[Constitution Day]

Steyn ping, please?

[knighthawk]

Ping

[knews_hound]

bttt

[Strategerist]

The China-Russia border thing is an interesting one; the Chinese believe that they were unfairly screwed out of Siberia by the Treaty of Nerchinsk and a couple of following treaties; they are generally as upset about this as they are about Taiwan but it goes little noticed in the West.

[LonePalm]

I remember a joke from the '80s in that it was 2050 and Reagan and Gorbachov were in heaven and looking over the side of a cloud. Gorbachov says, "It looks like the stock market is down another 150 points to a ten year low." Reagan sighs and says, "Yes, and it looks like there is renewed fighting on the German/Chinese border."

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[goldstategop]

Both Russia and China are embracing to solve the other's problems. This is a vastly different world from the one in which Russia and China would be at war when Russia was an expansionist superpower under the late USSR. How times change.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[kidd]

In fact, it was the prime minister of Canada who last year stood up in public and declared that China was the most important nation in the southern hemisphere.

I hadn't heard this before.

What a hoot!

[.cnI redruM]

>>>>I wonder if they’re doing the same with the far more consequential death of Russia.

No, if you know anything about the Russia Analyst Community in the US Military the answer to that is a big "No." They have, however, had a hard time getting anyone's ear at all since The Berlin Wall came down.

[KC_Conspirator]

Interesting. I always find the experts wront in predicting the future, especially liberal prognosticators.

In the early 70's, we had Paul Erlich and his liberal minions of the Club of Rome telling us about the "Population Bomb" and how western life would be unsustainable. In the 80's we had liberals telling us that communism was the wave of the future. Keynesians everywhere told us that the Soviet Union had a superior and healthy economy. (There is one famous liberal jackball ecnomist who said this, but I cannot recall his name now).

Hey by the late 80's and early 90's we were told of the strong and growing German economy. But that was not the worst of it. Japan had been so successful and buying up American real estate, like Rockefeller Plaza, that we were told that Japan's economy was the model for the future and we would all have Japanese businessmen eating sushi off of our women's naked bodies.

They were all wrong, wrong, wrong. And now we are told that Communist China is the wave of the future? Maybe India? (Large populations have never been the sole factor in world influence)

One thing I know is that is its been bad business to bet against America, as George Soros just found out.

[A Longer Name]

Steyn correctly warns against extrapolating the trends of the last couple of decades in case of China. Then he goes ahead and does the same for Russia. Russia had had a very bad century, but she is coming out of it. Yes, the transition from Communism to a normal economy is not pretty. But eventually this transition will be over, and, given normal economy, Russia has a lot going for it.

[A Longer Name]

In China, there are one-and-a-half billion and they need lebensraum.

I don't think China would ever invade Russia. The Chinese have been living right next door to Siberia for thousands of years but never thought of conquering it or settling there. Why? Because it frigging Siberia, that's why! I guess it takes northern folk to even think of moving there.

(Yes, I know that some Chinese from the border regions are attracted by the economic opportunities and cross the border. This is not exactly the same as military invasion.)

[Gritty]

Steyn gives a head fake by wondering aloud about China and finishing by dooming Russia.

He's probably right. The only problem is, after they take Siberia, there still won't be enough women to go around for all the bachelor Chinamen.

[alwaysconservative]

Okay, I'll bite: what is or are lebensraum? I would guess that it is the German word for ladies, but there are many, many people here more knowledgable than I am about this stuff.

[UnklGene]

We're not all National Review subscribers, soooo..., we couldn't read your post. (and we all love Steyn!)

[Constitution Day]

Hope you enjoyed the Steyn article. I won't be posting another.

[Optimus Prime]

Can someone FReepmail me a copy of the article? Thanks.