The Thomas Chronicles

In keeping with my bleak theme of late, I now turn Iran.

For years now, the United States and our allies have been trying to talk Iran down from a cliff that they clearly want to jump from. We are talking, of course, of their nuclear weapons ambitions.

Such ambitions are serious enough considering their heavy investments in terrorist organizations, like Hamas and Hezbollah; but not content with destablizing the region through international terrorism, Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has repeatedly called for Israel to be “wiped off the map.”

And with achieving the proverbial “bomb”, they have also achieved their means to following through on their threat.

It should be noted here that the Iranians are not Arabs. They are Persians. They are the oldest continuous civilization in the world, older than China in unbroken continuity. We underestimate them at our peril.

And the Persians don’t bluff.

Then, two days ago on June 24th it was leaked to CBS consultant Michael Oren that if the United States will not strike at Iran’s nuclear build up, Israel will.

“The Israelis have been assured by the Bush administration that the Bush administration will not allow Iran to nuclearize… Israelis are uncertain about what would be the policies of the next administration vis-à-vis Iran.”

In other words, Israel is not going to wait for the U.S. Presidential election. They will act before then unless we act first. Which means such an attack could happen some time within the next four months.

News of this leak is reverberating through the world, and many fear that we are on the edge of a precipice and World War III. Some articles like this one, even outlined how it could start.

Israel, without doubt, does not have the resources to sustain a war with Iran. If they do attack Iran, they will be destroyed by their opponents, unless the U.S. (whom is their closest ally) does not provide military relief (i.e. combat Iranian forces).

Now here is where it gets hairy (and scary).

Iran’s closest ally is another powerful country, you may have heard of it; Russia. They have together (Iran and Russia) what is called a ‘mutual cooperation agreement’ which includes a stipulation that explicitly aims to allow, encourage, and protect the Iranian atomic program.

In short, Russia has agreed to defend Iran - specifically if their nuclear ambitions are derailed by another country.

What’s more - Russia has a very similar agreement with their closest ally, and you have heard of them too, they boast ‘the million man army’; China. The agreement between Russia and China is far more blunt. They aim to work together militarily and economically in order to counter ‘western’ hegemony in both fields.

However, what this author failed to factor in is the terrible necessities of Europe, China and likelihood of the surrounding Arab nations joining the conflict against Israel and America.

Europe would have to be dragged into the fray because their lifeline depends on Russia and Middle Eastern natural resources. If those supplies fail to reach them, their lights go out; and European winters are very, very cold.

Ditto China. China is buying oil futures like there was no tomorrow because, like Europe, if the oil does not flow from the Middle East through the Strait of Hormuz, their lights also go out. The difference between China and Europe is that China is desperate in extremis. I suspect they wouldn’t need any nudging from Russia to enter the war or to fulfill their treaty commitments.

China’s very survival depends on the war’s outcome.

It is clear that Israel does not trust a possible Obama Presidency. Why should they?

Obama’s advisor has met with Hamas on numerous occasions. Obama’s church gave an open invitation to Hamas to promote their propaganda in their church bulletin.

The fact that he has left the church alleviate any concerns with regard to Obama’s relationship with this church. If anything, his farewell comments to the church indicated that he approved of what the church has done.

“This is not a decision that I come to lightly, and frankly it’s one that I made with some sadness…Trinity was where I found Jesus Christ, where we were married, where our children were baptized. We have many friends among the 8,000 congregants.”

…

“It’s clear that now that I am a candidate for president, every time something is said in the church by anyone associated with Trinity, including guest pastors, the remarks will be imputed to me, even if they totally conflict with my long-held views, statements and principles.”

It seemed he showed great reluctance to leave a church that shouts racism from the pulpit and supports terrorists.

Israel’s misgivings are not unfounded.

So, instead of sitting on their hands to see the election’s outcome, Israel is going strike, and God help us when or if they do.

… yeah, my heart bleeds for them.

Apparently, China and Russia have lodged diplomatic protestations against the US for shooting down our defunct satellite. They accused us of conducting a secret weapons test…

A Chinese state newspaper, the People’s Daily, criticised Washington for hypocrisy for rejecting a treaty to ban weapons in space proposed by Russia and China and then firing a missile at the spy satellite. Washington claims it had rejected the proposed treaty as unworkable, and said it instead favoured confidence-building efforts.

“The United States will not easily abandon its military advantage based on space technology, and it is striving to expand and fully exploit this advantage,” the newspaper commentary said.

Speaking at a press conference this morning, Liu Bianca, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, said, tersely: “The Chinese side is continuing to closely follow the US action which may influence the security of outer space and may harm other countries.”

