The China Now special program informs about this country's news. The first segment of this episode analyzes the several espionage activities that MI6 carried out in China, revelations about Chinese football corruption and other topics. The second segment covers the launch of the Einstein probe and an interview with Alan Freeman, from the University of Manitoba. teleSUR
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00:00 Hello, Telesur English presents a new episode of China Now, a Wave Media's production
00:13 that showcases the culture, technology and politics of the Asian giant.
00:18 This first segment dives into the several espionage activities that the MI6 have carried
00:23 out in China with the help of individuals from third countries.
00:27 We will learn more details about these activities carried out in the giant Asian country.
00:32 Let's see.
00:36 China Current is a weekly news talk show from China to the world.
00:40 We cover viral news about China every week and also give you the newest updates on China's
00:45 cutting-edge technologies.
00:46 Let's get started.
00:47 Hi, welcome to China Current.
00:58 I'm Chris.
01:00 On January 8th, China's Ministry of State Security has successfully dismantled a case
01:06 involving a British secret intelligence service, MI6, exposing their espionage activities in
01:12 China through the use of individuals from a third country.
01:16 A foreigner identified by surname Huang was in charge of an overseas consulting agency.
01:23 The collaboration between MI6 and Huang began in 2015 when he was recruited and a cooperative
01:29 intelligence relationship was established.
01:33 Since then, MI6 directed Huang to enter China multiple times, guided him to collect intelligence
01:38 under the disguise of public activities and recruiting individuals for MI6.
01:43 Through meticulous investigation, Chinese national security agencies uncovered evidence
01:48 of Huang's involvement in espionage activities.
01:52 In accordance with the law, they promptly took coercive measures against him.
01:57 Security assessment revealed that Huang had transmitted nine pieces of confidential national
02:02 secrets, five pieces of secret-level national secrets and three pieces of intelligence to
02:08 British authorities.
02:09 Next up, let's take a look at Chinese football.
02:12 In an anti-corruption documentary aired on January 9th, shocking revelations have emerged
02:18 regarding Li Tie, the former head coach of the National Men's Football Team.
02:23 Li admitted to paying bribes totaling 3 million yuan to secure his position as the national
02:28 team coach.
02:29 Additionally, he confessed that the two teams he coached are involved in match-fixing on
02:34 their way to promotion.
02:36 Li disclosed that in the 2018 season, he lobbied Wuhan Zao FC to pay 2 million yuan in bribes
02:43 to Chen Shiyuan, the former head of the Chinese Football Association, and 1 million yuan in
02:47 bribes to Liu Yi, former CFA Secretary General, in exchange for his appointment as the national
02:53 team's head coach.
02:55 Li then signed a contract with Wuhan Zao FC for 6 million yuan, which served as the
03:00 cover for the corrupt deal.
03:02 As an exchange, he selected four players from the Wuhan club for the national team.
03:07 Li Tie's confession led to an investigation by supervisory authorities, which subsequently
03:12 exposed several other officials suspected of corruption and other wrongdoing within
03:17 Chinese football.
03:19 This scandal has further tarnished the reputation of the sport in the country.
03:24 Next up, on January 9th, the Xichang Satellite Launch Center successfully launched the Einstein
03:29 probe satellite into its designated orbit at 15.03 local time.
03:33 The satellite's launch was a resounding success, marking a significant milestone for
03:37 China's space program.
03:39 However, the incident took a comical turn when Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive
03:44 Party authorities reacted in an alarmist manner.
03:48 According to reports from Taiwan's United Daily News, the DPP's Defense Department
03:52 issued two alerts in both Chinese and English, declaring a so-called "island-wide warning."
03:59 The alerts urged citizens to stay vigilant as a missile allegedly flew over the southern
04:04 part of the island.
04:05 However, the English version of the alerts referred to the satellite launch as an "air
04:10 raid alert" and even referred to the satellite as a "missile," causing unnecessary panic
04:16 among the public.
04:17 With the election coming up, the incident has sparked debates about the DPP's handling
04:21 of defense-related matters and its potential political motivations.
04:25 Critics argue that the false missile alert was an attempt to manipulate public sentiment
04:30 and create a sense of crisis.
04:33 In response to the uproar, Taiwan's Defense Department issued a statement acknowledging
04:37 their mistake and apologizing to the public for confusion caused by the inaccurate translation.
04:43 They admitted that the alert should have referred to the launch as a satellite, not a missile.
04:49 Next up, on January 8, China's foreign ministry expressed serious concerns over the U.S.-Japan-South
04:55 Korea trilateral Indo-Pacific dialogue took place last week in Washington.
