News of the Day (June 6)

Primary day in California: The Epoch Times examines Communist China's role in San Franciscan politics (note: for anyone in that area where this is relevant, please vote for Fiona Ma (State Assembly) and against Leland Yee (State Senate). Of course, this quarter has already called for votes against Steve Westly for Governor.

Enlightened Comment of the Day: Tom Donnelly and Vance Serchuk, from the American Enterprise Institute, call on Congress to approve the U.S.-India nuclear deal (which yours truly endorses wholeheartedly) in the Weekly Standard.

Rumsfeld wonders why Communist China is letting Iran into the SCO: The U.S. Secretary of Defense noted this of the mullahcracy "It's supporting Hamas, it's supporting Hezbollah, it has a long record of being engaged in terrorist activities and to think that they should be brought into an organization with the hope that it would contribute to an anti-terrorist activity strikes me as unusual" (Voice of America via Epoch Times). The organization in question is the Communist-backed Shanghai Cooperation Organization (second item). Rumsfeld also "again questioned China's lack of transparency over its military spending" (BBC). Also reporting: Cybercast News

More on the Communist military plans: Space.com examined Communist China's increasing military forays into the heavens.

Don't expect Henry Paulson to push the Communists on their devalued currency: President Bush's nominee for Treasury Secretary "aggressively led the firm's foray into the Chinese market, where it has become a dominant player in selling the securities of China's biggest companies to investors abroad" and "has cultivated relationships with Chinese officials at the highest levels" (Washington Post). World Net Daily founder Joseph Farah put it best, "The late comedian Pat Paulsen would have been a better appointment."

Remembering June 4: The seventeenth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre passed this weekend. Among those who remembered were the China Support Network (also via Epoch Times), China Freedom Blog Alliance member Democratic China, dissident Liu Xiaobo (via Boxun), Lu Decheng (via Epoch Times), and Slate. Meanwhile, the Communists are still trying to get the world to forget (Epoch Times).

More from the China Freedom Blog Alliance: The Korea Liberator examines the current state of South Korean politics, the Stalinists' attempt to feed their people submarines, and the ramifications of the possibility of oil in northern Korea.

More on the satellite regimes: Some British investors will have the chance to throw good money after bad in the Communists' Korean colony. Kim Young Hwan, Daily NK, warns against "premature unification." Shin Joo Hyun, also from Daily NK, comments on the DMZ-train fiasco. Daily NK further examines Stalinist-in-chief Kim Jong-il's aversion to suits and the North Korea Democracy conference at Chunbuk National University. Charles Scanlon, BBC, profiles Park Chung-hee. Meanwhile, Jackson Diehl (Washington Post) takes some long-held misperceptions about Sino-American relations and uses them to recommend a disastrous course on Iran.

Zheng Enchong released, but a housing movement is crushed: Zheng Enchong, the attorney who was sent to prison for exposing the corrupt practices of Communist-backed real estate developer Zhao Zhengyi (tenth, twenty-sixth, and fifth items), has finished his term and is free (BBC). Meanwhile, Shenzhen resident Zou Tao's campaign against high housing prices is crushed by the cadres (Epoch Times).

EP VP talks with Gao Zhisheng as practitioner who met with him goes missing: European Parliament Vice-President Edward McMillan-Scott (fourth and seventh items) reached out to 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, and eighth items) over the weekend (Epoch Times). Sadly, it is not all good news - a Falun Gong practitioner who met the EP VP during his visit to Beijing has gone missing (Epoch Times).

One cyberdissident arrested; two others harassed: Guo Qizhen was arrested last month; Liu Shui and Xiong Zhongjun were forced to leave Shenzhen. Reporters Without Borders condemned both (via Boxun).

Appellants attacked in Beijing: Communist officials "carried out a sudden ransacking of the 'homes' of appellants who live in the area" (Epoch Times). Appellants, otherwise known as petitioners, are citizens who are taking their grievance with local cadres to Beijing for resolution - as allowed by the Communists' own law. The lucky appellants are ignored; the unlucky ones are arrested and tortured (eighth, second, fifth, fifth, seventh, ninth, seventh, eighth, and thirteenth items).

More on human rights in Communist China: Zhang Heci, Epoch Times, discusses Communist China's "Catholic" church. An informer talks to the Epoch Times about how the Communist police got to him. Gao Ling, Epoch Times, reveals how the Communists treat those who have quit the Party in disgust.

Communist China announces plans to stop medical charges - with old laws: As the cost of health care in Communist China makes a mockery of the regime's claim to have the peoples' interest at heart (last item), the regime "is pressing ahead with health-care initiatives aimed at reining in surging medical costs" (Washington Post). The "initiatives" are largely a recycling of old laws that are already honored in the breach.

Bank of China now looking to fleece, ahem, sell stock to mainlanders: The Communist-run bank managed to get nearly $10 billion out of foreign investors despite its shady history (fifth, sixth, last, and tenth items). Report: BBC

Dr Wenyi Wang's trial delayed for a third time: The Good Doctor (third and second, fourth, third, fourth, third, and fourth items) is best known for shouting truth to power during the April 20 Hu-Bush summit (Epoch Times).

Dalai Lama meets Desmond Tutu as former Communist prisoners reach India: The South African anti-apartheid leader had this to say, "We used to say to the apartheid government . . . Come: join the winning side. His Holiness and the Tibetan people are on the winning side" (BBC). Meanwhile, two Tibetan nuns who were imprisoned by the Communists have reached India after escaping occupied Tibet (BBC).

Mr. Goodman, it's called East Turkestan: Peter Goodman, Washington Post, has a decent article on the plight of the Uighur people, but he keeps getting the name of their homeland wrong.

On the fate of Chen Shui-bian: The scandal enveloping the family of Taiwan's elected president is all the talk (Time, Taipei Times, BBC) - except for Huanghuagang Journal editor Xin Haonian, who talked about the island democracy's relations with the mainland (Epoch Times).

Canada file: Maurice Strong, the father of Mao-philia in the Great White North, talks to the Toronto Star. ElectEcon wonders about the international priorities of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) in the Shotgun blog (Western Standard).

More on Communist China and the rest of the world: A cadre stationed in South Africa defends the Communists' make-the-world-safe-for-dictators policy in Africa (BBC, see also (ninth, fourth, last, fifteenth, sixth, lead, ninth, eighth, fifteenth, seventh, and twelfth items). Japan's suspension of loans to Communist China (second item) is over (BBC).