Cultural or Missile exchanges
The Blip Report for Thursday, November 7th 2024
I read a not-so-good story, about the United States and China - ‘To counter China, the US military reopened the airport used to drop atomic bombs on Japan during World War II’, that the United States is rebuilding an old former airbase on one of the Mariana Islands - Tinian Island.
But the concern with this work at this abandoned airport is that
“In August 1945, the B-29 bomber that dropped the atomic bomb on Japan took off from here. After the war, the military airport on the island was abandoned.” [!!!]
It would seem to be quite an ominous message that is being sent to the Chinese military, that this is how the United States plans to deal with their perceived adversary!!! But it also says that certain Americans don’t remember their own history, that the United States was allied with China !!! against Japan, in WW2!!!
But then I read a story about China’s possible response - ‘China’s Missile Test Saved the US From Nuclear War’, that China conducted a test of an intercontinental missile that flew 12,000 kilometers and landed in the Pacific ocean.
But then I was looking at the map of its flight path, and I wondered whether it just might have flown right over that Tinian island, where they’re building that airport. Now that would seem to be something to sit down and think about.
But then I read a different story abut China - ‘Original Italian manuscripts of Marco Polo books first exhibited in China’, that there is a new exhibit at the Shanghai Library to celebrate both the 700th anniversary of Marco Polo's death, and the 20th Anniversary of the establishment of comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Italy.
“… four representative original manuscripts of The Travels of Marco Polo and rare handwritten documents such as the will of Marco Polo's uncle, Maffeo Polo, are being exhibited for the first time in China from renowned Italian collections.”
And my feathered friend chirped in, that cultural exchanges are much better than ICBM exchanges!!!
And, in spite of the anti-India narrative that’s being pushed here in Canada these days, I read a good story about the United States and India - ‘United States of America returns 297 antiquities to India’, that in September during PM Modi’s visit to the United States, the American government returned some objects that had been stolen or trafficked out of India, and that some of these antiquities go back 4000 years!!!
Modi thanked the United States because, he said, that
“these objects were not just part of India’s historical material culture, but formed the inner core of its civilization and consciousness.”
And apparently, this has been going on for some years, since 2016:
“In recent times, restitution of cultural property has become an important aspect of India-US cultural understanding and exchange. Since 2016, the US Government has facilitated the return of a large number of trafficked or stolen antiquities.
10 antiquities were returned during PM’s visit to USA in June 2016; 157 antiquities during his visit in September 2021 and a further 105 antiquities during his visit in June last year. The total number of cultural artefacts returned from US to India since 2016 stands at 578. This is the maximum number of cultural artefacts returned by any country to India.”
I hope that the United States continues in this cultural work with India, and with other countries too, because it shows that there is a good-neighbor policy that’s still alive in the United States.
And tomorrow is the first day of Li Dong (the Beginning of Winter) in the Chinese solar calendar. And so I watched a video about Lidong, that was about Shaoxing, in Zhejiang province, and about how tomorrow is also the first day of the winter swimming season in Jianhu Lake. And about how Shaoxing is famous for brewing a special yellow rice wine, a tradition that goes back to when making rice wine first began - 2500 years ago!