Sun Wukong - The Great Sage, Equal of Heaven

23/01/2024

Anglo-America, long Israel’s staunchest ally and enabler, continues to play good cop to the genocidal Zionists’ bad cop.

The farce has become crystal clear after a few weeks of this cynical, murderous monkey-show.

Clearly, the Empire’s spinmeisters think the whole world is as dimwitted as they are.

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/britain-disappointed-by-netanyahus-stance-palestinian-statehood-2024-01-22/

23/01/2024

China has always been ready & willing to learn from the world, including the West. Their positive things, that is.

That has been the case since the nation’s leaders and thinkers realized in the late Qing Dynasty that they had fallen behind the West and Japan in the modernization enterprise -- to their devastating disadvantage.

If the West were ever a fraction as willing to reciprocate, the current, increasingly dangerous gulf separating the two likely wouldn’t exist.

“A science academy in Shenzhen is connecting talented students with top scientists, offering the researchers of tomorrow a rare learning opportunity outside China’s traditional education system…

“Students as young as 14 are challenged with questions, such as what should humans do on Mars, and encouraged to innovate as they seek answers. With guidance from scientist mentors at the last summer school, they undertook all manner of scientific study – proposing new ways to build unmanned aircraft, rovers and robots as well as soil sampling tools, constructing Mars bases using 3D printers, and creating food, energy and construction materials from microorganisms.”

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3248872/what-happens-chinas-x-institute-gifted-scientists-future

23/01/2024

This bald-pated scribbler, trained by echt-Sinophobic Reuters and Bloomberg in Beijing, is one among SCMP’s stable of Chinese 5th Columnists. He seldom wastes an opportunity to pander to Western tastes and subtly or blatantly denigrate his own motherland.

Here the columnist amplifies the Empire’s beloved doom-&-gloom narrative about China’s population decline. He clearly hasn’t considered how a slightly smaller population might actually be good for China, a global leader in AI and robotics that already has 1.4 billion people.

As is often the case, readers of the neocolonialist SCMP have more horse sense than its journos. A sampling of their comments:

• “C.C.: Reading the headlines of this write-up would make one think that armegeddon has hit China. And the write-up simply gave some data, says the government is not doing anything to increase birth-rates; and the solution is to give RMB1,000 to each couple with a new-born. (1) This write-up has nothing of substance, its headlines intentionally sensational and looks like it is intended to continue the agenda to put China is a bad light. (2) Dealing with a demographic situation is a long term initiative; not like a factory producing more goods. In Asia, South Korea, Japan, Singapore are facing the same problems and they are taking a long term approach to handle this; why would you expect China to be different?”

• “Stephen W.: This is not a time bomb. The whole world is ageing, mainly because people are living longer. With less people, the earth may survive a bit longer. There will be no shortage of labour if we waste less, produce less weapons and unessential material goods, and consume less. With more equitable distribution of wealth, higher pay for social workers, nurses, and workers, there will be a lot more workers looking after the aged. Technolies will help, so will sharing of resources. When people are not chasing materialism they will turn to a healthier lifestyle and help each other more.”

• “Nick B.: I don't agree with the author. If China wouldn't have had birth control it would have been a country like so many poor underdeveloped African and some middle American countries. Maybe one child policy was a bit draconian but famine was the alternative. China is in the same situation like all developed countries in the West and Japan, the Asian tigers like S.Korea, Taiwan.”

https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3249366/chinas-bleak-demographic-picture-calls-decisive-action-beijing

23/01/2024

Bubble, Bubble on the Wall (Street),
Who’s the Biggest of them All?

23/01/2024

For all the West’s sanctimony about reducing carbon footprints, the US military has a monstrous one that exceeds those of entire industrial nations.

Maintaining a globe-girdling empire of 800 bases is a dirty business.

23/01/2024

The question (headline below) is becoming increasingly relevant to a growing number of countries, at least in the Global South.

While the dollar will remain the de facto global reserve currency for some time, governments have become wary of Washington’s blatant abuse of its currency for political reasons.

That’s why many are looking to do business in other currencies or even by barter, especially with China -- the top trading partner for most of them.

The list includes Russia, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Iran and even Argentina, though new leader Milei has threatened to disrupt existing arrangements.

https://www.rt.com/business/590610-china-yuan-trade-settlements/

23/01/2024

This gets to the heart of the disquiet among US imperial elites over the increasing odds of a second Trump presidency.

