The Main Problem With American Power Is

I Find Chinese Debates About Their Political System Domestically, But Also About China's Claims In The International System, To Be Among The Most Original And Surprising And Exciting Of Our Time. The Starting Point Is A System That None Of Us Had Anticipated, Which I Call Leninist Capitalism, But Also Obviously Because It Is The Most Important Emerging Power. The Question Of China's Relations With The United States In Particular, And The Rest Of The World In General, Is The Question Of War And Peace In The 21st Century.

I Have Also Been Saddened, Though Hardly Surprised, By The Weakness Of The Eu's Reaction To The Criminal Attack On The Danish Embassy In Syria, Which Seems To Have Been Permitted, If Not Actively Encouraged, By The Syrian Regime.

The First Job Of The Historian And Of The Journalist Is To Find Facts. Not The Only Job, Perhaps Not The Most Important, But The First. Facts Are The Cobblestones From Which We Build Roads Of Analysis, Mosaic Tiles That We Fit Together To Compose Pictures Of Past And Present. There Will Be Disagreement About Where The Road Leads And What Reality Or Truth Is Revealed By The Mosaic Picture. The Facts Themselves Must Be Checked Against All The Available Evidence. But Some Are Round And Hard--and The Most Powerful Leaders In The World Can Trip Over Them. So Can Writers, Dissidents And Saints.

The Key To The Survival Of Liberty In The Modern World Is The Embrace Of Multiple Identities.

That Said, The Question Remains: How To Strike The Balance Between Free Speech And Mutual Respect In This Mixed-up World, Both Blessed And Cursed With Instant Communication? We Should Not Fight Fire With Fire, Threats With Threats.