December 1, 2007
Elaine Meinel Supkis
As I predicted in the past here, Japan is now going to triangulate with China because they know the US is a sinking ship. They can see, the US can't project power. They saw how the US gave up on the baby dragon, North Korea, and how China fixed everything except for one issue Japan wanted fixed. They can see clearly the writing on the walls and it isn't 'Mene mene tekel peres'! China and Japan are now openly having friendship meetings that will resolve many differences. Will they discuss the yen and yuan, too? You bet! The US loses even more face with China over ship dockings. And Russia gets restive.
China, Japan Say They Can Overcome `Differences'
China and Japan can overcome their ``differences,'' foreign ministers of both nations said today at the beginning of a two-day summit of six ministers from each side in Beijing, the first of its kind since both nations resumed ties in 1972.``I believe through mutual effort we will have a successful dialogue,'' Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said in welcoming his Japanese counterpart, Masahiko Komura, to a meeting at China's Foreign Ministry. ``We hope we can discuss future relations and how to push for more progress in our relations,'' Komura said in reply.
Japan and China have been holding secret and open meetings a lot since the West began to have its banking crisis! Indeed, the reversal in rhetoric since 7/17/7 has been quite remarkable, hasn't it? The EU, UK and USA are still barking at the Chinese dragon but Miz Japan has fallen silent after a series of swift challenges and dares. When Japan boasted that they could flood China's markets with funny money from the carry trade black hole in the Bank of Japan, when they boasted they would drop the yen to 130 to the dollar by October, the world's entire international bank-to-bank system seized up and the dollar began to nosedive.
China let everyone know, they would play hardball with anyone who crossed them. After whacking a couple dozen balls out of the ballpark, Japan looked at the score board and saw how many runs China scored and how the US struck out every time and the yen was getting stronger every day. Starting with mid-September and the secret visit of the head of the Bank of Japan to the head of the Bank of China, Japan has been slip-sliding sideways to the Chinese. The Chinese simultaneously has rebuffed the US on every possible front while cocking an eye at the Japanese who were carefully slithering ever closer.
Now the ninja moves are done and they are openly embracing each other WHILE China continues to insult the USA. We are at a historic moment here, everyone. This is a true shift in international politics every bit as big as when Russia suddenly lurched away from the US and EU and suddenly rushed to Beijing to be entertained by the Dragon.
Politics and money are like love and marriage: a bloody affair requiring religious priests before sex and lawyers after sex. And we all know that these people like to be paid, first. So money is required. The USA thought we could go about this planet, begging for money and then haul out our navy and air force and then shock and awe everyone. Only we are dressed in rags, we can't sail for 5 days without first asking for a loan from either Japan or China! This is a massive loss of face. How can we negotiate or intimidate if we have to first ask for money? This is like a 13 year old girl spitting at her mother and then demanding an allowance so she can go off to parties and not clean her room.
Japan didn't mind bankrolling us so long as we obeyed them. But the Chinese and Arab kings have bought a bundle of US debts and are swiftly outstripping the Japanese ownership. And the US has become a mess and can't intimidate bin Laden much less, Hu and Wen. When Bush boasted to the world, he would get bin Laden, 'Dead or alive' and then later, said, 'Who cares if he is in a cave with a door open or a door closed? He doesn't matter anymore.' We lost face. Aside from the bizarre idea that caves have doors.
Our ruler can audition for a role in 'Planet of the Apes' but not as one of the gorillas. Maybe as a lab specimen. His shortcomings have increased as his popularity ratings here have collapsed. All world leader know that they can ridicule him, defy him and run circles around him and he would remain clueless. Right now, we suspect the US is still going to attack Iran kitty, that irate feline who scratches our economy to the point that we are bleeding to death.
Since we are insisting on doing stupid things to the kitty over there, the Asian giants have decided it is time to directly deal with each other. China has one thing it wants above all else: Taiwan. Japan will trade on that issue since Japan wants China to join them in preventing the US and Europe from closing markets or if they close or go bankrupt, China and Japan need a Plan B. Which is to form a Chinese version of a Co-Prosperity Sphere. Neither countries are blocking out the US or Europe, both love selling to these destinations.
But they have to protect themselves from a potential US collapse. This is a bad sign for us. It may mean our situation is worse than we thought. Enforcing silence within the US financial community, the biggest players especially Goldman Sachs have been able to confine talk of a collapse to the 'bear' community online. Barely a whisper of the real mess is making the mainstream news. Perhaps Bloomberg News is one of the few who give the unadulterated truth about 50% of what is really going on.
