In preparation for the Olympics, China authorized 3 protest zones where people could protest the government. The protests had to ask the central government for permission five days before a scheduled protest occurred. So far there has been a total of zero protests and many who had filed for a protest “went on vacation” during the period of the Olympic games. I’m upset at China for two reasons over this. One is obviously them promising free protests but then failing to deliver on the promise and the second is that they didn’t even make the effort to make it look like they were going to loosen up on protests during the Olympic period.

While the Olympics overall has been a great success, this has been one of the things that will be a dark spot in the Beijing Olympics for years to come. The central government has said that there has not been one protest since these protest zones went up and that all protesters problems have been “addressed in a satisfactory manner by the government”, which really means that all people who filed for a protest were either temporarily jailed or detained.

I have to say this is a boneheaded move by the central CCP to not even allow one single protest. Do they really think that anyone(including Chinese people) is going to buy that all the concerns have been addressed and no one has anything to protest? Even in democratic countries that are rich, someone will have something to protest about. Having zero protests will just tell the international community that you never really intended to have any freedom of speech during the games.

The smart thing to do would have been to deny most of the requests but let a few minor protests through so that the protest zones will at least have some activity going on so it will look like that you are living up to your promise of allowing protests. I’m sure there were protests filed that were not major issues that the CCP could have let through.

If you don’t have any real protests, at least stage some fake ones to make it look like people are allowed to protest. Just not having anyone ever in the protest areas just means not only are you completely denying freedom of speech but that you aren’t even making an attempt to make the promise look good. Its a slap in the face to every other country as no one will believe that no Chinese people have anything to protest about. What the hell is wrong with the governing body of Beijing these days? Can’t they be just a bit smarter regarding international affairs?

Barack Obama has chosen Joe Biden to be his running mate on the democratic ticket. This comes just days before the democratic convention in Denver. This move was heralded by some(including Hillary Clinton) as brilliant but seen by others as an insult and a slap in the face. While Biden does bring the experience that Obama needs to the table, I can’t say that it was a good move for him so easily snubbing Hillary Clinton and not even considering her for the VP spot. Many of Clinton’s 18 million supporters are outraged and say they will now jump ship to McCain.

While that actually makes no logical sense since McCain’s policies are the opposite of Clinton’s, many will do so just for a chance that Hillary can run in 2012. Even if 2 million people that would have voted democrat vote republican, thats a 4 million vote swap. I think Obama put himself deeper in the hole with this choice and it opens the door for John McCain. McCain now also has some time to decide who he will pick to be his VP. This could be a great chance for a strategical move to draw in some more disgruntled Clinton supporters but he has to be careful to not upset his conservative base. Lieberman would be the obvious choice if he’s catering to Ex-Clinton supporters and appealing to moderates but I do not think that would be a wise choice for Obama as it would further alienate conservatives. Mitt Romney might be a decent choice with the help he will give in Michigan but it will hurt McCain some in the southern states. At this point I’d say McCain either has to take a risk and take on Lieberman or pick a solid southern white conservative to completely wrap up the conservative base and the evangelical vote. He also has to pick someone younger than himself. But no matter who he picks, the momentum is on his side now, he just has to make the best of it.

Barack Obama’s once huge lead over John McCain has All but vaporized and the Democrats are reeling and looking for an answer. What was an 8-point lead in mid July dropped to a 3 point lead in the last week and narrowed to 1 point today. Obama and supporters look forward to the convention to boost their numbers. But will it boost the numbers enough? Remember that McCain also has the GOP convention coming up soon.

Obama’s lead has been thinning mostly because of the McCain ads that questioned Obama policies and what they would do for Americans and the recent crisis with Georgia which showed Barack’s Lack of experience in foreign affairs.

The commercial was a great success for McCain. Even though some accused it of being too negative, it did show the bad sides of Obama’s tax policy which many Americans are concerned about. Taxes that hit mainly the middle class(Obama policy hits those making $40,000 and up) just are not too popular. Also displaying his celebrity status has brought some to wonder if he’s really ready to lead the country.

The crisis in Georgia was also a large blow to Obama. McCain took a tough approach and warned Russia that there would be consequences while Obama took a much softer approach and even suggested calling on the UN, which Russia and China have security council seats on, to bring political pressure on Russia. People noticed this and it seriously brought into question Obama’s credibility on Foreign policy. People trust McCain over Obama on this policy by more than 2 to 1.

The tide has turned against Obama and momentum is on McCain’s side now. If Barack wants to win, he has to steer people away from the actual issues and get back his demi-god like status which will be harder to do now since much of his shine has worn off. Either that or he needs to made new policies that McCain can’t pick at all that much. Whatever the plan, it spells trouble for the once invincible Barack Obama.

Nato has accused Russia of failing to honor the terms of their cease-fire agreement. Russian troops are still entrenched deep in the heart of Georgia despite promises from Moscow to withdraw. Russia, however, said the accusations were ‘biased’ and said that Georgia also had not fulfilled its part in the cease-fire agreement. He also said that some troops stayed to protect South Ossetia’s territory. The fighting has destroyed many parts of Georgia and Ossetia and each side is accusing the other of “Ethnic cleansing”.

The Bush administration says it wants suspension of all spectrums of programs between NATO and Russia but this is unlikely to happen as Britian and many former soviet countries are not likely to respond with that aggression as Russia remains an important trade partner in that region. An exchange of prisoners had occured and Georgia no longer holds any Russian prisoners while Russia still holds some 65 Georgian prisoners.

