"network and anyone who cares" Of course I can. I don't even disable my GPS because I frequently use the mapping and navigation apps on the phone. But I also really don't give a shit about the very remote chance that someone can use my phone data to specifically look for me. The government or private detectives can find me anytime they want by just using my tax returns, drivers license, SSN, and any data stored by the credit agencies if they are interested in my financial history. I have even provided in-depth personal information and fingerprints for my security clearances. All of this information provides a much more detailed picture of me and all of these sources existed before the Internet.
People have gone overboard with their fear of someone knowing anything about them. They post their life stories on the Internet and turn around and complain about someone breaching their privacy. Anonymity is not a human right as a lot of these folks believe. Just paying your electric or water bill puts your information into someones database. It is entirely up to the individual to decide whether to use a social media service or conduct commercial transactions using the Internet. There are ways to obscure your web activity if you want to. Granted even the most sophisticated ways of doing so can be by passed but only when someone with the resources to do so are looking for you specifically for some reason. People are perfectly free to abandon the online and electronic communication services and move to a shack in the wilderness but even then you still need to dodge and thermal imaging satellites that pass over head. If someone is really searching for you it can accomplished without relying on the Internet but we are moving into the generations who have never experienced life without the Internet and don't realize while it might be faster to track someone today using the Internet it could also be accomplished in the pre-Internet era.
The main problem with nuclear weapons is the damage to the ecosystem. Just look how the world freaked out with Japan's nuclear reactor failures. Any nuclear attacks, even on countries with no ability to retaliate would scare the shit out of every country on the planet and create massive unrest and uncertainty. The only real benefit of a nuclear arsenal is to prevent the takeover of your country by a foreign power if you lose a conventional war. Sort of like the mindset "If I can't have it nobody can have it". That is why the Arab countries have abandoned conventional military attacks against Israel and changed tactics to use the Palestinians as their weapon of choice. It's very unlikely that even a massed Arab attack on Israel would succeed any better than their previous attempts but if Israel thought they were losing they would make sure that every Arab country participating in the attack would be left with radioactive craters where their major cities are located.
The major country nuclear arsenals are pretty much useless in any strategic sense because one ICBM launch will trigger thousands going in all directions leaving nothing left to argue about. The only real purpose they serve is preventing this type of total global annihilation. Orbital based kinetic weapons are the next phase of weapon development. Non-explosive projectiles targeted from orbit are capable of the same amount of destruction as a nuke without the nasty radioactive after taste. Accuracy might not be as good as modern GPS based missiles but then again it isn't necessary to hit a specific chimney or window with a weapon of this power.
I am fully aware of my situation thank you very much now run along to the "World is Ending" rally where you can talk,text,scream, and tweet with all the other morons about the direction the world is taking according to the holy wisdom spouting from the well of truth and righteousness commonly referred to as the Internet.
Yeah, Police State. Why don't you grab your passport and go visit some real police states in the world at least then you will know what you are talking about. You must just be upset because you are one of those "impressionable punks of low-intelligence" and people are treating you like one. And you don't need the FBI to "fill their heads with violent talk, provide them with weapons or fake bombs and plans for attempting to use the same" when the Internet is doing such a bang up job on a global scale.
The thing is getting rid of the stupid people doing stupid things is impossible so you are left with trying to limit the amount of damage with technology.
Take off your tin foil hat and let your brain cool off and then maybe you will be able to make a coherent argument. Using the whole "corporate, military and government think tanks" argument is getting a little stale. And the "north Africans and Mesopotamians raging against the machine" have created nothing but more hardship for themselves while the indignant progressive westerners sit around expounding on how YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter is changing the world. These tools are good for getting info out of a country but what difference does it really make. Look at the slaughter going on in Syria or the brutal crackdowns in Iran after their last election. Exactly what good did getting this information out into the world achieve? Has it stopped the Syrians from killing anyone who even looks like they might have a grievance? Is the average Iranian comfortable with marching down the street denouncing government policies? But since you most likely live in the US or another liberal/western country you have no idea what real government repression is.
