Monthly Archives: September 2020

Im more anti-China than you!

Thats a new theme of this election.

Joe Biden says, We will never again be at the mercy of China! Donald Trump replies, China would own our country if Joe Biden got elected!

Its strange to hear competition, because just a few administrations ago, presidents were eager to celebrate China. A future of greater trade and growth and human dignity is possible! said George W. Bush. Bill Clinton praised Chinas positive change and great progress.

What changed? Thats the subject of my new video.

Presidents Clinton and Bush were excited about China because its dictators had finally opened up Chinas economy. They got rid of price controls, broke up collective farms, allowed foreign investment and privatized state-run business. China, suddenly, prospered.

People were so happy to finally see China being set on this path, says Melissa Chen, who reports on China for the Spectator. The reforms lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty for the very first time.

Then, three years ago, Xi Jinping got himself named president for life.

He cracked down on speech, even jokes. After someone noted his resemblance to Winnie the Pooh, all mentions of the character were deleted from Chinas internet.

I had thought the internet couldnt be censored. Bill Clinton said it would be like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall.

The Chinese figured out how to nail Jell-O to the wall, says Chen. They built an almost perfectly walled-in internet.

China does this by employing a million censors. They block Google, Facebook, Twitter and most Western news media. A few computer-savvy Chinese citizens use forbidden apps to get around the censorship, but most dont get to see the same internet that we see. People caught accessing banned sites are punished. Police may barge into your home, threaten your family or just restrict your choices.

You cant make doctors appointments, explains Chen. You cant travel... theyll block you from buying a train ticket or a plane ticket.

Life is far worse for religious minorities such as the Muslim Uighurs. The government is waging cultural genocide against them.

About a million Uighurs are locked up in reeducation camps, sometimes for years, says Chen. Their family never hears back from them.

China wont allow reporters near the camps, but drone footage shows rows of blindfolded people with their heads shaved and their hands tied behind their backs.

Radio Free Asia adds that Chinas reeducation methods even include having Chinese men replace the Uighur men in families. They come in and live with a family (and) sleep in the same bed as the wife, says Chen.

In short, todays China is, once again, a vicious communist dictatorship.

So, Im amazed to watch American protesters and hear them say, America is the worlds biggest problem.

Even a recent New York Times editorial board member wrote that it was difficult to know whether the United States is better, worse, or the same as China.

That equivalence is bonkers, replies Chen. There should be no doubt about the moral equivalence between the two countries.

For one thing, we Americans are free to criticize our government.

You can hold up a sign at a protest, saying, Screw Donald Trump; the United States sucks! explains Chen. You cannot do anything remotely similar in China.

People in Hong Kong tried. Millions attended protests, often waving American flags. Chen says it shows they have a hankering for American values. They crave this freedom that we take for granted.

Now they, too, have been silenced by Chinas government.

The American protesters who carry democratic socialism banners and wave Communist flags (Soviet Communists used to call people like them useful idiots) should know what people in Hong Kong know: Socialism leads to real government oppression.

Why would Americans want this? asks Chen. Why would they be waving these Communist flags, wanting socialism?

See original here:

The tide turns on the perception of China - Brunswick News

Immigrants who have lived under true communism know a thing or two about government oppression. We know what its like to live in fear of absolute authoritarian rule. We know the pain of surrendering your liberty for the sake of the socialist collective. We know how it feels to have no future, no matter how hard you try to improve your life.

Those of us who were lucky enough to escape to the U.S. have also learned that the American Dream is very real. Or at least it used to be.

After years of studying and hard work, I achieved my own American Dream by becoming a family physician. As a mother of five, a small business owner, and a proud member of the school board, I was convinced that the best days for me and my family were yet to come.

In retrospect, I should not have been so quick to take my newfound liberties for granted.

The COVID-19 pandemic, while medically devastating, has become a social disaster for this country. For the past few months, I have been shocked to witness how more and more Americans are willingly surrendering their civil liberties to the government, doing everything that the state tells them to do in the name of public health.

I understand that extraordinary events and tragedies often require us to take extraordinary action. This country, after all, retooled its entire economy to help defeat Nazi Germany in WWII. Every single American understood the importance of fighting a common enemy, and giving our brave soldiers the tools that they needed to win. But does this pandemic really rise to the same level as a world war? Where will our political leaders draw the line between a recommendation and a mandate? If this virus lingers for years, will we ever see our liberties restored?

