la bouteille @73
First, Macron was invited by Xi/Chinese government while VDL forced herself to the Sino-French meeting. It was made crystal clear by the statement/spokeperson of Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Macron was “invited by President Xi” while VDL was after the “discussion of both sides” (EU-China).
Secondly, VDL as a party crasher lacks of the basic etiquette by threatening China regarding Ukraine/Russia conflicts and regurgitating the bold-faced propaganda tropes (Xing Jiang, human rights, blah, blah) in her speech just before her departure.
So, what did she expect then from China?!
Thanks to Charle de Gaulle, France recognized Pepple’s Republic of China in 1964, which China and Chinese leaders would never forget. That’s why Macron got the highest diplomatic celebration, and Airbus inked a deal of 160 aircrafts during this trip.
During his trip to Guangdong, Xi even suggested to Macron that he could stay at the former residence of his father if Macron would have stayed longer in Guangdong. Macron was also invited to give a speech at famous Sun Yat-sen University (also known as Zhongshan University: 中山大学), where he got warm welcome by the students.
What’s remarkable is a 1267-old Gu Qin (a string instrument) called 九霄环佩(Jiu Xiao Huan Pei), one of four surviving Chinese Gu Qin also called Fu Xi Qin, was brought out and played for Macron at the welcome ceremony. This Gu Xin had been once played by one of the most famous and beloved Chinese poets 苏轼(Su Shi) and famous general 郭子仪(Guo Ziyi) from Tang Dynasty.
苏轼(Su Shi) even wrote a poem after playing it: “蔼蔼春风细，琅琅环珮音。垂帘新燕语，苍海老龙吟。”
This 九霄环佩(Jiu Xiao Huan Pei) was made in 756 AD, about the same time (754) when Pépin III, the first king of the Frankish Carolingian dynastyand the father of Charlemagne, became the first Frankish king to be anointed by Pope Stephen III.
This is how thoughtful and how far a civilised country would do to welcome her important guests.
Details of the Gu Qin 九霄环佩.(1’34, you’ll see the seals/words from 郭子仪(Guo Ziyi)’s descent and 苏轼(Su Shi) to show their possession and appreciation of this Gu Qin.)

Posted by: lulu | Apr 10 2023 16:18 utc | 103

Posted by: lulu | Apr 10 2023 16:18 utc | 103
Thank you. That is very interesting. It says a lot about the governments attitude towards its cultural heritage. We miss so much when we don’t respect the past.
It does seem to have made some sort of impression on M. Macron too.

Posted by: Bemildred | Apr 10 2023 16:30 utc | 105

On Macron’s China visit: IMO, his response must be seen within the perspective of the Eurofascism being imposed by the Outlaw US Empire and the great resistance to it being shown by the French. Macron knows he’s very close to being ousted; the recent poll showing Le Pen’s dominance has made him tack to a nationalist position. But that won’t be nearly enough to satisfy the French who correctly see him as Vichy revised and more important see the EU/NATO for what it is–a Fascist organization differing little from Hitler’s. As myself and other writers have shown, France’s economic future and its populace’s wellbeing are tied to Eurasia, not the Atlantic, a fact the French know too. To overtly contest the Outlaw US Empire China policy was a very smart political move by Macron as it aids him domestically, but IMO that won’t be enough.

Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 10 2023 17:14 utc | 107

@AG | Apr 10 2023 15:02 utc | 98
Firstly, anarchism means to some extent, whatever you want it to be, but it originated, as best we know, in Greece and China independently, where in both societies, multiple people rejected the right of groups to employ coercion,and recognising that societies are necessarily coercive, concluding that societies are inherently unethical. From this, it received the name ápxóç (arkhós), often translated as “ruler”, but literally meaning “source” or “beginning”, prefixed by áν (án-), “not or without”, meaning “without a souce” or “without a ruler”, as used e.g. during the Year of Thirty Tyrants, 404 BCE, when there was no archon. Meanwhile, politics, which in Greece at the time involved city states, originated as Πολιτικά (politiká), meaning ‘affairs of the cities’, applying to the management of activities in which social groups engage. So anarchy is literally an absence of a ruler, but it started off as a rejection of coersion, which can be a left or right activity. In the US, terrified by nihilists, it has retained the sense with which it entered modern English in the 1600s from middle French of “without order”, “confusion”, “chaos”or “absence of authority in general” which it possessed prior to 1849, when it was used by the French political philosopher Pierre-Joseph Proudhon to describe a social theory advocating “order without power,” proposing that associations and co-operatives could replace existing systems of government, long before, “state and central Bolshevik government” existed.
Secondly you are completely wrong about Stalin, who not only wrote about direct democracy, but twice offered to resign and was ultimately murdered by the Ukrainian communist party bosses over his intention to extend direct democracy from the local level to replace the “revolutionary government of the people striving towards communism” ruling the USSR with actual communism (where the people own and control the means of production which requires direct rather than representative democracy).
I’d need a citation to discuss your allegations about Stalin congratulating Churchill, whom Stalin referered to as a “warmonger”.
“Same with some segments of Hungarian uprising in 1956 or Prague.
Stalin was of course aware of this.”
Stalin was murdered in 1953. He had an autopsy. His brain was removed and stored in the Brain Institute in Moscow. I find it incredible that he was aware of anything in 1956.
Chomsky is a liberal, captured by the Democrats to the extent that he even told people to vote for the far right No-Hope Obama, oligarch Hildemort and Senile Joe, and a deep disappointment. That tells you everything you need to know about Chomsky.

Posted by: Hermit | Apr 10 2023 19:12 utc | 109

The damage is astounding. The blanket whitewash/blackout is even more astonishing.
Posted by: Grieved | Apr 10 2023 2:11 utc | 69
Somewhat astounding, maybe.
Because of course the worse the numbers get, the less about them will be said. Which is normal, not astounding.
What is astounding is how hard wired we all are, even malcontents, to sensing what the official narrative is and thus projecting that as ‘reality’. It’s quite a mutual production…
Posted by: Scorpion |

