A scientist says he's found 13 Wuhan coronavirus sequences that were deleted

 A scientist says he's found 13 Wuhan coronavirus sequences that were deleted from a US database - and claims they're a 'goldmine' for research into the virus' origins

• A Seattle researcher said he's uncovered previously deleted data on coronavirus sequences from Wuhan, China.

• The sequences were a "gold mine" for scientists researching the virus' origins, he said.

• The data was initially uploaded to a US database by Chinese scientists before being deleted.

• See more stories on Insider's business page.

A researcher in Seattle claims he's discovered 13 partial coronavirus sequences from samples collected in Wuhan, China, that were deleted from a US database last year.

The discovery could mean scientists researching the origins of the pandemic have been working with incomplete data, he said.

Dr. Jesse Bloom, a researcher at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, said Tuesday that he had recovered the deleted files from Google Cloud, and had reconstructed partial sequences of 13 viruses. He said they came from samples taken at the early stages of pandemic in Wuhan, where scientists first discovered SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

The data initially came from a study by Wuhan University scientists, he said.

Bloom said his findings suggested the coronavirus was already circulating in Wuhan before being linked to COVID-19 outbreaks at the Huanan Seafood Market. They also suggested the sequences used in most studies into the virus' origins, including the joint WHO-China report, "are not fully representative of the viruses actually present in Wuhan at that time," he said.

Throughout the pandemic, Bloom has called for more research into the origins of the pandemic. But he told CNN that the new sequences alone didn't provide any further evidence about whether the virus spread naturally from animals to humans or was, as some claim, the result of a laboratory leak.

Bloom said that the samples, from early outpatients in Wuhan, were a "gold mine" for scientists wanting to understand the spread of the virus.

Bloom's findings, published in a paper, haven't been peer-reviewed by experts.

Read more: Experts explain why the mRNA tech that revolutionized COVID-19 vaccines could be the answer to incurable diseases, heart attacks, and even snake bites: 'The possibilities are endless'

Bloom said that there was "no plausible scientific reason" for the sequences being deleted from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) database. The NIH said that it had removed the sequences in June 2020 at the request of the person that added them to the database, and said that allowing this was standard practice, CNN reported.

Prof David Robertson, an expert on viruses at the University of Glasgow, said in a statement that it was difficult to "conclude this is a cover-up rather than a more mundane deletion of data," based on Bloom's paper. "We also know already that the Huanan market wasn't the sole spillover event and SARS-CoV-2 was probably circulating in late October/November," he said.

Prof Martin Hibberd, of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said in a statement: "More work would need to be done to know how solid these findings are, particularly the accuracy and reasons for the sequence deletions, but it does look intriguing."

Bloom said that he was reviewing genetic data when he discovered a March 2020 study about 241 genetic virus sequences collected by scientists at Wuhan University. He said he couldn't find the research online publicly, but was able to access 13 sequences via Google Cloud.

Additional reporting from Dr. Catherine Schuster-Bruce

2014中国互联网的英雄——“编程随想”博客

 中国知名博主“编程随想”（Programthink）被当局逮捕的消息引发广泛关注。近日有知情人证实该消息属实，并呼吁更多的人关注此案，声援博主“编程随想”。

【旧文重温】泡泡网｜萧强：2014中国互联网的英雄——“编程随想”博客

（本文发布于2015年1月1日）

博客在中文的网络空间兴起，已有超过十年的历史了。在起起落落的中文博客中，我一直非常钦佩的，是一个叫做“编程随想”的博客。 这个博客在墙外开了至少五年多了，打开其主页，右边的侧栏上就有作者对其博客主要内容的自我介绍：“提升思维能力，普及政治常识，各种翻墙姿势，党国的阴暗面，网络安全知识，软件开发技术”。而作者自己推荐一些帖子，有纯粹信息技术类的“如何选择开源项目？”，也有介绍突破网络封锁的的“如何翻墙(全方位入门扫盲)”，普及网络安全的“如何防止黑客入侵(系列)”和“如何保护隐私(系列)”，关于阅读和思考的“扫盲逻辑谬误——以五毛言论为反面教材”以及 政治类的评论文章“回顾"六四"(系列)”，“俺整理的《太子党关系网络》”等等。除了和互联网、信息技术有关的帖子，这位匿名作者对大量的网络政治文化信息，有独特而又清晰的整理，归纳和分析，拥有了大量翻墙而来的中国国内读者，以至于墙内的“知乎”网站，也有网友开了“编程随想时一个怎样的人？”的词条。

