re: If the Muslims want holy war then let's give it to them.

quote:

---

You just gave a perfect description of middle 1930s Japan.

---

The difference is that Japan wanted political control of its part of Asia AND control over the resources. China sees that political control is more important (if it even hopes to say dominate the South China Sea or take back Taiwan) and it doesn't mind getting its resources from an Africa, a Russia, or a Middle East. A 1930's Japan was much more aggressive, and wasn't that far removed from their own war with Russia. They thought they had to emulate the European military industrial complex to compete on the world stage. China has a different plan for success.

I have been to China, and I have worked with some of their key people in their top petroleum company (which also controls a lot of other natural resources). It is very obvious that they aren't like the 1930's Japanese with a chip on their shoulder, or even a modern American who forces our philosophy at the end of a gun. They care about keeping the dragon running, and making sure that they are in a position to control many of the Earth's most important resources in the next 100 years. They will let those Africans kill themselves for the payment check, no need to try to pick a winner or get involved in a humanitarian crisis. As long as the Africans don't mess with the pipelines or the highways the Chinese have built to pull out all those natural resources that a consumeristic society needs to have rapid product cycles then the Chinese are happy. Who is in charge in those nations, how many tanks they have, and if they are a democracy or capitalism or whatever doesn't matter to the Chinese. All that matters is keeping the factories running, and they are happy to let America take the burden of being the global police force that keeps shipping lanes intact.

This century is a whole different ballgame than the last one.