And one other advantage over the Yanks, no cultural aversion to bribery. A bit of baksheesh goes a long way.

Unhampered by Judeo Christian ethics, the Chinese government and its agents have a reputation in Asia for dishonesty, duplicity and greasing palms, and that from a corner of the world where such behaviour is rarely even remarked upon.

LEGO, what makes you think that bribery and corruption is not alive and well in our part of the world.

Fifty years ago, in my local town we had a dairy factory which thrived because the manager was not averse to having his palm greased by companies which supplied him with the latest manufacturing equipment, while he in his turn greased the palms of the Japanese to whom he sold our products. When he retired, it all went down the tube because the new manager was too honest.

David

A rare description of the Central Asian oil market that recognises the competition for energy security.

Up until 2002 "Energy Security" was part of the US vocabulary in describing its own foreign policy motivations. But the false liberation of Iraq the Middle East's second largest oil country caused Energy Security to be struck off, now a taboo word in official US foreign policy circles.

This article's Chinese angles mesh with Pilger's theory (OLO April 12, 2011 http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=11888) that the Libyan intervention is partly about NATO ejection Chinese oil competitors from Libya.

Pete
see http://gentleseas.blogspot.com/2011/03/us-covert-action-to-be-scaled-up-in.html

"Unhampered by Judeo Christian ethics"

Just off the top of my head: AWB, FAI/HIH, Qintex, Bond Corp, Amcor/Visy, Tricom, Enron, WorldCom, Greece, BAE and Optiver.

I'm sure a good google would find more examples of being 'hampered'.

"Unhampered by Judeo Christian ethics...."

What a hoot! LEGO.

I omitted to mention the way the Yanks are operation in Afghanistan. The whole system depends on giving money (bribes) to Afghan troops who they are currently training. Once they go home and the money runs out it will revert to same old same old.

Just because most Americans think that God is on their side, doesn't mean that the government is honest, just look at the record.

David