In Memoriam: Gordon Lightfoot 亡
Gordon Lightfoot, a great Canadian singer, has died. Condolonces to his family and friends. Thank you for making the world a better place.
Word of the Day: is and ought, sein und sollen, être et devoir-être,on ja peaks, есть и должно быть, 实然与应然; 必须与应 (more at the end of the post) Human right law question Customary law is the union of what is actually done under the belief that such action be lawful.
CHINA
US-warns-China-against-harassment-of-Philippine-vessels/
China-Singapore-bound-oil-tanker-catches-fire-off Malaysia-2-Indians-1-Ukrainian-missing
Analysis: On Monday, May 1, the international workers’ day, earlier known as “May Day” China voted YES on a U.N. General Assembly resolution recognizing Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/4009707?ln=en A 77 L 65 provides:
“Recognizing also that the unprecedented challenges now facing Europe following the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine, and against Georgia prior to that, and the cessation of the membership of the Russian Federation in the Council of Europe, call for strengthened cooperation between the United Nations and the Council of Europe, notably in order to promptly restore and maintain peace and security based on respect of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of any State, ensure the observance of human rights and international humanitarian law during the hostilities, provide r edress to victims and bring to justice all those responsible for the violations of international law”
UN General Assembly Resolutions are non-binding. However, they are evidence of opinio juris and actual state practice. Customary international law is actual state pratice believed to be lawful, it is the union of what states ought do and what they actually do. UNGA Resolutions are not completely pointless legally, and politically they are used for signalling.
For those who disbelieve, Chinese state media CGTN (China Central Television) issued several short form videos: two about Biden, one about Anglos perceptions of China.
Point Defence Products for Naval Assets
Mearsheimer:
Mearsheimer says the best Ukraine and Russia can hope for is “a cold peace” which is literally the title of the law review article I wrote about the Ukrainian conflict back in 2014. Make of that what you will. Mearsheimer agrees with me that China has a winning hand in this conflict no matter what the outcome. I increasingly suspect Mearsheimer himself, and am certain at least some of his supporters are Trotskyite: specifically the interviewer in this piece. Mearsheimer is wrong here, when he thinks China will save Russia from defeat. China wins even if Russia loses. It wins much greater influence in former (former!) Soviet Central Asia, Mongolia, and Korea. China may even win in the Amur and Vladivostok! Mearsheimer over-estimates current Russian military, diplomatic, and espionage capacity. I have said that the US foreign policy is too ham-handed for the hard-nosed biting off-shore balancing Mearsheimer advocates. Instead, the USA and China can and will both opt for a form of national security isolationsim with limited foreign interventions notably in cases of humanitarian disaster, humanitarian relief, disaster aid, and anti-piracy operations. The USA will seek to contain China militarily, and obtain that outcome, while China will seek to avoid economic isolations, blockades, embargos, and likewise succeed, which is why dual neo-isolationism will take hold in both countries, each of which has had isolationism as a foreign policy for more than 120 years in the USA and more than 1000 years in China. They both prefer non-intervention and trade and thus are doomed to a strange conflicted peace, embodying what Marxists call “the unity and conflict of opposites”
RUSSIA
The Kremlin Is Deploying Obsolete T-55 Tanks in Southern Ukraine. The Last Time It Did This, With T-62s, The Tanks Got Massacred. Note: T55 is even older than T62. 55 as in 1955. 62 as in 1962.
Russia-casualties-soldiers-killed-ukraine 20,000 dead Russians since Jan 1.
Yet another Russian gas station caught fire. When will Russians learn smoking is a bad habit? I drone on and on, trying to help them quit smoking.
“An electricity pylon has been blown up in Russia's Leningrad Oblast, and an explosive device has been found on another pylon, but the occupiers claim that they have already eliminated the threat.” https://news.yahoo.com/russians-report-power-line-pole-064600532.html
Russian-freight-train-derails-after-hitting-explosive-device
https://news.yahoo.com/second-russian-train-hit-explosive
Friendly Reminder: AND THEN WHAT?
CHINA JOINS THE LINE
China will stab Russia in the back, that’s what. The more China stabs Russia the better. The harder China stabs Russia the better. This is just the first stab.
You want to help Ukraine? Cool! Get in line.
Ukrainian-navy-and-the fight for-democracy
Largest-international-operation-against-darknet-trafficking-fentanyl-and-opioids-results. This is another example why international cooperation among various intelligence services benefits everyone. 感谢你们。
Argentina: Chinese economic opportunity?
“Make Old Things Serve the New” -Mao Zedong
The heart sutra (心经) is one of China’s most important scriptures. By studying it and searching modernity we may discover useful parallels or points for personal growth. This sutra claims to enable one to transcend their own suffering. I translated it liberally. The translation follows.
心经 Goddess Guanyin regarded her temporal self on the path of profound transits through constant waves of mysterious nets of thought. Reflecting on the five senses each of which is empty, passing through all bitter distress, thusly:
“Ashes. Desire is nothing other than emptiness, emptiness is no different from desire!
Desire, namely, is empty, emptiness namely is desire. The five paths of sensate knowledge also recur in the same way!
