Journalist, pesky creatures they are, like to fact-check political speeches. CNN says Trump delivered a “doozy” at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington D.C. on Saturday, March 4, 2023 (see story here). By now, his M.O. is familiar: Portray America as a post-a[...]
Archive for the ‘China’ Category
March 5th, 2023 - 5:51 pm § in America, Biden, China, Democrats, Donald Trump, Economics, Europe, Foreign Affairs, Hypocrisy, News Media, Politics, Republicans, Russia
Fact-checking Trump’s CPAC lies
We still don’t know where Covid-19 came from
“An updated intelligence assessment about the origins of the Covid-19 virus has reopened the long-simmering and unsolved debate about how the virus came to be,” CNN reported on Monday, February 27, 2023 (read story here). “[T]he US Department of Energy’s Office of Intelligence an[...]
February 26th, 2023 - 5:03 am § in Biden, China, Donald Trump, Foreign Affairs, Politics, Republicans, Russia
Is Nikki Haley a serious presidential candidate?
Nikki Haley wants to be president for no better reason than she wants to be president. That’s more or less the media narrative, which has focused on her struggles to differentiate herself from other aspirants (see story here), beyond being a Republican who isn’t Trump (although she certa[...]
Will China down a U.S. “spy plane” over its “sovereign territory”?
Earlier this month the U.S. shot down a Chinese spy balloon after it crossed all of North America, lingering over military sites. It came down in U.S. territorial waters inside the 12-mile limit. On the other side of the world, the U.S. routinely conducts military flights over the South China Sea. S[...]
GOP plays politics with Chinese balloon
When Biden was briefed on Wednesday, he told the Pentagon to shoot it down “as soon as possible” (see story here). The military waited until it was over water, then promptly shot it down. The debris was “spread out over roughly seven miles” (see story here). That’s why [...]
Book review: “To Rule the Waves”
If you read only one book on global politics and strategy this year, make it this one. The author, Bruce D. Jones (bio here), has an academic background and has worked for the U.N., World Bank, and is currently at the Brookings Institution. He’s been a fellow at Stanford, Princeton, Yale, and [...]
What to expect from Covid in 2023
Covid 19 is still with us, and pretending it’s over is making Americans more vulnerable. (Read story here.) What to expect in the year ahead is summarized below: Covid-19 is still deadly The virus hasn’t gone away, and with Americans taking fewer precautions, relatively few getting boost[...]
Why China’s Covid-19 surge is different
The first thing you have to understand is that Covid-19 in China is very different from Covid-19 in the U.S. and other Western nations. It’s the same virus, and in China as elsewhere close proximity of people facilitates its spread. But it’s much harder to contain in the most populous an[...]
October 23rd, 2022 - 11:02 am § in China
Rabble rouser
“We want food, not PCR tests. We want freedom, not lockdowns. We want respect, not lies. We want reform, not a Cultural Revolution. We want a vote, not a leader. We want to be citizens, not slaves.” Young people. They always have unrealistic expectations. They’re against war, racism, wealt[...]