The question, then, for Western companies, as much as for Western governments, is to decide whose side they are on: the Chinese officials who like to define their culture in a paternalistic, authoritarian way, or the large number of Chinese who have their own ideas about freedom.

Isherwood did not so much find himself in Berlin as reinvent himself; Isherwood became a fiction, a work of art.

Anti-Americanism may indeed have grown fiercer than it was during the cold war. It is a common phenomenon that when the angels fail to deliver, the demons become more fearsome.

To isolate the revolutionary ideologues and their killers we must gain the trust of the majority of Muslims. This can only happen if they are treated as equal citizens, not just in theory, and have access to decent education and jobs.

The question, then, for Western companies, as much as for Western governments, is to decide whose side they are on: the Chinese officials who like to define their culture in a paternalistic, authoritarian way, or the large number of Chinese who have their own ideas about freedom.