Jailed dissident presented Nobel

The Nobel Peace Prize was presented today to an empty chair. Or, rather, to the man who couldn't be in that chair because he has been sentenced to 11 years in jail in China. Liu Xiaobo, who participated in the 1989 Tienanmen Square protests, has been sent to prison four times -- the latest for co-writing an appeal that advocates democracy for China.

The Chinese government is furious that the Nobel Committee went through with the ceremony and blocked media and internet reports of the story. They did report the event on state news, calling it a Western conspiracy against China.

Photo courtesy of Radio Free Europe web site.

Tank man lives on

Twenty years ago today the Chinese army moved into Beijing's Tiananmen Square to break up the democracy demonstrations that had been going on for six weeks and involved up to a million protesters, many of them college students. Between a few hundred and a few thousand were killed, with many more wounded.

Today police and soldiers squashed any attempts to mark the anniversary in the square, but the world will not forget the massive expression of yearning for freedom and justice, and we cannot forget the individual who stood before a line of tanks and refused to move.