Of course, there are some Americans who are noticeably exempt from the rules and regulations that the rest of us have to follow. For the past four months, radical socialists have organized riots in some of our countrys largest cities, disobeying social gathering protocols while breaking long-established laws. Remarkably, the leaders of most Democrat-run cities in America were reluctant to criticize this political movement, even when these so-called protests resulted in violence, looting, and death.

Many schools and businesses across the country, meanwhile, remain closed because local authorities are determined to stop the spread of the coronavirus. When has a social cause become more important than educating our children or feeding our families?

Every morning, I wake up and wonder how many insignificant rights we will lose today, from not being allowed to eat inside a restaurant in Philadelphia, to not being able to go to the gym in New Jersey, to not being able to go to church in California. Every morning, I am briefly reminded of my life in Yugoslavia, and how eerily familiar America is becoming to my former homeland.

Luckily, President Trump the same man who has been repeatedly portrayed as an authoritarian by the mainstream press has steadfastly resisted the urge to exploit the crisis for the sake of obtaining power. Time and again, he has encouraged local leaders to safely reopen their economies, and loosen other needless restrictions that have proven to be ineffective.

Despite the fact America is heading down a dark path at the moment, I still believe that this magnificent country has a bright future. I hope and pray that the American people remember their history, recognize the threat of unlimited government authority, and choose to defend their civil liberties this November.

Dr. Katrina Lindley, DO is a family medicine physician in Brock, Texas

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LINDLEY: I Fled Tyranny Once; Now It Has Followed Me To America - The Hayride

HONG KONG For Ha Sze-yuen, the sea surrounding Hong Kong is more than just a backdrop for sunsets and beaches.

The 73-year old views the ocean as his route to freedom a means of escape from the oppression and poverty of communist China.

On the night of April 16, 1975, Ha and a friend slipped past Chinese border guards and plunged their homemade, inflatable rubber dinghy into the dark water of Shenzhen Bay.

They then started paddling toward the bright lights of Hong Kong, which at the time was still a British colony.

Ha said he had already been caught and jailed three times during previous failed attempts to swim across the water. After the third attempt, he said, guards beat him so badly his mother cried when she saw his wounds.

I was fighting for my freedom, Ha said. I was afraid, but compared to life in China the fear was nothing.

Ha said he and his mother, a school teacher, were persecuted during the Cultural Revolution, a period ofpolitical chaos and violence unleashed by Mao Zedong, due in part to the fact his father had been a Kuomintang military officer who fled Communist rule after his side lost the Chinese civil war.

During the worst decades of Maos rule, thousands of Chinesefled south into Hong Kong.

In photos taken after Has final, successful attempt to make it to the city, the beaming 28-year-old stands looking over Hong Kongs Victoria Harbor, dressed in bell-bottom trousers and a fashionable striped shirt.

But 45 years later, Ha no longer sees this historic port city as a sanctuary.

Now I feel like freedom is being taken away gradually, he said, referring to an ongoing crackdown on political opposition in the city by the government and Chinese authorities, who recently imposed a national security law on Hong Kong, which has further limited space for dissent and left many activists fearing arrest.

The arrests of close to 10,000 anti-government protesters over the past year and the increasing targeting of opposition politicians and activists have created a phenomenon that would have been considered unimaginable to many just a few years ago.

Some Hong Kongers are now taking great risks to flee the city, even choosing to try to smuggle themselves out by sea to Taiwan.

Some Hong Kong activists are starting to see parallels between the current situation and the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, when hundreds of mainland Chinese protesters were smuggled by land and sea to Hong Kong via an organized pipeline called Operation Yellowbird. At the time, Hong Kong authorities did not return dissidents to mainland China.

This time, the territory we need to escape from (includes) Hong Kong, and Taiwan becomes the destiny of people, the hope of Hong Kong people, said Eddie Chu, a pro-democracy lawmaker.

Chu plans to resign his position in Hong Kongs Legislative Council, after the citys government recently postponed elections by at least a year on public health grounds.