所以，当泡泡网的编辑请我推荐一位2014年中国互联网的“英雄”的时候，我第一个想到的，就是这位“编程随想”的作者。因为不知道他的真实名字，我愿意在这里尊称他为“随想君”。

随想君在他的文字里，对于一党专制及其网络审查制度有犀利的批判，而更为难得的，是他数年如一日的坚持和过人的勇气。在中文互联网上，过去十年中表达同样观念，传播类似信息的网友不下于成百上千万。随想君用一个固定的博客和网名，持续以恒地搜集、整理、分享这些信息，并且以自己广博的阅读、清晰的思考、专业的知识，透过明了亦风趣的文字地表达和传播，并且和大量阅读的网友互动互答，可以说以一人之力，建立了一个对中国的审查制度和网络封锁抵抗的社区。这样的努力和扩散的影响力，确实很难有其他中文博客可以比肩。

随想君不仅有渊博的知识和敏锐的思考能力，他同时还是一位精通网络和信息技术的专业好手。他发表的文字和分享的信息，因为直指审查制度甚至一党专制意识形态的命门要害，不可能在墙内公开传播，一旦被中国的警察特务机关找出了作者真实的身份，更会有人生安全的风险甚至牢狱之灾。这个结论，只要看看那些在网上以实名向专制进行挑战而受到种种 形式迫害的长长名单就一目了然：刘晓波、艾未未、许志永、李承鹏、浦志强…… 和这些名字不同的是，编程随想君使用的是固定的笔名，同时发挥了自己精通网络安全技术的优势，透过技术手段来保护自己不被专制政权的镇压机构追踪的真实身份。

随想君能数年如一日和国家机器做这样的周旋，当然让人信服其技术能力。但我更加钦佩的，是他在其言行背后的巨大勇气。因为这样匿名的抵抗形式，绝对不比实名的风险来得更小。透过技术手段保护自己，同时又采用固定网名，发表大量专制者决不能容忍的信息的做法，等于是在观念和技术两个层次上，同时对专制者的权威，做出了公开的挑战和嘲弄。这是中国的专制者绝不能容忍的。作者真实身份一旦被拥有巨大技术资源的专制机构发现，遭到的惩罚可能比起实名的挑战者更加严重。因为公众不知道作者的实名，专制者可以使用最卑鄙阴暗的手段。随想君是一个思想者，尽管“艺高人胆大”，也不会不懂自己这样做巨大的风险所在。他能够 一直坚持犀利的写作，一定在明了风险的前提下，对自己选择的所言所行，有为信念而承担的决心。正因为此，我愿意推荐他为2014年中国互联网的“英雄”。

2014年的岁末，中国的互联网仍然处于审查的严冬。怀着对“随想君”的钦佩，我写下这几句介绍的话。因为我相信，人心必然向往自由，有审查就有对审查的抵抗。信息技术的发展本身，也会不断地让专制者为审查制度付出日益高昂的经济和政治代价。在不是那么遥远的未来一天，人们定会看到专制之墙最后的崩塌。我希望未来的人们，会记住为了这自由一天的到来，在所有那些实名的、匿名的、无名的点滴抵抗行动的背后，一个个真实的生命，以及他们的智慧、勇敢、坚持和牺牲。而 “编程随想”和它的作者，即使今天我们还不知道他的真名实姓，打开他的一篇篇博文，每一个读者都会看到，这就是21世纪的中国人，在网络上抵抗专制，争取自由的真切证明。（文/ 萧强）

环球时报报道，"美国至少有50万人遭受现代奴役并被强迫劳动"

