One thing I've got to hand to the Chinese is the fact that they seem to have cleared their nationals from Libya pretty damn quickly. Apparently they've got at least 30,000 in the country and have cleared them to neighbouring countries so that they can be flown home pretty damn quick.

My friends in the west will probably now tell me that there's 100,000 there and that there's been mass carnage, but the Chinese news agencies are boasting about what they've achieved in Libya (compared to other countries), which is interesting.

If they're to be believed, it says a lot about what a "command economy" can achieve in a crisis.