The world is very strange this morning.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/27/opinion/krugman-jobs-jobs-and-cars.html?_r=1&ref=opinion
http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2012/01/27/us-china-portugal-greece-and-italy-putting-a-gloss-on-disaster/
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Bout Time: Claressa Shields
It is 'bout time.
I suffer from echoes of "The Great White Hope".It has been pointed out that boxing is the one sportin which the objective is to do injury to the opponent.Using it as a way to escape is an acceptable reason to participate.It is far better to do the fighting in court rather than in the ring. -
Bout Time: Alex Love
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/01/29/magazine/boxing-women.html#index
The drive to win is human.
The choice of competitions becomes critical.
Pioneering makes finishing first much easier.
Winning is no excuse for sadism. -
Matthew Keener, MD
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Malcolm Riddell
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Malcolm Riddell - TimesPeople - The New York Times
TimesPeople activity page for Malcolm Riddell. Browse the latest recommendations, reviews and comments in TimesPeople.Bookmarked.OK. Lets look at China.It is enormous and varied and ancient.The communists have made a vallient effort at change and they have been partially sucessful.Real change is only just beginning.http://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch?query=chinaA great many results in the last 30 days.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13017882
17 January 2012 Last updated at 09:34 ETChina profile
A chronology of key events: c 1700-1046 BC - Shang Dynasty is the first Chinese state for which clear written records remain.
221-206 BC - Qin Dynasty marks the emergence of China as a major regional power and centre of civilisation.The philosopher Confucius has had a major influence on Chinese culture
Imperial China 960-1279 AD - Song Dynasty marks the high point of Chinese classical culture, with the flowering of literature, scientific innovation and the adoption of Neo-Confucianism as the official state ideology.
1271-1368 - Mongols conquer China and establish their own Yuan Dynasty, founded by Kublai Khan. Marco Polo and other Westerners visit. Beijing becomes the capital of a united China.
1368 - Ming Dynasty overthrows Mongols and establishes sophisticated agricultural economy, underpinning strong centralised bureaucracy and military. Great Wall of China completed.
1644 - Manchu Qing Dynasty drives out Ming. Chinese empire reaches its zenith, with the annexation of Tibet, Mongolia and present-day Xinjiang (Turkestan).
19th Century - China begins a long decline. Western powers impose "unequal treaties" that create foreign concessions in China's ports. Regional warlords rise as central government atrophies.
1899-1901 - "Boxer Rebellion" in Northern China seeks to stifle reforms in the Qing administration, drive out foreigners and re-establish traditional rule. Defeated by foreign intervention, with Western powers, Russia and Japan extracting further concessions from weakened Qing government.
The Republic 1911-12 - Military revolts by reform-minded officers lead to proclamation of Republic of China under Sun Yat-sen and abdication of last Qing emperor. Republic struggles to consolidate its rule amid regional warlordism and the rise of the Communist Party.
1925 - The death of Sun Yat-sen brings Chiang Kai-shek to the fore. He breaks with the Communists and confirms the governing Kuomintang as a nationalist party.
1931-45 - Japan invades and gradually occupies more and more of China.
1934-35 - Mao Zedong emerges as Communist leader during the party's "Long March" to its new base in Shaanxi Province.
1937 - Kuomintang and Communists nominally unite against Japanese. Civil war resumes after Japan's defeat in Second World War.
Communist victory 1949 - 1 October - Mao Zedong, having led the Communists to victory against the Nationalists after more than 20 years of civil war, proclaims the founding of the People's Republic of China. The Nationalists retreat to the island of Taiwan and set up a government there.
1950 - China intervenes in the Korean War on the side of North Korea.
Continue reading the main storyLandmark Great Wall of China was built to keep out nomadic invaders from the north
Tibet becomes part of the People's Republic of China1958 - Mao launches the "Great Leap Forward", a five-year economic plan. Farming is collectivised and labour-intensive industry is introduced. The drive produces economic breakdown and is abandoned after two years. Disruption to agriculture is blamed for the deaths by starvation of millions of people following poor harvests.
