Left I on the News

In a follow-up to the story below about the U.S. Navy ship "harassed" by China in the South China Sea, the U.S. has now admitted that its ship was indeed hunting for submarines, a fact notably omitted from virtually all the initial press reports.

And what does the U.S. have do say today? Here's National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair:

"I think the debate is still on in China whether as their military power increases they will be used for good or for pushing people around."

The U.S. Navy is carrying out military actions thousands of miles from home in Chinese waters (China's "economic" zone but not it's "territorial" zone). The U.S. military has more than 700 bases in approximately 60 countries around the world. In the last decade the U.S. military has overthrown two governments (Iraq and Afghanistan) and played a strong role in overthrowing a third (Somalia); I won't go back further lest this post get too long. The Chinese military has, as far as I know, no bases in any other country.

And a U.S. official has the cojones to talk about China as "pushing people around." Honestly, it staggers the imagination once you stop laughing.