The Western Propaganda War on Myanmar

March 1, 2021 (Brian Berletic - LD) - In this video I discuss the propaganda war being waged by the Western media on Myanmar - how much of the media cited is funded by the US government via the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). 

I also describe how even media in Thailand is heavily influenced by Western propaganda - repeating conspiracy theories spun by “institutes” funded by Western weapons manufacturers trying to implicate China as being behind the new government - while ignoring documented evidence of US government support for opposition groups opposed to the new government. 

References: 

Thai PBS - Myanmar Journal: Local media defy orders to not use terms “military coup” or “military government”:
https://www.thaipbsworld.com/myanmar-journal-the-people-of-myanmar-have-bigger-things-to-worry-about/
The Strategist (The Australian Strategic Policy Institute) - What’s on the clandestine nightly flights between Myanmar and China?:
https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/whats-on-the-clandestine-nightly-flights-between-myanmar-and-china/
US National Endowment for Democracy - Burma (2020):
https://www.ned.org/region/asia/burma-2020/
The Grayzone - Reuters, BBC, and Bellingcat participated in covert UK Foreign Office-funded programs to “weaken Russia,” leaked docs reveal:
https://thegrayzone.com/2021/02/20/reuters-bbc-uk-foreign-office-russian-media/

Brian Berletic, formally known under the pen name "Tony Cartalucci" is a geopolitical researcher, writer, and video producer (YouTube here and BitChute here) based in Bangkok, Thailand. He is a regular contributor to New Eastern Outlook and more recently, 21st Century Wire. You can support his work via Patreon here. 

US Targets China over Tibet

January 26, 2021 (Brian Berletic - NEO) - The US Congress has recently passed the so-called Tibetan Policy and Support Act (TPSA) - slipped into a COVID-19 relief package and a 1.4 trillion dollar government spending bill, US State Department-funded Voice of America reported in their article, "US Congress Passes Landmark Bill in Support of Tibet." 

The article would claim: 

The U.S. Congress on Monday passed a bill that is expected to upgrade U.S. support for Tibetans in key areas, including sanctioning Chinese officials if they try to appoint the next Dalai Lama.

VOA would also report that: 

It will pave the way for the U.S. government to issue economic and visa sanctions against any Chinese officials who interfere with the succession of the Dalai Lama, and will require China to allow Washington to establish a consulate in Lhasa — the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region – before Beijing can open any more consulates in the U.S.

VOA quoted the exiled "Central Tibetan Administration" (CTA) - who commended the US move. Little was mentioned about how problematic this US support was for an exiled political movement that cannot and does not represent the actual people living inside China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

The bill is a blatant act of US interference in China's internal affairs - and the continuation of over half a century of such interference by the US in Tibet in particular. 

Washington's Long History of Meddling in Tibet 

This most recent move by Washington adds to a long and sordid history of meddling in Tibet, China. 

The US State Department's own Office of the Historian includes in its online collection a 1968 document titled, "Memorandum for the 303 Committee," with the subject noted as, "Status Report on Tibetan Operations."

It discusses "the CIA Tibetan program, parts of which were initiated in 1956," which includes, "political action, propaganda, paramilitary and intelligence operations." 

The document mentions the Dalai Lama and commitments made to him by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). 

US Struggles for Relevance in Southeast Asia

 December 4, 2020 (Tony Cartalucci - NEO) - While many around the globe are hopeful that a change at the White House means a change for US foreign policy - many of the most contentious and disruptive aspects of US foreign policy carried out over the last 4 years were simply a continuation of policy that had already been in motion for years beforehand - and are policies that are unlikely to change any time soon.

This applies especially to Washington's desire to reassert itself in Asia and Southeast Asia specifically in its increasingly desperate bid to "contain" China. 

Lacking any sort of actual incentive for Southeast Asian nations to tilt from China toward the US and its Transatlantic partners in Europe - the US has instead invented a series of "crises" and "concerns" with the two centerpieces being "conflict" in the South China Sea and US "concerns" over nations downstream of Chinese dams built along the Mekong River. 

These downstream nations include Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. 

Just as is the case with America's interference in the South China Sea - nations along the Mekong are constantly pressured to share Washington's "concerns" and work toward "addressing" them by adopting frameworks developed by Washington. 

However, with the exception of Vietnam, these nations all have solid and growing relationships with China - and even Vietnam depends heavily on China economically.

Taiwan: A US Foothold Before a Chinese Tidal Wave

November 27, 2020 (Tony Cartalucci - NEO) - Taiwan has found itself increasingly in the middle of the growing power struggle between a waning US and a rising China. 

Taiwan is recognized by both the UN and the vast majority of the world's nations including (officially) the United States under the One China policy - but Taiwan's pro-independence circles have nonetheless enjoyed large amounts of financial and political support from Washington and has been a point of contention in the region and between Beijing and Washington for decades. 

The most recent example of this - reported by the Taipei Times in their article, "Two Washington-based pro-democracy NGOs to establish offices in Taipei," - was the increased footprint of Washington's notorious regime change front - the National Endowment for Democracy. 

The article would claim (emphasis added): 

Two Washington-based non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI), are to establish offices in Taiwan after they were sanctioned by Beijing last year.

The two institutes, along with the US National Endowment for Democracy (NED), Freedom House and Human Rights Watch were sanctioned last year after speaking in support of Hong Kong democracy activists and as well as being part of China’s tit-for-tat reaction against US President Donald Trump signing the US’ Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act. 

Of course the US NED was not simply "speaking in support" of Hong Kong opposition groups - but was a primary conduit through which US government funding passed to these opposition groups. 

Making the purpose behind the US NED's expansion in Taiwan much clearer was IRI president Daniel Twining's comments claiming (emphasis added): 

From our Taipei base, we will work with our partners to highlight Taiwan’s hard-won democratic lessons, strengthen networks of Asia’s democratic actors and build resilience against malign authoritarian influence in the region... As the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] becomes more aggressive in violating the global rules-based order, now is the time for all democracies ... to invest in strengthening ties with Taiwan.

