News of the Day (February 6)

From the China Freedom Blog Alliance: Between Heaven and Earth calls on the new Canadian government to bar Education Minister Chen Zhili, one of the leading persecutors of Falun Gong (fifteenth and eleventh items), from entering the country. One Free Korea relays as scoop on Stalinist-in-chief Kim Jong-il's hands-on role in the abduction of Japanese citizens (lead and third items), and a possible window into the regime's plan for absorbing the maddeningly dovish South Korea.

More on the would-be colony: Speaking of the Japanese abductions, the talks between the Stalinist victimizers and the Japanese victims went nowhere, (BBC) as did American efforts to breathe life into the debacle known as the six-party nuclear talks (Washington Post). The joint U.S.-South Korean force has a new commander (United Press International via Washington Times). Young Howard, of Open Radio for North Korea, gauges the enterprise's reach in Daily NK, which also highlighted the Stalinist crackdown against Christianity (Yang Jung).

Dr. Charles Lee is safe at home, but is father is persecuted at home: Now safely in the U.S., imprisoner Falun Gong practitioner and American citizen Dr. Charles Lee (sixth, third, fourth, and fifth items) "called his over-seventy-year-old father in China to wish him happy Chinese New Year" (Epoch Times). During the call, Li discovered that the Communist police were still harassing his family as a heavy-handed attempt to silence him.

Human rights community rips Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, and Cisco: Among the folks who explained the damage done by these firms cooperation in the Communist Chinese media and internet crackdowns to the Congressional Human Rights Caucus were Tom Malinowski of Human Rights Watch and T. Kumar from Amnesty International USA (Epoch Times). Meanwhile, Lev Grossman and Hannah Beech (Time Asia) let Google try to present its side of the story, but the editors of the Washington Post score the Enlightened Comment of the Day: "Even if the United States actually favors free expression in China, Mr. Hu might be excused for not believing it."

More on Communist China and the United States: Daniel Gallington, Washington Times, examines Communist China's espioange efforts, as exposed by Chen Yonglin. Robert T. McLean, of the Center for Security Policy, details the cadres' plan for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Front Page Magazine. The indomitable Lev Navrozov (Newsmax) reminds us why the Communists are doing these things. Sebastian Mallaby, Washington Post, doesn't see much to Communist China's science and technology ambitions, and thus scores the Ignorant Comment of the Day. Gong Ping, Epoch Times, examines how Communist China is "painstakingly building its influence in San Francisco." Hannah Beech, Time Asia, has a puff piece on Communist China's success in aerial freestyle skiing , a Winter Olympics event. Speaking of the Olympics . . .

On Taiwan: Caroline Gluck, BBC, examines the repercussions from President Chen Shui-bian's decision to deep-six the National Unification Council, which even she acknowledges "exists in name only."

As BBC "tones down" coverage for Communist China; UK Parliament suffers hack attack: One of the myriad of sources this quarter uses, the BBC, has caved into the Communists with "a website targeted at the mainland Chinese market, offering English-language training and news that is unlikely to upset Beijing’s internet censors" (Financial Times, UK). Meanwhile, confirmation came that a year-end cyberattack on the British Parliament was conducted by hackers from Guangdong, fueling "suspicion that the latest attack was part of a more general campaign of electronic subversion" (Computer World).

Communists shut down "piracy" sites: Communist China is claiming it's fighting "online piracy" in closing 76 web sites and demanding 137 others "remove illegal material" (BBC). However, given the fact that there are "no details about the contents of the websites," one cannot help but remain skeptical.

Gao Zhisheng calls for rotating hunger strikes: Human rights attorney Gao Zhisheng (sixth, tenth, fifth, lead, third, last, twelfth, eighth, third, second, third, eighth, eleventh, eighth, fourth, fourth, last, fourth, fifth, twelfth, fifth, second, lead, next to last, and seventh items) has joined in the creation of a group of rotating hunger strikers "to support citizens who have encountered violence and illegal persecution inside and outside of China" (Epoch Times).

More on human rights in Communist China: Former Communist professor Yuan Hongbing (second, lead, seventh, sixth, and sixth items) talks to the Epoch Times about the Luo Gan, Communist China's version of Lavrenty Beria.

Another bird flu coverup: This one is in Shandong, where local cadres "buried ducks and hens of an area of 3 square kilometers" (Boxun) and "did not inform the public and report to higher level government." For more on Communist China's bird flu coverup, see sixth, fourth, and eighth items.