Friday, December 31, 2021

蒋介石腐败透顶贪赃枉法 ?

  web page template  蒋介石腐败透顶贪赃枉法 ?

中国大陆的教科书,总是在教育人民,蒋介石统治时期腐败透顶,特别是蒋宋孔陈“四大家族”称之为“贪腐”代表。在教科书的教育下,大陆人的思维定式中,国民党四大家族贪赃枉法几成定论。只要提到蒋介石政权,头脑中第一个印象就是贪污腐败,铺张浪费。蒋、宋、孔、陈四大家族,人民公敌,吸血鬼,没有一个好东西。但人们在检视历史真相的时候,结论并非如此。

若说进步,早在1980年代,台湾比大陆进步得多,就是现在,台湾的国民所得也是大陆的数倍。蒋经国去世以后,他在台北的故居已经对外开放。设备家具之简陋令所有参观者感动。现在,蒋家第四代已经完全退出政坛,他们需靠自己努力工作才能谋生。对于蒋家的一些孤寡老人,中华民国政府不得不定期给予一些补贴。蒋介石活着的时候,不喝酒,不抽烟,连茶都不喝。随着时间消逝,指责蒋介石本人及其家族贪污腐败的声音,已不大听得到了。

早在1923年,瞿秋白在《前锋》杂志上发表《论中国之资产阶级的发展》,明确提出几大家族控制当时的官僚资本。所谓官僚资本通俗来说就是国家统治者利用国家政权把一些国有企业非法占为已有,也就说利用权力控制国家的大部分经济实体。最终,是陈伯达在内战中完成他的《中国四大家族》一文,提出蒋宋孔陈四大家族为首的官僚买办资本借抗战名义聚民财入私囊,并估算这四个家族有200多亿美元的财产。这种说辞,系完全捏造,因为整个二战期间,美国总共向中国提供了16.2亿美元的租借物资,200多亿美元从哪儿来?!

关于当时四大家族的财产,历史上有记载的大概有这么几种:

一,1934年12月26日《江南正报》曾刊文称:国府要人之财产多系秘密,而就可调查之范围内调查,则诸要人在本埠所有财产估计为,蒋介石1300万元,宋美龄3500万元,宋子文3500万元,孔祥熙1800万元,孙科4000万元,张静江3000万元。其它要人在上海各中外银行存款及不动产,据中国银行调查,约有5亿元,其不动产及公司多用其亲戚名义购置,故实款无法详确云。而这些,又是当时左翼报纸常见的文章,类似这种文章都是猜测和估计之辞,没有半点具体的证据。

二,1939年10月17日,日本特务机关对国民党政府高级官员在上海外国银行存款情况所作之调查报告,名为《登集团特报丙第一号——政府要人上海外国银行预金(存款)调查表》有载:蒋介石6639万元(按当时法币与美元的兑换价,约合809万美元,下同);宋美龄3094万元(377万美元),宋子文5230万元(637万美元),孔祥熙5214万元(635万美元),宋霭龄1200万元(146万美元),陈立夫2400万元(292万美元),这些存款均存在当时在上海开业的外国银行,如花旗、麦加利、大通、友邦、运通、汇丰、荷兰银行等。但是,这也是日本战前常见的攻击国民政府的老一套资料,类似的材料多如牛毛,曾经大量提供给汪伪用来攻击国民政府。这些东西都没有任何相关的资料证明。

三,国民政府在大陆的败退,使得当时的美国民众对杜鲁门政府的政策失误非常不满,杜鲁门政府为了推卸责任,就一股脑的把责任推给国民政府,说是其败退都是自身腐败贪污所致。其实,国民政府早在1925年就有了一整套成体系的制度,宋子文在1925年到1949年期间曾经有过数次和外国列强的谈判,签订的协议都在千万美元以上。这些回去以后都一五一十的向当时的中央进行汇报。需要说明的是,国民政府始终存在大量的有实权的反对派的监督,为此蒋介石曾经三次下野。这些借款的使用情况,都由国民政府财政部控制,即使蒋介石也无法随意使用。这些在著名的南京第二历史档案馆有详细的大量资料证明。

那么,四大家族的“腐败”,到底真相如何?事实可以为证。

先看蒋家。蒋介石的清廉已有了结论,那么就看其妻宋美龄。宋美龄一生不问金钱事,自1991年赴纽约定居后,只有一次问起外甥孔令仪:“钱够用吗?”孔令仪回答说,放心,够用的,此后宋美龄再也没有过问金钱之事。宋美龄初时与小外甥女孔令伟同住长岛孔家老宅蝗虫谷,房子是大姐宋霭龄、孔祥熙夫妇买的;孔令伟1994年过世后,因长岛住宅太偏僻,冬天下雪不方便,孔令仪便劝宋美龄搬往曼哈顿住,但所住公寓为孔令仪大弟令侃名下所有,因此宋美龄在纽约并无房产。而宋美龄在台湾也没有任何房地产。惟一拥有的一栋房子在上海,是宋美龄1927年在上海与蒋介石结婚时的陪嫁。这幢房子当时在法租界霞飞路(现南京路)附近。这是宋美龄生前惟一的房产。

宋美龄一生不会赚钱、更不管钱,身后仅留下12万美元银行存款,由孔令仪代管,此外别无其它资产;宋美龄晚年在纽约,住的、吃的、用的,包括昂贵的医药费用,均由孔家出钱。实际上,宋美龄借住的纽约长岛住宅,在几十年前由孔家购买时还是非常便宜的。该孔宅1998年被拍卖,也不过卖了3百万美元。

蒋方良是蒋经国的夫人,也是蒋家第二代最后谢世的人。1978年3月21日,蒋经国继承蒋氏大统后,蒋方良从当年的副厂长夫人,成为台湾的第一夫人。但是在生活上,蒋方良一直保持着低调,她鲜少在媒体露面,台湾百姓对她极为陌生。她与一位平凡无怨的主妇毫无不同,当丈夫经常加班或出差时,她只管把家庭照料好,虽有佣人,却常亲自动手洗窗帘。蒋方良和蒋经国一样,生活上不改当年在苏联乌拉山区的简朴习惯。1988年1月13日,她陪伴了53年的丈夫蒋经国永远离开了她。在蒋经国去世后的岁月蒋方良的生活更为不堪。由于蒋经国素来清廉,素来没有什么积蓄。她仅仅靠蒋经国死前补发的20个月的俸额115.2万元台币为生。经济的拮据使之欲往美国散心和回白俄罗斯探亲都不能成行。

蒋方良在1992年接见白俄罗斯首都明斯克正、副市长时,二位市长邀请她回故乡看看。蒋方良回答说,自己现在没有钱,所以没法回去,这让二位市长惊叹不已。

再看陈家。四大家族中的“陈”是陈立夫、陈果夫兄弟。陈立夫在1950年蒋介石改造国民党时,请求出国,并找孔祥熙借了两万美金,在纽泽西州办了一个养鸡场。夫妻俩自己动手,喂食、捡蛋、清理鸡粪。还学会了给鸡喂药、打针。陈立夫在家中自制皮蛋、咸蛋、豆腐乳、粽子,亲自为唐人街的中餐馆供货。屋漏偏逢连夜雨,一场火灾几乎烧光了他全部的劳动成果。陈立夫毫不气馁,重头再来。他一面养鸡,一面研究传统道德,著书立说,直到1969年才再度回到台湾;但除读书自娱,就是推动中医之学,不过问政治。2001年2月8日在台中病逝,享年101岁。

他曾开玩笑说:“真的不知道为什么,我的本家把我列入四大家族(四大家族这个名词是陈伯达(可以百度他是谁)发明的)。如果我那么有钱,还用得着到纽泽西养鸡吗?!”

