Clash of Civilizations

[John]

> Please don't compare shoshin to the Nazis. He has different
> opinions, but ad hominem attacks aren't cool.

I've written about the comparison of today to 1930s Germany many, many
times. I really do believe that people on the left who use attacks
like "Obama-hater" and "racist" are using those epithets in the same
way that Nazis used the epithet "Jew lover" in the 1930s.
Furthermore, calling someone an "Obama-hater" these days is a dog
whistle way of calling someone a racist. Hence my response that
people in his camp use those epithets the same way that Jews used "Jew
lover." If Shoshin didn't want me to make the comparison to Nazis,
then he shouldn't have called me an "Obama hater." He could have
expressed his so-called "opinion" without using ad hominem attacks on
me.

[Reality Check]

As for blaming Bush for the NEXT 4 years, he doesn't have to...he has the Republican congress to nail with obstructionism...only this time, Mitch McConnell will have to come up with something different to say than keeping Obama a "one term President."

I believe there is a nugget of truth buried in all this rationalization of Obama's failures.

The Millennials truly do like authority figures talking trash about, and blaming someone else, for the "problems", both their own personal problems and societies problems.
My 18 year old millennial daughter certainly displays that tendency when she is not doing her best in a college class, and her peers, who were raised by a single Generation X parent, use daily blame sessions as an alternative to prayer and meditation as a way of dealing with life's stress.

The Baby Boomers are shocked and dismayed by such talk. And, I suspect, generation Xers appreciate a good lie by Obama, if they believe it promotes an agenda they agree with, or better yet, puts a Boomer like Romney in his place.

[gerald]

clash of civilizations ---or---- a clash of those who control -- for example China

interesting video

http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/20 ... -evict-him

[Trevor]

Well, here's the latest news on the Pacific Front. Starting in January, China has declared that their patrol boats will have the "right" to intercept and board ships that are supposedly trespassing in the South China Sea. They will also have the authority to force neutral vessels out of their waters.

This is just a few days after they announced their first aircraft carrier. http://www.aei.org/article/foreign-and- ... uary-2013/

[gerald]

warming up?

China vs India in the South China Sea?

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-12-0 ... down-china

[gerald]

clash of civilizations ---or---- a clash of those who control -- for example China

interesting video

http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/20 ... -evict-him

some context ---
Question, Do leaders guide the people or create the mood?

http://www.searchquotes.com/quotation/N ... _i/237168/

Hermann Goering quotes
"Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."

Is today any different? -- Does not look like it.

[gerald]

a game from China ---
Nail House vs Demolition Team
http://dailybail.com/home/this-is-why-t ... china.html

[Reality Check]

China starting a crisis war in 2013 is a very hard case to make.

Obama is in the process of massively, but only partially, disarming the United States strategic capability. That process is in progress but will take 2 or 3 more years to complete. No one in America is even talking about stopping this strategic downsizing. Six hundred ( 600 ) strategic nuclear warheads that can not be launched against you, is a very big deal. The total reduction is 900, but 300 have already been removed in Obama's first term so China has no need to wait.

Even if the Chinese do not want to wait for future potential military cuts ( which are highly likely under Obama ), those strategic cuts that are in progress, fully funded by the U.S. Congress, and no one is even talking about stopping them, are very hard to not allow to complete. When your enemy is destroying himself, do not interrupt him. China very well may be that smart and that rational, even during a crisis period.

China is winning these regional battles on the economic and the demographic front without going to war with the U.S. why push it in the next 12 months ?

China could avoid direct confrontation by only boarding civilian ships not allied with the U.S. If China provokes other countries, not allied with the U.S., to Attack them in the South China Sea and then plays the victim card and only respond proportionately within the South China Sea. Obama would do everything in his power not to get involved. China could advance it's economic and political goals in the South China Sea without going to war with the U.S.

China could continue to provoke Japan to seize civilian Chinese ships and press their case non-militarily while justifying a future war when they are ready. China could carry out limited economic war with Japan short of a military attack on Japan or Japan's Navy. China is now the superior economic and demographic power, versus Japan. Japan is unlikely to attack China without U.S. support and Obama would never give the OK for a Japanese instigated war against China.

Obama will seek "peace in our time" at every opportunity. China very well may adjust their aggression to levels that will avoid war with the U.S. and U.S. allies for a few more years.

Vietnam and India for example are not formal U.S. allies and civilian and economic interests aligned with Vietnam and India in the South China sea could be made an example of without risking a direct military conflict with the U.S.

Miss-calculations could occur, but the case for China to rush to war while the U.S. is still in the process of rapid, massive demobilization his hard to make.

[gerald]

And Japan will do what? regarding China. This could really heat up the pot.

From http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-0 ... war-agenda

the JRP regularly crows that Japan is a "single screwdriver turn" from nuclear weapons capability and can at any time start production at an initial rate of four Hiroshima-equivalent weapons-per-week. In total, the JRP goes on to boast, Japan can have fully functional nuclear weapons in at most two months from getting the green light - from Shinzo Abe's governing party.

The US 'Foreign Policy' magazine, described as "administration friendly", suggests that the lure for Japan to go nuclear, despite Hiroshima and Nagasaki, despite Fukushima, may be too tempting for its current War and Circuses, career liberal politicians with retrograde and spurious nationalist credentials. 'Foreign Policy' goes on to imply that the White House, if not Americans at large would appreciate this – because it would tend to neutralises the Chinese nuclear threat in the region, and "reset the game" of regional geopolitics at a highly belligerent zero.

Japan's endgame flirt with Neoliberal mindwarp, what we can call the "slogan based economy", has brought about a situation where War and Circuses is surely on the Japanese political agenda, along with Japan's threats to sabotage the global economy. The inventors of kamikaze suicide war now have an Old Guard of political deciders who are prepared to pilot the economy straight into the ground, while bleating about "national pride".

[Reality Check]

the JRP regularly crows that Japan is a "single screwdriver turn" from nuclear weapons capability and can at any time start production at an initial rate of four Hiroshima-equivalent weapons-per-week. In total, the JRP goes on to boast, Japan can have fully functional nuclear weapons in at most two months from getting the green light - from Shinzo Abe's governing party.

Given that the smallest U.S. land based strategic war head is more than 10 times larger than a "Hiroshima equivalent weapon" it would take 2.5 weeks to produce one, even if this boast by the Japan Restoration party ( JRP ) were true.

In one year Japan could have 24 nuclear war heads the size of the smallest U.S. strategic war heads, if the boast was true.

Not exactly the number you would want on hand to start a 2013 war with a major nuclear power like China.

By the way, the JRP came in third in the recent election. The long time ruling party ( ruled most of the time since World War II ) came in first and has a super majority.

The JRP is not, and has never been, a ruling party in Japan since World War II.