The Useless Tree

Current Affairs

  • Gaokao

         Tomorrow is a big day for Chinese high school students: This year, a record 10 million Chinese youngsters will sit the two-day National College Entrance Exam, starting on Thursday, vying for about half that number of university places.… Continue reading

  • A Woman of Humanity

         We held graduation at my college on Sunday.  I had the privilege of hosting one of our honorary degree recipients: Ms. Shiranee Tilakawardane (scroll down), a Sri Lankan Supreme Court Justice.  What a great experience!        … Continue reading

  • Gender Convergence

         In an NYT article today, researchers say that men and women, in the US at least, are behaving more like one another: Now experts who shared their latest research at a conference this month say that far from… Continue reading

  • International Relations Lesson of the Day: Iraq is not Korea

         Josh Marshall picked up this doozy from Reuters: President George W. Bush would like to see a lengthy U.S. troop presence in Iraq like the one in South Korea to provide stability but not in a frontline combat… Continue reading

  • This Just In: Mencius Is Right!

         The Washington Post reports today on recent work by neuro-scientists: The results were showing that when the volunteers placed the interests of others before their own, the generosity activated a primitive part of the brain that usually lights… Continue reading

  • A Father Mourns A Son

        In today’s Washington Post, Andrew J. Bacevich reflects upon the death of his son in Iraq.  The elder Bacevich is himself a military man, having served in the US Army in Vietnam.  His son followed in his footsteps… Continue reading

  • Sun Tzu on the “Surge”

        Remember the "surge"?  The increase in American troop levels in Iraq that was meant to improve the security situation and allow for political consolidation?  Well, it seems not to be working: More than three months into a U.S.-Iraqi… Continue reading

  • Confucius, The Cartoon

        You can’t make this stuff up: BEIJING, May 21 — The China Confucius Foundation will award a 500, 000-yuan (about 60,000 U.S. dollars) prize for the winner of a Confucius’ animated image selection.      The selected imagery… Continue reading

  • It Was A Massacre

        Imagethief discusses (ESWN, too) the boot-licking performance last week of Ma Lik, leader of a pro-PRC political party in Hong Kong.  Mr. Ma stated, in remarks in Beijing, that we should not refer to the Beijing massacre of… Continue reading

  • Why is telling the truth about AIDS in China a threat to “national security”?

         Just asking.       You would think it would be the other way around: hiding the truth about AIDS in China is certainly a threat to public health and, thus, the nation in general.  But when power-holders get… Continue reading