Hong Kong - Macau - Zhuhai Bridge

The world’s longest sea-crossing bridge has opened. The 55 km (34 miles) Hong Kong – Macau – Zhuhai Bridge links Hong Kong to Macau and mainland China, cutting travel time many times faster. This impressive engineering feat to create connectivity between Hong Kong and mainland China is praised by some but criticized by others. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the positive side, it is believed that it will help economic development of and bring prosperity to the Greater Bay Area which covers 11 cities and 68 million people. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the negative side, it is said to be a waste of money. China bashers can’t lose any chance to bash the Peoples’ Republic of China (PRC), complaining that it drags Hong Kong closer to Beijing’s grip. O My God, the China / Hong Kong border has been erased! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- These are my thoughts and comments: Hong Kong had been a British colony for 156 years. It returned to Chinese rule on July 1, 1997. Hong Kong became a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China, so did Macau in 1999. Which makes more sense, to strengthen the Hong Kong / China border, or loosen, even erase it? Under the Schengen Agreement, most European Union (EU) members allow free flow of people between nations. But easing the border and allowing the free flow of people of Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China, all Chinese people of the same country is wrong? --------------------------------------------------------------------- The idea and request of building this bridge originated from some Hong Kong merchants and business people, not out of Beijing’s desperate need to drag Hong Kong to its grip. Hong Kong and Macau are already within Bejing's grip. Rather, Beijing supported this mega project for the benefit of China and the Chinese people, especially the Greater Bay Area. China bashers talk like Hong Kong is still a British colony or an independent country, and the evil Chinese rulers are coming to take over Hong Kong. The truth is this: in 1997, China did not “take over” Hong Kong. China “took back” Hong Kong from the Brits.

Marijuana in Canada

Marijuana has become legal in Canada. I have received different comments from my friends in Facebook. Without going to long discussion, these are my comments: Some people like it, some people don't. People have different views, but it has become the law of the land. Legal weed is liberation to some, but disappointment to others. Children should have no access to marijuana, whether it is legal or not.

Donna Strictland

Canada's pride. Canadian Donna Strictland is one of the three scientists who won the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics. Congratulations!

Burt Reynolds

American actor Burt Reynolds has passed. He was 82. RIP Burt!

Ed Schultz

Ed Schultz, an American broadcaster, has passed. He was 64 years old. He was anti corporate greed, a good man. RIP Ed!

Steel and Aluminum

Donald Trump is an agitator. He has been stirring up all kinds of political, economic and military storms everywhere, and then his words and positions are ever changing from one day to another. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Trump is not only against China in her so-called unfair trading, but now he is also against Canada, Mexico and the European Union (EU). So far it appears that he is good at breaking deals, but not making deals. I am waiting to see what he is going to do with the upcoming summit with Kim Jong-un of North Korea. I still wish him success in bringing peace to the Korean Peninsula. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Regarding Canada and U.S. relations, it just doesn’t make any sense for Trump to say that the U.S. is under threat and security risk of Canada. Why subject Canada to steel and aluminum tariffs? Please don’t give me a stupid answer of why not.

No Trade War

China and the Unites States say that they will not engage in a trade war. This is good for both countries and the world.

U.S. Iran Nuclear Deal (2)

On July 15, 2015, I wrote about the U.S. IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL in much detail. Now, the majority of people are against Donald Trump's withdrawal of this deal . I still think that a peace deal is better than no deal, but a few people like Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and the U.S. neo-con war hawks would say that no deal is better than a bad deal. --------------------------------------------------------------------- A deal is a deal; good or bad, a deal has been made, so please think about the meaning and consequence of the U.S. withdrawal by Donald Trump, the current POTUS. I don't have a good feeling about it.

