What If

It's interesting to compare the wanton destruction of Iraq and the military's wasted efforts in Afghanistan with China's "soft power" domination of Tibet:

In 1959, life expectancy [in Tibet] was 35. Illiteracy was 90 per cent. Infant mortality was 43 per cent. Per capita income was less than $40. Today, life expectancy has almost doubled to 68. Literacy is more than 90 per cent. Infant mortality is 2.4 per cent. Per capita income is about $1500. The population has increased from 1 million to 2.8 million. And Tibetan culture remains palpably Buddhist.

All paid for by Beijing. Which is why there is not going to be an independent Tibet.

That's from a very interesting article by Paul Sheehan, speculating on what will happen next to the Chinese economy, and how that will affect the world.

Just imagine if all the money we have wasted on war had been spent on building roads, schools, hospitals and other socially beneficial resources?