Han Chinese describe life in Tibet: I was born in Chongqing in south-western China. Tibet was synonymous with mystery and excitement to me before my first trip in 1992. It lived up to my expectations. I was amazed by the stunning beauty, the colour of the autumn leaves. Between 1992 and 1997, I went to Tibet three times, where I made more local friends who are quite simple and honest. I was deeply moved and even shocked by the wonder of Tibetan arts. I met my future Tibetan husband, and we got married in the traditional Tibetan way by the holy lake Namcuo.

When I first visited Lhasa in 1992, dogs seemed to outnumber people on the street, and locals just answered both of nature's calls in the open. Modernisation means a gradual loss of national identity and traditional culture But nowadays you can see the imprint of modernisation everywhere in Lhasa: villages have given way to a large cement plaza; more public toilets have appeared; many migrants have come, and with the Qinghai-Tibetan railway scheduled to open in July, more tourists, businessmen and migrants will come.

...Overall, Tibetans are very different from Han people. I came to accept their lifestyle of relaxing and enjoying everything. Even with only a little money in their pockets, they can still dance and sing happily. Tibet is the land which fits my free spirit best.

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Scientists seek sex slavery evidence in Vietnam war: A group of Republic of Korea scientists Thursday wrapped up a study of the war in central Vietnam with focus on the issue of Vietnamese women being forced into sex slavery by Korean troops. In the past few days, the mission met, interviewed, and collected documents in Phu Yen province from many women who were sexually molested or raped by Korean soldiers. They had earlier carried out a similar survey in two other central provinces, Binh Dinh and Quang Ngai.

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Chosen Ilbo Piece on Vietnamese Brides Sparks Anger in Vietnam: Anyway, according to Yonhap, once reports of the Chosun piece hit papers in Vietnam, local women’s groups were outraged and local papers were running articles slamming Korea—Yonhap quoted one Vietnamese woman who had married a European (apparently not Gary Glitter) as having written in one Ho Chi Min City paper, “How lucky I am not to have married a Korean.” Locals were upset that Korean men coming to Vietnam to find brides were “commercializing” Vietnamese women, and in particular, women’s groups were outraged that marriage brokers, which are reportedly illegal in Vietnam, were operating in the country to arrange marriages between Vietnamese women and Korean men.

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From Mobile Sex to Group Sex, Korean Sex Industry Thrives because of - or despite - Special Law :

21 percent of girls in the red-light districts took up their trade after the Special Law went into effect; Only 0.9 percent of red-light district brothels have shut down since March 2005; 76 percent of johns said they would continue to seek the services of the willow world; The average number of clients a night a red-light district girl sees has decreased from 6.8 to 3.7. Also, the working girls of the red-light district near Pyeongtaek Station have formed an extra-legal union (very interesting but long interview with the union president), which has actually engaged in collective negotiations with the distict’s pimps. The union, though not legally recognized, collects membership dues, has a list of rules and regulations, maintains an office and even runs a website.

...There are other new and unusual prostitution systems popping up. Typical of this new wave is the “mobile massage parlor.” Essentially a modified van, they move around the city center, offering passengers a massage and a lot more. These vans, which leave from Gangnam and pass through Myeongdong and Jongno before heading back to Gangnam, offer literal “Sex and the City” tours where you can get your rocks off while taking in Seoul’s nighttime scenery. One guy in his 30s who has done the tour said, “Having sex in the van was a fantastic experience.”

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DPRK view on race and nation in ROK : The article refers to the "recently appearing bizarre pursuits for a 'multinational, multiracial society' in South Korea, which will weaken (kôsehada) the basic characteristics of our nation (minjok)". (Kôsehada means also "to castrate".) It names, ironically enough (but this is DPRK), the "pro-US flunkeyist forces" as the biggest perpretrators in these heinous acts against the purity of the nation. ...I'll reproduce the whole article here for the benefit of visitors from South Korea, where access to KCNA is blocked. (Unfortunately I don't have the time to translate more than a few choice paragraphs, but additional translation contributions are welcome in the comments.) Biff- hit the link for the translation. Another translated article is here:

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"Mongolia at 800: Toward Enhanced U.S. and International Support": Among the first of Asian nations to offer condolences post-9/11, Mongolia, despite some internal controversy, afforded swift over flight rights to US aircraft toward Central Asia and committed troops to Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. That participation has emerged more significant than one might assume of small nation support in several instances, namely in Mongolian troops' unique rapport with Hazara forces in Afghanistan (the Hazara being descendents of the Mongolian Golden Horde and identifying with the Mongolians on ethnic lines); in the skilled marksmanship of Mongolian forces in Iraq that prevented a suicide attack; and in the continued rotation of Mongolian troops into the combat theaters, despite some opposition at home that mirrors concerns more broadly across Asia. Former Mongolian President Bagabandi's 2004 visit to Washington came the same week as the Philippines' withdrawal from Iraq, underscoring Mongolia's continued support at a time difficult for the Pentagon. ...What a striking thought that the Mongolian urban aesthetic had appeared so similar to that of North Korea little over a decade ago. Given Mongolia's continued relations with both North and South Korea, historical ethnic linkages, adoption of Korean War orphans from the North and recent quiet facilitation of North Korean refugees, and its low-key, small nation approach, North Korea appears to trust Mongolia in unique ways.

N. Korean Defectors Often Find Life Less Than Ideal in South : Tim Peters is a Christian activist who works with North Korean arrivals. He says many are shocked to discover that they must now compete to be hired - and that it can be too easy to be fired. In the North, jobs are assigned by the state, and partly because of inadequate electricity and raw materials, many workers actually do little work. "In North Korea, the culture of work is you don't do a darn thing unless you're told to do it," he said. "In South Korea, if you are not doing something, the boss is saying, 'why don't you take initiative, why don't you do that?' Well, you take six months of this in a Korean workplace, and this guy is out on his ear, because he looks like a sloucher, a loafer." An official at the Unification Ministry in Seoul acknowledges 20 to 30 percent of North Korean arrivals are unemployed - compared with less than four percent overall in the South.

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The Sellouts, The Reformers and the Revolutionaries: One popular Shanghai blogger, who declined to be identified, compared Zhao to an airline passenger who stands up and curses hijackers. “He makes the other passengers uncomfortable and nervous,” the blogger said. “What he is saying might be right, but it makes the situation unpredictable, and perhaps more dangerous for everyone.” Biff- This paragraph is the only part of the post which caught my eye, but catch it it sure did... haha...

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The '1421' Myth Exposed: In his book 1421: The Year China Discovered the World Menzies claimed Chinese admiral Zheng He had circumnavigated the globe, in the process “discovering” most of the world. Subsequent media coverage has failed to accurately present to the public the large body of evidence that Menzies’ claim is a fabrication, without any basis in fact. The purpose of this website is to present that evidence, and ensure that history is not rewritten by publishers more interested in short-sighted marketing campaigns that ensure their financial security, rather than intellectual integrity and public enlightenment.

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Japan's no-name boom: The average stock price on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) rose by about 40% in 2005. Reflecting the increasingly upbeat outlook, the bourse has continued to rally, with the benchmark 225-issue Nikkei stock average reaching its highest level in six years to top the 17,000 mark on March 31, the final day of fiscal 2005. Industrial output in 2005 posted its highest level since 2000. Unemployment declined for the third year in a row in 2005, to 4.4% from 4.7% in 2004 and from 5.4% in 2002. The jobless rate for February stood at 4.1%, the lowest in seven years and seven months. Pay raises offered in this spring's annual wage negotiations are believed to have been higher than last year. ...In the late 1960s, the average life expectancy of Japanese people was 69.2 years for men and 74.7 years for women, compared with 78.6 years for men and 85.6 years for women in 2004. People aged 65 or over accounted for only about 7% of the total population in the late 1960s, but now they make up 20%. The unemployment rate was only 0.7% in 1970.

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Myanmar's junta fears US invasion: A high-ranking officer of the Karen National Liberation Army, an armed insurgent group, based in the Thai border town of Mae Sot claims that the SPDC has recently deployed artillery outposts along the entire border with Thailand. Between Mae Sot and Mae Samlep alone there are 10 or more such outposts, he contends. Such artillery is relatively useless against mobile, hit-and-run guerrilla forces operating in the jungle-covered area, and are clearly intended to provide a defensive perimeter against foreign attack from Thailand or the US, or both in cooperation. Many also view the regime's recent establishment of the new bunker-fortified, inland capital in Pyinmana as partly motivated by the junta's fears of a possible US invasion. The leaked Defense Department document confirms that analysis in stark detail.

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Japan backs 'patriotic teaching' : Conservative groups have long argued for a revision of the current law, saying pupils should learn national pride as Japan assumes a more active diplomatic and military role on the international stage. Opponents fear the changes might foster a revival of militarism and anger neighbours China and South Korea.

