Next time, we’re all Jesus

Posted by: persiflo | Nov 3 2023 13:20 utc | 103

Am not sure what the term ‘God’ means – maybe as it should be – but to me it is The Whole of which all else is A Part.
As individuals, we think we are apart from the Whole whereas in fact we are a part of the Whole, a false view which is the cause of all suffering.
Since the Part cannot conceive the Whole we are left with abstraction; doing such we are like two dimensional beings using our own two dimensional language and referents trying to describe three dimensional space. Trying to fit God into a materialist paradigm, which denies any experiential dimensions beyond the mere physical, is a similar exercise.
The best expressions of God are always symbolic and poetic, never literal, legal or ‘scientific’. On that level, the old compendium known as the Bible works better in some sections than others. The Buddhist Surangama Sutra has a lovely description of the Buddha showing a flower – a classic example of pure symbolic expression – at which moment hundreds of arhats who have already attained nirvana become fully enlightened bodhisattvas on the spot, whilst other arhats who resist the Teaching die of heart attacks – doubtless an after-dinner joke which somehow made it into the Scriptures!
Perhaps God can be regarded as a fifth dimension which includes the four, just as the four dimensions include the three.
I wonder if He can be found on internet chat boards? Theoretically yes, but…

Posted by: Scorpion | Nov 3 2023 14:40 utc | 105

RE: metadata. Geolocation, date, time, other (transfer rate).
Palestine Open Thread 2023-258

Englishman | Nov 2 2023 23:00 utc | 198
Unless it can be geolocated impossible to disprove…
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Nov 3 2023 3:36 utc | 239

This is IMPORTANT yet never discussed. Geolocation, date, time and other metadata can faked by sophisticated operatives. I have always been shocked this is never discussed publicly by former CIA types. Maybe they don’t realize it. Really?
Originally, for me, the Veterans Intelligence Professionals work on the leak of Democrat emails had this problem. That metadata indicated the info was exfiltrated on a USB stick, not transmitted. The high speed data options (locally) capable of those speeds appeared after that date. But was it faked? This was never addressed.
Many IT types here (b?) might confirm this. If your tools are powerful enough they could apply a credible scenario to the data. It’s not easy but these folks have deep pockets. Fake attribution tools should include this if they don’t already. I hate giving them ideas they already have; I haven’t seen this in anything leaked.
I think geolocation does add to credibility. It can be used in combination with what you know about the source and event to verify a narrative. Bad data would be a huge red flag. That said it isn’t absolute proof of anything. It’s just data.

Posted by: David G Horsman | Nov 3 2023 15:29 utc | 107

Posted by: Cynic | Nov 2 2023 19:48 utc | 27

Posted by: stranger | Nov 3 2023 16:55 utc | 109

Posted by: Cynic | Nov 2 2023 19:48 utc | 27

Posted by: stranger | Nov 3 2023 16:55 utc | 111

@ Cynic, 27
Thank you for your reply, and yes i was aware of the role of Hesbollah defending Lebanon south border from idf, and their role, restraint, engaging a good part of idf airforces and ground ones. For now.
Seems they act very efficient and in a controlled manner, given to a longer plans.I know that usa and the idiotic vassals are fighting their last battle to keep the Middle east, and that they would love to attack Iran, just looking for an excuse.
Seems, like in Ukraine, they are too stupid and will be led into a trap from a much older ancient civilizations.
I was driven to despair because of genocide on Palestine, acted thus.
And still, I think that the emerging multipolars have the power, controlling the oil etc. resources – to cut the bustards off. So, why not? I can understand the reluctance towards the war, but this would not need any fireworks, just cut them off.
Thank you.

