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Angola: MPLA wins over 80% of votes and secures 191 seats

lingua → pt · es · sw

The final results of the Parliamentary Elections disclosed late last night by Angola's National Electoral Commission [pt] confirmed the ruling party the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola's victory with 81,64% (5,266,216 votes). The runner up, the main opposition party National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, had 10.39% (670,363 votes). A total of 7,213,246 Angolans went to the polls, out of 8,256,584 people who had registered to vote - an 87% turnout.

This means that the MPLA makes 191 of the 220 elected Members of Parliament, while UNITA will have 16, PRS 8 and the ND and FNLA both will have 2 seats (click here for a full list of those elected, by region). Jorge Santos from Leste de Angola [pt] was among the first bloggers announcing the following results:

MPLA - 5.266.216 ( 81,64%)
UNITA - 670.363 (10,39%)
PRS - 204.746 (3,17%)
ND - 77.141 (1,20%)
FNLA - 71.416 (1,11%)
PDP-ANA - 32.952 (0,51%)
PLD - 21.341 (0,33 porcento)
AD Coligação - 18.977 (0,29%)
PADEPA – 17.509 (0,27%)
FPD - 17.073 (0,26%)
PAJOCA – 15.535 (0,24%)
PRD – 14.238 (0,22%)
PPE – 12.052 (0,19%)
FOFAC - 10.858 (0,19%)

Camara de Comuns [pt] publishes an analysis from reader Rui Miguel Menezes Vaz, who lives in Bié, one of the most battered provinces during the war. He explains why he believes the results were for the better:

Não é preciso ir muito longe e perceber que o MPLA, mesmo sendo um partido manipulador e dominador, era a única saída para a estabilidade. A UNITA não apresentou uma única vez um quadro, ao nível de governação, capaz de mover forças. Alias, os únicos que teriam capacidade de liderar excluíram-se destas eleições e o povo não esquece o passado. Durante o período eleitoral é facilmente constatável que o MPLA tinha muito mais direito de antena e muito mais protagonismo. Mas não foi esse o partido que levou este pais a evoluir e atrair o investimento todo em Angola?

There is no need to go very far to realize that the MPLA, even if a manipulative and dominating party, was the only way to stability. UNITA had not once presented a framework at the level of government, capable of moving forces. Moreover, the only ones able to lead were excluded from these elections and people did not forget the past. During the election period it was easily observed that the MPLA had more rights to air time and more prominence. But wasn't it this party that led the country to evolve and Angola to attract all this investment?

Carlos Lopes [pt] commented on what this result means to the opposing party UNITA, which lost more than 50 of its seats, saying that “worse than losing the war was losing the elections”. He said the results in Luanda at least were surprising:

Não foi se quer, o problema da mensagem da «mudança», que era bem aceite e «colava» nos ouvidos do eleitor, mas antes, um sério problema de avaliação do potencial do eleitorado em termos de resultado, ou seja, a quantidade de votos que o partido iria recolher nessa Província, Município e Comuna. Os dirigentes fizeram-se a estrada e apostaram em locais, cujos eleitores não corresponderam a expectativa criada, porque aqueles que dirigiram a campanha da UNITA, com base em dados pouco fiáveis e alguns inexistentes, não conseguiram colmatar as falhas que apareciam, muitas vezes por desconhecimento

The problem was not even the message of ‘change', which was well accepted and 'stuck' in the voters' ears, but rather a serious problem of assessing the potential of the electorate in terms of outcome, that's to say the amount of votes that the party would gather in that province, municipality and commune. The leaders have invested and bet in places where voters did not match the expectations created, because those who directed the UNITA campaign, based on unreliable and some non-existent data, failed to bridge the gaps that appeared, often out of ignorance

Luciano Canhanga [pt] analyses the situation for smaller parties which didn't get much confidence from the polls and now are at risk:

Dos partidos concorrentes às eleições e que não conseguiram acentos, apenas o PDP_ANA se livra da extinção compulsiva, já que conseguiu tangencialmente transpor os 0,5% da votação geral exigida por lei. Os que não concorreram ficam obrigados a concorrer em 2012, sob pena de extinção. (…) E que dizer de formações como o PRD, PPE e FOCAC que dizem ter conseguido as 15 mil assinaturas com que se habilitaram à corrida, mas que findo o escrutínio acabaram com menos de 15 mil votos?

