I got nothin’ to say, just wanted to start the comments going!

April 10, 2006 @ 12:38 am | Comment

Woohoo!

April 10, 2006 @ 12:50 am | Comment

I lost so many Chinese commenters after my site fell apart several weeks ago, I am not sure we can get them back. I certainly hope so.

April 10, 2006 @ 1:15 am | Comment

Just give it a little time, Richard. And, you know, write a couple posts about Taiwanese democracy or Tibetan independence and see what happens. 🙂

April 10, 2006 @ 1:19 am | Comment

Okay, nice to see this working Richard!!!! I guess I can just post away?

It appears that G.W. Buxing & Co., Inc. are now back-pedalling by leaking that the earlier leaks were of de-classified information.
Now, I’m not going to try and argue Executive Orders versus Rule of Law, but I will say this.If the information was de-classified, can anyone tell me/show me A SINGLE INSTANCE in the history of the SS or CIA that a spy’s identity was revealed.
My understanding is that CIA has at least 2 types of “spies” Agents who are basically “registered”in the country where they are gathering information. And then the 2nd type which work in the shadows.

It makes me really afraid for our intelligence community when the White House can “out” an intelligence asset for political purposes.

aaarrgghh

April 10, 2006 @ 1:49 am | Comment

today’s WaPo is classic. the front page news story is how Joe Wilson was deliberately smeared by the White House. Then the lead editorial completely contradicts their own news article, calling it “a good leak”!

Left Blogistan is going crazy, and deservedly so.

April 10, 2006 @ 2:07 am | Comment

I saw that Lisa. It sounds like the Post editorial writers were incredibly, idiotically out of line, making flagrant factual errors. Oh, that evil liberal media!!

Admiral, quite right: My leaks good; other leaks bad. From a legal standpoint, the president is safe. But it’s ethically deranged, since it’s so blatantly obvious he was leaking information he knew was suspect (to say the least) for the sole purpose of pushing his agenda, i.e., war with Iraq.

April 10, 2006 @ 2:48 am | Comment

Admiral,

Actually most of the CIA have desk jobs in Washington. As for overseas operatives, the main difference is between those who have diplomatic cover and those who don’t. If you’re not covered by a diplomatic passport and you’re discovered to be a CIA operative – or even accused wrongly of being one – then you’re entirely subject to the other country’s law and they can shoot you like a dog if they want to.

But that’s not the worst thing about blowing an illegal (ie undercover) operative’s cover. The worst thing is that if you blow one agent’s cover it blows the covers off of many others and it spreads like a virus. So, when Plame was outed, it was like the Bush administration had exposed a BIG chunk of the CIA, not just one person.

That’s called treason by the way.

April 10, 2006 @ 2:55 am | Comment

Richard, technically from a legal standpoint Bush is NOT safe regarding the outing of spies, but it’s not the kind of case the CIA are going to push in public courts, for obvious reasons. Litigating this would just do more damage to the CIA.

They have other ways of getting payback. Have you noticed how Bush’s polls have plummeted into dust? That’s not entirely a matter of changing public opinion….. 🙂

April 10, 2006 @ 3:03 am | Comment

Ivan! You’re evil! I hope the NSA isn’t reading this! Don’t give them any ideas.

Besides, the polls don’t matter, as Diebold is still in the Republican camp. So expect another Rethuglican to be elected come 2008. And expect the Dems to be creamed in southern states and Ohio and Florida, probably PA as well.

Great to you back to life, Richard! I hope to be able to sustain an actual conversation when we next meet in Taipei.

April 10, 2006 @ 3:40 am | Comment

Ivan, I meant Bush was safe in terms of deciding what information is leakable, seeing as he does have authority to declassify. So technically he’s safe. As for Valerie Plame, that’s a different conversation; leaking an agent’s identity is a felony. Should that ever be tied directly to Bush, all hell would break loose.

