Agreed. Taiwan would be a prelude to a China conflict the way slavery was a prelude to the U.S Civil War. It really wasn't the cause, just one of the hot-point manifestations of the debate over states rights that was never settled after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

As China's economy grows, and hence as their influence on all issues worldwide grows, the issue of recource allocation is going to be forced. And almost all wars are about resources nowadays. China will get what they need, or they will get more and more pushy, and more and more difficult to deal with peacefully.

The noise they are making about Taiwan is positioning. Positioning on all sides is taking place all the time. If it is positioning that has suddenly become more prominent, or is getting a lot more attention, then THAT is significant. If you've read any of my long-winded rants on previous threads, then you might remember my prediction that China will become the next great superpower. They will get a turn at the top next. That much seems pretty certain given their growing economy and the momentum their population will create. History proves nobody stays on top forever. Not believing that is just a manifestation of ego- and ethno-centrism.

With China on deck, the real question is: Who's in the hole?

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Don of Borg - Cool, Calm, Collective.

"Within the next generation I believe that the world's leaders will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley