I’m over in Hong Kong with a crazy schedule and round of meetings — but rumors, good ones, still reach me. The latest — which I wholeheartedly endorse — is that Senator Chuck Hagel may be on the verge of endorsing Barack Obama for President.
I made a bad mistake at a wedding not too long ago — in Big Fork, Montana. I was sitting next to the sister-in-law of the bride who had to give a toast, something with flourish and some punch.
There has been a ton of interest among the people I have met in China over the last ten days in the US presidential elections.
One of my good friends in Dem foreign policy circles is Rand Beers. He constantly makes sense to me and seems (thus far) immune from some of the insecurities I often see among Dems who are trying to posture on defense and security issues.
Former Senator Jesse Helms may have died today in a mortal sense — but the brand of pugnacious nationalism that he seeded in America’s contemporary politics lives on in his former legal adviser John Bolton, Dick Cheney and others. We will be battling Helms as an ideological force for decades to come.
I’ve had a tough time getting on the internet the last couple of days here in Guilin, China — but eureka! It worked this morning. I’m told that Brian Beutler, who was shot three times in a mugging the other morning, is making good progress.
Apologies to some TWN readers who wanted to meet in Beijing. Unfortunately, I was able to meet one group that was pre-organized by someone but my schedule was extremely packed except early mornings. Now off to Guilin where I’m pretty sure there are no readers — but then Xian, Shanghai, and Hong Kong.
Liberal writer, blogger, activist Brian Beutler was shot this morning in my neighborhood near 17th and Euclid Streets NW in Washington, DC. He was shot three times in a botched robbery attempt.
China’s been out of the game for a few hundred years, but it’s back. The Chinese themselves believe that their collective ascendancy is fragile and fraught with problems — particularly environmental degradation associated with growth. The smog in Beijing really stings the unconditioned eyeball.
