Monthly Archives: February 2022

Whatever the Wests response to Russias attack on Ukraines sovereignty, the crisis demonstrates the limitations of western politics and policy across the board. If Vladimir Putin understands any demographic better than the Russian people, it is the governing class of the West: that Harvard-Oxbridge-Sciences Po axis of toweringly smug and practically interchangeable global-liberals who weep for international norms they werent prepared to defend. Their ideas and their sanctions are tired because they are civilisationally tired. Putin knows this, but none of the rival ideologies aiming to replace liberalism have anything better to offer.

The failure of the global-liberals comes on many fronts but two of the most significant have been on hard power and energy independence. Two-thirds of Nato members do not meet the alliances two per cent of GDP guideline on defence spending, while 47 per cent of coal, 41 per cent of natural gas and 27 per cent of crude oil imported into the EU comes from Russia. German Chancellor Olaf Scholzs decision to halt the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is significant, but it is a shame it took a European invasion for Germany to realise the pipe might have been a bad idea.

Europe has grown soft and complacent since the end of the Cold War. It has grown accustomed to sheltering under expensive US firepower while directing their own revenues to social welfare programmes and other large-scale domestic spending, all the while sneering mightily at Americas fondness for hard power and its supposed warmongering ways. The liberal delusion that government can provide the good life without national defence has led to this point: a Europe humiliatingly shown up by its neighbour.

But if global-liberalism has not risen to the moment, it is still more credible than the alternatives just.

What of the sounds coming out of the anti-imperialist left? Their keen interest in the Middle East might have us guess their position on an imperial power dominating a free nation it once ruled. Yet Jeremy Corbyn, the man the Labour Party twice tried to make Prime Minister, is siding with the oppressor. He has signed a statement by that coalition of cranks Stop the War, which claims the UK government has poured oil on the fire throughout this episode and talked up the threat of war continually. At last, someone willing to condemn the real warmongers in all this: us.

Corbyn appeared to draw moral equivalence between a Russian invasion and the presence of Nato in eastern Europe, asking Defence Secretary Ben Wallace yesterday: Would he be prepared to countenance, if the Russians pull back, any reduction in the Nato presence on the border as well, in order to bring about a longer-term, secure peace in the region?

When it came down to it, when an act of imperial bullying and land theft began playing out before their eyes, the anti-imperialist left could not bring itself to support the oppressed, because doing so might suggest being on the same side as Britain. The far left doesnt particularly care what happens in Ukraine, just so long as the West loses and can be blamed for it.

West-blaming is not a matter solely for the left. The post-liberals and the New Right have demonstrated how unserious they arewhen they position against Americas forever wars, as though conflict was something initiated by US generals after reading one too many Bill Kristol columns. As Ukraine shows, post-liberal foreign policy is really just washing hands, a cynical parochialism that turned disillusion with the Iraq war into obstinate America Firstism.

So too, disgracing themselves, are the adult-onset paranoids who went from sensible critiques of populism to hyperventilating about Donald Trump, Boris Johnson and their role in a Russian plot to control the White House and 10 Downing Street. But it was not under Trump that Russia decided to gobble up more of Ukraine, but under Biden, who once declared: Vladimir Putin doesnt want me to be President. Johnson, apparently, is by any strict definition of the word... aRussian asset, sohe's somewhat spoiled all this jolly John le Carr hijinks by being such an early and forceful ally of the Ukrainians. Unless, of course, thats all part of Moscows dastardly scheme.

Tall tales about Trump or Johnson being the perfect candidates for Putin have allowed educated liberals to rationalise away their repeated defeats at the ballot box. They havent lost because their ideas are bad: its that a dark cabal is working against them. The sort of demographics who engage in this comforting paranoia are the very same who sneer at the less well-educated for reading Dan Brown books or tuning into trashy TV shows about UFOs. Blue-tick conspiracy theorists believe in things that are no less absurd. The difference is: they wield much more institutional and cultural power.

With the state of debate as it is, is it any wonder Putin looks at the West and doesnt feel in the slightest bit threatened?

More here:

Putin must look at the West and laugh - Spectator.co.uk

ABOVE: JMU carved out a niche in higher education by plotting a unique path to national distinction.

It is useful to clarify the distinction between the designations of National University and R-2. JMU is already considered a national university in many rankings (Wall Street Journal, Niche, Forbes, etc.). For instance, JMU has traditionally been ranked by U.S. News and World Report among regional universities in the South. With JMUs new R-2 status, we will now be ranked in the National University group by U.S. News and World Report. The Carnegie Classification framework, first published in 1973, is the standard typically used within the study of higher education as its methodology represents and controls for more subtle institutional differences. Criteria for this classification is based on publically available data the university is required to submit annually. Carnegie classification is a major consideration used in ranking universities by a variety of sources.

