Is China Unraveling at the Top?

Nothing is ever as it appears in China

By Rich Kozlovich

Over the last few weeks I've been following a trend regarding China and their President For Life, Xi Jinping, and there are indications his lifetime rule may not last much longer.  Corruption among China's leadership is rampant, and has always been going back long before the communists took over.  Nothing's changed.  Except now a lot of purges is taking place, including among the highest ranks of their military.  

I don't see him lasting much longer. I'd hoped he'd last long enough to fully destroy China's economy as his hero Mao was on the verge of doing before Nixon and Kissinger bailed him out. But I don't think that's going to happen now.  

I'm sure all the corruption charges against these military people is valid. For a long time there was a tacit understanding between them and the Xi cabal.... don't bother us, and we won't bother you.... and Xi needed them, ergo the corruption metastasized. But for them to be exposed and purged, and Xi couldn't or wouldn't stop it, one has to ask why?  These purges are at the very least suspicious, which leads to two questions. 

1. Are they happening because Xi can't trust the very people whose careers he supported and funded?  
2. Or is someone else making these decisions and are purging his supporters in the military.  

Neither scenario can be very promising for Xi.  In my opinion that's the real story, and needs closely watched to see who the players are behind this. I'm of the opinion every military in the world has a von Stauffenberg cabal, and I also believe every government in the world has a von Stauffenberg cabal, including China.    

1. CCP Leaders Propose Regulations to Rein In Xi’s Superagencies 
2. China Purges Navy, Nuclear Officials From Top Legislative Positions 
3. Beijing Purges Chinese Leader Xi’s Ally From Top Military Ruling Body

It would also appear any who throw him out wouldn't be so hot to continue all China's international mischief making.  

This chest pounding Wolf Diplomacy Xi has been practicing is not good economics, and given the moves by China's neighbors it's not even sufficiently threatening to make allies of these neighbors.

With exception of Australia which seems to be playing economic huggy bear with China, and their left wing government has made it clear they will do nothing to defend Taiwan if China attacks.  I think it's time for the US to reexamine the AUKUS security pact trilateral agreement between the US, the UK, and Australia.  

What this "Wolf Diplomacy" has done is what Russia did to Europe. Scaring them to the point they've now gained new NATO members, and created mutual defense postures aimed directly at Russia. 

 Xi is spending vast amounts of money developing unprecedented military technologies and capabilities, all the while seriously trimming expenditures and promoting frugality overall.  A serious case of cognitive dissonance. 

The world's nations have a debt load of almost 310 trillion dollars, and much of that can't be repaid, nor can it be collected. And that includes China.  Much of that money is gone and China won't be able to do a thing about it. Their Road and Belt schemes are failing, their loan traps to smaller nations is weakening their economy, their BRICS scheme is demonstrating a serious failure in planning, organization, and implementation, since as far as I can tell they have no logical plan for implementation, what currency will replace the dollar, and there's bickering in their group as it becomes more obvious any scheme they adopt must benefit China, even if it impacts the rest negatively, and that's not setting well with them. 

It seems to me, Xi is done, and whomever takes over will take a different track economically, militarily, and domestically than Xi.   But, that will take a consolidation of power and that's never smooth.   The way I see it, if/when Xi goes, a degree of chaos will ensue.  

Bob Unruh over at World Net Daily, says Xi Jinping is losing control of the CCP,  and "the world needs to prepare for the regime [in China] to lash out without warning”, which I consider hyperbole.  If there's a change it will be to find a level of reconciliation with the rest of world, since China's economy depends on it.  

1. China Knocks Trump Trade Deal With Vietnam
2. Questions Mount Over Death of Medical Student Who Alleged Organ Trade in Chinese Hospital 
3. Exposure of Forced Organ Harvesting Could Trigger CCP’s Fall: Chinese Prison Survivor 
4. China Says the Dalai Lama Must Follow Chinese Law if He Wants to Reincarnate 
   
5. Chinese National Once Deported from Taiwan for Pro-CCP Views Now Harassed in China for Protesting CCP Officials
6. How Iran War Exposed Limits of Chinese Influence in Region 
7. China’s Renaming Spree: Will the World Just Surrender to Silent,
8. Chinese Nationals Arrested for U.S. Navy Espionage Plot as Trump Admin Cracks Down on CCP Infiltration
9. China used embassies to undermine sales of fighter jet

California Hides Its Shame as Biden and Xi Prepare to Meet

Residents are fired up over Democrats’ double standards.

