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Communist Chinese President Hu Jintao has knocked off Barack Obama from the top of the Forbes most powerful person list. The Forbes list, which is published every year, is further confirmation of the glaringly obvious decline of American power and prestige—both real and perceived—since Obama assumed his job as president in January of 2009. The criteria for Forbes magazine to name a person to the list is based on his ability to bend the world to his will. Obama’s embarrassing demotion from number one spot atop the list to now sitting behind the communist in Hu Jintao is also a...

Just wanted to put the SNL Obama/Jintao press conference link up one more time, especially if you need a laugh today. http://harrisonprice.com/2009/11/23/snl-parodies-obamas-visit-to-china/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+harrisonprice%2FfLuv+%28Just+Politics..%3F%29

Don't everybody thank me at once. Here's the Saturday Night Live skit featuring Obama and Jintao.

"Saturday Night Live" opened its show last night with a comedy sketch that scorched President Obama over his economic policies including health care, "Cash for Clunkers" and borrowing billions of dollars from China. The NBC program featured comic Fred Armisen portraying the commander in chief at a news conference with Chinese President Hu Jintao, played by Will Forte, who spoke through an interpreter, comic Nasim Pedrad. Jintao began by asking Obama about the success of his economic stimulus. "I'm curious. How many jobs has it created?" asked the Chinese leader. "None," answered Obama. "But our health-care reform plan, we're confident,...

Here is the joint press conference skit with Jintao thinks he is entitled to at least a kiss, a movie and dinner before Obama "does sex to him". This is begging for a CNN fact check. Fred Armisen's impression is not improving much but this opener is still pretty funny:

MOSCOW — Nearly two decades after the collapse of the Communist Party, Russia’s rulers have hit upon a model for future success: the Communist Party. Or at least, the one that reigns next door. Like an envious underachiever, Vladimir V. Putin’s party, United Russia, is increasingly examining how it can emulate the Chinese Communist Party, especially its skill in shepherding China through the financial crisis relatively unbowed. United Russia’s leaders even convened a special meeting this month with senior Chinese Communist Party officials to hear firsthand how they wield power. ..." “The accomplishments of China’s Communist Party in developing its...

Chinese President Hu Jintao and Serbian President Boris Tadic on Thursday agreed to establish a strategic partnership between the two countries. During their talks held Thursday afternoon, the two heads of state exchanged views on building and developing a strategic partnership and reached a broad consensus. Chinese President Hu Jintao (L) welcomes visiting Serbian President Boris Tadic in Beijing, capital of China, on Aug. 20, 2009.(Xinhua/Ma Zhancheng)Hu highly valued Chinese relations with Serbia, saying the two peoples have traditional friendship and no matter what happened in the world, the relations between the two countries have developed healthily. He put forward...

CHINA'S President Hu Jintao has abandoned plans to attend a G8 summit in Italy, returning home early to deal with ethnic violence in the north-western region of Xinjiang that has left at least 156 dead in China's . The Chinese Foreign Ministry said on its website that Mr Hu had left for China "due to the situation" in energy-rich Xinjiang, which borders central Asia, where 156 people have been killed, 1080 injured and 1434 arrested in unrest between Han Chinese and Muslim Uighurs since Sunday. Late yesterday, mobs of Han Chinese wielding clubs, metal bars, cleavers and axes had melted...

It is not such a big deal to disagree with a president and his policies. But it is shocking to realize that the leader of the world’s most powerful country doesn’t appear to understand the most basic principles of international relations. This isn’t surprising since Barrack Obama has no—zero, nada—previous experience in this area. It shows. There are two distinct ways other countries respond to this combination of his ignorance at realpolitik, urgent desire to be liked, and pride in projecting U.S. weakness:

Shadow World:  Resurgent Russia, The Global New Left, and Radical Islam By Robert Chandler Regnery Publishing, Inc., 2008 622 pp., $29.95 The fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 is viewed by the West as the end of the Cold War and the death knell for Communism. In reality, Communists continued to push for the same ultimate goal -- creating a socialist world order -- but their violent Marxist-Leninist revolutionary tactics were supplanted by an insidious cultural Marxism. Today, that push has evolved into a Moscow-led,  global strategic quadrangle consisting of Russia, China, Iran and a collection of Latin...

LONDON, June 4 -- For much of the world, Sen. Barack Obama's victory in the Democratic primaries was a moment to admire the United States, at a time when the nation's image abroad has been seriously damaged. From hundreds of supporters crowded around televisions in rural Kenya, Obama's ancestral homeland, to jubilant Britons writing "WE DID IT!" on the "Brits for Barack" site on Facebook, people celebrated what they called an important racial and generational milestone for the United States. "This is close to a miracle. I was certain that some things will not happen in my lifetime," said Sunila...

