The Trump Administration has hit Venezuela with a harsh "Cuban-style" embargo, and already it has familiar results.
Like the 60 years of policy failure with Cuba, all talk of reform or regime change in Venezuela came to an immediate halt.
Trump made it perfectly clear: No one will buy Iranian oil and still do business with America. That includes China.
Normally the U.S. government is quiet about it's offensive cyberwar strikes, but that changed in the past few weeks.
First there was the alarming NY Times article.
Something/Someone Old
American politicians are almost unique in failing to learn from history--although M. Macron is giving our pols a run for the money (Rothchild's actually) by suppressing the Yellow Vests. The lesson I am sharing with you is not new. It's 2500 years old in fact and well documented too.
New year's messages from Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin and Angela Merkel
We've been bombarded with this Russiagate bullshit since 2016. So that, when people started accusing China of spying a few days ago, it was a yawn. But, in fact - in the real world - the Chinese have been running an unbelievably sophisticated computer hardware spying operation. They embedded spy chips the size of a grain of rice into server boards, which were then installed by many corporations, including Apple and Amazon.
What a coincidence! It seems every nation with an independent political agenda, is also "meddling" in our most sacred and holy of institutions.
Good Morning. The Thursday Open Thread has been though a complete annual cycle under my voice. It is time for new thoughts and new directions. Next week Magiamma will start as caretaker of Thursday mornings.
This week and focusing more on contemporary events and performances in China. Still using the resilience tag. Any culture that can survive several thousand years has a resilience about it we can learn from. One of its strengths is the continuity of a written language that allows us to peer into the past and see how other humans lived through the challenges of their times.
The reference to "soft underbelly" arose from Winston Churchill's appellation of Italy being Europe's soft underbelly during WW 2.
Morning. Continuing with the China review. It is interesting how many of our modern problems and challenges existed in the past and keep repeating.
Morning. Came across an interesting article in The Atlantic last week, The 9.9 Percent Is the New American Aristocracy The class divide is already toxic, and is fast becoming unbridgeable. You’re probably part of the problem. To reach more policy makers or circumvent them, we need to understand this societal group.
The article and facts presented is worth a stand-alone diary. Maybe someone has the time to break it apart into digestible chunks.
audio recording about an hour and half.
Having some internet problems and technician is to be out today. May not be able to add comments until Friday. Please comment on any subject and anyone with garden reports add a note.
Humanity seems to continually exploring the best ways to govern populations. Today's OT looks at a few different philosophies, governmental practices and transition periods in China.
