Russia, China open first Joint Military exercises

[raysr]

BEIJING (Reuters) - China and Russia began their first joint military exercises on Thursday aimed at boosting cooperation between the former adversaries and sending a message to the United States about their growing influence.

Eight days of war games between the giant neighbors, who share a 4,300-km (2,700-mile) border, also present a commercial opportunity for Russia, China's biggest supplier of arms and weapons technology, to flog its wares, analysts say.
http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-08-18T034442Z_01_HO803563_RTRIDST_0_INTERNATIONAL-CHINA-RUSSIA-DC.XML

[BeTheChange]

1. Well aint that...

friggin neighborly and shit? Im so stoked that after all these years Bush has managed to unite a couple of superpowers in joint exercises to send a message to the US that we need to mind our own friggin country.


Fabulous.

[raysr]

2. It's REALLY past

time for Bush to GO! And get someone in there that has some foreign policy experience or the freepers are gonna have some new rulers!

[delete_bush]

3. we're gonna need some more macho

repukes to volunteer to serve our/their country. I mean if we can't quite take over a nation of 25 million who can only fight back with dynamite, a billion and a half populace with nukes and subs and airplanes and ships and missiles might be a bit more formidable.

Too bad peace is not macho.

[wli]

4. machismo is recklessness, "peace" is wise choices of confrontations

Even we so-called "peaceniks" would not hesitate to go to war with a truly Hitlerian evil regime or when provoked by an act of war.

The differences surround engaging in war in for other purposes (e.g. economic, wag the dog affairs, etc.). "Chickenhawks" readily endorse such foolishness, largely to the detriment of the country, its economy, and its people. We, on the other hand, wisely recommend diplomacy, covert operations such as psyops, velvet revolutions, and promoting positive images of and feelings toward America to curry favor, and cutting losses when these things fail before greater losses such as large numbers of disabled persons and material losses are incurred by warfare instead of unlimited escalation.

It's a question of rationality, not just ethics.

ON EDIT: Added economy comment.