China’s great firewall restricts some websites and more

Neelam Hiranandani

The Communist Party of China (CPC) has always been very conservative in terms of the content that its people could access over the Internet. In the past, the government authorities have banned countless websites and blogs with anti-CPC contents. Access to local information for overseas press and media has been tightly controlled as well. Recently, the People's Government has introduced a tracking software known as the Green Dam Youth Escort. This software acts as a firewall which blocks out websites and disables functions. Activities performed on the computer can also be monitored. The Chinese government has mandated every PC sold in China from July 1 must have the Green Dam installed, ‘to protect youth from unhealthy information’[1], says the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

A technology breakthrough or an international joke?

The introduction of Green Dam has put most US Computer Companies in dilemma. Since the software is developed by mainland Chinese Programmers, the compatibility of it with computers is a mystery. There are possibilities that the software could lead to a crash in computer Operating System.

Along with the great functions the software has, there are a couple of major security flaws. Firstly, there is an error in the way the software processes web sites it monitors. Blocking of nudity picture is a function Green Dam takes pride of. However, it was discovered that the mechanism by which Green Dam tracks the picture is by the percentage of yellow colour. Therefore, a picture showing a yellowish duck would be blocked as unsuitable content for young minds, while another showing nude African women would pass the test.

Secondly, there is a technical bug in the software as it installs blacklist updates. This problem allows the user of the computer running the Green Dam installed to take control of the computer. Furthermore, a source reported that the filtered files could be replaced by the Programmers which would allow them to take control of any computer where the software is installed and automatically filter updates.

Moreover, updates can be delivered to a third party who can impersonate the update server and take control of the user’s computers. Considering these vulnerabilities, one might think the decision made by China isn’t after all a good one. It is because this will not only disable one’s privacy and confidentiality but also interrupt the computer systems in China.

Freedom of Expression Concerned
Professor Feng Chongyi remarked that ‘it’s the only country in the world where Internet use is growing but freedom on the Internet is being reduced’[2]. Websites are blocked simply due to the leaders' concerns over "explicit and political" content, definition not provided.

The global trade bodies has sent a letter to Wen Jiabao, the Chinese prime minister. [3]The main issue highlighted in the letter was that of suspending the plan of the Internet filtering software. The letter was signed by major international organizations including the US, EU and Japanese chambers of commerce, and the US Information Technology Industry Council. This gesture points out that the rest of the world does not support china on this issue as they believe in giving their citizens the basic rights and freedoms, be it freedom of speech, or right to access information, and educate oneself.

The Amnesty International Report 2009 had stated clearly that freedom of speech of journalists as well as internet users are major serious human rights violations ongoing in China. Yet on 9 February 2009, the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) by UN Human Rights Council, member states were silent to that and together presented a positive report for China. This is disappointing provided that China is becoming economically stronger and a good relationship with China means prosperity and opportunities to many member states.

Let's just hope as the economy grows, CPC would never forget the importance of social harmony, and follow the prescious western virtues of Liberty and Democracy.

Reference:
[1] Thomas, A. (2009). Tiny Firewall of China mandated for new PCs. In TG Daily. Retrieved July 10, 2009 from http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/42745/140/

[2] Wang, D. (2009). China raises ‘Great Fire Wall’ on internet. In ABC News Australia. Retrieved July 10, 2009 from http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/06/24/2607284.htm

[3] Shanti, C. (2009). Chinese prime minister gets PC letter - Green Damnit. In TG Daily. Retrieved July 10, 2009 from http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/43041/103/

Iran's Presidential Election 2009

Clare Tsang

An election the world keeps a close watch.

Iran’s tenth presidential election was held on 12 June 2009. It had been considered as a battle between the “ruling conservative” Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the Reformist, Mir-Hossein Mousavi. After a month of sweeping convass and debate, the Islamic Republic News announced the astonishing victory of the incumbent Ahmadinejad. With 63% of the votes cast, Mr. President beated Mousavi, his closest opponent, who received 33% of the votes cast.
While the result was endorsed by the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Kharmenei, and countries such as Russia, China and India, its authenticity was challenged by western media as well as many voters. The European Union and the United Kingdom had expressed concerns over alleged irregularities during the vote.
Their concerns were not without reasons. Apparently Tehran had gotten tired of its conservative leaders. Mousavi had been seen as "the definite winner" by western media during the pre-election stage also because of his belief in liberty that many had dreamt of. "Moral police" and discriminative law against women are the first things to be kicked out of Iran if he won the seat. However, the political chief of the Revolutionary Guard threatened to crush any "green movement" against the Islamic regime by Mousavi.

