#hong kong police state

[panicinthestudio]

China tightens grip on Hong Kong with passage of strict law punishing dissent, March 20, 2024

China criticized the West for questioning Hong Kong's new national security law. The once mostly autonomous city is now led by legislators entirely handpicked by Beijing and critics say Article 23 is a death blow to whatever independence the city still had. Nick Schifrin discussed the law and what it means for Hong Kong with Anna Kwok of the Hong Kong Democracy Council. PBS NewsHour

Hong Kong’s new national security law, word by word, March 20, 2024

Hong Kong has passed a new national security law that many worry will have a chilling effect on the region's journalists, academics and entrepreneurs. Andrew Chang breaks down the legislation's key words and phrases to understand why it's so controversial. CBC News

#PBS NewsHour #Hong Kong #Hong Kong Basic Law #Hong Kong National Security Law #Article 23 #Anna Kwok #Kelvin Lam #Regina Ip #John Lee #politics #China #Andrew Leung #political repression #news #CBC #police state #national security #autonomy

[gwydionmisha]

#Hong Kong #Police State #China #News

[skyriderarts]

GLOBAL PROTESTS ON MARCH 2ND, 2024

This website will tell you where to find your closest rally to protest against the assault on Rafah, the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, the starvation and genocide of the Palestinian people, and the attacks on Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan.

Mark that day off, make signs, and remember Protester etiquette;

Physically tell someone and write down where you're going to be, how long you should be there, and when you're expected to be back or when they should hear from you. If they don't or you're not back after that time, tell them to get in contact with the National Lawyers Guild and the ACLU if you live in the States. You can also search for lawyers that do what's called "Mass Defense Program"(fancy term for when a bunch of protesters are nabbed at once) in your area for region appropriate alternatives.

Do NOT wear anything that has identifiable logos or symbols that the police can reverse search for, Cops found people from the George Floyd marches from a shirt found off Etsy. Wear layers in case you are grabbed by anyone, and purses should have a quick-release clip with little in them as possible if that gets snatched too. Have on shoes you feel comfortable walking for hours on end in and are also good for if you quickly need to run away from police. And *MOST DEFINITELY* WEAR A FUCKING MASK! Not just so police can't get you recorded to he tracked down at your home later, *WE'RE STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF COVID AND YOU DON'T WANNA DIE TO IT!*

Keep an eye out for people in the crowds who seem like they're trying to rile up a mob or otherwise become violent; at best they're pulling attention away from the actual intent of the march, at worse they're undercover cops trying to entrap you and everyone around you.

Bring an umbrella: The protesters of Hong Kong taught us that even if the weather will be dry for you, it's a very simple shield that'll keep any water or chemicals from being sprayed on you.

If worst comes to worst and you do get arrested (and this one primarily applies to Americans, I'm sorry but I don't know about the rest of the world. If it's similar please educate me and others with an addition to this post) you've got *two sentences* you need to repeat; "I have the right to remain silent. I have the right to an attorney." SHUT THE FUCK UP AFTER THAT! No matter what they try and scare you with, what they try and bribe you with, you just shut the fuck up.

#free gaza #free palestine #Global Strike #Global Protest #shutitdown4palestine

[zvaigzdelasas]

[SCMP is Private Hong Kong Media]

Solomon Islands’ pro- China leader accused “agents of Western powers” and shadowy enemies of trying to “pull down” his government on Wednesday, firing the starting gun on a contentious re-election bid.

Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has led the impoverished Pacific island for almost five years and – having delayed elections once – is seeking re-election on a platform of warm ties with Beijing.

Sogavare made a fiery initial pitch to voters on Wednesday, telling parliament his country was at the centre of a “geopolitical war” between fast-rising China and Western powers that he painted as arrogant has-beens.

Accusing the United States of having a “geopolitical superiority complex”, Sogavare claimed the end of American hegemony in the Pacific.

“We must wake up. Those days are over,” he said, while pointing to Chinese investment as a means of breaking his country’s dependence on foreign aid.[...]

Since coming to office, Sogavare has cut ties with Taiwan and formally established relations with Beijing.

He has invited Chinese police to deploy to Solomon Islands and has been a repeat visitor to Beijing.

Critics have accused Sogavare and his party of corruption and using China’s political and economic support to secure his grip on power.

Sogavare dismissed those allegations on Wednesday, saying he had been the target of “fabricated lies by agents of Western powers” who should “realise that their days of dominating and blinding the people of this country are over”.[...]

