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Please note: This Letters page is intended primarily for
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The Edge is the place for that. The editors do not mind publishing one
or two responses to a reader's letter, but will, at their discretion, direct
debaters away from the Letters page.
January 2010
[Re Grim tales from
North Korea's gulags, January 28] Regarding the fate of the
"illuminated" reverend Robert Park, an American citizen who boldly stepped
across the Tumen River in December to enlighten Kim Jong-il on Christianity,
Donald Kirk assures us that the North Koreans are treating him with a gentle
hand. A Russian Orthodox cathedral is open and holding religious services in
Pyongyang, according to the Russian scholar Alexander Vorontsov. It even has
North Korean priests who attended theological seminaries in Russia. The New
York Times has reported the existence of a Roman Catholic church and of a
Protestant chapel in Pyongyang. Like communist China, North Korea does allow
expressions of religious belief, including Buddhism, but they are tightly
defined by the state.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Jan 29, '10)
[Re A thin line
between Cambodia and Vietnam, January 27] Were it not for the French,
Cambodia would have long been eaten up by Vietnam and Thailand. Anti-Vietnamese
feeling runs like a deep hidden stream in Cambodia. Opposition leader Sam
Rainsy is trying to use the issue of Vietnam's poaching Cambodia's patrimony as
a weapon against Prime Minister Hun Sen. Hun Sen broke with the Khmer Rouge and
sought aid and comfort with the Vietnamese who overthrew Pol Pot and his
acolytes. For some Cambodians, Hun Sen remains a turncoat who willingly backed
a traditional enemy.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Jan 28, '10)(Jan
28, '10)
[Re Circles within
circles around the Taliban, January 27] Now that the London conference
has made it official that "Yemen and its allies" will confront terrorism
together, the United States is now confirmed in another war on Arabic soil. And
the world media trumpets this as a legitimate endeavor. The whole world is
smoke and mirrors and I am too old to move to a quiet little island in the
tropics. Damn!
Ken Moreau
New Orleans, Louisiana (Jan 28, '10)
In M K Bhadrakumar's
Circles within circles around the Taliban[January 27], he closes with
this line about Western military forces, "[they] have been badly mauled in the
past eight years and are terribly fatigued and almost bled white". Perhaps
Bhadrakumar could use a little perspective: in World War II, Germany lost eight
million dead in a shorter period, so I don't think the 40 German deaths in
Afghanistan over the last seven years have bled Germany white. More than one
half of the deaths have been Americans. The US, Britain and Canada account for
1,271 of the 1,520 allied casualties. The war in Afghanistan lacks public
support because we are backing a bunch of thieving incumbents in the Hamid
Karzai government. They are far more interested in stealing money from the West
and extorting money from the Afghan people than they are interested in fighting
the Taliban. This conference has less chance of being successful in the long
run than I do of playing center for the Knicks.
Dennis O'Connell
USA (Jan 28, '10)
Recent letters proclaiming former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin as
some kind of populist "messiah-tress" illustrate perfectly the conundrum facing
the average non-right-wing zealot in America. They desperately want to protest
something, anything, just to show their displeasure at the inexorable downhill
slide of the Empire, but in order to do so they must grasp at the pathetic
straws that are left after the chaff is separated from the political wheat.
What remains is Sarah Palin, whose record of geopolitical naivete, linguistic
dyslexia, political strong arming and campaign disloyalty would make even a
blind, deaf and mute Democratic election planner positively drool over
themselves. So I suspect more than a few of the now enthusiastic Palin
supporters are actually closet Dumbocrats, eager to make her paper mache
imagery the ideal punching bag for the 2012 election. The rising popularity of
Palin among the tea-baggers illustrates the identity problem the GOP now faces
with its dwindling and alienated moderate wing; comedians describe the tea
parties as the biggest collection of misspelled signs in history. The
anti-intellectualism of the Palin crowd, coupled with their rabid knee-jerk
reaction to anything not pristine white, Anglo-Saxon and Bible-thumping, makes
the less reactionary, better educated and secular Republicans hold their noses
in the voting booth and pull the Democrat lever. So, despite the rah-rahing
among your delusional readers, Palin will remain an inside joke even amongst
the Republican's establishment. A better choice for these addled advocates of
the asinine would be to root for Sarah's British and Pythonesque cousin,
Michael. I believe in one skit he ran on the Very Silly Party ticket and won
handily.
Hardy Campbell
Houston TX USA (Jan 28, '10)
[Re Turkey seizes
its moment, January 26] If you take a longer view, Turkey seized its
moment earlier. Its inability to become a member of the European Union pushed
Ankara to look for other options. It fell back on a well-worn history of
relations with not only Turkic-speaking Central Asia but also rewarmed feelings
with its Arab neighbors. It however did not forsake ties to the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization nor with Washington. Into this gestation came Israel, who
behaved towards its ally of 60 years with rude, undiplomatic arrogance. Israel
today has less and less to offer Turkey politically, and in consequence, the
divide between the two on issues will grow. Yet, militarily, it is uncertain
that Ankara will sacrifice longer-standing agreements. In any case, Israel has
weakened its own case with Turkey.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Jan 27, '10)
[Re Stiglitz
pinpoints 'moral' core of crisis, January 25] There is little to argue
with in Henry CK Liu's article. Nobelist economist Joseph Stiglitz has pinned
the tail on the donkey of the ailing United States economy. However, we should
recall former president Franklin Delano Roosevelt's statement that "economic
laws are not made by nature. They are made by men". Surely, we are living
through more than a "moral" crisis. We are also experiencing a vacuum of
political will for change and reform.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Jan 26, '10)
[Re US and China pick
their fights, January 25] The Barack Obama administration should pay
China the respect it deserves because China has had the guts to deal with its
challenges the way we should: ruthlessly and with an iron will. I will never
understand the American left's obsession with the Dalai Lama, and now we are
picking Taiwan as our "cuddling buddy". Regarding Google's threat to pull out
of China, it will never happen. If the executives at Google mean what they said
then they are simply out of their mind. China is the new best friend that we
all want to have. It has the largest population on Earth and is on the path to
prosperity. China has picked its fights with internal dissidents,
troublemakers, and those who are an existential threat to China. Thus, China
knows how to pick its fights. On the other hand, we in America have picked a
fight with China, whom we should respect and cooperate with as key ally not
only in Asia but in the world. We cuddle our fiercest enemies but pick a fight
with those of limitless strategic importance to our country.
Ysais Martinez (Jan 26, '10)
[Re US and China pick
their fights and
Echoes of ideologies clashing, January 25]. As thunderous words fly
back and forth between Washington and Beijing, the ominous clouds of a trade
war are fast gathering over the Pacific. With neither side particularly
well-positioned at the moment to engage in a major mutual trade battle, the
next year or two should prove highly challenging and perhaps also defining for
both countries and for the world. When all is said and done, a Sino-US trade
war will likely hasten the agonizing footstep of China's domestic-market
development and as well test the soundness of America's economic foundation.
John Chen
USA (Jan 26, '10)
[Re Looking ahead to
North Korea's demise, Jan 22] The end of the Kims [North Korea's ruling
dynasty] is more oft than not painted in the lurid colors of the apocalypse.
