News of the Day (October 13)

Communists admit to shooting in Tibet, but they call it "self-defense": That's their story and they're sticking to it (BBC and Times of London).

From the China Freedom Blog Alliance: Between Heaven and Earth laments the formal arrest of Gao Zhisheng (see also BBC) and praises Taiwan MPs for taking a stand against Communist organ harvesting. Meanwhile, One Free Korea finds someone else willing to call Communist China to the carpet for protecting its Korean colony (see also BBC, BBC again, BBC a 3rd time, CNN, Epoch Times, Fox News, Newsmax, Newsmax again, United Press Int'l via Washington Times, and Washington Times) and the nuttiness of South Korea's doves (see also UPI via Washington Times and Washington Post via MSNBC).

Speaking of people willing to call Communist China on the carpet: George Putnam (Newsmax) puts plenty of helium in my ego.

More on Communist China's abuses of human rights: The wife of Chen Guangcheng (see tenth, second, ninth, ninth, thirteenth, lead, tenth, fifth, tenth, sixth, ninth, eighth, ninth, eighth, ninth, sixteenth, ninth, second, fifth, and tenth items) laments her husband's plight (Washington Post). Maureen Fan (Washington Post) examines the plight of the children of those arrested by the Communists. Hong Kong's Communist-appointed leader calls bringing democracy to the island "extremely complicated" (Washington Post), i.e., not happening. On the mainland, the cadres are once again turning local "elections" into a joke (Radio Free Asia via Epoch Times).

More on Stalinist North Korea's nuclear test: Australia's Prime Minister talked about a military strike against SNK (AAP via Epoch Times). President Bush responded to Democratic critics (Washington Times). It appears the nuclear test went awry, but so did intelligence efforts designed to help stop it (Bill Gertz - Washington Times and Daily NK). Whatever the United Nations does, Japan is going full speed ahead with its own embargo (Daily NK). The punditry felled several more trees, some wondering what Kim Jong-il's next move will be (Daily NK, Daily Standard, Steve Janke, TCS, and UPI via Washington Times), the rest pondering what the democratic world should do (Cybercast News, Daily NK, National Review Online, Times of London, Washington Post, Washington Times, and Worldwide Standard). Sadly, the L-word (liberation) was once again missing.

Will the Bush Administration hand Iraq over to the Middle Eastern Proxies? David Frum (NRO) has reason to believe Washington in prepared to leave the infant democracy to the mercy of the Communist-backed mullahcracy of Iran and its Syrian ally. Be afraid; be very afraid.

More on the Middle Eastern Proxies: Tehran mouthpiece Mahmoud Ahmadinejad offers more support for Hamas (Israel National News). David Kay says the Iranian regime is "not an immediate threat" (Cybercast News); Jerome Corsi disagrees (World Net Daily). Peter Worthington (Toronto Sun) and David Pryce-Jones (NRO) highlight Tehran's human rights abuses. Meanwhile, Syria's "peace overture" divides Israel (Washington Times).

More on Communist China and the rest of the world: Joshua Kurlantzick examines Communist China's geopolitical ambitions (Commentary); Jan Jekielek and Caylan Ford (Epoch Times) finds that the Great White North no longer dances to Zhongnanhai's tune. The cadres open free trade talks with South Korea (UPI via Washington Times) and sign a major power deal with Russia (BBC). As Communist China's trade surplus breaks another record (BBC), Syed Fazl-e-Haider (Asia Times) finds that even Communist China's ally (Pakistan) is suffering from the relationship. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson talks up "engagement" to UPI (via Washington Times). BBC reporter Rupert Wingfield Hayes ends his time in Beijing with a timely reminder of Communist China's problems.

Taiwanese opposition again fails to oust Chen: For the second time this year, Taiwan's elected leader survived an effort to oust him (BBC).

Homeowners in Communist China don't really own their home: In Communist China, the regime owns the land - period. The residents merely have a temporary "right-to-use" (Radio Free Asia via Epoch Times). Once the time period runs out, the cadres can run you out.

Communists admit millions of coastal acres are polluted: Roughly 5% of coastal area in Communist China - over 34 million acres - is contaminated (UPI via Washington Times).

Hu Jintao calls for a "harmonious society": As expected, there was no mention of giving society greater control over its government (Washington Post).