Posted by: stranger | Nov 3 2023 17:08 utc | 113

Yes, He can be found on message boards. I conceived of a radio show called “People and their /hi-?/ Story”, in which the host greets his guest of the night, The Chosen One – “g’day!” he replies – “Tell us (not to say pray and tell): how do you become The Chosen One?” – upon which He tells, “Well, it started out as a hobby … ”
On a more personal note: they hire! And I can recommend the occupation. – –

Posted by: persiflo | Nov 3 2023 17:49 utc | 115

@persiflo:
Your posts today remind me of a drink I once had: we were checking out a property in Czekia. It didn’t suit because communist ownership laws were still in effect so you could buy a building but no land around it. Anyway, we all went out for dinner in a small mountain inn nearby where they served something like ‘bakaravski’ – locally made they said with pride and a wink.
Well, we started off feeling like Ents, with ripe red cheeks and curling hair and infectious smiles, then a more aphrodisiac effect kicked in and our mixed group of about 12 were flirting with each other shamelessly, then grinding on the small dance floor, then the men started getting boisterous and Viking-like, whooping and hollering, then the owners skillfully steered us back to our hotel before we did any real damage which would have surely ensued. That stuff was strong, clean, clear and vivid. Viking! Dangerous!!
Then there was that time a chap from Poland gave me a sample of his grandfather’s homebrew: 60% but as smooth to the taste as a weak commercial scotch. But I only had the one shot so there was no journey to be had, only a hint of traditional Polish possibilities! If they all had that stuff to drink back in the day, no wonder they weren’t fierce military types. That sort of thing sends one straight to Heaven, which might be another aspect of God for all I know…

Posted by: Scorpion | Nov 3 2023 18:45 utc | 117

Scorpion@59
Was it Star of Brno? Or maybe the original Budweiser from Ceske Budewice, where the Good Soldier Scweik, I believe, came from?
It sounds like the poteen I once drank in Cork.

Posted by: bevin | Nov 3 2023 21:11 utc | 119

Not the Beaverton, (this is the satire news site, The Beaverton: Everything Israel is doing to minimize civilian casualties in Gaza
https://x.com/TheBeaverton/status/1720478360898310476)
Organized women’s desert tour to Morocco turns into a nightmare, 200 sick, 15 hospitalized
https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/quebecer-describes-nightmare-morocco-trip-that-left-200-sick-15-hospitalized-1.6630437
“Rose Trip has organized several treks to Morocco and Senegal over the years. Each trip is composed entirely of women and is associated with charitable organizations like Ruban Rose (breast cancer research) and Enfants du désert (child education in Morocco and Argentina).”

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Nov 3 2023 21:42 utc | 121

That Beaverton link shouldn’t have a bracket at the end. My apologies.m
In honour of 4 and 5
“4. Targeting businesses that only terrorists frequent like bakeries
5. Telling the media the bread sold at the bakery they just bombed was actually terrorism bread”
I’m posting this Tweet from Canada’s spy agency CSIS. Just because it seems serious.
https://x.com/csiscanada/status/1720501261408080205

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Nov 3 2023 22:00 utc | 123

Posted by: karlof1 | Nov 2 2023 15:29 utc | 9
Thanks for that, karlof1.

Posted by: juliania | Nov 4 2023 0:38 utc | 125

It is not for nothing that we are organising a number of sporting events at the initiative of President Vladimir Putin. They will be truly international, universal and respectful of the principles of the Olympic Charter, which the IOC flagrantly violates.
karlof1 | Nov 3 2023 12:21 utc | 48
That is a very importent section. We have seen the nucleus of the Multi-polar world take with them the UN charter. That will be required when the venue in the US, the controls US/UK with their veto and the rest of the imperial baggage that is part and parcel of the current UN collapses, winds up, or however it ends.
Alm new establishments for the multi polar world but without the old baggage. We see every world organisation put in place now, sitting there ready for when power has fully moved from the west to the east. Perhaps even that is an outdated term. From the west to the multi-polar world is a more accurate description.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Nov 4 2023 1:13 utc | 127

Posted by: bevin | Nov 3 2023 21:11 utc | 60
Scorpion@59
Was it Star of Brno? Or maybe the original Budweiser from Ceske Budewice, where the Good Soldier Scweik, I believe, came from?