And Bruce Bennett and Jennifer Lind's Rand Corporation report belongs to that
school of considered thought and projections. The problem is that other
scholars who see an eventual demise of Pyongyang are very much divided on the
matter. And of course, other scholars who have come to different conclusions
are dismissed out of hand. The Rand Corporation has published many studies on
North Korea, but the best remains Alan Whiting's "China crosses the Yalu",
detailing China's decision to enter the Korean war, and that appeared in 1960,
seven years after the signing of the Armistice Agreement. Donald Kirk gives the
game away in the opening paragraphs: such "end of regime" studies, regardless
of their worth, have only one objective, and that is to nettle Kim Jong-il.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Jan 25, '10)
[Re A flawed
picture, January 22] I was very impressed by Kaveh Afrasiabi's balanced
yet highly critical review of Forces of Fortune. Like his previous book
reviews, Afrasiabi shows an uncanny ability to detect analytical flaws in books
missed by other reviewers. This I find quite remarkable and another excellent
reason why Asia Times Online is a must-read for Muslim intellectuals and
others.
Tim
Toronto (Jan 25, '10)
The recent Supreme Court decision to allow unrestricted corporate
"contributions" to political campaigns is the official notification that the
United States is corrupt, bankrupt, crippled and up for sale. Not that this is
a great revelation for most Americans, even though the tea-party gang does a
good job of mouthing denial and patriotic yearnings for the illusory Good Ol'
Days. The reactionaries in the Court, the same traitors who orchestrated the
coup d'etat that made the usurper former George W Bush our eight-year tyrant,
have guaranteed the complete demolition of any pretence of "democracy" (which,
despite recent comments, I have never believed existed in any form.) The ruling
is a frank admission that the public looting has not proceeded fast enough;
there are too many corporate taxes, too many regulations, too many obstructions
to unfettered corporate trough-gorging still on the books, so now the legalized
bribery has no limitations whatsoever to effect those needed nullifications.
However, angst aside, what has really changed? America's "system" exists only
for enrichment of the international plutocratic class, so those ruling will
only accelerate the process of dismantling this country piecemeal. Boo hoo.
Countries get what they deserve.
Hardy Campbell
Houston TX USA (Jan 25, '10)
[Re Have yuan,
will travel, January 21] China's outflow of yuan through tourism is a
result of the nation's vigorous economy. Like the Japanese of a generation ago,
fat wallets encourage foreign travel and spending abroad. Nothing could be more
natural for a maturing capitalist economy. China's "blistering" recovery from
the global recession has forced Beijing to put a halt to lending, lest
inflation eat into "paper gains". In the global market, China cannot escape the
decline of its export economy, since its Western and US customers have
tightened their purses. China's internal market is also too weak for sustained
growth without massive infusion of government stimuli. But Beijing is now
closing the spigots.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Jan 22, '10)
[Re Going rogue in
combat boots, January 20] I admire and respect William J Astore's
positions because you cannot really place him in a category. He does not write
like a liberal or a conservative. He writes like a concerned American who loves
this country and wants it to continue to be what it has been so far: the
greatest beacon of freedom and opportunity in the world. Even those who
criticize America viciously in their letters happen to have a United States
address. Interesting. I would not live in a place that I despise so much. I'd
consider other options such as Cuba or North Korea or perhaps Saudi Arabia. In
addition to commending Astore for his writings and to point out the hypocrisy
displayed by some, I want to clarify some aspects of this article that are
misleading to those who look at us from outside. First of all the article makes
reference to former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in a way that makes
an outsider think that Palin is what is wrong with America. I will also clarify
some things about the "tea baggers." First of all, the popularity of Palin
comes precisely because the average American finds common ground with her. I
have to admit that it is a horrendous mistake to suggest that she is
presidential, because she is not. I would not vote for her for reasons known to
most intelligent people. But that's the way American politics work, if someone
would have asked me three years ago who [now President] Barack Hussein Obama
was I wouldn't have had an answer. The main point in Astore's article regarding
Palin is the angry followers that she has. This is not always the case. The
religiously conservative, the socially conservative and the politically
conservative love Palin because she reminds us what out government was founded
for: for the people. Many people are sick and tired of bureaucrats who has
never worked in their lives. Those who believe in personal responsibility and
the fact that we don't need the government to succeed identify with Palin's
politics. Are there angry people among her followers? Angry nut jobs are every
where. You cannot really filter them out. We have over 300 million people in
the US so it will be impossible to have a 100% satisfaction when it comes to
policies. Second, the "tea baggers" are not neo-Nazis. This is far from the
truth. Most of these people oppose big government, oppose the wars that we are
not willing to win and dispose the enemy mercilessly, as well as oppose a
welfare state. Most of these people are sick of getting taxed to support people
at the bottom who don't work and sleep until noon while others work 16 hours a
day. The tea baggers are average Americans who believe that we do not have to
apologize for the greatness of our country or bow down to strange political
ideologies disguised as a religion. These are my two cents on the subject and I
think that Palin and the American people that identify themselves as "tea
baggers" deserve a better portrayal.
Ysais A Martinez
Pennsylvania, USA (Jan 22, '10)
[Re Google
searches for lock on China, January 19] A few years ago a Chinese oil
company was blocked by the United States from buying Unocal for national
security concerns. The Chinese government has similar concerns over Google. If
Google thinks that's unfair, it should just leave China at its earliest
convenience and talk to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about freedom of
speech in Saudi Arabia. It really is that simple.
Tang (Jan 22, '10)
[Re Ask not how
Obama changed Washington, January 19] Based on President Barack Obama's
speech today [Thursday] directed at the banking industry, it seems he did heed
the loud wake-up call delivered by the Republican Party's upset victory in the
Massachusetts senate race. If he can belatedly follow through on his campaign
promise of change and give the people a sense of hope, his and his party's
prospects in the 2012 elections should look favorable, because as much as his
administration has acted confusedly over the economy so far, the GOP isn't any
less clueless. Besides, the high turnout at the senate election seems to
indicate that the people, sensing all is not right with the country and that
their own future livelihood may be jeopardized, are finally willing to become
more vocal in the nation's political discourse; and their involvement should
greatly diminish Big Business and corporate media's powerful influence, which
operates most effectively in an environment of generalized voter apathy. On
another note, in regards to
Is America a failed state? [January 19], I don't believe the United
States is a failed state by any means. I think as long as the US is willing to
act as it preaches on the world stage, the country can regain much of the
respect it once commanded and remain the lone superpower for a long time to
come. Fundamentally, a prosperous and responsible America is in the
international community's best interest.
John Chen
USA (Jan 22, '10)
[Re Is America
a failed state?, January 19] Our friend Hardy Campbell [letter, January
20], is quite correct in saying the United States has "a system that is
irretrievably broke". Not so correct was "if democracy doesn't work here, in
the Land of Democracy, what hope is there?" I was forcefully reminded a week or
so back on another forum that the US is not a democracy at all and in fact
never was. It is a "representative republic". I had to Google "Democracy versus
Republic" to quite understand this distinction because I had apparently
unintentionally caused great offense. The differences to the Australian system
of government, with its strictly enforced two-party discipline version of
democracy, and the US system are quite stark in reality. I don't know the
answer but certainly America has far deeper-seated problems than most would
have previously imagined.
