#people&039;s democratic dictatorship

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2023 NPC Lectures: #1 PRC Constitutional System and Practice

This is a translation of the first lecture in a series of seven lectures given to the 170 members of the PRC National People’s Congress Standing Committee. The Standing Committee is the standing legislative body of China; the full 3000-member NPC meets for two weeks every March. This lecture examines the history, development and defining characteristics of the Constitution of the PRC. Article…

[ps14latinamerica]

Nearly All U.N. Members Condemn U.S. Embargo on Cuba

Summary:

In a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly last week, delegates overwhelmingly voted to condemn the United States' continued trade embargo on Cuba, with one holdout being the representative from Israel. The resolution to condemn America's sanctions against Cuba has been brought to the U.N. every year for the past thirty years, gaining more support this year than it ever has. Cuban foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez spoke of the "cruel" toll the embargo has taken on Cuba's economy: over $6 billion since President Biden assumed office, and insurmountably more since it was first instituted in 1960. While President Obama attempted to ease tensions between the U.S. and Cuba, predecessors Trump and Biden have reversed those efforts by enforcing further sanctions. Biden has justified the latest sanctions as a condemnation of Cuba's police response to protests last year, which evolved into violent anti-government protests. But Cuba's UN ambassador Yuri Gala believes, as do most UN members, that "if the United States government really did care for [...] human rights and self-determination of the Cuban people, it could lift the embargo," (Gala, "Only one country backs US in UN Cuba vote").

Analysis:

America's embargo on Cuba is a relic of the Cold War and its efforts to prop up governments around the world that favor capitalism and liberalism – many of which have failed. Most notably, the U.S. provided financial and military support to the regime of dictator Fulgencio Batista in the post-World War II era. Batista was severely authoritarian, but his economic policies allowed the U.S. to benefit from trade with Cuba, and he led a prominent campaign against "Communist activities." America's support for Batista despite his corrupt leadership, and its subsequent hostility towards a Castro-led Cuba, demonstrates the realist theory that states will ultimately abandon principles in favor of self-interest. U.S. foreign policy regarding Cuba prioritized the relative gains of its own power over the idealist approach of cultural consistency. If America truly were a staunch proponent of democracy, it would have condemned Batista's authoritarian abuses and use of secret police forces. But to American officials, creating a capitalist global economy was more advantageous than opposing Batista's anti-democratic dictatorship. Put in terms of the prisoner's dilemma, America chose to confess, not cooperate.

Fidel Castro as a popular leader championing socialist ideals posed an ideological threat to the U.S. in its efforts to emerge as the capitalist global hegemon. It lended legitimacy to the ideals of the Soviet Union, America's opponent in the Cold War and the other end of the bipolar global power structure. While the U.S. enjoyed hegemon status after the Soviet Union fell, growing opposition to the U.S. trade sanctions against Cuba reflect a shift towards a more multipolar power distribution. As nations like China, India, and Russia gain influence, so too do ideologies counter to American and western ideals; socialism and anti-capitalist sentiments are increasingly popular around the world. The U.N.'s near-unanimous vote against America's actions symbolizes a new balance of power that challenges U.S. supremacy on the global stage.

[newssplashy]

Politics: Trump's fight with Turkey is helping Russia and Iran

NATO's largest standing army in Europe is now cosying up to Iran and indebted to Qatar. Russia and China could be waiting in the wings to get closer to Turkey too if the US continues its tariffs.

Trump's trade war is driving Turkey into the arms of Iran and Qatar.

Russia and China won't mind that at all.

What does the US gain from all this?

Trump might get that preacher back.

And, er ... that's it.

LONDON — Late on Thursday night, the White House threatened further economic sanctions against Turkey if it fails to release detained American pastor Andrew Brunson.

Brunson has been under house arrest for almost two years in Turkey for his alleged links to a banned Turkish political movement. Efforts to free him are at the heart of the current economic and diplomatic spat between the US and Turkey.

The Turkish lira fell nearly 5% on Friday in reaction to the fresh US sanctions. US President Donald Trump probably thinks he is winning his trade war against Turkey. His "cherished DOLLAR" is "very strong."

The reality, however, is that Trump is strengthening alliances between countries that don't have America or the West's best interest's at heart. By punishing Turkey with sanctions, he is only pushing the country closer to other nations who see the strategic importance of having Turkey on their side.

