News of the Day (January 23)

From the China Freedom Blog Alliance: Between Heaven and Earth reprints a Vancouver Sun column by Daphne Bramham on Communist China's attempt to get its propaganda broadcast in Canada (where it's election day), and an Agence France Presse piece on what the Communists do to their star athletes, in particular Houston Rockets star Yao Ming. Meanwhile, One Free Korea was its usual prolific self, with advice for folks looking to do more for the long-suffering people of northern Korea, a comment on Japan's growing maturity, and more posts examining the disconnect between the U.S. and dovish South Korea, including the flap over Stalinist counterfeiting (see BBC for more on this).

McCain warns Communists of "consequences" if it sticks with Iranian mullahs on nukes: Arizona Senator and Republican presidential front-runner John McCain called the Khomeinist regime's quest for nuclear weapons "the most serious crisis we have faced - outside of the entire war on terror - since the end of the Cold War" (Newsmax). He also had this to say about Communist China, one of the mullahs' lead allies and nuclear helpers: "If China and Russia want to be on record as being supportive of Iran in their nuclear ambitions, then I think that obviously has consequences as well." What he meant by "consequences" is not known. Sadly, he was silent on the question of liberation.

Charles Lee returns home as anniversary of "self-immolation" hoax is marked: American citizen and Falun Gong practitioner prisoner Charles Lee is home after three years in of "mental and physical abuse" (Epoch Times) by the Communists. Meanwhile, today is the fifth anniversary of the shocking, "self-immolation" incident (sixth item), during which the Communists literally forced five people into faking a suicide attempt so it could be blamed on Falun Gong - which opposed suicides (Epoch Times).

Organizers of anti-Falun Gong show running into numerous problems: It couldn't happen to better people. The organizers of the hideous, Communist-funded, anti-Falun Gong "Same Song" concert are now facing an FBI investigation (Epoch Times), a lawsuit (Epoch Times), a demand from New York State Senator Ruben Diaz that is be shut down (Epoch Times), a performers' strike (Epoch Times), and the walkout of one of the organizers (Epoch Times). For reasons why this show is so despicable, check out these pieces by Huang Boshen and Zeng Zheng (both in the Epoch Times).

Gao Zhisheng comes home, co-founds human rights group for Chinese Christians: Human-rights attorney Gao Zhisheng (sixth, tenth, fifth, lead, third, last, twelfth, eighth, third, second, third, eighth, eleventh, eighth, fourth, fourth, last, fourth, fifth, and twelfth items) "returned to his hometown to commemorate his mother's passing" (Epoch Times). Before leaving, he signed on as a co-founder of Association of Human Rights Attorneys for Chinese Christians (China Aid via Epoch Times).

More on human rights in Communist China: The Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders criticized the arrest of journalist Li Changqing (sixth and fifth items). Lin Huixing (Epoch Times) talks to Wang Zhihua, son-in-law to the late Zhao Ziyang. The Jamestown Foundation's China Brief examines the growing economic protests in Communist China (Professor Wenran Jiang, Professor David Kelly, and Li Fan).

Cadres tell Japan to muzzle its media; Yamaha busted for helicopter sale to Communist China: Cui Tiankai and Kong Quan, cadres in Communist China's Foreign Ministry, stunned the Japanese people by demanding its government give "give 'instructions' to its country's media" (Epoch Times) to stop publishing negative stories about the Communist regime. Meanwhile, Yamaha, best known here in the U.S. for motorcycles, had its offices raided by Japanese authorities for the export of "pilot-less helicopters" (BBC) to Communist China. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe based the action on the concern "that the unmanned helicopters 'could be diverted to weapons of mass destruction.'"

Communist China and India agree to share oil and gas price information: The two longtime rivals have agreed to "collaborate on their quest to increase the world's energy supply" (Epoch Times) by sharing "information on foreign oil and gas prices." The deal was made by Indian ministers more friendly with Communist China than the rest of their country.

Outgoing PM hits Chen on Communist China: Frank Hsieh, Taiwan's outgoing Prime Minister "some of (President) Chen's hardline policies on China were not in tune with what Taiwanese people wanted" (BBC). While this might surprise some, given Hsieh is a member of President Chen Shui-bian's Democratic Progressive Party, it should be noted that Hsieh hails from a different faction within the party. More importantly, he is also former Mayor of Kaohsiung, where a major scandal damaged the DPP greatly in recent elections (fifth item).

More on Communist China vis a vis the rest of the world: Former Communist consulate officer Chen Yonglin provided a detailed description of how Communist China "has plans to make Australia its strategic partner" (Epoch Times) and, as such, "has carried out infiltration of Australia in all aspects of its society, including politics, economic trade, culture, ideology, etc."

President Bush reading Mao: The Unknown Story: The International Herald Tribune and World Net Daily took not of the President's high praise for Jung Chang and John Halliday's Mao: The Unknown Story, a biography which shatters several myths about Mao and the early Chinese Communist Party. Yours truly has also just finished this work, and at some point my (highly positive) views of this stunning book will make a later post. In the meantime, get a copy as soon as you can.

Pfizer loses Viagra patent in Communist China: Communist China "overturned the patent for erectile dysfunction drug Viagra" (Business Report, South Africa). Pfizer, Viagra's creator, charged the Communist court that ordered the patent deletion with "applying the wrong standards retroactively."

Communists to attempt fusion: Communist China will build a "superconducting experimental Tokamak fusion device, which aims to generate infinite, clean nuclear-fusion-based energy" (Angola Press) by March or April. If successful, the "artificial sun" would be the first functional fusion energy producing device.

On the Communist economy: Hu Shaojiang (Radio Free Asia via Epoch Times) details the effects of Communist China's credit crunch, and perfectly states the cause: "Credit is based on honesty. If the whole society is full of con men, how can we expect the companies to honor their debts?"