According to Carnegie, there are currently three Doctoral University categories:

Carnegie categorizes institutions based on their award of research doctoral degrees, professional-practice doctoral degrees and research expenditures during a sample year. In 2018, R-2 required greater than 20 research doctoral degrees and more than $5 million in research expenditures.

Thats what makes JMU different and quite unique in American higher educationweve never lost our focus on those personal relationships or on the importance of the teaching function, even as weve evolved to become a research institution.

President Alger

JMU has embraced several core commitments that have brought it to this point and which must be retained during this R-2 transition:

JMU faculty are deeply committed to the teacher-scholar model that they employ. Not only are they deeply committed to their classwork, but also outside of class. Its what happens in that engagement in the conversations, in their interactivity in the mentorship and advising they provide. We know that this is the case because our students tell us. But they are also serious and accomplished scholars advancing knowledge in every discipline.

Heather Coltman, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost, James Madison University

This classification opens up a variety of opportunities for JMU as an institution and for its faculty and students. As a national university, JMU will have new opportunities to:

Maintaining the quintessential JMU student experience as new opportunities for faculty scholarship and institutional impact evolve requires careful attention to balance in faculty workloads and incentives such as educational leaves. To continue to grow our scholarly activities as an R-2 institution, we also need more robust infrastructuresinvestments in Libraries, Research & Scholarship, and Information Technology that enable and support student and faculty research and creative endeavors.

A clear resourcing plan must be developed for the areas of the university that will receive strategic emphasis for growth, andas R-2 status is tied to graduate educationdetermine the extent to which we will focus on further development of existing graduate programs and/or creation of new ones.

Guided by the Academic Affairs Strategic Plan, JMU leaders are taking the following steps:

Download the pdf version

Go here to see the original:

Being Seen: Where we go from here - James Madison University

POLITICS Initial response to the 2022 Budget Speech - SACP

SACP |

23 February 2022

Party welcomes extension of SRD Grant, remains strongly opposed to austerity

South African Communist Party

Initial response to the 2022 Budget Speech

Wednesday, 23 February 2022

The South African Communist Party (SACP) will study the full Budget Review and produce a comprehensive response, as the budget speech does not cover all the issues and items covered in the full Budget Review. In the intervening period, the SACP wishes to highlight the following.

As things stand, South Africa is far away from overcoming the entrenched systemic crises of unemployment, poverty, inequality and social reproduction. These capitalist system crises will remain entrenched and unresolved. Taking unemployment as the case in point, the situation could worsenthat is, unemployment could increase to new highs in the period ahead. There is, however, an interrelationship between unemployment, poverty, inequality and the crisis of social reproduction.

This means that millions of the working-class and poor will remain trapped in the capitalist economic crisis and its effects. These observations are based on at least one influential variable or factor that the Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana conceded to when he said the projected real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is 2.1 per cent this year while it will average 1.8 per cent over the next three years.

We need a radically different approach to start addressing the crisis in earnest. Rather than neo-liberal structural reforms, we need to advance and deepen structural transformation of the economy.

Retain and incrementally adjust the Social Relief of Distress Grant to lay a foundation for building a universal basic income grant

Firstly, the SACP welcomes the allocation of funds to support the extension of the R350 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) Grant introduced at the height of the global COVID-19 pandemic. However, we reiterate our call to the government to not end the SRD Grant but to instead retain it and incrementally adjust it going forward to lay a firm foundation for building a universal basic income grant for unemployed South Africans.

It is important for the government to demonstrably show that it is worried about South Africa being in the midst of a long-term unemployment crisis. Within our democratic dispensation, the unemployment crisis worsened in 1996 after the government imposed its neo-liberal economic policy called Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR).

It was in 1996 that the unemployment rate rose to crisis-high levels of above 20 per cent in terms of both the officially preferred narrow definition of unemployment that excludes discouraged work-seekers and the expanded unemployment definition that includes them. Throughout the entire period, the expanded unemployment rate was higher than the official unemployment rate that only accounts for active work-seekers.

The government introduced the SRD Grant at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic following a jobs bloodbath affecting 2.2 million workers, who were retrenched overwhelmingly by the profit-driven private enterprise in the second quarter of 2020. The unemployment crisis rose to its highest level in the third quarter of 2021, affecting a combined population of approximately 12.5 million active and discouraged work-seekers.

Discard the neo-liberal policy of austerity, build a budgeting framework that responds to the needs of the people

The SACP remains strongly opposed to the neo-liberal policy of austerity and will strengthen its programme, including building widest possible working-class unity and a popular Left front, to achieve a budgeting framework that is responsive to the needs of the people and our national development imperatives.