But the Japanese and Chinese top officials can read charts and graphs! They know what is going to happen next, Japan, after all, is still dealing with the 1991 blow-up. So they have a good idea, what is in store for us. And I suggest, we will be buying a lot less Asian goods in 10 years.
Japan and China will try to do so before Japan's Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda visits Beijing, an official from Japan's Foreign Ministry, who declined to be identified, said today. The timing of the visit hasn't yet been set.``Generally speaking, we had a good discussion before Prime Minister Fukuda's visit to China,'' Komura said.
Note that the Japanese are no longer insulting China. No more visits to the Yakusuni Shrine! No more demands that China disarm. No more demands of any sort. The last two months, China has driven the yen up and up and the Japanese can't stand this any longer. I consider these negotiations to be classic Japanese: when they surrender, they embrace and don't let go.
Just a year ago, relations were quite bad. Koizumi wanted very close relations with Bush and on top of that, openly insulted the entire US army, navy and air force by openly and repeatedly worshipping war criminals. I warned the US to condemn this and demand an apology but instead, Bush had lots of fun with Koizumi afterwards. This was a fatal overlooking of an obvious insult. We lost face. Badly. The Japanese have various ways of signaling a change in direction.
Recently, we have been watching a Japanese anime which was on TV this year called Siunkoku Monogatari' which is about an empire similar to medieval China. The Chinese government ordered a big cutback in Japanese animation shows when relations soured last year. Now that is being rescinded and it is no surprise to see a show which flatters the Chinese, airing on Japanese and at the same time, on Chinese TV.
This show starts out being a classic love story but ends up actually being mostly about diplomacy, negotiating business treaties and organizing research centers hosted by the government but paid for by interested businesses! How modern is that? I watch this show with a lot of fascination as it veers deeper and deeper into modern international relationships and government initiatives clashing with merchant's needs to make a profit. I believe this show and others like it, are a signal that Japan is shifting its stance and is now triangulating with China and the US. A historic change.
Japan is China's third-largest trading partner and second- largest source of foreign direct investment, China's Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan said today. Zeng, as the first Chinese official speaking at the economic dialogue today, noted problems in bilateral economic ties, including slowing trade growth, obstacles in technology cooperation and ``fluctuations'' in Japan's investment in China. He didn't elaborate.``China's development is not a threat to Japan but an opportunity and Japan's development will also help China's sustained economic growth,'' Zeng said.
Ah! And here it is! He doesn't need to elaborate, the complex dance is just beginning and he won't spoil it by explaining what is, to both himself and the Japanese envoy, something painfully obvious. I am curious about the 'fluctuations' in investments. I have noticed that Japan has tried to move things to India and Vietnam lately. Perhaps, this is what the Chinese are addressing. The last sentence seems to me to be the olive branch held out to Japan. I can't wait to see what Hu will hammer out later. Hu never has visits unless he has some contracts to sign! Except with Bush.
China to allow foreign governments to issue yuan bonds
China is mulling to allow qualified foreign governments to issue yuan-denominated bonds on domestic capital market, the country's Finance Minister Xie Xuren said Saturday."We are actively doing researches on bond issuance of foreign governments in China," Xie made the comment at the first China-Japan high-level economic dialogue held in Beijing.
China allowed international development organizations to issue yuan-denominated bonds on the domestic capital market in 2005.
If we take this story and put it next to the above story about the Japanese/Chinese lovefest, we can see that the Chinese are now inviting foreign funds into China. This is bad news for the US. We need a flood of foreign funds to come here to offset our gigantic trade deficit with Asia and the oil pumping powers like Canada. China is also beginning to use the yuan as an international currency. I suppose they will try to get the Japanese to do the same. We shall see! The wrestling match between the yuan and yen are now showing signs of being resolved.
Chinese beauty Zhang Zilin took the crown in the final round of contest of the Miss World Pageant 2007, which concluded Saturday in Sanya, a tourist resort of south China's island province Hainan.
And China is winning beauty contests! Oh no. Another diplomatic triumph. I couldn't resist this one. Definitely, China is emerging from its shell. My parents went there in the early 1970's and everyone had to wear ugly uniforms and the women had to clip their hair and it was very dreary, one big, ugly prison camp. If you wanted to grow flowers, they were dug up and the gardener declared a criminal. Now, they are going back to their long history of appreciation of beauty. Of course, the standards change over time. No foot binding, thank heavens, this time around.
