RAMIN MAZAHERI—I was watching the excellent concert movie Pink Floyd: Live in Pompeii recently – free, and in director’s cut format, thanks to Russia here. Really a lost treasure: progressive Pink Floyd, playing among the ruined psychedelic/pantheistic murals of Pompeii, interspersed with the usual Floydian universe-wide sense of space, history and humanity. It’s one of the great cinematic achievements of rock ’n roll.
OLLIE RICHARDSON—Essentially, everything of value has been sucked dry by the American imperialistic project known as the “EU”. The middle class has been demolished and replaced by a working class living on credit. The youth are being robbed of their future, and pensioners are being robbed of their legacy. The Macron regime’s ethos is simple: work more; be paid less. Starve infrastructure, but make timely investments into personal offshores. Privatise everything in the interests of pals, present it as “reforms”. In general, it’s a classic neoliberal hit job
GODFREE ROBERTS—When the re-education issue surfaced in February China invited the EU, the World Muslim Council and thirteen majority-muslim nations to send inspectors to Xinjiang. The World Muslim Council and twelve majority-muslim nations accepted, the EU refused. Turkey, too, refused and criticized China but then praised China and refused to sign the petition.
GODFREE ROBERTS—Though Trump charges that China infringes American IP rights, China’s payments of licensing fees and royalties for the use of foreign technology have reached $30 billion annually, nearly a four-fold increase over the last decade. Court filings show that China is a minor IP infringer and, domestically, China’s Progress on Intellectual Property Rights has been swift and substantial. Complaints about ‘forced’ contributions of IP to joint ventures are daft: companies sign them voluntarily to make profits and open new markets.