Chinese Olympics: No Boycott

As you may have seen recently, there has been a load of debate on the NZ libertarian blogosphere as to wherever the 2008 Olympics should be held in China, due to its totalitarian government and human rights abuses, including mobile execution vans*.

I agree that China does have some serious problems with its totalitarian government, still communist in many respects. But it's for those reasons that I'm NOT for the boycotting of the 2008 Olympics; they could be ideal in shedding light on the current regime in China -just what it's been doing recently.

Up until now, commentators on both the left and right have been largely ignoring China's totalitarian aspects, instead focussing on China's recent economic boom, which has had a great effect in creating a Chinese middle class and getting many Chinese out of poverty. Most of this phenomenon occuring in China, however, has been largely concealed to the Exclusive Economic Zones and big cities. Outside of these growth-magnets, many Chinese still live in squalor, under an oppressive government that, despite the lift of regulations and introduction of some property rights since the 1980s, is still essentially communist, especially in social and political terms. Many of these people go to live in the cities to work in the factories, with very little money.

So, hopefully these Olympics will shed light on the plight of Chinese people who haven't been able to escape to the glitzy, Capitalist cities. It all depends, however, on whether the world wants to watch.

And while China's government is a concern, I wonder if it is the primary reason behind John Minto and other figures of the far left organizing protests and raising lefty "awareness" of the situation in China. Many of these people -whether in London, Paris, San Francisco or NZ- were wearing Mao badges 30 years ago, and not just because it was "the thing". China was FAR WORSE back then. I suppose they just hate the Capitalist elements that have been introduced since then, and the fact that a big, evil bourgeois class has been created.

But, at the end of the day, the only nation that can tame the tempered Chinese Dragon is the United States. Luckily, they, unlike Europe, actually act on their values and beliefs.

*Ever wondered why China's imprisonment rate is less than in the US!?

Bhutto Assassinated

It's the holiday season, and I don't intent to write much on my time off, but this is too important, unfortunately.

With political violence in the troubled Middle Eastern Nation of Pakistan reaching new highs, it had to happen some time -former Prime Minister, Opposition Leader and most importantly female (!) Benazir Bhutto, a popular leader in a country strife with Islamofascism was assassinated, in a bomb blast and several bullets as she was making her way from a rally for her political party.

It wouldn't be the first time an attempt on her life has been made; since she came out of exile just two months ago, somebody else blew up a bomb at another political rally. However, instead of killing her, about 90 other people were slaughtered.

This time, she was in an armoured car, like in the previous assassination attempt. The success of the attempt this time around was because Bhutto had her head out the sunroof, which made all the difference, even though the car was quite badly damaged, as well.

The assassination of Bhutto is just one of a long line of murders, assassinations, and terrorism committed in the name of Islam, by Islamofascists. She was murdered for being pro-West, being a woman doing a man's job, and wanting to downplay Islamic extremism. The sad reality of daring to speak out against Islamofascist evil: you pay with your life.

The Death of the Death Penalty?

I see that Helen Clark is throwing herself behind a UN resolution which would have the death penalty banned internationally (at least in Western countries; I don't see how, for instance, African or Arabic dictatorships would abide) Although the resolution isn't something I am overly concerned about, I don't support the death penalty for the same reason as Sus at Sus's Sound-Bites: I simply don't trust the government with that much power, and mistakes can always be made.

One of my concerns though is that the US will use its veto power in this instance. Despite the fact that most American states have abolished the death penalty, Texas, which is the state George W Bush was once governor of, executes as many people as Iran (which is stupid and downright inhumane in a Western society). At least they're not for political reasons, even though the American Justice System seems more content at putting a black man in jail for a crime they have no proof he committed, than a white man who did commit the crime.

The death penalty debate is reminiscent of the slavery debate a few hundred years ago. This time, however, hopefully Americans are too civilized to start a civil war over the death penalty.

Ironically, Venezuela was the first country to abolish the death penalty about a century and a half ago. It'll probably become the latest to re-enact it, as well.

And with all the general Leftist bias, I wouldn't be surprised if they counted Cuba as a nation which has abolished the death penalty, despite the obvious claims to the contrary.

Saddam Hussein Executed

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/12/29/hussein/index.html

It's true: Butcher of Baghdad Saddam Hussein has finally been hanged.

Across the world, there have been celebrations en masse celebrating his death. After Saddam died, a group of people danced around the body.

It's the end of a rather terrible era for the Iraqi people, who have lived in fear for the past 35 years, and have experienced three wars under Saddam's regime.

Good ridence, I say.

Russia-Really Free?

Following the death of ex-KGB spy and Putin critic Alexander Litvinenko, it is time for the West to seriously start considering the freedom in post USSR Russia. This is a country where the media is run fully by the government, and for the benefit of Russian President, Vladimir Putin. As we have seen from the deaths of Putin critics throughout his reign in power, Russia is still very much state-controlled.

The death of Litvinenko is only one in a long line of assassinations of Putin critics. Barely two months ago, Anna Politkovskaya, a journalist exposing corruption within the Russian army, especially in Chechnya, was found dead outside her apartment. Putin responded by saying "her murder brings much more harm to the Russian authorities than her publications".

On top of these two murders, the Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based organisation promoting freedom of the press, called Russia the third most dangerous nation in which to be a journalist. The committee also said that Putin "has brought much of the once thriving post-Soviet media under indirect government control through the use of punitive tax audits and hostile takeovers. All three major television networks are now in the hands of Kremlin loyalists".

In July earlier this year, the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Centre did a survey of Putin's popularity in Russia. It reported that 87% of all Russians supported him as President, and 60% had full confidence in him up until and during the time the survey was conducted. Such numbers are never reached in other Western Liberal Democracies in peacetime.

Litvinenko, who worked for the FSB (the Intelligence Agency after the Soviet Union broke up), was a Russian dissident who fled to the UK for the final years of his life, where he wrote his books. In the UK, he was granted citizenship and political assylum. He accused the Russian government of the assassination of Boris Berezovsky, a billionaire.

In one of his books, Litvinenko stated that Putin's rise to power was a coup d'eat organised and carried out by the FSB.

Litvinenko was hospitalised on the 1st of November. He died three weeks later, of polonium-210 radiation poisoning.

Litvinenko's books include "Blowing up Russia: Terror from Within" and "Gang from Lubyanka". In both he makes allegations that the FSB were carrying out terrorist attacks in Russia and blaming the attacks on Chechen terrorists, and that Vladimir Putin was involved in organised crime. Litvinenko also accused Putin of being a paedophile. He stated that "all the bloodiest terrorists of the world" had connections to the FSB.

So how can a government that kills journalists and political dissents possibly be a Free Western Democracy? Until Putin removes his controls on the Russian media and brings the FSB under control (to stop it killing fellow Russians) his nation can't be considered "free" or a "democracy". However, we have to wait to see if that happens. Like my father said:

"The Communists have reinvented themselves as Fascists".

Sources: Wikipedia-Alexander Litvinenko, Vladimir Putin