 

6月21日，外交部发言人赵立坚在例行记者会上表示，美国至少有50万人遭受现代奴役并被强迫劳动。国际劳工组织8个核心公约，美国仅批准了2个。美国现在需要做的，是放下道德优越感，停止在劳工问题上搞双重标准，首先实事求是地反省自身存在的严重侵犯劳工权益问题，并为此负责。

环球时报官方微博在报道此消息后，评论区出现大型翻车现场，现评论区已关闭，近8000条评论不可见。

以下评论由中国数字时代编辑搜集自网络：

养**: 自己连裤衩都快穿不上了，还去质疑人家怎么不系领带？

J**：发这种新闻真的很难激发爱国心了，现在国内遵守劳动法的除了体制内就是外企了，你让我们一帮996的社畜谴责外国的劳动环境是真的做不到啊。

春**: 不要碧莲，你以为我们现在是曹县啊对外部一无所知?

云**：它们发明一个成语“非法讨薪”。

山**：一个连讨薪都难的国家，谴责另一个不会发生欠薪的国家，真是佩服的我六体投地呀。

红**：现代奴役是指什么呢？咱别老创造新词好吗？996算吗？干嘛还要关评论呢？胡主编给解释一下不行吗？

我**：一千步笑五十步。

书**：六亿人一千元..

话**：肯定是境外势力在底下无序评论。



C**：近8000条评论没有一条喜欢的吗？

喔**：美国烂透了，只知道给民众发钱，发一次不够，还连续发几次。

优**：美国人有枪啊，都被奴役了，那我们没抢，岂不是要被敲骨吸髓。

换**：先把自己国家的事情解决好吧，压榨996，五险一金不齐全按最低标准缴纳，不签合同，拖欠工资，不遵守劳动法的企业太多了！

九**：一个因执法问题而死去的黑人，你们外交部像死了亲爹一样批判，一个黑人在中国把一个花儿年纪的少女捅死，你们就全体沉默，快8000条评论，为什么你们不敢开呢？整天美国美国，这几年真让人无语！

再**：蚌埠住了。

我**：7千多条评论被防护过滤一个不剩了！

半**：转评就很灵性，资本主义搞成这样不奇怪，你社会主义搞成这样才该感到羞耻。

猪**：我补充一点信息：“美国至少有50万人遭受现代奴役”来自美国学术机构的统计；但劳动关系的许多话题在中国已经是研究禁区了。

果**：拜登是真有钱，又开始打牌了。你看看这评论区都成啥样了，我瞅着都哆嗦。

img

单**：我宣布我们拆腻子群众加班都是自愿的！我们只想让老板年底在换辆劳斯莱斯罢了！

仅**：打铁还需自身硬！那几个官媒关评论干什么?让人说话天塌不下来！是你们听从砖家叫兽的破话放任企业胡来。生产消费的良性循环都搞不懂? 就听加班神教胡说八道?

Y**：中国何止50W，其他方面不敢讲， 这方面肯定能赢美帝。

威**：996/007不解决，早晚要出事。社畜们今年能看到曙光吗？？

G**：说真话就会被说成你是美狗，收了漂亮国爸爸的钱，我笑了。

焚**：这么喜大普奔的消息，环球时报你到是别关评论啊。

img

再**：没人逼你996，不愿意干可以辞职啊，这种话的逻辑是非常无知且幼稚的。

初中课本就教过我们，资本主义剥削的秘密中有一段 ，“工人看似有签订契约的自由，但是他们不是受雇于这个资本家，就得受雇于那个资本家，饥饿的威胁使他们无法摆脱被资本家雇佣、受资本家剥削和压榨的命运。在资本家占有生产资料的条件下，所谓雇佣双方的契约自由，对于工人来说，是徒有虚名的。”

“我不想哪一天，在中国的大地上，再出现人剥削人的现象，再出现资本家、企业主、雇工、妓女和吸食鸦片烟。如果这样，许多烈士的血就白流了。”

