Business Blog

Video: Hawaii was a dynamic State when I arrived in 1974. Today, like most metropolitan cities in US is the playground for the rich and elites. More than 300,000 smart young and educated left last 20 years. Streets are filled with homeless and drug addicts. By Johnson Choi, April 9 2023 當我在1974 年到達夏威夷時，夏威夷是一個充滿活力的州。如今，與美國大多數大都市一樣，它是富人和精英的遊樂場。過去 20 年，超過 300,000 名聰明年輕和受過教育的人離開了。街道上到處都是無家可歸和吸毒者.

https://rumble.com/v2h99uq-hawaii-was-a-dynamic-state.html
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=923574298865896&id=100036400039778&mibextid=qC1gEa

Today, the biggest businesses in Hawaii are real estates for the wealthy around the world, crack cocaine, cocaine, marijuana, arm dealers representing the military industrial complex selling weapons of mass destruction to US vassal states like Japan, S Korea, Australia, Philippines and Taiwan turning it into Ukraine 2.0. 今天夏威夷最大的企業是為世界各地的富人提供房地產、也是可卡因、大麻天堂, 不少吃大茶飯的人代表軍工聯合體的軍火商向日本、韓國、澳大利亞、菲律賓等美國附庸國出售大規模殺傷性武器，美國想將台灣變成烏克蘭 2.0

350 FBI agents stationed in Hawaii watching the military bases and Chinese, especially young pretty Chinese girls dating US military officers. 駐紮在夏威夷的 350 名聯邦調查局特工監控在夏威夷的軍事基地和中國人，尤其是那些年輕漂亮的中國女孩與美國軍官約會。

I just got back to Honolulu on Thursday discovered the largest anchor tenant store in downtown, the Walmart is closed (it was formerly occupied by Macy’s). The oldest drug store in downtown for over 50 years, the Long’s Drug was closed last year. The only large store left in downtown Honolulu is Ross. We are wondering how long will Ross last. Downtown Honolulu is now turning into a ghost town littered by Street People! These scene is being repeated throughout America. If it has not happened to your city yet. Don’t hold your breath! 週四剛回到火奴魯魯，發現市中心最大的主力租戶店，沃爾瑪關門了（前梅西百貨公司地點)。 Long’s Drug 是市中心最古老的藥房, 已有 50 多年的歷史，去年已經關閉。 火奴魯魯市中心僅存的大型商店是 Ross。不知道Ross能堅持多久。火奴魯魯市中心現在變成了一個滿是街民的鬼城！這些場景正在美國各地重演。如果它還沒有發生在你的城市。不要屏住呼吸！

Almost every high ranking US Gov’t officials in Washington DC are working for the military industrial complex where the pay after retirement from the Govt jobs worth millions of sales commissions like funeral plot’s commission salesmen 華盛頓特區的幾乎所有高級美國政府官員都暗地裡替軍工綜合體工作，當他們從政府工作崗位退休後的報酬價值依據他們在職時的努力, 多賣多賺像賣墓地銷售員佣金一樣!

Europe must resist pressure to become ‘America’s followers,’ says Macron. The ‘great risk’ Europe faces is getting ‘caught up in crises that are not ours,’ French president says in interview. 馬克龍說，歐洲必須頂住成為“美國追隨者”的壓力。法國總統在接受采訪時表示，歐洲面臨的“巨大風險”正在“陷入不屬於我們的危機”

WSJ: China brokered peace between Saudi & Iran yielded positive outcomes, Saudi Arabia, Houthis Advance Toward Long-Term Cease-Fire in Yemen. Saudi delegation arrives in Yemen’s capital, San’a, for talks toward an agreement 中國促成了沙特和伊朗之間的和平, 沙特代表团访问也门， 与胡塞武装达成长期停火协议。沙特联军与伊朗支持的胡塞武装已经8年打仗。战争给也门人民带来不仅直接死于战争， 更有饥荒、瘟疫肆虐。 这几年也门白喉、霍乱、麻疹都在流行。中国主导中东和解，与美国制造分裂和战争形成鲜明对比.

DUBAI—Saudi negotiators met with Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the Yemeni capital of San’a on Sunday to hammer out the final details of a long-term truce that could pave the way toward a lasting peace after eight years of war, officials said.