There were two clues to that last week:

IRAN: Turkish finance and treasury minister Berat Alkayrak told investors on a conference call that "We don't expect fines on Halkbank." Those six words will be meaningless to most people outside Turkey. But they are hugely significant. Halkbank violated economic sanctions against Iran. One of its executives was sent to prison in the US. The implication is obvious: Turkey will be siding with Iran on this issue. Iran, obviously, is a historic sponsor of terrorism.

QATAR: The kingdom gave a $15 billion rescue loan to Turkey last week. Qatar also sponsors terrorism. Qatar is so corrupt it's comical: This is the country that paid bribes to host the 2022 World Cup in the desert.

This map says it all. Trump's trade war is solidifying Turkey's ties to Iran and Qatar.

To get an idea of how big a loss this is to the West, consider that just eight years ago Turkey was on the verge of gaining full membership of the European Union. It was a democratic nation that abolished the death penalty. It was finally ready to turn away from the dictatorships of the Middle East and join the alliance of North American and European nations who believe in democracy, the rule of law, and civil rights.

There were many steps in the undoing of that alliance, not least Germany balking at the idea of 80 million Muslims suddenly getting the right to live wherever they want. That fed the paranoia of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, an Islamist autocrat, that Europe was basically for white Christians not brown Muslims.

Regardless of how we got here, the reality is NATO's largest standing army in Europe is now cozying up to Iran and indebted to Qatar. Trump should be trying to get Turkey back on side with the West rather than levying huge punishments to secure the release of one man.

The Turkish economy will continue to need all the trade it can get and right now Qatar and Iran look like less burdensome partners. Russia and China are waiting in the wings too, according to Reva Goujon, the VP of Global Analysis at Stratfor. Turkey already has a defence cooperation agreement with Russia and China has Erdogan on board for its massive Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.

Much of Turkey's pain is self-inflicted. Erdogan's mismanagement of the Turkish central bank may further devalue the lira. This, after all, is the man who sincerely believes that "When you look at the cause and effect relationship, the interest rate is the cause and inflation is the result. The lower the interest rate is, the lower inflation will be." (Literally, the opposite is true.)

The endgame — if it comes to a balance of payments crisis — may involve a rescue package from the IMF. From the perspective of London and Washington, that might look like a mechanism to bring Turkey back into the fold. Surely the Turks will be grateful for the largesse of our interest-bearing credit!

To Erdogan, that credit will look like the kind of debt-load that crushed Greece. Erdogan continues to suspect that the machinations of the West are merely callbacks to the 1920 Treaty of Sevres, through which the Western nations dismembered the Ottoman Empire.

What will the US get out of this? The rising dollar may well crush the feeble lira, but it's hard to see how that benefits Americans. (Some inside the Trump Administration seem to think the dollar is already too strong.) Maybe America will get Andrew Brunson back. But he's just one guy, caught preaching in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The price of those "victories" will be the strengthening of ties between Turkey, Russia, China, Iran and Qatar, and Turkey's further alienation from the West.

More on the Turkish lira crisis:

The crisis in Turkey is being caused by the US Fed, and we are only at the beginning

UBS: Turkey could be heading into a balance-of-payments crisis

The reason Turkey's economic collapse is so scary is that Iran, Russia, and Syria are waiting in the wings

The lira's crash 'looks certain to push the Turkish economy into recession and may well trigger a banking crisis'

Turkey's lira crisis may be down to Erdogan's fundamental misunderstanding of how 'evil' interest rates work

source http://www.newssplashy.com/2018/08/politics-trumps-fight-with-turkey-is.html

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2023 Wang Dan: From Collective Party to Personal Dictatorship -- Chinese State Imperializes

Contents: My Foolish Comments 我愚見 Wang Dan: From Party World to Xi World: China’s Further Imperialization Recent online comments on the “withering away of the state” More on withering even if title doesn’t make it seem so: ���Adhere to the development of Marxist doctrine of the state and promote the modernization of state governance” “Hope or Myth: Explaining Marx’s Theory of the Demise of the…

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1957: Hundred Flowers Criticisms of Party and State, Part II -- Democratic Dictatorship, Centralism, Law...

The Hundred Flowers speaking frank campaign transcripts and summaries of students and faculty of the 888-page Renmin University September 1958 book Selected Rightist Speeches from Institutions of Higher Education published by the Office of Socialist Ideology Education, Communist Party Committee, Renmin University of China 【高等学校右派言論选編 中共中国人民大学委員会社会主义思想敎育办公室】give us the full spectrum of views the…

[newssplashy]

NATO's largest standing army in Europe is now cosying up to Iran and indebted to Qatar. Russia and China could be waiting in the wings to get closer to Turkey too if the US continues its tariffs.