They are worried about his inclination to pull back from Global American Empire -- and fear they would not be able to control him as easily as they did their like-minded partners in the Democratic Party.

Left high & dry would be not just the powerful domestic elements invested in wars abroad, but also the vassal chieftains so dedicated to war and conflict-mongering under the Biden regime.

That’s why they fear and loathe Trump.

“ • In the US, national defence and business interests have always driven policy outcomes

“ • After Trump’s victory in Iowa, the silence from those with the biggest stakes in Pax Americana should provoke disquiet”

In the US, national defence and business interests have always driven policy outcomes. After Trump’s victory in Iowa, the silence from those with the biggest stakes in Pax Americana should provoke disquiet.

23/01/2024

Once again, China goes where the US fears to tread.

Beijing has apparently developed a weapon that the Pentagon had put in the “too-hard” tray.

“Chinese naval scientists claim to have created a smart shell for kinetic energy weapons that could reshape the military landscape.

“This shell, propelled by a formidable electromagnetic gun, soars through the sky at a staggering speed of Mach 7. Throughout this dramatic process, it can stably receive signals from the BeiDou satellite navigation system and continuously adjust its flight path, maintaining an error of less than 15 metres (49 feet) until it hits its target…

“The concept of a ‘dream shell’ was first introduced by the US Navy in 2012 as a means to solidify its global dominance. The US military planned to develop and test-fire the shell within five years. But that deadline came and went… However, by 2021, the US military had given up on the electromagnetic gun programme, and there is no publicly available information on the fate of the GPS-guided shell project.”

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3249048/chinese-scientists-bring-us-navys-dream-bullet-life

23/01/2024

So far, Washington’s drive to crush Chinese tech with sanctions and boycotts have shown a clear trend. It is that while such moves cause some initial pain for the targeted firms, in the medium- to longer-term they hit the USA’s own standard-bearers much harder.

That’s because the American strictures only force the Chinese to develop domestically made alternatives to the US-related components and products they used to import, often en masse.

When such developments start to come on stream, Chinese tech continues to forge ahead. The Western suppliers, however, have lost China’s huge markets, often their biggest… and probably for good. The US boomerang completes its circle, with US and allied tech titans the biggest victims.

The article below is the latest installment of that epic saga.

https://www.rt.com/business/591068-huawei-abandon-android-harmony-os/

22/01/2024

"Root and Branch

"The central government’s comprehensive administrative authority is the root of the SAR government’s high degree of autonomy"

During the period of neocolonial sabotage by the Anglo-US Empire and its local political allies (1997-2020), Hong Kong SAR authorities would never have dared put out such a message in high-profile public places.

Otherwise, the “pro-democracy” thugs would unleash their brand of terror against the alleged infringement of Hong Kong’s autonomy and freedom of this or that under One Country, Two Systems.

The madness culminated in the Empire-backed Black Terror color revolution of 2019. It was defeated, bloodlessly, the following year after Beijing passed a National Security Law for the territory.

22/01/2024

For those worldwide who swallowed the US Empire’s multi-fronted, smear-China agitprop, here are some fact-based eye-openers from the past year.

The West-initiated decoupling & derisking is turning out significantly worse for the USA & Europe than for China. The Chinese are pulling ahead in virtually all the things that matter, including economy, scientific research, technology, health and environment. Highlights from the account below:

“We are decoupling from China and, a fortiori, from its technology, and from the 130 countries in its currency, trade and defense alliances. Highlights from 2023 suggest that we are far behind – and the gap is widening.

“ • In 2023, China’s economy grew by $1.6 trillion, more than the rest of the world’s combined – while the USA borrowed $3 trillion to fund $300 billion GDP growth. Real wages grew 4.7% and demographics will remain healthy through 2043…

“ • Young Science became the world’s #3 journal and is rapidly overtaking incumbent leaders Nature and Science. With a $228 billion corporate R&D budget, 3 million Chinese scientists applied for almost as many patents as the rest of the world combined, and utterly dominated the top 1% of most influential papers. Huawei’s R&D budget alone is larger than the US CHIPS and Science Act.

