation to apply advanced technology

By comparison the US pales with most Americans using 4G speeds and with most applications falling flat. They actually use paper certificates for vaccines

South Korea comes second in this aspect followed by Japan and Singapore


My sons first word was “It looks like one of those Futuristic Cities shown in many 1980s Hollywood movies”


The Key here is CORE TECHNOLOGY

Now for instance, all these wonderful apps that are being built , they are coded in a specific language right?

They need high performance servers right?

You need processors right?

Every one of these is controlled entirely by the West in terms of their Core capabilities

It was a perfect relationship with China developing the most fantastic advanced applications and developing their software at fantastic pathbreaking pace

The West sold and licensed their Core Technology for a fat fee

The whole Global economy relished the partnership


The West chose to WEAPONIZE their core technology

This accelerated Chinas own pursuit of Core Technology

In a mere decade China today controls almost 11% of the World’s Core Technology and Research in various areas

They are almost on par with Europe and Japan and well ahead of South Korea

Yet THEY ARE STILL ONLY A SIXTH IN TERMS OF CORE TECH CONTROL AS THE USA


Had the US simply shut the f*** up and simply encouraged Green Cards for Researchers from China with a 10 year path to Citizenship in 2012, China would have been in all sorts of trouble

Had the US encouraged actual competition on even grounds, the Intel and Qualcomms and Huawei would be on level playing fields and smaller Chinese entities would never have got the Billions of Yuan needed to leapfrog which would have instead gone into Real Estate & Paper

So Today China is surging ahead or at par on almost all modern commercial technologies like Rail, Green Energy, Latent Communications, Face recognition etc

Yet China is only around 16% in Control of Core Technology, far ahead than ANY ASIAN NATION IN POST WW II HISTORY but still a long way to go

Experts believe China will control 30% of all Core Technology by 2032


Conclusion is China is on its way

As they say in Hindi

China CHAL PADA HAIN

China opens ties with Venezuela, challenging US ‘hegemonic mindset’

Condemning Washington’s “hegemonic mindset” and sanctions, China strengthened its strategic partnership with Venezuela. The oil-rich South American nation’s President Nicolás Maduro took a historic trip to Beijing, and applied to join BRICS. Ben Norton analyzes the important geopolitical and economic consequences.

What damaging belief has pervaded Western societies?

The two worst beliefs are Judaism and Christianity, which have been used by power elites to control and manipulate societies for thousands of years.

By promoting belief in a god and afterlife; they actually promote the false belief that humans are not responsible for improving their lives on this earth in this life. Then, by promoting the belief that individuals could ask for forgiveness before they died, it encouraged all kinds of bad behavior during their lifetime.

These religions have twisted western society into embracing the idea of the white savior, out to save other civilizations because of their unique connection to the creator.

They have been a curse on the development of human societies.

How is the iPhone made in India costlier than the retail price in other countries?

Let me guess?

You expected the Iphone 15 to cost ₹50K right?

You saw ‘Assembled in India’ and decided that the price will be pretty low

Instead as usual India has the most expensive iphones apart from maybe Turkey


The primary reason for this is that India is a pretty weak market for the Iphone today

The Lowest price is ₹80K and most Indians can’t afford this price tag

It’s why you have 96,000 Pre Orders for this Phone from India against nearly 3.15 Lakh Pre Orders in Dubai and almost 6.8 Lakh from USA (China of course had a very bad reception for the Iphone 15 with only 2.66 Lakh Pre Orders so far)

Most Indians are waiting to see how much cheaper the Iphone 13 becomes and buy that phone instead

So without Volume, there is no scale for Apple to lower it’s costs

It costs ₹52,000 to assemble the iphone and pay all import duties in India for all components

That’s $ 840 or 5500 Yuan

It costs only 3630 Yuan in China

So the Chinese retailers get a much larger share of the retail price than the Indian retailers

The retailers in India would likely end up with ₹4K to ₹5K for a Iphone 15 costing ₹80K or around 10%

In China the Average retailer could get 24%

Another reason is TAX

T A X

India charges too much tax

Import duties, GST cost a big chunk of sales of the iphone

It exponentially increases the cost of almost all products assembled in India and makes them pricier than actually importing the product


Apple thinks India will one day be big enough for a large market share of the iphone

That’s wishful thinking

The Iphone high end model (9999 Yuan) costs around 55% of the Average Monthly Salary in Beijing, 49% in Shanghai and 46% in Shenzhen

It costs 16.8% of the Average Monthly Salary in New York

In India it costs 261% in Chennai, 236% in Bangalore and 219% in Mumbai

So either the price of the iphone must be brought down to ₹35000/- Or salaries must rise by 4 times

India will thus be worthless for Apple unless they exclusively assemble and sell lower grade Iphones pricing them at ₹40K each

Sorry, when I say Apple – I mean Foxconn

Apple still will earn a lot of money from its Proprietary Fees & Profits.

Foxconn will ultimately make very little money and will leave India like others before


So to those geniuses who said Iphone prices in India will come down and more Indians will buy the same

I TOLD YOU SO

Guitar Teacher REACTS: Robin Trower “Too Rolling Stoned” 1980

So glad you discovered Robin Trower! You have to give a listen to the entire album “Bridge of Sighs” Brilliant album. He’s still alive and cranking it out.

THE OSTRICH!

A man walks into a restaurant with a full-grown ostrich behind him. The waitress asks them for their orders. The man says, “A hamburger, fries and a coke,” and turns to the ostrich, “What’s yours?”

“I’ll have the same.” says the ostrich.

A short time later the waitress returns with the order. “That will be $9.40 please.”

The man reaches into his pocket and pulls out the exact change for payment.

The next day, the man and the ostrich come again and the man says, “A hamburger, fries and a coke please.”

The ostrich says, “I’ll have the same.”

Again the man reaches into his pocket and pays with exact change.

This becomes routine until the two enter again.

“The usual?” asks the waitress.

“No, this is friday night, so I will have a steak, baked potato and a salad.” says the man.

“Same,” says the ostrich.

Shortly the waitress brings the order and says, “That will be $32.62.”

Once again the man pulls the exact change out of his pocket and places it on the table.

The waitress cannot hold back her curiosity any longer. “Excuse me, Sir. How do you manage to always come up with the exact change in your pocket every time?”

“Well,” says the man, “several years ago I was cleaning the attic and found an old lamp. When I rubbed it, a Genie appeared and offered me two wishes. My first wish was that if I ever had to pay for anything, I would just put my hand in my pocket and the right amount of money would always be there.”

“That’s brilliant!” says the waitress. “Most people would ask for a million dollars or something, but you’ll always be as rich as you want for as long as you live!”

“That’s right. Whether it’s a liter of milk or a Rolls Royce, the exact money is always there.” says the man.

The waitress asks, “What’s with the ostrich?”

The man sighs, pauses and answers, “My second wish was for a tall chick with a big ass and long legs who agrees with everything I say.”

Despite US Blackmailing, 90 Nations Confirmed Attendance At The Belt And Road Initiative For China!

Great analysis. Yes, China’s BRI dominance is about peace and prosperity. US dominance is about bullying and exploitation.

https://youtu.be/i7ukFh58rFk

If China does invade Taiwan and the USA, Japan, and Australia go to war to defend Taiwan, how many soldiers, warships, and combat vehicles would they lose? Who would really win?

Taiwan is in China. The island of Taiwan is surrounded by Chinese warships and the American, Japanese and Australian fleets are unable to approach Taiwan.

Biden did not tell the US citizens that he wanted to invade China, only “to defend Taiwan”.

So, I ask, how does the US plan on doing that? with some sort of video game competition?

I mean, in order to “defend Taiwan”, you have to have military troops pertorming military actions, aka combat inside of China – And that’s because Taiwan is in China.

So currently America has soldiers in Taiwan, which is either illegal, or at the very least gray area because that’s part of China. And the government of China doesn’t approve of that and hasn’t allowed it. So that’s the current status.

If US start performing miltary action, that’s an effort to militarily conquer at least China or push them back inside of China.

That‘s called an invasion.

Sorry, everybody, if you don’t agree with this definition, but that’s what it is.

The 1.4 billion Chinese people have told the small hooligans led by the United States countless times that the Taiwan question is the bottom line of the Chinese people, and foreign forces are not allowed to get their hands on it.

China can use all its forces to resist the invasion, and after this naval battle all the warships of China, the United States, Japan and Australia will be destroyed.

Do you think that after the end of the naval war, it will stop here? No, it has not come to a stop yet.

At the same time, China will fight back against its territory. Although all of China’s warships were sunk in the war with the United States, Japan and Australia, let us not forget that China has the largest number of civilian ships in the world, and Chinese soldiers will be present in those countries.

No matter what era we are in, apart from the indiscriminate bombing in the early stage of the war, the later stage of the war will be a ground war.

  • Does Australia have 50,000 soldiers combined? China can send 500,000 troops to Australia and take it over.
  • Japan: China does not need to send troops to occupy, dropping a few atomic bombs would be enough. The four Japanese islands are so resource-poor that even if China occupied them, they would be a liability and would be better off being completely destroyed.
  • As for the US, China wouldn’t send troops to occupy it either, but a huge army landing on US soil would be enough to make the US pay. China’s huge population could provide a steady stream of soldiers. You have to be prepared for America to become a battlefield.

The United States is keen on Preemptive war. However, China has always adheres to the principles of defense, self-defense and post-strike response, and adopts active defense. It keeps to the stance that “we will not attack unless we are attacked, but we will surely counterattack if attacked”.

post-strike response“,”we will surely counterattack if attacked” →→→ We have already told you what we will do!

Don’t think that if China is bullied, it will swallow its anger and not take revenge. There are limits to tolerance. Modern China is no longer the China a hundred years ago.

This is like a group of American hooligans always bullying a high-achieving Chinese student at school. Chinese students usually don’t give a damn about the provocations of American hooligans, but once they can’t stand it anymore and decide to fight back, the American hooligans will have to start paying a high price for their previous stupid provocations.

Girlfriend Disrespects Her Man, Instantly Regrets it

Mad respect for Joyce, she took those roasts in the chin like a champ.

What are some tried and tested ways to get rid of Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses when they come knocking at your door?

A couple of years ago an elderly couple knocked on my door. I could tell at a glance they were Jehovah’s Witnesses. I opened the door and said, “I’m sorry but I’m really busy today and don’t have time to chat. I’ll be happy to take a Watchtower, though.”

The man said, “There’s a really good article in there about saving for retirement.”

I said, “I’ll be sure to read it.”

As they left the woman turned back and said, “Thank you for not being mean to us.”

What was the reason for the Luftwaffe’s neglect of fighter production?

