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UK and US Isolated to Five-Eyes Community

by Oui Sat Nov 19th, 2022 at 10:00:43 AM EST

Sunak China policy is aligned with the US and our allies Canada and Australia.

A promising young leader coming from the British Tory community ... tackling the economic and foreign policy mess left by his predecessors building on the promises of Brexit.


United Kingdom: Sunak launches first warning to China, Confucius Institutes banned | Oct. 26, 2022 |

Present in many universities across the UK, the institutes spread the knowledge of Mandarin but, according to British intelligence, they also serve as a cover for the activities of the Chinese Communist Party.

The new UK government is ready to enact a ban on the presence of Confucius Institutes in British universities. According to the newspaper "The Telegraph", according to which this measure would serve to honor one of the promises made by the new premier Rishi Sunak during the electoral campaign for the leadership of the Conservative Party last summer. On that occasion, Sunak had stated that he would close the 30 Chinese cultural institutes, calling China "the greatest threat to the United Kingdom and the security and prosperity of the world in this century". These institutes, which are based in several universities across the UK, were set up to offer culture and language courses to international students but are also believed by the Chinese Communist Party's intelligence services to crack down on critical views on Beijing.

Attack on China has been a part of true Tory dogma for a long time ... how can we please the far+right wing of Conservative elites. Building fascism.

What Are Chinese 'Confucius Institutes' And Why Rishi Sunak Wants To Ban Them In UK | The Outlook - July 26, 2022 |

Confucius Institutes: The CCP in British Universities

Following the lead of UK's Henry Jackson Society ... search EuroTrib for its philosophy.

Khodorkovsky - The Interpreter - Henry Jackson Society (UK)

A warning word by Colman @BooMan in November 2005 ...

Via a commentator on dKos, I came across this little house of horrors:

    The Henry Jackson Society is a non-profit organisation that seeks to promote the following principles: that liberal democracy should be spread across the world; that as the world's most powerful democracies, the United States and the European Union - under British leadership - must shape the world more actively by intervention and example; that such leadership requires political will, a commitment to universal human rights and the maintenance of a strong military with global expeditionary reach; and that too few of our leaders in Britain and the rest of Europe today are ready to play a role in the world that matches our strength and responsibilities.

Their "principles" include forceful democratisation, an emphasis on military power, "the importance of unity between the world's great democracies, represented by institutions such as NATO, the European Union and the OECD, amongst many others"

    Cambridge, 11th March 2005

    The pursuit of a robust foreign policy was one of Henry ‘Scoop' Jackson's most central concerns. This was to be based on clear universal principles such as the global promotion of the rule of law, liberal democracy, civil rights, environmental responsibility and the market economy. The western policies of strength and human rights, which later hastened the collapse of the Soviet dictatorship, owed much to Jackson's example. The fundamental and enduring values of the modern democratic world eventually prevailed.

    Yet perhaps we were too complacent during the immediate post-Cold War period. New threats to the very essence of liberal democracies challenged our resolve. Our failures in the former Yugoslavia (especially Bosnia) were more than just moral. Through their impact on the credibility of our international institutions, such as NATO and the EU, they had a profound effect on the national interests of western powers.

    These fiascos showed that we had to engage, robustly and sometimes preventatively. The early interventions in Kosovo and Sierra Leone, although imperfect, provide an appropriate model for future action. But modernisation and democratisation often does not require a military solution. For example, the European Union has been instrumental in expanding its democratic `Grand Area' on the continent since the fall of the Iron Curtain. So has NATO, through the process of eastern enlargement, and various initiatives engaging the Soviet successor states.

    We believe, therefore, that Henry Jackson's legacy is as relevant today as his policies were during the Cold War; indeed, perhaps it is even more important than at any time previously.

Their list of signatories is interesting: their list of patrons reads like a most-wanted list.

