Podcasts about xinjiang uyghur autonomous region

Back Home, One week later.By FinalStand. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels.There is something worse than waking up and not knowing where you are: you could wake up and not know who you are.Note: World Events Stuff ~ aka Why things are happening in Cáel's lifeThe phone was from Iskender. His boss, Oyuun Tömörbaatar (OT), the former UN ambassador from Kazakhstan and now the informal and unrecognized UN representative and chief diplomat of the Khanate to the same august body, wanted to talk with me, immediately. OT wasn't being diplomatic at the moment, that would come later.{Now this is going to get convoluted}Any inquiries to the Khanate that didn't also include immediate official recognition of the Khanate currently were being steered my (and Hana's) way. For all the behind closed doors crap, he had me, his loyal ass-monkey mutton-head. I held faint hope that this latest meeting would work out to my benefit. For the meeting, I traveled light, only Naomi (the Amazon) and Chaz (British SRR) watched over me.Now fathers who know me, hide their daughters. I'd earned my 'scoundrel' reputation. T. Sarangerel, OT's daughter, was in the room when Iskender ushered me in. She gave me an uncertain look, I shrugged and she smiled. It took me 3 nano seconds to figure that out, OT was scoping me out as a potential son-in-law. I was in Temujin's Inner Circle and a man who he trusted (a rarity). Any union with me would strengthen OT's clan's standing in the new regime.The genetic footprint Temujin, and his immediate family collectively, had put down in the 13th and 14th centuries CE today was vast. He needed that to make his plans for the internal reorganization of the Khanate work. The old republics would go away, to be replaced by a system akin to the Byzantine 'themes, the re-organization of regions based on the recruitment of the Tumens.The Khanate was aiming for an 'Autocratic Republic' ~ a term invented in the 19th century. My use of this terminology was based on my gut instinct, Alal's host of memories involving every form of governance, and my experience with human nature. That clued me in to what Temujin was up to, his Greater Plan. He wasn't going to form a false-front government. He was going to retain the decision-making powers and do so openly, thus 'Autocratic'.He also planned to have a bicameral legislative branch. The Upper House would be based in Tumens and bureaucratic leadership, intellectual standing, religious sects, and tribal entities. This body would be based on merit, not primogeniture. The Lower, main chamber, would be a democratically-elected assembly (aka a democratic republic) that advised him on policy matters, thus 'Republic'.All the power would remain in the Great Khan's hands and would be exercised by his genetic descendants (which some geneticists estimated as being as high as 25% of the Central Asian population.) Marrying into that extended family would be easy, the 'family' itself would have a vested interesting in supporting a state that benefited them.Men and women could exercise power in the government through marriage alliances, identical to the manner Hana was working through me. Being surrounded by very populous countries in various states of belligerence, empowering women wouldn't be an issue since every willing mind and pair of hands mattered. Outsiders who shone through could be offered a spouse and brought into the ruling elite since polygamy was permissible.In the Khanate there would be universal compulsive suffrage (everyone 18+ was legally required to vote) to decide on the representatives in the new legislative body. Everyone was expected to fight, so everyone voted. It would be modeled on the Duma of early 20th century Imperial Russia. Unlike the ill-fated Tsar Nicholas II, Temujin would be much more attentive to the voice of the people, in the Information Age, he had to.Or so I hoped. I spewed forth my ideas to OT who didn't agree, or disagree with my vision. Perhaps Temujin and I did share a bond that went beyond obligation. OT then pulled a 'Pamela'."He told me he knew immediately you were his brother when you and I shared that vision," he commented out of nowhere."His words: You (Earth and Sky) are the old. He (meaning me) is the new. He (me again) will show us the way." My, that was nice, obtuse and not at all helpful. What did OT want? My good buddy, the Great Khan, wanted to cash in on Hana's and my sudden popularity. His most pressing need remained 'time'. He needed to have a cease-fire in the wings when his offensive resumed the next day.The Earth and Sky had moved, well, the Heaven and Earth to get the Tumens and their accompanying national armies up and running after only a two day respite. Thanks to me, Manchuria was a mess. The Russians had carried out my 'Operation: Funhouse' with mixed, mostly positive results.Dozens of smaller Chinese military police units along the border went, 'inactive' was the term most often used in the media. They didn't disarm, yet they didn't fight the Russians either. They sat back and let events unfold. The issue wasn't the Chinese's willingness to fight and die for their country. It was the schizophrenic government in Beijing.The PRC didn't want to wage a war with the Russian Federation at that moment. The Khanate was the priority. There were two fundamentally incompatible courses of action favored for dealing with the Russians:One large group advocated a passive Option A: let the Russians step in and shield the three remaining provinces making up Manchuria that were still in Chinese possession. Later, China would use military, economic and political means to edge the Russians out, once the Khanate was dealt with.A sizable faction favored a more aggressive Option B: play a game of chicken with Vladimir Putin. Tell the Bear not to come across the border while threatening him with a bloody and pointless (for him) guerilla war if he did intervene. Events on the ground were not providing a lot of support for that school of thought,However, this split at the highest levels of leadership left the local and regional commanders to try and muddle through as best they could. To the local commanders defending the Amur River side of the Chinese-Russian border, common sense dictated that they not oppose the Russian crossings, because the Russian 35th Army would kill them.All their military units had gone west to the Nen River line. With no heavy weapons and little air support, the People's Armed Police (PAP) (paramilitary) and the Public Security Bureau (regular police) units would be wiped out for little gain.Russia's GRU (Military Intelligence) sweetened the pot by allowing the police units to remain armed and in formation. It could be argued that they weren't even committing treason. At any time, they could throw themselves into the battle, or form the core of a resistance movement. 'Conserving your strength' had been a hallmark of the Communist Chinese struggle against the Imperial Japanese and Nationalists forces from the 1920's until 1945 and it had served them well.For the party officials, civil authorities and the People's Liberation Army (PLA), Army Air Force (PLAAF), and Army Navy (PLAN) who had gone with Option B, things weren't working out. In the north of Heilongjiang province at Morin Dawa/the Nen River line, the regional commander of the ad hoc forces facing the Khanate decided to duke it out with the Russian 36th Army as well. He was boned from the get-go.The PLAAF's overall command and control had been badly disrupted in the first few hours of The Unification War and had never fully recovered. Of the 22 air regiments that the PLAAF had started the war with in the Shenyang Military District (NE China), only 5 remained as effective formations flying, on average, a meager 20% of their original complement of advanced Shenyang J-16's, J-11's, Chengdu J-10's and Xian JH-7's aircraft.Replacing their aircraft losses meant sending up aged Shenyang J-8's (rolled out in 1980) and Nanchang Q-5's (in 1970) to fly and die in droves fighting their technologically superior Khanate foes. To add insult to injury, China's fleet of 97 Su-30MKK/MK2's (built in Russia) had suffered numerous suspicious mechanical and electronic failures, rendering them either flying coffins, or space holders in bomb-proof shelters.Furthermore, of the forces arrayed in the far north, only two of the five air regiments were responding. Two of the other three had begun displacing south into the Beijing Military District and preparing to defend the capital city. The fifth formation had another problem, North Korea (, more on that later.)In opposition to those two Chinese air regiments (roughly 60 aircraft of mixed types) stood seven complete and fresh Russian air regiments (over 400 front-line aircraft) and that didn't include the regiment and elements of the Far East Naval Aviation which was ALSO watching North Korea (, again more on that later.) The latter was of small comfort to the forces trying to hold the already compromised Nen River line.Behind those valiant troops, along the much more defensible Amur River line, the commander of the key city of Heihe sided with the Option A group and let the Russian 35th Army cross the river unopposed. By the time the PLA commanding general of the 'Nen Force' (the 69th Motorized Division and the subordinate 7th Reserve Division) figured that out, he was already in a shooting war with the Russians. So his supply lines weren't in danger, they were lost.The final indignity took place at Zalantun. The commander of the 3rd Reserve Div. had died during the attempt to recapture Zalantun. His replacement died when his helicopter was shot down as he was coming to assume command. In the absence of these officers, the divisional chief of staff told his men, including two hastily hustled forward mechanized brigades, to put down their arms. That meant 'Nen Force' was completely cut-off and surrounded.One battalion of the 36th Russian Motorized Brigade (yes, too many 36's running around) disarmed the Chinese troops while the rest, plus the 74th Independent Motorized Brigade raced for the prize, the city of Qiqihar. The last major mechanized formation of the 36th Rus. Army, the 39th MB was following them. However, instead of manning Qiqihar's defenses, the Chinese garrison in that city was waging war on its own populace.It wasn't only in Qiqihar; chaos reigned throughout Heilongjiang province. The Provincial Head of the Communist Party, Wang Xiankui, supported Option A. The Provincial Governor, Lu Hao, went with Option B. Both figures were rising stars in the PRC. Wang had ordered the still forming Reserve Divisions and the PAP units to disperse, thus avoiding any untimely confrontations with the Russians.Lu, without consulting Wang, ordered the same forces to launch a violent crackdown on all dissident forces, specifically all racial minorities. (It turned out that Lu was also a member of the Seven Pillars and his witch-hunt was aimed at getting the Earth and Sky organization operating in Heilongjiang).For the men and women on the other end of those phone conversations, there was no 'right' answer. Lest we forget, their organizations were already degraded by the Anthrax outbreak. Both men were powerful and represented China's future leadership, so if the person in charge at the ground level obeyed the wrong one, they could be assured of being roasted by the other.Some did try to do both, repress and disband at the same time. That meant that in the process of making mass arrests among an already war-fearful and plague-fearful populace, the law enforcement infrastructure began disintegrating.The problem with Lu's/7P's plan was that there was no 'revolutionary' organization to round up. That wasn't how the Earth and Sky operated in North-East China. They remained in tiny sabotage and reconnaissance cells. While they were scurrying for cover from the police crackdown, an opportunity presented itself.The afflicted minorities were getting furious with their treatment. These minorities saw themselves as loyal Chinese, yet they were being dragged out into the streets, put in detentions centers and (in a few cases) summarily executed. Being less than 10% of the overall population, resistance had never crossed their minds. It seemed all that those defenseless people could do was pray for Russian intervention forces to arrive.Within that mix of fear, betrayal and rage, the E and S discovered a way to start the dominos falling. The small, well-armed and well-trained E and S cells began ambushing police detachments. Weapons from those dead men and women were turned over to the pissed off locals before the cell went off to stalk the next police unit.Wash, rinse and repeat. It became a perverse and bloody case of wish fulfillment. Lu and the 7P's had been looking for an insurrection and they started one. Even though a miniscule portion of the population was involved, from the outside looking in, it reinforced the Putin Public Affairs initiative that portrayed Putin (and his army) as coming in to restore order to a collapsing civil system, which he was helping disrupt.From Moscow, the PRC's indecisiveness looked like Manna from Heaven. For the massive numbers of Russian soldiers riding through the Manchurian countryside, it felt like they were rolling into Arkham Asylum. Unlike the NATO countries' professional armies, Russia remained a largely conscript force whose normal term of service was only one year. These unseasoned troops could never tell if the local military, military police and police would attack until they rolled up on the Chinese units.At the start of that Day One of Operation: Funhouse, the Russian ROE (Rules of Engagement) was 'Ask and Verify'. It was tactically advantageous for the belligerent Chinese forces to lie about their intentions, then begin shooting at the Russians when they got close enough to hurt them. By Day Two, the standard front-line Russian soldier had adjusted that ROE to 'if they look at us wrong, light their asses up'. By Day Three, the officers had stopped trying to enforce Moscow's ROE orders.That was fine for the combat and rear echelon support troops because both the Chinese and Russian governments had another series of problems and they all centered around Pyongyang and Kim Jong-un's declaration that North Korea would intervene as well, without letting anyone know who he was 'intervening' against. To keep everyone guessing, the North Korean' People's Army was massing on all three borders, facing off with the PRC, Russia and South Korea. To prove his diplomatic intentions, Kim pledged to only mobilize half of his reserves, merely 4,250,000 extra men and women to go with his 950,000 strong standing army.It didn't take a military, or economic genius to realize the North Korean's chronically 'near death' economy was stampeding off a cliff. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) was in the middle of an oil crisis and Kim was increasing their fuel consumption by 400% while decreasing his workforce by 10%. To put it in perspective, the US unemployment was around 6%. Now imagine that in one week's time it would become 26%. One week, no severance packages. Would the population become unsettled?But wait, it gets better. The Secret War was colliding with the Real World in more places than Manchuria. Setting aside the assassination attempt (Grrr) of Hana Sulkanen, my fiancée, six Nipponese elders (two women and four men) appeared in the personal quarters of the Japanese Prime Minister on the first full night of 'Funhouse' and relayed their urgent requests.Those six were the Head of the Six (formerly Seven) Ninja Families and they were there at, my urging. Cause I'm an idiot and requiring the deaths of Romanians in my personal crusade obviously wasn't enough. Now I was asking the Japanese Defense Forces (JDF) to pony up as well. So take a deep breath and put on the hip-waders.You might be wondering why I would want the JDF, see, there was part of Operation: Funhouse that was hitting a predictable snag, namely the Korea People's Navy Force (KPNF) and the uncertain determination of the PLAN:The KPNF's vessels were rather old, small and crappy. They also had a love affair with anything that could launch a torpedo and they listed over 700 of these floating deathtraps (only 13 of which could be classified as surface warships) and the fanatical crews to take them into battle.The PLAN's numbers were far more realistic and the fleet generally more modern. Only their North (18 surface warships) and East Fleets (22 plus 5 'elsewhere') could play any role in an upcoming FUBAR, and both fleets were heading out to sea, mainly to avoid the sporadic, but increasingly effective Khanate air strikes.The FU to be BAR'ed was the Russian Far East Fleet (RFEF) (6 warships strong, ) that had seized on this crazy idea (per my suggestion) to sail south, around the Korean peninsula so they could land elements of the 55th Guards Red Banner Marine Brigade (the 165th Marine Regiment and the 180th Marine Tank Battalion).Theoretically they were going to be the 'Southern Shielding Force' that would interpose itself between the Khanate and Beijing. It should surprise no one that the RFEF's flotilla was unequal to the task of taking their destination, the port of Qinhuangdao, by amphibious assault. Fortunately for the Gods of War (which did not include me), there were five other navies involved.Meanwhile, South Korea was having kittens because their always crazy northern kin were slathering on the insanity. (In how many Buddhist countries do people flock to the temples and pray that their neighbor attacks someone, anyone else, but them? That wasn't a religious conundrum I wanted to deal with.) N.Korea mobilizing meant S.Korea had to mobilize, which sucked down on their GNP as well.Besides, N.Korean dams and coal-powered plants kept the lights on in Seoul. Erring on the side of caution, the S. Korea (aka Republic of Korea, ROK) Army suggested calling up only one million of their three million person reserve force in order to assure Cousin Kim that this was a purely defensive gesture. It didn't work. Kim Jong-un castigated the ROK for antagonizing him, despite his declaration that he 'might' feel like invading the South in the immediate future.Into the emerging crisis, the ROK Navy could sortie nineteen small surface ships. Japan's Navy wasn't up to its old imperial standards, but could still deploy 45 surface warships. The 800 lb. gorilla in the room was the core of the 7th Fleet stationed at Yokosuka, Japan, the USS carrier George Washington and her 14 escort vessels.If the George Washington was the gorilla, RIMPAC 2014 was King Kong. 22 nations, 50 ships, including the USS carrier Ronald Reagan were engaged in war games in the Central Pacific. With them were 5 vessels of the PLAN, had Kim Jong-un just kept his mouth shut, this wouldn't have been an issue. Hell, if the Khanate had not come into existence and launched its Unification War, but he had and they did,To show the US was taking this escalation seriously (without tipping their hand that they knew about Funhouse, Carrier Strike Group One (CSG 1) (the Carl Vinson +10) was rushing across the Pacific from San Diego. CSG 3 (the John C. Stennis +2) was being assembled hastily so that they could rendezvous with CSG 1 ASAP. So many brave souls running toward the danger, sometimes I hate myself.So now does it make sense that I found myself in a room with a US Senator tasked with riding herd on me?Anyway, there were the other three navies still unaccounted for, Taiwan / the Republic of China (ROC) (22 surface ships), Vietnam (7) and the Philippines (3). Taiwanese involvement was easy to explain, the PRC refused to acknowledge them as an independent country and probably never would.The Vietnam People's Navy was tiny in both numbers and tonnage. Five of the vessels were 1960's Soviet frigates. What Vietnam did have was a huge grudge against the PRC. The PLA invaded Vietnam in 1979 and devastated the northernmost provinces, killing as many as 100,000 civilians.The PLAN had walloped the VPN in 1974 (technically South Vietnam) and again in 1988. Out in the South China Sea were two island archipelagos; the Paracel (occupied by a small PLA garrison and claimed by the PRC, Vietnam and the ROC) and Spratlys Islands (disputed by Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines, the PRC, the ROC, and Vietnam).The Philippines had a grand total of three frigates (all between 50 and 70 years old). 99% of the time, they faced a hopeless struggle enforcing Philippines' South China Sea claims, except they were now experiencing that 1% where the PRC found itself in a life and death struggle. Even then, the PLAN's South Sea Fleet was hands-down the biggest player with 26 surface warships centered on the Carrier Liaoning.Except (and there always seems to be an 'except') virtually all the PLAN's naval aviation had gone off to fight the Khanate and it wasn't coming back, ever. In the air, the Philippines was next to useless. What did they have of offer in the struggle for the South China Sea? Bases. The ROC and Vietnam had much more to bring to the table.The Vietnamese People's Liberation Air Force (VPLAR) had about 50 front-line aircraft and 175 nearly obsolete models ~ the same models the PLAAF was now piloting. The ROC Air Force could put up 325 almost-new fighters that were now superior to their opponents on the mainland. Why would I give a shit?Things cascade. The Khanate Air Force took a two-day long deep breath as Putin's 'Policeman that only looks like an invading army' started their intervention. Forty-eight hours later, the Khanate started the fourth stage (the first lunge, defeat the PLA's counter-attack then the second lunge) of the campaign.Their initial air power was still skating on thin ice where maintenance was concerned. They need more time to thoroughly rest their pilots and bring all their top-flight equipment to 100% working condition. Against them, in two days the PLAAF's assets increased by over 250 fighters.In turn, the Khanate had added their constituent state air forces plus nearly 80 new cutting edge air planes and 25 drones. Phase Four saw rolling airstrikes all along the forces massing in front of the northern and central Tumens. For a few hours, the PLA thought they knew what was going on.They were wrong and this was where my meeting with OT came in. Jab with the right, cut them down with the left. The left in my case was Tibet. Yeah, Tibet. Economic value = not nearly enough. From the very start of the war, a small number of seemingly inconsequential air strikes had seriously eroded the PLA and PLAAFs combat power in the Tibetan Plateau while leaving the roads, bridges and towns intact.Common military logic dictated that the Khanate had to punch their way further east into Qinghai (to the south) and Gansu (to the north) provinces. That was where the population and industry where. Farther east were even greater numbers of people and factories and the Khanate forces in the North hadn't been strong enough to threaten to cut off the Qinghai-Gansu front. Then the Russians showed up and the Khanate forces threatening that flank doubled overnight.The PLA hastily reinforced their northern flank, using troops from their strategic reserves. The move resulted in incredible attrition by airpower to the freshly equipped formations. The PLA was about to get flanked, but not from the north. Southwest of Qinghai was Tibet. A third of the Khanate's mobile forces now swept around in a huge left haymaker to the south.My job? I needed the 'Free Tibet' forces in the US and UK to provide public and moral support to the Khanate move. As Khanate Special Forces seized crucial bottlenecks in Tibet, they needed the locals to keep their 'liberators' informed of PLA presences and undermine any attempt to create a guerilla movement.The five Tumens dedicated to being the Schwerpunkt (point of maximum effort) of this flanking maneuver were going to be on a tight timetable if they were going to surround the PLA forces in Central China.My plan was to convince the Tibetans that the PRC's 55 years of occupation was coming to an end and the Great Khan wanted to sign a 'Treaty of Mutual Respect' (my invention). This would require both the Khanate and Tibet to recognize each other's right to exist the moment a cease-fire was reached. That was it. No 'armed presence', or 'mutual defense' agreements.The treaty would be formally signed in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, when the city was safe ~ as determined by the Central Tibetan Administration (the Tibetan Government in Exile, CTA). Riki came up with an additional sweetener and proved she was quickly adjusting to our group's extra-governmental capabilities.

