What's at Stake

Drawn in Adobe Photoshop CS3 using a Wacom Cintiq 12WX.
Reprints can be found here.

It's been a while, no? Being the managing editor/perennial slave driver is a far cry from the carefree days of the ink-stained fool. Instead of drawing pretty pictures and being on decent terms with everyone else, I spend most of my time cultivating and then marinating in a noxious, seething concoction of frustration and misanthropy, revealing said odium when circumstance occasions it, which tends to be quite often. To put it concisely, every production night is a living affirmation of Satre's estimation of other people.

But I digress: This is the first editorial cartoon since last April, and the world has changed a lot in the intervening time. The recession has eroded (but hardly effaced) America's relative standing and credibility, much to Beijing's benefit. Hushed voices are broaching the possibility that a "Beijing consensus" on economic development will soon supplant the neoliberal model that has obtained for the last two decades. Whether this will actually happen is another question altogether, though it's hardly impossible.

Regardless, I think it's a shame that the PRC has exploited its newfound gains so crudely. Its prosecution of the Copahagen climate accords, the Google fiasco, and recent disagreements over imposing sanctions against Iran have done nothing good for its perception here in the U.S. That said, I also doubt that this current episode of escalation will last long. If you must know, I speculate that much of the hoopla surrounding Sino-U.S. relations is precisely that: A lot of sound and fury over what more observant individuals have long since noted as pro forma rhetorical salvos.

Still, this isn't to say that China's rise will be without complication. Its steady climb will inevitably force a drastic revision of its heretofore rather Westphalian foreign policy. Until that happens, I guess we'll have no choice but to live in interesting times.

BONUS: I've taken the liberty of including an animated .gif of how I make my worthless scribbles. Gaze upon it, and be amazed! (note: You'll have to click on it to view it in its full, resplendent glory.)