Malaysian writer faces blasphemy probe for Facebook post

 ABOLISH BLASPHEMY LAWS

Malaysian writer faces blasphemy probe for Facebook post

Uthaya Sankar SB was detained overnight before being granted bail

Written byMong Palatino

Posted 2 May 2022 4:08 GMT 

Read this post in English

Uthaya Sankar SB, photo used with permission

Malaysian writer Uthaya Sankar SB was arrested on April 11 after he was accused of insulting Prophet Mohammad in a Facebook post published on April 6.

He was released on bail the following day but he is still facing investigation under Section 298A of Malaysia’s Penal Code for causing disharmony, disunity, or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill will, or prejudicing the maintenance of harmony or unity, on grounds of religion, and Section 233 of the Multimedia and Communications Act for “improper use of network facilities or network service.”

Uthaya Sankar SB’s case reflects the continuing use of repressive laws to harass citizens, including those accused of offending the Muslim-majority population. Activists and media groups have been pressing for the review and repeal of these laws.

Uthaya Sankar SB referenced a hadith (Islamic narration or quotation) when he commented on a Malaysian actor’s post about polygamy. The author insisted that this was clearly not meant to insult the Prophet Mohammad. In an interview with Global Voices, Uthaya Sankar SB highlighted this point:

I have totally no idea what the motive must have been. It’s really absurd, I must say. It seems someone with no basic knowledge of Islam and the Hadith lodged a report. And what’s even funnier, the cops at Bukit Aman actually arrested me to investigate. A simple Google of the said Hadith would have clearly shown them that I did not in any way offend the Prophet or Islam.

Ma Thida, chair of PEN International’s Writers in Prison Committee, issued a statement condemning the arrest of Uthaya Sankar SB:

Uthaya Sankar SB’s arrest for his social media post highlights the limits of free expression in Malaysia on issues such as religion. However well intentioned, the authorities’ use of blasphemy legislation to investigate any alleged criticism of religion will do little to promote dialogue and mutual understanding, which are central tenets to the promotion of religious harmony in any society.

In an opinion article published by Free Malaysia Today, Mariam Mokhtar warned against the chilling effect of persecuting writers, “Criminalising freedom of speech will lead to a state where the rakyat [people] will not be able to express an opinion that differs from that which is offered by the state.”

The police told the media that the investigation is not yet finished. Federal Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Comm Datuk Seri Abd Jalil Hasa gave this advice to social media users:

The public should also be smart and prudent social media users and not use the platform to cause public anxiousness and threaten national harmony. Firm action without compromise will be taken against any individual who intentionally threatens public order and safety.

Asked by Global Voices about his message to fellow writers and artists with regard to upholding freedom of expression, Uthaya Sankar SB encouraged Malaysians to remain strong in their commitment:

Be brave. Be confident. If you know that you have not done anything wrong, stay firm and never let anyone (the authorities, community etc) blame you or punish you for your action. Don’t “fight” alone. Let your struggle be known so that others can come forward to defend you; or at least show solidarity.

Responding to another question about what the international community can do when writers like him are intimidated by authorities, he underscored the importance of being quick in extending solidarity:

Though we might be writing or expressing out ideas/thought in different languages and different medium (eg poetry, arts, film, drawing, music etc), it is always good to keep in touch. Social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc) makes it easier to stay connected globally.

If we find out that some writer/artist in some far corner of the world is in trouble, we should be able to quickly show solidarity by spreading the news to all relevant contact via social media or WhatsApp. In my case, I managed to send message through WhatsApp to friends and also post on Facebook. They (not all my friends are writers) quickly did what was needed to do next. Before I was brought from Shah Alam, Selangor to Bukit Aman, Kuala Lumpur, news of my arrest was already published in Malaysiakini, Focus Malaysia etc. So, I knew that I had nothing to worry – in addition to the fact that that I did not in any way offend the Prophet.

HINDU NATIONALISTS OPPOSE SIKH NATIONALISTS

India Condemns Connecticut Assembly’s Call To Celebrate ‘Sikh Independence Day’


One of the person is seen holding an anti-India banner at the event where Connecticut Assembly made the citation to recognise Sikh Independence Day (Image: YouTube/TV84)

The citation made by the Connecticut Assembly recognizes April 29 as Sikh Independence Day

NEWS18.COM
LAST UPDATED:MAY 02, 2022,

The consulate general of India in a press release condemned the declaration of ‘Sikh Independence Day’ by the Connecticut general assembly in the United States. The consulate general said that the declaration was an attempt by mischievous elements to use Connecticut assembly’s name for ‘nefarious purposes’.

“We condemn the so-called Citation of the General Assembly of the State of Connecticut in the USA regarding an illegal act. This is an attempt by some mischievous elements to use the name of the Assembly for their nefarious purposes. These vested interests seek to divide communities and promote bigotry and hatred,” the consulate general said in the release.

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Protest Held Against Pro-Khalistani Group For Burning Indian Constitution in New York

“Their agenda of violence has no place in democratic societies like the USA and India. The Embassy of India in Washington DC and the Consulate General of India in New York will take up this issue appropriately with the concerned US lawmakers,” it further added.

A video was also shared on YouTube on April 29 where a Connecticut assembly official was seen reading a declaration. On the dais, along with the official, several Sikhs were also seen with most holding anti-India banners and pro-Khalistan placards. The official could be heard making the statement where it declared the date as Sikh Independence Day.

“The Connecticut General Assembly offers its sincerest congratulations to the World Sikh Parliament in recognition of the 36th anniversary of the declaration of Sikh Independence. We join with you, your friends, and your family in commemorating the historic resolution passed on April 29th, 1986 by the collective Sikh Nation gathering known as ‘Sarbat Khalsa,’ Sikhs Political Centre, situated in the holy city of Amritsar in Punjab,” the official could be heard as saying.

Leaders across party lines in India also condemned the Connecticut general assembly declaration.

BJP spokesperson RP Singh on Sunday asked president of US, Joe Biden, to intervene. “Connecticut State, in the US, has “recognised” April 29th as the anniversary of the declaration of Sikh independence. It is highly condemnable & not at all acceptable. Joe Biden govt should intervene, as it is open support for an independent State, ‘Khalistan’ within India,” Singh tweeted. He also shared the image of the citation. BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa said that Connecticut Assembly is oblivious of the real issue.

“Mischievous attempt by the State of Connecticut proves how oblivious it’s of the real issue. The State has waded into unknown & unwanted territory! The timing of this mindless act couldn’t have been worse,” Sirsa tweeted.

“If US State Connecticut recognises Sikh Independence Day then Indian State Rajasthan should recognise Texas as part of Mexico. Explain to them in the language they understand,” Congress Rajya Sabha MP said in a tweet.

