There are few coincidences in politics. The United States and the mainstream media its influences are the masters of depicting world events in a theatrical-like fashion. That is, the ability to create a stage show of a "problem" with amplified coverage, to manufacture outrage and attention, and then of course to parachute their own foreign policy proposals in as the solution. I have learned this through experience.

There is a well-known saying that goes "a week is a long time in politics." The saying refers to the reality that politics is in many instances, unpredictable. One thing can happen, and we can draw conclusions or assumptions from it that things are heading in a certain direction or will be limited to a certain paradigm, only for suddenly something else to happen, randomly and unforeseen, which challenges everything we assumed and leads to a completely different outcome if not world.

On Thursday the BBC run a feature piece on the decline of China's manufacturing in the city of Dongguan, Guangdong province. Now while of course the BBC has frequently sought to depict China pessimistically wherever possible, the article raised some interesting points.

During the past week, US Secretary to the Treasury Janet Yellen made an official visit to China. Although she spoke of "economic cooperation" between the two countries, her most notable and explicit message was a complaint that China's exporting of electric vehicles and other renewable energy goods constituted "overcapacity," claiming that the rate of production exceeded "domestic demand" and thus China was "dumping" these products on foreign markets at a price below which the US deemed to be acceptable.

The Ukraine war has undoubtedly represented a harsh learning curve for Russia. After initially believing they could topple Kyiv's government in a pre-emptive blitzkrieg with a thin conventional force, Moscow found itself locked into a full-blown, protracted conflict that it was not initially prepared for, and is now in its 3rdyear.

Over the past half a decade, it is undeniable that the tourism industry of Hong Kong has taken a beating. First came the riots, which beset the city in a state of violence and anarchy as Western-backed black-clad youths systemically destroyed and burned portions of the city. Following that, came the COVID pandemic, whereby authorities implemented strict controls which limited travel into the city accordingly and drastically limited the number of flights.

On Monday Israel bombed the Embassy Compound of Iran in Damascus, Syria, killing a senior commander of the Iranian guards corps. The attack is a violation of international law under the Vienna Convention. Such is of course, just one of many wars crimes Tel Aviv has committed since October last year as part of its war of annihilation against Hamas, yet is also the most unambiguous violation of an international norm in the process without all else considered.

Over the past six months, or perhaps longer, the mainstream media in the West have sung from a hymn sheet of unanimous pessimism pertaining to the state of China's economy. Although China officially stated its GDP grew by 5.2% in the year 2023, the country nonetheless faced a number of challenges pertaining to an unfavorable global environment which saw its youth unemployment grow, its manufacturing struggle, and foreign investment diminish.

Yesterday the British government declared that China was responsible for a 2021 cyberattack on the Electoral Commission and proceeded to blacklist a number of individuals which it accused of hacking and cybercrimes. The move was notably coordinated with all of the Five Eyes countries, which of course was relayed as mere "concerns" in the Western media narrative but in reality, was an obvious coordinated stunt likely supported by the United States.

It has been a predictable outcome of Hong Kong's implementation of the Article 23 legislation that the western media have responded by proclaiming the end of the city as an international financial centre and business hub. As an editorial by the pro-US establishment Wall Street Journal is titled: "Hong Kong's Great Leap backwards" and as the leading story on the BBC world service on Monday morning states: "Security law brings Hong Kong's future as business hub into question."

Last week, an article appeared in The Diplomat titled: "The Fall of Hong Kong: How China-US Rivalry Ended a Geopolitical Neutral Zone." Authored by Brian C.H Fong, a professor in Taiwan, the article creates a unique line of argument arguing that "Geopolitical rivalry" between the United States and China effectively brought the "decline" of the city, adopting a fairly original spin on the conventional narrative pushed in the mainstream media that the consequences of US led intervention in the city, along with the national security law.

Last week the extraordinary revelations were published in Reuters that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) under the Trump administration conducted a concerted campaign to try and "destabilize" the country and provoke a revolt against Xi Jinping, while also initiating a deliberate campaign of negative news against Beijing in conjunction with the mainstream media.

Many people will remember that back in 2020, the Trump administration attempted to ban viral social media application TikTok via an executive order. The botched effort to force its sale failed after it was countered by a legal challenge, yet as we see with the recent congressional bill this has hardly settled the mass hysteria and unsubstantiated paranoia pertaining to the platform. However, in an extraordinarily rare turn of events, and despite that past attempt at banning it, Donald Trump of all people has now decided that he in fact opposes a ban.

Certain Congressmen in the United States seem to have acquired the belief that they can force Chinese company Bytedance to sell application TikTok, the most downloaded social media platform on the planet. Calling it a "choice", unhinged Representative Mike Gallagher makes the unproven assumption that the app is controlled by China's government and subsequently has pushed a bill demanding it is sold at gunpoint in order to continue to operate in the United States, where it has 170 million users.

The TikTok Merry Go Round is back. Republican politicians have never quite got past their mass hysteria over the viral Chinese social media application and their demented obsession with banning it. Now, equally unhinged Representative Mike Gallagher has introduced a "bill" which he claims would effectively force China to sell TikTok to an American owner for it to continue to operate, and it will face a ban if it refuses to comply.