u****n
发帖数: 7521 | 1 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/01/opinion/01friedman.html
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: November 30, 2010
While secrets from WikiLeaks were splashed all over the American newspapers,
I couldn’t help but wonder: What if China had a WikiLeaker and we could
see what its embassy in Washington was reporting about America? I suspect
the cable would read like this:
Josh Haner/The New York Times
Washington Embassy, People’s Republic of China, to Ministry of Foreign
Affairs Beijing, TOP SECRET/Subject: America today.
Things are going well here for China. America remains a deeply politically
polarized country, which is certainly helpful for our goal of overtaking the
U.S. as the world’s most powerful economy and nation. But we’re
particularly optimistic because the Americans are polarized over all the
wrong things.
There is a willful self-destructiveness in the air here as if America has
all the time and money in the world for petty politics. They fight over
things like — we are not making this up — how and where an airport
security officer can touch them. They are fighting — we are happy to report
— over the latest nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia. It seems as
if the Republicans are so interested in weakening President Obama that they
are going to scuttle a treaty that would have fostered closer U.S.-Russian
cooperation on issues like Iran. And since anything that brings Russia and
America closer could end up isolating us, we are grateful to Senator Jon Kyl
of Arizona for putting our interests ahead of America’s and blocking
Senate ratification of the treaty. The ambassador has invited Senator Kyl
and his wife for dinner at Mr. Kao’s Chinese restaurant to praise him for
his steadfastness in protecting America’s (read: our) interests.
Americans just had what they call an “election.” Best we could tell it
involved one congressman trying to raise more money than the other (all from
businesses they are supposed to be regulating) so he could tell bigger lies
on TV more often about the other guy before the other guy could do it to
him. This leaves us relieved. It means America will do nothing serious to
fix its structural problems: a ballooning deficit, declining educational
performance, crumbling infrastructure and diminished immigration of new
talent.
The ambassador recently took what the Americans call a fast train — the
Acela — from Washington to New York City. Our bullet train from Beijing to
Tianjin would have made the trip in 90 minutes. His took three hours — and
it was on time! Along the way the ambassador used his cellphone to call his
embassy office, and in one hour he experienced 12 dropped calls — again, we
are not making this up. We have a joke in the embassy: “When someone calls
you from China today it sounds like they are next door. And when someone
calls you from next door in America, it sounds like they are calling from
China!” Those of us who worked in China’s embassy in Zambia often note
that Africa’s cellphone service was better than America’s.
But the Americans are oblivious. They travel abroad so rarely that they don
’t see how far they are falling behind. Which is why we at the embassy find
it funny that Americans are now fighting over how “exceptional” they are.
Once again, we are not making this up. On the front page of The Washington
Post on Monday there was an article noting that Republicans Sarah Palin and
Mike Huckabee are denouncing Obama for denying “American exceptionalism.”
The Americans have replaced working to be exceptional with talking about how
exceptional they still are. They don’t seem to understand that you can’t
declare yourself “exceptional,” only others can bestow that adjective upon
you.
In foreign policy, we see no chance of Obama extricating U.S. forces from
Afghanistan. He knows the Republicans will call him a wimp if he does, so
America will keep hemorrhaging $190 million a day there. Therefore, America
will lack the military means to challenge us anywhere else, particularly on
North Korea, where our lunatic friends continue to yank America’s chain
every six months so that the Americans have to come and beg us to calm
things down. By the time the Americans do get out of Afghanistan, the
Afghans will surely hate them so much that China’s mining companies already
operating there should be able to buy up the rest of Afghanistan’s rare
minerals.
Most of the Republicans just elected to Congress do not believe what their
scientists tell them about man-made climate change. America’s politicians
are mostly lawyers — not engineers or scientists like ours — so they’ll
just say crazy things about science and nobody calls them on it. It’s good.
It means they will not support any bill to spur clean energy innovation,
which is central to our next five-year plan. And this ensures that our
efforts to dominate the wind, solar, nuclear and electric car industries
will not be challenged by America.
Finally, record numbers of U.S. high school students are now studying
Chinese, which should guarantee us a steady supply of cheap labor that
speaks our language here, as we use our $2.3 trillion in reserves to quietly
buy up U.S. factories. In sum, things are going well for China in America.
