bullshit. if we were to step in at every wrong-doing, we'd never stop fighting with -someone-.

its time we stop trying to be world's policemen. we suck at it and no one really wants us to do this job anymore.

there are SO many things we could spend money on HERE at home.

sure wish we'd tend to our own problems and let the M.E. work out its own civil wars and such. the more we try over there, the less we succeed. everyone can see this (but those that sign checks don't actually care, as long as the checks clear).

its easy: we have military 'toys' we need to use. if we want MORE next year ('we' do; well, 'they' do) then we have to spend what we have this year.

its only about our MIL and keeping those who run it ultra wealthy.

don't confuse justice or Doing The Right Thing(tm) here. its about us using our military to keep people convinced that we need to KEEP spending on 'defense'.

follow the money. like always.

These are excellent thoughts. But consider that the Chinese don't like the Koreans don't like the Japanese don't like the Chinese. They buy our debt to keep significant U.S. presence in the Far East. IOW, among our chief exports is stability.
So, badly as most would agree we need to trim that DoD budget, everybody else has to start picking up their own local tabs. Which they are rushing to avoid.

Booga-booga-booga! to you, too, good sir.

Not that that one's not good, but it really has little to do with the current discussion. You might be thinking of The Power of Nightmares , perhaps?

I live in Stockholm, and you've obviously no idea what you're talking about.

"Altruism is TEH EVIL!" --Motto of neocons everywhere. Or maybe it's Al-Qaeda. I confuse them sometimes.

That's one thing that truly sucks about Mainland China. In order to use most free wifi hotspots there, you must register with a Chinese mobile number.

Or talk the girl at the counter into letting you have her passcode and phone number. (It helps if she thinks you're exotic and cute.)

According to Wikipedia, the 10 largest national capitals by population are:
Beijing
Tokyo
Moscow
Seoul
Djakarta
Tehran
Ciudad de México
Lima
Bangkok
London

So, no, it doesn't.

Except that the points originally being touted as positives were the ones that were identified in the response as being temporary.

Hong Kong is pretty small, and remains quite distinct from the Chinese mainland as regards political system, economy (including banking and currency), infrastructure, language, personal freedoms, educational system, border control, etc., etc. It is essentially a separate entity over which Beijing gets to exercise bragging rights.

Is that really the best you can come up with?

No member state has ever left the EU, although each state has the right to do so.

The remainder of your assertions are also highly suspect.

It's not just about speed. It's also about security and privacy. Given the proclivity of Singapore to micro-manage its citizens' lives, I doubt your data is very private. Remember, this is a place where chewing gum is illegal.

"Maybe the real state secret is that spies aren't very good at their jobs and don't know very much about the world."