Koi Pond smacks me of that old acronym, WYSIWUG. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to deduce that an application named Koi Pond is specifically about a small pond inhabited by fish. Imagine my surprise if it featured giant transforming robots and pachinko machines? Regardless, Koi Pond is most definitely, “What You See Is What You Get.” I find it odd that I have penned numerous reviews on games for just about every console imaginable yet this is the first time I’ve had to focus on....a screensaver. Yes, that’s exactly what Koi Pond is. Those expecting some dextrous fish racing better look elsewhere.

This was one of the first applications I ever bought for my iPhone and I knew precisely what I was getting – a quick display of some of the iPhone’s graphical prowess. The developer has managed to create an app that is both pleasing to the eye and ear and though no one is going to be fooled that they are staring at a real live pond, the graphical fidelity and attention to detail is impressive.

Koi Pond is all about Zen and provides a relaxing atmosphere both visually and aurally. The app showcases an overhead view of a simulated koi pond, replete with stone floor and floating lily pads of different shapes and sizes. The view itself is locked meaning you can’t zoom, rotate, or move the camera vertically or horizontally. Amongst the lily pads swim numerous fish, each of which is nicely animated with many frames of movement. Tails and fins sway realistically as each fish navigates independently through the environment.

Adding to the scene are some nicely done shadow effects that come from both the fish and the lily pads and more importantly, the rippling surface water that shimmers throughout the scene. Although this is basically an advanced screensaver there are interactive elements included, most prescient being the water which takes advantage of the touch screen controls. Using your finger, or fingers, each light touch of the screen simulates a ripple effect, much like throwing a rock into water. If this is done near a fish they realistically react by getting frightened and quickly swimming away.

If you hold your finger down on the touch screen for an extended period of time it will attract the fish to congregate right below and virtually pretend to nibble at your appendage making your phone rumble in the process. Shaking the phone itself causes fish food to randomly be dropped into the pond which the fish can devour. It’s not exactly gaming but it does its best to simulate a real koi pond environment.

The advanced options can be accessed by pressing the bottom right hand corner of the screen. Here you can change the colour of the water with four presets: blue, green, brown and dark green. Other options include increasing or decreasing the number of fish and lily pads present or enabling or disabling the variety of sound effects such as birds chirping, gusts of wind, frogs and flies. Also included is a toggle between night and day as well as a volume control slider. As an extra feature, the lily pads can be dragged to any location you want on the screen with a simple touch and pull motion.

The sound effects are quite pleasing and the customization options giving you control of which ones to hear are welcomed although they sound incredibly tinny through the iPhone’s external speaker forcing you to wear earphones. For a screensaver that doesn’t really make much sense unless you just want to sit back and relax to the ambient noise. This however, is not the application’s fault but it’s too bad that earphones are needed to fully appreciate the work done by the developer.

Real koi ponds can cost thousands of dollars and are basically impossible to have outdoors in cold weather climates such as Canada making them a rare commodity for the rich who have the ability to just move them indoors. This application costs only $0.99 which makes it a fair deal although its only purpose is purely aesthetical. I’m not sure iPhone users will want to purchase many screensaver style applications but Koi Pond has immense polish and a pleasing demeanour. As an additional bonus, the developer, The Blimp Pilots, seem to be constantly upgrading and adding functionality to this app which deserves even more kudos.

*** out of ****

Developer: The Blimp Pilots
Version: 2.2.1.
Size: 4.4 MB

© 2009 The Galactic Pillow

Now this is how you build buzz. While I’m still not quite ready to go into a greater box office analysis of the upcoming summer movie season I have to give props to Paramount for mounting a steadily unfurling marketing campaign that has fired on all cylinders for their May tentpole movie. Of course, I’m talking about Star Trek. What did you expect? In hindsight the decision by Paramount brass to move the film out of its initial release date last Christmas day to the more competitive summer season now seems to have paid off in spades. While we still won’t know how well it will perform there’s no doubt that buzz is building in ways I have not seen since last year.