Thank goodness the Americans can’t read our diplomatic cables.
Embassy Washington. | u****n
发帖数: 7521 | 2 TOP SECRET/Subject: America today.
Things are going well here for China. America remains a deeply politically
polarized country, which is certainly helpful for our goal of overtaking the
U.S. as the world’s most powerful economy and nation. But we’re
particularly optimistic because the Americans are polarized over all the
wrong things. | u****n
发帖数: 7521 | 3 读者评论：
So wonderful to know you just made all this up.
If it were even close to reality -- that U.S. trains are an international
laughing stock -- that an Arizona Kyl puts lunatic partisanship ahead of
national interest -- that most Congress people openly take money that all
know are corporate bribes -- that U.S. schools die -- many American leaders
live nowhere near any reality-based world -- well, good thing you just made
this all up.
Recommend Recommended by 927 Readers | u****n
发帖数: 7521 | 4 读者评论2
I write this from my 15th floor seat overlooking the City of London. My
frustration as an American abroad grows. I do love my country. I am abroad
for many complex reasons (and no I don't regret marrying my Scottish wife)..
. but sadly I have to agree with most of what Mr Friedman says.
I work with Indians, Japanese, Europeans (and even a few Brits) and our (
American) need to tell ourselves we are GREATEST has gone beyond a cultural
statement of national pride (in our geography, our industry, our consitution
)and has become comparative to others and delusional.
I am deeply confused how we elect people with almost no understanding of the
world. How have we become suckers for bullies, shouters, those who take
pride in not being educated, criers, liars and the like. Really? What will
historians being saying in 100 years of us?
Still, being abroad makes we appreciate SO much what America was, is and can
be. So I won't give up and I will wish I was home everyday. But in the
meantime I see Indian confidence rise, European cynicism become justified,
and wonder, how can it change?
Recommend Recommended by 896 Readers | u****n
发帖数: 7521 | 5 读者评论，好玩。
You think things are great now? Just wait until 2012! We'll dazzle the world!
In 2012, China will have a chemical engineer as president, and a PhD
economist as premier. Meanwhile, we have a real chance of electing a Sarah
as president. And whoever the vice-president is, I guarantee you (s)he will
not have a PhD.
Recommend Recommended by 687 Readers
Report as Inappropriate | l******e
发帖数: 12192 | 6 SP的可能性还真不小呀
world!
will
【在 u****n 的大作中提到】
: 读者评论，好玩。
: You think things are great now? Just wait until 2012! We'll dazzle the world!
: In 2012, China will have a chemical engineer as president, and a PhD
: economist as premier. Meanwhile, we have a real chance of electing a Sarah
: as president. And whoever the vice-president is, I guarantee you (s)he will
: not have a PhD.
: Recommend Recommended by 687 Readers
: Report as Inappropriate
| m**h
发帖数: 106 | | p******u
发帖数: 14642 | 8 习太子拿的是荣誉法学博士吧
world!
will
【在 u****n 的大作中提到】
: 读者评论，好玩。
: You think things are great now? Just wait until 2012! We'll dazzle the world!
: In 2012, China will have a chemical engineer as president, and a PhD
: economist as premier. Meanwhile, we have a real chance of electing a Sarah
: as president. And whoever the vice-president is, I guarantee you (s)he will
: not have a PhD.
: Recommend Recommended by 687 Readers
: Report as Inappropriate
| l******e
发帖数: 12192 | 9 主要是说engineer，博士是指克强
【在 p******u 的大作中提到】
: 习太子拿的是荣誉法学博士吧
:
: world!
: will
| o****y
发帖数: 26355 | 10 He also had a chemistry engineering bachelor degree.
【在 p******u 的大作中提到】
: 习太子拿的是荣誉法学博士吧
:
: world!
: will
| u****n
发帖数: 7521 | 11 I see Indian confidence rise, European cynicism become justified.
三哥居然欺负美国人了！
欧洲人看不惯美国人(cynicism)在美国独立之前就开始了，只是现在慢慢又变成现实了
（justified）。 |
|
