For your consideration today, a blog/newsletter blast from economist Noah Smith in which he talks about how the sci-fi authors’ Hugo Awards were recently held in mainland China, with a guest list tailored to suit the host country’s preferences—or that of its rulers. In this tale, Smith pulls on several threads in the fabric beneath the global reliance on China and its economy. In short, the Chinese leadership are maximizing their political influence worldwide, rewriting the rules by which everyone plays.
The sheer diversity of ways that China is trying to control, influence, and subvert actors in democratic countries is staggering — it’s a true multi-modal, full-spectrum effort. Individually, these things could be viewed as innovative extensions of traditional spycraft, propaganda, and information operations. Taken together, they represent a new kind of digital, global totalitarianism.
Smith names several books that will go on my distressingly long list of things I’d really like to read, mainly having to do with how things have come to such a pass, and how the Chinese state has succeeded. As with most other readers of current affairs, I enjoy scaring myself silly, I suppose.
Via a mention by Arnold Kling, here’s the Noahpinion link to the excerpt.
Hi again. I just finished posting my reactions to Cynthia's fine book report, which I read today. They're on the February 26 CSLF comments. I assume all of you know how to get there from here, if you are interested.
Hi, all. Am still in catch-up mode, but getting there.
One of my missions for today was to research and complete my Illinois ballot, which covers the GOP primary and a referendum. I won't be taking it to the dropbox until Monday, but I have other things in the intervening days, so I wanted to get that wrapped up today.
And I am ready to mark it NOW. So here's a little play-by-play narration for you.
First of all: Nikki Haley for President. (fills in oval at 11:24 )
Delegates and alternates to the nominating convention for my US congressional district: Some are identified as Haley so I voted for those.
U.S. Rep for my district; State Senator for my district; State Rep for my district: No candidates for any of these, so I came up with some blast-from-the-past write-ins. Donald Rumsfeld was a U. S. Rep for Illinois. Abraham Lincoln was a State Rep for 4 terms. Can't find much for state senators, but Jim Edgar was an Illinois governor and he is a solid Reaganite. For these last two, there's not a write-in oval though it says "vote for one,"but I'll do it anyway, very carefully. It shouldn't invalidate the rest of the ballot.
I'll vote for the Water Reclamation District candidates. This is the level where people do their jobs.
Clerk of the Circuit Court: Can't find out enough about the candidate, didn't submit questionnaires. He's a lawyer and a former cop. Could be a Trumpist. Can't risk it. Leave blank.
State's Attorney: This candidate is a seasoned litigator and has served on City Council in the past. He's very much a hands-on type with serious experience. He used to be a Democrat but is now a Republican. We can rule out Trumpism, so he gets a vote.
I'm skipping all the judges. Don't know enough.
Ward committeeperson: No candidate or provision for write-in. I'm writing in the name of a respected local celebrity, no idea about his politics, who I'm pretty sure lives in the ward.
Referendum: This is the scheme to raise the real estate transfer tax on expensive real estate. One problem with this is that it can hurt commercial development in neighborhoods, which is already not in good shape. The biggest problem is that those behind it don't want to show any kind of plan at all for how the money will be spent to provide housing for people who need it. It's basically "hey, let's tax the heck out of the rich" and the rest is just open-ended. Right now they're already botching attempts to address the whole homelessness and affordable-housing scenario. Uh-uh. A big NO.
So, ballot done. Will put in envelope, take to drop box in a few days.