Out of the competing parties that failed to get seats, only the PDP_ANA is free of compulsory extinction, as it tangentially managed to get the 0.5% of the general votes required by law. Those who did not run this time must compete in 2012, under threat of extinction. (…) And what about parties such as the PRD, PPE and FOCAC which claim to have achieved the 15 thousand signatures that enabled them to compete in the race, but that after the ballot ended with less than 15 thousand votes?

Koluki [pt] publishes a link to the Human Rights Watch report ‘Angola: Irregularities Marred Historic Elections', published last September 15 highlighting that there was ‘no independent oversight, media bias'. She provides her own observations on the document, and concludes:

Em suma, e’ minha conviccao que os resultados eleitorais nao sao determinados apenas durante a campanha eleitoral ou no dia das eleicoes, elas sao determinadas ao longo de anos pelos eleitores que acumulam as experiencias de vida que acabam por ditar as suas decisoes de voto, por muito que, infelizmente, o processo eleitoral nao decorra de forma tao transparente quanto todos desejariamos, a bem dos proprios eleitores, ou seja, do povo e da nacao.

In short, I believe that the election results are not determined only during the election campaigning or on the election day, they are determined over years by voters who gather life experience that ultimately dictate their voting decisions, although, unfortunately, the electoral process does not happen in so transparent a way as we wished, for the sake of the voters themselves, who is to say the people and nation.

The September 5 election was the first since 2002, when the 27-year civil war fought between then rival factions MPLA and UNITA came to an end. Angolans will choose a president next year.
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Yemen: Sixteen People Killed in US Embassy Attack

Amira Al Hussaini · 14:49, September 17th, 2008 · Middle East & North Africa

lingua → fr · es · bn · zht · zhs

Sixteen people were killed when the US Embassy in Sana'a, Yemen, was attacked with a car bomb and rockets today. One blogger was minutes away from the explosions.

Carpetblogger, an American who lives in Turkey but was travelling in Yemen, writes:

Sitting in the lobby of the Burj al Salam hotel about an hour ago,we heard two explosions, but thought little about them. They were close enough to shake the windows a little. About 30 minutes later, reports started coming in that the US Embassy was under attack. Current reports on Yemeni TV say that there was an intial car bomb followed by some shooting. Injuries are reported. Right now, reports attribute the attacks to Al Qaeda, which has been increasingly active in the country. The US Embassy is located near the Sheraton hotel. Reports confirm that it was the Embassy and not the compound.

Her next report says:

Local news is reporting that the embassy is being evacuated by helicopter. I just watched a helicopter head out there. Have photos, no time to load.

From Saudi Arabia, American Stilettos in the Sand rules out Yemen as a ‘good holiday destination' following the attack. She writes:

Not that we were considering heading to Yemen in the near future, but… This means that for SURE we won't be considering Yemen as a vacation destination. Ever. It is not the first time this year that the Westerners have been targeted. And, after reading this article in Gulfnews, I just think it would be best for us to consider
other more inviting countries to head to for short vacations.

Jane Novak, writing at Armies of Liberation has more on the attack here. She adds:

Notably, Yemen is the ancestral home of Osama bin Laden and the U.S. Embassy has previously been targeted for attacks […]

The last time we heard from Yemeni Islamic Jihad was last month when they claimed credit for a suicide car bombing in Hadramout, and threatened a future attack in the capital.

