News of the Day (June 22)

More SNK missile news: Calls to blow up Stalinist North Korea's ICBM before it is test-launched come from Newt Gingrich (The Korea Liberator) and Clinton-era Defense officials Ashton Carter and William Perry (Washington Post). Meanwhile, efforts to figure out what the Stalinists are hoping to gain from this continue (TKL, BBC). The U.S. again warns against the launch (BBC), wins European support for its stance (Washington Post), and rejects a Stalinist request for talks (Washington Times). Dovish South Korea tries to play against type, and fails (BBC, TKL). The U.S. "is reinforcing its naval presence in the western Pacific" (United Press Int'l via Washington Times).

More from the China Freedom Blog Alliance: The Korea Liberator catches CBS in a major faux pas.

More on the satellite regimes: Not even an ICBM launch can keep some people from Kaesong (UPI via Washington Times). CNN profiles Stalinist-in-chief Kim Jong-il. The Communists arrest three more refugees from the Korean colony (Daily NK). Arnaud de Borchgrave (UPI via Washington Times) doesn't see many options for the U.S. regarding either SNK or Iran (he stays silent on liberation for either). Speaking of the Communist-backed mullahcracy, Kenneth Timmerman (Newsmax) gets conflicting information on the regime's plans, while Rusty Humphries scores the Ignorant Comment of the Day by suggesting Communist China can be helpful vis a vis Tehran (Newsmax).

Charges against Dr. Wenyi Wang put in deep freeze: The charges against the Good Doctor who spoke truth to power (third and second, fourth, third, fourth, third, fourth, and sixteenth items) will be put off for a year, and if she remains law-abiding, they will be dropped entirely (Epoch Times).

More on Communist China and the United States: Professor Stephen Blank, of the US Army War College, examines the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and its anti-American tenets in China Brief. William R. Hawkins, of the U.S. Business and Industry Council, racks up another Enlightened Comment of the Day with an excellent review of the battle in Washington between "engagement" supporters and anti-Communists (China Brief). Meghan A. O'Connell (UPI via Washington Times) examines Communist China's increasing military power. The BBC, of all people, focuses on Communist China's espionage threat in the U.S.

More on Communist China and the rest of the world: Dr. Wenran Jiang, a professor at the University of Alberta, becomes the latest to examine Communist China's increasing influence in Africa (China Brief, see also ninth, fourth, last, fifteenth, sixth, lead, ninth, eighth, fifteenth, seventh, twelfth, last, fourth, and fourteenth items).

Communists bring back search engines after making them more tightly censored: Sina and Sohu "were back in operation on Wednesday after they were upgraded to censor Internet content more effectively" (South China Morning Post via Asian Media-UCLA, link courtesy Kathryn Jean Lopez, Editor of National Review Online and member since 2002).

More on Communist censorship of the web: Ramkumar Srinivasan, Epoch Times, sums up the dilemma facing Google co-founder Sergey Brin thusly: "sticking with Google's principles or accommodating demands by the Chinese Communist regime that he knows are evil in the hopes of making money in China."

Hong Kong Legislative Council member backs Kilgour investigation: Ho Chun-yan "expressed his support to the Canadian independent team investigating claims that the Chinese Communist Party is harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners in forced labor camps and then killing them" (Epoch Times). Said "team" is the probe led by former Canadian MP David Kilgour (fourth item).

Is a Henan-like AIDS epidemic coming to Guizhou? Henan cadres turned an unhygienic blood collection scheme into an AIDS epidemic that infected one million people in that province alone (sixth, fourth, and sixth items). AIDS activist Hu Jia told Radio Free Asia (via the Epoch Times) the same thing may be happening all over again in Guizhou Province.