[ExI] Meanwhile in China...

[The Avantguardian]

Dan writes:

> Yes, the whole China thing has been going on since before we were born. I 
>recall 
>
> reading an essay about the dire predictions for when the PRC got the bomb -- 
> that this would, naturally, start WW3. And here we are almost fifty years after 
>
> that and China is hardly more of a military menace today than it was then. 
> Ho-hum.

That sounds comforting until you realize that the Chinese ideal of warfare is to 
make sure the battle is won before the first shot is fired. From Sun Tzu's Art 
of War: "To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the pinnacle 
of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the pinnacle of skill."
 
> But, as you know, one argument deployed time and again against liberty has been 
>
> fear of some external enemy. This has been done since ancient times. (I don't 
> mean, of course, some here are willingly try to deceive, but I fear they're 
> unwittingly embracing a fear they should set aside. This doesn't mean, either, 

> that the Chinese government is nice and nonthreatening. Just have a bit of 
> perspective. This too shall pass.)

I don't think I am embracing fear nor to quote Rafal "turning toward darkness". 
I do think I am developing a healthy respect for the subtlety of Chinese 
statesmanship, the efficiency of their bureacracy, and the power of their 
collectivism. While the U.S. is fighting trillion dollar wars obstensibly for 
oil, the Chinese are developing cars with a negative carbon footprint that 
run by artificial photosynthesis. Knowing the frugality of the Chinese, 
they probably did for less a than a billion. And I am sorry if this sounds scary 
to some, I am simply trying to wake people up to something far more threatening 
to the American way of life than terrorism could ever be. And that danger is our 
own greed, devisiveness, and complacency.

Stuart LaForge

"Old men read the lesson in the setting sun.
Beat the cymbal and sing in this life, or wail away the hours fearing death.
Their choice is their fortune." - I Ching