Video: Four birthday boys celebrated birthday together on Tuesday July 13 2021
https://vimeo.com/574798096
https://youtu.be/veq1hECvNck
https://www.facebook.com/100036400039778/posts/528672075022789/?d=n
Americans call for halt to China war 美國人呼籲停止對華戰爭 By NURY VITTACHI 10 Jul 2021
Advocacy groups unite for peace – LARGE NUMBERS OF AMERICANS are joining the call for the United States administration to stop its increasingly hostile attacks on China. 倡導團體為和平團結起來——大量美國人正在加入呼籲美國政府停止對中國日益敵對的攻擊的呼籲。
More than forty advocacy groups wrote a joint letter to President Joe Biden and members of the US Congress on Thursday last week, demanding a halt to the war-focused aggression against the developing East Asian nation.
SCIENTISTS, FEMINISTS AND CHURCHES
The groups include scientists, feminists, global justice campaigners, churches, environmentalists, lawyers, and others, from major activist organizations such as Friends of the Earth to research groups such as the Institute for Policy Studies.
The signatories say they “are deeply troubled by the growing Cold War mentality driving the United States’ approach to China—an antagonistic posture that risks undermining much-needed climate cooperation.”
The letter is second in a series in which advocacy groups denounce the campaign against China, led by the United States and supported particularly by the right-wing leaderships of the UK and Australia, backed by Western and Australian media.
The writers of this letter and an earlier one represent literally millions of voices — and say their message is crucial. The major challenges facing the world today, from the pandemic to the climate crisis, call for increased global co-operation, not polarization and the cultivation of hate, they argue.
FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE, NOT PEOPLE
Two issues in particular have US advocacy groups worried. One consists of the steps being taken to prepare Western allies to start a war against China, and the other is the corresponding lack of attention towards fixing potentially devastating challenges such as the climate crisis.
This letter follows an earlier one, sent by a coalition of more than 65 groups (below), condemning Republicans and Democrats equally for their attempts to paint China as the enemy.
“Worryingly, both political parties [in the US] are increasingly latching onto a dangerously short-sighted worldview that presents China as the pivotal existential threat to U.S. prosperity and security,” said the letter, sent to the US administration in May from Win Without War and other advocacy groups.
DESTABILIZATION ON CHINA’S EDGES
A number of commentators have said that America’s extremely well-organized and financed destabilization operations around the edges of China, particularly in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Xinjiang, and now Afghanistan, is preparation for war on China.
“Hong Kong is a political football” being used “cynically” by the United States, said Oscar-winning movie director Malcolm Clarke at a forum organized by this magazine in May. The process is facilitated by excessively negative reporting on the Chinese and Hong Kong governments from the Western media with the aim of “manufacturing consent” for war against the developing country.
US spends more on military than next 10 countries combined. Picture by Joel Rivera-Camacho/ Unsplash
Some say that the real purpose of the drive towards war is the need to steer more money into the military.
Staff at the Institute for Policy Studies said their research showed that the U.S. already currently spends more on its military than the next 10 countries combined, with the gap is set to widen with recent increases.
WAR PLAN MAY BE SERIOUS
Is it just a ruse to win more cash for the military? It’s true that Biden has called for an astonishing US$753 billion military budget for fiscal year 2022.
But the plan for war may be entirely serious, others point out. The U.S. Air Force indicated that it plans to buy fewer small-diameter bombs in favor of spending heavily on “state-of-the-art, long-range weapons that are better-suited for operations in the Pacific,” according to Military.com.
These are clearly for use against China, military specialists say.
Link to military publication is here.
The May letter to the US administration said that “the level of demonization and outdated Cold War thinking” threatens to fuel an arms race “and risks escalation towards a predictably devastating conflict.” The writers added that “it also undermines the human rights agenda.”
Noteworthy is the depth and breadth of the campaign to call for a halt to the US-led hostility to China. Signatories of one or both letters include: The Union of Concerned Scientists, Democracy For America, Physicians for Social Responsibility, The Committee for a SANE U.S.-China Policy, U.S. Campaign for Burma, Veterans For Peace, the Western States Legal Foundation and scores of other groups.
CLIMATE SHOULD BE GLOBAL FOCUS
The other main across-the-board issue for the campaigners is the climate. War against China is being used to deliberately distract the world’s attention from much more urgent issues, the group says.
A fake issue is being used to distract us from a real one, campaigners say. Picture by Mika Baumeister/ Unsplash
Karen Orenstein of Friends of the Earth U.S. called for an attitude change: “Rather than the current nationalistic, xenophobic castigation of China by the United States, the climate crisis calls for mutual recognition of humanity, cooperation, and solidarity across the globe.”
The Western media’s labelling of China as the world’s biggest polluter is deceptive, several participating groups pointed out.
“The United States, which is significantly wealthier than China, is the biggest carbon polluter in history—responsible for a staggering one quarter of all emissions since the start of the Industrial Revolution,” the recent plea to President Biden says. “China’s historical emissions are half those of the United States—and emissions per capita in China are less than half the levels of the United States.”
The writers call for action against climate change to be conducted jointly – and fairly.
“The steps each country takes to address this global crisis should be commensurate with historical responsibility and wealth. In other words, the U.S. can and must do much more than China if the world is to equitably stay on course to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.”
Voices for fairness: Left to right: Karen Orenstein, Basav Sen, Tobita Chow, pictures from their respective organizations
Basav Sen, director of the Climate Policy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies, said: “An aggressive U.S. posture towards China deflects attention from the large degree to which the U.S. is responsible for global crises today, key among them the climate crisis.”
U.S. politicians have long scapegoated China as an excuse to avoid global climate commitments, the letter continues. From the U.S. refusal to join the Kyoto Protocol to the country’s efforts to water down the Paris agreement, American demonization of China has always been a major barrier to progress in global climate talks.
FEEDING DEFENSE BUDGETS
Tobita Chow, director of Justice is Global, noted that “escalating U.S.-China tensions will feed defense budgets and dangerous nationalist politics, at the expense of urgently needed climate investments.”
Brandon Wu, director of policy and campaigns at ActionAid USA, agreed. “Escalating U.S. aggression against China, in both rhetoric and policy, will do nothing to lead us towards climate justice for all people in all countries.”
Chow referenced President Biden’s recent comments that America must “win the 21st century”.
“Leaders in both parties in the U.S. have prioritized competition with China over who will ‘win the 21st century,'” Chow said. “But if we fail to work together to address the climate crisis, future generations will have nothing left to ‘win.'”
This report includes reporting by Kenny Stancil of CommonDreams.org, who sourced quotes from Karen Orenstein, Basav Sen, Brandon Wu and Tobita Chow.
Disclosure: The present writer used to be on the board of Friends of the Earth Hong Kong
FREE COVID19 vaccines at Fort Street Mall in Downtown Honolulu, Hawaii USA on Tuesday July 13, 2021 10:00am to 1:00pm 2021 年 7 月 13 日星期二 上午10:00 至下午1:00 在美國夏威夷檀香山市中心的 Fort Street Mall 提供免費新冠病毒疫苗.
https://vimeo.com/574691656
https://youtu.be/HCCZMocz5PY
https://www.facebook.com/100036400039778/posts/528505635039433/?d=n
With US own horrible human rights in focus, US repeats fake ‘genocide’ claim against China 以美國自己可怕的人權為焦點，美國重複對中國的虛假“種族滅絕”指控 by Liu Xin Jul 13 2021
“It is a joke… lie of the century!” The latest US move listing China as one of six countries in the world that are “witnessing” or are at risk of “atrocities and genocide” was ridiculed by the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson. “開個玩笑……世紀謊言！” 美最新將中國列為世界上“目擊者”或面臨“暴行和種族滅絕”風險的六個國家之一，被中國外交部發言人調侃, 賊喊捉賊!
Experts said that the report is more like a “guidebook” for US politicians to initiate anti-China bills and to coordinate allies for the campaign to further smear China, especially when their own infamous human rights records are being further scrutinized at the 47th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council. Observers also warned the report may signal US’ inciting more malicious actions against China over Xinjiang issue.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday released an annual report on genocide and atrocities prevention, which claimed to “provide direct detailed accounts of atrocities” taking place in six countries. Listed were Myanmar, Ethiopia, China, Syria, Iraq and South Sudan. It accuses China of “committing genocide and crimes against humanity” against Uygurs and other minorities in its Xinjiang region.
The annual report is mandated by bipartisan legislation known as the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act, and was approved in 2018. This is the first time the annual report listed countries directly with detailed information. The 2020 report, released by the State of Department on August 7, 2020 also mentioned China’s Xinjiang for the “human rights crisis.”
The US has upgraded its accusations against China over Xinjiang topics to meet its current strategic purposes. The new content and countries listed in this year’s report of the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act would help US lawmakers who are seeking hints for new bills and proposals to the president, Zhu Ying, a professor on international laws from Southwest University of Political Science and Law told the Global Times.
“The report is a guide-book for further anti-China actions. The new content in this report are like political lobbying materials offered to political elites to suggest draft bills, and with the politicians’ talking about these topics in the media or to the public, the increased attention will create momentum. Moreover, more bills related to China’s Xinjiang may be brought forward by US politicians, offering a legal basis for administrative departments to impose sanctions,” Zhu said.
The US annual report also listed sanctions imposed by the US over Xinjiang issue and Blinken told media on Monday they will use all the tools at their disposal to “generate coordinated international pressure and response.”
In response to the US move, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at a routine press conference on Tuesday, “I want to tell you a joke. The US wrote in a report that its government will defend and protect the human rights of all people of the world.”
Zhao said the US’ move is “ridiculous and with its own notorious human rights record, instead of correcting its own problems, some people in the US always want to point fingers on others and a report made under this logic is “waste paper.”
“I want to tell you another joke. The US has smeared China for ‘committing genocide’ and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang. This is the biggest lie of the century,” Zhao said, noting that when talking about genocide, it suits the US perfectly.
“Hyping the issue, launching propaganda wars, upgrading accusations and kidnap international opinion… we saw the US play these tricks when it beat the war drum before invading Iraq. Its move has no legal basis in international law and violates international orders,” Zhu said.
Zhu noted that genocide and committing atrocities are serious crimes and there are complete and mature procedures as well as international orders centered on the UN to verify and determine based on evidence whether one country has committed these crimes. No country has the right to make the judgment of “genocide,” nor can it use domestic laws to impose unilateral sanctions on others.
Narrative war on human rights
The annual report came against the backdrop of the ongoing 47th session of the UN Human Rights Council where battles on Xinjiang-related topics and developing countries’ efforts to oppose politicizing human rights by the US and Western countries have been intensified.
Wang Jiang, a distinguished research fellow at the Institute for Frontier Regions of China, Zhejiang Normal University, described the annual report as the latest US move to coordinate its allies for actions at the UN human rights body as well as to keep the momentum of the anti-China campaign.
The US and Western countries who are hyping Xinjiang issues are facing the embarrassing situation of having no solid evidence and this is why US released the report to link the words “genocide” and “atrocities” to China at any time on any occasion, Wang said.
Illustration: Chen Xia/GT
Illustration: Chen Xia/GT
In contrast to the joint statement made by a small group of countries, including Canada, the US, the UK and Australia, which groundlessly accused China over Xinjiang related topics, a total of 67 countries expressed their support for China’s stance at the ongoing UNHRC.
Wang noted that by leading the campaign to smear China, the US and the West are poisoning the environment of the UN Human Rights Council and blocking communications on human rights between developing countries and developed ones.
“China and developing countries have to robustly defend themselves,” Wang said, referring to China’s criticism of Canada, Australia and the US for their notorious human rights records, including genocide against indigenous people, murdering civilians in overseas military missions and domestic systemic discrimination against minorities.
Experts on human rights in China see China and developing countries’ criticism against Western countries more as the efforts made to break the US and the West’s monopoly over discourse on human rights.
“For a long time, the US and Western countries have not reflected on their mistakes in history, have imposed their own human rights conception on other countries, wishfully think others would repeat their mistakes, and did not take developing countries’ useful advice to enrich the human rights content. Now more developing countries are voicing their opposition and taking actions to change the current system on human rights,” Zhu said.