Posted by: Scorpion | Apr 10 2023 20:50 utc | 111

@Jo Dominich | Apr 10 2023 14:30 utc | 96
I don’t actually have the time to perform a “Fisking” like this these days, but your wrong-minded attitude appears so common on this board that correcting it in detail is probably a necessary public service.
“The thing is there is too far too much emphasis on ‘Rights’ and very little on ‘Responsibilities. The world ‘inclusion’ is bandied around by Govts as necessary. However, there is nothing ‘inclusive’ about this strategy it is, in essence, extremely divisive.”
What is divisive is when a bunch of oligarchs use wedge issues to persuade the weak of intellect to accept that some people, including children, do not deserve the same consideration, respect, dignity and rights as others. Tell me ehat “responsibility” makes it necessary for bullying to cause eight out of 10 trans youth in the UK to self-harm, and over half to attempt suicide? Do you see bullying as a responsibility that should ne enforced, these children’s rights as optional, or something else?
“I am ok with giving the minorities in society their right to voice their views and opinions.”>
You are so generous! At least, until you say, “however”, an equivalent to “but”. As Sandor Clegane no(the Hound), younger brother of Ser Gregor Clegane tells Tyrion Lannister, his brother said to him in Game of Thrones, “nothing somebody tells you before the word ,’but’ really counts.” “However”, as soon as you feel somewhat offended, you want to justify eliminating “their right”, and a “right” which is conditional is not a “right” at all. Particularly when it is dependent on not hurting people’s feelings, which, as you demonstrate so well, is all but impossible in this hypersensitive age.
“However, what I’m not o.k. with is that this is being heavily promoted to children 6yrs of age and upwards in schools as a good lifestyle.
That’s good, because that is not what is happening. Children are being taught the reality that all gender is a continuum, and that no position on that spectrum is inferior or superior. It is just how people are, depending on genetics, epigenetics, possibly environmental factors, as well as company and time. This offends people insecure about their own gender alignment, possibly imagining that it is a “choice” because of that, and insisting on teaching people to hate those who are different. Orvperhaps it is causes by bigotry instilled by their religion or their upbringing. That still does not justify the denial of the rights of those who are different.
“Children of this age do not and should not have sexual identities, they are innocent children.”
I have news for you. You have a sexual identity from when you are born, sometimes before you take your first drink or shit, because birth, a process many people have experienced, involves floods of endorphins which pass through the placenta. and girls with swollen labia. Some are born with both. Sexuality is not something that happens when you come of age. Apparently you have been grievously misinformed your whole life.
Perhaps what you meant to say is that children should not be sexualized. Think about the fact that children grew up in one room crofts until the 1960s, often sleeping in the same beds as their parents. And yet, women tended to have many children until we had access to reliable contraception, and safe access to abortion when it failed. Presumably they made babies the same way as everything else does. People lived closer to nature then, and must have grown up with the examples of animals before them. Presumably children were as curious about this as children are today. Were those children sexualized? Was it good or bad? How about the children fondled, fiddled or fucked by their priests or bishops? Was that sexualization? If so was it better or worse than what schools are teaching to save young lives? You do know that conservatives in late 19th Century London resisted attempt to control prostitution, when “eight year old whores could be had for the price of a pork pie”, in much the way you are arguing now? Were they wrong to try to prevent the sexualization of children then, or are you wrong trying to preserve bullying today?
On a personal note, I made sure my daughter had access to our medical and sexually explicit library from the time she knew to wash her hands before touching books or herself, and she understood more about sexuality and gender before she was ten than you seem to do now. Because we never made an issue of it, she accepted the information as she accepted any other knowledge – and when she chose to attend school, was a far more reliable source of information to her peers than playground rumors. She is now an independent young lady and comfortable with herself and others. But she does get annoyed at hypocrisy and bigotry and would probably not remain as calm as I have here, in the face of an adult advocating policies that harm children.
“It is social and very close to genetic engineering.”
LOL! Apparently the society in which you live not only requires corrective action and anti-bigotry and bullying education, but also better education of what constitutes genetics (those genes you inherit from your parents, which work with epigenetics to determine how your genes are expressed).
“Thank God the Tavistock Institute here in the UK was forced to shut down
You appear to be wrong about this. See their website at https://www.tavinstitute.org.
“allegedly ‘treating’ children as young as 6yrs for Gender dysmorphia.
Studies (e.g. A HREF=”https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2762788″>Zaliznyak, Michael; Bresee, Catherine; Garcia, Maurice M.(2020-03-16). Age at First Experience of Gender Dysphoria Among Transgender Adults Seeking Gender-Affirming Surgery. JAMA Netw Open. 2020;3(3):e201236. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.1236) reflect that the majority of transgender patients experience gender dysphoria in early childhood (before 7), and that untreated gender dysphoria can result in poor quality of life for transgender people, beginning in childhood and lasting throughout adolescence and adulthood. So treatment and normalization are both critical. That said, nobody but an appropriately qualified and licensed medical professional can treat, let alone diagnose any condition, particulary a complex condition involving genetics, epigenetics and possibly the environment
like gender dysmorphia. Which is far more prevalent, particularly in children, especially in gender-coercive societies that do not simply acknowledge peoples’ differences and move on, than the public, and even uneducated professionals tend to understand. At my daughter’s high school, with under 1000 children, not on the buckle of the US bible-belt, but a little South and backwards, so to speak, there were at least 10 to 15 non-binary children and three more that committed suicide before that age. I have known two of them since before entering school, elementary school when they self-identified as non-binary. Fortunately, their perfectly normal parents eventually understood and supported them. That was in an environment was supportive, but the general public was not. So I’m fairly certain that despite these “allegations” that the Tavistock Institute had appropriate clinical support, and if clinic providing services to children who are at risk and need assistance, depriving them of support is closed down, it will be a disservice to children, the parents relatives and friends of those who commit suicide, and ultimately, to society forced to deal with disturbed adults because children were denied appropriate support.
” Were it not hammered in schools, these children wouldn’t have these issues.
Bullahit. The prevalence of suicide in the non-binary community where support is not provided proves your statement to be a lie. Did you come up with it yourself, or were you simple-minded enough to accept it from somebody else?
“When any Govt or Nation gives overt, constant coverage and preference to views of the minorities over and above the rest of the population it is a recipe for the collapse of the nation. I cannot remember the full original quote but it is very apposite.
Funny. That’s not how I see it. I see people who do not know that they have non-binary relatives being terrorized about something that will not affect them ot their children, but if it does they would rather their children or the children of others commit suicide rather than have to wonder if they did something wring or be exposed to the non-binary, and, I see people who care about children trying to protect them from people like this.
Which group do you imagine makes better neighbors?
Highly trained medical and educational personnel tend to care about people, particularly children, or they probably would not be in the jobs they are in. Which is why the vast majority support providing children the help they need and to prevent bullying. What qualifications and evidence do you have, causing you to reject their evidence based conclusions? If the answer is “none”, please ask yourself why you believe as you do, and consider the idea that you may have been propagandized by “constant coverage and” alleged “preference” by people with an agenda.

