News of the Day (May 25)

Pentagon releases report on Communist military buildup: Among the issues of concern are the "surprising pace of development of a new Jin-class submarine equipped to carry a nuclear ballistic missile with a range of more than 5,000 miles" (Financial Times) and anti-satellite efforts which in three years "will be capable of delivering a knockout blow to many U.S. military satellites" (Bill Gertz, Washington Times).

Enlightened Comment of the Day: David Frum's two-part review on Mao: The Unknown Story on his National Review Online blog edges out Alex Berkofsky's Asia Times piece on Communist China's "soft power."

The Long Arm of Lawlessness: Communist China tries to strong arm Epoch Times advertisers in London; Amnesty International details Singapore's crackdown against Falun Gong (h/t Between Heaven and Earth); and Falun Gong practitioners in America meet with consular officials from Putinist Russia (Epoch Times).

Beijing surrender news: The Network for North Korean Democracy and Human Rights and Freedom calls for human rights to be part of the sic-party talks (Daily NK).

More news from "another China province": The Stalinist regime conducts more test missile launches towards Japan (BBC and Daily Telegraph), while scoring diplomatic points in Nicaragua (Cybercast News), South Korea (United Press International via Washington Times) and with the United Nations (New York Sun, h/t NRO - The Tank). Meanwhile, refugees from northern Korea discuss the candidates in South Korea's presidential election (Daily NK).

One country, one-and-a-half-systems rolls on: Hong Kong political commentator Raymond Y.M. Wong discusses what has happened to his city since the 1997 takeover (Epoch Times); David Edmonds (BBC) examines how corruption followed Communist China into Macao.

Communist China rips democracy and treats political opponents as cultists: Two leading Communist "academics" blasted the notion that the people should replace the Communist Party as the ultimate power in China (Washington Post). Thus it should come as no surprise that the Communists have resorted to claiming members of the anti-Communist Pan-Blue Alliance in China are Falun Gong practitioners, which the Communist equate to Jonestownesque cultists (Epoch Times).