The sparks before the ignition of war.By FinalStand. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels.Time is not your enemy any more than breathing and your heartbeat are inconvenient."Aya, Why don't you go help Saku," I rechanneled Aya's boundless energy. "Back in the day, every noble was attended to by squires who took care of their gear and served that noble as body servants. In turn, she taught them the art of war." Sakuniyas shot me a nasty look.Aya poked her head between Pamela and Miyako."That sounds like fun," she met Saku's glacial chill with a warm spring breeze."I don't want their help," she grumbled."It sounds like free labor," Pamela smirked."I said I don't want their help," Saku snarled."Okay," I rolled my eyes. "Aya, Fatal Squirts, attention!" They all looked at me. "I command you, as your Celestial Potentate Poohbah, to stare at Sakuniyas until she gives you a task of a personal, to her, nature to do. Get at it."Four sets of precocious, will-eroding cuteness assaulted the Assyrian Queen, victor of a hundred battles and skirmishes."You are despicable," was Saku's chosen acidic barb."I second that motion," Pamela patted me on the back. "I keep finding myself being prouder and prouder of you, every day. Stop it," she teased me.None of those words dampened my mood, or my plan."How much longer is this flight going to take?" Saku groused."Four hours," I lied. It was way closer to two.To my way of thinking, it wasn't like she could get much angrier with me after she discovered my ruse. (I was wrong. She could and did. I'm an idiot.) Saku shook her head, and the task-mastering began. An hour and forty-five minutes later, the pilot alerted us that we were ten minutes from our final approach. Bits and pieces of her armor were all over the front seats and the floor of the exit-way space.Diligent little fingers were still polishing and checking straps for signs of excessive wear or fabric fatigue. Their 'noble' hovered over them, pointing out the right way to do things and what they were doing wrong. Her congratulating them for doing a good job was rather non-Amazon of her, but the kids ate it up.With the ten minute warning still hanging in the air, my duplicity inspired Saku to finally flip out. I was pretty sure she didn't think through what she was doing. She simply drew her 22cm/9in blade and threw it at my face. Miyako caught it between her hands, an effortless clap, fuck."Four hours!" Saku howled at me. "You said we had four hours, I could have held them off for two!""Why do you think I lied to you?" I kept my amusement out of my tone because I was rather attached to the idea of my wagging tongue not being cut out of my mouth.It wasn't lost on us that every member of my SD team was alert and had blades drawn (firefights on planes in mid-flight is severely frowned upon) and were staring at her. I wanted to tell Rachel to 'stand down', except that would be unfair. I wasn't 100% sure Saku was done being furious with me.Telling Rachel to set aside her instincts was something I tried to keep a minimum, only to be used when it I was forced to take in the bigger picture."What is going on here?" Rachel asked with professional calm. So, I told her the truth, the real truth."Oh," Rachel grunted. She gave a motion for her team to rest easy then came my way."Knife," she held out a hand to Miyako who instantly gave it over, pommel first. Rachel deftly flipped it over so she was holding the razor sharp blade then smacked me on the top of my head, hard."Ow, " I whined. "That hurt.""It was supposed to," Rachel glared. She walked down the aisle to Saku, returning her blade."Did you just smack him in the head?" Saku was trying to make sense of what she'd seen."Yes," Rachel nodded."He screwed up and I impressed upon him to not do it again. As you might guess, this is a fairly regular occurrence with him. We all take wicked-fine pleasure in that part of his education.""But you are his bodyguards, is he really the Head of House Ishara, or was that a lie as well?" Saku was still confused by her prideful arrogance and how I was misplacing my own."Sakuniyas, Cáel was not raised in our culture. He has only been a member of the Host for a few weeks. This is not to belittle his impressive education," Pamela intervened. "Both he, and those of the House who know him, agree that the occasional physical chastisement works better than words alone.""You could reward me with sex," I muttered. "Positive reinforcement, ""Forty-six days, Bitch," Rachel growled."You are ferocious in battle, fearless and clever," Saku turned back to me. "Why do you put up with this constant degradation?""Degradation? I'm not insulted by what Rachel did or said," I retorted. "She is trying to teach me things I need to know if I'm going to survive. I respect her superior knowledge in her professional capacity," I continued. "I don't get upset when people tease, taunt, or challenge Cáel 'Wakko' Ishara, that's me, if you are confused.I save my indignation for those who scorn Dot Ishara, Yakko Ishara and all members of House Ishara, past and present. Quite frankly, being disrespectful to me is actually rather difficult because I only care about the sensibilities of a handful of people.""How can any warriors follow a leader into battle if that person has no pride and never shies away from shame?And besides, what is this Wakko/Dot/Yakko nonsense," Saku persisted. "Fatal Squirts, start assembling my armor." Her attention was split between me and her panoply."Hello," I snickered. "I'm a male Amazon. The fact that I haven't run for my life way before now is all the heroic background check anyone should require.Doubting my common sense actually makes sense. Doubting my courage, or loyalty is idiotic in too many ways to count. As for revealing the hallowed and revered enigmatic occult appellations of my House, " I started."Get him!" Tiger Lily showed some faux-outrage."Shit!" I cried out as Delilah, Tiger Lily and the rest of the SD swarmed me. Pamela and Miyako were of no help whatsoever. I could not express my joy more at the resulting physical abuse and humiliation aimed my way. I was tickled. Yes, my Kick-Ass, full-blood, natural born killers pinned me down and tickled me until I nearly peed on myself.In a very short period of time, we'd shared some really nerve-racking moments. Dad dying, my showdown with Hayden, being mugged by Carrig and the rest of the crap that rained down blow after blow once I came out of my coma. They had taken me numerous times to the hospital and had to sit back helplessly while I suffered. Yet, I refused to be repressed by circumstance.I fought for our people, OUR people now, both with the Earth  and  Sky in shared counsel and the Seven Pillars on the battlefield. Rachel hadn't given me word-one of a reprimand for leaving Charlotte to raise the alarm while I rushed into danger. I was an Amazon in her eyes. Charlotte could fix the phone. Miyako and I could not. The bridge had to be secured immediately.We couldn't wait on Charlotte. I didn't even act as if what I did was all that brave. Rachel knew me far better now; she wouldn't make that mistake. Had I been able to fix the phone, I would have stayed and sent Charlotte. Had the whole team been there and Rachel told me to stay, I would have stayed while they ran into the fight.No. The situation hadn't allowed that, so I had killed a number of men and been wounded. The backside of my right thigh had merely been grazed (which my normally mangled left side found to be grossly unfair.) That was another scar to add to my 'sexy'. I had fought in my own insane manner and was alive solely because Saku had decided to shoot another man instead of me.Even after I knew who she was, I had allied with her and charged the rear of the enemy troop convoy. In the after-battle analysis, they weren't sure how many Seven Pillar Special Forces I had killed, both in the gulch and when I annihilated the back section of the attack column, and took my impromptu flying lesson.Credit for destroying the bridge jacks, thus making the BBQ a carnal cookout featuring Chinese 'Long-Pig', was still hanging out there as well. Rachel and company were still pissed with me despite all that. Why? On a purely personal level, they realized they would miss me if I got myself killed. They were not supposed to feel that way about their protectee.I certainly wasn't their first protective detail, though they were starting to believe I'd be their last. No, I had done everything right, by going into harm's way, and they were furious with the universe for placing us in that situation. Since the universe wasn't offering itself up to be punished, it fell on me to soak up their pique.Delilah was simply picking on me because she could get away with it this time."You are all embarrassments," Saku remarked bitterly once my screams began breathless pleas for mercy. "The Host has fallen a great way since my day." What a killjoy. I finally got my breath back."And the Queen on the floor of the Royal chambers, pushing around toy chariots with her two eldest sons and a child-playmate, was the height of decorum."Well, if looks could kill, I would have never made my nineteenth birthday, so Saku's glare was just another walk in the park."That was a personal moment with my family. It was a very private moment," she sizzled."My Mother's line is, it is what it is. My Father was murdered. My Father's sister and I were never close. These people are my family and my choice of kin.""English," Pamela chided us."Having no family to call your own, you welcome so many that 'family' has no meaning," Saku angrily mocked my words.There was a hushed moment then everyone but the three other Squirts and Saku started laughing. The three kids didn't know me either."By what metric do you measure family by?" I snickered."On his third day on the job, Fehér mén (Aya's pet name for me, White Stallion in the Magyar tongue, it is complicated) threw his body over my sisters and me to protect us," Aya said."He spared my foster-sister when she gravely insulted him," Mona volunteered. "He didn't know me. The Amazon, Constanza, would have died by anyone else's hand, except his. You may look down your nose at his mercy. As you do so, consider that it is his mercy that allows you to feel that way about him, and us right now." Whoa,"I have never seen him fight out of pride, or take joy in any combat," Rachel stared down Saku. "My only fear is that Cáel will get himself killed saving my life, or the life of any member of my team. He knows it is wrong. He knows I will be absolutely furious with him, and he accepts that. He is like no other Amazon I have ever known.We have limits. We follow orders. At our best, we put the welfare of the Host over our own survival. Not Ishara, Wakko Ishara. He follows the dictates of his house and those are to seek mercy and peace where appropriate. He is like no Amazon I have ever known, and I have zero doubt that he is one of the best Amazons I will ever know," she finished with a chuckle."I'm speaking my mind, aren't I?" she asked me."Afraid so, sorry about that," I apologized for corrupting her social skills."Saku, your mistake is that you confuse his caring about you and caring about your opinion of him," Pamela finished things up."Sakuniyas, I will work to honor my pledge to you. I will try to keep you alive because you can be a powerful ally of the Host, but also because it is the right thing to do," I enlightened her. "That doesn't make you all that special though. Personally I think you are a horrible, bitter bitch and lousy company for any non-masochist.I'm going to help you in the same way I'm going to help everyone else here. This is despite me feeling confident that not a single Amazon on this planet has a living father. They've never had brothers because their mothers murdered them. Your crappy attitude doesn't influence me one way, or the other. You are a horrible fucking person born to a horrible fucking race, my race, the Amazon Host.""You kill your fathers and sons," Delilah mumbled as she looked from face to face, finding not a single bit of denial, or shame. "I thought that was so much Greek bull's buttocks.""Nope," Aya shrugged. "Before I left for camp, Momma told me they put Daddy, my other Daddy, down when I was two." Kind of like Old Yeller, or Benji. "His name was Paul Twelve."Delilah looked at me with downright worrisome eyes."Yeah, I figured that out on day two on-the- job," I relayed to her. "For the past 2500 years, every male child of the Host has been tossed off a cliff to his death, or left out in the wilds for predators to devour. Every male they have kidnapped has been under a death sentence from the moment of capture.They tried to genetically breed their captive male population with Amazon females, but something went wrong. The males began passing on genetic defects that poisoned the race. In response, they have begun recruiting men, such as myself, and exterminating their old male breeding populace.Initially, I didn't run because I was sure they would hunt me down and kill me. Later, later I came to like enough of the Host to decide that knowing what was going on meant I couldn't let it slide. I couldn't leave this issue for someone else to tackle. I know I'm facing long odds, yet I'll never succeed if I don't try," I wrapped up my little my 'Cáel's Amazon Primer' lecture."Okay, okay, Cáel you are blood nuts, and hellishly brave. The rest of you are just hellish, killing your own kin as infants or if they get too old," Delilah sputtered. "That's plain wrong.""I had sons," Saku stated. "They grew into fine, strong warriors. My daughters married into the nobility.""Delilah, we don't expect you to understand our culture. Twice in our people's history, men have tried to eliminate our society, stealing our homes and property, and enslaving our children and sisters. We let down our guard once, and that nearly destroyed us, except we now have Cáel and a better understanding of what happened that second time," Tiger Lily educated Delilah."It turned out that not all males betrayed us. No, when we needed them the most, they sacrificed themselves for the welfare of our people and we repaid that loyalty with anger and barbarism. That is a burden we have carried all these centuries without understanding it. Only within the past month has the real truth about the Second Betrayal become known.Many of us are now re-evaluating the dictates of our faith concerning men and sons. After all, Cael is the descendent of Amazons of a First House, dating back to the Trojan Wars. He has been welcomed by his ancestors and his goddess, Dot Ishara," she completed."What is it with the Dot, Wakko and, ""Everyone buckle up," the pilot announced over the intercom. "We are on our final approach." Saku and the Squirts had her armor in some kind of order, we buckled up and let the plane coast on down to earth."Delilah and Cáel, since our 'vacation' was cut short, we haven't been able to bring your personal effects back from Africa yet," Rachel told us."Also, there will be four of Javiera's people meeting us in the hangar," she added. "We have been told to view them as non-hostiles.""Oh joy," Pamela muttered then, "There is nothing to worry about folks.""What? Me worry?" I goofy grinned her way.(Governments, horrendous enemies and ruthlessly evil friends)Four SUVs waited for us in the wide-open hangar. No sooner had the pilot given us the 'green light', than Rachel released the door/stairs mechanism and Charlotte began her decent. We had the camp FN P-90's, not the older Havenstone UMP 40's, so that was the weapon whose sights she was looking down as her eyes scanned the room. Five people. Four SUVs.Rachel went next with me right behind her. My SD's precautions turned our guests from a rather annoyed-casual to alert-angry. Standing with our two standard Mercedes GL550's was Wiesława of House Živa. A sole guardian indicated to me that an ass-kicking was in the offing elsewhere. The Golden Mare, Saint Marie was gathering the Havenstone Security Detail for some purpose, which meant she could only spare one more warrior for me.I was fine with that. Not only did I feel bad about denying her the four ladies I had, I knew we were going into this global conflict outnumbered and out-financed. The Seven Pillars had gotten at least one blow in by striking at the Amazon summer camp. I had every reason to believe other unexpected attacks had occurred all across the globe.In the closest black Tahoe SUV (didn't anyone use sedans anymore?) were two men in modestly tailored, off-the-rack suits. One with buzz-cut gray-white hair, was closer to fifty than forty, was as tall as me (a bit over six feet) and close to my weight and build. That guy was pissed off.His partner was smaller (5ft 10in.) and lighter. He was also cocky with that 'I know more than you schmucks' air about him. Beside the farther SUV, a Range Rover (black, of course, I swore in that moment that if I ever got to have my own fleet of House Ishara SUV's, I was going with baby blue, just to fuck with people's heads), were two other men, one cultured and the other a bad-ass.

Rushan Abbas is a Uyghur American activist and advocate from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China. She is the founder and executive director of the nonprofit Campaign for Uyghurs. Abbas became one of the most prominent Uyghur voices in international activism following her sister's detainment by the Chinese government in 2018. She testified in 2019 before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in regard to the emergence of concentration camps in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, and the threat of Chinese power in the Eastern Pacific. She has also testified before the House of Representatives on international religious persecution, forced labor, and human rights abuses as they relate to Uyghurs.

A group of Republican lawmakers has accused the Chinese company behind a proposed $2 billion electric vehicle battery plant in the Midwest of using forced labor — and urged the Biden administration to blacklist it from the country altogether.Rep. Darin LaHood, who represents a district spanning central and northern Illinois, said in a statement that an investigation by the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party found that Gotion's supply chains and business relationships are entangled in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region — including the sourcing of lithium, aluminum foil, and other materials from companies or state-affiliated operators with known or suspected links to forced labor.Download and listen to the audio version below and click here to subscribe to the Today in Manufacturing podcast.

