Chicoms round up the unusual suspects

Amnesty International protects prisoners of co...Image via Wikipedia
Independent:

China told the United Nations to stay out of its affairs yesterday amid criticism of one of the biggest roundups of dissidents for years, prompted by fears that protests sweeping the Arab world could inspire a similar uprising against the authoritarian regime.

Australia called for authorities to reveal the whereabouts of a political blogger who has not been seen since the weekend, the latest suspected detainee from a big crackdown on political expression that is unprecedented in modern times.

The Sydney-based spy novelist Yang Hengjun made a brief phone call to his sister to give a pre-arranged signal that he had been taken by secret police after complaining of being followed, according to a friend. Catherine Baber, Amnesty International's deputy director for the Asia-Pacific region, said: "Yang Hengjun's disappearance is extremely worrying, especially as it comes during one of the biggest round-ups of activists and critics for years.

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There is much more.

I am glad I do not blog in China. What is with these people. Are they that insecure that they fear criticism from a few people with computers and a key board. I am not going there no matter how great Obama and Tom Friedman say it is. There is a downside to authoritarian regimes. I am not that enamored of high speed rail anyway.
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