Are the Chinese smarter than we are?

[Senior citizen]

There's a lot of concern about the Chinese bid to buy Unocal.

Can some brilliant DUers tell me how much oil Iraq had prior to our invasion, and what the highest market price for oil was at that time?

My guess is that it might have been a lot cheaper to simply buy up all their oil, than to go to war for it. Unless, of course, we actually tried and Sadaam refused to sell. In that case I can see why regime change seemed both necessary and urgent to BFEE.

[Fire Walk With Me]

1. Invasions can be accomplished through many means.

And wasn't Lao Tsu Chinese?

With that many people, all you have to be is patient. A slow invasion could be most effective.

[Chan790]

6. Yes. The founder of Taoism

Ironically, his distant decendant Sun Tzu would write the greatest book of combat theory ever and his great (x6) grandson Sun Qian would make his name at the outbreak of the Three Kingdoms war by crushing the Yellow Turban rebellion of the Taoist peasantry using that combat theory.

[Fire Walk With Me]

10. That's it, Sun Tzu.

I'm into comparative religion, not war, except to end war.. Thanks.

[Ezlivin]

2. Another shot across the bow in our resource wars

This is our life from now on: Staggering from conflict to conflict in a vain attempt to secure a vital resource.

As Jared Diamond points out in "Collapse", many civilizations doomed themselves by over consumption of local resources (food, water). Oil is now an intricate part of our economy and any threat to its supply will have serious ramifications for our nation's economic health.

All of the major, first-world countries understand the need for resources. Unfortunately, our need for them does not make them easy to obtain by any means. Nearly all of the oil we need is located under countries hostile to us.

Are we having fun yet?

[Senior citizen]

7. Oh, sure.

Since gas prices have risen since the invasion, and international hostility to us has increased, we'd better be having fun, because it looks like the party's almost over.

[phantom power]

3. Our fearless leaders are playing checkers. The rest of the world...

plays chess.

I don't think that's because we're inherently dumber than anybody else, but we are in the grip of various ideologies that cause us to act dumber. Which is just as bad. Stupid is as stupid does.

[naturalselection]

4. Just read Chevron

is in the buying of Unocal.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4635729.stm

[stinkeefresh]

5. my favorite analysis of China

is by David Bowie

"I'll give you television
I'll give you eyes of blue
I'll give you man who wants to rule the world...

But when I get excited
my little China girl says
'oh baby. just you shut your mouth.'
she says:
'shhh.'"

[snickersnee]

8. no, but they apparently have redundant error-checking

...built right in, as i've often heard that a billion of them can't be wrong...

[bballny]

9. Being Chinese

of course we are. Seriously, here is a little dirty secret of Asians. We are taught from early childhood that we are smarter. Maybe were not but education is stressed in the Asian culture. Jewish culture is the same. The similarities in the cultures is obvious. I ended up growing up in a Jewish clique where the art of verbal battle is highly regarded.

[sadiesworld]

24. It's "we're".

[opstachuck]

25. should be "similarities... ARE obvious" n/t

[kodi]

11. hardly, the chinese are acting like a team, the west like individuals

today, max baucus in the senate made the analogy that the chinese (and japanese) were acting like a well-organized football team with a plan, and a coach and all the players knew their roles; whereas the americans were 11 individuals who were arguing over who played where, and who made the decisions.

its clear that both china and japan (and tiawan, korea, and singapore for that matter) have a national economic policy using education, tax incentives and government attitudes that support national mercentile policies.

the USA is so far behind this approach because it allegedly is at cross purposes with that great myth of the rugged individual.

but, those times never were and evoking any such foolishness is deadly for future economic health.

the US needs a program of national socialism. the name of course is historically poisonous, but the means it describes for the america of the 21st century refers to a national health program for ALL, first-rate education for ALL, a living wage for ALL, economic democracy for ALL and a national economic policy that lifts ALL.

i know smart chinese, i know stupid ones.

i know smart japanese, i know stupid ones.

i know smart jews, i know stupid ones.

i know smart whites, i know stupid ones.

i know smart blacks, i know stupid ones.

i know smart americans, i know stupid ones.

it all comes down to motivation.

[Senior citizen]

13. You're right about the name being poisonous.

I remember someone telling me that they thought everyone should have access to good health care, but that they were opposed to socialized medicine.

I was too dumbfounded to respond.

[Yupster]

17. Isn't that the answer?

It all comes down to motivation.

The history of the world is that countries rise to prominance, then they get fat and lazy, and other more motivated people pass them by.

It seems a natural process that is happening to us just like it happened to so many others.

[Totally Committed]

12. They are raised to be highly focused and productive...

and, they don't have to worry about who's in power... they have no control over it.

We, on the other hand, are raised to think we are free, and "the pursuit of happiness" is guaranteed to us. We are given the illusion that we elect our government, so we feel a certain level of responsibility for who represents us. All of these things, I feel, keep us from being focused and truly productive ala the Chinese. And, when those things don't take out eyes off the ball and confuse us, we have the Bushistas' Terror Attack warnings...

The Chinese would never put up with all this bullshit. That's why they will probably be a "Superpower" before we know it.

TC

[Senior citizen]

14. Yes, freedom and security are often a trade-off.

Only in our case we've managed to trade less freedom for less security.

Good post.

[dbeach]

15. No.More patient..

usa,britain and israel have sold them dangerous technology...

and with bush the traitor running the show..
china is less fearful of the usa

they have recently made pals with iran..wonder why?

[brindis_desala]

16. Iraq has at minimum 115 billion barrels of oil reserves PLUS

trillions of cubic meters of natural gas worth gazillions, but price was not the issue. It's about CONTROL. Hussein did not help himself by trying to price Iraq's oil in euros. The reason the US can play the bully with a $700billion deficit is because OPEC (thanks to our buddies the Saudis) prices its oil in US dollars. Non-oil producers i.e. most of the developing world has to sell its goods and buy dollars to service its industry or borrow from the World Bank at Mafia rates and conditions. And the World Bank is ... good old Uncle Sam...
But the REAL tragedy of Iraq, which I haven't been able to get DUers to focus on, is the massive corruption and profiteering at outrageous levels being run by Rumsfeld and Cheney. They are the reasons the insurgency is booming and targeting our ill-used soldiers while this robbing the country of its blood and treasure. Meanwhile the CIA is reaping giant windfalls from the Afghan heroine trade and doping the streets of Baghdad.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

18. Naomi Klein's article in Harpers (9/04?) tells all about ti

An infuriating must-read.

[Senior citizen]

20. Thank you, I'll do that.

Due to a temporary (hah!) financial difficulty, I had to let my subscription to Harpers lapse, but there's still the library.

What's worse is that I had to let my subscription to Covert Action Quarterly lapse too, and that was the last subscription I had. And my library doesn't have it. Sometimes I go into Borders and skim, but their articles are so dense and fully footnoted that they demand to be studied more than simply perused.

I'll have to check both websites and see how much they have online. I hate being ignorant just because I'm broke.

[LittleClarkie]

19. Smarter, probably not

But they seem to rather outnumber us.

[CWebster]

21. They have the quiet ambition of the sleeping giant

whereas we have a cheap pop culture with a crass nationalism to toot to the crowd while the capitalist marauder's reek havoc on the landscape for a pint of black gold.

[Monkie]

22. Saddam wanted you to pay in Euro's,US paying in Euro's for oil=end of USA

its that simple..
and no the chinese arent smarter,they are in it for the long term while most western companies cant seem to think past their next dividend payment.

[KansDem]

23. Smaller than the US, but over 4 times the population...

They must be doing something right (if one equates "smarter" with "doing something right").