In the budget speech, for instance, the Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana states that the National Treasury will in the coming period do more work to strengthen fiscal anchors. On four different occasions in the full Budget Review (on pages 2, 4, 24 and 28), the National Treasury states that it will introduce new fiscal anchors. By fiscal anchors in the neo-liberal policy regime reference is to nothing but driving, and where already in place, deepening and widening austerity. The working-class and poor should consider this to be what the National Treasury refers to by a more robust fiscal anchor (page 28), given that it has over the years intransigently followed the neo-liberal policy of austerity.

In terms of social development, the average annual Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for social protection is a negative growth of 3 per cent. The negative refers to a decline in growth, while the MTEF refers to a period of three successive financial years, in this case starting on 1stApril 2022.

That said, the average annual MTEF allocation for economic development and industrial incentive programmes is negative 2.9 per cent, while in agriculture and rural development the average annual MTEF allocation for land reform is negative 2.7 per cent (Budget Review, page 65). It is inconceivable that the declines in growth for economic development, industrial incentive programmes and land reform will yield positive results, in this case industrialisation to radically reduce unemployment and an increase in the pace of land redistribution to drive redress and inclusion in agriculture and integration in other land dependent economic activities.

Industrialisation requires adequate support, as opposed to declines in the growth of what was already inadequate support. The government needs to rethink its approach if we are to overcome economic underdevelopment and the unemployment crisis.

Discard the regressive tax regime, embrace a progressive tax framework

There has been a significant corporate income tax reduction within our democratic dispensation, for example, from 35 per cent to 30 per cent in 1999 and then down to 28 per cent later, with a commitment to further reductions. In reminding us that the government has reduced corporate tax, the minister made a timeless assertion that they have not increased taxes in the major revenue generating categories, such as personal income tax, VAT and the general fuel levy. This assertion could be misleading because as recently as 2018 the National Treasury pushed an increase in VAT from 14 per cent to 15 per cent.

Based on the generalisation that they have not increased taxes in the major revenue generating categories, such as personal income tax, VAT and the general fuel levy, the minister went on to caution that the National Treasury would have no choice but to revisit this (referring to the so-called no increase of the VAT, and the other taxes that he mentioned in the same line) if there are permanent expenditure increases. We consider this to be a threat directed at the popular call for the government to establish a universal basic income grant, among others. The SACP denounces the threat and reiterates its stance against increasing taxes that will negatively impact the working-class and poor, such as the VAT, while reducing tax for the rich.

In a society such as South Africa which is characterised by persisting astronomical levels of both income and wealth inequality, unemployment and poverty, the government should be pursuing a more progressive tax framework to support national development imperatives, including redress and redistribution. This should include an annual wealth tax and taxes such as taxes on wealth inheritance and luxury imports, among other taxes on the wealthy.

State-Owned Enterprises

The government has the duty to support State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) to achieve a turnaround and thrive and to grow the publicly owned economic sector, to take care of the needs of the people, the majority of whom is the working-class and poor, black, women and youth, and to support other national development imperatives.

The SACP is therefore strongly opposed to the macroeconomic framework that deprives the critical SOEs with adequate recapitalisation or defunds them. Together with governance decay under state capture and other forms of corruption, as well as looting, such macroeconomic approaches are a prelude to privatisation. This is highly problematic, to say the least.

The SACP will seek engagements with the Alliance partners regarding the observations we have made in relation to the trend that emerged since the adoption of GEAR in 1996 and under state capture, other forms of corruption and governance decay. Equally important, we will engage with other formations in our effort to build a popular Left front in defence of, and to advance and deepen, developmental state participation in the economy.

In the same vein we want to see support commensurate with the need to build a thriving co-operatives sector that cuts across the length and breadth of our economy.

International Monetary Fund and the World Bank

The SACP reiterates its strong opposition to fiscal policy measures that have the effect of subordinating our democratic policy space to any neo-liberal agenda driven by the Washington-based International Monetary Fund and World Bank, as well as by the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, credit rating agencies, or by any other institution or class, domestic and foreign. This firm opposition includes opposition to the use of borrowing and the National Treasury as vehicles for importing, domesticating and implementing such agendas.

Issued by the SACP, 23 February 2022

Go here to read the rest:

Initial response to the 2022 Budget Speech - SACP - POLITICS - Politicsweb

Charles Mock| Your Turn

Expert explains what is critical race theory is

Savannah Morning News reporter Will Peebles speaks with John Nwosu about critical race theory, or CRT, and what the term means.

Savannah Morning News

Black History is about naming the unnamed: reciting their contributions to humanity. However late, better late than never! Giving, posthumously, the unnamed and non-remembered medals of honor for their valuable inventions, shed blood, sweat, and tears from their weary years can significantlyreconcile the unbalanced checkbook of America's history of education.