Trump's trade war is driving Turkey into the arms of Iran and Qatar.

Russia and China won't mind that at all.

What does the US gain from all this?

Trump might get that preacher back.

And, er ... that's it.

LONDON — Late on Thursday night, the White House threatened further economic sanctions against Turkey if it fails to release detained American pastor Andrew Brunson.

Brunson has been under house arrest for almost two years in Turkey for his alleged links to a banned Turkish political movement. Efforts to free him are at the heart of the current economic and diplomatic spat between the US and Turkey.

The Turkish lira fell nearly 5% on Friday in reaction to the fresh US sanctions. US President Donald Trump probably thinks he is winning his trade war against Turkey. His "cherished DOLLAR" is "very strong."

The reality, however, is that Trump is strengthening alliances between countries that don't have America or the West's best interest's at heart. By punishing Turkey with sanctions, he is only pushing the country closer to other nations who see the strategic importance of having Turkey on their side.

There were two clues to that last week:

IRAN: Turkish finance and treasury minister Berat Alkayrak told investors on a conference call that "We don't expect fines on Halkbank." Those six words will be meaningless to most people outside Turkey. But they are hugely significant. Halkbank violated economic sanctions against Iran. One of its executives was sent to prison in the US. The implication is obvious: Turkey will be siding with Iran on this issue. Iran, obviously, is a historic sponsor of terrorism.

QATAR: The kingdom gave a $15 billion rescue loan to Turkey last week. Qatar also sponsors terrorism. Qatar is so corrupt it's comical: This is the country that paid bribes to host the 2022 World Cup in the desert.

This map says it all. Trump's trade war is solidifying Turkey's ties to Iran and Qatar.

To get an idea of how big a loss this is to the West, consider that just eight years ago Turkey was on the verge of gaining full membership of the European Union. It was a democratic nation that abolished the death penalty. It was finally ready to turn away from the dictatorships of the Middle East and join the alliance of North American and European nations who believe in democracy, the rule of law, and civil rights.

There were many steps in the undoing of that alliance, not least Germany balking at the idea of 80 million Muslims suddenly getting the right to live wherever they want. That fed the paranoia of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, an Islamist autocrat, that Europe was basically for white Christians not brown Muslims.

Regardless of how we got here, the reality is NATO's largest standing army in Europe is now cozying up to Iran and indebted to Qatar. Trump should be trying to get Turkey back on side with the West rather than levying huge punishments to secure the release of one man.

The Turkish economy will continue to need all the trade it can get and right now Qatar and Iran look like less burdensome partners. Russia and China are waiting in the wings too, according to Reva Goujon, the VP of Global Analysis at Stratfor. Turkey already has a defence cooperation agreement with Russia and China has Erdogan on board for its massive Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.

Much of Turkey's pain is self-inflicted. Erdogan's mismanagement of the Turkish central bank may further devalue the lira. This, after all, is the man who sincerely believes that "When you look at the cause and effect relationship, the interest rate is the cause and inflation is the result. The lower the interest rate is, the lower inflation will be." (Literally, the opposite is true.)

The endgame — if it comes to a balance of payments crisis — may involve a rescue package from the IMF. From the perspective of London and Washington, that might look like a mechanism to bring Turkey back into the fold. Surely the Turks will be grateful for the largesse of our interest-bearing credit!

To Erdogan, that credit will look like the kind of debt-load that crushed Greece. Erdogan continues to suspect that the machinations of the West are merely callbacks to the 1920 Treaty of Sevres, through which the Western nations dismembered the Ottoman Empire.

What will the US get out of this? The rising dollar may well crush the feeble lira, but it's hard to see how that benefits Americans. (Some inside the Trump Administration seem to think the dollar is already too strong.) Maybe America will get Andrew Brunson back. But he's just one guy, caught preaching in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The price of those "victories" will be the strengthening of ties between Turkey, Russia, China, Iran and Qatar, and Turkey's further alienation from the West.

More on the Turkish lira crisis:

The crisis in Turkey is being caused by the US Fed, and we are only at the beginning

UBS: Turkey could be heading into a balance-of-payments crisis

The reason Turkey's economic collapse is so scary is that Iran, Russia, and Syria are waiting in the wings

The lira's crash 'looks certain to push the Turkish economy into recession and may well trigger a banking crisis'

Turkey's lira crisis may be down to Erdogan's fundamental misunderstanding of how 'evil' interest rates work

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