China
January 14, 2022 — Scott Johnson
We have occasionally turned to science writer Matt Ridley for clarity and illumination. He brings both to the latest news about the lab-leak theory of the origin of Covid-19. His Spiked column asks “Why did scientists suppress the lab-leak theory?” Subhead: “In private, they said it was plausible. In public, they called it a conspiracy theory.” Ridley recounts: In December 2019 there was an outbreak in China of a novel
»
January 3, 2022 — Paul Mirengoff
The New York Times reports on Red China’s “digital manhunt“: The Chinese government, which has built an extensive digital infrastructure and security apparatus to control dissent on its own platforms, is going to even greater lengths to extend its internet dragnet to unmask and silence those who criticize the country on Twitter, Facebook and other international social media. These new investigations, targeting sites blocked inside China, are relying on sophisticated
»
December 30, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
Red China is unhappy with Elon Musk. His SpaceX satellites supposedly are threatening the safety of China’s space station. China has complained to the United Nations about two “close encounters” this year between SpaceX’s Starlink satellites and China’s space station. In addition, it is calling for a boycott of Tesla. According to the Washington Post, Musk has long been considered a hero in China. Tesla even received official approval to
»
December 29, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
Unless the Wuhan coronavirus prevents it (wouldn’t that be poetic justice?), the Winter Olympics will began on February 4, 2022 in Red China. Unless the virus prevents it, U.S. athletes will participate. Joe Biden decided not to call for a boycott of the Olympics by athletes. Instead, our politicians will boycott the games. That’s a rather pathetic response to Red Chinese atrocities, but maybe it’s better than nothing. I would
»
December 27, 2021 — John Hinderaker
International pressure has mounted on companies to avoid sourcing products and materials from Xinjiang province in China because that is where the CCP subjects Uyghurs to slave labor. But China has pushed back, and in some quarters, what the Chinese Communist Party says goes. Thus this headline: “Intel apologises for telling suppliers to avoid products made in Xinjiang.” Intel has apologised for telling suppliers not to source products from Xinjiang
»
December 24, 2021 — Scott Johnson
This past Sunday represented Dr. Francis Collins’s last day on the job as head of the National Institutes of Health. The man has proved himself a disgrace several times over. On his way out the door he did it one more time in his interview with Bret Baier on FOX News Sunday (transcript here). The man may be a happy idiot. Then again, the man may also be a conniving
»
December 22, 2021 — John Hinderaker
Remember when Americans couldn’t afford to heat their homes in the late 1970s, and President Jimmy Carter urged everyone to buy cardigan sweaters and burn wood in their fireplaces? That is pretty much where Europe is today, as reported in the Telegraph: “‘Unprecedented’ gas price surge threatens national crisis, suppliers warn.” Energy chiefs have warned that Britain is facing a deepening national crisis after gas prices soared to record levels
»
December 20, 2021 — John Hinderaker
In the corrupt wasteland of higher education, Mitch Daniels, former Governor of Indiana and now President of Purdue University, has long stood out as a beacon of common sense. His leadership was tested when a Chinese student at Purdue spoke out in favor of freedom. In China, and sadly in today’s academic world, that is a dangerous thing to do. President Daniels tells the story in his letter to Purdue
»
December 12, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
According to this report, the White House cut off the video feed of a Taiwanese official after she showed a map that labeled Taiwan in a different color than China. Taiwanese Digital Minister Audrey Tang’s map was shown for about a minute at Joe Biden’s “Summit for Democracy” before the video feed of her presentation was removed, say people apparently familiar with the situation. Taiwan’s presentation showed a color-coded map
»
December 6, 2021 — John Hinderaker
One of the chief scandals of the 2020 election was the manner in which a group of left-wing former intelligence officials, liberal newspapers and television networks, and social media giants conspired to squash information about Joe Biden’s political corruption–information that, later polls suggested, could have cost him the election if voters had been permitted to learn the facts. The true story has now been told in Miranda Devine’s Laptop From
»
December 2, 2021 — Scott Johnson
Only last week J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon humbly abased himself before the Chinese Communist regime. “Dimon found himself in potential trouble with the current executors of the Mandate of Heaven when he repeated a joke he said he had told in Hong Kong earlier,” Gerard Baker explained in his excellent Wall Street Journal column. This was Dimon’s joke: “The Communist Party is celebrating its hundredth year. So is JPMorgan.
»
November 28, 2021 — Scott Johnson
I overheard Rep. Nancy Mace on one of the Sunday morning shows referring to the visit of a bipartisan delegation to meet with the President of Taiwan last week. They were warned by Chinese emissaries not to do it. Once they did it, they were advised by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian of “wantonly” challenging the “one-China principle,” who insisted the trip “has aroused the strong indignation of 1.4
»
November 26, 2021 — Steven Hayward
I hadn’t been following the succession of COVID variations, which the World Health Organization (WHO?) has been labeling in the sequential order of the Greek alphabet. So the last iteration before yesterday’s news was the “Nu” variant. So next in line should be the “Xi” variant. But no!—We have skipped over the Xi variant for some reason right to the Marvel Superhero “Omicron” variant. (Isn’t “Omnicron” a superhero character in
»
November 20, 2021 — John Hinderaker
We all know the sad story of how the National Basketball Association has kowtowed to the Chinese Communist Party. The league has suppressed just about all support for Hong Kong democracy or opposition to the Uighur genocide. Chief among the kneelers has been Lebron James, a quisling if there ever was one. Most recently, Enes Kanter, one of the few players who have expressed opposition to the Chinese regime’s genocide
»
November 18, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
In a few months, Beijing will stage the 2022 Winter Olympics. U.S. athletes are set to participate. Nothing like the boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in the Soviet Union is likely to occur. Neither participation nor a boycott is an attractive option. Red China is an oppressive, totalitarian state. Participation by our athletes implies that the regime deserves the honor of hosting Olympic games, which it does not. Our
»
November 15, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
Since Joe Biden took office, it’s been one bad thing after another on the domestic front. A surge in coronavirus cases and deaths (even with the vaccine), a supply chain crisis, runaway inflation, rising violent crime, etc. There have also been a series of setbacks internationally, and these are directly attributable to Biden. The debacle in Afghanistan was the worst and most important one. It pretty much settled the question,
»
November 10, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
Karen Elliott House, writing in the The Wall Street Journal, reports that Saudi Arabia is moving away from the United States and towards Red China. “You name it, we are doing it with China,” says one senior Saudi adviser, who labels China “a strategic partner.” To some extent, this embrace of China, powerhouse that it has become, is to be expected. The Chinese want Saudi oil. In fact, China is
»
