FFM

Prior to 1840 China looked at itself as the center of civilization with no desire to conquer other nations. From 1840 until the 1940's China was basically a colony of other nations and this was disgraceful from their perspective. They are determined to never have it happen again. Per the BBC presently the U.S. has 11 aircraft carriers and China has one. The United States has half the military power in the world. Historically China's world influence was more economic than militarily. For these reasons many believe China is not interested in colonization. This is the background leading to the creation and implementation of a long range plan for China to regain it's power and influence. The western world needs to wake up. China may not be interested in conquering the rest of the world, but surely they want to be in a position of influence and strength so they will be able to wield "soft power" backed by military and economic might. One Hundred Year Marathon I

I am not opposed to charter schools in principle, but their flourishing has significantly contributed to the deficits many public schools are experiencing. In other words the state is partially at fault for these deficits. Take Detroit as an example. DPS has the infrastructure, buildings and other overhead, to handle a much larger student population then it presently has. This is because of : 1. The city is losing population and 2. charter schools are taking students from the public schools and funding from the state goes with the student. When a student leaves the public school system and goes to a charter revenue flows away from the public school but much of the fixed cost of owning and operating a building remain with the public school. The states' own policies are contributing to mounting deficits at many public schools. To add insult to injury the state then threatens to take over financially troubled schools and turn them over to an Emergency Manager and so far the scho