There are certain conviniences to having a laptop, one of which is the ability to blog while at 35000 feet. Yes, I am a dork. My cramped middle seat in Economy class doesn't allow me enough room to maneuver a mouse to play Warcraft and I don't have enough charge left to watch a movie, so blogging it is.
I again have nothing to say, nothing much having changed from a few hours ago. I'm actually pleasently surprised at airport security, or the lack thereof, that I encountered (or failed to do so) on my way to the airport. I'm not saying that Hong Kong has lax security, by any means. Nor am I saying that it should be placed on the priviledged list of airports from which flights are banned. However, I was expecting, in light of recent developments, that there would be extra security for my flight to the US relative to the other ones. Last year, they inspected checked suitcases of people going to the US, and yet this year, with the terrorist alert level upped a notch, they didn't inspect mine. As such, I was breezed through security, after handing them a clean health declaration that I was free of SARS. I am on a United flight, so I'm saved from some of the extra scrutiny that accompanies international carriers.
In some respects, and here I'm borrowing ideas developed at the dinner table (thanks Mom), the US is setting itself up perfectly for a fall. It's getting harder and harder, what with homeland security, to travel and do business in the US. Everywhere, everyone is being examined microscopically. At the same time, these extra precautions are costing the US government billions. With a tax cut having reversed the already slim budget surplus, I haven't a clue how any of this is being paid for save with more borrowed money. Not that I'm one to harp about the National Debt, being neither economist nor even particulary attune with current affairs. Even so, the US market is definitely tightening.
The US is also feeling the poetic justice of having not only the tables turned but also the entire tea service thrown in its face. With the whole Mad Cow affair (I told you that only two pieces of news really interested me), its draconian policies of banning beef imports from countries with BSE has come around to haunt it. With American beef exports halted at over thirty ports of call, the US is probably regretting the huge fuss it made over importing beef from other nations.
As a way of retaliation, as I see it, the US is restricting international flights, to only those with air marshalls. It's a very dangerous game that they play, with the terrorism alert. The current move is one step closer to an all out ban on international flights, forcing travellers to use (or at least favor) American-based carriers or those of its allies. On the one hand, this is one of the ways that the government can demonstrate that it still has international power, by turning everything into an issue of terrorism and the exercise of soverignty, on the other hand, there's a definite limit to the amount of abuse these other nations will take.
Of course, in the world of international politics, of which I know nothing, things are much more subtle. But as I see it, the US government has been keeping itself in the world spotlight -- always at the center of attention and always making the decisions that make the rest of the world react, for a long time. In fact this decision making and acting as international arbiters, judges, peacegivers and bankers, has probably cost the US dearly financially. However, it ensures that everyone pays attention. Eventually, however, I don't know if all this talk will eventually exhaust the international listeners and the US will lose its power. (Ok, I'm not that much of a pessimist, but it seems that every piece of international news these days is US-tinged, and I'm getting a little sick of it -- and perhaps the rest of the world is as well.)
While the government is playing international loudmouth, domestically, it's acting more in the role of trash collector. Actually I know nothing about US domestic affairs, except that the government is lying about the spread of BSE and making a needless amount of fuss about the terrorism alert (OK, it may be the media's fault). Perhaps, they're trying to divert attention away from news about the upcoming Democratic primaries by keeping the government on the front page, I don't know. The world of American politics is even more mystfying than that of international politics. So, I lie.
Anyway, I'm sick about ranting about politics, it really isn't my style and I don't know what I'm saying half the time... my fingers just keep on typing.
I appreciate any and all suggestions of newer and better topics to discuss. It's very hard to find things that people want to hear me talk about that also has meaning. Ok, this is definitetly getting pessimistic, I'm going to shut up for a while and try to get some shut eye. I'll probably blog again before I land, so this may come as part of a double post. (Being as the way Blogger arranges things, the second post will be above, and you may quite possibly have already read it. Hopefully, it was more optimistic.)
--C.