The China Syndrome

There's been a serious and ongoing uprising in Western China, between Muslim Uighurs and Chinese police. Apparently the police killed at least 150 people in the capital of Xinxiang Province, Urumqi, with thousands of injuries and even more arrests. The tensions between the ethnic majority Uighurs in this region and the Chinese government have long been known, and after years of cultural and political repression, things are spilling over.

In fact, the reason why the group of 17 Uighurs at Guantanamo could not be sent to China is because of pretty much this outcome - they would have been persecuted and possibly tortured. However, Andy McCarthy at NRO hears "Uighurs" and "riots" and decides to spin out this marvel:

The Wall Street Journal (as flagged in the NRO web briefing) reports on rioting in China by Uighur "students" that has left scores dead and hundreds wounded. The "students," described elsewhere in the story as from a "predominantly Muslim ethnic group[, which has] long chafed at restrictions on their civil liberties and religious practices imposed by a Chinese government fearful of political dissent," expressed their dissent by torching cars and buses, as well as — according to accounts of some witnesses to state-controlled media — rampaging "with big knives stabbing people" on the street.

No reason for non-Muslims in Bermuda, Palau, or the United States to worry, though. The lovable Uighurs are merely trying to address "economic and social discrimination." Once they get social justice, I'm sure they'll stop.

McCarthy decides that state-run media reports in China are credible enough to just regurgitate. And neoconservatives like McCarthy, who used to praise the stirrings of democracy in totalitarian regions, let that go when political points can be scored against a Democratic President.

Remarkable.