I was deeply saddened by the death of my old friend, CNN Asia correspondent, John Lewis, a legend in television journalism.

I first met John in Tokyo at the Foreign Correspondents? Club of Japan back in 1974, when he was a decorated Vietnam vet from Ohio trying to claw his way into TV, bootstrap style. Personable and easy going, he was one of the few in the club who got along with most of the cantankerous, suicidal, or just plain drunk writers there, and was often the first to step in to stop a fight. In those days you didn?t get fired in this rough and tumble business for punching out competitors.

At my 1977 wedding at the club, John graciously took the pictures because I was too poor to hire a professional. In 1979, rumors spread that this wild man millionaire named the ?Mouth of the South,? Ted Turner, was going to start up a 24 hour news cable channel called CNN, and was looking to hire a full time Asia correspondent. We both jumped at the job, and Lewis won out. Everyone was impressed, but kept their fingers crossed.

I was left part time stringing for NBC news, reporting to the late Bruce McDonald, who had worked his way up from writing for Johnny Carson?s Tonight show to the network producer for Asia, which is a big deal. And you wonder where I got my wicked sense of humor.

I often ran into John in the field, he covering the typhoons, floods, and wars, and me the business angle, which often blended into the same story. So we covered the corrupt Marcos regime in the Philippines, the assassination of Indira Gandhi in India, and the opening up of China. We never missed an opportunity to swap contacts and war stories at dingy, dubious bars from Seoul to New Delhi, and all points in between.

We parted ways in the eighties when my career made a sharp jag to the right with my joining Morgan Stanley in New York. John shot to international fame when he ignored Chinese orders to cease covering the Tianamen Square massacre in 1989, and kept beaming reports abroad until the heavies cut the power off. Gutsy move, John.

I heard that John died of a heart attack at 63. Foreign correspondence did not exactly offer a healthy lifestyle, with all the smoking, drinking, and general carousing that went on. There were also the occupational hazards of the occasional stray bullet, bouts of amoebic dysentery, and stints in jail at the behest of some third world dictator. It was a larger than life existence, but not exactly conducive to a family life, so I moved on. John stuck with it, but what a price! I was appalled when I saw his recent picture. The years had not been kind.

John was one of a dying breed of journalist whose sole interest was to get the story right and get it fast. There was no pandering to a particular political viewpoint, stealth marketing on products, or surreptitious product placement that has regrettably become endemic in the trade today. His was really an old fashioned kind of reporting, almost quaint in its principles.

He will be missed.

?We have 3,500 nuclear weapons left over from the cold war we don?t need, they take 20 seconds to re-aim, we?re not afraid to use them. And by the way, they?re already aimed at you.?

That is the approach James Baker III thinks America should take with Iran, Ronald Reagan?s Chief of Staff and Secretary of the Treasury, and George H.W. Bush?s Secretary of State.

At the same time, we should be talking to the regime in Tehran, while doing everything we can to support the reformers, tighten sanctions, and enlist Europe?s help. Baker does not see a military solution in Iran, even though their potential to create instability in the region is enormous.

This was one of dozens of amazing insights I gained spending an evening chatting with the wily Texas lawyer during an evening in San Francisco. Baker is happy to take on the ?America Bashers,? pointing out that the US still plays a dominant role in the UN, NATO, the IMF, and the World Bank. It still accounts for 25% of GDP, and its military is unmatched. The US spread globalization, and the spectacular growth of China and India is largely the result of open American trade policies, raising standards of living around the world.

But the US can?t take its leadership role for granted. The biggest threats to American dominance are the runaway borrowing and entitlements. US debt to GDP is now over 100%, the highest level since WWII. This is unsustainable, is certain to bring a return of inflation, and unless dealt with, will lead to a long term American decline on the world stage. Massive trade and capital flow imbalances also have to be addressed.

The 80-year-old ex-Marine, who confesses to being the only Treasury Secretary in history who never took an economics class, believes that the advantageous rates that the government now borrows at are not set in stone. Baker is the man who engineered an end to the cold war with a whimper, and not a bang. He thinks that ?even our power has its limits,? and that ?there is a risk of strategic overreach.?

Baker feels that while conditions in the Middle East still look dicey, there is a good chance that we can pull out all our troops, and still leave a stable region. With the US politically evenly divided, Congress has degenerated from debating teams into execution squads, and consensus is impossible. The media are partly to blame, especially bloggers who propagate wild conspiracy theories, as confrontation sells better than accommodation. Regarding the financial crisis, we need to end ?too big to fail? and embark on re-regulation, not strangulation.

All in all, it was a fascinating few hours spent with a piece of living history who still maintains his excellent contacts in the diplomatic and intelligence communities.

How Do You Say ?Bullseye? in Texan?