This article from Pepe Escobar is a great follow up to my previous article about "The murder of peace".

The American attitude towards China is nonsensical. Yes, in the long term, China does represent a danger to US hegemony but trade restrictions is probably the worst possible way to approach the issue since eventually restrictions lead necessarily to war without achieving any meaningful objectives as this article makes clear. 

First of all it is important to understand that the Chinese do have a long term strategy which will be hard to derail short of a direct conflict. But should it be derailed? In the short term, the danger that China represents is not military nor even imperialistic but the risk that the repressive system of China will spread and slowly undermine Western democratic principles as is already the case. This is a fundamental systemic challenge that cannot be answered by short term fixes such as banning Wawei, Tik Tok or SMIC.

Authored by Pepe Escobar via The Saker blog, originally posted at The Asia Times,

China deploys Sun Tzu to prevail in the Chip War

Let’s cut to the chase: with or without a sanction juggernaut,

China simply won’t be expelled from the global semiconductor market.

The real amount of chip supply Huawei has in stock for their smart phone business may remain an open question.

But the most important point is that in the next few years – remember Made in China 2025 remains in effect – the Chinese will be manufacturing the necessary equipment to produce 5 nm chips of equivalent or even better quality than what’s coming from Taiwan, South Korea and Japan.

Conversations with IT experts from Russia, ASEAN and Huawei reveal the basic contours of the road map ahead.

They explain that what could be described as a limitation of quantum physics is preventing a steady move from 5nm to 3nm chips. This means that the next breakthroughs may come from other semiconductor materials and techniques. So China, in this aspect, is practically at the same level of research as Taiwan, South Korea and Japan.

Additionally, there is no knowledge gap – or a communication problem – between Chinese and Taiwanese engineers. And the predominant modus operandi remains the revolving door.

China’s breakthroughs involve a crucial switch from silicon to carbon. Chinese research is totally invested in it, and is nearly ready to transpose their lab work into industrial production.

In parallel, the Chinese are updating the US-privileged photo-lithography procedure to get nanometer chips to a new, non-photo lithography procedure capable of producing smaller and cheaper chips.

As much as Chinese companies, moving forward, will be buying every possible stage of chip manufacturing business in sight, whatever the cost, this will proceed in parallel to top US semiconductor firms like Qualcomm going no holds barred to skirt sanctions and continue to supply chips to Huawei. That’s already the case with Intel and AMD.

Huawei’s game

Huawei for its part is investing deeply in a very close R&D relationship with Russia, recruiting some of their best tech talent, notoriously strong in math, physics and rigorous design work. An example is Huawei’s purchasing of Russian face recognition company Vocord in 2019.

Some of the best tech brainpower in South Korea happens to be Russian.

Huawei has also established a “5G ecosystem innovation center” in Thailand – the first of its type in ASEAN.

In the medium term, Huawei’s strategy for their top notch smart phones – which use 7nm chips – will be to hand over the business to other Chinese players such as Xiaomi, OPPO and VIVO, collect patent fees, and wait for the inevitable Chinese chip breakthrough while keeping production of 5G equipment, for which it has sufficient chips.

Huawei’s Harmony OS is considered by these IT experts to be a more efficient system than Android. And it runs on less demanding chips.

With the expansion of 5G, most of the work on smart phones can be handled by cloud servers. By the end of 2020, at least 300 cities across China will be covered by 5G.

Huawei will be concentrating on producing desktop computers and digital displays. These desktops will come with a Chinese processor, the Kunpeng 920, and run by a Chinese Unified Operating System (UOS).

UOS is a Linux system developed by China’s Union Tech and commissioned by Beijing to – here’s the clincher – replace Microsoft Windows. These desktops will not be sold to the general public: they will be equipping China’s provincial and national administrations.

It’s no wonder a steady rumor in IT circles is that the best bet ahead would be to put money in a Chinese Chip Investment Fund – expecting to collect big time when major tech breakthroughs happen before 2025.

The East Asian tech core

Whatever the trials and tribulations of the chip war, the inescapable trend ahead is China positioned as the indispensable tech core of East Asia – encompassing ASEAN, Northeast Asia, and Eastern Siberia linked to both Koreas.

This is the hard node of the incoming Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) – the biggest free trade deal in the world – which is bound to be signed by 2021.

India has opted for self-exclusion from RCEP – which in geoeconomic terms condemns it to a peripheral role as an economic power. Compare it to South Korea, which is boosting its integration with ASEAN and Northeast Asia.

East Asia’s tech core will be at the heart of a global production chain integrating the very best in science and technology conception and the very best production specialists scattered around all nodes of the global supply chain.

