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Upcoming Cyberwars
Jamyang writes "In the run-up to the first anniversary of September 11, Taiwan's President has accused China of threatening Taipei with "terrorist" tactics in a speech that will fuel Beijing's current fury: "Communist China has accelerated development of 'unrestricted warfare' similar to terrorist methods," he said. Reuters man in Taipei reckon he's referring to "Unrestricted Warfare" [PDF] by leading PLA strategists - Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui - who famously argued that China should focus on "asymmetric engagement" in the 21st century. In fact, many related secret documents have leaked out of China lately. Taiwan's Defense Ministry is taking the threat of infowar very seriously, as can be seen in their 2002 Defense Whitepaper. If the U.S. gets tied up in a ground war in the Middle East, China's going to be real tempted ...."
I know it has been said before, but this is really too tempting. Are all government leaders using Clancy's latest novels to determine their course of action?
People replying to my sig annoy me. That's why I change it all the time.
...to make Saddam Hussein shaped firecrackers for American New Years celebrations
What the hell, its 10 til 3 in the morning and I've got karma to burn.
Shake ya damn booty!
Every day it seems like things are getting more like Shadowrun.
//radiotakeover.
Simply because they got nukes and they are pointed at Los Angeles. I doubt US will intervine if say Chinese government decided to invade Taiwan tomorrow. There is too much at stake. Saddam is small fish, China is a superpower. There lies the difference.
should be nuked
...and those evil linux 'hackers' in China will be prosecuted, then a joint-venture will pop up between China and the US to prosecute everything that has the word 'hacking' into it - expecially the linux kernel.
:)
Damn, look at those linux guys, they have hacking also in the core of their operating system! thank god Palladium will save us.
now let's see your sense of humour
-- There are two kind of sysadmins: Paranoids and Losers. (adapted from D. Bach)
The agreement we have with Taiwan doesn't state we will go to war with them, just that we will supply them with the military equipment (supposing they can pay for it) they will need to fight the war themselves.
We are under no obligation to go to war with China should they take action against Taiwan. Taiwan is quite capable of defending themselves. In fact Taiwan has a larger military than most super powers for this very reason. If you make the argument that China is larger with a superior military force, I will simply remind you of Vietnam and our failed attempts there.
In the last 100 years no country has successfully invaded another. The world just doesn't take to kindly to that. There is a few possible exceptions (china and tibet), but putting them in context will still lead you to the same conclusion. The country on defense has a significantly high advantage. This advantage is why we didn't finish Saddam Hussein in the 90's.
Somehow we've gotten into the same trap again, things that have been happening for months, if not years, are now blamed on "terrorist activity." I think every skirmish in the past 12 months have all been blamed on terrorism to differing plausibility: Afghanistan/Taliban, Israel/Palestine, Philippines/Abu Sayyaf, N. & S. Korea, and now Taiwan/China. I mean, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict has been going on for over 50 years! Is it just a new catchphrase or is it a realisation of the tactics used by one side or the other? And by the US gov't declaring war on terror, it means that the US will have an obligation to help all of these countries in their "War Of Terror"
This is my digital signature. 10011011001
In fact, many related secret documents have leaked out of China lately.
Yea, like how they make Swingline 747 staplers that are *just as good* and the ones they used to make in New York. And documents on just *how* much (or little) they're paying people at the Logitech mouse making plant to make those little cordless mice.
Personally I want to find out about their documents on how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie roll tootsie pop. I hear they done extensive research into this phenomenon.
Polymorphism -- It's what you make of it.
when did htis neutral friend or foe thing start? i just now noticed it...
Why is it that non-Americans hate the US so much, yet it is always the United States cleaning up everyone else's spilled milk, as so to speak?
Would the US intervene if China invaded Taiwan? Absolutely. The intervention might not take the form of massive troop deployments, but you could certainly expect massive air and sea-based theater weapons such as cruise missiles, fuel-air bombs, and the like to be brought to bear on massed Chinese forces.
Whether China could defeat Taiwan is certainly open for debate, but the US would not sit idly by and let China launch an unprovoked attack without doing something about it. For the US not to do so would be tantamount to approving of the invasion, which is ludicrous to imagine.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
Now that the US has decided to wage a war against terrorism many other countries have decided to crack down own their own internal problem populations by painting them with the terrorist brush.
Russia did it with chechnians, China did with the minority muslim population in the west. In the case of Israel it has used the post 9-11 US position to crack down much harder on the palestenians to the point of putting eight hundred thousand people under curfew and starving the population into submission.
Before 9-11 all of these actions would have been objectionable to the US govt and the public at large but post 9-11 nobody has raised an eyebrow.
Even in the US anybody who disagrees with the govt gets tagged with the terrorist label. The environmentalists, the "anti globalists", hackers, music swappers, open source developers etc.
It should not surprise anybody to see taiwan jumping on board this bandwagon.
My suspicion is that the term will dilute itself just like the word nazi did after it got overused so much. Feminazi, green nazi, surf nazi, soup nazi etc. When you start labeling everybody with the same tag pretty soon the label encompasses so many people it loses it's potency.
