05.10.11
Sell-outs, easy to find and freshly packed
A reader sends in a piece collecting recent espionage convictions. All of them collaborations between Chinese handlers and American sell-outs.
It is not particularly surprising given our national character and the sheer size of military development and manufacturing. It stands to reason that a certain percentage can always be turned with money as a lure.
An excerpt:
Today’s “agents” are professors and engineers, businessmen exporting legitimate products while also shipping restricted technology and munitions, criminal capitalists who see only dollar signs. While some may be acting at the direction of a government handler, others supply information to firms for either private enterprise or state-sponsored research — or both.
The full article is here.
I’ve never thought much of Chinese efforts to steal everything. From movies and music to military gear, whatever it is, they’re copyists — sometimes good, often very bad.
And it’s not like we haven’t fostered it. It’s has been to corporate America’s advantage to sell off the nation’s treasure to China for the sake of cheap labor. You get back what you’ve asked for, apparently.
It is much like the occasional story in which Fender or Gibson’s businesses in the US complain about Chinese counterfeits being sold on eBay, all probably made in the factories both companies commissioned to outsource labor.
In other words, karmically, they have it coming.
In terms of military hardware or dual use things, just because that labor is protected in the US for national security reasons really makes no difference in the great fire sale.
As a last note, these types of stories — always mentioning how China is modernizing its military — do show that country’s far from infallible.
Take the case of buying the old unfinished ex-Commie aircraft carrier, the Varyag.
To which one can say, it’s a big target.
Refurbishing things that are already obsolete should be encouraged. It’s like finding people who believe polishing turds is a great idea. Since we have some of them here, why shouldn’t the Chinese have some of the fun, too?
Everyone else is doing it according to this story.
The middle class gets the chop but at least we’ve inspired military penis envy — in Spain, among others.