All I remember is the word ‘bakaravski’. It was a night to (not) remember!
Now there was another night a couple of months later checking out a chateau with 70 bedrooms we almost got for the price of a 2BR apartment in Paris, but unfortunately too close to the nuclear power station 10km away (now closed). But we had a great night with the local Chinon red, an unremarkable wine according to vintners, but it got about 30 of us on the local dance floor – much to the chagrin of the (much younger) locals….
Ain’t life grand?
I hope they settle the Israel business. I am tired of their continuous predilection for anxiety and violence.
But if it wasn’t them, it’s be somebody else. Always someone willing to play the part of the Devil. It’s a law or some such.

Posted by: Scorpion | Nov 4 2023 1:55 utc | 129

My local techno venue, a small harbourside shed known as the Golden Pudel Club, was where ETERNITY made her last stand in the battle against humanity. Quite the enemy I’d say, but we had techno on our side, and so it went … on a sunday, the sun already rising above the river, tired ravers holding their ground, when I had a sudden inspiration. Heading straight for the bar, where the reserves are kept, I told its commander Alex about my plan for a decisive battle:” Alex!! I got it!! See, ETERNITY – There!! … You go from the right, and I’ll be coming over left, and . . . ”
Alex didn’t blink.
He replied with a question: “And then, what? What are we going to do with her, when we’ll have caught her?”
A moment of silence between us gave space to the thundering beats. It was mental. A spider would have danced to it. And it was apparent, clear as day – we had to set her free again.
Immediately. After the interrogation; which was brief. I seem to remember she was dressed in a well-worn Aristotle fan shirt, which looked like it hadn’t been changed in 2,500 years.
Well, the rest is history: it took not much convincing for her to join our ranks.
Our victorious lot celebrated, weary, tired, steadfast and proud. When we ended the relevation to home, I commended Dj Superdefekt an air medal for besondere Tapferkeit vor dem Feind, which he accepted. And since then, time has been on our side . . .

Posted by: persiflo | Nov 4 2023 3:25 utc | 131

Further to my @2, Telesur reports that President Xi meets Chancellor Scholz via video link. Nice chat, from the report!
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/President-Xi-Meets-German-Chancellor-Scholz-via-Video-Link-20231103-0008.html
When Horgan was announced as Canada’s ambassador to Germany, I wondered (speculatively) who’s afraid of the Germans on the Eastern seaboard?? Personally, I’m fond of Horgan as a BC premier and politician, it’s just that he’s kind of regionally focused on the West coast area. (Some Dutch influence over there, by the way.) Maybe the Pacific coast ties will threaten even more. It’s doubtful they’d let anyone from the North be an ambassador to Germany, I think? Politics, always intriguing.
La Presse is in Lebanon. There is an initial report from there which I expect contains some kind of threat against targeting their journalists. I didn’t find it. It did report that 300 Canadian special forces are in Lebanon or Cyprus or ‘the region’ or something, which is a substantial number, I thought, for Canada.