The pressure was on, what next?

In response to the results, Mousavi sent an official appeal letter to the Guardian Council, Iran’s powerful clerical group in order to call for the election to be cancelled. He claimed that he was the real winner and that fraud was widespread and a review of the election must be put in place. Further, a series of cyber-strikes, blackouts of text messaging and blocks on pro-Mousavi Websites and widespread Internet disruptions had raised concern over the fact that authorities were prepared to impose pressures on the reformist movement. It was said that some polling stations were closed early when people were still waiting to vote and that Mousavi's observers were expelled from some counting sites.

One day after the announcement of the election results, supporters of Mousavir started to protest on streets. Protests soon began to grow and resulted in violence. Despite the political unrest, the vote was not annulled. Large protests continued until the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini’s speech of declaring the legitimacy of the election, urging the protests to stop, and calling for the execution of the demonstrators for they were “people who wage war against God.”
The Iranian government has confirmed that there were twenty people dead during the protests, while dissidents claimed that there were about 250 deaths in the ten days preceding June 25.

What are the issues?

The Iran Presidential Election has revealed a number of social and political issues.

1) Manipulation of Political Leaders and Press:
Before the election was carried out, most surveys in the media were seen as biased or manipulated to support campaign objectives. It seemed that there was a general pattern which put either Ahmadinejad or Mousavi in the first two places, while Karroubi and Rezai were the runner-ups.
It also appeared that the balance of political power had portrayed Ahmadinejad in a better position. Further, the fact that the Supreme Leader, who controlled all the main state institutions, had publicly supported Ahmadinejad suggested that Ahmadinejad had a strong backing.

2) International monitors:
International election monitors are not allowed in Iran. In 2005 election, when Ahmadinejad won the presidency, there were some allegations of vote rigging from losers, but such claims were never investigated.

3) Censorship:
There seemed to be a pattern of behavior of the Iranian government imposing limitations of the reporting of the aftermath of the election. Several journalists have been arrested for being reporters of the post-election protests. The Ministry of Culture has also issued a directive which banned all foreign reporters from leaving their offices. However, Ahmadinejad claimed that there was “ absolute freedom of speech” and that no one should worry about freedom in Iran. It has been alleged that many of the Internet sites, including Youtube and Facebook, were shut down by the Iranian government.

4) Economic Concerns
It was suggested that the campaign rhetoric and opinion polls before the election has reflected the fact that economy was a major concern in Iran. Serious worries included global recession, falling oil prices, government overspending, high inflation and high unemployment. As a result, issues such as civil liberties (particularly women’s rights and freedom of the media) were overshadowed.

Concerns of UN
On 7 July 2009, six UN human rights experts expressed grave concerns about the mass arrests and the ill-treatment of opposition supporters in the weeks following the Iranian presidential election. The experts issued a joint statement which called on the Iranian Government to ensure all citizens’ human rights and to allow independent scrutiny of the current situation.
However, freedom of expression and peaceful assembly were undermined and despite the warnings from senior UN rights officials about the possible use of excessive police force by some militia members, many continued to protest. It resulted that at least 20 people were killed and hundreds of others were seriously injured since 12 June.
It was publicly known that the Iranian government had previously made claims against the UN. They have made claims of the UN being racist. It is likely that the UN’s concern over the human rights issues in Iran would result in Iran’s claims that the UN were intervening their internal matters.
Some western analysts and reporters have expressed doubts about the result of the election. The Amnesty International has also called for an investigation into the “shocking scenes of violence meted out by the security forces”. As a result, the Iranian government has made protests to representatives from the UK, France and the Czech Republic for what it saw as their meddling in internal Iranian affairs.

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Iranian_Election_Protests
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/12/irans-presidential-electi_n_214657.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2009/jun/16/iran-uprising
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=31394&Cr=iran&Cr1=

Nuclear Test by DPRK

Kitty Pang

North Korea, in defiance of the international ban, conducted a nuclear test and several short-range missile launches on 25-26 May. The North’s belligerent manner has provoked worldwide condemnation of her threatening global security.

