Tomgram: Alfred McCoy, A New Age of Sea Power? | TomDispatch

OK... nice read, good history lesson. i think the author has missed a key point tho'.

i would dearly love to read McCoy's tome on the decline & fall of American power, but not dearly enough to shell out $100 of my ill-gotten gains... will have to wait for the movie, or maybe the comic book (oops! "Graphic Novel").

so, where was i going? most imperial expansion in the past was almost entirely for economic reasons. nothing has changed. the problem we are facing is increasing competition for dwindling resources. what to do? what to do?

we had the right idea back in the 16th & 17th centuries. go somewhere else. see where this is going?

we left Europe & the 'old world' for a 'new world' all ready to be exploited. it can be argued, that the dregs of society in the form of penal colonies etc were used to colonize the 'new world'.

being Scots & Irish i prefer to believe that my ancestors, with amazing foresight, chose to leave Europe to the dregs of that old society and make their own way in their own world.

so... we can still boldly go... new frontiers etc...

we have all but let our space program languish... the Chinese and Indians and assorted interested third (and fourth and fifth) parties are just starting to build their space programs.

why not let the dregs fight over the scraps. there is a whole Universe out there.

Earth First! we can mine and exploit the other planets at our leisure.

don't ask why.... ask why not?

ok... time to check my meds.

We/USA needs some new Sea Power ideas for the China Sea. Seems we are losing there.