Petras says: “This is part of the US strategy of encouraging the physical break-up of independent nations, which are viewed as ‘obstacles’ to its program of global military empire building.”

Deadbeat Petras uses your so-called “brush” with great agility….

That wasn’t the point of the article. Petras was not writing a critique of Capitalist China. He offered a clarification to the anti-Chinese rhetoric coming from the U.S. policy makers and the media. I’m glad he did because it helped me understand some of the underlying motivations. It’s too easy to wipe the “empire” brush to explain everything that many members of the “Left” choose to do without presenting deeper analysis.

The big picture, as you say, you seem to reject. Capitalism, racism, and militarism are still the big pictures which Petras in fact weaves into this article if you choose to read it carefully.

China, which eats much less meat than US, cuts dwn on consumption of meat by 10gms per person and and an american who eats 4 times as much meat also cuts consuption of meat by 10 gms. Is that also OK?

China closes dwn 10 smelters or eliminates 10 nukes so does US/nato; or even nato lands. And we can go on an on ab using less but strong remain strong and weak remain weak.

And as hatred towards a more equall society by the stronger side grows, the stronger side wld prevail and any chance of building-creating a fair and just society wld possibly forever evanesce.
So, a mutually-assured existence shld first be instituted and then only we talk ab cutting back on [ab]use!
But, forget it; there never had been a law or agreement fascists, being always stronger, haven’t abrogated.
So let us go to hell together or sanity prevails! tnx

I’m in agreement with the particulars of Petras article here, it is the big picture that needs our attention, not the liliputians who scammer around the planet cause horrible mischief, mayham and murder.

If I knew the switch or lever to pull to end that madness I’d be on it in a NY minute. Otherwise we’re just bouncing off the walls as the ship sinks.

My comments stand.

Petras’s view is the enemy of my enemy is my friend…and so he sees China as “good” and the US/Obama as “bad”. In a simplistic world that’s fine; but it really is totally beside the point as will become apparent as the world turns.

Petra’s article is an analysis of U.S. hypocrisy vis-a-vis Chinese relations with the rest of the world. His is neither praising nor condemning China. China has chosen to expand its reach via economic diplomacy while the U.S. chooses a militaristic path. In addition, China has also chosen a path that thwarts U.S. Imperialism and especially those Zionists who runs U.S. foreign policy.

Petras is not analyzing Capitalism therefore Max you are interjecting issue that Petras is not analyzing. However I found this aspect of your prior remark curiously aping old adages…

To the point regarding imports and exports. A simple balance of trade is what is called for. Imports should be balanced by exports

Balance of trade is based on money and the arbitrary and inaccuracy of pricing exchange rather than use value and meeting real human needs. If trade was based on meeting human need you wont need to price it at all.

As Petras points out in his article, it is American banking interests that want China open their market to their nefarious and greedy desires to rip off her population. Therefore you can obviously measure “balance of trade” in such monetary terms but that real use value to the China would be totally imbalanced and devastating.

Unfortunately Max you are too focused on the assumption that production is environmentally unsustainable. That’s not true. What is unsustainable is Capitalism.

If the US is poking China in the “eye” seems to be a simpleton’s game. Of course, Petras’s view is the enemy of my enemy is my friend…and so he sees China as “good” and the US/Obama as “bad”. In a simplistic world that’s fine; but it really is totally beside the point as will become apparent as the world turns.

Decreasing number series shows growth? No wonder no one understands economics.

Mr. Andrews misreads what Dr. Petras wrote. He writes the following…

“…China’s imports from the US are growing faster than its exports to the US. Between 2006-2008 US annual exports to China grew 32%, 18%, 9.5%, while its imports of Chinese goods grew 18.2%, 11.7%, 5.1%. ”

What Petras is comparing is the the export percentages versus the import percentages whereby the series of export percentages EXCEED the import percentages. In other words the comparison spells out as follows (export vs import)

20006: 32% vs 18.2%
2007: 18% vs 11.7%
2008: 9.5% vs 5.1%

Clearly it shows that U.S. exports to China is growing faster than imports from China.

But do think how to set up an idyllic society or if we do not start building a better society, then we remain a possession in any progress or regress. In a progress stage we get a few more crumbs and in recession less or no crumbs.

U shld have known that at any time u cld lose the job u do not own. Or lose some freedom in any serfdom! So, it is not too late to open wide the gate and stop eating discarded sweets and hit the streets.
Also spricht Bozhidarevski; aber, bitte, vergessens sie nietzche! Er hat nichts gesagt! spasibo, fala!

To the point regarding imports and exports. A simple balance of trade is what is called for. Imports should be balanced by exports. Exports pay for imports. The further away you get from either end of the spectrum the more out of balance you economic system is. But certainly an economy that imports more than it exports is moving toward depletion. Such import dependency destroys economies when they are not counterbalanced by exports.

China is just too big to serve as an example of much of anything except how a billion plus people can manage to function in spite of their utter hugeness. There is nothing humanly meaningful in the context of 1 to 2 billion. There is no human scale. To create that there can be no “China”; only smally cities, villages, towns, communities of one sort or another. The rest is pure fiction…a fable of what happens with the folley of expotential growth.

The US, though smaller in pop., has far exceeded its ability to govern and its value is only a negative one of war and meaningless consumption.

Decreasing number series shows growth? No wonder no one understands economics.

That’s not how I read it. Petras was not making a simplistic Socialist vs Capitalist comparison. He was making a nuance and thoughtful analysis between the U.S. belligerent militaristic/interventionist vs China’s economic partnership and diplomacy.

I didn’t read this article as praise for the Chinese system but an examination of U.S. hypocrisy.

Actually, there may have not been germans, russians, czechs, swedes, et al 10k yrs ago, but our ancestral people numbering perhaps no m0re than 500k people; all speaking one language.

In fact germans and and english were probabbly one people even as late as two k yrs ago.
And the german people are not to be blamed for nazi crimes; the sole cause for it being division of people into less- and more-valued. Had germans had an idyllic society in 20th cent- which germans may have had just 3 k yrs ago- such a societies wld have never perped such crimes as nazis, israelis, and americans have perped in just a short time.
And these criminal minds are just on the onset of it. Vast number of Germans israelis, or americans have nothing to be ashamed of.
It is the hell-on-earth people; probably just one% who solely do crime but never time.
And that’s why they do it! They know they can get away with it. One wld be in denial if one cld not recognize the fact that lies are as powerful as the truth.
Trns of people have been deceived by just words and not just germans, serbs, americans, or japanese.
No matter where the hell one goes, the lies work perfectly! It is simple as that!
That’s why there is schooling, media, ‘educators’. tnx

No one shld underestimate capabilities of the ancient or modern asocialists for any evil; whether they’d be japanese, german, iraqi, colombian, et al. After all, they have been perping much evil against us for at least 10k yrs.

It’s not gonna stop; one better expect more of the same. And by rendering their own domestics utterly dormant doormats, their rules is apsolute. tnx