Aam Aadmi Party AAP) chief spokesperson in Punjab Malwinder Kang said that separatists like Sikhs For Justice group chief Gurpatwant Singh Pannu have no support in Punjab and demanded strict action.

Allegations of Theft & Espionage Cloud the Nature of China's Tech War against US

By J. Michael Waller
May 02, 2022

China’s “whole-of-society” strategy of spying makes it almost impossible to detect the difference between common criminal activity and espionage against American companies.

The abrupt closure of an aggressive interagency counterespionage program is making it even harder.

The Department of Justice’s China Initiative, launched under the Trump administration, hauled in suspected spies at the nation’s most prestigious universities, medical research centers, military contractors, and civilian tech companies.

Those efforts ended on February 23, when the Biden administration, alleging prejudice against Asian-Americans, terminated the program. The administration claims it will continue under standards that do not single out China.

Chinese Communist Party-connected businessmen and companies have been implicated in a range of schemes to purloin secrets from American innovative companies, especially those specializing in financial tech or disruptive technologies.

Silicon Valley is a main target of the Chinese spy networks. Nick Shenkin, an FBI special agent in northern California’s high-tech hub, warns that the biggest vulnerability is the insider threat: employees who steal intellectual property that is passed to mainland China.


“What’s concerning about that is a trend that we’ve seen of more and more aggressive intellectual property acquisition by the Chinese Communist party,” Shenkin said in a recent Financial Times podcast. “If you look at their five-year plan, the breadth of the technologies that they intend to acquire is really breathtaking…. It is part and parcel of their attempt to build a siege economy in technology.”

Beijing is vacuuming up blockchain and other financial technologies, known as fintech.

Shenkin says that economic damage to the United States is estimated at up to $850 billion per year.

Some companies are starting to fight back against theft. Venture capitalist Adam Struck and his firm, Struck Capital Management in Los Angeles, have taken a case to federal court. They allege that a former employee defrauded the enterprise, stole proprietary data, and used it to set up a “shell game” of companies based in Delaware, Puerto Rico, and the Cayman Islands – the latter in partnership with an executive formerly with an investment firm connected to the Chinese government.

The former employee, Yida Gao, is a 31-year-old Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) graduate.

Gao says on his LinkedIn page that he is a general partner of Shima Capital. Shima describes itself as “an early-stage global venture firm focused on supporting cutting edge blockchain startups.” Shima lists 98 startup companies with which it claims involvement. Shima Capital is also a defendant in the suit.

Gao did not respond to a request for comment to give his side of the story.

The lawsuit alleges that Gao used “stolen information from Struck Capital” to set up several companies, and ultimately a “Cayman Islands-based blank-check company that Gao co-operates” with a colleague who worked for another company that had “close ties to the Chinese government.”

The suit describes the Cayman company as “an affiliate of a Beijing-based asset management company that invested in American companies which increased Chinese access to US financial institutions and customers.” According the suit, the firm “divested its US portfolio investments in 2019 under scrutiny from the US Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States,” known as CFIUS.

CFIUS is an interagency group that screens, investigates, and prevents or reverses foreign investments that present national security threats.

“Anybody who is subject to the jurisdiction of any person, entity or company, they must yield all information to which they have access to the CCP on demand,” Shenkin said. “Would they refer to that as a whole of society approach to intelligence gathering? That’s what the Chinese government refers to it as.”

Struck’s lawsuit came to light in a recent Newsweek story about “Chinese-funding sources in government-backed investment funds” being “at the heart of the technological rivalry between the U.S. and China.

It makes no allegation of spying as traditionally understood.

Even so, because of Communist China’s whole-of-society approach to pressure its citizens to steal secrets while abroad, the case alleged common theft is of interest to spy-watchers.

J. Michael Waller is Senior Analyst for Strategy at the Center for Security Policy.

Feared Russian cyberattacks against US have yet to materialize

By Colin Demarest
Friday, Apr 29

This Sept. 30, 2011, file photo shows a reflection of the Department of Homeland Security logo in the eyeglasses of a cybersecurity analyst. (Mark J. Terrill/AP/File)


WASHINGTON — The leader of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said American networks have yet to experience significant cyberattacks by Russian operatives amid the ongoing belligerence in Ukraine.

“To date, we have not seen specific attacks on the U.S.,” CISA Director Jen Easterly said April 28. “What we are concerned about is the fact that Russia’s malicious cyber activity is part of their playbook.”

President Joe Biden shortly warned in March that evolving intelligence showed Russia was planning potential stateside cyberattacks. He also said the magnitude of Russia’s cyber capacity “is fairly consequential, and it’s coming.”

Lawmakers and analysts expressed similar concerns as Russia invaded Ukraine in late February. Such attacks have yet to materialize, Easterly testified before a House appropriations subcommittee Thursday.

“To date, thankfully, we have not seen attacks manifest here,” she said. “But we are very concerned that as the war drags on, there may, in fact, be retaliatory attacks given the very severe sanctions we have imposed on the Kremlin, the U.S. and our allies.”

Russia has long used cyberattacks to project its forces and influence events beyond its borders. Its push into Ukraine was preceded by a tide of malicious hacks that crippled government websites and scrambled communications. Ukraine continues to be assailed in the digital domain, with cyberattacks trebling compared with the year prior, according to the State Service of Special Communication and Information Protection.

Russia has denied responsibility.

The cyber threat the U.S. faces, Easterly said, likely comes in three forms: international spillover, something like the NotPetya fiasco of 2017; criminal ransomware attacks, like those that paralyzed the Colonial Pipeline and JBS Foods; and deliberate action taken by “Russian state-sponsored actors” against critical infrastructure including the communications, energy and medical sectors.

“The threat environment isn’t getting any less dynamic, less complex, less dangerous,” Easterly said, “and the threat actors are not getting any less sophisticated.”

Bryan Vorndran, assistant director of the FBI’s cyber division, last month told Congress that Russia is a “formidable foe.” He confirmed reports of Russia increasingly scanning U.S. critical infrastructure — moves that could precede a hack.

“As these adversaries become more sophisticated and stealthier, we are most concerned about our ability to detect and warn about specific cyber operations against U.S. organizations,” Vorndran said in written testimony submitted to the House Judiciary Committee. “Maybe most worrisome is their focus on compromising U.S. critical infrastructure, especially during a crisis.”

CISA, part of the Department of Homeland Security, leads efforts to understand, manage and reduce risks to U.S. cyber and physical infrastructure. The agency regularly works alongside the FBI, the National Security Agency and international partners.

President Joe Biden’s fiscal 2023 budget blueprint included $2.5 billion for CISA, approximately 18% more than what was requested in 2022. Easterly on Thursday said the suggested investment “really recognizes the criticality of our mission and provides the resources that we need to achieve it.”

The president’s budget also included some $11.2 billion for Pentagon cyber, nearly 8% over the administration’s previous ask.