Even though it is historically correct that Japanese were immigrants from China. But it is not politically correct to tell the world. IOC chief Bach calls Japanese people ‘Chinese’ 儘管日本人是來自中國的移民在歷史上是正確的。 但是，告訴世界在政治上是不正確的。 國際奧委會主席巴赫稱日本人為“中國人”.
Washington Post: Olympic-size gaffe in Tokyo: IOC chief Bach calls Japanese people ‘Chinese’ By Simon Denyer July 13, 2021
IOC President Thomas Bach, left, is greeted by Tokyo 2020 President Seiko Hashimoto during their meeting at the Tokyo 2020 headquarters on July 13, 2021 in Tokyo.
TOKYO — International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach added to his already shaky public image in Japan on Tuesday by inadvertently referring to the Japanese people as “Chinese” at his first public appearance since arriving in Tokyo last week.
“You have managed to make Tokyo the best-ever prepared city for the Olympic Games. This is even more remarkable under the difficult circumstances we all have to face,” Bach said at the headquarters of the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee, before making a slip of the tongue.
“Our common target is safe and secure games for everybody; for the athletes, for all the delegations, and most importantly also for the Chinese people — Japanese people,” Bach said.
Although Bach caught his mistake quickly and interpreters didn’t translate the gaffe into Japanese, it was quickly picked up by Japanese news outlets and sparked a backlash on social media.
Many Japanese blame Bach for, in their eyes, forcing Japan to press ahead with the Olympics in the midst of a pandemic and despite the risks — although the Japanese government has always stood behind the decision to push on with the Games.
It is not the first time Bach’s comments have struck a dissonant chord in Japan. He also inflamed public opinion in March by saying the Olympics will require a “great sacrifice” and then in May for praising the “great resilience and spirit” of the Japanese people and their ability “to overcome adversity.”
Both those remarks were seen by some as insensitive since most Japanese people did not want the Games to take place this year and were not willingly making a sacrifice.
Bach spent his first three days in quarantine at a five-star hotel in central Tokyo. Like most people entering for the Olympics, his movements are supposedly limited for the first 14 days.
Yet he is scheduled to travel to the western city of Hiroshima on Friday, and is due to visit the Peace Memorial Park and lay flowers at a cenotaph dedicated to victims of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing.
Two civic groups have raised objections to his visit, arguing the trip is politically motivated, taking advantage of the city’s efforts to promote world peace and “dishonoring” survivors of the bombing, Kyodo News reported. Critics also argue it is also inappropriate for him to travel from Tokyo when the capital is under a state of emergency designed to curb infections.
An online petition launched last week calling for the cancellation of Bach’s Hiroshima visit had received over 30,000 signatures as of Tuesday evening.
The Olympics are due to open July 23 and close Aug. 8. Overseas spectators were banned in March, and last week organizers also decided to bar domestic spectators from all but a handful of venues far from Tokyo, after another rise in coronavirus infections.
In another embarrassing incident, police in Tokyo said a two American and two British men working as electricians for a power company contracted to the Olympics had been arrested on suspicion of using cocaine.
Aggreko Events Services Japan said all four had been suspended from their posts pending a thorough internal investigation.
“Aggreko sincerely apologizes for the concern this has caused the public, the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the athletes and the many thousands of people dedicated to the safe and successful running of the Olympic and Paralympic Games,” it said in a statement.
Bach has always maintained he has complete faith in Japan to deliver a “safe and secure” Games. He ended his speech on Tuesday with a Japanese phrase: “Gambari mashou,” which translates as “Let’s do our best.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2021/07/13/olympics-bach-gaffe-japanese-chinese/
Afghanistan: America bombs, China builds 阿富汗: 美國轟炸(破壞)中國建造 by Bradley Blankenship
Editor’s note: Bradley Blankenship is a Prague-based American journalist, political analyst and freelance reporter. The article reflects the author’s opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.