Content warning for discussion of genocide, torture, mutilation, rape, and slavery Hey, Hi, Hello, this is the History Wizard and welcome back for Day 13 of Have a Day w/ The History Wizard. Thank you to everyone who tuned in for Day 12 last week, and especially thank you to everyone who rated and/or reviewed the podcast. I hope you all learned something last week and I hope the same for this week. This week marks the 4th part of our mini series of currently ongoing genocides and humanitarian crises. Episode 2 was on Palestine, Episode 11 was on Congo, episode 12 was on Sudan and today's will be on a very widely denied genocide, especially in left wing political circles. The Uyghur Genocide. But first, let's fortify ourselves with the waters of life and remember that part of our activism needs to always be finding joy in life and getting ourselves a little treat. It's time for the Alchemist's Table. Today's libation is called a Rumsberry Breeze. In your shaker muddle some raspberries with half an ounce of simple syrup. Add two ounces of dark rum. Shake well and double strain over ice. Top with ginger beer and enjoy. The genocide of the Uyghur people and the longer history of ethnic tensions between Han Chinese and the Uyghur peoples has centered around Xinjiang for as long as it's been around. First thing's first. Let's dive a bit into the history of the Uyghur people. The Uyghur are an ethnically Turkic people living, mostly in the Tarim and Dzungarian Basins in East Turkestan (what is sometimes called Uyghurstan) today. Xinjiang, sometimes also called the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, has been under Chinese control since it was conquered from the Dzungar Khanate in around 1759. Now, how long have the Uyghur people been living in the area? Well, that's a matter of some contention and the answer you get will depend on what sources you go with. The history of the Uyghur people, including their ethnic origin, is an issue of contention between Uyghur nationalists and Chinese authorities. Uyghur historians view Uyghurs as the original inhabitants of Xinjiang, with a long history. Uyghur politician and historian Muhammad Amin Bughra wrote in his book A history of East Turkestan, stressing the Turkic aspects of his people, that the Turks have a 9,000-year history, while historian Turgun Almas incorporated discoveries of Tarim mummies to conclude that Uyghurs have over 6,400 years of history. The World Uyghur Congress has claimed a 4,000-year history. However, the official Chinese view, as documented in the white paper History and Development of Xinjiang, asserts that the Uyghurs in Xinjiang formed after the collapse of the Uyghur Khaganate in ninth-century CE Mongolia, from the fusion of many different indigenous peoples of the Tarim Basin and the westward-migrating Old Uyghurs. Regardless of which timeline we go with, the Uyghur people have certainly been living in the region for far longer than the Chinese Empires that have been dominating them for hundreds of years. And, make no mistake, modern day China is still very much imperial. Something that we'll cover in more detail later, as it is very relevant to the current genocide, is that the Uyghur people are, as a general rule, Muslim. The earliest records we have indicate that before this conversion to Islam around the 10th century CE the Old Uyghur people (Old Uyghur is meant to differentiate the Pre-Chinese Uyghur population from the modern one) followed the Tocharian religion. We don't really have any details about what, exactly, that religion entailed, but today most of the Tocharian inscriptions are based on Buddhist monastic texts, which suggests that the Tocharians largely embraced Buddhism. The pre-Buddhist beliefs of the Tocharians are largely unknown, but several Chinese goddesses are similar to the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European sun goddess and the dawn goddess, which implies that the Chinese were influenced by the pre-Buddhist beliefs of the Tocharians when they traveled on trade routes which were located in Tocharian territories.  The history of China's abuses over the peoples they conquered is a long one, but details on the exact situation of the Uyghur people are somewhat few and far between. However two of the most important parts of Uyghur-Chinese history in the region come from the 19th century CE with the Dungan Revolt and the Dzungar genocide. Something we need to note right now is that the modern Uyghur Ethnic group wasn't called the Uyghur before the Soviet Union gave them that name in 1921, although the modern Ughurs are descended from the Old Uyghurs, at the time of the Dungan Revolt and the Dzungar Genocide they were known by the Chinese as Turki or Taranchi. So if you're ever reading sources about these two events, you might not ever see the word Uyghur, despite them being involved in both events. The Dungan Revolt lasted from 1862 until 1877 and saw a roughly 21 million people killed. According to research by modern historians, at least 4 million Hui were in Shaanxi before the revolt, but only 20,000 remained in the province afterwards, with most of the Hui either killed in massacres and reprisals by government and militia forces, or deported out of the province. It has its roots in the ongoing ethnic tensions between the Hui (Muslim) minorities of China and the ethnic Han peoples. It also stemmed from economic conflicts as Han merchants were known to greatly overcharge Hui peoples and there was massive corruption and fiscal instability resulting from the Taiping Rebellion that led to the peoples of Xinjiang being heavily burdened by unfair taxes.  All of these tensions would explode into a riot in 1862 (some sources say over inflated pricing on bamboo stalks). As a result of this there was a massacre of Han people's by the Hui and everything snowballed from there. With the start of the revolt in Gansu and Shaanxi in 1862, rumors spread among the Hui (Dungans) of Xinjiang that the Qing authorities were preparing a wholesale preemptive slaughter of the Hui people in Xinjiang, or in a particular community. Opinions as to the veracity of these rumors vary: while the Tongzhi Emperor described them as "absurd" in his edict of September 25, 1864, Muslim historians generally believe that massacres were indeed planned, if not by the imperial government then by various local authorities. Thus it was the Dungans who usually revolted in most Xinjiang towns, although the local Turkic people—Taranchis, Kyrgyzs, and Kazakhs—would usually quickly join the fray. The revolt would rage for 15 years, with many Muslim people of Xinjiang and China been slaughtered or forced to convert away from Islam. Though these reprisal killings and forced conversions really only took place in areas that were in active revolt. There were many Chinese Muslims in the Qing armies during the pacification of the Revolt and many also received great acclaim and promotions once the war was over.  Although, it needs to be stated that there were some cities that were actively committing genocide, such as the city of Kashgar which carried out a preemptive slaughter of their Hui population in 1864. So, there was a genocide of the Hui people, as genocide is defined as actions taken with intent to destroy in whole or in part a particular national, racial, ethnic or religious group. Hell, the Taranchi Turkic peoples, our modern Uyghurs, originally aided the Hui, but wound up turning against them to join the Qing armies once they learned that the Hui wanted to put Xinjiang under their specific rule. I technically did these events out of order, but I'm not going to fix that. We've got to dip 100 years into the past to find the Dzungar Genocide. This genocide happened at the end of Mongol Rule in Xinjiang and around the time the Qing initially came in. We're going to talk about this very briefly, as we still have all our modern issues to discuss. The main reason we even need to bring up the Dzungar genocide in a podcast episode on the Uyghur Genocide is that the Uyghurs participated in this genocide on the side of the Qing army as part of an uprising against the Dzungar Khanate. The Dzungar Genocide killed between 70 and 80% of their original population of about 600,000. The Qianlong Emperor had this to say when ordering the extermination of the Dzungari people. "Show no mercy at all to these rebels. Only the old and weak should be saved. Our previous military campaigns were too lenient. If we act as before, our troops will withdraw, and further trouble will occur. If a rebel is captured and his followers wish to surrender, he must personally come to the garrison, prostrate himself before the commander, and request surrender. If he only sends someone to request submission, it is undoubtedly a trick. Tell Tsengünjav to massacre these crafty Zunghars. Do not believe what they say." So, Xinjiang was once again under Qing rule and would remain so until the Wuchang Uprising overthrew the Qing Dynasty and established the Republic of China (not to be confused with the modern day Republic of China, which is actually the nation of Taiwan under Chinese imperialist control.  All of this context is to show that relations between the Chinese government and the various Muslim ethnicities within its borders have always been one of Master and Slave. The Chinese government has always treated non-Han peoples as lesser, and the presence of Muslim Chinese peoples was only tolerated for as long as they worked in lock step with Beijing. Once they didn't, they were prime targets for reprisal massacres and forced conversion. We would see this scenario play out again during the time of the Chinese Republic in 1931 with the Kumul Rebellion.  The Kumul Rebellion began because of the actions of Jin Shuren, the governor of Xinjiang from 1928 until 1933. Jin was notoriously intolerant of Turkic peoples and openly antagonized them. Such acts of discrimination included restrictions on travel, increased taxation, seizure of property without due process and frequent executions for suspected espionage or disloyalty. However, the event that would spark the rebellion would be the annexation of the Kumul Khanate, a semi autonomous region in northern Xinjiang. At the end of the Rebellion Jin was dead and the First East Turkestan Republic was established around the city of Kashgar in the far west of Xinjiang. The First East Turkestan Republic would only last for a year before being conquered by a Chinese warlord named Shen Shicai, who had backing and support from the Soviet Union. In 1937, specifically to coincide with Stalin's own Great Purge, Shicai planned and executed the elimination of "traitors", "pan-Turkists", "enemies of the people", "nationalists" and "imperialist spies". His purges swept the entire Uyghur and Hui political elite. The NKVD provided the support during the purges. In the later stages of the purge, Sheng turned against the "Trotskyites", mostly a group of Han Chinese sent to him by Moscow. It's estimated that he killed between 50 and 100,000 people in these purges. Shicai would eventually betray the Soviets to join with the Kuomintang, the Chinese Nationalist Party, which would lead to the Soviets backing the Uyghur people in the Ili Rebellion leading to the creation of the Second East Turkestan Republic, which would eventually get folded into Mao Zedong's People's Republic of China in 1949. From the 1950s to the 1970s China enacted two main policies against the Uyghur people. They instituted mass migrations of Han Chinese people into Xinjiang as well as passing various laws designed to infringe and smother Uyghur ethnic and religious identity. Uyghurs are barred from freely practicing their religion, speaking their language, and expressing other fundamental elements of their identity. Restrictions apply to many aspects of life, including dress, language, diet, and education. The Chinese government closely monitors Uyghur religious institutions. Even ordinary acts such as praying or going to a mosque may be a basis for arrest or detention. While repression of Uyghur cultural beliefs and identity had existed from day 1 on the PRC, it was in 1990 that everything started to go pear shaped. The Barin Uprising took place between the 4th and 10th of April, 1990. Violence began on the evening of 4 April, when a group of 200 to 300 Uyghur men attempted to breach the gates of the local government office in a protest against alleged forced abortions of Uyghur women and Chinese rule in Xinjiang. Following the uprising in an unprecedented move, Chinese authorities arrested 7,900 people, labelled "ethnic splittists" and "counter-revolutionaries", from April to July 1990. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s there were various terrorist attacks committed by Uyghur resistance groups and freedom fighters, leading to further crackdowns and tightening of police control in Xinjiang throughout the years. Until 2001 Beijing spoke about these attacks as isolated incidents and made no broad statements of all Uyghur being terrorists, despite regularly arresting thousands of Uyghur people for no real reason. Many of those arrested Uyghur people wound up in Laogai (reform through labor) camps or in laojiao (re-education through labor) camps scattered throughout China. But, after the 9/11 attacks on the United States the tone shifted and more and more anti-Uyghur rhetoric started to become anti-terrorist rhetoric. This type of shift in language always precedes an uptick in genocidal violence. Now that all Uyghur are being labeled as terrorists, all Uyghur can be arbitrarily arrested and put in camps or even merely killed and no one will really care because it's not ethnic based discrimination. It's an anti terrorism campaign designed to protect the people from violent thugs.  After 2001 Beijing Sided with the U.S. in the new “global war against terrorism,” the Chinese government initiated an active diplomatic and propaganda campaign against “East Turkestan terrorist forces.” This label was henceforth to be applied indiscriminately to any Uighur suspected of separatist activities. There has been no sign of any attempt by the Chinese authorities to distinguish between peaceful political activists, peaceful separatists, and those advocating or using violence. Although, it needs to be said that violence is a perfectly valid political tool when resisting genocide and imperialism. This leads us to China's Strike Hard Campaign Against Violent Terrorism and the creation of their “vocational education and training centers” (both laogai and laojiao allegedly closing down in around 2013, although satellite evidence says that's bullshit).   In early 2014, Chinese authorities in Xinjiang launched the renewed "strike hard" campaign around New Year. It included measures targeting mobile phones, computers, and religious materials belonging to Uyghurs. The government simultaneously announced a "people's war on terror" and local government introduced new restrictions that included the banning of long beards and the wearing of veils in public places. Over the life of the camps it is estimated, by various sources that between a few hundred thousand and 1.8 million people have been arbitrarily detained in these camps and subjected to forced labor as a method of reformation. This is part of a Chinese government policy called hashar and includes many public works projects in Xinjiang. Beyond the simple fact of these slave labor camps, the state also began imposing harsh penalties for violations of birth limits. It also implemented an aggressive campaign of mass sterilization and intrauterine contraceptive device (IUD) implantation programs. Chinese government officials justify this by equating high birth rates with religious extremism. Chinese academics have argued that ethnic minority population growth threatens social stability and national identity.  Leaked government documents show that violations of birth limits are the most common reason Uyghur women are placed in a detention camp. Women have testified to being sterilized without their consent while in detention. Other women have testified that they were threatened with detention if they refused sterilization or IUD implantation procedures. So, in summation, since the 1950s at least the Chinese government has been engaging in forcible assimilation practices. Something that the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (a legally non binding resolution passed in 2007) says Indigenous people have a right to not be subjected to. As well as forced sterilization and forced abortions for violating China's family planning laws. And arbitrary detention and forced labor on invented charges of religious extremism and separatist activities. And then also having their children taken away from them and placed into something akin to the residential school system of the US, Canada, and Australia where they are forbidden from even speaking the Uyghur language. Under the UN CPPCG China is guilty of genocide in the form of causing severe bodily or mental harm to the group, imposing measures designed to prevent births within the group, and transferring children of the group to another group. The Uyghur Genocide is one of the more difficult ones to talk about online, especially if you frequent leftist political circles and spaces like I do as anything anti-China is seen often seen as Western propaganda and part of Cold War policies of anticommunism, as if China doesn't have roughly 814 billionaires controlling the majority of their means of production. The wealthiest man in China is Zhong Shanshan. He privately owns a bottled water company and is worth over 60 billion dollars. China isn't a communist country, it's not even socialist. It's just fascist and capitalist. But that's a rant for a different day. The Uyghur Genocide is real and verifiable, although it can be difficult to do so as there is a lot of misinformation and propaganda regarding it on both sides of the discussion. None of that changes the fact of the genocide or of the destruction of Uyghur culture in Xinjiang.  That's it for this week folks. No new reviews, so let's get right into the outro. Have a Day! w/ The History Wizard is brought to you by me, The History Wizard. If you want to see/hear more of me you can find me on Tiktok @thehistorywizard or on Instagram @the_history_wizard. Please remember to rate, review, and subscribe to Have a Day! On your pod catcher of choice. The more you do, the more people will be able to listen and learn along with you. Thank you  for sticking around until the end and, as always, Have a Day, and Free Xinjiang.  

Dan and Ellen talk with Emily Rooney, the longtime host of the award-winning show on WGBH-TV, "Beat The Press." Dan was a panelist on "Beat the Press," which had a 22-year run but was canceled in 2021 by GBH. The show, which is much missed by many former viewers, had a brief second life as a podcast. Emily has got serious television news cred. She arrived at WGBH from the Fox Network in New York, where she oversaw political coverage, including the 1996 presidential primaries, national conventions, and presidential election. Before that, she was executive producer of ABC's "World News Tonight" with Peter Jennings. She also worked at WCVB-TV in Boston for 15 years, from 1979–'93, as news director and as assistant news director. There's a revival of interest in responsible media criticism. Boston Globe columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr recently wrote an op-ed calling for the restoration of a public editor position at The New York Times, The Globe and other news outlets.  Dan has an update on one of our favorite topics — pink slime. Wired magazine has a wild story out of rural Iowa involving a Linux server in Germany, a Polish website and a Chinese operation called “the Propaganda Department of the Party Committee of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.” Ellen recounts a legal saga in Southeastern Minnesota involving the sale of a newspaper group and allegations of intellectual property theft. It's all about a single used computer and its role in creating a media startup.  

