Sinomania!

For the first time since Clinton sold the US Navy's bases to the Chinese, warships of China's navy - the destroyer Qingdao and a support vessel - are visiting San Diego.

Below, local Chinese of the Baja-San Diego region welcome the invasion:



The ships will take part in joint exercises today with the American Navy and the sailors will later get to do some sightseeing.

Chief purveyor of Pentagon China 'leaks' Bill Gertz of Rev. Moon's anti-China Washington Times has recycled his old articles about failed Chinese witchhunts, added some other 'enemies' from communist places and put them together in a new book from Crown Forum (they publish Ann Coulter).

Should we expect a few headlines this week (at least in the usual 'conservative' places) on how Chinese spies ran rampant under Clinton and got all our secret recipes for the latest-n-greatest war toys? Funny how few of these crimes ever got punished or revealed at the time.

Gertz's "battle for freedom and democracy" is a catchy battle cry. Will it inspire our troops enough to fight China? We'll find out soon if Gertz's anonymous Pentagon buddies get their way.

How many times and in how many ways can Harvard buddies Henry Kissinger and Samuel Huntington recycle their tired and incredibly dated weltanschung? The Wahington Post dutifully gave Kissinger column space for an op-ed yesterday that, thankfully, is getting little attention – you can’t find it even at the WaPo website. In his banal opinion Kissinger desperately tries to breathe life into the Atlantic Alliance saying, yet again, that “we” face a clash of civilizations only this time clearly defining the struggle of our times (as W might say) as between “us” and Islam. Kissinger’s urgent purpose is to be ready now before we face a nuclear showdown in the middle east. But why the urgency? Israel is armed to the teeth (given it’s itty-bitty size relative to its neighbors) with nukes and Islam already has the bomb in Pakistan. Does Kissinger want (expect?) European support for a preemptive strike on Iran?

Most pointedly, Kissinger says that the great war of civilisations cannot be stopped by "ad hoc bargaining over Security Council resolutions; rather, the Security Council resolutions should emerge from an agreed strategy." Hmmm. What's preventing a unified strategy now? Ahhh, possible veto from permanent members Russia and China? Of course, if it's "civilizations" we're talking here than it is plain to see that the odd man out is China, since Russia, despite all its failings, can pass for "Western."

[Below, our Iraq puppet and the President of Iran, the day after 9-11. Clash of civilizations indeed.]


Kissinger thinks there is a dangerous “erosion of nation states” currently. What a bunch of hooey – the USA, Britain, Japan, Iran, Israel, China, all of these countries are fiercely nationalistic at the moment. Where is the evidence for this clash of civilizations? Global financial capitalism and the unstoppable spread of American consumerism is the reality today. Convergence is happening under our noses, not the opposite. As the premier China policy cryptgatekeeper Kissinger is more responsible than anyone for creating and fostering confrontation with the Chinese not cooperation. When Cold War warriors like Kissinger finally expire we just might make some progress.

Amidst the gilded spendor of the US Treasury Department's Cash Room, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson kicked off his first visit to China with an important speech today showing that Paulson at least, if not the whole Bush administration, sees the benefits of the inevitable American-Chinese convergence. His message to the Beijing mandarins: "We are not afraid of Chinese competition. We welcome it."

Regarding China's currency, the "M" word (manipulation) was never uttered and the only urging on the Yuan was that China include it in the overall reform of the financial system, now underway.

And in a sure sign that Paulson's Treasury won't tango with Schumer-Graham (the moribund China trade war bill sponsored by Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC)(see my previous posts), Paulson said "protectionist policies do not work and the collateral damage from these policies is high. By closing off competition and blocking the forces of change, protectionism reduces the losses of the present by sacrificing the opportunities of the future."

These comments may signal an important shift in China policy but sadly won't be covered much here in America. The Financial Times of London leads with it here.

Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo has an interesting piece on the Bush admin's (and US government generally) culture of propaganda specfically that anti-Castro pablum was paid for with USA taxpayer money via the Office of Cuba Broadcasting.

The Cuba outfit is just one of the efforts under the authority of the Broadcasting Board of Governors which is the umbrella group for all the organizations, many private, which get federal dollars to promote “democracy” and “freedom of religion,” i.e., propaganda against the governments of select nations. It includes the VOA, Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty, Radio & TV Marti, and so on. Congress authorized almost a billion dollars for BBG this fiscal year (2007).

About a year ago the Chairman of the BBG, Kenneth Tomlinson, was accused of fraud in a State Dept. Inspector General's report for giving about $250,000 to a friend and former VOA employee for unknown services. Tomlinson remains the Chairman.

I’ve long suspected but have not found evidence (yet) that Radio Free Asia pays for phony news stories (more often than not unsubstantiated and third-hand) about "human rights" abuses in China.

The whole outfit is propaganda. The question to me is, is it really in our national interest? Imagine if the Chinese spent $36 million each year (the current level funding for “Radio Free Asia”) to broadcast an English language show highlighting every abuse by an American police force, every injustice done the American poor, every failing of local government? Maybe they should.

Juan Cole's post on W's new "islamofacist" bogeyman is the best description yet of what's really going on in Eurasia.

My comments at his blog, repeated here:

When you consider what your analysis shows – that the real aim of the GWOT is to establish & maintain an American presence on the Eurasian landmass and to control the spigot of oil that not only feeds our economy but even more so the European Community, Japan, and China – then you can see that Iraq truly is a new Vietnam. Why were we in Vietnam? The USA needed to establish its dominance in Asia and Indo-China was then the most unsettled area. The countries of the region (Laos, Cambodia, India. China, etc.) were still determining their borders up to the start of the Vietnam occupation. Of course who were we really confronting in Vietnam? China, of course. And hence the importance of North Korea in the “axis of evil” nonsense since North Korea justifies a continued American military nuclear presence not far from Beijing. We are in Iraq and all the other areas mentioned because we are really confronting the Chinese first and the Russians second. This is the big game of the 21st Century. But our “leaders” have to lead us down to defeat again in a pack of lies. Take any book or good magazine article from the late 60s and early 70s, search and replace the word “Vietnam” with “Iraq” and you’re reading today’s news.

well, that's the impression given by this graphic courtesy the Agence France Press. Notice that "enemy missile" seems to have launched from the ICBM control room outside Beijing. At least now we know those CHICOM nukes won't hit California! And, most importantly, that America's satellite (Japan) still has role after all! The USA-Japan Security Alliance just may survive until mid century.



Read more about AFP Here.

As the voters of Ohio decide how to vote in the Senate race between Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican Mike DeWine (the incumbent) they might ask whether their Senator will work for Ohio or wealthy special interests in places like Los Angeles?




The Democrats say DeWine is beholden to big oil and drug companies and a GOP in$ider while Republicans say Brown is on labor union payrolls but what’s never mentioned by either side -- or the press -- is Brown’s devotion to Taiwan money.

Sherrod Brown is co-chairman and founder of the Taiwan Congressional Caucus (along with other anti-China blowhards such as arch conservative Dana Rohrabacher of California). The Taiwan Congressional Caucus is a bipartisan group shaped by the heavy hitters of Taiwan influence peddling such as TECRO, Formosan Assoc. for Public Affairs, and the Formosa Foundation whose Chairman, Donald S. Lee, is a Sherrod Brown campaign contributor.

Brown believes Taiwan is a “miracle” democracy and aims to end the USA’s long-standing and delicate “one China” policy. But for whom – the people of Ohio or an unpopular fringe element thousands of miles away determined to maintain control of Taiwan?