Novak, who covers Yemen in her blog, also lists previous suicide car bombings in the country:

September 2006 synchronized attacks on oil facilities in Marib and Hadramout

July 2007 car bombing at tourist facility in Marib killed eight Spanish tourists

July 2008 car bombing a police station in Sayoun Hadrmaout, one killed and 18 wounded

Early in 2008, mortar attacks were launched in Sana’a against western targets including the US embassy, Italian embassy and a western housing complex. After the July 2008 suicide bombing killed one policeman and injured 18 in Sayoun in the southeastern province of Hadramout, authorities rounded up over fifty suspected militants including AAIA leader Khalid Abdul Nabi and Saudi Muhammad bin Nayif al-Qahtani. After the arrests, Yemen announced that it had thwarted an attack in Saudi Arabia targeting oil industries. For history and analysis of al-Qaeda in Yemen, check my al-Qaeda category.

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Young Egyptian Women Do Not Want to Work!

Marwa Rakha · 13:58, September 17th, 2008 · Middle East & North Africa

lingua → mk · es · fr

While some women are still struggling to prove themselves in the workplace, the young generation of Egyptian men and women seems to be taking a different route.

Fantasia was watching an episode of El Beyoot Asrar (Homes have Secrets) where they were talking about women and whether they should work or not.

There were two groups of people on the show; the invited guests, which were men and women in their late 40's and 50's, and the audience, which were mainly younger people. Some were college students and others looked like they were in their early 20's. I do not recall the exact words of every person on the show; however, the older people were all pro work. The women all talked about their experiences in life, how their careers helped them, and how their husbands supported them. They talked about their children. More than once they were asked if their careers compromised the care for their children, and they all answered that the children were not compromised. Until here, it all sounds fine and dandy. You would think that since the older generations think this way, the younger generations will definitely be more open minded, and women will be more career oriented.

When the younger generation of men and women got a chance to express how they felt about the topic, Fantasia was highly disappointed:

A young man, possibly in his early 20's stated that he will not allow his wife to work … no matter what. He believed a woman's place is her home and nothing more. Another young man said “I will give my wife a chance to work and see if she can work, take care of the children alone, and take care of the house alone …( and get this)….. and take care of ME!!!! ( is he 2 or something?? does she need to change his diapers as well??) Then I will “ALLOW” her to work.” However if she fails in any way, or if he feels that she is not up to par …. then he will “FORBID” her getting a job or having a career!!!! Much to my dismay and utter disappointment his sentiments were echoed by several male audience member.

The Female audience members let me down even more. ALL and I repeat ALL the women in the audience (whom I will add that judging from their appearance were in their early 20's) stated that their “DREAM” was to get married and sit at home. No one. I repeat NO ONE mentioned the desire for having a career. Success was nothing they referred to or thought of in any way. They were all college graduates who “chose” to throw away their degree forever!! A couple mentioned they would like to work until they meet the right man. So for them work was a way of “catching” a husband! When these girls were asked about their ambition, their comment was very similar to the young men; they all agreed that women have no ambition, that a woman's ambition should be to cook and clean and care for children. They agreed that a woman's career ambition is a “myth” that the western media tries to brainwash women into believing!!!

Fantasia voiced her frustration saying:

The way I look at things is that our country needs every ounce of work and energy available to help us rise out of this economic and social depression. The concept of a woman working should be a no brainer… The subject has been discussed over and over for more than 120 years… and women have been working since our grandparents came of age in the 40's and the 50's. It is unusual for a society to fall back so much, and for women to lose so much in such a short time. What Egyptian women have worked so hard for is slowly being yanked out from under their feet… and they are totally oblivious. The amount of brainwashing that has happened in our culture over the past 20 years is astounding!! The mystery to me is how do you oppress people while at the same time convincing them that oppression was their idea in the first place… so they think that their oppression is liberation??? I know it sounds confusing but we are living examples of this twisted logic.

