If you play the odds, you'd say nothing.
If you command our forces in the Pacific, you cancel leaves.
You'd think this would be more prominently in the news, if true:
U.S. intelligence agencies monitoring China’s Internet say that from March 14 to Wednesday bloggers circulated alarming reports of tanks entering Beijing and shots being fired in the city as part of what is said to have been a high-level political battle among party leaders - and even a possible military coup.
The Internet discussions included photos posted online of tanks and other military vehicles moving around Beijing.
It's a dictatorship--a party dictatorship, to be sure, rather than one-man rule--so illusions of stability are only the quiet of control and fear felt strongly enough below to complete the illusion.
I ask again, did something happen in Peking?
But hey, as long as somebody reasonably enlightened takes control, what the problem? Right?
UPDATE: On the autocrat-crush that many of our elites have, it is good to remember that while Friedman is the face of that school girl crush, he isn't the only one. And it is a big mistake to draw too many conclusions (tip to Instapundit) from China's run of success.
I swear, I'd like to see China stumble even at the risk of short term economic pain here just to avoid the long-term pain of giving bozos here the excuse to emulate China's lack of democracy as a path to growth.
