So interesting, thanks for highlighting this. Propaganda certainly – consider the sources of most of these stories, but also a complete lack of imagination from editors who fashion story titles and whose interest is solely to grab click-throughs.
The larger point is the world view of the ‘west’ to always live in tension, stress, competition, conflict, war. There is a deep disease in those few elites who run the world. Bill Gates is absolutely bat-shit crazy, and he is but a visible tip of a bat-shit crazy iceberg.
The only threat to China is exactly the insanity that runs the ‘west’ that views nuclear obliteration as a competitive advantage.

Posted by: gottlieb | Oct 11 2021 16:06 utc | 3

I think the Americans are watching too much Star Wars.
On a more serious note, I think there are three factors that results in this fanatic propaganda warfare against China:
1) contrary to nazism, fascism, anarchism etc. etc. – which are just childish fantasies – socialism/communism is a legitimate system that can concretely overcome and thus extinguish capitalism. In other words, China, as the socialist pole of the 21st Century, is the true successor of the USSR (the first ever Proletarian government), therefore an existential threat to capitalism (i.e. the West, Western Civilization);
2) we live in a period where humanity is in flux, i.e. we live in uncertain times, where everything can happen. When everything can happen, every tactic seems legitimate. That’s why we see these lamentable, cringe events happening in the West nowadays.
3) contrary to the USSR – where ideology collapsed first, the economy collapsed second – what we’re observing in the West (North Atlantic + Japan) nowadays is a scenario where the economy collapsed first, but the ideology didn’t (yet). Combined with factor #2, we can deduce a period of latency, where the economy collapsed, but its propaganda machine superstructure still didn’t realize its base is not there anymore. Thus the Western propagandists continue to do what they were trained and paid to do, without any conscience the economic base that injected sense and due context to them disappeared. They’re the Wile E. Coyote (over the precipice) of the present geopolitical world.

Posted by: vk | Oct 11 2021 16:10 utc | 5

Good post. Thank you

Posted by: harold | Oct 11 2021 16:14 utc | 7

@ juliania | Oct 11 2021 16:07 utc | 4 with the words to The Sound of Silence
Go listen to this sung by the group Disturbed who have made it into a REAL protest song….and Paul said good work to them

Posted by: psychohistorian | Oct 11 2021 16:30 utc | 9

They’re very old, b, and go back to the Opium Wars. In the USA, it got a big boost with the Chinese Exclusion Act that was passed 5 years before the Statue of Liberty’s arrival. This poster ad tells much when you use your zoom to read the header and footer. US attitude toward Asians was similar to Chinese. Filipinos were too stupid to govern themselves, which was one of the rationales used to enslave that nation after 1898 in its initial War OF Terror killing over a million innocents. Much can be learned from the invasion of Japan by Perry in 1854 while the Opium Wars raged versus China. That act is presented as something good and progressive while the US’s part in the Opium Wars goes unmentioned in US History texts. Then there’s the actions of the Colonial Powers during the Boxer Rebellion which caused the already Unequal Treaties to get even worse. China’s treatment at Versailles where Germany’s Manchurian Colony was ceded to Japan is another example of what China calls its Humiliation that it will never allow itself to undergo again. Perhaps the best overall treatment of the West’s view of the Inscrutable East is the late Edward Said’s Orientalism followed by the reception given Martin Bernal’s Black Athena, which showed extreme academic bias and racism very alive and well in the 1990s. As I’ve written numerous times, you must be carefully taught, and the invocation of George Lucas’s “Dark Side” is merely an old ploy using a new theme. Oh, and we shouldn’t forget how the Koreans then the Vietnamese were Gooks to be humanized so easier to destroy. Nor should Japanese “Internment” and the vile propaganda used in their depiction. Then within the USA and elsewhere you had racism combine with the clannish nature of all immigrants to coalesce in their own “towns” within bigger cities where Chinatowns and Japantowns still remain today.
The western term for the Mongols as they rolled westward in the 13th century was Horde, as if they were all consuming locusts. Europe and its peoples were very lucky that the Great Khan died when he did as the Mongols stopped their drive to the English Channel and subjugation of what remained of Europe to return to Mongolia and contest for the throne. The one major European land that did experience Mongol rule was Russia, and that experience remains within much of what it is to be Russian, one of the reasons why Russians are treated as Asians via Russophobia. Underlying the struggle in today’s world is the effort to destroy the vestiges of Colonialism and the racism that accompanied it. Once the Eurasian Bloc completes its rise and lends a hand to the African Bloc, most of that past will be remedied to an extent; yet, there still remains Mexico, South America and the Caribbean region to be completely liberated from the chains of their colonial past. With luck, by 2100 the world’s geopolitical balance will finally be more equitable with all nations able to enjoy the fruits of the Four Freedoms amiably.

Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 11 2021 16:43 utc | 11

psychohistorian@9, thanks very much. It always was a protest song. And b points out extremely effectively that the darkness is not that of China but of those who try to paint China as Russia was painted with the word ‘weaponize’. That really worked, didn’t it?
Hello darkness my old friend. I love that line. It has the whiff of creation, just a superb poem in my book, the old one. And it always was a protest song!

Posted by: juliania | Oct 11 2021 16:48 utc | 13

Seriously, though, good job b. It all looks rather ridiculous when assembled together. Spread out over 15 years, it’s not so obvious. Does it go back even further to China’s ascension to the WTO? In any case, it all amounts to railing against our own creation. Western nations were given a 12 year window in which to limit Chinese imports in order to adjust and shore up their markets back in 2001. No one took advantage of that. They were too busy raking in tbe profits so it’s a little late for all the hand-wringing now.
Welcome to the dark side!! (brought to you by your friendly neighborhood capitalist).

Posted by: Woogs | Oct 11 2021 16:56 utc | 15

We can also see this “Dark Side” as Projection. Today in Kunming, China the COP-15 began, the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. In this one area related to development, China has rapidly reversed its own situation while other nations throw mud but actually have zero standing to do so:
“The US has never signed the Convention on Biological Diversity as it severely damaged biodiversity during domestic industrialization and extinguished a large number of species. It is not willing to pay the price or take responsibility for biodiversity conservation, Li Junfeng, former director general of China’s National Center of Climate Change Strategy Research under the National Development and Reform Commission, told the Global Times.”
“However, in recent years, some Western countries including the US have turned a blind eye to China’s achievements on biodiversity conservation and accused China of endangering wildlife with fishing and damaging rainforests.
“China received unfair attention on environmental protection, such as when mentioning China and environment, some people often say ecological destruction, Hughes said. But ‘China has done a lot to change that in the last 10 years through campaigns like the ‘Beautiful China’ initiative and the war on air pollution.'”
But what about this particular conference, and why is it being held in China?
“Themed ‘Ecological Civilization: Building a Shared Future for All Life on Earth,’ the meeting is the first global conference convened by the UN on the topic of ecological civilization.
“Participants in the meeting are expected to review the ‘post-2020 global biodiversity framework’ to draw a blueprint for biodiversity conservation in the future during the first part of the meeting in Kunming. The post framework will replace the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, which was set in 2010.
“The second part of the meeting, to be held in person in the first half of 2022, will see broad and deepened negotiations toward an ambitious and practical framework.
“Han made three proposals at the meeting – upholding multilateralism to scientifically set up the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, increasing investment and mobilizing resources to provide bigger support for protecting biodiversity, and accelerating reform to give priority to biodiversity conservation.
“Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, called on world leaders to translate their commitments into ‘policies, actions and results,’ while pursuing ‘a bold, inclusive and ambitious’ global biodiversity framework.
“‘China’s work over the last several decades represents our model of transformation, from actions to reduce pollution, restore degraded land, conserve species and ecosystems, and to tackle poverty and pursue broader human development goals,’ Mrema said.
“‘I would like to express my admiration for the actions that China has taken to protect and restore biodiversity,’ she said.
“China is among the first countries to become a party to the Convention on Biological Diversity signed in 1992, and China’s first white paper on biodiversity conservation, issued on October 8, detailed China’s achievements in biodiversity conservation and contributions to addressing global biodiversity challenges.” [My Emphasis]
Oh, so China’s been doing the best job of reestablishing biodiversity while continuing its development. China’s published a White Paper: “Biodiversity Conservation in China” in time for this conference. China’s expertise in this area is being recognized in spite of the West’s efforts to smear China:
“The biggest challenge for this meeting in Kunming is to set up high but feasible targets that will not make the post-2020 framework another Aichi target that most countries failed to reach, and this requires all-out efforts from governments, scientists and the public, Li Sheng, a researcher from the School of Life Sciences at Peking University, told the Global Times.
“Li said he expects the meeting to strike a balance between biodiversity protection and economic development in negotiating the post-2020 targets, taking into account the development rights of developing countries, strengthen investment in basic research, and monitor the distribution of different species.”
I recall when Japan become a technological leader and began eclipsing longstanding western brands like Zenith, Macintosh, GE, and Westinghouse, which created little public stir, although the term “Made in Japan” wasn’t meant to mean prestigious but cheap. But then came the 1980s with Reagan’s Anti-Asian racism and several “financial crises” aimed at keeping the Asians in their place. Superior products helped to overcome the racist stigma, but most of the Asian Tigers’s political economies were and continue to be Neoliberal, although with a strong collective basis. I predict China’s leadership on the Biodiversity Issue will be ignored by BigLie Media, the resulting blackout providing excellent proof of the West’s massive Dark Side.

Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 11 2021 17:36 utc | 17

They have their orders, like “The walls are closing in”.

Posted by: Norwegian | Oct 11 2021 17:38 utc | 19

Yes, China’s “dark” list is humorous. Roberts Godfree has an additional list of “hard landing” for China:
https://www.unz.com/article/objections-to-an-independent-investigation-of-china/?showcomments#comment-3884417

1990. China’s economy has come to a halt. The Economist
1996. China’s economy will face a hard landing. The Economist
1998. China’s economy’s dangerous period of sluggish growth. The Economist
1999. Likelihood of a hard landing for the Chinese economy. Bank of Canada
…

In contrast, “Alive and Well” moods prevails in the American Dream (thanks again to b):
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2020/05/this-illusion-is-alive-and-well.html#more

The American Dream Is Alive And Well… In New Jersey
The American Dream is Alive and Well—and Transformed
The American Dream is alive and well, if you are trained for the jobs of the future
….

and many more in the link.

Posted by: d dan | Oct 11 2021 17:42 utc | 21

It’s going to be fun to learn to hate and fear the Chinese without being racist about it.

Posted by: Charles H. Featherst | Oct 11 2021 18:23 utc | 23

The Dark Side of China’s Deep Ties With South Africa
LOL. They certainly are not looking very hard at Israel who has had a close relationship w/South Africa for decades. It would be very easy to write about … ‘The Dark Side of Israel’s arms exports’
Dare I say that most Americans are unaware that Israel makes money hand over fist selling weapons to foreign countries while we subsidize their arms industry. Ironically, it is nitpicking to note that Israel sells weapons to Muslims who kill Christians because we in the U.S. do the same.

Posted by: Christian J. Chuba | Oct 11 2021 18:23 utc | 25

b,
I don’t think this one belongs on the list:
Chinese Probe Uncovers New Mystery on the Dark Side of the Moon
Live Science, Feb 1, 2019
That’s not an article purporting a “dark side” of China, rather a Chinese accomplishment of learning new data from the other side of the moon (to which the USA has not gone).

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Oct 11 2021 18:35 utc | 27

All over the (sinking) western world of West Europe (Atlatis & Englglistan), Westensmost Asia (the sinking putrid stae of Israël within Palestine) and also the Outer colonies are now going agog. Tolkien predicted this quite ceenly: Only killing Sauron (the US of North A) could ever save Inven´rnsse or any other parts of Western Europe.
Tolkien was quite Right. Lewis was not.

Posted by: Tollef Ås اس طلف | Oct 11 2021 18:43 utc | 29

Posted by: Woogs | Oct 11 2021 16:56 utc | 15:
In any case, it all amounts to railing against our own creation.
To say China’s development and nascent prosperity is America’s creation is a laughable stretch. But that indeed is the near consensus among western elites and propagandists. China’s status quo is way beyond what anyone, including the Chinese themselves, can envision a mere quarter century ago. The infra structure build-up; the poverty elimination; the organization capacity against pandemics and disasters; the flourishing of its minority ethnic culture; …..you name it, they did it better than you’d ever have thought. How can someone create something they don’t even have a concept of?
No, China did it despite the West. Actually since the early 90’s, the West has considered China their only remaining road block to full spectrum dominance. The Clinton Administration was nasty playing the Most Favor Nation card and the Section 301 shenanigan year after year. What the West allowed China to do was allowed to any other developing nation around the world, nations with large populations same as China: Russia; India; Brazil; Indonesia; the whole former iron curtain block! And most of them were even industrially/resourcefully more advanced and plentiful than China. But it is China alone that stood out! Now the west is jealous, is nervous, is getting feeble and poorer. Now they are using anything on hand to combat China: the media propagandists, the religious organizations, the sucker lackeys who might lose head and take pot shots at China so as to draw China into a nasty fight which might results in creating excuses for the west to mobilize its own masses into a armageddon solution. That is what I believe is being played out.

