Dictators Make an Ass of Themselves Series

By Khmer Democrat, Phnom Penh
Dictators Make an Ass of Themselves Series

Have you notice all dictators - here in Cambodia, in China, in Burma, in Africa, in Latin America, etc. - are such sissies and whims? Afraid of a little petite woman in Burma, afraid of a petite woman in Cambodia, afraid of a petite woman in China? Afraid of intelligence in Burma, afraid of intelligence in Cambodia, afraid of intelligence in China? And they are so uncreative! They lie all the time but can't even do it well - "endangering national security"?! Come on! Let's be a bit more imaginative, shall we? Excerpts from article:

China Bars Rights Advocates from London Conference
Andrew Jacobs
International Herald Tribune, Nov. 9, 2010

BEIJING — Two prominent legal scholars and rights advocates bound for an international law conference in London were blocked from leaving China on Tuesday on vague charges that their departure might endanger national security, they said [...]

Both men were on the list of 143 Chinese activists, academics and celebrities that Mr. Liu’s wife invited to the award ceremony in an Internet posting two weeks ago, noting that neither she nor her husband were likely to be allowed to attend [...]

In recent weeks, the government has demonstrated its resolve to stop Chinese citizens from attending the ceremony on Dec. 10. It has kept Mr. Liu’s wife, Liu Xia, incommunicado in her Beijing apartment and subjected scores of other writers, academics and lawyers to varying degrees of detention or surveillance [...]

Michael C. Davis, a law professor and human rights expert at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said he thought China’s effort to organize a boycott of the ceremony — like its earlier campaign to dissuade the Norwegian Committee from selecting Mr. Liu — would probably backfire. In fact, he said Beijing’s overall handling of the matter was only drawing more attention to Mr. Liu’s plight and to the country’s checkered human rights record. “The Chinese often unintentionally turn their enemies into heroes,” he said.

Both men were scheduled to take part in discussions in London on Wednesday about the difficulties facing civil society lawyers in China. Speaking at a restaurant in Beijing, where they were fielding media calls, the two said the decision to block them from the conference was nonsensical. “This is the Chinese government defacing its own image on the international stage,” Mr. He said.