DNI Ratcliff - China Is Copying U.S. Plan To Create 'Kill-proof' Soldiers
The U.S. government likes to accuse adversaries of nefarious behavior or deeds.
It often turns out that such accusations have little base in reality except in that they describe stuff the U.S. is doing itself.
Here is a recent example:
China conducting biological tests to create super soldiers, US spy chief says
China has conducted testing on its army in the hope of creating biologically enhanced soldiers, according to the top intelligence official in the US.John Ratcliffe, who has served as Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence since May, made the claims in a newspaper editorial, where he warned that China “poses the greatest threat to America today”.
Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Ratcliffe said: “The intelligence is clear: Beijing intends to dominate the US and the rest of the planet economically, militarily and technologically. Many of China’s major public initiatives and prominent companies offer only a layer of camouflage to the activities of the Chinese Communist Party.”
Ratcliffe said China had gone to extraordinary lengths to achieve its goal.
“US intelligence shows that China has even conducted human testing on members of the People’s Liberation Army in hope of developing soldiers with biologically enhanced capabilities,” Ratcliffe wrote. “There are no ethical boundaries to Beijing’s pursuit of power.”
Does that mean that any country which hopes to develop soldiers with biologically enhanced capabilities intends to dominate the whole planet?
Then how about this:
Marion Sulzberger’s (1962) proposal was to create soldiers for the US military who had their own inbuilt, unseen, biomedical armor—what he termed Idiophylaxis—and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA 2007) Inner Armor program that was designed to create “kill-proof” US soldiers.
...
Enhancements intended to be embedded in the body of the soldier—“skin-in” enhancements—constitute the direct manipulation and militarization of the soldier’s own biology for military purposes. [..] skin-in projects such as Peak Soldier Performance and the Metabolically Dominant Soldier; attention-enhancing drugs like Modafinil designed to “enhance situational awareness” and prevent the “degradation of decision making”; trauma-blocking drugs like Propranolol, intended to block traumatic memories and possibly prevent PTSD; attempts to harness the “sleep-wake cycle” and keep soldiers alert and in combat for days on end; “power dreaming” as a way to care for PTSD; specially designed performance-enhancing foods; hyperhydration to reduce the logistics stress of carrying water into combat; and projects like Idiophylaxis and Inner Armor, concerned with mitigating environmental and disease threats to the soldier. All of these projects demonstrate the intensity of the military’s focus on the interior of the soldier.
...
DARPA’s twenty-first-century kill-proof soldier, with its unfair advantage of deathlessness, is a conception of the supersoldier as biomedical superhero, a conception of the soldier on a significantly different scale in terms of protective biotechnologies ..
The U.S. has tested mustard gas, LSD and the above mentioned drugs on its soldiers. Many of its soldiers take steroids to become more aggressive and stronger. Military pilots are regularly given amphetamines to stay alert on long mission. Pilots have even used that fact to defend themselves when they were accused of bombing the wrong target:
The US armed forces have dispensed amphetamines - ''go pills'' in military parlance, ''uppers'' in civilian slang - to pilots for decades, arguing that they are vital for keeping aviators alert on extended missions. But a ''friendly fire'' incident last April in Afghanistan has brought new scrutiny to the practice.Lawyers for Major Harry Schmidt and Major William Umbach, the two Illinois Air National Guard pilots facing court-martial for the April 17 bombing which left four Canadian soldiers dead, are questioning the safety of giving dextroamphetamine, or Dexedrine, to pilots.
When Ratcliff accused the Chinese what he really said is: “There are no ethical boundaries to OUR pursuit of power.”
Posted by b on December 4, 2020 at 17:43 UTC | Permalink
next page »China's science and tech accomplishments are really shinning at the moment--moon landing, rock collection, successful lift off and rendezvous; quantum computing breakthrough as reported by vk & Mao; and now this report telling about the finished construction of an "artificial sun" for fusion energy research. Nice picture of the machine although the details are sparse, nor is this China's first machine of this sort. When I muse about these developments, I think about all those STEM grads pouring out of Chinese universities annually and what machines they'll construct that will be first of their type ever.
Droid armies of the future; who will employ them first?
The US armed forces have dispensed amphetamines - ''go pills'' in military parlance, ''uppers'' in civilian slang - to pilots for decades, arguing that they are vital for keeping aviators alert on extended missions. But a ''friendly fire'' incident last April in Afghanistan has brought new scrutiny to the practice.
Right, can attest to someone with legal access to the drug giving one of the pills to an interested civilian, she stayed awake for something like 3 days.
Happily for all, she wasn't part of bomber crew, or a truck driver.
Posted by: Jay | Dec 4 2020 17:57 utc | 3
It's one thing to have the spy chief lie, but quite another for a major newspaper to print his lies with no attempt to uncover the truth. To compound their error, the WSJ (like the NY Times or WaPo) uses a click-bait headline, knowing that most people who see that headline will assume it is based on fact.
The COVID-19 crisis and the Trump election fraud allegations have demonstrated the danger of a media that no one trusts and a government that few people trust. We need to put a stop to this stenography to power and require our journalists to investigate claims and when there is no evidence, refuse to print them. #FreeAssange
Posted by: Charles | Dec 4 2020 18:02 utc | 4
Here is an article that looks at how recent actions by the United States Missile Defense Agency is creating a great deal of concern in both China and Russia:
http://viableopposition.blogspot.com/2020/11/americas-missile-defence-agency-is.html
Unfortunately, in the case of a nuclear exchange, there are no winners, only billions of overcooked human beings.
Posted by: Sally Snyder | Dec 4 2020 18:02 utc | 5
There really has been a blindness created in America about its projection of the social contract with global private finance at the core under the cover of freedom and democracy.
I continue to blame faith breathers who have not let humanity evolve social organization with a primacy of reason and logic over faith....and more specific, monotheistic faith that has at its core the killing of non-believers.
The real reason China is being vilified is because its government is totally secular and religious interference is not allowed. China is setting an example of how good government should support its people and making the West look like the barbarians they act like.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 4 2020 18:04 utc | 6
This "revelation" is simply one more piece in the long-term project of demonizing China in the American/Western mind. Whether or not the story is true, it is pure propaganda. The rulers of the United States must create or fabricate an enemy for the gullible masses to fear and hate. That has always been how tyrants gain acceptance from the people over whom they rule--by promising to protect them from the evil enemy that threatens their very existence. Not to mention the fact that having a perceived enemy justifies lavishing billions of dollars on military contractors and weapons producers. It's all a wicked charade.
Posted by: Rob | Dec 4 2020 18:05 utc | 7
Never mind the droids, this is remarkably similar to WEF Schwab's "reset" where a technological-human hybrid is to be created. Without the drugs, but via a genetic modifier vaccine.
IdioTphylaxis will never work until they get the present i systems to function properly. They need be fool-proof and not need ten-year olds to be the only ones to get them working correctly (to quote "oldHippie" yesterday).
One should never let soldiers out of the playpen on their own.
Posted by: Stonebird | Dec 4 2020 18:14 utc | 8
Looks like the Meng Wanzhou stitch up might finally be resolved, although the US Justice Dept expects her to "confess" first.
The recent round of court appearances went extremely poorly for the prosecution, so it seems Trudeau got the word that the extradition would likely be denied either in the spring or after an extended period of appeals. The spin will be a benevolent US DOJ deciding to not drown the witch in exchange for full penance. I don't think she'll agree to any of that, and will be freed regardless.
Posted by: jayc | Dec 4 2020 18:18 utc | 9
By now, most of the public in the "west" know that their governments lie to them in service of connected military/security/think tank complexes, that connected stenographers posing as journalists refine and promote propaganda ... and it seems not to matter. The propaganda still works. The enemy is painted red and the majority of the public duly hisses at the enemy du jour. Russia ... grrrr! China ... double grrrrr! There seems to be a lack of connection between recognition of lies and the acceptance of the message ... humans are strange.
And the dance goes on until it stops. As someone said, "things that can't go on forever, don't." Germany and France were the worst of enemies before they became the best of friends; but millions of dead lay between the former and the latter. On current trajectory, all it will take will be a miscalculation in the S China Sea or the Black Sea to set off war on a scale the world has never seen.
Posted by: Caliman | Dec 4 2020 18:23 utc | 10
In the wars of the near-future between AI connected swarms of robots, the role of humans is likely to be simply as a metric of success: dead humans will probably be a good way for the computers to tell who's winning ... that or mil/industrial corp share prices ...
