Karen, I would like to interject on the topic of China. It is a country few people understand, and it is important to study the past and present. I am no expert, but I lived in China and Hong Kong years ago, and as an expat in Thailand, China is everywhere, in the people, culture, language, religion, history and heritage. A majority of Thai people have ancestors from China. The numbers of Chinese tourists has increased over the years. When I first came here, 36 years ago, I would often go shopping early in the morning, 6am, and there were Chinese old folks taking their morning walks. Some close to 100 years old. All speaking only Chinese.
Also, I have a number of foreign friends, including Americans, French, German and Australian, who love it there. Some have been doing business there for years. . .
It is not black and while, evil and wonderful, all good or all bad. When it comes to China, we have a great deal to learn.
Here are a few articles and an email about this article by Pepe Escobar, from my friend Amanda Banker (American) who has been teaching there for 15 years.
"That is a fascinating article. While I do agree that China is presenting quite an evolving face, the internal mood is not as forthcoming. The meeting he references is always a bluster of words and the numbers are never correct. The job market is horrendous. The AI is only for the Chinese market (because if you don't have access to the entirety of the web, how could you possibly develop for the world.) They are making incredible electronic vehicles, but they cannot pass the safety standards of other countries. Overall, China really has not fared well post covid and they are having a hard time getting the world to trust them again. Which is why they are doing a lot of 'goodwill' things like sending a medical ship to South Africa and planning to set up satellite dishes in remote African villages. They are actually very wary if Trump wins the election. It is a fascinating thing to watch and experience."
It is my feeling that the world needs to live together. If there are corrupt, selfish, and greedy players, in business and government, there will be people finding reasons to hate each other. The spiritual movement which began in the mid 1960s, was the seed, humanity needs to pick it up again. If we can create good relations in private business, and if the number of people doing business in China grows, it is inevitable that the scale will tip toward peace and friendship. Maybe that will take a long, long time. But it is really up to each of us to try in our own ways.
Tim Waltz doing business in China could be a good thing, but as I think the man is a shady character, it is unlikely. The more personal private businesses between US citizens working with Chinese people, not the CCP, the better. What I am saying here has nothing to do with Tim Waltz as the VP pick by Kamala Harris. What I am saying here does not condone the Chinese immigrants coming over the border. This, as Charles Eisenstein wrote in his substack Shades of Colors, is a very big problem, and most of us are not aware of it. Here he speaks about it:
"To return to the example of immigration: the controversy is all about building a border wall and deporting migrants. I could opine within the confines of those options, but then I would be ignoring the real issue: why are there so many immigrants in the first place? It is because many other countries are virtually unlivable, due to US-sponsored wars, ecological devastation, and the apparatus of neocolonialism. It takes a lot to induce people to forsake their homeland and all they have known to make a dangerous journey to a foreign land. But when debt pressure compels a nation to strip its forests and minerals, when austerity programs require it to cut salaries and pensions, when development projects destroy traditional ways of life, when international currency speculators crash the currency, life gets worse every year, more and more of the populations sinks into destitution, and the more enterprising among them flee. Another way to look at it, is that when a country has exported everything else of value that can be stripped from it, the final export is its young people.
Now, this explanation is still too simple, but it conveys the truth that immigration is not an issue of us-versus-them. Mass migration is a symptom of a deeper malady and, harmful as it might be to the receiving nation, it indicates even greater suffering in the source country.
The immigration issue is really about imperialism and indebtedness. These, in turn, are inseparable from the financial system that reigns today, in which money is born as interest-bearing debt, which necessitates a growth economy, which drives capital abroad in search of sufficient returns, which puts pressure on governments and societies everywhere to liquidate natural and social capital… and so on. None of these are part of the political debate on immigration, except perhaps on the fringes. Left unaddressed, they ensure that immigration pressure will never wane, and that societies like ours will continue face morally impossible choices that split the public in two."
How do you do business with Chinese people without dealing with the CCP. Business in China is controlled by the CCP is it not??? I believe you should think about starting a Substack and use your expertise on China as the subject matter. I am far from an expert on China. I think the Chinese people are awesome. Smart, hard working people. The CCP not so much. Of course I am not real thrilled with our American government either.
The CCP is evil as they have enslaved the Falan Gong and are involved in human organ harvesting. It doesn’t get much worse than that as far as the slavery issue. Why aren’t the people rising up? During the pandemic, if you were quarantined, the government locked you in your home or apartment. When they had the one child per family law, baby girls were left on police stations doorsteps and out in the forests to die because the Chinese people preferred boy babies. The Chinese people may be kind to some, but I can’t see it.
Thanks for the suggestion. All of the people I know who do business in China, tell me they don't need to work with the CCP, unless their business involves government. China wants people to do business. When I lived there China was just opening up after the Cultural Revolution. There were a great number of restrictions. The country is huge and if you speak Chinese, you are well received. Here too, speaking Thai makes a huge difference. . . . What I would really like to do, is train Americans to become more international. What I and many expats have found is, unless people travel abroad and immerse themselves in another culture, their reality of the world is limited. Global governance will flourish, when we love each other as we love ourselves. xxx
They removed the link to the 6 min. interview with Kamala that I shared in my post but I found it on X so I am sharing it. https://twitter.com/JesseBWatters/status/1834751823002939753?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1834751823002939753%7Ctwgr%5E0705a1c24246ebd07a2d9eb3e9795ef942814a8f%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rvmnews.com%2F2024%2F09%2Fkamala-bombed-in-her-first-solo-interview-since-becoming-the-nominee-watch%2F
Karen, I would like to interject on the topic of China. It is a country few people understand, and it is important to study the past and present. I am no expert, but I lived in China and Hong Kong years ago, and as an expat in Thailand, China is everywhere, in the people, culture, language, religion, history and heritage. A majority of Thai people have ancestors from China. The numbers of Chinese tourists has increased over the years. When I first came here, 36 years ago, I would often go shopping early in the morning, 6am, and there were Chinese old folks taking their morning walks. Some close to 100 years old. All speaking only Chinese.
