Stuff:
Eh. Maybe I’m too cynical, but if there is little willingness–even if we are successful–of people reciprocating years down the road, it may not be worth it. Maybe if we had avoided the 2003 Iraq invasion we would now be more flexible in how we can use our power…
If we’re doing what if’s, if we had signed Kyoto in 97 while the USA was the #1 emitter we may have bound China, India, and all the developing countries. Instead we said fuck you all, we’re good and here we are.
I’m surprised they still use people to physically pick up and drop stuff off. I mean, networks everywhere are pretty leaky.
Feels like an inflection point in US/China relations. By forcing the NBA to bend the knee at first, China is inviting a ton of bipartisan scorn directed at them. Give us cheap phones and stuff? We love it. Imprison ethnic minorities. Not cool but fine. Force an American based company to say we’re not sure on this free speech thing. WAR.
The fascinating thing is that several Dem Candidates, Ted Cruz, Hawley, Rubio and others are hammering NBA/China on this. It’s bipartisan and going to snowballl. Throw in the Blizzard thing on top and this the most attention that corporations are getting on what it actually means to do biz in China.
Be interesting to see if this has staying power but feels different with bipartisan politicians and print media up in arms. Also fascinating to see difference in how sports commentators treat situation depending on relationship with NBA/China. Compare ESPN to SI/NYT/WAPO coverage for prime example.
China has no choice right now. If they show weakness then the Hong Kong demonstrations will spread. They have to be ruthless, which is why I’m actually surprised they haven’t stopped the demonstrations by force yet.
I’m pretty sure if the choice came down to staying in power or having investment by the rest of the world, those in power would choose the former and let the people deal with the consequences.
Yeah, the response to Hong Kong feels different. I mean people ‘know’ that things like films or TV shows that release in China avoid certain topics.
‘This scene was filmed in China so it could release there, so it won’t contain critique of the government (mostly by ignoring it)’
We know it happens and broadly it doesn’t rank. Not commenting on the politics of China in order to be able to market there is a compromise that is broadly understood.
Active silencing or promoting positive views of the Chinese government is a different thing entirely. And that’s where Blizzard and the NBA have stepped in the shit, so to speak.
No idea how this plays out.
Blizzard’s response to this is disgusting. The best strategy for Western media corps in this is a principaled stand in favor of free speech. Beijing is already going to favor domestic companies; best you can do is hold onto your product differentiation.
I’m not really surprised when our POTUS is saying there are “good people on both sides”. I mean, how can they (Blizzard, NBA, etc.) make a principled stand when their own government won’t back them up?
Err I am not sure it’s so clear cut for them. They need the middle class in China to have money and access to western goods to keep them placated. Going too firm on this free speech thing with Western partners could start a backlash that makes the people in China more alienated than if they get exposed to some pro-HK protestor stuff. At least, this is a view I am parroting from some friends who live or have busines ties in China. I was reading this morning that even some editors in their nationalistic newspapers are preaching caution.
As always, America looks to its athletes for leadership.
Not keeping up so it’s not clear to me which side lebron is coming down on
Lebron is coming down on the side of the wheelbarrows of Yen.
renminbi AKA yuan
Well yes, but also no. It’s no secret that our very own NSA has some of the best capture points around the globe related to network connections. Spycraft is still a valid method of communication, especially so if one of the parties is already being surveilled. Also, sorry to reply to this late, Yak.
How they do it: Imagine you had the ability to watch all the droplets of water flowing through the limited fireplugs in your city. Now imagine in your city water source, you knew there were a limited amount of water droplets of specific colors, unlike the bulk of the water. Now all you’d need to do is flag for those colors of water, no matter the given tedium of flow. This is called keyword searching and works exactly like it sounds. That’s the nuts and bolts behind how NSA catches so much. We know this from the limited few NSA folks (or leakers like Snowden) who have talked about it.