BOAO, China (AP) - Action star Jackie Chan said Saturday he's not sure if a free society is a good thing for China and that he's starting to think "we Chinese need to be controlled." So, he's an Obamanite then?
Chan's comments drew applause from a predominantly Chinese audience of business leaders in China's southern island province of Hainan. Surprise, surprise.
The 55-year-old Hong Kong actor was participating in a panel at the annual Boao Forum when he was asked to discuss censorship and restrictions on filmmakers in China. He expanded his comments to include society. "I'm not sure if it's good to have freedom or not," Chan said. "I'm really confused now. If you're too free, you're like the way Hong Kong is now. It's very chaotic. Taiwan is also chaotic."
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#2
Also, the Chinese character for "chaos" has a much uglier connotation than in English. His remarks about chaotic government should be colored in that respect.
#3
I can't help but think something is being lost in translation here. The statements, taken together, are not cross supporting. My 2 cents.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
04/20/2009 8:45 Comments ||
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#4
"If I need to buy a TV, I'll definitely buy a Japanese TV. A Chinese TV might explode."
I guess they don't have FTC requirements to label source of origin by degree of content on their products not sold in the US since most 'Japanese' TVs are not manufactured in Japan anymore and most likely are manufactured in China.
#5
He doesn't just agree with the 19th century British, it sounds like he agrees with 1930's and 40's Japanese.
If the Chinese are uniquely unsuited for self-government having a Chinese elite only makes the problem worse, especially for the rest of us who aren't Chinese. The only thing that solves the problem is subjecting them to someone _else_.
And unfortunately we lost half a million people in the last war we fought to among other things keep them from being subjected to the Japanese.
Nice to know we were idiots. You should have told us this stuff back in November 1941, we could have cut a deal.
#6
Celebrities making mind-bendingly stupid pronouncements on political and cultural issues--not just an American phenomenon!
Posted by: Mike ||
04/20/2009 9:45 Comments ||
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#7
Nice to know we were idiots. You should have told us this stuff back in November 1941, we could have cut a deal.
That's because State was run by another set of idiots who thought of China in the fiction of Pearl Buck's The Good Earth which was nothing more then the 30s version of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring distorting realities for agenda which resulted in even greater suffering for humanity. China was the land of petty warlords and pre-Enlightenment and Industrialization poverty. Guilty parties all around for the suffering. State's 'soft diplomacy' of the oil embargo forced the Japanese hand while at the same time State play games with Japanese diplomats who had no real power or influence which actually resided with the military caste running the real show in Tokyo. Things never change, just the cast of characters.
#8
At the tender age of six, Jackie was sent to the China Drama Academy, a Peking Opera School. His father moved to Australia. Basically, Jackie's parents dropped him off with acrobatic circus carnies and ran.
Having a tough childhood is what made Jackie into who he is, and also made him fear the unruliness he experienced in his unsettling childhood. He is frightened of that same unruliness in the larger Chinese society, and longs to have the patriarchy restored that was ripped from his clutches at age six.
Taiwan, a budding and prosperous society, poses a threat to the mainlands self-image. The mainland is threatened by their success and so is Jackie.
Guilty parties all around for the suffering. State's 'soft diplomacy' of the oil embargo forced the Japanese hand while at the same time State play games with Japanese diplomats who had no real power or influence which actually resided with the military caste running the real show in Tokyo.
Given Japan's ambitions who far exceeded China sooner or mate it would have clased with the United States. The mistake was not pushing Japan to war but doing so while not preparing for it: Wildcats, P40s, Brewseter Buffaloes, torpedoes who don't explode that is not the hailmark of an adminitrstion who has done its homework before going to war.
#10
Not to mention that despite Midway the US carrier fleet remained inferior to the Japanese one until mid 1943 (and at one point the number of available Alerican carriers was exactly zero) and gross overestimation of China's capabilities: in fact Chinese soldiers died in droves from hunger and those who didn't were no match for the Japanese. Roosevelt had read to many Peal S Buck novels.
#12
OTOH, WORLD MIL FORUM [old] > THE PEOPLE OF HONGKONG + OVERSEAS CHINESE LIKE AMERICA; + HONGKONG MEDIA: DESPITE KIM JONG-IL [referred/described in Arcticle as "KIM JONG DOO-DO/DOO-DO/DOOK-DO KIM], THE PEOPLE OF NORTH KOREA LIKE AMERICA.
