Monday, October 12, 2009
china confidential
A Journalist's Dream
Thomas Friedman, a well-intentioned liberal, shares our dismay over the Nobel Committee's decision to award U.S. President Barack Obama its Peace Prize. Click here for Friedman's moving Op-Ed essay in The New York Times.
Friedman imagines Obama could be persuaded to accept the Prize--which he clearly does not deserve--on behalf of U.S. peacekeepers, the men and women of the armed forces who sacrificed and risked their lives to rid the world of the fascist and Stalinist scourges.
He's dreaming. Obama is an appeaser. He hopes to become president of the world--i.e. Secretary General of the United Nations--after leaving the White House.Sunday, October 11, 2009
China Studying US Tree Farming
China is studying American tree farming.
The tree farming term was first used in the United States in the 1940s in order to make sustainable forestry terminology accessible to the U.S. public. Farming signifies perennial production and stewardship of goods. By associating the word farming with trees, foresters aimed to communicate the concept of sustainable production of forest products over time.
Tree Farming implies continuing commitment to the land--the philosophical opposite of the clear-cutting concepts of the early 20th century.
U.S. tree farms are more than pine plantations, say, or Christmas tree farms. Tree farms are varied in nature and contain many different habitats and stages of forest regeneration, from seedlings to mature timber. Biodiversity is a critical component of an authentic--certified--tree farm. Tree farmers must maintain natural forest buffers and other aspects of conservation techniques.
The first U.S. tree farm was designated in Washington State in 1941. The farm's purpose was to demonstrate sound forest management practices to area landowners. California's tree farm program started later in 1941 and has grown to include nearly 600 Tree Farms covering 3.5 million acres of the state.China Fights Back Against Western Speculation
China's 'Grain for Green' Deserves Recognition
The Grain for Green program has enrolled 139 million mu (9.27 million ha) of cropland and 205 million mu (13.67 million ha) of wasteland, encompassing 25 provinces, 2,279 counties and 32.5 million rural households.Iran Trade Alert: US Can Punish UK Freight Firms
UK freight forwarding firms working for U.S. counterparts could be subject to U.S. action if they facilitate transportation of goods to or from Iran, or if they use Iranian vessels.
The United States can freeze assets and take other punitive actions against any foreign company that assists a U.S. company in trading with Iran--in any way.Egyptian Cleric Defies Islamists (and Obama)
A leading Egyptian cleric has barred the barbaric niqab, the Muslim full-face veil, which U.S. President Barack Obama has defended, along with the Muslim headscarf. Click here for the story.
Egypt's Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, which the Obama administration has engaged and encouraged--in anticipation of the overthrow of the country's secular system--is enraged.Turkey Turning Against Israel
The non-Arab, Islamist-leaning nation is turning against Israel, as reported here.
The United States--specifically, the Obama administration--is to blame. U.S. President Barack Obama has embraced Turkey's Islamist-rooted government as part of his outreach to the so-called Muslim world.
Turkey's military--traditionally, the country's secular guardian--is increasingly infiltrated and on the defensive. The Islamizing trend is probably too advanced to be reversed.
Israel has foolishly relied on Washington, refusing to recognize that Obama will not be satisfied until the Jewish State is isolated to the point of no return, hopelessly hemmed in and set up for eradication or piece-by-piece dismantlement.US Stabbing its Troops in the Back
Patton and Pershing must be rolling in their graves.
More than eight years after 9/11, the United States is stabbing is troops in the back. Marines in Afghanistan are being told to hesitate before returning fire; their lives are being sacrificed in the name of nation building.
Insanity rules.
Young men who could be farming America's corn fields are hunting Taliban insurgents in the cornfields of Afghanistan. They are being ordered and trained to appeal to local village leaders--who, understandably, react with skepticism and suspicion. After all, the Taliban are everywhere, and the young Americans could be gone tomorrow.
The seemingly endless war in Afghanistan lacks logic and common sense. The war is a national disgrace.
Monday, 12 October 2009
China is taking steps to protect itself against foreign commodity speculators. Click here for the story.
Western media have largely ignored the Chinese government's largest and most ambitious environmental protection policy--direct compensation to individual farmers for aforestation of cropland.
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