Thomas P.M. Barnett :: Weblog:
Remember that article I quoted a few days ago about China's surprising leaps forward in military tech? Here's the very wise Thomas P. Barnett's take on it: The generals need excuses to buy more big ticket old fashioned great power war materiel
"The Geertz piece is just too weird for words. Not for Geertz, who is typically breathless, but whoever spoon-fed him this nonsense: the great scandal by which a host of Chinese military developments were 'missed' by a team of analysts—or actually who buried them by 'playing down or dismissing evidence.'
This 'discovery' of such scandalous (even treacherous?) behavior by these obvious pinkos apparently comes out with the latest Pentagon report on Chinese military capabilities, which, as we know, is totally authoritative because . . . uh . . the Pentagon knows everything!
Geertz gives us the list of 'missed developments,' none of which is new news to anyone familiar with Chinese military developments of the past few years. I've seen descriptions of these developments in plenty of briefs over the past several years.
Apparently this report about the report speaks of 'surprise' repeatedly—12 times in fact!
Apparently, all these 'new' 'missed' 'surprises' are in the latest Pentagon presentation to Congress on China's military buildup.
Say, isn't it interesting that all these 'new' 'missed' 'surprises' are appearing right now, as the big-ticket weapons and platforms that are really designed for high-end war against a 'near-peer competitor' are coming under greater budgetary scrutiny and facing likely cuts in coming years, as indicated in the projections of the FY06 budget sent to the Hill this year?
Apparently, we were all kept in the dark by this small 'close-knit' (dare I say, cabal?) of China experts in the U.S. Government who purposely buried these developments out of their affection for China.
This article is complete bullshit, but a clear sign that the demonization of China by the Big War crowd in the Pentagon is gearing up big time. Programs of record to protect, my friends, so if it gets a bit messy in the process, then so be it. Cold Warriors don't die, and they don't fade away. They just hide until their programs are about to get cut and then they go—what else—nuclear on the truth."
Remember that article I quoted a few days ago about China's surprising leaps forward in military tech? Here's the very wise Thomas P. Barnett's take on it: The generals need excuses to buy more big ticket old fashioned great power war materiel
"The Geertz piece is just too weird for words. Not for Geertz, who is typically breathless, but whoever spoon-fed him this nonsense: the great scandal by which a host of Chinese military developments were 'missed' by a team of analysts—or actually who buried them by 'playing down or dismissing evidence.'
This 'discovery' of such scandalous (even treacherous?) behavior by these obvious pinkos apparently comes out with the latest Pentagon report on Chinese military capabilities, which, as we know, is totally authoritative because . . . uh . . the Pentagon knows everything!
Geertz gives us the list of 'missed developments,' none of which is new news to anyone familiar with Chinese military developments of the past few years. I've seen descriptions of these developments in plenty of briefs over the past several years.
Apparently this report about the report speaks of 'surprise' repeatedly—12 times in fact!
Apparently, all these 'new' 'missed' 'surprises' are in the latest Pentagon presentation to Congress on China's military buildup.
Say, isn't it interesting that all these 'new' 'missed' 'surprises' are appearing right now, as the big-ticket weapons and platforms that are really designed for high-end war against a 'near-peer competitor' are coming under greater budgetary scrutiny and facing likely cuts in coming years, as indicated in the projections of the FY06 budget sent to the Hill this year?
Apparently, we were all kept in the dark by this small 'close-knit' (dare I say, cabal?) of China experts in the U.S. Government who purposely buried these developments out of their affection for China.
This article is complete bullshit, but a clear sign that the demonization of China by the Big War crowd in the Pentagon is gearing up big time. Programs of record to protect, my friends, so if it gets a bit messy in the process, then so be it. Cold Warriors don't die, and they don't fade away. They just hide until their programs are about to get cut and then they go—what else—nuclear on the truth."
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