[This blog is officially closed, but from time to time I will add new content, mainly for myself since no one comes here anymore.]

I think by now most of us have seen the New Yorker’s shocking expose of life in the Xinjiang “re-education” camps. The CCP has done nothing less than license cultural genocide, torture, forced labor, brutal prison sentences and worse.

But someone I occasionally follow on Twitter named Shaun Rein has a very different viewpoint. For him, the compounds, surrounded by barbed wire and watch towers, are serving the noble function of teaching the Uighurs and Kazakhs Mandarin, a selfless endeavor he praises. He has said the US is holding Uighurs in the Guantanamo Bay prison so we have no right to criticize China for doing the same, as if there’s an equivalence between holding a handful of Uighurs in Gitmo and the enslavement, brutalization and indoctrination of hundreds of thousands of innocent Muslims in Xinjiang. Most gallingly, he has said, to paraphrase, “I haven’t been to Xinjiang so I can’t comment on what’s going on there.” Well, I’ve never been to Cambodia but I know the Khmer Rouge butchered millions of its own people there. I’ve never been to Auschwitz but I know what went on there. I’ve never been to Xinjiang but I know, from sources I know and trust, what is happening there. Shaun is not stupid; he knows the truth, but to acknowledge it would threaten his cozy relationship with the CCP (his father-in-law is a high-ranking party official). He knows where his bread is buttered.

Just yesterday this self-described marketing guru tweeted, “Journalists who cover China either love my research or hate me. Journos who quote me know I’m unbiased, truthful & have data to back up views. Journalists who hate me know I know I’ll call out their BS, have better data & forgot more about CN than they ever knew: Birtles, Fallows”

Bad news: I know many, many journalists in China, past and present, and they *all* hate you, and with good reason. You are an insect next to James Fallows and Gady Epstein (whom you also frequently attack).

Sorry to go off on this guy again, but he enrages me with his egotism, self-aggrandizement and hatred of those who don’t worship the CCP. (If you’re new to this blog you can find my earlier posts about this scammer here: Shaun Rein.)

If you haven’t read the New Yorker article please do. Then tell me what you think of someone who says these camps are simply helping Muslims learn Mandarin for their own benefit. You see, it’s selfless. It’s good. Read the article and tell me if you think these camps are noble and selfless.