2y ago

If you looked closely, you could have guessed why China arrested the Two Michaels

rabble.ca

9 comments

The end of the article interested me more, because the rest was just tooting China's horn:
And what about the case of Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, the Canadian schmuck found guilty of drug smuggling by China not long before Meng’s arrest?
Once the Two Michaels had returned to Canada, Canadian media lost all interest in the fate of the poor guy, found guilty of trying to smuggle drugs out of China to Australia, who had his 15-year jail term goosed up to a death sentence to increase the pressure on Canada to release Meng.
A Chinese court rejected Schellenberg’s appeal of his death sentence in 2021.
There doesn’t seem to have been another news report about him since then.
He wasn’t a model citizen, a spy, or a corporate executive. He’s still a Canadian, though. Does anybody give a hoot?
That was the person I knew was just arrested and charged up for dubious political reasons more than the two Michaels. I'd never really followed up on China's whole espionage allegations because that's often just a he-said she-said.
- He was arrested before the Meng thing happened, so the arrest was not dubiously political. The upgrading to the death sentence, however, was very clearly a pressure tactic of dubious politics.
  
  Also a case of play stupid games, win stupid prizes
- the rest was just tooting China's horn
  Is that what we're calling reporting on facts that don't completely feed the "China bad" narrative, now?
  
  Yes.
  And make no mistake. The Chinese government is bad. It's just bad in ways that the western governments and press don't actually give a shit about so they make up other shit instead.
  
  You are free to call it whatever you like. This is just how it appeared to me.
  Even if I agree with much of it, yes Canada was acting on behalf of the US (the Trump admin for that matter) and for American self-serving purposes, the parts that describe "establishment Canadian media has an egg on its face" and talking about how "Meng did nothing wrong, let her go with a quiet whisper not to come back" is just as silly an attitude as "China bad". If Canada would defy the US here, we should do so openly, with integrity and don't pretend we're powerless and Meng 'just happened' to slip away.

9 comments