And why use nuclear bombs when an orbital launched non-explosive projectile can cause the same amount of damage as a nuke without the nasty radioactive after taste? Create a projectile capable of withstanding the heat generated by entering the atmosphere and you have a powerful weapon that even the best missile defense system can not intercept it. Granted you lose the precision current missiles provide but orbital and atmospheric dynamics are well understood principles and using them direct the projectile enough can get you close enough. After all it's not like nukes or any other destructive weapon with the same capabilities need the capability to target chimneys and specific windows. The US also already has the means to launch orbit based attacks using their X-37 vehicles which are capable of achieving orbit and maneuvering.
Damn near every middle-eastern and N Africa country funds and provides political protection for groups committing terrorists acts all over the world. In a comment above someone said that the people in the US are directly responsible for the consequences of thier government policies so why shouldn't that same principle be true for all countries? This isn't just about 9/11. I am against the wars in Iraq, Libya,and Afghanistan and would have preferred to leave Iraq alone and allow them to continue their own self destruction in peace. And using air based attacks in Afghanistan combined with spec ops Taliban hunters would have been more effective and certainly cheaper. Specifically targeting the vast poppy fields would also hit the Afghan leaders where it hurts and encourage them to actually go after those providing the US with resons to attack. The majority of the US oil imports are from Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, and domestic sources. Let the European countries deal wit the middle east since they rely heavily on Arab oil and they are also the ones responsible for creating this mess in the first place with their arbitrary drawing of country borders in the middle-east. And I didn't vote for Bush. I consider both US political entities ignorant and incompetent of doing anything else besides campaigning. Bin Laden and all of his disciples in jihad have only succeeded in creating a growing hatred of Muslims across the world.
"Russia and China getting us to Mars" You have to be fucking kidding me. Russia provides simple vehicles to get into orbit and while China has announced their grandiose ambitions what have they actually done or accomplished that leads you to believe they can pass the US and other western space programs? China is sitting on a ticking time bomb right now. People continue to over estimate China's abilities and stability. Their economy has went from producing positive trade balances to deficit trade balances. They are facing stiff competition from countries like Vietnam and other emerging countries who can eliminate China's sole advantage in the world economy, labor costs. China did not gain their economic successes by providing quality or innovations. The succeeded by being able to pay their workers a dollar a day. They have already manipulated their currency to the limit trying to maintain lower export prices but that has created rapid inflation which means the Chinese citizens have to pay more for goods and services which require an increase in their income. This increase will eventually impact on the cost of Chinese exports. If the Chinese government can not mange themselves out of this situation they will be facing 3 billion angry citizens looking for some answers.
You couldn't be more wrong. The Internet is a marvelous construct that provides many benefits but it's most prolific and growing contribution today is providing the tools to promote rampant disinformation, historical revisionism, animosity, and out right hate. There exists a sizable majority who believe everything they read on the Internet and the anonymity of the the web makes manipulating these people is easy and cheap when compared against other methods indoctrinating public opinion. And please elaborate on this increase in peace throughout the world. I can only hope your comment was intended as a troll because I have a hard time accepting someone who could be that stupid.
Why should the US give a shit about slave wages or how workers are treated in other countries? Why is that our job? And I wouldn't worry to much about China trying to withhold exports of rare earth elements because if they tried the US could reciprocate with food exports to them. US food exports to China has increased 5 fold over the past 10 years and is one of the primary reasons their world economy trade surplus has been all but eliminated. If I had 1 wish in regards to the world economic system it would be for the US to develop the means and technology to eliminate any reliance on oil. We are not to far away from being able to accomplish that. Germany had to create synthetic oil during WW2 and the technology to do this is much more advanced today than it was back then. Let the middle east countries learn how to eat sand because without a US demand for oil they would have nothing, Even with their current oil exports their countries are still destitute and shit holes except for the people at the top and even if oil export revenue disappeared tomorrow they have enough money to move to more civilized countries and live in the lap of luxury to the end of time. The US could also finally ignore that entire region and worry about ore important things. Oh, Canada might take a hit but at least they could stop damaging their environment with their oil sands operations. As an extra benefit the US could also eliminate the need to deal with Venezuela.
