The politics of Laos and China breathes a sigh of relief (probably)

For anyone interested in the politics of the country that C and I are currently living, this article, from the Washington Post might make interesting reading.

It's certainly less off the cuff than the blurt I wrote on Laos' birthday.

Oh, and it might have slipped your notice, but dissident Chinese journalist Liu Binyan, died, unexpectedly of natural causes , a couple of days ago (unexpectedly because the Chinese government would have liked to have gotten rid of him for some time). Liu has the dubious distinction of being twice named by a senior Chinese leader for daring to speak out.

In 1957, he was condemned as a "rightist" by Mao Zedong, and was unable to work for the next 22 years. In 1987, he was singled out by Deng Xiaoping for "advocating bourgeois liberalism", and expelled from the Communist party. The ensuing campaign against Liu and other reformers by Deng and his fellow reactionary leaders paved the way for the tragedy of Tiananmen Square two years later.

The world needs more journalists like Liu willing to put their asses on the line and speak out about repression in all its forms.