The view from China: the United States is no longer seen as “that awesome, nor is it trustworthy"

from the nyt...

China views the United States as a declining power, but at the same time believes that Washington is trying to fight back to undermine, and even disrupt, the economic and military growth that point to China’s becoming the world’s most powerful country, according to the analyst, Wang Jisi, the co-author of “Addressing U.S.-China Strategic Distrust,” a monograph published this week by the Brookings Institution in Washington and the Institute for International and Strategic Studies at Peking University.

[...]

The United States is no longer seen as “that awesome, nor is it trustworthy, and its example to the world and admonitions to China should therefore be much discounted,” Mr. Wang writes of the general view of China’s leadership.

[...]

“It is now a question of how many years, rather than how many decades, before China replaces the United States as the largest economy in the world,” he adds.

in an interview, the brookings representative was quoted as saying that there is an increasing belief on both sides that the two countries would be "antagonistic in 15 years"...

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Hilarious...! Chinese reverse engineering...

hey... you gotta admire the chinese... they can sure figure things out... u.s. stealth technology was adapted from technology developed by the germans in the last years of wwii (another interesting story, i'm sure) and first put into regular use in the early 70s, although rumors are that it was in use even prior to that... but it only took the chinese slightly over 10 years to take what the u.s. had and make it part of their own defense arsenal... the biggest slap in the face was introducing it as secretary gates was making his big visit to china a couple of weeks ago and just prior to hu jintao's visit to d.c. this past week... no fools, those chinese...

Chinese officials recently unveiled a new, high-tech stealth fighter that could pose a significant threat to American air superiority — and some of its technology, it turns out, may well have come from the U.S. itself.

Balkan military officials and other experts have told The Associated Press that in all probability the Chinese gleaned some of their technological know-how from an American F-117 Nighthawk that was shot down over Serbia in 1999.

Nighthawks were the world's first stealth fighters, planes that were very hard for radar to detect. But on March 27, 1999, during NATO's aerial bombing of Serbia in the Kosovo war, a Serbian anti-aircraft missile shot one of the Nighthawks down. The pilot ejected and was rescued.

It was the first time one of the much-touted "invisible" fighters had ever been hit. The Pentagon believed a combination of clever tactics and sheer luck had allowed a Soviet-built SA-3 missile to bring down the jet.

The wreckage was strewn over a wide area of flat farmlands, and civilians collected the parts — some the size of small cars — as souvenirs.

"At the time, our intelligence reports told of Chinese agents crisscrossing the region where the F-117 disintegrated, buying up parts of the plane from local farmers," says Adm. Davor Domazet-Loso, Croatia's military chief of staff during the Kosovo war.

yep, the chinese are definitely slick operators...

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Obama may be a nice man personally but he's the spokesperson for American hypocrisy

and nothing exemplifies that hypocrisy better than the ritual bearding of chinese leaders over human rights as obama did today with chinese president hu jintao...

read this carefully, particularly the section where i have taken the liberty to add emphasis...

Mr. Obama said that when it comes to differences on human rights, “I have been very candid with President Hu.”

[...]

After promoting the virtues of Chinese and American cooperation at the ceremony, the president — the 2009 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize — used the ceremony to deliver a gentle reminder to China, which is holding the 2010 winner of the prize, Liu Xiaobo, as a political prisoner.

“We also know this,” the president said: “History shows that societies are more harmonious, nations are more successful and the world is more just when the rights and responsibilities of all nations and all people are upheld, including the universal rights of every human being.”

well, mr. obama, i couldn't agree more and your words would carry a great deal more weight with me, with many of my countrymen and with a large chunk of the rest of the world IF we didn't have to take into account some supremely inconvenient facts...

glenn, in a post yesterday, enumerates the ongoing rule of law and human rights abuses of our own government, abuses that were pushed hard in the bush/cheney administration, abuses that now, in way too many instances, are being maintained and even strengthened by the obama administration, and how, in a sad ironic twist, obama is now reaping praise from the very bush/cheney officials that brought us these abuses in the first place...

Gen.[former Bush NSA and CIA Director Michael] Hayden put it best, as quoted by The Washington Times:

"You've got state secrets, targeted killings, indefinite detention, renditions, the opposition to extending the right of habeas corpus to prisoners at Bagram [in Afghanistan]," Mr. Hayden said, listing the continuities. "And although it is slightly different, Obama has been as aggressive as President Bush in defending prerogatives about who he has to inform in Congress for executive covert action."