1959 - Chinese forces suppress large-scale revolt in Tibet.
1962 - Brief conflict with India over disputed Himalayan border.
1966-76 - "Cultural Revolution", Mao's 10-year political and ideological campaign aimed at reviving revolutionary spirit, produces massive social, economic and political upheaval.
1972 - US President Richard Nixon visits. Both countries declare a desire to normalise relations.
1976 - Mao dies. "Gang of Four", including Mao's widow, jockey for power but are arrested and convicted of crimes against the state. From 1977 Deng Xiaoping emerges as the dominant figure among pragmatists in the leadership. Under him, China undertakes far-reaching economic reforms.
1979 - Diplomatic relations established with the US.
Government imposes one-child policy in effort to curb population growth.
1986-90 - China's "Open-door policy" opens the country to foreign investment and encourages development of a market economy and private sector.
1989 - Troops open fire on demonstrators who have camped for weeks in Tiananmen Square initially to demand the posthumous rehabilitation of former CCP General Secretary Hu Yaobang, who was forced to resign in 1987. The official death toll is 200. International outrage leads to sanctions.
1989 - Jiang Zemin takes over as Chinese Communist Party general secretary from Zhao Ziyang, who refused to support martial law during the Tiananmen demonstrations.
Stockmarkets open in Shanghai and Shenzhen.
1992 - Russia and China sign declaration restoring friendly ties.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) ranks China's economy as third largest in the world after the US and Japan.
Three Gorges project 1993 - Jiang Zemin officially replaces Yang Shangkun as president.
Preliminary construction work on the Three Gorges dam begins. It will create a lake almost 600 kilometres (375 miles) long and submerge dozens of cultural heritage sites by the time it is completed in 2009.
1994 - China abolishes the official renminbi (RMB) currency exchange rate and fixes its first floating rate since 1949.
1995 - China tests missiles and holds military exercises in the Taiwan Strait, apparently to intimidate Taiwan during its presidential elections.
1996 - China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan - dubbed the Shanghai Five - meet in Shanghai and agree to cooperate to combat ethnic and religious tensions in each others' countries.
1997 - Deng Xiaoping dies, aged 92. Rioting erupts in Yining, Xinjiang and on day of Deng's funeral Xinjiang separatists plant three bombs on buses in Urumqi, Xinjiang, killing nine and injuring 74.
Hong Kong reverts to Chinese control.
1998 - Zhu Rongji succeeds Li Peng as premier, announces reforms in the wake of the Asian financial crisis and continued deceleration of the economy. Thousands of state-owned enterprises are to be restructured through amalgamations, share flotations and bankruptcies. About four million civil service jobs to be axed.
Large-scale flooding of the Yangtse, Songhua and Nenjiang rivers.
50th anniversary 1999 - Nato bombs the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, souring Sino-US relations.
Falun Gong, a quasi-religious sect, outlawed as a threat to stability.
Fiftieth anniversary of People's Republic of China on 1st October.
Macao reverts to Chinese rule.
2000 - Crackdown on official corruption intensifies, with the execution for bribe taking of a former deputy chairman of the National People's Congress.
Bomb explosion kills up to 60 in Urumqi, Xinjiang.
2001 April - Diplomatic stand-off over the detention of an American spy plane and crew after a mid-air collision with a Chinese fighter jet.
2001 June - Leaders of China, Russia and four Central Asian states launch the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and sign an agreement to fight ethnic and religious militancy while promoting trade and investment. The group emerges when the Shanghai Five - China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan - are joined by Uzbekistan.
2001 June - China carries out military exercises simulating an invasion of Taiwan, at the same time as the island's armed forces test their capability to defend Taiwan against a missile attack from China.
2001 November - China joins the World Trade Organisation.
2002 February - US President George W Bush visits, on the 30th anniversary of President Nixon's visit to China - the first by a US president.
2002 July - The US says China is modernising its military to make possible a forcible reunification with Taiwan. Beijing says its policy remains defensive.