Fantasia also explained that she is not against stay at home moms but…

But if all women suddenly decide to stay at home, it is no longer a selfless act, it is actually turned into a very selfish act. Let me explain why:

1- For starters… Children only need their mothers in the first few years of life. After the age of 4, all kids go to school, so really a mother sitting at home isn't doing much for the child.
For working mothers in Egypt, The Egyptian government has done a lot. A very generous law that does not exist everywhere is the “child care leave”. A working woman in Egypt by law can take up to 5 YEARS off of work.

2- Men argue that they need a wife to “take care” of them. Unless the man is incapacitated or handicapped in some way, no adult responsible working man needs a woman to take care of him. Men are taught from a young age that they should not lift a finger to care for their house; they should not clean, they should not cook and all of this ” dirty work” is beneath them.

3- Men argue that if a man can afford to care for the house financially, a woman doesn't HAVE to work. This is actually one of the most annoying arguments. Women in Egypt cost the government thousands of pounds to get a college education, so if a woman chooses not to work she should pay back this money so another person can use it to be educated and benefit society. If this money is used by the ministry of education to fund research in labs wouldn't it be better spent? So this is my argument: if you don't want to use it, then don't take it!!!

4- People argue that women are crowding men and pushing them out of work. To this claim, I would like to respond that not all women have someone who supports them. To men who feel that women are overcrowding them I say, please don't be short sighted. Do not underestimate the value of the woman who works in the neighboring office as she may be doing more for her family than any man could. Women in the work place need to be acknowledged, respected and appreciated. They do not “overcrowd” and their value in the workplace is not any less than their male colleagues.

5- People argue that there aren't enough jobs for everybody… so women need to sit at home, and let the men work, so every family will have at least one income!! To this claim I would like to say that even though there aren't enough sources of income for work for everyone, however, there is so much work that needs to be done that no one is doing. The one concept that we rarely ever hear of in Egypt is volunteering.

Fantasia ends her post on a very motivating note saying:

So to say that women should stay at home is selfish, and is something that is said by people who only think of themselves. Our country needs us, we are the driving force behind the progress of our nation. We all need to work together,. Whining about corruption or where money went will not help us. Working together will. I am not saying that corruption is not a factor, but I am saying Corruption has become the excuse for everything wrong with our lives. There is so much more we can do to make Egypt better…. we just need to try!

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Mexico: Explosions in Morelia During Independence Day Celebrations

Eduardo Avila · 12:16 · Americas

lingua → pt · es · zht · zhs

Two hand grenades were tossed into a crowd in the city of Morelia, Mexico during independence day celebrations. Eight people were killed, and more than 100 were injured. Authorities are blaming the attack on drug cartels, who have been responsible for brutal killings throughout the country. This concern also led to a recent protest march that attracted thousands. Mexican bloggers are mourning this latest tragedy [es] and are calling on the government to act.

Mexablog [es] writes about the feeling of helplessness and anger at such a brutal attack:

Esto es a todas luces una cobardía sin precedentes, esto ya debe de ser la gota que derramó el vaso y si gobierno federal no hace algo al respecto se confirmará todo lo dicho hasta ahora, que narco y gobierno trabajan juntos.

Imágenes crudas muestran a personas muertas y heridas que pasaron de momentos de alegría a momentos de dolor, angustia y terror, un terror nunca conocido hasta ahora y de seguir adelante no se a donde vayamos a parar.

This points to being an unprecedented cowardice, this should be the drop that overflows the glass and if the federal government does not do something about it, then it would confirm what has been said up to know, that the narcotraffickers and the government is working together.

Crude images show those killed and injured who went from moments of enjoyment to moments of pain, anguish and terror, a terror that has not been known until now and from here one doesn't know where we will stop.

Enrique V. of Tinta y Pixeles [es] reminds his readers that those who were killed and injured were not directly involved in the ongoing conflict between organized crime and the authorities:

…y quienes fueron las víctimas? no fueron grandes empresarios, y tampoco gente relacionada con el estado mexicano, fue un ataque contra la gente común, contra el ciudadano promedio, el que sale en la noche con su familia a pasarla bien un rato, en fin a los menos culpables de la terrible situación por la que atraviesa este país.