“I am willing to go to prison if I am proven to commit any wrongs against the law.[”]

13 Dec 23

[yourtongzhihazel]

I find it incredibly bizarre that liberals will see "authority" and "autocratic" as bad while simultaneously oblivious to the fact that liberal democracy is equally, if not more "authoritarian" and "autocratic".

The first liberal democracies were borne out of bloody revolution and were immediate catastrophic failures. The american constitution had to be rewritten and multiple rebelling put down by the so-called "non-authoritarian" nascent liberal democratic state. The french liberal democracy also had their own "reign of terror" and fell instantly to a "autocratic" takeover. This is not even touching on the fact that both states forbid certain people from voting or even considering certain peoples as people themselves. Both states maintained large slave populations. Both states prevented free people without capital from voting. Is this not "authoritarian"? not "autocratic"?

One of the founding theorists of Liberalism, john stuart mill, was a utuilitarian who advocated for women's suffrage, but also believed democracy should no be extended to "barbarous races". john locke, the "father of Liberalism", likewise had similar views on racism and slavery, especially with his defense on property rights. Of course, the liberal state gets to decide who counts as a "barbarous race" thus, in america, indigenous people, poc, poor whites, were not allowed to vote. Similarly in liberal france. In India and Hong Kong, the liberal democratic "uk" refused to let Indians or Chinese vote, instead appointing royal governors. Is this not fundamentally "authoritarian" and "autocratic"?

Modern liberal democracies are no better. Is it not "authoritarian" to violently suppress indigenous people protesting for their land and their rights? Is it not "authoritarian" to have police that rampantly target and kill POC extra-judicially? Is it not "authoritarian" and "autocratic" that the state implements policies that the majority of citizen do not agree with? Most of all, is it not entirely "authoritarian" and "autocratic" that the maintenance of liberal democracies relies on the complete subjugation of the global south for resource extraction? In modern liberal democracies, prisoners and those who have had criminal records are stripped of their right to participate. Is this not "authoritarian"? Does this not strip people of their "freedoms"? Does this not give the state an incentive to put those who disagree with it in prison? Is that not "autocratic"?

The state hold the monopoly on violence. Therefore, it is the state that determines what kinds of violence is permitted and what is not. All liberal democracies, by the very foundational theses of liberalism itself, are states of, for, and by the bourgeoisie. Therefore, they get to determine what is violence. Under liberal democracies, it is abject violence to protest for civil rights; to protest and block fossil fuels extraction; to strike and march for workers rights. Therefore, the state meets these defined violence with unmatched violence of their own, justified by the monopoly on violence. Likewise, violence against property is considered one of the greatest forms of violence there is. Thus why the state responds so violently to theft of property, property damage, and etc.. The lesson to learn here is that it is NOT ENOUGH to simply brand something as "autocratic", "authoritarian", "free", having "liberty", or "violent". ALL of these are useless unless properly defined. Autocratic to who? authoritarian for what to do what? freedom to do what and for who? liberty for whom to do what? violent against and for who? Dig deep enough and you'll find the answer to these questions always come back to the same group: the bourgeoisie, to do whatever they want.

A proletarian state, on the other hand, will have the same type of monopoly on violence. The same kind of definitions for violence, freedoms, authority, etc. for the state. However, because the script is flipped (that it is no longer the bourgeoisie in power making these decisions), these material and ideological definitions change diametrically. It is not violent for workers to beat a factory owner to death and go on strike for higher wages. It is not violent for people to demand rights for minorities, POC, LGBT, etc.. Freedom under a dictatorship of the proletariat is freedom of the working class to do what they want. The proletarian state is uses its authority to suppress the bourgeoisie, uplift the proletariat, build critical infrastructure, and defend the gains of the proletariat. This is a fundamental material change in contrast to dictatorships of the bourgeoisie.

