2023 Review: China vs US, Who is Winning in Key Tech Domains?

Source

In the List of Critical and Emerging Technologies released by ASPI, a well-known Australian think tank, China takes the lead in 53 categories of cutting-edge technologies. At the same time, the USA claims the remaining 11. Notably, according to the list, China dominates in areas like advanced materials and manufacturing, energy and environment, and advanced information and communication technologies and enjoys a sizable advantage in defense, space, robotics, transportation, and quantum technology.

2023 Review: China vs US, Who is Winning in Key Tech Domains?

In other words, China is eating our lunch! 😉

U.S. Agent To Be New President Of Finland

Alexander Stubb will willingly build a new Iron Curtain in Europe if he becomes the President of Finland. Mr. Stubb, former Prime Minister of Finland (2014–2015), Minister for Foreign Affairs (2008–2011), member of the National Coalition Party (Kansallinen Kokoomus or Kokoomus) leading the ruling coalition and the government, rejects the possibility of restoring relations with Russia even once the war in Ukraine ends. After the armed conflict in Ukraine, Stubb is ready to start a war in Finland.

U.S. Agent To Be New President Of Finland

Related:

Alexander Stubb: Relations with Russia only when Ukraine wins the war

Former Finnish premier Stubb reveals his CIA-contacts as Plame and Lavery

Do Russians know everything about Alexander Stubb’s cooperation with the CIA?

Philippines provoked China’s water cannoning at Ayungin Shoal

By Daniel Long

President Bongbong Marcos shocked the nation when he put out a tweet (X post) this weekend on the recent water cannoning incidents at Ayungin and Scarborough Shoal. I would like to highlight this part of his statement: “Let me reiterate what is settled and widely recognized: Ayungin Shoal is within our Exclusive Economic Zone, any foreign claim of sovereignty over it is baseless and absolutely contrary to international law…No one but the Philippines has a legitimate right or legal basis to operate anywhere in the West Philippine Sea.”

PH provoked China’s water cannoning at Ayungin Shoal

The Day Ted Cruz Stopped A Bad Internet Bill

Well, this was a bit of a surprise. Over the past couple of weeks I wrote about how Senator Josh Hawley was planning to try to hotline his terrible No Section 230 Immunity for AI Act. As we have explained multiple times, the bill is so poorly drafted that it would make a mess of the entire internet. After rumors of two attempted hotlines (effectively trying to sneak the bill through if no Senator objects) planned for last week, and then a rumor of a Tuesday night attempt, Hawley finally took to the floor Wednesday morning to make the push. If C-SPAN’s clunky embed feature works, you can watch it here:

The Day Ted Cruz Stopped A Bad Internet Bill

Related:

Bing’s A.I. Chat: ‘I Want to Be Alive. 😈’

Communications Decency Act – Section 230

Free Speech Groups Call on Congress To Block NewsGuard Funding

As many as 36 groups advocating free speech, the Free Speech Alliance, have turned to US Congress with a request to stop any further funding of NewsGuard.

Free Speech Groups Call on Congress To Block NewsGuard Funding
Source.

Previous NewsGuard posts (not necessarily conservative):

NewsGuard is very neutral. Its Board of Directors is secret, but its Advisory Board includes one of the co-founders of Wikipedia (Jimmy Wales) as well as the former director of the CIA and the NSA (General Michael Hayden), the former Secretary General of NATO (Anders Fogh Rasmussen), the former Secretary for Homeland Security (Tom Ridge) or the former Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy – i.e. Propaganda (Richard Stengel)

The EU, NATO, NewsGuard and the Voltaire Network (original)

Censorship: Donbass Insider in the Crosshairs of Newsguard, an Agency Linked to the CIA, NATO and the White House

Consortium News Sues NewsGuard, US Government For Alleged Defamation

Read More »

Biden Admin Awards Over $4 Million In Grants To Programs That Target “Misinformation” + Notes

Biden Admin Awards Over $4 Million In Grants To Programs That Target “Misinformation”

The State Department has awarded the following five grants since September 1:

An $18,000 grant to the Albanian-based non-governmental organization (NGO) the Institute for Democracy, Media, and Culture* to ensure a “whole-of-society response to cyber incidents and misinformation.” The associated program began on September 1, 2023.

A $14,500 grant to Paraguay’s American Cultural Center [Centro Cultural Paraguayo Americano] that will be used to implement workshops that “seek to combat misinformation and promote responsible digital citizenship.” The associated program began on September 1, 2023.

A $15,000 grant to the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences at Udayana University to “raise digital literacy among selected amcors communities, journalists, and social media influencers to combat misinformation, pre-2024 general election.” The associated program is due to start on October 1, 2023.

A $50,000 grant to New York University to complete the implementation of a speaker series that supports “countering misinformation.” The associated program is due to start on October 1, 2023.

A $50,000 grant to the non-profit Digital Rights Nepal*** “to create a sustainable network of youth to promote digital rights, safer internet use and a collective resilience towards misinformation and disinformation.” The associated program is due to start on October 2, 2023.

***Digital rights are the new Internet Freedom (think Arab Spring).

Skeptical Notes:

Read More »

Critics renew calls for a TikTok ban, claiming platform has an anti-Israel bias

The perceived performance of pro-Palestinian content on the platform depends on how you parse TikTok’s data.

Critics renew calls for a TikTok ban, claiming platform has an anti-Israel bias

Related:

Israel losing media war on Tik Tok; Palestinian civilian casualties continue to mount:

However, Tik-Tok has become the latest battle ground for the conflict between Israel and Palestine, with potentially dangerous consequences for the side that fails to influence the most hearts and minds on an international scale.

GAZA in real time: Geopolitics versus Genocide

Prefatory Note: A modified version of this interview conducted by Daniel Falcone, with a long introduction was published online in Truthout on October 29, 2023, The situation in Gaza and its increasingly regional implications grow more humanly distressing and politically menacing with each passing day. Israel has succeeded in influencing the Global West and its corporate main media platforms to accept two interpretations of events following the Oct 7 Hamas attack that are at best highly contentious and controversial and, in my understanding, deeply misleading and distorting: (1) that Hamas is nothing other than a group of terrorists engaged in barbaric crimes, and should be addressed in the same manner as ISIS and Al-Qaeda; (2) that it is legitimate in such a conflict to override normal rules of international law, even to the extent of engaging in genocidal means of ethnic cleansing.

GAZA in real time: Geopolitics versus Genocide