On Fri, 11 Feb 2005, Howard Brazee wrote: @> >> Oh, by all means. I don't consider securing vital resources an @> >> inappropriate US priority. As you say, it's pretty far down the @> >> list, but it's on it. @> @> > "Securing vital resources"? Great big Latin words for . . . what? @> > Going in and taking something we use far too much of, and waste far @> > too much of, and are going to run out of anyway. Besides being @> > utterly lawless, how stupid is that? @> > @> @> "Securing" is not the same as "taking". In the above sentence, it is exactly the same (to get possession of). @> But the question is "securing from what"? If those resources stay in the @> ground, our long term interests are helped. If they are sold on the world @> market, our short term interests are helped. If they are sold to China @> instead of to the U.S., it keeps the price of Venezuelan oil down. This is true. It has no particular relation to what we're doing in Iraq, but it's true. @> The only real issue is that China is becoming a major industrial power - @> using oil the way we have. Unless we are willing to stop them, we need to @> secure recourses by building nuclear plants or something similar. Or we could do something less insane, like investing in sustainable energy sources that don't produce toxic waste and horrific weapons. @> Do Dragaera and the East compete economically? What kind of relationship @> do they have with each other economically? Hmm. It appears as if there's some kind of trade, and given that the East is not a single unified nation, it seems likely that competition is occurring (and between the Empire, Elde, and Greenaere there certainly must be competition).