Sunday, February 2, 2020

Communism kills: China reportedly arrested virus whistleblowers who tried sounding alarm

C. Douglas Golden, The Western JournalBy C. Douglas Golden, The Western Journal 
Published February 1, 2020 at 5:23pm
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On Thursday, the first confirmed case of first person-to-person coronavirus, the deadly outbreak that allegedly started due to a Chinese seafood "wet market" in Wuhan, was confirmed in the United States.
"The husband of an Illinois woman with Wuhan coronavirus is now infected with the illness, and is the first confirmed case of person-to-person transmission of the virus in the United States, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Thursday," CNN reported.
The director of the Illinois Department of Public Health said that "the risk of this novel coronavirus to the general public in Illinois remains low" and that they would "continue to keep the public fully informed as additional information becomes available."
The same cannot be said from where the outbreak started.
Virus whistleblowers had detected the outbreak in December, a month before it was officially reported by Chinese officials. Instead of being lauded for scientific rigor, they were "arrested for spreading rumors," according to the U.K. Mirror.
TRENDING: Whistleblowers now under fire, claims Pentagon inspector general
The news, which broke as an airlift repatriating Britishers from disease epicenter Wuhan, "comes as the Chinese authority's attempts to suppress news of the viral outbreak became known."
"A leading UK expert on China claims whistleblowers who warned last month about the outbreak at Wuhan’s live animal market were arrested for 'spreading rumors,' the Mirror can reveal. A legal document seen by the Mirror appears to be signed and finger-printed by citizens promising to stop discussing the outbreak.
"Their whereabouts now are not known. Dr. Yukteshwar Kumar of the University of Bath, who obtained the document, said eight were held for talking about the outbreak on Chinese messaging service WeChat."
“They were asked to sign a confession stating that they will not spread false news. If they had taken steps earlier the situation could have been better because they did know about it," Dr. Kumar told the Mirror. “People could have been made aware in late December. The authorities could have stopped people travelling earlier. I highly appreciate the efforts made by the government of China in locking down the whole city. However, if they’d listened to the advice of these eight people and some scientists the situation would have been perhaps better.”
This is somewhat important considering the fact that the World Health Organization held off declaring the coronavirus a global health emergency in part because of the low number of confirmed cases and the lack of evidence of human-to-human transmission, according to The New York Times.
Part of the decision, the paper reported on Thursday, was also because "the coronavirus outbreak spread well beyond China, where it emerged last month.
"The move reversed the organization’s decision just a week ago to hold off such a declaration. Since then, there have been thousands of new cases in China and clear evidence of human-to-human transmission in several other countries, including the United States. All of which warranted a reconsideration by the W.H.O.’s emergency committee, officials said," The Times added.
While WHO officials praised China's aggressive response to the outbreak -- something that's a lot easier to do when you're dealing with a totalitarian country -- there were also hints of Beijing's issues with reporting on the outbreak.
"Experts in the United States have complained of spotty epidemiological information from China," The Times reported. "Residents have complained that local authorities kept mum about the outbreak’s severity -- initially insisting that there was no evidence of person-to-person transmission outside Wuhan -- but admitted the truth after press reports in Hong Kong."
Welcome to communism, folks.
Lest you think that -- since China has now opened itself (kinda, sorta) to global capitalism -- it's no longer communist, consider how it controls information. This is the hallmark of how the Soviet Union used to deal with issues of famine and mass arrests.
Communist governments don't care about life and never have. What they care about, among other things, is controlling information.
In this case, it's led to the loss of life.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
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Tehran's Chinese Dream Can't Replace its Nightmare

by 
  • The Chinese found out that producing and exporting goods that people wanted across the globe was easier and more profitable than trying to export a revolution that no one, perhaps apart from a few students in London and Paris, thirsted for.
  • The Shah had promised that he would turn Iran into "a second Japan". Rafsanjani promised a "second China."
  • Some of Rafsanjani's close associates now tell me that he was "a bit of a coward" and lost his opportunity to do a Deng Xiaoping by being sucked into corrupt business deals. According to them, Rafsanjani didn't realize that one starts making money for himself, his family and his entourage after one has done a Deng Xiaoping, and not before.
  • Today, the Tehran "deciders" constitute a small, increasingly isolated minority caught in an imagined past and fearful of the future. Worse still, many "deciders" have already put part of their money abroad, having sent their children to Europe and America. Going through a who-is-who of these "deciders" one is amazed by how many are behaving as carpetbaggers, treating Iran as a land to plunder, sending the proceeds to the West. They cannot produce an Iranian "Deng" because they don't want to create a productive economy; all they are interested in is to get the money and run.

