Who is serious?

Now we’re being told we have to take Michele Bachmann seriously as a presidential candidate. Why should we take seriously a woman who has been caught out repeatedly in her misstatements and seems to think capturing media attention with her looks and outlandish statements is a political platform?

I agree entirely. The woman is a flake, an extremist who is toning down her ridiculous assertions to appeal to more than the right-wing fringe that is her natural constituency.her chances of winning the Republican nomination are infinitesimal, at best. And her chances in a national election are worse. For some reason journalists are quick to jump on any bandwagon, lest they have to defend their judgement that someone as absurd as Bachmann merits attention.

While the Republicans continue to add candidates and further fracture a riven party, Obama is putting together a staff in Chicago that eventually will number 5,000. He is on his way to signing up what will become 1 million volunteers down to the precinct level. Most observers expect him to top $1 billion in campaign donations this time around. Who said community organizing — in Chicago, no less — isn’t a good preparation at least for running for president?

A billion dollar campaign coffer. Absurd.

No, there is no reason to take Bachmann seriously. Rather, it is the media playing their game in political coverage. It used to be only sportscasters who tried to keep you tuned in by claiming that the team that’s behind 52-3 really has a chance to come back in the second half, but now political writers want you to keep reading by claiming that there’s a contest going on.

'Xactly..

Many of Bachmann’s tenets are indeed dangerous and inimical to American values and no laughing matter. While she seems to have a phobia about Islamic law, she apparently shares the notion with Iran’s mullahs that theocracy is the best form of government. She has said on numerous occasions that she has been personally called by God to crusade for Christian truths as a politician.

Imagine that: Representative Bachmann and  Ayatollah Khameini share values.

Hu to visit

An apparent thaw in recently frosty relations between China and the US indicated by President Hu's announced visit to the US.

Andy Rothman, a former U.S. diplomat who is now a strategist for the brokerage CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets in Shanghai, said the announced visit "almost guarantees" that the White House has decided against officially pressing the issue.

That seems interesting: a former diplomat now a strategist.

"There is a possibility that the U.S. won't label China a currency manipulator as a return for China's compromise on the Iran issue, plus President Hu's visit to Washington for the nuclear security summit," said Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing. "I think it would be best for the U.S. Treasury not to name China a currency manipulator, as otherwise China will see another surge of anti-American sentiment among the public."

A second story, on the relationship between China and Iran, contains an interesting quote:


Guo Xiangang, a foreign-policy analyst at the China Institute of International Studies, said he doesn't think China's position is changing. Rather, he suggests U.S. officials are trying to demonstrate progress on Iran for political reasons. U.S. President Barack Obama "needs to raise his domestic profile," said Mr. Guo, whose institute is affiliated with the government. "He has gotten a lot of criticism from people saying he is too soft on Iran...So these statements that China is moving closer are for a domestic audience."

 The relationship between Iran and China is extensive, and China has not supported calls for strong sanctions against Iran.

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator came to Beijing for talks amid signs of headway in the U.S.-led effort to secure backing for sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program. Saeed Jalili arrived Thursday in the Chinese capital for his second official visit in two years. He was scheduled to meet with State Councilor Dai Bingguo and Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi before holding a news conference in Beijing late Friday.

 China has some leverage on Iran, if only by virtue of not kowtowing to the US line.

But the talks come amid signs that Beijing may be easing its resistance to a fresh round of United Nations sanctions against Iran. On Wednesday, China participated in a conference call with the four other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany—known as the "P-5 plus 1"—to discuss a possible sanctions resolution. China in that call reaffirmed a commitment it made in a similar call last week to negotiations on the text of a possible resolution.

 Why Germany is not a permanent member of the UN Security Council is a question without a good answer. WW2 is long over, and it is past time for realigning the global diplomatic schema.

Mr. Jalili is the latest diplomat to visit China to solicit its backing, underscoring how the Iran dispute has strengthened Beijing's international clout. In February, Israel sent officials to persuade Beijing of Iran's weapons ambitions; visitors in March included top China officials from the U.S. State Department and National Security Council, as well as U.K. Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

China  is the second strongest country in the world, after the US.


China and Iran have extensive ties, particularly in the energy sector. China is the world's second-biggest oil consumer after the U.S., and last year overtook Japan as Iran's top crude-oil buyer. Iran accounts for about 8% of China's oil imports.


... last week's conference call marked China's first participation since mid-January in such a meeting about Iran with the other permanent Security Council members and Germany. It came after the U.S. backed away from pursuing several tough measures—including efforts aimed at choking off Iran's access to international banking services and capital markets and restricting its national air-cargo and shipping lines—to win support from China and Russia for a new sanctions resolution, people familiar with the situation said last week. Several analysts say the China-Iran relationship is shifting somewhat, in ways that could erode Beijing's sense of obligation to Tehran.


China is building a big presence in neighboring Iraq, where Chinese oil companies have signed a string of deals that could overshadow the Iranian supply in a few years. In the first two months of the year, China imported nearly 40% less oil from Iran than it did during the same period last year, and bought more oil from other countries. Monthly figures can be misleading, but Chinese oil companies have been struggling in Iran amid Tehran's unattractive commercial terms and sanctions that make it difficult to get parts for complex projects.