    International Patrons of The Henry Jackson Society

    Bruce P. Jackson -- President, The Project for Transitional Democracies
    Robert Kagan -- Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
    William Kristol -- Editor, The Weekly Standard
    Vytautas Landsbergis -- Former President of Lithuania
    Clifford May -- President, Foundation for the Defence of Democracies
    Michael McFaul -- Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution; Senior Advisor, National Democratic Institute
    Joshua Muravchik -- Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute
    Richard Perle -- Former American Assistant Secretary of Defence
    General Jack Sheehan -- Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic

Neocons: send 50,000 more soldiers to Baghdad to save Bush's legacy | by Jerome a Paris on Nov 12th, 2006 |

Robert Kagan and William Kristol get the red carpet treatment in tomorrow's Financial Times (Europe's main business paper), and get to publish a lengthy op-ed piece there suggesting that Iraq is still winnable, and basically acting as if the election this week had never taken place.

John McCain warmongering was the worst, but Joe showed no courage and voted for the Iraq invasion of March 2003.

Arrogant power: Rome and the US

Banging his head on the wall .. Roman Emperor Augustus and Germania:

”Give me back my legions!” Rome's most humiliating defeat -- and a lesson for America

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So the extremists of 2005 that got the Western alliance to invade sovereign states under George Bush and Dick Cheney has become mainstream today. How gullible society has become in 2022.

Even the Greens have become a welcome arm of the neoconservatives and Jacksonites. A new generation ...

I could imagine Colman would be banned today, a society so dogmatic and censoring free thinkers it has become the biggest danger leading the West to more wars and self-destruct. Not only crypto currency and Twitter is imploding, so is the fabric of society by the orgy of nationalism. A train wreck in slow-motion.

Josep Borrell

The present EU Commission members are unfortunately all part of the problem, not the solution ... digging deeper in the quagmire. See my recent disrupt on Josep Borrell, a Spaniard who would fit well in the profile of the Henry ’Scoop’ Jackson Society.

Spaniard Borrell's Fascist Gaffe Us vs Them

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Long read ...

Geopolitics: The Geography of International Relations

On September 11, 2001, nineteen al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked two airliners, crashing them into the New York City World Trade Center and claiming 2,977 victims. A third hijacked plane crashed into the Pentagon building a few minutes later, killing 125 people. Washington's immediate reaction to the bombings was to declare war against the Afghan-based terrorists who were sheltered by the Taliban regime. This war began on October 7, 2001, with air bombing and special strike-force actions.

These attacks exposed the vulnerability of the country that had become the world's sole superpower following the breakup of the Soviet empire in 1989. The bombings triggered a series of developments that have led to geopolitical shifts that have affected the relationships among states and the balance of power in the world.

Hierarchical Order of Power

Pundits have debated whether the new century is destined to become the Chinese era or whether the United States will retain its global dominance. Recently, this debate faded from the public agenda as it became plain that both countries have exhibited substantial weaknesses along with their inherent strength. The United States is beset by war weariness, economic problems, and political dysfunction. China has failed to match its economic power with com- mensurate military strength, and its economic growth, overly dependent upon exports, has slowed down. Its repressive Communist regime also has failed to be embraced as a model by other nations of the world.

Instead of a world ordered by superpowers, an international geopolitical system that is emerging is polycentric and polyarchic. It is built on a hierarchical combination of great and regional powers. The major powers are first-order states with the capacities and ambitions to expand their influence beyond the regions within which they are located. Competing with major powers are the regional powers, or second-order states. Their geopolitical reach is regionally confined. The United States, China, the European Union, Russia, and Japan are major powers. Iran, Turkey, Australia, and South Africa are representative examples of regional powers. India and Brazil are at an intermediate stage. While their reach currently is regional, they have the potential to become major powers. In time, they gain enough strength and ambition to try to influence affairs throughout their regions by the application of military and/or economic muscle. Examples are Iran's actions within Iraq and Ethiopia's in Somalia.

A third order of states has also arisen--those with unique ideological or cultural capacities to influence their neighbors. Examples include Cuba and North Korea, whose military power is maintained by ideological rigor. Ukraine derives its third-order status from playing off its two adjoining major powers, Russia and the EU. Fourth-order states are generally incapable of applying pressure upon their neighbors, and those of the fifth order depend upon outside sustenance for survival.

