News of the Day (February 25)

Huawei Technologies involved in Iraq cellular contract scandal: A scandal over the awarding of contracts regarding cellular phones in liberated Iraq is the focus of Charles R. Smith’s latest Newsmax column. The beneficiaries from a nefarious network that includes Saddam Hussein henchman Nadhmi Auchi and would-be Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jafferi include Huawei Technologies, the Communist Chinese firm that integrated Saddam’s air defenses in 2001 (American-Related News). Huawei is now “a principle supplier of Iraqi communications hardware for the current cellular contract.”

EU Trade Commissioner warns of Communist Chinese “flood” of textiles: Peter Mandelson, the European Union Trade Commissioner, asked Communist China to impose more restrictions on its textile imports to assuage “increasing alarm over a surge in Chinese clothing exports since global textile quotas expired at the end of last year” (Guardian, UK). Mandelson also noted that such a move would “will allow us to feel confident” about the plans to end the EU’s arms embargo against Communist China.

Visiting cadre hit with lawsuit for Falun Gong persecution: Guo Chuanjie, a leading cadre at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was served with a lawsuit while visiting New York for his role as second-in-command of the CAS “610 office” – the department that handles persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. Upon receiving the summons, “Guo threw the papers on the park bench and said he would call the police” (Epoch Times). You’re in the wrong country for that, Guo.

Communist China wants more flights to Taiwan: Fresh off the Lunar New Year experiment, Communist China “has encouraged Taiwan to consider more direct flights between the two countries.” Have the Communists noticed that the BBC just labeled the island democracy and the Communist regime as “two countries?” That could get ugly.

Dovish South Korean President speaks on Stalinist nuclear boast: For the first time since Stalinist North Korea boasted to having nuclear weapons, dovish South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun addressed the issue, saying, “We will be flexible, but won't lose our principled stance” (BBC). Just what that “principled stance” is was left undefined. Roh has previously served as an apologist for Kim Jong-il – saying the Stalinist was , all evidence to the contrary, genuinely interested in reform (Other Republic of Korea (“South” Korea) News) and later having the audacity to claim Kim’s fake evidence of dead Japanese abductees “could have been an honest mistake” (International News).