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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote max manewer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Jun 2020 at 2:11pm
What it means, Isaac, is that I am sceptical of states that criticize human rights elsewhere, when they themselves have a record of disregarding the most basic human right, the right to live.
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so you are saying what china does is ok because someone else did it before them.

crap logic.
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and you accuse me of being gleeful.....
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Originally posted by Isaac soloman Isaac soloman wrote:

so you are saying what china does is ok because someone else did it before them.

crap logic.

Put it this way, I draw a distinction between what goes on inside a state, and what a state inflicts on people who are not part of that state. If little Jonny gets spanked by daddy, that is one thing, but when he gets spanked by the bloke next door, that isn't seen in the same light.
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The Australian uni student China wanted to silence, whose simple protest sparked a living hell

Without meaning to, Brisbane student Drew Pavlou sparked an international incident, becoming an enemy of China and expelled from uni.A student protest at a university campus is usually an unremarkable event.

Some demonstrations make a bit of noise, a few generate news headlines if they’re especially rowdy, but none spark an international incident with a superpower.

Twelve months ago, Drew Pavlou organised a sit-in attended by just 20 people to protest China’s anti-democracy activities in Hong Kong and its persecution of the Uighur minority, as well as to highlight concerns about The University of Queensland’s ties with Beijing.

Since then, he’s copped death threats and near daily abuse, earned the fury of the Chinese Government, and been expelled as a student by a “kangaroo court”.

This is the extraordinary tale of how a 20-year-old student from Brisbane’s eastern suburbs woke the angry Chinese dragon, and went to war with one of Australia’s most regarded unis.

THE ACCIDENTAL ACTIVIST

Media coverage of long-running protests in Hong Kong against growing attempts by mainland China to stifle free speech and democracy caught Mr Pavlou’s attention in early 2019.

He watched with growing alarm as vision circulated on social media of student demonstrators – men and women his age – being attacked by police.

Mr Pavlou began reading about China’s human rights record, particularly its treatment of the Uighur minority, who are subjected to brutal punishment.An estimated 1.5 million Uighurs are being held in concentration camps across China and a special independent tribunal in London last year detailed horrific accounts of forced organ harvesting, including on live prisoners.

“I was appalled by these injustices,” Mr Pavlou said.He also became concerned about UQ’s close ties with Beijing, including the Chinese Communist Party funded Confucius Institute on campus.

Peter Hoj, the university’s Vice-Chancellor – a position akin to chief executive officer – was an unpaid senior consultant to the Confucius Institute Headquarters, known as Hanban, for four years, and a member of its powerful council.

Mr Hoj ended his involvement in late 2018.

In an interview with ABC program Four Corners last year, Mr Hoj insisted he was “very confident that I haven’t been influenced” by China and said the Confucius Institute had never been involved in the academic operation of the university.

However, it emerged in 2019 that the Institute had funded four credited UQ courses about China, including an economics class that Mr Pavlou said was a serious cause for concern.

“It was called Understanding China, and when it came to a discussion of the Uighur concentration camps, they were described as an anti-terror and re-education effort and that they’re supposed to address radical Islamic terrorism.

“This is being taught in an Australian public university – justifying concentration camps.”

News.com.au asked UQ whether any of its courses are still funded by bodies linked to the Chinese Communist Party, and a spokesperson said: “Due to current legal proceedings UQ is unable to comment.”

RELATED: China is infiltrating Australia on multiple fronts, from politics to business, via its powerful and covert United Front agencyConfucius Institutes have sparked controversy recently for their links to the CCP’s United Front agency, which has been accused of foreign interference and espionage.

Despite a focus on the university’s relationship with Hanban last year, including the Four Corners report, it signed a new five-year deal for the campus Confucius Institute.

“UQ’s contract for the UQ Confucius Institute protects the university’s autonomy while delivering educational co-operation, particularly in Chinese languages,” the university said in a statement.

Mr Pavlou believed UQ’s reliance on international students from China, Mr Hoj’s long association with Hanban and the Confucius Institute, and the blurred lines between academic independence and foreign interests, were inappropriate.

“We were calling for our university to divest all of its ties to the Chinese Government while these atrocities were going on,” he said.

“I felt like I needed to speak up. I didn’t want to look the other way because it was too inconvenient or uncomfortable to talk about.

“So, I organised one protest. I’d never held a protest before or anything like that. I wouldn’t have considered myself an activist.”

He told a few friends who were interested in politics and history, and word spread to some Hong Kong students, who agreed to meet early in the afternoon on July 24.

“Never did I think it would blow up in the way it has. It shouldn’t have caused an international incident.”

ONE FATEFUL DAY

So inexperienced at protesting was Mr Pavlou that he was half-an-hour late to his own demonstration, having forgotten to organise a loudspeaker.

“I was running around trying to find a printer to print some flyers, I was trying to get a loudspeaker – it was pretty haphazard. And it was small. There were 15 or 20 of us.”

It was the busiest day of the year – Market Day – and the group positioned themselves at the part of campus with the most foot traffic – the entrance to the Great Court, a massive grass area surrounded by grand sandstone buildings.

They sat down on a walkway and began chanting – typical uni demonstration fare, like “Hey, hey! Ho, ho! Xi Jinping has got to go” and variations of it.

“We didn’t really notice at first that we’d been surrounded on all sides,” Mr Pavlou said.

An estimated crowd of 200 pro-CCP activists had descended on the St Lucia campus to counter his small rally.

Things quickly turned ugly, he said.

