Our Boss is Tougher than Your Boss!

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What greater weapons of mass deception are there in the world than the leaders of the United States of America and Russia, Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin..  Imagine what it would be like if these two controversial and complicated political foes and leaders were to square off in the first ever people's choice contest for the toughest leader in the world.

 

Looks like Putin may have the best transportation for the Iron Man competition. 

No offense Mr. Obama but Putin may take this event as well.

We thought you might agree.

Wow - he can be quite charming to the right crowd. 

Maybe Obama is at least the more expressive.

They don't seem to be in to the competition.

Which one is the hyena?

Both are masters of mind control.

Perhaps they should keep their day jobs.

Forget Snowden, listen to this masterpiece.

So much for silly competition.

What else is there to do here in Russia?

Boy I miss the days when George and I got crazy.

Told you the kid never had a chance.

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Russia releases Putin critic Alexei Navalny on bail after mass protests

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Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny embraces his wife Yulia after he was freed by Regional court of Kirov region following a protest of prosecutor's office in Kirov, Russia, on Friday.

Seems as if Russian President Putin is not getting his way as often as he expects.  His recent jailing and sentence of a political opponent to 5 years in prison seems to have backfired.
   

By Gabriela Baczynska, Reuters

KIROV, Russia -- Russia unexpectedly freed opposition leader Alexei Navalny on bail on Friday, bending to the will of thousands of protesters who denounced his five year jail sentence as a crude attempt by President Vladimir Putin to silence him.

In a ruling that points to Kremlin uncertainty over how to handle Navalny's case and revived protests, a judge approved an unusual prosecution request to release him while he awaits the outcome of an appeal.

The anti-corruption campaigner's movements will be restricted to Moscow but he proclaimed the ruling, one day after he was convicted of theft, as a victory for people power.

"I am very grateful to all the people who supported us, all the people who went to (protest in Moscow's) Manezh Square and other squares," the 37-year-old said, rushing across the court to hug his wife after he was released from a glass courtroom cage.

 

 

"We understand perfectly well what has happened now. It's an absolutely unique phenomenon in Russian justice," he said in the court in Kirov, an industrial city 550 miles northeast of Moscow.

People poured onto the streets of big Russian cities to protest on Thursday evening after Navalny was convicted of stealing at least $494,000 from a timber firm when he was advising the Kirov regional governor in 2009.

Police said more than 200 people were detained in St Petersburg and Moscow although there were no big clashes.

Navalny says the case was politically motivated and intended to sideline him as a political threat to Putin, even though his support is limited outside the big cities and opinion polls show the president is still Russia's most popular politician.

Navalny led anti-Putin protests which attracted tens of thousands last year before they started to fade when the former KGB spy was elected to a six-year third term as president.

The decision to release him could be a political maneuver to head off social unrest. Some political analysts said the Kremlin, and the business and security community around it, looked divided over Navalny.

 

 

Russia's most notable anti-corruption campaigner and opposition leader has been found guilty of embezzlement and sentenced to five years in prison. The U.S. ambassador said the trial was apparently politically motivated.

Channel Four's Jonathan Rugman reports;

"There really is a split in the elite," one analyst, Ella Paneyakh, said in an online comment. "And it seems there will be no peaceful outcome."

The Kremlin has not responded to calls for comment on the verdict and said nothing about Friday's ruling.

The United States and European Union voiced concern over Navalny's conviction, saying it raised questions about the rule of law and Russia's treatment of Putin's opponents.

The White House called it part of a "disturbing trend aimed at suppressing dissent."

Russian shares fell on Thursday on concerns the conviction may provoke unrest, after a case that led to comparisons with the political "show trials" under Soviet leader Josef Stalin.

At least 3,000 people protested near the Kremlin in Moscow on Thursday under a heavy police presence, blocking main streets and shouting "Freedom" and "Putin is a thief."

Police plunged into the crowd to pluck out people holding Navalny portraits. A police official said about 50 were detained, but activists said the number had reached 169 as smaller groups continued to protest past midnight.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping - A Man for the Times

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In one of the first signs that major change is underway in China the following stories note the drastic change I the approach of the new Chinese President Xi Jinping as he takes control of the massive Chinese government institutions.

