Giving them a job to do and keeping them confused on the issues
http://www.guardian.co.uk/gallery/image/0,8543,-10304263345,00.htmlMade in China
Workers in a Shanghai factory struggle to keep up with the sudden demand for US flags. The Chinese company said it had orders for half a million flags.
Photo: Eugene Hoshiko, AP
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http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=162881(snip)
US trade deficit with China surges to a record high
The Commerce Department reported that the US' overall trade gap narrowed, while congress was getting ready for another round of China bashing
The US trade deficit declined to US$39.21 billion in August, the smallest gap in six months, reflecting a big drop in imports of cars and foreign oil.
However, America's trade deficit with China surged to an all-time high, a development certain to add to the pressure in Congress to punish China for what critics contend are the country's unfair trade practices.
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http://www.freedommag.org/english/vol34I1/page15.htmWhen Greed Sacrificed Democracy
The high costs of failing to safeguard human rights
Seeds of Fire
By Gordon Thomas
Dandelion Books,
Tempe, Arizona, 2001
Reviewed by Marie Bannon
Bob Dylan was once asked for his opinion of his critics. He thought for a moment and answered, “Well, imagine ... writing ... about rock’n’roll.” The same goes for book reviews—attempting in a few pages to explain or criticize what a writer took years of sweat and research to get down on the page is a questionable occupation, and, in the face of genius, can reach absurdity. What is important is that pivotal works be brought to public attention.
Seeds of Fire is such a work. Beyond just good journalism, it is a compelling history of some of the most crucial, and unknown, events of the last two decades.
A HEART WRENCHING JOURNEY INTO CHINA
Gordon Thomas (left) in Tiananmen Square; facing the camera is Tan Yaobang, a People’s Liberation Army company commander. Decisions by U.S. and other leaders to do nothing to help the Chinese people in their quest for democracy had serious consequences—for the demonstrators and for America.
he book, released at the close of 2001, begins with a story of international intrigue: how Israeli spies stole Enhanced Promis, a computer program, and how China obtained six sets of the software for $9 million from newspaper magnate Robert Maxwell, ultimately enabling them to access secrets of our government, including the nuclear secrets of Los Alamos. While this is interesting enough, it is only the beginning of the complex history that Gordon Thomas attempts.
The work really comes alive when the author takes us into China, on the verge of the student demonstrations in 1989. Thomas is a master at personalizing history, bringing the reader onto the scene through firsthand observations of people who were there. Nowhere has he done this better than in Seeds of Fire.
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“In the Beijing office of Kissinger Associates, staff sent an update on the demonstrations to the consultancy’s office in Washington.... The report would be distributed by Henry Kissinger to his fellow board members, former Presidents Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, as well as executive members Alexander Haig, Robert McFarlane and Zbigniew Brzezinski. Some of the most powerful men in the United States had ‘had their alarm bells rung,’ a Kissinger Associates employee would say. ...
“he United States, insisted the President, would do nothing to make things more difficult . Any approach by the students to the U.S. embassy in Beijing for help was to be firmly refused. ...
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