* DON'T KIDNAP ME [tase], BRO > Hopefully KIMMIE + NORTH KOREAN INTEL will understand it twasn't that Guy-from-Guam whom wrote the article.
#13
ION CHINA, WORLD MIL FORUM > IIUC, ARTIC describes how 1.4MILYUHN? CHINESE may had been exposed to serious to severe levels, wid 190,000 DEAD, of VARIOUS FORMS OF DIRECT, INDIRECT RADIATION POISONING as a consequence of China's NUCLEAR BOMB TESTS = MAO/CHIN's COLD WAR DRIVE TO DEV NUCWEAPS + BECOME A NUCLEAR POWER.
POTENS THE WORST CASE EVAH! IN WORLD, NUCLEAR HISTORY???
#14
The action hero complained that Chinese goods still have too many quality problems. He became emotional when discussing contaminated milk powder that sickened tens of thousands of Chinese babies in the past year.
Speaking fast with his voice rising, Chan said, "If I need to buy a TV, I'll definitely buy a Japanese TV. A Chinese TV might explode."
He has a point.
Posted by: regular joe ||
04/20/2009 20:03 Comments ||
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Complete Islamisation of Pakistan has been the genuine and long-standing demand of the overwhelming majority of Pakistanis. Not only that, it is also the appropriate answer to the lurking fears of Talibanisation, growing rapidly with every passing day, as a natural response to the suppression of this public demand at the state level.
This demand surfaced as soon as the inception of the country, since the driving force behind the Pakistan movement was the need for a separate country for Muslims where they could protect and practice their Islamic ideology. Consequently, the mounting public pressure led the Constituent Assembly to pass the Objectives Resolution, making a sacred covenant with the people of Pakistan that Quran and Sunnah will be the guiding principles of the constitution, legislation and policy-making of this land of the pure.
The British-trained establishment, including; the civil and military bureaucracy, were, however, averse to the idea of Islamisation and wanted to faithfully preserve the British system and the Anglo-Saxon system of government, besides the laws formulated by the colonial masters for subjects. Those people considered themselves the legitimate successors of the British colonial rulers and aspired to step into their masters' shoes to enjoy the same powers and privileges exclusively reserved for the privileged class of British officers colonising the sub continent for over 200 years.
The ensuing tug-of-war between the small minority of feudals and capitalists led by the colonial bureaucracy trying to replace colonists, and the vast majority of people yearning to materialise the dream of Pakistan into reality, led the country towards the state of affairs it is presently beset with. This confrontation has not only caused serious damages to the country, including the progressive erosion of nationhood, decline in unity, solidarity and integrity among the federating units and putting the country on the verge of collapse, but has also led to its dismemberment. For the common people the independence of Pakistan from the British colonists was nothing but mere change of masters. The former British rulers were at least answerable to their British government and Parliament but their legacy of the local masters considered themselves as the ultimate authority and literally behaved like they were answerable to none but themselves.
Back in 2002, I was returning from Friday prayers when I saw an unusual gathering of singing and quasi-dancing mullahs. Unusual because I had always assumed mullahs to be against all types of kufr (art). The amused crowd were listening to chants of Taliban aa-gae! Taliban aa-gae! I smirked: As if! Pakistan is a nuclear country with the seventh-largest army. Were safe.
The mullahs songs have been answered the Taliban indeed are coming. And with them the cowards are bringing a lifestyle that destroys everything Pakistan.
Oh, no! Wait! This guy is on the paycheque of those who are trying to break Pakistan. The Taliban are our heroes, it is America which is in the wrong. Yes, this is the typical self-defence mechanism coming to full force. Having nothing to lose, and having been already declared a CIA agent earlier in life, I suppose Ill continue. Continuing with a genuine fear that these words are falling on either deaf or hostile ears, it may well be that Mohammad Ali Jinnahs Pakistan is over in a year if all this chaos continues.
Perhaps, if Jinnah knew that the country he founded was going to become an arena for public flogging, where the laughs of sadist barbarians will mingle with the screams of women and children, he would not have decided on creating it. Had he known that there would be more suicide bombs in his country than any other place in the world, where militants and bigots would go around threatening women to dress properly, where schoolchildren would have to undergo security checks as if they were in a war zone, he would be extremely upset.