In other words, the US NED's move in Taiwan is meant to contribute to Washington's wider campaign of encircling and containing not only China but to fuel US-funded unrest targeting China's closest regional allies. 

Social Media as a Weapon

November 16, 2020 (Brian Berletic - LD) - One strongpoint of these US-funded anti-government protests here in Thailand is their social media game.

They claim it's is because it’s a “youth movement” and they are simply better at using technology than the so-called “old” establishment. But this isn't true. The US-funded anti-government protests are so successful on social media because the US-based social media networks they are using have tilted the entire game in their favor. References:

Land Destroyer - Weaponized Social Media Fuels "Youth" Protests:

https://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2020/08/weaponized-social-media-fuels-youth.html

The Nation - Twitter takes on the Army, bans over 900 accounts:

https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30395911

The Guardian - Ex-Facebook president Sean Parker: site made to exploit human 'vulnerability': 

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/nov/09/facebook-sean-parker-vulnerability-brain-psychology

BBC - Facebook emotion experiment sparks criticism: 

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-28051930#:~:text=Facebook%20is%20facing%20criticism%20after,the%20users%20were%20exposed%20to.

New York Times - U.S. Groups Helped Nurture Arab Uprisings:

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/world/15aid.html

US State Department - Announcement on Alliance of Youth Movements Summit, December 3-5:

https://web.archive.org/web/20090205204156/http://www.america.gov/st/texttrans-english/2008/November/20081120122321eaifas0.3440363.html

Forbes - Facebook, Instagram And YouTube Will Now Be Banned, Russians Warned:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2019/09/13/putin-now-plans-100-facebook-instagram-and-youtube-bans-russians-warned/?sh=4de3adf857ff

Reuters - Vietnam's social media crowd swells with new entrant to take on Facebook, Google: 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-vietnam-cybersecurity-idUSKBN1W20NH

US De-Lists Uyghur Terrorist Organization Aimed at China

 November 12, 2020 (Brian Berletic - NEO) - The US State Department quietly de-listed the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) - a terrorist organization linked to Al Qaeda. 

AFP in an article titled, "US removes group targeted by China from terror list," would report: 

The United States said Friday it had removed from its list of terror groups a shadowy faction regularly blamed by China to justify its harsh crackdown in the Muslim-majority Xinjiang region.

In a notice in the Federal Register, which publishes new US laws and rules, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he was revoking the designation of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (Etim) as a "terrorist organization".

The AFP article also claims: 

"Etim was removed from the list because, for more than a decade, there has been no credible evidence that Etim continues to exist," a State Department spokesperson said. 

Yet this - according to US State Department-funded sources themselves - is entirely untrue. This includes articles as recent as 2018 from the Department's own Voice of America admitting the ongoing threat the group still poses not only to China but to the world. 

VOA's 2018 article titled, "Uighur Jihadis in Syria Could Pose Threat," admits that: 

Analysts are warning that the jihadi group Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) in northwestern Syria could pose a danger to Syria’s volatile Idlib province, where efforts continue to keep a fragile Turkey-Russia-brokered cease-fire between Syrian regime forces and the various rebel groups.

In essence - the US State Department is simply removing a known and still very active terrorist organization from its lists to both politically attack and undermine China further - but to also likely provide more direct support to the group and those affiliated with it in Washington's widening conflict against Beijing. 

ETIM has carried out bus bombings, shootings, suicide bombings, mass knife attacks, and other forms of terrorism stretching across a period of more than 20 years. It has been listed by the UN Security Council as a terrorist organization for nearly as long and is still designated as such to this day. 

A post on the UN Security Council's official website titled, "EASTERN TURKISTAN ISLAMIC MOVEMENT," notes that: 

The Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement was listed on 11 September 2002 pursuant to paragraphs 1 and 2 of resolution 1390 (2002) as being associated with Al-Qaida, Usama bin Laden or the Taliban for “participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf or in support of” or “otherwise supporting acts or activities of” Al-Qaida. 

Similar patterns by the US were seen in relation to proxy warfare waged by Washington against the nations of Libya and Syria. Terrorist organizations like the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) were likewise removed from US terror lists despite at the time the group still openly carrying out armed violence. 

West's Anti-Chinese Campaign Failing Spectacularly

 October 22, 2020 (Joseph Thomas - NEO) - Even as AFP tried to depict a recent United Nations human rights meeting as a landmark stand against what it claims are human rights abuses by China in its Xinjiang region, its own article points out just how big a failure it really was and how badly Western influence has waned in general. 

The AFP's headline read, "Nearly 40 nations demand China respect Uighur human rights," and notes that among those "nearly 40" nations were the US, most EU member states, Australia as well as Japan and a handful of other Western client states. 

AFP claims: 

The US, Japan and many EU nations joined a call on Tuesday urging China to respect the human rights of minority Uighurs, and also expressing concern about the situation in Hong Kong.

"We call on China to respect human rights, particularly the rights of persons belonging to religious and ethnic minorities, especially in Xinjiang and Tibet," said German UN ambassador Christoph Heusgen, who led the initiative during of a meeting on human rights.

The initiative, signed by 39 nations, was countered by another presented by Pakistan singed by 55 nations as well as one presented by Cuba singed by 45 nations. Many of the signatories were very telling in regards to Washington's and its Western-led international order's waning power.  

Despite the West's anti-Chinese Xinjiang propaganda campaign focused on the alleged abuses of Xinjiang's Uighur minority who are predominately Muslim, not a single Muslim-majority nation backed the Western initiative at the UN. In fact, many Muslim-majority nations came to China's aid. This includes Pakistan itself, Iran and Syria but also US-occupied Iraq and even Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Even nations with ongoing territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea and a history of tensions, including Vietnam and the Philippines backed Beijing. 

India, despite being a member of Washington's anti-Chinese "Quad" project, refrained from signing either statement as did a great number of other key nations carefully trying to reorient themselves as global power shifts from West to East. This includes NATO-member Turkey who has for many decades been a faithful servant of Western hegemony. 

