RUTHFULLY YOURS

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323826704578354070931017596.html?mod=opinion_newsreel

I picture the Chinese hacker who spent part of last year perusing internal Wall Street Journal emails as a scrawny 23-year-old lieutenant with bad English, bad acne and a uniform that is a half-size too large for his frame. He works for a branch of the People’s Liberation Army known as Unit 61398. His office is a nondescript building near Datong Road in Shanghai.I call him Feng. I wonder what Feng does for fun.

I also have a mental picture of the censor who decides which articles or editions of The Wall Street Journal to ban in China. In my imagination she’s a matronly woman with good English named Mei. Mei works for CNPIEC—the state-owned China National Publications Import & Export Corporation—which has offices near Beijing’s Workers’ Stadium.

There’s a pond next to the stadium. I imagine Mei sometimes takes her lunch breaks on a bench by the water’s edge, quietly reading unredacted copies of Western publications.

The world knows about Unit 61398 thanks to a report last month by the Virginia-based Mandiant Corporation, which traced the source of many of the hacks into U.S. companies, including the Journal, to the Datong Road address. And the Journal knows CNPIEC’s censorship because we take note of what gets banned or torn out of our newspapers when they are distributed in China.

In 2006, a year’s worth of censorship amounted to eight articles being torn out of the paper. In 2012, the censorship was up more than 13-fold. Maps that treat Taiwan as a country: out. Articles critical of Beijing’s policies toward Tibetans or Uighurs: out. A review of two books about Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward and the famine he caused: out. Articles about intrigues at the top level of the Communist Party: out.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324178904578338032616977010.html?mod=opinion_newsreel On Aug. 18, 2012, Dr. Cyril Karabus—a 77-year-old oncologist from South Africa—was arrested during a stopover at Dubai International Airport, as he was returning from his son’s wedding in Toronto. Formerly the senior pediatrician at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital in Capetown, Dr. Karabus had last visited Dubai in 2002, when he treated patients […]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324503204578318680058043430.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTTopOpinion

The Enterprise Value Tax would hit firms that have nothing to do with ‘carried interest.’

As it has in years past, Congress is now considering changing the tax rules regarding “carried interest,” a kind of investment earnings often taxed at a rate lower than that of ordinary income. This matter will doubtless be resolved politically, as there is no clear right or wrong answer economically. To paraphrase Churchill, messy fighting among lobbyists, lawyers and demagogues is the worst way to settle such things, except for all the other ways.

But tied to the discussions of carried interest is another debate that, if resolved incorrectly, would mean the enactment of a pernicious and economically destructive new tax.

We are referring to the Enterprise Value Tax, which is inserted (in slightly varying forms) into the congressional proposals to “fix” carried interest and into the White House’s American Jobs Act proposal. Under current law, entrepreneurs of all types who sell their companies are taxed on the profits at the capital-gains rate. The EVT seeks to change this, but only for the sale of certain businesses—namely investment-service partnerships, the sale of which would now be taxed as regular income.

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3617/who-are-these-moralists With Israel, every death is investigated, every movement protested against. Yet when it comes to the wholesale slaughter in Syria, there is just a single global shrug. People cannot be wholly surprised if some of us choose to observe that many of those who comment with fury about Israel have revealed themselves to be […]

http://daphneanson.blogspot.com/ “Palestine: Suspending Disbelief Is An Unbelievable Hoax,” is the title of the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer. He writes: ‘Beware failed negotiators like Dennis Ross when they continue to pontificate on the possibility of the two-state solution. Formerly the United States chief negotiator for the Arab-Israeli conflict from […]

http://daphneanson.blogspot.com/

The US-based Creative Community for Peace has drawn up the following petition to singer Alicia Keyes, who’s being pressed by BDS forces to cancel her scheduled appearance in Tel Aviv on 4 July:

‘We, the undersigned, wholeheartedly support your upcoming tour in Israel and your dedication to your fans across the globe.

We know you are hearing falsehoods about Israel being an apartheid state and unfair comparisons of Israel to apartheid South Africa. These messages are filled with distortions and untruths that seek to malign Israel and distort the discourse of those that seek peace.

Those who have actually been to Israel know that it is a democratic country with a diverse population, where women, Arabs, Muslims, Christians and all minorities have equal rights; a nation where art and freedom of expression flourish. In fact, Arab-Israeli citizens serve on Israel’s Supreme Court and in its Parliament. The recently crowned Miss Israel was born in Ethiopia and quoted Martin Luther King in her acceptance speech! “There are many different communities of many different colors in Israel, and it’s important to show that to the world,” said the new Miss Israel.

