glimmers of hope
battling a horrible beast and the sun
As noted this morning, I posted the link in Notes for Col Oler’s presentation on Friday, 19 May at noon eastern. I have known him for 14 years and guarantee it will be worth your time on a topic still burning in a nation of long-standing importance to the United States.
Much of the news was largely pretty depressing. 8th graders are regressing in their knowledge of civics and history. Anyone reading most of these columns know how deeply I fear for our future as civic knowledge is a core block to turn around our current illiteracy. And it’s hard to overestimate how history informs the reasons the world disagrees with us at times. China believes the Century of Humiliation was real and we are trying to resume humiliating them now. If you don’t have any knowledge of the Sino-U.S. relationship or the role of Europeans in Asia after the 15th Century, you won’t have a clue what we are up against to change views of 2.6 billion people in China and India alone.
Then there was the news that Beijing is not only engaging in much coercion of businesses who thought they could make money and escape strictures on their internal operations but it is now preventing people from exiting China when the government decides it relevant to do so. Just last week I mentioned the new Espionage Law in the PRC which strikes me as applicable to anyone Beijing wants to hold or punish.1 Safeguard Defenders, a human rights organisation, argues that PRC authorities are deterring (remember just Sunday, 30th April we discussed China’s love affair with deterrence as an method of state control) what they consider disparaging comments by threatening critics from departing the country.2 While the story points to business worries, I don’t understand why any foreigner today would venture to the Middle Kingdom. I realise that sounds alarmist but protections against pernicious behaviour are virtually non-existent in Xi’s China.
Last week I advocated for the vital role the press plays in democratic societies.3 I had not realised today was World Press Freedom Day but Caitlin Ostroff points out the increasing vulnerability members of that profession face globally.4 It is not a pretty picture here or abroad, with Evan Gershkovich only the most prominent current captive but the aggressive behaviour takes many forms in many places. Holding journalists on false charges is never acceptable but incarceration for more than a decade are not as uncommon.
Sudan is a mess. A seventh grader in Serbia killed eight students and a staff member in a school. Adults masquerading as responsible folks are engaged in posturing against the other party rather than legislating (note: both parties are doing this in the United States). We are perilously close to defaulting on our debt. And on and on.
I heard a fascinating story on the Beeb5 this morning offering a glimmer of hope which I will sieze upon in sum. Eli Lilly announcing notable success in trials for a second drug to retard by 35% the speed of Alzheimer’s burglary of the mind (and ultimately lives). Any hope in beating the exploding number of cases dserves note and hope, though its use must yet undergo Federal Drug Administration scrutiny. It has shown benefits for a many of the 1800 victims willing to undergo its testing protocols.
The side effects—how hard we try ignoring that each and every drug has some side consequences—include swelling of the brain. Lilly acknowledged the death of two people resulted directly from the drug while another patients suffered noteworthy effects. But, how many times did we think we saw that glimmer in years past only to hear the subsequent peer reviews did not substantiate the initial claims?
Will the FDA approve its wide use? How will patients react to the potential side effects? How expensive will it be? What additional options will science develop and when? Many questions remain before the pharmaceutical is available widely but it does show that the research remains tantalizingly hopeful.
Oh, and the sun returned today. It’s hard to describe how much we welcomed it. Life is a series of ups and downs, day by day. It’s so easy to focus on the bad as there is so much but glimmers help us go on to tomorrow. Sunlight helps.FIN
the deterrent state
It is tough to offer optimism on the trajectory of the Sino-U.S. relationship these days. We are on a long road which will certainly have many twists and turns but our side certainly has more suggestions being submitted. I am uncertain what it would take for us to come together in any positive manner. I do see a difference in the tactics of the two gove…
Meghan Toiban, ‘China’s use of exit bans on the rise, worrying international business’, WashingtonPost, 2 May 2023.
essential actors, part 1
Our next Timely Topic for Concerned Citizens will be Friday, 19 May when we will discuss Israel with Adam Oler of the National War College. Put it on your calendar. The Biden administration announced further sanctions on Russia and Iran, hardly two of our bosom buddies, regarding their incarcerations of U.S. citizens. Both of these states, along with sev…
Caitlin Ostroff, ‘ World Press Freedom Day marked by rising threats against reporters‘, wallstreetjournal.com, 3 May 2023, retrieved at https://www.wsj.com/articles/world-press-freedom-day-is-marked-by-rising-threats-against-reporters-3b77e3c5
James Gallagher, ‘New Alzheimer’s drug slows disease by a third’, BBCNews.com, 3 May 2023, retrieved at https://www.bbc.com/news/health-65471914