A different view

The Rules of Weiqi

US Defense forces often "game" war plans using advanced mathematics, super computers, and creative theories and hypothesis.

On the other hand, the Chinese use a game known in the US as Go, or Weiqi, as it's traditionally called. This is a simple game with a board, white pebbles, and black pebbles. The goal is to surround your opponent's stones so that you can remove them from the board. This game has historically been used to train Chinese and Japanese generals in strategic thinking.

Like the Russian solution of using a pencil in space to solve the problem of writing without gravity, it's often the elegant solutions that serve best.

I think the Chinese see a failing imperialistic country in the US and are afraid we would trigger our excessively large military to prove our power as the internal structure of the empire withers.

So we've seen quite a few moves to build their own martial power in the last few years. Espionage of US military secrets, successful rocket launches, blue water submarine development, cornering of energy contracts, and a budget increase that had Donald Rumsfeld constantly questioning the need.

The need of course is to protect their country from the US as the great wall protected their country from the Mongols.

China again extended their capability by a large leap today when they tested a satellite killer that knocked out an old weather satellite.

US warfare is extremely reliant on satellite systems to guide missiles, communicate around the world, and get images of enemy troop movements. Many of our advanced, or smart, weapons systems would be useless without satellite assistance.

Slowly, inexorably, the Chinese are preparing to confine the death throws of a failing empire. While we, with all of our advanced gaming and super computers, watch men with pebbles surround us.

posted by don1one @ 4:37 PM