h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

There is, as we all know, a major conflict brewing in Afghanistan.
I thought it might be time to introduce the main players in this great game of global politics. We start with the obvious.
1. The Taliban
2. The US/Brit alliance (currently bombing at will and with special forces in-country)
Now things become murky.........
3. The Russians........The 201st Motorized Rifle Division(8000 strong)is reported to have been with the northern alliance just north of Kabul for the last 2 weeks waiting for the bombing to stop.
4. The Chinese.........China, no friend of the US or Russia, has reportedly mobilized up to 15000 ethnic muslim troops to 'assist' the Taliban.
This is without mentioning the various Arab states who are still playing sand-shoe shuffle.
So.........what do you think is going on?
Rod

China?? What are you talking about?

I thought the China stuff was disinformation - what's your source on that?

That one is disinformation; the US and British troops will require Chinese space or at least some instruction from the Chinese government to Central Asian states (the whole - do what Moscow/Bejing tells them to do...)

It is unlikely that they would do such a thing. There was a spate of terrorist activity in Sinjian Province which was supported by the terroist netowrk headed by Bin Laden, so it seems that China have a price on his head too.

China is also part of the Alliance too; I don't think they would risk destroying what has been so carefully formulated.

I would like to see your sources on this one...

Try CNN asia, Time asia,and Debka file in your search engine. Then trawl through the last couple of months. Also there were reports on Drudge report, Yahoo, Reuters and Brother Johnathon Gazette(all web sites)
Rod

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/world/2001/war_on_terror/backing_the_us/china.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/world/2001/war_on_terror/backing_the_us/russia.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/world/2001/war_on_terror/backing_the_us/united_kingdom.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/world/2001/war_on_terror/backing_the_us/afghanistan.stm

...are mine.
Now whilst I do not doubt that the statements exist, might I just leave you with this quote from CNN's Asia correspondant, Willy Lam?

(article dated September 19th)

'From day one, the Chinese leadership has offered strong support for Washington’s effort to stamp out international terrorism.

In a phone conversation with President George W. Bush last Wednesday, President Jiang Zemin expressed support for the global crusade against terrorism.

...the Taliban is suspected of encouraging Islam fundamentalism in Xinjiang and of helping train guerillas for the Uighur separatist cause.'

Stay ,
WD

I think this is just more anti Chinese US proaganda, propagated so the US can easily betray it's new ally when the need is no longer there.

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it...

Quite true autist.

Anyone care to recall how the Republic of China disposed of the remnants of the Nationalist Army after Chiang Kai Shek fled to Taiwan? History goe's round.
Rod

This post has been removed.

Any chance of converting that into a guide entry? I think it's got potential...

Seconded here

What, and then i, H2G2 and any researcher whove read it dissapear in the night right?

... I think. you were joking there I hope

I think that you have the knowledge and a good understanding of Sino-American history to write an entry on the topic... certainly, it is much misunderstood and it would be great if someone with the knowledge and the facts in hand set the record straight.

And quite frankly, with major exams in 5 weeks time, I wouldn't mind diappearing at this moment in time; if the stress doesn't kill me first...

Stay ,
WD

If only we had the knowledge and the facts in hand, it a shame that each time a new bit of info turns up the CIA bury it again, banning popular books and nobbling the legal records. It's really hard to find out what happens with these guys, even here in the UK books are blocked (or the wherehouses are burgled and whole stocks destroyed or stolen etc).

I don't want it to seen like an anti US rant though. Anti CIA yes, anti terrorism yes, but not anti US, these actions violate almost everything America is suposed to stand for. And people will look at me and dismiss it because i'm a bit of a Red.

Good luck with your exams - not on recent US history i assume!

I never realised that the whole 'burning books' aspect still occured... ouch.

Hmmm, it would be tricky to pull off an entry on Sino-American relations without cat-calls of 'Red!' or being anti-American as you say. Maybe when the atmosphere has calmed down a little, what small facts are available can be addressed to a wider audience. Chinese politics is much misunderstood and feared; rightly or wrongly, most diplomatic envoys arrive there with a whole bag-load of assumptions and ignore cultural differences in the way that China is governed. And they make diplomatic cock-ups as a result... As I said before, the Guide really needs something to set the record straight... or at least, get the fluff off the needle so that we can hear the music a little clearer.

Thanks for the 'good luck' message It's not on modern history, but medicine... I'm ing my pants...

Don't get me wrong - I am a Red, through and through, and if someones hurls the term at me as an insult i'll hurl them back a 'thankyou very much'. That doesn't mean i'm not critical of Communist and Socialist regimes though - without critique there's no progress, and progress is after all the driving force of Marxism.

Chinese politics is awful. Largely. But they've coped with a century and a half of struggle remarkably well. And i hope that the CP remain in power and return to their orginal path rather than their current route of authoritarian state capitalism - which was the ruination of the CCCP under Stalin / Kruschev / Breshnev.

Flinch:
Not much time at the moment.
An excellent post on the CIA/KMT/ChiNats
More to come later after I sort out my links, but the people I was actually refering to were the 900,000 Nationalist troops left behind. These troops were conscripted into the PLA as the PVA(Peoples Volunteer Army)and re-educated. In 1950, August I think, with armed political commisars at thier backs, they crossed the Yalu River into North Korea...................and were decimated in the push that almost took the whole of Korea.
Thus clearing up a small Chinese domestic problem. The Chinese involvment in the Korean conflict didn't amount to more than the PVA and the Political Commisars.
An elegant solution in a machiavellian sort of way, but not unusal in human history.

Rod

I was asked to make up a guide entry from the post i made, do you fancy giving me a hand? I'm asuming you'll have a different slant on things to me. I asked Two Bit if he would but he doesn't have the time / inclination to be my counterweight.

I was aware of the PVA thing and assumed that was what you were refering too - people tend to think that the whole of the Chi Nat were decimated in Korea though, when in fact they 'dissapeared' in a very different war (and there reminants are still fighting on elsewhere in the third world).

Flinch:
I'll assist in any way I can. Asian, as opposed to Euro/American, history has been an interest for many years. Perhaps my views are slanted, but if they are it is because of my experiences working in several asian countries.

Rod