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By Marcel Proust
By Tom Segev
$40
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AP photo / Gurinder Osan
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Even though certain inherently prohibitive logistics make it impossible for the Dalai Lama to resign from his position as Tibet’s spiritual leader, that’s what he’s threatening to do insofar as he can if the tensions and violence in Tibet continue to escalate.
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Flickr / sfthqphotos
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The governor of Tibet has denied reports that Chinese security forces fired on the civilians and monks who have been demonstrating in the capital city of Lhasa and neighboring provinces. Opposition leaders say 80 or more protesters have been killed and witnesses have reported Chinese soldiers shooting at monks.
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theplugg.com
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Pixieish provocateur Björk sparked the ire of Chinese officials by voicing her support for an independent Tibet at the close of her concert in Shanghai last Sunday. According to China’s Culture Ministry, the Icelandic chanteuse broke “Chinese law and hurt Chinese people’s feelings” by chanting “Tibet, Tibet” at the end of her protest song “Declare Independence.”
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AP photo / Mark Wilson, pool)
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The official reason the U.S. military offered for its show of fireworks Wednesday night high above the Pacific was to shoot down, using an anti-satellite missile, a failed spy satellite before it might do damage upon reentry. However, not everyone read the skywriting that way.
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AP photo / Javier Galeano
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By Robert Scheer — The Cuban president, who is resigning after five decades in power, has caused his people suffering, but the giant to the north bears even greater responsibility for the island’s plight.
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Attention, China: The U.S. military will soon be staging a bit of sky theater in trying to shoot down an inoperative American intelligence satellite. So, what does this show of atmospheric pyrotechnics have to do with China? Read on.
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poptower.com
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Director Steven Spielberg was an artistic adviser to the 2008 Beijing Olympics but has resigned because of China’s unwillingness to put more pressure on the Sudanese government to bring an end to the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. As he put it, “I find that my conscience will not allow me to continue business as usual.”
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time.com
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Time magazine has decided to celebrate “order before freedom,” as the newsweekly put it, with its “person of the year” selection, because “if Russia succeeds as a nation-state in the family of nations, it will owe much of that success to one man, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.”
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nytimes.com
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The bridge world is in an absolute tizzy over a protest by the world champion U.S. women’s team, which held up a sign during its victory celebration in Shanghai last month that read: “We did not vote for Bush.” Some bridge fans have accused the group of treason, and the United States Bridge Federation—whatever the hell that is—has decided that its authority trumps free speech, a value some people vaguely remember associating with America.
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By Chalmers Johnson — The best-selling author of “The Sorrows of Empire” takes a look at David Halberstam’s critical history of the Korean War.
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By Eugene Robinson — Because the problem is likely to stretch on for decades, even centuries, even if humankind acts immediately, we had better get used to the idea of adapting.
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nytimes.com
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Determined to show just how adolescent they can be, U.S. representatives in Baghdad have expressed dissatisfaction and suspicion over a pair of power plants that Iranian and Chinese companies plan to build in Iraq. One American military official described the contracts this way: “As you know, it’s not always as it appears.”
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AP photo / Caleb Jones
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President Bush’s private meeting with the Dalai Lama on Tuesday, the day before the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader was slated to receive the Congressional Gold Medal, didn’t please Chinese officials, to say the least. They’re not really thrilled about the U.S. honoring the Dalai Lama for his role in the ongoing struggle to free Tibet from Chinese rule, either.
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iiichan.net
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China plans to stick with the economic and political reforms that have brought prestige, wealth and environmental catastrophe to the country, but don’t expect Beijing to turn its back on the Communist Party completely. As the official spokesman of the 17th party congress put it: “We will never copy the Western model of political system.”
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The British prime minister has warned that the number of dead in Burma is probably “far greater than is being reported so far.” The world community has widely condemned the Burmese government’s violent response to the thousands of protesters who’ve been flooding the streets of Yangon.
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news.bbc.co.uk
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The Starbucks empire is often lampooned for its many, many stores, but the coffee giant has lost one of its most prominent locations. Responding to the demands of more than half a million citizens, the Chinese government closed down the Starbucks in the Forbidden City, the ancient imperial palace complex in the heart of Beijing.
