JJ mid-speech
JJ, fellow foreign teacher and friend, gave a speech that night about the Iraq War and the events that led up to the invasion. A complicated, multi-faceted and contentious topic indeed. I commended him on attempting to illustrate objectively, as best he could of course, such a formidable topic for a speech. As you can see by the packed house (literally not a seat could be found!) of over 150 students, the Chinese are very interested in hearing about this war from an American perspective. I think JJ did a good job clearing up some of the issues and also inculcating the idea that not all Americans believe in an interventionist, nation building foreign policy that leads to war in perpetuity like Mr. Bush.
For centuries China stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the country was beset by civil unrest, major famines, military defeats, and foreign occupation. A... ... read more 