You could never change the government pay scale enough to entice the caliber of people required for these types of jobs. The people with the skills needed for this type of work would end up taking a substantial pay cut. Private sector developers pull down bigger salaries than the President or Congressman so the government would have to make some rather serious adjustments in their compensation guidelines and what is the chance of that ever happening? While in office the Presidents finances are held in a blind trust and monitored very closely. On the other hand congressman finances are hardly ever scrutinized in depth until they do something stupid enough to trigger an investigation. And yes Congressmen and the President (after he leaves office) can pad their salaries in all types of interesting ways but so can the private sector IT professionals without the government constantly looking over their shoulder unless they also draw the attention to themselves. Government vendors may be investigated and audited regularly but even then the main motive for that it is usually political based not financial. That's why the government needs to rely on private sector vendors and consultants to provide the expertise they need. This is especially critical for military related technology.
"penultimate" Of course I noticed this after I submitted but the chances the guy I was responding noticing it is pretty small based on the level of intelligence he displayed in his original post.
"Really? Then obviously you have no customers on the Internet."
I know I really shouldn't do this but I can only absorb so much idiocy from stupid fucks like you that I can't help myself..NET is only a tool used to build applications not a religious calling. And like any tool it has it's uses depending on the nature of the application you are developing. Evidently you lack any in depth experience or common sense for that matter to comprehend this simple fact. Any application developer that can't comprehend the simple concept "the right tool for the right job" needs to get out of the basement and enter the real world of professional developers. I have been at this for 25+ years and have used damn near every OS and development platform out there. C#, SmallTalk, C++,C, COBOL, EDL, Assembler, FORTRAN, Pascal, Basic, VB, Java, Python, Perl, and any other development tool or script engine released over the past 25 years. The same goes for operating systems as well. I have designed,developed, deployed and supported Internet applications, console applications, services, hardware drivers, and embedded control systems for organizations of all sizes in both the US and Internationally and I don't give a shit who created the tool as long as it meets my requirements . And trust me you are not the only person on this site that applies a religious devotion to the tools they swear are the penultimate language development tool or operating system ever invented. Software, especially web systems have a very short shelf life. The technology, both software and hardware, are constantly evolving. I have been involved in projects whose sole purpose was to demonstrate both the pros and cons of using different development stacks to meet application requirements using both cost and quality metrics. Basing your technology development tool set selection based on the company who happens to provide the technology is stupid. Take a good look at the technology job market today and compare the number of.NET positions versus the non.NET positions. Genuine experts never have a problem finding a job but genuine experts are a small minority. You are free to pursue any job you want but don't dismiss those who happen to chose another route just because you are filled with contempt for the tool you have judged inferior. Also remember that applications have a very short shelf life and choosing the wrong tools often lead to the development time being long than the actual lifetime of the application.
My opinion rested on several factors:
1. The US has the means to inflict economic penalties if China adopts that strategy.
2. China could disappear tomorrow are there are plenty pf other countries and other sources of ready to pick up the slack to avoid US reprisals.
3. Debt instruments in the US are very attractive and safe investments regardless of the budget/borrowing limits shit storm that just happened.
4. 97% of the US debt is held by the US treasury
5. If the US economy was to falter it would take the world economy down at the same time.
6. Any foreign country trying to tank the US economy would suffer a hell of a lot more than the US.
7. The only way other countries can attack the US economy would be through military actions and the US is more than capable of blunting this option and would most likely end up not only winning the military conflict but also adding other countries resources and money.
So instead of a relatively small number of nation states, which can hardly agree on whether the world is round or flat you advocate creating 1000's of little "states" and think things would be better? If you want a look at the results of that approach just look at all the tribal divisions in the middle east and see how smoothly they work together. The only time they show the slightest hint of cooperation is when they are denouncing Israel and the US. Other than that all they do is concentrate on killing each other for sport.