Ian C Purdie
Sydney, Australia (Jan 22, '10)
[Re Google
searches for lock on China, January 19] Given that China represents the
largest concentration of "netizens" on the planet, with huge additional
potential, the recent Google skirmish with the Chinese government rings hollow.
More plausible would be that the whole tiff is a covert United States operation
to try to get better access for their darlings, [Uighur activist leader] Rebiya
Kadeer and the Dalai Lama, to stir up internal trouble. The US never rests in
its quest for meddling in the internal affairs of potential perceived
adversaries.
Ken Moreau
New Orleans, Louisiana (Jan 21, '10)
[Re Going rogue in
combat boots, Jan 20] This article says more about the writer than
about what will transpire in 2016. Concretely speaking, the "tea baggers" are
expressing discontent with the way things are going in the United State, not
abroad. Their leaders are not military but politicians, Republican for the
greater part. There is no Ernst von Ludensdorff to lead a putsch. There are no
beer hall rabble-rousers, no veterans worth their salt, waiting for a new Adolf
Hitler.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Jan 21, '10)
[Re Is America
a failed state?, January 19] There is much hub-bub and gnashing of
liberal teeth today in Wonderland. The victory of the Republican Scott Brown
over the Democrat Martha Oakley in a Massachusetts senate election has shocked
the smug, self-satisfied complacency of the party that supposedly
revolutionized American politics when Barack Obama was elected in 2008. But the
real story is how utterly irrelevant either party is to America's future
anymore. And the voters know it. So if they could write in the White Rabbit,
they would, convinced that before long the elusive hare would be getting free
trips to the carrot patch courtesy of Archer-Daniels. The two-party system has
always been a sham in this country, with both groups of supposedly
ideologically divergent do-gooders sharing common agendas of life-long tenure
and well-distributed corporate largesse. Obama's pleas for bi-partisanship
barely mask the commonality of goals for public-treasury bilking, blame
avoidance and reinventing the boom-bust wheel. Wars waged overseas enable the
flag to be waved whenever the heat from an increasingly irate public begins to
burn, and there's always the scandal of the week diversion to keep the hoi
polloi addled and deflected. Both progressives and conservatives are angry at
Obama because he represents all their accumulated frustrations, disappointments
and hidden fears of the last 30 years. But, above all, their anger is directed
at a system that is irretrievably broke, and they have no plan B because we're
the best country in the known universe. If democracy doesn't work here, in the
Land of Democracy, what hope is there? What terrifies me is living in a country
where the imagination is so sorely deficient that no one can comprehend the
ugly truth, that democracy has always been a failure, capitalism a grotesque
lie and the US has used up its borrowed (and stolen) time. Time to check into
the Five-Step Rehab Clinic for Crumbled Empires.
Hardy Campbell
Houston TX USA (Jan 21, '10)
[Re Google
searches for lock on China, January 19] Google in the end may leave
China. It has, with some reluctance, adhered to forms of Chinese censorship.
But China's hacking of Google computers in the US threatened the company's
integrity, heightening its moral indignation. China has drawn a line in the
sand: do what we say or you're out. Google's refusal should be a wake-up call
for foreign investors and companies doing business in China. While China does
offer cheap labor, the communist government has firms on their knees as they
strive for a bigger share of the huge Chinese market. Google may sacrifice
"profits" in China, but at least it has stood up to Beijing.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Jan 20, '10)
[Re God as
politics in Malaysia, January 15] Ysais Martinez wears his pride on his
sleeve. Yet on all three counts: his Roman Catholicism, Spanish descent and
current US residency, there are no grounds to rejoice. Roman Catholicism along
with Spain has been responsible for more atrocities than the rest of mankind,
several times over. The Spanish Inquisition stands out as the embodiment of
disgusting behavior on a national scale. What is it in Spanish history that he
is so proud of? The Roman Catholic church hasn't been an exemplar of good
behavior either, from its inception until today. It had a priestly class of
paleo-Nazis, the current Pope [Joseph Ratzinger] was signed up with the Hitler
Youth, and in the past there was the genocide and forced Christianization of
Celtic and Germanic tribes by Charlemagne, made with the full backing of the
then church. Martinez's present abode, about which he waxes ad nauseam,
has been responsible for overthrowing 52 democracies, some of them more than
once, and the assassination of numerous nationalists in resource-rich Third
World countries (Ghanaian leader Kwame Nkrumah, Chilean president Salvador
Allende etc). The United States is also responsible for more deaths in poor
countries than all the other countries combined, especially Islamic countries.
I do appreciate his advice to Muslims, since I know it comes from the heart and
that plenty of Muslims read this site. But do you see anyone denigrating his
religion? Idi (Jan 20, '10)
[Re God as
politics in Malaysia, January 15] Recent letters extolling the virtues
of Christianity and Western "enlightenment" in contrast to the sins of Islam
are so ludicrous that one suspects they are intended to inspire laughter rather
than head-shaking, baffled pity. But the author has so frequently betrayed his
own skewed bias and medieval prejudices, I suspect he actually believes his
nonsense. Using the Catholic religion as a basis for making such assessments of
relative objectivity is particularly ironic, seeing how that religion has
inspired more terror and bloodshed than a million Osama Bin Ladens could ever
dream of. Doubtless it was that same enlightened philosophy that enabled
Western imperialists to slaughter those heathen Aztecs, Muslims or Incans who
failed to place their necks under the white man's boot. The so-called "freedom"
that this writer praises will surely be welcome news to the ghosts of all those
native Americans, Mexicans and African-Americans who found that the white man's
idea of their freedom consisted of tall tree limbs and hefty strands of rope.
This same rationalization consists of nothing less than saying: Whatever we do
is progressive, modern and humane, no matter how brutal, barbaric or
hypocritical, while whatever they do is uncivilized, unholy and
atavistic, regardless of the provocation, injustice or outrage from the West.
The tautological cycle of confused reasoning, two-faced self-deception and
historical distortion makes it apparent that the medievalism that this author
disparages as being symptomatic of Islam's fatal flaws is, in fact, endemic to
the author himself. I suspect that, given the feasibility of time traveling
DeLoreans, he would be making his way post haste to the cozy confines of 14th
century inquisitional Spain.
Hardy Campbell
Houston Texas USA (Jan 20, '10)
Without entirely disagreeing with Ysais A Martinez [letter in response to
God as politics in Malaysia, January 15], I'd offer that a feeling of
persecution leads to the seemingly irrational anger among Muslims and others.
If the Moors were still economically and militarily dominating Spain, any
perceived slights to the Bible on their part would register differently on the
native Christians. Perhaps this point could also evoke for Martinez the
[Francisco] Franco-era repression in Spain, and its violent aftermath (which
seems to be never ending). One notes a certain touchiness among the Basques and
Catalans, who don't seem to be able to just shrug off some language matters.
