China, the Olympics and the Visa Mystery

Fascinating and somewhat provocative piece here with a really quite compelling analysis of the Chinese visa restrictions. Some key points:

* Beijing is willing to sacrifice stability to retain power (and there are plenty of historical examples of the same thing)
* China is due for an economic crisis due to the underlying nature of the growth

Fascinating reading. Stratfor

Euros in Mono

We're on a quick trip down the east side of the Sierras, and are spending the night (and tomorrow AM) in Mono Lake. Having dinner, it was impossible to miss that easily half or more of the diners were European. The Euro must be doing quite well.