ARTICLE: 'A Road Map To Modernity: As Congo's Ambitious Project to Connect Mining Cities and Ports Nears, a Village Offers a Glimpse of the Promise and Peril,' By Stephanie McCrummen, Washington Post, May 2, 2008; Page A01
This I find fascinating as a tale.
In my brief I joke that China, the unprincipled SysAdmin, simply says, "Where's your stuff [like mines]? Really? Where are your ports? Can I build a road from your stuff to your ports?"
Well, here's a perfect example. All sorts of good and bad come with new connectivity, but the real freedom unleashed tends to be economic vice political.
The big question for the Chinese as they set all such things in motion: How much do we/they themselves/locals hold the Chinese responsible for what ensues?
With Sudan, people will point to the arms transfer, as well they should. But that's an obvious one and a pretty easy one to address, but change of the sort cited in this piece is a lot more profound and complex, with no easy answers.
Chinese will say, "Our policy is no interference politically," but of course, when you foster such huge economic change, political repercussions are sure to follow. Pretending otherwise is disingenuous.
So China will need to discover and enunciate a far more fully-fledged foreign policy as a result. Shaping this process for the better is arguably the most important thing America does is its foreign policy in coming years.
Or you can simply try to exclude China and lecture and sanction it, which will certainly shape their foreign policy--just maybe not in the direction we're looking for.
Hence my fears of McCain and the resurrection of the neocons.
Comments (2)
you know,history teach us who is who,and what mentality and policies means what.unfortunetly, people speacially in US don't know
history that well,and basically depend on corp media for guidance. But of course,the deciding factor in this election is economy rather foriegn policy,and because of the economic down turn and the believe that McCain represent same policies as the most unpopular
president;Bush,logicaly,people are geared for change,because that is
one issue which affects them directly.the result of the battle between
the pursue of world hegemony and dominace -vs the economic well-
being of the people,is not hard to predict.they peticulary, don't care
about "democracy" and the cost involved(war),when they have problem meeting needs at home.the battle is gonig to be between the media propganda for Gop's issues like national security,terrorism,
war,Iraq,Iran,China..., VS the energized people supporting Obama for CHANGE!.
Posted by farhad | May 16, 2008 8:13 AM
No fear.....if McCain IS "only" a resurrected neocon, he won't be elected. His big challenge is to distance himself, and his newly stated "vision" offers a glimmer of hope......a long summer to go!
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Posted by gljunket | May 17, 2008 7:57 AM