On the WaPo editorial, Firedog Lake has a delicious post you should all read that begins:

For years now the GOP machine has succeeded in strong-arming the Washington Post into legitimizing their propaganda, dribbling out sensational disinformation during Whitewater to the hacktackular Sue Schmidt to put on the front page without skepticism or question. Over time they have provided easy, sleazy copy and traded “access” to the point that it has fueled an empire of mediocrity where only the people willing to limbo low enough and shape the news to Karl Rove�s satisfaction are rewarded with the scoops that trigger seniority. Both editors and reporters alike know their only ability to ascend the hierarchy comes from emulating supreme access pimp and BushCo. dupe Bob Woodward in a slavish devotion to stenography and the propagation of disinformation.

Damn, she understands the art of metaphor. Anyone who wants to understand why the WaPo fucked up royally with this editorial has to read it.

April 10, 2006 @ 3:41 am | Comment

Michael,

Me? Evil?

Nyechyevo, nye znayu!

April 10, 2006 @ 4:30 am | Comment

Yay, comments are back. Free Hao Wu!

April 10, 2006 @ 7:15 am | Comment

I’m glad to see the comments are back–I kept losing or mixing up my passwords; a welcome treat, I am sure the word will get around.

April 10, 2006 @ 9:25 am | Comment

Hi Richard,

Good to see these pages back in old shape.

Here’s again some interesting stuff. I was surfing around the day before yesterday and landed up on this website

http://www.womenofchina.com.cn/

an English website set up by the “women’s foreign language publications of China”, a site about “Chinese women, information about women, culture and life in China”. Lots of interesting stuff to be found, I lingered around for more than 2 hours I guess and finally I tagged it into del.icio.us. What blew me of my socks though was that I found at least two articles on the site, taken over directly from Danwei’s blog (and duely credited for it), one of which was about the best blogs of 2005 and TPD figuring prominently among a lot of others from your blogroll. So I was going to write you a nice post yesterday to congratulate you with your ascendence into mainstream Chinese (official) media, as that “”women’s foreign language publications of China” sounds very much like an official organization to me. To be sure, the links they had on the site to another Tibet website, left no doubt that that was the kind of info the government had under tight control.

So I tried to go back yesterday to check the title of the article that was paving your way to success :-)) only to find that the entire layout of the website had changed and for sure, that none of the articles from Danwei or any other critical stuff, of which there was plenty from what I had seen the day before, was still there.

Today, all I get is a blank page saying “No web site is configured at this address.” !!! If you search via Google, you still get the reference of the website though and via the cache you can still get a glimpse of what it looked like the first time I stumbled into the site.

Anybody here who happens to have come by that site lately ? Really pitty the Nanny wouldn’t tolerate it, or should I still believe in a coincidence ?

April 11, 2006 @ 12:37 pm | Comment

Lao Lu, the Womeninchina site is still in the google cache. Here’s the cached copy of Danwei’s blog awards article on the site:

http://tinyurl.com/nmcel

April 11, 2006 @ 3:53 pm | Comment

Dave,

That’s what I noticed, but click on any link and there you go: “No web site is configured at this address.”
Btw, Womeninchina is also an existing website, as I just found out after reading your reply, but a fairly dull one as a matter of fact, sponsored as it is by “China Trade” 🙂

April 11, 2006 @ 4:19 pm | Comment

Just took another look: that site has to do with all BUT women …. To be vertically classified …

April 11, 2006 @ 4:23 pm | Comment

man you guys are running behind on all the juicy China news. Word is, at least according to the Fajita Luvin Guys, that China is operating a death camp thats harvesting organs from thousands of Falun Dafa followers.

April 12, 2006 @ 4:26 pm | Comment

What to do about Iran

As most everyone in the world knows, Iran has a nuclear program. Today they managed to enrich the U-235 isotope of Uranium to 3.5%.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/04/12/wiran12.xml

Boys and girls, we have a problem.
I am not racist and I think it’s important to point that out before I begin.
We have several thousand years of evidence that a middle eastern country should not have access to nuclear weapons.Period!

This is a region that has fought amongst themselves,tribe versus tribe, clan versus clan, for thousands of years.
Even the recent period of economic prosperity visited upon the region by the “recent” invention of the internal combustion engine has not brought peace or stability to the region.
Iran has oil. Burn oil for power. Iran does not need nuclear weapons.
I was against the invasion of Iraq, but I will support fully a tactital bombing of Iran’s Nuclear Research and Development program.
I truly hope that G.W. Buxing & Co., Inc. get this one right.
1.) Find the facilities.
2.) Gather REAL coalition.
3.) Bomb the hell out of them, repeatedly.

