WHO LET THE BLIND GUY DRIVE? (via Luciferous):

Bangalore: Hot and Hotter (THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN, 6/08/05, NY Times)

Every time I visit India, Indians always ask me to compare India with China. Lately, I have responded like this: If India and China were both highways, the Chinese highway would be a six-lane, perfectly paved road, but with a huge speed bump off in the distance labeled "Political reform: how in the world do we get from Communism to a more open society?" When 1.3 billion people going 80 miles an hour hit a speed bump, one of two things happens: Either the car flies into the air and slams down, and all the parts hold together and it keeps on moving - or the car flies into the air, slams down and all the wheels fall off. Which it will be with China, I don't know. India, by contrast, is like a highway full of potholes, with no sidewalks and half the streetlamps broken. But off in the distance, the road seems to smooth out, and if it does, this country will be a dynamo. The question is: Is that smoother road in the distance a mirage or the real thing?

Perhaps you have to be the Establishment voice on foreign policy to not grasp that at the moment the PRC goes over that bump all of the potholes open up ahead--population inplosion, gender imbalance, regional tensions, class tensions, separatist problems, etc..

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 8, 2005 7:41 PM