That unarmed ship was probably full of drunken sailors…
China’s Navy expansion “no threat to others”
U.S. watching, not worried about China carrier-admiral
Pentagon: Chinese vessels harassed unarmed ship
[nothing further]
Oh, wait, I just thought of something!
- - - - - - - - -
Here’s some blab from the third story. Sure do wish they'd supplied pictures:
The Pentagon charged Monday that five Chinese ships shadowed and maneuvered dangerously close to a U.S. Navy vessel in an apparent attempt to harass the American crew.
The Obama administration said the incident Sunday followed several days of “increasingly aggressive” acts by Chinese ships in the region.
[…]
A Chinese intelligence ship and four others surrounded the USNS Impeccable, an unarmed vessel with a civilian merchant marine crew, as the craft conducted ocean surveys in international waters in the South China Sea, the Defense Department said in a statement.
The Impeccable sprayed one ship with water from fire hoses to force it away. Despite the force of the water, Chinese crew members stripped to their underwear and continued closing within 25 feet, the Defense department said.
Whowee! Underwear shots!
Then there is this howler from a Pentagon spokesman:
“We expect Chinese ships to act responsibly and refrain from provocative activities that could lead to miscalculation or a collision at sea, endangering vessels and the lives of U.S. and Chinese mariners…”
Sure we do. We were just saying that the other day. The Baron, munching on crumpets, opined, “isn’t it wonderful how responsibly the Chinese have acted down through the ages? Pass the cream, please.”
I did as he requested, but I was inscrutable about it.
8 comments:
I have been screaming for years about the potential China threat and have always been "poo pooed" as paranoid and alarmist by liberals and conservatives alike.
"They wouldnt dare do anything! It is not in their best interest." That is the one I would hear the most. Dont worry about the fact that they regularly spy and steal our high tech secrets. Hack our systems on a regular basis and counterfeit anything they can get their hands on. Naval, space and global expansion? Nothing to see here, move along please. When things go bad and food and water are no longer sustainable in China they are not going to simply ask nicely. Oh and by the way I forgot, they ARE Communists are they not?
Following their formal one-child policy and their strong cultural preference for sons, decades of gender selective abortion, killing of female newborns by exposure in more backward areas and until recently, international adoption of daughters, there is a large surplus of young men spoiled by their families into feeling entitled yet with no access to women in China. What do countries with such a surplus of testosterone do to avert thoughts of rebellion? They divert it outward into war against supine pacifist societies ripe for the picking.
One wonders whether communist leaders did not start their praised population control program with this very outcome in mind, as they well knew their culture's demand for sons that carries over even when Chinese emigrate to the West. That's another nasty multicultural secret that our feminists are silent about - selective female abortion because those doing it are largely non-white cultures and abortion for feminists is a Holy Grail not to be denied or criticized for any reason.
In addition, the Chinese state is extremely chauvinist and nationalistic with the propaganda machine (including education, lying media coverage and sloganeering) to stir up its entire population against the West. What Internet blogging is allowed bristles with hostility toward the West. As usual, the West has seen only what it wants to see as witnessed by the awarding and course of the recent Olympics which were a successful nationalism booster and showcase for another enemy, nothing more.
China has aided the West's other enemy, Islamic states through selling them arms for oil but is tiring of mere proxy attacks sapping our money and treasure and wants in on the fun itself.
Of course, except as a real rather than virtual war game to amuse its young male cohort, China doesn't need to fire a shot. As soon as it thinks it can crash the American economy without undue hardship to its own population to keep them from revolting, China will do so. Rather than make new debt, a wise President would put America's financial house in order, decreasing its debt to China. Instead, we have a leftist ideologue in the White House more in sympathy with China's way of doing things than the American way he despises and is helping wreck even as we speak.
Very interesting, and shocking as well.
I bet that those seas will be calmer because there will be a tendence to achieve a balance between China and Japan.
But, will Taiwan survive Obama?
I've always thought Taiwan wouldn't. Even if it was McCain. That's how I still am surprised by the docility of the Chinese.
The question stands: Will Taiwan survive Obama?
