The new James Bond film is nostalgia of a declining empire

British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth Photo:VCG

I watched the new James Bond movie last night. It is well made. But the more I watched, the more it looked like comedy. In one scene when they are about to destroy a chemical manufacturing facility located on a disputed island between Russia and Japan, the MI6 official asks whether there are any Royal Navy warships nearby. It turns out there are, and then the missile is launched. Are the British sleepwalking? The Royal Navy is now relying heavily on the Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier, which has been leaking frequently, to scrape a battle group up. Yet HMS Queen Elizabeth did come to show in the Asia Pacific region recently. But if it is exploited as the basis for the story, it would be too embarrassing.

The UK is a declining empire. The novel coronavirus epidemic has gravely devastated the country, killing hundreds of thousands of people. Many residents of other countries are afraid of taking the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine produced by the UK. In the Taiwan island alone, hundreds of people died after receiving the vaccine. Ironically, this James Bond movie is about preventing biological weapons.

The British are really good at this. Although the country is in decline, it is still high-spirited. In the newly filmed 007 movie, the empire seems to be in full swing. But I believe that the Western blockbusters in which characters attempt to save the human race will gradually become ridiculous over time, as these blockbusters will lose the public's psychological foundation due to the relative decline in strengths of Western countries and the continuous disintegration of self-confidence.

In the movie, the disputed islands between Russia and Japan, which should be controlled by Russia, were bombed. If the UK dared to do this in reality, Russia wouldn't waste a minute to respond with hardline measures. A few months ago after Moscow said a patrol ship fired warning shots against British vessels, London declined that any warning shot had been fired.

But I have to praise James Bond movies. They never mess with China. Instead, they are friendly to China. Even when the ties between China and Britain is getting worse, some villains in the movie still "speak Russian." This is because the Chinese film market is huge. In a commercial promoting the James Bond movie, Daniel Craig said "Thank you" in Chinese, showing his appreciation. Chinese consumption power is the strength. 

Hu Xijin

The author is editor-in-chief of the Global Times.

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OMICRON NEW VARIANT ALERT !

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Stay cautious even fully jabbed

 Proactive and preventive measures against Covid-19 need to be heightened to prevent a new threat from the Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant, say health experts.

The new coronavirus variant, first detected in South Africa on Nov 9, was classified as a variant of concern (VOC) by the World Health Organisation on Friday.

With countries around the world rushing to contain the Omicron variant, Singapore has announced that Malaysians using the land Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) to get to the republic from today must take an Antigen Rapid Test upon arrival.

Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) president Dr Koh Kar Chai said Malaysia should be cautious with the new variant which has already been detected in Europe and Asia.

He said early evidence suggested that the Omicron variant had a higher reinfection risk.

“Experts have already expressed concern that Omicron’s large number of mutations may help it spread or even enable it to evade antibodies from prior infections or vaccination,” he said, adding that Malaysians needed to be on alert as all economic sectors had reopened.

With the latest variant threat, Dr Koh urged Malaysians to strictly adhere to the SOP even after full vaccination and booster shots.

“We also advise the remaining population who are unvaccinated to get their jabs as soon as possible if they are eligible as it will prevent severe Covid-19.

“All available evidence-based preventive measures against Covid-19 should be taken. Regardless of the variant, the public should not let its guard down,” he said.

Universiti Malaya epidemiologist Prof Datuk Dr Awang Bulgiba Awang Mahmud said Malaysia should safeguard its borders as there was reason to be extra cautious of the Omicron variant.

“This is possibly the shortest time between detection of a variant and its designation as a VOC,” he said, pointing to the period between Nov 9 and when it was reported to WHO on Nov 24.

Dr Awang Bulgiba, however, said time would determine whether the new VOC was more lethal than the earlier ones.

“We need to increase our genomic surveillance and sequencing combined with thorough epidemiological analysis to make sure we do not miss any Omicron infections,” he said, adding that the Omicron variant could be quickly identified through a PCR test, where there is an S gene dropout.

He said by using the PCR test, samples could then be prioritised in order to be sent for genome sequencing.

“It takes time but this is needed for confirmation,” he said.

Dr Awang Bulgiba said due to the potential immune escape for the particular VOC, vaccine manufacturers were investigating whether their vaccines require updating.

He said Novavax was already working on a newer version of its vaccine with Omicron in mind, while Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson were examining whether their vaccines needed updating.

He said AstraZeneca had months earlier worked on a newer updated version of its vaccine (AZD2816) which targeted the Beta variant.

“AstraZeneca has stated that they are working to see if their current vaccine and its new long-acting antibody cocktail (AZD7442) work against the Omicron variant.

“As the Omicron variant shares some of the same mutations of the Beta variant, it would probably not take very long for the company to modify the AZD2816 to work against the Omicron variant, if indeed there is a need to do so,” he said.

In safeguarding the country from the potential spread of the variant, Dr Awang Bulgiba advised that vaccination for schoolchildren, as well as the booster programme, need to be completed quickly to achieve optimal immunity in the population.

Universiti Putra Malaysia medical epidemiologist Assoc Prof Dr Malina Osman said preliminary findings showed that the new variant’s protein differed significantly from that used to develop vaccines against Covid-19 infection.