#mmp #marxism leninism #i fucking hate liberals

[apricitystudies]

what i read in sept/oct 2022 2:

(previous editions) bold = favourite

class, race, & labour

how 7 eleven is ripping off its workers (australia)

orientalism, cyberpunk 2077, and yellow peril in science fiction

what an alabama prisoners’ strike tells us about prison labour (usa)

gender, sexuality, & intersectionality

all alone in their white girl pain

our rage is not sustainable (usa)

what i don’t tell my students about ‘the husband stitch’

iran’s protests are not an angry outburst, but the result of generations of trauma

politics & current affairs

the west is ignoring pakistan’s super-floods. heed this warning: tomorrow it will be you

surviving israel’s bombs to get married

why ethnic malay votes matter and who has the upper hand (malaysia)

rishi sunak does represent a minority — his class of plutocrats (uk)

the us cannot ignore the new ‘pink tide’ in latin america

greenwashing a police state: the truth behind egypt’s cop27 masquerade

an unholy alliance

history, culture, & media

coming into focus

no place like home: my bitter return to palestine

departures (hong kong)

medieval but not christian

#studyblr #studyspo #university #productivity #student #studying #academia #reading list #reading lists #myresources

[mariacallous]

Lai Ching-te will be Taiwan’s next president after winning Saturday’s election, ensuring that the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will remain in power and dealing a rebuke to Beijing’s wishes for a more China-friendly administration. In the days before the election, Taiwanese voters were flooded with information. Look up, and they saw posters on buses and buildings declaring the virtues of all three candidates and their running mates. Look down, and they got a stream of news, gossip, and opinions from their phones—not all of it true and much of it likely stirred up by internet trolls in China.

Taiwan is one of the world’s most digitally connected countries, and on social media, false posts and videos are reaching thousands of people before platforms can take them down. TikTok was flooded with disinformation accusing Lai of sex scandals, tax evasion, and conspiring to start a war with China. His vice presidential pick, Hsiao Bi-khim, has been accused of secretly holding U.S. citizenship. So has the running mate of Ko Wen-je, the third-party candidate livestreaming his spoiler campaign on YouTube and TikTok.

Researchers have attributed much of the false information to Chinese actors—and rather than blasting pro-China views to Taiwanese voters, they’ve focused on amplifying negative stories about Taiwan’s domestic politics and wedge issues, such as the role of the United States, with the intent of polarizing Taiwanese society.

“Beijing’s cognitive warfare is evolving,” said Tzu-wei Hung, a scholar at Taiwan’s Academia Sinica. “Negative narratives are effective not because they will change the election result but because they intensify social conflicts and create a vicious cycle of distrust and hate.”

Taiwan faced a similarly toxic disinformation environment before the 2020 presidential election, and at the time, it fought back—hard. Officials frequently accused China of being behind wide-ranging disinformation campaigns. Police summoned private citizens for posting false stories and levied fines in some instances for violating a law preventing public disorder. The National Communications Commission (NCC) issued a series of fines to the pro-China TV station Chung Tien Television (CTi) for broadcasting false information. Eventually, in December 2020, CTi was taken off the air after the NCC declined to renew its broadcast license.

The government learned quickly that none of it worked.

“If you want to curb disinformation by legal measures, it’s difficult and dangerous,” said Yachi Chiang, a professor at National Taiwan Ocean University specializing in intellectual property and tech law. It “opens a pathway for the government to control speech.”

Taiwan has always been a banner holder of free speech in Asia. In 2020, however, DPP legislators were panicked over the prospect of Chinese election-meddling. President Tsai Ing-wen was riding a wave of global popularity by supporting the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests, which had broken out months earlier, giving Beijing every reason to remove her from office or disrupt her legislative majority.

Tsai was reelected in a landslide—but not because her government cracked down on fake news. Many fines levied under the Social Order Maintenance Act, an existing law that was utilized against disinformation peddlers, have since been overturned by the courts.

The NCC’s crusade against CTi hasn’t gone much better. Opposition politicians used its removal from the airwaves to hammer DPP politicians as enemies of free speech. The NCC, at the time, argued that CTi had failed to adhere to basic fact-checking standards and could not ensure impartiality from outside influence—a clear reference to its owner, the domestically unloved Tsai Eng-meng, a snack food tycoon with extensive business interests in China and a track record of pro-unification statements.

In May 2023, a Taipei court ruled against the NCC’s decision to shut down CTi, saying it had failed to provide adequate reasoning for its decision. At present, CTi remains off the air—and its request to have its license renewed by the court was rejected—but the NCC has been ordered to review its own decision and provide stiffer reasoning. “You need something stronger to sustain your ruling,” Chiang said.

Taiwanese authorities have successfully prosecuted citizens who received funding from China to publish fake news. But in general, politicians began to realize that moving through the judicial system “would be slow,” Chiang said. “The decisions might be disappointing. The results might be less effective.”

