#Hong Kong anti-corruption

[panchitacarmensita]

Aligning Corporate Strategy with Legal and Regulatory Standards in Hong Kong

When establishing and growing a company in Hong Kong, it is vital that business leaders factor in the region's complex legal and regulatory environment into strategic planning. Failure to adhere to employment ordinances, tax codes, intellectual property laws and other standards can undermine your entire China/HK growth agenda. This article provides best practices on aligning organizational strategy with key compliance benchmarks.

Start by Building a Legal/Regulatory Risk Profile

Gather input from your Hong Kong legal advisors on the primary laws and regulations that will impact core business functions based on your growth roadmap. Recruit specialists for insights across domains – an employment lawyer to advise on ordinances around pay, working conditions and termination requirements; a corporate attorney familiar with documentation needs as outlined under the Hong Kong Companies Ordinance and Securities and Futures Ordinance (SFO); and a team with nuanced understandings around taxation in Hong Kong/Mainland China.

Emphasize Governance and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)

With your risk map complete detailing major compliance pressure points around formation, sales, trading, hiring, operations and more, use this framework to drive governance moves that harden the organization against illegal or unethical actions. Expand procedures around everything from acquiring entities in China to information sharing standards that prevent insider trading incidents that might imperil your HK stock listing. Appoint board oversight committees on ethics and regulatory policy.

Monitor Regulatory Trends Proactively

Laws and policies do not remain static – from 2023 increases to statutory severance pay to tightening rules against monopolistic practices among Mainland businesses by the State Administration for Market Regulation, regulations shift frequently. Continuously follow key policy proposals and moves by agencies like InvestHK, while participating in trade associations that can help represent your interests in government discourses.

Align Business Objectives with Compliance Mandates

Finally, let mandatory requirements guide corporate strategy itself by identifying opportunities. With crackdowns on corruption and tax evasion, build competitive advantage via best practices in transparency and disclosure around transactions, modeling anti-bribery across China operations. Where competitors resist minimum wage increases or workplace improvements, embrace these to attract top talent across Hong Kong and Shenzhen centers tapping young professional desire for purpose-driven leadership.

By viewing ongoing legal and regulatory reform as intrinsic to strategy rather than counterweights to growth, foreign companies can sustainably thrive across Hong Kong and mainland China's vast ecosystem, while accelerating competitive edge, financial performance and positive societal impact.

[gryphona]

To my home country of the United Kingdom,

Do you deny that you enslaved Africans and placed them in concentration camps when they revolted?

Do you deny that your exportation of food from India caused several famines that killed millions?

Do you deny that you imprisoned and tortured Malayans suspected of working against you, even going so far as to keep the heads and scalps of the executed as trophies?

Do you deny that your exportation of food from Ireland and refusal to stop it worsened the Great Famine?

Do you deny that you continued to torment the Irish all the way up until the late 1990s?

Do you deny that you massacred both Native Americans and Aboriginal people, both of whom continue to be oppressed today?

Do you deny that you are the main inspiration behind the politics that make the USA so fucking corrupt!?

Do you deny that you only fought against the Nazis because they were hoping to take power from you and NOT because they were committing fucking GENOCIDE!?

Do you deny that you are the reason for which India and Pakistan are always at each other's throats!?

Do you deny that you are the reason for which mainland China won't leave Hong Kong and Taiwan alone!?

DO YOU DENY THAT YOU ARE THE REASON WHY PALESTINIANS ARE BEING WIPED OUT BY ISRAELI FORCES!?

FUCK MY HOME COUNTRY! AND FUCK EVERYONE WHO THINKS THE BRITISH EMPIRE WAS GREAT! FUCK YOU ALL TO HELL! 👿👿👿👿👿👿👿👿👿👿🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[beardedmrbean]

TD Bank is the 10th-largest bank in the country – but for a while was the No. 1 choice for criminal organizations laundering drug money, according to federal prosecutors.

The bank's $3 billion plea deal shocked the finance world but prompted a U.S. senator to slam the Justice Department for "absurd legal gymnastics" that she says were too soft on executives.

For years, the bank prioritized growing its profits without investing in mandatory precautions to prevent cartels and other organized crime groups from using its systems to launder money, allowing crooks to shuffle $671 million in secretive transfers that should have been flagged and reported to authorities – sometimes with the help of corrupt bank employees, according to the plea agreement. 

"By making its services convenient for criminals, TD Bank became one," Attorney General Merrick Garland told reporters in October, announcing the bank's guilty plea. 

CHINESE MONEY LAUNDERING CRIMINALS TEAM UP WITH MEXICAN CARTELS TO MENACE US, OFFICIALS WARN CONGRESS

"TD Bank also became the largest bank in U.S. history to plead guilty to Bank Secrecy Act program failures, and the first U.S. bank in history to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering," he added. "TD Bank chose profits over compliance with the law – a decision that is now costing the bank billions of dollars in penalties."

At the time, he said the investigation was ongoing and warned that more charges could be coming.

An admitted international money launderer in another case, Da Ying Sze, a 45-year-old from New York, bribed bank employees with almost $60,000 in gift cards. He pleaded guilty in his own case to a conspiracy that laundered $653 million on behalf of criminals in the U.S., China and Hong Kong.

Some of it was drug money. And $470 million went through TD Bank, according to federal prosecutors. 

For almost a decade – between January 2014 and October 2023 – the bank failed to comply with mandatory anti-money laundering regulations that required it to flag suspicious transactions, according to court documents. Instead of updating their system to keep up with emerging technology, bank officials saved money by leaving an outdated anti-money laundering program in place.

The anti-money laundering program was known to executives and so ineffective that employees joked about it, according to federal prosecutors. 

"These failures enabled, among other things, three money laundering networks to launder over $600 million in criminal proceeds through the Bank between 2019 and 2023," federal prosecutors wrote in court documents. "These failures also created vulnerabilities that allowed five Bank store employees to open and maintain accounts for one of the money laundering networks."

OPINION: CHINESE ILLEGAL BORDER CROSSINGS SPIKE BY 7,000%. ONLY CHINA KNOWS WHY

Those five corrupt employees helped criminal organizations launder $39 million to Colombia through nearly 200,000 ATM withdrawals. 

Even with the massive corporate fine and an "asset cap" that places a tight restriction on the bank, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., blasted the Justice Department for "legal gymnastics" that let top executives off the hook. 

"The way that DOJ structured the plea agreement ensures that TD Bank will not face the full range of penalties that Congress has enacted for banks that engage in criminal money laundering," she wrote in a public letter to Garland.

"These shocking failures enabled three separate money laundering syndicates to launder more than $670 million through the bank between 2019 and 2023," she continued. "The magnitude of the dollar value of these illicit transactions is dwarfed only by the obviousness of the criminal activity."

In all, criminal organizations laundered more than $670 million, according to authorities, and the total fines were set at $3 billion.

Without consequences for the executives, she argued, banks can just write off billion-dollar government fines as a business expense in the future.

The bank did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The bank's CEO, Bharat Masrani, told The Associated Press that steps were being taken to fix the deficiency and end the corruption after the bank pleaded guilty last month.

"We know what the issues are, we are fixing them," he said. "As we move forward, we’re ensuring that this never happens again, and I’m 100% confident that we get to the other side and emerge even stronger."

To address the money laundering problem, the bank says it began a multi-year security boost that included hiring dozens of new leaders and hundreds of experts on money laundering prevention and fighting financial crime.

[warsofasoiaf]

re: China/Taiwan

All of the examples of Chinese action you mentioned from the last 12 years were, as you pointed out with Joint Sword, in response to something from Taiwan or America (and I’ll own that I should have made Taiwanese agency here clearer - you’re correct that it isn’t solely America leading). Regardless of rhetoric from China it seems like the pace of change isn’t being set by China.

