Many commentators in the US and elsewhere have poured cold water on the idea there could be a short term war between the US and North Korea.
The Guardian said on August 9: 鈥淏ut despite two unpredictable nuclear-armed leaders trading barbs, most observers believe the possibility of conflict remains remote, with the North Korean leadership using its nuclear program as a bargaining chip rather than an offensive weapon.鈥
The United States submarine captain says: 鈥淲e鈥檝e all got to die one day, some sooner and some later. The trouble always has been that you鈥檙e never ready, because you don鈥檛 know when it鈥檚 coming.
鈥淲ell, now we do know and there鈥檚 nothing to be done about it.鈥
He says he will be dead by September. It will take about a week to die, though no one can be sure. Animals live the longest.
The war was over in a month
US exports to China totalled US$116 billion last year, while its imports reached $463 billion. The $347 billion deficit accounts for almost 70% of the US鈥檚 total trade deficit.
US President Donald Trump鈥檚 most influential senior advisers, Peter Navarro, who heads the National Trade Council, and US secretary of commerce Wilbur Ross, call China 鈥渢he biggest trade cheater in the world鈥.
A new influenza pandemic is quite possible, according to a study by researchers at the University of NSW鈥檚 School of Public Health. The study notes that 19 different influenza strains have affected humans in the last 100 years, but the speed with which new strains have emerged has increased over the past 15 years. There have been seven new strains in the past five years alone.
Less than three months into President Donald Trump鈥檚 reign we can already say that there is a non-trivial chance that the United States will soon be engaged in a nuclear war.
The threat is still remote, but the pieces are in place. An aircraft carrier group is聽en route聽to the Korean peninsula and anonymous sources have threatened a pre-emptive strike against North Korea.
During last year鈥檚 presidential election campaign, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump favoured a more militarised foreign policy. They differed on the main target: Clinton aimed at Russia, while Trump singled out China.
Clinton wanted to continue the policy of both Republican and Democratic administrations since the collapse of the Soviet Union of steadily expanding NATO up to Russia鈥檚 borders in Europe. She also proposed challenging Russia in Syria.
The disarray among politicians of both major parties on display in last year鈥檚 election campaign has intensified in the first two months of Donald Trump鈥檚 presidency.
Charges and counter-charges are hurled between the Democrats and the Trump administration, prompting Congressional investigations that may bring in the FBI, CIA and other spy agencies.
鈥淭he United States has almost 1000 military bases around the world, covering every continent, every ocean,鈥 filmmaker John聽Pilger聽says. 鈥淐hina has one!鈥澛
He points out: 鈥淭he US Pacific Command in Hawaii claims responsibility for 52% of the Earth鈥檚 surface.鈥
The Coming War On China
Written & directed by John Pilger
http://thecomingwarmovie.com
Screening now, visit site for details
The Coming War on China is possibly John Pilger鈥檚 best film in years.
In classic Pilger style, the Australian-born filmmaker 鈥 responsible for dozens of films critical of great power 鈥 depicts the threat the US war machine poses in the Asian region in the context of the rise of China.
In 2014, Hong Kong was rocked by the 鈥淯mbrella Movement鈥 鈥 an ongoing series of mass protests featuring sit-ins against a series of attacks on democratic rights.
Robin Lee, a British left-wing activist living in Hong Kong who is an editor of the Borderless Movement, was interviewed by 麻豆传媒 Weekly鈥檚 Alex Bainbridge about the current situation.
***
Can you make some comments on the current political situation in Hong Kong since the 2014 democracy uprising?
When I first went to Hiroshima in 1967, the shadow on the steps was still there. It was an almost perfect impression of a human being at ease: legs splayed, back bent, one hand by her side as she sat waiting for a bank to open. At a quarter past eight on the morning of 6 August, 1945, she and her silhouette were burned into the granite. I stared at the shadow for an hour or more, unforgettably. When I returned many years later, it was gone: taken away, 鈥渄isappeared鈥, a political embarrassment.
The existence of drug markets 鈥 and the struggles around them 鈥 raise a number of important sociopolitical and structural issues for analysis.
The expansion of markets for psychoactive substances was a strategic initiative by European companies in the development of capitalism, slavery and imperialism. Initially there were no illicit markets but the licit industries included the critical sugar (and rum) industry in Haiti, Jamaica, Colombia and other countries and the tobacco industry in the US South.