三看宋家。宋家比孔家和蒋陈二家都要好一些,主要宋子文和孔祥熙原本都是商人出身。宋子文还算一个外交家,孔祥熙则是单纯的商人。宋子文去世以后,他的家属曾把他们保存的宋子文的58箱的档案,都捐给了美国斯坦福大学胡佛研究所档案馆。由于当时宋美龄,蒋方良等人还没有去世,宋家要求其中17箱的机密文件保密十年,禁止民间人士阅读。随着二位老人的去世,这些资料为美国方面全面解密。资料中包括:1941年宋子文手书个人财产清单、1949年宋子文开列其在中国大陆被没收的个人房屋地产清单、1950年宋子文致美国国会和国务卿杜勒斯表示愿意公开个人财产的有关信件、1968年宋子文自列个人财产记录和1971年纽约遗产法庭关于宋个人遗产分割执行书等。

宋子文的每份财产报表都有美国会计师的签名,在美国,会计制度极为严格,这种签名非常严谨,绝不可能作假。从遗产分割书来看,1971年宋子文去世时,他的非固定财产只有100多万美元,加上经过20年时间大为升值的房产(20年内美国房价升值大约7到8倍),除去税收以后不过400多万美元。虽然按照当时的汇率来说也能算是一个不错的富人,但和当前被揭露出的一些大陆高官的财富相比,却不成比例。

四看孔家。实际说起来,孔家是参与政治最少的一个家族。陈氏兄弟长时间控制国民政府的情报机关和国民党的党产,势力强大;宋子文作为国民政府的主要外交家和列强周旋近20年;蒋家自然不必说了。而孔祥熙从政也不过是主要管理金融界,从后世看来孔祥熙担任中国金融界的主要掌舵者的期间,正是中国经济几十年来最为困难的时间。

1933年4月6日,孔祥熙被南京政府任命为中央银行总裁。当时南京政府每月国库收入约为1500余万元,而每月支出账面数字就为2200万元,其中军费一项为1800万元,每月赤字就达700万元。当时财政部由宋子文负责,由于9.18和长城会战等原因,1933年前半年国库就有6000万元的新亏空。宋子文表示自己才能不足以扭转这个局面,希望辞职。10月29日,蒋批准宋的辞呈,以孔祥熙继任行政院副院长兼财政部长并仍兼中央银行总裁。孔祥熙上台以后采取了一系列大胆和出色的手段,不但很快稳定了国家的金融秩序,还把财政收入转为盈余。同时和列强关于历史外债问题达成了共识,最重要得是建立了法币体系。这也是保证8年抗战胜利极为重要的一个决策,影响深远。

此时,国家财政形式艰难到了无以形容的局面。由于抗战开始几年,中国华北、东南广大地区相继沦陷,中国海岸线被日军全面封锁,沿海重要城市也大多被日军占领,占战前财政总收入90%以上的关税、盐税、统税和烟酒税的税源大部丧失。而国民政府此时要维持一支400万的军队,还有数以千万的逃往大后方的中国难民和大小的政府机关的职员,实在是非常可怕的局面。孔祥熙为此建立了一整套战时经济制度,虽然到了后期普通老百姓生活非常痛苦,法币也几乎成为废纸,但是中国的经济在抗战中始终没有垮掉。中国几百万军队虽然粮饷不足,但是仍然始终保持必须的供应,以保证其可以继续作战。到了1944年由于孔祥熙几次强烈要求美国政府立即支付美军在华费用的垫款问题(当时美军在华建设了几十个机场,费用都由国民政府垫付,耗款上亿)和希望美国加大援华力度,引起美方人员的厌恶。后在1944年,要求蒋介石让孔下台。孔于1945年辞职,从此不问政治。1947年秋,孔夫人宋霭龄在美病重,孔祥熙赴美照顾,就此在美国居住十多年之久。

而孔祥熙早在1915年就通过获得壳牌石油的山西代理权,赚取了巨额的财产。之后又涉足上海的股票期货界,收入也颇丰。在1925年之前孔家已经当时全国有名的大富豪。而他担任公职的时均是国民政府经济最为困难的期间,各国援助抗战的资金都是杯水车薪。孔就算有心贪污受贿恐怕也找不出这份钱来。1945年滇缅路开通,美国开始加大援华力度的时候,孔已经下台,根本没有大额贪污的机会。

有人诬陷孔祥熙贪污了7.5亿美元。在孔祥熙强烈要求下,美国参议院外交委员会和财政部用了很长时间的调查以后,公布了华人在美资产的材料,资料统计了在美全部华人的资产。最终,所有华人在美国银行的存款不超过5000万美元。其中最大的存户,只有100多万美元。而且这些存户中,大部分是侨居美国经营商业的华侨,且都在美国居住年代很久。由于美国金融界有保护每个储户隐私的法律和传统,所以当时没有透露具体每个储户的财产数。不过,这5000万的存款中当然包括孔祥熙,不管孔家占5000万中的多少比例,都说明其绝对称不上巨富。……

了解到这些真是事实后,大陆人还能相信政治和历史教科书吗?!

西方各国正全力试图打破中国在稀土供应链上的垄断地位

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西方各国正全力试图打破中国在稀土供应链上的垄断地位

自近几年的中美关系紧张开始,全球供应链产生了严重的波动。而全球的产业链很多方面又跟中国有着直接的联系。稀土的产业链便是这其中的一个重要部分。近几年来,西方各国正全力试图打破中国在稀土供应链上的垄断地位。 但愿望是一方面,实际存在的条件到底又如何呢? 

 稀土元素是17种稀有金属元素的总称。这17种元素又分为轻稀土和重稀土两种类型。稀土是制造电脑硬盘、电动汽车、太阳能电池板和风力涡轮机等必须用的材料,也可用来制造雷达、声纳、精确制导飞弹、战斗机等军工产品。

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实际上,并不是所有稀土真是那样“稀有”,某些稀土元素在地壳中的百分比含量,甚至高于铜、铅等常见金属。在2020年世界稀土矿藏总储量120万吨中,中国有44万吨,印度有6.9万吨,澳大利亚有4.1万吨,美国有1.5万吨,越南则拥有22万吨的储量。而今后可能还有新的储量被发现。

稀土矿开采本身就会对生态改变产生影响。而稀土的分离冶炼,也因全过程需要大量的化学药剂,如果环保标准低,那则对环境产生很大的污染。 正是这个原因,相当一段时间,西方的公司不太在乎让中国来当稀土出口的“第一把手”。于是乎,在2020年,中国已掌控全球54%的稀土开采能力和85%的稀土精炼能力。换言之,美国的80%以上,欧盟的95%以上的稀土都是从中国进口的。

中国如何掌握了王牌

中国在全球稀土出口之所以占有垄断的地位,是因为它的稀土产业拥有多个世界第一: 储量第一、产量第一和销售量第一。

中国在上世纪的90年代开始,凭借“低标准(特别是环境标准)、低工资”,降低稀土开采和精炼的成本,并用 “白菜价”出口稀土,倾销式的出口,打垮了原来在西方稀土开发和加工的竞争产家。英国的稀土磁铁产业,就是在这种情况下在上世纪90年代消失的。曾经风云一时、供应全球90%以上产量的美国稀土龙头“芒廷帕斯” (Mountain Pass)也是因为同样的原因,也不得不在2002年全面关闭。

从2007年起,中国开始对稀土产品实施“出口关税征收”和“出口配额限制”等政策。2009年,中国出台了有关稀土出口和打击走私的规定,计划在2010年至2015年,减少出口配额至每年3.5万吨。出口额的减少,从而造成了稀土价格大涨。

2010年前后,美国的企业又决定,开始大举投产本土内的稀土生产。而中国却在2015年突然取消了出口配额限制和高关税,表面上是遵守WTO规定,实际上是再次掀起了一场“价格战”,目的搞垮美国和其他中国以外的稀土企业。其结果是,押注稀土的美国莫利矿业公司最后被一家名为MPMO的跨国集团收购,而股东之一正是来自中国的盛和资源 (Shenghe Resources Holding Co.)。

从90年代开始,中国在一系列国家产业政策的指导下,建立了五个资金充裕的国家级稀土实验室。 到2021年,中国所拥有的稀土技术专利数量超过美国和世界其他国家专利数量之和。

由此可见,大批低价倾销,加之有成熟的精炼技术支撑的,又加之低环保的标准,使得中国经过30多年时间,获得了稀土出口的垄断地位。

Seltene Erden Mine

稀土开采对环境产生很大的破坏。这是包头市的一个稀土矿

建立没有中国的供应链的必要性

邓小平曾说过,中东有石油,中国则有自己的稀土。2010年中日出现了钓鱼岛争端,中国便首次使用了“稀土武器”。中国暂停了对日本的稀土出口两个月。此作法致使当年国际稀土价格一度飙升。

中国对日本的“惩罚” 、加之中国政府决定大量减少出口,大大震荡全球稀土市场。于是,2012年3月,美国、日本和欧盟联合在世贸组织(WTO)起诉中国,原因是中国对稀土、钨、钼三种原材料出口配额和关税不符合有关世贸规则和中方入世承诺,结果中国败诉。