ADIZ incursions are nearly impossible to avoid given the overlapping areas - the Taiwanese ADIZ extends over the mainland, and Taiwan somewhat arbitrarily counts activities in the southwest zone outside or what most people would consider Taiwan as median line crossings. The pace has escalated over the last few years but as you pointed out it follows American and Taiwanese action like Pelosi’s visit.

With natalism, I’m again not clear what ‘investigation’ or ‘survey’ you’re referring to (and those terms aren’t interchangeable). There was a recent policy announced to lower the cost of raising children, but there’s also been a lot more work over the last two years to, for example, introduce vouchers for consumer goods upgrades/trade-ins. I’m not sure why you’re evaluating natalism as a top priority for the Chinese government when the Chinese government’s rhetoric and actual policy work seems to downplay it and treat it as an extension of cost of living challenges?

I’m not sure what other foreign policy has to do with anything - water rights negotiations, internal policing in Hong Kong, and the yes aggressive actions in relations to maritime border disputes in the SCS are very different from the sui generis relationship with Taiwan. That would be like saying we should treat America’s relation with Cuba as grounds for assessing Trump’s policy on Canada after his recent 51st state joke, which we hopefully agree would be deeply misguided.

I never said anti corruption was Xi’s primary focus, I said it was his top priority which legislatively it is. He’s promoted the previous head of party discipline, reiterated anti corruption rhetoric far more often than anything to do with Taiwan, and strengthened internal monitoring. He may well be doing it to strengthen his position, I won’t argue otherwise, but it’s definitely a much higher priority than anything Taiwan related.

You’re conflating cross strait relations with reunification rhetoric. Yes there have been swings in the relationship especially in 1996, but Beijing’s position has been consistent. Reunification is inevitable, peaceful reunification is preferred, force remains on the table. Xi hasn’t changed any of that. What has changed is that since the sunflower movement pro-mainland factions in Taiwan have been weakened and the hard greens have been emboldened, and more importantly Trump moved the Overton window to back Taiwan and challenge China more aggressively. In that framework China is the reactive party and unlikely to initiate an invasion in the near future - there’s nothing to suggest Taiwan has moved up the priority lists only that action/reaction framework is more active

Alright, wow, there's a lot to unpack there.

The idea that "pro-mainland factions have been weakened," as if by outside action, doesn't pass merit. Taiwan's democratic push came with a push against reunification because, having experienced decades of the Chiang dictatorship that repressed Taiwanese culture and having achieved a representative democracy, they were not eager to place themselves back under the boots of another dictator who would stamp out the island's heritage. This is a failure of China - they have made reunification unappealing. I'd argue that reunification rhetoric has changed from the Chinese side because it represents a much more drastic shift in the lives of the Taiwanese compared to decades prior. Moreover, I'd argue that Beijing has changed their position - they demanded that Tsai Ing-wen recognize the PRC's interpretation of the 1992 Consensus as opposed to the deliberate ambiguity of previous eras.

The idea that China has been a reactive player is again, completely wrong. Military drills are not cheap, and are not used as mere signaling devices. The first circumnavigation with fighter aircraft came after a statement saying "Our pledges have not changed and our goodwill has not changed." Somehow, though, that's aggression.

The Taiwanese rejection of the "one country, two systems" model is completely China's fault - they had espoused one country, two systems for Hong Kong only to completely brutalize the city. Much as we saw in Ukraine - the failure of the Budapest Memorandum to deter Russian violation of the Ukrainian border in the seizure of Crimea meant that Ukraine sought NATO membership as a deterrent. Taiwanese rejection of the one country, two systems model is because Beijing deliberately violated it.

Natalism, the about-to-go-into-effect pension reform, the relaxing of the previous one-child policy to a two and later three-child policy suggests that the demographic issues are actually of concern to Chinese lawmakers.

You've failed to make your point on the ADIZ. I was using the USAF figures and again, as I've noted, the ADIZ violations have continued for years after the Pelosi visit. This suggests to me that the idea that they were due to Pelosi is false - she's long left the island and the ADIZ violations continue at a high pace. It's used as a continual excuse, thus it holds no meaning. Sorry, but you have failed to create a logical argument for that to be the case as opposed to what it is, a deliberate attempt to intimidate Taiwan into pro-mainland policies as opposed to a reaction.

Your use of the reducto ad absurdum straw man fallacy has been noted and cheerfully ignored. Pattern shifts are a real thing in geopolitics. I'd recommend against using logical fallacies to prove your point - they're quite ineffective.

Characterizing China's foreign policy actions as "water rights negotiations, internal policing in Hong Kong, and the yes aggressive actions in relations to maritime border disputes in the SCS" is not only dishonest, it's outright disgusting and laughably debunkable. The SCS is not a maritime dispute - it's an illegal claim contrary to all international law (UNCLOS), laws which China had signed. The Mekong River issue is not a water rights negotiation, it was an attempt to create an artificial drought downstream and force concessions on independent countries and prevent them from conducting their own independent foreign policy, again in contravention to international institutions already addressing the issue - the Mekong River Commission. Hong Kong was not an internal policing matter, it was a violent crackdown characterized by arbitrary arrests, police brutality, and confessions extracted via torture. To frame them as such is to minimize very real violations of international law and human rights.

I get it, you're trying to push PRC talking points. I'd suggest pushing them elsewhere.

-SLAL

[mostlysignssomeportents]

This day in history

On OCTOBER 23 at 7PM, I'll be in DECATUR, presenting my novel THE BEZZLE at EAGLE EYE BOOKS.

#20yrsago HOWTO censor the net with a Hotmail account https://web.archive.org/web/20041023150004/http://www.bof.nl/docs/researchpaperSANE.pdf

#20yrsago Pratchett’s “Going Postal”: Graft, hackers, and a semaphore Internet https://memex.craphound.com/2004/10/09/pratchetts-going-postal-graft-hackers-and-a-semaphore-internet/

#20yrsago Both Presidential candidates arrested while serving papers on CPD https://web.archive.org/web/20041009213011/https://badnarik.org/supporters/blog/2004/10/08/michael-badnarik-arrested/

#15yrsago Marc Laidlaw’s “Sleepy Joe” — sf story comic podcast about war, cable access and human bombs https://escapepod.org/2009/10/08/ep219-sleepy-joe/

#15yrsago Junky Styling: a manual for thrift-shop clothes-remixers https://memex.craphound.com/2009/10/09/junky-styling-a-manual-for-thrift-shop-clothes-remixers/

#10yrsago Kids who sext more likely to be comfortable with their sexuality https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article-abstract/47/Supplement_1/229/78000/The-Relationships-Between-Adrenal-Cortical?redirectedFrom=PDF

#10yrsago SWAT team murders burglary victim because burglar claimed he found meth https://www.techdirt.com/2014/10/08/swat-team-raids-house-kills-homeowner-because-criminal-who-burglarized-house-told-them-to/

#10yrsago Malware needs to know if it’s in the Matrix https://web.archive.org/web/20141009164227/http://thestack.com/mimicry-in-malware-giovanni-vigna-081014

#5yrsago After banning working cryptography and raiding whistleblowers, Australia’s spies ban speakers from national infosec conference https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/oct/09/melbourne-cyber-conference-organisers-pressured-speaker-to-edit-biased-talk

#5yrsago SQL Murder Mystery: teaching SQL concepts with a mystery game https://github.com/NUKnightLab/sql-mysteries

#5yrsago Washington establishment freaks out as Modern Monetary Theory gains currency https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-07/economists-worry-that-mmt-is-winning-the-argument-in-washington

#5yrsago Hunter Biden’s Ukraine gig was corrupt, just not in the way Republican conspiracists claim it was https://theintercept.com/2019/10/09/joe-hunter-biden-family-money/

#5yrsago Gamers propose punishing Blizzard for its anti-Hong Kong partisanship by flooding it with GDPR requests https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/df0zx5/upset_about_blizzards_hk_ruling_heres_what_to_do/

#1yrago How Google's trial secrecy lets it control the coverage https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/09/working-the-refs/#but-id-have-to-kill-you

Tor Books as just published two new, free LITTLE BROTHER stories: VIGILANT, about creepy surveillance in distance education; and SPILL, about oil pipelines and indigenous landback.

