Post-Easter Sunday Blitz: the Asian Edition

Is everyone enjoying the Easter season?

Good.




The Soviets used to deny the existence of gulags, too:

North Korea’s state-run Rodong Sinmun complained about the “human rights racket” on Monday, charging that the United States and its “vassal forces” have fabricated complaints about the appalling state of human rights in North Korea to justify ongoing sanctions and trick the North Korean people into turning against their government.

Rodong Sinmun fulminated against what it described as lies “cooked up” by the evil Americans and propagated by “egging despicable human scum” at international organizations.

(Sidebar: yes, about that ...)

 


Secure in the knowledge that the upcoming summit is just a convenient stalling tactic that everyone is entertaining, the third Kim can afford to be cocky. It's not like anyone will assassinate him or anything.

Unlike a certain elder half-brother who was.


Also:

The head of North Korea's United Front Department on Monday identified himself as "what South Koreans are calling the mastermind of the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan sinking" in 2010.  ...

Kim was the chief of the General Bureau of Reconnaissance, which is charged with espionage against South Korea, from February 2009 to early 2016, and South Korean military and intelligence authorities concluded that the bureau was behind the sinking. 

But both the regime and Kim himself claim the entire operation was faked and have never apologized for the death of 46 South Korean sailors. 

It seems that by joking about his role, Kim was in fact trying to distance himself from the attack. But the families of the fallen sailors were enraged. A spokesperson said it was "intolerable" for Kim to joke about the incident.

China, North Korea's backer, does not want to be left standing when all is said and done after the May summit:

Chinese President Xi Jinping is trying to push his way back to the front in negotiations about North Korea's nuclear weapons.

Xi swiftly invited North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to Beijing when an inter-Korean summit and a U.S.-North Korea summit suddenly appeared on the horizon. China is the first foreign country that the reclusive North Korean leader has visited since taking power.

North Korea isn't the only pie in which China has its fingers:

The Global Times – a newspaper controlled and run by the Communist Party of China – has taken an insulting, arrogant, and threatening line towards Canada.

As noted by Reuters, the paper attacked Canada for proposed measures against steel being dumped into Canada (often from China) and then shipped into the US to bypass tariffs. ...

Here are some key parts of the Global Times article:

“Canada’s steel imports from China only make up 9.8 percent of its total imports, with nearly no aluminum imports from China. In fact, Canada is more like a US colony economically, and half of its trade is with the US.”

“Meanwhile, China is Canada’s second largest trading partner, with the fastest growth in trade. The two countries enjoy sound trade ties and have no major disputes. But by following the US suit, Canada is acting like a crafty merchant.”

Well, China ought to know about colonies and buffer states.

It should also have a few contingency plans for when India reduces it to a pile of radioactive rubble and therefore not in a condition to dump steel anywhere.


Also - two can play at this game:

The Chinese government plans to immediately impose tariffs on 128 U.S. products, including pork and certain fruits, a direct response to President Trump’s recent moves to pursue numerous trade restrictions against Beijing.

 Jesus is still bigger than Xi, no matter how many bishop plants China installs:

Restricting the Vatican’s control over the appointment of bishops in China does not infringe on religious freedom, a Chinese official said Tuesday, amid historic negotiations between Beijing and the Holy See aimed at healing divisions.

Chen Zongrong, an official overseeing religious affairs, said Beijing would not allow “foreign forces” to govern the country’s faith groups.

“The Chinese constitution clearly states that China’s religious groups and religious affairs cannot be controlled by foreign forces, and (the foreign forces) should not interfere in Chinese religious affairs in any way,”

“I disagree with the view that preventing Rome from having full control over the selection of bishops hinders religious freedom,” Chen said.

If the Vatican cannot install bishops then it clearly has no freedom.

But this obfuscation is just an exercise in arrogance from a totalitarian government and nothing more.



(Paws up)