That’s a natural consequence, among other factors, of East Asia introducing patent applications at a multiple of 3.46 times the US.

And that brings to the very special Samsung case. Samsung is increasing its R&D drive to in fact bypass US-branded technologies as soon as possible.

When South Korea’s President Moon turbo-charges his appeal for the official end of the Korean War that should be seen in tandem with Samsung eventually reaching a wide-ranging tech cooperation deal with Huawei.

This pincer movement graphically spells out South Korean independence from the American bear hug.

It does not escape the Beijing leadership’s attention that the emergence of South Korea as a stronger and stronger geopolitical and geoeconomic actor in East Asia must be inextricably linked to access by China to the next generation of chips.

So a crucial geopolitical and geoeconomic process to watch in the next few years is how Beijing progressively attracts Seoul to its area of influence as a sort of high-tech tributary power while banking on the future of what would be a Korea Federation.

This is something that has been discussed every year, at the highest level, at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.

Wang Huiyao of the Beijing-based Center for China and Globalization notes how China and South Korea already have a free trade agreement and “will start the second phase of negotiations to establish a new mechanism for China-South Korea economic cooperation, which is developing fast.”

The next – immensely difficult – step will be to set up a China-Japan free trade mechanism. And then a closer, interconnected China-Japan-South Korea mechanism. RCEP is just the first step. It will be a long sail all the way to 2049. But everyone knows which way the wind is blowin’.

Covid-19: A pandemic within a pandemic? (Must read by Jeffrey Bland, PhD)

 

Great article which explains why Covid-19 beyond the virus pandemic is actually acting as an indicator of a much deeper social disease: Metabolic syndrome which is in fact the real pandemic which has been raging over the last 30 years all over the world.

  COVID-19: A Pandemic Within a Pandemic

 by Jeffrey Bland, PhD

“The race is on throughout the world to develop Covid-19 vaccines and therapeutics and end a pandemic that threatens to infect a substantial portion of the planet’s population, and perhaps kill millions of people, especially older adults. As billions of dollars flow into research and development efforts aimed at controlling the virus, the pandemic response remains hamstrung by our limited understanding of how to generate effective immunity, particularly in the elderly.”[1]

COVID-19 officially became a pandemic on March 11, 2020. The World Health Organization (WHO) had been closely monitoring this novel coronavirus since early January, when a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China was reported. Past experiences with infectious respiratory viruses such as SARS and MERS informed decision-making in the weeks that preceded the declaration of a public health emergency. Two factors were of high concern: spread and severity. These concerns proved to be more than justified.

As of June 17, 2020, more than 8,000,000 cases of COVID-19 infection have been confirmed globally, and at least 440,000 deaths have been reported. COVID-19 has provided us with the opportunity to examine emerging data in real time. By tracking the history of the infection, it quickly became clear that there are significant differences among people in terms of both risk to infection and — if infected — severity of disease.

The Lancet, a highly respected professional journal, published the first international medical report about COVID-19 infection in Wuhan, China on February 15, 2020, and this article indicated that the infection was associated with acute respiratory symptoms and many other complex medical problems.[2] A March 2020 follow-up study, also in Lancet, discussed the clinical course of the infection and risk factors associated with mortality.[3] Specifically, they looked at how comorbidities (preexisting health conditions) might increase the risk for COVID-19 complications. The researchers noted that older age, hypertension, obesity, and diabetes were all associated with increased disease severity. As the virus spread, so too did support for this finding. From Seattle to New York, patients with COVID-19 did worse when comorbidities were present.[4],[5]

Thankfully, there is some positive news. Among people with COVID-19, it appears that less than 20% become seriously ill, and for those who do experience severe symptoms, the majority seem to fully recover. Outliers — patients who follow no established trend — have also been noted. The wide range of possible outcomes has created anxiety for both the public and the medical community alike. Why do some people fare so poorly while others have only mild symptoms? The answer may be tied to the functional status of an individual’s immune system.