The idea of imitating the Chinese model isn't new in Iran. Pictured: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping on January 23, 2016 in Tehran. (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Could General Qassem Soleimani's dramatic demise provide the shock therapy to persuade those who wield real power in Tehran to admit the failure of a strategy that has led Iran into an impasse? This was the question discussed in a zoom conference with a number of academics from one of Iran's leading universities.
The fact itself that the issue could be debated must be regarded as significant. It indicates the readiness of more and more Iranians to defy the rules of silence imposed by the regime and raise taboo issues more or less openly.
In the course of the discussion one participant drew a parallel between Soleimani's death and that of Marshal Lin Biao, the Chinese Communist defense minister whose demise in an air crash in 1971 opened the way for a radical change of course by Maoist China.
Lin's elimination enabled Chinese reformists, then led by Prime Minister Chou En-lai, to isolate the so-called "Gang of Four" hardliners, led by Mao's wife Jian Qing, and bring the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution to a close as prelude to a historic change of course designed to transform the People's Republic from a vehicle for a revolutionary cause into a normal nation-state. Within a few years, the People's Republic under Deng Xiaoping's leadership was building a capitalist economy with a totalitarian political frame, discarding dreams of "exporting revolution".
Having lost its revolutionary legitimacy, the Chinese Communist regime started building a new source of legitimacy through economic success and the dramatic rise in living standards for hundreds of millions across the country. The Chinese found out that producing and exporting goods that people wanted across the globe was easier and more profitable than trying to export a revolution that no one, perhaps apart from a few students in London and Paris, thirsted for.
However, the parallel isn't exact. Lin was accused of having secret ties with "Imperialism" and plotting a coup against Chairman Mao while Soleimani was regarded as "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenei's most faithful aide. Lin had a glittering biography, having led the People's Liberation Army in numerous battles to victory with his conquest of Beijing as the final bouquet.
In contrast, even Soleimani's most ardent admirers are unable to name a single battle which he fought, let alone won. Even now his adulators only claim political successes for him, including his supposed success in preventing the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria and seizing control of the Lebanese state apparatus through surrogates.
Nevertheless, Soleimani's demise does provide an opportunity for a serious review of Khamenei's policy of "exporting revolution" which has cost Iran astronomical sums and countless lives with not a single country adopting the Khomeinist ideology and system of government.
The idea of imitating the Chinese model isn't new in Iran. It was first raised in 1990 by then President Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who went as far as asserting, only half-jokingly, that he would even be prepared to discard the clerical garb to adapt to the modern world. The Shah had promised that he would turn Iran into "a second Japan". Rafsanjani promised a "second China."
The Shah could not fulfill his promise because he was hit by the Islamic Revolution on the road and had to go into exile. Rafsanjani's "second China" also remained a dead dream with the would-be Iranian version of Deng Xiaoping just managing to stay alive and out of jail, barely tolerated by the real "deciders" as an embarrassing uncle.
Some of Rafsanjani's close associates now tell me that he was "a bit of a coward" and lost his opportunity to do a Deng Xiaoping by being sucked into corrupt business deals. According to them, Rafsanjani didn't realize that one starts making money for himself, his family and his entourage after one has done a Deng Xiaoping, and not before. Deng's family, including his daughter, son-in-law and hangers-on made their millions after China had been de-Maoized. In Rafsanjani's case, the millions were made without any attempt at de-Khomeinization.
At the time Rafsanjani played his "China" tune. I argued in several articles that the Deng model was not applicable to the Islamic Republic. In China, Maoism, is quirkiness notwithstanding, was a potent ideology, mixing nationalism, xenophobic resentment, and crude egalitarianism symbolized by the imposition of uniforms and collective production units. In contrast, the Khomeinist ideology was never developed into a coherent narrative while its open hostility to Iranian nationalism gave it an alien aura. Moreover, the Chinese revolution had triumphed after decades of struggle including a huge civil war involving tens of millions on opposite sides.
In contrast, the Khomeinist revolution succeeded in around four months because the Shah, unwilling to order mass repression, decided to abandon power and leave.
There are other differences between Iran today and China in the 1980s. The People's Republic was firmly controlled by the Chinese Communist Party which had at least five million trained and disciplined cadres capable of passing its message to society as a whole and mobilizing support for any change of strategy. The Khomeinist republic has no such structure and its support base, mired in corruption, finds it increasingly hard to communicate with society at large. The mass gatherings that the regime organizes should deceive no one.
Today, the Tehran "deciders" constitute a small, increasingly isolated minority caught in an imagined past and fearful of the future. Worse still, many "deciders" have already put part of their money abroad, having sent their children to Europe and America. Going through a who-is-who of these "deciders" one is amazed by how many are behaving as carpetbaggers, treating Iran as a land to plunder, sending the proceeds to the West. They cannot produce an Iranian "Deng" because they don't want to create a productive economy; all they are interested in is to get the money and run. Nor are they able to build the state institutions needed for a modern economy capable of seeking a credible place in the global market.
The machinery that Deng and his team inherited was certainly repressive and outmoded by the higher international standards. However, within its own paradigms, it worked. In contrast, the Khomeinist republic, though as outmoded and repressive as the Maoist regime, simply doesn't work. Lacking any mechanism for self-reform it resembles the blindfolded horse in ancient mills going round and round, grinding the seeds of a bitter harvest.
Amir Taheri was the executive editor-in-chief of the daily Kayhan in Iran from 1972 to 1979. He has worked at or written for innumerable publications, published eleven books, and has been a columnist forAsharq Al-Awsat since 1987. He is the Chairman of Gatestone Europe.
This article was originally published by Asharq al-Awsat and is reprinted by kind permission of the author.
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A Global Catastrophe: "260 Million Christians Experience High Levels of Persecution"

