Hat in hand and hungry people.

Obama leaves China more or less with his hat in his hand. On major issues he wanted China to agree to such as changing the value of the Chinese currency and possibly putting sanctions on Iran he got nowhere. A Chinese specialist at Cornell University was quoted in the New York Times November 18th as saying: "China effectively stage managed President Obama's public appearances, got him to make statements endorsing Chinese positions of political importance to them and effectively squelched discussion of contentious issues such as human rights and China's currency policy." Another commentator wrote: "This is no longer the United States-China relationship of old but an encounter between a weakened giant and a comer with a bit of its own swagger. Washington's comparative advantage in past meetings is now diminished, a fact clearly not lost on the Chinese."

Part of the reason for the declining dominance of the US in the Chinese US relationship is the economic crisis of the US. The seriousness of this crisis was shown by the recent report from the US Agriculture Department. It reported that there is increased hunger in the US. The number of families that reported struggling to buy enough food in 2008 was up 31%, yes 31%,

on 2007. 17 million households reported some degree of food insecurity in 2008 up from 13 million in 2007. The figures from the Department of Agriculture are not in yet for 2009. But food banks report that those seeking help in the summer of 2009 was up another 30% from the summer of 2008.

Let us put it in terms of numbers of people. About 49 million people in the US, including about 17 million children, worried last year about getting enough to eat. On top of this, the number of households in which children were exposed to "very low food security" rose to 506,000 from 323,000. Very low food security is defined as households where "members skipped meals, cut portions or passed on food at some point in the year because they lacked money." MIllions of Americans are starving. I wonder did Obama discuss this with the Chinese elite when he was meeting with them.

Finally on the arrogance of US Imperialism. After 9/11 they went out into the world and illegally kidnapped anybody they felt like. To pretend it was legal they made up a name for anybody they kidnapped - enemy combatants. The truth is they just decided themselves who they would kidnap and did so. Imagine other countries doing this to US citizens. What an outcry would come from Washington.

Having illegally kidnapped these people what did they do then? They shipped them either to countries who would so their dirty work for them and torture these kidnap victims or they imprisoned them in Guantanamo Bay where they tortured them themselves. One guy coming up for trial soon was water boarded over 180 times. But back to Guantanamo Bay. Most Americans had never heard of this place before the kidnappings and 9/11. Where is it? Some far distant land or some bay in the US. no not a bit of it. It is in Cuba, a country which the US has been trying to overthrow for decades. So they keep their kidnap victims in a country whose government they are trying to overthrow. As I say the arrogance of US imperialism is hard to grasp.

Sean