Posts with the tag 'China'
Not too often you’ll find me defending a CNN person - but one must do the right thing:
Throngs of Chinese Americans protested outside CNN’s offices in Hollywood on Saturday morning, calling for the dismissal of commentator Jack Cafferty, whose recent remarks about Chinese goods and China inflamed a community already angry about international condemnations directed at the host country of the upcoming Olympic Games…
…On the April 9 airing of “The Situation Room,” Cafferty said of America’s relationship with China: “We continue to import their junk with the lead paint on them and the poisoned pet food and export . . . jobs to places where you can pay workers a dollar a month to turn out the stuff that we’re buying from Wal-Mart. So I think our relationship with China has certainly changed. I think they’re basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they’ve been for the last 50 years.”
CNN later said Cafferty’s comments were directed at the Beijing government.
“In this occasion Jack was offering his strongly held opinion of the Chinese government, not the Chinese people,” a CNN spokesman said in a statement. “It should be noted that over many years, Jack Cafferty has expressed critical comments on many governments, including the U.S. government and its leaders.”
I’ll up the ante - not only are the people in the Chinese government the same goons and thugs for the past 50 years, but the Chinese people have proven themselves again and again to be no better that truckling slaves to their communist masters. What is really disgusting is the way these Chinese in the United States are out there shouting in a demonstration - while if they were to do the same sort of demonstration in Beijing directed against China’s State-run media, they’d be lucky if they wound up merely in a slave labor camp.
As I’ve said before, I’ve just had enough of China - from their unfair trade practices, to their ruthless supression of anyone in China with a backbone, to their support for some of the world’s worst regimes, the Chinese are making their name stink in the nostrils of all decent men and women in the world. If the people of China don’t like what we say about them and their government, then there is a simple solution: free yourselves, and take your place in the world - cease being the fawning slaves of the corrupt oligarchs who run China.
Tags: China, CNN, Jack Cafferty, Tibet
April 20th, 2008
And start up a trade embargo, and break off diplomatic relations with that inhuman government in Beijing:
SA won’t stop Zim arms cargo
The government has defended the Chinese consignment of arms destined for Zimbabwe which is on board a ship in Durban harbour.
The An Yue Jiang, which is reportedly loaded with 77 tons of mortars, ammunition and rocket-propelled grenades, was boarded by SAPS explosives experts on Wednesday.
Reports of the arms shipment has sparked a political outcry with parties calling on the government to block the consignment to Zimbabwe’s army.
Zimbabwe has no money at all - in fact, the entire country is completely bankrupt…so, there is no way for Zimbabwe to buy arms from China, and that means that China is buying the loyalty of Zimbabwe’s government to further China’s imperial ambitions in Africa. The government of Zimbabwe, of course, has been engaging for years in a systematic oppression of the people of Zimbabwe - for China to lend a hand shows that the government of China is outside of the bounds of civilized behaviour, and unfit for decent company of any kind.
Enough is enough - down with the Chinese government, and to hell with their pretensions to world power.
Tags: China, Olympics, Tibet, Zimbabwe
April 18th, 2008
Not at all surprising:
As Chinese authorities have clamped down on unrest in Tibet and jailed dissidents in advance of the 2008 Olympics, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has taken a strong public stance, calling for restraint in Tibet and urging President Bush to boycott the Olympics opening ceremonies in Beijing.
But her recent stern comments on China’s internal crackdown collide with former President Bill Clinton’s fundraising relationship with a Chinese Internet company accused of collaborating with the mainland government’s censorship of the Web. Last month, the firm, Alibaba Inc., carried a government-issued “most wanted” posting on its Yahoo China homepage, urging viewers to provide information on Tibetan activists suspected of stirring recent riots.
Alibaba, which took over Yahoo’s China operation in 2005 as part of a billion-dollar deal with the U.S.-based search engine, arranged for the former president to speak to a conference of Internet executives in Hangzhou in September 2005. Instead of taking his standard speaking fees, which have ranged from $100,000 to $400,000, Clinton accepted an unspecified private donation from Alibaba to his international charity, the William J. Clinton Foundation.
The former president’s charity has raised more than $500 million over the last decade and has been lauded for its roles in disaster response, AIDS prevention and Third World medical and poverty relief. But his reliance on influential foreign donors and his foundation’s refusal to release its list of donors have led to repeated questions about the sources and transparency of his fundraising…
Sorry, but there’s only one thing to say about this - the shady donations are merely a calculation by foreign interests that they may be buying influence in a future Clinton Administration. This is just the corrupt nature of the Clinton, Inc. beast - or do you think this is all new stuff? Questionable fundraising and Clinton go together like Mafia and Don. While Democrats spend their time wondering if Cheney - who has divested himself entirely from Halliburton - is working for Halliburton’s benefit, no Democrat seems to want to know if various Chinese and other foreign elements own the Clintons body and soul.
This nauseating greed for money and power on display in the actions of the Clintons, coupled with the way Democrats refuse to condemn it, illustrates the depths to which the Democratic party has fallen. As my Dad points out, the corrupt city bosses of Democratic history at least did some things for their cities - and most of them died broke; these days, senior Democrats are determined to live very well, indeed, and don’t question to closely about who is writing the checks, or what they might demand later on.
Tags: Bill Clinton, China, Hilly Clinton, illegal donations, Tibet
April 13th, 2008
Good job!
LONDON (AP) - Police repeatedly scuffled with protesters as Olympians and dignitaries carried the Olympic torch through snowy London during a chaotic relay Sunday.
Demonstrators tried to board a relay bus after five-time Olympic gold medalist rower Steve Redgrave launched procession at Wembley Stadium - presaging a number of clashes with police along the torch’s 31-mile journey.
There have been 30 arrests, Metropolitan Police said.
In west London, a protester tried to grab the torch out of the hands of a TV presenter, forcing police to briefly stop the procession as officers detained the man. Another demonstrator tried to snuff out the flame with what appeared to be a fire extinguisher. Others in the crowd threw themselves at torchbearers running past in official Beijing 2010 Olympics tracksuits.
Let those people who govern China with such savegery know how people feel about the barbarism in Tibet. I’m still hopeful that some how, some way, a complete boycott of the Olymics will take place - that people will just rise up and say, “enough! We’ve had it with lending credibility to tyranny!”. We can have the Olympics in any one of a score of free nations - no need to give the Chinese tyrants a chance to look good on TV…
And Simon Jenkins in the Times of London says it perfectly - and before the protests:
Today’s London publicity stunt for the Chinese regime should be ignored by the public and any reputable athlete or politician, unless to register a fierce protest. The four-month “journey of harmony” of the Olympic torch (or many cloned torches) through 21 nations is an exercise in political laundering. It is appalling that the prime minister is to “greet” his torch in Downing Street.
This tour has nothing to do with sport. It has been staged by the Chinese government, not the International Olympic Committee, with “celebrity runners” in each country approved by the commercial sponsors, Coca-Cola, Lenovo and Samsung. In Britain those conned into joining include Tim Henman, Sir Trevor McDonald, Vanessa-Mae, the Sugababes, Ken Livingstone and Gordon Brown. It shows how craven Britain has become to its membership of the so-called Olympic family and its Chinese parents.
Tags: China, Olympics, Tibet
April 6th, 2008
The Chancellor does the right thing:
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, yesterday became the first world leader to decide not to attend the Olympics in Beijing.
As pressure built for concerted western protests to China over the crackdown in Tibet, EU leaders prepared to discuss the crisis for the first time today, amid a rift over whether to boycott the Olympics.
The disclosure that Germany is to stay away from the games’ opening ceremonies in August could encourage President Nicolas Sarkozy of France to join in a gesture of defiance and complicate Gordon Brown’s determination to attend the Olympics.
Donald Tusk, Poland’s prime minister, became the first EU head of government to announce a boycott on Thursday and he was promptly joined by President Václav Klaus of the Czech Republic, who had previously promised to travel to Beijing.
Let us hope this is the start of an avalanche of international against China’s despotic, corrupt and anti-human government.
Tags: Chancellor Merkel, China, Germany, Olympics, Tibet
March 30th, 2008
Yet another strong voice against the Chinese government’s savagery:
PARIS (AP) - Republican presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain said Friday that China is harming its world image with its crackdown in Tibet and expressed hope Beijing would seek a peaceful solution to the crisis.
McCain did not discuss the issue during a 45-minute meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, but told reporters later the subject was “one of the first things I would talk about if I were president of the United States today.”
China’s crackdown “is not correct,” McCain said in the courtyard of the French presidential Elysee Palace.
“The people there are being subjected to mistreatment that is not acceptable with the conduct of a world power, which China is,” McCain said in response to a question by a Chinese television journalist.
“There must be respect for human rights, and I would hope that the Chinese are actively seeking a peaceful resolution to this situation that exists which harms not only the human rights of the people there but also the image of China in the world.”
The barbarians in Beijing have to learn that the days of bloodthirsty tyrants doing as they will are ending - while Stalin, Hitler and Mao could murder millions in secret, in the modern world of instant global communications, such things will get out, and will affect attitudes and plans around the world. The best outcome, of course, would be for the people of China to join the brave people of Tibet and just overthrow China’s corrupt oligarchy - but absent that, we can at least continue to let the Chinese government know that we are disgusted with them.
As an aside, don’t forget to watch anything other than the Olympics this summer.
Tags: China, John McCain, Tibet
March 24th, 2008
And Speaker Pelosi has done a good deed:
US Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi made one of the highest-ranking U.S. official visits ever to Dharamsala, India, the exile home of the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Llama, today.
While standing next to the Dalai Llama, she denounced “China’s oppression of people in Tibet.”
