Tag: China

The BRICS Problem for America

The American dollar has long enjoyed a prominent position in the world, one that has allowed the United States to retain its superpower status and to elevate the quality of life for her people.

Unfortunately, all of this preeminence and prosperity may be coming to a disturbingly unpleasant end.

The BRICS alliance, which consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, is a group of nations that has assembled together. A newly emerging goal of the alliance is to move away from the US dollar and move towards the creation of a new global currency.

The ramifications of the BRICS coalition are profound, not only for America’s place on the international economic stage, but for the potential future of international relations.

Speaking at a recent economic event in New Delhi, India, Russian Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Alexander Babakov urged India and Russia to form a financial relationship that would include the establishment of a new common currency.

Babakov placed particular emphasis on the notion that both nations should work to obtain a new medium for facilitating payments.

“New Delhi, Moscow should institute a new economic association with a new shared currency, which could be a digital ruble or the Indian rupee,” Babakov said.

He also stressed that China would be a major player in developing a common currency for India, Russia, and China itself.

“New Delhi, Beijing and Moscow are the nations that now institute a multipolar world that is endorsed by the majority of governments,” the Russian official said.

He additionally emphasized the need for a new currency that does not rely on the US dollar or the euro.

“Its composition should be based on inducting new monetary ties established on a strategy that does not defend the US’s dollar or euro, but rather forms a new currency competent of benefiting our shared objectives,” he remarked.

Jim O’Neill, a British economist and a former chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, is recognized for having coined the acronym BRIC, which initially stood for Brazil, Russia, India, and China. He used the term to describe rapidly growing economies that he felt would eventually dominate the global economy.

When South Africa was added in 2010, the set of initials was altered to read as BRICS.

The five BRICS nations have a combined area of 15,346,100 sq. miles (about 27% of the world’s land surface), and an estimated total population of about 3.2 billion (approximately 42% of the global population).

Russia, India, and China are included among the world’s largest countries by population, area, and GDP.

Since 2009, BRICS representatives have met annually at formal summits, where multilateral policies have been coordinated. China hosted the most recent BRICS summit in July of 2022. The next one is scheduled for this coming August.

In a paper that was published in the Global Policy journal in late March of 2023, O’Neill, urged the BRICS bloc to challenge the US dollar’s dominance. He stated that “the U.S. dollar plays a far too dominant role in global finance.”

The effect of the BRICS alliance on international finance and geopolitics is yet to be determined. However, it is clear that the current BRICS nations are attempting to position themselves as an alternative model to the G7.

The G7 is comprised of the world’s most advanced economies, including the United States, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, Canada, and the EU.

As a likely consequence of the war in Ukraine, the BRICS countries have distanced themselves from the efforts of the United States and its allies to aid Ukraine. BRICS nations have refused to take part in any of the sanctions against Russia.

Many European and US policymakers are rightly concerned that this group of nations may become less of an economically-oriented institution and more of a geopolitical alliance.

In 2014, with $50 billion in seed money, the BRICS nations launched the New Development Bank as an alternative to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. They additionally created a liquidity mechanism called the “Contingent Reserve Arrangement” to assist member states with payments.

The alternatives appear to be attractive to many other developing and emerging economies, and a large number of them have expressed interest in joining.

The BRICS bank has brought in new member nations. In 2021, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, and Bangladesh became shareholders.

Worldwide interest from other nations in joining the BRICS group is on the rise. The bloc is formulating criteria for new member states and may decide by the end of this year on whether to admit some additional countries.

South Africa is the 2023 chair of BRICS, and South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor recently revealed that a number of countries have approached the previous chair, China, about joining.

“The world is changing in very worrying ways. Countries are searching for like-minded partners around the world,” Pandor said at a press conference in Johannesburg.

“Many countries are finding that the approach of BRICS is one [in which] they would like to take part,” she added.

Reportedly, the list of potential new BRICS members includes Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Algeria, Argentina, Mexico, and Nigeria. By brokering a peace deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran, China paved the way for both nations to join BRICS.

A multipolar economic order seems to be advancing quickly, which is expected to have serious implications for America.

