Are links strong enough?For recyclers engaged in international commerce (and that is a healthy percentage this decade), a world in conflict--or one that begins dividing itself into walled off compounds--presents a gloomy prospect. Although the Iron Curtain Iron Curtain Political, military, and ideological barrier erected by the Soviet Union after World War II to seal off itself and its dependent eastern European allies from open contact with the West and other noncommunist areas. has been removed and the Bamboo Curtain Bam·boo Curtain n. A political and ideological barrier between the West and the Communist countries of Asia after the Chinese revolution of 1949. Noun 1. is now opened up with trade zones, there are still parts of the world where outsiders are distrusted and outside ideas forbidden. Some current tensions pose the very real danger of escalating, though optimists hope that international commerce is among the factors that can prevent greater chaos. Throughout the past several years, as violence has increased in parts of the world, international shipping lanes remained busier than at any time in human history. The power of international trade and travel can best be seen in China, a nation that cut itself off from the rest of the world for several decades, its leaders certain that the best course of action was to turn inward and minimize contact with the outside world. The prospect may have seemed attractive compared to the nation's recent involvement with colonialism and Japanese expansionism With the Great Depression, Japan, like some other countries, turned to Fascism. While it was a unique form of the system, probably due to cultural differences, Japan paralleled the western form very closely, as its Feudalism did hundreds of years earlier. . Ultimately, though, by cordoning itself off from the rest of the world, the Chinese government Ever since Republic of China founded in January 1st, 1912, China has had several regional and national governments. List
Critics can rightly accuse Chinese leadership of being very selective in its openness to new ideas "New Ideas" is the debut single by Scottish New Wave/Indie Rock act The Dykeenies. It was first released as a Double A-side with "Will It Happen Tonight?" on July 17, 2006. The band also recorded a video for the track. , as well as reacting slowly to the "have" and "have not" tensions that accompany a move to a market economy. But the openness of the past 20 years in that nation has allowed its people to make connections with people in virtually every other part of the world. Much more so than in the era of the Iron and Bamboo Curtains, the well being of the Chinese government and its people is linked with global stability that keeps shipping lanes open. Some cynics Cynics (sĭn`ĭks) [Gr.,=doglike, probably from their manners and their meeting place, the Cynosarges, an academy for Athenian youths], ancient school of philosophy founded c.440 B.C. by Antisthenes, a disciple of Socrates. have long worried about a "war is good for business" mentality, perhaps envisioning cigar-puffing vendors of munitions mu·ni·tion n. War materiel, especially weapons and ammunition. Often used in the plural. tr.v. mu·ni·tioned, mu·ni·tion·ing, mu·ni·tions To supply with munitions. . Recyclers engaged in international trade know better. |
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