Certain chronic conditions, including the comorbidities mentioned above, result in altered immune system function, which can include unhealthy forms of inflammation. We have also come to understand that the COVID-19 virus can impact the function of many critical organ systems. So what’s the link? Respiratory, cardiovascular, neurological, gastrointestinal, renal, and hepatic performance are all associated with alteration in immune system function. Inflammation is a hallmark of immune system dysfunction and is also strongly associated with COVID-19 infection. We know this because of a term that has recently entered the public dialogue: cytokine storm. A cytokine storm results when there is a breakdown in control of the immune system. An overwhelming inflammatory response takes place in the body, similar to a septic shock event.[6] The title of an opinion piece published online in Lancet Rheumatology on May 29, 2020 perfectly captures the situation: “Coronavirus is the Trigger, but the Immune Response is Deadly.”[7]

This means we have to think very carefully about how our immune systems can become dysfunctional. Are there early signals that might tell us when things are going wrong? As it turns out, there is a condition called metabolic syndrome which is characterized by altered immune function. In fact, it overlaps with the comorbidities that contribute to COVID-19 severity, and has been steadily rising in frequency over the last several decades. What happens when the world’s most prevalent non-communicable health condition and a highly infectious viral disease collide? We find ourselves in our new reality: a COVID-19 pandemic within a pandemic of metabolic syndrome.

Running the Numbers

Among 5700 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in and around New York City, most had a comorbidity associated with metabolic syndrome. These included hypertension (56%), obesity (42%), and diabetes (34%).[8] Another report, this one published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), analyzed COVID-19-related data for the five boroughs of New York City. In this review, they found that, compared to other boroughs, the Bronx and Queens had the highest rates of hospitalizations and deaths per 100,000 residents. Notably, people in these two boroughs also had the highest prevalence of comorbidities.[9]

Clearly, there’s an important connection here. In fact, researchers around the world have been examining this link from multiple angles and many hypotheses are being offered for consideration. Angela Saini, a noted science journalist, published an article in the May 23, 2020 issue of Lancet that cautioned against associating comorbidities with genetic susceptibility based on race: “Such speculation runs the risk of forgetting that the demographic categories we recognise socially do not in fact have very much biological meaning and betrays a wider problem in medicine when it comes to race.”[10] There has been a global effort to determine specific genetic linkages to infection with COVID-19, but to date no strong genetic determinants have been found. Social determinants and lifestyle have emerged as the major factors determining risk to serious disease associated with COVID-19 infection.[11]

My study of metabolic syndrome and inflammation — an undertaking that now spans more than 30 years — leads me down a different path of thinking. I believe these comorbidities result from the complex interaction of individual genetics, lifestyle, environment, diet, and the social determinants of disease.

In a number of ways, the pandemic of metabolic syndrome had already been on the radar of public health groups, as well as clinical care providers and planners. Morbidity and mortality related to non-communicable disease (NCD) was identified as a global concern in recent years. The World Health Organization had been tracking a constellation of NCDs for some time and was well aware that they had overtaken infectious disease as the most significant global cause of illness and premature death. An article published in the May 30, 2020 issue of Lancet addressed the fact that COVID-19 provided a new layer of urgency to the prevention and control of NCDs. The authors, who are affiliated with the WHO Regional Office for Europe write: “The COVID-19 response and continued and strengthened focus on NCD prevention and management are key and interlinked aspects of public health at the present time.”[12]

As noted above, all of the comorbidities linked to both metabolic syndrome and COVID-19 severity are associated with altered immune function and a chronic state of inflammation.[13] “Inflammaging” is a term that has come to be used as a descriptor for chronic inflammation related to aging or chronic non-communicable conditions such as hypertension, insulin resistance, and obesity.[14] Right now, the attention of the world is clearly focused on threats like COVID-19 and the potential for additional outbreaks. With this in mind, certain important questions must be prioritized. When did this state of altered immune function begin to be a global health issue? What is the cause of chronic inflammation that is impacting populations in so many countries? What can be done to rectify this situation?

Working the Problem

To answer these questions, we need to take a close look at the last 50 years. In the late 1970s, comorbidities started to become more prevalent in industrialized countries like the United States. Within a few short decades, the trend had reached developing nations. In April 2011, Margaret Chan, OBE, JP, FRCP (at that time was Director-General of the WHO), said the following: “The rise of chronic noncommunicable diseases presents an enormous challenge. For some countries, it is no exaggeration to describe the situation as an impending disaster; a disaster for health, for society, and most of all for national economies.”[15] COVID-19 is the impending disaster that Dr. Chan predicted nine years ago.