RELATED: Australian universities ‘helping China to spy’ in massive global operation, Four Corners reveals“There were two or three people with face masks and sunglasses, trying to disguise their faces, with earpieces in, who all approached me from different angles. They seemed to be co-ordinating the group.

“One ripped the megaphone from my hand. I got up to confront him and got punched in the ribs and thrown to the ground. I got up again and got punched again in the side of the mouth.

“As I was being attacked, this crowd started playing the Chinese national anthem. We were surrounded on all sides and it became this stand-off.

“This guy came up behind me and punched me in the back of the head, threw me to the ground and grabbed my poster and tore it up.

“Other Hong Kong students were punched and choke-slammed. A security guard tried to step in and he was bitten.”Police were called and Mr Pavlou said he was advised by officers that he was outnumbered, and the safest thing to do was move on.

He did, but a few students from Hong Kong stayed behind to stage a silent sit-in on a grassy hill nearby and were joined by several others.

“Then I got a text an hour later that some of the Hong Kong students were being hassled again. They were being attacked. One got choked. A girl had her dress ripped.

“We ran back to help. It had gotten much worse. More CCP supporters came – the police estimate was that there were about 500 of them there.

“A huge contingent of police were there and tried to separate the groups. They spoke to someone from the (pro-Beijing side) and this guy said they weren’t leaving until I apologised to China for the protest.”A witness on the day told news.com.au that the pro-CCP side were screaming “apologise!” over and over again.

“Ultimately, we had to leave under a police escort,” Mr Pavlou said. “The (pro-CCP) people stayed and sung nationalist songs and chanted for another hour.”

The instigators of the violence were older and didn’t appear to be students, Mr Pavlou said.

“I suspect they were sent by the Consulate,” he said.

“This was a co-ordinated attempt to silence free speech on an Australian university campus through fear and intimidation.”

ACTIVE INFLUENCE

It might sound far-fetched to many that the Chinese Consulate would care very much, let alone enough to send “operatives” to a student peaceful protest.

But it has a history of intervening in hyper-local and seemingly insignificant issues.

In 2018, the regional Queensland town of Rockhampton held a community art exhibition to celebrate its Beef Week, where life-size papier-mache bulls were decorated by schools.

One was painted with international flags and symbols in celebration of the area’s diverse culture and multiculturalism, and included the Taiwanese flag.

A short time after it joined others on display in the town’s main street, the Taiwanese inclusion was painted over by council staff – at the demand of the Chinese Consulate, it later emerged.

Rockhampton Mayor Margaret Strelow admitted the Vice-Consul in Brisbane had complained, sending through photos of the offending statue.

“Council officers contacted the school to explain that there was a problem (and) when the school couldn’t offer a solution, council staff proceeded to paint over the flag and words,” she told The Morning Bulletin.Earlier this month, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute released analysis about the level of Chinese interference and influence playing out across almost every aspect of Australian life.

The report focused on the work of United Front – a mammoth, powerful and shadowy group that controls thousands of community organisations in foreign countries.

Overseas Chinese students have “long been a target of United Front (activity)”, ASPI researcher Alex Joske wrote, adding: “This was reiterated in 2015 when Xi Jinping designated them a ‘new focus of United Front’.”

Chinese Students and Scholars Associations (CSSA) exist around the world, including in Australia, and provide a useful function for people studying overseas.

But Mr Joske wrote that they are “the primary platform for United Front work on overseas students … (and) most operate under the guidance of Chinese embassies and consulates”.

“A 2013 People’s Daily article describes Australian CSSAs as ‘completing their missions … under the direct guidance of the Embassy’s Education Office’,” he wrote.

CSSA executives are tasked with organising rallies and promotional events, but also with reporting on dissident Chinese students.

On July 24, it appears they were successful in gathering intelligence on those who had taken part in the Hong Kong demonstration.

FEAR AND INTIMIDATION

Among Mr Pavlou’s rag-tag group of protesters that day were two students from mainland China.

Within hours, one had images of his passport and citizenship documents, along with his residential address in Brisbane, shared on the Chinese social media platform WeChat.

“Another guy who was with us, his parents (in mainland China) got a visit from state security officials who told them to make their son stop protesting,” Mr Pavlou said.

“Within hours, the Chinese government had identified people at a protest in Brisbane and mobilised police thousands of kilometres away. It was really scary.”He too was targeted in a brazen and worrying way.

Global Timesthe English language mouthpiece of the Communist Party, wrote a scathing article about his protest.

Mr Pavlou was named, alongside a photograph, and described as a “separatist” – a crime on par with murder in China, punishable by death.

“To be called a separatist by Chinese state-controlled media was kind of an invitation for people to go open season on me,” he said.

“I had all of these abusive messages and death threats flooding in.”

Every one of the 20-odd people who had taken part in Mr Pavlou’s protest was identified and received threats and abuse, he said.

On July 25, the Consul General of China in Brisbane, Dr Xu Jie, issued a public statement about the protest and repeated the accusation that Mr Pavlou’s group had carried out “separatist activities”.

Dr Xu praised the “self-motivated patriotic behaviour” of pro-CCP activists while condemning Mr Pavlou’s protest as “anti-China separatist activities”.

It prompted an avalanche of abuse, Mr Pavlou said.

“There were threats against me and my family, someone said they’d rape my mother in front of me and then kill us... it was vile stuff.”Dr Xu was awarded an honorary professorship at UQ – an appointment that the university didn’t announce to local media. The news was shared with Chinese language news outlets and on the social media platform WeChat.

In a statement, UQ said it has “appointed more than 260 professorial titleholders in the past few years and does not announce them in the media”.

Mr Pavlou said he was scared and stressed, but most of all, “pissed off” at what he saw as attempts to bully and silence him.

So, he organised another protest.

“I thought, let’s go again, let’s show defiance to those who tried to silence us. I put a post on Facebook saying we’d make a stand and protest again on July 31 at 12pm.”

And that’s where UQ stepped in, he claims.

THE DREADED ‘D’ WORD

Despite being attacked on campus, including by people who likely weren’t students, and disclosing that he’d been threatened, Mr Pavlou didn’t hear from the university until the next day.

When he did, it wasn’t a message of concern or support.

“I received an email from the university telling me to come to a disciplinary meeting,” he said.

The date and time of that scheduled meeting? July 31 at 12pm.

Mr Pavlou viewed it as a transparent attempt to force the cancellation of the second protest and so he refused to attend.

In a statement, UQ said it “refutes the claims by some individuals about the support provided to students”.

When he met with officials to discuss security arrangements for the second protest, he claims he was threatened.

“I was told in that meeting that they liked me being a student at UQ and would like that to continue into the future. It felt like a scene from the Godfather movie.”

A UQ spokesperson said the university “is unable to provide comment on an individual student matter”.

After the meeting, Mr Pavlou said he called the university’s bluff and the protest went ahead.In the days and weeks following, he repeatedly requested a meeting with Mr Hoj to discuss concerns about the uni’s ties with China.

Those requests were ignored, he said.

“So, I thought if he wouldn’t meet with me, I’d run for the UQ Senate – the board that governs the university.”

Mr Pavlou ran for the undergraduate seat on the Senate, which is voted on by students, and won.

“The very first meeting of the Senate was in February,” he said.

“It was right as the coronavirus pandemic was in full swing. Instead of discussing the COVID-19 crisis and the university’s response, the entire thing was devoted to me and an attempt to have me removed.”

Screenshots of Mr Pavlou’s social media posts were displayed and he was told he had breached student conduct guidelines.

He was threatened with expulsion at that meeting, he said.IT JUST GOT WORSE’

Mr Pavlou thought the first Senate meeting where he was threatened with expulsion was an attempt to scare him, and that nothing else would come of it.

He was wrong.

The university prepared a 186-page confidential dossier outlining his alleged misbehaviour and breaches of the student code.

“It included social media posts going back months and months, including screenshots of comments taken out of context,” he said.

“It included stuff as petty as ‘Drew used a pen in the campus art shop and then put it back and left the store, and this disrupted the activity of staff and students.’”

A Facebook post calling for students to recreate a high school Muck-Up Day tradition on campus was also included. Mr Pavlou insists it was a “stupid” joke.

“They included allegations that I had bullied specific students. Those students later came forward and said they’d never complained, they didn’t want to complain, they weren’t offended. It was crazy.”

UQ officials told Mr Pavlou that the disciplinary proceedings were confidential and “there would be consequences if I spoke about it”, he claims.For a week, he sat silently at home and fell into a deep depression, he said.

“I was wallowing and down in the dumps, in a really dark place. It felt like my life was over. Everything was destroyed. I was scared, I was sad.”

And then he was angry.

“I figured it was my expulsion so I could talk about it. I thought I could either crash, or crash through. I decided to crash through.”

Mr Pavlou went to the media to detail his version of events and the treatment he had received from the university he’d attended for almost four years.

“UQ wanted to do me over quietly and quickly,” he said. “Suddenly, everyone knew what they were doing.

“There were 40,000 signatures on a petition, it was reported in The New York TimesThe Wall Street JournalThe Australian … it was everywhere.”

His now-barrister, the prominent Tony Morris QC, watched the coverage about Mr Pavlou’s plight in alarm and reached out, offering to represent him for free.

Together, the pair went to a hearing of the disciplinary board and found that two top-tier law firms had been engaged to prepare a recommendation about his case.

They called for Mr Pavlou to be punished with “the harshest penalties possible”, he said.

“The Board is made up of full-time university employees. How could they respond? It was a kangaroo court. So, we walked out.

“They went ahead and expelled me. They don’t describe it as an expulsion, but effectively it is. I’m ‘suspended’ for two years, the immediate removal from my democratically elected position on the Senate and the inability to ever graduate.”

RELATED: Suspended University of Queensland student activist could face contempt actionState-run media outlet Global Times celebrated his expulsion in an article, describing him as “anti-China” and quoting unnamed students who were said to be celebrating “justice”.

UQ Chancellor Peter Varghese – a well-regarded former senior public servant and diplomat, who was appointed an Office of the Order of Australia in 2010 – finally stepped in.

“I was today advised about the outcome of the disciplinary action against Mr Pavlou,” Mr Varghese said in a statement on May 29.

“There are aspects of the findings and the severity of the penalty which personally concern me. In consultation with the Vice Chancellor (Mr Hoj), who has played no role in this disciplinary process, I have decided to convene an out-of-session meeting of UQ’s Senate next week to discuss the matter.”

That meeting was held on June 5 and agreed to await the outcome of an appeal lodged by Mr Pavlou, due next Monday.

In his statement, Mr Varghese said: “Senate noted that the issues of alleged misconduct and freedom of speech had been so commingled in the media coverage of the case that it made it difficult to untangle in public perceptions.”

In the meantime, Mr Pavlou and Mr Morris QC have lodged action in the Supreme Court against Mr Hoj, Mr Varghese and UQ seeking $3.5 million in damages.

EXTRAORDINARY EMAIL CHAIN

Late on the afternoon of July 24, as Mr Pavlou and his friends left campus under police escort, able to hear the chants of pro-CCP figures who were allowed to stay, UQ swung into action.

Its communications office prepared a statement about the demonstration and sent it to the Chinese Consulate in Brisbane “for review”.

Mr Pavlou’s barrister, Mr Morris QC, said the correspondence “plainly shows that a draft public statement was sent to the Chinese Consul-General ‘for review’.”

“The dictionary meaning of ‘review’ is ‘a formal assessment of something with the intention of instituting change if necessary’,” Mr Morris QC told The Courier-Mail.

“Since when does UQ send public statements to the diplomatic representatives of a foreign government … for ‘formal assessment … with the intention of instituting change if necessary’?.”In a statement, UQ denied it sought approval from the Consulate and instead was sending a proposed message that “outlined the university’s expectations that students express their views in a lawful and respectful manner”.

“The message was approved without any changes, and emailed to the Consulate and copied to the Confucius Institute at 7.05pm,” the statement said.

“The Vice-Chancellor was not in contact with the Consulate on this matter. In addition, the university also communicated its position to a number of other stakeholders including government, partners and the sector’s peak bodies.”

UQ eventually released copies of the emails with names redacted, as well as a timeline, but Mr Morris QC claims it presents only part of the story.

‘THE BILLION-DOLLAR QUESTION’

UQ denies the disciplinary action against Mr Pavlou is linked in any way to his protests last July, nor his commentary about its links with China.

“The university’s policies are not driven by politics, and we completely reject the claims that this ongoing disciplinary matter is a free-speech issue; student disciplinary matters are initiated in response to complaints made to the university,” it said in a statement.

“It is entirely reasonable and appropriate for the university to provide a safe environment for students and staff, both on campus and online, to protect their welfare and mental health.

“Part of this is ensuring complaints are fairly considered through a standard, confidential disciplinary process which is being followed in this case.

“Eroding or undermining these processes reduces the likelihood that students and others will feel safe to report behaviour which they feel is inappropriate or unacceptable.

“For this reason, we cannot respond or engage in discussions on our student disciplinary matters – even if this means we cannot correct inaccuracies that misrepresent the university.”But the nature of the charges against him, which Mr Pavlou describes as mostly petty and baseless, cast doubt on this claim.

So, why would a prestigious university – consistently ranked as among the best in the world – pursue a student without cause?

“It’s literally a billion-dollar question,” Mr Pavlou said.

“If the Chinese Government was to suddenly declare that its students couldn’t study at UQ because its campus was too politically sensitive, the uni would lose about $1 billion in revenue over the coming decade.”

Twenty per cent of the university’s revenue is derived from fees from Chinese students, of which there are 9000 currently enrolled.

In 2018, international students contributed a total of $570 million in tuition to UQ’s coffers.Before that chaotic afternoon on July 24, which sparked a “year from hell”, Mr Pavlou said he aspired to become an academic one day.

He’d go on to do a PhD, perhaps in philosophy or politics, with the goal of becoming a lecturer at a university like UQ, he figured.

“Not anymore though. I’ve seen the university sector. I’ve had a lifetime of dealing with people like that.”

The past 12 months have left him exhausted and uncertain about the future, but Mr Pavlou said he has no regrets.

“In hindsight, I had the opportunity in the few days after the protest to back down and go away, and let this all stop. It would’ve been so easy.

“But it’s important to stand up for your values. I think democracy and freedom of speech are worth defending. And it’s also about human rights for the people facing genocide in China.

“What’s happened is horrible. It’s been tremendously stressful and taken a toll. It sucks and it’s caused a lot of pain.

“But they’ve picked the wrong person. I’m not backing down.”https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/the-australian-uni-student-china-wanted-to-silence-whose-simple-protest-sparked-a-living-hell/news-story/4fcea3b66535bed6d6e08a320cd246ae

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Isaac soloman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Jun 2020 at 2:52pm
is Drew your little johnny or the bloke nest door?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote max manewer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Jun 2020 at 3:04pm
I don't know, did he survive his ordeal ?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Isaac soloman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Jun 2020 at 3:25pm
so you only want to believe what you want to believe...

you are not as worldly, or wise,  as you purport to be max.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote max manewer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Jun 2020 at 3:27pm
I know propaganda when I see it, and the current anti-Chinese sentiment is not going to do us any good at all, and is largely part of attempts to "contain" China. Whatever that implies.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote maccamax Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Jun 2020 at 3:44pm
We form views ...   I always respect yours Max , You do present as middle of the road and not in cement.

My view is China is showing itself as a very Dangerous Country to world peace , with expansion into many areas.    Aggressive attitude detected around disputed areas.
The USA is all that stands between them swallowing the South Pacific.
WW 3 is all about WHERE & WHEN.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote max manewer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Jun 2020 at 3:48pm
There is just too much interlocking of US and Chinese economic interests, at stake, for outright warfare, nothing to gain. But argy-bargy is always going to apply where interests are divergent. The other guarantor of peace has been nuclear weaponry, but it is a high-risk form of insurance. A two-edged sword.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote maccamax Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Jun 2020 at 3:53pm
Germ warfare could be a greater danger than the Bomb.

If they can have such success against the humble Rabbit with a virus.

The bounds are limitless.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Isaac soloman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Jun 2020 at 6:59pm

NSW Labor MP Shaoquett Moselmane says he is 'not a suspect' in AFP espionage investigation

NSW Labor MP Shaoquett Moselmane says he is not a suspect in the espionage investigation that saw his Sydney home and office raided last week.

Key points:

  • Mr Moselmane said: "I have never jeopardised the welfare of our country and our people."
  • He will take a leave of absence from the NSW Parliament
  • He has been in the Upper House since 2009

Mr Moselmane on Friday had his Labor Party membership suspended after the raids, which were part of a joint AFP-ASIO investigation amid allegations his office had been infiltrated by a Chinese government agent.

"The investigation is into certain other people, allegedly advancing the goals of a foreign Government, namely the Peoples Republic of China," he said.

"I'm not sure what those goals are."

The MP said he would take a leave of absence from the NSW Parliament while the investigation takes place.https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-29/nsw-labor-mp-shaoquett-moselmane-not-a-suspect-in-afp-probe/12402596

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Isaac soloman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Jun 2020 at 12:52am
dont mention the war. i trust being an ABC article it is NOT propaganda.

Cybersecurity spending gets $1.35 billion boost in wake of online attacks against AustraliaThe Federal Government wants to create more than 500 new jobs in its highly secretive cyber intelligence agency as part of what it says is Australia's largest-ever investment in cybersecurity.

Key points:

  • The $1.35 billion package includes $31 million to improve the Australian Signals Directorate's ability to disrupt cyber crime
  • A further $118 million will be used to expand its data science and intelligence capabilities
  • It is understood Australian officials believe China is responsible for recent cyber hacking activity

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced $1.35 billion in existing defence funding would be spent over the next decade to boost the cybersecurity capabilities of the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) and the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC).

It followed Mr Morrison's public warning earlier this month that Australian governments, businesses and political organisations were coming under an escalating series of cyber attacks from a sophisticated "state-based" hacker.

The Prime Minister did not blame any one country for the activity although it is understood Australian authorities believe China is responsible.

"The Federal Government's top priority is protecting our nation's economy, national security and sovereignty. Malicious cyber activity undermines that," Mr Morrison said.https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-29/cyber-security-investment-link-attacks-scott-morrison/12404468

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Feel sorry for the Hong Kong inhabitants.

China passes new national security law aimed at Hong Kong

China's parliament has passed national security legislation for Hong Kong, setting the stage for the most radical changes to the former British colony's way of life since it returned to Chinese rule almost 23 years ago.

Cable TV, citing an unidentified source, said the law was passed unanimously by the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress.

The legislation pushes Beijing further along a collision course with the United States, Britain and other Western governments, which have said it erodes the high degree of autonomy the global financial hub was granted at its July 1, 1997 handover.

A draft of the law has yet to be published. Beijing says the law, which comes in response to last year's pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, aims to tackle subversion, terrorism, separatism and collusion with foreign forces.

This month, China's official state agency Xinhua unveiled some of its provisions, including that it would supersede existing Hong Kong legislation and that the power of interpretation belongs to the Chinese parliament's top decision-making body, the National People's Congress Standing Committee.

More to come.

Reuters

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Passing Through Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Jun 2020 at 3:23pm
Did Donald green light that too Isaac?
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DONALD the great has stopped the preferential treatment extended to Hong Kong.

    What a great Man.    The White House was built for him.
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Is ''White'' House racist?
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NO , neither is Blacktown in Oz .
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Gay3 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Jun 2020 at 4:23pm

China imposes forced abortion, sterilisation on Uyghurs, investigation shows

Posted 41mminutes ago
The Chinese Government is taking draconian measures to slash birth rates among Uyghurs and other minorities as part of a sweeping campaign to curb its Muslim population, even as it encourages some of the country's Han majority to have more children.

Wisdom has been chasing me but I've always outrun it!
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That's almost as bad as a signature that has caught me 50 times .

Your banned from my reading classes gay3.
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Huawei faces ban from UK 5G network, with experts warning of Chinese spying

Chinese telecommunications company Huawei faces a complete ban from being used in Britain's mobile phone infrastructure.

Key points:

  • Britain's national cyber security centre says Huawei technology should be stripped from the network
  • A former head of MI6 says the threat of espionage by Beijing is too great
  • France has stopped short of a total ban on the Chinese telco

In January, Britain's security services gave the green light for Huawei components to be used in one-third of the UK's future 5G mobile network.

But now, after tough US sanctions banned the company from using any American intellectual property, Britain's national cyber security centre has recommended Huawei be totally banned, and its technology stripped from existing parts of the network.

A statement from the UK Government is expected this month.

In a newspaper column, the former head of MI6, John Sawers, warned that British intelligence agencies could no longer guarantee Huawei's technology could be safely used without threat of espionage by Beijing.https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-06/huawei-faces-uk-ban-with-experts-warning-of-chinese-spying/12424608

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China and the United States are on a collision course, and Australia is preparing for the fallout

The Prime Minister was right: we are living in a poorer and more dangerous world.

The question is, why has it taken us so long to wake up to this?

The coronavirus crisis has brought into sharper focus our global vulnerability and volatility, yet the warning signs were there well before this.

Australia has lost precious years preparing for this moment.

A decade ago, then prime minister Kevin Rudd outlined what he saw as the looming threat of conflict with China.

"The pace, scope and structure of China's military modernisation have the potential to give its neighbours cause for concern," the Rudd government's 2009 Defence White Paper noted.

