Listen to a reading of this article: Fox News's fabulously popular right wing pundit Tucker Carlson has ratcheted up his show's anti-China propaganda yet again, introducing his interview with Brazil's rightist president Jair Bolsonaro with a psychotic rant against Beijing that, were it about Moscow, would have looked perfectly at home among even the most demented mainstream liberal punditry at the height of Russiagate hysteria around 2018.
I'm going to admit it: I'm one of those who can see all the BS marketing propaganda about Russia & Ukraine - yet I remain deeply sceptical about China.
As an Australian, it is easy for me to understand that Russia is in no way a threat to us, and should not be considered an enemy. (Besides having looked at some of the historical background of the Ukraine invasion, Russia's position re NATO, the Ukraine attacks on the Donbas, and so on.)
It is also easy to see that Australia has been manipulated by the US, from "All the way with LBJ" for the war in Vietnam, to the sacking of the Whitlam (Labor) government in 1975, and most recently (FFS) with our newly minted PM Albanese attending the NATO summit in Madrid last week.
I'm willing to keep a more open mind about China, especially around the potential for propaganda (which operates in both directions, of course). But my direct experience here is that China has been taking over more and more of this country, and I don't like it. I don't like that the whole area in which I live (in south suburban Brisbane) has become a second Chinatown, with Chinese shops starting to dominate the local shopping centres. Not in an interesting way, either.
I don't like that a Chinese company has a 99 year lease on the Port of Darwin - and that similar Chinese companies now have controlling interests in our energy companies (& other infrastructure), agricultural production, and mining.
I lived and worked in Japan for 3 years, a few decades back, and I've travelled a lot in SE Asia. But I don't want my own country to be turned into a Chinese colony. I don't like the Chinese social credit system, and I don't want it here.
I'm willing to be open to the possibility that most of the protests in Hong Kong were caused by CIA agents, and similarly that most of the "human rights abuses" that we hear about, are simply anti-China propaganda.
However, I also don't want to blindly accept the other position, that China is acting from pure benevolence.
China is a huge country, with a huge need for natural resources, including food, water, and minerals. It makes sense for us to accept China as a valuable trading partner - but not to allow them to exploit us.
I think we should be looking after our own interests as a country, not just following the US in its military exploits, or allowing China to rape us.
Anyhow, I shall continue to try to keep a balanced view, so thank you Caitlin, for presenting this perspective.
Thank you for revealing this. I've had the sense that Tucker is a double propaganda agent--mixing lies in with truth so you swallow the whole. And on Africa, don't forget the 14 countries forced to use the African franc. Currency colonization is why Quaddafi got a French bullet to the brain for intending to create the Pan-African dinar backed by Libyan gold.
I’m a regular TC viewer, but after this piece, I’ll be paying closer attention. However, to think that our uni-party rule is not influenced by the CCP is naïve . . . at best. Hell, Mitch Turtleface is married to a CCP operative. Also, that you continue to use PayPal via your support system is as equally problematic as Tucker’s past. They are full-tilt narrative control.
Thanks for clarifying that. I saw Tucker's rant at Bolsonaro's palace and thought to myself, i've not seen evidence yet of China taking over countries. Where's the evidence?? Tucker sure didn't supply any. He just made insinuations. The right is fixated on China like the libs are on Russia. Everyone gets someone to hate. How nice.
Anyways if there is some evidence that China is taking over countries in Latin America or Africa lets see it. As far as them taking over America, well, how paranoid do we want to be?
Brilliant piece. Timely. Caitlin, you made plenty of essential points.
Further to your comments, I'd add that the US is not trying to halt China's rise per se. Washington wishes to control its second biggest creditor by using a raft of passive-aggressive policies.
Washington wants trade with China, but on US terms. Ideally, Washington wants China to further develop the cynical deal of yester-year: leverage the exploitation of Chinese labour for US manufacturing, use trade surpluses with the US to invest in US treasury bills (the geopolitical equivalent of protection money) and incentivise the allocation of favours and graft by Chinese firms to US politicians.