On February 22, 2008, Ben Smith of Politico reported a story that ran under the headline, “Obama once visited ‘60s radicals.” It concerned how, “In 1995, [Illinois] State Senator Alice Palmer introduced her chosen successor, Barack Obama, to few of the district’s influencial liberal at the home of two will known figures on the local left: William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn.” Dr. Quentin Young, described as “a prominent Chicago physician and advocate for single-payers health care,” [1] was quoted as saying “I can remember being one of small group of people who came to Bill Ayers’ house to learn that...

Ideology matters again. The big development of recent years is the rise not only of great powers but also of the great-power autocracies of Russia and China. True realism about the international scene begins with understanding how this unanticipated shift will shape our world. Many believe that when Chinese and Russian leaders stopped believing in communism, they stopped believing in anything. They had become pragmatists, pursuing their own and their nation's interests. But Chinese and Russian rulers, like past rulers of autocracies, do have a set of beliefs that guide their domestic and foreign policies. They believe in the virtues...

There is a sinister reason why the U.S. dollar is falling against all currencies, pushing the Canadian Loonie to parity and way beyond to US$1.25 in a year or so. There is a Currency Cold War being waged by Russia, Iran and various allies such as Venezuela. Putin wants to force the use of euros as a reserve currency instead of dollars for oil and other transactions, then eventually the ruble. This is simply a monetary version of the old Cold War, minus the missiles. Alliances are falling along the usual lines: In Russia’s camp are America’s enemies or...

Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Joint military exercises involving troops from China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan will continue till August 17. More than 6,000 troops and 36 aircraft from the six nations are currently engaged in China’s far northwest Xinjiang region for two days; tomorrow they will move to Chelyabinsk, Russia. The exercises are intended to improve cooperation against terrorism, drug and weapons trafficking and criminal gangs as required by an agreement of mutual assistance against armed attacks. But the real objective is political. Chinese Foreign Minister Li Hui noted that “this is the first time that all the leaders...

Russian and Chinese troops are joining forces this week in the first military exercises by an international organisation that is regarded in some quarters as a potential rival to Nato. Thousands of soldiers and 500 combat vehicles will take part in “Peace Mission 2007”, organised by the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in the Chelyabinsk region of Russia. Russian officials have also proposed an alliance between the SCO and a body representing most of the former Soviet republics. Scores of Russian and Chinese aircraft begin joint exercises tomorrow before a week of military manoeuvres from Thursday that will include Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan...

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese Communist Party chief Hu Jintao has vowed to "purify" the Internet, state media reported on Wednesday, describing a top-level meeting that discussed ways to master the country's sprawling, unruly online population. Hu made the comments as the ruling party's Politburo -- its 24-member leading council -- was studying China's Internet, which claimed 137 million registered users at the end of 2006. Hu, a strait-laced communist with little sympathy for cultural relaxation, did not directly mention censorship. But he made it clear that the Communist Party was looking to ensure it keeps control of China's Internet users,...

THE Chinese are openly debating "regime change" in Pyongyang after last week's nuclear test by their confrontational neighbour. Diplomats in Beijing said at the weekend that China and all the major US allies believed North Korea's claim that it had detonated a nuclear device. US director of national intelligence John Negroponte circulated a report that radiation had been detected at a site not far from the Chinese border. The US may have employed highly classified satellite technology to detect tiny leaks of gas or elements associated with nuclear detonation, according to a diplomatic source in the Chinese capital. This would...

MOSCOW, October 1 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Vladimir Putin sent Chinese President Hu Jintao a message of congratulations on the occasion of the Chinese national holiday – the 57th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, the presidential press service reported on Sunday. The message of the Russian head of state says, inter alia, as follows: “The real breakthrough in key economic sectors and impressive successes in the social and humanitarian spheres, achieved by Chinese people over these years, evoke sincere respect. The rise in international prestige and influence of the People’s Republic of China and its contribution to strengthening...

The Thailand Coup – Creating A New World Order David J. Jonsson September 28, 2006   The Sword of Islam may not take on the form of war and or terrorism, but take the form of political action, bloodless coups, finance and media propaganda. The actions are to achieve the same goal—the establishment of the Islamic Kingdom of God on Earth and implementation of Shariah law. In the case of Thailand it was a ‘bloodless’ coup led by Muslim Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratkalin ostensibly to remove a corrupt democratically elected government. As Time Magazine (Asia) on September 25 reported Gen....

ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) - Russia handed over to China a destroyer equipped with state-of-the-art weaponry on Thursday, finalising a $1.5 billion deal analysts say boosts Beijing's clout in its stand-off with Taiwan. "The handover act was signed today, and a Chinese flag was hoisted on the ship," a Russian defence industry source told Reuters, requesting anonymity. The warship was the fourth Project 956E 'Sovremenny' (Modern) class destroyer built at the Northern Shipyard in Russia's second city St Petersburg and sold to China under a 2002 deal through Russia's state arms trader Rosoboronexport. In the late 1990s China bought two...

Hugo Chávez and the Non-Aligned Movement. By Mario Loyola Behind the spectacle of Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez’s insults against the West lurks something more sinister than meets the eye. Chávez seeks to lead the Non-Aligned Movement in a new cold war of race, class, and nationalism, to be fought everywhere on earth, chiefly against the United States. And before he’s done, he may hurt his people and ours more than he can imagine. In the 1950s, from the ashes of Europe’s colonial empires, there arose a wave of new “nations,” soon to be called the “third world.” Usually defined by...

http://www.angelfire.com/tx4/yay/bigmidi.html MIDI - GYPSIES, TRAMPS, AND THIEVES They have slithered on into the U.N. to speak It's really quite an anti-American week What in the h*ll are they doing here? Great big can of whoop*ss...that is what is needed, it's very clear Nutcase dictators They think they are rock stars...that's the way they're treated Nutcase dictators If we let this stuff continue any more...we're gonna lose this war Harlem just loves their Hugo to death Do we dare say they've had way too much meth? Glover is there with his ugly sneer Great big can of whoop*ss...that is what...

The Non-Aligned Movement of developing nations began a summit in Cuba on Monday with speeches that made no reference to the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks in a sign of animosity to the United States. Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque called on the movement's 116 members to close ranks in the face of the threat of military strikes by the world's most powerful nations. The six-day summit, labeled by critics as a left-over of the Cold War with little diplomatic relevance, is expected to denounce the Bush administration for assuming the role of global policeman in its...

St. Petersburg, July 17: Opening the first ever India-Russia-China summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin today said the three neighbouring nuclear powers have "practically identical" views on major global problems and expressed satisfaction at the coordination of efforts by them. "Our approaches on key world problems are very close or as the diplomats say, practically identical," Putin said opening the trilateral meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese President Hu Jintao. Putin expressed satisfaction that the three powers of the same region "manage to coordinate their efforts on the international scene." Hosting his Indian and Chinese colleagues in the ornate...

Russia to Consider Mideast Peacekeepers Jul 17 8:14 AM US/Eastern Email this story ST. PETERSBURG, Russia President Vladimir Putin said Monday that Russia would consider contributing troops to an international peacekeeping force in the Middle East if the United Nations approves its deployment. "So far there is no decision yet on sending peacekeeping troops. When there will be a decision we will consider whether to take part," Putin said. Putin said he was not certain that the return of three abducted Israeli soldiers would stop the fighting in the Middle East. Israel is fighting Hezbollah militants operating in Lebanon and...

Monday, January 09, 2006 Final Phase Backgrounder: Moscow and Beijing's "One Clenched Fist" (PT = Blogger's Initials) During the days of overt communism in Eastern Europe, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the People's Republic of China feigned enmity, publicizing their hostility with manufactured border skirmishes and other diversions. On December 25, 1991 the Leninist strategists in Moscow offered the world a Christmas present: the USSR was going to implode and communism would be outlawed. Somewhere in the Kremlin there was chuckling and the tinkling of glasses of vodka. Following the much-ballyhooed demise of communism in Russia, the "ex"-communist...

Microsoft Corp disclosed the details of a deal signed with China's top economic planning body, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) on Wednesday. Microsoft's vice president and chief technology officer Craig Mundie arrived in Beijing to disclose the details of the MOU signed on Apr 18, according to which, Microsoft Corp will invest $100 million in setting up cooperation with China-based software enterprises and their subsidiaries, joint ventures outside China. It will place orders worth $100 million to software enterprises in China. Microsoft will place a 700-million-U.S.-dollar hardware export order with Chinese companies in each of the next...

Excerpts - Later [Hu] said to Gates: "I admire what you have achieved at Microsoft," Hu said. "Because you, Mr. Bill Gates, are a friend of China, I'm a friend of Microsoft," he said. "Also, I am dealing with the operating system produced by Microsoft every day," he added, amid laughter. "I certainly look forward to the extension of your cooperation with China," Hu said. Hu also said he would certainly welcome a further increase in Microsoft's investment in China. "I'd also like to take this opportunity to assure you, Bill Gates, that we will certainly our words in protecting...