吃**：连恶意讨薪都能发明出来的地方似乎没有逼脸说这事吧！

腐**：为什么越年轻越不敢结婚不敢要孩子？要不起！当拼劲权利活着都困难的时候，谁会想让下一代过这种生活，就TM的清华北大出来的工资也就那样，加班加成清道夫，哪儿有空夜生活回去就想睡觉，当绝大部分财富掌握在极少数人手里的时候，阶级固化难以逾越、生下孩子，孩子再拼劲全力最后也不过是社会的新“奴隶”苟延残喘罢了（我说的是美国噢）。

脱**：美国不好的新闻上热搜特别快。而某某不好的新闻连热搜都排不上队 Double win！

2**：都别说了，说的再多也没用，他们都假装看不见。



豫**：和我前几天发的地主和儿子对话的故事有何区别。牧场牛嫌累，猪嫌吃不饱，鸡嫌住不好，问儿子怎么解决，儿子说满足他们要求，而地主则呵斥到说：告诉它们外面有狼。

胖**：环球时报是当代东厂吧？

清**：先低头看看自己吧

不爱物业就滚出小区！

 6月14日，广西柳州某小区30多名业主因物业管理问题，与开发商和物业公司交涉时发生语言冲突。业主们被物业公司4名员工使用干粉灭火器喷射，导致多位业主受伤。

事发后，微博上有大量网友在@南洋传媒的一条新闻转发下热议此事，然而评论却大都“走偏”，有许多网友借业主与物业的关系讽刺当局和小粉红，各种模仿“官方/五毛话术”所创作的趣味横生的段子让网友感概“这是最近看到的最正常、最宽慰的微博评论区”。目前，该评论区已开启审查，有大量网友评论已被删除。

@南洋传媒：【#物业用高压水枪灭火器驱赶业主# 官方：6名业主受伤，4名物业人员被拘】据@时间视频 消息：近日，广西柳州。小区业主在交涉物业费时，遭物业用水枪灭火器驱赶。视频显示，现场弥漫着白色粉末，数十名业主打伞防护。16日，官方通报称，30多名业主以物业费过高等为由，与正在进行消防演练的开发商和物业公司交涉。双方发生冲突，4名物业人员用灭火器喷业主，6名业主受伤经治疗后无大碍。涉事的4名物业人员已被警方行拘并罚款。

