We need to talk about the String of Pearls, the intricate ring of alliances the circle the Middle Kingdom, and we need to talk about the implications of China’s rise. The world is changing, quickly, and while our attention is on Iraq and how to pay for it, the Chinese are changing the basic landscape […]

I discovered, to my growing horror, that I cannot do it this morning. I am a bit befuddled by the image of the South Korean President crossing the Bridge of No Return at Panmunjong to meet with the Dear Leader on North Korean soil. There was no American General with him. The prospect that Kim’s […]

Senior General Than Shwe It is quiet in Rangoon today. Troops are in the streets, and the golden pagodas are open under watchful eyes. “Quiet” is not quite the right word for it, though. A hundred thousand people were in the streets last week, and there are many more dead than the official count that […]

Shwedagon Temple, Rangoon “It is of a wonderful bignesse, and all gilded from the foot to the toppe,” – Ralph Fitch, 1586, First Englishman to glimpse the Shwedagon Temple. On this June afternoon, the marble floors felt warm on the soles of my feet. The Congressman had sent us away so he could consult in […]

The Strand Hotel, Yangon “It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.”   – Aung San Suu Kyi Roxy Music and Brian Ferry did a song a thousand years ago called “Do the […]

The Three Sisters Radio Towers, Arlington, Virginia, with Fort Myer Cavalry They lopped off the BBC last week, dragged it to Baltimore and placed it near the Bromo Seltzer Tower, trapped in the Local National Public Radio outlet. The station there has the wattage to cover the inner harbor, and maybe bounce a signal off […]

Antique Toshiba Laptop, circa 2005 I had to fire up the old Toshiba computer the other day. Pain in the butt. My scanner does not work with the Mac Operating System, and it was the only way to get pictures uploaded to the hard drive and send them off my folks. It made me a […]

It was easier to think in the shower this morning, as it has been for the last few days. Normally the water pressure blasts through the old pre-green-era gooseneck, hard enough to push you down the length of the tub, and splash up over the curtain and pool on the checked tile floor. I have […]

Lionel “Buster” Crabb was a complex man. By turns he was a naval officer, hero, pioneer scuba diver and intelligence operative. He was so complex that the Cabinet files on him are sealed for another fifty years. They will not be available for us to examine until 2057, a century downstream from the end of […]

The Commander’s death, if that is what it was, is in the news again. It has taken a while, since the report about the intelligence collection operation was put under a fifty-year seal. It is a case of embarrassment to a Ministry long dead, you see, about secrets on a ship long scrapped that belonged […]