XPost: alt.arts.poetry.comments   
   From: vze1sar1@verizon.net   
      
   Dale Houstman wrote:   
   >   
   >   
   > Chandra P Das wrote:   
   >   
   >> "... Europeans queued up [re Bush's Euro speeches] to mutter about how   
   >> many American allies are unfree and undemocratic, and how   
   >> contradictory it is to use guns and tanks as prime tools in that   
   >> cause. Far better, they said, to be a “moral power” like the European   
   >> Union, spreading freedom through softer and subtler means of influence   
   >> and engagement—- means like, as Mr Bush heard to his horror, lifting   
   >> the EU's embargo on arms sales to China, in return for precisely   
   >> nothing from that communist regime on human rights, or democracy, or   
   >> on its sabre-rattling over Taiwan. Oh, except more trade, including   
   >> more arms sales."   
   >>   
   >> "While Javier Solana, the EU's foreign-policy co-ordinator, has been   
   >> trotting out the official line that lifting the embargo is purely   
   >> “symbolic” and that no one actually plans to sell more arms, France's   
   >> defence minister, Michéle Alliot-Marie, said brazenly that France   
   >> certainly would sell more arms and that to do so would be a good   
   >> thing, for it would slow down China's own development of military   
   >> technology."   
   >>   
   >> -- quoted from The Economist   
   >>   
   >> Almost died laughing reading this. Could somebody put this defence   
   >> minister of France in touch with a brain cell or two? How do these   
   >> guys have the temerity to make fun of Bush's intellect?   
   >>   
   >> The only time I can tolerate the status quo is when I pause to imagine   
   >> what the world would be like if the French government had the   
   >> resources of the American economy and military. Waaaaaa!   
   >   
   >   
   > We probably are already selling weapons to China, albeit via European   
   > vendors and private companies. This sort of tning goes on all the time;   
   > during WWII Ford motor company set up several factories in Germany. The   
   > government can always do its work via private sector proxies. And so it   
   > does.   
      
   But purely on logic, don't you think that was a hilariously stupid thing   
   to say for the defence minister? The reason China would buy modern arms   
   from the west is precisely so it can steal the technology and build upon   
   it. Doh-fucking-doh, dense minister!   
      
   >   
   > And China can make concessions on human rights when   
      
   No, some human rights violations it ought to take care of immediately.   
   Censorship of news channels, publications and internet traffic, for   
   instance -- this crap's gotta go. No 'when' about it -- NOW! Just think   
   of how many Chinese counterparts of the Dases and Houstmans are itching   
   to come out of their basements with their voices. There's no excuse for   
   this kind of suppression. Wouldn't you feel abused if the CIA pulled   
   your net connection for your anti-government rhetoric?   
      
      
   >the U.S. decides   
   > that economic warfare against its poorest citizens is perhaps not in   
   > anyone's best interest  >AND that we need a healthcare system that works   
   > AND that prison isn't necessarily the best solution to EVERY social   
   > problem.   
   >Until then,   
      
   Why are you building spurious contingencies upon issues that are   
   absolute? China should take care of its own problems from its own   
   self-interest, and likewise for the US. You haven't been reading me,   
   Houstman, if you think I'd ever recommend anybody to fall in line with   
   American rhetoric on any issue. And more importantly, when you see me   
   moving my dick around the globe, don't assume I've taken it out of the   
   US's ass. I'm a many dicked man. You, otoh, always seem to have the same   
   old boner for the same old ass.   
      
      
      
      
   >we have no real right to tell China how to run its   
   > internal affairs, and certainly no moral high ground on weapons sales,   
   > considering the fact that the U.S. is the largest weapons vendor in the   
   > world.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)