Secretary of State Antony Blinken is looking to reschedule his trip to China that he canceled over the Chinese balloon that wound up floating over the US, but Beijing is rebuffing the effort, POLITICO reported Wednesday.
The POLITICO report said China has effectively frozen high-level contacts with US officials. An unnamed US official said that the Biden administration is also trying to schedule a call between President Biden and President Xi Jinping and send other high-level officials to China but isn’t having any luck.
Before the balloon incident, the US and China were making a point to engage at a high level despite soaring tensions. But since Blinken canceled his trip, and the US shot down the balloon, which ended up over US territory due to unexpected weather, the progress on engagement with Beijing has been reversed.
After the US shot down the balloon in February, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin tried to contact his Chinese counterpart, Wei Fenghe, who has since been replaced. But China declined to take Austin’s call, and he hasn’t had any luck since then.
Wei was replaced by Li Shangfu, a Chinese general who is under US sanctions for being involved in China’s purchase of Russian weapons. The sanctions make US-China military communication even more difficult, and the Biden administration has not signaled it will lift them.
Tensions between the US and China soared even higher on Wednesday as House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) hosted Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in California. China repeatedly warned McCarthy and Tsai not to hold the meeting and is expected to respond with more military drills around Taiwan.
R.F. Kennedy just announced he’s challenging Biden.
Perhaps the Chinese would talk to him?
Hmmmmm….
He is no progressive. Not even. He is an anti-vaxxer, among things.
Not a Progressive? That a huge plus.
I might need to look at him….
He was right about Trump’s vax so that certainly is not a deal breaker.
Progressives voted 100% for ww3 in Ukraine. Note the war party of Taiwan is also called Progressive Democrat.
Progressives loved how “the trains ran on time” back in the early 30’s.
In fact Mussolini’s Doctrine of Fascism reads like the Democrat party platform in parts.
“Anti-individualistic, the Fascist conception of life stresses the importance of the State and accepts the individual only in so far as his interests coincide with those of the State, which stands for the conscience and the universal, will of man as a historic entity (11). It is opposed to classical liberalism which arose as a reaction to absolutism and exhausted its historical function when the State became the expression of the conscience and will of the people. Liberalism denied the State in the name of the individual; Fascism reasserts the rights of the State as expressing the real essence of the individual (12). And if liberty is to he the attribute of living men and not of abstract dummies invented by individualistic liberalism, then Fascism stands for liberty, and for the only liberty worth having, the liberty of the State and of the individual within the State (13). The Fascist conception of the State is all embracing; outside of it no human or spiritual values can exist, much less have value. Thus understood, Fascism, is totalitarian, and the Fascist State – a synthesis and a unit inclusive of all values – interprets, develops, and potentates the whole life of a people (14).
No individuals or groups (political parties, cultural associations, economic unions, social classes) outside the State (15). Fascism is therefore opposed to Socialism to which unity within the State (which amalgamates classes into a single economic and ethical reality) is unknown, and which sees in history nothing but the class struggle. Fascism is likewise opposed to trade unionism as a class weapon. But when brought within the orbit of the State, Fascism recognizes the real needs which gave rise to socialism and trade unionism, giving them due weight in the guild or corporative system in which divergent interests are coordinated and harmonized in the unity of the State (16).
Grouped according to their several interests, individuals form classes; they form trade-unions when organized according to their several economic activities; but first and foremost they form the State, which is no mere matter of numbers, the suns of the individuals forming the majority. Fascism is therefore opposed to that form of democracy which equates a nation to the majority, lowering it to the level of the largest number.”
http://www.worldfuturefund.org/wffmaster/reading/germany/mussolini.htm
That ought to upset a few ……lol.
Interesting. I do not support win-loose majority rule as having much to do with democracy. The majority rules idea is simply the largest number successfully purchased by propaganda in most of the western representative democracies that serve corporatism from behind veils of manipulation.
We are seeing a return to a fight between populism and progressivism.
The progressives are once again flirting with fascism as they were prior to ww2.
You could throw that rascist Wilson in amongst them too.
Contrary to the opinions of some academics, history does not repeat itself, any more than entropy decreases in closed systems.
Never repeats itself but that does not mean ideas don’t “modernize” and remain with us.
It also doesn’t mean that it makes sense to react to new situations as if nothing has really changed.
Just my view, but a lot of our difficulties arise from treating events as if they are in fact similar to the ones preceding. Most of the time, this problem leads people to jump to the most convenient solution on the shelf, dress it up, and sally forth.
The present day disaster in Europe is a prime example. The Soviet Union collapses, new players appear on the scene, and the idiots in DC proceed as if nothing has changed. I call this SOP, the comfortable fallback position of the US since whenever. To me it’s evidence of the mediocrity of the ruling class that is the real problem, coupled with a lack of balls.
Yet their philosophy is reverting back to the ideas of fascism of which progressivism was trending towards until the war got in the way.
That’s pretty abstract. I hereby forgive your previous long dissertation 😉
Sorry about the big words…..
