Chinese leaders may think their biggest enemy is the United States but what’s most likely to bring China down is home grown. Ten years ago it cost him his job but that didn’t stop then Deputy Minister of the Environment, Pen Yue, from speaking to Der Spiegel about China’s environmental
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Accidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Stephen Marche discusses the Cons’ ongoing efforts to make Canada a more closed and ignorant country: Mr. Harper’s campaign for re-election has so far been utterly consistent with the personality trait that has defined his tenure as prime minister: his peculiar hatred for
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Madness of Mandarins
Yeah! Beijing has won the 2022 Winter Olympics. Yeah. The Olympic committee awarded the games to a city of 22-million with a water supply capable of supporting 12-million. Yeah. By the time the games open (if they can find/make snow), Beijing should be transformed into a new supercity of 130-million
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: China’s "Century of Humiliation" And Why It Matters.
I’m regularly astonished at the reaction I receive when I mention the militant nationalism flourishing within China’s military establishment, stoked by the perceived need to avenge what they call China’s “century of humiliation.” Few in the West have the slightest idea of how Britain and her allies suppressed the Chinese
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: About that "One Child" Rule?
China seems poised to breed itself out of a looming demographic problem. The most populous nation on Earth may scrap its old “one child” rule in favour of a “two child” limit for new families. Thirty-five years after enacting draconian birth control rules blamed for millions of forced abortions and
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: A Seismic Jolt That Most Won’t Even Notice
Just consider it the 21st century version of the “Great Game,” the superpower struggle to wrest control of South Asia. While it used to be a contest between Russia and Britain, today the players are Washington and Beijing. The latest round goes to China and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: China or Russia? Who is Boogyman Number One for the US
The concluding paragraphs from Michael Klare’s Essay on the Coming Cold War 2.0. “For those of us residing outside Washington, this choice may appear to have few immediate consequences. The defense budget will rise in either case; troops will, as now, be shuttled desperately around the hot spots of
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Juxtaposition
Sure, it might be tempting to say there’s no difference at all between this… The federal government touted a number of initiatives Wednesday for improving First Nations’ well-being but could not explain why a new report showed the prosperity gap between aboriginal and non-aboriginal people was widening in some cases.
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: The Four Books
For many centuries, the core of Chinese education was focused on four classical works from the Confucian school: The Analects, The Great Learning, The Mencius, and Maintaining Perfect Balance. This didn’t really change until the arrival of the West and the industrial era was forced onto China in the 19th century.
Continue readingSketchy Thoughts: Gender and Capitalism in China Today, a Discussion in Montreal
On May 7th, join us for a discussion of the role gender plays in workers’ exploitation and resistance in contemporary China, looking specifically at changes in the appearance of the oppression of female workers between the socialist period and the capitalist restoration, as well as issues facing migrant female workers under
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Generals are Talking – That’s Rarely a Good Thing.
The top brass is getting restive and they’re looking for a bit of mass mayhem. This might be news to you but Russia has an Academy of Geopolitical Problems. The president of the academy, Konstantin Sivkov, wears a uniform with the insignia of a three star general. Comrade Sivkov thinks
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: It’s Not For the Sake of Science.
China, the People’s Republic Whereof, wants to establish an Arctic research station in Tuktoyaktuk or Cambridge Bay, NWT. John Higginbotham, senior fellow at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs and the Centre for International Governance Innovation and Arctic policy expert, knows that China is eyeing the Arctic’s resource wealth,
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Whacking Iran – Maybe Sooner Than You Might Think – The Warmonger Digest, vol. 2
It’s reported that the Saudis have given Israel a green light to overfly Saudi Arabia should Netanyahu decide to launch an attack on Iran. Jerusalem and Riyadh do not have diplomatic ties, but unconfirmed reports have swirled for years of coordination between them against the common enemy of Iran, a
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Maroc–We Just Moved Several Meters Closer to the Edge of a Cosmic Abyss
Don Maroc We just moved several meters closer to the edge of a cosmic abyss and no one is calling for a time out. Last year the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China) quietly established the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) as a counterweight to the US/UK controlled International Monetary
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: China Tells U.S. to Back Off over Ukraine
The message was delivered by China’s ambassador to Belgium, Qu Xing, but it pretty obviously came straight from Beijing – back off Obama. Ambassador Qu went on to blame the conflict between Russia and Ukraine on ‘games’ played by the West, especially the United States. He said the “nature and
Continue readingThings Are Good: Under the Dome: A Documentary on China’s Pollution
The Chinese documentary Under the Dome (I can’t find english subtitles, sorry) has taken China by storm. The documentary was released on last week and is already changing the conversation about pollution in the country. This could mark a massive change in how China enforces their pollution laws and improves
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: ROCHON: Harper in closet over the economy as Canada heads toward another recession
This guest blog post has been written by Louis-Philippe Rochon. You can follow him on Twitter @Lprochon – Harper’s recent incarnation as an anti-terrorist crusader has caught many Canadians by surprise. Harper is spending considerable political energy beating the drums of war against terrorists, and introducing a far-reaching, and much
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Rochon Asks: “Is the Canadian economy unraveling?”
In a recent CBC blog post, Louis-Philippe Rochon assesses the current state of the Canadian economy. The link to the blog post is here. Follow him on Twitter @Lprochon.
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: We’ve Already Entered the Counter-Stealth Technology Era
It’ll be years before the over-priced, overdue and underperforming F-35, stealth light-attack bomber, ever shows up in Canadian air force hangars but already the supposed magic of stealth is losing its lustre to the evolution of counter-stealth technology. Ask yourself just what did we expect the countries obviously intended as
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Stephen Harper Sells Us Out To China. Again.
Well now it's official. Now you can call him comrade Harper. Or Great Yum Yum or Dumb Dumb Leader.Or just Mr Sellout.Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government quietly signed a customs-sharing agreement with China without announcing it to the public, Global News has learned. And the move has experts worried about
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