David Stuckler, MPH, PhD, is currently a Professor of Political Economy and Sociology at the University of Oxford. In 2011 — the same year that Dr. Chan spoke about the WHO’s concerns about non-communicable diseases — Dr. Stuckler edited a textbook called Sick Societies: Responding to the Global Challenge of Chronic Disease. The arc of data that Dr. Stuckler has been tracking for more than a decade is compelling. In a 2008 article titled “Population Causes and Consequences: A Comparative Analysis of Prevailing Explanations,” he utilized four decades of male mortality rates to demonstrate that the division between infectious diseases and non-communicable diseases is shrinking and becoming increasingly problematic for health policy makers and health economists.[16]

In 2006, British physician and global health analyst Luke Allen penned an article that was titled “Are We Facing a Noncommunicable Disease Pandemic?” The article abstract conveys a powerful message: “The global boom in premature mortality and morbidity from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) shares many similarities with pandemics of infectious diseases, yet public health professionals have resisted the adoption of this label. It is increasingly apparent that NCDs are actually communicable conditions, and although the vectors of disease are nontraditional, the pandemic label is apt.” Dr. Allen proposed that the response to the global pandemic of chronic noncommunicable disease should be modeled after the WHO viral pandemic response plan because of shared features and impact on both population health and the global economy.[17]

Let’s use Japan as a case study to examine this issue of the rising prevalence of comorbidities more closely. Japan historically had a very low incidence of obesity, hypertension, prediabetes, and diabetes. This started to shift in the 1980s. From 1988 through 2012, the rapid increase in these conditions was resembled the exponential growth of an infectious disease epidemic. In this case, there was no infectious agent. Rather, the population of Japan experienced dramatic changes in lifestyle, environment, diet, and stress.[18]

Unfortunately, what happened in Japan was anything but an isolated event. Instead, it reflected a trend that was spreading across the world: a global epidemic of metabolic syndrome.[19] Metabolic syndrome, as I’ve already stated, is defined as a state of chronic inflammation. It is also characterized by an imbalance of immune system function, and people with this condition typically have elevated blood pressure, blood triglycerides, and body mass index, as well as reduced levels of HDL cholesterol and impaired insulin sensitivity. Today, more than 30% of the adult population in the United States has metabolic syndrome.

Technically, metabolic syndrome is not a disease. It is probably better described as a state of lowered resilience to disease, as is evidenced by the number of associated comorbidities. People with metabolic syndrome are at increased risk to both non-communicable and infectious diseases such as COVID-19. In a May 2020 publication titled “Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome as Risk Factors for COVID-19,” a group of authors affiliated with the University of Maribor in Slovenia point out that the disturbances associated with metabolic syndrome not only result in increased susceptibility to COVID-19 infection, but also reflect alterations in the immune system that sets the stage for more serious outcomes.[20]

Connecting the Dots

COVID-19 is a new virus within the coronavirus family. As we all know now, it has a very high infection rate. Additionally, COVID-19 has some unusual infectivity features: it can be transmitted by asymptomatic individuals, plus the severity and clinical manifestations of the infection can vary widely (from mild to life-threatening). Seemingly, all body systems can be impacted by a COVID-19 infection; serious cases of respiratory, cardiovascular, immunological, kidney and liver, gastrointestinal, and neurological crises have all been reported.[21] In the organ systems affected by COVID-19, cells have been found to express the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor. The ACE2 receptor is thought to represent a target for the virus which allows it to bind to and enter our cells.[22] Recent studies show that the virus binds to the ACE2 receptor more easily in the presence of inflammation.[23]

The COVID-19 virus has spike-like proteins on its surface. These give the virus the unique ability to bind tightly to the ACE2 receptors. The spike-like proteins are also what differentiate the COVID-19 virus from other coronaviruses. These spikes have what are called high affinity furin binding sites (furin is an enzyme in human blood that activates specific proteins).[24] Researchers believe a slight change in the genetic architecture of the virus resulted in a modification at the furin binding site in the spike proteins. This is what makes COVID-19 such a formidable foe. How? It enables the virus to hijack furin, which allows it to attach to the ACE2 receptors on tissues more readily and facilitate penetration into cells. Given that so many tissues express the ACE2 receptor, this mutation and sequence of events makes COVID-19 uniquely more infective than other coronaviruses.[25]

Regulation of furin levels in the blood is influenced, in part, by the immune system and inflammation. When cholesterol in the blood is elevated, furin is more vulnerable to being hijacked by the virus, and there is a greater opportunity for COVID-19 to convert to its more infective form. It is speculated that this can contribute to the comorbidity-related priming of COVID-19 in people with elevated cholesterol who are at risk to cardiovascular problems.[26] The ability of this virus to impact furin and increase infectivity is unique to COVID-19 (SARS-COV-2); it does not occur (to the same extent) with other coronaviruses, including SARS-COV-1.