Posted by: Oriental Voice | Oct 11 2021 18:51 utc | 31

Posted by: psychohistorian | Oct 11 2021 16:30 utc | 9
Nothing to do with your post, but I wanted to tell you about how I finally figured out what your handle meant – I think. Of course I’d read Asimov as a kid, but I’d forgotten all about the Foundation trilogy until the TV show was launched on Apple TV. Is it a reference to Hari Seldon?
The TV show, for fans of Isaac Asimov or science-fiction, does seem to deviate from the novel(s), but so far I’ve found it watchable through 4 episodes. Sorry, next time I’ll post this kind of thin in the OT.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Oct 11 2021 18:56 utc | 33

@ Tom_Q_Collins | Oct 11 2021 18:56 utc | 32
with the comment about my moniker to which I responded in the Weekly Open Thread

Posted by: psychohistorian | Oct 11 2021 19:21 utc | 35

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Oct 11 2021 18:35 utc | 26
Those “journalists” also got it wrong too because it’s called the far side of the moon since it gets the same amount of sunlight as the near side.

Posted by: One Too Many | Oct 11 2021 19:31 utc | 37

Forced memes have to be forced. That requires repetition. It is quite obvious that the Mockingbird mass media is trying to associate “dark side” with China.
For the intellectual and emotional cripples that constitute the western mass media workforce, darkness and inscrutability encompasses their understanding of China, so from their stunted perspectives it sorta makes sense. That is why these morons think satellite imagery is how to tell what is going on there. China might as well be on Mars and populated by a race of totally alien beings as far as these idiot presstitutes know.
The real tragedy here is that some people in the West still consider these benighted presstitutes to be authoritative. Fortunately the numbers of people who feel that way are declining, but still too many.

Posted by: William Gruff | Oct 11 2021 19:56 utc | 39

james @37–
Are you going down the Dark Humor Path?!

Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 11 2021 20:18 utc | 41

Part of a propaganda campaign could involve projection. Implying that the “dark side” is over there in China. Nothing to see here as we in the West are little angels? Sorry I can not provide the link, but Ben Norton has a good article at The Grayzone: Cognitive Warfare, A Battle For The Brain. It is disturbing and chilling. Thanks b.

Posted by: Michael Crockett | Oct 11 2021 20:30 utc | 43

It works, is the simple reason. When you listen to the bar room chatter in between discussing the latest football game, you hear the same talk from everyone about the wicked Chinese and the wicked Russians who have sinister plans for our undoing. people have for years repeated the same claptrap about Putin being obscenely rich from corruption and being a “brutal dictator”. They always are, aren’t they? And now in recent years they’ve started in on China, the evil Chinese with their plans for world conquest and who are responsible for the Covid and America’s economic malaise. The “Dark Side” is just a standard propaganda trope, repeated enough so that it becomes the common man’s view. It’s funny in a tragic sense since here we are, blaming others for our problems, when in fact our enemies are here at home in the very people we elect to run the country. Gavin Newsome, filled with fine platitudes while pursuing a path to ruin for his state’s economy, Bernie Sanders and AOC with their childish utopian fantasies about the “Green New Deal” and “build back better”. Then there are the promoters of BLM and CRT who are setting up social divisions based on racial hatred while claiming at the same time to be combating it. Then there are the neocon imperialists promoting wars of aggression that will and have been gutting America’s productive economy for the sake of chasing the “will o the wisp” of full spectrum dominance. These people join the Dems in demonizing the Chinese by claiming they are going to invade Taiwan, when in reality the Chinese intend nothing of the kinds, preferring instead to wait and let economic factors lead to Taiwan’ cooptation by the PRC.

Posted by: erik | Oct 11 2021 20:36 utc | 45

The dark side is when there’s a tunnel #highspeedrailnetwork

Posted by: Bart Schuster | Oct 11 2021 21:00 utc | 47

Thanks for this great article B. Who’s their Daddy? Among the reams of links in duckduckgo search for “dark side China” there was this:
Was it China? Russia? Those countries specialize in such actions. The NSA however has been briefing that the culprit was an unusual cybercrime outfit known as DarkSide.