And that list, impressive though it is, doesn't even include the due-process-free assassination hit lists of American citizens, the sweeping executive power and secrecy theories used to justify it, the multi-tiered, "state-always-wins" justice system the Obama DOJ concocted for detainees, the vastly more aggressive war on whistleblowers and press freedoms, or the new presidential immunity doctrines his DOJ has invented. Critically, this continuity extends beyond specific policies into the underlying sloganeering mentality in which they're based: we're in a Global War; the whole Earth is the Battlefield; the Terrorists want to kill us because they're intrinsically Evil (not in reaction to anything we do); we're justified in doing anything and everything to eradicate Them; the President's overarching obligation (contrary to his Constitutional oath) is to keep us Safe; this should all be kept secret from us; we can't be bothered with obsolete dogma like Due Process and Warrants, etc. etc.

so, apparently our president feels perfectly justified giving a mini-lecture to the chinese president on human rights, a lecture he and his fellow leaders in china richly deserve... but it seems to me that the power of such a reminder is seriously compromised when the united states has so obviously ceded the moral high ground but steadfastly refuses to admit it... without honesty, humility, transparency and accountability, to say nothing of the strength that comes with living up to our own cherished principles, we haven't got a leg to stand on... so sad...

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You can say a lot of things about China

both positively and negatively, but you can't deny the country never hesitates to invest in its future...

A new high-speed rail link between two inland Chinese cities has cut travel times so dramatically that all competing air services on the route have been suspended, state media said.

The suspension of flights between the industrial city of Zhengzhou and Xian, home of the Terracotta Warriors, came just 48 days after the express train began operations, the official Xinhua news agency said on Friday.

The 505 km (314 miles) line, on which trains run at a top speed of 350 km per hour, has cut the travel time between the two cities from more than six hours to less than two, the report said. By contrast, flying takes just over an hour. Xian's airport is located at least an hour away by road from the city.

Before the new line opened, Joy Air, one of the domestic airlines flying the route, managed to sell an average of more than 60 percent of seats for the route, Xinhua said.

Zhengzhou airport confirmed that all flights to and from Xian had now stopped, the report added.

China is spending billions of dollars on a network of high-speed rail links, including one from Beijing to the country's financial capital Shanghai, posing a challenge to airlines which had profited from China's vast size and slow roads and trains.

By 2012, China would have more than 13,000 km of high-speed lines, Xinhua said.

"By then, 60 percent of China's domestic air market will be affected by the high-speed railways," Liu Chaoyong, general manager of China Eastern Airlines, was quoted as saying.

meanwhile, we in the u.s. continue to dither about amtrak subsidies, tolerate one of the most sub-standard inter-city bus systems in the world and pump endless rivers of cash into highway systems that only breed dependency on the automobile and discourage any investment in public transportation... is the u.s. a great country or what...?

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The 5-year increase in speculative demand for oil is almost equal to the increase in Chinese demand for oil

i posted the other day on the possibility that speculators are purposely driving up oil prices...

here's mike whitney at ich...

“Speculative activity in commodity markets has grown 'enormously' over the past several years," the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee said in a news release. It pointed out that in five years, from 2003 to 2008, investment in the index funds tied to commodities has grown by 20-fold -- to $260 billion from $13 billion.”

And here's a revealing clip from the testimony of Michael W. Masters of Masters Capital Management, LLC, who addressed the issue of “Commodities Speculation” before the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs this week:

“Today, Index Speculators are pouring billions of dollars into the commodities futures markets, speculating that commodity prices will increase. ... In the popular press the explanation given most often for rising oil prices is the increased demand for oil from China. According to the DOE, annual Chinese demand for petroleum has increased over the last five years from 1.88 billion barrels to 2.8 billion barrels, an increase of 920 million barrels.8 Over the same five-year period, Index Speculatorsʼ demand for petroleum futures has increased by 848 million barrels. THE INCREASE IN DEMAND FROM INDEX SPECULATORS IS ALMOST EQUAL TO THE INCREASE IN DEMAND FROM CHINA.

Index Speculators have now stockpiled, via the futures market, the equivalent of 1.1 billion barrels of petroleum, effectively adding eight times as much oil to their own stockpile as the United States has added to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve over the last five years.

Today, in many commodities futures markets, they are the single largest force.15 The huge growth in their demand has gone virtually undetected by classically-trained economists who almost never analyze demand in futures markets.