By Kelli Ballard Nov 14, 2023 @ Liberty Nation News

(Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

Most people take measures to make their homes look presentable when having company over, right? So what do you do if you are a public official preparing to host a summit with China’s President Xi Jinping? “Cleaning house” takes on a whole new meaning in San Francisco, CA, where it involves sweeping the drug addicts under the rug and hiding evidence of the City by the Bay’s overwhelming homelessness and crime. Democrat policymakers are being dubbed hypocritical for temporarily sprucing up the city, as well as building fences to protect those attending the Asia-Pacific-Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference this week.

California Lawmakers Criticized for Double Standards

(Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

California Governor Gavin Newsom surprised many by openly admitting the scrubbing was done to impress the out-of-towners. During a press conference, he said, “I know folks say, ‘Oh they’re just cleaning up this place because all these fancy leaders are coming into town.’ That’s true, because it’s true.”

“The sidewalks in the APEC zone, including sticky and urine-perfumed Van Ness Avenue, have been silver polished on the Eve of APEC,” Sebastian, a San Francisco resident, told California Globe. “Walking along Van Ness Ave today was like walking along twice-a-day-mobbed Orchard Road in Singapore.”

The End Wokeness account on the social media platform X has 1.8 million followers and wrote, “San Francisco’s homeless population was entirely cleared out for Xi Jinping. The Government can easily fix our cities overnight. It just doesn’t want to.”

Of course, while San Francisco officials may try to hide behind street-sweepers and fences, they can’t escape from the crime-ridden morass they’ve created. Local news outlet SFist has already run the headline “First Crime-Related Embarrassment of APEC: Czech News Crew Robbed.” In a poignant illustration of how far the city has fallen, the site reported, “Czech newsman Bohumil Vostal was shooting outside City Lights Bookstore in North Beach when he and his crew were approached by three masked suspects with guns … Sadly, Vostal says he was trying to shoot a segment that would portray San Francisco in a positive light, adding, ‘I’m one of those many people who used to read Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, and I was so much looking forward to visit your city.'”

Black metal fenced barricades have been constructed outside the Moscone Center, where the conference will take place. In a city already choked with traffic, streets will be closed, some buses won’t be running, and parking is eliminated within the area. Residents in the APEC security zone must pass through security checks from Nov. 14 – 18 just to go home, according to Sebastian. He added:

“They are essentially locking the dignitaries up to keep them from discovering just how bad and dangerous the town is. And these are the Democrats who say that border fencing doesn’t work. The same leftists that claim that fences and walls do not work and are inhumane are the same leftists that live behind fences and walls.

Asians Against Wokeness posted on X about the city’s wall, saying, “Woke liberals fear/respect Xi Daddy more than their fellow Americans. Soft core authoritarians fear/respect hardcore authoritarians.”

Another X account, Inconvenient Truths by Jennifer Zeng, who writes about China and has 244,300 followers, posted, “U.S. taxpayers’ money is being used to protect the ‘safety’ of a communist dictator, suppressing the voices of the public living in America.”

Meetings with Chinese President

President Joe Biden will be meeting with Xi on Wednesday, Nov. 15, to discuss “issues in the U.S.-PRC [People’s Republic of China] bilateral relationship, the continued importance of maintaining open lines of communication, and a range of regional and global issues,” the White House announced. “[T]he Leaders will also discuss how the United States and the PRC can continue to responsibly manage competition and work together where our interests align, particularly on transnational challenges that affect the international community.”

Newsom also met with Xi recently, traveling to China in October to discuss matters of climate control and a shared partnership. The governor’s office wrote on X at the time:

“The only way we can solve the climate crisis is to continue our long-standing cooperation with China. As two of the world’s largest economies, the work we do together is felt in countless communities on both sides of the Pacific.

“Despite major differences, we share our humanity – our desire to feel protected, connected and respected is universal – and that humanity is what should drive us to work together to stop the greatest existential threat our planet has ever known.”

(Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Despite Newsom’s evident hopes when it comes to building relations with China, APEC has angered a broad swath of political activists – for all sorts of reasons.

A protest on Sunday, Nov. 12, had thousands of people demonstrating against the conference. Those in attendance included Palestinian liberation advocates, climate change activists, and anti-capitalist organizations, who packed the Embarcadero Plaza and marched up Market Street toward the Moscone Center.

“The U.S. is attempting to push free trade policies in the Asia Pacific Rim. And we see a history of those policies being detrimental to workers’ rights and the environment,” said Narissa Lee, representative of the No to APEC Coalition.

