Hong Kong's Hutchison Group, which runs mobile carrier ‘3’, protests as USA puts it on new China ban list

The CK Hutchison Group, the Hong-Kong-based conglomerate that operates the “3” mobile brand and maintains plenty of other telecoms investments, wants to clear its name after it appeared on a new list of companies the USA designates as military end users to which US companies cannot export. US commerce secretary Wilbur Ross his …

[Anonymous Coward]

Dear World. I'm sorry.

I didn't vote for him, I didn't want him as leader, but he landed there anyway. He's been an embarrassment to humanity & I can't say sorry enough to truely show the depths of my anguish at his temper tantrum throwing, toys from the pram flinging, head up his arse, insane tweet spewing, blight upon the world has been.

Please accept my apologies & try to take comfort that we'll be ejecting his slimey kiester out the moment it's no longer his chair to occupy.

Signed, a bunch of disgruntled Yanks.

[Timmy B]

Re: Dear World. I'm sorry.

@AC - Why are you Yanks sorry about Boris.... Oh hang on I see....

[martinusher]

Re: Dear World. I'm sorry.

Young Boris is just a Trump wannabe. So the good news is that Trump is on his way out - kicking and screaming like a recalcitrant 2 year old, maybe, but definitely on the way out. The bad news, though, is that there's plenty more where he came from. Sanctions and entity lists also have a life of their own because they're "good 'eatin" for the people charged with developing and administering them. So don't expect miracles from Biden and Co -- they might be relatively competent (OK, 'extremely competent' comapred to the people they're replacing) but the Trump administration has left the Federal government in chaos, with loyalists embedded all over the place, so betwen that and a Repuiblican party that's committed to destroying anything that doesn't give it raw power its going to be difficult just keeping the lights on.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Dear World. I'm sorry.

Didn't Kamala Harris say she could never work with Biden because of the way he treated women? And wasn't he accused of all sorts of dodgy behaviour towards women, both in general and especially those working for him?

And who comprises his entire press staff and many other cabinet posts?

It couldn't possibly be the same women who swore never to work with him because he was nothing but a dirty old man, could it?

martinusher, you have an interesting use for the word "competent".

[low_resolution_foxxes]

Re: Dear World. I'm sorry.

Biden is an odd choice. I think he's likeable enough, but the irony for this year is that Biden is an old man who has been in politics a long, long time. His voting record clearly shows he voted against de-segregating schools back in the 70s, something Kamala attacked him on constantly during the leadership debates.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Dear World. I'm sorry.

I think he's a place holder for Harris, and I also think that has been the plan from day one.

It's clear that voting for a person who is AND black AND a woman is apparently a bridge too far for the American public, so Biden - who is (a) actually competent but (b) indeed quite old - opens the door and will probably retire under the stress one year in because he DOES care, unlike the soon departing sociopath, leaving Harris to do the cleanup.

I thus hope that the Democrats win Georgia, otherwise the bigger rot in the system called Mitch McConnell gets to prolong the pain many more years. The US could have been so much more if it had not been for decades of the likes of Mitch McConnell.

[Robert Carnegie]

Re: Dear World. I'm sorry.

Boris Johnson is a patriot, loyal to the country of his birth. Which is the United States of America. He's as British as Sandra Birgitte Toksvig.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Dear World. I'm sorry.

Boris is a little different to Trump... They are both narcissists, but Boris wants to be a "Great Statesman" like Churchill, whereas Trump is just in it for the personal glory.

The subtle but important difference is that Boris wants to do the "Historic Right Thing", even if he isn't at all suited to the job. Trump doesn't even seem to care as long as people cheer for him...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: we'll be ejecting his slimey kiester out

Yeah, about that.

All the adults left the room years ago. When Guiliani is the voice of reason you know you're fucked. Who's gonna actually go in there, pick him up, and carry him out?

I think we may all be in for a nasty realisation mid January. You're claiming "your democracy has held" but he's not out the door yet.

