It ain't what you don't know that gets you in trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so. -- Mark Twain USA + Russia + China + BRICS + Mexico
Austin, TX
Joined June 2012
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I’ve been reading as much as I can about Chinese history since April when I was last in China.
First of all, it is impossible to take in 5,000 years of history in such a short time. 😲
But I’m starting to get an idea of all the twists and turns in history and it really is truly fascinating as an outsider to discover a completely different world.
There is a reason China has existed 5,000 years.
China has the oldest continuous written language. This has to mean something very special about this nation and culture.
The dynasties I can’t speak to very well, but there are certainty inflections that show advanced thinking, philosophy, science, instruments that didn’t show up in Europe for THOUSANDS of years after they were in China.
Of course not enough can be said about the Century of Humiliation!
Right now what really blows my mind is the period from the 1920s on.
Imagine I thought the American Civil War was something (it was)—- but in China it was a "10-Year Civil War" (1927–1937) INTERRUPTED by the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945).
And Americans don’t even know how Americans like Marine Corps Maj. Evans Carlson, Army General Joseph “Vinegar Joe” Stilwell, diplomats John Davies, John Carter Vincent, John Service and many other “China Hands” fought to support the the incredible 8th Route Army led by the equally incredible “Zhu Mao”.
If only Franklin Roosevelt listened to them, just a bit more, history would’ve been very different.
Japan probably would’ve been defeated sooner.
I really look to this past history and the words of President Xi when he said:
"'修昔底德陷阱'不是历史的宿命" ("The Thucydides Trap is not a historical inevitability").
And also at his 2026 state visit to the US where at the welcome ceremony at the White House, he stated: "'修昔底德陷阱'是可以跨越的" ("The Thucydides Trap can be overcome").
What a life’s mission!
In any case, I wanted to list the various accounts that I have been reading—and I know there are quite a few that I have missed —-that have been instructive to me.
I’m bringing someone with me this time.
Everyone should bring someone to China with them.
@RnaudBertrand @ShangguanJiewen @InevitableChina @AlexReporterZA @thecyrusjanssen @ehtangen @baoshaoshan @NuryVittachi @Eng_china5 @PDChina @XHNews @XHNews @MFA_China @Jerry_grey2002 @Chunyu_China @XueJia24682 @XH_Lee23 @chenweihua @wenjiebc @notXiangyu @commiepommie @CarlZha @RealJohnnyYu @apocalypseos @DD_Geopolitics @Glenn_Diesen @KimIversenShow @qin210dynasty @LoneTraveler111
Ryan Milton 弥瑞恩 retweeted
The viral 731-year transformation of Jinan, China, viewed toward Que Mountain and Hua Buzhu Mountain, as depicted in Zhao Mengfu's 1295 painting Autumn Colors on the Que and Hua Mountains, through historical photographs from 1903 and modern-day Jinan in 2026...
Jinan is known as the “City of Springs.” It has more than 70 famous natural springs, and the most famous, Baotu Spring, has been celebrated by poets for centuries.
. . .
The painting is called “Autumn Colors on the Qiao and Hua Mountains.” The artwork captures a tranquil, rural landscape with fishing boats, simple homesteads, and the distant twin peaks northeast of Jinan. The two hills outside the city: the rounded Mount Que on the left and the sharply pointed Mount Hua on the right. Painted by scholar-artist Zhao Mengfu (considered one of China’s greatest painters and calligraphers) for his friend Zhou Mi (a scholar whose family came from the Jinan area, though he had grown up far away in the south). Zhao had served as an official in the region and painted the scroll so Zhou could finally see the landscape of his ancestral home. The original scroll is now kept at the National Palace Museum in Taipei.
More than 700 years later, those same two hills are still standing...
A historical view showing the early expansion of the city and agricultural plains spreading across the terrain, with the same two mountains anchoring the background horizon. In the early 1900s, the land around them was mostly farmland.