U.S. President Joe Biden recently defended the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying that “the United States did what we went to do,” which he says was delivering justice to the perpetrators of 9/11 and to “degrade the terrorist threat” that Afghanistan poses. According to Biden, the U.S. achieved those objectives – and, moreover, the U.S. “did not go to Afghanistan to nation-build.”
Biden’s statement is merely a deflection from the fact that the U.S. actually had no clear plan in Afghanistan, though if anything suffered a humiliating defeat.
The lack of any clear plan is represented by the fact that objectives and priorities had constantly shifted through the war. For example, the fact that Osama bin Laden, the orchestrator of the 9/11 terrorist attack, was killed 10 years ago – and not even in Afghanistan, but in Pakistan. An account of the bin Laden operation by famous journalist Seymour Hersh actually shows unparalleled incompetence on the part of U.S. intelligence and special forces.
On top of this, while the U.S. had vowed to destroy the Taliban, which it had inadvertently helped usher into power beginning in the 1980s when it supported Islamic extremists fighting against the Soviet Union (including Osama bin Laden himself), the Taliban is anticipating a return to power.
It begs the question of what exactly the U.S. accomplished and the answer is, unsurprisingly, very little. As Biden admits, it certainly had nothing to do with nation-building, e.g., creating a stable political or economic situation in Afghanistan that could survive past the U.S. occupation.
This is certainly the rule and not the exception for America’s track record on foreign intervention because the U.S. and its myriad bureaucracies lack clear strategic aims, and if they do have them then often they contradict one another.
Perhaps then this is the most important implication of Biden’s speech: That any “foreign intervention” is “unwinnable” and reckless, as well as the fact that “nation-building” is impossible, because if the U.S. can’t do it then no one can. But is this actually true?
U.S. President Joe Biden leaves after an East Room event on troop withdrawal from Afghanistan at the White House in Washington, D.C., July 8, 2021.
It’s quite an important point since China is now looking for ways to help fill the vacuum left by the United States. This week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will be visiting Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, as well as attending a meeting of the foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a Eurasian regional security pact, and the SCO-Afghanistan contact group.
Some commentators are already spinning propaganda webs about what Chinese aid might look like, falsely saying any Chinese “intervention” is somehow qualitatively similar to whatever it was the U.S. was doing in Afghanistan for two decades.
For starters, no one is talking about Chinese troops occupying Afghanistan in the absence of American troops, which is the clear implication of some commentators. What they’re trying to do instead is perpetuate the myth of “Chinese imperialism,” which is the idea that China’s cooperation in developing nations is predatory, and then equate this to actual Western imperialism, which has been responsible for countless genocides and wars, on top of centuries of exploitation.
China’s intentions in Afghanistan are clear: Beijing wants to help Afghanistan rebuild, integrate into the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and join into a connected future in Eurasia – all with no political strings attached. That’s because this is already a win-win situation for both China, Afghanistan, the region and the entire world.
As the most important political and economic power in the region, China is logically positioned to help Afghanistan transition from U.S. occupation. At the same time, China understands through lived experience that economic investment that creates sustainable opportunities for people on the ground is important for peace and prosperity. A safe and prosperous Afghanistan that is not a playground for international terror networks would benefit everyone.
Already, the clarity (and simplicity) of such a plan stands far and away from America’s misdeeds in Afghanistan. Plus there’s also the obvious qualitative difference between Washington literally bombing a country for two decades and, on the other hand, Beijing helping Kabul join the most ambitious global infrastructure plan in history. To put it simply, China will not be the next empire to die in Afghanistan.
(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at opinions@cgtn.com.)
Native Americans Deni Leonard in San Francisco: So many foreign policy mistakes by Presidents from both parties. We have a psychopathic leadership that seeks hegemony at all costs. The American Indian Indigenous Tribes have been Interned on Indian Reservations for 160 years with no fiscal, economic, public policy healthcare or educational solutions. We remained in poverty until our Sovereign Rights to Self Government resulted in developing the gaming business creating more capital in one year equal to almost 50 years of U.S. fiscal support.
There was no political power, however, now, a Multi-Ethnic Coalition can began to make Political Change in this decade. Together, reaching out to each other, we can make that change.