Flashback to the winter of 2007 and the prevailing box office prognostications were calling for Indiana Jones 4: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull to easily win the May box office crown. Cinephiles were still clamouring for The Dark Knight to emerge as the #1 film of the summer but for Indy to come close. Then as the months rolled by into spring 2008 potential audience perception started to rapidly shift as surveys and box office pundits began to notice a huge surge in popularity in the superhero film Iron Man which had a strong marketing campaign that managed to capture the zeitgeist at precisely the right time. By the time the summer season opened it was clear that buzz was on Iron Man’s side bolstered obviously by the fact that the film actually delivered the goods. In the end Iron Man beat out Indy 4 to claim #2 for the summer and The Dark Knight did indeed reign supreme with a gargantuan domestic gross second to James Cameron’s epic romance, Titanic (without taking into account inflation).

Looking at the release schedule for this May it doesn’t initially look like it will equal last year as both Iron Man and Indy 4 opened in the same month both going on to gross over $300 million each. This time around we’re presented with a bevy of films all of which are cursed with significant stumbling blocks that could potentially torpedo the final gross. Regardless, the prevailing winds have initially placed strong bets on X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Night At The Museum 2 as being the two films that have the greatest upside. I’ll be posting my predictions for May in a few weeks but I must say that there’s a reason why I also wait so late till I release them – things change. As puerile and obvious as that might sound it’s something to hold true as events of the last few weeks have thought us.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine has hit turbulence like never before due to an ill-timed and highly illegal leak of an early cut of the film that has done nothing but fuel the Internet speculation that 20th Century Fox has a potentially less than desired film at hand. I for one hope they pull it off as I have no desire to watch any movie go up in flames but this bad news does not help in their quest to change audience perception. There’s no question the opening gross will be affected since at last count it has been downloaded over one million times so far which is a staggering number of potential customers lost. Still, it’s not all bad as most mainstream moviegoers will not have bothered to even notice that it was available to download but the risk is still there that the negative response from those who have seen it will taint others to not run out and see it right away as they wait for better word of mouth from friends or colleagues.

It also didn’t help Fox’s image when one of their freelance writers went and released a highly detailed review of the cut on Fox’s own website basically admitting that he watched the illegal copy. I have no idea what was going on in his mind but surely it was not firing on all cylinders as his blatant admission of guilt led Fox to basically lay him off and deleting his article from their website. This was the right move and although it sent a signal to the public that it was following the law it ended up as more egg on Fox’s face with some netizens even calling this whole debacle as being completely planned by Fox to drum up hype for the film. This is as absurd a theory as I’ve ever heard as this leak was clearly illegal not to mention that it has done nothing but exacerbate the initial view that the film was clearly not up to snuff. Hype or no hype, you don’t want negative observations or reviews to leak out so early before your premiere.

Juxtapose that with Paramount which has waged a brilliant marketing campaign to win over both diehard fans and the mainstream viewers with its Star Trek reboot. The trailers have been epic and well received highlighting not only the origin aspects of the story but the new cast and crew in an action adventure spectacle. Some fans might be turned off with the rock and roll commercials emphasizing the action but it has no doubt succeeded in educating the audience that something cool is coming soon -- just look at the newest TV ad that boldly proclaims, "This is not your father's Star Trek."

Then there’s the premiere. For all intents and purposes Paramount is rolling out Star Trek much like they’d do with a potential Oscar nominated film. No, I don’t suggest that Trek is gunning for the Best Picture statuette (although that would be cool!) but the way they are releasing it certainly parallels those smaller “serious” contenders. Simply put, if you want WOM (word of mouth) to spread while hedging your bet by being too aggressive and going straight to a wide release in thousands of cinemas the best tactic is to let it premiere in key cities like New York, Los Angeles, or Toronto on one of two screens and let audiences take over. Even though there aren’t many total people going to a few cinemas what you really intend is for them to latch onto the film and start the WOM chain slowly churning as they tell their friends, family and colleagues about how good it was. You’d be surprised just how quickly this process can work as these films begin to build steam in a snowball effect. As WOM spreads as to how great the film is it draws more and more people to the cinemas until it hits a critical moment when the company decides to release it in more cinemas.

