l****z 发帖数: 29846 | 1 Gmail Dead in China, All Google Products Blocked; Reserve Currency Silliness
Review
Access to Gmail in China was difficult, but not impossible. Workarounds
including Outlook, Apple Mail, and third-party Gmail hosts.
Starting last Friday, the "Great Firewall" became impenetrable as China’s
Censors Took Final Step in Blocking Gmail.
In the six months since Google’s mail service Gmail was blocked in
mainland China, users had been able to access it using third-party email
applications such as Microsoft Outlook or Apple Mail.
Beijing now appears to have closed the loophole, completely shutting
down access to Gmail behind the so-called Great Firewall. Google data showed
Gmail appeared to have been walled off starting Friday. Google spokesman
Taj Meadows acknowledged the drop in traffic and said Monday that “there’s
nothing wrong on our end.”
Google clashed with Beijing in 2010 after the company decided to stop
censoring its Internet search results in China. Google shifted most of its
Chinese operations to Hong Kong as a result, and it has been hard since then
to access the company’s services on the mainland.
As with Google search functions, Gmail users will now have to access the
application through virtual private networks or other censorship
circumvention channels, putting the email service on par with Facebook and
Twitter in the eyes of Beijing censors.
Reserve Currency Silliness
China has no sizable bond market, no floating currency, few political
freedoms, no freedom of speech, massive censorship, and questionable
property rights, yet every week I see some article promoting the idea that
the yuan will soon replace the dollar as world's reserve currency.
The idea is laughable. Lack of a bond market in sufficient size is enough to
kill the notion.
Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com | G****e 发帖数: 11198 | | c****0 发帖数: 14490 | |
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