Furin belongs to a family of nine proteins that are called proprotein convertases (PCSKs). The function of these proteins is to regulate various biochemical processes, both in times of good health and when a disease state is present. Furin is produced by a number of different cell types, including some within immune cells.[27] In people who have comorbidities that are associated with metabolic syndrome (hypertension, obesity, elevated triglycerides, impaired insulin sensitivity, and inflammation), furin levels have been found to be abnormal.[28],[29] Interestingly, David Harrison, MD, who leads a research team at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, published work in 2015 indicating that hypertension is related to inflammation derived from an activated immune system.[30]

In 2018, researchers at the Department of Clinical Sciences at Lund University in Sweden and the School of Pharmacology at Helsinki University in Finland collaboratively reported the results of a study involving 4678 individuals with metabolic syndrome and diabetes that revealed elevated levels of furin in the blood.[31] Prior to that, a group representing several clinical and academic institutions in Japan had reported that certain variations in the genes that control furin production were related to metabolic syndrome.[32] This work suggests that the influence of furin on the comorbidities associated with COVID-19 may have a genetic connection. Finally, it’s well established that furin levels are elevated in people with inflammatory autoimmune disorders.[33] In sum, this research shows furin may be a key link between metabolic syndrome, inflammation, and COVID-19 complications.

Let’s now draw a straight line between the non-infectious pandemic of metabolic syndrome pandemic and the infectious pandemic of COVID-19. Metabolic syndrome dramatically increases our risk of developing comorbidities like hypertension and diabetes. These in turn predispose us to contracting COVID-19 and for developing more severe systems after infection. This is likely due to the chronic inflammatory state (altered immunity) associated with metabolic syndrome. Furthermore, the comorbidities associated with metabolic syndrome may compromise our immune function through increased levels of furin in the blood. Let’s put this together. When an individual with metabolic syndrome is exposed to COVID-19, the virus gets the benefit of a compromised immune system and extra furin to facilitate binding to our cells. This is a mechanistic explanation of the situation that the world now finds itself in: a pandemic (COVID-19) within a pandemic (metabolic syndrome).

Mapping a Strategy

We know quite a lot about COVID-19. Its genetic profile has been sequenced, and we understand the unique composition of its spike proteins. Within the body, we know that infectivity depends upon the action of the virus binding to ACE2 receptors, which are expressed on many tissues. We know that COVID-19 has the ability to hijack an enzyme in our blood — furin — and when this happens the spike protein architecture is remodeled, making the virus even more active and pathogenic. We know that the comorbidities associated with COVID-19 infection and its severity are all associated with a dysfunction in our first line of immune defense, which is called our innate immunity. Innate immunity is known to be heavily involved in chronic inflammation.[34]

How can this information inform our actions, not only in terms of mitigating the spread of the present pandemic, but also in preparing for future pandemic events? The best and most logical step is to reduce the prevalence of metabolic syndrome. Many lifestyle, environmental, and dietary factors are associated with abnormal immune function related to chronic inflammation and metabolic syndrome.[35] Studies of the COVID-19 pandemic are being published every day, and some researchers are already positing that diet and metabolic syndrome could be partially responsible for the high variability that has been noted in infection and death rates.[36] The Mediterranean diet — which is plentiful in fresh vegetables, fruits, whole grains, virgin olive oil, nuts, seeds, and fish that are high in omega-3 fats, while also low in sugar and processed foods — has been extensively studied for its positive influence on the comorbidities associated with metabolic syndrome and its ability to reduce chronic inflammation.[37] Food as medicine? A recent article suggests that it’s a valid concept to consider for the prevention of coronavirus disease.[38] Emerging evidence even shows that dietary intervention could potentially reduce the probability of infection with COVID-19 or the severity of symptoms in infected individuals.[39] Recently, a multinational research consortium published work indicating that a diet associated with lowering the incidence of metabolic syndrome both improves immune system function and reduces inflammation, which — as already noted — are important considerations in minimizing the severity of COVID-19.[40]

Why diet? Vegetables and fruits contain a class of nutrients called phytochemicals that play important dietary roles in reducing the comorbidities associated with metabolic syndrome.[41] Certain phytochemicals, such as the flavonoids quercetin and luteolin, have been found to bind to the ACE2 receptor on COVID-19, which can potentially help to protect against infection.[42],[43] A recent study evaluated how quercetin and vitamin D may contribute to the mitigation of COVID-19 through their impact on immune system function and the reduction of chronic inflammation.[44] It is clear that improvement in the lifestyle, environmental, and dietary factors associated with the comorbidities that are linked to both metabolic syndrome and COVID-19 can have a positive impact on enhancing immunity.[45] Studies have shown that improved physical fitness, reduction in obesity, and increased quality of sleep can all positively influence immunity and reduce the severity of viral infections like COVID-19.[46],[47],[48]

