News Stories

[Sumeragi]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

I always knew you are a control freak.

I should add that I'll also work to revise the constitution allowing for two five-year terms for the president or a change to the parliamentary system, then work my way up to the head of government. Then, once the dual citizenship laws in Japan are passed, I'll go regain my Japanese citizenship and also become a member of the Diet. Then, we might have one leader of two countries. It'll be the foundation of Eastasia.

Yes, I am EBIL, MUHAHAHA

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Come to think of it, since Jeju is a tourism island, won't militarising it turn it into potential hotspot for conflict with Japan to the South, and give the Japanese Nationalist radicals an excuse to take control of Japan?

Japan will never turn radical from Korea. It'll be because of the PRC that Japan will embrace nationalism, if it does.

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Would you actually equate the news agency which reported it to be nothing but a mere tabloid? I am not very familiar with Korean news and their networks.

Here's the title of the article: Jasmine Lee Faces Racial Abuse After Election Win

I think that pretty much tells what the article is actually about.



Now, for the craziest news from Japan: Ishihara says Tokyo to buy Senkaku islets / Purchase of 3 islands to 'protect' them

The Tokyo metropolitan government plans to buy three of the Senkaku Islands to "protect them," Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara said in Washington on Monday......

"The Tokyo metropolitan government will protect the Senkaku Islands. How can anyone complain about the Japanese buying the islands to protect the nation's territory, regardless of which country opposes such a move?"

Following the speech, Ishihara told reporters the metropolitan government would propose that the Okinawa prefectural government or the Ishigaki municipal government jointly manage the three islands.


Govt mystified by plan

The government has not been informed of the Tokyo metropolitan government's plan to purchase the three Senkaku Islands, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said Tuesday.

"The government has maintained contact with the owners [of the Senkaku Islands]," Fujimura said during a morning press conference. "However, we aren't aware of [the Tokyo metropolitan government's plan]. Whether we'll discuss [the islands with the local government] is a matter to be considered later."

[SeijiSensei]

Sounds like there's been some secret dealings between Ishihara-san and Mina Tepes! Perhaps she discovered his secret cache of pictures of foreign lolis and has been blackmailing him ever since. We'll probably soon learn the truth when her minions start construction on one of the islands.

[AnimeFan188]

"Synthetic marijuana is marketed as a cheap way to get a legal marijuana-like high.
But health experts say it is 'way more' than marijuana and is 'very dangerous.'"

See:

http://news.yahoo.com/synthetic-mari...224953961.html

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by AnimeFan188

"Synthetic marijuana is marketed as a cheap way to get a legal marijuana-like high.
But health experts say it is 'way more' than marijuana and is 'very dangerous.'"

See:

http://news.yahoo.com/synthetic-mari...224953961.html

Great... ship-shavings and chemicals versus growing a plant..... um, yeah.

[Ascaloth]

@Sumeragi and SaintessHeart,

Bah, amateurs. The both of you, if anyone, should know that the first thing we should do as leader of South Korea is;

1) Pour funding into military R&D focusing on three categories; conventional industrial production, higher-order metaphysics, and bioengineering.
2) End conscription of all South Korean youth.
3) Proceed with conscription of top SC2 players.
4) ???
5) Profit!!!

[Urzu 7]

For anyone, teen or adult, who knows they are going to have fake pot before they smoke it, and they know that it is a bunch of unsafe, untested chemicals they are smoking, and then they smoke it anyway...should we really feel bad for them? Only an idiot would do that, and it is safe to say that most times people smoke this stuff they know it is unsafe chemicals with no tests and studies on them.

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by Urzu 7

For anyone, teen or adult, who knows they are going to have fake pot before they smoke it, and they know that it is a bunch of unsafe, untested chemicals they are smoking, and then they smoke it anyway...should we really feel bad for them? Only an idiot would do that, and it is safe to say that most times people smoke this stuff they know it is unsafe chemicals with no tests and studies on them.

The lacing and substitution issue (i.e. quality control) makes most of these forms of "recreation" a no-go for anyone with a clue

[Ascaloth]

Well, the gene pool has been needing a bit of chlorine for a while.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Sumeragi

I should add that I'll also work to revise the constitution allowing for two five-year terms for the president or a change to the parliamentary system, then work my way up to the head of government. Then, once the dual citizenship laws in Japan are passed, I'll go regain my Japanese citizenship and also become a member of the Diet. Then, we might have one leader of two countries. It'll be the foundation of Eastasia.

Yes, I am EBIL, MUHAHAHA

You have my support if :

1. You stop at Yalu and Tumen Rivers.
2. You do NOT incorporate a fujoshi division in the NIS.
3. You do NOT legalise BL and yaoi and make it a mandantory art topic in girls' schools.

North Korea's Kim Jong-un could be "more dangerous than his father" - Decoder

North Korea’s admission that a recent rocket launch had failed may signal greater openness under 28-year-old leader Kim Jong-un, the basketball-loving son of the late Kim Jong-il, says Analyst Patrick Cronin of the Center for a New American Security. But Cronin says impressions passed on by Chinese officials who know Kim suggest a “spoiled child” who could prove unpredictable.

[ganbaru]

"Not if, but when" for Spanish bailout, experts believe
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...83H07620120418

[TinyRedLeaf]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

It was unusual because of the extraordinary level of discipline "no news" implies. As you said, (Wang Lijun) was the diplomatic equivalent of a prize catch. Something this big would normally lead to a choice gossip or two. Someone somewhere would hear or catch a glimpse of something and wouldn't be able to resist sharing the juicy tidbit. This time, nothing.

