Safe From Harm

Yesterday morning in Kunming, two buses exploded, killing two people and injuring fourteen.  The attacks occurred on the same bus route, spaced sixty-five minutes apart, at 7:05 and 8:10 a.m.  What’s clear is that the attacks were planned; what’s unclear is by whom and to what end. This, just two days after Beijing began the final phase of Olympic preparation: the even-odd car ban which reduced traffic above ground at the expense of... Read More

Nobody to Blame

Many are surprised by the Chinese government’s open response to the quake disaster. They laud the government for having what seems to be an almost miraculous reversal of policy compared to other natural disasters—in 1976, the Chinese tried to suppress news of the Tangshan earthquake that killed 240,000 people. It covered up the Yellow River floods of the last decade, the SARS epidemic of several years ago, and the railway crash of this year.... Read More