uawchild
uawchild's JournalChina's Hunger For iPhones Keeps Growing
Source: Huffington Post
Sales in China accounted for nearly a quarter of Apple's total third-quarter sales.
Slowdown? What slowdown?
Apple Inc reported blockbuster iPhone sales in China, suggesting that worries about the company's growth trajectory in the world's second-largest economy are overdone.
Apple's shares rose nearly 3 percent in early trading on Wednesday.
The stock has lost about 7 percent of its value in the past three months as investors fret that the slowing Chinese economy would derail Apple's successful run in the country.
Apple's sales in Greater China, including Taiwan and Hong Kong, nearly doubled in the third quarter, accounting for nearly a quarter of the company's total sales.
Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/chinas-hunger-for-iphones-keeps-growing_5630dc28e4b00aa54a4c0019
Chinese communists checking their "Man Made Island Bases" apps. /sarcasm
Reading about iPhone sales in China sorta helps deflates the media's constant fear/war mongering about that country, for me at least. ymmv
Dangerous "Assertions" of the Freedom of Navigation
by Amitai Etzioni, Professor of international relations, George Washington University
"The United States' sailing of a Navy warship within 12 miles of the Chinese-built island of Subi Reef militarizes the growing conflict over which state (or states) has sovereignty rights over disputed islands in the South China Sea. Moreover, this military exercise is more aggressive than previous ones in which the United States "asserted" its self-appointed role as the world's "cop" who is charged with enforcing the freedom of navigation. Obviously, beefing up these islands--by adding sands and buildings--does not per se interfere with anyone's freedom of navigation. If China uses these islands to foster its territorial claims, other states can challenge these assertions in the courts and protest them through diplomatic démarches instead of with warships. Indeed, China has often settled such disputes in recent decades using negotiations that have led to settlements that neutral parties consider to be fair ones. Resorting instead to military means is likely to increase tensions between the United States and China and could lead to military clashes.
The United States has long claimed that it serves the global common good by engaging in little-known operations called "freedom of navigation assertions" (FONA). In carrying out these assertions, which the United States carries out against friend and foe alike, the United States has appointed itself as global judge. It unilaterally decides whether a claim violates freedom of navigation, provides no opportunity for those so charged to justify their claims, and uses its Navy to execute what it considers to be the proper corrective--that is, sending its warships to violate the territorial rights claimed by the other state.
Media reports indicate that the United States is asserting itself now, in this area, because its allies are nervous about the United States' reliability as an ally in light of what some see as China's aggression. Note, though, that China has carefully avoided using its military in practically all territorial disputes in the South China Sea; it has specifically used fishing vessels and dredging vessels in order not to escalate the conflict, even though it views the islands at issue as part of its territory. "
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amitai-etzioni/dangerous-assertions-of-t_b_8408524.html
The EU's stinking refugee deal with Turkey
Merkel seemingly has a solution to an increasingly fraught problem, while Erdogan is able to present himself as an indispensable statesman in the run-up to an election, writes Malik [Reuters]
"The whole point of the deal is to allow the EU to push refugees beyond its borders. Over the past few weeks, the European Union has been stitching together a deal with Turkey to try to resolve Europe's refugee crisis.
More than half-a-million migrants and refugees have arrived at the EU's southern and eastern borders this year alone. It has led to EU's eastern borders being sealed off and bitter arguments over who should take responsibility for the influx.
More than 3,000 migrants have drowned at sea, thousands more are trapped in freezing, muddy fields along Europe's borders. The chaos has undermined the credibility of the EU and boosted the fortunes of anti-immigration groups.
The majority of migrants have come through Turkey, hence the EU's desire to seal a deal with Ankara. The exact terms are still being hammered out, but the EU seems to have promised Turkey up to $3.3bn to help it host Syrian refugees, take back "irregular migrants" who have entered the EU, and block off the migrant route to the EU by "upgrading" its surveillance and patrols.
In return, Turkey has been promised not just cash, but also the easing of visa restrictions on its citizens travelling to the EU, and an "unfreezing" of Turkey's bid for EU membership.
Many have described this as a "win-win" deal. It is certainly beneficial for politicians on either side, in particular, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan." "
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2015/10/eu-stinking-refugee-deal-turkey-151026093515679.html
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"Many have described this as a "win-win" deal."
Yeah, right, if you only take into account the EU and Turkey and ignore the refugees, I suppose it is.
How can Turkey, relatively poor nation, handle the massive refugee influx adequately when the vastly richer and larger European Union cannot? A meagre "aid package" is supposed to suffice? In my opinion this deal is a "Win-Win-Lose" deal, with the refugees being the losers.
