What the Heck?! Thread (Closed)

[antiterror13]

Samsung Chinese executives get down on knees for dealers, irritate Chinese netizens

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Chinese executives of Samsung Electronics got down on their knees to request more orders from dealers during a meeting in Shijiazhuang. This extreme action has stirred online debate over the now-controversial brand, further damaging its already tarnished reputation in China.
On Oct. 29, an Internet user named “Bulaodelaohui” posted a picture of several people kneeling on a stage with Samsung’s logo. The photo's accompanying information claimed that the group was Samsung’s Chinese executives, who were forced to kneel down and beg for orders. The user criticized Samsung, accusing the company of disrespecting Chinese culture and its Chinese employees.
The post soon went viral on Chinese social media. The hashtag “SamsungMakesChineseKneelForSales” has garnered over 1.9 million page views on Sina Weibo as of press time, with most comments condemning the company’s behavior as “an inhuman insult.”
“Despite the scandal of the Note 7 battery explosion, many dealers have shown their support for Samsung by ordering [our products], which has moved Samsung’s Korean executives. They knelt down to show their gratitude. Their Chinese counterparts were touched by the scene and also knelt down,” a press officer from Samsung China told Thepaper.cn on Oct. 30, adding that the incident happened during a regional ordering meeting in Shijiazhuang.
Kneeling in Korean culture is a gesture of gratitude and respect. The Korean executives don’t know the cultural connotation of kneeling in China, the officer added.
“Kneeling in Chinese culture is an expression of submission and reverence, and we only kneel before our ancestors. Samsung’s apology really disgusted me; this is China, and they should use the Chinese way of apologizing,” one Internet user commented.
The Samsung Chinese executives could not be reached for comment as of press time. It is not clear if Samsung demanded that the executives kneel, or if the executives simply chose to do so.
The recent recall of the fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 cut Samsung's mobile business earnings 96 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2016, down to 100 billion won ($87.6 million), the lowest level in nearly eight years, according to the company's latest quarterly report.

 

[Quickie]

don't go there, the discussion would be long and unnecessary, like countries killed indigenous people, wars, etc, etc ........... you have been suspended 2 months ago ... I don't rally want to lose you

You know how twisted the sense of judgement of some of these people are, when they try to lump together an economic policy that had gone wrong, to killings in a drug war or even genocidal mass murder.

That was an allegation that I actually happened to come across in some youtube comments recently. The thing that came to my mind was that if it was genocide, would the rest of the world (short of one or two countries who did offer help?) be considered an accomplice to it too, since they would rather watch the victims starved to death than actually helping by sending in food aid, just to make a point that their economic/political system were better?

 

[Blackstone]

Nothing demonstrates how out of touch with reality Washington elites are these days than Richard Fontaine's (President of Center for New American Security) article on reviving US human rights agenda around the world. The glaring omission in his mentally lazy, cliche-filled propaganda piece is the fundamental flaw in evalgelising human rights to some countries, while at the same time overlooking abusers in America's own camp. This stuff might work among the Beltway elites, but not outside the echo chamber, and the American people's hostility to more foreign entanglements is proof.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

merica’s traditional role in promoting democracy and human rights abroad has fallen out of favor in a serious way. It has rarely registered a mention during this year’s presidential campaign, and Republican candidate Donald Trump has suggested that the United States lacks the standing to criticize human rights lapses abroad, given social turmoil at home. For all its various legacies, the Obama administration will leave little mark on this score. In a long

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

, Secretary of State John Kerry made no mention of either democracy or human rights. And in a lengthy article in the magazine describing the administration’s accomplishments, Vice President Joe Biden

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

.

Yet the cause of democracy and human rights remains urgent, more so than at any time in recent memory.

The 2016 edition of

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

records a decline in global freedom in each of the past 10 years. China and Russia are becoming more repressive, not less, and much of the post-Arab Spring Middle East has either descended into civil war or reverted to autocracy. Countries ranging from Ethiopia to Turkey have moved to stifle internal dissent, and others like North Korea and Uzbekistan remain astonishingly brutal. New technologies that empower dissidents also make it easier for dictators to censor, monitor and propagandize their citizens. Information spaces have become newly contested; as the Democracy and Human Rights Working Group

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

, “anti-democratic forces are far more empowered and emboldened today than at any time since the Cold War.”

George W. Bush’s freedom agenda, and even the sunny optimism of Barack Obama’s first term, has yielded to a colder-eyed view of the possible and desirable: stability over democratization, a focus on countries’ foreign policies rather than their domestic condition, and a disinclination to push for human rights among populations unable—and, some would add, not wanting—to exercise them at home. The off-putting tone of this year’s presidential campaign has compounded matters. What, an American voter might reasonably ask, have we to teach the world about democracy?