To maintain Chinese vulnerability to US pressure, the US needs China to remain reliant on maritime trade routes. The Belt and Road initiative establishes the physical and financial infrastructure for Eurasian integration. It has a maritime dimension, but will provide land based transportation capacity that would reduce China's exposure to the risk of a naval blockade by the US and its allies.
China is frustrated and unhappy with the US. They would vastly prefer to see the US look after the Rust Belt properly. Beijing is always frightened by protectionism within the US and they are disappointed/amazed at the way that Washington neglects its own people. The new Yellow Peril narrative on offer from sections of the US establishment is a threat to us all, as well as ethically and intellectually bankrupt.
The people who have not been and will not be duped by Carlson , or "Tucker," are those millions of Americans under the yoke of neoliberalism and in lifelong bondage to the banks: it takes more than propaganda to make you believe you're not half starved when you are, or that you are better off without that lifesaving operation you can't afford. Blaming China or Russia is a ruse with a short shelf life. The whole idea behind democracy is that it is virtually impossible to control indefinitely and subtly, people who are deeply dissatisfied.
Perhaps you should take a small break. I've noticed your last few columns have been based more on emotion and less on reason. This is article is outrage porn, nothing more, nothing less. You could have just disagreed with Tucker, but the "Everything I Don't Like Is Propaganda" position, is low brow.
I was surprised that Tucker Carlson visited Brazil to boost Bozo's popularity (that's how we call this clown named Bolsonaro). Won't really matter though, he is in desperate mode. All polls in the last 30 months show him losing the election. He and his minions in Congress even changed the constitution to allow for a boost of 10 BILLION dollars to be spent, in election period, as a free handoff to poor people. He's literally trying to buy the election results, and will fail, nonetheless.
China doesn't need to nor should it suck America's ass but it does owe a debt of gratitude in the least. China is not China without America handing over its industrial base to China despite the motivation for doing that. Yes, it was for labor arbitrage purposes which gave the shaft to America's industrial workers and middle class, but Wall Street knew China would reverse engineer and still went ahead anyway. Had Wall Street not done that, China would not be the China we see today. It would still be largely feudal and agrarian and who knows, maybe that would have been better for the world and better for China and actually probably so.
Tucker's brand of conservativism and civic nationalism makes sense when you realise that sections of the elite are now concerned about their own future in an impoverished, Third World, America with a deeply fragmented population. Tucker is laying the groundwork for an ethnically inclusive brand of American nationalism to integrate Asian and Hispanic voters into a new electoral base for the centre Right. The Democrats are in trouble for the immediate future because the electoral politics of the New Deal simply no longer work now that social peace is breaking down. The old remedies (welfare and secure employment) are not available and the more recent ones (cheap consumer credit and the prospect of college as a route to upward mobility) is failing.
The Establishment is split: some oligarchs want a trade war and nationalism, others prefer to crush the middle and working classes under the pretence of repressing white supremacy and saving 'our democracy'. Tucker supports the former.
WOW - Brilliant, I sometimes think I am alone in my views - then along comes Ms. Johnstone to re-assure me I am not alone. I have always disliked Tucker - but when he reported correctly about Julian Assange or the Syrian War Crime - I thought maybe he was becoming a better Journalist. This is most likely allowed so Tucker can gather some credibility and continue with his Establishment Propaganda appearing to be anti-establishment. I always remember that Tucker got his start in broadcasting on CNN and even had that horrible show "Crossfire" that epitomizes the "inside baseball" of American Journalism. I knew Anderson Cooper was former CIA - had no idea Tucker had applied - I always thought he was the heir to the Swanson frozen dinner fortune - can anyone shed any light onto what Tuckers' family is involved in?
His father was CIA and he worked (works) for NED, but just like the CIA is full of drug dealers who get their own in at the same time as doing the bidding of the state oligarchy. Tucker is mostly working for himself, his audience a bunch of tools, or is it trolls, he rents out.
I'm going to admit it: I'm one of those who can see all the BS marketing propaganda about Russia & Ukraine - yet I remain deeply sceptical about China.
