A new Zogby poll indicates Americans are wisely beginning to question the manner in which we have financed the war against terrorism. Meanwhile China engages in female infanticide.

More than twice as many U.S. adults (58%) say that debt owed to China is a more serious threat to the long-term security and well-being of the U.S than is terrorism from radical Islamic terrorists (27%).

Interestingly there was little variation by party identification with a majority of Democrats, Republicans and independents all agreeing that the debt owed by the United States to China poses the greater threat.

Meanwhile, in a painful snapshot of the social values of Americas largest creditor ‘gendercide’, discarding infant girls at birth, is still practiced in China to bad effect.

XINRAN XUE, a Chinese writer, describes visiting a peasant family in the Yimeng area of Shandong province. The wife was giving birth. “We had scarcely sat down in the kitchen”, she writes (see article), “when we heard a moan of pain from the bedroom next door…The cries from the inner room grew louder—and abruptly stopped. There was a low sob, and then a man’s gruff voice said accusingly: ‘Useless thing!’

“Suddenly, I thought I heard a slight movement in the slops pail behind me,” Miss Xinran remembers. “To my absolute horror, I saw a tiny foot poking out of the pail. The midwife must have dropped that tiny baby alive into the slops pail! I nearly threw myself at it, but the two policemen [who had accompanied me] held my shoulders in a firm grip. ‘Don’t move, you can’t save it, it’s too late.’

The result of the male female imbalance is that unpartnered young adult males turn to crime and violence.

Throughout human history, young men have been responsible for the vast preponderance of crime and violence—especially single men in countries where status and social acceptance depend on being married and having children, as it does in China and India. A rising population of frustrated single men spells trouble.

The crime rate has almost doubled in China during the past 20 years of rising sex ratios, with stories abounding of bride abduction, the trafficking of women, rape and prostitution. A study into whether these things were connected† concluded that they were, and that higher sex ratios accounted for about one-seventh of the rise in crime. In India, too, there is a correlation between provincial crime rates and sex ratios. In “Bare Branches”††, Valerie Hudson and Andrea den Boer gave warning that the social problems of biased sex ratios would lead to more authoritarian policing. Governments, they say, “must decrease the threat to society posed by these young men. Increased authoritarianism in an effort to crack down on crime, gangs, smuggling and so forth can be one result.”

Gender discrepancy is happening all over the world with a corresponding rise in violence… boys need girls and we girls need boys in equal numbers or all hell breaks out.

Also, while on the subject of China, South Africa is now accepting major investments in energy and rare earth mining and refining from China. Like America, they hope to develop jobs and improve the South African economy. Relying heavily on China hasn’t worked out so well here.

Previously I have written about the lock the Chinese have on the production of rare earth neodymium magnets. With the massive build up planned for wind power, magnets are more and more a premium as well as crucial to national security. Every jet fighter carries several pounds of magnets necessary for electrical functions and guidance systems. According to this interview with mining analyst, John Kaiser, China has a lock on a lot more and a strategic plan that might be pretty scary for underfunded companies. This quote is very telling

In the case of most of the Chinese mining companies, they are all at least partly if not wholly owned by the State. And we just saw an example where a distressed Australian company, which had several hundred million dollars lined up from Western sources to put its rare deposit into production, had the plug pulled on them. The stock was at 10 cents, they were dead in the water, and then the Chinese came in and ponied up $360 million in a combination debt equity financing that will give them majority control of this company and, of course, they’ve got all the boilerplate in the news release saying we will honor all the offtake agreements. All these offtake agreements are just good for five years and they only represent a small fraction of the total resource that will now be under the control, indirectly, of the Chinese government. So, in a sense, they’ve tied up what could have been one of the independent sources of raw materials in the world for the non-Chinese manufacturers.

Read the entire interview, but it does not take much of a stretch of the imagination to believe we will be giving up more of our natural resources to China, a country to which we are already seriously indebted and dependent upon for much of our rare earth metals.

Probably everyone has noticed already but crude oil hit $126 a barrel on Friday, just in time for the summer driving season. The significance of this is deeply reflected in our national trade deficit where according to the US Department of Energy we import 12 to 14 million barrels of oil per day. Foreign oil imports account for over $1.5B per day and are the single largest contributor to our balance of trade deficit.

