A Tear in the Fabric

Some events are big enough to rend the global zeitgeist. Some are immediately obvious like the Holocaust, some, like 9/11 only become apparent because of the later effects. What they have in common is that such events somehow change the matrix in which we all live. That little chill you felt, the momentary flickering of your monitor, the noise on your iPod that wasn't there before, the weird dreams you keep having. Something has changed.

I think the Sichuan earthquake is such an event. Look at Wen Jiabao. You don't get to where he is by having a soft heart, but the worry on his face is real. He knows, and you can bet they know all over China, that soon enough the grief and fear will turn to anger. On a day not far off, 80 million people in Sichuan will start looking for someone to blame. They won't rail at God..this is an atheist society. They will look at the only source of power in the land...the Party...and they will want some answers.

Democracy for all: except when it's inconvenient for Washington.

Secretary of State Rice repeats the same tired, mendacious and hypocritical line on Taiwan that successive administrations, their lips planted firmly on Beijing's ass, have trotted out for 30 years. Taiwan wants UN membership. China in it's annual display of truculent revanchism, says no. Washington, in its annual display of spineless pandering says that Taiwan should not hold a referendum on the issue. Let's see, on the one side we have a free market democracy with an unbroken record of friendship for the United States, the freest press in Asia, and a strategically important geographic position. On the other hand we have a one party Communist police state with an unbroken history of hostility to American interests, a state engaged in aggressive espionage, a nuclear weapons buildup and economic warfare. So which side does Washington come down on? American policy toward Taiwan is a disgrace.