In a sense, COVID-19 represents an alarm bell — “a tocsin to our aging and unfit society,” to paraphrase one author’s recent work; I would add “immune compromised” to that description.[49] In 2008, Scott M. Grundy, MD, PhD, a researcher I greatly admire who is Director of the Center for Human Nutrition, Chairman of the Department of Clinical Nutrition at UT Southwestern Medical Center, published a seminal article titled “Metabolic Syndrome Pandemic.”[50] Today, twelve years later, that pandemic swirls around an infectious threat called COVID-19. The good news is we know how to manage the pandemic of metabolic syndrome. Doing so, however, will require significant changes in how health care is structured and funded, as well as a shift in the cultural context of disease.[51] Successful implementation of new thinking and new strategies has become critically important in this new era of pandemic awareness.

The Election Has Already Been Hijacked and the Winner Decided: 'We the People' Lose

 

I do not care much about the current circus that the elections in the US has become and here's below the reason why.

 Authored by John Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,

 This is a little extreme as a position but just a little. Nothing much has changed since George Carlin eloquently stated it 20 years ago. Just worse with the media in full propaganda mode and the social platform censoring left and right. Your opinion just does not matter.

The Election Has Already Been Hijacked and the Winner Decided: 'We the People' Lose

“Free election of masters does not abolish the masters or the slaves.” ― Herbert Marcuse

Republicans and Democrats alike fear that the other party will attempt to hijack this election.

President Trump is convinced that mail-in ballots are a scam except in Florida, where it’s safe to vote by mail because of its “great Republican governor.”

The FBI is worried about foreign hackers continuing to target and exploit vulnerabilities in the nation’s electoral system, sowing distrust about the parties, the process and the outcome.

I, on the other hand, am not overly worried: after all, the voting booths have already been hijacked by a political elite comprised of Republicans and Democrats who are determined to retain power at all costs.

The outcome is a foregone conclusion: the Deep State will win and “we the people” will lose.

The damage has already been done.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which has been tasked with helping to “secure” the elections and protect the nation against cyberattacks, is not exactly an agency known for its adherence to freedom principles.

After all, this is the agency largely responsible for turning the American republic into a police state. Since its creation, the DHS has ushered in the domestic use of surveillance drones, expanded the reach of fusion centers, stockpiled an alarming amount of ammunition (including hollow point bullets), urged Americans to become snitches through a “see something, say something” campaign, overseen the fumbling antics of TSA agents everywhere, militarized the nation’s police, spied on activists and veterans, distributed license plate readers and cell phone trackers to law enforcement agencies, contracted to build detention camps, carried out military drills and lockdowns in American cities, conducted virtual strip searches of airline passengers, established Constitution-free border zones, funded city-wide surveillance cameras, and undermined the Fourth Amendment at every turn.

So, no, I’m not losing a night’s sleep over the thought that this election might by any more rigged than it already is.

And I’m not holding my breath in the hopes that the winner of this year’s popularity contest will save us from government surveillance, weaponized drones, militarized police, endless wars, SWAT team raids, asset forfeiture schemes, overcriminalization, profit-driven private prisons, graft and corruption, or any of the other evils that masquerade as official government business these days.

You see, after years of trying to wake Americans up to the reality that there is no political savior who will save us from the police state, I’ve come to realize that Americans want to engage in the reassurance ritual of voting.

They want to believe the fantasy that politics matter.

They want to be persuaded that there’s a difference between the Republicans and Democrats (there’s not).

Some will swear that Donald Trump has been an improvement on Barack Obama (he is not).

Others are convinced that Joe Biden’s values are different from Donald Trump’s (with both of them, money talks).

Most of all, voters want to buy into the fantasy that when they elect a president, they’re getting someone who truly represents the citizenry rather than the Deep State (in fact, in the oligarchy that is the American police state, an elite group of wealthy donors is calling the shots in cooperation with a political elite).

The sad truth is that it doesn’t matter who wins the White House, because they all work for the same boss: Corporate America. Understanding this, many corporations hedge their bets on who will win the White House by splitting their donations between Democratic and Republican candidates.

Politics is a game, a joke, a hustle, a con, a distraction, a spectacle, a sport, and for many devout Americans, a religion. It is a political illusion aimed at persuading the citizenry that we are free, that our vote counts, and that we actually have some control over the government when in fact, we are prisoners of a Corporate Elite.

In other words, it’s a sophisticated ruse aimed at keeping us divided and fighting over two parties whose priorities, more often than not, are exactly the same so that we don’t join forces and do what the Declaration of Independence suggests, which is to throw the whole lot out and start over.

