Welcome to Saturday's Potluck - June 17, 2023

Submitted by studentofearth on Sat, 06/17/2023 - 7:15am

“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”
Pablo Picasso

________

West should target Russians like US treated Japanese in WW2 - Czech President
Russia Times June 16, 2023

Russians living in the West should be closely monitored by security services, Czech President Petr Pavel has argued. He mentioned the treatment of ethnic Japanese by the US during World War II as an example of wartime security measures.

Pavel made his case in an interview with the US government-funded outlet Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on Thursday.

“When there is an ongoing war, the security measures related to Russian nationals should be stricter than in normal times,” he said. “All Russians living in Western countries should be monitored much more than in the past.”

________

Since the Special Military Operations in Ukraine started February 2022 their has been several tempts to send NATO troops into the area. The long range goals in this article could ultimately destroy Russian culture. It has been published on multiple news sites.

NATO must prepare for intervention to safeguard ZNPP Asia Times Kune 6, 2023

US President Joe Biden and NATO leaders must prepare their military forces for a rapid and boots-on-the-ground intervention to stop Russia from even considering creating a nuclear incident at Europe’s largest nuclear plant, Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP).
--
The destruction of Kakhovka, and the subsequent ecological and economical disaster for large swath of southern Ukraine, has military commanders believing Russian President Vladmir Putin may order, or at least fail to thwart, a serious nuclear incident at the ZNPP, a nuclear plant six times the size of Chernobyl.
...
The destruction of the Kakhovka dam, built in the Soviet times to transform Crimea into an agricultural economy, means that Russia no longer believes it will be able to defend the area it annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has signaled over the past weeks to the West and others that it no longer backs Russia’s lost-cause war in Ukraine and that China’s national interest lies in the strength and stability of international markets.

One prominent anti-Ukraine voice that has been removed is Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, albeit for losing Fox owner Rupert Murdoch nearly US$800 million to settle a defamation brought by the Canadian-owned Dominion Voting Systems.
...
The loss of Crimea and the Russian Black Sea fleet is not the least of Putin’s nightmares. A very real nightmare for Putin and any future Russian government will be ensuring the integrity and sovereignty of the Russian Federation post-conflict.

The vision of Russia broken up into nine new independent republics, first espoused by former US president Jimmy Carter’s national security adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski, is receiving an ever more welcomed reception among some pro-Ukraine allies. In fact, the London-based leader of the Chechen resistance, Ahmed Zakayev, has been meeting with numerous Ukrainian leaders and influencers setting out his vision of a Russia broken up into new independent states.
...
Many argue that Putin would agree to surrender if he could cast it as a military defeat by the United States rather than by what he sees a rogue gang of inferior Ukrainians.

He could also argue that he resigned to preserve the Russian Federation, the same reason the late president Boris Yeltsin appointed him as his successor in 1999.

Ideally, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin will be able to hold three-way talks as caretaker president with Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Camp David to end the war and forge a permanent peace agreement between Russia and its neighbor, Ukraine. Mishustin has purposely refrained from publicly supporting Putin’s war efforts, casting himself as a technocratic manager.

The Camp David peace talks should be ultimately signed in Yalta, Germany, by President Biden, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and President Zelensky. Such a signing would erase from history the ignominious Yalta Conference agreement by an ailing Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Soviet dictator Josef Stalin that divided the world between the free and unfree.

________

And the world move on...

Pepe Escobar: Russia’s New Roadmap for Multipolar World Sputnik News June 16, 2023

The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum is not only the premier platform for discussing everything that matters in business and geoeconomics concerning Russia and the wider Eurasia.
It’s a privileged space where trends of the past, present and future are explored in detail: a microcosm of multipolarity at work.
...
Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Belousov came up with a necessary short recap, pointing how the “great globalization beneficiary in the 1990s was China, which doubled its GDP.” But then, “by the second half of the 2000s the Americans started to dismantle the standards.” Protectionism became the norm.

Belousov does not “believe the WTO will come back to life.” He prefers to focus on the “new countries” who will be key players in the new world order: Brazil, India, Indonesia, Mexico.

He sees three possible scenarios ahead: a new “Pax Americana based on digital technology, protectionist, a closed Western club”, with the use of force basically regimented against China; a “regionalization around centers of development”, such as China, India and Vietnam; or “controlled chaos”, submitted to the food crisis and the water resources crisis.

________

Ray McGovern discussing the USS Liberty attack on June 8, 1967 and cover-up (full 23:39 min starts 8:18)

________

The other livestream videos this week by Judge Napolitano channel ongoing discussions regarding current Ukraine/Russia conflict. the interviews are generally posted on Monday through Thursday if would like to view them in a more timely manner.

Note: The The unique perspective of the various speakers, based on their professional careers. on the subject have been disappearing. I hope over the last few weeks the opportunity to learn the different ways to evaluate various situations from an inelegance gathering point of view. A few facts have been presented and know appear to be using trust as a truthful source to shape opinion. A least Larry is now using a script for the interview. Listen to poor audio during Larry's answer result in the Judge ask him to restart on a specific paragraph of fest. I am back to verifying their information from at least one other source. It was convenient to have them in one spot and generally 30 minutes or less. Remember, All these men have participated in deceptions in the past to achieve desired results.

________

What is on your mind today?

Tags:

Open Thread

Saturday

Vote

Comments

Submitted by randtntx on Sat, 06/17/2023 - 9:32am

Thanks for the OT

today. I haven't started reading/listening to your links yet....will dip into that this evening. I saw this over at Naked Capitalism and this is on my reading list as well. It's Seymour Hersh on Daniel Ellsberg.
https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/my-fifty-years-with-dan-ellsberg

Submitted by studentofearth on Sat, 06/17/2023 - 11:17am

Thank You - Dan Ellsburg story is about how much a

@randtntx persona can change in their journey through life. He was a master game player in the shifting halls of power. When one considers the vast number of individuals who just since World War II have been involved in documenting, planning, refreshing old plans, sometimes executing those plans and never revealing the information IT IS mind boggling.

The system to keep them quiet is severe, reaching deep into families and communities. May be part of the pattern of culturally looking forward seldom historically.

Dan's path seems to have included spiritual depth, love of humanity and a small supporting community which grew over time. Very thankful he lived a long life and continued to inspire others to walk a path of bringing secrets to the light of day. Not just those truths benefiting the truth teller.

A decade later, after both Kennedy brothers had been assassinated, I (Seymour Hersh) wrote a series for the New York Times on the CIA’s spying on hundreds of thousands of American anti-Vietnam war protesters, members of Congress and reporters—all in direct violation of the agency’s 1947 charter barring any domestic activity. It led to the establishment of the Senate’s Church Committee in 1975. It was the most extensive Congressional inquiry into the activities of the CIA since the agency’s beginning. The committee exposed the assassination activities of the CIA, operations undertaken on orders that clearly came from Jack and Bobby Kennedy, although no direct link was published in the committee’s final report. But the committee reported extensively on a secret group authorized by Jack Kennedy and run by his brother Bobby to come up with options to terrorize Cuba and assassinate Fidel Castro. The covert operation had the code name Mongoose. And it was led, the committee reported, in 1961 and 1962 by Ed Lansdale.

Ellsberg told me he was flabbergasted. “When I heard about Lansdale and Mongoose,” he said, “it revealed to me an ability to keep secrets on an insider level that went far beyond what I had imagined. It was like discovering your next-door neighbor and your weekend fishing companion”—Ellsberg, it should be noted, never went fishing in his life—“and close, dear friend who, when he died, turned out to have been the secretary of State.

“It was astounding, because Mongoose was exactly the kind of operation I’d expected to hear about from Lansdale. He told about covert operations all the time. I think Ed had been told by President Kennedy to ‘keep his fucking mouth shut.’

“When you’ve been in a system with as high a level as possible of secrecy, you understand that things do get talked about. And you get a sense of what is usually held back. I was hearing all about other covert operations, but somebody—not Landsdale—had put a lid on Mongoose.”

—

Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.