Posted by: Hermit | Apr 10 2023 21:49 utc | 113

@Scorpion | Apr 10 2023 20:50 utc | 111
All competent propagandists, and the oligarchs own most of them, are fully aware that if you can get people to invest in something ahead of evidence, then it will take a very unusual person who can ignore the cognitive dissonance and change their minds.
Which is why parties and politicians seek your commitment, through push-polling, social media and the OMM (Oligarch Managed Media), long before they begin their visible campaigns (in the US largely against their opponents – they know that in the end the undecided will vote for whoever they perceive as the least worse, or not vote at all, either of which suits them just fine).This way they build support for the oligarch controlled systema long before alternatives can afford to attempt to raise alternatives.

Posted by: Hermit | Apr 10 2023 22:10 utc | 115

It does seem to have made some sort of impression on M. Macron too.
Posted by: Bemildred | Apr 10 2023 16:30 utc | 105
———————————————————————-
Could be!
Forgot to mention the name of the music played with this 1267-old 九霄环佩(Jiu Xiao Huan Pei) Gu Qing is called 高山流水 (Gao Shan Liu Shui: High Mountain and Flowing Water).
高山流水 (Gao Shan Liu Shui) is centrury-old Chinese classical literary allusion, which means 知音 (Zhi Yin: soul-mate, friends who is appreciative of each other’s talents, and it is very hard to find such friends/soul mates.)
This story says a man called 伯牙(Bo Ya), a well-known muscian from 春秋时代 (Chun Qiu Shi Dai: Spring and Autumn Period, approximately from 770 BCE to 481 BCE), was staying over at the port of Hanyang, part of Wuhan today, on his way to pay a visit to his family at the evening of Mid-Autumn Festival (August 15th of Chinese Calendar, 中秋节Zhong Qiu Jie, one of the four most important traditonal Chinese festivals).
Not being able to be united with his family on 中秋节(Zhong Qiu Jie), 伯牙(Bo Ya) took out his Gu Qin starting to play. Someone on the shore applauded loudly after his play. 伯牙(Bo Ya) looked out and saw a logger standing on the shore, wearing rain cape made of staw with an axe in hand.
The logger was called 锺子期(Zhong Ziqi)
伯牙(Bo Ya) couldn’t believe a logger understood his music so he invited 锺子期(Zhong Ziqi) to his boat. 伯牙(Bo Ya)started to play a piece of music “Ode to the High Mountain“. After hearing it, 锺子期(Zhong Ziqi) told him that he could see the high mountain from his music. Then 伯牙(Bo Ya) played another “Ode to the Flowing Water“. After hearing it, 锺子期(Zhong Ziqi) told him that he could feel the flowing water from his music.
伯牙(Bo Ya) was very happy and impressed by 锺子期(Zhong Ziqi)’s deep understanding of his music, and regarded 锺子期(Zhong Ziqi) as his soul mate. So they stayed at his boat drinking wine and talking about the music.
They made an appointment that they’d see each on next Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节(Zhong Qiu Jie).
The next August 15 came 伯牙(Bo Ya) to see 锺子期(Zhong Ziqi) but he didn’t show up. The next day 伯牙(Bo Ya) went out to look for him and met the father of 锺子期(Zhong Ziqi). He told him that 锺子期(Zhong Ziqi) had died several months ago. The father mentioned that 锺子期(Zhong Ziqi) told him that he and 伯牙(Bo Ya) had an appointment to meet up on this Mid-Autumn Festival.
伯牙(Bo Ya) was deeply saddened by the loss of his soul mate. He went to 锺子期(Zhong Ziqi)’s tomb, played a piece of sad music and cried out: “You’re gone. Noboday is going to understand my music. What’s the point of playing music?!” He then smashed his Gu Qin and never played music again.
Till today 高山流水(Gao Shan Liu Shui) is used to describe a hard-to-find soul mate/friendship.
This story of 高山流水(Gao Shan Liu Shui) was recorded in 《列子》(“Lie Zi”), which was written in 战国时代 ( Warring States Period 476 BCE to 221 BCE).
<--- This site seems not to allow me to post Chinese link here. Sorry you have to bear with my translation.

Posted by: lulu | Apr 10 2023 22:33 utc | 117

<--- This site seems not to allow me to post Chinese link here. Sorry you have to bear with my translation. Posted by: lulu | Apr 10 2023 22:33 utc | 117 Thank you for taking the trouble, I do appreciate it. A subtle story, that the soulmate is a logger, that they meet only once, I will think about it. It is indeed a problem, especially for someone with such a refined skill, to find someone who can appreciate it. Chinese stories have a sensibility of their own, I think.

Posted by: Bemildred | Apr 10 2023 23:11 utc | 119

@119 Bemildred | Apr 10 2023 23:11 utc
Amarynth takes the lesson of this story to mean this:

In other words, friendship must be real, and must be practical and rhetoric will not suffice.
– Macron visits China

~~
It does occur to me that France is one-fifh of the crucial votes on the UN Security Council. Will the day ever come that France abandons its 3-2 coalition with UKUS against RF and PRC, and crosses the aisle? That would be a day indeed.

Posted by: Grieved | Apr 10 2023 23:23 utc | 121

Posted by: Hermit | Apr 10 2023 21:49 utc | 113
So where does exposing children to Drag shows and Gay Parades fit in all that? Just a part of growing up? Shame on you parents who sit back and laugh while exposing small children to that shit!

Posted by: nathan in WA US | Apr 11 2023 0:43 utc | 123

Piotr Berman | Apr 10 2023 23:20 utc | 120
An interesting saying is that in the west you can change the politicians but cannot change the policy, whereas in China, you cannot change to politicians/party, but you can change the policy.
China leadership has a mandate from the people because they listen to the people. Russia is very similar in that sense. At the time of mobilization there was some issues and Putin said all the people must be heard.
This what is called democracy in the west is lipstick on a pig, makeup on an old whore.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 11 2023 1:04 utc | 125

Well it looks the link to my VK page goes through. Links to the original appear to be censored but there is a link in my linked page where I have copy and pasted the transcript.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 11 2023 1:18 utc | 127

About gender medicine for children and the Economist’s article
Psychologists and doctors are not the solution, they are part of the problem.
I highly recommend reading a Rolling Stone article, The True Story of John/Joan:
https://web.archive.org/web/20000815095602/http://www.pfc.org.uk/news/1998/johnjoan.htm
It tells the story of how Dr John Money managed to impose the idea that gender is a purely social construct, lying about the results of the treatment of a child born a boy, operated on and treated as a girl.
It is fascinating to see how easily psychologists have been able to build their reputation by falsifying or inventing the results of their treatments (see Richard Webster, Why Freud Was Wrong, 1995; Richard Pollak, The Creation of Dr. B: A Biography of Bruno Bettelheim, 1997).

