All Things Trump: Is it over yet?

[JimC]

You're not the only ones having an argy-bargy with China:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-18/ ... t/12897788

Australian officials have responded angrily after a Chinese diplomat in Canberra launched a fresh attack on the Federal Government, reeling off a long list of grievances and perceived slights.

Late Tuesday, Nine Newspapers reported that an anonymous Chinese official had provided it with a document laying out more than a dozen complaints against Australia.

Many of the allegations have been previously made by Chinese officials in recent months.

The document says Australia has unfairly blocked Chinese investment, spread "disinformation" about China's efforts to contain coronavirus, falsely accused Beijing of cyber-attacks, and engaged in "incessant wanton interference" in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Xinjiang.

Apparently we've been interfering with their wontons...

[Svartalf]

I so wish he had gotten a darwin award 52 years ago...

[rainbow]

Delusional:

In an effort to sustain the false narrative that President-elect Joe Biden did not win the election, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany claimed that the Trump Administration would continue to handle Covid-19 effectively over the next four years, as she hit back at governors across the country for making suggestions about limiting the number of attendees at Thanksgiving tables to control the surge in new cases.

https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-s ... &tab=trend

[Brian Peacock]

On 13 Oct China's National People's Congress endorsed a range of policies which aim to make China a totally self-sufficient economic entity by 2035 - including phasing out foreign investment. The idea that China might not want to our shit or need our money has Western Corporatism in a froth. Ullyot's complaints about China being a 'responsible global player' are really veiled but toothless warnings about market access because the usual imperialist tactics -- such as picking fight, bombing the infrastructure, and then charging the locals for the rebuild afterwards -- are a complete non-starter with China.

[Brian Peacock]

[Brian Peacock]

Dutch police question researcher who guessed Trump's Twitter password: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-55019858

[Tero]

Trump sent the tax on China crap we paid into farmers' pockets?

Guardian
“The money from these tariffs on China went into farmers’ pockets. Our small farm, we have 145 acres of cropland, had $18,000 of this China money,” he said. “Very few farmers that I know of were Biden supporters.”

Trump also benefited from a wider confidence in his handling of the economy, alongside tax cuts, which underpinned a belief in parts of rural America that he would be the best president to oversee the recovery after coronavirus.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... rters-iowa

[Joe]

Dutch police question researcher who guessed Trump's Twitter password: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-55019858

'MAGA2020!' - Never would have guessed that.

[Brian Peacock]

[pErvinalia]

On 13 Oct China's National People's Congress endorsed a range of policies which aim to make China a totally self-sufficient economic entity by 2035 - including phasing out foreign investment. The idea that China might not want to our shit or need our money has Western Corporatism in a froth. Ullyot's complaints about China being a 'responsible global player' are really veiled but toothless warnings about market access because the usual imperialist tactics -- such as picking fight, bombing the infrastructure, and then charging the locals for the rebuild afterwards -- are a complete non-starter with China.

Good luck without our dirt. How are they going to build anything without coal, iron, aluminium, uranium, etc?

[Brian Peacock]

Africa, and they own a good chunk already.

[pErvinalia]

"self-sufficient".

[Sean Hayden]

Africa, and they own a good chunk already.

Interestingly, during today's Washington Post podcast, The Future Reset: Ending Energy Poverty, Vera Songwe, United Nations Under Secretary-General, lost her connection when answering a question about China's involvement in Africa...

washingtonpost.com/video/washington-post-live/the-future-reset-ending-energy-poverty/2020/11/20/523dd923-33fd-4495-a4f1-8948de3bd7a4_live.html

...cardiovascular health to all

[Brian Peacock]

"self-sufficient".

You're being too literal. Imagine if China had free trade access to African commodity resources in exchange for, say, building telecoms infrastructure for free, or a socialised health system. So-called soft imperialism.

[JimC]

The other side of the coin is the large part of China's current economy which involves making cheap consumer goods to be sold in Western countries. If China decides to phase out imports from western countries (as it is doing at the moment with Australia, for political reasons), then a reasonable reaction from the west would be to buy cheap consumer goods from other countries (such as Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, India, Malaysia etc.). This could be via a "boycott made in China" campaign in the consumer sphere, or government actions such as quotas and tariffs. Of course, another answer is to reduce our purchase of cheap imported consumer goods for environmental reasons...