Posted by: Dim sim | Oct 11 2021 21:01 utc | 49

@Posted by: Oriental Voice | Oct 11 2021 18:51 utc | 30
Sorry OV. I have to disagree here.
Walmart sold its entire share of the US consumer market to China.
They were paid very well. Four individual members of the Walton family rose to become amongst the top ten richest Americans.
How’s that for utility maximisation? Four persons get peak utility. Three hundred million Americans get shat upon.
USA! USA! USA!

Posted by: John Cleary | Oct 11 2021 21:12 utc | 51

@ Oriental Voice 30:
Perhaps I didn’t sing China’s praises enough for you in my post. I will readily admit that China has made the most of the hand dealt it. What has made the biggest impact is its ascension to full membership in the WTO. That is the mechanism that allowed for China’s exploding growth this century. Its total trade has seen a more than 9 fold increase since 2001.
And yes,the West allowed it by not using the window given it of limiting Chinese imports for 12 years beginning in 2001. It was corporate greed on the West’s part, of course, and China made the most of it.
“Twenty years later, there is little doubt that China is a trade superpower. Its total trade had skyrocketed from $500 billion in 2001 to $4.6 trillion in 2019 (see Figure 1), the impact of which rippled across the global economy. That impact is also partly responsible for intensified polarization on global trade over the last decade, particularly among advanced economies.”

Posted by: Woogs | Oct 11 2021 21:21 utc | 53

Words like Images cast a spell on the subject.
That is the root of all fairytales including religion.
It comes down to controlling what someone says they honestly believe in and therefore justify their action.
Blair BELIEVED in WMD for instance. Or he said he did. Being an evil wizard he has plainly shown to be casting his word spells.
I am actually inclined to rush to the dark side of Chinese future by b’s list! 🙂 thanks MoA for another revelation.

Posted by: D.G. | Oct 11 2021 21:22 utc | 55

Thanks b: beautifully done and a compelling tsunami of evidence that the MSM are fed keywords, etc.
I note that in the infantile Marvel movie ‘Justice League’ (eyes rolling…) the baddies from outer space are called ‘Darkseid’. Hollywood and the CIA scraping the bottom of the barrel.
While I’m ranting: there is a special place in hell reserved for those responsible for infantile misspellings of words. It seems unique to US consumer capitalism though I may be wrong.

Posted by: Patroklos | Oct 11 2021 21:28 utc | 57

@ karlof1 | Oct 11 2021 20:18 utc | 40.. lol.. yes! i have been listening to too many dark horse podcasts!!

Posted by: james | Oct 11 2021 22:07 utc | 59

Woogs @52:
Oh I noticed your China-complimentary stance in your post. I wasn’t accusing you of demeaning China. I was merely pointing out the fallacy of US politicians clinging to the narrative that USA made China over the past 40 years.
Yes America traded with China and both benefitted, as it should be. But America did not single out China to make these trade so that China would grow. America thought it was making the best deal. And it was. If not for Chinese products lining shelves of Walmart, K-Mart, Target, Home Depot, the working and middle class couldn’t have bought all that low cost appliances and household goods to maintain the ‘American standard of living’. John Cleary above said that 4 Waltons made China, LOL! How come he didn’t see that China made the 4 Waltons?
Actually I think your post #15 was a great post. I wouldn’t have followed up with a post in response if I didn’t think it was great.