以下评论由中国数字时代编辑搜集自网络：

****Zhang2015：还不是因为天气太热， 物业担心业主中暑才喷的灭火器，背后原因令人暖心。

****凉好个秋：你以为买了房成了业主就是大爷？错，我们物业才是大爷！

****莱lorelei：拍视频的人什么居心啊，收了隔壁小区物业的钱来抹黑，明眼人都看得出来吧，瞎带什么节奏呢？

****reSNO1：自古以来，有物业才有小区，有小区才有业主。没有了物业，你们业主什么都不是，物业给你稳定的小区环境，物业给你自来水煤气和电能，物业的管理下你们才能解决温饱。你们业主这是想造反?你们违反小区安全，企图颠覆物业的小区权。



****吃饭哈：好家伙，简直是月度最佳评论区。

****森挺好：评论区突现高密度正常人，泪流满面。

****话倒是蛮搞笑的：广西老表根本不会说普通话，赶紧查查。 // 弄丢了金箍棒：听出他们说普通话了 一定是阴谋。

****福又来了：警惕拜登打物业牌。

****这个那个：哼，一看就是恨区党，建议调查一下是不是收了区外势力的钱！

****壮丁：你了解我们小区吗？你来过我们小区吗？你知道我们是全市第一大的小区吗？你的问题充满了对我们小区的傲慢与偏见，是完全不可以接受的！！

****的冰棍儿：这微博评论区太欢乐了…原来大家伙都明白的很啊……看那些个官方评论区我以为我是个异类呢…

****与传说：如果你对小区的物业不满，那你就辞职去当保安，去净化它去改造它，而不是一昧的谩骂，抱怨，逃离。

****24551：业主表示幸福满意度99%。

****o4wL：可以看出物业已经保持了极大的克制。

****号角：小区物业是历史的选择、人民的选择。

****佟掌柜共进晚餐：别动不动就以业主自居，你给物业交了多少钱啊？你给小区做了多大贡献啊？不要问物业能给你做什么，先看看自己能给物业做些什么。

****好想养只猫：警惕拜登打物业牌……性感拜登，在线发牌。

****正义大铁拳：评论区感动中国，我支持物业你们可以打我了。

****精kai：没有物业你业主什么都不是，物业才是父母官，物业养活了14亿全国……不，全小区人民。

****提督三代：你不爱物业怎么不滚出小区？有物业才有家，受小区外势力教唆，阴谋分裂小区，背叛小区，注定被人唾弃。放在美国物业，早开枪了。我支持小区物业，你们这些废业主可以打我了！不允许污辱物业，也不许污辱物业工作人员，这是写入小区管理章程里的，必须重拳出击，一空输出击！

****021：建议出台反撑伞法，彻底扑灭撑伞业主暴徒的嚣张气焰。

****树丁：评论里都是正能量。

****ea575：业主明显是被特斯拉用高科技控制了。

****壮丁：你了解我们小区吗？你来过我们小区吗？你知道我们是全市第一大的小区吗？你的问题充满了对我们小区的傲慢与偏见，是完全不可以接受的！

****健康快乐：物业管理水平还是高，有大局观，稳定才是硬道理。责任全在业主，有啥问题可以走正常途径向相关部门反馈，不能以此聚众滋事，更不能越级上访。

****二三分：眼睁睁看着评论从九万赞删到四千。

****油怎么还没有融化完：老逼登的手伸这么长。

****勤桃：小区大门没加盖，不喜欢就滚出去住。

****小宝宝：小区居民的思想有问题，如果把物业定性为管理者而不是服务者，这事就想通了。交钱别废话，闹事的挨打。

****柜共进晚餐：别动不动就以业主自居，你给物业交了多少钱啊？你给小区做了多大贡献啊？不要问物业能给你做什么，先看看自己能给物业做些什么。

****ameron:有那么一小撮勾结外区势力的业主，违背广大区内业主的利益倒行逆施。殊不知物业是小区业主共同的选择，没有物业就没有小区，更没有业主的幸福生活。物业和业主，小区就是三位一体，绝对不能分开。反对物业就是反对小区和业主，是典型的卖区行为！

****甜豆奶：删了吧，别给物业添麻烦。

****娇：发给我爹了，我爹说，呀，那我以后出门得对物业敬礼了。

****关ID2：可千万别传到外网上去，这是我们的家事！

****史派_3：如果物业没了，我们要小区还有什么意义？

****on777：怎么不把这些业主打死呢 物业辛辛苦苦的为了小区的发展差点没累死 结果就遇到这些两面人业主 看到这个新闻把我气的都哭了 为物业感到委屈

****大的河蟹：物业还处于摸着石头过河的初级阶段，偶尔打打业主只是前进道路上的小浪花。

****efromearth1：搬小区换户口本250，没人拦着你。

****氧化银·：柳州废青早该管管了。

****夜空：原来互联网还是有清醒人的。

How China Broke the Asian Model

 “What do you think is unique about the Chinese model? That’s the question a TV reporter asked me the last time I was in Beijing. My response was that I don’t think there is a specific Chinese economic model.

There is a East Asian development model of rapid export-oriented industrialization that was initiated by Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. What China has done is follow the same pattern – on a large scale. I added that the only real innovation from China was that the country had not liberalized politically because it had become rich. This distinguishes China from South Koreans and Taiwanese.

After we were done talking, I asked the reporter if she would be able to use part of my answer. “No, I don’t think so,” she replied. “But it must be nice to be able to say what you think.”

I thought about this exchange this week, as China prepares to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party. It is a central claim by President Xi Jinping that, under the party’s wise leadership, China has discovered a unique path to development that the rest of the world can now learn from. In a speech at the party convention in 2017, Xi proclaimed that China “was opening a new path for other developing countries to achieve modernization.”