China's investments (ie debt purchasing) create are a bigger risk for China then the US. What are they going to do if the US defaults on their investments? Send dunning notices? Create a global crusade to harm the US financial interests in other countries? This would only cause the US to ban or restrict Chinese imports since China produces nothing the US is not capable of obtaining elsewhere or produce domestically. Sure consumer prices might increase in the short term until other countries like India, Vietnam, Brazil, or any other emerging economies stand up provide their products to the US. On the other hand China would risk losing +30% of their global export market. The vast majority of US debt is held by the US treasury.
No the idea is to hire people without the government pay scale getting in the way. Think of them as a group like Lulz or Anonymous except they have the ability to make a real contributions instead of just annoying people and harassing companies that produce computer games. Stuxnet was a better solution than bombing the ever living shit out of the Iranian nuclear material production facilities and all the consequences that would have arisen had someone done so. And all those other private security companies help reduce the number of American soldiers needed to provide bodyguard services to foreign leaders who can''t trust their own military protection services.
The efforts to improve Internet security are simply being out paced by the rate of new technology implementations. The Internet has been one gigantic Rube Goldberg construct since the beginning. Trying to provide security while maintaining backwards compatibility is creating security nightmares. Any large scale and meaningful security improvements would require a wholesale abandonment of past security methodologies and replacing that security infrastructure would be extremely expensive and would cause incompatibilities that would almost render the Internet useless. Just look at the amount of work required for implementing IPv6. This is only one aspect of the Internet core requirements. Everyone from ISP's, OS developers, and application developers across all platforms will be effected. We certainly know how to create very secure systems but unless we are willing to start over from scratch and abandon any backwards compatibility the chances of creating a more secure Internet is doubtful in the extreme.
Slashdot Mirror
"network and anyone who cares" Of course I can. I don't even disable my GPS because I frequently use the mapping and navigation apps on the phone. But I also really don't give a shit about the very remote chance that someone can use my phone data to specifically look for me. The government or private detectives can find me anytime they want by just using my tax returns, drivers license, SSN, and any data stored by the credit agencies if they are interested in my financial history. I have even provided in-depth personal information and fingerprints for my security clearances. All of this information provides a much more detailed picture of me and all of these sources existed before the Internet.
I can't speak for all phones but I can disable the GPS functionality on mine if I want to.
People have gone overboard with their fear of someone knowing anything about them. They post their life stories on the Internet and turn around and complain about someone breaching their privacy. Anonymity is not a human right as a lot of these folks believe. Just paying your electric or water bill puts your information into someones database. It is entirely up to the individual to decide whether to use a social media service or conduct commercial transactions using the Internet. There are ways to obscure your web activity if you want to. Granted even the most sophisticated ways of doing so can be by passed but only when someone with the resources to do so are looking for you specifically for some reason. People are perfectly free to abandon the online and electronic communication services and move to a shack in the wilderness but even then you still need to dodge and thermal imaging satellites that pass over head. If someone is really searching for you it can accomplished without relying on the Internet but we are moving into the generations who have never experienced life without the Internet and don't realize while it might be faster to track someone today using the Internet it could also be accomplished in the pre-Internet era.
The main problem with nuclear weapons is the damage to the ecosystem. Just look how the world freaked out with Japan's nuclear reactor failures. Any nuclear attacks, even on countries with no ability to retaliate would scare the shit out of every country on the planet and create massive unrest and uncertainty. The only real benefit of a nuclear arsenal is to prevent the takeover of your country by a foreign power if you lose a conventional war. Sort of like the mindset "If I can't have it nobody can have it". That is why the Arab countries have abandoned conventional military attacks against Israel and changed tactics to use the Palestinians as their weapon of choice. It's very unlikely that even a massed Arab attack on Israel would succeed any better than their previous attempts but if Israel thought they were losing they would make sure that every Arab country participating in the attack would be left with radioactive craters where their major cities are located.