Why is No One Interested in the West's Anti-China Crusade? 

There are three primary reasons why the majority of the world is not interested in this US-led anti-Chinese propaganda campaign. 

China's High-Speed Rail Reaches into Southeast Asia

 October 6, 2020 (Tony Cartalucci - NEO) - There is a significant reason why political unrest fueled by US interference is flaring up across Southeast Asia - an attempt at derailing Beijing's ambitious One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative. 

When completed, it will cement not only China's regional rise, but permanently replace the United States as Asia's largest and most influential power. 

The "stitching" holding this emerging shift together is a regional high-speed rail network running from the southern Chinese city of Kunming, through Laos, and into the heart of Thailand. Construction in Laos is well underway with construction having already started in Thailand and expected to be completed in 2-3 years. 

The brand new Bang Sue Central Station in Bangkok was built specifically to service high-speed trains.  

While the West has heavily criticized this citing costs, debt, and low projections for passenger use - and while all of these issues are already being discussed by China and its Laotian and Thai partners - the West's own criticism is more owed to its inability to compete with China's regional rise and its vision for Asia's future than any legitimate concern regarding the project itself. 

A Game Changer

Western criticism has focused on both debt incurred through this leg of OBOR, as well as a perceived lack of demand for high-speed rail passenger services along the routes being built. 

However there are two points often left out of Western commentary - or more accurately - out of Western complaining.  

First is the fact that infrastructure itself often creates demand simply by being built, existing, and creating options that had never existed before. 

Travel along these high-speed rail lines may or may not be options existing travelers use in great numbers but those numbers will likely be joined by additional passengers who would have otherwise avoided the trip altogether because of the lack of appealing options in existence now - flying, conventional rail, buses, and vans - which are still expensive, time consuming, and mostly uncomfortable.

Western critics, who mistakenly believe tourism is Thailand's largest industry - claim that the high-speed railway travels through areas most (Western) tourists are uninterested in. 

However, there are two problems with this. Firstly, most tourists visiting Thailand no longer come from Western nations, but from Asia. More Chinese tourists visit Thailand each year than tourists from all Western nations combined. 

Thailand's northeast region may currently be less appealing to tourists than other regions of the country, but this is simply because few have invested in making the region more accessible and more appealing. 

Chinese tourists traveling into Thailand via high-speed rail could just as easily be persuaded to spend time in the northeast, provided investments are made in local infrastructure and attractions. Currently, little incentive exists. Completion of the Thailand-Laos-China high-speed railway will be the first as well as a major incentive in changing this.  

Western NGOs in Southeast Asia Support Anti-China Campaigns

October 1, 2020 (Global Times) - Southeast Asian countries have long been the focus for Western NGOs and many work hard to support women's rights and aid the underprivileged. But critics increasingly argue that some non-governmental organizations have become vehicles for Western propaganda and even engage in "China-bashing campaigns" that are far outside their purview of doing public good.

Many Western NGOs have been rooted in the local societies in Southeast Asia countries for many years. They are normally most visible during local social or environmental crises, but have also been seen participating in local protests against China, debasing their self-proclaimed "politically-neutral" tag. 

"NGOs staff cover a very wide range of causes, but they also play a role in discrediting China-aided or invested infrastructure projects by releasing reports that are not always written by accredit scholars or researchers," a Chinese surnamed Zhao living in Naypyitaw, capital of Myanmar, told the Global Times.

"Some of them even openly and bluntly support activities that aim to split China's sovereignty," said Zhao, saying that his neighbor had received a questionnaire from a local UK-funded NGO seeking peoples' 'complaints' about a nearby Chinese-aided renovation project.

There are other examples of US organizations stirring up troubles for projects between China and Southeast Asian countries. The infamous National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a foundation founded in 1983 under the Reagan administration to "support democracy in other countries," has been found to have frequently funded and egged on some NGOs in Myanmar that oppose China-invested development projects.

China announced sanctions on a batch of US NGOs including NED in December 2019, as some NGOs have even pushed for regime change, created global turmoil and cooperating with the US government and other anti-China forces to contain China.

Global observers have repeatedly exposed Shwe Gas Movement, a NED-sponsored NGO in Myanmar which has been active in attacking Chinese-Myanmar cooperative developments including a crude oil and gas pipeline project.

Geopolitical researcher Tony Cartalucci criticized the group for claiming pipeline equipment had "disturbed local religious area." The equipment had done anything "more or less extraordinary than one would find surrounding any large scale infrastructure project," Cartalucci wrote in his 2015 article Warning: Find Out Who Is Behind Civil Society Groups.

"In many cases, [Western] funding and organizing opposition groups to take to the streets and physically stop ongoing [development] projects," Cartalucci wrote. "...so that they may be reserved instead for the West's corporate giants to plunder them."

Thai Protests are Anti-Chinese, Not "Pro-Democracy"

September 30, 2020 (Tony Cartalucci - NEO) - Ongoing protests in Thailand appearing very similar to those recently seen in Hong Kong are no coincidence.

They are part of an admitted "Pan-Asian Alliance" that - while claiming to be "pro-democracy" are in reality created by the US government and aimed directly at Beijing.

Thailand has tilted too close to Beijing for Washington's liking and as a response, has scheduled Thailand for destabilization and if possible, regime change.

Thailand Tilting "Too Close" To China

 

dChina is Thailand's largest and most important trading partner, its largest foreign direct investor, and its largest source of tourism with more Chinese tourists coming to Thailand each year than all Western nations combined.

Thailand is also hosting one of the key routes of China's One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative with construction already ongoing for high-speed rail that will connect China, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, and eventually Singapore.

Finally and perhaps most upsetting for the US is that Thailand has begun replacing its aging US military hardware through a series of major Thai-Chinese arms deals including the purchasing of main battle tanks, other armored vehicles, naval vessels including up to 3 submarines, and jointly-developed arms programs like the DTI-1 multiple rocket launcher system.

