| |
|
18. mars 2007
|
|
In 2002, Wang Xiaoning was arrested by the Chinese internet police for posting pro-democracy writings on the net.
Yu Ling, his wife, is now battling Yahoo in an American courtroom, for, as she says, betraying her husband.
Yu's husband is now in Beijing Prison No. 2, serving a 10-year sentence for inciting subversion with his pro-democracy internet writings. According to the written court verdict, the Chinese government convicted Wang, in part, on evidence provided by Yahoo.
After a year of preparation, Yu flew into Washington, D.C., last week for one purpose: to find a lawyer and sue the internet giant. She told her story to Wired News in the Virginia headquarters of The China Information Center, a nonprofit advocacy group headed by former dissident Harry Wu, who helped arrange Yu's travel to the United States.
Legally, her case is probably not strong, but morally, Yahoo has a lot to answer for in its eager complicity with jailing a number of democracy proponents in China.
Yahoo and its subsidiaries, which provide web mail and the Yahoo Groups service to the Chinese market, have faced the harshest criticism. The company has been called out no fewer than four times by human rights groups for complying with Chinese government demands for sensitive information about journalists and online dissidents. Writers such as Shi Tao, Li Zhi and Jiang Lijun are all in prison for "crimes" similar to Wang's -- and Yahoo allegedly helped put each of them there.
Money talks. The only way giants like Yahoo, Google or Microsoft can be discouraged from participating in the hunt for political dissidents in despotic countries, is if it would hurt their bottom line. That would, except if Yu Ling's court case wins through, require laws in the west that threatens economic sanctions here for what they do there. How feasible, or even desirable, that is I don't know.
12:39:47 PM 
|
|
Iraqis are way more optimistic than anyone in the west:
MOST Iraqis believe life is better for them now than it was under Saddam Hussein, according to a British opinion poll published today.
The survey of more than 5,000 Iraqis found the majority optimistic despite their suffering in sectarian violence since the American-led invasion four years ago this week.
One in four Iraqis has had a family member murdered, says the poll by Opinion Research Business. In Baghdad, the capital, one in four has had a relative kidnapped and one in three said members of their family had fled abroad. But when asked whether they preferred life under Saddam, the dictator who was executed last December, or under Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, most replied that things were better for them today.
Only 27% think there is a civil war in Iraq, compared with 61% who do not, according to the survey carried out last month.
By a majority of two to one, Iraqis believe military operations now under way will disarm all militias. More than half say security will improve after a withdrawal of multinational forces.
Margaret Beckett, the foreign secretary, said the findings pointed to progress. “There is no widespread violence in the four southern provinces and the fact that the picture is more complex than the stereotype usually portrayed is reflected in today’s poll,” she said.
This result indicates that the image created by the media is extremely misleading.
PS: The press release from the polling company, including a PDF with the raw data. You will see that the actual figures reflect much regional and secterian differences in opinion, as expected. However, the main point stands: if you did a similar poll in the western world, or just about anywhere outside Iraq itself, the results would have been overwhelmingly negative.
Update: Wow! BBC spins it exactly the opposite: Pessimism 'growing among Iraqis'
Yes, it is true that the Iraqis are less optimistic than they were in 2005. I bet they worked hard to find the half empty angle on this poll. However, compared to the picture painted by western media, there is no doubt that the Iraqis themselves happen to have the most positive view of Iraq anywhere (except, arguably, inside the White House).
Update 2: Hmm. This may not be the same poll. The BBC attributes this to "D3 Systems" not Opinion. It will publish more about this poll later. It is a bit surprising with two different polls from Iraq at the same time.
11:42:46 AM
|
|
We're Hamas' only friend:
Alone among Western nations, Norway immediately recognised the new government and announced the lifting of sanctions.
It's utterly embarrassing to live in the only country in the western world that supports a fascist terrorist government.
4:38:51 AM
|
|
Adam LeBor points out that Muslim regimes don't care all that much about Islam after all.
Islam holds that all Muslims, no matter what their colour or ethnic origin, are equal members of the umma, the community of believers. “All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab, nor a nonArab over an Arab, also a white has no superiority over a black, nor a black over a white, except by piety and good action,” said the Prophet Muhammad in his last sermon. The 57 member states of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) seem to think otherwise.
The UN Human Rights Council, based in Geneva, this week issued its report on the continuing slaughter in Darfur. Echoing the findings of previous UN investigations, it documented how Sudanese government forces and their proxy militia, the Janjawid, are committing murder, mass rape and kidnap: “The situation is characterised by gross and systematic violations of human rights and grave breaches of international law.”
All attempts to come to an international consensus has been blocked, after serious lobbying by Arab states entirely comfortable with the genocide in Darfur.
So continues Darfur’s danse macabre, helpfully choreographed by Sudan’s allies. The Arab and Muslim world’s continuing indulgence of Sudan’s onslaught has been a big factor in weakening the UN’s sporadic efforts to stop the carnage. The Security Council did not even discuss Darfur until April 2004, a full year into the crisis. “Sudan was initially very successful at keeping itself off the Security Council agenda, with the full support of the Arab group,” said one UN official working on Darfur.
For many Muslim governments the weary reflexes of anti-colonialism still triumph over saving lives. Far better to show solidarity with Khartoum than cede an inch to Western concepts of human rights — because that would set a dangerous precedent for the decrepit monarchies and dictatorships that rule much of the Arab and Muslim world.
The 21st century will include countless "never again" stories of genocide. Amnesty International and the NGO alphabet soup will be busy condemning the US and Israel.
4:08:30 AM
|
|
|
© Copyright 2007 Jan Haugland.
Last update: 01.04.2007; 03:26:14.
|
|
|
