CNN recently interviewed Premier Jiabao and no topic was considered too taboo.  And while they probably wouldn’t call themselves libertarians, Wen Jiabao and Hu Jintao are arguably much more level-headed and diplomatic than many Western politicians like Obama, McCain or much of the G7 leadership.

In particular, Wen discusses a nuclear Iran and supports a peaceful, non-military approach, one with dialogue and not the threat of annihilation.

In addition, he does not view China as a superpower and believes the PRC leadership should continue focusing on setting its own house in order before trying to take on any global enforcement role.

It should be noted that following the reforms of Deng Xiaoping, the PLA was sliced in half and the military itself has not participated in any offensive military operations for 30 years; with Vietnam. They are now large trading partners and are even constructing a joint-highway. Similarly, despite the best efforts of the Western elite to demonize the PRC, links between Taiwan and the mainland continue to warm.

See also: The Peaceful Rise of China
China and the New Cold War
Tibet, the ‘great game’ and the CIA

Monday will reportedly see the final edition of the neoconservative New York Sun.

The Sun was started in 2002 by Conrad Black and a number of other investors. They took a consistent stand in favor of neocon wars.

At the start of this month, the newspaper said it was desperately seeking cash. It supposedly raised “a lot” of money in the following two weeks, but then came a Wall Street meltdown that appears to have ended any hope for new benefactors.

In a February 6, 2003 editorial, the newspaper called for indicting antiwar protesters for treason.

In last night’s debate, McCain again strutted out the fact of his POW status during the Vietnam war.

A servile media has long allowed this to be the primary part of McCain’s halo.

But instead, it should raise questions that go to the heart of McCain’s willingness to betray his fellow soldiers and countrymen in pursuit of political profit.

Sydney Schanberg won a Pulitzer prize while risking his life covering Cambodia for the New York Times in the 1970s. The Nation just published a Schanberg expose that proves that McCain intentionally pulled strings to bury U.S. government information on American soldiers left behind in Vietnam. Upon returning from Vietnam, McCain “pulled himself up by his bootstraps” by burnishing Richard Nixon’s boots - and denying the existence of POWs left behind was Obligatory Lie #1.

Schanberg’s sources are 10-karat, if not better.

Here is the shorter version that appears in the October 6 version of Nation.

Here is the longer version that appears in a study at the Nation Institute webpage.

The media never cares enough about American soldiers to even ask McCain about his role in covering up info about American POWs left behind. But the press turns into his boot burnishers whenever he struts out his tale of suffering.

Update: I also posted this comment here, where there are links to some other videos. Comments also welcome at the other site.

I attended a debate between Harvard Prof. Steven Walt and veteran neo-conservative and American Enterprise Institute (AEI) fellow Joshua Muravchik at the Nixon Center Thursday evening. Most notable for the unfortunately abbreviated time I was there was Muravchik’s certainty that “if McCain is president, there will be an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.” The way he said this also conveyed that it could well be item number one on McCain’s agenda.

He also asserted that “McCain is by history more of a neo-con than Bush” (no quarrel there) and noted that his service as chair of the International Republican Institute (IRI), a creation and beneficiary of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), helped steer him in that direction. “I would expect from McCain policies (that) I would like,” he said just before his observation about McCain’s intentions vis-a-vis Iran.

I would have to take Muravchik’s prediction seriously given his long-time perch at AEI, McCain’s favorite foreign-policy think tank, and his long association with some of McCain’s closest advisers, including Robert Kagan with whom he has worked since their Central America days. (Incidentally, Kagan, as well as Abrams, may be vying for the National Security Advisor post in any McCain administration.) Of course, bombing Iran has been a devout and explicit wish on Muravchik’s part for nearly two years if not more, so this may be an example of wishful thinking, but I can’t help but believe his associations give him some real insight on this question. Kagan, however, has supported unconditional talks with Iraq if for no other reason than to strengthen the case for eventual military action.

Congressional Democrats this week shelved the sinister House Concurrent Resolution 362. That resolution, a high priority for AIPAC, would have imposed “stringent inspection requirements on all persons, vehicles, ships, planes, trains and cargo entering or departing Iran” and barred any export of refined petroleum from the U.S. to Iran. In other words, it would be a de facto military blockade, an act of war that would surely turn bloody soon enough.

Those champing at the bit for war with Iran won’t be resting; Democrat Rep. Gary L. Ackerman of New York, who wrote the resolution, told the Washington Times, “We’ll resubmit it when Congress comes back, and we’ll have even more signatures.”

Antiwar.com readers shouldn’t rest either. Make sure your congressmen know that you don’t want a conflict in Iran to satisfy wild ambitions for eternal war for eternal democracy. We’ve been keeping you up to date on these backdoor to war maneuvers. Make sure that you stay in the know about how D.C. is working to manipulate us into more. They don’t rest, unfortunately. Neither do we, and neither should you.