Posted by: Caliman | Dec 4 2020 18:31 utc | 11
I was recently watching a YouTube video of Nazi use of Pervetin (which appears to be crystal meth, although I could be mistaken) to improve soldier performance. Of course I worked initially, though escalating doses would then be required and soldiers were useless during the crash that followed.
Pharmacological methods of "biological enhancement" will have such limitations. Steroids aren't particularly helpful since big bulky muscles will reduce endurance. And soldiers don't usually fight with swords and shields anymore.
On the other hand, I worry about what they may be doing with DNA manipulation. That could be scary.
Posted by: Lysander | Dec 4 2020 18:47 utc | 12
A world run by idiots. How much longer can it possibly survive?
Posted by: So | Dec 4 2020 19:03 utc | 13
IMO, this news deserves to be announced on this thread. There's a very important conference ongoing about Artificial Intelligence that I learned was happening from a rather odd source--The Kremlin. The only other coverage I found was this small item on RT and two small items by TASS, this one being more complete. Here are some of Putin's thoughts:
"Can machines stage an uprising? We all know and will definitely talk about this today: when we talk about powerful intelligence, and not just any artificial intelligence, this implies that these will be self-learning machines. This is the first point.
"Now the second point: are there any dangers or risks in this connection? Yes, there are. Everyone can see the role the internet plays in the life of the individual and all of humanity today. There are also risks there, but the internet must follow the same rules that have been used up to now. I am primarily referring to legal regulations as well as the moral and ethical standards that humanity has elaborated over millennia. Yes, the internet is a new sphere, a new type of activity, new systems, but they must be applied here on the same scale as in other fields.
"The same applies to artificial intelligence. It is up to each individual person how carefully he or she will use these opportunities. Just as it depends on them how they use nuclear energy or other achievements, including military ones. This is why I believe we should bear these risks in mind and think in advance of ways to neutralise them."
I've highlighted what Putin's said about AI in his other speeches and interviews, and this is his most candid expression about its threats. I hope more of the conference's content becomes available soon.
@12 Lysander - There is a great book I read a couple of years ago about Pervetin and the Nazis. Here is a link to it's review on Goodreads. Blitzed
Crazy story. Adds a new layer of meaning to "war on drugs."
Posted by: lex talionis | Dec 4 2020 19:20 utc | 15
Biden's B*ches are blaring daily: "Build Back Better!".
Meanwhile China quietly Builds Forward Best.
Posted by: bjd | Dec 4 2020 19:37 utc | 16
We probably don't need to guess too hard or for too long about the implications of giving soldiers drugs, hormones and other substances designed to improve or extend their performance or disrupt their circadian rhythms. The people who fought with ISIS, Jabhat al Nusra and its variants and other jihadi groups in Syria during the West's attempts to overthrow the Syrian government (2011 onwards) were given drugs like Captogon to improve their fighting capabilities. Several of these drugs were surely designed to enhance alertness and other desired states of mind, and to reduce fear and reluctance to kill; they would also likely have severe psychological side effects. The atrocities committed by these groups, such as beheading victims, cannibalising body parts and their extreme violence and psychopathy, must be due in large part to the drugs they were given. The cynical attitude of the nations that funded these groups - nations such as the KSA and Qatar, where the dominant religion forbids consumption of intoxicating substances like alcohol that befuddle the mind and impair judgement - is to be noted.
And when these soldiers come home with their various addictions, they either become a strain on healthcare services already reeling from cutbacks or other problems, or they join the police force or the private security industry and become a menace in those contexts.
Posted by: Jen | Dec 4 2020 19:41 utc | 17
USA ALWAYS blames and accuses others of what exactly it is doing. Thats a given.
USA citizens are very aware how their corporate Owned Media is constantly lying to them, yet they are very selective what they believe are lies and what is truth. The US citizens can hold 2 contradictory believes at the same time: they believe the media is lying to them about trump, but its telling them the truth about China and Islam.
You simple cannot reason with these idiots but then again, they are simply scared shitless of China and its rise. But MOST of so called Western world is scared shitless of China; they can feel their 500+ years grip on the world slipping away; anybody would be terrified. And they have a reason to.
As for self aware AI, Masamune Shirow, the author of Ghost in the Shell said it best: "an intelligent AI will simply be a mirror of Humainity."
no wonder Humanity is terrified of AI; it hold a mirror to Humanity, showing humanity what a piece of shit it is.
Posted by: Hoyeru | Dec 4 2020 20:10 utc | 18
b fails to note (once again) that mRNA technology is funded by US Military (DARPA).
Moderna failed to disclose federal funding for vaccine patent applications, advocates say
An advocacy group has asked the Department of Defense to investigate what it called “an apparent failure” by Moderna (MRNA) to disclose millions of dollars in awards received from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in patent applications the company filed for vaccines.In a letter to the agency, Knowledge Ecology International explained that a review of dozens of patent applications found the company received approximately $20 million from the federal government in grants several years ago and the funds “likely” led to the creation of its vaccine technology. This was used to develop vaccines to combat different viruses, such as Zika and, later, the virus that causes Covid-19.
One particular patent assigned to Moderna concerns methods and compositions that can be used specifically against coronaviruses, including COVID-19. The patent names a Moderna scientist and a former Moderna scientist as inventors, both of which acknowledged performing work under the DARPA awards in two academic papers, according to the report by the advocacy group.
The group examined the 126 patents assigned to Moderna or ModernaTx as well as 154 patent applications. “Despite the evidence that multiple inventions were conceived in the course of research supported by the DARPA awards, not a single one of the patents or applications assigned to Moderna disclose U.S. federal government funding,” the report stated.
DARPA Awards Moderna up to $56 Million to Enable Small-Scale, Rapid Mobile Manufacturing of Nucleic Acid Vaccines and Therapeutics
“We are pleased to continue our collaboration with DARPA with a new award and we look forward to building on our experience rapidly designing and manufacturing vaccines as demonstrated with mRNA-1273, our COVID-19 vaccine currently in a Phase 3 study ...
<> <> <> <> <> <> <>
Note: From my comment @Nov27 15:40 #28 for the post: The Vaccine Competition Will Be Ruthless
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Dec 4 2020 20:35 utc | 19
"Hollywood" should share the blame for the crapification and infantilising of American minds. All that SuperHero and Universal Soldier tosh helps soften up feeble minds and creates a ready market for addiction to violent computer games. Living The Dream?
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Dec 4 2020 21:06 utc | 20
I'm wondering how the home-grown US Survivalists/ gun nuts are interpreting DNI Ratcliff's pronouncement? Do they think he's the coolest dude in the room, or do they think he's just another fruitcake accelerating AmeriKKKa's Decline and Fall?
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Dec 4 2020 21:25 utc | 21
thanks b... the issue of stimulants - drugs as mentioned by @ 12 lysander, or @ 17 jen, or AI as @ 14 karlof1 draws attention to, or seems to fit into this same umbrella of concern over the use of biological weapon either on the target, or on the soldier to enhance the chances of maintaining power and dominance.... these military planners are real sick freaks if you ask me and unfortunately they seem to have access to huge sums of money ( yes @ psychohistorian - when will this end?) where they continue on with the madness... when does the planet say enough is enough? is that what climate change is about? i think so...
if i could just make 1 simple comment.. when does this insanity end? as you note what radcliff really said was “There are no ethical boundaries to OUR pursuit of power.” indeed... a lot of sick puppies in position of power trying to impose their delusions on the great majority of us..
most gov'ts are run by mental midgits with no vision or concept for the future.. they are just trying to save their own ass and have no vision or insight other then their materialistic self-centered needs being met...
Posted by: james | Dec 4 2020 21:27 utc | 22
Go pills were standard for the US troops sent to Panama to capture Noriega.
The resulting mass murder in the Panama City barrios was a by-product of the juiced psyches.
Massacres on drugs occurred in Vietnam, prior. And subsequent Go pill use is very common in the US mil operations.
Captagon was a staple for ISIS and AQ fighters in Syria and Iraq.
The Chinese, if they are heading in this chemical direction, are late to the game. Blowing horns and waving flags is nowhere near as effective as amphetamines.
Posted by: Red Ryder | Dec 4 2020 21:34 utc | 23
My money is on China making Generals who can win and close wars rather than ones who use bombs to ransack a regime while the corporate pirates pillage. Zombie soldiers are good because they can never lead a coup. Wonder will they have to be paid? There is one perk to robosoldiers: dreamers are no longer needed to fill the ranks of the military. Seriously watch how that angle plays out if said soldiers are created.
Posted by: Old and Grumpy | Dec 4 2020 21:36 utc | 24
"Biden's B*ches are blaring daily: "Build Back Better!". bjd@16
And, not coincidentally, so are Boris Johnson's Tories. Which may be a hint that the popular choice among American 'Progressives' is just, like BoJo, a watered down Trump/Tory.