Dr Usman Qazi
Lahore, Pakistan (Jan 20, '10)
[Re Israel-Turkey
ties hit a low point, January 15] The right-wing Israeli government of
Benjamin Netanyahu has had to engage in serious damage control after Deputy
Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon publicly humiliated Turkey's ambassador to
Israel, Oguz Celikkol. Ayalon, stepping in for the "disgraced" hardline Foreign
Minister Avigdor Liberman - who is currently under investigation for
malfeasance - exhibited diplomatic behavior best described by the Jerusalem
Post as "boorish". The parting of the ways occurred 12 months ago when
President Shimon Peres publicly rebuked Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan for criticizing Israel's pre-emptive war against the Hamas government
in Gaza. The long ties which have bound Ankara and Jerusalem for a good half
century have since loosened rapidly. It is foolhardy for Israel to show its bad
temper at a time when its Turkish ally is using its good relations with Arab
governments and the Palestinian Authority to bring closure to the seemingly
intractable Arab-Israeli and Palestinian-Israeli problems. In short, Ayalon's
display of arrogance has shot Israel in the foot and poisoned the waters of an
alliance and friendship which could have served Jerusalem well.
Nakamura Junzo (Jan 19, '10)
Concerning the excellent article by Nick Turse and Tom Engelhardt,
A fight against the odds[January 15] . In the film Battle of the Bulge,
made in the mid-1960s, a Nazi commander receives a shipment of new and powerful
tanks for the offensive against the Allies. His driver asks if they will now
win so he can go home to his family. Answer (I paraphrase): "No." "But will we
lose?" Again, "No." "But then what will happen?" "The best thing will happen,
the war will go on." At which point the driver rebels and shouts, "How many men
must die for you to stay in that uniform?" And there you have it. In today's
"war on terror", nobody has any idea what "win" means, any more than in the
previous "war on drugs". In the latter, we had decades of building up the very
profitable prison business, where 1% of our population is held. Defining this
"win" is simply irrelevant. But it is very clear what "lose" means. It means
anything that touches the trillion-dollar-a-year military industry, the hordes
of blundering incompetents in charge of our security at home or the ever
increasing swarms of mercenaries in our trail abroad. For our nation, "win"
must mean court-martialing the entire political leadership of the past 10 years
for high treason. In the financial world the solution is simple: a merciless
audit of the Wall Street Gangs of CEOs, followed by 50-year jail terms. That is
how Al Capone was taken down, and he was just a local thug in Chicago.
President Barack Obama has a few months at most to take such action, or confirm
the irreversible decline of America.
Kali Kadzaraki
Houston, Texas USA (Jan 19, '10)
[Re God as
politics in Malaysia, January 15] This is an excellent piece by Fabio
Scarpello. Asia Times Online continues delighting its audience with its amazing
lineup of writers. I compare it to the lineup of the New York Yankees in 1927
(Best line up of hitters ever seen). Every time that I read about religious
violence coming from Islamic fanatics, I take a deep breath and thank God that
I, my ancestors, my friends, my loved ones, and my entire family live in the
West. In the United States and Spain - my two homelands - we could mock Jesus,
draw a cartoon of Jesus as a hippie, we could also make fun of the Bible and
even challenge or doubt its writings. Why? Because we are enlightened with
Western values and openness. There is not just one way to get to the truth. For
the record, I am a very traditional/orthodox Catholic, so if I question my
theology it is not because I am a non-believer. Saint Augustine of Hippo once
said: "If I doubt, I exist." Doubt lead us to reflection, discussion, logical
arguments and analysis of our faith. This of course will lead us to the truth.
Islam needs to learn to criticize itself and question the teachings of the
prophet. Once they accomplish that, then I am 100% sure that Islam and its
culture will rise to levels they had never seen before. Islam must analyze its
theology and make it more poly-dimensional and open to criticism from within.
The mono-dimensional Islamic theology is something to be scared about. It is
the cause of suicide bombers and other terrorist acts. That's why in the West
we must remain vigilant and critical of the type of backward values that
politically correct politicians want to import into our countries.
Ysais A Martinez
Pennsylvania, USA (Jan 19, '10)
[Re China shuffles
military leadership, January 14] The shuffle of China's military
leadership reaffirms chairman Mao Zedong's dictum that "power grows out of the
barrel of a gun". Willy Lam has put a fine point on the militarization of
China. Consider Xinjiang. China Daily reports that that province with a restive
Uighur population has seen its military budget skyrocket to $423 million,
almost a 90% increase on its 2009 budget. Beijing's use of state terrorism
which ignores the needs of its Turkmen subjects will not increase its security
in the long run. Let's not forget that China suffered deadly ethnic riots in
Urumqi last July. Repression and the never-ending emigration of Han Chinese to
Xinjiang spells more trouble for the greying Chinese Communist Party
leadership, in spite of the beefed-up security.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Jan 14, '10)
[Re Malaysian
attacks leave ash of confusionJanuary 13] The loss of control of
parliament and five key states by UMNO (United Malaysian Nasional Organization)
in recent elections has for Malays challenged privileges that were long
established in custom and law. Suddenly, with a shift in the political
landscape, they perceive not only a loss of power but also a comfortable way of
life. Their outrage has similarities with the anti-immigration forces in the
United States - it is never easy to share power and privilege with others in
society.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Jan 14, '10)
One of the outstanding inanities about Wonderland USA is how we routinely turn
people who should be tarred as villains and brigands into heroes and icons.
Public relations propaganda, glitz, and a whole host of bamboozling techniques
that would have embarrassed Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels are used
to obfuscate, deny or suppress the ugly truths about this pantheon of the
unjustly deified. Ronald Reagan probably tops this rogue's gallery. In my view,
this former president routinely lied, distorted and misled in order to
perpetrate the greatest fraud ever perpetrated on the American people, the
fantasy that we could borrow, invade and subvert our way to prosperity and
hegemony. ... John F Kennedy is the liberal's equivalent of Reagan, a glib
paladin of peace who brought the world to the brink of annihilation because of
Cold War paranoia, and set us on the road to military and economic ruin in
Vietnam. Yet today that recklessness is lauded as visionary and symbolic of
what-could-have-been. It's hard to be sympathetic towards a nation whose
architects of its decline are recalled with nostalgic fondness and lauded as
role models for our youth. But this becomes understandable when the narcotics
of democracy, freedom and capitalism are used to make the terminally ill feel
better, at least until they fall asleep for good.
Hardy Campbell
Houston TX USA (Jan 14, '10)
[Re Pyongyang gets a
piece of US's mind, January 12] Once again, as Donald Kirk reminds us,
we are seeing another example of a dialogue of the deaf between Washington and
Pyongyang. Each side is talking at cross purposes. US human-rights envoy Robert
King may think that he's has made a point, but in reality he is simply
rehashing past grievances with North Korea. Like it or not, Pyongyang's
proposal for a peace treaty deserves serious consideration. It is the key to
resolving outstanding problems going back almost 60 years. A Geneva-like
conference could and would deal with matters on a bilateral basis between the
US and North Korea. There could then be a quadrilateral arrangement consisting
of the US, South Korea, North Korea, and China, to deal with a peace treaty
ending the Korean War. Finally, a six-party negotiation would at last bring
closure to the nuclear issue. There is a precedent the US can fall back on: the
arrangement of tables, side discussions, and the like during the US negotiating
sessions with South and North Vietnam.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Jan 13, '10)
[Re Balochistan
halts $3.5bn copper project, January 11] Every time Pakistan's prime
minister [Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani] or president [Asif Ali Zardari] announces
the allocation of billions to some mega project or scheme my heart misses a
beat. There goes most of my money into the pockets of someone. And here comes
yet another occasion for the CJP [Chief Justice of Pakistan] to use his suo moto
powers.