Thailand has also recently replaced some of its US-built Blackhawk helicopters with Russian Mi-17V-5's.

To counter this, the US has mobilized opposition groups and NGOs it has funded in Thailand for years to now demand the current government step down and the nation's constitution be rewritten, paving the way for US-backed billionaire-led opposition parties of Thaksin Shinawatra and Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit into power. These are opposition parties that have long served US interests in the past and have explicitly promised to roll back Thai-Chinese relations should they take power again.

US NED Was Behind Hong Kong's Unrest, and are Behind Thailand's Now 

The US was indisputably behind the protests in Hong Kong with the political opposition and protest leaders confirmed to be recipients of US government cash via notorious regime change arm, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

Many of the protest leaders literally flew to Washington DC or visited the US consulate in Hong Kong to receive aid, directives, and other forms of support.

In Thailand too, virtually every aspect of the protests are funded by the US government.

Worse still is that the US is attempting to stitch these various movements together to form a regional front against Beijing with Thai protest leaders regularly traveling to meet their US-funded counterparts in Hong Kong and Taiwan and vice versa while creating an online army with the help of US-based social media giants to stack public narratives in their favor.

It will be a front that if regime change in any or all of the nations currently targeted by Washington in Asia is successful, will transform the region from a rising global economic power to a dysfunctional warzone not entirely unlike the Middle East.

US Funds Thai Protest Leaders 

The core leadership of Thailand's protests includes Anon Nampa of the US NED-funded "Thai Lawyers for Human Rights" (TLHR). Anon Nampa leads every major rally, taking the stage and delivering the opposition's demands to the current government including demands for regime change.

TLHR's founder had in the past admitted that the organization "receives all its funding from international donors," in an interview given to the English-language newspaper, Bangkok Post.

US Smears Those Questioning Latest Claims vs. China

August 22, 2020 (Tony Cartalucci - NEO) - The Coda Story - a media front funded and created by and for the US government, its "Atlanticist" partners, and the corporate interests driving the vast majority of Western foreign policy - recently ran a smear against alternative media figures questioning the US-led "Uyghur-Xinjiang" narrative.

The smear is part of a wider campaign aimed at anyone questioning Washington's Uyghur-Xinjiang narrative and the US' attempt to use it to undermine China.

These smears follow a very specific playbook. Step one - deny there is a terrorism problem in Xinjiang, China. Step two - cite reports based entirely on anecdotal stories. Step three - never mention these stories and reports are created wholly by US-based, US government-funded organizations.

Step One: Deny Terrorism in Xinjiang   

The article, "Pro-Beijing influencers and their rose-tinted view of life in Xinjiang," claims, amid the first victim of its smear - Jerry Grey - that:

Grey, who is a former London Metropolitan police officer, admitted that he found Xinjiang’s surveillance network and continual police checks oppressive. “It was a pain in the butt,” he said. “But at no stage were they ever abusive.”

I asked him if he would willingly live under a draconian regime of surveillance and arbitrary detention like the one that operates in Xinjiang, controlling the region’s Muslim population under the guise of combating terrorism.

"Under the guise of combating terrorism?"

Terrorism in Xinjiang carried out by extremists radicalized by US, Saudi, and Turkish programs is real.

Even the Western media whose lies today Coda seeks to buttress have previously admitted the large scale and frequency of terrorism in China's Xinjiang region.

In the BBC's 2014 article, "Why is there tension between China and the Uighurs?," alone it was admitted that (emphasis added):

In June 2012, six Uighurs reportedly tried to hijack a plane from Hotan to Urumqi before they were overpowered by passengers and crew. 

There was bloodshed in April 2013 and in June that year, 27 people died in Shanshan county after police opened fire on what state media described as a mob armed with knives attacking local government buildings

At least 31 people were killed and more than 90 suffered injuries in May 2014 when two cars crashed through an Urumqi market and explosives were tossed into the crowd. China called it a "violent terrorist incident". 

It followed a bomb and knife attack at Urumqi's south railway station in April, which killed three and injured 79 others. 

In July, authorities said a knife-wielding gang attacked a police station and government offices in Yarkant, leaving 96 dead. The imam of China's largest mosque, Jume Tahir, was stabbed to death days later. 

In September about 50 died in blasts in Luntai county outside police stations, a market and a shop. Details of both incidents are unclear and activists have contested some accounts of incidents in state media.

Some violence has also spilled out of Xinjiang. A March stabbing spree in Kunming in Yunnan province that killed 29 people was blamed on Xinjiang separatists, as was an October 2013 incident where a car ploughed into a crowd and burst into flames in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

Other Western media sources have confirmed terrorist organizations like the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) are funneling extremists from Xinjiang onto battlefields across North Africa and the Middle East and particularly in Syria alongside other extremists armed and backed by NATO.

The Western media admits that potentially thousands of these Uyghur extremists may return home and use their battlefield experience to wage a campaign of terrorism against Beijing.

EU Cries "Human Rights" as Cambodia Turns to China

August 18, 2020 (Joseph Thomas - NEO) - What should the world make of the West's attempts to pressure the Southeast Asian nation of Cambodia on humanitarian grounds when the West is guilty of the worst (and still ongoing) abuses of the 21st century? 

Wikipedia provides a quick and simple definition of the psychological concept of projection, stating: a defense mechanism in which the human ego defends itself against unconscious impulses or qualities (both positive and negative) by denying their existence in themselves while attributing them to others. 

A recent "op-ed" in the Bangkok Post which reads more like a paid-placement for the US and European-funded front, Human Rights Watch and its sponsors, was clearly an extreme exercise in projection.

The op-ed would claim:

"The European Union should add this outrage to the long list of rights abuses that need to be resolved in negotiations over 'Everything But Arms' (EBA) trade preferences," said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of HRW.