Colin Demarest is a reporter at C4ISRNET, where he covers networks and IT. Colin previously covered the Department of Energy and its National Nuclear Security Administration — namely nuclear weapons development and Cold War cleanup — for a daily newspaper in South Carolina.

Romanian Government announces series of cyber attacks on public institution websites, including www.gov.ro and the website of Ministry of National Defense 

Pro-Russian hacker group Killnet claims responsibility for the cyber attack

ARTICOLE, ENGLISH • 29 APRILIE 2022 • ANA POPESCU 

Pro-Russian hacker group Killnet has claimed responsibility for cyber attacks on the websites of the government, the Ministry of Defense, the Border Police, and the Romanian Railways (CFR), Biziday reports.

In a message published on Telegram, Killnet says the attacks were carried out following statements by Senate President Marcel Ciolacu, who promised Ukrainian authorities „maximum assistance” in providing lethal weapons to Ukraine from Romania.

„Our official response: this will be the last thing the Romanian government does,” Killnet reports.

Marcel Ciolacu said yesterday that our country must have a legal framework and be ready with a political decision on the possibility of supplying arms to Ukraine: „I am firmly convinced that Romania is ready if we enter such a stage and take such a decision. Romania is ready, that’s why these trips were made, to offer more help,” Ciolacu said.

The government announces a series of cyber-attacks on websites of public institutions, including www.gov.ro.

„This morning, access to the websites gov.ro, mapn.ro and politiadefrontiera.ro, cfrcalatori.ro and the website of a financial institution was affected by a series of DDOS (distributed denial of service) cyber attacks.
IT specialists from government structures are working with experts from specialised institutions to restore access and identify the causes. Access to the www.gov.ro website has been restored,” a statement said.

The Ministry of Defence confirmed the cyber attack in a statement, saying the attack did not compromise the functioning of the website, only blocked users’ access to it.

„Dear colleagues, we confirm that a distributed denial of service (DDOS) cyber attack was triggered at 04.05 on the MApN website (www.mapn.ro).

The attack did not compromise the functioning of the institution’s website, but only blocked users’ access to it.

Please note that the MApN website does not contain sensitive or classified databases and the attack did not affect other MApN services and computer networks.

Specialists of the MApN’s Cyber Defence Command (CApC) are currently working to restore the functionality of the ministry’s website,” the statement said.


Edited for English by Ovidiu H.

Facebook Admitted To Lack Of Control Over User Data In Leaked Document

BY NADEEM SARWAR/

APRIL 27, 2022 2:48 PM EDT

Facebook doesn't have a particularly stellar record when it comes to ethically handling user data, and now a leaked internal paper suggests the company has seemingly lost control over managing the massive cache of data it collects and how it is used. An internal document allegedly written by the company's Ad and Business Product team was leaked to Motherboard, and it gives a glimpse into how bad the situation may be at Facebook, at least when it comes to responsible collection and utilization of user data.

The paper likens the situation to a bottle of ink (which represents user data) that is poured into a lake (that is, Facebook's vast data processing systems). Once that happens, the leaked document states, there is no way to control the flow of that ink or recover it. "We do not have an adequate level of control and explainability over how our systems use data," says the report, which was primarily written to highlight how that situation may land Facebook in regulatory troubles.

It further adds that solving the problem would require multiple years in order to create a system that would give Facebook a clear picture of how user data flows through its systems, right from the collection via its products to its eventual exit from the whole framework. Regulations such as the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) specifically mandate that user data collected for a purpose should be explicitly declared and must not be utilized anywhere else. Facebook appears to fare poorly at that parameter.

Facebook representatives, on the other hand, claim that the company is at work building the required infrastructure to meet the criteria set by regulations such as GDPR, but it already follows a user-facing opt-out system that ensures the collected data cannot be used elsewhere. However, the representatives also told Motherboard that the company "does not have technical control over every piece of data" that enters its servers. The situation at Facebook is not too different from that of Amazon.

In November 2021, a WIRED investigation revealed a worryingly fragmented system of data storage at Amazon that allegedly allowed employees to regularly stalk their acquaintances, as well as celebrities. In Facebook's case, if regulators in Europe take issue with how it is reportedly flouting the GDPR norms, the company could face a hefty fine of up to 4% of its annual global revenue. As per the leaked material, Facebook reportedly had a product called "Basic Ads" that was supposed to be ready for deployment in Europe by the start of 2020, but that product is yet to make its debut.

No clue about where user data goes

Basic Ads would reportedly have let users deny access to all third-party and first-party data, such as posts and likes, for Facebook's advertisement systems, a premise that sounds very much like its own version of App Tracking Transparency. Facebook's data collection has already had its wings clipped with the release of Apple's ATT (App Tracking Transparency) framework that lets users opt out of an app's data collection, something that has seriously hurt the company's ad business. Moreover, the situation sounds very much ripe for another Cambridge Analytica-like scandal.

The leaked internal document clearly states that if Facebook can't pinpoint where exactly user data is currently sitting in its systems and how it is used, the company won't ever get in a position where it can " make commitments about it to the outside world." Following the leak, a Facebook spokesperson denied any non-compliance with privacy regulations, but those assertions may not stand a chance in a court if the information in the leaked document proves true.

ROFLMAO

Facebook whistleblower is optimistic about Elon Musk's Twitter takeover and says Musk can take feedback better than Mark Zuckerberg

Jyoti Mann
Apr 30, 2022,

Elon Musk (left) and Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen. 

A Facebook whistleblower told Fox Business she's "cautiously optimistic" about Elon Musk's Twitter takeover.

Elizabeth Haugen said taking Twitter private could allow Musk to focus on safety changes.
She contrasted Musk with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, saying Musk is better able to receive feedback.

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, who leaked a trove of Facebook documents late last year, told Fox Business she was "cautiously optimistic" about Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter.

Haugen testified before the US Congress in October last year saying Facebook, which has since changed its name to Meta, consistently prioritized profit and engagement over user safety.

Musk's plans to take Twitter private could gives him the chance to change up the company's business model in a way that prioritizes user safety without pressure to generate profit for shareholders, Haugen told Fox Business.

"I think there's a huge opportunity here for Elon to really demonstrate that there's another way forward," she told the outlet.

Haugen contrasted Musk with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, saying she thinks Musk is better able to take hard feedback and make meaningful changes.

Haugen told Fox Business that Zuckerberg has "surrounded himself with people who tell him what he wants to hear."

Musk has said he wants to place a greater emphasis on "free speech" at Twitter, meaning he could loosen the company's rules on what content stays on the platform. Experts told Insider this could lead to an increase in the amount of hate speech and disinformation on the platform.

In her Fox Business interview, Haugen also said that the "number one" thing Musk can do to improve Twitter is "institute real transparency."