The New State Capitalists - Governments are getting back into the business of business: Led by China and Russia, state companies are both consolidating control at home and expanding aggressively abroad, in some cases effectively reversing the privatization campaigns first unleashed in the West a quarter century ago. Singapore, Dubai and Venezuela practice variants of the same strategy using a new kind of multinational: aggressive state companies that can leverage their lucrative home-turf advantages to expand overseas.
American suspicion of government ties to business has boiled over repeatedly in recent months, forcing a Chinese state company to abandon its bid for Unocal, and a Dubai state company to give up newly acquired U.S. port facilities. But that has hardly slowed the trend. Just last week, China Construction Bank was compelled to deny Wall Street Journal reports that it is in talks for a 10 percent stake in Bear Stearns, worth up to $4 billion, in what would be China's first big buy on Wall Street.

...Within China, state conglomerates hogged the vast majority of new bank loans given in 2005, for example; of the 1,600 companies listed on the country's domestic stock exchanges today, fewer than 50 are private. Beijing's real agenda since the late 1990s has been "corporatization," or creating state giants that can compete with Western multinationals, says Donald Clarke, an expert on Chinese law at George Washington University. "I don't see the leadership talking about large-scale privatization," says Clarke. "They don't always say what they're planning to do, but if they're not saying that privatization is their plan, we have to take that seriously." Biff- I'm in favor of whatever works. If socialism worked, I'd be for it. But it hasn't in the past and I see little reason for optimism now. The conflation of politics with economics is almost always a fiscal disaster.

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'PROGRESSIVE' MEDIA STALLS: 'AIR AMERICA' IN AUDIENCE PLUNGE NYC, 'DAILY KOS' BOOK SELLS ONLY 3,600 COPIES: [NIELSEN claims only 2,062 copies of DAILY KOS have been purchased at the retail level; the rest coming through 'discount' outlets. The NIELSEN figures do include online sales from AMAZON.COM, and others.]

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The China Hype: (Biff- From down in the comments) This is highly destabilizing and has emerged particularly in pervasive rural social unrest. I think those who observe the successful urban economic scene in China (as most expatriate “business” types are) are discounting this explosive discontent, mostly because they don’t see it and also because it does not affect their short-term bottom line.
Another concern is that as the economic rationale for CCP’s monopoly on power suffers, there is greater likelihood of emphasizing the “unity” angle, which unfortunately translates to hyper-nationalism and even external aggression to redirect tension away from the ruling elite (somewhat akin to the Saudi model). Biff- The Saudi model... If you're not up on this, it's worth checking into how Saudi Arabia has succeeded and then failed with its own socialist model. Great stuff for perspective on China.

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Japan pins hopes on 'speed dates': At one event in central Tokyo, run by a firm called Exeo, 20 men and women cram into a small upstairs room in the hope of finding somebody special. Each pairing gets two minutes, before everyone swaps partners. Some couples seem to hit off instantly, while others are shy and conversation is muted. Biff- Makes sense to me. I usually know within thirty seconds of a phone conversation whether I'll get on with a potential date. Schools that were once full of baby boomers are now being closed down owing to a lack of children - more than 2,000 over the past decade alone.

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Surviving a Tibetan gulag: "We had to denounce his Holiness the Dalai Lama and were not allowed to engage in religious practice." This answer is a measure of her commitment to her Buddhist beliefs and helps to explain her behaviour in jail. Ms Sangdrol repeatedly defied the prison authorities, including singing revolutionary songs which were taped and smuggled out of jail, and this earned her ever-extended prison sentences. She said the sacrifice was worth it. "Even when I first went to prison I knew this sort of torture was taking place... (but) I was even angrier that an invader would come to our country and persecute our people," she said, referring to China's invasion in 1950, and its subsequent rule. Biff- Religion and nationalism. Without these two charmers, she might have been out of jail years ago. Worth it she says. Methinks not. Dissidents are often pathological cases. It's often this, not heroism, which makes them stick with the cause when common sense would indicate otherwise. Many people are heroic. It takes much more than that to be a dissident.

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The Unpleasant Side of an Unpleasant Business: Officially, China holds Japan responsible for the riots, and associated damage, based on the premise that Tokyo 'provoked Chinese citizens into action' through its own irrisponsible behaviour. As such, Beijing has cited the 'root causes' of the riot as being public anger caused by; Tokyo's highlighting of China's poor record on Human Rights; The continuation of Sino-Japanese territorial and maritime boundary disputes; Tokyo's stance towards Chinese-Taiwan, including its refusal to bar pro-independence leaders from entering Japan; Tokyo's attitude towards disputed areas of Sino-Japanese history ... Unofficially though, the two primary causes of the riots are though to be Tokyo's refusal to ban a controversial school textbook - published by Japan's discredited nationalist minority, and used by a humiliatingly low 0.39 percent of schools - which refuses to accept the full extent of Japan's wartime crimes against China, and an aborted attempt by Tokyo to gain a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council; a move which would have put Japan on an equal footing to China within the governing body.

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Soldiers in North Korea These Days, ‘No’ To Joining The Party, ‘OK’ To Making Money : For men, the military duty is for 10 years, and for women, it is 6~8 years. Between 1987~1998, the military duty was for 13 years, but after that, it was reduced back to 10 years. The reason for such a long military duty has to do with the maintenance of the military force and the physical strength of soldiers. ...North Korea had a hard time reinforcing the military power because of the food difficulty in the 1990s. The students were stunted from lack of food, and some became “Kotjebi(begging children)” and wandered around, which caused their physical strength to remarkably reduce. Men used to have to be taller than 148cm and heavier than 48kg, but now they only have to be 145cm and 40kg.

That’s trouble in Shanghai.: Things in China have certainly improved in the last few years, but as we’ve said before – don’t be taken in by the shiny new skyscrapers and the modern offices. Beneath the surface lurk the same corruption, xenophobia, and dishonesty that have poisoned the business environment here for centuries. While it will never go away completely, you can take actions to safeguard your interests. Start off by finding partners your can rely on. If you are told that something is illegal but that there is a way around it, be very wary. And never forget that it is not how much you earn that counts – but how much you keep. One of the first conversations you should have with your team of consultants and advisors is about exit strategy.

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That's China: After seven years building up a magazine empire in China, I (Mark Kitto) had it stolen by the state. I lived in the grey zone that is China's media business and, despite my commitment to the country, paid a high price. ...[A big US publisher commissioned a book by Mark Kitto. After the manuscript had been edited, the publisher dropped it for fear of harming its Chinese interests. Those interests fall under the authority of the State Information Council]

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China Business Definitions (April 1 edition) - SCM: Special Chinese Method. What all young, male mainland Chinese seem to believe exists to solve any conceivable business challenge. Note: Unless you are cooking, writing, or bribing local officials, THERE IS NO SPECIAL CHINESE METHOD!! Or rather there is, but it will not result in an outcome that you consider to be successful or effective. If there really were SCMs that worked, you wouldn’t be here, now would you? SCMs are invariably simple, require little pre-planning but much post-disaster management, and usually involve handing over money or valuable equipment to an employee’s classmate’s friend’s neighbor’s colleague’s son. Would you really be surprised to hear that it never, ever works?

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鄭義:曹長青《和劉賓雁分道揚鑣》斷章取義--曹文歪曲電視採訪《走出千年泥濘》: 大多數作家並不擅長於邏輯嚴密的政治哲學式表達。劉賓雁亦然。他的浪漫氣質和理想主義，的確也使他的許多政治表述有欠明朗清晰。這是不應苛求的。

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Look to the future of China — not just its past.: Too much ink has been devoted to comparisons of “traditional Chinese methods” vs. “Western methods” of doing business. The airport newsstand best-sellers and glossy news weeklies are packed with admonishments to “preserve face” and “build relationships” as though all Western business travelers were Ming-dynasty emissaries waiting for a high-ranking eunuch to take our message to the Inner Court. Local Chinese writers have jumped on the bandwagon, poking fun at the clueless westerners blundering towards failure in China because they don’t understand the local culture.
Reality check 1: Western MNCs are doing well here, because this is what they do. They are multinational. They adjust to new cultures and new environments. Their brand power in China has been growing fast and deep. They hire the best local talent, pay the highest salaries, and invest the most. They have no culture, no beliefs, and no predispositions. They are machines. Biff- Machines... If only people could try to be more like machines. They'd be all that more intelligent.

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Is China Going Green, Part VIII? -- Well The Wall Street Journal Says It Is So You'd Better Believe It: Moves by Plantronics to go beyond basic environmental requirements helped ensure that local authorities became very enthusiastic for this project, said Terry Walters, the company's senior vice president of operations. "They were in our corner the whole time, fighting for us to get through the approval process, and fast."
We have found the same thing in our China work for foreign companies, particularly in the last few months. Registering a company to do business in China is often easier if the company you are seeking to register does not pollute or goes to great lengths to minimize pollutants.

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China is Expensive -- NOT. Go Second Tier and Life Will Be Good: These "China is getting expensive stories" make the mistake of equating Shanghai and Beijing with all of China, effectively ignoring more than a billion people, whose wages are lower than those in China's ex-pat centers. The story I would be writing is how western companies are coming to realize there is more to China than just Shanghai and Beijing, and how they are beginning to consider a greater number of factors in deciding where to locate within China.
I am seeing more western companies interested in starting their China operations in cities outside the typical favorites like Shanghai, Gaungzho, Beijing, and Shenzhen. I also am hearing more talk from companies already in those cities about expanding elsewhere, with reasons as varied as the companies themselves. Some are interested in regional or city tax incentives. Some are thinking about logistics. Some want greater exposure to China's internal market. Some just want to be somewhere quieter and/or less polluted. And yes, some want to be where wages are lower or where the workforce they need is more accessible.

