Saturday, September 20, 2008

Milky Palms

Here’s more on the milk story.

China ordered widespread checks on dairy products and a recall of tainted items as a scandal that began with powdered baby formula and spread to milk sparked an outcry from China’s trading partners.

Malaysia joined neighboring Singapore in banning Chinese milk imports while a dairy company in Japan pulled Chinese products from supermarket shelves following a similar move in Hong Kong after products were found contaminated with potentially deadly melamine.

China’s State Council, which ordered the comprehensive checks, vowed to punish enterprises and government leaders responsible for the scandal, the official Xinhua news agency reported late on Friday.

Allow me to translate that last paragraph from Chinese into English.

“China’s State Council, which ordered the comprehensive checks, vowed to find a few scapegoats and patsies among a central government riven with corruption.  These patsies will be tried and executed in a very public manner, after which the government will proclaim that the problem has been solved.  Regular bribery and corruption will resume shortly thereafter.”