The Chinese leader’s claim to have discovered a new path to economic growth is questionable. The early stages of China’s post-Mao economic reform followed a formula that was recognizable to anyone familiar with East Asia’s previous economic “miracles”.

Many of the first factories in southern China were established by Chinese investors abroad from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand and elsewhere. They were carrying a model that had worked in those countries in a new, low-cost environment. The fact that China has continued to grow at double-digit rates for decades is remarkable. But it is not without precedent. Japan achieved a similar feat for many years after World War II. South Korea was poorer than parts of sub-Saharan Africa in the 1950s, but today it is a wealthy country.

But while the Chinese model economy is derivative, the politics are new. Unlike Taiwan or South Korea, which moved from one-party states to democracies as they got richer, China under Xi strengthened the dominance of the Communist Party.

When Chinese commentators talk about offering a new model to the developing world, they also have a political proposal in mind. Why not adopt the order of Chinese-style authoritarianism rather than the chaos of Western-style democracy?

China has also questioned the geopolitical environment that has served as the backdrop for Asia’s rise. The original Asian tigers were all American allies. In the context of its Cold War with the Soviet Union, the United States saw the benefits of opening its market to exports from its East Asian allies. Washington was also willing to tolerate their protectionist policies longer than it could otherwise.

The emergence of Asian economic competitors has never been an easy proposition for Americans. There was panic about the rise of Japan in the 1980s. But the backlash was controllable because Japan was an ally and another democracy.

China was never going to be an ally of the United States. But, until recently, he was very careful to avoid openly challenging American power in the Pacific region. That changed under Xi, as China built military bases in the South China Sea.

As an authoritarian country, increasingly open to its ambition to challenge the military, political and economic might of the United States, China belatedly provoked a backlash in Washington. The Trump administration has largely focused on the national trade deficit with China. Under Joe Biden, however, the backlash became more explicitly ideological. The new president frequently says that the United States and China are locked in an ideological and political struggle to provide the model for the 21st century – democracy or authoritarianism.

The Chinese government has reason to hope that the United States left it too late to rethink its support for the Asian growth model that facilitated China’s rise. China is already the world’s largest manufacturer and exporter. The country now has a huge domestic consumer economy, which offers an alternative source of growth to the export markets that were so essential in the early decades of China’s rise.

China has also just become the first global recipient new foreign direct investment. Chinese companies are expanding all over the world. The US and Chinese economies are so deeply intertwined that true decoupling would be extremely difficult – not to say unpopular with many companies on both sides.

Despite this, Xi took a great risk by openly defying American power. During the first decades of China’s rise, the consensus in Washington was that China too would liberalize politically, as it grew richer. The United States has therefore taken an encouraging and permissive stance in the face of China’s rise, similar to its approach to other East Asian tiger economies.

In the case of China, the American “permission” has now been withdrawn. The United States is restricting China’s access to certain advanced technologies and is organizing its allies to push back Beijing. In this new geopolitical environment, Xi really needs to find a new “Chinese model” – separate from the East Asian model – if China’s rise is to continue uninterrupted.

gideon.rachman@ft.com

This was one of the worst weeks for China on the world stage in a while

 Linette Lopez

Sun, June 13, 2021, 5:28 AM

Chinese President Xi Jinping rubs his eye as he arrives for the seventh plenary session of the first session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. FRED DUFOUR/AFP via Getty Images

• It was a bad week for China on the world stage.

• President Biden is getting a warm reception in Europe rallying our democratic allies in the G7, the EU and NATO.

• And at home, our squabbling US Senate somehow managed to pass a $250 billion bill countering China.

• This is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author.

• See more stories on Insider's business page.

This week the leaders of the Western world turned their eyes toward China, and as a result it was one of the worst weeks for Beijing on the world stage in some time.

In Washington, Democrats and Republicans in the Senate set aside their differences to pass a $250 billion industrial policy bill aimed at preparing US commerce and government for competition with Beijing. And while on a diplomatic trip to Europe, President Joe Biden is reinvigorating our ties to our allies in Europe, the G7 group of nations, and NATO. On the top of the agenda in these meetings is the question of how to counter an aggressive, totalitarian China on the rise.

