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Politics : Canadian Political Free-for-All -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Greg or e who wrote (12246)	10/4/2007 12:42:48 PM
From: Richnorth	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 37527

At the moment, China is on a roll, and it is not about to spoil things for itself by aggressively building its military might solely for aggression and/or war with the US. To be sure, China realises it is very vulnerable. For example, a nuke fallout, or biotoxins released, on its water system will put lots of Chinese out of commission in a jiffy! By the way, China has no history of having been a colonising power. In the past, it did occupy some lands adjoining its borders but not for long. For example, during the Sino-Indian War, China attacked and captured Arunchal Pradesh and Ladakh (disputed territories wherein the residents look more like Chinese than Indian) in early October 1962 and left by 20th November 1962 after announcing a ceasefire unilaterally. Yes, China is constantly strengthening its military. But it is doing this primarily for defense. For years, Rumsfeld, the former US Secretary of Defense, used to harp on China's military huge expenditures (despite the absence of any threat) to such an extent that it seemed he wanted to stigmatize China as a potentially dangerous enemy. In a BBC announcement, a Chinese ambassador retorted by pointing out that the US military budget alone exceeds by far the combined military budgets of the rest of the world and, as the population of China dwarfs that of the US by a factor of about 5, the per capita military spending in China is much less than that in the US! In what seemed to be a message aimed at Rumsfeld and the US, the Chinese Ambassador shouted into the mike, "Shut up! If Taiwan declares independence, we will attack! We have no choice." This, to me, means that China is building up its military muscle to prevent Taiwan from being emboldened enough by the US to declare independence. Ever since that Amassador's announcement, there were no more gratuitous criticisms from Rumsfeld right up to the time he was removed from office (ostensibly, I believe, as he still occupies an office in the Pentagon, according to Nancy Pelosi). By the way, unconfirmed reports stated that China now has laser weapons that could blind enemy satellites, missiles that could shoot down enemy satellites and sonic torpedoes to convert enemy aircraft carriers into "floating graveyards". Of course, the US could upgrade its weapons systems, too. But that is going to cost so much the US could only afford to do so at the expense of so many other urgent needs like health care and social security & etc. & etc and the war in Iraq (and a possible war with Iran). And don't forget what has happened to the US$ recently. Bad news for the US, eh? To be sure, the next major war, if ever there will be one, is going to be a computerised war --- a war in which computer viruses will play no small part to disrupt communications. Is there a role for foot soldiers? Any ideas, anyone? .

To: Greg or e who wrote (12246)	10/5/2007 11:47:15 AM
From: DeplorableIrredeemableRedneck	Respond to of 37527

Afghan minister praises Canada as 'greatest ally' Peter Goodspeed and Sarah Boesveld, National Post Published: Thursday, October 04, 2007 TORONTO -- In a soft voice that quivered with emotion, Afghanistan's Education Minister Mohammed Atmar told a Toronto audience on Thursday that his countrymen want to thank "every Canadian citizen for what you have been doing in Afghanistan." "You protect our people and advance the basic rights of our people," he said. "Our government is so proud to convey to you that you are our greatest ally -- an ally that we depend upon, an ally to be appreciated, an ally that we will long be grateful to." Mr. Atmar's words of praise came on the same day Canada pledged $60-million over four years to education in Afghanistan. Email to a friend Printer friendly Font:****Mr. Atmar paid particular tribute to "the brave Canadian men and women in uniform who are literally protecting my kids as they go to school." What Canada has done in Afghanistan is "something that will be written in golden script in our history books," he said. Speaking at a public forum sponsored by UNICEF, Mr. Atmar said it's natural the focus of the public debate on Afghanistan in Canada would be on security issues and the Canadian military's fight with elements of the outlawed Taliban. But he insisted that while the security situation is challenging, there is a great deal of real progress taking place all over Afghanistan. "What is happening in terms of education is a strategic transformation of society," he said, noting more than six times as many children are going to school now than when the Taliban ruled the country from 1996 to 2001. There are now nearly six million children going to school and 40% of those -- more than two million -- are girls. When the Taliban were in power, it was illegal for girls to go to school, though a small number were secretly educated in underground schools in private homes. The new Canadian money will buy textbooks, fund teacher training, and help build schools, Mr. Atmar said. However, critics questioned whether the money will be properly tracked. The money will go to Afghanistan's Education Quality Improvement Project, one of nine programs managed by the World Bank's Afghanistan Redevelopment Trust Fund (ARTF). But the Senlis Council, an international think-tank that tracks government distribution of humanitarian aid, recently found the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) hasn't put its money where its mouth is, nor have its commitments been clearly tracked. Senlis followed $39-million CIDA transferred to Kandahar last year to see where it was spent. In August, Senlis officials visited the site of a hospital maternity unit CIDA said was to receive $35,000 through UNICEF. When Senlis arrived, they found nothing, not even a tent. When reached Thursday, CIDA spokespeople said the World Bank's ARTF is audited by PriceWaterHouse Cooper, which routinely reports to the World Bank, though it didn't specify how often. It was not confirmed who specifically will ensure Canada's $60-million will be spent on books and building schools. Nor was it specified how often CIDA contacts its organizations to track its finances. For his part, Mr. Atmar said his department is now focusing on training female teachers, so it can further boost female school enrolment. When the current government re-opened Afghanistan's school system in 2002, it had only 20,000 teachers -- a figure that has now grown to 140,000, of whom 40,000 are women. Schools are a visible sign of reconstruction and progress and are frequently attacked by insurgents in Afghanistan. But in spite of the recent increase in attacks by the Taliban, only about 3% of Afghanistan's more than 9,000 schools are threatened, he said. "Canadians need to know this and not give up on Afghanistan," said Nigel Fisher, president of UNICEF Canada. "If you look at a map of Afghanistan, it is important to see that the area of Taliban activity is only one third of the country. Most Canadians don't know that in two thirds of the country, there is considerable progress and the Taliban is not a problem." "Our presence in Afghanistan has to be long-term," Mr. Fisher added, "because development is a long-term issue. And when you look at the chaos that Afghanistan came out of in 2002 -- 25 years of predatory leadership, of foreign invasion and civil war -- you don't turn that around in a couple of years."