We too wish for a resolution to the complicated Palestinian/Israeli peace process, and we believe that the unique connection between artist and fan is part of the solution. Music is a great tool–one that can be used for building bridges, dialogue and understanding between people. Cultural boycotts drown out freedom and the voices of change. Your voice, your message will touch hearts and minds in a region desperately looking for peace.

We therefore urge you to keep your tour date in Israel, the land Madonna calls “the energy center of the world.” Join the ranks of independent-minded artists who have performed in Israel recently, including Rihanna, Macy Gray, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Black Eyed Peas, Missy Elliot, Metallica, Linkin Park, Lady Gaga, Seal, Meshell Ngedecello, Erykah Badu and many others. Your fans in Israel are looking forward to seeing you and know that you will use the power of your music to help bring hope and peace to the region!

Thank you.’

To sign the petition click here
(Hat tip: reader Rita)

http://www.thecommentator.com/article/2895/dutch_doctoral_student_receives_death_threats_after_opposing_teenage_hitler_admirers Reports from the Netherlands indicate Mehmet Sahin, a doctoral student at the centre of a controversial video that circulated on the internet last week, has gone into hiding with his family after receiving death threats. The video (see below), originally broadcast by Nederland 2 TV station, features Sahin interviewing a group of teenage boys […]

http://www.thecommentator.com/article/2894/u_n_report_palestinian_rocket_not_an_israeli_airstrike_killed_the_baby_of_a_bbc_reporter

A U.N. report indicates that a stray Palestinian rocket, not an Israeli airstrike, likely killed the baby of a BBC reporter during fighting in the Hamas-ruled territory last November

U.N. report indicates that a stray Palestinian rocket, not an Israeli airstrike, likely killed the baby of a BBC reporter during fighting in the Hamas-ruled territory last November, reports the Associated Press.

Omar al-Masharawi, the 11-month-old son of BBC employee Jihad al-Masharawi, was tragically killed in the midst of fighting between Israel and Palestinian terrorists last year. The horrific event was quickly turned into a symbol of what Palestinians and much of the Western world’s media sees as Israeli aggression.

But the U.N. office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said in its March 6th report that the incident was caused by “what appeared to be a Palestinian rocket that fell short of Israel.”

Similar stories of alleged Israeli aggression against civilians, such as this reporting from the BBC’s Jon Donnison, emerged throughout the ‘Pillar of Defense’ campaign, in what was a major media war for Israel. Donnison was eventually summoned to a Government Press Office Hearing.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100442833 MAYOR BLOOMBERG WOULD HAVE SERVED US BETTER HAD HE TAKEN ON THE LUNATIC AND DANGEROUS CAB DRIVERS, THE BARS THAT SERVE UNLIMITED ALCOHOL TO COLLEGE STUDENTS, AND THE DELIVERY BIKERS THAT USE THE STREETS INSTEAD OF THE BIKE LANES…..TIME TO GO MAYOR BLOOMBERG BUT WHO IS IN THE WINGS?…..RSK How sweet it is — […]

http://spectator.org/archives/2013/03/11/kim-inching-toward-war

What does the increased pace of the Norks’ bellicosity mean?

It took Dennis Rodman to make Hillary Clinton and John Kerry look good. When the former NBA star reported on his “basketball diplomacy” mission to North Korea, he informed us that Kim Jong-un was really a nice guy, someone who didn’t want war and only wished for a phone call from President Obama.

Before Rodman arrived, North Korea conducted its third nuclear test. And soon after Rodman’s return, Kim Jong-un threatened a nuclear attack on the United States and his neighbors, adding that his nation was pulling out of the ceasefire agreement that ended the Korean War in 1953. It has “cancelled” the armistice before, in 2009, when South Korea joined the “Proliferation Security Initiative” which calls on the nations belonging to it to interdict shipments of nuclear and missile technologies that emanate primarily from North Korea.

A few days ago, Kim told his troops to be ready for “all-out war.”

Rodman’s attempt at diplomacy-by-idiot failed spectacularly but probably wasn’t any more damaging than our other idiotic attempts to engage the Norks. Under Defense Secretary William Perry’s“Agreed Framework” of 1994, we were supposed to ship fuel oil to North Korea in exchange for their stopping the construction of nuclear enrichment plants. That failed when the Norks immediately broke the agreement and continued construction of facilities to produce highly enriched uranium for nuclear weapons.