His words were believed to have been carefully modulated to echo criticisms levelled at Beijing by the Bush Administration when China fired its own ground-based missile into an obsolete weather satellite in January 2007.

US defence officials say their case is different because Washington, unlike Beijing, informed the public and world leaders before firing their missile. They also have insisted the only concern driving the US decision to shoot down the satellite was that the 1,000-pound fuel tank could survive largely intact and release toxic gas.

Their protestations is especially rich since China have done numerous weapons tests in the past few years and Russia is still developing their Topol-M missile, which has the promise of evading even the most sophisticated anti-ballistic missile systems.

Do these countries really believe that we would lay down our arms and let them steal a march on us?

We can now add seafood to the growing long list of suspect products from China. The FDA has consistently discovered traces of unapproved drugs that had apparently been pumped into farmed catfish, basa and dace.

The Chinese government, however, assures us that their products are safe. Yeah, tell me another one.

Federal health officials said Thursday they were detaining three types of Chinese fish - catfish, basa and dace - as well as shrimp and eel after repeated testing turned up contamination with drugs unapproved in the United States for use in farmed seafood.

The officials said there have been no reports of illnesses nor do the products pose any immediate health risk. They stopped short of ordering a ban on the fresh and frozen seafood.

The Food and Drug Administration announcement was the latest in an expanding series of problems with imported Chinese products that seemingly permeate U.S. society.

Beyond the fish, federal regulators have recently warned consumers about lead paint in toy trains, defective tires, and toothpaste made with diethylene glycol, a toxic ingredient more commonly found in antifreeze. All the products were imported from China.

China, meanwhile, insisted Thursday that the safety of its products was “guaranteed,” making a rare direct comment on spreading international fears over tainted and adulterated exports.

If you remember earlier this year, the pet food recall that had cats and dogs dropping dead all across the United States was brought about because of a vegetable protein in the food which were derived from China. However, what you probably don’t remember is about 100 people keeling over dead because of a medicinal drugs exported from China.

You probably didn’t hear about that one because it happened in Panama.

Last month, The New York Times reported that at least 100 people had died in Panama after taking medicine containing diethylene glycol that had been produced in China and exported as the harmless syrup glycerine.

And a spokesman for the European Commission said on Wednesday that food safety officials there were investigating after Greece and Poland reported finding traces of melamine in corn gluten and rice protein imported from China, forcing the rejection of one shipment and the withdrawal of tainted feed from the market.

While Beijing has strongly defended the quality and safety of its food and drug exports, and even denied that the toothpaste it exported was unsafe, government regulators at the same time have stepped up safety inspections and shut down companies accused of producing unsafe food or counterfeit drugs.

China, who people have been praising to high heaven as the next industrial superpower for 10 straight years, can’t even produce pet food and simple medicine without cutting corners and threatening the lives of others.

What remains to be seen is if this is just the cheating incompetence intrinsic to the Chinese way of doing business or if this was deliberately malicious with the intent to harm.

Perhaps some time in the near future, the ubiquitous label, “Made in China”, won’t just mean cheap labor anymore.

News this past week coming out of China has been spilling out in a cascade.

It’s just now being reported today on the BBC that thousands of people in rural China protested and clashed with the police.

Several people were injured as up to 20,000 people clashed with 1,000 police in Hunan province on Friday, a local official told Reuters news agency.

The Boxun Chinese news website said the clash was sparked by rising public transport costs. A witness told the BBC sporadic incidents continued on Monday.

…

At least nine police cars were burnt during the clashes, the Boxun report said.

Zhan Zilin, an eyewitness and a local activist, told the BBC Chinese Service that “the authorities sent over about 1,000 armed police, special police and local police and attempted to cordon off the roads in front of the local police station and government buildings”.

He said the police were confronted by protesters and “large-scale conflicts broke out”.

The Reuters news agency reported that police were armed with guns and electric cattle prods.

This recently flare, however, is just the tip of the iceberg…

Note the synchronicity of recent events:

Early this month the Chinese announced a 17.8 increase in military spending for 2007. This is just the publicly announced spending increase, which does not account for spending increases “in the black”. This is “the 17th double-digit increase in 18 years,” which goes well back into the Clinton Administration.

17.8 percent does not sounds terribly much in comparison to U.S. defense budget, but the Chinese government doesn’t exactly pay people minimum wage either.

Everyone knows that China’s greatest asset is their people… Ahem… Allow me to re-phrase. Everyone knows that China’s greatest asset is their willingness to expend and exploit their people (often in concentration camps and gulags) toward their national interests since they have over a billion people to expend. Labor, as well as life, is cheap in China.

