China in the Age of Surveillance
China’s security apparatus may not be able to see into the minds of the people, but it can make their lives a misery in the attempt.
A collection of 92 posts
China’s security apparatus may not be able to see into the minds of the people, but it can make their lives a misery in the attempt.
The Uyghurs have the potential to threaten China's national unity, which is the real reason we are seeing the largest incarceration of an ethnic or religious minority since the Holocaust.
Starvation will push and pull human psychology in unusual directions—it is one of the few things that can overcome fear of the authorities. When famine came to China 400 years ago, it made Chinese peasants receptive to the preachers of class war. When the government failed to provide crucial
Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine will be remembered as one of the great crimes of the 21st century. The ensuing humanitarian crisis has already caused more than two million refugees to flee their homeland. With the imposition of sanctions, policymakers will have to weigh their political options as a
The current crises in eastern Europe reflect more than just Kremlin mischief-making—they reflect the first fruits of an emerging world order that spans the vastness from Beijing to Berlin. Unlike the longstanding liberal status quo, with its roots in classical civilization and the Enlightenment, this emerging alternative draws upon
Whatever really happened between Zhang and Peng, the truth is that they were both already victims, having been raised in a society that completely denies the importance of the individual.
Not unlike Hong Kong’s frontline protesters in 2019, with their street battles and Molotov cocktails, some Tibetans have realised they live in a time that calls for truly desperate measures.
A pandemic-driven shortage of parts and labor has combined with a congested transport system to create an inflationary spike, with shipping rates doubling on some routes.
Even the Soviet Union had its Bulgakovs and its Pasternaks, of course, and there is no doubt that art sometimes flourishes in an atmosphere of oppression.
Normalization of US-Chinese diplomatic relations in turn led to the biggest exercise in corporate continence in American business history.
Challenging China across the technological landscape requires a mammoth effort.
In a 2018 report published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), China ranked first in mathematical proficiency among 15-year-olds, while the United States was in 25th place.
As the US was convulsed by the Floyd protests and violence in 2020, the Chinese foreign minister had the gall to denounce the “systemic and persistent existence” of repression of “people of color.”
When one woman refused and snapped at them to “go away,” they attacked her with a chair and mop handle.
Europe has benefited greatly from the fact that the dominant power for the past 75 years has been a liberal democracy—a flawed liberal democracy, no doubt, but a liberal democracy all the same.