Under the EBA scheme, Cambodian exports get tariff-free access to the EU market. In February, the EU announced plans to suspend access for about 20% of Cambodian goods, citing democratic and human rights setbacks in recent years. The EU is implementing a "phased approach", which could see the EBA status fully revoked if Phnom Penh fails to restore democratic rights.

 The op-ed concludes by claiming:

However, Cambodia is seemingly already looking for ways to offset financial losses caused by a potential full EBA withdrawal. The country is looking to partner with China on a free trade agreement (FTA). "This very huge [Chinese] market access enables Cambodia to diversify its products and markets and reduce over-reliance on a few trading partners, ie, Europe, US and Canada, who traditionally trade with Cambodia on a concessional basis such as EBA," Commerce Minister Pan Sorasak said.

Apparently, the CPP is willing to risk a full EBA withdrawal as long as it has options. Or maybe Mr Hun Sen and the CPP simply can't be bothered to uphold Western standards of human rights.

Western standards of human rights?

Are these the same standards that enables the United States and United Kingdom to provide weapons, intelligence and other forms of military support for the Saudi government in its ongoing war with neighbouring Yemen? The UN has stated that this conflict is in fact the world's worst humanitarian crisis. And it is a crisis that is only possibly with the US and Europe's complicity.

How about the Western standards of human rights that allow, unopposed, the continued military presence of the United States in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan?

Iraq's elected representatives went as far as voting to demand US forces withdraw, demands that were blatantly ignored by Washington who, among other lies, insisted its involvement in Iraq was to foster democracy.

Today and every day since the 2003 invasion, the US tramples Iraq's collective democratic and human rights by ignoring the will of the Iraqi people within their own borders and regarding their own sovereign affairs by maintaining a military occupation predicated entirely on false premises.

Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch has little to say about any of this while insisting nations targeted by the West fall into line behind whatever "Western standards of human rights" actually are.

These are standards that are surely nothing demonstrated or observed by or within the West itself and seem more like standards imposed on others as an excuse for what could otherwise be best described as naked coercion. Phil Robertson and organisations like Human Rights Watch appear then to be political tools used to deny targeted nations basic dignity, sovereignty and human rights, not uphold any of the above.

The West Really Wants to Cry "China" 

Let's take a look at that op-ed again. It claims:

 "This very huge [Chinese] market access enables Cambodia to diversify its products and markets and reduce over-reliance on a few trading partners, ie, Europe, US and Canada, who traditionally trade with Cambodia on a concessional basis such as EBA," Commerce Minister Pan Sorasak said.

Apparently, the CPP is willing to risk a full EBA withdrawal as long as it has options. Or maybe Mr Hun Sen and the CPP simply can't be bothered to uphold Western standards of human rights.

And there it is. It is Cambodia's pivot to China that has the EU and its partners across the Atlantic truly upset. That and the fact that having failed to overthrow Cambodia's government after years of trying, the West has very little to offer Cambodia to pivot back in its direction.

UK's Stunning Hypocrisy over Hong Kong

A British arms embargo on Hong Kong over "human rights concerns" while the UK continues to arm and train Saudis amid Yemen genocide? 

August 1, 2020 (Joseph Thomas - NEO) - Further evidence the UK hides behind "human rights" rather than stands for them was demonstrated when London placed sanctions on Hong Kong after the passing of a security law aimed at combating overt foreign interference in special administrative region of China.

British state media in an article titled, "UK suspends extradition treaty with Hong Kong," would claim:

The UK government will suspend its extradition treaty with Hong Kong "immediately and indefinitely".

The article also stated:

[British Foreign Secretary] Mr Raab also confirmed the government would extend its arms embargo - which has been in place with China since 1989 - to Hong Kong, stopping the UK exporting equipment, such as firearms, smoke grenades and shackles, to the region.

The article cited other members of the British government condemning China for alleged human rights abuses, violations of international law and a lack of democratic values. This comes after the UK caved to US pressure and banned Chinese telecom company Huawei from involvement in the UK's 5G rollout.

Omitted from the BBC article was mention of the UK's own and very real abuses.

British Human Rights Concerns are Projections of Own, Real Abuses  

At a time when the UK condemns China for its "actions in the South China Sea" the UK still finds itself involved in wars of aggression and military occupations around the globe, side-by-side their US allies.

Washington's Anti-Chinese "Pan-Asian Alliance"

US-backed Thai protest leaders complain about economy, but seek to ruin relations with China who serves as Thailand's biggest trade partner, investor, and source of tourism. 

July 22, 2020 (Tony Cartalucci - NEO) - One of Washington's reoccuring dreams is creating a "pan-Asian alliance" to encircle and contain China's economic and political rise. Unable to do this through regime change, economic incentives, military alliances, or even coercion and terrorism, it has drawn deeper and deeper from its "soft power" toolkit. 

The US is also increasingly lumping its various regional assets together to fight in its growing rift with China.

Image: Student Union of Thailand who currently is leading anti-government protests and complaining about the Thai economy are seen here attempting to ruin relations with China through political provocations, mocking China's president, and condemning China for an incident they are not only lying about, but one that took place years before any of these "students" were even born. 

In this way, it already has a "pan-Asian alliance" - made up of US-funded opposition groups, opposition parties, media platforms, and online information operations in virtually every one of China's neighboring countries as well as within Chinese territory itself.

They are funded and directed out of US embassies and consulates throughout the region as well as through US government-funded organizations and agencies like the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), and the Open Technology Fund (OTF) - as clearly seen behind the unrest in Hong Kong.

They lack any specific agenda or platform other than opposing regional governments targeted by the US and more recently - being "anti-Chinese," "pro-Western," and repeating ambiguous and deliberately unspecific slogans about democracy, freedom, and human rights.  

Aside from direct funding from the US government and the promise of potential fame and mention across the Western media, those recruited into this "pan-Asian alliance" get little else out of it and certainly offer the public even less should they and their agenda ever find their way into local or regional leadership roles. 

This alliance has increasingly found itself working together, attempting to create synergies in US-backed efforts aimed at specific Asian-Pacific nations as well as toward efforts aimed directly at China itself. 