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spmedia.canada.com
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The Blacksmith Institute, a U.S.-based environmental group, has identified the 10 most polluted places on the planet. Cities in Russia, China, India, Zambia, Peru, the Ukraine and Azerbaijan made the list, which focuses on the impact pollution has on the local population.
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AP Photo / Gerald Herbert
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By Robert Scheer — Of course Gen. David Petraeus predicts success in the Iraq war. What wonders couldn’t generals achieve with more troops and more time? The battle is always going well until it is lost, and then they blame defeat on the politicians and the public.
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DoD / Tech. Sgt. Andy Dunaway, USAF
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China has denied responsibility for a large raid on the Department of Defense’s computer network, attributing the accusation to a “Cold War mentality.” A senior U.S. official was quoted in the Financial Times as implicating the People’s Liberation Army in the attack, which forced the Pentagon to shut down its network for more than a week.
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jwharrison.com
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The Yangtze river dolphin was thought to be extinct, a victim of China’s explosive economic growth and environmental negligence, but one of the baiji, as the animal is known, was just caught on tape—alive and well.
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Who knew that eating a donkey’s, er ... member is good for the skin? Or that women should refrain from consuming animal testicles? These could be trumped-up claims, but the proprietor and employees of China’s Guolizhuang restaurant, a self-described “penis emporium,” stand by them, as brave BBC reporter Andrew Harding discovered on a recent culinary adventure.
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Beijing Public Security Ministry
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Web users in Beijing will soon have to deal with a new annoyance as part of China’s endless effort to control the Internet. By the end of the year, all websites registered with the government will feature animated Internet cops that will warn users to avoid forbidden content and offer friendly (if obnoxious) Internet security tips.
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The “Real Time” host takes on Mother Teresa’s doubts, Obama’s “blackness” and the high cost of low morals in our bargain-crazed culture: “Let’s have a war and cut taxes, what could go wrong? Let’s give mortgages to the homeless. Sounds like a plan! Let’s buy toys from a communist police state, you just know they’ll put in a little extra love.”
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achievement.org
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With the news that Nokia is recalling millions of batteries, on top of the ongoing exploding laptop problem, and Chinese-made products ranging from toothpaste to Barbies sounding alarm bells, we can’t help but feel the absence of America’s greatest consumer advocate.
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time.com
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If you’ve been putting off that trip to see China’s “goddess of the Yangtze,” you’ve waited too long. Scientists believe the human-sized dolphin to be the first aquatic mammal species to go extinct in half a century, a victim of China’s economic growth.
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By Andy Borowitz — The satirist reports that Vice President Dick Cheney, having briefly assumed Bush’s duties while the president underwent a routine colon procedure June 21, told reporters the next day that he “enjoyed the downtime immensely.”
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With the Red Star rising over Africa, locals and leaders across that vast continent are starting to wonder if Beijing’s forays represent a positive collaboration among developing nations—or just the latest incarnation of exploitative colonialism.
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The Pentagon, possibly suffering from a superpower complex, has accused China of spending substantially more on its military buildup than publicly stated. In a report to Congress, the U.S. military also warns of advanced nuclear capability and a possible conflict over Taiwan. Still, even if China spends two or three times the $46 billion on defense it claims, it couldn’t hope to keep pace with the hundreds of billions the U.S. throws at the military every year.
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Zuade Kaufman / Truthdig
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The iconic author and historian speaks with Truthdig Editor Robert Scheer about his recent tour of Cuba, why he thinks the island has a bright future and why the United States, the world’s only superpower, has an inferiority complex.
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Amnesty International has accused China and Russia of violating a U.N. arms embargo against Sudan. The human rights organization says the weapons end up in Darfur, where they are used against civilians in the ongoing genocide. The two Security Council members deny any wrongdoing.
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A human rights organization is suing Yahoo for assisting the Chinese government in arresting dissidents by providing information on its users. Like Google and Microsoft, Yahoo has defended the practice of handing over data to China as a necessary evil mitigated by the benefits of the Internet, crippled and corrupt though it may be.
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Mass transit is speeding up in China with the introduction of high-speed trains, a welcome development in a country that carried “25% of the world’s passengers and freight” last year and has been struggling to accommodate commuters, according to the BBC.
