US:Obama quadrupling of deficit is Crazonomics- a recipe for disaster

In President Obama's first year in office the deficit is expected to reach $1.75 trillion. In President Bush's last year in office, 2008, the deficit reached $459 billion. So Obama is quadrupling the deficit. This is voodoo economics at its best. Oh certainly Obama has bought change to America but it is change for the worse.

In addition he is endeavouring to introduce a healthcare plan, which is financially unsustainable. Meanwhile inflation is set to take off. Taxation must rise to fund this Crazonomics. China has begun to question the size of the deficit and is no longer prepared to sign a blank cheque.
America may have a slight upturn but the long-term prognosis for the US economy is frightening unless the deficit is tackled immediately. Being master of the teleprompter is no substitute for economic expertise.

America has the worst of all worlds now. A big spending-economically illiterate Democratic President and big spending Democrat controlled Congress, which is addicted to pork barrel spending.

Thankfully the Republican Party has begun to learn the lesson that there is no such thing as a free lunch and is now preaching fiscal rectitude. It has begun to go back to basics.
Once Obama passes the 24 month period in office he will be in the run in to the 2012 presidential election. It is safe to argue that if he fails to tackle the deficit within the next 12 months, nothing will be done in 2011 and 2012. Of course foreign lenders may force his hand and refuse to fund the deficit. Then the US economy will bomb.

10,000 St. Louis Tax Day Tea Party Protesters addressed by Gateway Pundit Jim Hoft

More than 800 tea party protests took place across the US yesterday. These give expression to the resentment of people at rising taxes and ballooning government expenditure. The Obama administration will quadruple the national deficit in one year. The Obama spending bill has 9,000 earmarks in it and will pump millions into funding of foreign abortions. Excessive borrowing is unsustainable. This powerful speech by Jim Hoft nicely encapsulates the problem faced by the US. It taps into the psyche of many that self-sufficiency rather than greater state involvement is the way forward. Indeed this speech could be delivered in many European countries, which face similar problems to the US.

Governments must learn to live within their means. Wasteful government expenditure must be eradicated. Voters in the US and Western Europe must learn to accept lower living standards. Unfortunately living standards are supported by massive borrowing splurges. The time has come to shout stop. Stimulus packages-funded by foreign borrowing- may give a temporary boost, but will quickly run out of steam if the economic fundamentals are not sound.

Their impact is similar to the effects of the quick fix on a drug addict.
Governments in the US and Western Europe must pursue sound fiscal and monetary policies over the short and long term. Quite frankly printing money is not the solution. Increasingly taxpayer revolts will become the norm if the massive government expenditure problem is not tackled. We must learn to live within our means. We cannot have the government services that we require unless the economy generates the financial resources to pay for these services. High levels of individual taxation stultify effort and are ultimately self -defeating.
Even the Russians and Chinese have learned this lesson.

Russia working on technology to target satellites in space

Press TV Reports:

A Russian deputy defense minister, General Valentin Popovkin, said while Russia opposes a space arms race, it would not let steps by other countries toward space militarization go unanswered, Russian news agencies reported. "We can't sit back and quietly watch others doing that; such work is being conducted in Russia," said Gen. Popovkin.

Popovkin, who previously served as the chief of Russian military Space Forces, claimed that Russian technicians had already developed some "basic, key elements" of such weapons but did not elaborate on details. His remarks came in response to a question about US and Chinese tests of anti-satellite weapons. In February 2008, the US struck a dying satellite with missiles launched from a Navy cruiser. Earlier in 2007, a Chinese missile destroyed one of its own aging satellites. Russia and the United States are the only two nations to have successfully performed anti-satellite weapons tests.(Continue Reading) ....

