[Buddha-l] Re: Greetings from Oviedo

[Richard P. Hayes]

On Sat, 2005-10-08 at 19:02 -0400, curt wrote:

> Actually, the main thing that precipitated hostilities was the fact that 
> Japan and the US were both engaged simultaneously in Imperialist 
> expansionism into the same part of the world. 

My memory is among the worst in the world (or at least I have forgotten
whose is worse), so I can't recall where I read an interesting analysis
of American meddling in Vietnam that began with an account of American
aspirations in the 1930s to develop a dominating commercial and
political presence in Southeast Asia. That attempt was foiled by the
Japanese, said the article in question, because the Japanese were better
at the time than the Americans at being imperialists. The American
aspiration to gain a dominating presence in Asia continued after the
Second World War, into the Korean war and finally in the Vietnam War.
What the article claimed was that American imperial aspirations in Asia
were in full operation for about fifty years, until the American
military finally went home with its tail between its legs.  After giving
up in Asia, the Americans apparently decided to pick on Arabs and
Persians instead. 

But even after being defeated militarily in Vietnam, the American effort
to establish an empire in Asia was still not finished. After the
military failed to do the trick, the Americans sent Ronald MacDonald,
Colonel Saunders and Sam Walton. The attempt to conquer China
economically has obviously worked beautifully. I went into a huge shoe
store a couple of days ago and looked at where the shoes were made. I
looked at about fifty pairs of shoes. All the American shoes, Swiss
shoes, Italian shoes, and German shoes were made in China. The Israeli
shoes were made in Israel. A pair of Brazilian shoes were made in
Brazil. Pretty neat, eh? Nobody in the world has a job anymore, because
all work is being done by underpaid Chinese workers.

As a feeble protest against globalization, I wear Red Wing shoes.
They're still made in Minnesota, by gum. They are, I understand, the
preferred foot ware of American Buddhists.

-- 
Richard Hayes