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How China got a U.S. senator to do its political bidding

washingtonpost.com

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Re: How China got a U.S. senator to do its political bidding

#61

Post by jessaustin »

One hopes this is just the daily recommended dose of general "fear foreigners!" pablum that WaPo is assigned by its CIA handlers, rather than the first rumblings of the foredoomed "Operation Tibetan Freedom". We've gotten our asses kicked enough this century already; let's chill out for a few decades.

It is ridiculous to think that beef export, in particular, should be held hostage to concerns about injustice in Tibet while the rest of the economy happily bubbles along doing billions and billions in business with China. If WaPo dislikes Montana beef people so much, why not get them kicked off the federal lands they destroy while paying pennies to rent? Ranchers like me who have to actually pay for the land their cattle graze, could support that.

Re: How China got a U.S. senator to do its political bidding

#62

Post by jessaustin »

candiodari wrote: post #58

What I thought was really funny was how the Clinton foundation lost pretty much all it's foreign funding in a matter of weeks after Hillary lost the election. Who knew that even Australia, both the premier privately AND the government bribed the US president ? I wonder what they pay for ... http://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/australian-economy/au... Ukranian billionaires: (who, by the way definitely did not earn…

I'm actually a little worried for the Clintons. Some of those donors might be unaccustomed to having promises broken. Some of those might be unpracticed at forgiveness...

Re: How China got a U.S. senator to do its political bidding

#63

Post by jessaustin »

coupdejarnac wrote: post #7
justicezyx wrote: post #3

First, Chinese government has no human rights abuse in Tibet; they developed the area and treat the people well. Second, corruption is everywhere, if there is not China, there will be another country. The election system is not to find the people loyal to voters.

Don't spend your 50 cents all in one place.

If that's what an account that old with that much karma is doing, we have to be impressed by the commitment at least.

Re: How China got a U.S. senator to do its political bidding

#64

Post by jackpirate »

tome wrote: post #38
sien wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article bangs on about how China got a single US congressman. Israel has enormous influence over the whole of congress. http://original.antiwar.com/smith-grant/2017/07/17/aipac-sti... Mearsheimer and Walt is still the big book on the subject: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Israel_Lobby_and_U.S._Fore... The US give Israel billions of dollars in foreign aid every year. Allows them to disgregard UN resolutions an…

Israel has never been a signatory to the NPT (unlike North Korea and Iran). As far as I understand they are under no obligations not to develop nuclear weapons technology and they do not have the right to help with civilian nuclear infrastructure programmes that signatories have.

It's not clear to me why it's important that Israel never joined the NPT regime. For example: North Korea was never found in violation of the NPT regime. The NPT has a specific procedure for countries to withdraw from the treaty, and North Korea followed the procedure correctly. Note that I'm not saying this withdrawl was good, only that they never violated the NPT in the same way that Israel never violated the NPT.

Re: How China got a U.S. senator to do its political bidding

#65

Post by cbzbc »

tome wrote: post #38
sien wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article bangs on about how China got a single US congressman. Israel has enormous influence over the whole of congress. http://original.antiwar.com/smith-grant/2017/07/17/aipac-sti... Mearsheimer and Walt is still the big book on the subject: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Israel_Lobby_and_U.S._Fore... The US give Israel billions of dollars in foreign aid every year. Allows them to disgregard UN resolutions an…

Israel has never been a signatory to the NPT (unlike North Korea and Iran). As far as I understand they are under no obligations not to develop nuclear weapons technology and they do not have the right to help with civilian nuclear infrastructure programmes that signatories have.

Yeah, though this dates back to a time when not joining the NPT was seen as controversial (there was a diplomatic fuss at the time, and a lower level fuss some decades later when India started developing weapons while remaining out of the NPT).

At the time the US insisted on carrying out inspections of the Negev facility to ensure that weapons were not being developed. In the event they eventually stopped as they felt that their inspections were not particularly effective.

Re: How China got a U.S. senator to do its political bidding

#66

Post by totalZero »

corvallis wrote: post #16
telltruth wrote: post #11

WaPo had been doing great reporting these days. I just don't know how much money they lose in ad revenue by being behind paywall. Any summery of the article?

Do you feel that quality journalism should be free to you? Did your parents subscribe to a newspaper when you were growing up? Not sure why one would feel entitled to a work product without compensating the creator for it when it clearly has value to that consumer.

1) Publishing and distribution costs are far less online than with print.

2) News organizations have a long history of generating revenue by advertisement, and this is especially the case for many highly trafficked websites.

3) The owners of the newspaper benefit from a wider reach, because it allows them to better influence the public.

4) News websites, in many cases, either used to be free or still are.

5) The price of a full subscription may not be fair for someone who only wants to be able to read the occasional article linked from HN/reddit/friends.

Re: How China got a U.S. senator to do its political bidding

#67

Post by itdpyddpfyfuug »

godzillabrennus wrote: post #29
sien wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article bangs on about how China got a single US congressman. Israel has enormous influence over the whole of congress. http://original.antiwar.com/smith-grant/2017/07/17/aipac-sti... Mearsheimer and Walt is still the big book on the subject: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Israel_Lobby_and_U.S._Fore... The US give Israel billions of dollars in foreign aid every year. Allows them to disgregard UN resolutions an…

Reminds me of how the NRA is supported by a small but active part of the population that votes. Jews may be small in number but I would bet dollars to Latka’s that they vote. If Tech issues brought people out to vote like guns or Israel I bet we would have more engineers in Congress.

The Jewish people aren't a monolith. Some of us prioritize freedom, democracy, and peace for all people and stand against theocracy. You're probably right about voting.

Re: How China got a U.S. senator to do its political bidding

#68

Post by mindslight »

coupdejarnac wrote: post #7
justicezyx wrote: post #3

First, Chinese government has no human rights abuse in Tibet; they developed the area and treat the people well. Second, corruption is everywhere, if there is not China, there will be another country. The election system is not to find the people loyal to voters.

Don't spend your 50 cents all in one place.

That's unkind - you know GP couldn't have been paid a whole 50 cents for a comment that bad.

Re: How China got a U.S. senator to do its political bidding

#69

Post by alien_at_work »

Raidion wrote: post #60
alien_at_work wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've often wondered about starting a fund where I simply follow any trades certain congress members are making. That's not insider info at that point, right? I guess this strategy can't work for some reason (or others would be exploiting it) but what is the reason? Time delay?

I don't think the trades of congress are public record. You simply aren't able to get that information. And if you are able to get that info, and the rest of the public doesn't have it, then that's inside trading.

I thought trades past a certain size had to be disclosed? But yes, this is probably the reason: I simply wouldn't be able to know until long after the fact.

Re: How China got a U.S. senator to do its political bidding

#70

Post by tome »

cbzbc wrote: post #65
tome wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Israel has never been a signatory to the NPT (unlike North Korea and Iran). As far as I understand they are under no obligations not to develop nuclear weapons technology and they do not have the right to help with civilian nuclear infrastructure programmes that signatories have.

Yeah, though this dates back to a time when not joining the NPT was seen as controversial (there was a diplomatic fuss at the time, and a lower level fuss some decades later when India started developing weapons while remaining out of the NPT). At the time the US insisted on carrying out inspections of the Negev facility to ensure that weapons were not being developed. In the event they eventually stopped as they fel…

> this dates back to a time when not joining the NPT was seen as controversial

I hope it's seen as no less controversial today!

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