victor: i was reading this article today and just make me wonder about the situation over in east-asia. The Sino-Japanese (Korean-Japanese, Korean-Korean, China-Taiwan) situation has been prevalent in the region since WW2. Right now I would characterize the region as in a uneasy-peace. The Japanese, although formally have apologized for the WW2 atrocities, refuse to degrade the vernartion of their leaders in war-time because of cultural ideologies. China wont let Taiwan go because, although it took them until the death of Mao, found that Taiwan to be a direct challenge to their legitamacy as the official representative of the Chinese people. Korea, under the grips of communism in the north and consumerism in the south, will never have the pride to back-down and reunite. Is this all a result of cultural ideologies clashing with global politics? The world is running on a system developed by western cultures. Western time, western economics, and western politics are all essential in gaining a political foothold on the world scene. Yet, obviously not all cultures share the same values and mentalities as Europe and America, so there will be inconsistancies when trying to integrate these two systems into one. So where will this all lead us? The Europeans went through a simliarly drastic change around the turn of the 20th century which resulted in things from the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, the rise of Facism in Spain, Italy, and Germany, two world wars, and a general upheavel of the entire continent. Of course they have implemented the UN following WW2 (and with the failure of the League of Nations in mind) but it is by no means a perfect institution. Just consider the Rwanda and Darfur situtaion where the UN neglected the blantant genocide of a entire population. I dont see the asian situation getting as much out of hand as it did in Europe but there are some striking similarities in the tensions and developments lately. I feel that the world is still going through growing pains in adjusting the this new "flat-globe" policy (yes its economics but you could argue it as a political one). Those governments need to come to grips with their situations and resolve them otherwise it will be a power-keg that is just waiting to blow up.  ¶ 3:23 PM