A great divide separates the worldviews of the average Chinese and American. The most profound description of this divide I have heard came from the mouth of a friend who has never been to America and who was not a historian nor accustomed to deep political reflection and debate. She concluded that Americans lived in […]
“The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be.” – Ecclesiastes 1:9 [1] Over the last few weeks the sections of the blogosphere which I frequent have been filled with predictions, advice, summaries of, and idle chatter about the situation in Ukraine and Crimea. I have refrained from commenting on these events for […]
Scott Reinhard, Expert Button (February 2010). Print at Scott Reinhard Co. Image source. Last month Tom Nichols, professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College and a well regarded authority on Russian foreign policy and American nuclear strategy, published a thought-provoking essay on his blog titled “The Death of Expertise:” […]
Taken from Michael Swaine, et. al, U.S.-China Security Perceptions Survey: Findings and Implications, p.11. Earlier this week the Carnegie Endowment for Peace published an important study (pdf version here) that presents and dissects an expansive survey of Chinese and American opinions and attitudes about their countries’ relationship with each other. [1] While the Pew Global […]
Science Fiction Hero? Photo of Massoit statue overlooking Plymouth Rock. Taken by Greg Kullberg, 14 Dec 2007. Wikimedia. Why have most Americans never heard the actual story behind Plymouth Bay Colony‘s first thanksgiving feast? Scott Alexander suggests that the problem comes down to narrative. The real tale just does not fit easily into any of […]
A collection of articles, essays, and blog post of merit. This is the first “Notes From All Over” I have written this month, so this list is a long one. TOP BILLING When We Lose Antibiotics, Here’s Everything Else We’ll Lose TooMaryn McKenna. Wired. 20 November 2013. If we really lost antibiotics to advancing drug resistance […]
Weibo penetration by province.From King-wa and Michael Chau. “Reality Check for the Chinese Microblog Space: A Random Sampling Approach.” PLoS ONE 8(3). 2013. The Chinese government’s ongoing campaign against “online rumors” and the devils who spread them has the blogosphere’s China hands aflutter. A great number of articles and blog posts have explored the topic; […]
Why does the Chinese public support the Communist Party of China? Many assert that the Chinese government retains its legitimacy through high growth rates. Few stop to consider what evidence supports the contention. Truth be told, there is not much. The Chinese people like to bargain. I have heard Chinese call bargaining an art; others […]
A protester holds up a Turkish flag with a picture of Kemal Ataturk on it. Image Source: AP Photo/Kostis Sniroris. 3 June 2013. The riots and protests that rocked Istanbul this week have taken many in the West by surprise. I have been astonished at how poorly Western outlets have explained what these riots are about and […]
Image Credit: Washington Post, Interesting things happen in Asia. Over the last few months a lot of interesting things have happened. Yet as 2013 rolls forward I find myself increasingly dissatisfied with the standard explanations American commentators rely on to explain Asia’s great power politicking. This post presents a few themes neglected by many analysts […]
