The Chinese government continues to tighten its control over dissent about conditions in Tibet. Governmental concern can often be measured by how wide the net of control is extended. The arrest of so many Tibetans returning from a meeting with the Dalai Lama suggests that the Chinese government believes that the recent protests are being choreographed from abroad. Such suspicions often continue to deepen and broaden into a very wide network. We should monitor Chinese actions further afield from Tibet and the Sichuan province.
The chess game between Iran and the rest of the world has become a little more complex as Iran has signaled a willingness to re-enter talks with the US and the EU on nuclear issues. Re-opening the talks constrains those who wish to launch a pre-emptive strike on Iranian nuclear facilities (it is politically impossible to launch such a strike if one side has expressed a willingness to negotiate. One should remember, however, that the Japanese were negotiating with the United States during the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941). The Netanyahu government and those within it who support a pre-emptive strike are clearly flummoxed by the move. We should anticipate a revived effort to portray the Iranians as unreliable. In the meantime, Iran has sent a destroyer through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean. There are far too many balls in the air right now–let’s hope that everyone is an expert juggler.
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