They didn’t neglect fighter production. Thanks to German mega presses the Germans churned out far greater fighter quantities (by the simplification of major parts), than they should have been able to.

German 19,000 ton Heavy Press of WW2.

Germany also had fewer aircraft types in service. So they had high volumes of fighter production.

The problems were many, like a lack of higher octane fuels so they couldn’t max out engine performance and later on a huge attrition of skilled pilots, followed by a lack of new well trained ones due to fuel shortages..

The fact that the 109 was still competitive at all by wars end, was a miracle considering that they were restricted to lower octane fuels.

Even after Germany reduced bomber production, it would still be impossible to keep up…

The simple truth, was simply that the Allied nations potential industrial capacity, by far dwarfed that of Germany’s. And sabotage along with a reluctance to cooperate in captured territory, meant Germany could not successfully leverage the entirety of the assets they had stolen in Europe’s Industry.

For America alone they entered the war after Sunday, December 7, 1941…So basically in real world production terms 1942. And they had gone from a peacetime to full wartime economy (outstripping German AND Japanese war production) by mid 1943. That’s not including Russia or the massive output of the British Empire. IN ONE AND A HALF YEARS.

Ultimately it comes down to simple math’s.

More people, more resources, more factories = more production.

In a war of production…Germany could never win. No matter how perfect they could have tried or how much war porn advocates bleat they could..

Tony Soprano – Putrid Existence

The Sopranos is one of the greatest deconstructions of the glamorous and honorable depiction of the mafioso’s lifestyle. In reality, behind the money, drugs, power, these men lead the life of misery and pudrid existence, betrayal, mindless murder, constant lies and theft. The legacy they leave behind ultimately drag down their families and friends.

Why is China advancing rapidly in technology?

China’s rapid advancement in technology can be attributed to several key factors:

  1. Government Support and Investment: The Chinese government has made technology development a top priority. Through initiatives like the “Made in China 2025” plan, they’ve provided substantial funding and resources to support the growth of high-tech industries.
  2. Large Pool of Talent: China has a vast population, which translates to a large pool of skilled engineers, scientists, and innovators. This human capital is a crucial asset for technological advancement.
  3. Education and Research Institutions: China has been investing heavily in its education system and research institutions. Universities like Tsinghua and Peking University are producing world-class graduates in technology-related fields.
  4. Emphasis on STEM Education: China places a strong emphasis on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education from an early age. This helps nurture a generation of students with strong technical skills.
  5. Innovation and Entrepreneurship: China has seen a surge in entrepreneurial activity, with a thriving startup culture. This has led to the development of innovative technologies and business models.
  6. Market Size and Demand: China’s enormous domestic market provides a substantial incentive for companies to innovate and develop new technologies to meet the demands of a rapidly growing middle class.
  7. Global Collaboration and Partnerships: China has been actively engaging in international collaborations and partnerships with leading technology companies and research institutions around the world. This helps them access global knowledge and expertise.
  8. Regulatory Environment: The regulatory environment in China, while strict in some areas, can also be more flexible and accommodating in others. This can facilitate faster development and deployment of new technologies.
  9. Focus on Strategic Industries: China has identified strategic industries like artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, and biotechnology as areas of focus. This targeted approach helps concentrate resources and talent on areas with high potential for growth.
  10. Adoption of Emerging Technologies: China has shown a willingness to adopt and implement emerging technologies like 5G, artificial intelligence, and blockchain on a large scale, which can accelerate their development.

Is America Destined to Fall Like Rome? | Victor Davis Hanson

Victor Davis Hanson explores the striking similarities between ancient Rome and modern America in this thought-provoking video. Including the parallels between these two great civilizations and the lessons we can learn from history.

https://youtu.be/UR40MYBjSm8

Has anyone ever been wrongly executed?

This is the story of the happiest man to live on death row.

In 1936, 15-year-old Dorothy Drain was raped and murdered at her home in Pueblo Colorado .A man had entered the Drain’s home and assaulted Dorothy and her mother with an axe. A massive manhunt was launched, and the police were under pressure to catch the killer.

As they searched the railway lines, they came across 21-year-old Joe Arridy who confessed to the murder when they brought him in for questioning. He also fit the profile that was any Mexican-looking man, a description given by two women who were also attacked.

Joe wasn’t even Mexican, and his dark complexation was down to both his parents being Syrian. He also had an IQ of 46, and couldn’t tell the difference between a rock and an egg. His parents were first cousins, so Joe and his siblings suffered from problems related to inbreeding.

Joe couldn’t tell the difference between colours, talk very slowly, and was easily misled and was known to take the blame for things he didn’t do.

During Joe’s arrest, the police learned another man named Frank Aguilar had been arrested for the murder of Dorothy Drain. Frank was Mexican, worked for the murdered girl’s father, and was fired before the murders. They also found an axe head at Frank’s home, he also admitted to the murders.

The had concluded that Joe was with Frank at the time of the murders even though Frank admitted to the murders and told police he acted alone. Even Dorothy Drain’s mother who survived the attack pointed to Frank and said he was the only attacker.

Joe’s story would change depending on who was questioning him and it should have been clear Joe wasn’t a suspect. Even though three psychiatrists testified that Joe was mentally handicapped, he was still convicted and sentenced to death.

While on death row Joe, spent his time playing with a toy train given to him by prison warden Roy Best. He was treated well and with respect by prisoners and prison staff. Prison warden Roy Best would bring him gifts and said he cared for him like a son.

With the mental capacity of a small child, Joe didn’t understand he was going to die. When asked about is upcoming execution, Joe didn’t understand what a gas chamber was, and just said, “No no, Joe won’t die.”

Joe ordered ice-cream for his final meal, and before they took him to the gas chamber he asked prison staff if they could put the ice-cream in the freezer so he could finish it later. Joe smiled as he was led to the gas chamber, and when he got momentarily nervous, the warden held his hand.

Joe was executed on January 6, 1939, after many stays of executions and appeals. In 2011, Joe was finally pardoned seven decades after his death.

Huge Cat Hugged A Woman In a Shelter And Didn’t Let Go! It Must Be Seen

It happened about a week ago, Andy Brumagen and his fiancee Jessica came to the shelter, where their attention was completely captured by a pretty cat of quite large size. The couple loves animals and, of course, they couldn’t walk further down the hallway without giving this cat some warmth and care. As soon as Jessica opened the enclosure and pulled out the cat, she hugged her and buried herself in the girl’s shoulder, clearly not wanting to let go.

https://youtu.be/CEv8dgvKvc0

Can a human actually fire a handheld Minigun the way they do in movies and videogames?

The answer here is a really big, no.

It was tried once by US Army Special Forces and the results were practically catastrophic. Even in the movies you’ve seen it done in, there’s a lot more happening off-screen to make it look real than you could imagine.

The one everyone knows was designed around Jesse Ventura’s personal preferences for the movie Predator (it helps that he was actually an armorer when he served on a US Navy Underwater Demolition Team during the Vietnam era – UDT was a part of Naval Special Warfare and was a close relative of the SEAL Teams). It has an M60 handguard to hold onto, and is fitted with a harness, so that he could carry it for the movie. Arnold later used the same gun for T2, with slightly different modifications.

What you don’t see on screen is that neither of them are carrying the batteries for it, (Miniguns are electrically operated) because they were simply too heavy for either Ventura or Arnold. The wire leading to the batteries were hidden down their pants’ legs. It also has a supply of ammunition that can be exhausted in seconds (a Minigun fires up to 6000rpm, and a human just can’t carry enough of the 7.62x51mm ammunition it fires to make it useful). Even significantly reducing its ammunition consumption (you can slow it down) to about 1250rpm, the one they used fired its total ammunition supply in seconds. Even at that sedate rate, the ammunition canister for it held only 550 rounds which it could exhaust in 26.4 seconds. And carrying 550 rounds on top of the batteries and gun would be back-breaking work. Neither Ventura, nor Arnold after him, both extremely strong body builders, could even do it. And remember, that’s only 26.4 seconds worth of ammo, at only 21% of the gun’s actual potential rate of fire.

Next, they used blanks in those movies, for obvious reasons. But if they hadn’t, the recoil force is so extreme it can’t be controlled. Blanks don’t produce recoil the way live rounds do. The one time US Army Special Forces tried this, the gunner was literally spun halfway around by the force of the recoil. The only reason he didn’t kill anyone behind him was, fortunately, the gun had consumed all of its ammunition by the time that 180 degree spin was complete.

Awesome Beef Stroganoff

classic beef stroganoff 3051443 Final
classic beef stroganoff 3051443 Final

Ingredients

  • 6 cups uncooked egg noodles
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 pounds beef sirloin steak, cut into thin strips
  • 1 package onion or roasted garlic gravy mix for steak
  • 8 ounces fresh mushrooms, quartered
  • 1/4 cup tomato paste
  • 1 (10 ounce) can beef broth
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (for garnish)

Instructions

  1. Cook noodles according to package directions-keep warm.
  2. In a large heavy bottom pot, heat the oil over medium high heat. Add meat and brown.
  3. Sprinkle gravy mix over meat.
  4. Add mushrooms; sauté for 5 minutes.
  5. Stir in tomato paste and broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until thickened, stirring occasionally.
  6. Remove from heat, and stir in sour cream.
  7. Top with parsley and serve over hot cooked noodles.

Can the US really obstruct China’s technological breakthroughs through export controls?

No!

There is no way it can stop China from overtaking the U.S. and the more it try, the faster China will overtake them and the faster the U.S. will implode.

I don’t think the U.S. realised it but everything the U.S. do to contained China it cost the US an arm and a leg yet it is barely a little inconvenience for China. China is a lot lot lot better than what the U.S. thinks China is in terms of technological prowess, in resilience, in preparedness in determination and in its ability.

Meanwhile the U.S. almost always over estimates it’s own ability, capability and capacity hence it always spend billions to do shit on China and harmed the U.S. instead of affecting China. So U.S. bring it on do as much shit as you want. The more you do the faster you die.

The U.S. has a mere quarter of Chinese market size over time and if the U.S. is smart and not so full of itself it better build a good relationship with China. Whatever the US wants to sell some 50% of customer is in or made in China! If you fxxk up this market you are fxxked. Thinking of containing China is a pipe dream. They can contain the US. Not U.S. containing China.

Simple, Chinese are more hard working, Chinese are willing to sacrifice, Chinese save more, Chinese invest more, Chinese learn fast, Chinese Market is way bigger, all SUPPLY CHAIN partner is in China, Chinese government is way, way, way more effective, 60% of the world s Market in around China. If China stop doing business with the US, you will suffer chronic inflation! If U.S. stop doing business with China they still have 95% of the worlds market.

Take my advise don’t pick a fight with China. They won’t lose. You will.