April 12, 2006 @ 8:03 pm | Comment

Not so sure about the bombing part. You say no Middle Eastern country should have nuclear weapons, but isn’t Israel in the Middle East? Pakistan has had nuclear weapons for a long time and is just as unwieldy and clannish and as fundamentalist as Iran. Should we bomb them too? I hate the thought of Iran having nukes and understand all the concerns. This brings up all kinds of questions, such as who gets to make the decision about which country can and cannot have nuclear weapons??

April 12, 2006 @ 9:08 pm | Comment

Glad to see your computer is working again Richard.

You make some valid points. In my mind, Israel and Pakistan certainly have fundamentalist. That is to say I am sure there are individuals and groups in Pakistan that wish “death to the infidel’s” like those in Iran.
the difference being that those groups do not (yet) wield the same amount of power as Iran’s.
It is really those people chanting “death to the infidels (USA)” yesterday while their president was announcing the Uranium enrichment success that really scares me.
I would, in a second, advocate the destruction of ANY country’s nuclear capability if they openly advocated the destruction of a mass of people (infidels, jews, communists).
In the end I think the decision on who gets to make the decision is unanswerable…..But in reality we all know that diplomacy comes from the end of gun….Today that’s the US, in 10 years might be China…

April 12, 2006 @ 9:34 pm | Comment

With regard to the former outing of spies, Philip Agee is surely well known to some: (from Wikipedia) Philip Agee (born July 19, 1935 in Tacoma Park, Florida) is a former CIA agent and author who published a controversial book, Inside the Company: CIA Diary, detailing his experiences in, and the operation of, the eponymous agency.

…Inside the Company revealed the identities of dozens of CIA agents in their London station. After numerous requests from the American government as well as an MI6 report that blamed AgeeÂ’s work for the execution of two MI6 agents in Poland, a request was put in to deport Agee from the UK. Although Agee fought this and was supported by dozens of left wing MPÂ’s, journalists, and private citizens, he was eventually expelled from the UK on June 3, 1977, and traveled to the Netherlands. Agee was also eventually expelled from Holland, France, West Germany, and Italy.

In 1982, Congress passed the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, legislation that seemed directly aimed at Agee’s works, the law that would later figure in the current investigation into the Valerie Plame scandal into whether Bush administration officials leaked an agent’s name to the media as an act of retaliation against her husband (Ironically, it was BushÂ’s own father, former DCI George H.W. Bush, who had vigorously lobbied for the IIPA as Vice President).

Today, Agee runs a website from his home in Havana, Cubalinda.com, which uses loopholes to arrange holidays to Cuba for American citizens, who are generally prohibited by the Trading with the Enemy statute of US law from spending money in Cuba

Agee is a socialist and a strong supporter of Fidel Castro and of the Cuban Revolution.

April 13, 2006 @ 4:09 am | Comment

Biff, thanks for that reminder about Philip Agee.

Admiral, my home PC is still huaile. I’m writing from my office computer now (shhhh), and won’t be able to post again once I leave the office.

April 13, 2006 @ 4:50 am | Comment

Compeeling defence of China’s government from the Guardian, stating that “China has carried off the world’s largest reduction in poverty by grasping that market economies cannot be left on autopilot”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1752566,00.html

April 13, 2006 @ 6:50 am | Comment

Did you other China watchers see the April 6 article on page A10 of the Wall Street Journal about a leak of the minutes of a meeting of top Chinese govt. economic officials? $ub$cription req’d to link, but the most interesting is what was cut out of the edited “official” version of the minutes that they decided to release after the leak.

Economists’ View blog links:
http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2006/04/the_dark_side_o.html

I don’t speak or read Mandarin, so I have no idea what this says:
http://washeng.net/HuaShan/BBS/shishi/gbcurrent/144538.shtml

But the Google translation is pretty nonsensical.