As to China: it is not Chinese aggression that the Pentagon fears but its absence. China is ready to defend itself but its plan to "conquer" the world is a very old one-the Honey works better than Vinegar strategy.
The Chinese plan is plain for all to see, in the BRI and its massive, unconditional overseas investments.
The US knows that there is only one field in which it can hope to compete- that of conventional military might, a spectrum that runs all the way from militarising Uighur nationalism and sponsoring 'democracy' in Hong Kong, after almost two centuries in which the local compradors resisted anything smelling of popular demands, through to ISIS like militias let loose on targets of US ire, to economic warfare to the sort of displays, that amused soldiers everywhere, in Grenada, Panama, Kuwait, Afghanistan and ( with tens of thousands of troops from the satraps) Iraq.
As to nuclear war, that is the only area in which China might be at risk. And it has known that since 1949. The signs are that there too US dreams of superiority have ended.
All that remains is for the American people to claim the biggest jackpot in history- the trillion plus annual 'Defense' and Secret Police budget and spend it on their kids, their grandparents, themselves.
The weird notion that war is inevitable and that Great Powers always clash is based entirely on the history of western Europe and its neo-Viking raids since the sixteenth century. In fact every sign and indication is that wars have become unprofitable and destructive of both sides while the imperatives of humanity recognising its commonality and charting a peaceful and sustainable future are overwhelming.
As to amphetamines they are an apt metaphor- first there is a short sharp increase of energy, accompanied by loss of appetite and followed by a descent into suffering.
Posted by: bevin | Dec 4 2020 22:07 utc | 25
Old and Grumpy @24 says: "My money is on China making Generals who can win and close wars rather than ones who use bombs to ransack a regime while the corporate pirates pillage."
I would change the sentence to: "... Generals who can deter wars rather...".
Over 2,000 years ago, Sun Tzu, a master war strategist himself, already counselled that failure to prevent war was a failure of the leadership of a nation. Chinese leaders understand this very well today. I believe a strong and stable China would be good for the peace and welfare of the world.
Posted by: d dan | Dec 4 2020 22:14 utc | 27
Hoarsewhisperer @20--
First came the various True Crime/Police Gazette type PennyPress tabloids published in the late 19th century, a type still in existence. Those were followed by Comic Books and other magazines that serialized fiction. Those greatly expanded after WW2--my favorite was Sgt. Rock in the early 1960s. Oh, and we can't forget radio and its many serials, The Lone Ranger for example debuted in 1933, and who can forget Buck Rogers. But the first comic book was published in 1837 in Switzerland. It seems the twisting of people's minds in the modern era began with the spread of education aimed at the general public as modern printing and increasing literacy created the means and audience. Of course, deliberate lying and provision of misleading information aimed at the public began as soon as the first Joint Stock Companies came into existence to promote Plantation as Hakluyt termed the invasion of North America. I recall Jefferson and others referring to Stock-jobbers and Lobbyists as the most untrustworthy of people.
China's good week–Meng, Tokamak, moon–got boost from our side: the CDC says we had Covid-19 circulating in mid-December, 2019, before the Chinese discovered it in Wuhan.
The CDC found Covid-19 in the US before it was in China, agreeing with findings in Italy and France. Tests of blood samples taken in the US from December 13 last year revealed evidence of antibodies for the Covid-19 virus. The samples were taken more than two weeks before the December 31 official confirmation of the outbreak in Wuhan and a month earlier than the first confirmed case of Covid-19 in the US on January 19.https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3112160/american-study-finds-signs-coronavirus-us-china-outbreak
The SARS-CoV-2 virus did not originate in Wuhan, said top German virologist Prof. Alexander Kekulé. "The strain which is currently circulating around the world originated in Northern Italy”.
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-11-28/SARS-CoV-2-did-not-originate-in-Wuhan-says-top-German-virologist-VMDRIkDU3u/index.html
Posted by: Godfree Roberts | Dec 4 2020 22:57 utc | 29
Posted by: Stonebird | Dec 4 2020 18:14 utc | 8 -- "One should never let soldiers out of the playpen on their own."
Yes. Just ask Mongrel Morrison, whose 'special forces' slit the throats of 2 Afghan boys on suspicion of walking while brown, hid them into bags thrown into a river. That plus killing 37 other unarmed civvies, even shooting them while they were running away. And that is what their investigation report could prove.
To Canada's credit, a defense minister closed down his 'special forces' when they killed a 16 year-old Somalian. Mongrel Morison oughta do likewise to his special idiots, but Mongrel he got no balls to face his handlers.
Question: Does anybody know if Canada still have a special forces mob? Or do they have one that nobody knows of? Hmmmm.......
Meanwhile, back to the Great Satan, their special forces are already 'kill-proof' because the rot starts from the top. Witness Obama saying, "... errrrr, it became necessary to drone them in order to save them from a life of evil and hate....", or sumthin' like that.
Posted by: kiwiklown | Dec 4 2020 23:11 utc | 30
bevin @Dec4 22:07 #25
Must take issue with a few points.
... it is not Chinese aggression that the Pentagon fears but its absence.
The Pentagon doesn't fear that. They have been know to work around such inconveniences (e.g. 'false-flags').=
China is ready to defend itself but its plan to "conquer" the world is a very old one-the Honey works better than Vinegar strategy. The Chinese plan is plain for all to see, in the BRI and its massive, unconditional overseas investments.
Yes.
=
The US knows that there is only one field in which it can hope to compete- that of conventional military might ... As to nuclear war, that is the only area in which China might be at risk. And it has known that since 1949. The signs are that there too US dreams of superiority have ended.
No. USA is modernizing it's nuclear weapons with 'dial-a-yield' capability and has tested hyper-sonic missiles. They are also make a big push to militarize space. And US biological and chemical warfare research continues apace. mRNA tech is funded by DARPA.
Many people are deluded into thinking that so-called 'Western Democracies' would never employ such weapons - only their enemies would do so. But as Jen, karlof1, and others have described, Westerners have not been shy about 'first use' in the past.
=
All that remains is for the American people to claim the biggest jackpot in history- the trillion plus annual 'Defense' and Secret Police budget and spend it on their kids, their grandparents, themselves.
Yes. But how to we get there?
I have continually pushed for democratic reforms as the best way to secure a peaceful and prosperous future. Others champion a quixotic socialist revolution - an effort that the establishment has found easy to neuter with partisan divisiveness.
=
The weird notion that war is inevitable and that Great Powers always clash is based entirely on the history of western Europe and its neo-Viking raids since the sixteenth century.
Not true:
- 16 'Traps' have been identified;
- 4 of the 16 identified 'Traps' did not result in the established power attacking the rising power (though, in at least two of these, it was the rising power was the first to strike!)
It is understood that great care must be taken to avoid war when in a 'Trap'.
=
In fact every sign and indication is that wars have become unprofitable and destructive of both sides while the imperatives of humanity recognizing its commonality and charting a peaceful and sustainable future are overwhelming.
This hopefulness comes with a big catch:
- war is actually profitable to many powerful people in the establishment - and by extension to their assorted cronies, lackeys, and hangers-on;
- anti-war imperatives are not recognized by Deep State Empire managers and their decision-making is further afflicted by hubris and group-think;
- most of the population have lost their senses via incessant propaganda and toxic partisanship.
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Dec 4 2020 23:31 utc | 31
The U.S. government likes to accuse adversaries of nefarious behavior or deeds. It often turns out that such accusations have little base in reality except in that they describe stuff the U.S. is doing itself.
Gee, I wonder where that behavior came from.
kiwiklown | Dec 4 2020 23:11 utc | 29:
They're called JTF2. It used to be called JTF until some kind of scandal years ago. I guess the politicians thought renaming them was convincing enough to their constituents that the unit was disbanded.
Posted by: Ian2 | Dec 4 2020 23:33 utc | 32
The silliest aspect of Ratcliff's fairytale is that if US Intel Agencies had stumbled upon/ tripped over a useful Top Secret Chinese Strategic Fact, they'd STFU...
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Dec 4 2020 23:41 utc | 33
@ jackrabbit 30
The U.S.A. is testing Hypersonic missiles. I wouldn’t bet against the Russians that research into their 2nd generatoin of Hypersonic weaponry is well underway.
Russia has also modernized it’s nuclear weapons. I doubt if dial a blast is only a U.S. option.
China and Russia are very advanced in Plasma physics. You’ve heard of the Russian torpedo that uses cavitation to move at great rates of knots under the sea. Well Plasmas allows for a similar effect in the air...