In today's episode, we're diving headfirst into the geopolitical labyrinth of China's role in the Israel/Palestine conflict with William Nee, the research and advocacy coordinator for the Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders.  As China positions itself as a neutral peacemaker while aligning with Palestine and Arab States, we explore the implications of this stance. We'll dissect China's media narratives that blame the U.S. for hostilities in the Middle East and contrast this with China's own human rights record, particularly concerning the Uyghurs in Xinjiang.In our second segment, we'll delve deeper into China's global ambitions. We'll discuss their new global initiatives like the GSI, GDI, GCI, and BRI, and what these mean for the international order. We'll also touch on the psychological mechanisms that make people susceptible to narratives that may not align with reality. How does public sentiment develop, and how do governments and media play into this? We'll explore these questions and more, providing you with a nuanced understanding of the situation.China Resources Mentioned by William NeeGreat podcast on Chinese issues, Sinica: https://thechinaproject.com/podcasts/The best China-focused newsletter, Sinocism (requires subscription): https://sinocism.comThe China-Global South Project's X feed: @ChinaGSProjectThe Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders X feed: @CHRDnetUyghur region:Human Rights Watch report:  “Break Their Lineage, Break Their Roots”: China's Crimes against Humanity Targeting Uyghurs and Other Turkic Muslims, William Nee recent op-ed:A UN Body Sheds Light on the Fate of Disappeared Uyghurs: The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has provided more evidence of China's use of enforced disappearances in Xinjiang.OHCHR Assessment of human rights concerns in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, People's Republic of ChinaGuest Bio:William Nee is the Research and Advocacy Coordinator at Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD), where he carries out research regarding a wide array of human rights concerns impacting human rights defenders in China. Previously, Nee worked as a Business and Human Rights Analyst and China Researcher at Amnesty International, where he researched human rights abuses caused by multinational companies and focused on freedom of expression, censorship, criminal justice developments, and the death penalty in China. Before that, he was Development Director at China Labour Bulletin. Nee's commentary has appeared in The Diplomat, Hong Kong Free Press, and Open Democracy.Support the showTo learn more about the show, contact our hosts, or recommend future guests, click on the links below: Website: https://www.faithfulpoliticspodcast.com/ Faithful Host: Josh@faithfulpoliticspodcast.com Political Host: Will@faithfulpoliticspodcast.com Twitter: @FaithfulPolitik Instagram: faithful_politics Facebook: FaithfulPoliticsPodcast LinkedIn: faithfulpolitics

Welcome to another episode of Simply Trade's Forced Labor series of shows. This week our special guest, Ana Hinojosa, discusses the critical topic of forced labor and its impact on global trade. The episode covers the recent implementation of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act in the US, alongside similar laws enacted in Canada and Mexico. Main Points The impact of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act in the US Canada and Mexico's forced labor prevention laws Challenges in implementing forced labor legislation across borders The importance of protecting human rights in global trade Episode Discussion Overview The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act in the US Ana highlights the recent implementation of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act in the US, which aims to prohibit the importation of goods produced with forced labor. She touches on the background and objectives of the law, particularly in relation to its impact on products connected to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. Forced Labor Laws in Canada and Mexico The conversation expands to cover forced labor laws in Canada and Mexico, both of which have enacted legislation to address this critical issue. Andy and Lalo discuss the challenges faced by both countries as they work towards implementing and enforcing their respective laws. Implementation Challenges Ana shares insights regarding potential hurdles that the US, Canada, and Mexico may face when enforcing their forced labor legislation, emphasizing the importance of government cooperation and cross-border collaboration. Human Rights and Global Trade As they delve into the broader implications of these new regulations, Andy, Lalo, and Ana stress the importance of protecting human rights across the global trade landscape. The conversation circles back to the need for further efforts by all parties to ensure the prevention of forced labor in global supply chains. Don't miss this insightful discussion, which offers a unique perspective on the critical issue of forced labor and its wide-ranging implications for those involved in international trade. Enjoy the show! Host: Andy Shiles: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyshiles/  Host/Producer: Lalo Solorzano: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lalosolorzano/  Co-Producer: Mara Marquez: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mara-marquez-a00a111a8/ References: Global Training Center - www.GlobalTrainingCenter.com Simply Trade Podcast - twitter.com/SimplyTradePod  Ana Hinojosa - ana.hinojosa@abhglobalconsulting.com Ana Hinojosa - www.linkedin.com/in/ana-hinojosa-9a618913/    Contact SimplyTrade@GlobalTrainingCenter.com or message @SimplyTradePod for: Advertising and sponsoring on Simply Trade Requests to be on the show as guest Suggest any topics you would like to hear about Simply Trade is not a law firm or an advisor. The topics and discussions conducted by Simply Trade hosts and guests should not be considered and is not intended to substitute legal advice. You should seek appropriate counsel for your own situation. These conversations and information are directed towards listeners in the United States for informational, educational, and entertainment purposes only and should not be In substitute for legal advice. No listener or viewer of this podcast should act or refrain from acting on the basis of information on this podcast without first seeking legal advice from counsel. Information on this podcast may not be up to date depending on the time of publishing and the time of viewership. The content of this posting is provided as is, no representations are made that the content is error free. The views expressed in or through this podcast are those are the individual speakers not those of their respective employers or Global Training Center as a whole. All liability with respect to actions taken or not taken based on the contents of this podcast are hereby expressly disclaimed.

This week's episode covers an OMB memo that extends the deadline by which agencies must collect attestation letters from software producers certifying their compliance with the NIST Guidance, a proposed DFARS clause implementing revisions to the Buy American Act, an interim rule prohibiting the use of DoD funds to knowingly procure any products mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part by forced labor from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, and an ASBCA opinion about its jurisdiction to hear monetary and nonmonetary claims, and is hosted by Peter Eyre and Yuan Zhou. Crowell & Moring's "Fastest 5 Minutes" is a biweekly podcast that provides a brief summary of significant government contracts legal and regulatory developments that no government contracts lawyer or executive should be without.

A new report produced by Sheffield Hallam University's Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice and the independent nonprofit research organization NomoGaia reveals that the world's biggest car brands, including Volkswagen, BMW, Honda, Ford, GM, Stellantis, Tesla and more, are at high risk of sourcing from companies linked to forced labor in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. The report's lead author and human rights expert, Dr. Laura Murphy, outlines how the findings document the pervasiveness of forced labor not only in the world's auto supply chain but also implicate huge swaths of other global industries — and what the U.S. can do to push back against these human rights abuses. Image courtesy of the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice at Sheffield Hallam University

Frankly Speaking has invited one of the leading advocates on responsible business and modern slavery for the non-governmental organisation Anti-Slavery International. Chloe and ASI have led efforts to address the 1 million mostly Muslim Uyghur population whom human rights groups and journalists report have been imprisoned in so-called re-education camps in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang. We are discussing what business from the textile or solar sector, financial institutions, policymakers and mainly activists themselves have done and could do to stop forced labour, finding its way into the goods and services which we buy and use. Listen in and share our conversation! Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn! Useful resources: ILO: 50 million people worldwide in modern slavery OHCHR Assessment of human rights concerns in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China Sheffield Hallam University report exposes solar panel industry Uyghur forced labour links (full report) Coalition to End Uyghur forced labour Cotton Pledges Against Forced Labor

สถานการณ์การเมืองล่าสุดของประเทศจีนหลังจาก ‘สี จิ้นผิง' (Xi Jinping) ได้รับเลือกให้ดำรงตำแหน่งเลขาธิการใหญ่ของพรรคคอมมิวนิสต์จีนติดต่อกันเป็นสมัยที่ 3 ภายในการประชุมคณะกรรมการกลางพรรคคอมมิวนิสต์จีน ชุดที่ 20 แบบเต็มคณะครั้งแรก ที่จัดขึ้นเมื่อวันที่ 16-22 ตุลาคม 2022 ณ หอประชุมประชาชน กรุงปักกิ่ง หมายความว่าประธานาธิบดีสีจะยังคงรักษาตำแหน่งผู้มีอำนาจสูงสุดบนแผนดินมังกรต่อไปเป็นวาระที่ 3 อีกอย่างน้อย 5 ปี แม้จะมีวัยแตะหลักเกษียณราชการแล้วก็ตาม นอกจากนี้ การประชุมดังกล่าวทางคณะกรรมการกลางของพรรคคอมมิวนิสต์จีน (Communist Party of China: CCP) ยังมีมติเห็นชอบแต่งตั้งให้ สี จิ้นผิง ดำรงตำแหน่งเป็นประธานคณะกรรมาธิการการทหารส่วนกลาง (Central Military Commission) รวมถึงมีการแต่งตั้ง 7 คณะกรรมการถาวรประจำกรมการเมืองชุดใหม่ (Politburo) ที่มีสี จิ้นผิง เป็นหนึ่งในนั้น อีกหนึ่งประเด็นที่น่าสนใจคือ สุนทรพจน์ความยาว 104 นาที ที่เกี่ยวโยงถึงนโยบายการปกครองสาธารณรัฐประชาชนจีนในอนาคต โดยมีใจความสำคัญทั้งหมด 5 ข้อ คือ 1. จุดยืนต่อไต้หวันและฮ่องกงที่เน้นเป็นไปอย่าง ‘สันติ' แต่พร้อมใช้ ‘กำลัง' หากจำเป็น ดั่งเช่นการกวาดล้างเหล่านักศึกษา รวมไปถึงผู้เห็นต่างทางการเมือง 2. สัญญาว่าจะปรับเปลี่ยนกฎระเบียบด้านเศรษฐกิจ เพื่อกระจายความมั่งคั่งของประชาชนทุกระดับ ตามนโยบายแก้ไขเศรษฐกิจชะลอตัวและความเหลื่อมล้ำ 3. ประเด็นกำจัดนักการเมืองคอร์รัปชันจะยังคงเข้มงวดต่อไป หลังที่ผ่านมามีนักการเมืองที่ถูกสอบสวนมากถึงหลักล้านราย และส่วนใหญ่มักเป็นฝั่งที่อยู่ตรงข้ามกับประธานาธิบดีสี 4. นโยบายการเมืองต่างประเทศมีท่าทีเป็นไปอย่างแข็งกร้าว พร้อมที่จะขยายอิทธิพลต่อไป และเตือนประชาคมโลกว่าอย่าคิดแทรกแซง เพราะถือเป็นเรื่องการเมืองภายในของจีน พร้อมปฏิเสธข้อกล่าวหาที่จีนกำลังก่ออาชญากรรมมนุษย์ต่อชาวอุยกูร์ ในเขตปกครองตนเองซินเจียงอุยกูร์ (Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region) 5. ด้านสิ่งแวดล้อม ตั้งเป้าจะเป็นประเทศที่ปล่อยคาร์บอนเป็นศูนย์ภายในปี 2060 และยินดีสนับสนุนงบประมาณในด้านพลังงานทดแทน อย่างไรก็ดี นัยสำคัญที่นานาชาติจับตามองกลับไม่ใช่นโยบายข้างต้น แต่เป็น ‘การควบรวมอำนาจ' แบบเบ็ดเสร็จในมือ สี จิ้นผิง ตั้งแต่โครงสร้างบริหารภายในพรรค โดยเฉพาะสมาชิกโปลิตบูโร ที่เป็นคนใกล้ชิดของตนแทบทั้งสิ้น ไล่ตั้งแต่ จ้าว เล่อจี้ (Zhao Leji) หัวหน้าคณะกรรมการกลางเพื่อการสอบวินัย, ไช่ ฉี (Cai Qi) เลขาธิการพรรคประจำกรุงปักกิ่ง, หวัง ฮู่หนิง (Wang Huning) เลขาธิการคนที่ 1 ประจำสำนักเลขาธิการพรรคคอมมิวนิสต์, ติง เซวียเสียง (Ding Xuexiang) ผู้อำนวยการสำนักงานทั่วไปพรรคคอมมิวนิสต์, หลี่ ซี (Li Xi) เสนาธิการพรรคประจำมณฑลกวางตุ้ง และหลี่ เฉียง ( (Li Qiang) เลขาธิการพรรคคอมมิวนิสต์ประจำนครเซี่ยงไฮ้ มือขวาคนสนิทที่ถูกวางตัวให้ขึ้นดำรงตำแหน่งเป็นนายกรัฐมนตรีคนต่อไป แม้ที่ผ่านมาจะถูกโจมตีว่าล้มเหลวในการจัดการปัญหาโควิด-19 ช่วงล็อกดาวน์ ปี 2021 ขณะที่ด้านกองกำลังทหารก็สามารถกุมไว้ได้เรียบร้อยเช่นกัน และเมื่อปรากฏภาพอดีตประธานาธิบดีฯ หู จิ่นเทา (Hu Jintao) ถูกหิ้วปีกเชิญตัวออกจากที่ประชุม หลังต้องการดูเอกสารฉบับหนึ่งที่อยู่ในมือของ สี จิ้นผิง ที่คาดการณ์ว่าเป็นรายละเอียดรายชื่อตำแหน่งโปลิตบูโรชุดใหม่ ที่ไร้วี่แววพรรคพวกจากฝั่งหู จิ่นเทา ยิ่งแสดงออกชัดเจนถึงความอหังการ หวังมุ่งเป้าล้างขั้วอำนาจเก่าอย่างแท้จริง และส่งผลให้สี จิ้นผิง กลายเป็นผู้นำประเทศที่มีบารมีทัดเทียมยุคท่านผู้นำเหมา เจ๋อตุง (Mao Tse-tung)

In this episode Darren picks up on a comment Allan has made several times on the podcast (including the previous episode) about the need for the Australian government to make a formal statement on China. To Allan this is a statement of the obvious, but the two find a surprising amount to disagree upon on the merits of the Prime Minister or Foreign Minister giving a major speech on Australia's relationship with China. Allan outlines the benefits and how a speech might be structured, while Darren worries about the risks, and contrasts different approaches in speeches from the US Secretary of State and the Singaporean Prime Minister. The episode concludes by noting the death of Australia's Head of State, Queen Elizabeth II, and some thoughts on the role of the monarch in Australian foreign policy. We thank Atikah Mekki for audio editing and Rory Stenning for composing our theme music. Relevant links OHCHR Assessment of human rights concerns in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China, 31 August 2022: https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/country-reports/ohchr-assessment-human-rights-concerns-xinjiang-uyghur-autonomous-region Penny Wong, “Human rights concerns in Xinjiang”, Ministerial Statement, 1 September 2022: https://www.foreignminister.gov.au/minister/penny-wong/statements/human-rights-concerns-xinjiang Chinese Embassy Spokesperson's Remarks on the Ministerial statement on human rights in Xinjiang by DFAT, 6 September 2022: http://au.china-embassy.gov.cn/eng/sghdxwfb_1/202209/t20220906_10762674.htm Stuart Doran, “Australia refused to endorse China's claim to Taiwan in 1972 because it foresaw a time like this”, ASPI Strategist, 7 September 2022: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/australia-refused-to-endorse-chinas-claim-to-taiwan-in-1972-because-it-foresaw-a-time-like-this/ Secretary Blinken Speech: The Administration's Approach to the People's Republic of China, Washington DC, 26 May 2022: https://au.usembassy.gov/secretary-blinken-speech-the-administrations-approach-to-the-peoples-republic-of-china/ PM Lee Hsien Loong at the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue 2019, 31 May 2019: https://www.pmo.gov.sg/Newsroom/PM-Lee-Hsien-Loong-at-the-IISS-Shangri-La-Dialogue-2019 European Commission and HR/VP contribution to the European Council, “EU-China – A strategic outlook”, 12 March 2019: https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/files/communication-eu-china-a-strategic-outlook.pdf Scott Morrison, “Speech at Chinese-Australian Community Event”, 4 October 2018: https://china.embassy.gov.au/bjng/181005pmspeech.html Andrew Sullivan, “An icon, not an idol”, The Weekly Dish (Substack), 10 September 2022: https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/an-icon-not-an-idol-71f The rest is politics (podcast): https://shows.acast.com/the-rest-is-politics Mark Harrison, “Correspondence: Sleepwalk to war - Quarterly Essay”, 10 September 2022: https://twitter.com/mhar4/status/1568467164616871937?s=12&t=KFYS6frsFPq3VstL5iW0iQ Rory Medcalf, “Correspondence: Sleepwalk to war - Quarterly Essay”, 8 September 2022: https://nsc.crawford.anu.edu.au/department-news/20571/sleepwalk-war-correspondence Kevin Rudd, “Correspondence: Sleepwalk to war - Quarterly Essay”, 8 September 2022: https://www.kevinrudd.com/media/correspondence-sleepwalk-to-war-quarterly-essay   Sam Lim MP, First Speech to Parliament, 6 September 2022: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gEYwSAjaeM Dai Le MP, First Speech to Parliament, 6 September 2022: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORkHpdYZezY Keith Wolahan MP, First Speech to Parliament, 6 September 2022: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iCPnV2sIw4

China's detention of Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities in the north-western region of East Turkestan may amount to crimes against humanity, following the United Nations Human Rights office release of its long-awaited report on Wednesday titled "OHCHR Assessment of Human Rights Concerns in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region." The 45-page report, which is in PDF format, called on Beijing to immediately release all individuals deprived of Liberty to clarify the whereabouts of those whose families have been unable to locate them and to undertake a full review of its laws on domestic security and repeal all discriminatory laws. In response to the ruling of the report, during a discussion with Radio Islam International, Arslan Hidayat says that for the first time, the UN is taking a stance on what has been happening in it Turkestan, not to the level they would like to see because there have been other reports. An independent tribunal has said there is genocide and crimes against humanity in East Turkestan.

The UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights released yesterday its 2022 assessment on the human rights violations committed against the Uyghurs in XUAR. What does the report says about China's domestic policies, power dynamics and treatment of religious and ethnic minorities? Join us in this exploration, subscribe to our newsletter here, follow us on Instagram and Twitter and support our community in Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/womanhoodir Listen to related episodes: 124. Rushan Abbas on Calls of Genocide Against the Uyghurs 112. Devon Cone on COVID-19 Impact on Migration & Humanitarian Crises 81. Feminist Approaches to the Women, Peace and Security Agenda 74. The Masculine/Feminine National Cultures Index Recommended readings to this episode: [PDF] Download the OHCHR Assessment of human rights concerns in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China Amnesty International Report “LIKE WE WERE ENEMIES IN A WAR”China's Mass Internment, Torture and Persecution of Muslims in Xinjiang Human Rights Watch Report: “Break Their Lineage, Break Their Roots” Campaign for Uyghurs What is the 'One China' policy? China policies could cut millions of Uyghur births in Xinjiang Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying's Regular Press Conference on August 4, 2022 Xi Jinping's inspection tour of Xinjiang China: Xi Jinping visits Xinjiang for first time since Uyghur crackdown China Opposes Terrorism The 60th Press Conference of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Xinjiang-related Issues in Beijing Uighurs demand accountability after UN report on China abuses

On July 15, USIP hosted Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-VA), a member of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, and Rep. Young Kim (R-CA), vice ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, Central Asia and Nonproliferation, for a discussion on the bipartisan congressional response to the Chinese government’s human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Speakers Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-VA)U.S. Representative from Virginia @RepWexton Rep. Young Kim (R-CA)U.S. Representative from California@RepYoungKim Lise Grande, moderatorPresident and CEO, U.S. Institute of Peace For more information about this event, please visit: https://www.usip.org/events/advancing-human-rights-xinjiang-uyghur-autonomous-region

Since 2014, the world has gradually been learning about the horrors that occur in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Media reports have described how Uyghurs are put in "vocational training camps," which are effectively concentration camps. People can be put there for the smallest expression of religiosity, and any hope of getting out requires undergoing a "reeducation" process, though some never escape at all. Members of Xinjiang's other ethnic groups are put in the camps, too -- primarily Kazakhs. Since February 2021, the relatives and loved ones of Kazakh people currently being held in the Xinjiang camps have held daily protests outside of the Chinese Consulate in Almaty. Meduza is publishing photographer Ofeliya Zhakaeva's project "Nearby," which focuses on Chinese Kazakhs whose relatives have disappeared into the Xinjiang internment system. She photographed protest participants outside of the Consulate with objects that remind them of their loved ones and recorded their stories. Original Article: https://meduza.io/en/feature/2022/06/07/i-asked-them-to-remove-mom-s-chains-they-refused

Nury Turkel was born in a Chinese re-education camp in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, managing to flee China in 1995 to attend university in the United States. Becoming the first Uyghur to receive an American law degree, Nury Turkel went on to become a human rights attorney and activist for Uyghur people. In recent years, China's repression of Uyghur Muslims has intensified, most visibly through the construction of a series of re-education centres in Xinjiang. This was further exposed last week, when a cache of hacked data and photographs from police computers, now called the Xinjiang Police Files, were published online. It revealed in unprecedented detail, China's brutal use of re-education camps and prisons as a system of mass detention for Uyghurs. It's estimated between one and two million Uyghurs are detained in the Xinjiang facilities. The documents also uncovered a "shoot to kill" policy for those who try to escape. Nury Turkel is a co-founder and chair of the Uyghur Human Rights Project, a commissioner for the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, and a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. He's just published No Escape: The True Story of China's Genocide of the Uyghurs. He tells Kathryn how the unfolding Uyghur crisis is turning into the greatest human rights crisis of the twenty-first century.

