China

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Thanks to Vladimir Putin’s recent implicit threat to employ nuclear weapons if the U.S. and its NATO allies continue to arm Ukraine — “This is not a bluff,” he insisted on September 21st — the perils in the Russo-Ukrainian conflict once again hit the headlines. And it’s entirely possible, as ever […]

China

New Hawkish UK PM Liz Truss is Spoiling for Confrontations with Russia and China

Jonathan Fenton-Harvey

London (Special to Informed Comment) – The United Kingdom has announced its third Prime Minister since Britain voted to leave the European Union (EU) in 2016. Although former Prime Minister Boris Johnson was the man to guide Brexit, those who assisted in his post-Brexit vision could further Britain’s controversial path. On September 6, Liz Truss […]

censorship

China: New UN Report Urges Accountability for Uyghurs, Alleges Crimes Against Humanity

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch – (Geneva) – A groundbreaking United Nations report published on August 31, 2022, says the Chinese government has committed abuses that may amount to crimes against humanity targeting Uyghurs and other Turkic communities in the Xinjiang region, Human Rights Watch said today. The report by the outgoing UN High Commissioner for Human […]

China

Climate Emergency hits China: Historic droughts trigger power Shortages in the Yangtze Basin

China Dialogue

( China Dialogue ) – Since mid-June, China has been facing the most intense and enduring heat waves since records began in 1961, according to the National Climate Centre. In the past week, the middle and lower Yangtze River basin has experienced exceptionally hot and dry spells in what is supposed to be the flood […]

China

China’s crucial Role in decarbonising the global Steel Sector

China Dialogue

By Belinda Schäpe and Byford Tsang | – ( China Dialogue ) – What happens in China’s steel plants matters for the global climate. After power generation, the steel sector is the second largest contributor to China’s emissions, accounting for roughly 17% annually. China produces more than half of all global steel, and over 60% […]

China

In Saudi Arabia, Biden Plays Defense against Russia, China, Iran

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Although President Joe Biden’s trip to Saudi Arabia was ostensibly about petroleum and attempting to lower gasoline prices in the US, it doesn’t seem to me that that rationale entirely explains Biden’s about-face on Saudi Arabia. For one thing, Biden must have been told that Saudi Arabia does not have […]

censorship

Review of Ilham Tohti, We Uyghurs Have No Say: An Imprisoned Writer Speaks

Marc Martorell Junyent

Tuebingen (Special to Ann Arbor) – Review of Ilham Tohti, We Uyghurs Have No Say: An Imprisoned Writer Speaks (London: Verso, 2022). Ilham Tohti, a Chinese intellectual and advocate for the rights of the Uyghurs, the Muslim minority group he belongs to, was jailed in 2014 by the Chinese government. Little has been known about […]

China

Why China Will Decide the Outcome of Russia v. the West

John Feffer

( Tomdispatch.com ) – In its attempt to swallow Ukraine whole, Russia has so far managed to bite off only the eastern Donbas region and a portion of its southern coast. The rest of the country remains independent, with its capital Kyiv intact. No one knows how this meal will end. Ukraine is eager to […]

China

What Difference Does a War Make? The Geopolitics of the New Cold War

Alfred W. McCoy

( Tomdispatch.com ) – From his first days in office, Joe Biden and his national security advisers seemed determined to revive America’s fading global leadership via the strategy they knew best — challenging the “revisionist powers” Russia and China with a Cold War-style aggressiveness. When it came to Beijing, the president combined the policy initiatives […]