05:01 The dialogue's joint statement said that the three countries expressed concern about
05:05 China's "dangerous and escalatory behavior" in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea and
05:12 would continue their "trilateral maritime security and law enforcement cooperation in
05:16 the regions."
05:18 During the press conference, China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning refuted the
05:22 accusations against China, condemning the dialogue as an attempt to "cobble together
05:27 exclusionary groupings in the name of cooperation and to interfere with China's internal affairs."
05:34 Spokeswoman Mao pointed out that a certain non-regional country has sought to flex muscles
05:40 and incite confrontation in the South China Sea, referring to the U.S.-Philippines naval
05:45 exercises held last week in the area.
05:49 In response to the heightened tensions, Chinese Navy conducted naval and air patrols in the
05:54 contested waters, reiterating its sovereignty over the contested Rangayu Reef unlawfully
05:59 claimed by the Philippines.
06:02 Next up, on technology, China's domestically developed third-generation superconducting
06:07 quantum computer named Origin Wukong was officially put into operation this Saturday.
06:13 At Origin Quantum Computing Technology Cooperation, the quantum computer is equipped with 72 self-developed
06:19 superconducting quantum chips called Wukong cores, making it the most advanced programmable
06:25 and deliverable superconducting quantum computer in China.
06:29 According to Dr. Kong Wei Cheng, deputy director of the Anhui Quantum Computer Engineering
06:34 Research Center, Origin Wukong is paired with a third-generation quantum computing measurement
06:39 and control system, Origin Tianji.
06:42 It has achieved the first batch of fully automated testing of quantum chips in China, significantly
06:47 improving the overall operational efficiency of quantum computers.
06:51 Wukong's name was inspired by Sun Wukong, a fictional figure with the ability to transform
06:57 into 72 different forms, symbolizing the computer's powerful and versatile capabilities.
07:03 This marks a significant milestone in China's quantum computing capabilities, demonstrating
07:08 advancements in chip technology, automation and quantum system integration.
07:14 Next up on diplomacy.
07:16 During the first state visit of newly elected President Mohamed Mizzou to Beijing on January
07:20 10th, China and the Maldives elevated their relationship to a higher level.
07:26 Chinese President Xi Jinping, addressing a gathering at the Great Hall of the People,
07:30 referred to Mizzou as an old friend and announced the upgrade of the bilateral ties to a comprehensive
07:36 strategic-cooperative partnership.
07:39 China currently maintains a comprehensive strategic-cooperative partnership with 35
07:45 other countries, including Iran, Indonesia, Greece, Saudi Arabia and Brazil, which is
07:50 three levels higher than the China-India relationship.
07:54 According to a report from the American Enterprise Institute, Think Tank, Chinese companies have
07:59 invested an additional $1.37 billion in the Maldives since the country's decision to
08:05 join the Belt and Road Initiative in 2014.
08:09 President Xi stated, "China and the Maldives' relations are presented with a historic opportunity
08:15 to build upon the past and advance into the future."
08:18 Next up, let's look at CPC's latest effort in anti-corruption.
08:23 On January 8th, the General Secretary of CPC, Xi Jinping, addressed at the annual conference
08:28 of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the party's top supervisory authority.
08:35 In a speech, Xi emphasized that the decade-long efforts of the anti-corruption struggle have
08:39 achieved an overwhelming victory.
08:41 However, Xi pointed out, the situation remains severe and complex, and tough battles against
08:47 corruption require sustained efforts.
08:50 As the largest Marxist ruling party in the world, the CPC needs to promote self-revolution
08:55 to ensure that the party will never change its nature, its conviction or its character.
09:01 The anti-corruption campaign began after the conclusion of the CPC's 18th National Congress
09:06 in 2012 and has become the largest organized anti-corruption effort in the party's history.
09:11 As of the party's 20th National Congress in 2022, discipline inspection authorities
09:16 nationwide have initiated investigations into 4.65 million cases and disciplined over 4.57
09:25 million individuals.
09:27 By the first week of 2024, 35 government officials have been removed from their positions
09:32 for investigation.
09:34 The party's efforts have been overwhelmingly approved by the people, specifically because
09:38 Xi vowed to crack down on both high-level and local officials.
09:43 Since 2012, over 100 high-ranking party, government and military officials have been investigated,
09:50 including seven national leaders.
09:52 The highest-ranking figure among them was Zhou Yongkang, a member of the 17th Politburo
09:56 Standing Committee.
09:58 The most recent concluded investigation involving high-ranking officials was of Dong Yunhu,
10:03 former chairman of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress.
10:06 He was arrested on December 29, 2023, by order of the country's Supreme Procurator.
10:12 Last but not least, on January 9, in a routine press conference held by the Civil Aviation
10:17 Administration of China, officials announced that the 2024 Spring Festival travel season
10:22 is set to commence on January 26 and will extend through March 5, spanning a total of
10:28 40 days.
