Rumsfeld sure knows how to soft talk friends and adversaries alike!

I guess this is old news buy now, sorry if it's been posted before.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/18/politics/18military.html

"The People's Republic of China," Mr. Rumsfeld said, "is a country that we hope and pray enters the civilized world in an orderly way without the grinding of gears

Wow so China's just discovered fire apparently. I suppose as someone who's lived in China for several years when I was younger, and being 1/2 Chinese, I take this more personally than others, but still.

As for the rest of the article, sure China's growing military might is worrisome but it seems pretty obvious to me why China might be stepping up their military spending. After IRAQ I don't blame any country for wanting to beef up their military. After all there is a very good reason, besides oil and resources, that they invaded IRAQ and not North Korea, they knew with NKs real WMDs and military might that things would be 1000 times worse there. Ironically Bush and Co. have probably started the very kind arms race they used as a lie for invading IRAQ in the first place. And unlike IRAQ's vaporware WMD the real ones being built as a response to the war will have far reaching and long lasting political consequences.

4000+ years of civilization.....rummy is getting a bit daft in his old age isn`t he. no big problem, i`m sure the chinese just smile at his stupidity.

we enter the civilized world someday soon, too!

...in public is totally meaningless.

Actually there are some areas where China needs to do some work. Horrible human rights abuses happen there still on a daily basis. As a Tibetan sometime.

So China may actually make a good 'whipping boy' for now. Because they do do some bad bad things. But that is just the current administration. That says nothing about the Chinese or Chinese culture. Just the totalitarians being totalitarian. Less so these days.

I just hope we can get the US to stop building a utopian society too. Cause they are universally horrid. And the USA has nothing to be proud of where the distribution of wealth is concerned. USA ranks right beside MEXICO & RUSSIA in how unfair wealth is distributed. That is really, really bad when you consider the other two are corrupt democracies and Russia's is about 15 years old. So I get your anger at not being scolded by a 200 year experiment that is having a little "trouble" right now.

Actually I agree with you 100% that China has a lot of work to do, their human rights record is horrible. But as you said it's the arrogant condescending tone of Rumsfeld that always gets to me. It's his "to hell with respect, I'm saying anything I want to say and if you take it as an insult well that's your problem not mine" attitude. It's the "we are perfect and you are flawed so start modeling yourselves after us or face the consequences" rhetoric that spills forth night and day.

did make. I swear when I get a chill these days I say: "I think Rumsfield just walked by".

trees. This administration sure knows how to flatter other peoples...

When Bush came to Brussels he said he was "following in the footsteps of Franklin" (.......) who was "more esteemed than Leibniz, Newton, Frederic and Voltaire". Now that's very insulting and considered absolutely ill-bred and impolite - saying "my" hero beats "your heroes" any old day (and though I respect Franklin I have great doubt as to whether he was greater than Leibniz, Voltaire and Newton in the first place while Frederic the Great is one of my personal heroes) - and that was the very first phrase he spoke before the European parliament...

Plus it's just absolutely DUMB to compare people like Newton and Frederic. There just IS no comparison. The mass murderer just arrogantly stated: "You are little shits here in Europe, I'm the mighty American and FUCK you all."

As an afterthought: Maybe it was actually great. While real politicians think of politics first and their personal feelings second they HAVE personal feelings of course, and the more the mass murderer insults them the more they will hopefully reject his "proposals" (demands/royal decrees).

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Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!