Month: November 2020

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CCP to Address China’s Future

The world should be deeply concerned about China’s future plans.

The end of October marked the conclusion of the Fifth Plenum session of the 19th Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Congress. The CCP holds a Party Congress every five years. In between are annual plenary sessions. Each session traditionally covers a different area. The fifth plenary session held last week immediately precedes the next full Party Congress to be held next autumn. It serves as a preparatory meeting. The Plenum session typically provides a glimpse into where the CCP leadership intends to take the country in the coming five years.

Information from this year’s meeting documents, including the final 2020 communiqué, indicate China is deliberately entering a period of increased volatility in world affairs, from planned aggressive moves in the South China Sea, to “acquiring” high technology from Western nations. It denotes an intensification and acceleration of its quest to remake the world in China’s image and to become the world power by 2050. They may sound like lofty goals, but Chinese President Xi Jinping has his personal hand in editing the plan. Although the public version is not that explicit, we still can garner a lot of information from the meeting.

The CCP plans to make China more self-sufficient to enable it to better weather economic dislocations should foreign nations take actions to constrain the country. It is described as a “half decoupling” in China’s quest to force a strategic change in the international balance of power. The United States and other Western nations can expect increased international competition and rivalry from China in the next few years as it does not intend to slow down no matter who is president of the United States. Members of the CCP leadership see China as the rising star and they intend to ensure that the US is the setting sun. 

There are three specific, inciteful phrases that explain China’s perspective. First, President Xi and the CCP senior leadership see themselves as “living during a window of strategic opportunity.” China entered this period in the early part of the 21st century and from its world view, needs to take advantage of it now. Second, a repeated phrase in written documents and spoken about often over the last few years, is that this period in Chinese history will bring about “change unseen in 100 years.” This refers to the unequal treaties period of the late 19th and early 20th century in which Western powers demanded one-sided terms requiring China to cede land, ports, pay reparations, and provide extraterritorial privileges to foreign citizens from Russia, Japan, and various Western nations. The Plenum participants view this as a sign China is becoming stronger although it also means new confrontations on the horizon. The third phrase mentioned is that there are “profound adjustments coming in the international balance of power.” First seen in 2017, it is a reference to how well China survived and adjusted in the post-2008, global financial crisis environment. 

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In Beijing’s estimation the US did not do as well, nor did it recover as quickly. It attributes this to its “superior” state-capitalism system. It looks to the more recent Covid-19 response in the US as an example of how Washington is unable to enforce adaptability across all strata of society as Beijing can over its population. 

The West underestimates the uber level of belief in China that it will be a global hegemon within a few  decades as “the wind shifts to the east.” We are facing a country with massive financial resources that they willingly use to pursue policies to bring about their end goal. The hybrid fusion of the public and semi-private sectors in China represents the total integration of their domestic economy. It is dominated by giant conglomerates that operate in unison under the direction of the CCP. The world have never face off with a nation-state with as many strategic resources or the strength of political will as China is exhibiting today.  President Xi will remain in power for the coming decade and he is not one to back down from a challenge, no matter how hard the West wishes it so.

DARIA NOVAK served in the United States State Department during the Reagan Administration, and currently is on the Board of the American Analysis of News and Media Inc., which publishes usagovpolicy.com and the New York Analysis of Policy and Government.  Each Friday, she presents key updates on China.

Illustration: Pixabay

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UN Finds Crimes Against Humanity in Venezuela

A United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission has found that the grave violations by the Maduro Regime in Venezuela “amounted to crimes against humanity.” The analysis cited evidence of unlawful executions, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions and torture in the country since 2014. Further, Senior military and ministerial figures were likely aware of the crimes.

The Mission’s report notes that “They gave orders, coordinated activities and supplied resources in furtherance of the plans and policies under which the crimes were committed…President Nicolas Maduro also likely side-tracked the chain of command to ensure the commission of crimes.”

“We have reasonable grounds to believe that the President Maduro did give orders … as to who to target”, said investigator Francisco Cox. “After that, these people were surveilled, information was gathered, their communications were intercepted and finally they would be detained without judicial order…”

The Mission’s work was carried out without the cooperation of the Venezuelan Government, despite official requests. The facts were presented in a 411-page report covering more than 220 cases.

The patterns of violations included politically motivated detention and torture by State intelligence agencies, and an increasingly violent response to mass opposition protests. Alleged violations included the killing of 36 protesters, as well as torture in detention, including beatings and humiliation, sexual and gender-based violence and mock executions. State authorities had also failed to intervene in several cases where protesters were killed by armed civilian groups known as “colectivos” tied to Maduro’s hard-left government.

These offenses did not occur in a vacuum. The Report stresses that they were “part of a widespread and systematic course of conduct, thus amounting to crimes against humanity.”

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Although the study found that in some limited cases there have been domestic judicial investigations that have resulted in convictions inside Venezuela for crimes committed, the vast majority of unlawful killings by security forces have not resulted in prosecutions. Indeed, the Report indicates that “There is as far as we can see no record of any serious investigation into those with a higher level of responsibility in terms of organizing crime and instigating these kinds of crimes that have been committed”,according to report co-author Paul Seils.

