There are 13 comments.

1. Contributor
   James Lileks

   It may have been a good idea, but it was doubtlessly motivated by racism and xenophobia – muh docks! You just can’t talk about kicking the Chinese out of the port deal without understanding the long history of anti-Sino sentiment on the West Coast, going back to the 1888 Seattle riot, which sought to expel all Chinese from the city. And that was just six years after the Chinese Exclusion Act, a forerunner of Trump’s recent anti-immigration decree. 

   Obama’s deal was a hopeful sign (a single flower, perhaps, but one of a thousand that might bloom) that sought to heal the wounds of the past. While there might be some arguments against giving the Chinese Communist Party a foothold in the Long Beach port area, the majority of people cheering the decision are motivated by nativism and an irrational, knee-jerk demonization of the global economic system that has lifted so many out of poverty. We can only hope that a Biden administration will reverse the decision, and an American port handling hundreds of thousands of containers annually is returned to Chinese control.

   (Paul Krugman pauses, looks at his computer screen, thinks “maybe save that one for after Joe’s elected,” and files it in the folder named “2021 column fodder.” He chooses the file name “Mending Ties,” and is prompted to rename the file, as there are already 16 with that name.)

2. Member
   MISTER BITCOIN

   James Lileks (View Comment):

   It may have been a good idea, but it was doubtlessly motivated by racism and xenophobia – muh docks! You just can’t talk about kicking the Chinese out of the port deal without understanding the long history of anti-Sino sentiment on the West Coast, going back to the 1888 Seattle riot, which sought to expel all Chinese from the city. And that was just six years after the Chinese Exclusion Act, a forerunner of Trump’s recent anti-immigration decree.

   Obama’s deal was a hopeful sign (a single flower, perhaps, but one of a thousand that might bloom) that sought to heal the wounds of the past. While there might be some arguments against giving the Chinese Communist Party a foothold in the Long Beach port area, the majority of people cheering the decision are motivated by nativism and an irrational, knee-jerk demonization of the global economic system that has lifted so many out of poverty. We can only hope that a Biden administration will reverse the decision, and an American port handling hundreds of thousands of containers annually is returned to Chinese control.

   (Paul Krugman pauses, looks at his computer screen, thinks “maybe save that one for after Joe’s elected,” and files it in the folder named “2021 column fodder.” He chooses the file name “Mending Ties,” and is prompted to rename the file, as there are already 16 with that name.)

   trivia: Long Beach has a large Cambodian community

    

3. Thatcher
   Percival

   Is China in Control of the Panama Canal? (2012)

   Last November President Clinton almost let the Chinese cat out of the bag when he appeared to agree that the Chinese firm would be running the canal, but after his staff realized the extent of what he’d revealed, he pulled back, saying that he’d “misstated this.”

   Asked by a reporter, “You’re not worried about the Chinese controlling the Canal?” Mr. Clinton replied: “I think the Chinese will, in fact, be bending over backwards to make sure that they run it in a competent and able and fair manner…. I would be very surprised if any adverse consequences flowed from the Chinese running the canal.”

   The following day, December 1, Los Angeles Times staff writer Norman Kempster wrote that “Clinton administration officials were aghast at the president’s use of the phrase ‘running the canal,’” which confirmed what Adm. Moorer and his allies were charging. ” On December 9, Mr. Clinton stated that his reference the previous week to China “running the canal” was a “misstatement.”

   Panama the new flashpoint in China’s growing presence in Latin America

   Relax, it’s all Trumps fault after all.

   Editorial: While America slept, China gained a stranglehold on the Panama Canal

   Except it has been going on a long time, and we don’t have control over what assets Panama allows to be sold to whom.

4. Coolidge
   Stad

   All it takes is one nuke hidden in a container in every port to blackmail the world . . .

5. Member
   Jules PA

   James Lileks (View Comment):

   It may have been a good idea, but it was doubtlessly motivated by racism and xenophobia – muh docks! You just can’t talk about kicking the Chinese out of the port deal without understanding the long history of anti-Sino sentiment on the West Coast, going back to the 1888 Seattle riot, which sought to expel all Chinese from the city. And that was just six years after the Chinese Exclusion Act, a forerunner of Trump’s recent anti-immigration decree.

   Obama’s deal was a hopeful sign (a single flower, perhaps, but one of a thousand that might bloom) that sought to heal the wounds of the past. While there might be some arguments against giving the Chinese Communist Party a foothold in the Long Beach port area, the majority of people cheering the decision are motivated by nativism and an irrational, knee-jerk demonization of the global economic system that has lifted so many out of poverty. We can only hope that a Biden administration will reverse the decision, and an American port handling hundreds of thousands of containers annually is returned to Chinese control.

   (Paul Krugman pauses, looks at his computer screen, thinks “maybe save that one for after Joe’s elected,” and files it in the folder named “2021 column fodder.” He chooses the file name “Mending Ties,” and is prompted to rename the file, as there are already 16 with that name.)