An important part of education is "re-membering." To re-member is more than identifying UFOs unidentified famous occupants of American history. Re-membering is for the purpose of celebrating and integrating into a unified history shattered and scattered Black bones; dis-membered and fleshless Black bones; buried Black bones hidden beneath the grassy knoll of cemeteries. Re-membering is remembering on steroids: a mandatory corrective for all school levels and the business community. To re-member is righting the egregious wrongs of history's truth deficit disorder. Resurrected contributions contained in buried bodies would serve us well as a nation too divided on so many levels.

Black History Month is more than remembering, recognizing and celebrating the unnamed and thoseleft out of American history.

More: Critical race theory isn't taught in NWPA schools, but controversy still looms

One more painful aspect of Black history these days is Critical Race Theory (CRT). The definition of CRT these days seems much like defining art work: It is in the eyes of the beholder! Ask 12 different people and you will get 13 different answers!

More: Lisa Thompson Sayers: Turning pain into purpose, why Erie must engage Black history

Long before Critical Race Theory, however defined, became the subject of conversation birthed in law schools, it was discussed at simplistic environs kitchen tables around which sat mom and dad, or front porches where grandmom cracked off the ends of string beans as grandad with cornpipe in mouth found a way to simultaneously chew tobacco.The kitchen and the front porch were locations where Black families studied the painful subject of how they "made it" in a strange land in the midst of "strange fruit" dangling in trees by the rope of injustice. Recall howBillie Holiday's song "Strange Fruit" evoked the lynchings of Black Americans.

Let's break down the word "critical" in Critical Race Theory.The word "critical" is an academic term that refers to critical thinking and scholarly criticism, not to criticizing or blaming people. Critical Race Theory for Black elementary children can be defined as "critical" conversations on racial survival in the context of a virtually "whites only" world narrative. The word "critical" has been accentuated by a great deal of discussion on "Maus."

"Maus," a Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust, has been banned by a Tennessee school district, prompting blowback from critics who say it's essential to teach children about the genocide. The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum said on Twitter:

"'Maus' has played a vital role in educating about the Holocaust through sharing detailed and personal experiences of victims and survivors."

"…Teaching about the Holocaust using books like 'Maus' can inspire students to think critically about the past and their own roles and responsibilities today."

The McMinn County School Board begged to differ. It voted unanimously in January to remove "Maus" from its curriculum and replace it with an alternative that had not been identified at the time of the vote.

Cannot the same, painful process of learning to think critically be true when reading the good, the bad and the ugly of American history?Indeed, good for some, as long as one stays clear of the iceberg allegations of false ideas, theories and misinformed rants of Critical Race Theory.Misinformed persons believe Critical Race Theory should not be mentioned in the same breath as "legitimate" Black history as defined by unsung heroic Black men and womenworthy of a month of celebration under the bright sun of American history. But for others, Critical Race Theory is the foundation of the need for Black history to tell the truth of Black accomplishments against all odds.

What about the word "race" in Critical Race Theory? After extracting color-centered racefrom the human race, white educators, backed by fake science, drew lines in the proverbial sand as dangerous as the minefields American soldiers were trained to locate for survival on the battlefields of foreign lands. False scientific theories of racial differences wereas unjust as the gerrymandering lines drawn by political parties to reinforce and secure political power in ways that dilute the power of Black voters.

We now know from historical research andscience the manufactured, institutionalized and enforced theory that promoted strong boundaries between white and Black people for political reasons was rooted in power retention and grounded in authority based on color.

The "theory" aspect of Critical Race Theory is based on a preponderance of well-documented statistical evidence based on legal research into disparities that result from thescales of (in)justice.

A key tenet of CRT, according to Wikipedia, is that "racism and disparate racial outcomes are the result of complex, changing, and often subtle social and institutional dynamics, rather than explicit and intentional prejudices of individuals. CRT scholars argue that the idea of race advances the interests of white people at the expense of people of color, and that the liberal notion of U.S. law as 'neutral'plays a significant role in maintaining a racially unjust social order, where formally color-blind laws continue to have racially discriminatory outcomes. CRT began in the United States in the postcivil rights era, as 1960s landmark civil rights laws were being eroded and schools were being re-segregated."

Let us be honest. Is this being taught in elementary schools? Of course not. Then why are parents racing to school board meetings, filling auditoriums and demanding an end to instruction on Critical Race Theory? One reason is politically motivated deceivers have them totally confused.

In a strange twist of of fate, what some whitepeople have meant for evil the elimination of Critical Race Theory instruction is turning out for good. My mother taught me long ago that God moves in mysterious ways His wonders to perform. God plants His feet on the sea and also rides the storm.

Critical Race Theory instruction and conversations should take place at appropriate age levels in particular educational locations and in wholesome ways! The promotion of falsified or whitewashed American history for the perpetuation of political and corporate comfort and profit is anathema to the very theory of a comprehensive education.