Posted by: Leuk | Apr 11 2023 2:14 utc | 129

I am reading two ZH pieces about the Marco China trip and what he said on the way back to France
Quotes

While speaking with reporters aboard COTAM Unité, France’s Air Force One, the French President said that the “great risk” facing Europe right now is that it “gets caught up in crises that are not ours, which prevents it from building its strategic autonomy.”
“We are in a jungle and we have two big elephants trying to become more and more nervous,” he said.
“If they become very nervous and start a war, it will be a big problem for the rest of the jungle. You need the cooperation of a lot of other animals, tigers, monkeys and so on,” added Macron.
“The paradox would be that, overcome with panic, we believe we are just America’s followers,” said Macron. “The question Europeans need to answer … is it in our interest to accelerate [a crisis] on Taiwan? No. The worse thing would be to think that we Europeans must become followers on this topic and take our cue from the U.S. agenda and a Chinese overreaction.”
……..
Macron suggested that Europe was too dependent on the United States for weapons and energy, and must now focus on boosting their own defense industries.
But perhaps most notable was his suggestion that Europe needs to reduce its dependence on the “extraterritoriality of the U.S. dollar,” a line which both Moscow and Beijing have been emphasizing.
“If the tensions between the two superpowers heat up … we won’t have the time nor the resources to finance our strategic autonomy and we will become vassals,” he said.

Russia, China, Iran and other countries have been hit by U.S. sanctions in recent years that are based on denying access to the dominant dollar-denominated global financial system. Some in Europe have complained about “weaponization” of the dollar by Washington, which forces European companies to give up business and cut ties with third countries or face crippling secondary sanctions.
While sitting in the stateroom of his A330 aircraft in a hoodie with the words “French Tech” emblazoned on the chest, Macron claimed to have already “won the ideological battle on strategic autonomy” for Europe. -Politico

I think this is significant in that it represents a lack of unity on empire versus China. While empire was able to force the EU into line over Ukraine, the EU has too much connection with China for that to be forced away by empire strategy.
I posit that China and Russia are more aligned than the parts of empire as this suggests and this wedge will grow into further isolation/breakup of empire.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Apr 11 2023 3:15 utc | 131

@128 Leuk | Apr 11 2023 2:14 utc – “Psychologists and doctors are not the solution, they are part of the problem.”
I agree completely.
The trend in transitioning comes from lack of knowledge about how the mind works. Psychologists today are still woefully behind the wisdom of the human race about its own nature, as perceived directly by the wise over the millennia.
So, to think that one is born in the wrong sex is as wrong as thinking that there is an anger inside that must be released, for example. Both errors come from an inadequate model of human nature – the primitive belief that we have an inner psychological “destiny” that should be fulfilled, if only all restraints could be removed.
One of the superstitions of science.
We contain within us many, many potentialities (and both masculine and feminine energies), and as we grow and age we tend to become more accomplished at using what we have been born with – so accomplished that we can also make diligent efforts to improve ourselves in ways we deem appropriate. We can change our behaviors, better our living conditions, become more healthy, adopt different lifestyles, and so on.
But at a young age, we can very easily be persuaded that certain ways of being are what call to us. In truth, there are many ways that can call to us – we are each of us a Steppenwolf movie inside ourselves – but only as we mature can we make sensible choices as to which siren calls to follow. We change naturally as we grow older, and it’s an imprisoning of the self – not a liberation – to follow radical changes that fix us too early in life, before we’ve actually made enough changes naturally, over time, to make mature decisions.
Gender reassignment of the young by older people is founded in ignorance, and furthered through degeneracy.

Posted by: Grieved | Apr 11 2023 3:31 utc | 133

MK Bhadrakumar: US flexes muscle in Persian Gulf, to no avail
A panicked US tries to insert itself into West Asia’s tsunami of political, economic, and diplomatic shifts, but is anybody listening?
https://thecradle.co/article-view/23503/us-flexes-muscle-in-persian-gulf-to-no-avail
Then there is this article in The Guardian (via http://www.defenddemocracy.press/three-years-on-there-is-a-new-generation-of-lockdown-sceptics-and-theyre-rewriting-history/“
“..serious studies find that lockdown succeeded on its own terms. For example, the early epidemiological studies of China’s lockdown found that it reduced the growth of cases and increased the doubling time of infections. An early cross-country analysis of lockdown found similar benefits. A study of lockdowns from 41 countries in the journal Science by a team of statisticians found that on average, every single non-pharmaceutical intervention (NPI) reduced infections. There were similar findings in Scandinavia. In the UK, a study found that lockdown reduced Covid-19 deaths by 86%. A recent study in England found that roughly 20,000 lives would have been saved had the first lockdown been introduced just a week earlier.
“Such findings are, of course, contested. A study by a group of economists in Chile suggested that most of the decline in infections was due to voluntary behaviour. And there was a high degree of uncertainty about the extent of the benefits ascertained by the Science study. Nor would making the epidemiological case prove that lockdowns were justified, as the costs could still be greater than the gains.
“After all, the costs of lockdown were enormous. The immediate economic crunch was the worst since 1709, and threatened severe industrial scarring. Although government interventions forestalled the worst of it, the cost was enormous: up to £410bn. And according to one study, depression and anxiety tripled during the peak of the first lockdown.
“However, the arguments made by lockdown sceptics don’t help anyone seriously committed to working through the trade-offs, because they consistently misstate the facts in order to minimise the disease. For example, Green and Fazi’s book, The Covid Consensus, claims that the average age of death for Covid-19 was higher than average life expectancy. The implication, which is widespread among lockdown sceptics, is that most of those who died were close to death anyway. But the Office for National Statistics tells us that the average age of death from Covid-19 was much lower than for flu or pneumonia. According to the Health Foundation, ONS data shows that each of the 146,000 people who died with Covid-19 in the first year of the pandemic lost an average of 10.2 years of life: a total of 1.4m years of life…”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/mar/23/lockdown-sceptics-history-academics-left-covid

Posted by: bevin | Apr 11 2023 3:31 utc | 135

Gender reassignment of the young by older people is founded in ignorance, and furthered through degeneracy.
Posted by: Grieved | Apr 11 2023 3:31 utc | 132
All of it an excellent comment. I found that I could not believe in any form of religion. There are both religion and very old philosophies. The Aboriginal people, one of the oldest human societies on earth had laws for social structure.
But all, religions, philosophies, aboriginal law are not the laws of man but the laws of nature.
A society cannot break these laws of nature and survive. China from what I have learned have philosophy rather than religion but even with the massive industrialization and urbanization, they have not forgotten the laws of nature.
Many Australian towns built on flood plains have been flooded over the past year. Some scream climate change. Well the climate has always changed but a flood plain is always a flood plain.
Just one of those laws of nature.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 11 2023 4:05 utc | 137

I heard…
that due to “truth in advertising” laws, Twitter was forced to paint over the “w” on the sign on its building…
and that due to the same laws…
Google was forced to paint over the “Go” on its sign.
/jk

