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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TobagoJack who wrote (18746)	5/25/2007 10:40:29 AM
From: longnshort	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 218621

Has China ever won a war ?

To: TobagoJack who wrote (18746)	5/25/2007 11:40:24 AM
From: elmatador	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 218621

Tehran's interest-rate cuts 'economic suicide for banks' dailystar.com.lb We are going Zimbabwe!

To: TobagoJack who wrote (18746)	5/25/2007 12:41:33 PM
From: energyplay	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 218621

Defacto alliance ? Also from China Military blog .... ********************************************************* Willing to help? How? US Commander Calls Chinese Interest in Aircraft Carriers 'Understandable' By Al Pessin Beijing 12 May 2007 The commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific says China's interest in developing an aircraft carrier fleet is 'understandable,' and that the United States would be willing to help. Admiral Timothy Keating made the comment during a wide-ranging news conference in Beijing Saturday morning. VOA's Al Pessin reports. Admiral Keating and Admiral Wu chat before lunch, 11 May 2007 Admiral Keating says he believes Chinese leaders are "intrigued" by the idea of having aircraft carriers. But he says they need to understand the impact such a powerful, mobile weapon system can have. "An aircraft carrier from a country pulls into port, and it is an unmistakable demonstration of will and resolve," he said. "And we had a very good conversation about that. I do not have any better idea as to China's intentions to develop, or not, a carrier program, but we had a very pleasant and candid exchange about the larger issues attendant to a carrier program." At a lunch Friday with China's navy chief, Vice Admiral Wu Shengli, Admiral Keating stressed the difficulty and complexity of developing, building and operating an aircraft carrier. But at his news conference Saturday Keating said the United States would be willing to help if that is what China decides to do. "It is not an area where we would want any tension to arise unnecessarily," he added. "And we would, if they choose to develop [an aircraft carrier program] help them to the degree that they seek and the degree that we're capable, in developing their programs." Admiral Keating also told reporters he believes he made progress during his talks with Chinese military and civilian leaders Friday toward a better understanding of each country's strategic plans. He said he wants to increase the quality and level of challenge in U.S.-China military exercises, and expand exchanges among lower-ranking troops.

To: TobagoJack who wrote (18746)	5/25/2007 3:44:31 PM
From: longnshort	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 218621

JAY AMBROSE: A Chinese civil war? -- Scripps Howard News Service Published: Tuesday, May 22, 2007 Peter Drucker, the late management guru with vast knowledge of many things and a knack for accurate prediction, once said China could be on its way to one of two futures: It could become a great economic power, or it could blow up in civil war. Evidence of both possibilities has recently been in the news. Support for the first and more ballyhooed of these alternative directions could be found in headlines about U.S.-Chinese trade talks that could not help focusing on how much more China exports to us than we export to them, a demonstration of what an enormous manufacturing giant this Asian nation of 1.3 billion people already is. But then there were other news accounts, coming to readers not from Washington as top-level officials negotiated with each other, but from rural villages in southwestern China as thousands of peasants gave vent to outrage over tough, ugly official attempts to enforce limits on the number of children allowed per family. There were protests, and then there were arrests and the confiscation of valuables from homes. So next the peasants attacked a government compound, turning over cars and setting buildings on fire. Before it was over, five people were killed. If this were an isolated eruption, it might signify little. It is far from it. There are in fact tens of thousands of such protests annually, according to China's own reports, and they point to a reality that is inescapable, as much as the Chinese government might want to escape from it. While some 400 million urban Chinese in coastal areas are fueling a prosperity making itself felt worldwide, some 900 million rural peasants in the hinterland are toiling in poverty. They have been left out. They are not part of the new China, and they are unhappy not just because of that and the contrast between the little they have with how much others have, but because of the way they are so often treated. One example is the Chinese birth-control policy. Supposedly, the government is less quick now to force abortions when it's found a pregnant woman has already one child, but that did reportedly happen in this latest incident, along with fines as high as $9,000 for families found to have violated the law as long as a quarter-century ago. The government also confiscates farmland for various purposes, such as building an electricity plant. Local officials are often corrupt, reports say. Taxes are high. And meanwhile, it is also reported, the peasants have come to a new "rights consciousness," a sense that they are entitled to remedies that aren't made available to them. Can China's one-party, dictatorial government find the means to more successfully and quickly integrate its peasants into the coastal prosperity and simultaneously to afford more justice to them and mollify their anger? One study indicates officials have been quicker to brag about rural accomplishments than to achieve them, and the government's record on justice is hardly inspiring. Despite hopes that free markets would lead to more freedom politically and that Western engagement with China would have a liberating influence, some scholars note, the government continues to exact tough controls on free speech and to disallow freedom of association. Get together with others to advocate something the government doesn't like, and you may soon find yourself doing hard labor in a so-called reform camp. Few, of course, would dispute China's economic miracle. The country's growth rate is nothing short of phenomenal, and for that, the Chinese deserve great credit. No one should underestimate what they can achieve as they face various difficulties, even one as large as how they can lift 900 million peasants out of poverty. But it might also be worth listening to what Peter Drucker said to an interviewer some years back. "China," he reflected, "has seen a peasant rebellion every 50 years, and the last was Mao's, 50 years ago."