Week of May 12, 2008

Even for Americans, constitutionally convinced that there will always be a second act, and a third, and a do-over after that, and, if necessary, a little public repentance and forgiveness and a Brand New Start -- even for us, the world looks a little Terminal right now.

Senator Barack Obama will not just be the first Afro-American to be elected President of the US, if he bags the Democratic nomination and goes on to win the 2008 race to the White House. Obama will also be the first American president to have a surname which begins and ends with a vowel.

Only four US presidents have had surnames ending with a vowel — Monroe, Fillmore, Pierce and Coolidge.

China and Japan have been reliable enemies for a thousand years. Their leaders have always been able to count on each other to stir nationalist anger and distract their followers from other problems by trading insults, threats or at times blows.

So an abnormally friendly five-day visit to Japan by Chinese President Hu Jintao causes many here to wonder what has suddenly gone right in the relationship between the two giants of Asia -- and whether it can last.

It's long, tedious, and pretty sobering when one thinks that this kook -- and I could use words far worse than that -- is a professor at an American university.