The China, U.S., Sudanese Triangle of Oil and Death

October 2, 2010

Most of what I hear about China in Sudan from the Western media makes China look bad, because they are supporting Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir, who has been charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes by the ICC (International Criminal Court).

After reading an extensive post about this at China Matters, my opinion changed.

I learned that in 2000, President Clinton was opposed to any kind of rapprochement with Sudan and spared no effort to further isolate the African-Arab country at both regional and international levels.

Then G.W. Bush became president and reversed U.S. policy toward Sudan, an oil-rich country.

China Matters reproduced a 2006 post called “The Twisted Triangle” that had a wealth of detail about the Bush administration’s “forgotten” courtship of Omar al-Bashir.

In short, America was competing with China for access to Sudanese oil and the Chinese won the chess game.

Curious, I turned to Western media sources to see what they were currently saying about China in Sudan.

In an August 2010 Reuters piece, China was portrayed as uncooperative.

Then the Telegraph in the UK says that China’s stake in Sudanese oil has made China Mr. al-Bashir’s only friend among the leading powers, while human rights groups have called for an oil embargo on Khartoum.

Without mentioning what President G .W. Bush’s administration did in Sudan, the Telegraph concludes by saying that America formally banned its companies from investing there and European firms avoid the protests that would accompany any involvement with al-Bashir’s militant Muslim regime.

Did America put that ban in place before or after the Bush administration lost the chess game over Sudanese oil to China?

See China’s Oil Hunger Grows

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

4 Comments | America, business, China, Islam, media, politics | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

The Sinophobia Epidemic

September 29, 2010

After being called “Pro China” and a “Panda Lover”, along with a few other tags, I wondered how many people in America have the mental illness called Sinophobia.

The Ramblings of a Political Psychology Major provided an answer. “There is a majority opinion in the US that China is a country we should be concerned with. In a February 2010 Gallup poll, 53% of Americans rated China as being unfavorable or very unfavorable.”

Sinophobia is especially common in Japan. If you don’t believe me, read what Japan did to the Chinese during World War II.

After that, check out what the British, French, Americans and a few others did to China in the 19th century during the Opium Wars.


Do you detect anger in this video?

The notion of “yellow peril” manifested itself in government policy with the U.S. Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which reduced Chinese immigration from 30,000 annually to 105.

Jack London’s 1914 story, The Unparalleled Invasion, takes place in a fictional 1975, and describes a China with an ever-increasing population taking over and colonizing its neighbors with the intention of eventually taking over the Earth. 

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought that was Hitler’s German Nazis who wanted to do that.

Fili’s World provides an example of Sinophobia in the Israeli media. “You know something is wrong when you hear everyone in the media quoting the exact same clichés, even if they sound so moral and enlightened.… The Chinese have no way of winning the PR battle. If they perform well, they’re described as machine-like and cold. If they mess things up a bit, they are described as losing control. If they tighten up security, they’re violating human rights. If they’re loosening it up a bit, then it’s a sign that China is breaking apart. If they’re on time, they’re fascists. If they’re late, they’re incompetent.”

The Glittering Eye says, “I think I could devote an entire Blog to Sinophobia rather than just to an occasional post seen in the news media.”

Most Chinese Americans I know say they are afraid to speak out about this illness, because a white-faced, round-eyed, big nosed Sinophobe will tell them to go home.

Sinophobia is so serious, it even appears on the Phobia List.

If 53% of Americans have this illness, it should qualify as an epidemic. Along with the annual flu shot, there should be an anti-Sinophobia injection.

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

3 Comments | America, American culture, China, Chinese history, cultural differences, media, politics | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Democracy Equals Freedom – Think Again

September 28, 2010

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Source: US Constitution

I find it interesting that I had to read in the Guardian about a respected Mexican newspaper (across the border from the US) asking the drug cartels for guidance on how not to offend them so the drug cartels would stop killing newspaper reporters and photographers.