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Nov 4 2023 12:59 utc | 133

Part 1/2
The postwar covenant gave to the peoples of the U.K. amongs other basic needs the National Health Service (NHS).
It proved that health and welfare free at the point of need worked as it did such systems in other countries.
It proved that the highest possible most cutting edge medical options could be provided to these who NEEDED them , without expecting them to be able to pay for it.
It proved that provision of such was more cost effective per user than an insurance or privately paid access to medical care model.
It allowed for plenty of trained medical staff , adequately paid , affordably housed, their families well provided for within the communities where they were needed.
There was enough spare capacity to tackle emergencies- winter flus , epidemics, included.
These who worked in such public services, knew they would earn less than in a Private/Commercial career, they knew they would need to work 40 years for a well deserved full final salary pension, guaranteed. They knew they wouldn’t be the jetset, moneybags types, driving Rolls Royce cars and having multiple holidays and homes.
The whole thing worked.
Along with community based district nurses who provided care in the home for these kids need.
Along with community Old Peoples Homes , for these who were no longer able to look after themselves at home.
Along with GP’s who would visit patients at home who couldn’t get to the local surgeries.
Into this happy working affordable professional model of healthcare for a nations peoples came the Yankeedoodle model of Insurance, for medical care! An opportunity for profits for a Medical Industrial Complex from public funds, where no such profiteering was needed.
It started with BUPA and such private care provision – mostly so that some could demand and receive private rooms, instead of being on a ward, and marginally faster treatment for elective surgery.
Anything that was acute, emergency, needed the best resources and staff, Aciident and Emergency, Intensive Care, which including all cancer treatments – still ended up being provided by the NHS. Still does even as the NHS hospitals first became Trusts (!) and have bolted on private wards – where the patients get wheeled through to the Public facilities.
Consultants get paid well, other junior doctors and nurses don’t, executives make a packet , all administrative and essential staff don’t.
From a single tier (well almost, Private Medicine never went away) we now have multiple tier’s.
Insurance is being heavily advertised as very low cost numbers – to start with. And all of them tie back to the Med Ind Complex of the American companies. ALL.
Thatcher’s conservatives started it, Labours Blairites doubled down on it, Cameron and libdem Clegg accelerated it with Austerity, current Tories lied about building 42 new hospitals in 2017 election and current Zion soon-to-be-King Starmer, a deepstate quisling of the now hollowed out social democratic Labour Party standing next to the last real Leader ,Jeremy Corbyn at the last stolen election- refused to use the leaked US document that assessed how the NHS was wholly going to be parcelled and what bits were going to be owned and profits expected for US firms. Like a butchers diagram of the cuts of beef.
That was buried by the media , wholly owned media, it was not discussed by any of the bought politicians in all parties.

Posted by: DunGroanin | Nov 4 2023 13:04 utc | 135

Islamic state Pakistan army killing Muslim militants in Balochistan is neither MSM nor woke left news:
Yesterday: “14 soldiers martyred as militants ambush security forces’ vehicles in Gwadar: ISPR”
https://www.dawn.com/news/1786153
Today: “9 terrorists killed as operation to clear PAF’s Mianwali air base concludes: ISPR”
https://www.dawn.com/news/1786340/9-terrorists-killed-as-operation-to-clear-pafs-mianwali-air-base-concludes-ispr
Only Jews killing Muslims counts. Those >23 dead Muslims are nameless statistics; killed by their coreligionists.

Posted by: Antonym | Nov 4 2023 13:22 utc | 137

DunGroanin | Nov 4 2023 13:04 utc | 68 …
Important to note the role of UNUM in the subversion, destruction and ‘privatisation’ of postwar health and welfare in Britain — a US income insurance corporation (*already* convicted of serious fraud against its customers, and banned in several States) contracted since the mid 1990s to devise UK government policy and agenda on health/work/welfare. Actually boasts about its degree of influence on both “Conservative” and “Labour” governments, and since being contracted always promotionally featured at big-Party annual conferences — yet hardly ever reported, and certainly not attacked, by the mass-media.

