Re: OT: Groote Eylandt/Nixon in China

John Cowan wrote:

> And as for ceasing to be of importance, it was Nixon who created the
> U.S's current policy on China, which is of great importance to about
> one and a half billion human beings.
Kinda.  Nixon helped engineer the split between the Soviets and the
Chinese, but the current policy of the United States is in flux between
the nationalists, who want to contain China and wall off American
exports and let it stew in its own juices*, and the liberals (using "liberal" in
the classical sense of that word) who want to open China up to western
market economies, so as to subvert it from wiithin.  Bush has himself
made noises appealing to both audiences, and it's unclear who'll "win", but
I suspect that some compromise between the two will occur.

(* Ah, if only English had a fully functional reportative subjunctive!)

===================================
Thomas Wier | AIM: trwier

"Aspidi men Saiôn tis agalletai, hên para thamnôi
  entos amômêton kallipon ouk ethelôn;
autos d' exephugon thanatou telos: aspis ekeinê
  erretô; exautês ktêsomai ou kakiô" - Arkhilokhos