It’s no secret that both parties support endless war, engage in out-of-control spending, ignore the citizenry’s basic rights, have no respect for the rule of law, are bought and paid for by Big Business, care most about their own power, and have a long record of expanding government and shrinking liberty. Most of all, both parties enjoy an intimate, incestuous history with each other and with the moneyed elite that rule this country.

Despite the jabs the candidates volley at each other for the benefit of the cameras, they’re a relatively chummy bunch away from the spotlight. Moreover, despite Congress’ so-called political gridlock, our elected officials seem to have no trouble finding common ground when it’s time to collectively kowtow to the megacorporations, lobbyists, defense contractors and other special interest groups to whom they have pledged their true allegiance.

So don’t be fooled by the smear campaigns and name-calling or drawn into their divide-and-conquer politics of hate. They’re just useful tactics that have been proven to engage voters and increase voter turnout while keeping the citizenry at each other’s throats.

It’s all a grand illusion.

It used to be that the cogs, wheels and gear shifts in the government machinery worked to keep the republic running smoothly. However, without our fully realizing it, the mechanism has changed. Its purpose is no longer to keep our republic running smoothly. To the contrary, this particular contraption’s purpose is to keep the Deep State in power. Its various parts are already a corrupt part of the whole.

Just consider how insidious, incestuous and beholden to the corporate elite the various “parts” of the mechanism have become.

Congress. Perhaps the most notorious offenders and most obvious culprits in the creation of the corporate-state, Congress has proven itself to be both inept and avaricious, oblivious champions of an authoritarian system that is systematically dismantling their constituents’ fundamental rights. Long before they’re elected, Congressmen are trained to dance to the tune of their wealthy benefactors, so much so that they spend two-thirds of their time in office raising money. As Reuters reports, “For many lawmakers, the daily routine in Washington involves fundraising as much as legislating. The culture of nonstop political campaigning shapes the rhythms of daily life in Congress, as well as the landscape around the Capitol. It also means that lawmakers often spend more time listening to the concerns of the wealthy than anyone else.”

The President. What Americans want in a president and what they need are two very different things. The making of a popular president is an exercise in branding, marketing and creating alternate realities for the consumer—a.k.a., the citizenry—that allows them to buy into a fantasy about life in America that is utterly divorced from our increasingly grim reality. Take President Trump, for instance, who got elected by promising to drain the swamp in Washington DC. Instead of putting an end to the corruption, however, Trump has paved the way for lobbyists, corporations, the military industrial complex, and the rest of the Deep State (also referred to as “The 7th Floor Group”) to feast on the carcass of the dying American republic. The lesson: to be a successful president, it doesn’t matter whether you keep your campaign promises, sell the American people to the highest bidder, or march in lockstep with the Corporate State as long as you keep telling people what they most want to hear.

The Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court—once the last refuge of justice, the one governmental body really capable of rolling back the slowly emerging tyranny enveloping America—has instead become the champion of the American police state, absolving government and corporate officials of their crimes while relentlessly punishing the average American for exercising his or her rights. Like the rest of the government, the Court has routinely prioritized profit, security, and convenience over the basic rights of the citizenry. Indeed, law professor Erwin Chemerinsky makes a compelling case that the Supreme Court, whose “justices have overwhelmingly come from positions of privilege,” almost unerringly throughout its history sides with the wealthy, the privileged, and the powerful.

The Media. Of course, this triumvirate of total control would be completely ineffective without a propaganda machine provided by the world’s largest corporations. Besides shoveling drivel down our throats at every possible moment, the so-called news agencies which are supposed to act as bulwarks against government propaganda have instead become the mouthpieces of the state. The pundits which pollute our airwaves are at best court jesters and at worst propagandists for the false reality created by the American government. When you have internet and media giants such as Google, NBC Universal, News Corporation, Turner Broadcasting, Thomson Reuters, Comcast, Time Warner, Viacom, Public Radio International and The Washington Post Company donating to political candidates, you no longer have an independent media—what we used to refer to as the “fourth estate”—that can be trusted to hold the government accountable.

The American People. “We the people” now belong to a permanent underclass in America. It doesn’t matter what you call us—chattel, slaves, worker bees, it’s all the same—what matters is that we are expected to march in lockstep with and submit to the will of the state in all matters, public and private. Unfortunately, through our complicity in matters large and small, we have allowed an out-of-control corporate-state apparatus to take over every element of American society.

We’re playing against a stacked deck.

