China Executes British Citizen

Akmal Shaikh a British citizen was executed today after being convicted last year of heroin smuggling when customs officers discovered 4kg of the drug in his luggage. Mr.Shaikh had not known he was to be executed until being informed by his two cousins on Monday during a meeting at the prison where he was incarcerated. Akmal Shaikh with his execution became the first European to have such a sentence carried out by Chinese authorities for more than 50 years.
The British government made more than 20 appeals for clemency based upon such issues as mental illness as his family claims he is bi-polar. Given all of this and the world wide condemnation of the execution shows just how conservative China's government really is. Never ones to accept criticism or advice from those either inside or especially outside from the worlds governments or Human Rights campaigners.

Hatayama's Budget For Japan

The Liberal Democratic Party(LDP) ruled Japan from the mid 1950's until August 30, 2009 when the Democratic Party of Japan(DPJ) was voted into office. In the last 20 years of its rule the LDP has led Japan to near ruin. It was their economic policies that allowed the Bubble Economy and when it collapsed, the party out of fear did nothing. Which in turn brought about 10 years of rescission and almost zero economic growth. The economy severely contracted because the Japanese afraid for their own economic well being started saving even larger amounts of money and sending even less.
Successive LDP governments in stupid and vain attempts to revive the economy decided that public works projects were just the ticket. So, using shady bidding practices contracts were handed out like so much Christmas candy to greedy construction companies who then proceeded to build roads, bridges and other infrastructure projects that benefited no one but the LDP and the construction companies. Two perfect examples are the Rainbow bridge which goes from Tokyo to Yokohama and the Aqua Line which goes from Chiba to Yokohama because both were so expensive to construct the tolls had to reflect this. Thus they were so high that both bridges were underused based upon there actual carrying capacity. That was until out desperation the LDP lower the tolls on weekends and holidays to ￥1000.
When it became apparent that most of Japans banks were near collapse the government finally stepped in and allowed some banks to fail out right and others to merge thereby consolidating Japans banking sector to just a few major banks.
Almost everything the LDP did seemed benefit the LDP and its major corporate backers.
Like when the Japan Post was privatized helping to enrich its major stock holders while leaving those they were supposed to serve the public with little or nothing, These are just a few of the messes created by the LDP's incompetence that must be cleaned up by the DPJ.

The DPJ in its budget has proposed that fees paid by students to attend public high schools at a rate of $3,000 a year should be born by the government thus making attending high school in Japan free for the first time. They will also provide assistance to those attending private schools based upon income. Further they want to give families a child allowance with no income restrictions on who can receive them. Fees for doctors will be raised for the first time in 20 years to help alleviate the current shortage of doctors. As for those public works projects? A number of them have either been put on hold or scrapped altogether so that the money allocated for these projects can be returned to the general fund to used for social safety programs the government as also asked that all unspent funds allocated to the various Ministries be returned so that they can be used for the same purpose to help the average citizen.
Will it that's a question yet to answered but given the disaster handed to them by the LDP those who support or voted for change by electing the DPJ should be patient and give their polices a chance to work.

Late Night Karaoke

So, Obama Ruined Copenhagen! Wrong It Was China

Someone once described China as a country that doesn't like to be told what do to. Just glazing at this past decade is proof enough. Told or asked to improve its human rights record upon being awarded the Olympics the opposite occurred. With the Yuan artificially over valued by the Chinese government the U.S. dollar even before the financial collapse of last year was losing ground to the worlds major currencies the U.S. Treasury Department asked the Chinese to revalue its currency they refused. Time and again China when even asked to contribute to the simplest measures which offer help or relief to others they have said no. That is exactly what China did at the COP15 conference in Denmark.

After two weeks and meetings at the ministerial level to work out an agreement on how to reduce the worlds CO2 out put China made sure that the conference was a failure by refusing to allow any target numbers, numbers which had been agreed to by the participating nations which would lead to a reduction in CO2 emissions to be placed in the final document at the conferences end. Remember that several countries including the United States which had previously shied away from concrete numbers on CO2 emissions changed course pledged to reduce their emissions through concrete numbers and target dates.