UN Sanctions

In response to the nuclear test, the UN Security Council passed tougher sanctions against North Korea on 12 June to confront this challenge. The past sanctions could be traced back to the UNSC Resolution 1695 and 1718 in 2006, the year when North Korea carried out her first nuclear test. In the documents there clearly states that the North shall abandon and cease the export of all nuclear weapons. All member states, according to the Resolution, should prevent any transfers of items related to arms as well as several kinds of luxury goods. And, the new measures come like this: inspections of ships that might be taking banned cargo to and from North Korea, a wider ban on arms sales and further measures to cut Pyongyang's access to international financial services.

Reactions of Different Countries

Different nations expressed grave concern over the militarized North. On 18 June, US President Obama said at a news conference with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak that the nuclear-armed state posed a ‘grave threat’ to the world. ‘We will pursue denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula vigorously,’ said he. Lee echoed much with Mr. Obama, saying ‘under no circumstances are we going to allow North Korea to possess nuclear weapons.’ Japan adopted more or less the same attitude, taking concrete action to stop all trade with North Korea.

China, though long been the communist ally of the North, also showed strong opposition against the North’s nuclear weapons programme. She upheld the tighter sanctions and said it would 'earnestly implement' them.

North Korea, nevertheless, shows no intention to halt the weapons development. Just after the approval of the fresh sanctions, Pyongyang proclaimed that North Korea would enrich uranium and prepared for more missile tests.

On 4 July, US Independence Day, the North test-fired seven more missiles, escalating the tension between North Korea and the world. Predictably, North Korea is seriously deplored by the world; and predictably, despite any warnings, North Korea continues with her weapons development.

There have been a number of North Korean missile tests. It has also fired a number of short-range missiles into the Sea of Japan, apparently as political gestures.

2009 North Korean missile test (July 4, 2009)

2009 North Korean nuclear test and following the nuclear test, Pyongyang also conducted several missile tests.

2009 North Korean satellite rocket launch - (April 5, 2009) Unha-2

2006 North Korean missile test - (July 5, 2006) - Taepodong-2, Nodong-2 failed

1998 North Korean missile test - (August 31, 1998) - Taepodong-1

1993 North Korean missile test - (May 29/30, 1993) - Nodong-1

(Source: Wikipedia)

FEATURE: Country at a Glance --- through MOVIE

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

Daphne Wong

Let’s leave it to the audience to decide if is a sarcasm to the Americans or simply a series of absurd dirty jokes. Apparently the producer alleged that this movie is to let the civilized Westerners learn a lesson from Borat, the Kazakh reporter who came to America on a sacred mission of improving his homeland. Whether or not this objective has been achieved, the movie is to many an introduction of the mysterious world between Central Asia and Eastern Europe.

The revelation is an unbearably backward, racist and unequal Kazakhstani culture shared by many of her neighbours in Eastern Europe. In the depicted Kazakhstan, homosexuals and Jews are to be condemned, so is Uzbekistan. Men expose their private parts in front of others. When they propose to their wife-to-be, they “abduct” them using a big gunny. Borat’s behavious in America seems simply barbaric to anyone.

The entire Arab world banned the movie with the exception of Lebanon. Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry denied the allegations and threatened to take legal actions.

But is the movie telling the truth? The essay guides you through the history of Kazakhstan.

Dark age

The 9th largest country in the world, Kazakhstan was once under Soviet rule, and was named Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (Kazakh SSR). During Stalin's rule, mass hunger due to forced collectivization, mass slaughter of elites (thinkers, politicians, writers and poets) and civil unrests had caused a 22% decrease in Kazakh's population.

At the same time, Stalin ordered a policy of Deportation. Some regions of Soviet Union were ethnically cleansed, that means potentially opposing ethnic groups are killed or deported out of the Soviet Union. The regions would then be filled by labours, also deported from all parts of the USSR to one place. Different nationalities were forced to stay in concentration camps or many different parts of the USSR against their will.

Kazakh's own identity and culture were shattered into pieces. There was no more Kazakhs, but Soviets.

Independance

It regained independance on 16 December 1991, six days after it was renamed as Republic of Kazakhstan.