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Sujiatun: Why I still believe - Over the last week, the Communists rolled out the big gun in their propaganda campaign against the charges of organ harvesting in Sujiatun: the U.S. State Department. To be accurate, the Department rolled itself out, and to be fair, it merely stated it had not found evidence of Falun Gong organ-harvesting. Still, it was enough to sow some doubt in the Sujiatun accounts throughout the blogosphere.

China Hype, Part 4: All this, you heard from me and others before. Now comes the assessment to which I would like everyone to pay a great deal of attention: "China sells little to the United States that Americans couldn’t buy for comparable prices and quality from India, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. China, however, could not find a market anywhere near the size of that in America. Privately and candidly, Chinese scholars acknowledge this." ...Despite protectionist concerns in the U.S. that the manufacturing base is relocating to China, the fact is that the U.S. as the largest, richest buyer holds the leverage in the relationship, not China. China isn’t the only low-cost manufacturer available (in fact, even Chinese businessmen are moving to Vietnam for lower cost labor).

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This is no rah-rah revolt: There is something refreshingly old-fashioned taking place in the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal: a genuine revolution. Biff- since when has a revolution not ended in massacre? The exception which proves that rule of thumb is the US revolution, which did not uproot the wealthy and instead preserved the spirit of the existing political and judicial structures. Revolutions typically throw out the existing wealthy class (and the political and judicial structures) and replace it with another more earthy class, closer to the spirit of the people and thus better equipped for demagoguery and slaughter. Nepal's upper-caste Hindu rulers have institutionalised ancient customs to preserve their own privileges. Only last year was the custom of locking up menstruating women in cowsheds declared illegal. Biff- Down in the comments I was happy to find the following: Being a good Pakistani Muslim Tariq Ali sees upper caste Hindu conspiracies too easily. The King of Nepal and the very small circle supporting his autocratic rule do not constitute Nepal's entire upper castes. Most of them, especially the highest caste, the Brahmins, are out on the street demonstrating against him. This includes most of the leaders of the three main parliamentary political parties. This is the kind of small detail that Mr. Ali, the putative author of fiction, might wish to take on board when pretending to write political comment.

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Solomons MP faces riot charge The court heard that Mr Dausabea, 46, told a crowd outside parliament last Tuesday, when Snyder Rini was elected prime minister: "We lost, you people go do what you like now." Later that same day, Mr Dausabea allegedly told a security guard at the Honiara Hotel, which is owned by Thomas Chan, the Chinese president of Mr Rini's political party: "You wait for me, I'm coming back to burn the Honiara Hotel." ...State media in China say more than 300 Chinese nationals have now arrived back in the south of the country after being evacuated from Honiara after the riots.

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World Bank accused over malaria: They quote the bank saying that it reduced deaths from malaria in the Indian states of Gujarat by 58%, Maharashtra by 98% and Rajasthan by 79%. The authors say they doubted malaria could be reduced so markedly in such a short time and requested and obtained official statistics from India's own national malaria programme. According to India's Directorate of National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme, deaths from malaria rose in all three states in the 2002-3 period in question. "Because we were refused access to the original data sources, we cannot discern the cause of the bank's many statistical errors and particularly whether those errors arise from unintentional mistakes or from intentional data falsification or fabrication," the authors say.

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In pictures: Tibetan nomads - Jigme is the head of an ethnic Tibetan family based in Sichuan province, western China. He and his family move camp throughout the year, in order to take advantage of the changing resources. They spend up to two months in one place. Approximately 40% of the ethnic Tibetan population is nomadic or semi-nomadic. ..."We offer butter and yoghurt to the lama. He hasn't gone to town for years so doesn't have much use for paper money."

The risks and social costs of Taiwan-China economic and trade ties(1): Hao last year defected to Australia. His job was originally to supervise Falun Gong members, but later on he was responsible for supervising Taiwanese businesspeople. As soon as a Taiwanese businessman entered China, Hao’s office would monitor the individual’s every move, including when it would forcibly appropriate the person’s assets. The Chinese had an established procedure for everything. That’s why Kao says that “entrapping Taiwanese businesspeople” is China’s established policy. It is a fact. ... Hao said at a public hearing in the Legislative Yuan on December 16, 2005 how he enticed Taiwanese businesspeople into evading taxes and visiting prostitutes and how he went to catch them later on when necessary. Then again he rescued them, of course, but not without forcing a concession – that they return to Taiwan as spies. At the hearing, Hao also mentioned how China controls Taiwan’s media.

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The risks and social costs of Taiwan-China economic and trade ties(1): Presently many Taiwanese businesspeople get burned (in China), yet Taiwan’s media report very little about it. We can get a glimpse of the plight of Taiwanese businesspeople from the books “Escaping from Mainland China” by Lin Ji-sheng and William Kao’s “The Real Story of China’s Judicial Persecution of Taiwanese Businesspeople.“ ... Chinese society no longer has any ethics after going through the campaign to “Destroy the Four Olds,” (a campaign instigated by Mao Zedong during the Cultural Revolution to destroy old ideas, old culture, old customs, old habits). One result is that only 15 percent of all contracts are fully carried out. The lack of trust between people in Chinese society has already reached such dimensions that people even “cheat people they’re familiar with.” “Cheating familiar people” is an expression that has been brought up by Zheng Yefu, a professor in Beijing University’s Sociology Department. He divides trust into three levels... Biff- whatever caused the ethical collapse, I doubt it was commie campaigns. The same lack of character was in spades in Taiwan just ten years ago. As it has been in parts of NY City and other urban areas for time immemorial.

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Drab North Korea is a hot ticket: Moreover, independent mingling with the masses isn't permitted. Tours are highly choreographed with two North Korean guides assigned to foreign travel groups. ("One explanation is that they're watching each other," Keats says.) Travel is arranged through a government agency (akin to the former Soviet Intourist), and Americans are charged more than other foreigners. At Geographic Expeditions in San Francisco, where two departures quickly sold out prompting them to add a third, John Sugnet has warned clients that hot water might be limited, plumbing could be problematic, the schedule will be rigorous and "flexibility and a sense of humor are essential."

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Cspan Video: Bill Gertz, Defense & National Security Reporter for The Washington Times, discusses the U.S. military policy towards Asia. Biff- some interesting emerging stuff about Guam and defending Taiwan against China. Long-range bomber groups, new nuclear subs, double-teaming aircraft carrier crews, etc.

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Cspan Video: Bill Gertz, Author of "Treachery: How America's Friends and Foes Are Secretly Arming Our Enemies," and Defense and National Security Reporter for the Washington Times, discusses his book and other topics.

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Security high at Solomons meeting: The election of Snyder Rini as prime minister last Tuesday triggered riots over claims that either China or Taiwan had paid lawmakers to vote for him. ...Solomon Island Police Commissioner Shane Castles told reporters before the session began that "Parliament House will be locked down, and people will not be allowed within a stone's throwing distance".

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Crimes and Motives: Minucci has told the Daily News’s Denis Hamill in a jailhouse interview: “I didn’t say ‘n---er’ with an ‘er.’ But ‘n---a’ with an ‘a’ at the end. There’s a very big difference in the hip-hop world that I come from . . . ‘What up, n---a’ is like saying, ‘What’s up, pal?’” To bolster his argument, Minucci notes that he grew up in mostly black East New York: “I went to Junior High School 226, where I was the only Italian in a school of 2,000 mostly African-American kids. All of my friends . . . were black. All of them. . . . And we always called each other ‘n---a’ all the time.”

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Facing Down Iran: The bad cop/worse cop routine the mullahs and their hothead President Ahmadinejad are playing in this period of alleged negotiation over Iran’s nuclear program is the best indication of how all negotiations with Iran will go once they’re ready to fly. This is the nuclear version of the NRA bumper sticker: “Guns Don’t Kill People. People Kill People.” Nukes don’t nuke nations. Nations nuke nations. When the Argentine junta seized British sovereign territory in the Falklands, the generals knew that the United Kingdom was a nuclear power, but they also knew that under no conceivable scenario would Her Majesty’s Government drop the big one on Buenos Aires. The Argie generals were able to assume decency on the part of the enemy, which is a useful thing to be able to do. ...As Communism retreated, radical Islam seeped into Africa and south Asia and the Balkans. Crazy guys holed up in Philippine jungles and the tri-border region of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay who’d have been “Marxist fantasists” a generation or two back are now Islamists: it’s the ideology du jour.

Dr. Strangegun or: how I learned to stop worrying and love the fisking - After nearly two hours at the show, Nunziato headed out, with one question. "Why can't all of the dealers be like him?" Nunziato said, referring to Tomes. "I'm not saying ban gun shows. I'm saying make all the people there like Pop's. There would at least be some paperwork." Paperwork: the weapon of choice for Big Brothers everywhere. As he left, a man with a shotgun stood outside the show, smoking a cigarette. He was looking for a sale. In conclusion, the moral of the story is: Guns don't kill people. Gun shows do.