2010年的记忆至今无法抹去。而前两年的情况又让西方国家增加一份担忧。 2019年5月20日,中国国家主席习近平考察江西赣州稀土产业,官方也接连几次释放中国可能跟美国打“稀土牌”的信号。于是,保证稀土供应链的问题又重新被提到西方各国的日程上来。

但是即便中国不想用稀土作为武器来打击西方国家,稀土出口量紧缩,价格不断上升,似乎是大势所趋。

为什么呢? 首先,中国在宣布了双碳目标后,比以往更努力地发展电动汽车、风电和太阳能。这意味着将大大增加中国国内对稀土的需求。全球逾70%的电动车电池产能在中国,而美国不及10%;全球兴建中的142座锂离子电池超级工厂中,中国占了107座,而美国仅有9座。同时,实现双碳目标也意味着,严重耗电的有色金属的提炼工业的产量,在目前严重排放的问题无法解决的情况下,会受到限制。 2021年中国的镁产量约为正常水平的50%,就是因为煤炭价格飙升和限电导致冶炼厂削减或关闭业务。上述的努力方向已在中国于工信部2021年初公布“稀土管理条例(征求意见稿)” 表述出来。

当然,稀土涨价还有一个地域政治的因素,譬如缅甸的局势。中国在2018始从全球最大的稀土生产国变成了最大稀土进口国。2018年,中国从缅甸进口重稀土矿石2.58万吨,与中国国内的产量相当。缅甸提供了全球大约一半的重稀土矿产量并在中国冶炼。而现在,由于政局不稳,造成了中国出口的稀土涨价。

但是中国官方在稀土涨价方面也面临着两难:涨价固然对中国稀土产商有利,却不利于中国自己的消费者。同时,如果稀土价格过高,下游国外的企业会千方百计地在中国外寻找替代品,就不用或少用中国稀土了。

为了保持中国的垄断地位,中国政府决定通过合并几家大企业,不久成立了“中国稀土集团”,构建集稀土矿开采、冶炼、研发、生产、应用为一体的稀土矿业航母。为了强化中国对稀土的定价权,中国也加强了国内3 个交易所合作。当然现在还很难说,这些办法是否能凑效。

中国、日本、美国和欧洲国家是全球最大的稀土消费国, 目前的消费量分别占到全球消费总量的 57%、21%、8%和 8%。 而这个比例在今后随着欧盟美国加速实现碳中和,肯定有一个巨大的变化。所以,西方各国必须突破单面依靠中国这个瓶颈。一场跟时间的赛跑已开始。

摆脱困境的可能性和困难

从今年全球稀土矿开采情况来说,中国占全球的54%,北美、亚洲(中国除外)和澳大利亚分别为18%、14%、12%。而欧洲在此占比仅为2%。 有迹象表明,中国稀土资源像以前的优势似乎正在减弱,中国在全球稀土采矿的份额已经从2010年的98%下降到2020年的58%。当然,要使西方国家完全摆脱对中国的依赖至少还需要5-8年时间。

这一变化也决定了,中国跟西方各国尤其是美国将更激烈地争抢全球的稀土资源。目前中国已将稀土产能转移到亚非地区。同时,中国企业在美国和欧洲也相当活跃。在前20年期间,盛和资源公司在境外参股了美国芒廷帕斯稀土矿,包销芒廷帕斯稀土矿的稀土矿产品。今年11月格陵兰岛国会通过新法,停止开发格陵兰南端宽纳斯特(Kuannersuit)的稀土矿藏。此举直接重击了中国在格陵兰岛开采稀土的计划。

稀土开采固然重要,但加工与精炼至今对西方各国还是个薄弱环节。中国在稀土冶炼加工产量占全球的 88.2%。西方好多公司开采不成问题,但一旦涉及到提取稀土,那就取决于环境、技术和政治因素的综合影响。按照环保的高标准行事,克服来自环保组织和政府机构的阻力,不可避免地会使西方各国公司的稀土成本提高。

好在英语国家的努力,跟中国已经形成一定的竞争能力。即使是分离冶炼环节,澳大利亚 Lynas每年生产近2万吨的稀土氧化物,足以完全满足美国需求。但如果中国再用大倾销方式来打一场价格战,那将会对现有的西方产家,依然可能产生毁灭性的打击。而在消费这一块,即便西方的企业永远是跟着价格低的稀土走的,它们才不讲“爱国主义”呢。

胜负未决

目前,中国稀土产业在全球竞争优势明显,西方稀土冶炼分离产能有限,且资本开支和运营成本均高于中国。澳大利亚的Lynas稀土有限公司其开采一公斤矿物的成本为10美元,而大多数中国生产商则为7美元。如果没有西方政府的补贴,西方的公司很难持久。当然,随着 稀土加工技术能力提高 (比如美国Purdue University 已经研发出一种对环保有利的价格可接受的稀土精炼方式),成本可能降低。但其技术的商业化估计至少还需5年左右的时间。

从地域战略角度看,中国以稀土为武器是其现实政治的一部分。 但中国似乎对美国不会也不敢随便惩罚。而欧盟的成员国倒是可能成为中国惩罚的目标,尤其是当某一国比如说在台湾问题上,不是按照中国旨意行事,那么掌握在中国手里的稀土就是最好的武器了。

欧盟有很多功课要做。 欧盟进口的稀土有98%来自中国。跟美国不一样,欧盟目前手中拥有的已开发稀土矿并不多,才是全球的1%。而欧盟的“可持续性”的高标准,必然会提高今后开发的成本。欧洲在建立一个没有中国的供应链要走的路肯定比美国更长。

Mother Teresa, one of the most controversial figures from the 20th century

What They Didn't Tell You About One of the Greatest Historical Figures: Mother  Teresa  Mother Teresa, one of the most controversial figures from the 20th century. Controversial in that everything you might have heard about her in recent years is likely to be quite negative, despite her winning a 1979 Nobel Peace Prize and being renowned throughout the world as an advocate for the sick and poor, and a tireless and selfless aid worker without a thought for her own plight in the most horrid conditions. But find any article about her online these days, and it's more than likely to be a harsh criticism of her practices — and of her personally — from virtually every angle. Was she all that bad, was she truly a saint, or might there be other nuances yet unspoken?

Mother Teresa was born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu in 1910 in the Ottoman Empire, in what is today Macedonia. At 18, she moved to a Catholic abbey in Ireland to learn English and to become a missionary, and after just one year she was sent to India to begin that work. Soon she took her nun's vows and adopted the name Sister Teresa. After teaching at a convent school in Calcutta for some 20 years, she changed paths and founded a congregation for tending to the poor in 1950. This eventually became the Missionaries of Charity, for which she is best known. By the time of her death in 1997, Missionaries of Charity had 610 missions in over 100 countries. Some are hospice facilities, some are orphanages or homes for women and invalids, but most are purely for missionary work and do not perform any social work or have any residents.

Those of us outside Mother Teresa's sphere of influence might have never heard her name were it not for a 1969 book and BBC documentary Something Wonderful for God, which brought news of her doings to the world, and arguably planted the seed which grew into all of her life's accolades and recognitions including her 1979 Nobel Peace Prize and probably also her 2003 beatification and 2016 canonization. But even as Something Wonderful for God was portraying her as uncommonly good and selfless and a boon to the poor, dissenting opinions had already begun to rumble.

The first thing to understand is that despite the well-known image, Mother Teresa's missions were never about relieving suffering. She believed strongly that suffering brought one closer to God. Consequently, Western volunteers who signed on at her missions, based on their conception of what it was, often came away reporting deplorable conditions. Trained medical professionals are nowhere to be found; medical supplies are expired, inadequate, or reused. Painkillers are frowned upon as Teresa believed pain was an integral part of the all-important suffering.

But all this seems unaccountable in light of the magnitude of donations Teresa brought in. At its peak, before her death, Missionaries of Charity raked in an estimated US$75 million per year in donations. That averages out to $125,000 per year per location — or it would, except for one little detail. Missionaries of Charity does not report any numbers, so the task of untangling its true financial picture has fallen to independent researchers. What's been uncovered has been startling. Only about 7% of Missionaries of Charity's budget has gone to its programs — or a little less than $9,000 per location. Her original missions in Calcutta are by far the largest and best known and probably receive the bulk of those funds, leaving a pittance to the others. Missionaries of Charity has been described as the wealthiest Catholic order in the world, so it seems inexcusable that their staff and facilities should be any fraction short of the world's finest, let alone so staggeringly far from it.

