Who Stands with China?

In the spirit of that “dispassionate “external control” that owes allegiance to no institution, governmental or corporate,” which I just attributed to WikiLeaks, it seems appropriate to name those countries that will join the People’s Republic of China in boycotting this year’s Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.  This information was recently provided in a report by Bjoern H. Amland and Anita Chang of the Associated Press.  Here is their summary of those countries:

Countries that have turned down an invitation to Friday's ceremony include Chinese allies Pakistan, Venezuela and Cuba, Chinese neighbors such as Russia, the Philippines and Kazakhstan, and Chinese business partners such as Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Other countries not appearing at the Oslo City Hall ceremony include Ukraine, Colombia, Egypt, Sudan, Tunisia, Iraq, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Serbia and Morocco.

In this case we do not have to resort to WikiLeaks.  This is a matter of public record.  If there was any “editorial mediation,” it resides solely in the “category labels” assigned to the countries in the first paragraph.  The conclusions that any individual chooses to draw about any of these countries is entirely his/her own affair.