China and Russia are increasing their military and economic power while that of the US is crumbling.

Many of us have hoped to see the weaker parts of the world overcome US imperialism and violence, for the sake of justice and human rights. Now it seems that the US may lose its power, but not in a way that benefits human rights for anyone weak.

China and Russia have become vicious mad dictatorships. Different, of course — the Chinese Communist Party cares to some extent about the well-being of Chinese and China, whereas Putin and his barons are more short-term greedy — but they both vaunt their contempt for human rights to discourage anyone who might thing of trying to defend them. Each has rehabilitated the mass-murderers that ruled them in the past (Mao and Stalin).

Against them, the only bastion in the world is the United States, whose evil aspects are quite familiar to us, and which teeters on the edge of falling into a dictatorship as mad and vicious as China and Russia already are.

The UK's House of Lords rejected the repressive anti-protest measures in the Tories' latest repression bill.

That does not mean they are dead. If the Tories are stubborn enough and have no defectors, they can eventually push this through.

China arrested a long-time annoying dissident on charges of pleading to be allowed to join his dying wife in the US. He was charged with suspicion of intending to annoy the state.

The Houthis launched an air strike at an oil installation in the UAE. This has inspired peculiar outrage.

Salafi Arabia and the UAE have attacked the Houthis in Yemen for years, on the ground and from the air, attacking all sorts of targets including homes. Why in the world would people feel outrage when the Houthis retaliate in kind?

Both Salafi Arabia and UAE are ruled by murderous despots. The acting king of Salafia Arabia, Crown Prince Bone Saw, arranged the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. One of the nobles of the UAE has just been formally accused of torture.

The Houthis are probably not much better, but I see no reason to judge it by a stricter standard than the other two.

Some scientists assert that the global level of chemical pollution threatens to destabilize global ecosystems.

This threat would be on top of that of climate mayhem, which is already destabilizing global ecosystems.