Importing oil and foreign goods exports local dollars and has contributed to the decline in value of US currency. Iran, the second largest oil producer in OPEC has stopped conducting transactions in US dollars, in favor of euros or the yen, to reduce their reliance on Washington economic and foreign policy.

America once produced enough domestic oil to provide cheap gas and even to export surplus resources and build our economy but those days are over. Exporting our dollars leaves less money available to invest in our infrastructure or even to invest in other sources of wealth. In contrast, China with whom we have a record $233B trade deficit, recently secured control over one of the world’s largest copper mines in Afghanistan.

Copper is a necessary component in the production of electricity along with magnets. China is estimated to hold 98% of the world’s neodymium reserves used in the production of high gauss magnets critical to the production of electricity. It would be fair to speculate that China is heavily vested in energy production.

The US is the largest oil consumer in the world and with domestic production drying up it is no wonder that our trade imbalance is so high. Presently, at an average of 27 gallons per day per soldier, the Pentagon accounts for the largest percentage of oil consumption spending $14M per day or over $5B a year just to stay in Iraq. Estimates indicate that the US military consumes as much oil as it liberates occupying Iraq.

It is worth noting that our defense systems are heavily dependent upon magnets as well as oil. Every fighter jet, weapons and guidance system, humvee and hand held communications device requires magnets, most of which are gotten directly or indirectly from China

So sorry is our dependence upon foreign oil that Russia, which now produces much more power than it consumes, is now outpacing the US on strategic energy alliances. Our dependence has greatly weakened our standing around the globe.

Oil company profits are at record highs, averaging $1,300 per second while consumers are paying record highs at the pump. One consequence of this demand on our pocketbooks is that our consumption has dropped which induced a record 5.7% drop in imports last March. This resulted in a .3% greater than expected increase in economic growth according to the US Department of Commerce.

Certainly .3% is not a lot but it is something and demonstrates the importance of if not having a trade surplus at least balancing imports and exports. Coos County suffers from a trade deficit as well and exporting our dollars instead of localizing them has the county labeled as economically distressed and suffering from high unemployment.

Like the national statistics this impaired spending may force us to consume less or rethink ways of keeping our dollars local. Obviously, one way is to use less energy or start producing energy locally. Small things can make a difference. Last March during Earth Hour communities around the globe participated by turning off lights and appliances for one hour and in Sydney, Australia it amounted to a 10% reduction in energy use across the city. Here in Coquille the only house dark during the hour as we walked around was mine and a friend’s.

Our economy will force us into conservation but we can also voluntarily take daily small steps toward local economic independence and environmental responsibility. Walk or ride a bike whenever possible. Turn off your lights and refrigerator for an hour each day. Buy locally grown produce that isn’t shipped and imported from outside the county. We need to keep our dollars local.

Energy demands around the world sees record US coal exports.

U.S. coal exports are responding to a combination of high demand and problems in some other coal-producing countries. In China, a bitter winter has made shipping coal difficult while Australia is struggling to increase production and flooding has closed some mines.

The U.S. dollar’s decline in value also makes the price attractive.

Peabody owns 30 percent of the Dominion Terminal Associates facility in Newport News, Va. Dominion President Charles Brinley told the Post-Dispatch the sudden increase in demand was a surprise.

They have already exported more in 2008 than the whole of 2007.

The fight for energy, the need to provide for and control the increasing population and the lust for power are driving the planet toward a massive military showdown.

Since the dawn of the 21st century, five of the six countries involved in the six-party talks have increased their military spending by 50% or more. The sixth, Japan, has maintained a steady, if sizeable military budget while nonetheless aspiring to keep pace. Every country in the region is now eagerly investing staggering amounts of money in new weapons systems and new offensive capabilities.

The arms race in Northeast Asia undercuts all talk of peace in the region. It also sustains a growing global military-industrial complex. Northeast Asia is where four of the world’s largest militaries – those of the United States, China, Russia, and Japan – confront each other. Together, the countries participating in the six-party talks account for approximately 65% of world military expenditures, with the US responsible for roughly half the global total.

Here is the real news that should hit the front pages of papers today: wars grip Iraq, Afghanistan and large swathes of Africa, but the heart of the global military-industrial complex lies in Northeast Asia. Any attempt to drive a stake through this potentially destabilizing monster must start with the militaries that face one another there.