China's strategy was simple: block the open negotiations for two weeks, and then ensure that the closed-door deal made it look as if the west had failed the world's poor once again. And sure enough, the aid agencies, civil society movements and environmental groups all took the bait. The failure was "the inevitable result of rich countries refusing adequately and fairly to shoulder their overwhelming responsibility", said Christian Aid. "Rich countries have bullied developing nations," fumed Friends of the Earth International.

It just kept getting better and better.

What I saw was profoundly shocking. The Chinese premier, Wen Jinbao, did not deign to attend the meetings personally, instead sending a second-tier official in the country's foreign ministry to sit opposite Obama himself. The diplomatic snub was obvious and brutal, as was the practical implication: several times during the session, the world's most powerful heads of state were forced to wait around as the Chinese delegate went off to make telephone calls to his "superiors".

Shifting the blame

To those who would blame Obama and rich countries in general, know this: it was China's representative who insisted that industrialised country targets, previously agreed as an 80% cut by 2050, be taken out of the deal. "Why can't we even mention our own targets?" demanded a furious Angela Merkel. Australia's prime minister, Kevin Rudd, was annoyed enough to bang his microphone. Brazil's representative too pointed out the illogicality of China's position. Why should rich countries not announce even this unilateral cut? The Chinese delegate said no, and I watched, aghast, as Merkel threw up her hands in despair and conceded the point. Now we know why – because China bet, correctly, that Obama would get the blame for the Copenhagen accord's lack of ambition.

Going To Pakistan Uninvited

As more is reveled about the Bush administration and its many appalling misadventures yet another one is brought out into the light by The Guardian.

Former Nato officer reveals secret night operations in border region which America kept quiet

American special forces have conducted multiple clandestine raids into Pakistan's tribal areas as part of a secret war in the border region where Washington is pressing to expand its drone assassination programme.

A former Nato officer said the incursions, only one of which has been previously reported, occurred between 2003 and 2008, involved helicopter-borne elite soldiers stealing across the border at night, and were never declared to the Pakistani government.

"The Pakistanis were kept entirely in the dark about it. It was one of those things we wouldn't confirm officially with them," said the source, who had detailed knowledge of the operations.

This seems to remind one of another secret war: Perhaps the one conducted in Cambodia by the Nixon administration.

After the only publicly acknowledged special forces raid in September 2008, Pakistan's foreign office condemned it as "a grave provocation" while the military threatened retaliatory action.

Pakistan's citizens barely tolerate the use of U.S Drones against Taliban and Al Qaeda in the Northwest Frontier Provence. More important is the fragility of Pakistan's current government. Would Pakistan's military step-in and remove Asif Zardari from office thus returning the to a military dictatorship? Given Asif Zardari's current legal problems based on corruption charges from his past business and political dealings.
The C.I.A's Drone program which is run out of Baluchistan which boarders both Iran and Afghanistan has become a focal point in the war as the Obama administration believes attacks into Afghanistan are originating from there. Given that provinces complete lack of trust of the government in Islamabad this area could quickly become an unintended conflict zone.
With all that in mind any of these policies could lead to the complete destabilization of the entire region.

Who owns Okinawa?

That may seem like a completely stupid and obvious question as Okinawa is a part of Japan. Yet someone else controls 20% of that small island and no its not Japan. The United States has about 38,000 Marines stationed on Okinawa as part of the U.S. Japan defense treaty which has been in place since the end of the Second World War. Okinawa's citizens have grown weary of this arrangement because crime, noise and various forms of pollution among other complaints. It is their fervent wish to have these bases located outside of Okinawa. After all the reason for their existence has faded into history. As the Soviet Union no longer exists and the Cold War has come to an end. Yukio Hatayama and his coalition partners in the newly elected government would like to bring some relief and positive change to the people of Okinawa by giving the people what they want moving a majority of the Marines outside of Okinawa.

