Google Announcement RE China: Wow

This is huge.

"These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered--combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web--have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China."

If there is bigger news the rest of 2010, I'll be surprised. Google, you had me at "free speech".

Combined with the recently completed sale of weapons to Taiwan, this is not turning out to be a good year for the Chinese government. The worst part of it for everyone (including Chinese citizens) is that it doesn't have to be that way. Imagine a world in which Tibetans and Uighurs and Taiwanese wanted to be part of China! That's a world in which China is an open and democratic nation with elections and freedom of speech.