FIRING UP THE COLD WAR
Chinese general warns of nuclear risk to US

From the London Guardian courtesy of Crooks and Liars:

A senior Chinese general has warned that his country could destroy hundreds of American cities with nuclear weapons if the two nations clashed over Taiwan.

Major general Zhu Chenghu, a dean at the National Defence University, said he was expressing a private opinion, but his comments, the most inflammatory by a senior government official in 10 years, will fuel growing concerns in Washington about the rise of China.

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This is the stuff of my childhood nightmares. I remember shedding tears of joy when the Berlin Wall was pulled down back in the late 80s: it meant that the probability of humanity destroying itself in a nuclear apocalypse had gone way down. I never in my wildest dreams imagined any circumstances that would take us back to those days of insanity. But here we are again. And can anyone really blame China? The Republicans have turned America into a consciously belligerent nation, invading Afghanistan and Iraq, in many respects, to show the world that it can and will do so elsewhere if desired. This stance essentially forced North Korea to come clean on its nuclear weapons program. Iran is apparently following suit. Now China has joined in on the atomic saber rattling. What else are they supposed to do? Anything the White House tells them to do? No, of course not. Nuclear weapons are the only real deterrent to a mad America drunk with power, and Bush and his cohorts bear sole responsibility for creating this situation. It may take decades to clean up this diplomatic mess. Bastards.

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