Even conservative estimates suggest that Venezuela has one of Latin America’s highest rates of killings by State agents, the report noted. As part of their work, the investigators examined 16 police, military or joint operations that resulted in 53 extrajudicial executions. They also reviewed 2,552 more incidents involving 5,094 killings by security forces, not all of which were arbitrary.

The Maduro regime, which is not considered a legitimate government by the U.S.,  typically sent hundreds of armed officers into an area, sometimes using armored vehicles and helicopters. In the Santa Rosa de Agua area of Maracaibo, Zulia State, in September 2015, an operation left five men dead and more than 60 detained. The investigators found that “Most of them (were) fishermen returning from work; women were mistreated and household items looted.”

The U.N. group said that it was common practice to cover up killings. This was done by planting weapons to simulate alleged confrontations.  Officers were given a “green light to kill.” Investigator Marta Valinas added that these extrajudicial executions were not the result of rogue elements within the security forces. “High-ranking officials had effective command and control over the perpetrators and knowledge of their actions but failed to prevent or repress the violations”, she said. “The killings appear part of a policy to eliminate unwanted members of society under the cover of combating crime.”

Under the Trump  Administration, The U.S. State Department has noted that “Nicolas Maduro…has consistently violated the human rights and dignity of its citizens, plundered the country’s natural resources, and driven a once prosperous nation into economic ruin with his authoritarian rule and socialist economic policies. Maduro’s thugs have engaged in extra-judicial killings and torture, taken political prisoners, and severely restricted freedom of speech, all in a brutal effort to retain power.”

Picture: Protest march in Venezuela (Pixabay)

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The Left’s Illicit Rise

Politicians and pundits who would alter America’s successful path to one that resembles nations that have failed politically and economically have risen to power and influence.

Monumental changes do not always occur with fanfare and explosive action.  Sometimes, they happen gradually, as a result of actions that seemed relatively inconsequential at first but develop into extraordinary alterations in the very fabric of society.

That is currently occurring in the United States.  Since the 1960s, radical takeovers of the fields of education, journalism and entertainment by individuals and groups who have a profoundly different view of America than the majority has had an undeniable impact.

At least two generations of U.S. students have been taught by educators who have an exceptionally negative view of the nation.  Journalism, both traditional and online, has morphed from a profession that originally sought to objectively inform the public, to one that preaches a predominately left-wing party line to it.  Hollywood has followed that move, as well. 

The result is a nation profoundly divided and substantially divorced from an accurate view of its own legacy and its current condition, a society that has forgotten how it achieved unprecedented success and established the freest population in history. The left will point out the horrors of slavery and segregation, but ignores the reality that those original sins, shared with the rest of the world, have been overcome. And yes, they have been overcome. There is no “systemic racism;” the isolated acts of a small numbers of bad actors cannot be imputed to the country as a whole.

The intensity of this underreported change towards the radical left is stunning.

Consider the bizarre case of New York City, as just one example.  Its mayor, Bill de Blasio, defended and cheered on the Soviet Union as it placed offensive military equipment in Nicaragua.  He honeymooned in Cuba, and can barely contain his love for the Castro regime.  In 2019, he even quoted a Cuban revolutionary slogan during his abortive presidential campaign.

It’s more than just an odd foreign policy perspective. As mayor, he disdains the very essence of America, and the protection of private property.  In 2017, he stated: “Our legal system is structured to favor private property…If I had my druthers, the city government would determine every single plot of land, how development would proceed. And there would be very stringent requirements around income levels and rents. That’s a world I’d love to see.”

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De Blasio has used the Covid crisis as an excuse to continue his vendetta against private business, doing everything in his power to roadblock the reopening of restaurants, a key private sector industry in the city.

This pivot towards extremist policies is not limited to outlier politicians. The former vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, Keith Ellison, followed the harsh policies of racial division advocated by Louis Farrakhan. Admitted socialists Bernie Sanders and the “squad,” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Illhan Omar, Ayannar Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib are clearly the ideological guideposts for Democrat leadership.

Some may seek to portray this harsh turn to authoritarian socialism as a grass roots progression. That couldn’t be further from the truth. 

The leftist’s false portrayal of the justice system as overbearing and racist has been a key tenet of progressive philosophy. This, as well as the release of criminals from prison under flimsy excuses, and allowing accused offenders to be let loose without bail did not occur naturally. The strategy to accomplish this was well planned and well financed.

The Capital Research Center explains:

“Financier and left-wing philanthropist George Soros contributed large sums to progressive candidates running for district attorney…all around the country, apparently in hopes of changing the law enforcement system at the county or district level. Since 2015, he has spent more than $17 million on district attorney and other local races in swing states… [and] in large, predominantly left-of-center states such as California and New York. In 2016, Soros dropped $2,000,000 into a single sheriff race in Maricopa County, Arizona… These huge contributions often make it almost impossible for the other candidates to compete because district attorney elections are on such a small scale and the campaigns typically do not need to raise millions to run local ads and mobilize voters.”

