Global Nuisance

Shouldn't Mrs. Clinton be in North Carolina right now, inspiring the donkeys?

Or maybe in Louisiana, consoling the victims of the recent hurricane?

Wait -- here's an idea!  She could go to Afghanistan to review and inspect the Afghan security forces that our Troops have been heroically training.  They seem to need a stern talking-to about not being a bunch of naughty Talibs and al-Qaedas and turr'rsts and all that.

But no.  She's flitting back and forth to China, embarrassing herself (if that's even possible) and such small fraction of her fellow Americanoes as may still possess a working brain:

In a short, frustrating visit to Beijing, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was stood up Wednesday by the future leader of China and delivered a stern lecture on China’s rights in the South China Sea.

Both China and the United States aired their differences about how to handle the uprising in Syria.

During the third stop in her nearly two-week sweep of Asia, Clinton had hoped to meet with Vice President Xi Jinping, who is expected to get the nod next month to succeed Hu Jintao as China's president.

Xi also canceled meetings Wednesday with the Singapore prime minister and Russian officials, claiming a back injury. Nonetheless, the no-show at the session with Clinton was widely interpreted as a snub.

In advance of the visit, Chinese state media lashed out at Clinton, ridiculing what it said were her efforts to maintain American “hegemony” in the Pacific. Beijing particularly resents U.S. efforts to mediate China's competing claims with neighbors — Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines, in particular — to barren islets and reefs around its waters.

You have to love those scare quotes around hegemony.  I mean, what would you say is being maintained, when US functionaries are sorting out disputes among east Asian countries concerning east Asian matters?  Last time I checked, there's no US territory anywhere near the South China Sea -- not even if you count Hawaii as such, which I'm not much inclined to do.  But that's another discussion.  In any case, I'm sure what we're maintaining isn't hegemony, which would be bad; it's probably our full-spectrum dominance that's being maintained.  Which is a good thing, since we use it to give the gift of Duh-mocracy.

Whether the lucky recipients want it or not.

In fact, maybe especially if they don't want it.  It's more fun that way, you see.