Six In The Morning Wednesday June 4

'Troops laughed at Tiananmen crackdown'

June 4, 2014 - 4:30PM

Washington: Troops deployed from China's provinces laughed as they shot randomly at pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square, according to a US account declassified for the 25th anniversary.

The US documents, released on Tuesday by the National Security Archive at George Washington University which obtained them under the Freedom of Information Act, showed chaos and confusion sweeping across China as authorities crushed the student movement on the night of June 3-4, 1989.

A classified US military report quoted an unnamed source, who observed Tiananmen Square from a hotel room, as calling the crackdown "brutal" with an intention to inflict high casualties.

Troops belonging from the 27th Army, who did not speak the Beijing dialect, "were laughing and shooting at random at any assembly of persons they encountered," the document quoted the source as saying.

Syria election: The barrel bomb and the ballot box - how Bashar al-Assad held on to power

ROBERT FISK 

DAMASCUS

 Wednesday 04 June 2014

It's really all a question of proportion.

Field Marshal Sisi's 93.7 per cent presidential electoral victory in Egypt last week must surely be outshone by Bashar al-Assad today, albeit that the skies of Damascus were filled with howling fighter jets and the thump of explosions as its citizens shouted and danced - I kid thee not - outside the voting booths. Two dull and obedient politicians, one a former minister - both born losers - were added to the hitherto one-man presidential voting list for the first time in Baathist history, so when I asked the Syrian foreign minister, Walid Moallam, if there was any danger of Bashar losing, he wisely replied: “This is up to the Syrian people.”

Ah indeed, the Syrian people. Crushed, humiliated, tortured, imprisoned, slaughtered, forever crying for freedom from terror - note how these words of tragedy are used by both sides against each other in Syria's agony - they were invited to participate, at the height of their agony, in a little lesson in Middle East democracy. Sixty per cent of the population was able to vote in the 40 per cent of Syria firmly controlled by the regime, in more than 9,000 voting stations, most of which were vulnerable to the gunfire of Bashar's largely Western-supported opponents.

Crime fears prompt Brazilian security blitz before World Cup

Saturation security a sticking plaster on systemic weakness, critics argue

Tom Hennigan

As is now traditional before any modern sporting mega-event, Brazil’s authorities have been busy in the build-up to World Cup emphasising that the party will take place under the watchful eye of a massive security operation.

To protect fans and avoid any trouble with anti-World Cup protesters, 157,000 police and soldiers will be deployed across the country, along with fighter jets, naval frigates and drones. In all, the federal government says spending on securing the event has topped €620 million.

Brazil seems particularly determined to emphasise such preparations, as it knows it has a certain image problem. If terrorism was the major reason for the huge security operations at the most recent Olympics in Sochi and London, in Brazil the motive is the country’s high levels of urban crime.

In Kenya slum, Africa's first 'alternative currency' helps people fight poverty

Near Mombasa, the year-old Bangla-Pesa is used by 181 businesses, schools, and churches as barter for goods and services that would otherwise be wasted. 

By Jason Patinkin, Correspondent 

MOMBASA, KENYA

How can people in the world’s poorest slums increase their businesses – even when they don’t have enough money to buy food every day?

One solution found by residents in a slum on Kenya’s coast is simply to print their own money.

For a year now, more than 180 local businesses in what is called the "Bangladesh" slum near the coastal Kenyan city of Mombasa have used their own colorful currency alongside the Kenya shilling.

It is called "Bangla-Pesa." It is slightly larger than a dollar, comes in 5s, 10s, and 20s, and is helping to stimulate trade in one of Kenya’s most neglected places by its use in businesses, churches, and schools. 

Putin looks east to bolster ties with North Korea

 

By ERIC TALMADGE2 hours ago

Angry with the West's response over Ukraine and eager to diversify its options, Russia is moving rapidly to bolster ties with North Korea in a diplomatic nose-thumbing that could complicate the U.S.-led effort to squeeze Pyongyang into giving up its nuclear weapons program.

Russia's proactive strategy in Asia, which also involves cozying up to China and has been dubbed "Putin's Pivot," began years ago as Moscow's answer to Washington's much-touted alliance-building and rebalancing of its military forces in the Pacific. But it has gained a new sense of urgency since Ukraine — and Pyongyang is already getting a big windfall.

Moscow's overtures to North Korea reflect both a defensive distancing from the EU and Washington because of their sanctions over Ukraine and a broader, long-term effort by Russia to strengthen its hand in Asia by building political alliances, expanding energy exports and developing Russian regions in Siberia and the Far East.

The day I drove famed hunger strikers to safety

By Jaime A. FlorCruz, CNN

June 4, 2014 -- Updated 0820 GMT (1620 HKT)

Editor's note: Jaime FlorCruz has lived and worked in China since 1971. He studied Chinese history at Peking University (1977-81) and was TIME Magazine's Beijing correspondent and bureau chief (1982-2000).

Beijing, China (CNN) -- Twenty-five years ago, when tanks and automatic rifles silenced massive political demonstrations in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, I was TIME magazine's correspondent in China.

For me, memories of the crackdown start in the early evening of June 3, and end with a mad dash at the wheel of a Toyota sedan, driving through checkpoints to a safe house with hunger strikers, Liu Xiaobo and Hou Dejian.

Liu, one of China's prominent intellectuals and writers, was imprisoned four times after the Tiananmen crackdown, and in 2010 was awarded the Nobel Peace prize.