Musk has said he wants to open source Twitter's algorithm, which will make it more transparent to people outside the company — but taking Twitter private will also mean its business will be less open to public scrutiny.

It's not entirely clear yet what exact changes Musk will make to Twitter, as his deal to buy the company for $44 billion still has to pass shareholder and regulatory approval. The deal is expected to close in October this year.

Ahead of making his offer to buy Twitter, Musk floated the idea of removing ads for subscribers to the company's premium service Twitter Blue in a tweet. The tweet has since been deleted.

 ELON MUSK'S LONG HISTORY OF CRITICIZING TWITTER

BY MICHELE GAMA SOSA/MAY 1, 2022 

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has made international headlines following his $44 billion purchase of the social media platform Twitter, pledging to make the platform politically neutral. According to the Guardian, his purchase of the platform has Republicans and Trump supporters celebrating and Democrats and sections of the media leaving the platform in droves. But none of this is really surprising. As University of Michigan professor Adam Pritchard notes (via Wired), Musk has been hinting at buying Twitter for years, something that can easily be missed because his buyout came so quickly and suddenly.

Musk has generally used Twitter to troll, meme, and argue with his detractors, as well as to promote his products and engage with Tesla investors and customers. His tweets have led to defamation and SEC lawsuits and, more than once, he has tweeted both praise and hate for the platform. He even claimed that he had deleted his Twitter account once -– on Twitter — and then changed his name to "daddydotcom" (via CNBC). So what will the new Twitter look like? A brief history of Musk's engagement with the platform suggests that it may become more of an internet Wild West than the moderated platform it was before he bought it.

THE BEGINNING

Elon Musk's relationship with Twitter began in 2009 when, according to ABC News, he joined the platform. Only it wasn't really him. A since-deleted account claiming to be the "real Elon Musk" began tweeting controversial political viewpoints under Musk's name. SpaceX then put out a tweet denying Musk's Twitter presence. Musk himself confirmed that in 2010 when his first-ever tweet to his fans said to ignore the 2009 tweets because they were not his.

Since he had to tweet in order for fans to ignore the impersonator account, it was clear that Twitter had an issue with fake accounts – an issue that risked landing the platform in legal problems. According to The Guardian, St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa complained of his name being used without his permission on the platform. So Twitter introduced the blue checkmark to differentiate anonymous accounts from verified public figures – such as La Russa or Musk – thus solving the problem. Since then, as Al-Jazeera notes, Musk's Twitter engagement steadily grew until it ballooned in 2015.

ELON MUSK DIDN'T TWEET MUCH FOR YEARS

As Al-Jazeera notes, Elon Musk was not a particularly prolific tweeter. In fact, in his first two years on the platform, he barely tweeted at all. In an analysis of his tweets, the Visual Capitalist noted that Musk mostly tweeted news about his SpaceX ventures. As time went on, he began to talk more about Tesla, PayPal, and his StarLink system

As can be seen from his early tweets, he had relatively few followers and few seemed to care much about him. His early tweets rarely averaged more than a few hundred likes or retweets, and given that he did not use the platform much, this should come as no surprise. But he also did not enjoy the fame he has today. His tweeting did not really increase much until 2015, when his juvenile and trollish brand of humor began to manifest publicly.

THE OPENING SALVO?

According to Fortune, Elon Musk's company Tesla landed in hot water after he and other Tesla shareholders dumped over $2 billion in stock after a Tesla self-driving car killed a Florida man named Joshua Brown in 2016. Musk never said anything publically about the crash before selling his stock, suggesting that he was rushing to beat other sellers before word of the incident spread and caused a sell-off. The self-driving car controversy, however, soon spilled onto Twitter where Musk fired what might have been an opening salvo at the platform.

The debate about Tesla's autopilot feature soon made it to Twitter after Musk claimed that the system, despite failures, could save over half a million lives. So Forbes writer Sam Abuelsamid (pictured) tweeted at Musk telling him to check his math. Musk responded claiming that the self-driving cars would prevent non-occupant deaths in car accidents, which he claimed Abuelsamid had omitted from his analysis. He then tweeted "I love Twitter." It could either be that he loved the platform as a forum for discussion or he was being sarcastic and mocking Abuelsamid's use of the platform to call him out. Either way, it was a harbinger of the billionaire's love-hate relationship with Twitter that led to the buyout.

THE FIRST OPEN CRITICISM

Elon Musk made his first clear-cut criticism of Twitter in 2017. He tweeted that Twitter was a "haters' hellscape" after urging Americans to be grateful for their legal system, which despite its flaws, was superior to most around the world.

According to GeekWire, the context of the tweet – and the tweetstorm that followed – was political. Musk opposed President Donald Trump's 7-country travel ban. According to CNN Money, he directly conveyed his criticism to the president during an advisory council meeting. So when a Seattle judge put a moratorium on the travel ban, Musk tweeted out his appreciation of the judge's decision, claiming that the system had worked as it was supposed to.

The tweet led to a massive tweetstorm in which Trump's detractors attacked Musk for sitting on the president's advisory council in the first place. Musk justified his actions by presenting himself as an apolitical advisor trying to steer the president on the correct course. When one of his supporters tweeted "haters gonna hate," Musk agreed and added that Twitter had become a "haters' hellscape." But it is unclear if Musk was attacking the platform for hosting his detractors or just complaining about his detractors.

I LOVE TWITTER!

In 2017, Elon Musk randomly tweeted out "I love Twitter." It did not seem to be in response to anything in particular. Perhaps Musk had begun to enjoy the platform as a place to promote his companies, converse with fans, and duke it out with his critics, but either way, the resulting exchange has become the stuff of legend in light of his buyout.

According to Indian magazine Opoyi (where Musk has a large following), The Insider's Dave Smith and a number of other users responded to Musk's tweet asking him why he wasn't buying Twitter if he liked it so much. Musk responded by asking "how much is it?" along with an upside-down smiley face emoji. As Opoyi notes, everyone thought this was a joke, and knowing Musk's sometimes-juvenile brand of humor, it would have been difficult to see it otherwise at the time. Yet Musk, it appears, was deadly serious – or at least he was as of 2022. Smith tweeted recently that the short conversation "continues to haunt him," while the responses joked/blamed him for giving Musk the idea of buying Twitter in the first place.

TROUBLE BREWING

Elon Musk did not tweet out any new criticisms of Twitter that made the news for a while. Instead, Twitter got him in trouble after Musk decided to have a bit too much fun. Musk tweeted in 2018 that he had secured enough funding to make Tesla a privately-traded company (meaning shares cannot be bought publicly). Shares would go for $420 a pop.