If I am the next US president, the First Nation I visit is China. Not Japan, not UK not Canada. I will double up trade with China. I will visit China every year and Invite Xi Xinping to make US their biggest partner. I will make Chinese a compulsory second language. Bring 10 million Chinese students Chinese students and send 2.5 million Americans to study in China!

I am not your enemy, I am giving you an advise to make the U.S. great again!

The Sopranos || Day is Gone

Jesus this deserves so many more views.

How to get around paywalls on internet news sites.

This is a very quick and short article. But it is my hope that the benefit that it provides to the MM readership makes up for it’s brevity.

Many traditional news websites expect you to face a barrage of annoying ads AND give up precious coin to pass through a paywall. They have various ways of doing this, though most have adopted an enormous screen filling dialog box that you must respond to in order to read their “news”.

While each such site may have a unique workaround, there are three simple ones that usually always work. They are;

  • Clear your browser history
  • Disable JavaScript
  • (or) Open the link in a private browsing tab.

Here we can talk about the easiest and most effective way to do so. You simply open the link in a “private browsing tab”. Here, We look at the different ways of doing this depending on the browser that you use…

Open the link in a private tab

For the last one, the added bonus is that Google, Big Brother, ad cookie traps, etc., etc., etc., can’t track you. Well, supposedly they can’t. I have learned in my long life, that anything is possible. Never say “never”.

Either follow the menu options at the top of your browser, or do the following:

CHROME

Incognito: Ctrl + Shift + N

Internet Explorer

In Private Browsing: Ctrl + Shift + P

FIREFOX

Private Window: Ctrl + Shift + P

BRAVE

Private Tab: Ctrl + Shift + P

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Hey someone is going to give me 18.5 million dollars! What do you know!

Wow! Beware of Greeks Bearing Gifts. Eh?

"I am Mrs amelia freya, a widow suffering from a long illness. I have some funds I inherited from my late husband, the sum of (US$ 18.5 Million) my Doctor told me recently that I have serious sickness which is a cancer problem. What disturbs me most is my stroke sickness.

Having known my condition, I decided to donate this fund to a good person that will utilize it the way I am going to instruct herein. I need a very honest and God fearing person who can claim this money and use it for Charity works, for orphanages, widows and also build schools for less privileges that will be named after my late husband if possible and to promote the word of God and the effort that the house of God is maintained. 

I do not want a situation where this money will be used in an ungodly manner.That's why I'm taking this decision. I'm not afraid of death so I know where I'm going. I accept this decision because I do not have any child who will inherit this money after I die. 

Please I want your sincere and urgent answer to know if you will be able to execute this project, and I will give you more information on how the fund will be transferred to your bank account."

Sometimes when something is too good to be true, it actually is.

The Trojan Horse

From HERE.

In the tenth year of the Trojan War, despairing at their inability to take the city by storm, the Greeks resorted to a cunning little stratagem.

Truth be told, “little” may not be the proper word for it, because the central part of the plan – devised by who else but Odysseus – included the construction of an enormous wooden horse.

Almost everybody knows why it had been built and who lay hidden inside the hollow belly of the statue.

However, the whole story is a bit more complicated than that; and it includes several memorable episodes you can find out more about below.

The Stratagem

Epeius and the Construction of the Horse

Now, for Odysseus’ plan to work, the Greeks needed a master-engineer; fortunately, they did have one in their ranks: Epeius.

True, he had the reputation of being a coward, but as far as architecture was considered, there weren’t many people on the planet who could rival him both in knowledge and vision.

He needed no more than three days and just a few helpers to build a huge hollow horse of fir planks, felled on Mount Ida.

Following the advice of Odysseus, Epeius also installed a trap-door on one side of the wooden horse, and engraved large letters on the other:

“For their return home, the Greeks dedicate this thank-offering to Athena.”

The Heroes in the Horse

Once the Wooden Horse had been built, Odysseus proceeded to persuade the bravest and the most skillful of the Greek warriors present at Troy to climb, fully armed, into its belly. Some say that there were 23 of them, while others speculate with numbers between 30 and 50.

Either way, we know for sure that, in addition to Odysseus, Menelaus, Diomedes, Neoptolemus, Acamas, Sthenelus, and Thoas were also there.

Even though hesitant and scared stiff, Epeius joined the party as well: he was, after all, the only one who knew how to operate the trap-door.

The Rest of the Plan

Once the night had fallen, the remaining Greeks burned their tents and, led by Agamemnon, sailed off to the nearby island of Tenedos.

The plan was to stay there for a night and then go back to Troy. Odysseus’s first cousin, Sinon, was the only one left behind; and for a reason: he was supposed to signal them the appropriate moment for their return.

Source: https://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/The_Myths/The_Trojan_Horse/the_trojan_horse.html

The Discovery of the Trojan Horse

Priam, Thymoetes, and Capys

At break of day, the Trojan scouts were met with a sight that must have been beyond joyful: the camp of the Greeks lay in ashes, deserted and all but empty. Priam and his sons immediately went out to witness this miracle with their own eyes; and, of course, the only thing they could find there was a giant wooden horse dedicated to Athens.

They stood in wonder for some time, before Thymoetes suggested that they should take the horse into Troy and pull it up to Athens’ citadel. Capys, however, had other ideas.

“We should hurl into the sea this false Greek gift, or underneath it thrust a kindling flame, or pierce the hollow ambush of its womb with probing spear! Athene favored the Greeks for far too long...”

Priam was in favor of Thymoetes’ proposal: since the horse was an offering to a goddess, desecrating it didn’t seem to the king of Troy as such a great idea.

Laocoon’s Warning

At that very moment, hurrying down from the citadel and followed by a large crowd, the Trojan priest Laocoon started shouting from afar:

“O unhappy men! What madness this? Who deems our foemen fled? 

Think ye the gifts of Greece can lack for guile? Have ye not known Ulysses?... 

This is all a trap. 

Trust not this horse, o countrymen, whatever it may bring!

I fear the Greeks, even when they bring gifts.” Saying that, Laocoon whirled a spear in the direction of the Horse. Numerous cheers followed this fearsome act:

“Burn it!” 
“Pierce it!” 
“Hurl it over the walls!”

Sinon Clarifies His Presence

This argument was interrupted by the arrival of Sinon, brought in chained by a couple of Trojan soldiers.

Now, it is difficult to say whether Odysseus had planned for this part as well, or whether the Greeks merely had a stroke of luck; be that as it may, it was Sinon who eventually convinced the Trojans to roll the horse through the Gates of Troy.

He explained to Priam that the Greeks, weary of warring and downcast after the death of Achilles, had deliberated leaving Troy for a couple of months, and they would have done that much earlier if not for the bad weather.

Calchas, the most famous Achaean prophet, announced that the only way for the winds to be appeased was through human sacrifice; the scapegoat he pointed his finger at (in a nice touch to the story, supposedly “bribed by Odysseus”) was none other than Sinon himself.

However, the favorable winds sprang up before the ceremony took place, and Sinon managed to make his escape in the confusion.

Sinon’s Explanation of the Wooden Horse

“Let’s say that we believe you, Sinon,”

Replied Priam.

“But what’s with the horse?”
“Oh, that! It is merely a placatory gift to Athene, who stopped helping the Greeks after Odysseus and Diomedes stole a statue from her temple.”

“Nonetheless,”

Priam had a good follow-up question;

"Why make it so huge?”

But Sinon had an even better answer:

“So that you are unable to bring it into the city. 

For Calchas had prophesized that If you defile it, a horrible ruin – o, may the gods bring it on Calchas rather! 

– would come on your throne; however, if you manage to wheel it to your own citadel, then you will become a ruler of all Asia and invade Greece.”

The Death of Laocoon

“Lies, all lies,”

Cried Laocoon.

“Every word he uttered sounds as if invented by Odysseus! Believe him not, Priam!”

However, it is difficult for one to blame the king of Troy for not taking the Trojan priest seriously when, just as he was saying this, two serpents swam out of the sea and strangled Laocoon and his twin sons.

In reality, the snakes were sent by Apollo in punishment for when Laocoon once slept with his wife in front of Apollo’s image; to the eyes of the Trojans, however, they were a sign of the gods: Sinon had obviously spoken the truth, and Laocoon was punished for lying and throwing a spear at the Horse.

The Bloody Celebration

Helen and Deiphobus

With much effort, the Trojans dragged the Wooden Horse inside their Gates, consecrated it to Athene, and started wildly celebrating their victory.

During the festivities, Helen and Priam’s son Deiphobos sneaked to the wooden statue.

As Deiphobus was observing it in marvel and patting its planks, Helen amused him by calling out the names of the Greek heroes in the voice of their wives. It is not known whether Helen was a part of the plan as well, and this was a whim of overconfidence, or whether she was merely joyful, but, owing to either displeasure or eagerness, many Greeks were tempted to leap out of the horse at this point – especially Menelaus and Diomedes.

However, Odysseus restrained them all, patiently waiting for the proper moment for him to enact the final act of his devious plan.

The Attack

At midnight, just before the seventh full moon of that year had risen, Sinon slipped through the Gates of Troy and kindled a beacon – the signal Agamemnon had waited for to return with the Achaean fleet to shore.

An hour or so later, in the dead silence of the night, Odysseus raised his sword and ordered Epeius to unlock the trap-door.

Echion was the first one to jump out of the horse; being too eager and reckless, he fell and broke his neck; the rest used Epeius’ rope-ladder.

Soon enough, Agamemnon’s army stormed through the open gates.

Not even the gods could save Troy now.

The Trojan Horse Sources

Most of this story is told by Virgil in the second book of the Aeneid, which you can read here in Dryden’s rhymed version, and here in Theodore C. Williams blank verse translation; for a summary of the same events, consult the epitome of Apollodorus’ Library.

Source: https://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/The_Myths/The_Trojan_Horse/the_trojan_horse.html

Conclusions

Throughout the West, people are using the “hook” of financial gain to manipulate others. We all know that this is a trick, but what kind of a trick? I argue that it is a hidden (potential) crime wearing the outer skin of respectability. Like the Trojan Horse.

You expect one thing, and then (once the strap is sprung) something else manifests.

Whether a wooden horse, a business proposition, an email promising to send you millions of dollars, or some other otherwise unusual benefit or arrangement.

Often the vices are used to spring the trap, with greed, lust and vanity being the most common.

Be very careful when anyone tries to appeal to one of your vices. It could very well end up being very dangerous.

So what do you do?

If something is unusual, like finding out you had a great uncle Metallicman that left you 50 million dollars, or to give a copy of your passport and bank information so that you can get a loan at 3%, or anything related, stop… just stop.

Go for a nice long walk.

