Joel Atkinson

I have a big issue on how Chinese people are depicted in this cartoon. China's oppressive dictatorship dont really allow its people express freely. Cartoonist Kal is naively assuming my people’s reactions to the world chaos situation. Chinese people don’t hv the luxury to laugh just because Trump is absurd. We are desperately observing how Xi will take advantage on Trump’s madness to deepening its oppression on us

BREAKING: "We didn't tell anybody about [Iran] because we wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Why didn't you tell me about Pearl Harbor?" - President Trump

Good piece (and thread) by Lizzi Lee. She notes that "In fact Xi Jinping has long been frustrated with his bureaucrats. He complained about officials who “rack up a mountain of debt, pat their butts, and walk away,” chasing short-term growth at long-term cost." The irony, of course, is that wasted investment, rising debt, and a short-term orientation might not be caused by misaligned incentives or bureaucratic incompetence so much as by Beijing's growth model itself. The problem, in other words, is structural – because China cannot get consumption growth to outpace GDP growth, it cannot change bureaucratic behavior as long as it continues to set high GDP growth target. Getting consumption growth to outpace GDP growth in a meaningful way would require either -- a productivity miracle of historic proportions, one in which higher productivity shows up almost wholly as higher household income rather than as higher business profits or government revenue, -- a substantial (and possibly disruptive) redistribution of total income (GDP) from government, businesses and the rich to ordinary households, or -- much slower GDP growth. The first outcome would obviously be the preferred one, but it may depend too much on wishful thinking, especially as productivity growth has actually been declining for years. The second outcome would require major (and possibly disruptive) structural reforms that so far Beijing has been unwilling to consider, probably because these would anyway lead to the third outcome, which Beijing is so far unwilling to accept. This means that the only way local governments can meet Beijing's GDP growth target is by directing large amounts of cheap credit into rising property, infrastructure and manufacturing investment, whether or not these investments are economically justified. Perhaps not surprisingly, this is effectively what those much-criticized officials have done. Their behavior has responded more or less correctly to their incentives, which in turn were not the result of absent-mindedness but rather of the country's economic growth model. The fault, in other words, may lie not in the inefficient implementation of economic policies so much as in the policies themselves.

"Although Trump claimed the war would end soon, the assassination of Larijani will likely cause the conflict to escalate and spread. Iran will follow the logic of 'using war to stop war,' employing heavier, long-range missiles as a deterrent. With the advantage of being on their home turf, Iran prefers to drag the conflict into a 'war of attrition'" - Sun Degang, Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Fudan University. Quotes from Sun's interview with Liberation Daily, the official mouthpiece of the PLA. Published today: "Larijani was a veteran politician who maintained close ties with the clerical establishment, the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC), and the political bureaucracy. His primary responsibility was to act as the convener and coordinator between the Supreme Leader, the President, and the military. Following Khamenei’s assassination, Larijani played the pivotal role in organizing the transitional leadership, advancing the power handover, and coordinating counter-strikes against the U.S. and Israel." "Unlike clearly defined hardliners or reformers, Larijani was seen as a pragmatist who prioritized the stability of the system. He was even appreciated by some in the West for his flexibility during nuclear negotiations. However, the sudden U.S.-Israeli attacks during a period of negotiation crossed a red line, forcing his stance to turn significantly more aggressive before his death." "Israel’s strategy is 'targeted killing' based on priority—hitting not just military commanders but key figures in the religious and administrative systems to hollow out the leadership. However, the impact on the war is limited. Iran has complete succession plans at every level. Larijani’s death will not significantly disrupt the operation of the National Security Council; the political structure will remain stable even as a new Secretary is appointed."