Lukas Messmer

China places a Hong Kong-sized bet on Western decline The territory aims to prove that a non-free society can be a global financial hub

Hong Kong’s plan to prove that a dynamic financial hub and “world city” does not have to hew to Western liberal values. My column, The Telegram, reported from HK

economist.com/internationa...
from The Economist

Waiting for the hit piece on Trump's dogmatic education he received at Wharton.

"The president has said his education at Wharton was formative. But critics say that his degree exemplifies how business schools steep students in capitalist dogma."

And, of course, by cancelling his visa they are verifying that Trump is, indeed "Idi Amin in whiteface."

(S+) Sojakrieg am Mississippi: Chinas Rache an Trumps Bauern Iowas Sojabauern wählten Trump. Doch seine Zölle kosten sie ihren Hauptkunden China. Ausgerechnet hier, wo einst ein junger Agrarbeamter namens Xi Jinping aufkreuzte – der bis heute eine Brieffreundsc...

Iowas Sojabauern wählten Trump. Doch seine Zölle kosten sie ihren Hauptkunden China. Ausgerechnet hier, wo einst ein junger Agrarbeamter namens Xi Jinping aufkreuzte, der bis heute eine Brieffreundschaft mit einer Seniorin pflegt.

Reportage aus Muscatine @spiegel.de

www.spiegel.de/ausland/chin...

SHAPIRO: OK, so you've spent your career creating television without Al, and I could imagine today you thinking, boy, I wish I had had that tool to solve those thorny problems... SIMON: What? SHAPIRO: ...Or saying... SIMON: You imagine that? SHAPIRO: ...Boy, if that had existed, it would have screwed me over. SIMON: I don't think Al can remotely challenge what writers do at a fundamentally creative level. SHAPIRO: But if you're trying to transition from scene five to scene six, and you're stuck with that transition, you could imagine plugging that portion of the script into an Al and say, give me 10 ideas for how to transition this. SIMON: I'd rather put a gun in my mouth.

David Simon, creator of ‘The Wire’, being interviewed by Ari Shapiro (NPR)

EU sanctions envoy David O'Sullivan the latest top EU official to confirm Wang Yi comments to Kallas

"I know that in many in America would say, yeah, but China is much more of a problem than Russia. But actually they're kind of two sides of the same coin...

So much has gone wrong in US press reporting on Trump because the White House reporters are people who have exclusively covered US politics.

They need people who have worked in Hungary, Turkey, etc. The relevant knowledge isn't Reagan factoids; it's the dynamics of competitive authoritarianism.

One of my favorite poems since childhood, and a poem I share every #autumnequinox.
By the 12thc warrior poet Xin Qiji 辛棄疾, sidelined during peacetime, demoted, drifting through a decade of minor posts in remote lands.
Poetry, then, is that which is left unsaid.
“My, what a cool and lovely autumn.”

So what are we thinking, a 70-30 balance?

"This country is full of maniacs with guns who shoot people for all kinds of crazy reasons" — a long text message from my friend Cleo Rose-Innes (like me, not born in the U.S.), copied in this 🧵:

What I learned from my conversations with China's star AI scientist On more structured approaches to AGI, the Chinese approach to AI, and the disillusioned emigre scientist

... and some interesting thoughts from the author of the article.
changche.substack.com/p/what-i-lea...

‘I have to do it’: Why one of the world’s most brilliant AI scientists left the US for China In 2020, after spending half his life in the US, Song-Chun Zhu took a one-way ticket to China. Now he might hold the key to who wins the global AI race

“Do I want the Silicon Valley people to win? Probably not.” He wants, he said, the most ethical version of AI to win.
www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...

Der abgeschriebene Artikel auf @watson.ch ist weiterhin online. Ein Mail an die Redaktion bleibt unbeantwortet. Egal? Hauptsache Klicks und Narrative sind bedient?

Autonome Polizeifahrzeuge: Droht uns eine neue Gefahr? Über das fahrerlose Auto wird seit Langem sehr viel geredet. Doch nun sind die Tech-Lords der großen Digitalnationen drauf und dran, die Städte im Namen der Sicherheit mit Maschinenwesen zu bevölkern.

