"The idea that the US is "provocative" and poor China is the helpless victim of Washington's provocations is, again, absurd in two ways. First, since China determines what is "provocative", by making strategy based on the fear of provoking China, you essentially hand off control of your foreign policy to Beijing. Second, Freeman elides the whole problem of how China provokes the US -- in these pro-China presentations China is always the victim and its agency is limited."Turton's remarks against U.S. Ambassador Chas Freeman. I despise Turton, but his analysis is basically correct here.
Thursday, 12 May 2011
Ambassador "Freeman" Is Full Of Sh*t
4 comments:
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As for MT, it is somewhat odd to see such a staunch booster of socialist policies in the Untied States turn the other cheek and decry socialism when it pertains to Chinese policies. Also, I wouldn't give him too much credit for getting something right. Blind squirrel, acorn, something like that.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Turton on another thing: regional armed conflicts in Northeast and Southeast (and probably South) Asia (against China) are inevitable, and they will occur in our lifetimes. Although I don't believe this has much to do with structure per se, China's territorial claims make arms reductions impossible because even if China were not belligerent and were merely spouting rhetoric for its domestic audience, no one would be able to tell the difference. The downward arms spiral began in the early 90s and will continue for the foreseeable future, and this will certainly lead to further provocations by all involved. Even though Turton believes (I think) this has to do with structures--East Asia isn't big enough for three regional big powers (Russia, China, and Japan) plus one superpower (the United States)--many of these problems could be alleviated if parties were willing to negotiate. Since China takes the stance that its territorial claims are matters of domestic law and territorial sovereignty and integrity and are not, therefore, subject to negotiation, China has made a choice to continue--and deepen--conflict and has thrown the possibility of negotiation completely out the window.
ReplyDeleteThus, even though I agree with Turton's overall points and his broader conclusion, I think he's still got some issues with explaining why these things will occur. So, like Joe says, blind squirrel and acorn (nice analogy, by the way, LOL).
First Argentina, now Ireland. This just makes me feel so secure in my own retirement planning.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.businessinsider.com/irish-bombshell-government-raids-private-pensions-to-pay-for-jobs-program-2011-5
Turton has been consistent on the Taiwan thing. I think the idea of registering his occupation, residence and travel plans with the local PSB office doesn;t tend to lead one to have much enthusiasm about it. Unfortunately a sizable population of Taiwan sees joining China as a good thing.
Sorry guys - your comments got lost during that Blogspot glitch earlier this week.
ReplyDelete