You don’t have to look very far for examples of successful releases that went this route. Just look at last year’s Slumdog Millionaire. It opened last November 12, 2008 in only 10 theatres and managed to make $360,018. However, audiences loved and the rest is as they say history as it started on its slow climb up the charts as the company added more and more screens. At last check it was sitting at $140,751,191 domestic gross.

Of course, this strategy doesn’t work all the time but it’s almost never used for a big blockbuster summer release like Star Trek. Now I wish it were exactly following this trend but it’s not quite the same in that the film is not actually being released to the public to see but it is going to be rolling out to a whole spate of worldwide premieres (included to US forces in Kuwait this past weekend) over the coming weeks in order to build buzz and it all started with one of the biggest bait and switches I’ve had the opportunity to see or read about in some time.

Paramount announced that the film’s worldwide premiere was to be in Sydney Australia on Tuesday, April 7. The media gathered there along with the cast including Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Eric Bana and of course director J.J. Abrams. Across the globe at the Alamo Drafthouse theater in Austin, Texas Paramount and a few co-hosts such as Harry Knowles of Aintitcool.com were getting prepared to mark the occasion with a special screening of Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan with a special treat of showing 10 minutes of never seen footage from the new movie. On hand were the new film’s screenwriters Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman as well as producer Damon Lindelof who were there to present the movie to the audience.

The film began but after the opening credits the film reel basically died and melted and the movie stopped prompting the audience to get mildly upset. As they waited for the projector to be fixed Orci and Kurtzman got on stage in an effort to entertain the audience during the apparent faux pas but then from out of nowhere Leonard Nimoy popped up to massive applause and basically asked the crowd if they wanted to see more than 10 minutes of footage – like say, the entire movie perhaps? Yes, although all the dignitaries and media were in Sydney those lucky fans in Austin Texas got to watch the true world premiere a few hours before the showing in Australia. This had all been carefully staged and planned before hand and what appeared to be a botched screening of Star Trek 2 ended up being the World premiere of the new film.

The response after the credits rolled up? Near universal praise and adulation. Talk about getting your marketing right.

There’s a general rule of thumb that most moviergoers probably don’t pay attention to. If a company feels that a movie is not going to do well or ended up basically “sucking” they will do anything to prevent that knowledge leaking before it premieres. In a classic case of protecting themselves from harm they will not screen the movie for critics before it is released to the public. This is a sheer sign that the company knows it has a stinker on its hands and is in full damage control mode in order to achieve and gain as much money as it can before the nasty WOM sets in as initial moviegoers rip into the film and tell others to avoid it at all costs.

Conversely, a film company will never screen a movie long before its release date unless it is extremely confident that it has a major hit on its hands. With Star Trek premiering 31 days before its release date this is a telltale sign that Paramount is ecstatic about the film. It’s scheduled worldwide screenings that will take place between now and the release date are icing on the cake and reinforce the view that Paramount knows it has a quality title and is aggressively promoting it now in order to get the word out that the film is excellent.

This bait and switch certainly had a high built in risk factor. Star Trek 2 is regarded as the best Trek movie ever as well as being one of the best science fiction films of all time. To lure an audience that is there precisely to watch such a film and then switch it for the new one took a lot of gumption as there’s an inherent fear present that the new film will not come close to matching the old. Imagine going to see a newly restored print of Citizen Kane and instead getting it switched with Citizen Kane 2: Electric Boogaloo. Well, judging from the people who were present they have nothing to worry about as buzz is reaching a fevered pitch that can only help the film as it opens the week after Wolverine.