[nematoad]

Re: we'll be ejecting his slimey kiester out

"Who's gonna actually go in there, pick him up, and carry him out?"

My choice would be the US Marine Corps.

[Boris the Cockroach]

Re: we'll be ejecting his slimey kiester out

I think that the secret service will carry him out of the white house at 12.01 just after Biden starts his term, as trump will have returned to being a private citizen and therefore not authorised to be on US government property

Of course he can kick and scream like a 3 yr old.... but once Biden is sworn in, the US military aint gonna listen to trump.

I think in 4 yrs time , its going to be amazing how many republicans will being saying "trump? I never supported him"

[VicMortimer]

Re: we'll be ejecting his slimey kiester out

He left DC for the holidays yesterday. I suspect there's a good chance he'll never go back.

[JohnMurray]

Re: we'll be ejecting his slimey kiester out

4 years?

4 days!

[mark4155]

Re: we'll be ejecting his slimey kiester out

Hope they count the silverware and towels before his eviction.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: we'll be ejecting his slimey kiester out

Nah, that needed to be sterilised otherwise anyway.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Dear World. I'm sorry.

Please apologize in late January when the Harris/Biden team make no difference.

[Potemkine!]

Re: Dear World. I'm sorry.

I doubt somebody can go as low as Trumpy the Klown!

Ok, I also thought that for GW Bush, and Republicans succeeded to find somebody dumber... So I expect them to prove me wrong in 2024.

[Inventor of the Marmite Laser]

Re: Dear World. I'm sorry.

Just when you think you have made something idiot proof, the world shrugs its shoulders and sends along a better idiot

[nematoad]

Re: Dear World. I'm sorry.

You are going to give Biden and Harris 10 days to sort out the mess that Trump has caused over four years?

How generous.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Dear World. I'm sorry.

"You are going to give Biden and Harris 10 days to sort out the mess"

Nope.

Just 10 days to confirm that they are repealing left, right and centre all of Trump's policies they were against. Just 10 days to confirm all the plans they promised their voters. We can pick this up next February.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Dear World. I'm sorry.

Incoming leaders tend to continue on with the previous policies for a short while, because it's just very difficult to get your feet under the table and rebuild government at the same time.

This is especially the case after the administration has been eviscerated and then stuffed with Trumps cronies (please not, I am not suggesting that the US federal administration is a turkey, even though my language may suggest otherwise!)

It's probably going to take six months just to get all of the Trump appointed members of the civil service out of their posts to allow the administration to function with impartiality as it should.

Of course, I would hope that Joe would stop the building of the wall and protect the Affordable Care Act, and also do what he can to mandate the wearing of masks across the country.

[Getmo]

Re: Dear World. I'm sorry.

Obama stated that when he took office, Bush & his team were very cordial with training & preparing them during the transition. So, it was only fair that Obama did the same for Trump's team.

Something tells me that even though Trump's White House staff have already initiated the transition to Biden's team, Trump himself will not be on board. Wouldn't be surprised if he throws a tantrum and hides all the presidential pens, or unplugs all the phones on his desk.

[Michael B.]

Re: Dear World. I'm sorry.

I'm guessing this is why Biden has picked a lot of people who have worked in those departments before.

[JohnMurray]

Re: Dear World. I'm sorry.

.......and does a number-2 on that desk....

[LybsterRoy]

Re: Dear World. I'm sorry.

I wonder how long it will be before they re-instate CRT training for government employees?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Dear World. I'm sorry.

I'm pretty sure they replaced all the CRTs in the White House with LCDs years ago.

[needmorehare]

Re: Dear World. I'm sorry.

I think he meant HRT. It all started with claims of small hands after all...

[General Purpose]

Re: Dear World. I'm sorry.

