A spokesperson for the US State Department has made it pretty clear that, if shooting starts over the disputed Spratly Island Group that we will not honor the terms of our more than 100 year old mutual defense treaty, and will abandon the Philippines to the tender mercies of the Chinese communists.
I suppose I should have expected no better, as our 'president' is far more in tune with the political philosophies of a place like China than he is any free nation.
I've never heard of the Spratly Islands, so I looked them up. According to the Wiki:
ReplyDelete"They comprise less than four square kilometers of land area spread over more than 425,000 square kilometers of sea."
A shooting war over these tiny bits of unpopulated reefs and islets seems unlikely, but then again, the world has gone completely insane.
Lady Red - It is not the land area that matters, but the potentially huge deposits of oil & natural gas that are being searched for.
ReplyDeleteChina decides it is theirs, by strength of arms, despite claims made by geographically much closer countries.
Oh, but my link did not work, anyway.
ReplyDeletehttp://globalnation.inquirer.net/3595/china-to-neighbors-stop-search-for-spratlys-oil
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI apologize for being "slow." I had assumed we could survive almost any dolt in the White House. I was wrong, at least wrong that he couldn't do irreparable damage.
ReplyDeleteThings Obama has done, or at least not used his executive authority ( I believe the former) to squelch, include the NLRB's assault on Boeing and it's new finished plant in South Carolina. I have some experience before the NLRB in a union versus union spat, which I/we won ... mostly because we'd actually read the AFL-CIO skilled trades national contract and the opposition had not, or was just trying extortion, including threats to life limb and family of both me and the union leader I was allied with at the time. Once upon a time there was order in the land and you had to demonstrate damages before bringing spurious actions to the NLRB.
No more, it seems, at least under Obama's administration. Little "O" IS at fault because one telephone call, to the NLRB, could end it. Boeing has hired 1500+ new people in Washington state, and is preparing hiring 1000 people in South Carolina ...and the union petitioned the NLRB to stop Boeing on the grounds of union busting behavior, even though no current "damages" have been incurred by said union. This is a blatant bribe (token actually) to his union supporters, one without any previous legal grounds.
Again, because SC is a right to work state, the union is afraid to cast it's lot with the workers there and demands enforced membership.
This is a direct interference in enterprise by government, not even a regulatory enforcement, but a direct management interference, period. If allowed to stand it will depress further investment and hiring in the USA.
But our media seems preoccupied with Weiner's wiener and Palin's audacity.
What else is going on under reported like this issue?
Aside: I read a WSJ interview with Michelle Bachman this weekend. In it she said nothing I could not agree with, and even mitigates her opinion on the "Fair Tax" such that it conforms with mine ... e.g., it won't work.
PS: I will copy and print to PDF format the WSJ article and email it to anyone who wants to read it (who promise not to forward to recklessly or post it on line) ... the WSJ requires a $400+ subscription to read most of their articles in full on line. To me it's worth it but that's a lot of Jack for one article.
ReplyDeleteIt is a worthwhile read.
Another instance of the US stepping in it? Or Here we go AGAIN?
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Obama and Co. will handle Vietnam now as they did Honduras?
This is a Financial Times article and should be readable for all.
Yeah, Ari - This is part of the same tensions as the story I linked to here.
ReplyDeleteAbout half of the nations in Asia claim at least part of this island group.
The closest physically is probably the Phils, or possibly Viet Nam.
Of course, no niceties of geography, or of international law, will stop China.
Hi, this is Luther. For some reason I am unable to sign-in to blogger from my work computer. Yeah, I know, I'm at work what am I doing signing in.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I've tried for a while and will just post as Anon until I figure it out.
Agree, DWT, China will do as it likes because no one will dare challenge them, especially the present administration.
Here's what I was trying to post.
Ari, I got to that interview through Bing and I appreciate you pointing it out as I really don't know all that much about Bachman and should know more. She didn't say anything, in the interview, that I can or would disagree with. I like the fact that she is focused on the economy first and foremost. As from there goes all else. Wait, there may have been one thing... those white moccasins. :)
As well I bet Airbus is licking their chops at Boeing being pushed around by the unions.
On topic, there are no words, non x-rated anyway, for me to express my disgust at the administrations Spratly decision and pronouncement. I'll go further and say replace Spratly with Israel should the mid-east situation come to a boil. But then, that decision goes hand in hand with objections Sarah Palin has raised after she read ex-CIA director Woolseys' take down
of the admin's ideas on giving away our missile defense technology to the Russians.
White moccasins? WHITE MOCCASINS?
ReplyDeleteBachman can eat crackers wearing flip flops in bed by my calculations.
Pickled herring would be too much, though.
Not that I am a chauvinist piglet or anything :D
I still put brains before beauty, although I do like beauty...it's just that part of "beauty" to me includes brains.
DWT@#2: Ahh, thanks for the info. I knew there had to be more to the story!
ReplyDeleteActually, I am pleased (and somewhat surprised) to announce that the US ambassador to the Phils has essentially contradicted the State Dept spokesman, and said something to the effect that the Mutual Defense Treaty will be honored. Which I hope means that the Phils and other small nations will not be hung out to dry
ReplyDeleteAt least China seems to think that, as they've now decided to warn 'outside nations' about becoming involved in the dispute while now claiming that they only want a peaceful resolution.
Given that it is China, and that they've claimed everything in that area, no matter how much closer other nations are, I fear that China's 'peaceful resolution' will be 'We get the gold mine, you get the shaft.'
Luther,
ReplyDeleteIt may be the case that you can't log on because your browser at work is configured not to accept "cookies". That may or may not be it, but that would explain it.
Ari,
The thing about Boeing is that the company is barely an "enterprise" as opposed to a creature of government.
Europe and America both complain about subsidies to Boeing and Airbus, respectively. Both are pretty much right as far as I can tell. The airplane market ain't exactly fair, free and level. And that goes triple for military aircraft.
Obama figures he's delivering Boeing's profits with one hand, he's free to take them away with another.
It's not the insult to "free enterprise" that bothers me here, it's more the flat out cronyism and vote buying. Boeings earnings might be not be so pure as to qualify as sanctified "private property" - the stockholders know exactly who they're in bed with, after all - but if so, it is the United States Government that has an interest, not Obama, the Democrats, and the unions.