politics

From yesterday’s Xinhua, China earmarks 73 mln USD for rural environment protection we read that the Ministry of Environmental Protection is throwing what seems to be a lot of money into the polluted countryside to deal with environmental issues.
The fund would help save 600 villages out of severe environment problems and award 100 others which [...]
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The sudden announcement of the death of Yang Jia, the Beijinger who entered a Shanghai police station armed with a knife, killed 6 officers, and injured 4 others, brought about a storm of online thoughts. The story of Yang is far more complicated than just the facts, it includes having been arrested a few times and roughed up by the police despite his claims of innocence.
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I try to stay away from blogging on the weekend, but there's too much to talk about this weekend, so here goes.
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I’ve been off-topic since the Olympics ended, so I guess it’s time to bring China back into this blog. But what should I write about? There’s just so much!
The Financial Crisis and China’s Bailout Plan
I’m not a big fan of the government jumping in and ’spending’ a country out of a recession. I mean the [...]
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It's always interesting when China meets with the two Communist strongholds that represent the old order of things, Cuba and North Korea. These sort of meetings attract attention not only among China hands, but watchers of global politics in general as comparisons between the progress of "Communist" China and Communist North Korea/Cuba can't be helped.
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Over the weekend huge crowds came out around the country to protest against California's passing of Proposition 8, banning gay marriage. In my home state of Illinois, around 2,000 people were out in full voice despite the cold temperatures to protest, but was anyone listening? And why protest a California law when Illinois forbids gay marriage itself? Why not rally against Illinois law?

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Long time head of the China Disabled Persons Federation, Deng Pufang, son of Deng Xiaoping, has been replaced at the most recent national meetings by fellow paraplegic, Zhang Haidi. Deng, who was injured during the Cultural Revolution, used his father's connections to help first set up the Chinese Disabled Welfare Fund and later the Disabled Persons Federation.
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Lots of politics as of late, but that's the way the world is going. Former leader of Taiwan, Chen Shuibian, was arrested the other day and its been determined he should remain in jail until he stands trial. While many mainland government leaders have been accused of corruption, its rarely as blatant and as costly as that of Chen and his family. For a "Taiwanese patriot", it's laughable how he plundered the wealth of the island for himself and his family.
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For the past few days since Barack Obama was elected President, I've been trying my best to keep up with the news about his presidential transition and the economy. Although it has only been a few days since the historic election, there has already been a lot of politics and fighting between the various interest groups in the US.
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The news out of Taiwan after "the push" and the protests over the most recent meeting between the head of China's Cross Straits Relations organization Chen Yunlin and the head of the Taiwanese government (I will follow Chen's lead and not call him "President") Ma Yingjiu makes one wonder.
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