Posted by: Cynic | Nov 4 2023 14:47 utc | 139

Part 2/2
Then came Covid. Used as a weapon against the most vulnerable, to further accelerate the project. The 42 promised new hospitals in 2017 , not a single one has come about. The social care act for elderly in their homes or in properly resourced local communities completely forgotten (that was another of BoZo the clowns lies).
Covid killed not much more than a serious flu has done in the past.
Covid killed elderly in care homes as they were not give sufficient staff and didn’t allow families to visit and provide care for the elderly. Many died of dehydration, or starvation or by depression and shock. It didn’t happen in the rich peoples private care homes as much.
That was the mostly elderly in care homes and hospital wards.
Mostly who died in intensive care wards were because they were , put in comas, intubated and had mechanical harmful breathing machines which destroy lungs and weakens every other organ and muscle. There is 50/50 chance of any recovery in these circumstances regardless of cause and it gets worse by every hour.
Mostly most patients with not need that level of intervention after serious surgery , until they stabilise and are able to go to a general ward.
Yes Covid was real. Everything else about it was a TOTAL lie, the current Inquiry is a quick whitewash in between Ukraine and Palestine. Cummings is the Strangelove who gets to play his big brain balls to cover up whilst posing as some supposed outsider.
The Vaccines were a lie.
The boosters were a lie.
Everyone who has had all of them have all had Covid this year and even do now.
A simple proof for your eyes is by looking at the vaccines across the world.
There are many, ours in the U.K, the German one, the American ones, the Chinese , the Russian versions , heck even the Cubans had their own which they sent to various countries!
Why can’t we have a choice of which we want if we decide we need one?
Why are all these who had the ‘foreign’ vaccines we not allowed, not all sick or dead, if their versions are supposedly ineffective compared to our ‘safe and efficacious’ ones?
Why in fact are all the billions of peoples who have never had even a single vaccine not ill or dead from the Covid.
Why in fact am I, not dead or disabled ?
As a vulnerable age and group person. Not having had a single vaccine? Having had Covid twice, once at the beginning in 2020 before vaccines were miraculously made available and secondly at the end of 2021 when Omicron appeared – which wasn’t stoppable by the already outdated first vaxxes?
I have had no further infections of covid or maybe I have but haven’t noticed at all – even as all around me have through this summer even! Especially these who have continued with boosters and now even flu jabs as well at the same time!
Hey but I got a autumn bug this week – used to happen every year spring and autumn, change of seasons, children swapping bugs and nursery and schools, bringing them home to their parents, who share it with colleagues and in social environs.
Normal service and immunology restored after 3 years and lockdown. Let’s acknowledge it and if we were fooled as we were by the Nazism of Ukraine with dumb unthinking support of whatever government and controlled media tells us – let us admit we were fooled , that does not make us forever fools, we got scammed , get angry instead at the scammers. They are all still there especially the media and some useful idiots no matter what their ‘qualifications’.

Posted by: DunGroanin | Nov 4 2023 16:18 utc | 141

At the close of this thread, I am responding to discussions previously about monotheism with an extract from the work by Martin Buber that I have been reading, “Moses: The Revelation And The Covenant”. This is from his Preface to the work:

…It is a fundamental error to register the faith with which I deal as simple “Monotheism”. Here may be applied what was written half a century ago [Buber is writing this book in 1944] by Paul Yorck von Wartenberg to the philosopher Wilhelm Dilthey, his friend and my master: “I should consider it desirable for an attempt to be made to disregard all these categories, Pantheism, Monotheism, Theism, Pnentheism. In themselves they have no religious value whatsoever, being only formal and of quantitative character. They reflect views of the world and not views of God, and constitute only the outline of an intellectual attitude; and only a formal projection even for this.” It is not so decisive whether the existence of a Unity exalted over all is assumed in one’s consideration, but the way in which this Unity is viewed and experienced, and whether one stands to it in an exclusive relationship which shapes all other relations and thereby the whole order of life. Within the so-called Monotheism the concrete difference of the images of God and the vital relations with God made incisions which are sometimes far more important than the boundaries between a particular “Monotheism” and a particular “Polytheism”. The universal sun-god of the imperialist “Monotheism” of Amenhotep IV is incomparably more close to the national sun-god of the ancient Egyptian Pantheon than to the God of early Israel, which some have endeavored to derive from him.[my bolds]

I will continue my path in the next open forum, having reached Buber’s description of Moses’ encounter with the Burning Bush. It is a chapter well worth spending time with, since it comprises the first of Buber’s two focal points in his study of the life of Moses, that of “…The Revelation…”.

