much ado about china threat

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Borrowing a gibe from one former American patriot, Ronald Reagan:"Here they go again.", let's see where the current patriots are going again. First, there was the Iraq threat of weapons of mass destruction. Then, it's found to be little overblown. While all the time the real threat of terrorism was not predicted. Now, these patriots are going again with the China Threat. So, to insure mistakes in the future can be prevented, we need to borrow from the lessons of Iraq to help sidestep the China Threat The first lesson is that in situation of big disparity in weaponry, the less of the two would resort to terrorism. So yes, there is a China Threat! But it's terrorism, not conventional war. And it's Iraq multiply by 1000. One likely 911-equivalent would be in the form of a surgical disruption of America's leadership, through assassination, kidnapping and mass infiltration. Instead of suicide bombings, China should offer its own leadership for counter-disruption, to demonstrate this leadership truly puts the welfare of the people first, as conventional wars are directed at killing the people. Personally I like to see a duel between the opposing leaders on reality TV. China's massive textile capacity could be turned into making GI uniforms. This would cover the entire world with a mushroom cloud of terror, if, instead of considering friends of enemies are enemies as America has done, China considers enemies of enemies as friends. Now, an insurgent and a marine can share a same cigarette. And oh, yes, Mr. Karl Rove, the paratroopers coming to safeguard you may also be your abductors. Well, all these may be too messy. China could simply put in a bid for the loyalty of the new America's mercenary army... Ok, I'm just kidding. Admittedly a little overblown, too. But at least, let it be forewarned this time this terror would have to be explicitly provoked, not because someone is a threat, or he is evil, hateful, jealous or desiring some virgins. And this time if you break it, you eat it. The second lesson is: democracy is not perfect, but it is the best system, EXCEPT FOR THE OTHER GUYS. What's internally considered as patriotism, externally it's mob behavior. Some thing should be done about this. This someting should be in the form of a statute of conscientious objector of war for, not only individual citizens, but also a whole state or individual cities. California, for example, would be a good candidate for Bush's next war. Knowing some people would not be using the weapons being built may dampen the urgency in their building, thus giving peace room to breathe. Certain Chinese general painted a dark scenerio of an exchange of cities for nuking out on the east coast of China and west coast of America. I think these cities would rather be conscientious objectors. How sweet it would be to let the people of the other side to win the peace for you. And what a celebration for the people of the world when conventional war fares finally fall into the same class of laughable antiques of circus clowns. Sadly, this dubious honor for now only belongs to terrorist acts. Still, all these are stuff of Western ideals of reason and power. The long term solution lies in the time-tried tradition of cultural unification based on emotional ties and humanity principles, practiced for thousands of years in Chinese history. The Mongolians and Manchurians have unified with China in this way. Why not, next, the Koreans and the Japanese do the same. And then all the people that are willing to embrace the same cultural values in their daily lives can all leave their national boundaries behind and become one people. This would set an example to the world how we can all come together. What else best could be expected of the coming China Century? By the way, historically, this was exactly how China expanded before. Why shouldn't she continue doing it in the future? All we need to do is to give this quiet culture-oriented majority a voice to be heard. You see, in the East, such majority has always held the teachings of buddism and confucianism above any kings, dynasties, nations and racial differences. And they are also the reason why religions are not needed. A good example is the impact of a popular Korean TV series that lauds old-fashioned oriental values, such as confucian feudalism, non-democracy, non-freedom and non-gender-equity. This series has been so popular in Japan that it caused Korean popularty to rise in Japan even in a time of intense Japan bashing by both the Koreans and Chinese. The Chinese, without such a series, is now without Japanese tourists in Beijin. Cultural unification is the only win-win option for national rivalries. But it requires buddha-size hearts for China and Korea to forgive Japan. On the other hand, adhering to the current appeasement policy toward America only plays into America's hand of wedging Sino-Japanese relation. And continuing on this path only takes greed. On this note, one possible threat to America, in view of its bratty carryons around the world, is that it may be unfit for any kind of cultural unification. This scheme I proposed may be less innocent than it appears. It attempts to derail two real potential threats to world peace. The first is the seeking revenge by Korea, China's little brother, from Japan, China's cousin, for the brutal occupation before WW II. The second is Japan's attempt to pick up where it left off with America in the last war. Challenging America for world supremacy has always been on the minds of Japan's right wing extremists minority since Commodore Perry's uninvited visit. America's support of the Japanese right wing extremists against China has an eerie resemblance to America's previous support of Afghanistan against the Soviet Union. What rallying cry would be used by Japan's next Bin Laden to again fire up the Japanese's godly loyalty to him? The best I can think of is: Revenge Hiroshima and Nagasaki! In case you laymen dont know, Japan's nuclear capabiltiy is more than enough to put an abomb together in the plane on its way to the target destination. Without bringing the cultural majorities into the fore, the extreme minorities from both Japan and Korean, as well as China, would jump at the first opportunity for a good fight. And that may well start the ball rolling toward WWIII. Finally if anyone think I'v gone berserkeley, being from Berkeley, let him check out what the regular folks are doing: Global Priority $U.S. Billions Basic education for everyone in the world 6 Cosmetics in the United States 8 Water and sanitation for everyone in the world 9 Ice cream in Europe 11 Reproductive health for all women in the world 12 Perfumes in Europe and the United States 12 Basic health and nutrition for everyone in the world 13 Pet foods in Europe and the United States 17 Business entertainment in Japan 35 Cigarettes in Europe 50 Alcoholic drinks in Europe 105 Narcotics drugs in the world 400 Military spending in the world 780 Military spending, by official calculations, has been increasing at double-digit rates for much of the past decade. Look like we are out to destroy ourselves. Our threat is us.