News of the Day (January 9)

Communist agents beat petitioner to death: A group of "retired armed policemen or retired special policemen" (Epoch Times) assigned to intercept petitioners from reaching Beijing fell upon Duan Huiming and savagely beat him. For good measure, Communist police in Shanghai beat him again - this time to death - one month later. Petitioners, also known as appellants, are citizens who come to Beijing looking for redress against local cadres; the regime usually responds by imprisoning and abusing them (see eighth, second, fifth, fifth, seventh, ninth, seventh, eighth, thirteenth, twelfth, seventh, ninth, fifth, eleventh, and second items).

More on human rights in Communist China: Joseph Cardinal Zen spoke to AsiaNews about the suffering of the Roman Catholic Church in Communist China.

Ehud Olmert visits Beijing: Sure to lead the list of topics for the Israeli Prime Minister is the fact that "Beijing is a major arms supplier to Tehran and Israel alleges Chinese-made weapons are being used by Islamic militants against Israeli soldiers" (BBC - emphasis added).

Enlightened Comment of the Day: Michael Ledeen takes the prize for his National Review Online piece calling for the liberation of Iran from the Communist-backed mullahcracy and Syria from its Ba'athist regime.

Speaking of the Middle Eastern Proxies: Mario Loyola (NRO: The Corner) ponders the history of Admiral Fallon - the new head of Central Command - and finds reason for worry: "Fallon quickly became known for a soft and accommodating approach to China often at odds with the tougher approach advocated by many in the administration." Meanwhile, both the New York Post (h/t Strategic Intel) and the Washington Times examined further Tehran's support for anti-American terrorists - Shiite and Sunni - in Iraq.

Japan is growing more worried about Communist China's Korean colony: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in an interview with the BBC, discussed his concern for Stalinist North Korea's nuclear weapons and the fate of Japanese citizens abducted by the Stalinists (lead, third, lead, second, fourth, second and second items). Meanwhile, Japan is looking ahead to the possibility of a Stalinist attack or collapse (Daily Standard and United Press Int'l via Washington Times). Meanwhile, the Stalinists are moving ahead with biochemical weapons (China Intel).

Communist China tries to smear East Turkestanis as al Qaedists again - without evidence: The cadres trumpeted a "raid" on a base supposedly belonging to the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, a group whose very existence is in question. The Communists also threw in their usual claim of links to "international terrorist organisations" (read al Qaeda - BBC), but once again, "There has been no independent confirmation of the Chinese claims" and the cadres themselves "gave no details about the information." East Turkestan, called "Xinjiang" by the Communists, has been a nation under Communist occupation since 1949. The people of East Turkestan - known predominantly as Uighurs - are arguably the most pro-American Muslims on Earth.