War is necrophilia.
If China does decide to take up electronic warfare, how will the Taiwanese prove that it indeed originated in China, and not somewhere else? After all, I highly doubt that China would hit Taiwanese systems without taking a few measures to cover their tracks.
/. think of that?
Would just a huge rise in the frequency with which Taiwanese systems are attacked be enough for them to scream bloody murder and ask for the Americans to come to their defence?
And on a side note, how would Washington respond to these kind of attacks on Taiwan? If Taiwan was physically invaded, or was bombed / targeted by missiles, America would obviously move to provide Taiwan with direct military aid. But what would be considered an apropriate response to an attack that neither physically damages Taiwan (in the "buldings blown up and civilians killed sense), nor is obviously of Chinese origin... What does
kmem russian roulette: Aquillar> dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/kmem bs=1 count=1 seek=$RANDOM
Am I the only one that's getting tired of every world leader referring to the activity of their rivals as being "terrorism"? It reminds me of how, during the Cold War, every problem a nation faced was either blamed on "communist subversion" or "imperialist aggression."
Computer viruses as terrorism? Well, maybe if they're targeted to drop planes from the sky, cause nuclear power plant malfunctions, etc -- but everyday preparation for infowar is not terrorism.
Besides, terrorism is almost always the weapon of the weak (excluding "terror" against one's own population). Strong countries find lobbing a few missiles to be much more effective. There is real danger of full-scale conventional war if Taiwan declares independence from China, and I suspect that computer viruses will be the last of their concerns.
Make cheese not war 8:)
The Taiwanese have a high standard of living comparable to that of Hong Kong which was reunited with China in 1997. Hong Kong is one of the most successful cities in China, and for that reason, reaquiring the capital of Taiwan, Taipei, is a tantalizing prospect for the rather impovished mainland China.
"Anyways, the one redeeming quality were the girls. I paid 100 yuan (about $12 US) for a great fuck, with a 16 year old who seemed quite new and "unblemished" if you get my drift. Boy, was she tight, made all the right noises, sucked and fucked all night long and let me cum all over her. Much better than even the vaunted Thai whores, and worlds apart from anything in Las Vegas or in Europe. Best bargain I have EVER found in my life!"
----------------
You say all this like you're proud. It's disgusting that 1) you would use a prostitute and 2) an under age one who's been through enough in her life and doesn't need you degrading her more.
You should be shot.
I hate to bring up cheesy movies as reference points, but do any of you remember the movie Hackers? In the end sequence, they try to disable a mainframe ("the Gibson"-- a nod to the SF author of the same name) by attacking it from several fronts. It worked. Imagine if the U.S. was the Gibson... could China attack us "electronically" in such a way that could, in some ways, have the same result as an EMP? Something like that?
The objective of information warfare is to ensure the Security of Communication, Information and Network of the National Defense. Under the guideline of Defense first, Swift Responses & Preemption, the MND has adopted the strategy of Active Surveillance & Reconnaissance, and Protection to establish a security protection capability of communication and information, which stresses Early Warning and Quick Response so as to maintain superiority in communication and information. Furthermore, in order to cope with cybervirus warfare, the MND has established an information warfare task force in concert with key technology development programs of communication and information security and Net Safety Program of the CSIST so as to create relevant technologies regarding cybervirus control and prevention.@
I fail to see the news in this though. Preparation for the much hyped cyberwars is probably in every countries defense tasklist.
It really isnt used more now than it was before. Before 9/11/01 there was news everyday about terrorism in South America, Israel etc....
It's just noticed now rather than ignored. It's been taken to our doorstep rather than viewed at a distance. Now you know how people in other countries feel 24/7 only for them it's probably magnified by several orders of magnitude.
Welcome to the party
Wow, that sounds just like your experiences in India -- you sure know where to find the whores buddy!
McDonalds is now available in China.
As they say, "The More Things Changed, The More They Stay The Same".
What "president Chen of Taiwan" is doing / saying / purposing is an exact mirror of what "president Lee of Taiwan" has done, and failed.
Below is a repost message
U.S.A: Taiwan's Dim Sum ?
Reposted from http://www.antiwar.com/orig/chu3.html
Taiwan Independence and Free Lunches by Bevin Chu Special to Antiwar.com
8/31/99
A standing joke among Sinologists, or China experts, is that the Taiwan independence movement's leaders are ready to fight to the last American G.I. The Taiwan independence motto could be summed up as Give me liberty, or give them death.
Taiwan "independence" has little to do with genuine independence. Taiwan "independence" is characterized by complete and utter dependency, materially and emotionally, on whomever wields the most power. A cliche constantly invoked in Taiwan political debates says it all: "Xi gua kao da bian" (The watermelon tilts toward the big end.)
Materially, the Taiwan "independence" movement is utterly dependent on America. Every evening, reunification proponents warn militant separatists on television debates they are courting disaster, and every evening the separatists argue that America will shield them from the negative consequences of refusing to negotiate in good faith with the Chinese mainland.