10:30 This period, also known as Chunyun, is often considered the largest annual human migration
10:35 in the world, as millions of Chinese nationals travel for the Chinese New Year celebrations.
10:41 Predictions indicate that passenger traffic in civil aviation will reach a staggering
10:45 80 million during the Chunyun period, averaging 2 million per day, a figure that is poised
10:51 to set a new historical record.
10:54 The peak of the travel rush is expected to hit on February 8, February 16, February 20,
11:00 and February 25.
11:02 The Spring Festival, also known as the Chinese New Year, is the most important traditional
11:07 holiday in China, with the country virtually shutting down as people take time off from
11:12 work to be with family and friends.
11:14 The travel season presents remarkable logistical challenges as the country's transportation
11:19 infrastructure deals with an immense surge in traffic.
11:22 The aviation industry has been preparing to handle the increased number of travelers,
11:27 ensuring safety and efficiency are prioritized.
11:30 China's airports will likely see a significant uptick in food traffic, with stringent measures
11:35 in place to handle the holiday rush smoothly.
11:37 That's all for today.
11:39 Thank you for watching this episode of China Currents.
11:41 If you have any thoughts and comments about our show, please reach us at the email address
11:45 below.
11:46 I'm Chris, looking forward to hearing from you, and see you next time.
11:49 We will go for a short break now, but we'll be right back.
12:03 Stay with us.
12:04 Welcome back to China Now.
12:21 This second segment explores, among other topics, the event that occurred in Taiwan
12:26 with the Einstein probe, a high-tech watch-over in space that helps observe and comprehend
12:32 the most powerful events of the universe.
12:35 Let's see.
12:42 On January 9th, just days before the election, an unexpected incident occurred in Taiwan,
12:49 where an alert was issued regarding a missile flying over the island and urged citizens
12:55 to stay vigilant of an air raid.
12:58 However, it turns out that the missile was actually the Einstein probe satellite launched
13:03 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center.
13:06 So what exactly is the Einstein probe?
13:09 And why was an island-wide alert issued?
13:13 Hi, I'm Lisa, and this is Threshold in China.
13:18 Following the surprising alert in Taiwan, let's explore the real story behind it.
13:23 Launched on January 9th, the Einstein probe is not just any satellite, it's a groundbreaking
13:30 X-ray observatory developed through international collaboration between Chinese researchers,
13:36 the European Space Agency, and Germany's Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial
13:43 Physics.
13:44 Weighing 1.45 tons, the observatory is positioned in orbit 600 kilometers, that is about 370
13:53 miles above the Earth's surface.
13:56 It featured a wide-field X-ray telescope, constructed using innovative technologies
14:02 that imitate the structure of the lobster eye.
14:06 This unique design enables the telescope to scan large areas of the sky and detect X-ray
14:11 sources that were previously unknown.
14:14 Additionally, the follow-up X-ray telescope will zoom in on the new X-ray sources or events,
14:22 providing high-resolution observations throughout its five-year operation.
14:28 According to Yuan Weiming, the mission chief scientist at the National Astronomical Observatory
14:33 in Beijing, the probe's detection ability is more than 10 times higher than that of
14:39 the similar telescope worldwide.
14:41 Yuan explains that the probe can detect weaker and more distant signals, view them with greater
14:47 clarity, and pinpoint their locations more accurately.
14:52 Eric Koukos, the ESA's project scientist for the mission, expressed his excitement
14:58 for the launch.
14:59 He has been collaborating with the Chinese and German colleagues on this project since
15:04 2018.
15:05 Koukos stated that the probe's wide field of view allowed it to capture more bursts
15:12 of X-rays than previous satellites.
15:15 Now observing X-ray in space poses significant challenges.
15:20 X-ray is a form of electromagnetic radiation and it provides valuable insight into high-energy
15:27 processes occurring in the universe.
15:30 However, many of these phenomena are transient and hard to detect, such as black hole tidal
15:36 disruptions and collisions of extremely dense objects.
15:40 Moreover, soft X-rays emitted during the initial stages of these events are difficult to capture
15:46 due to the Earth's atmosphere, which absorbs them.
15:50 This is where the space-based observatories like the Einstein probe become crucial.
15:56 One other challenge is that the focus in soft X-rays through fraction or reflection is extremely
16:03 challenging.
16:04 Since the 1960s, more than 50 telescopes have been launched into the space to study cosmic
16:10 X-ray.
16:11 However, most of these telescopes have limited views.
16:16 While some can quickly scan the sky, they could only see the brightest source.