Colonel Riaz Jafri (Retired)
Rawalpindi (Jan 13, '10)
[Re Back to
shareholder capitalism, January 12] One way to get back to shareholder
capitalism would be to outlaw the Soviet-style elections for the board of
directors. Once shareholders have a real and honest choice in voting for
directors, shareholder capitalism will get a big boost. As it is, management
picks who is nominated for the board, and limits the nominations to the number
of open seats on the board. This makes the elections a farce. Somehow or other,
management must be required to do the following:
1. Nominate twice as many people as the number of open seats.
2. Place on the ballot as many nominations from shareholders as there are open
seats.
Until this happens, I will continue to vote against all management nominees and
against all management's proposals. If a majority of shareholders follow my
example we might force the return of shareholder capitalism.
Ron Quy Mepwith
Yours in Freedom (Jan 13, '10)
[Re Fears real and
imagined, January 8] Wry [letter, January 12] accused Francesco Sisci
of "painting China with a broad brush of generalizations", only to respond with
his own generalizations, which in my opinion were much less convincing than
Sisci's. The fact that the more recent Chinese immigrants have fared relatively
well in Western countries has nothing to do with the "foreignness" of Chinese
people to Westerners. (By the way, speaking of a "ghetto-mentality which
alienated them from local populations", no group fits the bill better than
Western expatriates in China). Wry completely dismissed the 2001 census data,
citing the lack of public trust in China with stupid generalizations such as
"This has been in the DNA of Chinese peoples for millennia" and "the
fundamental aim of officials is to screw them". Wry, a Western expatriate,
argued that Sisci underestimated the population in China. The irony is that
Wry's argument, if proven valid, would not weaken but further support Sisci's
point that China's huge population does not put the West at ease. Wry went on
to dismiss Chinese nationalism and pointed out along the way that the Chinese
people's "knowledge of China, let alone the world, is abysmal", a point
well-taken. However, how does this counter any of the points that Sisci made?
One area in which I do agree with Wry is his statement that China will be a
very different place in several generations. However, China will remain China,
not Western as the West might have wished it to be. The West is just one of the
many components of humankind, and they will just have to learn to live with
others instead of constantly seeking to change and influence them.
Juchechosunmanse (Jan 13, '10)
[Re Fears real and
imagined, January 8] Had letter writer Wry [January 12] lived in a more
developed coastal region of China, I suspect the picture he has formulated of
the country would be considerably different. That said, his general sentiment
regarding the unpredictability of China's future is probably not far off the
mark. After all, the melding of socialism and capitalism carried out on such a
grand scale represents quite a unique chapter in the variegated annals of human
history; how this social experiment will play out is therefore anyone's guess.
On a linguistic note, the Chinese saying "head of tiger, tail of snake" is
commonly used to deride an inconsistent application of effort, with initial
vigor giving way and slackening towards the end.
John Chen
USA (Jan 13, '10)
[Re Blackwater
mercenaries off the hook, January 8] In my opinion, the issue of human
rights is one of the biggest hypocrisies in the world today. Human-rights
legislation is a tool hypocrites use to deceive and extort their enemies. The
Xe (formerly Blackwater) consultants that got into a clash in Iraq were doing
their job. The country is at war, and this means there will be collateral
damage - every war has collateral damage. Had we [the United States] not used
atomic bombs against the Japanese in World War II, the final number of
casualties would have been a thousand times greater. ... What is the religion
of the countries that have the poorest record of human rights? What religion
does not let women drive a car? Isn't that a human-rights violation? What
religion teaches convert or kill, and cut the head off those who do not agree
with the religion? Explain to me these examples of human rights, and I will
give you a pass with the Xe consultants issue.
Ysais A Martinez
Pennsylvania, USA (Jan 12, '10)
Francesco Sisci [Fears
real and imagined, January 8] dismisses the "Yellow Peril" nightmare as
a minor Western neurosis, yet proceeds to paint China with a broad brush of
generalizations that add up to, well, Yellow Peril. His premises can be
challenged at many points, sometimes with a more reassuring consequence,
sometimes with less. What follows is the perspective of a Western expatriate
living in China. Firstly, the "foreign-ness" of Chinese people to Westerners is
hugely overdone. As emigrants, the early waves of Chinese traders to Southeast
Asia did not always blend easily into local populations. They tended to
maintain separate schooling, kept business practices close to their chests,
often married within the group and fostered a ghetto mentality which alienated
them from local populations. Anti-Chinese pogroms were not that uncommon. The
modern pattern of Chinese emigration to countries like the United States,
Canada and Australia has been entirely different. With inevitable individual
exceptions, these people have been well liked and respected in their new
cultural homes. Second- and third-generation "Chinese" immigrants are generally
no more Chinese than people with, say, German or Russian ancestors in America
are "German" or "Russian". They intermarry happily and have pretty well the
same range of preferences and beliefs as the rest of Western peoples. (Chinese
mainland officials often find this makeover hard to comprehend or accept). Some
other immigrant groups with supposedly greater affinity for "Western" values
have proved far more insular in their new homes. But what of China itself?
Sisci surely underestimates its population, but overestimates its homogeneity.
Nobody knows what China's real population is, certainly not the Chinese
government. The 2001 census was apparently abandoned for a pretty basic reason.
Public trust within China is almost non-existent. When an official knocks on
the door and asks official questions the first instinct is to dissemble. This
has been in the DNA of Chinese peoples for millennia. They know perfectly well
that the fundamental aim of officials is to screw them. The latest dynasty has
reinforced that folk belief in blood again and again. A one-child policy? Yes,
some unlucky people have been minced in the political policy machine, but back
in everyman's China the number of children who have close "cousins" is
remarkable. I teach 18- to 20-year-olds, mostly young women, in a college in
central China. Almost all have two or three siblings. One claimed eight. They
grin shyly when I ask about the one-child policy. Another census is due this
year. We will watch the outcome with interest. My students will happily sing
the Chinese national anthem. They solemnly tell me that China is very old and
very deep. Then I ask them to describe a day in the life of their grandmother
or grandfather at their age and they are struck dumb. In a recent speaking
test, I asked each to talk for three minutes in English on topics such as
"Introduce a Chinese province (but not your own) to a visitor" or "Compare
cooking in different parts of China". Not one was able to give a coherent
response, and the problem wasn't English. Their real knowledge of China, let
alone the world, is abysmal. Much of the nationalism is froth, and in the sad
parody that is chairman Mao Zedong and co's supposedly communist legacy,
whatever real community spirit that existed pre-revolution was dissipated by
relentless empty propaganda. It's only real hope of revival lies with the
growing self-awareness of a rising educated middle class. What of the vaunted
Chinese linguistic homogeneity? None of my students would dream of speaking the
national language to their mother (I've asked). They are at least bi-dialectal,
shading into bi-lingual (a fuzzy distinction). Students from more distant parts
of the province sometimes have trouble being understood on first arrival. The
Chinese writing character system is less fearsome than Sisci implies (it has
mnemonic qualities and its morphology is often more transparent than
Latin-based scripts), but it is also less of a universal glue than is generally
claimed. Linguistic misunderstanding has been a bugbear for most of China's
dynastic history, and that dragon has yet to be tamed. Perhaps even more than
Europe, China is a labyrinthine wonderland of languages and dialects. As Mark
Twain would have dryly noted, the announced demise of America might be a little
premature. Regardless, the loudly proclaimed behemoth of a coming Chinese
empire may turn out to be not quite what you expect either. What you will
really get is unpredictable, including to the Chinese. A well-known Chinese
proverb translates as "head of tiger, tail of snake", meaning something like
"don't trust the foyer of the hotel, look at the rooms out back". Frankly, in
2010, the rooms out back in the Chinese hotel are often not too salubrious, but
the makeover is in process. Individuals emigrate, and within a generation their
offspring change culturally beyond recognition. The stay-at-home masses, and
their leaders, are infinitely harder to change. Magic numbers such as those for
gross domestic product have little to do with it. But just as Europeans grew
out of their internecine wars and (almost) their religion, China too in
generations to come will be a very different place, for all of us.
