harmonicminer

Not very long ago, it was assumed that the US ability to project power with carrier battle groups was sufficient to deter the Chinese from an attempt at military reunification with Taiwan. But while we’ve been busy elsewhere, the the Chinese have been busy, too, according to a recent RAND report.

The new report, in typical RAND style, uses sophisticated modeling to simulate a Chinese invasion of Taiwan in the 2010-2015 timeframe, including a preemptive ballistic missile bombardment, a cyber assault on the island’s infrastructure and a Normandy style amphibious landing.

In a 2000 report that looked at a similar scenario, RAND predicted a bloody repulse for the attacking Chinese as Taiwanese and U.S. aircraft savaged the Chinese air fleet and seaborne landing force. However, this time around, RAND sees China establishing air superiority over the strait within hours of the first shots being fired.

How to explain such a reversal? Primarily, it’s due to China’s burgeoning stock of increasingly accurate short range ballistic missiles (SRBMs), around 1,000 of which are deployed opposite Taiwan. Launching a preemptive strike, RAND figures that with 90 to 240 SRBMs, China could: “cut every runway at Taiwan’s half-dozen main fighter bases and destroy essentially all of the aircraft parked on ramps in the open at those installations.” Follow on bombing raids by Chinese aircraft armed with precision bombs would destroy any surviving Taiwanese aircraft parked in hardened shelters.

The questions I have are two:

1) Will the USA do what needs to be done to protect Taiwan, including making it very clear to the Chinese that the USA is militarily commited to Taiwan’s independence?

2) Will the USA let the Chinese know that in the event of an invasion of Taiwan by the Chinese, the Chinese can simply kiss the US market goodbye, and no, we won’t be paying back any of our loans?  You don’t pay back the money you owe to the neighborhood bully in the next block.

This is going to be the premier test case of whether engagement and economic relationship with a potential foe trump the simple desire for power. That’s been the assumption of US foreign policy for awhile, now. Thomas P. M. Barnett thinks so.

I hope he’s right.  But I think it will aid the Chinese in reaching the proper conclusion if we build two more carrier battle groups and park them in the Taiwan Strait, and sell the Taiwan government some seriously powerful weapons.

Call it peace through superior firepower.

Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group

It is now clear that the Beijing Olympics Games did not help to improve human rights in China.

On the contrary, unknown thousands of innocent people have fallen victim to the Beijing Olympics. Knowing that it had the Olympics secured, the Chinese regime not only refused to honor the promise it made to improve human rights when it bid for the 2008 Olympic Games[1], but it used the Olympics’ security as a pretext to apprehend, torture, and murder people who had already suffered prolonged human rights violations in China.

One group of victims that the Chinese regime particularly targeted in the year leading up to the Beijing Olympics is Falun Gong practitioners[2]. The Chinese regime has consistently denied persecution of other groups, but has publicly vowed to “eradicate” Falun Gong. In April 2007, a secret document of the Public Security Department listed Falun Gong among 11 groups that were to be monitored and prohibited from attending the Olympics[3]. In February 2008, the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad issued an internal instruction to “strictly monitor and control Falun Gong.” Following these instructions, Chinese authorities all over the country intensified the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.

In the following pages, we document the names and details of the arrest of over 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners in the name of the Beijing Olympics’ security. To fit within a reasonable space, we provide only a small number of the descriptions of how these victims have been violently and even fatally abused in custody. Because of the Chinese regime’s restrictions on the flow of information, the atrocities are feared to be much worse.

Much more at the link above, including the opportunity to sign a petition.

There is also some commentary on the parallels between dealing with China now, and the North dealing with the South for slavery produced goods before the Civil War. I’m still mulling it over… but it is challenging. I encourage you to read it all.

China to establish defective products recall system

Companies should recall products immediately if there is a defect which threatens people’s health and lives, according to a draft law submitted to the State Council, the country’s Cabinet, Wednesday.

If approved, it would be the country’s first law on product recall.

Well… it’s a start, I suppose.  I wonder how many Americans thought China already had such laws?

Thnk the ability to debate is seriously important?  Think it matters more than good judgment, clear understanding of the world, and commitment to the welfare of America above party?

The threats, and some unfortunate connections, are made clear here.  These are serious people, with seriously bad intentions, who aren’t impressed by debate tactics, smooth talk or stage presence.  They will not be “negotiated with” in the normal sense of the term, because we have nothing they want that they aren’t going to get from us anyway.  We cannot give them enough to remove their bad intentions, and they have the capabilities, by and large, to act on those intentions, if we give them time and opportunity.  All of them have proved that.

Who is the very serious person you want as President of the USA to deal with these people?  Who, among the candidates we have, has sufficient wisdom, experience, clarity and toughness to represent us, and make decisions critical to our security?  Who has proved that he will put us first, regardless of his own self-interest, regardless of political fallout?   Who, among the candidates we have, will these people take seriously?   I think you know.

The old standbys, also hip deep in bad plans for the USA, and freedom around the world.

And then, there are our “friends”.

Whose vested interest is keeping us waiting in line for their largess.

China, the nation lauded by Obama for its wonderful infrastructure, the very envy of the world, to hear him tell it, can’t seem to maintain a safe milk supply for its children.

China said nearly 13,000 children were in hospital Sunday after drinking toxic milk powder in a dramatic escalation of Beijing’s latest safety scandal.

No doubt some of those funds that would have been used for milk supply testing and production quality control were diverted to make pretty buildings in downtown Beijing. Yep, we should definitely nationalize the production of everything in the USA, too, so those good folks in the federal government can exercise proper control over everything.

By the way: HERE is what happens when you search Google for “Obama China infrastructure”.  Go ahead and look.  You discover an utter silence of any mainstream media.  That’s right:  nothing from NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, NYTimes, LATimes, Boston Globe, WAPO, etc.  It seems that it wasn’t newsworthy for them. 

More evidence, as if it was needed, that the mainstream media is totally in the tank for Obama.  What’s that mean to you?  If you get most of your election info from those sources, you’re probably hopelessly uniformed.

August 21, 2008, Chester, Virginia. Barack Obama says the following:

Everybody’s watching what’s going on in Beijing right now with the Olympics, Think about the amount of money that China has spent on infrastructure. Their ports, their train systems, their airports are vastly the superior to us now, which means if you are a corporation deciding where to do business you’re starting to think, “Beijing looks like a pretty good option.”

September 5, 2008. Los Angeles Times, page A7.

CHINA: Schools Were Poorly Built:

A Chinese government scientist says a rush to build schools probably led to construction flaws that caused many of them to collapse in May’s devastating earthquake in Sichuan province, the first official admission that building standards may have contributed to the deaths of many children.

The quake killed nearly 70,000 people and damaged more than 1000 schools.

So I’m thinking – NOW I know why Obama wanted to boycott the China Olympics. He doesn’t own a hard hat. And who’d want to be inside the Birds Nest stadium in an earthquake without one? Do we dare to imagine what might have been had the earthquake hit Beijing?

So, if you had to ride out a 7.9 earthquake, which country would you rather be in? And with a straight face Obama tells us China’s infrastructure is vastly superior to the United Sates. Tell that to the 70,000.