Injuries among Native Americans: Fact Sheet Injuries are the leading cause of death for Native Americans ages 1 to 44 and the third leading cause of death overall (CDC 2003). Injuries and violence account for 75% of all deaths among Native Americans ages 1 to 19 (Wallace 2000). Native Americans 19 years and younger are at greater risk of preventable injury-related deaths than others in the same age group in the United States. Compared with blacks and whites, this group had the highest injury-related death rates for motor vehicle crashes, pedestrian events, and suicide. Rates for these causes were two to three times greater than rates for whites the same age.

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Letter from China: Is it a ‘peaceful rise’? U.S. shouldn’t bet on it : The devil, as they say, is in the details, which is why one might hope for more candor from the country’s leaders, both toward the outside world and toward their own people. They are still spoon-fed a saccharine-laced and ultimately dangerous form of history that paints their China as the eternal innocent: happily self-contained and fair and courtly toward others. ...One senses Beijing is serious about wanting to avoid disastrous wars and ruinous arms races. Its challenge, instead, is to another key source of American power, the international system.

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Why Washington Can't Speak Chinese: When I was the Henry Kissinger Scholar at the Library of Congress two years ago, I was both amused and appalled to learn that most China policy analysts in Washington were still focused on Western political concerns such as how to democratize China or old-fashioned security issues such as how to strike a balance of power within Asia. As a result, I frequently encountered books and articles about the region with sensationalistic and melodramatic titles, such as "Taming the Red Dragon." Aaron L. Friedberg, who later was Vice President Cheney's deputy national security adviser, served up such works as "The Struggle for Mastery in Asia." ...Zheng's Peaceful Rise has met strong resistance from the Chinese Foreign Ministry as well as the People's Liberation Army. The former criticizes the effort as a self-indulgent pipe dream, while the latter attacks it for tying the military's hands in case Taiwan must be dealt with by force. ...The Iraq war showed two sides of the West -- one Greek (Europe) and the other Roman (the United States). With the two increasingly split, China is finding space to restore its tradition, power and role in the world.

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A Rational Choice (Singapore): When one of Mr Lee senior's young inquisitioners suggested that a bit more freedom of expression would make the country stronger, he retorted: “You mean to tell me that what is happening in Thailand and the Philippines is binding the people, building the nation?”

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Riots highlight Chinese tensions: "People have not been happy with the Chinese here, but I think they are beginning to realise how much they have contributed to our country. Now the shops are destroyed and the Chinese are leaving, I think they may come to regret it."

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Nude offer 'causes havoc' in Indonesia She also lashed out at organisations such as the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), which is one of her biggest critics. 'Being a personality, I know my every movement is being monitored. 'The FPI is very extreme. They need to know that Indonesia is not just a Muslim country. 'It is a democratic country with Hindus and Christians as well,' ...Inul is indeed a beacon for controversy since she emerged on the dangdut scene in 2003. Dangdut is a blend of Indian, Arab and Indonesian folk-pop music, popular in the 1950s and 1960s in Indonesia and Malaysia. It has a reputation of being the music of the working class with bawdy lyrics and suggestive dance moves. She enjoys such popularity that Indonesian political parties tried to make her endorse them in the 2004 elections.

胡宗南爭議 雙方談不攏: 「毛」書英文版去年六月在英上市，書中提及胡宗南的部分不過幾段文字，卻因張戎指他「可能是紅色代理人」，引發胡後人與歷史學者的強烈質疑。張戎被質疑「缺乏足夠證據」，因此決定在中文版提出更多證據，胡宗南所占篇幅增為八頁，反倒惹來更大風波。An interesting element in this jousting is that the local view maintains that the reader must be protected from authors with incorrect information. This would seem intuitively appropriate, but the view back home is in fact that the reader fends for himself. Free speech ensures that any nonsense, libelous or otherwise, can be printed. I.e. the onus is on the reader to employ discretion. The Chinese perspective remains steeped in decadent tradition whereby academics have a default contempt for the hoi-polloi which must be protected from itself. I.e. Paternalism in action. Lefties at home would approve heartily while denying that protecting the common man from himself encourages dependence and bovine stupidity in Joe Sixpack (thus compounding the original problem).

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Daggers drawn over a dot on the map: Talking to Christian leaders at a prayer breakfast, he charged that "some people" were "claiming territorial rights to former colonies that were once acquired through a war of aggression".

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Comics stoke Japan-Korea tension: While some of these statements may contain elements of truth, the authors also make more spurious claims. In one chapter, the book says Japanese colonization resulted in improved economic conditions for Koreans. It also says the Korean government invited the Japanese to colonize their country, so that Koreans might become enlightened by their more Westernized and modern Japanese neighbors. Biff- Japanese colonization to the best of my knowledge did indeed improve the country. Amongst other things, the Japanese occupation terminated the indigenous caste system plus traditional slavery which held above 5% of the population in cradle to grave bondage. As to Koreans inviting the Japanese in, I have no comment. But don't be quick to judge. Stranger things have happened.

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畫在紙上的「強國夢」——朔天運河 : 「朔天運河」也稱南水北調大西線計劃，這個計劃的基礎是「整個西藏高原就是一座天然的大水庫」。實際上，西藏的絕大部分地區屬半乾旱——少水帶和半濕潤過渡帶，只有藏南九萬多平方公里是中國和世界的最豐水帶。但是這片土地在麥克馬洪線以南，在印度實際控制下。根據解決中印邊界問題的原則，「朔天運河」計劃只是一個永遠不能實現的「強國夢」。古人云：一著不慎，全局皆輸。

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Indonesia: Playboy and hardcore violence - The debut of Playboy Indonesia this month unfolded predictably. The magazine flew off the shelves despite its premium price of Rp39,000 (US$4.35). Religious leaders condemned the publication as immoral, despite its total lack of pictures of naked women.

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English villages and hype: First, the villages are not real. The buildings are simulations of banks, post offices, airline offices and the like, and the interactions are simulations: The "residents" of the English village in Korea are actually English teachers trained to play different roles, such as policemen (an ad for English teachers for the Seoul English village mentions that the teachers will also be trained to act as doctors).

I'm putting these here so I have some sort of record of my mutterings. Just some rubbish I posted at Pekingduck.org

I won't comment directly on this Michelle Malkin kerfuffle, suffice to say when it comes to US politics you seem profoundly unreliable. Even if you agreed with any of my political views, I suspect it would still be for the wrong reasons. And if you hated Kerry, you'd be just as barking mad as you are today. And that's the problem. Hate. You're full of it at such times as these. You really love to hate. Makes you feel alive. Well, of course it has the same invigorating effect on many of the rest of us... haha... but as good as it may feel and sound to the ear, it ain't at all persuasive in the written form. Your material on China, where you seem fortunately to have invested less emotional capital, is that much more palatable. When the day comes that you don't give half a damn, you'll be at your peak. Because then presumably you'll be capable of the analytical clarity that comes with detachment. The distinction between humans and other mammals is not to be found in our emotional palette, which I presume is shared with them more or less equally, but in our capacity to reign in our emotions and aspire to detachment. Once you get there, perhaps you can bring in readers via wit. After all, I'm not suggesting readers will come without some sort of emotional pull. They surely won't. But venting hatred and playing at the shooting of fish in barrels? It's just so unpersuasive, unsporting, and... for me... just plain too easy. There's no challenge in it. It ought to bore you by now. It's not a good sign that you haven't tired of this nonsense yet.

Posted by: Biff Cappuccino at April 20, 2006 12:00 PM

Ivan: If you're a fan of Lincoln, you must find it ironic that Lincoln shared so many things in common with George W. Bush. Lincoln was hated in the East for being a rural bumpkin, for starting an illegal war, for throwing heaps of money around on patronage projects, for his hostility to the press (didn't Lincoln jail in excess of a hundred newspaper editors?), for overseeing Sherman's March on Atlanta which was the 19th century equivalent of the bombing of Dresden. Several of Lincoln's generals had a withering contempt for the Great Emancipator; General McClellan in particular if memory serves. A number of Lincoln's generals were political appointees, business hacks who figured they were owed a command. And it took Lincoln more than two years to get the Civil War on the right track (when he discovered Grant, whose nickname was The Butcher. The confederates didn't give him that name. His own troops did. For butchering them in senseless battles. Grant, as you'll remember, praised himself for only reading one book on strategy and learning nothing from it.) And I recall reading somewhere that during battle, troops fleeing were shot on the spot by their own men. The tactic was to place twelve men with shooting irons (i.e. I don't remember what they shot with), behind which walked one man with a revolver and orders to shoot the first man who tried to run. I have the feeling this was the official policy on both sides, after which discipline improved and some serious killing and maiming got done.

You'll also remember that many members of the northern congress were constantly in a state of panic and certain the north would lose. They wanted to end the Civil War by negotiating a truce with the Confederates as late as 1863 I believe (it's late here and I can't be bothered to verify the date). And you'll also remember that most everybody who could dodge fighting in the Civil War did via paying for proxies to fight in their place. A lot of chickenhawks then too.