Wry
Central China (Jan 12, '10)
[Re The case for a
parallel UN, January 11] After reading Kaveh Afrasiabi's groundbreaking
article on a parallel United Nations, I was left with the impression that
Afrasiabi is a truly visionary thinker who may be seriously underappreciated.
This article should be read by any one who cares about world peace. It is
impeccably original and singularly imaginative.
Timothy Bowen
Toronto (Jan 12, '10)
I found that Obama's
Yemeni odyssey targets China [January 8], by M K Bhadrakumar
places to much importance on a sophomoric organization as the Mossad. The
Mossad are always getting caught in some little escapade. In New Zealand and
Canada their failures are in print to be read. They are very good at spying and
coveting in the countries of their "allies". They actually lived next door to
Mohammed Atta in Florida before the 9/11 strikes, but failed to find any info
and warn the United States. I also found the importance of the United States in
the future extremely played up. Israel's future is at best guarded. The US is
broke, unless jobs are found very soon, most of what M K Bhadrakumar wrote in
this article will not come true. The Afghan strategy is lost. Iraq is slowly
falling apart. China's pipelines are becoming a reality, and have not much to
do with the Malacca Strait. The relevance of India to the whole scene? India is
a subplayer, nuclear weapons, a caste system (class warfare), quite a lot of
poor people, lots of ethnic differences, no real energy reserves to speak of,
lack of a deep water navy, enemies China and Pakistan, etc. Iran is slowly
winning its argument to be treated just like the other nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty countries. It has a bright future ahead once the US
and Israel are out of the picture. What was mentioned but not really discussed
is that Islam is undergoing a slow reformation among it different versions,
most notably Sunni and Shi'ite. Shi'ites seem more democratic and Sunnis are
more inclined to be followers of monarchies or dictatorships, generally. Look
to the second quarter of the financial year for a clearer view of the future in
the volatile areas of the world. The worm is beginning to turn. It is time for
Barack Obama to pack up and bring the troops home while the US can still borrow
the money to do it. Let the mercenaries find their own way, or better yet,
leave them.
Bob Van den Broeck
Kouchibouguac, Canada (Jan 11, '10)
Of late, former ambassador M K Bhadrakumar has been smitten by the China bug.
In Obama's Yemeni
odyssey targets China [January 8], to me, it seems, he is treading
water. Yemen occupies a strategic point in the Strait of Hormuz. It lies
opposite the failed state of Somalia, where pirates rule the sea almost with
impunity. This sea lane is of vital interest and a life line to all countries
which depend on global trade, including China. Bhadrakumar seems to forget that
China has sent patrol boats to the strait, as a deterrent, with other nations,
to the "shanghai-ing" of cargo vessels, including its own. Now, how does the
war against the jihadis, waged by the US, target China? A good case can be made
that President Barack Obama's troops in Afghanistan and aid to Yemen are
fighting China's battles without Beijing committing a single soldier.
Furthermore, in reading Bhadrakumar's article more carefully, to the reader's
eye, he has a beef with the policies of his own government which he long
served.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Jan 11, '10)
In order for the rest of the world to understand America, one must begin with
the fundamental premise that this country was founded on "Themism". Let me
explain. "Themism" is a Manichaean view of the universe whereby Americans are
automatically in conflict with a "Them" that embodies evil, corruption or
anything defined as un-American. The most prevalent "themism" is commonly
called racism, a prejudice against some ethnic or religious grouping. But
anti-communism was also a Themism. Typically, these various American Themisms
reinforce and supported one another. The segregationists, who fought the black
civil rights movement, resisted initially on racist grounds, but gleefully
found common ground with anti-communists, who fought anything that smacked of
universal equality, redistribution of wealth or diminution of elite privilege.
Connecting and gluing these Themisms together was capitalism, which needed a
division of power and class in order to have one group exploit the other,
whether it was industrialists fighting unions, blacks versus whites or women
seeking control of their bodies. And this Themism is not a recent advent or
even one born on the wings of 19th century neo-imperialism. No, even our
founding fathers used their inherent bigotry against the Spanish pagan
Catholics and savage heathen Indians to expand white Anglo-Saxon purity and
benevolence from the first days of the young Republic, usually with gunpowder
and sharp-edged steel as their favorite tools of persuasion. But times change,
and with them, so do the "Thems." Now, of course, religious or ethnic bias
against Hispanics, Catholics and native Americans will simply not do, but wait,
there is hope, Virginia! What minority, poorly represented in US politics but
with a large population outside the US and with a history of conflict with
Christians and Jews, would make an ideal foil for fear-mongering Republicans
and timid Democrats? Hmm...let's see, not Buddhists, they love peace (except in
Sri Lanka.) How about Zoroastrians? No, too many letters in the name besides,
and there's not enough of them to light a bonfire together anyway. Golly, maybe
we can target Muslims, but not just any Muslims, because, after all, we get oil
from some of them. So let's create this whole new category of Them, and call
them crazy, and fanatical and militant and oh boy, don't forget to hang
"terrorist" on them somewhere. And what a great next place full of crazy,
militant fanatical Muslim terrorists to invade, a barren desert called Yemen,
an anagram of the word "Enemy." Must be a sign of divine providence.
Regards
Hardy Campbell
Houston TX USA (Jan 11, '10)
[Re China in
Treasuries cul-de-sac, January 7] Henry CK Liu tells us, "Thus dollar
hegemony is objectionable not only because the dollar, as a fiat currency,
usurps a role it does not deserve ..." I always enjoy Henry's articles, even if
I have to read them several times. On such an exceedingly complex subject, my
question is how can we the world reverse or reform this undesirable and grossly
unfair state of affairs, that is, dollar hegemony? By no stretch of the
imagination am I an economist and I barely grasp the pros and cons of these
important issues. However, it seems to me that there is a crying need for this
long overdue reform. The two questions I have are, "who tackles the reform?"
and "how can it be implemented?"