2002 November - Vice-President Hu Jintao is named head of the ruling Communist Party, replacing Jiang Zemin, the outgoing president. Jiang is re-elected head of the influential Central Military Commission, which oversees the armed forces.
2003 March - National People's Congress elects Hu Jintao as president. He replaces Jiang Zemin, who steps down after 10 years in the post.
Sars virus outbreak 2003 March-April - China and Hong Kong are hit by the pneumonia-like Sars virus, thought to have originated in Guangdong province in November 2002. Strict quarantine measures are enforced to stop the disease spreading.
2003 June - Sluice gates on Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydropower scheme, are closed to allow the reservoir to fill up.
2003 June - Hong Kong is declared free of Sars. Days later the World Health Organization lifts its Sars-related travel warning for Beijing.
2003 June - China, India reach de facto agreement over status of Tibet and Sikkim in landmark cross-border trade agreement.
2003 July-August - Some 500,000 people march in Hong Kong against Article 23, a controversial anti-subversion bill. Two key Hong Kong government officials resign. The government shelves the bill.
China in space 2003 October - Launch of China's first manned spacecraft: Astronaut Yang Liwei is sent into space by a Long March 2F rocket.
2004 September - Former president Jiang Zemin stands down as army chief, three years ahead of schedule.
2004 November - China signs a landmark trade agreement with 10 south-east Asian countries; the accord could eventually unite 25% of the world's population in a free-trade zone.
2005 January - Former reformist leader Zhao Ziyang dies. He opposed violent measures to end 1989's student protests and spent his last years under virtual house arrest.
Aircraft chartered for the Lunar New Year holiday make the first direct flights between China and Taiwan since 1949.
2005 March - Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa resigns. He is succeeded in June by Donald Tsang.
New law on Taiwan calls for use of force should Taipei declare independence from mainland China.
Tensions with Japan 2005 April - Relations with Japan deteriorate amid sometimes-violent anti-Japanese protests in Chinese cities, sparked by a Japanese textbook which China says glosses over Japan's World War II record.
Taiwan's National Party leader Lien Chan visits China for the first meeting between Nationalist and Communist Party leaders since 1949.
2005 August - China and Russia hold their first joint military exercises.
2005 October - China conducts its second manned space flight, with two astronauts circling Earth in the Shenzhou VI capsule.
2005 November - Explosion at a chemical plant poisons the Songhua river, cutting off water supplies to millions of people.
2006 May - Work on the structure of the Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydropower project, is completed.
2006 July - New China-Tibet railway line, the world's highest train route, begins operating.
2006 August - Official news agency says 18 million people are affected by what it describes as the country's worst drought in 50 years.
2006 November - African heads of state gather for a China-Africa summit in Beijing. Business deals worth nearly $2bn are signed and China promises billions of dollars in loans and credits.
Government says pollution has degraded China's environment to a critical level, threatening health and social stability.
Missile test 2007 January - Reports say China has carried out a missile test in space, shooting down an old weather satellite. The US, Japan and others express concern at China's military build-up.
2007 February - President Hu Jintao tours eight African countries to boost trade and investment. Western rights groups criticise China for dealing with corrupt or abusive regimes.
2007 April - During a landmark visit, Wen Jiabao becomes the first Chinese prime minister to address Japan's parliament. Both sides agree to try to iron out differences over their shared history.
2007 June - New labour law introduced after hundreds of men and boys were found working as slaves in brick factories.
2007 July - China's food and drug agency chief is executed for taking bribes. Food and drug scandals have sparked international fears about the safety of Chinese exports.
2007 September - A new Roman Catholic bishop of Beijing is consecrated - the first for over 50 years to have the tacit approval of the Pope.
2007 October - China launches its first moon orbiter.
2008 January - The worst snowstorms in decades are reported to have affected up to 100 million people.
Tibet unrest 2008 March - Anti-China protests escalate into the worst violence Tibet has seen in 20 years, five months before Beijing hosts the Olympic Games.
