US-India relations are not in great shape. One indicator: India’s National Security Adviser, Shivshankar Menon, reacted to the arrest and strip search of an Indian diplomat for visa fraud and disregarding US labor laws as “despicable and barbaric.” In contrast, Menon had difficulty finding his voice when a battalion of PLA soldiers camped out for …
China, Amano, and Japan’s Plutonium
by | 2014-03-06 | 8 Comments
IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano on March 3 had this to say about recently-voiced Chinese concerns about Japan’s plutonium inventory: We have drawn (the) conclusion that all nuclear materials in Japan stay in peaceful purposes… Therefore, I do not have (a) reason to have concern that this (material) … will be diverted. At issue are 331 …
Leaving the Mothership
by | 2014-02-28 | 8 Comments
It’s not easy to leave the mothership, but artists sometimes flourish by venturing away from the familiar. George Harrison’s talent was constrained by the Beatles, who already had two musical geniuses as front men. Harrison’s crowning achievements came after the Beatles split up, topped, in my view, by “All Things Must Pass,” whose lyrics are …
The Age of Anxiety
by | 2014-02-23 | 12 Comments
The bronze medal goes to a brilliant person who can find a name that sticks to characterize a decade. Do we have one yet for 2000 – 2010? Anyone who gets to name an “age,” even if it’s not that widely applicable, like the Jazz Age or the Gilded Age, gets the silver medal. The …