Yet by 2013 the Labor government, led by Julia Gillard, toned down the language on China, wanting to avoid any tension.

We would always choose the US

Writing in the journal Foreign Affairs in 2013, Rudd cautioned that if relations with China were not carefully managed, we would face a potential flashpoint.

"The jury is still out as to whether the positive forces of 21st-century globalisation or the darker forces of more ancient nationalisms will ultimately prevail," he wrote.Rudd, a Mandarin-speaking former diplomat who had been based in Beijing, was very clear: China "respects strategic strength and is contemptuous of vacillation and weakness".

Australia is now waking from a lost decade. Scott Morrison has only now returned us to where we were under Rudd.

Australia has always believed it would never have to choose between its strategic alliance with the United States and its biggest trading relationship with China.

That has always been a fallacy: of course we would choose the US, we are bound by values and security.

That does not mean making an enemy of China. But that, too, may be out of our hands.https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-05/china-and-us-on-collision-course-lessons-from-history/12415316

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Isaac soloman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Jul 2020 at 12:14pm

China's Hong Kong security law is also about winning the hearts and minds of the next generationThere is a lot to decipher in the 66 articles of China's sweeping new national security law for Hong Kong, but one of the key things that stands out is Clause 10:

"The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall carry out national security education through schools, social organisations, the media and the Internet etc to develop national security education, to raise the national security awareness and law-abiding awareness of the residents."

Like much of the law that was imposed on Hong Kong's 7.5 million people without consultation or even the chance to read it, the details are vague.

Ahead of the law's unveiling, Hong Kong's Education Secretary Kevin Yeung said that national security education programs would be added to school curriculums.

According to Mr Yeung, it would help Hong Kong students "live and grow in the city, and develop their career on the mainland", according to the South China Morning Post.

"It has nothing to do with politics," he said.

No further details have emerged since the law was enacted on June 30.

But if similar 'national security education' activities on the mainland are anything to go by, China's Government now has the legal basis to begin patriotic classes for the next generation that teach acceptance of authoritarian policies.

Patriotism classes are a big part of Chinese childhoodhttps://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-04/china-is-playing-the-long-game-with-hong-kongs-children/12420048


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Hong Kong libraries see pro-democracy books removed after national security law introduced

Books by prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy figures have become unavailable in the Chinese-ruled city's public libraries as they are being reviewed to see whether they violate a new national security law, a government department said.

Key points:

  • Prominent democracy figure Joshua Wong says his books are being censored by authorities
  • Beijing claims the Hong Kong national security law will only be used to target "troublemakers"
  • Authorities have already begun arrests of anti-China protesters, charging one man with terrorism

The sweeping legislation, which came into force on Tuesday night at the same time its contents were published, punishes crimes related to secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces, with punishments of up to life in prison.

Hong Kong public libraries "will review whether certain books violate the stipulations of the National Security Law," the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, which runs the libraries, said in a statement.https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-06/hong-kong-libraries-see-pro-democracy-books-removed/12424900

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Where & When =    Isaac.
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I do get that the English-speaking global hegemony that has lasted for hundreds of years, does not like the idea that it may be displaced sooner or later, but the latest round of anti-Chinese propaganda does not disguise the fact that it isn't China that has been threatening, bullying, invading, and bombing its way around the world for centuries, that title belongs to our allies. Fact.
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And the BIGGEST invader of all was Genghis Khan. 
not english speaking. fact.

gee max obvious where your allegiances lie.

you do notice that CHINA has ramped up its war mongering.
china has put the WORLD on a war footing.

even peacable Australia and Japan are arming themselves.


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Sheep shearer, cattle herder and milk woman Sevjid Damdin talks about raising six children in the homeland of Genghis Khan

This is part eight of Mama Asia, a long-form journalism series in which Sally Sara meets 12 inspirational Asian women.

If you ever want to film a Mongolian version of The Sound of Music, Dadal is your place. It looks like a little bit of Austrian countryside that got lost - rolling green hills, lush meadows, polite little flowers, groves of trees, dairy cows grazing and birds singing.

Dadal is not far from Mongolia's border with Siberia - one of the harshest places on earth. But, the summers here are heavenly. The sun shines from four in the morning until almost 10 at night.Mongolians believe this is the place where their heroic former leader Genghis Khan was born; no-one knows for sure. But this whole district is sacred: the fence around the local waterhole is covered in bright blue scarves left by pilgrims, who believe Genghis Khan used to drink there.

I was sure I was drinking holy water but instead I have a glass of homemade vodka in my hand and a whole hut full of people waiting for me to drink it.

I take a fake swig. There is a disappointed groan. I try again - there are smiles when the locals can see I've sent it down the hatch. I'm then given a big bowl of warm homemade cream and a spoon. This is hospitality Mongolian-style.

Sevjid Damdin is waving her hand, signalling for me to drink and eat more. She says the local vodka has been knocking over foreign guests for generations.

"The Russians called it tricky water. It tastes like water at first, then it comes to your stomach and then sometime later you suddenly feel drunk," she says.

Sevjid is small and strong, with the build of a hard-working woman. She can still fit into the clothes she wore on her wedding day, 35 years ago - she tries them on every year or so just to be sure. Her face is lined from years spent outside in the brittle winters and strong sun. But her eyes are bright and friendly.

Sevjid is the matriarch of this big, rambling family. Her rosy-cheeked granddaughter sits on her lap. Her husband, Vaani, wears an Andy Cap hat and a warm grin. His long sideburns and weathered skin frame his face. He spends much of his time outside, fixing motorbikes, or brushing the family's prized racehorse, Brown Stallion.