Posted by: Dalit | Apr 11 2023 4:53 utc | 139

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 11 2023 3:33 utc | 135 I make typos myself, the topic is somber, but cosmetician was funny.
One pattern that occurs on this issue is a competition of strictness. For example, Holy Quran states that women should cover their jewels, but there is a consensus among Muslim theologians that this is an euphemism for something that could not be mentioned literally. And in some sects/school this is taken to extreme. Recognition of the rights of transgender people stems from an ideal of treating all people with dignity etc. But dignity for one person can impose indignity for another, and while some hermits go for the extreme, quarrels arise that divert people from thinking about humdrum issues like war or peace, safety, environment etc.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Apr 11 2023 5:02 utc | 141

Pyotr Berman | Apr 11 2023 5:02 utc | 140
I have not read the Quran. Something I would like to do but bit past that sort of reading now. I have read the bible a couple of times. In the Muslim world, the two sides of the coin, Islamic extremism (CIA), but also the personal honor and socialism.
In the christian wold we see the gospels and people like Juliana who comments here, but the other side of that coin is the crusader types.
How to retain critical thinking while maintaining empathy? How to retain empathy while critical thinking.
Those others I knew when I was flying. They all died. They fucked up and they died. I did not care about if I lived or died and the last year I wanted to die. That is something I always have trouble with. Those who wished to live died.
And the worst thing is they all flew like some sort of sweet little godmothers. I would get some stick shake at times and when landed would check out the blades. Tree sap and green shit from the leaves was the issue. Nothing a bit of elbow grease would not fix. But all those other poor fuckers that flew like old women died.
Ive gone a bit off script Pyotr. The things we think about…

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 11 2023 5:51 utc | 143

@Peter AU1 | Apr 11 2023 1:48 utc | 127
Tolerance is what happens with a vicious looking hound, while engaging it in diplomacy along the lines of “Nice doggie” as you urgently seek a suitable stone. When a rock is finally located, all pretence to toleration ends and diplomacy flies with the stone.
Cults are merely religions less resoundingly impressive than, and different to, your own.
I recommend you stop reading Murdock papers, apparently it rots the brain.
The bible is no more history than Harry Potter, in fact, Harry Potter has a better claim to realism, King’s Cross Station in London actually exists and can be visited. Sodom and Gomorrah, with or without a pillar of salt and rock people, never did, but we’re probably made up based on the ruins of cities already ancient by the time it was added to the narrative sometime after the Hebrews returned from exile clutching their recently created “scriptures” provided to them by the priests of Akkad. I do often wonder if the people who cite “Lot” as an example of a righteous man (as 2 Peter 2 does) living in a wicked place, would offer their virgin daughters to a randy crowd if they would stop banging on his door (as “Lot” supposedly did in Bereshit/Genesis 19:4-8), or would have sex with and knock up their apparently groomed daughters (as “Lot” also supposedly did in Bereshit/Genesis 19:30-38), and whether, in their opinion Lot was better or worse than the non-binary gender and sexually dysmorphic people they hate?
Shark people? Do you mean the animal burying fishermen of Moche or is this something to do with your fishy tale about aquatic cosmeticians?
Most ancient sites were abandoned after changes in climate or soil exhaustion, resulted in food shortages, or when disease or war decimated the population. Sexual and gender diversity has nothing to do with it, or most of the world would be devoid of humans, because practically every possible sexual practice has been practiced by many and condemned by some at one time or another. Even the Australian love of sheep has attracted raised eyebrows from time to time.
While the reality is that the “nice” christer children in an expensive private school were murdered by a transexual after non-binary children in the public school system in that state were thrown to the howling wolves of public opinion, according to the perspective you are articulating, these children must have done something pretty awful to bring such a tragic end upon themselves. Maybe they simply masturbated, their god thingies being so fixated on human sexual behavior – and church attendance. If god thingies die when their followers abandon them, as many authors have suggested, by now the christer god thingies must be extremely sick.
Women cannot generally compete directly with men in physical competition. In the 1960s with growing recognition that everyone, even women possessing human rights and deserving equality, society instituted classes of sports reserved for women. Now gender and sexually diverse people who take female hormones resulting in athletic performance matching their female sex, and women with high testosterone levels are being barred from participating in female events and forced to use male bathrooms despite looking like woman Other people taking male hormones and diaplaying secondary male sexual characteristics like beards are being forced to use women’s bathrooms. Both groups have experienced beatings and murder, by vicious bigots – but in both cases those perpetrating the assaults have been enabled by the “tolerant bigots” of very limited empathy and even lower intellect.
What do you propose to do to establish equality and reduce the murder and suicide rates for the gender and sexually diverse? If the answer is merely that you “tolerate” them, but you are not prepared to accommodate them or defend them, despite the fact that these rates show that they are far worse off than any other identifiable group outside, perhaps, of addicts, then consider whether you are possibly part of the problem. You certainly seem to be doing your best not to be part of the solution.

Posted by: Hermit | Apr 11 2023 6:31 utc | 145

Talking about snakes in the grass
Putting a new flood fence across the Paroo. Rolling up old netting on the flood plain to use as drops in the channels. I had dropped it down some time ago and when I rolled it up, dead grass and stuff was rolled up with it. I throw the roll on my shoulder, carry it along a bit and throw it near my vehicle.At that point the property owners were I lived rocks up and we start talking. he looks down and says something about a snake. Sure enough a snake/sdder has crawled out of the roll of netting I had carried on my shoulder.
I have seen plenty of snakes but that is the only adder I have seen. In the human dimension adders are snakes and snakes are snakes.
Woke hermit.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 11 2023 7:35 utc | 147

Were art though dear hermit. I am feeling in the mood for an argument. Bloody time zones. Though more likely Hermit The Woke is fluttering himself with a fan.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 11 2023 7:59 utc | 149

I would so much like to have a good argument with hermit the crab. Perhaps it will respond at wakey wakey time.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 11 2023 8:34 utc | 151

I need some references for a research. Seymour Hersh in his essay “How America Took Out The Nord Stream Pipeline” mention “a series of long-range listening sites inside China” that US Intelligence community lost access to. Any Barflie here with information about the origin of these long range radars, date of initiation and the period of operation during the cold war?
In the same essay, Hersh mention information delivered from “an unknown source” in 1971 that initiated operation “Ivy Bells”. Are we talking about Kissinger’s covert trip to Bejing in july 1971 and his meeting with Chou En-lai and Marshal Yeh Chien-ying as the source of the information about Soviet under water cable in the sea of Okhotsk?