Freedom House’s annual survey of media independence in 195 countries and territories show that only 17% of the earth’s population lives in what is considered “Free”. 

Forty-two percent of the planet’s people live in “Not Free” and 41% in “Partly Free” countries, and Mexico, which is billed as a democracy is listed with the “Partly Free”.

Watch the video then visit Freedom House.org to discover that countries considered “Free” mostly have colonial links to Europe.

Although the video shows most of the world’s countries are democracies today, the results at Freedom House say it isn’t true.

 Even India, which is billed as the largest “democracy” on the planet is “partly free”.

China is listed as “not free”, which is among the planet’s majority, according to Freedom House, and China makes no attempt to hide that fact.

America and the rest of the “free” 17% of the world would be better off if the “free press” were required to tell the truth and nothing but the truth without exaggerations. Unfortunately, America’s Founding Fathers forgot that sentence.

The U.S. First Amendment also doesn’t protect freedom of the press from corporate CEOs or gangsters, and foreign companies own four of American’s six-largest media empires.

See Media Slugfest Using Taiwan

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Censorship

September 22, 2010

After writing the post Global Censorship and Corruption, I did more research and discovered that Reporters Without Borders ranked the United States 20th in their 2009 Press Freedom Index. 

In 2008, when G. W. Bush was president, that rank was 36 of the 175 countries listed.

The People’s Republic of China was ranked 168. 

Saudi Arabia, a staunch ally to the US and an important source of foreign oil, was ranked 163 – not far from China, yet we seldom hear or read complaints about censorship in Saudi Arabia.

James E. Hanson, who worked for NASA, appeared on 60 minutes and said that the G. W. Bush White House censored climate-related press releases reported by federal agencies to make global warming seem less threatening

Does the U.S. Constitution allow freedom of press and expression for government employees?  It doesn’t look like it.

In addition, if an employee for an American corporation speaks to the media without permission, he or she may be fired.

The September 2010 AARP Bulletin had a piece about books banned in America. 

Did you know that the Harry Potter series was burned in New Mexico and challenged in 19 states and the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin was frequently censored from 1789 to the early 20th century? Source: AARP Bulletin

I do not agree with what President Bush’s White House did to James Hanson’s report about climate change.

However, if the U.S. government can censor government employees, why can’t China’s government do the same to their employees?

To learn about China’s Constitution see Dictatorship Defined

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Global Censorship and Corruption

September 21, 2010

Gordon Ross at Global Geopolitics & Political Economy reports that in spite of “overwhelming obstacles” in China, a few courageous reporters are exposing official corruption and criminal behavior and it is dangerous.

Why doesn’t Ross’s piece mention that there are crime fighters in China like Bo Xilai, who may be China’s number one crime fighter?

Bo’s much-publicized crackdown on gangsters in Chongqing resulted in the arrest and conviction of thousands of gangsters, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. Source: The Diplomat.com

How about crime and corruption in America?  UCLA Professor of Public Affairs Mark Kleiman is “angry about having too much crime and an intolerable number of people behind bars.”

The United States is home to five percent of the world’s population and 25 percent of the world’s prisoners, yet, says Kleiman, our high incarceration rate isn’t making us safer. Source: Reason.com

Threats and fear or reprisals and lawsuits in the U.S. have put witnesses, police, reporters and whistle blowers in danger.

For example, Serpico, the true story of an honest New York cop who blew the whistle on rampant corruption in the force only to have his comrades turn on him.

Being a witness in the United States can also be dangerous, which is why the U.S. Government has the United States Federal Witness Protection Program.

Due to many of the same problems China faces today, America also has the U.S. Department of Labor Whistleblower Protection Program.

Then Serendipity says that censorship exists to some extent in all modern countries, including the U.S.A., the U.K., Germany, France, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.

Crime and corruption is a global problem and is not exclusive to China.

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

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Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

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