It's the Stupidity, Stupid

When the U.S. bungles, the world sees a conspiracy. The story may be simpler

I had dinner in New York City with a Chinese friend who makes huge business deals on the mainland. She was just back from Beijing. "Business is business," she said, when I asked the obvious question. "Politics is politics." And so a multimillion-dollar sale proceeded smoothly even as NATO bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade and the Cox report detailed Chinese nuclear espionage in America.

But her eyes clouded when she talked about the funeral in Beijing for the three Chinese killed in the embassy attack. Her words became bruised, accusatory. I asked, "Do you really believe the Americans did it...

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