Hi CB,
<<One of the great themes of history is "us" against "them" - the real people against the inferior races>>
Controversy indeed!
Nope, I think you may have misunderstood me. The “Them” I do not understand is the them that believe I ought to die for their god because I can not read their scripted version of how everything was, is and will be. I had mentioned before that the idea of me dying for my country is strange concept. Well, the idea that I ought to die for someone else’s god is stranger still, and so strange, that I have to characterize them as “them”.
The belief in superior and inferior, given my background, is not a cap that can be put on my head. I am a bit more mathematical and rational and know my vulnerabilities in this game, even though I know for sure that a French Creole Chinese is not the worst of the inferior types. I do understand the Chinese Moslems somewhat because my sister-in-law is a Chinese Moslem from Shanghai, married to my one of my two half-brothers, who is English Jewish. One niece is in the USA getting her MBA, and the nephew will do same soon :0)
<<From a European perspective, people living in the Middle East invented the alphabet, astronomy, chemistry, mathematics, medicine, physics, surgery - although perhaps the mathematics came from the Greeks and the rest from India - or the Chinese, maybe?>>
I think “we” or at least a part of “me” invented compass, rocket, gun powder, printing, paper … and more importantly, Sun Tze. Another part of “me” invented singing and dancing, and yet another part invented fooling around.
But, on your points above, yes on one, no on two, maybe on three, yes on four, also but not alone on five, I do not know on six, and finally surgery was a superfluous procedure in China for most diseases.
<<the Chinese justify their own brutal colonialism in Tibet by claiming that the Tibetan people have been liberated from feudalism>>
The Chinese uses this as a response to CNN stories. I would say true to feudalism and serfdom, but it is no business of the Chinese, to liberate or otherwise liberally interfere in.
The Chinese justifies the incorporation of Tibet thus … “However, the dictates of the Great Game, Anglo-American covert and overt operations over a century, the balance of power considerations between the Russia, India and China, justifies, on national security basis, the formal incorporation of Tibet, formerly a tributary state, into the China proper.”
No rights, wrongs, only just is, action and reaction.
<<In my opinion, the real wild card in geopolitics in Asia is the Turkic people of central Asia>>
Maybe, Oops, but first …
<<You guys haven't been nice to them, the Russians haven't been nice to them>>
By “You guys”, I take it you mean the Chinese:0)
The Uighurs want independence. Yes.
Some Uighurs want independence. However, as far as China’s Sinkiang is concerned, the Uighurs is one of 250 nomadic tribes with no fixed geographically delineated territory, amidst a lot of other people indigenous and newly introduced to the same piece of land the Uighurs would need for an independent country.
You are absolutely correct that Central Asia is vitally, and possibly unfortunate for all parties concerned, important now and in the future. Too many players care. Too much oil. Too few people. Not a balanced equation.
But, given the popular Anglo-American desire to redraw the map, China ought to be separated from Tibet, Sinkiang, and maybe even Inner Mongolia and what was Manchuria. The logic being applied to Tibet can easily be applied to the other three areas, plus Yunnan Province and Taiwan, leaving China with what was China a few thousand years ago.
I suppose, if I were China’s officialdom, I would say this redrawing of the map is acceptable, if and only if the same is done in North America and Australia, to the same time period.
So, you see, Tibet is a non-starter for a conversation with the folks in charge of Beijing. It is simply not a topic of conversation, in the UN or anywhere else, except in, not surprisingly, the west.
<<I suppose since they are mostly Islamic, they will side with the other nations of Islam. Speaking of "us" vs. "them" - the way the Uighurs are being treated isn't very smart in the long run. No, arrogance and delusional self-justification are not limited to Christians and Muslims>>
The Central Asian nations do generally side with the Islamic nations elsewhere, in the MiddleEast and even Indonesia. USA, along with Russia and China, now are actually very nice to the countries in that region. Everybody is afraid. I think I made the point earlier on this thread about my Indian Moslem pal’s report on the truly impressive spectacle in Mecca this past year.
China is actually not very afraid, and in fact democratic, more so than the US and Russia, about the ownership of nuclear bombs know-how, because it knows a more democratically balanced world is a safer world. On a simple one person one vote basis, the Moslems around the world have no problems with China:0)
My answer, following my earlier posts on these subjects, is that the Moslems will also have to be seated at the head table, along with the Americans, Russians, Germans, French, Indians, … and yikes, the Chinese. The Trinidadians will take a pass, because we cannot be bothered. The table will be crowded, and some chairs will have to be moved away to another table, some dishes will have to be shared more liberally.
On your other post …
<<Hey, we've been fighting these guys for 1500 years. Your turn.-g- >>
in the same spirit of g, controversy and ;0) …
No thanks, “we” would like redirect their awesome energy, enhanced somewhat, to more fruitful endeavors, like, oh, helping their brothers elsewhere in the world, starting with New York, ending with Jerusalem. Now, about Taiwan …
There, you see, if you and I were in charge, so many of the world’s worries would be resolved :0)
Repeat the mantra … everything is good, war is bad, everything is …
What fun! Chugs, Jay
P.s. Thanks for the links, and now I know much more.
P.P.S. <<The Japanese work is done only in Japan and has only Japanese names>>
Oh, yes, and without learning Japanese, I can read 30-50% of their writing and piece together a vague idea of whatever the writing may be about. Actually, I have studied Japanese language, when I had a Japanese girlfriend. It is actually pretty easy for the Chinese and Japanese to learn each other’s languages. The pronunciation of the Japanese version of Chinese characters is actually very similar to the Fujian dialect in China, also a big sushi food place, along with Taiwan, settled by mostly Fujian folks.
The Japanese folks were pretty unhappy when they recently made the archeological announcement / discovery that the ethnic group accounting for much of the ruling and dominant class came from the mainland, as the indigenous group account for not. There is a small town that hid the facts for all these years. The facts contradict their belief of a divine people born of the Japanese Islands on which the sun never sets. The town had previously thrived as a mecca for Japan’s true believers.
Now, despondency due to shattered science fiction, and so, it may be time again to revise some more text books.
You see, “they” still care, even after a few hundred thousand years!
And yet they want others to forget after only 60 years.
Where as “we” know better, able to read their newspaper headlines in a language “we” know as our own:0) |