China-Arab dialogue on civilization opens in Riyadh
Officials and scholars from China and Arab countries met here Saturday for the second seminar on China-Arab relations and a discussion on civilization.Chinese delegation head and former Foreign Minister Yang Fuchang said at the inauguration ceremony that strengthened cultural exchanges between China and Arab countries will play a significant role in promoting China-Arab friendly cooperative relations and in helping maintain peace and stability in the Mideast region.
Saudi Culture and Information Minister Iyad bin Amin Madani said the China-Arab discussion on civilization is conducive to deepening understanding. It is essential for both sides to strengthen communications and cooperation in various fields to jointly prepare for the challenges brought about by globalization, he said.
The Saudis can see clearly how bad off we are. After all, they sit on the Board of Directors of many major banks, investment houses and businesses in the US and England! They just rescued Citigroup yet again! So they know who the real boss is. And we irritate them. The Chinese don't care what religion they are, where they bow, what they want in the Holy Land. China just wants to make money. No matter what. Slowly but surely, China is edging us out. The US thought, all we had to do was corrupt the kings and sheiks and they would be our bitches. We didn't care if everyone else hated us.
Well, here we are yet again, trying to 'solve' the mess in the Holy Land. And it won't be solved. It will continue to fester. But we don't see raging mobs so we think, we have won. We got our olive trees and mud huts from the poor Palestinians. They will be banished and we can laugh. Only this is deceptive.
Return to Aden, without Mad Mitch
Colonial Aden expired under a state of emergency. British civilians like me were given revolvers because of the risk of assassination.The heart of the insurgency was Crater, an Arab town nestling in the hot embrace of an extinct volcano.
It was here that a mutiny by the British-trained Aden armed police in mid-1967 led to a massacre of British troops.
British troops reacted forcibly to demonstrations in 1967
As the British high command and London government hesitated, a controversial colonel named Colin Mitchell seized the initiative.He re-occupied Crater with his Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders - earning the nickname Mad Mitch - and in Fleet Street's judgment he restored British military honour.
This is a little reminder as to why the EU/UK/US coalition to colonize and control Muslims is doomed to more failures. After being kicked out of one Arab country after another, after the triumphant allies of WWII struggled to keep the third world chained to the old, creaking imperial war machines, they always professes shock and surprise as natives fought them off. As always, we beat up unarmed demonstrators. The British were famous for that. They often used tremendous violence, shooting people dead like in Ireland or India. There is little to be proud of here. Tony Blair and Bush are now trying to bring 'peace' again in the Holy Land which means to kill or steal more stuff, of course. We will not go away.
They are watching us. Everyone can see what will happen next. Slowly, as we slide off the economic cliff, they all watch with bated breath. The Chinese know this which is why they are now poking around, suggesting everyone triangulate with them. And the answer is 'yes.' The Iraq war has weakened us politically, economically and diplomatically.
PRC denies entry to more US carriers
The saga over China's refusal to allow US warships to enter Hong Kong took another twist on Friday, when it was confirmed that Beijing had rejected more US requests for a holiday visit and a consulate support flight to Hong Kong.Beijing told Washington on Nov. 22 that it was rejecting a request for a New Year's visit by the USS Reuben James, Pentagon East Asia public affairs officer Stewart Upton told the Taipei Times.
That was the same date that Beijing told Washington it made a mistake in rejecting a request by the USS Kitty Hawk and its battle group to visit Hong Kong for Thanksgiving. But by that time, it was too late, and the group sailed back to its Japanese base.
At the same time it rejected the Navy frigate Reuben James' visit, Beijing also nixed the flight of a C-17 cargo plane to Hong Kong for its scheduled quarterly support mission for the US consulate, Upton said.
The Chinese might as well throw a pie in our faces. After all, we decided to be Clarabella the Clown! Why on earth are we sending ships there in the first place? We should have stopped doing this the day the Kitty Hawk was sent off, tail between its legs. Instead, we demanded an explanation. China gave it in private. . We lied about this and China repeated it in public. More pie in our faces only we threw it into our own face this time. So now what? Will we go whining to the rest of the world which is laughing at us? Go to Japan? HAHAHA. Back, meet knife.
