Hi Peter Further to recent discussion we had on Russia and China, there was an excellent programme here on TV showing China's approach to capital punishment. The details were truly horrendous and gut wrenching but would have warmed the cockles of Carmo's heart!
>From memory, China seems to have more executions than the rest of the world combined. It has at least 68 offences requiring the death penalty by hanging. These included (petty) tax fraud. What was most horrendous (and to public knowledge), was that there is a very lucrative trade in organ sales of the executed prisoners. Most sales are to well-to-do foreigners especially at certain times of year when there are celebratory mass executions. I would not be surprised if some who planned to visit China for the next Olympics may change their minds after seeing the TV programme. I had forgotten to mention previously that, China's expropriation of Tibet is totally unacceptable to me. In jest, however, I have to say that Tibet is unfortunate not to have oil deposits. Otherwise, Bush would have been there in a flash in the interests of democracy! Finally, I can't find signs of creeping communism in Russia as suggested by you. I do know however that, there are many old timers who would gladly return to communism, as to them, life was more comfortable then than under the competitiveness of the new capitalism. This also reminds me that, when I spent three weeks in Russia in 1969 at the height of the Cold War, and Russia was definitely a police state, most of the churches were open to the public and religious services were plentiful in Moscow, St Petersburgh (Leningrad then) and Kiev among the larger cities. Local Russians seemed free to attend services and students I spoke to seemed able to reconcile their belief in communism with belief in Orthodox Christianity. There also were many young Americans in Russia who claimed to be studying Russians. Some told me privately that it was their way of dodging the war in Vietnam. Understandably, most of them had Russian girlfriends and money from their dads to use on cars and other goodies! It might also have been at about the same time Clinton avoided the draft in Oxford and George Bush Jr did likewise elsewhere. Cornel _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list [email protected] http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org
