Maggie's Farm

Actually, Hansen is still publishing high impact papers, including recent studies in the journals Nature, Climate Dynamics, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Bird Dog: China is deeply flawed.

Quite so. China's rapid growth has led to numerous problems. Frankly, they are choking on their own success: pollution, overcrowding, corruption and unrealistic expectations. Most of their recent growth is due to the process of industrialization, spurred on by government policy, whereby subsistence agricultural workers have been moved into high-GDP jobs in manufacturing. Industrial growth of this sort can continue only until most workers have been integrated into the industrial economy.

Once initial industrialization is complete, China will have to work to improve efficiency, and this will require political liberalization. It's an open question whether China is capable of making such a transition, but it is still in the realm of possibility. Lacking significant political changes, rising expectations will cause increasing instability, both those in the middle classes who want a better life for their children, and among those heretofore left out of the benefits of industrialization.

In the longest term, of course, it is hoped that the Chinese people as a whole will be able to benefit from modernization and development. Ultimately, if they can solve their problems, then GDP per capita will rise to reach levels in the West—as it should. And that means the Chinese people will demand as much say in the affairs of the world as the U.S. and other Western powers.