California lawmakers such as Newsom and Nancy Pelosi have been strong advocates against a border wall, calling it inhumane and ineffective, yet when it comes to protecting themselves, dignitaries, and most importantly, their carefully cultivated facade of competence and good governance, those barriers become the most necessary of evils.

Tags:  | Articles, Good Reads, Opinion, Politic

 

Read More From Kelli Ballard

The Buffoon and the Balloon

By Rich Kozlovich

As this thing played out I couldn't believe what was happening.  How in the world, with all the incredible technology available, no one seemed to detect these balloons were coming into the air space of the United States?  

 

Well, it appears someone noticed this balloon traveled over the Aleutians and Canada then it entered the US, "all by accident".  But there was no need to worry, it's merely a civilian airship researching weather according to the Chinese government.  Well then, I guess it must be research on global warming, which of course that would make it perfectly acceptable.  Yeah, right, if you're insane.  Is there a single sane person in the world who would believe anything Xi says?  

It gets better!  It turns out Biden and the administration knew all about this as of January 28th, and deliberately kept it from the public in order to not upset Blinken's planned visit to China.  So instead of telling the Chinese to shove their visit right where the sun doesn't shine, which I have no doubt that's what Trump would have done, they hide this from the public, as an act of appeasement, but after this became such a public scandal, they finally did.  Six days later, but it's "not a cancellation, it's a postponement".  Imagine that! 

Xi and his crowd must really be chortling, guffawing and shaking their heads at their good fortune of having a buffoon as the President of the United States.

 

 Well, maybe one, and maybe more than one since this gobblegook appeared:

Defense officials were reportedly prepared with fighter jets, including F-22s, in case the White House ordered the airship to be shot down. However, Ryder insisted that the balloon “does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground at this time” since it was “well above the range of civilian air traffic.” Ryder said that the U.S. decided not to shoot down the balloon because of the danger posed by falling debris to civilians and property. Ryder also added that the airship did not pose a risk to people on the ground as it currently is "traversing the continental United States" and they will “continue to monitor and review options.”.........

So, a spy balloon traveling, and hovering, over important military installations isn't any big deal?  Is that what he said?  Did I miss something?  Well, maybe it isn't from China, after all, what did they ever do to us?  Nah, that's just a bit of snarc, it's from China, and they've thoroughly infested our academic institutions, stealing our research and technology, and are infesting big business in order to spy on everything going on in America, and they infested the world with a genetically manipulated coronavirus, and the leadership knows it.

Then there's this, Chinese balloon called 'dry run' for EMP attack, which I consider hyperbole, for now.  The potential however, is there.  

"Spy balloons, used by Japan to drop bombs during World War II, are now far more sophisticated, can fly at up to 200,000 feet, evade detection, and can carry a small nuclear bomb that, if exploded in the atmosphere, would shut down the grid and wipe out electronics in a many-state-wide area."

Monica Showalter  on February 4, 2023 published this piece, Whether it's illegals or balloons, Joe Biden fails to protect the U.S, saying:

Joe Biden has been hit by crisis after crisis as a result of his own bad decisions, and oddly enough, they are starting to look alike. Take the latest China balloon incursion, where some kind of spying device has been sent over military installations throughout the U.S. interior, with Biden doing nothing about it. That's a sovereignty violation that ought to be drawing a major response to an arrogant, expanding wannabe superpower desperate to flex its military muscles, yet Joe's response, that shooting the invading device down might create debris or hit a populated area (America is loaded with unpopulated ones the balloon is traversing) is simply pathetic.  Open-borders free-balloon Joe seems to lack the masculine character and instinct to protect the people of the United States...........

  

But no need to worry, the Rambo finally emerged in Biden, Austin and that whole cabal of the new American military who understand its diversity, inclusion and equity that is our strength, not shooting down Chinese spy balloons.  America's macho men in the upper ranks of America's military finally shot down that darned balloon...... after it crossed the entire nation.  However, this story really gives you the feeling "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark".  According to Biden, he ordered it shot down on Wednesday.  

Okay, let's see a show of hands.  How many people believe Xi more than Biden?  Okay, sorry, that really wasn't a fair question.  In order to be able to answer that definitively one of them would have to have a modicum of integrity.  

 Okay....now that all that's been covered, here's a really different take on this whole thing, and it gets really convoluted, yet it has a certain rational appeal to it.   The Chinese 'Spy Balloon' Story As Manufactured Crisis: An Alternative Reading.  Take a look and make up your own mind, but it still doesn't change the fact an aircraft invaded America air space and the Biden cabal did nothing until this balloon crossed the entire nation, whether it was a spy balloon or not, or if it was an accident or not, is immaterial to that fact. 