Burma- Images of Burmese Political Prisoners jailed by a tyrannical junta whilst India and China stand idly by

Some images of Burmese political prisoners including:Shin Gambira,Ko Ko Gyi,Su Su Nway,Nilar Thein, Noble Aye, Thin Thin Aye, Khin Moe Aye and Aung San Su Kyi. Unfortunately the outside world has largely forgotten about the repression, which still stalks the country. Even this week The South Dagon Township Court sentenced ‘All Burma Federation of Students Union’ (ABFSU) leader Dee Nyein Linn to another five years in prison, for unlawful association. He has already been serving a prison term of over 10 years. It is time for the US and the EU to exert greater pressure on the tyrants of Rangoon. Sadly India and China have turned a blind eye to the activities of the Burmese Junta. China actively supports the Burmese army.
Images taken from Burma Bloggers' Network

Obama Plans To Reduce US Nuclear Arsenal By 80%- The Ultimate Folly

The Times Online carries the following:

President Obama will convene the most ambitious arms reduction talks with Russia for a generation, aiming to slash each country’s stockpile of nuclear weapons by 80 per cent.
The radical treaty would cut the number of nuclear warheads to 1,000 each, The Times has learnt. Key to the initiative is a review of the Bush Administration’s plan for a US missile defence shield in Eastern Europe, a project fiercely opposed by Moscow. ..

This plan is the ultimate folly. The Balance of Terror has served the world well. Of course there was a Cold War between the West and Russia but the fear of a nuclear holocaust has on occasions concentrated minds and allowed the US and Russia to pull back from the brink.

Obama's plan is highly irresponsible and puts Western security in peril. There is no mention of the Chinese nuclear arsenal. Presumably Obama is content to allow the development of China as the worlds major nuclear super power. China will then be free to blackmail the US and Europe.

Think again Mr Obama. It is one thing to win cheers from the extreme left of the Democratic Party. It is quite another to put the security of the Free World in jeopardy.

Arab countries lack power to influence Iran on nuclear issue-Expert

On December 16 the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, the United States, Britain, France, China, and Russia plus Germany, which make up the 5+1 group, met at the UN with representatives from nine Arab countries -including Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia- to discuss Iran’s nuclear programme.
Unfortunately little was achieved. In essence this was gesture politics. No Arab country will attack Iran at the behest of the US. In addition each has its own internal difficulties-whether ethnic,religious or economic.
MEHRNEWS.com quotes International affairs expert Ali Khorram as follows:

Khorram insisted that Arab countries cannot influence regional or international developments. For example, he said, although Arabs are aware of the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, they lack power to resolve this problem.

“The complexity of Iran’s nuclear issue is far greater than that of the Gaza Strip” and the Arab countries which have not been able to find a formula to resolve the Gaza crisis, are highly unlikely to influence Iran’s nuclear issue, he explained.

It is difficult to argue with the logic of this argument. It is highly unlikely that the incoming Obama administration will convince Iran to drop its nuclear development programme. This increases the probability of an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear installations.

Obama plans to cut Nasa's budget could hand space domination to Russia and China and put US security at risk

In USATODAY

Members of the Texas congressional delegation say they plan to build alliances with other lawmakers as part of a campaign to head off possible deep budget cuts for NASA, officials said.
The drive comes amid expectations that billions of dollars will be shifted from various federal agencies into new programs to stimulate the economy and stabilize the financial system as President-elect Barack Obama seeks to rescue the economy, the Houston Chronicle reported Tuesday in an online story from its Washington bureau......

It is essential for the new Obama administration to pare government spending where possible and to reduce waste. However it is neither sensible nor reasonable to cut expenditure to a level which, will cripple the space exploration programme. The space agency's budget amounts to just $20.2 billion- 0.6% or less of national spending. Severe cuts will also put astronauts safety at greater risk.

In addition the US risks being relegated to third place behind Russia and China.
China plans to build a lunar base. By 2011 China will have started a programme of exploration focusing on Mars. The Chinese intend in the long term to launch manned space probes to Mars and Saturn.
Russia will resume unmanned lunar missions in 2009. A mission to Venus is planned for 2015. Russia plans to replace the ISS (International Space Station) with an all-Russian station in Earth orbit.This will be an assembly platform for probes to the Moon and Mars.

Unwise cuts by Obama will have grave implications for American security. Dominance in space is a sine qua non for global military superiority. The Chinese and Russians realise as much.