by 
  • Dictatorial paranoia continues to make North Korea (#1) the worst nation. "If North Korean Christians are discovered, they are deported to labor camps as political criminals or even killed on the spot." — World Watch List 2020, Open Doors.
  • Otherwise, as has been the case in all statistics and reports on the global persecution of Christians, not only does "Islamic oppression" remain the chief "source of persecution" faced by Christians in seven of the absolute ten worst nations, but 38 of the 50 nations composing the list are either Muslim majority or have a sizeable Muslim population.
  • The targeting of Christians around the world has become more widespread than ever. Part of this is because "persecution against Christians has taken a technological turn." ....in India (#10) — where "Hindu radicals often attack Christians with little to no consequences" — "the government plans to introduce a national facial recognition system. Similarly, China (#23)...." — World Watch List 2020, Open Doors.
  • Perhaps the most disturbing trend is that the number of persecuted Christians continues to grow year after year....
  • Will this trend ever stop and reverse, or will it continue to get worse — and possibly even spill into those nations that, for now, enjoy religious freedom and equality?

Dictatorial paranoia continues to make North Korea the worst nation in the world for Christians, according to the Open Doors World Watch List 2020. "If North Korean Christians are discovered, they are deported to labor camps as political criminals or even killed on the spot." Pictured: Soldiers in Pyongyang, North Korea on December 16, 2019. (Photo by Kim Won Jin/AFP via Getty Images)

