> In today's world it's hard to distinguish irony from fact. Which is this?
> Whichever, I couldn't stop laughing, especially at the notion of the
> Military Band of the Chinese People's Liberation Army playing for Obama's
> visit 'We Are the World,' and 'I Just Called to Say I Love You.'
Due to their history, postcolonial nations have an exquisitely refined sense of humor -- a carryover from the days when it was their only weapon against colonialism. The major works of Lu Xun (China), Machado de Assis (Brazil) and Ismat Chughtai (India) are wickedly funny, in that I'm-laughing-because-otherwise-I'd-be-crying kind of way.
Nowadays, though, the joke is on Wall Street: China and the rest of the semi-periphery have the savings of the world, and Obama is calling to say, please keep buying our T-bills.
-- DRR