Chinese Crackdown vs U.S. Methods

In today's Financial Times, Jamil Anderlini (Artist detained in Tiananmen clampdown) that China controls information better than most countries.  Chinese versions of an interview with Guo Jian that appeared in the weekend version of FT, had the article removed.  Gou was at Tianamen when the PLA started shooting people near him.  He tells the story like it was yesterday, but it was 1989.  "Dozens" of people like him have been arrested or disappeared in the run up to the anmiversary.  The event is not taught in schools.  No mention of it is permitted in the Internet or social media.

There is something about censorship that makes an enemy of people speaking the truth, and an enemy of governments that hold it down.  

I was reminded of it yesterday when a stream of spokesmen hit every news broadcast to tell us that a soldier, who was traded for 5 of the most dangerous men in the world, was not being swapped in a prisoner exchange.  Congress couldn't be notified because it was urgent, or they were already notified and should have remembered, depending on who was talking.  His health was failing, though it seems he is in good health.  The White House "didn't give a shit" that he walked away, leaving a note of dissent.  He was a soldier not left behind.  This whole affair, and Tiananmen Square's 25th anniversary are an incredible mix of politics and control of the press.  There is something wrong with a government that can lie with a straight face, beat back the opposition, stifle anyone who disagrees, and claim a free press.  It's amazing that both use dissimilar methods to get to the same result.