Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt Predicts Internet Split: American vs. Chinese

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has predicted that the Internet will split into two over the next ten years, resulting in an American Internet and a Chinese Internet

“I think the most likely scenario now is not a splintering, but rather a bifurcation into a Chinese-led internet and a non-Chinese internet led by America,” Schmidt declared during a private event this week. “If you look at China, and I was just there, the scale of the companies that are being built, the services being built, the wealth that is being created is phenomenal. Chinese Internet is a greater percentage of the GDP of China, which is a big number, than the same percentage of the US, which is also a big number. “If you think of China as like ‘Oh yeah, they’re good with the Internet,’ you’re missing the point. Globalization means that they get to play too,” he continued. “I think you’re going to see fantastic leadership in products and services from China. There’s a real danger that along with those products and services comes a different leadership regime from government, with censorship, controls, etc.” “Look at the way BRI works – their Belt and Road Initiative, which involves 60-ish countries – it’s perfectly possible those countries will begin to take on the infrastructure that China has with some loss of freedom,” Schmidt concluded.

Google has faced heavy criticism over the past few months for developing a censored Chinese search engine, which employees and human rights organizations fear could lead to human rights violations. The censored search app could be the company’s play to take over the future Chinese Internet. Last week, a bipartisan group of congressmen signed a letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai demanding answers over the project and the company’s cooperation with the Chinese government.

https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2018/09/21/former-google-ceo-eric-schmidt-predicts-internet-split-american-vs-chinese/

President Tran Dai Quang of Vietnam Dies of Unspecified ‘Rare and Toxic Virus

President Tran Dai Quang of Vietnam died at the age of 61 on Friday. According to a government spokesman, he was felled by an unspecified “rare and toxic virus” despite the efforts of doctors from both Vietnam and Japan.

As the Associated Press reported on Friday, the statement on Quang’s death from Vietnamese government officials was vague on some major details:

Quang passed away despite “utmost efforts to treat him by Vietnamese and foreign professors and doctors and care by the party and state leaders,” the statement said. It said Quang died at a military hospital in Hanoi but did not elaborate on his illness. The state-run online newspaper VnExpress quoted a former health minister and the head of a national committee in charge of leaders’ health, Nguyen Quoc Trieu, as saying that Quang had contracted a rare and toxic virus since July last year and had traveled to Japan six times for treatment. He did not specify the virus. Trieu said the president lapsed into a deep coma hours after being admitted to the National Military Hospital 108 on Thursday afternoon. “Japanese professors and doctors treated him and helped consolidate the president’s health for about a year,” Trieu said. “However, there are no medicines in the world that can cure the illness completely, instead it only could prevent and push it back for some time.”

The AP described Quang as “frail” in his last public appearance on Wednesday at a reception for visitors from China and noted there was speculation about his health when he vanished from public view for a month last year. The New York Times remembered Quang as a “former police general” and “hardliner” who will not be much missed by human rights advocates, having presided over a brutal crackdown on dissent.

https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2018/09/21/president-tran-dai-quang-vietnam-dies-unspecified-rare-toxic-virus/

Witness named by Kavanaugh accuser becomes third to deny being at party

A witness, reportedly named by Christine Blasey Ford as one of the people at the high school party where Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh allegedly sexually assaulted her, told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Saturday she was not there. The attorney for Leland Ingham Keyser told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Keyser does not remember being at the party Ford described as the location of the alleged assault. "Ms. Keyser does not know Mr. Kavanaugh and she has no recollection of ever being at a party or gathering where he was present, with, or without, Dr. Ford," Keyser said in the statement. CNN reported Keyser is a lifelong friend of Ford's. Keyser, whom the New York Times reported is one of the people Ford named as being in attendance at the party, is the third witness who has denied knowing about the alleged assault. Mark Judge and Patrick Smyth said earlier this week they did not remember the party in question.

Kavanaugh has denied Ford's allegation. The news comes after Ford, through her attorneys, tentatively agreed to testify on Thursday, after days of negotiations over the timing and conditions of her appearance before the panel. Committee chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, had repeatedly extended deadlines set for Ford's team on the decision, including three on Friday and one at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. Grassley threatened to proceed with a committee vote on Kavanaugh's nomination Monday if he did not hear from Ford. “Five times now we [have] granted extension for Dr Ford to decide if she wants to proceed [with] her desire stated one [week] ago that she wants to tell senate her story,” Grassley tweeted Friday. “Dr Ford if u changed ur mind say so so we can move on I want to hear ur testimony. Come to us or we to u.” The extended discussions have been labeled a delaying tactic by some Republicans. Ford's attorneys and Grassley's aides will reportedly continue negotiations Sunday on the details of the conditions of Ford's testimony, per the New York Times.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/witness-named-by-kavanaugh-accuser-denies-being-at-party