Who Controls the Past

Who controls the past now
Controls the future
--RATM

Ahh, China...the country that regularly blasts Japan for its failure to confront its past seems not to mind throwing rocks from its glass home...just beware of the historical shards reigning down on your present (to completely anihilate that metaphor):

BEIJING (Reuters) - Communist-ruled China has blasted U.S. President George Bush for attending the founding of a memorial to victims of communism, accusing Washington of "cold war" thinking and provoking ideological confrontation.

Bush attended the dedication of the Victims of Communism Memorial in Washington on Tuesday, naming China among the regimes he blamed for the deaths of about 100 million innocent people.
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He cited the Great Leap Foward of the late 1950s, when many millions died in famine sparked by Mao Zedong's drive for massive communes, and the Cultural Revolution of 1966-76 when Mao launched a radical, often violent campaign to stamp out ideological threats.

Is this some kind of historical/poetic justice for Koizumi visiting Yasukini? Holy jeebus, did Bush ever throw Japan a bone on this one. Abe will be able to point a finger to China in front of the rest of Asia "See? China does the same thing!" Of course, the Chinese are obligated to defend Mao and his myth as long as the Communist Party reigns. I'll say this: If the US was courting Japan and attempting to piss off a hypocritical China for ideological reasons, then good show. If not, than this is an awful idea. China is needed at the UN to pressure Iran, so this does not seem prudent.

Random thought: Does Washington have a memorial for the victims of American foreign policy misadventures? What of the victims of fascism?