Xi to Politburo - Shape Up and Make Clean Break from Past!

By Russell Leigh Moses

After telling the lower ranks of the Communist Party to shape up and make a clean break from past practice, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has taken aim at a new target:  the Party leadership itself.

And he’s done so with authority and openness from the highest pulpit of politics in China–the Politburo, the very place where the senior leaders sit and make policy.

In a speech at the conclusion of a three-day special meeting that was covered across Party media and took up nearly half of the evening newscast on Tuesday evening, Xi proclaimed that senior members of the Party needed “to play an exemplary role,” and that they had to be “broad-minded enough to reject any selfishness…to adhere to self-respect, self-examination and self-admonition” in their work in Chinese.

It’s extremely rare for Politburo proceedings to be spoken of in such detail and openness.  And it’s unprecedented in modern times for the Party boss to start taking swings at his colleagues at the top by so directly reminding them of their responsibilities—a move that suggests he might be planning something even stronger soon.

Having just admonished lower-level cadres in a salvo last week, some observers might think that Xi is simply putting on a show here. After all, it’s difficult to demand improvement in the work-styles of the rank and file without at least paying lip-service to the idea that those at the top could stand to do a little better themselves.

But the tone of Xi’s comments and the play they’ve received in the state media suggest this is far more than just rhetorical window dressing.  It wasn’t enough for high officials to “strictly abide by party discipline and act in strict accordance with policies and procedures,” Xi said. Those at the top must also “strictly manage their relatives and their staff and refrain from abuse of power.”

“The sole pursuit” of senior members of the Party, Xi insisted, should be tied to “the Party’s cause and interests” – in other words, “to seek benefits for the Chinese people as a whole.”

Whether it’s misuse of official license plates or the high-end looting of state assets, Xi knows that corruption is not always confined to lower-level cadres.

Xi was careful to concede that there have been some positive developments in the ways by which the Politburo and other Party bodies operate, such as “improvements in research and reporting.”  Meetings have been shortened and presentations streamlined, “enhancing the majority of party members’ and cadres’ sense of purpose, as well as the view of the masses” towards the Party leadership, he noted.

But it’s clearly morality at the top — not the way that decisions are made — that concerns Xi and his allies the most.   As Xi’s speech noted, “as long as Politburo comrades always and everywhere set an example, they can continue to call the shots, for that will have a strong demonstration effect, and the Party will be very powerful.”

But Party leaders “must follow their own strict requirements first.”

Xi’s reprimand seems to imply that some of them are not.  His predecessors talked about the general threat to Party rule from the evils of corruption; but in nearly every case they chose to scold officials in the abstract, instead of smacking them around.  As with so many other efforts, Xi’s being different.

Indeed, such comments raise the very real possibility that Xi has someone specific in mind – that he could be about to strike against one or more of the conservatives who populate the Politburo and who might be standing in the way of further reforms.

Whatever form the next round of fighting takes, Xi and his reformist colleagues are clearly interested in creating a fresh sort of politics, even at the very top of the system.  This is risk-taking and resolution of a high order–and it brings a real political showdown with opponents of Xi’s brand of reform all the closer.

Reuters

 The Path to the Top of Chinese Politburo

 By Michelle FlorCruz

Western politicians may have ups and downs in their careers, facing various obstacles like campaigning, raising funds, and another concept foreign to Chinese politicians: elections.

China’s top brass, however, deal with a different path to the top, one that may take longer but appears far steadier. The seven men who make up its Communist Party Politburo Standing Committee, an exclusive group that sits at the top of the country's hierarchy, took 38 years, on average, to get there and followed a pretty linear path, as illustrated by the curves in the above graph.

Contrast that with the political career of U.S presidents Barack Obama (11 years in public office before being elected to the White House); George W. Bush (five years); and Bill Clinton (13 years) -- none of them spent more than one-third of the time in office it takes a Chinese politician to reach the top.  

