Move over USA the next BULLY is sliding in!!
Fri Nov 03, 2006 at 04:37:42 PM PDT
From out of the mouths of babes as the saying goes. I have been sitting here telling folks that there is a new bully on the block for a year or so now on Kos and elsewhere. China is just quietly watching as Mr. Bush squanders our treasury and jeopardizes our safety. And I can see them quietly smiling in my mind's eye. The "long noses are fools" they think. And as far as most of our leaders go that seems to be the case.
These guys are everywhere and could arguably kick our ass in a war just because they are an industrial giant (like we were in WW2) and have so great a demographic. Lots of young war age folks. And they see us as savages, an accidental caretaker on the world's stage, keeping the world in order and taking our share until they are ready.
Counterterrorism Blog
November 3, 2006
Africa, China and the Shifting World Order
By Douglas Farah
Sudan's president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, claims that a U.N. peacekeeping force to stop his well-financed and brutal Islamist campaign in Darfur would turn his country into "another Iraq." The statement is not as surprising or as menacing as the venue where al Bashir chose to make it-Bejing, where the Chinese are hosting an Africa summit attended by 48 African leaders.
The Chinese expect $50 billion in trade between Africa and China this year. Bejing is dispensing hundreds of millions of dollars in aid and weapons systems to secure access to the oil, copper, timber and other comodities in Africa.
In return, the Chinese protect the muderous regime in Khartoum, the ravagers of Zimbabwe, the thugs in Equatorial Guinea, the xenophobes in Ivory Coast and other unsavory people who have made life hell for their people for decades. My full blog is here.
The Chinese have been courting the Saudis for a number of years. Recently there has been more news about their activities.
Don't Miss the Boat, Dabbagh Tells Chinese Investors
Arab News
SAGIA Governor Amr Al-Dabbagh
BEIJING, 3 November 2006 -- China should invest in Saudi Arabia's petrochemical sector or risk becoming a victim of the Gulf nation's bid to use its energy reserves to become an industry leader. "Don't' miss the boat," Amr Al-Dabbagh, governor of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), told Chinese investors at the closing session of the CEO Forum here yesterday.
The Chinese have yet to even crack open their giant oil fields which are said to be vast and untouched. They would prefer to use up the rest of the world's resources first. They are spending more and more money on Military.
This is one reason I would support Mr. Obama for office. He has a background and experience with the East and it's culture. His knowledge and skill would be valuable in dealing with China. This is an update that was posted in the comments by:DanceboyOH
China has throughout history been one of the princpal centers of power in the world.
In the 1420s the Chinese sent fleets into the Indian Ocean demanding local rules recognize Chinese overlordship. The effort was not sustained by the Ming Dynasty, but it illustrated China's enormous potential, a potential that allowed China to retain its dominance in Eastern Asia until the early 19th C. And that is historically China's relationship with the rest of the world. As long as China feels secure in its own immediate neighborhood, is does not seek to dominate outside areas far from its shores.
Until the late 18th C China was the wealthiest economy in the world, importing mass amounts of silver from the rest of the world in exchange for porcelains, teas and silks in demand elsewhere.
Then came the West's ahistoric industrial revolution, and its short two century displacement of China and other non-Western regions as THE hegemonic power in the world. Before c. 1800 the West was one of many regions, after 1800 it became primus inter pares.
That era is over, the technology gap enjoyed by the West is shrinking, be it in economic production or military power.
The West will have to learn that the rest of the world is no longer its oyster to be harvested at will, and that other regions have legitimate claims to be treated as equals, not subordinates.
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