Quote Originally Posted by JMA View Post
The inability to articulate the US interests in the region could be construed that certain positions taken by some are not based on any credible intellectual basis, yes?
Equally, lack of desire to articulate them to someone who lives apparently only to refute disagreements on any pretext can be confused with inability...

Most of us engage in discussions that have merit in our opinion and tend to avoid specious arguments. Most of us...
Do the Senkaku Islands mean anything to you by any chance?
Yep, all those Chineses claims have been of interest since the Quemoy-Matsu discussions here in 1960. The Senkaku / Diaoyu were occupied by us, rightly or wrongly, as the Senkaku and part of Okinawa after WW II until the early 70s. We wisely divested ourselves when the potential for oil and / or gas was first publicly mentioned in 1969 and the 'who owns them' argument, shrouded in a tangled history and muddled perhaps by the Qings began to trickle out. The ongoing claim and counterclaim has been going on ever since then and I've followed it for over 50 years. How about you?