China watchers and non-watchers have differing opinions on China’s decision to let activist Chen Guangcheng apply to leave China for the United States, on the trustworthiness of the Chinese government and on the pros and cons of Chen’s acceptance of such an opportunity. Here’s a roundup. Andrew Jacobs at the New York Times says China’s decision wasn’t a major concession at all: Based on past experience, China is often all too pleased to see its most nettlesome dissidents go into exile,...

There has been a flurry of accusations that the Obama administration botched the case of blind Chinese dissident lawyer Chen Guangcheng when he was, for all practical purposes, “handed over” to the Chinese earlier this week without concrete assurances that he would not be prosecuted, persecuted, or worse. Chen, who has protested China’s laws on forced abortions and sterilizations of women — part of its one-child-per-family policy — had spent a week at the US embassy after escaping...

(Photo by Sgt. Michael S. Cifuentes) A large color photo on the front page of the May 2 Stars and Stripes caught my attention and stirred my emotions. The photo was of members of the Marines and Air Force sitting volleyball teams in action during the 2012 Warrior Games at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. Except for the fact that the players sit while they play and the net is much lower than in a regular volleyball game, there appears...

Even liberal Arianna Huffington objected to a recent Obama campaign ad suggesting that Mitt Romney might not have issued the order to send in the Navy SEALs to capture or kill Osama Bin Laden. She called the ad “despicable.” Standing with 9/11 mayor Rudy Giuliani by his side at a New York firehouse that lost 11 men on Sept. 11, Mitt Romney, who has attacked Obama for allegedly politicizing the OBL killing, basked while Giuliani praised his national security credentials and while Giuliani...

It is now “wheels-up” at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, for Air Force One taking the President of the United States home after a secretive, whirlwind trip to the war front to salute the troops, sign an agreement with Afghan President Hamid Karzai on post-war expectations and make an address the nation on the future of that long war. For those who were not able to watch President Obama’s address to the nation from Afghanistan, below are some excerpts as provided by the White House. His remarks...

UPDATE II: “The surprise trip was a closely guarded secret, kept by White House officials and members of the White House press corps — as is customary with presidential trips to war zones.” — for the security of the President (added by author) Read here how the rumors and news were handled by the media and the White House. UPDATE I: The New York Times now reports: On Surprise Visit to Kabul, Obama to Sign Partnership Agreement With Karzai President Obama landed in Kabul, Afghanistan,...

In what could be the cruelest of ironies, May 1 marks both the ninth anniversary of a mission not accomplished and the first anniversary of one accomplished and accomplished magnificently. The media is doing quite a good job of reporting on the latter — the killing of Osama Bin Laden — although it is being distorted, “sour-graped” and even discredited in some quarters. Our own Taylor Marsh gives a good accounting of this here. As to the other anniversary, the one of “mission not...

Joe Gandelman had a post today consisting of a single word, “Sigh,” appropriately linked. The piece I read today in the Washington Times, really doesn’t deserve even a single word of commentary, but, hey, I am a sucker, so here are a few. I remember during my military days — in the U.S. military, not the Soviet Army — that many of our instructions, motivational documents, or just articles and essays would start with the word “Forward,” sometimes as a twist on “Foreword”...

UPDATE: Related in more ways than one to the “brain drain,” especially as it affects our young people, is a “brain waste.” Paul Krugman addresses how some of our policies are contributing to “wasting the minds of a whole generation.” Please read it here == Original Post: The unemployment in Spain “just hit a depression-level 24.4 percent.” Portugal, and Greece are not faring much better. Meanwhile in the Heilbronn-Franken region alone — in a Germany presently boasting Europe’s...

Living in the southern edge of “Tornado Alley,” I take these “weather phenomena” seriously and any time a tornado watch is declared for our area, we keep a close eye on the weather channel — and on those dark, threatening clouds. When the “watch” changes to a “warning,” we prepare to take immediate shelter in a hopefully safe part of the house. Regrettably, unless one has a solid underground shelter, there is hardly anything that will completely protect a person, or a family,...