As an Australian, it is easy for me to understand that Russia is in no way a threat to us, and should not be considered an enemy. (Besides having looked at some of the historical background of the Ukraine invasion, Russia's position re NATO, the Ukraine attacks on the Donbas, and so on.)
It is also easy to see that Australia has been manipulated by the US, from "All the way with LBJ" for the war in Vietnam, to the sacking of the Whitlam (Labor) government in 1975, and most recently (FFS) with our newly minted PM Albanese attending the NATO summit in Madrid last week.
I'm willing to keep a more open mind about China, especially around the potential for propaganda (which operates in both directions, of course). But my direct experience here is that China has been taking over more and more of this country, and I don't like it. I don't like that the whole area in which I live (in south suburban Brisbane) has become a second Chinatown, with Chinese shops starting to dominate the local shopping centres. Not in an interesting way, either.
I don't like that a Chinese company has a 99 year lease on the Port of Darwin - and that similar Chinese companies now have controlling interests in our energy companies (& other infrastructure), agricultural production, and mining.
I lived and worked in Japan for 3 years, a few decades back, and I've travelled a lot in SE Asia. But I don't want my own country to be turned into a Chinese colony. I don't like the Chinese social credit system, and I don't want it here.
I'm willing to be open to the possibility that most of the protests in Hong Kong were caused by CIA agents, and similarly that most of the "human rights abuses" that we hear about, are simply anti-China propaganda.
However, I also don't want to blindly accept the other position, that China is acting from pure benevolence.
China is a huge country, with a huge need for natural resources, including food, water, and minerals. It makes sense for us to accept China as a valuable trading partner - but not to allow them to exploit us.
I think we should be looking after our own interests as a country, not just following the US in its military exploits, or allowing China to rape us.
Anyhow, I shall continue to try to keep a balanced view, so thank you Caitlin, for presenting this perspective.
Thank you for revealing this. I've had the sense that Tucker is a double propaganda agent--mixing lies in with truth so you swallow the whole. And on Africa, don't forget the 14 countries forced to use the African franc. Currency colonization is why Quaddafi got a French bullet to the brain for intending to create the Pan-African dinar backed by Libyan gold.
I’m a regular TC viewer, but after this piece, I’ll be paying closer attention. However, to think that our uni-party rule is not influenced by the CCP is naïve . . . at best. Hell, Mitch Turtleface is married to a CCP operative. Also, that you continue to use PayPal via your support system is as equally problematic as Tucker’s past. They are full-tilt narrative control.
TL;DR Tucker: "We're only ones who get to colonize Brazil!"
The joke in Africa goes as follows:
When a Chinese delegation visits, they deliver a hospital. When a western delegation visits, they deliver a lecture.
Upon hearing this, some western commentator wishes to remind us that Chinese aid has strings attached and you need to think twice...
And there's the lecture, right on cue.
Thanks for clarifying that. I saw Tucker's rant at Bolsonaro's palace and thought to myself, i've not seen evidence yet of China taking over countries. Where's the evidence?? Tucker sure didn't supply any. He just made insinuations. The right is fixated on China like the libs are on Russia. Everyone gets someone to hate. How nice.
Anyways if there is some evidence that China is taking over countries in Latin America or Africa lets see it. As far as them taking over America, well, how paranoid do we want to be?
Brilliant piece. Timely. Caitlin, you made plenty of essential points.
Further to your comments, I'd add that the US is not trying to halt China's rise per se. Washington wishes to control its second biggest creditor by using a raft of passive-aggressive policies.
Washington wants trade with China, but on US terms. Ideally, Washington wants China to further develop the cynical deal of yester-year: leverage the exploitation of Chinese labour for US manufacturing, use trade surpluses with the US to invest in US treasury bills (the geopolitical equivalent of protection money) and incentivise the allocation of favours and graft by Chinese firms to US politicians.
To maintain Chinese vulnerability to US pressure, the US needs China to remain reliant on maritime trade routes. The Belt and Road initiative establishes the physical and financial infrastructure for Eurasian integration. It has a maritime dimension, but will provide land based transportation capacity that would reduce China's exposure to the risk of a naval blockade by the US and its allies.
