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2005-10-20 China-Japan-Koreas

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Posted by anonymous5089 2005-10-20 08:54|| || Front Page|| [3 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 China: Disaster Waiting to Happen, would be a better title.

First and foremost, China is a demographic mess. It is moving in the unenviable direction of either having to slaughter hundreds of millions of its own people, or doing the same to its neighbors. Unlike the rest of the world they have defied Malthusian limits to the point of catastrophe.

Secondly, their administrative ability has collapsed. The best way to describe "greater China", outside of the sea coasts, is "internal colonization". They ineptly manage broad sections of the interior of their country as poorly as the British did India in the years leading up to WWII. Again, demographics are key, with everything for the enthnically Han, and nothing for everyone else.

One potential catastrophe that may be averted was the "Warlord-ization" of their military, in which army generals were de facto dictators in their rural military districts for many years. This, at least, was finally realized as a tangible threat to the central government. And yet, while its military is more professional, it is engaged in a ridiculous arms race with the United States, forcing all of its neighbors to build up their own militaries.

The end result that China desires has multiple goals, none of which are terribly sensible or practical: lebansraum, SE Asian military hegemony and domination of the Pacific, and to become a superpower. But none of these really addresses their serious problems.

China is stuck. There is no easy solution to half a billion excess people in the region--not just theirs, but other nations as well. Were those people just gone, many of its problems would be solved, and radical solutions would be unneccesary. But as it is, all else is a sideshow until that problem is resolved.

Posted by Anonymoose 2005-10-20 18:33|| 2005-10-20 18:33|| Front Page Top

#2 AIDS, SARS, bird flu, watered down antibiotics fed to the animals, water shortages, floods, Three Gorges(?) dam, desertification... Will they get their war or decimation (at best) first?

Posted by trailing wife 2005-10-20 23:07|| 2005-10-20 23:07|| Front Page Top

#3 AIDS, SARS, bird flu, watered down antibiotics fed to the animals, water shortages, floods, Three Gorges(?) dam, desertification... Will they get their war or decimation (at best) first?

Posted by trailing wife 2005-10-20 23:07|| 2005-10-20 23:07|| Front Page Top

#4 whatever they get, they'll be hungry for more in a couple hours

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2005-10-20 23:57|| 2005-10-20 23:57|| Front Page Top

23:58 Frank G
23:57 Frank G
23:38 mojo
23:13 trailing wife
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23:07 Anginemp Hupolurong7319
23:07 trailing wife
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22:53 Angie Schultz
22:51 trailing wife
22:47 Doomsday Gift
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22:30 trailing wife
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22:24 Doomsday Gift
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22:07 DanNY
22:07 Edward Yee
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21:55 OregonGuy
21:55 trailing wife