April 07, 2010
Kyrgyzstan: Who's In Charge?
Last month the Pentagon funneled over 50,000 troops and millions of gallons of fuel through the Manas "Transit Center" in Kyrgyzstan, the euphemism for the US air base that Kyrgystan's parliament voted closed in 2009.
The "Tulip Revolution" of 2005 failed as Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev preferred his neighbors Russia and China to Uncle Sam. On March 11 the US State Department issued a human rights report against the Kyrgyz Republic creating the background and justification for future intervention. Now the "United Tajik Opposition" or UTO (which was active in Kyrgyzstan's civil war after the Soviet Union collapsed) is disrupting the urban centers of the country.
Coincidentally, just in the last two weeks major investments by Chinese ventures were ramping up in Kyrgyzstan including energy giant China Guodian Corp. Guodian opened an office last week in Bishkek, the Kyrgyz capital, and said it was pursuing electricity generation projects including hydropower. Guodian is still scheduled to issue 1 billion Yuan in corporate bonds on April 13.
It will be interesting to see how the situation in Kyrgyzstan unfolds. Watch closely and you might catch the interaction of clandestine operations, "legitimate" warfare, psyops, American, EU, Russian, Chinese, and multinational interests of all stripes collide!
At issue is transport and supply of the so-called Af-Pak theater and the larger contest for the resources and markets of the one of the world's least developed regions. As with Vietnam the USA is opting to destabilize a border region of China where Beijing wants to gain the upper hand. We know how that ended. Beijing is just as content to watch patiently as America bleeds on a different Chinese border....
The "Tulip Revolution" of 2005 failed as Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev preferred his neighbors Russia and China to Uncle Sam. On March 11 the US State Department issued a human rights report against the Kyrgyz Republic creating the background and justification for future intervention. Now the "United Tajik Opposition" or UTO (which was active in Kyrgyzstan's civil war after the Soviet Union collapsed) is disrupting the urban centers of the country.
Coincidentally, just in the last two weeks major investments by Chinese ventures were ramping up in Kyrgyzstan including energy giant China Guodian Corp. Guodian opened an office last week in Bishkek, the Kyrgyz capital, and said it was pursuing electricity generation projects including hydropower. Guodian is still scheduled to issue 1 billion Yuan in corporate bonds on April 13.
It will be interesting to see how the situation in Kyrgyzstan unfolds. Watch closely and you might catch the interaction of clandestine operations, "legitimate" warfare, psyops, American, EU, Russian, Chinese, and multinational interests of all stripes collide!
At issue is transport and supply of the so-called Af-Pak theater and the larger contest for the resources and markets of the one of the world's least developed regions. As with Vietnam the USA is opting to destabilize a border region of China where Beijing wants to gain the upper hand. We know how that ended. Beijing is just as content to watch patiently as America bleeds on a different Chinese border....
Labels: foreign relations, great power, human rights, new world order, war
July 21, 2009
Peace Mission 2009 Underway
Joint China-Russia war games begin July 22 in Manchuria. Called "Peace Mission 2009" the games will begin with consultations and strategy sessions in the Russian Far East capital Khabarovsk and then move to Jilin province for anti-terrorist operation exercises involving several thousand troops and Russian and Chinese air power. The first two "Peace Mission" war games were conducted under the guise of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). The SCO no longer attempts any military alliance, thus the war games are just between Russia and China.
Although unrelated to the war games, the Chinese have revived their plan to produce a Chinese style C-130 transport plane. China has already produced a large number of Y-9 aircraft, modeled on the former Soviet An-12 transport. Each new Y-9 will be able to carry 132 paratroopers or 25 tons of cargo....
Labels: aerospace, defense, war
November 14, 2008
China Could Join War in Afghanistan
According to a Pakistan source, British PM Gordon Brown told a Council on Foreign Relations gathering that he believed Chinese troops could join the coalition fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan. Lest if be forgotten, China founded the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in 1996 specifically to counter terrorism from Afghanistan.