Church leadership should lead the charge in promoting the whole truth of American history, however graphic and grotesque. The white church should exercise a leadership role in racial conversations with respect to education because its pulpit leaders boast in sermons, in Christian education and songs about the Christ who is the way, the truth and the life!The church must not only promote the truth it must expose lies.

Critical Race Theory conversations should be mandatory for Americans regardless of color and creed because of the collateral damage to the mental well-being of our nation. The ever-widening political divides and convulsions our nation is experiencing are rooted in efforts to protect lies and silence truth-tellers.

Re-membering the shattered and scattered, dis-membered and fleshless buried Black bones in history's cemeteries is a mandatory corrective for all schools and the business community. When we uniteBlack history and Critical Race Theory in holy matrimony, America is made the better! Until we join the hand of Black history with the hand of Critical Race Theory, the blood of the slain will beheard crying out from the soil that received it, " No justice, no peace!"

Let us not be undertakers, throwing more dirt on buried caskets. Let us be overcomers, those who resurrect the truth from the graveyards of history.

CharlesMock is the pastor of Community Baptist Church in Erie.

Read the original:

Attacks on CRT aim to whitewash ugly truths of American Black history, perpetuate injustice - GoErie.com

As they were working, she said, a man approached them and screamed that they were violent terrorists, repeatedly called them a misogynist vulgarity and accused them of being responsible for violence in the city. The women were about a block from where Mr. Smith lives.

She said he threatened them, saying, If I see you come past my house, Ill shoot you.

Ms. Beck said that Ms. Knightly approached the man and said: Youre not going to scare us. Youre not going to intimidate us.

The gunman then shot Ms. Knightly in the face, Ms. Beck said.

Ms. Beck said that she was shot twice, and that she saw two of her friends, including Ms. Knightly, on the ground, covered in blood.

The police declined to provide a motive for the attack, saying that it remained under investigation.

A search warrant was executed at Mr. Smiths apartment over the weekend, according to his roommate, Kristine Christenson, 33, who said she had lived with him for seven years.

Mr. Smith, a machinist, had become more and more radicalized in recent years, Ms. Christenson said.

He talked about wanting to shoot people all the time, how much he hated Antifa and Black Lives Matter and those damn commies, she said.

Ms. Christenson said that Mr. Smith wore a shirt that said Kyle Rittenhouse true patriot, referring to the Illinois man who was acquitted of criminal charges after he fatally shot two men and wounded another during protests of police conduct in Kenosha, Wis., in 2020.

Read the original:

Man Charged With Murder in Shooting at Protest in Portland - The New York Times

On February 4, 2022, Russia and China published a joint statement on "the International Relations Entering a New Era and the Global Sustainable Development." The statement focused on seeking "multipolarity" in order to put an end to the U.S.-led unipolar order, and stressed that Russia and China aim to strengthen a Eurasian partnership.[1]

It is notable that in 2019, "Toutiao Q&A," a Q&A community launched by the Chinese platform Toutiao, which along with TikTok is owned by the Beijing-based Internet giant ByteDance, had published the question "Which country has done the most harm to China in modern times?" Many Internet users responded, and the unanimous answer was "Russia, without a doubt."

In particular, one user stated: "In modern history, the reason why Russia's 'harm' is so great is because no matter what China did, China cannot escape Russia's means of control. And whether Russia plundered and invaded, or gave generous assistance, its purpose has always been to completely control China. In the face of Russia, China has a kind of despair that there is no way to escape... It is precisely because the threat from the North is always with us that we never forget to strive for self-improvement."

Below are two of the answers to the 2019 Q&A question on Toutiao:[2]

(Source: Twitter)

'In The Face Of Russia, China Has A Kind Of Despair That There Is No Way To Escape'

Q: "Which country has done the most harm to China in modern times?"

Author: "Quiet Night History (A high-quality creator in the field of history)"

"Russia, without a doubt.

"Since the outbreak of the Opium War in 1840, our country endured 109 years of humiliation. During this time, foreign powers scrambled to carry out barbaric aggression against our country. Our country not only ceded land and paid indemnities, but also lost almost all opportunities for economic development.

"From the 'Kingdom of Heaven,' where all nations paid tribute, to the 'Sick Man of East Asia,' who could be bullied by everyone, all the great powers invaded and plundered China. Of all the great powers, the author believes that the one that did the most damage to our country was Russia. This is due to the following reasons:

1. Nightmare of Geographical location

"The 'harm' caused by Russia is so great because Russia is the only country among all the great powers that directly borders our country. This means that even if Russia was relatively backward among other powers, it had the advantage of being close to China geographically.