What a surprise that history repeats itself... Fancy that. I find few things more depressing than being informed solemnly that the current average president is worse than other average presidents.

I am no fan of W. And no fan of Clinton. And, for that matter, I don't degrade myself by admiring anyone from afar. All the while, familiarity breeds contempt. What to do? haha...

China, Taiwan and the Solomon Islands riots: Many Chinese-owned businesses have been burnt to the ground, and Australian troops had to be called in to control riots in the Solomon Islands. Meanwhile, I am reading a slew of different and sometimes contradictory stories about what ignited the conflict, and while I still can't sort it out, China and Taiwan are the keywords that keep popping up. Biff- I left the following comment at Pekingduck.org (a site well worth visiting): -- Perhaps you've already read Amy Chua's book, "World on Fire : How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability" Her Chinese aunt was murdered and ripped off by the hired help in the Philippines. The police report only listed 'revenge' as the motive and the cops refused to pursue the case out of sympathy for the killer. Minorities hated for their financial savvy naturally includes the Chinese in SE Asia, but also Lebanese in West Africa, Ibo in Nigeria, Kikuyu in Kenya, etc. You get the picture. Yesteryear's global bogeyman was the Jew. Today it's the American. Apparently in the Solomons (frighteningly scary places according to both Jack London and Paul Theroux) the bogeyman is Chinese. And doesn't Fiji suffer from major bad blood between its Melanesian Mormons and Indian Hindus. Fiji sounds like comedy on the face of it, but it's actually a pretty serious business I gather...

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China 'selling prisoners' organs': Professor Wigmore described this as quite widespread and growing. He and his colleagues, he said, had all seen cases of British patients who had considered going to China for transplants. He really hoped, he added, that people would think very hard about whether they should. Biff- Dying people ain't going to be thinking hard about this. Secrecy surrounding executions in China has always made it difficult to gather facts. Biff- So is this actually taking place? Or is this more hype safely sold to papers by reporters who know that no credible rebuttal will emerge from authorities. Think back to Iraq and all the previously credible hype which has since been refuted. How eagerly do you wish to believe?

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BBC: Mount Merapi smoulders: Farmers on the Indonesian island of Java are silhouetted against volcanic Mount Merapi, which has recently begun spewing smoke and ash... Seventy-nine-year old Marijan is the "gatekeeper" of Mount Merapi - appointed by the nearby king to mediate with the spirits of the mountain. Biff- Sounds like something from J.R.R. Tolkien unless you remember the 1998 financial crisis. Local travelers were murdered across Java because they were suspected of being the demons, temporarily in human form, who were responsible for the crisis. Authentically dangerous.

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Capital sees its population ageing: Experts define an ageing society as one with more than 7 per cent of its population aged above 65. A survey found Beijing has 1.66 million residents over 65, making up 10.8 per cent of the permanent population.

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新丐幫》穿著整齊 乞討兼打劫: Biff- Comic crime in which a beggar with fake impediments is so flush with the thought of stealing a real beggars takings, that he fails to notice the photographer beside him taking pictures while he stealthily commits his crime. A truely homeric achievement of The Simpsons proportions.

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The Minister of Minstrelsy: But while Peterson's strident style may be unique, with his extremist politics he is merely playing the role of front man for a murky, well-funded network of white nationalist activists and right-wing Beltway operatives. By deploying Peterson to gatherings like the Heritage event and into the media, this coterie of conservatives have been able to apply a bold veneer of blackness over the brand of bigotry they find increasingly inconvenient to espouse on their own. Biff- What's a left-wing rant without a conspiracy theory and a grab-bag of assorted evil-doers? The more the far-left throws stones at the far-right, the more they mimic each other's values and rhetoric.

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Professor Disrupts Rev. Peterson’s Speech at University of Texas at San Antonio: Wary of potential trouble, guards hovered around Jesse. A black student approached him asking, “Why do you say you hate black people? (Of course he never said that). Another asked, “Why do you say you’re not black?” (Rev. Peterson never said he’s not black, he said he’s not an African American). Biff- Just another day on campus enjoying the freedom to be heterodox and speak one's mind. I've been saying for years that not one person in a hundred really believes in free speech until they've been actively persuaded. With most people, when under fire, the default position is completely at odds with the expressed position.

No, I do not have change : It’s ok, you have a calculator for that purpose. F.Y.I. it can do math, as well as display numbers to show me the price, which you poke into it and point mutely at the screen like some village idiot. You might have noticed that I just conducted the first part of the transaction in your native tongue — believe it or not, I learned the numbers too. Go on, test me.

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The Hidden Buddhist Threat in our Midst:

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Canadians in a Nutshell: In a classified ad in KScene, a free biweekly magazine, World Class describes itself as a group that "brings together all nationalities to discuss world issues and break down cultural barriers and prejudices."... When contacted by a Korea Herald reporter by e-mail, the organizer of the group, Bernard Carleton, elaborated further, "The thing is, CANADIANS ARE SCUM! They are self-loving, welfare supporting, over taxing, work ethic hating scum!!! They are not welcome in our group." Biff- hahaha....

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Why the Chinese love Seattle: Starbucks in January won a trademark lawsuit against a Chinese company that had used its name and logo, translated into Chinese, without the Seattle company's permission. A court ordered the Shanghai Xing-Bake Coffee shop to pay Starbucks 500,000 yuan ($62,500) in damages (see A victory for Starbucks in trademark war, January 20). ...Boeing said it had officially named the series the Boeing 787, adding the numeral 8 because of its significance in Asia as a symbol of prosperity. (However, the 787 was the next number in the Boeing series, the last aircraft being a 777.) The first Chinese Boeing 787s should be in service by the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing.

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Court comes down hard on sex-starved 76-year-old: he said, he wished to live with his girlfriend, who is in her 40s and able to offer him a more fulfilling relationship. The newspaper reported that the court rejected the request, arguing that the love tying the couple together, although platonic, must be strong and stable as they had managed to remain married for half a century. Biff- failing to see morality as a social governing system, the court views a traditional moral lifestyle as more valuable than one which is productive in today's world. Traditions are always cute when they're making a living Third World hell out of someone else's life. That's what poverty tourism in the Third World is all about.

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In his essay Marrakesh, Orwell wrote: In a tropical landscape one's eye takes in everything except the human beings. It takes in the dried-up soil, the prickly pear, the palm-tree and the distant mountain, but it always misses the peasant hoeing at his patch. He is the same colour as the earth, and a great deal less interesting to look at. (Biff - That at least, has changed) It is only because of this that the starved countries of Asia and Africa are accepted as tourist resorts. No one would think of running cheap trips to the Distressed Areas (Biff- in the UK I presume). But where the human beings have brown skins their poverty is simply not noticed. What does Morocco mean to a Frenchman? An orange-grove or a job in government service. Or to an Englishman? Camels, castles, palm-trees, Foreign Legionnaires, brass trays and bandits. One could probably live here for years without noticing that for nine-tenths of the people the reality of life is an endless, back-breaking struggle to wring a little food out of an eroded soil.
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Chinese student killing accused appears in NZ court: One of the accused is charged with murdering Wan, 19, who was found in a suitcase dumped in Auckland's Waitemata Harbor on Good Friday. He is also charged with kidnapping. The second man is accused of being an accessory, after Wan's death.

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Dokdo Riders. Yeah. THAT’S The Ticket! : I personally agree that the rocks in question should be recognized as belonging to Korea. As far as I am concerned, Dokdo is Korean territory. However, I think that many people, including the Dokdo Riders, are trying to make their point in exactly the wrong way. Let’s check in the the Dokdo Riders again. Let’s see how they have been spending their time during their around-the-world vacation crusade to spread the word about Dokdo to the people of Earth. Biff- Too funny. It's mostly photographs of student clowns going through the motions of working up sympathy for a nationalist cause overseas. Doomed? Not for them it ain't. Not when it's a junket. Yet another window on activist scamming...

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The State of Education in Korea: One other thing I could never get them to do was to ask questions. Finally , a student explained it to me: "If I ask you a question during the lecture, afterwards everybody will be telling me, 'What are you wasting our time for in the class? We're trying to learn something. And you're stopping him by asking a question.'" It was kind of a one-upmanship, where nobody knows what's going on, and they'd put the other on down as if they did know. They all fake that they know, and if one student admits for a moment that something is confusing by asking a question, the others take a high-handed attitude, acting as if it's not confusing at all, telling him that he's wasting their time. Biff- Fascinating, fascinating post. I've threatened my Taiwanese wife with divorce on several occasions in an effort to get her to ask questions. This sort of socially-approved culturally-generated stupidity is rampant in the developing world. A deliberate form of ignorance cultivated in the nation's best and brightest which also leads to that other pillar of the developing world: the conspiracy theory. The only way to move into the First World is via the slow process of uprooting this sort of degeneracy, primarily, I suspect by virtue of hard work and economic surplus which in turn engenders wealth, leisure, and that form of self-esteem shunned and feared by folks who wear their hearts on their sleeves: confidence.

