Talking to Voice of America on the anti-Chinese "axis"
Friday, July 28, 2006 at 8:13AM DATELINE: Boscobel WI, 28 July 2006
Got back late yesterday after "spending" the day at Six Flags with Kevin. I say "spending," because I managed to burn out my cellphone battery on Enterra business, plus the Lou Dobbs Show calls, which gives you a sense of why it's hard for me to figure out when to actually put in for vacation.
Ah well. Kevin was understanding (although the jokes about Dad "ignoring us and always talking on his damn cellphone" begin to sting after a while), and I did what any parent does in such situations: I bribed him with a Robin T-shirt and bobblehead doll.
My allergies are killing me right now. Took all I could muster to do this 15-minute over-the-phone with Voice of America on the question of the emerging "anti-Chinese axis" of America, India and Japan (oh yeah, I really see that one working!).
Naturally, I was brought on for my usual counter-intuitive take on the subject (sad to say, I appear to be the only strategic thinker of note who considers this axis complete bullshit doomed to fail in its intent, but there you have the state of my field right now--more divorced from economic reality than ever).
Kinda neat to do the interview using my Dad's old office phone and sitting in his Lazyboy, looking out the window to the Koeinig house and my Grandpa's old place (two lawns I mowed for years). Very nostalgic.
Dad would have liked it.
Reader Comments (1)
The growing Japan-USA-India-Australia defense cooperation is, in fact, happening. The motives of the players vary. The Japanese seem to want reassurance about China. The Indians seem to want to build up ties with other military powers, especially regional naval powers, for a variety of reasons, while keeping their options open regarding China. Australia seems to see India becoming increasingly powerful and wants to build up the relationship -- in Barnettian terms, buy India while it's still cheap. The USA seems to want to make friends with India for reasons related to the Muslim Middle East and Central Asia at least as much as for China.
So there is a lot going on. I don't think these relationships will fall apart. Nor do I think they will harden into an anti-Chinese NATO. India, especially does not want that. And the Chinese have not done enough to provoke it, and probably won't do so.
But I think the "Tsunami Team", what Jim Bennett calls the "Baseball-Cricket Alliance" of USA/Aus/Jap/Ind will continue to deepen. Just not in ways that the more hardcore China hawks probably want.