Livin' In America

Recently I attended a function sponsored by the Australian Government. Met a lot of nice people, and had an interesting time getting a handle on geostrategy and geopolitics from an Australian perspective.

A recurring theme was the expectation that this would be China's century: that China would finally come into its own, and challenge the US economically and militarily.

More recently, there'e been much talk of China's demand for oil, and last Sunday's Al Jazeera Constitution had a bit on the growth of the Chinese military.

Then, today, I came across this.

How cool! The US is expanding its ties with the world's largest democracy. A democracy that needs lots of oil, has a grudge against China, has a huge expatriate population in Africa, and has been dealing with Islamofascism for a lot longer than the US.

For those of you who don't get it, the new American focus is not the North German Plain, it's the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Expect this agreement to lead to all sorts of things, including a recolonization of Africa to stabilize its failed nations, and keep its natural resources out of Chinese hands.

Paul Theroux wrote long ago about Chinese military and Government people in Africa. More recently, the Chinese and French have convinced the UN to turn a blind eye on Sudan, because they want oil out of that benighted region. With this agreement, and with nary a mention of China, or France, the US has managed to begin the process of denying the Chinese Africa's resources.

A Chinese Century? Dream on. China will be lucky to survive the century as a single country, never mind projecting power abroad. The US is going to strangle China, much as it strangled Russia.

It's going to be an exciting time.