America, let's have a cease-fire in getting taken advantage of.


Posted On: Tuesday - May 26th 2020 7:59PM MST
In Topics: 
  The Russians  University  China  Americans  World Political Stupidity

First of all, Pat Buchanan, you foreign-policy-analyzing bastard, you stole my thunder! I had this post thought out early this morning, as I replied to commenter Hail under the previous post on the Confucius Centers. In the afternoon I read Mr. Buchanan's current column on America v China. His last part especially was right on point with my thoughts.



There's a yellow-star commenter on the unz website goes by the name of AnonFromTN. If you're not familiar with the unz site very well, there are only a few of these "special " commenters that Mr. Unz designated with a yellow star starting 1/2 a year or so ago. Bully on them all, but I will say that 1/2 of the few I've read lean heavily on the anti-all-things-American side, making them great fits in conversations with ... Ron Unz.

I'm trying not to write this as some backstabbing gossip, as most of what I'm trying to bring up here is from conversation directly with Mr. AnonFromTN regarding the subject of this post, so we've been through it. However, for background, I'll mention that, while getting waylaid a few times onto pockets of that anti-all-things-Americanism that is a majority of the unz site, I've seen that this commenter leans that way too. Still he writes very reasonably, and therefore our conversation (in the neighborhood of a year back) was mostly civil, and, in fact, I think I got the guy to at least understand my point.

Here was AnonFromTN's (the "TN" is Tennessee, as you'd think) opinion: Since he works as a researcher in some bio-medical or chemical type field at a university in Tennessee, he noticed and praised the fact that almost all his fellow researchers and/or grad students were foreigners. His opinion was that doing high-level research work was something that Americans not just wouldn't, but couldn't do!

Yeah, now the guy is from Russia*, but came to America in 1992 (if I recall correctly), so he either started research then or afterwards at that Tennessee university. I guess that's all he knows, that university science and engineering grad schools are to be full of foreigners. It's not what I know. I've been there (more on this shortly). If Mr. ForeignerFromTN had been in that grad school 10 years earlier, he'd have seen mostly Americans doing quite well at science and engineering research, and, oh yeah, the undergraduate students paying (much less!) tuition could understand what they hell they were saying when they taught class!

Our on-line conversation went back and forth, and he admitted some dozen posts later that, no, he wasn't there, so maybe I could have been right about this.

This post was to be about China though. In the early 1980s, a group of mainland Chinese from some town with "x"'s and "iao"'s in it's name came to the university. There were 12 of them, and it was a BIG DEAL Other than the Chinatowns in San Fran. and New York, and assorted assimilated Chinese Americans, most of who had (or their ancestors) come from Taiwan or Hong Kong you didn't just see Chinese people all over. This group was from the "mainland". In a matter of 10-20 years, they'd taken over the graduate schools. (Not those same 12 guys, of course!)

Peak Stupidity wrote the post Chinese students at the American Universities almost 3 years ago, but that one was more about the undergraduate foreign student (in this case, Chinese) scam. At the higher level, American universities have had no problem just letting foreigners take over. There's no thought whatsoever given to what the heck the purpose of forming these universities was to begin with. There's no thought given by the school's admins and admissions people to the security issues with both trade and military secrets. The same seems to go for the future place of employment for these Chinese foreigners (a big fraction stay here), as diversity trumps national security, I guess.

I believe it's Americans' long period of security and prosperity that has allowed "us" to get so complacent as to voluntarily let the country get taken advantage of like this. As I wrote yesterday, the ridiculously unfair (to US) trade deals worked out since the mid-1990s are the worst of it, in terms of damage to the country, but the giving away of the technology and loss of American human capital at the universities is a close 2nd in this race of stupidity vs. stupidity.

I mean, we know a Chinese woman who just went home (the long way, but more in a sec.) from a stint at being a visiting scholar. OK, OK, it's good to share knowledge - maybe our students and profs can learn from her. But, but... she was a visiting scholar specializing in ENGLISH! What in the hell do we have to learn from her? What does she have to learn from us, that she can't pay $100 for a hack in China for Rosetta Stone and learn better? Nope, it was a paid learning vacation for her, but of no benefit to America,.

This Kung Flu Panic-fest, with it's China connection, may have another silver lining regarding our relationship with China: It seems that Americans are learning now just how much we've been letting ourselves get taken advantage of. The current estrangement between our nations will hopefully not result in anything much worse, but, in the meantime, this cut-off of direct travel may be helpful. Let the graduate students make their way home, albeit the long way (to the American hub, then Paris, then Shanghai for a 2 week quarantine on her own money, then home, was the route for our aquaintance) at a high cost (5 Large American, haha, tough titties!)

The news I've gotten is that the Chinese government is being very very tight now about renewing or issuing new passports to Chinese citizens. I'm not sure of the reason, but it's not a bad thing. They've gotten their chance to travel around the world, as Peak Stupidity documented a bit in The Ugly Chinaman. Let's just not go at it so hot and heavy for a while. "We need our space. It's not you, it's us."

Now I'll put the link in to Pat Buchanan's column, China's Jinping Takes Up the US Challenge , as I wanted people to read my post before Pat Buchanan steals my thunder. It's one of his best, but please read it thoroughly - much of his writing sounds at first like Neoconnery, until you get to his conclusion. Regarding the Chinese, American universities, and getting taken advantage of, here's the last part that was what I'd wanted to write (BTW, I still need to write more on this in another post - this one digressed so much I couldn't use my original title!):
The Chinese have stolen our intellectual property, coerced technology transfers from our businesses and sent spies posing as students into our universities to thieve our secrets.

Meanwhile, we allowed ourselves to become dependent on China for medicines and drugs vital to the health and the survival of millions of Americans.

Who did this to us? We did it to ourselves.
Right you are, Pat! I'll have to point out the great thoughts in the rest of this column another time.

Next, up (original title for this one): "Acting like they own the place".



* This brings up another real problem I have with Ron Unz and 1/2 his site. For whatever reason, he's got this big Go-Russia contingent - writers and commenters - who HATE the US in all ways. Now, as the reader may know, Peak Stupidity understands that Russia since 1990 IS NOT the USSR! We get that and we wish the best for the place. However, we are supposedly all Americans here. This AnonFromRussia ought to use that handle. He's been here almost 3 decades and Ron "Unz" (sounds Russian, but I dunno) has been in California since, like forever. What does it really take for people to assimilate, ungrateful mofos that they are?!

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