..and who were the victims? They were not big businessmen, or people part of the Mexican state, it was an attack against ordinary people, against the average citizen, those that go out at night with their family to have a good time, in the end, those who are the least guilty in the terrible situation that the country is going through.

Morelia is the hometown of current Mexican president Felipe Calderon, and some are wondering whether the attack was a message to him. However, the Mex Files [es] speculates, “Calderon was nowhere near Morelia, and — if the attack had a political angle, it was more likely an attack on Godoy and his administration than on Calderon.”

Regardless of who is at fault for this horrendous crime, the blogger at Monorama [es] summarizes many people's thoughts, “This is very scary.”

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Five Minutes to Midnight: Let the Youth Be Heard

Leonard Chien · 06:13 · Sub-Saharan Africa

lingua → fr · it

Since June 2003, Five Minutes to Midnight (FMM), a non-profit organization, has been trying to give youth a voice on human rights and international issues, especially in developing countries. The name of this organization derives from the Doomsday Clock idea invented during the Cold War. To empower the youth, FMM has published magazines, held workshops and collaborated with interested organizations around the world. After five years, FMM already has distinctive accomplishments. Its workshops in Kibera, Kenya in 2007, for example, later became a photo book, Kibera. All pictures included are from workshop participants. Global Voices has the chance to talk to Wojciech Gryc, FMM founder and director, about its past, future and views towards online tools.

What inspires you to create FMM?

In October 2002, my sister was struck by a car and passed away a few hours following the accident. Prior to her death, I wasn't very active in politics or human rights issues, but the shock of losing someone so close really made me understand the value of a person's life. A few months later, The War in Iraq started. I didn't support the war, and with the recent passing of my sister, I realized many families were about to experience similar losses. After a great deal of self-reflection and questioning, I decided to start speaking out about the war and related human rights issues. A blog called “Five Minutes to Midnight” was born a few weeks later, and this eventually evolved into the non-profit organization.

These events still inspire me today. Questioning and sharing information is extremely important, and technology plays a key role in this. It is by asking questions and debating with each other that we, as a society, can grow and become more equitable. Knowing that FMM contributes to this process is a wonderful inspiration.

The vision of FMM is “to create a place for youth to share their view and opinions on human rights and international issues.” How do you reach and collect them? Do you use any online tools?

FMM started as an online magazine, which we published monthly until January 2008. We collected young people's views and ideas through e-mail — people would write articles and send them to us. We built our own basic system for managing articles.

Over the last few years, we began running workshops with our partner organizations, mainly in developing nations. We use free and open source software and refurbished computers to organize extremely low-cost journalism projects which could then be run by young people or small organizations. We don't republish these articles, and simply act as a facilitator for starting community-based media projects.

What are the obstacles to youth around the world to stop them from sharing their views?

I'd say the biggest obstacles for young people today are tokenism and a lack of awareness. The technology for sharing your views is freely available, and sites like Global Voices are perfect examples of this. Many institutions today admit that a massive youth demographic exists and do their best to “engage” youth. Young people's opinions are regularly collected and synthesized into reports, but little is done thereafter. It is important that aside from sharing their views, young people take a stand on issues and hold governments, institutions, and corporations responsible for their actions and promises.

However, this problem isn't solely a result of tokenism on behalf of major institutions. Young people need to become more informed about the issues they care about — whether these are political, scientific, or otherwise. Youth should not only get involved in taking a stand on such issues, but should also do the research and conduct debates that help them make up their minds.

After five years, FMM has a website, has held numerous workshops, had published monthly magazines and a photo book. What's your next step?

