Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Your Morning News 7.7.09
Posted by Josh in Afghanistan, Arms Control, China, Internet, Pamplona, president obama, Russia, Spain, Uighurs
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.