Allegations and accusations that China is trapping Africa into unsustainable debt agreements have dominated the conversation around Africa-China relations in Western media, but what does the data tell us? The reality is that China is canceling 23 loans to African countries amid this 'Debt Trap' debate. We look at the international implications of this claim, what debt trap diplomacy is, and who owns most of Africa's external debts. Featuring Sri Lanka, the African Development Bank, and the “secret” lenders they don’t tell us about, with Mikaela Nhondo Erskog researcher at TriContinental Institute for Social Research and one of the hosts of the new podcast The Crane, an African China podcast by the Dongsheng Collective. Plus: We discuss Mikhail Gorbachev’s legacy, what to make of Biden’s student loan debt moves, Lindsey Graham’s threats of “riots in the streets” if Trump is prosecuted, and more...
China is a modern superpower, as is the U.S., but a qualitatively different one. The U.S. uses military aggression, coups and sanctions to impose U.S. corporate interests worldwide. China is a predominantly peaceful power that respects national sovereignty, mutual development, and non-interference.
Despite opposing imperialism, too many in the Western...
China’s future looks increasingly bleak, but it has great counter-cyclical expansion potential via domestic and international rebalancing
In a daring thought experiment, imagine just for a moment that you are the powerful president of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). You are sitting next to a cozy fireplace in a...
Why Isn't the Whole World Screaming "STOP!"?
Right now, the neocons that Biden has surrounded himself with are threatening to accuse him of having ‘lost Taiwan.’
Especially if Biden backs down from his many threats to China, including most notably the threat that the U.S. Government will reverse America’s “One China”...
Part Three: Artificial Intelligence = Alienation Instructors
I am conscious of being alienated. Feeling, knowing we have no real control over our lives, or over what happens around us throughout the world. Many of us who look honestly inside feel isolated, estranged from people, society, ourselves. Hopelessly living limply with...
Following up on last week's show where we discussed the quickly-changing dynamics of U.S.-European relationships under Donald Trump, we look at the “peace deal” Trump has penned with Ukraine that reportedly includes significant mineral rights for the U.S...
Western media described recent protests in China as “mark[ing] a new awakening” and represent a significant challenge to Xi Jinping and the Communist Party of China. After years of leading the world in addressing COVID-19, the Chinese government is indeed relaxing some of the lockdown regulations, but the situation is far more nuanced than the media is reporting.
An on-the-ground account challenging Western propaganda
Upon landing in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (commonly known as Xinjiang), it is evident that the Uyghurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim minority, call this home.
As I exited the airport arrivals hall, I noticed a restaurant sign reading “EGG BOMB.” The...
On today’s show, we bring you the second half of our interview with Tings Chak, Researcher and art director at Tricontinental: Institute of Social Research, and a member of the Dongsheng Collective. We focus on the Chinese government’s programs to eradicate extreme poverty in the country and further discuss her work on the study “Serve the People: The Eradication of Extreme Poverty in China” for Tricontinental.
After almost a year of an escalating trade war, U.S. President Donald Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea last week...
