Very good. Should be required reading for governments in places like Stockholm and Helsinki and Oslo and Copenhagen, and Brussels too. Maybe do another one on China's Lavrov's tour of the Nordics? Two days ago, Wang Yi is supposed to have said (but did not say it ihimself...no press conferences ... ) that our kidnapped citizen #GuiMinhai is still alive. There is no confirmation, no date for access or his return, and our foreign minister is equivocating about it. So are our journalists -- often young people with little awareness of the kidnapping case that China is now running in its eleventh year. ps. https://magnusfiskesjo550223.substack.com/p/gui-minhai-swedish-citizen-kidnapped
1. Don’t confuse discomfort with danger. If an already-hostile regime is annoyed with you, maybe that’s a good thing.
2. You can’t control the race, but you can control your response, and every response incurs a metabolic cost. Don’t expend energy on things that don’t matter. Restraint is a form of discipline. Let the other side dissipate itself reacting while you practice selective non-reaction.
3. Patience and decisive action are complements, not opposites. This is more nuanced than simple persistence. It’s: Wait. Wait. Wait. Now go.
4. Consistency beats heroism. As Aristotle would have counselled, excellence is less an isolated act than a cultivated disposition.
Very good. Should be required reading for governments in places like Stockholm and Helsinki and Oslo and Copenhagen, and Brussels too. Maybe do another one on China's Lavrov's tour of the Nordics? Two days ago, Wang Yi is supposed to have said (but did not say it ihimself...no press conferences ... ) that our kidnapped citizen #GuiMinhai is still alive. There is no confirmation, no date for access or his return, and our foreign minister is equivocating about it. So are our journalists -- often young people with little awareness of the kidnapping case that China is now running in its eleventh year. ps. https://magnusfiskesjo550223.substack.com/p/gui-minhai-swedish-citizen-kidnapped
Bonus Lessons from Cycling for Dealing With China
1. Don’t confuse discomfort with danger. If an already-hostile regime is annoyed with you, maybe that’s a good thing.
2. You can’t control the race, but you can control your response, and every response incurs a metabolic cost. Don’t expend energy on things that don’t matter. Restraint is a form of discipline. Let the other side dissipate itself reacting while you practice selective non-reaction.
3. Patience and decisive action are complements, not opposites. This is more nuanced than simple persistence. It’s: Wait. Wait. Wait. Now go.
4. Consistency beats heroism. As Aristotle would have counselled, excellence is less an isolated act than a cultivated disposition.
Well-written piece!
I always get surprised by learning new things everyday here. Today’s gain “Peloton diplomacy”