WASHINGTON , DC China has weathered the Great Recession well.

After all, democracies have weathered worse crises in the past.

For starters, Germans are convinced that they have weathered the crisis extraordinarily well.

Nevertheless, up to now, Russia s government and private sector have weathered the storm reasonably well.

Although recovery in advanced countries remains fragile, developing countries appear to have weathered the storm.

Many developing economies weathered the crisis at the cost of massive direct state intervention, while their financial sectors lack breadth and access.

We, in Bangladesh, have weathered many severe floods and cyclones, and the toll in terms of life and property has been huge.

In 2007, the AKP government briefly seemed interested in a new constitution, having weathered threats of a military coup just before the elections.

The fourth rule is that leaders should surround themselves with well weathered colleagues and advisers who will remind them, as often as necessary, of their mortality.

However, since then, Lebanon has put together a coalition government, regained security and stability, weathered the global economic crisis, and now organized a largely free and fair election.

Likewise, Argentina s poverty rate has fallen by some three quarters from its crisis peak, and the country weathered the global financial crisis far better than the US did unemployment is high, but still only around 8 .

Politicians singing this weathered old tune against immigration are not limited to France. In Greece, the Neo Nazi party known as Golden Dawn took advantage of the country's economic difficulties and broke through during the most recent general elections.

But, although North Korea s latest economic travails have shaken the leadership, the regime has weathered worse. And the economic relationship between China and North Korea is driven as much by material interests and economic factors as it is by concerns over geopolitical stability.