LOS ANGELES -- We here in the West -- despite our ritualistic (and sometimes loud-mouthed) advocacy of democracy -- do appreciate the decision of the people in charge in Beijing to clamp down on those anti-Japanese protests, clear out the streets, order people to get out of those incendiary anti-Tokyo chat-rooms, and cease acting as if China were some sort of genuine democracy where real political demonstrations are freely allowed.
The truth is, for awhile there, with all those demonstrations against Japan going on, we in the West were getting uncomfortable. It was beginning to look as if East Asia was pretty much the same old place -- an ancient land of such intense national hatreds that true stability and prosperity was just an illusion. Would another war in Asia be just around the corner?
Perhaps that looks to be less and less probable now. My own best educated guess: Nothing serious will actually occur until after 2008.