HoosierDaddy, on 11 December 2010 - 11:07 AM, said:
Apt, I never said I'm a great fan of the system, but I'm not going to pretend to be oblivious as to how it works. Do I wish it was different? Yes. I do. I have very high ideals as well as any other political person. My point has been all along, in the real world of politics this is normal and expected. It's easy to say what you would do. It's much harder to do in actuality.
Edit: Good luck with India and China. I'm sure they are willing partners in your future prosperity. God knows they don't have any reasons to despise Western Europe.
And therein lies the problem, it shouldn't be considered normal and expected. The whole idea of holding people to account means that morally bankrupt people/institutions/governments are held in check. But, the problems not going to go away, unless a signioficant proportion of the population turns around and says enough is enough. It's all very well having high ideals, but if you're not doing anything about it, you might as well chuck those ideals away, they're worthless...Are you in politics yet? I do hope you get to apply those ideals. This is not a dig, at all, I'm behind you all the way. And we've kind of strayed from the poser...
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China may not be the bad guy now, but what happens in 10, 20 or 50 years from now, when China is an economic and military super power that dwarfs the US and Russia? It's not expansionist now, but what happens when it decided that it would like to reunite with Taiwan. Or begins putting some serious economical pressure on the US or EU?
The problem lies in the fact that while China has adapted to capitalism, it has not adopted to democracy or free speech or any other western approach to government.
As a columnist remarked recently here in Denmark regarding our countries infatuation with "The Asian Dream" perhaps it would be better to invest in India and keep our distance from China.
I'm no futurist
![:thumbsup:](https://forum.malazanempire.com/public/style_emoticons/Malazan/smile.gif)
I merely market to people and know a little bit about finance and I have no way of telling what they'll be like 50 years from now, but I do know that in the past they have had plenty of opportunity to stamp their mark on the RotW, but instead sent out Dragon ships and built trade networks and have really been concentrating on keeping themselves to themselves. A very differrent people to those that went to colonise America, swept accross a country in a tide of blood and now cast a baleful eye over all that they survey
![:p](https://forum.malazanempire.com/public/style_emoticons/Malazan/p.gif)
, all the while hiding behind a veneer of do goodery, which has peeled off to reveal it's rapaciaous nature (I kid hoosier...mostly)
China has adapted to capitalism, then might it not adopt democracy and Freedom of speech next...hmm wrong order, freedom of speech then democracy and then loose freedom of speech further down the line, because it's politically expedient. We in the UK can become fully muzzled if the government so choose. Funny how that came about.
Thanks to china and and oligarchy of western food producers eating is becoming almost as expensive as consumer electronics. I can't wait till they figure out how to mass produce food on a scale that they can compete in that market.
Who'd I pick of the two? Neither, I just want a new detente based on economics, tech and getting enough of us off this rock as quickly as possible before the shit matches velocity with the fan. We so definitely, definitely need a new frontier. Hopefully before I croak...or go through my next gene therapy session