Wednesday, June 03, 2020

Backstory of China's Jean Dong behind Belt and Road deal with Daniel Andrews


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Rebus




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Social media essentially gives a megaphone to the extremes, so it’s very hard to know what most people really think. “And when you look at the people who are loudest on Twitter and elsewhere, it’s quite clear that this pandemic is turning into just another culture-war issue, where people on the left see what they want to see and people on the right see what they want to see.” – The Atlantic


Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, May 31, 2020 – Four highlights from this week: A flood of coronavirus apps are tracking us. Now it’s time to keep track of them; Johns Hopkins releases report on digital contact tracing to aid COVID-19 response; Coronavirus stimulus payments mistaken for junk mail; IRS issues clarification; and Reality bites: Data privacy edition.



BACKGROUND: Russian Parliament Declares National Do-Over, Allows Putin to Rule Until 2036.“What that means is, Putin will be eligible for re-re-reelection as the incumbent for an office he never held.”







BuzzFeedNews – By Digital Contact Tracing Apps – “Imagine you arrive at work. Before you’re allowed to clock in, you have to complete a quiz on your phone that asks if you have any of the symptoms of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. If you’re healthy, you get to walk in. Once inside, you go about your day while your phone uses Bluetooth beacons, GPS tracking, or both to determine the people you have been near. If one day you do come down with symptoms, the app alerts HR, which then alerts the people you’ve been in contact with. This is already a reality for thousands of workers around the world — in particular, those working in sectors like mining, energy, manufacturing, field services (like appliance installation or repair), construction, or hospitality. Digital contact tracing — using an app or another form of technology to track who you’ve been in touch with, with the goal of stopping the spread of the coronavirus — isn’t mandated by any states or governments in the US. But there’s nothing stopping private companies from encouraging or even requiring workers to participate…”



Will Hutton suggested in The Observer today, when discussing the treatment of Emily Maitlis by the BBC:

Trust can only be earned in public health policy by testing answers. Evidence bending in order to justify a political position is not going to work. One of the reasons Keir Starmer’s approval rating is rising is that he is in step with the times. The period of British politics in which style and storytelling triumphed over fact and evidence is ending. The tragedy is that it has taken a first-order health crisis to remind the British of the tradition that Francis Bacon pioneered – and once again to live by it.

But is he right? Is that change really happening?

I would like to agree with Will on this one. But simply by asking the question it is clear that I have doubts.



ALEX MITCHELL. NRL power play in NSW



Who governs NSW – Premier Gladys Berejiklian or NRL boss Peter V’landys? One is elected, the other isn’t. One is a blue-stockinged Tory from Sydney’s North Shore, the other is a Labor supporter from working-class Wollongong. Who will prevail?Continue reading 

Hidden Reality of Australia-China Relations



The best reading on the state of Australia-China relations is in documents we can’t see. That is, in the cables sent from Canberra to their capitals by ambassadors of Asian nations. Continue reading 

  • Daniel Andrews signed Belt and Road agreement with China in October 2019
  • Jean Dong, 33, runs a company which consulted Mr Andrews on the deal
  • She rose to prominence after winning a Melbourne beauty pageant in 2011 
  • Ms Dong has praised Chinese president Xi Jinping for his handling of COVID-19 
Backstory of China's Jean Dong behind Belt and Road deal with Daniel Andrews | Daily Mail Online


From beauty pageant queen to king of the deal: How glamorous Chinese diplomat who helped strike controversial agreement between Victoria and Beijing rose to the top


Jean Dong (left) played a key role in Victoria’s Belt and Road trade deal.

Jean Dong (left) played a key role in Victoria’s Belt and Road trade deal.Source:Supplied

 Jean Dong, left, with former foreign minister Bob Carr and his wife, Helena. The footage provides a look into Ms Dong's life, from her early days as a student journalist in Beijing  . . .