Life | Irving Waters

Who is listening?

July 17, 2021China, Espionage, Life

Two minute read

Who has access to our chats and conversations, and for how long?
What lists have our social network bots put us on, based on our online typing, audio and video conversations and our ‘like button’ activity?
“Why would it matter to me?” you ask. “I am a law abiding citizen.”

We always thought it was fine because we are “not doing anything illegal,” but that is changing in many countries with the introduction of new laws regarding basic human rights: curfews, mask laws, QR codes, PCR tests…. religious beliefs, travel history, contact with people, socializing in groups of more than X number of people, new kinds of paperwork for travel, new paperwork for going to the supermarket. These are all a reality now in some countries, and possibly very soon in your country.
–All of a sudden, actions that used to be normal, legal and accepted as a basic human rights have become crimes that might carry large fines, and the possibility of some form of incarceration, whether it be in a jail, a hotel, your home, your city, state or country, or perhaps being forbidden to return to the country you call home.

We need to think about what our current human rights are, and notice when any portion of these are taken away, and we need to notice it even if it is done so incrementally that it’s not in the news. They were not allowed to listen in on you before, but now they are.

New kinds of jails are being built. They are writing new rules for being able to keep you there.
Leading the way in the erosion of human rights is Australia.

The Australian government has introduced the new regulation that resets the clock on travelers being remanded in ‘quarantine facilities’ every time a new +ive case comes in. This is new, and it should be terrifying to the people, but they are behaving like live crabs in slowly warming water that has not yet boiled. Australians, watch your governments carefully. (Link at the end of this post)

New forms of surveillance such as QR codes to sign into restaurants and bars go into a database. Your PCR status is being recorded for posterity. In some countries the governments are tracking the movements of their citizens for the purposes of selective quarantine. We live in a (brave) new world and we don’t know what is coming.

In China they lock up and re-educate those with religious beliefs that go against party policy. All that stuff about organ harvesting, torture by gang rape etc. well that’s true.

In North Korea, if a citizen does not have a picture of Kim Jong-un on the wall of their house, they can be locked away, and so can their family members. Believing in God is illegal.

Why should we care about any of this? It does not concern us, or does it?

Thanks for dropping in.

China ignores Hague decision, South China Sea

July 12, 2021Espionage, Life

SOUTH CHINA SEA: America feels stronger about it than the Philippines Government. Shipping lanes are important…

On the 5th anniversary of the Hague decision, China is still ignoring international law. China does what it wants and lets the foreigners scramble. I’m sure it’s no surprise to analysts and military leaders.

In its historic 2016 case against China over the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), the tribunal’s decision: “…between the Philippines and China, there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to resources.”
China basically said, Fuck you, we’ll do what we want, and its actions at sea demonstrate their commitment to flouting the ruling. They have also been working to alter the topography of reefs and rocky outcrops. Airstrips have been built, structures erected and military installations have been established on islands that do not officially belong to China.

The tribunal said that “all of the high-tide features in the Spratly Islands (including Itu Aba, Thitu, West York Island, Spratly Island, North-East Cay, South-West Cay) are legally “rocks” that do not generate an exclusive economic zone or continental shelf.”

Immediately after the Philippines won the landmark case in 2016, President Duterte repeatedly vowed “never to give up the Philippines’ claim over the West Philippine Sea.”
Earlier this year Duterte called the Hague decision “a piece of paper he would throw in the wastebasket.”
He is probably right.

To prove him wrong, the US would risk war with China. Let the games continue.
Public surveys have consistently shown that Filipino people want the government to assert the ruling and defend the country’s territory. The hope is naive.

2021 begins

January 19, 2021Life

Now that we are all poised for what may or may not be a better year, let’s watch how it starts to unfold and do our best to smile as things change, for better or worse. In the meantime, let us try not to rub salt into each others wounds. 2020 was mighty interesting right?