The global persecution of Christians has reached unprecedented levels: "260 million Christians experience high levels of persecution" around the world, notes the recently published Open Doors World Watch List 2020, an annual report that ranks the top 50 countries where Christians are most persecuted for their faith.
Additionally, "2,983 Christians were killed for faith-related reasons. On average, that's 8 Christians killed every day for their faith": "9,488 churches or Christian buildings were attacked," and "3,711 Christians were detained without trial, arrested, sentenced and imprisoned." (Note: All quotes in this article are from the World Watch List 2020 report.)
Dictatorial paranoia continues to make North Korea (#1) the worst nation. "If North Korean Christians are discovered, they are deported to labor camps as political criminals or even killed on the spot."
Otherwise, and as has been the case in all statistics and reports on the global persecution of Christians, not only does "Islamic oppression" remain the chief "source of persecution" faced by Christians in seven of the absolute ten worst nations, but 38 of the 50 nations composing the list are either Muslim-majority or have a sizeable Muslim population.
The overwhelming majority of these Muslim nations are governed by some form of shari'a (Islamic law). It is either directly enforced by government or society or, more frequently, both, though societies — family members in particular — tend to be more zealous in its application. Brief summaries of the seven Muslim nations making the top ten follow:
  • Afghanistan (#2) is "an Islamic society where Christianity exists in secret." Not only is it "illegal for an Afghan person to leave Islam," but family members are often first to attack or kill them.
  • In Somalia (#3), "[c]onversion to Christianity is regarded as a betrayal"; " family members and clan leaders will harass, intimidate and even kill" converts. Al Shabaab, "the youth," an Islamic group, slaughters Christians "on the spot when discovered."
  • In Libya (#4), "There is no freedom of speech, no equal treatment of Christians, no recognition of the church and no churches being built."
  • Pakistan (#5) "is afflicted by numerous radical Islamic groups," which "regularly target" churches. More generally and in the eyes of both government and people, "Christians are regarded as second-class citizens. Also, the country's anti-blasphemy laws are disproportionately applied against the Christian minority — making it difficult and dangerous to live out one's faith in public."
  • In Sudan (#7), "the government has arrested or intimidated many Christian leaders, and numerous churches have been demolished. Extremists have attacked Christians, especially in the Nuba Mountain region, where thousands of Christians have been killed or displaced."
  • In Yemen (#8), civil "war has allowed radical Islamic groups to expand their operations in certain areas, leading to Christians being abducted and killed. Open church activities are forbidden and leaving Islam is forbidden. Muslims who decide to follow Jesus could face the death penalty."
  • In Iran (#9), which "is governed by Islamic law,... the rights and professional possibilities for Christians are heavily restricted.... [I]t is illegal to produce Christian literature or hold church services in Farsi. Converts from Islam face persecution from the government."
Some notable trends are also on the rise. Christians in sub-Saharan Africa are "increasingly under threat from Islamic extremist groups":
In Burkina Faso (No. 28, a rise of 33 spots from 2019), long-known for its religious tolerance, Christians say they are in a fight for survival. Dozens of Catholic priests have been killed, and Protestant pastors and their families have been killed or kidnapped by violent Islamic militants. In Mali (No. 29), the president said in late 2018 that his country's existence is under threat because of Islamic jihadists. Central African Republic (No. 25) is in constant upheaval partially due to the fighting of rebel Islamic militants, many of whom target Christians. And Cameroon (No. 48) faces violence in the north—still a stronghold of Boko Haram [which, along with Muslim Fulani herdsmen, are slaughtering Christians in Nigeria, #12].
Militant Islam has also arisen in unexpected areas. "In Sri Lanka (No. 30, up from 46 in 2019) 250 people died and more than 500 were injured in attacks on Catholic and Protestant churches and hotels on Easter Sunday." Maldives (#14)—popularly recognized as a beautiful island nation and tourist destination—is a bastion of shari'a:
The Maldives' constitution requires all citizens to be Muslim. Conversion from Islam means that someone can be stripped of their citizenship and punished under Shariah law. Even foreign workers who are Christians are closely watched, which makes church life extremely difficult and practically non-existent. Churches are outlawed, and openly carrying the Bible is illegal. The country is so tightly controlled by Islamic law that there is not even a Bible fully translated into the native language of most citizens of the Maldives.
Algeria worsened by five sports — going from #22 last year to #17 in 2020 — due to "the seemingly systemic closure of Protestant churches. In some of these cases, Christians were forcibly expelled by police in the middle of church services. Pressure from family also remains high, particularly for Christians who were previously Muslim."
Aside from "Islamic oppression," the targeting of Christians around the world has become more widespread than ever. Part of this is because "persecution against Christians has taken a technological turn." For example, in India (#10) — where "Hindu radicals often attack Christians with little to no consequences" — "the government plans to introduce a national facial recognition system. There were at least 447 verified incidents of violence and hate crimes against Christians in India... There is fear that more tracking could increase these attacks."
Similarly, China (#23) — which seeks to make all religions, including Christianity, "fall in line with their interpretation of communism" — is "rolling out a country-wide Social Credit System (SCS) by which authorities plan to reward 'good' citizenship and punish 'bad'":
Already, one community has reportedly decided to add penalties for those who "illegally spread Christianity." It's easy to see how surveillance technology could be used in tandem with the SCS to make everyday life very difficult for anyone the Chinese government deems insufficiently "Chinese" — including Christians.
Perhaps the most disturbing trend is that the number of persecuted Christians continues to grow year after year: "260 million Christians experience high levels of persecution," says the new 2020 report. This represents a 6% increase from 2019; then, 245 million Christians were persecuted — and that was a 14% increase from 2018, when 215 million was the number.
Will this trend ever stop and reverse, or will it continue to get worse — and possibly even spill into those nations that, for now, enjoy religious freedom and equality?
Raymond Ibrahim, author of the new book, Sword and Scimitar, Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute, a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, and a Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
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