Death camps-UN negligence is killing child refugees in Kosovo (New Internationalist)

The following article has been taken fom the New Internationalist . It is highly disquieting.

There is no acceptable lead level for children,’ announced the World Health Organization in response to the recent recall of millions of lead-painted toys made in China by Mattel, America’s largest toy manufacturer. Yet the world’s worst case of lead poisoning of children – still ongoing after nine years in two UN refugee camps in northern Kosovo – has been ignored by both the media and the UN itself.
Three camps were built in November 1999 in Mitrovica to house about 500 Roma refugees whose homes had been looted and then destroyed after the war by extremist Albanians returning from exile. When concerns were raised that the camps were being built on toxic wasteland, the UN promised that they would only be used for 45 days, until new homes could be found. If homes could not be found, the UN said, it would take the Roma abroad to be resettled.
Nine years later the refugees are still living on the toxic wasteland. Since 2004 blood tests have shown that the levels of lead in several of the children in the camps were the highest recorded in medical history. To date 77 Roma have died in the camps. Many of them are small children, who are amongst the most vulnerable to lead poisoning because their immune systems are not yet fully developed. More than 50 Roma women have also suffered miscarriages because of lead poisoning.
Dr Klaus Runow, Germany’s leading expert on heavy metal poisoning, visited the camps in 2006 and took hair samples from 66 children there. He sent the hair samples to a well-known US laboratory in Chicago. Tests on the hair showed that the children were not only suffering from fatal levels of lead poisoning but that they also had dangerously high levels of 36 other toxic elements.
Later that year the UN finally decided to close two of the camps, but then only moved the refugees to another camp – called Osterode – just 50 metres away. Several months earlier the French Army had abandoned this military camp after their doctors had warned all soldiers serving there not to father a child for nine months because of the high lead levels in their blood.
German newspaper Bild arranged for a family of eight to be taken from one of the camps to Germany for treatment. Medical tests there showed all were suffering organ and brain damage from lead poisoning. Doctors revealed that one of the children, seven-year-old Denis, had the liver of a 50-year-old alcoholic and would probably die prematurely.
Although the UN does not deny that an entire generation of Roma children living in these camps could face brain damage and premature death, it still refuses to evacuate the 500 refugees to a lead-free area and to provide them with proper medical treatment. The UN says the only solution is to build homes for these refugees away from the source of poisoning. But most agree this will still take several years.
The CEO of Mattel would probably be charged with offences carrying a life sentence if American children had such high toxicity levels in their blood after playing with one of Mattel’s lead-painted toys. But in UN-administered Kosovo, officials are not even questioned.

Paul Polanksy

Obama’s reckless comments on deficit –in CBS “60 Minutes” interview

"We shouldn't worry about the deficit next year or even the year after," Obama said in an interview broadcast Sunday on CBS' "60 Minutes." "The most important thing is that we avoid a deepening recession."
Amazingly these comments have merited little discussion so far. To say the least his references to the deficit are reckless. It is now glaringly obvious that he has no real intention of attempting to balance the budget during his tenure as president. Any president with even a rudimentary level of economic knowledge would attempt to wrestle with borrowing and wasteful spending. An expenditure freeze is a sine qua non. Such a policy would engender economic confidence. There is no easy way out of the economic crisis. Harsh measures are necessary. A recession is unavoidable. Some cold turkey is necessary.

If Obama fails to tackle the problem in the first two years of his presidency, he most certainly will not attempt major corrective action in the last two years of office. He will then be on the run in to the next presidential election. Re election will be a major priority. It seems safe to assume that excessive government borrowing is likely to continue over the next four years. Borrowing is deferred taxation. The private sector and taxpayers will carry an increasingly heavy burden.

With a Democrat controlled Congress the portents are not good. It is likely that money will be thrown at most problems. The dollar is likely to decline in value and the US will gradually lose its pre eminence as the worlds major economic super power. Increasingly it is in hock to the rest of the world. China will gradually supplant the US.

