Mike Weinstein's Blog
Posted by Mike Weinstein
Imagine that the powerful drug cartels of Colombia, major cocaine suppliers to the United States, asked the United States to legalize the drug. Imagine, still, that the United States refused, and that the drug cartels then sent heavily armed members to American airports. Once at the airports, the drug lords then forced American authorities, at gunpoint, to admit cartel couriers carrying cocaine into the country.
This is more or less what happened to China in the mid-19th century. The Opium Wars, instigated by Great Britain, forced China to allow British traders to bring opium into China. Britain needed the opium trade to finance its tea imports from China. Opium addiction became rampant in China.
This episode shows how different world-wide standards were 150 years ago. Would the world stand by today if the United States tried to force China at gunpoint to buy American automobiles?
The Opium Wars caught China at a time when the country was in a steep decline. Isolated from and ignorant of western industrial and military technology, China had been inward-looking for far too long. Militarily and technologically, it was easy for western countries to take advantage of China. And 19th-century mores did nothing to protect China.
Posted by Mike Weinstein
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Krakatoa is that it has already spawned another volcano that is 1,500 feet high. It is a stark and visible reminder of the power of natural forces.
Before 1883, Krakatoa was a small island between Java and Sumatra in the Indonesian archipelago. The massive eruption in 1883 obliterated the island of Krakatoa. Within days of the eruption, the mountain disappeared and the sea took its place. Yet within a matter of years, new explosions began spewing more lava. Repeately, hardened lava would begin to accumulate above the sea only to be destroyed by the waves.
By 1930, a fourth island appeared above Krakotoa's drowned caldera, and it continues to grow today. Rising at a rate of five inches per year, it smokes, gurgles and belches. Known as Anak Krakatoa, or child of Krakatoa, geologic principles tell us it is bound to explode again.
The Indonesian government has installed monitoring equipment on Anak Krakatoa. A monitoring station has been built on the west coast of Java, within line of sight of Anak Krakatoa. The hope is that the monitoring equipment will give human society more advance notice when Anak Krakatoa is ready to erupt compared to father Krakatoa's eruption. All the equipment in the world can't stop the eruption.
Indonesia is predominantly a Muslim country. It is also a land of many volcanoes. No matter what the Koran says, many Indonesians believe in the ancient spiritis of volcanoes. It will be interesting to see how Indonesians react spiritually if and when Anak Krakatoa erupts.
Posted by Mike Weinstein
The Rape of Nanking (now known as Nanjing) remains for me one of the most horrific, yet virtually unknown, acts that humans have committed upon one another. The relative obscurity of this atrocity is especially strange given that it occurred in the well-documented 20th century. Even more so because it is more or less wrapped up in the events of World War II, one of the best documented events in history.
The massacres, rapes and murders by Japanese soldiers in the winter of 1937-38 are recounted in gory detail (with even gorier photographs) in Iris Chang's book, The Rape of Nanking. Be warned, it is a very strong book. I could only read one chapter at a time.
Humans, uniquely in the animal world, have an amazing capacity to inflict cruelty upon one another. It's a characteristic that crosses racial, ethnic, sexual and national boundaries. Yet hardly anyone knows about the Rape of Nanking.
It seems like everyone knows about Adolf Hitler, the Nazi storm troopers, the concentration camps like Auschwitz and Dachau, and atrocities committed against the Jews of Europe. As a nation, the Germans have been trying to make amends for these deeds ever since the end of World War II. Outbreaks of fascism in Germany are routinely criticized as harshly inside Germany as they are outside the country.
But look at Japan and Nanking. The Japanese have never been busted by world opinion for the atrocities in Nanking, many Japanese textbooks still attempt to deny that it ever happened and there seems to be great support today in Japan for the country's militaristic past. In domestic politics, it has been considered an advantage for politicians to embrace the controversial Yakusuni Shrine, home to Japanese heroes and war criminals.
Why the difference? Because post-World War II media was dominated by the West and the West has traditionally been more interested in Europe than in Asia? Because Western schools have historically taught history with an emphasis on European events rather than Asian affairs? Or are the Jews better at PR than the Chinese?
Posted by Mike Weinstein
An interesting historical figure emerges from the story of Islam's spread through Asia. Kabir was born of humble origins to Muslim parents in the Hindu holy city of Banaras. Kabir rejected the trappings of organized religion--the rituals, the dogmatic scriptures and the Hindu concept of caste. Instead, he advocated a simple love of God. Evidently, his independent path was too much for the power structures in both religions. As a threat to the status quo (which is perhaps the gravest blasphemy of all), he was shunned by Muslim and Hindus alike.
Kabir authored many poems, in which he borrowed from both religions. For example:
"O servant, where doest thou seek Me?
Lo! I am beside thee.
I am neither in temple nor in mosque:
Neither am I in rites and ceremonies, nor in Yoga and renunciation."
Kabir was known to chant the name of Rama, one of Hindu's great divinities. This habit antagonized the Muslims (who would not tolerate veneration of any God other than Allah) and it antagonized the Hindus, who considered such chanting by a non-Hindu to be a serious religious offense.
There was some intermingling between Islam and Hinduism as Islam reached India beginning in a big way in the 12th century. Sufi mystics, representing a less dogmatic strain of Islam, made greater efforts than mainstream Muslims to tolerate some Hindu practices. But in general, the two religions remained as uncompromising and separate ideologies.
Over time, Islam acquired millions of converts in India. In the mid-20th century, when India gained its independence from Great Britain, the rigid and dogmatic approach of the two religions caused much violence. The nations of Pakistan and Bangladesh were carved out of India to create overwhelmingly Muslim countries.
