It doesn’t matter if a cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice. — Deng Xiaoping Li Zhaoxing, pictured to the left, on my new Capitol One credit card is a very cool diplomat. During part of the Cultural Revolution, he worked in China’s Embassy in Kenya and learned Swahili.
(Shop along South Luogo Alley, Beijing; photo credit: Andrew Oros) I have seen a lot of foreigners wearing this ObaMao shirt, but no Chinese yet.
(Learning about Wuxi’s New District Industrial Park; photo credit, Peter Pi) So far, any slice of China and the Chinese people one wants to cut out is full of economic, cultural and intellectual diversity — so I fear that it is very easy for an observer to see what he or she wants to see…
When James and Deborah Fallows lived in Beijing, Jim regularly featured on his blog pictures of the weather — well, the smog — from his balcony. This is not from my balcony but it does capture just how thick the smog is in Beijing right now.
On this trip to China, I haven’t yet made it up to the Shanghai Expo, but I hope to go soon. China’s Pavilion towers among the rest and is a testament to the fact that after a few hundred tough years, China is back.
I’ve been in Beijing for a few days, but in contrast to most of my previous trips here, my schedule thus far has been driven more by happenstance and serendipity than planning.
In the wake of Barack Obama’s election, the extent to which he has continued many Bush administration counterterrorism policies has surprised many, especially when looking not only at the continuation and expansion of tactics such as drone strikes, but also at the degree to which the administration has used tools such as the state secrets…
This is a guest note by Eric Schwartz, Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration at the Department of State. Schwartz previously headed the Connect US Fund. He sends regular reports of his overseas work on humanitarian matters, and TWN is pleased to share them here.
(click image for larger version) Jonathan Guyer is a program associate at the New America Foundation/Middle East Task Force and the official cartoonist of The Washington Note. He blogs at Mideast by Midwest. He has just returned from Tanzania. Here’s a cartoon I drew on BP’s mess.