"...today may be even worse than the Soviet-U.S. relationship..."
China is hot, Libya is on fire, and the 2020 election warming up | #TC74
Welcome to Third Cultured, a Queer Reading of the American Empire through crisis-after-crisis — written by yours truly, Kyle Borland.
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Kyle (@kgborland)
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People tend to draw a comparison between China-U.S. ties today and Soviet-U.S. ties in the Cold War period. In my view, China-U.S. ties today may be even worse than the Soviet-U.S. relationship because the latter was at least “cold.”
In contrast, the China-U.S. relationship is now suffering from forceful disengagement after steady progress in engaging each other for four decades. The sentimental and material losses caused by the heated quarrels and grudging decoupling between the two sides, in particular during the pandemic period, are sensationally more distressing than the analogy of the Cold War...– Professor Wang Jisi, President of the Institute of International and Strategic Studies at Peking University, from the World Peace Forum last week.
American Empire & Other Wars
#2020Election – Biden will pick Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) or Florida Rep. Val Demings for his VP. Klobuchar dropped out and endorsed Joe picking a woman of color, all but sealing Warren’s fate. | Facebook took down Trump 2020 ads because it included the Nazi symbol. | John Bolton confirmed he would not vote for Trump or Biden during an interview promoting his new book. | Senator Elizabeth Warren raised $6 million for Biden on Monday. | Trump’s Tulsa rally demonstrated his re-election campaign is doubling down on the racism that powered him to victory in 2016.
#BlackLivesMatter – At least 100 US cities’ law enforcement agencies used tear gas against civilians protesting police brutality. | DO NOT GIVE TO “THE BLM FOUNDATION.” | The equestrian memorial to Theodore Roosevelt will be removed from the Museum of Natural History. | The verdict of Indonesia's Balikpapan trial is believed to have been influenced by the global BLM protests. | Verizon hired right-wing provocateur Matt Schlapp, after he derided BLM for weeks, even though the company claimed to stand with the protests. (They’re not the only hypocrites.) | White supremacists are targeting an attack on DC.
China – A draft of Hong Kong’s upcoming security law was published over the weekend. | CCP officials want to open a national security bureau in Hong Kong “to examine security, collect intelligence and lawfully handle national security cases.” | Chinese ships have been identified by Japan for 67 consecutive days in disputed waters close to the Senakaku/Diaoyu Islands, showing Beijing is willing to intimidate even those countries the US is treaty-bound to protect if attacked. | Four more Chinese media outlets – Global Times, China Central Television, China News Service, and People’s Daily – were named by the US “foreign missions” of the CCP, bringing the total to nine. | Preventing war in Asia will require the US to reinvest in its allies/multilateralism, domestic infrastructure, and prioritize quality over quantity in its armed forces. | Trump withheld implementing Xinjiang sanctions in order to reach his “phase one” trade deal.
India – Sensing an opportunity because of Beijing’s overextension, Delhi is not backing down after its skirmish with China’s military on their shared border where more than 50+ people.
Iraq – Baghdad demanded Ankara cease its "Claw-Tiger Operation" targeting Kurdish forces in northern Iraq.
Labor – LGBTQ+ workers in the US now have federal protections – under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination “because of sex” – thanks to last week’s 6-3 vote by the conservative court, with the majority opinion written by the heir to Textualism himself, Neil Gorsuch. SCOTUS also upheld “sanctuary city” laws and blocked Trump’s attempt to gut DACA (although his administration began another challenge on Friday).
Libya – Over the weekend, Cairo announced that it would intervene in Libya should Turkey and the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) retake the Mediterranean port city of Sirte or the Jufra Airbase, which Tripoli rejected and denounced as a ‘declaration of war.’ Egypt’s army is the 9th strongest in the world and Turkey’s is considered the 11th, so escalations between these two MENA powers could spiral out of either’s control very quickly. Not to mention the mockery Turkey’s military is making of Russian air defenses. The nine-year conflict that started as a civil war has escalated into an international war involving Egypt, France, NATO, Qatar, Russia, Turkey, and the UAE. (Graphic: AJ)
Moldova – Chisinau requested the extradition of the oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc from the US for his role in the “theft of the century” which embezzled more than an eighth of the entire nation’s GDP from its three largest banks.
North Korea – A joint liaison office between the North and South was blown up by North Korea last week to show its displeasure at the lack of movement on sanctions relief (or anything).
Russia - Germany threatened Russia with sanctions over the assassination of a Georgian man in 2019. | Moscow is installing facial recognition tech named “Orwell” in the nation’s 43,000+ schools. | Putin made it official that he may seek more terms.
So, a quick take on Putin's long-delayed article on WWII, published (omg) by the National Interest: nationalinterest.org/feature/vladim…. The overall conclusion is of course it's a piece of crude propaganda. I'll give a few examples, though won't attempt a thorough analysis here.
Syria – More sanctions!
United Nations – Mexico, India, Ireland, Norway, and Kenya were elected to two-year terms to the UN Security Council.
Venezuela – President Trump has lost interest in Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido – who he deemed the “Beto O'Rourke of Venezuela” – and voiced willingness to meet with President Nicolás Maduro. However, in true Trumpian fashion, he tweeted the next day that he’d only meet with Maduro to discuss his exit from power.
COVID-19 Updates (as of 11pm, 6/22/2020)
Total Confirmed: 9,098,643; Total Deaths: 472,172; Total Recovered: 4,526,407
US Cases: 2,388,153; US Deaths: 122,610; Recovered: 1,002,929; Tested: 27,553,581
Congress’ CARES Act actually capped poverty in the US. Spoiler alert: it helps to give money to people who need it. Who knew?!
Early CDC test kits failed because they were “contaminated.”
The Netherlands was the sole holdout blocking the EU from agreeing to take on collective debt, like the US, in order to finance COVID relief.
The Trump administration announced it will ban entry for immigrants on certain temporary work visas through the end of the year, including H-1B visas loved by tech companies, visas for H-1B spouses, non-agriculture worker H-2Bs visas, short-term workers on J-1 exchange visas, and L visas, which allow companies to transfer employees working overseas to U.S. offices. Administration officials claim the steps will open up 525,000 US jobs as they look to make permanent reforms to H-1B visas and work permits for asylum seekers.
This small town in Washington is printing its own currency as COVID relief.
One Last Thing
Help save the US Postal Service! Today is a national day of action to demand full funding for the Postal Service.
One of the four unions representing USPS workers, the American Postal Workers Union, has announced a car caravan in Washington DC and the delivery of 2 million-plus petition signatures to Congress, starting at 11 AM on June 23!
In conjunction with this event, postal workers from all unions and supporters from the labor movement and the American public will be taking part in activities in cities and towns across the country. This will be the first effort to mount coordinated actions to let Congress know it is past time to step up for the People's Service.
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