Well, the balloon has been shot down, and the Chinese are outraged that America had the nerve to defend the nation's airspace.   Which I really find interesting since in 2001 they forced down an America spy plane, that was flying outside their airspace, held the crew for over a week, went through all the equipment and materiel, and demanded the plane be dismantled to get it back, because if they were allowed to fly it out it would dishonor their dignity.  Yeah, right, and Bush apologized for the death of the Chinese pilot.  They then demanded those flights, all in international air space, stop.  Imagine that. 

So, now it looks like Milley, Austin and that whole really "macho" military think tank who've been on really cozy terms with the CCP haven't been fired.  Remarkable!

 

Now the media, in order to make Biden look like a real leader, are claiming it happened on Trump's watch also.  Three times!  And he did nothing! Well, guess what?  That claim about three Chinese spy balloons on Trump's watch is deflating fast.  Imagine that.  

I think we really need to thank the main stream media, they give definition to every issue facing humanity.  They've given us the ultimate touchstone for understanding truth, justice and the American way.    And here it is.  If they say it, it's not truth, it's not justice, nor is it the America way.  We know if the media spouts it, then it's most likely nothing but lies of omission, lies of commission, propaganda for the left, and corruption beyond the pale.  Time and truth are on the same side, and both have condemned the media. 

 

See, now that's definition, and that leads to clarity.

The Big Lie of Communist Hegemony in China Falls Apart

The regime's grip doesn't look as solid as it did a week ago. 

November 29, 2022 by Daniel Greenfield 6 Comments 

Everyone can be taken. And any honest person should admit that when the moment happens.  Like a lot of people, I believed that the Communist Party’s grip on China was solid. I thought that not only based on the big picture, but anecdotal accounts and personal conversations. Chinese Christians would tell me that Communist atrocities had happened to their grandparents, but they still supported the regime for nationalistic reasons. The lack of any meaningful opposition beyond a handful of eccentric dissidents seemed to confirm that. Between its social credit system, secret police and growing prosperity, the Communist Party had defeated the threat posed by Tiananmen Square and ruled securely.

The protests taking place in China show that the myth of Communist hegemony, the one that the regime itself had likely come to believe, was not true. Or if it was true, it fell apart with Zero COVID.

It can be hard to say how a protest movement takes off. But it’s undeniable that one exists.........To Read More....

Report: Alibaba Mogul Jack Ma Self-Exiled to Japan After Communist Crackdown

John Hayward 1 Dec 2022

The Financial Times revealed on Wednesday that Jack Ma, the formerly flamboyant billionaire founder of Internet giant Alibaba, has been living in apparently self-imposed exile in Japan for at least the past six months.

Ma, once a ubiquitous celebrity presence in China, vanished from the public eye after criticizing hidebound Chinese Communist regulators at a Shanghai forum in October 2020, and a subsequent crackdown on high-flying tech entrepreneurs wiped out much of his vast wealth.

Ma’s troubles began in 2020 after he critiqued the Chinese government as too heavy-handed in its regulatory approach to the fast-moving tech industry. The regime decided to prove him right by launching the heaviest-handed regulatory crackdown since the dawn of the Information Age.

Ma memorably slammed the Chinese banking industry for having a “pawnshop mentality” by proceeding slowly, cautiously, and clumsily when the tech industry needed loans. The price of his irreverent quotability was watching his planned $37 billion stock offering vanish in a cloud of regulatory smoke, as ordered by dictator Xi Jinping. Alibaba was later slapped with a record-breaking $2.8 billion in antitrust fines................ To Read More...

M

Ultra-rare anti-Xi demonstration breaks out in Beijing days before Party Congress set to install him as dictator-for-life

October 13, 2022 By Thomas Lifson

Ultra-rare anti-Xi demonstration breaks out in Beijing days before Party Congress set to install him as dictator-for-life

The Chinese Party Congress set to open on Sunday already has Xi Jinping on edge. These gatherings happen only every five years, and this time it is expected to ratify his plan to void term limits and make him in effect dictator-for-life. While it is impossible for outsiders to know the extent of opposition to Xi, almost certainly there are factions that are dead set against this move, based on personal and regional loyalties if not on opposition to his policies and intention to make himself another Mao Zedong.

