Our northeast remains disturbed, although not like Pakistan's northwest. The fires burning in the Indian region are mostly political. They are nowhere a conflagration in the name of religion as is the case in Pakistan.

2009 was a good year for China. The Chinese economy still roared ahead in the midst of a worldwide recession. American President Barack Obama visited China, more in the spirit of a supplicant to an imperial court than the leader of the world's greatest superpower.