We might be inclined to guess that with such resources, Missionaries of Charity must be a major force in Calcutta. However, a 1998 investigative report from Germany found that Missionaries of Charity was not even among the 200 largest charitable service providers in Calcutta. She may have had this larger-than-life international image of a great healer, but within Calcutta, she was little more than a small-time missionary.

It becomes easier to understand when one studies Mother Teresa herself, what she believed, and what she wanted to accomplish. She came to Calcutta to minister to the sick and the poor, not to treat them, to heal them, or to find them better jobs and opportunities. To minister to them. She was a missionary, not a doctor, not an employer. She believed their poverty was a crucial component to their spirituality. If you sought aid at one of her missions you may have gotten a clean bed and possibly an aspirin, but you certainly got a Catholic baptism. The image of Mother Teresa as a healer was a Western fiction, promoted in Something Wonderful for God and many other similar works that followed it. It was never the reality of her missionary work.

This fact also makes it easier to understand why the Vatican so eagerly brushed aside its normal practices to fast-track her path to sainthood, to be completed in 2016. And this is the best segue to the man who must be included in any critical discussion of Mother Teresa: Christopher Hitchens, author of the 1995 long-form essay The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice. Unlike most writers, Hitchens interviewed her extensively and knew her well, and she'd made it clear to him in no uncertain terms that hers was a mission of conversion and baptism, and not of social work. Credit, then, to the Church for calling Hitchens as the "devil's advocate" witness at her 2003 beatification hearing, to testify against the Church's claim that she had miraculously healed a woman. Hitchens described it best himself:

As for the "miracle" that had to be attested, what can one say? Surely any respectable Catholic cringes with shame at the obviousness of the fakery. A Bengali woman named Monica Besra claims that a beam of light emerged from a picture of MT, which she happened to have in her home, and relieved her of a cancerous tumor. Her physician, Dr. Ranjan Mustafi, says that she didn't have a cancerous tumor in the first place and that the tubercular cyst she did have was cured by a course of prescription medicine. Was he interviewed by the Vatican's investigators? No. (As it happens, I myself was interviewed by them but only in the most perfunctory way. The procedure still does demand a show of consultation with doubters, and a show of consultation was what, in this case, it got.)

Nevertheless the beatification carried unopposed, as will, no doubt, her 2016 canonization citing another similar "miracle".

Update: It did. —BD

In his essay, Hitchens also took her to task for siding with questionable politicians, such as praising Indira Gandhi for suspending civil liberties in 1975, and accepting the Legion of Honor from corrupt Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier in 1981. She supported the oppressive Communist leader of Albania, and took money from any source, including more than one corrupt businessman.

One of Teresa's most notorious relationships was with Charles Keating, poster boy for the American savings & loan scandal from the 1980s and 1990s. Keating, a Catholic, had donated over a million dollars to Missionaries of Charity over the years, and gave her the use of his private jet and helicopter whenever she was stateside. She received these donations before the scandal happened and she had no reason to suspect it might have been dirty money. So when he was prosecuted, Mother Teresa wrote the judge a letter in support of Keating, saying "He has always been kind and generous to God's poor".

Disclaimer: In the interest of transparency, I should mention that during Charles Keating's prosecution, I was a youthful court specialist at the law firm Alvarado, Rus & McClellan that represented the class of victims from his Lincoln Savings and Loan, mostly retired people who lost their life savings. Part of the Lincoln Savings training materials said "Remember the weak, meek and ignorant are always good targets." We were all pretty gobsmacked that Mother Teresa had stepped in on Keating's side. I guess her advocacy on behalf of the weak, meek, and ignorant was inversely proportional to the size of the donation. —BD

Upon learning of her letter, the prosecutor wrote back:

You urge Judge Ito to look into his heart... and do what Jesus would do. I submit the same challenge to you. Ask yourself what Jesus would do if he were... in possession of money that had been stolen...? I submit that Jesus would promptly and unhesitatingly return the stolen property to its rightful owners. You should do the same... If you contact me I will put you in direct contact with the rightful owners of the property now in your possession.

She never wrote back.

I would not have expected her to. Mother Teresa was not sophisticated. She lived in Calcutta. She had no significant education. She probably didn't even know what a junk bond was. She was often criticized as a hypocrite for seeking treatment in advanced western hospitals when she got sick at the end of her own life, while patients withered and died in her missions, but I have trouble seeing it this way. Teresa never claimed to give medical care. She told Hitchens as much outright. She often shocked audiences with admissions that critics trumpeted, even saying during her Nobel Prize acceptance speech that abortion was "the greatest destroyer of peace". It wasn't a faux pas; it was what she believed, and she never said anything different.

She never claimed to be anyone different than what Hitchens and other critics charged her with. We did. Her Western admirers, in love with a fictional image, created the merciful nun who healed the sick and tended to the poor. We made the bogus documentaries and gave her undeserved awards and honorary degrees that had nothing to do with her real work. She never asked for any of them.

It can be argued that the criticism of Mother Teresa is a bit unfair, first because her shortcomings are only in comparison to a paragon who existed nowhere but in our own minds, and second because the real beneficiary of our gullibility was never her at all. Follow that other 93% of the $75 million per year, and you'll almost certainly find that it leads to the Vatican Bank. I say, give the old lady a break; and start demanding instead that when donors give millions of dollars to treat the sick and feed and clothe the poor, the Church should do exactly that, and nothing less.

Is Elon Musk’s satellites aiming to destroy Cina's Tiangong space station ?

 Laser Cannon Incapacitates Enemy Satellite. 3D Illustration Stock Photo -  Alamy

Is Elon Musk’s satellites aiming to destroy Cina's Tiangong space station ?

  • The two incidents this year involving satellites from Elon Musk’s company SpaceX prompted a complaint to the UN and calls on the US to act
  • China is worried America wants to dominate space and some observers believe the tech entrepreneur’s company may serve that ambition

China can destroy satellites of opponents, according to US Armed Forces |  ORDO NEWS The recent near-misses involving Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites and China’s Tiangong space station have highlighted Beijing’s concerns about space becoming weaponised.

Chinese observers said Washington wants to maintain its dominance in space and warned that the South African-born entrepreneur’s company SpaceX, which has been given a contract to build a new satellite for the US military capable of tracking hypersonic missile launches, may form part of that strategy.

Thursday, December 30, 2021

文革从未结束 广西街头惊见游街示众

 广西靖西市街头惊见违规者游街示众- 国际- 即时国际| 星洲网Sin Chew Daily

文革从未结束   广西街头惊见游街示众 

广西近日出现因违反规定被抓起来游街示众的案例,引网络惊呼。推特上自12月28日起流传一段视频,其中可见,4、5个穿着白色隔离衣的人,双手被人以擒拿姿势抓住,排队在大街上游街示众,街两边有成排的警察监督,这几人胸前前还挂着与大字报相仿的纸张,上面似乎印着他们各自的照片。沿途还播放要求严守防疫措施的广播。

文革阴魂不散,广西街头惊现防疫违规遭游街示众者

网友在帖文中指,这件事发生在广西靖西市。他痛批“还有比游街,更能羞辱人的事吗?文革没有结束,只是继续”,并发布另外一段靖西市用运猪车装载被游街人士的影片。

 

另据大陆媒体28日报导,在游街影片中出现的其中2人,被控涉嫌非法载运2名越南籍人士入境,其中一人后被检查出核酸阳性。

“靖西检察”在官方微博宣布此事,却引民众质疑道:“建议刑罚里有没有油阶(指游街)这一条?”“游街?这是在清朝吗??”“按照法律来行不?法律里有哪一条是游街示众的?”

法国电视台LCI报道说:当街示众侮辱人从2010年开始是禁止的。但近几年又浮出水面。根据广西地方当局的文件,近几个月来,靖西也出现了被控走私和贩卖人口的嫌疑人。

11 月,在两名身穿白色隔离衣被拘留者在场的情况下组织了一次类似的示众,并由警察监督。 一名官员随后公开宣读了他们被控的罪行。LCI和L'Avenir (avec AFP)网站在报道上述消息时配上了“新闻拍案惊奇”提供的26秒视频。

Wednesday, December 29, 2021

The Life of Heinrich Himmler

 Heinrich Himmler | Biography, Crimes, Death, & Facts | Britannica

The Life of Heinrich Himmler

Heinrich Himmler was the Reichsführer - or Commander - of the Schutzstaffel, or the SS, the military arm of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party.