Posted by: Framarz | Apr 11 2023 9:19 utc | 153

oooops that first line should be ONCE WERE friendlies.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 11 2023 9:21 utc | 155

One ring to rule them all, how & why chatGPT-4/5 came to rule the world;
Here we inquire the AI itself how it came to power, and why Woke Homo’s now rule the earth;
https://bilbobitch.substack.com/p/chatgpt-one-ring-to-rule-them-all

Posted by: paramacetol | Apr 11 2023 10:18 utc | 157

@Peter AU1 | Apr 11 2023 7:01 utc | 145
Yes, I do sleep from time to time.
Contrary to your assertions, “faggotry” is prevalent across most species, not just human, where sexual orientation depends on genetics and epigenetics to a rather ridiculous extent. For example, your probability of being homosexual is exponentially related to the number of male children your mother carried before you, so if you have multiple older brothers you are very likely inclined towards homosexuality. Apparently there were advantages to children in having a gay uncle or it would not have been selected over.
The record is replete with examples of tne gender continuum in animals, but search engines are more likely to find it for you if you use appropriate terminology rather than antediluvian slurs. For example, Bawagan,Juanita (2019-05-02). Scientists explore the evolution of animal homosexuality. Imperial College, London.
Coincidentally, we currently have Canadian Geese nesting on one of our lakes. Most unusually (Canadian Geese normally pair bond for life), one of the family groups for the last two years has had two males and a female, and we have watched them mating in multiple configurations including M1-F, M2-F and M1-M2. which would seem to be a conclusive rebuttal of your assertions.
While I usually enjoy engaging with you, , I’m going to leave the rest of your Gish Gallop alone. None of it is novel or unique, and, knowing that you are unlikely to change your mind and that a reply to you will have minimal didactic value to others, there is little point in my investing the excessive time, generating a posting the size of reply required for an effective response, particularly as I am painfully typing this on on a phone rather than on a computer.

Posted by: Hermit | Apr 11 2023 14:27 utc | 159

https://villekuosmanen.medium.com/i-played-chess-against-chatgpt-4-and-lost-c5798a9049ca
I played chess against ChatGPT-4 and lost!
…
The truth is, GPT-3 does not know how to play chess. Playing a game against it reveals its true nature as a stochastic parrot that merely produces a believable-sounding answer from its training set.
…
Final thoughts: THIS IS UNREAL!!!!!!!
I did not expect GPT-4 to be able to play chess, not to mention losing to it! ChatGPT played like a human: it lost a game by making mistakes in the opening and endgame, but won one through relentless attack. It also knew how to handle a slower, positional game, and a tight rook endgame.
GPT-4 did not make a single illegal move. In fact, it corrected me the few times I imputted a move wrong — though not at perfect accuracy either as I had to abandon a few games due to the mistakes I made in transcribing moves.
Computers have defeated humans before, but this time is different. It took ChatGPT three months to beat me at chess.
…
How long will it take until it can beat me at programming? Probably not months. But probably not centuries either.

Posted by: anon2020 | Apr 11 2023 15:08 utc | 161

Lavrov held a presser today after his meeting with Kazakhstan’s new FM Mikhail Nurtleu, which IMO was rather normal as you can judge from the Q&A:

Question: What areas will be given attention this year and will information security become one of the key priorities in the current geopolitical situation?
Sergey Lavrov: We have just signed a plan for consultations between our ministries. This is a traditional document: one plan is executed, the second one is immediately adopted. This is an ongoing process of ongoing coordination at the level of ministers, their deputies, directors of departments, experts. It is an extensive network of consultations, culminating in most cases in specific recommendations. Subsequently, they form the basis of practical decisions that are taken by ministers, reported to presidents, prime ministers and cover almost every conceivable area. They concern diplomatic support through the foreign ministries of integration processes and processes developing in a bilateral format in the EEU, CIS, CSTO, EAEU. It’s a lot of work. All aspects of our relationship are interrelated. We are talking about a large group of neighboring countries, about various aspects of allied strategic cooperation. In addition to our large region, the topics of consultations cover other aspects of the functioning of cooperation and interaction mechanisms in Asia, in Eurasia as a whole. These are international issues that are considered on the agenda of the UN, the OSCE, which is experiencing a deep crisis (this was also discussed in detail today), not only regional issues, but also functional ones, such as disarmament, arms control, environmental protection, and climate change. I can list endlessly.
In fact, everything significant in international and regional affairs is the subject of a close consultative and coordination process. I am sure that the plan just signed will have a result.
Question: The Soros Foundation in Central Asia has decided to rebrand. Now they will be called CAPS Unlock (Central Asian policy studies) or simply the Central Asian Analytical Center. The headquarters will be located in Almaty. How does Russia assess any strengthening of the work of Western NGOs in countries that are traditionally friendly to Russia, including Kazakhstan? What can you say about that?
Sergey Lavrov: If we are talking about transparent, understandable, civil society contacts based on the legislation of the host country, I don’t see anything wrong with that.
Let me remind you that after the Soviet Union disappeared and the Russian Federation became an independent state, we actively welcomed non-governmental organizations from various countries. We were sincerely ready for cooperation in this area, took initiatives and responded to our partners’ proposals.
But as our society has evolved, the ulterior motives that have guided many nongovernmental organizations, including those commonly associated with the Soros Foundation, have been uncovered. They openly promoted a policy that ignores the legitimate interests of the Russian Federation, our legislation and defended the needs of Western countries. The West finances, including through the state, numerous non-governmental organizations. When this activity began to go beyond the boundaries of all decency, not to mention the boundaries of legislation, we began to pay attention to it. As a result, most of them ceased their activities in Russia.
I proceed from the fact that each state (Russia, Kazakhstan or any other country) independently determines the level to which it is ready to promote the development of contacts through civil society. I have no doubt that serious, self-respecting States and Governments will not tolerate violations of their laws and attempts to interfere in internal affairs on any line.
As for the structure you mentioned, I have not heard that there has been a rebranding. Frankly speaking, the Soros Foundation (whatever it is called) already has a stable reputation. I think everybody knows that.
Question: What kind of work are countries doing to unlock their transit and transport potential and launch major international routes between Europe, Asia, North and South?
Sergey Lavrov: This is a topical question. In short, we are actively working.
All the issues you have mentioned and the dimensions of this task of developing transport and logistics potential are of paramount importance.
I will mention the North-South international transport corridor as the first priority at this stage. This project is now being actively implemented. Upon its completion, a stable, prompt, fast connection between the Baltic Sea, the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean will be ensured, which will significantly reduce the costs for trade on the large Eurasian continent.
I would like to mention Russia’s contribution to improving transit conditions and transport infrastructure. I am referring to the modernisation of the Trans-Siberian Railway and the Baikal-Amur Mainline. The Russian leadership pays special attention to the modernization of the Northern Sea Route – ensuring the safe, reliable, year-round use of this shortest route between Europe and the Far East and South Asia as a whole.
Kazakhstan actively participates in projects that are being implemented in parallel. There is a project of a transport route through the Caspian Sea. Recently, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev paid a visit to Kazakhstan, where routes for transporting hydrocarbons and other goods and services were also discussed.
I proceed from the fact that Eurasia has a huge future, especially at the current stage, when the center of development of the world economy and trade has shifted here, to the east of the Eurasian continent. These objective comparative advantages should be enjoyed to the mutual benefit of all organizations and all the countries located here.
In 2016, President Vladimir Putin proposed at the Russia-ASEAN summit to work in favour of forming a greater Eurasian partnership on our continent with the participation, as he stressed, of all organisations and all the countries located here without exception. This is certainly a gigantic goal. But the movement towards it has begun.
Question: Russia recently published a new Foreign Policy Concept. It refers to a broader integration contour, which you mentioned in your previous reply. Can you please clarify what exactly this integration circuit will be? Which countries will be included in it?
Does Moscow believe that the current level of relations between its Eurasian partners, in particular Kazakhstan, with the United States and the European Union somehow threatens its interests?
Sergey Lavrov: As for the integration contour. We advocate that all multilateral, subregional structures and all countries located on the vast single Eurasian continent be part of this process without exception. At the very least, doors should be open to all such organizations and countries. The process is underway. If we take the EAEU, its relations with the SCO have already been established. There are similar relations between the SCO and the CIS, the SCO and ASEAN. A network of cross-contacts and connections is already being formed. I am convinced that these processes will make it possible to translate them into achieving real, practical and material benefits for all participants in these processes.
As for whether we fear interaction between Western countries, be it the United States or the European Union, with our neighbors. If we are really talking about equal, mutually beneficial, transparent interaction carried out in accordance with international law, no one can have any fears. If we are talking about the fact that instead of interacting on the principles I have mentioned, Western countries will try to engage in threats, blackmail, force our allies to undermine relations with the Russian Federation to the detriment of their own national interests, we will not hide our attitude to such attempts.
Our Kazakh friends, our other partners in the CSTO, the EAEU and the SCO are well aware of what is at stake.