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Tuesday accused China of understating the scope of its defense spending, and he said this is sowing suspicion about how China intends to use its growing military might. Rumsfeld arrived in the Chinese capital for his first visit since he became President Bush's defense chief in 2001. He was scheduled to meet Wednesday with President Hu Jintao, who also is chairman of the Central Military Commission, which runs the Chinese military. In an interview aboard his plane en route from Washington, Rumsfeld questioned China's motives in underreporting its defense spending. He mentioned no figures,...

MOSCOW (AP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin met his Chinese counterpart Thursday in a bid to strengthen ties between the former Cold War rivals and to quadruple trade now worth about $20 billion a year. The two leaders were upbeat, noting Beijing and Moscow had progressed on several issues in recent years. Chinese President Hu Jintao's four-day trip reflects the strategic importance Beijing places on ties with Russia. ``Our countries signed a strategic accord on cooperation and resolved our border issues. Russia and China are actively cooperating on the international arena,'' Hu noted in talks late Thursday with Putin. Hu...

Condi Rice meets Hu Jintao, "President" of the People's Republic of China on December 9, 2004.

BEIJING (AP) - China's Communist Party, which has increasingly embraced capitalist economics while fortifying its authoritarian rule, will hold a four-day meeting of its Central Committee starting next week, the government said Tuesday. "China's reform has entered a critical stage, so the Communist Party should adapt to the new situation in order to push forward the process of building a well-off society," Chinese Central Television said, quoting from a document to be approved at the Sept. 16-19 meeting. It also said the document targeted the party's need to "improve governance of the country and coordinate the development of material civilization."...

...As [Lilley] explains, "It was ambiguity over whether the U.S. would defend South Korea from attack -- created when Secretary of State Dean Acheson left the Korean peninsula outside the U.S. "defense perimeter" he described in a 1950 speech -- that convinced Kim Il Sung he could act with impunity. And when Saddam Hussein in 1991 informed U.S. ambassador April Gillespie that Kuwait was in his sights, and she gave an ambiguous response, tragedy also ensued. By contrast, there was nothing ambiguous about mutual assured destruction; and it worked for decades. Ambiguity [is] what Mr. Kerry offers on the subject...

HONG KONG - Chinese leader Hu Jintao, whose popularity has been on the rise since he took over as head of the ruling party a year ago, recently drew heavy fire - from his own supporters. Reason? He praised Mao Zedong too lavishly on the 110th anniversary of the latter's birth last December. His erstwhile supporters saw that as a leftward tilt towards Maoism - and were upset. At a gathering of top Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leaders and cadres on Dec 26, he called Mao 'the pride of the Chinese Communist Party, the Chinese people and the Chinese race'....

h1>'Constantly Increasing Common Ground': Hu's Speech To Australian Parliament October 24, 2003This is the transcript of the Address to a Joint Sitting of the Australian Parliament by the President of China, Hu Jintao. Listen to President Hu Jintao's SpeechText and Audio of John Howard's Speech of WelcomeText and Audio of Simon Crean's Speech The Honourable Neil Andrew, Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Honourable Paul Calvert, President of the Senate, the Honourable Prime Minister John Howard, distinguished members of the federal parliament of Australia, Ladies and Gentlemen: I am delighted to meet with you today, and address such a...

Hu Jintao's very offensive speech By Bruce Jacobs ®a³Õ Wednesday, Oct 29, 2003,Page 8 Chinese President Hu Jintao (­JÀAÀÜ) expressed strong concern about the possibility of being insulted during his speech to Australia's parliament. In fact, his speech has insulted every Australian. In his first substantive paragraph, Hu states, "Back in the 1420s, the expeditionary fleets of China's Ming dynasty reached Australian shores. For centuries, the Chinese sailed across vast seas and settled down in what was called `the southern land,' or today's Australia. They brought Chinese culture here and lived harmoniously with the local people, contributing their proud share...

How to become ruler of China Follow the Party line to the letter As China's Communist Party prepares for a new leadership under Hu Jintao, the BBC's Beijing correspondent Adam Brookes - in this personal view of the Party's workings - has some unofficial career advice for those seeking the highest office. Rule One: Do no harmTo the Communist Party, that is. Religious movements, independent political parties, dissidents and ethno-separatist troublemakers may all be sacrificed without career consequences. It is helpful, in fact, to have demonstrated grit in the face of subversion. Hu Jintao applauds Jiang Zemin's work report Applaud...