Here are two questions that few today can answer, to wit: “During the Vietnam War, what could you buy in a Filipino PX that you couldn’t buy in an American PX?” “Johnnie Walker Black Label and Chivas Regal.” “What else could you buy in a Filipino PX?” “Nothing.” After Lyndon Johnson sent American ground troops…
Tag: China
OMG! I’m turning into Larry Summers! But not all the time!
The truth can be ugly, can’t it? Here are, courtesy of frequent good guy yet employed by the American Enterprise Institute James Pethokoukis, a number of cogent (I think) charts to illustrate a recent cogent (I think) talk by Larry at the Peterson Institute for International Economics titled “What Should the 2023 Washington Consensus Be?”,…
Noah Smith is an idiot! But not all the time!
No, Noah, the “Noahopinion” guy, is not always an idiot. Take, for example, this recent post, If this is a bad economy, please tell me what a good economy would look like, expressing a bit of amazement at how well things have worked out under Uncle Joe’s genially geriatric hand. In fact, Noah says he…
Yo, Fareed Zakaria! Biden administration national security advisor Jake Sullivan is not “fiercely intelligent”! Unless by “fiercely intelligent” you mean “totally stupid”!
The good news is that we have a “Biden Doctrine”, says the WashPost’s Fareed Zakaria. The bad news is, it’s a Biden doctrine. Innocently spelling out the bad news for us is Biden national security dude Jake Sullivan—“fiercely intelligent”, Fareed tells us, fiercely, as though a little afraid that Jake might punch him out at…
Banning TikTok pushes buttons right and left.
Why ban TikTok? Because China! Because Internet! Banning TikTok may or may not be the answer to a maiden’s prayer, but for many Democrats and Republicans, it is a much needed balm for all their wounds, or so they are so foolish to believe. Democrats and Republicans are unhappy because neither can command the support…
Shorter India: “The United States of ‘America’? Isn’t that one of those little western countries?”
That’s the perspective from New Delhi, Varanasi and Chennai, as reported by NYT guy Roger Cohen in his long post, Russia’s War Could Make It India’s World, suggesting that the Biden administration’s moralizing attempt to turn the current world situation into Cold War II isn’t playing too well beyond the Atlantic community of nations, almost…
Alan Vanneman is very disappointed in Paul Krugman
Fuck yeah, I am. The source of my disappointment is Paul’s latest, Why America Is Getting Tough on Trade, the very title an irritant for the homage it pays to the meme that “getting tough” is always a good idea. Paul’s “nut graph” (I think that’s what it is) reads as follows: This is a…
Joe Biden’s foreign policy: regressin’ to meaninglessness and following the path of greatest stupidity
Gee whiz but I wish I wasn’t so prescient. A whole six months ago I wrote a post Joe Biden likes being a Cold War President, moaning a bit theatrically about Uncle Joe’s “senile swagger.” Well, it seems like Joe was just getting warmed up. United States Enters a New Era of Direct Confrontation With…
Fareed Zakaria is showing definite signs of improvement. He definitely is!
China is weaker than we thought. Will we change our policies accordingly? reads the head for Fareed Zakaria’s latest column, which I found cogent in the extreme, Fareed noting that, way back in 1992, when he was, well, managing editor of Foreign Affairs—“my first full-time job,” he notes—so humble!—“everyone” thought that Japan was going to…
Yo, Blobists! If we “have” to learn how to get along with Saudi Arabia, shouldn’t we “have” to learn how to get along with Russia and China too?
Yeah, Blobists! Or Establishmentarians, or whatever you like to call yourselves these days! What is the deal with this hardnosiosity, or perhaps rhinosaurusism, that is coming to the fore with regard to Saudi Arabia? I first noticed, and bewailed, this unfortunate “trend” last March, when I faulted Atlantic editor Jeff Goldberg for pushing the line…