CCTV FOLLIES 1.17 PUTIN AND PYONGYANG

Putin gets more air time than Xi on Chinese state TV today -Li Qiang does too, but he's the Premier of China -Israel attacks Gaza -US attacks Yemen -Japan quake still in news! -US has bad weather

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui in Moscow, Russia on Tuesday.

(The tables are getting smaller as Putin’s fears of internal intrigue seem to have abated)

Sergey Lavrov does most of the heavy lifting; presumably plans for Putin to visit North Korea are in the works, along with those strategic NK weapons sales.

CCTV has a camera crew in Sanaa, Yemen, mostly responsible for filler and street scenes. The conflict photos are from other sources, including the US government and news agencies.

US bombs Houthis again.

The US first bombed Yemen on January 12

Scenes of IDF in action in Gaza, firing from the ground and from the air.

Hamas shoots an Israeli vehicle. (Footage source not credited as is usually the case.)

Japan is in the news again! For the 17th day running! And it’s all about the January 1 quake. This must be an editorial directive from Beijing since CCTV’s Japan-based crews ran out of things to shoot and talk about days ago. Today, there is no original Chinese reporting, but a series of shots taken from Japanese TV. The death toll is 232 and 21,000 structures have been damaged.In Japan, it is somewhat more understandable to continue daily coverage in which no detail is too small, but why does China persist in covering it?

Bad weather spells trouble in the US, and that’s what’s happening in the world today.

The domestic news was seriously diminished today in the sense that it’s usually all about Xi, and it wasn’t all about him, though he did get the top two news bits and a brief appearance. The personality cult did not dominate the airwaves today.

First, the top story of the day:

“Xi Jinping on Wednesday congratulated Felix Tshisekedi on his reelection as the president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo”

“The remains of Zhang Kehui, former leader of the Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League and also former vice chairperson of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, were cremated in Beijing on Wednesday. Xi Jinping, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, Li Xi, Han Zheng and others bid farewell to Zhang at the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery on Wednesday morning, paying their respects to Zhang and offering condolences to his family.”

Top story number two is one for the tea-leaf readers. Why would a relative unknown like Zhang Kehui get a full-Monty state funeral unless it says something about the party’s pretense of him “representing” Taiwan?

(This comes just days after a real leader, Lai Ching-te, is elected to represent Taiwan by a democratic process, but gets ruthlessly ignored by Chinese state media.)

Zhang was a member of the party and seems to have been part of CCP’s United Front. Here Xi is shown talking to his family members.

Elsewhere in China, things are bright and happy if not somewhat dull. Kids refuel their rockets in celebration of a space launch, birds fly over pristine waters, the land is fertile and babies wearing cute hats get their picture taken

Judging from today’s footage, Li Qiang, shown below at Davos, looks like a real leader. Unlike Xi, he is outgoing, active, energetic, and charismatic. He smiles often and gesticulates creatively with his hands.

When China’s number two speaks, it’s like an oracle. Foreign attendees sit at rapt attention, and many of them take notes, as the eagle-eyed CCTV cameraman does not fail to notice. Li Qiang wants to do away with trade barriers (in a way that favors the world in general and China more specifically.)

In keeping with Xi’s deep disdain for all things Ukraine and its leader, Li Qiang met many people at luncheons and on the sidelines, but he avoided meeting Zelensky.