Illustration: Pixabay

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Ballot Fraud as an Election Strategy

Rarely has a political party placed so much emphasis on eliminating safeguards to ballot security as the Democrats have in 2020.

Democrat-controlled Nevada is the latest,  passing a 100-page bill in a “special session” that allows, along with mail-in ballots,  “ballot harvesting,” which allows partisan ballot collectors to gather ballots and send them on to election officials.

Not to be outdone, Virginia, also Democrat-dominated, now allows mail-in ballots to be submitted without a witness signature.

Election Defense notes that “Many popular vote-by-mail and absentee systems are ripe for fraud and abuse…Vote by mail presents a serious and so-far unsolved problem: a broken chain of custody of the ballots. That means the ballots are moved without consistent public oversight, offering opportunities for fraud and mismanagement.”

According to the 2012 Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project report: Having tens of millions of ballots being transmitted and marked without strict chain-of-custody procedures creates risks that simply do not exist with any form of in-person voting, whether on Election Day or in early-voting settings. According to a study by Charles Stewart III, a political scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in the 2008 presidential election voting by mail had an overall failure rate of as much as 21 percent:

“35.5 million voters requested absentee ballots, but only 27.9 million absentee votes were counted. 3.9 million ballots requested by voters never reached them. Another 2.9 million ballots received by voters did not make it back to election officials. Election officials rejected 800,000 ballots…A 2005 report the Commission on Federal Election Reform concluded, “Absentee ballots remain the largest source of potential voter fraud.” To be clear, studies have proven that few actual voters are engaged in any kind of fraud at a level that could change the outcome of an election. Instead, election insiders continue to constitute the greater threat. The Heritage Foundation … uncovered more crimes by elections insiders utilizing absentee ballots to attempt to rig elections.”

The issue of partisan handling of mail-in ballots is made more serious by the fact that the American Postal Workers Union has endorsed one of the candidates, Joe Biden.

New York, after California the largest Democrat-dominated state, is considering a proposed law that would require “drop boxes” for voters to place their ballots in. Embarrassingly for mail ballot advocates, a Congressional race using mail-in ballots in New York City proved so disastrous that the drop box idea seeks to add yet another unsecured, unsafe balloting procedure to an already unsafe process.

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Similarly, in Democrat-run New Jersey, an election for a Paterson City Council seat employing mail-in ballots went so awry that State Superior Court Judge Ernest Caposela ruled that it had been irreversibly tainted due to extreme mail-in voter fraud.

Note the progression: First, Democrats demand mail-in ballots.  After achieving that, the Party demands the elimination of basic security measures such as requiring authentication of the person sending in the ballot, and reasonable “chain of custody” measures to ensure that the ballot has not been tampered with.  

Not all current attempts to weaken precautions are new. Previously, California allowed automatic voting registration of anyone dealing with its Department of Motor Vehicles. The Wall Street Journal reported that the state DMV acknowledges that this has led to incorrectly registered 23,000 voters.  Since California allows illegals to get drivers licenses, that has presented a major threat to ballot integrity. The LA Times reported that over one million illegals have been granted drivers licenses.

The use of the controversial concept of “ballot harvesting” has led to major gains for California Democrats. The Independent Voters Network (IVN) describes what happened: “Ballot harvesting was used for the first time in November, and has clearly been advantageous to Democrats… The “minor” change was implemented when Gov. Jerry Brown signed the changes in AB1921 into law [several] years ago.  Here’s what it changed: In the past, California allowed only relatives or those living in the same household to drop off mail ballots for another voter. Ballot harvesting allows anyone, even a paid political campaign worker, to collect and return ballots — ‘harvesting’ them. In Orange County alone, every House seat went Democratic. The chairman of the county Republican Party, Fred Whitaker, said: ‘…the number of Election Day vote-by-mail dropoffs was unprecedented — over 250,000, this is a direct result of ballot harvesting allowed under California law for the first time. That directly caused the switch from being ahead on election night to losing two weeks later.’”

Breitbart notes: “Democrats have railed against voter ID laws…but [in the 2016]  Democratic National Convention officials only issued credentials to those who present state-issued IDs…But even as Democrats require[d] IDs to enter their convention, The Voter Integrity Project discovered there were 30,000 dead North Carolinians still on the state’s voter rolls, Democrats continue to fiercely oppose voter ID laws.”

Democrats continue to rabidly oppose updating voter registration rolls. It’s valid to ask why.  A 2016 Pew Center on the States study found “millions of voter registration records nationwide that are either inaccurate or no longer valid…based on data [indicating] a voter died, moved, or had been inactive from 2004 to March 2011.”  The study revealed that 2,758,578 individuals were registered to vote in more than one state.  In addition, “12.7 million records nationwide…appear to be out of date and no longer reflect the voter’s current information, more than 1.8 million records for people who are no longer living, but have active registrations on voter rolls, and 12 million records with incorrect addresses…once duplicates among categories are eliminated, approximately 24 million registration records, or nearly 13% of the national total, are estimated to be inaccurate or no longer valid.”

Illustration: Pixabay