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[liquidsilver]

Discuss Asian politics

[barton]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2018/09/26/chinas-row-with-sweden-over-racist-tv-skit-has-citizens-urging-boycott-ikea-hm/?utm_term=.2d04b591e6bf

You can't make this stuff up.

A man who watched the family being kicked out of the hostel told Sweden’s biggest newspaper, Aftonbladet, that the police tried to calm down the situation while the Chinese family just “shouted and screamed.” The son’s behavior was particularly strange, suddenly just “throwing himself flat on the ground,” according to the InBeijing blog run by the Swedish journalist Jojje Olsson.

These melodramatic scenes might seem ripe for satirizing. That’s exactly what the people at Swedish News, a comedy show on SVT, Sweden’s national public TV broadcaster, did. Swedish News features a satirical news segment, much like the “Weekend Update” segment on “Saturday Night Live.”

In it, presenter Jesper Ronndahl delivered a 10-minute-long segment about the whole debacle that was apparently meant to be funny. It ended with a spoof video that the Swedish News team made and said they uploaded onto Youku, the Chinese version of YouTube. (We checked Youku and the video is not there — it’s not clear whether it was ever uploaded, or if Youku took it down.)

The spoof video opens with a woman saying, “Here are a few tips to avoid cultural clashes.”

“For example, we do not poop outside historic buildings. And if you see someone who’s out walking a dog, it’s not because they just bought lunch,” she continued, alluding to the cliche that Asians regularly eat dogs and to old reports that Chinese tourists had defecated outside the Louvre museum in Paris. This part of the report was illustrated with a sign of a person in a Chinese-style hat squatting and pooping while eating out of a bowl with chopsticks.

Then, in what was probably meant to be another attempt at humor, she went on: “Another important cultural difference is that you Chinese are racists. And here in Sweden, there are black people, Jews, Arabs and even homosexuals.”

Well, this rubbed salt into the wound. China’s Foreign Ministry in Beijing and its embassy in Stockholm decried the segment as a show of racism and demanded an apology....

[arafura]

Meanwhile, down in Asia-Pacific:

http://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/while-new-zealand-heals-australias-culture-war-rolls-on/ar-BBV4NrS?li=AAgfLCP&OCID=AVRES000

Kishor Napier-Raman

Crikey/
While New Zealand heals, Australia’s culture war rolls on

Editor’s note: The opinions in this article are the author’s, as published by our content partner, and do not represent the views of MSN or Microsoft

Yesterday’s funeral prayers for Haji-Daoud Nabi, the 71-year-old Afghan refugee who died trying to protect others at the Masjid Al Noor last Friday, were briefly interrupted by a loud roar.

Members of the Mongrel Mob, one of New Zealand’s biggest bikie gangs, had arrived to pay their respects. A man in a suit, one of the mob’s leaders, emerged from a black limousine, flanked by several tattooed men on motorbikes, and was ushered right to the front of the funeral line next to Nabi’s family, eventually helping to carry the coffin.

There is a slight tendency among Australians to view New Zealand as something of a backwater, the only country further from the world than us. But when it comes to reckoning with the wounds of racism, the Kiwis are miles ahead. Nowhere is this more clear than in the relationship with Māori culture, which is given a genuine sense of value and pride even among pākehā (white) New Zealanders rarely afforded to Indigenous culture back home. Māori hymns have been sung at most vigils for the dead, newsreaders and politicians, who are a far more diverse bunch than back home, frequently litter their speech with Māori words.

Of course, New Zealand is by no means a multicultural paradise. The greater visibility of Māori culture doesn’t obscure the fact that it has the same deep-lying structural racism common to settler-colonial societies. Still, from the Treaty of Waitangi, to the ongoing land settlements with Indigenous people, and a broad push for Māori education in schools, there is substance behind what might otherwise be tokenism.

[arafura]

Also in Asia Pacific;

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/breaking-news/maori-reject-pms-this-is-not-us-line/news-story/ce40ad9734b548bd1a6ebf71b27c585c

Maori reject PM's 'This is not us' line

Some Maori leaders are recalling ancient colonial atrocities as they reject Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's "this is not us" response to the killing of 50 Muslim worshippers in Christchurch.

It has been widely adopted as a tagline by New Zealanders horrified by the mosque massacres but Maori are sending out another message: this wasn't the first time.

Ngati Rangi leader Che Wilson recalled the invasion and destruction by Crown troops of the Parihaka settlement in Taranaki in 1881.

