The Dragon's Den

A few weeks ago i posted the linked to an podcast about
the importance of establishing hegemony and the 'conversation' that is taking place between the U.S and China. I am new to this stuff but it was amazing how much flexibility the Americans have enjoyed around the world.

We have not experienced China's rise and the use of her influence at least not in the full regard. What we seem to have seen here, is the expression of her strength economically and in her ability to drive African development...with no apparent strings attached. The Americans though have emerged with new technology which is changing the manner in which war are fought. But limitations in this regard still mean that at the end of the day, boots still matter.

How quickly technology can recreate the soldier so that men can merge with machines or at least imitate the boots on the ground is an argument for another blog. What is clear though is that China's need for resources and the size of her populations along with her eventual military muscle will soon overtake her need for soft power. We are seeing some expressions of this in the Far East as smaller powers cower at the dragon's tail and its desire for more resources.

It is no wonder the unimagined is now happening and the Vietnamese are now embracing and courting the American's who...not too long ago they successfully resisted.

Maybe this time around the younger Vietnamese will rekindle the flames of their long gone heroes to launch a similar resistance but times have changed and military battles are not fought with ordinary weapons. Vietnam has been challenged though and this time around America in not facing the same Russian foe. 

The Author of the podcast stated that one of the advantages of establishing a regional hegemony was that it gives you freedom to roam...unchallenged.

Conflicts that arise will therefore be linked to other nations that challenge one's ability to roam freely and the exert influence and in our case affect access to resources.
The American public is exhausted but its military industrial complex is booming. Clearly the drone is as significant a development in the History of warfare as was the Oxbow, Catapault, firearm and later on the Mechanized Vehicle. 

A word of caution. The party is much bigger than the individual and care must be taken to ensure that sensitivities within the Chinese psyche are considered (loosing face). So be very careful never to rebuke or challenge your foreign friends publicly. The last thing on their minds is messing you up and loosing face. If you have to let them deal with their own challenges.

There is an interesting development in Korean History and Chinese History where three kingdom mergers came to the fore. Every time powerful kingdoms met with other Kingdoms (or their religious manifestations), they each faced the challenge of disunity (internally rising from groups that had to chose who to follow) and the choice toward unity for all smaller kingdoms under one banner. In Uganda, the Ganda, Ankole, Soga and Bunyoro Kingdoms faced similar challenges.

In the early nineteen hundreds, choices had to be made between reigning monarch and factions that were pro British (protestant), French (catholic), or even Arab (muslim). The casualties were many but the results devastating. There was a failure to realize that none of the groups that came to 'evangelize' were independent from governments that sent them and that none was insulated from the desire for resources and trade.