On Sun, 04 Jan 2004 10:03:52 -0600, Alan Minyard
wrote:

On Fri, 02 Jan 2004 21:15:52 GMT, Charles Gray wrote:

A bit hyperbolic, but China has just banned commercials for hemmeroids
products, sanitary material for ladies and other such wonderful things
during the hours 7-9 PM. As someone who'se been eating dinner when
I'm granted the joy of an all too detailed CGI vision of what cuases
that itching, burning sensation, I can say that today the qusestion of
who is most civilized is won, hands down, by the PRC.

That is called "government censorship", it is a sign of a repressive,
totalitarian regime, NOT civilization.

Then the U.S. is a totalitarian regime--even here we often place
regulations on when and how purely commercial speech can be used. are
SPAM laws an example of totalitarian regimes? China, is, after many
years of refusing to admit that they're becoming a nasty dirty
capitalist society, finally coming to grips with the fact that if they
want to sustain their economic miracle, they have to start putting the
structural framework, in terms of law, in place. Just like their
recent *partial* acceptance of the idea of private property is the
first step to developing property law that works on a private basis.
Most of the Chinese I've worked with could care less about democracy
in China (hell, some of them think it would be the worst thing they
could experience), they just want a government that works and other
than that stays out of their hair as long as they stay out of its.
I've seen similar attitudes among Singaporan immigrants and some
coworkers. It's always dangerous to generalize, of course, but many
Asian cultures seem less wedded to the idea of democracy, for
democracy's sake.
The other probable reason is that people are still alive in all
these nations who remember when things were much, MUCH worse. Granted
China ain't a democracy, but if you have personal experience of the
joy of hte Cultural revolution, the current state of affairs doesn't
seem half bad.



Now, on to the serious question-- does China have any equivelant to
our AWACS? I would assume that if they ever intend to match the U.S.
or even have a serious ability to project power, they're going to need
soemthing like it, especially since GW II demonstrated just how
suicidal even heavily hardened fixed C&C is.

No, they do not, although Israel would love to sell them an inferior
system.

Al Minyard
That's one thing that if I was a Chinese General, would be at the
top of my "To buy" list. It'd be a vital component of any conflict
with the U.S., but more seriously, would give China a powerful edge
over its neighbors, which is, IMHO a far more likely conflict than
some fight with the U.S.