Why did Alibaba's Jack Ma disappear for three months?
bbc.com
bbc.com
During the Cold War, lack of reliable information about the country forced Western analysts to "read between the lines" and to use the tiniest tidbits, such as the removal of portraits, the rearranging of chairs, positions at the reviewing stand for parades in Red Square, the choice of capital or small initial letters in phrases such as "First Secretary", the arrangement of articles on the pages of the party newspaper Pravda and other indirect signs to try to understand what was happening in internal Soviet politics.
[...]
In the German language, such attempts acquired the somewhat derisive name "Kreml-Astrologie" (Kremlin Astrology), hinting at the fact that its results were often vague and inconclusive, if not outright wrong.
The few hawks (the army was probably the most pacifist part of the system, ironically) in the Union's army were more happy to hear that a war, and demise are coming, and be reassured of their continued usefulness to the regime, than being stated the obvious fact that the country is more likely go belly up because of Union's permanent economic crisis getting ever more severe.
To such people starting a war, and a collective suicide was preferable, and a more comfortable thing to think about, than to face the reality of the need to replace the political leadership, and this is the real insanity.
Now do the US -- we had Chalabi a few years ago, and we have Adrian Zenz on this topic.
” "Apparently he just kept a very low profile, which was really the best thing he could do," says Ms Boutrup.”
EDIT: as an example: Larry Page hadn't spoken in public (and been heard of on the news) for 3 years before retiring.
Where are Brin and Page now?
What are they doing?
Does anybody knows?
Oh, except, of course, none other, the Elon Musk...
I found the ending of the article delightful. First, because the US has secret warrants for IT companies too, so hearing this out loud wouldn't really be a big surprise. Second, because China still pretends to be an "undeveloped" country? Come on! How long can this card be played.
Well it is. I dare you to go to China to places where most Chinese wouldn't go.
Half of the country still lives in places you can't twist your tongue to call cities.
China's biggest cities are a prime case of fancy Potemkin villages. It's a state policy to maintain "the face of the country" at any expense, which may includes things as ridiculous as banning motorcycles to not reveal that people don't have money for cars, fining people for using cloth lines if their windows face major streets, or tourists having their photo film confiscated because they shot photos in less than sightly places.
This is much akin to how USSR ran a showy semblance of a civilized life in Moscow, at an enormous expense to its economy, to rather successfully fool the West into believing in USSR's relative prosperity.
If you think that ideology talks is what sets off thin skinned Chinese political establishment, then you haven't seen their reaction when somebody evokes the gravest insult of calling them poor.
I think it's about time to stop calling the #1 world economy, #1 world manufacturer, a country that's expanding it's sphere of influence across the globe (see Africa) plus having a growing in well equipped military as 'underdeveloped'.
The US must have looked like this once.
did a quick look - median income is around $4K-6K a year. there is no way that can be compared to any 1st world country. http://www.stats.gov.cn/english/PressRelease/202101/t2021011...
According to this list - China's median income is comparable to Bolivia, Libya, Dominican Republic, Paraguay, etc. Would you list all those as developed countries? https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/median-in...
And according to this GDP Per Capita list - China ranks 73. Don't believe the racist propaganda trying to make you fear China. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PP...
For example the city of Beijing has the same GDP of Sweden and Belgium and it's not far from the city of London.
So? The country itself can still be under-developed.
the median salary in US is $ 36k/year[1]
in China is $ 13.5k, but cost of living in China is more than 50% cheaper than in US on average and education is basically free
Kentucky has the same population of Switzerland but less than half average income (27k vs 62k)
14% of the population in USA relys on food stamps
OP said I would not say it is developed, just because the top percentile of the population seem to live lavish lives, does that apply to US as well? (or Italy, where I come from and similar patterns are observable)
there is more than the average and the median when 1.2 billion people live in the same country
development is not homogeneous anywhere
[1] The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a median personal income of $865 weekly for all full-time workers in 2017. The U.S. Census Bureau lists the annual real median personal income at $35,977 in 2019 with a base year of 2019.
Well, large parts of the USA do feel like a developing countries. Some even have comparable life expectancies...
that's per household, not per capita.
Take one fact (Jack Ma said a thing), mention something out of the ordinary (him "disappearing"), declare him dead or in prison.
Another example of this wild assumtion is when media reported that North Korea simply dealt with corona by shooting the one infected person.
This is incredibly out of touch. How is China not part of the 'developed' countries? Some people seem to think we are still in 2010.
Because China falls within the definition of a developing country, and because China itself argues that it should be considered a developing country
> While China’s economic might makes it a superpower alongside the United States, it still faces many of the major challenges of a typical developing country, such as widespread energy poverty, including 400 million people without access to clean cooking, significant air pollution, and dependence on increasing energy use to fuel future economic growth. Its modest income per capita qualifies it as a middle-income developing country.
> Chinese authorities remind visiting delegations that China is still a developing country. Indeed, the country ranks a mere 86th on the Human Development Index(HDI) established by the United Nations Development Programme(UNDP), and its income per capita qualifies it as a middle-income country eligible for World Bank loans. The country is also big and diverse: while Beijing and Shanghai are modern and largely affluent, many regions in China still face the burdens of underdevelopment. Given this backdrop, China’s officials argue it should remain in the developing country category used by multilateral development banks and other international organizations—and should continue to enjoy the leniency regarding international commitments that comes with that status, despite its economic might. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic’s impacts will inevitably slow China’s development.
https://www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/research/report/china-...
"A lot of people assume that since England led the industrial revolution and it always had free speech that free speech is required to have a booming economy as prescribed by Adam Smith. But the Chinese have proved you don't need free speech to have a wonderful economy. They just copied Adam Smith and left out the free speech and it worked fine for them."
around the 46 minute mark-- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pp4CvjNw-9Y
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hate_speech_laws_in_the_United...
Seems to be a tried and true formula.
For the Tibetans?
Uyghurs?
The 100's of millions still in poverty?
The millions in jail without a proper trial or due process?
The 100's of millions breathing toxic air?
The 100's of millions unable to access basic information?
It's 'worked on some level' and that's about it.
Nobody is trying to get 'in' to that system and many would much rather just get out.
where is bill gate right now? why did he disappear for 1 year then studently appeared for his reddit AMA?
did he spend the 1 year getting briefed in secret for what to say for the massive vaccine campaign?
the amount of propaganda and conspiracy theories the west is spitting these days is insane, mostly the western journalists / politics
This shows how wrong people can get about China. It's easy to label a country with things like "communism" or "socialism" or what not, but it's not the reality. Can people own private property in China? Check. Can people start a company under the rule of law? Check. Do private enterprises compete with state-owned? Check. Do private enterprises win in market? Check. Do companies resolve their conflicts via rules of law? Check. Does government, to a large degree (how large is arguable), rely on market to allocate resources? Check. Does government enforce ration? Nope. Does the government plan all the economic activities in a centralized fashion? Not any more. Does the government mandate a specific way of allocating wealth? Not any more. Does the government insist that the state or the people own everything? Nope. Does the government limit the freedom of its citizens to move around? Yes and no. One can choose where to live and work, but those with a Hukou will have much better benefits. Is China a totalitarian state? Most likely. Is it a communist country NOW? You've gotta be joking.
The government doesn’t need to own the cow, or the meat processor when they can just own you.
It so happens that Ma reappeared after 3 months. Hmmm... I see a pattern here.
That should tell us that in China your money doesn't count. State gives life and more important State takes life (or borrows your for a 3 months intensive re-education).
I don't know much about torture.. what type of wounds disappear after 3 months?
[0]: https://abcnews.go.com/International/fan-bingbing-mysterious...