Pay attention to Russia…and China

What’s going on in Russia?

They’re cracking down on the free press.

The British Broadcasting Corp. said Friday its Russian-language FM broadcasts have been taken off the air by its Moscow distributor, which said its programs were “foreign propaganda.”

Why now?

The BBC said that the licensing documents it received in May 2006 allowed almost one-fifth of Bolshoye Radio’s content to be produced externally. Richard Sambrook, director of BBC Global News, called on the station to respect the original agreement.

“We cannot understand how the license is now interpreted in a way that does not reflect the original and thorough concept documents,” he said.

Critics say President Vladimir Putin’ government has stifled media freedoms and quashed political opposition as part of a broader effort to increase Kremlin control over Russian political life.

He’s also putting up military aircraft again from the Cold War era.

President Vladimir Putin said Russia sent 14 bomber aircraft on patrols far beyond its own territory on Friday, marking the permanent return to a Soviet-era practice.

Putin said the resumption of flights was a response to security threats posed by other military powers.

Of course that was the explanation.

Many observers said the sorties — which had been stopped due to funding shortages in the Russian military — were a sign of Russia’s growing assertiveness.

They’re holding joint military exercises with China right now.

Which is a good reminder to watch China, too. Poisoned food, poisened lead in millions of toys, economic threats and continued crackdowns on media and ethnic and religious groups… How concerned are we about what’s going on there?