Pro-Tibet activists in several countries focus world attention on the region by disrupting progress of the Olympic torch relay.
2008 May - A massive earthquake hits Sichuan province, killing tens of thousands.
2008 June - China and Taiwan agree to set up offices in each other's territory at the first formal bilateral talks since 1999.
Japan and China reach a deal for the joint development of a gas field in the East China Sea, resolving a four-year-old dispute.
2008 July - China and Russia sign a treaty ending 40-year-old border dispute which led to armed clashes during the Cold War.
2008 August - Beijing hosts Olympic Games.
Hua Guofeng, who succeeded Mao Zedong for a short period in 1976, dies in Beijing aged 87
2008 September - Astronaut Zhai Zhigang completes China's first spacewalk during the country's third manned space mission, Shenzhou VII.
Nearly 53,000 Chinese children fall ill after drinking tainted milk, leading Premier Wen Jiabao to apologise for the scandal.
Global financial crisis 2008 November - The government announces a $586bn (£370bn) stimulus package to avoid the economy slowing. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao says the effect of the global financial crisis on China is worse than expected.
2009 February - Russia and China sign $25bn deal to supply China with oil for next 20 years in exchange for loans.
Hillary Clinton calls for deeper US-China partnership on first overseas tour as secretary of state.
2009 July - Scores of people are killed and hundreds injured in the worst ethnic violence in decades as a protest in the restive Xinjiang region turns violent.
First sign of relaxation of strictly enforced one-child policy, as officials in Shanghai urge parents to have a second child in effort to counter effects of ageing population.
Leaders of China and Taiwan exchange direct messages for the first time in more than 60 years.
2009 October - China stages mass celebrations to mark 60 years since the Communist Party came to power.
Six men are sentenced to death for involvement in ethnic violence in Xinjiang.
2009 December - China executes Briton Akmal Shaikh for drug dealing, despite pleas for clemency from the British government.
Tensions with US, Japan 2010 January - China posts a 17.7% rise in exports in December, suggesting it has overtaken Germany as the world's biggest exporter.
The US calls on Beijing to investigate the cyber attacks, saying China has tightened censorship. China condemns US criticism of its internet controls.
2010 March - The web giant Google ends its compliance with Chinese internet censorship and starts re-directing web searches to a Hong Kong, in response to cyber attacks on e-mail accounts of human rights activists.
2010 September - Diplomatic row erupts over Japan's arrest of Chinese trawler crew in disputed waters in East China Sea. Japan later frees the crew but rejects Chinese demands for an apology.
2010 October - Jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo is awarded Nobel Peace Prize, prompting official protests from Beijing.
Vice-President Xi Jinping named vice-chairman of powerful Central Military Commission, in a move widely seen as a step towards succeeding President Hu Jintao.
2011 February - China formally overtakes Japan to become the world's second-largest economy after Tokyo published figures showing a Japanese GDP rise of only four per cent in 2010.
2011 April - Arrest of Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei for "economc crimes" sparks international campaign for his release. He is freed after more than two months' detention.
2011 July-August - Police kill seven Uighurs suspected of being behind separate attacks in the towns of Horan and Kashgar blamed on separatists.
2011 November - Authorities present outspoken artist Ai Weiwei with $2.3m tax demand, which is paid by donations from his supporters.
2011 December - Southern fishing village of Wukan comes to international attention after violent protests by locals against land seizures by officials. Authorities respond by sacking two local officials and agreeing to villagers' key demands.
China issues new rules requiring users of microblogs to register personal details.