April 13, 2006 @ 10:50 am | Comment

Good article Keir. One of my favorite parts was this quote ” George Bush has shown the dangers of excessive secrecy and confining decision-making to a narrow circle of sycophants. Most people outside China do not fully appreciate the extent to which its leaders, by contrast, have engaged in extensive deliberations and consultations as they strive to solve the enormous problems they face.”

I mentioned in an earlier post, I believe that China’s moves forward are outpacing the US’s moves backwards. The single issue most demonstrating that is the Imminent Domain ruling made by the US Supreme Court.

How many more rights do we give up before it’s over?

April 13, 2006 @ 7:18 pm | Comment

Richard & Admiral: Israel is a democracy, its possesion of nuclear weapons comes as a result of being surrounded by enemies which are, by and large, autocratic regimes. It would only use them if its survival is at a stake.
Pakistan, on the other hand, is an autocratic regime, “friendly” according to W & amigos, but untrustworthy. It “leaked” its nuclear technology to Iran.
Another partner in the Iranian race to “da bomb”, was The People’s Republic of China.

April 14, 2006 @ 3:08 pm | Comment

Ooooooooof..
I couldn’t help it, but I read the worthless propaganda puff of a ‘paper’ that is ‘Beijing Today’ as the restaurant had nothing else while I was waiting at a restaurant. This is the paper that reports every slight to China on its fronts pages an inside masks advertising for news. This week on page 17: “Beijing does security guards like London does cocaine or Paris does riots”
Maybe I overreacted (as usual) but I emailed suggesting that next time they compare this place with London and Paris, they do so thus:
“Beijing does tanks over unarmed students like London does cocaine or Paris does riots” or
“Beijing does spitting like London does cocaine or Paris does riots” or
“Beijing destroys all its culture like London does cocaine or Paris does riots”?
I mean, if France “does riots”, at least they don’t send their People’s Liquidation Army to massacre by the hundreds their own people!

April 14, 2006 @ 5:28 pm | Comment

“Iran has a nuclear program. Today they managed to enrich the U-235 isotope of Uranium to 3.5%.”
Dear Admiral,

I am not an atomic scientist, but I think that 3.5% U235 is not weapons grade uranium. It is the level you need to generate electricty. If you want to make an atom bomb you need 95% U-235. When the Persians get that far, let us know. Until then, weigh anchor, pull up the gangplank and maintain radio silence.

April 15, 2006 @ 7:13 am | Comment

People’s Liquidation Army…I like that.

April 15, 2006 @ 7:34 am | Comment

Yeah. Juan Cole put it that now the Iranians could make nice, glowing watches. But that’s about it.

April 15, 2006 @ 2:13 pm | Comment

Is no-one commenting on China’s apparently successful FACE transplant, second of its kind?

April 15, 2006 @ 6:57 pm | Comment

Zhuanjia,

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,251-2131696,00.html

"A power plant needs uranium enriched to 3 per cent. Weapons-grade
uranium is at least 80 per cent. But those figures are misleading. ¡°Half
the work is done in getting to 3 per cent,¡± Mr Fitzpatrick said. It
would take only the same effort again to produce weapons-grade material."

http://www.isanw.org/facts/fissmat.html

http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200505/proliferation/fuel_cycle.asp

"… At 20 percent purity, the uranium is considered "highly
enriched uranium" (HEU). It takes about a year to enrich U-235 to weapons
grade, or 90 percent pure, uranium-which can then form the core of a nuclear
bomb. The higher the enrichment level, the less HEU is needed to make a bomb.
The simpler "gun-type" weapon uses 90-110 pounds of HEU and could
likely be built by some terrorist groups. The "implosion-type" weapon
only needs 33 pounds of HEU but is more technically difficult to make."

Ignorance is bliss.

April 15, 2006 @ 7:15 pm | Comment

Keir, I just saw the headline on that not more than five minutes ago…she was eaten by a bear or something??

April 15, 2006 @ 7:21 pm | Comment

The concept of China and the Island being one country is also hard for me to fathom.

However, I still have a major issue with Taiwan “creating a ruckus”.

The Island, in my opinion, is in a position where, if they “play dead and roll over”, they are perhaps the “safest” country in the world.
Let me explain. I feel the Mr. Who and others are happy to let this “issue” continue on to the next generation(s), as long as The Island doesn’t openly tirade about the status quo.

