Sign a petition to Presdt Hamid Karzai to save ancient Buddhist site Mes Ayak in Afghanistan from Chinese copper mine -

http://www.change.org/petitions/president-hamid-karzai-prevent-destruction-of-ancient-site-of-mes-aynak-the-environmental-damage-3

On publishing these days + the late Nien Cheng

Comment left on Linked In:

The great thing these days is it is so democratic.  Anyone can publish a book - without spending too much money.  Of course it won't be the same as being agented, but sometimes I think it's a good step.  The odds are the same anyway.  In our on line group of about 200 people, 2 have made the best seller lists, one with an agent, one without.

That 1 % is about the national average.

It ain't easy to write a good book and have people buy it.

But I was very inspired by the late Nien Cheng - who wrote one book, her memoirs, and earned enough to finance her old age and leave something to a hospital - her only daughter died in China during the Cultural Revolution.  She told us in our book group how she re-wrote the book 4 times.

By profession she was an economist trained at London School of Economics, but she and her husband returned to China in 50s "to work for the country" and then of course all hell broke loose.

Chinese investers acquire 80% of AIG aircraft leasing firm

http://money.cnn.com/2012/12/09/news/china-aig-planes/index.html?hpt=hp_t2 They also recently bought a Canadian energy company a few days ago.

Brutal crackdown on monks and workers/miners protesting Chinese-owned copper mines in central Burma

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/20111 (Foreign) commentators on the Irrawaddy site don't seem to understand there are thousands of monks in Burma, and these are different from the neo-Nazi skin heads who spout racist sentiments in Arakan against the Rohingya.

Stress among greatest killers of Chinese intellectuals -

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/19826 Engineer in charge of aircraft carrier program dies after witnessing successful launch. Hey you, goat's balls helping you know who, take note. --

Major human rights abuses along Burmese-Chinese Shwe Gas pipeline

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/18259