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Ben Norton Profile picture
@BenjaminNorton
Aug 23, 2019 • 5 tweets • 5 min read • Read on X
New @Moderate_Rebels episode on Hong Kong:

With @CarlZha, we discuss the real colonial history of Hong Kong, the bigoted anti-China right-wing nativism fueling the protests, the economic conditions, and the local oligarchs' leading role in the chaos
soundcloud.com/moderaterebels…
@Moderate_Rebels @CarlZha In our interview @CarlZha talks about the extreme bigotry against mainland Chinese in the Hong Kong protests, especially among its US-backed nativist leaders and from Trump-allied oligarchs who publish ads comparing them to locusts:

soundcloud.com/moderaterebels…
@Moderate_Rebels @CarlZha Here is Hong Kong media oligarch Jimmy Lai (known as "the Rupert Murdoch of Asia") — who funds and strongly supports the anti-China protests in Hong Kong — meeting with neocons John Bolton, Mike Pompeo, and Mike Pence in DC this July
@Moderate_Rebels @CarlZha CNN did a blatant propaganda puff piece for Hong Kong's anti-Chinese right-wing oligarch Jimmy Lai ("the Rupert Murdoch of Asia")

Lai admits there is a new "cold war" and boasts: "We in Hong Kong are fighting for the shared values of the US against China"
edition.cnn.com/2019/08/27/med…
@Moderate_Rebels @CarlZha CNN: That right-wing media oligarch Jimmy Lai "has ties with the US is undeniable.

"Last month, he flew to Washington to discuss with US VP Mike Pence, Sec of State Mike Pompeo and Nat Sec Adviser John Bolton how fundamental Hong Kong's freedom is to the US' standoff with China"

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More from @BenjaminNorton

Ben Norton Profile picture
Jul 16
Trump's VP pick JD Vance was created in a political petri dish by billionaire oligarch Peter Thiel.

"PayPal Mafia Don" Thiel founded CIA/Pentagon-backed mass surveillance corporation Palantir.

He was an FBI informant and got his start at CIA-linked law firm Sullivan & Cromwell.
Image
Far-right billionaire oligarch Peter Thiel, a CIA-linked FBI informant who has funded Donald Trump and his "MAGA" allies, also funded a spy company that hacked WhatsApp.
forbes.com/sites/thomasbr…
Libertarianism nearly always turns into fascism, because libertarians and fascists value private property and capital above human life.

Libertarians eventually realize that, to save capitalism, democracy must be destroyed. Pinochet is the textbook example
Read 4 tweets
Ben Norton Profile picture
Jul 14
US "democracy" is nothing but political violence!

All US presidents for decades (both Republicans & Democrats) have waged nonstop war, in Korea, Vietnam, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen, etc.

The US has killed MILLIONS. But I guess foreign lives don't matter.



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"There is absolutely no place for political violence in oUr deMoCrAcy" Image
Every single US president is an imperialist sociopath with zero concern for lives outside of the US (and little for people in the US too). They are all guilty of war crimes, and have killed MILLIONS of people in recent decades.

Seeing them condemn "political violence" is surreal
Read 4 tweets
Ben Norton Profile picture
Jun 30
In this important speech, the director of the China Center for Economic Research at Peking University notes:
-US-China "competition" is "ideological"
-The US wants to subordinate China
-"The socialist path led by the CPC is the unchangeable path for China"
eastisread.com/p/yao-yang-on-…
This influential Chinese economist explains how the Reform and Opening Up started by Deng was pivotal to develop the productive forces, after a time of destructive ultra-leftism. But China went too far to the right by the 2000s, so it's shifting left again
eastisread.com/p/yao-yang-on-…
"Excessive financialization hollows out real industries". China is countering this by using state-owned bank lending to "prioritize manufacturing and high-tech industries".

"The goal of [China's] new era is high-level socialism", better income distribution, and common prosperity
Read 4 tweets
Ben Norton Profile picture
Jun 17
China's economy is bigger than official GDP statistics indicate, because it uses a measurement system based on manufacturing production, under-counting services.

US GDP data, meanwhile, is distorted by expensive "services" like imputed rent and legal fees
asiatimes.com/2024/06/whats-…
"The affordability crisis in Western economies, the US in particular, is largely driven by inflation of necessary services – rent, healthcare, education, childcare – not by manufactured goods"

When those costs go up, US GDP goes up.

This is why "number go up" is not always good
This point is so crucial: Costs of healthcare, education, housing, and childcare have skyrocketed in the US, which makes GDP go up, but it also makes average people's standard of living worse, especially because real wages have not caught up.

So that GDP growth benefits the rich Image
Read 5 tweets
Ben Norton Profile picture
May 23
This chart shows why it's nonsense to talk about "inter-imperialist rivalry" in the 21st century. Monopoly finance capital is concentrated to an unprecedented degree.

There is one imperialist system, centered in the USA. Its heart is Wall Street. Its blood is the US dollar. Image
Capitalists from all over the world store their wealth largely in US dollar-dominated assets. The US hosts 60.5% of the total value of global stock markets. 40+% is owned by foreign investors.

The US government is dedicated to protecting the wealth of the global capitalist class Image
Imperialism is a system, not a mere set of policies. The US created the global financial system, based on its currency, centered in its capital markets

The most important mission of the 21st century is to replace it with a New International Economic Order
Read 4 tweets
Ben Norton Profile picture
Apr 25
The US already is the authoritarian police state that they have told you for decades to be afraid of.

If you oppose the empire's genocidal crimes, police and state troopers will attack you and arrest you. "Free speech" only exists for rich oligarchs.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said anti-genocide protesters at the Uni. of Texas "belong in jail"

“Arrests being made right now & will continue until the crowd disperses. These protesters belong in jail”, he said

The real face of the US authoritarian regime
thehill.com/homenews/educa…
Biden is banning TikTok (one of the most popular apps in the country), while Republican governors send state troopers to brutalize and arrest anti-genocide student protesters, saying they "belong in jail".

The US is an authoritarian regime. There is nothing democratic about it.
Read 4 tweets

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