Sorry for being absent the past few days. The internet issue at home has STILL not been resolved and school is really getting manic.

But to show you that it's not a waste...I will have you know that my grades are currently all A's. I got 100% on my Diplomacy midterm and a 99.5% on my US Security Midterm. I also received a 91.2% on my Classical Democratic Theory midterm and a 94% on my American Foreign Policy midterm. Now I know what many of you are thinking. "Who cares?" Well me for one! This is coming from a guy who graduated high school with 2.14 GPA. I don't know if GPA's work the same in the UK and the rest of the world, but that basically makes me borderline retarded.

Anyway...no more excuses. I'm going to try and post soon as possible! Just bear with me for two more weeks. On the 15th I have a term paper due that I haven't started yet. Eek! Btw...anyone have any opinions (hard facts puh-leeze) on how/why China does or does not represent the next great threat to United State hegemony.

Once again...facts or opinions based on reasonable data. NO U.S. BASHING! Thanks kiddies. I will of course try to post well before the 15th, I'm just warning you this paper will be time consuming.

Thanks ladies and gents!

BASTARD!!!! JUST WHEN THE BOARDS GETTING INTERESTING!!!!!!!!!!



Seriously tho, fucking excellent job Jamesy. Keep it up!

Well, having gone thru school myself, put two of my own thru school and now a granddaughter attending school, I can't say enough about a good education, regardless of one's past efforts.

With a son who DIDN'T graduate from high school, but who is taking an alternative schooling, he's gotten his GED and is working on getting his diploma AS WELL AS taking a trade that will take him far, if he chooses. Which just goes to show that when one is determined, nothing is beyond you.

As for the gaps between writing, two weeks is enough to make me chew nails but then, two weeks is nothing compared to the near-year of posting drought we've just busted up. :)

China? Well, I'd have to say that it's all wrapped up in economics (imports/exports, supply and demand, cash flows, etc...). Unless they have a longevity serum, I think the US and China are likely to bolster each other. Facts? Nothing concrete, really, mostly what I've picked up thru news channels, talking with friends and such on the internet, newspaper articles, etc... That and some speculation on my own. :shock: Good Fortune on that article. :)

[quote:39c570d9c1="Gabriel"]But to show you that it's not a waste...I will have you know that my grades are currently all A's. I got 100% on my Diplomacy midterm and a 99.5% on my US Security Midterm. I also received a 91.2% on my Classical Democratic Theory midterm and a 94% on my American Foreign Policy midterm. Now I know what many of you are thinking. "Who cares?" Well me for one! This is coming from a guy who graduated high school with 2.14 GPA. I don't know if GPA's work the same in the UK and the rest of the world, but that basically makes me borderline retarded.[/quote:39c570d9c1]

Hey good work! :)

[quote:39c570d9c1="Gabriel"]On the 15th I have a term paper due that I haven't started yet. Eek![/quote:39c570d9c1]

I'm in the same boat, my last exam is on the 16th.

[quote:39c570d9c1="Gabriel"]Btw...anyone have any opinions (hard facts puh-leeze) on how/why China does or does not represent the next great threat to United State hegemony.[/quote:39c570d9c1]

From an economist's point of view, China is fast racing up the World's Largest Economies chart and possesses the capacity to generate massive global power. Low cost manufacturing is only going to attract more business and therefore China's GDP will continue to grow. This economic expansion will allow them to continue to increase spending on defence. From what I understand, China's weapons were mainly derived from obsolete Soviet weapons but now they're spending some of that new revenue on an arsenal of missiles, many of which can reach great distances. In short, China has huge potential and with its recently expanded missile forces, it could well pose a future threat.

Personally I believe a second cold war, between the US and China, is imminent.

This is just my opinion, formed from what I have read in the news and learned in macro-economics. I'll search my uni database and see if the library has anything you can reference.

What is your point of view?

Ok, that's it. I bow to the superior views. :shock:

Go BATTY!! :)

To my knowledge, and I admit I am not as up on this stuff as I used to be, the Chinese are building a US style navy complete with real aircraft carriers and nuclear attack submarines as good or better than the 688-I class of the mid to late 90's. Their carriers will employ super sonic fixed wing aircraft with extended ranges. Missile guidance systems are at least as good as the US from the mid to late 90s (as we GAVE it to them, thank you President Clinton). All of this information is available from Janes Fighting Ships. They don't need all of this technological prowess and might to take Taiwan. They are being geared for one thing and one thing only, inevitable war with the US and her satelite states fighting with modified US Naval doctrine.

Batty is right, there is a Cold War starting, but I doubt it will be cold for long. In my humble opinion (not that I am particularly informed, but everyone is entitled to my opinion), it will come first against the remnants of the US 7th Fleet based in the South China sea area, then they will hammer Oz, as there is no way Australia or any of the Commonwealth states will sit by and let an eastern state upset the balance of power.
The US is not preparing for this threat as evidenced by the closing down of military bases, cancellation of defense contracts, and general state of decay of military preparedness. The US is analogous to the Roman Empire just before the East/West split: we've still got lots of high tech toys and still the best trained military in the world, but the decadence, corruption, and creature comforts are taking over. Pax Americana is ending.