As buzz begins to build Paramount hopes to duplicate Iron Man’s success and although time will tell if it manages to get anywhere close to that film’s $ $318,412,101 domestic / $263,618,427 foreign gross here’s hoping J.J. Abrams’ reboot will usher in a new era of Trek movies. As for Paramount things are looking rosy with three of the biggest summer releases in Star Trek, Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.

© 2009 The Galactic Pillow

Pirate slang aside, after a couple of political posts it’s time for a change of pace as I veer back to entertainment and movies in general. Looking at the above picture you can’t help but notice Hugh Jackman is raging mad with steely intensity almost as if he’s about to skewer someone with his pair of razor sharp claws. I have a hunch I know just who he is intending to enact physical violence on. If you didn’t already know 20th Century Fox is reeling from an obviously unsupported leak to the Internet of an unfinished print of their summer blockbuster X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Yes, you heard that right. The entire rough cut of the movie is illegally available on the net about an entire month before its premiere. This is not some amateur camcorder recording but an almost DVD quality pristine cut of the upcoming film.

Fox executives are livid that this has occurred and with good reason as the movie is their tentpole summer blockbuster and this breach of security will no doubt impact the final gross. This is no laughing matter and they have already called the FBI for assistance. X-Men Origins: Wolverine is also a film which diehard comic book fans have been following for a while now but much of the buzz surrounding the production has been lukewarm at best making potential moviegoers guarded as to its overall quality. This leak will do nothing but exacerbate the situation. In the highly competitive summer movie season a potential blockbuster with an enormous production budget cannot afford these types of stumbles and this leak could be potentially damaging in its ability to generate enough money to cover costs.

This is not the first time a high profile leak has occurred as it happened recently with Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith as well as Ang Lee’s Hulk. Star Wars went on to gross $380 million USD in the US alone but the Hulk did not even make enough to cover its estimated budget of $130 Million USD. Of course, the biggest factor to a film’s success is the WOM, better known as word of mouth. If the public enjoys it they’ll tell their friends and the movie will play well for a longer period of time. Conversely, if their opinions are negative it will cause others to avoid it like the bubonic plague. WOM can actually be mathematically calculated and anyone who follows box office predictions and trends will tell you that after the first weekend most prognosticators will be able to figure out the movie’s final gross within a few percentage points. After two weekends and that final estimate is almost a lock.

However, this is not a post about WOM but about the movie leak which proves piracy of any sort is rampant just about anywhere in the world. This sort of action be it undertaken by a lone culprit or group of people is obviously against the law but it also shows absolutely no regard to the vast cast and crew that has been working months on the project in order to deliver the best product possible. It doesn’t matter if the film is any good but this action is an affront to all those people who poured their sweat and tears into this film in order to bring it to the silver screen so it could be enjoyed by the public.

Whatever the motivations are behind this leak there’s no justification for this action. That said, I have no doubt that peer-to-peer sites are strained to the limit as people attempt to download the print to their computers. This is one of those situations that you run into in ethics class 101. If you spot a dropped wallet filled with cash in the middle of a shopping mall, what do you do? What would your reaction be if you were walking down a street and a laptop fell off the back of the truck?

The answer is of course, up to each individual. We all have to face our demons at some point and eventually be judged by a higher power – if you do believe in one. Regardless, even if you don’t it’s still a question of morality. Do you download Wolverine and watch it knowing it is illegal and is a rough cut or do you wait for the pristine finished product to be shown in a cinema?

I’ve always been a cinephile all my life as I just plain love watching movies. When I was in high school my friends and I made it a point to see as many movies as possible. It didn’t usually matter who was in it or what was it about we just reveled in the act of going to the cinema. Nowadays, I rarely venture out to the cinema unless it is something I truly have a strong interest in. If not, I’ll just stay at home and watch it on DVD or Blu-Ray when it is released months later. However, as good as recent Plasma and Flatscreen LCDs have become I truly believe that the only place to get the true cinematic experience is in a proper theatre.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine was one of those films that I was leaning to see mainly based on my previous experience watching the three previous X-men movies. I must admit that once I heard of this leak my first impression was akin to, “Where do I watch this?” This was followed by a period of quiet meditation as I realized that it really wasn’t worth it as this is the type of loud summer blockbuster best experienced in a darkened cinema with blasting THX or Dolby sound systems. My moral center won over and I went on my merry way doing something else content with the knowledge that I would be watching a superior product in less than a month.

