So i was making way on my daily commute and had a few minutes to pass some time. Like most days i just grab the newspaper and skim the articles and headlines. I usually grab the DC examiner, The Politico ( i am in the DC Metro area after all). As i was getting my daily papers i was handed the Washington Times. It is usually 25 cents, but even at the level NO one wastes their money on it. So being a fan of things generally free, i grabbed it and went to do my reading.
The stories were your typical conservative ones. I actually agreed with the decision about the Supreme court overturning McCain-Feingold. Political speech shouldn't be regulated. If i give money to a political organization-candidate, i am expressing my political views. Even the ACLU, and Unions supported the decision overturning McCain-Feingold.
What caught my eye was Frank Gaffney's article about China reducing Iraq's debt. Link to Gaffney's article is here. I know Gaffney has been exposed many times about his fabrication about WMD's and the Iraq war. He even made countdown as one of the worst people in the world. But where i agree with him is with China about how they undervalue the yuan and their trade policies that are illegal and violate WTO rules and regulations. A report that i recommend on this issue is one by Global Securities Watch here.
The intro sums it up:
China marked the start of a state visit by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani on Thursday with agreements to reduce Iraq's debt by "a large margin" and expand economic cooperation.
The countries also were expected to discuss a 1997 deal for China's National Petroleum Corp. to develop the billion-barrel al-Ahdab oil field. The US$1.2 billion contract was signed by the company, also known as PetroChina, and the government of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
Gaffney actually does some work and gets to the point on why china says the new Iraq government, democratically elected (hold the laughs),should be responsible for the consequences and past mistakes of what a dictarship under saddam said and did.
Iraqi sovereign debt to Communist China dating from Saddam Hussein’s time and estimated to be worth as much as $10 billion. The PRC has insisted that the successor government in Baghdad is responsible for its predecessor’s liabilities.
So here we have a Communist authoritarian regime demanding that Iraq pay up for Saddam's debt. But the killer point that Gaffney makes is when he states:
There is a special irony to China’s adamance on the subject that successor governments are responsible for their predecessors’ sovereign debts. After all, American and other investors are estimated to be holding Chinese sovereign bonds issued by pre-Communist regimes worth roughly $260 billion – bonds the PRC has, to date, refused to honor. While British holders of such Chinese bonds were given a discriminatory settlement back in 1987, their American counterparts have been left holding the bag.
Now, though, U.S. legislators are considering a resolution that could induce China to be more forthcoming. House Concurrent Resolution 160, introduced last month by Rep. Lincoln Davis, Democrat of Tennessee and others on both sides of the aisle, would deny the PRC access to the U.S. capital markets until such time as, among other things, Communist China "fully honors repayment of its outstanding defaulted public debts owed to United States citizens".
This is just another article that points out the hypocrisy of the communist regime. Especially now since they will be hosting the 2008 summer olympics. How can a country like China be given the task of hosting the Olympics? More on China's abuses at Wikipediaand over here at AmnestyInternational.
Quick video on china's human rights violations here.
I hoped that they would be a change in the dialogue regarding China when the Democrats came into power. But nothing yet, i still have to rely on Lou Dobbs speaking out against Free trade and the appeasement by congress under both the republicans and democrats.