Word: mao
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Eight years ago, I covered village elections in China, where the victors--farmers with Mao suits and dirty fingernails--were barred from taking office by the incumbents and eventually jailed on trumped-up charges. One man was so harassed that he committed suicide. This doesn't sound like a heartwarming tale of democracy's triumph. But what has evolved in these villages, despite the injustice, is a dawning sense that people--even the extremely poor--have rights. In societies cowering under oppression, such a realization is revolutionary...
...making diplomatic feats. Exhibit A: Richard Nixon. He's remembered for his 1972 trip to China almost as much as he is for Watergate. And while it's conceivable that relations with the Communist country could have been normalized without a face-to-face meeting between Nixon and Chairman Mao Zedong, news photos of the two leaders shaking hands - not to mention images of Nixon walking the Great Wall and eating with chopsticks - helped convince Americans that Red China was not to be feared...
...Some eight years ago, I covered village elections in China, where the victors - farmers in Mao suits with dirty fingernails - were barred from taking office by the incumbents and eventually jailed on trumped-up charges. One man was so harassed that he committed suicide. This doesn't sound like a heartwarming tale of democracy's triumph. But what has evolved in these villages - despite all the injustice - is a dawning sense that people, even poor people, have rights. In societies cowering under oppression, such a realization is revolutionary...
...ugly truth is that antiquities trafficking in Iraq is funding the insurgency and has since at least 2004. That's a fact. And it shouldn't surprise anyone. Mao tells us that terrorist organizations have to adapt in order to survive. Adapt or die. Look at the Taliban in Afghanistan. They're using opium to support their activities. Why? Because opium is a limitless cash crop. Well they don't have opium in Iraq. But what they have in almost limitless supply are antiquities. So they're using them to fund their activities. It is not the number one source...
China and the U.S. are passing one another going in opposite directions. Deng Xiaoping, who ran China after Mao had become a tourist attraction lying in a glass box in Beijing, began moving the country to a capitalist economy. By the time he died in 1997, China had begun vigorous trade with the outside world leading to remarkable years of GDP growth. (See pictures of China's electronic waste village...