Cadence of Conflict: Asia, June 14, 2021

The snowball of worldwide hate toward China is past the growth knee. It was slow going, but now it’s gaining unstoppable momentum. China’s self-importance has reached embarrassing levels. G7 wants stability, introducing an alternative plan to China’s tightening Belt Road. The EU wants stability in the South Sea—rules agreed to and honored by all countries. Japan wants to back Taiwan by name in the written G7 agreement.

But, then China responds by saying that “small groups do not rule the world” and issued a statement: “We always believe that countries, big or small, strong or weak, poor or rich, are equals, and that world affairs should be handled through consultation by all countries.” That statement comes from China. Does that mean that China has reversed its position? Will China now agree with the EU for bilateral rules in the South Sea?

Essentially, China’s own propaganda is getting to a point of grotesque and overt self-indictment. More importantly, China doesn’t see the contradiction of its own statements. This is comparable to John Kerry’s famous remark “I voted for [it] before I voted against it.” You see, that actually made sense to Kerry. That’s the crazy world Washington politicians live in. And, apparently, China’s CCP lives in an even crazier world. And, the rest of the world isn’t just waking up to China’s craziness; the rest of the world is wide awake and on the march. It’s been growing slowly, but that global anger is moving faster and faster and is about to enter an all-out blitz.

Hungarians in Budapest are irate over construction plans for the Chinese Fudan University from Shanghai. The city of Budapest even renamed streets to “Dalai Lama Road” and “Free Hong Kong Road”. The Chinese embassy responded with its own propaganda again, but there is no sign that China’s anonymous words had more sway on Hungarians than China’s consistent actions. In fact, they didn’t have any sway at all. If anything, China only made Hungarians more angry.

China is entirely unaware of anything in the rest of the world. It’s histrionic. The CCP believes they only need censor information within their own borders, say what they want others to parrot, and then both public opinion and the past will automatically change throughout the rest of the world. They are in for a humiliating shock.

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Encore of Revival: America, June 18, 2018

The meeting between Kim and Trump has been twisted into a bet over Iran. Canada and Iran believe Obama’s Iran deal is the model. They are staking their reputations of knowing what kind of deals lead where in the fate of the Kim-Trump summit. The results will speak for themselves.

In the aftermath of Summit Kim-Trump, Trumpists see the glass as 3/4 full while while Anti-Trumpists see the glass as 3/4 empty. No sitting president has met with the leader of North Korea and received concessions. The Iran deal was arguably as bad as Anti-Trumpists claim Kim-Trump was, and Iran involved cash payments while Kim-Trump did not. The only conclusion we can draw is that people support whomever they already support, our favorites can do no wrong and our disfavored can do nothing right.

Now, Giuliani is calling for an investigation of the investigators. There used to be a department in the federal government that did that. It was called the FBI until Comey got involved. But, those days are behind us.

The US is polarizing, but the poles are also shifting.

Some LGBTQAYKXYZYTBA folk are moving to agree with the old Conservative position on the value of individual gun ownership. It will have a unifying effect in the United States and will ensure the eventual downfall of both the Republican and Democrat parties for having failed so miserably in their scripted prognoses of the American voter. With taxes being lower and the Federal Government making more revenue, Democrat-dependent myths about taxes are being exposed, but that doesn’t indicate a nation moving toward a Republican establishment.

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Encore of Revival: America, June 11, 2018

Reciprocal trade is the trend of everyone. Canada charges 270% tariffs on US dairy in the midst of the NAFTA “free trade” agreement, Trump threatens to charge other tariffs if trade isn’t even, and Trudeau objects to reciprocal tariffs and threatens them at the same summit. If the results were allowed to speak for themselves, it would be hard to know if anyone wants free trade or reciprocal tariffs or if people just want to argue. But, the results aren’t in yet. Until they are, we don’t know.

Trump left a G7 summit, wishing it were a G8 summit to include Russia, making it a G6 summit while he left for his own G2 summit in Singapore with Kim Jong-Un. Trump solidified the certainty of that summit by canceling it. Reciprocal trade will almost surely be on the shelf. The Western press can’t not speculate, especially with the old wives tale that investment is the primary source of economic stimulation—generally overlooking hard work, balancing free markets with regulation, and ingenuity.

The reason Russia is not at the G 7/8 summit is because it took back Crimea via referendum. Khrushchev gave Crimea to the Ukraine in 1954, which was a controversy all to its own. The Obama administration’s response was to alienate Russia. Russia’s main faux pas in the recovery of Crimea was flying its Russian flag over a government building taken by Russian soldiers prior to the referendum, but that received little attention. The West’s opinion at the time was largely limited to who should own what territory in Ukraine and Russia.

Amazon is listening and respecting the religious needs of its Muslim workers in the Twin Cities. Fasting is hot work and the Muslim immigrants need a cooler, slower-paced work environment during Ramadan. No word in the news, however, on reciprocal trade working conditions, such as whether Amazon has negotiated for disposable barbecue celebrations for Taoists on Chinese holidays or fish Friday for Catholics who have so generously immigrated to Muslim countries.

Talk show news punetdom is losing, in life, a lion of the mind, Charles Krauthammer. When the other talking heads from the Potomac beltway and NPR niggled over opinions of the press and heads of state, Krauthammer explained the three step process of delivering a nuclear weapon and where Kim Jong-Il had made progress within those steps. He resented terms like “Washington establishment” and also objected to Trump for fighting against an establishment he deemed mythical. He represented a sobering voice of reason and calm, disagreed with almost everyone about something, politely held to his own opinions, and remained courteous in discussion. He shared a letter within the past few days that cancer is ending his life and he has only weeks to live. The world of ideas and politics already misses him.

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