Burma (Myanmar) jails cyclone Nargis journalist - 60 opposition activists jailed in last two weeks

The following report appears in Al Jazeera:
"A Myanmarese (Burmese) journalist has reportedly been sentenced to two years in prison for critical coverage of the military government's response to a devastating cyclone, according to colleagues. Dozens of critics of the country's ruling generals have been jailed in recent weeks, according to human rights organisations and legal sources.
Colleagues of Ein Khaing Oo told the Associated Press news agency on Saturday that she was sentenced the previous day after being convicted of "disturbing tranquility" in a closed-door trial.
Ein Khaing Oo, a reporter for the weekly Myanmar-language magazine Eco Vision, was arrested on June 10 while covering a demonstration by victims of the cyclone...."
".....Another 17 pro-democracy activists were jailed for between two and 16 years at hearings in yangon and Mandalay on Friday, according to legal sources"...
"...Up to 60 opposition activists are believed to have been jailed in the last two weeks.."

With media attention focused mainly the world economic crisis the Burmese junta has taken advantage of the situation and has begun a crack down on pro democracy activists. The Butchers of Rangoon have learned nothing.
Russia and China have vetoed efforts at the UN Security Council to bring Burma to heel. It is now time for both countries to alter course and to support US and EU efforts to cripple the Burmese regime.

The tyrants of Rangoon are impervious to realism and feel that their position is impregnable. This feeling is buttressed by the determination of the Chinese, Russians and Indians to continue trading with the junta. The world must not stand idly by.

Obamas plans to reverse Bush's policies on oil exploration a retrograde step

Barack Obama, the US president-elect, will use executive powers to reverse George Bush's policies on oil exploration in national parks- senior aide John Podesta has indicated. This is a retrograde step ,which is music to the ears of oil producing countries such as Venezuela and Iran. Once more the West can be held to ransom. This is economic madness as the US has huge untapped deposits of oil offshore and in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) Alaska.

Renewable energy will not plug the energy deficit which is gaining momentum. The net result for consumers is higher gas prices in the not too distant future. Perhaps Barack Obama would prefer a return to the horse and cart. Obama is on record as supporting higher oil and gas prices. Looks like he will be true to his word.

Russia, India and China intend to push ahead with economic development underpinned by a strong attachment to oil. Such countries are obviously not too concerned with the possible environmental consequences. The US economy will stagnate.

Democrat Energy Plan-Hope for the best

This image via Gateway Pundit neatly encapsulates the Democratic Party's energy policy or rather its lack of one. Barack Obama in marked contrast to John McCain has opposed more offshore drilling, a large expansion in the nuclear programme, increased use of coal and support for the electric car.

Obama's energy policy is based mainly on conservation and increased development of renewals.
Correct tyre pressures is a major plank in his energy platform.
That is not a sufficient response to the present crisis. It is a recipe for economic decline.

Huge reserves of untapped oil lie off shore. Under a Democratic Congress and a President Obama they will remain there.
The US and the West in general will remain at the mercy of unstable Middle East regimes under the Democrats and a President Obama.

Meanwhile Communist China ploughs ahead with a policy geared towards securing foreign oil supplies and other natural resources. It has extended its tentacles into Africa and is now increasingly active in South America. It is a new colonial power.

China is a major competitor with the West. US politicians had better wake up before it is too late.
China is rapidly developing it navy, army and air-force. These will be used to protect raw material supplies and if necessary to bully countries which threaten China's interests. Competition for scarce energy resources could trigger a nuclear war.

Repression of bloggers and political opponents continues in Burma, China and Tibet (Call for Reporters and Bloggers to Boycott Beijing Olympics)

Sometimes I think Europeans and Americans are too inclined to take democracy for granted.
In the run in to the Beijing Olympics there has been a huge crack down on dissidents by the Chinese authorities. Meanwhile the level of Chinese repression has accelerated in Tibet. China supports the repressive regimes in Burma, Zimbabwe and Sudan.

During the Saffron Revolution in Burma in September- spearheaded by Buddhist monks- the Tyrants of Rangoon shut down the communications systems. Frequently courageous bloggers were the only reliable source of information. Many of these were arrested and disappeared.
Nay Phone Latte, a young blogger who has been held since 29 January in the notorious Insein prison, is facing a possible seven-year sentence.