Now, according to The Verge, the tweet was half-serious, half-joke. The $420/share was supposed to be a reference to 4/20, when weed enthusiasts openly smoke and celebrate their use of the drug. In fact, Musk made waves after smoking it on the Joe Rogan Experience. But in an official Tesla email, Musk seemed to be dead serious about the proposal.

Regardless of his intentions, the tweet drew the attention of the SEC, which accused Musk of misleading shareholders with the $420 number. For this reason, Forbes argues it really was a weed joke. The $420 number had no basis otherwise. The SEC slapped him and Tesla with $20 million each in fines. Musk lost his chairmanship while Tesla's stock plunged 13%. Hilariously, although the SEC missed the joke, a number of Twitter users got it, with one responding "blaze up" and two others posting gifs that referenced smoking marijuana. Looking back, Musk told NBC that despite the cost, the whole thing was "worth it" to make his girlfriend laugh.

THE BANAL PROPAGANDA BARB

Elon Musk's unfiltered tweeting landed him in trouble with the law again in 2019. According to Mashable, when a Thai soccer team got trapped in a cave, Musk offered to help. Vernon Unsworth, the British diver coordinating the rescue, called Musk's offer a PR stunt. Musk, never one to turn down an internet fight, called him "pedo guy" in response.

The story then got crazier. Musk hired a private investigator to dig up dirt on Unsworth and then claimed that "pedo guy" was a South African insult that did not imply Unsworth was actually a pedophile. According to the BBC, Musk issued a not-so-sincere apology to "pedo guy," in which he literally called Unsworth "pedo guy" while simultaneously apologizing for using the insult. He then said that Unsworth deserved it. So Unsworth sued him for defamation and lost (via BBC).

So how did Musk justify such tweets? A year earlier, this tweet suggested that he saw Twitter as a playground. He claimed that his tweets were in-the-moment opinions, not "carefully crafted corporate bs." Thus, Musk argued that his Twitter feed was him thinking out loud – and according to Futurism – on the toilet. Therefore, his tweets were not to be taken too seriously since they are all in good fun. It also seemed like a veiled barb at Twitter, suggesting that Musk did not take the platform as a place for serious discussion – only for banter.

TWITTER SUCKS

Following his legal troubles, Elon Musk continued to use Twitter to post thoughts, memes, and political opinions. Then he got into a spat with Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg after actor Sacha Baron-Cohen accused Facebook of failing to curb "hate speech and propaganda" on its platform.

Musk, being Musk, could not resist the temptation and tweeted at Baron-Cohen in February of 2020 telling the actor and his own followers to delete Facebook because it was lame. He tweeted "Facebook sucks" in May of 2020. Soon, he turned on Twitter as well. Although Wired noted that he had previously expressed love for the platform and respect for its CEO Jack Dorsey, it now also "sucked."

In July of 2020, Musk tweeted out "Twitter sucks” next to a rose emoji. The tweet likely was a knee-jerk reaction to Musk's account possibly being compromised by hackers. As a result of the hack, there was a risk that his personal DMs would be leaked and possibly make him look bad. But since they mostly consisted of memes, he wasn't too worried.

COMMENTING ON THE TRUMP BAN

Following the 2020 election, CNet reported that Elon Musk increasingly leveled criticisms at Big Tech over free speech, limits on internet speech, and the power of Big Tech to censor dissenting opinions. Thus, Donald Trump's Twitter ban became part of Musk's cause. Now, as Politico notes, Trump and Musk – despite previous disagreements – are alike in more than a few ways. Both were outspoken in their criticism of the media's coverage of the administration and both have used Twitter as an unfiltered platform to mock their opponents.

This criticism of Big Tech (including Twitter) revolved around a satirical Babylon Bee article about Trump's Twitter ban. Musk tweeted in response to the OP that Silicon Valley was making many enemies among the American public by kicking Trump off Twitter and censoring his political allies and supporters. More importantly, however, he pointed out a problem that resonated with Trump's base – that Silicon Valley's tech elites had become the "de facto artbiter[s] of free speech." Musk then followed up in a response to another user, urging Silicon Valley to make a distinction between "banning hate speech and banning speech it hates." That criticism of Twitter and Big Tech put Musk on the road to taking over the platform.

LIKENING PARAG AGRAWAL TO STALIN

Before making a bid for Twitter, Elon Musk took one last shot. In 2021, CNBC reported that Jack Dorsey would step down as Twitter CEO to be replaced by CTO Parag Agrawal. Now, the announcement lit off a firestorm of controversy, particularly surrounding Agrawal's views on the U.S. Constitution. In an interview with MIT in 2018, Agrawal stated that Twitter's role was to create "a healthy public conversation" and not "be bound by the First Amendment." As the NY Post reported, Agrawal's comments drew criticism from both conservatives and liberals – in particular journalists – who worried that Twitter was effectively positioning itself as an arbiter of acceptable discourse.

Instead of criticizing Agrawal directly, Elon Musk jumped into the debate with an old favorite of his – memes. In early December of 2021, Musk tweeted a meme of Agrawal's face shopped onto Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin's body, while Stalinist lieutenant Nikolai Yezhov got Jack Dorsey's face.

According to Fortune, the original photo showed the two men walking. Once Yezhov was executed, he was doctored out of the photo. Thus, Musk's meme implied that Dorsey, whom critics considered a defender of free speech despite his issues with Trump and the infamous Hunter Biden laptop, had been "executed" by Agrawal, who intended to undo that legacy by clamping down on censorship. Soon after Agrawal's debut as CEO, Musk began to seriously explore buying Twitter.

THE DAYS PRECEDING THE BUYOUT

In the days preceding the buyout, Elon Musk directed a flurry of criticism towards Twitter while making his case for buying it. In March, Musk referred to himself as a "free speech absolutist." He later issued a poll asking if Twitter was upholding democracy by allowing free speech and then stated his own opinion that it had not only failed to do so, but actively undermined it. Now that he has actually bought the platform, there are many questions swirling about his intentions.

The main question concerns hate speech, misinformation, and disinformation. The USA Today has argued that hate speech and disinformation must be censored because neither is healthy for a functional democracy. Conservatives in particular (via Fox News) have shot back claiming that the concerns about "hate speech" are an excuse to shut down dissenting voices on topics like the COVID-19 response and Hunter Biden's laptop.

Ultimately, the question would be constitutional. As the American Library Association notes, there is no legal category called "hate speech" in the United States. The Supreme Court has ruled that such speech is in fact legal – hate crimes are not. Therefore, should Musk choose to turn Twitter into a free speech utopia, he will have a legal leg to stand on as long as the content does not violate other laws such as direct incitement to violence or Child Sexual Abuse Material laws

FREE SPEECH ISSUES ABROAD

While Elon Musk's vision of Twitter as a free speech zone would run into virtually no problems in the United States, it faces massive legal hurdles abroad. As TechCrunch notes, most countries around the world do not have the United States' broad speech protections as enshrined in the First Amendment. Thus, EU, Chinese, Russian, and other regulators are likely to demand Twitter crackdowns on illegal speech in order to operate there. Social media platforms already face penalties for noncompliance in countries such as Turkey, India, and Nigeria, so he may run into problems in such places.

