There has been much talk recently about China and how far it has come. Many have even taken to trying to paint China as a geopolitical threat to the United States. I feel this is a complete mis characterization of the current events unfolding.

1) China is a country of 1.3 billion people. A potential armed forces of over half a billion people. This, to many people, is scary – and one of the main reasons people fear China. Of course, no one ever takes the next logical step and asks themselves: How would China get half a billion people over to the United States? And guess what? There is absolutely no possible way this could be accomplished. The United States is completely immune to a geopolitical Chinese threat.

2) The United States currently spends about half of the entire world’s annual military budget. In fact, we outspend China 10 to 1 in military spending – every year. We have the most advanced military the world has ever seen, and we spend 10 times our closest rival (Which is China) to keep it that way. China is not a military threat to the United States.

3) China pays for our debt. This meme is always bandied about, as if one day China will just sell all its treasuries and sink the United States. If China actually did this, it would also greatly hurt Japan and Europe (2 of its biggest export partners) as well as the United States. Not only that, but by selling the treasuries at the low price in order to clear all the orders – China would hurt itself almost as much as the United States. Not to mention, once they stop funding our debt, we stop buying their goods (Because of the eventual cut in government spending and raise in taxes)

4) China is growing at 10% a year – therefore in about 20 years they should equal the United States GDP. This, of course, assumes that China can keep up their astounding growth (which has currently lasted less than a decade) for another 2 decades. This is pretty much impossible. China has actually shown great signs of weakness recently, from inflation, and falling GDP, to a slumping stock market. Of course, this is also really not the point, since China getting richer actually means we can get richer – it is not some kind of zero-sum game where any gain in China’s part is a loss on ours. China will not be an economic threat to the United States for the foreseeable future.

5) Let’s assume China actually overtakes America economically in half a century. Let’s also assume they started to match our military spending in a few years and then overtook us from then until 2060. Let’s also assume they landed their half a billion strong army in the United States. Now what? There are 12 guns for every single American citizen in the United States. So, if China somehow breaks with their culture (They are the longest running country to exist and their expansionism has pretty much included small territories around them and Tibet) and invaded the United States – they can enjoy the bloodiest guerrilla war the world has ever seen.

Good luck China!

Hiptics Photo: Nas brings his message to Cali

Nas brings NY flavor to Cali. I copy and pasted but it was worth it. Not to mention it’s Sunday…

Some of the most revered names in hip-hop turned out Saturday for the annual Rock the Bells bash at San Manuel Amphitheater (formerly Glen Helen Pavilion), including old-schoolers De La Soul and Rakim, more than a few members of East Coast posse Wu-Tang Clan, a Fergie-free Black Eyed Peas and reunions of A Tribe Called Quest (in its first California appearance in four years) and the complete lineup of the eccentric L.A. quartet the Pharcyde.

So why was there only one truly exceptional performance the entire day?

It came, not surprisingly, from Nas, the outspoken New York rapper whose controversial new eponymous album (the n-word was its original title) is arguably the most vitriolic work the genre has produced all decade – “the most intensely political record since the heyday of Public Enemy and Ice Cube,” Rolling Stone recently declared, “with Nas sounding as virtuosic as he did on his 1994 debut, “Illmatic.”

Such recharged brilliance was plainly evident Saturday night, as Nas delivered a commanding, impassioned one-man show, heavy on both hard-hitting fresh cuts (like “Sly Fox,” an attack on Fox News) and complementary older fare. In the process, he easily bested Kanye West’s far-less-compelling solo feat earlier this year at Nokia Theatre, and with none of the high-tech gadgetry or operatic scenery that the most egotistical man in popular music required.

Where West’s Wagnerian overkill aimed to inspire but instead lapsed into narcissism, Nas’ more concise set here instilled a deep sense of hope for the future by staying on point with a hook-heavy sermon about rising up from ruin to realize that “The World Is Yours” – a message as inspirational as West’s “Touch the Sky” but conveyed with the venom of Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power.”

“I don’t believe in politics much,” he told the crowd. “I don’t believe in presidents much” – although he wore an Obama shirt and figures “he deserves a chance.” “But I believe in people” – specifically young people into hip-hop, who in his estimation have gotten enough grief from their elders. “That’s your culture – stay that way, stand up for what you think is right,” he implored.

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