@soryang
and I thank you for it. No need to be humorous. This is... scary as heck as it very much does sound like the cold war. Damn.

I saw a youtube video from Taiwan, that presented reports on Chinese and Russian military movements in the Far East that I thought was extraordinary. I have followed military activity from open sources in East Asia for several years. I hadn't seen anything like this report. It felt like the cold war all over again.

I wrote it up with the video and was going to post it, but the problem was two fold. The first is that the report was in Mandarin. That is cured to a certain extent by the youtube computer translation into English subtitles, not too bad, and the charts and graphics. I was convinced of the reports value because of the detail, and the apparent expertise of the commentators who did the analysis. I have seen reports like this often during the cold war with Russia and recognized the style. Others, might not find it credible because of the hysteria in Taiwan's media, as demonstrated by Taiwan Plus and Taiwan Talks media channels. These are clearly English language pro-west, pro-US channels catapulting the propaganda. They reflect the President Lai, DPP perspective. Then I found a second report in mainland China state media, which corroborated the Taiwanese report and analysis.

So here is a Chinese Global Times (CPC state media) report which I found this am, which I find credible, because the aforementioned Taiwan sources basically reported the same thing in a professional manner-

Japan claims 10 cases of Chinese naval activities within one week; PLA Navy's regular far-sea training deters Japan's neo-militarist undercurrents, safeguards regional peace: expert

Japan's Ministry of Defense's Joint Staff claimed 10 cases of Chinese naval activities and one update on China-Russia joint aircraft activity over a 7-day period from June 25 to July 1, closely prying into the routes of Chinese warships transiting international straits around Japan en route to far-sea training, a frequency that has drawn international attention.

A Chinese military affairs expert said that the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy's operations are lawful and routine, and Japan has no need to overhype them. The continued enhancement of China's far-sea operational capabilities serves as an effective deterrent against Japan's neo-militarist undercurrents while contributing to regional peace and stability.

According to the releases from Japan, multiple batches of mainstay PLA Navy warships recently transited international straits around Japan before entering the Western Pacific. On June 29 alone, the Joint Staff published five separate updates on related activities, an unusually high reporting frequency in recent years.

The information released by Japan shows that the deployments included both individual warships sailing into the open ocean and naval formations conducting far-sea training. The vessels ranged from the Type 055 destroyer Nanchang, a representative of China's advanced surface combatants, to the newly commissioned Type 055 destroyer Dongguan, covering multiple major surface combatants from the PLA Navy's East Sea Fleet and North Sea Fleet.

It's better to read the entire article, which notes the joint operations between Chinese and Russian naval and air forces that took place shortly after these extensive PLAANF naval operations, which allegedly involved 101 ships and support naval craft, and including Chinese coast guard type vessels. The exclamation point or tip of the iceberg focused on by the anti-China alliance was the sub launched JL-3 ICBM test launch into the South Pacific, to put that in context. The western alliance's US led RIMPAC is simultaneously ongoing.

Sorry, my contribution isn't so humorous, Sima. I noted the Islamic Republic of Japan, comment last night. Got a laugh there. I'll take a closer look at Hedge's piece, after I take care of a couple of chores. Thanks for the OT!

@The Liberal Moonbat
not being able to move beyond the 00's? On the other hand, his article sure made me laugh. However, I don't agree with a lot of his writings now, have to admit.

Hedges writes as though he's totally blind to the inversion of what fascism looks like now; what he's describing is accurate, but STILL attributing it to the GOP like it's still the '000s is not. I'm not saying they're good, but this?:

It is devoid of irony and humor. It takes itself seriously. It uses exaggerated, theatricalized art to turn a leader — like any drag queen — into a larger-than-life persona. The outward forms are the same. But fascist camp is about instilling obedience. Drag queen camp [WAS] rebellious. Drag queen camp seeks to expand human possibilities and identities*. Fascist camp crushes identities into narrow, state-approved molds of good and bad, man and woman, patriot and traitor.

For the past 10 years, this has all been SCREAMING from the people who've made hatred of Donald Trump their religion (in which sense one could argue the section I crossed out might actually still fit), NOT his fans, who're a relatively mixed bag.

"Expanding identities" is a slimy trap, because it's like North Korean barbershops, where the existence of menus for what hairstyle you may have the exception that proves the rule of totalitarian, Plato-cave-like strictures, whereas real freedom is NOT labelled and categorized because it's impossible to do so with infinite possibilities. It is a case of 'more is less'. In THAT regard, Chris almost seems to be teetering on fascism himself.

I'll not forget his past masterpieces - looking at you, "Pimps of War" - but for whatever reason, Hedges has reduced himself to a monotone doomshrieker with nothing more to offer. Is it fatigue? Age? Grief? Did he stumble into an algorithm-addiction spiral? Did They™ finally get to him? Whatever it is, it's sad.