Tag: James Fallows

  • Fallows lauds Obama's China work. How to measure success?

    James Fallows has published the capstone to his blog’s meditation on whether U.S. President Barack Obama is a chess master or a pawn—a long-game strategist with high tolerance for disappointment along the way, or a hapless newb whose ability to inspire was never matched by political mettle. Despite Fallows’ continued exhortations to subscribe, I encourage…

  • The straw man of Internet-fueled civil discourse

    Just because people are online doesn’t mean they engage in civil public discourse. This simple idea has emerged as one thread of conventional wisdom in recent years, especially in the context of the People’s Republic of China. In an open letter to U.S. President Barack Obama, Rebecca MacKinnon reinforces the idea: Back in 2001 a…

  • On the multiplicity of individuals in China

    James Fallows got worked up over David Brooks’ ignorant musing about Chinese and Asian collectivity. The product was this excellent paragraph, which follows part of Brooks’ words. If you show an American an image of a fish tank, the American will usually describe the biggest fish in the tank and what it is doing. If…

  • Are Pollution Stories Anti-Chinese? Sometimes, yes.

    James Fallows notes, but does not really respond to, a criticism of his persistent posts on bad air quality days in China. A reader recounts the thoughts of a Chinese friend, who “pointed out that the focus on pollution before the Olympics is a phenomenon of the typical inability of the Western press to focus…

  • Olympic Threats, Bush's China Crutch, North Korea, and the Environment (U.S.–China Links)

    Olympic threats: really dumb. China: Bush’s diplomatic savior? The North Korea deal: not what the White House hoped. And China meets the U.S. Congress to plan for a post-Bush climate reality. Recent China–U.S. relations news. Steve Clemons agrees with me (OK, he agrees with James Fallows, whom I agree with) that “Boycotting the Olympics today…