Whatever your taste in movies, this sort of piracy is just unacceptable and though I have no doubt that many are downloading this as I speak the comments I’ve read on many forums just boggle the mind. I actually don’t care if someone is frank and comes right out and doesn’t hide behind mirrors by saying they’ve gone and downloaded it because they just can’t wait even though they know it is wrong. I might not approve but at least the commenter is flatly telling the truth about their actions. In their case the inner demon won but they don’t try in any way to justify their illegal download past the point that they just need to see it immediately to satiate their desire.

The ones which really irk me are those who throw out the rather obtuse excuse that since 20th Century Fox and the filmmakers are already making millions of dollars that that fact alone gives them justification for illegally downloading the film precisely so that they can watch for free and deny the corporation any money.

This is inherently a broken argument that functions as nothing more than false reassurance to the person making the comment who suddenly pictures themselves as some sort of rebel standing up to corporate America in protest. In reality, they are only deluding themselves into placing justification onto an illegal action.

There are others who claim that they are using this as a learning tool as this leaked release is suppose to be a rough cut replete with missing or unfinished special effects, editing marks with timers, and a placeholder soundtrack. 20th Century Fox has also revealed that it is missing a sizable chunk of footage that amounts to over ten minutes that was filmed as part of recent reshoots in February. While ten minutes might not seem like much it’s more than enough to make huge differences in the narrative that might drastically alter or enhance what you find in this leaked copy.

While I understand that a cut such as this one can aid film students or cinephiles in general to appreciate the actual filmmaking and editing process it is still not a valid justification to download the illegal release. Those who are looking for such a tool or view into the editing process can hope that it is included in the eventual DVD/Blu-Ray release along with director and or cast commentary. If Fox decides to release the film to the home market with none of these special features it might be lamentable or a missed opportunity but that decision lies with them not the consumer and certainly not by those who have pirated this film.

Fox’s biggest nightmare is bad WOM and judging from the comments floating around the net by those who have actually downloaded and watched the copy the reaction is leaning negative. I would take that with a grain of salt as I have a hunch that many of these commentators are people who were previously predisposed to “hating” the movie based solely on previous bad press. It’s not usually a good sign to be doing extensive reshoots so close to the launch date but there have been many cases where it has managed to fix key scenes or enhance exposition to flesh things out. Watching such a rough cut of the movie is akin to stealing a writer’s manuscript that is nowhere close to being a final draft as there are so many variables that could change that fundamentally alter the end result.

As an analogy whenever I look at high price athletes in the major US sports of football, basketball, baseball or hockey I sometimes blanch whenever I hear what they are making but I accept it precisely because I can’t fault a player for negotiating a contract that pays them exactly that high amount. If an owner gives the thumbs up to the contract then all the more power to the athlete and his agent for a successful negotiation. Now, I do think that athletes get paid way too much but as long as the owners want to I have no objection since they all can manage their own money without consulting me. I wish they did but unfortunately it doesn’t work that way. If they want to spend those millions on a player then so be it. However, I’m not going to protest by running up to the stadium and stealing their gate receipts, or the zamboni that clears the ice, or brandishing a large crowbar in a vain effort to cap someone’s knee. In short, if I don’t want them to get my money I’m not going to resort to illegal means to deny them their profit. I’ll just spend my cash on another form of entertainment.

