The US-China Chasm
December 8, 2020
The Good News
- Covid blood test can predict patient survival chances (Guardian)
- In rare show of solidarity, 14 key nations commit to protect oceans (NatGeo)
“And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected.” — John Steinbeck
“An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.” ― Winston S. Churchill
“Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you. ” ― Pericles
Trying Times For US-China Relations
(Daisuke Suzuki via Getty Images)
Back in October, Axios reported that the US Labor Department ranked China as the top country of origin for goods produced through forced labor. Following the presidential election, the news website reported that President Trump would be enacting a series of hardline policies on China in his final weeks in office, both to cement his legacy vis-a-vis the Communist country, and to make it politically untenable for President-elect Joe Biden to change course once he’s sworn in next January. Axios said Trump officials were planning to sanction or restrict trade with more Chinese companies, government entities, and officials for complicity in human rights violations in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, or for threatening US national security.
Last Wednesday, the administration announced that US Customs and Border Protection would be detaining shipments of cotton and cotton products originating from the Xinjiang region of western China, due to concerns over the use of forced labor. The area is home to about 11 million Uighurs, a predominately Muslim ethnic minority. Department of Homeland Security chief Ken Cuccinelli said: “The ‘made in China’ label is not just about the country of origin. It’s a warning label.”
On Thursday, Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said in a Wall Street Journal op-ed: “People’s Republic of China poses the greatest threat to America today, and the greatest threat to democracy and freedom world-wide since World War II.”
On Friday, it was the State Department’s turn. Secretary Mike Pompeo announced new visa restrictions on members of China’s ruling Communist party and “anyone else taking part in … propaganda or influence campaigns….” He also terminated five exchange programs with the People’s Republic of China (PRC), which he said were disguised as “cultural” exchanges, but are actually “fully funded and operated by the PRC government as soft power propaganda tools.”
The terminated programs include the Policymakers Educational China Trip Program, the US-China Friendship Program, the US-China Leadership Exchange Program, the US-China Transpacific Exchange Program, and the Hong Kong Educational and Cultural Program. They were part of the 1961 Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act, which Congress passed in the early days of the John F. Kennedy administration to enhance mutual understanding between the people of America and other countries. Pompeo said while other exchange programs remain mutually beneficial, the five that are being terminated provide “carefully curated access to Chinese Communist Party officials, not to the Chinese people, who do not enjoy freedoms of speech and assembly.”
Bet On The Bottoming Dollar
(Sefa Ozel via Getty Images)
- Business and financial journalists have been reporting on the dollar’s diminishing value for months, with suggestions for how investors should cope ranging from buying gold or keeping assets liquid, to getting a passport in case moving to another country becomes necessary. While that latter idea seems a bit over the top, Deutsche Bank says it’s true that the greenback is near its weakest level in over a year against at least 17 currencies, including eight of the G10 currencies.
- Major currencies like the euro, Australian and Canadian dollars, South Korean won, the Swiss franc, and Britain’s pound sterling have all strengthened to their highest levels in years against the dollar, which has shrunk by 13 percent since its peak last March. And while the dollar’s dive has helped rally stocks in emerging countries, those dependent on exports could see a slowdown in their growth due to their newly strong currencies. Export-oriented economies like the Eurozone and Japan are two that prefer weaker currencies, which make their products more attractive to foreign buyers. (The Balance, Axios)
Not Another Mysterious Illness…
- Over the weekend, a mysterious illness unrelated to COVID-19 put 450 people in the hospital and killed one person in the south-eastern coastal Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Symptoms included seizures, nausea, burning eyes, and foaming at the mouth. Health officials were looking into possible food or airborne poisoning or water contamination.
- But locals in Eluru, known as mosquito city, are blaming a massive mosquito-fogging campaign in the area. One resident remarked: “It seems the chemicals sprayed by authorities led to the disease.” Another tweeted that the incident was just the tip of the iceberg, revealing the government’s negligence and the deterioration of healthcare services in the state. (Guardian, Telegraph)
Additional World News
- In the heat of the moment: Earth has warmest November on record, may set hottest year milestone (WaPo, $)
- Chinese researchers quit U.S., while agents target Biden team (NBC)
- Former Hong Kong legislator says accounts frozen after he sought exile (CBC)
- A Revolutionary Change in Thailand (Foreign Affairs)
- AI’s in the sky: Nuclear scientist killed by satellite-controlled machine gun that “zoomed in” on his face, Iran says (CBS)
- How to Build a Global Abolition Movement (Vice)
- Forget Greenland, There’s a New Strategic Gateway to the Arctic (Foreign Policy).
- In Poland, Protests Over Abortion Ban Could Revolutionize Politics (NYT, $). Polish progressives are done being polite.
- Europe is starting to beat the pandemic’s surge. The U.S. is not. (WaPo, $)
- Brexit reaches its peak this week: Here’s what you need to know about Brexit this week (CNN)
- Polls hand Maduro total control in Venezuela (BBC)
- ‘It’s a free-for-all’: how hi-tech spyware ends up in the hands of Mexico’s cartels (Guardian)
COVID-19
- We Had the COVID-19 Vaccine the Whole Time (NY Mag, $)
- COVID-19 vaccine distribution is a huge supply challenge, from vials to freezers to keep it all cold (Vox)
- COVID-19 hospitalization rates show the virus is overwhelming the system (WaPo, $)
- As US average of daily cases nears 200,000, experts say ‘behavior and cold weather’ are behind COVID-19 surge (CNN)
- Biden Selects Dr. Rochelle Walensky To Head the CDC (NPR)
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The Fauci Effect
- Throughout the pandemic, President Trump tried his best to shun science and denigrate highly-respected medical professionals like Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The more Fauci tried to speak truth to the American public, the more Trump tried silencing him.