She said current measures of the Health Ministry were sufficient but the public must continuously adhere to the SOP.

“The travel ban on the affected countries should continue until specific clinical impact is known,” said Dr Malina.

The ministry had on Friday announced that Malaysians had been banned from travelling to seven African countries following the emergence of the new variant.

Foreigners with a history of travel to South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe over the past 14 days would not be allowed to enter Malaysia.

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US-STYLE DEMOCRACY: National Endowment for Disgrace (NED) trashes good name of democracy

 Illustration: Liu Rui/GT 

 

NGOs often conjure up the images of activists getting busy banning ivory trade, waving BLM banners or alerting people to climate change. Although it is not always certain what their ulterior motives are, they always seem to make things appear bright and beautiful.

This is why it puzzles me when it comes to the categorization of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) of the United States, a self-claimed "NGO" whose establishment was approved by the US Congress. For one thing, by using state funding, the agency has been faithfully preaching hegemonic doctrines of the US government. For another, by guiding and financially supporting separatist rebels in countries deemed detrimental to American dominance, this pair of Uncle Sam's white gloves is instigating instability, terror and even wars worldwide.

How could such an agency be labeled an NGO? It would probably be too much to say that the NED stands for being Notorious, Egregious and Disrespectful. But the organization can be compared to the foolish emperor in Andersen's fairy tale "the Emperor's New Clothes". Everyone is crystal clear who is naked with nasty intent, yet the evil-doer continues to stand still, awkwardly pretending nothing ever happened.

NED has claimed that "from time to time, Congress has provided special appropriations to the Endowment to carry out specific democratic initiatives in countries of specific interests". The reason why it never bothers to hide its goals is that for US politicians, "democracy" has been such an overwhelmingly persuasive pretext to justify all their wrongdoings in a flagrant way, including meddling with other countries' internal affairs, triggering wars and conflicts. "A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA," said Allen Weinstein, one of the founding members of NED, when introducing the tasks assigned to NED. Thanks to such honesty, if Daniel Craig must drop his 007 career after No Time to Die, Agent NED could be recommended to succeed him in a film called No Time to Lie.

For many, including many Chinese, NED is nothing but an obnoxious pest. According to Asahi Shimbun, as of 2016, NED had provided some $96.52 million to at least 103 anti-China entities, including the notorious separatist groups, such as World Uyghur Congress (WUC) and Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC). NED has provided the WUC and its affiliations with millions of dollars in funding, including $1,284,000 since 2016. This money goes to train activists and media influencers and lobby for support for Uygur separatists. In Hong Kong, NED has been in connection with several notable destabilizing forces and individuals. Reports have revealed that the NED offered over HKD13 million to the so-called Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, led by Lee Cheuk-yan, to organize illegal separatist campaigns. In 2019, NED invited several notorious Hong Kong "independence" preachers for speeches, including Lee Chu-ming, who was dubbed by Ta Kung Pao as a "Hong Kong traitor" and won the NED annual prize in 2004; as did Lee Cheuk-yan and Nathan Law. The mobs keep begging for their sugar daddy "no money, no honey", so NED keeps feeding them greenbacks paid by American taxpayers in the name of "democracy". Such an "unofficial" NED price acts consistently with the official remarks out of State Department spokesperson Ned Price. Together, these twofold American prongs encourage mobs to act out for Uncle Sam's expectations.

NED's victim list worldwide also includes America's allies. According to the New York Times, NED provided French right-wing groups with $1.4 million to organize campaigns against former president François Mitterrand. In Eastern Europe, millions of dollars have been spent by NED in support of the shock therapy in the 1990s. In Caribbean countries, NED has actively engaged in the conspiracy of overthrowing elected governments, with Haiti and Nicaragua being the most prominent examples. In Arab countries, NED sponsored numerous riot organizations and remained a crucial "contributor" to the collapse of the Mubarak and Khadafi administrations and the subsequent chaos. In Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia and Belarus, NED has been amplifying its voices by hiring Western media to relentlessly fire against the countries' leaders. It did so while interfering with their domestic election processes by politically and financially supporting the opposition forces.

In Thailand, the NED aimed at students and youngsters while launching its brainwash campaign through social media, just as it did in Hong Kong. In many ways, those methods were adopted together, enabling NED to meddle with the domestic issues of countries or administrations that it deemed "challenging" to American dominance under the cover of democracy promotion.

The US has always been strangely egoistic to seek a monopoly for the definition of "democracy". In this way, NED serves as a channel for it to achieve "democracy hegemony", claiming, "I'm the beacon of light, and those who don't listen to me are certainly autocratic". With that solid reason, NED could feel free to interfere with other countries' domestic issues, infiltrate into other countries for subversive purposes, and ultimately promote riots and rebels.

Under the disguise of democracy and for the purpose of conspiracy, NED is indeed an abbreviation for "National Endowment for Disgrace". NED as a tool of the US Empire has only disgraced what democracy is all about.

The author is a commentator on international affairs, writing regularly for Global Times, CGTN, Xinhua News Agency, etc.. He can be reached at xinping604@gmail.com.

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