The "Mik Tea Alliance" 

The name of this "alliance" is as puerile as its premise. It is essentially a collection of US-funded agitators from across the region consolidating their efforts against China specifically. 

While many of these individuals and organizations involved are often referred to as "activists," they rarely take up legitimate causes aimed at improving the lives of people in their communities and respective nations and instead function as political attack dogs unleashed against various targets of US angst. 

The pro-Western Google Grant recipient Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) in an article titled, "Milk is thicker than blood: An unlikely digital alliance between Thailand, Hong Kong & Taiwan," would attempt to positively publicize this so-called "alliance." 

There is very little that is "unlikely" about US-backed agitators consolidating their efforts, cooperating, or aiming their collective efforts at China - unless the common denominator of US-backing is omitted - which of course it is. 

HKFP claims:

For the first time, netizens from Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other Asian countries, joined forces to hit back at China’s huge online army in an internet war.

The article admits the alliance focuses on various issues the US itself is particularly obsessed with including blocking the construction of Mekong River dams, ongoing US provocations in the South China Sea, and the West's annual shaming of China over the 1989 Tiananmen Square unrest. 

Most recently the "Milk Tea Alliance" was mobilized to help attract attention to US-funded opposition groups in Thailand - attract attention to their street protest and their regime change demands - certainly not to their US funding. 

Leader of US destabilization in Hong Kong - Joshua Wong - who has literally travelled to Washington DC multiple times to lobby for aid and receive awards - emerged as one of the leading figures of this alliance.

HKFP explains:

The forming of this new “Pan-Asia Alliance” – as coined by Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong – also indicated an ongoing frustration in the region regarding China’s influence and actions that affected less powerful countries on the ground level. The Milk Tea Alliance was an attempt to keep China’s unmatchable power in check, and it demonstrated the need for smaller nations to unite and cooperate. This unexpected internet war reflected a long-felt need to counter the unbalanced power dynamics in Asia.

Unsurprisingly Wong and others in the "Milk Tea Alliance" have very little to say about Washington's oversized role in Asia's "power dynamics" despite not even being located in Asia - or Washington's "unmatchable power" in places like the Middle East, North Africa, or Central Asia where it has destroyed entire nations and to this day still militarily occupies several of them. 

The "alliance" and media outlets like HKFP also have little to say about the coincidental nature of the alliance's agenda and how neatly it fits in with US foreign policy - especially since the most prominent members of the alliance are literally funded, backed, and publicly rewarded by the US government. 

Building Myths About "Imperial China" 

Another member of Washington's online "Milk Tea Alliance" and an eager recipient of Western backing is Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal of Thailand - whose Twitter timeline is filled with retweets of Western articles describing China's growing "imperial" ambitions.

Despite not even being born at the time, Netiwit (born 1996) annually protests the Chinese embassy in Bangkok over the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident. He and the "Student Union of Thailand" now currently leading US-backed anti-government protests in Thailand - recently attempted to protest outside the Chinese embassy regarding Hong Kong's new security law in addition to Tiananmen.

A Khoasod article titled, "Activists Condemn Tiananmen Killings, Give Away Cookies," would report: 

“Student Union of Thailand (SUT) is one with the Hong Kongers in condemning the recent security law, which is a severe attack against the city’s autonomy, rule of law, civil rights, and liberties,” the activists said in a statement published in Thai, English, and Chinese.

The group, which counts about 200 students as its members, added in its statement that “Chinese imperialism” is threatening the independence and livelihood in many nations, including Thailand.

Apparently the fact that Hong Kong's current crisis is rooted in very real - and very British - imperialism is lost on Netiwit and his Student Union of Thailand. 

Meanwhile, Netiwit regularly receives and accepts invitations to various Western embassies in Bangkok, including the British embassy where he literally was wining and dining with British diplomats and fellow Western-backed agitators. 

Image: Netiwit at the UK embassy with Khaosod editor Pravit Rojanaphruk.

As Netiwit annually complains outside the Chinese embassy about an incident that occurred years before he was even born and complains about China's attempts to fully recover its sovereign territory from decades of British imperialism - he is regularly hosted by foreign embassies that are - today - engaged in multiple wars of aggression, military occupations, torture, and abuse on a scale that even the wildest claims about China cannot rival. 

Netiwit has - unsurprisingly - yet to stage protests outside the embassies of these nations. 

The "imperialist" or "revisionist" China narrative Netiwit promotes in exchange for constant mention and praise across the Western media and repeated invites to Western embassy dinners may find its place inside the "Milk Tea Alliance's" online echo chamber - but for the vast majority of Asia's population it is transparent propaganda and an obstruction to real economic progress, peace, and stability. 

Ranting and Raving vs. Roads and Railways 

Conversely, the genuine economic might China is developing and the deep and enduring ties it is creating has built a much larger, more powerful - and most importantly - more sustainable "pan-Asian" partnership. 

It is a partnership in which roads, rail, airports, and seaports are being built and through which each respective nation in the region imports and exports the vast majority of their economic activity through. 

China's rise regionally and globally has created economic opportunities both within China itself for prospective students and workers and across the region as manufacturing, tourism, and trade continuously expands.

This is even noted by the Western media. In one breath it claims the "Milk Tea Alliance" shows Asia's youth is "losing their sense of kinship with China." In the next, it paradoxically admits that the number of Asian youths traveling, working, and studying in China "has never been higher." It is clear the former trend is artificial and deliberately overemphasized by the Western media while the latter represents an inconvenient truth to be buried dozens of paragraphs deep in any given article on the subject.  

Not only is China the largest and most important trading partner for virtually every nation in Asia, but local businesses focused on domestic markets either retail goods made entirely in China or manufacture goods made with components originating in China.  

For the average worker or business owner in Asia, the rantings and ravings online by the "Milk Tea Alliance" along with their repetitive street performances and the trouble between China and the rest of Asia they seek to create are unconvincing incentives when compared to the physical roads and railways jointly built with China bringing in goods, money, tourists, and technology. 

