Some people in Britain espouse greater confidence in America than perhaps most of us feel ourselves. After more than two years of dire economic/political news, this writer took a certain amount of pleasure from an article posted in the London Telegraph and picked up by Drudge.
The story tells the tale of three cities; London, Washington, and Beijing, and the character behind each.First, the British newspaper conveys a mother's confidence in her wayward child:
China has succumbed to hubris. It has mistaken the soft diplomacy of Barack Obama for weakness, mistaken the US credit crisis for decline, and mistaken its own mercantilist bubble for ascendancy.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is quoted on the subject of American malfeasance:
"At a time when the world is suffering a serious human rights disaster caused by the US subprime crisis-induced global financial crisis, the US government revels in accusing other countries." And so forth.
To which the Telegraph writer responds, "Is the Politiburo smoking weed?"
As for economic warfare between the US and China, the author opines:
Any attempt to retaliate by triggering a US bond crisis would rebound against China, and could be stopped - in extremis - by capital controls....The China-US relationship is no doubt symbiotic, but a clash would not be "mutual assured destruction", as often claimed. Washington would win.
So, at least we have some Brits on our side. How do the Chinese feel about things?
"The US, with its strong military power, has pursued hegemony in the world, trampling upon the sovereignty of other countries and trespassing their human rights," it said.
But, do the Chinese respect the US? Not according to the Telegraph:
In Copenhagen, Wen Jiabao sent an underling to negotiate with Mr Obama in what was intended to be - and taken to be - a humiliation.
And the response from the third of the three cities in this story?
The US President put his foot down, saying: "I don't want to mess around with this anymore." That sums up White House feelings towards China today.
In Charles Dickens' classic novel, A Tale of Two Cities, things did not end very well in one of the two big towns. Let us pray that Washington does not become the Paris of Mr. Dickens' story. My father served in the US Navy during WWII, and today is the anniversary of his death; like millions of other American children, I can only hope that his sacrifice purchased lasting purpose.
John Peeples
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