I am starting to feel that some galaxy brains believe that the PRC is gaining an upper hand in its assault on the free world after the middle school dropout's visit to Moscow.  No, the CCP has to be increasingly nervous about the situation in Ukraine which can be an existential threat. The Russian invasion does wear the free world standing with Ukraine and may incur further internal divisions.  All good for the PRC. The problem for the PRC is the risk of Russian disintegration, or even worse, becoming a free country after deposing the dictator. Let's see the worst scenario for the free world first: Russia temporarily defeats Ukraine and takes Kyiv to put up a puppet gov as a result of dwindling international support for Ukraine. The chance for this worst scenario is close to zero. Even if it happens, Ukraine will just becomes the 2nd Afghanistan for Russia. Bloody insurgent fights will drive out Russia eventually but incur far greater damage to Russia than Afghanistan did to t...

I started to write down these thoughts in February 2023 before my second trip to Ukraine, paused for many months, picked it up intermittently in the summer, and finally finished on Saturday, September 23, 2023. I will not edit this post because I want to come back to it to see how my views will change or remain in the future. It has been a long and brutal 19 months since the Moscow KGB thug launched the slaughter in Ukraine.  My views on this war are simple and straightforward, not much different from freedom lovers who stand with free people fighting for their freedom. I wanted to provide some background. I have some slight differences from others that make me treat certain things slightly differently. Why I support the Ukrainians' fight for their freedom I firmly support people fighting for their freedom regardless of their political leaning (left, right, or center), race, or religion (Buddhists in Tibet, Christians in Ukraine, Muslims in Xinjiang, Iran, and Afghanistan). To me, ...

Time: 2024 Location: LA County Orchestrated by the PRC's LA Consulate, a large number of Chinese protested against the incoming regime in DC which they claim is anti-China and pro-West, and declared independence.  The PLA sends weapons and plainclothes troops to support them. The US army tries to take it back, and the PRC keeps providing weapons and personnel to support LA's independence, bloody battles ensue and last for 8 years.  A lot of civilian collateral damage on both sides.  By 2032, NATO has been dissolved due to conflicts among its members. The PRC has long outmanufactured the US and exceeded the US in GDP, and its military size is 5x that of the US and its navy vessels 3x that of the US. On Feb 24, 2032, the PRC launches a Special Military Operation to denazify the US, cheered by both the far right and far left. Germany and France immediately send their signature strong prayers and thoughts and urge constraints on both sides to prevent escalation. India urges p...

Most people enter Ukraine from Poland during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I needed to do it from Hungary but could not find any information describing the journey. Even a Ukrainian gave me the wrong information. Hope this information helps those who have such a need. Take InterCity train IC 34 leaving Budapest at 7:23 (Central EuropeCentral European Standard Time). The Hungary side border paperwork is done on the train. That is a significant advantage of taking a train to enter Ukraine. The train is modern and has free Wi-Fi. The train travels for 5:17 and arrives at Chop at13:40 (Eastern European Standard Time, one hour ahead of the Hungary time). If you jump off the train as soon as it stops at Chop, you can go through the Ukrainian side border checkpoint in a few minutes, then catch the train leaving at 13:52 for Kyiv. It was 14:00 when I went there. I stayed in Chop to catch the next day's train. Now, there seems to be train leaving at 16:58 and arriving at Kyiv at 8:38 the...

I write this on the CCP's "meritocracy" for 2 reasons: 1. Even some fierce CCP critics still imply certain CCP's meritocracy by thinking the CCP has some capable officials in its top echelon but they are marginalized by the middle school dropout (a.k.a. General Secretary Xi). One example is the current premier Li. Li is surely significantly better educated than the MSD and likely has a higher IQ, but I can't think of any significant achievement in his entire career. His tenure as the head of the Henan province was marred by the horrific Aids epidemic.   2. The Moscow KGB thug's regime shows similar kakistocracy. First, let's use CCP's own words to show its kakistocracy. This is a screenshot of an article from THE main CCP mouthpiece titled "Reverse selection in bureaucracy endangers national security". "Reverse selection" here means the opposite of the natural selection of the fittest to survive. Their own words: "The bad elimi...

Summary PRC COVID-induced excess deaths: Absolute minimum requiring a miracle: 1 M Likely minimum: 2.5 M Likely range: 3 M - 5 M How I derived these numbers: First, if you doubt the current high COVID fatalities based on anecdotes instead of official data, let's think in this way. People are paying what is equivalent to 2 - 3 months' salary to avoid unpredictable long waits at Beijing crematoria, so long waiting lines are common. Beijing has 12 crematoria and many more in its vicinity. If people could drive 100km or more to have timely cremation, they would not spend so much money to save the 1 or 2 hours of transportation.  If Beijing with the best healthcare resources has such a high fatality rate, you can imagine the fatality rates of other places. It is fair to compare the PRC with other East Asian countries. Japan, S. Korea, and TW are exemplary - high vigilance, high vax rates, and orderly opening, so they have much lower excess death rates than most other countries. If t...

 To me, @ZelenskyyUa  remains the current greatest state head. I wrote "Zelenskyy is THE greatest president at present - principled, brave, pragmatic, and EXTRAORDINARILY EFFECTIVE regardless of the outcome of this war." on February 26, two days after the war. To me, Zelenskyy remains the current greatest state head. I don't idolize any living person. Among the 7.8B sinners, he happens to be the greatest leader now. I see extraordinary ignorance, absurdity, bigotry, meanness, and hypocrisy in the demonization of Pres Zelenskyy. Pres Zelenskyy has been wearing military fatigues to meet EVERY state head from over a dozen countries who visited Kyiv, but some people have beef with him wearing them to meet the US president who was very happy to receive him. You know what, if he wore suits only for the US president, I guarantee, some of these people would say that they told you that UA is a US client state and Zelenskyy is a lapdog, see how he treats the US drastically differen...

 Wherever you go in Ukraine, the most notable structures are invariably Churches.  I wonder if there was a sort of grandiose competition among Churches in Kyiv a long time ago. St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery may be the most famous one. The church at the highest point is probably St. Andrew's Church. It is an excellent point to have a bird's eye view of Kyiv.  Unlike Lviv, Kyiv allows photos at high points. I feel the grandest one is St. Sophia's Cathedral. It requires one or two hours to tour it. The churches in Odesa are less grandiose than those in Kyiv. This is Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral The churches in Lviv seem to be more diverse. I am not qualified to explain the difference. Here are the Church of Saints Olga & Elizabeth and St. George's Cathedral. You see a beautiful church (Khram Svyatoho Mykolaya) before entering the city of Mykolaiv. This is the case in rural areas too. You see a beautiful church before seeing the village. The houses of a vil...

  Visit to Mykolaiv Zoo (Ukraine: wounded beauty fighting for us I) Visit to Bucha (Ukraine: wounded beauty fighting for us II) Finest equipment of the 2nd most powerful army (Ukraine: wounded beauty fighting for us III) Odesa (Ukraine: wounded beauty fighting for us IV) Poland stands with Ukraine (Ukraine: wounded beauty fighting for us V) Self-imposed asymmetric war (Ukraine: wounded beauty fighting for us VI) Undefeatable Ukraine (Ukraine: wounded beauty fighting for us VII) Churches of Ukraine (Ukraine: wounded beauty fighting for us VIII) Ignorance, absurdity, bigotry, meanness, and hypocrisy in the demonization of President Zelenskyy  (Ukraine: wounded beauty fighting for us IX)