This hierarchical system is dynamic, not static. States such as Nigeria and Venezuela, once regional powers, have lost these positions. Nigeria is torn apart by the conflict between its Christian south and Muslim north so that it possesses little geopolitical energy to influence its neighbors.

Three pillars of evil exploited by political parties to exert power in society ...
#anti-Semitism  #Islamophobia  #xenophobia

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A former British ruler as a guest in the former British Empire speaking his mind ...

The Guardian Exclusive: Ex-PM said to have described China as 'coercive autocracy' in speech to Asian businesspeople and diplomats

Johnson's remarks came the evening before Sunak was due to hold a surprise meeting with Xi Jinping

at the G20 summit in Bali. The talks were cancelled, but would have made him the first UK prime minister to meet the Chinese premier in person for almost five years.

Downing Street had said Sunak wanted to recalibrate the UK's relationship with Beijing by trying to have a new "frank and constructive" dialogue. But it was interpreted by wary Tory hawks as a thawing of relations between Britain and the Asian superpower, after Liz Truss's more overtly hostile approach.

According to the former prime minister's spokesperson, he told the audience: "Let's look at Russia and China. The two former communist tyrannies in which power has once again been concentrated in the hands of a single ruler. Two monocultural states that have been traditionally hostile to immigration and that are becoming increasingly nationalist in their attitudes.

"Two permanent UN security council members that back each other up and enable each other and which are willing to show a candid disregard for the rule of international law, and two countries that in the last year have demonstrated the immense limitations of their political systems by the disastrous mistakes they have made."

One guest at the Singapore dinner told the Guardian: "Boris was typically funny and charming but he was also pretty belligerent in his criticism of a bunch of foreign governments, especially China and Russia, which he described as coercive autocracies. In Britain it would have been absolutely fine to single out China. But in Asia it wasn't."

Another added: "Boris was very, very critical. The speech was pretty shocking. People clearly people felt uncomfortable. He used very undiplomatic language about China, at a conference in Asia. A former British foreign secretary and prime minister should have known better."

Did anyone miss the entertainment by BoJo? 😂

How much 💰 did Mike pay Boris for this shit show? Bloomberg running for president as a Democrat? America and a one-party system with two right wings.

I'm afraid in the near future the only bit of China Trudeau can visit is the island of Chiang Kai-shek Taiwan, the former Dutch Formosa.


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Treating poor migrants as political slaves ... just horrific as Europe follows suit.



'Sapere aude'
by Oui (Oui) on Sat Nov 19th, 2022 at 10:45:02 AM EST
This is an excellent summary of the issue and still not resolved. Discussion on Dutch news is to abandon international agreements or just disregard them. Take an example to Macron and France ... or Denmark or Italy or the Visegrád Four group setting the stage for new "EU" policy and shredding the Schengen Accords.

Dutch coalition government split over asylum seeker policy | Reuters - April 16, 2015 |

Liberal Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Thursday sought to resolve a dispute within his centre-right coalition government over providing shelter to thousands of failed asylum seekers.

More meetings with the junior coalition partner Labour Party had been scheduled for Thursday afternoon after talks ran past midnight on Wednesday, but the discussions were postponed until Friday, the parties said. No explanation was provided.

The issue deeply divides the ruling parties and has the potential to trigger a political crisis. The government teetered on the verge of collapse late last year after a healthcare bill was blocked in the Senate.

Rutte's People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) does not want to provide basic food and shelter to undocumented, or failed asylum seekers because of concerns the policy would attract more migrants.

The left-of-centre Labour Party, which shares power with the VVD, backs a policy of "bed, bath and bread" for people in need, even if they have been refused asylum.

    A small nation of 17 million people, the Netherlands welcomed large numbers of migrants for decades after World War Two, mostly from Turkey and Morocco. But it has become less accommodating amid a public backlash over Muslim immigration and increasing stresses on the social welfare system.

[I take issue with this very poor composition on the issue of migrant workers. At the time of the EEC of six nations, the Dutch had a large manufacturing base for electronics (Philips with 100k employees), textiles in Twente and cigars in Brabant. To lower the cost of labor, companies hired foreign workers from Italy, Spain and Greece. All foreign employees did not acquire a residence permit and had a temporary work permit.