The major country nuclear arsenals are pretty much useless in any strategic sense because one ICBM launch will trigger thousands going in all directions leaving nothing left to argue about. The only real purpose they serve is preventing this type of total global annihilation. Orbital based kinetic weapons are the next phase of weapon development. Non-explosive projectiles targeted from orbit are capable of the same amount of destruction as a nuke without the nasty radioactive after taste. Accuracy might not be as good as modern GPS based missiles but then again it isn't necessary to hit a specific chimney or window with a weapon of this power.
I am fully aware of my situation thank you very much now run along to the "World is Ending" rally where you can talk,text,scream, and tweet with all the other morons about the direction the world is taking according to the holy wisdom spouting from the well of truth and righteousness commonly referred to as the Internet.
Yeah, Police State. Why don't you grab your passport and go visit some real police states in the world at least then you will know what you are talking about. You must just be upset because you are one of those "impressionable punks of low-intelligence" and people are treating you like one. And you don't need the FBI to "fill their heads with violent talk, provide them with weapons or fake bombs and plans for attempting to use the same" when the Internet is doing such a bang up job on a global scale.
The thing is getting rid of the stupid people doing stupid things is impossible so you are left with trying to limit the amount of damage with technology.
Take off your tin foil hat and let your brain cool off and then maybe you will be able to make a coherent argument. Using the whole "corporate, military and government think tanks" argument is getting a little stale. And the "north Africans and Mesopotamians raging against the machine" have created nothing but more hardship for themselves while the indignant progressive westerners sit around expounding on how YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter is changing the world. These tools are good for getting info out of a country but what difference does it really make. Look at the slaughter going on in Syria or the brutal crackdowns in Iran after their last election. Exactly what good did getting this information out into the world achieve? Has it stopped the Syrians from killing anyone who even looks like they might have a grievance? Is the average Iranian comfortable with marching down the street denouncing government policies? But since you most likely live in the US or another liberal/western country you have no idea what real government repression is.
And why use nuclear bombs when an orbital launched non-explosive projectile can cause the same amount of damage as a nuke without the nasty radioactive after taste? Create a projectile capable of withstanding the heat generated by entering the atmosphere and you have a powerful weapon that even the best missile defense system can not intercept it. Granted you lose the precision current missiles provide but orbital and atmospheric dynamics are well understood principles and using them direct the projectile enough can get you close enough. After all it's not like nukes or any other destructive weapon with the same capabilities need the capability to target chimneys and specific windows. The US also already has the means to launch orbit based attacks using their X-37 vehicles which are capable of achieving orbit and maneuvering.
Damn near every middle-eastern and N Africa country funds and provides political protection for groups committing terrorists acts all over the world. In a comment above someone said that the people in the US are directly responsible for the consequences of thier government policies so why shouldn't that same principle be true for all countries? This isn't just about 9/11. I am against the wars in Iraq, Libya,and Afghanistan and would have preferred to leave Iraq alone and allow them to continue their own self destruction in peace. And using air based attacks in Afghanistan combined with spec ops Taliban hunters would have been more effective and certainly cheaper. Specifically targeting the vast poppy fields would also hit the Afghan leaders where it hurts and encourage them to actually go after those providing the US with resons to attack. The majority of the US oil imports are from Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, and domestic sources. Let the European countries deal wit the middle east since they rely heavily on Arab oil and they are also the ones responsible for creating this mess in the first place with their arbitrary drawing of country borders in the middle-east. And I didn't vote for Bush. I consider both US political entities ignorant and incompetent of doing anything else besides campaigning. Bin Laden and all of his disciples in jihad have only succeeded in creating a growing hatred of Muslims across the world.