Thus, a demonstration attacking Xi that broke out in an affluent neighborhood of Beijing must have irritated a man who probably already is on pins and needles. Such demonstrations are extremely rare, especially anything directly attacking Xi. In the Chinese context they are shocking...........

This may have been the work of one brave man, who reportedly (on Twitter) was arrested. But the draconian “zero Covid” policy of Xi has no doubt alienated many Chinese people, who have been subjected to extreme hardship, business and factory lockdowns, and isolation in their homes or evacuation centers. Seeing open defiance in an area of Beijing where many ruling class people live has got to shake up Xi, at last a little.........To Read More.....

 

Xi Jinping Revives Pro-market Policies to Bolster Economy Ahead of 20th Party Congress

By: Willy Wo-Lap Lam May 5, 2022

Are President Xi Jinping’s recent turn to liberalized measures on technology firms and his commitment to using infrastructure projects to boost the economy an indication that the supreme leader has adopted a relatively pro-market approach to policymaking? At a late April Politburo meeting, Xi, who is also General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), said that Beijing would promote the “healthy development” of the internet platform economy through “normalizing control over the tech sector,” and that specific measures would be taken to boost high technology industries, especially information technology (IT) conglomerates. Xi has also stopped mentioning the goal of “common prosperity,” which has been used as a pretext to squeeze tycoons running multi-billion-dollar technology giants (CCTV.com, May 2; SCMP, April 29). At the same time, Xi is pulling out all the stops to ensure that this year’s GDP growth target of 5.5 percent is reached. The “core of the CCP leadership” has emphasized that the Chinese economy must expand at a higher rate than that of the United States in order to demonstrate “the superiority of the Chinese system” (Deutsche Welle Chinese, April 27; Radio French International, April 27)...........To Read More....

China's Governance Model Only Looks Worse As Time Goes On

By Francis Menton  @ Manhattan Contrarian 

Cheerleaders for “socialism” as a governance model superior to our own messy republican constitutionalism have long looked to China as their guiding light. In this post from March 2021 (“Is China About To Win In The Battle For The Future?”), I collected a round-up of quotes from left-wing true believers in China’s inevitable ascendency. Examples included Ian Bremmer in Time Magazine in November 2017 (“How China’s Economy Is Poised to Win the Future”), and Fareed Zakaria in The Washington Post in October 2017 (“China is winning the future. Here’s how.”). And most notably, there was the New York Times’s Tom Friedman’s unforgettable column way back in 2009 articulating the deep faith in the superiority of having a country run by a meritocratic elite free from the tiresome burdens of elections and accountability:

[W]hen [a country] is led by a reasonably enlightened group of people, as China is today, it can . . . have great advantages. That one party can just impose the politically difficult but critically important policies needed to move a society forward in the 21st century.

That March 2021 post discussed many reasons to be skeptical that China’s elite-directed autocracy could achieve top results over the long term. Those reasons included: the superiority in the economic arena of a trial and error process, open to all, over decision-making by the pre-selected “smart”; the imposition of the Orwellian “social credit” system; the creation of a perverse incentive system that prevents reporting of accurate information up to those in charge; and what I called the “Roman Empire model” of succession, where an all-powerful leader rules for life without any clear plan for succession after his death.

With the intervening year, we have seen multiple examples of China’s authoritarian decision-making proving unable to make reasonable trade-offs, and thus steering the country into massive policy blunders. Here are a couple of current examples:

Covid. Go to the Worldometers site, where statistics on Covid incidence and death by country are collected, and you will come away with the impression that China is a remarkable success story. China — the place where the disease originated — nonetheless has by far the fewest reported cases and deaths per million population of any significant country. According to the latest information at Worldometers, based on officially-reported data from China, China has had only 178,764 cases and 4,638 deaths from Covid out of a population of well over 1.4 billion — giving rates of only 124 cases and 3 deaths per million population. For comparison, per data at the same site, the U.S. has had over 246,000 cases and over 3,000 deaths per million population. Major European countries like France, UK, Germany, Italy and Spain have death rates less than that of the U.S., but in the same general range, from about 1500 to 2500 per million population.

