Over the holiday season I started watching a Chinese TV show that my mom got addicted to called "精英律师," or "Elite Lawyer," but somehow the English translation of the show is "The Best Partner." Huh? It happens both with English shows translated to Chinese and Chinese shows translated to English, where the selected translation is not an exact translation but fits more according to what the show is about, like 权力的游戏 for Game of Thrones, which replaces "Thrones" with "Power." I always thought Game of Thrones was a bit of an awkward title for such an iconic show.
Anyway, the show is about a Chinese lawyer at a top Chinese law firm who "has never lost a case," and there's a lot of politics at his law firm among the partners as well as dealing with pesky clients and various other matters. It somewhat glorifies the legal profession as the cases go really quickly and the lawyer just talks strategy about the cases and meets with clients plus opposing counsel, rarely ever being seen doing any real work, and the cases themselves just fall into place so he just conveniently "wins" them when he finds some sort of quirk in the case or unexpected compromise that can be reached. He also has a rivalry with other partners at his law firm as part of a contentious relationship, where he fights them to their face (confrontations, arguments and debates in the office) as well as behind the scenes (scrambling for position and rank within the firm, etc.) through office politics. That's more of a realistic look at how law firms handle themselves: Not only does a lawyer have to deal with rancorous clients, demanding judges, unpleasant opposing counsel, he or she also has to deal with the internal office politics of who's getting promoted to partner, which partner to work under in order to get fast-tracked to a promotion, which lawyers to take cases away from, etc., etc. The battle for position becomes similar to Game of Thrones, where you have to demonstrate power and strength constantly but also worry about how others will perceive your work and work on teams with other attorneys; friends become enemies and enemies become friends, depending on whether it's advantageous or not. I'm sure other industries have the same sort of competition among colleagues and people in the same field, but attorneys in a law firm have a special brand of high-stakes battle (being promoted to partner at a big law firm can be life changing for some and set one up for life).
International affairs can also be fought both in the light and the dark. Up until a few days ago the U.S. was always negotiating with Iran to discontinue their nuclear weapons program without openly engaging in hostile action, but President Trump's order to kill top Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani. Not sure what Iran will do to retaliate, but now it's become very obvious that there is a conflict between the U.S. and Iran.
The U.S. and China are often at odds regarding issues such as human rights, form of government, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and over the last year, the ongoing trade war, and it reminds me of two partners of a law firm struggling to take over the role as managing partner of the law firm known as Earth; U.S. is obviously known as the current leader of the world, but China's vying for that spot and openly (imposing sanctions on U.S. goods, encouraging its citizens not to buy U.S. goods, etc.) and less obviously (making investments in lesser known areas of the world like Africa) trying to take over that spot. It's something to watch for in the next decade and beyond.
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