Despite the doubts, the next president should embrace America’s historical role in promoting freedom around the world and lay out a human rights agenda soon after Inauguration Day. Americans’ own freedoms are most secure in a world that respects them everywhere. Supporting human rights gives purpose and direction to U.S. foreign policy and accords with the deepest values on which the country was founded. Americans believe all people are entitled to the rights they enjoy; to remain silent and inactive in the face of their abridgments is unfaithful not only to America’s global mission, but also to the heart of American democracy.
Wars to topple dictatorships are a world away from evolutionary efforts to employ diplomacy and civil society in the service of human rights.
America’s harder-edged interests are bound up in freedom’s spread, as well. Look no further than Iraq, Libya and Syria for the results of manifest repression and bad government. The resulting civil wars in these countries gave sanctuary to terrorist organizations with international reach, from the self-declared Islamic State to a reinvigorated al-Qaida. To fight terrorists without addressing the factors that tear citizens’ allegiance away from their governments is merely to treat the most dangerous symptom rather than an underlying cause.

The next administration will need to address two arguments that have become inextricably bound up in the democracy agenda. The first is that promoting democratic systems is often a prelude to violent regime change and that any such effort will end up creating another Iraq or Libya. To the contrary, wars to topple dictatorships are a world away from evolutionary efforts to employ diplomacy and civil society in the service of human rights.

The second argument is that, however laudable such goals might be in the abstract, they are simply impractical. Proponents of this view often cite Egypt as a test case: Ousted President Hosni Mubarak’s foreign policy was preferable to his democratically elected Muslim Brotherhood successor, and President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi’s current repression is greater than Mubarak’s ever was. Yet the successes of American human rights diplomacy are legion, ranging from supporting democracy in South Korea and the Philippines to Poland and Myanmar. Americans should know about the victories, not just the defeats.

Restoring democracy and human rights to the core of U.S. foreign policy will require several steps. The first is for the new president to issue a clarion call on their behalf, making clear that America intends to lead in word and action, and invite like-minded partners to join the effort. This message should note that supporting human rights is not a matter of imposing American will or exporting Western values on other cultures, but rather affirming the principles to which nearly every country has freely and formally committed.

The next administration should increase funding for democracy-building programs, which has declined significantly since 2010. Efforts to protect dissidents, monitor elections, build the rule of law, improve independent judiciaries, and enhance legal transparency can pay long-term dividends. It should also expand access to technologies that allow internet users in repressive societies to access uncensored information and communicate securely. Circumvention and encryption applications can assist citizens in evading efforts to constrain and control their legitimate online activities.

The new president can provide a good example amid the global refugee crisis by increasing the number of refugees allowed to resettle in the United States and providing assistance to help those in vulnerable areas. The next administration should establish accountability for those guilty of grave human rights abuses, too, whether it is compiling evidence of the Assad regime’s crimes in Syria or pushing for the referral of North Korean officials to the International Criminal Court.

To be sure, not all of these efforts will be successful, measured by the direct improvement in human rights and democratic practice abroad. But that is not, in fact, the full measure of America’s embrace of universal values. U.S. efforts to support human rights in countries like China, for example, should be aimed not merely at cajoling foreign governments into improving their practices, but also at demonstrating to their people that America is beside them. When it comes to fundamental freedoms, the people of the world—and Americans themselves—should know where the next president stands.

 

[shen]

Nothing demonstrates how out of touch with reality Washington elites are these days than Richard Fontaine's (President of Center for New American Security) article on reviving US human rights agenda around the world. The glaring omission in his mentally lazy, cliche-filled propaganda piece is the fundamental flaw in evalgelising human rights to some countries, while at the same time overlooking abusers in America's own camp. This stuff might work among the Beltway elites, but not outside the echo chamber, and the American people's hostility to more foreign entanglements is proof.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

These think tanks ultimately only care about promoting agendas that keep their budget flowing. Reminds of Chinese one child program, lived for years past usefulness, but kept going due to institutional inertial and turf politics.

 

[Air Force Brat]

These think tanks ultimately only care about promoting agendas that keep their budget flowing. Reminds of Chinese one child program, lived for years past usefulness, but kept going due to institutional inertial and turf politics.

Richard Fontaines article is well thoughted and right on. While I understand the skepticism after eight years of Obamas quazi tyrannical role, that doesn't change the heart and soul of America. To have a desire to save the unborn, and innocent, serve our God, and fellow mankind is quite unique among the nations, and we have invested plenty of blood and gold to free the oppressed.

It's OK to be criticized and chastised by the critical and cynical, its not OK to allow them to break our spirit, and negate the freedoms that we celebrate and want to share.