16:21 In 1980, Roger Angel from the University of Arizona developed a unique design for X-ray
16:27 telescopes that would have faced a wide field of view and decent resolution.
16:32 His inspiration came from crustaceans like lobsters and shrimp, which developed eyes
16:38 with special structure to survive in murky environments underwater.
16:43 A lobster eye has many tiny square-shaped tubes that converge towards a central spherical
16:50 point.
16:51 This structure allows light from all directions to reflect inside the tube and focus on the
16:57 retina, giving the lobster an unlimited field of view.
17:01 Angel's idea remained a challenge for a long time until recent years when microprocessing
17:07 technology matured, making a technique called micropore optics possible.
17:14 The wide-field X-ray telescope on the Einstein probe consists of 12 modules.
17:20 Each containing over 13 million square micropores.
17:24 Each pore measures 14 micrometers along the side and is coated with an ultrathin iridium
17:31 layer to enhance reflectivity.
17:35 According to Yuan, the surface of these pores must be extremely flat and smooth with an
17:40 area of less than 1 nanometer.
17:43 It took his team a decade to develop the lobster eye-like modules.
17:48 For the first time, microporous lobster eye technology has been extensively applied in
17:53 a wide-field X-ray focusing imaging telescope, and this technology has been fully localized.
18:00 Thanks to its design, the Einstein probe can observe an area of the sky over 10,000 times
18:06 larger than the size of the full moon at any given time.
18:11 In contrast, existing large X-ray telescopes like NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory can
18:17 only image a section of the sky that is smaller than the size of a full moon.
18:23 This means the Einstein probe could observe almost the entire night sky in just three
18:28 orbits around Earth, taking less than five hours.
18:32 The probe's mission is multifaceted.
18:34 It will systematically survey the sky, detecting X-rays from various cosmic objects including
18:40 black holes, neutron stars, and supernovae.
18:44 Of particular interest is its ability to detect dormant, supermassive black holes.
18:51 These giants remain hidden until a nearby star drifts too close.
18:56 When this happens, the black hole awakens, tearing the star apart and emitting X-rays
19:02 that the Einstein probe can detect.
19:05 Another significant role of the Einstein probe is its contribution to the search of gravitational
19:10 waves.
19:11 These ripples in spacetime, predicted by Einstein's series of general relativity, are generated
19:18 by events such as neutron star collision.
19:21 With its wide field of view, the probe is perfectly positioned to localise these events
19:26 and observe their X-ray emissions, complementing ground-based gravitational wave detectors.
19:33 Simply put, the Einstein probe is a high-tech watchtower in space, giving us a new lens
19:40 to observe and understand the most powerful events in the universe.
19:44 It is a step towards answering fundamental questions about the nature of these extraordinary
19:50 phenomena.
19:51 And that is all for today's Threshold.
19:53 We hope you like this new section on science and technology in China.
19:58 As usual, we welcome your feedback and thoughts.
20:00 The word is hubris.
20:12 Hubris is a Greek word and it was actually, it arose at the centre in ancient Athens.
20:18 At the time when there was a very big revolutionary process going on, the dictatorship of Draco
20:26 had provoked a sort of meltdown of the Athenian economy, and I'm going to come on to that
20:31 because there are parallels in terms of economy.
20:34 But anyway, then the citizens of Athens and the surroundings asked a man called Solon
20:41 to create a set of laws for Athens.
20:44 So Solon actually abolished debt enslavement, which was a phenomenal step and is still very
20:51 relevant today.
20:53 Then he introduced a series of measures to correct the balance in terms of the power
20:58 of the aristocracy that was being abused and misused.
21:02 And the Athenian constitution introduced a law against hubris.
21:08 Now not many people know it's a law in the West.
21:10 The word just simply is taken to mean arrogant pride.
21:14 Hubris, I think, is the correct pronunciation, but I'm not a Greek scholar, so sorry to any
21:19 Greek scholars listening.
21:21 Arrogant pride.
21:23 Now in mythology in Greece, arrogant pride is punished by the goddess called Nemesis,
21:31 and Nemesis exacts vengeance on people who have been guilty of arrogant pride.
21:36 But the crime of arrogant pride was you could actually take somebody to court in Athens
21:42 for arrogant pride, which means you abused the power that you possessed against a poor
21:48 person.
21:49 So it was a law specifically introduced to rectify the imbalance between the power of
21:54 the rich aristocrats who were actually ruining the economy because they were so...they misused
22:00 and abused the power, but the issue was whether they should have power at all, which is what
22:04 we confront today.
22:06 So it was a crime because that was the way that Solon thought it was possible to rectify
22:11 these imbalances and save the Athenian economy and polity.
22:14 Now why is that relevant today?
