In a bizarre and confused attempt to defend the Obama administration’s new policy of “strategic reassurance” (read: appeasement of Red China), a blogger for the New Yorker argues that the president’s refusal to meet with His Holiness the Dalai Lama is an eminently reasonable concession to the domestic politics of authoritarian China. The blogger in question, Evan Osnos, who is based in mainland China, says that the “gesture [of slapping the revered Tibetan spiritual leader in the face] is intended to set the stage for Obama’s trip to Beijing, when he will hope to narrow the gap on issues as diverse as climate change, Iran and North Korea, and trade disputes.” And Osnos seems confident that it will do just that. He rebukes conservatives who are skeptical that the Chinese can be enticed to cooperate on security and environmental issues that are obviously at odds with the Chinese Communist Party’s own interests. In particular, Osnos points to this post by AEI’s Dan Blumental: