Caleb James DeLisle @cjd@mastodon.social

(Without the faintest hint of irony) "Google bosses have forced employees to delete a confidential memo circulating inside the company that revealed explosive details about a plan to launch a censored search engine in China."

"The memo identifies at least 215 employees who appear to have been tasked with working full-time on Dragonfly, a number it says is “larger than many Google projects.” It says that source code associated with the project dates back to May 2017"

https://theintercept.com/2018/09/21/google-suppresses-memo-revealing-plans-to-closely-track-search-users-in-china/

Latest poll from Germany: Far-right AfD above centre-left Social Democrats (SPD). CDU/CSU with very weak 28%.

src: https://twitter.com/marceldirsus/status/1043030247833133056

At least five ethnic #Uyghur professors from one of the top universities in northwest #China ’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) are being held in political “re-education camps,” according to one of their former colleagues and an official with the school who confirmed their detentions.

https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/professors-09182018151339.html

Christopher Balding has just published "A New Vision for American Foreign Policy"

* After fall of the USSR, America lost it's way as a proponent of democracy, human rights & open markets.

* War on Terror was misdirected, real threat has always been re-emergence of authoritarianism

* Democracy & human rights will not defend themselves, America must be prepared to make economic sacrifices (trade deals) to help countries who are dedicated to Open Society.

https://twitter.com/BaldingsWorld/status/1042938260362682369

#France energy giant Total acquires #EV charging startup G2mobility.

https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/oil/092018-frances-total-acquires-electric-vehicle-charging-startup-g2mobility?hootpostid=16c9a40d7c91f78694f0a615e346580d

"I’m scared to say anything on #Kavanaugh. Why? Because there’s a non-trivial chance that the accuser is a nut job AND a non-trivial chance that Kavanaugh is a lying fiend. Undeniable tail risk on both sides here."

src: https://twitter.com/EpsilonTheory/status/1042849718244597760

#France's far-right candidate Marine Le Pen has been ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluation by the judge in a case where she was tried for tweeting graphic photos of ISIS executions.

https://www.politico.eu/article/marine-le-pen-psychiatric-evaluation-ordered-islamic-state-isis-daesh/

Trump, the master of creating sword of damocles scenarios, has let it be known that a big document dump may be coming in October, concerning alleged bias in Russia election meddling investigation.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/20/russia-midterms-trump-declassified-docs-830631

Opinion: What's so usurious about the OBOR debt is that #China "lent USD" to these countries, but the dollars never existed, they paid CNY to Chinese contractors who did the works projects, now the countries are being asked to pay China back in USD, or hand over their infrastructure. #Colonialism

8 countries could potentially face difficulties in servicing their debt because of OBOR. These include #Pakistan, #Djibouti, the #Maldives, #Laos, #Mongolia, #Montenegro, #Tajikistan & #Kyrgyzstan. Pakistan, which through the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, serves as the centrepiece of the BRI and is by far the largest country exposed, with China reportedly financing about 80% of its estimated $62 billion debt.

Src: https://twitter.com/amlivemon/status/1042528720274247680

#China casts itself as a peace-loving victim of colonialism buuuut:

"Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad warned that the BRI risks becoming a “new version of colonialism”"

"Sri Lanka has had its own BRI backlash after a Chinese state-controlled company signed a 99-year lease for a strategic port in exchange for debt relief. Critics there accused China of intentionally leading Sri Lanka into a “debt trap” so it could seize the port."

Financial Times: https://t.co/M46kdT3w7V

"As an economist working on India, I am in a lonely place. I want inclusive growth to be the outcome of a market economy. Those to my left want to use tools of a command economy to force market outcomes that they like. Those to my right don’t give a toss about inclusive growth."

( https://twitter.com/EmergingRoy/status/1042608865743962114 )

#China "central bankers in 2018 once again appear to be desperate. Like 2015 desperate."

"This is a hard conclusion for many in the West (and in China, I suppose) to reach. They’ve been taught the technocracy from the very beginning. Give technocrats full autonomy, as they have in China, and watch all the good things they will accomplish."

http://www.alhambrapartners.com/2018/09/18/chinese-money-math/