22:16 Because what we see is hubris in terms of the imperial rulers of the world.
22:22 At the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the special military operation, if you think about
22:26 it, what things people were saying at the time, they said that Biden said the Russian
22:31 economy will be asphyxiated.
22:34 The commentators, slightly before the beginning of last year, but it's a continuous process,
22:41 that Russia is isolated, that sanctions will destroy Russia, that Russia will be defeated
22:46 and crushed.
22:47 This didn't happen.
22:49 Now we see, on the contrary, half resistance of the Palestinian people on October the 7th
22:55 and the ongoing consequence of that, that the arrogant pride of the current prime minister,
23:00 the current president of Netanyahu, is being punished by Nemesis because he believed that
23:08 it was that everybody believed, and the Zionist state is what I will call it of Israel, managed
23:15 to convince the world, many people who didn't like what it was doing, that it was invincible,
23:19 that it was invulnerable, that nothing could be done to stop it.
23:23 This was not the case.
23:24 That myth was shattered by those events.
23:27 So that events, both in Ukraine and in the world economy, and in Ukraine the world economy,
23:34 in Palestine, in Israel, have been shattered.
23:37 The illusions that people had that they were all powerful, mighty, that they would carry
23:42 all before them, they were invulnerable, iron-dome would protect you against any possible attack,
23:48 is shattered.
23:49 So the pride, the arrogant pride has been punished.
23:54 But I'll finish on this point.
23:56 The punishment has actually been inflicted in Greek mythology.
24:00 Punishments are often inflicted by either heroic figures or mythical figures, such as
24:04 Nemesis, which is incarnated in the person of a goddess.
24:08 The goddess in this case is the economy.
24:10 That the hubristic belief that their economies are superior to all other economies in the
24:17 world, and therefore they have the right to impose that economic system on the world,
24:23 that they have the ability to impose that economic system on the world, that they can
24:27 force the rest of the world to trade with them under circumstances of their choosing,
24:33 even though this impoverishes the vast majority of people in the world, that is being punished
24:39 because their own economies are declining, continue to decline.
24:44 And this is something that's often forgotten because it's portrayed by the people of the
24:50 West as if the problems in their economy is something that has been done to them, that
24:56 it's the Putin price hike that caused inflation, that it's, I don't know, now the latest culprit
25:04 of the hooties.
25:05 So a tiny, very poor, very battered, but very brave and courageous people in the corner
25:12 of the Arabian Peninsula are now responsible for the collapse of world shipping and the
25:17 world economy.
25:18 Well, they've certainly done some damage to those parts which were dependent on the oil
25:22 trade, but they're not the ones responsible for the economic crisis.
25:26 This is something these countries have done to themselves.
25:30 And that to me is why the word hubris, not merely because of the visible form, which
25:35 is these political and military setbacks, but the fact that the economies of the countries
25:42 who rest their claim to their pride on what they consider to be the superiority of their
25:48 economic systems have got the shock of finding that, first of all, those economic systems
25:54 are not any more accepted by the rest of the world, which is why we have the formation
25:59 and strengthening of the BRICS and alternative trading alliances.
26:03 But secondly, these economies are not recovering.
26:05 They're not forging ahead.
26:06 There's a lot of very almost falsified, I would say, sort of wishful thinking economic
26:12 data which is pumped out by their agencies.
26:15 But they're not working.
26:17 These economies are not working.
26:19 And that's why many countries are opting to look for economic alternatives, above all
26:25 alternative economic alliances.
26:28 And that to me is one of the most, well, economic and political, but one of the most significant
26:33 and central outcomes of this year.
26:41 It makes the world a very dangerous place.
26:43 I don't think it will create anything that I would recognize as a revolution.
26:47 It creates political chaos.
26:49 What you have is what I call a moral crisis.
26:52 A moral crisis is when people believe that certain remedies will achieve certain ends
26:57 and therefore these ends are good, they're justified, therefore, in carrying out these
27:01 things and they don't work.
27:03 So then, first of all, people say, well, somebody else was responsible.
27:07 You always look around to blame somebody else, especially if you're very powerful and mighty,
27:11 because you can't believe that you yourself might have weaknesses.
27:15 That's one of the sins of hubris, is the inability to recognize one's own weaknesses.
27:20 But the result is political chaos.
27:22 And the moral crisis we're now facing is, in my opinion, a moral crisis of Western liberal
27:28 democracy.
27:29 That what is being shown up is that that system is not democratic.
27:33 It doesn't live up to its own claims.
27:35 I'm not saying democracy is wrong.
27:37 What I'm saying is Western liberal democracy is not democratic.
27:42 And this is now becoming very clear.
27:45 All the liberal values which Western liberal democracy, representative parliamentary democracy,
27:52 let's call it, was supposed to achieve, are one by one falling.
