We are now dealing with:
Finding and putting our oil and natural gas rigs to work:
http://money.cnn.com/2005/09/28/news/economy/rita_rigs/index.htm
Venezuela moving its central foreign reserves out of U.S. banks:
article
It seems that we will also have to try to understand how China and the Middle East have become cozy trading partners while this administration destroys any hope for future friendship with both.
A great
article by
William O. Beeman breaks down why this is happening:
As the United States greets the Islamic world with increasing fear and hostility, China is embracing it with an astonishing enthusiasm, and young Muslim youths are responding in increasing numbers -- in effect, creating a modern Silk Road culture.
Wow. An infidel country that not only gets along with the Middle East, but is kind and helpful! Does this work better than bombs?
At a top U.S. university, a foreign student pays $25,000 per year in tuition. At Beijing University, it costs $2,500 or less.
Add to this the fact that security issues in the West have made it increasingly difficult for young Muslims to obtain visas for work or study. Even if they are able to get the documents for New York, Moscow or Paris, they face increasing discrimination from officials and the public.
We are sooo civilized....are we not? It can't be all shits and giggles right? Right?
Shahrom, a young Tajik, transports goods to Dushanbe and Afghanistan. Now that the first road ever is open into land-locked Tajkistan, huge amounts of goods are transported during the six months of the year that the route is open. It costs less that $200 to transport a whole truckload from Urumqi to Dushanbe. Shahrom already knew Russian, Tajik and Uzbek, which is close enough to Uighur to make communication easy. After six months, he too, is almost fluent in Mandarin.
"I love it here," Shahrom says. "Living is cheap, there is lots of work, food is good and I have a girlfriend. What more could I want? At home I could be unemployed or go to Moscow and work a construction job for little money and live in a basement with 16 other guys."
Well, the boneheads in this country want us all back to 1920 anyway, so why not go all the way...ugh