tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21959228.post116078563146049166..comments2024-03-28T09:14:52.110+00:00Comments on Sinclair's Musings: Iraq and the Chain-Store Paradox of PowerMatthew Sinclairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05948452770723874618noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21959228.post-82113335544659086502011-12-08T19:13:05.060+00:002011-12-08T19:13:05.060+00:00I ran into a friend of yours the other day
And I a...I ran into a friend of yours the other day<br />And I asked her how you've been<br />She said my girl is fine; just bought a house, got a job, real good man<br />I told her I was glad for you; that's wonderful<br />But does she ever ask 'bout me?<br />She said she's happy with her life right now<br /><a href="http://www.topgunreplicas.com/hublot-replica-watches-1.html" rel="nofollow">hublot replica</a><a href="http://trilastinreviewsinfo.com/trilastin-sr" rel="nofollow">trilastin sr</a>trunghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07936908771118005361noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21959228.post-1161019199694871642006-10-16T18:19:00.000+01:002006-10-16T18:19:00.000+01:00I don't keep saying we're a secular society- in fa...I don't keep saying we're a secular society- in fact I thik these cultual bonds masive depend on sectarian allignment (one reason why the yugolsav war happned despite epidemic atheism)as can be seen in the reactions in the muslim world-or even the Greek reaction to the bombing of Serbia. <BR/><BR/>I think the point is it's China's interests which operate diffently to make the government more pro us and in the long run the rise of Chrisitaty may move their alignemnt. But the government is more pro us for pragmatic reasons not inherely because they are somehow closer to us idelogically<BR/><BR/>Nazi Germany had more scince deparmtns than Canada - science at least now is a universal tool not a sign of cultural identity. <BR/><BR/>China at least has huge leaverage over nrth Korea <BR/><BR/>All the evidnce is chriaty is in rather better heatlh than the civilization it formed! And I would say newton is already goneAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21959228.post-1161012062687090682006-10-16T16:21:00.000+01:002006-10-16T16:21:00.000+01:00Edmund, not that I want to start an argument on th...Edmund, not that I want to start an argument on this blog between you and me, but I have to say you've misunderstood what I am saying completely.<BR/><BR/>China is now not the kind of rogue state that North Korea is- significantly we have much more leverage over China- they need us as much as we need them and noone seriously thinks that the Chinese regime wants to nuke us.<BR/><BR/>As for missionaries- as you keep telling me we are a secular society- so maybe the growth in science departments in reality is the parallel case-<BR/><BR/>When the West goes down, maybe Christ will go down with it but Newton stay as the legacy of our civilisation.Gracchihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06344262838391424797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21959228.post-1160962563865595562006-10-16T02:36:00.000+01:002006-10-16T02:36:00.000+01:00I havent noticed china becoming rabily pro us as t...I havent noticed china becoming rabily pro us as they got more free market- the logic of Gracchi's historical argumetn would seem to be that we need more missionaries...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21959228.post-1160935855561058122006-10-15T19:10:00.000+01:002006-10-15T19:10:00.000+01:00I agree with you to a certain extent that the Iraq...I agree with you to a certain extent that the Iraq adventure has demonstrated our lack of power to exert our own power if you like. But isn't there another argument around as well- essentially Western power comes in two parts soft and hard. If you think about the exertion of Byzantine power say in teh Middle East during the middle ages one of the crucial things about the deployment of Byzantine power was the way that they sustained themselves after the effective demise of their armies and central economic region. Byzantine missionaries were sent north to the Bulgars and the Russians. Byzantine envoys were exceptionally influential in changing the way that their successor states behaved and in the end save for being Muslim the Ottomans became the successors to Byzantium. One of the things that the West has to recognise is that our power visa vis the rest of the world is declining- especailly visa vis India and China- but one of the things that over the last twenty years must be our greatest foreign policy success is that both India and China have moved towards us in the types of society they have- the soft power of markets converted both Rajiv Gandhi and Deng Xiaoping to our way of thinking. Its noticeable today that we are dealing with a small part of the world the middle East and small powers like North Korea and Iraq, perhaps the calculation based on soft power makes the picture more benign. Perhaps it also offers a longterm way definitely of dealing with Islam and perhaps of dealing with Iran as well which is a quasi democracy. I wonder whether our central strength is not guns or planes but the fact that capitalism fundementally works better than any alternative.Gracchihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06344262838391424797noreply@blogger.com