Inside the Asylum

AFP reports:

Russia deal marks 'a victory' for Obama

In this case, it is the fact that the Russians will allow the Americans to use their airspace for military resupply in Afghanistan. Great ... it's a great diplomatic success for Obama to get the Russians to allow the Americans to do exactly what the Russians want them to do anyway. Sheesh. Even the story itself points this out.

"This is an issue with which the Americans and the Russians have found a way to improve their relations. It is one of the rare problem where their interests are very close -- indeed, identical," Lukyanov said. Moscow, which has grim memories of its own war in Afghanistan in the 1980s, views the US military presence there as protecting its southern flank, said independent Russian defence analyst Pavel Felgenhauer.

Seriously ... is there anything in this that is not a victory for the Russians? Sure, it's great that they can use Russian airspace ... but then why did Obama just agree to shell out $127 million to use Kyrgyzstan's airbase for the same purpose? And this agreement doesn't come into effect for another 60 days, and is good only for 12 months. The Russians have just gotten themselves an annual blackmailing device. Brilliant going Obama. I can just see the Russians chortling behind their hands as Obama pats himself on the back for his astute diplomacy.

AP reports

Obama, Medvedev agree to pursue nuclear reduction

There's a long story, filled with quotes, but they completely fail to mention the most important one from Medvedev's foreign policy aid Sergei Prikhodko:

"It will be a framework document, which will outline benchmarks for further work on an agreement to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I)," Prikhodko was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. The document will be a politically binding agreement, not a legally binding one, Prikhodko said.

Oh, a politically binding agreement, not a legally binding agreement! Hold on a second while I use one of those internet instant translators to convert that from politician speech back into regular English: "Prikhodko said this document is worth less than toilet paper. In fact, you'd get better value by actually using it for that purpose." Clear?

I'm not even kidding. I just learned today that there's still a dispute over whether Japan should be called Nippon or Nihon. Pretty odd to live in a country where there's no consensus on what to call it in your own language! Fortunately the Japanese government has decided to take decisive action!

Addressing this age-old tough question, the government has decided that either is fine because both Nippon and Nihon are widely used.

This has got to be one of the coolest rally car videos I've ever seen. If you're in a hurry, just start watching from the 5 minute mark. Otherwise, view it all!

(via Tim Blair)

The man who called for American military occupation of Serbia and Lebanon, now has this to say:

THE US Vice-President, Joe Biden, says America will not stand in the way of an Israeli strike against Iranian nuclear facilities... Responding to questions on the American ABC TV's This Week, Mr Biden said three times that Israel was free to do what it needed to do.

Does this represent the policy of the Obama administration? Hell, does this represent the thoughts of Biden himself? With this VP, it's always hard to tell.

As predicted, the Chinese response has been pretty heavy handed, and this is only the beginning.

Authorities in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, had sent more than 20,000 armed police, special police, firefighters and troops to quell Sunday's unrest, a source with the city's police department said Monday.

Chinese authorities usually take a while to come to a consensus about how they ought to respond to something unexpected. Typically, it takes about a week, though in a case like this I would expect it to be shorter than that. Then all media organs start trumpeting whatever the party has determined. Right now, we're still in that precious window that often occurs in Chinese media. Since there's no clear direction from the center, the media can pretty much report what is going on. Wait a few days, and you'll see the difference.

In addition, Xinhua reports

More than 700 suspects had been detained by Monday evening.

and provides a hint that the troubles may be spreading out of the provincial capital of Urumqi.

Police have got clues that some people were trying to organize more unrests in Kashi City, Yili Kazak Prefecture and Aksu City.

As I said before, this is all coming out of Chinese state media, so you can't necessarily trust it. However, I think it unlikely that they would exaggerate the death toll, nor would they claim there was unrest in places that were calm. Naturally there are no figures on how the deaths occurred. It's implied that they were all killed by the rioters, but how many were shot by the police/Chinese military, and how many were victims of mob violence? One of the Youtube clips I watched didn't show anything much in the view, but there sure were a lot of noises in the background that sounded like shots. All were single shots, and I didn't hear any automatic weapons.

Here's a clip from Youtube taken off CCTV (China Central TV). Naturally it only shows injured Han Chinese and rioting Uighurs. Funny how there are no Uighur casualties ... Some of the footage is fairly graphic.

This just in:

The death toll has risen to 140 following Sunday night's riot in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the regional government said Monday. Fifty-seven people were confirmed dead on the scene and all the others died later at hospital, a spokesman of the regional government said at a press conference on Monday. He said the death toll would still be climbing.

A quick bit of history for those who don't know where Xinjiang is, and why this violence is occurring. Xinjiang, also known as East Turkistan, was one of the last pieces of territory to be incorporated into mainland China. It's "native" people are the Turkic Uighurs, who also happen to be Muslim. Given a choice, many of them would dearly like to break away and become a new Central Asian Republic, but of course the Chinese have no intention of allowing that to happen. Just like in Tibet, China has been encouraging Han Chinese to migrate to the province to try to strengthen their hold on the territory. They also generally allow the practice of Islam, but only within the strictures of the State structure, much as they tolerate various other groups such as Catholicism (minus the Vatican, mind you!)

I've not been to Xinjiang personally, but from people I know who have, it's not uncommon to see Han police pushing around Uighurs, and foreign tourists who look anything like a Turk are well advised to have their foreign passports well in hand to immediately identify themselves as not local Uighurs. There's a lot of hostility the other way too. It's the kind of place where most of the Uighurs can speak some Mandarin, but won't want to, and if that's the only means you've got for communication, you better be apologetic about it. The person telling me one such tale said one conversation he had in Mandarin started like this: old Uighur man: "You're not Han?" man: "No, I'm not Han" old Uighur: "Good. The Han are no good. You're sure you're not Han?" "Yes, I'm not Han." "Good." You get the general picture.

When Sept 11 rolled around, the Chinese immediately jumped on the "terrorist" bandwagon, and labeled all separatists as terrorists instead of their former labels. You may remember that there were a bunch of Uighurs at Gitmo who recently got released to various tropical islands ... I posted about that earlier, and the likelihood that the Chinese will eventually get their hands on them.

Here are photos of the violence in Urumqi. More photos at the link. (text in Chinese, sorry.)

In the last post I reported on troubles in Xinjiang. It's bigger than I thought, and may well get bigger yet. Xinhua reports:

The violence in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has left 129 people dead and injured 816 others, the regional public security department said Monday.

Something is going on in Xinjiang (pronounced "Shin jee-ung"). It's not entirely clear what, because I'm relying on Chinese media, but it seems like there's been a spate of major anti-Han Chinese unrest in the provincial capital of Urumqi. Naturally the Chinese are blaming it on "outside forces", in this case

The separatist World Uyghur Congress led by Rebiya Kadeer, according to the regional government. Rebiya Kadeer, a former businesswoman in China, was detained in 1999 on charges of harming national security. She was released on bail on March 17, 2005 to seek medical treatment in the United States.
"The violence is a preempted, organized violent crime. It is instigated and directed from abroad, and carried out by outlaws in the country," a government statement said early Monday. According to the government, the World Uyghur Congress has recently been instigating an unrest via the Internet among other means, calling on the outlaws "to be braver" and "to do something big."

They're not saying how many people were involved in it, but say casualties involve "a number of civilians and one armed police officer." Anti-Han feeling has always been there in Xinjiang, and at different times it has bubbled more or less close to the surface. Does this mark a significant upsurge? Keep watching for more. Be sure the Chinese response will be heavy handed.