Monday, May 24, 2010

MegaPower: Is US-Sino Merger Inevitable Like The Alliance In Firefly?

For those who are fans of Firefly, you'll notice that some of the characters mumble through their lines, making it hard to understand what they are saying. No, it's not that they're bad actors. I think the crew of Firefly offered a great group dynamics.

No mumbling by the cast of Firefly. They're speaking Chinese. Why? Well, a true Firefly fan would know that. For the rest of the world, I'll tell you why.

In the future, according to Joss Wheaton's version anyway, The world is dominated by the two remaining superpowers left, US and China. Together, they created the Alliance. Oh, hey, kinda like now, right? Well, except for the Alliance part. That's not going to happen. Right? Right?

Well..maybe it might. The underlings of Washington and eunuch-wannabes of Beijing would have us think that the might of the US will come to blows with the awakened Chinese dragon. After all, there are periodic snipping and words from hardliners from both side.

War, as they say, is bad for business. Perhaps, the best way to best the other guy is to cooperate with him. Create a partnership or co-dependence so that any kind of conflict would not be acceptable.

Well, isn't that already happen? US owes China a couple of trillions while US provides a global political and economic stability that China needs to operate in.

President Obama, in a speech today, urge the US and China to work together to promote free trade. To be sure, there are issues that needs to be worked out. Yuan valuation. Trade barriers. Economic and political skirmishes being fought through proxy nations and corporations.

But once the US and China work their ways through this tough period, they will realize, more than ever, that they need each. Together, they are stronger.

Let me provide you with another reason. The United States and China are more alike in this aspect than not. Americans don't like others telling us what to do. Folks barely tolerate Washington and globalization will bring in political and economic pressures that we aren't going to like too much.

The Chinese people likely feel the same but for different reasons. Capitulating to a foreign power just isn't in the cards these day. Nationalism, for better or worse, is strong in China.

However, the Chinese people will tolerate partnerships and cooperations. As will Americans.

Does this necessarily mean a mega-merger of US and China like the Alliance in the Firefly universe is bound to happen? Not necessarily.

I'm sure European, Russian, and various regional powers will have a lot to say about this. But for "don't tread on me" America and "never again" China, working together to dominate global politics and economy is a better alternative than any visions of a new world order or a structure where they are just one of many.

I'm not advocating anything here. I was watching a news clip of President Obama's speech about cooperation with the Chinese and converting my Firefly DVDs into digital copies. So I put the two together and came up with this fun post.

If you think you can find a similar plausible Alliance with other global powers, I love to read or hear about it. But please, nothing about vampires or werewolves. Or Orcs. This is strictly a human-versus-human affair.


-- Post From My iPad

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