Not the size, the sheer number. No need for sarcasm here. Some of us may be smarter than you think 😉
Fascism was a big, and positively thought of by many, deal in the US up until December 7, 1941.
The American Legion invited Mussolini to speak at their national convention, and made no bones about declaring themselves effectively the equivalent of his “blackshirts.”
And the New Deal was very fascistic, especially before the Supreme Court overturned huge swathes of the National Industrial Recovery Act, which included e.g universal labor conscription.
No Schiff Sherlock….lol.
I wrote my paper for a economics class on that era specifically about Charles A Beard and his book “The Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States” that has been debunked quite convincingly several times in the manner it was written (bad facts) which revolved around his personal beliefs involving historical realtism.
I kind of view ww2 as an interuption to the way it was prior, then the General Electric/Ronny Raygun theater stuff started that wrested the GOP even further from populism into rugged individualism (GE was having labor organizing issues at the time).
Now we are seeing the rise of populism in quite a few countries while our Betters want the government more involved with business operations especially in huge corporations.
“Shiff”
Fooling the censors with a synonym. I love it. But now whenever I say shit, I think of that little turd. Thanks.
That’s Senator Adam Schiff (Pencil neck) to you sir….lol.
We could use the “term” as it was used in the Lewis and Clark diaries.
It seems a lot of folks were beshitting themselves quite frequently given the unfamiliar food they were consuming.
Beshit makes a very frequent appearance appearance in that journal and could make a great comeback.
Too many words.
Perhaps Wikipedia is more your style?
That ought to be a safe space from ideas for you.
This is a forum where some people actually use their computers/phones to type their own responses. If you have merely quoted something, then this is not actually from you, right? If this is the case, a link would take up less space without sacrificing meaning.
Really?
Do you own this site?
Or is this just your demand Mr. Wikipedia?
Is reading just too hard for you?
Or perhaps it’s the big words that are just too hard for you?
Well, up to here I’ve tolerated your lack of manners. Your erudition is of the worst kind, coupled to the stiletto. You’re just not my type.
“Over the past decade, our country has spent trillions bombing roads, ports, bridges, and airports. China spent the equivalent building the same across the developing world.”
….RFKjr
Well, if a “progressive” is defined as those claiming to be progressives in our congress, then that is a good thing. And I personally didn’t mind anti-vaxxers unless they were trying to push their own unproven bullshit.
That’s a good thing. Being against genetic experimentation in humans means that one has independent critical thought, unlike “vaxxers” who just believe and obey everything the totalitarian regime tells them.
Really? I hadn’t heard that.
This is the same problem as peace talks for Ukraine or a new Iran Deal.
Liars, proven repeated liars who have shown constant bad faith, just can’t do any deals. It is impossible.
You want to talk to China? Fire Blinken. And Sullivan. As a show of good faith.
Agreed. Blinken is the most unqualified SOS I have observed in my lifetime. He has zero credentials as a diplomat. His rhetoric when addressing other nations is sophomoric.
And he had some very serious competition including the insufferable bitch. Quite the feat. The Blinken family must be proud.
Agreed. Blinken is the most unqualified SOS I have observed in my lifetime. He has zero credentials as a diplomat. His rhetoric when addressing other nations is sophomoric.
You can’t fire Blinken: he’s the real shadow president.
“Before the balloon incident…” LOL. I just spilled “hot” coffee on myself again. I hope you’re happy.
There’s literally a major provocation to China every week. RESTRICT Act, more tariffs, more Chinese companies on blacklists, AUKUS, shooting down lots of balloons, 4 more military bases encircling China, I don’t even know how many rounds of sanctions, and of course now McCarthy meets with the Tsai again. I honestly don’t blame the Chinese for not picking up the phone. Who wants to schedule a meeting just to get lectured by Blinken about “human rights” issues coming from the world’s biggest warmonger? We have poked the damn China bear too many times.
The relationship needs to stabilize. We need China’s cooperation to fight climate change and for our own wallet’s sake as we still buy their stuff despite all this talk for de-coupling, competition and subsidies for chips; not a single iPhone has been shifted to be produced in America. The military industrial complex, however, is dancing with glee at how many bombs we just sold to Australia and Taiwan…
Poke the panda and it will evolve into a fire breathing dragon then everyone involve in the poking will be roast to crisp.
The Eurasian war against Russia, China, Iran and northern Korea is raging and it instigated by necessity as a rare US profit center. Why would any of the chosen war targets want to talk with a forked tongue US military empire with a proven grotesque record of human rights abuse?
here is the take-away from this article =
cry-baby uncle sam canceled blinken’s visit to china after the ridiculous spy-balloon incident and now cry-baby china refuses to answer the phone because of the ridiculous spy-balloon incident.
it was a balloon you cry-babies…. get on the phone.
Seriously, what is there to talk about if one of the parties has no interest in international cooperation involving equals?
If Biden’s administration would only put himself in the Chinese shoes and see how obnoxious the US has become. No self respecting person would take that kind of abuse.
All this many years, the emphasis from the Chinese has been the word “respect”. That’s an English word that can’t be too difficult to understand for even an adolescent.