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Born in Munich in 1900, Himmler's father was a respected professor and his mother, a devout Catholic. He was not a very strong child physically and was always sickly. He worked hard at school but sadly didn't do very well, and in 1917 he joined the army, training as a gunner. He didn't finish army training and never saw action during World War I, though he does lie about this later in his career.

As early as university, he was a vocal anti-semite and was a nationalistic militarist who took great pride in Germanic culture and traditions. He then became a member of Hitler's brand new Nationalist Socialist Party (the Nazi Party) in 1919, its radical far-right ideologies meshing perfectly with his prejudice.

At first, he was only a volunteer, travelling the countryside to talk about the Jews and why they were "evil." From there, he was given small jobs like editing their newsletter and checking their secret armories around Germany (because he had a motorcycle). He joined the newly formed SS, a bodyguard unit for the VIP Nazis. In 1926, he became the Deputy Propaganda Chief and worked with Joseph Goebbels.

He quickly rose through the ranks, catching Hitler's eye by reorganizing the SS so only the best, strongest, and most Aryan, Germanic and pure-blooded were allowed to join. He established the Nazi counterintelligence unit and, in 1934, set up the first concentration camp - Dachau - which would become the model for all the others to come.

At this point, he now controlled all the German police forces and the Gestapo. With Hitler in supreme control, anti-semitism reigned supreme. Jews were not allowed to marry non-Jews, non-Aryans had their German citizenship revoked, and most were sent to the ghettos and blocked off from the rest of the population.

When World War II broke out in earnest, the Nazis executed thousands of people via death squads. It was messy, unsanitary, took too long, and affected the German soldiers' psychological state. Being meticulous and process-oriented, Himmler helped design "The Final Solution", which was an efficient - and modern - mass-killing and extermination process of Jews and all other prisoners - including gypsies, people of color, homosexuals and more.

Despite being high up in the party, Himmler realized that Hitler was losing and secretly reached out to the Allies. This eventually led to Hitler's suicide when the Russians were about to storm Berlin. Upon Hitler's death, Himmler pretended to be a regular German soldier. He was caught and committed suicide by biting down on a cyanide tooth cap while in captivity.

Himmler's legacy is a gruesome, inhuman and evil one. Maybe this was his way of compensating for being a blandly ordinary and even underwhelming human being early in his life.

20 Years after Portugal's Drug Decriminalization

 Portugal&#39;s radical drugs policy is working. Why hasn&#39;t the world copied it?  | Portugal | The Guardian

It has indeed been more than 20 years since Portugal famously decriminalized all illicit drugs. Their reason had been a noble one: HIV infections from shared needles were rampant, and the country's existing policy which focused on criminalization and punishment had failed to make any dent in that. It was reasoned that if drug addiction was treated more like a disease and less like a crime, authorities would be more directly confronting the true underlying causes of the problem. So what's the verdict after 20 years? Some ups, some downs, a lot of praise and a fair share of criticism. Today we're going to have a look at the reasons for Portugal's big move, and whether it has accomplished them — according not to pundits, but to the data.

Chart: Then &amp; Now Portugal&#39;s Drug Decriminalization | Statista At the time, Portugal's drug problem was a relatively new and unique one. Since 1926, Portugal had been an isolated dictatorship with little tourism and almost no illegal drug problem. Then, with 1974's bloodless Carnation Revolution, the country was opened, and more significantly, all its soldiers were brought back from fighting colonial revolutions in Africa — and many of them brought back vast amounts of drugs and serious drug addictions. The whole country had a drug epidemic essentially dumped in their lap.

By 1999, only 25 years after the Carnation Revolution, Portugal had Europe's highest incidence of AIDS among intravenous drug users, accounting for nearly half of all AIDS cases in the nation. In addition, their prisons were filling fast, with over 40% of prison sentences handed out for drug-related offenses. They were throwing more and more drug users into jail, but it hadn't helped the AIDS problem. And so they launched their new drug strategy to decriminalize all illicit drugs, the first such program of its size and significance in the world. It's called the PDPM, the Portuguese Drug Policy Model.

It is important to note the difference between decriminalization and legalization. Legalization makes the product legal, and people can manufacture, sell, and use it. This is not what Portugal did. They decriminalized the use of all drugs; meaning there are no longer any criminal penalties for drug users, however those penalties remain for those convicted of manufacturing, importing, and selling drugs. Drug dealers are still subject to the same criminal penalties as before.

If this was a little bit of a misconception for you, well, that's the tip of the iceberg. There's a lot of misinformation about Portugal's decriminalization. If you're caught using, buying, or possessing drugs, the cop is not going to say "Hey, right on, enjoy! Have a good one," you are still in trouble. If you have more than 10 days of personal use worth, you're still going to jail. If you have less than that, your drugs are confiscated and you are issued a summons to appear before an administrative panel called a Commission for the Dissuasion of Drug Addiction. Nothing will go on your criminal record.

That commission consists of an attorney, a psychiatrist, a chemical dependency social worker, and sometimes a judge. They'll consider your history and your situation, and then render their decision. They may choose to let you go with no sanctions at all other than some advice to stop doing drugs, which is usually what happens to first time offenders whose cases are deemed low risk, and this is what the commissions do in the majority of cases. They can fine repeat offenders, but the fines are typically small and tailored to your ability to pay. They can sentence you to community service. They can suspend your professional licenses. They can ban you from going to certain places or associating with certain people. They can terminate any social assistance you may receive. They can confiscate personal property and cancel your firearms license. They can require you to report back to them. About the only thing they can't do is send you to prison. Getting caught using drugs in Portugal is no laughing matter; it is not a place where you can freely roll around doing drugs with no concern. They've simply restructured the punishments from those that are proven to prolong drug problems to ones that are intended to reduce them.

The primary architect of the PDPM was João Castel-Branco Goulão, a physician and currently the Director-General of the Service for Intervention on Addictive Behaviors and Dependencies. In designing the program, Goulão's central idea was that drug abusers are not criminals, they are ill, and should be treated as such. Goulão's commission recognized three principles around which the program was designed. The first was to not differentiate between soft drugs and hard drugs. It doesn't matter what the drug is; what matters is whether the user has a healthy or an unhealthy relationship with it. Second was to recognize that an unhealthy relationship with drugs is often a symptom of an underlying cause, which could be any stressful chronic challenge a person can face in life. Third was to note that an all-out war on drugs, to get all drugs off the street, is impossible and quixotic, and thus a losing strategy that would not be a part of the solution.

So, all that background brings us to the moment of truth, which is to turn to the data and answer our big question: Has it worked?

The most honest answer to this begins with an anticlimactic disclaimer, which is that any such statement like "Drug use has declined by xx%" or "New cases of AIDS are down by xx%" is incomplete and misleading. Implementation of the PDPM was not an overnight panacea for recreational and dependent drug users, it was a complex process fraught with conflicting policies and passionate differences among public attitudes toward it. Keep in mind that Portugal is heavily Roman Catholic, and the belief that there should be zero tolerance for drug use of any kind is predominant. Consequently, ever since the PDPM was put into action, public sentiment has been a mixture of deep moral repugnance toward it, and approval by those with public health in mind.

Much of the complexity arises from the fact that, as Goulão has pointed out, decriminalization alone — doing nothing else — makes the problem worse. It's an improvement only when partnered with the needed treatment resources, which are expensive and required Portugal to invest massively. That investment has had all kinds of challenges thrown at it. First, the United Nations threatened sanctions against Portugal for decriminalization, sanctions that would have struck at the heart of their already-limited ability to pay for it; but they managed to dodge that bullet. Next, the left-wing government that approved the PDPM was voted out and replaced with a right-wing government that only just barely decided to keep it in place. Then the global economic meltdown of 2008 made Portugal insolvent and it had to accept a bailout from the International Monetary Fund, which put it under more pressure from the United Nations to bring back criminal prosecution for all drug offenses. Since then Portugal has had to continue deep cuts in government spending across the board. Through all of this, the PDPM treatment and recovery services survived, though it's been a very rocky road.