Submitted by randtntx on Sun, 06/18/2023 - 8:34am

I've finally

@studentofearth , after long last, cracked open Daniel Ellsberg's book The Doomsday Machine: confessions of a nuclear war planner.
With regards to your insightful statement above,

When one considers the vast number of individuals who just since World War II have been involved in documenting, planning, refreshing old plans, sometimes executing those plans and never revealing the information IT IS mind boggling.

The system to keep them quiet is severe, reaching deep into families and communities.

Ellsberg says much the same thing.
There is, he says;

...a strong careerist aspect to their silence. The small minority of officials and consultants who know anything about our nuclear war plans have an identity as trustworthy keepers of these most-sensitive secrets.
Such officials have been concerned to maintain their high clearances, their access , and their possibility of being consultants after they've left service.

Since Ellsberg's position regarding nuclear war plans is that;

No policies in human history have more deserved to be recognized as immoral. Or insane. The story of how this calamitous predicament came about... is a chronicle of human madness..

it is a chilling observation he is making about his fellow co-workers.

It is mind boggling that something as banal as careerism and the PMC's penchant for a delusional sense of superiority and arrogance has set all of the world on this brink of catastrophe.

Thank you for your thought-provoking comment.

#1 persona can change in their journey through life. He was a master game player in the shifting halls of power. When one considers the vast number of individuals who just since World War II have been involved in documenting, planning, refreshing old plans, sometimes executing those plans and never revealing the information IT IS mind boggling. The system to keep them quiet is severe, reaching deep into families and communities. May be part of the pattern of culturally looking forward seldom historically. Dan's path seems to have included spiritual depth, love of humanity and a small supporting community which grew over time. Very thankful he lived a long life and continued to inspire others to walk a path of bringing secrets to the light of day. Not just those truths benefiting the truth teller. A decade later, after both Kennedy brothers had been assassinated, I (Seymour Hersh) wrote a series for the New York Times on the CIA’s spying on hundreds of thousands of American anti-Vietnam war protesters, members of Congress and reporters—all in direct violation of the agency’s 1947 charter barring any domestic activity. It led to the establishment of the Senate’s Church Committee in 1975. It was the most extensive Congressional inquiry into the activities of the CIA since the agency’s beginning. The committee exposed the assassination activities of the CIA, operations undertaken on orders that clearly came from Jack and Bobby Kennedy, although no direct link was published in the committee’s final report. But the committee reported extensively on a secret group authorized by Jack Kennedy and run by his brother Bobby to come up with options to terrorize Cuba and assassinate Fidel Castro. The covert operation had the code name Mongoose. And it was led, the committee reported, in 1961 and 1962 by Ed Lansdale. Ellsberg told me he was flabbergasted. “When I heard about Lansdale and Mongoose,” he said, “it revealed to me an ability to keep secrets on an insider level that went far beyond what I had imagined. It was like discovering your next-door neighbor and your weekend fishing companion”—Ellsberg, it should be noted, never went fishing in his life—“and close, dear friend who, when he died, turned out to have been the secretary of State. “It was astounding, because Mongoose was exactly the kind of operation I’d expected to hear about from Lansdale. He told about covert operations all the time. I think Ed had been told by President Kennedy to ‘keep his fucking mouth shut.’ “When you’ve been in a system with as high a level as possible of secrecy, you understand that things do get talked about. And you get a sense of what is usually held back. I was hearing all about other covert operations, but somebody—not Landsdale—had put a lid on Mongoose.”

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sat, 06/17/2023 - 11:04am

Good article on the power of foreign lobbyists

And how they get the American puppets to do their bidding. Israel and Saudi Arabia lobbyists got America to destroy the Middle East and now it’s the Ukraine lobbyists who are making sure that anyone who writes critical stories about Ukraine gets silenced.

The Ukraine lobbyists

Starts off with how George Washington warned about foreign entanglements which were ignored. Lots of links to other good articles on the same subject.

—

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.

Submitted by studentofearth on Sat, 06/17/2023 - 11:29am

thanks will read as soon as

@snoopydawg @snoopydawg I get some chores done. If I don't respond later - the day just got away from me again.

As I read will keep in mind other long standing international influences such as Republic of China (Taiwan), Israel, England, The Netherlands (Dutch) and The Vatican with their corporate and religious parties wanting influence on US policy and citizens.

—

Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sat, 06/17/2023 - 12:23pm

The old adage that money talks seems to be proven by which

@studentofearth

lobbyists our government responds to. So what if millions of Americans protested against the Iraq war? Israel and Saudi Arabia wanted it to happen and by gawd our corrupt leaders made sure that it did.

On this note:

Putin and what really matters in the chessboard

It’s been a long way since Putin examined the chessboard in the early 2000s and then unleashed a crash missile program for defensive and offensive missiles. Over the next 23 years Russia developed hypersonic missiles, advanced ICBMs, and the most advanced defensive missiles on the planet. Russia won the missile race. Period. The Hegemon – obsessed by its own manufactured war against Islam – was completely blindsided and made no material missile advances in nearly two and a half decades. Now the “strategy” is to invent a Taiwan Question out of nothing, which is configuring the chessboard as the ante-chamber of no holds barred Hybrid War against Russia-China.

The proxy attack – via Kiev hyenas – against Russophone Donbass, egged on by the Straussian neocon psychos in charge of US foreign policy, murdered at least 14,000 men, women and children between 2014 to 2022. That was also an attack on China. The ultimate aim of this Divide and Rule gambit was to inflict defeat on China’s ally in the Heartland, so Beijing would be isolated. According to the neocon wet dream, all of the above would have enabled the Hegemon, once it had taken over Russia again as it did with Yeltsin, to blockade China from Russian natural resources using eleven US aircraft carrier task forces plus numerous submarines. Obviously military science-impaired neocons are oblivious to the fact that Russia is now the strongest military power on the planet.

In Ukraine, the neocons were hoping that a provocation would cause Moscow to deploy other secret weapons apart from hypersonic missiles, so Washington could better prepare for all-out war. All those elaborate plans may have miserably floundered. But a corollary remains: the Straussian neocons firmly believe they may instrumentalize a few million Europeans – who’s next? Poles? Estonians? Latvians? Lithuanians? And why not Germans? – as cannon fodder as the US did in WWI and WWII, fought over the bodies of Europeans (including Russians) sacrificed to the same old Mackinder Anglo-Saxon power grab.

Hordes of European 5th columnists make it so much easier to “trust” the US to protect them, while only a few with an IQ over room temperature have understood who really bombed Nord Stream 1 and 2, with the connivance of the Liver Sausage German Chancellor. The bottom line is that the Hegemon simply cannot accept a sovereign, self-sufficient Europe; only a dependent vassal, hostage to the seas that the US control. Putin clearly sees how the chessboard has been laid out. And he also sees how “Ukraine” does not even exist anymore. While no one was paying attention, last month the Kiev gang sold Ukraine to $8.5 trillion-worth BlackRock. Just like that. The deal was sealed between the Government of Ukraine and BlackRock’s VP Philipp Hildebrand.

They are setting up a Ukrainian Development Fund (UDF) for “reconstruction”, focused on energy, infrastructure, agriculture, industry and IT. All remaining valuable assets in what will be a rump Ukraine will be gobbled up by BlackRock: from Metinvest, DTEK (energy) and MJP (agriculture) to Naftogaz, Ukrainian Railways, Ukravtodor and Ukrenergo. What’s the point in going to Kiev then? High-grade toxic neoliberalism is already partying on the spot.

I wonder if the Ukraine cannon fodder knows that Zelensky has sold their country out from under them and that their lives will never be normal again?

Ukraine is losing thousands of soldiers a week and is openly accepting untrained and often criminal foreign mercenaries into its ranks. They're having to resort to abducting their own citizens off the streets in their 'mobilization' efforts. Over 200,000 AFU have already died so… pic.twitter.com/uTY7D90gv8

— Michael Martin (@MichaelNo2War) June 17, 2023

Sadly these are just 2 of who knows how many graveyards full of dead cannon fodder for American hegemony. Oh yeah and Ukraine is going to be one of the first countries that WEF implements their plans for every country! Digital everything will happen there. Some democracy Ukraine is fighting for.