Die FAZ hat den Fehler bemerkt und seither umgetextet. Im Link sieht man weiterhin den alten Titel. Das war einmal Indikativ. Die Bildlegende ist weiterhin falsch. Das Bild ist aus Tianjin im Rahmen der SCO.
www.faz.net/aktuell/feui...

Der Artikel spricht von einem unbemannten Auto, das Videos macht und über Lautsprecher Informationen verbreiten kann. Hat hier jemand 拍摄视频 falsch übersetzt? Auf Menschen schiesst hier jedenfalls nichts.

Dieses Video zeigt offensichtlich, dass die FAZ und Watson falsch liegen. Zwei Polizisten legen eine Schwimmweste und einen Rettungsring ins Innere.
m.chinanews.com/wap/detail/s...

Ein Redaktor von @watson.ch, (nib), hat den Text von einem Feuilleton-Artikel in der FAZ von Niklaus Maak abgeschrieben. Es lohnt sich, den etwas merkwürdigen, erdichteten Artikel zu lesen. In China gibt es keine selbst-schiessenden Autos.

In China gibt es jetzt unbemannte, selbst schiessende Polizeiautos In China gibt es die ersten unbemannten und selbst schiessenden Polizeiautos.

Ich bin jetzt seit bald zwei Monaten in China, und ich bin fasziniert wie "weit weg" das Land von Europa doch immer noch ist. Ein Beispiel: @watson.ch publiziert einen Artikel über angebliche "selbstschiessende" Autos. Darin stimmt eigentlich nichts.
www.watson.ch/internationa...

Get ready for a bunch of media interviews with traumatized South Koreans workers once they all return home, about how they were treated by the U.S. and ICE.

Europe’s summer from hell bleeds into autumn as Trump and Xi turn the screws Brussels flounders and others set the pace of global power politics, so commentators reach for comparison in Chinese history.

Europe’s summer from hell bleeds into autumn as Trump and Xi turn the screws

My piece looking at how China's flex of military muscle and diplomatic clout is going down in Europe

No question

My prediction is that someday fairly soon we will wake up to find Chinese astronauts walking on the Moon, and the entire country will absolutely freak out about falling behind in space.

Opinion | We Warned About the First China Shock. The Next One Will Be Worse.

Important piece from @davidautor.bsky.social & Gordon Hanson about the next "China shock" and how to deal with it. #EconSky
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/o...

Thailand’s judiciary is flexing its muscles, but away from PM’s plight, dozens of activists are at the mercy of capricious courts Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has been suspended from office. Meanwhile, leading activists languish behind bars on ‘lèse majesté’ offenses.

Important to keep an eye on what is occurring in Thailand at present

#Trump’s #tariffs on #China aren’t a simple “win” or "loss" for American trade policy—they have a multifaceted impact on China, affecting its economy and preferred political narrative in ways many might not expect. A brief 🧵:

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Maroussia Lévesque uses the term “analog privilege” to describe how the wealthy avoid being subject to & penalized by algorithmic decision making models. You know what rich people also do? Send their kids to private schools where they have low student-to-teacher ratios & aren’t forced to use GenAI.

Aktueller Screenshot des Trump-Tickers, den der Schweizer „Tagesanzeiger“ führt.

Stell dir vor, der Präsident des wirtschaftlich und politisch mächtigsten Landes der Welt ändert jeden Tag seine Meinung, oft sogar mehrmals am Tag. Dann müssten die Tageszeitungen einen Ticker nur für die Furz-Ideen dieses Präsidenten einrichten. Stell dir das einmal vor.
#Trump

All praise for @chinadigitaltimes.net aside, let me say that it makes me absolutely f-cking furious that they have to put their bowl out for $10K.

It's a sum that is absolutely inconsequential in comparison to the value CDT provides.

It's 1/4 year kindergarten tuition at a Beijing int'l school.

A collage depicting blimps, planes, drones, and ships trawling the sea and sky for digital devices and information.

NEW: A ChinaFile investigation into China's powerful, but leaky, internet censorship system at locknet.chinafile.com
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