One would think that with your grasp of Arts that you'd be enjoying at least a Lectureship by now and well on your way to a PhD.

Dear Is Mise,

Thanks for thinking so highly of me. But's that not the way things worked out for me. I prefer to have four degrees each in a different area rather than four degrees all in the same area. And I have a good little set up going for me to make a living from engineering.

What do you think of the situation in the SCS? Do you have any predictions you would like to offer for discussion?

Thanks, Mr Opinion, that 'Sentinel' site is very informative, for example, Vietnam's options:

http://www.asiasentinel.com/politics/vietnam-reassess-south-china-sea-strategy/2/

IF China's aim is to 'domesticate' the south China Sea, to claim that it is all China's, where does that leave countries like Vietnam ? Would nearly all their trade have to go through a 'Chinese sea' ? Would that put them in the position of a dependent state beholden to China for its trade links with the outside world ?

I suppose it would be a bit like Russia claiming all of the Black Sea up to the Turkish, Rumanian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian and Moldovan coasts, i.e. as captive states of Russia. Even Putin hasn't been that cheeky.

Yet.

Joe.

The water in the SCS is salt and not fit to drink.

Dear Is Mise,

Have a look at some of the maps contained in the articles posted on the thread and you will see that China is laying claim to virtually all of the undersea gas & oil fields in the South China Sea. I don't think China is going to be deterred by the fact that the sea is salty. The Chinese will tell you that's a fact which would be of more interest to the dumb Australians than it is to the smart Chinese.

Mr0,

"I don't think you have the intellectual capacity to do an Arts degree."
I'm not surprised, as you ignore the evidence when forming your opinions, and instead base then on ridiculous stereotypes. But is there anything I've actually written that supports your doubts?

BTW a lot of the stuff you write makes you appear to lack the intellectual capacity to do an Arts degree, let alone an Engineering degree. You claim dabbling in Arts means you get to be smart, yet not once have you shown any evidence of this, though you frequently demonstrate the opposite.

"You wouldn't get past the first paragraph of an academic monograph in history, anthropology, sociology, etc."
I have difficulty imagining anything duller than writing an academic monograph in one of those subjects, so I concede that claim's plausible.

"If I had a dollar for every engineer I heard say they can teach themselves in Arts I would be a rich man."
That's hardly surprising, as many engineers study some non-engineering subjects at uni and find them much easier than the engineering ones. I've also seen some of the coursework my sister (who was studying Arts) did and it looked comparatively easy.

"Unfortunately the boast does not match the reality."
How do you know?