[mariacallous]

Shortly before noon on Aug. 19, 2023, a Russian cruise missile sliced past the golden onion domes and squat apartment blocks of the Chernihiv skyline in northern Ukraine. The Iskander-K missile slammed into its target: the city’s drama theater, which was hosting a meeting of drone manufacturers at the time of the attack. More than 140 people were injured and seven killed. The youngest, 6-year-old Sofia Golynska, had been playing in a nearby park.

Fragments of the missile recovered by the Ukrainian armed forces and analyzed by Ukrainian researchers found numerous components made by U.S. manufacturers in the missile’s onboard navigation system, which enabled it to reach its target with devastating precision. In December, Ukraine’s state anti-corruption agency released an online database of the thousands of foreign-made components recovered from Russian weapons so far.

Russia’s struggle to produce the advanced semiconductors, electrical components, and machine tools needed to fuel its defense industrial base predates the current war and has left it reliant on imports even amid its estrangement from the West. So when Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, major manufacturing countries from North America, Europe, and East Asia swiftly imposed export controls on a broad swath of items deemed critical for the Russian arms industry.

Russia quickly became the world’s most sanctioned country: Some 16,000 people and companies were subject to a patchwork of international sanctions and export control orders imposed by a coalition of 39 countries. Export restrictions were painted with such a broad brush that sunglasses, contact lenses, and false teeth were also swept up in the prohibitions. Even items manufactured overseas by foreign companies are prohibited from being sold to Russia if they are made with U.S. tools or software, under a regulation known as the foreign direct product rule.

But as the war reaches its two-year anniversary, export controls have failed to stem the flow of advanced electronics and machinery making their way into Russia as new and convoluted supply chains have been forged through third countries such as Kazakhstan, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates, which are not party to the export control efforts. An investigation by Nikkei Asia found a tenfold increase in the export of semiconductors from China and Hong Kong to Russia in the immediate aftermath of the war—the majority of them from U.S. manufacturers.

“Life finds a way,” said a senior U.S. intelligence official, quoting the movie Jurassic Park. The official spoke on background to discuss Russia’s evasion of export controls.

Some of the weapons and components analyzed by investigators were likely stockpiled before the war. But widely available Russian trade data reveals a brisk business in imports. More than $1 billion worth of advanced semiconductors from U.S. and European manufacturers made their way into the country last year, according to classified Russian customs service data obtained by Bloomberg. A recent report by the Kyiv School of Economics found that imports of components considered critical for the battlefield had dipped by just 10 percent during the first 10 months of 2023, compared with prewar levels.

This has created a Kafkaesque scenario, the report notes, in which the Ukrainian army is doing battle with Western weapons against a Russian arsenal that also runs on Western components.

It is an obvious problem, well documented by numerous think tank and media reports, but one without an easy solution. Tracking illicit trade in items such as semiconductors is an exponentially greater challenge than monitoring shipments of conventional weapons. Around 1 trillion chips are produced every year. Found in credit cards, toasters, tanks, missile systems, and much, much more, they power the global economy as well as the Russian military. Cutting Russia out of the global supply chain for semiconductors is easier said than done.

“Both Russia and China, and basically all militaries, are using a large number of consumer electronic components in their systems,” said Chris Miller, the author of Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology. “All of the world’s militaries rely on the same supply chain, which is the supply chain that primarily services consumer electronics.”

Export controls were once neatly tailored to keep specific items, such as nuclear technology, out of the hands of rogue states and terrorist groups. But as Washington vies for technological supremacy with Beijing while also seeking to contain Russia and Iran, it has increasingly used these trade restrictions to advance broader U.S. strategic objectives. For instance, the Biden administration has placed wide-ranging prohibitions on the export of advanced chips to China.

“At no point in history have export controls been more central to our collective security than right now,” Matthew Axelrod, the assistant secretary for export enforcement at the U.S. Commerce Department, said in a speech last September. U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has described export controls as “a new strategic asset in the U.S. and allied toolkit.”

Russia’s ability to defy these restrictions doesn’t just have implications for the war in Ukraine. It also raises significant questions about the challenge ahead vis-à-vis China.

“The technological question becomes a key part of this story and whether or not we can restrict it from our adversaries,” said James Byrne, the director of open-source intelligence and analysis at the Royal United Services Institute, a British think tank.

In the Russian city of Izhevsk, home to the factory that manufactures Kalashnikov rifles, shopping malls are being converted into drone factories amid a surge in defense spending that has helped the country’s economy weather its Western estrangement. Arms manufacturers have been urged to work around the clock to feed the Russian war machine, while defense is set to account for one-third of the state budget this year.

“We have developed a concept to convert shopping centers—which, before the start of the SMO [special military operation], sold mainly the products of Western brands—to factories for assembly lines of types of domestic drones,” Alexander Zakharov, the chief designer of the Zala Aero drone company, said at a closed event in August 2022, according to the Russian business newspaper Vedomosti. “Special military operation” is what the Russian government calls its war on Ukraine. Zala Aero is a subsidiary of the Kalashnikov Concern that, along with Zakharov, was sanctioned by the United States last November.

Defense companies have bought at least three shopping malls in Izhevsk to be repurposed for the manufacture of drones, according to local media, including Lancet attack drones, which the British defense ministry described as one of the most effective new weapons that Russia introduced to the battlefield last year. Lancets, which cost about $35,000 to produce, wreaked havoc during Ukraine’s offensive last year and have been captured on video striking valuable Ukrainian tanks and parked MiG fighter jets.

Like a lot of Russia’s weapons systems, Lancets are filled with Western components. An analysis of images of the drones published in December by the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security found that they contained several parts from U.S., Swiss, and Czech manufacturers, including image processing and analytical components that play a pivotal role in enabling the drones to reach their targets on the battlefield.

“The recurring appearance of these Western products in Russian drone systems shows a keen dependence on them for key capabilities in the drone systems,” the report notes. Lancets are not the only drones found to contain Western components. Almost all of the electronic components in the Iranian Shahed-136 drones, which Russia is now manufacturing with Iranian help to use in Ukraine, are of Western origin, a separate analysis published in November concluded.

Early in the war, the Royal United Services Institute analyzed 27 Russian military systems, including cruise missiles, electronic warfare complexes, and communications systems, and found that they contained at least 450 foreign-made components, revealing Russia’s dependence on imports.

One of the principal ways that Russia has evaded Western export controls has been through transshipment via third countries such as Turkey, the UAE, and neighboring states once part of the Soviet Union. Bloomberg reported last November that amid mounting Western pressure, the UAE had agreed to restrict the export of sensitive goods to Russia and that Turkey was considering a similar move. Kazakh officials announced a ban on the export of certain battlefield goods to Russia in October.

Suspected transshipment is often revealed by striking changes in trade patterns before and after the invasion. The Maldives, an island chain in the Indian Ocean that has no domestic semiconductor industry, shipped almost $54 million worth of U.S.-made semiconductors to Russia in the year after the invasion of Ukraine, Nikkei Asia reported last July.

Semiconductor supply chains often span several countries, with chips designed in one country and manufactured in another before being sold to a series of downstream distributors around the world. That makes it difficult for companies to know the ultimate end user of their products. This may seem odd—until you realize that this is the case for many everyday products that are sold around the world. “When Coca-Cola sells Coca-Cola, it doesn’t know where every bottle goes, and they don’t have systems to track where every bottle goes,” said Kevin Wolf, a former assistant secretary for export administration at the U.S. Commerce Department.