A red line that Biden’s handlers should not cross.

“Leopards burn, in the same way F16s will burn. No doubt!”
— Putin pic.twitter.com/4RZAxoE0iT

— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) June 16, 2023

Putin also said that if F-16 fly out of Poland that might warrant an attack on the Poland air bases which might mean that war brings in NATO.

—

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.

Submitted by Cassiodorus on Sat, 06/17/2023 - 12:48pm

Some of the cannon fodder know --

@snoopydawg that this is going on. They're the ones deserting, or organizing the mutinies.

#2.1 lobbyists our government responds to. So what if millions of Americans protested against the Iraq war? Israel and Saudi Arabia wanted it to happen and by gawd our corrupt leaders made sure that it did. On this note: Putin and what really matters in the chessboard It’s been a long way since Putin examined the chessboard in the early 2000s and then unleashed a crash missile program for defensive and offensive missiles. Over the next 23 years Russia developed hypersonic missiles, advanced ICBMs, and the most advanced defensive missiles on the planet. Russia won the missile race. Period. The Hegemon – obsessed by its own manufactured war against Islam – was completely blindsided and made no material missile advances in nearly two and a half decades. Now the “strategy” is to invent a Taiwan Question out of nothing, which is configuring the chessboard as the ante-chamber of no holds barred Hybrid War against Russia-China. The proxy attack – via Kiev hyenas – against Russophone Donbass, egged on by the Straussian neocon psychos in charge of US foreign policy, murdered at least 14,000 men, women and children between 2014 to 2022. That was also an attack on China. The ultimate aim of this Divide and Rule gambit was to inflict defeat on China’s ally in the Heartland, so Beijing would be isolated. According to the neocon wet dream, all of the above would have enabled the Hegemon, once it had taken over Russia again as it did with Yeltsin, to blockade China from Russian natural resources using eleven US aircraft carrier task forces plus numerous submarines. Obviously military science-impaired neocons are oblivious to the fact that Russia is now the strongest military power on the planet. In Ukraine, the neocons were hoping that a provocation would cause Moscow to deploy other secret weapons apart from hypersonic missiles, so Washington could better prepare for all-out war. All those elaborate plans may have miserably floundered. But a corollary remains: the Straussian neocons firmly believe they may instrumentalize a few million Europeans – who’s next? Poles? Estonians? Latvians? Lithuanians? And why not Germans? – as cannon fodder as the US did in WWI and WWII, fought over the bodies of Europeans (including Russians) sacrificed to the same old Mackinder Anglo-Saxon power grab. Hordes of European 5th columnists make it so much easier to “trust” the US to protect them, while only a few with an IQ over room temperature have understood who really bombed Nord Stream 1 and 2, with the connivance of the Liver Sausage German Chancellor. The bottom line is that the Hegemon simply cannot accept a sovereign, self-sufficient Europe; only a dependent vassal, hostage to the seas that the US control. Putin clearly sees how the chessboard has been laid out. And he also sees how “Ukraine” does not even exist anymore. While no one was paying attention, last month the Kiev gang sold Ukraine to $8.5 trillion-worth BlackRock. Just like that. The deal was sealed between the Government of Ukraine and BlackRock’s VP Philipp Hildebrand. They are setting up a Ukrainian Development Fund (UDF) for “reconstruction”, focused on energy, infrastructure, agriculture, industry and IT. All remaining valuable assets in what will be a rump Ukraine will be gobbled up by BlackRock: from Metinvest, DTEK (energy) and MJP (agriculture) to Naftogaz, Ukrainian Railways, Ukravtodor and Ukrenergo. What’s the point in going to Kiev then? High-grade toxic neoliberalism is already partying on the spot. I wonder if the Ukraine cannon fodder knows that Zelensky has sold their country out from under them and that their lives will never be normal again? Ukraine is losing thousands of soldiers a week and is openly accepting untrained and often criminal foreign mercenaries into its ranks. They're having to resort to abducting their own citizens off the streets in their 'mobilization' efforts. Over 200,000 AFU have already died so… pic.twitter.com/uTY7D90gv8 — Michael Martin (@MichaelNo2War) June 17, 2023 Sadly these are just 2 of who knows how many graveyards full of dead cannon fodder for American hegemony. Oh yeah and Ukraine is going to be one of the first countries that WEF implements their plans for every country! Digital everything will happen there. Some democracy Ukraine is fighting for. A red line that Biden’s handlers should not cross. “Leopards burn, in the same way F16s will burn. No doubt!” — Putin pic.twitter.com/4RZAxoE0iT — Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) June 16, 2023 Putin also said that if F-16 fly out of Poland that might warrant an attack on the Poland air bases which might mean that war brings in NATO.

—

'French theory is a product of US cultural imperialism." -- Gabriel Rockhill

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sat, 06/17/2023 - 1:17pm

You have a link that shows that is happening?

@Cassiodorus

I’ve seen a few tweets from Ukraine troops complaining that they don’t have enough equipment, but nothing about them escaping. Sure $7,000 gets some from being sent to the military. The ones lying in graves might not have known what they were fighting for.

—

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.

Submitted by Cassiodorus on Sat, 06/17/2023 - 7:50pm

Simplicius the Thinker discusses it now and then

@snoopydawg https://simplicius76.substack.com/

He said they were doing this in several places. The mutinies are like the French mutinies of 1917 -- armies which refuse to attack because they know they'll just get cut down if they do so.

Sorry I'm just posting and running on this one and leaving the real research to you. This weekend I'm researching a diary of my own on a different topic, which should be up soon.

—

'French theory is a product of US cultural imperialism." -- Gabriel Rockhill

Submitted by QMS on Sat, 06/17/2023 - 7:55pm

mutiny seems like the right response

@Cassiodorus

to the meat grinder the ukies are sending their troops into

thanks for putting this possibility forward

Submitted by humphrey on Sat, 06/17/2023 - 8:46pm

All of this in order to fatten up the bottom line of MIC.

@QMS @QMS

Edited to add this:

‼️ Yuri Podolyaka has been, in my estimation, one of the better correspondents of this war. His reports have been consistently restrained, mostly lacking hyperbole. That puts in proper context his shocking report of today's battle:https://t.co/ZIu8Y3rD3c pic.twitter.com/QRt1LzqKOq

— Will Schryver (@imetatronink) June 17, 2023

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sat, 06/17/2023 - 12:36pm

Wow check this out

Have you ever seen an eagle grab a fish and eat live in mid air. pic.twitter.com/4xR1dGTKnJ

— Mark Smith Photography (@marktakesphoto) June 14, 2023

If you click on his name you can see his other impressive photography. He has one with trees absolutely full of eagles. This is what I wanted to do when I grew up. Never got to his level.

—

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.

Submitted by humphrey on Sat, 06/17/2023 - 1:11pm

Oh my! Putin lays a smack down on Ukraine in front of

the African peace negotiators.

Then Zelensky signed decree forbidding negotiations with Russia and ver fake back for talks. pic.twitter.com/v3Hv6NsAMM

— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) June 17, 2023

Submitted by humphrey on Sat, 06/17/2023 - 1:21pm

Oh wait Putin is not quite finished!

@humphrey

31.7 million tons of agricultural products have already been exported from #Ukrainian ports, but only 3% of this went to developing countries;

- The process of the exchange of prisoners of war is underway, the #Russian Federation is ready to continue it

— Arthur Morgan (@ArthurM40330824) June 17, 2023

#Putin is holding talks with a delegation from #African countries at the Konstantinovsky Palace.
#Russia has great respect for the principled position of African states in favor of preserving global and regional stability and security, peaceful settlement of conflicts, pic.twitter.com/fMb9lVANr5

— Arthur Morgan (@ArthurM40330824) June 17, 2023

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Sat, 06/17/2023 - 6:26pm

Good morning SOE, thanks for the OT and information.

I'm gonna try to post something from EFF here, sort of an action alert on some bullshit the Patent Office is trying to pull off to make it harder to challenge bad patents.

