alanjjohnstone
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An earlier post on this topic placed what i think was a nuanced observation. It reminds readers that we have not jumped on any band-wagon having had an article on the situation in the Standard way back in 2014.
page5 #post-215661
And the blog recently reminded its visitors of the Uyghurs who were imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay by the American as terrorists.
But genocide is not gas chambers and extermination of people. Under international law it is the destruction of cultural identity. I think the evidence is strong that the Chinese government are endeavoring to do that. Personally i prefer the term persecution rather than genocide and again the evidence is there of such a policy. But of course so has other nations with multiculturalism and assimilation policies of minorities.
And then there are the third-way approach of Turkey which understand the dependency on Chinese trade to constrain their criticisms of the persecution of a Turkic Muslim people
There is an information war and it is two-sided
This article describes Florida’s suppression of protests.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/03/26/shameful-florida-house-passes-gops-anti-protest-bill
HB1 would send people to prison for up to 15 years for pulling down a Confederate flag or other shrines to white supremacy. It would subject any person present at any gathering that became violent through no fault of their own to felony charges, potentially leading up to five years in prison and the loss of their voting rights, even if the individual did not engage in any violent and disorderly conduct, among other provisions. It would also protect violent counter-protesters from civil liability for injuring or killing a protester with their vehicle.
A Chinese consumer boycott or government directed?
“Soft authoritarianism” is perhaps how i would best describe the drift towards media censorship, identity politics, cancel culture. Is it the right or the liberals who are more complicit? I’m not so sure which.
The Democratic Party are the ones who appear more determined to thwart the rise of any Third Party such as the Greens, although for the Republicans, there was less political push-back against the Libertarian Party that cost Trump a couple of states.
Strange as it seemed but Bernie Sanders was better treated by Fox News (perhaps for their own agenda, albeit) in the nomination contest than all the cable news outlets who can be said that they didn’t appoint Biden but anointed him. He is still being canonised by the mainstream media and not held to account.
Bourgeois democracy – with its limitations – is suffering the challenge of de-legitimacy. Trumps voter’s fraud claims. Various US states changes to election law called suppression and new Jim Crow voting restrictions. Not one of the proposed reforms in America is about making voting any easier and increasing turn-out.
In the UK, voter ID is being trialed and there is little debate about it. Electronic voting will mean our usual advice to spoil the ballot paper will probably become redundant.
But then we can look at the US states with their proposition referenda as perhaps the way American politics might go. Will it be an option for the WSPUS?
Venezuela – no change
The United States blocked Venezuela from proceeding with its dispute over Washington’s sanctions at the World Trade Organization, seizing on the issue to underscore its rejection of Nicolas Maduro as the country’s legitimate president. The U.S. action was intended to make clear that President Joe Biden and his administration would continue its hard-line stance against Maduro
Twenty Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwan’s air defence identification zone on Friday in the largest incursion yet reported by the island’s defence ministry, marking a dramatic escalation in tensions across the Taiwan Strait.
The irony.
The journalist who many would say led the smears against Jeremy Corbyn, praises Biden as a very worthy leftist to be emulated
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/mar/26/joe-biden-left-parties-power-radical-winning
In almost a repeat of the the Scottish Socialist Party’s split caused by claims of who told lies, Salmond starts a new nationalist party – Alba – to stand in the proportional elections as list candidates.
A passing mention of the Africa’s Great Green Wall. But, of course, certainly no mention of Gaddafi’s Great Man-made River irrigation scheme.
The US pet industry generated $103.6 billion in annual sales, the industry’s highest figure to date.
$42 billion was spent on pet food and treats, representing a 9.7% increase from 2019. Another $22.1 billion was spent on supplies, live animals and over-the-counter medication, a 15.1% increase from 2019. Vet care and product sales also increased 7.2% to $31.4 billion.
American pets get more to eat and better health care than many of the worlds people.
The pet industry play pet-owners for fools.
Biden wants to keep sales of armed drones to countries whose human rights records are under scrutiny in the United States and elsewhere, sources familiar with the discussion have told the Reuters.
Keeping the policy holds the door open for hundreds of millions and eventually billions of dollars in US sales to governments in Taiwan, India, Morocco, and the United Arab Emirates that in the past have been prohibited from buying them.
Meanwhile
Biden administration is looking to keep US troops in Afghanistan past a May 1 deadline while exploring a deal in which the Taliban would allow a US counterterrorism force to remain as they confront their common ISIL foes
India, the world’s third-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, needs to shed its dependence on coal…but not yet…
The government also sees private coal mining as a way to create jobs in an economy devastated by the pandemic. Mining projects will bring in new investments and boost socio-economic development in mining regions. The government began liberalization of the coal market last year.
US, UK, and the EU have been imposing sanctions upon individuals and now are targeting businesses controlled by the Tatmadaw
What we should now be wondering is after all the crocodile tears concerning the Rohingya persecution, why such action had never occurred already?