Back to Iraq Part V - By Force of Sheer Will: Americans are happy to see that Northern Iraq is a normal, reasonably prosperous place. Sean even took pictures of the laser scanner in the checkout line. We met two American soldiers in front of the store. They sat on a park bench outside. Iraqi Kurdistan is perfectly safe, so they did not carry guns. They did not wear body armor or helmets. ...“The Kurds are farther along right now,” Mark said. “Some of the Arabs still don’t get the freedom and democracy thing like the Kurds do. I just want to say to them: Haven’t you seen what it’s like in the north? What, exactly, is it that you’re not understanding?” I don't know central or southern Iraq. I have never been there. An article just appeared, though, at the Institute for War and Peace Reporting about the economic divide on each side of the Kurdistan line. As it turns out, huge numbers of Arab laborers are heading north where they can make more money and live in a more secure environment. They're taking low-end jobs that the Kurds of Iraq no longer want. Arab Iraq is now to Kurdish Iraq what Mexico is to the United States. Biff- Like many bl0whards over here, I too have insufficient information. But I don't pretend to know what's going on over there. On the other hand, having spent six months in Belfast in 1971, I've never labored under any delusions about freedom-fighters so-called. How many Martin Luther King's did the US produce this past century? Well that's about how many you can expect to find in Iraq leading the masses to a better place. The rest are opportunists and mediocre con-artists. Rely on it.

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Korean Defense Firms Target Latin America:

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South Korea's New English Town : Imagine going for a stroll down the street of any quaint little English town, with its characteristic pubs, restaurants and red brick terraces and, as in every U.K. town or village, everybody says hello to you in English. But just then, you notice something typically uncharacteristic, reels of barb wire and warning signs in the distance reading "landmines nearby." ... The US$90 million project follows in the footsteps of Ansan Camp that opened in August, 2004, also designed to dissuade Korean parents from sending their children abroad to learn English, but Paju camp resembles more of a town than a language learning center. Biff- a money saver, or a xenophobic paradigm for foreign language acquisition? How about an improved petting zoo, one with robots installed for better public safety; the robots do the petting.

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More South Koreans Migrating to China : For decades, South Korea's out-migration rate has been among the highest in the world. In the 1960s, Koreans left their impoverished homeland for wealthy countries, especially the United States and Germany. Korean migrants dreamed they could get rich in those societies, or at least they could give their children a better future. Many gave up positions of high social status in South Korea as lawyers or professors, to enter American factories or dry cleaners.

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China turning to artificial rain to clear Beijing air after choking dust storm

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Net-savvy easily evade China's censors: ``Real film fans in China never have any expectation from movie theaters. Most movies that show here are rubbish,'' said Liu Qiwen, a 23-year-old movie buff and senior at Nankai University in the industrial city of Tianjin. ``I can find almost any movie I like, especially the latest ones. Old movies can be a little harder to dig up, but there is always a way.'' Biff- as always, have to love that mainland gusto... Call me prejudiced, but I have fond memories of two situations in which Chinese bystanders got involved in attempted murders. Plus another situation in the US when the Chinese restaurant owner beside me on a Greyhound out of Chicago got up to brawl with the much larger driver until I spoke up and defused the scene. Crudity I dislike, chutzpah on the other hand... If only the Taiwanese could demonstrate the same in significant numbers...

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China prisoners' supporters look to Bush : Human rights activists say prisoner releases have declined since Hu became China's leader in 2002. "We have not seen any inclination by the Hu administration to make any symbolic moves to appease human rights concerns," says Nicholas Bequelin, a China expert with Human Rights Watch. "The fact that China refuses to do it is an indication of how conservative and how little inclined to liberalization this administration is." ...In Beijing last week, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi brushed off questions from reporters about whether prisoners might be released to win goodwill for Hu's trip. "China is a country under the rule of law," Yang said. "We handle cases according to the law." Biff- were Taiwan to be taken by China, one flinches thinking how the law would be thrown at the locals.

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China Arming Iran With Advanced Missile Technology : Iran demonstrated its newfound missile technology from China by test-firing a new anti-ship missile during recent military exercises. The shore-launched firing of a C-701 anti-ship missile was carried out by Iran during the large-scale war games. Iranian reports described the test-firing of a "Kosar" missile during the games. ...The Iranian test is the first demonstration of a radar-guided C-701, giving the small missile the capability to search and lock onto a target ship without direct control. CPMIEC sources claim the new C-701/Kosar is equipped with an advanced millimeter-wave radar seeker that can provide high-resolution target imagery, allowing the missile to identify its target and select a specific impact point. Biff- This is my first time linking to Newsmax. I'm not encouraged by the fact the article's author is listed at the bottom of the webpage as appearing on UFO enthusiast Jeff Rense's radio show (whose website hosts columns by, amongst others, Sherman Skolnick: a one-hit wonder with a judicial expose under his belt in the 1960's and who's since evolved into a superior visionary with his own cable show where he explains the dozens of murders he envisions in each presidential closet. If memory serves, he's convinced that Clinton murdered a dozen US generals or so). Anyway, the background info in the article appears to tally with what I've previously come across.

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Taiwan cool to Beijing's 'poisoned candies' : Taiwan, for its part, has been eager to receive tourists from the mainland. "Aside from the possible economic interests, what is really [a worthwhile result of Chinese tourists visiting Taiwan] is the cultural shock," the senior cross-strait affairs official explained.

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China, Russia welcome Iran into the fold : The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which maintained it had no plans for expansion, is now changing course. Mongolia, Iran, India and Pakistan, which previously had observer status, will become full members. ...Speaking in Beijing as recently as January 17, the organization's secretary general Zhang Deguang had been quoted by Xinhua news agency as saying: "Absorbing new member states needs a legal basis, yet the SCO has no rules concerning the issue. Therefore, there is no need for some Western countries to worry whether India, Iran or other countries would become new members." ...Visiting Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mohammadi told Itar-TASS in Moscow that the membership expansion "could make the world more fair". Biff- Given that fairness is a mostly, if not entirely, bogus concept at the level of nation-state this is hardly reassuring. That this rationale springs from a vision of international relations as a traditional morality play (always a bad sign) suggests further the audience he has in mind, i.e. the choir he's preaching to (pun intended). - And what's the point of reading atimes.com if not for the conspiracy theories: Gennady Yefstafiyev, a former general in Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, wrote: "The US's long term goals in Iran are obvious: to engineer the downfall of the current regime; to establish control over Iran's oil and gas; and to use its territory as the shortest route for the transportation of hydrocarbons under US control from the regions of Central Asia and the Caspian Sea bypassing Russia and China. This is not to mention Iran's intrinsic military and strategic significance."

Swenson's Breakfast Club -- Saturday, May 6: First, our May meeting will be on the first Saturday, May 6th, at the same place Swensen's on Keelung Road, at 9:30 am. [MT: ADDRESS 9:30 am at the same place as last month; Swensen's #81 Keelung Rd. Sec. 2, Taipei.]You will get a second reminder of this in the week before the meeting, but this is to help you plan ahead.

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Our speaker will be member Syd Goldsmith and he will talk on "Impressions of Taiwan both personal and from the perspective of the American Presence in Taiwan"Syd first came to Taiwan as a language student in 1968 and from 1970 to 74 he served as Taiwanese Political Officer for the American Embassy (remember this was before the USA switiched its Embassy to Beijing). During this time numerous things were going on; Peng Ming-min escaped. Peng once a darling of the KMT had been arrested and imprisoned in 1964 for a manifesto calling for a democratic constitution and Formosan self-determination. It was later when he was under house arrest that he escaped. During this time Kissinger began his secret meetings in Beijing which led to Nixon's visit and the Shanghai Communique. Interesting times.

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ESWN and Apple Daily: Reprise - ESWN once again goes for an Apple Daily piece that looks made up (Roland, when are you going to warn your readers that Apple Daily is known to make up, misreport, and exaggerate stories? Do you think it is ethical for a blogger who claims to have no agenda and who is an international news source not to place that warning there?).

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Cost-Effective Warfare? It is often forgotten that Gen. Claire Chennault's famous Flying Tigers operated in China as a Private Military Corporation at the beginning of World War II. The pilots were paid a bonus for each aircraft kill. It was highly effective.

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Two Chinas: There are two Chinas and they exist in separate universes. Now, this is not any great revelation. We've discussed it here many times, especially in regard to local officials who are free to act at whim with no fear of reprisal or justice, existing literally in a universe apart from The central Party. Lin said the great paradox here is that despite Hu's awesome power, he is literally helpless to make any changes in China's domestic situation, only in its foreign policy (which, granted, can then in turn affect China's domestic situation). ...Update: Just to be clear, Lin believes China is utterly intent on winning Taiwan, no matter how pacifist it makes itself appear. "Hu's idea is to seize Taiwan as a ravishingly beautiful and smiling bride and to hold her in China's embrace," he said. "He intends to win it as he would a shining trophy, which he will then place, undented, on a shelf." Biff- Undented? Hmm... First of all, one of China's prime considerations on taking over the island will be political: how to undermine Taiwanese independence ideology and keep it down? Using such excuses as the chaos of war and the martial exuberance known as collateral damage, permanently disappear specific pains in the ass. Exit all foreigners. Ban reporters save those with peckers affixed firmly in the CCP's pocket. Arrest various activists, politicians, reporters and writers and jail them for lengthy terms. Depress funding for local universities and move the better part of their equipment and libraries to China. Flood the island with Mainlanders who will work for peanuts and give them various economic/guanxi incentives and tax breaks. Put mainlanders in all positions of power from political to constabulary to bureaucratic. Eliminate the local currency at a punishing conversion rate to destroy people's savings and investments and thus further clear the way for mainlanders trying to get a leg over. Move local industry over to mainland China via fiat and regulation and/or nationalization for allegedly patriotic motives and otherwise turn Taiwan into a crony capitalist/carpetbagging backwater.