Go all by your self into a lone cafe, or coffee house.

An American Diner.

Sit down.

Look up at the menu.

See if there is a special, or maybe a daily special that you can eat. I tend to go for the specials, and the soups. But that is just me. Don’t you know.

Place an order.

Place your order with the waitress.

And forget about everything.

Eat a nice sandwich (maybe a blue plate special) wash it down with a cup of coffee, and forget about the “news” or anything else.

Typical diner fare; Three sunny-side-up eggs, buttered whole-wheat toast, hash brown potatoes, and country-style chicken-fried pork.

Then just go for a walk down the lane.

Most traps disguise themselves as “unusual events promising enormous profit“.

Ignore it all.

Move on.

A cup of “Joe” in an American diner.

Remember, the reason why Athens moved the Trojan Horse into it’s gates was because they believed that in doing so they would have the benefits provided by the God’s themselves.

Don’t allow others to hurt your by manipulating your mind by your propensity toward vices.

Finally…

One day after I wrote this article, I got this…

Liewe Gelukkige Wenner!

Dit is vir ons aangenaam om u in te lig oor die uitslag van die
Internasionale Aanlyn Loteryprogram op 1 Desember 2021, wat 'n poging
is om geesteswetenskappe te help van die ernstige globale ekonomiese
krisis as gevolg van (Coivd-19). Nommer: SMLL / 2021 / -968091 / 21,
wat die 1ste kategorie gewen het. U is dus geregtig op 'n enkelbedrag
van $2,000,000.00 (Twee miljoen Amerikaanse dollars). Ons moedig jou
aan om jou trustee te kontak deur die inligting hieronder te gebruik
vir bekragtiging en meer inligting oor die gebruik van jou prys.

Mnr Brian Luke
E-pos: usalotery2@gmail.com

Groete,
Mnr Williams Poker.
Internasionale Lotery (Koördineerder).


Dear Lucky Winner!

We are pleased to inform you about the outcome of the International
Online Lottery Program on December 1st, 2021 which is a bid to help
humanities from the severe global economic crunch as a result of
(Coivd-19). Number: SMLL / 2021 / -968091 / 21, which won the 1st
category. You are therefore entitled to a lump sum of $2,000,000.00
(Two million United States dollars). We encourage you to contact your
trustee using the information below for validation and more
information on redeeming your prize.

Mr. Brian Luke
Email:  usalotery2@gmail.com

Regards,
Mr. Williams Poker.
International Lottery (Coordinator).

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How the “lone wolf” and “every-man for himself” culture manifests inside of America

I have long argued that the reason why everyone in America is so unhappy these days has nothing to do with politics. It has everything to do with the system of government and the culture that evolved from it.

When you have a culture of “every man for himself”, and divide and conquer so that the biggest and most powerful person can become the leader you end up with a dog-eat-dog world. It’s an uncomfortable world that is truly ugly and where “normal” and healthy people do not want to live.

dog eat dog

Ruthless acquisition or competition, as in With shrinking markets, it's dog eat dog for every company in this field. This contradicts a Latin proverb which maintains that dog does not eat dog, first recorded in English in 1543. Nevertheless, by 1732 it was put as "Dogs are hard drove when they eat dogs" (Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia).

Within this world you see things that simply do not exist outside of America. And while the more Western nations have adopted some of these American aspects, not all do. And you would be surprised at how much better life can be without…

  • Fees to use a Bank ATM.
  • Being forced to buy bottled water instead of a water fountain.
  • Having to pay to have your car washed.
  • Reporting your entire year of financial transactions to the government.
  • Being told that you MUST buy health insurance or face fines.
every man for himself

Each individual puts his or her own interests foremost. For example, In this company no one helps anyone-it's every man for himself. In Chaucer's day this dictum was stated approvingly, meaning "if you don't look out for yourself, no one else will," but today such selfishness is usually censured. Despite the wording, the term applies to either sex.

So anyways, what I am presenting here is just a small taste of how the “every man for himself” culture manifests within the Untied States. If you live within a Western nation like the UK, like Australia, and like Canada some of these images will seem strangely familiar.

Big Tricks

We start with one of the big tricks. In it the BIG words and numbers say one thing, but the fine print says something else…

So, eh? What is it? Why not simply say nothing?

It’s all very manipulative and insulting.

Disguised Packaging

Here’s another trick, to pretend that the consumer will get more product by disguising the size of the packaging.

Again, trying to provide less while giving the impression of more.

How can this be legal? Well, if the government does not take action against these kinds of predatory activities then indeed it is actually legal.

In the case of the meat above, the deception is that the buyer think that it is a slab of meat that is much larger than what the packaging shows or indicates. It’s fully deceptive. And while the fine print, the tiny letters might say so many ounces or Kg of meat, that is meaningless when the image is right there in front of your face.

Look at this below.

We can see that the number of cookies in the package was intentionally reduced to save on costs to make the product, but the end sale price was not changed.

Deceptive Wording

And then, there is the “deceptive wording” trick. Where the words say one thing, but legalese is used to twist the meaning of the words.

 

 

US Health Care

And of course nothing says fraud and corruption in America like the “health care system”.

Here’s an example about the care that people receive inside of America…

My Point

My point is not to list the many, many ways that companies swindle, cheat or trick consumers. That has been the norm for some time now. My point is that it is permitted to happen without consequence.

I wouldn’t even notice this, if it wasn’t for the fact that I am in China. If a Chinese company tries to pull such a shit-head move they risk some serious push-back from the Chinese government. Probably a notice, and then a time-table to incorporate the changes. Followed by fees and fines if the company “drags it’s feet”, and much harsher measures down-the-line if results still do not materialize.

China is a serious; serious nation that does not play.

For the world to become a better place, people and companies need to STOP this on-going policy of trickery, manipulation, bait-sand-switch, and money-grubbing profit at all costs orientation.

There is no way around it.

And it is a significant issue, but NO ONE inside America is talking about this. Absolutely no one.

It is considered a trivial matter.

What are they talking about instead? Well, it’s the same old, same old.

I guess that the point that I am trying to make here is that whatever you might want to call America; a “democracy”, a “Republic”, a “crime syndicate”, an “oligarchy”, a “military empire”, the fact remains that it is NOT servicing the needs of the American citizenry.

It is not.

This is evident on every single level, in every single measurement, and in every conceivable way.

This is more than problematic, it is horrifying.

You see, America is at that historical stage where the government no longer functions to the point where the needs of the people are not met.

Typically, a solution develops. Either [1] the people construct a new government, or [2] they overthrow the old violently, or [3] that the government takes preemptive measures and starts some kind of distraction to prevent the “torches and pitchforks” from arriving at their doorsteps.

The government has decided to go with door number three.

And they are poking both the bear and the panda (Russia and China) with a long pointed stick.

They refuse to consider the MUCH NEEDED option; an emergency Constitutional Convention to restructure the Federal government, or disband the federal government entirely.

They would rather start World War III than accept any other solution.

Dangerous times indeed.

Things must be FIXED. Wrongs must be righted, and serious structural changes to the government need to start happening right NOW.

If they do not happen…

…do not believe that nothing worse will happen…

…you do not need a crystal ball to forecast the future of America without serious structural changes to it.

This is NOT the time to pay the same old “play book”. This is the time for America, the American people, the world, and everyone to come together.

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Is it really possible that a hot war, instigated by the US, would occur between China and Taiwan?

I think that is important to address the issue of Taiwan and China. I believe that I need to do so because the USA is trying to start a war there. The drums for war are beating loudly. Really, really loudly. What the HELL is going on?

America is a military empire and it needs a war to exist. It’s always wanted one, two or three, as well well know. Right now the USA is involved in eight simultaneous wars, which could be reduced to seven if the (so called Afghanistan pull out) actually occurs.

But yeah. All evidence is that the United States is “throwing it’s weight around” trying to provoke a mighty World War.

(To) throw one's weight around, to To use one’s wealth or standing to manipulate others; to act officiously. 

This expression dates from the early twentieth century and uses weight in the sense of “authority.” John P. Marquand had it in H. M. Pulham, Esquire (1941): “Bo-jo was a bastard, a big bastard.

-Throw weight around - Idioms by The Free Dictionary

All you need to do is read the slant of the “news” out of America. Such as this piece of reprehensible trash…

Really?

Seriously?

Are you fucking kidding me?

I will admit that the anti-China articles have improved in their “sneakiness”. All you need to do is read the text to pull out the “boiler plate” anti-China screeds. Like this one from my Tech channels…

And the source for all this information? Why it’s the “United States Government”. That’s it. No other information on names or actual validation channels. Jeeze!

So the USA is busily running their anti-China screed, and they are still poking the Panda. But will it result in a hot war over Taiwan?

We should look into this. Here we tie together some most excellent articles and then weave them together for a better, more comprehensive picture about what is going on, why and who the culprits are.

We will start with this, it is one of the better articles on the subject. Edited to fit in this venue and all credit to the author.

Taiwan Strait: A Shooting War Involving China, Taiwan and the US?

Washington’s Arms Sales to Taiwan

We are witnessing the fourth Cross-Strait Crises. Chinese and American armed forces are undertaking dangerous, spectacular and threatening show of military might. What makes the present crisis different from the previous ones is the fact that it happened during and after the mutual cold-war declaration by Washington and Beijing in Anchorage, Alaska on March 18-19, 2021

The world is wondering how far this military show will go. Many are afraid of a shooting war involving China, Taiwan and the U.S.  Indeed, many are even afraid of the possibility of the third world war which will kill us all.

However, I do not share such pessimistic views. My view is that the inter-China cold war is likely to remain cold, not hot, because none of the three actors involved in the conflict – two Chinas and the U.S.- will gain from the shooting war.

The Sino-American shooting war – if there will be one – will be ignited somewhere else.

Summary

My argument may be summarized as follows.

First, the U.S. does not want the inter-China hot war, because through its ambiguous Taiwan policy, it can continue to sell weapons to Taiwan and, at the same time, keep Taiwan as the primary outpost of its China containment policy.

Second, China is not eager to declare a hot war with Taiwan, because Taiwan has not provided the reasons for China’s Taiwan invasion.

What would force an invasion of Taiwan by China?

There are four reasons for China’s Taiwan invasion including [1] the declaration of Taiwan independence, [2] internal turmoil inside of Taiwan, [2] military alliance with another country, [3] acquisition of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and [4] negotiations under the violation of the 1992 Consensus for “one-China”.

None of these conditions are present.

Therefore, China has no reason to invade Taiwan.

Taiwan does not want a war with China

Third, Taiwan does not want the hot war with China for the reason that it will be most likely defeated. As well as the cost of such defeat will be too high in terms of economic development and the loss of its identity. In fact, if and when China wins, it is extremely likely that both of the two China’s will be united under the banner of PRC.

