or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
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"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
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"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
February 12, 2008
New Tomdispatch
Asia's Hidden Arms Race
Six Countries Talk Peace While Preparing for War
By John FefferRead all about it! Diplomats remain upbeat about solving the nuclear stand-off with North Korea; optimists envision a peace treaty to replace the armistice that halted, but failed to formally end, the Korean War 55 years ago. Some leaders and scholars are even urging the transformation of the Six Party Talks over the Korean nuclear issue, involving the United States, Japan, China, Russia, and the two Koreas, into a permanent peace structure in Northeast Asia.
The countries in the region all seem determined to make nice right now...
Despite all this peace-talk, something else, quite momentous and hardly noticed, is underway in the region. The real money in Northeast Asia is going elsewhere. While in the news sunshine prevails, in the shadows an already massive regional arms race is threatening to shift into overdrive. Since the dawn of the twenty-first century, five of the six countries involved in the Six Party Talks have increased their military spending by 50% or more. The sixth, Japan, has maintained a steady, if sizeable military budget while nonetheless aspiring to keep pace. Every country in the region is now eagerly investing staggering amounts of money in new weapons systems and new offensive capabilities.
The arms race in Northeast Asia undercuts all talk of peace in the region. It also sustains a growing global military-industrial complex. Northeast Asia is where four of the world's largest militaries -- those of the United States, China, Russia, and Japan -- confront each other. Together, the countries participating in the Six Party Talks account for approximately 65% of world military expenditures, with the United States responsible for roughly half the global total.
—Jonathan Schwarz
Posted at February 12, 2008 05:10 PMO brother, more jerk-off ignorance posing as sophisticated analysis. For starters, Russia's increased military expenditures are coming off a very, very low base, and reflect largely the increased oil and gas revenues to the state budget. But Russia is still a midget in military terms, except for their nukes.
And to address a point made elsewhere, I have an outstanding job, where I am called upon for all manner of expertise, and unlike you clowns, I have spent time in drastically different cultures, ranging from Syria to Turkmenistan to 90s Belgrade, and have learned from those experiences, rather than blathering on about how corporations run America. (duh, who else? the werkers? college students? jerk-off parlor leftists? puh-leeze)
Posted by: xyz at February 13, 2008 02:56 AMLast I heard is that the country is supposed to be run by the government not corporations, you know as in government for the people by the people. However xyz seems to be confused on this point no doubt due to his expertise. There are two definitions that I have heard concerning consultants. One is that a consultant is someone who borrows your watch and then tells you what time it is the second is that you are unemployed.
Posted by: T Warner at February 13, 2008 03:45 AMYou ignorant lapine! I've been to Yugoslavia and I know how the world works better than you ever will! Hares! I can quote David Brooks to you in Croatian, but you'd be too dumb to understand it! Pikas! Sometimes you have to fight wars in the Middle East to please Arab dictators and your own military junta, and, uh, their pizza delivery services. That's just how it is, you, you... wascally wabbits!
Sorry for stealing, StO, but that response was so perfect it deserved an encore.
And just so everyone knows, I'm typing this in my bizjet as I fly off to another high-powered deal in Kuala Lumpur. And don't even get me started on those damn incompetent Malaysian customs inspectors! Why, I remember this one time I was importing a shipment of melamine-tainted pet food....
Posted by: SteveB at February 13, 2008 08:59 AMYou ignorant lapine! I've been to Yugoslavia and I know how the world works better than you ever will! Hares! I can quote David Brooks to you in Croatian, but you'd be too dumb to understand it! Pikas! Sometimes you have to fight wars in the Middle East to please Arab dictators and your own military junta, and, uh, their pizza delivery services. That's just how it is, you, you... wascally wabbits!
Sorry for stealing, StO, but that response was so perfect it deserved an encore.
And just so everyone knows, I'm typing this in my bizjet as I fly off to another high-powered deal in Kuala Lumpur. And don't even get me started on those damn incompetent Malaysian customs inspectors! Why, I remember this one time I was importing a shipment of melamine-tainted pet food....
Posted by: SteveB at February 13, 2008 09:02 AMLookit, energy policy is rightly decided, by and large, by the people who run the energy companies, subject of course to oversight and confirmation by the appropriate committee of Congress and its corresponding agency. I doubt any of you has any clue at all, for example, just how complicicated are the economics, regulation, engineering and physical properties of electricity generation and transmission. Take my word for it, they are immensely complex. And getting government policy right is crucial. Now you can design the grid according to the finance people and engineers and lawyers working for the elec companies, or you can listen to grandma or some deadbeat parlor radicals saying electricty is a human right and how come it has to cost so much.
Oh and there is no such thing as "Croatian," neither as a language nor as a dialect.
Posted by: xyz at February 13, 2008 10:14 AMxyz: Why does the electricity cost so much?
Posted by: Mike Meyer at February 13, 2008 01:58 PMOfficially, it's a language. Pontificate all you like about it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbo-Croatian_language
Who asked you about energy policy, anyway?
well, I used energy policy merely as an example. and the hippies you refer too all use Mackinsey, PWC and Goldman as their advisors. As for "croatian," the subtleties of Balkan languages and dialects are too complex for you people to grasp, and I don't have the time anyway. But a hint: the relevant differences in the language relate more to geography than national borders. The language as spoken in Kotar is closer to that of Split than of Novi Sad.
Posted by: xyz at February 14, 2008 02:02 AMThe subtleties aren't too much for anyone to grasp. For a lot of people in the region, the national borders are relevant, which is why they call the language "Croatian." The "hint" is just that you disagree with the hundreds of thousands of speakers of Serbo-Croatian who consider what they speak, regardless of the essential similarity, to be different languages. It isn't indicative of any special knowledge on your part.
If you don't have the time, why are you here?
Posted by: StO at February 14, 2008 02:45 PM