Just after the 2020 election, however, Taiwan’s government found a better way to combat disinformation when the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe. Taiwan was the first country to alert the World Health Organization of the presence of a coronavirus in Wuhan and then introduce travel restrictions and quarantine protocols.

Public officials also began releasing accurate, easily digestible information as quickly as possible, before disinformation could reach people’s phone screens. Chen Shih-chung, the health minister at the time, held press conferences each afternoon, earning him the nickname “Minister Clock.” His ministry, along with the social media accounts of Tsai and Premier Su Tseng-chang, posted colorful memes sharing data on the pandemic and extolling the virtues of masking and hand-washing.

It was a triumph of public transparency that paid off handsomely. Taiwan saw just 823 COVID-19 cases in all of 2020, despite its close proximity to the pandemic’s epicenter.

It also helped politicians realize that “you can’t count on laws to tackle disinformation,” Chiang said. “You need to create your own information.”

“Free speech is not the cost but the key to counteract disinformation,” said Hung, who noted that in 2022, Freedom House found that countries that protect free expression and have robust civic society groups do a better job at mitigating false information.

Taiwan has tried other forms of a more open approach. Although it banned the Chinese-owned video platform TikTok from government apps in 2022, Taiwan has not followed countries such as India in issuing a general proscription on the app despite concerns that Beijing can influence content. About one-quarter of Taiwan’s population uses the app, including a host of popular influencers and celebrities.

Taiwan also has a network of strong civic fact-checking organizations that work with social media companies to combat disinformation. One of them, MyGoPen, recently started collaborating directly with TikTok to correct false posts about the 2024 election.

No matter who is in power, politicians seem to acutely understand that the best way to combat false information about them is to push out their own narratives on social media. “If you are popular on the internet, that’s more important than [popularity on] traditional media channels,” Chiang said.

Lai’s win on Saturday is not an outright victory against disinformation itself—both Chinese and domestic actors will surely continue to create confusion and distrust whenever they can. It did, however, show that Taiwanese voters can’t easily be swayed, as long as public officials do their part to communicate rapidly, positively, and honestly.

[y2klostandfound]

Preview - Deluxe Jet Set Radio (aka De La Jet Set Radio) on Game Players DC Vol.2 (Video Game Magazine) (Hong Kong, 2000)

Translation in English:

Publisher/Manufacturer: SEGA

Game Type: ACT

Release Date: January 1st (2001)

Price:  5800 Yen

Capacity: GD-ROM

Memory: Undecided

Excellent grades, promoted to the international stage

For the first time in game history, JET SET RADIO combines 3D background and 2D animation to create a fantasy 3D world that is both real and imaginative. The game is still highly praised since it was launched, and the game production is extremely good. Unfortunately, the large capacity of JET SET RADIO is only exchanged for a few game stages. This time, the enhanced release increases the number of versions and modes, improves the game's durability, and also retains the original stage, making the game fresher and more playable.

Two new foreign stages have been added to the game. The new story takes place in the bustling foreign metropolises "BATAM STREET" and "GRIND CITY".

"BATAM STREET" is a smoky street with overhead trams, grocery stores connected to every household, dilapidated and towering old buildings, and parks where street children gather, etc. The structure of the city street is complex and very three-dimensional.

BATAM STREET Map

GRIND CITY Map

JET SET RADIO with the feeling of a new type of 3D game is back. The New Year’s Day in the Western calendar is dressed up to celebrate the early years with everyone. The shape has been carefully remodeled and re-dressed to surprise everyone again. The game has been greatly enhanced, the new stage has entered foreign countries, and you can meet like-minded "confidantes".

Puppies are crazy too! Let's JET SET RADIO!!

Simultaneously with the original story, while the Japanese police and JET SET RADIO members of the two factions of good and evil are intriguing, the United States is also experiencing horrific terrorist assassinations. JET SET RADIO continues the last episode of Japan's righteous men, and American fanatics also come to maintain justice, while expressing their own music style and smashing the evil organization "Golden Rhinos".

In the new stage, players can use the new character "Bozi (Pots)" to make trouble on the streets and graffiti everywhere. Bozi (Pots) was originally the pet dog of the character GG in the last episode, an ordinary puppy, but unfortunately he was transformed by the character NOISE TANK in the last episode, and became a part of JET SET RADIO by accident. Undisclosed role.