Professor John Walsh in San Francisco: The US policy in the Middle East was definitely a failure for the US Imperial Elite. It kept them tied down there and delayed giving their full “attention” to China, now in the crosshairs. But it still remains stuck to that Middle East tarbaby.
BUT it was a great help to China -and Russia -since it distracted the Empire from focusing on China.
With all the damage done and more of its enemies left in ruins, the long US distraction was a great boon to Israel. And of course Israel calls the shots for a great deal of US foreign policy – certainly in the Middle East and North Africa.
This is one illustration of the damage that can be done to a nation’s interests, even evil ones as in the case of the US Empire, by foreign alliances which the Founders called “entangling alliances” and warned against.
The US faces the same problem with Taiwan which can move opinion in the US so that the US govt is pushed into dangerous positions. This will be remedied when Taiwan Province formally rejoins China.
NED/CIA next target is Cuba. Biden said job well done to the regime change protesters in the name of fake freedom democracy and human rights. 美國民主基金會/美中情局下一個目標是古巴. 美國拜登總統説做得好用假民主自由和民權來推動顏色革命. World Journal Newspaper San Francisco 美國加州舊金山世界日報 July 13 2021
Mandarin Video: [Taiwan Province experts come to speak] Afghanistan withdraws! See the truth about the American scumbag! Taiwan is afraid of being abandoned! Washington Post directly confronted the Biden administration! 18,000 Afghan people supported US military are being discarded, hanging out dry to live or die on their own.
Mandarin 普通話視頻Video: 【台灣省專家來開講】阿富汗撤軍! 看出美國渣男真相! 台灣恐被放棄! 華郵直接跟拜登政府對著幹! 1.8萬阿富汗民眾被用完即丟!@頭條開講 20210712
https://youtu.be/_W7k1u_mpng
來賓
桃園市議員 #黃敬平
國家暨國際事務專家 #賴岳謙
立法委員 #陳玉珍
台北市議員 #張斯綱
1.拜登真的棄台! 昔日友好不再! 華郵翻臉阿富汗撤軍並公開批評:大陸會認為美國不會為台灣站出來
2.拜登根本沒有想清楚撤軍的後果! 還在辯護撤軍決定! 更沒有為像是台灣或烏克蘭等盟友站出來的骨氣!
3.法新社 阿富汗塔利班周五宣稱 已經控制了全國領土的85% 398個縣已經有250個處於他們的控制之下
4.美軍將數千名阿富汗人玩殘即丟 遲遲不批簽證 1.8萬人曾為當地美軍工作 擔心自己遭塔里班報復
5.海地政府9日請求美國出兵海地維持秩序 遭拜登政府婉拒 紐時報導因為拜登現在只想縮減海外兵力規模!
6.沒現貨? 買不到? 即期品? BNT簽約永齡、台積電、慈濟買了買了! DPP臉綠了又被打紅了!
7.郭台銘PO文透漏這段時間我自知責任重大阻礙重重! 且並未有大陸的任何指導或干涉!
8.行政院想收割民間買疫苗的功勞! 一張圖露出政府的惡霸強勢! 還想堵住企業的嘴不讓他們說話!
9.還拿別人的疫苗想要討好洗腦12~18歲青年! 一劑都不留給企業! 企業員工只能苦等排隊!
10.陳時中:當時都沒有洽定最後價格! 無法預先了解各種價格的變化? 陳玉珍早就算給你看了還裝不知?
11.5.2%死亡率! 母數過小? 現在怪地方還是怪民眾? 到底是誰不普篩? 根本反向驗證有黑數!
What is the biggest lies people still believe? 人們仍然相信的最大謊言是什麼？US or Canada has rules of laws, freedom, democracy and human rights! 美國或加拿大有法治，有自由，有民主，有人權！
Video: The sorry State of Haiti 🇭🇹 today need to gives thanks to French Government and US Citibank. 遺憾的海地🇭🇹今天需要感謝法國政府和美國花旗銀行.
https://vimeo.com/574046998
https://youtu.be/peSrGMfhTxQ
https://www.facebook.com/100036400039778/posts/527699011786762/?d=n
Johnson Choi Biz