Then there is China. Amazon mogul Jeff Bezos noted in a tweet that Musk's ownership of Twitter will likely bring difficulties for Tesla, which makes its cars in China. Musk's commitment to free speech would, in theory, allow criticism of the Chinese government. This should not be a problem on the surface because Twitter is banned in China. But as Foreign Policy notes, China not only stifles criticism at home but also demands regulatory bodies censor it abroad. Bezos' tweet implies that Tesla will face Chinese pressure should Musk refuse to play ball with the CCP. Like other U.S. corporate figures, Musk, per CNBC, has avoided criticism of China, so permitting criticism of China – a major U.S. rival and favorite target of Musk's conservative supporters – will be a major litmus test of the billionaire's sincerity.

AMERICA DIVIDED (AGAIN)

Elon Musk's buyout of Twitter further divided America's political camps into supporters and detractors. Conservatives – particularly banned figures – have praised the move. Florida governor Ron DeSantis (via NY Post), for instance, called it a "blow to the legacy media," hinting that Musk would prevent Twitter from being used as "an enforcer of the narrative." Donald Trump, who lost his account back in 2020, on the other hand, has refused to return to Twitter to focus on his own platform Truth Social (via TechCrunch). Ironically, Musk considered himself a liberal in 2008, when according to Spanish newspaper Marca, he "strongly supported" Barack Obama.

The American left has called Musk an oligarch unduly influencing the political process. According to Fox Business, Senator Elizabeth Warren, whom Musk called "Senator Karen" back in 2021, and fellow MA Senator Ed Markey called the move "dangerous for our democracy." Meanwhile, CNBC reported that the Biden Administration's greatest concern is Trump's return to the platform before the 2022 and 2024 elections.

Ultimately, the reactions seem purely political. Republicans are probably celebrating their greater public outreach rather than a high-sounding ideological commitment to free speech while Democrats fear their political rivals' greater public clout rather than threats to democracy. After all, as published in MassNews, billionaires have always owned the media, still do, and no one complains – as long as the billionaire is on the correct side. Musk is just joining the club.

HIS CRITICISMS – A CONTRACTUAL VIOLATION?

With the deal done, Quartz noted that one of its terms requires Elon Musk to refrain from criticism of Twitter or its employees, a condition that some allege he has already violated. For context, journalist Saagar Injeti called Twitter lawyer Vijaya Gadde a "top censorship advocate" and gaslighter on Twitter over her role in banning the NY Post for refusing to delete an article discussing evidence of corruption, influence-peddling, and blackmail involving the president on Hunter Biden's laptop. Musk responded to Enjeti, calling Twitter and Gadde's actions "incredibly inappropriate" and setting off a tweetstorm of accusations and counter-accusations between Musk, Twitter executives, Enjeti, the Washington Post, Gadde, and anonymous users over who was in the right (via Mediaite).

But is Musk's tweeting a violation? In this case, it probably isn't. As Forbes notes, Musk cannot criticize or disparage Twitter or its employees within the context of the $44 billion deal. Since his criticism of Gadde had nothing to do with the buyout, it probably doesn't fall under the non-disparagement clause. Thus, it seems that Musk will indeed be taking over Twitter, love him or hate him.

LINKS/GRAPHICS/PHOTOS : https://www.grunge.com/849407/elon-musks-long-history-of-criticizing-twitter/?utm_campaign=clip

ITS THE OWNER NOT THE BREED

Dogs Fatally Maul Public Health Worker Investigating Previous Canine Attack


By Suneeta Sunny
05/01/22


KEY POINTS

Jacqueline Summer Beard was attacked by a pack of seven dogs

Officials had to euthanize some of the dogs

Brandy Dowdy, the dogs' owner, was later arrested

A pack of dogs fatally mauled an Alabama health worker who was responding to a report of an earlier attack by the same canines, officials said.

Jacqueline Summer Beard, a long-term employee of the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH), was fatally attacked by a pack of seven dogs Friday while attempting to contact the animals' owner about a separate incident that happened a day prior, Franklin County Sheriff's Office said in a news release posted on Facebook on Saturday.

Beard, who never returned from the investigation at a house in Muscle Shoals, was found dead after someone called about a suspicious vehicle parked in the area.

When deputies arrived at the scene, several dogs started attacking the locals before they found Beard's body in the car. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

"It is believed that Beard was attacked as she was attempting to contact the dog's owner when she was killed by the dogs," the news release noted.

One of the residents received minor injuries in the attack, and the officials had to euthanize some of the canines. However, the exact number of dogs that were put down remains unclear.

The dog owner, identified as 39-year-old Brandy Dowdy, was later arrested on charges of manslaughter and Dangerous Dog Law. She was being held with no bail set at the Franklin County Jail.

Meanwhile, ADPH mourned the death of Beard, who worked as an environmentalist supervisor with the department for nearly 17 years.

"Summer was known to her coworkers as an exceptional person. She was a tremendous team worker and was loved by those who knew her," Ryan Easterling, the director of the ADPH's Health Media and Communications Division, said in a statement, as per AL.com. "The Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) extends our deepest sympathy to the family, friends, and colleagues of Summer Beard, after her tragic passing."

In the earlier incident involving the same pack of dogs, a woman walking along a highway was attacked and had to be hospitalized with critical injuries. Her condition is "pretty serious" and remains hospitalized in Mississippi, the outlet reported.

Missouri killer whose death sentence was reversed 3 times is days away from execution

HEY, RIGHT TO LIFERS; 

ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY

2022/5/1
© St. Louis Post-Dispatch

US-NEWS-MO-EXECUTION-MCT. -

 Missouri Department of Corrections/Missouri Department of Corrections/TNS

DE SOTO, Mo. — Carman Deck once talked about his victims' kindness.

Before he robbed James and Zelma Long and shot them execution-style, Deck and his sister had knocked on the door to the Longs' home near De Soto pretending to need directions to Laguna Palma reservoir.

Zelma Long invited them inside.

That kindness wasn't lost on Deck, a south St. Louis County resident with a prison record for burglary. He later mentioned to a detective during the interrogation how the Longs welcomed him into their home.

"They're country folks," Deck said. "They always do."

The double murder of the Longs in 1996 in Jefferson County sent Deck to Missouri's death row not once or twice — but three times. Deck has been given the death penalty three times since his original conviction, and each time that sentence was overturned on appeal.

The reasons varied for rejecting the death sentences: The first time, it was missing jury instructions. The second time, he wore shackles visible to the jury. At his third sentencing, "substantial" evidence arguing against the death penalty was unavailable to him.

