That's a suicide mission. They only know how to build giant fireworks.

The backwardness of people is why China do these things as they soon ascend as the new economical superpower, they need to promote how far they have come. They are using _us_ (Sweden) as a raw material supplier. =D

Yes, of course. Their successes in the financial areas as Capitalists give the lie to their leaders holding on to power while they pretend to be good little Communists. They give a little freedom and then they take it away. But inch by inch the Red Chinese gov't is starting to FEAR their people. They gave the people a taste of Western style Capitalism and they want more. The only way that China's leaders can hold on to power is to set popular goals such as a manned Moon mission and a space station. The Chinese people who happen to be enlightened enough to hope to imitate the West in certain matters are the ones to get things done. Without Chinese intellectuals, the ChiComm govt cannot get the moral support needed for such goals, and the peasantry are too busy just trying to survive.

The Chinese aren't communists in the strict Marxist sense of the word. Individuals are allowed to amass personal wealth, some companies are privately owned, (the government can buy them out at any time however the owners do receive compensation) immigration and emmigration are also permitted.

Wow. I love the West. They have screwed their people to such an extent that they see only themselves as perfect, capable of doing great things and infallible. NEWS FLASH!!!! They'll do it whether the West likes it or not. Once the West used to call for "human rights," in China, now they see the most powerful and they call for more trade and no "human rights." It was all part of a plan to defeat China, but they failed. I guess the west says "if you can't defeat them, join them." So stop yapping and pointing at China, and fix your own problems. Any Westerner who thinks they are free or they can change a government's decision, is a moron fool. Your governments have setup a system that no one has time to protest to a certain government's decision.

Ignore the barbarians ChangBroot. The future belongs to you.
I think that I know what is happening.
Whoever controls L4 and L5 will be the gatekeepers to the Cosmos. This tiny little rock has reached it's carrying capacity.
One out of the gravity well there will be no need to drop down any other.
The void is proving to be rich in all the ingredients to sustain individual wealth beyond measure.
The barbarians have had their day.

@ ChanqBroot: Agreed on the backwardness of people, not seeing progress in others. As for the rest, not agreed:

- Rosling's statistics shows that democracy works to make societies functional. Ironically together with free markets and social medicine, the latter would by some here be defined as "communist" medicine despite being mainly a democratic state trait. It helps provide social security, which is detrimental to fundamentalists of all kinds including political hardcore ideologues.

- An example suffice to reject your claim on how democratic systems works in practice.

In Sweden we have in cases many layers of social input.

[Which slows up the _decision makings of governments_. You can protest road constructions et cetera if you live in the affected area. That adds years on building just anything.]

@ Egleton: Statistics reject your claim on carrying capacity limits reached.

And we know many leads to improve on land use, for example Venter's projected bacterial technology for nutrients, fuels, plastics and medicines. For good reasons we can predict we are orders of magnitude from our technologies constraints on Earth carrying capacity.

The "barbarians" are those who built the current global civilization, I take it.

And nearly all nations are joining it. Certainly China took off when they allowed sufficient amounts of the three needed ingredients (democracy - still a one party state, but at least no single dictator; free markets - which was China's problem; and social medicine - early adopters).

Barbarians would be those that reject functional societies for utopian non-realizable goals that always screw people over. See communism for a grandiose but failed example.

I don't care about politics or geography, I'm just glad that some nation is trying to move the human space presence forward.

Barbarians are ill mannered boors. They come in all shapes and sizes.
The USA might like to try democracy. They have become Fascists. Definition: Fascism is when commerce and industry controls government. They might also like to try Capitalism.

I have faith in the Limits to Growth report. Civilization will be saved by a much smaller population at the end of this century.

Further, exponential growth always has a doubling time. The population doubling time is 35 years and falling. How many more times can we double the planet's population? 2,4,8,16? Pick a number.

We convert 10 units of oil energy into 1 unit of food energy. This has enabled us to increase the population from 1.2Billion when I was born to 7 Billion now. And the oil is going away.

There is only one way out of this trap without resorting to genocide.
We must go UP.

The Chinese aren't communists in the strict Marxist sense of the word. Individuals are allowed to amass personal wealth, some companies are privately owned, (the government can buy them out at any time however the owners do receive compensation) immigration and emmigration are also permitted.

-dav

Nevertheless, the ChiComm leaders wield their power in a monstrous way when those of their citizens display any form of dissent as a punishment for a show of individualism and a desire for human rights. Authors are thrown in jail or house arrest for criticizing the political establishment. The Chinese professor who was arrested and feared for his wife and child after he escaped. Sec'y of State Hillary Clinton assisted them in coming to the U.S.

And the man in China who was told to leave his home without adequate compensation, along with other villagers who also were told to get out...the ChiComms brought in bulldozers and ran over him, crushing his whole body as onlookers stood by.

There seems to be a problem involving cruelty on the part of some of the Chinese population in mainland China. It's doubtful that it is inherent in their culture, although that too is a possibility. It is most evident in their almost ritual murder of girl babies, while boys are to be desired, especially when only one child is allowed per couple.
The cruelty is carried over into relationships between neighbors and even in extended families. But those who have certain positions to whom peasants must go, appear to be overzealous in their realization that they have power over the people and, in some cases, power over life and death.

So, with such things happening to innocent Chinese, it is imperative for the ChiComm gov't to do their best of getting the peoples' minds off their troubles, and turning them into cheerleaders of the Chinese space age, with much pride. I wish them good luck.

It's doubtful that it is inherent in their culture, although that too is a possibility. It is most evident in their almost ritual murder of girl babies, while boys are to be desired, especially when only one child is allowed per couple.

Hello lying dumpmeister

-So like you to categorize and disparage an entire ethnic group over the actions of individuals you BIGOT.

Sec'y of State Hillary Clinton assisted them in coming to the U.S.

But... clinton is a PROGRESSIVE how could this be? Maybe she needed coolies to work in her garden -?