News of the Day (June 15)

Shanghai Cooperation Organization invites Ahmadinejad to summit: The mouthpiece for the Iranian mullahcracy is hoping his regime will be admitted as a full member to the SCO (Front Page Magazine). Meanwhile, the group has garnered more attention as it becomes a vehicle for projecting Communist power (BBC, Cybercast News). As for Iran itself, the diplomatic cave-in to the mullahs came in for more criticism, this time from Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute (Weekly Standard).

From the China Freedom Blog Alliance: The Korea Liberator examines the possibility of a Stalinist ICBM launch (fourth item) and throws some cold water on a Pollyannaish report of Communist China's policy towards Taiwan (Washington Post).

More on the island democracy: The opposition Kuomintang Party goes for a less ostentatious headquarters in an attempt to win votes (Washington Times).

More on the Communists' Korean colony: Daily NK examines U.S. policy towards the Stalinist regime.

More on Communist China and the United States: William R. Hawkins, of the U.S. Business and Industry Council, scores the Enlightened Comment of the Day with an excellent profile of the growing connections between "engagement" supporters and opponents of a strong, pro-American Japan (Front Page Magazine). The editors of the Washington Times react on Amnesty International's report on Communist China's arms sales (third item). Charles R. Smith, Newsmax, comments on the Communist military's high-tech plane crash (thirteenth item).

Chen Guangcheng officially arrested by Linyi police as lawyers come to his aid: The blind activist for victims of the Communists' hideous "one child" policy (tenth, second, ninth, ninth, thirteenth, lead, tenth, fifth, and tenth items), has been behind bars in Linyi for nearly three months (Epoch Times). Meanwhile, "more than 10 lawyers plan to ignore the risks and travel to Shandong next week to argue Chen's case and call for fair human rights treatment" (United Press International via Washington Times).

Support from the 11 million ex-Communists comes from Chen Yonglin (Epoch Times). Meanwhile, Dr. Liu Jiesen, from Quality Software Developer, discusses how the number of people who leave the Party in disgust is tracked (Epoch Times).

More on human rights in Communist China: Efforts in Canada to get to the bottom of the Sujiatun outrage have "run up against a disobliging Chinese embassy in Ottawa" (Epoch Times). 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, seventh, last, next to last, lead, second, last, sixth, tenth, eighth, second, eighth, ninth, lead, sixth, eighth, seventh, fifth, fourth, last, fifth, seventh, next to last, fourth, last, twenty-first, twenty-second, seventh, fourth, sixth, fourth, sixth, eleventh, eleventh, fourth, last, sixth, eighth, tenth, thirteenth, and eleventh items) tells the Epoch Times that Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao have shown their true colors by refusing to address Sujiatun. Reporters Without Borders (via Boxun) rips the beating of Fu Xiancai (ninth item).

Cadre-run bank admits to embezzlement: The Bank of Communication (whose largest stockholder is the Communist Finance Ministry - third item) "that 200 million yuan (US$25 million) was embezzled from its clients" (Epoch Times).

Factory investment continues to grow: Communist China's efforts to end industrial investment continue to go poorly, as "spending on fixed assets like buildings and machinery rose 30.3% in the first five months of 2006, compared to the previous year" (BBC). A large part of that money is going into factories that will produce surplus and/or useless goods (fifteenth, twenty-ninth, thirtieth, tenth, sixth, last, last, and seventh items).