Yes! Yes!! Please kill them, not me!

Ooooooh, China, you done picked on someone who won't smile and ask for seconds...

Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network has taken up the cause of China’s Muslim Uighur minority with a pledge to attack Chinese workers in northwestern Africa in retaliation for mistreatment by Beijing of its largest Muslim minority.

Al-Qaeda's Algerian-based offshoot, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), has issued the call for vengeance, according to the South China Morning Post, which quoted an intelligence report from the London-based risk analysis firm Stirling Assynt.

It would be the first time that bin Laden’s organisation has threatened China or its interests — underlying the risks Beijing faces as it expands its economic investments overseas.

The assessment by Sterling Assynt warned that the threat should be taken seriously and said: “Although AQIM appear to be the first arm of al-Qaeda to officially state they will target Chinese interests, others are likely to follow."...

The report said: “The general situation of China's Muslims has resonated amongst the global jihadist community. There is an increasing amount of chatter . . . among jihadists who claim they want to see action against China. Some of these individuals have been actively seeking information on China's interests in the Muslim world, which they could use for targeting purposes."

And look out, Turkey's pissed too:

China has demanded that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan retract his accusation that Beijing practised genocide against ethnic Uighurs.

Mr Erdogan made the claim after riots in the Uighur heartland of Xinjiang during which 184 people were killed...

Mr Erdogan made the controversial comments last Friday, telling NTV television: "The incidents in China are, simply put, a genocide. There's no point in interpreting this otherwise."

China's massive economic growth has given both the Chinese state and many angry-young-men among the Chinese people a swaggering, bellicose nationalism. Angry Chinese bloggers speak of getting the West back for a "century of humiliation" and reestablishing China's supposed historic hegemony over Asia. So far, we in the West have been pretty laid-back about this, because A) China makes all our stuff 4 Cheep, and B) we got money and nukes so we ain't too worried.

Not so the Moslem Hordes. China would do well to remember the last time it picked on Islam. (OK, granted, that was well over 1000 years ago and has no relevance whatsoever today. But it sounds so cool to say stuff like that...I can has Samuel Huntington's job now?)

In any case, I'm raising my morning double-martini in a toast: Here's hoping that al-Qaeda focuses its rage on Mighty China instead of Lil' Ol' Me. Allahu Akbar!


Update: A friend reports that at Friday prayers in Tehran, Hashemi Rafsanjani said:

The government of China has quelled the protests. We would like to give them a brotherly advice, There are more than a billion Muslims in the world, China should pay attention to its relations between itself. Such cruelty could destroy those relations.