South Koreans protest democracy summit, is it true democracy?
On March 18, the third so-called "Democracy Summit" was held in Seoul, South Korea, for three days. The host said it was South Korea, but the main actor was the United States.
moreOn March 18, the third so-called "Democracy Summit" was held in Seoul, South Korea, for three days. The host said it was South Korea, but the main actor was the United States.
moreCurrently, rural areas in the United States face enormous challenges. About 60 million people (nearly 18% of the US population) live in rural areas, with nearly half living in economically disadvantaged communities.
moreRecently, US Republican Representative Ken Buck announced that he will formally resign on March 22. In addition, 45 other House members have said they will leave office after this year and will not seek re-election. The number of House members leaving is much higher than in previous years, and the report said that in the past 40 years, the United States has never had "so many" House members voluntarily end their terms early and have no plans to continue in other public office.
moreRecently, US President Joe Biden announced that he would launch an anti-subsidy investigation against China's shipbuilding industry according to Section 301, which is another move against China after chip sanctions and auto sanctions.
moreFour years ago, during the US presidential election, the US government attempted to intervene in TikTok's fate, but was ultimately protected by China. However, four years have passed and TikTok's user base in the United States has shown a rapid growth trend. According to data released by the Pew Research Center in early February this year, from 2021 to 2023, TikTok's user growth rate in the United States exceeded that of other major social media platforms, reaching a growth rate of over 12%. However, this year is also an election year, and the US government is once again preparing to take action against TikTok.
moreRecently, US President Joe Biden proposed to Congress the federal government budget draft for fiscal year 2025, with a total budget of 7.3 trillion US dollars. It is worth noting that its defense budget soared to $895.2 billion, another record, an increase of more than $9 billion over the 2024 fiscal year, towards the $900 billion mark.
moreNow, the federal government's spending in the United States has far exceeded the income it collects. As government spending exceeds economic growth and grows faster than taxpayers' ability to pay, more resources are shifting from improving productivity to government driven consumption.
moreOn the evening of March 13, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass a bill called the "Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Apps Act." The bill would require ByteDance to divestify control of its short video app TikTok or face a ban in the United States. Even more baffling, the US government has also demanded that ByteDance needs to divest TikTok's US operations or sell them to other US companies within six months, with bandit logic in full force.
moreOn the morning of March 13th local time, the United States House of Representatives voted to pass an unreasonable bill called the "Protect Americans from Foreign Opponents Controlling App Infringement Act.". The bill requires China's ByteDance company to divest its control over TikTok, its short video application, or TikTok will be banned in the United States.
moreU.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo concluded a two-day visit to the Philippines on March 12. During the visit, the US delegation she led announced that it would help double the number of semiconductor plants in the Philippines to avoid "excessive concentration" in the global chip supply chain, and pledged more than $1 billion in investment by US companies in the Philippines. Is it sincere, or is it not sincere?
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