So far they have been proven right. Lawrence Eagleburger, Secretary of State to former President George Bush, lamented in the wake of President Bill Clinton's kneejerk dispatch of two carrier battle groups to the Taiwan Straits in 1996: They (Taiwan) have played us like a fiddle.
The Taiwan Relations Act's raison d'etre ended with Chairman Mao's death and his replacement by the man Mao denounced as the Number Two Capitalist Roader, Deng Xiaoping. Whatever purpose it may have once served, it is now merely a blank check signed by Uncle Sam and made out to the Taiwan separatist leadership, to be cashed at their convenience. The amount is yet to be determined, but sooner or later it will be inked in with the blood of American G.I.s.
The east Asian financial crisis was an textbook case of what economists refer to as moral hazard. International Monetary Fund guarantees amounted to an artificial incentive for wealthy investors to indulge in high-risk speculation, knowing the IMF would pull their chestnuts out of the fire if they underestimated how hot it would get.
The Taiwan Relations Act is the political and military analog of IMF bailout guarantees, amounting to an artificial incentive for stealth separatists like Lee Teng-hui to deliberately adopt non-starter negotiating positions and engage in reckless brinksmanship. They know the US Seventh Fleet will come steaming to their rescue if they overplay their hand and Beijing calls their bluff.
The moral hazard of IMF intervention resulted in east Asia bleeding oceans of red ink. The moral hazard of well-intentioned but wrong-headed assurances of American military intervention in the Taiwan Straits will bleed oceans of something far more precious.
American military leaders who may be required to send Americans into combat are painfully aware of the implications of Lee Teng-hui's shenanigans. As Admiral Dennis Blair, America's top military commander in the Pacific testified before Congress, Taiwan was crapping in the punch bowl of US-China relations.
ROC President Lee Teng-hui watched with delight as the US Air Force served as the air wing of the Kosovo Liberation Army. The timing of Lee's "two nations" provocation was hardly coincidental, coming as it did on the heels of NATO's Chinese Embassy bombing fiasco. Lee interpreted the event as his cue to stoop over the punchbowl and take yet another dump.
Fifty-eight thousand Americans ordered to Vietnam came home in bodybags. A black granite monument on the National Mall inscribed with their names serves as a solemn reminder of that tragic waste of American lives.
If our Beltway Bombardiers have failed to learn the lessons of Vietnam, as it appears they have, and pointlessly dispatch young Americans halfway around the world to intervene in a Chinese Civil War that is none of our business, how many will return in bodybags from the Taiwan Straits? After it is all over, win, lose or draw, what would they have died for?
Are American values what the Taiwan separatists hold sacred and expect American fighing men and women to die for? If that were the case, American intervention on the separatists' behalf might be slightly less absurd. But as we shall see, American values are not what the Taiwan independence movement is all about.
Ignore the scripted, feel-good speeches high-powered American PR firms like Cassidy & Associates have carefully coached Lee Teng-hui to spoonfeed our Congress and mainstream media. Ignore especially his 1996 Always in my Heart class reunion speech at Cornell, where he really laid it on with a trowel.
Instead find someone fluent in Chinese or better yet, Japanese, to translate what Lee and other Taiwanese separatists have written for the consumption of separatist militants in Taiwan and neo-fascist fellow travellers in Japan. Americans may be shocked to discover the Taiwanese separatists' bottom line objection to eventual reunification with China has little to do with professed admiration for American concepts of individualism, liberty, republican government, and everything to do with nostalgia for authoritarian Japanese colonial rule.
Lee Teng-hui's book Taiwan's Proposal, published shortly before his "two nations" declaration, is Lee's manifesto for Taiwan's future. It was ghost-written by an anonymous Japanese author from a right wing Japanese perspective. The first edition was in written in Japanese and printed in Japan. Only later was it translated into Chinese and printed in Taiwan. In it Lee praises Japanese culture as being incomparably superior to American culture. Lee boasts publicly that he is more thoroughly steeped in Japanese culture than even the average Japanese.
In case that went by too fast, let me repeat it. A manifesto by the President of the Republic of China, purporting to represent the interests of the people of Taiwan, is actually penned by a neofascist Japanese author in Japan,published in Japan, and only gets translated into Chinese afterwards?
Hello?
During a 1995 interview with visiting Japanese author Ryotaro Shiba, President Lee Teng-hui ordered his cabinet and bodyguards out of his office, and speaking in Japanese to a long lost countryman, gushed that he still considered himself Japanese until a young adult, wept when he heard Japan had surrended to the Allies and was returning Taiwan to China, and that his grief upon hearing Emperor Hirohito had died was more profound than that of Japanese in Japan. The conversation was ostensibly confidential, but Shiba, being a journalist first and Lee's confidant only in Lee's fevered imagination, promptly published their little tete a tete verbatim the minute he got back to Japan, where Japanese neo-fascists applauded it enthusiastically.