Without the US being able to match its massive soft-power political machinery with industry and investment providing a viable alternative to China - its "Milk Tea Alliance" and all those who are a part of it are simply spiteful speed bumps aimed at diminishing and disrupting regional progress, peace, and stability - not in any way promoting or contributing to it. 

Tony Cartalucci, Bangkok-based geopolitical researcher and writer, especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”. 

Hong Kong Security Law is Common Sense, Not Controversial

July 17, 2020 (Tony Cartalucci - NEO) - China's special administration region of Hong Kong saw the passing of a security law outlawing acts universally recognized as criminal and threats to any nation's security and sovereignty.

Despite what would appear to be common sense legislation, the Western media has cried "controversy." While the West claims it fears curbs on freedoms inside China - it is becoming increasingly clear that the West's real fears revolve around the "freedom" of its proxies and their attempts to maintain Hong Kong as a defacto Western foothold.

British state media, the BBC in their article, "Hong Kong security law: What is it and is it worrying?," would note:

Hong Kong was always meant to have a security law, but could never pass one because it was so unpopular. So this is about China stepping in to ensure the city has a legal framework to deal with what it sees as serious challenges to its authority.

The BBC would also list acts criminalized under the law which include:

• secession - breaking away from the country
• subversion - undermining the power or authority of the central government
• terrorism - using violence or intimidation against people
• collusion with foreign or external forces

Nothing on the list is in any way controversial, with virtually all other nations on Earth maintaining similar laws on their respective books.

Additionally, Hong Kong - a region that belonged to China before being taken by force by the British Empire in 1841 and a region that now once again belongs to China after its handover to Beijing in 1997 - is clearly China's to govern and to do so in any manner China decides. Laws it passes regarding Hong Kong are not Washington or London's business just as laws passed regarding US or UK territory are none of Beijing's.

Thailand: Key ASEAN Nation Emerges from COVID-19

US-backed mobs seek to exploit economic damage of COVID-19 impact.

June 12, 2020 (Joseph Thomas - NEO) - The Kingdom of Thailand plays a central role in the Southeast Asian ASEAN economic bloc. It has a population of nearly 70 million, the second largest economy in the region and hosts a key leg of China's One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative including high speed rail that will connect China (via Laos) to Malaysia and beyond.

Thus, regional recovery in the wake of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) depends on central nations like Thailand's quick and orderly recovery.

COVID-19's Impact

For Thailand, the impact of COVID-19 has been mostly socioeconomic. The disease itself had a minimum health impact with health services easily accommodating the approximately 3,000 cases with less than 60 resulting in deaths. The deaths themselves were linked to serious pre-existing chronic illnesses and advanced age.

Regardless, the government took quick action, instating curfews, lockdowns and restricting both internal travel and international arrivals. Coupled with measures taken by China to restrict departures of tour groups, Thailand's tourist industry took a particularly hard hit considering arrivals from China make up the vast majority of Thailand's tourism business.

Thai businesses big and small also depend heavily on Chinese manufacturing for both components and for retailing. The temporary closure of Chinese factories created the first of two major setbacks for Thai businesses hitting supply, while lockdowns and curfews hit demand.

However, Thailand possesses a massive "informal economy" with myriad small independent businesses which have proven over the years to be exceptionally agile even in times of crisis. The use of modern telecommunication and IT technology (particularly online shopping and delivery apps) together with delivery services allowed to continue operating by the government during lockdown, many food, beverage and retail businesses continued operating, allowing many Thais to continue making a living despite restrictions.

Recovery

The Thai government is investing heavily in breathing life back into the Thai economy, having already provided several programmes to aid those temporarily unemployed during the lockdown now being lifted incrementally across the country.

This includes a stimulus package aimed at helping businesses recover from the extended period of shuttered or partially shuttered business. State enterprises are also being restructured to prevent massive disruptions and losses in the event something like COVID-19 occurs again.

Because Thailand has strong economic fundamentals including a strong agricultural and manufacturing base as well as strong trade ties within both Southeast Asia and wider Asia including China who is itself on its way to recovery, Thailand will likely succeed in restoring economic stability and the return to normality in short order.

Thailand is also looking into ways of heading off similar disruptions in the future by looking for ways to bolster domestic economic activity in the event that foreign trade and tourism is ever cut off again.

Drawing Battlelines: US Openly Targets China's OBOR

May 30, 2020 (Tony Cartalucci - NEO) - Judging by US foreign policy - China is a massive global threat - and by some accounts - the "top" threat. But a threat to what? 

AFP would report in its article, "Trump nominee to lead intel community sees China as top threat," that: 

President Donald Trump's pick to lead the US intelligence community said Tuesday that he would focus on China as the country's greatest threat, saying Beijing was determined to supplant the United States' superpower position.

Were China doing this by using news agencies like AFP to lie to the public to justify invading Middle Eastern nations, killing tens of thousands of innocent people, installing client regimes worldwide, and using its growing power to coerce and control nations economically and politically when not outright militarily - US President Donald Trump's "pick" - John Ratcliffe - might be justified in focusing on China and its "determination" to "supplant the United States' superpower position."

However, this is not what China is doing.

China Building Rather than Bombing 

China is - instead - using economic progress to rise upon the global stage. It makes things. It builds things. It creates infrastructure to bring these things to others around the globe who need or want them, and enables other nations to make, build, and send things to China.

One example is China's One Belt, One Road initiative (OBOR) also referred to as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This includes a series of railways, highways, ports, and other infrastructure projects to help improve the logistical connections between nations, accelerating economic development.

Only in the US could the notion of building railways connecting people within and between nations seem like a dangerous idea.

By building such networks, people are better empowered to trade what they are making and what they seek to buy and sell. China, which possesses the largest high-speed railway network on Earth carrying 2 billion passengers a year, is extending this network beyond its borders - deep into Southeast Asia and even across Eurasia via Russia and beyond. Alongside it are a raft of other projects ranging from ports to power plants, and more.