"Russia and China getting us to Mars" You have to be fucking kidding me. Russia provides simple vehicles to get into orbit and while China has announced their grandiose ambitions what have they actually done or accomplished that leads you to believe they can pass the US and other western space programs? China is sitting on a ticking time bomb right now. People continue to over estimate China's abilities and stability. Their economy has went from producing positive trade balances to deficit trade balances. They are facing stiff competition from countries like Vietnam and other emerging countries who can eliminate China's sole advantage in the world economy, labor costs. China did not gain their economic successes by providing quality or innovations. The succeeded by being able to pay their workers a dollar a day. They have already manipulated their currency to the limit trying to maintain lower export prices but that has created rapid inflation which means the Chinese citizens have to pay more for goods and services which require an increase in their income. This increase will eventually impact on the cost of Chinese exports. If the Chinese government can not mange themselves out of this situation they will be facing 3 billion angry citizens looking for some answers.
You couldn't be more wrong. The Internet is a marvelous construct that provides many benefits but it's most prolific and growing contribution today is providing the tools to promote rampant disinformation, historical revisionism, animosity, and out right hate. There exists a sizable majority who believe everything they read on the Internet and the anonymity of the the web makes manipulating these people is easy and cheap when compared against other methods indoctrinating public opinion. And please elaborate on this increase in peace throughout the world. I can only hope your comment was intended as a troll because I have a hard time accepting someone who could be that stupid.
And how long will using HTTPS pevent this? Damn near every security measure except unplugging the network cable has been defeated or made useless.
Why should the US give a shit about slave wages or how workers are treated in other countries? Why is that our job? And I wouldn't worry to much about China trying to withhold exports of rare earth elements because if they tried the US could reciprocate with food exports to them. US food exports to China has increased 5 fold over the past 10 years and is one of the primary reasons their world economy trade surplus has been all but eliminated. If I had 1 wish in regards to the world economic system it would be for the US to develop the means and technology to eliminate any reliance on oil. We are not to far away from being able to accomplish that. Germany had to create synthetic oil during WW2 and the technology to do this is much more advanced today than it was back then. Let the middle east countries learn how to eat sand because without a US demand for oil they would have nothing, Even with their current oil exports their countries are still destitute and shit holes except for the people at the top and even if oil export revenue disappeared tomorrow they have enough money to move to more civilized countries and live in the lap of luxury to the end of time. The US could also finally ignore that entire region and worry about ore important things. Oh, Canada might take a hit but at least they could stop damaging their environment with their oil sands operations. As an extra benefit the US could also eliminate the need to deal with Venezuela.
The simple fact that we are still questing for more knowledge regardless of any immediate and applicable benefits is encouraging.
You could never change the government pay scale enough to entice the caliber of people required for these types of jobs. The people with the skills needed for this type of work would end up taking a substantial pay cut. Private sector developers pull down bigger salaries than the President or Congressman so the government would have to make some rather serious adjustments in their compensation guidelines and what is the chance of that ever happening? While in office the Presidents finances are held in a blind trust and monitored very closely. On the other hand congressman finances are hardly ever scrutinized in depth until they do something stupid enough to trigger an investigation. And yes Congressmen and the President (after he leaves office) can pad their salaries in all types of interesting ways but so can the private sector IT professionals without the government constantly looking over their shoulder unless they also draw the attention to themselves. Government vendors may be investigated and audited regularly but even then the main motive for that it is usually political based not financial. That's why the government needs to rely on private sector vendors and consultants to provide the expertise they need. This is especially critical for military related technology.
"penultimate" Of course I noticed this after I submitted but the chances the guy I was responding noticing it is pretty small based on the level of intelligence he displayed in his original post.