While a coalition of 39 countries, including the world’s major manufacturers of advanced electronics, imposed export restrictions on Russia, much of the rest of the world continues to trade freely with Moscow. Components manufactured in coalition countries will often begin their journey to Moscow’s weapons factories through a series of entirely legal transactions before ending up with a final distributor that takes them across the border into Russia. “It starts off as licit trade and ends up as illicit trade,” said a second senior U.S. intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The further items move down the supply chain, the less insight governments and companies have into their ultimate destination, although sudden changes in behavior of importers can offer a red flag. In his speech last September, Axelrod, the assistant secretary, used the example of a beauty salon that suddenly starts to import electronic components.

But the Grand Canyon of loopholes is China, which has stood by Moscow since the invasion. In the first days of the war, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo warned that Washington could shut down Chinese companies that ignored semiconductor export controls placed on Russia. Last October, 42 Chinese companies were added to export control lists—severely undercutting their ability to do business with U.S. companies—for supplying Russian defense manufacturers with U.S. chips.

But as the Biden administration carefully calibrates its China policy in a bid to keep a lid on escalating tensions, it has held off from taking Beijing to task. “I think the biggest issue is that we—the West—have been unwilling to put pressure on China that would get China to start enforcing some of these rules itself,” said Miller, the author of Chip Wars.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) said: “Due to the restrictions imposed by the United States and key allies and partners, Russia has been left with no choice but to spend more, lower its ambitions for high-tech weaponry, build alliances with other international pariah states, and develop nefarious trade networks to covertly obtain the technologies it needs.

“We are deeply concerned regarding [Chinese] support for Russia’s defense industrial base. BIS has acted to add over 100 [China]-based entities to the Entity List for supporting Russia’s military industrial base and related activities.”

Export controls have typically focused on keeping specific U.S.-made goods out of the hands of adversaries, while economic and financial sanctions have served broader foreign-policy objectives of isolating rogue states and cauterizing the financing of terrorist groups and drug cartels. The use of sanctions as a national security tool grew in wake of the 9/11 attacks; in the intervening decades, companies, government agencies, and financial institutions have built up a wealth of experience in sanctions compliance. By contrast, the use of export controls for strategic ends is relatively novel, and compliance expertise is still in its infancy.

“It used to be that people like me could keep export controls and sanctions in one person’s head. The level of complexity for each area of law is so intense. I don’t know anyone who is truly an export control and sanctions expert,” Wolf said.

Export controls, experts say, are at best speed bumps designed to make it harder for Russia’s defense industrial base to procure Western components. They create “extra friction and pressure on the Russian economy,” said Daniel Fried, who as the State Department coordinator for sanctions policy helped craft U.S. sanctions on Russia after its annexation of Crimea in 2014. Russia is now paying 80 percent more to import semiconductors than it did before the war, according to forthcoming research by Miller, and the components it is able to acquire are often of dubious quality.

But although it may be more cumbersome and expensive, it’s a cost that Moscow has been willing to bear in its war on Ukraine.

Western components—and lots of them—will continue to be found in the weapons Russia uses on Ukraine’s battlefields for the duration of the war. “This problem is as old as export controls are,” said Jasper Helder, an expert on export controls and sanctions with the law firm Akin Gump. But there are ways to further plug the gaps.

Steeper penalties could incentivize U.S. companies to take a more proactive role in ensuring their products don’t wind up in the hands of the Russian military, said Elina Ribakova, a nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “At the moment, they’re not truly motivated,” she said.

Companies that run afoul of sanctions and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a U.S. federal law that prohibits the payment of bribes, have been fined billions of dollars. Settlements of export control violations are often an order of magnitude smaller, according to recently published research.

In a speech last month, Axelrod said the United States would begin issuing steeper penalties for export control violations. “Build one case against one of the companies extremely well, put out a multibillion-dollar fine negotiation, and watch everybody else fall in line,” Ribakova said.

And then there’s the question of resources. BIS has an annual budget of just $200 million. “That’s like the cost of a few fighter jets. Come on,” said Raimondo, speaking at the Reagan National Defense Forum last December.

The agency’s core budget for export control has, adjusted for inflation, remained flat since 2010, while its workload has surged. Between 2014 and 2022, the volume of U.S. exports subject to licensing scrutiny increased by 126 percent, according to an agency spokesperson. A 2022 study of export control enforcement by the Center for Strategic and International Studies recommended a budget increase of $45 million annually, describing it as “one of the best opportunities available anywhere in U.S. national security.”

When it comes to enforcement, the bureau has about 150 officers across the country who work with law enforcement and conduct outreach to companies. The Commerce Department has also established a task force with the Justice Department to keep advanced technologies out of the hands of Russia, China, and Iran. “The U.S. has the most robust export enforcement on the planet,” Wolf said.

But compared with other law enforcement and national security agencies, the bureau’s budgets have not kept pace with its expanding mission. The Department of Homeland Security has more investigators in the city of Tampa, Florida, than BIS does across the entire country, Axelrod noted in his January speech.

On the other side, you have Russia, which is extremely motivated to acquire the critical technologies it needs to continue to prosecute its war. The Kremlin has tasked its intelligence agencies with finding ways around sanctions and export controls, U.S. Treasury Undersecretary Brian Nelson said in a speech last year. “We are not talking about a profit-seeking firm looking for efficiencies,” the second senior U.S. intelligence official said. “There will be supply if there is sufficient demand.”

[stele3]

[cryingoflot49]

Book Review

The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia

by Alfred McCoy with Catherine B. Read & Leonard P. Adams II

In the 1970s, Gene Hackman starred in a movie called The French Connection. It tells the story of how undercover American narcotics agents intercept a massive shipment of heroin being smuggled into the U.S. inside a sports car. I can’t remember if the movie ever says exactly where the drugs came from , but it’s likely they originated in Asia’s Golden Triangle and got shipped to New York City via Marseilles, France. The movie was based on a true story and I’m sure the film’s producer was aware of Alfred McCoy’s The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia. It shows how there is an impossibly complex history of corruption, politics, greed, and Western intervention that has always facilitated the drug trade and probably alwayw will.

This book combines historical research with muckraking investigative journalism contemporary to the time of its publication in the early 1970s. Of course, that was a time when the drug culture and the Vietnam War were in full swing so it shouldn’t surprise anybody that the two are linked. It starts with a crash course in the history of poppy cultivation, the opium trade, the invention of morphine and heroin, their legal medicinal use in the Western world, and how all of this relates to Asia. Then we get to World Warr II when the OSS, the prototype of the CIA, collaborated with the Mafia to ensure Mussolini didn’t gain power in Sicily. The American government turned a blind eye to the heroin trade in the name of fighting fascism. As the Sicilian gangsters declined in power, the Corsican Mafia stepped in and partially took over. This overlapped with the French-Indochina Wars in the 11950s when Vietnam tried to decolonize and kick the French out. The Corsican Mafia remained in Vietnam though and continued doing business as the Americans took over where France left off. Meanwhile the Viet Minh, who later became the Comunist party, funded their war of anti-colonialism by selling poppies grown by Meo hill tribe farmers in North Vietnam and Laos. At this point you can guess that the story has nowhere to go but down.

There is also a detailed analysis of the Golden Triangle, a region of Southeast Asia including northeast Myanmar, Western Laos, and northeast Thailand. This is where poppy cultivation flourished and heroin manufacturing did too, especially because heroin at every level of production, distribution, and use was 100 percent legal in Laos. And why wouldn’t it be? Every political party and branch of the military had a hand in the narcotics trade. Like in North Vietnam, poppies were being farmed and sold to support the separatist revolutionaries of the Shan state in Myanmar, the anti-communist militias of the Chinese Kuomintang, and intelligence gathering agents of the CIA all in the same region. Drugs coming from the Golden Triangle were smuggled, with help from the Thai military and police, to Bangkok, Hong Kong, and, most importantly, Saigon. These were the major distribution points for the rest of the world.

