tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5133793244416752440.post7305162450338220311..comments2024-02-26T19:20:15.793-08:00Comments on Cowries and Rice: Mali, the Chinese Military, and the Chinese PeopleWinslow Robertsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08914945154359674378noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5133793244416752440.post-21017634193687580032013-01-25T08:19:10.039-08:002013-01-25T08:19:10.039-08:00I thought that sounded funny, but I just thought i...I thought that sounded funny, but I just thought it was a little theatrical phrasing on the part of the commentator, I did not bother to go to the original Chinese, so thank you for catching that, I will change it right away.<br /><br />While a lot of internet comments in the U.S. are pretty awful, I do think they reflect a not insubstantial portion of U.S. opinion, misguided as it can be sometimes. I think we still have like 20% of the population who believe Obama is not a U.S. citizen and another 20% who are not sure. And, of course, some of those people are elected representatives... In short, these sort of comments are valuable.<br /><br />Finally, in my limited experience, the Chinese state can manipulate anti-foreign sentiments quite well (whether they are such feelings are there to begin with is the topic of another discussion) and I see no reason how the state could not turn a war into popular policy (if the U.S. can do so, why not China ;) ). I do not know whether China will inevitably send soldiers to an African country, but if they were to do so, wouldn't it help at home? As Tendai said, there are many smart, sensitive, worldly Chinese people out there, and it is not uncommon to hear such people say they want China to flex its military muscle.Winslow Robertsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08914945154359674378noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5133793244416752440.post-41679860600464485282013-01-23T21:24:20.251-08:002013-01-23T21:24:20.251-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Tendaihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07819675452571856841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5133793244416752440.post-11223697401349970052013-01-23T20:25:11.453-08:002013-01-23T20:25:11.453-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Winslow Robertsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08914945154359674378noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5133793244416752440.post-60445139953076674802013-01-23T20:11:40.127-08:002013-01-23T20:11:40.127-08:00There's a significant mistranslation in this C...There's a significant mistranslation in this CAP translation: 马里最大的外贸伙伴是中国 gets translated incorrectly as "Mali is China's biggest trading partner," which is of course absurd and should read "China is Mali's largest trade partner." Good that you back off at the end from the conclusion that netizen comments on a piece like that are representative. God help us if comments on Yahoo! news were truly representative of American public opinion.kaiserkuohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14138469500850064698noreply@blogger.com