Morning brief, Thursday April 20th

You may not be an econ person, but "any way you cut it, inflation was not well contained in March."

Hu Jintao visit 

Symbolic feel-good agreements unlikely. Hu had a good time at a Boeing plant in Seattle, it seems.

Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) says Hu's visit is nothing to celebrate: "While open dialogue is essential, many of us on both sides of the aisle in Congress oppose the celebratory nature of this official visit."

The Weekly Standard flags a Rand report on China's military:

China is watching the United States closely and is devoting significant resources toward the development of highly technical, novel approaches to both defense and the projection of power. The potential for a conflict with the United States over the status of Taiwan is the driving force for Chinese military planning, the study says.

Michael T. Clare argues unconvincingly at MotherJones.com that "The truly commanding objective — the underlying basis for budgets and troop deployments — is the containment of China."

The WSJ take:

Congressional threats to impose tariffs or brand China a 'currency manipulator' are so dangerous. They damage American business interests, and they could also endanger the prosperity that will drive China's political change. For their part, China's leaders believe they can maintain one-party political control even amid all of this dynamic economic growth. History, as Sun Tzu might argue, would suggest they are wrong. 

Iran

Ahmadinejad thinks the price of oil is still below its "real value." Then again, for Ahmadinejad these days, oil is almost priceless as a political asset. 

To get peace, reinstitute selective service, says a former marine argues in the NYT:

Now, President Bush and Congress should reinstitute selective service under a lottery without any deferments.

This single action will send a strong message to three constituencies in the crisis over Iran's nuclear intentions — Iran, outside powers like China and Russia and Americans at home — and perhaps lead to a peaceful resolution.

Elsewhere

Darfur is too deadly for aid work. 

Jim Hoagland meets with India's Manmohan Singh and comes away convinced that Congress needs to sign off on the nuclear deal.

There's a shortage of tires, and is has to do with red-hot commodities:

In many ways, the tire shortage both reflects the soaring commodities prices and contributes to it. The price of copper, which is used in electrical wiring and pipes, has climbed 45 percent this year, closing at $2.9595 a pound on Wednesday. Nickel, used to make stainless steel, is up 37 percent during the same period, while gold is up 23 percent and zinc is up 65 percent.

Uzbekistan ships bomb-grade nuclear material to Russia. Looks like Hamas was hiding weapons in Jordan. 

Falun Gong protestors gathered near the White House yesterday to protest Hu Jintao's visit. They were still out there at 10:30 PM when yours truly was out on a late run, yelling things like "No to genocide. No to torture."