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We are spending... I don't know... about a trillion dollars on Iraq. "Get them before they get us!"
Every
time you sue the federal government on privacy grounds, they defend by
claiming national security implications. I'm still trying to
figure out where the Waco, TX and Ruby Ridge libertarians have gone
these days.
But trade and investment is all powerful. National security falls in the face of trade.
The
Chinese government and Middle Eastern governments have gargantuan
amounts of money from their trade surpluses (manufacturing and oil
trade, respectively). Our trade deficit has tanked the dollar so
everything existing or made here is cheaper. And they are
buying. Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, 3Com, Merrill Lynch, G.E.
Plastices. You name it.
A lone voice in government, National Director of Intelligence Michael McConnell, says to worry.
McConnell said U.S. intelligence agencies had "concerns about the
financial capabilities of Russia, China and OPEC countries and the
potential use of their market access to exert financial leverage to
political ends."
Russia, bolstered in part by oil revenues, was positioning itself to
control an energy supply and transportation network from Europe to East
Asia, and the Russian military had begun to reverse a long decline, he
told the Senate Intelligence Committee.
China has pursued a policy of global engagement out of a desire to
expand its growing economy and obtain access markets, resources,
technology and expertise, McConnell said.
It seeks a constructive relationship with the United States and other
countries, but as its influence grows "Beijing probably will
increasingly expect its interests to be respected by other countries,"
he said.
Russia and China have long been able to target U.S. computer systems to
collect intelligence, he said. "The worrisome part is, today, they also
could target information infrastructure systems for degradation or
destruction."
Well, he is not a lone voice. The Congressionally created U.S.
China Economic and Security Review Commission has a hearing tomorrow on
the topic of other governments buying our country. "Sovereign
wealth funds" is the wonkish label. The agenda
for the hearing is here (pdf file).
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