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BeiDa_Boshi on "China's story: putting the PR into the PRC "

BeiDa_Boshi — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 05:18:08 +0100

m.jamil, sorry to say this but the Qing were infact Chinese, just as the Han, the Uighur, the Hui and every other ethnicity who fall under the umbrella of the Chinese minzu are.

Interesting to read your comments. It definitely highlights the sensitivity on the subject, and the difficulty Western acadmics face in contributing to Chinese discourse past and present.

To be sure, the CCP must listen to the will of the Chinese people. On the other hand, it is important to separate the will of the people and the will of the state. Each feed off eachother. Historic factors come in to play, but one must not exclude the massive contour the Communist Party has had in shaping our current outlook.

I believe Professor Millward, a highly respected academic, makes some valid points. There needs to be better understanding by both Chinese and Western academics. Unorthodox his views my be to many Chinese readers, I caution you to neither dismiss them, nor dismiss him. There is a lot we can learn from one another.

Seb Quek on "China’s long march to modernisation"

Seb Quek — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 05:49:35 +0100

Anyone can see for themselves that almost all Chinese are better -off and they will say so if you ask them. They will also admit that their rulers are now more responsive.

If asked if the Chinese should have more political freedom, many will say "yes." But not if it comes with instability.

As for Time magazine's opinions and prescriptions, the Chinese responses will probably not be publishable in this forum.

emdotvee on "China’s long march to modernisation"

emdotvee — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 05:40:44 +0100

Anyone can see for themselves that almost all Chinese are better-off, whatever time frame is used for the comparison. If you ask them, they will say so.

And their rulers are more responsive.

Should there be more freedom in China? Of course. Will this mean a risk of political instability? I think so. If you agree, then the trade-off must be carefully analysed before any prescriptions.

none on "Washington and Latin America: farewell, Monroe "

none — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 02:09:24 +0100

US imperialism in Latin America has not existed since before World War II

spamgreg on "Europe and the Georgia-Russia conflict"

spamgreg — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 22:16:10 +0100

I regret that the article - and many others - talks about «the Russian aggression», forgetting (or pretending forget) it is Ossetia who aggressed first and killed probably about 1,500 Ossetians civilians. The Russians merely responded to an aggression of one of their allies by an ally of the Anglo-Saxons.

More, I read several comments that Georgians would never have attacked without an "orange fire" from their USA mentor. So, my own comment is that the evil Bush administration was probably trying to open yet another Pandora box, for the Devil knows what (very probably stupid) objective.

SpamGreg

Kadafi on "Washington and Latin America: farewell, Monroe "

Kadafi — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 05:58:34 +0100

It is known that the majority of these latin country's that speak out against the so called imperialism of the United States, love and cherish our money.

alfredo.bremont on "Washington and Latin America: farewell, Monroe "

alfredo.bremont — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 20:03:09 +0100

yes the Monroe doctrine is dead. however the solution to a better understanding of the Americas and its intrinsic and dependent relation demands a rethinking method. the main problem here is economical as it is no different than the European African realm. the US needs primal material that exist on the south as well it needs to sell its products to the south. the economics of this exchange is were the problem is. as ever sense the survival of the fittest was applied to the economical realm we got today what you call a financial crisis with no end in sight and probably cannot be fixed neither repair. just a new mayhem in the coming future, if the system is not totally eradicated and a new fresh and humane system is put in place. otherwise is the same system with a new face and with the same problems that you know now. trade and relations have to be thought of differently, the exchange of goods is for the benefit of both not for-the profit of one on the sweat of the other.

the colonial techniques that Europe and specially France applies to Africa are analogues to the practices that the US applies to Mexico and south America.

France today is getting closers to a Nazi regime as their immigration laws are turning into discrimination realms, in the future everyone that is not white and French will be classified as a danger to the nation. in short the end of the French illusion and the beginning of an sophisticated self inflict Holocaust a 1932 reality.

to kill people in this modern day you can do it by rendering them poorer, twisting their hopes and despising them, they will soon die by natural cause suicide or despair. humans right watch should investigate what actually happens in France in what health care is concern, treatment of immigrates specially those from old colonies, how the government has install a kind of irlchman police that targets immigrants; anyone that is not French however Will be blacklisted by the social security employers, and administrative body; it is everyone that is not white that will be target in the long run.

