Good morning,
China
Chinese President Xi Jinping marked 100 years of communism with State sponsored parades and celebrations, but also with a warning to the West.
He said foreign powers will “get their heads bashed bloody against the Great Wall of Steel forged by over 1.4 billion Chinese people," ff they attempt to bully or influence the country, and stated Beijing would not allow "sanctimonious preaching", in remarks widely seen as directed at the US which has criticized China on human rights from Hong Kong to China’s detention of more than a million Uighurs over the past few years in what the state defines as "re-education camps".
On Taiwan Mr Xi said China maintains an "unshakeable commitment" to unification.
China is set to overtake America as the number one economy in the World and is rapidly, some say alarmingly bolstering its military might.
Afghanistan and Rumsfeld
The U.S. could finish its rapid retreat from Afghanistan within days. 2 trillion dollars has been spent by Western Nations on Operation Enduring Freedom to liberate Afghanistan from Al Qaeda, and its partner the Taliban.
In recent weeks the Taliban has seized many provinces and refused calls to stop fighting.
Last night Donald Rumsfeld the former U.S. Secretary of Defense who engineered the invasion of Afghanistan after 9-11 died. I interviewed Rumsfeld as he launched the invasion of Iraq in 2003 for NBC. Rumsfeld defended both invasions, although they were dramatically different. And he never apologized for his strategy or backed down over the need for war.
Afghanistan was Afghan led with U.S. special forces leading air strikes against the Taliban. Iraq was a huge invasion with more than a hundred thousand U.S. soldiers with armoured tanks pouring over the berm from Kuwait to Iraq for regime change.
But in both cases Rumsfeld was widely criticized for not thinking about the day after, and underestimating counter insurgency operations that would go on for 2 decades.
Bill Cosby
The comedian who was America’s TV family man, and then became a national disgrace for sexually assaulting women, has now been released from prison.
Essentially a court ruled Cosby had been given immunity from prosecution from on investigator and evidence against him was illegally obtained. The courts over turning of the decision is no exoneration.
Cosby was accused of drugging and molesting Andrea Constand, the former Temple University employee whose allegation was the basis of the criminal case, at his estate in 2004. He was charged in 2015 for the alleged attack and arrested just days before the 12-year statute of limitations expired. He was sentenced in 2018. He has said his contact with Constand was consensual. There were many other women who claimed Cosby had drugged them and assaulted them also.
Heat Wave Deaths
It’s unprecedented frighting climate craziness this week in the Pacific North West from the U.S. to Canada with temperatures breaking heat records for days on end, and hundreds of deaths will be attributed to heat stroke and collapse.
Oregon health officials said late Wednesday more than 60 deaths have been tied to the heat, while British Columbia’s chief coroner, Lisa Lapointe, said her office received reports of at least 486 “sudden and unexpected deaths” between Friday and 1 p.m. Wednesday. Normally, she said about 165 people would die in the province over a five-day period.
According to Environment Canada, Lytton recorded temperatures in excess of 49 C on Tuesday afternoon, that’s 120 F.
And now evacuation of local residents in British Columbia have begun because of forest fires sparked by the heat. Climate emergency and yearly it’s getting worse.
Delta Variant
Delta is spreading like wild fire. In L.A. they have recommended mask wearing indoors again. The CDC says mask wearing of vaccinated people is not necessary, although many health officials disagree.
In the UK we are seeing more and more children off schools because of the variant spread. We are limping towards the summer break scheduled in just over a week, and the hope is the virus will subside over the summer, but the fear is a new surge in the fall.
Get vaccinated. Wear masks indoors. Don’t think this is over. It’s unfortunately not.
Have a good day!
Dana
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-57648236
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/30/us/politics/donald-rumsfeld-dead.html
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/historic-northwest-heat-wave-may-have-killed-hundreds-washington-british-columbia-oregon-salem-vancouver-b1876003.html