Word: stillness
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...great deal of maturation still awaits China. We can't forget that it has only been really open to the world for 30 years under Communist rule. The country's basic tools of international affairs - like a robust national-security apparatus - are still under construction. And they have not yet been tested by crisis. China is ambitious, to be sure, but it is too insecure to be audacious yet. In the next 10 years, this will change. China will build a global-size foreign policy apparatus just as it has built stadiums and airports. But will this framework be crafted...
...essential. But there's some urgency: Chinese who are friendly to the West are quick to point out that the leaders arriving in 2012 may be less inclined to cooperate with the U.S. and will sit atop a system packed with younger officials who are suspicious of America. Still, it is possible to imagine a way forward that balances U.S. interests against the need to change in the face of a changing world. It's a path that should be informed by remembering that our biggest risk with China isn't out-and-out war but rather a failure...
...Both politically and economically speaking, this gets it about right. The reason it's in China's economic interest to allow the RMB to rise a bit is plain enough: At a moment when much of the world is still trying to climb out of a disinflationary hole, China's got a burgeoning inflation problem. Prices are rising at about 3% annually now, and it's now got its own real estate bubble to deal with. Cooling things off a bit is clearly the government's priority this year, and a rising currency helps. It makes imports more affordable...
...Shanxi, the efforts of thousands of rescuers to save the remaining 26 miners have stalled because of extensive flooding, Xinhua reported. As their time underground approaches two weeks, the likelihood of their survival diminishes. For several dozen families, the miracle in Shanxi could still end up a disaster...
...group of terrorists in possession of HEU could build an atom bomb using readily available hardware at a cost of around $2 million; if detonated in a city, such a bomb could kill hundreds of thousands. In Chile, I asked Bieniawski if he felt confident that al-Qaeda was still pursuing nuclear weapons rather than concentrating on struggles in Afghanistan and Pakistan. "The worst day of my week is Friday," he said. "Every Friday I receive a one-hour intelligence briefing, and I come away sobered. I assure you, the threat is real...