"High Speed 2" or commonly referred to as HS2, is the most controversial, long-running and expensive High Speed Rail Project in British history. For the country that invented the railway, and imposed it on swathes of the world as an enabler of colonialism, the HS2 project, only initially designed to connect the UK's largest cities London and Birmingham (only two hours or so apart), has become a political disaster with a cost now estimated at over £71 billion.

News is circulating that for the first time in 3 and a half years, North Korea is set to re-open its borders to foreign travelers, albeit with a mandatory 48 quarantine period. For me, this brings back a lot of memories, that is because from 2014-2020 I visited the DPRK for a few times and even for that matter, promoted travel there under the banner of "Visit North Korea". That ended of course with COVID, and throughout that time my life structure, outlook and incentives have changed in ways that make it no longer feasible or desirable to resume such.

"Where is Li Shangfu? China's missing defense minister highlights Xi's total grip on power"- reads the headline of an article in the Guardian. The piece speculates that China's Defence Minister, Li Shangfu, has been subject to a political purge because he has not been seen in public for three weeks, and therefore "he is missing" and "Xi Jinping" is bad. This type of story should seem familiar to you, that's because it is. Last time it was "Where was Qin Gang?", or going further back "Where is Peng Shuai?"

The British government has repeatedly stated that it strives for moderation and balance in its relationship with China, with Foreign Secretary James Cleverly having claimed in his own words that it would "not be credible to disengage" with Beijing. This has been much to the ire of the ultra-hawks repeatedly causing trouble behind the scenes, not least Liz Truss and Iain Duncan Smith amongst others.

On growing up, the anticipation of China's rise was a very exciting thing, and I firmly remember an era of optimism. With its GDP surging and overtaking all the other major economies of the world, the success of China was seen purely in optimistic terms, that is a colossal and entrepreneurial giant. It was often said "Chinese was the language of the future" and of course celebrated authors such as Martin Jaques published books such as "When China Rules the World."

Over the weekend the news broke that a British "Parliamentary Researcher", later named as Chris Cash, was arrested on suspicion of spying for China. Cash, a Conservative, was undertaking work for the very, very hawkish "China Research Group", created by right-wing MPs in 2020 to push hostile policies on the British government, mimicking the previous Eurosceptic "European Research Group". Chris, who had no security clearance whatsoever or access to classified information, had been arrested in March following an investigation and bailed until October.

The selectivity of outrage refers to a propaganda tactic whereby some anger is given a platform in order to broadcast a political agenda, but others are ignored. Through manipulation of mass media, it is possible to deceive public consciousnesses that some issues are important, and that people are angry about them, but others are not, distorting reality. By doing so, elites are able to sustain control by having a "veto" about what matters to the public. Although democracies have less control over this on matters such as their domestic economy.

Several days ago, the BBC ran an article titled: "Fukushima: China's anger at Japan is fuelled by disinformation." In the piece, the broadcaster falsely asserted that scientists had given Tokyo the green light to dump nuclear-contaminated waste into the Pacific Ocean and that China's objections to it amounted to nothing more than a misinformation campaign by the state driving up "fear and suspicion."

Since last week, Japan has commenced the dumping of nuclear-contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean. The move has drawn significant protests from China, as well as the South Korean public, who see the move as environmentally disastrous. Beijing, as well as the Hong Kong SAR, soon banned the import of Seafood from certain regions of Japan.

Last week the 15th BRICS summit was held in Johannesburg, South Africa. Here, representatives from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa met and discussed collective challenges facing the global south and the "economies of the future." Most notably, the group announced an expansion in its membership for the first time, with Argentina, Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates all having joined. This was a big moment for the group, especially in pitching itself as (albeit more loosely defined) alternative to the US dominated G7.

A rare objectively written article in the Japan Times, titled: "America's 'new' China narrative: A wounded dragon" describes how the mainstream media have, in light of recent economic difficulties, seized upon a narrative of dismissing China's rise and instead emphasizing what they perceive as "China's decline."

The UK's embrace of Saudi Arabia as a partner has intensified extensively in recent years as Downing Street seeks to revive its lackluster economy which has stagnated on the back of catastrophic foreign policy mismanagement, including Brexit, escalation of the war in Ukraine and the decision to follow the United States in its antagonism of China, all of which crippled incomes in Britain with stagnant growth, surging inflation and reduced foreign investment.

If there's one thing you should understand, it is that the United States always gets its own way over allies. There may be disagreements, doubts or even open disdain for US foreign policy goals, yet bar a few exceptional moments allied states almost always give in to conforming to American preferences in the end, at least half-heartedly. Likewise, when such disagreements occur, never does Washington "give up" and "cut its losses" but continues to press that ally no matter what, and non-cooperation is usually responded to by the US going ahead and doing what it wants anyway (see: The Iraq War).

Over the past week the Biden administration unveiled new restrictions on US outbound investment targeting China for the first time. These measures seek to ban investors from three critical sectors of China's high-tech economy, including semiconductors, artificial intelligence and quantum computing. They have been in the works for some time, and should not surprise anyone.

When COVID restrictions were lifted at the beginning of this year, the Chinese economy was anticipated to roar back. With GDP growth projections of 6% year on year, combined with the resumption of full, travel, trade and business, few were pessimistic. Yet by August, the reality has very much crystalised that this year has been lacklustre for Beijing. Manufacturing has continually contracted month upon month, while exports have suffered their worst fall since the start of the pandemic.