Posted by: Beibdnn | Dec 5 2020 0:12 utc | 34
Posted by: jayc | Dec 4 2020 18:18 utc | 9 -- ".... it seems Trudeau got the word that the extradition would likely be denied...."
US dogs of war are ALREADY kill-proof.
Just look at useful 'soldiers' like Trudeau. When one pretty boy outlives his usefulness, another idiot turns up to Make America Grate Again. All in furtherance of US war-making on The Rest Of The World.
Other kill-proof dogs of war can be found in far away KiwiLand too. There is John Keys, who allowed his nation's justice system to be abused to 'arrest' Kim Dotcom on behalf of the Evil Empire. After pony-tail-pulling John Keys comes the next useful idiot, Arden. Don't know what she is pulling, but she is proof that US soldiers, at least in the political theatre of war, are kill-proof.
Yet another kill-proof string of US soldiers is currently showing in a theatre near us. Mongrel Morrison is "standing up for Western values" against Chinese cartoons while not standing up for 39 Afghans murdered in cold blood by his 'special forces'. Before Mongrel was a string of idiots with forgettable names. After Mongrel will be another string of such.
Kill-proof soldiers. LOL.
Posted by: kiwiklown | Dec 5 2020 0:24 utc | 35
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 4 2020 19:12 utc | 14
As is usual to expect of you, karlof1, what an excellent tip off !!!
Putin's words on AI and future warfare illustrate a huge intellect, honesty, integrity. Also, a firm grasp on reality.
You are not simply preaching to the choir, but pointing us to new music of the spheres!
A huge thanks to you, karlof1.
Posted by: kiwiklown | Dec 5 2020 0:45 utc | 36
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Dec 4 2020 23:31 utc | 30
No. USA is modernizing it's nuclear weapons with 'dial-a-yield' capability and has tested hyper-sonic missiles.
This 'dial a yield' capability is immensely useless since both Russia and China would respond to a nuclear attack on their territory with a full scale nuclear strike on the originator. Russia at least has clearly stated their intended response to use of low yield nuclear weapons.
Use of low yield nuclear weapons on non-nuclear states will result in massive blowback against the US. It will open up the supply and proliferation of low yield nukes to smaller countries by those capable of manufacturing them (Pak. NK. Russia. China. Iran).
Pandoras box ...
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Dec 5 2020 1:04 utc | 37
B, I love your work, but I really don't understand your (seemingly) reflexive defence of the Chinese autocrats.
Yes, the Anglo-American empire is bad. But so is the Chinese regime, and given half the chance they'll be as bad or worse. They already treat their own people worse than the yanks do; God help any non-Han they rule over.
Posted by: Observer | Dec 5 2020 1:32 utc | 38
Re 25, 30, 36:
Variable yield weapons have been around for some time in the B61 weapons. What is new are the Low-Yield D-5 Warheads that are currently being deployed on US Trident subs. These warheads reportedly have an explosive equivalent power of 5 kilotons of TNT (5000 tons of TNT).
These "low-yield" warheads (no such thing as a "small" nuclear detonation) are described as having a capability to “help counter any mistaken perception of an exploitable ‘gap’ in U.S. regional deterrence capabilities,” a reference to Russia. The justification voiced by the administration was that the United States did not have a “prompt” and useable nuclear capability that could counter – and thus deter – Russian use of its own tactical nuclear capabilities.
These warheads are described as having less "collateral damage" against civilian populations and thus are more "useable". Only an utter fool would consider using them . . . but there appears to be some neocon fools who think they can "win" a nuclear war with Russia or China.
Posted by: Perimetr | Dec 5 2020 1:42 utc | 39
ALL WARS ARE ABOUT RESOURCES. Full stop!
Preparing to fight some war is really code for angling on being at the front of the line to haul out the treasure (always natural resources).
Religion/ideology and history are always used to create the propaganda used to sell the wars to the masses (who can be kept blissfully ignorant of the realities if there are enough resources present for them).
Second fun FACT which is essential in properly understanding how things work:
PERPETUAL GROWTH ON A FINITE PLANET IS _NOT_ POSSIBLE.
As long as our economic system is based on growth there WILL be wars. And, the economic system is really that of rationing resources; even IF the growth aspect is removed there's population growth, resource demand growth -> WAR.
Posted by: Seer | Dec 5 2020 1:50 utc | 40
Please reference black site biolabs.
All biological organisms on the surface of this planet have been subjected to 'experimentation' by one element or other, of one country or other, for quite some time now (since there has been such a thing as labs capable of such).
China is setting an example of how good government should support its people and making the West look like the barbarians they act like.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 4 2020 18:04 utc | 6
---
yeah, let's just ignore completely, that like our evil corrupt coprorate-whore govts in the west, the chinese are blasting fullsteam ahead on engineering full spectrum surveillance in order to tightly control every single aspect of the lives of their citizen slaves.
In thos respect they are definitely ahead of the West.
Somehow, when China does it it's laudable, but when our own govts do it, it's suddenly barbaric.
China Uber Alles!!
Posted by: Triden | Dec 5 2020 1:57 utc | 43
I've highlighted what Putin's said about AI in his other speeches and interviews, and this is his most candid expression about its threats. I hope more of the conference's content becomes available soon.
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 4 2020 19:12 utc | 14
Interesting that Putin is talking about AI. I am coincidently reading the book by James Barrat regarding AI called Our Final Invention- Artificial intelligence and the end of the human era.
This book has been very informative regarding the dangers that surround AGI/ASI and how people/countries are in such a race to develop AI that the discussion about doing it safely get left by the wayside..Being first is all that apparently matters..
I am glad Putin is bringing attention to this important issue..
Posted by: Deimetri | Dec 5 2020 2:09 utc | 44
Posted by: Hoyeru | Dec 4 2020 20:10 utc | 18 -- "The US citizens can hold 2 contradictory believes at the same time: they believe the media is lying to them about trump, but its telling them the truth about China and Islam."
I see. That explains some of the rubbish that some of these citizens of the most exceptional nation spew here. Intellectual dishonesty of the most corrosive kind. Damaging to others, but mostly, to themselves.
"But MOST of so called Western world is scared shitless of China; they can feel their 500+ years grip on the world slipping away; anybody would be terrified. And they have a reason to."
Could that reason be a guilt complex? that they raped China so brutally? 500 years of the "universality" of "western values"?
When I see a better market place in the next town, I go there to shop. I do not call the townsfolk there a threat. Nor do I go and 'contain' those townsfolk. My town benefits when another town does things better.
Why must history's most exceptional indispensable nation 'contain' every other people group?
Posted by: kiwiklown | Dec 5 2020 2:45 utc | 45
A vet friend told me in nam they had him lobbing every last shell at the woods to keep the budget up for next year. Someone over needs to hear that they need to keep up with the times, and here for that matter. Apparently the security that a military offers against reciprocating age-old anymosities; wether that be a pretext for seizure of foreign resources or not, is not enough to keep the ball rolling. Better safe than sorry they say.
Posted by: Zach Waddill | Dec 5 2020 2:58 utc | 46
Posted by: james | Dec 4 2020 21:27 utc | 22 -- ".... most gov'ts are run by mental midgits with no vision or concept for the future.. they are just trying to save their own ass and have no vision or insight other then their materialistic self-centered needs being met..."
Yes, most WESTERN governments, and yes, some other governments. I live in a Western country where gurmint idiots rule unchecked, saying "nyet", then going back to the porn on their coputer screens. It's good job you don't ever wanna lose.
When you pay a man to produce a colour revolution, he will produce one. When you pay a man to produce a 'secret dossier', he will. When you pay a man to lie, he will. Look at Brennan. Look at Pompous. Look at Obama. Look at Biden, still going at it with one foot in his grave. Look at Kamala, barely hiding a chuckle even when she glares at the camera in pretended seriousness.
Posted by: kiwiklown | Dec 5 2020 3:06 utc | 47
@ Triden | Dec 5 2020 1:57 utc | 42 who wrote
"
Somehow, when China does it it's laudable, but when our own govts do it, it's suddenly barbaric.
"
You are new to the bar, welcome.
I am the MoA one note samba decrying the global private finance elite in favor of public finance. I do happen to believe that having some cult of folks, we don't even know who they are, in control of the tools of economic interchange is barbaric.
In case you haven't been here long I continue to posit that humanity is in a civilization war about private/public finance with China as the face of the public side and the US (with the City of London corp linked) as the private side.
I support (civilized) public banking and the elimination of (barbaric) private banking.