For the most part, as previously described here, and translated in the above image, climbing the ranks of the Party is pretty formulaic; if you pay your dues at lower level positions and excel, promotion to high office becomes more of a formality. Yet, the seven men at the top still displayed exceptional characteristics. 

China’s current president, Xi Jinping, had the fastest ascent to power, going from the political bottom rung to leading the world’s second-biggest economy in 28 years -- but his rise, while fast, is pretty steady, as the curve shows.  Xi’s major contribution to creating the Special Economic Zones and economic liberalization is what propelled him to top-level politics. Xi’s military background, serving the minister of Defense early on, also made him a standout nominee for the presidency.

China’s Vice President, Li Keqiang, also experienced a relatively quick rise, but rose much faster early in his career. Li rose from a municipal leadership position, to a provincial level position, to a provincial deputy minister position, in just four years, becoming the youngest provincial governor at the age of 43, when he was appointed to lead Henan. This jump took China’s president twice the time to achieve.  Many attribute Li’s quick rise to power to efforts he made leading an economic development project in Henan, transforming poor areas in the province into profitable, investment-attractive cities.

In addition, most of the standing committee members have held positions in the Chinese Communist Youth League, considered one of the best ways to land on a fast-track in Chinese politics and has a reputation for cultivating top-level caliber leaders. Li Keqiang, Liu Yunshan, Zhang Dejiang and Li Yuanchao were all part of the Youth League at some point in their careers.
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The China Syndrome - America's Jaundice View

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Ignoring History - Dismissing Truth

 

The China Syndrome was a 1979 American thriller movie that tells the story of a television reporter and her cameraman who discover safety cover ups at a nuclear power plant.

 

Starring Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon and Michael Douglas it was released on March 16, 1979 at the Cold War peak when people were starting to become wary of those "nuclear reactors" popping up all over the country.

 

What would happen if one of those plants had a problem?  If the reactor core melted down and super-heated radioactive materials sank through the reactor core en route to China?  That frightening scenario was the core of the movie so to speak.

 

 

People may not remember but the reference to "China syndrome" meant an American nuclear reactor meltdown in which the radioactive core could sink all the way through the Earth and contaminate China.

 

Of course back in that time China was allied with the Soviet Union so it was politically correct to disparage the Communists with such negative innuendoes as suffering the worst from an American nuclear accident.

 

Fate being the ever-fickle player on the world stage, just 12 days after the release of the unsettling China Syndrome movie the first real nuclear power plant accident in the world took place at Three Mile Island (TMI) in Pennsylvania.

 

It would be five years before the extent of damage from the melt down would be known and cost over $1 billion to clean up the mess and seal the contaminated reactor.  By the way, there were no deaths or serious injuries.

 

 

Well times have changed since then.  China is no longer a potential enemy but now the holder of more American debt than any other nation on Earth.  With over one billion people it is now the second largest economic force in the world.

 

Yet our American government still doesn't get it.  President Obama and his administration still blame China for problems ranging from tariff wars to cyber hacking, from the theft of patents and intellectual property to investing in natural resources in other countries as if that was a bad thing.

 

 

Somewhere along the line America decided China was part of the dark force that cloaked the world and in the process we conveniently forgot the 5,500 years that China has been contributing to the advances of mankind.  In truth it is the rest of us who have pretty much ripped off the Chinese.

 

Now there is a new president of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping.  For the first time the largest country in the world has a political leader who has experienced the world and understands the role China can play in the world.

 

 

Furthermore, Xi has a First Lady, Peng Liyuan who is nearly as famous as her husband, the president.  Adept at opera, patriotic, folk and  pop singing while becoming a major general in the Chinese military, she was the first in China to earn a Master's Degree in Ethnic Music when the degree was first established in the 1980's.

 

 

 

 

 

Charismatic and personable, she is the consummate performing artist both on and off the stage.  Oh, did I mention she is quite beautiful as well whether dressed for opera, the military, or just hanging out with the prez.

 

 

President Xi came from a family deeply involved in the overthrow of what they considered to be the corrupt Republic of China that came to power in 1911 and ruled until the Communists took over in 1949.