1.) The Island has potential defenders from invasion in China, USA, Japan, S. Korea, and perhaps even Australia.What country in their right mind would invade the Island?

2.) The Island people are not precluded from pursuing jobs, opening business, or otherwise coming to the mainland. (albeit a circuituos flight is required).
3.) Every country “reaches out” to their neighbors in the world. Is it because they want “friends” in the world, or is it to make world a better place for all?
I’ll answer #3 for everybody, how many countries attempts to promote their countries ideals is based upon a pure humanitarian desire to make the world a better place. Or is it to spread their own countries ideas/idealogoy around the world.
I don’t see this as “Two China’s”, as much as I see it as foriegn-policy versus domestic agenda.

I personally find that Mr. Who is simply following a flow-chart that was drawn up (though modified somewhat) a long time ago. If you expect it change quickly, that ain’t gonna happen. At the same time if you think that Mr. Who & Collective are going to attck The Island in the near future, you really need to think again.

April 15, 2006 @ 7:50 pm | Comment

Like I said, I’m not an atomic scientist. But the article you referenced said it would take Iran 13-17 years to make enough weapons grade uranium even if their current facilities work perfectly – which the expert you quoted doubts very much.

In the meantime, lets leave it up to the IAEA and the UN to sort this one out instead of using it asa pretence for regime change and nukes. Haven’t you learnt anything form the mistakes of Iraq?

April 16, 2006 @ 2:10 am | Comment

Dianne Feinstein, who is a somewhat conservative Democratic Senator from California, has written a very good editorial in the LA TIMES blasting the Bush Administration for its Iran policies, here.

April 16, 2006 @ 12:49 pm | Comment

Hi,

Hi there, just passed by this site for the first time in ages and I’m sorry I’ve been missing out. I think this site was so crucial to me when I was in China that now I’m not there it’s like I’m a bit blocked out mentally. In more ways than one, of course. Or maybe it immediately became clear that I know a lot less what it was what I was talking about than yous do!

Cheers, Richard

April 16, 2006 @ 1:49 pm | Comment

Richard, good to see you again!

April 16, 2006 @ 8:07 pm | Comment

Zhuanjie,

I guess you didn’t read the next paragraph “Iran has said that it plans to build an industrial-scale plant of 50,000 centrifuges at Nat- anz. In theory this could produce material for a bomb in weeks. But constructing the plant — acquiring components for centrifuges or making and testing them — is a huge undertaking. ”

Fact
Iran has admitted to the 50,000 centrifuge plan.http://www.forbes.com/technology/feeds/ap/2006/04/13/ap2669332.html

Fact
The entire UN Security Council agrees that Iran must stop enrichment. Including China, Russia, USA, etc. Germany is also calling for Iran to stop the program.
When is the last time you have seen this much agrrement from that group of countries?

Your point on Iraq (as I posted orginally) is well taken. Don’t try to confuse George W. Buxing & Co., Inc. screw-up as being the same as the Iran situation.
They’re different in too many ways to post here.

On Iran, it’s simple: Stop enrichment, or pay the price.

April 16, 2006 @ 11:59 pm | Comment

Howdy, Richard W!

Admiral, unfortunately the Iran situation is pretty FUBAR thanks to W. Buxing & Co. I’m sure the Iranians have taken note of how BushCo has handled a non-nuclear Iraq versus a nuclear N. Korea. And it very much looks like BushCo already has a war plan for Iran, and it is not anything based on international cooperation and diplomacy. It includes the use of nuclear “bunker busters,” which contrary to their name would take out a hell of a lot more than bunkers – civilian casualties could be in the millions.

This is very, very scary. I think the reason you’ve seen things like the Sy Hersh piece in the New Yorker and six retired generals coming out and criticizing Rumsfeld is that the military itself is trying to “pre-empt” another “pre-emptive” war from the Bush Administration.

Check out the Feinstein editorial. When a conservative Democratic writes a piece like that, you know a lot of the Washington power-brokers are really scared of what the Bush administration might do.

