Devoted to branding and building and protecting brands

Which will end first in China -- the Beijing Great Wheel or that inconveniently oppressive communist regime that has Jerry Yang and Yahoo bent into pretzels  trying to duck allegations of complicity with it?

Bet on the wheel.  But, hey, I never thought I’d live long enough to watch that wall come tumbling down in Berlin, either.  

Say this about the Chinese – at least the crowd who runs everything over there: they know how to make big stuff happen, figuratively and literally.  Getting the Olympics, going from zero-to-world-class economy in almost no time, and now – this ginormous Ferris wheel thingie, which dwarfs even the London Eye.  As far as Brand China, what would you say is the brand promise?  Or, as some might refer to it, the brand threat?  Branding’s going to be a central element come Olympics time.  I expect a thunderous silence from dissident quarters.  Dissidents?  What dissidents?!  Enjoy a nice ride on the Great Wheel, but if you see a tank coming, yield the right of way.  It may not stop this time.