If you would like our action alerts or other updates, please sign up here. If you have any questions or comments, please email akeaton@antiwar.com.

The Katie Couric interview with Sarah Palin revealed her lack of understanding of the world. This would be funny if she wasn’t so close to actually becoming Commander-in-Chief:

The Night Watchman State has been replaced by Highway Robber States - governments in which no asset, no contract, no domain is safe from marauding bands of politicians. (from my Freedom in Chains, 1999)

If you voted in the congressional elections two years ago, were you ceding the right to the winners to give @ a trillion dollars to their Wall Street friends and donors?

Did any politician mention on the campaign trail in 2006 that a vote for them would be a vote for lavishing tax dollars on some of the richest wheeler-dealers in the nation?

Did any congressional candidate run on a platform of seizing tax dollars and using it to pay above-market prices for worthless assets for Wall Street’s benefit?

How in Hades can this bailout have any legitimacy within any notion of democracy that does not proclaim that citizens exist to be financially slaughtered for the good of whomever the rulers please?

Will Congress follow the same standard for the financial bailout that it used to approve Bush’s warring? If groveling and cheering worked for Congress rubberstamping policy in Iraq, why not assume it will also work great for Wall Street?

In the excellent article by Ann Wright, “When Refusing to Kill Has a Higher Sentence Than Murder,” mention was made of the light sentences that were given out to U.S. soldiers for murdering Iraqi civilians. Many who support the war are also outraged about this. Yet, we should never forget that since the invasion and occupation of Iraq was itself aggressive, unnecessary, and immoral–every Iraqi killed by U.S. troops could be said to be murdered. There is no such thing as state-sanctified murder.

McCain’s surrogates, Max Boot and Richard Williamson, told a gathering of the hawkish Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) in Virginia last weekend that the Republican candidate, if elected, would not become actively engaged in Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts and discourage Israeli-Syrian peace efforts, according to an important article by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency’s excellent Ron Kampeas. Consistent with my last post, Abrams’ influence on both McCain positions is apparent.

As noted by Kampeas, Williamson’s endorsement of those positions “signified how closely the McCain campaign has allied itself with neo-conservatives.” Frankly, the position of those foreign-policy realists who have endorsed McCain and who, according to the mainstream media, are supposed to be advising him — I’m thinking of James Baker or Richard Armitage as examples — is becoming increasingly untenable in this campaign.

Not terribly surprising, but I have it from a reliable source that Elliott Abrams, currently Deputy National Security Adviser for Global Democracy Strategy who also heads the NSC’s Near East office, is regularly briefing the McCain campaign — Randy Scheunemann appears to be the main contact — and has told friends and colleagues that he is confident that he will get a top post in a McCain administration. Now, assuming Abrams is not talking through his hat, I very much doubt that a Democratic-majority Senate would confirm Abrams, who pleaded guilty to essentially lying to Congress during the Iran-Contra affair, to any position that required confirmation (especially as long as Chris Dodd, who clashed frequently and bitterly with Abrams when the latter served as Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs under Reagan, remains alive). That would leave his current abode — the NSC — as his most likely destination. But he is already a deputy national security adviser. Does that mean that he thinks he will be THE Deputy National Security Adviser — in charge of the day-to-day operations of the NSC — or even THE National Security Adviser in the McCain White House?

Abrams is no fool, and his political instincts have always been very sharp, so, unless my informant is mistaken, I assume he has reason to feel confident about his future under McCain. If so, there can remain really very little doubt that McCain’s foreign policy will be thoroughly neo-conservative and very aggressive; a replay of Bush’s first term. After all, it was Abrams, backed by Cheney, who drove the isolation policy against Hamas (so much for democracy promotion!); it was Abrams who suggested to Israeli leaders that they extend the 2006 war with Hezbollah to Syria; it was Abrams who, for all practical purposes, undermined Rice’s efforts to get a Israel-Palestine framework agreement before Bush leaves office. Among many other things.

The Independent has a really fascinating talk with Tina Kandelaki, a well known television personality in Russia who is originally from Georgia, and several other Georgians living in Moscow.

As President Saakashvili called Georgians who live in Russia “traitors,” its unsurprising that they don’t view him with an awful lot of sympathy (Ms. Kandelaki calls him “Mikheil the Destroyer”). But it also tells the story of several of Moscow’s less famous Georgians and the discrimination they’ve experienced since last month’s war.

I’d really recommend giving it a look.

In order to save the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Bush administration seeks boundless power that cannot be reviewed by federal courts.

Didn’t we try this already at Gitmo, and it didn’t work out so well?

from Bloomberg:
Treasury Seeks Asset-Buying Power Unchecked by Courts (Update2)

“He’s asking for a huge amount of power,” said Nouriel Roubini, an economist at New York University. “He’s saying, `Trust me, I’m going to do it right if you give me absolute control.’ This is not a monarchy.”