 

[Blackstone]

Richard Fontaines article is well thoughted and right on. While I understand the skepticism after eight years of Obamas quazi tyrannical role, that doesn't change the heart and soul of America. To have a desire to save the unborn, and innocent, serve our God, and fellow mankind is quite unique among the nations, and we have invested plenty of blood and gold to free the oppressed.

It's OK to be criticized and chastised by the critical and cynical, its not OK to allow them to break our spirit, and negate the freedoms that we celebrate and want to share.

My friend AFB, it pains me to be on the opposite side of a fine gentleman like you, but to claim God's mantle, the Almighty might actually require true devotion from time to time. Wielding "human rights" as a moral weapon against some folks while excusing egregious abusers in one's own camp doesn't cut it. Crying wolf over "international rule of law" carries little moral weight when the most powerful and its anointed insist others must do as they say, and not as they do. Honest brokers call that hypocrisy. Yes?

 

[solarz]

Richard Fontaines article is well thoughted and right on. While I understand the skepticism after eight years of Obamas quazi tyrannical role, that doesn't change the heart and soul of America. To have a desire to save the unborn, and innocent, serve our God, and fellow mankind is quite unique among the nations, and we have invested plenty of blood and gold to free the oppressed.

It's OK to be criticized and chastised by the critical and cynical, its not OK to allow them to break our spirit, and negate the freedoms that we celebrate and want to share.

So the "soul" of America is to save the world?

This is the problem with American foreign policy. It is infested with Messiah Complexes and believers of American Exceptionalism. You believe you are a force for good, when what actually happens is that you ignore or dismiss the terrible and tragic consequences of your actions.

The invasion of Iraq, the bombing of Libya, Arab Spring, all done in the name of "Freedom and Democracy", and what was the end result? Millions of refugees and 3 nations plunged into lawless chaos.

 

[Blackstone]

So the "soul" of America is to save the world?

This is the problem with American foreign policy. It is infested with Messiah Complexes and believers of American Exceptionalism. You believe you are a force for good, when what actually happens is that you ignore or dismiss the terrible and tragic consequences of your actions.

The invasion of Iraq, the bombing of Libya, Arab Spring, all done in the name of "Freedom and Democracy", and what was the end result? Millions of refugees and 3 nations plunged into lawless chaos.

On the other hand, there are many positives about America that must be considered, for the sake of balance and intellectual honesty. Just to head off the wise guys/gals at the pass, I'll admit they are relative to others, and not absolute. A partial list of the positives;

• America render humanitarian aid throughout the world. No one else has done as much, not even close
• The American people is the most generous in giving to help others
• America welcomes immigrants, and unique among nations, she assimilate them into her society. Not perfect to be sure, but better than others
• America hold high ideals and often can't meet them. But, the people always get back up and try again
• America's tolerance of different religions is second to none
  
• America has many ills, in all area of human endeavors. Some very major faults. But, the nation places those ugly sores right out in the open, and allow people everywhere to opine and criticize.
• America is a sore loser, but a generous winner. Opposite of countries like Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. Asia is lucky it was the Americans who won WW2 and not the Japanese
• America doesn't covet other nation's land, even as the sole superpower it doesn't engage in conquest for empire (if it did, Canada would be in big, big trouble)
• Even after all the self-inflicted wounds, poll after poll show America is still favorably viewed by most of the world's people and nations

Bottom line is even with all the admitted faults, Americans are generally decent and straightforward, even if some of our leaders are venal and corrupt.

 

[shen]

Richard Fontaines article is well thoughted and right on. While I understand the skepticism after eight years of Obamas quazi tyrannical role, that doesn't change the heart and soul of America. To have a desire to save the unborn, and innocent, serve our God, and fellow mankind is quite unique among the nations, and we have invested plenty of blood and gold to free the oppressed.

It's OK to be criticized and chastised by the critical and cynical, its not OK to allow them to break our spirit, and negate the freedoms that we celebrate and want to share.

A common Chinese saying is "every family has a difficult scripture to recite." The Chinese word for scripture can also be interpreted as experience or history.

Chines doesn't presume to tell Americans how they should live. I certainly don't to tell Christians how to be Christians.

I've always found what Lincoln said "Pray not that God be on our side, but pray instead that we be found on God's side." to be useful words to live by.

 

[delft]

Nothing demonstrates how out of touch with reality Washington elites are these days than Richard Fontaine's (President of Center for New American Security) article on reviving US human rights agenda around the world. The glaring omission in his mentally lazy, cliche-filled propaganda piece is the fundamental flaw in evalgelising human rights to some countries, while at the same time overlooking abusers in America's own camp. This stuff might work among the Beltway elites, but not outside the echo chamber, and the American people's hostility to more foreign entanglements is proof.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

A truly bizarre article. He probably sees Hilary as the next president who has a reputation built on the destruction of the Libyan state and promotion of terrorism in that country as an awful highpoint in her career.