Free Republic

China milk scandal hits home Chinese had shrugged off previous problems as Western hysteria, but tainted milk has many wondering what else poses a risk. Even professed patriots seek out products not made in China. By Barbara Demick Los Angeles Times Staff Writer September 27, 2008 BEIJING — Even after regulators assured the public that all contaminated baby formula was off the shelves, B.X. Wei wasn't going to feed his 2-month-old son anything that came out of a can. Especially not one made in China. But his wife didn't have enough breast milk for the baby. Then the 30-year-old businessman...

So Far, It Just Isn't Looking Like Asia's Century By Joshua Kurlantzick Sunday, September 7, 2008; Page B03 So much for the Asian century. The Thais are bickering with themselves, and when they're done doing that, they'll bicker with the Cambodians -- again. China may be Japan's biggest trading partner, but they hate each other anyway. Malaysia and Indonesia? Two countries divided by the same language. I've spent a lot of time in Asia over the past decade, as an expat and a traveler. From where I stand, the place is a geopolitical mess. Hogtied by nationalism and narrow self-interest,...

There are, indeed, many reasons why people of Russian ancestry ought to keep their heads high. But just perhaps, the nation which my country - Sweden -nowaday manages to outdo in hockey rinks, although not in football/soccer fields (it was the other way around some decades ago) needs to rethink its self image. Russia of today is a giant, but sadly backward nation, presently going through a phase reminiscent of what took place in Italy during the 1920s and 1930s; she firmly believes in proudly waving a national banner and claiming territory, but her understanding of the very concept of...

Identity Is Our Best Defence Natan Sharansky, Special to the National Post Published: Monday, June 23, 2008The desire for freedom is a powerful force for peace and stability in the world. But as powerful as freedom is in the hearts of men and women everywhere, it is not the only force that moves them. There is another, equally powerful force at work. This is the power contained in identity. It is a force field little understood in the West, but one that influences and even directs events, from the broadest global and international politics to the most local and immediate...

Identity Necessary for Survival by: Melinda Zosh, June 09, 2008 Americans are fighting the war on terror with technology and weapons, but one man says Americans are lacking the strongest, most effective weapon—identity. Natan Sharansky, author of Defending Identity and the New York Times best-seller The Case for Democracy, spoke about the importance of attaining a sense of identity in a democratic society at the Heritage Foundation on June 3. “Identity, a life of commitment, is essential because it satisfies a human longing to become part of something bigger than oneself,” Sharanksy wrote in his book Defending Identity. Sharansky, a...

Every nation could be described as a manifestation of a unique trait of character and most countries furthermore nurture, give emphasize to and celebrate this national identity of theirs. Some examples of such key national characters (please DO comment if you feel inclined to); USA: Liberty Italy: Creativity France: Refinement India: Spirituality Germany: Self-discipline Finland: "Sisu" (a Finnish term meaning "To have guts") Britain: Elevatedness Denmark: "Hygge" (a Danish word meaning "Good-naturedness", of mind as well as of deed) Spain: Passion China: Cultivation Russia: Chaos - just joking, I would actually say "Heart" (in the sense of having a big...

We encourage our readers to circulate the following in its entirety. Instead of speaking for (or about) the Obamas, we will let them and their church speak for themselves. Earlier in my college career, there was no doubt in my mind that as a member of the Black community I was somehow obligated to this community and would use all of my present and future resources to benefit this community first and foremost. My experiences at Princeton have made me more aware of my “Blackness” than ever before. Michelle LaVaughn Robinson [Obama], “Princeton Educated Blacks and the Black Community,” page...

If we examine the German model ie National Socialist, for nationalizing a business in a country we discover the following.The government doesn't seize the assests of the company and place its own people to take over and run the operations.No, what they do is take over the company with laws and regulations, just as we now see in our energy sector. The energy companies are not allowed to produce their product in the US without the approval of congress.I posted a paper here titled National Socialism, if you go and read that paper I think you will agree.

Next week, China's majority ethnic group, the Han, will celebrate the Olympic torch's arrival on Mt. Everest. It will be a pinnacle experience, literally, for a people who see the Beijing Games as their ascendency to restored world glory. One problem, though: Everest's peak is in Tibet. ADVERTISEMENT China's bursts of Han nationalism – often resulting in violent indignation – have been marked by such contradictions. Popular calls to boycott Western imports over the recent pro-Tibet actions against the torch, for instance, have been squashed by officials – to prevent boycotts of Chinese exports. A more worrisome conundrum for China's...

Italy's general elections two weeks ago resulted in an absolute majority for Silvio Berlusconi's rightist alliance. Mr. Berlusconi thanks his victory to the astonishing and pivotal electoral success of the Lega Nord, a constituent of his alliance. The Northern League completely wiped away the left in the north of Italy. It doubled in size and won a stunning 8.3 percent of the national vote, sending 60 deputies (+37) and 26 senators (+13) to Rome. In some northern regions it had the support of up to 50 percent of the electorate.