Our Right To Challenge Junk Patents Is Under Threat
External
Inbox

Joe Mullin | EFF Activism Team Unsubscribe
Jun 16, 2023, 3:59 PM (19 hours ago)
to me

This is a friendly message from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
EFF logo
ACTION ALERT
Our Right To Challenge Junk Patents Is Under Threat
Tell the USPTO To Protect the Patent Review Process by Tuesday, June 20
border surveillance banner with icons for DNA sequence, TSA agent, fingerprint

The U.S. Patent Office has proposed new rules about who can challenge wrongly granted patents. If the rules become official, they will offer new protections to patent trolls. Challenging patents will become far more onerous, and impossible for some. The new rules could stop organizations like EFF, which used this process to fight the Personal Audio “podcasting patent,” from filing patent challenges altogether.

Note: This link goes directly to the USPTO comment page, not EFF's website.

TAKE ACTION [ https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/04/21/2023-08239/changes-... ]

TELL USPTO TO WORK FOR THE PUBLIC, NOT PATENT TROLLS

We’re asking supporters who care about a fair patent system to file comments using the federal government’s public comment system. Your comments don’t need to be long, or use fancy legalese. The important thing is that everyday users and creators of technology get a chance to state their opposition to these rules. We need EFF supporters to speak out against this proposal, which is a gift for patent trolls. The deadline for comments is Tuesday, June 20.

The proposed rules affect the inter partes review, or IPR, process. You can read more about EFF’s views on the proposed rules in our blog post about them, and can read the proposed rules on the Federal Register website.

If you have a personal experience with patent troll attacks, please mention it. Comments are not anonymous and you should use your real name.

Below this paragraph you can see a simple proposed comment you can cut-and-paste to express your opposition to the rules. It's even better if you add one sentence or more to the comment, especially if you can mention your own experience with the patent system. Of course, you can also write your own original comment.

Sample comment:
I am opposed to the USPTO’s proposed rules changes for inter partes review (IPR) and other patent challenges. These proposed rules should be withdrawn, and the IPR process should remain open to all. The USPTO should follow the rules Congress set out, and consider all patent challenges, including IPR petitions, on their merits.

TAKE ACTION [ https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/04/21/2023-08239/changes-... ]

TELL USPTO TO WORK FOR THE PUBLIC, NOT PATENT TROLLS

The U.S. patent system remains wildly imbalanced—in favor of patent owners, not patent challengers. These proposed rules show that USPTO has it backwards. Please join us and speak out through the public comment process. No one should tolerate a patent troll takeover at PTAB.

Yours,
Joe Mullin
EFF Activism Team

DONATE
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Here's a link to a webpage containing the web version of the alert with all the embedded links - it is probably best to use it, but I just now thought of that.

be well and have a good one

EDIT: FORGOT THE LINK https://supporters.eff.org/civicrm/mailing/view?reset=1&id=11923

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by studentofearth on Sat, 06/17/2023 - 6:49pm

Sent in a comment - Over the years found my written and public

@enhydra lutris testimony more effective at influencing government regulations and policies than any public rant, protest attendance, targeted donations, voting in elections, sitting on public boards and educating others.

Thanks for bringing this to our attention while there was still time to participate.

Actually will send in two comments. Today was as the head of a small business, tomorrow as an individual. I find it very annoying my corporation seems to have more rights than me in this country.

I'm gonna try to post something from EFF here, sort of an action alert on some bullshit the Patent Office is trying to pull off to make it harder to challenge bad patents. Our Right To Challenge Junk Patents Is Under Threat External Inbox Joe Mullin | EFF Activism Team Unsubscribe Jun 16, 2023, 3:59 PM (19 hours ago) to me This is a friendly message from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. EFF logo ACTION ALERT Our Right To Challenge Junk Patents Is Under Threat Tell the USPTO To Protect the Patent Review Process by Tuesday, June 20 border surveillance banner with icons for DNA sequence, TSA agent, fingerprint The U.S. Patent Office has proposed new rules about who can challenge wrongly granted patents. If the rules become official, they will offer new protections to patent trolls. Challenging patents will become far more onerous, and impossible for some. The new rules could stop organizations like EFF, which used this process to fight the Personal Audio “podcasting patent,” from filing patent challenges altogether. Note: This link goes directly to the USPTO comment page, not EFF's website. TAKE ACTION [ https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/04/21/2023-08239/changes-... ] TELL USPTO TO WORK FOR THE PUBLIC, NOT PATENT TROLLS We’re asking supporters who care about a fair patent system to file comments using the federal government’s public comment system. Your comments don’t need to be long, or use fancy legalese. The important thing is that everyday users and creators of technology get a chance to state their opposition to these rules. We need EFF supporters to speak out against this proposal, which is a gift for patent trolls. The deadline for comments is Tuesday, June 20. The proposed rules affect the inter partes review, or IPR, process. You can read more about EFF’s views on the proposed rules in our blog post about them, and can read the proposed rules on the Federal Register website. If you have a personal experience with patent troll attacks, please mention it. Comments are not anonymous and you should use your real name. Below this paragraph you can see a simple proposed comment you can cut-and-paste to express your opposition to the rules. It's even better if you add one sentence or more to the comment, especially if you can mention your own experience with the patent system. Of course, you can also write your own original comment. Sample comment: I am opposed to the USPTO’s proposed rules changes for inter partes review (IPR) and other patent challenges. These proposed rules should be withdrawn, and the IPR process should remain open to all. The USPTO should follow the rules Congress set out, and consider all patent challenges, including IPR petitions, on their merits. TAKE ACTION [ https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/04/21/2023-08239/changes-... ] TELL USPTO TO WORK FOR THE PUBLIC, NOT PATENT TROLLS The U.S. patent system remains wildly imbalanced—in favor of patent owners, not patent challengers. These proposed rules show that USPTO has it backwards. Please join us and speak out through the public comment process. No one should tolerate a patent troll takeover at PTAB. Yours, Joe Mullin EFF Activism Team DONATE About EFF The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading nonprofit defending online civil liberties. We promote digital innovation, defend free speech, fight illegal surveillance, and protect rights and freedoms for all as our use of technology grows. Find out more at https://eff.org. This newsletter is printed from 100% recycled electrons. EFF appreciates your support and respects your privacy. Unsubscribe or change your email preferences, or opt out of all EFF email 815 Eddy Street San Francisco, CA 94109-7701 United States Here's a link to a webpage containing the web version of the alert with all the embedded links - it is probably best to use it, but I just now thought of that. be well and have a good one EDIT: FORGOT THE LINK https://supporters.eff.org/civicrm/mailing/view?reset=1&id=11923

—

Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Sat, 06/17/2023 - 8:10pm

Thanks for commenting, twice.

@studentofearth

be well and have a good one

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Sat, 06/17/2023 - 8:11pm

Thanks for commenting, twice.

@studentofearth

be well and have a good one

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by humphrey on Sat, 06/17/2023 - 1:44pm

Snoopy. This is not an advertisement.

It his just made me think of you and Sam.

A new insanely fun toy for your pup!
Say goodbye to thirsty, dehydrated doggos in the summer!

Get it now https://t.co/5YxdQXTtiO

— Royaleon (@royaleon_shop) June 5, 2023

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sat, 06/17/2023 - 1:53pm

Thanks

@humphrey

I’ve been thinking about getting Sam a pool this summer but the ones I’ve seen are expensive and look cheap. I’ll have to check out the shipping charges. I had to keep Sam away from the river yesterday because they are still running very fast. I’m not taking the credit for how she knows so many swear words… but she really wanted to play in it.

—

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.

Submitted by humphrey on Sat, 06/17/2023 - 2:06pm

I am not sure if the same promoted tweet will show up

@humphrey .

This link if you follow the thread the actual video of the dog having fun.

https://twitter.com/tretter50001

Submitted by on the cusp on Sat, 06/17/2023 - 2:26pm

The heat index is 112 deg. outside.

@humphrey If I owned that pool, I would be in it right now. Poochie would have to wait her turn.

