What Xi's Propaganda Parade Reveals About China's Strategy To Undermine America
Plus, Northwestern's contract with Qatar reveals the speech limitations that come with operating in the Gulf state
The dangers of rewriting history: Xi Jinping, with Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un in tow, commemorated the end of World War II with a massive military parade held earlier this week. It might seem like an odd occasion to observe, given that the Chinese Communists spent most of the war skulking in the mountains and the Soviets were at Adolf Hitler's side when he began his murderous rampage by attacking Poland. For Xi, however, those historic holes don't cheapen the parade, they point to its purpose: to recast the war in a way that weakens America.
Both the Chinese and so many of America's domestic critics, Free Beacon columnist Mike Watson writes, "want to weaken American public support for the grand strategy that made the United States a superpower." Their aim is to resurrect America's pre-Pearl Harbor mentality, one in which "many Americans thought they had been tricked into World War I" and a "majority hoped the Asians and Europeans would sort out their disputes on their own and, if they came to blows, leave the United States out of it." They were wrong, and America moved heaven and earth to fix their mistakes and "prevent another such cataclysm."
That's a problem for China and its fellow revisionists. "They hope that, by pretending perfidious allies duped Americans into the Second World War, they will weaken public support for the allies whom they want to see destroyed," Watson writes. "The Soviet empire collapsed when its subjects started telling the truth. This republic will fall when its citizens stop remembering it."
READ MORE: Propagandists on Parade
Signing away free speech: Northwestern University has a contract with the regime-controlled Qatar Foundation to operate a campus in the Gulf state. A recent interview with the school's soon-to-be-former president, Michael Schill, reveals the constraints the university agreed to operate under when signing that deal.
A clause in the contract, discussed during a recent House Education Committee interview with Schill that became public shortly after he announced his resignation on Thursday, stipulates that "NU, NU-Q, and their respective employees, students, faculty, families, contractors and agents, shall be subject to the applicable laws and regulations of the State of Qatar, and shall respect the cultural, religious and social customs of the State of Qatar." Those laws criminalize criticism of the Hamas-allied Qatari regime and ban online content that it considers harmful. Indeed, at least one Northwestern Qatar student was "arrested over a tweet," according to the interview.
Schill told committee investigators that Northwestern "has to" operate in accordance with all Qatari laws but said he had "no idea" whether that would "allow a Northwestern faculty member or student to publicly criticize the regime." He also confirmed that anti-Semitism training offered at Northwestern's main campus is not offered in Qatar, but said he doesn't "know what the reason would be" for that disparity. Who can know!
READ MORE: Northwestern's Contract With Qatar Forbids School From Criticizing Regime
Dying on the DEI hill: The Trump administration is investigating the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, for race-exclusionary practices in its graduate programs. More than 50 institutions of higher education have found themselves under investigation over similar programs. That doesn't seem to bother Nevada's attorney general, Aaron Ford.
Rather than assess the illegality of DEI programs like UNLV's, Ford, the Democrat’s likely nominee for governor, is rallying behind them. "Sometimes you are going to be doing things that are counter to political expediency, and right now, the diversity, equity, and inclusion conversation is counter to political expediency in so many people's eyes," he said at an Aug. 11 African American Policy Forum event. "But I've never run from it. Won't run from it."
Months earlier, in April, Ford attended a conference hosted by Al Sharpton's National Action Network, which has led boycotts against corporations that ditch DEI policies. He warned of a "war on woke" and made clear which side he's on: "They want you complacent. That's why they're changing history books right before your eyes, and so it's important that you stay woke," he said. With a high-profile fight against Nevada GOP governor Joe Lombardo looming, time will tell whether the state's voters agree.
In other news:
Israel launched a Gaza City offensive on Friday: The IDF confirmed it will "carry out precise strikes against Hamas terrorist infrastructure" there in the coming days. The Israeli military says it has already taken control of 40 percent of the city's territory and has uncovered "significant Hamas terrorist activity" in civilian buildings. Surprise surprise.
PBS is slashing roughly 15 percent of its workforce, cuts that include "34 immediate layoffs, the closing of dozens of open positions and reductions made this summer in response to the elimination of federal funding" for public media, according to the New York Times. Cue the world’s smallest violin.
Making war great again: The DoD will begin using titles such as "Secretary of War" and "Department of War" in official documents and public communications, as outlined in an executive order Donald Trump signed on Friday—and shown through a distinctly American hype video released shortly thereafter.
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