Labels: global security, war
October 10, 2007
Taiwan Sees Double
October is festival time in China - before the Mid-Autumn Festival, an ancient lunar tradition - are the national days of the Chinese Republic, October 1 to celebrate the founding of the People's Republic in 1949 and October 10 (or Double Ten) for the founding of the first Republic in 1911.
Last week was a week-long holiday (a "Golden Week") for urban Chinese and was marked by an upsurge in consumer spending (how American!) and travelling. Today is Double Ten holiday in Taiwan marked by an ugly display of militarism - a parade of missiles, armored vehicles, and painted soldiers.
Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian smiled and waved and played the petty dictator despite dwindling political support and historic low approval ratings. It has been almost 20 years since Taiwan saw fit to celebrate with a military parade. Is it a last ditch effort by Chen and his US and Japanese backers to provoke a confrontation with Beijing? We'll find out by March ...
Labels: china, election, military, missiles, taiwan, threat, war
June 15, 2007
Only US Congress, World Far-Right Worried About China
According to a world-wide public opinion poll published by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, most people in the world are not bothered by the rise of China. The results of the poll reveal some interesting bed-fellows. For example, the biggest positive response to China comes from Latin Americans -- majorities in Mexico, Peru, and Argentina all viewed China positively. As did Iranians and Israelis and most people in Thailand. The most negative responses were in United States and its satellites the Philippines and South Korea and among the French. Anti-China feelings in the United States are a legacy of the barrage of anti-China propaganda fed to Americans for generations by Henry Luce and his media empire and far-right anti-China groups and media outlets that continue to warp Americans minds about China.
Most intriguing, the majority of the people polled around the world were equally distrustful of the USA and China.
Most intriguing, the majority of the people polled around the world were equally distrustful of the USA and China.
Labels: china, opinion, public, usa, war
June 12, 2007
China's defense spending catching up to USA?
So says a headline release from the Scripps Howard News Service sans the question mark. The spin (why haven't we seen this headline on Drudge yet?) is a ridiculous misreport of the latest report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) that watches arms expenditures around the world.
According to the report the USA remains by far the world's biggest war machine with well over half a trillion dollars in annual arms spending. China is actually listed at number four after the UK and France. According to the report the top five military-industrial complexes and their 2006 revenues were: the USA $529 billion (46% of the entire world's weapons spending); the UK $59 billion; France $53 billion; China $50 billion (not even 10% of USA spending); and Japan $44 billion.
The Scripps Howard piece uses the purchasing-power-parity (PPP) equivalent figure for China at $188 billion. But that is specious unless the news services also explains that measured by PPP China is the second largest economy in the world just behind the USA.
If we're going to parse the data, a more revealing measure, provided in the SIPRI report but completely unreported, is military spending on a per capita basis. The USA spends $1,756 for each of its (legal) citizens versus only $37 spent per person by China on its "war" machine.
According to the report the USA remains by far the world's biggest war machine with well over half a trillion dollars in annual arms spending. China is actually listed at number four after the UK and France. According to the report the top five military-industrial complexes and their 2006 revenues were: the USA $529 billion (46% of the entire world's weapons spending); the UK $59 billion; France $53 billion; China $50 billion (not even 10% of USA spending); and Japan $44 billion.
The Scripps Howard piece uses the purchasing-power-parity (PPP) equivalent figure for China at $188 billion. But that is specious unless the news services also explains that measured by PPP China is the second largest economy in the world just behind the USA.
If we're going to parse the data, a more revealing measure, provided in the SIPRI report but completely unreported, is military spending on a per capita basis. The USA spends $1,756 for each of its (legal) citizens versus only $37 spent per person by China on its "war" machine.
Labels: arms, china, defense, industrial, military, spending, u.s., war
May 10, 2007
Trade Winds or War?
