Communism, Dictatorship, authoritarian Archives

US Government Gives Notice: No More Business With State-Owned Entreprises in Belarus

19Apr

By Patti MohrNo Comments

Communism, Dictatorship, authoritarian, Eastern Europe, Human rights, Sanctions, Types of News: Brief

US Government Gives Notice: No More Business With State-Owned Entreprises in Belarus

April 19, 2021-The U.S. government today announced it is taking action in response to "sharply deteriorating human rights situation in Belarus" since the widely disputed August 2020 election. Since the election, hundreds of thousands of people have protested in the streets to protest the presidential rule of Alexander Lukashenko. The government responded with a violent crackdown. Today the government holds at least 340 people captive as political prisoners, according to the U.S. State Department. The 2020 Elections Russian President Vladimir Putin has recognized Lukashenko as the president of Belarus while the European Union and the United States consider the election to be illegitimate. The EU has said the election was "neither free nor fair" and has issued multiple rounds of san...

China’s Leaders Want Hong Kong to Only Elect ‘Patriots’

7Mar

By Patti MohrNo Comments

Communism, Dictatorship, authoritarian, Democracy, Domestic Politics, Types of News: Brief

China’s Leaders Want Hong Kong to Only Elect ‘Patriots’

China Plans to Change Hong Kong's Election System; West Says Freedoms Are At Risk March 7, 2021-As China's National Legislature opened its annual legislative session on Friday, pro-democracy advocates in Hong Kong and around the world watched with bated breath. This week, delegates at the National People's Congress (NPC) are taking up reforms to Hong Kong's electoral system that would guarantee only "patriots" serve. The proposed changes would effectively bring Hong Kong representatives under the control of China. China Wants Hong Kong 'Patriots' According to a transcribed statement of a speech by Wang Chen, China intends to change the electoral system of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). The senior Chinese lawmaker said the goal is to bring the politica...

U.S. Raises ‘Deep Concerns’ About Conclusions of WHO Investigation

16Feb

By Patti MohrNo Comments

Communism, Dictatorship, authoritarian, Diplomacy and International Law, Organizations, IMF, WTO, G7, UN Security Council, Types of News: Brief

U.S. Raises ‘Deep Concerns’ About Conclusions of WHO Investigation

Feb. 16, 2021-As the United States reengages with the World Health Organization under the new administration, its top national security officers are raising "deep concerns" about the credibility of the organization. The criticism comes as the WHO completed a controversial mission to Wuhan, China to investigate the origins of the COVID-19 virus. The WHO team, which included 17 participants representing China, ignored key information that scientists from the lab in Wuhan collected bats and virus samples from caves in China and brought them back to the lab. In the end, the WHO ceded the mission of scientific discovery to that of collaborating with China. U.S. Membership On his first day of office January 20, 2021, President Joe Biden informed UN Secretary General António Guterres...

WHO Mission Gives China Political Win, Overlooks Evidence About Bats in Wuhan Lab

15Feb

By Patti MohrNo Comments

Communism, Dictatorship, authoritarian, Globalization, Disintegration, Nationalism, Populism, Organizations, IMF, WTO, G7, UN Security Council, Types of News: Analysis

WHO Mission Gives China Political Win, Overlooks Evidence About Bats in Wuhan Lab

February 15, 2021--Over a year after the start of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization concluded a four-week investigatory mission in Wuhan, China, making comments favoring the Chinese government's narrative. It was a political win for China and a significant loss for science. In almost a surreal and surprising outcome, the mission team downplayed the possibility the virus started in a Wuhan lab and pointed to other theories popular in China. "All the work that has been done on the virus and trying to identify its origin continue to point to a natural reservoir of this virus and similar virus in bat population," said Peter Ben Embarek, the head of the WHO Mission in Wuhan. "But since Wuhan is not a city or environment close to this bat environment, a direct ...

China Aims to Upend And Amend World Order, U.S. State Dept Says

20Nov

By Patti MohrNo Comments

Communism, Dictatorship, authoritarian, Diplomacy and International Law, Domestic Politics, Geopolitics, Globalization, Disintegration, Nationalism, Populism, Types of News: Brief

China Aims to Upend And Amend World Order, U.S. State Dept Says

Nov. 20, 2020--The Chinese Communist Party intends to create a new world order serving authoritarian goals and nationalistic ambitions, according to a newly released report by the U.S. State Department. 'New Great Power Competition' The 74-page report asserted that China's ambition of revising the world order is triggering "a new era of great-power competition." Specifically, the State Department said that China plans to influence every region of the world with its economic power and reform international organizations from the inside out. As it does, it is increasingly reshaping the world with its authoritarian model, the report said. That puts that current world order -- one founded on free and sovereign nation-states -- that advances U.S. national interests, according to the...

