Miscellaneous News

Kaeshmiri said:

Editorial independence is a Western talking point often invoked by Propaganda journals to show they're not controlled by anyone. BBC says the same stuff.
At the end of they day, their bills are paid by its owner company (in this case Alibaba). I refuse to believe that a parent company has no power over how its subsidiary functions.
Jack Ma doesn't screen each and every article but he can certainly nudge SCMP to go in a specific direction.

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"The notion that journalism can regularly produce a product that violates the fundamental interests of media owners and advertisers…is absurd." - Robert McChesney, journalist and author


Asked to give a toast before the prestigious New York Press Club in 1880, JOHN SWINTON, the former Chief of Staff at the New York Times, made this candid confession [it's worth noting that Swinton was called "The Dean of His Profession" by other newsmen, who admired him greatly]:

"There is no such thing, at this date of the world’s history, as an independent press. You know it and I know it. There is not one of you who dares to write your honest opinions, and if you did, you know beforehand that it would never appear in print. I am paid weekly for keeping my honest opinions out of the paper I am connected with. Others of you are paid similar salaries for similar things, and any of you who would be so foolish as to write honest opinions would be out on the streets looking for another job.

If I allowed my honest opinions to appear in one issue of my paper, before twenty-four hours my occupation would be gone. The business of the journalist is to destroy the truth; to lie outright; to pervert; to vilify; to fawn at the feet of Mammon, and to sell the country for his daily bread. You know it and I know it and what folly is this toasting an independent press. We are the tools and vassals of the rich men behind the scenes. We are the jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes." - John Swinton, the former Chief of Staff, The New York Times, New York Press Club.

Dolcevita said:

Duh!! It is the BBC on China. Do not take BBC propaganda seriously.

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China absent from key online climate change meeting of 35 countries 20210331

A critical meeting on climate change, organised by the UK, appears to be the latest victim of an ongoing row with China.

London says that China was invited to the event but has decided not to participate.

Relations between the UK and China have deteriorated in recent weeks after angry exchanges about human rights.

windsclouds2030 said:

You said it very well !!

The S.E.A nations, incl. Japan, are still somehow in learning phase to accept the new reality that China will be as large & strong and may even surpass USA in this decade. Therefore China also need to develop fast to show its real potential and power. Some perhaps are still in denial stage, disbelief or not yet willing to accept... but eventually they will learn some way, soft or hard, that size and might are real, not something adjusted to their taste, like or dislike. Countries in ASIA like Japan, India may be among the toughest nuts to accept the new reality. But at the end, no one can escape the dictate of history, and real power is certainly not a matter of like or dislike.

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Oh, that will for certain be the US. For the countries in Asia, they are basically tenants finding out that the house they live in is changing landlord but the rent and rules are basically the same (if not, better). For the US, however, it's gonna have to hand over the keys (or rather, watch them slip out of its grubby fingers) and bow out.

Some of you might have seen this scene from the famous movie Let the Bullets Fly:

This is the situation facing China. Realise this: when someone asks you if you had one bowl of bean jelly or two, their aim is not to find out the truth, the aim is either to gain morale superiority over you (and then use that to kill you at a later time) or get your to kill yourself to prove you're innocent.

Having understood the logic behind that question, you must also realise you cannot walk out of this situation alive by any evidence or logical argument to prove your innocence - that wasn't the goal to start with and no one in the audience really cares about it either.

So how do you handle this situation, well here are a few ways:

1. By having a bigger fist. The strong do what they can, the weak suffer what they must. This has always been the ultimate rule in geopolitics. Number Six is cornered in that scene alone, he's outnumbered and cannot just fight his way out. But China understands this well hence all the effort in bolstering PLA strength and well as all the diplomacy effort of recent weeks. If you have the bigger fist no matter what else happens you won't be the ultimate loser because you can always solve the problem with violence.

2. Assuming you have enough force to be a deterrent so the other side can't just resort to force, the next thing to do is still not trying to argue your innocence. Again the ones you're facing don't care about justice and are only using it as an excuse. One way I personally use which I learnt from Putin is to destroy the other side's argument using absurdity. Thus you are not just on the defence trying to clear your name, instead you are on the offensive. Observe:

Interviewer on live TV: Are you going to interfere in the 2020 US election?
Putin: I'm going to let you in on a secret okay? Yes! We are definitely going to interfere. Now you know and I know, please don't tell anyone

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Another example, this time Chinese

French interviewer: so is it true? The little Tibetan girls at the 2008 Olympic opening ceremony aren't Tibetan at all, they are han girls dressed up in Tibetan costumes
Chinese professor being interviewed: you recall in the scene right after the 56 ethnicities where we saw an taikonaut being lowered onto the stage by wires? I'm going to let you in on a secret: that's not a real taikonaut either