New character "Bozi (Pots)"

New Year's Gift Giveaway

Unfortunately DELUXE JET SET RADIO is another set of D-DIRECT exclusive game, interested readers may have to work hard to buy such an excellent game, but it is definitely worth the money. The game comes with a precious shirt worn by the character "GG", which is unique and only one of its kind. Work hard, everyone! If you want to be the first to see the game, you may want to go to SEGA's official web site to download the game's highlights, the web site is as follows:http://jet.dricas.ne.jp/dx_jet_image/mpg/de_la.mpg

#Jet Set Radio #sega #dreamcast

[criterioncollection]

The INFERNAL AFFAIRS TRILOGY (2002 - 2003), a critical and commercial triumph that introduced a dazzling level of narrative and thematic complexity to the Hong Kong crime drama, has entered the collection! 🎥 💿 

In this explosively stylish snd gripping saga, superstars Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Andy Lau Tak-wah play two rival moles who navigate slippery moral choices as they move between the intersecting territories of the police force and its criminal underworld. Set during the uncertainty of the city-state’s handover from Britain to China and steeped in Buddhist philosophy, these ingeniously crafted tales of self-deception and betrayal mirror Hong Kong’s own fractured identity and the psychic schisms of life in a postcolonial purgatory.

#the infernal affairs trilogy #infernal affairs #hong kong cinema #tony leung #andy lau tak-wah #the criterion collection

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

The executive director of a police union in California has been placed on leave and is facing federal charges after allegedly importing drugs from overseas and distributing them throughout the country.

Joanne Marian Segovia, 64, ordered thousands of synthetic opioids including valeryl fentanyl that were disguised as chocolates, wedding favors and makeup, according to the criminal complaint filed Monday by the Office of the United States Attorney.

Segovia, who serves as the executive director of the San Jose Police Officers' Association (SJPOA), allegedly used her personal and office computers to order the opioids and made shipments using the union's UPS account, the complaint said.

Segovia has been the executive director of the union, which represents officers with the San Jose Police Department, for nearly 20 years, according to CNN affiliate KGO-TV.

At least 61 shipments containing drugs worth thousands of dollars coming from countries including Hong Kong, Hungary, India and Singapore were shipped to Segovia's home between October 2015 and January this year, according to the complaint.

"The manifests for these shipments declared their contents with labels like 'Wedding Party Favors,' 'Gift Makeup,' or 'Chocolate and Sweets,'" the United States Attorneys Office for Northern California said in a press release.

"But between July 2019 and January 2023, officials intercepted and opened five of these shipments and found that they contained thousands of pills of controlled substances, including the synthetic opioids Tramadol and Tapentadol," the press release said.

In February 2023, Segovia was interviewed by federal investigators but she continued to order drug shipments, including a package in March containing valeryl fentanyl seized by federal agents in Kentucky, according to the complaint.

Segovia has been charged with attempt to unlawfully import valeryl fentanyl and faces up to a maximum sentence of 20 years, according to the complaint.

An attorney for Segovia did not respond to CNN's request for comment.

Segovia has been placed on leave and cut off from all access to the police officers association, San Jose Police Officers Association spokesperson Tom Saggau told CNN in a statement. No other individuals with the association were involved or knew about the scheme, Saggau said.

"Last Friday we were informed by federal authorities that one of our civilian employees was under investigation for distribution of a controlled substance and the POA has been fully and completely cooperating with the federal authorities as they continue their investigation," Saggau said. "The Board of Directors is saddened and disappointed at hearing this news and we have pledged to provide our full support to the investigative authorities."

#us politics #news #cnn #2023 #Joanne Marian Segovia #valeryl fentanyl #San Jose Police Officers' Association #police unions #importing drugs #drug trafficking #San Jose Police Department #California #KGO-TV #United States Attorneys Office for Northern California #police the police #war on drugs

[centrally-unplanned]

I should anchor my predictions on the current wave of China protests; I don’t think they are going to “go anywhere”, for a few reasons; one being that so far I have seen minimal desire to really fight hard lines drawn by security forces or anything like that. The protestors aren’t being violently confronted in the main, and they will do things like push through barriers or the like but there is no sense that the state is the ‘enemy’ going on. We wont see Hong Kong style police fights outside of a few flare ups.

Secondly, Zero Covid was/is broadly popular in China. Its hard to grasp that on the outside, but Covid was built up in the imagination as a nightmare disease, citizen buy-in was actually quite large. As individual cities got locked down their charity drained, but most cities in China have not been locked down like that. These protests are about Zero Covid, but there is going to be a substantial portion of the country who opposes these protestors, proud of the Zero Covid achievement. Enough to make things like police defections a non-starter.