As money pours into the markets, two things happen concurrently: the markets expand and prices rise. One particularly troubling aspect of Index Speculator demand is that it actually increases the more prices increase. This explains the accelerating rate at which commodity futures prices (and actual commodity prices) are increasing. The CFTC has taken deliberate steps to allow CERTAIN SPECULATORS VIRTUALLY UNLIMITED ACCESS TO THE COMMODITIES FUTURES MARKETS. The CFTC has granted Wall Street banks an exemption from speculative position limits when these banks hedge over-the-counter swaps transactions. This has effectively opened a loophole for unlimited speculation. When Index Speculators enter into commodity index swaps, which 85-90% of them do, they face no speculative position limits. ... The result is a gross distortion in data that effectively hides the full impact of Index Speculation.” (Thanks to Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis; the one “indispensable” financial blog on the Internet)

ya know, i'm in no position to make any judgments on whether this is actually happening or not, but, i gotta say, do i believe it's POSSIBLE...? damn right...!

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Pelosi sucks up to Israel and badmouths Iran

god, i wish she would just go away... permanently...

sucking up to israel...

The speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, said Sunday that when it comes to backing Israel, she and President George W. Bush are united.

Pelosi is leading a bipartisan congressional delegation marking Israel's 60th anniversary. She said the Jewish state was the one issue where American political rivals saw eye to eye. Pelosi is a Democrat, while Bush is a Republican.

"We're not on the opposite sides as far as Israel is concerned," she said. "There are no divisions between Democrats and Republicans when it comes to support for the state of Israel."

trashing iran...

Washington must assert to the rest of the world that if they want to be friends with America, they need to do more to keep Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, visiting US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said Sunday in an exclusive interview with The Jerusalem Post.

Pelosi said the US needed to be more "proactive" in saying to the countries of the world - including Russia, China and the Muslim countries in Asia - that "one of the pillars of US foreign policy is to stop the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction to anyone."

The US needed to make it clear to everyone, including the Europeans, that their polices on this issue would be a term of friendship with the US, and a measuring stick of benefits they could derive from that friendship, she said.

The US cannot stop nuclear proliferation alone, Pelosi said, adding that "if these weapons proliferate, they are a threat to everyone, not just to the US, and not just to Israel."

could she be any more obvious about carrying water for bush...? could she signal any more strongly her support for endless war...?

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World food shortages may provoke riots

hungry people are desperate people... we're sitting on a powder keg with this one...

A global rice shortage that has seen prices of one of the world's most important staple foods increase by 50 per cent in the past two weeks alone is triggering an international crisis, with countries banning export and threatening serious punishment for hoarders.

With rice stocks at their lowest for 30 years, prices of the grain rose more than 10 per cent on Friday to record highs and are expected to soar further in the coming months. Already China, India, Egypt, Vietnam and Cambodia have imposed tariffs or export bans, as it has become clear that world production of rice this year will decline in real terms by 3.5 per cent. The impact will be felt most keenly by the world's poorest populations, who have become increasingly dependent on the crop as the prices of other grains have become too costly.

it isn't just rice, either... it's wheat, corn, and soy as well... look at what took place in argentina the past few weeks over soy...

but, it isn't until the last third and second to the last paragraphs of the article - paragraphs 14 and 15, to be precise - that you get a picture of what's REALLY going on...

Analysts have cited many factors for the rises, including rising fuel and fertiliser expenses, as well as climate change. But while drought is one factor, another is the switch from food to biofuel production in large areas of the world, in particular to fulfil the US energy demands. A continuing change in the global diet is also putting a further squeeze on rice. In China, for example, 100 million rural migrants to the country's big cities have switched from a staple of wheat to rice as they have become wealthier.

Rapid recent price increases are also likely to have a dangerous secondary effect of stoking further inflation in emerging countries, which are already suffering from record oil prices and surging agricultural commodity prices.

"fulfill u.s. energy demands"... haven't i heard that somewhere before...?

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Argentina's president wants to keep citizens fed but she's between a rock and a hard place

what's happening in argentina is a microcosm of the crisis that's threatening food supplies, particularly for the most vulnerable, throughout the world...

the push to biofuels has caused, in argentina as in many other places, a massive rush to clear uncultivated land (driving through the argentine pampa, there are massive fires every few kilometers where cleared natural vegetation is being burned) for soy production, and an equally massive shift to producing soy in lieu of other food crops... a lot of the big players (most notably cargill, the biggest privately-held company in the world that most people have never heard of) are adding vast chunks of land to their already vast holdings, leaving global agricultural production in ever fewer hands... cargill already owns most of its own world-wide distribution network - ports, storage facilities, ships, barges, railroad cars - and that vertical integration, from seed to soil to harvest to shipment to mill, insures a virtual monopolistic control...

the consequences of this is that world food and agricultural commodity prices are soaring world-wide, and national leaders, like cristina fernandez de kirchner, are acutely aware that their citizens, particularly the poor, are at great risk of not being able to afford to eat... thus the export tax increases on soy and similar taxes on rice that have recently been levied in countries such as thailand and vietnam, and on wheat, corn, rice, and soybeans in china in an effort to keep food in the country instead of being exported...

argentina is an agricultural powerhouse, but its farmers, like the rest of its citizens, are fed up with government interference and have been for some time, and their traditional show of frustration is a strike, usually in the form of blockading roads and interfering with the flow of commerce... that's precisely what we've been seeing in the past few weeks after cristina announced the increase in agricultural export taxes...

