Everyone who follows world events has known for 10 years that the next major global conflict would near surely involve the United States and China. First, China OWNS the United States, almost literally. You know all that debt we have? Guess who has bought it, in massive proportion? Right, the Chinese. Now guess who will never want to really pay it back in full? Yes, us. We will someday look for a “rebate” on some of that debt through a military confrontation, one in which we threaten and agree to a “settlement.” China is well-aware that it is likely to happen, which is why they have built a formidable military, so as to get a good deal. I studied this dynamic in preparation for a novel not yet out.
Of course there are all kinds of other issues that bring about tension, the fact that the Chinese military’s technology (almost as good as the U.S.) comes almost directly from the fact that they’re pumping out all those Apple IPhones and every other electronic gadget we Americans want for a discounted price. The Chinese – against international law – grab a few and figure out the technology supporting it.
Thus it is, the need for a president who doesn’t do diplomacy by personal relationships, doesn’t see “himself” as THE United States, doesn’t talk tough from 8,000 miles away and then melt in their presence; “I’ve never been treated better.”
From our friends at the Daily Beast:
Defense Secretary James Mattis on Saturday blasted the Chinese government for deploying military equipment to disputed areas of the South China Sea, saying Beijing’s militarization of the region had prompted the U.S. to rethink its “cooperative stance” on certain issues. The U.S. decided to disinvite Beijing from the world’s largest annual naval exercise later this month because of its build-up of military equipment near disputed islands, a move which was intended to frighten neighbors in the region, he said.
In this part of the world, with tensions escalated even higher, a private can start world war three with one wrong shot, quite literally. Moreover, we have a president who is looking for any reason to get his investigation off the front page of the papers.
If you think that the biggest danger Trump poses to this country is his ego, corruption, and lack of qualification, you’re only half-right. All those traits make him especially dangerous in handling a situation like the one above. Notice who is speaking for the United States? It is not the president, the person who normally makes policy statements with this much weight. It’s possible we sent the Chinese a message through by-passing the president; “The grown-ups in charge are serious.”
