Do what I say not what I do!

Rumsfeld is again warning China against their large military budget and it has fallen into deaf ears both in China and else where. It is hard to be convincing when you are trying to tell others not to do things that you do much more. It is like telling India and Pakistan not to have nuclear weapons. Even though the message may be correct, without setting an example, it just comes across as hypocritical. The US likes to tell people to be like them. Militarily, China is trying to be more like the US, acquiring the same kinds of capabilities. They see how the projection of military power has helped the US to accomplish its economic and diplomatic goals, and they want it. They see how military technology helps advance civilian technology and economic and they think it is a good thing. To have one power that is doing them is bad enough we really don’t need two. But then, the US, being the one already doing them, is hardly the convincing one to say it. If the US really wants to be the moral leader, they should start by cutting their military budget in half (they would still have by far the largest budget in the world) and destroying all their nuclear weapons. Then, they will have a moral position from which to speak. Well, that is not going to happen, is it?