And about your BS claim of China having worse intrusion into your private life, let me provide you a personal story....In 2004 I received an order for a product I was selling and during the end of the phone conversation the person on the other end of the line, who had provided me with a working CIA email address, told me that I should stop speaking ill of our then US president on international phone calls...
Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 5 2020 3:20 utc | 48
@47 -lol
"In 2004 I received an order for a product I was selling and during the end of the phone conversation the person on the other end of the line, who had provided me with a working CIA email address, told me that I should stop speaking ill of our then US president on international phone calls...
Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 5 2020 3:20 utc | 47
---
You sure do sound like an expert at BS claims alrighty
Posted by: Triden | Dec 5 2020 3:25 utc | 49
@ Triden 42
the chinese are blasting fullsteam ahead on engineering full spectrum surveillance in order to tightly control every single aspect of the lives of their citizen slaves.
>Where did you learn this? Have you been to China and seen this?
>Are you aware of China's progress in raising people out of poverty?
>Are you aware of China's tremendous growth in civilian infrastructure, military, etc?
>130 million Chinese "citizen slaves" travel abroad every year, and return. Why?
Posted by: Don Bacon | Dec 5 2020 3:33 utc | 50
jen @ 17
"The atrocities committed by these groups, such as beheading victims, cannibalising body parts and their extreme violence and psychopathy, must be due in large part to the drugs they were given..."
The drug in question is a universally known, old drug called Religion. It has always and regularly produced that effect, especially in its monotheistic form.
Not exclusively, though. Irreligious and undrugged invader barbarians, from the Mogul hordes to today's Americans, Australians and Zionists. So the other drug is warrior culture, used by political calculus of a need to terrorize the local populations.
None of any xenobiotics known to date do anything like that, except for some LSD-type hallucinogens (but those are anything but performance-enhancing, so we won't even consider them.)
Posted by: Piero Colombo | Dec 5 2020 3:36 utc | 51
@46 kiwiklown
You forgot to write: look at Trump when you look at Pompous. Trump has authorized Pompeo to go wild on Iran and to sanction China for all kinds of bizarre reasons, like just today the State Department issued Visa and travel restrictions for Chinese nationals engaged in coercive influence around the world and spreading Marxist-Leninist ideology.
I kid you not!
u-s-imposes-sanctions-on-peoples-republic-of-china-officials
Every week they're attacking Iranians in some way and imposing successive sanctions on China. Where do you think all this is leading?
So look at Trump and what he's doing! Cause the buck stops with him right now.
Posted by: Circe | Dec 5 2020 3:39 utc | 52
Ps @47, since we're pretending that personal anecdotes are evidence now, I'll go one better: my international calls sometimes get interrupted midcall and I then get to listen to the previous 30 or 40 seconds of the other persons side of the conversation played back to me.
But so what: all that proves is that there is surveillance and recording of international calls, which I already knew.
But it doesn't contradict my point that the Chinese have at least the exact same capability and probably more. They're certianly using face and gait recognition surveillance in most if not all of their cities. We know this already, its not a state seekrit
My point is that people like you are pretending that China is only to be lauded for its technological advancements and completely ignoring one of the applications of that recent advancement.
Pretending otherwise makes you look decidedly dishonest tbh.
Both our govts and theirs are constantly researching tweaking and rollingout new ways to monitor and control our daily lives, and if anyhing the Chinese are ahead in that race as far as I can tell
Posted by: Triden | Dec 5 2020 3:40 utc | 53
>Are you aware of China's progress in raising people out of poverty?
>Are you aware of China's tremendous growth in civilian infrastructure, military, etc?
Posted by: Don Bacon | Dec 5 2020 3:33 utc | 49
None of that justifies minute surveillance of daily lives
Posted by: Triden | Dec 5 2020 3:42 utc | 54
Beibdnn @Dec5 0:12 #33
... [Russian] research into their 2nd generatoin of Hypersonic weaponry is well underway. ... China and Russia are very advanced in Plasma physics.
Russia's advantage in hypersonics has been a check on USA/Empire for about 5 years however, while Russia still maintains an advantage, that advantage will diminish over time. Furthermore, it's likely that each side will not be completely forthcoming about how advanced their hypersonic, bio, cyber, or space tech is.
Together Russia and China make for a formidable adversary. Especially with the advances they've each made over the last two or three decades.
We live in dangerous times because the Empire's opportunity to restore their hegemony (which appears to be the goal) is relatively short. This, along with Climate Change, is the reason that the Doomsday Clock is the closest to midnight that it's ever been:
Closer than ever:
It is 100 seconds to midnightIn the nuclear realm, national leaders have ended or undermined several major arms control treaties and negotiations during the last year, creating an environment conducive to a renewed nuclear arms race, to the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and to lowered barriers to nuclear war. Political conflicts regarding nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea remain unresolved and are, if anything, worsening. US-Russia cooperation on arms control and disarmament is all but nonexistent.
Plasma Physics
Russia and China have many advantages (we could add 5g tech also). But they are the contenders against an established Empire.
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Dec 5 2020 3:51 utc | 55
Arch Bungle @Dec5 1:04 #36
This 'dial a yield' capability is immensely useless since both Russia and China would respond to a nuclear attack on their territory with a full scale nuclear strike ...
Not useless. There are niche uses like defending against invasion, bunker-busters, torpedoes, space, etc. These are uses that are not on a country's territory and/or where the use of nukes may be denied.
Then there's also the propaganda value (mostly troop morale and striking fear in small countries).
=
Use of low yield nuclear weapons on non-nuclear states will result in massive blowback ...
How massive the blow-back is would depend on the situation. USA/Empire is well-versed at playing such situational games.
USA used nukes against two Japanese cities with little blow-back. And USA blew apart multiple islands in the Pacific with little blow-back.
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Dec 5 2020 3:52 utc | 56
@Triden 53
None of that justifies minute surveillance of daily lives
Minute surveillance? Is that a certain kind of surveillance, perhaps like the NSA in the USA?
WASHINGTON — The National Security Agency discovered in October 2018 that it was collecting information about domestic phone calls and text messages that it had no legal authority to gather, newly disclosed documents show, underscoring the troubles the agency has had with using Americans’ phone records to hunt for hidden terrorist cells.//
And again, where do you get your evidence of what's going on in China?
Posted by: Don Bacon | Dec 5 2020 4:00 utc | 57
Triden @Dec5 3:40 #52
Both our govts and theirs are constantly researching tweaking and rollingout new ways to monitor and control our daily lives, and if anyhing the Chinese are ahead in that race as far as I can tell ...
Which begs the question: it is better to have a single world power or two or three power centers?
The Empire seeks global domination. IMO the dystopia of a single global power would be far worse than a contention between two or three power centers.
We actually have an example to guide us: during the first Cold War TPTB in USA fostered a prosperous middle-class to prove (at least in part) that capitalism was better than socialism.
When world powers compete for the affection of their people, the people's lives are much better.
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Dec 5 2020 4:01 utc | 58
Russia and China have many advantages (we could add 5g tech also). But they are the contenders against an established Empire.
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Dec 5 2020 3:51 utc | 54
-----
China is ahead in 5G tech because they realised early on that 4G would struggle to carry the massive dataload needed to operate the fullspetrum state surveillance system they were planning back then and have now put in place.
Try not to forget that next time any of you "China Uber Alles" guys are singung the praises of their tech advances
Posted by: Triden | Dec 5 2020 4:02 utc | 59
Posted by: Don Bacon | Dec 5 2020 4:00 utc | 56
You don't comprehend either well or quickly, do ya, Don?
Posted by: Triden | Dec 5 2020 4:08 utc | 60
PERPETUAL GROWTH ON A FINITE PLANET IS _NOT_ POSSIBLE.
Seer | Dec 5 2020 1:50 utc | 39:
This is why the big push into Space. There's infinite resources out there. Unfortunately the military will stick it's nose in it.
Posted by: Ian2 | Dec 5 2020 4:15 utc | 61
@ Triden 59
You don't comprehend either well or quickly, do ya, Don?
Actually I got onto your biased MSM POV's truth-lacking rather quickly. We good, they bad. I get it. Now stop it -- it's BS.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Dec 5 2020 4:16 utc | 62
Which begs the question: it is better to have a single world power or two or three power centers?
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Dec 5 2020 4:01 utc | 57
----
Oh I'm all for multipolarity. One would hope they'd all behave better.