—

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sat, 06/17/2023 - 3:56pm

Click on the bird and not the video

@humphrey

and it shows the dawg being happy out of its mind. Click the video to take you to the website.
The bottom video is how Sam played in the mud hole last year and then came over to me to shake off. We both needed a bath.

—

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.

Submitted by humphrey on Sat, 06/17/2023 - 2:39pm

Nothing to see here it is just Joe being Joe.

Speech With ‘God Save The Queen, Man’‼️

He spoke in the US, not the UK, and Queen Elizabeth died in September last year. pic.twitter.com/a8gUO2qCzh

— Djole (@onlydjole) June 17, 2023

Breaking Out: Actress Eva Longoria and Biden's hug at the White House reception pic.twitter.com/4hOpxmSGXl

— Theresa (@tretter50001) June 16, 2023

Submitted by studentofearth on Sat, 06/17/2023 - 6:55pm

He is getting harder to manage in public spaces.

@humphrey Regular workday with private and official meetings must require a large number of people to keep secret his true competence in the moment. It has to be effecting longterm foreign relations planning by other countries. US has no respect for human dignity of its leaders or citizens. Just treating another nation's citizens like we do each other in our country could be considered a hybrid aggression.

—

Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.

Submitted by QMS on Sat, 06/17/2023 - 7:42pm

hybrid aggression

@studentofearth

against everyone but self
shows a shallowness of
understanding of how
positivity works

thanks for your OT
a lot to see here!

Submitted by soryang on Sat, 06/17/2023 - 5:54pm

Enjoyed Ray's take on thngs

Always informative. I'd propose a slightly different option on the US-Chinese military incidents in the South China Sea and Taiwan Straits.

These can be entirely explained in context of US actions in East Asia. It's the US trying to introduce NATO participation (literally) in its "Indo Pacific strategy" against China. The incidents also occurred about the times of scheduled international meetings, after G7 and contemporaneous with the Shangri-la conference. Why propose to open a NATO office in Japan? Why do Japan and South Korea need to be partner countries in NATO snafus? This is part of a US effort to counter both China and Russia with the prospect of some facsimile of a world wide alliance system.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The United States deployed a nuclear-powered submarine capable of carrying about 150 Tomahawk missiles to South Korea on Friday, a day after North Korea resumed missile tests in protest of the U.S.-South Korean live-fire drills.

The USS Michigan’s arrival in South Korea, the first of its kind in six years, is part of a recent bilateral agreement on enhancing “regular visibility” of U.S. strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula in response to North Korea’s advancing nuclear program, according to South Korean officials.

With the deployment of the USS Michigan, the U.S. and South Korean navies are to conduct drills on boosting their special operation capabilities and joint ability to cope with growing North Korean nuclear threats, the South Korean Defense Ministry said in a statement.

https://apnews.com/article/us-submarine-north-korea-missiles-3bf330fa9f8...

Last October 31 it was an SSN that visited Pusan.
https://www.navy.mil/Press-Office/News-Stories/Article/3205670/key-west-...

This port call in South Korea by the SSGN is to send a message to China not North Korea. US military exercises with South Korea are always styled as readiness to fight North Korean aggression. The problem with that explanation is that North Korea is not in any condition to conduct a conventional war with South Korea and the US. The purpose of North Korean nuclear weapons development and missile tests is to deter an attack by the South and the US on them. The North Korean intent is to have their nuclear weapons function as a "doomsday machine." They could never have any doubt that the US response to North Korean aggression would be overwhelming and result in their "ceasing to exist" as the US has threatened many times over the decades. However that can no longer be threatened with a sense of impunity. Aggressive North Korean acts are usually in the nature of symbolic and/or isolated violent provocations. Artillery shelling on South Korean West Sea islands near North Korea, the drone overflights, blowing up the liaison building, shootings along the DMZ, the Chonan sinking, etc. The real danger is that such provocations, especially if violent and producing casualties, could result in full blown counterstrike/counterattack by the South or an escalation of military moves leading to major strikes and war. In this sense, the recent increased tensions between North and South represent a war of nerves, massive military exercises on the US/ROK side and missile firings by the North Koreans.

I think it is something of a deception to style the US visits of so called "strategic assets" to South Korea for military exercises as meeting the security needs of South Korea. This is just the "presence" and "reassurance" PR, that Yoon laid the foundation for with his bluff that he would have South Korea make nuclear weapons. Surely, the Chinese have to recognize the implied threat of USS Michigan operating so close by. Similarly, the overt participation of South Korean naval forces in military exercises with the USS Michigan (or Japanese and US Aegis warships from time to time) in the region drives South Korea further into the US trilateral anti-China orbit. What's next, SSBN visits? The question that arises whether the South Koreans will be able to walk this back after Yoon is out of the presidential office. Why would the Chinese help South Korea with North Korea under these circumstances. They have already indicated they won't.

The visit of the USS Michigan and other shows of military force are timed to coincide with Bliken's arrival in Beijing. (How subtle). It confirms President Yoon's complete rejection of the "three nos" policy of the prior Moon administration which was sensitive to Chinese strategic security interests. All this occurs in the current context of a Seoul-Beijing diplomatic spat. This reckless South Korean foreign policy may not be helpful to the ongoing nose dive in South Korea's balance of trade since Yoon took office. As one leading democratic elder statesmen in South Korea said earlier today, South Korea exports more than semiconductors and can't afford to neglect the huge Chinese market for our consumer goods (the livelihoods of South Korea's people is on the line).

SEOUL (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he supports South Korea's efforts to develop a "healthy and mature" cooperative relationship with China, South Korea's foreign ministry said on Saturday.

Blinken, who arrives in Beijing on Sunday for the highest-level visit by an official of President Joe Biden's administration, discussed bilateral relations, relations between China and South Korea, and North Korea in a call with South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin on Saturday, the ministry said in a statement.

Blinken and Park strongly condemned what they consider North Korea's repeated provocations, the ministry said, and agreed the U.S., South Korea and Japan should continue to urge China to play a constructive role in the U.N. Security Council on denuclearisation. The statement did not elaborate.

https://www.aol.com/news/blinken-supports-efforts-toward-mature-05052044...

Window dressing on a substantially damaged South Korea-China relationship. It will take substantive moves to fix this not words. South Korea is out on unwise anti-China limb, and most analysts and experienced hands there know it. Those in South Korea on the conservative side try to conceal their disappointment and cover for Yoon's tendency to make intemperate comments and hasty commitments.

This is from the recent Ignatius opinion in WP (behind a paywall):

The week’s meetings with senior officials of China, India and Japan will highlight the three essential power centers in the Indo-Pacific. By seeking greater engagement with all three, President Biden is attempting to create a more stable strategic balance. Rather than walking a bipolar tightrope between Washington and Beijing, the administration is trying to build a matrix of relationships, with the United States as a key interlocutor in each node.

Make no mistake: The strategic challenge that will animate the three sets of meetings is how to avoid a disastrous conflict between the United States and China. Dialogue with China should reduce uncertainties and potential risks in what will be a continuing Sino-American competition; partnering with India should enhance India’s ability to deter China, and U.S. deterrence, as well; deeper cooperation with Japan and its neighbors, South Korea and the Philippines, should help buffer the danger of a catastrophic U.S.-China collision.

The sleeper in the new Asia power game is Japan, which is combining its growing military power with supple diplomacy to mend fences with Asian neighbors that share Tokyo’s fear of Beijing. On Thursday, Sullivan met in Tokyo for two trilateral strategy sessions — first a South Korea-U.S.-Japan meeting, followed by a Philippines-U.S.-Japan session. “We have a diplomatic and political tail wind, and China knows it,” Rahm Emanuel, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, said in an interview this week.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/06/15/blinken-china-trip-ja...

"Make no mistake." LOL. Rahm Emanuel, the new "Asia expert." His remarks and the US policy could be interpreted as "we've got our allies right where we want them, in the cross hairs."

This part of Asia Times piece above was largely wishful thinking:

Chinese President Xi Jinping has signaled over the past weeks to the West and others that it no longer backs Russia’s lost-cause war in Ukraine and that China’s national interest lies in the strength and stability of international markets.