Today, Jinan is the capital of Shandong Province and a city of more than 9 million people, with skyscrapers stretching toward the hills Zhao painted. A dense high-rise metropolis of Jinan (capital of Shandong Province) filled with skyscrapers and urban infrastructure, while Que Mountain and Hua Buzhu Mountain still remain visible in the distance.
#archaeohistories
Hot pot and Chinese opera. Definitely delicious, and I ate it very hot. I’m not sure I understand Chinese opera at all. And my Chinese friends couldn’t even understand what she was saying either.
So that’s how they clean chopsticks 🥢 in Beijing!
We are the bravest Americans ever!!!!
We tried and survived Douzhi'er (豆汁儿), a traditional Beijing fermented mung bean drink.
It is a quintessential old Beijing breakfast item, though it is famous for being an acquired taste that many visitors find “challenging.” 🤣
It is made from mung beans and has a distinctive grayish-green color and a strong sour, fermented smell (sometimes compared to rotten cheese or egg) . (Super sour)
It has a history of over 300 years in Beijing and was even served in the imperial court during the Qing Dynasty .
We are the bravest Americans ever!!!!
We tried and survived Douzhi'er (豆汁儿), a traditional Beijing fermented mung bean drink.
It is a quintessential old Beijing breakfast item, though it is famous for being an acquired taste that many visitors find “challenging.” 🤣
It is made from mung beans and has a distinctive grayish-green color and a strong sour, fermented smell (sometimes compared to rotten cheese or egg) . (Super sour)
It has a history of over 300 years in Beijing and was even served in the imperial court during the Qing Dynasty .
We were given quite the welcome and appreciation when we came to the Great Wall at the Pass at Bandaling.
This “Bandaling” — “Ba” means 8. “da” means “to reach”; “ling” is summit.
From that location one can go 8 directions: simply to go everywhere. We are right by Inner Mongolia.
It is said you are not a real man if you have not been to the Great Wall.
Here it is preserved and has the intersection of so many branches of the walls in one location.
We find that people are very patriotic here—and there are so many people.
It was windy and cool but with a warm sun.
This is why you don’t put Navy SEALs in strategic decision-making roles.
They're a tactical instrument used selectively for strategic effect, but if you look at the statement by Crenshaw, below, this will guarantee nuclear war if we took his view seriously.
No knowledge of Soviet or Russian military doctrine.
No understanding of statecraft.
No diplomatic or bilateral understanding.
No understanding of the Russian mindset.
Just a blunt hammer in someone else’s hand.
Put this guy back in the tool box. He would kill Americans.
As Scott Ritter said, “pick your city”. Pick the city you would sacrifice on such a foolish errand.
In case it wasn’t already obvious: being nice to Putin hasn’t achieved peace. And it never will.
Luckily there is at least one easy option that stops Russia’s ballistic missiles from killing civilians and destroying power grids. Starlink.
Ukrainian drones can destroy the launchers, but need access to Starlink over Russian territory to navigate effectively.
This would cost American taxpayers nothing. It would save lives. And it would put real pressure on Putin.
My latest in the Washington Post:
Ryan Milton 弥瑞恩 retweeted
📽 Watch the full presentation by Scott Ritter @RealScottRitter — an American journalist, former Marine Corps intelligence officer, UN weapons inspector in Iraq (1991–1998), and columnist for The Huffington Post (2014–2017) — at the 6th International Televideo Bridge titled "ZAPOROZHYE REGION: ESCALATION OF THE AFU’S TERRORIST WAR" (October 22, 2026).
@mfa_russia
Ryan Milton 弥瑞恩 retweeted
「ロシアから戻ってきたばかりだが、ある人物と話をした。
まあ、こう言っておこう。
その人物は、真実をすべて知っている立場にいる。
その人物が示したウクライナ側の死傷者数は
350万人だった。
つまり、死者と負傷者を合わせて350万人だ。」
“Ukraine Is Going Extinct” | Scott Ritter on 3.5 Million Casualties & Ze... youtu.be/KvMybrl-UwQ?si=Ga6e… @YouTubeより
We are the bravest Americans ever!!!!