27:55 Julian, freedom of speech.
27:56 Julian Assange has been imprisoned without any legitimate charges being directed against
28:02 him for eight years.
28:04 That's something that's happened to democracies.
28:06 The two leading, self-proclaimed leading democracies of the world, the United States and the United
28:11 Kingdom, have worked together to bring this about.
28:15 But you also see the chaos in the American political system.
28:20 That basically both Biden and Trump now have among the lowest approval ratings, I think,
28:27 in history, certainly for a very long time.
28:29 I've been trying to follow the polls, so I may be corrected on whether it's the absolute
28:33 low, it's certainly not very good.
28:34 Well, how are they dealing with this?
28:37 They're not dealing it by confronting the truth.
28:40 They're not dealing with it by coming out with what's really happening.
28:44 To the contrary, when people protest and say that this is a genocidal assault on the people
28:50 of Gaza, when they say South Africa is right to take Israel, the government of Israel,
28:57 to the International Criminal Court, I believe it was the ICC they've taken them to for genocide,
29:02 with very, very detailed evidence of that.
29:05 They say, if you say this in our country, you will be sacked.
29:10 So you are sacked basically for telling something that most people in the world recognize as
29:14 true.
29:15 That is not a democratic achievement.
29:17 So finally, what's happening is the suppression of political opposition.
29:22 There are two parties in America, and neither of them represents what the vast majority
29:27 of American people want.
29:30 Polls consistently show the majority of the people in America want a ceasefire in Gaza.
29:37 But if you stand up for that, you're pilloried, you're sacked.
29:40 How then is the Biden side dealing with the Trump side?
29:43 Well, basically by making it impossible for the win by what used to be called lawfare
29:48 by taking court decisions to use against Trump.
29:52 Now, I'm not saying this as a supporter of Trump.
29:55 What I'm saying is the methods that are being adopted to conduct the political battle are
29:59 not the methods of democracy.
30:01 They are the methods of legal suppression, of basically making it impossible for a proper
30:07 open debate about the issues at stake to take place.
30:10 So I don't, and I could go on because the same thing is happening in all countries.
30:15 Macron, I mean, this extraordinary episode in England where Pruella Braverman, the Home
30:20 Secretary, which is basically head of the security services, tried to ban a demonstration
30:25 of a million people.
30:26 Unfortunately, she was prevented from doing so.
30:29 And actually, you know, she had to resign, which is a big democratic achievement in my
30:34 place.
30:35 But you have Macron wanting to ban the Palestinian flag.
30:39 You have many countries, particularly Britain, trying to ban strikes.
30:44 So all the traditional democratic rights that were supposed to be what we are fighting for,
30:50 the freedoms, the liberty that we're fighting for, are being abolished in the name of democracy.
30:58 So I don't think what you're seeing at present is a revolutionary process.
31:01 I think you're seeing something very dangerous, which is the collapse of the pretense of democracy,
31:08 the imposition of what America, what I call a two-party dictatorship.
31:13 People are always saying, you know, China is very bad because it's a one-party dictatorship,
31:17 which is not true, because there are several parties in China, as we know.
31:21 But what you have in the United States and Britain is a two-party dictatorship.
31:26 And the most that one can hope for, and I'm certainly working to this end, but actively,
31:32 not just academic, is a breakdown in the consensus that the only choice is between these two
31:37 parties, the lesser evil idea.
31:39 And none of these countries took principal positions as regards to what was happening
31:43 in Ukraine, which is just as tragic if you look at what was just as genocidal.
31:47 If you look at what Ukraine, the government of Kiev was trying to do to the people, the
31:51 Russian speakers of Ukraine, it's just as terrible.
31:53 But they didn't react in that way.
31:55 They didn't understand what's going on.
31:57 Now they do.
31:58 So it's a mixture.
31:59 Some countries are maybe the leaders are waking up.
32:02 Sadly, not enough of them.
32:04 In other countries, you have political chaos.
32:06 But what one hopes for is the emergence of a breakdown of the consensus that the only
32:11 way to get anything done is to vote for one of the two pro-imperial parties.
32:21 As an economist, one of the first lessons I learned is this never predict anything,
32:26 especially the future, because things always surprise you.
32:29 You cannot tell.
32:30 What one can do is one can look at trends.
32:32 Every time in the past history of Britain when I've attempted to guess what's going
32:37 to happen, it's happened in a different way.
32:39 Not so long ago in Britain, one of the forms of expression of the desire for a much more
32:44 radical program was the growth of a left-wing Scottish National Party, which is, you know,
32:51 from 30 years, 20 years I spent in Scotland, the last thing that one would have expected.
