The Chinese Communist government does not have so much a strategy to translate its economic ascendance into global hegemony as several strategies. All of them are brilliantly insidious.

China is not Russia. It differs from Russia in underappreciated ways that transcend its obviously vastly greater population, far-larger economy, and ascendant military.

China is patterning its neocolonialist agenda after both the British Empire of the 19th century (without the pretensions of a Western nation’s paternalistic “burden” of spreading civilization) and the Pacific expansionism of Japan’s Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere of the 1930s and 1940s.

This history might explain why Japan, of all its Asian neighbors, knows all too well what China is up to.  It’s about time the West knows it just as well.

We all know the horrors of addiction—lives destroyed, families shattered. It wrecks the fabric of society. Unfortunately, the Democrats have contracted an extraordinarily virulent form—investigating Donald Trump has become crack cocaine to them with maybe fentanyl and methamphetamine thrown in.

The likes of Jerrold Nadler and Adam Schiff seem to be sucking on this pipe for dear life, day and night, giving them barely time to breathe or eat. Even when getting a rare touch of sleep, these putative public servants clearly have Trump on the brain. They never think of anything else—or, seemingly, do anything else.

And they are far from alone. Legions of Democrats and their media lackeys suffer from the same addiction.

Brainwashing isn’t a secretive event that takes place in hidden rooms. No hypnotists or vials full of chemicals are required. It takes place every day on a massive scale across the United States.

Unlike Raymond Shaw in The Manchurian Candidate, brainwashing does not turn people into hypnotized zombies who would be ready to kill a presidential candidate at a command. Instead, it transforms them into the sort of people who would be willing to kill someone for political reasons.

The distinction is why so few people understand the sources of political radicalism and violence.  The art and science of brainwashing is well known. We don’t know it because we choose not to.

Here it is explained how the Left has become an evil cult dedicated to brainwashing America.

Guess why this man is smiling

Democrats have grown infuriated by Attorney General William Barr's indifference to their hysteria over the Trump-Russia collusion narrative.

Now Democrats are calling for Barr to resign or be impeached for not regurgitating the unproven allegations against Trump.

In other words, Barr acted too much like a federal prosecutor rather than a tabloid reporter trafficking in allegations that did not amount to criminal conduct.

The besmirching of Barr's conduct is surreal.  What accounts for it?  All they are getting is Barr smiling back at them.  So now what, Dems?

Routes of China’s Proposed New Silk Roads

There’s just one flaw in Xi Jinping’s plans for global economic conquest. It’s that China has run out of money. The $8 trillion headline figure for the New Silk Road is romantic fiction.

The Belt and Road – as it has become known since maritime links were added to the original Marco Polo caravan route – is China’s plan of infrastructure development and investments in 152 countries and international organizations.  Yes, 152.

It may have made financial sense when China was running a fat current account surplus. This reached 10% of GDP in the final stages of the export boom from 2004 to 2008.

Today, China’s current account surplus has essentially vanished. The International Monetary Fund thinks it will be 0.5% of GDP this year. It will then go progressively negative through the early 2020s.

Former President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder won’t tell the truth when it comes to their redistricting strategy, but here it is: Pick a state, any state, and sue until it’s blue.

They have spent years and millions of dollars selling the false narrative that Democrats draw “fair maps” while any and all Republican-drawn maps are “partisan gerrymanders.”

While rhetorically cute, their primary goal has nothing to do with fighting gerrymandering as they repeatedly claim, but to put redistricting in the hands of unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats and lifetime-appointed judges.

Their strategy makes sense.  There are plenty of unelected federal judges presiding over these redistricting cases who will enthusiastically toss out constitutionally drawn maps to help elect more Democrats.  Here’s how to stop this.