Either it's really low or really high. If their entire cyber warfare (I hate this word) command is 30 operators, then it becomes pretty simple to make these combatants ineffective during a conflict. In time of peace, you keep them covered with intelligence assets and take them out if the opportunity presents.

This strategy would be much more difficult to execute at 300 or 3000 such specialists. And it's China. You're telling me there are only 30 people in China that meet the PLA's rigorous standards for super hacker?

Fuck. That.

The primary kill vectors of an air burst nuclear strike are overpressure and initial radiation (there's a specific term for this but I can't recall what it is). While the classic duck and cover drills of the cold war may have been more about calming the public than protecting the masses (or at least that's how we perceive it now) in some instances, duck and cover would be effective. Depending on the distance from the blast something between you and the initial flash and pressure wave would be the difference between life and death--or at least death and survivable injury.

A very cogent argument. What happens when the callcenter workers begin to unionize? As another poster pointed out, the influx of jobs will undoubtedly increase standards of living across Asia. It may take 15 years but Big Blue will be griping about wage costs being too high in Bangalore and start eyeing Africa next...which leads me to an interesting notion: civilization through offshoring. Where missionaries, aid organizations and Bono have failed thus far, will corporationg seeking lower labor costs (ugh, nothing makes me feel better about my job than being considered a cost of doing biz by my employer) succeed?

Internationalization isn't a bad thing; making 10 year olds work in sweat shops is.