America and France are close linked on that matter because of their Independence and the timing of such an Independence.

changing the economical logic and turning those old concepts into a newer one can do lots of good for America and hopefully for France and its democratic dictatorship.

dada331 on "China’s long march to modernisation"

dada331 — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:48:37 +0100

I never really understood Thomas Friedman comments about Chinese cities being ultra modern and American cities feeling third world by comparison. I just spent a year in Beijing as a student, and while Beijing's new subways are quite good (and by virtue of being new are far better than New York's, for example), and it's recent architextual monsters impressive, there are plenty of places in Beijing that are dirty, smelly, and in various states of disrepair. More so in cities like Qingdao. However, I suppose if I spent all my time in Beijing in Chaoyang and the center business area with all the other ex-pats, I might have a perspective like that of Mr. Friedman's.

luke weyland on "Washington and Latin America: farewell, Monroe "

luke weyland — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 14:12:16 +0100

Excellent Analysis

One irony is the sooner the US Administration treats Latin America with respect and as equals, and the sooner they respect the rights of the peoples and nations to determine their own policies, the sooner USA will gain the respect they vainly seek through brute force.

Not logged in on "The week that democracy won "

Not logged in — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 01:49:39 +0100

sure an interesting article. But yet, there's not a lot of new ideas in here. I mean, yes, maybe the paulson plan wasn't the best, but now, I do believe a governement action is essential. To restart the economy, one needs to invest money, to create money. that's what the banks are there for. So, really, shouldn't we give the banks a chance (and therefor, give us a chance) to save what's left so that we can give another start to the economy?

Anthony Barnett on "The financial crisis: unorthodox thoughts"

Anthony Barnett — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 11:35:36 +0100

Why no mention of Soros, Grahame, whose theory of reflexivity as I understand it sets out to explain why bubbles are inevitable and why there is no 'market knows best' equilibrium - indeed this is a fundamentally mistaken 'economic epistemology'?

Josh Parker on "SuperMedia: the future as “networked journalism” "

Josh Parker — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 01:43:46 +0100

I'm so into this networked journalism thing, it's really awesome to be a part of it.

I used to be an avid user of NowPublic, but in my opinion they sold out when they partnered with the AP. It's like they gave up on 100% citizen journalism and decided to turn it into a money maker only.

I did recently find a site called You Scoop It, it's relatively new and needs some help getting their name out there. But it's a refreshing change of pace.

They make it very professional, easy and fun for citizen journalists to report the news. Its nice to see that some sites out there still care about citizen journalists and are trying to cultivate new ideas.

Check them out...

www.youscoopit.com

Jim on "Austria’s democratic wound"

Jim — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 12:54:08 +0100

The artcle misses the fact behind the behaviour in Austria. After living in Vienna for 5 years I came to understand that the Austrians were never "punished" in any way for their acts in WW II. They escaped all of this under the umbrella of Russian occupancy and then came out of the closet as if nothing had happened. Contrast this with what happened in Germany, their new constitution and place in global assistance.

Cas Mudde on "Austria’s democratic wound"

Cas Mudde — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 02:06:30 +0100

As always a great analysis Anton, but you miss one of the most striking aspects of this victory: the complementary roles the FPO and BZO play. The FPO clearly went after disappointed SPO-voters, among others in its "Social not Socialist" campaign, and indeed won the bulk of its voters from SPO. The BZO has from the outset presented itself as a more moderate alternative for the FPO (where, allegedly, all the extremists were) AND as a more radical alternative for the OVP. Again, this worked, as BZO won the bulk of its voters from OVP, not SPO.

Hence, FPO and BZO are not only different in the regional bases of their support, but also in class and party background. This makes the challenge to the major parties even bigger than before, when they were challenged by only one FPO, as both parties are competing with different radical right parties!

alfredo.bremont on "Ecuador’s hyper-political wave "

alfredo.bremont — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 22:37:24 +0100

Democracy yes democracy, but were does it exist, in America, no! that is just a form of democracy, we got the French version, the American version, the UK version, the Spanish version, the Greek version and Plato’s version. Which is as well a slave version? In fact democracy does not exist what exist are followers of this type of democracy or this other type of democracy it all depends who pays the bills and were is the money coming from. However in the mist of this mayhem, Ecuador will surface as a winner and if all goes well south America in the future will probably have the first genuine real democracy on the western hemisphere. But before we go that far we should ask ourselves who is an advocate of democracy and what type of democracy they advocate. The Georgian, Iraqi, Afghanistan, democracy is petrol democracy. The Ukrainian is a NATO democracy. The Wall Street democracy is Wall Street looting to the core. Therefore before determining what democracy is we might say does it exist. As for the Russian ruler he has his own democracy as Sarkosy and Margaret Thatcher. But what have they done with democracy is what concern us. Washington has kill a lot of innocent people on the name of democracy, Sarkosy, a, dictatorial regime base on the media barons. Tacher practically reduced the nation to the middle ages, creating the city of exchange and banks lenders and barrowers. NATO has you in fear and is cozy with the arms industry. Wall Street well look at the latest bog and you will find out. And they belong to Google and Microsoft. Therefore the day of freedom is waiting, perhaps the matrix of the 21 century wil solve the issue and free us all from the unperceivable hands of rhetoric.