True Left

Britain WILL defy Beijing by sailing HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier task force through disputed international waters in the South China Sea - and deploy ships PERMANENTLY in the region
[...]
Ben Wallace confirmed that HMS Queen Elizabeth and her escort fleet will transit international waters claimed by China next month, saying Britain had a 'duty' to insist on freedom of navigation.
[...]
Mr Wallace also told The Times the West must work to avoid a Cold War in the region at a time when the world was in an 'anxious' state, but that he felt conflict was still only a remote possibility.

'The world is a more anxious place, and as a result more on edge,' he said. 'There is definitely a danger that that anxiousness tips into more aggressive measures, but I think we are still some way off a military conflict in Asia.'

Their countries may be at loggerheads, but displays of camaraderie between American and Chinese gymnasts at the Tokyo Olympics have prompted a surge of positive reactions in China.

Chinese gymnasts Guan Chenchen and Tang Xijing took home gold and silver, respectively, in the final of the women’s balance beam Tuesday, while America's Simon Biles claimed bronze.

The hashtag "American player Sunisa is Guan Chenchen’s number one fan" was trending on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, with more than 1 million searches by Friday evening Tokyo time. Lee had retweeted a video that Guan posted of her winning routine this week, with the caption: “I love her sm.”

Another user's post on Weibo, praising the athletes' show of sportsmanship, had been shared more than 27,000 times and received more than 172,000 likes.

"This is the moment that I like," one user posted alongside a photograph of Guan and Tang embracing after the results, while Biles and Lee watched over smiling.

After the results were announced, Biles hugged 16-year-old Guan, showing her support for the Olympic champion. Biles' teammate Sunisa Lee also hugged Guan, while smiling broadly. Lee cheered Guan during her winning beam routine.

At a news conference after the event, Biles said she was honored to be sitting next to Guan and Tang.

“They did absolutely amazing,” she said, according to The Associated Press. “I watched them train so hard, so they are definitely deserving as one and two.”
...
Meanwhile, Asian Americans in the U.S. have experienced an alarming increase in hate crimes during the coronavirus pandemic. A Pew study from April found that about one-fifth of Asian Americans directly attributed the attacks to former President Donald Trump’s “China virus” rhetoric.

But athletes at the Tokyo Olympics have demonstrated what some hope to see more of: empathy and camaraderie.
...
On Tuesday, the Chinese Olympic Committee posted a photo of the four elated athletes to Twitter, writing: “We feel the same! This is what it means.”

Lee won gold in the women’s individual all-round gymnastics final, defending the title for Team USA, and becoming the first Hmong American to compete in the Olympics.

As America ramps down their Afghanistan war efforts (on paper) their preparations for the next conflict have been kicked into high-gear.

“Cooperation is not cowardice, as American conservatives repeatedly claim,” wrote Jeff Sachs in a February 2021 article (https://www.jeffsachs.org/newspaper-a...).  “Both the US and China have much to gain from it: peace, expanded markets, accelerated technological progress, the avoidance of a new arms race, progress against COVID-19, a robust global jobs recovery, and a shared effort against climate change.”

In other recent articles, Sachs argued that the Xinjiang genocide allegations are unjustified (https://www.jeffsachs.org/newspaper-a...) and that the recent US/China agreement to cooperate on climate change is an important and welcome development (https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20210...).

Jeffrey Sachs is University Professor and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University.  He is one of the world’s leading experts on sustainable development, economic development, and the fight against poverty.   He chairs The Lancet’s COVID-19 commission

His most recent books are A New Foreign Policy: Beyond American Exceptionalism (2018) and Building the New American Economy: Smart, Fair, and Sustainable (2017).

Gen. Mark Milley's spokesperson has responded to reports of a call between Milley and his Chinese counterpart. "In addition to the acknowledgement that this phone call did occur. ... They're not denying the overall tone or tenor of the call," Courney Kube reports.

President Biden this week said he had 'great confidence' in Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley following new revelations in an upcoming book that Milley called a Chinese military official last year.

CNN's Jamie Gangel reports that Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley consulted with former Defense Secretary Mark Esper and former acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller before he called his Chinese counterpart about former President Donald Trump, and that 15 people were part of the call including a Trump State Department representative.
The Joint Chiefs chairman has since come under attack over new reporting in "Peril," a forthcoming book by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, which details Milley's phone conversations to reassure a nervous Chinese general and efforts Milley took to limit then-President Donald Trump from potentially ordering a dangerous military strike.
Former NATO supreme allied commander Gen. Wesley Clark tells Anderson Cooper that Milley should be praised for what he did.

Meng Wanzhou is going back to China! After 1,000 days of being under house arrest, Meng Wanzhou has won her freedom and reached a deal with the United States Department of Justice to allow her to return back to China. I break all the latest news of Meng Wanzhou in today's new video!

In this episode I speak with Danny Haiphong on Anti-China Propaganda, Movie Poster Propaganda, NBA Sneakers & The current Cold War.