I was away in Hong Kong when the attackers struck. I just spent the past few minutes feeling as if I had been right there. Please be sure, whatever you do, to go to this site and watch what must be one of the most moving, heart-rending, beautiful and glorious tributes to the death of the victims of September 11th ever created. I feel overwhelmed. I had no idea what I was about to see and hear, and will be in awe for the rest of the night. It takes a few minutes to load. It is well worth the wait.

I almost never go to the site where I got this link, and maybe it was fate that caused me on a whim to drop by there tonight so I could click on that wonderful link. For that, InstaPundit, I have to say “Thank you.”

I knew she was vile and stupid. but not retarded. Her latest insanity is forcing me to reconsider:

In the wake of Dean’s success, the entire Democratic Dream Team is beginning to sound like Dr. Demento. On the basis of their recent pronouncements, the position of the Democratic Party seems to be that Saddam Hussein did not hit us on 9-11, but Halliburton did.

Hmmm. Were all those reports of Osama Bin Laden and al Qaeda masterminding 911 a big mistake? Where is this harpie coming from? Let’s hope it’s a joke. She can’t be serious. Right?

She also refers to the members of the United Nations as “swine” and totally bastardizes post-WWII history in an amazingly audacious and idiotic attempt at revisionism. It’s incredible. It’s shameless. It’s unprecedented.

[Link via Eschaton.]

The NY Times has a great (and very long) article on Singapore’s perpetual foodfest. Must reading for any who have felt awe at how one little dot of a country can harbor so many food courts, hawker stands, outdoor eateries and streets that seemed lined with restaurant after restaurant, as far as the eye can see.

The Singapore Manpower Ministry came out with some truly grim news today. t makes me feel like I am back in Hong Kong 18 months ago when the economy was in a freefall.

The ministry said the total number of available jobs contracted by 25,963 compared to the previous quarter — the ‘steepest decline on record since the mid-80s recession.’

It said the job market is not expected to improve this year as the amount of new job openings will not be enough to absorb the number of people entering the work force.

I am seeing red flags all over the place and I’m not happy about it. I am hoping that much of the new bad news is due to SARS and therefore temporary. But there’s no denying that anxieties over the country’s economic future are very high indeed.

Thanks to IdleDays who, in a comment, referred me to a most thought-provoking article by Pico Iyer on how America would be well-served to learn from its friends in Asia to get over its self-defeating grief over September 11th and move on.

I’m not endorsing this necessarily, but his argument is interesting. (Iyer is one of my very favorite journalists; he wrote the article about the Tiananman Square tank man that may just be the most moving thing I’ve ever read. If you have never read it, go read it now.)

He contrasts the tendency of Americans to dwell on their grief with the old Asian tradition of acknowledging a tragedy, learning from it and moving on:

Whether out of pragmatism or real moral clarity, the old cultures of Asia, famous for their worship of ancestors, have often shown themselves ready to learn from their descendants.

To many on this side of the world, therefore, America’s dwelling—and dwelling—on its losses of two years ago appears unseemly. The firemen who gave their lives in the World Trade Center are heroes to inspire the world. And most Muslims regard the assault of a few fanatics as a blot on their religion, not a triumph. Yet America, determined not to look up from the event and to keep brandishing its wounds before the world, looks at times like an angry child who lacks the perspective of his elders. When a troublemaker tries to provoke you, even schoolboys know that you get the best of him by turning away and going about your business. Each time the U.S. revisits its sorrow, it provides Osama bin Laden with another victory and lives down to the terrorists’ caricatures of it.

This is a controversial viewpoint of course, as in very, very controversial. But as I’ve said before, I wish Americans had a better knowledge of how the world perceives it, and whether I agree with Iyer or not, I know that everyone here does.

He points out the hardships that have been put up with here, from Pol Pot’s murder of millions and millions, to the 120,000 Bangladeshis who drowned in a flood in 1991, and America’s relative lack of awareness, let alone concern.

I am not sure if the comparison is a fair one. It would be wonderful if grief were always distributed evenly to everyone who suffers. But it is only natural for America to be more affected by the death of its own than for those far away, who seem to at least some extent an abstraction. I, for one, feel that grief over 911 is valid; the wound is still fresh. I get very upset thinking of Chinese students locked up for writing essays, but my upset over 911 is more intense and more personal. It happened where I grew up and lived. It could have been me or my friends.

And there seems to be a contradiction, or at least a complication, in Iyer’s argument. While he begins by saying it is time we “get over it,” he then indicates that maybe it really isn’t that time yet, but Asia is impatient with our grief now because the US post-911 has been such an asshole:

Everyone who suffers a terrible loss grieves over it and remembers its anniversary; not to do so would seem scarcely human. And in the case of America, which has been shielded for so long from terrorism at home, the 9/11 attacks possessed a force that more weathered cultures have forgotten. But the older cultures, having extended a hand toward America at its time of need, can reasonably feel now that the U.S., in its rage, has swatted them away. And the imbalance of the world—whereby so much power and money lie with one of its youngest nations—is compounded by that deeper imbalance whereby almost every nation knows more about America than America knows about every other nation.

