Bio Sketch
The blogger was born on one continent, spent his childhood on another, and came of age on yet another. He loves to read and write, is near fluent in Mandarin Chinese, and has also studied French, Egyptian Arabic, Japanese, and Spanish. He aspires to a career in analyzing American foreign policy (among other things), and has made progress to this end by serving in an American embassy in the Middle East, and by working for prominent organizations that deal with Sino-American and Japanese-American relations.
Education
As an undergraduate at Duke University, the blogger majored in public policy and international comparative studies, with a focus on China and Russia, as well as U.S. and European public policy. As a graduate student at Tufts University's Fletcher School, he has broadened his regional expertise to include the Middle East. He has also studied international communications extensively at Fletcher, including public diplomacy; the relationship between open telecom markets and freedom in societies; the role of media in conflict; and use of new media in the 'Arab Spring' and the Green Movement in Iran. His master's thesis explores China's renewed engagement in the Middle East, with a specific focus on the calculus behind Beijing's decisions to cooperate or defect from the coalition of countries sanctioning Iran for its nuclear program.
Bookshelf
Favorite Novelists: The Russian trio of Lev, Fyodor, and Mikhail (Lermantov); Ernie Hemingway and Mark Twain deserve their standing in American literature (especially Twain).
Favorite Travel Writers (a loosely defined category): Paul Theroux - respect his glorification of the locomotive; Ryszard Kapuscinksi - respect his ability to sketch revolutions in minute human detail.
