Google finally realized that enemies don't make the best bedfellows, and owning a stake in Chinese search leader Baidu might not jibe with reality. After all, Baidu's marketing strategy is to made a Google caricature bleed on TV. Its favorite competitive tactic is to print Google results and report them to the government — which, according to rumor, is why China blocked Google in 2002.

So kudos to Google for finally dropping the 2.6% share in Baidu that it took last year. Now Google has to stop getting blocked (yes, even the censored site sometimes isn't censored enough), rev up its marketing campaign, and find a way to keep the Chinese government happy without pissing off all the observers in the free world.

Google Searches for a Home in China [BusinessWeek]

Contact information for this author is not available.