Commentary on US Chinese Relations by Slim Fairview.
Read my stuff today, or hear it from experts in a month or two. Slim.
The Pentagon noticed that China is expanding its navy. They suspect that China is looking to expand its influence beyond Asian waters. We pay analysts to tell us this.
This news reminds me of a job I had years ago.
One of the employees was a power lifter. Another, was a body builder. "The guys" tried to get them to have an arm wrestling match. (Money would be a stake.) They both declined. Nicely.
One did claim that he never lost an arm wrestling match. He never said he was never in one. He simply said that he'd never lost one.
The other simply declined to arm wrestle. However, he and I did pretend to arm wrestle one day. He pretended to find me a worthy opponent. However, as his arm was the size of my leg, this was all in jest. Still, one of the younger employees asked in earnest if I really thought I could win.
Why bring this up? In 1965 my teacher told the class, "Never think for a moment that the Soviet Union and Red China will go to war with each other." They never did.
Red China is now The People's Republic of China. The Soviet Union is, once again, Russia.
We never went to war with the Soviet Union.
However, when it came to the soft-wars, diplomacy, propaganda, influence, The Soviet Union clearly had the edge. One factor was that they did, after all, occupy Eastern Europe.
Our second tactical error of World War Two was not listening to Lord Winston Churchill at the end of the war. The First was before the war began. That was when we ignored Lord Winston Churchill's admonition that the Nazis were going to go to war.
I do not believe that we will ever go to war with China.
However, what abut the soft-stuff? Diplomacy, influence, international relations? [Global relations?]
"Never underestimate the Power of a symbolic gesture." Old Chinese Saying.
"The Power of a symbolic gesture resides with the person making the gesture." Slim Fairview
If history is any indicator, China will fare much better than we will. We do have history to substantiate that.
"Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it." Santayana
"Those who never learned history are doomed--period!" Slim Fairview
China? No. China! 9. March 2012
China. Economics. Diversification
China. The Economy and a word beginning with the letter p.
Misunderstanding China Again 5. November 2012
Underestimating China Again 3. December 2012
There I've posted several monographs on the impending failures of Western Diplomacy in the Middle East. The analysts can figure out how they extend to impending Western Diplomatic Failures in the rest of the world.
Sincerest regards,
Slim
PS. I am not Paul Harvey. However, I am open to becoming a paid commentator, columnist, or blogger. If you’ve found anything I said to be helpful, please don’t hesitate to send me one of those tricked-out laptops and to tuck a few dollars into the envelope along with the thank you note.
Sincerely,
Slim
