Western officials and Kremlin critics blame Putin for Navalny's death in prison

US President Joe Biden said he was "outraged" at Navalny's reported death. He said that Putin was "responsible" for Navalny's death. "What has happened to Navalny is yet more proof of Putin Western officials and Kremlin critics blame Putin and his government for Navalny’s death in prison's brutality."

Kim-Jong un Wages War On Jeans, Slang And Movies

 Yes, Kim-Jong-un seeking new and better ways to subjugate and imprison malcontents has started a "war" on jeans, slang and movies. Because nothing is normal in North Korea anyone caught with a pair of jeans, not only will they end up in one of Kim's gulags their entire family will join them and the same punish awaits those using slang. As for the those movies? Well it looks like the firing squad for you. Working this hard to keep North Koreans completely ignorant of the outside world must be quite exhausting. 

Imagine being in a constant state of lockdown with no internet, no social media and only a few state controlled television channels designed to tell you what the country's leaders want you to hear - this is life in North Korea.

And now its leader Kim Jong-Un has clamped down further, introducing a sweeping new law against what the regime describes as "reactionary thought".

Anyone caught with large amounts of media from South Korea, the United States or Japan now faces the death penalty. Those caught watching face prison camp for 15 years.

And it's not just about what people watch.

Recently, Mr Kim wrote a letter in state media calling on the country's Youth League to crack down on "unsavoury, individualistic, anti-socialist behaviour" among young people. He wants to stop foreign speech, hairstyles and clothes which he described as "dangerous poisons".

Let's face it. North Korea is just one giant gulag. 

Kolyma: Land of Gold and Gulags

 

The place I am describing is one of the Easternmost regions of Russia and was almost entirely uninhabited until the start of the 20th Century, when prospectors first found precious metal.

From denial to pride: how China changed its language on Xinjiang's camps

After Joseph Stalin created show trials and the gulag which persisted in the former Soviet Union until his death. At least where show trials are concerned. While the gulag system continued while not quite as draconian even today under Putin.  China has decided to reinvent that system and seems quite proud of the whole horrible system.  They have even brought back reeducation camps just to complete the triumphant.

China’s state broadcaster CCTV last week offered a look inside Xinjiang’s controversial internment camps.

In the 15-minute segment journalists visit the Hotan City Vocational Skills Education and Training Centre where they teach students Mandarin, China’s various legal codes, and job-relevant skills, according to a city official, reciting almost verbatim a description previously given in Chinese state media.

Students are shown learning cosmetology, baking, sewing, woodworking and more. The cafeteria is decorated with balloons and bunting, and all the dorms have air conditioning. One young woman tells an interviewer woodenly: “If I wasn’t here studying, I don’t even want to imagine where I’d be. Maybe I would have followed those religious extremists into a life of crime. The government and party found me in time and saved me.”