Laine, nice thoughts:
"What do countries with such a surplus of testosterone do to avert thoughts of rebellion? They divert it outward into war against supine pacifist societies ripe for the picking."
Which societies? I think the Chinese will not invade military their neighbours. There is Taiwan of course, but I bet all that testosterone will be sent as immigrants which may undermine other Nations. Now, to where will the immigrants go?
1)Russia of course.
2)Europe as they are looking for women.
3)North America and those prepositional Nations.
4)Latin America. Surprisngly there are big East Asian comunities in Latin American countries like Peru, Equador, Brasil and many others. And the population is growing.
5) Australia and New Zeeland, which is their near Europe once they want a liberal society with lots of "slutty" women.
They may go to South East Asia as well but those people are already so fed up with Chinese that is probable that they will not risk even more Chinese in. They will do everything not to provoke their powerfull neighbour.
But of course, Taiwan is always there. And the truth is that the Chinese men are sent to all around the planet in business where they found small but usually wealthy communities.
"One wonders whether communist leaders did not start their praised population control program with this very outcome in mind, as they well knew their culture's demand for sons that carries over even when Chinese emigrate to the West."
Interesting...
"As soon as it thinks it can crash the American economy without undue hardship to its own population to keep them from revolting, China will do so."
Yes but... with +1 billion population, I don't know how will the Chinese be able to abuse the U.S. without much suffeing inflicted upon China itself. On the other hand, there's no chance the U.S.A. will try to humiliate China like they work to humiliate Russia. That's, I think, the preciousness of that share of the American treasaure.
Most Americans do not realize that there are many, many USN ships that are staffed by unarmed merchant marines. Most Navy supply ships are unarmed, including oilers!, and staffed by civilians even though the boats are owned by the USN.
The more I read columns in the Taipei Times (www.taipeitimes.com) and some accompanying commentary - I have to wonder if the current KMT leadership needs any help from Obama to sell out their own country to the "chicoms". I mean, this is still the KMT we're talking about - Chang Kai Shek's party (although opinions about the generalissimo seem to have changed over the succeeding decades too).
@ Tuan Jim
With an apearently less Communist and ever more powerfull China, especially when it alouds some freedom towards Hong Kong and Macau and is trying to transform Xangai in a Chinese built Hong Kong, it is no wonder that Taiwan will be atracted towards China. Especially if the Chinese create the illusion (or more than just illusion) that the Taiwanese will continue to enjoy their "Taiwanese prosperity".
This of course is nonesense because Taiwan is not built on itself but rather in American and Japanese/(South Korean as well) money. If the Chinese take over, how will the money still flow as it used to be?
"KMT (...) Chang Kai Shek"
There's no more Mao anymore either.
KMT (...) Chang Kai Shek"
There's no more Mao anymore either.
Afonso,
While it is true that Mao is dead, he is still very much revered in China. Having been to China recently I can tell you that there are huge pictures of him all over the place. Every denomination of the yuan has a picture of him. In fact, we americans started calling the yuan "Maos" as in "how many Maos does it cost?" Mao's resting place is smack in the middle of Tienamin square and on the day we were there the line to view his casket was several thousand people long!
Having also been to Taiwan I can tell you that Chang Kai Shek is still held in high esteem. There are public gardens with scores of sculptures of his likeness. One garden even had a temple in the middle of it which we assumed was where you could actually pray to him!
My point is that while these two are clearly dead, they are still very much on the minds of the Chinese people.
That's just part and parcel of China's long history of veneration for ancestors and emperors. They have no emperors any more, so instead they substitute Mao and Chang Kai Shek.
Afonso, I must take issue with your characterisation of Taiwan being built on American money. They do a great deal of trade in electronic goods and clothing with the entire western world. Taiwan, with a fraction of China's population and reserve fund, out-performs China on an absolute basis - not even a per capita basis but in absolute terms - in electronics and similar manufacturing. Chances are the majority of your computer is built there. If you own a laptop it's almost definitely built there.
It's no different in concept to the big cotton giants in Great Britain in the mid 19th century, just more high tech. Are you going to say that Britain was built on European money because it could leverage its population so efficiently back then?
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