AMERICAN DUPLICITY

JEFF J. BROWN—Unfortunately, Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, still under 24/7 guard and house arrest in Vancouver, B.C., now for two years, doesn’t have Perry Mason as her defense attorney, nor does she live in that fictitious “above politics” and “justice is blind” world. Too bad Raymond Burr’s mesmerizing, B.C. screen bravado can’t magically free Ms. Meng from her Sino-Canadian-American geopolitical predicament. Where is Perry Mason’s slam dunk evidence when you need it?  Meng can only hope that it does not take 271 trips to the courtroom to finally get there. While nine TV seasons is a stretch, her whole potential U.S. extradition hearing could drag on for several more years, if it gets that far. 

DANNY HAIPHONG—Make no mistake, the New Cold War against China is a bipartisan project. Biden and Trump used a great portion of the 2020 presidential election campaign to chastise each other over who is softer on China . The bipartisan character of the New Cold War is most starkly represented by the recent passage of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in July. Both chambers of Congress agreed to counter the “China threat” with a two billion dollar increase in the defense spending budget from 738 billion to 740 billion for fiscal year 2021 . While Republican Congressmen Mitt Romney, Joshua Hawley, and Jim Inofe have been the most visible advocates of increased military hostilities toward China, the Democratic Party has done little to nothing to stem the tide of the New Cold War.

MARGARET KIMBERLEY—he sight of a Donald Trump incited mob storming the United States Capitol was a political turning point for this country. It confirmed the worst fears about the outgoing president and his supporters but ironically has also empowered right wing tendencies which are never far from the surface. There are cries for domestic terror legislation which is unneeded and which will be directed not at Trump’s “deplorables” but against the left. The event also amplified positive feelings about the incoming Joseph R. Biden administration, feelings based on hope and not on facts. 

There are many legitimate questions surrounding the January 6 Capitol riot, how it happened, who planned it, and what their motives were. In addition to investigating the incident, there must be a discussion about the absence of any effective left wing activism.

China has said it wants to cooperate with Joe Biden’s new US administration, while announcing sanctions against the “lying and cheating” outgoing secretary of state Mike Pompeo and 27 other top officials under Donald Trump. The move was a sign of China’s anger, especially at an accusation Pompeo made on his final full day in office that China had committed genocide against its Uighur Muslims, an assessment that Biden’s choice to succeed Pompeo, Anthony Blinken, said he shared. In a striking repudiation of its relationship with Washington under Trump, the Chinese foreign ministry announced the sanctions in a statement that appeared on its website as Biden was taking the presidential oath.

The 28 ex-officials and immediate family members would be banned from entering mainland China, Hong Kong or Macao, and companies and institutions associated with them restricted from doing business with China. China has imposed sanctions on US lawmakers in the past year, but targeting so many former and outgoing US officials on inauguration day was an unusual expression of disdain.

ERIC ZUESSE—When the U.S. invades a foreign country, or issues sanctions against a foreign country, it benefits some American investors, not only in corporations such as Lockheed Martin and ExxonMobil, but even in some foreign-headquartered corporations. America’s spending around half of the entire world’s military expenses gives an enormous competitive boost to America’s billionaires, which is paid for by all U.S. taxpayers. It takes away money that would otherwise go toward the rest of the U.S. population — people who might even become crippled or killed by their military service for the benefit of America’s billionaires. Marketing this military service to the public, as “national defense” (actually international aggression) — even at a time when no nation has invaded or even threatened to invade America after 1945 — is good PR for America’s wealthiest families, regardless of whether it’s of any benefit whatsoever to other Americans.