"That Hideous Strength" - What we are up against.
In my last blog, What has Flublogia accomplished?, I listed some of our many successes. But as some have pointed out, we have had one spectacular failure - getting the US government to launch a mass education campaign so that people can prepare for a pandemic. Giving the public the simple facts, that local flu epidemics last 6-12 weeks and that our just-in-time inventory system means that there will almost certainly be shortages of basic goods during a severe pandemic, should be a no-brainer. Yet, despite meeting after meeting, and expert warning after expert warning, the federal government has still done nothing to educate the public. Note, this failure applies to both major parties. In times past, such a dereliction of duty would be noted and condemned by the media. Yet, there have been no angry editorials on this scandal by the MSM. Like many others, I found this puzzling, at first.
When I started out in Flublogia, I had little interest in trade policy, international business or Chinese factories. However, over the course of the past two years I have come to the conclusion that an insidious alliance between multinationals and the Chinese government is responsible for the failure of our government and the Fourth Estate to warn the public of a clear and present danger.
Many people feel that the US is on the wrong economic track, but they have hard time pin-pointing exactly why. Each political party blames the other. The MSM alternates between attacking one candidate or another with no discernible pattern. Yet, most politicians and commentators do not mention the elephant in the room - China. It is no secret that America's manufacturing sector has been decimated because factories have moved to China. And we occasionally hear about human rights abuses and their toxic products. Yet, no-one suggests canceling permanent MFN with China. Why is that?
In a word, money. Chinese government officials and multinationals have gotten enormously wealthy with a Brave New World Economic Order that was ushered in with permanent Most Favored Nations (MFN) status for China in 1994. Multinationals moved their factories from free countries with expensive labor laws and environmental regulations to China, a country with no protection of its labor force and no enforcement of environmental laws. In fact, if you need to set up your factory on some farm land and the peasants who work that land protest, government goons will beat and kill them for you. What a deal!
Of course, there is a price.
Multinationals: "Well, OK. We still come out ahead".
Chinese government: "And another thing, you can't say anything bad about China."
Multinationals: "Welll.... OK. that doesn't cost anything."
Chinese government: "And one more thing. You can't let any the MSM or politicians in the US say or do anything that disturbs us".
Multinationals: "Hmmmm. Well, some people might consider that treachery. But....we're talking about an awful lot of money here. OK, who do we have to lean on?"
And in fact, the multinationals were given a list of whom to lean on when permament MFN for China was being discussed back in the 1990s.
Quietly, behind the scenes, a coalition of some of the leading corporations in the United States has been working for years to ensure that China's Communist-led government retains most-favored-nation (MFN) trading status--in turn facilitating corporate access to Chinese markets and goods made by low-wage Chinese workers.
Details regarding the structure and tactics of this "industry grassroots initiative" were revealed by Scott Parven of Aetna Insurance at the Public Affairs Council's "National Grassroots Conference."
"Of course we don't usually talk publicly about our internal political strategy and tactics, but we're all among friends here, aren't we?" Parven said, smiling conspiratorially as he distributed a map and other coalition documents during his presentation, which was titled "Expanding Credibility Through Coalitions and Ally Development."
China, of course, has been widely criticized for practices that include human rights violations, the use of slave labor and child labor, unfair trading practices, and, recently, allegations of illegal campaign contributions to US politicians.
With nary a word about any of these practices, Parven proudly described how skillful lobbying by a coalition of America's largest corporations has maintained a "business as usual" relationship between American transnational corporations and China's "emerging market" dictatorship.
The corporations listed on Parven's map include Boeing, Nike, IBM, TRW, Allied Signal, Motorola, ConAgra, Rockwell, Dresser, Eastman Chemical, GM, UTC, Ford, AIG, AMP, and American Standard.
State by state, each corporate member of the coalition has taken on the "responsibility" of lining up pro-China votes. In Texas, for example, Dresser Industries and Motorola claimed credit in 1996 for delivering 29 of Texas' 31 votes in the House of Representatives.
Parven pointed out that the pro-China business coalition was an outgrowth of previous lobbying efforts by the US Chamber of Commerce and the US-China Trade Commission. The difference this time was that corporations divvied up duties so each company could focus on serving up votes from a state where that company had sizeable operations and corresponding political clout.
One would think that an alliance between the Chinese government and American-based multinationals would be a huge story, one that would be front page news when Chinese products are killing Americans both literally and economically. Yet, there are no signs of this. The reason is simple: The Chinese government had the foresight to also co-opt the American press.
Two examples:
Many big companies have sought to break into the Chinese market over the past two decades, but few of them have been as ardent and unrelenting as Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation.
