"their intentions go further, and I am with them"
then how can they ever loose?

@justinian:
He had no choice. Believing his PR is really naive. Its far easier to do nothing and be a good king then to fear rebellion sooner or later. Add to that better relations with the rest of the west and it all fits together. He's a real moron incapable of even ruling a small factory.

They've had totalitarianism and it did them no good. They would have had Frances status by now if they wouldn't have been franconised.

@ render:
its not like this forum is very active now is it?

Unfortunately there is no sound to that pic... while the prince was proly singing this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-54wAE7nJI&feature=feedf

"In the past we have seen that every time China hasn't been able to feed its people or when poverty became too great, there were rebellions and revolutions (population unrest) that destroyed the country and forced political reform. However, in this age,"
I agree with you this is a complete other age and should be regarded as such. In this mater, and as interested in china's past as I am, no direct comparison is possible.

"the people actually assume that since the government is able to maintain the miraculous 8% economic growth it will surely become able to feed everyone and fight off poverty,"
But its just not the case. And that's all there is. Propaganda only goes as far. Hungry people do everything.

"if not now then in the future."
I seriously question how. Most of the country is still extremely poor.

"As long as China is able to maintain the magic number it will not have to deal with population unrest."
It is already facing large unrest and invest/loose massive amounts of cash in fighting this kind of unrest. All specialist agree tension can only increase. We are not talking about one source of unrest here. You have Tibet, all sorts of religious riots, democratic movements, starvation, unrest over pollution etc etc.. There are signs the gov is very afraid, almost paranoid over unrest in their country. They tend overact on the slightest sign of any danger that might occur. If anyone should know what is really going on in this field, it will be them.

"We have seen in the past financial crisis that China did manage to maintain said 8%, so why wouldn't it be able to maintain it in the future?"
Notice how this is a percentage, not a real number. That means it shouldn't be compared just like that with western %. But to answer your question: Because we have seen it with any nation with this growth percentages but also because of all other problems china is facing: energy limit, population growing old, pollution, unrest etc etc. You have the natural (bubble) effect any fast growing nation suffers from, it slows down a little and they talk about a crisis scaring investors.

"Don't know much inflation other than it being controlled by the Chinese government to gain a more advantageous market position to sell products to foreign countries at cheaper prices. Is this inflation really such a bad thing?"
When wages increase slower then the prices of consumer products, then the average Chinese gets poorer over time. That is bad for the internal market as well. So when you calc economic growth, you should look to inflation to put it in perspective.

"Nuclear energy perhaps, as China has many areas that are safe for nuclear plants. With control over the media and 99% of the population there will not be as much opposition to more nuclear plants in China as in Western countries. I truly believe this is a way for China to solve any future energy crisis. "
Nuclear energy isn't as cheep as coal energy, but more important it runs on uranium, which isn't endless. If China switches a considerate part of their electricity production to nuclear, prices would skyrocket almost immediately.

"And otherwise they could just force the entirety of the North korean population to run in threadmills to produce energy wink."
lol. But they will face a food problem, unless they let NKoreans eat each other.

"What satellite states?"
Like tibet, part of xinjiang and inner mongolia. The Uyghur people and Tibetans are only 2 examples. But now I'm only talking about china's inside. They try to control some neighbors as well.

"5.) keep on selling stuf?"
"Because people will keep on buying cheap stuff. Especially now, after the financial crisis, has the need for cheap stuff increased. Furthermore, with American dependence on China to buy up its debt, sanctions on China are unrealistic so China will be able to keep exporting cheap stuff to the USA."
China is dependent on USA's grain. That is even more important.

"Other countries who are less in debt (Europe, Latin American countries, other Asian countries, etc.) may not even want to stop buying cheap stuff."
Europe also has a huge debt, maybe less Chinese but ok.

When people become more and more rich (if ever) they will demand more, and production prices will go up.

"China has a very techinolically backward agricultural sector in this time. This could easily be intensified and modernized and made more efficient with newer technologies and the use of various fertilizers. Because of urbanization and China's one child policy, the amount of Chinese land owners who use their land for agricultural means (farmers >.>) should surely decrease, resulting in a larger portion of land being owned by fewer land owners, resulting in the land owners being able to turn bigger profits, afford better machinery and fertilizers, intensifying and modernizing agriculture. This again will result in a larger food production and, therefore, enough food to feed the elderly."
I was talking about how they will pay for their elder in general, not just the food production. The increasing amount of costly old people for the decreasing amount of money gaining young people is a serious problem.

However the food production is another problem they are facing. But that is worth another debate.

off the record:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DQLDLLBzok

...I admit its not me.

...and I consider obama the worse president ever in the history of US.

I do share the opinion he had a promise broken, altough the vid is false. But like everybody in his right mind, I knew before he was elected troops wouldn't withdraw so easily. Whether you were pro or con war, its not because you withdraw the war never happened.

Withdrawal of any of those countries is not an option a.t.m. It would make 2 new Irans but far worse.

I'm not a relativist, but let me defend relativism for debates sake, as no one else will.

"According to relativism, if person x is assents to the belief he can fly without the aid of aerial technology, then it is implied that he can."
No, it implies it is possible in his head. Relativism only sais a truth doesn't stand on itself. It is dependent on who sees it. For him it is the truth. For you it isn't. If he changes his mind, truth changes. For relativists, his truth or your truth is different based on this condition. If you base it on other conditions, it can be false or not relative to those conditions.

"However, if he attempted to jump off of a cliff to prove his ability to fly, then he would fall rather than fly."
The condition that changed is the fact he doesn't believe it anymore. Hence proving truth is relative to the condition the person is in.

like europe?

arach is right about the old people. I add to that China has a culture of worshiping old people and the fact most leaders small or big are old.

"1) wont burst due to unrest"
China is full of tension, but it is violently suppressed by the gov.
In the us, people can demonstrate but the number that do so are low, the violent ones even fewer.
Nobody can predict the future but there is no way even comparing at this moment.

"2) wont stop inflation"
inflation in western countries is like 1/10 to 1/5 of that of china.

"3) wont get enough energy"
they have abundance of natural resources

"4) wont keep satellite states together"
I don't see any state separate from US soon. You have any indication for that?

"5) keep on selling stuff"
thats a debate far to difficult to adres in this thread. If you want to debate this, lets open a new one.

"6) clean up pollution"
comparing china's polution to us, is like comparing IC with facebook.

"7) feed the old?"
the problems they face are not of the same order.