tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post1308310394859420231..comments2024-01-01T01:47:59.449+02:00Comments on Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations: The Return of SovereigntyYaacovhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12835192312242961481noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-47899351840212915952010-01-27T02:44:18.222+02:002010-01-27T02:44:18.222+02:00Recently there was a NYT review of a book on China...Recently there was a NYT review of a book on China's rise to power by a Guardian reporter, yes I know but he seems to have good points. The central thesis of the book was that China is rising into world power status without really adjusting its' way of thought. The Chinese government is certainly not becoming more democratic or supportive of human rights. Like Victor pointed out, the CCP is abandoning communism in favor of Confucianism and kind of works something like a traditional Imperial dynasty rather than as a political party. <br /><br /> India seems to have struck a better balance and is keeping what is good of traditional Indian thought and culture while absorbing at least some concepts of democracy and civil liberties from the West.Lee Ratnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08139895689217213860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-2122668604101783042010-01-27T02:00:27.804+02:002010-01-27T02:00:27.804+02:00Walter Russell Mead, at his (relatively) new blog ...Walter Russell Mead, at his (relatively) new blog at The American Interest, has written several fascinating posts on the decline of Europe which I generally found cheerful reading -- though it's of course true, a world dominated by Chinese interests may not really turn out to be particularly cheerful. Yet, for the next few decades (and I won't have to worry about more), the US will still be the dominant power, and therefore it's nice to think that Europe will be shown its place.PetraMBnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-80618157103261040222010-01-26T18:41:09.575+02:002010-01-26T18:41:09.575+02:00Funny you write about this now... I just heard a s...Funny you write about this now... I just heard a segment on National Public Radio in the US on how Confucianism - with its focus on social harmony (i.e. order) - is being propagated by the Chinese as an indigenous ideological counterweight to Western liberal democracy.<br /><br />And of course, the same people who are at the forefront of Western progressive liberalism, consumed with hatred for all things "fly over country" (conservative), melt in self-effacement and heap praise on the sensibility of restrictive social norms advocated by the Chinese.Avigdorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05008730229882004376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4008006782907969381.post-28009541132383730332010-01-26T13:31:54.262+02:002010-01-26T13:31:54.262+02:00I wouldn't rule us Europeans out as yet. For e...I wouldn't rule us Europeans out as yet. For example if a power struggle between the US and China/India/Russia should get earnestly into gear we could remember our old skills at tipping the balance (Zünglein an der Waage). I do not trust our present posturing as proponents of the good in the world one moment I feel sure we haven't lost any of our millenia old capacities of being troublesome and reckless.<br /><br />BTW Paul Berman in his book about present French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner and others made it look as if Kouchner was the first to disregard successfully state boundaries (independent of big international outfits) when going into Biafra and who propagandized for doing away with them for humanitarian purposes ever after. <br /><br />The problem I see of course is who is going to define what are worthy humanitarian purposes and thus I fear for Israel's sovereignty whenever the descriptions of suffering in Gaza reach new heights. <br />SilkeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com