Ian C Purdie
Sydney, Australia (Jan 11, '10)
[Re China
tightens grip on Kazakh gas, January 7] Kazakh President Nursultan
Nazarbayev is reading Chinese philosophy in his spare time. He finds it not
only relaxing, but also beneficial in understanding the Chinese mind, according
to the Financial Times of London. But had another country outbid China for gas
deals, he would've found some other way to stroke his ego and would still be
laughing all the way to the bank.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Jan 8, '10)
[Re Russia,
China, Iran redraw energy map, January 7] Great thanks for the articles
written by M K Bhadrakumar. Every time I visit Asia Times Online, I look only
for his articles.
Marian Jakov (Jan 8, '10)
[Re The peace imperative,
January 7] While it certainly is in China's best interests to not waste
resources on wars, it would be a grave mistake to conclude that the Chinese
leadership will eschew armed conflicts at all costs. Due to a host of
(geo)political reasons, it is in fact safer to assume that China will strive
for a convincing victory at all costs in the country's next military
engagement.
John Chen
USA (Jan 8, '10)
[letters] Ysais A Martinez's letter of January 4 requires some clarification.
The use of the phrase "so-called Islamic terrorism" in
An Islamic view of terrorism, [December 22] was quite appropriate. The
September 11, 2001, attacks were a terrorist act, perpetrated by Islamists -
but they were quite obviously acting outside the teachings of Islam. I hope
Martinez is not suggesting that the Dresden bombings [of World War 2] were
Christian terrorism, or that attacks on Gaza are Jewish terrorism, because they
were neither. He speaks of the golden rule of Christianity and Judaism. This is
true, as Judaism, as a religious philosophy, is arguably the most moral
discipline in the world, and by extension Christianity. But to suggest that
Western political activities mirror those teachings is nothing short of
ludicrous. It is quite clear which religion mastered the art of killing -
Christianity. The history of intolerance in Christianity dwarfs anything the
Ottomans devised or the Jews even attempted. Most terrorism results from fear,
and fear is often fueled by a threat to a common thread - religion. The West
used the fear of the Soviets and tapped the passions of extreme Islam in
Pakistan under [former Pakistan president] Zia ul-Haq. If you want to inflame
Western Christians, tell them that Islam wants to absorb them. Martinez should
look at the violence and death perpetrated on the Arab and Persian population
since the end of World War 2, either through direct or surrogate attacks or
supporting brutal tyranny. I would suggest to him that more innocents have
perished in Gaza and the West Bank in the past decade than have perished on
American soil due to terrorism. In addition, there are Christian churches in
Egypt, Christian Palestinians etc. A 100 years ago there were many Jews
throughout all the Middle East, and it was the duty of Islam to protect the
People Of the Book. Martinez, like many Americans, confuses propaganda with
historical fact.
Miles Tompkins
Antigonish, NS
Canada (Jan 7, '10)
[Re Russia, China
keep toehold in Yemen, January 6] Russia, as heir to the old Soviet
Union, continues its ties to Yemen. Let's not forget that - years before the
union of the two Yemens in 1990 - that it backed the Marxist government in the
south against the monarchy or conservative forces in the north. Soviet arms and
equipment came in through the back door, so to speak, through Gamal Abdel
Nasser's Egypt. President Nasser backed the southern republic also by sending
troops, but withdrew after getting stuck in a Vietnam like quagmire there. So,
Russia has for almost a half century continued as Yemen's arms purveyor. As for
China, as a trading nation, Yemen's port at Aden plays a role in its mercantile
empire, no matter who rules the country. This said, it is in both China's and
Russia's commercial and military interests to silently support the war in Yemen
against the terrorists - the stakes are too high to lose.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Jan 7, '10)
I suppose it's worth bringing up the obvious once in awhile. Such as "Why can't
we catch/kill fill-in-the-blank?" For crusading Westerners "we", the blank is
filled in by everyone's favorite bogus bogeyman [al-Qaeda leader] Osama bin
Laden; for the Taliban "we" it's Afghan President Hamid Karzai. What, the
world's greatest superpower can't hunt down a 6 foot 5 inch jiihadist with a
Midas bounty on his head? What, Afghan insurgents can't get one of the
president's bodyguards to assassinate their boss? Of course, ability and desire
should not be equated in this geopolitical math. A dead Osama does not equal a
Crusader triumph over "terrorists", nor does a dead Karzai drive the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization's goons from Afghan soil. On the contrary, a dead
Osama removes a PR boon to an increasingly war-weary American public needing
villains to hate, while Karzai removed from office eliminates a dependably
corrupt and manipulatable puppet who plays both sides. Both sides have achieved
a modus vivendi with the other's symbols, and I suspect that such an
understanding was reached long before the September 11, 2001 attacks. The
evidence for this is circumstantial, admittedly, but few have considered what
would have happened if Ahmad Shah Massoud had not been murdered on September 9,
2001. The chances that a nondescript Pashtun like Karzai, who pretty much "rode
the bench" during the Soviet war, would have been able to keep Massoud out of
the NATO-selected government are pretty slim. And though it's hard to forecast
how anyone reacts to power, I doubt Massoud would have been the Sam Walton of
corruption that Karzai is notorious for being. So Massoud was killed in
preparation for the war already on the books in Washington, allowing former US
president George W Bush and his Taliban buddies to place the two-way puppet
Karzai in power. Both sides would profit immensely in the years ahead, in
weapons exchanges, drug swaps, contraband transport, etc. Similarly, bin
Laden's alleged ties to 9/11 are mostly post-event constructs, designed to
provide the Bush gang's Hitler-for-the-Week justification for criminal conduct.
Indeed, there is much evidence that bin Laden's later "confessions" were
carefully orchestrated and choreographed Hollywood productions that fulfilled
his contractual agreement to be the Fall Guy (one clause in that contract
apparently involved Bush whisking the Arab's family out of the US right after
9/11, contrary to FAA flight standdown orders and violating criminal
investigation procedures to boot.) So let's kick yet another myth out the door;
no one benefits from the other's "Bad Guy" being rubbed out. Indeed, there is
comfort and security knowing a familiar devil. Having to hate new devils would
be too much like thinking.
Hardy Campbell
Houston TX USA (Jan 7, '10)
[Re Weiqi: A
symbol of the Chinese experience, January 5] This article shows an
in-depth understanding of Chinese culture and civilization. David Gosset is
much closer to understanding why China is re-emerging. It is actually quite
simple: China understands the importance of governance, so it throws every
Western ideology out of the window, including communism and capitalism. This
may just prove to be a brilliant move on China's part, because whoever holds
ideology as the backbone of its national structure will be weakened by the
ideology itself. History will tell.
Zuobin He (Peter)
New York, USA (Jan 6, '10)
[Re Krugman
blaming victim for the crime, January 5] I suggest that Asia Times
Online readers read United States economist Paul Krugman's op-ed piece on China
in the January 4 online edition of The New York Times. Krugman briefly touches
on China's mercantilism and its pegging its currency with the US dollar. The
Princeton professor has not created these issues. Looking over the ocean of ink
which has washed over the Chinese economy, one can see that they are quite old.