If the US dollar loses its position as the reserve currency of the world, this would mean a loss of more than just economic power and influence.

A new global currency could make it even more difficult for the US to enforce sanctions, which it uses regularly as an alternative to military action.

A global shift away from the US dollar may lead to far less geopolitical power for the United States.

It may also constitute a grave threat to the geopolitical stability the world has experienced up until now.

China Cancels Keanu Reeves

Keanu Reeves had his breakthrough role in 1989, when he starred in the sci-fi comedy “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure.” Two movie sequels and two television series based on the film soon sprang forth.

The more serious side of the actor’s artistry emerged in dramas that included “My Own Private Idaho” and in action films such as “Point Break” and “Speed.”

Keanu, however, was destined for super stardom. He achieved this high watermark when he landed the role of Neo in a film that would ultimately become the “Matrix” franchise series.

In a realm that few celebrities experience, he was able to continue to sustain his fame with yet another cinematic franchise, the “John Wick” film series.

In terms of his ancestry, Keanu is the personification of diversity. His father is Native Hawaiian, Chinese, English, Irish, and Portuguese. His grandmother on his father’s side is Chinese Hawaiian, a woman who imbued a young Keanu with Chinese culture and philosophy. His mother is from Beirut, Lebanon, the place where the actor was actually born. His father left when Keanu was only three years of age, but a reunion with his dad occurred when he was thirteen. It took place on the island of Kauai.

Despite his Chinese heritage, his years of collaboration with Chinese film entities, and his mega-star status with the Chinese population, Keanu was recently severely censored by Chinese authorities for his participation in a benefit concert for Tibet House, a non-profit organization affiliated with the exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

Previous entertainment figures that were canceled by communist officials for their expressions of support for Tibet include Richard Gere, Selena Gomez, Lady Gaga, and Brad Pitt, who was canceled and then brought back.

In a predictable development, China’s streaming platforms have now erased almost all of Keanu’s works from their catalogues as well as from search results in the Chinese language that appear under his name. His most well known movies that have been wiped away include “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure,” “Speed,” and “The Matrix” films.

Bizarrely, “Toy Story 4,” for which Keanu voiced a character, has been left online. However, the actor’s name has been purged from the credits.

Keanu’s newfound redacted status in China at a time of heightened geopolitical tension is a strong indication that Beijing censors will prohibit his upcoming projects from being distributed.

Unlike a host of other creative artists in Hollywood, Keanu appears to be the complete opposite of a self-centered celeb. Known to be a dedicated team player as well as an individual who actually safeguards his privacy, Time magazine once characterized him as “Hollywood’s ultimate introvert.”

A special part of his appeal is a humility that he exudes when the cameras aren’t rolling. He has demonstrated a genuine goodness in many a real life circumstance. The internet is replete with stories, interviews, and pictures of Keanu in virtuous action.

The first of his good deeds to go viral occurred when video footage emerged of him offering his New York subway seat to a fellow passenger who was carrying a heavy bag.

Another incident that spread like wildfire on social media was one involving a United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Los Angeles, which was forced to make an emergency landing in Bakersfield, California. Keanu spent time reading to fellow passengers, dining with them on fast food, and entertaining them with his country music performances. He generously posed for photos with his traveling companions, took the lead in helping them deal with the stress of an emergency landing, and assisted others in getting to their destination.

Additionally, in an unusual sort of re-negotiation of a contract for the “Matrix” sequels, Keanu took a pay cut so that more money might be available for use on special effects and costumes.

After his sister Kim was diagnosed with leukemia, he reportedly gave 70 percent of his $35 million compensation for the first “Matrix” film to leukemia research.

Every stunt man in “John Wick 3” received a Harley-Davidson motorcycle courtesy of Keanu, following a difficult stunt-oriented filming session.

He told Esquire, “That fight was 17 shooting days. We trained every day for seven hours for three weeks going through all the motions. We learned the term ‘super-perfect.’ You want to go for super-perfect. So, obviously I was getting paid well. And so, you know, just as a thank you to those guys. Got them some gifts.”

After hearing that Al Pacino was not going to be a part of “The Devil’s Advocate” due to a shortfall in the movie’s budget, he took a pay cut to bring the legendary Pacino back in.

