Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, said that the United Nations command tried to officially inform the North Koreans on Tuesday about the exercises, but they refused, he said, to accept the communication. The United Nations command at the DMZ then resorted to shouting the message by bullhorn across the border.
Yeah, and all and sundry (sunwet?) can expect fairness, truth and justice to overflow outta the ICJ in geopol disputes...LOLSanjay M wrote:ICJ to rule on legality of Kosovo's independence
The International Court of Justice is due to rule on the legality of Kosovo's unilateral secession from Serbia.
But even as we try to persuade the world -- sometimes even at the point of a gun -- that democracy, giving a voice to each individual, governments who derive their legitimacy from the consent of the governed, is the best of all political systems, we clearly don't mean it. Because if you ask an American whether they believe in concepts like "one man, one vote", they nod vigorously in assent. But ask them if they think that if China has four or five times as many people as America they should have four or five times as a great a say on global issues and they will recoil. Ask them if they think that because America has only four percent of the earth's population that we should only have four percent of the "voice," they would rebel and immediately argue that our status, our standing, our history, our armies, our economy, something justifies a greater say.
Which is saying, of course, that we are not actually "small 'd' democrats," but rather that we don't actually believe in democracy. Like cafeteria catholics, we choose to believe in democracy to the degree to which it suits us and to believe in special interests, the power of the buck, or the power of the nuclear arsenal when they better fit our ambitions. The distinction mattered less when the affairs of nations were contained primarily within their borders. It matters more with every day that critical decisions need to be made on issue of truly global scope, consequence and causes -- be they environmental, related to health, associated with proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the spread of culture, the sharing of intellectual property.
On Sunday, 20 U.S. and South Korean ships, more than 100 aircraft and some 8,000 personnel will take part in a four-day series of war games in waters off the Korean peninsula. There's little ambiguity about the purpose of these exercises, which are taking place in the shadow of a hostile North Korea that's allegedly responsible for the March sinking of the Cheonan, a South Korean warship. "[The war games] are designed to send a clear message to North Korea that its aggressive behavior must stop," said U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates at an American base outside Seoul on July 20. In turn, the North Koreans issued a statement decrying what they deemed "very dangerous saber-rattling."
(See pictures of the U.S. military in the Pacific.)
But Pyongyang is not alone in voicing its discontent. In recent weeks, a growing chorus of protest has come from Beijing, stoked in part by nationalist sentiment at home. A July 8 editorial in the Global Times, a Chinese state-run English-language newspaper, said the exercises could be interpreted as "a direct threat to [Beijing's] territorial waters and coastline." China reportedly completed its own coastal-defense drill, dubbed "Warfare 2010," on July 20. Government officials, both civilian and military, have issued a series of statements expressing a thinly veiled opposition to the planned U.S.–South Korean mobilization and have warned against any interference in China's backyard. Earlier in June, tempers flared at a high-level regional defense summit in Singapore that was attended by Gates and counterparts from the Chinese top brass; American frustration with China's coddling of the North Koreans was met with rhetoric condemning U.S. meddling elsewhere in the region. An invitation for Gates to visit Beijing was rescinded.
There is an action-reaction set of events happening in US and West as it has become apparent mollycoddling of extremists is not going anywhere.Sanjay M wrote:Actually, polls in the US show that the issue of no mosque at ground-zero is resonating well with the US public. Most feel that it's inappropriate for a mosque to be at ground-zero, which is why Republicans are quickly jumping onto that bandwagon.
MIAMI: A Florida church said it plans to publicly burn copies of the Quran on the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, prompting threats from Islamic groups and warnings the move will trigger a rise in hate crimes.
The Dove World Outreach Center of Gainesville, Florida said on its Facebook page it will hold an "International Burn a Koran Day" on September 11, asking other religious groups to join in standing "against the evil of Islam. Islam is of the devil!"
A British leader was at long last accepting the new world order, and Britain’s somewhat lowly place in it. After the posturing and warmongering of Tony Blair, and Gordon Brown’s attempts to be the economic saviour of the world, we appear to have a leader who is neither vainglorious nor puffed up.
Cameron was saying, in so many words: OK, we are going to face up to the facts that we are now a second-rate power in a second-rate continent and that the future belongs to the Far East. We understand that and we want to work with you, not in any spirit of post-imperial arrogance, but rather as a wee brother in a world where you are now the big boys
Now we find ourselves in a world where we have to understand that we are no longer the masters. Nor are the Americans, who are virtually bankrupt and in complete hock to China. On the other hand, India and, indeed, Turkey are about to be mighty economic powerhouses. Indeed, India is the next great superpower. China, already a superpower, has by far the biggest horde of foreign exchange reserves in the world today; most European countries have hardly any such reserves.
Totally agreed. India should grab this opportunity. Britain is in pain right now. This relationship can be a win-win. Maybe we can get britain's focus away from north atlantic to the commonwealth and India.Sanjay M wrote: Perhaps Britain's opportunity can be India's as well.
Not only did it signed the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) even vowed that he will “never ask the US to defend Taiwan.”
I read next 100 years, India has been mentioned like twice in the whole 350 pages. With all due respect for Friedman, I don't think he has even given India sufficient thought. When it comes to western affairs, he dwells deeply into all the nuances but only skims those of Asian countries accept China and Japan. And lastly, he uses certain standard economic indicators but does not analyse economy as deeply as he does military and diplomacy, even though economy is the basis for the other two.
I bought Friedman's book The Next 100 Years, in it there is not one word about India. He never mentions India, obviously he doesn't rate India. "India Shining" has morphed into India Fading.
There is a reason for not including India. India will either become a target of a large international group or India will be sucked into a long term global war of attrition/trade war and demographic culling never seen in history. India is also setup for thier version of fragmentationJE Menon wrote:
Several key countries, including India, are not factored in. Plainly ridiculous.
Very good observation. The media and the sense of the current world is part of the effort to create a false sense of reality. Suggest watch a movie - THE TRUEMAN SHOWRamaY wrote:
"There is an active and ongoing effort to fragment India by these very models. And various pieces in the regional game are nothing but pieces to that singular objective."
Why is this western obsession with a fragmented India; one can only guess.
Apart from trying to break up India strategy, it could be that India is not under the radar because of its problems, no?- Let's assume, and there is no reason to believe otherwise, that China continues to grow very quickly over the next forty years. If the Chinese are able to get their GDP to population ratio up to half of what the current U.S. ratio is, then the total size of the Chinese economy as measured by GDP (in today's dollars) would be over $34 trillion, almost two and half times the size of the U.S. economy.
- Let's do the same thing with India but assume that the ratio is so low that they can only get their ratio up to one quarter of what the current U.S. ratio is, then the total size of the Indian economy as measured by GDP (in today's dollars) would be over $21 trillion, 50% larger than the size of the U.S. economy.
IIRC having read regarding India and pakistan.All their games/models predict a sure fragmentation of India that too in near term (10-20 years). This has been happening since 1947. At the same time their models predict a strong and surging paquistan due to its religious glue. Their not correcting their models even after 60 yrs means only one thing -
"There is an active and ongoing effort to fragment India by these very models. And various pieces in the regional game are nothing but pieces to that singular objective."
Why is this western obsession with a fragmented India; one can only guess.
(particularly few years of independence)
. it is ripe for harvesting souls. it will be battle between the abrahamic faiths.
)... but it's happening.