Despite billions of dollars in propaganda to the contrary, all is not well in the Celestial Empire. Two small stores today: First, a look at why human-wave-attack China may be more prickly about taking mass casualties than anyone watching their history might suspect; and second, a look at high-tech homelessness where webcams take the place of tin cups for handouts.
Listen here on Soundcloud:
Interesting takes. I would have liked to have heard what Steve was trying to say there at the end.
Good discussion. Here’s my concern: typically, when authoritarian regimes see the gears slipping on their nation’s economy, their response is to attack their next door neighbor or their perceived opponent. Japan certainly did that in 1941, as their oil supply was dwindling, and it can be said that Nazi Germany did as well; their economy was not performing, and Hiter was reduced to cutting jobs in half to increase employment, so they invaded Poland a year earlier than Generals had forecast. ….and Stalin of course. I believe the time for Taiwan to go on high alert is when they see… Read more »
I have perhaps a unique perspective on this I’d like to share. Since 1998, I’ve been doing business first in Taiwan then later in China. 25 years of travel, well over 60 trips. Mostly Southern China – Guangong region and always a couple of days in Taiwan. I have only long term relationships with a few companies over there, and the ones in China are owned by Taiwanese businessmen. I’ve watched Guangdong go from straw hats and actual rickshaws to networks of high speed rail and Guangzhou, Shenzhen airports that rival Hong Kong’s airport. But something else is going on…… Read more »
The 5 Sullivan brothers went down with the USS Juneau (CL 119).
A fresh perspective. Where there’s a will there’s a way. Look at how far Taiwan has come. (BTW I was stationed in Taiwan ’69-’70. Amazing people).
Agreed. Kindest folks, in particular when you get out into the “country”…(farmlands). First thing they’ll ask a visitor is, “Have you eaten yet? Are you hungry?”
What the heck was going on with Steve’s voice coming in loudly for a couple of seconds several times during the video when he wasn’t talking?
Happened on the Backstage as well. Sounds like a remnant that kept coming in from his recording.
The last Backstage episode was the first time I noticed it as well.
The video/soundtrack editing software that is being used must have a bug. By the third occurrence I started looking for Steve’s lips to be moving.
I’ve had a lot of audio tracks going in my software stack of channels when editing video tutorials I do at work. Sometimes one of those tracks can fall outside the window. If 1 track got this clip randomly repeated, and you don’t notice the track way down outside of the regular viewing window……it just pastes itself over the top of everything. Kind of tedious, but actually listening before posting is probably best practice for an experienced editor….. …….. …….not me, of course…but Bill is an experienced, PROFESSIONAL editor.
In the early 1500s, China sent fleets out into the world to explore. Shortly after, lightning struck the Imperial Palace and the Mongolian Monks said it was a sign. They decided to become isolationist instead.
Imagine the consequences of that decision. They were worlds ahead in everything, except maybe infectious disease.
I knew the Chinese had pulled back when they were at the brink of discovering the rest of the world, but had never heard what the cause was. Thanks for that.
(Reminds me of us, landing on the Moon and being on the brink of colonizing the solar system, but choosing to fall back to Earth to wait for the sky to fall.)
The book “1423” was my reference. Obviously I meant to say early 15th century.
Steve Green had an odd cut in where he was saying he was not rolling that repeated throughout the video…
Thanks for telling them so I don’t have to. This is not the first video where I’ve noticed this.
Wow. That was one of the best foreign policy analyses I’ve ever heard. There is one wild card I’m surprised you didn’t mention – Beware someone who has power, is quickly losing it, and knows it and is desperate.
Look no further than today’s Democrats as proof.
I find it disconcertingly ironic that the thing that will probably keep Taiwan free isn’t the might of The West but the bumbling, stumbling failure of the Chinese political system. We can count on our own strength. Counting on the stupid mistakes of our adversaries not so much. Some day they’re going to get their act together and strength is the only thing that will save the day when that day comes. We may have dodged the bullet this time. That still remains to be seen but it becomes more likely as time passes. The thing about dodging bullets is… Read more »