More than a billion kids around the globe have benefited from a leading children’s charity that Keanu set up.

Consistent with his low-key persona, he generally keeps his religious convictions under the vest. On one occasion, when an interviewer asked permission to inquire about his religious beliefs, he politely replied, “Please don’t. I think it’s personal and private.”

In a separate interview, when asked whether he was a spiritual person, he revealed that he is indeed very spiritual and a believer in the Almighty.

“Do I believe in God, faith, inner faith, the self, passion, and things? Yes, of course! I’m very spiritual … Supremely spiritual … Bountifully spiritual … Supremely bountiful,” he said.

When it comes to Keanu, in art and in life China’s loss is the rest of the world’s gain.

Ted Cruz’s Legislation Could Halt China’s Censoring of Hollywood

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Texas Senator Ted Cruz may really be on to something big.

Sen. Cruz plans to introduce legislation soon, which will address a critically important issue involving the rights of Americans, as well as folks in other nations, to enjoy entertainment product that is free from Chinese communist censorship.

The former 2016 GOP presidential candidate has, in accordance with modern congressional practice, affixed a clever acronym to his new bill, SCRIPT, which stands for the “Stopping Censorship, Restoring Integrity, Protecting Talkies” Act.

The legislation seeks to deter a current practice of Hollywood studios in which, prior to release, they submit movies to Chinese censors. The proposed law would cut off any assistance given by the Department of Defense to those film studios that allow the communist regime to alter cinematic content.

With regard to many a film and television production project, Hollywood has often requested help from the Pentagon. It has been this way for years. In each branch of the military, there is actually a liaison office that aids filmmakers with consultation, personnel, equipment, and access to military installations.

“For too long, Hollywood has been complicit in China’s censorship. The SCRIPT Act will serve as a wake-up call by forcing Hollywood studios to choose between the assistance they need from the American government and the dollars they want from China,” Sen. Cruz recently said in a statement.

The truth is Hollywood is in need of a wake-up call. China was set to surpass the U.S. box office of 2020 just before the coronavirus shutdown occurred.

Hollywood executives are well aware of the fact that the Chinese regime limits the number of foreign films that can be released annually in its country. Additionally, many Chinese companies provide considerable amounts of capital for Hollywood productions.

The Chinese regime is preoccupied with projecting a false image in order for it to continue to maintain its power. As a result it has frequently injected itself into creative aspects of American entertainment production and oftentimes altered content to fit its own agenda.

Back in 1997, Martin Scorsese’s film “Kundun” was banned, because it appeared to be sympathetic to the Dalai Lama. Scorsese and other members of the production team were literally banned by the Chinese regime from ever entering the country again.

China also took the dramatic step of banning Disney films and television shows. Disney actually apologized in 1998 for releasing “Kundun.” Eventually, though, the company was able to make a deal in 2016 to open Shanghai Disneyland.

In 2006, creators of “Mission Impossible III” were required to remove part of the film’s opening sequence in which underwear hanging on a clothesline made its “undesirable” appearance in a Tom Cruise chase scene in Shanghai.

The following year, creators of “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” were evidently persuaded to edit out footage of the character Chow Yun-fat, because it offended the Chinese powers that be.

In a 2012 reboot of “Red Dawn,” the original plot featured an invasion of the United States by China. The storyline was dutifully altered to depict the invading enemy as being from North Korea. Since the initial filming had already been completed, this feat was accomplished via re-shoots and digital alteration. It would be to no avail though, because the movie still ended up in the position of being unable to obtain a China release.

The James Bond 2013 installment, “Skyfall,” was released only after scenes that included Chinese police using torture tactics and prostitution occurring in Macau were edited out.

That same year the Brad Pitt film “World War Z” was banned by the regime in Beijing, because the plot of the film had the origin of the zombie outbreak kick off in China. Interestingly, Chinese officials also had a grudge against Pitt for his audaciousness in having starred in the movie “Seven Years in Tibet.”

As a condition of the China release of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” creators of the 2018 Queen biopic had to redact any references to lead singer Freddie Mercury’s sexual identity and the cause of his passing. The Chinese censors even removed part of star Rami Malek’s Oscar acceptance speech from the streaming Academy Award ceremony.