April 17, 2006 @ 12:35 am | Comment

I hope that sanctions will work, IF eerybody agrees to them. With OIL >70 USD in Asia though I don’t think any country is going to even consider an oil embargo.
Hey I know, let’s let China bomb ’em! Naw, they wouldn’t agree to it….
As far as the bunker-busters go, I agree that they are not “precision” enough to avoid the travesty of civilian deaths.
I hope that a solution can be found, soon.

April 17, 2006 @ 1:37 am | Comment

Let’s face it: Iran IS, has been in the past and probably will continue to be a problem, IMO much more than Iraq has been (from an international perspective, that is. Domestically it may have been the other way round).

I for one would absolutely not like the idea of seeing Iran become a nuclear nation, we already have enough of those, and call me a racist, but I consider those people even more trigger-happy than some of our cowboy-politicians: look at any footage of manifestations in the M-E and you’ll see crowds firing away in the sky. That’s still a far stretch from pushing a button to launch a nuke, but it’s the apparently mainstream character of this behaviour that scares me.

Fact is also that we can not afford another war on a Muslim country. Georgie Bush has outplayed the worlds cards on Iraq. At best we are in damage control mode. So I fully align with The Admiral and hope that sanctions can hold Iran in check. And that puts the ball back into our camp: if some of the worlds largest nations agree on a common action plan, there should be no problem, no ? Well, I’m not convinced that those shouting most now have the discipline to do what it takes. Let Iran for instance launch a purchase order for a couple of ten fighter planes in one of the opposing countries and then see what happens.

I’m fairly pessimistic on Iran, I must say, mostly for two reasons: first, because I believe they have the zeal to do what they say they will do and second, because I think the West will not have the zeal to do what it has to do to avoid another war.

April 17, 2006 @ 4:25 am | Comment

So tragic, because if we hadn’t invaded Iraq we could have protected ourselves and the world against real weapons of mass destruction. Now our options are severely limited. Tell us, my neo-con readers, what exactly were the benefits we derived from Iraq, and do you still feel it was worth it?

April 17, 2006 @ 4:41 am | Comment

avourite quote today:
“Of the generals who have criticized Mr. Rumsfeld, one spoke most eloquently about the civilian leadership currently in power: It committed to war in Iraq “with a casualness and swagger that are the special province of those who have never had to execute these missions � or bury the results” asserted Marine Lieutenant General Gregory S. Newbold.

…..The politicians who ordered this war so casually and arrogantly ducked out of combat during Vietnam when it was their chance to serve, and 30 years later they pushed for war without recognizing the clear danger. From the president to his vice president to his secretary of defense, the civilian leaders predicted a stroll through Iraq and a triumphant quick return. Their analysis was wrong, and instead of facing the consequences the same people remain in power or have been awarded medals.”
http://www.berkshireeagle.com/editorials/ci_3715010

April 17, 2006 @ 7:03 am | Comment

You it the nail on the head Richard. What did we gain by Iraq?
If you wanted to save lives, do it in Africa. It seems Buxing & Co., Inc are/were more interested in ending “regimes” where there is oil.
Look at all the lives/money spent on Iraq. I remember when I was a 17 year old Private in the US Army. All we heard about was that there would not be another Vietnam….
Guess what, it’s worse. At least in Vietnam, at least SOME of the natives were friendly.

April 17, 2006 @ 10:20 pm | Comment

Surprised nobody has commented on the anti-Chinese riots now laying waste to the Solomon Islands capital. According to local observers, there has been huge local resentment about the slush money being handed out to corrupt politicians by Chinese and Taiwanese interests. All a result of the China vs Taiwan “money diplomacy” policies in the South Pacific. Will be interesting to see how the China Daily and Taiwanese media spin this one – it’s not looking good for anyone: Chinese paying backhanders, corrupt local politicians on the take and ineffectual law and order enforcement by local police and Australian advisers. So much for the much-lauded Chinese expansion of influence in the Pacific!

April 19, 2006 @ 5:31 pm | Comment

Zhuanjia, I haven’t heard about this. Got any handy links?

