I think the whole thing stinks. This is all about Johnson and Trump, their moral corruption and willingness to sacrifice anything and everything in the furtherance of their crazed personal ambitions, and fear of losing face.
Why do people stand for it, their lies, their distortions, their blatant cronyism and political incompetence. Parliamentary democracy is inadequate to the task of clearing out the Herculean stables of chest high festering shit accumulated in Westminster in my lifetime.
Ah well, I shall retire to bed with Bill Bryson’s “Made in America” and 1 mg of Haloperidol to subdue my doom-laden dream life.
Glad I live in France. French politicians are far from perfect, but they don’t communicate through dumbed down slogans - ‘STAY SCEPTICAL!’, DON’T BELIEVE THEM! DON’T DO WHAT EUROPE DOES etc, etc.
There is insanity in the air worldwide!
I started my book ‘A History of Propaganda’ some three years ago, and traversed time until the middle of the 20th century. Still no problem, just more things to cover. Then the 21st Century produced the inexplicable in the form of Trump; Not that he is difficult to understand, nor is Johnson, but the cultish reaction towards them despite the blatant faults of character, lack of moral or any other standards has not diminished them but augmented them in the eyes of many seeking some sort of modern-day messiahs.
It has long been mooted that most people would settle for an amiable despot rather than having to make decisions for themselves. Unfortunately few of the despots around are amiable.
Time for reality checks people - China or America seems a no-brainer to me.Pretending we can really sway the politics of the biggest, most populous nation on earth in its advanced stage of progress, is simply ludicrous. Following a certifiable lunatic leading an ever-breaking State is even more idiotic. The problem for the UK there is no longer even the hint of a PlanB any more - That option has been booted into touch, and the UK is even more bound to the USA than ever.
at least I have a wrap-up line for the book - when and if ever I finish it
…and then the world went mad!
It’s not as easy as people think to “spy” (and anyone transmitting data worth spying on at international level who is not using strong end-to-end encryption deserves all that they get).
But I suppose if the Chinese government lent on them and it was technically possible to do what was requested there is a risk, yes.
Do I think it is worth taking into consideration? Yes.
Data security will always be a problem, regardless of the manufacturer of the hardware.
Dependence on an unfriendly country for vital hardware components is potentially risky.
There comes a time when dictatorship is told that it can not continue disregarding the rest of the world and that time is now.
Whatever one thinks of the origin of Covid, it is undeniable that the Chinese Communist Party has legislated against liberals in Hong Kong, Japan is stating its opposition to Chinese policy of extension in the seas around China, the Belt and Road initiative is tying third world countries economically into China and all this is happening when the free world is occupied with Covid.
Think back into history and learn. Not too far back either.
It is but there are many places more vulnerable than in the middle of the network where plucking out one stream of interest from the 100’s of 1000’s whistling past is non-trivial; and if all you get is a stream with government grade encryption you are not much further on in your nefarious quest for world domination.
@Jane_Williamson - agree, and cutting ourselves out of an influential position in a powerful bloc is madness.
But we did it anyway.
Because people who yearned for mythical past glories and could not be bothered to acknowledge the complexities of the modern world lied to people who knew no better that there would be no cost and many benefits.
What guts me is that, like the financiers behind the 2008 crash they will not be held to account.
My concern in this ramp-up of sinophobic hysteria is that it is calculated to ensure that Trump succeeds in triumphing over Biden in the presidential election.
Trump is manufacturing a causus belli with China, and is mad enough to find an excuse for some sort of pre-emptive strike on China, or threaten to do so, to inflame public opinion in the US and its “allies” against the ‘Yellow Peril’. Such tactics are wearyingly commonplace in 20th century history, if not down the ages.
How long before some incident us reported on the news putting America on a war footing with the PRC and Trump appearing in combat uniform with the regalia of Commander in Chief on his shoulder, and medals he has had struck himself to spread across his chest (and some bestowed by Lickspittles like Johnson or HM Elizabeth II)?
He has been practicing his C in C salute for 4 years, the culmination of his ambition is near, and then he will declare himself the God-given President Omnipotent and Stable Genius of the Earth, Moon and Solar System, and his daughter his inheritor. He is mad enough to do so, can anyone seriously doubt it? And that some around him will seize the chance to follow him, and imprison or annihilate dissenters?
When crypto is done by people who know what they are doing1 it is watertight.
Much easier to “persuade” the wetware on the ends to give something up
1] Unfortunately there are a lot that don't know what they are doing (including Microsoft, though I think they are a bit better at it these days) and schoolboy errors are made. Even people who *do* know what they are doing sometimes fall foul of Murphey's law.
Regardless of their record on human rights, the UK and China had a deal over the status of Hong Kong that they have broken.
The UK government might well ask what deal can they be trusted on.
As I understand it the government were happy to go along with Huawei, but changed their minds when faced with a back bench revolt.
It seems that the perceived slight to the Nation counts for more than human rights abroad.
What ‘free world’ are we talking about Jane? Trumps version? You do realise that the UK is totally in bed with the usa on all matters of ‘National Security’ - and would need the authority of Trump (at this time) to declare hostilities against anyone they do not approve of.
Free, as compared to Russia or China.
I am not so naive that I do not understand that politicans in the USA are in hock to whosoever put up the money for their election campaigns.
Saudi Arabia is a de facto dictatorship that has held the world to ransom over oil prices, is possibly the most intolerant place on earth of any kind of diversity, exports a hate-driven so called theology and supports religious terrorism, and commits brazen murders and kidnappings at will without raising a murmur of dissent in the west.
Unlike China, which is now being given the reds-under-the-bed bogeyman treatment by a scurrilous and unhinged US shyster president and a knob-obsessed and narcissist disgraced Old Etonian of small brain and unappetising disposition.
Words ought to fail me! If the PRC can dish the dirt on Randy Andy’s alleged predilection for under-age girls, I say give Huawei 5G and all the Gs going up to 144+ and I’ll happily sing their national anthem (it’s a bloody mile better than that dirge GSTQGSOGQGSTQ for crying out loud!)
Anything is better than the dour dumbed down anthem of a sinking England to the extent that international sporting events prefer other anthems than their national one - it hardly inspires passion does it…
Give me La Marseillaise any day… full of passion “Allons, enfants de la patrie, le jour de gloirie est arrivé!” and “Qu’un sang impur abreuve nos sillons”
