China's economy faltered, but unlike ours, is now experiencing a strong recovery. How come? Perhaps because China's stimulus plan, using its own money, targeted building infrastructrue and putting people to work. In contast, most American (borrowed) stimulus money flowed to banks, enabling them to continue paying their Bernie-Madoff-style managers their usual million dollar bonuses. Yukio Hatoyama, the recently elected Japanese prime minister, hit it right on the button when he called American-style capitalism '"void of morals or moderation" (New York Times, Sept.1 2009). Japan, by the way, like all industrialized countries except the U.S., has health care for all -socialism, that is.

There are other reasons as well, or course. The discovery of the largest oil reserves in the past decades has been of the "sub-salt" deposits beneath the seabed of Brazil's territorial waters. When signing contracts for their development with a state-owned Chinese oil company, Jose Sergio Gabrielli, chief executive of Petrobras, Brazil's part-private, part-public (socialism again!) oil and gas giant, comented, "The Chinese prefer to make agreements rather than to send in their army to secure oil supplies." Could he possibly be thinking of Iraq, with its enormous oil reserves (like next-target Iran's, some of the largest in the world), or Afghanistan, where more than 10 international oil companies have plans for constructing oil and gas pipelines to bring Caspian Sea oil in our direction?

Militarism generates enormous profits for the favorably situated few in predatory empires, but, in the end, drains their economies, leaving behind hospitals full of soldiers with shattered lives. Just ask any Ancient Roman you happen to meet. Each successive war, whether "pre-emptive", or a war of choice or "necessity" - even one to bestow the blessings of a democracy on some benighted, resource-rich country, always ends up as a war of oppression that slaughters the innocent. Just ask any Afghan, Iraqi or Palestinian parent whose child has been killed by American drones, bombs or bullets.

The passing parade of highly-praised generals -MacArthur, Westmoreland, Petraeus, McChrystal- never tire of telling us "success is achievable," but it never seems to happen (Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan), and the bloodbaths go on. Long ago, the British Emprie proved how hard it is to invade and bring the majority of any nation to heel. Long ago, another general, George Washington, offered better advice: it was to avoid far-flung military adventures.