Saw Wai, a poet who was arrested on 22 January for criticising junta chief Gen. Than Shwe in coded message in a poem published in the weekly Achit Journal, appeared before the Insein prison special court for the third time on 8 July. He is now also facing a possible seven-year jail sentence.

During the Saffron Revolution the brutality of the Burmese regime was flashed around the world. The international media has now moved on to pastures new. Once more the Tyrants of Rangoon are free to repress the opposition and to stamp out all vestiges of free speech.
The following message from a blogger and Buddhist monk called Ashin Mettacara has appeared in opednews under the heading "Calling Reporters and Bloggers to boycott Beijing and to declare one day period of media mourning"

"Dear Reporters and Bloggers,
I am a 27-year-old Buddhist monk from Burma, currently studying is Sri Lanka. While I was studying in the Buddhist and Pali University of Sri Lanka in September 2007, there was a Saffron Revolution in Burma. The military regime cracked down on the peaceful protestors who mostly were Buddhist monks. As I could not reconcile myself with the current military regime's human right abuses, I became a blogger. I am not a political monk nor reporter. My wish is just to use the freedom I have out of Burma to help people of my country to get freedom and be away from the unbearable pain they have to endure for too many decades.
Coming 08-08-08 is the opening ceremony of Beijing Olympics in China and the 20th anniversary of the 08-08-1988 popular demonstration in Burma, when many thousands of people were killed under the military junta's brutal crackdown.

China is a major trading partner, major weapons supplier and major defender of the Burma military junta in the United Nations Security Council. Because of China's support, the military junta in Burma is still in power to this day.

I would like to call on each and every reporter and blogger around the world to boycott, without reporting information, photo and video footage of Olympics ceremonies.

I also think it would be righteous to declare 08-08-08 as a day of media mourning for the thousands who died in 1988 demonstrations in Burma, and to raise awareness of China's policies concerning Burma, the Falun Gong, Darfur and Tibet."
Will his appeal fall on deaf ears?

Beijing facing an environmental Armageddon?

Today the authorities in Beijing introduced new traffic regulations which it is hoped will remove more than 1.65 million cars from the roads each day.
The rules, in effect until September 20, ban cars with odd- and even-numbered licence plates from the roads on alternate days.

They are part of a wider drive to clear the air in Beijing, which is one of the world's most polluted cities and is regularly enveloped in an acrid smog- a product of humidity, traffic and industrial pollution. So bad is the situation that the New Zealand Olympic team will wear carbon filter masks around the Olympic village to help them cope with the pollution.

After September 20th it is back to normal as an estimated extra 1.65 million cars will go back on the streets of Beijing. Obviously the health of the 17 million inhabitants is of secondary importance. Failure to tackle this problem on a permanent basis will result in catastropic health problems in the future for a large proportion of the population. The financial implications will be horrendous as authorities struggle to wrestle with the consequences.

For the duration of the Olympics it is much more important to showcase the Communist system and enforce higher environmental standards. In the aftermath of the Olympics many of these standards will be dispensed with.

Beijing faces an environmental Armageddon unless the authorities plot a new and radical environmental course. Beijing is not an isolated case. It is believed that 99% of the inhabitants of large urban centres in China breathe in unsafe air. In addition most of the rivers and lakes are seriously polluted whilst 37% of the Chinese land area suffers from soil erosion.

More Carbon Tax nonsense from Ireland's ESRI

The The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) claims that an EU-wide tax on CO₂ emissions would ensure that Irish industries, like farming, would not be at a disadvantage compared to other European countries.
I would suggest that the learned gentlemen of the ESRI should get out of their academic ivory tower.They are insulated from reality. Pronouncements from this body are treated as gospel. To question its findings is a form of sacrilege. Well the time has come to bin some of its suggestions.