During the same year, Disney’s “Christopher Robin” was banned by Chinese censors, because activists had noted on the internet President Xi Jinping’s resemblance to Winnie the Pooh.

In the movie trailer of the yet to be released “Top Gun: Maverick,” missing from Tom Cruise’s iconic leather jacket are the Japanese and Taiwanese flag patches, which appeared on Maverick’s original coat. The patches have been replaced by two non-descript, similarly colored symbols.

Sen. Cruz’s SCRIPT Act would be a great first step in trying to address China’s egregious pattern of modifying U.S. entertainment product.

Now if only Hollywood could lend its support to the cause embodied in the legislation — that even in the entertainment industry, artistry and its dual pursuits of truth and self-determination, still reign supreme over profit.

Quentin Tarantino Pushes Back on China

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Someone in Hollywood is finally standing up to China.

Bucking the trend of the big studios, which have been routinely allowing Chinese censors to dictate movie content, Quentin Tarantino has made it clear that he will not alter his latest film, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” as Chinese officials had demanded.

As a result, China has cancelled the release of Tarantino’s fantasy-dramedy, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt. The homage to 1960s Hollywood had originally been scheduled to hit Chinese movie screens on October 25.

Chinese officials have not publicly revealed exactly what they found to be objectionable in the movie. Reportedly, the reason that the demand to modify came about was because of the filmmaker’s depiction of legendary martial arts practitioner and actor Bruce Lee.

Lee’s daughter Shannon had reportedly requested that the National Film Administration of China intervene over the portrayal of her father in the movie as a conceited braggart.

In a recent interview with The Wrap, Shannon inserted a broader controversy into her objections concerning the film.

“I can understand all the reasoning behind what is portrayed in the movie, I understand that the two characters are antiheroes and this is sort of like a rage fantasy of what would happen… and they’re portraying a period of time that clearly had a lot of racism and exclusion. I understand they want to make the Brad Pitt character this super bad-a** who could beat up Bruce Lee,” Shannon stated.

“But they didn’t need to treat him in the way that white Hollywood did when he was alive,” she added.

When the subject came up at a recent press conference in Moscow, Tarantino defended the depiction of Lee in the film, telling reporters the following:

“I heard him say things like that, to that effect. If people are saying, ‘Well he never said he could beat up Muhammad Ali,’ well yeah, he did. Not only did he say that, but his wife, Linda Lee, said that in her first biography I ever read… She absolutely said it. Bruce Lee was kind of an arrogant guy. The way he was talking, I didn’t just make a lot of that up.”

Media content is routinely and strictly controlled by communist bureaucrats in China as has been recently observed with the banning of Winnie the Pooh, the animated series “South Park,” and the NBA pre-season games.

It is yet to be seen whether Tarantino will hold the line and remain solid in his refusal to bend to the Chinese powers that be. In the past, the filmmaker made cuts to scenes in the movie “Django Unchained” after Chinese censors exerted pressure and the film’s release was cancelled.

After “Django Unchained” was re-edited and released in China, it ended up flopping, taking in a meager $2.7 million, despite a global box office of $425 million. However, Tarantino’s current offering, “Once Upon a Time,” features DiCaprio, an actor fave of Chinese audiences. Expectations were that the film was going to do much better than the above described re-edit debacle.

A critics’ favorite, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” has increasingly become a part of the buzz surrounding next year’s Academy Awards. The movie’s performance has been a solid one at the box office, with a $367 million take. Its profit margin has been even more impressive, thanks to a budget of a mere $90 million.

If it were solely up to the studio, which is Sony Pictures, the Chinese censors might have had an easier time getting their way. However, Tarantino was able to obtain the contractual right to the final edited version of the movie, and that puts the filmmaker in the catbird seat in terms of decisions regarding any modifications to the final cut.

China Attempts to Censor the World

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The People’s Republic of China has been busy stopping its own people from seeing, listening to, and otherwise engaging in informational and entertainment media of all sorts, including movies, television, books, newspapers, magazines, music, video games, and the Internet.