Posted by: juliania | Nov 4 2023 16:53 utc | 143

Global Times has published a short but important note related to the dedollarization process, “Deutsche Bank China issues first overseas yuan-oriented loan in LatAm market”:

Deutsche Bank China has cooperated with Brazil-based Sao Simao Co – a subsidiary of China’s State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) – to complete the first yuan-oriented loan offering in the Latin America market, with the issuance of 400 million yuan ($54.77 million) in short-term loans to overseas clients, Shanghai Securities News reported on Friday.
The loans provide a new option for enterprises’ overseas financing, and also mark a new milestone in the yuan’s internationalization in the Latin American market, said Yin Zhen, a representative of Deutsche Bank China….
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Economy of Argentina announced on Tuesday that it will again use yuan to repay part of its IMF debt.
According to the ministry, it will repay about $3.4 billion in foreign debt and interest due to the IMF in the near future, part of which will be paid with the equivalent value in yuan under a bilateral currency swap agreement between the central banks of the two countries.

More small steps in the long journey.

Posted by: karlof1 | Nov 4 2023 17:10 utc | 145

Another early death in ccParadise:
“Wang Shaojun, bodyguard to China’s top leaders, dies of unknown illness, aged 67
There was an unexplained three-month delay in announcing the death of the lieutenant general”
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3228867/wang-shaojun-bodyguard-chinas-top-leaders-dies-unknown-illness-aged-67
Not Corona, or heart problem etc, more Xi Jinping’s displeasure, the hardest problem
PS: Xi has no clear ‘next in line’, fan boys ….

Posted by: Antonym | Nov 5 2023 3:48 utc | 147

Former Chair of Moutai Yuan Renguo died suddenly in prison on Sept. 9 2023 at the age of 67
https://www.theepochtimes.com/china/former-kweichow-moutai-chairman-dies-in-jail-moutai-club-collapses-5497494

Posted by: Antonym | Nov 5 2023 3:58 utc | 149

Below is the title and quote from a Xinhuanet posting
Xi meets Greek prime minister
The quote

Noting President Xi’s successful state visit to Greece in 2019 left a deep impression on the Greek people, Mitsotakis said since then, Greece-China relations have maintained a strong momentum of development, and the economic cooperation between the two countries has yielded remarkable results.
Greece is willing to continue to promote the high-quality Belt and Road cooperation and further tap potential and expand mutually beneficial cooperation in such fields as shipbuilding, shipping and clean energy, and welcomes more Chinese tourists to visit Greece, Mitsotakis said.
He said Greece is ready to strengthen personnel exchanges with China, deepen cultural and people-to-people exchanges, jointly run well the Center of Greek and Chinese Ancient Civilizations, advocate mutual learning, and promote the establishment of more harmonious and balanced international relations.
Greece firmly adheres to the one-China policy, highly appreciates China’s fair position in international and regional affairs, and is willing to cooperate closely with China on multilateral occasions, Mitsotakis said.
Noting Greece is willing to be a bridge for EU-China cooperation, Mitsotakis said the EU and China can work hand in hand in the spirit of equality and mutual respect, and Greece is willing to continue to actively promote the healthy development of EU-China relations.

Greece is in the EU, correct? Maybe a crack in the wall?

Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 5 2023 5:22 utc | 151

I have mentioned before about what I think are going to be swings in the prices of commodities and precious metals.
At Xinhuanet there is a posting today with the title
Soybean oil futures settlement price licensing agreement signed by Chinese, Malaysian exchange offices
the quote

A soybean oil futures settlement price licensing agreement was officially signed by Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) and Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Berhad (BMD) on Thursday. The agreement whereby the Malaysian market has licensed the settlement price of the DCE Soybean Oil future which BMD will use to launch its own futures contract next year.

