News of the Day (December 8)

Falun Gong practitioner executed in occupied East Turkestan: Uighurs are used to being abused in their homeland by the occupying Communist regime. Now, even the supposedly privileged Han Chinese in "Xinjiang" are being tortured to death, such as Cao Aihua (New Tang Dynasty Television via Epoch Times).

More on human rights abuses in Communist China: Chen Guangcheng (next to last item) tells Radio Free Asia that local police resisted orders from cadres to torture him. The Communists arrested hundreds of appellants in Beijing (Epoch Times).

Ignorant Comment of the Day: Cheng Li (China Brief) takes the dubious prize for equating factionalism within the Chinese Communist Party with Western political democracy.

More on internal CCP matters: China Brief examines three other aspects of Communist China's governance: finance, education, and health care.

Enlightened Comment of the Day: For those of us who get skittish every time the Vatican and the Communist regime move toward reconciliation, the editors of the Washington Times drove the point home, "Even if the Vatican were able to establish relations with China, the extent to which that would provide religious freedom to China's Catholics is far from clear. What does seem clear, however, is that China's interest in closer relations with the Vatican has little to do with rectifying the Communist Party's deplorable record on religious freedom."

More on Communist China and the rest of the world: Chong-pin Lin (China Brief) details how Communist China has built a global anti-American geopolitical strategy, but then maddeningly suggests the United States cooperate with the regime. Li Xin (Epoch Times) has the latest on the Falun Gong practitioners imprisoned (and possibly being poisoned) in Singapore.

From the China Freedom Blog Alliance: It appears Stalinist North Korea is throwing up more roadblocks to nuclear talks (One Free Korea). Meanwhile, South Korean dovish President Roh Moo-hyun hits a new popularity low (OFK).

More on Communist China's Korean colony: Four South Koreans and one Korean-American are indicted for spying for SNK (BBC). South Koreans doves march (United Press Int'l via Washington Times). Roh Moo-hyun "says his country has no U.S. nuclear weapons, dismissing North Korea's repeated claims" (UPI via Washington Times). Jimmy Carter, instigator of the 1994 Agreed Framework debacle, has the audacity to offer his services again (Daily NK). SNK bans unregulated trading of goods, thus ensuring millions of Koreans will suffer while the elite plays golf (Daily NK).

On Middle Eastern Proxy Number One (Iran): Is new Defense Secretary Robert Gates comfortable with the mullahs becoming a nuclear power? The editors of the Jerusalem Post find this ominous possibility in Gates previous confirmation testimony (and so do I).

On Middle Eastern Proxy Number Two (Syria): Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert lays out the case why Bashar Assad can't be trusted, Jim Baker's platitudes notwithstanding (UPI via Washington Times).

Speaking of Iraq (Future Middle Eastern Proxy?), the Baker plan of handing Syria and Iran the keys to the future of Iraq comes in for more well-earned criticism (American Enterprise Institute, Jerusalem Post, National Review Online, and Washington Times).