March 24, 2005
LOBOTOMY:
Bush wins big as China overplays its hand (Jim Lobe, 3/25/05, Asia Times)
The apparent decision by European leaders to delay the lifting of their 16-year-old arms embargo on China beyond June marks a clear-cut foreign-policy victory for US President George W Bush, who made the issue a major priority in his visit to Europe last month.China itself may have inadvertently made Bush's victory possible. Its enactment last week of an Anti-Secession Law that lays the foundation for a possible military attack on Taiwan if, in Beijing's judgment, it were to move toward formal independence, gave the administration powerful new ammunition against ending the ban - as well as political cover to those European governments that were wary about confronting Bush on the issue. [...]
Some European governments had already been under pressure, notably from human-rights activists, to keep the embargo in place. Some also reportedly argued that the issue was not so important or urgent to justify the risk of further alienating Washington, particularly in the immediate wake of Bush's agreement to support ongoing negotiations by Britain, France and Germany (EU-3) with Iran about its nuclear program, when trans-Atlantic ties were already so fraught.
Whether the Anti-Secession Law was actually the straw the broke the camel's back or simply a convenient pretext for defusing tensions with Washington remains unclear, but it marks both an important political victory for Bush and a boost for neo-conservative and nationalist hawks in and out of the administration who favor a more aggressive containment policy against China in ever-closer collaboration with both Japan and Taiwan
Can't have been easy for Mr. Lobe to write that one. Posted by Orrin Judd at March 24, 2005 8:26 AM
SmirkyMcChimp BushHitler just keeps on getting luckier and luckier....
Posted by: Rick T. at March 24, 2005 9:19 AMHail to our Chimperor.
Altho to be fair Rick T., we all "know" that Bush is merely the puppet for the "Joooos," er I mean "neocons," who are pulling his strings. All credit really goes to them.
And let's not let another victory obscure the fact that our beloved Chimperor helped murder 26!!!! prisoners enemy prisoners in our imperialist wars for OIL!!!!
Posted by: Jim in Chicago at March 24, 2005 10:10 AMhalliburton has developed a process for turning prisoners into oil, i know its true because noam told me. disgusting.
Posted by: cjm at March 24, 2005 12:13 PMSoylent oil!
Posted by: oswald booth czolgosz at March 24, 2005 1:01 PMI believe the proper perjorative is Chimpy McBushHitlerstein, perhaps with Pope or Father in front.
I guess it's funnier than "that man!" or "traitor to his class" or "Bonzo", but I don't know.
Who knows what the trolls will be calling him by 2008?
Posted by: ratbert at March 24, 2005 1:55 PMBaseball Commissioner?
Posted by: oj at March 24, 2005 1:58 PMLiberator of the Middle East?
Posted by: jd watson at March 24, 2005 2:05 PMThe Asia Times Online offers a discussion forum. Four sections are given over to regular ATimes columnists.
(1) Syed Saleem Shahzad, 51 posts
(2) Henry C K Liu, 72 posts
(3) "Pepe Escobar", 80 posts
(4) "Spengler", 2420 posts
I find this useful information. Most of the ATimes' columnists are hypercritical or outright hostile to U.S. policy, but the one columnist who sympathizes with the U.S. pulls in ten times the traffic of the others combined.
Not everyone contributing in the "Spengler" section endorses his point of view, far from it. But the statistic proves that people recognize that "Spengler" has his finger on the pulse of history while the others are hawking tiresome retreads of liberal cant.
If the ATimes were to add a section for Mr. Lobe, he would likely pull more traffic than Messrs. Liu, "Escobar" or Shahzad, but still much less than "Spengler".
Posted by: Eugene S. at March 24, 2005 2:06 PM