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| Home Front: Politix |
| Why I Voted against Condemning Russia |
| 2014-12-10 |
| h/tJerry Pournelle Recently, the House passed, by an overwhelming margin, a resolution to condemn the Russian Federation for actions considered hostile and aggressive within its sphere of influence, specifically with regard to the politically torn country of Ukraine. Ten Members voted “nay,” myself among them. I wish to explain why I took this unpopular position. |
| Posted by:g(r)omgoru |
| #6 How useful is condemning a nation anyway? It's like the old trade embargo that makes you feel good but helps the dictators stay in power and grow their bank accounts. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2014-12-10 21:15 |
| #5 need for resources |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2014-12-10 18:38 |
| #4 One fundamental difference between 'old' China and 'new' China is the new for resources to fuel their economy. I'm sure the Chinese military has consumed Alfred Thayer Mahan as much as any other national entity that's dependent upon sea transportation of goods. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2014-12-10 18:38 |
| #3 I don't see the Middle Kingdom as ever being interesting in ruling the world, not 2000 years ago and not now. The Han have always had their hands full ruling the Middle Kingdom itself. (The Mongol in a burst of imperial enthusiasm swept out of North Asia, took over China briefly, conquered a good chunk of central Asia and far eastern Europe & then went back to horse herding. They're not Han.) The closest historical effort to projection of global power from China was just prior to the voyage of Columbus when magnificent fleets of the then-Chinese navy made it as far as the east coast of Africa & the southern coast of Arabia. The entire navy was then disbanded by imperial order, and for centuries even the memory of such an effort was forgotten. That being said, China is once more insisting on projecting its power to its old zones of influence: the western Pacific & Indochina among them. When I took Mandarin last year at the local university, one of the students was a Hmong girl born & raised in the USA, fluent in both midwestern English and her family's dialect, & another was an Indonesian / overseas Chinese about to graduate with a US degree and who intended to return home and take up the family business in Indonesia. The course faculty were probably all Party members, but that's another story. Educated Americans know too little about China. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2014-12-10 14:28 |
| #2 The threats to America looming largest are, in order, radical Islamic terrorism and a still-Communist China, whose new economic power has emboldened its leadership to imagine that the ancient Middle Kingdom should control the world. The perils posed by Putin, if any, are not close. How about that? A guy who gets it and a Californian to boot. I would have added illegal immigration. Putin might worry me if he was anywhere near as powerful as he'd like to be. But as it stands I see Obama as a much larger threat to me personally than I do Putin. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2014-12-10 12:12 |
| #1 Throughout history, America has allied with far worse actors Damning with faint praise. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2014-12-10 11:25 |