Still the CCP has clearly being wavering on Zero Covid, not fully but increasingly unwilling to eat the costs of the policy. Once the protests fade I expect them to be used to internally justify, very quietly, continued easing. I am personally someone who is less negative on the decision-making apparatus of the Chinese state, so this part is the most against-the-grain, but its where the smart money is imo.

[stephensmithuk]

The Man with the Twisted Lip

There were probably a couple of opium dens in London, but they were far common in France or the western United States.

London Bridge was the easternmost fixed crossing a vehicle could use in 1889. Tower Bridge was under construction and the Thames Tunnel was used by trains by this point. The latter still is, part of the London Overground. So, it was ferries east of that.

The wharves and docks stretched (mostly) on the north of the river east of London Bridge to Beckton. There were some smaller older quays to the west, like the now Hays Galleria shopping area. The docks at Tilbury also existed and they would take over as ships got bigger, leading to the gradual closure of the old docks, deprivation and then gentrification.

London's Chinatown consisted of less than a thousand residents and was in Limehouse. It is now in Soho, an area that was historically a red-light district but is mostly gentrified now, with a somewhat larger population due to immigration from Hong Kong.

The East End had a reputation as "a wretched hive of scum and villainy" fuelled by stories like this (also the Ripper murders of 1888), but was mainly just very poor. Slum clearance efforts were beginning, but not in any coordinated or effective manner at this point.

Threadneedle Street, in the City of London, is best known as the location of the Bank of England.

Lee was a middle-class suburb that sat on the edge of London in 1889; it had just been taken from Kent and incorporated into the new County of London. But suburban residents in London will still frequently identify with traditional counties.

However, the massive expansion of the city in the first half of the 20th century put Lee in inner London and it today sits in Zone 3 for public transport fares. Indeed, the opening of the railway station in 1866 is what made Lee a desirable area and it still is.

Bow Street police station was a famous police station in London, sharing the building with an equally famous magistrate's court - the building was pretty new, finished in 1881, but the Bow Street Runners before that (set up in 1749 by judge and author of Tom Jones Henry Fielding) were the first effective law enforcement force in London. The former closed in 1992, the latter in 2006 and there is now a museum on site.

"Hugh Boone" would have been charged and fined for breaking the Vagrancy Act of 1824, a piece of Georgian-era legislation enacted because the British government decided that the best way to deal with a surge in poverty and homelessness after the Napoleonic Wars, along with a massive internal influx of economic migrants, was to make rough sleeping and begging illegal, with a maximum sentence of a month's hard labour. This act also covered prostitution, but was in practice mostly used against gay men.

The act remains on the statute books, albeit heavily amended - and somtimes used against homeless people; with 114 people charged in Greater London in 2019-2020. The currently Tory government has pledged to repeal the act and passed legislation in 2022 that will allow for that once a replacement act is enacted to cover some of the other offences in the still-extant text, like hiring children as beggars.

#letters from watson #sherlock holmes #factoids #history

[charlotte-of-wales]

New appointments to the Order of the Garter:

Baroness Ashton of Upholland and Lord Patten of Barnes have both been appointed to the Most Noble Order of the Garter - Britain's oldest and most senior Order of Chivalry:

His Majesty The King has been graciously pleased to appoint the Right Honourable the Baroness Ashton of Upholland GCMG to be a Lady Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, and the Right Honourable the Lord Patten of Barnes CH to be a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.

The appointment of the Knights and Ladies of the Garter is in The King’s gift. Appointments to the Order of the Garter are therefore in the same category as the Order of the Thistle, the Order of Merit and the Royal Victorian Order.

The Right Honourable the Baroness Ashton of Upholland, GCMG PC (b. 1956)

Catherine Margaret Ashton, Baroness Ashton of Upholland, is a former Labour Government Minister and European Union diplomat, who served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department of Education and the Ministry of Justice between 1999 and 2007. Baroness Ashton has served as Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the Council; British European Commissioner and Commissioner for Trade in the European Commission; Vice-President of the European Commission. As the E.U.’s first High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, she contributed towards negotiating a peace settlement between Serbia and Kosovo, and bringing about the Iran nuclear agreement.

Baroness Ashton was appointed a Dame Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to international diplomacy. She has served as the Order’s King of Arms and is currently Chancellor of the Order.