We tried and survived Douzhi'er (豆汁儿), a traditional Beijing fermented mung bean drink.
It is a quintessential old Beijing breakfast item, though it is famous for being an acquired taste that many visitors find “challenging.” 🤣
It is made from mung beans and has a distinctive grayish-green color and a strong sour, fermented smell (sometimes compared to rotten cheese or egg) . (Super sour)
It has a history of over 300 years in Beijing and was even served in the imperial court during the Qing Dynasty .
We were given quite the welcome and appreciation when we came to the Great Wall at the Pass at Bandaling.
This “Bandaling” — “Ba” means 8. “da” means “to reach”; “ling” is summit.
From that location one can go 8 directions: simply to go everywhere. We are right by Inner Mongolia.
It is said you are not a real man if you have not been to the Great Wall.
Here it is preserved and has the intersection of so many branches of the walls in one location.
We find that people are very patriotic here—and there are so many people.
It was windy and cool but with a warm sun.
Ryan Milton 弥瑞恩 retweeted
Washington has long treated Latin America as its own “backyard,” subjecting the region to intervention, coercion, sanctions, and political pressure.
Beijing now says:
No.
At the United Nations General Assembly, China demanded that the United States immediately end its 64-year-long blockade and sanctions against Cuba.
As China put it:
“The adoption of this resolution by an overwhelming majority for 33 consecutive years reflects the conscience of humanity and demonstrates the power of justice.”
In plain English:
The United States does not get to violate the UN Charter, impose unilateral coercion for decades, and then appoint itself the guardian of the “international order.”
When the overwhelming majority of the world rejects your policy year after year, the problem is no longer the world.
It is you.
Ryan Milton 弥瑞恩 retweeted
We were given quite the welcome and appreciation when we came to the Great Wall at the Pass at Bandaling.
This “Bandaling” — “Ba” means 8. “da” means “to reach”; “ling” is summit.
From that location one can go 8 directions: simply to go everywhere. We are right by Inner Mongolia.
It is said you are not a real man if you have not been to the Great Wall.
Here it is preserved and has the intersection of so many branches of the walls in one location.
We find that people are very patriotic here—and there are so many people.
It was windy and cool but with a warm sun.
Tiananmen Square on an overcast day. It’s a place that triggers us in the West, causes us to be fearful, enraged and hostile to China.
But that is what lack of understanding gets you.
As you will hear in the video, it is a place that is sacred to the Chinese people. What you will hear is the broader, interesting discussion that shows you how people in China think of it today.
I didn’t film our discussion on 1989 out of respect. He said my view was 90% right, and you will find much of this story very openly online. I won’t spend lots of time on this unfortunate moment in history.
It was meant to be the regime change moment. Mostly Western media and pundits are upset that it wasn’t and that is why they rant about it every year.
Events began peacefully, even with some legitimate concerns. The military was welcomed by students. There absolutely were paid provocateurs that mixed into the crowd.
The troublemakers used the students to create a conflict, some died. The military was attacked by the provocateurs and in fact the agent provocateurs were by far more violent even than the military. And some of the soldiers died.
The entire thing was dealt with as best as possible.
That’s it. It was a regime change event that failed and the unfortunate outcome was some people died.
The camera crews got their propaganda shots.
People get to say bad things about China and their brand of Communism. And they rinse and repeat it.
But if you listen to the video closely, you get the truth. People here in China love their government, they EXPECT and DEMAND their government be like a loving father and care for and direct the Chinese family to a better future.
Believe me when I say that China is on the way. They have not arrived.
It is a system with “Chinese characteristics” because not everything they were told to do or that the theorists claimed, works for the Chinese. Because there is still the Confucian tradition.
That’s it. Come and see for yourself. This is a good country.