Almost three weeks of roadblocks by farmers have caused food shortages, paralyzed grain exports from agricultural powerhouse Argentina and turned into a major political conflict for President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

The center-left government said it would give small farmers a rebate on new, higher taxes for soy and sunflower seed exports, as well as other benefits such as compensation for transportation costs for small farmers far from markets.

[...]

But farm leaders said in a news conference they would continue protests that have blocked highways and held back farm goods since March 13, making beef, dairy, chicken and produce scarce in the capital.

here's cristina's dilemma...

The president said on Monday it was important for Argentina to make sure soy did not crowd out other crops that are important for the domestic market.

She said the higher taxes on soy exports would help control inflation on food items in Argentina and added that unbridled soy production could deplete soil quality and has caused deforestation.

imho, she's trying to do the right thing in an impossible no-win situation...

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Well, you see, it's because when WE do it, it's different

no comment necessary, merely irresistible...

U.S. Makes Case About Satellite To Foreign Envoys

The State Department sent cables to all embassies yesterday instructing diplomats to explain to foreign governments how the upcoming attempt to shoot down an out-of-control spy satellite is different from China's destruction of one of its orbiting satellites early last year.

it's all clear to me now...

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George Soros - The Man Republicans Love to Hate

AFP/Getty Images

Bless his soul...............the Financial Times printed his observations Wednesday.

The worst market crisis in 60
years.

The current financial crisis was precipitated by a bubble in the US housing market. In some ways it resembles other crises that have occurred since the end of the second world war at intervals ranging from four to 10 years.

However, there is a profound difference: the current crisis marks the end of an era of credit expansion based on the dollar as the international reserve currency. The periodic crises were part of a larger boom-bust process. The current crisis is the culmination of a super-boom that has lasted for more than 60 years.

[...]

Globalisation allowed the US to suck up the savings of the rest of the world and consume more than it produced. The US current account deficit reached 6.2 per cent of gross national product in 2006. The financial markets encouraged consumers to borrow by introducing ever more sophisticated instruments and more generous terms. The authorities aided and abetted the process by intervening whenever the global financial system was at risk. Since 1980, regulations have been progressively relaxed until they have practically disappeared.

[...]

Everything that could go wrong did. What started with subprime mortgages spread to all collateralised debt obligations, endangered municipal and mortgage insurance and reinsurance companies and threatened to unravel the multi-trillion-dollar credit default swap market. Investment banks' commitments to leveraged buyouts became liabilities. Market-neutral hedge funds turned out not to be market-neutral and had to be unwound. The asset-backed commercial paper market came to a standstill and the special investment vehicles set up by banks to get mortgages off their balance sheets could no longer get outside financing. The final blow came when interbank lending, which is at the heart of the financial system, was disrupted because banks had to husband their resources and could not trust their counterparties. The central banks had to inject an unprecedented amount of money and extend credit on an unprecedented range of securities to a broader range of institutions than ever before. That made the crisis more severe than any since the second world war.

[...]

Although a recession in the developed world is now more or less inevitable, China, India and some of the oil-producing countries are in a very strong countertrend. So, the current financial crisis is less likely to cause a global recession than a radical realignment of the global economy, with a relative decline of the US and the rise of China and other countries in the developing world.

The danger is that the resulting political tensions, including US protectionism, may disrupt the global economy and plunge the world into recession or worse.

The greedy bastards!!!!!! It's no wonder Jesus had a strong dislike of the money-changers.

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"Feeding the lions" in Chinese zoos

i'm not going to excerpt this uk daily mail article describing the truly appalling practices that are attracting ever-increasing crowds to chinese zoos... suffice it to say that it's just one more of a very long list of items that never make it into our controlled media stream...

(and, yes, i DO understand that there's a HUGE cultural gap operating here...)

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Paul Craig Roberts is getting really angry

Roberts isn't pulling any punches. It's amazing how the Republican party is driving out anyone who speaks out against NeoCons and the Bush Administration. Paul Craig Roberts is currently under enormous attack from the NeoCon crooks and their cronies. He doesn't seem to be very intimidated by them.
From the Information Clearing House.

US Hegemony Spawns Russian-Chinese Military Alliance

By Paul Craig Roberts

08/09/07 "ICH " -- -- This week the Russian and Chinese militaries are conducting a joint military exercise involving large numbers of troops and combat vehicles. The former Soviet Republics of Tajikistan, Kyrgkyzstan, and Kazakstan are participating. Other countries appear ready to join the military alliance.