"Russia has always been in a relatively backward state among all the great powers. When Britain, France, the United States and Germany and other countries embarked on the road of industrialization through the industrial revolution, Russia was still faltering under the serf system. It was not until Russia was defeated in the Crimean War that there was an internal crisis, and then serfdom was abolished in 1861. But Russia was still quite backward compared to other powers, so Lenin described Russia as the weak link in the imperialist chain.

"Precisely because it didn't enter the industrial age, Russia had continued its previous barbaric method for plundering territory, which caused our country, which is close to Russia, to suffer tremendously.

"Before the mid-Qing Dynasty, when the Qing was still strong, Russia's southward movement into Asia had little success. However, as the Qing Dynasty changed from a strong country to a weak country, Russia took the opportunity to start barbaric aggression and encroachment.

"After the outbreak of the Second Opium War in 1856, Russia took advantage of the crisis the Qing was tangled in to seize more than 1.5 million square kilometers of land in the outer northeast and outer northwest. Not only that, Tsarist Russia also infiltrated wildly into Mongolia and Tannu Ulianghai.

"At the end of the 19th century, Tsar Nicholas II concocted the notorious 'Yellow Russia' plan, drawing a straight line from K2 in Xinjiang to Vladivostok, and said all the land north of the line was owned by Russia. Once this plan succeeded, the borders of our country would stop at the Great Wall!

"After Russia's fiasco in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, Russia had to withdraw from the Northeast. Although we saw the bankruptcy of the 'Yellow Russia' plan, Russia's coveting of Mongolia has never stopped.

"In 1911, when the Revolution of 1911 broke out, the Qing Dynasty was in chaos. Russia immediately instigated the separation of Mongolia's upper classes and frantically attacked Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia.

"Although due to the threat of foreign powers and the impact of the collapse of Tsarist Russia in World War I, Mongolia did not become a Russian territory, but it became a Russian colony. Except from 1919 to 1921, when the Beiyang government briefly took back Mongolia, the rest of the time Mongolia was completely torn from our country's territory. Later, Mongolia established a constitutional monarchy government in 1922, a republic in 1924, recognized by the Nanjing National Government in 1945, and joined the United Nations in 1962.

"Tannu Uriankhai was 'accepted' by the Soviet Union in 1944 and became part of Russia.

"Russia's barbaric plundering of northern China had an extremely severe influence on China. In addition to losing more than 3 million square kilometers of land, China's natural boundaries established before the mid-Qing Dynasty were also eroded.

"Today, near the 58th parallel north, is the nomadic northern boundary of East Asian nomads, and it is also the watershed between East Asia and Siberia. Although the Qing Dynasty did not completely occupy this place, through a series of boundary treaties, the Qing Dynasty controlled a range of commanding heights from Sayan Mountains to Outer Xing'an Mountains, forming a strong resistance to Tsarist Russia's southward strategy.

"However, the encroachment of Tsarist Russia, especially the division of Mongolia, has always endured huge threats to the vast areas of Northeast China, North China and Northwest China. As Major General Ding Wei said in the Chinese TV series 'Show the Sword,' 'there is no natural barrier to defend in northern China.' This is why China has 'unified' Inner Mongolia and has been stationing heavy troops in Daqingshan.

"The most terrifying thing is that the Soviet Union left behind a terrible nuclear arsenal, which means that before Russia disintegrates for the second time, this situation of China being completely suppressed by Russia cannot be changed at all, even though China's comprehensive national strength has always been expanding.

"'China can't escape Russia's means of control' 'we can only play a secondary role; and we have never been able to reunite Mongolia, as China's lost territory, with China.'

2. The nightmare of the development path

"Many people say that the country that hurts China the most in modern times is Japan, because Japan began to covet China in the Tang Dynasty a thousand years ago, and twice invaded China in modern times. The Sino-Japanese War drove China further into being a semi-colony, and the war of aggression against China almost subjugated China.

"This statement is not unreasonable, but after all, Japan is small in size and is still geographically distant from China. It is difficult for such a country to have a deep influence on China itself.

"But Russia is different, because it has a long border with China, and its size is huge. China in modern history not only suffered the great pain of Russian aggression, but also had to accept the profound influence of Russia from the inside out.

"As the main opponent of the Qing Dynasty, if we say that starting from the Battle of Yaksa in 1685, what Tsarist Russia and the Qing Dynasty competed for was only the control of the vast area of Mongolia. Then from the October Revolution in 1917, the target of Russia's competition began to shift from Mongolia to the whole of China.

"Both Lenin and Stalin had ambitions to fully control China, which made Russia not only China's main enemy, but also a 'great mentor' for China's modernization exploration.

"In theory, the Soviet Union, which has been governed by a communist party, should go hand in hand with the Chinese Communist Party, which shared the same belief, but Stalin always flirted with Chiang Kai-shek. Since 1923, when he supported the construction of the Whampoa Military Academy, Stalin was always Chiang's important partner.