UPDATE: The New York Magazine, pointing to the same story in the Christian Science Monitor we linked to yesterday, says that the Egyptian Corpse-Sex Law probably is not real: We say probably because even the doubters have been unable to provide conclusive evidence yet. But they — the Christian Science Monitor’s Dan Murphy and readers of Andrew Sullivan’s blog, for example — point out that the story is entirely predicated on an opinion column written by a loyalist of Hosni Mubarak...

After Rick Santorum tried to give the Dutch medical system — and the Dutch people — an undeserved black eye with his outlandish claims on how the Netherlands deals with euthanasia, the New York Times reports on how one institution there provides a humane and respectful environment to older men and women suffering from severe dementia. The residents at the Hogewey complex in picturesque Weesp, the Netherlands, live in apartments that “open onto a courtyard with benches, ponds and...

UPDATE: While Rick Santorum still refuses to officially endorse Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich has finally done the right thing — in addition to suspending his foolhardy campaign. Mr. Gingrich plans to officially endorse Mr. Romney’s candidacy after suspending his own efforts next week. Newt Gingrich called Mitt Romney today (Wednesday) and told him that he would suspend his presidential campaign next week and begin working to turn out conservative voters for Mr. Romney and Republican candidates...

A final, final update for tonight — and it has to be on the “unstoppable” Newt Gingrich. AJC.com reports: Newt Gingrich said he was rethinking his bid for the presidency after another series of disappointing primary showings Tuesday night, but he stopped short of dropping out. Gingrich, the former U.S. House Speaker from Georgia, maintained that he was committed to bringing conservative ideas to the Republican convention in Tampa. Whether he does so as a presidential candidate remains...

About a week ago I wrote about the recent phenomenon that highly skilled, highly educated first and second generation Indian-Americans, Chinese-Americans and others are returning to their native countries. They are the young sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters, of Indian, Chinese, Russian, Brazilian immigrants — some born here in the United States, some having immigrated as young children. They are bright, educated, with language skills and cultural knowledge and successful. I asked,...

UPDATE II: It is not clear from subsequent reports on the Blackhawk helicopter crash last Thursday in Helmand province, Afghanistan, whether the four crew members killed were medics or crew in a helicopter flying along a medevac helicopter on a mission to pick up Afghan policemen wounded in a bombing. Regardless, the helicopter was a “fallen angel” in aviation parlance and the four crewmembers were all heroes. The boots, rifles and flight helmets in the photo above represent Chief Warrant...

I have made it a point not to get involved in the back-and-forth over the February 26 shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in Sanford, Fla. I have done so because, just as the author of what might have been one of the more objective pieces written on this tragedy, I also “[a]m not sure what happened the night [Zimmerman] confronted Trayvon Martin, but that it would be up to the Court to determine that.” I also fully agree with the...

Today, April 22 is Earth Day, a day designated to increase national and global awareness and appreciation of our planet’s natural environment. Earth Day Network: The first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, activated 20 million Americans from all walks of life and is widely credited with launching the modern environmental movement. The passage of the landmark Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act and many other groundbreaking environmental laws soon followed. Growing out of the first...

Atlantic.com has an interesting article about Newt Gingrich. According to Molly Ball, Newt Gingrich is a “man reduced.” He attracts more attention for having been bitten by a zoo penguin than for policy proposals. He barely rates mention at political functions and has not been taken seriously by the political world for some weeks now. Much of his empire of think tanks, book publishing, speaking engagements and television appearances is “in shambles.” The policy and consulting enterprise...

Sitting at a picnic table with four couples during a campaign stop outside Pittsburgh, Mitt Romney munched at some cookies donated by a local bakery and — presumably in an attempt at humor — said to one of the women at the table: I’m not sure about these cookies. They don’t look like you made them…Did you make those cookies? You didn’t, did you? No. No. They came from the local 7-Eleven bakery or wherever. This may have been a shot across the bow of cookie makers and cookie lovers...