We're always looking for new projects and ideas. One of FMM's strengths is that we are very much driven by our partners — aside from promoting low-cost technologies and free expression, we do not have a political agenda, and are happy to work wherever our expertise is needed. We're very much focused on building new partnerships in addition to the connections we've already built in countries like Chad, Kenya, and Nepal.

In addition to continuing our workshops, we're becoming much more rigorous in our analysis, research, and evaluation. We've already written one research paper and will be presenting it at a conference on intercultural collaboration in 2009, and we hope to continue contributing both to grassroots communities and organizations while also documenting our work. I think a lot of institutions and governments can learn from the type of work FMM and similar organizations do.

Blogs, Flickr and other online media are getting more and more popular among youth worldwide. Have you used any to reach more audience?

Yes, we've been very active in blogging — both in setting up our own blogs and helping our volunteers and partner organizations run their own online content systems independently. Through web-based services like Blogger.com and software packages like Wordpress, it's very easy to help people start their own basic media projects. This has facilitated our work immensely.

FMM also runs a project called “Article 13 Initiative“? What is it?

The Article 13 Initiative is the name for our international workshops. It's based on Article 13.1 from the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states: “The child shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of the child's choice.”

We believe every young person has the right to express themselves, and do our best to enable this through low-cost technologies, in-person workshops, and the Internet.

How can people get involved in FMM? What kind and form of participation do you need? If we want to contribute, what should we send to you (words, photos, videos)?

We accept any and all interested people as volunteers. One of my main philosophies about volunteering is that it is a learning opportunity — I started FMM without knowing much about non-profit organizations, and it was the best way to learn about politics, the non-profit sector, and international development. I'm happy to work with people who are interested in learning a new skill or who want to visit a new place. If you do want to volunteer, please e-mail me at wojciech@fiveminutestomidnight.org

In terms of what we look for, we are in need of writers and researchers. We do a lot of proposal writing and try to research countries and partner organizations as much as possible. Also, if you have a technical background — in web design, open source software, or even fixing computers — we'd love to have you.

We're a dispersed organization and are very comfortable working with people from any part of the world, as long as we can get in touch with them by phone, e-mail, or in person.

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China: Crisis on “Made in China”

Oiwan Lam · 04:44, September 17th, 2008 · East Asia

lingua → fr · bn · mg

The anger on the poisonous milk powder incident continues to roar everyday. Apart from Sanlu (三鹿）, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China（國家質檢總局） released last night (Sept 16) that one fifth of baby powder manufacturers in the country are involved in the melamine scandal. 22 dairy enterprises, including national brands like Yili (伊利）and Meng Niu（蒙牛）are involved in manufacturing poisonous milk powder. Up till now, at least ~~6,422~~ 6,244 babies got sick with kidney stone disease.

Following I-fan and Bob Chen's posts, here is another update on the public sentiment in China.

Don't buy “Made in China”

William long is outraged by the Internet censorship practice in this crisis and urged: if you really love this country, please don't buy “Made in China”

今天我博客上讨论的关于某某奶粉事件的文章被上面的人要求删除了，我感觉这个企业的公关能力真的很不错，在中国，最佳的企业公关不就是这样吗？把企业的利益和政府的利益捆绑在一起，以政府的行政力量来为企业公关，将网络和舆论上所有不利于自己的信息都删除，这是何等的舆论优势啊。这样，所有不明真相的人们可以继续喝你们制造的奶粉，在不知不觉中走进坟墓了。

Today, I was requested to delete a blog post about the Sanlu milk powder incident. The public relation capacity of this company is really strong, isn't that a model of China best enterprise? To tie the interest of the company with the interest of the government and use the government's administrative power to do the company's PR and delete all the information and opinions that are against the company's interest. Sure they are in a powerful position. Then all those people who don't know the truth will still by your milk powder and walk into the grave.

The blogger then comments ironically:

中国最大的问题就是人太多，特别是有知识、有思想的人太多，如果这些人都死掉的话，中国就没有任何问题了。

The greatest problem in China is that we have too many people who have knowledge and independent thought, if all these people are dead, we don't have anymore problem.

