China

Fire of Liberty

It seems the Chinese are interested in the EU ending its arms embargo, which was established in 1989 after the PRC's brutal crack-down on the demonstrators in Tiananmen Square. What's funny is the fact that the Chinese want the arms embargo to end but their foreign minister continues to insist: "We are a developing country and we don't have the money to buy weapons which are expensive and useless to us." I don't know why the Chinese push such a canard when they've increased their defense budget some 12.5 percent and have beefed up their missile launch sites facing Taiwan. Only a fool would refuse the most modern NATO grade weaponry and technology. Chinese made SKS rifles, Russian Mig's are alright but still are well behind anything made in Europe. Even worse is the fact that the weapon platforms and systems that the Europeans will eventually sell to the PRC will more than likely be used against US troops if China made in aggressive moves on Taiwan. The Chinese have already been rattling its sword against the government of Taiwan at any suggestion of independence not to mention the fact the Japanese recently tracked and chased away a Chinese submarine off the coat of Japan. While the Chinese might achieve their goals of dominance in Asia through the use of their own weaponry it would be even more horrible to allow them to achieve this dominance through the sales of NATO grade weapons.

The Chinese have a very spotty record when it comes to human rights as well as its dependence of over-zealous aggression to achieve their goals-Ex. Crack-down on Tibet, Tiananmen, Chinese Muslims, Falun Gong, Taiwan and aggressive posture towards Japan) and shouldn't receive any help in achieving their goals. Awarding tyrants and aggressors brings about more tyranny than less. By working with them, you sublimely endorse the nation's bad behavior. Instead of the EU member states padding their treasuries by pushing through arm and aircraft deals, they should be more principled and stand up to the defense of human liberty. Well, most of the EU nations sold their souls when they began the talks of ending the embargo.

Along with my assessment on the ending of these sanctions, check out The New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. He's got an interesting take. See here.