The inside of the hut is smoke-stained and cluttered. Calendars from years past still hang in the kitchen. Layers of wallpaper peel back to reveal chipped paint.

Mongolian mother Sevjid Damdin with her husband Vaani and two grandchildren
Mongolian mother Sevjid Damdin with her husband Vaani and two grandchildren.

Sevjid grew up in Dornod province, in the far east of Mongolia. Her parents were farmers and hunters. They were kind and loving but as a small girl Sevjid spent most of her time at her neighbour's house - the home of a young childless couple.

She can't really explain it but she felt more comfortable with the childless couple than her own parents. So she left home when she was five years old.

"I just knew that I wanted to be their child. My parents were angry with me but I just ignored that. I went to that family and stayed with them and so I had two mothers and two fathers then.

"I think this is destiny or something. When I was three years old I just started knowing that I wanted to be their child. We lived close by. My adopted parents, they didn't have any children. They had a little daughter but she passed away, so they liked me very much. When I was getting to five years old, I just knew that I had to go there.

"After I came to them, they had a new child, a son. They were very happy and they love us very much. They just taught us right and wrong.

"My adopted parents never cut the relationship with my real parents, they let me go and visit my real family. During special holidays or weekends, he let me go and see my mother and father. I still have a very good relationship with my real family, I'm very spoilt."

Sevjid's granddaughter, Ariuntsetseg, sits quietly while we talk, studying her grandmother's fingers one by one. She's only a toddler but she is already allowed to roam freely outside when she wants to. Sevjid encourages her to explore and have adventures - the more dirt she has on her face and hands, the better the day.

"Our people say, 'Let children be children' otherwise they cannot think freely. Little children should be able to learn everything their own way. Don't tell them, 'you can't do this, stop this and sit here and be quiet'. We are against that one. We say, 'Let them be free'.

Child takes part in horse race in Mongolia

Mongolia is not really the place for helicopter parents.

In one village on the long drive to Dadal, we saw children riding horses bareback as part of a local cross-country race. All the riders were under the age of nine and none wore helmets. There was no track, just a motorbike rider carrying a flag towards the finish line.

The local parents were cheering their kids on but there was no fussing, and certainly no ambulance. One of the local men proudly told me that no child had ever died in the annual race, which was designed to teach the children courage, independence, skill and daring.

Sevjid nods approvingly when I tell her the story.

"Mongols love horses, they are one of our treasures. Genghis Khan conquered half the world with horses.

"If you ride an ox and you fall down, you can injure yourself seriously. But if you fall down from a horse, you will never die. We just believe in that."

Sevjid also grew up with lots of independence and responsibility. She learned how to sew, milk cows, butcher, herd cattle, shear sheep and farm vegetables. She lists her skills with a lot of pride, it's part of her identity as a member of Mongolia's Buriat ethnic group.

"There is nothing Buriat women can't do. We do everything, we take care of our children and husband and then we go and look after our cattle in the pasture. We do everything like men."

Traditionally, the Buriats are indigenous nomadic herders, who live on the wide plains of Mongolia and Siberia. One of their most famous sons was Yul Brynner, of The King and I fame, who grew up in the austere Soviet city of Vladivostock.

When Sevjid was growing up, socialism was the way of life in Mongolia. It shaped the patterns of work and family.

Sevjid was married at the age of 20 and the state's expectations were clear - for her to work hard and have as many children as possible. She gave birth to 10 babies; only six survived. She was rewarded with the Mongolian Motherhood Medal.

"There was a big celebration gathering in the town hall. Many, many mothers came during international Women's Day. The city administration officers called the mothers in front of the audience. There was a medal and also a certificate.

"I was young and I felt a little bit embarrassed having many children at a young age. Of course I am proud of my children but having a medal on my clothes is not such a happy thing. I didn't feel I was heroic or anything."

Women were only given two weeks after giving birth before they were expected back at work. Every job, every industry, every farm was part of the socialist plant. Every citizen had a quota they were required to meet.

Sometimes Sevjid was so worried about not meeting the quota for milking her cows, she would not even dare drink from her own herd in case she fell short of the target.

"It takes about two hours to milk 30 cows, sometimes the milk truck would come and be waiting and I didn't have enough time to milk all the cows, maybe two or three left and I was crying.

"During that time the Government gave us a five-year plan and each milk woman had to milk 20,000 litres of milk in a year, from 30 cows. If we cannot make it, we have to pay from our pocket.

"So that was why we worked so hard. We worked and worked and worked. At that time, I couldn't use milk for my tea personally, just I had to milk for the government.

"There was a very big red book with a plan for every year. We wanted to meet the plan. There was a lot of competition between the milk women.

"Of course there are good people and bad people. For every 10 milk women, there must be two or three who are bad women. They were cheating, getting their adult children to milk for them. But for me at that time, my kids were very young and small and I had to take care of them. That was difficult.

"If somebody didn't work, they were sent to jail for six months, so everybody had to work hard.

"Twenty percent of our salary was accumulated into an account. At the end of the year, we would get that as a bonus if we met the plan. If we missed the plan, we had to pay from those savings. We worked so hard and more than the plan, so we got all of the savings at the end of the years."

Sevjid maintained Buriat traditions to feed her family. Nothing was wasted - every sinew of every slaughtered animal was used. The traditions continue today.