A three-judge panel reinstated his death sentence in October 2020. Barring any last-minute reprieves, after 25 years of legal wrangling, Deck's case could end this week in the execution chamber at the state prison in Bonne Terre.

Missouri has scheduled his execution, by lethal injection, for 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Five of the Longs' children and at least six grandchildren will meet for lunch Tuesday, then gather at the cemetery in De Soto for a prayer at the Longs' gravesite. They then will head to the prison witness room to watch Deck die.

"I just wanna see him pay for what he did," said the couple's middle child, Angela Rosener, 67, of Potosi. "It's going to be tough, but we want this to be done."

Meanwhile, Deck's lawyers have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the execution and review his case. They also met with representatives of Gov. Mike Parson last week, said Elizabeth Unger Carlyle, one of Deck's attorneys. They submitted a lengthy application for executive clemency, featuring two photos of Deck side-by-side — one of him smiling broadly in prison, the other a weathered photo of Deck as a little boy, looking sullen.

His lawyers portray a childhood of abuse. The "failure of the Missouri system to protect Mr. Deck as a child is a primary reason his life took the tragic path that it did," Deck's lawyers wrote in the clemency application. They asked the governor for mercy, to commute Deck's sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The governor's communications director, Kelli R. Jones, said Friday that Parson was reviewing the case.
The killer

James and Zelma Long were shot execution-style in their home near De Soto on July 8, 1996, after they were robbed and ordered to lie on their bed. Prosecutors said the couple had begged Deck for mercy. James Long was 69, and Zelma Long was 67.

Deck, now 56, was 30 years old at the time of the killings. He was unemployed and lived in an apartment on Enderbury Drive in South County.

Deck's lawyers, in their plea to Parson, said Deck's troubles were evident from the start, when he was hospitalized as an infant for dehydration because his mother didn't give him formula. By age 18, Deck had lived in 23 different homes, including foster homes, because of abuse and neglect by his biological parents, according to his clemency application.

Among other details Deck's lawyers shared with the governor: Deck was beaten as a child to the point of having welts. He was sexually abused by men his mother brought home. Deck and his three siblings were left alone often without food, and were taught by their mother how to steal, the clemency application said.

Rosener, the middle child of the Longs, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the family is tired of delays. She said she doesn't think the governor should have mercy on Deck because of an abusive childhood.

"There's a lot of kids with a rough childhood and they don't go and kill," she said Saturday. "That was his choice."

In 1985, at the age of 20, Deck was arrested for stealing a riding lawnmower and jailed for a week. Shortly after he got out of jail, he returned to help two men escape. He passed a hacksaw blade through the window. Deck was caught and sent to prison for burglary and aiding an escape. He would later rack up additional convictions for burglary.

After he was released to a halfway house in St. Louis, he got a job as a server at an Italian restaurant but was soon sent back to prison on a parole violation.

His murder trial revealed a connection between Deck and the Longs. When Deck was a teen, he lived with a relative in the De Soto area and knew the Longs briefly. He and one of the couple's grandchildren would sneak into the couple's home and steal money from a safe, where the Longs kept profits from their gas station overnight.
The couple

Zelma Long loved to travel, fish and watch "Wheel of Fortune" on TV. She was a lifelong resident of Jefferson County and prom queen in 1946 at De Soto High School. She retired as an elementary school teacher after 30 years, primarily teaching third grade in Crystal City.

James Long drove a truck route delivering candy, tobacco and other products door-to-door. He later owned a service station, café and liquor store for many years about a mile from his home. As a boy, he learned farming from his grandparents, and every year of his married life maintained a garden. He also was a top bowler in Jefferson County and liked to hunt.

The Longs loved competitive fishing, always trying to catch one more fish, said their daughter-in-law, Karen Long, 67, of Lake Ozark, Missouri. "They were always trying to out-fish each other," she said. "Their go-to fish was crappie, and Zelma always said when the red buds start to bloom it's almost crappie time."

James Long grew up in St. Louis County. After marrying Zelma, he built a two-bedroom home for them on what would become Long Road. He built additions to the home as they raised seven children.

The couple also had 15 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. The month before they died, they celebrated their 49th wedding anniversary. Their children already were planning a big surprise party for their 50th.
The crime

On the night of the murders, Deck and his sister Tonia Cummings, after plotting with another man, went to the Longs' home intending to rob them. They knocked on the door, pretending to need directions. Zelma Long invited them inside and gave directions while her husband wrote them down.

Deck pulled a pistol from his waistband and demanded money. The Longs said they'd give Deck what they had on hand: They handed over jewelry and other items from the safe. Zelma retrieved about $200 from her purse in the kitchen. It was her bingo money. The couple also gave Deck a tin canister containing mainly quarters. James Long even offered to write Deck a check.

"That's just how nice he was," Deck told police, according to a detective's testimony.

Deck ordered the Longs to lie facedown on their bed, and Deck paced for 10 minutes at the foot of the bed debating whether to kill them. "I was nervous. I didn't know what to do," Deck said in a taped confession. "I knew they had already seen me. So I shot them."

Police arrested Deck on a tip, and he confessed. He was convicted in 1998 and sentenced to death. His sister, now 53, is confined at the Chillicothe Correctional Center for her role in the crimes. She is serving a 70-year sentence for second-degree murder.

In 2002, the Missouri Supreme Court upheld Deck's convictions for murder but overturned the death sentences, citing a problem with missing jury instructions. That meant Jefferson County prosecutors retried the penalty phase in the spring of 2003; this second jury also recommended the death penalty.

After he was sentenced a second time, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned that sentence in 2005, citing the prejudice caused by Deck being shackled in front of the sentencing jury. The court said it was unconstitutional to shackle capital murder defendants as juries decide their penalty, unless the state justifies the need.

He was sentenced to death for a third time in 2008.

But in 2017, U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry determined that "substantial" evidence arguing against the death penalty in Deck's first two penalty phases had been unavailable for the third. Witnesses who could have focused on mitigation evidence — to bring compassion or mercy from jurors — had died, couldn't be found or developed "hostile attitudes" and declined to cooperate in the more than 10 years since he was convicted, Perry wrote.

Perry called Deck's third penalty-phase trial "fundamentally unfair from even before it began." Perry ordered that Deck serve life in prison without parole.

In October 2020, a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals restored the death penalty, ruling that Deck should have raised his concern first in state court, not federal court.

If his execution moves forward, Deck would be the fifth person to die by lethal injection in Missouri in nearly 5 1/2 years. The most recent to be executed were Mark Christeson, in January 2017; Russell Bucklew, in October 2019; Walter Barton, in May 2020; and Ernest Johnson, in October 2021.