That was Trump's approcah: destoy everything Obama had done. Democracy needs leaders who are better than that, leaders who recognise that

- the country's divided

- they owe their win partly (in Trump's case, very greatly) to the vagaries of the electoral system

- those on the other side are not (generally speaking) unpatriotic, subversive and treasonous.

Trump thought he'd been elected dictator, entitled to do as he wished and to get rid of anyone that didn't play ball (including his own advisors and appointees). Even with so much damage to repair, the US needs Biden to be less hasty, less capricious and less autocratic.

[Ken Hagan]

Re: Dear World. I'm sorry.

Why not? 10 days is a perfectly reasonable interval for Covid decontamination.

Oh ... you mean policies.

[Spanners]

Re: Dear World. I'm sorry.

I don't expect them to make an immediate difference but I hope they can level things out. It generally takes longer to rebuild something than it takes to break it.

Donald Trump has had 4 years to do a tremendous amount of damage. This will not be fixable by a week after he is replaced by an adult. Biden will have to do everything from fund things to remove oxygen thieves from power in government agencies. The world will watch to see how your allies are treated and how the worlds troublemakers are faced.

Good luck!

[Timmy B]

Re: Dear World. I'm sorry.

"Please apologize in late January when the Harris/Biden team make no difference."

My guinea pig could make a difference and he spends most of the day eating his own poop.

[Celeste Reinard]

Re: Dear World. I'm sorry.

YOU don't need to apologize - regarding the sorry, very sorry state you are in. ... One doesn't need to hit rock bottom before recovery, but Lord, you had even thrown the furniture afterwards to land upon you to prevent any bouncing back. ... Good luck from the rest of the planet, and a happy New Year.

Planet Earth

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: Dear World. I'm sorry.

"Signed, a bunch of disgruntled Yanks."

Well, that's your Presidential Pardon out the window now. How you gonna feel when everyone else has one?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Dear World. I'm sorry.

What's the problem? Hong Kong is as much the People's Republic as Beijing, with all the same benefits. No pesky Rule of Law. No pesky independent courts. No pesky Freedom of Speech, Religion or Assembly, etc.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Dear World. I'm sorry...speak for youself.. well thats interesting

I have had a post moderated in the past because of potential legal issues. Understandable. And a post moderated because it seems I offended a mods sensibilities about a recently dead person. Less understandable but whatever, their sandpit. But this is the first time I have had a post removed for purely political reasons.

It might have been a tad trenchant but given the overwhelming one sided nature of the political worldview of posters here (Guardianistas / NYT) trenchant is the only way to push back against a rather smug consensus. It was a very forceful statement of opinion by a former Democratic Party supporter, a New Deal Democrat, against the current toxic state of the party and its candidates and it ended with a plaintive statement that all people like me wanted was Dem Party candidates we could actually vote for without feeling dirty afterwards. Which in my case was Gore/Lieberman.

The fact that the post pointed out that maybe a mostly Brit posting demograohic might not actually know very much about how the US actually works given just how slanted the media reports politics might not have gone down too well. Just watch old episode of Spitting Image to get a feel for how the UK media treated Reagan. The TV news of the time was just as bad. Absolutely nothing new about the gross media distortions of the last four years. Just the same as the 1980's.

So even though the beauty contest vote was 5 for / 20 against the post was removed. It could have been a post Boxing Day hangover that made a mod somewhat tetchy. (Which would have been quite a Boxing Day bender in that case). But I get the feeling the that maybe even the Reg has made the lurch to Right Think. Veer too far from the official bien pensant political narrative and out it goes. Or maybe it was just an aberration. A one off.

Only time will tell.

[cbars]

Re: Dear World. I'm sorry...speak for youself.. well thats interesting

El Reg commentards are usually smart enough not to use a political narrative, as each article provides the specific issues for discussion. Try thinking about specific issues, discussing them, and you'll get on better, keeping them relevant to the article is even better.

