Hi CB and DJ,
Fascinating!
<<the secret German rearmament between the two World Wars (the so-called "Black Reichswehr"), which secretly built prototypes of weapons and trained troops in the Soviet Union, built submarine prototypes in Rotterdam, etc., in the 1920's, years before Hitler was considered anything but a nut case.>>
I do not know anything about this episode. I am guessing this was done because the Germans wanted the weapons as they were picked on by the British and the French in every way possible and were thus saying “never again”, and that the Soviets wanted to balance the power of the British and the French, keeping them busy on issues that worry them the most, so that they can be not as busy in places that mattered to the Soviets, given Russia’s then recent experience with Anglo-American intervention in the Russian civil conflict.
Am I far wrong on the motivations?
The world is more complicated today.
<<General Hans von Seekt>>
Yup, he devised the scheme of progressively encroaching hamlets, pillboxes, and encirclements on a grand scale to drive the red army away from the population centers. The strategy was effective in the sense that the main unit of the red army was reduced from hundred odd thousand to I believe eight odd thousand. The strategy was ineffective in that in the red army’s escape trek across much of China, including parts of Tibet, its ideal was spread far and wide amongst the population it appealed to for help. The population in turn appealed for the red army’s help, and Chiang’s local supporters (war lords, thugs, land owners) along the escape route were invited to die so that their goodies could be shared by the people. Some property owners invariable deserved what they got, many many did not.
I think the US tried same hamlet approach in Vietnam for a while. Did not work the first time, no reason to work the second. The local interpretation of the Vietnam episode is something about the US helping the French to maintain colonial control over the population.
Bottom line, interventions are inherently dangerous, especially when the intervenor knows not what is going on.
The two generals in the US can do better (Electric and Motors) and Coke and McDonalds certainly as well.
Mao was always good at a few quips …
“Revolution is not a tea party, there will be bloodletting”
“Human head is not a cabbage, cut it and it doesn’t grow back”
“Recognize who is an enemy and who is a friend, the most critical issue”
<<Serbian embassy … we did, in fact, deliberately bomb the Chinese embassy>>
Truth often does not matter. Perception of truth is everything.
<<In what way does Serbia affect peace in the Pacific … Saddam Hussein … what possible innocent motivation?>>
Some motivation must be attributed to money. It is a mistake to think of China as a monolith, just as it would be to characterize the US as one. Companies want to make money.
Some motivation must be attributed to officially sanctioned or rogue intelligence “black” ops, just as the US did in Chile and points north, and in Russia and points south.
Some motivation must be attributed to balance of power considerations, which never has rights or wrongs.
What possible motivation could the US have in supporting covert operations in Tibet (1960s), overt operations in Cambodia (70s), … and so these matters are all attributable to action and reaction.
<<not happy about Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. controlling both ends of the Panama canal, although I do recognize that the Chinese are a major player in the shipping industry.>>
Given that Hutchison (HK.13) is one of the largest operators of ports, not surprising. China is also concerned about Hutchison’s ownership of Chinese port facilities and in fact has an not-printed policy to limit Hutchison’s future investments. We are working on behalf of a big international operator to break Hutchison’s dominance in China.
When my wife and I used our Hong Kong based Motorola triband GSM phone from PCCW-HK Telecom while visiting Hawaii, we dialed long distance via VoiceStream GSM roaming to locate each other in Ala Moana Shopping Mall, all very modern. Upon returning to HK, we got a US$ 800+ roaming bill (yeah, made a few other calls while in the mall, dialing broker back in HK). Later I realized that Hutchison owned 22% of VoiceStream. There is no escape.
<< Yeah, yeah, they don't really control the canal, really, but it's still something that worries me.>>
Not to worry too much about the canal.
Panama itself is more than 10% Mainland Chinese populated, and most arrived from the mainland. I will pretend to be a mainland Chinese bureaucrat for one moment, and say “The US is responsible for the situation … because of the invasion of peace loving Panama, the freedom loving Chinese refugees got stuck there while on their way to the land of opportunity in Silicon Valley”:0)
I think in order to guarantee peace and prosperity around the Pacific, all around it, some cooperation will be necessary amongst the big and the growing players.
I think once the flag changes over Taiwan, all will be better around the Pacific, in Serbian mountains, and in Iraqi deserts.
On DJ’s side-view,
<<Jay: missing some other perspectives, orientations, like Japanese, Russsian, Indian...>>
I was trying to keep my response to CB direct. On these other countries … yes, they matter, are major players, and figure in the grand solution of the convolution.
Short observations …
It is not over for the Russians
It may be over for the Japanese
It is lucky that India and China has a biggish mountain in between, and that neither party wants to play around in Burma too much, lest they come into inadvertent contact in the jungles of Golden Triangle.
And of course, it is doubly fortunate that Pakistan and India believe in different gods, but both believe in harnessing the power of the sun, packed into containers the size of bath tubs.
Chugs, Jay |