 

 

By 1968 Xi's father, a prominent member of the Communist ruling body, was arrested as part of the brutal Cultural Revolution of Mao.  When asked about this experience later by state television, Xi recalled it saying, "It was emotional. It was a mood. And when the ideals of the Cultural Revolution could not be realised, it proved an illusion."

 

Other events that influenced the evolvement of Xi included:

 

Over 20 million Chinese civilians were killed by the Japanese during World War II, a war fought from 1937-1945.

 

The Republic of China overthrew the last dynasty in 1911, and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949 when Mao Zedong led the Communist revolution.

 

 

October 1, 1949 the People's Republic of China was declared by Mao Zedong who ruled from 1949 to 1976.

 

Population nearly doubled under Mao (550 million to 900 million).

 

From 1958-61 under Mao's "Great Leap Forward" campaign 45 million Chinese died, mostly of starvation.

 

Mao's "Cultural Revolution" lasted from 1966 until his death in 1976.

 

You can add to these the fact that Joseph Stalin had been working since the Russian revolution (1917) to bring about a revolution in China and fold them into the Soviet umbrella.

 

One of the disasters of World War II was that two allies, America and the Soviet Union, would save the world from Hitler and the Japanese yet whose distrust for each other would send the world spiraling into a Cold War and the greatest arms race in history.

 

 

I think we forget that China had a long and illustrious history from the time humans first showed up on Mother Earth.

 

China has been a Communist nation for just 64 years, less time that Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton and even George Bush have been alive.

 

The area of China was first populated between 250,000 and 2.4 billion years ago.  A cave in Zhoukoudian contained fossils dated 300,000 to 750,000 years ago, fossils that proved the existence of civilized man.  The Peking Man site yielded remains of Homo sapiens dating back 18,000-11,000 BC.

 

 

Over 5,000 years ago, around 3,000 years before Jesus, Chinese were writing and the Xia dynasty began a system of hereditary monarchies known as dynasties that ruled the land.  By 221 BC several states were conquered and thus began the Chinese Empire under the reign of the Qin Dynasty.

 

Along the way there were some pretty powerful leaders like the Mongol leader Kublai Khan.

 

Also along the way the Chinese literally wrote the book for mankind in terms of health care and treatment, math, technology and even religion as Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism all evolved in the Chinese culture thousands of years before Christianity.

 

 

I will be devoting future articles to the Chinese contributions to mankind.  But first I want to make my own little contribution to the Chinese.  I want to recognize the fact that the word "China" has nothing to do with the long and colorful history of the largest population in the world.

 

Zhongguo is the most common name for China. The first character zhōng (中) means "central" or "middle," while guó (國/国) means "state" or "states," and in modern times, "nation."

 

The term in ancient usage referred to the “Central States” of the period before the unification of the empire around 221 BC; a culturally distinct core area centered on the Yellow River valley.

 

 

In the 20th century students began to spread the concept of Zhōnghuá (中华/中華), which represented the people, including 56 minority ethnic groups and the Han-Chinese with a single culture identifying themselves as "Chinese".

 

The Republic of China (1911) and the People's Republic of China (1949) both used the title "Zhōnghuá" in their official names. Thus, "Zhōngguó" became the common name for both governments.

 

As for the purpose of this article, it is to begin to introduce you to the truth about China and the Chinese.  We have a most extraordinary opportunity to turn our international relations away from using force and fear to manage the world.

 

 

China has a new president who actually went to visit Iowa, my home state, when he first got involved in Chinese politics.  It seems feeding the people was a lot more important than hurting the people to young Xi Jinping.

 

Because of his family involvement he knows the good and bad of Communist politics and has already demonstrated that what happened in the past will not be tolerated in his time as president of the people of China.

 

America and Obama can embrace the Chinese as ancient friends and help America and the world rediscover the treasure trove of scientific, technology, medical, arts and military history and achievements of the past 5,000 years of Chinese history.

 

The citizens of both America and China will be the beneficiaries.  Don't forget, while we lay claim to the highest standard of living and most money in the world the Chinese people live longer and have far fewer health problems than we do.

 

 

There is a lot of beauty in China, yes, like my favorite Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi.

 

It seems there is a lot we can share.

Thank you.

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