Of course, sustaining military budgets of such grand proportions is not possible. Read The Rise and Fall of the Great Empires by Paul Kennedy to learn what history teaches us. Downfall, catastrophic downfall is inevitable.

Critics of the North Korean regime often point out that its military spending is ultimately a human-rights violation, because the government essentially takes food out of the mouths of its people to spend on armaments. North Korea is, however, just a particularly gross example of an expanding global problem. Each of the six countries in the new Pacific arms race has devised a wealth of rationales for its military spending – and each has ignored significant domestic needs in the process.

Given the sums that would be necessary to address the decommissioning of nuclear weapons, the looming crisis of climate change, and the destabilizing gap between rich and poor, such spending priorities are in themselves a threat to humanity.

The world put 37% more into military spending in 2006 than in 1997. If the “peace dividend” that was to follow the end of the Cold War never quite appeared, a decade later the world finds itself burdened with quite the opposite: a genuine peace deficit.

The same is true in the US

From the Existentialist Cowboy

Highly leveraged US expansion, growth and empire are about to be swept away like a bamboo hut. As China leads the world in dumping dollars, the US appears to have exhausted the means by which it can continue to leverage or finance expansion and imperialism.

Bush could not have picked a worse time to ratchet up his anti-Iran rhetoric. China’s disenchantment with US dollars is a reaction to Bush’s bellicose rhetoric. Iran’s strategic position was recognized by Alexander the Great, significantly the last “conqueror” to have successfully invaded from the west.

As this blog reported recently, Bush promised that the US would join an Israeli nuclear strike on Iran. It is impossible to tell if the US rhetoric is in response to Iranian threats to dump dollars or Iran’s response to Bush’s promise to join an Israeli nuclear strike on Iran. The GOP seems unconcerned as Bush’s big mouth continues to make the rest of world jittery.

Asia isn’t the only one skittish, Europe and the UK are trembling as well.

The stock market was in meltdown today as nearly £60billion was wiped off London shares.

A combination of poor economic figures and the worsening global credit crunch sent the FTSE 100 plunging.

At one stage the drop was the biggest since 9/11 in 2001, although the index of Britain’s biggest companies later clawed back some of the losses. At lunchtime the Footsie was down 250.1 points to 5647.8.

Yes, this is all in response to the failed financial strategies of the Bush administration

The fall came as Asian markets tumbled overnight following losses for the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Friday, when investors were left unimpressed by the US Government’s tax-relief plans to spur on the economy.

(hat tip/ Excuuuuuuse me!)

UPDATE:More panic from International Herald Tribune

http://iht.com/articles/2008/01/21/business/markets.3-208777.php

As the developer of a high efficiency wind turbine and high bandwidth direct drive DC generator, I pay close attention to the price of copper and magnets as they are crucial to creating energy. Previously I wrote how China having 98% of the world’s neodymium reserves holds the market on high gauss magnets. The Department of Defense has been tasked with determining whether US reliance on China for crucial components is putting our national security at risk…

China dominates the market for production of certain high performance magnets (primarily rare earth and aluminum-nickel-cobalt magnets) that are important to defense applications such as radar systems, submarine valves, missiles, military aircraft, inertial devices, and precision-guided weapons. Domestic production of these magnets has declined over the past decade. However, DoD demand for these magnets is less than 0.5% of worldwide demand, and the Department is able to access the high performance magnets it requires from domestic sources. The Department is examining whether there is any likely future risk to the domestic high performance magnet industry that would require DoD action.

While the official response from DoD is that the military is able to obtain all magnets from domestic sources, those domestic sources must still obtain those magnets from China, Now China has scored another energy coup with an investment by China Metallurgical Group’s $4 billion investment in one of the world’s largest copper fields in Afghanistan.

The project involves US$4 billion in investment by China Metallurgical Group, which will be by far the biggest foreign investment in Afghanistan and is estimated to provide employment for 10,000 people. Significantly, the project includes the development of a railway system linking Afghanistan to China. (Nepal also has sought the extension of China’s railway system from Lhasa to Kathmandu.)

China’s present and projected power consumption needs can easily explain why they are intent upon maintaining a ready supply of materials necessary to meet those needs. How this effects the US’ equally voracious energy appetite is unclear but this appears to me to be yet another consequence of our foreign policy failures in the Middle East and puts Afghanistan back on the front burner