China
December 29, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
George Will argues that “nothing more momentous happened in 2019 than Hong Kong’s heroic insurrection.” I would amend this comment to say “potentially momentous.” We can’t say with confidence what bearing the events in Hong Kong will have on the future. Events on the periphery of a great power can portend what that power will one day experience. This was true of the Soviet Union. However, it was decades from
»
December 25, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
These days, televised sports on Christmas center on the NBA. Five of its games were shown today. College football took the day off. So did big time soccer. There were a few college basketball games on television, but none of note. For me, this nearly meant a day off from watching sports on the tube. I caught only the last ten minutes of the NBA’s marquee game between the Clippers
»
December 22, 2019 — John Hinderaker
You’ve probably heard the old joke about the guy who opens a fortune cookie, and the paper says: “Help! I’m being held prisoner in a Chinese fortune cookie factory.” Well, it actually happened, only it was a greeting card factory. The London Times reports: When Florence Widdicombe opened a box of Tesco charity Christmas cards to send them to her friends, the six-year-old schoolgirl from Tooting, south London, was startled
»
December 4, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Victor Davis Hanson surveys President Trump’s foreign policy, focusing on China, Iran, and North Korea. Hanson argues that Trump’s recalibration of our policy towards these three nations has succeeded in placing maximum pressure on each to alter its policies. He warns, however, that as the pressure mounts, so does the prospect of dangerous provocations. Trump’s policies towards China, Iran, and North Korea are improvements over President Obama’s. As Hanson observes,
»
November 29, 2019 — John Hinderaker
Although liberals and the Red Chinese won’t admit it, America remains the land of the free. As we have seen over and over, those fighting for their own liberty around the world have no doubt about whom they want to emulate–us. Thus, after President Trump signed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, demonstrators in Hong Kong paraded with American flags and, in a touching moment, sang the Star-Spangled
»
November 29, 2019 — Steven Hayward
During the Cold War the easiest job in the Soviet Union was the person at Pravda assigned to produce anti-American editorial propaganda, because all you needed to do was reprint New York Times editorials. This was often literally true, as Pravda loved to quote the Times, the Post, and other American publications, along the lines of “Even the esteemed New York Times thinks President Reagan is an extremist,” etc. Well
»
November 26, 2019 — John Hinderaker
One of my daughters sent me this: “Data leak reveals how China ‘brainwashes’ Uighurs in prison camps.” Her question: “Why does literally no one care/talk about this?” The Chinese government has consistently claimed the camps in the far western Xinjiang region offer voluntary education and training. But official documents, seen by BBC Panorama, show how inmates are locked up, indoctrinated and punished. *** About a million people – mostly from
»
October 15, 2019 — John Hinderaker
Paul wrote earlier today about Lebron James’s ill-informed and self-interested comments on Chinese oppression of the residents of Hong Kong, and Daryl Morey’s free speech rights. One of my kids noted this lampooning of James by Barstool Sports, on Instagram. Barstool pulls no punches: “In honor of Lebron denouncing freedom of speech…” When you’re being criticized by sources as disparate as Power Line and Barstool Sports, it is probably time
»
October 15, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Lebron James has weighed in on the controversy over the expression by the Houston Rockets’ general manager of sympathy for the people of Hong Kong, and on the NBA’s reaction thereto. James accused the GM, Daryl Morey, of thinking only about himself. James said: [A]t times, there are ramifications for the negative that can happen when you’re not thinking about others, when you only think about yourself. I don’t want
»
October 14, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Charles Barkley claims that those who criticize the NBA for not taking a stance on China are hypocrites (and worse). He says people ripped Colin Kaepernick for taking a stance on race relations and the police in America, yet want the NBA and its players to take positions about what happens in a foreign country. Barkley is wide of the mark. First, Kaepernick was ripped not for taking a position
»
October 13, 2019 — John Hinderaker
Americans may be ill-informed about many things, but they know a lot about sports. So, ironically, it could be the NBA’s enforcement of Red China’s strictures on unapproved speech that, more than anything else, educates Americans on the nature of the Chinese regime. This happened on Wednesday, but I just saw it via InstaPundit. At an exhibition game between the Washington Wizards and the Guangzhou Long Lions at Capital One
»
October 12, 2019 — John Hinderaker
What the Democrats fear most is happening: President Trump and his negotiating team are reaching wide-ranging agreements with China that will be a huge boon to the United States. In an Oval Office press conference yesterday, President Trump and China’s Vice Premier announced a Phase 1 set of agreements that will be documented over the next several weeks. The video of the press conference is embedded below; Trump’s performance was
»
October 11, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
Steve Kerr coaches the Golden State Warriors. He’s an outstanding basketball coach and, dating back to his days as a player and then an analyst on television, always struck me as a good guy. Early on, Kerr became a strident critic of President Trump. That’s okay. It’s his right. I don’t believe in “shut up and coach.” However, this doesn’t mean that anyone should take Kerr’s critique of Trump, or
»
October 9, 2019 — John Hinderaker
CNN reports on the turmoil in the NBA’s relationship with China. The problems, per CNN, are all Daryl Morey’s fault: A simple image consisting of seven words might be the most troublesome tweet in corporate America this year. Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey caused substantial damage with the NBA’s growing relationship with China after he voiced his support for Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protestors. China currently accounts for 10% of
»
October 8, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
When Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn came to the U.S. after years of captivity in the USSR, he professed amazement at how U.S. journalists who had exhibited cowardice when in the Soviet Union were posing as courageous lions of the press in the more congenial setting of the United States. I get the same feeling about the National Basketball Association. The NBA poses as a beacon of woke liberalism when it comes to
»
October 8, 2019 — Scott Johnson
Britain’s Guardian reports on South Park’s mock apology to China in response to the regime’s censorship. The Guardian notes that the South Park crew has stepped up to show the NBA how it’s done: “South Park’s creators posted a statement on Twitter under the headline: “Official apology to China from Trey Parker and Matt Stone, which said: ‘Like the NBA, we welcome the Chinese censors into our homes and into
»
October 7, 2019 — Scott Johnson
I learn from the 10-point guide to today’s Wall Street Journal by Matt Murray that “The NBA’s carefully plotted strategic emphasis on China was jolted off course by a tweet Friday night” (WSJ story posted here). Murray’s email newsletter condenses the WSJ story: The league scrambled to contain an escalating crisis in China after Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey tweeted support for Hong Kong’s mass protests against Beijing’s authoritarian
»
