Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TobagoJack who wrote (9378)	9/17/2006 10:50:09 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 217656

According to AP, the US electorates, via Bush, Cheney, Rummsy, and Rice, seem to have out done the Soviets and ChiCom in so far as news.yahoo.com mistreating apparently quite ordinary folks while under the international spotlight, practiced with unscientific method and without legal process other than the one that says Bush is above the law; and worst of all, all to no gainful effect, due to comic incompetence at even the simple task of anti-terror through fear. LOL!! I wonder how the Chinese treat the muslim militants they capture in Xinjiang Province?? Sure ain't nothing to be proud of, especially since the Han Chinese population of Xinjiang has grown from 300,000 to over 6 million since 1949. Of course, this is just the Chinese version of "Manifest Destiny", I guess.. Beijing also has shrewdly capitalized on post-9/11 fears of Islamic terrorism to launch a "strike hard" campaign against Muslim "splittists"-groups of ethnic Uighurs living in the western Xinjiang province, the site of diffuse but violent separatist movements in the past. Yet according to Dru Gladney, an expert on Chinese Muslims at the University of Hawaii, most Uighurs have become less enamored with separation as they have watched chaos envelop their independent, post-Soviet Central Asian neighbors. Even Uighurs advocating increased autonomy primarily desire more freedom to study and utilize the Uighur language and to halt the flooding of the province with ethnic Han Chinese. (There were roughly 300,000 Han in Xinjiang in 1949; today there are more than 6.4 million.) Still, the "strike hard" campaign has been exceptionally broad, perhaps reflecting Beijing's fear that some Uighur activists might link up with Tlbetans and other disgruntled ethnic minorities. Vocally linking its crackdown to the international war on terror (Beijing claims al-Qaeda terrorists are hiding in Xinjiang), the Chinese authorities have deployed 40,000 new troops to the province, burned Uighur-language books and held "political education" sessions for 8,000 imams. These campaigns are eerily reminiscent of the Cultural Revolution's brutal "education" brainwashing sessions. Meanwhile, the security forces have detained thousands of Uighurs and executed several alleged separatists. As Craig Smith of the New York Times noted after watching one man be sentenced to death, Xinjiang is "the only place in the country where people are regularly put to death for political offenses." thirdworldtraveler.com BTW, The Chinese leaders now use the term "inner-Party democracy" to publicly embrace the idea that the CCP should institutionalize the checks and balances within its leadership. As they say, a journey of 10k miles starts with one step. Interesting.. the cliche can apply to China, but it can't apply to Iraq and the rest of the Mid-East?? What's even more ironic is, politically speaking, Iraq is now actually more democratic that China. How does that feel TJ.. Having to admit that an Arab country can actually manage to have national, free and fair, elections, even in the midst of sectarian violence, but China cannot? Hawk

To: TobagoJack who wrote (9378)	9/17/2006 11:40:20 PM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 217656

Hi Jay, As usual, you ask me questions I wasn't thinking about, but I will give it a try. Re: detainees. 14,000? Huh. Lotta damned detainees. I am probably not a good proxy for the Bush base but maybe closer than you're going to get otherwise, so here goes. So what? Sorry, doesn't bother me in the least. Now, let's be clear, I've been arguing in favor of humane treatment, indeed according to the Geneva conventions, but fact of the matter is, the war isn't over, so they don't have any right to be repatriated, assuming they want to go home, and assuming their home country actually wants them. In fact, as I understand it, their lawyers are arguing that sending them home to places like Egypt and Saudi Arabia is "cruel and unusual punishment" because they won't be treated very well once they get there. So -- at worst, in the US, vis-a-vis 2006 midterm elections, a neutral. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Re: Chinese demand for Saudi oil. Hey, go 'head on. It's not in anybody's interest for the Saudis to cave to the Jihadis. Not yours, not ours. The entire point of the Pax Americana is cheap oil for our allies. So -- vis-a-vis 2006 midterm elections, a neutral. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Re: Chinese products. I don't see any lessening in demand for value for money. If the Chinese want to provide value for money, no complaints. If not, there's always the Indians, the Pakistanis, the Bangladeshi, the Mexicans, the Hondurans, the Costa Ricans, etc., etc., etc. Someone, somewhere, is always willing to get rich. So -- vis-a-vis 2006 midterm elections, not even a blip. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What else? Interest rates? Gas prices? I dunno, they don't seem to be problems to me, at least not for the foreseeable future. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As for Doomsday -- you keep predicting it, I keep not seeing it.