Ryan Milton 弥瑞恩 retweeted
We must put pressure on Zelensky to start negotiating -
Weidel, AfD leader
AfD is by far the largest party in Germany and would win any election hands down. They sound a certain tone that doesn’t sound lockstep like the other parties.
But why? The other parties feel that they have to submit to the hegemon currently residing in Washington D.C.
But in reality survival is not with the Anglo-American establishment, but rather with Russia and China who insist that their sovereignty and benefits of their citizens is primary.
Ryan Milton 弥瑞恩 retweeted
Ceasefire is code for rearmament. It’s not peace. It’s “give us more weapons”.
Ukraine has agreed to every ceasefire proposal. If negotiations in Norway produce another formula for a ceasefire, we will most certainly agree to that, too.
Ukraine is not the obstacle to peace. @NEWSMAX
Ryan Milton 弥瑞恩 retweeted
🇵🇱🇺🇦 When is Poland going to cut their losses with Ukraine?
(Translated from Polish)
 The Ukrainian newspaper "Europejska Pravda" reported that Poland had suspended military aid to Kyiv after Lviv local government officials decided to honor the UPA and its criminals. The Polish Ministry of National Defense denies this, but there are indications that the government in Warsaw has prepared sanctions for this reason and will implement them.
The source of the information, according to "Europejska Pravda," about the suspension of Polish aid is said to be a figure in the Ukrainian government. Warsaw's decision allegedly concerned the military support package. The reason for these radical actions is the decision of the Lviv Regional Council on October 20th to declare 2027 "the year of Roman Shukhevych, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, and Oleh Olzhich."
The Polish government may suspend financial support for Ukraine.
"Due to their irresponsible actions, the delivery of this package has been suspended. Intensive work is underway to resolve this problem, which arose out of nowhere, through closed channels," a source in the European Parliament told "Europejska Pravda."
The Polish Ministry of National Defense denied this information, but this doesn't mean that Ukrainians will not face any consequences resulting from the actions of Lviv's local government. Military aid may indeed be maintained, but it's possible that the Polish government will resort to a different form of "response." According to Onet, this may involve withholding financial support for Kyiv, as talks have recently been underway about granting Ukraine some form of loan.
"The controversy surrounding Lviv councilors' plans to commemorate a UPA criminal has, according to our information, caused Warsaw to suspend talks on the matter. It is unknown for how long," Onet reported.
Ryan Milton 弥瑞恩 retweeted
𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗬 𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗣𝗘𝗡𝗘𝗗 𝗧𝗢 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗞 𝗜𝗡 𝗨𝗞𝗥𝗔𝗜𝗡𝗘
Ukraine has always used only civilian Starlink services: the basic plan ($100), the commercial in-motion plan ($400), and the priority command-post plan ($2,000–4,000). Aviation plans cost up to $1K, $20K, or $100K+, but they are unavailable in Ukraine.
Under heavy demand, the network became overloaded. SpaceX had to keep prices high for the military to build excess ground-station capacity around Ukraine and minimise signal latency. These are the very sites with antenna domes that recently began to be set on fire in attacks allegedly ordered through the dark web.
The main problem Ukrainian forces faced at the front was Russian electronic warfare (EW). GPS signal jamming caused civilian Starlink chips to freeze, while spoofed location data could trigger terminal lockouts.
The solution was a GPS hack board. Engineers soldered it inside the terminal to manually set the desired coordinates. These boards also made it possible to bypass Musk’s geographic restrictions.
For a long time, Starlink did not work in the grey zone under Russian control. But entering the coordinates of a neighbouring Ukrainian region restored the connection. Russian forces also exploited this loophole until Starlink introduced exclusive whitelists for the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) only.
By 2025, Musk began tightening restrictions and reducing speed limits for commercial plans. But Ukrainian military engineers discovered a loophole: technically, the satellite-terminal communication session was not rigidly tied to GPS. The protection existed only within the terminal module itself.