32:56 But that's what happened.
32:57 Corbyn was very unexpected.
32:59 So you can look at economic trends and say the British economy is in a huge mess.
33:05 You can also say neither party has solutions that will cure the economy.
33:10 One can say that the solution that was put forward by Jeremy Corbyn when he was leader
33:16 of the Labour Party has the support of 30 or 40 percent of the population of Britain.
33:22 And when you get such a large percentage of the population that are opposed to what the
33:27 political leaders say, it's like boiling a kettle when you're trying to keep the lid
33:31 on.
33:32 It's a pressure cooker.
33:33 It will come out in some way.
33:36 So I think the best thing I can say about the election is expect the unexpected.
33:42 Look for the unexpected.
33:44 Don't imagine that things will happen in the way that one traditionally thinks they're
33:49 going to happen.
33:50 Work hard, stay calm, be brave and watch for the signs.
33:54 This was a slogan on a very interesting, very lovely Canadian radio program about indigenous
34:00 people.
34:01 Stay calm, be brave and watch for the signs.
34:09 Without a shadow of doubt, October the 7th, that dwarfs absolutely everything.
34:14 This has produced, has brought to the fore the political incapacity of the West because
34:20 it not only inspired millions, tens of millions of people the world over, it broke through
34:27 the veil of deception that prevails in the West so that young people came out on the
34:35 streets and continue to come out on the streets inspired by that.
34:38 And so we're not putting up with it.
34:40 We're not putting up with what Israel is doing in response.
34:43 You're not entitled to kill children, women and civilians simply because you've been attacked.
34:50 I think the other thing to say about that that's very important is this moral crisis
34:54 of democracy that I've talked about.
34:57 One of this, one of the phenomena that's happening as a result of the moral crisis of democracy
35:02 is people are abandoning law.
35:03 It's a crime.
35:05 What Israel is doing and has done as occupier of a country containing an indigenous population
35:12 that was there and shares that land with them historically is a crime.
35:15 It's an international crime.
35:17 The attacks, indiscriminate attacks on women, children, civilians is a crime.
35:22 So that is being exposed.
35:25 And finally, as somebody of a Jewish background, what I think was very, very moving is that
35:31 Jewish people are now taken to the streets and Jewish people are saying that Judah is
35:35 not Zionism.
35:36 They're not the same thing.
35:39 So that there are veils of deception which have prevailed for such a long time that that
35:45 resistance has produced.
35:46 It's not merely a military.
35:47 It's actually above all a political, a social and an inspiring human event.
35:53 And I think that really, I think nothing could be put on a parallel with that.
35:57 So I'm going to say that is the event of last year.
36:06 War is horrible.
36:07 And the greatest glorifiers of war is the Israeli military apparatus and system.
36:13 They have stood up in front of the world since the Six Day War, since before, and said our
36:17 principal claim to land is our capacity to mobilize force.
36:21 They've used force without restraint.
36:23 They, the foundation of Israel, involved groups that were at the time described as terrorists,
36:29 such as the Stalin Gang.
36:32 Force has been an element of the current state of Israel since its inception.
36:36 They have been at war with the people of Israel, and I include the Palestinians as peoples
36:41 of Israel, since the inception of Israel.
36:44 Now then if you look at what the law says, so war is horrible, but let's look at where
36:49 the war started.
36:50 A further point that should be made is it's not just the Zionist state.
36:54 It's the US and Canadians and Britain and the guarantors of the Palestinian settlements
37:00 that have failed to live up to their international legal obligations.
37:03 There are now 600,000 illegal settlers in the West Bank.
37:08 They use force.
37:09 They shoot people.
37:10 The videos I've seen, you know, they're now shooting on Palestinian settlers, Palestinians
37:16 of the area who've lived there for thousands of years.
37:19 Now the law says that the people of an occupied country have the right to resist.
37:24 It's not a terrorist attack.
37:26 I don't agree that the correct description of what Hamas and its supporters, because
37:33 there are several factions in this, have done is not war.
37:37 It's resistance, and resistance is justified.
37:41 Now resistance takes forms that we don't find acceptable, but they're a response to something
37:45 much less acceptable.
37:48 They're the product of that.
37:50 They're the product of desperation.
37:52 What else is left of them?
37:54 Every democratic means, every parliamentary means has been undertaken.
37:58 They concluded the Oslo Accords, and they were not respected.
38:01 So when all peaceful, all non-harmful processes have been exhausted, nothing is left if you're
38:10 confronting force but force.
38:12 So it's very sad, but the solution is to stop using war as a means of imposing power, which
38:18 is what the West and the Zionist government of Israel, one half of it because there's
38:23 an opposition in Israel, a very heroic Jewish resistance, which is opposition, which you
38:28 now begin to see on the streets of Tel Aviv in mixed forms.