This new potent military alliance is a real world response to neoconservative delusions about US hegemony. Neocons believe that the US is supreme in the world and can dictate its course. The neoconservative idiots have actually written papers, read by Russians and Chinese, about why the US must use its military superiority to assert hegemony over Russia and China.

Cynics believe that the neocons are just shills, like Bush and Cheney, for the military-security complex and are paid to restart the cold war for the sake of the profits of the armaments industry. But the fact is that the neocons actually believe their delusions about American hegemony.

Russia and China have now witnessed enough of the Bush administration’s unprovoked aggression in the world to take neocon intentions seriously. As the US has proven that it cannot occupy the Iraqi city of Baghdad despite 5 years of efforts, it most certainly cannot occupy Russia or China. That means the conflict toward which the neocons are driving will be a nuclear conflict.

In an attempt to gain the advantage in a nuclear conflict, the neocons are positioning US anti-ballistic missiles on Soviet borders in Poland and the Czech Republic. This is an idiotic provocation as the Russians can eliminate anti-ballistic missiles with cruise missiles. Neocons are people who desire war, but know nothing about it. Thus, the US failures in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Reagan and Gorbachev ended the cold war. However, US administrations after Reagan’s have broken the agreements and understandings. The US gratuitously brought NATO and anti-ballistic missiles to Russia’s borders. The Bush regime has initiated a propaganda war against the Russian government of V. Putin.

These are gratuitous acts of aggression. Both the Russian and Chinese governments are trying to devote resources to their economic development, not to their militaries. Yet, both are being forced by America’s aggressive posture to revamp their militaries.
[...]
In a mere 6.5 years the Bush regime has destroyed the world’s good will toward the US. Today, America’s influence in the world is limited to its payments of tens of millions of dollars to bribed heads of foreign governments, such as Egypt’s and Pakistan’s. The Bush regime even thinks that as it has bought and paid for Musharraf, he will stand aside and permit Bush to make air strikes inside Pakistan. Is Bush blind to the danger that he will cause an Islamic revolution within Pakistan that will depose the US puppet and present the Middle East with an Islamic state armed with nuclear weapons?

Considering the instabilities and dangers that abound, the aggressive posture of the Bush regime goes far beyond recklessness. The Bush regime is the most irresponsibly aggressive regime the world has seen since Hitler’s.

If only a sweet young thing would volunteer to give Bush a blowjob so that he can be impeached before he leads us to Armageddon

I have said more than once that conservative Republicans make lousy comedians. The last line may make me revise that opinion. Also, like true humor, his last comment is full of practical sense.
Roberts' assessment of the nuclear issue is not a laughing matter. I have read more than one NeoCon paper that outlines nuclear weapons as being a viable tactical option. Not strategic, but a viable tactical option in modern warfare.
The clock is ticking closer to midnight.

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Could this be why selling out to China was a bad idea?

Why in the world would we let the largest, arguably most repressive, communist country hold so much power over us?
Because a few people here make a lot of money from it.
From the Telegraph.

China threatens 'nuclear option' of dollar sales
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Last Updated: 9:54am BST 08/08/2007

The Chinese government has begun a concerted campaign of economic threats against the United States, hinting that it may liquidate its vast holding of US treasuries if Washington imposes trade sanctions to force a yuan revaluation.

Two officials at leading Communist Party bodies have given interviews in recent days warning - for the first time - that Beijing may use its $1.33 trillion (£658bn) of foreign reserves as a political weapon to counter pressure from the US Congress.
[...]
Described as China's "nuclear option" in the state media, such action could trigger a dollar crash at a time when the US currency is already breaking down through historic support levels.

It would also cause a spike in US bond yields, hammering the US housing market and perhaps tipping the economy into recession. It is estimated that China holds over $900bn in a mix of US bonds.
[...]
He Fan, an official at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, went even further today, letting it be known that Beijing had the power to set off a dollar collapse if it choose to do so.
[...]
The threats play into the presidential electoral campaign of Hillary Clinton, who has called for restrictive legislation to prevent America being "held hostage to economic decicions being made in Beijing, Shanghai, or Tokyo".

She said foreign control over 44pc of the US national debt had left America acutely vulnerable.

Simon Derrick, a currency strategist at the Bank of New York Mellon, said the comments were a message to the US Senate as Capitol Hill prepares legislation for the Autumn session.

"The words are alarming and unambiguous. This carries a clear political threat and could have very serious consequences at a time when the credit markets are already afraid of contagion from the subprime troubles," he said.