Also, I have a number of foreign friends, including Americans, French, German and Australian, who love it there. Some have been doing business there for years. . .
It is not black and while, evil and wonderful, all good or all bad. When it comes to China, we have a great deal to learn.
Here are a few articles and an email about this article by Pepe Escobar, from my friend Amanda Banker (American) who has been teaching there for 15 years.
https://strategic-culture.su/news/2024/07/24/china-has-achieved-escape-velocity-it-is-now-unstoppable/
"That is a fascinating article. While I do agree that China is presenting quite an evolving face, the internal mood is not as forthcoming. The meeting he references is always a bluster of words and the numbers are never correct. The job market is horrendous. The AI is only for the Chinese market (because if you don't have access to the entirety of the web, how could you possibly develop for the world.) They are making incredible electronic vehicles, but they cannot pass the safety standards of other countries. Overall, China really has not fared well post covid and they are having a hard time getting the world to trust them again. Which is why they are doing a lot of 'goodwill' things like sending a medical ship to South Africa and planning to set up satellite dishes in remote African villages. They are actually very wary if Trump wins the election. It is a fascinating thing to watch and experience."
And this article by Lorenzo Maria Pacini
https://strategic-culture.su/news/2024/08/09/next-geopolitical-steps-for-china/
And this one by F. William Engdahl from last year.
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2023/05/no_author/why-china-cant-pull-the-world-out-of-a-new-great-depression/
It is my feeling that the world needs to live together. If there are corrupt, selfish, and greedy players, in business and government, there will be people finding reasons to hate each other. The spiritual movement which began in the mid 1960s, was the seed, humanity needs to pick it up again. If we can create good relations in private business, and if the number of people doing business in China grows, it is inevitable that the scale will tip toward peace and friendship. Maybe that will take a long, long time. But it is really up to each of us to try in our own ways.
Tim Waltz doing business in China could be a good thing, but as I think the man is a shady character, it is unlikely. The more personal private businesses between US citizens working with Chinese people, not the CCP, the better. What I am saying here has nothing to do with Tim Waltz as the VP pick by Kamala Harris. What I am saying here does not condone the Chinese immigrants coming over the border. This, as Charles Eisenstein wrote in his substack Shades of Colors, is a very big problem, and most of us are not aware of it. Here he speaks about it:
"To return to the example of immigration: the controversy is all about building a border wall and deporting migrants. I could opine within the confines of those options, but then I would be ignoring the real issue: why are there so many immigrants in the first place? It is because many other countries are virtually unlivable, due to US-sponsored wars, ecological devastation, and the apparatus of neocolonialism. It takes a lot to induce people to forsake their homeland and all they have known to make a dangerous journey to a foreign land. But when debt pressure compels a nation to strip its forests and minerals, when austerity programs require it to cut salaries and pensions, when development projects destroy traditional ways of life, when international currency speculators crash the currency, life gets worse every year, more and more of the populations sinks into destitution, and the more enterprising among them flee. Another way to look at it, is that when a country has exported everything else of value that can be stripped from it, the final export is its young people.
Now, this explanation is still too simple, but it conveys the truth that immigration is not an issue of us-versus-them. Mass migration is a symptom of a deeper malady and, harmful as it might be to the receiving nation, it indicates even greater suffering in the source country.
The immigration issue is really about imperialism and indebtedness. These, in turn, are inseparable from the financial system that reigns today, in which money is born as interest-bearing debt, which necessitates a growth economy, which drives capital abroad in search of sufficient returns, which puts pressure on governments and societies everywhere to liquidate natural and social capital… and so on. None of these are part of the political debate on immigration, except perhaps on the fringes. Left unaddressed, they ensure that immigration pressure will never wane, and that societies like ours will continue face morally impossible choices that split the public in two."
https://charleseisenstein.substack.com/p/shades-of-many-colors
More reason to do business with Chinese people.
By the way, this just came from Open the Books about Tim Waltz and his state check-book:
https://openthebooks.substack.com/p/minnesota-not-so-nice-state-checkbook
How do you do business with Chinese people without dealing with the CCP. Business in China is controlled by the CCP is it not??? I believe you should think about starting a Substack and use your expertise on China as the subject matter. I am far from an expert on China. I think the Chinese people are awesome. Smart, hard working people. The CCP not so much. Of course I am not real thrilled with our American government either.
The CCP is evil as they have enslaved the Falan Gong and are involved in human organ harvesting. It doesn’t get much worse than that as far as the slavery issue. Why aren’t the people rising up? During the pandemic, if you were quarantined, the government locked you in your home or apartment. When they had the one child per family law, baby girls were left on police stations doorsteps and out in the forests to die because the Chinese people preferred boy babies. The Chinese people may be kind to some, but I can’t see it.
Thanks for the suggestion. All of the people I know who do business in China, tell me they don't need to work with the CCP, unless their business involves government. China wants people to do business. When I lived there China was just opening up after the Cultural Revolution. There were a great number of restrictions. The country is huge and if you speak Chinese, you are well received. Here too, speaking Thai makes a huge difference. . . . What I would really like to do, is train Americans to become more international. What I and many expats have found is, unless people travel abroad and immerse themselves in another culture, their reality of the world is limited. Global governance will flourish, when we love each other as we love ourselves. xxx