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February 10, 2025

China Urged To End Successful Policies

In a variant of the Sowing Doubt About China - But At What Cost? propaganda scheme, the New York Times makes the (somewhat racist) claim that China lacks the capability to turn talent into innovation:

What DeepSeek’s Success Says About China’s Ability to Nurture Talent (archived) - New York Times, Feb 10 2025

The subtitle reveals the core thesis:

China produces a vast number of STEM graduates, but it hasn’t been known for innovation. Cultural and political factors may help explain why.

In a globalized world the innovation ability of a country can be measured by the number of global patents it files.

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) provides data on these.


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China, which the NYT says is not known for innovation, is by far leading the pack.

Cont. reading: China Urged To End Successful Policies

Posted by b at 10:51 UTC | Comments (113)

February 09, 2025

Palestine Open Thread 2025-029

News & views related to the war in Palestine ...

Posted by b at 13:57 UTC | Comments (120)

Ukraine Open Thread 2025-028

News & views related to the war in Ukraine ...

Posted by b at 13:57 UTC | Comments (201)

The MoA Week In Review - OT 2025-027

Last week's posts on Moon of Alabama:

> Pinkas told host Allison Kaplan Sommer that the firestorm over Trump's desire to "own" and "take control" of Gaza and relocate its 2 million residents, overshadowed the fact that Netanyahu clearly failed in his attempt to convince the U.S. president to back out of the cease-fire and hostage release deal with Hamas.
...
"When you look at the reality sitcom that took place in the White House on Tuesday, was there any mention of Saudi normalization that you recalled? There wasn't," said Pinkas, "Was there any allusion to an attack on Iran? There wasn't. Was there any reference to Trump understanding that the Israelis need to completely annihilate Hamas after 16 months of not doing so? There wasn't." <

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Other issues:

Cont. reading: The MoA Week In Review - OT 2025-027

Posted by b at 13:53 UTC | Comments (145)

February 08, 2025

Mainstream Media Boost 'Independent' Media Which Depend On U.S. Assistance

What is the meaning of 'independent' in English language?

Cambridge Dictionary:

independent adjective (NOT INFLUENCED)
  • not influenced or controlled in any way by other people, events, or things

American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (5th Ed.) and others:

independent /ĭn″dĭ-pĕn′dənt/ adjective
  1. Not governed by a foreign power; self-governing.
  2. Free from the influence, guidance, or control of another or others; self-reliant.
    "an independent mind."
  3. Not determined or influenced by someone or something else; not contingent.
    "a decision independent of the outcome of the study."
  4. Affiliated with or loyal to no one political party or organization.
  5. Not dependent on or affiliated with a larger or controlling entity.
    "an independent food store; an independent film."
  6. Not relying on others for support, care, or funds; self-supporting.
  7. Providing or being sufficient income to enable one to live without working.
    "a person of independent means."

Following the recent revelations that many outlets and journalist are financed directly or indirectly by U.S. government organization like USAID or NED the mainstream media have set out to redefine the meaning of 'independent'.

'Independent' now seem to be anyone how gets his paycheck from the U.S. while producing reports or rumors designed to fit U.S. policy narratives.

Consider these recent reports:

From the first one:

Cont. reading: Mainstream Media Boost 'Independent' Media Which Depend On U.S. Assistance

Posted by b at 16:58 UTC | Comments (205)

February 07, 2025

Who Else Wants Access To Apple Users' Encrypted Data?

There is, for whatever reason, little online echo so far to this new Washington Post story:

U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts (archived)
Secret order requires blanket access to protected cloud backups around the world, which if implemented would undermine Apple’s privacy pledge to its users.

Security officials in the United Kingdom have demanded that Apple create a back door allowing them to retrieve all the content any Apple user worldwide has uploaded to the cloud, people familiar with the matter told The Washington Post.

The British government’s undisclosed order, issued last month, requires blanket capability to view fully encrypted material, not merely assistance in cracking a specific account, and has no known precedent in major democracies.

