Death of a Nation

It's tragic that the Olympics, a shining symbol of peace and equality of men and nations, is being over shadowed by Russia's invasion of Georgia and the death of that fledgling democracy.

Our eyes have turned from the sports coverage and are glued to CNN and FOX NEWS as we watch in fear and horror as Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin gobble up one country and prepare to invade another.

Their actions are eerily reminiscent of Hitler's first forays into eastern Europe. Once Hitler learned the west was impotent, full of bluster and rhetoric, but short on real action, he felt free to build his European Empire.

Does Putin now feel secure to rebuild the Russian Empire?

Putin's timing is flawless. The U.S. President is a lame duck with only 5 months left in office. The U.S. citizenry are fully distracted by the electoral process, resplendent with our own bluster and rhetoric, with both candidates totally impotent until next January, 2009.

By January, 2009 the world's landscape will likely have changed forever.

A True Crime Against Humanity

You already know about the cyclone that hit the coast of Burma, now called Myanmar by the military junta that seized power years ago in a military coup. And you already know at least a little bit about the human disaster unfolding daily.

Can you possibly imagine the world's reaction if we actually could see the disaster? If there was television or Internet coverage, if there were bloggers on the scene and photographers and newspaper reporters, the world would be in shock.

The New York Times reports that International Pressure on Myanmar Junta Is Building, but the world community is actually reacting slowly and mostly with empty words and meaningless gestures.

"In the two weeks since the cyclone hit, the junta has allowed in a modest amount of supplies from a number of nations, but relief workers say it is far short of what they need to fend off starvation and disease. The United Nations says only 20 percent of the survivors have received even rudimentary aid."

"In some of the harshest comments, Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain told the BBC on Saturday that a natural disaster “is being made into a man-made catastrophe by the negligence, the neglect and the inhuman treatment of the Burmese people by a regime that is failing to act and to allow the international community to do what it wants to do."

"The French ambassador, Jean-Maurice Ripert, warned on Friday that the government’s refusal to allow aid to be delivered to people “could lead to a true crime against humanity,” according to The Associated Press."

The United Nations is impotent. And certain powerful nations, most especially China, generally prevent the UN from taking any action what-so-ever.

So we stand by, appalled at the death of over one hundred thousand people in Myanmar, many from disease, dehydration and starvation, and cry. But we've been watching tragedy after tragedy for decades and done nothing more than build monuments to the dead fifty years after any effort could have been made to save them.

Myanmar's leaders, like cockroaches, fear the light.

"All foreigners have been expelled and banned from the hard-hit Irrawaddy Delta, even humanitarian aid workers with long experience in Myanmar. Impromptu aid convoys by local groups and private citizens — often with supplies donated by Burmese companies — have been turned back at military checkpoints."

“These guys are xenophobic,” Shari Villarosa, the senior diplomat at the United States Embassy in Yangon, said in a recent interview, referring to the military leadership.

"In addition to roadblocks and checkpoints, the junta’s shutdown of the country has included an Internet firewall that blocks most e-mail access. It also has disabled access to a number of computer programs that can evade firewalls, as well as access to dissident Web sites run by exiled Burmese."

"Many residents of Myanmar get their daily news from the Burmese-language radio services run by broadcasters like the BBC and Voice of America. They listen to shortwave radios at home, away from neighborhood snitches. If they are discovered listening to the foreign stations, several Yangon residents said, they could be detained or beaten, or they could lose their jobs."

Today China continues to protect despots and tin dictators and completely ignore the genocide of hundreds of thousands in Darfur and now in Myanmar. While I don't want to prevent athletes from competing in the Beijing Olympics, I think it's time for all the world leaders to cancel their official visits.

Turning Our Future Over to China

There is news today about actions being taken by the Chinese government in preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympics that I find so repulsive and sickening that I'm going to bury them deep into this blog entry. I am deeply saddened and totally disgusted.

But this is just another story out of hundreds that raise serious questions about how we, as a people and nation, interact with China. And, in fact, by any reasonable measure, we are turning our entire future over to China.

Ask yourself what is more disturbing: that food products, toys and now prescription medicine coming from China are tainted and poisoning our children and seniors?

Or that virtually 100% of our toys and significant portions of our food products and prescription drugs (not to mention clothes, jewelry, sporting goods, computers, electronics, furniture and housewares) are made in China and imported here?

Do we actually manufacture anything here anymore?

Even more disturbing is that China holds a gigantic portion of our ballooning national debt. If China called in our debt, the United States might be forced into effective bankruptcy and a depression that could last a lifetime.

Everyday we outsource our entire future to China. Now I'm a "free trade" kind of guy. But when you give this much control to a single country, it isn't free trade any more, it's indentured servitude.

I've written extensively that China has the ability to cripple or actually end the genocide in Darfur. China, through massive oil purchases that fund the genocide and a firm Security Council Veto that prevents the rest of the world from stopping the horror, controls the fate of two million people. And China continues to prove they just don't give a damn. Human suffering, rape, murder, torture, starvation? China just doesn't care.

Many people around the world can no longer tolerate China's greed and callous disregard for genocide. Steven Spielberg just resigned as an Artistic Advisor for the 2008 games.

"At this point, my time and energy must be spent not on Olympic ceremonies, but on doing all I can to help bring an end to the unspeakable crimes against humanity that continue to be committed in Darfur," Spielberg explained.

With all this in mind, some might not even find this story important. But to me it's a clear and horrific example of how the Chinese government views every decision: cold, calculating, cruel and with absolutely no compassion.

As these the type of people with whom we should outsource or toys, food, drugs and debt?

What follows is from an investigative report by Simon Perry in the UK's Daily Mail:

Beijing's shocking death camp for cats

Thousands of pet cats in Beijing are being abandoned by their owners and sent to die in secretive government pounds as China mounts an aggressive drive to clean up the capital in preparation for the Olympic Games.

Hundreds of cats a day are being rounded and crammed into cages so small they cannot even turn around.

Then they are trucked to what animal welfare groups describe as death camps on the edges of the city.

The cull of Beijing's estimated 500,000 cat population is certain to provoke international outrage as it comes just over a year after the Chinese were criticised for rounding up and killing stray dogs across the country.

Animal welfare groups in China are already protesting, but their members fear punishment from the authorities.

Officials say people can adopt animals from the 12 cat pounds set up around the city, but welfare groups say they are almost impossible to get inside and believe few cats survive.

One cat lovers' group negotiated the release of 30 pets from one of the compounds in Shahe, north-west Beijing, but said they were in such a pitiful condition that half of them died within days of their release.

"These cats are being left to die. It is very inhumane," said the group's founder Yan Qi, who runs a sanctuary for cats.