Generally, at first the PDPM did work very well in addressing its primary goal: reduction of HIV infections; and that's basically the only reason the incoming government didn't stomp it out of existence in its infancy in 2002. And that trend has continued. The reduction of HIV cases has been its greatest success, and is about the only graph that shows a steady trend, going from 600 per year in 1999 to only about 10 today. Another, which goes without saying, is the percentage of new prison sentences that are for drug related offenses, which is down from Portugal's high of some 40% in 1999 to about on par with the rest of Europe, around 15% today.

But drug deaths? They have not improved. Part of the reason for this is that Portugal has always had low numbers for this, usually less than half of what it is in the rest of Europe. Deaths today are about the same as before the PDPM. Total rate of drug use has also not improved, also because Portugal was always pretty low. It's actually up a bit, again generally in sync with the rest of Europe.

 

Yet if you do an Internet search to see how Portugal's doing 20 years later, the results are almost universally positive. Much of the reason for this was an extremely influential report published by the Cato Institute in 2009, which was paid for by the Marijuana Policy Project, a US nonprofit that promotes legalization of marijuana. So we should expect the Cato Institute's report on Portugal to be biased in favor of the merits of decriminalization and legalization, and it was. Whether you agree with a position or not, you want it to be based on data, not on bias. In 2010, the Obama administration, faced with pressure to mimic Portugal's policy based on the Cato report, published a white paper listing a number of flaws in Cato's report. Following about a dozen bullet points, it concludes "It is safe to say that claims by drug legalization advocates regarding the impact of Portugal's drug policy exceed the existing scientific basis."

But we should not let the perfect become the enemy of the good. That Cato overstated the PDPM's positive impact doesn't mean the impact hasn't still been positive. It certainly hasn't solved everything, and has had little effect in many areas, but did put an enormous dent in the HIV and AIDS cases among heroin addicts. And in doing so, it has ended up saving Portugal a lot of money. When you take all the costs associated with drug addiction, everything from police and ambulance services, hospital treatment, social services, and so on, it was found in 2015 that social costs associated with drug use dropped 18% by 2010.

The best way to characterize the first 20 years of the PDPM in summary is to note that it has had some major, though somewhat narrow, successes. Importantly, it hasn't failed anywhere; all of its outcomes have been either favorable or neutral at worst. Portugal's policy was implemented in a resource-starved test environment, among a population with a strong element that opposes it. It was done in a country that had a drug problem that was unusual due to Portugal's unique history, and may fare better if implemented in some other countries, and may fare worse in still others. It has suffered from international pushback, but has also inspired plenty of international imitation. The results, as defined by a number of metrics, are not as good as many of us might hope for; in others, they are. But that it's been able to produce results ranging from positive to neutral, with really nothing in the negative, says a lot for it; and that it produced these results under tough conditions says more. It is a model that will work best in countries with a strong interest in public health and data-driven policy, and will likely not work as well in countries that value religion-driven zero-tolerance policies above public health. In that sense, Portugal's drug program is not too far different from many other innovations.

减少粮食西方的依存度 中共備戰?

 新闻看点】习缺席两峰会中共3动作忙备战? | G20峰会| 习近平| 四部国防法被暂停| 大纪元

中共总书记习近平日前强调,“中国人的饭碗任何时候都要牢牢端在自己手中,饭碗主要装中国粮。”中国全国农业农村厅局长会议把扩种大豆油料,列为明年必须完成的重大政治任务。分析指,中国企图减少对大豆的对外依存度,其实是中国进一步脱钩,闭关锁国的表现。

据新华社报导,习近平在农村工作会议前,主持召开中共中央政治局常委会会议,专题研究“三农”工作。习近平指出,对于耕地保护要求要非常明确,全大陆18亿亩耕地必须实至名归,“农田就是农田,而且必须是良田。”

习近平表示,要“实打实”地调整结构,扩种大豆和油料,见到可考核的成效,要真正落实“菜篮子”市长负责制,确保猪肉、蔬菜等农副产品供给安全。

在中共中央要求扩种大豆后,随后召开的中国全国农业农村厅局长会议提到要做好四件事,首要是稳定粮食生产,再来就是攻坚克难扩种大豆油料,把扩大大豆油料生产作为明年必须完成的重大政治任务。

中国农业农村部农研中心研究员张照新在接受澎湃新闻表示,近年来,大豆和油料的进口依赖度不断增加,而且进口来源相对集中。“扩种大豆和油料”是强化国内自给能力,稳定油脂和饲料供给的重要举措。与此同时,中国在外贸方面也要增加大豆和油料来源,推动进口多元化,降低对单一国家的依赖,降低各种突发事件的风险。

金融学者司令指出,从战略安全角度来看,中国政府没有托底的办法,只能现在亡羊补牢,然后再开会再强调扩大豆类种植面积,现在已经有点晚。因为现在中国长期依赖进口的话,中国农业工作会议强调是百年未有之变局,世纪交织撞情况下召开。

司令:“说白了是东西方冷战,现在中共挑起意识形态领域和西方交恶,中共认为这个问题对国外的依赖,就会输掉意识形态冷战的这场无声的战争。”

司令指出,中国提高大豆的面积以及生产量,已经不单纯是粮食安全问题,中共政府已经把它上升为政治安全的高度,把减少重要粮油产品特别是大豆对外依存度,变成减少西方战略的依存度。这其实是中共进一步脱钩,闭关锁国的其中一个表现。

中国大豆进口26年增加100倍猪肉、禽类、食用油需求都靠它

据第一财经报导,在中国2021年的粮食总产量中,玉米占比接近40%,大豆占比仅有2.4%。而大豆由于长期产不足需,对外依存度高,进口已经成为常态,净进口已有26年历史。大豆进口量也从1995年的100万吨增长到2020年的突破1亿吨,25年时间增加了100倍。

资深财经媒体人王剑在政论节目提出,中国的猪饲料需求上升,采购量突破5500吨,每斤价格约2.75元,进口大豆每斤价格是1.71元,比国产大豆便宜1块。玉米的价差只有5毛钱。也就是大陆大豆进口量占全球大豆贸易总量的60%。以2020年为例,大豆进口依存度达到83.7%。也就是每一百斤在中国市场消费的大豆,有84斤是进口。

王剑认为,中国的大豆用来做饲料和榨油,餐厅吃的菜全都是豆油。中国大量依赖大豆进口,也就意味着中国肉类生产包括猪肉和禽类高度依赖进口,食用油也高度依赖进口。不只是口粮依赖进口,这是全方位的需求。

据统计,2021年中国玉米产量较上年增加238亿斤,增长4.6%;然而大豆产量减少64亿斤,下降16.4%。这背后其实是大豆与玉米“争地”的结果。王剑分析,种玉米比种大豆每亩地多400元,中共政府唯有靠补贴或是强迫农民种植大豆,以目前的财政来说,强迫大概率更高些。

中国长年喊分散大豆进口来源效果不彰

中国大豆如何突破困局,中共不是最近才第一次喊出降低单一国家进口量。早在今年1月中国经济日报在大豆2020进口量首次突破1亿吨时曾引用,中国国家发改委价格成本调查中心主任黄汉权提出,面对国际政治经济形势和疫情的巨大不确定性,中共要掌握在大豆国际贸易中的主动权,首先要推动进口来源地多元化。除了巴西、美国、阿根廷这些传统的出口大国,增加从俄罗斯、乌克兰以及非洲等“一带一路”沿线国家的进口,确保大豆进口稳定供应。

全球储备粮食库存量一半中国囊括

中共一方面在喊提高国产大豆自产率时,另一方面中国的储备粮食库存量达到全球一半以上。根据日本经济新闻指出,明年上半年,中国的粮食库存在全球库存量占比分别是玉米69%、白米60%、小麦51%,这些在过去10年都分别提高了20个百分点左右。中国持续大量存储粮食的情况十分明显。

“确实会担心粮食长期依赖进口,特别是很多需要从美国、加拿大、澳洲、巴西、阿根廷等,他跟美国、加拿大、澳洲的关系都不好,如果万一哪一天因为台海的关系跟美国打起来,美国停止出口给中国的话,中国实际上粮食是不够的,他需要大量储备,我觉得跟这个是有些关系。”前投资银行家汪浩对本台提出他的观察。

汪浩认为,中国本质上是个耕地不足的国家,加上中国农村老龄化问题严重,农村年轻人都到城市打工,所以粮食产量不可能结构性大量地提高。

中国大使秦刚党声党语 美国媒体集体采访 事后竟无一家媒体发表

解体党文化】之四:被改造思想后人们的表现(上) | 大纪元 中国大使秦刚接受美国媒体集体采访    事后竟无一家媒体发表

秦刚 资料照片 

中国驻美大使秦刚12月20日接受美国多家主流媒体主编和资深记者联合采访,但过去多天了,美国竟未见一家媒体发出报导。

中国副外长秦刚出任新驻美大使- 国际- 天下事| 星洲网Sin Chew Daily

美国中文《世界日报》说:这项采访由彭博创新经济论坛举办,以“炉边谈话”形式用英文进行。中共驻美使馆在官网将主要内容发布并翻译成中文。中国驻美记者韩鹏称,在这次谈话前,双方就已商定:全部内容可供报导,也可用作背景吹风。可是,现在几乎没见一家美媒发出报导!