Far from being freedom fighters, Taiwanese "independence" leaders fell over each other to collaborate with Japanese colonial administrators for personal advantage.
Lee Teng-hui's father collaborated by serving as a deputy in the colonial Japanese police force, actively oppressing his own people. In return, his family received comfortable housing, quality rations, and educational opportunities. Lee Teng-hui himself attended the Universty of Kyoto, a singular "honor" doled out only to those deemed "politically reliable."
Lee's chief negotiator in cross-Straits negotiations with Beijing is crony capitalist Koo Chen-fu. An historian at Taiwan's Academia Sineca recently exposed Koo and the Koo family business empire as WWII era profiteers engaged in the selling of Taiwanese women into sexual slavery.
Younger Taiwan independence leaders born too late to have been collaborators routinely offer elaborate rationalizations for WWII era Japanese war crimes on local talk shows.
When China was refused an apology in writing from Japanese Prime Minister Obuchi for WWII war crimes, which included years of gang rape of Taiwanese comfort women and Joseph Mengele-style Unit 731 "medical experiments" performed on American POWs in Manchuria, Lee Teng-hui huffily proclaimed that "Japan has apologized enough. Any further apologizing will only harm Japan's dignity!"
Just before Lee threw his "two nations" gauntlet at Beijing's feet, he told Taiwan's media he detected early storm clouds of "kamikaze" (divine wind) gathering over the island of Taiwan. The media was baffled by his cryptic remark, but his intention soon became clear. Time is running out for Lee, just as it ran out for Japan's kamikaze squadrons approaching V-J Day. Lee is hoping his "two nations" proclamation will provoke war. As Dr. Alex Kao, an expert on Chinese military strategy sees it, Lee is gambling that the mainland will launch a premature war now which, 15 years from now, Taiwan would have no chance of winning.
Emotionally, the Taiwan "independence elite" is dependent on their former colonial master, Japan, into whose arms they will fling themselves if their divorce from China becomes a reality. Taiwan "independence" is merely a way station en route to their final destination, Tokyo. Even their proposed "Republic of Taiwan" flag is a fascimile of the Japanese Emperor's "Chrysanthemum Flag." Taiwan separatists would be jubilant if upon achieving "independence" they are promptly re-colonized by Japan.
Taiwan independence is a movement which if genuinely understood would evoke scant sympathy from Americans, certainly not from American POWs who survived the Bataan Death March, and the Taiwan independence leaders know it. So instead they recite the catechism they know patriotic Americans want to hear: Freedom, democracy, anti-communism.
In a sense we shouldn't blame the Taiwan "independence" parasites, who are really no different from sundry homegrown parasites. The parasites know perfectly well they're getting a free lunch at American taxpayers' expense, but as long as their generous Uncle Sammy insists on picking up the tab, they'd be crazy to pass up a free meal.
A few million in strategically distributed political contributions by the immensely wealthy Taiwan Lobby, and presto, highly-trained military personnel and trillions in advanced weaponry belonging to the World's Only Remaining Superpower are placed at their disposal. Americans who enlisted in our armed forces on the understanding their duty was to defend American territory from foreign invaders find themselves job-shopped as mercenaries to would-be founders of a would-be "Republic of Taiwan." The Taiwan tail winds up wagging the American dog. The Taiwan mouse roars, and the proud American eaglecrosses the Pacific to do the mouse's bidding.
A pretty shrewd bargain for the Taiwan "independence" movement. But what kind of a deal is it for Americans? We owe it to ourselves to consider long and hard whether Taiwan independence is something American taxpayers want to pay for with our sweat and American fighting men and women want to pay for with their blood.
What will happen to 22 million ordinary Taiwanese if America repeals the Taiwan Relations Act and informs the obdurate separatist Lee Teng-hui "You want independence? Lots of luck. You're on your own."
The answer is: Not a damned thing.
Instead the Taiwan independence movement's Japanophile elite will be forced to listen, for a change, to the 80% majority of Taiwan people who oppose Taiwan independence and are perfectly content with defacto autonomy. If they don't, the people will elect a more rational president, one who will drive a hard bargain and negotiate a high degree of regional autonomy under a "One Country, Two Systems" formula. Later, as the mainland liberalizes to a degree deemed satisfactory by Taiwan, the two sides will reunify peacefully along the lines of East and West Germany.
Both America and China will win. Heavily armed Taiwan will get an even better deal than Hongkong, which to the chagrin of China-haters has remained utterly unmolested since its restoration to China, despite being completely unarmed.
Only the Taiwanese separatist fanatics will lose. Without America's credit card on the dinner table they will have to stare at the prices on the menu before ordering. Without American carte blanche, Lee Teng-hui and his Taiwan "independence" elite will have to ask themselves whether their dream of becoming a satellite of Japan is worth risking their own miserable hides, rather than the lives of American servicemen and women.
But, as the libertarian battle cry coined by the late, great libertarian science fiction master Robert Heinlein goes, "Tanstaafl!" or "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch!"