A bill drafted by a group of US senators, and backed by the Senate Finance Committee, calls for trade tariffs against Chinese goods as retaliation for alleged currency manipulation.
[...]
Henry Paulson, the US Tresury Secretary, said any such sanctions would undermine American authority and "could trigger a global cycle of protectionist legislation".

Mr Paulson is a China expert from his days as head of Goldman Sachs. He has opted for a softer form of diplomacy, but appeared to win few concession from Beijing on a unscheduled trip to China last week aimed at calming the waters.

This has been the 800lb. gorilla for a long time.
Now, that gorilla may stomp on our already shaky economy. It's nice that the NeoCon man on the job, Paulson, is fighting so hard for us.
What is totally under-reported is the fact that the debt China holds is tied in very closely with mortgage debt in this country.
I will give a very basic summary of why this is true. Mortgage brokers hold your new loan for all of 5 minutes before they sell it "up the line" to various institutions. Eventually, that debt winds up in various investment fund markets. Any investor, anywhere, can invest in those funds to underwrite that debt, with the hope of making a nice return. China holds large investments in those same funds. As our mortgage market collapses, investors like China would be smart to jump out of those funds. So even if they continue their holdings in the bond market, their "nuclear option", China could still trigger a US recession by jumping out of other investment funds. Fun, isn't it.
Great national security policy.
And I still can't buy a good cigar from Cuba.

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The Real Threat To America

It can be argued that the war in Iraq and the war on terror are designed to distract us from the real insidious threat to our nation.
Remember, the Elites and NeoCons use war and fear to foster and enable their actual strategy of consolidating wealth and power.
Thanks to religious extremists playing along (here and abroad), they are gutting the economy of our nation like carpenter ants in an oak tree.
Story courtesy of the BBC

Why the dollar is falling so fast
Analysis
By Steve Schifferes
Economics reporter, BBC News

The US domination of the world economy may be at stake
The US dollar is plunging in world currency markets - and bringing down share prices in its wake.

But why is the dollar under pressure - and what would be the consequences for the US economy if it continues to fall?

Behind the problems of the dollar lies the huge and growing US trade deficit, and the large Federal budget deficit.

A fall in the greenback could hit Asian countries whose governments hold huge foreign currency reserves in dollars
[...]
For many years financial markets have worried about the growing size of the US trade deficit - the difference between the amount the US imports from the rest of the world, and the amount it can sell to the rest of the world.

That deficit is now heading above $800bn for 2006, or 7% of the US economy, and shows no signs of diminishing.

At the same time, tax cuts and the war in Iraq have led to a US budget deficit of several hundred billion dollars despite the booming economy. (emphasis added)
[...]
Together, the East Asian countries have accumulated foreign currency surpluses of nearly $1 trillion, much of it held in US Treasury bonds denominated in dollars.

Thus they are funding both the budget gap and the trade gap.
[...]
And when the world's largest economy begins to look shaky, it is not surprising that confidence among financial markets is weakened around the world.

We may win the war in Iraq and the global war on terror, but it will be a very hollow victory when we won't be able to bring our troops home. Our nation will be broke.
As a service and consumer economy, we don't even make enough goods anymore to dig our way out.
And worst of all, look who our "patriotic" leaders are selling our nation to, Communist China.

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Dealing with corrupt government officials by execution

see if you can spot the biggest understatement i have ever read in a news story...

China executed the former head of its food and drug watchdog on Tuesday for approving untested medicine in exchange for cash, the strongest signal yet from Beijing that it is serious about tackling its product safety crisis.

The execution of former State Food and Drug Administration director Zheng Xiaoyu was confirmed by state television and the official Xinhua News Agency.

During Zheng's tenure from 1998 to 2005, his agency approved six medicines that turned out to be fake, and the drug-makers used falsified documents to apply for approvals, according to previous state media reports. One antibiotic caused the deaths of at least 10 people.

"The few corrupt officials of the SFDA are the shame of the whole system and their scandals have revealed some very serious problems," agency spokeswoman Yan Jiangying said at a news conference held to highlight efforts to improve China's track record on food and drug safety.

yeah, without a doubt, PUTTING SOMEONE TO DEATH is a "strong signal..." they just don't come much stronger than that...

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The NEW war, brought to you by the Air Force Cyber Command

if you aren't on the "no-fly list," maybe you can have a good shot at being on the "no-internet list..."

[G]overnments are readying themselves for the Big One.

China, security experts believe, has long probed United States networks. According to a 2007 Defense Department annual report to Congress, China’s military has invested heavily in electronic countermeasures and defenses against attack, and concepts like “computer network attack, computer network defense and computer network exploitation.”