Tony Abbott urges Europe to adopt Australian policies in refugee crisis
"In speech honouring Margaret Thatcher, former Australian PM says instinct to ‘love your neighbour’ is ‘leading much of Europe into catastrophic error’
Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott has called on Europe to take on Australia’s border security policies or risk “catastrophic error” and urged Western nations to “stand up for ourselves”.
In his first major speech since being forced out, Abbott said Europe should close its borders to migrants.
“The Australian experience proves that the only way to dissuade people seeking to come from afar is not to let them in,” he said."
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/28/tony-abbott-urges-europe-to-adopt-australian-border-policies
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I wonder why this charming, sensitive man is the _former_ Austalian prime minister. /sarcasm
More Trouble in Coal Country: Health Care at Risk for 12,000 Retired Miners and Their Families
"Peabody Energy, the nation’s largest coal company, is seeking release from a pledge to pay into a health insurance fund.
John R. Leach worked for Peabody Energy Corp. in western Kentucky for 23 years. When he retired, he and his wife Rhonda relied on his pension and health benefits not only for themselves but to care for two severely disabled adult children. So when Peabody notified them in 2007 that their benefits were now the responsibility of a spinoff called Patriot Coal, they had a worrisome premonition.
“We said, ‘There’s something going on here that’s not right,’” Rhonda Leach said.
The family’s worries were justified. When Patriot filed for bankruptcy two years ago, retiree benefits for thousands of mining families were put at risk. While Peabody eventually agreed to pay for some of those costs, Patriot is now back in financial trouble. This time around, Peabody is quietly seeking to get out of paying for any of its remaining agreed-upon obligations to its retirees.
“All I could think is, you dirty, low-down rotten scoundrels. How could anyone with a conscience do something like this?” Rhonda Leach said. "
http://www.propublica.org/article/health-care-at-risk-for-12000-retired-coal-miners-and-their-families
“Does anyone have a plan?” Here’s how we fix decades of overseas neo-conservative adventurism
Author: Patrick Smith is Salon’s foreign affairs columnist. A longtime correspondent abroad, chiefly for the International Herald Tribune and The New Yorker, he is also an essayist, critic and editor. His most recent books are “Time No Longer: Americans After the American Century” (Yale, 2013) and Somebody Else’s Century: East and West in a Post-Western World (Pantheon, 2010).
"We have accepted the horrors of American exceptionalism for too long. Here's a progressive foreign policy blueprint
“Tell me, what exactly is ‘an authentically progressive foreign policy.’”
That is the request of a reader responding to last week’s column in the comment thread that follows it. The reference is to my observation that any such policy would probably prompt the policy cliques—the deep state in the column’s terms—to subvert the political candidate who dared advance it.
I do not think this is a reasonable request. Nor do I think Mark Twain and the other anti-imperialists who rose against the Spanish-American War would. I am certain the late Chalmers Johnson would not: His final book was “Dismantling the Empire: America’s Last Best Hope.” Or William Appleman Williams, who titled his last book “Empire as a Way of Life.” Or the late Gabriel Kolko, the leading revisionist among Cold War historians. Or the late William Pfaff, the distinguished columnist and author of—his last book—“The Tragedy of Manifest Destiny.”
...
And it is a lot more important to do so. Any progressive foreign policy worthy of the designation must, must, must be anti-imperialist, know itself as such and let all others know it as such, too.
The reasoning here is simple.
First is definition. No foreign policy that does not take America’s withdrawal from its now-preposterous imperial overreach as its starting point can possibly compute out as progressive. Shutting down the empire is the sine qua non—the foundation stone on which all else rests. All the talk of the reluctant imperialists, “If not us, who?” Forget it: self-justifying rubbish.
“However ambitious President Obama’s domestic plans, one unacknowledged issue has the potential to destroy any reform efforts he might launch,” Chalmers Johnson wrote in “Dismantling,” a few months after Obama took office. “Think of it as the 800-pound gorilla in the American living room: our longstanding reliance on imperialism and militarism in our relations with other countries and the vast, potentially ruinous global empire of bases that goes with it.”
Substitute any name you wish for Obama’s and the point stands.
Second is the power of language. Naming the gorilla is transforming. Listen to Bernie Sanders, whether or not you like him. When he says “socialism” or “universal health care” he changes the conversation. There are two fewer taboos to turn public discourse into cotton wool. It is the same in the case of foreign policy."
http://www.salon.com/2015/10/28/does_anyone_have_a_plan_heres_how_we_fix_decades_of_overseas_neo_conservative_adventurism/
Don't think we live in a propaganda bubble pushing for a new cold war?