We hear about a huge batch of hacked data from China's secretive system for the mass imprisonment of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang province. The files show there are long sentences for almost any sign of Islamic belief. Also on the programme: calls for a naval coalition-of-the-willing to end the Russian blockade of Ukrainian ports; Britain's withdrawal from Afghanistan is branded a disaster and a betrayal by a parliamentary committee; and jackdaw democracy. (Photo: Police officers patrol in the old city in Kashgar, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China in 2021 Credit:REUTERS/Thomas Peter)

As Muslims around the world celebrate Eid, Ernie Rea hosts a panel on the beliefs and culture of the Uyghurs, a majority Muslim people in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, North West China. Human rights organisations have accused China of committing crimes against humanity against the Uyghur people and the US government has accused the Chinese government of genocide. For over eight years, there have been reports of mass surveillance of the Uyghur population and abuses including forced incarceration in 're-education camps' and sterilisation against the Uyghur people in Xinjiang. The Chinese government have consistently denied accusations of abuse and insist their camps are vocational facilities, and to combat terrorism. Ernie Rea explores the faith of the majority Muslim Uyghur people. What could be lost from their language, culture and heritage? Ernie is joined by experts on the region, Dr Jo Smith Finley and Dr Rian Thum. Rahima Mahmut, a Uyghur Muslim. grew up in the region and is the UK Director of the World Uyghur Congress. And Abduweli Ayup, a Uyghur poet and linguistic scholar, tells his story of incarceration in Xinjiang. Producer: Rebecca Maxted

More than ever before, companies must know the intricacies of their supply chains. Chief among the pressures to better understand where exactly goods stem from is a growing spate of due diligence legislation, including the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) in the United States. Signed in December and going into effect in June, this law expands the burden of proof for importers. Companies bringing goods into the United States already face Withhold Release Orders (WROs) on products with certain materials—including cotton—that were thought to be associated with forced labor in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. With UFLPA, the scope of banned imports extends to all merchandise with an origin in the XUAR—whether or not there is evidence of potential forced labor. This conversation between MeiLin Wan, vice president, textile sales at Applied DNA Sciences; Andrew Samet, principal at trade consulting firm Sorini, Samet & Associates; and Edward Hertzman, founder and president of Sourcing Journal, covers what to expect as UFLPA goes into effect. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amazon is allegedly employing suppliers in China with links to forced labour, according to a report from the Tech Transparency Project, a research group owned by the nonprofit watchdog organisation Campaign for Accountability. The report accuses Amazon of continuing to work with these suppliers, despite evidence of their association with Uyghur labour camps in China, and in one case, continuing to buy from a supplier that has been sanctioned by the US government for employing forced labour in China. In China, programmes euphemistically called “labour transfers” move workers from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, a predominantly Muslim area in western China, to factories in other parts of the country, according to the Tech Transparency Project (TTP). Three Amazon suppliers are reported to have used forced labour directly: Luxshare Precision Industry, AcBel Polytech, and Lens Technology. Another two, GoerTek and Hefei BOE Optoelectronics, are themselves supplied by factories that have been implicated in forced labour, according to TTP. Better.com, the online mortgage lender, whose CEO callously laid off 900 people over a zoom call three months ago, is about to lay off roughly half of its staff of about 8,000 this week, TechCrunch reports, citing sources within the company. This new round of layoffs is expected to happen tomorrow. The majority of its staff are in sales and operations roles, but the layoff is believed to be impacting the whole company and will directly affect approximately 4,000 people. Better.com has employees around the world, including in the US and India, according to TechCrunch. Electric two-wheelers are on the cusp of mass adoption in India, data from the Federation of Automobiles Dealers Association shows (FADA). Sales of electric two-wheelers jumped 433 percent to 32,443 units in February 2022, compared with 6,083 for the year-earlier period. Electric passenger vehicles also rose, by about 300 percent, to more than 2,350 units. Hero Electric, Okinawa Autotech, Ampere Vehicles and Ather Energy all saw big jumps in their sales. And Ola Electric saw sales of more than 3,900 electric scooters, according to FADA. Eruditus, an ed-tech startup focused on executive education, has closed a $350 million debt financing from Canada Pension Plan Investment Board to fund its acquisition plans overseas, Economic Times reports, citing co-founder Ashwin Damera. Eruditus, which is backed by investors including SoftBank Group, is in talks for strategic acquisitions and plans to spend as much as $1 billion on these purchases, according to ET. The company plans to grow its gross annual bookings by 90 percent to around $950 million in the fiscal year 2023, as against an estimated $500 million in this fiscal year ending March 31. Theme music courtesy Free Music & Sounds: https://soundcloud.com/freemusicandsounds

When the Beijing Winter Olympics open on February 4, diplomats from a number of countries, including the US, UK, Canada and Australia, will not be there to watch. Their diplomatic boycott hinges on concerns about human rights abuses in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. In this episode of The Conversation Weekly, we talk to three experts about China's long-term vision for Xinjiang, and what its strategy there means for the region's persecuted Uyghurs. Featuring Darren Byler, assistant professor of international studies at Simon Fraser University in Canada; David Tobin, lecturer in east Asian Studies at the University of Sheffield in the UK; and Anna Hayes, senior lecturer in politics and international relations at James Cook University in Australia.And what toxic heavy metals are lingering in houses around the world? Cynthia Faye Isley, postdoctoral research fellow in environmental science at Macquarie University in Australia, explains what she's found analysing vacuum cleaner dust from around the world.Plus, Matt Williams, breaking news editor at The Conversation in New York, recommends his picks of recent analysis on the build-up of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border.The Conversation Weekly is produced by Mend Mariwany and Gemma Ware, with sound design by Eloise Stevens. Our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Full credits for this episode available here.Further reading:How an independent tribunal came to rule that China is guilty of genocide against the UyghursCan China win back global opinion before the Winter Olympics? Does it even want to?House dust from 35 countries reveals our global toxic contaminant exposure and health riskIt's just a ‘panic attack' – Russian media blames US for escalating Ukraine crisisThe US military presence in Europe has been declining for 30 years – the current crisis in Ukraine may reverse that trend See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Much media attention has been rightfully aimed at the recent failures of Congress, but there was, in fact, lawmaking happening at the end of 2021. In this episode, learn about some laws that didn't get much attention, including a law that solves a real problem and a few laws designed to economically punish China. We also take a look at what is happening in Congress as we start 2022 and look for opportunities for effective activism as we enter this Congressional election year. Please Support Congressional Dish – Quick Links Contribute monthly or a lump sum via PayPal Support Congressional Dish via Patreon (donations per episode) Send Zelle payments to: Donation@congressionaldish.com Send Venmo payments to: @Jennifer-Briney Send Cash App payments to: $CongressionalDish or Donation@congressionaldish.com Use your bank's online bill pay function to mail contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North, Number 4576, Crestview, FL 32536. Please make checks payable to Congressional Dish Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Please take our show note survey! Background Sources Recommended Congressional Dish Episodes CD236: January 6: The Capitol Riot CD232: American Rescue Plan CD155: FirstNet Empowers AT&T CD096: Fast Tracking Fast Track (Trade Promotion Authority) NDAA 2022 Jamie Dupree. Dec 9, 2021. “Who says bipartisanship is dead? It isn't on defense.” Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Huawui Sanctions Alessandro Civati. Jan 10, 2022. “Huawei Risks - A Government Security Review.” LinkedIn. Craig S. Smith. Sept 29, 2021. “How the Huawei Fight Is Changing the Face of 5G.” IEEE Spectrum. Federal Communications Commission. Mar 12, 2021. “FCC List of Equipment and Services That Pose National Security Threat.” Hadlee Simons. Sept 15, 2020. “More Huawei sanctions go into effect from today. What does that mean?” Android Authority. Julian E. Barnes and Adam Satariano. Mar 17, 2019. “U.S. Campaign to Ban Huawei Overseas Stumbles as Allies Resist.” The New York Times. Build Back Better is Dead Joe Manchin. Dec 19, 2021. “Joe Manchin: 'I cannot vote' for Build Back Better amid 'real' inflation.” Fox News. Jamie Dupree. Dec 3, 2021. “No shutdown but little headway in Congress.” Regular Order. 2022 Spending Department of Homeland Security. “Operation Allies Welcome.” Paul Kane. Jan 12, 2022. “The E-word is poised for a Capitol Hill comeback.” The Washington Post. Voting Rights and Election Reform Cristina Marcos. “House passes voting rights package, setting up Senate filibuster showdown” Jan 13, 2022. The Hill. Zachary B. Wolf. May 19, 2021. “The 5 key elements of Trump's Big Lie and how it came to be.” CNN. The Filibuster Lindsay Wise. Jan 10, 2022. “McConnell Issues Threat to Democrats on Filibuster Changes.” The Wall Street Journal. Tim Lau. Apr 26, 2021. “The Filibuster, Explained.” Brennan Center for Justice. Sarah A. Binder. Apr 22, 2010. “The History of the Filibuster”. Brookings. The Electoral Count Act Miles Parks. Jan 8, 2022. “Congress may change this arcane law to avoid another Jan. 6.” NPR. Laws and Resolutions S.J.Res. 33: A joint resolution joint resolution relating to increasing the debt limit. Sponsor: Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) Status: Signed into law by the President on Dec 16, 2021 S. 610: Protecting Medicare and American Farmers from Sequester Cuts Act Sponsor: Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) Status: Signed into law by the President on Dec 10, 2021 S. 1605: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 Status: Signed into law by the President on Dec 27, 2021 S. 3377: Capitol Police Emergency Assistance Act of 2021 Sponsor: Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) Status: Signed into law by the President on Dec 22, 2021 H.R. 6256: To ensure that goods made with forced labor in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China do not enter the United States market, and for other purposes. Sponsor: Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) Status: Signed into law by the President on Dec 23, 2021 H.R. 3919: Secure Equipment Act of 2021. Sponsor: Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) Status: Signed into law by the President on Nov 11, 2021 H.R. 6119: Further Extending Government Funding Act Sponsor: Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) Status: Signed into law by the President on Dec 3, 2021 H.R. 1319: American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 Tax credits for COVID Sec. 4006: Funeral Assistance For the COVID emergency declared on March 13, 2020 “and for any subsequent major disaster declarations that supercedes such emergency declaration”, FEMA funds “shall” be paid for 100% of disaster-related funeral expenses. Sec. 9631: Refundability and Enhancement of Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit For 2021, eligible taxpayers can get up to 50% of up to $8,000 in childcare costs (capped at $16,000 for multiple children under the age of 12) reimbursed via a refundable tax credit. The credit phases out for families with income higher than $400,000 per year. Sec. 9642: Credit for Sick Leave For Certain Self-Employed Individuals Allows self employed individuals to receive a tax credit for sick day related to COVID-19 from April 1, 2021 through September 30, 2021, including getting tested, quarantining, illness, and getting the vaccine. The number of days is capped at 10 and its capped at $200 per day. (=$2,000) Sec. 9643: Credit For Family Leave For Certain Self-Employed Individuals Allows self employed individuals to receive a refundable tax credit for family leave for COVID-19 testing, illness, or vaccines. It's capped at 60 days and $200 per day (=$12,000) Bills H.R.4 - John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021 Sponsor: Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL) S.2747 - Freedom to Vote Act Sponsor: Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) H.R.5746 - Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act Sponsor: Rep. Donald Beyer (D-VA) Audio sources Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. Jan 13, 2022. “Senator Sinema Announces Opposition to Changing Filibuster Rules.” C-SPAN. Sen. Krysten Sinema: I rise at a challenging divisive time for our nation. For years, America's politics have spiraled steadily downward into increasingly bitter tribal partisanship and our democracy has been strained. While that may sound abstract, it is a problem that hurts Americans in real, tangible ways. These deepening divisions hurt our ability to work together to create new job opportunities, protect the health and safety of our communities and country and to ensure everyday families get ahead. Our country's divisions have now fueled efforts in several states that will make it more difficult for Americans to vote and undermine faith that all Americans should have in our elections in our democracy. These state laws have no place in a nation whose government is formed by free, fair and open elections. I share the concerns of civil rights advocates and others I've heard from in recent months about these state laws. I strongly support those efforts to contest these laws and court and to invest significant resources into these states to better organize and stop efforts to restrict access at the ballot box. And I strongly support and will continue to vote for legislative responses to address these state laws, including the freedom to vote Act, and the John Lewis voting rights Advancement Act that the Senate is currently considering. And while I continue to support these bills, I will not support separate actions that were sent the underlying disease of division infecting our country. The debate over the Senate 60 vote threshold shines a light on our broader challenges. There is no need for me to restate my long standing support for the 60 vote threshold to pass legislation. There's no need for me to restate its role protecting our country from wild reversals and federal policy. Eliminating the 60 vote threshold will simply guarantee that we lose a critical tool that we need to safeguard our democracy from threats in the years to come. Our mandate, it seems evident to me work together and get stuff done for America. Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio)

Since the mass internment of Uyghurs and other indigenous groups in China was first reported in 2017, there is now a rich body of literature documenting recent human rights abuses in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. However, there is little knowledge of the actual perpetrators inside China's vast and opaque party-state system. A report published by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) maps and analyses the governance mechanisms employed by the Chinese party-state in Xinjiang. While the international debate continues as to whether the recent events in Xinjiang constitute genocide, this report gathers the relevant evidence before it could be covered up, and makes it publicly available. Guests: Professor James Leibold (Head of the Department of Politics, Media and Philosophy, La Trobe University) Daria Impiombato (Researcher at ASPI's International Cyber Policy Centre) Recorded on 24 November, 2021.