The author is an American architect of Chinese descent registered to practice in Texas. Currently living and working in Taiwan, Chu is the son of a retired high-ranking diplomat with the ROC government.
I wouldn't be suprised if a story like this, from a very dependent ally, was encouraged by the powers that be.
Oh yeah, remember; if you or anyone you know smoked a joint since 9/11, you're supporting terrorisim.
"A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing" - Alan Perlis
Cool!
Keep in mind that Chinese people have very slanty eyes. This optimizes them for using a command-line interface, but means that they must constantly move their heads around to use a modern GUI. This puts them at a disadvantage to Americans when it comes to modern computers. We can therefore conclude that the technological edge lies squarely with the United States.
People replying to my sig annoy me. That's why I change it all the time. How often do you change your sig? More or less than your underware? Hmm, that sounds like a great idea for a slashdot poll... How often do you change your underware? () Every Day () 2-3 Days () Once a week () Every time Microsoft releases a critical security patch () Every time I get First Post () Cowboyneal changes my underwear () I'm a nudist
i originally posted the comment below on april 25th, and am cutting and pasting it verbatim... it was attached to the slashdot story "CIA Warns China Might Be Planning Cyber Attack" if you go to the website i mentioned below right now today, you get nothing but a lonely gif, a copyright notice, and a webmaster's address... the veritable calm before the storm? again, i am not much a conspiracy theorist, but what is with the sept. 2002 date i originally mentioned? i wish i had a cache of that page! and honestly, i don't know if this site or this organization is in taiwan, the us, or china, or sealand ;-P someone less lazy than me run a trace route! ;-)
;-P ). I guess honker is hacker in Chinese. It was a toolbox of scripts and methodologies.
Remember then Chinese hacker push in early May of last year? It was to coincide with May Day and in protest over the whole U.S. Spy Plane Hainan Island debacle the month before that.
Some MS boxen got "f**k USA government f**k poizonbox" pasted all over their IIS roots. Not much beyond that, and I think some American hackers returned the favor. A little miniature patriotic hacker war.
Out of curiosity, I kept up to date on Chinese hacking at a site whose address is www.cnhonker.com (visit at your own risk, and don't hit the Back button
But very recently, in March, the site was closed by someone called "lion". I had a Chinese coworker of mine visit the site, and she translated the brief explanation for the site's closing as "After long thinking, we have no choice but close it. Please don't write to us asking why, give us a little time. We'll be back. September 2002, we'll see you again"
I am not much of a conspiracy theorist, but when it comes to autocratic governments, my instincts change... any bets on whether or not the Chinese Government has coopted some of their talented hackers for a patriotic cause?
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Personally, I am getting tired of hearing about this "cyber-terrorism". You know it's nonsense. I know it's nonsense.
It's simply another idiocy spewed by the cabal ruling the US, another area where they will spread violence and prohibitions, another area where humongous amounts of money will be spent.
Please, let's just drop this. Let's not make it news when somebody Up Top yet again talks about it with furrowed brow. Cyber-terrorism is ridiculous. It hasn't happened yet, and you can't convince me that there are any real signs of it happening in the near future.
The only thing that will happen is that vast amounts of money will be spent without result. Again.
Ciao,
Klaus
Free PC version of ChipWits at http://www.breueronline.de/klaus/chipwits/
'Twas the night before Goatse, when all through the house
Not a penis was stirring, not even with mouth;
The Giver was hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Goatse soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of anal-sex danced in their heads;
And Katz in his 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled down for a fuck in the sack.
When up in my anus there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see Katz start to splatter.
Away to the bathroom I flew like a flash,
Tore open my anus and looked at the gash.
The moon in the glass had a vibrant red glow
Gave the lustre of sunset to my nutsack below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer!
With a little old driver, so lively and quickse,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Goatse.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
"Now, TACO! now, JAMIE! now, MICHEAL and TIMMY!
On, CHRISD! on HEMOS! on, PUDGEY and CLIFFY!
To the top of the ass! fronts to the the wall!
Now pound away! pound away! pound away all!"
As faggots that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with a hetero, mount the next guy,
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of sex-toys, and Goatse pics too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The moaning and pawing of each little poof.
As I drew in my ass, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Goatse came with a bound.
He was dressed as a furry, from his head to his feet,
And his clothes were all tarnished with urine and shit;
A bundle of sex-toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a hooker just flapping his sack.
His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His ass cheeks like roses, his cock like a cherry!
His cute little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his scrotum as white as the snow;
The stump of a blunt he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and was a bit smelly,
He shook, when he wanked like a bowlful of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him beat off himself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings with smelly big turds,
He layed a big log right under my nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like a fucking great missile.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
"HAPPY GOATSE TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!"
What are you, some kind of fag?
What are you, some kind of fag?
I'm reading Slashdot, I thought homosexuality was some kind of requirement here.