This is not somewhere I come to read and "be informed" about other peoples broad beliefs, that is too much to ask. Pick a single topic and I *might* be bothered to think about it, but only if you do the work and provide relevant information which I apparently don't have already.

If you're not trying to be helpful to that end, keep your noise to yourself as I bet there is a joke here I would rather read.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Dear World. I'm sorry...speak for youself.. well thats interesting

Spitting Image referencing Reagan was what we call "Freedom of Speech". Something that the US seems to have forgotten.

[Anonymous Coward]

Wilbur Ross distracting

I think its just noise, attempting to distract. Russian has retaliated against the EU for sanction over the Navaly poisoning yesterday, US press would normally be covering it, US would be expected to take sides right now, instead we get a distraction. There's nothing special about '3'.

The recent 'declare martial law / have a coup / install Trump into power / use the military to oppress the people' group:

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/12/21/politics/trump-white-house-sidney-powell/index.html

Michael Flynn, the guy who discussed with the Russians how to avoid Obama sanctions, then lied about it Mike Pence and the FBI.

Patrick Byrne, ex boyfriend of Russian agent Maria Butina, man that must be some great ass to betray your country like that

Donald J Trump, the guy who told his followers there was no Trump Tower Moscow deal, but there was, it was signed, lined up, funded by a Russian bank and approved by the Kremlin... he lied to Fox News viewers, even as Putin knew he was lying.

Sidney Powell, Flynn lawyer, the women who told him to withdraw his 2 x confessions on his (recorded!) Russian discussions.

See a pattern here? Loyalty to Russia betrays USA.

Wilbur Ross, did deals with sanctioned Russians companies, and was on the board of Cyprus bank, alongside a KGB official Vladimir Strzhalkovsky:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/23/wilbur-ross-russian-deal-bank-of-cyprus-donald-trump-commerce-secretary

You see the pattern now?

28 days left to cook something up.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Wilbur Ross distracting

The fact that you consider CNN and the Grauniad (an organisation that large, using some of the most expensive technology around, [I]still[/I] cannot spell properly - seriously, WTF?) as anything other than mouthpieces for the ivory tower intellectuals (politicians who have never had real-world jobs, media people, actors and actresses - oh sorry, that's sexist, they're all just actors now - tenured staff in education establishments, woke idiots who are so far up their own backsides that they think lesbians don't exist but are really "boys in the wrong body"...) is a pretty good proof of your intelligence. Don't tell me - you read it on the Internet, it must be true?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Wilbur Ross distracting

LOL - CNN may be a mediocre news channel, but it is a politically neutral, fairly accurate, mediocre news channel.

Sane people can read it as part of a healthy diet of reasonably trustworthy sources of news.

[Celeste Reinard]

Born to bewilder

You don't say he's a bit of a retard. That wouldn't do justice to all the real retards. ... After all, I always found he resembles more a Vogon - delegated from the Bork-system for screwing up - while screwing up - so badly, it's become metaphysical.

[Anonymous Coward]

In the mean time

Another contemptible pillock, is trying to resurrect his ID card plan in the guise of a Covid-19 health passport. Maybe we can hope for a specific Covid-19 mutation to rid us of these cwords.

[Anonymous Coward]

"The Register wishes American companies luck with their compliance efforts and notes that President Trump and many of his appointees leave office on January 20th, 2021"

I gather Biden made some pretty strong promises on how he would deal with China to ensure he got the votyes he needed in Penn, Minn, Wisc etc so don't think there's necessarily going to be a major change (except, there's a prediction he'll use "climate change" as the justification). He need to keep all those voters onside for at least the next mid-terms as other that the presidential race where an anti-Trump backlash had an effect the Democrats lost ground this year so if that continues in 2 years they may lose the House at which point its sadly lilely to be impeacment time again.

[Anonymous Coward]

Just because Trump had beef with China doesn't necessarily mean that all of the policies are wrong.

Heck if Trump were wrong *all* of the time, we could just do the inverse of what he said...