News of the Weekend (October 2)

Mumbai police chief says terrorist bombings were "planned by Pakistan's ISI ": The police commissioner of Mumbai (Bombay) told the media that the July terrorist bombing attack on his city "was planned by Pakistan's ISI" (BBC). According to Commissioner A.N. Roy, the Inter-Services Intelligence unit of Communist China's longtime ally used the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Toiba carry out the bombing. Pakistan naturally denied this (BBC). Events like this - assuming Roy is correct - make one wonder just how much worse a Pakistan without Pervez Musharraf would really be (for the conventional wisdom on that, see Peter Brookes: New York Post).

Iran is still sending weapons to Iraqi terrorists: The Communist-backed mullahcracy of Iran is still "shipping components used to make improvised explosive devices to Iraqi insurgents" (Armed Forces Information Service). The weaponry sent from the mullahs is worth "millions of dollars." The news came as one of Tehran's leading subsidiaries in Iraq - the Moqtada al-Sadr bloc - demanded more power for itself in the Iraqi Cabinet (Washington Post).

More on Middle Eastern Proxy Number One: Will the U.S. take any action against the mullahcracy? David Frum (National Review Online) is pessimistic, and The Australian has quite a bit of evidence to back him up. Michael Ledeen (NRO) is slightly more optimistic - emphasis on slightly. One the other side of the prediction is retired Admiral James Lyons (Washington Times).

On Middle Eastern Proxy Number Three: As Hezbollah's plan to wait out the Israelis succeeds (Cybercast News), the Lebanese government comes into their sights (Daily Standard). Meanwhile, Ezra Levant (Calgary Sun) gives more well-deserved praise to Prime Minister Stephen Harper for standing up to the rest of la Francophonie.

From the China Freedom Blog Alliance: The Korea Liberator examines the consequences of South Korean dovishness (including the, um, less-than-dovish doves), gives the National Lawyers' Guild a well-deserved ripping, provides the satellite view of Yoduk, tracks Ban Ki-moon, and has the latest SNK news.

More on the Korean colony: The colonial master is playing good-cop again; Newsweek and Yonhap (via Daily NK) fall for it. Stalinist North Korea holds military talks with the South (United Press Int'l via Washington Times). Daily NK speculates on the possible SNK site for a nuclear test; the paper also recounts an event where four Stalinist soldiers died for Kim Jong-il's soccer ball.

Communists offered Australian gun maker over $100 million to help them make it: A new gun by the Australian firm Metal Storm "can fire more than a million bullets a minute and can be remotely operated" (AAP via Epoch Times). The cadres are so desperate for this gun that they offered its inventor "more than $US100 million ($A134 million) to live in Beijing and help the Chinese military develop the technology." An unnamed Australian was offered $2 million to get the gun, but turned the Communists down after joining Falun Gong.

More on Communist China and the rest of the world: Ed Feulner of the Heritage Foundation (Washington Times) and Dan Blumenthal and Gary Schmitt of the American Enterprise Institute (Weekly Standard) detail how a strong Japan is bad for Beijing, and thus good for the rest of us. Chen Jinsong (Radio Free Asia via Epoch Times) laments those in Communist China starving to death for Zhongnanhai's "foreign aid" schemes. David Kilgour and David Matas testify before the U.S. Congress on Communist organ harvesting (Epoch Times). The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation breaks ground on a monument to the 100 million killed (and still being killed) by Communist regimes (Epoch Times).

Communist crackdown on corruption reporting: The cadres are not happy with the reporting of Chen Liangyu's firing (Epoch Times), among other things.

Journalist wins Canadian award: Jiang Weiping (ninth and tenth items) won PEN Canada's One Humanity Award (Boxun).

Ignorant Comment of the Day: Today's dubious honor goes to Maureen Fan (Washington Post), whose piece on religion in Zhejiang Province gives the impression Christians are carving out some autonomy there - whereas in reality even the supposed would-be rebel whose church has Communist approval admits: "We don't talk publicly about sensitive, political issues."

Speaking of religion in Communist China, another Falun Gong practitioner is thrown in jail (Epoch Times).

Cadres in Wuhan seize lake from fishermen: Communists in the East Lake Management District of Wuhan City opened a new chapter in using state ownership of property to filch the locals - a lake seizure (Epoch Times).

Other matters inside Communist China: So what was the real reason Shanghai boss Chen Liangyu was fired? Time and Newsweek have competing explanations. Time also examines the cadres' terrible record with water; Democratic China (via Epoch Times) specifically looks at the Three Gorges Dam fiasco. The Communists are including a "lessons learned" video on the fall of the Soviet Union (Epoch Times). Cao Changqing (Epoch Times) reviews Mao: The Unknown Story.