The blame China crowd in the USA Congress has new strength now under Democratic Party leadership and a protectionist backlash against Chinese imports may be coming. At least that is the view of the oft-quoted Chief Economist for Morgan Stanley, Stephen Roach.
Sinomania! has been warning for years that if certain special interests and pandering politicians get their way, the siren call at the shopping mall will be "attention [insert major retailer here] shoppers -- all items at thrice the price!"
Rather than address the catastrophe that is the American educational system, the massive financial burden on businesses to pay for employee's health care needs (in the absence of a national health care system), along with all the other ills that plague America's economy, Congress prefers to find blame in the murky world of "foreign trade."
As Roach nices sums up: " Absolutely nothing is gained on either front by blaming China for problems such as these that originate at home. To the contrary, much could be lost – in the US, the global economy, and world financial markets – if Congress makes a major blunder on US trade policy. "
If this concerns you at all, watch the following politicians closely: in the Senate, Max Baucus, Charles Schumer, Lindsey Graham; in the House: just about any representative with manufacturing jobs and labor unions in his/her district.
Sinomania! has been warning for years that if certain special interests and pandering politicians get their way, the siren call at the shopping mall will be "attention [insert major retailer here] shoppers -- all items at thrice the price!"
Rather than address the catastrophe that is the American educational system, the massive financial burden on businesses to pay for employee's health care needs (in the absence of a national health care system), along with all the other ills that plague America's economy, Congress prefers to find blame in the murky world of "foreign trade."
As Roach nices sums up: " Absolutely nothing is gained on either front by blaming China for problems such as these that originate at home. To the contrary, much could be lost – in the US, the global economy, and world financial markets – if Congress makes a major blunder on US trade policy. "
If this concerns you at all, watch the following politicians closely: in the Senate, Max Baucus, Charles Schumer, Lindsey Graham; in the House: just about any representative with manufacturing jobs and labor unions in his/her district.
Labels: china, deficit, imports, inflation, trade, war
March 01, 2007
Talisman Sabre v Peace Mission
Battlefield Asia heats up this year with rival war games planned in Russia and Australia. In June "Talisman Sabre 2007" will bombard Australia's Northern Territory including ecologically sensitive areas around the famed Great Barrior Reef. The joint exercises will involve up to 14,000 USA troops and 12,000 Aussies and test all sorts of new weapons in a massive training of land, sea, and air forces in various simulations of an attack on China. The air component will fly B1 and B2 bombers from Guam on a round trip to rain bombs on the land below. The games are a result of permissions granted the USA in 2004 by the government of Australian Prime Minister Howard. There is some popular opposition building in Australia and the games could impact Howard's chances in this year's elections.
Not to be outdone, Shanghai Cooperation Organization leaders Russia and China will kick off "Peace Mission 2007" in July a joint excercise in the Chelyabinsk region of Russia's southern Urals. Chelyabinsk is an industrial powerhouse and home to Russia's biggest iron and steel complex. Both Presidents Putin and Hu are rumoured to be attending. The games will take place in a region close to the Kazakhstan border around 1,000 miles from the borders of Iran and Iraq. It is believed Russia is pressuring China for a direct military alliance perhaps by joining the Collective Security Treaty Organization. But Beijing appears in no hurry to forge an alliance although a change in Iran could change that quickly.
Not to be outdone, Shanghai Cooperation Organization leaders Russia and China will kick off "Peace Mission 2007" in July a joint excercise in the Chelyabinsk region of Russia's southern Urals. Chelyabinsk is an industrial powerhouse and home to Russia's biggest iron and steel complex. Both Presidents Putin and Hu are rumoured to be attending. The games will take place in a region close to the Kazakhstan border around 1,000 miles from the borders of Iran and Iraq. It is believed Russia is pressuring China for a direct military alliance perhaps by joining the Collective Security Treaty Organization. But Beijing appears in no hurry to forge an alliance although a change in Iran could change that quickly.
Labels: australia, china, games, peace mission 2007, russia, talisman sabre, usa, war
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