As the EU expanded, these migrants returned home as their local economies improved. Dutch employers took the next step through employment agencies in provincial hubs in Morocco and Turkey to hire unskilled laborers. Slowly the manufacturing moved out to the newly expanded EU countries to profit from much lower labor costs and social responsibility. The Moroccan and Turkish workers did not return, but invited family members to join them under principle of "family reunification". A single politician put failed policy on the agenda ... Pim Fortuyn. He was assassinated by a Bio-terrorist.

As the housing crisis increased, investment poured into corporate offices, financial center in Amsterdam and buildings for Rotterdam harbor. The free market principles created a lopsided geographical centers of employment. The problems become  isi le once crisis hit ... Internet in 2000, financial crisis 2008-09 and the double whammy today of the pandemic and Biden's war of choice in the Ukraine. Today there is a shortfall of one million homes.

Inequality is steadfast and the xenophobes reap big political gains in the power structure of The Hague. People suffer and the only growth is in food banks with support of the Red Cross. Recently the refugee camps in Ter Apel received medical support from Médecins Sans Frontières.]

There are between 10,000-20,000 illegal, or irregular migrants, in the Netherlands, Dutch media reported. The Ministry for Security and Justice was not available to comment.

The issue of how to treat asylum seekers resurfaced this week after a resolution on the matter was adopted by the Council of Europe, Europe's leading human rights body, which has been interpreted differently by the coalition parties.

"We are pleased with the (Council of Europe) resolution," Erin Green of the Conference of European Churches (CEC), which lodged the complaint against the Netherlands, said.

"It is our hope that this resolution will increase momentum toward a more generous implementation of the European Social Charter."

The charter is a Council of Europe treaty that guarantees social and economic human rights.



'Sapere aude'
by Oui (Oui) on Sat Nov 19th, 2022 at 12:16:13 PM EST
Werent the moroccan migrants signed directly on the spot by the car factories who needed lots of cheap unqualified workers?
by Oosterbeek on Sat Nov 19th, 2022 at 01:09:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]
History of immigration in the Netherlands

After the Second World War, the Netherlands was in ruins: all industry was destroyed, houses were devastated, and unemployment was sky-high. The country needed rebuilding and industrialisation. This reconstruction process led to an acute shortage on the labour market by the end of the 1950s and early '60s. Initially individual companies, but soon afterwards also the Dutch government, recruited workers with few qualifications from Southern Europe (especially Spain and Italy) to work in the new industrial sector. Many of these 'guest workers' (in Dutch: 'gastarbeiders') returned after a few years to their country of origin.

In the middle of the 1960s the Dutch economy boomed. The Dutch government decided to invite guest workers from Turkey and Morocco. Many (male) workers, often married with children, moved to the Netherlands. They hoped to earn a lot of money in a short time in order to be able to provide a better future for their family back home. 'Leaving to stay' was the paradox.

Pim Fortuyn, The Abrasive Populist Dutch Politician (2002)

An eco-maniac threw a custard pie ...

'Sapere aude'

by Oui (Oui) on Sat Nov 19th, 2022 at 02:05:24 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I m always surprised to see that there is zero degree of free speech when it comes to the narco states and the coffeeshops (now selling 'smart' stuff again such as musrooms..as if the psychatric structures in the EU were not already overwhelmed).
I have never seen a coffee shop employee speaking in english on camera about the 1 door business (allowed to sell but not to buy, no written laws). Neither did i see public records of the high level deals with the moroccan state (if indeed they exist).
by Oosterbeek on Sun Nov 20th, 2022 at 04:58:15 AM EST
[ Parent ]
A new diary ...