The U.S. does not want inter-China hot War

To understand Washington’s role in the inter-China conflict, it is important to understand its Taiwan policy.

Washington’s Taiwan policy is based on [1] the three joint communiqués, [2] the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979 (TRA) and [3] the Six Assurances imposed by Ronald Reagan in 1982.

The followings are the contents of the three Communiqués, TRA and the Six Assurances.

The First China-U.S. Communiqué (28 February 1972)

  • The U.S. Government acknowledges (not accept or recognize) that all Chinese in either side of the Taiwan Strait maintain there is but One China
  • Taiwan is a part of China
  • The U.S. Government does not challenge this position
  • . It reaffirms its interest in peaceful settlement of the Taiwan question by Chinese themselves
  • With this prospect in mind, it affirms its ultimate objective of the withdrawal of all the U.S. forces and military installations from Taiwan.

The Second China-U.S. Communiqué (January 1, 1979)

  • Neither should seek hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region or any other region of the world.
  • Each is opposed to efforts by any other country or group of countries to establish such hegemony
  • The government of the USA acknowledges the Chinese position that there is but one China and that Taiwan is part of China
  • PRC is the sole legal government of China

Third China-U.S. Communiqué (August 17, 1982)

  • The U.S. Government attaches great importance to its relation with China.
  • It has no intention of infringing on Chinese sovereignty and territorial integrity or interfering in China’s internal affairs or pursuing a policy of ‘two Chinas’ or ‘one China, one Taiwan.’
  • The U.S. Government states that it does not seek to carry out a long-term policy of arms sales to Taiwan
  • Its arms sale to Taiwan will not exceed, either in qualitative or in quantitative terms the level of those supplied in recent years
  • It intends to reduce gradually its sales of arms to Taiwan, leading over a period of time to a final solution.
  • The U.S. Taiwan policy cannot be changed by the president and requires the consent of the Congress.

The Taiwan Relations Act (enacted by the U.S. Congress on April 10, 1979)

The principal contents of the Act is in Section 2 of the Act

  • Taiwan is treated as a country, a nation or a state as sub sovereign nation
  • Informal diplomatic relations are carried out by the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT)
  • The U.S. Government normalizes its diplomatic relations with PRC (Beijing) under the condition that the future of Taiwan will be determined by peaceful means.
  • Any efforts to determine the future of Taiwan by other than peaceful means including by boycotts, or embargoes, a threat to the peace and security of the Western Pacific are grave concern to the U.S.
  • The Sino (Taiwan)-U.S. Mutual Defence Treaty is terminated.
  • The U.S. Government does not intervene in case of invasion by People’s Republic of China (PRC)
  • The U.S. Government provides arms of defensive character and maintains the capacity to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security, or the social or economic system, of the people on Taiwan
  • The decision related to the quantity and the quality of defence articles and services is determined by the Congress and the president.

The Six Assurances

The administration of Ronald Reagan unilaterally added in 1982 “Six Assurances” to the TRA and this has become the mains part of the U.S. Taiwan policy

  • The U.S. Government has not agreed to set a date of the termination of its arms sale to Taiwan.
  • The U.S. Government has not agreed to consult with PRC (China) or ROC (Taiwan) for arms sales to Taiwan.
  • The U.S. Government does not perform the mediation role between ROC and PRC
  • The U.S. Government has not agreed to revise the TRA
  • The U.S. Government has not revised its position regarding the sovereignty of Taiwan
  • The U.S. Government will not exercise pressure on Taiwan to enter into negotiation with PRC.

The positive aspect of Washington’s Taiwan policy is the termination of the bloody civil war between ROC and PRC which caused the two cross-strait crises (1954 and 1958); the civil war lasted until 1979.

But, the end of the inter-China civil war was also desirable for Washington as well, because Washington badly needed China to counter the aggressive assertiveness of the Soviet Union in Asia.

So, Washington and Beijing were strange bed fellows with different dreams. Another possible reason for the U.S. initiative to end the inter-China civil war was the fear of Beijing’s victory over Taipei, which means the loss of a lucrative American arms market and reliable outpost of China containment strategy.

On the other hand, Washington’s Taiwan policy is characterized by the amazing ambiguity of Washington’s perception of the cross-strait problems and tactics which was most likely designed to maximize the American interests at the expense of China’s interests.

What comes out of the three communiqués, the TRA and the six assurances may be summarized in terms of the issue of regional hegemony, the legal status of Taiwan and the American arms sales.

Regional ambiguity

In the second communiqué of 1979, there are items preventing China from becoming a hegemonic power in the region. Neither the U.S. nor China should seek for hegemonic power in Asia. But the U.S was already the hegemonic power there.

The second feature of Washington’s Taiwan policy is its contradictory and ambiguous position regarding the legal status of Taiwan.

In the joint communiqués, the U.S. acknowledges that China is one and Taiwan is a part of China and that Beijing is the sole legal government of China. But this should mean that since Taiwan is a part of China, Beijing should also govern Taiwan.

But, in the Taiwan Relations Act, Taiwan is given the status of a de facto sovereign country.

China can argue that Washington did not respect the contents of the joint communiqués. But Washington can say this: “We have never accepted one-China regime, we said we acknowledged the regime”. Here, we see the strategic political ambiguity of Washington.

In fact, in the TRA, it says that Taiwan is treated as a nation of sub sovereignty. The U.S. has established de facto diplomatic relations with Taiwan conducted through the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT).

Here, Washington’s position regarding the sovereignty of Taiwan is not clear. The hidden purpose of the U.S. could be to make the sovereignty issue ambiguous so that it can change its position in function of needs.

Washington’s Arms Sales to Taiwan

Now, as for the issues of arms sales to Taiwan, the U. S. is even more ambiguous.

In the third communiqué, the U.S. says that it has no long-run plan of arms sales to Taiwan.

Yet in the same communiqué, the U.S. says that it will reduce arms sales, which contradicts each other.

In the TRA, the Sino (ROC)-U.S. defence Treaty is terminated.

This is a very, very important point. One that is purposely being left out of all media communication originating out of the United States. The TRA ended Taiwan as a US Protectorate.

Therefore, Washington should not intervene militarily if and when Taiwan is in armed conflict with Beijing.

But, already, in media, the US intervention in case of PRC’s Taiwan invasion is openly discussed.

One wonders what the reliability of the joint communiqués, the TRA and the Six Assurances is. It’s as if the United States simply ignores inconvenient rules, treaties, and agreements that it has signed.

Now, in the Six Assurances, it is written that the U.S. has no date for the ending of its arms sales to Taiwan. The U.S. is not obliged to consult PRC or ROC for its arms sales to Taiwan. So, Washington has absolute freehand in handling the arms sales to Taiwan.

In short, the U.S. Taiwan policy is so confusing and so ambiguous that it has useful flexibility for the sales of arms to Taiwan. The following table shows the pattern of American arms sales to Taiwan.

Table: Washington’s arms sales to Taiwan by U.S. Presidents

The table above allows these observations.

  • Washington’s arms sales to Taiwan has increased over the years, which is contrary to what the U.S. Government had promised.
  • The Trump administration spent as much as US$ 4.45 billion per year which represents as much as 30% of Taiwan’s annual defense budget of $15 billion
  • By and large, the Republican Party sells more than the Democrats.
  • Washington sells more when the anti-Beijing liberal party of Taiwan, the Democratic and Progressive Parry (DPP) is in power, that is, under the DPP government of Chen Shui-bian (2000-2008) and under the DPP government of Tsai Ying-wen (2016-2021)

This has an important meaning.

Remember that the DPP is the party which seeks independence of Taiwan.

Hence, the data can be interpreted as Washington’s strategy of encouraging the independence movement leading to ROC-PRC tension and more U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.

So the United States is actively encouraging an armed conflict between Taiwan and China. Though everyone realizes that ultimately Taiwan would be absorbed into China as a result of the conflict.

So, Does the USA want a Hot War over the Taiwan strait?

Now, coming back to the question of whether the U.S. wishes hot war over the Taiwan Strait, the answer is that it will not want the hot war.

The USA does not really want a Hot War, even though it is provoking one.

The reason is because, the hot war means the unification of China and Taiwan will no longer be able to play the role of Washington’s primary China-containment outpost and its function of being the lucrative market of American military equipment’s.

Neither PRC (People’s Republic of China) nor ROC (Republic of China-Taiwan) wants the hot War. 

Are Taiwan and China enemies as described in the Western media?

When we discuss Taiwan and China, it is important to remember that they once were enemies. This was around fifty years ago.

The army of the ROC was defeated in 1949 and Chiang Kai-sek fled to Taiwan and continued the Republic of China which was created in 1912 by Sun Yat-sen. The civil war between ROC and PRC continued until 1979.

Even though the civil war was terminated, the ROC and PRC relations have not been smooth partly because of the past history and partly because of different political and economic regimes. In other words, there are always the possibilities of hostility in the cross-strait relations.

However, they have established viable relations which have been beneficial to both through political and economic cooperation.

The Risk of full Taiwan Independence from China

Aside from the American and British media harping on the desire for Taiwan to be free of the “oppressive yoke” of the “brutal Communist Dictatorship”,  the real truth is something else entirely.

The evolution of the Taiwanese political orientation may be measured in terms of the way in which its presidents consider the legal status of Taiwan vis-à-vis PRC.

The evolution of Taiwanese political leaders’ perceptions of Taipei-Beijing political relations is shown below. By and large, such relations have evolved by the following periods.

  • The civil war period (1949-1979)
  • The period of good relations (1979-1998)
  • The period of hostility (1998-2008)
  • The resumption of high level dialogue period (2008-2016)
  • The frozen relation period (2016-2021)

The period of civil war (1949-1979) was characterized by two cross-strait crises and never ending armed conflict between two Chinas.

During the friendly relation period (1979-1998), Deng Xiaoping met frequently the head of the Nationalist Party, Kuomintang (KMT) in order to develop cooperative relations.

President Chiang Ching-kuo (1980-1988) of KMT, son of Chiang Kai-shek, declared the three NOs:

      • No declaration of independence,
      • No unification of Chinas and
      • No use of force between the two Chinas.

On July 9, 1999, President Lee Teng-hui (1988-2000) of KMT defined the ROC-PRC relation as “country to country relations.” So, there is no need for the independence declaration.

However, Lee’s visit to the Cornel University Alumni in 1995 alarmed Beijing and it led to the 1996 show of military might of People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of  PRC.

This was, in fact, the third Taiwan Strait crisis.