Saudi Arabia and the Houthis have been in direct talks for months, but the prospect of ending Yemen’s seemingly intractable conflict has advanced quickly since last month, when China brokered a detente between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Tehran has backed the Houthis since they took over swaths of Yemen in 2014, and Saudi Arabia led a coalition of Arab nations to dislodge the rebels in a war that created what the United Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

DUBAI—Saudi negotiators met with Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the Yemeni capital of San’a on Sunday to hammer out the final details of a long-term truce that could pave the way toward a lasting peace after eight years of war, officials said.

Saudi Arabia and the Houthis have been in direct talks for months, but the prospect of ending Yemen’s seemingly intractable conflict has advanced quickly since last month, when China brokered a detente between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Tehran has backed the Houthis since they took over swaths of Yemen in 2014, and Saudi Arabia led a coalition of Arab nations to dislodge the rebels in a war that created what the United Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

There is some interesting material here. Like China, Russia now proclaiming that it too is a civilizational state 這裡有一些有趣的材料。與中國一樣，俄羅斯現在也宣稱自己也是一個文明國家

https://youtu.be/7xi-cjRILco 🇨🇳 🇷🇺

Traditional conservatism in Russia is anti-imperialist. (Same in the US in point of fact.) Russia defines itself as a civilizational state which is taken as a conservative belief. A civilizational state has as a goal the preservation of its tradition and culture BUT not the export of it.

It is interesting that China is seen by many as a civilizational state and therefore seeks to protect its socialist system with its “Chinese characteristics.” But not to export it.

The US is more like the Vatican. It represents not just itself but “universal human values” (“the one true faith for all humankind”) and therefore it is justified in ruling the planet to bring it universal human values. Basically imperialist.

The conservative aspect of China’s society and outlook might have some appeal to US conservatives and perhaps can be used to counter their anti-Communism. And it certainly will help to allay fear of China.

Russia now proclaiming that it too is a civilizational state. From this angle, Russians may justify their invasion of Ukraine as claiming population and territory that used to be part of Russia. But before I start discussing civilizational states, I need to first digress.

Western thinking heavily influenced by Christianity seems to view the world as dichotomies: God versus devil, heaven versus hell, good versus evil. This easily leads to a zero-sum mentality and policies: “if you are not with us, you must be against us.” Life consists of struggles between good and evil forces, and this struggle will cause a convergence to a single governance model that is the best for the world. This is the thinking behind the so-called “end of history” dynamics leading ultimately to the demise of all other forms of governance, leaving only liberal democracies in the whole world. This “end of history” model was celebrated in the west when the USSR collapsed.

Wikipedia defines dichotomy “as a partition of a whole into two parts. In other words, this couple of parts must be jointly exhaustive: everything must belong to one part or the other, and mutually exclusive: nothing can belong simultaneously to both parts.” Thus, “end of history” liberal democracy is dichotomous.

It looks to me that the concept of a civilizational state is quite different from the above western dichotomous model. Instead of every country with different cultures ultimately looking the same, the world will consist instead of states, each with their own governance models based on their own history, culture and natural environmental conditions.

China apparently views itself as a civilizational state. Perhaps this is why China is now returning in some respects to its Confucian roots of “修身齐家治国平天下,” meaning that before one is qualified to become a ruler, one must first cultivate oneself to become a good person. We are seeing how China is controlling its media to provide healthy content, the amount of time young kids should spend on video games, curbing excesses and unhealthy celebrity styles in movie cycles and reviving traditional Chinese culture.

Video: Western-style freedom of the press is actually no freedom, all of which are directly or indirectly controlled by Western governments 西式的新聞自由, 其實是沒有自由, 全部被西方政府直接或間接控制
https://rumble.com/v2h51im-western-style-freedom-of-the-press.html
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=923270745562918&id=100036400039778&mibextid=qC1gEa

