Mr. Hu, Tear Down This Firewall!!!

[Jeff]

China's decision to block YouTube this week because someone dared post video of protestors being brutalized is yet another example of why this country -- apparently deemed "too big to let fail" -- does not belong among the ranks of modern, economically active nations. The country has too difficult a time with that freedom of speech thingy to be enabled by countries in the West that purport to hold free expression among their most cherished values.

As China calls for a new global currency to challenge the influence of the dollar, builds its military, and tars its critics for holding a "cold war mindset" while propping up regimes like those in North Korea, Burma, and Darfur; oppressing its own people and the people of Tibet; poisoning its own environment, and exporting toxic products abroad, we should all take a moment to reflect. China is not a nation too big to let fail; it is an economic and ecological disaster waiting to happen that will make our current problems look like a lovely spring day by comparison. The "global community" needs seriously to begin discussing what to do about China...needs to look at China -- economically, ecologically, militarily -- as the problem (or host of problems) that it is.