Good post CB! <There are certain expressions which add very little light to intelligent discussions.
"Nazi," "racist," "homophobe," "sexist," "bigoted," "mean-spirited," are others.
Such phrases are sort of Humpty-Dumpty-in-the-Looking-Glass words that mean whatever the speaker chooses.
Whereas, words which are useful in public discourse have specific definitions that we can all run to a dictionary and look up.
....
I nominate "politically correct" and "politically incorrect">
If somebody can squeeze one of those words into their rant, they ipso facto win the debate! "I used the word first and that means I win!" is the level of debate.
Being a racist, sexist, bigoted, mean-spirited, politically incorrect, right wing fascist homophobe, it's tough to win an argument when others can use those words against me and thereby avoid actually stringing enough words together to construct an argument.
Meanwhile, China, Russia, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Australia and maybe a few others such as Iran, Iraq, Syria, Ukraine, Germany are making moves in the shifting sands of geopolitical alliances. The outcome will be manoeuvres later in the Year of the Rooster by Russia and China "on China's territory" [aka Taiwan I suppose] and we will see who will support whom and whether appeasement of totalitarian expansion will be the order of the day.
Proponents of various actions for the glory of the fatherland, or maybe motherland, by heroic patriots, had best remember that one minute a rooster, the next a feather duster.
I suspect it serves China's purpose quite well for North Korea to have a few nukes to provide an interesting question to distract the "Western" alliance. Japan, South Korea, Australia, Taiwan and USA could reasonably be called the "Eastern" alliance since they are east of China and North Korea and Russia. But east and west go round and round and perhaps "Western" and "Eastern" should be included in your list of useless words.
Right now, attempts are being made to get Japan to opt for one side or the other, with Russians and Japanese trying on silly hats, but simultaneously, Japan is saying Taiwan is a strategic interest.
seattlepi.nwsource.com
<KHABAROVSK, Russia -- The Russian general gamely tried on a samurai helmet. The visiting Japanese general donned a Russian fur hat. Together, they watched Russian tanks maneuver across the snow-covered terrain.
Japan and Russia are weaving closer military and economic relations, and the reason lies just across the Amur River from here -- China. ... continued... >
It seems that USA, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan will be the main team on Taiwan's side and China, Russia and North Korea will be the team on China's side. North Korea, Russia and China all have nukes to use. Only the USA has nukes on the 'Good Guys' [GG] side.
The GG will nevertheless have the military heft to prevail if they wish, at least in the short term and probably in the long term too. If push comes to shove, China won't consider it a lot of fun to have a blockade applied to their ports. China wouldn't be able to enforce a blockade against Japan, South Korea or Taiwan.
Further afield, Iran, Iraq and Syria are also lining up with Russia and maybe some others will do so too, such as Venezuela. Ukraine will be a GG, and the EU will remain Nato members and will be on the GG side, meaning Putin's western front isn't all that secure.
New Zealand will be unaligned [judging from Helen Clark's mateship with Hu Jintao] though with sympathies on the GG side.
I suppose the war games are scheduled to begin about August or September. Will there be a shot heard around the world leading to Taiwanese independence? Will H5N1 be another nail in the coffin, as the Spanish flu was in WWI? ninthday.com
None of this would be good for CDMA sales.
We in the reality-based community might have a busy year to deal with. warblogging.com
Damn the megalomaniacs!
Plus ca change,
Mqurice |