During the period of hostility (1998-2008), President Chen Shui-bian (2000-2008) of the anti-PRC party, DPP, changed the name of “Chunghwa Post Co.” to “Taiwan Post Co.” He changed also the name of “China Petroleum Corporation” to “Taiwan Petroleum Corporation.”

But, under KMT president Ma Yong-Jeou (2008-2016), the old names came back. This episode shows how Taiwanese people are sensitive about the identity of Taiwan vis-à-vis China of main land.

In 2008, Ma Ying-Jeou of KMT (2008-2016) took over the power and the friendly relations across the Strait were resumed.

The year 2008 was marked by the efforts of PRCs president Hu Jintao to improve the bilateral relations across the Taiwan Strait. On March 26, 2008, he talked to President G.W. Bush, who endorsed the 1992 consensus on “One China”..

President Hu Jintao also met the Chairman of the KMT, Wu Po-hsing, who also accepted the 1992 Consensus.

As for President Ma, he defined the bilateral relations as “One Country on each side” or “two states in the same nation.”

In 2016 began the current period of contention. The power went back to DPP and Tsai Ying-wen became President. Tsai’s perception of Taiwan’s legal status was not more certain than those of other Taiwan presidents.

Her victory has put Beijing in even uncomfortable position. In 2016, Beijing cut all communications with ROC.

But, in the same year, some leaders in Taiwan being aware of the deteriorating cross-strait relations formed a Taiwanese delegation composed of eight magistrates and city mayors went to Beijing to improve the relations.

However, the cross-strait relations were not peaceful. In 2018, PLA conducted military exercises which surely alarmed Taiwan.

In 2019, Xi Jinping reaffirmed his position in favor of “one China, two systems.”

President Tsai Ying-wen refused Xi Jinping’s idea.

To the surprise of the world, in 2020 Tsai Ying-wen won the election again; the world was expecting that she would take more radical position regarding Taiwan’s independence.

True, her victory has encouraged the independence movement in Taiwan and pro-independence political parties and civic organizations asked for a referendum on independence.

However, Tsai maintained her position that since Taiwan is already independent country, there is no need for the declaration of independence.”

To sum up, none of the presidents of the major parties, the KMT and the DPP, opted for the declaration of Taiwan’s independence.

True, there are some pro-independence parties such as The Taiwan Independence Party, the Taiwan Solidarity and the Formosa Alliance, but they have no electoral support.

Thus, the danger of Taiwan’s declaration of independence seems nonexistent and therefore, Beijing has no reason to invade for now.

Taiwan People’s Perception

What has intrigued me is the Taiwanese people’s perceptions regarding Taiwan’s legal or political status. There are four public opinion polls which are meaningful.

In the poll of 2008 by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) no less than76% of the respondents rejected the idea of “one China, two systems.”

In the 2017 poll by MAC, 85% of the respondents said that the future of Taiwan should be determined by the Taiwanese themselves.

In the 2019 poll by MAC, 75% of the respondents rejected the 1992 Consensus (There is only one China which should be governed by PRC).

In the 2020 poll by the Academia Sinica, one finds very interesting phenomena.

  • 73% of the respondents identified themselves as Taiwanese.
  • 27.5% of them identified themselves as Chinese-Taiwanese
  • 2.4% of them identified themselves as Chinese
  • 52.3% of them would prefer the postponement of the question of Taiwan independence and keep the status quo
  • 35.1% of them prefer immediate independence
  • 5.5% of them would prefer immediate or eventual unification of China.

In the Poll of MAC, 90% of the respondents refused PLA’s military threats.

To sum up, the Taiwanese are eager to greater autonomy, even independence, but they seem to avoid military confrontation by postponing the solution of the independence issue.

In short, Taiwan does not want a shooting war with China.

Economic Cooperation

There is another reason why the ROC-PRC hot war will not take place. It is the cross-strait economic cooperation.

Taiwan has achieved a remarkable success in economic development.

In the 1960s, the per capita GDP was as low as $60. Now, in 2020, its GDP (nominal) was $730 billion USD and the per capita GDP was $32,000. This is, in fact, the miraculous achievements of the Taiwanese people.

The information industries account for 35 % of the country’s industrial production. The semi-conductor producers such as Taiwan Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and the United Microelectronic Corporation (UMC) are world leaders. Taiwan is the 13th largest producer of steel; its steel products are exported to 130 countries. The most spectacular entrepreneurial performance has been shown by the SMEs accounting for 85% of industrial outputs.

Such achievement has been possible because of the courage, the innovative entrepreneurial spirit, the productivity and, especially the hard work of the Taiwanese.

However, Washington’s economic aid, its imports of Taiwanese products and technology transfer have all contributed. In addition, we should not forget the cooperation between Mainland China and Taiwan.

Under President Chiang Ching-kuo (1978-1988), two important semi-official organizations were was established: the Strait Exchange Foundation (SEF) under ROC’s Mainland Affairs Council and the Association of Relations across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) under PRCs Taiwanese Affairs Office.

These two organizations have been the center of bilateral political and economic cooperation. They have initiated the three links: postal services, transportation and trade.

The Taiwan’s Investment Guidelines and similar measures taken by ROC have led to mutual business investments.

In fact, 40 % of Taiwan’s outbound FDI stock went to Mainland China. Chinese tourists contribute to more than 40% of ROCs tourist industry. The Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement of 2010 is another mechanism of the bilateral economic relations.

Above all, Taiwan depends heavily on China for trade. In 2020, the value of Taiwan’s total exports was $ 345 billion of which 29.7% went to China. In the same year, the value of Taiwan’s total imports was $ 286 billion of which 22% came from China.

It is true that the RCO-PRC relations are not peaceful. But these economic relations are beneficial enough to keep the status quo as long as possible.

The conclusion of my analysis is that none of the three actors involved in the cross-strait drama wants shooting war.

      • China doesn’t
      • Taiwan doesn’t
      • The United States doesn’t.

The United States. The U.S. does not want the hot war because it will mean [1] the unification of China, [2] the loss of Taiwan as the primary China-containment outpost and [3] the loss of the lucrative arms market.

Taiwan. Taiwan does not want the shooting war, because it will mean the complete destruction of its economy, and the loss of its autonomy becoming one of the Chinese provinces.

China. China does not risk the hot war because [1] Taiwan prefers the status quo; [2] it has no intention of getting weapons of mass destruction; [3] there is no internal turmoil; [4] it does not seek military alliances.

But the United States wants high stress and tension

However, even without the shooting war, as long as the Sino-U.S. cold war continues, the cross-strait tension will continue.

Washington will sell more military equipment and services and Taiwan will have to play the dangerous role of Washington’s the primary outpost of China containment strategy and that of main buyer of American military weapons.

I wish to add this.

The bilateral conflict between two Chinas like all other major bilateral conflicts is an integral part of Washington’s strategy of global hegemony. One of the most productive components of the American global hegemony is the proxy war, that is, some member country of Washington’s alliances will fight for the U.S.

Japan might be asked to play this role, because Japan is the best qualified for such task; it is a world class military power and it has the ambition of dominating Asia again; to do so, Japan has to destroy China. I hope I am wrong in thinking such an awful thing.

Finally, I would like add this too…

Taiwan is a country which has achieved an amazing economic miracle of which all Chinese should be proud. Taiwan has established viable democracy under very challenging conditions; this is a regime which will surely contribute to the further advancement of China’s socio-political system.

Well, perhaps it is the Taiwan oligarchy that is pushing this issue. Not the Taiwanese government, and not the American government. Perhaps it is the oligarchy inside of Taiwan, and the greedy evil neocons in America that is driving up the stress levels in the Taiwan strait.

Because if Taiwan, China and the USA doesn’t want a war, then why are we talking about this?

Tanks and Think Tanks: How Taiwanese Cash Is Funding the Push to War with China

 

Twenty years ago, a group of neoconservative think tanks used their power to push for disastrous wars in the Middle East. Now, a new set of think tanks staffed with many of the same experts and funded by Taiwanese money is working hard to convince Americans that there is a new existential threat: China.

At MintPress, we have been at the forefront of exposing how Middle Eastern dictatorships and weapons contractors have been funneling money into think tanks and political action committees, keeping up a steady drumbeat for more war and conflict around the world.

Yet one little-discussed nation that punches well above its weight in spending cash in Washington is Taiwan.

By studying Taiwan’s financial reports, MintPress has ascertained that the semi-autonomous island of 23 million people has, in recent years, given out millions of dollars to many of the largest and most influential think tanks in the United States.

This has coincided with a strong upsurge in anti-China rhetoric in Washington, with report after report warning of China’s economic rise and demanding that the U.S. intervene more in China-Taiwan disputes.

These think tanks are filled with prominent figures from both parties and have the ears of the most powerful politicians in Washington.

It is in their offices that specialists draw up papers and incubate ideas that become tomorrow’s policies.

They also churn out experts who appear in agenda-setting media, helping to shape and control the public debate on political and economic issues.

Twenty years ago, a group of neoconservative think tanks like the Project for a New American Century, funded by foreign governments and weapons manufacturers, used their power to push for disastrous wars in the Middle East.

Now, a new set of think tanks, staffed with many of those same experts who provided the intellectual basis for those invasions, is working hard to convince Americans that there is a new existential threat: China.

The Brookings Institute

In 2019, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States (TECRO) — for all intents and purposes, the Taiwanese embassy — donated between $250,000 and $499,999 to the Brookings Institute, commonly identified as the world’s most influential think tank.

Taiwanese tech companies have also given large sums to the organization.

In turn, Brookings Institute staff like Richard C. Bush (a former member of the National Intelligence Council and a U.S. national intelligence officer for East Asia) vociferously champion the cause of Taiwanese nationalists and routinely condemn Beijing’s attempts to bring the island more closely under control.

 

TECRO featured prominently among myriad defense interests on the donor rolls for both the Atlantic Council, left, and Brookings Institute

In mid-April 2021, Brookings held an event called “Taiwan’s quest for security and the good life,” which began with the statement that…

“Taiwan is rightly praised for its democracy. Elections are free, fair, and competitive; civil and political rights are protected.” 

...

“most consequential” challenge to the island’s liberty and prosperity is “China’s ambition to end Taiwan’s separate existence.”

According to another organization’s latest financial disclosure, TECRO also gave a six-figure sum to the Atlantic Council, a think tank closely associated with NATO.

The Atlantic Council

It is unclear what the Atlantic Council did with that money, but what is certain is that they gave a senior fellowship to Chang-Ching Tu, an academic employed by the Taiwanese military to teach at the country’s National Defense University.

In turn, Tu authored Atlantic Council reports describing his country as a “champion [of] global democracy,” and stating that “democracy, freedom and human rights are Taiwan’s core values.”

A menacing China, however, is increasing its military threats, so Taiwan must “accelerate its deterrence forces and strengthen its self-defense capabilities.”