As authorities crack down on dissent in Hong Kong, a cottage industry of small businesses and organizations supporting the citys protest movement is springing up in Taipei.

Aegis is a coffee shop decorated with giant murals depicting helmeted, goggled protesters as manga-style superheroes. Patrons are welcomed by a so-called Lennon Wall of Post-it notes with handwritten messages like Stand with HK and Free HK, a once-ubiquitous sight in Hong Kong at the height of last years protest movement.

The business employs activists who have fled Hong Kong.

According to the Taiwanese government, the number of Hong Kong residents settling in Taiwan more than doubled during the first six months of 2020, compared to the previous year.

One of the most famous recent emigres is Lam Wing-kee. For years, he ran Causeway Bay Books, a small store in the heart of Hong Kong specializing in sensational works critical of the Chinese leadership.

But in 2015, he and four of his colleagues disappeared from Hong Kong for months only to reappear on Chinese state TV in a televised confession admitting to illegal book trading.

In a 2016 interview with CNN, Lam accused Chinese security forces of kidnapping him to the Chinese mainland and forcing the confession.

Three years later, Lam left Hong Kong for good, and started a new Causeway Bay Books in Taipei.

Taiwan is a lot safer than Hong Kong, Lam said. I left a place where I may lose my freedom to a place where I have freedom.

He spoke to CNN sitting beside the cash register in his shop, where he also sleeps at night to save rent. His desk is draped with a flag bearing the slogan Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of our Time.

The term has since been declared subversive by Hong Kong authorities, and those who use it could be prosecuted.

CNN has spoken to several frontline protesters who recently fled to Taipei to escape criminal charges in Hong Kong.

One 19-year-old man, who asked not to be identified, said he boarded a commercial flight to Taiwan in January, before the coronavirus pandemic triggered a lockdown.

Its hard for me, said the teenage exile, adding he felt homesick and wanted to return. I still want to (take part in) the political movement (but) theres no room for that in Hong Kong right now.

Other exiles in Taiwan said they had heard of fellow activists trying to escape by sea.

Right now everyone somehow is trapped in Hong Kong, said an older activist, who flew to Taiwan in July 2019 after participating in the storming and vandalizing of Hong Kongs Legislative Council.

I cant think of how we should keep fighting, or what young protesters should be doing now, he added. If we have a chance, we should escape.

The rest is here:

Activists Are Fleeing Hong Kong By Boat To Taiwan - WIBC - Indianapolis News & Politics

Abdul Salam Hanafi (right), a member of the Taliban negotiating team, heads to the opening session of peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, on Saturday. Hussein Sayed/AP hide caption

Abdul Salam Hanafi (right), a member of the Taliban negotiating team, heads to the opening session of peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, on Saturday.

Afghanistan's warring factions have officially begun what is likely to be a long and arduous process of negotiating a peaceful and prosperous future after nearly two decades of war.

Representatives for the Afghan government and the Taliban met in the capital of Qatar on Saturday to discuss their aspirations and decide on a framework for a lasting peace. The Trump administration paved the way for the negotiations the first direct talks between the two sides when it inked a peace agreement with the Taliban in February.

The talks in the city of Doha come 19 years after al-Qaida killed nearly 3,000 people in the Sept. 11 attacks. The attack was the deadliest act of terror in U.S. history and sparked war in Afghanistan, as the U.S. and its allies overthrew the Taliban regime for harboring the terrorists. But in the years since, Taliban militants have reclaimed control of much of the country.

Several concessions were made to reach today's peace talks. In exchange for a Taliban promise to renounce al-Qaida and prevent terrorist attacks, the U.S. and its allies have promised a complete troop withdrawal from Afghanistan by next spring.

When it signed the peace deal with the Taliban in February, the U.S. had approximately 12,000 military personnel in the country. Officials say the U.S. is on track to reduce its presence to 4,500 troops by the end of November. At its peak, the U.S. had 100,000 troops in the country.

For its part, the Afghan government has promised to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners in exchange for Taliban release of 1,000 Afghan security forces.

Abdul Ghani Baradar, one of the Taliban's founders, said he envisions an Islamic system that embraces all Afghans. At the opening ceremony, he urged patience on both sides.