Sevjid Damdins granddaughter

"In winter we don't eat any beef, we eat horse meat. We just prepare horse meat and we eat horse meat in winter because it is quite high quality and keep you warm.

"We prepared the horse meat, splitting the meat from the bones. We chopped them into different pieces for daily use. We don't waste anything from that horse. We use the skin, the hair, the stomach, everything. We clean them all. You store it under the hay or grass. It keeps it cold and clean.

"One horse for one family. We were not a large family, so one horse was enough for us for winter. We can use that for five months until spring comes.

"Sometimes we have to kill cattle in summer time if we are short of food or meat. We don't have any fridge. So we slice the meat into thin pieces and then put them into very salty water and then hang it and dry it.

"In summer time it is hot and there are so many flies around, so we put smoke underneath, so it gets smoked. Later on it tastes very good. It tastes beautiful.

"During the socialist time, the salary was enough for us. We could buy everything we wanted, you know, just basic things. We could buy easily 70 kilograms of flour - that was enough easily for us for a month.

"Everybody during socialist time worked very, very hard. I didn't have enough time to look after my kids. Nowadays, mothers just take all their time with the kids and spoiling them and doing nothing else.

"I retired at the age of 50 because during socialist time if somebody had four kids, you will be retired by the law. There are good and bad things in democracy and socialist time. There were not enough human rights in socialist time."

Many in Mongolia wanted an end to almost 70 years of socialism. After the fall of the Berlin wall in November 1989, young Mongolian democracy activists started pushing for change.

Protesters held hunger strikes and rallies in the capital. Reforms were delivered gradually: a new constitution, promising to protect human rights, was introduced in 1992 and the first direct presidential elections were held a year later.

Sevjid remembers the dramatic political and economic changes, which reshaped life, even in the rural areas.

CAmp

"After democracy arrived in 1992, we just turned into using coupons for buying food. Everything was in shortage, we were out of everything. The coupons were given to every family, you could buy only 20 kilograms of flour in a month, two bottles of vodka for a month. Everything was limited, so we had to save and reserve food and clothes at that time.

"Just right after socialism fell down and we entered into the market economy, most of the people were unemployed. We had to stand in a long queue outside the supermarket, there was nothing on the shelves, not even salt.

"At that time, everybody was quite shocked. We didn't know what to do and we didn't know what would happen next.

"Everybody was worried that the Great Depression would happen again. There was not enough food, clothes and employment. My mother-in-law, she lived in the time between the First World War and the war with Japan - she said it was very difficult, people were starving and living with fears. Everybody thought it was better to reserve and save everything. We thought a very difficult time was coming.

"We started trading across the border with China. We exchanged flour for ox meat, or ox meat for some boots, or a sheep for some tobacco. After that we traded a lot.

"During that time there were so many Russian military bases in Dornod province. Right after democracy arrived we got the Russian troops out of the country. We could easily communicate with the soldiers and we used Russian materials and Russian food, we were quite familiar with Russian culture.

"When it was time for the Russians to go, so many Chinese goods came. My mother-in-law was saying to me it was not good that Chinese people were coming into Mongolia. It was written in an old Mongolian religious book that hard time will come and everybody will suffer from food shortages and there will be great dispute over politics."

Now, many Mongolians live with a mixture of their nation's past and present. Out on the plains, we still nomadic families camped in traditional round tents, known as gers, just as their ancestors have for hundreds of years. But modernity is right there too. The ger is fed by an electric generator and satellite dishes are pitched nearby to pick up the latest television channels.

Sevjid is still very proud of Mongolia's past. She stops to pray at the sites around Dadal, where Genghis Khan once roamed.

"Genghis Khan had very strong soul and mission and established a Mongol empire in the world. He was a very warrior-like person. He was strong in soul. He has a very strong mission to build a Mongolian empire in the world.

"We still feel proud of our Genghis Khan and our Mongol empire. We Mongolians believe that blue colour is the colour of heaven. We tie blue-coloured scarves at the places we worship and show great respect.

"I'm quite an optimistic person and I think it is very important to be patient and calm. It is good to treat problems in a calm way. Otherwise, it is too hard to live in the world. Being patient is a way to handle your stress. Being optimistic is the way to stay young.

"I have enjoyed my life after retirement very much. I can visit my children. I can spend my money because I worked so hard when I was young. This is my money of true and honest labour. I can spend my money visiting my children.

"Every woman should work hard for her family and then love people from her true soul. Don't carry bad energy inside. That is my message."

Sally Sara is an award-winning ABC journalist who has reported from more than 30 countries, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe.https://www.abc.net.au/news/specials/mama-asia/2015-06-29/mama-asia-sevjid-damdin-mongolia/6085534

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Originally posted by Isaac soloman Isaac soloman wrote:

And the BIGGEST invader of all was Genghis Khan. 
not english speaking. fact.

gee max obvious where your allegiances lie.

you do notice that CHINA has ramped up its war mongering.
china has put the WORLD on a war footing.

even peacable Australia and Japan are arming themselves.


Hysterical nonsense, the ONLY way forward in this nuclearized world is peaceful co-existence, China perhaps sees itself as being pre-eminent in the South CHINA Sea, not unexpectedly, but I don't detect any suggestion of territorial ambitions beyond its local area. As LBJ said, we must learn to love one another, or we MUST die. That may all come true sooner than we think, I have no truck with cheap, populist opportunists that want to build a name for themselves with fear-mongering, all they will do, is bring the conflict they profess to want to avoid. 
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