As Asian economies and governments continue to gain power, the West needs to find ways to adapt to the new global order, says author and diplomat Kishore Mahbubani. In an insightful look at international politics, Mahbubani shares a three-part strategy that Western governments can use to recover power and improve relations with the rest of the world. 作家兼外交官 馬凱碩表示，隨著亞洲經濟體和政府不斷獲得權力，西方需要找到適應新全球秩序的方法。在對國際政治的深刻洞察中，馬布巴尼分享了西方政府可以用來恢復權力和改善與世界其他地區關係的三部分戰略.
Merkel explains why she wasn’t surprised by Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. US plan is to first destroy Russia then China. US-China friendship is someone’s fantasy. 默克爾解釋了為什麼她對俄羅斯在烏克蘭的攻勢並不感到驚訝。美國的計劃是先滅俄羅斯再滅中國。美中友誼是某些人的幻想 Nov 25 2022
The Minsk Agreements became “eroded” and the EU was reluctant to talk to Moscow, the former German chancellor told Der Spiegel Merkel explains why she wasn’t surprised by Russia’s offensive in Ukraine
Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she was not surprised when the conflict between Russia and Ukraine broke out in late February. The retired leader was speaking to Der Spiegel in a lengthy interview published on Thursday.
“It did not come as a surprise,” Merkel told the outlet. By then, “the Minsk Agreements were eroded,” the former chancellor stated, referring to the 2014 ceasefire deal brokered by Germany and France, which were designed to give the eastern regions special status within Ukraine.
She also said her efforts to establish another dialogue platform for Russia and the EU in 2021 had come to nothing.
“I wanted, together with [French President] Emmanuel Macron, to create an independent European discussion format with Putin through the European Council,” Merkel said, explaining that she faced opposition from other members of the EU’s top body.
“I no longer had the strength to assert myself,” she noted, as everyone knew she was about to step down. She faced the same problem on her farewell visit to Moscow, sensing she no longer had the ability to influence Putin, for whom she said “only power counts.”
Lasting peace in Europe only possible with Russia’s input – Merkel READ MORE Lasting peace in Europe only possible with Russia’s input – Merkel The former German leader said she “wished for a more peaceful time” after her departure and would have “pushed for [her initiative] further” had she decided to lead her party into the 2021 parliamentary elections and won.
The former chancellor also acknowledged that she had not moved forward “even a millimeter” in resolving not only the Ukraine crisis, but the tensions between “Transnistria and Moldova, Georgia and Abkhazia,” as well as the crises in Syria and Libya. “It was time for a new approach,” she said.
Merkel, however, defended her opposition to admitting Georgia and Ukraine into NATO, arguing that she “bought time” for Kiev to better prepare for the Russian offensive. However, Merkel still believes that Berlin should not be “the first nation to send state-of-the-art tanks” to Kiev, warning that it would only damage Berlin’s relations with Moscow. “Russia would then be only further set against Germany,” she said.
Merkel faced criticism at home over the conflict for supposedly making the German economy too reliant on Russian gas. The ex-chancellor defended her decisions, saying that buying gas from Moscow was the best way towards a green future and the move away from coal.
Shield tunnel for extension project of Hengqin Line connecting Macao with Zhuhai completed by Global Times Nov 25 2022
The shield tunnel for the extension project of the Hengqin Line connecting Macao Special Administrative Region to Zhuhai in South China’s Guangdong Province was completed on Friday, marking a further step in making Macao part of the “one-hour living circle” in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA).
The extension of the Hengqin Line is a cross-border light railway transport route. Namkwong Real Estate Co, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) and China Railway 16th Bureau Group Corporation are carrying out the project.
The project used the Aoqin No.1, the largest shield tunneling machine, which has a diameter of 7.98 meters and a length of 87 meters.
In order to ensure smooth excavation during the shield tunnel construction, CCECC told the Global Times on Friday that the project team adapted to the natural environment by using the double hinge design and an intelligent system to improve the adaptability and reliability of the shield tunneling machine.
As the first shield tunnel to cross the sea in Macao, the project fills the gap in Macao’s rail transit construction through using the shield tunneling method, CCECC said.
The line is 2.2 kilometers long, starting from the elevated station HE1, located near the Lotus Bridge in Macao, which is connected to the Lotus Checkpoint Station, part of the Taipa Line. It runs along the Lotus Bridge and crosses the Shizimen Waterway before entering Zhuhai’s Hengqin Island through an underwater tunnel, and then arrives at the underground HE2 station in front of Hengqin Port.
In March 2021, construction was launched to extend Macao’s light rail transit line into Hengqin. It is planned to operate as a shuttle between the two sides upon completion, which is scheduled for 2025.
China reputation amongst Western democracies is declining, but what about the remaining 80% of the world. An incredible new report from the University of Cambridge reveals that over 70% of the world SUPPORTS China. We need to remove ourselves from the Western media bubble/echo chamber and see how China is viewed across ALL countries to understand more about our world. 中國在西方民主國家的聲譽正在下降，但世界上其餘 80% 的國家呢？劍橋大學一份令人難以置信的新報告顯示，世界上超過 70% 的人支持中國。我們需要擺脫西方媒體的泡沫/回音室，看看所有國家如何看待中國，以更多地了解我們的世界.
For Native Americans, nothing to be thankful on this thanksgiving day, just annual reminders how they lost their home forever 對於美洲原住民來說，在這個感恩節沒有什麼值得感恩的，只是每年提醒他們如何永遠失去家園
“The Netherlands tells US to go to hell will defend its economic interests when it comes to the sales of chip equipment to China, a senior Dutch official said.” 一位荷蘭高級官員表示：“在向中國出售芯片設備的問題上，荷蘭不會聽美國的話被毀於美國手中必須捍衛其經濟利益.”
It is further evidence of the country’s resistance to meekly following Washington’s attempts to cut off China from semiconductor technology.
The European country is home to ASML Holding NV, which dominates the market for one-of-a-kind, cutting-edge chip-making equipment that has become a focus of the US government’s attempts to limit China. Dutch Foreign Trade Minister Liesje Schreinemacher told lawmakers on Tuesday that the Netherlands will make its own decision regarding ASML’s chip gear sales to China amid trade rule talks with the US and other allies.
“It is important that we defend our own interests – our national safety, but also our economic interests,” Schreinemacher told lawmakers at the parliament in The Hague. “If we put that in an EU basket and negotiate with the US and in the end it turns out we give away deep ultraviolet lithography machines to the US, we are worse off.”
Deep ultraviolet systems are the second-most-advanced chip production machines that Veldhoven, Netherlands-based ASML manufactures, and the equipment is required to make a wide range of semiconductors.”
Business logic would prevail. And history will evolve through its main flow. Anything else in the interim wouldn’t be able to sustain for long.
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