China's been busy

While everyone on this side of the Pacific is concerned with Bush/the Economy/Briney Spears/Iraq, China has been busy, and not just in preparation for the Olympics.

On the military front:

China has built itself the 2nd largest submarine fleet in the world. Larger than Russia. Including quiet, nuclear powered and even a few boomers [ballistic missile submarines].

Gone out and outfitted a Russian aircraft carrier and named it the Shi Lang (the last Chinese emperor to invade Taiwan). The story of the Varyag is absolutely fascinating. It was bought by a front company while it was being scrapped by Ukrainians. The cover story was it was going to turned into a floating casino in Macao (despite the fact the harbor is too shallow for a deep draft vessel like a carrier). It then had a long, interesting journey across the globe (bypassing Macao) and ending up in China's largest naval shipyard, where it's been refitted and painted PLAN [Chinese navy] gray. Varyag-World has been covering this story in great detail for some time. If you liked reading Blind Man's Bluff, you'll love reading Varyag World. It's still being updated.

China, nervous about US military activity all around them, denies US navy ships shelter during storm.

Chinese interests are seeking to buy 3Com, one of the primary suppliers of US military secured-communications equipment. 3Com is just one of many companies the Chinese are taking an interest in.

On the environmental front:

China has passed the US as the most polluting country in the world.

The Yangtze River dolphin has gone extinct.

Beijing's smog has gotten so bad you can't see across the street. That'll look great on the Olympic broadcasts.

Speaking of the Olympics, athletes are bringing their own food because the Chinese food has so much steroids, the athletes will test positive from eating the chicken.

On the energy front:

China doubling oil tanker fleet. There are now so many oil tankers pulling up to China's coast, there aren't enough places for them to dock.

1 year ago, China became a net importer of coal. In December 2007 it imported 4.3 million tons of coal. The US is the "Saudi Arabia of coal" and 4.3 million tons would be 1/3 of monthly net exports.

China freezes energy prices in an attempt to deal with a severe diesel shortage. China has been subsidizing energy costs to the tune of $15.7 billion for their steel industry alone. Just imagine if Blanco told Krupp, 'we're going to pick up half the bill for your energy.' Krupp would have been here in a heartbeat. Just imagine the sort of unfair competitive advantage that gives Chinese companies...

On the economic front:

Speaking of competitive advantage, how's tortured slave labor for y'a? Up from your bootstraps you fat, lazy, unionized worker!

Major banks rescued by China's sovereign wealth fund. "The idea of China rushing to the rescue of the capitalist world seems so unlikely as to be unbelievable."

China's only going to do so much, though. They are quietly revaluing the yuan. Part of it is an effort to decouple from the US economy. Part of it is to fight inflation in the major cities that's fermenting unrest. Remember, runaway inflation was a factor in the Tienanmen Square protests.

Unlike the author of this what if scenario [Bush refuses to give up power in Jan '09 and Chinese invade], I don't think China's a threat to the US, but we're stupid not to pay attention to them. I think China's economy is going to overheat, pollution will get so bad not even Fox News could content the people, and the 4-2-1 problem will lead to a social security crisis that will put ours to shame will combine to lead China to focus more on internal problems than stepping up to take a leading role in a multi-polar world.

Odds and Ends - 1 October 2007

Is the GOP suicide intentional? Whoever wins in '08 is going to have a hell of a mess to clean up. One of the things that scared me about Sicko is how we're still cleaning up Nixon's mess. How long is it going to take to undo all of W's fuckups? UPDATE- More GOP defectors- businessmen

Amtrak quietly chugs along for 5 straight years of record ridership. Amtrak is almost completely forgotten about by most people. It's not fast, but it's large and luxurious. The food is FANTASTIC. Great steaks for a pretty good price. The biscuits and gravy are the best in the country (trust me). If they could just work out the business end of their capital-intensive business, they might reach profitability soon.

The 5 Companies that control everything you read, watch, and hear. If I won the presidency, the first thing I'd do is start 5 anti-trust cases. If any presidential candidates are reading this and it sounds appealing, DO NOT SAY A WORD ABOUT IT UNTIL YOU WIN! Coming out in favor of breaking up Big Media would be worse than publicly admitting you're in favor of drug legalization, higher gas taxes, and were caught with a live boy and a dead girl in your bed all at the same time. It will kill your campaign. Just sit there and quietly bide your time. Once you win, spring it on them!

BP Atlantis about to come online? Atlantis will be the one of the biggest platform in the Gulf, if BP can ever get it finished. It's years behind schedule and I've heard that some analysts put the cost overruns at a BILLION dollars. (NOTE- I just realized I was confusing Atlantis and Thuderhorse, two similar platforms in the same area. Both are big and over budget. Thunderhorse is the bigger of the two.)

CEO of Dow Chemical talks about the Sci/Tech shortage. In the National Review Online. I think the Sci/Tech education crisis could unite the left and right.

Head I win, tails I get bailed out. Bernake is bailing out the bad guys and hurting the good guys.

Very long article about the economics and oil. The Petrodollar thesis was one of the most buried news stories of the past few years. I don't know whether or not I completely buy it, but it's earth-shakingly powerful. The long article ties together Iraq, Iran, economics, the unfolding dollar collapse, China, the Fed, the Saudis, the Russians, and just about everyone together in a huge, high-stakes geopolitical chess game. I'm in awe of the journalism it took to put this together. A complex thesis like the Petrodollar takes a lot of things interlocking to work, but if it holds true (and a cursory search of the subject checks out), it's frightening.