I feel that it is only the beginning of an era in which some broad questions will be thrown around. Theories will abound. Vaccination mandates and government crackdowns may well happen, just like in my first fictional novel.

As the Master, whom you’ll meet in book 2, would say:

“Everything is just as it should be. Do not struggle. Sit quietly and wait for the mud to settle. Wait for the water to become clear.”

My editors are combing through Book 2, finding typos and issues.

Stay tuned! It shouldn’t be long! I can almost guarantee that you will love the Master.

Happy Holidays 2020

December 21, 2020Life, Surviving Spies, Writing

Dear Reader,

I’d like to offer a few thoughts as we come approach 2021.

Have you ever wished that you lived during another period of history, or in another place on earth? Have you ever been asked who you would most like to have dinner with (any person, alive or dead)? Have you ever come up with satisfactory answers to questions such as: “If you had a million dollars…”?

I am choosing to look at this time in history as an ‘interesting time’ to be alive. Do I like it? Sometimes I do. The conversations have been engaging and often divisive. I’ve cut a few people loose and made a few new friends, as I imagine you too have done.

I’ve seen my family polarize about quarantines and vaccines, but I’ve also seen a great caring take over.

If I could have dinner with anyone, it would be the person with whom I already have dinner most nights. The quarantine helped me realize that.

The questions that I continue to keep in my mind are always about ‘probability’ and ‘who is most likely to benefit’. Apply these types of questions to everything from ‘what we are eating’ to ‘what caused the latest war’. The answers should be the starting point from which we can then talk, and take action if we choose to.

Despite the inertia that the atmosphere has produced in many of us, and indeed in me, I have written my second book. There is not yet a title, so for now, I’ll refer to it as “Lu Lei” who will be familiar to you if you have read The Wuhan Mission.

It’s time to edit. Time for my ‘beta readers’ to see what might be missing. It’s an exciting time for me as a new author. This second book will be richer, as I have had the time to put the love into it which it needed. I really hope the reading community embraces it.

I thank you for your loyal support. I hope these times fall with great happiness on you.

Until next year, enjoy this place, this life and this time.

Irving

What people usually do

June 13, 2020Life, Wuhan

When hearing political or corporate news, my mind always triggers to ask that old question: “who would most likely benefit from this?” (ie: Who is doing this? Who is the cause?)

Fathoming “who is most likely” becomes a probability exercise.

We have learnt that both money and power corrupt our industrialists and our politicians. We have learned to expect it. That is why limited term political jobs exist: to try to limit the accumulation of power and the bloating that comes with time. Like the hull of a boat, a leader can accumulate barnacles, which take the form of debt, laziness, leverage and arrogance.

People knew from experience that this was likely to happen and so they laid down laws about term limits. Many nations still lack the ability to do this.

When I write fiction, there’s a constant train of thought going on in the background asking that same question: “What would this character probably do next?” I think about what such a person would usually do, and I also look at some of the less likely avenues. After all, I’m writing fiction.

I do the same thing in writing about organizations, governments and even the physics of the action scenes in my books. If someone takes shelter behind a car door when gun barrels are aimed at them, they will probably take a bullet through the door. It’s physics. It’s different to movies from the eighties. In the real world, bullets go through car doors.

When writing ‘The Wuhan Mission’ I had in the back of my mind all of my personal interactions with Chinese Nationals in China, most noticeably the fear they had of their government and of their superiors. I thought about the Chinese Communist Party and their probable desires and fears. Then I ran with those possibilities.

Right now, there are a lot of theories being circulated about the origins of the latest virus, about the hidden purposes of vaccines and the technology involved in new vaccines, and the politicians and puppet masters’ activities behind the scenes. It’s stranger than fiction, right?

Could any of it be true? Probably. Could all of it be true? Of course not, but one has to stand back and and take a moment, and ask: “What do they usually do?”

If we can formulate an educated answer to that question, then we’re off to a running start to knowing what they did more recently and what they will do in the future.