What Can I Say?

A number of friends have asked me to weigh in on the controversy surrounding Chen Guangcheng. I think my friend, Bill Bishop, has done an excellent job of asking the tough questions at his blog Sinocism. The New York Times has run a great cartoon by Patrick Chappatte of the International Herald Tribune:

A number of people have all asked me to weigh in on the controversy surrounding Neil Heywood's death. This is, by far, the more interesting story, but I have nothing new to say about this so would recommend that you sign up (and contribute) for Bill Bishop's Sinocism blog if you want to read the latest rumors, analysis, scuttlebutt, etc. There is no question that the future of China will be affected profoundly by how this all works out. I hope and pray that nobody else gets hurt.

If you have questions about these topics, you may post them as comments on this entry. I will do my best to respond in an accurate and diplomatic fashion.