In the end, it’s not my place to chastise people. Everyone can make their own decisions about this issue but how would you react if you had spent half a year working long hours on a product and had it stolen from you mere weeks before it was put on sale? If you download the movie it’s not like I’m going to get on my soapbox and throw profanity at you but whatever your decision please don’t try to justify it as some sort of protest against corporate America. If you think they don’t deserve the money then just don’t go and see it in the cinema. If you want to save money just wait for the home release. You can protest with your wallet by not spending money on their product but that in no way gives you the right to embark in illegal activities.

© 2009 The Galactic Pillow

Thanks for all the responses I’ve gotten on my last posting! I’ll let Kakashi from the Japanese anime Naruto give the thumbs up! It took a lot of time to write but I’m satisfied with how it turned out. Excuse me for replying in a post instead of in the comment thread but I ended up writing a reply that’s a bit too large to post in the comment field.

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Taru,

Thanks for your comments about my blog. I’m glad you are visiting my site and I hope you’ll continue to come often! As you can guess I write about anything on my mind although it’s usually something to do with Star Trek, video games or movies. I don’t usually launch into politics unless something has been brewing in my head for a while.

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Evie,

Yeah, it might seem kind of weird reading something that links Veronica Mars, recent history and a large dose of economics and geo politics but I can get longwinded sometimes! I think you are bang on when you say there’s always a “feeling out” period and some sort of inherent underlying prejudice that some people feel when they are presented with cultures, people or situations that seem foreign to them. I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing since it boils down to the fear of the unknown. The only way to get around it is to try and temper these feelings and discover the other person or event that is going on around you. Information is power and most of the time once you confront it you’ll realize that most people around the world have many things in common. Like good old Shylock said in The Merchant of Venice, we’re all basically the same.

Sometimes it is disheartening to listen, mainly to politicians, wax on with a brusque “us versus them” mentality. Democrats will phrase their speeches to highlight differences between them and the Republicans that show themselves to always be morally superior and righteous whereas their opponents would ruin the country. The reverse is also true as well as Republicans are no different. The language of politics tends to run along these lines where one side is always right and the other always wrong. You can see this phenomenon everyday if you listen to news programs and of course, it is out in full force during any election period.

Unfortunately, this kind of rhetoric makes its way into global politics as well thus America was always good and the USSR was always bad. You can bet that someone living in Moscow during the Cold War would feel totally the opposite was true. People just can’t help but end up defining themselves in opposition with someone else. It doesn’t matter if it is class, creed, religion or political leaning but it seems that many will always compare themselves to others and make the assumption that they are on the right side every time.

This is a human flaw that needs to be tempered with something as easy as what you said by trying your hardest to understand someone else’s point of view.

As for China they have obviously gone through the “century of humiliation” much of it attributed to foreign intervention but obviously some of it is self-inflicted. However, to move forward one has to forgive the sins of the past and move on. If one gets locked into an infinite loop of paybacks it’s going to be a disaster. Just look at the Middle East for example.

China is most definitely on the rise and how it deals with its new found clout is going to be the defining story of our lives for the next fifty or so odd years. They have much to be proud about such as the biggest movement of people in history out of the poverty line. Still, there’s much more work to be done but these things take time. As someone living in a middle power country we can only hope that as China rises it doesn’t embark on an abusive and intrusive foreign policy that does little but make everyone else think they are doing nothing but bullying countries around.

As for the USA, it is not like Rome is burning here unlike what some commentators have said recently. It is merely going through a cycle whereby its power is waning when compared to China. The US is still the biggest economy in the world with much political capital. It just needs to choose its foreign policy more wisely in order to not provoke the world into thinking it is ignoring everyone and embarking on needless unilateral action. Even if China manages to surpass the US in GDP, the standard of living in the US will be far superior based solely on the population difference between both nations. That is, unless China keeps expanding till it reaches the same income level per household that the US currently enjoys. In that case the Chinese economy would end up 2-3 times larger than the US. Even then, this is not the end of the world as hopefully China doesn’t abuse its power.

