[American Digest] A remarkable speech given in fluent Mandarin that most will not have the patience to hear, but those who are under the bootheels of Communist China will hear all too clearly. As a note to this video I have appended the transcript. Pottinger himself is a remarkable man whose career path is stunning.
Pottinger’s career switch was motivated by his experience in China and the Iraq War. By 2004, Pottinger had "sort of a sense of unease that China was not really going to converge with the more liberal order." He believed that when it was powerful enough, China would "influence the world on its own terms, on the terms of the ruling party." As he watched all the first phase of Iraq War unfold from a distant location in China, he was a bit troubled that "as a nation, the administration, the Congress and to a great extent the press as well had misjudged the nature of conflict." China’s rise and the Iraq War had made him realize that democracy is "not inevitable and it shouldn’t be taken for granted but it is a form of government very much worth fighting for."
In September 2005, Pottinger joined the Marine Corps and served as a military intelligence officer. He was over-aged and out of shape when he joined. To meet the physical qualifications, he worked out with a Marine officer who was living in Beijing. |