News of the Day (January 31)

Witness to the Tibet shooting speaks out: One of the Tibetans who attempted to escape Communist occupation described how Communist border guards "opened fire, killing a 25-year-old Buddhist nun and another person" (Washington Times) and captured the rest, sending them to be "tortured with cattle prods and forced into hard labor."

Hu Jintao in Cameroon: The Communist leader began his Africa tour with "a series of bilateral co-operation agreements" (BBC) with Cameroonian leader Paul Biya.

More on Communist China and the rest of the world: The long arm of lawlessness touches Australia (Epoch Times) and Switzerland (Between Heaven and Earth). The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review provides a quick glimpse into the "engagement" crowd in Washington.

More whispers of a debacle redux in the Korean colony nuclear talks: As the six participants (Communist China, the U.S., Japan, Russia, Stalinist North Korea, and South Korea) prepare for the next round of talks in Beijing, the Bush Administration has given its negotiators "new freedom to explore different outcomes and proposals with their North Korean counterparts" (Washington Post). This includes softening the American position on the complete dismantling on SNK's nuclear program (Washington Times - h/t One Free Korea, who also explains why this is a terrible development). The Stalinists responded to Washington's weakness with a threat to conduct a second test if they didn't get whatever they wanted (Daily NK).

More on SNK's missile and nuke cooperation with Middle Eastern Proxy Number One: The Worldwide Standard blog examines the implications.

More on the Communist-backed mullahcracy: The President pours cold water on the notion, promulgated by some Democrats (Newsmax), that he's looking for war with the mullahs (ABC News). The mullahs themselves seem quite content, however, to take the fight to us (Time and Worldwide Standard). Terence Jeffrey (Townhall) takes note of the mullahcracy's clout in Iraq. The future Central Command chief calls Tehran's influence in the Middle East "destabilizing" (Washington Post); Europe seems to disagree (Times of London). The mullahs want Russia to join it in creating son-of-OPEC (Cybercast News). Michael Rubin has the rest of the news from Iran (National Review Online: The Corner).