Hillary Clinton's Dance Partner a No Show

Rather than attend the Democratic National Convention where her husband Bill delivered one of the featured speeches (Gee, I wonder why?), Hillary Clinton traveled half way around the world to China. Having gotten a reputation as a hot dancer (more on that later), she was planning to partner with China's new leader. But it seems war got in the way.

War drums continue beating around the world. Israeli website Debka.com recently reported that the U.S. government has been trying to delay the Israeli government’s decision to attack Iran until after the U.S. election.

Meanwhile, Iran’s close ally Syria descends further into civil war, with the Russian government and various Western governments supporting opposite sides with money, weapons and training.

It doesn’t take a PhD in history or military science to see that an Israeli attack on Iran could ignite not only a greater Middle East war, but may find the U.S. and its Western allies staring across that battlefield at Russia and China. 

Back to Hillary in China. If you're not sure whether this is serious business, then why didn't her plan to meet with the next Chinese President, now Vice President XI Jinping work out? Xi didn't show up at her press conference.

Could it be that Xi doesn't appreciate the U.S. getting involved with the Syrian opposition to President Assad. He would love to see the U.S. take the Chinese side in their recent territorial disputes with the Philippines and Japan. Old Xi would also prefer that the U.S. stop telling the Chinese they can't trade for oil with Iran. It seems there's so much that Xi would like to see the U.S. government say and do, but there's so little forthcoming. Poor Xi must be beside himself.

And so Hillary arrived to the dance but her partner didn't show. Sure, she just forged ahead and met with - well, whoever would meet with her. The Chinese government didn't lock her out in the cold, or say bad things about her of course. They're far more subtle than that. (Although Xi missing the press conference without any apology or explanation is a step beyond subtle,  don't you think?)

The Chinese government will soon see new leadership at the helm. The new leaders appear prepared to take a stand against the U.S. government's positions on a number of fronts. Unfortunately, one of those fronts is now a war zone (Syria) and the other may soon become one (Iran).

Okay, so I've been straining my brain to come up with a good reason why the U.S. government and the Chinese government would ever in a million years let a war break out between them. And, in fairness, I suspect they don't want that. It's just that these little slights lead to bigger slights, which lead to harsh words, which lead to confrontations, which may someday lead to one side or the other laying down the gauntlet.

At this point, I suspect the Chinese just want to show their American counterparts that they know how to dance to the beat of war drums. 

Heck, you have to believe they can dance at least as good as how Hillary danced recently when she was visiting South Africa. In case you haven't seen that yet, take a look...

Oh, sorry, I should have asked if you just had lunch.

Anyway, let's hope the Chinese and the Americans are content with just dancing.