News of the Day (October 27)

UPDATE: Small Dead Animals weighs in on Premier Lorne Calvert trolling for Communist Chinese investors in Saskatchewan oil and uranium fields (fifth item below).

Communist-owned firm conspired to send surface-to-air missiles into United States: Xinshidai, a Communist-owned missile production firm, “is accused in a scheme to illegally export Chinese missiles to the United States through organized crime groups” (Bill Gertz, Washington Times), in particular surface-to-air missiles that could attack aircraft. A subsidiary of Xinshidai – the China National Precision Machinery Import and Export Corporation – “has produced a shoulder-fired missile known as the HN-5.” This is just a small part of the Communists’ Cold War with the U.S., as Charles R. Smith of Newsmax explains in the Enlightened Comment of the Day.

Iran attends Shanghai Cooperation Orgnization meeting: The Khomeinist regime, a longtime recipient of Communist military aid for its nuclear weapons program and a loud advocate for Israel’s extinction (Washington Times), sent its first “observer” delegation (United Press Int’l via Washington Times) to the anti-U.S. group (second item).

Syria gets cover from Communist China at UN: In New York, an effort by the U.S., France, and Great Britain to push the United Nations Security Council to pressure Syria on its role in the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri has garnered opposition from – no prize for guessing – Communist China (Washington Post).

U.S. demands more from Communist anti-piracy efforts: The U.S. “would seek a special review from China on efforts to crack down on counterfeiting and piracy” (UPI via Washington Times) due to the fact that said piracy has continued unabated in recent years. Japan and Switzerland also raised a red flag on this issue (Newsmax).

Woe Canada! Saskatchewan Premier looking for Communist oil investors: Lorne Calver, Premier of Saksatchewan, has gone to Beijing and opened up his province’s oil and uranium fields to Communist Chinese “investment.” He even gushed that the cadres “floated some ideas for the actual purchase of [oil field] properties that they would develop themselves” (Globe and Mail, Cdn.). One can only imagine what Friendly Blog Small Dead Animals (headquartered in Saskatchewan) thinks of this.

Zhejiang anti-pollution activist arrested: Communist police have arrested Tan Kai, a co-founder of an environmentalist group founded “after monitoring the situation in Huashui Town in Dongyang City, Zhejiang Province in April this year following complaints by local residents that a chemical factory was causing serious environmental pollution” (Boxun). For more on the Zhejiang pollution issue, see sixth item.

Founder of CITIC dies as fellow “red capitalist” gets whitewash: Rong Yiren, the original “Red Capitalist” (cadre who used his connections to enrich himself) and founder of the Communist-owned China International Trust and Investment Corporation, died (BBC). Meanwhile, another cadre/tycoon, Zhang Yuchun, gets a puff-piece profile in the London Telegraph – note the complete lack of reference as to how Zhang acquired the land he used to build us palaces and development projects.

Communists hiding second bird flu outbreak in Inner Mongolia: Inner Mongolia has had a second bird flu outbreak (Epoch Times). The cadres have refused to acknowledge it as of this hour (sound familiar?). Meanwhile, they are also claiming a young girl who died Hunan “tested negative for bird flu” (UPI via Washington Times).

Ignorant Comment of the Day: Today’s winner is Robert Novak, whose latest column (in Townhall) regurgitates Communist propaganda without disagreement and strongly hints that any problems the Communists have with the U.S. is America’s fault.

More on Communist China and the United States: The Epoch Times was kind enough to reprint my blog post on President Bush’s failure to face reality on Communist China. Thomas Wiegand, of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, opines that Taiwan will be “the most difficult problem” (UPI via Washington Times) between Communist China and the U.S., but sees the problem in a far more reasonable light than, say, Mr. Novak.

On human rights in Communist China: Lev Navrozov, Newsmax, turns his keen eye to the Falun Gong War. The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions condemns Communist China’s continuing internet crackdown (via Boxun). New Tang Dynasty Television (via Epoch Times) reports from a Paris fourm on the five-million-plus resignations from the Chinese Communist Party.

From One Free Korea – widespread crop failures in the northern Korean colony: The Friendly Blog heard this from a Christian charity source in the Stalinist northeast.

SNK refugee, now in Mexico, wants to come to the United States: A refugee from Stalinist North Korea who made it to Mexico “wants to get to the United States and doesn't particularly care whether he does it legally or illegally” (JoongAng Daily, One Free Korea). Is there any chance we can have the Minutemen steer clear of this guy?

EU resolution on SNK heads for UN General Assembly: The resolution, “expressed serious concern about North Korea’s rejection of UN humanitarian deliveries from the end of the year and urges the North to give humanitarian groups full access to the country so they can monitor much-needed aid” (Chosun Ilbo). It also “calls for an end to human rights violations such as torture and illegal detention, singling out the brutal treatment of defectors who are caught or repatriated.” One Free Korea was highly impressed.

On the perils of $un$hine in South Korea: South Korea’s doves are taking it on the chin these days. Choe Sang-Hun, International Herald Tribune, examines the woes of Stalinist-in-chief Kim Jong-il’s former favorite South Korean firm: Hyundai. One Free Korea notes Senator Hillary Clinton joining in the “bi-partisan sport” of ripping the South’s increasing hostility towards the U.S., while SNK defector Hwang Jang-yop channeled the spirit of Alexandr Solzhenitsyn’s Harvard speech (JoongAng Daily, One Free Korea). The biggest slap, however, may have come from the South Korean voters in legislative by-elections: not only did the governing, dovish Uri party get shut out, but the hawkish opposition Grand National Party managed to take a seat from the hard-left Democratic Labor Party (JoongAng Daily, One Free Korea).