This fact makes their 17.8 percent increase much more formidable than it would normally seem in a Western democratic nation, considering the low overhead cost of labor.

Sharply on the heels of this announcement, John Negroponte from the State Department, formerly the Homeland Security Chief, said, “It’s not so much the budget and the increases [of the Chinese military] as it is understanding those questions better through dialogue and transparency.”

Transparency, indeed.

Last year, China fielded it’s first Aegis naval vessel, the designs and features of which very closely resemble our own. The only question then and now is how did they steal our design, and who helped them back-engineer it?

Transparency is also needed in light of hostile statements from their generals:

“If the Americans draw their missiles and position-guided ammunition on to the target zone on China’s territory, I think we will have to respond with nuclear weapons,” said General Zhu Chenghu.

…

“We . . . will prepare ourselves for the destruction of all of the cities east of Xian. Of course the Americans will have to be prepared that hundreds . . . of cities will be destroyed by the Chinese.”

-July 14 2005

You know, when a top official of a foreign power threatens us with thermonuclear devastation, we should probably listen.

… Apparently, we did.

Almost simultaneous to Negroponte’s visit to China, the Chinese stock market inexplicably plunged. In a single day, China lost roughly 9 percent of it’s total stock value, leaving foreign investors quaking and wondering if the shoe is going to drop. Oddly, this 9 percent drop happened within one six-second tick of the stock market. Okay one moment. Six seconds later, plunge.

Think that one through.

The speed of such selling boggles the imagination and it probably couldn’t be done without the use of supercomputers.

This financial shock also led people to peer a wee bit closer to the Chinese way of doing business. Many observers have known for quite some time that the Chinese economy resembles something similar to one vast gambling scheme (Our government wasn’t caught flat-footed by the Chinese government’s mendacity. That’s evident by President Bush’s demand for the re-valuation of the Chinese currency.)

It sure sounds as if China’s stock exchange has more in common with a casino than a marketplace for price discovery.

“It’s even worse than a casino,” Chinese investor Li Daqing told Toronto’s Globe and Mail. “At least a casino has some rules.”

That happened last week. This week our government proposed a 27.5 percent tariff on ALL Chinese products.

Our threat of tariffs has already garnered vehement protestations from the Chinese government.

[China’s Commerce Minister] Bo [Xilai] reiterated the country’s opposition to a 27.5 punitive tariff proposed by some US lawmakers on all Chinese exports.

“If the proposal goes ahead, it will be destructive to the current bilateral trade which is developing healthily, as well as disastrous news to both countries’ enterprises that have achieved double-win in the relationship,” said he.

The minister believed the slap of the tariff, if passed, is out of line with WTO rules.

“If such a policy is enforced, it is not only trade protectionism, but also trade hegemony,” noted Bo.

Viewing the situation from public sources, it seems as though we’re deliberately flattening the Chinese economy, even with the very real possibility of causing a worldwide economic depression.

I had little doubt that the recent Chinese economic meltdown was due to our direct action. But whatever little doubt I had is slowly being washed away with the talk of tariffs against the Chinese and President Bush’s trip to Latin America.

Why Latin America, you ask?

It is well-documented that the Chinese have tried over the past decade to ween over Latin American into it’s sphere of influence economically and in other ways.

For instance, through company with very close ties to Beijing, the Chinese government owns and operates the Panama Canal. They have “military advisors” in Venezuela. All this is in addition to all the global ports under their direct influence.

Chinese control of worldwide port facilities is an issue that should be reexamined in light of recent concerns about rising Chinese influence around the globe. The Chinese company Hutchison Whampoa, owned by Chinese billionaire Li Ka Shing, controls 35 major ports in the world, including the four most important ports in Mexico.

Hutchison is about to build a brand new port at Punta Colonet, a Baja California cove located just two hours south of the US border. In the event of a conflict with China, a Chinese built and controlled port so close to the US could potentially function as a staging area for hostile activities. Also, the US should keep an eye on Huchison’s remarkably friendly relationship with the Mexican government.

Hutchison Ports Holding, part of the Hutchison Whampoa group, runs 35 ports including the Bahamas, Buenos Aires, and two in the Panama Canal. And again, it is owned by Li Ka Shing, China’s most influential billionaire who is known as “The Superman of the Orient.” In 2003 Forbes magazine ranked him fifth among the world’s ten “most powerful” billionaires, behind Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Silvio Berlusconi and Rupert Murdoch.

