Corona politics

Trust among Chinese citizens in their government is a record 91 percent, the highest seen in a decade. The result is even more striking compared to the U.S., where trust in government is at 39 percent. By Deborah Lehr October 24, 2022 Fraught U.S.-China relations will continue entering 2022. This year, leaders of both countries will be focused on domestic politics, the ongoing pandemic and uneven economic recoveries — challenges that have further added to existing bilateral tensions. Originally published at Edelman on January 18, 2022 It is an important political year in both countries. U.S. President Joe Biden is facing midterm elections with the Republicans likely to gain seats in the House and potentially the Senate, complicating his administration’s ability to implement its policy agenda. By contrast, China’s Xi Jinping is on the verge of assuming a third term as President and is strongly positioned to ensure that his...

Edward Curtin June 9, 2022 “Begin then with a fracture, a cesura, a rent; opening a crack in this fallen world, a shaft of light.” Norman O. Brown, Love’s Body Being sick for the past few weeks has had its advantages. It has forced me to take a break from writing since I could not concentrate enough to do so. It has gifted me with a deeper sympathy for the vast numbers of the seriously ill around the world, those suffering souls without succor except for desperate prayers for relief.  And it has allowed thoughts to think me as I relinquished all efforts at control for a few miserable weeks of “doing nothing” except napping, reading short paragraphs in books, watching some sports and a documentary, and being receptive to the light coming through the cracks in my consciousness. Originally published on Edward Curtins homepage here I suppose you could say that...

Photo by Jiyeon Park on Unsplash Edward Curtin May 19, 2022 Isn’t it always? With the start of World War III by the United States “declaring” war against Russia by its actions in Ukraine, we have entered a time when the end of time has become very possible. I am speaking of nuclear annihilation. I look down at my great-uncle’s gold Elgin pocket watch from the 19th century. His name was John Patrick Whalen, an Irish immigrant to the US who fled England’s colonialist created famine in Ireland. It tells me it is 5:15 PM on April 21, 2022, a date, coincidentally, with a history.  Originally published at Off-Guardian No doubt John looked at his watch on this date in 1898 when the United States, after the USS Maine exploded from within in Havana harbour (a possible false flag attack), declared war on Spain in order to confiscate Spanish territories – Cuba, Puerto Rico,...

By Baher Kamal December 25, 2021 MADRID, Dec 6 2021 (IPS) – ”All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” These words are a sound introduction to the transcendental issue of human rights and equalities, as stated by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The Declaration proclaims the “inalienable rights that everyone is entitled to as a human being – regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.” “All Human, All Equal” is the slogan for the 2021 Human Rights Day, marked 10 December. Its theme relates to equality: “The principles of equality and non-discrimination are at the heart of human rights.”According to the UN, “equality, inclusion and non-discrimination, in other words – a human rights-based approach to development  – is the best way to reduce inequalities and resume the path towards realising the 2030 Agenda” “Equality includes addressing...

This article is based on observations sent to me by an academic friend living in Italy who wants to be anonymous, given the views it expresses in this situation. The reason we publish it here with a few comments, videos and links is that it is obviously a very serious situation in and of itself but also an example of how democracy can quickly be undermined and how nonviolent demonstrations are squeezed out, framed as neo-Fascists and de-legitimated – as is the entire peace discourse in Western democracies (if we can still call them that). It’s an illustration of how far democratic governments seem ready to go in the direction of authoritarianism in the name of protecting their citizens – without giving those same citizens a chance to express themselves as part of the decision-making process. There is a huge risk that the fear of the pandemic is exploited to...

1. The World After the Corona. 2. How Militarism Fuels Climate Change.3. The Military-Industrial-Media-Academic Complex (MIMAC).4. China, the Belt & Road Initiative And the West. 5. The Balkans and the Purpose of NATO.6. Nuclearism, the Threat of Nuclear Weapons and What To Do. Fortunately, they are also open to anyone anywhere in the world. More about this unique, topical series on this link where you must also register to participate in the global discussion. The idea is that you watch the lecture below first and then participate in the discussion about it. You register on the above link. If you read this after the six Zoominars have taken place – just watch the lectures and discussion below. Under each video lecture below, find the discussion that took place with hundreds of people worldwide on Zoom and over 300 on Facebook Live. About the weapons in and of themselves, the existential...