Peace in Korean Peninsula

There is hope for peace in the Korean Peninsula. Moon Jae-in,President of South Korea(ROK) will meet with Kim Jong-un,Supreme Leader of North Korea (DPRK). Kim has gone to China to meet with Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China. Then Donald Trump, President of the United States of America(USA) will meet with Kim Jong-un. This kind of direct meetings is of the highest level between countries. ____________________________________________________________________________ Although I am hopeful for peace, I don't think that we should expect all the problems can be resolved in one go. The Korean war is still technically not yet over. The 1953 agreement was only a truce. It was an armistice agreement, not a peace treaty. Although South Korea was not a signatory to that agreement signed by the U.S., China and North Korea, it should now sign a peace treaty with North Korea, to officially end the Korean War. ____________________________________________________________________________ Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is a serious matter. I don't think North Korea is willing to give up its development of nuclear weapons as the U.S. demands, unless its security can be guaranteed. To put it bluntly, Kim Jong-un just doesn't want his country to be invaded and destroyed by the U.S. like what happened to Iraq and Libya. On the other hand, it is hard to imagine that Donald Trump will agree to withdraw all 26,000 U.S. troops in South Korea. One would ask this question: now that both ROC and DPRK want peace, why is the U.S. still here? Shouldn't the U.S. troops go home? It seems clear that the problem is not so much between the two Koreas, but rather between North Korea and the U.S. ____________________________________________________________________________ I think this whole thing of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and working for peace cannot be achieved without the inclusion of the U.S. and China. Donald Trump has been saying that Xi Jinping has helped him a lot in dealing with North Korea. Indeed China has a peaceful foreign policy; there is no reason that President Xi would be against a peaceful Korean Peninsula. ____________________________________________________________________________ As said earlier, we should not expect all the problems can be resolved in one go. If a peace treaty is signed between the two Koreas, backed by the U.S. and China of course, then I'll consider it a success, a first step towards permanent peace. I'm sure that Donald Trump would claim merit, but let him. I would even nominate Trump, Xi, Kim and Moon for a Nobel Peace Prize. If they won, Donald Trump would be able to proudly show Obama that he won due to his competence, while Obama had been undeservedly given the peace prize even before he started to work. Yes, I think there is some kind of personal dislike and vendetta between Trump and Obama. ____________________________________________________________________________ Let's hope for Peace!

Petro Yuan

Today is the launching date of Oil futures trading in Chinese Yuan convertible to Gold. The US Petro Dollar is no longer King.

You Are Tillersoned

Most people know that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has been fired by U.S. President Donald Trump. __________________________________________________ Firing people is what Donald Trump good at. Before and after he became the U.S. President, he has been firing many people one after another. When you heard the name Trump, someone would be dumped. __________________________________________________ In this case, Rex’s last name ‘Tillerson’ has become a verb. If someone is dumped or fired, you can say that he or she has been ‘tillersoned’. Rex, I’m sorry that you have been ‘tillersoned’!

Donald Trump's Conflict of Interest

A friend in Facebook posted a news article titled ‘Trump’s Biggest Potential Conflict of Interest’. The headline refers to Donald Trump’s tenant on the 20th floor of the Trump Tower, namely the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), in which the Chinese Government has a majority of ownership. _________________________________________________ These are my thoughts and comments: If my memory is correct, the conflict of interest law in the U.S. does not apply to the U.S. President. In the U.S., much corruption is legalized or made legal. Lobbying is in a sense legalized bribery. There are so many ways to bribe a politician in the U.S., such as making huge political donations, giving ridiculously high speaking fees, and doing inside trading by members of Congress who are immune from prosecution, etc. etc. _________________________________________________ There are people in this world who are above or beyond the law, like the Pope, the kings and queens, the world leaders such as George Bush, the former U.S. President and Tony Blair, the former UK Prime Minister who invaded Iraq and caused the death of tens of thousands if not millions of innocent people. Who has the guts and means to bring these people to justice, if they did break the law? _________________________________________________ But then what would you do if you were Donald Trump? Tell his tenants to move out of the Trump Tower, let the rental space stay vacant and give up all the lucrative rental fees? To close and sell all his businesses? Is it even workable? What would you suggest? _________________________________________________ All said, we should understand that U.S.A. is not a socialist country. Capitalism and Individualism are high American values. In their extreme forms of ideology and selfish practices, Democracy in the U.S. is not so much about the politicians, the elites and the rulers helping the common people but rather helping themselves and supporting the rich and powerful. _________________________________________________ The U.S. is a republic, yes, a democracy in political system, ideology and appearance, but its socio-economic and political reality is rather more like a Plutocracy and Oligarchy. Power to the rich, money to the powerful, and if you are one of the common people, then sorry, you are on your own!

Donald Trump is a Moth

A friend in Facebook posted a news article which said that an evolutionary biologist Vazrick Nazari has found a new moth with golden hair and a small penis. The moth is of the genus Neopalpa found in Southern California and Northern Mexico. He named it Neopalpa donaldtrumpi after Donald Trump. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ These are my thoughts and comments: Donald Trump has been the President of the United States of America (USA) for one year. There is hardly a day without any news about him, mostly negative, in the American and Global media. In this case, it is not a political satire, criticism or complaint. Nor is it a joke. It is a scientist who named a moth after Donald Trump based on his orange hair and supposedly small penis. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Maybe Vazrick Nazari thought a lot about the orange golden hair of the moth similar to Trump’s. Maybe he did not think too much about the moth’s small penis similar to Trump’s. What was Nazari thinking when he named the moth after Trump? I just don’t know, but who does? In any case, it begs the question on how did he know that Trump actually has a small penis? Sometimes, not only fake news could make one’s head turn. Even real news could become annoying. To me, this news article is neither funny nor inspiring. What do you think?