The Communist Party of China, the nation’s single ruling party, heavy-handedly mandates so. Notably, since 2012, when Xi Jinping became the General Secretary of the Communist Party, censorship has increased significantly.

A Hollywood case in point. Richard Gere, by all measures, had in the past been considered to be a bona-fide superstar. But something curious happened after he made a pro-Dalai Lama speech at the 1993 Academy Awards.

In what he likely assumed was a free speech prerogative, the actor went about sharing with others that he was a follower and even a defender of someone the Chinese government abhors. He soon found himself being shunned by the major studios, and he has been noticeably absent from Oscar ceremonies ever since.

“There are definitely movies that I can’t be in because the Chinese will say, ‘Not with him,’” Gere told the Hollywood Reporter.

Apparently, tech giants Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Yahoo have been voluntarily self-censoring their content for Chinese markets in order to continue conducting business with the country. Other companies and individuals have not been afforded the same opportunity.

China has banned a host of musical artists over time including Maroon 5, Lady Gaga, Guns N’ Roses, and Kylie Minogue.

Zedd, the international Grammy-winning DJ, found himself permanently banished from China. The mistake he made was that he “liked” a tweet posted on the “South Park” Twitter account. The tweet in question referred to the 300th episode of the successful animated television program. Perhaps surprisingly for Zedd, the government of China had just banned “South Park” over an episode that lampooned China along with the NBA.

The Chinese state broadcaster CCTV made the decision to ban NBA pre-season games after a tweet was posted by Daryl Morey, general manager of the Houston Rockets, which lent support to the anti-government demonstrations in Hong Kong.

Using their show to poke China, “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone aired an episode titled “Band in China,” which sent a delightfully satiric message to tech, entertainment, and sports institutions about some of the current practices of dutifully complying with China’s censors.

In the episode, one of the “South Park” characters is arrested in China and subsequently observes the brutal treatment that some of the Chinese prisoners are forced to endure.

Which prisoners suffer the abuse? Two banned characters from one of the world’s most beloved literary faves – Winnie the Pooh and his best friend Piglet, who were eliminated because Chinese dictator Xi was said to resemble Pooh in online memes.

A cartoon version of an entertainment executive who appears in the episode states that Pooh cannot be the subject of a film because the literary and Disney character is “illegal,” due to the fact that “some Chinese students said he looked like the Chinese president.”

Real life entertainment executives have been bending to China’s will for years. Disney’s movie “Christopher Robin” was not shown in the communist nation because Winnie the Pooh had a starring role in the film.

Brad Pitt’s “World War Z” had to be altered because the plot originally had the zombie outbreak originating in China and subsequently spreading throughout the world.

The remake of “Red Dawn” was re-shot and digitally altered to switch the ancestral heritage of the invaders of the U.S. from Chinese to North Korean. Despite the modifications, it still ended up not being released in China.

The James Bond movie “Skyfall” could only be shown in China after scenes were edited out, ones that depicted the existence of prostitutes in a part of China known as Macau. Additionally, references to torture that was being carried out by Chinese police had to be eliminated.

The film “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” had footage taken out, which featured Hong Kong actor Chow Yun-fat’s character, in order to please the Chinese powers that be.

“Mission Impossible III” edited out a car chase that took place in Shanghai because underwear could be seen hanging on clotheslines.

“The Departed” was banned because of an implication that the Chinese communists planned to use nuclear weapons on Taiwan.

The Bond film “Casino Royale” could only be screened after references to the Cold War were removed.

Parker and Stone issued a biting “official apology” panning China’s ban of “South Park” and jabbing the NBA while they were at it.

“Like the NBA, we welcome the Chinese censors into our homes and into our hearts. We too love money more than freedom and democracy. Xi doesn’t look just like Winnie the Pooh at all. Tune into our 300th episode this Wednesday at 10! Long live the Great Communist Party of China! May this autumn’s sorghum harvest be bountiful! We good now China?”

As slippery slopes would have it, the stifling of free speech is not being confined within China’s borders. Rather, it looks as if the freedom-denying activity has become one of China’s biggest exports.