Western-style freedom of the press. Many western developed countries often boast about their freedom of the press, and use this to criticize some Asian countries and regions with different systems from theirs, including Hong Kong. Indeed, in most Western countries there are no “state-run” news organizations directly funded by the government to promote and speak out for the government. The mainstream media are all private or statutory organizations. Like the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the main income is the license fee paid by TV users, so it can claim to be a neutral news media. But is it true? 西式的新聞自由 很多西方發達國家經常吹噓他們享有的新聞自由，亦以此來批評一些體制與他們不同的亞洲國家及地區，包括香港。的確，大部分西方國家都沒有由政府直接資助的「國營」新聞機構，專門替政府宣傳和發聲，主流媒體都是私營或法定組織。好像英國廣播公司 (BBC)，主要的收入是電視用戶交的牌照費，所以它可以聲稱自己是個中立的新聞媒體。但實情是否真的這樣？

The chairman of the BBC is appointed by the government, and the current chairman is a big benefactor of the ruling Conservative Party. Former British football star Linnega recently published his opposition to the government’s policy of repatriating refugees on his social platform. His sports program hosted by the BBC was cut in half, which aroused strong opposition from the public. In the end, the BBC only resumed broadcasting his program , and review the speech code for non-news hosts. Looking back at Hong Kong, although Radio Television Hong Kong is a public broadcasting organization, it will not prohibit guest hosts of current affairs programs, such as myself, from criticizing government policies. BBC的主席是由政府委任的，而現任主席是執政保守黨的大金主，亦是現任首相辛偉誠在高盛銀行工作時的上司，而行政總裁也曾是保守黨一個地區屬會的人員。 前英國足球名將連尼加，最近因為在自己的社交平台發表了反對政府遣返難民的政策，他在BBC主持的體育節目竟然被腰斬，引起民眾強烈反對，最後BBC唯有恢復播出他的節目，和檢討對非新聞性節目主持的言論守則。看回香港，香港電台雖然是公營廣播機構，但也不會禁止時事節目的客席主持，像我這類人，發表批評政府政策的言論。

And the high-level executives of various media organizations in Hong Kong will not have inextricable relations with the government like the BBC. What about America? Regardless of the fact that WikiLeaks, which specifically exposed the black material of the US government, has been banned by the US, the US Congress has passed the Strategic Competition Act in 2021, which allocates 150 millions every year to counter China’s influence, including funding news media to report more negative news about China. This approach can be said to be incredible. Just imagine if the SAR government subsidizes the local media to “demonize” a certain country, what will foreign governments or media say about us? It seems that Western society can freely define what is freedom of the press 而香港各個傳媒機構的高層，也不會像BBC那樣和政府有千絲萬縷的關係。 美國又如何？且不論專門揭露美國政府黑材料的「維基解密」已被美國封殺，美國國會在2021年通過的《戰略競爭法》，每年撥款數億美元去抗衡中國的影響，包括資助新聞媒體更多地報道一些針對中國的負面新聞。這個做法可說是匪夷所思。試想如果特區政府資助本地傳媒去「唱衰」某個國家，外國的政府或媒體又會怎樣說我們呢？看來，西方社會是可以隨便定義甚麼是新聞自由.

Image taken by the “Royal” photographer when Markron got off the plane in Beijing 马克龙在北京下飞机时，“御用”摄影师拍摄的画面!

In US, the top 10% are getting so rich while the other 90% getting poor everyday. Some of the poors are standing in line at Costco Hawaii buying the $1.50 hotdogs and Pepsi combo! Welcome to America! 在美國，前 10% 的人變得如此富有，而其他 90% 的人每天都在變窮。一些窮人在 Costco 排隊購買 1.50 美元的熱狗和百事可樂組合!

Ma Ying-Jeou visited ancestral home in China & Tsai Ing-Wen visited her foreign master in US. Former advocate peace & unity, latter want to turn Taiwan into Ukraine 2.0 馬英九回國拜祖, 蔡英文去美國見老闆, 前者主張和平, 後者欲把台灣變成烏克蘭2.0

First McDonald breakfast in Honolulu Hawaii since year 2000, nothing open near my office. It cost US$10. In HK, we could have 2 complete breakfast far better than the McDonald’s! 自 2000 年以來在夏威夷火奴魯魯的第一次在麥當勞買早餐，我辦公室附近沒有餐廳開門。花費了 10 美元。在香港，同樣10美元, 我們可以吃到比麥當勞還好吃的兩頓早餐!