PLAYERS Conventional Wisdom Japan ( + ) Our pols are all bribe-taking, gold-hoarding sleazes, but who cares? We’re still kicking butt. U.S.A. (+,-) Stop lecturing us about trade, rights, democracy. You wanna buy a nice cheap minivan? China ( + ) Old CW: Murderous communist thugs. New CW: Ravenous capitalist pigs. H. Kong ( - ) Brits tout democracy 50 years too late, will leave colonial mess as always. Korea (+,-) Wacky North’s nukes may broil Seoul. World War III, anyone? Russia ( - ) Japanese magazine headline says it all: “Yeltsin, You Starve and Die.