April 19, 2006 @ 5:59 pm | Comment

ry Google news with Solomons and Chinese. here’s a few starters:

http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2006/s1618841.htm
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/how-did-it-come-to-this/2006/04/19/1145344152831.html
http://www.cathnews.com/news/604/92.php

April 19, 2006 @ 7:13 pm | Comment

I normally don’t read Lou Dobbs, but this piece is really welll-written:
Lou Dobb’s on HuJinTao visit.

A brief excerpt”The fault lies entirely with the U.S. government, our lack of strategy and our failed policies. This administration and U.S. multinational corporations have lost sight of the national interest. This administration and the Republican-led Congress have permitted the dismantling of America’s manufacturing base and created a dependency on China for our clothing, computers, consumer electronics and a host of other products that is greater than our dependency on foreign oil.”

In my opinion, Mr. Dobbs laid it out clean and simple. I agree 100% with everything he said (which is rare, I usually cannot even agree with my own opinion 100%)

April 19, 2006 @ 7:58 pm | Comment

Great links, Zhuanjia, esp. the AGE. the story is just now making the top headlines on AP.

April 19, 2006 @ 10:30 pm | Comment

This link from the Australian gives a good background to the ethnic Chinese connection to the unrest:

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20876,18863800-28737,00.html

I’m surprised this hasn’t become an issue before now: there are disproportionately huge numbers of Chinese migrants, investors and government delegations shaking up the south Pacific island states. Chinese/Taiwanese influence is enormous in places like Tonga, Vanuatu, Fiji, and increasingly so in mineral rich PNG. The Pacific is becoming a Chinese lake.

April 20, 2006 @ 12:05 am | Comment

Zhuanjia, I’m probably better informed than most Americans about China, but this is something I didn’t know about. Indonesia, Malaysia, places like that, sure. But I really wasn’t aware of the Chinese influence in the South Pacific. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

April 20, 2006 @ 12:09 am | Comment

Very nice links on the Solomon Islands issue.
I wonder how much influene the Chinese really have there? Too read the article it almost sounds like they hand-picked the new PM there.

I know this is not on topic but—
Richard always has an open invite for a beverage of choice when he gets to Beijing.
I’m going to BJ tomorrow, staying at Kempinski. Anybody interested in a beverage, my treat.
Just email me.

April 20, 2006 @ 2:28 am | Comment

I’ll be in the neighbourhood; was entertained by a couple of Lufthansa stewardesses at the Kempinski a couple of years ago…
Bloody expensive bar….

April 20, 2006 @ 5:26 am | Comment

It’s been awhile since I passed through PD in my cybertravels, and was surprised to find little in the way of commentary on Yahoo! releasing dissident email information to the Chinese government.

I did write up a piece today on allspinzone.com on the Yahoo! burning Jiang Lijun if anyone’s interested in commenting. As I researched the piece, what surprised me is that this is the 3rd time Yahoo! has given up this kind of information to the Chinese government.

Certainly made me rethink my use of Yahoo.

April 20, 2006 @ 3:34 pm | Comment

Ach – bad link.

Here’s a good link.

April 20, 2006 @ 3:37 pm | Comment

OMFG, the White House gave a Wheeler a press pass – from the Epoch Times! – and she protested during the White House reception on the lawn! In-freakin’ credible. I cannot believe that the White House is soo incompetent that they let in somebody from the Epoch Times. This has got to be one HUGE loss of face. What a bunch of nimrods!

But I guess that gives some context to how a male prostitute got White House press passes, eh?

Is it 2009 yet?

Link here.

April 20, 2006 @ 4:30 pm | Comment

Anyone have a video link of that protest?

April 20, 2006 @ 5:35 pm | Comment

Michelle Malkin has the video

April 20, 2006 @ 11:27 pm | Comment

Cheers CLC- saw it. Also found that article I raved about in another post. I’m sure you’d appreciate it, Richard. It’s from Alan Johnson in the Guardian entitled We shouldn’t appease Hu Jintao and he argues that “China is like the burglar who wanders down a hotel corridor trying each door until he finds one unlocked. Throughout Africa the influence of China is malign as energy sources are locked up and African dictatorships coddled. The genocide continues in Darfur but China blocks sanctions … Mugabe has brought a nation to its knees but for China he is “a man of great achievements, devoted to world peace and a good friend of the Chinese people”.

