Stuff below the fold, Asian edition

StrategyPage reports: The Philippines is taking China to court about their attempt to take over islets in our economic zone. China intends to ignore the court settlement, because hey, some Chinese fisherfolk fished there in the past.

 China is now attempting to regulate how other countries can use it (for fishing, oil exploration, or even transit via sea or air). Only American military power can provide an obstacle the Chinese cannot just brush aside, at least not without risk of escalation and violent encounters. It has long been American policy to actively oppose the sort of claims China is making. So far American opposition to China has been very restrained and not persuaded the Chinese to slow down.

 So Obama won't do much here, but the Japanese are starting to help.

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by the way: Did you read that China's stock market just crashed? No problem...they are arresting folks who are spreading the truth of the matter rumors.

So it's not just Greece who might destroy the world economy.

and as this pundit points out, a similar "crash" preceeded the US stock market crash of 2008, so this might bode another financial crisis...

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MedievalistNet discusses how Romans and Greeks (or Greek/Persians) influenced China in the good old days.

 Modern Western scholars do not have many tools to investigate the subject seriously, and they are very cautious when it comes to Chinese national history. The subject can hurt national sensibilities, because it is situated at the crossroads of major ancient civilisations, and some might regard investigating the interactions in that area as taboo. 

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DUKU2.0...the cyberwar continues.

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