Pentagon says "aware" of China Internet reroutingMaybe that explains all the spam emails I've been getting offering discounts on powdered rhino horn.
The Defense Department is aware that Internet traffic was rerouted briefly through China earlier this year, a Pentagon spokesman said on Friday, referring to what a congressionally appointed panel has described as a hijack.
The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission charged in its annual report on Wednesday that state-owned China Telecom advertised erroneous network routes that instructed "massive volumes" of U.S. and other foreign Internet traffic to go through Chinese servers during an 18-minute stretch on April 8.
Marine Colonel David Lapan, a Defense Department spokesman, told reporters, "We're aware that on the 8th of April ... Internet traffic was rerouted through China."
H/T: Stosh2
Could explain all the emails I get that are written in incomprehensible symbols, too (and they don't even look Chinese).
ReplyDeleteAll said and done, the only nations which should actually fear China are those on its borders, including India.
ReplyDeleteUnlike the old USSR, China has no interest in exporting 'socialism'. Only in gaining control over resources. Plus the various state organs such as the Army (and Telcom?) like to show off their increasing power.
Yeah, that blue water navy is just for transporting natural resources back home.
ReplyDeleteWell yeah, for defending resource acquisitions, Yojimbo. Resources meaning land on their borders, oil etc beyond that - in remote weak nations which accept Chinese 'intervention'. The navy is meant for Japan, Taiwan and especially India - which is privately terrified of it.
ReplyDeleteChinese naval bases in Sri Lanka and Pakistan show you where their main concerns are - flanking India.
Maybe I'm being a bit pedantic - defence of Middle Kingdom 'land' resources easily cross the line into aggression against neighbours.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't forget nationalistic 'showing off'.
China intends to become the mother of all world superpowers. The full panoply:economic, political and military. They are going to redefine "hegemony".
ReplyDeleteChina and India are BRICs. China is ultimately coming after us. I don't necessarily think the want a big shooting war but they will seek to humble us in some form, probably natural resources. In a few short years we are going to be ripe for economic blackmail.
Believing that China has no expansionary intents is akin to seeing Our Friend Chavez as an archtype democracy statesman.
ReplyDeleteHowever, remember that Chou En-Lie's remark on the French Revolution "Too soon to tell" was more probably ignorance coupled to "I don't give a f*ck because not being Chinese, it wasn't really important."
Cheers
Minicapt, the Chinese threat to India is my brief. Been studying it near 2 decades and submitted papers on it, years ago when my brain worked better. Watching now with dire concern the outflanking of India - At sea, and in the Himalayas where a war may (again!) erupt, this time over river sources being diverted to China. See 'Brahmaputra Dam'.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile I don't believe the Chinese have or are likely to develop any contingency plans to invade or attack the American mainland - militarily*.
(*Unlike China's neighbours - eg China reportedly plan to divide India into 30 admin divisions, as the Brits did before).
Still, Yojimbo's last comment on a future threat to the US is plausible and salutary.
Unfortunately, I have to go with Bruce on this one. China and India have never gotten along as modern nations.
ReplyDeleteBoth need huge amounts of resources to maintain their economies. In that part of the world, India is the only serious competitor for resources. China has long been seeking access to other resources (such as in Africa). And China is not known for it's self-restraint where its self interests lie.
And India rolling over for China is unlikely. They are at least nationalistic as China.
So a China-India war is possible. This might not happen for a generation, but I think that it's inevitable. Certainly China is positioning themselves for such a possibility strategically.
Now, China's design on the United States is pretty much as the mighty Yojimbo puts it. A military invasion of the United States is certainly possible, but the logistical requirements are immense. To put it mildly. There's a reason why we don't build coastal defenses anymore.
But economically? We're sticking our collective organ of reproduction into the not-so-metaphorical meat grinder.
TRJ: That would be the Mighty Quinn, I live in Sancho Panza's area code.
ReplyDeleteThe only physical threat the mainland faces is nukular blackmail. A much more likely scenario would be a naval exchange in Asia or the Middle East over territory or shipping.
Much more liklely we face an oil embargo of some sort for a year or so just to show us we no longer have the keys to the car and we hold second class status along with Europe. If that clown down in Venezuela sells that Citgo franchise you had better hunker down or head to the high lonesome.
India and China competing for resources is only half of it. India is on the verge of an economic explosion that could very well take on China in a few decades.
On the short and intermediate horizon I worry more about Pakistan. They are becoming Iran,but with nukes.