"The negotiation process may have problems, but the request is that the negotiations move forward with a lot of patience, with a lot of attention, and it should be continued with such kind of attention," he said. "With full honesty, we continue the Afghan peace negotiation, and we try for peace and tranquility, we will pave the ground in Afghanistan."

Abdullah Abdullah, who heads Kabul's High Council for National Reconciliation, said that even if all sides can't agree on every detail, they will be "peace heroes" if they can create a political system based on Islamic principles that preserves the rights of all people.

In a video message to open the negotiations, U.N. Secretary-General Antnio Guterres said the talks present a "major opportunity to achieve the long-held aspirations of the people of Afghanistan for peace."

"Afghans themselves must determine the content and nature of the negotiations," Guterres said. "An inclusive peace process, in which women, youth and victims of conflict are meaningfully represented, offers the best hope of a sustainable solution."

The negotiations will endeavor to establish a framework for a peaceful postwar society after American troops return home. Gender equality and the rights of ethnic and religious minorities will be front and center, as the two sides confront a history of oppression by the Taliban.

The U.S. won't be directly involved in the peace talks. But the U.S. is still willing to offer suggestions for what a postwar Afghanistan could look like. In remarks at Saturday morning's opening ceremony, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged the two sides to consider adopting a democratic form of government.

"In the United States, we have found that democracy notably, the principle of the peaceful rotation of political power works best," Pompeo said, according to prepared remarks. "Democratic systems reflect the choices of the majority while protecting the rights of the minority. This model has yielded great peace and prosperity for us and other democratic nations."

The two sides are under heavy pressure from the people of Afghanistan to come to an agreement as quickly as possible. U.S. special adviser Zalmay Khalilzad, who helped facilitate the talks, acknowledged that won't be easy. "There's a lot of mistrust," he told reporters Saturday. "This war has been going on for a long time, and compromise has not been easy historically in Afghanistan."

Read the rest here:

Peace Talks Begin Between Taliban And Afghan Government - NPR

Friday, September 11, 2020

Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Minsk on Saturday at the spot in the Belarusian capital where a protester died in clashes with police, calling for the country's authoritarian president, Alexander Lukashenko, to resign after 26 years in power. The protests have gone on for one month since the results of the presidential election in which election officials say Lukashenko won a sixth term in office but which is reality were fraudulent.

Despite harsh police action against the protesters, including the detention of 7,000 people, the demonstrations have swelled into the largest and most sustained wave of protest since Lukashenko took power in 1994.

The Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, has used his first interview since mass protests erupted against his rule to say he does not plan to step down soon. Lukashenko spoke to a group of pro-Kremlin Russian journalists including the editor-in-chief of Russia Today, Margarita Simonyan, and made it clear he plans to fight to cling on to power.

Lukashenko is in power shamelessly by bribing the army and the police for using to suppress the people. He is in power rigging the election and terrorising the people. Against his own people he is inviting Russian military help also.Unfortunately Putin has decided to send in special forces from Russia--perhaps thinking that a friendly dictator is better than a non friendly democratic government, no matter that Lukashenko has no popular legitimacy to remain in power. It is useless talking human rights when one can continue in power with the power of the gun and no popular election.

The main problem for Belarus is that Russia may try to prop up Lukashenko so he can stay in power. He has been able to resist Russian interference for 20 years but the danger is that if Lukashenko realises that he can't stay in power he may encourage Russia to prop him up. Russia has previously used chances like these to annex territory--like it did in 2015 when it annexed the Crimea but may instead help Lukashenko to remain in power. To stick to power for some people is like drug addiction and they will be saved by foreign power to keep their own people as slaves.

So what does the future hold for Belarus--rule under Lukashenko is probably the worst thing which can occur. It is time that Lukashenko realizes that he has outlived his usefulness to the Belarusian people and just go quietly. Oppressing them with his security forces and faking election results for the umpteenth time will not endear him to the people. He must not act like his godfather Putin and cling on to power. He must realize that the people can throw him out and go.

Modern dictators with the support of the army and the police have become too power for the people to change. The people's election is not necessary for government to be legitimate. Only international community can ensure that the government must have popular legitimacy.

See the article here:

International action against oppression of illegitimate government in Belarus is urgent - thedailynewnation.com