Ah yes, every year every grade gets a little bit easier, because everybody can just take what’s been done all the previous years.
I listened to this crap about “stealing knowledge” when Japan rose like a rocket among international economies, the song is always the same, and it’s completely ignorant of the fact that ALL rising economies did it on the knowledge of others. But probably none more than USA.
There is nothing wrong with that, and now USA has advanced far beyond the technologies they originally inherited from Europe.
And China is doing the same now, just like Japan did half a century ago.

Yes they are even stealing more advanced technologies from us than we have, I don’t know how they do it, it’s quite amazing. /s

I don’t see how China can be prevented in becoming a global leader in many or even most industries and technologies. The more important they are, the greater the likelihood that China will take the lead, because they will make greater effort.
As I see it, China has the economy, educational system, people and leadership to achieve it.
USA has better economy, but lacks in leadership, and can’t even maintain their infrastructure properly.
India has similar population, but is behind on economy and education.
Europe lacks in population and leadership, and is somewhat hampered by language barriers.

The only way to prevent Chinese dominance in the future, would be for USA, EU and allies to pull together. But there is zero political commitment in that direction, and with the election of Trump, I don’t see that changing for at least the next 4 years. And without it, China will soon become undisputed economic industrial and technological leader of the world, because they have ALL the necessary ressources, and make the necessary political decisions followed up with economic incentives.
China is doing this in every key area, while USA is trying politically only in ONE SINGLE AREA!! (chips)
There is no doubt who has the political leadership for the future.

PS: I am absolutely not a fan of China and their 1 party system, or their foreign policies ATM, they have become more aggressive in international politics and against their neighbors.
I am warning against letting China get too far ahead, just like we were many that warned about Trump. And probably with the same result.

For a terrorist state, this is a mild incident. But maybe it will help to show that Israel is not a lawful state. Making it easier to understand that they are not acting lawfully in many other areas.

I really hope the silence from allies is because we are waiting for the American election to be over.
All limitations on Ukraine need to be lifted, and USA has only supplied 10% of what they promised.

Ukraine has fought admirably, it’s time we help them to end this. Not just enable them to draw it out indefinitely.

Doesn’t have to be NATO, it could be bilateral agreements, like Russia did with North Korea.

OK, so show me this democracy, that had 30+ years f double digit economic growth.

I’m all for democracy, and will oppose anything else, but let’s not make our ideals cloud our vision of reality.
China is not succeeding despite or because of a 1 party rule, but because they’ve had economic policies that stimulated growth.

Economies prefer open markets and stability and predictability, whether it’s delivered by a democracy or not is probably irrelevant.
Democracies tend to be the best guarantee for the conditions that benefit economy, but China has done a very good job at it too.

Wow I didn’t even know that Russia tried to become a member of NATO back in 1954.
But now I’ve read a very cool article describing the history around it:
https://www.military.com/history/russia-once-tried-join-nato-alliance-formed-counter-threats-russia.html

And yes you are right, Hungary is sabotaging EU from within, to benefit Russia.

Rumor is that North Korea get what a volunteer would get.
I believe Russia recently raised that to the equivalent of $30k.
If true that is $300 million for Kim Jong Un. On top of all the crap equipment Russia has bought.
Not a lot for a normal country, but for a dictator who pocket most of it, it’s probably pretty nice.

Except Hungary can leave EU any time they wish. So please if you don’t want to stay, just get the fuck out Hungary. You won’t be missed Orban.

Also Taiwan is the remains of the original legal government of China. Which meant mainland China wasn’t recognized originally after the revolution.
Which was of course equally stupid.

Taiwan is an independent country, failing to recognize that is immoral. Pleasing China by recognizing their one China policy, is equally immoral, and will only serve to encourage China in their hostilities against Taiwan, exactly as was the case with Russia and Ukraine and other previous Soviet states.

Not Brexit by itself, the Brexit campaign and debate. I think it amplified the already existing xenophobia.

Yes I warned strongly against Brexit, explaining how it would be bad, and have no real benefits for UK.
I especially focused on bureaucracy being doubled, but just moved from EU to UK. Something that maybe wasn’t intuitive to realize, but has come obviously true. But I also warned about freedoms being removed, because UK were already walking the line within EU. And of course the obvious issues with economy. Everything I and others warned against has come true. Including the lack of benefits.
I think Brexit (edit:) campaign has also been a significant factor in making UK way more xenophobic.
It’s difficult to say exactly because of Covid, but I think the economy is actually hit a bit harder than I expected.

AFAIK UK used to be pretty open and tolerant towards commonwealth emigrants back in the 70’s?
IDK why it’s become so bad in the UK, but it seems they’ve gotten worse together with USA the past few decades.
This is an unfortunate trend that sweeps most of the world. USA, Europe, Russia, China and India. But UK and USA seem worse than most.

Ah yes, it’s even at the very top of the article. 🫣
AFAIK UK has unfortunately removed citizen protections since leaving EU.
So I have no idea what their rules are, only that they are worse than they used to be.

Maya signed a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA) making her unable to speak about the abuse she suffered.

I’m pretty sure such an NDA would be invalid here (EU), an NDA cannot legally prevent you from disclosing experiences of abuse regarding your own person.
But in USA UK the rules are made mostly for the rich, and in this case, the school is richer than the teacher.

In the exact same way as talking about anything else that is highly relevant to the life of people starting out on a life of adulthood and responsibility and personal freedom.

Oh it’s relevant alright, he is just on the wrong side of both issues.
I think the fact that so many left during the speech, demonstrates that it is is relevant, and most the people there don’t want conditions to get worse, just because some religious nut says so.

Taiwan is not a member of Interpol, widely believed to be due to opposition from Beijing, which objects to its inclusion in international organizations whose members are normally countries.

Fuck China.

I’ve met a few people from Afghanistan, but I can’t say if they are representative of the country, because they did have to leave.
But they were very nice people indeed.