Tension rises as China scours the globe for energy (we got competition)

[private_ryan]

China's insatiable demand for energy is prompting fears of financial and diplomatic collisions around the globe as it seeks reliable supplies of oil from as far away as Brazil and Sudan.

An intrusion into Japanese territorial waters by a Chinese nuclear submarine last week and a trade deal with Brazil are the latest apparently unconnected consequences of China's soaring economic growth.

The connection, however, lies in an order issued last year by President Hu Jintao to seek secure oil supplies abroad – preferably ones which could not be stopped by America in case of conflict over Taiwan.

The submarine incident was put down to a "technical error" by the Chinese government, which apologised to Japan.

http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/11/19/wchina19.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/11/19/ixworld.html

[slor]

1. And so many so-called american countries are...

feeding the thirst by outsourcing to China? I really wish all of the world leaders would get together and focus on a world community effort for renewables.

[kuozzman]

2. This will give you an idea of countries we'll invade in the next decade...

World Oil Transit Chokepoints (Dept of Energy)
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/choke.html

Taiwan(We'll have to fight China for this):
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/taiwan.html

[lenidog]

4. There is another flashpoint that most people don't know about

The Spratly islands that lay south of China in between Vietnam, Borneo and the Philipines. Signs are that these small islands are laying on top of a ocean of oil problem is that China, Vietnam, Brunei and the Philipines all claim them. Last I heard China has actually landed people on some of them to further their claim while the Philipines also has some people on them. These flyspecks of rock and coral could one day cause a full blown war.

[leesa]

3. All China has to do is sit back and wait for Bush to destroy our country

All the stupid neocons who think military might is all you need. Pretty stupid position when you are 7 trillion in debt and 1/3 of that debt is held by other nations.

It's no wonder China has existed for so very long. They must be laughing their asses off at the foolish Bush and his drone Americans puffing out their tiny chests.

[cubsfan forever]

6. Most insightful!

The WetDiaper administration has no inkling into the Middle Eastern or Eastern mindset, culture, or history; and do not care. In those areas of the world, a millennium is a decade, a century is a day, and a decade is an hour. I think that China has been biding its time and will exert whatever economic/military influence at the moment of their choosing, not ours.

[reprobate]

8. And this bunch of fools think we are at peace with china.

China works with the concept of 'total war'. They are at war with us right now and have been for years. The difference is that they are now using economic weapons against us. Using slave labor to undermine our manufacturing base. Attracting work from us to take our jobs and lower our standard of living. Giving their favored companies free loans to compete with us.

China's goal is simple: defeat the US so that they have control of all the oil, not us.

But the fools on the hill (DC) won't pay attention. They think if we aren't being shot at we are at peace. Idiots!

[livinbella]

9. nice brief summary

[fedsron2us]

13. The capitalist will sell you the rope with which they are to be hung

Looks like Lenin's prediction may be about to come true. Without a manufacturing base a country can not sustain a major war. The US forces in Iraq are already suffering from problems caused by an inability to replace weapons and vehicles that have worn out over the past two years of conflict. If the country can not cope with the level of attrition arising from fighting insurgents armed with little more than small arms what chance has it got in a major shooting war. The morons in the current administration do not seem to realise that their economic policy and their foreign policy are simply incompatible. Of course, they could all be Marxist agents working for the CCP.

[barb162]

10. They ARE laughing their asses off watching us self-destruct.

[cliss]

12. Thanks L. for saying what I've been

saying. I just couldn't believe what they've been doing in Washington the past 4 years. The numbers about military spending and deficits have been astonishing, unbelievable.

Just last week, I read that Iraq spending is actually at $5.8 billion per month, and not the $4.9 billion that I was assuming. It may even be higher. The dollar is tanking. Foreign investors are pulling back, not sure of what to think of all this. We currently owe China $100 billion, maybe more.

The figures are so vague, so fluid that I'm not even sure if I can trust what's being put out by Washington. I'm an Accountant, and I get shivers down my spine when I see what they're doing. It's absolutely maniacal, insane, suicidal almost.

And you're SO right: China is sitting back, watching our every move. This is a "freebie" for them. They really don't have to do anything, besides sit in the background, watch us hemorrhage to death like Bin Laden said in Iraq and Afghanistan.

No need to lift a finger, and we will be taken down. By ourselves. By the Neo-Cons. And then they will move in.........

[GHOSTDANCER]

19. It was Clinton that signed those trade laws. n/t

[SoCalDem]

5. China showed up early and penned a TWENTY YEAR deal for copper

from Chile..

China is not going to stuff the genie back into the bottle.. they are going to go head to head with us on EVERYTHING..and they have the upper hand right now, unless we want a war with them:(

[bin.dare]

21. China, Brazil, India, Russia: the new Super Power ?

The article is a few days old but... "Russian President Putin planning to glue together the most powerful superpower coalition in the world"
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article7336.htm

how about them there apples? watch for Putin's Brazil trip.

[NoNothing]

7. We must be energy self-sufficient

We must push for an accelerated breeder nuclear reactor program. It is the only environmentally acceptable solution.

[barb162]

15. and if we could get the government to OUTLAW all the gas

guzzlers or tax gasoline so greatly that the market would faze them out, we would be doing ourselves a big favor.

[mahina]

20. there is no single solution;

insisting that there is, is part of the problem. So there goes your 'we'.

My 'we": U.C. Berkeley Energy and Resources Group
http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/erg/index.shtml

http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~rael/ RENEWABLE AND APPROPRIATE ENERGY LABORATORY

http://www.rmi.org/ Rocky Mountain Institute

I'll never convince you, but i can't let that statement stand unrefuted.

[Bullshot]

11. Another example of how short-sighted American-based corporations are.

They outsource everything to China. Their demand for energy increases tremendously due to the exploding demand for manufactured goods there, creating another major player in the global energy market.

But, do our leaders show leadership and actually pursue alternative forms of energy? No, except for the occasional lip service. Instead, they prioritize things like drilling in the Arctic and other environmentally-sensitive areas that don't have enough oil to make it worth our while.

But hey, it's all part of the divine "free market" that we're just supposed to admire and never question.

This country has been dumbed down so much it's pitiful.

[VegasWolf]

14. Well, at least this country has a handle on MNF pregame advertising.

</choke>

[barb162]

16. you got it. We have basically shipped our manufacturing and

tech jobs overseas the last 20 years; we are idiots. Capitalism run amok only in the sense of hurting workers as the pugs continue to subsidize corporations that are doing it. We are killing ourselves.

[winston61]

17. they got us by the short and curlies

We all need to sit down and write a letter to our elected officials for handing the keys to the kingdom to China. And I don't just mean our Republicans friends. Don't forget that Brother Clinton brought us WTO, GATT and NAFTA. All these 'solutions' are nothing more than road maps to delivering American jobs and American wealth to our Chinese friends. Thanks, WalMart. So now the Chinese have to go out and find oil to drive the economic engine. What a surprise!

What Cornel West calls 'marketplace fundamentalism' is destroying the American way of life, but as long as we can get a cheap dish drainer at Wally World, so what? My stock portfolio is fat!

Try to remember that un-checked greed is like a blind,mad,hungry dog. It will eat everything in it's path and when there is nothing left, the disease and starvation will do it's job. The American public have been sold down the river by greed and deception and it's damn near too late to do anything about it.

[mahina]

18. At least we don't owe them tons of money

oh right...never mind.