The end of Hong Kong as was known:


Apple Daily: Hong Kong bids emotional farewell to pro-democracy paper

Apple Daily: The Hong Kong newspaper that pushed the boundary

Hong Kong's first trial under national security law starts without jury



All in our deadly greedy world,
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

It doesn't take much these days to upset Xi and his CCP colleagues. You're not even allowed to be more popular than Xi over there now or you and your hard earned money disappears.

As for France being livid over those subs then they should do better to make contracts that can be carried out on time and on budget, the cancelled sub contract was running well behind schedule and hugely well above the original contracted price. There should've been hull sections already being assembled together here by now, but they havn't been seen anywhere.

It doesn't take much these days to upset Xi and his CCP colleagues. You're not even allowed to be more popular than Xi over there now or you and your hard earned money disappears.

As for France being livid over those subs then they should do better to make contracts that can be carried out on time and on budget, the cancelled sub contract was running well behind schedule and hugely well above the original contracted price. There should've been hull sections already being assembled together here by now, but they havn't been seen anywhere.

I agree with you. If they can't live up to the contracts, they can only blame themselves. France will sell the subs to Russia or China of course.....

Just as their Exocet missile was sold to adversaries to gain a very profitable "War Proven" label, all to our cost...


Really, was the "100 years war" really actually ended?...


All in the unholy game of profitable politics...
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

China rewrites history:


Hong Kong: University orders Tiananmen statue's removal
wrote:

... a statue commemorating the Tiananmen Square massacre must be removed.

The Pillar of Shame depicts dozens of torn and twisted bodies and was at the forefront of vigils held in the city to commemorate the 1989 crackdown.

The university said the decision was "based on the latest risk assessment and legal advice" without expanding on this explanation.

Beijing has recently moved to silence opposition to its rule in Hong Kong.

Tiananmen is still a heavily censored topic...

The history books are written only by tyrants and the victors?...


All in the Chinese World Games...
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/chinas-communists-bash-us-democracy-biden-summit-81553342

BEIJING -- China's Communist Party took American democracy to task on Saturday, sharply criticizing a global democracy summit being hosted by President Joe Biden next week and extolling the virtues of its governing system.

Party officials questioned how a polarized country that botched its response to COVID-19 could lecture others, and said that efforts to force others to copy the Western democratic model are “doomed to fail.”

The harsh rhetoric reflects a growing clash of values that has been thrust into the spotlight as China rises as a global power. The question is whether the United States and other leading democracies can peacefully co-exist with a powerful authoritarian state whose actions are at odds with the Western model that emerged victorious at the end of the Cold War.

The pandemic exposed defects in the American system, said Tian Peiyan, the deputy director of the Communist Party's Policy Research Office. He blamed the high COVID-19 death toll in the U.S. on political disputes and a divided government from the highest to the lowest levels.

“Such democracy brings not happiness but disaster to voters,” he said at a news conference to release a government report on what the Communist Party calls its form of democracy, which is firmly under party control.

The party argues that strong central leadership is needed to maintain stability in a sprawling country that has been riven by division and war over the centuries.

“In such a large country with 56 ethnic groups and more than 1.4 billion people, if there is no party leadership, ... and we uphold the so-called democracy of the West, it will be easy to mess things up and democracy will work the opposite way," Tian said.

The recent difficulties faced by some Western democracies have given Communist Party leaders more confidence in their system as they try to build China into a global power. State media often cite the chaos of the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol after the last presidential election. The report issued Saturday said “today's world is facing challenges of excessive democracy.”

“The U.S. calls itself a ‘leader of democracy’ and organizes and manipulates the so-called Summit for Democracy," he said. “In fact, it cracks down and hampers countries with different social systems and development models in the name of democracy."

Xu called it undemocratic for others to demand their form of democracy, saying they have a mixed track record themselves.

“Their domestic governance is messed up, but they point fingers at and criticize other democracies,” he said. "Is this the democracy they advertised?”

After tRump they have a very valid point.

While Putin stirs the pot at his end of the world his buddy Xi is expanding his stirring at this end. :-(

Chinese navy ship accused of ‘unsafe’ act after pointing laser at Australian defence aircraft.

China has gone pretty quiet over the last week and I've been wondering about some things about the Ukrainian invasion, it seems that I havn't been the only 1.

Russia's attack on Ukraine is a stark test for China’s Xi.

Russia and China are friends of convenience but China has a lot more to lose than Russia – and now Putin may have ruined their grand plan.

It could have been everything Chairman Xi Jinping hoped for. A lightning-fast victory. A collapse of democratic unity. The final nail in the coffin for Washington’s credibility.

Instead, President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is turning into the exact opposite.

And that doesn’t bode well for Xi’s designs on Taiwan.