I like to post news articles about different countries to illustrate that the entire world in not consumed by war and militarism. I use google, of course, and usually cast a broad net by searching on things like "Brazil news", as an example. I then select what I think is an interesting non-war mongering story and post it here to DU.
Well... I was struck this morning that when I googled on "Russia news", Virtually, NO, make that literally all you get back are articles on war, threats of war and insanity like "Is Russia threatening to cut the internet" stuff. Good Lord. I gave up after looking at 4-5 pages of search results like that.
The only source of non-war articles related to Russia are from Russia's own media sources, and god knows that we can't use those as "reliable sources" since its all state run propaganda, right? Unlike our corporate media...
Look for yourself -- google "russia news". EVERYTHING is wall to wall fear and war mongering from our reputable news sources. Googling "china news" isn't so bad -- yet -- but the drum beat of stories about "man made Chinese island bases" is starting to heat up too.
Honestly, you would think someone actually WANTS to start WWIII, or at least a new and expensive cold war.
Yemen hospital run by Medecins Sans Frontieres hit by Saudi-led air strike, group says
Source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation
A Yemeni hospital run by medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has been bombed in a Saudi-led air strike, wrecking the facility and wounding several people, the hospital director says.
"The MSF facility in Saada, (north) Yemen was hit by several air strikes last night with patients and staff inside the facility," MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders, said in a tweet.
A Saudi-led Arab coalition intervened in Yemen's civil war in March to try to restore its government after it was toppled by Houthi forces.
Yemen's state news agency Saba, run by the Iran-allied Houthis, quoted the Heedan hospital director as saying several people were injured in the attack, which occurred in Houthi-controlled north.
"The air raids resulted in the destruction of the entire hospital with all that was inside — devices and medical supplies — and the moderate wounding of several people," Ali Mughli said.
Read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-27/yemen-hospital-hit-by-saudi-led-air-strike/6890732
Open season on Hospitals, it seems. First the US, then Russia, now the Kingdom(re dictatorship) of Saudi Arabia. The use of force in the middle east as a means of achieving political ends must stop; it's continuation will only result in more senseless carnage and civilian deaths.
"The air raids resulted in the destruction of the entire hospital with all that was inside — devices and medical supplies — and the moderate wounding of several people," Ali Mughli said.
Huh -- "moderate wounding" indeed -- that's a new coinage for civilian casualties.
Poll Shows Voters Reject Presidential Candidates in Brazil
Source: Rio Times Online (Brazil)
The recent political and economic crisis in Brazil have taken their toll on Brazilians voters, leaving them weary of politicians in general. A poll released on Monday, October 26th, shows a growing rejection by voters of all the current possible presidential candidates for the 2018 election.
According to polling company, Ibope, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva received the highest rejection rate of all, 55 percent. According to analysts the increase in rejection is a clear sign of the on-going corruption scandals which have left the Rousseff Administration in shambles. In May of 2014 Lula’s rejection was at its historical average of thirty-three.
The latest poll, however, also shows that former presidential candidates who may try to run again, like PSDB’s Aecio Neves, Geraldo Alckmin and Jose Serra, and Rede’s Marina Silva also registered a growing rejection by Brazilian voters.
Read more: http://riotimesonline.com/brazil-news/rio-politics/voters-reject-possible-presidential-candidates-in-brazil/
Ah, somethings are universal, eh?
Exclusive: Freedom Caucus of U.S. House envisions honeymoon with Ryan
Source: Reuters
Leading hard-line conservatives in the House of Representatives said they could imagine a peaceful honeymoon with Paul Ryan if he becomes speaker of the House, as expected, provided he takes steps they favor to decentralize House power.
In a group interview with Reuters, three of the founding members of the House Freedom Caucus said that while they had constantly battled with outgoing Speaker John Boehner, Ryan understands that individual lawmakers need to help develop the legislative agenda.
"With that (approach) there would be less conflict, hopefully, because it would be member driven," said Representative Mark Meadows of North Carolina, a second-term lawmaker and sponsor of a July motion that sought to oust Boehner.
Meadows' motion was never voted on, but it created much of the friction leading up to Boehner's decision to leave, which he announced last month, stunning Washington and thrusting the Freedom Caucus onto Capitol Hill's center stage.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/27/us-usa-congress-freedom-idUSKCN0SL00720151027
Freedom Caucus? Do these nut bag's re-name themselves when they sully their old brand-name too much? These are just the old Tea Party causes idiots, right?
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