Enh, we (still) don't need them anyway...

As a re-visitation of a previous post, the Eurasia Review has some specific incidents of escalation over control of the South China Sea. According to their notes, Phillipino fishing vessels have been fired on by the Chinese Navy, and one of the oil exploration vessels was accosted by Chinese patrol boats and forced to leave the area it was investigating. Chinese ships also allegedly cut a Vietnamese undersea cable as it was being laid by a Petrovietnam vessel. American oil suppliers Exxonmobil and British Petroleum are among those trying to explore the area. This could be one factor in the rise of oil prices, and the resulting rise in food prices.

China has stated an intent to increase its naval "enforcement capacity" by 36 ships from the current 300. Right now, the various nations in the area are trying to negotiate with China over the area which China claims as irrefutably Chinese despite extending thousands of miles from their own coast and well into the economic exclusion zones of Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei on the other side of the ocean. These are waters in which the US Navy currently operates, and likely uses as a transit space to get to and from Afghanistan and Iraq from West Coast bases. This issue can affect us, and we should be involved. Meditate for a few moments with the rules from the eBook and then hijack any trivial stories you see in your preferred news sites. Here are some examples to seed your thoughts:

• (Hopefully the last of the) Weiner Resignation Stories: "Who benefited more from all this coverage? The people of New York who get to elect a new face, or the people of China who got to annex an entire ocean away from a dozen other nations while we weren't looking? Thanks for the heads-up, (news site)!"
• New FDA Warning Labels: "Will there be any labels on Chinese goods about how annexing an entire ocean away from our allies and closing shipping is dangerous for our economic health?"
• Casey Anthony Trial: "I bet it was the Mom and Dad who chased down our oil exploration ships off the coast of Vietnam, and Casey's just not saying it out of loyalty. Er, wait... maybe that was a story about China which (the news site) isn't covering out of ignorance..."