Beijing is yet to condemn Moscow for its invasion formally.

Like Russia, Chinese state-controlled media largely refuses to call it an “invasion” or “war”. Instead, it’s a “special military operation”.

It blames the US and NATO for forcing Russia to pre-emptively defend itself.

It criticises the West for applying “illegal” coercive sanctions against Moscow and its kleptocrat leadership (powerful thieves).

Despite being such a brazen act of aggression, China has reasons for backing Russia. It’s a scenario that, in many ways, mirror Beijing’s ambitions over Taiwan.

Both targets are democracies. Their ties with the West are limited. Existing promises to protect their sovereignty are vague. And both Russia and China have threatened military force to impose their will.

Now Moscow has done so.

Putin has a carefully crafted persona of being a “chess master”, a wily, clever strategist. He has the West figured out. He knows what strings to pull to get what he wants. He can get away with murder.

Just like Xi.

But Ukraine hasn’t been playing to the script...................

http://en.people.cn/n3/2022/0306/c90000-9966810.html

BEIJING, March 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday stressed ethnic unity

No wonder Rump likes him. Exactly like Rump. Ethnic unity!

For he rest of us it means ethnic cleansing and genocide.

Xi won't like this.

Riots break out in Shanghai as starving residents revolt against ‘Zero Covid’ lockdown.

While PooTin is threatening nukes and WWIII his buddy Xi isn't standing still.

How China's Xi Jinping Is Trying to Stop 'Asian NATO'.

Meanwhile in Taiwan.

Taiwan aims to learn lessons of Ukraine in annual military drills.

When will all this madness end?

Let Europe Funnel Money to UKRAINE.

USA Needs to Give Arms and Monies to Taiwan.

C'mon Man!!!!!

Taxpayers are Fleeced. This Fleeced One says: Taiwan Not Ukraine.

SUPERFleeced

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May we All have a METAMORPHOSIS. REASON. GOoD JUDGEMENT and LOVE and ORDER!!!!!

Well it seems that PooTin isn't the only dictator with heath problems and hasn't been seen much of late.

Chinese President Xi Jinping reportedly ‘suffering brain aneurysm’.

Those paranoid Chinese are at it again.

Chinese Researchers Publish Strategy to Destroy Elon Musk's Starlink.

In anticipation of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites posing as a threat, military researchers in China want their nation to be ready to disable, or perhaps completely destroy, the gigantic internet constellation. It’s an ominous possibility, but one easier said than done.

In a research paper published in China’s peer-reviewed journal Modern Defence Technology and reported on by the state-run South China Morning Post this past Wednesday, lead author Ren Yuanzhen, a researcher with the Beijing Institute of Tracking and Telecommunications, argues that the Chinese military should develop ways to counteract any threat posed by Starlink. The paper was freely available as early as yesterday, but as of today it appears to be taken down. However, a translated version of the article can be accessed here....

But it's not anywhere near as easy as it sounds.

Maybe China should give up sending rockets up into space if they can't control where their space junk comes back to earth.

Chinese Rocket Likely Caused Fiery Debris, Loud Boom in Australia.

Oh dear, we've upset China yet again. :-D

The Quad alliance has unveiled a plan to combat China’s dangerous ‘dark ships’ - and the reaction from Beijing was swift.

How were Australia’s Pacific neighbours diverted from China’s cash-splash crusade? An evidence-based alliance against illegal fishing may have had something to do with it.

The leaders of the Quad – an informal alliance between Australia, India, Japan and the United States – last week announced a joint project targeted at a key Pacific Islands concern: “dark ships” looting their territorial waters.

Called the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA), it’s essentially a promise to establish a network of satellites and other surveillance systems to track and monitor illegal fishing vessels.

The Quad didn’t mention China by name. But Beijing’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his 20-strong delegation had to contend with a reputation for disregarding exclusive economic zones (EEZs).

Which may be why Beijing was not pleased.

On the day of the Quad leader’s Tokyo meeting, China teamed with Russia to express their displeasure by flying six strategic bombers with support aircraft around Japan.

“The Indo-Pacific strategy cooked up by the United States, in the name of ‘freedom and openness,’ is actually keen on forming cliques,” Wang retorted at the weekend. “It claims that it intends to ‘change China’s surrounding environment,’ but its purpose is to contain China and make Asia-Pacific countries serve as ‘pawns’ of US hegemony.”...

Well Xi has been doing his best in damaging the Chinese economy so I don't know what he's complaining about when getting some more help (not to mention his part in today inflation crisis).

As China launches mission to complete space station assembly I have to wonder where their rocket will come down this time as they don't seem to care where they go after the launch.

Xi Ping and Vlad Poot appear to have at least one thing in common:

An 'unfortunate' view of the general population as 'expendables'...


Stay safe folks!
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)