1/7-PEERLESSLY BRILLIANT CHINA-HAND GORDON CHANG DOUBTS WHETHER CHINA IS COMPETENT ENOUGH TO COPE WITH ITS OWN ECONOMIC AFFAIRS. THANK YOU, GORDON. WHAT DO WE DO IF THE ANSWER IS NO?

Here’s what the intelligent worrier worries about these days.  It’s not so much that the Dow drops dramatically thanks to panic in the Chinese market.  It’s what history tells us dictatorships traditionally do to divert attention from failure at home.  Military adventurism is the dictator’s equivalent of “Take two aspirin and call me in the morning.”  It doesn’t matter who embattled dictatorships pick a fight with.  The important thing is just to pick a fight.  Teacher-writer-scientist-inventor ADRIAN VANCE visits with Sara and Barry this evening to leaf through the pages of desperation moves Beijing might try.