Zimbabwe Prisons
NORM GERAS LOOKS AT PRISON CONDITIONS IN ZIMBABWE: They sound quite bad.As near as I can tell, things aren't much better outside of prison in Zimbabwe...
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NORM GERAS LOOKS AT PRISON CONDITIONS IN ZIMBABWE: They sound quite bad.As near as I can tell, things aren't much better outside of prison in Zimbabwe...
I've (at long last) restored a search box to the sidebar there to the right, something we back when we were running Movable Type, but that disappeared when we moved here to Typepad.
Right now, the search will find posts made since February 7, 2005. When I find the time, I'll finish moving the old pages to the new server, at which point search will work for older posts as well.
PowerLine posted a few weeks ago about the same June 9 Washington Times article on China that I referenced here, which asserted that America's intelligence agencies failed to detect China's arms buildup. The following day, they posted a response from retired CIA intelligence analyst named Owen Johnson which is worth a read. Johnson says that "if we missed 'more than a dozen Chinese military developments' I am one of the principal guys who missed them" and gives his perspective. He argues that failures in addressing China's military build-up were political failures, not inteligence failures.
...that Starbucks has started selling the new acoustic recording of Alanis Morrisette's breakthrough hit Jagged Little Pill. I like it, though I do think I prefer the original. The new disc has a little more substance than many acoustic remakes I've heard; it's not just her and one guitar.
Starbucks and Alanis. Both more liberal than I (at least by image), yet I really like both. Isn't it ironic?
I saw this headline: "Beijing Seizes Japan Textbooks for Content", and was prepared to side with China, because I thought this was about Japan's penchant for revisionist history when it comes to WWII. Then I read the actual article:
Textbooks headed for a Japanese school in China were seized by customs officials who objected to the way maps in the books depicted the Chinese mainland and rival Taiwan, an official said Tuesday.The maps showed the mainland and the island in different colors, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao, indicating that Beijing was concerned this might make Taiwan seem like a separate country.
Okay, yeah. True enough. Hey, you know why? Because Taiwan is another country.
If I wanted to make the most China-friendly comparison I could come up with, I would compare this to the secession of the CSA in 1860. And you know what? During the Civil War... the CSA was another country! (I know this because I've been to Six Flag over Texas many times...)
If this was driven by a desire for unity, it would seem sort of noble I suppose, in a freaky totalitarian way. But this is seems to be less about reuniting with the Taiwanese, or even about forcibly assimilating them. This feels like sheer, unadulterated wish-fulfillment. The Chinese want these textbooks to show, not that Taiwan should be part of China, but that it is part of China.
Pure, Orwellian doublethink. Kind of creepy.
Okay, so this review of the trailer for King Kong isn't encouraging. For some reason, the original Kong is one classic that never caught my fancy. The sequel hasn't so far either, and wow, it sounds like that might be just as well.
...you can't read this site. The government is blocking Internet access to all Typepad sites. Too much talk of that nasty freedom business, I expect. Still, it's pretty much what one expects from the Chinese government.
Just as intolerable, and from a US company we should hold to higher standards, is Microsoft's aid to China's censorship policy. MSN China is blocking Chinese bloggers from certain words in the names of their blogs or the titles of posts. The words and phrases blocked by Microsoft include "Taiwan independence," "Dalai Lama," "human rights," "freedom" and "democracy."
It certainly removes the amiguity around what the Chinese government thinks it stands against, doesn't it?
"MSN abides by the laws, regulations, and norms of each country in which it operates." Really? How morally ambivalent of them? Any other dictatorial regimes you'd like to crawl into bed with?
I have been, over the years, a fan of Microsoft, but I have a few more words for them. "Complicit." "Co-conspirator." "Contemptable."
Robert J. Samuelson in the WaPo on our fear of China and India, likening it to our fear of the Soviets in the 50's and the Japanese in the 70's. He closes with this:
On being overtaken, history teaches another lesson. America's economic strengths lie in qualities that are hard to distill into simple statistics or trends. We've maintained beliefs and practices that compensate for our weaknesses, including ambitiousness; openness to change (even unpleasant change); competition; hard work; and a willingness to take and reward risks. If we lose this magic combination, it won't be China's fault.It's a valid point, but I also think a little fear is a good thing. Sputnik drove us to compete. So did Toyota. Both helped stimulate the inputs into that magic combination. Failure to counter a motivated competitor, on the other hand, is likely to lead to a predictable outcome. I'd rather see us get fired up to compete and wind up facing an opponent less formidable than we feared than to pacify ourselves with the idea that the Japanese weren't as bad as we feared only to discover that China actually is.
David has already put in his two cents on "The 4400", back when it premiered last year. I felt the need to expand on that as the 2nd season commences.
I think the show is even better now, since the "secret" of who abducted the 4400 and why has been revealed. (They were captured by people from a doomed future and sent back in time to "save the world". Okay, so it's still a bit mysterious.) Also, they chucked the most annoying characters.
But the thing that I find most fascinating about the show is its structure. Lots of shows sustain a variety of plot lines per episode. ("The West Wing" and "ER" spring to mind.) But this show is sustaining four separate story arcs that rarely intersect, and in each episode there's always a fifth story -- arguably the A plot for the week, with a guest star and a conflict and a resolution.
The new abilities the writers have to come up with each week to advance the premise of the show are diverting, of course, but it's the ongoing tales of these people who have been "changed" that keep me watching. And there are three main characters whose "abilities" haven't even surfaced yet.
Not only am I enjoying the show as it stands, but there's so many opportunities for future development of this concept.
The only downside is the fact that USA Network tends to churn out extremely short seaons. (Six, maybe seven episodes?) What is this, England? Sheesh!
Okay, so I'm playing catch up on China-blogging. Here's one of those worrisome stories I didn't get around to mentioning when I saw it. This one's from back in April.
DefenseTech:
"A decade ago, American military planners dismissed the threat of a Chinese attack against Taiwan as a 100-mile infantry swim," the New York Times says. "The Pentagon now believes that China has purchased or built enough amphibious assault ships, submarines, fighter jets and short-range missiles to pose an immediate threat to Taiwan and to any American force that might come to Taiwan's aid." In 1996, when China fired warning-shot missiles across the Taiwan Strait before the Taiwanese elections, President Clinton responded by sending a carrier battle group to a position near Taiwan. Then, China could do nothing about it, Now, analysts say, it can.The article quotes an expert on the Chinese military who is "skeptical that China already has the naval and air superiority over Taiwan to dominate the strait." Uh, yes, and? GIven their progress in the last nine years, isn't it just a matter of time unless something is done to counter their move?
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