Interesting that US authorities have not explained precisely why they did this. There are general statements about Chinese espionage etc. but nothing I saw specifically related to the Houston consulate.

For sure it's going to be over some spying related stuff but isn't that pretty much part of what every embassy/consulate does in their host nation?

I don't think it is beyond reasonable speculation to assume the Trump Admin might look for reasons to provoke conflict with CHina and Russia leading into the election.

They are actively trying to provoke 'Law and Order' conflicts to shore up that campaign leg.

The tough on Russia, tough on China plank is one he is eager to try and create a distinction with between him and Biden.

It's the examiner, so take it for what it's worth.

Spying is common enough, especially on your allies (in the most ideal of circumstances, on allies who are friendly or neutral with your foes). Not that you don't spy on your enemies, but that is a risky and expensive business.

But Chinese theft of trade secrets is (and has been for a long time) on a rather monumental level. China being China it can be hard to tell when government efforts and business efforts separate or join. Some companies obviously have the economical muscle to fight this, but many others are soft targets with little economic muscle or too much naivety to prevent it.

Old Ricky ain't gonna like this link

I just thought it was par for the course. US comes up with stealth technology, eventually everyone else gets it through this type of stuff.

China will have to do something to save face.

Is the examiner run by a cult as well

Posts and chats have been flying back and forth about where sites are/aren't blocked.

A post a few days ago listing foxnews.com and AP's site got 404ed. Today another post went up saying Foxnews seems to be accessible again (with an explanation of where Fox News sits in American political spectrum and why it is a favorite of Trump.)

At the same time, people have mixed reports on their ability to access Facebook. Most say still blocked but a few said it's working for them.

The people in my groups are invariably in major cities (almost entirely lawyers, would be lawyers, and finance/tech bro types) so the sample is pretty skewed and like I said before, it is entirely possible this is just someone screwing up some configuration file in the firewall and there is nothing particularly interesting going on.

Great video. Thanks Grizy. He mentions Nike and Volkswagen as complicit in Uighur genocide. What about Amazon?

Not in video but I’d be shocked if Amazon doesn’t have hoods produced by forced Uighur labor.

See The NY Times article I linked a few posts before. NY times traced a lot of masks produced by the labor camps to the US market.

Mystery seeds from China.
JULY 29, 2020​

Apparently people across the US and Canada are receiving unsolicited seeds of unknown origin but mailed out from inside China.

The USDA and Canadian officials have issued warnings and advised people not to plant them.

^^^ I can't imagine a few nutters won't plant them to see whats up.

The US and Canadian gov't MUST have samples by now and the smart thing to do would be to plant them in a secure location with a 24/7 internet camera feed on them so people can watch to offset their curiosity and need to do so themselves.

jfc that's some real asymmetric warfare, if that's a thing right now you can only imagine we've only stopped a drop in the bucket

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/01/china...hnk/index.html

China isn’t even pretending HK is still autonomous anymore. I want to believe the CCP’s impatience is due to anxieties about Chinese state of affairs but I think it’s more likely they view the current Covid situation as an opportunity to change facts on the ground before anyone could react.

Hong Kong is theirs already.
As for going after people that don't reside in China/HK, I don't see the big controversy. That Chu guy is a little interesting if he no longer holds a HK passport but it's not a huge stretch to imagine the US issuing an arrest warrant for a foreign national if they can be connected to planning, inciting and funding "violent" protests within the US.

Hope Rickroll is planning his escape plan if the world decides to standup to China in any meaningful way.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/02/u...gtype=Homepage

Apparently they're just normal plants? Super bizarre and I can't really think of any obvious motivation for this.

Fake reviews for Amazon seems to be the motivation. Seeds just happen to be something cheap to send.

We received a package of these today!

Makes sense, although i must admit I'm not completely understanding the mechanics behind it. People order something and extra stuff is in the package or people receive something completely out of the blue. Either way there is no purchase history?

Burn it with fire!

They make fake accounts with American addresses to make purchases. Then they send pictures of the packages of seeds as proof that the purchases were genuine.

Voila, verified purchases to leave bogus reviews with.

Ah, I see thanks.

Howard, someone in China randomly picked out your address from ~100M+ others? That's insane. You should go buy some powerball tickets.

i think this american life had an episode about it, it's incredibly common to the point that the sites that host the sellers require proof of a package so they actually send one and they need to include something in it otherwise it'd draw red flags crossing borders - apparently didn't think seeds would draw red flags lol

also not random, howard bought something from china previously and either that same seller sent this or sold a list of known buyers to someone else

so in a way, i guess HT is also a card carrying china apologist like me

Mrs Treesong buys all kinds of seeds for our herb and vegetable garden. But she didn't order these! We're getting in touch with local agricultural authorities.