Posted on 06/22/2005 10:10:14 AM PDT by BringBackMyHUAC
ping
A friend of mine recently returned from Shanghai, and said it's like Blade Runner there, all fueled by the transfer of free world jobs. However, the pollution was worse than Mexico City (where she went last month), there were NO health regulations for restaurants, and a new, fifteen-story building collapsed while she was there. FYI.
Now where did I put that "Chinese For Dummies" book???
They may be swallowing more than they can chew.
Brainstorming thread on the topic of Red Chinese buy outs:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1428168/posts
That may be true, but allowing the purchases of oil/gas corporations is a national security risk in the extreme. We WILL be at war with China in the next 20 years.
==They may be swallowing more than they can chew.
True. Unfotunately they may be swallowing more than WE can chew as well. I really don't understand the leaders of this country any more. It's like we are being led by a bunch of Neville Chamberlains. In short, we need new leadership in our nation's capital. It would be great if we could start by un-electing John McCain.
Remember the Yugo? it is a universally recognized name (bad!).
The ownership of a substantial portion of American oil and gas production by an agency of a foreign government is unacceptable, even were it a historically friendly nation like Britain. The fact that the ownership will be that of China makes the threat even worse. Congress should act to prohibit the deal, the sooner the better.
Blade Runner? She must have been on Nanjing Lu Road at night. Very beautiful. Was there in May, not any more polluted than our large cities (and much less so than say, L.A.). Now if you want pollution, go to Tianjin. Ewwww!
Shanghai is China's economic center (like NYC), compared to Beijing which is the cultural/governing center (D.C.). Shanghai has always been the most "Western" city in China, from exposure to the Western powers as the main trading port back in the early 20th Century. Wife & I enjoyed our trip to both cities, and the common folk were friendly and helpful. (Not to say their gov't won't do something stupid and we have to put them down)
Your comment about the Chinese people was the telling point. Everyone I've spoken to has mentioned how nice they are. Of course, most EVERYONE EVERYWHERE is nice if you approach them with respect.
Didn't the Japs try this once?
I don't see the problem. They are buying things that will become nearly worthless if there is any kind of war involving China. That would appear to give them lots of incentive to avoid any war.
==Didn't the Japs try this once?
Yep...however, at least they were our ally at the time (as opposed to Communist China, which still views the US as "the main enemy").
"The Golden Rule" is so amazingly simple, isn't it? Most major religions speak of it (with maybe one notable exception).
Someday in the future, an interplanetary craft will land in D.C., we'll make contact, and ask, "Oh wise travelers, please share with us your universal wisdom"
To which they'll reply, "Ummm... treat others the way you would like to be treated?" :^)
Umm...while I'm a firm believer in the Golden Rule (which originated as we know it with the ancient Greeks, by the way), I was speaking of the political Golden Rule: "He who has the gold, makes the rules." First spoken by Diamond Jim Brady, not quite so long ago.
Or, is this war already? War in the economic dimension ..
That's the key. The "firm" courting UNOCAL is not a firm, it is a government owned monopoly. Therein lies the fatal flaw (for Western countries) in the WTO. The WTO presumes that all commerce will be in the private sector and will only involve private sector players. What happens to the brilliant WTO model when there are government owned monopolies on the playing field?
The post-Mao Chinese Communists are far more astute than the Soviets were. Stalin and his successors were more interested in building a preeminent military force without the complete infrastructure necessary to sustain the cutting edge in technology. Despite the Soviet ability to borrow or steal Western technology and even get Westerners to build factories such as the Fiat auto works and the Kama River truck plant, the absence of rational calculation of costs and benefits in a command economy resulted in overall Communist failure to effectively compete with the United States even with military spending taking up far more of the GNP than in the Western democracies.
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