“ • Researchers there cured thalassemia, reversed autism and aging, provided Covid immunization with a dry powder aerosol, cured nasopharyngeal cancer, constipation, atherosclerosis and improved Alzheimer’s memory and functionality…

“ • Scientists created the first graphene semiconductor, while Betavolt began shipping an atomic energy battery that powers consumer devices for 99 years. Huawei mastered 7nm chip production (Intel still has not), replaced WiFi with 6x faster NearLink, took Apple’s #1 spot in the world’s largest market with a phone using 90% domestic components. Chinese chip foundries bought 62% of machinery equipment domestically this year, vs. 47% last year.”

The West falls further behind

22/01/2024

“Egypt is seriously considering the possibility of open conflict with Israel.”

In the highly combustible West Asia war front, Egypt could be a pivotal sleeper.

The strategic north African nation has always been a linchpin of the Arab world. But in the decades since its Camp David accords with Israel, Cairo is seen to have bent its principles to comply with the agendas of the Anglo-US Empire and its Zionist appendage.

In the latest conflagration over Palestine, the Egyptians have kept a low profile, limited largely to supplying humanitarian aid through their borer checkpoint at the southern end of the Gaza Strip.

But below the surface calm, things may not be what they seem. Here’s a report from Egypt-based Mediterranean Man, on Telegram:

⚡️🇵🇸🇪🇬 Lt. Col. Eli Dekel (ret.), former head of the field research branch in the IDF, on a recent interview on 103FM, had some interesting things to state, explaining the Egyptian interest in the current Gaza war and where it conflicts with Israeli interests. Here are the following interesting bits he had to state --

1) The Arab Republic of Egypt has a great interest in preserving the capabilities of Hamas in the Gaza Strip -- this is contrary to all diplomatic reports published by Israel and the U.S in where it states that Egypt wishes for the PLO to take over.

2) Egypt, in a strategy of attritional warfare, is willing to support any organization that is against Israel, including the PLO and Hamas and various other organizations, which has been taking place since 1956, and has never really ceased.

3) Egypt has no interest in developing the Gaza Strip beyond the capabilities of basic survival necessity without solving the Palestinian question. Even the former president of Egypt, Morsi, had no such intentions.

4) In the Lieutenant Colonel’s opinion, and based on his service as the head of an entire branch of the IDF which specialized in the studies of the capabilities of enemy forces and their culture, Egypt is seriously considering the possibility of open conflict with Israel.

5) Eli states that the Armed Forces of Egypt have started, over the last year, has dug over 60 bunkers, strategic reserves, ammunition dumps, fuel depots, and the likes, in Sinai and the west bank of the Suez Canal, the disposition of these installations and the closeness they have towards the Israeli border would insure a swift deployment of field armies, and for their resupply - Lt Col. Eli also states that Egypt has practically violated the remaining articles of Camp David by building the bunkers, fortresses, tunnels, and so on, and that the diplomatic wish-wash reports were simply made not to panic the Israeli population.

22/01/2024

This piece, by SCMP’s sole consistently sensible writer, is worth reading, for entertainment value.

“It’s that dreaded G-word again. Given the dangerous state of the world, but especially in Palestine, where do you think ‘the greatest persecution of Muslims at the hands of non-Muslims since at least the Yugoslav wars is taking place’? In the parallel universe of the US news media, it’s China, of course!…

“ ‘Silent’? ‘Guarded secret’? Seriously! Until recently, you couldn’t open a newspaper or a website from the Anglo-American media without reading about how Beijing was intent on wiping out the Uygurs. And if you tried to point out that their population was growing and that their birth rate far exceeded the dominant Han Chinese population, the critics said well, it was all about wiping out their culture and language.”

China is guilty by investing in infrastructure, providing free education … and forcing tourists to pay to enter Xinjiang’s most sacred mosque.

22/01/2024

Throughout Africa, the Chinese yuan has begun to make inroads into the dominance of the US dollar.

It’s early days yet, but a thousand-mile journey begins with a single step.

Another leap forward for the multipolar world.

“Sub-Saharan geoeconomic analyst Aly-Khan Satchu said a powerful tailwind was driving greater adoption of the yuan. ‘We are at a tipping point in Africa,’ he said, saying African countries that had borrowed in dollars were not only shut out of dollar capital markets but their debts had increased on a foreign exchange-adjusted basis.

“ ‘It makes perfect sense to trade in [the yuan] with your largest trading partner, which is China for most of the continent. So further adoption is a no-brainer’.”