Krugman simply points out that Beijing is hardly playing by free market rules,
as a mercantilist nation, and that the yuan's peg to the US dollar is an
attempt to increase market share and at beggaring competitors.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Jan 6, '10)
As we approach the 50th anniversary of the historic Greensboro sit-in strikes
that galvanized the struggling civil-rights movement in the United States, we
have a parallel reflection of Yankee racism occurring in the Faux War on
Terror. Students of the long overdue restitution of black American's rights in
the 1960s are familiar with the most persistent defense of cracker/redneck
bigotry: "We know what the 'coloreds' want and need," so went the rationale for
the typical southern white. Of course, that knowledge did not include desire
for freedom or equality or safety. Why, only a crazy man would want those
things, and if they're crazy, well, we have tall tree limbs for those daft
troublemakers. But that attitude had to change, of course, in light of the
transparent hypocrisy and relentless outside pressure. Eventually, the Supreme
Court, communists, liberals, radicals and other assorted defenders of humanity
squeezed bigotry out of the law, if not the lawmaker. And so in the 21st
century, the neo-racism of the American imperialist in the Middle East must
take a different form, but only slightly. White men carrying guns and shooting
Muslims still purport to know what "they" want and need, and again, any
indication of wanting otherwise instantly condemns the free-thinker into the
nether world of "Terror Fighting," a shadow world where American belief in
democracy and justice is suspended until further notice. But since the kid
gloves are off in this dirty universe, there are no peacenik sit-ins to try and
persuade the invader that his idea of freedom and prosperity is not theirs. No,
here high school children shoot high school dropouts, and women blow themselves
up and the husbands who have killed their husbands. The maimed, the dead and
the insane are the products of this new civil-rights movement in the Middle
East, where Muslims do not welcome white Christian Anglo-Saxon definitions of
happiness and prosperity. just as American blacks rejected bigoted perspectives
on their happiness. But whereas the US had a Martin Luther King to dream a
peaceful dream, the Muslims under occupation see only one way of deliverance
from their oppressors.
Hardy Campbell
Houston TX USA (Jan 6, '10)
[Re US push feeds
Yemen's gun culture, January 4] Yemen is a country that is gun crazy.
It has a population of 22 million, but its gun owners have more than 70 million
firearms of all makes and calibers. The United States is not feeding a gun
culture, let us be clear. Gun ownership is a badge of tribal honor. Yemen is a
country at war and it has been a laboratory for guerrilla warfare since the
British left in the early 1960s. No one, least of all pundits from the West and
the US, should forget that Muslim fundamentalists have long been at war with
America. They blew up the USS Cole in 2000, and in the late 1990s, out
of Yemen came the terrorists who planned and blew up US embassies in east
Africa. One can easily say that Yemen is pushing the envelope in its war with
the US.
Nakamura Junzo
Guam (Jan 5, '10)
[Re Christian tests
Pyongyang's resolutions, January 4] I am an ardent orthodox Catholic
and I admire the gesture of this Christian missionary, but we cannot
underestimate evil. The evil present in North Korea cannot be solved through
letters or religious missions. I only see two solutions: North Korea softening
its position because of economic hardships (which can be accomplished through
sanctions and getting China on board on sanctions) or military action. The
issue of human-rights violations in North Korea is getting attention in the
press again. The real problem is that the press treat abuses, murders and
cruelty in North Korea as if it were something normal and morally justifiable.
We must stop talking about North Korea as if we were talking about the Garden
of Eden.
Ysais A Martinez
Pennsylvania, USA (Jan 5, '10)
[Re Politics
set to spoil recovery, December 23] Shawn Crispin prefers to begin the
new year and new decade soberly. He has two feet firmly in reality, not in the
heady world of investment bankers' models and projections, which are always in
need of constant revision. The Western markets for Southeast Asia's
export-driven economies have shrunk noticeably. And their domestic markets
cannot fill the gap. Yet some are awash in primary materials which China will
buy. And therein lies some hope for recovery.
Mel Cooper
Singapore (Jan 4, '10)
[Re Life and
premature death of Pax Obamicana, December 23] Spengler warns us that
we will not like what we get if the United States hegemony disappears - maybe
so, maybe not. The article skims over some important pieces of "reality". The
great US bankrupted itself in one generation, and since the early 1970s it has
been scamming or raiding the rest of the world to maintain its lifestyle and
military machine. This is not a global hegemon, it like the Soviet Union in the
final stages of economic implosion, and for the same reason - a mad military
industrial complex and the mindset that goes with it. Why does the world need a
mad, spendthrift uncle to look after it? First, the various Pax are simply
Euro-centric devices. There have been longer periods of regional stability
within the Chinese sphere over the last 4,000 years than the West could ever
have contemplated. In the West, we have had constant war punctuated by brief
periods of stability, brought about by exhaustion. When it comes to economic
activity, until around 1750, two-thirds of the world's economic activity and
trade took place between China, India and Persia. Certainly Chinese and Persian
Empires existed, but India appears to have been able to develop and maintain
significant trade and economic activity without the benefit of hegemonic rule
for much of its existence. There is every evidence that China and Russia have
developed a strategic relationship that will continue to deepen, that's due to
US and European stupidity and arrogance. India has gained little from its
embrace of the US and its dangerous liaison with Israel. Clearly, all three
have more to gain by reaching a strategic understanding with Iran than they do
in working with a shrinking US and its North Atlantic Treaty Organization
puppet. Europe has yet to show it is capable of acting independently in its own
interest, but it will have to as the US brings its legions home, to face
internal dissension. China and Russia are biding their time - they do not need
confrontation with the US, it has fatally wounded itself, they simply have to
wait for the infection to progress as the Wall Street bankers continue to strip
the dying man of his wealth.
Allen Jay (Jan 4, '10)
[Re An Islamic
view of terrorism, December 22] I have to point out that I believe the
journalist is leading the interview, which I don't think is very ethical. He
refers to Islamic terrorism as "so-called Islamic terrorism" as if the victims
during the September 11, 2001 attacks and the [July 7, 2005] bombings in London
were "so-called victims". There were real losses. Yousuf Baadarani is the
author of a book called: Christianity: A Roman Political Scheme, but in
fact Islam is closer to resembling a political ideology. The golden rule in
Judaism and Christianity is to love others, and do onto others as we want
others to do onto us. That's why in Western Christian nations and in the State
of Israel, people are free to worship whatever they want to worship. In the
United States there are hundreds of mosques. How many cathedrals are there in
Saudi Arabia? What about in Egypt? If Mahan Abedin wants to help this
individual spread his beliefs, then he is free to do so. But he should not lead
the interview in the direction both interviewer and interviewee want it to go.
Ysais A Martinez
Pennsylvania, USA (Jan 4, '10)
I don't have time to comment on each article, but that's why I love Asia Times
Online: there are so many quality articles to read from a wide variety of
perspectives. You must keep Francesco Sisci and Sun Wukong on the payroll: they
are two of my favorite commentators on China. Lots of other good stuff as well
that I don't have time to mention. Your services are extremely important and
valued, keep up the good work!
Darren Mayberry (Jan 4, '10)
December Letters
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