News of the Day (December 21)

Due to family obligations, the next News of the Day will come on Friday, December 23.

China Support Network Echo Chamber: The Epoch Times reprints Curry Kenworthy's piece on avoiding Communist-made Christmas/Hanukkah/Insert-holiday-here gifts.

From the China Freedom Blog Alliance: Member One Free Korea earns to big hat tips. The first is on Stalinist North Korean abductions in then-Portugese Macau (Chosun Ilbo, South Korea); the second is on the Stalinists' lust for Russian naval weapons (Chosun Ilbo). OFK also notes House Int'l Relations Committee Chairman Henry Hyde's praise for tough talking U.S. Ambassador Alexander Vershbow, while guest blogger Andy Jackson continues to report from the Seoul conference on human rights in the SNK.

More on the Communists' would-be colony: Japan has restarted talks with SNK on the eight Japanese abducted by the Stalinists, who "never provided conclusive proof of their deaths" (BBC). Meanwhile, U.S. envoy Christopher Hill talks to Yonhap (via Korea Times) about Stalinist counterfeiting and the nuclear talks debacle, but not liberation.

Did we scoop the Israeli military on missile sales to Iran and Communist China? Odds are Major General Aharon Ze'evi knew about the dozen Ukrainian warhead-capable missiles sold to Iran and half-dozen sold to Communist China before he told the Knesset (Jerusalem Post). Still, readers of this site knew of the sale nine months ago (third item).

Communists lock down Dongzhou village, torture villagers in Huaxi: The village in Shanwei City (hence the term Shanwei massacre) is now full of "fear, foreboding, and resentment" (Washington Post), due to the suffocating presence of violent Communist police in the village who have tortured several villagers (Epoch Times). Meanwhile, In Huaxi, Zheijang, a previous battle between anti-pollution protestors and Communist police (fourth, eleventh, and sixth items) ended with eight villagers tortured into "confessing" to leading the "riot" (Washington Post). Frederick W. Stakelbeck, Jr., examines the fallout from protests such as these in Front Page Magazine.

Another regime-owned factory makes water undrinkable: An "excessive discharge of cadmium from a state-owned smelter" (BBC) has forced the city of Shaoguan to go without drinking water. The news comes one month after the pollution scandal in Jilin (seventh, fourth, ninth, fourth, fourth, fifth, fourth, fifth, third, seventh, and tenth items).

Hong Kong democrats block faux reforms: Pro-democracy members of Hong Kong's Legislative Council shot down Communist-appointed city leader Donald Tsang's political "reform plans" (BBC), which would in fact do little to make the city government more accountable to the people instead of the Communists (tenth and second items).

House of Representatives condemns Communist labor camps: The vote on the resolution, House Concurrent Resolution 294, was 413-1 (Epoch Times).