I don't mind Chinese food really. I'll just have to keep track of my cats.
The nifty thing is, all the Muslim states that the US is bashing around will again become our allies. The Communist (and by default atheistic) Chinese are arguably more repugnant to the fundamentalist Muslims than the decadent west. The Chinese are sure to do all manners of nasty things to the Muslim population of South East Asia, particularly Indonesia and Malaysia as they are located in the main east west shipping lanes. That's another reason Australia and the British Commonwealth forces will be in on it. The Chinese cannot have a western warrior state parked on the edge of their theater of operations. Oz has a reputation for being some of the most disciplined and courageous fighters around. In Korea the commies were afraid of two military groups, the Turks and the Aussies, NOT the US.

Robert A Heinlein - The Sixth Column (aka The Day After Tomorrow).

The US army (now down to 4 scientists in a bunker hiding in the occupied US) invent an uber weapon and use it to defeat the evil Chinee.

Damnable Chinese.

Pah! I say good luck to them!

Who are we to say which country should rise to power? For all you know, the world could be a better place with China at the helm.

Imagine this, if you will. Each country continues to move manufacturing to China. You gotta love those low overheads. As time goes on, there are fewer and fewer local producers while almost everything is imported from China. Then, one sunny day, China says "hey, looky! We've got a virtual monopoly! You silly westerners! Ha!" and they DOUBLE or TRIPLE the price of everything. Or worse. Then what do you do? You can't buy a car, you can't buy a shirt... it's all Chinese made and now you're fucked. Further more, with the total lack of respect for patents and copyright, China can make any old thing they want, including medication. Did you know that China copies all the new medications and manufactures it locally? They've got stuff that is so new it hasn't been released in Australia yet and they're already bootlegging it.

China is on the road to self sufficiency and it will be at the expense of the rest of the world.

Just a few weeks ago I linked [on my website] to an article about the Chinese government's bid to control content on its news websites. They have installed surveillance in internet cafes and require visitors to register with ID cards in order to use the medium. They are shutting down personal websites and censoring internet communications to ensure the rest of the world only knows what the government wants them to know.

Be afraid...

[quote:f3a591ae76="Porter"]Pah! I say good luck to them!

Who are we to say which country should rise to power? For all you know, the world could be a better place with China at the helm.[/quote:f3a591ae76]

Thanks but I'd rather not live under communist rule.

hmmm ok well if you put it like that.....


let's nuke them back into the stone age

There are MANY other options other than rule or be ruled.

Although many people take a pessimistic view of global politics, I feel a certain amount of optimism is due. Globalism, if properly implemented (ie not the way it right now), can be a great deterrence to armed conflict. Barring corruption and self interest in NGO's like the WTO, WHO, etc, it bind governments and makes boundaries more porous.

Take into consideration the effect of informational technology and the internet and I think we have a world that it will be inreasingly difficult to segregrate.

China isn't the Soviet Union. They don't seem to have classical empirical ambitions and don't SEEM (at least in my opinion) to hold the expansionist views of the USSR. They're more concerned with economic dominance, which with free trade and their MASSIVE manufacturing abilities they stand to excel in.

My current thesis is that it's not a military threat, but a definite rival to American hegemony. Of course, I'm far from finished on my project, and even so I've barely scratched the surface of the issue so your guess is as good as mine.

[quote:d9bce9ec77="Porter"]hmmm ok well if you put it like that.....


let's nuke them back into the stone age[/quote:d9bce9ec77]

Nah, just back to a time when we could control them by dominating the opium trade. That's not THAT far back really.

[quote:d9bce9ec77="Gabriel"]
China isn't the Soviet Union. They don't seem to have classical empirical ambitions and don't SEEM (at least in my opinion) to hold the expansionist views of the USSR. They're more concerned with economic dominance, which with free trade and their MASSIVE manufacturing abilities they stand to excel in.
[/quote:d9bce9ec77]

China is much much scarier than the Soviet Union as we do not understand them at all. The Soviets were predictable. God only knows what the Chinese are about. Plus with 20% of their population not in a position to marry or even have any meaningful relationship, because there are not enough women to go around and a system that puts a much lower value on human life, they've got enough unattached men to fill an army that would have more soldiers in it than the US has citizens.

This is slightly off topic but I want to mention it here because it could be related. This morning I caught the end of a report on China's space ambitions in which some guy was saying that China is planning a moon landing during which they will prove the US never landed there. It makes me wonder what is their motivation.

Suppose for a moment that the US staged the landing and China proves it. The moon landing, from my point of view, is a very proud moment in American history. Can you imagine the fall-out if it was faked?