The political and economic power China is gaining by expanding real economic activity both within its borders and beyond them, and both for China itself as well as for its trading partners - represents a global pivot away from America's century-long unipolar global order and closer toward a now emerging multipolar world order.

The US with a population of over 300 million and some of the best industrial potential in the world could easily pivot with this sea change - but entrenched special interests refuse to do so. Paying into a genuinely pragmatic method of generating wealth and stability exposes Washington and Wall Street's various rackets, making them no longer tenable. So instead, US special interests are labeling China's One Belt, One Road initiative a global threat and China itself as one of America's chief adversaries.

The COVID-19 Chronicles: ASEAN

Author's note: This is part of The Covid-19 Chronicles Series covering how nations and regions are responding to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) crisis. 

May 20, 2020 (Gunnar Ulson - NEO) - The ten Southeast Asian states of ASEAN with a collective population of 622 million people has weathered the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) relatively well. 

A combination of quick reactions, a hesitation to overreact and strong preexisting economic fundamentals, the region looks well on its way to returning to normal, that is, if it is able to resist the "new normal" the West seeks to impose globally. 

Health Impact

In stark contrast to reports out of the West regarding infections and deaths related to Covid-19, Southeast Asia has seen relatively fewer confirmed infections and fewer deaths. The table below illustrates just how few deaths there have been (a total of just 2,079) for a region with nearly twice the population of the United States. 

Brunei: 141 cases, 1 death
Cambodia: 122 cases, no reported deaths
Indonesia: 16,496 cases, 1,076 deaths
Laos: 19 cases, no reported deaths
Malaysia: 6,855 cases, 112 deaths
Myanmar: 181 cases, 6 deaths
Philippines: 12,091 cases, 806 deaths
Singapore: 26,891 cases, 21 deaths
Thailand: 3,025 cases, 56 deaths
Vietnam: 312 cases, no reported deaths

There have been few if any reports of overcrowded hospitals or shortages of critical medical equipment. Virtually all of the deaths reported were associated with chronic preexisting health conditions, with some cases calling into question whether Covid-19 really was the cause of death rather than merely a contributing factor, if even.

While everything from ASEAN's warmer climate to quick measures put into place cited by commentators and analysts, it is much more likely that Covid-19 simply is not as dangerous as the Western mass media has claimed and that the governments in ASEAN simply did not respond to nor feed into the wave of panic triggered by sensationalist Western headlines and overreactions in Western capitals.

Despite this, measures were put into place and these measures, more than the pathogen itself, are responsible for the impact Covid-19 is having on the region.

Measures 

While the actual impact of the pathogen was minimal, the international "peer pressure" to close borders, lockdown populations and otherwise grind national economies to a halt triggered a series of measures across ASEAN.

As Thailand Fights Covid-19, Students Vow to Continue Chaos for "Democracy"

April 24 2020 (Joseph Thomas - NEO) - Despite the unprecedented damage global panic over coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) has caused to nations around the world, so-called "pro-democracy" protesters have vowed to immediately resume street mobs as soon as emergency measures are lifted in Thailand.

The move will almost certainly contribute to socioeconomic instability and only compound the plight faced by average Thais whom these "student protesters" claim they represent.

The protesters, while claiming to fight for "democracy," are actually supporters of corrupt nepotist billionaire Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, his now disbanded  "Future Forward Party," and his sponsors including fugitive billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra, his "Pheu Thai Party" (PTP) and a host of foreign interests including the US and British governments.

US and British support for these protesters and the political parties they back stems from their collective opposition to the current Thai government's growing ties with nations like China and Russia who have helped to all but displace Western primacy over Asia Pacific.

The Nation in their article, "Students expected to continue democracy fight once virus situation abates," claimed:

Students are expected to resume intense political activities after the Covid-19 situation normalises and the government eases its lockdown restrictions next month.

Before the spread of Covid-19, students in universities across the country and some high schools in Bangkok had organised flash mobs in February and March to express their demand for democracy, rewriting the Constitution and ending the current military-backed coalition government.  

Noteworthy is the students' supposed demand for "democracy."

The current government is in fact a result of democratic elections carried out in 2019, the ruling party Palang Pracharath having gained several million more votes that Thanathorn's "Future Forward Party" and building a coalition government larger than that proposed by Pheu Thai of which Future Forward is merely a subsidiary.

Ironically, those currently undermining democracy now are the student protesters themselves and their sponsors, who collectively refuse to respect the results of the 2019 general elections, seeking to create social instability in a bid to coerce the majority into making concessions to them they failed to earn at the ballot box.

At a time when others are working to help the nation recover from the global Covid-19 panic, including helping medical workers, innovating, organizing charity for those in need, and those working to put the nation back on its feet economically, these "student protesters" seem only able to offer the promise of more disruptions and the predictable socioeconomic damage they will cause, in pursuit of a transparently self-serving bid for political power.

The same article in the Nation would also point out the to current activities pursued by these "student protesters" which included sitting at home at their computers creating Twitter hashtags complaining about the government's performance during the Covid-19 outbreak.

The protesters, sponsored by foreign governments and in particularly the US and UK, and their plans to leverage the socioeconomic damage caused by Covid-19 to catch the government off balance at the end of emergency measures, may point to a much larger global strategy pursued by Washington and London to likewise target off-balanced governments around the world.

As nations around the globe face the health and economic threats Covid-19 poses, they should also be fully aware of and prepared for the geopolitical threat those seeking to take advantage of Covid-19 fallout to target their recovery efforts as US and British-backed protesters in Thailand appear poised to do.

For Thais themselves, they are once again reminded as to why they voted for the current government in power in Thailand in the first place, and not for Future Forward and its dishonest army of supporters, an army of supporters who seems only capable of condemning others and complicating the nation's progress into the future rather than aiding it in any practical or pragmatic way.

Joseph Thomas is chief editor of Thailand-based geopolitical journal, The New Atlas and contributor to the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.