The sole story author, Joseph Menn, is stationed in San Francisco and 'specializing on hacking, privacy and surveillance.' The 'people familiar with the matter' who talk through Menn are likely from the same wider area, i.e. from Apple in Cupertino.

The British demand is of course outrageous and will not be followed. But I wonder why the Brits would even try to go this way.

We know thanks to Edward Snowden's revelations that the British signal intelligence agency GCHQ is a mere offshoot of the U.S. National Security Agency. It may thus be that the real people trying to get access to Apple users' encrypted archives are sitting on the west coast of the Atlantic.

Or is it request coming from other structures?

Cont. reading: Who Else Wants Access To Apple Users' Encrypted Data?

Posted by b at 16:32 UTC | Comments (191)

February 06, 2025

Palestine Open Thread 2025-026

News & views related to the war in Palestine ...

Posted by b at 14:28 UTC | Comments (264)

Ukraine - Intensity Of War Has Decreased

Over the last month the war in Ukraine has become less intense.

The number of daily losses on the Ukrainian side, as provided by the Russia Ministry of Defense, has decreased from an average 2,200 per day in early November 2024 to an average of 1,600 per day in late January 2025.


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Ukraine has acknowledged that the level of violence has decreased (edited machine translation):

Cont. reading: Ukraine - Intensity Of War Has Decreased

Posted by b at 14:19 UTC | Comments (349)

Open (Neither Ukraine Nor Palestine) Thread 2025-025

Department of State @StateDept - 0:36 UTC · Feb 6, 2025

U.S. government vessels can now transit the Panama Canal without charge fees, saving the U.S. government millions of dollars a year.

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Panama Canal authority denies changes to charge fees after US claim - Reuters - 4:30 UTC . Feb 6, 2025

PANAMA CITY, Feb 5 (Reuters) - The Panama Canal Authority said in a statement late on Wednesday that it had not made any changes to charges or rights to cross the canal, after the U.S. State Department said that U.S. government vessels could transit the crossing without being subject to such fees.

"With total responsibility, the Panama Canal Authority, as it has indicated, is willing to establish dialogue with relevant U.S. officials regarding the transit of wartime vessels from said country," the authority said.

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News & views not related to the wars in Ukraine and Palestine ...

Posted by b at 14:18 UTC | Comments (197)

February 05, 2025

Trump Wants To Take Over Gaza, Announces 500,000 Dead

The king of Israel (with a red alpha tie) visited his vassal state in America where real-estate developer Donald Trump (blue beta tie) pushed the chair for his leader and offered him to cleanse the Palestinian population from all land the Zionists desire to take.

Via AP:

President Donald Trump on Tuesday suggested that displaced Palestinians in Gaza be permanently resettled outside the war-torn territory and proposed the U.S. take “ownership” in redeveloping the area into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”
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The provocative comments came as talks are ramping up this week with the promise of surging humanitarian aid and reconstruction supplies to help the people of Gaza recover after more than 15 months of devastating conflict. Now Trump wants to push roughly 1.8 million people to leave the land they have called home and claim it for the U.S., perhaps with American troops.

“The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too,” Trump said at an evening news conference with Netanyahu by his side.

The internationally acknowledged Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics' count of the population of Gaza in 2023 was 2,226,544. Trump wants to remove all Palestinians from Gaza and gives their number as 1.7 or 1.8 million:

Reporter: How many people are you thinking need to leave Gaza?
Trump: “All of them. Probably a million seven, maybe a million eight. They’ll be settled in areas where they can live a beautiful life.” (video)

This is an acknowledgement, by the president of the United States, that the genocidal Zionists have murdered up to 500,000 people in Gaza.

Despite that toll few in Gaza would move voluntarily:

Cont. reading: Trump Wants To Take Over Gaza, Announces 500,000 Dead

Posted by b at 14:50 UTC | Comments (372)