Posted by: Oriental Voice | Oct 11 2021 22:22 utc | 61

Oriental Voice @30 is 100% correct when he says: “China did it despite the West.”
China has been the most productive country in the world for thousands of years in human history (e.g. It is a country with < 10% of world arable land but supports 20% of world population.) Whatever the US or the West do/don’t do, will not change the ultimate return to normal. John Cleary@50 and Woogs@52 are typical sour losers from the West. Just look at the figures, see how UNIMPORTANT US investment is to China. Hong Kong 72.1% Singapore 3.6% Virgin Islands 3.0% South Korea 2.8% Japan 2.4% USA 2.0% Cayman Islands 1.6% Netherlands 1.6% Taiwan 1.3% Germany 1.1% https://santandertrade.com/en/portal/establish-overseas/china/foreign-investment
Also, look at the figures of where US actually invest, see little US invest in China compares with other. (Countries with highest direct investment position received from the United States in 2019(in billion U.S. dollars, on a historical-cost basis)
Netherlands 860
UK 851
Luxembourg 766
Canada 402
Ireland 355
Singapore 288
Bermuda 262
Switzerland 229
Australia 162
Germany 148
Japan 132
China 116
https://www.statista.com/statistics/188806/top-15-countries-for-united-states-direct-investments/
Furthermore, most of the manufacturing that being invested in China are not really the state of art technology from US and the west. For example, Intel invested in China, but their factories there were at least 1 or 2 generations behind those in US. Apple assembles iPhone in China because those are “relatively” low tech. It keeps its state of the art R&D in US. Same for Boeing, HP, Google,… They bring technologies to China only when they know China already, or is close to achieve at those technological level. They seldom, if ever, helps China to leapfrog technological gaps. Most high tech CEOs are NOT stupid, they know China is a potential competitor, and they clearly understand the potential of China, if not in the 1960s, but at least by 1990s.
Additionally, there are many historical events when US and the West tried to sanction, isolate and slow down Chinese progress in science and engineering research. For example CoCOM (link below) imposed the strictest limit for China:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coordinating_Committee_for_Multilateral_Export_Controls
Even today, you can still see there are efforts to technologically isolate China. For example, US vetod China from participating in the International Space Station. Obama also banned Intel from selling chips for China’s supercomputer projects. Trump’s efforts to kill Huawei is just the latest high profile one that fits the historical pattern.
So, no, China is here (in trade, tech) not because of the imaginary Western helps or tech “transfer”, but despite of the West’s efforts.

Posted by: d dan | Oct 11 2021 22:34 utc | 63

What the Anglo-zionist propaganda outlets don’t realize is that they are revealing their own dark side. They are projecting their own denied dark self onto a convenient other.

Posted by: Ali | Oct 11 2021 23:39 utc | 65

@Oriental Voice 60:
It was your first sentence in post 30 To say China’s development and nascent prosperity is America’s creation is a laughable stretch that prompted my reply in post 52. Perhaps our focus is just different and not all that far apart. China was undoubtedly on the rise already, but it was the West’s inaction within the WTO that accelerated it to the degree it achieved. There is no way to look at that inaction as anything other than deliberate.
In any case, we are living with the results of that inaction today.

Posted by: Woogs | Oct 11 2021 23:57 utc | 67

If you want to really understand the “Dark Side of China” ck out the writings of Wang Huning a member of the CCP’s seven man Politburo Standing Committee, particularly his 1991 book “American against America.” (see recent article of N.S.Lyons on this individual in the paywalled newletter Palladium)
Wang’s analysis of what was wrong with American society (after spending a great deal of time visiting more than 30 cities in the U.S.) was that “… America faces an unstoppable undercurrent of crisis…” and that he appeared intent on making sure that this type of crisis would never occur in China itself.
After his exposure to what he saw as the dissolution of the U.S. Wang became interested in blending Marxist socialism with traditional Chines Confucian values in order to synthesize a new basis for Chinese long-term stability and growth, immune from his reading of where Western liberalism was leading– to the collapse of the American value system and then to its social system.
Hence the recent Chinese campaigns against the complete commercialization of Chinese society in order to head off threats from the dark side to its own social order.

Posted by: Gulag | Oct 12 2021 0:25 utc | 69

Oriental Voice
No, you misunderstand me.
I said that Walmart had sold its share of the US consumer market.
In capitalism, market share is the most prized of all assets.
With the Walmart arrangement manufacturers immediately gained economies of scale and moved towards the position of the low cost producer.
In return four members of the Walton family joined the hall of fame.
It was a business transaction.
Was I wrong?

Posted by: John Cleary | Oct 12 2021 0:42 utc | 71

The translations I posted at my VK Space, Developing a Chinese Discourse: A Roundtable Discussion with Zhang Weiwei and Fan Yongpeng” and “An Interview With Zhang Weiwei: The Success of the Chinese System is the Greatest Fear of the West” make good counter-points to all these Chinese Dark Sides. Chinese are human, so they’re capable of having faults, but their fundamental philosophy is to aim for virtue, something the collective West cannot claim.

Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 12 2021 0:52 utc | 73

Patroklos @ 56:
Darkseid is a character in the DC Comics universe – the universe of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern and their friends who make up the Justice League – not the Marvel Comics universe.
I read Wonder Woman comics in the late 1980s when George Perez was artist / writer. I stopped reading them after he stopped writing for the character and other writers took over. That is how I became familiar with the Darkseid character. He was originally Superman’s enemy.
Though I won’t be surprised, given that DC Comics and Marvel Comics must be fast losing their core comic-reading audiences (to judge from the annual retconning of all their major characters), that one day the two will have to merge and then combine all their characters into the one humongous and overcrowded superhero universe.