But if instead of just looking at death statistics you look at the facts on the ground, you will get a very different impression. While in the rest of the world Covid is finally fading into the rearview mirror, China remains in full crisis mode. The last few weeks have seen a surge of cases, likely mostly of the less-severe Omicron variant; but China has reacted with a full range of the strictest lockdowns and stay-at-home orders. The Economist has extensive coverage in its current issue, particularly focused on the situation in China’s largest city, Shanghai. It appears that as Omicron surged in late March, China rapidly imposed a severe lockdown for which the people were unprepared. Now there is extensive hunger and shortage of food, let alone inability to deal with non-Covid health issues. Excerpts:

[R]esidents themselves were given little time to prepare. Some rushed to supermarkets, leaving aisles empty. Getting basic provisions has become a struggle. Messaging boards linked to Weibo, a popular Twitter-like platform, have been inundated with pleas for help. One woman said her father, who is suffering from cancer, was blocked from leaving his home and is “considering suicide”. A man sought epilepsy medication for his young son; he “did not dare consider the consequences” of failing to obtain it. Videos show people fighting over boxes of food. This correspondent has struggled to obtain potable water. . . . Videos show patients protesting against a lack of food, water and treatment. Health workers have been filmed striking people or pulling them by their hair from their homes. But the authorities’ most controversial policy has been separating covid-positive children from their parents.

It goes on and on from there. Somehow China has adopted an absolutist “zero Covid” policy without any rational weighing of the actual costs and benefits of the policy. Young adults and children with little to no risk of death from the disease are locked in their homes, often starving, and deprived of all normal human social contact for weeks and months on end. And since the disease has not yet worked its way through the population as it has elsewhere, China has no end in sight for these draconian policies. Meanwhile, the death rate of 3 per million is highly likely to be wildly understated, but nobody knows by how much, because any local official daring to report accurate information would likely be fired if not jailed.

The New York Times reports on April 10 about how the recent Shanghai lockdown is affecting the residents:

Residents have swarmed the police officers who enter their neighborhoods wearing white protective suits. They have shouted out their windows, demanding to be given supplies. Others have banged pots and pans in protest. . . . “We just want to eat, is that so hard?” [residents] yelled.

Pictures of the recent situation in Shanghai show show streets filled with police in hazmat-style gear, but otherwise devoid of regular people going about their business. Here is one such picture from the New York Times, March 15:

That’s what it looks like in Tom Friedman’s land of governance by the “reasonably enlightened” bureaucracy. Would any sane person live there voluntarily?

Population. Back around 1980, those same “reasonably enlightened” people running China got the idea that the population was too high, and they imposed a limit of one child per family. In 2016 that policy was relaxed to allow two children, and then within the past year all remaining restrictions were removed.

But meanwhile, China has created a real mess for itself. Its birthrate has sunk far below replacement levels, and its rapidly-aging population creates major issues of lack of workers and insufficient means to support the elderly.

According to a recent (December 2021) piece at Reuters, the truth on population in China may be even worse than the bad news being reported. The headline is “Researcher questions China's population data, says it may be lower.” Excerpt:

China may be downplaying how fast its population is shrinking, and a recent policy to promote three-child families has poor chances to improve birth rates, a fertility expert told the Reuters Next conference on Friday.

China’s official data show a population of 1.41 billion and a birthrate of 1.3 children per woman. But Reuters quotes researcher Fuxian Yi of the University of Wisconsin as saying that the real population is likely more like 1.28 billion, and the fertility rate even lower than the 1.3:

Yi estimates that the real fertility rate is much lower based on a drop in fertility rates over the years by China’s ethnic minority groups which were not restricted by the one-child policy, and he calculated the population based on his own lower estimate rates.

So why can’t the official data be trusted?

Yi said local governments overstate their population to obtain more subsidies, including education fees they collect from the central government. He said that with over 20 social benefits linked to a birth registration, some families were using the black market to buy a second birth certificate online.

Succession. Get ready to have Xi Jinping made China’s leader for life. Also from this week’s Economist:

In the autumn [Xi] is expected to use a five-yearly party congress to launch a third term as its chief, in defiance of norms that he step aside after two and opening a pathway to life-long rule.

We all know how well that succession scheme worked out for the Roman Empire.

 

The Sun's Morning Wire: War Over Green New Deal Comes to Lovell, Maine

By Staff Reporter of the Sun | December 13, 2021 

Good morning from Lovell, Maine, where Tom McLaughlin reports that the town is up in arms over a plan to put tens of thousands of solar panels smack in the middle of the foothills of one of the most cherished vistas in the state — Mt. Kearsarge.  Why might that be?,,,,,,, Read More

Also up this morning is an editorial on America’s victory in the campaign to extradite Julian Assange of Wikileaks to stand trial for espionage against the United States. The fight isn’t over, but a major ruling moves it a step closer and is a vote of confidence by Britain that America is acting in good faith,,,,,,,,, Read More....

And the world’s worst human rights offender, Xi Jinping of Communist China, is out with a new book promoting himself as a defender of human rights. The aim is to recast the very concept in favor of the communist approach to things. ........................Our China watcher, Philip Lenczycki, has the story.........Read More......

The World as I See It: Russia, China, America and Maskirovka

By Rich Kozlovich 

"George Friedman, is a Hungarian-born U.S. geopolitical forecaster, and strategist on international affairs and founder and chairman of Geopolitical Futures, an online publication that analyzes and forecasts the course of global events."  While I'm not always in agreement with the views expressed by he, or those who publish there, I am a subscriber, and I think it's well worth it because I find their work, overall, to be well researched and timely.   They work hard at what they do and I recommend subscribing.  And no, I'm not paid by them, in point of fact they may find me to be a bit of an irritant as I comment on their posts, both positively and negatively.

On March 23, 2021 Mr. Friedman posted a "free" article entitled,  Russia, China and the United States: First Shots, and I thought someone is finally cutting through the clabber into the heart of reality discussing (in my words) the sophomoric approach of the Biden administration in their approach to both Russia and China, and what's real for both those nations.

One of the things we all have to understand is this.  Nothing is as it seems either in Russia or China, especially what's presented by the media.  Both are experts as what the Soviets called Maskirovka, which is defined as:  

"Russian military deception.  A military doctrine developed from the start of the twentieth century. The doctrine covers a broad range of measures for military deception, from camouflage to denial and deception."

"Theatricality and deception can make a man — or a country — appear to be much more than they really are in the mind of an opponent. The Russians have been embracing this approach for centuries in military and political showdowns, under a doctrine called “maskirovka.” The word means “masking,” and it’s a fitting name for a tactic that depends entirely on misrepresentation."

 

"Maskirovka is an insidious strategy that many Russian leaders, including President Vladimir Putin, have used over the years to mislead opponents, over-represent their strength and flat-out lie about what they have or have not done."

The Chinese add a slight component to this deception by practicing "object lesson" wars, as the Sino-Indian War - Wikipedia to intimidate their neighbors.  But starting a real war is a whole other thing.

In short, believe nothing the Russians or the Chinese say or do, all of which is most likely a lie, a distraction and a misdirection in order to gain on their adversaries, whether it involves economics or military might and aggression.

It seems to me that's the point Friedman is making regarding Biden and his band of bumblers. They simply don't get it.  While it seems to me Friedman does get it as he says Russia and China:

"are in no position to challenge the United States or attempt military action. But it is one thing to write and another to bear the burden of action. The question is what sort of action the Russians and Chinese might take. The logical solution is to form an alliance. The question is what it would look like and whether it would matter.

He goes on to note that any economic alliance would be seriously problematic, incapable of existing without friction, and making them both more vulnerable to economic sanctions by third parties.  But the real problem for these communist nations remains the same.  They're communists.  

I forwarded Friedman's article with my comments to a friend of mine, an international businessman, who has traveled there in the past and here were his observations:

Admittedly it has been some time since I visited Russia. GUM was supposed to be the pinnacle of Moscow shopping. It was great fun to be there, and have lunch outdoors overlooking Red Square ..... but I was both thrilled to be there and yet disappointed for the Russian people who would still be overwhelmed by the King of Prussia Mall outside Philadelphia. There wasn’t much evidence that Russia makes much of anything. The Soviet economy was not geared toward meeting the consumer needs of its people. The post-Soviet economy had not transitioned in a meaningful way.

I traveled by car outside Moscow and later Kazan. I was struck by the non-use of miles and miles of land. Who/what owns all that fallow/wild land? Why does no one even try to do anything with it?

He went on to note:

[In rural America] I can’t drive anywhere without seeing major usage of land. Growing up, there were perhaps 12-15 acres in a narrow rectangle between me and my grade school. A farmer planted corn there every year. Nothing much has changed. If the land has been cleared, it has been put to use.

In Russia, you can drive 50 miles along a major roadway outside Moscow (or Kazan) and see absolutely no evidence that any land is used for any purpose. Wild growth, ditches, whatever the cat drags home is the rule. Here, if there ain’t a house on it, some farmer has plowed and planted it.  Same thing at the GUM “mall”. You could buy suitcases with Sochi ad-tags, but there was little to buy that was home grown.

