Dive into the archives.
- Slumming in Sichuan
First: Kaplan interviewed by Hugh Hewitt here.
Next: Today we slummed it out in the sticks of Sichuan province. There was something pornographic about the experience—two Americans, 100km outside of the filthy industrial city of Chengdu, hanging out with peasants and eating the local cuisine of homemade sausages, fish, rice, tofu, and vegetables.
At the end [...]
- Bush is reading Kaplan
I may be in Yunan Province, but thanks to the internet I can keep up with the news—and I notice that several sources are reporting that Bush’s Christmas reading includes Theodore Roosevelt: After the White House” by Patricia O’Toole, and Imperial Grunts: The American Military on the Ground, by Robert D. Kaplan.
Good to know.
- At the foot of Tibet
We’ve ultimately spent a good week seeing several towns in Yunan Province, situated in the southwest of China at the foot of the Tibetan Plateau and bordering Burma, Laos, and Vietnam. Today I spent the day exploring Tibetan Buddhist monastaries north of Lijiang, many of which were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. Nine [...]
- Chirol’s Ottoman Odyssey
In September 2004, I spent 30 days in Turkey and Cyprus. Flying into Istanbul, I made my way south towards the coast and eventually took the ferry to Northern Cyprus where I learned more about the Cyprus conflict and also had the chance to visit the last divided capital in the world, Nicosia. I took [...]
- Saigon Photos
The internet connection in Dali is too much of the suck to upload new photos, but here are some Saigon pictures I never got around to posting.
- Kaplan on Christmas Eve
On Christmas Eve the LA Times published an article by Mr. Kaplan entitled The future of America—In Iraq. The article has some down-home romanticization that Kaplan has been accused of partaking in in Imperial Grunts. For example there is an NCO’s Thanksgiving speech, which we are told was received by a cheering crowd:
The Pilgrims during [...]
- Beautiful Dali
Dali is simply beautiful, with snow-capped mountains, blooming tree blossoms, preserved history, and pleasant cool and dry weather. Our only problems are the filthy hippy backpackers and trying to figure out how in God’s name we’re going to make it to the East coast in time to catch our ferry to Japan. But [...]
- Zeitgeist 2005
Google has released their 2005 year-end Zeitgeist, a breakdown of the most searched keywords this year. The World Affairs statistics plot out search queries over time of some select news items. The comparison between online news sources (CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera) is revealing.
- A Very Uyghur Christmas
Three things: first impressions from my first days in China; Muslims in Kunming; and my Christmas Eve church service.
1.) First impressions:
Prices have gone up since I was last here three years ago, part of it due to the stronger yuan (about 7.7 to the dollar) and part because of the breakneck speed of growth.
The disparity [...]
- Enclaves III: The Fergana Valley
Part I: Enclaves and Exclaves | Part II: The Caucasus
As the last post touched on, enclaves and exclaves pose not only significant and ongoing problems in the Caucasus, but also in Central Asia, specifically in the Fergana Valley which is shared by Uzbekistan, Kyrgzstan and Tajikstan and is a virtual archipelago of enclaves which pose [...]