Russia is worsening its relations with the EU in this move and the United States has called for postponement of an EU-Russia summit. NATO will most likely wait before further action but remains “very concerned” about Russian aggression.

I highly doubt that Russia will withdraw within the next week. The former Soviet Union has been getting increasingly more aggressive through the last few years as economics in the country has gotten better. I get a sense that they are trying to rebuild their status as a major world power. I expect to see many more of these small conflicts and possibly larger ones build up in the future between Russia and the pro-western former soviet states. It probably won’t escalate into war but it is a cause for concern as casualties, especially along the border are almost a sure thing.

Its a shame this had to happen during the Olympics, which are meant as a symbol of world unity. Athletes can’t compete calmly when their homes are being blown up.

After analyzing both Barack Obama and John McCain carefully, I regret to have to inform you that no matter which candidate gets the Nod, we are completely screwed. I will take this little piece to explain in detail why we are screwed regardless of the election outcome. It will give you time to regret nominating these people before one of those becomes the president.

First lets look at McCain. At first sight he looks like a good old man who has lots of experience and is well qualified, but don’t be fooled by that. McCain is very supportive of many Bush policies — policies that have driven this country into the ground. Despite the high oil prices, falling real estate prices, and the general slump in the economy, he still wants to spend $10 billion a month fighting the war in Iraq, which is a war without end. McCain also admitted himself that he doesn’t know much about economics and must completely rely on his advisers. In this time of economic turmoil and job loss, we need someone who is familiar with both fiscal and monetary policy to help lead us, not someone who has no clue what economics is about. McCain also claims to be an expert on foreign policy but despite this, he is still confused about how Sunni Muslims are different from Shiite Muslims.

Now lets look at the change-man Obama. Obama claims to be for the middle class. However, a closer look at his tax plan reveals otherwise. He plans to raise taxes on families making over $40,000 and raise capital gains taxes up to 28% from 15%. This means less investments, less cash flow, and fewer jobs for Americans. Since he is raising taxes on all families making over $40,000, it probably means he’s giving that money to people making under $40,000. Now, some of this tax money will go to supporting people who deserve it like single mothers of five kids, but most will probably go towards subsidizing lazy bums who refuse to get a job . You may think that this is being harsh, but there are dozens of homeless guys in their 30s and 40s who are quite capable of getting a restaurant job or other sort of employment but simple don’t because its easier to live off the government. There are dozens of these guys that live in a 2 square mile radius of me. I do not believe in subsidizing these people. If you want to eat, you must at least try to get a job and not just wait for the government to give you handouts. From the looks of it, Obama wants to guarantee equality of results instead of equality of opportunity, and I do not like the sound of that.
On foreign policy, Obama recently had the brilliant idea of appealing to the UN and having them pass measures against Russia recent aggression. Thats a brilliant idea, especially since Russia and China are on the security council and can instantly veto any measure that tries to pass.

So, in the final analysis, we are screwed no matter what happens in this election. However, all is not bad, because despite the fact that these two guys are both pathetic morons with no hope in changing the economy, they are still an upgrade over what we have now. So look forward to another 4 years of incompetent leadership and I hope to see better in 2012.

Russia attacked Georgia last week and moved in with Tanks and Troops while leveling and taking over Georgian cities. President Bush condemned these attacks and said that bullying and intimidation was not the way of diplomacy in of the 21st century. Russia responded by essentially saying that actions against its troops would be seen as an act of war. In the last few days Russia has said it will back out of Georgia and give the cities back that it occupied. But if you think that trouble with Russia has been avoided, you would wrong.

The United States just signed a missile defense deal with Poland to which Russia said that any missile defense system would expose Poland to a possible nuclear strike. This is a major statement — threatening with nuclear weapons against Poland but they also warned against any allied country. While this is by far not a call for arms against Russia(that would just be crazy), but it is a call for a tougher diplomatic stance. Calling on the UN is worthless at this point because both Russia and China have veto votes on the security council. The other option is calling on NATO but I’m not sure what that will do either. This is quite a sticky situation and in a worst case scenario, things could escalate back into a mini cold-war which would be devastating for all parties involved and the world in general. I’m not sure what Russia is thinking or if they are just making a grab for power. Maybe they were planning this all along and we were watching China too much and Russia not enough.

For the first time ever, China is allowing political protests — and during the Olympics. I’m sure a lot of people heard the announcement a few days ago that China is allowing political protests during the Olympics, but only in three designated areas. There are also further restrictions on protests. You must register five days in advance with the Chinese government and tell them about the nature and size of your protest. They must approve of your protest before you can protest.

I find this all very entertaining. Its funny that the government must approve of your protest before you can protest. I mean, isn’t the reason you are protesting because you are unhappy with the government’s policy? These protest restrictions makes this allowing protests gesture little more than a goodwill move towards foreign countries. It is not a step towards freedom of expression.

Many people are also afraid that government officials will be keeping track of protesters so they can make arrests after the Olympics and this “free protesting” period is over. I doubt this will happen either. There are simply too many people to keep track of in these things and all the Beijing security forces are already up to their ears in terms of things to do. Since all these activities have to be approved by the government first, I doubt there will be anything serious. Since the protests are going to be restricted to three parks and most people here are just here to watch the games, I doubt they’ll get much attention and I doubt the news will cover them much. It was probably the Chinese government’s intention for them just to be kind of in the background and not draw much attention. There’s not going to be much meaningful protests anyways since any protest deemed “unhealthy for Chinese nationalism(Tibet, liberty agendas, etc)” will not be approved by the Chinese government. So basically you going to see a lot of protesters protest about stuff no one really cares about.