Posted by: Jen | Oct 12 2021 1:23 utc | 75

Problem with western people when they watch star wars movies , they picture themselves (and their govt) as the good guys when in reality US / NATO is more akin to the Empire led by dark force wielding siths on top of their leadership ladder..
decades of insane level of propaganda “we are the good guys” since the time of brutal colonization by europeans , founding of america by native genocide and slavery , and yet majority of the west still think they are on the right path in front of God or whatever moral deity they believed.
americans have the gall to keep saying “God bless america” when they should humble themselves and ask for forgiveness for america since just like the powerful niniveh it will be destroyed unless they repent (fat chance americans will repent)
destruction of america is imminent , either by natural forces or by other nations that will be used as “Hammer” to destroy the modern Babylon..
remember , this america is the nation that breed people like Col P Lang who on his blog calling for Nuke strike on china while pooh poohing “few millions” casualties on US side.. and this guy still think he is devout religiois catholic…

Posted by: deap | Oct 12 2021 1:40 utc | 77

on memes: the recent moves by china to regulate the tech titans in their data mining and monopolistic practices are invariably described as “crackdowns” by the MSM, hitting on the totalitarian meme. even bland financial reporting about prosaic rules will have china “cracking down” when it’s simply doing what governments are supposed to do, namely，governance.
aside from the neoliberal bias (governance is interfering with the ‘invisible hand’), and the standardized anti-china propaganda, I see also a latent bigotry towards the global south and Chinese in particular: they are supposed to be passive prey to imperial machinations and the movement of capital, such that any resistance is them being uppity. not knowing their place.
I see this bigotry in chas freeman, as well. retired from the US foreign service , he still gives many speeches at IR programs and I follow his lectures and speeches regularly on his website. to be clear, I have great respect for the man, for acumen and accomplishments and quality as a human being. but he has since the trump era been repeatedly describing the Chinese foreign service as aggressive and combative, and even has repeated the ‘wolf warrior’ meme against them.
they are strident to be sure, but freeman seems to not be able to stand the fact that Chinese are talkng back. as if they are supposed to just sit there and silently take the lies and brazen slander that is thrown at them, to sit there while hybrid war is waged against them. even freeman can’t stand the fact that thet have a voice that doesn’t slavishly say Yes Sir, Yes Master. that’s how the rules based order is supposed to work. we set the rules (and the punishments), and you just comply.
the ‘dark side’ is when the slaves riot. except china is not a Haiti that can be put down. or should i say ‘cracked down’ on?

Posted by: mastameta | Oct 12 2021 2:06 utc | 79

Well b, why don’t you live in China and see how you would like that? Try keeping your social credit score up and your life complying with what your masters decree. No thanks.
In China you’d probably be locked up and have your organs harvested for hosting this blog if you said anything significant against the government. That’s why China is “dark”, as in evil.
I lived and worked in China 2003-2006. No one’s organs were harvested during my sojourn there.
Furthermore, life in China was pleasant, and utterly interesting. My Chinese hosts went out of their way to ensure we had a good time. They organized tours to Juizhaigo, and Guilin, for example.
I have seen videos taken by the current residents of those places I knew. The changes are monumental. For example, Shenzhen during my visit, had no buildings higher than 20 stories. I lived in one. Now, downtown Shenzhen is dominated by buildings approaching the highest in the world.
Those here should think as to why NATO has chosen NOW to focus on the Chinese bogeyman… It is to distract their populations from domestic failures at home…
Exactly how will this obviate your experience’s to come during this winter?? Will it fill your belly with non-existent food?? your furnace with non-existent fuel?? your vehicle with non-existent fuel? non-existent energy to charge it??
INDY

Posted by: George W Oprisko | Oct 12 2021 2:32 utc | 81

@ a courageous “anonymous” who just wrote :
“Well b, why don’t you live in China and see how you would like that? Try keeping your social credit score up and your life complying with what your masters decree. No thanks. ?”.
I have lived my first 30 years in Europe and I have also spent some 10 years in the US. But I’m living in China since the beginning of the nineties because it is where I feel the freest on earth…
Dear anonymous Western propaganda may have convinced you that “In China you’d probably be locked up and have your organs harvested for hosting this blog if you said anything significant against the government. That’s why China is “dark”, as in evil.”
But did you verify if your dark thinking has any bearing with the reality on the ground ? I can attest that China offers a level of governance that is thousands of years ahead of Western societal governance. Covid-19 has definitely proved that.
Once you have lived the real impact, in daily life, of China’s governance I can assure you that you discover a level freedom that is unattainable in the West. But if you come with your Western ignorance and want to impose your views you will definitely get in trouble. And rightfully so.