Big Brother is finding ways into your home through your games. You'd be surprised just how much they can tell about you from the way you play. China has decided to take effeminate men off TV, along with a whole bunch of new criteria. This echoes the Tik Tok ban on ugly and fat people. China, you have some issues with representation. Maybe take a look at that. An asteroid is coming close to Earth. Prepare now, just in case. South Australians are also complaining about rocket launches. Finally, Australians can go somewhere that isn't overseas to see rockets, which is awesome.Surveillance in Video Games- https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3881279 China's New Law : Sissy Man Ban- https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2021/09/02/china-bans-sissy-men-tv-encourages-more-masculinity/5694333001/ Space News- https://comicbook.com/irl/news/asteroid-close-encounter-2021-ny1-close-call-nasa-september/- https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-07/whalers-way-first-commercial-rocket-lift-off/100440154 Other topics discussedWhat are the Security and Privacy Risks of VR and AR- https://www.kaspersky.com/resource-center/threats/security-and-privacy-risks-of-ar-and-vr‘Doomba' turns your Roomba's cleaning maps into Doom levels- https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/12/26/18156600/doomba-roomba-cleaning-maps-doom-levels-rich-whitehouseHow Does the YouTube Algorithm Work in 2021? The Complete Guide- https://blog.hootsuite.com/how-the-youtube-algorithm-works/The cheapest Oculus Quest prices and Oculus Rift sales in September 2021- https://www.techradar.com/au/news/gaming/oculus-rift-deals-1329262It's 2019 — which VR headsets can you actually buy?- https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/16/18625238/vr-virtual-reality-headsets-oculus-quest-valve-index-htc-vive-nintendo-labo-vr-2019 General Data Protection Regulation (The General Data Protection Regulation (EU) (GDPR) is a regulation in EU law on data protection and privacy in the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA). It also addresses the transfer of personal data outside the EU and EEA areas.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regulation Electronic Frontier Foundation (The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. The foundation was formed on 10 July 1990 by John Gilmore, John Perry Barlow and Mitch Kapor to promote Internet civil liberties.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_Frontier_Foundation Loot box (In video games, a loot box (also called a loot/prize crate) is a consumable virtual item which can be redeemed to receive a randomised selection of further virtual items, or loot, ranging from simple customization options for a player's avatar or character, to game-changing equipment such as weapons and armor.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loot_box Regulation and legislation (Because of their use of random chance to gain items after committing real-world funds, games using loot boxes may be considered a form of gambling. While gambling laws vary from country to country, a common theme that tends to distinguish loot boxes from gambling is the inability to transform the contents from a loot box back into real-world money by legitimate means within the video game.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loot_box#Regulation_and_legislation Wii Fit (an exergaming video game designed by Nintendo's Hiroshi Matsunaga for the Wii home video game console. It is an exercise game with several activities using the Wii Balance Board peripheral. As of March 2012 Wii Fit was the third best selling console game not packaged with a console, with 22.67 million copies sold.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii_FitHow ISIS Terrorists May Have Used PlayStation 4 To Discuss And Plan Attacks- https://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2015/11/14/why-the-paris-isis-terrorists-used-ps4-to-plan-attacks/?sh=23b8e4e70554Man jailed 6 years for threats made in Runescape finally released- https://www.pcgamer.com/au/man-jailed-6-years-for-threats-made-in-runescape-finally-released/‘It's a long bow': Social media ID push dubbed ineffective, a privacy risk- https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/it-s-a-long-bow-social-media-id-push-dubbed-a-privacy-risk-20210402-p57g7d.htmlChina steps up its war on underage online video gaming and not everyone is happy- https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-04/china-cracks-down-on-children-online-video-gaming/100428138TikTok 'tried to filter out videos from ugly, poor or disabled users'- https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/mar/17/tiktok-tried-to-filter-out-videos-from-ugly-poor-or-disabled-users Tilda Swinton (a British actress. Known for her leading roles in independent films and supporting roles in blockbusters, she is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award and a British Academy Film Award, in addition to nominations for three Golden Globe Awards and five Screen Actors Guild Awards.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilda_Swinton Zhao Wei (Vicky Zhao or Vicki Zhao, is a Chinese actress, businesswoman, film director, producer and pop singer. She is considered one of the most popular actresses in China and Chinese-speaking regions, and one of the highest paid actresses.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhao_WeiAlibaba founder Jack Ma appears for the first time since crackdown on his tech empire- https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/20/alibaba-founder-jack-ma-reappears-after-crackdown-on-his-tech-empire.htmlZhao Wei Controversy (On 27 August 2021, all films and television dramas featuring Zhao disappeared from Chinese video streaming services like Tencent Video and iQiyi, and her Weibo account is deleted. No explanation is given by the Chinese government.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhao_Wei#Controversy Mulan (2009 film) (a 2009 Chinese action war film starring Zhao Wei as the titular protagonist. The director, Jingle Ma, has explained that this film is vastly different from the 1998 Walt Disney animated film and that the looks from the character in this movie adheres more to his imagination.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulan_(2009_film)Uyghurs (The Uyghurs alternatively spelled Uighurs, Uygurs or Uigurs, are a Turkic ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central and East Asia. The Uyghurs are recognized as native to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwest China.- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UyghursI.T. Crowd – Judy (a horribly ugly woman that Roy gets entangled with while trying to meet a woman named Julie. Roy claims she has hair on her eyes and three rows of teeth.)- https://theitcrowd.fandom.com/wiki/Judy- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CWqMAOHS4A Steve Buscemi (an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for acting in various supporting roles and as a leading man starring in a number of successful movies including Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs (1992), Robert Rodriguez's Desperado (1995), Simon West's Con Air (1997) and Armageddon (1998), the black comedy Ghost World (2001), Tim Burton's drama Big Fish (2003), The Island (2005), and Armando Iannucci's political satire The Death of Stalin (2017).)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Buscemi Sean Penn (American actor, director, screenwriter, and producer. He has won two Academy Awards, for his roles in the mystery drama Mystic River (2003) and the biopic Milk (2008).)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_Penn Meat Loaf (better known as Meat Loaf, is an American singer and actor. He is noted for his powerful, wide-ranging voice and theatrical live shows. His Bat Out of Hell trilogy—Bat Out of Hell, Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell, and Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose—has sold more than 65 million albums worldwide.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meat_Loaf Tim Curry (English actor and singer. He rose to prominence for his portrayal of Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the film The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), reprising the role he had originated in the 1973 London and 1974 Los Angeles musical stage productions of The Rocky Horror Show.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_CurryChina calls for boycott of ‘overly entertaining' entertainers and ‘sissy idols' in continued purge of popular culture industry- https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/china-personalities/article/3147354/china-calls-boycott-overly-entertaining RAAF Woomera Range Complex (The RAAF Woomera Range Complex (WRC) is a major Australian military and civil aerospace facility and operation located in South Australia, approximately 450 km (280 mi) north-west of Adelaide. The WRC is operated by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), a division of the Australian Defence Force (ADF).)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAAF_Woomera_Range_ComplexMeteor Hits Russia Feb 15, 2013 - Event Archive- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpmXyJrs7iU Chelyabinsk meteor (a superbolide that entered Earth's atmosphere over the southern Ural region in Russia on 15 February 2013 at about 09:20 YEKT (03:20 UTC). It was caused by an approximately 20 m (66 ft) near-Earth asteroid that entered the atmosphere at a shallow 18.3 ± 0.4 degree angle with a speed relative to Earth of 19.16 ± 0.15 kilometres per second (69,000 km/h or 42,900 mph).)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelyabinsk_meteorFootage of last-known surviving Tasmanian tiger remastered and released in 4K colour- https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-07/tasmanian-tiger-footage-digitised-and-colourised/100439870 Bunyip (The bunyip is a creature from Australian Aboriginal mythology, said to lurk in swamps, billabongs, creeks, riverbeds, and waterholes.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunyip Yowie (Yowie is one of several names for an Australian folklore entity reputed to live in the Outback. The creature has its roots in Aboriginal oral history. In parts of Queensland, they are known as quinkin (or as a type of quinkin), and as joogabinna, in parts of New South Wales they are called Ghindaring, jurrawarra, myngawin, puttikan, doolaga, gulaga and thoolagal.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YowieFuturama - Planet Express Ships Engine- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RtMMupdOC4Battle of Cartagena de Indias (The Battle of Cartagena de Indias took place during the 1739 to 1748 War of Jenkins' Ear between Spain and Britain. The result of long-standing commercial tensions, the war was primarily fought in the Caribbean; the British tried to capture key Spanish ports in the region, including Porto Bello and Chagres in Panama, Havana, and Cartagena de Indias in present-day Colombia.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cartagena_de_Indias Gordon Bennett Trophy (aeroplanes) (an international airplane racing trophy awarded by James Gordon Bennett Jr., the American owner and publisher of the New York Herald newspaper. The trophy is one of three Gordon Bennett awards: Bennett was also the sponsor of an automobile race and a ballooning competition.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Bennett_Trophy_(aeroplanes) Glenn Curtiss (an American aviation and motorcycling pioneer, and a founder of the U.S. aircraft industry. He began his career as a bicycle racer and builder before moving on to motorcycles.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_CurtissSincerely Unqualified (TNC podcast)- https://sincerely-unqualified.simplecast.com/Shout Outs 11th September 2021 – 20th anniversary of 9/11 - https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-11/ceremonies-for-20th-anniversary-of-september-11-attacks/100454922 Thousands have gathered in New York and across the United States for ceremonies commemorating the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Memorials were held in New York City, the Pentagon, and Pennsylvania — all sites where hijacked planes were crashed in a coordinated Al Qaeda attack 20 years ago. Americans are honouring the nearly 3,000 lives lost in the attacks, while reflecting on how they shaped the country's view of the world and itself. Music legend Bruce Springsteen performed I'll See You In My Dreams before the names of victims continued to be read by loved ones. Mr Biden then travelled to Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where United Flight 93 crashed into a field after passengers overcame the hijackers and prevented another target from being hit.5th September 2021 – Michael Keaton's 70th bday - https://movieweb.com/michael-keaton-70th-birthday/ Over the past several decades, Keaton has appeared in a variety of major roles, though he is particularly beloved for his run as Bruce Wayne in Tim Burton's Batman and its sequel Batman Returns. He is also known for playing as Jack Butler in Mr. Mom (1983), Beetlejuice in Beetlejuice (1988), and Adrian Toomes / Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and Morbius (2022). Contrary to popular belief, he is not related to Buster Keaton or Diane Keaton. Nor did he name himself after them. He needed an alternate last name, so he went through a list of possible surnames and when he got to the "K's," he decided "Keaton" sounded inoffensive enough. In 2014, Keaton garnered critical acclaim for his performance in Alejandro González Iñárritu's black comedy film Birdman, winning a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and receiving a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Tim Burton cast him in the title role of Batman (1989) because he thought that Keaton was the only actor who could believably portray someone who has the kind of darkly obsessive personality that the character has. There was a great deal of fan anger over his selection, forcing the studio to release an advance trailer both to show that Keaton could do the role well and that the movie would not be a campy parody like the television series Batman (1966). A longtime Pittsburgh resident and fan of its sports teams, negotiated a break in his Batman movie contract in case the Pirates made the playoffs that year, although they ultimately did not. He also wrote an ESPN blog on the Pirates during the final months of their 2013 season.7th September 2021 – 85th anniversary of the last thylacine, a carnivorous marsupial named Benjamin, dies alone in its cage at the Hobart Zoo in Tasmania. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thylacine#Benjamin_and_searches The last captive thylacine, often referred to as Benjamin, lived at Hobart Zoo until its death on the night of the 6 September 1936. The thylacine died on the night of 6–7 September 1936. It is believed to have died as the result of neglect—locked out of its sheltered sleeping quarters, it was exposed to a rare occurrence of extreme Tasmanian weather: extreme heat during the day and freezing temperatures at night. This thylacine features in the last known motion picture footage of a living specimen: 45 seconds of black-and-white footage showing the thylacine in its enclosure in a clip taken in 1933, by naturalist David Fleay. In the film footage, the thylacine is seen seated, walking around the perimeter of its enclosure, yawning, sniffing the air, scratching itself (in the same manner as a dog), and lying down. Fleay was bitten on the buttock whilst shooting the film. After the thylacine's death, the zoo expected that it would soon find a replacement, and "Benjamin"'s death was not reported on in the media at the time. Although there had been a conservation movement pressing for the thylacine's protection since 1901, driven in part by the increasing difficulty in obtaining specimens for overseas collections, political difficulties prevented any form of protection coming into force until 1936. Official protection of the species by the Tasmanian government was introduced on 10 July 1936, 59 days before the last known specimen died in captivity.9th September 2021 – 25th Anniversary of Crash Bandicoot - https://au.pcmag.com/games/89368/25-years-ago-crash-bandicoot-gave-sony-its-first-gaming-mascot Crash Bandicoot is a video game franchise, originally developed by Naughty Dog as an exclusive for Sony's PlayStation console and has seen numerous installments created by numerous developers and published on multiple platforms. The series consists predominantly of platform games, but also includes spin-offs in the kart racing and party game genres. The series was originally produced by Universal Interactive, which later became known as Vivendi Games; in 2007, Vivendi merged with Activision, which currently owns and publishes the franchise.In August 1994, Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin began their move from Boston, Massachusetts to Los Angeles, California. During the trip, Gavin and Rubin decided to create a 3D action-platform game, taking inspiration from 16-bit-era games such as Donkey Kong Country, Mario and Sonic. Because the player would be forced to constantly look at the character's backside, the game was jokingly code-named "Sonic's Ass Game".Development on the game started in the very early days of the PS1. There wasn't even a dev kit for the system, just a PCI board that you'd insert into your work PC. So they had to start from scratch with the simplest of tasks, like rendering geometry on the screen, then learn as they went along. Just the very concept of a full 3D platformer was totally new. Super Mario 64 hadn't even been released, and although the PS1 would get titles like Jumping Flash, they were far from the lively, character-filled experiences that 16-bit consoles were delivering in 2D. So the team at Naughty Dog built things from scratch, first learning how to display polygons on-screen and then working to translate their art to a game environment. Needing a lead character for the game, Naughty Dog recruited American Exitus artists Charles Zembillas and Joe Pearson and met with them weekly to create the characters and environments of the game, eventually creating a character named "Willy the Wombat". The marketing director of Universal Interactive insisted that the character be named "Wez", "Wuzzles" or "Wizzy the Wombat". While playing the game during development, Rubin realized that there were many empty areas in the game due to the PlayStation's inability to process numerous on-screen enemy characters at the same time. Additionally, players were solving the game's puzzles too fast. Rubin soon came up with the idea of a box and putting various symbols on the sides to create puzzles. Breaking these boxes would serve to fill in the boring parts of the levels and give the player additional puzzles. The first "crate" was placed in the game in January 1996, and would become the primary gameplay element of the series. Willy the Wombat's destruction of the crates would eventually lead him to be renamed "Crash Bandicoot". Remembrances7th September 1741 – Blas de Lezo - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blas_de_Lezo Admiral Blas de Lezo y Olavarrieta, a Spanish navy officer best remembered for the Battle of Cartagena de Indias (1741) in modern-day Colombia, where Spanish imperial forces under his command decisively defeated a large British invasion fleet under Admiral Edward Vernon. Throughout his naval career, Lezo sustained many severe wounds; he lost his left eye, left hand, complete mobility of the right arm, and had his left leg amputated in situ after being hit by the projectile of a cannon. He perceived his wounds and physical limitations as medals, he refused to wear an eye patch to hide his blind eye. Wearing his past battles history on his flesh won the respect of his peers and soldiers. Lezo's defense of Cartagena de Indias against a vastly larger British fleet consolidated his legacy as one of the most heroic figures in the history of Spain. He is often recognized as one of the greatest strategists in naval history. In 1704 he fought in the War of the Spanish Succession as a crew member in the Franco-Spanish fleet against the combined forces of Great Britain and the Netherlands at the indecisive Battle of Vélez-Málaga. During the battle, his left leg was hit by cannon-shot and was amputated under the knee. Participating in the 1707 defence of the French naval base of Toulon cost him his left eye. In 1714 he lost use of his right arm in the Siege of Barcelona. Later in this campaign, his ship captured the Stanhope commanded by John Combes, sometimes claimed to be a 70-gun but actually just a 20-gun merchantman. Thus, by age 25, depending on the sources, de Lezo had lost his left eye, his left leg below the knee, and the use of his right arm. Modern sources often focus on these salient features and refer to Lezo with nicknames such as "Patapalo" (Pegleg) and "Mediohombre" (Half-man). There is no contemporary proof that these (or others) were actually used during Lezo's lifetime. Blas de Lezo died four months after the battle of Cartagena de Indias at the age of 52 in Cartagena de Indias, New Granada.Famous Birthdays 7th September 1829 – August Kekulé - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Kekul%C3%A9 Friedrich August Kekulé, later Friedrich August Kekule von Stradonitz, a German organic chemist. From the 1850s until his death, Kekulé was one of the most prominent chemists in Europe, especially in theoretical chemistry. He was the principal founder of the theory of chemical structure and in particular the Kekulé structure of benzene. Basing his ideas on those of predecessors such as Williamson, Charles Gerhardt, Edward Frankland, William Odling, Auguste Laurent, Charles-Adolphe Wurtz and others, Kekulé was the principal formulator of the theory of chemical structure (1857–58). This theory proceeds from the idea of atomic valence, especially the tetravalence of carbon (which Kekulé announced late in 1857) and the ability of carbon atoms to link to each other (announced in a paper published in May 1858), to the determination of the bonding order of all of the atoms in a molecule. Archibald Scott Couper independently arrived at the idea of self-linking of carbon atoms (his paper appeared in June 1858), and provided the first molecular formulas where lines symbolize bonds connecting the atoms. For organic chemists, the theory of structure provided dramatic new clarity of understanding, and a reliable guide to both analytic and especially synthetic work. As a consequence, the field of organic chemistry developed explosively from this point. Among those who were most active in pursuing early structural investigations were, in addition to Kekulé and Couper, Frankland, Wurtz, Alexander Crum Brown, Emil Erlenmeyer, and Alexander Butlerov. Kekulé's idea of assigning certain atoms to certain positions within the molecule, and schematically connecting them using what he called their "Verwandtschaftseinheiten" ("affinity units", now called "valences" or "bonds"), was based largely on evidence from chemical reactions, rather than on instrumental methods that could peer directly into the molecule, such as X-ray crystallography. Such physical methods of structural determination had not yet been developed, so chemists of Kekulé's day had to rely almost entirely on so-called "wet" chemistry.Kekulé's most famous work was on the structure of benzene. In 1865 Kekulé published a paper in French (for he was then still in Belgium) suggesting that the structure contained a six-membered ring of carbon atoms with alternating single and double bonds.The empirical formula for benzene had been long known, but its highly unsaturated structure was a challenge to determine.More evidence was available by 1865, especially regarding the relationships of aromatic isomers. Kekulé argued for his proposed structure by considering the number of isomers observed for derivatives of benzene.The new understanding of benzene, and hence of all aromatic compounds, proved to be so important for both pure and applied chemistry after 1865 that in 1890 the German Chemical Society organized an elaborate appreciation in Kekulé's honor, celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of his first benzene paper. Here Kekulé spoke of the creation of the theory. He said that he had discovered the ring shape of the benzene molecule after having a reverie or day-dream of a snake seizing its own tail (this is an ancient symbol known as the ouroboros).He was born in Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse.Events of Interest7th September 1909 – Eugène Lefebvre crashes a new French-built Wright biplane during a test flight at Juvisy, south of Paris, becoming the first aviator in the world to lose his life in a powered heavier-than-air craft. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eug%C3%A8ne_Lefebvre Eugène Lefebvre was the first engineer and chief pilot of the Wright company in France. He, Louis Blériot and Hubert Latham were selected as France's representatives during the contest for the Gordon Bennett Trophy on 22 August, after poor weather made the morning's planned qualifying run impossible. When the weather lifted around 6 o'clock that evening, Lefebvre was one of the pilots who took to the sky in an exhibition, giving one of the earliest displays of stunt flying. The New York Times described his maneuvers thus: "Lefebvre...came driving at the crowded tribunes, turned in the nick of time, went sailing off, swooped down again till he made the flags on the pillars and the plumes on the ladies' hats flutter, and so played about at will for our applause." He was subsequently fined $4 by the judges for displaying excessive "recklessness and daring." During the running of the race, he placed fourth, behind Glenn Curtiss, Blériot and Latham. Only nine days after the end of the Reims event, Lefebvre was killed in a crash at Juvisy, when the plane he was testing dropped to the ground from a height of 6 metres (20 ft). 7th September 1958 – Queen Of Outer Space landed into theatres - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052104/ A star is born! On this day in 1958, the Queen Of Outer Space enjoyed her royal U.S. theatrical premiere. Directed by Edward Bernds, the SciFi feature starred Eric Fleming and Zsa Zsa Gabor, and here's the plot summary: "American astronauts are drawn by a mysterious force to the planet Venus, which they find to be inhabited only by beautiful women and their despotic queen." The Three Stooges and the Bowery Boys director Edward Bernds recalled that, after producer Walter Wanger was released from prison for shooting agent Jennings Lang in the groin for having an affair with his wife Joan Bennett, Wanger could only find work at the low-rent Allied Artists (formerly Monogram Pictures). In 1952, Wanger brought a ten-page idea for a screenplay by Ben Hecht called Queen of the Universe that was a satirical look at a planet run by women. Several years later, with the idea of science fiction films being more common, Allied Artists revived the project with Wanger replaced on the film by Ben Schwalb, who was then producing the Bowery Boys films. Allied Artists retitled the film Queen of Outer Space as they thought the original title sounded more like a beauty pageant. The central plot of a planet ruled by women was recycled from other science fiction productions of the era, including Abbott and Costello Go to Mars (1953), Cat-Women of the Moon (1953), and the British feature film Fire Maidens from Outer Space (1955). Queen of Outer Space also recycled many props, costumes, and other elements used in earlier films of the 1950s, most prominently the C-57D crewmen's uniforms and Altaira's wardrobe from Forbidden Planet (1956); models, sets, and special effects from Bernds' World Without End (1956); stock footage of an Atlas missile taking off; and a model rocketship built for Flight to Mars (1951). The film takes place in 1985. In an interview, director Edward Bernds said that Zsa Zsa Gabor got very "testy" with the actresses playing the Venusian girls. They were mostly beauty contest winners, and were many years - and in some cases a few decades - younger than her. When she noticed that the crew was paying more attention to the tall, leggy, mini-skirted "Venusians" than they were to her, she became very difficult to work with. He said that Gabor gave producer Ben Schwalb such a hard time on the picture that Schwalb eventually wound up in the hospital with ulcers. The film opens with a 15-minute prologue before the opening credits. It is somewhat of a coincidence that the colors of the uniforms of the armed women on Venus (red, blue, gold) match the basic colors of the uniforms of the original Star Trek (1966) series. The "Star Trek" uniforms in the pilot were different--blue, gold, beige. The production company spent most of their funds on landscaping the planet Venus and makeup for the Venus women. In a world where everyone speaks in the same, "midwestern" accent, only one character speaks with a thick accent, Zsa Zsa. IntroArtist – Goblins from MarsSong Title – Super Mario - Overworld Theme (GFM Trap Remix)Song Link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GNMe6kF0j0&index=4&list=PLHmTsVREU3Ar1AJWkimkl6Pux3R5PB-QJFollow us on Facebook- Page - https://www.facebook.com/NerdsAmalgamated/- Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/440485136816406/Twitter - https://twitter.com/NAmalgamatedSpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6Nux69rftdBeeEXwD8GXrSiTunes - https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/top-shelf-nerds/id1347661094Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/nerds_amalgamated/Email - Nerds.Amalgamated@gmail.comSupport via Podhero- https://podhero.com/podcast/449127/nerds-amalgamated See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Free to Think talks with Dr. Jo Smith Finley, a Reader in Chinese studies at Newcastle University, UK. In March 2021, Dr. Smith Finley was sanctioned by the government of the People's Republic of China, along with a group of UK politicians and peers, a legal chambers, and the entire staff of The Uyghur Tribunal. The sanctions include a ban on traveling to China, a freeze on assets, and a ban on collaborating with Chinese counterparts in the PRC.  The sanctions were in retaliation for Dr. Smith Finley's research about reported human rights violations in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. These include the forced internment of over one million Uyghurs, a largely Muslim ethnic minority, in what some have labeled an ongoing attempted genocide. By targeting the careers of scholars outside of China, the sanctions represent a dramatic escalation in the Party-state's campaign to censor information that is contrary to the official national narrative, and a threat to academic freedom everywhere.