"They were all promoting peace, they were praying - the Crown wanted their land and destroyed their lives," he told Radio New Zealand.
"The fact that we are saying 'this is not us' is denying the fact that it has happened in our nation before."

________________

Oh well.

[arafura]

Asia-Pacific:

Harmony?

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/rendezview/there-is-no-harmony-in-what-waleed-aly-stands-for/news-story/a454a3bd492a4c7e294f9bea9af21694

There’s no ‘harmony’ in Waleed Aly’s sanctimonious sermons

It was a bad idea for the Prime Minister to submit to a televised interrogation by Channel 10’s chief narcissist Waleed Aly last week.

The 30-minute interview on the jejune panel show The Project was a set-up, from the silky insolence of Aly to the slumping chair ­designed to make a middle-aged man look sloppy.

It is a mystery why Scott Morrison felt he should reward the foul calumny of the previous week, when Aly ­effectively branded him and Peter Dutton hypocritical ­Islamophobes.

But reward Aly the PM did, squandering his authority to be lectured by a cocksure 40-year-old whose mawkish moralising disguises a hardcore identity politics agenda.

But it wasn’t just Morrison sitting in that awkward armchair. It was every Australian he represents, and he had no right to elevate Aly to the stature of moral arbiter of the nation.

Let no one forget that Aly previously was spokesman and board member of the ­Islamic Council of Victoria, an activist organisation which consistently downplays Islamist terrorism, even while Victoria has remained a hotspot for the homegrown brand.

It has called for “safe ­spaces” for Muslim youth to meet and “use words which in a public space would sound inflammatory”.

The PM was never going to convert Aly fans who took to social media to berate him afterwards for various offences such as “slouching” in the uncomfortable chair.

He “embodies smug male privilege”, wrote one tweeter.

No doubt Aly’s interview with Jacinda Ardern, to be aired tomorrow night, will be quite different. Judging by the promos showing the NZ Prime Minister rushing to hug Aly, expect a fawning ­display aimed at eliciting criticism of Australia.

[FlyingVProd]

I have been blessed to have had many good people from the Philippines in my life, and they are beautiful, Christian people and all of them do service to help other people.

The Filipinos really love the USA because we saved them from Japan in World War II, General Douglas MacArthur was their hero, and he loved the people of the Philippines. Japan did horrible things to the Filipinos, and they love the USA for saving them.

I had a friend, Rose, and her Dad was an American soldier in the Philippines in World War II, and after the war he stayed in the Philippines and he married a wealthy Filipino woman and he had a family. So, Rose was automatically an American because her Dad was an American soldier. She came to the USA and she attended UCLA and then she became a public school teacher in Compton in order to help to serve in America, she wanted to teach the children in a poor area. She taught school in Compton for 20 years, and then she went to work helping the homeless with my friend Lisa, and Rose spent the rest of her life helping the homeless in the USA. Also of note, Rose's cousin was Gloria Arroyo who was President of the Philippines. Rose died a few years ago, I miss her, she was great.

I know many good Filipinos.

I have heard stories about the extreme poverty in the Philippines. They do not have garbage disposals in their sinks in their kitchens, in the USA every home has a garbage disposal, but in the Philippines only the rich people have garbage disposals. And sunglasses are valuable in the Philippines, people will steal your sunglasses right off of your face in the poor areas. Also, you cannot let a strange woman into your motel room, or whatever, some women will lie and say that you raped them, and they will force you to give them money not to tell the police that you raped them, you cannot be alone in your motel room with a stranger in the Philippines. There are many wonderful people in the Philippines, but the extreme poverty causes some people to do bad things because they are poor and desperate. I was going to go to the Philippines with some friends, we were going to go to Catanduanes, but Rose got sick and so we could not go.

My friend Lisa was born rich, and so she spent her life serving other people. She was born wealthy in an area of extreme poverty. She is from Manila. She came to California and she opened a Filipino night club in Los Angeles, Manila Gardens was the name of it, and everything that she touched turned to gold, she succeeded at everything that she did. She believes that to those whom much is given much is expected from, and she has helped the homeless forever, and she is very kind and generous. She is rich, and she helps other people and God just keeps blessing her. She is getting very old now, but she is still helping the homeless.