Hollywood’s Human Rights Duplicity

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After a law was passed in Georgia to save the lives of pre-born babies with detectable heartbeats, many in Hollywood grabbed their leftist playbooks and began clamoring for a boycott of the state.

Netflix, Disney, and a smattering of Left Coast companies threatened to pull production away from Georgia if the implementation of the law began to take effect.

Allyssa Milano, who had previously called for women to boycott Georgia by means of restraint of affections, has now made a color-coded map of states deemed “most threatened,” “under threat,” or “least threatened” by pro-life legislation.

Despite the high degree of virtue signaling that has taken place regarding the issue, Hollywood continues to conduct business with foreign governments that hold abysmal human rights records.

The very same Hollywood companies that give lip service to the women empowerment movement continue to engage in an all-out quest for money from countries with dreadful women’s rights records, including Saudi Arabia, which consistently ranks in the “worst of the worst” category, according to Freedom House.

The nation of Brunei has a Sharia-based penal code, which imposes death by stoning for extramarital affairs or certain sexual acts as well as amputation of limbs for theft crimes, among other brutal penalties for criminal offenses.

Human Rights Watch states that Brunei’s Sharia law imposes “a wide range of restrictions that discriminate against women and sexual and gender minorities” and “violates freedom of expression and religion.”

Entertainment moguls continue to use the Beverly Hills Hotel for power meetings, ignoring the fact that the venue was boycotted several years ago when the owner of the hotel, the Sultan of Brunei, first decreed Sharia law.

Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s nationalist prime minister, is roundly condemned by Hollywood’s media allies on the left for his tough stand on illegal immigration, particularly when it comes to the outsized migrant population that has been flooding European countries in recent years.

The establishment media became frenzied recently when President Trump praised the Hungarian prime minister for a “tremendous job.”

“You’re respected all over Europe,” President Trump said. “Probably, like me, a little bit controversial, but that’s OK, You’ve done a good job and you’ve kept your country safe.”

For his part Orban told the press, “I would like to express that we are proud to stand together with United States on fighting against illegal migration, on terrorism, and to protect and help Christian communities all around the world.”

Vox characterized the meeting as one “between two like-minded illiberal leaders, men at the forefront of the campaign to undermine Western democracy from within.”

Vox’s statement epitomizes the worldview of liberal Hollywood. Still, many entertainment companies continue to shoot various productions in Hungary, despite differing so fundamentally with the country’s national and political ideology.

It is shockingly real that China, the most dangerous nation to America’s future, is now making decisions on what entertainment content Americans will consume, courtesy of the Hollywood companies that kowtow to the communist censors in Beijing.

Left Coast filmmakers are financing projects, partnering up with Chinese state-controlled companies, and distributing finished product in China. Hollywood firms have partnered on the production of a number of well known films, including “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” and “Venom.”

Only a small number of foreign movies are allowed into China each year. Studios are routinely permitting Chinese censors to alter themes, plots, and characters of the movies that are allowed into the country, in an effort to gain access to China’s market.

The ruling Communist Party will not allow media content that deals with religion, alcoholism, ethnic conflict, homosexuality, or any subject that might be critical of the government.

The disaster movie “2012” has a plotline in which the Chinese government rescues humanity. In the film “Gravity,” actress Sandra Bullock is able to survive in outer space via the safety provided by a Chinese Space Station. The makers of Marvel Studios’ “Doctor Strange” were evidently pressured to change a Tibetan character to a Celtic one in order to satisfy Chinese predilections about Tibet. The Academy Award winning “Call Me By Your Name” was banned in China for its depiction of homosexuality. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Walt Disney Studios had to re-edit the films “Skyfall” and “Iron Man 3” respectively, in order to please Chinese censors.

China is now attempting to destroy the rule of law in Hong Kong with a highly dangerous extradition bill. The proposed bill recently resulted in millions of protesters taking to the streets. If implemented as law, the bill would subject the citizens of Hong Kong to the kangaroo courts of mainland China, which are known for being devoid of due process.

In truth, Hollywood has become a puppet of authoritarian rulers that suppress freedom of thought, word and deed. Meanwhile the town’s silence on the human rights records of countries around the globe is deafening as its own greed eclipses conscience.