-WALLS

   "Sometimes you put up walls not to keep people out but to see who cares enough to break them down"  - Unknown

I’ve recently started corresponding via email with a Chinese man named Genrong from Shanghai. He’s a retired teacher of English and is offering me insights into the Chinese culture. Of course, China’s a bit pissed at us at the moment  over this whole Taiwan thing. I’m not sure what my pen pal thinks about this issue. Being as he’s Chinese, I would think his opinion would be subjective. I, on the other hand, being objective, can fully understand each country’s point of view: Taiwan wants its independence; China doesn’t want to give it to them, and the United States is trying to ease tension in the region by selling over six billion dollars worth of weapons to Taiwan. What’s not to understand?

At any rate, because of this arms deal, China is imposing harsh economic sanctions against us and I think that’s only fair. It’s the same method America, as well as the U.N., utilizes to slap other countries on the wrist for violating self-imposed rules of global conduct.

At least China has the sense to approach the problem from an economic point of view as opposed to G.W. Bush’s two-phase approach to the ‘weapons of mass destruction’ myth. Plan A: We’re going to send our troops to kill Iraqis, and Plan B: If Plan A fails, we’re going to send even more troops to kill even more Iraqis. I’m afraid to think of what Plan C might have entailed.

Do any of you remember Richard Nixon’s Plan C for Vietnam? The guy was actually considering using nuclear weapons. Thank God, someone with an IQ higher than a door knob intervened. (Maybe Jay Leno was right when he quipped, “If God wanted us to vote, He’d have given us candidates.”)

I’ve always been ignorant regarding the esoteric world of global politics. People have often told me that. Told me that I just don’t understand. Told me that it’s a very complicated matrix comprised of too many considerations, ramifications and repercussions for my brain to grasp. Well, yeah. That’s exactly my point! It’s very, very, very complicated. And, in my ignorance, I’ve never understood why it had to be.

Copyright February 2010 - phil cerasoli