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/alan_johnson/2006/04/post_41.html

April 21, 2006 @ 4:49 pm | Comment

This just in:
Donald Rumsfeld apparently
* Needs to wear iced underwear because of a
medical condition.
* Has uncontrollable long-term erections and
because of this he always has to stand
behind his desk (so no-one can see.)
* Wears nylon stockings because of bad veins.

April 22, 2006 @ 5:43 am | Comment

Keir your news about Rumsfeld has me imagining him as Rocky and Bush as Doctor Frank-n-furter.

April 22, 2006 @ 6:37 am | Comment

“HELLO” is a troll/stalker who has been banned here before, over and over again.

April 23, 2006 @ 3:01 am | Comment

Madge, good to see you back. You’re banned from this forum as well. IP addresses never lie.

April 23, 2006 @ 4:45 am | Comment

And Madge, I knew who you were after you made just two comments under your new moniker(s) which you’ve been using for the past few days.

Under one of your monikers you were writing with the same kind of transparently forced attempt to sound “casual” as you did under your earlier moniker of “roland.” It’s so easy to spot because it’s such a poor attempt to sound like someone whom you imagine to be “less intelligent” than you are. Your narcissism renders you incapable of truly impersonating anyone other than yourself.

You’re not as clever as you think you are. And since you’re obsessed with yourself, you’re incapable of adopting any new personality other than your own montonous one, no matter how many new monikers and new “personalities” you invent for yourself, they all sound the same and have the same boring habits.

And then finally the IP addresses don’t lie.

April 23, 2006 @ 5:33 am | Comment

Wish that guy would just crawl into a hole and die….
You guys have to check out http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/4/12/24219/8100 which copies the post by some ‘insider’ at the White House who has a list of stuff you wouldn’t believe except that all together it makes complete sense. Here’s a teaser:
“President Bush, when dining at the White-house, does not eat any item of food which has not been first sniffed by a trained dog before being prepared. Think about that.

Word among the staff is that Cheney was drunk when he shot that lawyer, and secluded himself for a day to sober up and avoid felony firearms charges.

Dick Cheney has chronic gum problems and his breath smells like shit as a result. He is also a CLOSE TALKER. He keeps a small bottle of diluted hydrogen peroxide which he rinses with every hour on the hour, and he swallows it instead of spitting. He also picks his nose vigorously (violently) and hums loudly and tunelessly to himself while taking shits.

There is a sealed room in the whitehouse which once held a half-ton block of cheese for about 30 years.”

April 23, 2006 @ 5:33 am | Comment

Cheney was drunk when he shot the lawyer?

Maybe. But you don’t need to be drunk to want to shoot a lawyer.

April 24, 2006 @ 7:55 am | Comment

Greetings Y’all, Just another ex-pat in the PRC and an undocumented immigrant from the Last Post. I realize this site is populated by (what sounds like) some very nice balanced Liberals. To give you some hint of my ilk you may want to read Last Posts last three posts. 😉

To maintain balance I’ve decided to convert to moderate Southern Baptist Secular Progressive Muslim. I think I’ve got all the bases covered and glad to find you.

Though I certainly don’t possess your academic credentials I do have some experience in marketing and sales. Mostly the PRC, ME (Dubai), and Central Eastern Europe.

Please don’t start boiling the oil just yet. 🙂

Glad to be aboard.

October 28, 2006 @ 8:26 am | Comment

Just found y’all and great reading. I explained to Richard I’m a Moderate Southern Baptist Secular Progressive Muslim so you might say I swing both ways (in a Biblical way ;-)).

I’m a ten year vet. USCG with a tour in the ‘Nam (69) with John Kerry, Operation Market Time which is neither good nor bad. It is what it is.

My 7 years in the PRC with contacts and associates in the ME (Dubai, Palm Islands) and a smattering of experience in Central Eastern Europe and Namibia, S. Africa probably make me less creditable than most here but I’ll do my best to contribute and look forward to your replies.

October 28, 2006 @ 10:30 pm | Comment

Did I mention I was computer challenged?

October 28, 2006 @ 10:32 pm | Comment