240 years, American friends! Longer than the Yuan. Longer than the Sui. Not as long as any of the good dynasties, but still a good run! — The Relevant Organs (@relevantorgans) November 9, 2016
There are some serious amateur filmmakers working for the United States's Federal Bureau of Investigation -- I can think of no other reason why Game of Pawns would exist: a nearly half-hour mini-movie that tells the story of Glenn Duffie Shriver, who was bribed by Chinese officials when he was studying in Shanghai to pass along sensitive information. Shriver made $70,000 before he was caught. He's now in the US serving out a four-year sentence in federal prison.
The US government shut down on Tuesday as Congress failed to pass the necessary bills to keep it operational -- "it" being the government. If you want a quick-and-dirty primer on the situation, CNN has you covered, as does Washington Post, and James Fallows offers wise analysis as always over at his blog.
But what does China think?
Edward Snowden -- ever elusive, unidentifiable -- is reportedly leaving Moscow for either Cuba or Ecuador. Reports AP:
The former National Security Agency contractor and CIA technician fled Hong Kong and arrived at the Moscow airport, where he planned to spend the night before boarding an Aeroflot flight to Cuba. Ecuador's Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said his government received an asylum request from Snowden, and the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks said it would help him.
Dick Cheney, former vice president, bad quail hunter, to Fox News:
"I'm suspicious because he went to China. That's not a place where you would ordinarily want to go if you are interested in freedom, liberty, and so forth.... It raises questions whether or not he had that kind of connection before he did this."
Winsome goof Joe Biden, giving a commencement address at the Ivy League's University of Pennsylvania on May 13, delivered a few China barbs that probably shouldn't have come from a US vice president.
"It was a humiliating experience," Chinese citizen Zhang Tianpu, a graduating Wharton senior, told SCMP. "And how can a graduation speech be this political?"
As Barack Obama's failure to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp continues to anger his liberal base, interested observers outside the US are beginning to take their potshots at the reeling POTUS. The Chinese news media, for instance, has decided to lightly prod the American president with a little humor -- not with its own humor, mind you, but with The Daily Show's.
Ed’s note: On April 19, the US Department of State published its annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, which included a section on China. It was typical, mundane, and features nothing you don’t already know, including restriction of Uighur and Tibetan movement, harassment of journalists and dissidents, prison labor, discrimination, extrajudicial killings, etc. On... Read more »
The United States Senate has shamed itself, its country — where 90 percent of the people can be in favor of an issue that gets defeated — and democracy. The first two statements are indisputable. The third is a logical conclusion one could draw by looking at how the Chinese reacted to Wednesday’s victory for... Read more »
