Minister Denby
@tjmzj.bsky.social
Union officer, diplomat. Evansville, Peking, Tientsin.
Zhu Rongji, a former Chinese premier, has died. “I think that Zhu Rongji represented really a different time, a different era for China..” my radio obit if thr legendary official running shortly www.npr.org/2026/08/12/1...
Zhu Rongji, who drove China's 1990s economic reforms, has died at 97
Zhu was renowned for reforms that sought to transition China from the post-Maoist years to a more global market-oriented financial system, without ceding party control over the economy.
npr.org
SCOOP: People on the airport catering truck used to secretly move President Trump off an Air Force One 747 in Turkey included: - Dan Scavino - Walt Nauta - Natalie Harp No Cabinet-level officials were on that truck. wapo.st/3S47ztG
Close Trump aides — but no Cabinet officials — made secret catering truck move
The president was accompanied by some of his most loyal aides but no top administration officials as he made the clandestine move to a different plane to leave Turkey last month.
wapo.st
Yes, but the whole idea is that everyone thought you were on the first plane.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 11h agoTrump lies out his ass: Q: Why was it too dangerous for you to fly on Air Force One but not for the press? TRUMP: Well, I don't know, I think actually the plane I that I flew on was at greater risk Q: Why do you say that? TRUMP: Because that would be the plane they would be more likely to go for
BREAKING: Former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, who led the country into the World Trade Organization and helped ignite its explosive economic boom, has died at 97. Update: A previous version of this post incorrectly stated that Zhu died at 98.
Ex-Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, architect of growth, dies of illness at 97
Former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji has died, according to state media. The impatient, sharp-tongued reformer helped ignite China’s explosive economic boom by forcing wrenching change on state industry in the 1990s and leading the country into the World Trade Organization.
bit.ly
Joe Weisberg, a former CIA officer and co-creator of The Americans, falls into this trap too.
ae@aelkus.bsky.social · 4h agoit is part of a tradition of Cold War depictions of "noble Russians" that you can see even in kitsch (GI Joe's Oktober Guard)
"When the four-volume selection of his speeches came out in 2011, they shocked readers with his description of 'tofu dregs' flood dykes built by 'parasites', and erring bankers labelled as 'half-wits'." www.reuters.com/world/asia-p...
Zhu Rongji, Chinese premier who cajoled economy into modern era, dies at 97
Former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, who died on Wednesday aged 97, was never one to mince his words.
reuters.com
Zhu dying right before this airs adds a somber footnote.
Kancho Yogo@kanchoyogo.bsky.social · 5h ago[checking the tv guide to see what time the doco starts]
Former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, mastermind behind the negotiations for China’s WTO entry in 2001, has died aged 97
Breaking | Chinese economic reformer Zhu Rongji dies aged 97
Zhu, who rose to become premier, spearheaded China’s entry into the WTO.
scmp.com
This is one of the "two things can be true" that modern pop culture struggles with. The first is that it is entirely correct to fire people who abuse positions of power. The second is that some times bad people are good at what they do, not anonymous and replaceable cogs in vast machines.
X-Men '97 Wolverine Extends Claws
ALT: X-Men '97 Wolverine Extends Claws
static.klipy.com
This is key, the Walmart Einsatzgruppen stop the car in front of her intentionally, your man hops out which his gun drawn towards her already-stopped car, and first thing this guy yells is “Are you following us?!?” These dudes are seeing @whstancil.bsky.social in the shadows, he haunts their drama
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 17h agoThis is absolutely WILD. Here's the dashboard video posted by @fritschner.bsky.social. Fast forward to about 1 minute. An ICE officer jumps out of a van and pulls a gun on this woman immediately before lying and claiming she "almost ran us over." *profanity warning if watching in public.
Twitter-likes amplify mean people. Angela Collier is a mean person.