I found the article to be delusional, or at least to reflect insane inside the beltway thinking.

(edited for typo)

—

語必忠信行必正直

Submitted by QMS on Sun, 06/18/2023 - 1:08am

understanding the insanity operating inside the beltway

@soryang

goes a long way to figuring out what is wrong with this picture

most sane people can figure this out

Always informative. I'd propose a slightly different option on the US-Chinese military incidents in the South China Sea and Taiwan Straits. These can be entirely explained in context of US actions in East Asia. It's the US trying to introduce NATO participation (literally) in its "Indo Pacific strategy" against China. The incidents also occurred about the times of scheduled international meetings, after G7 and contemporaneous with the Shangri-la conference. Why propose to open a NATO office in Japan? Why do Japan and South Korea need to be partner countries in NATO snafus? This is part of a US effort to counter both China and Russia with the prospect of some facsimile of a world wide alliance system. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The United States deployed a nuclear-powered submarine capable of carrying about 150 Tomahawk missiles to South Korea on Friday, a day after North Korea resumed missile tests in protest of the U.S.-South Korean live-fire drills. The USS Michigan’s arrival in South Korea, the first of its kind in six years, is part of a recent bilateral agreement on enhancing “regular visibility” of U.S. strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula in response to North Korea’s advancing nuclear program, according to South Korean officials. With the deployment of the USS Michigan, the U.S. and South Korean navies are to conduct drills on boosting their special operation capabilities and joint ability to cope with growing North Korean nuclear threats, the South Korean Defense Ministry said in a statement. https://apnews.com/article/us-submarine-north-korea-missiles-3bf330fa9f8... Last October 31 it was an SSN that visited Pusan. https://www.navy.mil/Press-Office/News-Stories/Article/3205670/key-west-... This port call in South Korea by the SSGN is to send a message to China not North Korea. US military exercises with South Korea are always styled as readiness to fight North Korean aggression. The problem with that explanation is that North Korea is not in any condition to conduct a conventional war with South Korea and the US. The purpose of North Korean nuclear weapons development and missile tests is to deter an attack by the South and the US on them. The North Korean intent is to have their nuclear weapons function as a "doomsday machine." They could never have any doubt that the US response to North Korean aggression would be overwhelming and result in their "ceasing to exist" as the US has threatened many times over the decades. However that can no longer be threatened with a sense of impunity. Aggressive North Korean acts are usually in the nature of symbolic and/or isolated violent provocations. Artillery shelling on South Korean West Sea islands near North Korea, the drone overflights, blowing up the liaison building, shootings along the DMZ, the Chonan sinking, etc. The real danger is that such provocations, especially if violent and producing casualties, could result in full blown counterstrike/counterattack by the South or an escalation of military moves leading to major strikes and war. In this sense, the recent increased tensions between North and South represent a war of nerves, massive military exercises on the US/ROK side and missile firings by the North Koreans. I think it is something of a deception to style the US visits of so called "strategic assets" to South Korea for military exercises as meeting the security needs of South Korea. This is just the "presence" and "reassurance" PR, that Yoon laid the foundation for with his bluff that he would have South Korea make nuclear weapons. Surely, the Chinese have to recognize the implied threat of USS Michigan operating so close by. Similarly, the overt participation of South Korean naval forces in military exercises with the USS Michigan (or Japanese and US Aegis warships from time to time) in the region drives South Korea further into the US trilateral anti-China orbit. What's next, SSBN visits? The question that arises whether the South Koreans will be able to walk this back after Yoon is out of the presidential office. Why would the Chinese help South Korea with North Korea under these circumstances. They have already indicated they won't. The visit of the USS Michigan and other shows of military force are timed to coincide with Bliken's arrival in Beijing. (How subtle). It confirms President Yoon's complete rejection of the "three nos" policy of the prior Moon administration which was sensitive to Chinese strategic security interests. All this occurs in the current context of a Seoul-Beijing diplomatic spat. This reckless South Korean foreign policy may not be helpful to the ongoing nose dive in South Korea's balance of trade since Yoon took office. As one leading democratic elder statesmen in South Korea said earlier today, South Korea exports more than semiconductors and can't afford to neglect the huge Chinese market for our consumer goods (the livelihoods of South Korea's people is on the line). SEOUL (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he supports South Korea's efforts to develop a "healthy and mature" cooperative relationship with China, South Korea's foreign ministry said on Saturday. Blinken, who arrives in Beijing on Sunday for the highest-level visit by an official of President Joe Biden's administration, discussed bilateral relations, relations between China and South Korea, and North Korea in a call with South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin on Saturday, the ministry said in a statement. Blinken and Park strongly condemned what they consider North Korea's repeated provocations, the ministry said, and agreed the U.S., South Korea and Japan should continue to urge China to play a constructive role in the U.N. Security Council on denuclearisation. The statement did not elaborate. https://www.aol.com/news/blinken-supports-efforts-toward-mature-05052044... Window dressing on a substantially damaged South Korea-China relationship. It will take substantive moves to fix this not words. South Korea is out on unwise anti-China limb, and most analysts and experienced hands there know it. Those in South Korea on the conservative side try to conceal their disappointment and cover for Yoon's tendency to make intemperate comments and hasty commitments. This is from the recent Ignatius opinion in WP (behind a paywall): The week’s meetings with senior officials of China, India and Japan will highlight the three essential power centers in the Indo-Pacific. By seeking greater engagement with all three, President Biden is attempting to create a more stable strategic balance. Rather than walking a bipolar tightrope between Washington and Beijing, the administration is trying to build a matrix of relationships, with the United States as a key interlocutor in each node. Make no mistake: The strategic challenge that will animate the three sets of meetings is how to avoid a disastrous conflict between the United States and China. Dialogue with China should reduce uncertainties and potential risks in what will be a continuing Sino-American competition; partnering with India should enhance India’s ability to deter China, and U.S. deterrence, as well; deeper cooperation with Japan and its neighbors, South Korea and the Philippines, should help buffer the danger of a catastrophic U.S.-China collision. The sleeper in the new Asia power game is Japan, which is combining its growing military power with supple diplomacy to mend fences with Asian neighbors that share Tokyo’s fear of Beijing. On Thursday, Sullivan met in Tokyo for two trilateral strategy sessions — first a South Korea-U.S.-Japan meeting, followed by a Philippines-U.S.-Japan session. “We have a diplomatic and political tail wind, and China knows it,” Rahm Emanuel, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, said in an interview this week. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/06/15/blinken-china-trip-ja... "Make no mistake." LOL. Rahm Emanuel, the new "Asia expert." His remarks and the US policy could be interpreted as "we've got our allies right where we want them, in the cross hairs." This part of Asia Times piece above was largely wishful thinking: Chinese President Xi Jinping has signaled over the past weeks to the West and others that it no longer backs Russia’s lost-cause war in Ukraine and that China’s national interest lies in the strength and stability of international markets. I found the article to be delusional, or at least to reflect insane inside the beltway thinking. (edited for typo)

Submitted by studentofearth on Sun, 06/18/2023 - 12:17pm

Enjoy reading your opinions and links

@soryang @soryang Our background and approach to the subject are very different. I was enticed to visit China three times 1989, 2001 and 2007 (Taipei). The first two visits were prompted by a mailing from The People to People Ambassador Program started by Eisenhower. Those were group trips with a mixture of traditional tourist attractions and interactions with practicing pharmacists and Traditional Medicine practitioners while visiting various mainland cities and Hong Kong. In retrospect the timings were interesting. The third trip was personal to attend a wedding and the opportunity to visit the National Palace Museum. The museum includes over 650,000 objects from the Imperial Art Collection ranging from the Shang to Qing dynasties.

The first trip was magical. No preconceived ideas, just absorbed the sights, sounds, food and continual interaction with Chinese individuals who developed in a culture not influenced by a Abrahamic religion. Also, I was suddenly tall, An experience I had not enjoyed since 5th grade. When in a tight crowd or auditorium I was tall enough to see over everyone's head. By the second trip better nutrition provided to the younger generation left me staring straight into the back of the head or shoulder blades.

