So why the strategic mistrust?

WSJ story and chart about how "Chinese applicants flood U.S. graduate schools."

 Of interest in the analysis:

The rate of growth in China is due in part to a concerted effort by some U.S. schools to attract Chinese studens.  The thinking, say school administrators, is that international student who stay in academia will connect U.S. schools with new research partners, while those entering the corporate world may become clients of business schools' executive education programs.

Would that the Pentagon was this strategic in its thinking.

No, I'm not just talking about Chinese officers in our professional military educational institutions.  I'm talking about purposefully seeking to raise future partners instead of indulging in this feel-good strategic "pivot" that is already being handled by arms exports to China's neighbors.

Amidst all that, we should be extending a hand - not a missile shield.

Speech yesterday in Phoenix to electrical industry

Nice gathering at historic Arizona Biltmore.  Went about 3 hours, including long Q&A sessions interspersed.

Directors and CEOs of public electrical utilities from around country.

Naturally, much discussion on coal v NG, and skepticism about natural gas prices staying low (Henry Hub prices are very low now, but have much several fold higher in recent memory, so perceptions are naturally probed when it comes to long term).

My message was that NG prices will stay low long-term but rise somewhat as LNG exports naturally unfold. US coal, thus displaced, will go to Asia in export for its higher caloric value and lower impurities. Some in industry predict doubling of coal exports by 2020, with India and China as main demanders. 

WPR's The New Rules: Obama's Missile Defense Fantasy a Pentagon Dream Come True

Given this administration’s resurging plans for regional missile defense schemes in both Europe and Asia, President Barack Obama’s recent open-mike admission to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that he will have more freedom in his national security decision-making once he wins re-election is not a comforting thought. For a guy who promises “a world without nuclear weapons,” Obama seems awfully intent on incentivizing both Russia and China to field some more.

Read the entire column at World Politics Review.