Magic Statistics

Chinese authorities have taken a hammering from the US over lax food product safety standards, and they’ve had enough.  A government official says that American food buyers deserve some of the blame.

"Officials like me in the Chinese government can supervise the producers here, but U.S. companies doing business with Chinese companies must also be very clear about the standards they need, and don't just look for a cheap price," says Yuan Changxiang, a deputy director in the ministry responsible for inspecting imports and exports.

Let me see if I have this straight.  If a company buying food supplies from China does not specify that poisonous contaminants are not to be mixed into the food, Chinese suppliers will assume that poisons are OK.  That is to say, it is necessary to direct Chinese food suppliers not to put stuff in food that will harm or kill their customers and other sentient beings.  Foreign food buyers need to say, “By the by, old chap, please don’t contaminate that food you’re selling me”, or words to that effect.

Is that really what he’s saying?   Are Chinese food sellers really unaware that tainted food is a no-no?

One would think that poison-free food is such a minimal “standard” that it’s one of those things all parties could take for granted, like honest weights and measures.  But no.  When buying food from China, apparently, all bets are off.

Best to avoid Chinese food products altogether.

Badge stolen from Steve Janke.

h/t: Bourque

Previous related posts:

• North Korean escapees maltreated in China
• China soon to be world’s biggest carbon emitter
• China’s organ transplant business

Zimbabwe’s economy nose-dived after President Robert Mugabe sanctioned brutal and illegal confiscation of white-owned farms for redistribution to cronies.  The new proprietors proved abysmal failures as farmers, and Zimbabwe was quickly transformed from the bread basket of southern Africa into a basket case.  The people were soon forced to rely on foreign charity for food.  The economic free-fall into hyperinflation, mass unemployment, and widespread poverty is largely attributable to the land seizures.

Apparently buoyed by that resounding success, Mugabe intends to inflict similar “reforms” on his country’s corporate sector.

President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe plans to seize majority stakes in all the country's foreign-owned businesses in what economists warn could be a repeat of the regime's disastrous land reform policy.

Under legislation approved by the cabinet two weeks ago, all companies will be required to give up at least 51 per cent of their shares for allocation to economically disadvantaged, "indigenous" Zimbabweans.
. . .
The hit list might include British banks such as Standard Chartered and Barclays. A minister told The Sunday Telegraph that the banks were seen as having "sabotaged" Mugabe's land reform programme by refusing to extend financial support to black farmers.

"The president made it clear, when cabinet approved the Bill to be tabled before parliament, that the time had come to empower our people.

Isn't that an admission that the land reforms failed to "empower" the people?

"He said the indigenisation exercise must be undertaken in the same fashion as the land reform programme."

“In the same fashion”?  You mean armed and disorderly mobs will descend on corporate offices to terrorise company officers and their families?

If this lunatic proposal is actually implemented, watch for what is left of the economy to vapourise in short order.

At the same time, the government has moved to expropriate some of the few farms still under white ownership.  One of the farms is owned by three brothers who received a written assurance from Vice-President Joseph Msika and Intelligence Minister Didymus Mutasa that their farm would not be seized.  That and 500,000 Zimbabwe dollars will get the brothers a cup of coffee.

Previous related posts:

• Zimbabwe’s latest dubious achievement: Hyperinflation
• New UN development head ruined his own farm
• Uncle Bob and his Mugabemobile
• Zimbabwe effectively under martial law

An estimated 200 million believers in over 60 countries are subjected to harsh persecution, yet their stories are rarely reported in the Western media and most Western Christians seem to know little about their plight.  Why isn’t the West doing anything to protect the human rights and dignity of the persecuted?

Today’s report in The Times of London is one of the rare occasions when a major Western news outlet devotes significant space to discussing the systematic maltreatment of Christians. Eddie Lyle, CEO of Open Doors UK, a persecution-monitoring organisation, was interviewed.

“One of the world injustices least noticed in the West is the growing scale of Christian persecution,” says Lyle, who runs the British arm of Open Doors, a charity that works with afflicted churches and individuals. “We estimate that 200m Christians in more than 60 countries face the most brutal retribution because of their faith.” Christians have been persecuted, and have persecuted others, of course, since the Romans. What is unparalleled today is the sheer scope across the world.

Among the nations and regions named in the article are Bhutan, India, China, northern Nigeria, Pakistan, and former Soviet Central Asian republics Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

The country with the world’s most ruthless and brutal persecution policies is North Korea.

Persecution is growing fastest in the Muslim world.

The problem is becoming acute along the fault line where largely Christian or animist Africa meets the Islamic north, from northeast Kenya and Ethiopia and Sudan, across northern Uganda and on into Nigeria.

Most startling of all is the ongoing Christian exodus from the Middle East. Once self-sustaining Christian communities have shrunk to the point where they may collapse. They are among the oldest in the world, for the region was the birthplace of the faith. Some have survived for almost 2,000 years. They predate Islam by six centuries. At the beginning of the 20th century, they still accounted for a fifth of the population. Fifty years from now, most may have vanished.

Yet the church is flourishing in some places where persecution, abuse, and discrimination are rife.  Egypt’s estimated ten million Christians constitute the largest Christian minority in the Muslim world.  Most are Coptic, but there are also significant numbers of Anglicans.

The most common scenario in Muslim areas, however, is Christian flight.  Christians are being forced to flee Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq, Pakistan, and other countries.

Why is there no outcry from the West over such blatant, widespread, and systematic anti-Christian discrimination?  The article suggests that the answer lies in Europe’s loss of faith at both institutional and popular levels.  The people and leaders of Europe appear indifferent because they no longer see foreign Christians as fellow believers and brothers and sisters in the body of Christ.

This is a very timely and thought-provoking article, which The Times is to be applauded for publishing.  Read the whole thing, including the comments.

Also in The Times recently, Ruth Gledhill posted information about persecution in Pakistan.

As is always the case when pondering the condition of persecuted Christians, prayer is needed.

Rather than include a long list of previous related posts, I suggest that anyone seeking information on specific instances of persecution click here to access my posts on “Religious Liberty/Persecution”.

The collect for today, Whit-Sunday, Day of Pentecost, from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer:

God, who as at this time didst teach the hearts of thy faithful people, by the sending to them the light of thy Holy Spirit; Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgement in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through the merits of Christ Jesus our Saviour, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the same Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

For the Epistle: Acts 2:1-11
The Gospel: St John 14:15-31

Artwork: Mikhail Vrubel, Pentecost, 1884, Fresco, Church of St Cyril, Kiev.