According to the report, the Chinese Army sees computer network operations “as critical to achieving ‘electromagnetic dominance’ ” — whatever that is — early in a conflict.

The United States is arming up, as well. Robert Elder, commander of the Air Force Cyberspace Command, told reporters in Washington at a recent breakfast that his newly formed command, which defends military data, communications and control networks, is learning how to disable an opponent’s computer networks and crash its databases.

“We want to go in and knock them out in the first round,” he said, as reported on Military.com.

i see this as yet another way to get us accustomed to endless war, regardless of the platform on which it's fought... it's a way to perpetuate massive spending on defense and national security, to insure that the population always has something to fear, and to prepare us for the possibility of giving up more of our freedoms - in this case, an internet fully accessible to everyone - to insure our safety... am i being too cynical here...? perhaps, but i think not...

november 2 last year...

Secretary of the Air Force Michael W. Wynne said the 8th Air Force would become the new Air Force Cyberspace Command.

"I am announcing the steps the Air Force is taking towards establishing an Air Force Cyberspace Command," the secretary said. "The new Cyberspace Command is designated as the 8th Air Force... under the leadership of (Lt. Gen. Robert J. "Bob" Elder Jr.) He will develop the force by reaching across all Air Force commands to draw appropriate leaders and appropriate personnel."

[...]

"The aim is to develop a major command that stands alongside Air Force Space Command and Air Combat Command as the provider of forces that the President, combatant commanders and the American people can rely on for preserving the freedom of access and commerce, in air, space and now cyberspace," Secretary Wynne said.

how fitting that the new responsibility gets assigned to the "air" force...

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The Bear is waking up

I'm not talkin' 'bout Yogi Bear, either. I've posted on this sort of thing many times. The International Herald Tribune confirms my fears.

A mystery in Beijing: Who runs the military?

BEIJING: As China converts its growing economic power into military muscle, a lack of transparency and a habit of secrecy pose formidable challenges in assessing the country's long-term ambitions, according to defense experts.For foreign governments and analysts monitoring the Chinese military, one of the biggest mysteries is who is actually in charge.

Nominally, President Hu Jintao, who is also chairman of the Central Military Commission, the top military command body, is head of the armed forces, but there is considerable doubt among experts about the extent of the authority that he and his fellow civilian leaders exert over the 2.3 million-strong People's Liberation Army.

[...]

In addition to defending Chinese territory, most Chinese and foreign analysts agree that Beijing aims to build a force capable of enforcing its claim of sovereignty over Taiwan.

But China's current thinking about when force is justified or what perceived threats are driving its accumulation of firepower remains unclear for most foreign governments and analysts.

Some foreign military analysts believe that there is now considerable debate under way in the Chinese military about the role of pre-emptive force in some circumstances including the use of nuclear weapons.

If and when we strike Iran with tactical nuclear weapons; it will set precedent and give China the international green light for pre-emtive nuclear strikes. On what grounds will we have to complain?

The Bush administration has repeatedly complained about this lack of transparency and called for increased military exchanges with Beijing. "The outside world has limited knowledge of the motivations, decision making and key capabilities supporting China's military modernization," the Pentagon said in its annual report on China's military power released late last month. "China's leaders have yet to explain adequately the purposes or desired end-states of the PLA's expanding military capabilities."

Well, Duuuuuuhhhhh!!!! Bush has yet to explain adequately the purpose of ours. This attitude of, 'Do what I say, not as I do' bullsh*t has got to stop. It is absurd, ludicrous, and down-right farcical, for the Bush Administration to complain about a 'lack of transparency'. In addition to that, he is sending out the signal, that, "If you've got Nukes, we'll talk to you". What better incentive could we provide to the smaller nations?

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Dumb as a sack full of hammers

It seems as if things are moving along, just as planned. From the Jerusalem Post: IAF preparing for Iran strike.

The Israeli Air Force (IAF) has been training on long-range flights, including refueling in mid-flight, in preparation for potential strikes against Iranian nuclear targets. The training program has been taking place for some time but has only been released for publication Friday, the Ma'ariv daily reported.

[...]

At the end of 2007 the US and Israel are expected to hold a joint assessment to ascertain the influence of economic sanctions against Iran.

A new package of upgraded sanctions prepared jointly by Israel and the US, includes exerting pressure on European governments to cancel US $22 billion in loan guarantees given annually to European companies trading with Iran.

The new package also includes sanctions against banks working with Iran, non-renewal of oil infrastructure in Iran and a long series of economic actions that are meant to seriously hurt the Iranian economy.

