Latest Posts
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A Confucian-esque Coup d’Etat?
Thailand, of course, has never been a "Confucian society." Its culture is shaped by Buddhist and indigenous beliefs and practices. But yesterday’s coup d’etat in Bangkok, while not inspired by Confucian ideology, can be seen as consistent with… Continue reading
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Six months
Today I noticed a flush of red-orange leaves in a tree still predominantly green. There are many such hints of the coming autumn here in the northeastern United States. A few trees are losing their cover; colors are… Continue reading
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Torture as Therapy
Torture is bad strategy. It does not produce good information, as the Army’s deputy chief of staff for intelligence Lt. General Jeff Kimmons said last week: No good intelligence is going to come from abusive practices. I think… Continue reading
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The Tao of Global Information Flows
The Christian Science Monitor argues that the PRC’s attempt to resist or redirect global information flows is bound to fail: Beijing leaders are looking more like King Canute, the English monarch who ordered the tide to retreat. Their… Continue reading
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E Gao and Chuang Tzu
A couple of posts yesterday, at Bingfang and at The Shanghaiist, raise the question of why there is so much satire (or "spoofing" – e gao in Mandarin, which I believe is a neologism; it’s not in my dictionary!… Continue reading
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The Extraordinary and the Normal
While we’ve got the Art of War out, let’s take a look at this WaPo story: But the initial progress has been tempered by friction between the team of elite [US Special Forces]troops and the U.S. Army’s battalion… Continue reading
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Sun Tzu agrees with John McCain
The torture issue (or should I say embarassment) seems to be coming to a head in the US Senate. Happily, several Republican Senators have staked out a position that would limit the Bush Administrations desire to use "alternate… Continue reading
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Why lie?
The typhoon that hit Fujian province last month was likely much worse than originally reported by the Chinese government: Clearly, this fishing village and others near the mouth of a bay on China’s southeast coast suffered catastrophic damage… Continue reading
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Bush and Hu: Losing the Mandate of Heaven
A couple of perceptive comments to my post on the Rui’an affair have raised the question of political legitimacy, especially as expressed through the notion of the "Mandate of Heaven." Alexus McLeod, who blogs at… Continue reading
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Haleigh is back in the news
Allison Avrett, the biological mother of Haleigh Poutre is suing the DSS to regain visitation rights – and to secure $12.5 million for "damages." I am very dubious of this. First of all, if she wanted… Continue reading
The Useless Tree 