Monday, April 09, 2007

News of the Weekend (April 7-9)

Pro-democracy activists detained for honoring Zhao Ziyang: Hu Jia and Qi Zhiyong visited the home of Zhao Ziyang - the reformer who was bounced from the Communist Party and kept under house arrest until he died for opposing the Tiananmen crackdown - to honor him on Qingming Day. The cadres quickly placed them under arrest (Epoch Times).

Christian arrested for spreading the Word: Religious freedom in China? Talk to Gu Changrong - if she ever reappears from the Communist jail in which she currently languishes (Epoch Times).

Message from Gao Zhisheng makes it to outside world: The jailed human rights attorney (UPDATE: Oops! he's actually under house arrest) is able to place a call to activist Hu Jia (Epoch Times).

Was the resident holdout in Chongqing compensated? Or just erased? Amid news reports that Yang Wu "finally reached a deal with the city and the development company" (Epoch Times) after resisting attempts to bulldoze his home, he has completely disappeared, leaving some "to question whether they actually received the sum they were promised."

Communist China issues "new" organ sale ban: The Communists are once again proclaiming a ban on organ sales (BBC).

Communist China growing drier: The rampant over-development orchestrated by the Chinese Communist Party is leading to a massive water shortage (Newsweek via Taiwan Security Research) - although this is not exactly news.

Hong Kong leader starts new term: The Communist-backed Donald Tsang won high praise from Communist Premier Wen Jiabao (BBC).

Enlightened Comment of the Day: Yours truly almost never trusts any professor at a Communist university - a stance that has sent quite a bit of flak my way. Carsten A. Holz, herself a professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, reveals why my cynicism is more than justified (Far Eastern Economic Review).

U.S. preparing to take Communist China to WTO with trade complaints: An Administration source calls it "a fairly big deal" (CNN); whether or not the World Trade Organization will actually do anything is something else again.

Communists willing to look into wheat gluten poisoning: The cadres are "investigating allegations" (Washington Post) after poisoned gluten from from a regime-run firm killed at least a dozen American pets.

More on Communist China and the rest of the world: As condemnation over the cadres' defense of the brutal Sudanese regime continues (Boycott 2008 and Taipei Times), the Communists try some boilerplate language on "flexibility" for a distraction (BBC). Meanwhile, in Japan, fierce anti-Communist Shintaro Ishihara - a favorite of yours truly - wins a third term as Governor of Tokyo (BBC), and Duncan Currie (Daily Standard) praises the international policy of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Reports of 30 more possible abductions strike another blow against the Beijing surrender: The Japanese newspaper Yomiuri found "evidence that approximately 30 additional people were also kidnapped by North Korea" (Daily NK). The Stalinists' refusal to come clean on eight Japanese kidnap victims has kept Japan on the outside looking in regarding the six-party talks on Stalinist North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

Ignorant Comment of the Day: Steven Chapman (Washington Times) has been weak on Stalinist North Korea for years. He was true to form yesterday, and as such wins the dubious honor.

More Beijing surrender news: Not only has the Bush Administration embarrassed itself with a new "pathway" for the $25 million SNK has demanded to come back to the table (BBC); we now have a report that the United States allowed the Stalinists to sell weapons to Ethiopia ("six months after its unanimous passage, UNSCR 1718 is a dead letter - One Free Korea). Meanwhile, One Free Korea also praises John Bolton and argues with David Albright in respective links; as for the Stalinists, deal or no deal, anti-American propaganda continues apace (Daily NK), even as New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson pays a visit (BBC).

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