Batist

Very apparently

Labeling a foreign armed forces a terrorist organization because you don't like it. Good job Bush.

Who wants to bet Bush just switched on the bomb that is world war 3?

Next step is for Bush to invade Iran, piss off China, and start world war 3.

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Dawson

It's stuff like this that made me love Bush to begin with. Smart, unpredictable, aggressive. No sane person could have a problem with this.

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Pithy

Uh, what?

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Batist

China can easily collapse the US's economy if it wanted to. Everything is "made in china" today. What would happened if they just stopped?

China is also Iran's major export for oil, so they won't have it with an invasion.

And with American-Russian ties right now....I don't see russia supporting the US either.

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chowdy

Warning: IANAEANAY

(I Am Not An Economist And Neither Are You)

Uhh... then the Chinese economy would also collapse.

The Chinese economy is export based. It's GDP growth is also based mostly on foreign investment.

The way the Chinese can collapse the US economy is by liquidating their $1 Trillion USD currency reserve, thusly destroying the value of the USD.

Lots of nations depend on Iran for oil. Japan does too. A lot of people also depend(ed) on Iraq.

It's not like it matters, but it would actually help Russia's bottom-line to hurt another nation's oil production anyway.

Either way, I don't want my country to enter another war. I (vicariously) miss the good old days of non-preemptive war.

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steamid: chowdy

Pandas_UNITE

thats retarded, foreign investors virtually run everything in china. Chinese are just as dependent on other countries as we are on them.

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Batist

You know that China's exports don't all go to China. A lot go to european countries. and more.

Not to mention they have probably the strongest hold on natural minerals and labor in africa at this moment.

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Batist

You know that China's exports don't all go to China. A lot go to european countries. and more.

Not to mention they have probably the strongest hold on natural minerals and labor in africa at this moment.

Us europeans and americans probably don't like it, but in a very short time. 5 years. 10 years. 15 years. soon. China will be stronger economically and militarily.

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Knight of Cydonia

From a political/diplomatic standpoint this may not be the best move, but in reality the declaration isn't all that far from the truth... Iran is far from an innocent foreign nation.
Now I don't agree with many if not allmost all of Bush's politics (nor care that much since I'm not an U.S. citizen), but I'd still trade living in America under Bush over living in Iran under a theocratic dictatorial regime (religious democracy isn't democracy, let alone the enormous disregard for human rights and minorities).

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Batist

Me too, i agree with you. But labeling your enemy "terrorist" is too far fetched. The Nazis weren't terrorist. When we went to bomb Kosovo, the enemy weren't terrorists.

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Caster13

Why would the Iranian army push for political change through violence if they're effectively the political majority?

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Knight of Cydonia

^^I agree, the term "terrorist" is overused these days, and starting to lose/lost much of it's meaning.

^Like the article said, Bush and his administration apparently accuse them of working behind the scenes in destabilizing the local terrorist forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, whether that's true or not is another matter. If anything, again like the article stated, there would be certain "benefits" in naming them a terrorist group, like blocking their assets, so the Bush administration could just be seeking a stick to hit the dog with. (I don't know the English proverb equivalent, meaning ~ looking for a means for an end...)

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chowdy

Yea, I don't really know for sure what you mean. I'm going to go ahead and assume that the 2nd China is supposed to be "The United States."

And you're right. Not all of China's exports go to the US. Only a staggering 21.4%. The US and Chinese are so heavily dependent upon each other that the two nations are great allies without even liking each other (or knowing it).

Awesome story. Do you have any more from the FUD machine...?

...looks like you do.

This is the big question of the decade, and perhaps even the century. China's amazing economic growth is just that, amazing. But beyond the shock value of headlines touting "11% yearly GDP growth" and the like, what you have is a very down to earth situation with very realistic obstacles.

It's not a Cinderella story. Ever-increasing wages, complete and utter dependence on foreign direct investment (as pandas noted earlier), and growing civil unrest from the hundreds of millions of Chinese missing out on this economic miracle are just a few of the PRC's very real challenges.

So 5, 10, 15 years from now, we may see a world much like one 15 years ago, divided between the East and the West in economic and military strength. Or we might not, because there's no guarantee that China's economic miracle is going to have enough steam to get it over the obstacles before it.

Fun fact: Between the EU and the US, we spend nearly $1 Trillion/Year on our military budgets. Too much, in my opinion, but still leaps and bounds beyond China. And Russia. And the rest of the world combined.

This reminds me of a conversation I had with Bleeper the other day. What you Europeans need to do is start fucking, because your rapidly aging population is what you should be worrying about in 5, 10, 15 years. No, the US is not safe from the baby-boomers' demise either, but we have a ridiculous birth and immigration rate. Hop to it!

Actually, you Frenchies are alright in that respect. How about you go over to Germany and teach them a thing or two.

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steamid: chowdy

Paul Weller

[quote]And you're right. Not all of China's exports go to the US. Only a staggering 21.4%. The US and Chinese are so heavily dependent upon each other that the two nations are great allies without even liking each other (or knowing it).[quote]

a good point. However, when both become super powers, tensions may grow. The US has the biggest monopoly of power in the world.

the prospect of china becoming a free market (thats where its heading) would generate an enormous amount of wealth. a lot of different things could potentially happen.

but for now you're right.


china has a lot of people and the more they learn how to communicate with the world economy, the more wealth they will generate. After Mao the chinese government realized the direction they needed to head in.

They have a lot to do their economic bidding with potentially.


and yeah, they're an enemy, but they're not a terrorist organization. yeah if they went to war that would be terror on us. but war = terror.

iraq = terror.

that's the whole point.

Batist

Yeah, I think us in France have a bigger kid per parents ratio then the whole of europe or something. even bigger then the US.

I remember seeing that a while ago.

that's a double sided sword because for them, they are "terrorized" thus you become terrorist too.

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chowdy

Close. France is 1.98, US is 2.09 births per woman.

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steamid: chowdy

Batist

yeah i guess it helps with all those huge mexican families you have down there

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Rogue

French girls are hot.

burning_phoneix

Saudi Arabia has you both beat:

3.94 births per women

But anyway, pretty much all goverment agencies/militaries have been involved with funding rebellions..etc. Including the United States.

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~Whenever I sign up for something online, I always put the country "Niger" and city "please".