In this mailing: Gordon G. Chang: RED ALERT: China Is Winning the Great 21st Century Tech War Majid Rafizadeh: The Mullahs' Nuclear Weapons Game RED ALERT: China Is Winning the Great 21st Century Tech War by Gordon G. Chang  •  March 9, 2021 at 5:00 am       China, pursuant to [its 14th Five-Year Plan]... will increase spending 7% per year to achieve "major breakthroughs" in areas of "frontier technology." Specifically, the country, will devote resources to artificial intelligence; quantum information; semiconductors; brain science; genomics and biotech; clinical medicine and health; and deep space, deep sea, and deep earth. In addition to theft, [China's leaders] adopted a determined, methodical, and disciplined approach to developing their own innovations. Beijing's efforts to master key technologies have been massive, state-directed, and government-funded. Government funding has been China's key tactic.... Ye Yujiang, the head of basic research at the Ministry of Science and Technology, just announced that China's spending on basic research nearly doubled during the just-completed 13th Five-Year Plan. Beijing's effort depends on large, top-down projects. Take the National Laboratory for Quantum Information Sciences, a multi-billion-dollar facility spread over 86 acres.... It is the world's largest quantum research lab. As a practical matter, the U.S. government has not paid much attention to the development of tech in recent decades. [I]n building the world's 5G networks—the fifth generation of wireless communications that will permit an unprecedented connectivity of devices—the [U.S.] let-the-market-do-it approach has been close to a total failure. There are, for instance, no American companies that compete with China's Huawei Technologies, which President Trump in August 2019 labeled "a national security threat." "The threat of Chinese leadership in key technology areas is a national crisis and needs to be dealt with directly, now." — Dr. Eric Schmidt, the former Google chief executive and chairman of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, February 23, 2021. Americans companies such as IBM and Google have led the world in key areas, such as quantum computing, without significant federal support. Yet in building the world's 5G networks — the fifth generation of wireless communications, which will permit an unprecedented connectivity of devices — the let-the-market-do-it approach has been close to a total failure. There are, for instance, no American companies that compete with China's Huawei Technologies, which President Trump in August 2019 labeled "a national security threat." (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images) China believes it is on track to take over the world. At the ongoing "Two Sessions" in Beijing, the Communist Party has publicly told us how it will accomplish its ambitious goal. If the Chinese ruling party succeeds, the rest of the 21st century will be painted only in shades of red. Fortunately, America is beginning to mobilize itself. Americans, however, need to act, immediately. Tech is the real arms race of our era. On March 5, at the annual meeting of the National People's Congress, China's rubber-stamp legislature, Premier Li Keqiang announced the 14th Five-Year Plan, which begins this year. China, pursuant to the plan, will increase spending 7% per year to achieve "major breakthroughs" in areas of "frontier technology." Specifically, the country, will devote resources to artificial intelligence; quantum information; semiconductors; brain science; genomics and biotech; clinical medicine and health; and deep space, deep sea, and deep earth. Continue Reading Article The Mullahs' Nuclear Weapons Game by Majid Rafizadeh  •  March 9, 2021 at 4:00 am       If the Western leaders know anything about the theocratic establishment of Iran, they would be able to see that the regime has used the Shia religion of Islam to justify repressing its population, killing, executing and sponsoring terror groups across the region. So, what would stop the mullahs from issuing a fake religious ruling if it is going to advance their nuclear program by concealing the fact that they want both nuclear weapons and ensuring the survival of their theocracy? "The government is empowered unilaterally to revoke any Shahri'ah agreements which it has concluded with the people when these agreements are contrary to the interest of the country or Islam." — Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, quoted in "Iran: The Formation of Trans Identity and Possible Paths Toward the Acceptance of Greater Gender 'Deviance'", Berkeley Journal of Middle Eastern & Islamic Law [Vol. 9:1]. The important issue for the ruling mullahs of Iran is the survival of their dictatorship. Anything, including religion, can be used to ensure that. The important issue for the ruling mullahs of Iran is the survival of their dictatorship. Anything, including religion, can be used to ensure that. So, what would stop the mullahs from issuing a fake religious ruling if it is going to advance their nuclear program by concealing the fact that they want both nuclear weapons and ensuring the survival of their theocracy? Pictured: Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (left) and President Hassan Rouhani. (Image source: khamenei.ir) The Iranian regime has acknowledged for the first time that it might pursue openly obtaining nuclear weapons. The Iranian Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi, a close advisor to the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, pointed out recently that Iran might in fact very likely pursue that path: "I must make it clear that if a cat is pushed into the corner, it may behave differently from a cat that walks freely. If Iran is pushed into a corner, it will not be its fault [i.e. the pursuit of nuclear weapons] but rather the fault of those pushing it." This statement is critical. The Iranian leaders have long argued that there is no way they can seek nuclear weapons due to a religious fatwa (legal opinion under Islamic law) issued by Khamenei. Khamenei did indeed previously issue a fatwa forbidding the pursuit of nuclear weapons. He has been previously quoted as saying: Continue Reading Article