Fleishman Hillard Senior Vice President Pat Cleary penned an opinion piece published in China Daily on a very controversial trade issue involving tire imports from China to the U.S. As Pat points out, it puts the Obama administration in a deep bind, having to choose between a strong domestic constituency, the United Steelworkers and [...]

August 25th, 2009 by Bill Black | Comment on this.

When one lists the public affairs issues in the U.S. that have a global implications, the issues include financial services, climate change, energy, trade and some others.  Healthcare reform is not on the list…until now.  Conservatives in the U.S. are using the so-called “failed” government-guaranteed systems around the world to bolster their case against greater [...]

August 20th, 2009 by Bill Black | Comment on this.

James Fishkin authored a great piece in Saturday’s New York Times about a different kind of conversation on health care. Controversy recently swirling around the townhall meetings organized by Members of Congress to discuss healthcare reform with their constituents has stirred much intrigue surrounding the people who are attending with the intention of disrupting the [...]

August 17th, 2009 by Claire Sheahan | 1 Comment

The Global Times reports on the closing of a cadmium plant in Hunan province due to public protests over severe pollution.  The story describes the frustration of people living close to the plant, who have been complaining about the toxic emissions for two years without a response from local officials.  There are two ways to [...]

August 4th, 2009 by Bill Black | 1 Comment

The Financial Times has a fascinating story about Wang Yang, the party secretary of Guangdong province, the most economically robust province the the country.  Thirty years ago, Quangdong was a rural backwater.  In the more distant past , it was a Chinese Siberia where emperors sent political adversaries to exile.  Now, it represents the vanguard [...]

August 3rd, 2009 by Bill Black | Comment on this.

After an intense campaign by the lobbying community in Washington, the Obama Administration has relaxed its very strict restrictions on lobbyists’ interactions with agencies issuing money from the stimulus program designed to revive the economy.  The original proposal would have required every communication to executive agencies be in writing and available to the public.
According to [...]

August 1st, 2009 by Bill Black | Comment on this.