If the terminal was made to believe through the hack board that it was stationary, it would send its own radio request to the satellite and receive the necessary session data. There are now around 10,000 satellites, and the signal could be picked up even with a separation of more than 150 km. The drone could fly over Russian territory while Starlink’s servers believed it was stationary.
This was a major Ukrainian secret. Before being sent to the front, the casings of new Starlink terminals were routinely opened to install GPS hacks and sturdy, waterproof connectors. This allowed drones to fly at high speeds while using an ordinary subscription.
In early 2026, Musk reduced the commercial plan’s speed limit to 160 km/h worldwide. That is slower than many basic UAVs can fly with a tailwind. But because GPS hack boards were so widely used in Ukraine, nobody noticed. The terminals reported that they were supposedly stationary.
IN LATE 2026, SPACEX RESPONDED HARSHLY. A server-side check was introduced: if a terminal’s GPS indicated that it was stationary but it switched between satellites too quickly—revealing an actual speed above 160 km/h—the server would immediately terminate the connection.
The GPS hack stopped working. Ukrainian forces began experiencing problems with long-range UAVs. Flights now have to be planned carefully to avoid exceeding the 160 km/h limit. Funding for aviation plans is not always available, and SpaceX does not sell them for what it considers offensive uses.
Against this backdrop, Zelensky is trying to obtain unrestricted access to Starshield—the US military version of Starlink—to enable flights over Russia. But Trump, Musk and the Pentagon are refusing him. Ukraine has portrayed the restrictions as a political blockade while omitting the fact that the Starlink speed limit has reportedly been in place for almost a year.
A behind-the-scenes back-and-forth is now underway: Musk says he has not changed anything in recent days, while Rubio states that Starshield is unavailable to Ukraine. The result: Starlink is gradually being restricted to vehicle-based and stationary use. The workaround no longer works.
Whether the speed check has been disabled or access to specialised aviation plans has been granted remains unclear. The outage affected a narrow segment of drones...
We were given quite the welcome and appreciation when we came to the Great Wall at the Pass at Bandaling.
This “Bandaling” — “Ba” means 8. “da” means “to reach”; “ling” is summit.
From that location one can go 8 directions: simply to go everywhere. We are right by Inner Mongolia.
It is said you are not a real man if you have not been to the Great Wall.
Here it is preserved and has the intersection of so many branches of the walls in one location.
We find that people are very patriotic here—and there are so many people.
It was windy and cool but with a warm sun.
Tiananmen Square on an overcast day. It’s a place that triggers us in the West, causes us to be fearful, enraged and hostile to China.
But that is what lack of understanding gets you.
As you will hear in the video, it is a place that is sacred to the Chinese people. What you will hear is the broader, interesting discussion that shows you how people in China think of it today.
I didn’t film our discussion on 1989 out of respect. He said my view was 90% right, and you will find much of this story very openly online. I won’t spend lots of time on this unfortunate moment in history.
It was meant to be the regime change moment. Mostly Western media and pundits are upset that it wasn’t and that is why they rant about it every year.
Events began peacefully, even with some legitimate concerns. The military was welcomed by students. There absolutely were paid provocateurs that mixed into the crowd.
The troublemakers used the students to create a conflict, some died. The military was attacked by the provocateurs and in fact the agent provocateurs were by far more violent even than the military. And some of the soldiers died.
The entire thing was dealt with as best as possible.
That’s it. It was a regime change event that failed and the unfortunate outcome was some people died.
The camera crews got their propaganda shots.
People get to say bad things about China and their brand of Communism. And they rinse and repeat it.
But if you listen to the video closely, you get the truth. People here in China love their government, they EXPECT and DEMAND their government be like a loving father and care for and direct the Chinese family to a better future.
Believe me when I say that China is on the way. They have not arrived.
It is a system with “Chinese characteristics” because not everything they were told to do or that the theorists claimed, works for the Chinese. Because there is still the Confucian tradition.
That’s it. Come and see for yourself. This is a good country.