听说这个企业还曾经要花300万去公关百度等门户网站，看来真是小看了它，其实只要花一半的钱去政府进行公关就足够了。

There is hearsay there the enterprise spent 3 million yuans in search engine, it seems that we have underestimated its power, they only need to spend half the amount to push the government's PR machine.

如果你真的爱国，请一定记住，不要购买中国制造的任何产品。

If you are a genuinely patriot, please remember, don't buy any “made in China” product!

Shen Yizhe agrees that for the sake of our future generation, we should be critical of our national products:

再这么下去，海洛因、冰毒的制贩都快失业了，而国家的中长期禁毒斗争将转移到食品加工业。看着新西兰总理用一副不可思议的表情讲述着河北省地方政府试图掩盖毒奶粉事件，并拖延召回三鹿产品后，这时候日本人一定会想起毒饺子，这个到现在都没有结论的无头公案，和毒奶粉同样出自河北。此时，是不是该换日本人抵制中国货了？用韩寒的话说，抵制日货是因为日本人伤害了我们的感情，而支持国货的下场是我们的下一代付出了健康和生命的代价。孰重孰轻，一看便知。

If the situation goes on like this, real drug dealers would probably lose their job and the nation's anti-drug campaign would move to the food industry. When the New Zealand Prime Minister commented on the Hebei province government's intension to cover up the poisonous milk power issue and delay the recall of Sanlu product, his facial expression told us that he felt the whole thing incredible and ridiculous. We must have reminded the Japanese about the poisonous dumpling incident, which the truth hasn't been revealed yet. Both the dumpling and the milk powder come from Hebei province, I guess it is now the Japanese's turn to boycott China product. Using what twocold's expression, “boycotting Japanese product is an expression of our feeling, but the price for supporting our national products is our next generation's health and life.” So which one weights more?

Instead of advocating boycott, Wang Xiaofeng educates the consumers in China by doing some simple mathematics:

其实大家可以好好算算这道算术题，当某一种食品在自然界中的产量很少，但是市场上数量又很多，你可就要小心了，如果不掺假，那是不可能的。尤其是打着“绿色食品”“无公害食品”“有机食品”幌子的，您尽量别碰。牛奶里面无牛奶，果汁里面无果汁……有一天我在超市里看到Tang果珍，配方里的东西跟水果居然无关。你算算吧，橙子的产量是有限的，哪有那么多果肉工人挥霍。我去超市买东西，很多时候耽误在研究包装纸上的配料表上了，很多东西我看着就难受，能不买基本上不买。

Please do the mathematics carefully, when the food is a scarce product in the natural world, but we have abundant of it in the market, you need to be careful. It is rather impossible that they do not add extra substances inside. Don't touch the products which stress “green” or “organic”. There is no real milk in milk, not real fruit in the fruit juice… I once spotted a Tang fruit product, and there isn't any fruit in the ingredient. Please do the calculation. We have very limited oranges in the country, where can we get so many fruit for the mass food industry? When i shop in the supermarket, most of the time i spent is on the ingredient table. I feel very bad and will try to avoid buying these products.

Covering up

Comes Violet（紫罗兰奔你来）got some internal information from Yili's milk station in Inner Mongolia asking the workers in the station to remove all kinds of chemicals such as Hydrogen peroxide and melamine, and destroy all the milk products that contain starch and other chemicals.

The writer urges reporters from all over the country and overseas to go to Inner Mongolia for uncovering the story:

内蒙古的奶站加三聚氰胺是向山西省的奶农们学习的，经验是从山西传过来的，这些东西奶农们都知道，他们说，山西的奶牛根本在品质方面就不是奶牛，但是那里的奶却合格，而内蒙古本地的奶就不合格，最后发现山西那边的奶站就是加了三聚氰胺才合格的，所以现在往奶里掺三聚氰胺，淀粉，双氧水是一个公开的秘密。

The practice of adding melamine comes from Shanxi. Their milk's quality is not as good as inner Mongolia, but milk powder coming from Inner Mongolia could not pass the protein standard. On the other hand, because of melamine, Shanxi's milk managed to pass the test. That's why it is an open secret for the milk station to add melamine, starch and Hydrogen peroxide.