It only took a couple of conversations to realize Traditional Chinese Medicine was based on a different medical model that the one I was trained. To understand TCM I would need to understand historical Chinese culture, so a life long hobby began. It expanded to modern culture after authoring a couple of diaries on the site and responding to comments.

Reading The Tiananmen Papers a few years ago I realized protests in various cities related to 1989 color revolution had began prior to our arrival. Small crowds were gathering in Tienanmen Square, which we visited everyday while in Beijing.

The changes in US and Chinese culture between the sequence of visits were immense. The Western university and respected experts on China are stuck in a trap of using as a philosophical base formed during the 1800's protestant countries access into mainland China.

The first trip interaction with security services was intense. The second trip none were apparent in China. US security at all the airports included walking past armed soldiers. It was only a few weeks past 9/11.

Ray McGovern opinions on China and its relationship with Russia. During his professional career the two countries were adversaries. The thought of them coordinating activities on the world stage was not considered in his analyses until very recently. What struck me in the video was the mention of NATO launch in 1949. Beginning in 1948 Chiang Kai-shek started planning for a possible retreat to Taiwan if they lost the mainland. In December 1949 Chiang Kai-shek retreated to the island himself. Might find this article from mainland Chinese perspective interesting - In 1949, Chiang Kai-shek chose to retreat to Taiwan, why didn't he choose another place?

My thoughts on NATO expansion to Asia is to jump start a military command structure with Anglo/Saxons at the top to be in place if (when) conflict breaks out. The efforts since 2014 to create similar working relationship with Asian and island nations in the area has not made much progress, at least publicly.

Noticed the past couple of years some of the articles in Asia Times appear to test the water for new propaganda pushes. Beltway thinking for sure and with access to decision makers. We will know in a few days if the this is the newest idea to get Western troops into Ukraine.

Always informative. I'd propose a slightly different option on the US-Chinese military incidents in the South China Sea and Taiwan Straits. These can be entirely explained in context of US actions in East Asia. It's the US trying to introduce NATO participation (literally) in its "Indo Pacific strategy" against China. The incidents also occurred about the times of scheduled international meetings, after G7 and contemporaneous with the Shangri-la conference. Why propose to open a NATO office in Japan? Why do Japan and South Korea need to be partner countries in NATO snafus? This is part of a US effort to counter both China and Russia with the prospect of some facsimile of a world wide alliance system. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The United States deployed a nuclear-powered submarine capable of carrying about 150 Tomahawk missiles to South Korea on Friday, a day after North Korea resumed missile tests in protest of the U.S.-South Korean live-fire drills. The USS Michigan’s arrival in South Korea, the first of its kind in six years, is part of a recent bilateral agreement on enhancing “regular visibility” of U.S. strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula in response to North Korea’s advancing nuclear program, according to South Korean officials. With the deployment of the USS Michigan, the U.S. and South Korean navies are to conduct drills on boosting their special operation capabilities and joint ability to cope with growing North Korean nuclear threats, the South Korean Defense Ministry said in a statement. https://apnews.com/article/us-submarine-north-korea-missiles-3bf330fa9f8... Last October 31 it was an SSN that visited Pusan. https://www.navy.mil/Press-Office/News-Stories/Article/3205670/key-west-... This port call in South Korea by the SSGN is to send a message to China not North Korea. US military exercises with South Korea are always styled as readiness to fight North Korean aggression. The problem with that explanation is that North Korea is not in any condition to conduct a conventional war with South Korea and the US. The purpose of North Korean nuclear weapons development and missile tests is to deter an attack by the South and the US on them. The North Korean intent is to have their nuclear weapons function as a "doomsday machine." They could never have any doubt that the US response to North Korean aggression would be overwhelming and result in their "ceasing to exist" as the US has threatened many times over the decades. However that can no longer be threatened with a sense of impunity. Aggressive North Korean acts are usually in the nature of symbolic and/or isolated violent provocations. Artillery shelling on South Korean West Sea islands near North Korea, the drone overflights, blowing up the liaison building, shootings along the DMZ, the Chonan sinking, etc. The real danger is that such provocations, especially if violent and producing casualties, could result in full blown counterstrike/counterattack by the South or an escalation of military moves leading to major strikes and war. In this sense, the recent increased tensions between North and South represent a war of nerves, massive military exercises on the US/ROK side and missile firings by the North Koreans. I think it is something of a deception to style the US visits of so called "strategic assets" to South Korea for military exercises as meeting the security needs of South Korea. This is just the "presence" and "reassurance" PR, that Yoon laid the foundation for with his bluff that he would have South Korea make nuclear weapons. Surely, the Chinese have to recognize the implied threat of USS Michigan operating so close by. Similarly, the overt participation of South Korean naval forces in military exercises with the USS Michigan (or Japanese and US Aegis warships from time to time) in the region drives South Korea further into the US trilateral anti-China orbit. What's next, SSBN visits? The question that arises whether the South Koreans will be able to walk this back after Yoon is out of the presidential office. Why would the Chinese help South Korea with North Korea under these circumstances. They have already indicated they won't. The visit of the USS Michigan and other shows of military force are timed to coincide with Bliken's arrival in Beijing. (How subtle). It confirms President Yoon's complete rejection of the "three nos" policy of the prior Moon administration which was sensitive to Chinese strategic security interests. All this occurs in the current context of a Seoul-Beijing diplomatic spat. This reckless South Korean foreign policy may not be helpful to the ongoing nose dive in South Korea's balance of trade since Yoon took office. As one leading democratic elder statesmen in South Korea said earlier today, South Korea exports more than semiconductors and can't afford to neglect the huge Chinese market for our consumer goods (the livelihoods of South Korea's people is on the line). SEOUL (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he supports South Korea's efforts to develop a "healthy and mature" cooperative relationship with China, South Korea's foreign ministry said on Saturday. Blinken, who arrives in Beijing on Sunday for the highest-level visit by an official of President Joe Biden's administration, discussed bilateral relations, relations between China and South Korea, and North Korea in a call with South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin on Saturday, the ministry said in a statement. Blinken and Park strongly condemned what they consider North Korea's repeated provocations, the ministry said, and agreed the U.S., South Korea and Japan should continue to urge China to play a constructive role in the U.N. Security Council on denuclearisation. The statement did not elaborate. https://www.aol.com/news/blinken-supports-efforts-toward-mature-05052044... Window dressing on a substantially damaged South Korea-China relationship. It will take substantive moves to fix this not words. South Korea is out on unwise anti-China limb, and most analysts and experienced hands there know it. Those in South Korea on the conservative side try to conceal their disappointment and cover for Yoon's tendency to make intemperate comments and hasty commitments. This is from the recent Ignatius opinion in WP (behind a paywall): The week’s meetings with senior officials of China, India and Japan will highlight the three essential power centers in the Indo-Pacific. By seeking greater engagement with all three, President Biden is attempting to create a more stable strategic balance. Rather than walking a bipolar tightrope between Washington and Beijing, the administration is trying to build a matrix of relationships, with the United States as a key interlocutor in each node. Make no mistake: The strategic challenge that will animate the three sets of meetings is how to avoid a disastrous conflict between the United States and China. Dialogue with China should reduce uncertainties and potential risks in what will be a continuing Sino-American competition; partnering with India should enhance India’s ability to deter China, and U.S. deterrence, as well; deeper cooperation with Japan and its neighbors, South Korea and the Philippines, should help buffer the danger of a catastrophic U.S.-China collision. The sleeper in the new Asia power game is Japan, which is combining its growing military power with supple diplomacy to mend fences with Asian neighbors that share Tokyo’s fear of Beijing. On Thursday, Sullivan met in Tokyo for two trilateral strategy sessions — first a South Korea-U.S.-Japan meeting, followed by a Philippines-U.S.-Japan session. “We have a diplomatic and political tail wind, and China knows it,” Rahm Emanuel, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, said in an interview this week. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/06/15/blinken-china-trip-ja... "Make no mistake." LOL. Rahm Emanuel, the new "Asia expert." His remarks and the US policy could be interpreted as "we've got our allies right where we want them, in the cross hairs." This part of Asia Times piece above was largely wishful thinking: Chinese President Xi Jinping has signaled over the past weeks to the West and others that it no longer backs Russia’s lost-cause war in Ukraine and that China’s national interest lies in the strength and stability of international markets. I found the article to be delusional, or at least to reflect insane inside the beltway thinking. (edited for typo)

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Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.