Below is a summary of what China offers in the way of a government provided/managed exchange platform and associated focused organizations

The China Financial Futures Exchange (CFFEX), officially known as China Financial Futures Exchange Co. Ltd., is an incorporated exchange specializing in providing trading and clearing services for financial futures, options, and other derivatives. It was established in Shanghai on September 8, 2006, with the approval of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China and the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC). The founding members of CFFEX include the Shanghai Futures Exchange, Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange, Dalian Commodity Exchange, Shanghai Stock Exchange, and Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

This is a first for China settlement pricing to be used by outside China organizations. I expect the pricing will differ from whatever the settlement pricing mechanisms exist under the manipulated Western umbrella systems…..just like my last similar comment showed the current gold price difference between Shanghai and London exchanges…guess which one is higher…..grin

Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 5 2023 6:05 utc | 153

@ DunGroanin | Nov 4 2023 13:04 utc | 68 / 16:18 utc | 71
Some of your better writing, thanks, and I agree with you.
Imho, if you wrote with that kind of clarity your points
would be better understood than when you use obscure references
or try to be too funny or clever-by-half. Also maybe pay attention
to the less-is-more idea – Jabs rather than big round-house rights,
if you get my ‘hopefully not too clever-by half’ reference. Again, just imo.
btw, You often remind me of Gerry Rafferty

Posted by: waynorinorway | Nov 5 2023 7:30 utc | 155

Fifth bank collapse in US this year:
https://www.fdic.gov/news/press-releases/2023/pr23091.html

Posted by: Lev Davidovich | Nov 5 2023 10:12 utc | 157

Posted by: BurningArc | Nov 2 2023
Thanks! Present day Burma/Myanmar is a by product of the British Empire. Before Independence, in 1948, the ethnic Burmans in the south and the other ethnoi (Shans, Karens, Wa, etc.) were governed separately. Since Independence, the Burman government has been trying to force everyone to speak Burman language, practice Burman religion, etc. Basically to commit ethnic suicide. The Shans, etc., are 40% of the population, and have fought against this attempted genocide pretty steadily since Independence.
I’m somewhat surprised there’s not greater interest in this situation in the USA, since quite a lot of the rebel ethnoi are Baptist Christians! But I suspect they are better off for NOT hening “helped” by the US government, the Evangelical establishment, etc.

Posted by: lester | Nov 5 2023 18:29 utc | 159

Posted by: BurningArc | Nov 2 2023
According to the Shan Herald https://english.shannews.org/ the fighting is mostly in the Kokang region, mostly inhabited by Han Chinese.
Burmese army attacks like this are fairly common and China’s PLA is sometimes forced to get involved too. In the past, major drug growing and processing took place along the border. Now it’s grown to include kidnapping, internet scams, etc.
A full-scale invasion, like Russia into Ukraine, is highly unlikely, no matter how much Westerners wish for a proxy war with China somewhere.

Posted by: lester | Nov 5 2023 19:39 utc | 161

BurningArc | Nov 2 2023
Just for shits and giggles, some of you might be amused by THE SECRET ARMY; Chiang Kai-shek and the Drug Warlords of the Golden Triangle, by Richard M. Gibson with Wenhua Chen, by John Wiley & Sons (Asia), 2011,
All about how the ROC on Taiwan mainatined a proxy Nationalist Army in northern Burma from the 1940s to present, waiting for a chance to invade. (Their one try, 1950, was a huge failure. No one wanted teh KMT back.)

Posted by: lester | Nov 5 2023 21:42 utc | 163

Re Pres. Xi meeting PM Scholz, it’s highly ironic. In the 1890s, when Imperial Germany sent off marines to colonize Qingdao and Shandong province, it was with a furious speech by the emperor to act in China so that Germans would be remembered the way the Huns were in Europe! in fact, they only influence the occupation of Qingdao had was to introduce beer brewing to China. Hmmmm.

Posted by: lester | Nov 5 2023 21:49 utc | 165