"Really? Then obviously you have no customers on the Internet." I know I really shouldn't do this but I can only absorb so much idiocy from stupid fucks like you that I can't help myself. .NET is only a tool used to build applications not a religious calling. And like any tool it has it's uses depending on the nature of the application you are developing. Evidently you lack any in depth experience or common sense for that matter to comprehend this simple fact. Any application developer that can't comprehend the simple concept "the right tool for the right job" needs to get out of the basement and enter the real world of professional developers. I have been at this for 25+ years and have used damn near every OS and development platform out there. C#, SmallTalk, C++,C, COBOL, EDL, Assembler, FORTRAN, Pascal, Basic, VB, Java, Python, Perl, and any other development tool or script engine released over the past 25 years. The same goes for operating systems as well. I have designed,developed, deployed and supported Internet applications, console applications, services, hardware drivers, and embedded control systems for organizations of all sizes in both the US and Internationally and I don't give a shit who created the tool as long as it meets my requirements . And trust me you are not the only person on this site that applies a religious devotion to the tools they swear are the penultimate language development tool or operating system ever invented. Software, especially web systems have a very short shelf life. The technology, both software and hardware, are constantly evolving. I have been involved in projects whose sole purpose was to demonstrate both the pros and cons of using different development stacks to meet application requirements using both cost and quality metrics. Basing your technology development tool set selection based on the company who happens to provide the technology is stupid. Take a good look at the technology job market today and compare the number of .NET positions versus the non .NET positions. Genuine experts never have a problem finding a job but genuine experts are a small minority. You are free to pursue any job you want but don't dismiss those who happen to chose another route just because you are filled with contempt for the tool you have judged inferior. Also remember that applications have a very short shelf life and choosing the wrong tools often lead to the development time being long than the actual lifetime of the application.
My opinion rested on several factors: 1. The US has the means to inflict economic penalties if China adopts that strategy. 2. China could disappear tomorrow are there are plenty pf other countries and other sources of ready to pick up the slack to avoid US reprisals. 3. Debt instruments in the US are very attractive and safe investments regardless of the budget/borrowing limits shit storm that just happened. 4. 97% of the US debt is held by the US treasury 5. If the US economy was to falter it would take the world economy down at the same time. 6. Any foreign country trying to tank the US economy would suffer a hell of a lot more than the US. 7. The only way other countries can attack the US economy would be through military actions and the US is more than capable of blunting this option and would most likely end up not only winning the military conflict but also adding other countries resources and money.
So instead of a relatively small number of nation states, which can hardly agree on whether the world is round or flat you advocate creating 1000's of little "states" and think things would be better? If you want a look at the results of that approach just look at all the tribal divisions in the middle east and see how smoothly they work together. The only time they show the slightest hint of cooperation is when they are denouncing Israel and the US. Other than that all they do is concentrate on killing each other for sport.
China's investments (ie debt purchasing) create are a bigger risk for China then the US. What are they going to do if the US defaults on their investments? Send dunning notices? Create a global crusade to harm the US financial interests in other countries? This would only cause the US to ban or restrict Chinese imports since China produces nothing the US is not capable of obtaining elsewhere or produce domestically. Sure consumer prices might increase in the short term until other countries like India, Vietnam, Brazil, or any other emerging economies stand up provide their products to the US. On the other hand China would risk losing +30% of their global export market. The vast majority of US debt is held by the US treasury.
No the idea is to hire people without the government pay scale getting in the way. Think of them as a group like Lulz or Anonymous except they have the ability to make a real contributions instead of just annoying people and harassing companies that produce computer games. Stuxnet was a better solution than bombing the ever living shit out of the Iranian nuclear material production facilities and all the consequences that would have arisen had someone done so. And all those other private security companies help reduce the number of American soldiers needed to provide bodyguard services to foreign leaders who can''t trust their own military protection services.
The efforts to improve Internet security are simply being out paced by the rate of new technology implementations. The Internet has been one gigantic Rube Goldberg construct since the beginning. Trying to provide security while maintaining backwards compatibility is creating security nightmares. Any large scale and meaningful security improvements would require a wholesale abandonment of past security methodologies and replacing that security infrastructure would be extremely expensive and would cause incompatibilities that would almost render the Internet useless. Just look at the amount of work required for implementing IPv6. This is only one aspect of the Internet core requirements. Everyone from ISP's, OS developers, and application developers across all platforms will be effected. We certainly know how to create very secure systems but unless we are willing to start over from scratch and abandon any backwards compatibility the chances of creating a more secure Internet is doubtful in the extreme.
My example pretty much stands.