“Will Scottish civil society be strong enough to resist dangerous escalations, waged not in the name of the ordinary citizens of China or Scotland, but in the name of competition for wealth and power?”
China
Regardless of whether the lab leak thesis is remotely plausible, the liberal moral panic about Trump clearly had a chilling effect not just on public debate, but also on research agendas.
Source Direct: The Lab Leak Hypothesis
Be wary of politicians who speak on behalf of “democracies”. All the laws of history say they will give democracy a kicking.
Source Direct: War Pigs and “Democracies”
There was a remarkable contrast this morning in two stories standing side by side on the BBC homepage. On the left, US President Donald Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows saying “we’re not going to control the pandemic”. On the right, one positive covid-19 case sparking the testing of all 4.7 million people in the […]
The pandemic and global politics: accelerating the train crash
“One projection we can make about the psychological state of the population, is that a return to lockdown in conditions of a second wave of infections would deal a sharp blow to consumer spending and business investment.”
Analysis: The fading hope of the ‘roaring twenties’ poses problems for our rulers
How do you unite US politicians in the Trump era? Act against China. The US Senate passed legislation on Thursday to sanction Chinese officials who implement the new Security Law in Hong Kong, a day after the House of Representatives did the same. It will be signed by US President Donald Trump today, all without […]
Britain can do little to prevent China’s Hong Kong power-grab
Of all the crazy stories of 2020 so far, the hand-to-hand combat between Chinese and Indian troops on the high-altitude rocks of the Galwan Valley is right up there. It sounds like something from a film. For hours, on steep, jagged terrain, around 600 troops fought each other with rocks, studded-batons and their fists. Most of […]
What hand-to-hand combat in the Galwan Valley tells us
“US leaders will spend the next decade and more trying to defend their privileged position at the top of the global order. They will marshal national and racial animus to do so. And sooner or later, the diplomatic intrigues and economic blockades will almost certainly turn to chaotic violence.”