Thus he advises that the U.S. must work far more closely with Taiwan’s military, conducting joint exercises and moving towards a more formal military alliance.

In 2020, the U.S. sold $5.9 billion worth of arms to the island, making it the fifth-largest recipient of American weaponry last year.

Other Taiwan-employed academics have chided the West on the pages of the Council’s website for its insufficient zeal in “deter[ring] Chinese aggression” against the island. “A decision by the United States to back down” — wrote Philip Anstrén, a Swedish recipient of a fellowship from the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs — “could damage the credibility of U.S. defense guarantees and signal that Washington’s will to defend its allies is weak.”

Anstrén also insisted that “Europe’s future is on the line in the Taiwan Strait.” “Western democratic nations have moral obligations vis-à-vis Taiwan,” he added on his blog, “and Western democracies have a duty to ensure that [Taiwan] not only survives but also thrives.”

The reason this is important is that the Atlantic Council is an enormously influential think tank.

Its board of directors is a who’s-who in foreign policy statecraft, featuring no fewer than seven former CIA directors.

Also on the board are many of the architects of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, including Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and James Baker. When organizations like this begin beating the war drums, everybody should take note.

The Hudson Institute

Perhaps the most strongly anti-Beijing think tank in Washington is the conservative Hudson Institute, an organization frequented by many of the Republican Party’s most influential figures, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former Vice-President Mike Pence and Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton.

The words “China” or “Chinese” appear 137 times in Hudson’s latest annual report, so focused on the Asian nation are they. Indeed, reading their output, it often appears they care about little else but ramping up tensions with Beijing, condemning it for its treatment of Hong Kong, Taiwan and Uyghur Muslims, and warning of the economic and military threat of a rising China.

Over the years, Hudson’s efforts have been sustained by huge donations from TECRO.

The Hudson Institute does not disclose the exact donations any sources give, but their annual reports show that TECRO has been on the highest tier of donors ($100,000+) every year since they began divulging their sponsors in 2015. In February, Hudson Senior Fellow Thomas J. Duesterberg wrote an op-ed for Forbes entitled “The Economic Case for Prioritizing a U.S.-Taiwan Free Trade Agreement,” in which he extolled Taiwan’s economy as modern and dynamic and portrayed securing closer economic ties with it as a no-brainer. Hudson employees have also traveled to Taiwan to meet and hold events with leading foreign ministry officials there.

The Hudson Institute also recently partnered with the more liberal Center for American Progress (CAP) to host an event with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, who took the opportunity to make a great number of inflammatory statements about the “ever more challenging threats to free and democratic societies” China poses; applaud the U.S.’ actions on Hong Kong; and talk about how Taiwan honors and celebrates those who died at the Tiananmen Square massacre. TECRO gave the CAP between $50,000 and $100,000 last year.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)

It is the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), however, that appears to receive the most Taiwanese money.

According to its donor list, Taiwan gives as much money to it as the United States does — at least $500,000 last year alone.

Yet all of the Taiwanese government money is put into CSIS’s regional studies (i.e., Asia) program. Like Hudson employees, the CSIS calls for a free trade agreement with Taiwan and has lavished praise on the nation for its approach to tackling disinformation, describing it as a “thriving democracy and a cultural powerhouse.”

Although acknowledging that the reports were paid for by TECRO, CSIS insists that “all opinions expressed herein should be understood to be solely those of the authors and are not influenced in any way by any donation.”

In December, the CSIS also held a debatesuggesting that “[w]ithin the next five years, China will use significant military force against a country on its periphery,” exploring what the U.S. response to such an action should be.

Like the Atlantic Council, the CSIS organization is stacked with senior officials from the national security state. Its president and CEO is former Deputy Secretary of Defense John Hamre, while Henry Kissinger — former secretary of state and the architect of the Vietnam War — also serves on its council.

The Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD)

The CSIS accepts money from the Global Taiwan Institute and the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD) as well. The former is a rather shadowy pro-Taiwanese group that appears not to disclose its funding sources.

The latter is a government-funded organization headed by former Taiwanese President You Si-kun.

Every year, the TFD publishes a human rights report on China, the latest of which claims that “the Chinese Communist Party knows no bounds when it comes to committing serious human rights violations” — accusing it of “taking the initiative” in “promoting a new Cold War over the issue of human rights” and trying to “replace the universal standing of human rights values around the world.”

Ultimately, the report concludes, China “constitutes a major challenge to democracy and freedom in the world.”

 

Joseph Hwang of The War College in Taiwan speaks at a CSIS about how Taiwan acts a buffer to protect US data infrastructure from China

The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation

The TFD has also been a major funder of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, a far-right pressure group that insists that Communism has killed over 100 million people worldwide.

Last year, the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation added all global COVID-19 fatalities to the list of Communist-caused deaths on the basis that the virus started in China.

The Foundation also employs Adrian Zenz, a German evangelical theologian who is the unlikely source of many of the most controversial and contested claims about Chinese repression in Xinjiang province.

Other funded anti-China Think-Tanks

In the past 12 months, TECRO has also donated six-figure sums to many other prominent think tanks, including…

MintPress reached out to a number of these think tanks for comment but has not received any response.

“It would be naive to believe that Taiwan’s funding of think tanks is not pushing them to take pro-Taiwan or anti-China positions,” Ben Freeman, the director of the Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative at the Center for International Policy, told MintPress, adding:

After all, why would Taiwan keep funding think tanks that are critical of Taiwan? There’s a Darwinian element to foreign funding of think tanks that pushes foreign government funding to think tanks that write what that foreign government wants them to write. Taiwan is no exception to this rule.”

TECRO is not just sponsoring American think tanks, however.

the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI)

It has also given funds to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), a hawkish and controversial group described as “the think tank behind Australia’s changing view of China.” The country’s former ambassador in Beijing described ASPI as “the architect of the China threat theory in Australia” while Senator Kim Carr of Victoria denounced them as working hand-in-hand with Washington to push “a new Cold War with China.”

ASPI was behind Twitter’s decision last year to purge more than 170,000 accounts sympathetic to Beijing from its platform.

“We must be ready to fight our corner as Taiwan tensions rise,” ASPI wrote in January, having previously castigated the West for being “no longer willing to defend Taiwan.”

Who is behind all this money, ultimately?

ASPI — like Brookings, the Atlantic Council and others — are directly funded by weapons manufacturers, all of whom also have a direct interest in promoting more wars around the world.

Thus, if the public is not careful, certain special interests might be helping move the United States towards yet another international conflict.

While the situation outlined above is concerning enough, the Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative’s research has shown that around one-third of think tanks still do not provide any information whatsoever about their funding, and very few are completely open about their finances.

Freeman maintains that, while there is nothing inherently wrong with foreign governments funding Western think tanks, the lack of transparency is seriously problematic, explaining:

This raises a lot of questions about the work they’re doing. Are their secret funders saying what the think tank can do in a pay-for-play scheme? Are the funders buying the think tanks silence on sensitive issues? Without knowing the think tank’s funders, policymakers and the public have no idea if the think tank’s work is objective research or simply the talking points of a foreign government.”

Freeman’s study of the Taiwanese lobby found that seven organizations registered as Taiwan’s foreign agents in the U.S.

Those organizations, in turn, contacted 476 Members of Congress (including almost 90% of the House), as well as five congressional committees.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was their most frequent contact, the Californian being contacted 34 times by Taiwanese agents. Pelosi has been a great supporter of Taiwanese nationalists, successfully promoting pro-Taiwan legislation and proudly announcing that the U.S. “stands with Taiwan.”

Foreign agents working on behalf of Taiwan also made 143 political contributions to U.S. politicians, with former Alabama Senator Doug Jones the lead recipient (Pelosi was third).

Losing China, regaining Taiwan?

The reports listed above understand the dispute as purely a matter of Chinese belligerence against Taiwan and certainly do not consider U.S. military actions in the South China Sea as aggressive in themselves.

That is because the world of think tanks and war planners sees the United States as owning the planet.

America has the right to go and do anything that it desires anywhere on the globe at any time.

To this day, U.S. planners bemoan the “loss of China” in 1949 (a phrase that presupposes the United States owned the country).

After a long and bloody Second World War, Communist resistance forces under Mao Tse-tung managed to both expel the Japanese occupation and overcome the U.S.-backed Kuomintang (nationalist) force led by Chang Kai-shek. The United States actually invaded China in 1945, with 50,000 troops working with the Kuomintang and even Japanese forces in an attempt to suppress the Communists. However, by 1949, Mao’s army was victorious; the United States evacuated and Chang Kai-shek retreated to Taiwan.

The Kuomintang ruled the island for 40 years as a one-party state and remains one of the two major political groups to this day.

The war between the Communists and the Kuomintang never formally ended, and Taiwan has now lived through 70 years of estrangement from the mainland. Polls show a majority of Taiwanese now favor full independence, although a large majority still personally identify as Chinese.

While many Taiwanese welcome an increased U.S. presence in the region, Beijing certainly does not.

American military is getting ready for a war

In 2012, President Barack Obama announced the U.S.’ new “Pivot to Asia” strategy, moving forces from the Middle East towards China. Today, over 400 American military bases encircle China.

In recent months, the United States has also taken a number of provocative military actions on China’s doorstep.

In July, it conducted naval exercises in the South China Sea, with warships and naval aircraft spotted just 41 nautical miles from the coastal megacity of Shanghai, intent on probing China’s coastal defenses.

And in December, it flew nuclear bombers over Chinese vessels close to Hainan Island.

Earlier this year, the head of Strategic Command made his intentions clear, stating that there was a “very real possibility” of war against China over a regional conflict like Taiwan.

China, for its part, has also increased its forces in the region, carrying out military exercises and staking claims to a number of disputed islands.

A new Director of National Intelligence (DNI) report notes that China is the U.S.’ “unparalleled priority,” claiming that Beijing is making a “push for global power.” “We expect that friction will grow as Beijing steps up attempts to portray Taipei as internationally isolated and dependent on the mainland for economic prosperity, and as China continues to increase military activity around the island,” it concludes.

In an effort to stop this, Washington has recruited allies into the conflict. Australian media are reporting that their military is currently readying for war in an effort to force China to back down, while in late April 2021 President Joe Biden met with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to shore up a united front against Beijing vis-a-vis Taiwan.

In February, the Atlantic Council penned an anonymous 26,000-word report advising Biden to draw a number of red lines around China, beyond which a response — presumably military — is necessary. These included any military action or even a cyber attack against Taiwan. Any backing down from this stance, the council states, would result in national “humiliation” for the United States.

