Blah blah blah
Obama leaves Russia
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Death penalty for rioters in China
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Google announces operating system based on browser.
Okay? Cool!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Massive rioting in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang region in northwest China, has left more than 156 dead and more than 1,000 injured. The whole thing is confusing and uses a lot of words I can’t pronounce, but it is generally kind of like Nepal without the adorable monks. Here are a few bullet points to guide you through it:
- China is made up of a large number of disparate ethnic groups, the largest being the Han Chinese who control everything. Urumqi is populated by Uighurs, who are ethnically Turkish/Chinese.
- The Chinese government has historically oppressed the Uighurs while extracting all the mineral wealth (oil) from their area they can. Uighurs feel they have not gotten their share of China’s rapid economic growth.
- Some Uighurs feel that a lot of restrictions and recent public works projects are actually designed to drive them out of the region so it can be repopulated with Han Chinese. The Chinese government is afraid that expressions of Uighur pride and nationalism is the first step towards and open revolution and an attempt to create a breakaway nation.
For now rioting probably continues and there are disputes over whether most of the deaths have been caused by the rioters or by the police. The Internet has been cut for large areas of China and where it is still on sites like Facebook and Twitter are blocked. Read more about this issue here. If any of our many readers (Ok well, two) who are China experts want to correct me, I welcome their thoughts in the comments.
The running of the bulls kicked off in Pamplona, Spain with no serious injuries and only a few bumps and bruises. So, good for them?
The President signed an agreement on Monday to cut American and Russian strategic nuclear arsenals by at least one-quarter. It looks like the treaty signals a warming between Russia and the United States and could lead to more significant arms control talks next year.
There were 7 new U.S. casualties in Afghanistan yesterday, reflecting the intensified fighting there. With more U.S. soldiers in the region and with those soldiers pushing out into areas that had been largely written off to Taliban or tribal control, this is probably only the start of increasing casualty numbers.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
The Minnesota Supreme Court yesterday declared Al Franken the winner of the state’s hotly contested 2008 U.S. Senate race. It has been eight months since the November elections and both sides have been locked in legal battles while the state has gone without a second Senator. Republican Norm Coleman officially conceded the election and Franken will be sworn in next week. For those keeping track, Norm Coleman has now lost elections to this guy and this guy.
The end to this election saga means that Democrats will now have a 60-seat majority that should theoretically allow them to block filibusters and pass whatever kinds of crazy commie legislation they want. However, a key stumbling block to this new found electoral dominance is the fact that the Democratic caucus is a bunch of weenies.
Democrats will need all the votes they can get to pass the Waxmen-Markey bill, which is the country’s first set of laws trying to stem the tide of climate change. Tom Friedman has a great column today pointing out that, while the bill kind of stinks and it is absurd we couldn’t do better, it is critical that the Senate pass it and pass it quickly. If reading isn’t really your thing, his key points are that the U.S. government needs to do SOMETHING to prove it is serious about climate change and that this bill is better than nothing.
U.S. troops continue to draw down forces in Iraq. Yesterday Iraqi army and police took over security in cities across Iraq. The handover was greeted with public celebrations across Iraq and is hailed as the first step toward the planned U.S. departure from the country in 2011.
China, which was planning to launch the hilariously named “Green Dam Youth Escort” internet filtering software yesterday, has backed off its plan to begin efforts to stop citizens from viewing pronographic and offensive content. You can take away all the human and political rights you want, but don’t mess with people’s porn.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Welcome to the Wrapup, your new daily post that’s basically like that filter in your sink’s drain that catches all the junk and keeps it from ruining your disposal. That’s right, I’m here protecting the metaphorical disposal of the internets, giving you all these links that just don’t quite deserve a big fat post of their own. To begin:
