Kyros, that's a popular myth that the USSR collapsed because they couldn't sustain the expense of the empire. Similarly, they were not done in by the USA outspending them on nukes and other military paraphernalia - which is even more absurd.
Gorby was in charge and did not have either the interest in or stomach for divide and rule with mass murder enforcement which is the way to run an empire if there isn't sufficient wealth to bribe the local yokels.
The British Empire had bribery as an excellent tool. Maoris could stay in their ponga huts with their neighbouring tribe shooting them with muskets, or they could join the British, get paid serious cash and modern accouterments of life, trave to foreign lands and enjoy the high life. The choice was fairly easy. They opted to become British too.
They were given English for no cost. What a bargain. It was all upside. No more digging for pipis in the middle of winter. There was more to eat than kumara and neighbouring tribes defeated in battle.
The USSR collapsed because Gorby was unwilling to conduct mass murder. When given the opportunity to do so, he backed off. When local yokels wanted to run their own show, and obviously had the numbers, it was an easy and sensible decision to leave them to go their own way.
It's like Taiwan - they have decided to go their own way, for now. The idea of murdering a lot of people in a hissy bossy britches fit is fit for the 19th century, not the 21st.
Left to their own devices, the first thing Taiwan will want to do is form close ties with China. They'll be knocking on the door saying, "Ummm, this independence thing is pretty good, but would you like a trade, military and other alliance."
Heck, New Zealand is MUCH further away and Helen Clark is scuttling to China begging for a trade agreement and toadying over Tibet and anything else. China increasingly owns New Zealand. One of these days I am likely to have a grandchild who has more than a passing resemblance to Genghis Khan. Heck, it's name would be only a whisker away = Chan.
I have never known where the word "Chan" came from. It does look suspiciously similar. [I realize that written in hieroglyphics they might be nothing at all the same - for all I know]. Heck, even our son Tarken is named after a Turkish character Tarkan, who did battle with evil-doing Mongolian invaders, but obviously adopted the name. I'm cornered.
But the age old solution works just fine. Use their DNA to carry one's own.
It's like H5N1 combining with human flu to do an even better job, though I prefer a more uplifting concept of what humans are trying to do. Unfortunately, the outcome is all too often not much different.
Siberia is part of Russia, not China, because the point in common is cold than geographical proximity to the capital. Knowing how to handle cold is a large advantage. Chinese are better at growing rice and building walls than wading through waist deep snow.
Mqurice |