Much of Kabir's life is shrouded in mystery, and many myths have grown up around the man. Even his birth and death dates are in question. The Perennial Dictionary of World Religions puts Kabir's dates at 1440-1518. He is now recognized as a saint in India, and a religious community (Kabir Panth) has been organized to preserve his teachings.
Posted by Mike Weinstein
The rise of Mittal Steel is full of irony.
The world's biggest steel company, built and controlled by an entrepreneur from India, has just agreed to acquire the biggest steel maker in Europe. Mittal Steel already controls some of the biggest names in U.S. steel history, including Bethlehem Steel and others.
For many years, western nations used military and financial strength to extract wealth from Asian countries. Now, the intellectual and financial acumen of Asia, in the person of Lakshmi Mittal, is coming to the fore.
One American historian has already sounded the alarm about foreign control of a vital industry like steel. Writer Mark Reutter authored a book called Making Steel, which is a look at the famous Sparrows Point steel factory in Baltimore (now owned by a Mittal). In an interview last year with American Metal Market, Reutter said, " I am worried about Mittal. Foreign ownership (of U.S. steel mills) is a real problem. I have heard a lot of complaints from people within Mittal Steel about how the company is doing business. I am concerned about (the United States) losing control of its industry. There should have been some debate about that."
There probably wasn't a lot of debate when the British East India Company undercut the Indian cotton industry, when the Dutch East India Company monopolized the spice trade in Indonesia, or when British planters took over the rubber industry in Malaysia.
Mittal has followed in the footsteps of other industrial tycoons, like Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller and Henry Frick. America's industrial titans polished their reputations by building museums, universities and endowing charities. Mittal has agreed to fund a museum about the steel industry to be located in a Cleveland shopping mall.
Finally, Mittal Steel Co.'s name harkens back to the era of 19th-century industrial tycoons, who named companies after themselves-Ford, Goodyear, Carnegie, Frick. The modern business world favors less personalized names-Microsoft, Verizon, Google.
Posted by Mike Weinstein
The subject of Japan and the West raises some interesting issues of historical interpretation.
Virtually every history book describes the 1853 arrival of U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry in Tokyo Bay with naval warships as "opening up" Japan. By its own choice, Japan had excluded foreigners for hundreds of years. But American whaling ships frequented ocean waters around Japan and Japan represented a convenient way station for steamships to bring on coal. In the face of continued Japanese resistance, the U.S. decided to "open up" Japan. What, exactly, entitled the United States to access to Japan? American gunboat diplomacy wasn't as onerous as the British "opening up" China a few decades earlier so they could sell opium to the Chinese. But maybe it's time to find another phrase for such aggressive and obnoxious behavior.
Then there's the other common phrase that goes along with this era of Japanese history--the "restoration" of the emperor. This makes it sound as if Japan was renewing a feudal, autocratic form of government. In fact, just the opposite was happening in the late 19th century. The rigid, feudal rule of the shoguns, which had endured for hundreds of years, was overthrown by some young, rebellious gentry (called samurai in Japan). The rebels nominally put the emperor in charge in order to suppress the feudal lords. Once they gained control of the government, the rebels developed a constitution and representative legislature for Japan. In Europe, representative government emanated from popular pressure by newly emerging middle and merchant classes. In Japan, representative government was initiated from above by the government.
As Japan mimicked Western military, business and political methods in the 19th century, it also copied an unsavory element of Western civilization--colonialism. By World War II, Japan had invaded and controlled much of Southeast Asia, which still haunts Japan's relationships with its neighbors.
Posted by Mike Weinstein
Thailand recently celebrated the anniversary of the world's longest-reigning monarch, at 60 years.
Of the top five long-lived monarchies, four are in Asia and four are island nations. According to Reuters, the oldest current monarchies are:
- Thailand at 60 years.
- United Kingdom at 54 years.
- Samoa at 44 years.
- Tonga at 40 years.
- Brunei at 38 years.
Beyond the geographic groupings, I'm not sure if there's a pattern here.
Samoa, Tonga and Brunei are all small island nations in the South Pacific. Brunei is ethnically diverse, and Islam is the official religion. It's wealthy from oil and natural gas production. Most inhabitants of Tonga and Samoa are Polynesian and Christian, and many of them rely on subsistance agriculture and fishing.
Are island nations more isolated and therefore more inclined toward a tradition-bound monarchy? Do the traditional imperatives of Asian social values favor monarchies?
Great Britain is an interesting member of this list. Maybe it's an island thing.
Posted by Mike Weinstein
The recent article by Bertil Lintner in Asia Times describing the expansion of Chinese merchants into Asian Russia indirectly raises some interesting issues. On the surface, this is nothing new. For hundreds of years, overseas Chinese have left their homeland seeking their fortunes elsewhere. Overseas Chinese have played a signficant role in the economies of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam. Chinese restaurants are ubiquitous in America. Even Vernal, Utah, has not one, but two, of them.
So what's so interesting about the overseas Chinese going to Russia?
For one thing, Mr. Lintner informs us that the population of Asian Russia dropped in the last 15 years from 9 million to 7 million. This mirrors the demographics for the entire country. Russia's population is collapsing and its life expectancy is declining. In eastern Russia, at least, it seems the Chinese are moving into the breach.
According to Mr. Lintner, Asian Russia is now flooded with Chinese products while Russian factories close. Mr. Lintner also tells us that China is now dominating the food supply for Asian Russia. And he raises the very interesting issue of Asian Russia becoming economically separated from European Russia. Is this the continued disintegration of the old Soviet Union?
Finally, we have the interesting parallel between the overseas Chinese in Asia and the Jews in pre-modern Europe. In both cases, we have successful merchants who are visibly recognizable as outsiders and often unpopular with the locals. Now, the Asian Jews are moving into Russia. Are the Cossacks still around?