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Me, when being accused of being a wumao on the internet

Yes, of course I get paid for defending CPP. But it's not actually 50 cents, my political commissar pay me weekly in Uyghur body parts. I've nearly collected a full set. When I have every piece I plan to do a Dr Frankenstein and use my stash to create an Islamic Übermensch

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Finally, how Number Six could have walked out of that situation alive:

Number Six: how many bowl of bean jelly did I have?
Waiter: two
*Slap the waiter
Number Six: that's bullshit! I had ten bowls, weren't you counting? I'm going to ask you again, how many bowls of bean jelly did I have?
Waiter: ten
*Slap the waiter again
Number Six: that's bullshit! I had twenty bowls, why are you lying? Who put you up to this? I'm going to ask one final time and you better have the correct answer, how many bowl of bean jelly did I have?
Waiter: twenty
Slap the waiter one last time
Number Six: How come you said two, then ten then twenty? Shouldn't you know how many bowls I had? Are you just forgetful or is someone pressuring you to lie in front of everyone?

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That's now you get out of the question "how many bowls of bean jelly did you eat"

The despicable BBC reported has fled to Taiwan after Xinjiang people plan to sue him for spreading malicious fake news.

KenC said:

The despicable BBC reported has fled to Taiwan after Xinjiang people plan to sue him for spreading malicious fake news.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

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Good, when Taiwan is reunited his new location should be collateral damaged. Such things happen in war.

Temstar said:

Some of you might have seen this scene from the famous movie Let the Bullets Fly:

This is the situation facing China. Realise this: when someone asks you if you had one bowl of bean jelly or two, their aim is not to find out the truth, the aim is either to gain morale superiority over you (and then use that to kill you at a later time) or get your to kill yourself to prove you're innocent.

Having understood the logic behind that question, you must also realise you cannot walk out of this situation alive by any evidence or logical argument to prove your innocence - that wasn't the goal to start with and no one in the audience really cares about it either.

So how do you handle this situation, well here are a few ways:

1. By having a bigger fist. The strong do what they can, the weak suffer what they must. This has always been the ultimate rule in geopolitics. Number Six is cornered in that scene alone, he's outnumbered and cannot just fight his way out. But China understands this well hence all the effort in bolstering PLA strength and well as all the diplomacy effort of recent weeks. If you have the bigger fist no matter what else happens you won't be the ultimate loser because you can always solve the problem with violence.

2. Assuming you have enough force to be a deterrent so the other side can't just resort to force, the next thing to do is still not trying to argue your innocence. Again the ones you're facing don't care about justice and are only using it as an excuse. One way I personally use which I learnt from Putin is to destroy the other side's argument using absurdity. Thus you are not just on the defence trying to clear your name, instead you are on the offensive. Observe:



Another example, this time Chinese


Me, when being accused of being a wumao on the internet


Finally, how Number Six could have walked out of that situation alive:


That's now you get out of the question "how many bowls of bean jelly did you eat"

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Pathetically amusing this story that I translated it for other audience,,,, at least for the fun of reading seems to be an apt title: "The Absurdity Argument" (in dealing with bandits) hahaha

KenC said:

The despicable BBC reported has fled to Taiwan after Xinjiang people plan to sue him for spreading malicious fake news.

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LOL typical westerns expat reporter in asia, lacking the courage of his own convictions.

plawolf said:

Good, when Taiwan is reunited his new location should be collateral damaged. Such things happen in war.

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To anyone thats old enough to remember the British Comedy series "Drop the Dead Donkey" Sudworth makes Damian Day look like a credible reporter.

KenC said:

The despicable BBC reported has fled to Taiwan after Xinjiang people plan to sue him for spreading malicious fake news.

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Its ironic that John Sudworth is fleeing China because of the threats of lawsuits. Instead of leaving because of 'political prosecution'. In the end, it was a very 'capitalistic' threat that finally made him flee China. Not the 'communist threat' like Chinese cops looking for him, or 'Red Guards' threatening him. But we can expect him to write that BS in his 'Escape from China' epic story. This is a true reflection of how 'brave' this idiot is. If he was such a 'brave' journalist, surely he could take on a few lawsuits in China. Its not yet as bad as 'Chinese gulag'.

If the CPC really was the most horrible regime in the world that he claims it to be. He would be arrested at his residence, and wind up in a 'gulag' of some sort. Or if China is worse than Saudi Arabia (which I assume is his thinking), then he would be chopped up and then vanished without a trace. Well such endings are not that bad for a despicable individual like John Sudworth. His lies were influential enough to be able to formulate government policies, launch sanctions, start boycotts, and start wars.