Nevertheless , the "China Uber Alles" cheerleading squad's constant glossing over, distraction tactics, and knee jerk ranting, whenever China's obvious lead in dystopian full spectrum citizen surveillance is mentioned, are making them look silly
Posted by: Triden | Dec 5 2020 4:17 utc | 63
karlof1@14 and others
for what its worth
check out cbc gem war of the worlds from the bbc.
interesting take on a land based drone.
also netflix's the rain has a neato drone.
Posted by: Tannenhouser | Dec 5 2020 4:24 utc | 64
Its rather amusing that, though full spectrum citizen surveillance is certainly one of the technological fields where China clearly excels and leads the West, yet whenever that fact is acknowledged the "China Uber Alles" crew, who have so much to say concerning China's obvious superiority versus the West, and so much to say concerning China's technological prowess overall, suddenly want to downplay or dismiss entirely Chinese "success" in that arena.
Very curious behaviour indeed.
Posted by: Triden | Dec 5 2020 4:29 utc | 65
@ Triden 62
Nevertheless , the "China Uber Alles" cheerleading squad's constant glossing over, . .are making them look silly
Just like in surveillance, you're making stuff up again. Nobody, including China BTW, is claiming "China Uber Alles." . .So who's looking silly? And where do you get your wrong info? Come on, tell us.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Dec 5 2020 4:30 utc | 66
Posted by: Don Bacon | Dec 5 2020 4:16 utc | 61
Yeah like i said, still not getting it. But its cool, i didn't really expect you would, and was just waiting for you to prove me correct, which you now have. Thanks
Posted by: Triden | Dec 5 2020 4:32 utc | 67
Re Jackrabbit @55
Use of low yield nuclear weapons on non-nuclear states will result in massive blowback ...
How massive the blow-back is would depend on the situation. USA/Empire is well-versed at playing such situational games.
USA used nukes against two Japanese cities with little blow-back. And USA blew apart multiple islands in the Pacific with little blow-back.
Disagree. The atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons in the Pacific was a massive crime against the people of the Marshall Islands, as well as a monumental global environmental disaster -- but comparing that to using nuclear weapons against a non-nuclear weapon state is like comparing apples to oranges. Your other comparison is also unconvincing; the US used atomic bombs on Japan at the end of World War 2, after fire-bombing 67 Japanese cities (every major Japanese city), including the raid on Tokyo that killed 100,000 Japanese civilians. Totally different context in a declared war, as opposed to what you suggest/imply.
Syria is the nation that first comes to mind when discussing US use of nuclear weapons against a non-nuclear weapon state. Do you think Russia would sit idly by if it saw a US SLBM heading towards Syria? LOL I don't think so. I imagine the S400 system would come into play, but after that, maybe a few 3M-54 Kalibrs directed towards the vicinity of the launch?
First-use of a nuclear weapon against any nation is massively criminal act and would have grave ramifications, although I am not sure that these days the ideologues in DC grasp that.
Posted by: Perimetr | Dec 5 2020 4:33 utc | 68
@ Triden who did not address the specifics of my public/private finance claim about which is barbaric.
How come? Please tell us how this basic underpinning to the form of social organization does not presage how people are treated and what the motivational narratives are.
Your saying that these forms of social organization are the same in terms of public control is deluded by your ignorance of China.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 5 2020 4:40 utc | 70
Triden@64 "Very curious behaviour indeed" kinda like back in the day when we turned a blind eye the the negatives we saw being created by capitalism curious? Or something even more curious?
Posted by: Tannenhouser | Dec 5 2020 4:40 utc | 71
Is it possible that the US tech companies, which are mostly private, sell to anyone who can come up with their price?
Posted by: Helen | Dec 5 2020 4:46 utc | 72
@kiwiklown. what would you do if. You had to watch the young person you just gave chocholate to attacked w a machete on the other side of the fence you passed the chocholate through. What would you do if you saw it happening again. that's what happened in Somalia. imo. Not saying its true just saying its a maybe, and yes its JTF2
Posted by: Tannenhouser | Dec 5 2020 4:55 utc | 73
You "China Uber Alles" crew really can't process, let alone allow to be uttered without kneejerk reacting, even the slightest criticism of China, can ya?
Posted by: Triden | Dec 5 2020 4:56 utc | 74
@ Triden | Dec 5 2020 4:56 utc | 73 who wrote
"
You "China Uber Alles" crew really can't process, let alone allow to be uttered without kneejerk reacting, even the slightest criticism of China, can ya?
"
Yep, drive by trolls who do not provide any data to back up their assertions nor engage openly with the arguments of others will get treated with the respect they deserve and encouraged to find another bar to spin hats in.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 5 2020 5:16 utc | 75
But when the US does it, it's Gooood.
When others do it, it's Baaad.
Posted by: RoHa | Dec 5 2020 5:17 utc | 76
@39 Seer
I think you are correct, all wars are fundamentally resource wars and appeals to religion and racism are the nodes of control used to get the masses onboard. Capitalism, at least the version that dominates western thought, is War's handmaiden as it can only function through growth. Constant growth on a finite planet requires access to cheaper and cheaper resources, whether they be natural or labor. When those resources are not available at the price the capitalist class needs to profit, then they must be stolen.
Posted by: Haassaan | Dec 5 2020 5:22 utc | 77
@Tridum
The problem is you are not criticizing China, you are just blowing MSM sanctioned hotair while providing nothing to back it up. Yammering on in a juvenile matter isn't a critique, it is brainlessly repeating lame cliches that someone in the medias propaganda department put in your head.
Posted by: Haassaan | Dec 5 2020 5:25 utc | 78
The Cubans and the Vietnamese didn't need soldier bio-psychology. Nor do the Iranians, Iraqis, Syrians, Palestinians, Yemenis, Venezuelans and Bolivians. Along with the people of Donetsk and Lugansk, all of these nations are demonstrating that simple human values trump bio-pharmaceutico-psychology any day of the week. Of course, sell-out shills like b would like you to think otherwise.
Posted by: Simon | Dec 5 2020 5:28 utc | 79
If people ignore Triden's childish baiting she'll get bored and buzz off...
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Dec 5 2020 5:35 utc | 81
People like Triden can't believe, despite evidence to contrary, that the developing social credit system in China might actually very popular with the Chinese population.
https://theconversation.com/hundreds-of-chinese-citizens-told-me-what-they-thought-about-the-controversial-social-credit-system-127467
The reason why many Chinese like the system may be because it isn't just designed to monitor and reveal the behavior of individual Chinese people. It's also supposed to monitor and reveal many of the activities of Chinese companies and even government agencies. In other words, it's supposed to help protect people from more powerful potentially abusive organizations. In that sense, it's not just a surveillance system, it's also a sousveillance system.
Posted by: Fnord13 | Dec 5 2020 5:46 utc | 82
Caitlin Johnstone weighs in on this propaganda exercise to increase hostility towards "those other people". Before they wage war they need to make their citizens hate the other. The coming war on China.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAfeYMONj9E&feature=youtu.be&t=287
"Whenever I criticize the US empire’s aggressions toward and propaganda about China my social media notifications are quickly flooded with blithering imbeciles who claim I love the CCP and think it’s awesome and wonderful. I don’t know what species of brain worm makes people think if you oppose western imperialism it means you love the governments who are being targeted by western imperialism, but it would be good if it went extinct. I simply wish to live in a world where armageddon weapons aren’t being brandished about in steadily escalating acts of insane brinkmanship."
Posted by: Tom | Dec 5 2020 5:49 utc | 83
In January, Beijing passed laws seeking to ban all VPNs that are not approved by state regulators. Approved VPNs must use state network infrastructure.
In a statement on Sunday, an Apple spokeswoman confirmed it will remove apps that don’t comply with the law from its China App Store, including services based outside the country.
----
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201712/12/WS5a2fa4f7a3108bc8c6727f5c.html
China’s Skynet Project finds people in minutes
chinadaily.com.cn |
The whole test took only seven minutes.
A key component of the Skynet Project is a real-time pedestrian detection and recognition system, which can identify the age, gender and clothing of pedestrians through surveillance cameras on the streets. The technology can also identify vehicles.
In addition, the system can show the match level of an individual's image with specified personal information in the database on a real-time basis.
-----
The whole test took only seven minutes.
A key component of the Skynet Project is a real-time pedestrian detection and recognition system, which can identify the age, gender and clothing of pedestrians through surveillance cameras on the streets. The technology can also identify vehicles.
In addition, the system can show the match level of an individual's image with specified personal information in the database on a real-time basis.
------
China's first intelligent security robot starts work at Shenzhen Airport
(People's Daily Online) 14:09, September 22, 2016
China's first intelligent security robot starts work at Shenzhen Airport
AnBot, China's first intelligent security robot, starts work at Shenzhen airport. (Photo/IC)
AnBot, the first intelligent robot in China trained to carry out security checks, recently started work at the Shenzhen airport. The robot will conduct around-the-clock independent patrol in the departure hall of Terminal 3.
