There are More Countries than Iraq and Iran, Horatio

It’s not always about the Middle East. Sure some Muslims are setting fires to buildings and we’re all worried about Iran’s nuclear program but outside of the occasional story that breaks into the mainstream news, our singular focus on the Arab world has blinded us to the very real threat of rising super power nations like China and India. It has also blinded us to the re-emergence of old super power nemeses like Russia.

I realize that there are most likely plenty of smart people in Washington who realize that we are not the America of the 1950’s and are writing policies to deal with a changing world, but from my vantage point, it doesn’t seem like this administration nor the people of this country really know that world has categorically changed to favor East Asian hegemony.

China presents the biggest issue. So many of the world’s strings are tied directly to what is quickly becoming the global community’s workshop. Last year I wrote about how the Chinese are building up their military such to the point that some thought an invasion of Taiwan was imminent. This idea was furthered by joint war games between the Chinese and Russian militaries with the stated goal of fighting Chechen terrorism and Taiwanese secession. Needless to say, with a law on the books stating that if the Chinese invade Taiwan, we will intervene with our military, a few hairs were raised on Capitol Hill.

To date we’ve been lucky that the Chinese are contented with limiting their political muscle to bullying Google and such but that doesn’t mean the Chinese aren’t still a mounting threat. For example, according to the Kenya Times, ”As part of the Pentagon report delivered to Congress last month, China is now prepared and has the capability of neutralising Japan and striking US cities with submarine launched nuclear missiles from far out in the pacific. Richard Fisher, the Vice President of the think tank asserted: ''China is in the midst of perhaps the largest military build up the world has witnessed since the end of the Cold war.'' John Tkacik- a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation raised similar alarm: ''Beijing's weapons modernisation and military reforms is aimed at projecting national power.'' This is a wake up call to the Bush administration, Taiwan government and US allies in the Asia Pacific region.

The current foreign-policy focus of the US is upon the Middle East and more broadly upon the Muslim world, given the ongoing war in Iraq and the continuing threat from Islamic terrorism. However, the region with the most dynamic growth today-and with the greater potential weight in world politics in the future- is East Asia. And the most dynamic and weighty country in that region is China.

The problem is entirely about their military either. And this is what cracks me up about the American left; often you’ll hear many a tree-hugging-liberal whine and cry about how the US is destroying Mother Earth with our use of fossil fuels and other pollution causing industries. But there’s nary a word mentioned about the damage caused by other countries, which in the case of China, has the potential to surpass any and all ecological damage done by the US. It is this very reason that President Bush opted not to sign the Kyoto Protocol (at least that was the stated reason).

However, Bloomberg reports that, ”China faces massive environmental challenges, especially in providing clean water, that threaten its economic growth, said Elizabeth Economy, director for Asia Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York…Three hundred million people, out of a population of 1.3 billion people, are drinking contaminated water every day, and 190 million people drink water that makes them physically ill, Economy said.

The country has 20 of the world's 30 most polluted cities, mostly because of the heavy use of coal and increasing numbers of cars and other motorized vehicles, according to the World Bank. Automobile pollution standards lag European measures by a decade, it said.”

China may be the new powerhouse on the block but as Iran is finding out, you are only as strong as the allies you keep. The fact of the matter is that nothing has changed since Mao and Stalin first forged an alliance together (contrary to popular opinion that there was in fact a schism). Though the names have changed and certainly the context, it is plain to see that Moscow and Beijing are one city joined in their desire to wrest military and economic power from Washington DC.

A recent example of Russia’s commitment to their Chinese allies is a statement made Monday regarding the “one-China policy.”

Russia said in a statement on Monday that it firmly opposes "Taiwan independence" in any form and adheres to the one-China policy.

"Lately, Taiwanese authorities have made several statements that became a matter of serious concern to Russia. In particular, we were bewildered by the ideas put forth by Chen Shui-bian on January 29, which run counter to his earlier promises and commitments," Itar-Tass reported, citing a statement issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry…Russia firmly believes that "there is only one China in the world, and Taiwan is its inalienable part," the ministry stressed. (Source)

The last part of the new triumvirate of course is our good friends India. As I’ve reported in the past, India has made many moves to align itself with our current foes as a way of hedging their power base in the world forum. New Delhi and Moscow are forming closer relations every day, especially economic ties.

The Indian Express reports that, “Bilateral trade relations between India and Russia will take off in a big way after the comprehensive agreement between the two countries is signed by the year end, said Russian minister of trade and economy, German Gref, at a CII meet on Monday.

Gref also said that the importance the two countries attached to each other was evident from the fact that he had met his Indian counterpart Kamal Nath, four times in the last few months.

But nothing says “I love you” like a new cache of nukes from a country you previously traded arms with. Apparently the Israeli’s have learned from our example that trading weapons with anybody that has the dough is a lucrative business and loyalty be damned.

Once again, The Indian Express writes that, ”In an indisputable sign that Indo-Israeli defence ties have matured, the governments of both countries have signed their first-ever joint weapons development contract to design and produce the Barak-II next-generation air defence missiles for warships.

After 17 months of complex inter-government negotiations, the deal was concluded on January 27 but kept under wraps for ‘‘political reasons’’, sources said. The Barak-II will be jointly developed by the Israeli Aircraft Industries (IAI), the Barak programme’s secondary integrator Rafael and by the Hyderabad-based Defence Research & Development Laboratories (DRDL), with the two countries splitting the approximately $330 million kick-start investment.”

Now my fiancé, whom is as beautiful as she is full of good ideas, has been steering me towards topics like the aforementioned Wal-Mart story or the VA. She believes, and to date has been proven right, that nobody cares about this foreign policy stuff and that I should write about more mainstream topics. Of course she is exactly right about this. However, I do not want to hear people crying that the America they once knew, you know, the one where we were the unchallenged kings of the universe, is dead and gone. I do not want to hear anyone crying that they are now living in a world where China and Russia are equal or more powerful than the US and, “how did this happen?”

Read all of the above stories again. That is how it happened. The problem is not that I’m not writing mainstream stories, the problem is we as a country still want to be isolationists and the rest of the planet is far beyond that philosophy.

We are all global citizens, you and I. It’s time to at least start taking an interest, in my humble opinion.