The Propagandist knows that all animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others. We thought about that as we finished off a Saturday brunch of bacon and eggs.
Here are some of our best and most popular political columns from the week:
Where Are The Women Of The Arab Spring? A compilation of videos leading one to the distinct conclusion that scientists in the Arab Middle East have figured out how to perpetuate their populations by only cloning the dudes.
Mr. Ai was the most prominent of hundreds of people detained since China intensified a broad crackdown on critics of the government in February, when anonymous calls for mass protests modeled after the revolutions in the Arab world percolated on the Chinese Internet.
China’s move to douse any flicker of dissent was the harshest in years outside of the restive ethnic regions in the far west, and the vast majority of those detained in the crackdown were, like Mr. Ai, held in secret locations for weeks with no legal justification.
There's been a recent push by a number of Chinese to establish grass-roots campaigns for local government, the only form of government in which representation is elected, in theory, by popular vote. This isn't the first time we've seen independents trying to run for office in China, but it does come at a particularly tense moment in China's history.
On the first of July, the Chinese Communist Party will celebrate its 90th anniversary, and it isn't going to stand for any embarrassment during the festivities. Li Chanchung, the head of the Party's propaganda machine, has in no uncertain terms told Chinese media to be on their best behavior, “singing the main theme of the goodness of the CCP, the goodness of socialism, the goodness of economic reform and opening, the goodness of our Great Mother Country.” In spite of this decree, there have been particularly damning revelations about corruption in the last few months, including the revelation that over the past twenty years, close to 18,000 officials have fled China with around 125 billion dollars embezzled from the central government, mass protests in Lichuan caused by the murder of an official who was fighting corruption,...More >>
Human Rights Watch investigates the Chinese government's ongoing efforts to cover up all evidence -- and memories -- of the Tiananmen Square massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators in 1989.
The Tiananmen massacre was precipitated by mass gatherings of workers, students, and others in Beijing's Tiananmen Square and other cities in April 1989 to demonstrate peacefully for a pluralistic political system. The government responded to the intensifying protests in late May 1989 by declaring martial law and authorizing the military to use deadly force.
In response, units of the Chinese military in Beijing and other cities on and around June 3 and 4 shot and killed an untold number of unarmed civilians, many of whom were not connected to the protests. Some people attacked army convoys and burned vehicles as the military moved through Beijing. The 1989 crackdown extended to major urban centers across China and included the arrests of thousands of people on charges of fomenting "counter-revolution" and on criminal charges, including disrupting social order and arson.
The Nobel Committee has made some bizarre decisions in the past when awarding its peace prize. The most eggregious example was the award given to mass-murderer and terrorist Yasser Arafat for "efforts to create peace in the Middle East", a few years before he ordered the launch of one of the most infamous terror campaigns in modern history. Last year's decision, for US President Barack Obama, was not so much eggregious as silly; even the winner himself humbly stated that the prize was not so much about what he had accomplished in his short months in office, but was essentially aspirational.
But it's hard to make the case that the Nobel Committee screwed up this time. In giving the award to Chinese democracy activist Liu Xiaobo, they've stood by an overwhelming precedent of recognizing champions of human rights and freedom, which are so integrally connected with the goal of peace.
That's why the Chinese government's tyrannical moves - jailing Xiaobo, keeping his wife under house arrest, detaining supporters and blocking websites that have the courage to so much...More >>
I'm guessing the cops aren't presenting Mou Yanxi with an award for her patriotic support of her inspiring fellow national. We call for her immediate release and the sacking of the involved officers.
First, they came for the social networking nerds...More >>
The Propagandist knows that all animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others. We thought about that as we finished off a Saturday brunch of bacon and eggs.
Human Rights Watch
The Nobel Committee has made some bizarre decisions in the past when awarding its peace prize. The most eggregious example was the award given to mass-murderer and terrorist Yasser Arafat for "efforts to create peace in the Middle East", a few years before he ordered the launch of one of the most infamous terror campaigns in modern history. Last year's decision, for US President Barack Obama, was not so much eggregious as silly; even the winner himself humbly stated that the prize was not so much about what he had accomplished in his short months in office, but was essentially aspirational.
The Chinese police officers showed up in the middle of the night to drag her from her home