The game is rigged, and “we the people” keep getting dealt the same losing hand. The people dealing the cards—the politicians, the corporations, the judges, the prosecutors, the police, the bureaucrats, the military, the media, etc.—have only one prevailing concern, and that is to maintain their power and control over the citizenry, while milking us of our money and possessions.

It really doesn’t matter what you call them—Republicans, Democrats, the 1%, the elite, the controllers, the masterminds, the shadow government, the police state, the surveillance state, the military industrial complex—so long as you understand that while they are dealing the cards, the deck will always be stacked in their favor.

As I make clear in my book, Battlefield America: The War on the American People, our failure to remain informed about what is taking place in our government, to know and exercise our rights, to vocally protest, to demand accountability on the part of our government representatives, and at a minimum to care about the plight of our fellow Americans has been our downfall.

Now we find ourselves once again caught up in the spectacle of another presidential election, and once again the majority of Americans are acting as if this election will make a difference and bring about change. As if the new boss will be different from the old boss.

When in doubt, just remember what the astute commentator George Carlin had to say about the matter:

The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don’t. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own and control the corporations. They’ve long since bought and paid for the Senate, the Congress, the state houses, the city halls. They got the judges in their back pockets and they own all the big media companies, so they control just about all of the news and information you get to hear. They got you by the balls. They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying. Lobbying to get what they want. Well, we know what they want. They want more for themselves and less for everybody else, but I’ll tell you what they don’t want. They don’t want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don’t want well-informed, well-educated people capable of critical thinking. They’re not interested in that. That doesn’t help them. That’s against their interests. They want obedient workers. Obedient workers, people who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork…. It’s a big club and you ain't in it. You and I are not in the big club. ...The table is tilted, folks. The game is rigged and nobody seems to notice…. Nobody seems to care. That’s what the owners count on…. It’s called the American Dream, 'cause you have to be asleep to believe it.

 

4 - The Murder of Peace (US sanctions against SMIC, China's biggest producer of microchips)

 

First Wawei, then Tik Tok, now SMIC. In spite of the rhetoric, trade between China and the US is still booming limiting the risks in the immediate future but the intentions are clear. The door has not closed yet but the process being initiated will be difficult to reverse and can only end in conflict.

Trump Kneecaps Chip Giant SMIC Over 'Concerns' US Exports Being Shared With Chinese Military

Trump Kneecaps Chip Giant SMIC Over 'Concerns' US Exports Being Shared With Chinese Military

Investors expect a ruling on ByteDance's request for an injunction against the Trump Administration order banning TikTok by the end of the weekend (a hearing has been scheduled for Sunday), but in the meantime, it appears the White He is already moving on to its next action item in the ongoing economic war against China.

As was previewed a couple of weeks ago, the Trump Administration is moving to cut off Semiconduct Manufacturing International  Corporation - or SMIC - China's biggest producer of microchips, with wafer fabrication sites all across the mainland, off from US-made supplies. A letter obtained by the FT dated on Friday orders American companies not to send any more products to SMIC.

The administration argued that the products pose an "unacceptable risk" of being diverted to "military end use," according to a copy of the letter seen by the Financial Times. Just like sanctions on Huawei, the move threatens to cut off China’s biggest chipmaker from crucial US software and chipmaking equipment. Any companies that do want to export to SMIC will need to secure a special license from the Commerce Department.

"It all depends on how the US implements this. In the worst-case scenario, SMIC is completely cut off, which would severely set back China’s ability to produce chips. This would be a tipping point for US-China relations," said Paul Triolo, head of tech policy analysis at consultancy Eurasia Group.

It's clear that the administration's move goes beyond national security, with the goal of knee-capping another Chinese 'national champion'. SMIC, a "national champion" that is crucial to Beijing's aims of achieving chip self-sufficiency, recently oversaw country’s biggest domestic IPO in a decade, when it raised $7.6 billion in Shanghai earlier this year.

The administration's sanctions against Huawei have already seriously impacted SMIC. The rules appeared almost explicitly designed to stop SIMC from supplying certain chips to its largest customer, Huawei.

But US chipmakers will also feel some blowback: Qualcomm, which uses SMIC's foundries to fabricate some of its chips, will need to find a new partner, which means the Trump Administration might also rob SIMC of its second-largest customer after Huawei.

On Saturday, SMIC said that it was engaging with the Department of Commerce about the new rules. The company reiterated that it "has no relationship with the Chinese military, and does not manufacture for any military end users or end-uses."

To be sure, Chinese law requires all companies to cooperate with intelligence and military forces if so ordered by Beijing