2012 January - Official figures suggest city dwellers outnumber China's rural population for the first time.
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/18902.htm
Overwhelming.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/chinese-clusters-and-me/Try this one. - - - Follow the link and read the PDF
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Malcolm Riddell
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SpyTalker
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Pakistan Spies on Its Diaspora, Spreading Fear
“Pakistan Spies on Its Diaspora, Spreading Fear - http://nyti.ms/pAo4Ke”Pakistan is not a nice nation.They are very military.There is some justification for the thought that they the heirs of the Mogul empire.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mogul_EmpireThe name Mughal is derived from the original homelands of the Timurids, the Central Asian steppes once conquered by Genghis Khan and hence known as Moghulistan, "Land of Mongols". Although early Mughals spoke the Chagatai language and maintained some Turko-Mongol practices, they became essentially Persianized[10] and transferred the Persian literary and high culture[10] to India, thus forming the base for the Indo-Persian culture and the Spread of Islam in South Asia
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joshgibsonbrown
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Europe Considers New Penalties for Iran
“Europe Considers 'Tough' New Penalties for Iran - http://nyti.ms/9SSDJX - quoting the IISS's Mark Fitzpatrick”Round and round we go.Diplomats have a purpose.We must not abuse them.Missionaries are not diplomats.Martyrdom is their lot.Unconventional religious war.
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bmyeung
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The Reddest Village in China
“The Reddest Village in China (where everything is free) http://nyti.ms/mrm3p3”"Three years ago, Southern Metropolis, one of China’s most respected newspapers, picked up on this point. It said that Nanjiecun had a failed economic model that was being sustained only through bank loans approved by higher party officials and through cheap migrant labor (even village officials admit that the migrant population is twice as big as the permanent one). The article estimated the village’s debt at $250 million. Wang waved that number off, saying that the village had negotiated with state banks to write off most of the debt, whittling it down to about $15 million.
On my way out of Wang’s office, I asked him whether he lived with his wife and parents in one of the apartment blocks on the west side of town. “I have a house,” he said.
“How many villagers live in an actual home,” I asked.
“Just me,” he said, and smiled."
"Some are more equal than others." George Orwell
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pocketmonsterd
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Is Fashion Really Museum Art?
“Interesting read on the complex world of fashion as museum art. http://nyti.ms/isn0R5”One thing a museum collection can do is slow the recycling.
A fan questioned a poet about lines some years old.The fan was told: "When I wrote that God and I knew what I meant. Now only God knows."Run the shows.
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Vincent Amato
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Haitians Confront Devastation of Quake
That the poorest country in the hemisphere should be stricken by nature as well as history is an even that is pregnant with tragic irony as well as profound sadness. Perhaps some good will come of this and the great powers will now be shamed into providing the kind of assistance that the first Black republic has for so long been in need of.No good has come of it as yet. -
Invitation to Disaster
It was clear from the onset of the crisis in 2008 that state budgets would be hard hit. Were this country run by politicians whose first loyalty is to the people and not the banks, money would have been channeled to state governments. That would have been the obvious way to preserve jobs and keep enough money in the hands of average Americans to avoid an ever-deepening recession. It has been shocking to see the very same elements of the society that created the crisis be allowed to push their way first into the line for government rescue dollars and then actually be given their way by the people's supposed representatives.
The states rights group bitterly resents money that flows from the federal government to the states. Such money binds us into a single nation and limits the state governments power to impose policies on their residents.
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Dennie Kim
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Haitians Confront Devastation of Quake
That the poorest country in the hemisphere should be stricken by nature as well as history is an even that is pregnant with tragic irony as well as profound sadness. Perhaps some good will come of this and the great powers will now be shamed into providing the kind of assistance that the first Black republic has for so long been in need of.
Unlike the states of the United States, Haiti is fully soverign.The federal government cannot impose behaviour on the government of Haiti. Our attempts have yet to succede. -
Invitation to Disaster
It was clear from the onset of the crisis in 2008 that state budgets would be hard hit. Were this country run by politicians whose first loyalty is to the people and not the banks, money would have been channeled to state governments. That would have been the obvious way to preserve jobs and keep enough money in the hands of average Americans to avoid an ever-deepening recession. It has been shocking to see the very same elements of the society that created the crisis be allowed to push their way first into the line for government rescue dollars and then actually be given their way by the people's supposed representatives.
"The imposition of liberty from without is the bitterest form of Tyrany."
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