This presentation seeks to explain both the motivations and justifications for the Chinese state's mass human rights abuses in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, highlighting how intentions and explanations are inextricably linked. The motivations for what the state is doing are reflective of settler colonial ambitions in this region and an ardently colonial attitude towards Uyghurs and related peoples as inferior and expendable. However, the justifications have their origins in the Global War on Terror and its characterization of ‘terrorists' as less than human and irrational. Like the ‘savages' of European colonialism, China's imagination of Uyghurs as ‘terrorists' provides a rationalization for carry out destructive harm to a people that is framed as benevolent and in the best interests of those are the victims of that harm.

Moderator: Alex Gladstein, Human Rights Foundation Panelists: Dr. Darren Byler: Anthropologist and Uyghur technopolitics expert Megha Rajagopalan: Buzzfeed international correspondent and investigative journalist Bethany Allen-Ebrahiminan: Axios China reporter What is unfolding in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (also referred to as East Turkestan) is considered one of the worst human rights abuses in the world today. The Uyghur Region — known as the Xinjiang province in China — is often referred to as a dystopian surveillance state and an open-air prison. The actions of the Muslim minorities living in the region are heavily monitored through cell phone applications, frequent home inspections, and an array of checkpoints throughout the region. Anywhere from 1 to 3 million people, including Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Tajiks, and other ethnic minorities, are forcibly confined to the Uyghur Region by the Chinese government — simply because they speak a different language, practice religion, and embrace a different culture. Within these concentration camps built by the Chinese government, Uyghurs are forced to take “re-education” courses, and are subject to mental & bodily harm and torture. In many cases, they are coerced and trafficked into state-sponsored forced labor schemes to ramp up production in factories across the country. Featuring spotlight speakers and engaging panelists, this 2-day event aims to provide participants with a holistic and multi-dimensional understanding of the genocide unfolding in the region. Participants will leave equipped with concrete ideas on how they can help stand up against these atrocities.

Photo: Founding of the First East Turkestan RepublicThe Turkic Islamic Republic of East Turkestan (IRET) was a short-lived breakaway Islamic republic founded on 12 November 1933; it was the first state to style itself an "Islamic republic." It was centred on the city of Kashgar in what is today China-administered Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The ETR was primarily the product of an independence movement of the Uyghur population living there and more broadly of Turkic-ethnicity in character, including Kyrgyz and other Turkic peoples in its government and its population.

The Long-Arm of Authoritarianism Moderator: Jenny Wang, Human Rights Foundation Panelists: Dr. Sean Roberts, Director of International Development Studies Program at George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs Dr. Timothy Grose, Associate Professor of China Studies at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Alex Chow, Hong Kong activist and 2018 Nobel Peace Prize nominee What is unfolding in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (also referred to as East Turkestan) is considered one of the worst human rights abuses in the world today. The Uyghur Region — known as the Xinjiang province in China — is often referred to as a dystopian surveillance state and an open-air prison. The actions of the Muslim minorities living in the region are heavily monitored through cell phone applications, frequent home inspections, and an array of checkpoints throughout the region. Anywhere from 1 to 3 million people, including Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Tajiks, and other ethnic minorities, are forcibly confined to the Uyghur Region by the Chinese government — simply because they speak a different language, practice religion, and embrace a different culture. Within these concentration camps built by the Chinese government, Uyghurs are forced to take “re-education” courses, and are subject to mental & bodily harm and torture. In many cases, they are coerced and trafficked into state-sponsored forced labor schemes to ramp up production in factories across the country.

New Zealand has joined other countries in calling out China for its mistreatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Last Wednesday, New Zealand’s Parliament voted unanimously to declare that “severe human rights abuses” are taking place there, joining some 40 countries that have previously passed similar nations, such as the US, Canada and the UK. Related: Uyghur mothers in Turkey walk for miles to ask politicians for help locating their children in ChinaRights groups allege Beijing has detained up to 1 million people in sprawling internment camps in the region, where they say forced labor, reeducation and even the sterilization of Uyghur women have been reported. China denies the accusations of abuse, insisting that the massive vocational and training camps are necessary to combat terrorism and poverty.However, many feel New Zealand’s condemnation fell short because it didn’t include the word “genocide.” “New Zealand could do more but they didn’t. They refused to say genocide."Shawudan Abdul-Gopur, Auckland, New Zealand“New Zealand could do more but they didn’t. They refused to say genocide,” said 41-year-old Shawudan Abdul-Gopur of Auckland. Originally from Kashgar, located in Xinjiang’s far west, he is intimately familiar with what’s happening to Uyghurs in the region — because it happened to him. Related: A Uyghur poem travels from Chinese internment camp to New Jersey‘I really miss my family’Abdul-Gopur says in 2009 when violent clashes between Uyghur protesters and the Chinese military broke out in the Xinjiang capital city of Urumqi, he was working as a cameraman for a local TV station.  “It was heartbreaking, I saw so many stuff [sic],” he said. “The government, how they treated Uyghurs, it’s the same as the animal.”Some of what Abdul-Gopur filmed during the riots ended up getting published by foreign media, and the Chinese government didn’t approve. He got a call from Beijing about the footage a year after he recorded it. Luckily, Abdul-Gopur said he was in New Zealand going to school for English training when he got the call, during which Chinese authorities said they knew he had taken the footage and wanted him to come back to China — immediately.Abdul-Gopur refused and instead applied for asylum in New Zealand. However, the nightmare didn’t end there. In 2016, his mother and three brothers were taken to an internment camp.“April 2016 she called me and said, ‘Never call me again,’” Abdul-Gopur said. “After that, I lost contact.”His mother and two of his brothers were finally released in 2020, but Abdul-Gopur’s eldest brother remains detained. And while he’s heard from his 80-year-old mother since she got out, it’s still too dangerous for them to have regular contact. They could all wind up back in prison. Abdul-Gopur said everyone in the Auckland Uyghur community has lost someone to the internment camps, which is why he is disappointed in the recent vote held in the New Zealand Parliament concerning China’s alleged abuses. Initially, the word “genocide” was included in the proposal that Member of Parliament Brooke van Velden first introduced in late April. But by the time it reached Parliament for a vote on May 5, the word had been stripped out.  “I started with the same motion as the British, but then had to dilute it and soften it to gain the approval of New Zealand’s governing [Labor] party.”Member of Parliament Brooke van Velden“It’s important for people to know how we got to debating the motion before us today,” van Velden said on the floor the day of the vote. “I started with the same motion as the British, but then had to dilute it and soften it to gain the approval of New Zealand’s governing [Labor] party.”Related: US bans cotton products from Uyghur region of ChinaStraddling a 'middle ground'The motion ultimately passed unanimously, but with the phrase “severe human right abuses” in place of the word genocide. “It essentially was watered down,” said Geoffrey Miller with the Wellington-based think tank Democracy Project. He said New Zealand has noticeably taken a softer stance against China compared to the rest of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, which also includes Australia, Canada, the UK and the US.“New Zealand is trying to straddle a middle ground between these two big power blocks. ... And New Zealand is just too heavily dependent on trade with China and is very, very vulnerable.”Geoffrey Miller, Democracy Project“New Zealand is trying to straddle a middle ground between these two big power blocks,” he said. “And New Zealand is just too heavily dependent on trade with China and is very, very vulnerable.”China is by far New Zealand’s No. 1 trading partner, with two-way trade exceeding $24 billion, according to government figures. Miller said New Zealand exports many nonessential items to China such as milk powder, fruit and meats, which means Wellington needs Beijing more than the other way around. Meanwhile, 11% of New Zealand’s tourists before the pandemic came from China. After the motion was passed, the Chinese Embassy in Wellington lashed out at what it called “groundless” accusations.But Miller said the question is whether Beijing will take any action, particularly like what they’ve done with Australia. Beijing and Canberra have been locked in an economic tit-for-tat since 2018, and as a result, trade is down between the two. China is also Australia’s largest trading partner. “So, New Zealand looks on and sees what has happened to Australia and worries that the same thing could happen to it,” Miller said. New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta has defended the decision not to use the word. She told Reuters that her government didn’t think the situation in Xinjiang constituted as genocide. Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch, said governments are just reluctant to use that word. “...[I]t is hard to do business as usual with the government you have accused of ...[genocide]."Sophie Richardson, China director, Human Rights Watch“Because it is hard to do business as usual with the government you have accused of doing that,” she said. “It’s sort of further complicated by the reality that, in principle, using that term can trigger certain kinds of legal obligations but very few people have been prosecuted on genocide.” Still, Richardson said the passage of the motion is meaningful, as New Zealand joins over 40 countries around the world to make similar statements. She hopes the momentum will mobilize the United Nations to call for an international investigation.

ARENA WILLIAMS to the Minister of Finance: What recent reports has he seen on the New Zealand economy? Dr SHANE RETI to the Minister of Health: Does he stand by all of his statements and actions in relation to a Māori Health Authority? HELEN WHITE to the Minister of Research, Science and Innovation: What recent announcements has she made about New Zealand's first Government-funded space mission? MELISSA LEE to the Minister for Broadcasting and Media: What measures, if any, is he taking to ensure the $55 million allocated to NZ On Air's Public Interest Journalism Fund will not lead to political bias? SHANAN HALBERT to the Minister of Education: What reports has he seen about enrolments in tertiary education and training? BROOKE VAN VELDEN to the Minister of Foreign Affairs: What communications, if any, has she or her officials had with representatives of the Chinese Government regarding the term “genocide” in relation to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region? Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH to the Minister of Education: Does he stand by all his policies and actions in education? ANAHILA KANONGATA'A-SUISUIKI to the Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage: What steps has she taken to support positive outcomes for New Zealand music? Hon MARK MITCHELL to the Minister for the Public Service: Why has he frozen some Public Service workers' pay for the next three years? JAN LOGIE to the Minister of Finance: Does he stand by his statement, “A turn to austerity measures will simply mean it takes longer for us to rebuild society in pursuit of numerical goals that ignore the real world we are living in”; if so, why is the Government suppressing public sector pay in the name of “taking financial pressure off the public wage bill”? KIERAN McANULTY to the Minister of Internal Affairs: What progress has she seen on the building of fire stations? NICOLA WILLIS to the Associate Minister of Housing (Homelessness): Does she stand by her statement that some children in emergency housing are living in “inhumane conditions … not suitable for any humans but certainly not suitable for young people”; if so, is she satisfied she is adequately exercising her responsibility for oversight of “progress on the support and prevention pillars for individuals, families and whānau experiencing or at risk of homelessness”?

There is growing friction over China's treatment of Uyghurs, the Muslim-minority living in Xinjiang.

There is growing friction over China's treatment of Uyghurs, the Muslim-minority living in Xinjiang.

"China and the Uyghurs: Cultural Genocide in the Name of Counterterrorism" with Sean Roberts, Associate Professor of the Practice of International Affairs and Director of the International Development Studies program at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. Description: This presentation seeks to explain both the motivations and justifications for the Chinese state’s mass human rights abuses in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, highlighting how intentions and explanations are inextricably linked. The motivations for what the state is doing are reflective of settler colonial ambitions in this region and an ardently colonial attitude towards Uyghurs and related peoples as inferior and expendable. However, the justifications have their origins in the Global War on Terror and its characterization of ‘terrorists’ as less than human and irrational. Like the ‘savages’ of European colonialism, China’s imagination of Uyghurs as ‘terrorists’ provides a rationalization for carry out destructive harm to a people that is framed as benevolent and in the best interests of those are the victims of that harm. Bio: Sean Roberts is an Associate Professor of the Practice of International Affairs and Director of the International Development Studies program at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. Dr. Roberts is an anthropologist who has studied the Uyghur people of China and Central Asia for thirty years, writing his dissertation on the Uyghurs of the China-Kazakhstan borderlands while a PhD candidate at the University of Southern California. He has published numerous articles in academic journals, edited volumes, and in policy-oriented publications about the Uyghurs, and he is the author of the recently published book, The War on the Uyghurs: China’s Internal Campaign Against a Muslim Minority (Princeton University Press, 2020).

Hanna Burdorf is a PhD candidate in Uyghur studies at Newcastle University. She has worked on the Xinjiang Victims Database, which aims to document ethnic-minority (namely Uyghur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and Hui) who have been held at camps in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. In this episode, Eugene asks Hanna about the general situation in Xinjiang and her experiences working on the issue in-person and from abroad. Xinjiang Victims Database: https://shahit.biz/eng/ For updates, follow us on Instagram at @DividedFamiliesPodcast, and contact us at dividedfamiliespodcast@gmail.com This episode was edited by Katherine Moncure.

Hon Kevin Andrews MP, Liberal Party member for Menzies, Victoria, who yesterday moved a bipartisan motion condemning China for its abuse of human rights and inhumane treatment of the Uyghurs in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of Western China.   Joining Labor MP Chris Hayes, this marked the strongest ever condemnation by the Australian Parliament of the Chinese government’s treatment of Uighurs.   ‘This is not a party-political issue, it is an issue of basic human rights. This is a time when the Parliament should speak with one voice says’, Mr Andrews. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For today's episode Jason spoke with Rushan Abbas, an Uyghur American activist and advocate from East Turkestan, also known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China. She is the founder and Executive Director of Campaign for Uyghurs, a non-profit that advocates and promotes human rights and democratic freedoms for Uyghurs, and mobilizes the international community to act to stop the human rights atrocity in East Turkistan. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/boldmovesonly/message

Atop its long list of human rights violations, China's oppression of the Uyghur population is surely a present day genocide. The Uyghurs are an ethnic and religious group in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwest China. We know that outside of the literal annihilation of the Uyghurs, China is forcing its women to take contraception, which many would argue is in fact part of the literal annihilation. One of these people is Jake Reznik, An activist for Uyghur freedom. Jake is also part of the Jewish Movement for Uyghur Freedom, which defines itself as, "a international and multi-denominational Jewish movement seeking to organize Jewish communities around the world to take action against the Chinese government's ongoing genocide of the Uyghur and other Turkic peoples in the Xinjiang/East Turkestan region."