Four high-definition digital cameras help the robot to effectively uphold civil aviation security and take advantage of its mobile face recognition. Images will be passed along to behind-the-scenes security stations, where they will be analyzed. The robot is designed with four major capabilities: independent patrol, face recognition, intelligent service and emergency response.
Posted by: Triden | Dec 5 2020 5:59 utc | 84
Posted by: Fnord13 | Dec 5 2020 5:46 utc | 81
People like Fnord seem to have a hard time remembering that surveillance laws are always advertised as being both "by popular demand" and "for your protection"
Posted by: Triden | Dec 5 2020 6:02 utc | 85
@Arch Bungle | Dec 5 2020 1:04 utc | 36
Use of low yield nuclear weapons on non-nuclear states will result in massive blowback against the US. It will open up the supply and proliferation of low yield nukes to smaller countries by those capable of manufacturing them (Pak. NK. Russia. China. Iran).
If only that was true. Events in Yemen and Lebanon have so far not resulted in such desireable blowback.
Posted by: Norwegian | Dec 5 2020 6:05 utc | 86
@Jackrabbit | Dec 5 2020 3:51 utc | 54
We live in dangerous times because the Empire's opportunity to restore their hegemony (which appears to be the goal) is relatively short. This, along with Climate Change, is the reason that the Doomsday Clock is the closest to midnight that it's ever been
Nice example of Doublethink. Your first sentence provides the proper context for understanding the supposed doomsday prediction of "climate change" in your second sentence.
Posted by: Norwegian | Dec 5 2020 6:21 utc | 87
@ Triden | Dec 5 2020 6:02 utc | 84 who wrote
"
People like Fnord seem to have a hard time remembering that surveillance laws are always advertised as being both "by popular demand" and "for your protection"
"
People like Triden seem to have a hard time remembering that surveillance laws run by a barbaric cult are differently motivated than those run by a publicly oriented civilization.
Sometimes feeding the trolls can be fun......LOL!
Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 5 2020 6:27 utc | 88
Below is a quote from The Conversation link that Fnord13 provided in comment # 81
"
The erosion of mutual trust is also attributed to Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution, a turbulent period characterised by everyone denouncing everyone else, including friends and family. So citizens see there is a need for mechanisms that enable people to take full responsibility for, and be judged by, their deeds.
Chinese citizens have also tended to view life itself as credit and often refer to an old saying: “People are doing things, and the sky (tian) is watching.” This means that whatever one does, there is always a record of their deeds in the sky. The karma system is the standardisation of the relationship between human beings and supernatural powers. One can earn points by doing good deeds, but these can also be easily squandered through bad ones.
I am not trying to adjudicate whether it is appropriate for modern China to play the role of Tian, but it is important when writing about these developments to appreciate the way they are understood within Chinese society and why attitudes there might be quite different from what people in the west might assume.
"
Thanks for the link Fnord13. I continue to believe that the American dream was for a government by and for the people which it obviously is not now....unless you count corporations as Mitt would have us do. It is encouraging for me to see a society that is open enough about the process it is going through and motivated, not by greed, profit or avarice, but by trying to do the right thing at the time within a big picture context and ongoing planning/implementation process.
In the West, the people are inculcated to be consumers and not citizens while it seems the opposite is true in China. And in the West the planning is done in the backrooms and implemented with appropriate amounts of brainwashing.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 5 2020 6:57 utc | 89
Life is simple for some here:
US killer robot/drone bad, Chinese killer robot/ drone good.
US deep state bad, CCP deep state good.
What do these people have in common: the either live far away from China's borders are are CCP party members / groupies.
Posted by: Antonym | Dec 5 2020 6:59 utc | 90
It is hard to get unbiased information about China. It does seem to be factual that China has a citizen surveillance system and uses it to create the social credit system. I think most MOA readers find the concept creepy. People banned from public transport for bad behavior or attitudes and such. On the other hand the present government does seem to want to create a society that enhances the state of the general population. The problem is when the psychopaths rise to the top and use powers like that to gain control of the population and punish critics with the resulting corruption like one sees in the US today. The Bridge and road initiative certainly seems to be a much better option than US foreign policy is today - color revolutions - regime change wars - turning functional countries into failed states - the US military turning countries infrastructure into rubble - economic sanctions to make civilian lives miserable and even killing them. Most remember Madelaine Albright saying even though the sanctions caused the deaths of 1/2 a million Iraqi children they were worth it. People of the blob in DC talking about the use of tactical nukes. And now the covid idiocy turning the imminent recession into a global depression to enable the great reset with the possible introduction of chip insertions that can be programmed from without. possibly inserted by mandatory vaccines. I have noticed for a long time that the US accuses what it thinks is its enemies of the covert activities it is doing. As William Blum said, "It's not pretty picture... it gives imperialism a bad name."
Posted by: gepay | Dec 5 2020 7:10 utc | 91
@ Hoyeru | Dec 4 2020 20:10 utc | 18
"USA ALWAYS blames and accuses others of what exactly it is doing. Thats a given.
USA citizens are very aware how their corporate Owned Media is constantly lying to them, yet they are very selective what they believe are lies and what is truth. The US citizens can hold 2 contradictory believes at the same time: they believe the media is lying to them about trump, but its telling them the truth about China and Islam."
The Anglos/Americans in general have mastered the art of their hero, George Orwell, and his concept of DoubleThink--the mental ability to accept the validity of two opposing ideas at the very same time.
Never forget: the Anglosphere Has Always Been at War with EURASIA (Russia) ... I mean... EAST ASIA (China)!
Also, Anglo-American high-tech surveillance state and genocidal wars of aggression = Anglo American "Freedom and Democracy" in action.
Welcome to America's Rules-Based Liberal Democratic Orwellian World Order!
Posted by: ak74 | Dec 5 2020 8:57 utc | 92
The wishful thoughts of Charles at 4 The COVID-19 crisis and the Trump election fraud allegations have demonstrated the danger of a media that no one trusts and a government that few people trust. We need to put a stop to this stenography to power and require our journalists to investigate claims and when there is no evidence, refuse to print them. #FreeAssange by: Charles @ 4
Psychohistorian @ 6 says in summary:
I continue to blame faith breathers who have not let humanity evolve social organization with a primacy of reason and logic over faith....and more specific, monotheistic faith that has at its core the killing of non-believers.
Totally secular and a-religous Government [China] are vilified because such government supports its people..<= rather than uses its people.
<= but over 60% of humanity (decide-by-faith people, I call them) <=believes over their entire lifetime <= the earthy propaganda <=assured by icons (preacher, teacher) to be the count on it basic truth. decide-by-faith (DBF) persons are biologically wired to adopt heresay as facts, and turn off later acquired fact, they never allow investigated evidence to interfere with their early acquired belief. <= this speaks to recognition? It is this simple factoid(research reference missing) that makes content filled propaganda so effective. The content provider knows the early belief of most of these decide-by-faith wired people. The media is the innocent distributor of someone else's malious content, media is not the content provider. <=please keep the focus on the content provider, not the media that distributed the content.
Kiwiklown @ 44 says in part "western public understand their governments lie .. and its content providers continue to refine propaganda to enhance the impact . but that understanding does not seemto matter. The propaganda still works. There seems to be a lack of connection between recognition of lies and the acceptance of the message ... humans are strange. <= decide-by-faith vs decide-by-evidence..?
Tannehouser @ 72 ask kiwiklown. what would you do if. You had to watch the young person you just gave chocholate to attacked w a machete on the other side of the fence you passed the chocholate through. What would you do if you saw it happening again. that's what happened in Somalia. and i add Palestine.
<=back to focus on recognition; does recognition require a viable opportunity to be relevant to connecting stenographers to journalist? without a viable alternative, without a way for the audience to evaluate the content for its truth and to detect, and account for the falsity, and to then do something useful about it, recognition of falsity seems to be out of the question; the truth becomes irrelavant<= what are the options?
I think when pressed on the matter most decide-by-faith people ignore the content that does not comport with their propaganda enhanced beliefs, and most decide-by-evidence people recognize the propaganda in the content which media distributes, but as described above they can do little about it.. Why? because the social, economic and poltical stack controls all behaviors in any named western nation state franchisee.. Each of these 9 control stack layers attacks elements of the human psycho system. To understand this we need to work through each layer for each content of consequence and to divide the predicted outcomes and impacts based on not one audience but two: <= decide-by-faith audience and decide-by-evidence audience.