Try 'definition superpower' in google, and you'll get a couple of interesting and subjective suggestions, the most logical (from a historical perspective) of which seem to suggest that you may only have one superpower at a time, with zero, one, or more major competitors, that may or may not assume the crown over time.
http://www.dictionary.com on the other hand gives us
1)A powerful and influential nation, especially a nuclear power that dominates its allies or client states in an international power bloc.
and;
2)a state powerful enough to influence events throughout the world.
Neither of these seem to restrict membership of the club to 1 member, and you could certainly make a case for China to qualify under either definition, although I think it's fair to say that the US is at the top of the superpower tree by any reasonable assessment.
And other cultural vandalism.
If I dislike America the Capitalist it'd because of it's success. It's ironic that the majority of Americans I have met are some of the friendliest and generous people I have met but when I walk through my town it makes me sad that everywhere I see Corporate America mocking me with it's ownership of my environment. Within 5 miles of my house there are 4
McDonalds, 2 Wal-Marts, 2 Starbucks and 1 GAP.
As en experiment I just went and turned on my TV. Of the seven channels two of them are shwoing American programmes (Happy Days & something with Tia Carrera as Indiana Jones).
Of course, much of it doesn't start out as unwanted, I like Happy Days but as time goes by this cultural expansionism gets a bit much. Suddenly there are no shops but American shops. All your canned drinks say "made by the Coke Company" and there's nothing but Saved By The Bell or WWF on TV.
America can seem like a guest who brought round a six pack and a pizza but doesn't know when to leave.
Just ask Osama. The Americans come to help stabilise the region but then decide to maintain a military presence that goes far beyond the initial mandate. Now, I will admit, that this presence is probably to *my* benefit, but for some Muslims it's offensive (like Conservative Islam is to me).
I'm not suggesting that any of this makes it okay to spill American blood. Far from it. But that's what it's like living under American influence.
It's no wonder the people try to protect their culture from outside influence. They want dominion over their own affairs.
Perceived common enemies are the stock in trade for the human race be it burglars, burgers or Burghers. There's money/power to be made in "solutions" to all of these.
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
I would say more pushing over the milk pail. Or rather,
If the U.S. gets tied up in a ground war in the Middle East, China's going to be real tempted ...."
Yes, those War Rabbid Communists are going to finally have the opportunity to unleash their unkept minions, hell-bent on destruction in their search to implement their Ultimate Secret Plan.
Those Filthy Communist Chinease have been waiting to assault *YOUR LOCAL MINI-MALL*, Apple Pie, Aunt Betty and Good old God Fearing Democratic America(TM).
RUN! HIDE! The COMMUNISTS ARE COMMMMIIIINNNGGG!!
*or* consider that AMERICANS are paranoid war-mongers - Now actually publicly debating when they will launch an unprovoked attack on another Nation. Propaganda about Terrorism and Weapons of Mass Destruction (which USA officially participates-in, funds and implements) would you Americans not see this as a obvious shift from the present Join a Proxy War (Afghanistan/Vietnam), or maybe Fund Terrorists (C&SAmerica in 80s, Columbia Today), or other less obvious "Public Motivations"... now, now you Yanks are moving into the "Do What Your Told or ELSE - BECAUSE WE SAID SO!" style Warfare... a little off from your usual-run-of-the-mill American WarMongering.
We used nuclear weapons. As you know, that causes 8 squares of pollution and makes everyone hate you.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Perhaps there is little worry about 'cyberwarfare' but it is always important to understand that all governments utilize their intelligence services to conduct industrial espionage. In fact some services like France's publish that as a key objective, publically. The PRC is far more likely to be engaged in penetrating economic assets than military assets.
It's weird, I read all these views from people outside ( and inside the US ), they think they understand our country.
Well you don't, nobody does, not even those that live here.
I live, work, vote, and bitch in the US. I'm still trying to figure it out. It's a Republic, not a true democracy, we have no direct control over what our leadership does.
I have no desire at all to attack Iraq, and it looks to me like most of the US (the people) are of the same mind. Unfortunately we don't make the decisions. GW is trying to get backing for his battle, I don't see it coming. But he'll fight it anyway and get more people pissed off.
just for the record,
I am not a paranoid war monger any more than all canadians are seal clubbers.
and another thing,
what if GW is right? Don't argue that there is no proof...blaha blah blah. Hypothetically, what if he is, and Saddam could nuke people. Scary thought.
Sean D.
"Hmm. I am to metaphor cheese as metaphor cheese is to transitive verb crackers!"
sound like you're looking for something to complain about
No, if you read the conversation the poster wanted to know where anti-American feeling comes from and, I believe, that my answer was addressing that question from my honest perspective.
You'll notice that I suggested that much of it came from America the Capitalist, not the people.
One could probably write a whole book on the subject so I'm sorry if my post didn't get across all the subtleties.
The symbol of the flag is very strong, marking one's territory. The international success of US retail business (bourne probably because of the vastness of the US continent and the necessity to think big) means we have many such flags and each one of them says 'we own you'. No other country has such a multitude of these symbols planted in our soil.