Sometimes, silence can be deafening.

Speak of the devil...

US officials saved Wang from Bo's men

Washington (April 18, Wed): On the evening of Feb 6, a vice-mayor of a major Chinese city who had a reputation as a crime fighter turned up at the American Consulate in Chengdu in an agitated state, telling a tale of corruption and murder that has ensnared the Obama administration in a scandal it wants nothing to do with.

The official, Mr Wang Lijun, sought asylum, fearing for his life even as Chinese security forces quickly surrounded the building and asked the American diplomats inside to turn him over.

Instead, after a frantic debate that reached the White House, Mr Wang stayed until he could arrange for an official from a Beijing ministry to come 36 hours later and escort him past the local security cordon.

The authorities from Beijing took him into custody, and he is now under investigation for divulging internal Chinese affairs to the Americans. If charged with and convicted of treason, he could face a death sentence.

According to Washington's version of events, the American diplomats who oversaw his brief, bizarre stay pre-empted any formal application for asylum because of the difficulties of spiriting him out of the country and questions about his eligibility.

Instead, American officials briefed on the event said the State Department shielded Mr Wang from almost certain arrest by police officers loyal to Mr Bo and ensured he could make his accusations in Beijing.

"He was not tossed out," a senior administration official said, referring to Mr Wang.

Mr Wang's arrival at the consulate could not have come at a more sensitive moment for the administration: Just a week before China's likely future leader, Mr Xi Jinping, was scheduled to visit Washington at the invitation of Vice-President Joseph Biden. Granting asylum to Mr Wang could have soured or scuttled Mr Xi's trip.

Mr Wang arrived with documents detailing accusations against Mr Bo and his wife, Gu Kailai, but he did not hand them over, the American officials said.

Mr Wang was allowed to make phone calls to officials in Beijing he hoped would help him. In the meantime, he regaled startled diplomats with a rambling but ultimately revealing discourse on the murky intersection of power, politics and corruption in China.

"Not everything was coherent, as you would expect," a Congressional official said, "but he did provide some good insights" into the episode that has been described by another Congressional official as "a Bourne Supremacy plot".

THE NEW YORK TIMES

[ganbaru]

U.S. troops posed with body parts of Afghan bombers
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...,5032601.story

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by ganbaru

U.S. troops posed with body parts of Afghan bombers
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...,5032601.story

The question is, did they start out this way (e.g. "Army: we recruit from the extras in "Deliverance"!!) or has their repetitive deployments in war zones thanks to war profiteer lobbying made them that way?

[Sumeragi]

Well, given what the US troops did during the Pacific War, I'm not too surprised that ethnic hate somehow got into the "war against terror".

[LeoXiao]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Speak of the devil...

US officials saved Wang from Bo's men

This whole Wang Lijun affair could have massive implications for Chinese politics. It's too bad (though expected) that we can only make educated guesses about it at this point.
I've heard that the CCP is actually split between the Jiang Zemin faction (of which Zhou Yongkang is the boss) and the Hu-Wen faction. It seems that Bo Xilai was allied to Zhou Yongkang and basically his ousting from power and condemnation is a not-so-subtle threat from Hu and Wen. The USA wanting to keep silent about Wang Lijun could be an indication that whatever he confessed is potentially dangerous and is better left unrevealed for now...at least from the Americans' perspective.

On a slightly different note, the People's Armed Police is a massive force (1.5 million!) that didn't command nearly the same power ten years ago; I have heard that they rose with the blessing of the Jiang faction and may be loyal to it.


If you find anything more, keep posting it, this stuff is important.

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Speak of the devil...

US officials saved Wang from Bo's men

The chairwoman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Republican of Florida, wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in February demanding the release of all cables, e-mails and memos related to the case. The circumstances, she wrote, raised question about “what steps were taken to secure U.S. national interests and Mr. Wang’s personal safety.” The State Department has not yet complied.

are the republicans insane?

[TinyRedLeaf]

Originally Posted by LeoXiao

This whole Wang Lijun affair could have massive implications for Chinese politics. It's too bad (though expected) that we can only make educated guesses about it at this point.

If you find anything more, keep posting it, this stuff is important.

In all honesty, if I were someone who knows what is going on in Beijing, I wouldn't be sitting where I am today. Educated guesses are all the vast majority of us have. What I do hope is that the scandal exposes to a wider audience what most China observers have always known: It's far from being a monolithic country. Even discounting the political factions, there still remains various differences between regions, which are a lot stronger than most outsiders realise. That's something I would personally love to learn more about myself, but sources in English are as good as non-existent.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Xellos-_^

are the republicans insane?

And if the Dems don't comply? China is going to dump all the US Treasury bonds?

[LeoXiao]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

In all honesty, if I were someone who knows what is going on in Beijing, I wouldn't be sitting where I am today. Educated guesses are all the vast majority of us have. What I do hope is that the scandal exposes to a wider audience what most China observers have always known: It's far from being a monolithic country. Even discounting the political factions, there still remains various differences between regions, which are a lot stronger than most outsiders realise. That's something I would personally love to learn more about myself, but sources in English are as good as non-existent.

Yeah, and I don't actually buy that the CPC is really as stable as they want to make themselves to be, with all the talk of "harmony" while they simultaneously kill Tibetans and Uighurs and detain petitioners and Falungong adherents. But I guess we'll just have to wait to see what becomes of this whole mess.

Also, I thought you could read Chinese?

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Xellos-_^

are the republicans insane?

Maybe, maybe not, but they play a mean game of chicken.