So is this really about learning from our enlightened Asian friends, or is it just another example of the ressentiment against America that’s so fashionable nowadays? No, I believe Iyer is too intelligent for that. I think he’s trying to underscore the phenomenon of America’s ignorance of how “older and wiser” nations perceive us, but I think his argument is fragile. If it’s this way five years from now, I’ll be more inclined to agree.

Lots of outrage is merited over new revelations of how involved Saudi Arabia, at the highest levels, was/is with al Qaeda and the 911 attacks.

So why does Bush always point the outrage toward Iraq while bending over backwards for our Saudi “friends”? (Could it be the “o” word?) What will it take to wake America up as to where this outrage should really be channeled. After reading the new piece in Slate, I can only wonder why we aren’t all up in arms.

Links via Brainysmurf and Mark Kleiman.

An unusually personal and touching post on September 11 and its aftermath from my favorite online journalist, who lets it all hang out in the last paragraph. What would we do without him?

They’re reading the 3,000 names now. It’s almost impossible not to get sentimental, even from Singapore, where everyone is out tonight eating mooncake and celebrating the Mid-autumn Festival.

A very funny article describes a new training manual designed to help police in Beijing deal with issues that might arise as foreigners converge on the city for the 2008 Olympics, and the English-language phrases cops need to know:

One section headed “How to stop illegal news coverage” has a policeman confronting a wandering reporter who tells the officer he is working on a story about the Falun Gong, the outlawed meditation group, according to the South China Morning Post.

The policeman tells him: “Falun Gong has nothing to do with the games … it’s beyond your permit.” He then criticizes the journalist for breaking Chinese law and takes him off to the Public Security Bureau to clear the matter up.

In another role play, a British woman from Hong Kong is stopped in the street and taken to the police station. When she protests: “You’re violating my human rights. I protest” the policeman responds: “No tricks. Don’t move.”

It’s still the China I know and love so well.

Here’s the email that just got sent out to us expats:

The U.S. Government remains deeply concerned about the security of U.S. citizens overseas. U.S. citizens are cautioned to maintain a high level of vigilance, to remain alert and to take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness. This worldwide caution expires on February 10, 2004. With the second anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks upon us, we are seeing increasing indications that Al-Qaida is preparing to strike U.S. interests abroad. Looking at the last few months, Al-Qaida and its associated organizations have struck in the Middle East in Riyadh, in North Africa in Casablanca, and in East Asia in Indonesia. We therefore assess that European or Eurasian locations could be venues for the next round of attacks, possibly to closely coincide with the anniversary of the September 11 attack. We expect Al-Qaida will strive for new attacks that will be more devastating than the September 11 attack, possibly involving non-conventional weapons such as chemical or biological agents. We also cannot rule out the potential for Al-Qaida to attempt a second catastrophic attack within the United States. Terrorist actions may include, but are not limited to, suicide operations, hijackings, bombings or kidnappings. These may also involve commercial aircraft and threats to include conventional weapons, such as explosive devices. Terrorists do not distinguish between official and civilian targets.

Really scary.

Well, Asian stocks crashed yesterday over fears of a potential new SARS outbreak, but it seems people are keeping the one isolated case in Singapore in perspective.

As usual, the government took drastic but appropriate action, quarantining lots of people, closing down buildings and putting the hospitals on high alert.

Today’s paper praises the rapid response and compares it with that of other former SARS havens:

Should Sars again rear its head when winter approaches, a very real fear that has been giving public health administrators sleepless nights as the year draws to a close, an attitude like Singapore’s could save the world from another epidemic.

When Sars first emerged, China’s obstinacy in not acknowledging the disease was largely responsible for its spread from one province to the world at large. Worldwide, almost 8,500 people fell ill and more than 800 died.

Some countries during the outbreak were more concerned with hiding the truth than facing facts. Canada especially spent much energy trying to disassociate itself from the outbreak, denying every fresh incident and getting upset with WHO for listing it as an unsafe destination.

According to the radio news this morning, the big question mark here is how the 27-year-old lab worker got SARS. The government is saying it’s likely he got it from his work in labs that keep live SARS samples, but the labs are insisting it is extremely unlikely due to the stringent safety measures there. This is part of what makes SARS so insidious. He must have come into contact with it somewhere, and until that question is answered, no one can feel completely safe.

Some schools here have announced they are reinstituting daily temperature checks for students, which I think is a bit of an over-reaction. But when it comes to SARS, over-vigilant is way better than not vigilant enough.