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from the the-truth-is-what-we-say-it-is dept.
TechCrunch:
"China's web scrubbers have been busy banning a collection of terms and dropping the hammer on user accounts after the Xi Jinping, the country's premier, got the all-clear to become 'President For Life' after the Communist Party moved to amend the constitution to remove an article that limits Presidential terms to two five-year terms."
BBC:
"The comments remaining on the popular Sina Weibo microblog are mostly monosyllabic statements from users simply say they "like" or "approve" the amendments.
They are likely to be from China's "50 Cent Party" - a nickname coined for internet commentators who are paid small amounts to post messages supporting the government's position.
Some posts have attracted thousands of comments - but only a few are available to view. This is traditionally indicative of online censorship by government administrators. "
China Digital Times:
"Following state media's announcement, censorship authorities began work to limit online discussion. CDT Chinese editors found the following terms blocked from being posted on Weibo: [...]"
Sources:
China's web censors go into overdrive as President Xi Jinping consolidates power
China censorship after Xi Jinping presidency extension proposal
(Score: 4, Informative) by Grishnakh on Tuesday February 27 2018, @10:33PM (5 children)
For South Korea and Japan and to some extent Vietnam/Philippines the US has been a great boon, our excess wealth and desire for cheap shit brought Japan and Korea up to the levels of being fully modernized.
Huh? Japan was just as modernized at the onset of WWII as the US was, and these days it makes the US look pretty backwards (take a ride on a Japanese train or subway and then try the same in the US). Losing a big war and then being occupied set them back a bit, but they weren't some backwards country before the war.
There is that conflict between India/China over over the Maldives
Don't worry, the Maldives will barely even exist in a few decades so it'll be moot.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Tuesday February 27 2018, @10:35PM
Don't be a downer. They'll be the next Atlantis!
(Score: 2) by Hartree on Wednesday February 28 2018, @04:55AM (2 children)
"the Maldives will barely even exist in a few decades"
It might just depend on how fast the Chinese can haul in sand. It's amazing how fast some islands in the South China Sea are growing. ;)
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday February 28 2018, @04:00PM (1 child)
Aha!! Maybe that's why they have an interest there! They're going to haul in more sand to shore up the islands, and then take a cut of the tourism profits!
Personally, I still think it'd be pretty cool to build a giant dam across the Strait of Gibraltar, and lower the water level in the Mediterranean. Imagine all the shipwrecks that would be found.
(Score: 2) by Hartree on Wednesday February 28 2018, @04:38PM
Hey, the Army Corps of Engineers diverted the water from Niagara falls in the late 60s, so I wouldn't bet against it. Especially if the Chinese are involved. They do big projects (Three Gorges, One Belt One Road, Tibet Railway for examples).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 28 2018, @07:33PM
Both Japan's modernization, and Japan's intervention in WW2 were both thanks to US attacks on their autonomy.
First during the Opening of Japan by forcing them to open trade with the US, then again during WW2 by cutting off the oil shipments they needed for their war effort against the surrounding Asian States and Russia. One could daresay the modernized Japan capable of its conflicts between the 1860s and WW2 were directly spurred by the US Opening, because prior to it their xenophobia and travel restrictions kept Japanese from travelling to America for education. Go read up on it, the big surge in American based education in Japan was directly a result of American intervention in Japan, leading up to Admiral Yamamoto's warning about coming into conflict with them during WW2... himself an American collegiate graduate.
American Foreign Policy has been responsible for a *LOT* more damage than most people are aware of, and almost as much comparatively as the rest of European expeditionary activities from the 1400s to 1900s.