The Fall of the Invisible Empire

This is a pretty good analysis from a Brit concerning the upheaval of our interests in the Middle East. He points out the hypocrisy of, on the one hand encouraging democracy everywhere, and on the other hand supporting corrupt dictators like Mubarak and Ghadaffi. He also points out this obvious fact about America:

"It is certain that America will, in due course, be forced into a massive adjustment both to its living standards at home and its commitments abroad."

True enough.

Eyjafjallajokull: How in do you pronounce that?

I'm glad you asked. Find out here. Hope you're not stuck in Europe trying to get to America; or America trying to get to Europe. If you miss your flight, it might be awhile.

Refreshing Honesty from China

Wow, the Chinese can be refreshingly honest.

Both China and America are addressing bubbles by creating more bubbles and we're just taking advantage of that. So we can't lose. Lou JiWei

Merkel to Brown: No!

I love Angela Merkel! She at least has the guts to know idiocy when she sees it, and is unwilling to mortgage the future of Germany for the present. Too bad our politicians aren't this way.

More from Thomas Friedman

The man gets it right again. From the article: We are not as powerful as we used to be because over the past three decades, the Asian values of our parents’ generation — work hard, study, save, invest, live within your means — have given way to subprime values: “You can have the American dream — a house — with no money down and no payments for two years.”