Putin signs measure to suspend Europe arms treaty
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed into law a measure that will suspend the nation's responsibilities under the 1990 Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty [text; backgrounder]. The Federation Council of Russia, Russia's upper house, unanimously approved the measure earlier this month following a unanimous vote in the State Duma [JURIST report] in favor of suspending the CFE. The Russian government first threatened to temporarily withdraw from the treaty in June, amid tensions between the US and Russia over US plans for an anti-missile defense shield in central Europe, which Russia perceives to be a threat to Russian national security. The measure legislatively reinforces a presidential decree issued by Putin in July.
The US shouldn't be playing these games in Europe. We gain nothing from it. Eastern Europe wants to spit in Russia's eye. This endangers the US so we should not help them. But we think this is the Cold War and are happy to have yet another confrontation we will lose. Europe has been yelling at Russia to not use energy as a diplomatic tool and Russia has simply tightened the screws. How tight does Europe want them? Do they imagine, when the US goes bankrupt, all will be well? They should ask Japan about triangles.
NY Pols Assail Proposed Anti-Terror Cuts
A Bush administration plan to slash anti-terror grant programs by more than half would threaten the safety of U.S. cities, several New York politicians charged Saturday.U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer blasted the Bush administration's plan to eliminate some port and rail security programs and cut Homeland Security grants for states and cities from $3.4 billion in the fiscal year 2007 to $1.4 billion in 2009.
``To say, no port security, no transit security, when we know that our ports and transit lines are targets for terrorists makes no sense if you want to protect America,'' said Schumer, D-N.Y.
What can we make of this? We are going bankrupt trying to hold down Iraq and we saw clearly on 9/11 that the US military is utterly incapable of protecting us. The only thing I can think is, the guys running our country into the ground want us to be vulnerable to attack. This is so they can herd us again. And we will be attacked! If we are stupid and have stupid diplomacy, the chances that someone will attack us is very high! How stupid is that?
Time to threaten Iran Kitty with annihilation. By the way, I strongly suggest Chuck Zionism Schumer cut all of Israel's US funds, there is $10 billion sitting there which can be tapped! Then he can use it to protect New York City. How about that? And that will never happen. Never.
Culture of Life News Main Page
Elaine,
Who do u think is going to be the next major player to jump the USS Titanic?
Is it Opec or EU??
Would it be THE eye opening moment for US?
Posted by: OC | December 02, 2007 at 12:47 AM
It will be interesting to see what happens after the Fed meeting on the 11th. I fully expect Helicopter Ben to drop US rates at least a quarter point, more likely a 1/2 point.
What will China & Japan do? I don't see them intervening to prop up the dollar. It costs a lot of money to prop up the dollar, and it costs Bernanke nothing to cut rates. Bernanke has a lot more of nothing than China & Japan have FOREX reserves.
Japan is not going to be happy to see the yen appreciate against the dollar. China isn't going to be happy to see the yen depreciate against the yuan. I think China wants the yuan to appreciate to control inflation, but it can't do that when the yen is dropping as fast as the dollar.
I suspect the "right" thing is to raise the value of both the yuan and yen, while the euro drops, and everyone punishes the US for stupid fiscal policy. But the right thing is going to be painful for a lot of people, and when does anyone ever do the right thing?
Posted by: shargash | December 02, 2007 at 03:39 PM
Shargash,
It might depend on the deal worked out between China and Japan. Seems like they are very keen on the Co-Prosperity Sphere thing...they might create an artificial currency and push the value of that currency up.
It is interesting to note that China is issuing bonds at this time...the timing suggest they are testing waters but for what purpose?
They probably do not see issuing bonds as getting loans - they don't need the money. They already have enough problems dealing with $1.4 trillion dollars surplus (soon to be $2 trillion next year this time).
I am guessing large - trying to find out who is interested to be on their side or fence sitting? A modern form of tribute like the old days??
Posted by: OC | December 02, 2007 at 05:03 PM
I, too, am still puzzled by this. But we will see what happens next. I can't wait.
Posted by: Elaine Supkis | December 02, 2007 at 06:15 PM
Part of being the world's reserve currency is being a safe haven in times of trouble. US bonds have served that role for a long time. Maybe the Chinese are preparing for the yuan to take over from the dollar.
Posted by: shargash | December 02, 2007 at 08:44 PM
I read news that China is thinking of offering "China Bonds" to investors. Perhaps this is the first step for them to replace the dollar as a "safe haven".
Posted by: DeVaul | December 03, 2007 at 11:20 AM
You are all probably right about this.
Posted by: Elaine Supkis | December 03, 2007 at 11:14 PM