Posted on Apr 18, 2007
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Over the objections of other members, the UK has brought the climate change debate to the U.N. Security Council. Russia, China and Pakistan said it was the wrong venue for the issue, but U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett pointed out that rising sea levels, mass migration and economic catastrophe would almost certainly impact global security.
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cnn.com
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A Hong Kong broadcaster is about to release China’s first gay-themed TV show. Although the program will air only over the Internet, it’s a big step for a country that treated homosexuality, or “buggery,” as a mental illness until 2001.
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North Korea simply refuses to engage in the six-party talks until it receives $25 million in disputed funds. The disarmament deal struck by Washington and Pyongyang is now being held up by “technical problems.” U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill expressed his frustration: “The problem is, you can’t expect all these large delegations to sit around while it is being sorted out.”
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The newly formed U.N. Human Rights Council is debating whether to do away with the special rapporteurs whose job is to investigate global human rights abuses. A group of countries typically subjected to such scrutiny, with Cuba and China at the helm, argues that domestic reports should be sufficient.
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As many as 20,000 rural Chinese workers, unhappy with government corruption and increasing public transportation costs, faced off with about 1,000 police officers in China’s Hunan province this weekend.
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The State Department recently released its regular report of human rights abuses around the world and, as expected, listed China as one of the worst offenders. But Beijing fired back with its own report and a long list U.S. violations, including everything from disregard for civilian casualties to treating racial minorities as an underclass.
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theepochtimes.com
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Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is dabbling in revisionist history. Despite the historical evidence, and a 1993 apology by a government official, Abe now denies any Japanese military involvement in forcing thousands of women into brothels throughout Asia in the 1930s and ‘40s.
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washtimes.com
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A top North Korean leader on Thursday reaffirmed his nation’s intention to disarm, calling a nuclear-free Korean peninsula the “dying wish” of former dictator Kim Il Sung. Kim Yong Nam, the North’s second-in-command, said his regime “will make efforts to realize” that wish.
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news.yahoo.com
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The stock market Tuesday had its worst day since 9/11 as investors around the world began to lose faith in the U.S. economy. The Dow fell by 4.3 percent, and S&P estimated total losses at $632 billion. The development came only a day after Alan Greenspan warned of a potential recession.
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hhill.org
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China has successfully completed a test of an anti-satellite weapon, alarming the United States and other nations, the White House said. Although the Bush administration is weary of a possible militarized space race, it has steadfastly opposed a ban on such tests in order to preserve U.S. “freedom of action in space.”
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The U.S. and North Korea may meet for a second and possibly even a third round of talks following a surprise meeting. The White House had steadfastly refused to give in to Pyongyang’s desire for direct discussions outside of the six-party talks, but the recent rendezvous between the two countries suggests there may be more flexibility in Washington these days.
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washingtonpost.com
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When Qin Zhongfei took 10 minutes to scribble down a satirical poem about local bureaucrats, he had no idea it would land him a month in jail—a sign that free expression still languishes in China, despite hopes that President Hu Jintao’s economic reforms would translate to a more open society.
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jwharrison.com
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The United States has the largest prison population in the world, with 2.2 million people in prison and 7 million in prison, on probation or on parole. China, which has about a billion more people than the U.S., has only 1.5 million prisoners.
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warc.jalb.de
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A new report by the World Bank’s Independent Evaluation Group criticizes the international lending organization for failing to alleviate global poverty with programs that focus too single-mindedly on growth. The bank estimates that 1.1 billion people subsisted on less than $1 per day in 2001. (h/t: Common Dreams)
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un.int
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The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to impose sanctions against North Korea in light of its recent nuclear test. Though financial and military aid is restricted, the sanctions do not allow for military action, and skeptics question how effectively the rules will be enforced.
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flickr/Rivard
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In the face of vast poverty and exploitation, the Chinese government is about to enact a labor law that would strengthen the role of unions and protections for workers. But American corporations, eager to maintain their fiefdoms in the middle kingdom, have lobbied fiercely against the proposed legislation.
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Illustration by Peter Scheer
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An Apple Computer audit of labor conditions at an iPod factory in China uncovered employees working longer hours than permitted by its code of conduct. Auditors also said that workers earned ?at least the local minimum wage?—whatever that may be in Longhua, China.
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