Hope for some movement on human rights and the release of political prisoners fades. Broad issues like the yuan-dollar rate, Afghanistan, Iran are part of an impossible diplomacy. US big business and the Chinese Communist Party are the big winners. The “father of democracy” in China provides an ...

Obama cannot afford to alienate Catholic voters, especially when his poll numbers are faltering.

Before leaving for Seoul, the U.S. president met with Wen Jiabao and visited the Great Wall. Hundreds of activists with petitions arrested or deported.

Why didn't Obama raise sensitive human rights issues while visiting China? Maybe because he couldn't afford to do so in the midst of America's decline.