COVID-19 has reminded us, brutally, that not only do capital, goods, ideas (useful and nasty) and people flow like wind and water in this world; our mutating viruses do too. Less obviously, the pandemic has put communism back on the table. I use [...]
Containment, Heroism, Fear and Lies As my almost-empty Shanghai subway train pulled into a station in the middle of February, I came face-to-face with an ad for UnionPay, the Chinese debit card found in everyone’s wallet. All members of a [...]
When is an NGO not an NGO? Certainly, when it is Washington’s National Endowment for Democracy, founded in 1983 by Ronald Reagan, generously funded by Congress, and enthusiastically boosted by the likes of the Washington Post, the Clintons and the [...]
After observing this summer of mass discontent, those who wish China’s Hong Kong Special Administrative Region well can draw a few conclusions. This exercise begins superficially with some reflections on the protesters’ explicit demands. [...]
In April a Japanese newspaper revealed a policy document purportedly detailing the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s economic strategy for the 2016-2020 period. The text’s authors stressed the need to step-up technological development, [...]
Neither the social-justice-minded critics of the Chinese model nor those who praise its extraordinary achievements are without evidence for their assessments.