"Sinocism is the Presidential Daily Brief for China hands"- Evan Osnos, New Yorker Correspondent and National Book Award Winner
- ESPN runs "Chink in the Armor" headline with Jeremy Lin story | JIMROMENESKO.COM – Last night, ESPN.com’s mobile web site posted an offensive headline referencing Jeremy Lin at 2:30 am ET. The headline was removed at 3:05 am ET. We are conducting a complete review of our cross-platform editorial procedures and are determining appropriate disciplinary action to ensure this does not happen again. We regret and apologize for this mistake
- China Home Prices Drop to Lowest in a Year – Bloomberg –
- China Cuts Bank Reserve Reqs; Exports ’Grim’ – Bloomberg –
- 高清：广西“神偷”团伙被抓 查获万能钥匙_新闻_腾讯网 –
- 西藏政协副主席:驻寺工作组让僧尼得到最多实惠_新闻_腾讯网 –
- White House Gets China To Open Market to U.S. Movies (Updated) | Reuters – China agreed to significantly increase market access for U.S. movies in order to resolve an outstanding trade dispute, The White House announced on Friday.
- All Things Nuclear • Washington Times Is Wrong on China and Nuclear Arms Control – In an editorial today the Washington Times made two key factual errors in describing China’s nuclear arsenal and Chinese involvement in strategic nuclear arms control.
First, it claimed China may have the largest nuclear arsenal in the world. That claim is based on a discredited study by Georgetown University undergraduate students. - China’s Xi Jinping Conveys Easygoing Image in Los Angeles – NYTimes.com – hat became apparent on this trip, which began in Washington, was that Mr. Xi, 58, has a personal style that stands in contrast to that of Mr. Hu, who has always come across as stiff and formal in public appearances. Mr. Xi appeared confident and at ease in settings like the one at the South Gate school, or during a midweek stop in Muscatine, Iowa, where he met with Americans who had been his hosts there 27 years earlier when he was part of a delegation looking at pig-farming techniques. Senior Chinese officials, and especially Mr. Hu, are known for trying to maintain a distance between themselves and ordinary citizens, a trait that often infuriates those they govern and leads to the vilifying of politicians on the Internet.
With the events of this week, Mr. Xi appeared to be sending a message home to Chinese citizens who regularly denounce the loftiness of their politicians. His attempts to project a kind of down-home image may speak to the growing awareness among Chinese leaders that they must at least appear to want to connect with ordinary people.
- Foxconn Auditor Finds ‘Tons of Issues’ – Bloomberg – The Fair Labor Association, a watchdog monitoring working conditions at makers of Apple Inc. products, has uncovered “tons of issues” that need to be addressed at a Foxconn Technology Group plant in Shenzhen, China, FLA Chief Executive Officer Auret van Heerden said.
- McCain: Cybersecurity Bill Ineffective Without NSA Monitoring the Net | Threat Level | Wired.com – McCain and his colleagues oppose the current bill on the grounds that it would give the Department of Homeland Security regulatory authority over private businesses that own and operate critical infrastructure systems and that it doesn’t grant the National Security Agency, a branch of the Defense Department, any authority to monitor networks in real-time to thwart cyberattacks.
The bill neglects to give authority “to the only institutions currently capable of [protecting the homeland], U.S. Cybercommand and the National Security Agency (NSA),” McCain said in a written statement presented at the hearing. “According to [General Keith Alexander, the Commander of U.S. Cybercommand and the Director of the NSA] in order to stop a cyber attack you have to see it in real time, and you have to have those authorities…. This legislation does nothing to address this significant concern and I question why we have yet to have a serious discussion about who is best suited to protect our country from this threat we all agree is very real and growing.”
- Chinese Labor, Cheap No More – NYTimes.com – It’s no wonder then that the day after meeting with Mr. Xi, President Obama showed up at a Master Lock plant in Milwaukee declaring that the time for manufacturing jobs to return to America had arrived. Not too long ago such a statement would have been nearly unthinkable, but now, thanks to China’s rising labor costs, it looks as if America might be back in the manufacturing game sooner than expected.
- Drones With an Eye on the Public Cleared to Fly – NYTimes.com – what are penalties for shooting them down?//
A new federal law, signed by the president on Tuesday, compels the Federal Aviation Administration to allow drones to be used for all sorts of commercial endeavors — from selling real estate and dusting crops, to monitoring oil spills and wildlife, even shooting Hollywood films. Local police and emergency services will also be freer to send up their own drones.
- Aleynikov goes free | Felix Salmon – Goldman could have brought a civil case against him, but instead they got their wholly-owned subsidiary, the U.S. government, to come down on him so hard that he ended up with an eight-year sentence. Violent felons frequently get less.
The forthcoming decision from the Second Circuit is likely to be a doozy; I’m told that the judges shredded the prosecutors during the oral hearing. And certainly their decision to enter a judgment of acquittal, rather than any kind of retrial, is a strong indication that they handed down this order with extreme prejudice against prosecutorial overreach.
Is it the government’s job to expend enormous prosecutorial resources protecting Goldman Sachs from competition? The Second Circuit certainly doesn’t seem to think so, and neither do I. Aleynikov’s actions were certainly stupid, and quite possibly illegal. But the way that Goldman managed to sic New York prosecutors on him bearing the sledgehammer of the EEA was far from edifying. And I’m glad that both Goldman and the Manhattan U.S. Attorney are surely feeling very chastened right now.
- The Rise of Intermarriage | Pew Social & Demographic Trends – Intermarriage and earnings. Couples formed between an Asian husband and a white wife topped the median earning list among all newlyweds in 2008-2010 ($71,800). During this period, white male newlyweds who married Asian, Hispanic or black spouses had higher combined earnings than did white male newlyweds who married a white spouse. As for white female newlyweds, those who married a Hispanic or black husband had somewhat lower combined earnings than those who “married in,” while those who married an Asian husband had significantly higher combined earnings.
- Ji Chaozhu, Man on Mao’s Right, at Center of History – NYTimes.com – FORTY years ago this month, on a cold, gray morning, President Richard M. Nixon arrived here on a groundbreaking visit aimed at improving relations with China after decades of hostility. He stepped off Air Force One and shook hands with the Chinese prime minister, Zhou Enlai.
A photograph that captures the moment also shows a tall, bespectacled Chinese interpreter standing on the tarmac, just behind Mr. Zhou. That man is Ji Chaozhu.
- The Useless Tree: Confucianism is not a Religion – Now, there's an attention-grabbing headline. It seems almost arrogant to so directly claim a clear answer to the rather complex question: is Confucianism a religion? But I put it up there to insert myself into the perennial debate, which has been rekindled in the blogosphere by a well written piece by Peter Berger, sociologist of religion.
Berger comes down on the side of Confucianism as religion. He does not do so rashly.