Latest Posts
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Haditha
The massacre at Haditha is bringing forth other allegations of American soldiers killing civilians. In one case, Ishaqi, US commanders have quickly announced that an investigation into the deaths of civilians has discovered no "inappropriate" action. The details… Continue reading
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June 4th
Seventeen years ago I was in Nanjing, finishing up a year of teaching. My students, Chinese graduate students from various places but many from Beijing, had been drawn into the massive demonstrations that had swept across our city. … Continue reading
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Good News
I realize that much of what I post about is bad news: critiques of politics and society in the US, in China, in Singapore and elsewhere. In my everyday life I am not so pessimistic. My daily countenance… Continue reading
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Words v. Action
Thomas X. Hammes, a retired US Marine Corps colonel and author a good analysis of modern warfare (which I have used in my classes), writes today in the NYT about the failure of the Bush administration to back… Continue reading
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Historical Forgetting
An opinion piece in today’s People’s Daily is chock full of material for my purposes. It is titled, "To Dissolve Cultural Conflict with Oriental Wisdom," and it starts like this: History tells us that cultural conflict can’t be… Continue reading
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Thoroughly Modern China
Continuing with the theme of fading Confucianism, here is a short piece from Shanghai Daily, via CDT (emphasis added): FEWER people in Beijing and Shanghai are willing to live a "double income no kid" lifestyle after marriage, 3… Continue reading
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Remembering People Who Die In War
Today is Memorial Day in the US, a national holiday to remember those people who have died fighting in wars for America. For me, it is a day to pay respect to individuals while also remembering the inherent… Continue reading
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Wan Sui!
Some folks are thinking about immortality, or, at least, significant life extension (hat tip: bioethics): In Oscar Wilde’s novel, "The Picture of Dorian Gray," the main character barters his soul for eternal youth but becomes wicked and immoral… Continue reading
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Our Confucian Future?
An interesting US social trend spotted in the NYT: In a society where the most common type of household is led by those who live alone and where the scattered family is almost a cultural institution, many grandparents,… Continue reading
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Is the US failing its children?
Robert Samuelson has an op-ed in today’s Washington Post (which has been mis-posted; a full and clean version can be found here), "Behind the Birth Dearth," in which he discusses Ben Wattenberg’s new book, Fewer. Wattenberg continues… Continue reading
The Useless Tree 