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The flaws of the EU's asymmetric approach to imbalances | 132 comments (132 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)
Re: Well done (none / 0)
Yes, but the shift in the relative balance of power between China and the USA has already happened.

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by Frank Schnittger (mail Frankschnittger at hot male dotty communists) on Tue Jul 19th, 2011 at 06:51:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Well done (none / 1)
Depends on how you look at it. The US still has the warships that keep the sea lanes to the colonies open. And it's still American soldiers that die to keep those colonies in a colonial relationship with the US/China bloc.

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Tue Jul 19th, 2011 at 07:05:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Well done (none / 0)
China is being more targeted in its external resource deployments - buying up oil and mineral rights in Africa and Latin America - it doesn't need to deploy its armies to maintain its foreign interests.

Index of Frank's Diaries
by Frank Schnittger (mail Frankschnittger at hot male dotty communists) on Wed Jul 20th, 2011 at 04:38:09 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Well done (4.00 / 2)
It probably doesn't need armies, no. But it does need a navy to keep the sea lanes open. Having mineral concessions does you no good if every other ship you send to fetch your ores gets hijacked on the way back.

That's a real service that America provides, and one that China cannot rapidly replace (in part because building up the capacity to replace it would be viewed as an unfriendly act by pretty much everyone else on the planet).

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Wed Jul 20th, 2011 at 06:23:04 AM EST
[ Parent ]

The flaws of the EU's asymmetric approach to imbalances | 132 comments (132 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
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