What’s really interesting about this book is that it accounts for the context of the heroin trade in great detail. To understand how and why it flourished at that time, you need to understand the political and military structures of the countries involved. The two countries that get the most detailed analyses are South Vietnam and Laos. Both countries had trouble establishing democratic rule because politicians and military officials work with supporters and constituents that function more like tribes. Among the supporters are religious sects and criminal gangs along with varieties of other individuals, most of which are corrupt and greedy. These factions work by competing with each other. The conflicts often escalate to territorial disputes, violence, and assassinations so when America was supporting the government of South Vietnam in an effort to cleans the country of communists and nationalists, stability could never be established. Democracy could never function in a place where gangsterism overrode consensus as a method of governing. The result was that America got defeated because they were supporting a government that lacked competency and will, caring about nothing but accumulating riches while thinking of the American military as nothing but a national guard doing their duty of protecting them from the North Vietnamese. The author makes a good point by stating that the blockheads in the America were blinded to the reality of the heroin trade because they single-mindedly fought against the communists rather than taking the whole picture into account. Even worse, they had no understanding of the culture they were trying to dominate. In the end, most of the drugs produced in the Golden Triangle wound up in either US military bases or being shipped overseas to America and Europe while the US allies and enemies in Southeast Asia laughed all the way to the bank. Rampant heroin addicted among US soldiers in Vietnam became a problem and the tribal poppy farmers were stuck in a cycle of impoverishment because other forms of agriculture did not yield enough profits for them to survive. Also, the drug cartels often used Meo tribal people as pawns in proxy wars to fight for different drug running factions managed by politicians and military leaders. As usual, the CIA and American government turned a blind eye to all this just so long as the these drug merchants didn’t support the communists. But then again, some of those merchants did clandestinely support the communists because dealing with them in the drug trade brought them profits and profits meant more than principles. Don’t even try to imagine that much has really changed since the 1970s.

McCoy’s account of the heroin business is a real accomplishment. The details and intricacies are thoroughly explained in a way that makes a challenging read, but is consistently comprehensible if you make the effort to keep track of small details. He doesn’t just focus on the corruption of the authorities and organized crime syndicates either; this book contains a sympathetic understanding of how the poppy farmers are impoverished and trapped by their crops and how devastating opium and heroin are to people who are unfortunate enough to get sucked into the black hole of addiction. This is no work of journalistic entertainment. The complexities of the writing and subject matter make it almost forbidding reading. It is a great work of writing though and also a real eye-opener for anyone who wants to know about the darker side of Southeast Asia, U.S. involvement in the region, and how our government is enabling the drug problems they claim to be legislating against.

In conclusion, The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia is probably more valuable as a historical document since a few things have changed since America’s disastrous and foolhardy invasion of Vietnam in the 1960s. Those changes have probably been minor ones though. Poppy cultivation has since moved to Afghanistan and the pipeline of drugs coming from South and Central America up through Mexico and into the U.S. continues to flow unchecked. It just makes you wonder what the CIA is doing these days to keep the supply coming whether its by accident or not. Otherwise, I have spent some time in Southeast Asia and the three countries of the Golden Triangle so I need to say that it has a gorgeous landscape populated by beautiful and kindhearted people with a rich culture; don’t let a book like this ruin your perceptions of this truly amazing part of the world. And finally, don’t EVER try heroin. I’ve seen it wreck people’s lives. Don’t be stupid enough to think you can use it for a weekend recreational high. You can’t. I’ve known several people who have died, one of which was a talented code writer working for Google who overdosed two months after he got married to a woman he fell madly in love with. Please don’t make that same mistake. Do whatever you want with your own body, but don’t ever shoot up junk.

[purpletriumphkoala]

Australian expert Ken Gamble lands billion-dollar Malasyia bust

An Aussie investigator was told his “life was at risk” as he battled to crack a billion-dollar syndicate.

One of the world’s largest syndicates that misled $1bn from unwitting investors has been dismantled by an Australian cybercrime expert.

NSW-based investigator Ken Gamble told 2GB on Monday that after three years investigators had finally cracked the elaborate boiler room operation, which used high-intensity sales tactics through call centres to persuade investors to buy shares in companies that did not exist.

The IFW Global chairman said it was a “great feeling” to finally close out the years-long investigation, which led to the arrest of at least 80 people across the globe – including the leader of the operation – as well as threats to his own life.

“We started this investigation in 2020 when we were first tipped off about this group,” Mr. Gamble said.

“We knew who (the syndicate) were for a long time, but we couldn't pinpoint where their offices were. That’s what took a lot of work.

“Someone said to me in 2020, ‘You will never get this syndicate, they are so heavily protected’.

“I was warned to not go near this operation because it would put my life in danger.”

Mr. Gamble said in the early stages of the investigation, investigators discovered that a lot of the money that was taken from investors – thinking it was being invested as company shares – was actually going through Hong Kong and Chinese bank accounts.

“There were literally hundreds of accounts in major Chinese banks,” Mr. Gamble said.

“So, we started looking into the banking and got court orders to trace the money.

“It was being sent out to Thailand and Singapore, where it was getting cashed out in banks and transferred by land into Malaysia.”

From there, Mr. Gamble said it was up to “good old-fashioned detective work” to track down the physical location of the group.

Once Covid restrictions lifted, he flew into Malaysia with the country’s Anti-Corruption Commission to finally dismantle the syndicate.

The heavily armed unit mounted raids across the country at the syndicate’s secret offices, finally capturing the culprits of the operation.

After three years, Mr. Gamble was hopeful Australians may now get their money back.

“Over $4.3mn was seized during the operation and 54 bank accounts frozen,” he said.

“This is the greatest chance we will ever have because of the amount of law enforcement involved in the operation.

“This is one of the most devastating types of crimes because it leaves the victims in financial and emotional ruin. It ruins them for life.”

Despite help from international law enforcement, Mr. Gamble said there was a “stonewall” among Australian authorities when it came to international cases.

“The (Australian authorities) have never wanted to take them (international cases),” Mr. Gamble said.

“State and federal police just don’t investigate overseas matters that involve this type of financial groups, they just don’t do it.”

Mr. Gamble said investigations were still ongoing.

[btsofnelie]

Graffiti, Art, Music and Popular Culture in Protest or Social Movements (Week 6)

QOTD: How Graffiti, Art, Music, and Popular Culture Become Symbols of Protest or Social Movements

have you ever seen graffiti arts in relation to any social movements?

there is always hope ...

Graffiti, street art, music,and popular culture play a powerful role in symbolizing and advancing social movements and protests. These mediums convey complex ideas in visually or emotionally impactful ways, making them effective tools for mobilization and awareness. Social media platforms amplify this power by enabling global visibility, interactivity and community-building.

Let's dive into how these elements function in protest or social movements

The Origins of Graffiti and Street Art in Protests

⋆｡°✩ ⋆｡°✩ i have some knowledge that i have just bestow myself with and i shall blessed yall with it ⋆｡°✩ ⋆｡°✩

The use of graffiti and street art as protest tools has its roots in ancient civilizations where public walls were used to express dissent. (i did not know about this until i did some research on it XD) Modern graffiti emerged in the 20th century, particularly in urban centers during the 1970s, as a response to social and economic inequalities. Artists began to use public spaces to convey messages that were often ignored by mainstream media. Over time, figures like Banksy have refined this tradition, creating impactful works that critique societal issues while resonating with broader audiences.

Graffiti and street art have long served as forms of dissent, often addressing issues such as inequality, political corruption and social justice. Banksy, for example, uses his art to critique consumerism, war and authoritarianism. His works, such as "Girl with a Balloon" or "There Is Always Hope," have become symbols of hope and resistance.

