News of the Day (April 3)

Suddenly, Communist China comes clean about its alliance with Iran: Of course, that wasn't what any of the headlines for this Associated Press report (via Newsmax) - and in fact, the AP writer himself missed the point. Instead, the regime's presentation of "intelligence linked to Tehran's alleged attempts to make nuclear arms" is being spun as a sign of "growing international unease over Iran's atomic agenda." It would be nice if more Americans were wondering why Communist China continued (and, in fact, continues) to stand with the Iran mullahcracy while coming clean only when it can maximize international praise and avoid well-deserved outrage. As for the mullahs' reaction, they are still applying to become a full-fledged de jure Communist ally, which speaks volumes about the actual relationship between Beijing and Tehran (Washington Times).

Communist spy sent into U.S. twenty years before he was activated: Chi Mak, the Communist spy busted two years ago and sentenced to more than two dozen years in prison, "acknowledged that he had been placed in the United States more than 20 years earlier, in order to burrow into the defense-industrial establishment to steal secrets" (Counterintelligence Chief Joel Brenner to the Washington Post, emphasis added). Chi is just one of a slew of Communist sleeper agents who in some cases have been here, in active and passive roles, for nearly thirty years.

More on Communist China and the United States: Treasury Secretary Henry Paulsen visits Beijing, holds the usual meetings, and spouts the usual boilerplate (BBC).

More on Communist China and the rest of the world: Canadian blogger Ezra Levant discusses on the slew of pro-Communist commenters who show up whenever he criticized the regime.

With Olympics on the horizon, Communist China's behavior is getting worse: Amnesty Int'l has found that the cadres' "bid to portray a stable and harmonious image ahead of the Games in August" (BBC) has led to more arrests and torture, not less (AAP via Epoch Times). One such example is drummer and Falun Gong practitioner Yu Zhou, one of more than 100 who died while in Communist police custody this year alone (Epoch Times). Sadly, some leaders, such as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown (BBC) are still missing the point.

The latest from Tibet: Paul Danahar, Asia bureau chief for the BBC, discusses the challenges of trying to get the truth out of Tibet. Foreign diplomats who were actually in Tibet had the same problem, since they "were prohibited by China from having any independent contact with locals - those imprisoned after the protests or even those on the street" (Globe and Mail via Uyghur American Association). Ren Baiming (Epoch Times) examines the deplorable performance of the Communist media. Meanwhile, Ho Qinglian (Huaxia Electronic News via Epoch Times) details how the cadres' brutal policies in Tibet have failed.

The latest from East Turkestan: The protests in Khotan reached the rest of the media, albeit with plenty of Communist spin (Guardian via UAA, Wall Street Journal via UAA, and the Washington Post, more balanced versions from the BBC and the Taiwanese Central News Agency via Epoch Times). One hopeful sign - the CNA actually referred to East Turkestan by its proper name.

"Herein lies the problem: the darkness of tyranny fears the light of freedom": Those were the words of Zhang Tianliang; in fact, they were at the center of his argument that it is the Communists who are deathly afraid of reunification with democratic Taiwan (Epoch Times). While I am unconvinced (Zhang left out the possibility of military conquest), it is a compelling piece.

Hu Jia jailed for more than three years: What was his crime, you ask? According to the cadres, it was "inciting subversion of state power and the socialist system" (BBC) - in other words, highlighting the Communists' human rights abuses, including its abhorrent treatment of AIDS patients who were infected during the regime's unhygienic blood drives of the 1980s (sixth, eleventh, twenty-first, seventeenth, second, ninth, and tenth items). Hu's lawyer was furious - and said so (BBC) - ensuring he'll be joining Hu in prison at some point.

On the state of the workers in the workers' state: Pilots forced to sign "99-year deals with state-owned airlines which force them to pay up to 2.1 million yuan ($300,000; £150,000) if they quit" (BBC) have responded with an airline version of "blue flu." Lest anyone forget, independent labor unions are banned in Communist China.

News on "another Chinese province" (Stalinist North Korea): The Stalinists ratchet up their war of words with the democratic South (CNN and the Washington Times), including an accusation of naval incursions (BBC); South Korea's government asked the regime, in effect, to cut it out (CNN). Meanwhile, Christopher Hill is expecting the Stalinists to move the nuclear talks forward "in the next few days" (BBC), although One Free Korea thinks this Hill is just "expressing impatience" (I agree). OFK also reminds us that Kim Jong-il has not shut down his counterfeiting operations.