Johnson killed three convenience store workers in Columbia. Barton stabbed to death a woman who ran a trailer park in Ozark. Bucklew killed his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend in Cape Girardeau County. Christeson killed a woman and her two children in Maries County.

Carman Deck's case could end this week in the execution chamber at the state prison in Bonne Terre. - Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Communist Xi explains capital’s benefits as Chinese executives speak up on economic crisis


Business leaders now openly say that Beijing’s zero-Covid policies are slowly destroying the economy. It is becoming difficult for many to justify Xi’s ‘common prosperity’ campaign.

AADIL BRAR
2 May, 2022 


Financial industry executives criticise Beijing’s Covid-19 and economic policies. Chinese social media users react to attacks in Karachi. India seizes the assets of Xiaomi India. Chinascope brings you stories from China – and the world – as they unfolded.

China over the week

President Xi Jinping has said that China should give a ‘full play’ to capital by focusing on its ‘positive role’. Xi was speaking at a meeting of the Politburo on Saturday.

Despite underscoring the importance of capital, Xi did try to warn people about letting private capital flow like ‘water’.

“Capital is like ‘water’. Laissez-faire will lead to disaster; timely and reasonable guidance can benefit one party. Correctly understand and grasp the characteristics and behavioural laws of capital, comprehensively improve the efficiency of capital governance, and educate and guide capital entities to practice the core socialist values,” said Xi during the Politburo meeting.

Xi’s remarks come when China’s economy is in the doldrums as the central government is trying to shore up factory production. But people haven’t forgotten Xi’s common prosperity programme, which was at the front and centre of ensuring equitable growth of the Chinese economy. Though common prosperity has slowly disappeared from press releases and Xi’s statements. Common prosperity wasn’t even mentioned in the Chinese version of the Xinhua story, but it was there in the English language version of Xi’s remarks.

It is becoming difficult to justify the direction of Xi’s ‘common prosperity’ campaign as business leaders have started speaking up about the health of the Chinese economy.

Weijian Shan, founder and chair of one of Asia’s biggest private equity investors, has criticised the Chinese government’s economic policies, resulting in a “deep economic crisis” on the scale of global financial crash.

Weijian isn’t the only business executive who has spoken up. Joerg Wuttke, president of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China, has said that Beijing’s zero-Covid policies are slowly destroying the economy.

“The current lockdown is even more extreme than in early 2020, and the economy is crashing almost as hard. Freight traffic volumes in the Shanghai metropolitan area plunged by 81% year-on-year in the first three weeks of April,” said Wuttke in an interview.

It is still rather rare for business leaders like Weijian and Wuttke to speak in the fashion they have done.

----

The attack on Confucius Institute in Karachi has left the Chinese public looking for answers. Three staff members who died in the attack were Huang Guiping, who once served as deputy dean of the School of Foreign Languages at Sichuan Normal University; Ding Mufang, a teacher; and Chen Sai, a volunteer teacher. Another Chinese national, Wang Yuqing, sustained injuries but survived the attack.

The hashtag “Pakistan Confucius Institute shuttle bus hit by the terrorist attack on campus” was viewed 16.1 million times on Weibo. Pakistan’s president made a special visit to the Chinese embassy in Islamabad to share his condolences. A related hashtag was viewed 24 million times on Weibo.

Chinese state media published an article by Pakistani authors blaming British colonisation as the root cause of the Baloch secessionist movement.

The tensions between the US and China are often articulated in a statement by unnamed official sources, but a stark example was revealed this week.

A viral video showed a PLA fighter bomber pilot named Gao Zensong ready to “pull the trigger” to “expel” a foreign vessel in the South China Sea.

“I am the air force of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. You have entered the control area of the Chinese air force. Please leave immediately. Otherwise, you will be responsible for the consequences,” Gao said in the video broadcast by state-run CCTV. The video was viewed 50 million times on Weibo.

On 27 April, the PLA spokesperson said the Chinese navy had expelled the guided-missile destroyer USS Sampson, which had sailed through the Taiwan Strait a day before.

Chinese internet censors find it particularly difficult to digest criticism from celebrities and influential business leaders.

The social media presence of Wang Sicong, son of Chinese property magnate Wang Jianlin, was scrubbed from the Chinese internet. Wang, who had 40 million followers on Weibo, openly criticised the government’s Covid policies in Shanghai, including the use of China’s state-sanctioned medicine for treating the disease.

The Chinese foreign ministry has announced that it would be willing to allow some Indian students to return.

Also read: Xi Jinping races to secure third term, jails corrupt officials, clamps down on social media

China in world news

The US officials held “top-level talks” with their UK counterparts over reducing the chances of China launching a war against Taiwan, according to the Financial Times.

“One of the people said the Taiwan meeting spanned everything from how the UK could do more diplomatically with Taipei to discussions about boosting deterrence in Asia. It also included talks about what role the UK would play if the US ended up in a war with China over Taiwan,” Financial Times reported citing unnamed sources.

Despite a slight lull in India-China relations, things haven’t yet entirely resolved themselves.

India’s Enforcement Directorate on Saturday announced that they had seized Chinese telecom giant Xiaomi’s assets worth Rs 5,551 crore under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).

The directorate said that Xiaomi was making remittances to three foreign entities, one of which was a Xiaomi entity. The directorate has alleged that Xiaomi hasn’t availed any services from the entities to which the royalty payment was remitted. Xiaomi India has been under the ED’s investigation since February.

“We have studied the order from government authorities carefully. We believe our royalty payments and statements to the bank are all legit and truthful,” Xiaomi India said.

Experts this week

“Western countries such as the US and Europe have a set of rhetoric for China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Wherever the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor passes through, and wherever there is a BRI project, they will hype China for plundering local energy and resources and portray the Chinese people as looters and loan sharks, and the locals as looted victims of so-called “debt traps”. Including the Indian media which also spreads the same propaganda. At present, the publicity statements of the Baluchistan Liberation Army are the same as that of the United States, the West, and India. It is possible that BLA is to please these countries to gain more support,” wrote Liu Zongyi, senior fellow and secretary-general of the South Asia and China Center, Shanghai Institutes for International Studies.

Podworld

India’s neutral position on the war in Ukraine has become a matter of discussion worldwide. India’s position has had an impact on its relations with China.

Sinica Podcast’s Kaiser Kuo spoke to Manjari Chatterjee Miller, Senior Fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations, and Manoj Kewalramani, chairperson of the Indo-Pacific Research Programme and a China studies fellow at the Takshashila Institution, about how the war in Ukraine is shaping India-China relations.

The author is a columnist and a freelance journalist, currently pursuing an MSc in international politics with focus on China from School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. He was previously a China media journalist at the BBC World Service. He tweets @aadilbrar. Views are personal.

This is a weekly round-up that Aadil Brar writes about what’s buzzing in China. This will soon be available as a subscribers’-only product.

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