Colin Carlson@colincarlson.bsky.social · yesterdayBluesky is sort of a dark forest for discourse, where, upon encountering a human being, you need to immediately try to take a kill shot. Anyway, please don’t accuse me of plagiarism and demand my resignation because you imagined my anti-plagiarism blog post said the opposite of what it does
1/6 FT: "Amid a prolonged property bust, a consumer spending downturn and the spectre of deflation, job prospects are now fewer in number. In their place, a precarious gig economy of ridesharing drivers and delivery couriers has been soaking up China’s surplus labour." www.ft.com/content/a380...
China’s great jobs squeeze
As construction slumps and manufacturing automates, 53mn Chinese now work for low wages in food delivery and ride-hailing
ft.com
Great on-the-ground insight from Shenzhen-based writer/consultant Yajun Zhang
The World Is Cheering China’s AI Win. On the Ground, Nobody Has Time to Celebrate
180,000 AI anime titles a month. A Didi driver who's happier earning less. Notes from on the ground in China's tech scene.
substack.com
people are calling this guy unlucky. folks, this was pretty much the best case scenario for dying in 1304 CE.
Andrew Curry@andrewcurry.com · 18h agoThe man's skeletal injuries looked like a train hit him, but he died in 1304 CE. At #ppa26Berlin last week, @uniofbradford.bsky.social scientist Jo Buckberry concluded he was likely whacked by a flying boulder, making him the first confirmed trebuchet death in the archaeological record. @science.org
The number of foreign visitors to China in 2025 finally surpassed pre-pandemic levels, thanks to a combination of the introduction of visa-free travel for 50 countries, online promotion, and an increasingly favourable view of China www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
I genuinely don’t know who this is, and CNN has not identified him when I’ve been watching, but I am fascinated that he stole Two-Face’s suit
looking in the freezer and realizing you finished the ice cream last night
it's really important to remember that most asian governments at the time agreed
Tobias Harris@tobiasharris.bsky.social · yesterdayYou never know what books you'll find when you read old book reviews.
They didn’t get it wrong she’s reunifying Wisconsin and Minnesota like Ireland
FinTwitter@fintwitter.bsky.social · 13h agoU.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar secures Democratic nomination for Wisconsin governor
Finally watched #Obsession, then watched a bit of director Curry Barker’s YT channel to compare. His plotting and direction are solid but my main takeaway is that without Inde Navarrette the movie would not have been a hit. She’s giving an S-Tier horror performance that elevates everything else.
When Google's users searched for airlines' toll-free phone numbers, Google directed them to phones that rang in the scammers' boiler room, where they were tricked into giving up their passport info and credit card numbers to boiler-room thieves: www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-ne... 20/
Phone numbers for airlines listed on Google directed to scammers
A Google spokesperson said in an emailed statement that the company does "not tolerate this misleading activity" and that it had fixed the issue.
nbcnews.com
The anti-woke mind virus in action.
Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋@yaqiu.bsky.social · 22h agoIt is incredibly disappointing that the China Select Committee, which began with bipartisan consensus and produced good work, has descended into this. Seriously, what? Giving preference to applicants from China over American students?
His complete and utter inability to take an L results in him getting even more Ls for himself.
Kyle Griffin@kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 22h agoBREAKING WSJ: Trump White House officials have asked the Trump Justice Department to consider a new prosecution of David Hearn, the man accused of vandalizing the Reflecting Pool — as Trump fumes over U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro's decision to drop the case.
Kudos to the battle choreographers and SFX artists and costumers and actors who brought the season finale of HotD to life. They all did great work, and I don’t want to detract from it when I say the thing which sticks in my head most from the finale is Tom Glynn-Carney’s line reading of “I’m alive!”
Hello I reinvented Cliff’s Notes so adults can revert to being lazy 8th graders who didn’t do their homework. Give me a billion dollars now.
Brandon Friedman@brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 23h agoAxios writer: I melted my brain with AI. Not only can I no longer read, but I don't even understand the purpose of reading anymore. Here's how you can also do this. www.axios.com/2026/08/11/r...
