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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 1-May-2014
1-May-14 World View -- Uighur terrorist explosion in Chinese railway station kills three

Web Log - May, 2014

1-May-14 World View -- Uighur terrorist explosion in Chinese railway station kills three

Syria's al-Assad now freely uses chemical weapons with impunity

This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

Uighur terrorist explosion in Chinese railway station kills three
Syria's al-Assad now freely uses chemical weapons with impunity
Syria still hasn't surrendered tons of chemical weapons

Uighur terrorist explosion in Chinese railway station kills three

Uighurs pose for photos in front of a portrait of Mao Zedong in Beijing (BBC)

Uighurs pose for photos in front of a portrait of Mao Zedong in Beijing (BBC)

Three people were confirmed dead and 79 others were injured, including four seriously injured, in the terrorist attack on Wednesday evening at a railway station in Urumqi, capital of China's northwest province Xinjiang. Knife-wielding mobs slashed people at the exit of the South Railway Station of Urumqi and set off explosives. A similar attack took place on March 1 at a railway station in southwestern China, killing 29 civilians and injuring another 143. Both attacks are assumed to have been perpetrated by Uighur separatists from Xinjiang province.

Turkic-speaking, usually Muslim Uighurs live in northwestern China in Xinjiang province, which has been a source of activist violence and separatist demands. China has responded with violent crackdowns, and flooded the province with Han Chinese transplants, diluting their population, in an unsuccessful attempt to pacify the Uighurs.

The March 1 railway station attack occurred at the opening of the the annual meeting of the National People's Congress, headed by China's new president Xi Jinping. Wednesday's railway station attack came during Xi's first visit to Xinjiang since he became president. After the attack, Xi said:

"The battle to combat violence and terrorism will not allow even a moment of slackness, and decisive actions must be taken to resolutely suppress the terrorists' rampant momentum."

The problem of attack in Xinjiang has been getting worse, according to analysts, who say that the incidents are becoming more professional and aimed at larger targets. Xi Jinping vowed to have a "strike first" approach to security. Xinhua and BBC

Syria's al-Assad now freely uses chemical weapons with impunity

It appears Syria's genocidal monster president Bashar al-Assad is now using chemical weapons -- chlorine and ammonia -- on an almost daily basis. His helicopters drop large barrel bombs on the homes of innocent women and children. The barrel bombs contain explosives, screws, nails and other shrapnel, plus canisters of chlorine and ammonia. When chlorine is inhaled, it reacts with the moisture in the lungs, turning into hydrochloric acid that literally burns the target to death from the inside out. On Wednesday, activists report that a helicopter dropped two barrel bombs laden with gas on the town of Al-Tamanah in the early hours of the morning, with several casualties.

This shows what happens when there's no policeman. The criminals take over and run everything. This is what's happening in Chicago and, since President Obama took office, what's happening in the world.

A couple of days ago, Obama was asked what the "Obama doctrine" is in foreign policy. He stumbled around for a while, and then gave a non-answer and blamed it on Fox news. It's pretty clear that he has no doctrine that he wants to talk about. But based on previous statements, we can infer that his doctrine has two elements: (1) Look at what President George W Bush did, and do the opposite. (2) Announce that you will not use military force, and then do not use military force.

As I've said before, this is a complete reversal of the 1947 Truman Doctrine, which justified military police actions because they could prevent a new world war, and because their costs in blood and money are tiny in comparison to massive costs of World War II. This was later reaffirmed by President John Kennedy when he said, "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country."

Let's go back to 2003, and ask what would have happened if President Bush had followed the "Obama Doctrine" with respect to Iraq, which means he would have said the following to Saddam Hussein: "We will never use military action, even if you develop and use weapons of mass destruction (WMDs)." What would have happened then? (By the way, recall that Saddam was already targeted with sanctions, so more sanctions would not have mattered.)

Saddam Hussein would have gone full-speed ahead, with his WMD program. Even if he delayed, Iran would ASSUME that he was going full-speed ahead with his WMD program. Iran has already been victimized by Saddam's WMDs in 1988, and they would not risk it happening again. Iran would have gone full-speed ahead with its own WMD program, and by this time there would have been another major war between Iraq and Iran, this time with full use of WMDs.

That's what happens when the world's policeman tells the crooks and the thugs that they can commit any crimes they want, and there will be no consequences.

Last year, Obama's "red line" threat was that he would use cruise missiles to destroy al-Assad's air force. If he had gone ahead with that threat, then al-Assad would not be using helicopters to deliver barrel bombs laced with chemical weapons to innocent women and children. That's what happens when there's no policeman. Telegraph and Philadelphia Inquirer

Syria still hasn't surrendered tons of chemical weapons

Syria's Bashar al-Assad regime was supposed to have surrendered all its chemical weapons by now, but it's still holding on to 8% of its declared stockpile of 1,300 tonnes of chemical weapons. Al-Assad last year agreed to give up his stockpiles of chemical weapons, but obviously he has no reason to comply with his agreement, since there are no consequences for failing to do so. The National (UAE)

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 1-May-2014 1-May-14 World View -- Uighur terrorist explosion in Chinese railway station kills three

Uighur terrorist explosion in Chinese railway station kills three

Syria's al-Assad now freely uses chemical weapons with impunity

Syria still hasn't surrendered tons of chemical weapons

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 1-May-2014
1-May-14 World View -- Uighur terrorist explosion in Chinese railway station kills three