Much of this was done by the Soviet Union in 1945/46 with Japanese assets in Manchuria and by the KMT in the latter 1940's moving Taiwanese assets to China. Perhaps large economic migration out of Taiwan to the major cities of China will be encouraged. The focus of Taiwan's economy will return to agriculture and low-tech like Japan's islands of Kyushu and Hokkaido. New infrastructure will largely facilitate new military installations ringing the island as Taiwan's primary purpose returns to unsinkable aircraft carrier shielding China from the US, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, and Vietnam while extending its reach into the Pacific and acquiring additional South China Sea assets (Spratly Island oil and natural gas, for example). Not only does all of this win kudos from nationalists and job-seekers within China, but it ensures Taiwan's people lack wealth and leisure time to engage in political activism and other naughtiness. I presume the post-bellum poverty of the Southern Confederate states (whether deliberate or accidental) helped ensure that there was no significant resurgence of Southern Independence activism in the US post-1865.

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New Japan-China spat over gas:

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As China, U.S. Vie for More Oil, Diplomatic Friction May Follow: In 2004, China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., also known as Sinopec, became one of just five companies to win the right to explore for natural gas in the uninviting desert known as the Empty Quarter, edging out U.S. companies interested in the area. The kingdom has invested in Chinese refinery projects, and in January, Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz visited Hu in Beijing. "Saudi Arabia is taking a Chinese wife," said Charles W. Freeman Jr., a former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia who has extensive diplomatic experience in China. "The Saudis are not divorcing us. In Islam you can have more than one wife and they can manage that."...Sinopec has also acquired a 40 percent stake in Canada's Northern Lights oil sands project, which is expected to produce about 100,000 barrels a day by 2010. Biff- So Canada's oil sands are financially viable after all. I first heard about the oil sands back in the 1970s when everyone knew that oil would run out in the 1980s. Environmental activists were screeching in detail about how pollution was causing global cooling and how we were on the verge of an Ice Age. The more things change, the more the underlying scams remain the same.

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Japan: Soaplands and love hotels : The office ladies, secretaries and elevator-operators greet their bosses and customers in pristine white gloves and high-collared suits, their hair tied back into tight ribbons. But later that night, they don neon micro-minis and breast-clinging halter tops as they gyrate in nightclubs or rendezvous in "love hotels." Context, in other words, is everything. Even so, what's tolerated with little fuss or moral hand-wringing in Japan remains striking. Hiro Fujiwara, a man in his 30s who helped produce pornographic videos before manning his parents' noodle stand in an Osaka neighborhood, tells me that "pornography is sort of seen as a good outlet for men, a sign of a healthy man, like drinking a lot of alcohol." His friend, Kazuyo, a woman in her mid-20s, concurs, adding that "women don't mind so much because it means the man is normal. He watches when he is alone." Biff- It's so refreshing to see people be straight up about this kind of thing. Japanese men picking up chicks at random at train stations, Japanese women buying escorts in Bali and engaging in competitive sex in Hawaii. It's sex made as uncomplicated, or complicated, as can be. Choice (and competence) is a wonderful thing. Sylvia makes a vomit gesture. "Just like those love hotels -- can you believe it? You pay money for a few hours of just sex. It's so ... mechanical," she repeats. Biff- Like so many things in life sweetheart: your mechanical vomit gesture for example...

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THE FRIGHTENING TRUTH OF WHY IRAN WANTS A BOMB: spelled out in commentaries by Ahmadinejad's strategic guru, Hassan Abassi, known as the "Dr Kissinger of Islam", President George W Bush is an aberration, an exception to a rule under which all American presidents since Truman, when faced with serious setbacks abroad, have "run away". Iran's current strategy, therefore, is to wait Bush out. And that, by "divine coincidence", corresponds to the time Iran needs to develop its nuclear arsenal, thus matching the only advantage that the infidel enjoys. Biff- Amir Taheri writes for a variety of publications such as the Wall Street Journal. This article is chock full of the inadvertant comedy which keeps the Third World poor and the developing world dangerously lunatic at times. ...According to Shia lore, the Imam is a messianic figure who, although in hiding, remains the true Sovereign of the World. In every generation, the Imam chooses 36 men, (and, for obvious reasons, no women) naming them the owtad or "nails", whose presence, hammered into mankind's existence, prevents the universe from "falling off". Although the "nails" are not known to common mortals, it is, at times, possible to identify one thanks to his deeds. It is on that basis that some of Ahmad-inejad's more passionate admirers insist that he is a "nail", a claim he has not discouraged. For example, he has claimed that last September, as he addressed the United Nations' General Assembly in New York, the "Hidden Imam drenched the place in a sweet light".

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Outback 'skeleton' recalls ordeal: But he told the Times he stopped his Mitsubishi Challenger on the Buntine Highway to give an Aboriginal man a lift. Mr Megee told the paper: "The last thing I remember was driving up the road and getting a bit dazed and confused. "The next thing was waking up, face down, in a hole.

Biff- From Bruce Chatwin's book “The Songlines”:

'Because gipsies', I said, 'also see themselves as hunters. The world is their hunting ground. Settlers are "sitting game". The gipsy word for "settler" is the same as the word for "meat".
Flynn turned to face me.
'You know what our people call the white man?' He asked.
'Meat,' I suggested.
'And you know what they call a welfare check?'
'Also meat.'
'Bring a chair,' he said.' I want to talk to you.'
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Giant Mao statue erected in Tibet

中國律師從業困難重重: 張思之先生是中國律師界泰斗。他見證了四九年後中國律師制度的產生、覆滅以及恢愎與發展，辦理了多起有歷史影響的重大案件，如林彪四人幫案，魏京生案，王軍濤案等。數十年浸潤其間，對中國律師制度的認識非常深刻，訪問時感慨良多。

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俄國革命成功後的共妻: 深入研究布爾什維克革命史的史學家指出︰在共產理論中，不僅財產公有，而且寫明了家庭必將消亡、一夫一妻制是私有制的產物。共產制度就是要消滅建築在私有制上的婚姻和家庭。

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Throwing Off China: In Toshikata’s rendering, stalwart Japanese soldiers with a huge “Rising Sun” military flag in their midst advance against a Chinese force in utter disarray. Can we trust the veracity of this artistic rendering? Surely we can, for on the right-hand side of Toshikata’s print we see a delegation of Japanese “newspaper correspondents” that includes at its head not one but two artists, identified by name. Depictions such as this very print, Toshikata seems to be assuring his audience—and right at the start of the war—could be trusted to be accurate. The overwhelming majority of war prints were, in fact, nothing of the sort. ...In these circumstances, prints often simply “quoted” other prints. In early November 1894, for example, Toshikata’s colleague Watanabe Nobukazu produced a rendering of “Our Forces’ Great Victory and Occupation of Jiuliancheng” that bore close resemblance to Toshikata’s “Hurrah, Hurrah” of over three months earlier. Disciplined soldiers looked down from on high, other troops advancing below them. The same military flag fluttered in the same right hand panel of the triptych; a bent and gnarled pine, so beloved in Japanese art, was again rooted in the center of the image; the foe retreated in the far distance. Biff- Well-worth visiting this site for its large mpegs of 19th century Japanese woodblock prints.

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7,000-year-old pottery offers clues to origin of Chinese characters

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齊芳罷官 (Qi Fang removed from office) : The thing I found interesting is that she claimed that she was unwilling to accept the level of personal control the pagent organizers were planning on exerting over her. 　齊芳今天表示，“在 合同 內容中，出現了很多讓我很驚訝的條款。如：要求我將所有的親友名單及聯絡方式、背景、住址告訴他們；讓我在每天的24小時內，隨時聽候總部的調遣；安排助 理全天跟隨，包括會見親友、包括談戀愛，都有在場；給任何人通電話，都要告訴助理對方是什麼人，且通話時，不得避開助理；同時，必須接受該助理和我住在同 一間房間。” Biff- Worth reading the original chinese article. If nothing else, I have to respect the chutzpah I've seen repeatedly in China, something critically lacking in Taiwan outside of waishengren, aboriginal, and mafia circles. Imagine having to live with the following constraints for a full year: 從齊芳向記者出示的“有關年度環球中國小姐合同期間的規章制度”中，可以看到以下條款：“在一年合同期間，除中國總部同意的正常應酬必須晚回居住地外，環球中國小姐每晚必須不晚於22點回到合同酒店或公寓。”“在一年合同期間，中國總部派出一名工作人員協助環球中國小姐工作，為工作方便及安全起見，該工作人員與環球中國小姐居住同一客房，並同進同出，包括外出、吃飯等所有活動。”“為了中國總部的責任及對環球中國小姐安全起見，在中國總部詢問時，環球中國小姐必須向中國總部如實彙報在合同期間所聯繫的所有社會關係，包括親屬、朋友、同學等名稱、聯絡方式等。”“在一年合同期間，環球中國小姐不得私自外出，所有未經中國總部安排的任何事宜均不許私自接洽。”

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Menzies Continued : Far from being “burdened with the doctrinaire belief that ‘no Chinese Map of the World could possibly exist,’” I think I can speak for most of my colleagues in the field of Chinese history when I say that a). scholars have a full appreciation of the development of Chinese science and technology before the modern era, and b). historians of China would be, in principle, delighted to discover conclusive evidence that Ming voyages reached America (what scholar doesn’t take pride in the achievements of the place and time they study?). Biff- My fifty cents worth is that Gavin Menzies is talking out of his backside. Too bad. But that's the problem right there isn't it? Wishful thinking that the impossible could just possibly, maybe, improbably be true. Which is what led me to waste a few quid and subsidize his fantasies (and mine). Fools leap where angels fear to tread.