现在主要是没有中央媒体的记者来采访，实际上问一下当地的老百姓，就能找到奶站和奶农，他们就和我说的一致，可惜我当时没有录音，因为我不是记者。

Now the main problem is that we don't have reporters here to interview milk farmers, what they said will be consistence with my information. Unfortunately, I am not a reporter and I haven't recorded the details.

How about Olympic milk product?

Twocold （韓寒）notices the mainstream news reports stressed that milk products for the Olympics are not contaminated:

通过这次事件，我终于认识到，我们真是一个礼仪之邦。你看小日本，把好的留给自己国家，稍差一点的出口。而我们始终是有骨气的国家，就要和小日本反着来，这才是反日。

I finally realize from this incident that our country is really full of courtesy. Look at Japan, they leave their citizens the best product and export the secondary ones overseas. For our country, we are doing the opposite thing. This is really “anti-Japan”.

However, Nickwong doubts whether the Olympic milk products are really safe:

1、如果国家承认奥运会使用或出口奶制品含有三聚氰胺，则将有引发国际丑闻和外交事故的危机，所以即使有，政府也不敢承认，反正都已被人吃掉或扔掉了。（希望能有国外的有心人查过尚未正式闭幕的残奥会）；2、但如果照国家和三鹿的说法，牛奶掺毒仅是不法奶农所为（警方很快抓获疑凶，办其他案也不见这么快过），连三鹿公司1100多项先进的检测程序都没法检验出来，何以肯定奥运会使用的伊利奶制品不含三聚氰胺？

1. If the government admitted that Olympics and export milk products contain melamine, it would become an international scandal and crisis. I don't think they dare to admit that. In any case, the products have been consumed. (I hope that someone could double check the Paralympic Game's milk product). 2. According to Sanlu and the government's explanation, the melamine was added by milk farmers (the police act on that extremely effectively) and escaped the 1,100 quality tests by Sanlu, how can they be so sure that Yili's products at the Olympics do not contain melamine?

The blogger also notices that back in 2007, a milk station manager complains that since 2005 the industry has started adding extra substances in the milk, including some sort of protein powder and fat powder. But his complaint was neglected by Yili.

Who is to wipe the ass?

Heibei government tried to pacify the anger by taking up the medical cost of the sick babies. However, Caodan wonders why Hebei government has to wipe the ass for Sanlu in the incident:

实在是太操蛋了，虽然看起来它是一个非常有爱心的举动。但为什么这份钱由政府来出？政府哪来的钱？还不是纳税人的？但为什么人家纳了这个税，要去让政府帮三鹿擦这个屁股？还是说，政府在给自己擦屁股？但河北政府又说，河北政府在三鹿集团里没有股份。

那么，这是一家企业因自己的产品不合格而导致其消费者受害，理应由他自己来赔偿。而且它还是个营业额高达70亿之多的企业，为什么会把这笔帐算在河北政府，即河北纳税人头上？这实在是太令人费解了。

This is f__king ridiculous, it looks as if the government is showing its care for the people. But why should the cost be taking up by the government? Where does the government money come from? Isn't it from all the tax payers? Why let our government to wipe Sanlu's ass with our money? Or the government is actually wiping its own ass? But the Hebei government claimed that they didn't hold any Sanlu's stock.

This enterprise hurts their consumers with its own product, they should pay the compensation. Moreover, its turnover has reached 7 billion yuans, why should Hebei government / tax payer bear the consequence? This is unbelievable!

According to the latest news, several party leaders in the Hebei province have stepped down because of their involvement in the Sanlu milk powder scandal.

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