You know the old bit (repeated by me) where Chinese activists said, “Before Tiananmen, we thought freedom was 90% political and 10% economic. After Tiananmen, we decided that freedom was 90% economic and 10% political.”
via Thomas P.M. Barnett’s Globlogization – Blog – The generational shift emerging in Chinese society.
I have said in the past that I thought all war was about economic considerations, fought by people with little economic considerations. The Doctor makes this more clear.
I think the ratios are about right. 90% economic–10% political. It is the political people who are without economic considerations.
Because politicians are supported by economic consideration, they don’t have to think about economic considerations.
The problem with Barnett’s analyses: the 10% really matter, 90% of the time, when it comes down to war. In China the 10% have an army to control the 90%. This control is mostly over feet, not minds.
If you have control over a persons feet–you don’t need control over the mind, so much.
In analyses, the better question might asked: where are those feet going, as we know who controls them?