[I am 100% confident of this bold part, which is the core of this sutra]
Ashes. This is all the law of empty appearances. Nothing is born nor extinguished, nothing profane nor clean, nothing increased nor diminished. Thus is intended: the void in the midst of the colorless. There, is no reception from the five sensate paths of knowledge, no sight, hearing, smell, speech, or touch, no desire, sound, scent, aroma, touch, law, no bounded eye.
Thus follows: no thinking, knowledge, or boundaries, no ignorance. There is also no end of ignorance. There is even thus no old age nor death, nor an end of old age and death, nor any extinction of the path of bitter experiences. No wisdom and also no obtention; there is thereby no obtained intention at all.
Bodhisattva, following Prajna Paramita the heart is unobstructed, intention is unobstructed, without having any terror and far away from wrong-headed dreams or imaginings. To search for and in fact attain nirvana, the “three worlds and thirty generations” of Buddha.
Relying on Prajna Paramita one attains the supreme enlightenment of the Buddha. Intention, knowledge, all pass as waves of gauze mysteries.
This is the great divine chant, it is the great enlightenment chant, there is no higher chant than it. It is the no so-on-and-so-forth chant and can dissolve bitterness. It is true and not fake.
Intentionally speak, moving as waves of netting, sweetly, all chant,
approach and speak the chant thusly:
Gate!, Gate! Pāra-gate! Pārasaṃ-gate! Bodhi. Śvāhā!
Go! Go! Go beyond! Go completely beyond!! To enlightenment. Holy Light.
Expose the truth. Expose the truth. Waves of netting. Monks expose the truth. bodhi svāhā
观自在菩萨,行深般若波罗蜜多时,照见五蕴皆空,度一切苦厄。舍利子,色不异空,空不异色;色即是空,空即是色。受、想、行、识,亦复如是。 舍利子,是诸法空相,不生不灭,不垢不净,不增不减,是故空中无色,无受、想、行、识;无眼、耳、鼻、舌、身、意;无色、声、香、味、触、法;无眼界,乃至无意识界;无无明,亦无无明尽;乃至无老死,亦无老死尽。无苦、集、灭、道,无智亦无得,以无所得故。菩提萨埵, 依般若波罗蜜多故,心无挂碍,无挂碍故,无有恐怖,远离颠倒梦想,究竟涅槃。三世诸佛,依般若波罗蜜多故,得阿耨多罗三藐三菩提。故知般若波罗蜜多,是大神咒,是大明咒,是无上咒,是无等等咒,能除一切苦,真实不虚。故说般若波罗蜜多咒,即说咒曰:揭谛、揭谛,波罗揭谛,波罗僧揭谛,菩提萨婆诃。
fin
The usual translations miss some of the nuances of the Chinese transliteration, which carry with them the idea that thought-streams pervade, like waves, obstructing or guiding. So I wrote a creative translation which takes the transliterations literally as part of the text. I am sure some will say, correctly, this is an unusual or even outlandish translation. Shili is the object of address, however Shili’s transliteratd name means “Ashes” and indeed this sutra is in part about how death too is meaningless, how death makes life meaninglesss, how life makes death meaningless. This is what Mao called the unity and transformations of opposites into each other, the law of contradiction. I think the usual translations which rely heavily on Sanskrit are of little actual use to ordinary people who are not trained religious scholars and miss certain nuances implicit in the Chinese transliterations of Sanskrit terms.
If you are working on “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics”
First, I strongly suggest focusing on Chinese characteristics. Thereto the heart sutra teaches us that desire is literally born from emptiness, some primal hunger, whether for food, or riches or power or anything else: desire is born from this lack, seeks to fill this void, and thereby transforms back into nothingness, the need satiated, the desire extinguishes. One can use the heart sutra to bring out the idea that technical progress leads to satisfaction of desire resulting in fewer conflicts, greater peace. This is Marx’s idea the mass production unleashed by the industrial revolution would ultimately make property, war, and state power meaningless, pointless, who needs property in super-abundance? What causes war in super-abundance? Likewise the heart sutra illustrates how opposites engender and transform into each other, the unity, conflict, and mutual transformations of opposites. The heart sutra is not inconsistent with materialism and dialectical materialism
Free eBooks follow this fun lesson in Early Childhood Bi-Lingualism
Bon route, Gordon! Merci pour la musique!
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“English motherfucker! you speak it?” Of course you do!
Learning vocabulary this way forces your brain to remember because we are lazy! Stare at this list till you are certain you understand what each term means.
Vocabulary: customary law, opinio juris, praxis, actual state practice, usages; droit coutumier, opinio juris, la praxis, pratique réelle de l'État, coutumes; Gewohnheitsrecht, opinio juris, Praxis, tatsächliche staatliche Praxis, Verwendungen; tavaõigus, arvamus juris, praktika, tegelik riiklik praktika, kasutusviisid; обычное международное право, opinio juris, praxis; фактическая государственная практика, обычаи; 习惯法, 法律意见, 实践, 实际国家实践, 用法.
This list should be accurate, but always verify any translation into a language other than your Mother tongue with a native speaker.