“If freedom loving people don’t speak out against China’s oppression of people in Tibet, we have lost all moral authority to speak out against any oppressed people.”
More voices and ever more voices - the world must curb the tyrants in Beijing.
Tags: China, Nancy Pelosi, Tibet
March 22nd, 2008
More oppression in Tibet:
Clashes between protesters and security forces in Tibet’s main city, Lhasa, have left at least two people dead, according to reports.
An emergency official said that many people had been hurt and an unspecified number had died.
The US-based Radio Free Asia quoted witnesses who said they had seen at least two bodies on Lhasa’s streets.
Tibet’s government would “deal harshly” with the protesters, its Chairman Qiangba Puncog warned.
“We will deal harshly with these criminals who are carrying out activities to split the nation,” he told the Associated Press news agency, denying that police had opened fire.
China’s state-run Xinhua news agency earlier said police had fired warning shots and used tear gas to disperse protesters.
Rallies have continued all week in what are said to be the largest protests against Beijing’s rule in 20 years.
Most people are for free trade with China - including President Bush - on the theory that the more we trade with them the more liberty there will eventually be in China. Others are opposed to free trade with China - labor unions leading the way here - because they simply don’t want to compete with China’s cheap labor. I’m with neither camp - neither free trader nor protectionist: I’m for freedom trade.
I’m sick to death with these tyrannical regimes which presume to have the authority to actually do what they do. We can’t get rid of them all, but we can certainly cut our ties to them. I’m for completely free trade, but only with other free nations - we should ditch all trade agreements with China, and open trade agreements with, say, India. It is time for the free people of the world to firmly and without question stand athwart the unfree nations - and stand with their enslaved populations.
UPDATE: The International Olympic Committee urges people not to boycott China’s Olympics over the Tibet situation. My answer: You miserable, truckling cowards at the IOC should have thought of that before you awarded the Olympics to an anti-human, totalitarian dictatorship.
Tags: China, free trade, Freedom Trade, protectionism, Tibet
March 15th, 2008
Little noted in the news, but very important:
The most important story to come out of Washington recently had nothing to do with the endless presidential campaign. And although the media largely ignored it, the story changes the world.
The story’s unlikely source was the staid World Bank, which published updated statistics on the economic output of 146 countries. China’s economy, said the bank, is smaller than it thought.
About 40% smaller.
China, it turns out, isn’t a $10-trillion economy on the brink of catching up with the United States. It is a $6-trillion economy, less than half our size. For the foreseeable future, China will have far less money to spend on its military and will face much deeper social and economic problems at home than experts previously believed.
I’ve been saying for quite a long time that China’s supposed strength was mostly a mirage - for a century and a half, the western world has again and again bought the notion that China is just about to become a major factor in world economic affairs and that everyone must do whatever they can to get into the act. The problem, of course, is that China isn’t free - it isn’t free now, wasn’t free then and won’t be free any time soon; and an unfree nation is, in the end, an unfree economy, and such economies just don’t do very well. Unfree nations can have spurts of economic growth, but the sort of long-term growth we’ve seen in the United States for more than two centuries now just can’t be accomplished in anything other than a free nation. No amount of government planning and government-business partnerships can overcome people just doing what they think is best in ten thousand spur-of-the-moment daily decisions.
To be sure, China has been experiencing a period of rapid economic growth - Businesses all around the world have been taking advantage of China’s cheap (and in some cases, de-facto slave) labor. Woohoo!!!, went the multinationals - we can produce toasters at 50% of the cost of producing them in western economies, even after you factor in shipping and tarrifs…and their quarterly profits abounded, and a lot of Chinese got quite rich. Trouble is, most of those who got rich were the political elite, or those connected/subservient to them. A lot of factories were built, a lot of infrastructure created and a lot of money made - but it hasn’t been used properly because only a free nation with a free economy can really use money correctly. Instead of really doing what was needed for China, the money has just been spent on an absurd arms race with the United States, palaces for the political elite and “loans” to State-run enterprises which are bankrupt.
So, what do we have? A China which is not only not as rich as people thought, but incapable of becoming rich enough to solve the problems which were made worse by a misallocation of Chinese resources (most notably: the population inbalance between men and women due to China’s barbaric “one child” policy and China’s horrific problems of pollution - there are plenty of others, however). There will be an economic collapse in China - probably rather soon, perhaps even triggered by the credit crunch we’re having because our financial system is run by boneheads who think that lending money to someone with a 490 FICO is a good idea as long as you charge a 32% APR. This wouldn’t be that large a problem except for the fact that China’s ruling oligarchy has justified its continued power by promising unending economic growth to the Chinese people - once that promisory note comes due, the Chinese leaders will be faced with a choice of either voluntarily surrendering power, or striking out in foreign lands to divert public attention.
Which do you think they’ll choose?
Tags: China
December 31st, 2007