This comes as every indication points to China moving farther and farther away being an open, even remotely democratic society.

Earlier this week Amnesty International published an in-depth look at life for Muslims living in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, calling it a "dystopian hellscape" where Muslims are terrorized and arbitrarily forced into labor camps as part of "part of a larger campaign of subjugation and forced assimilation." The Times also reported the Chinese government is seizing Uyghur Muslims who flee abroad.

On the economic front, the Chinese legislature rushed through a bill expanding the government's means and methods to retaliate against foreign sanctions including the ability to seize foreign companies' Chinese assets, deny visas, and block the ability to do deals in China. Foreign businesses in the country were caught flat-footed.

At the heart of China's bellicose behavior is the belief, held among many elites in the Chinese Communist Party, that the US and its partners in the West are in a state of decline. This idea took root during the 2008 financial crisis, and then was reaffirmed by the European debt crisis, the election of Donald Trump and his agression towards our European allies, and the United State's handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

To the CCP, our way of life looks like chaos - a cacophony of voices sometimes forcefully pulling our discourse to the right then back to the left. They've convinced themselves that we can no longer organize and unify our societies to do the ambitious things that need to be done to win the future. This week the West showed China signs that - when it comes to countering a strengthening totalitarian power - that may not be the case.

A matter of trust

China squandered a massive opportunity over the last four years. As president, Donald Trump snubbed America's traditional allies and made overtures to the world's thugs and petty dictators. That could have been a moment when China cozied up to Europe as a more stable alternative, instead China wound up alienating the continent with its overbearing behavior.

For example, at the beginning of this year it seemed certain that the European Union and China would sign a trade deal, against the wishes of the United States. But in March, when the EU sanctioned China over its treatment of Uyghur Muslims, Beijing - in keeping with its policy of aggressive "Wolf Warrior" diplomacy - responded by sanctioning members of EU Parliament. This put the EU-China trade deal on an indefinite hold.

That brings us to Biden and his current trip to Europe, where the president is trying to rebuild trust among nations. His administration is working on undoing the tariffs the Trump administration put on its EU partners with an aim to lift them by the end of the year. He is encouraging unity on the European continent, urging UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to settle his differences with the EU over Brexit and keep the peace on the Ireland-Northern Ireland border. Biden also announced that the US would donate 500 million doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine to over 100 countries "no strings attached."

Trump's betrayal of our allies left commentators around the world wondering if US-led groups like the G7 would be able to cooperate enough to do hard things again. This week we're seeing signs that they can and will. The first sign was Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's momentous announcement that the G7 had come to an agreement on an international minimum corporate tax to stop the race to the bottom in taxing the world's richest companies.

And now it appears Biden is also rallying our allies to counter China. Before he left for Europe, Biden met with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg at the White House. Addressing the press after their meeting Stoltenberg said China "doesn't share our values." Biden will attend a NATO summit on Monday, and it will produce the strongest statement in its history on NATO's stance on China, according to the Wall Street Journal.

From the comfortable primeval mud

Legendary American diplomat George Kennan - known for outlining the US policy of containing the USSR during the Cold War - used to say that the US people are always about 10 years behind its diplomats when it comes to seeing danger from abroad. Lecturing back in 1950 he compared democracies to a giant prehistoric monster "with a body as long as this room and a brain the size of a pin" that needs to be directly confronted with a problem before it awakens from the "comfortable primeval mud." But when a challenge does gain our attention, Kennan said, the country lashes out with "such blind determination that he not only destroys his adversary but largely wrecks his native habitat."

Perhaps the US has learned something from Kennan. Consider the Senate's passage of a 2,400 page bill aimed at shoring up the US as an economic and technological superpower. The size and scope of the bill shows that our leaders are trying to meet a challenge before it's an emergency.