I thought Lavrov’s reply about the nature of the Soros organization’s reputation showed his usual wit–he didn’t need to overtly say it’s a known subversive group, at least in that part of the world.

Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 11 2023 16:09 utc | 163

@ wagelaborer | Apr 11 2023 16:15 utc | 164
One gets unsettling reminiscences of Cordwainer Smith’s “klopts.”

Posted by: John Kennard | Apr 11 2023 16:30 utc | 165

In discussing the current aberrations in sexuality I tend to think in cultural anthropology terms rather than sci-fi.
Going back to my earlier reporting on The Dawn Of Everything by Graeber/Wengrow at MoA, the West is stuck in a “barbaric/patriarchal/Might-Makes-Right/monotheistic” side road of human evolution. I continue to rail about the private finance implications of the form of social organization we are in but the whole sexual side of the Western form of social organization is another travesty.
Women in the West have not had any agency in our world since Sumerian times or the beginning of this side road of human evolution I refer to above. Men, other than the bully types, also have had marginal agency in our form of social organization and we have social sickos being used by the cult of private finance bully types to run a jackboot form of society.
I see the excesses of other forms of sexual structure/expression being reflective of the excesses of the “barbaric/patriarchal/Might-Makes-Right/monotheistic” form I continue to write about……the allowed social sickness of private finance/property/inheritance begets others in response out of fear and safety attempts.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Apr 11 2023 17:00 utc | 167

It appears the Taliban have made some progress, “The Taliban did in one year what Washington couldn’t in 20, sparking new panic: The ban on Afghan poppy cultivation is set to hit Europe’s heroin supplies.”
The CIA’s continuation and escalation of opium production within Afghanistan had two aims: Increase its drug profits for use in black projects and direct the flow into Russia to continue to destabilize its society and confound its demographics. In a nation with a chronic undersupply of basic foodstuffs, one would think the price farmers could get for them would outweigh that for poppies, but that was never the case and seems to have finally changed. This year will be the real test as the Taliban has only been in power 19 months, and arguably much less than that. IMO, it would be a very real accomplishment for Afghan farmers to produce enough basic foodstuffs for their nation in 2023 so scarce funds don’t need to be spent on food imports.

Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 11 2023 17:11 utc | 169

Macron remains France’s president until 2027.
Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 11 2023 17:16 utc | 170
—
While he lives. We are all mortal.

Posted by: too scents | Apr 11 2023 17:23 utc | 171

@ Norwegian | Apr 11 2023 17:48 utc | 172 with the Blinken delusions…thanks for the humor
Its unfortunate I live in America that has been stolen and currently represented by meatsacks like Blinken that have no thoughts of human morality and project their delusions of right/wrong on the rest of us.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Apr 11 2023 18:45 utc | 173

The “gender continuum” is the new buzzword, installed top-down by media propaganda and bogus science (responding to grants given to put out bullshit), for a new agenda that assigns the personal likes and dislikes of a child, to a specific set of “male” and “female” stereotypes.
So children are being taught in schools that liking to wear pink makes you “female” and liking to run and climb makes you “male”. If you like pink and you also like to play outside, you must pick a place on the gender spectrum chart in between male and female. Look up :gender spectrum” and you will see the big money pushing this particular atrocity.
In other words, what we used to call “personality” is now being medicalized. A child whose particular preferences of dress and toys don’t fit into rigid stereotypes are now being told they are “in the wrong body”, and must be put on powerful cancer drugs to stop their normal growth and development. This is followed by giving cross-sex hormones (funny how it is recognized that there are only two sexes when it comes to drugging children) in their teenaged years.
Girls as young as 13 are having their healthy breasts removed, but boys usually have to wait until they are 18 to be castrated.
Again, this is called “life-saving affirmative health care” by the Establishment, and those who swallow their narrative.
Anyone who doesn’t fit into a rigid “male” or “female” box is now told they are “non-binary”. Technically, we are all therefore non-binary, but the children are being taught that their particular place on the “spectrum” makes them special, so they cling to it, as any child would. Having children announce that they are special cause they’re “non-binary” doesn’t justify the concept, it just means that children are malleable to adult pressures.