COVID-19, From Bats to Humans: Examining the Wuhan Connection

17Apr

By Patti MohrNo Comments

Communism, Dictatorship, authoritarian, Globalization, Disintegration, Nationalism, Populism, Organizations, IMF, WTO, G7, UN Security Council, Types of News: Analysis

COVID-19, From Bats to Humans: Examining the Wuhan Connection

April 17, 2020--A great and tragic mystery of 2020 is the origin of the COVID-19 virus that is sweeping the world with sickness and death. Some researchers point to a seafood market in Wuhan. Others say it could have started in a Chinese lab in Wuhan. Most certainly, it came from bats. But how did it jump to humans? From Wuhan to the World To date, the COVID-19 virus that has infected over 2 million people worldwide and killed 149,000 people. Of the first 309 confirmed cases in China, 270 cases were confirmed in Wuhan. Of the first 41 patients hospitalized in Wuhan with the virus, 27 of them, 66 percent, had a connection to a food and wild animal market. Wholesale Food Market As early as December 2019, reports from China pointed to the connection to the Huanan Seafood Wholes...

GUEST POST: Yes, Virginia, China Is Exporting Its Model

23Jan

By Guest WriterNo Comments

Communism, Dictatorship, authoritarian, Global Economics, Globalization, Disintegration, Nationalism, Populism

GUEST POST: Yes, Virginia, China Is Exporting Its Model

By Elizabeth C. Economy In December, I took part in a debate at CSIS on the topic of whether China seeks to export its development model. For me, the answer to this question is self-evident: of course it does. Yet as I prepared for the debate, I quickly realized that many thoughtful colleagues have argued the opposite. So, in the interest of spurring further discussion and debate, I thought I would lay out in written form the why’s and wherefore’s of my case. (There is significant disagreement around what, precisely, constitutes the China model, but in this debate, the China model was broadly understood as a variant of authoritarian capitalism.) To begin with, China seeks to export its development model because Xi Jinping wants to do so. In numerous speeches, beginning at leas...

Pro-Democracy Movement In The 2019 Hong Kong Elections

29Sep

By No Comments

Communism, Dictatorship, authoritarian, Democracy, Domestic Politics

Pro-Democracy Movement In The 2019 Hong Kong Elections

November 25, 2019—In the first six months of increasingly violent protests in Hong Kong, the pro-democracy candidates made significant gains in the district council elections. They won 347 of the 452 seats -- nearly 77 percent -- of the city's district council. Meanwhile, pro-establishment candidates won 60 seats, leaving 45 seats to independents. (South China Morning Post. , Nov. 25, 2019) The protests started in response to an extradition bill that would have allowed mainland China to capture and try Hong Kong residents. UPDATE: Over time, however, the island nation would succumb to the Chinese Communist Party's rule.

WTO Deals Blow to U.S. Case Against China’s State-Subsidized Pricing

18Jul

By Patti MohrNo Comments

Communism, Dictatorship, authoritarian, Global Trade, Types of News: Brief

WTO Deals Blow to U.S. Case Against China’s State-Subsidized Pricing

July 18, 2019-- The world's litigation body for trade disputes dealt a new blow to a multiyear effort by U.S. representatives to counteract pricing impacted by state-owned enterprises. The decision impacts a wide range of products, including solar panels and aluminum. More striking, it weighs in on the mounting tension in the global economy between competing economic systems. What: This Week's Action Late Tuesday, a World Trade Organization appellate body upheld a decision by a lower panel regarding U.S. tariffs on a series of mostly industrial products imported from China that U.S. officials believe to be subsidized and under priced. Products impacted include solar panels, wind towers, steel cylinders and sinks, kitchen shelving, lawn groomers, aluminum extrusions and a serie...

U.S. Puts Global Companies Doing Business in Cuba on Notice

4Mar

By Patti MohrNo Comments

Communism, Dictatorship, authoritarian, Global Trade, Types of News: Brief

U.S. Puts Global Companies Doing Business in Cuba on Notice

March 4, 2019-In an effort to increase pressure on the Cuban government to stop its support for embattled Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and end human rights abuses within its own country, the U.S. State Department announced plans to allow U.S. lawsuits against Cuban entities accused of confiscating private property following the 1959 Cuban revolution. "We should remember that after Fidel Castro seized power, he confiscated private property of thousands of private individuals and companies without any compensation," a senior State Department official said. "And to date, there’s really been no justice for this theft." The list of restricted Cuban entities of restricted entities in Cuba at risk of lawsuits includes government ministries, hotels, stores, holding companies, marinas ...