China has used a very small terrorist threat emanating from a handful of Uyghur Islamist extremists to launch an enormous crackdown in what it calls Xinjiang - the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). It has incarcerated up to 1 million Uyghurs in euphemistically termed 'vocational centres' and is trying very hard to erase all signs of Uyghur language and culture - all as part of the 'Global war on terrorism'. Borealis is joined by GWU's Sean Roberts to discuss his new book on this humanitarian outrage.About my guest Sean Roberts:Having conducted ethnographic fieldwork among the Uyghur people of Central Asia and China during the 1990s, Sean has published extensively on this community in scholarly journals and collected volumes. In addition, he produced a documentary film on the community entitled Waiting for Uighurstan (1996).His present research is focused on China's development of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region as well as on democracy development in former Soviet Central Asia. Roberts continues his applied work on the design and evaluation of democracy and governance projects in the former Soviet Union, most recently in Ukraine where he worked on a USAID project to support decentralization and anti-corruption.►Check Sean's book The War on the Uyghurs: China's Internal Campaign against a Muslim MinorityAbout the host Phil Gurski:Phil is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. and Programme Director for the Security, Economics and Technology (SET) hub at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute (PDI). He worked as a senior strategic analyst at CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) from 2001-2015, specializing in violent Islamist-inspired homegrown terrorism and radicalisation.►Website - https://borealisthreatandrisk.com/►Twitter - https://twitter.com/borealissaves►LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/phil-gurski-8942468/►Email - borealisrisk@gmail.com►Check Phil Gurski's latest books - https://amzn.to/2ALdpoG

I interviewed long term China Expat Jerry Grey about his stay in China and his recent bicycling trip to Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China and what he witnessed there.   support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/silknsteel

China has 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic-minorities locked up in concentration camps in western China. Others are being shipped all over the country as forced-laborers to a network of factories supplying Nike and a slew of other U.S. companies, including those producing PPE. You may be buying these products thanks to loopholes in U.S. trade laws that are supposed to ban the sale of forced labor goods. On this episode we discuss efforts currently underway to end the exploitation of China's Muslim political prisoners, the latest from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, and how good trade policies rooted in human and labor rights could prevent such nightmare scenarios in the first place. Learn more about the campaign at enduyghurforcedlabour.org. Learn More. View Episode Transcript. Music: Groove Grove by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3831-groove-grove License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Credit: Carolyn DrakeHello from the greater Sea-Tac area!Andy and Tammy here with a bonus episode, interviewing Darren Byler, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Colorado and an expert on the Uyghur people, a Muslim community in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwest China. Darren’s years of anthropological research in Xinjiang will be published in a forthcoming book titled Terror Capitalism. Until then, you can find his work at SupChina, Made in China journal, and his own site, “art of life in Chinese Central Asia.” He has also written specially about surveillance technologies in Xinjiang. 5:30 - Is it true that right-wing voices dominate the international conversation about the Uyghurs of Xinjiang? Why isn’t the international left more vocal?9:50 – What is Xinjiang? Who are the Uyghurs? And how has the relationship between Uyghurs and Han (ethnic Chinese) people changed from the 1950s to the present? In recent decades, Xinjiang has become a source for energy resources, the cotton in our clothing, and the tomatoes in our food. We recount the path from “opening up the west” (1990s) to “the people’s war on terror” (2000-10s) to the most recent “reeducation camps.”21:05 – Darren argues that the moralistic paradigm of “cultural difference” and “ethnic genocide” are inadequate. He explains why we need a broader analysis of the social forces producing violence, exploitation, and state repression. Hint: capitalism? Also, how has China appropriated the US’s rhetoric of “war on terror” to racialize the Muslim Uyghurs? Aka “I learned it by watching you, Dad!”Referenced: a new report on Uyghur labor in export-oriented factories in China (Australian Strategic Policy Institute)56:50 – What’s a good leftist to do? Is it okay to back right-wingers who call China morally evil? What are potential avenues for international solidarity (what about the Uyghur diaspora? the Chinese diaspora?)? Also, Darren cites recommended reading on the region and tells us what traps to avoid — and also defends journalists at The New York Times (the ones who wrote this) against Andy’s snobbish dismissal of reportage! Outro: an excerpt from “Uchrashqanda,” by the Uyghur singer and dutar player Abdurehim Heyit, who was imprisoned by the Chinese authorities and has not been heard from since last year.Links:Camp Album project: a multimedia collection by Xinjiang diasporaThe Xinjiang Documentation Project at the University of British ColumbiaFrom the same site, Chinese translations of English publications on XinjiangHistorian David Brophy’s modern account of the region Get on the email list at goodbye.substack.com

What has been happening to ethnic Kazakhs from China’s western Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region when they illegally cross the border and reach Kazakhstan?

"We answer the small insignificant stupid questions that no one else has the GUTS to answer." This episode we talk about Christopher Columbus' destiny, PeePee powers, fish tornados, little shop of coom, mean green mommy, chums like us, lazy eyes, 1940s podcasting, splashback damage and other Stupid Questions. 动态网自由门 天安門 天安门 法輪功 李洪志 Free Tibet 六四天安門事件 The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 天安門大屠殺 The Tiananmen Square Massacre 反右派鬥爭 The Anti-Rightist Struggle 大躍進政策 The Great Leap Forward 文化大革命 The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution 人權 Human Rights 民運 Democratization 自由 Freedom 獨立 Independence 多黨制 Multi-party system 台灣 臺灣 Taiwan Formosa 中華民國 Republic of China 西藏 土伯特 唐古特 Tibet 達賴喇嘛 Dalai Lama 法輪功 Falun Dafa 新疆維吾爾自治區 The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region 諾貝爾和平獎 Nobel Peace Prize 劉暁波 Liu Xiaobo 民主 言論 思想 反共 反革命 抗議 運動 騷亂 暴亂 騷擾 擾亂 抗暴 平反 維權 示威游行 李洪志 法輪大法 大法弟子 強制斷種 強制堕胎 民族淨化 人體實驗 肅清 胡耀邦 趙紫陽 魏京生 王丹 還政於民 和平演變 激流中國 北京之春 大紀元時報 九評論共産黨 獨裁 專制 壓制 統一 監視 鎮壓 迫害 侵略 掠奪 破壞 拷問 屠殺 活摘器官 誘拐 買賣人口 遊進 走私 毒品 賣淫 春畫 賭博 六合彩 天安門 天安门 法輪功 李洪志 Winnie the Pooh 劉曉波动态网自由门 [Sources] https://theweek.com/articles/456790/best-way-pee-into-urinal-according-science https://www.wikihow.com/Use-a-Urinal-Without-Splashing-Yourself https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-24820279 Check out the website for links to our shows on iTunes, GooglePlay and Spotify ► http://www.lmtya.com ► https://spoti.fi/2Q55yfL Peep us on Twitter ► @LetMeTellYouPD Official Discord ► https://discord.gg/SqyXJ9R /////// SHILL CORNER /////// ► https://www.patreon.com/LMTYA LMTYA shirts! ► https://represent.com/lmtya /////// SHILL CORNER ///////

China’s on-going policies of transforming Uyghurs have been increasing more rapidly than ever before. In this talk, Mr. Aksu discusses the main policies that the Chinese government is enforcing in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region; how did state policies influence the Uyghur people, and how different are these policies from previous ones. He explores these transforming policies by providing both quantitative and qualitative examples in terms of labor transfer, language change, and the “Re-education” Camps.

Yongku Unity Village is in south Xinjiang's Kuqa County, since the 1960s, its multi-ethnic population has included the Han people, Uyghurs, Hui, and Kazaks, who all live together in this village. Over the decades, they've worked together, held long-lasting friendships, and even built families with each other. In this episode, we take you to this village in far west China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and hear local villagers' stories. Written and produced by Lu Chang. Yang Yong voices the stories.

This week on Canvas we hear from artists and practitioners whose current work is inspired by ancient tales, proverbs, and narratives. Up first, is artist Angela Tiatia, whose most recent video work Narcissus reframes the Greek tale of desire, exuberance, and beauty within a local Sydney arts context. Then we hear from curator Naomi Segal and artist Connor Xia, as they discuss Peach Blossom Spring an exhibition showing at Firstdraft Gallery, that explores the Yuanming tale of the same name as a metaphor for Chinese Diaspora. We chat about Han Chinese identity, the reality of erasure for those living in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of ChinaGuest Music Curator: Makeda

In this episode of National Security Podcast, Professor Michael Clarke talks with Chris Farnham about terrorism in China and his latest edited book Terrorism and Counter Terrorism in China: Domestic and foreign policy dimensions. Is the security landscape in China’s western region dominated by jihadism, Uyghur independence movements, or state terrorism? What is the 'minority question' the Chinese Communist Party asks, and is there an actual organised terror movement in China’s west or is the violence a response to government repression? Michael Clarke is an expert on the history and politics of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, People’s Republic of China, Chinese foreign policy in Central Asia, Central Asian geopolitics, and nuclear proliferation and non-proliferation.  Chris Farnham is the presenter of the National Security Podcast. He joined the National Security College in June 2015 and is currently Senior Outreach and Policy Officer. His career focus has been on geopolitics with experience working in and out of China for a number of years as well as operating in Australia and Southeast Asia. We’d love to hear your feedback for this podcast series! Send in your questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes to podcast@policyforum.net. You can also Tweet us @APPSPolicyForum or find us on Facebook. The National Security Podcast and Policy Forum Pod are available on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, and wherever you get your podcasts.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week's Majlis Podcast discussed China's heavy-handed campaign in the western Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Compared to the provinces’s native Uyghur population, Han Chinese settlers in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region have not attracted as much scholarly or indeed journalistic attention of late. But in a profoundly troubled and troubling present for Xinjiang, one that is thankfully now gaining somewhat more notice from concerned parties worldwide, Tom Cliff’s Oil and Water: Being Han in Xinjiang (University of Chicago Press, 2016) offers us vital insight into precisely this group of people. Based on years of residence in Korla, an oil industry hub in southern Xinjiang, Cliff draws us close to the thoughts, dreams, beliefs, aspirations and legends of his interlocutors, answering in rich ethnographic detail a question he has been posing himself since 2001: ‘What is it like to be a Han person living in Xinjiang?’ (p. 4). Whilst not always offering full closure on this complicated and shifting subject – and allowing readers to examine for themselves a vivid and compelling array of photographs he has taken there over the years – Cliff nevertheless leads readers to some stark conclusions regarding how China’s Xinjiang frontier operates, and what the political centre is trying to achieve there. The implications of the colonial processes he describes are as dark and devastating as they are important, but appear all the more inexorable for the very human level on which they are unfolding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Compared to the provinces’s native Uyghur population, Han Chinese settlers in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region have not attracted as much scholarly or indeed journalistic attention of late. But in a profoundly troubled and troubling present for Xinjiang, one that is thankfully now gaining somewhat more notice from concerned parties worldwide, Tom Cliff’s Oil and Water: Being Han in Xinjiang (University of Chicago Press, 2016) offers us vital insight into precisely this group of people. Based on years of residence in Korla, an oil industry hub in southern Xinjiang, Cliff draws us close to the thoughts, dreams, beliefs, aspirations and legends of his interlocutors, answering in rich ethnographic detail a question he has been posing himself since 2001: ‘What is it like to be a Han person living in Xinjiang?’ (p. 4). Whilst not always offering full closure on this complicated and shifting subject – and allowing readers to examine for themselves a vivid and compelling array of photographs he has taken there over the years – Cliff nevertheless leads readers to some stark conclusions regarding how China’s Xinjiang frontier operates, and what the political centre is trying to achieve there. The implications of the colonial processes he describes are as dark and devastating as they are important, but appear all the more inexorable for the very human level on which they are unfolding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Compared to the provinces’s native Uyghur population, Han Chinese settlers in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region have not attracted as much scholarly or indeed journalistic attention of late. But in a profoundly troubled and troubling present for Xinjiang, one that is thankfully now gaining somewhat more notice from concerned parties worldwide, Tom Cliff’s Oil and Water: Being Han in Xinjiang (University of Chicago Press, 2016) offers us vital insight into precisely this group of people. Based on years of residence in Korla, an oil industry hub in southern Xinjiang, Cliff draws us close to the thoughts, dreams, beliefs, aspirations and legends of his interlocutors, answering in rich ethnographic detail a question he has been posing himself since 2001: ‘What is it like to be a Han person living in Xinjiang?’ (p. 4). Whilst not always offering full closure on this complicated and shifting subject – and allowing readers to examine for themselves a vivid and compelling array of photographs he has taken there over the years – Cliff nevertheless leads readers to some stark conclusions regarding how China’s Xinjiang frontier operates, and what the political centre is trying to achieve there. The implications of the colonial processes he describes are as dark and devastating as they are important, but appear all the more inexorable for the very human level on which they are unfolding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Compared to the provinces’s native Uyghur population, Han Chinese settlers in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region have not attracted as much scholarly or indeed journalistic attention of late. But in a profoundly troubled and troubling present for Xinjiang, one that is thankfully now gaining somewhat more notice from concerned parties worldwide, Tom Cliff’s Oil and Water: Being Han in Xinjiang (University of Chicago Press, 2016) offers us vital insight into precisely this group of people. Based on years of residence in Korla, an oil industry hub in southern Xinjiang, Cliff draws us close to the thoughts, dreams, beliefs, aspirations and legends of his interlocutors, answering in rich ethnographic detail a question he has been posing himself since 2001: ‘What is it like to be a Han person living in Xinjiang?’ (p. 4). Whilst not always offering full closure on this complicated and shifting subject – and allowing readers to examine for themselves a vivid and compelling array of photographs he has taken there over the years – Cliff nevertheless leads readers to some stark conclusions regarding how China’s Xinjiang frontier operates, and what the political centre is trying to achieve there. The implications of the colonial processes he describes are as dark and devastating as they are important, but appear all the more inexorable for the very human level on which they are unfolding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Compared to the provinces’s native Uyghur population, Han Chinese settlers in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region have not attracted as much scholarly or indeed journalistic attention of late. But in a profoundly troubled and troubling present for Xinjiang, one that is thankfully now gaining somewhat more notice from concerned parties... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Associated Press (AP) reporter Gerry Shih was hard at work in 2017 writing a remarkable series of articles on China’s Uyghur Muslim minority. By traveling not just to China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, where 10 to 15 million Uyghurs live, but also to Syria, where some have fled and taken up arms with militant groups, he sought to answer the most politicized and consequential questions about the ethnic group. These include: How long and to what extent have authorities in Xinjiang forced Uyghurs into indoctrination camps? How long and to what extent have they compelled residents to give DNA samples to the state? What role has Chen Quanguo 陈全国 had in building Xinjiang’s new digital police state, and will he succeed in subjugating separatist thought? Are China’s Uyghurs involved in global jihadi terrorism? Where and how do they get recruited, and how does China try to influence Uyghurs overseas? His four articles released in December were as follows: December 17: In western China, thought police instill fear December 23: Uighurs fighting in Syria take aim at China December 28: China's crackdown on Uighurs spreads to even mild critics December 29: China's Uighurs work to fend off pull of jihad They are part of a larger AP series titled “China's Uighurs on edge,” comprising 12 stories that seek “to flesh out the profile of a people whose voices have largely been silenced or gone unheard under the blanket of security in the region.” They also were published around the same time that the Wall Street Journal (paywall) and BuzzFeed published similarly alarming stories about the police state in Xinjiang. For more on Muslims in China, check out a previous Sinica Podcast titled “Islamophobia in China, explained by Alice Su and Ma Tianjie,” and an article on SupChina that seeks to answer the question “Where does Chinese Islamophobia come from?” Recommendations: Jeremy: A re-recommendation for Birding Beijing, a great site if you’re interested in birds in China. It is now in the second year of tracking cuckoos who fly all the way from Africa to China to migrate. (Also listen to a Sinica Podcast and read a SupChina Q&A with the website’s founder, Terry Townshend.) Gerry: The China-Pakistan Axis: Asia's New Geopolitics, by Andrew Small of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. With Belt and Road’s rising importance, it is a must-read, Gerry says. Kaiser: Kialo.com, a place for online debate that’s supposed to help people bridge contentious issues. It enforces ground rules, limits the number of words you can use, and crowdsources the most compelling arguments on both sides for each claim.  

Ethnic Labour market discrimination in China, with a particular focus on the Uyghur Minority. This paper analyzes a sample from the 2005 mini-census data to examine ethnic inequalities in labor markets, with a special focus on how ethnic inequality varies by different employment sectors. Results show a clear disparity between Han and Uyghur in employment segregation by sector: more than 70 percent Uyghur in Xinjiang, compared to only 35 percent of local Han Chinese, are engaged in agricultural work; within the non-agricultural sector, Uyghur are nonetheless more likely to work in government agencies/institutions than both Han locals and migrants, and also more likely to become self-employed. Furthermore, while Han-Uyghur earnings gap is negligible in government/institution, it increases with the marketization of employment sector. In other words, the earnings disparity is the largest among self-employed, followed by employees in private enterprises and then by employees in public enterprises. Han migrants in economic sectors enjoy particular earnings advantages and hukou registration has no effect on earnings attainment except in government/institutions. The overall income disadvantages of Uyghur, nevertheless, mainly stem from within-sector difference rather than from sector segregation. The paper concludes that the pattern of ethnic stratification is a mixed result from the market force that tends to enlarge ethnic inequality and government efforts in promoting ethnic equality.

In this podcast the issue of the transfer of young Uyghur women in China is discussed. In this podcast the issue of the transfer of young Uyghur women in China is discussed. Dr. Michael Dillon, visiting professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing, Omer Kanat, Uyghur Service at Radio Free Asia, Amy Reger, Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) and Enver Tohti, chairman of the UK Uighur Association talk about the impact the Chinese government programme is having on the women that have been moved to eastern China from their Uyghur muslim society in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of north west China.