38:32 But you begin to see that existed for a long time.
38:35 That's the solution, not to go around saying you don't have the right to resist.
38:39 Yes, you do have the right to resist.
38:41 I think that violence is an absolute last resort, and that even when violence is undertaken,
38:47 it's very important to minimize the damage to the innocent.
38:51 And I think there's growing evidence, a lot of the harm that was originally attributed
38:56 to Hamas was in fact not committed by Hamas.
39:00 That Israel was also responsible for the deaths of many Israelis because of the indiscriminate
39:06 methods they used.
39:07 So the truth will come out in due course.
39:10 We will actually begin this persistent machine of essentially lying about who is responsible
39:16 for what, which is what's called the disinformation, or what do they call it, mixed warfare.
39:22 Misinformation is part of the way that the Western powers go to war now.
39:25 So we will find out in due course the truth of how much damage the resistance actually
39:32 caused.
39:33 One regrets every such damage to people who are not direct parties to the conflict.
39:38 One regrets it.
39:39 Nevertheless, that's what war, that's what happens in war.
39:41 The issue is whether you seek to minimize that, which I think that is what Hamas is
39:46 trying to do and what those who seek to focus on military targets seek to do.
39:51 Incidentally, that is what we see in these tit-for-tat escalations in Ukraine, that the
39:59 attacks on Belgorod, which were conducted by the Kiev regime, were done in daylight
40:06 on New Year's Eve when everybody was out on the streets.
40:09 They had no military function whatsoever.
40:12 Their function was simply to kill as many people as possible and terrorize.
40:16 That was a terrorist act.
40:17 I think Russia is quite correct to characterize that as a criminal terrorist act to ask the
40:22 United Nations Security Council to condemn it.
40:25 If you look at what the Russians are doing, on the whole, I'm not giving a white sheet,
40:30 but at least what they claim they're doing, and the evidence suggests that that's largely
40:34 what they're doing, is to highlight military targets and try and minimize civilian damage.
40:41 And Putin in his latest speech said we have the capacity to carpet bomb Kiev, which everybody
40:46 has taken as a threat.
40:47 But he said we're not going to do that because that's not what we do.
40:51 So if you take people at their word, and if you look at the facts, because Kiev does not
40:57 deny that they attack civilians, doesn't deny it, then you say there are two different attitudes
41:02 to the way that you, to acts of war in which civilians are killed, which is one is that
41:07 we use it quite deliberately, which is what actually Ukraine was doing to Donetsk for
41:11 15, for 11 years before the special military operation, which nobody wept any tears over,
41:17 and attacking military targets with the risk of collateral damage.
41:22 So they are different things.
41:24 Can't mix them all up together.
41:31 I'm never happy with commemorating individuals that, if I were to say the most memorable,
41:37 it would be the people of Palestine as a whole, and one would not single out one person above
41:42 any other.
41:43 Memorable is a difficult word.
41:45 It's who comes to memory.
41:47 And there are certainly two figures that I think have figured very centrally, which is
41:53 Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin.
41:55 But strangely enough, the figure that probably should be remembered more than is being done
42:01 is Maduro of Venezuela, because Maduro and his government were targeted, have been the
42:08 longest targets, except for Cuba, I think, and Iran possibly, of Western sanctions.
42:14 And they've come out on top.
42:17 They've rescued the Venezuelan economy.
42:20 They have restored some form of political balance.
42:23 They've achieved the liberation, the complete illegal capture of Alex Saab.
42:28 It is now the terrorist opposition, people like Guaido, you know, pictured on television
42:33 throwing Molotov cocktails, which is supposed to be a wonderful...nobody said Guaido was
42:37 a terrorist.
42:38 He organized soldiers to kill people.
42:39 He threw Molotov cocktails at people.
42:43 He took part in very murderous acts against civilians that he is now isolated from his
42:48 own party and from the government quite correctly.
42:52 And this in the face of, you know, the most concerted campaign against Venezuela on the
42:57 part of America, the United States and Britain particularly, but by including seizure of
43:02 their gold completely illegally by so-called court in Britain, all kinds of things.
43:08 Now the Americans are coming begging and saying, look, you know, excuse me, we want your oil
43:13 because of what we've done to the Russians.
43:15 That is Nemesis in action.
43:16 I think the figure that deserves to be known and memorized the most is Nicolás Maduro.
43:23 And let's not forget, don't see the Vice President as well, who is a towering figure in my opinion.
43:33 And this was another episode of China Now, a show that opens a window to the present
43:38 and future of the Asian giant.
43:40 Hope you enjoyed.
43:41 See you next time.
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