All our talk shows discuss the merits and demerits of the 17th Amendment, or bash America and India. Yes, American drones and Indian statements are a threat to our sovereignty. Yes, the balance of power is important, but it is the Taliban who have killed more people than India or the US drones combined, and have made us feel more unsafe than anyone else in the past thirty years. What other definition of sovereignty is there than provision of protection to people and maintenance of the writ of the state? Why cant we have some programmes that discuss the atrocities of the Taliban, acts of terror that they do and how they have destroyed Pakistan?
No, its not the Hindu Zionists working on a CIA/Mossad-sponsored conspiracy to break Pakistan. And for the sake of argument, even if they are foreign-funded, does that not mean we should double our efforts to counter them? Remember when India briefly occupied some land in 1965 and how the whole country rallied to defend this invasion? My grandfather had stories of people going with sticks to support the army. I am afraid I will not have any such stories of patriotic resistance to tell anyone when another enemy has taken control of, say, a fourth of the NWFP and roughly one-twentieth of Pakistan.
But remember the great Pakistani Fauj which, under the Ameer-ul-Momineen, Zia-ul-Haq, crushed the Russians? This is only a plan to make America taste the same fate! Yes, thank you Zaid Hamid. For a nation which already lives in denial, your conspiracy theories are all we need to turn us completely schizophrenic.
For the love of God, can anyone explain to me why the great army whose laurels we sing from the day we are born has still not been able to jam radio stations pouring terror in Swat? How is it that these Taliban leaders can appear before journalists in broad daylight and roam freely without any trouble even when they claim responsibility for a suicide bombing?
Perhaps the real question I should ask is, why do I even care? When I took time off from Harvard to be part of the lawyers movement I had seen a ray of hope. There were concerned citizens and lawyers who stood for what was right, no matter what the consequences. We fought for a principle and won, with the hope that things will slowly improve. Today the very judges we had faith in released the Lal Masjid cleric whose crimes everyone knows about. If the judiciary was going to release people whose crimes were recorded on TV, perhaps it does explain why the Taliban are growing popular.
Having said that, rays of hope like Afzal Khan Lala, who has refused to move from Swat while he is alive, appear every now and then. However, he stands alone in facing the storm. Other than Ayaz Amir, not a single Pakistani leader has spoken out against the Taliban. Will the real leader who can get rid of these monsters stand up, please? Imran Khan? Qazi? Nawaz Sharif? This silence is criminal!
Whats worse is that these leaders of ours have unanimously approved a state within a state run, which is not accountable to anyone, absolved the Taliban of all crimes and provided them a safe haven to kill more Pakistanis. The so-called Nizam-e-Adl Regulation was endorsed by the National Assembly without any proper debate.
The sad story, friends, is that the Taliban are here, and unless we stand up against them in every possible way, Pakistan will be lost for good. And it will not be lost because of Zardaris real or perceived corruption or anything else like that, but because of the silence of the lambs we ALL will be responsible if Pakistan fails.
The writer is a student at Harvard University and turned down an award from the US ambassador as a mark of protest against killings of Pakistanis by US drone attacks.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/20/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Sorry, Samad. Jinnah knew exactly what he was doing. And your army is sworn to and fights under the banner of jihad by the sword.
#2
For the love of God, can anyone explain to me why the great army whose laurels we sing from the day we are born has still not been able to jam radio stations pouring terror in Swat? How is it that these Taliban leaders can appear before journalists in broad daylight and roam freely without any trouble even when they claim responsibility for a suicide bombing?
I recall Perv talking about what will happen when the Taliban become a mass movement and his wishes are coming true with the help of the Mullah-Military alliance!!!
#3
Remember when India briefly occupied some land in 1965 and how the whole country rallied to defend this invasion? My grandfather had stories of people going with sticks to support the army. I am afraid I will not have any such stories of patriotic resistance
Unfortunately, these tales are all false. Pakistan attacked first and the Indian counterattack almost reached Lahore before the ceasefire. Sticks against T-55s? Not very likely.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/20/2009 15:57 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
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Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
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Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