The Right Honourable the Lord Patten of Barnes, CH PC (b. 1944)

Christopher Francis Patten, Baron Patten of Barnes, is a former Conservative Member of Parliament who became the final Governor of Hong Kong from 1992-1997. Lord Patten was first elected as an MP in 1979 and served across Government for over two decades, including as Secretary of State for the Environment and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, as well as Conservative Party Chairman. Lord Patten also led the Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland and served as European Commissioner for External Relations from 1999 to 2004. He was Chairman of the BBC Trust between 2011 and 2014.

Lord Patten was Chairman of the BBC Trust between 2011 and 2014, and was appointed a Companion of Honour in 1998. He served as Chancellor of Newcastle University between 1999-2009 and was elected Chancellor of Oxford University in 2003, a post he still holds.

#order of the garter #news

[lasenbyphoenix]

Unshakable Faith (2023)

Episode 17 Breakdown

He Xiwan is threatened by Lai Guangrun, and a woman comes into the barn to offer her some food but she refuses to speak to either of them. The woman leaves the barn, telling Lai Guangrun that kidnapping a high profile expert is reckless and he gives the order and the electrician Liu Simao boards up the door to the barn.

The lion clock leads the police team to the story of an old prestigious local family, whose farms are now abandoned. Shortly after this they get another call from Zhou Jun arranging an exchange at the river on the opposite side of the region. Knowing it's a diversion but stalling for time, Police Captain Chen and Officer Tongbin go to the river and find only a note stating to give up the Water Drop project or more experts will die. Officer Hongmei and Officer Ding reach the abandoned farm and find the boarded up shed, breaking their way in when they hear He Xiwan calling for help.

The art exhibition is held and Officer Jiang interviews several of the attendees about Zhou Jun and his style is recognised by one professor, bringing their list of suspects down to one teacher.

Officer Hongmei and Nurse Bai take Ji Danyang in his wheelchair to see the progress at the construction site and he is greeted by Master Welder Niu and many of the other tradesmen. In his excitement about the work Ji Danyang even gets out of his chair and Officer Hongmei teases him about being on his feet.

Ji Danyang is allowed back to his dorm and settles right into the problem of the pool construction, explaining how the concrete needs to be poured all in one process to have adequate pressure stability for their future testing.

The night before the pool construction, Officer Hongmei is tasked with searching Security Captain Li's room while he is on a job, but he's suspicious and comes home early while she's still there. Avoiding being found, Officer Hongmei completes her search and finds the letters and photos of Security Captain Li's sweetheart - who turns out to be the same woman who tried to intercept Ji Danyang in Hong Kong. The Police team are now certain that Security Captain Li was behind several sabotage attempts in the past but he must also have an accomplice that is still unidentified.

Officer Hongmei tracks Security Captain Li to a meeting with a messenger and watches them exchange bags. Her team arrests the messenger and she follows Security Captain Li through the evening market crowd, but he evades her by cutting a power line and escapes in the dark.

.......................................

Good for He Xiwan to use her teeth and not trust anyone until Hongmei arrived! I was thinking that they gave up rather quickly about trying to get He Xiwan to talk, but clearly this was a diversion so that they could try and sneak their way into the construction site. These KMT spies are really good at layering their diversion tactics, keeping our good guys on their toes.

It's great to see our math man healthy and happy again and it seems like he's got a lot of friends not just with the women at the factory but the construction crew as well. And he's back to giving Hongmei grief - she has to physically restrain him when he decides to try and run. Dorks.

As Hongmei was following Security Captain Li through the crowd I was seriously expecting someone to suddenly stab or shoot him, and the bag he'd been given to have junk paper instead of the money and passports he was wanting. The KMT have already said to Dr Bai that you can't walk away from your actions, and I'd doubt they'd want Security Captain Li out of their grasp when he can identify Lai Guangrun as Lizard and the plans for the pool sabotage. I imagine he's probably scared of that too, but we'll have to wait and see if he survives long enough to be caught and confess.

It's really interesting how some of the spies are really sympathetically written and some are very black and white villainous, Dr Bai and Security Captain Li being the former and Zhang A Shui and Lai Guangrun being the latter. The sympathy for Dr Bai was developed before the reveal of his past and him being roped back into the spy game in the present, whereas Security Captain Li's treachery reveal was early on and the sympathy has been developed the more we see him being coerced.