Russia has nukes, and many of them, paid at the expense of their people’s daily comfort. But that is a sad fact. Good Old Joe calling Putin a “killer” may be the dumbest and most unnecessary and gratuitous insult of ANY President in my own recollection. It served no purpose whatsoever. Friedman pretends that there was some kind of positioning message in that statement, but I believe without reservation that Biden did not expect the question and only wanted to appear as the “tough guy” in the moment. Certainly Putin recognized the gaffe, and ate Biden’s lunch with his response.

I have no personal experience with China, so I have nothing special to contribute there. But Biden has no understanding of Russia and Russians at all.

As for a military alliance, it's the same problem, neither can support each other as Friedman notes:

Neither Russia nor China can support the other’s strategic needs. The primary threat to China is naval. Russia’s naval capacity is limited, and its major Asian port, Vladivostok, requires passage through maritime routes that are controlled by Japan and the United States. Russia would be contained by the same coalition threatening China. The threats to Russia are primarily terrestrial. China’s ability to send forces to areas of Russian concern is limited, and Russia has no pressing need for additional ground troops. There are areas in which one could help the other, such as military hardware or cyberwarfare, but that isn’t a real alliance.

Furthermore, neither China or Russia can financially afford a real war, and that includes China launching a massive naval invasion at Taiwan or elsewhere in the South China Sea, which they claim they own. While initially China would prevail, the long term consequences would ultimately destroy China, not only economically, but physically.  And Xi isn't stupid.

And this fact remains.  Neither China or Russia has anything the other wants or needs, and make sure to understand this.  Both of their economies are paper tigers, stunningly fragile. Neither can stand too much interruption without crumbling.  Trump understood that.  

Neither Obama, Biden, Harris or any in their circular firing squads get that, or refuse to admit it for reasons I can't begin to fathom. And, unfortunately, having such a circular firing squad in charge in Washington is the real flaw in the scenario being painted here.  

Both Putin and Xi have taken Biden's measure and know he's weak, indecisive, incompetent and a not-so-bright stumble bum, and on the best of occasions, a leaky vessel.  As Anony Mee observed in her piece yesterday, Pity poor Joe? No:

We’ve just witnessed a notably cringe-worthy week from Biden and his administration – signing the $1.9 trillion boondoggle bill, then being sued by the State of Ohio; talking smack about Russian President Putin, who then pulled his ambassador back home; being baited by Putin and made to look like a fool when he refused to have a conversation with him; declaring in the face of all opposing evidence that there is no crisis at our southern border; and being threatened by North Korea on Monday only by Thursday to announce that we would be ready to fight them that evening. I hesitate to call it a catastrophe, as most likely the worst is not yet upon us.

It seems clear to just about everyone other than Biden, he'll soon be gone, and he'll be followed by an even more amazingly weak, stupid, selfish, incompetent and calloused woman. And I have no doubt both Xi and Putin believe she can be bullied.  And I also think they can kick her to the curb without breaking a sweat. 

 You will find this piece by Victor Davis Hanson interesting, The Nature of Chinese Contempt for Us, demonstrating the impact of an American foreign policy predicated on self loathing.

An adoring corrupt media allowed her to get away with playing the phony tough arrogant bully role in the Kavanaugh hearings, but that won't float with Xi and Putin. 

Trump could do it an get away with it because they knew they weren't dealing with a checkers player like Obama.  They were facing a multidimensional chess player in Trump, and neither Biden, Harris, or the teams of misfits surrounding them are capable of dealing with either Putin or Xi at that level.  They're not even playing checkers, they're playing 52 pick up. 

The media can't protect Harris from them, or the consequences of her failures, which I have no doubt will be monumental.  she will crumble like tin foil, even with the support of an excuse making media. 

China, Ultra-Competence and Coronavirus

By George Friedman  February 11, 2020

The Communist revolution brought to power Mao Zedong. It created a state based on ideology, the belief that what would emerge from the long revolution would be a nation based on communism, and that with that China would experience both a prosperity and community it had never had. But the price that had to be paid to reach that goal would be ruthless oppression and suffering. This was designed both to build communism and expunge the anti-communist habits that were ingrained in the Chinese people. Mao was the prophet of this transformation of the human condition, and the Communist Party would be his instrument. But since bad habits were to be found in the Communist Party as well as among workers and peasants, the party itself had to be periodically and ruthlessly cleansed.........To Read More.....

My Take - This article is from Geopolitical Futures.  This is normally a subscriber site, but they post some free articles.  This is one.  I subscribe to and hold their views in high esteem, although I've disagreed on occasion and sent e-mails explaining why, but overall, I can heartily recommend subscribing.