China

Chinese Police Arrested Thousands in Relation to Internet Porn this past year.The Internet is a wild place- on here you can do and say just about anything you want to. There are a few rules coming into play, like the recent disclosure law stating that bloggers and related online posters need to disclose if they have been compensated by companies or products they are writing about. And of course there are rules where you have to pay for the provider to get the Internet to your house or laptop or whatever- but in general, once you are on there, you can say or post whatever you’d like. Read more

Tired out by the details...China is sounding a bit skeptical about the U.S. tire tariffs, and probably with good reason. This one is coming back to the surface after a few months of being overshadowed by many other issues of international concern and diplomacy- when you are trying to figure out the environmental road map for the world to save the world and arguing about a global recession and what to do about it, well, you sort of put the discontent about import taxes on one item on the backburner. The thing about the tires, though, are that they are a big ticket item and both the U.S. and China know it. The U.S. is basically running into some trouble with them because we don’t want their tires to cost less than our tires, and China is arguing over World Trade Organization (WTO) rules that are in a bit of  a grey area from earlier in the decade. And so it goes. Read more

Would Lincoln Identify with the Chinese Government?If you were to draw connections between the Dalai Lama, the Chinese government and Obama, what kind of chart would you draw? What connections would you see? Throw in Abraham Lincoln and take into account the history of race in the United States and how would you draw the picture?

This past week Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said that Obama should be sympathetic to the Chinese opposition to the Dalai Lama and Tibet’s independence, especially as a black president who tips his hat to Abraham Lincoln and the importance of abolition in both the history of America and Obama’s own opportunities.

That wouldn’t have been my first connection. But let’s see Qin’s point: Read more

DPJ on the Road to CopenhagenWith Copenhagen less than 100 days away, nations around the world are scrambling to define their positions, make the outlines of what their demands will be and dig their heels in around important issues- and no one wants to be left behind. The new government in Japan is no exception.

Last weekend Japan voted the untested Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) who took over for the sitting party that had been in power for more than 50 years. While they of course cannot change any of the commitments in place, but they are showing that they can play politics with the best of them out there. Read more