American fantasy dreams

Perhaps most notably, however, the report also envisages what a successful American China policy would look like by 2050:

[T]he United States and its major allies continue to dominate the regional and global balance of power across all the major indices of power;… [and head of state Xi Jinping] has been replaced by a more moderate party leadership; and … the Chinese people themselves have come to question and challenge the Communist Party’s century-long proposition that China’s ancient civilization is forever destined to an authoritarian future.”

In other words, that China has been broken and that some sort of regime change has occurred.

Forked tongue speak

Throughout all this, the United States has been careful to stress that it still does not recognize Taiwan and that their relationship is entirely “unofficial,” despite claiming that its commitment to the island remains “rock solid.”

Indeed, only 14 countries formally recognize Taiwan, the largest and most powerful of which is Paraguay.

Along with a military conflict brewing, Washington has also been prosecuting an information and trade war against China on the world stage.

  • Attempts to block the rise of major Chinese companies like Huawei, TikTok and Xiaomi are examples of this.
  • Others in Washington have advised the Pentagon to carry out an under-the-table culture war against Beijing.
  • This would include commissioning “Taiwanese Tom Clancy” novels that would “weaponize” China’s one-child policy against it.
  • And, bombarding citizens with stories about how their only children will die in a war over Taiwan.

Republicans and Democrats constantly accuse each other of being in President Xi’s pocket, attempting to outdo each other in their jingoistic fervor.

Last year, in 2020, Florida Senator Rick Scottwent so far as to announce that every Chinese national in the U.S. was a Communist spy and should be treated with extreme suspicion.

As a result, the American public’s view of China has crashed to an all-time low.

Only three years ago, the majority of Americans held a positive opinion of China. But today, that number is only 20%. Asian-Americans of all backgrounds have reported a rise in hate crimes against them.

Cash rules everything around me

How much of the United States’ aggressive stance towards China can be attributed to Taiwanese money influencing politics?

It is difficult to say.

Certainly, the United States has its own policy goals in East Asia outside of Taiwan.

But Freeman believes that the answer is not zero. The Taiwan lobby “absolutely has an impact on U.S. foreign policy,” he said, adding:

At one level, it creates an echo-chamber in D.C. that makes it taboo to question U.S. military ties with Taiwan. 

While I, personally, think there are good strategic reasons for the U.S. to support this democratic ally — and it’s clearly in Taiwan’s interest to keep the U.S. fully entangled in their security — it’s troubling that the D.C. policy community can’t have an honest conversation about what U.S. interests are. 

But, Taiwan’s lobby in D.C. and their funding of think tanks both work to stifle this conversation and, frankly, they’ve been highly effective.”

Other national lobbies affect U.S. policy.

The Cuban lobby helps ensure that the American stance towards its southern neighbor remains as antagonistic as possible.

Meanwhile, the Israel lobby helps ensure continuing U.S. support for Israeli actions in the Middle East.

Yet more ominously with Taiwan, its representatives are helping push the U.S. closer towards a confrontation with a nuclear power.

While Taiwanese money appears to have convinced many in Washington, it is doubtful that ordinary Americans will be willing to risk a war over an island barely larger than Hawaii, only 80 miles off the coast of mainland China.

You would think…

But now, I’m not so sure…

US Seeks South China Sea Conflict

 

Despite hopes by some that with Joe Biden a new US foreign policy will follow – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has reaffirmed Washington’s committment to seeking conflict in the South China Sea under the guise of “standing with Southeast Asian claimants.”
Reuters in their article, “US stands with SE Asian countries against China pressure, Blinken say”  would claim:
.
Secretary Blinken pledged to stand with Southeast Asian claimants in the face of PRC pressure,” it said, referring to the People’s Republic of China.
China claims almost all of the energy-rich South China Sea, which is also a major trade route. The Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia and Taiwan have overlapping claims.
The United States has accused China of taking advantage of the distraction of the coronavirus pandemic to advance its presence in the South China Sea.

The US announcement confirms that a confrontational posture toward China will continue regardless of who occupies the White House – as US tensions with China are rooted in unelected  Western special interests and their desire to remove China as a competitor and potential usurper in what US policy papers themselves call “US primacy in Asia.”

US Primacy in Asia

One such paper titled, “Revising US Grand Strategy Toward China,”…

published by the Council on Foreign Relations in 2015…

…not only spelled out the US desire to maintain that primacy in Asia vis-a-vis China…

… but also how it would use overlapping claims in the South China Sea as a pretext to justify….

…an expanded military presence in the region and as a common cause to pressure China’s neighbors into a united front against Beijing.

The paper would note specific US goals of militarizing Southeast Asia and integrating the region into a common US-led defense architecture against China.

It is a policy built upon the US “pivot to Asia” unveiled as early as 2011 and a policy that has been built upon in turn during the last four years under the Trump administration – demonstrating the continuity of agenda that permeates US foreign policy.

Turning Disputes into Conflict 

Maritime disputes are common throughout the world – even in the West.

Just at the end of last year, the Guardian in an article titled, “Four navy ships to help protect fishing waters in case of no-deal Brexit,” would report:

Four Royal Navy patrol ships will be ready from 1 January to help the UK protect its fishing waters in the event of a no-deal Brexit, in a deployment evoking memories of the “cod wars” in the 1970s.

The 80-metre-long armed vessels would have the power to halt, inspect and impound all EU fishing boats operating within the UK’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), which can extend 200 miles from shore.

In terms of such disputes, the waters of the South China Sea are no exception.

Not only does China have overlapping claims with the nations mentioned in the Reuters article – each nation listed has overlapping claims with one another.

This results in sporadic disputes between all of these nations – occasionally resulting in the seizing of  vessels and the temporary detaining of boat crews.

However – these disputes are regularly settled through bilateral methods – including disputes between Southeast Asian nations and China itself.

A high-profile example of this unfolded in 2015 where a US-led legal case was brought to the Hague on behalf of the Philippines regarding Chinese claims over the South China Sea.

While the Hague ruled in the Philippines’ favor – Manila declined to use the ruling as leverage against Beijing or to seek Washington’s assistance – and instead pursued bilateral talks with Beijing directly on its own.

It is a case that demonstrates the desire by Washington to escalate what are ordinary maritime disputes, into a regional or even international crisis – not unlike the US’ strategy in the Middle East which it uses to justify its perpetual military occupation there.

More recently the issue of the South China Sea has come up at ASEAN Summits.

Al Jazeera in its article, “ASEAN summit: South China Sea, coronavirus pandemic cast a shadow,” would cite Malaysia’s take on the issue, noting:

“The South China Sea issue must be managed and resolved in a rational manner,” Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told the meeting. “We must all refrain from undertaking activities that would complicate matters in the South China Sea. We have to look at all avenues, all approaches to ensure our region is not complicated further by other powers.”

While the US poses a champion for Southeast Asia – it is clear that its efforts are unwelcome and viewed instead as a source of instability – not a path toward resolution.

It is almost certain that it is Washington the Malaysian foreign minister was referring to when he mentioned “other powers.”

Just as the US nominated itself as protector of European “energy security” in its bid to obstruct the Russian-German Nord Stream 2 pipeline – the US has inserted itself into relatively routine maritime disputes in the South China Sea – not to “stand with” the nations of the region, but to serve as an excuse to impose its “primacy” over them.

The nations of Southeast Asia count China among their largest trade partners, sources of tourism, and for several – a key military and infrastructure partner.

The prospect of a regionally destabilizing conflict originating over long-standing disputes in the South China Sea benefits no one actually located in Asia – and only serves the interests of those beyond Asia seeking to divide and reassert their rule over it.

Who are these people?

Who are these Taiwan Oligarchs that want to start World War III? Most are old men. The youngest is in their 60’s. Most are in their mid to late 70’s and much older. What are they trying to do, and why? Are they so fixated in what happened fifty years ago that they cannot see what is going on right now, and what a bright future lies ahead for them?

MM is providing their names right here for you all to see.

Zhang Congyuan shoes
Tsai Hong-tu & Cheng-ta finance
Daniel & Richard Tsai finance
Wei Ing-chou, Ying-chiao, Yin-chun & Yin-heng food
Jason & Richard Chang semiconductors
Terry Gou electronics
Tsai Eng-meng food, beverages
Barry Lam electronics
Pierre Chen electronics
Lin Shu-hong petrochemicals
Samuel Yin retail
Andre Koo, Sr. financial services
Tsai Ming-kai semiconductors
Rudy Ma finance
Morris Chang semiconductors
Douglas Hsu diversified
Tseng Cheng & Sing-ai petrochemicals
Lin Ming-hsiung supermarkets
K.C. Liu manufacturing
Bruce Cheng electronics
T.Y. Tsai finance
Wang Chou-hsiong footwear
Lin Chen-hai real estate
Scott Lin optical components
Chin Jong Hwa auto parts
Chen Tei-fu herbal products
Chao Teng-hsiung real estate
William & Wilfred Wang plastics
Shi Wen-long plastics
Luo Ming-han & Tsai-jen Lo tires
Xie Weitong cobalt
Chen Yung-tai real estate
Tony Chen electronics
Thomas Wu finance
Cho Jyh-jer semiconductors
Archie Hwang semiconductors
Yeh Kuo-I manufacturing
Shirley Kao food & beverage retailing
Eugene Wu finance
Wang Ren-sheng retail
Wu Chung-yi manufacturing
Tsai Chi-jui shoes
Allen Horng & Tien-Szu Hung electronics
Wu Li-gann electronic components
Tsao Ter-fung food
Lee Tien-tsai beverages
Quintin Wu plastic
Yeh Min-yuen cybersecurity
Huang Chung Sheng recycling
Ho Kuang-chi restaurants

Yeah. I wonder how much of a shame it would be for these people to suddenly stop provoking a war beacause of other issues that they need to deal with.

Conclusion to all of this

The governments do not want wars or conflict in the South China Sea, but the oligarchs do.

They are pushing, and pushing, and pushing for a war.

And “red lines” have been established.

  • For China to invade Taiwan.
  • For China to attack American cities.
  • For Taiwan to get involved with the United States.

And the wealthy oligarchy are pushing these limits.

And this is what is going on right now.

How successful will the oligarchy be? It’s a matter up to the government leadership.

A final word…

It’s propaganda that is pushing the world towards world war III. And this propaganda is very devious and very destructive.

The following is from the US defense department. It shows the nuclear delivery systems of American, China and Russia compared. Imagine that, the only nuclear delivery systems that America has according to the media are airborne!

From the US Department of Defense Nuclear Posture Review.

Do you believe it?

You shouldn’t. It’s false; it’s a lie.

But many do believe it. And that why there is an inherent danger in all these oligarchs pushing the world towards world war III.

Do you want more?

I have more posts in my China Index here…

USA / China

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Articles & Links

Master Index

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