There is not now nor has there ever been any correlation between economic and political development in China.

The cDc's comments aren't bad, but the hearing is the criticism they seem to be asking for. My problem with this whole thing is that I'll bet some of the legislators who held this hearing voted for the Communications Decency Act. How can Congress get its panties in a bunch about political censorship in China when they voted just a decade ago to imprison people for saying fuck on the internet? We sowed these seeds, and China knows it.

There is a correlation between economic development in China and peace. A healthy, interconnected, global China is less likely to start bombing stuff then a poor, angry, isolated China. I don't think Google really had a choice here. They either comply with various national demands or they are liable locally or in the case of China they simply get banned. I don't blame them. I do blame the telecommunications companies who went in there and built China's firewall. They didn't have to take that business. I do think we should be engaged. I don't think we should take opportunities that we shouldn't support when we don't have to. And if we have to, we should take them like a C student.