Posted by: wagelaborer | Apr 11 2023 19:05 utc | 175

@karlof1, #166 (April 11 2023 16:45 utc):
Thank you for relaying the Global Times article on Macron’s interview with international reporters on the Beijing-Guanzhou flight.
This is a inflection point on European perception of its role vis-a-vis US-China rivalry. This is the first time a top European leader characterize Europe as the Empire’s vassal, not mincing words tongue-in-cheek. It also highlighted the needed question “what is the urgency in accelerating the Taiwan issue now, except to just pick a fight with China with European serving as extra cannon fodder?”. It’s a question all of Europe should have asked when NATO started to expand eastward, and when the Empire cooked up lies, human rights false flags, and numerous shenanigans on Xingjiang, Tibet, South China Seas, etc.
When Europeans with intelligence do ponder these issues, and look at facts objectively, they’ll come to the realization that: indeed CPC has accomplished miracles in improving citizens’ lives in China; China has liberated Tibet people from cruel serfdom to modern life; Xingjiang has never had it so good as now, vastly surpassing its neighboring Turks in the “stans”; South China Sea has always been Chinese territory (and fishing ground) since the Song/Yuan/Ming Dynasty over a thousand years ago, which is how pottery/silk/copper coins/Tea/gun powder/paper etc. got to the west via the ocean silk road. The intelligent Europeans will come to realize they’ve been had by the 5-eyes since WWII, on China and Russia. This kind of realization could be the seeds for the sea change in geopolitics that avoids the nuclear war threat.
Macron has planted the seed. It’s now time to see if there will be others in Europe to follow up. If there is no follow through, the slow human creep towards nuclear war will creep on. If other European national leaders follow in Macron’s footsteps, the Empire is history.
Lulu @ #103; #117:
Thank you for the anecdotes on the Jiu Xiao Huan Pei and the music that was played on it 🙂

Posted by: Oriental Voice | Apr 11 2023 19:50 utc | 177

Growing up in the shadow of the doomsday clock, from sister Frida:

Some dads say things like “money doesn’t grow on trees” when their kids ask for permission to see a film. My dad was Phil Berrigan, a nuclear abolitionist and peace activist. So, he would say: “It’s three minutes to nuclear midnight and you want to go to the movies?” Imagine living as if your personal choices made a difference when it came to nuclear war.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/04/11/90-seconds-to-midnight-the-doomsday-clock-and-me/

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Apr 11 2023 20:45 utc | 179

Oriental Voice @ 177–
Thanks for your reply. I included your comments in a short article I posted to my VK, “Macron’s Words Spark Tempest After China Visit”.
//////
Our pal Pepe Escobar wrote an outstanding article for the Russian publication Vedomosti, but it was truncated by a pay wall after the first two paragraphs, a feature he apparently wasn’t aware of until I posted a note at his VK. So, Pepe posted the entire translation to his VK here. Here’s a brief excerpt from the start of the last third:

There are indeed intimations that Europe may be witnessing a rebirth.
The period of upheaval will be long and arduous – due to the hordes of anarco-liberals who are such useful idiots for the Western oligarchy – or it could all come to a head in a single day. The target is quite clear: the death of Neoliberal Technocracy.
That’s how the Xi-Putin view could make inroads across the collective West: show that this ersatz “modernity” (which incorporates rabid cancel culture) is essentially void compared to traditional, deeply rooted cultural values – be it Confucianism, Taoism or Eastern Orthodoxy. The Chinese and Russian concepts of civilization-state are much more appealing than they appear.
Well, the (cultural) revolution won’t be televised; but it may work its charms via countless Telegram channels. France, infatuated with rebellion throughout its history, may well be jump to the vanguard – again.

And yes, I was remiss not to cover the Boao Forum this year as Pepe reports it was as productive as in 2022. So many events; so little time!!

Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 11 2023 21:18 utc | 181

karlof1 | Apr 11 2023 21:18 utc | 181
“The Chinese and Russian concepts of civilization-state are much more appealing than they appear.”
The global south look at the videos coming out of America, look at American embassies flying the rainbow flag…. not to mention the all the death and destruction america has visited on the world since WWII.
https://www.hhs.gov/about/leadership/rachel-levine.html
https://billypenn.com/2015/07/08/pas-transgender-physician-general-rachel-levine-on-her-position-her-transition-and-meeting-obama-at-pride-day/

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 11 2023 21:35 utc | 183

I suppose Macron will show the same backbone he had when the US cancelled the Russian ship deal and the Australian submarine deal, don’t expect much.

Posted by: SwissArmyMan | Apr 11 2023 21:51 utc | 185

Peter AU1 writes:
“The global south look at the videos coming out of America, look at American embassies flying the rainbow flag.…”
Depends on the country. Several Latin American countries legalized same-sex marriage before the USA and Australia did. Much different story in Africa, of course, with the notable exception of South Africa.

Posted by: malenkov | Apr 11 2023 23:08 utc | 187

Posted by: Hermit | Apr 11 2023 22:41 utc | 186
I said nothing about being ‘forced’. You are sidestepping the fact that it is inappropriate for children. How convenient for you to compare it to violence and murder to deflect the core point I’m making – it is clearly inappropriate. I’ve seen with my own eyes over the years how the exposure of children to adult-themed shit by careless parents has obviously gotten worse. Sure it’s the parent’s choice, what great results we’re seeing.

Posted by: nathan in WA US | Apr 12 2023 0:01 utc | 189

Ukrainian hackers say they have compromised Russian spy who hacked Democrats in 2016
Posted by: psychohistorian | Apr 11 2023 18:51 utc | 174
________________________________________________
Watergate was 50 years ago and at that time I was asking “why are the inner workings of are national political parties a secret? Shouldn’t any American just be able to walk into the Democratic National Committee or Republican National Committee and have complete access to all their internal data?
How did it come to be acceptable that these parties are supposed to be representing us and its a secret what they are doing? That makes no sense.
But of course, one of the main purposes of Watergate was to convince the sheeple that there was any reason for one of the two halves of the one party system to spy on the other half. As if they were two separate and independent parties.

Posted by: jinn | Apr 12 2023 0:48 utc | 191

@ karlof1 | Apr 11 2023 21:28 utc | 182
thanks and for your link to pepe @ 181…
@ Peter AU1 | Apr 11 2023 21:40 utc | 184
i see these developments, including the position expressed by macron in china, as positive.. whether they bare fruit – we’ll see..

Posted by: james | Apr 12 2023 1:57 utc | 193

james | Apr 12 2023 1:57 utc | 192
Europeans are no doubt different to muslims but I have had the feeling there are twinges of DeGaul in France. Perhaps the twinges of a chook with its head cut off but whatever.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 12 2023 2:07 utc | 195

@ Peter AU1 | Apr 12 2023 2:07 utc | 194
i can’t figure out of macron is saying what he did because he is under pressure, or because he genuinely believes what he said..

Posted by: james | Apr 12 2023 2:19 utc | 197

Grieved | Apr 12 2023 0:46 utc | 190
Its a cult. With everything that word entails.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 12 2023 2:27 utc | 199