With sky rocketing oil prices on the world market, huge petrol and diesel price rises have fed through to industry and the consumer. This is a carbon tax in action. Farming,fishing,transport and industrial sectors of the Irish economy are in dire straits. Unemployment has risen sharply.The ESB has announced a 17.5% price rise in electricity for August 1st. with another hike due in January 08. Huge gas price rises are in the pipeline. These will cripple consumers and the productive sector.

The ESRI claim-that an EU wide carbon tax would not leave Irish industry and agriculture at a disadvantage to the other EU countries-indicates the limited nature of the Institute’s thinking. Irish industry and agriculture compete on a world wide basis and not just on an EU basis. Meanwhile countries such as India,China,Russia plough ahead with a massive expansion in the generation of electricity using fossil fuels. Their Governments have no intention of cutting back on the use of fossil fuels.

We already have carbon taxes in operation in Ireland at present. Enough is enough. Any weakening in the value of the Euro would further exacerbate the situation. It is time for the learned gentlemen of the ESRI to come up with something practical for a change. Theoretical models will not put bread and butter on the table.

Russia and China cynically veto US Resolution On Zimbabwe at UN Security Council

Russia and China vetoed a U.S.-drafted resolution in the UN Security Council on Friday that would impose sanctions on Zimbabwe over the country's presidential run-off election in late June. The resolution called for a travel ban and assets freeze on Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his top officials, as well as an arms embargo. South Africa, Libya and Vietnam also voted against the draft resolution.
Voting with the United States were Britain, France, Belgium, Italy, Panama, Bukina Faso, Croatia and Costa Rica.

China and Russia in particular have obstructed efforts to tackle human rights violations in Zimbabwe, Burma and Sudan. Russia and China have jealously guarded their own economic interests in Sudan and Burma. Their veto of the US drafted resolution on Zimbabwe is tantamount to support for the outrages committed by Mugabe against his own people. The MDC's leader, Morgan Tsvangirai won the first election. Yet the tyrant Mugabe refused to hand over the reins of power. Mugabe and his supporters by violence and murder forced the MDC and its leader Morgan Tsvangirai to withdraw from the run off poll. China as a Communist state has no respect for democracy. I suppose it is understandable that it would sympathise with the Marxist Mugabe. We can hardly expect anything better.

And what is one to make of the cynical vote by South Africa at the Security Council. Is not the ANC Government colluding with Mugabe? The ANC in its struggle against apartheid lectured the world about inequality and the iniquities of racism. It appears incapable of admitting that African Governments can be repressive. The South Africans have disgraced themselves. Meanwhile hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans flood into Mozambique and South Africa in search of employment. Zimbabwe has the world's highest inflation rate of at least 355,000 percent. Inflation may be as high as 9 million percent. Mugabe has turned the breadbasket of Africa into an economic basket case.

The UN Security Council is paralysed by the veto and is a toothless tiger. Whither the UN? Perhaps the US should withdraw all financial support from the UN.

Burma: China blocks UN aid plans for victims of Cyclone Nargis

The official death toll from Cyclone Nargis in Burma has risen to 78,000. This is probably a conservative figure, yet the country's military regime continues block aid from reaching 2.5 million survivors. Diseases, such as cholera, dysentery and malaria, are spreading.

So great is the scale of the disaster that it is impossible for Burma to deal with the crisis on its own. Burma's Generals are shunning the world's offers of help. They fear that aid workers would sew the seeds of rebellion in the minds of starving people. So great is their paranoia that they are prepared to sacrifice many hundreds of thousands of Burmese citizens.

China has the capacity can make the generals change their mind. China is prepared to accept international aid for the victims of the devastating earthquake in its southwestern region yet the Burmese regime continues to block aid efforts.

China has a very strong trading relationship and friendship with Burma's generals. It supplies them with armaments, economic assistance, covert security advice and protects them at the UN Security Council. This weekend China blocked moves at the UN for a Security Council resolution telling the generals to let aid in. How can China justify its decision to accept international aid for its own victims and yet obstruct aid for Burma?

Responsibility for the huge loss of life rests not alone with the Burmese Generals but also with Communist China.

