Two Chinas and the Donald

[Doktor]

If doctors had a consensus, why would anyone seek out a second opinion?

For the diagnosis or the cure?

[Skywatcher]

Text book spoon fed morons reading directly out of The world for idiots....Please continue, its breath takingly numb and transparent....

Are you a time travelling Red Guard from 1970, by any chance?

[Toby]

Are you a time travelling Red Guard from 1970, by any chance?

No more than you are Father Xmas!

[Toby]

Not a come back at all. As someone who's medically untrained, what can you do when you're faced with medical advice that you don't like? You can ask questions or get second opinions, but ultimately you have to defer to doctors' expertise. The bottom line is, you can't diagnose anything beyond common ailments without a doctor.

Again, how is this an argument to eschew the wisdom of those who are more educated than you in the current topic?

Hard to know when somebody is joking...Just to clarify...There are some really good doctors or should we call them surgeons... I know because twice they have saved my life. They've also just saved my dads life...But alas there are also Doctors that are not fit to be called Doctors..unfortunately my family numerous times has found this to be true. I can only talk from experience, sorry if that offends.

[Toby]

Toby, your inclination to refer to examples of the past for examples of quality manufactured goods, kindled my memory on what a shocking car the British made TR7 was.
Faults included the electrical system continually short circuiting, leaking roof,timing chain snapping,premature oil and water pump failure,and the rear axle falling off.
I don't think I need to go on about the Austin Allegro, which was probably one of the worse made cars.

You wanting to twist my comments makes me realize what your agenda actually is.

[DOR]

For the diagnosis or the cure?

Does it matter?

[Doktor]

Does it matter?

Sure it does. If you have a diagnosis set, the vast majority would prescribe the same thing.

[Skywatcher]

No more than you are Father Xmas!

Guilty as charged.

So either you trust experts on general principle, or you don't. Which one is it? It doesn't matter if they hurt your feelings by talking down to you.

[Toby]

Guilty as charged.

So either you trust experts on general principle, or you don't. Which one is it? It doesn't matter if they hurt your feelings by talking down to you.

I've agreed with alot that has been stated, but from actual experience and a practical point of view..Which I have 30 years worth of (not that that seems to add up to much on here)I disagree with various opinions.

Hurt my feelings? do me a favour. I figured a long time ago that talking to a brick wall (machine) was pointless.

Anything else?

[Doktor]

I've agreed with alot that has been stated, but from actual experience and a practical point of view..Which I have 30 years worth of (not that that seems to add up to much on here)I disagree with various opinions.

Hurt my feelings? do me a favour. I figured a long time ago that talking to a brick wall (machine) was pointless.

Anything else?

30 years experience in Chinese manufacturing? Wow!

[Toby]

30 years experience in Chinese manufacturing? Wow!

30 years of learning from the ground up, Chinese rubbish only started to appear about 20 years ago..Small scale initially..Companies like Aberna started the trend then sold out...

[Funtastic]

You wanting to twist my comments makes me realize what your agenda actually is.

Twist your comments?

Just saying that Europe was not a place that just made quality products.

[Toby]

Twist your comments?

Just saying that Europe was not a place that just made quality products.

Really? I was talking now, today...Comprende?..... As for the (past)British car industry in the 70's .....yeh well that's what happens when the unions get too strong and the government fails to have a coherent industrial strategy. British Leyland being a prime example...Sh-t cars no arguement!

[DOR]

Alliance Policies in a Changing Asia

Excellent Chatham House seminar yesterday on alliances in Asia. Bates Gill, Michael D. Swaine and others dissected the region and its relations and pitfalls. Unlike many Chatham House events, this one was on-the-record.

Swaine: NSC's General Mike Flynn is “obsessively focused on counter-terrorism, in a bizarre way.” He was behind the restructuring of the NSC, as revenge against the Joint Chiefs who fired him.
The DPRK may be a mafia-like, power-hungry family-run business, but they are not suicidal.
The Trump Administration will learn some hard lessons, through failure. Bad failure.

Gill: East Asia is worried about China and so should stay engaged with the US, but not always fully in support of US positions. US military interests are too well represented in Trump’s cabinet.

Hitoshi Tanaka, Institute for International Strategy chair, Japan Research Institute; ex-diplomat: There is great uncertainty due to “Trump nonsense.”
Japan didn’t push back against US protectionism (auto import limits, Plaza Accord) in the 1980s, but China most certainly will. There is a trade war coming.
ASEAN increasingly sees the US as unreliable.

Yoichiro Sato, Ritsumeikan professor: China is the main target of US trade policy, but Japan will also feel pressure to raise the value of the yen. This will ensure the failure of Abenomics.

Jennifer Lind, Dartmouth College professor: We have a very good idea about China’s grand strategy, but much less so that of the US.
Asia is more uncertain and dangerous than it was a few months ago. A trade war is certain, and perhaps a hot war.
We (the panel) say, “The rational response is thus,” and “It would be crazy to do XYZ.” But, let’s not forget who we’re dealing with in the White House…

Rosemany Foot, Oxford professor: Korea's Park Geun-hye is likely to be replaced by a more leftist leader willing to revisit the old Sunshine Policy. This may lead to the cancellation of THAAD deployment, fewer US-ROK military exercises and a general undermining of any effort by the Trump Administration to bully China into curbing the DPRK’s nuclear missile program.

Renato Cruz De Castro, De La Salle University professor: The Philippines armed forces are very close to the American military. If President Duterte rebuffs a Trump Administration offer of closer cooperation vis-à-vis China and the South China Sea, they might move against him.


General consensus:
The Trump Administration is woefully under-staffed on Asia security issues. The next DPRK nuclear test or missile launch may well provoke a crisis for which the US is unprepared. This could be quite soon, before Trump gets his people sorted out. In such a case, the probability of a wrong-headed, knee-jerk reaction soars unacceptably.

Uncertainty. Speculation. Great danger. We have no idea what Trump might do, or if he has any kind of a strategy. Given an unexpected situation, he might just roll the dice.

[Skywatcher]

I've agreed with alot that has been stated, but from actual experience and a practical point of view..Which I have 30 years worth of (not that that seems to add up to much on here)I disagree with various opinions.

Hurt my feelings? do me a favour. I figured a long time ago that talking to a brick wall (machine) was pointless.

Anything else?

To what extent do your "actual experience and practical view" actually count and consist of?