While i understand and appreciate the humor of this remark...I just felt it necessary to point out its absolute absurdity.
If anything, relations between the US and China are growing warmer and warmer recently. China has no interest in conflict with the US, proxy or not, it relies on US investment and trade agreements too much.
As far as Al-Qaeda...im sure the ethnic Uighurs in western China would be surprised that China supports and/or controls one of their islamist resistence tools.
Though isn't the US missile defense programme intended primarily to defend against a bellicose China at some time in the future? It's next to useless against terrorists and there aren't any rogue Islamofascist states within missile range of the US. Of course, it would be extremely undiplomatic to admit that China is considered as a threat.
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US and China are growing warmer and warmer recently
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Regimes like Bush's need an enemy. They started with China - but that was a little more that they could chew. Fair enough, the largely cartoon smoke & mirrors enemy of Al-Q might suffice for a while, but if that proves less than productive in the FUD stakes, or heaven forbid, Chinese manufacturers start making profits not routed through Wall Street, guess what...
Listen buddy, i hate to use this cliche, but 3000 people dead in the WTC, 200+ dead in Bali, countless others in Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Afghanistan is no "smoke and mirrors" enemy. I'm sorry if no one YOU know has been effected by Terrorism, but please keep your ignorant rhetoric to yourself in the future.
Moving on...Although I believe that missile defense is prepostrously expensive and misguided, the justification of it is shown through rogue states like North Korea testing 3-stage missiles over Japan...missiles that could potentially reach the West Coast of the US...
Also...by the time American Missile Defense is working...if ever...it is very possible that Pakistan or Iran could have intercontinental ballistic missile technology. Lets not forget the Russians either...with their current state of affairs, a return to a militaristic autocracy is not too far-fetched an idea.
Well, it's hardly the invasion of Poland...
It's not the al Qaeda don't exist or aren't dangerous, Nostradamus. But Bush certainly seems to think it's safe enough to completely ignore them for a few months while he invades Iraq. Don't get me wrong, I supported the war (on the grounds that getting rid of Saddam was a Good Thing), but if we've got time to hang around there for a while, spreading the occasional lie to keep the punters interested, then al Qaeda can't be considered much of a threat!
I get the feeling that Bush and his cronies have no idea how to take them out. To be honest, I'm not sure I do, either; but one thing's for sure, running around in places where we *know* al Qaeda isn't particularly popular whilst treating with kid gloves those places where they do have support (like Pakistan -- to a degree -- and Saudi Arabia) isn't going to help any.
That war have been running for 10 years! And it will be for another 10 years!
Here's one version, dating from the early 1990s: http://www.kimsoft.com/korea/newaxis.htm