Posted by: laodan | Oct 12 2021 3:09 utc | 83

Laura Roslin | Oct 11 2021 18:23 utc | 23
Surprised to see the BBC being so defensive. Looks like they are losing their confidence.

Posted by: jiri | Oct 12 2021 4:27 utc | 85

William Gruff | Oct 11 2021 20:51 utc | 45:

The TV show [Foundation], for fans of Isaac Asimov or science-fiction, does seem to deviate from the novel(s)…”
Of course! It is the “woke” version, as all entertainment media is expected to be today.

A bit off-topic, but the Foundation stories (it’s a series of stories) were based/inspired by Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, only set in space. To simplify a bit, Gibbon blamed the decline and fall on the influence of Christianity, so it doesn’t seem unreasonable to portray the decline and fall of a future empire on the influence of wokeness.
And it doesn’t take too much effort to see the portrayal of the decline and fall of a future galactic empire as a metaphor for the decline and fall of a modern-day empire.
It may turn out to be the most prophetic show on tv.

Posted by: Kukulkan | Oct 12 2021 5:36 utc | 87

The Chinese are the designated Bad Guys. No matter what they do, there must be something bad about it. Simple as that.

Posted by: RoHa | Oct 12 2021 6:52 utc | 89

@Laodan 81
Absolutely agree. I have been visiting China since 2007, and last year succeeded in getting a residence permit, I have been settled in Shenzhen for over a year. I read about the misgovernment in the U.K. with a certain degree of schadenfreude ever since. The response of government here to Covid has been an absolute revelation. So much nonsense is written in the MSM about the yoke of authoritarianism but people live their lives oblivious to the supposed burden. I simply would not wish to live anywhere else and certainly not in my home country which is simply falling to pieces.

Posted by: DoctorK | Oct 12 2021 7:36 utc | 91

James Corbett following Anthony Sutton sees the dark side of the global elite, sitting in New York, Washington, Seattle, the Bay Area, London, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Beijing, Paris, Frankfurt etc.
A monopoly in one nation wasn’t enough for them; wars can be adventitious for them, rich & autocratic peace too.

Posted by: Antonym | Oct 12 2021 8:02 utc | 93

By talking about “the dark side”, they are indirectly admitting there is also a “bright side”.
I rarely see them writing about the dark side of predatory capitalism, not even the bright side – if there ever was one – because then they would have to admit the existence of a dark side. Therefore, capitalism is per definition always “good”, and a part of just how things are.

Posted by: Limert | Oct 12 2021 9:38 utc | 95

karlof1 @ 72
Yes.  And I think the same thing can be said of their economic progress.
Michael Hudson’s Chinese colleague Wen Tiejun documents this well in ‘Ten Crises: The Political Economy of China’s Development (1949-2020)’
some examples:
‘On 31 October 2013, six major central banks, the USA, Japan, UK, EU, Canada and Switzerland formed a long-term currency swap agreement, with the US Federal Reserve at its core.  It constituted a dynamic swapping network among the core countries, a vital institutional adjustment for financial capitalism’
‘The Renminbi exchange rate reform on 11 August 2015 was regarded as the start of a devaluation cycle. Since then China had to engage repeatedly in the foreign exchange and financial markets to deal with the attempts to sell short the Renminbi by international investments funds’
‘In December 2016, the Central Economic Work Conference put forth the stance that ‘houses are for people’s accommodation, not for speculation”
—————-
As is well known, derivatives are a big problem in the current financial system.  Exchange rate derivatives are very common.  Some are useful to protect legitimate transactions from large exchange rate swings.  Unfortunately though the vast majority are used for speculation.

Posted by: financial matters | Oct 12 2021 10:56 utc | 97

“are inevitably called into action in order to reinforce their corresponding superstructure”
Errata: should read
“are inevitably called into action in order to reinforce their corresponding understructure”
I also slipped a couple of times and said “infrastructure” anyways.
My Bad.

Posted by: Misotheist | Oct 12 2021 11:51 utc | 99