Afternoon Tea 5.6.2021 - Disappearing Acts

Why won't every GI get an Iron Man suit? Have you ever seen them drive?

May 06, 2021

Colombia is in a bad place right now, American healthcare leeches have created a “Zombie Hospital,” a compelling theory on why Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Egypt look the other way on what’s happening to Muslims in China, and the Myanmar Junta is straight up disappearing young men. It's Thursday, May 6th 2021, and this is your Tea.

Myanmar’s military disappearing young men to crush uprising (Associated Press) When the newswires are literally calling it “disappearing,” you know it’s real and it’s bad. 3,500, mostly teen boys and young men have been swept up in security raids since the military took power in February. They legitimately think if they kidnap enough people in the dead of night, it’ll break the back of the protests.

Why do some Muslim-majority countries support China’s crackdown on Muslims? (Washington Post) It’s not just economics, it’s an alignment on a specific type of “moderate Islam” that countries who happen to not have anything to say about Palestine, Uighurs, or many of the more incendiary conflicts involving Muslims around the world. For non-incognito browser people:

By aligning its crackdown with the fierce hostility to political Islamism within Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt, Beijing appears to be seeking legitimization from an unlikely source. Heavily dependent on Chinese trade, investment and oil purchases, these three countries have not only remained silent about the reported abuses in Xinjiang, but actively praised China’s efforts to control its domestic Muslim population.

Beijing controls Islamic narratives coming into and out of China through the Chinese Islamic Association, the official government body charged with overseeing Islamic discourse and activity….The association has focused on “lauding the uniqueness of Chinese Islam and its compliance with Party ideology, while urging caution against foreign influence.” When heads of state or Islamic figures from the Middle East visit China, officials from the association are always present, an apparent effort to reinforce the Islamic legitimacy of the organization. In 2014, for example, the visit to China by King Salman (then Crown Prince) included Chinese Islamic Association-led tours of different Chinese mosques and resulted in the donation of $3 million for the construction of Islamic and cultural centers in China.

The Association also established and coordinated Islamic exchange programs with Saudi Arabia and Egypt to instruct Chinese Muslims in the narrative of “moderate Islam” as practiced by the Saudi-UAE-Egypt axis. In addition, the association directly controls the travel of Chinese Muslims to Saudi Arabia for the yearly Hajj.

Pandemic Gloom and Police Violence Leave Colombia in Turmoil (Crisis Group) The combination of COVID, wild inequality, and police violence pushed a simmering post-FARC Colombia past the boiling point. This Q&A by the Crisis Group is the best I’ve seen at attempting to parse what happened and what’s happening.

We have enough proof (Vox) Hey, next time a black person gets shot, you know what you really don’t have to do? Send it to me or your other minority friends. I guarantee you we’ve already seen it. Having to hold space for your outrage and confusion about why they’ve not been arrested yet, while this is the wallpaper of so many people’s lives, gets tiring.

The Rise of the Corporate-Catholic “Zombie Hospital” (Sold/Short - TNR) If you think that you have the right to use a book about a Sky King, to keep care from patients and proper compensation from staff, I think we should be able to shoot you into sky so you can go be with the God you adore so deeply.

New York Gov. Cuomo signs bill that automatically restores felons' right to vote after release (CNN) What happened? Did the governor’s office get word another gross of women were going to come forward? I’m not going to complain, but given Andy spent the last few weeks proclaiming he’d done nothing wrong and slap fighting with Billy boy, this is a weird unforced good thing.

LSD, Cargo Shorts, and the Fall of a High-Flying Tech CEO (Businessweek) This longer read is a deep insight on how “culture fit” and other forms of expanded horizon management styles in Silicon Valley can be used against you just as quickly. Also a lovely reminder that your race, your values, and your crowd matter, no matter how high you climb.

DOJ Threatened MIT Researchers with Subpoena in Collaboration with Bolivian Coup Regime (The Intercept) Remember when Trump LARP’d freeing the shit out of Bolivia? Turns out when some MIT researchers dunked on the very obvious bullshit coming out of Trump’s State Dept & the Organization of American States, peddling the lie that Morales had rigged the election, the researchers got emails from the Justice Department.

Top tax frustrations for Americans: The feeling that some corporations, wealthy people don’t pay fair share (Pew Research) The debate about raising taxes on the wealthy has caused a lot of people to show their asses. If I made more than $500,000 a year and the last year has been as profitable for you as your bracket, I would be very, very quiet about that. In 2021, it’s not going to make you any friends.

Watch a UK Marine Jetpack onto Speeding Ship, Draw Gun (Futurism) I can’t imagine that thing is easy to stay aloft & steer unless you have Popeye-tier forearms, but now the Marines can be even more Marines’y about Marines stuff.

Song of the Tea: Celebrate Revenge of the Sixth with this sunny French House tune from Worakls. It's not exactly Star Wars, but it's not not Star Wars.

The sun is coming. It, unlike Thanos, is inevitable.

Yours,