Yet the U.S. acts like they own the place and are refusing to even discuss any changes presented as it would upset their Western Pacific Defense posture. Who remembers the U.S. Navel base at Subic Bay in the Philippines? When the American's acted in a similar fashion the government of the Philippines forced the closure of the base and the American's left. The U.S. has treated the Koreans just as poorly when the Korean government negotiated a secret agreement to have Yongson Garrison moved to a new base 60km south of Seoul. Under the original agreement the Koreans were forced to fund 85% of the cost of the relocation and construction costs. That was until the agreement was leaked to the press and a more equitable agreement was reached.

Shouldn't the people of Okinawa and the government have a say in how they are treated buy the U.S? Of course they should. Its time for the U.S. to stop treating them as if they are second class and treat them as equals as it they, the people of Okinawa that must live with the outcome of any agreement that is reached.

Learning from China

Time magazine recently did a cover story entitled 5 Things We Can Learn From China. Here are some things we can learn from China.

China has banned individuals from registering internet domain names in Beijing's toughest move so far to tighten online censorship.

From Monday, people registering a domain name in China would have to present a company seal and a business licence, the China Internet Network Information Center, a government-backed body, said in a statement.

Service providers said they had started to review their clients for potentially fraudulent or "harmful" individually-owned sites.

"We have started to review domain names registered by individuals, as requested by CNNIC," said an official at HiNet, one of China's largest internet service providers.

We learn how better operate as an authoritarian government by blocking access to all information not produced by the government.

What else can we learn from China

BEIJING — A lengthy prison sentence for a rights activist shows the determination of Chinese officials to suppress any vestige of dissent related to shoddy construction and unnecessary deaths in last year’s devastating earthquake in Sichuan Province, fellow activists said.
Huang Qi, 46, who helped parents press their grievances against the local government after their children died when their schools collapsed, was given a three-year prison term on Monday. He was convicted of illegal possession of state secrets, a common charge used to punish people who defy the authorities.

That those who should be held accountable for the shoddy workmanship involved in school construction get away with no penalty. While those who seek answers are jailed.

Education Chinese style

Chinese lawyers have formally charged a democracy activist and former university professor with "inciting subversion," a year after he co-wrote a call for sweeping political change in China.After the country controversially hosted the 2008 Olympic Games, human rights in China are supposed to be improving. But thee case of human rights activist Liu Xiaobo, 53, who has spent most of the past 20 years in prison or under arrest, speaks volumes about what is going on beneath the glossy surface of the new China.Mr Lui’s lawyer received the prosecution papers Friday, and said Liu had been formally charged the day before. The lawyer expects a trial anytime after December 20. After a trial likely to last only half a day, Liu could get up to 15 years jail time, with a five- to 15-year sentence, which is "very likely," because China's courts are under the total control of the ruling Communist party.

Upon being awarded the 2008 Olympic Games the Chinese government promised to improve its human rights record and allow for a more open and equitable society. Look how well that has worked out.

One last fun thing we can learn from China

BEIJING — It read like a muckraking expose: A magazine revealed a system of secret detention centers in Beijing where Chinese citizens are forcibly held and sometimes beaten to prevent them from lodging formal complaints with the central government.
But the report appeared in the state-run magazine Liaowang (Outlook), which is written for the government elite and published by China's official Xinhua News Agency.
For some activist groups, the two state-sanctioned articles published Tuesday signal a possible willingness by the Communist leadership to openly acknowledge a problem it has long denied.
"They have categorically denied there are even black jails. This is the first time an official, high-level magazine acknowledges that they exist. This is fairly significant," said Wang Songlian, research coordinator with the China-based Chinese Human Rights Defenders.

Go to Beijing for redress of problems encountered at the local or state level of government and get thrown in jail. Even though this has always been part of the contract between the people and the Chinese government

See look at all the fun things we can learn from China. Isn't it exciting