"Even in 1945, when Generalissimo Chiang was forced to recognize the separation of Mongolia, Stalin gave the reason as being in the name of 'anti-Communism.'

"From the standpoint of the Soviet Union, Stalin's pragmatic methods are understandable. Chiang Kai-shek, who focused on safeguarding the interests of the four major families, cannot represent the general direction of China in any case. Therefore, for China, Stalin's various methods are extremely vicious. For example, in the eve of the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) 'Battle of Crossing the Yangtze River,' the Soviet embassy followed the Nanjing Nationalist government to Guangzhou, and Stalin also suggested that the CCP accept a proposal to establish two regimes of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party with the Yangtze River as the boundary. He blatantly wanted a North China and a South China, and his intention to control China is obvious.

"After the founding of the People's Republic of China, because there was no defensive barrier in the north, and the United States invaded China at that time, China could only choose to completely fall to the Soviet Union and form an alliance with the Soviet Union. In the 1960s, when China and the Soviet Union became hostile, the Soviet Union's oppression on China made China suffer a lot for a while.

"Because of the special relationship between China and the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China was deeply influenced by the Soviet Union in the early days of its establishment. This influence was extremely profound and comprehensive, such as in all aspects of our daily life, and in liberal arts and science education, and this influence has continued to this day.

"What is even more frightening is that this neighbor will not move away, and it has had some common experience with China, which determines that China can only adopt an attitude of cooperation with Russia instead of confrontation. And because of China's strategic position in various dilemmas, we can only play a secondary role; and we have never been able to reunite Mongolia, as China's lost territory, with China.

"In modern history, the reason why Russia's 'harm' is so great is because no matter whatever China did, China can't escape Russia's means of control. And whether Russia plundered and invaded, or gave generous assistance, its purpose has always been to completely control China.

"In the face of Russia, China has a kind of despair that there is no way to escape. In this respect, Japan cannot be compared with Russia.

"However, it is precisely because the threat from the north is always with us that we never forget to strive for self-improvement. Today China's comprehensive national power has already belonged to a first-class power, but we have not stopped our footsteps because of this.

"On the contrary, we firmly believe that we can fly higher and farther, and this determination to keep moving forward is thanks to Russia's harm to China.

"'International monopoly capitalism' harmed China most. 'The country that has hurt all the countries in the world the most is the United States, which is under the control of monopoly capitalists.'

'It Is Evidently True That The Polar Bear Of The North Has Done Us The Most Harm'

Author: "Lao Sun's Firearm Workshop (quality creator in the field of history)"

"Many people believe that it was Japan who did the greatest harm to modern China, but in fact it was our neighbor, Russia.

"Generally speaking, the Opium War was the beginning of China's humiliating history in modern times, but in fact, Britain did not colonize China at that time. Even after the second Opium War, European and American countries' policies towards China were mainly aimed at expanding the market. Russia, who had been watching China for a long time, directly took the opportunity to force the Qing government to sign the Treaty of Aigun and the Beijing Treaty. This took away 1.04 million square kilometers of land in northeast China, fulfilling Russia's wish that had been unsuccessful since the Battle of Yaksa.

"Then Tsarist Russia came up with the Yellow Russia Plan, which was designed with the goal of pushing the border between China and Russia down to the Great Wall.

"In 1864, Tsarist Russia, together with the Kokand Khanate, invaded China's Xinjiang and occupied a large area of land.

"During the Eight-Nation Alliance's invasion of China in 1900, Tsarist Russia carried out a massacre of the ethnic Chinese living in Hailanpao (Blagoveshchensk) and Sixty-Four Villages on the East Side of the Heilongjiang River, with the purpose of taking over eastern and northern Heilongjiang for Russian occupation. Then Russia marched into northeast China. On October 6, 1900, the Russian armies joined forces in Tieling, and from then on, the major military towns in northeast China were also occupied by Russia.

"In 1905, Japan luckily defeated Russia in the Russo-Japanese War, thus temporarily halting Russia's Russo-Yellow plan. Although it was an invasion, it indirectly saved China. During the period of Russian occupation, massacres and violence at the hands of the Russians were worse than that of Japan, which caused great damage to the economy and culture of northeast China.

"The Xinhai Revolution broke out in 1911, causing the Qing dynasty to begin to fall. Tsarist Russia took the opportunity to incite Mongolian tribes such as the Khalkha in an effort to split Mongolia from China. Although Mongolia did not officially become Russian territory, it did become a Russian colony.

"Even after the Soviet government was established, the Soviet Union continued to blackmail China, just like Tsarist Russia did before it.

