[Frumious Bandersnatch]

The Chinese have a paradox that they've yet to resolve. Communism and Capitalism are diametrically opposed to each other. As a result, they have far more internal problems than we do. And they refuse to address these. Corruption is endemic. The short-sighted policies concerning forced-abortion will haunt them big time. They are playing funny games with their economy.

The end result is that China may be little more than a hollow shell soon - if not now.

[xcamel]

How quickly people forget that they've been at it for roughly 4000 years. They have an amazingly deep national memory, and have beaten, by assimilation, > 1100 separate invasions and wars.

Even the opium wars and boxer rebellion only involved about 12% of "china proper". The other 88% couldn't have cared less.

Only wholesale individual freedom will take china down from within.

G Khan is reputed to have said that to take on "china" as it was even then, was to be absorbed and consumed, and to be as one was that not even born.

[Baraonda]

**The Chinese have a paradox that they've yet to resolve. Communism and Capitalism are diametrically opposed to each other. As a result, they have far more internal problems than we do.**

A monocultural, monoracial society is internally much more stronger than a multicultural, multiracial society as ours. As a result we have much more internal problems than the Chinese, irrespective of their "paradox." China understands America's internal problems, America either doesn't or the enemy within is hard at work to turn our country into another banana, multi-ethinic country. The latter is the truth.

As long as America's demographics change, and change for the worse, it will continue to isolate itself from the rest of the world.

Legal immigration, even more so than illegal immigration, is destroying the country our European forefathers build into the most powerful country in the world.

[JimSEA]

Communism and Capitalism are diametrically opposed to each other.

The irony is that they, like others before them have created just the society of "haves" vs "have nots" that communists accuse capitalism of creating. Now they have riots by poor farmers and coal miners who are worse off they ten years ago. At the same time the riches of Shanghai create a "Chinese Yuppie" class that is starting to spread their miney around.

It reminds me of the millionare socialists of Mexico in the 1930's that the movie "Frieda", in my opinion, unintentionally ridiculed(Diego Rivera never missed a meal or went to bed sober in life or on film).

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

I tend to agree. Their dependence upon foreign trade could prove to be their Achilles' heel. Their internal problems may break their own back. Love him or hate him, Nixon helped to put them in this predicament.

However, even a wounded tiger is dangerous. My fear is that if they deteriorate from Cold War II as the Soviets did, they may well lob a couple nukes at our west coast. This they can now do, thanks to Bill Clinton and his co-president Hillary. If they didn't have nukes, we may not even have entered into Cold War II. It may have remained strictly a trade war.