And my doctor is from the Philippines. He is the best. And his wife is also a doctor from the Philippines. They are kind and generous, and they go to the Philippines and help the poor people for free, they are great. Their daughter is smart and talented and she was on the Pussycat Doll Search, here is a video of their daughter, Melissa...

https://youtu.be/HXIvHQJlKN4

The Filipinos are wonderful people. Here in the USA many Filipinos become wealthy, and many do service to help other people. And we need to help the Philippines by expanding trade with them, and by going there on vacation and spending money, it is a great place to go scuba dive and stuff. The Philippines is a good, Christian country, and they all speak English, and they love America, we were their heroes during World War II and they remember that.

Salute,

Tony V.

[FlyingVProd]

When I worked at Universal Studios we had a special day at Christmas time for the Filipinos, and we had famous actors and singers there from the Philippines, 25,000 Filipinos showed up that day, it was great. Los Angeles has a lot of Filipinos.

Salute,

Tony V.

[FlyingVProd]

The Greeks can help the people of the Philippines, and in turn the people of the Philippines can help the Greeks...

The Greeks are amazing, when Athens had their empire, they built their whole empire with a central banking system, and they had science, and drama, and astronomy, and mythology, and democracy and good human rights, etc, they laid the foundation for civilization. Then when the Romans took over, they had Greek teachers to teach their children and they had Greek public servants running their government, etc. My first class at AVC was Euclidian Geometry, and Euclid and those guys were amazing. And of course our colleges all have Greek letter organizations. The Greeks continue to inspire us.

I would like to see the Greeks invest in the Philippines, and create jobs in the Philippines. The Greeks have a highly educated population which understands business and finance, but the Greeks have a small population and a small work-force, but the Philippines has 100,000,000 people, and the Greeks can use the people of the Philippines as their work-force. The Greeks can help the people of the Philippines.

It is just a thought. I would like to see the Philippines become wealthy and prosperous like Greece, and the Greeks can help the people of the Philippines, and the people of the Philippines can help the Greeks.

Salute,

Tony V.

[josh]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/24/asia/vietnam-condom-sold-new-scli-intl/index.html

364,000 (or so) used condoms being sold as new were seized in Vietnam.

It is unknown how many had already been sold.

[josh]

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/mount-everest-height-intl-hnk-scli/index.html

[josh]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/18/asia/japan-traffic-jam-intl-hnk-scli/index.html

1000 people stuck in their cars overnight because of a 9 mile long traffic jam!

[barton]

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/04/27/987618404/china-says-it-has-ended-poverty-is-that-true

Interesting look at how China is trying to end rural poverty.  A YMMV situation.

Some do well, happily rolling in the shiitake.

[Holly Martins]

Starving, the inmates ate a cat.  Raw.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/02/28/the-taliban-confront-the-realities-of-power-afghanistan

Another look at the country that will have you again asking something like, two-plus trillion dollars...and THIS is where they are? 

[Holly Martins]

The Talibans latest betrayal of Afghan girls is especially cruel because the regime knew the international community was watching girls access to schools as it considered financial support and, eventually, diplomatic recognition. With the promised reopening of schools to girls on the way, aid sources had been showing flexibility: Just three weeks ago, the World Bank released 1 billion from a frozen trust fund, 600 million of which, channeled through the United Nations and NGOs, would provide short-term support for health, education and other basic services. The U.N. Security Council has just reauthorized the U.N. mission in Afghanistan to help coordinate aid and maintain contacts between Afghanistan and the rest of the world...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/03/23/taliban-has-broken-promise-afghan-girls-us-must-hold-them-accountable/

Accessible version:

https://archive.ph/8Oql7

[josh]

The Talibans latest betrayal of Afghan girls is especially cruel because the regime knew the international community was watching girls access to schools as it considered financial support and, eventually, diplomatic recognition. With the promised reopening of schools to girls on the way, aid sources had been showing flexibility: Just three weeks ago, the World Bank released 1 billion from a frozen trust fund, 600 million of which, channeled through the United Nations and NGOs, would provide short-term support for health, education and other basic services. The U.N. Security Council has just reauthorized the U.N. mission in Afghanistan to help coordinate aid and maintain contacts between Afghanistan and the rest of the world...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/03/23/taliban-has-broken-promise-afghan-girls-us-must-hold-them-accountable/

Accessible version:

https://archive.ph/8Oql7

I don't see it as cruel. I see it as predictable behavior.

Anybody who expected the Taliban was going to allow this to move forward has to have been smoking something - and that includes the families of the girls.

The monetary sources had to play along and put up the money where the Taliban could try to grab it, if only to expose them (yet again) for who they are.