Just what we need to do.....not! Iran is not Iraq, these sanctions are likely to do more harm than good. Russia and China will not go along with this, and in all probability will step up their support of Tehran; using their vast 'dollar holdings', causing more economic problems for the U.S. than for Iran. Crap, is there not one person, in power, possessing a little common sense?

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All we want are resignations...

Thanks to Pallavi Aiyar and the Hindu

Death for corrupt Chinese official

Beijing: A Chinese court sentenced the former head of the food and drug agency, Zheng Xiaoyu, to death on Tuesday, a move that comes at a time when Beijing is struggling to quell a wave of scandals pertaining to fake and adulterated medicines and food.

[...]

According to the official Chinese news agency Xinhua, the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court sentenced Zheng to death after convicting him of taking bribes in cash and gifts worth more than 6.5 million yuan ($832,000) between 1998 and 2005, when he was director of the State Food and Drug Administration. Zheng's sentence is open to appeal.

Xinhua said that in exchange for the bribes, Zheng turned a blind eye to malpractices by relatives and subordinate officials (emphasis added)), approving the production of untested drugs and lowering the quality standards pharmaceutical companies needed to meet in order to obtain relevant approvals.

Sounds like a report on DC behavior, doesn't it?

I have always been willing to accept the resignations of corrupt, treasonous, public officials. Get out, and we will move on from there.

However, the Chinese may be on to something. Perhaps we should levy much more stern penalties. How about death for killing soldiers? Life in prison for selling off US assets? Hard labor for raping the Middle Class? And my personal favorite, forfeiture of all personal assets when caught taking bribes,? Ouch, Baby!

I could go on, but you are probably already cheering approval.

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Paulson, Wu Yi, Strategic Economic Dialogue on China, and press spin

here's reuters' take on the strategic economic dialogue meetings between treasury secretary henry paulson and chinese vice premier wu yi...

The United States and China struck civil aviation and financial sector access deals on Wednesday but they made no headway on the divisive issue of Chinese currency reform, stoking anger on Capitol Hill.

Lawmakers said they would move ahead with proposals to slap tariffs on Chinese imports because of Beijing's reluctance to redress the huge trade imbalance between the economic giants with a revaluation of the yuan.

The anger in Congress overshadowed U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's claim of "tangible results" in the second leg of a "strategic economic dialogue" with Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi.

Wu, for her part, said the "complicated" relations between Washington and Beijing needed careful handling and cautioned against retaliatory steps.

[...]

The most concrete outcome of the talks was a deal committing China to remove a bar on new foreign securities firms and resume issuing licenses for securities companies, including joint ventures, in the second half of 2007.

That was a coup for former Goldman Sachs chairman Paulson, who has made gaining greater access to the Chinese financial sector a key objective.

other than reporting on "no headway on currency reform", a reference to "anger in congress", and quoting madame wu yi's statement that relations were "complicated" and commenting on not taking "retaliatory steps", there was no mention of this...

Wow. Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson just about did everything wrong but spit on Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi today at the premature wrap-up of the Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) meeting in Washington.

that was steve clemons in the washington note who then offered this from chris nelson's subscription-only nelson report...

"Results", with one or two exceptions, either were minimal, or not what Secretary Paulson seemed to expect. And at the closing press conference, the Chinese didn't even pretend they had had a good time. Madam Wu Yi read her statement, and walked off. No pretence of a friendly hug for the US side.

[...]

One normally hesitates to ascribe too much to the theater of body language, but here's something that just bashes you right between the eyes: Paulson, the guy with 72 private trips to China, all that hands-on experience, he who told the White House, State and USTR not to worry, that he would be the China Guy in this Administration...at the closing press conference, Paulson stalked in, well ahead of Wu Yi, and then started reading his statement before she even reached the podium.

Excuse me? An American or European would have cold-cocked the President for such calculated rudeness! In China (Japan, Korea, etc.) you watch older married couples walk into someplace. . .the husband is 10 feet in front, and the subservient wife is dutifully plodding behind. You think for one minute that elderly maiden lady Wu Yi didn't catch the insult here?

Or, are you telling us Paulson didn't mean it, that he was so focused on reading his prepared statement he didn't think? NONSENSE. This was a calculated act of rudeness which told everyone in the room, and anyone watching on TV, that a major failure had taken place.

Further evidence of a Paulson snit. . .he seemed to go out of his way to be rude to an Asian journalist, who had to ask him four times, in very good english, something about the N. Korea/Macao money problems Treasury is having with State (see separate item in tonight's Report). Paulson pretended not to be able to understand what everyone else in the room got the first time.

why does this sound so familiar...? could it be that high-handed, boorish arrogance is REQUIRED for bush administration high-level political appointees...? what else seems to ring a bell...? oh, yeah... no mention of paulson's boorishness in the media...

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