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3249030/chinese-yuan-gives-us-dollar-run-its-money-african-trade-embraces-other-currencies

22/01/2024

This debate is now passé. Nor is there any need for surprise or fuss.

Those in the global Anglosphere need to adjust their thinking. They should forget their obsession with Western and foreign icons when it comes to China.

In the 21st century, the nation is blazing its own path. It is unique, unprecedented and a work in progress.

The bottom line: China’s new paradigm will combine Western inspirations and influences with core elements from Chinese tradition, grounded on Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism.

Thus it has been throughout the millennia-long evolution of Chinese civilization. So it will be, going forward.

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3249222/100-years-death-lenin-marked-silence-chinas-communist-party-why

22/01/2024

This will break the hearts of the West’s armies of voodoo artists assigned to bring down China’s economy with their endless incantations.

Reminder: China’s forecasters and statistics have a far better record IRL re the Chinese economy than anyone else.

“The world economic recovery is expected to remain slow and imbalanced in 2024, with China to continue to lead global growth, a report showed on Saturday. Analysts said China's GDP growth is expected to reach about 5 percent this year, calling for stepped-up fiscal policy to further tap the potential of domestic demand.

“ ‘Global economic growth will still be highly reliant on Asian economies in 2024,’ said a report released at the World Finance Forum (WFF) held in Beijing on Saturday. According to the report, the US GDP growth rate may decline to 1.5 percent this year, whereas that of the eurozone may rise to 0.9 percent.”

The world economic recovery is expected to remain slow and imbalanced in 2024, with China to continue to lead global growth with a GDP gain of 5 percent, a report showed on Saturday. Analysts said China’s GDP growth is expected to reach 5 percent this year, calling for stepped-up fiscal policy to ...

22/01/2024

The West bleats loudly about its attempts to decouple, derisk from China. In real life, much of its talk isn’t translating very successfully into walk.

Much more quietly, China is actually walking the walk. It is gradually insulating and cutting itself off from the cancerous, toxic West to develop self-sufficiency in critical fields. The account below focuses on just one of them.

In a backfiring bid to preserve its predatory domination, the Empire has chosen a lose-lose course in its response to the rise of China. It should not complain when the final results come in.

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3249241/china-enters-hi-tech-imaging-race-new-core-electron-microscope-semiconductor-industry

22/01/2024

21/01/2024

Forget the political wrangles and the strategic debates. Focus for a moment on the sheer human suffering now taking place throughout Ukraine, at least those parts still controlled by the puppet Zelensky regime.

Then the human horrors become all too real, too heart-rending, too terrifying, as the report below from the heart of darkness shows. A whole nation has been ruined -- destroyed for the sake of Western hegemony in the European theater. And in vain.

The Ukraine atrocities are surpassed only by those currently being inflicted by a genocidal Israel on Palestinians in Gaza.

These twin holocausts forever nail the US-driven West to humanity’s pillar of shame.

All the perpetrators and accomplices can never again be seen as anything like normal, human entities, at least not by the other 85% of the world.

“The war was for nothing – a travesty. The outcome always was, and is, clear. The people are hopeless, utterly destroyed, and living in an unending nightmare. They are pleading for an end, any end – most likely the same ‘peace’ that could have been achieved two years ago.

“In their minds, they have already lost, for their sons, fathers and husbands are gone, and their country has been destroyed. There is no ‘victory’ that can change that. Make no mistake, they are angry with Putin. But they are also angry with Zelensky and the West.

“They have lost everything, worst of all, hope and faith, and cannot comprehend why Zelensky wishes to continue the current trajectory, the one of human devastation.”

https://sonar21.com/a-plea-to-end-the-war-in-ukraine/

21/01/2024

The West’s sanctions tsunami was supposed to drown Russia’s economy, either quickly or gradually. Instead, it has swamped the EU economies.

The grinding war in Ukraine was meant to weaken Russia and attrit its military capabilities. Instead, the campaign has done precisely that to the US and its Eurovassals.

The drain, of course, has extended to US finances. Both American taxpayers and the Fed’s magical printers are coming under severe and still-growing stress.

What a way to run an Empire.

From Geopolitics Live, Telegram:

21/01/2024

Any weapons developments by nations in the free & independent world that would help keep them free & independent are to be welcomed.

The arms are needed to protect them from the relentless depredations of the Western Empire, which has proved its barbaric depravity beyond all doubt in recent years.