China is frustrated and unhappy with the US. They would vastly prefer to see the US look after the Rust Belt properly. Beijing is always frightened by protectionism within the US and they are disappointed/amazed at the way that Washington neglects its own people. The new Yellow Peril narrative on offer from sections of the US establishment is a threat to us all, as well as ethically and intellectually bankrupt.
The people who have not been and will not be duped by Carlson , or "Tucker," are those millions of Americans under the yoke of neoliberalism and in lifelong bondage to the banks: it takes more than propaganda to make you believe you're not half starved when you are, or that you are better off without that lifesaving operation you can't afford. Blaming China or Russia is a ruse with a short shelf life. The whole idea behind democracy is that it is virtually impossible to control indefinitely and subtly, people who are deeply dissatisfied.
If Carson was anti-establishment, he'd be unemployed.
Perhaps you should take a small break. I've noticed your last few columns have been based more on emotion and less on reason. This is article is outrage porn, nothing more, nothing less. You could have just disagreed with Tucker, but the "Everything I Don't Like Is Propaganda" position, is low brow.
I was surprised that Tucker Carlson visited Brazil to boost Bozo's popularity (that's how we call this clown named Bolsonaro). Won't really matter though, he is in desperate mode. All polls in the last 30 months show him losing the election. He and his minions in Congress even changed the constitution to allow for a boost of 10 BILLION dollars to be spent, in election period, as a free handoff to poor people. He's literally trying to buy the election results, and will fail, nonetheless.
China doesn't need to nor should it suck America's ass but it does owe a debt of gratitude in the least. China is not China without America handing over its industrial base to China despite the motivation for doing that. Yes, it was for labor arbitrage purposes which gave the shaft to America's industrial workers and middle class, but Wall Street knew China would reverse engineer and still went ahead anyway. Had Wall Street not done that, China would not be the China we see today. It would still be largely feudal and agrarian and who knows, maybe that would have been better for the world and better for China and actually probably so.
Tucker's brand of conservativism and civic nationalism makes sense when you realise that sections of the elite are now concerned about their own future in an impoverished, Third World, America with a deeply fragmented population. Tucker is laying the groundwork for an ethnically inclusive brand of American nationalism to integrate Asian and Hispanic voters into a new electoral base for the centre Right. The Democrats are in trouble for the immediate future because the electoral politics of the New Deal simply no longer work now that social peace is breaking down. The old remedies (welfare and secure employment) are not available and the more recent ones (cheap consumer credit and the prospect of college as a route to upward mobility) is failing.
The Establishment is split: some oligarchs want a trade war and nationalism, others prefer to crush the middle and working classes under the pretence of repressing white supremacy and saving 'our democracy'. Tucker supports the former.
WOW - Brilliant, I sometimes think I am alone in my views - then along comes Ms. Johnstone to re-assure me I am not alone. I have always disliked Tucker - but when he reported correctly about Julian Assange or the Syrian War Crime - I thought maybe he was becoming a better Journalist. This is most likely allowed so Tucker can gather some credibility and continue with his Establishment Propaganda appearing to be anti-establishment. I always remember that Tucker got his start in broadcasting on CNN and even had that horrible show "Crossfire" that epitomizes the "inside baseball" of American Journalism. I knew Anderson Cooper was former CIA - had no idea Tucker had applied - I always thought he was the heir to the Swanson frozen dinner fortune - can anyone shed any light onto what Tuckers' family is involved in?
....reason he is still on the air!....little bit 'smarter' tham 'madcow' baffun!...
I think he is using his "cunning" by having Tulsi on with him.
His father was CIA and he worked (works) for NED, but just like the CIA is full of drug dealers who get their own in at the same time as doing the bidding of the state oligarchy. Tucker is mostly working for himself, his audience a bunch of tools, or is it trolls, he rents out.
https://www.mintpressnews.com/tucker-carlson-biography-nicaragua-cia/279782/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QHoW8Vf8wg