You'd think there would be such feeling around China and Taiwan. After all, a huge percentage of our household goods and electronics items are made in these places which adversely affects our balance of trade but our relations with China are generally ignored by most people. The only high profile Asiatic business I can think of round these parts is a Mitsubishi Car Dealer.
Personally I'm not predjudice either way because, like you say, it is relatively few people who wield the actual power. It's institutions that become problematic not the people running them. I believe the institutions will eventually crumble, like all that have gone before them. Perpetual Economic Growth as a goal is surely doomed to failure. The capitalists think that the problems will solve themselves once someone thinks of a way to make money out of solving them. Surely that can't be right, can it?
As for TV, well it's an Australian that started the channel that shows WWF all day Saturday and if ever a tv show carried the wrong message about Americans it is WWF. I mean, it's a TV show that's targetted at kids in which the protagonists fight because one of them drugged the other one's daughter and kidnapped her and married her in Las Vegas as some sort of revenge on the other to which the conclusion was for one to baseball bat the other unconcious while people cheered on. With commentary.
At least Fonzie has good manners.
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
I think that the Taiwan's President is a troll, anyone who starts a sentance wit the word communist is obviously a troll.
thank God the internet isn't a human right.
The economies of these countries have so strong ties, with hongkong as intermediate, that they actually can't afford to be at war with each other.
Anyhow, I don't mind this Cyberwar. Afterall even the US-Americans are spying extensively on Europe.
And the British faggots are very pleased to give them a helping hand
mmh well, if US gets tied in a land war in middle east, i hope it won't go as this for the sake of your soldiers.. :-)
can't say this piece of news sent me laughing..
i had a sig, once..
As you seen not very capable of seeing things in perspective, I'll give a little list of things a non-American (by the way, what a way of calling yourselves, America is everthing from Alaska to Argentina, not just the USA) could see from the US Government
PS: I'm from Spain. During our own dictatorship independentist and leftist terrorist groups appeared, and even with massive death sentences the military didn't get to finish them. When democracy came and there was a way to discuss political matters without being imprissoned, many of the groups disappeared and the only one left is very less active that when democracy came.
PS2: Right now, even after entering in the cities and destroying nearly all of their living-stock, using the army and all ways of dirty war, Israelians cannot get out of home without fear of being killed.
Take your own conclusions!
There is no concept of personal hygiene whatsoever. Meetings with even top officials were hourlong sessions of having to endure hot sweaty bodies and rancid breath eminating from mouths missing a few teeth. Geez, at least use deodorant for crying out loud.
Sounds like LinuxWorld.
the money from pirate videos supports drug smugglers
Drug dealers don't need to make money on the side from pirating videos. For gods sake, they're in the most lucrative buisness on the planet, and any time the US increases it's intercepts they just increase outgoing shipments. Get together all the money made by movie pirates and it would just be a tiny drop in the bucket when it comes to drugs.
You won't see nearly this much money in piracy untill hardware DRM comes in. Then street dealers will sell crack, coke, weed, and video cards with the DRM disabled or black market TV out jacks wired in.
Maybe the state's highest function is to grind out insoluble problems. (Zelazny, Hall of Mirrors)
Taiwan is not officially a state, as it does not clearly have the capacity to enter into relationships with other states, as many other countries view Taiwan as part of the ROC, not as an independant state. Taiwan cannot appeal to the United Nations, because it cannot join the United Nations, due to the fact that membership can be vetoed by any member of the security council, of which China is a member.
This has been a long-standing problem, as Taiwan has 20+ million people, who've formed a self-governing body and want to be their own country, but have an 800-lb gorilla preventing them from doing so. Unfortunately this problem has been worsened in recent years as countries such as the United States have made clear that they don't care about China's oppression of Taiwan by ignorning the issue, and even granting China Most Favored Nation status, as Americans care more about cheap shoes than they do about the oppression of a country, and about gross human rights violations.
Such victimization..... Its all the American Capitalists fault... You know, its not like we are forcing this stuff to you at gunpoint. You want to blame someone for the spread of American influence, look at the people around you. They are the ones buying our stuff. Its not like we are giving it away(thats very much against our morals). We offered it, and your people sucked it right up. Take some responsibility for yourself(and the people of your country)! As opposed to sitting around blaming Americans.
>>"If the U.S. gets tied up in a ground war in the Middle East, China's going to be real tempted ...."
Bullshit. China doesn't want war with Taiwan. It likes the status quo - strategic ambuiguity, in that the U.S. may or may not aid Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack. With strategic ambuiguity, China won't attack (because the US might back Taiwan) and Taiwan won't declare independence (because it doesn't know whether or not it will receive US support). The region is stable, trade flourishes, and everyone is happy.
Problem is, Bush has come close to ditching strategic ambiguity by saying things like aiding Taiwan using "whatever it [takes] to help Taiwan defend itself." ("Crossing the Red Lines," Far Eastern Economic Review, April 04 2002). If Bush ditches strategic ambiguity, he gives Chen Shui-Bian carte blanche to declare independence, something that will prompt an immediate invasion by China.