Pure Blood and Political Football: Korea has a hypocritical ``gold standard’’ about pure blood. Mixed-race people are looked on as somehow inferior _ even to the point of disgust. What shouldn’t be forgotten is that Korea has been conquered and overrun many times during its history. Invaders have come from east and west. Like the proverbial melting pot of America that inevitable mixing of blood could well be an underlying strength in this mongrel country.

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Raising Little Nationalists: ...in a year or two, today’s 1st graders will be taught to be proud that Koreans are racially ``pure.’’ Hands up, children, if this reminds you of a World War. If this is what they are taught in school, it’s no wonder people who were born after the Japanese occupation of Korea are more anti-Japanese than the people who actually experienced it. Have you ever wondered why Korea is the only country on the Chinese fringe without a thriving Chinese business community? They were suppressed and no one thought twice about it.

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Why the West will attack Iran: (Biff- An old Spengler column from January) By far the biggest loser in an Iranian confrontation with the West will be China, the fastest-growing among the world's large economies, but also the least efficient in energy use. Higher oil prices will harm China's economy more than any other, and Beijing's reluctance to back Western efforts to encircle Iran are understandable in this context. It is unclear how China will proceed if the rest of the international community confronts Iran; in the great scheme of things it really does not matter. ...We have begun the third act of the tragedy that started on September 11, 2001, and I see no way to prevent it from proceeding.

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GI Crimes Myth: ...the examples of bastard GI Crimes Koreans have been able to tell me about have ALWAYS turned out to be examples that prove the exact opposite of what they desperately want to believe -- like the 1993 horrible Markle Murder Case. Markle still sits in a Korean prison to this day (Dec. 2005). The murder was brutal, but the GI was convicted, and in a Korean civilian criminal court, (something a Korean soldier criminal never faces, because they are always tried by the Korean military court system). Biff- but isn't this always the case with whining nationalists (most of whom viscerally fear those possessing a knowledge of history and are thus usually the first to run to the barricades to oppose both free speech and democracy). Like the Opium War with the professional, and even amateur, Chinese nationalist. "Opium was forced upon us!" Except that opium has been part of Chinese pharmacopia since the 4th century AD. "Opium was a Western poison used to destroy China!" Except that not only was opium already in use in China, but opium was also a popular and legal over the counter medicine used in Britain at that time as well. Not to mention that China did not exist in the 19th century. It's a complete misnomer. A convenient one for nationalists though. China died in 1644 when it was swallowed up by Manchuria and only reemerged under Yuan Shi-kai after which it disappeared until Mao rechristened the territory New China (Xin Hua). But of course with nationalists pursuit of power by hook or by crook is the motivation. Truth is literally unimportant. If one issue can't be bent to use, then another, any other, fair or foul, true or false, will do.

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Get Out! Just Not Now...: The average, not so anti-American Korean believes US soldiers rape hundreds of Korean women and even kill a dozen or so every year. I was told this my first month inKorea and when I asked others over the years, 80%+ told me "that's about right." ...A common poster [featuring bin Laden] carried at anti-US rallies in late 2001 thru 2002. Some adults were shocked to find that Korean children viewed Bin Laden as a hero, because they had learned so consistently from the news, schools, pop culture, (and their parents) that (South) Korea's biggest "enemy" is the US. ... If you look back to each time the US has talked of withdrawing troops, the Koreans say, "Not now. It is too dangerous now. After X, then we will discuss it."It was the same in 1993. It was the same in 1977. It was the same in 1971.The Koreans won't add that - in the meantime - they want to continue to hate you too. Biff- I'm all for a free press. Very much so. But caveat emptor. The press, consisting primarily of young fools with more interest in padding a resume than pursuing the truth, is at times a worse enemy to the public interest than politicians: politicians being a crew as transparently dishonest as the serially dishonest electorate that puts it in office. ...Patriotism, nationalism, racialism, hatred of minorities, xenophobia - all means to an end. Interesting from an anthro point of view how many different paradigms have evolved to unify people for the purpose of achieving strength through numbers. ...Give people something they need once, they're grateful. Give it to them repeatedly, they're resentful for needing you. Later hateful. As Mark Twain put it: the difference between a man and a dog is that if you feed a dog, it won't bite you. Such a simple rule of thumb. But heeded by so few...

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KMT legislators and Ma Ying-jeou: It’s always been a criticism of Ma that he’s all style, and no substance - and he hasn’t (yet) done much to refute that as KMT Chairman. ‘The ghost of chairmen past’. Ex-KMT Chairman (serial loser, and king of all things negative and bitter) Lien Chan is still a very influental figure in the KMT. He is not a fan of Ma (he even flouted party rules to show that he voted for Wang in the KMT election), and has always been keen on the ‘block everything’ approach to opposition politics

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三百農民 不如一個兵: 眾所周知，中國農業人口至少還有七億五千萬；中共軍隊人數則至多為二百五十萬。農業人口是軍隊人數的三百倍。然而，面向七億五千萬人的農村支出，和二百五十萬人的軍費開銷，幾乎相差無幾！即三百個農民，不如一個兵！況且，外界一致判斷，中共軍費開銷的實際數字遠遠大於其公佈的數字。可見，「放在首位」的，決不是中南海口口聲聲的「三農問題」，而是他們念茲在茲的軍事開銷。養肥一支軍隊，以確保政權的安穩。

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愚弄西藏何時了？: 今年是個「逢六」年，在中國近百年歷史上，逢六的大日子很多，從一九○六年西太后宣布立憲一百周年開始，到一九七六年四人幫倒台三十周年，據說大陸的媒體，已經在策劃專題，準備大做文章。但是，忽然一盆冷水潑下來﹕中宣部指示，逢六活動一律不准搞。原來政府有苦衷，逢六活動中有一個要命的日子﹕「文化大革命」開始四十周年。盡人皆知，文革是中共歷史上的奇恥大辱，自己殺自己，幾乎殺到亡黨的地步，搞得全國昏天黑地，共產黨幾十年的神話全部破產。盡管老鄧己將文革定為「浩劫」，但遺留的問題太多，是非渾沌，一筆糊塗賬，當局以圖不了了之，就怕打開缺口，不可收拾。

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台灣會走向“奴役之路”嗎？: 台灣在新政府上台的三個多月，除了社會福利這種冷的社會主義被高度需求外，對于股市、匯市和房市等市場的干預更甚以往，而在產業政策方面也有強化的跡象。再看台面上的人物，主張社會福利和凱因斯學派者居多，以及已有“民粹”的輿論評語和一味往舉債方向思考等等現象觀之，台灣步向海耶克五十多年前所言的“到奴役之路”不是很有可能的嗎？國人，特別是有發言份量及掌權者，是有必要好好地、虛心地向《到奴役之路》取經啊！ Biff- the Taipei government continues to destroy nightmarkets under the guise of rationalizing operations. This, in practice, results in ramming bureaucratic standards down businesspeople's throats which makes for higher costs of operations, reduced diversity (in the two markets I've seen the government walk in, literally half of the businesses closed), and customers whining in private and throwing up their hands when the coast is clear. People forget, or don't realize, that politicians have a constant need to invent excuses for showboating, otherwise they don't get reelected. The problem, here as in Canada, isn't the politicians, but the monkeys who put them in office: the benighted electorate.

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'First face transplant' for China

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At What Cost Israel-China Ties?: Nearly a dozen U.S. official reports accused Israel of various improprieties, and most of them pertained to its dealings with China.[19] Perhaps the most devastating of these was the report of the Select Committee on U.S. National Security and Military/Commercial Concerns with the People's Republic of China, (popularly known as the Cox Report after House Policy Committee chairman Christopher Cox [Republican, Calif.]). The declassified portion explicitly identified Israel as one of the suppliers of high-tech weapons to China and charged that Israel "has provided both weapons and technology to the PRC [Peoples' Republic of China], most notably to assist the PRC in developing its F-10 fighter and airborne early warning aircraft."[20]