The bill allocates $52 billion to building up the semiconductor industry in the US in order to decrease our dependence on semiconductors from China and Taiwan. The bill also funds major research, allocating $81 billion to the National Science Foundation from 2022 to fiscal 2026 and $120 billion into technologies like artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

There are also diplomatic and intelligence measures. It bars US diplomats from attending the Olympics in Beijing, and requires the intelligence community to produce a report about China's efforts to influence international bodies like the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organizations and United Nations. It passed the fractious US Senate - sometimes sardonically referred to as Mitch McConnell's "legislative graveyard" - on a vote of 68 to 32.

China responded to the bill saying that it "slanders China" and is "full of Cold War mentality and ideological prejudice."

In a time when the leaders of the richest country in the world are squabbling amongst themselves over whether or not to fund the building of roads and bridges, this bill is a heartening sight. The most important ways the US can counter China are by strengthening itself domestically and by preparing for the worst with its allies. If the giant prehistoric monster hasn't awakened, this week shows that it now at least has one eye open.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Apple: Privacy is a human right, unless you live in China

 Andy Meek

Wed, June 9, 2021, 2:02 PM

Apple executives like CEO Tim Cook like to repeat, often, what’s become a kind of mantra inside the company as well as during public events like this week’s annual developer showcase, WWDC 2021: Namely, that privacy is a “human right,” and that as much as possible, the iPhone maker is going to bake privacy into the core of its expanding line of products and services.

But this human right, based on the company’s actions, doesn’t seem to extend to the People’s Republic of China. The latest example of this was evident, in fact, from an important new Apple privacy feature announced during this week’s developer conference. That feature is Apple’s new so-called “private relay,” an iOS 15 feature which masks the web browsing behavior of Internet users from ISPs and advertisers, and certainly tracks with the high-profile new ad that Apple just launched as part of its “Privacy. That’s iPhone” ad campaign. In that ad, we see a visualization of an iPhone owner stopping all the creepy trackers and snoops from following him around. It’s pretty entertaining, overall, and neatly sums up Apple’s admirable commitment to not being as invasive and privacy-flouting as most of the other tech giants you can point to. Not mentioned, however, are all the exceptions that Apple carves out for China — where Apple derives almost 15% of its revenue and where the company accepts distasteful compromises to keep itself in the good graces of the country’s totalitarian, communist regime that engages in genocide, among other things.

It’s certainly no surprise that a feature like Apple’s private relay would be unavailable in the country ruled by a Community Party that uses a breathtakingly expansive surveillance apparatus to not only keep close tabs on its citizens but monitor everything they do online. Here’s a little bit about how the new private relay feature works:

Basically, Web traffic first gets sent to an Apple-controlled server. At that point, the traffic is stripped of an identifying IP address, before getting routed onward to another third-party-controlled server where a temporary IP address is assigned before the traffic is sent on to its destination. This setup hides both the identity of the user as well as the websites they visit from Apple, which is also not making this feature available in the following places in addition to China: Belarus, Egypt, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Uganda, Colombia, South Africa, and the Philippines.

This is one major point of distinction currently between Apple and Facebook, the former chief security officer of which chided Apple on Twitter this week for its approach to privacy vis a vis China. Facebook, it should be noted, does not operate in China today, unlike Apple, even though the social network is frequently a target of Apple’s ire over privacy violations. As far as Facebook staying out of China, though, it’s not for want of trying, because Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg would start doing business tomorrow in the country if the government there allowed it. But, for now, the distinction stands.

In a high-profile speech earlier this year focused on privacy, Cook warned that too many encroachments by private enterprise as well as governments risk robbing us of “the freedom to be human.” Just a few months later, The New York Times published a deep-dive into the compromises along these lines that Apple has made in China, including details about data centers in the country where “Chinese state employees physically manage the computers. Apple abandoned the encryption technology it used elsewhere after China would not allow it. And the digital keys that unlock information on those computers are stored in the data centers they’re meant to secure.”

It’s a reminder of the ever-so-small difference between compromise — which is generally regarded as a good thing — and abandoning one’s principles so much that end up, well, compromised.