Tom Fowdy May 11, 2021 Sinophobia is a fear or prejudice expressed towards China and its people. Similar to other varieties of racism, such as Islamophobia, Sinophobia embodies a series of beliefs and discourses that place emphasis on the apparent cultural inferiority and backwardness of “Chinese culture” to the western dynamic, which are used to argue that the “ways” of China pose an existential threat to the norms and values of a given society, or what was historically referred to as a “Yellow Peril”. The prejudice relies upon a series of cliches and representations regarding Chinese people and their way of life and in turn positions itself from a position of assumed western supremacy, of which owing to the legacy of colonialism treats China as “problem must be solved”. Originally posted on Tom Fowdy’s homepage, April 13, 2020 What is China? The answer is not a simple one, but for many people...

Photo credit: off-guardian.org Edward Curtin April 22 2021 The Incompetent, Negligent, Mishandling, Miscalculating Elite Blunderers You’ve heard of them, no doubt, the U.S. rulers who can’t rule too well and are always getting surprised by events or fed bad advice by their underlings.  Their “mistakes” are always well intentioned. They stumble into wars through faulty intelligence.  They drop the ball because of bureaucratic mix-ups. They miscalculate the perfidy of the elites whom allegedly they oppose while ushering them into the national coffers out of necessity since they are too big to fail.  They never see the storm coming, even as they create it.  Their incompetence is the retort to all those nut cases who conjure up conspiracy theories to explain their actions or lack thereof.  They are innocent.  Always innocent. Originally published by off-guardian.org They and their media mouthpieces offer Americans, who are most eager to accept, what Lutheran pastor and...

DNS/TFF Peace & Justice course from April to September 2021 starts now… Jan Oberg has been invited by the Denmark-based Necessary Teacher Training College (DNS) to introduce six topics that are then discussed at a one-hour Zoom session with people at the College. Fortunately, it is also open to anyone anywhere in the world. The main purpose of this first session is to discuss what to learn from the global corona crisis, what longterm impact it may have and how to envision what must be done when – as we hope – it will be over. In 27 minutes, Jan Oberg goes through 8 points for discussion of the post-Corona world – some of them healthily provocative and all meant to stimulate dialogue. Why? Because there will be a very different world after the pandemic and because the only thing we can be sure of is that there can be...

(Mahatma Gandhi, ph. Rajni Kothari, photo credit: Wall Street International) March 2, 2021 Ashish Kothari In a world that is increasingly torn by conflicts and crises of many kinds. On October 2, political and business and religious leaders in India and elsewhere remember Mahatma Gandhi, sing his praises, and pledge to live by the ideals he espoused. A day later, or perhaps the same evening, he is left behind as suddenly as he was remembered that morning. Worse, they get back to assassinating him and the ideals of non-violence, self-reliance, universal well-being, that he lived and died for. And yet it is worth asking: in this 151st birth anniversary month, does he still hold relevance in a world that is increasingly torn by conflicts and crises of many kinds? Originally published by Wall Street International Interestingly, over the last few years there appears to have been a rekindling of attention to...

February 15, 2021 By Mona Ali Khalil By all accounts, 2020 has been a terrible year so far — but is it worse than 1920? In 1920, World War I, which killed 16 million people, had just ended. The two-year influenza pandemic that followed killed 50 million more. In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic has already killed more than one million people and infected more than 40 million with infections surging worldwide. Originally published at Passblue With 20/20 hindsight, the 20th century was a terrible one. It heralded two world wars that together took more than 85 million lives. The collapse of the Ottoman Empire ushered in an era of British and French colonialism that led to deadly decolonization and national liberation battles in Latin America, Africa and Asia. It was a century of genocides — including the Holocaust in Europe — which was the worst and most remembered — as well...

(Photo credit: iai.tv) By Tom Engelhardt February 1, 2021 We’re now living in an age of opacity, as Rudy Giuliani pointed out in a courtroom recently. Here was the exchange: “‘In the plaintiffs’ counties, they were denied the opportunity to have an unobstructed observation and ensure opacity,’ Giuliani said. ‘I’m not quite sure I know what opacity means. It probably means you can see, right?’ “‘It means you can’t,’ said U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann. “‘Big words, your honor,’ Giuliani said.” Big words indeed! And he couldn’t have been more on the mark, whether he knew it or not. Thanks in part to him and to the president he’s represented so avidly, even as hair dye or mascara dripped down his face, we find ourselves in an era in which, to steal a biblical phrase from Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman, all of us see as if “through a glass darkly.” Originally published...