Please email China and demand that they stop blocking UN action. Your email will be sent to the Chinese representatives at the UN and in the UK.
Please send an email now here:
The Burma Campaign UK

Burma-Callous Regime is impervious to plight of victims of cyclone Nargis. It is time for international intervention

One week has elapsed since cyclone Nargis devastated the heavily populated Irrawaddy Delta and on up to the capital Rangoon. Little foreign aid has reached the country testimony to the obduracy and paranoia of a regime which fears that foreign aid workers might contaminate the minds of a cowed populace.

The death toll from the Cyclone is estimated at 60,000 to 140,000 lives. Oxfam, which has staff on the ground, has witnessed the early outbreak of disease amongst the displaced population. It estimates that the death toll could rise to 1,500,000 in the coming weeks if immediate action is not taken.

The border has been opened for one overland convoy, but the regime is still blocking the delivery of the bulk of desperately needed medical and food supplies.
The tyrants of Rangoon have systematically stymied efforts from the international community to provide humanitarian aid to the estimated two million cyclone victims.

China a staunch supporter of this discredited regime has behaved irresponsibly and has done little to ease the situation. Chinese influence could ensure an immediate policy change. Unfortunately Chinese foreign policy- in relation to countries such as Burma and Sudan- is governed by the need to advance Chinese economic interests at all costs. A death toll of 100,000 means little to China- a country whose foreign policy lacks a moral base. It is time to treat China as an international pariah unless it alters its policy in Burma and Sudan.

The US, UK and France amongst others must use whatever means are necessary to ensure humanitarian aid reaches the affected areas. If military intervention is deemed necessary so be it. To hell with the junta. Is the world prepared to stand by and allow 1,500,000 people to perish?

RTE report exposes timber trade between Burma and China

RTÉ News carried a special report Foreign Editor Margaret Ward on the timber trade between China and Burma. Ostensibly China banned imports of timbers from Burma. However Margaret Ward’s report proves conclusively that the trade between Burma and China continues unabated.

Ward posed as a purchaser and found that there was no difficulty in sourcing timber at the right price. The Burmese junta benefits enormously from this trade. According to the report Burmese timber is also finding its way to Korea, Japan and Europe. Kudos to Ward and the RTE team for such a penetrating report which is just one of many coming from China.

Unfortunately China consistently refuses to play by the rules in Burma, Tibet and Sudan. China has provided support for the Butchers of Rangoon on a consistent basis. This enabled the junta to crush the 2007 uprising using tactics perfected by China.

The Ward Diaries are a fountain of information on China.

On his first visit to China, British foreign secretary David Miliband rejected calls for an Olympic boycott. The Beijing Olympics provided an excellent opportunity to leverage concession from China but unfortunately the international community is prepared to overlook human rights violations by China in the interests of trade.

Tibetan monks lead protests against China

This video comes from Russia Today

Beijing has set a deadline of Monday for demonstrators in Tibet to surrender. Chinese officials say the violence in the last few days has left ten people dead. But exiled Tibetan leaders put the death toll at a hundred and claim many more protestors have been injured.

Undoubtedly the Tibetan people will face even greater repression as a result of these demonstrations. The Chinese Communists devoid of any semblance of moral scruple will use the same jackboot tactics as were successfully employed by the Burmese Government in its crackdown on the 2007 uprising by Buddhist monks. Did not the Chinese Government school the Butchers of Burma in advanced techniques of military repression?

The following places the demonstrations in a historical context:

"Today from the legal standpoint, Tibet to this day has not lost its statehood. It is an independent state under illegal occupation. Neither China's military invasion nor the continuing occupation by PLA has transferred the sovereignty of Tibet to China.

As pointed out earlier, the Chinese government has not claimed to have acquired sovereignty over Tibet by conquest. Indeed, China recognises that the use or threat of force (outside the exceptional circumstances provided for in the UN charter), the imposition of an unequal treaty or the continued illegal occupation of a country can never grant an invader legal title to territory. Its claims are based solely on the alleged subjection of Tibet to a few of China's strongest foreign rulers in the thirteenth and eighteenth centuries..."

- Dr. Michael C Van Walt Van Pragg (International Lawyer) The Status of Tibet