I think the doom-prognosticators are engaging in wishful-thinking.

You know what you remind me of? You remind me of the American left who have been ordaining doom for America for the past 25 years. Your modus operandi is the same: you cherry-pick some anecdotal indicators, and proceed to make sweeping, conclusory claims about the imminent collapse of [insert country].

Now, you MAY be right, just as the left MAY be right about their predictions about American decline; but you, like your leftwing doomsaying counterparts, in no way make your case despite a lot of hyperventilating.

Thank heavens the Bush administration knows the score on China, as did the Clinton administration, and as did Nixon.

Consider the possibility that conservative hawks are as wrong about China as liberal Bush-haters are wrong about Iraq and the greater War on Terrorism. I know you won’t, because it is a matter of ideology for ideologues like you; but try.