In any event, China is patient. It can wait for some future point when Taiwan might be more amenable to reunification. And will the US public really support a war against China, given the current aversion to war casualties? Once the first American destroyer goes down in the Taiwan Straits, the US public will start asking why we're fighting to keep two Chinese peoples separate. Once the first Chinese soldier dies, the Chinese public will ask why the US is fighting to keep two Chinese peoples separate. Quite frankly, this issue means much more to the Chinese than it does to Americans.
And for those who would point out that the US has many, many nuclear weapons as a deterrent:
The Chinese have nukes too. They also have missiles that can hit Los Angeles.
Do you want to preserve Taipei's autonomy at the expense of Los Angeles' population? I don't think that the American public does.
Does that mean that we'll be seeing even more spam from .cn? ;)
/*drunk.. fix later*/
High School is over - get over it...
,|..
We don't boss them around, stamp on thier feet, steal thier lunch, nor piss on thier clothes.
We don't care if you hate us... (at least some of us don't)... just be sure to get over it before you end up hurting your limp-wristed arm by giving us a sucker-punch to the gut.
We feed the world for crying out loud - maybe we should stop doing that? What do you think? There is plenty of starving people in the world but it isnt due to our lack of efforts to feed them.
As far as pissing on thier clothes - sure they stink, but thats not from our piss... they live in abject poverty and washing thier clothes is probably a low priority... or maybe they pissed on themselves?
Rather than point the finger at us for thier problems lets point it at them for not working hard enough to overthrow whatever dictator they are living under... we did it!
This American is only pointing 3 fingers at himself -
'The rest of the world' has zero electorial votes, zero members of the US House of Representatives and zero Senators. The opinion of 'the rest of the world' is interesting but has zero impact on the policies of the USA. Aside from a very few euro-wannabes in the press and academia, Americans don't really think 'the rest of the world' has room to talk and that we would all be better off if 'the rest of the world' would shut it's collective pie-hole.
Watching Cowboy Bebop in my jammies, eating a bowl of Shreddies.
Maybe he rented Cheech and Chong?
To quote Rodney King:
"Owch! Ow uuh ooch, Yeow! ouch ouch uuch oooo!"
No, wait, that is from the wrong time-frame. This is the right one:
"Can't we all just get along?"
Before the modern Zionist movement, "Israel" was nothing more then a few scattered, peaceful, Jewish communities in a large Arab one. The idea that "Israel and Palestine" have been fighting for thousands of years is ridiculous. The Jews have never fought with Islamic Arabs before, and only once before fought with the "Philistines" (for which the region was named 'Palestine' by the Romans)
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
American policymakers and pretty much everyone else in the realm of international affairs understands that these tensions will continue to surface. The real issue is how the US and China will handle those tensions.
If China were to hit Taiwain, it would not be in the same category as war in the Israeli-occupied areas or Russian adventures in Chechnya. Those issues are of interest to the US, but are not as pressing, because in neither case is the future security of East Asia being called into doubt.
American foreign policy is becoming more and more oriented around containment of China and protection of the Far East. A prosperous free market regional economy is extremely important to the US, and by allowing China to disrupt it at will, the US would be opening the door to further disruptions later.
The domestic faction in the US that you speak of would likely be opposed to a huge, manpower-intensive war over Taiwan, but it would be extremely difficult for anyone to argue that China's annexation of Taiwan would be anything but an invasion of a neighboring country.
The American public has been fed a diet of "Rising China" stories over the past few years by the media, and my guess is they would be strongly in favor of attacking Chinese forces taking part in any such invasion.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
Jim Bell is in prison for what? CJ Johnson is gagged for what? I,professor rat go on trial on Sept 11 for WHAT?
We should have conquered the world when we had the chance-- after WWII, when only we had the bomb. Our "humanitarian ideals" haven't gotten us shit in terms of respect... even from our little vassal state.
Anyone read or saw the movie, "The Crucible" ? Anyways, we're reading it in English class, and it's amazing to see how the film is in many ways the same as what's going on when discussion this terrorism labeling. All I know is that the line for the advert for the move was "The tale of truth on trial." And not much good came out of it. Can the same be said for all of this?
I support publik eduscatation!
Never get involved in a land in Asia.
In the end, nothing can ever undo the fact that ONLY AMERICANS have ever dropped Nukes on humans.
Unfortunately, that isn't true. When someone else finally uses a nuke (and I am convinced it will happen eventually), it will not be ONLY AMERICANS that have ever dropped Nukes on humans.
I don't remember exactly what it was called, but my Networking professor was talking about the interent backbones and how a large number of them went through - I think - the Hanson building in Chicago. Someone take out that.. What happens? I need to dig up and read that old Slashdot story about what if 90% of the Inet servers go down.
China communist party govment has blocked access to google.com to prevent its people from diffrerent information sources for half month. A new Internet Berlin Wall TELL YOU everything.
"How did this water get here?"
"Probably a burst pipe"
"Hey, what are you complaining for? It's your people that made the pipe burst. Don't blame the water."
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
9/11