Of the nine layers of social and political control used by the only two are public.
The control stack (layers) describes how private wealth controls the use of public power.
private layer 1:global nation state franchisor sets rules; establishes local nation state goals
_______Here are bankers and their quasi governmental bureaucracies, NGOs, established
_______functioning national governments in interactive cooperation with the needs of the
_______global corporations listed the major market and exchanges.
Private Layer 2: oligarch <= national (wall street beneficiaries who use their wealth to conform
_______national outcome consistent with global powers). The nation (i. e. local banking
_______and monopoly powered corporations control access by the deplorable governed to
_______opportunity.. (opportunity is a privilege open only to a few) Officer vs enlisted.
_______pseudo elected presidents. Also the road and bridge building, trucks, ships, and
_______plane contractors and transport providers..they have the privilege of license,
_______access to money, and qualification to do business with government.
Private Layer 3: the copyright and patent monopoly powers (90% of the Assets of market traded
_______corporations are monopoly powers (as in intangible assets. relatively new, this layer
_______encompasses the legal privilege to privately own all technology and is
_______at the heart of the modern feudal system. 5g. driverless vehicles, space travel
Private Layer 4: the think tank and other private organizations the bureaucracies regulate, fund
_______and direct. Millions even $billions in private money flows and is matched by
_______government funding. Its is where the secret services, home land scammers and
_______university system bureaucracy resides.
public layer 5: the elected 527 person government that regulate the members of the public
Private Layer 6: Intergovernmental Bureaucracies limit and direct elected power to global goals.
_______this is the huge government bought and paid for bureaucracy.
public layer 7: the 340,000,000 members of the highly public.
Private layer 8: Stimulus restrain economic system control
Private layer 9: media addresses diversity via content provider diversity used to control of narrative, limit
_______ information visible to target groups and keep the highly disparate minds of the governed deplorables
_______ individually_pacified. (content providers have access to substantial funding, many proven techniques.
________ To science ; which enables CPs to coordinate psychology with propaganda; to maintain crowd, mind,
________ political and thought control (CMPT) control. Layer delivers massive financial support to the media,
________ in that every market visible corporation contributes $ trillions in yearly tax deductible advertising
________ to support CMPT content over media which is used to control the governed deplorable.
Every business, every politicians supports the media as its presents its endless productions of its content providers.
we should not talk about the MSM instead we should talk about the MCP (main content providers)
All layers but 5 and 7 are contained within an privately owned controlled envelop.
50 state elections, made to look national falsely suggesting presidents are elected by will of the people, but it works and helps to fund the privately owned media with political advertising.
Article II and amendment 12 of the Constitution clearly deny the American people any say in who is to be the P and VP of the USA.
Since 1947, standing orders from Layer 1<= demo the American excellence; destroy its superior economic power relative to the rest of the world enjoyed by Americans. .. The standing order, use rule of law to create the monopoly power that can homogenize the world.
Content providers are part of the great divide, the media is universal and everyone is forced to provide for its availability, but only a few actually have access to deliver any content that is not commercial advertising.
Posted by: snake | Dec 5 2020 9:17 utc | 93
Allegory for a Simpleton:
There was once three little towns within a short distance of each other.
The First Town started seemingly for the people, by the people, of the people. They had a lucky break in the 1940s, when the whole world was destroyed by war, and so they grew into a fat people.
The Second Town, comprising mainly Han people, worked hard to pull themselves up by their bootstraps from the total destruction of the 1940s. By some counts, this town is eclipsing the first town and so, they have a thriving market place full of goods of all sorts.
The Third Town, which Simpleton Synonym comes from, lived a simple, unhurried life, and looks set to continue that way. They refuse to join Second Town to link their peoples up with highspeed rail or to facillitate easier trade to improve their people's simple lives.
First Town decides to contain Second Town, upon which the elders of Third Town shot up their hands, "We don't want to be like the Hans, and so, we will stop them!!! Oh, and what's in it for me? What's my cut?" They failed to ask what is in it for their people. It's all about themselves in Third Town.
Second Town takes careful note, goes on with building the lives of its people, as they have done last 7 decades, as they will do next 7 decades.
Meanwhile, the town dogs bark rudely, but the caravan marches on into the future.
End of Allegory (but there must be a moral in there somewhere).
Posted by: kiwiklown | Dec 5 2020 9:22 utc | 94
The West having embraced capitalism and transformed it to neoliberalism with no attempt at moral justifications will use any methods to maintain the superiority they have. This includes above all propaganda and that mainly aimed at its own population first, in order to justify its actions to maintain this superiority and the aspired standard of living, that only its elite will achieve. But the illusion that the underclasses can also occasionally achieve this also bolstered by the illusion of a trickle down benefit from the obscene profits made by the ruling class. I therefore don't know why it comes as a surprise that this sort of thing is reported.
Posted by: Orage | Dec 5 2020 10:09 utc | 95
Uncle Sam wants YOU
Be all you can be!
Even if you're wrong or right,
He can make you fight,
Indefinitely.
Posted by: F.Bomb | Dec 5 2020 10:17 utc | 96
@90 Antonym: "Life is simple for some here:
US killer robot/drone bad, Chinese killer robot/ drone good.
US deep state bad, CCP deep state good."
No, that's much too simplistic.
What "some here" object to is that when the USA does do the same thing as China it will inevitably:
a) Pretend that it doesn't, and express outrage at the very notion
b) Insists that it has a right to take action against China over those wrongdoings, but insists that the Chinese don't possess a reciprocal right.
By contrast, China may well be led by some real shits - it probably is - but they don't tend to make a song and dance about how shitty the leadership of other countries is.
Well, one recent exception: the Chinese have taken the long handle to Australia's government, but their outrage at Australian boorishness was definitely not unprovoked. Scottie from Marketing had it coming to him, since his behavior of his government ministers towards the Chinese has been breathtakingly boorish.
Posted by: Yeah, Right | Dec 5 2020 11:46 utc | 97
People like Triden seem to have a hard time remembering that surveillance laws run by a barbaric cult are differently motivated than those run by a publicly oriented civilization.
Sometimes feeding the trolls can be fun......LOL!
Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 5 2020 6:27 utc | 88
--
Just as I predicted, completly unable to process the slightest criticism, reduced to "bad when we do it, good when they do it".
"Four legs good, two legs bad"
China Uber Alles! Ra! Ra! Ra!
Posted by: Triden | Dec 5 2020 11:50 utc | 98
@38 Observer "Yes, the Anglo-American empire is bad. But so is the Chinese regime, and given half the chance they'll be as bad or worse. They already treat their own people worse than the yanks do; "
Hmmm.
One is an empire, which means that it mistreats "other people" as well as its "own people".
The other isn't an empire - whatever mistreatment is dished out only to its "own people".
"God help any non-Han they rule over."
Quite the leap of logic there. They have to go empire-building first before they can "rule over" people outside of China.
Which is not a given, if only because "empire-building" appears to be somewhat of a Western concept.
I mean, let's be honest here: the Mexican government treats its own people worse than the Yankees do.
Let's hope the Mexicans don't end up ruling over the western hemisphere, heh?
Posted by: Yeah, Right | Dec 5 2020 12:04 utc | 99
@43 Triden: "yeah, let's just ignore completely, that like our evil corrupt coprorate-whore govts in the west, the chinese are blasting fullsteam ahead on engineering full spectrum surveillance in order to tightly control every single aspect of the lives of their citizen slaves."
That statement appears to have a kernel of truth to it.
At the very least, it is an arguable case - both with respect to the totality of Chinese surveillance and the lack of comment that this elicits on these pages.
Triden: "In thos respect they are definitely ahead of the West."
Again, an arguable point, though I think Triden is on shaky ground with that claim.
Triden: "Somehow, when China does it it's laudable, but when our own govts do it, it's suddenly barbaric."
And that's where Triden does a spectacular pratfall, because for China's full spectrum surveillance to be "laudable" Triden would need to show us posts where that surveillance is, you know, "lauded". Because that's what the word "laudable" means.
I don't see any. Does anyone?
Triden: "China Uber Alles!!"
That sentence is a pointless and - honestly - pathetic attempt at verballing. Very poor. Very poor indeed.
Triden insists that everyone here is ignoring Chinese domestic surveillance, then in the same post insists that everyone is lauding that same.
Both statements can not be true (hint: it is the latter that is untrue).
Logic is clearly not Triden's strong-suite.
Posted by: Yeah, Right | Dec 5 2020 12:20 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
Gee, I can't get my comments to stick.
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 4 2020 17:50 utc | 1