Had the NSC been less cowed by medical advice and more aggressive in policing the border, Australia might have dodged the coronavirus bullet. That we came so close is entirely down to ignoring the medicos, not following their advice.
It may not be noble and it may not be fair, but American individualism has kept the borders (if not the peace) for three-quarters of a century.
The more standards-setting organizations like the ITU are captured by China, the more the rest of the world will simply ignore their rules.
If only China’s leaders could be persuaded that their trajectory is not promising, even for themselves, the world would be a much safer place.
It has become a trope of both Western and Chinese writing about China’s economic resurgence to talk about China resuming its “rightful place” at the center of the global economy.
Something is going on in the North that is, as yet, invisible to outside observers.
When the government failed to lock down the border, it was forced to down the country instead.
The China wave is receding fast, and what will remain is a smaller, more compact, less permeable country that neither welcomes the world in nor is eager to go abroad.