Without such means of self-defense － the only language the imperial honchos understand － the free countries are sitting ducks for vassalization and eventual ruination.

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3249217/iran-launches-satellite-part-western-criticised-programme-regional-tensions-spike

21/01/2024

Just last week, Xi Jinping announced that China plans to become a “financial superpower.”

The nation would build a financial ecosystem to parallel the existing global one dominated by the West, serving as a potential alternative to it. Importantly, the Chinese order would be based on the “real economy,” not financial “products” or other manipulations of fiat currencies (story under Comments, below).

Worldwide attention is growing to this latest game-changing Chinese venture.

“The yuan isn’t so much replacing the dollar as shifting the ground under the dollar’s feet. We’re headed toward something that is just now starting to coalesce. It will be more fragmented and less centralized. There will be more trade in local currencies, more diverse payment and settlement systems – and eventually financial and development institutions. Financial networks will be more closely aligned with trade flows and geopolitical alliances. There will likely be more central bank to central bank networks that cut out Western institutions and the dollar completely.

“It is in this beckoning world that the yuan is set to have its day.”

https://www.rt.com/business/590794-yuan-dollar-global-dominance/

21/01/2024

Does the USA control Israel -- or vice versa? Or are both under the sway of a putative Invisible Hand that Controls the World?

Each proposition has its passionate proponents. Will the ostensibly broadening differences between the Americans and Israelis in the current Palestine conflagration (story below) finally provide a clear answer? Or is the drama just a good-cop, bad-cop farce?

Most onlookers in the Global South don’t particularly care. They know one thing: both are core components of the militarist empire that’s been brutalizing and preying on the world for a century and counting.

Together, they are the deadliest threat the the multipolar world. Their defeat would be the greatest boon to all humanity.

https://www.rt.com/news/591010-biden-netanyahu-disagree-gaza-israel/

21/01/2024

The F-35 is the standard bearer of the US Air Force, pride & joy of the MIC. and a spearhead of the American Empire.

Is it also the greatest military clunker of all time?

Together with Boeing and its legendary mishaps, the plane is a perfect paragon of USA today: over-expensive, underperforming, even downright dysfunctional.

https://www.rt.com/news/591007-f35-flashlight-engine-destroyed-maintenance/

20/01/2024

Coordinating and powering technological advance.

This is what China means by its oft-cited “leadership of the Communist Party.”

It’s the means by which a competent state authority becomes involved in activities to make sure stakeholders work productively together -- not at cross purposes or against larger national interests.

The principle is also at the core of the “dictatorship of the proletariat.” That’s the exercise of power on behalf of the people and in their interests, a pledge the CPC has delivered on over many decades.

https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3249180/china-convenes-huawei-tencent-baidu-draft-metaverse-standards-bid-become-global-technology-leader

20/01/2024

Nobody outside the Philippines recognizes the “West Philippine Sea.” Most have never even heard of it.

The world recognizes the strategic body of water as the South China Sea.

So why is SCMP, based in Hong Kong, China and owned by Alibaba, recognizing the “West Philippine Sea”?

It’s the same salami-slicing tactic used by Empire-aligned media over decades to create the illusion that Taiwan is, and should be, a “country” that’s “independent” of China.

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3249147/marcos-plan-amend-philippine-constitution-china-deal-ploy-keep-his-family-power

20/01/2024

This reality is becoming increasingly obvious to alert onlookers: The US Empire is completely lost in today’s rapidly emerging multipolar world.

In response, the West is flailing about with growing desperation, (mis)guided by anachronistic worldviews from the 20th century and even earlier.

That makes the imperialists more dangerous, but it also hastens their already rapid demise.

From Col. Douglas Macgregor:

“The war in Ukraine is ending in catastrophic defeat for Ukraine and the United States.

“The war in the Middle East is just beginning, and it will not end when the Israeli State decides to stop fighting.

“Washington confronts a world it does not know or understand.

“The House Republicans’ recent ‘Plan for Victory in Ukraine’ exemplifies an acute lack of understanding.”

20/01/2024

Bravo Indonesia! The world’s 4th most populous nation has long been known as a moderate Muslim power.

The international community (the real one) needs to up the pressure on the Zionists’ colonial enterprise in West Asia until it is defeated.

Indonesia is set to challenge Israel's illegal occupation of Palestine at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in a separate case from the one initiated by South Africa.