I play Chinese Chess. It is a game primarily of position. Western approaches to the game, in which players muster strength and keep track of pawns eliminated, fail in the face of bold sacrifices that may lose key pieces in order to gain an unconquerable position. It is a game of rapid movement and development, unlike its European cousin, where pieces create fortifications that must be assailed. In Chinese Chess, everything is in motion in a very un-Western-like way.

Which brings me to Iran… the USA/Israel axis wants to keep Iran from having a nuclear weapon, and have even hinted that a war may be needed to enforce that wish. While China would prefer to get its oil from Iran without trouble, it can withstand a war with Iran interrupting its energy supplies. China knows it’s going to experience a huge downturn in its economy in the near future. Why not take all its lumps at once? In exchange for that sacrifice, the USA becomes horribly entangled in Iran.

Ten years down the road, China would emerge from its second Cultural Revolution with its house restored to order – after considerable hardship and loss of lives – and the USA would be either wrecked on the rocks of the Middle East, or perilously close to such a fate.

What if the USA stays out of Iran? Well, ten years down the road, the USA may be in better financial and military shape, but China will have a nuclear-armed ally to secure the other side of the Central Asian petrochemical field. That, in turn, would necessitate an alliance with Russia to act as a counter to Chinese power. Should China have closer ties with Russia, then the USA would be looking at a period of decline until China and Russia have their eventual falling-out…

So, basically, Iran holds the USA in check. Either we have a war with it or ignore it, either option to China’s benefit.

Apple moved only 5 million of its iPhone 5 products, on expectations of 8-10 million. Slow sales are one thing… slave riots in Chinese factories is another. FoxConn shut down the iPhone 5 production facility in Taiyuan after 2000 workers rioted there yesterday. Apple has already shrugged off accusations of horrendous labor conditions in its Chinese sweatshops and the factory will only be closed a few days, so no big worry, right?

Well… seems as though FoxConn is tossing around ideas to slap its own sticker on the iPhone 5 and market it as an OEM brand. They’re the ones that make it, after all. Apple has no other manufacturing facilities, so if FoxConn wants to pull a Bill Gates and leave its partner in the dust after it’s learned all it can from said partner… looks like they’d be able to pull it off.

This matters in a huge way because Apple stock seems to be the refuge of last resort for many a pension fund. The stock has already slipped 2% on news of the slow sales. How much more would it drop if FoxConn terminated its contract? And then what of the pensions that are desperately trying to recover the money they lost in 2008?

For those of you watching corporate media or living inside salt shakers – because the view of the world is roughly the same – China and Japan are close to blows over a set of rocks in the East China Sea. These rocks have lots of petrochemicals underneath them, but that’s not the big contention.

It’s the 81st anniversary of Japan’s unapologized-for invasion of Manchuria, and Japan’s assertion of sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands right up on that anniversary makes their move infinitely more insulting to China. Think of how we’d feel if Japan took control of a few outlying Hawaiian Islands on or about December 7. Well, it’s worse than that in China on account of their millions more of casualties from their war with Japan.

Anti-Japanese riots are all over China. The Chinese are sending 1000 fishing boats into the waters around the disputed islands. Each of these boats are updated with the latest in technology and have a multi tool to them that does everything. If the Japanese don’t stop them, then the Chinese will declare that they have a stronger claim on the islands. If the Japanese try to stop them, then China will claim a causus belli. China either gets the two points or the penalty shots, to use a basketball metaphor.

I’m flipping my lid over this because the US has a treaty with Japan and this will directly affect us even more than the anti-American rampages going through the Muslim world. That stuff, we pretty much expect. This business between China and Japan is something we need to be focused on, and our focus needs to be in finding a way to keep this conflict from escalating. Even if it only leads to a trade war, its effects will be devastating.

China makes nearly all the rare earths used in wireless technology – imagine a world in which there are no new cell phones or other like telecom devices. That’s just the start. Never mind preventing a shooting war, we need to halt the trade war.

For those that missed it, the basic story goes thusly: reckless driver kills a woman in her car. She has a $100,000 policy with Progressive for death or disability due to a vehicular accident. Progressive not only questions negligence without a court ruling against the other driver, it represents that other driver in court in that very negligence case.

To be sure, Progressive claims it was only looking out for its interests in the case and not really representing the other driver, but to represent its interests it worked to find that driver not negligent. This is not what corporations should do. Yes, they can do it, but that doesn’t mean they should. I always deal with call 1800 Truck Wreck if something happens on the road, they are rigorous at taking done in notes all the details, which can prove valuable against these corportations.

This corporation, like so many others (HSBC, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Countrywide, Enron, etc, etc…) is not acting in the best interests of the people of this nation. It should not operate in such a fashion. Yes, there’s shareholders to consider as part of a fiduciary responsibility, but that’s only due to laws that were written precisely to require that corporations behave like antisocial jerks at best and sociopathic mass murderers on other occasions – so as to increase profitability.

A corporation that puts all its emphasis on profitability is of no use to a people. We have massive problems in America and around the world because of corporations exploiting loopholes in laws that they’ve written in order to garner massive profits that would not have been otherwise possible. We will continue to have these problems if we do not change the fundamental nature of corporations.

Once upon a time, it was a felony for a person from a corporation to lobby a member of Congress. Once upon a time, owners of a corporation could be sued personally for the gross negligence of their company or its employees. With all the crap about teachers being responsible for things that are totally out of their control, how about we instead train those same cannons of responsibility on corporations and hold them responsible for the things that they actually can control, like pollution, high-frequency trading, collaboration with terrorists, funding nuclear weapons projects, and – yes – taking the side of the man that killed your sister for the sake of a few dollars’ profit.

Uganda has another outbreak of Ebola. The president there is asking everyone to refrain from touching anyone else for the duration of the outbreak. That is the only 100% certain way to avoid contracting the virus. If you’re currently touching Ugandans, you need to stop, NOW.

However, if you want to continue touching Ugandans, take precautions. Cover yourself head-to-toe in a biological warfare protection system. That should limit your exposure to Ebola.

This outbreak is serious business, and I truly do hope its impact is limited.

I came home from Russia to see a news report of how Joe Paterno is being consigned to the memory hole. His public legacy is being effaced. His memory will not live on: like Leon Trotsky, he’s becoming a non-person in his homeland.

Then I saw a report about how gangsters in suits are running the nation from their big bank boardrooms. Kleptocracy is alive and well and is in Jamie Dimon’s guest house.

The food is better here, but that’s a superficial difference. I still feel like I’m under surveillance by an authoritarian government that maintains the trappings of democracy. And then, just as I wrote that, a propaganda blast from AARP broadcast itself to me. For what it’s worth, I wasn’t bombarded with propaganda in Russia, except in their Victory museums. So I suppose that’s the difference I needed to know about: if I’m under surveillance in a nation run by gangsters in suits where people can go down the memory hole, I could be anywhere. If, however, I’m being bombarded by unlimited corporate propaganda, then I’m in the USA.