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Is China's Internet Actually 'Slow'? And Does That Matter?
Over the weekend the International Herald Tribune ran a version of an opinion piece I'd had in the NYT Sunday Review section, itself a version on an argument in my book, about the next stage in China's...
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Ask Dr. Popkin: On the Bain Imbroglio
Previously in the "Ask Dr. Popkin" series, see this entry with links to previous rounds. The big idea here is that political scientist Samuel Popkin, of UCSD and the recent book The Candidate, is...
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On the 'Slow' Chinese Internet and the Prospects for China: One More Round
Just off the long-haul Shanghai-Newark-DC National route and stumbling into our house. For another time, perhaps even tomorrow: why Newark has become my new favorite airport for trips into and out of...
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The Bear vs. The Pig: A Great Reagan Ad Updated
You may have already seen this a million times, but I've been on the road so it's new to me.First, the famous "The Bear" ad from the Reagan re-election campaign in 1984. It's not so easy to find...
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Google and the Great Firewall: an Interesting New Twist
In a post that went up a few minutes ago on its official "Inside Search" blog, Google offers some fascinating tips on "improving our user experience" for people inside mainland China. Background...
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The Charts That Should Accompany All Discussions of Media Bias
They are the ones presented this morning by John Sides, drawing on Pew analysis of positive, negative, and neutral press coverage of all Republican candidates and of President Obama through this past...
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Now for Some Good News: The Icon Spin-Resistance Test
A few years ago I said, on the Atlantic's web site, that all I wanted for Christmas was a flying boat. Now that you ask, I was thinking of the spiffy new amphibian Icon A5, then still in development in...
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Blowback: Might It Spread Beyond Drones?
Steve Clemons has posted an Atlantic item just now on David Ignatius's timely novel Bloodmoney, which deals among other things with how much less appealing drone warfare will seem to most Americans...
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Book News from All Around, Including China Daily!
For the record:1) A very nice article on China's aerospace ambitions, by Kelly Chung Dawson, in China Daily. Of course I am particularly grateful for this one.2) Also grateful for Eric Liu's article,...
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False Equivalence Watch: NYT Ed Page Dept
This is a truly fascinating one. The NY Times runs a strong editorial today calling out Republican opposition tactics for thwarting economic-stimulus efforts. Then it bills that argument, via its...
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'Our Eyes Have Adjusted': Here's What That Means
(Please see update below.) I am not going to get in the middle of the Mayor Bloomberg giant-soda-ban controversy, though I lean in favor of anything that might offset the public-health costs and human...
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The Words That Scare America— and China
(Please see update(s) below.) For our special May 35 edition (look it up), a comparison of the words that can get you in trouble with the authorities in the world's two leading powers.For America, the...
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Combining My Love of Cats and of Small Aircraft
Plus of course my love of Quality Journalism as practiced by the Daily Mail, we have this story on a dead cat that has been turned by its grieving-but-posterity-minded owner into a small helicopter:...
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Remarkable Pictures From Hong Kong
MSNBC's photoblog has pictures from Hong Kong this evening, June 4 China time, that are quite stunning. For instance, in Victoria Park a few hours ago: That so many people would turn out, in a...
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American Dysfunction Watch: State of the Judiciary
The Congressional Research Service is a non-partisan arm of the Congress whose purpose is to provide well-researched answers for questions raised by members of the Senate and House. This week it put...
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China Soft-Power Watch: @BeijingAir Edition
This is another fascinating installment in the exercise of Chinese "soft power." For my Big Theory on the nature of Chinese soft power, see this essay and this book. For a few previous installments in...
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This Is Easily Worth $1.99 (Chinese Soft-Power Watch, Good News Dept.)
A bilingual graphic novel/comic book, Captain China, goes for $1.99 on Amazon.I consider it money well spent! The artist, Chi Wang, actually is a U.S. citizen rather than Chinese, but the book has a...
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Yes, There Were Fat People in the Olden Days Too
I will soon get back into "false-equivalence" coverage of the filibuster and similar depressing themes (on which there is a very good update at 'Poison Your Mind,' including a link to this incredible...
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Book News: June 6, Charlie Rose Show
Yesterday I was in New York taping an interview about China, Chinese technology, Chinese ambitions, and so on for the Charlie Rose show. It is scheduled to be run tonight. Other news coming up shortly,...
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China Soft-Power Watch: Looking on the Bright Side
A few days ago I argued that the forced, government-funded efforts to glorify China's "image" often backfired, whereas simply allowing outsiders to be part of the drama, comedy, excitement, and vivid...
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