Mr. Murdoch has flattered Communist Party leaders and done business with their children. His Fox News network helped China’s leading state broadcaster develop a news Web site. He joined hands with the Communist Youth League, a power base in the ruling party, in a risky television venture, his China managers and advisers say.
Mr. Murdoch’s third wife, Wendi, is a mainland Chinese who once worked for his Hong Kong-based satellite broadcaster, Star TV. Her role in managing investments and honing elite connections in China has underscored uncertainties within the Murdoch family about how the family-controlled News Corporation will be run after Mr. Murdoch, 76, retires or dies.
and
General Electric is both an Olympics sponsor and the parent company of NBC, the network that paid a combined $2.3 billion for the rights to the Athens, Turin and Beijing Olympics — only to be told it can't broadcast live from Tiananmen Square. As the Games approach, the Chinese authorities appear increasingly nervous at the prospect of any form of public expression. "We're proud to be a sponsor and our plans aren't changing," GE spokeswoman Deirdre Latour said. "Our position overall is that the Olympics are a force for good. Of course, we're watching all of the issues carefully."
The attitude of GE is that once the Games begin, the feel-good moments will take over and everyone will forget the rifle butts and jail cells.
"When you're sitting in that stadium and all the countries walk in, you'll see the power of bringing everyone together," Latour said.
That's obviously what the Chinese Government hopes, too — and intends to enforce by censoring NBC.
Well, at least we have the blogosphere!
Uh, maybe not.
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into a possible China connection in the hack of a nonprofit group created to draw attention to the ongoing genocide in western Sudan's Darfur region.
The Save Darfur Coalition called in the FBI earlier this week after discovering that someone had gained unauthorized access to its e-mail and Web server, according to Allyn Brooks-LaSure, a spokesman with the group.
Brooks-LaSure doesn't know who is behind the attacks, but he said the IP addresses of the computers that had hacked his organization were from China. "Someone in Beijing is trying to send us a message," he said.
The hackers seemed to be primarily interested in gathering data on his group, Brooks-LaSure said. Save Darfur has been trying to get China to pressure Sudan's government into stopping the mass killings in Darfur's ongoing civil war. China is one of Sudan's largest trading partners.
More on this story:
In reporting on the story, The Washington Post found consensus among I.T. experts that the Save Darfur Coalition allegation "fits a near decade-old pattern of cyber-espionage and cyber-intimidation by the Chinese government against critics of its human rights practices."
What's new here is that China is not simply tracking human rights dissidents abroad, or researchers and advocates working on such highly sensitive subjects as Tibet and Taiwan, regarded by Beijing as "domestic affairs." Rather the cyber-espionage extends to advocacy organizations challenging China over its role in the broader international theater of events and responsibilities. The thinking appears to be that if an issue touches Chinese interests in a serious way, cyber-espionage is an acceptable tactic. A recent news investigation in China found persuasive evidence that hackers not directly associated with the Chinese government were committing cyber-espionage on a freelance basis, and were paid for it by Beijing later. And yet because of the difficulty in proving definitively just where an attack or penetration originates, and if the government has a hand in it, both the espionage subcontractors and the Chinese government "operate in a virtual world of deniability."
[snip]
... there is no legal or judicial recourse. U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies have only begun to move toward serious discussions of the problem. Actual adjudication of "off-shore" espionage would seem to be many years off, especially if one of the most egregious offenders is China. A treaty of any sort that might weaken one of China's intelligence and military advantages over the West would appear doomed.
Americans should thus expect that Chinese abuses of cyber-technology for espionage purposes, extending to the invasion and disruption of domestic political discourse, to be around for a very long time.
The Chinese government has made it clear that they intend to use soft power (money) to weaken free countries. They have been stunningly successful. They have targeted our politicians; they have targeted our press; and now they target...us.
The Chinese government and their corporate lackeys do not want a pandemic flu warning be given to the American public because this would cause their Brave New World Economic Order to collapse. Who would travel to China and build factories there if they knew the risks? Where would the multinationals ever find such a powerful government eager to cater to their every wish regardless of the impact on their own citizens? A prepping message would shift the American economy away from morally objectionable and toxic goods from China towards goods made in free countries. A prepping message would lead many people away from unhealthy processed foods toward cooking from scratch and planting home gardens. The last thing the Chinese Corporate Party wants is a transformation of the American consumer into an independent and self-reliant citizen.
We stand alone (aside from a very few brave politicians and journalists) against the second most powerful government in the world and the most powerful companies in the world. They will spare no expense and will use all of their resources, from the Director-General of the WHO to compliant Ken and Barbie "news" readers, to stop a prepping message. Our job is daunting. But it is not impossible. In my next blog, I will lay out a strategy to counter "That Hideous Strength".
Thursday, March 27, 2008