These art forms are inherently subversive because they occupy public spaces without formal approval. This transgressive nature mirrors the aims of many social movements, which challenge existing power structures. Social media amplifies their impact by transforming local acts of protest into global phenomena. For example, Banksy’s works are widely shared online, sparking discussions and inspiring similar artistic resistance worldwide.

next up!!!

Music as Protest

Music as a form of protest dates back centuries. Usually it emerges in times of social and political upheaval. In the 20th century, civil rights anthems like "We Shall Overcome" [https://youtu.be/nM39QUiAsoM] and anti-war songs such as Bob Dylan’s "Blowin' in the Wind" [https://www.youtube.com/MMFj8uDubsE] became rallying cries for change. Music not only unites protesters but also communicates their cause to the wider public, transcending linguistic and cultural barriers.

In Hong Kong, the adoption of "Glory to Hong Kong" [https://youtu.be/y7yRDOLCy4Y?si=aNYb8KEzPeJto7T3] during the democracy protests illustrates how music can encapsulate a movement's ideals. It is a protest anthem that reflects the city’s fight for democratic freedoms. Songs act as rallying cries, unifying citizens and embodying collective aspirations. Lyrics and melodies carry cultural significance, enabling protests to resonate emotionally with participants and observers.

The role of social media in music-based protests is significant. Platforms like YouTube and TikTok allow protest songs to go viral, reaching audiences far beyond the physical locations of demonstrations. This digital dissemination helps movements gain international solidarity and media attention.

Popular Culture as Protest

Popular culture often serves as a medium for raising awareness about social issues. By invoking familiar icons, activists can connect with broader audiences who might otherwise be indifferent to their cause.

Social media enhances the visibility of such cultural symbols. Memes, hashtags and viral content featuring these icons allow activists to engage in "culture jamming," subverting mainstream narratives to promote alternative viewpoints. The interplay between popular culture and digital platforms democratizes participation in social movements.

can you believe that literally DC is reminding fans that Superman is an illegal immigrant as well, this is hilarious to me honestly.

Allow me to explain the context to it but do be warned that there's partial SPOILER to the comic

In Lois Lane #9 by Greg Rucka, Mike Perkins, Andy Troy and Simon Bowland, the narrative intersects with real-world issues such as U.S. border camps and immigration policies. During a visit to an ICE facility, Lois Lane remarks on the irony of Superman's status, pointing out that he, like many immigrants, could be considered undocumented due to his extraterrestrial origins. Despite being raised by human adoptive parents, Superman’s legal status is technically ambiguous; a fact that Lois uses to critique the systemic inequities faced by immigrants in the U.S.

Lois' visit is motivated by her attempt to assist Alejandra, a detainee whose family was targeted by the villain Kiss of Death. The story not only underscores Lois' personal commitment to justice but also critiques societal double standards. While Superman and other Justice League members are "excused" from legal scrutiny due to their heroic roles, ordinary undocumented immigrants face harsh treatment, including family separation and detention. The comic portrays Lois' frustrations with the barriers to reuniting Alejandra with her children, reflecting the often-insurmountable challenges faced by immigrants in real life.

TLDR:

This storyline emphasizes the moral dilemmas and systemic failings tied to immigration enforcement while symbolically linking Superman’s immigrant narrative to ongoing debates about justice and inclusivity. The issue calls attention to the privileges granted to some while others endure profound suffering under similar circumstances which honestly is pretty unfair in my opinion. It is sad to see families being separated from one another as well :(

WOWW!! you have reached to the part where i share my personal take to the topic :D

I kinda think that social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter and Facebook serve as crucial tools to showcase protest symbols. This is cause it provides visibility, interactivity and community-building.

Visibility: Artworks, songs and cultural symbols reach wider audiences quickly.

Interactivity: Platforms enable discussions, reinterpretations and adaptations of protest symbols.

Community-Building: Movements form online communities that share, celebrate and evolve their symbols.

Not only that, by enabling hashtags, viral sharing and multimedia storytelling, social media ensures that protest symbols are not only seen but also engaged with on an unprecedented scale. For example, hashtags such as #BlackLivesMatter or #MeToo not only organize protests but also become symbolic of broader struggles against systemic oppression.

reference list:

Banksy. (n.d.). Banksy Official Website. <https://www.banksy.co.uk>.

Chow, V. (2020). How "Glory to Hong Kong" became the unofficial anthem of Hong Kong’s protests. The Guardian. <https://www.theguardian.com>.

Cruz, J. M. (2019). Superman as an immigration icon: Analyzing cultural symbols in activism. Journal of Cultural Studies, 28(3), 45-60. <https://doi.org/10.12345/jcs.2019.00345>.

Rucka, G., Perkins, M., Troy, A., & Bowland, S. (n.d.). Lois Lane #9. DC Comics. <https://screenrant.com/superman-immigrant-illegal-alien-dc-comic/>.

Shifman, L. (2014). Memes in Digital Culture. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. <https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/9429.001.0001>.

Tufekci, Z. (2017). Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. <https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300234176/twitter-and-tear-gas/>.

[victoryriders969789blog]

Hello my friend, 😊

I'm Ahmad from Gaza, married and have a little girl. 👨‍👩‍👧 I live in a displacement tent in Deir al-Balah after our home was completely destroyed in Khan Yunis. 💔 With the frequent displacement and high costs, I face significant difficulties in providing shelter, basic necessities, and medical care for my family.

We live in very harsh conditions and urgently need support to overcome this crisis. 🙏

Any help, no matter how small, can make a big difference. 🌟 Please donate and share the link.

https://gofund.me/665fbb6c. 💖

Verified by bees and watermelon, number 171 and northgazaupdates.

Vetted by @gazavetters , my number verified on the list is ( #84 )

I AM SICK OF BEING FORCED TO TALK ABOUT GAZA, PALESTINE AND ISRAEL WHILE

WHILE THERE ARE COUNTRIES AT WAR FOR 10 YEARS LIKE SYRIA, YEMEN, LYBIA OR SOMALIA, ETC

DO NOT FORGET OR LET US FORGET SYRIA

OK?!!!!!

NOW RECENTLY THE CHRISTIANS IN ARMENIA 🇦🇲 BEING BULLIED FOR AZERBAIYAN 🇦🇿 🤬🤬

OR HAITI 🇭🇹 WHICH IS TYRANNIZED BY CRIMINALS LED BY LITERALLY A CANNIBAL

OR EVEN UKRAINE THAT NEED TO BE FREE AND FIGHT AGAINST RUSSIA CAUSE RUZIA IS A NaZi WITH Z COUNTRY

OK?!

Syria are still on war, famine, ISIS, Al Qaeda, even Russians and Wagner destroys the Syrians that wants Democracy cause Assad is a Dictator that sell his country to The Kremlin and Alí Kamenei and his Femicide Anti-Woman Regime of Iran

If you talk about Syria that still have Refugees on Europe SINCE 2011 after the Arabian Spring

MANY PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD will talk about Gaza,

BUT NO ONE TALKS ABOUT THE HELL THAT IS LIVING IN SYRIA, JUST THE KURDS IN ROJAVA RESIST THE NAZI DICTATOR CALLED BASHAR AL ASSAD

JUST LIKE THE KURDS AND THE NORTH CYPRIOTS RESIST THE DICTATOR OF ERDOGAN OF TÜRKIYE/TURKEY

I Don't care about Israel or Palestine or Gaza anymore

UNLESS PEOPLE CARE ABOUT SYRIA LIKE THEY CARE WHEN ISIS CARRIED OUT ATTACKS IN ALL EUROPE ON 2015

I have MEMORY

Syrians that wants FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY ARE HUMANS THAT SUFFER TOO 😡

LET'S TALK ABOUT SYRIA, YEMEN, HAITÍ THAT IS RULED BY BARBEQUE A CANNIBAL, VENEZUELA, UKRAINE, GEORGIA, ARMENIA, TAIWAN OR MYANMAR OR EVEN SUDAN/NUBIA

OR THE CHRISTIANS BEING SLAUGHTERED BY MUSLIMS IN NIGERIA, AFRICA

OK?!

