China's Premier Dodges a Shoe

I'm starting to wonder if there's some secretive world leader boot camp where they learn how to deal with angry protesters, and how to dodge shoes.  George W. Bush made the U.S. proud by his nimble moves, as he narrowly avoided getting knocked out by the shoes of a disgruntled Iraqi journalist, and now China's Premier Wen Jiabao has shown similar aptitude at avoiding these dangers.

Wen was giving a lecture at Cambridge University when an angry spectator hurled a shoe at the premier, but missed by several feet feet.

"You should be ashamed of yourselves," the protester told the audience.  "How can you listen to the lies he's telling?"  He was briefly escorted out by police, and Wen continued with his lecture as usual.  The man has been charged with a "public order offense."

Not surprisingly, Beijing's foreign ministry expressed its "strong displeasure" at the "despicable" incident.  Some key details were kept out of initial reports, but after a few hours, state television aired footage of the shoe-hurling.

While this event probably won't really have a negative impact on UK-China relations, it provides a strong incentive for presidents, prime ministers, and premiers of all countries to be on alert for flying objects.