   When I read the OP, I thought, oh, that is great news. But on reading your comment, I was dropped off the cliff, “Holy cow, Lileks has gone hard left, and needs an exorcism. The world is now over.”

   That was a wake-up more powerful than espresso or a steep roller-coaster. 

   Thanks. 

6. Member
   Jules PA

   Of course the Panama Canal comments terrify me. 

7. Thatcher
   Percival

   Jules PA (View Comment):

   James Lileks (View Comment):

   It may have been a good idea, but it was doubtlessly motivated by racism and xenophobia – muh docks! You just can’t talk about kicking the Chinese out of the port deal without understanding the long history of anti-Sino sentiment on the West Coast, going back to the 1888 Seattle riot, which sought to expel all Chinese from the city. And that was just six years after the Chinese Exclusion Act, a forerunner of Trump’s recent anti-immigration decree.

   Obama’s deal was a hopeful sign (a single flower, perhaps, but one of a thousand that might bloom) that sought to heal the wounds of the past. While there might be some arguments against giving the Chinese Communist Party a foothold in the Long Beach port area, the majority of people cheering the decision are motivated by nativism and an irrational, knee-jerk demonization of the global economic system that has lifted so many out of poverty. We can only hope that a Biden administration will reverse the decision, and an American port handling hundreds of thousands of containers annually is returned to Chinese control.

   (Paul Krugman pauses, looks at his computer screen, thinks “maybe save that one for after Joe’s elected,” and files it in the folder named “2021 column fodder.” He chooses the file name “Mending Ties,” and is prompted to rename the file, as there are already 16 with that name.)

   When I read the OP, I thought, oh, that is great news. But on reading your comment, I was dropped off the cliff, “Holy cow, Lileks has gone hard left, and needs an exorcism. The world is now over.”

   That was a wake-up more powerful than espresso or a steep roller-coaster.

   Thanks.

   If Lileks had poked that tongue into that cheek any harder, it would have gone right through. I loved it.

8. Coolidge
   DonG (Biden is compromised)

   I think it is ironic that China fought two wars with the mighty British empire to keep British opium out of China and now we have China sourced opioids killing 70,000 Americans a year. Is that an act of war or not? When the Wuhan Flu deaths have exceeded the opioid deaths, is that an act of war?

9. Coolidge
   Sisyphus

   Post author

   Jules PA (View Comment):

   When I read the OP, I thought, oh, that is great news. But on reading your comment, I was dropped off the cliff, “Holy cow, Lileks has gone hard left, and needs an exorcism. The world is now over.”

   That was a wake-up more powerful than espresso or a steep roller-coaster. 

   Yes, but which is the real Lileks? Bwahaha!

10. Contributor
    James Lileks

    Sisyphus (Rolling Stone) (View Comment):
    Yes, but which is the real Lileks? Bwahaha!

    Your clue is in the “thousand flowers” reference, which I figured gave away the game. ;)

11. Coolidge
    Sisyphus

    Post author

    James Lileks (View Comment):

    Sisyphus (Rolling Stone) (View Comment):
    Yes, but which is the real Lileks? Bwahaha!

    Your clue is in the “thousand flowers” reference, which I figured gave away the game. ;)

    Obviously, no true fellow traveler would normally confound Mao’s Hundred Flowers with George H. W. Bush’s Thousand Points of Light, but you obviously needed to slip in such a slip to provide you deniability when Trumps jack-booted storm troopers seize you from your forced quarantine and take you mustard colored muscle shirt as evidence of your perfidy! I predict a very long weekend for you, my tricky friend!

12. Member
    Rodin

    Sisyphus (Rolling Stone) (View Comment):

    James Lileks (View Comment):

    Sisyphus (Rolling Stone) (View Comment):
    Yes, but which is the real Lileks? Bwahaha!

    Your clue is in the “thousand flowers” reference, which I figured gave away the game. ;)

    Obviously, no true fellow traveler would normally confound Mao’s Hundred Flowers with George H.W. Bush’s Thousand Points of Light, but you obviously needed to slip in such a slip to provide you deniability when Trumps jack-booted storm troopers seize you from your forced quarantine and take you mustard colored muscle shirt as evidence of your perfidy! I predict a very long weekend for you, my tricky friend!

    FIFY.

13. Coolidge
    Sisyphus

    Post author

    Rodin (View Comment):

    Sisyphus (Rolling Stone) (View Comment):

    James Lileks (View Comment):

    Sisyphus (Rolling Stone) (View Comment):
    Yes, but which is the real Lileks? Bwahaha!

    Your clue is in the “thousand flowers” reference, which I figured gave away the game. ;)

    Obviously, no true fellow traveler would normally confound Mao’s Hundred Flowers with George H.W. Bush’s Thousand Points of Light, but you obviously needed to slip in such a slip to provide you deniability when Trumps jack-booted storm troopers seize you from your forced quarantine and take you mustard colored muscle shirt as evidence of your perfidy! I predict a very long weekend for you, my tricky friend!

    FIFY.

    Good man! Thanks for the catch!