In the summer of 1863, Robert E. Lee led an ill-advised incursion into Pennsylvania. His army was defeated at Gettysburg, and thence afterward Lee beat a fighting retreat until the South lost the Civil War. One hundred and forty-five years later, the South--or what has become the South-Southwest--has won another kind of Civil War. It has transformed the sensibility of the country. It is setting the agenda for our political, social and religious mores--in Pennsylvania and everywhere else. This thought, which has been recurring to me regularly over the years as I've watched the Southernization of our national politics at...

New York Times Op-Ed opinion columnist William Kristol compared Barack Obama's remarks about the bitterness of white working class voters leading them to nationalism, religion and guns to Karl Marx. "The Mask Slips" published New York Times on April 14, 2008.

Like so many Chinese, Meng Huizhong was horrified by the violent Tibetan protests in Lhasa. She cringed at videos of Tibetan rioters attacking a Chinese motorcyclist. Her anger deepened as Tibet dominated her online conversation groups, until it settled on what might seem like an unlikely target: the Communist Party.

Obama's Black Identity Politics is Consistent With Jeremiah Wright’s Hate SpeechIf anyone believes that Barack Obama “just found out” about Jeremiah Wright’s vicious anti-American hate speech, we have a bridge in Brooklyn we would like to sell them. As shown by Obama’s own book Dreams From My Father, Obama’s deep involvement in Black identity politics–replace that with “White identity politics” to envision sheets, hoods, and burning crosses–is entirely consistent with his widespread involvement and association with racists, anti-Semites, and Catholic-haters. The bottom line is that Obama is not one of us and, by “us,” we mean mainstream America. To begin...

Projecting their own experience onto the rest of the world, Americans generally belittle the role of ethnic nationalism in politics. After all, in the United States people of varying ethnic origins live cheek by jowl in relative peace. Within two or three generations of immigration, their ethnic identities are attenuated by cultural assimilation and intermarriage. Surely, things cannot be so different elsewhere. Americans also find ethnonationalism discomfiting both intellectually and morally. Social scientists go to great lengths to demonstrate that it is a product not of nature but of culture, often deliberately constructed. And ethicists scorn value systems based on...

Projecting their own experience onto the rest of the world, Americans generally belittle the role of ethnic nationalism in politics. After all, in the United States people of varying ethnic origins live cheek by jowl in relative peace. Within two or three generations of immigration, their ethnic identities are attenuated by cultural assimilation and intermarriage. Surely, things cannot be so different elsewhere. Americans also find ethnonationalism discomfiting both intellectually and morally. Social scientists go to great lengths to demonstrate that it is a product not of nature but of culture, often deliberately constructed. And ethicists scorn value systems based on...

DES MOINES, Iowa - A state lawmaker who served in Iraq wants to ban U.S. or Iowa flags that are made in other countries. Rep. Ray Zirkelbach, D-Monticello, said he would introduce a bill that would prohibit the sale of foreign-made flags in Iowa. "I personally don't want my coffin draped in a Chinese-made flag when I pass away," Zirkelbach said. Under the proposal, business owners an operators could face fines of up to $625 if they sell a flag made in another country. They also could face up to 30 days in jail. The measure also would apply to...

As Adam Smith wrote in his 18th century book, "The Wealth of Nations," "When the regulation is in support of the workman, it is always just and equitable — but it is sometimes otherwise when in favour of the masters." Smith advocated high wages as beneficial to employer and employee alike, and he advocated the abolition of slavery. The distinguished American economist John Kenneth Galbraith said about "The Wealth of Nations:" “It is much celebrated by the ministry of the righteous right, few of whom have read it. “Were they to do so — disapproval of the corporate form,...

Eight people were detained by police in Lund on Friday during demonstrations to mark the anniversary of the death in 1718 of King Karl XII. Two people were formally arrested for violent resistance. One of those arrested is also suspected of attempted assault. Six others were detained. A few dozen people were involved in the march, according to police. Demonstrators from the '30th November Association' gathered outside Lund Cathedral at lunchtime on Friday. The association is made up of nationalist groups from the university town and was founded following the First World War. Counter-demonstrators met in the Lundagård park. A...

So Americans should be thankful they have one of the last functioning nation-states. Europeans, because they've been so inept at exercising it, no longer believe in national sovereignty, whereas it would never occur to Americans not to. This profoundly different attitude to the nation-state underpins, in turn, Euro-American attitudes to transnational institutions such as the United Nations. But on this Thanksgiving the rest of the world ought to give thanks to American national sovereignty, too. When something terrible and destructive happens – a tsunami hits Indonesia, an earthquake devastates Pakistan – the United States can project itself anywhere on the...