Submitted by soryang on Sun, 06/18/2023 - 2:39pm

Thanks for sharing

@studentofearth your experience with Chinese culture, SOE! I think it's wonderful to have such a background.

I could go on and on with my personal thoughts and experiences on this. My experience by far is mostly with South Korea, and Korean culture. Originally, I had hoped to go to Monterey to learn Russian, or any other language really for professional purposes. I had been trained as historian at the undergraduate level, mostly European modern. My language training was not to be, so I attempted to start another career as a lawyer. Didn't work out so well, ended up in South Korea with the Army. I took a couple of basic Korean language courses there. My job required a lot of travel in South Korea, but I had a translator assigned to me. He could speak English, Japanese, and his native Korean. Loved learning about the traditional family and village Korean culture and seeing so much of this first hand over almost three years in South Korea. My late mother in law also could read and write Japanese, it was forced on her too in grade school during the colonial period.

We visited Taiwan for about a week roughly about the same time you were there. I've been to the National Palace, too. Never went to the mainland. Taiwan was still a dictatorship at the time I was there. I was in Seoul during the Tiananmen Square episode. Frankly, I was skeptical of the reports about it because I had developed that attitude listening to US officials in relation to what went on in South Korea at the time. I knew I didn't have the necessary tools to better understand the deeper significance of the political events in South Korea that I observed while I was there, but I found the US accounts always to be superficial and self serving. My skepticism had started with my study of the Vietnam War some years earlier. My attitude toward this sort of thing was not appreciated, so I went back to the US to become a member of the precariat. The only consistent thing in my life since then was my family tie to Korean-American culture.

When my up and down working life came near to retirement, I finally started to pursue my language study more seriously. I would listen to Korean pop music CDs all day and then do Talk to Me in Korean lessons (the free version) on the internet at night if I could get a link at the truck stop. I think my effort was aimed at pulling down the barrier that precludes seeing Asia from an Asian perspective. Fortunately, Korean media culture is expansive, and the internet travelogues they produce range all over Asia (Europe as well).

Last week, I think it was, I was able to listen to the press conference of Ambassador Xing Haiming, and South Korea's main opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung. Xing's Korean is pretty good, especially conversationally. Reading the official statement, not so much. I'm sure he speaks better than I do, but I think I could read a statement out loud better than him if I practiced. I think in 2016, I began listening and trying to interpret the Korean news from South Korea every day. I was heavily reliant on the subtitles (cha mak) in hangul for words I didn't know. It appealed to me, because the political conditions had returned to what they were when I arrived in Korea in 1987, demonstrations in support of democracy trying to shake off the authoritarian resurgence. (there was an incredibly good video segment on this very subject coincidently at the candlelight demo yesterday comparing Chu Doo-wan's dictatorship to current conditions now. I should have tried to record it. Then there is always the underlying issue of US imperialism having simply supplanted the prior Japanese imperialism.

I like Korean dramas, especially the historical ones. My favorite is Empress Qi, about a Korean woman delivered into bondage as tribute to the Mongol Court, who becomes Empress. Runner up is Nokdu Flower, on the subject of the end of the Chosun dynasty, peasant rebellion (min ran) and Japanese imperialism. Much better than Mr. Sunshine. I like to learn about Korean art, and culture. The Chinese ambassador noted the close relationship between Korean and Chinese cultures, this is sometimes a source of friction and results in cultural feuds and animosity. I gave away my abridged Hanja texts to my granddaughter who shows some reading and writing skills in the hope that she won't wait too long, as I did, to make the neurological adaptation to master another language, like Korean or Chinese. Those who learn late in life are at a terrible disadvantage.

As I have been posting, there have been a lot of street demonstrations in South Korea lately of great political significance, if nothing else. Yet, when I go to a Korea news search in English on google the only thing that comes up is a demo in Taegu for LBTG pride. It's an annual thing, but the conservative mayor Hong Jong-pyo tried to shut it down, and the police stopped him. This is the exception that proves the rule. South Korea is suppressing freedom of the press and dissent, but this is published in the west to create the impression democracy and free expression are alive and well in South Korea. They are not.

In any case, sorry to go off on the tangent. I'm very interested in China, Korea, Japan, Asian history and culture. I'm lucky I have at least one window by which to study it, it is something I wanted to break through my whole life. Still learning.

Thanks so much for your comments and posts SOF.

#8 #8 Our background and approach to the subject are very different. I was enticed to visit China three times 1989, 2001 and 2007 (Taipei). The first two visits were prompted by a mailing from The People to People Ambassador Program started by Eisenhower. Those were group trips with a mixture of traditional tourist attractions and interactions with practicing pharmacists and Traditional Medicine practitioners while visiting various mainland cities and Hong Kong. In retrospect the timings were interesting. The third trip was personal to attend a wedding and the opportunity to visit the National Palace Museum. The museum includes over 650,000 objects from the Imperial Art Collection ranging from the Shang to Qing dynasties. The first trip was magical. No preconceived ideas, just absorbed the sights, sounds, food and continual interaction with Chinese individuals who developed in a culture not influenced by a Abrahamic religion. Also, I was suddenly tall, An experience I had not enjoyed since 5th grade. When in a tight crowd or auditorium I was tall enough to see over everyone's head. By the second trip better nutrition provided to the younger generation left me staring straight into the back of the head or shoulder blades. It only took a couple of conversations to realize Traditional Chinese Medicine was based on a different medical model that the one I was trained. To understand TCM I would need to understand historical Chinese culture, so a life long hobby began. It expanded to modern culture after authoring a couple of diaries on the site and responding to comments. Reading The Tiananmen Papers a few years ago I realized protests in various cities related to 1989 color revolution had began prior to our arrival. Small crowds were gathering in Tienanmen Square, which we visited everyday while in Beijing. The changes in US and Chinese culture between the sequence of visits were immense. The Western university and respected experts on China are stuck in a trap of using as a philosophical base formed during the 1800's protestant countries access into mainland China. The first trip interaction with security services was intense. The second trip none were apparent in China. US security at all the airports included walking past armed soldiers. It was only a few weeks past 9/11. Ray McGovern opinions on China and its relationship with Russia. During his professional career the two countries were adversaries. The thought of them coordinating activities on the world stage was not considered in his analyses until very recently. What struck me in the video was the mention of NATO launch in 1949. Beginning in 1948 Chiang Kai-shek started planning for a possible retreat to Taiwan if they lost the mainland. In December 1949 Chiang Kai-shek retreated to the island himself. Might find this article from mainland Chinese perspective interesting - In 1949, Chiang Kai-shek chose to retreat to Taiwan, why didn't he choose another place? My thoughts on NATO expansion to Asia is to jump start a military command structure with Anglo/Saxons at the top to be in place if (when) conflict breaks out. The efforts since 2014 to create similar working relationship with Asian and island nations in the area has not made much progress, at least publicly. Noticed the past couple of years some of the articles in Asia Times appear to test the water for new propaganda pushes. Beltway thinking for sure and with access to decision makers. We will know in a few days if the this is the newest idea to get Western troops into Ukraine.

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語必忠信行必正直

Submitted by humphrey on Sun, 06/18/2023 - 12:25am

How fitting! Blinky gets the welcome he deserves. LOL

Arrogant worm Blinken deserves no red carpet. China understands this perfectly. https://t.co/oAvdeyxZNO

— Empire Of Lies (@berningman16) June 18, 2023

Submitted by QMS on Sun, 06/18/2023 - 1:09am

blinker is vewwy quietly bringing the world

@humphrey @humphrey

into his bosses order, except the world does not see it that way
how many times can the Steak Department insult their customers
before torture becomes the more humane response?