韩鹏说,他从记者角度看,完全无法理解美国同行这“骚操作”:“你们那么喜欢拿中国说事,天天离开中国说不了话,现在好不容易逮到中国大使了,问了好几个小时,怎么采完以后都不说话了?”“难道这些主编和资深记者,对新闻性的判断,跟我不一样?认为这几小时的联合采访里,一丁点有新闻性的内容都没采到?”

韩鹏还撷取秦刚回覆美媒的部分重要内容,包括在回答台湾问题上。秦刚当时说,和平不打仗是中美公约数,希望美方认识到台独才是最大威胁。美国管控危机的最佳方式是防止和减少对华消极政策和行动,特别是不要在台湾问题上挑衅中国。台湾问题是可能使中美陷入冲突的主要潜在因素。

秦刚说,中方所做的都是反应之举。什么导致了台海局势紧张?是台湾民进党当局,其否认世界上只有一个中国和两岸同属一个中国的事实。台湾当局正通过寻求美国支持其独立来挑起对抗。而美国利用台湾来遏制中国。这就是台海紧张局势不断升级的根源。

在答覆美媒有关中国“战狼外交”的问题时,秦刚称,当前,中国面临更加复杂和严峻的国际环境,有的国家对中国动辄颐指气使、攻讦诽谤。中国外交官面对干涉中国内政、损害中国利益的不友善言行,必须站起来说不,讲清事实,辩清道理,普通中国公民都应如此,更别说中国外交官了。秦刚称:我们不是主动出击,而是做出回击。更准确地说,中国外交官不是战狼,而是与狼共舞”。

Japanese authorities - Beijing behind cyberattack, cyberespionage plot

 China Broadens Cyber Options - Asian Military Review

Japanese authorities - Beijing behind cyberattack, cyberespionage plot

Japan police suspect a former student of China tried to illegally purchase computer security software sold in Japan for carrying out cyberattacks.

Japanese authorities suspect a former student of China tried to illegally purchase computer security software sold in Japan for carrying out cyberattacks and cyberespionage. Back in 2016, the 30-year-old former student allegedly tried to own the software containing advanced technology. The sophisticated software is only sold to Japanese companies after verification. The police suspects that the Chinese man attempted to purchase the software under the influence of a person who belonged to China's People's Liberation Army, reported ANI, citing NHK World.

The investigation team suspects that the 30-year-old used the name of a fake company to obtain the Japanese software. However, he did not succeed, as the company that sells the software grew suspicious and canceled the deal. Meanwhile, the police suspect that a few members of the PLA tried to obtain information on security measures taken by Japanese companies. They wanted to know companies' weak points in order to launch cyberattacks against them and breach important data.

 

Japanese authorities - Beijing behind cyberattack, cyberespionage plot

The Investigation team questioned the man but later came to know that he had fled from Japan. However, an arrest warrant has been issued for the man by the Tokyo Metropolitian Police on suspicion of attempted fraud. It is to be mentioned that the Japanese authorities are now planning to put the Chinese suspect on an international wanted list with the help of the International Criminal Police Organization, reported NHK World. The Japanese investigation team believed that fraud attempts were allegedly made in the direction given by the PLA members.

Cyberattack against Japanese companies

Earlier, in 2016, hackers linked to the PLA carried out a massive cyberattack against 200 companies and institutions, including some major defense-related firms and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. According to the investigation team, in the latest case, the Chinese man has some connection with PLA unit 61419, which only deals in carrying out cyberattacks. In view of the situation, Tokyo is concerned that the threat to security is increasing and suspects that the Communist regime in China is behind all the major cyber attacks.

Japan seeks arrest of Chinese ex-student over alleged link to space agency cyberattacks
Japan seeks arrest of Chinese ex-student over alleged link to space agency cyberattacks
Japan seeks arrest of Chinese ex-student over alleged link to space agency cyberattacks
Japan seeks arrest of Chinese ex-student over alleged link to space agency cyberattacks

Tuesday, December 28, 2021

女教师李田田被送精神病院事件是一个愚蠢政权为自己制造的“枷锁”

 TimedNews.com on Twitter: &quot;【各界关注敢言女教师李田田被精神病事件两女教师遭迫害】 近日,两名中国年轻女教师 ——上海震旦学院讲师宋庚一和湖南湘西永顺县乡村小学语文教师李田田——因为发表言论而遭受当局严厉处置,引起海内外支持者密切关注。  https://t.co/mDum7pREts ... 女教师李田田被送精神病院事件是一个愚蠢政权为自己制造的“枷锁”

湖南乡村中学教师李田田因在中国的社交媒体微博上声援了一下另一位因发表“不当”言论而被开除教职的老师,被当地政府当成维稳对象一度“被精神病”。政论家邓聿文认为,滥用政治安全去打压异议剥夺不同意见终会遇到人们无声或有声的抵制。政治高压让官员会害怕,但对民众会引来普遍的不满乃至抗拒。

上海震旦职业学院教师宋庚一因质疑官方“30万遇难”说法而被开除,声援她的李田田也成为关注焦点。


在上海震旦职业学院教师因发布质疑有关南京大屠杀官方死亡人数的言论而遭解雇之后,另一位声援她的教师李田田也成为中国互联网关注的焦点。有关李田田身怀有孕还被强行送进精神病院的消息在网络上引起热议。周五,当地政府就李田田近况发布了通报,但似乎并未完全平息人们的疑虑。

李田田是湖南乡村的一位中学老师,也是一位有着忧郁气质的诗人。知道她名字的人不多,直到这次事情出来。然而在这个即将到来的新年前夕,她成了中国和海外舆论最牵动人心的人,原因只在于,她在中国的社交媒体微博上声援了一下另一位因发表“不当”言论而被开除教职的老师,被当地政府当成维稳对象一度“被精神病”。

事情还得从一堂课说起。12月13日是南京大屠杀死难者的国家公祭日。对大多数中国人而言,南京大屠杀触及民族的伤口和情感,不可随意缄否和质疑,但在公祭日的次日,上海震旦职业学院的一位新闻系老师在课堂上大谈了一通中国对大屠杀死难者人数统计的不准确,遭学生举报。该教师这个时候发表这样的言论是否恰当,可以争议,但不能容忍的是学生随意举报老师的行为以及学校根据举报而对老师开除的处理方式。

尽管学生举报老师不是中国特有的现象,可在当下特定的国情下,鼓励这种举报行为会导致舆论一律、鸦雀无声的后果,人们担忧的也是它会导致文革重演,因为文革就盛行举报和告密。把那位学生的举报看成告密虽有些言重,但鉴于被举报者往往得不到公正对待,所以必须旗帜鲜明地反对学生举报老师,旗帜鲜明地反对学校开除老师。

李田田在微博上声援了被震旦开除的老师,她不过是社交媒体上众多声援者之一,然而就使得当地政府如临大敌,启动维稳机制,教育和公安部门对她发出训诫,在她不接受后据报又被强行送往精神病院接受治疗。在汹涌的舆论压力下,当地政府让李的母亲和姐姐出来发声,向外界解释李田田被“精神病”的过程,称是误会,她没有被强行送去精神病院,而是在其身为教育局官员的姑父和家人劝说下治疗抑郁症,据说李患有这个疾病,而且有些严重,现在已转移到当地人民医院接受治疗。上级政府也表示成立工作组进行调查。