Ryan Milton 弥瑞恩 retweeted
𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐗 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝟕 𝐏𝐌 𝐄𝐓 | 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐇𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐈𝐟 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬? | 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭 𝐇𝐨𝐡
Watch at x.com/RealScottRitter or x.com/USTourofDuty. Adult beverages optional.🍷@citizenjeff @AntiEgoDriven
@1860rm @MatthewPHoh @MediaEisenhower
Tiananmen Square on an overcast day. It’s a place that triggers us in the West, causes us to be fearful, enraged and hostile to China.
But that is what lack of understanding gets you.
As you will hear in the video, it is a place that is sacred to the Chinese people. What you will hear is the broader, interesting discussion that shows you how people in China think of it today.
I didn’t film our discussion on 1989 out of respect. He said my view was 90% right, and you will find much of this story very openly online. I won’t spend lots of time on this unfortunate moment in history.
It was meant to be the regime change moment. Mostly Western media and pundits are upset that it wasn’t and that is why they rant about it every year.
Events began peacefully, even with some legitimate concerns. The military was welcomed by students. There absolutely were paid provocateurs that mixed into the crowd.
The troublemakers used the students to create a conflict, some died. The military was attacked by the provocateurs and in fact the agent provocateurs were by far more violent even than the military. And some of the soldiers died.
The entire thing was dealt with as best as possible.
That’s it. It was a regime change event that failed and the unfortunate outcome was some people died.
The camera crews got their propaganda shots.
People get to say bad things about China and their brand of Communism. And they rinse and repeat it.
But if you listen to the video closely, you get the truth. People here in China love their government, they EXPECT and DEMAND their government be like a loving father and care for and direct the Chinese family to a better future.
Believe me when I say that China is on the way. They have not arrived.
It is a system with “Chinese characteristics” because not everything they were told to do or that the theorists claimed, works for the Chinese. Because there is still the Confucian tradition.
That’s it. Come and see for yourself. This is a good country.
is your next stop the Great Wall?
does anyone still want to talk about Tiananmen 1989? it was much worse than Jan 6th Capitol riots in the US. b/c the so-called Democrat Activists colluded with CIA trying to overthrow the CPC Govt
#OperationYellowbird
xitter.cf/Sabina_91521/status/14…
Such a beautiful time of year to be in Beijing. and at the Palace Museum.
The complainers always want to argue about Tiananmen Square, but today I simply met and made new young friends here. The Temple of Heaven, where President Xi took President Trump.
In the croissant of mums, in the Palace Museum, were outstanding.
This is the 90th Anniversary of the Long March, a time of strategic retreat starting in Xi’an and then more than 12,000km through the harshest conditions imaginable— shocking mountain snow peaks, the steel chain bridge crossing, the horrific marshes.
We saw the whole process, beautifully and painfully told, and with tremendous passion at the military museum.
Keep the men and lose the land, and both men and land survive; keep the land and lose the men, and both are lost.
This is the 90th Anniversary of the Long March, a time of strategic retreat starting in Xi’an and then more than 12,000km through the harshest conditions imaginable— shocking mountain snow peaks, the steel chain bridge crossing, the horrific marshes.
We saw the whole process, beautifully and painfully told, and with tremendous passion at the military museum.
Keep the men and lose the land, and both men and land survive; keep the land and lose the men, and both are lost.
Say, have YOU been to China?
You haven’t?
Well you might not be living.
This is JUST the last few hours (working backwards). First in my hotel in the bar, I met diplomats from Mozambique, Sudan, Nigeria, Capo Verde (where’s that Biff? Look on a map), and designers from Eritrea and Burundi.
One or two of them live here in China.
Then, I met the man who travels with Chinese Senators to the USA—-he runs my hotel. He thinks a US-China relationship is a must.
Finally, I had dinner with economists, journalists, ambassadors, producers that represent important ideas and institutions. People from Syria, Spain, the USA, Russia, India, Pakistan, Argentina and Sri Lanka.
All luminaries
