[grey_whiskers]

Next article will be India; followed by a wrap-up on what's right with the United States.

Cheers!

[grey_whiskers]

*PING*!

As always, suitable for lining birdcages, at least until avian flu comes around.

Your bandwidth may vary.

Sorry for the delay, but my PC crashed in the middle of the night and I had to re-type the entire article largely from memory: the Microsoft Word recovery program could not rescue the file.

Cheers!

[Tamar1973]

[TheRobb7]

"lipstick on a Pig"

Has anyone noticed that today's (Feb 18, 2007) Google search page has PIGS ON IT?????????

[investigateworld]

Enjoyed the readings. But Jubak has a little problem. He discusses the environment in China as a threat, but in his third article he has this little gem: "But thanks to improved health care, diet and sanitation, Chinese are living longer. "

Kind of undermines the first two?

I'm hardly supportive of a Chinese expansion, but he has to reconcile that statement to the whole series.

[jwh_Denver]

Ping

[SunkenCiv]

FWIW, I wholeheartedly agree, well, at least with the stuff I skimmed. :')

[Alberta's Child]

Very good article, grey_whiskers.

The one item I've always understood to be completely wrong is this whole idea of "currency manipulation."

The Chinese government isn't really depressing the value of their currency by pegging the yuan to the dollar -- they are inflating it.

Without this direct link between the two currencies, the yuan would be completely worthless.

[Jeff Head]

Whether they succeed is problematical: but I would say that they have a fairly short window of opportunity before internal problems in their society cause a major implosion: and short of a Nazi type-lebensraum campaign (*), I see no way for China to supplant the West should such an implosion occur.

I agree with most all of what you have written. I think the chinese leadership understands this, but they also are using an almost fascist approach to their economy to sustain it much longer than the old Lenin, Stalin, or Mao models allowed for.

The problem with fascism is that it can develop to a point of not only being sustainable, but of being a powerhouse if its people get behind it. Reference the Germans, who put out in shear numbers and technology, as a relatively small nation, a wartime economy that it took the combined mass of the rest of the developed nations (outside of Italy and Japan) to put down.

If that ever happens with the 1.3 billion Chinese...well, the prospect is frightening. But I think something along those lines is exactly what the CCP is working towards.

So, how will they do it? The Nazis did it during very severe financial times by instilling pride in the people in being Germans. Old areas were reincorporated into the Reich (Sudetland, Austria, Czeck, etc.), major infrastructure building (highways, waterworks, etc.), etc.

Watch out for these in China...their nationalsim and cultural pride is something that can be exploited by their leaders, just like the Germans were exploited by their leaders.

In the mean time, the window is there...how long they will be able to keep it open, and how they will go about maintaining their position should it begin to close is anyone's guess...but it is not likely to be pretty IMHO.

[Chgogal]

BTTT!

Dear grey_whiskers,

This is an excellent vanity post. If you have a ping list please put me on it. I'm looking forward to both of your articles.

Chgogal

[M. Espinola]

Yet another 'Red' China point to ponder.

Year of Pig will bring plagues, disasters and unrest: Chinese fortune-tellers

[Paul Ross]

BUMP!

[PaleoBob]

A very large factor in the evolution of China as a world power and its relationship with the USA relates to how the communists end up dealing with Taiwan (ROC). Right now, many of the old liners in the PLA want to invade Taiwan by 2012. If they are persuasive, and China moves on Taiwan, the idea that “we won the Cold War” might be seen as laughable.

[bitt]

FLASHBACK and timely for today!