China's Private Party

This Wall Street Journal story in Saturday's paper is fascinating.... deals with the lock the Communist Party has on the country despite the appearance that Western influences have taken hold and that market economics are being allowed to work. You see one thing on the surface, but if you look closely you can see something different entirely. Class VII certainly experienced that firsthand during our international trip.

Richard McGregor writes, "The Party has made strenuous efforts to keep the sinews of its enduring power off the front stage of public life in China and out of sight of the rest of the world... (but) Peek under the hood of the Chinese model, however, and China looks much more communist than it does on the open road."

"For all the reforms of the past three decades, the Party has made sure it keeps a lock-hold on the state and three pillars of its survival strategy: control of personnel, propaganda and the People's Liberation Army."

A subscription may be required, but take the time to read the full article here.

Lost baggage

An interesting blog post from a travel writer about airlines being responsible for lost or damaged items on international flights: http://www.elliott.org/blog/government-says-airlines-are-responsible-for-valuables-checked-on-international-flights/