Sinomania!

The most important meetings at the G20 summit in London will be done by the end of the day: the first official face-to-face between President Obama and Russian President Medvedev and Chinese President Hu Jintao and the private meeting between Obama and Queen Elizabeth II.

Much discussion centers over whether a new G2 is emerging between the USA and China, the forces behind the world's number 1 and 2 "new deals" of government spending. But just as important is the potential that the USA and Russia may reduce their nuclear stockpiles perhaps someday down to a mere 1,000 armed missiles apiece. While China's nuclear capacity is a deterrant (to invasion and/or attack) only such a development would in effect create a tripolar world between USA, Russia, and China.

The one bit of substance from Obama and Hu meeting is the tweaking of the US-China Strategic Economic Dialogue - the word "and" is now added between Strategic and Economic enlarging the focus to matters of State (Sec. State Clinton) and Treasury (Sec. Geithner).

An aside: the hapless crowd of protesters outside the Bank of England with all their competing slogans, costumes, and aims recalls Chairman Mao's observation before the Paris Riots in the 60's that there will be no capitalist crisis great enough in the future to bring the middle classes into the streets for a 20% rise in wages as the bourgeoisie had co-opted itself to the ruling class. Were this really the "greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression" or the true Crisis of Capitalism predicted by Marx the protesters in London would not leave the streets. Odds are they will all be back in their flats by nightfall...

Labels: g3, hu jintao, obama