And I felt sympathy for Lai Guangrun and the electrician Liu Simao before their spy reveals but none after, and I wonder if the longer the time to know the characters before their reveal will mean a bigger feeling of betrayal for me as a viewer. I know that the influx of new workers likely means there will be a few new spies coming into the factory, but we also know that Snow Wolf is somewhere nearby and unrevealed, and logically will likely be a character we already know well.

#unshakable faith #unshakable faith episode reviews #liu xueyi #peng xiaoran #li xinze

[metamatar]

A more acute crisis for the British imperial presence in Asia began in the summer of 1925 as Chinese discontent about foreign rule in Western concessions and treaty ports broke into open revolt after a police massacre in the International Settlement of Shanghai. The centerpiece of this popular uprising, coordinated by the Chinese Nationalist and Communist Parties, combined in the “First United Front” and receiving Soviet funding and advisers, was the Canton–Hong Kong general strike that began in June. Owing to a high degree of local labor organization, the Canton–Hong Kong strike committee, led by the seamen’s and tram workers’ unions, quickly brought together a large coalition. Landing-stage workers, steamship repairers, construction workers, carpenters, smiths, cobblers, butchers, grocers, restaurant and tea house servers, cooks, tailors, seamstresses, maids, laundry workers, barbers, and housemaids working in the diplomatic quarter all went on strike.

. . . After Hong Kong governor Reginald Stubbs tried to punish the Cantonese supporters of the strike by banning food and gold exports to the countryside, the strike committee instituted a full boycott of the colony. The damage inflicted on European business was severe. In October, the British government extended a £3 million emergency credit to Hong Kong to prevent an acute liquidity crisis. It was, in the words of the French writer André Malraux, “a war of a totally new kind . . . undertaken by the anarchic power of southern China, against the very symbol of British domination in Asia, the military rock from where the fortified empire surveys its herds.”

The Canton–Hong Kong general strike greatly worried British and French authorities. At the CID, Maurice Hankey saw the unrest as a dangerous red barbarism fostered by Russian communism to conquer the Eurasian landmass. China, he thought, was “almost in chaos. Any day you may get some movement which compels intervention and brooks no delay—a massacre in Canton or Pekin, another siege of the legations. Xenophobia has broken out in China every 20 or 25 years for the last century. Force has always been needed to restore the situation.” Hankey’s first instinct was to break up the strike with a blockade.

. . . As long as economic counter-measures did not target another state directly, they could be cast as a legal form of reprisal. They commented that “a blockade of the port of Canton by British vessels does not appear to have to constitute an act of war; this will be a coercive measure destined to modify or remove regulations [i.e., the Chinese boycott] that hamper British commerce.” Counterrevolutionary policing could thus be dressed up as a measure to enforce non-discrimination.

. . . Stubbs and other committee members agreed that the ideal object of economic sanctions was a mercantile agent whose behavior was guided by profit and loss. However, working-class power posed an obstacle to this behaviorist logic. If Cantonese merchants were indeed in charge, economic pressure could motivate this commercial class into pushing the Nationalists to compromise. But if the working classes controlled the strike, then economic sanctions might well bolster their resolve, risking escalation into a fully fledged popular war against foreign imperialism.

As the strike gradually fell apart in the spring of 1926, so did the urgency to intervene. Leadership struggles among the Nationalists led Chiang Kai-shek to arrest the strike committee.

The Economic Weapon, Nicholas Mulder

#the economic weapon #nicholas mulder #interwar history #chinese history

[partisan-by-default]

A Chinese state-backed institute has found a way to identify who sent any material to another person via Apple’s AirDrop, according to Beijing's government. The institution is said to have cracked the feature to find the email addresses and phone numbers of those who send AirDrop messages as part of an effort to stamp out "undesirable content," as Bloomberg reports.

Police have used the AirDrop crack to identify several suspects. However, Beijing's judicial bureau has not said whether there were any arrests as a result. The approach “improves the efficiency and accuracy of case-solving and prevents the spread of inappropriate remarks as well as potential bad influences,” according to the bureau.

Those with a Mac, iPhone or iPad can use AirDrop to easily send the likes of photos, videos, documents, contacts and passwords to another nearby Apple device. Protesters used AirDrop to share pro-democracy slogans during the demonstrations in Hong Kong in 2019. As MacRumors notes, Apple touts AirDrop as being secure since it employs Transport Layer Security encryption. But the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice claims an institute has found a way around the encryption.