A 1998 declassified Army intelligence report stated “Li Ka-shing, the owner of Hutchison Whampoa [Limited] … is directly connected to Beijing and is willing to use his business influence to further the aims of the Chinese government.”

Perhaps I’m reading too much into things, but I don’t see President Bush’s trip to Latin America as happening in a vacuum. Nor do I see his visit as simply to bolster trade and good relations with our Latin American neighbors…

I think we’re putting China in a world of pain. The world being interconnected as it is, by slapping down China, we’re slapping down both Russia and Europe who are both heavily invested in China.

There has not been a single thing that the Chinese government hasn’t cheated on— patents, copyright, monetary valuation, etc.— the list is endless. Now that we’re finally countering them, we’ll see if they try to sink us by dumping the billions (or was it trillions) of dollars of our government bonds and securities they currently hold…

This should give all our enemies pause: We putting the screws to China, even at the risk setting off a worldwide economic crisis.

Just what exactly are the stakes here?

Update 3/10/07:

Whoa. I had no clue events are going to be this fast. Our threat of U.S. tariffs on all Chinese products from Congress, seems to be a response to direct Chinese actions. I ran across this article just this morning: China to dump billions of dollars of US Treasury Bills.

The even more troubling item in this piece of news is that this article was dated March 10th, which means we’re well into taking countermeasures against China.

I feel as though I’m playing catch-up with the news on China here. Events are moving at such a breakneck speed, it’s difficult to piece together the information. In one week’s time, there has already been so much back and forth, responses and counter-responses…

Are we already in a trade war with China?

One thing I know for certain is I don’t know the half of what’s going on…

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On February 7th, Reuters reported that China is finally cracking down on Internet piracy. It is well-known that China is the largest source of movie and music piracy for over a decade. Anyone venturing down to Chinatown in New York, San Francisco or Los Angeles would be treated to a buffet of pirated movies (some not even released into the movie theaters yet) for the amazingly low price of 15 clams or less.

Normally, one imagines that China’s crackdown on piracy is beneficial and would take it as a sign that China is finally maturing in its respect for intellectual property rights. The author of this Reuters’ article seems to believe so.

China boasts that it investigated 436 cases between September and January with the imposition of fines totaling 705,000 yuan, the equivalent of $91,000. Six of these cases were remanded to court for prosecution, and only “[o]ne of those had led to a conviction”.

By any standard of measurement, China’s actions could only be interpreted as a token gesture, hardly even worth mentioning given the millions of pirated materials– perhaps even tens of millions– that yearly flows from China’s shores.

Reuters reports, “Pirated music, movies and software are sold openly on Chinese streets, a major irritant in trade relations with the United States.” Apparently, whoever wrote this article never took a stroll through New York’s Chinatown and haggled with sidewalk merchants. If he had, he’d notice all the “pirated, movies and software” being sold right on the streets of America– all imported from China and/or from their Chinese sweat-shop equivalent here in the States.

Given all of China’s tools for controlling Internet content, the most famous being Google’s totalitarian friendly Internet software, China could have shut these sites down with very little difficulty at any time. So, what’s the difference between now and then? Why do even this token gesture, which, of course, at the end of the day didn’t even so much as dent the illegal piracy issue?

Reuters also reports that “in one case, all the Internet cafes in Changchun, in the country’s northeast, were found to be linked into a database of pirated films.”

They’re targeting and sifting information flowing through Internet cafes? Is it just coincidence that people who oppose the Chinese communist party communicate with each other through Internet cafes? This token to end piracy offered to Westerners isn’t even a token. Perhaps they’re just doing what they do best— suppressing dissent, which reminds me of what Goering once said, “Please show me a ‘no man’ in Germany who is not six feet under the ground today.”

If this paltry maneuver is supposed to prove that China is ready to join the ranks of responsible nations, then perhaps China holds a really low opinion of the rest of the world.

In this crackdown, one thing is beyond doubt. China is not very serious in halting piracy. Why should they? All industrial nations of the world have made China their darling and no one has really held China’s feet to the fire for all the theft they’ve done to all our industries, intellectual or otherwise.

So next time you get a hankering to watch a newly released movie, why pay the $10 to a crowded movie theater when you can take a leisurely stroll to Chinatown and own the movie for roughly the same price?

Compliments of China.

Update 2/19/07 9:53 a.m.

I was referred to this video from The Politicker.

Yes, this is the same country that manufactures our shoes, our toys, our needful things… and they are almost prepared to mount challenge to us for control of the Western Pacific.

They are already conducting a full-scale cyberwar with us…

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