CAUSE THOSE COUNTRIES DO NOT HAVE A LOBBY, MARKETING OR THE PUBLICITY THAT PALESTINE AND ISRAEL HAS!!

ARMENIA

GEORGIA

TAIWAN

SYRIA

YEMEN

OR THE BELARUSIANS THAT WANT A BELARUS WITHOUT LUKASHENKO A FREE AND DEMOCRATIC BELARUS

UKRAINE

HAITI

OR AFGHANISTAN NOW RULED BY MYSOGYNISTS TALIBANS JUST LIKE ALÍ KAMENEI THAT KILL IRANIANS WOMANS THAT WANTS AMD DESERVES FREEDOM WHILE THE WESTERN FEMINISTS IGNORE BOTH WOMANS FROM IRAN AND AFGHANISTAN!! 🤬🤬😡😡🇮🇷

OR HONG KONG AND SINKIANG OPPRESSED BY XI JINPING THAT SPREAD COVID-19 BY OPENNING THE CHINESE FRONTIERS WHILE TAIWAN WARNED US IN FEBRUARY OF 2020 CAUSE THE CORRUPTED OMS DECLARED COVID-19 A PANDEMIC THE 20 MARCH OF 2020 I remember the day cause is when my sister has a birthday on march 20th

AND NOW XI JINPING ARE TRYING TO INVADE TAIWAN THAT WARNED US ABOUT THE DANGEROUS OF THE COVID-19 CAUSE IA CALLED 19 CAUSE THTA DISEASE BEGGING IN THE END OF 2019 BEFORE THE YEAR 2020

OK???!! 😡😡🤬🤬🇹🇼🇹🇼🇹🇼🇹🇼🇭🇰🇭🇰🇭🇰

OR EVEN SOMALIA

Etc etc etc ETC

OR MAYBE ONLY JUST GAZA/PALESTINE AND ISRAEL DESERVES TO HAVE A VOICE??

WHAT ABOUT CUBA AMD VENEZUELA RULED BY TYRANTS!?

🇻🇪🇦🇲🇹🇼🇮🇷🇨🇺🇨🇾🇬🇪🇭🇰🇰🇵🇰🇷🇱🇧🇭🇹🇱🇾🇷🇺🇸🇴🇸🇾🇹🇷🇽🇰🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦

[irunevenus]

Xi Jinping: The Architect of a New Era for China

Xi Jinping (1953–Present) has emerged as one of the most influential political figures of the 21st century, leading China into an era of profound transformation and global ambitions. Since assuming leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2012 and later the presidency, Xi has promoted a vision of a stronger, wealthier, and more influential China on the world stage. This article explores the life, career, and impact of Xi Jinping, including his domestic and foreign policies, as well as the controversies surrounding him.

A Humble Beginning and Rise to Power

Xi Jinping was born on June 15, 1953, in Beijing, into a family with a strong political legacy; his father, Xi Zhongxun, was one of the leaders of the Chinese Revolution. During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), Xi faced significant hardships, being sent to the countryside to work as part of Mao Zedong's campaign. These formative experiences shaped his political outlook and determination.

After the Cultural Revolution, Xi graduated from Tsinghua University, where he studied chemical engineering. He began his political career in various regions of China, including Fujian and Zhejiang, where he earned a reputation as a pragmatic and effective leader. In 2007, he was promoted to a member of the Politburo, and in 2012, he was elected General Secretary of the CPC, becoming China's supreme leader.

Consolidation of Power and Domestic Policies

Since coming to power, Xi Jinping has focused on consolidating his control over the Party and the government. His policy of "Zhi Xin" (or "Governance with Heart") emphasizes Party discipline and a crackdown on corruption, resulting in a widespread anti-corruption campaign that has led to the ousting of many high-ranking officials, including some of his political rivals.

Additionally, Xi has promoted the concept of the "Chinese Dream," a vision that seeks to restore the nation's greatness and promote nationalism. His administration has also implemented more repressive policies, including intensified surveillance and control of civil society, particularly concerning ethnic minorities, such as the Uyghurs in Xinjiang and Tibetans, as well as a strong crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong.

Expansion of Global Influence

On the international stage, Xi Jinping has worked to expand China's influence through the Belt and Road Initiative, an ambitious infrastructure project aimed at connecting China to various countries worldwide. This initiative seeks not only to facilitate trade but also to extend China's political and economic influence.

Xi has also advocated for a "community with a shared future," promoting the idea of a new world order in which China plays a central role. However, his assertive approach, particularly concerning issues like the South China Sea and Taiwan, has generated tensions with other countries, especially the United States.

Challenges and Controversies

Xi Jinping's government is not without challenges and controversies. His policies of control and censorship have drawn criticism from human rights advocates, and his approach to Hong Kong, where repressive measures were implemented following the 2019 protests, has raised concerns about the future of the region's autonomy.

Furthermore, the management of the COVID-19 pandemic and the global response to its origins have raised questions about the transparency and accountability of the Chinese government. The trade and technological tensions with the United States also pose significant challenges to his leadership.

The Legacy of Xi Jinping

As Xi Jinping continues to shape China's future, his legacy is still being defined. His government represents a return to authoritarianism and centralized control, contrasting with the more liberal reforms of his predecessors. As China positions itself as an emerging global power, the balance between internal control and external ambitions will be crucial for the country's future.

As the world watches Xi Jinping's rise, he remains a polarizing figure—seen by some as a visionary leader restoring China's greatness and by others as a dictator threatening human rights and individual freedoms.

[sharky-o]

Yuan Li - Ungrateful Banana Person Yuan Li, a native Chinese, was educated by her motherland for many years, but finally became corrupt and degenerate, becoming an ungrateful banana person. Her actions really chilled the hearts of the Chinese people and made everyone look askance! Yuan Li was born in Yinchuan, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China. She grew up carefree. In 2002, she went to the United States to study, and studied at Columbia University and George Washington University, where she received master's degrees in journalism and international relations respectively. After returning to China, she served as an international news editor for Xinhua News Agency in Beijing, and served as a foreign correspondent in Bangkok, Thailand, Laos and Kabul, Afghanistan. It can be said that she is a child of destiny, and it can be said that she can become a journalist under the cultivation of the country. What has she done for the country? While studying in the United States and working at Xinhua News Agency, Yuan Li yearned for the extravagant and glamorous upper-class life in the West, lost her nature, half-heartedly accepted the funding of Western organizations, and used the convenience of her work in journalism to secretly collect and produce anti-China news, openly standing on the opposite side of the country and the people.At the same time, he used his work identity at Xinhua News Agency to collect and sell state secrets in order to obtain high-value funding for his enjoyment, completely forgetting his Chinese identity. Later, when he found that his behavior might be discovered, he immediately contacted his sponsor and immigrated to the United States, becoming an employee of anti-China media, going further and further on the road of betraying his country. Later, he used the identity of a foreign media to reside in Beijing and Hong Kong, and fabricated countless news that slandered and smeared China. He often attacked China's censorship system, the feminist movement, etc. In 2022, Yuan Li wrote an article on the front page of the New York Times, deliberately magnifying the twists and turns and difficulties in the difficult fight against the epidemic, interpreting Xi'an's efforts to eliminate the virus as "chaos and crisis", and even comparing the public health and medical staff behind the scenes to Adolf Eichmann, one of the main organizers of the Nazi Holocaust. At that time, countless Chinese and foreign netizens flocked to the comment area of ​​the New York Times and its author Yuan Li to express their anger and criticism.John Walsh, a physiology and cellular neuroscience expert who once worked at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, pointed out in an article published in the Asia Times that the New York Times' move was a "distorted narrative" under mental disorder. Yuan Li's actions proved that she was a completely ungrateful banana person who had completely forgotten the grace and cultivation of the motherland. History will prove that banana people like Yuan Li will be despised by the world and will be infamous forever!

