So, I have fallen off the blog wagon, mostly because I was trying to keep to my chronological collection of travel tales. But alas, if I keep 'post'-poning until I'm inspired to pen my visit to Hong Kong, I may never get out of China. So here we are two years later. I've finished traveling Asia and New Zealand. Spent a winter ski bumming in Breck, a year in Afghanistan, and a few stops across the globe in between. Now I'm back in Afghanistan for another year of the ground hog days of deployment. To fill those days, I thought I should get back to the blogging, and to make it a whole lot more fitting to the title of Random Ramblings, I'll be jumping all over the place in both geography and topics of the posts . So without further ado, I find myself in Afghanistan debating our presence here and China's role as an extension (and a nice way to derail my traveling train of thought, which was sitting idle in Hong Kong)...
I guess I would say that our efforts in Afghanistan are another example of American Exceptionalism, historians refer to it as a place where empires go to die, and yet we Americans feel we will do it different, better, and this time Afghanistan will be a place Empires go to create and build new empires, or at least democracies. I'd like to believe it, but I think Afghanistan, and the Afghan people are going to have to sort that all out on their own, after we leave... whether we made a difference in the outcome of that pending storm, will not be known until the dust settles.
In the grand scheme, I suspect China will end up the big winner in the region and globally, when it is all said and done. In that light, it is not Afghanistan that is using us, rather China is indirectly pitting us against ourselves in an economic battle that we are largely ignoring. They are providing us with the capital to fight our wars, since we don't want to use taxes to raise the capital at home, and they then reap the benefits in Afghanistan, establishing mineral and mining rights using the security we are establishing in the country....
There have been some conspiracy theories that China is even funding al Qaeda. Although, I would support the argument that China has intentions and is taking actions to knock us off the top rung of the global ladder. Al Qaeda is primarily an organization created and largely funded by Osama bin Laden. Although it received money from many other sources, I doubt China is one of them. China has always been very leery of religion and religious groups because religion unites people, and therefore can threaten the state in the eyes of the Chinese regime. An example of China's efforts against religious organization in China can be seen in their treatment of the Buddhist's in Tibet, and the attempts of China to make the Buddhism of the region an extension of the state by emplacing religious leadership selected by the government. In addition, China has created computer malware/viruses, which was used to track the Dalai Lama and other religious/government entities outside of China in their continued attempts to control it's role in the state. With all that said, I don't think it would support al Qaeda because al Qaeda has a Pan Islamic platform, which would in turn also threaten China, and China has seen some Islamic 'terrorism'/revolts recently, which it has struck down with typical vigor.
Additionally, if China wanted to support al Qaeda, they would most likely have had to channel that support through other groups, as al Qaeda would not be very keen on accepting funding/guidance from an infidel state. Though it is possible, and would be a bit ironic that they were stealing US techniques, circa Charlie Wilson and the war in Afghanistan against the Russians, I don't see it as plausible.
However, as I said, I do believe China is taking advantage of the situation for it's benefit. It is using it's capital to fund our war... buying our securities, which puts us in a position of indebtedness that China uses as a playing card in politics. Also, as we spend our blood and treasure establishing security in Afghanistan, and China takes advantage of the security we are providing to establish mining and mineral rights in Afghanistan. Being very attune to the power of propaganda, they also have done some humanitarian work in Afghanistan, which further builds their position and influence in the country and region going forward.
Afghanistan is just one front in the economic war China is waging with the US. Keeping their currency under valued, stealing intellectual property through malware and other efforts, and allowing US companies to build factories and bring work and more technology to their country are a few more. Despite all of this going on extensively for the last two plus decades, the US largely ignores this second 'war front' and our actions both political and corporate are short sighted and often support China's efforts in the name of these short sided efforts/goals. For instance, we could pay for the war by raising taxes or selling war bonds, and allow US citizens to reap benifit of the interest on the bonds, rather than China, but instead we prefer to 'support the troops' in spirit, rather than cash. As Warren Buffet says, the thing that seperates a commitment from a conversation is writing a check. And the politicians know the quickest way to lose the support for the conflicts is to ask for greater commitment from the public pocket book...
I warned you my ramblings would have wider themes than my typical tourist observations and banter, but I doubt they will all end up this heavy... Hopefully they'll at least be a little more frequent.
astute observations!
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