- Then something curious happened — record numbers of people started applying to medical schools. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), the number of applicants is up 18 percent this year over 2019, driven by the example of medical workers and public health figures like Fauci. Stanford University School of Medicine reports a 50 percent jump in the number of applications — 11,000 for 90 seats. At Boston University School of Medicine, applications are up 27 percent — to 12,024 for about 110 seats. Medical school admissions officers have started calling this the Fauci Effect.
- “It’s unprecedented,” said the AAMC’s senior director for student affairs and programs. He describes the rise in applications as comparable to another response to a traumatic moment in American history: the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. There was a huge increase in the number of men and women entering the military after that tragedy. (NPR)
MAGA Mob Makes A Scene In Michigan
- Last Saturday in Valdosta, Georgia, President Trump held his first rally since the election. Reporters who attended had to enter ‘RiggedElection!’ as the WiFi password for the ‘Make America Great Again’ network. The same day that Trump was whipping up supporters at the Valdosta rally, saying things like “We will still win it,” an angry mob in MAGA gear was chanting “Stop the Steal” outside Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s house.
- Benson said she had just finished decorating her Detroit home for Christmas with her 4-year-old son when she became aware of people shouting obscenities through bullhorns outside. The slogan they were chanting has galvanized pro-Trump conspiracy theorists who continue to claim, without evidence, that the 2020 election was rigged against the president. Trump and his allies still fan the flames of outrage, spewing debunked claims of rampant voter fraud, faulty voting machines, and election misconduct, despite mounting losses in court. (Vice)
Additional USA News
- How to avoid the double-dip: Congress Must Act Now to Provide an Economic Bridge to the Coronavirus Vaccine (New Yorker, $)
- Biden’s ambassador to the GOP (Politico)
- The Suburbs Helped Elect Biden. Can They Give Democrats the Senate, Too? (NYT, $)
- Rudy Giuliani’s positive coronavirus test causes Arizona legislature to shut down (WaPo, $). Maskless Rudy leaves lawmakers taskless.
- Trump Administration Declines to Tighten Soot Rules, Despite Link to Covid Deaths (NYT, $)
- An astronomical loss: The economic loss of Puerto Rico’s Arecibo Observatory is already being felt. It’s also very personal (CNN)
- Millions of hungry Americans turn to food banks for first time (PBS)
- Zoom and gloom: How to help millions of kids losing an education because of COVID-19 (USA Today)
- Homophobic confrontation ignites strong feelings in Wyoming (AP)
- NYPD Cops Cash In on Sex Trade Arrests With Little Evidence, While Black and Brown New Yorkers Pay the Price (ProPublica)
- Search barred: Google Employees Call Black Scientist’s Ouster ‘Unprecedented Research Censorship’ (NPR)
Thinking Inside The Box
- Reginald James “Reg” Spiers was a 22-year-old Australian athlete who hoped to compete at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964. Unable to make the Australian Olympic team in the summer of 1963/64, he traveled to England in an attempt to qualify during the English summer. By season’s end, he was both unsuccessful and broke. Spiers wanted to get back to Australia in time for his 1-year-old daughter’s birthday, but he was stranded in London with no money for a plane ticket.
- He knew about airline policy to collect cash-on-delivery of freight cargo — like they did all the time with animals — and figured if it worked for animals it could work for him. He enlisted the help of a fellow athlete to build a man-sized wooden crate, stocking it with some food tins, a flashlight, a pillow and blanket, and two plastic bottles, one for water and one for urine.
- To avoid suspicion the crate was labeled as a load of paint and addressed to a fictitious Australian shoe company. Although Spiers wanted to make it to Adelaide, he chose to be flown into Perth, a smaller airport. So he got in the box and was loaded onto an Air India plane bound for Australia. His incredible 63-hour journey covering some 13,000 miles ultimately caused a media storm down under.
- Spiers’ post-athletic career was just as racy. He became a drug smuggler, received a ten-year prison sentence in 1981, but jumped bail with his girlfriend and went to Europe. In 1984 he was arrested in Sri Lanka while traveling on a fake French passport. In 1987, he was sentenced to death, but successfully appealed, instead spending five years in an Australian prison. In 2011, his daughter Jane was convicted on drug charges and spent six years in prison. In 2014, a book about his adventures was published. It’s called Out of the Box: The Highs and Lows of a Champion Smuggler. (BBC)
Additional Reads
- Who Will We Be When This Is All Over? (Wired). The post-pandemic possibilities.
- How empathy and creativity can re-humanise videoconferencing (Aeon)
- A Deep Dive on philanthropy (Axios)
- The embryo era: America expected a pandemic baby boom. It got an egg-freezing one instead. (WaPo, $)
- Would you trust a ‘virtual nanny’ with your kids? (BBC)
- The Children of Pornhub (NYT, $)
- KFC and Lifetime Made a Sexy ‘Movie’ about Fried Chicken (The Cut). At this point, it’s all gravy.
- Bob Dylan sells entire song catalog to Universal Media Group (NBC)
- He Designed A Smartwatch App To Help Stop His Dad’s Nightmares (NPR)
- Step aside, supercomputers: Chinese photonic quantum computer demonstrates quantum supremacy (Phys)
- Linguistics study: Why the brain is uniquely attracted to facts (Inverse)
- Factory-farmed salmon: does it make sense to grow fish in indoor tanks? (Guardian)