"After the October Revolution, the Soviet Russian government issued a declaration to China, saying that it would give up all the interests that Tsarist Russia had plundered from China, but later it no longer recognized this account. In fact, the Soviet Union completely retained the aggressive tradition of chauvinism from Tsarist Russia. Not only did the Soviet Union inherit one million square kilometers of land along with a large number of rights and interests that Tsarist Russia plundered from China, it also continued to illegally garrison troops in China's Tannu Uriankhai and Outer Mongolia.

"In August 1937, the Sino-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact was signed with China right after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War. However, later on Russia broke its promise and signed the 'Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact' with Japan in 1941, during the most difficult period of the Anti-Japanese War in China. The Chinese government was quick to express a serious protest to the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union also sold the Chinese Eastern Railway to Japan at a low price.

"At the Yalta Conference in 1944, the Soviet Union stated that the precondition for sending troops to northeast China was that the government of the Republic of China must recognize the independence of Mongolia and allow Dalian to be leased as the military port of the Soviet Union in the Far East.

"From the multitude of events throughout history, it can be said that from the beginning of modern times to the end of modern times, Russia has been ravaging China. It is evidently true that the polar bear of the north has done us the most harm."

[2] Wukong.toutiao.com/answer/6739891170513518859/, September 2019.

Read the original:

Chinese 'Toutiao' Platform In 2019 Q&A: 'Which Country Has Done The Most Harm To China In Modern Times?' All Respondents: 'Russia, Without A Doubt' -...

Posted on February 23, 2022 at 3:10 pm by West Side Rag

SPONSORED

Jeffrey Hoffman is a licensed attorney in New York with over a decade of experience assisting clients ranging from large corporations to sole proprietorships. His practice focuses on advising clients in business negotiations and term sheet / contract drafting as well as securing licenses / permits in regulated industries such as cannabis and mobile vending.

On March 31, 2021, the Marihuana Regulation & Taxation Act (MRTA) became the law of the land in New York. Generally, it legalized adult-use cannabis (also known as recreational marijuana) in the state and established a basic framework for licensing the cultivation, processing, distribution, retail dispensing, delivery, and on-site consumption of cannabis. The legislation also created the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) governed by a Cannabis Control Board.

Some parts of MRTA are already in full effect in New York. It is now legal for a person 21 years of age or older to possess and use cannabis products in various quantities depending on the kind of product (flower, vape, edible, etc). In a departure from other states, which strictly limit the consumption of cannabis to private homes or other private spaces, New York allows the smoking of cannabis in any location where smoking cigarettes is allowed.

Over the course of 2022, the OCM will draft a regulatory scheme for the implementation of MRTA. In particular, they will flesh out all of the rules for cannabis businesses and the 2 year renewable licenses for the cultivation, processing, distribution, retail dispensing, delivery, and on-site consumption of cannabis. As in other states, there will be a limit on the number of each kind of license available. With limited exceptions, businesses will only be allowed to have one of those kinds of licenses for example, a processing licensee will not be able to also have a retail dispensing license.

However, MRTA provides for an additional kind of license the microbusiness license.

This will be more broadly available and shall authorize the limited cultivation, processing, distribution, delivery, and dispensing of a licensees own adult-use cannabis and cannabis products. This makes the microbusiness license one of the few instances in which vertical integration will be allowed.

As with other permitting and licensing programs in New York, a special effort will be made to include various groups in the license pool. Such groups include service-disabled veterans, minority-owned businesses, women-owned businesses, distressed farmers, and those with an income lower than 80% of the median income of the county in which the license applicant resides.

New York has created some of the most liberal cannabis laws, not just in the United States, but anywhere in the world. Whereas most other jurisdictions have significant restrictions on where cannabis can be consumed, New York allows consumption anywhere cigarettes are allowed. Additionally, of all the jurisdictions which have legalized adult-use cannabis to date, New York has the most robust plan for on-site consumption lounges. It is quite likely that within the next five years, New York City (New Amsterdam) will take the title of Cannabis Tourism Capital of the World from the current holder: (Old) Amsterdam. Those that are interested in participating in this novel industry are well advised to start forming their business plans and preparing for the submission of their license application.

Law Office of Jeffrey Hoffman200 West 81st StreetNew York, NY 10024(646) 692-4083info@420jurist.com

Note: Cannabis possession and use remains illegal under federal law.

Attorney Advertising. This information is not a substitute for professional legal advice, does not create an attorney-client relationship, and is not a solicitation to offer legal advice. If you ignore this warning and convey confidential information in a private message or comment, there is no duty to keep that information confidential or forego representation adverse to your interests. Seek the advice of a licensed attorney in the appropriate jurisdiction before taking any action that may affect your rights.

See original here:

West Side Rag Cannabis Legalization and Licensing What's to Come in 2022 - westsiderag.com