US prison labour, foreign weapons-makers finance Australian government think tank ASPI
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute is not only funded by the Defence Department but also receives sponsorship money from foreign governments, weapons manufacturers, and US corporations that have used or are using prison workers paid as little as 23 cents an hour. Marcus Reubenstein reports.
Ren Zhiqiang was not arrested for ‘anti-communism’
When influential, former property executive Ren Zhiqiang was given an 18-year sentence in China, the Western media were quick to label his imprisonment as due to alleged “anti-communist” activity. The Washington Post, CNN, the Guardian, and the New York Times parroted the same message: that Zhiqiang was imprisoned for being an “outspoken” critic of the Chinese Communist Party (CPC).
The logic of the Western media’s accusation can be summarized as follows: “If Ren Zhiqiang critiqued the CPC and was later sentenced, he must have been imprisoned for his critique of the CPC.” There’s a problem with this narrative. The charges brought against him were for embezzlement of an equivalent of $16.3 million in public funds. The accusation of embezzlement has not been disputed, and there is no evidence to suggest that the charges were anything else. Zhiqiang confessed to these charges. (tinyurl.com/yyswjrgd)Their claim is that Zhiqiang was detained for publishing a critique of China’s response to COVID. This accusation is unfounded by the evidence generally available.
Why Bannon named it “Unrestricted Bioweapon” – Steve Bannon, two Chinese military officers and the book that made him a China hawk
What the book really was about (they were actually studying US’ Hybrid Warfare):
The basic question raised by Qiao and Wang is this: “Faced with high-tech warfare, how can a weak and developing country survive?” To answer it, they decided to study the USA, the sole superpower of the post-Cold War era whose economic power and dominance in contemporary warfare is unquestioned. As a general strategy, the authors of Unrestricted War also analyse the overall foreign policy behaviour of the USA since the implosion of the USSR.
Unrestricted War: the leveller
Related:
China updates its ‘Art of (Hybrid) War’
Watch on YouTube: SARS-CoV-2 was not made in a lab
Columbia University Scientists review “study“ by Steve Bannon and Guo Wengui. Interesting information about Guo towards the end.
The resource-rich South China Sea is a constant source of tension among South-Eastern Asian countries. The region is the subject of overlapping territorial and maritime claims by several states, including China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. Apart from harboring vast natural resources, the region is also an important waterway, with trillions of dollars-worth in trade passing through it each year.
Related:
Anti-Beijing group with links to Steve Bannon spreading COVID-19 misinformation in Australia
Members of Himalaya Australia have claimed that local banks are blocking transactions associated with the company. The banks named, including the Commonwealth Bank, declined to comment.
An ASIC spokesperson said it is aware of media reports surrounding GTV Media Group, but would not comment further. GTV Media Group is not registered to trade in Australia.
Posted for my own notes on Guo/Bannon.
Everything about US-China hinges on the result of the upcoming US presidential election.
Trump 2.0 essentially would turbo-charge its bet on decoupling, aiming to squeeze “malign” China on a multiple Hybrid War front, undermine the Chinese trade surplus, co-opt large swathes of Asia, while always insisting on characterizing China as evil incarnate.
The limits of Chinese power
Related:
China-US relations are in tatters. Can both sides cool their hostile strategies to avoid disaster?
By Ulson Gunnar – New Eastern Outlook – 08.10.2020
It is ironic that, China for example, is condemned for not allowing Google, Facebook and Twitter to operate freely within their information space because it is a violation of “free speech,” even as Google, Facebook and Twitter cudgel free speech on their own respective platforms.
Battlefield Social Media: The West’s Growing Censorship
In debate, Harris signaled a sharper break with Trump administration over China
Responding to Pence’s comments, Senator Harris highlighted the fact that the United States had a team of experts on the ground in China to monitor disease outbreaks that had been withdrawn by the Trump administration. She’s right: Upon coming into office, the administration reduced the number of U.S. Centers for Disease Control and National Institutes of Health staff in China and shut down the National Science Foundation office in Beijing. As Jennifer Huang Bouey, an epidemiologist and Georgetown University professor has explained, “five years earlier, CDC and NIH officials would have been on the ground in Wuhan.”
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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