Marking the Anniversary of the Embassy Seizure
Today marks the 30th anniversary of the seizing of the U. S. embassy in Tehran by factions of the revolution that overthrew the shah. President Obama has issued a statement on the occasion which I will reproduce in full here: Thirty years ago today, the American Embassy in Tehran was seized. The 444 days that began on November 4, 1979 ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on November 5, 2009 10:58
Web’s Latin-Only Policy Ending
Starting in two weeks, users from countries who don't use the Latin alphabet will find using the Internet much easier, FT reports. Latin script’s monopoly in internet domain names will end next month, a development that could usher in a fresh wave of internet usage from Bulgaria to China. So far, finding web addresses has required some basic familiarity with Latin letters ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 30, 2009 14:28
Advice from the Saudis on Afghanistan
In this morning's Washington Post Prince Turki al-Faisal of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, former director general of their intelligence service and also their former ambassador to the United States offers President Obama some advice on how to proceed in Afghanistan with which I find I am in almost complete agreement. His advice consists of six action items: There is ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on October 9, 2009 11:34
Thomas Friedman Extols the Virtues of Communism
Thomas Friedman's latest column, in which he argues Communist China's system is preferable to ours because it "can just impose the politically difficult but critically important policies needed to move a society forward in the 21st century," has quite naturally generated a heated response in the blogosphere, with everyone from Reason editor Matt Welch to National Review's Jonah Goldberg to ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on September 9, 2009 15:33
Does Baghdad Bob Have a Cousin in Beijing? (Updated)
Jamil Anderlini, writing in the Financial Times has an interesting if unsurprising column today, wondering if the always-rosy official statistics on Chinese economic growth aren't departing from reality with even greater determination than usual: China’s gross domestic product figures are among the world’s most closely watched since they can move markets or boost hopes of an imminent recovery. But the latest set ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on August 5, 2009 12:34
Jittery About China
I've got to admit that these two stories, taken together, have me a mite worried about the economic situation in China. First, a Chinese bank regulator is warning that imprudent loans are causing a credit bubble in China: China's top banking regulator on Sunday warned of the risks from surging bank lending, singling out the dangers of unhealthy growth in ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 20, 2009 15:37
Speed Bumps on the Road to the Chinese Century (Updated)
Events are taking place in China that I didn't want to let pass without comment. China's Ministry of State Security has apprehended and detained four employees of the large Anglo-Australian mining company Rio Tinto including a senior executive : SHANGHAI — On July 5, officials from China’s Ministry of State Security took four employees of the Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 13, 2009 13:52
How to Quash a Protest
According to NYT op-ed contributor Russell Leigh Moses the Chinese authorities have employed a successful and repeatable formula in controlling the protests in Xinjiang Province that have claimed more than 150 lives. Step 1: Cut off cellphone and Internet Access Many Chinese officials are quite sophisticated in their responses to threats to their governance, and they are not tone-deaf to technology. ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 8, 2009 09:12
Making Germany Happy
Yesterday Glenn Reynolds linked to an article in Der Spiegel complaining about “Obama's mistakes”: Just as the US public initially rallied behind the war President Bush -- even to the point of re-electing him -- Americans have now thrown their support behind the debt president Obama. The mistakes of the Bush administration are now widely accepted. The mistakes of the Obama ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 28, 2009 13:30
China to Block Hummer Acquisition?
The BBC is reporting that China National Radio has said that the Chinese government will reject a Chinese firm's acquisition of the Hummer division of General Motors: A Chinese firm's bid to buy the gas-guzzling Hummer car brand will be blocked on environmental grounds, according to Chinese state radio. Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery emerged as the surprise buyer for the brand ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 26, 2009 16:31
Paul Samuelson’s Ominous Message
Paul Samuelson has written a rather short and bleak article on our current economic situation. Up until now, China has been willing to hold her recycled resources in the form of lowest-yield U.S. Treasury bills. That's still good news. But almost certainly it cannot and will not last. Some day -- maybe even soon -- China will turn pessimistic on the U.S. ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 16, 2009 14:12
Palau Takes Uighur Detainees
Remember those 17 Uighar captives at Gitmo being held in a state of limbo because nobody would take them? Palau has come to our rescue. The tropical Pacific island nation of Palau announced Wednesday it will accept up to 17 Chinese Muslims who have languished in legal limbo at Guantanamo Bay despite a Pentagon determination that they are not "enemy combatants." China's ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 10, 2009 07:06
North Korea Conducts Nuclear Test
South Korean and Russian scientists have confirmed that North Korea has conducted an underground test of a nuclear weapon: SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test on Monday, heightening tension in the economic powerhouse of East Asia and prompting U.N. Security Council members to call an emergency meeting. Russia said the nuclear test was about equal in power to ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 25, 2009 07:32
U.S. Defense Spending and the Free Rider Problem
My New Atlanticist essay "Australia Prepares for U.S. Decline" discusses a recent Aussie white paper that is generating much discussion in the foreign policy wonkosphere. Basically, they see a rapidly rising China and a United States that's overstretched with other commitments and could therefore reduce our commitments to the Asia-Pacific region. Hence, they're planning for major defense upgrades. Andrew Shearer sees ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 9, 2009 08:15
North Korea: Choosing the Lesser Evil
In an op-ed in the Christian Science Monitor Ted Galen Carpenter proposes a solution to our problems in dealing with North Korea that not only shocks me but puzzles me as well: There is a final option that deserves consideration. It would amount to inducing (bribing) China to remove Kim Jong Il's regime and install a more pragmatic government in Pyongyang, ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on April 16, 2009 09:55
