The Great Firewall Of China
Is your blog site blocked in China? A trip to this site will give you your no no rating in nanoseconds.
The Great Firewall Of China tells you something about media censorship. Because nobody’s protesting about China at all, where censorship is as total as can be. But America has a boodles of billions trade defecit with China, so . . cheaper to take a cheap shot at Russia.
And the cheapest shot of the week from the New York Times. Essential commentary here from Russophile.
Tip for journos. Investigate money trails in Russia and you’re dead. Which is exactly what the muck-raking Politkovskaya and dirt-peddling Litvinenko were up to. That’s what sealed the fate of Forbes’ Klebnikov too. Nothing to do with politics at all.
If Moscow is really so censorious, why is the Exile still up? Currently, you won’t find anything as radical, satirical or tell-it-like-is in London, Paris or Berlin. And that’s a sad fact.
Well, it looks like I’m “banned in China” as well, although it’s difficult for me to fathom why. There are actually a lot of complaints made about China’s human rights record; I think the reason people don’t focus on freedom of the press is because there are bigger problems there; plus, unless I’m mistaken, China doesn’t claim to be a democracy, and Russia does make this claim.
Russophile’s piece is indeed astute, although I still think the NYT has a point. And as for the eXile, while it’s kept its trademark style, it no longer trashes or investigates the federal government as it did in the late 1990’s; it now focuses some of its harshest comment on the “enemies” of the Russian state (though of course the eXile has always provided trenchant and often insightful criticism of the Western journos who cover Russia). This adaptability may explain its ability to survive and prosper.
Tip for journos. Investigate money trails in Russia and you’re dead. [...] Nothing to do with politics at all.
Hmmm. But if the gov’t/state is increasingly in control of the major wealth-producing assets, then where do you suppose the “money trails” lead?
I am blocked! Think of the nearly 1 billion non-English speakers who cannot look at my site’s pictures from Siberia.
It is my guess, although I did not test the theory, that all blogger sites are blocked.
Thanks for referencing my article. Lyndon, I too think the NYT has a point, but they over state their case and leave out relevant facts. I was even more shocked to find that the Wikipedia article lists no Russian journalists who died before 2000. It seems no one paid attention to the issue while Yeltsin was president and was playing the west’s lap dog while leaving the country’s bank door open. As soon as Putin takes back a few TV stations that were stolen, then the western press starts caring about Russian journalists.
to Russophile.com
According Glasnost Defence Foundation report since 1991 was killed 192 journalists.
1992 - 1
1993 - 10
1994 - 10
1995- 16
1996 - 19
1997 - 14
1998 - 11
1999 - 15
2000 - 16
2001 - 17
2002 - 20
2003 - 10
2004 - 13
2005 - 6
2006 - 9
2007(jan-apr) - 5
You can also obtain additional information here
http://www.gdf.ru/arh/mort/index.shtml
Dear copydude. Me blocked too.
Interestingly, my in-laws lived in China for a year - 2005 - and my father in law told us he had no problems accessing Australian newspaper websites while he was there (mostly to check the footy scores). Perhaps the Chinese government realises that Australian newspapers aren’t news at all, they’re just a joke…
I checked on this earlier this week for my Wednesday blog, since I had daily visitors from China, who suddenly disappeared. I’m blocked and I’m pissed.
Thanks for comments. First of all, the NYT has never run a leader about civilian casualties in Iraq, or even the refugee crisis, or even their own soldiers with PTDs, so their concern for humanity is as selective as the information.
Lyndon makes a good point about corruption in bureaucracy - but that isn’t entirely politics either. The problem is, as Russophile points out, is that there has been a history of ‘assassination culture’ since Russia embraced capitalism. Over 500 directors and associates of the VAZ automobile company are said to have been liquidated. (Russia Discovery Blog.) I think upwards of 80 bankers were shot during Yeltsin’s tenure in one year. Maybe Turboruss has more stats? None of this is a result of Putin’s so-called autocracy - the ‘leap of logic’ Russophile describes.
Since free enterprise was banned under communism, all Russia’s businessmen came from the black market and the mafia, and all ‘business study courses’ had been undertaken in prisons.
The 14 journalists is starting to look like a low number and it would be interesting to see if the ‘assassination trend’ is actually falling under Putin.
Apropos ‘The Great Firewall’ - there’s no valid reason why Little Miss Moi or Vagabondblogger should be banned. I’m interested that other people tried this site - I wondered about a hoax but no one appears to have contested it.
When I’m in Russia uploading pics or blogs, I notice that Russian IP addresses are occasionally blocked. I couldn’t ftp to either of my local UK service providers, and one even blocks mail.ru for webmail. No problem with Flickr or Google though, both of which have a Russian presence.
Little Miss Moi uses wordpress and vagabond uses blogspot.com. I am guessing that every blog site is blocked, but I am not going to test that hypothesis because you would have to type in lots of benign blogspot, blogger, and wordpress addresses to test the theory. Anyone have the time to try it?
I’m pretty sure I’m blocked or I have turned off all my Chinese readers, cause they don’t come around to visit anymore. I thought it might be a tag I used that sparked it. I know, for example, when I live in the UAE there were complaints about the proxy server - certain words were used as blockers, like “saucy”. So if you found a recipe for “saucy chicken” the site would be blocked. (This is actually a true example from a complaint written in to Gulf News.) And I know from friends, that flickr is totally blocked there now.
hmm, this site says enidd is blocked in china, which she knows for sure is not true, because she has one chinese guy, jianfeng, who links to her blog and reads it regularly.
Ha. My website is still available. I checked this once before. Maybe it helps to be called Wu Wei. Or perhaps I move around so much they can’t keep up with me.
I’m blocked. I assume its for the reasons that Russophile gives: Sites with blogspot and wordpress get automatic honors.
I tried UCLA’s site and it isn’t blocked. I would have been surprised if it was since there are a number of Chinese nationals at UCLA. If they couldn’t access the site, how would they apply?
I then tried ESPN which The Great Fire Wall of China lists as blocked, but the test I did says it isn’t. Perhaps it was blocked after Houston was knocked out of the playoffs.
The NY Times came up blocked, but the Financial Times didn’t. Perhaps this is more a testament to the Chinese government’s taste in newspapers.
Regarding Lyndon’s point on eXile, it has in fact posted anti-Putin material in recent memory.
If anything, it has become considerably more muted in critiquing Western venues like Johnson’s Russia List and
i’m blocked too. i thought they consider me as a friend and ally but noooo
China firewall is lame – use Freedur.com to bypass it. You can bypass China Great Firewall and access youtube, facebook, blogger and all other sites which are blocked.
I use Skydur to access blocked sites in China - youtube, facebook, twitter, hulu etc… It’s so easy to use and works on my Mac Book Pro and Windows. I wish it was free - but it’s not so expensive - just about $5 bucks per month - check it out here http://www.skydur.com - you won’t be disappointed.