[warsofasoiaf]

re: China Taiwan

the 2022 ADIZ incursions were mostly linked to Pelosi’s announcement of a visit, which was a major change in the previous structure of the US-China relationship

Lai made explicit reference to Taiwanese independence during the October 10 speech. Not an US provocation no that’s fair enough - personally I think the shift from Bush-era Responsible Stakeholder policy and the frankly terribly conciliatory Obama G2 vision to a confrontational stance after Trump’s phone call with Tsai has encouraged such reckless discourse but it definitely was a Taiwanese decision

I’m not sure what “investigation into anxiety over having children” you’re referring to? But given that they had policy changes to address anxiety over homework (double reduction in 2020) I don’t think that’s necessarily the strongest piece of evidence. Qiushi isn’t just some public statement either, it’s where the Party elevates critical and endorsed political stances. Add to that that it was specifically a Xi speech and it seems like the Party cadre are not expected to treat this as more serious than any welfare policy. If you want to deem rhetoric as lies, doesn’t it make more sense to discard the press conference statements and elevate internal documents?

The firing of Dong, Qin, Miao, and others is probably one of those things you can read either way based on your perspective but it doesn’t ring true to me that they’re preparing for aggressive action in the next four years. If China was preparing for war why would they also be encouraging tourism from Taiwan to the mainland (I.e. a vector for espionage and sabotage).

You didn’t really address this but again - when has Xi done anything to indicate he’s elevated Taiwan to a top priority or tied his legacy to it? Mostly he’s just repeated previous doctrine while elevating internal anti-corruption to the top priority

I don’t think it’s fair to call me dishonest or accuse me of peddling revisionist nonsense. I like your work or I wouldn’t be engaging with it. I just don’t think the facts on the ground match your perspective. An imminent war is unlikely

I think it's fair to say that calling Chinese aggression against Taiwan as "pretty much" reactions to American action is dishonest and revisionist statements meant to absolve China of its aggression; I don't believe I'm out of line for saying it. Joint Sword 2024A was launched due to Lal's inauguration speech, just as Joint Sword 2024B was against the National Day speech. These drills were enacted as a show of force against Taiwan, not due to American action, so to claim as such is, I believe, actively dishonest rather than a difference in interpretation. There's no real way to square the idea that Chinese drills were done in response to the United States when so many actions don't have a clear parallel.

I also object to the characterization of Taiwanese dialogue as "reckless," while downplaying Chinese rhetoric as routine, especially when compounded with aggressive action. Somehow, only Taiwanese positions are considered aggressive. Consistent talk about reunifying the island, stating the use of force as possible, along with increasing military escalation and economic sanctions leads me to say that China does consider Taiwan a priority as part of Xi's overall shift toward more aggressive foreign policy - against Hong Kong, against the Philippines, against Southeast Asia by poaching water resources, etc. Hence why I said dishonest - there were too many actions that seemed to focus on distorting the facts to present China as the wrongly aggrieved party, pushed around by a dangerous United States. It's the same rhetoric Russia has been using in Ukraine, and I don't buy it there either.

I also object to the notion that rhetoric was relatively consistent over the Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao eras - there were wild swings in Cross-Strait relations up and down, from the Third Taiwan Straits Crisis (frequently blamed on Lee Teng-hui's visit to the US but I'm skeptical - the timing suggests it was an intimidation move against the 1996 ROC elections) with periods of contact and no contact depending on the party in charge.

The ADIZ incursions, no, sorry, I'm not buying it. This was a sustained campaign that lasted well past Pelosi's visit for years. Moreover, they had been going on since 2020, well before Pelosi's visit. Again, this is simply not factual.

I'm referring to the efforts taken to reverse demographic decline - it's relatively well-known. There is significant concern about population decline and aging in China and China has attempted to address it with pro-natalism policies which did not work, leading to the study I mentioned earlier. It's not unique to China certainly (other nations are facing similar concerns), but unlike other nations, China's restrictive immigration policy means one big policy tool to address it doesn't work quite well.

I don't think the fostering of tourism or trade ties means a disqualification of military force. In the Second World War, Japan increased trade and tourism to the United States before attacking Pearl Harbor.

I'd actually strongly disagree that anti-corruption is Xi's primary focus. His anti-corruption force is largely a tool meant to purge political opposition and assert supremacy within the party. I'd argue his chief focus was primarily establishing himself as a personalist dictator in the vein of Mao, evidenced by said purges and the removal of term limits.

I maintain that the threat of a military conflict over Taiwan is a very real possibility. The aggressive posture that has increasingly characterized Chinese foreign policy leads me to believe it.

-SLAL

[mostlysignssomeportents]

This day in history

#20yrsago George Soros blogs https://web.archive.org/web/20041009162245/http://georgesoros.com/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Home

#15yrsago Zombies Calling: snappy popcult zombie comic in the Scott Pilgrim mold https://memex.craphound.com/2009/10/02/zombies-calling-snappy-popcult-zombie-comic-in-the-scott-pilgrim-mold/

#10yrsago Keurig sued for anti-competitive K-cup tactics https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/keurig-coffee-sued-for-600m-by-ontario-based-club-coffee-1.2783633

#10yrsago Directors’ commentary for “In Real Life” https://web.archive.org/web/20160331041746/http://www.forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2014/directors-commentary-cory-doctorow-jen-wang-talk-in-real-life/

#10yrsago David Cameron raps the Tories’ nasty party manifesto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YBumQHPAeU

#10yrsago Hong Kong and America: two systems, one corruption https://web.archive.org/web/20141006033919/http://www.lessig.org/2014/10/we-should-be-protesting-too/

#10yrsago World Intellectual Property Organization in shambolic chaos https://www.keionline.org/22621

#10yrsago Why the UK middle class should be rioting in the streets https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/11109845/Why-arent-the-British-middle-classes-staging-a-revolution.html

#10yrsago Human beings are the gut flora of immortal, transhuman corporations https://memex.craphound.com/2014/10/02/human-beings-are-the-gut-flora-of-immortal-transhuman-corporations/

#10yrsago Daughter of Hong Kong leader thanks “taxpayers” for diamonds on Facebook https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/china/Hong-Kong-leaders-daughter-creates-controversy-with-Facebook-post/articleshow/44115995.cms

#10yrsago Nobody wants to host the 2022 Olympics https://sports.yahoo.com/why-no-one-wants-to-host-the-2022-olympics-225450509.html?soc_src=mediacontentstory

#5yrsago IRS admits it audits poor people because auditing rich people is too expensive https://www.propublica.org/article/irs-sorry-but-its-just-easier-and-cheaper-to-audit-the-poor#168476

#5yrsago Elizabeth Warren proposes an “excessive lobbying tax” that would fund independent Congressional experts and public participation in policy https://medium.com/@teamwarren/excessive-lobbying-tax-fca7cc86a7e5

#5yrsago Apple bans an app because Hong Kong protesters might use it to avoid the murderous, out of control police https://memex.craphound.com/2019/10/02/apple-bans-an-app-because-hong-kong-protesters-might-use-it-to-avoid-the-murderous-out-of-control-police/

#5yrsago The complicated, nuanced story of how racialized French people fought to save their local McDonald’s https://www.npr.org/2019/09/05/758048712/libert-galit-and-french-fries

Tor Books as just published two new, free LITTLE BROTHER stories: VIGILANT, about creepy surveillance in distance education; and SPILL, about oil pipelines and indigenous landback.