March 2009

U.S. looks to China for support on Afghanistan: Pentagon

Submitted by visitors on Sun, 03/01/2009 - 01:20

BEIJING (Reuters) – The United States is looking to stronger Chinese cooperation on Afghanistan, piracy, and other international troubles, a Pentagon official said on Saturday after talks that he said also addressed strains over Taiwan.

The U.S. official, David Sedney, said China's opposition to Washington's arms sales to the disputed island of Taiwan came up in the two days of discussions in Beijing, but did not overwhelm an agenda that also covered Central Asia, China's contribution to fighting piracy off the Somali coast, and nuclear weapons.

"The focus was not at all on obstacles. The focus was on how we can move forward," Sedney, a deputy assistant secretary of defense, told a news briefing after the talks.

"We both understand that it really is a new strategic environment that we're in here, with China playing the role that it does," he said.

The talks marked the first defense policy dialogue between the United States and China under the new Obama administration.

Sedney cast them as a promising start but avoided specifics.

Jaemin Kim on racial equality & social trends 'Asian Women: Rape And Hate Crimes'

Submitted by Edwin on Mon, 03/02/2009 - 14:43

Jaemin Kim writes on racial inequality of asian women & social trends in the article 'Asian Women: Rape And Hate Crimes'

"Older, White Critics ... Missed the Boat" by making an issue of the interracial relationship in the movie Rachel Getting Married, posted Defamer.com last October. In rare form, the popular blog site -- known for mercilessly ridiculing celebrities and media players -- took a principled stance. The posting chided well-known film critics for focusing on race when reviewing the film. The critics were preoccupied with the fact that white Rachel was marrying a black man. In the film, however, the couple's ethnicities go unmentioned. And this is the way a "cultural melting pot" should be, Defamer rhapsodized.

Asian American Women: Issues and Concerns

Submitted by Edwin on Mon, 03/02/2009 - 18:39

Article from AA Alliance - Where do Asian women fit in?
This is a great question to answer for those who don't know or want to know the changes that have occurred. There have been many changes in the past that have allowed Asian women to finally shine. In Asia America there has been a lot of internal tensions. In history internal tensions has created a problem for Asian women. This struggle has not allowed women in business. For a matter of decades women (who wanted a career) felt that were repressed in the homes in Asia (probably untrue now since almost half of China's government positions are held by women) asian women sought for some freedom in the US, only to find restrictions were still being placed on them there as well. This struggle has led many Asian women to join in an activist approach with Asian women organizations.

The activists are working harder than ever to make sure that not only is there racial equality, but also gender equality. One of the first Asian women organizations did begin in China. During 1908 the Dragon ladies, a group of Asian women formed.

Interview with Anti-CNN Founder Qi Hanting

Submitted by Edwin on Tue, 03/03/2009 - 18:44

UC Berkely - Students in my Blogging China class at the U.C. Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism conducted an email interview with Qi Hanting, a founder of the Anti-CNN website. The site was founded in the wake of the riots in Tibet in March, “to expose the lies and distortions in the western media,” according to their own description. Qi Hanting is a journalism student at Tsinghua University who studied with Li Xiguang and attended the Salzburg Academy in 2007.

Blogging China student Jenny Leung submitted the following questions to Qi by email. Qi chose to respond with one full-length response that refers to some of the questions but does not answer them one-by-one, thanks to Shilin Jia for the translation from Chinese to English.

Questions submitted to Qi Hanting:

Some people will describe your site as a part of “angry youth”? Do you agree? How would you describe anti-CNN? Truth-seeking? Patriotic? Why?

Kim Yong: First Korean to Head Ivy League School

Submitted by Edwin on Tue, 03/03/2009 - 23:55

A Korean American has been elected president of an Ivy League school in the United States, the first time in the 200-plus-year history of the top U.S. universities that an Asian, let alone a Korean-American, has been elected president.

The Board of Trustees at Dartmouth College on Monday announced the appointment of Kim Yong, aka Jim Yong Kim (49), chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, as its 17th president. Along with Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Brown, Cornell, the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia, Dartmouth is among the eight Ivy League schools on the east coast.

In a telephone interview with the Chosun Ilbo, Kim said a kid who went over to the United States when he was five has become the president of a U.S. Ivy League school. He said he wished to share the honor with the people of Korea. Kim, who begins his tenure on July 1, in a speech said he took on the role of teaching and guiding young people, who have the potential to have far more influence in the world than he, because he realized the limitations of individuals in influencing the world.

Kauffman Foundation Study Presents Insights into Why U.S. is Losing Growing Number of Immigrants Who Spur Innovation and Economic Growth

Submitted by Edwin on Wed, 03/04/2009 - 00:18

An interesting perspective put forth in response to anti-immigration policies and why this not ideally a good answer to tackling unemployment rates but will in effect stump innovation and growth in the economy in the long run.

Article
Kauffman Foundation Study Presents Insights into Why U.S. is Losing Growing Number of Immigrants Who Spur Innovation and Economic Growth

(KANSAS CITY, Mo.) March 2, 2009 – The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation released a study today that indicates placing limits on foreign workers in the U.S. is not the answer to the country's rising unemployment rate and may undermine efforts to spur technological innovation.

For the study by Harvard professor Vivek Wadhwa titled America's loss is the world's gain: America's New Immigrant Entrepreneurs, Part IV, researchers surveyed highly skilled immigrants who had studied and/or worked in the United States and subsequently returned to their home countries.

Chemical dumbing down of society?

Submitted by visitors on Fri, 03/06/2009 - 16:53

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Globalization and Racism

Submitted by Edwin on Fri, 03/06/2009 - 18:44

As globalization in its current form expands, so too does the inequality that accompanies it, as discussed throughout the Trade, Economy, & Related Issues section on this web site. Rising inequality can result in an increase in racial bias for scapegoating or advancing xenophobic and isolationist tendencies.

During French and British Imperial days for example, racial bias was ingrained within the culture itself (as explored in great detail by Edward Said, in his books such as Orientalism (Vintage Books, 1979) and Culture & Imperialism (Vintage Books, 1993)). However, an element of this is also seen in today’s period of globalization, with what A. Sivanandan describes as the increasing “xenophobic culture of globalisation” seen in some parts of the world:

[ Racism has always been both an instrument of discrimination and a tool of exploitation. But it manifests itself as a cultural phenomenon, susceptible to cultural solutions, such as multicultural education and the promotion of ethnic identities.

Planet B-Boy

Submitted by Edwin on Fri, 03/06/2009 - 21:05

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Gamblerz Crew Documentary 2009 (Part 1) - Korean B-BOY Team

Submitted by Edwin on Fri, 03/06/2009 - 21:48

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B-Boy Gamblerz Krew

Submitted by Edwin on Fri, 03/06/2009 - 22:38

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Are You Ready to Be the Mainstream Media?

Submitted by visitors on Sat, 03/07/2009 - 14:29

Article: Want a preview of how Mainstream Media will look in the coming years? Go stand in front of the mirror. The next Mainstream Media is you.

"By you, I mean anyone who thinks, has the desire to be expressive, and has the ability to publish. Today, that can apply to just about everyone on the face of the planet.

A lot has been written over the past year about the decline of the Fourth Estate: the Press, the Mainstream Media. And things are certainly in a state of rapid change. Newspapers are putting their brightest writers on the streets as readership and advertising revenues collapse. With the exception of organs such as NPR, radio Journalism has been dead for years. Even television — the dominant news media of the last few decades — is thinning their newsrooms as they struggle to maintain profitability.

Where does this end, and where will we look for reliable news and information as traditional media spins down and begins to wobble?