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Topic: virus: Re: virus The New Cold War? (Read 627 times) |
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Blunderov
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virus: Re: virus The New Cold War?
« on: 2005-05-29 07:43:05 » |
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[Blunderov] The historical dialectic in action?
http://www.outlookindia.com/bullseye.asp?fodname=20050606
On May 17, Henry Kissinger, mentor of the ruling US neocons, met Chinese
president Hu Jintao in Beijing. Also present were hardline foreign
minister Li Zhaoxing and Xiong Guangkai, deputy chief of Chinese
People's Liberation Army (PLA). China's Premier Wen Jiabao was absent.
Hu said the US-Chinese ties would prosper if both nations "understand
and handle their disputes and concerns." What are their disputes and
concerns? America is in debt. The dollar is kept buoyant by China and
Japan which hold huge dollar reserves invested in US securities.
American jobs are outsourced. And US soldiers are bogged down in Iraq.
Meanwhile, North Korea mocks President Bush. It represents a real
nuclear crisis, unlike Iraq with its fake nuclear crisis manufactured by
America. And America continues to pretend that North Korea is
independent of Chinese control.
China prospered because of corrupt US administrations that subverted
America's security. Now China has the North Korean dagger at America's
throat. America belatedly harps on China's record on human rights. It
criticises the artificially deflated Chinese yuan that allowed Chinese
products to flood the US market. For decades US firms happily denied
jobs to Americans by exploiting slave labour in China. Now America
worries!
Defence Secretary Rumsfeld affirmed America's right to use nuclear
weapons against hostile nations producing weapons of mass destruction.
He meant North Korea. Either it's bluster or dangerous desperation.
America has no answer if China starts launching conventional wars
through proxy nations controlled by the PLA.
But according to Strategic Forecasting Inc, China is vulnerable too. To
fulfil WTO commitments, China, by December next year, must open up to
foreign banks. Foreign banks would attract the bulk of China's private
savings now funnelled forcibly into Chinese state banks. Chinese banks
give bad loans to state owned enterprises employing 60 per cent of
China's urban work force. Half of China's GDP is spent this way. If
these loans stop there would be widespread unemployment and social
unrest. China's government could collapse.
If China walks out of WTO, foreign investors would leave en masse. The
conflict of interest between China's liberals and corrupt hardliners
seems unbridgeable. A power struggle could emerge. America waits. In
this context, South Asia stands poised between both powers. Blind
dependence on either would be dangerous. To insulate South Asia from a
Sino-American cold war, India and Pakistan should sink differences and
create a union. Only then could they safeguard themselves.
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rhinoceros
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My point is ...
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Re: virus: Re: virus The New Cold War?
« Reply #1 on: 2005-05-29 17:45:08 » |
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Blunderov wrote:
> [Blunderov] The historical dialectic in action?
>
> http://www.outlookindia.com/bullseye.asp?fodname=20050606
>
I don't know... Some thesis-antithesis dialectics or perhaps some bits
of poetic justice seem to be present in this article, but there are many
unusual claims too:
> On May 17, Henry Kissinger, mentor of the ruling US neocons, met Chinese
> president Hu Jintao in Beijing.
To the best of my knowledge, Kissinger is not considered "a mentor of
the ruling US neocons." Most would not even call him a neocon. Perhaps I
would call him "the good old evil," but not so casually and in passing
as in the above sentence of the article.
> What are their disputes and
> concerns? America is in debt. The dollar is kept buoyant by China and
> Japan which hold huge dollar reserves invested in US securities.
China's and Japan's huge dollar reserves invested in US securities? Is
this the cause of the dollar's buyancy? I am not an economist, but
somehow I am not willing to accept this claim in passing either. It
feels more natural to blame the US government's borrow-and-spend policy.
> Meanwhile, North Korea mocks President Bush. It represents a real
> nuclear crisis, unlike Iraq with its fake nuclear crisis manufactured by
> America. And America continues to pretend that North Korea is
> independent of Chinese control.
Many mock President Bush. North Korea does have nuclear weapons but
China also has nuclear weapons of their own. The US, Russia, France,
India, Pakistan too... a long list.
> China prospered because of corrupt US administrations that subverted
> America's security.
Whoa! This is not an explanation that you hear often about the
developement of Chinese economy.
> Now China has the North Korean dagger at America's
> throat.
There is a "North Korean dagger at America's throat"? How? Isn't it a
bit too dramatic?
> America belatedly harps on China's record on human rights. It
> criticises the artificially deflated Chinese yuan that allowed Chinese
> products to flood the US market. For decades US firms happily denied
> jobs to Americans by exploiting slave labour in China. Now America
> worries!
The author seems to have a point here, hidden among the dramatic
adjectives. The US now asks China to float the yuan because it is
undervalued. The problem is that China has no obligation to do that, so
they must be given an "incentive" to behave. Which brings us to human
rights.
America does not harp belatedly on China's human rights record; they
have harped a lot in decades past, then they slacked for a while, and
now they harp again. What happened? Nothing, I guess -- they just needed
the bargaining point.
By the way, we experienced the Chinese commercial invasion with cheap
products in Greece in the last year. I found it ironic when the Chinese
ambassador told our aged capitalists that "globalization and free trade
poses challenges and creates opportunities for all". On the other hand,
we saw our Greek shop owners appear on TV programs and ranting about
cheap products made from child labor with toxic materials and promoted
by the Chinese mafia... Not a word about the cherished free market. And
the European Union has been talking about tariffs.
This can also serve as a reminder that the (almost) free market is not
the natural-looking smooth curves which an economist draws, but a system
laboriously forged over centuries, with clashes, corrective legal
actions and enforcement.
> Defence Secretary Rumsfeld affirmed America's right to use nuclear
> weapons against hostile nations producing weapons of mass destruction.
> He meant North Korea. Either it's bluster or dangerous desperation.
> America has no answer if China starts launching conventional wars
> through proxy nations controlled by the PLA.
>
> But according to Strategic Forecasting Inc, China is vulnerable too. To
> fulfil WTO commitments, China, by December next year, must open up to
> foreign banks. Foreign banks would attract the bulk of China's private
> savings now funnelled forcibly into Chinese state banks. Chinese banks
> give bad loans to state owned enterprises employing 60 per cent of
> China's urban work force. Half of China's GDP is spent this way. If
> these loans stop there would be widespread unemployment and social
> unrest. China's government could collapse.
>
> If China walks out of WTO, foreign investors would leave en masse. The
> conflict of interest between China's liberals and corrupt hardliners
> seems unbridgeable. A power struggle could emerge. America waits. In
> this context, South Asia stands poised between both powers. Blind
> dependence on either would be dangerous. To insulate South Asia from a
> Sino-American cold war, India and Pakistan should sink differences and
> create a union. Only then could they safeguard themselves.
>
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Blunderov
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RE: virus: Re: virus The New Cold War?
« Reply #2 on: 2005-05-30 16:08:01 » |
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rhinoceros
Sent: 29 May 2005 23:45
<snip>
I don't know... Some thesis-antithesis dialectics or perhaps some bits
of poetic justice seem to be present in this article, but there are many
unusual claims too: </snip>
[Blunderov] Certainly the journalism seems a little on the wild side at
times. What interested me most though, was the perception that
India/Pakistan are becoming caught between two fires. This does not seem
an unreasonable worry to me, and it may be that they find themselves
forced into a marriage of necessity. Funny old world.
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/khtml/2005/05/29/opinion/20050529_CHINA_
AUDIOSS.html?th&emc=th
An intriguing new fangled interactive multimedia presentation on the
subject of China.
Best Regards.
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