A rant (Nederlands gesproken)

Dutch gods are on coke

'Sapere aude'

by Oui (Oui) on Sun Nov 20th, 2022 at 04:19:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Feeding on populism after horrific wars in the Middle East

#ArabSpring #LibyaRegimeChange #SyriaAssadOut #SupportAlNusra #terror

'Sapere aude'

by Oui (Oui) on Sun Nov 20th, 2022 at 06:33:34 PM EST
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'Sapere aude'
by Oui (Oui) on Sat Nov 19th, 2022 at 08:29:03 PM EST
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Personal commitment by Mark Rutte today before the VVD National Congress ...

VVD Alumni: Frits Bolkestein - Neelie Smit-Kroes - Gerrit Zalm - Rita Verdonk - Ayaan Hirsh Ali - Geert Wilders

'Sapere aude'

by Oui (Oui) on Sat Nov 19th, 2022 at 01:49:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Previous diary, comment ...

Mark Rutte: Duress, Inequality & Solitude

'Sapere aude'

by Oui (Oui) on Tue Dec 6th, 2022 at 11:29:41 AM EST
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Businesses have a role to play in achieving global food security. This is what they can do | WEF |

Global Elite and its Clubs: The Case of Bilderberg Group

The dissertation offers the first multifaceted appraisal of post-Cold War power of Bilderberg Group. It came to balanced conclusions, namely that Bilderberg Group was and continues to be influential, but its power decreases. This trend is documented on two areas of which Bilderberg Group cares most - European integration and transatlantic ties. The argument is that both Brexit and TTIP's failure imply that Bilderberg Group no longer fulfils its role of uniting the Western countries.

The dissertation introduces a new research agenda, as it conducts the first robust test of the hypothesis that Bilderberg Group can serve as career elevator. It shows that there are dozens of politicians who first attended Bilderberg conference(s) and later became key ministers, prime ministers, presidents and heads of international organizations like EU, NATO, IMF or UN. These findings add new provocative dimension to understanding of the processes of political elite recruitment and networking.



'Sapere aude'
by Oui (Oui) on Sat Nov 19th, 2022 at 01:50:39 PM EST
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'Sapere aude'
by Oui (Oui) on Wed Nov 23rd, 2022 at 11:11:56 PM EST


'Sapere aude'
by Oui (Oui) on Tue Dec 6th, 2022 at 11:45:31 AM EST


'Sapere aude'
by Oui (Oui) on Sat Dec 17th, 2022 at 03:04:03 PM EST


'Sapere aude'
by Oui (Oui) on Sun Dec 18th, 2022 at 10:45:27 AM EST


'Sapere aude'
by Oui (Oui) on Sun Dec 18th, 2022 at 10:46:29 AM EST

Awaab Ishak: Widespread failings at mould death housing group | BBC News |

'Sapere aude'

by Oui (Oui) on Sun Dec 18th, 2022 at 10:47:14 AM EST
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'Sapere aude'
by Oui (Oui) on Sun Dec 18th, 2022 at 10:48:49 AM EST
[ Parent ]
An artist who bought a flat in a council-owned block faces homelessness
after his local authority demanded he pay nearly £98,000 towards building repairs.
[...]
Leaseholders on other local authority estates, including former tenants who bought their home from the council, could face similar bill shock as councils rush to renovate poor-quality housing to meet the government's decent home standards. Campaigners say the system makes a mockery of right to buy legislation, which helps council tenants onto the property ladder, and risks bankrupting low-income residents who buy local authority-owned properties because they are more affordable.

Since council tenants are not liable for maintenance and repair costs, the bill for entire blocks is divided between any leaseholders and the local authority freeholder. Unlike residents in privately owned buildings, local authority leaseholders have no rights to decide the scope and timing of proposed works or to request comparative quotes from contractors. Local councils often sign long-term agreements with private contractors who do not have to tender for each project, leading to accusations of bribery and overcharging.
[...]
According to critics, leaseholders are footing the bill for years of underinvestment in council housing stock. Harris's building was in serious disrepair, despite the lease stipulating cyclical maintenance every five years. In 2015, he took out a loan after receiving a £20,000 repair estimate from Lambeth council, but the works were never undertaken.

Four years later, he was notified of the £98,000 charge for the same work, including a new roof and windows....

by Cat on Mon Dec 19th, 2022 at 12:18:56 AM EST
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