政府制造枷锁,反套在自己的脖子上

此事的最新进展是李田田已从医院回到家,结束了“被精神病”。最关心李田田的当然是她的母亲和姐姐等至亲,从人性的角度人们不能怀疑她们的“辟谣”是假的,然而合乎常理的事情一到中国,特别在目前这样一个时期,就往往变得有那么一点不是味道。可想而知,在一起事件引发全民关注后,地方政府为了尽快平息,常给家属施压,而出于息事宁人的考虑,家属甚至当事人会配合政府演戏,表明没有受到压迫。这种情况已成常态,彭帅事件人们也再次目睹。所以,即便李田田已经回家,也不能打消外界对她一度强行“被精神病”的怀疑,除非是在有公信力的第三方的调查下。此即一个政权在丧失基本信用后面临的“塔西佗陷阱”,即无论政府怎么做,人们都不会相信它出于善意。

李田田的“被精神病”,完全是湖南地方政府一手制造出的“枷锁”,但它没有套住别人,反套在当局脖子上。李声援震旦老师的言论,并非过激,完全用不着要威胁开除,更用不着在她不接受威吓的情况下强行把她送往医院治疗,不管是不是精神病院。就算她的亲人认为她患有忧郁症,有必要及时治疗,政府也不该介入。地方教育和公安部门在官场的政治高压下,如果认为守土有责,不要在自己的一亩三分地里出现什么意外,聪明的做法是让学校批评一下,要李把微博言论删除即可,鉴于李不是什么知名人士,她的声援言论本就不会产生太大影响,完全不必采取将矛盾激化的举动,用对待异议人士的办法对待她,但现在这样,反为自己制造出一个对立面,使事情变得不可收拾,并将政府的丑行大白于天下。

A human rights activist, a secret prison and a tale from Xi Jinping&#39;s new  China | China | The Guardian 中国政府特别是基层政府常干这种“蠢事”,它的反对派很多就是这样出来的。说它“蠢”,是因为它制造对手或“敌人”的很多做法愚蠢透顶,事后复盘,根本不应到这一步,但最后的结果偏偏是谁都不愿看到的最坏一种。从个体来说,这个政权囊括了中国最好的精英恐怕不过分,基层政府虽然精英少了些,但要说他们是低于常人的笨人,怕也不合事实。一些地方政府官员开始可能也不想把事情搞砸,可后来偏偏搞砸,根子就在政权的机制,宁可“错杀一千,不可放过一个”,即凡事将它的子民往最坏想,把不合官方意特别是长官意的人都看成不安分的坏分子,用阶级斗争的思维模式和方式去处理所谓“人民内部矛盾”,当下所谓的新时代更是这样,斗争思维充斥政权内部。

然而,滥用政治安全去打压异议剥夺不同意见终会遇到人们无声或有声的抵制。政治高压让官员会害怕,但对民众会引来普遍的不满乃至抗拒。这即是两位女教师特别是李田田的“被精神病”曝出后遭到中国舆论强烈反弹的缘故。在人人都可能“被精神病”的现实威胁下,人们只能起来反抗,反抗在开始不一定走向街头或广场,不服从摆布也是反抗的一种。因此,大众关注李田田的命运实际是在表达对当局“文字狱”的强烈不满,对地方政府任性使用权力压制舆论的谴责和抗议。

倘若当局为保政权安全而在打压言论上不收手,变本加厉控制舆论,由中美争斗和疫情带来的对现政权一时的支持度,将会快速耗尽,当局会为自己制造更多的像李田田事件这样的“枷锁”,直至情形发生质变。

中国“眯眯眼”妆容为何和辱华有关?还是文化自卑 ?

 

眼睛太小不配当中国人?国货三只松鼠也辱华了? – 看传媒新闻网  中国“眯眯眼”妆容引热议 为何和辱华有关?

“眯眯眼”事件引发中国网民热议,有人认为“眯眯眼”妆容“辱华”,也有网民认为“本质还是文化自卑”。中国官煤也纷纷发表评论讨论“眯眯眼”争议,专家学者怎麽看?

 中国电商三只松鼠因2019年一张模特儿“眯眯眼”妆容的广告海报遭质疑丑化中国人,迎合西方刻板印象而“辱华”,三只松鼠发声明道歉,而该模特儿对“辱华”评论感到无奈,表示“不明白自己做错什么...我眼睛小就不配做中国人了?”

Outspoken editor of Chinese state tabloid Global Times retires | China |  The Guardian  网民评论称批评三只松鼠的广告“阴阳怪气”、“丑化亚裔”三只松鼠26日回复《财经网》表示,该广告宣传页面于 2019年10月上线,时值国潮风流行,因此选择“国潮风”来进行广告拍摄,绝无刻意丑化之意。至于上海市消保委27日则发文指出,消费圈的审美也要与时俱进。

Carrie Lam says Hong Kong 'won't rule out' Chinese help over protests |  Phnom Penh Post面对批评,“三只松鼠”海报中的模特儿“菜娘娘”26日对此微博发文称:“确实就是长成这个样子,因为我的性格,和表演风格被选中做这个广告模特。也没有故意要去营造什么辱华形象。”她并写道:“爱国我举双手赞成!但事事都要上纲上线,那这就是一种病态了!大家做一个心态健康的网民吧。”

另外,德国汽车品牌奔驰在中国刚发布的新车广告视频中,也因有女模特儿同样有凤眼的妆容被质疑“辱华”,奔驰中国相关部门尚未回应。

中国官媒纷纷评论

“眯眯眼”事件引发中国网民热议,有人认为“眯眯眼”妆容“辱华”,也有网民认为“本质还是文化自卑,意识里还是摇着尾巴顺着西方主人的意识思考”,有网友写道:“说到底只是它们自己不喜欢小眼睛,但为了能光明正大的辱骂它就一定要扣个辱华帽子上去。”

中国官媒《环球网》及《人民日报》也先后发文讨论,并引述学者说法称,广告并未脱离西方对东亚人和“东方主义”的刻板偏见,并认为中国企业和社会应当在这一问题上具有更高的敏感性。学者评论称,相关的讨论有助于以不同角度厘清这问题,但舆论探讨不宜变成政治审判。

《人民日报》28日以圆桌方式对“眯眯眼”做评论,并从产品、审美和传播三个角度作探讨,称应该“充分尊重受众,才能赢得市场”、“培养健康审美趣味,涵养强大审美自信”,以及“坚持效果导向,也避免‘扣帽子’”。

台湾艺术大学广电系教授赖祥蔚表示,“眯眯眼”的讨论显现网路时代,人们可以很迅速对事情做出评论,但却容易忽略多元性,以自己的标准做衡量,而形成偏颇的意见。

他并以“眯眯眼”为例,表示中国种族多,形象也很多元,汉族的形象也只是其中一种,“你今天到新疆西藏,外型跟汉人不一样,难道就不是中国人吗?”他问。

“西方刻板印象”

赖祥蔚续指,“眯眯眼”可能和部分网民认为的中国人形象不同,但那也只是中国人的其中一种形象,因此,中国的网民应该适度的补强网路素养,不要轻易地用自己的标准做判断。

中国政法大学传播法研究中心副主任朱巍则向《环球网》表示,“眯眯眼”妆容和“辫子”的意象来自于19世纪西方对华人的刻板印象,并非是对华人相貌特征的客观形容,而是西方基于民族和意识形态优越感而对东亚人贴上的“标签”。他认为,西方对东亚人外貌特征放大的、带有贬损意义和标签性质的表现方式。

北京大学教授张颐武则称向《环球网》说,公开辩论有助于帮助人们更深刻地认识这一问题,也从多角度厘清情况的复杂性,“不过,这应当成为一个舆论层面的探讨,而不应成为一个政治判决”。

赖祥蔚也持类似看法,他向德国之声指出,中国网路上有这样的讨论仍是好事,藉由讨论才会知道多元的声音,彼此学习。

爱国主义?

另外,赖祥蔚也指出,“眯眯眼”事件也和中国的爱国主义有关系,当局会希望适度激起爱国主义,毕竟每个国家都希望国民有爱国心,但一不小心容易冲过头,就会变仇外。

他说:“称‘眯眯眼’有辱华之嫌,一开始是爱国,但用外型判断是否扭曲中国形象或辱华,可能就过头了”。朱巍也表示,有关三只松鼠广告的热议,体现出爱国主义和民族平等意识在中国深入人心。

中国女人长这样?西方奢侈品牌的老毛病又犯了…-荆楚网-湖北日报网 事实上,法国奢侈品牌迪奥(Dior)11月时,因为照片《傲慢的矜持》中年轻女模拥有凤眼,梳着夸张的刘海及脸部布满雀斑,惹怒许多中国网民,也遭批评“辱华”,后来迪奥删除该作品并致歉,摄影师陈漫亦发声明道歉。