Till then, I highly encourage anyone to travel. Not just to China but everywhere else in the world. By travel I mean out of the country you reside in. You’ll be surprised at what you find especially if you don’t join a tour and make a habit of going off from the beaten path. I’m sure it will enhance your perspective and give you insight to other cultures.

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CaitlynA,

Thanks for the clarification on the “Law of The Sea.” Looking back I think when I wrote that it “doesn’t go into much detail as to what is allowed to travel in the zone” didn’t come out exactly as I intended. You are correct in what the law states that it is supposed to support navigation rights by any shipping through a country’s EEZ including military vessels.

I do think though that this incident is a great indicator of China’s neophyte status as a military power. The problem being that both the US and Russia are veteran hands at playing these “wargames” evinced by their constant manoeuvring during the Cold War where each side shadowed the other in a daily attempt to test both hardware and military prowess of their crews. That is over forty years of experience not only in naval jostling but in other arms of the military.

After the dissolution of the USSR, Russia entered a period of decline as they could not upkeep their enormous military spending leading to them radically scaling back such activities and only having a few submarines and other assets actually deploying to sea.

However, even though that was the case the US has always kept up their military preparedness and their sortie rate has not largely declined.

Now we have an ascendant China with a spanking new Navy that has close to zero experience in such matters and who obviously has little insight into Cold War machinations that went on between the USSR and the US save for whatever they read. They are only beginning to revamp their command and control systems as well as actually pen their new military doctrines.

As such, when a US military surveillance plane or ship ventures anywhere close to their key installations they are embarking on a knee jerk reaction to immediately deny access to foreign military assets. In short, they are acting like a kid who is protecting his or her new toys by lashing out with physical harassment instead of calmly analyzing the situation and playing along. It was hard to keep secrets in the Cold War era and I doubt it is any easier now.

If they had the deep operational knowledge and tactics gained by the Russians and Americans for wargaming during the Cold War they’d probably realize that it would be better to leave those assets alone or shadow them everywhere and reciprocate in kind by doing exactly what you said by sending their own subs and surveillance trawlers to peep at American installations.

However, I really do think that the dynamic this time around is incredibly much more tangled and complex than when it was merely just the US versus the USSR. Back then you could argue it was as simple as who wielded the biggest and best military and in turn who managed to influence other nations to follow their political ideology. This time around China is a much different beast who is competing not to spread ideology but pure market capitalism – something that the US previously thought it had mastery over. Add in the fact that China is so linked to the US economy and owns a massive chunk of its debt, the US suddenly finds that it is befuddled as to how to meet this challenge. Some would say that America outspent the USSR and forced them to keep pace and when they couldn’t, the bottom fell out of their economy. That is not going to work this time at all.

Like Evie said and I as well in my blog I have my doubts how the US will react if a similar vessel to the Impeccable is sent by the Chinese to survey and snoop around any major American naval installation. It is not that I doubt that the US will decide to leave them be much like they allowed the Soviets to but I wonder if such an event would spur all the wrong types of patriotic furor if it were reported on let’s say CBS, FOX, ABC or NBC.

Part of the point that I was trying to get at in my blog is that communication is of utmost importance when feeling out another country or culture that is foreign to us, yet I find that a huge section of the press might be willing to spin a story like that into something that it shouldn’t. For instance, I have visions of how the American population will react if the prime time news leads with “Chinese Spy Ship Sitting off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia.”

Now I can understand why you might not like the word “spy” but even if you use something tamer like probe, investigate, analyze, or peep, it all boils down to the same basic fact that the ship is there to collect useful military intel. Whether it is there mapping the ocean floor or merely acting as a listening post to eavesdrop the fundamental mission is one of espionage. If the US news leads with a story like this, the reaction is going to be the same as the Chinese one was to the Impeccable minus the harassment of course. Much like the Chinese people must feel offended or insulted that an American ship is doing this, I posit that the US people will react the same way due to the underlying current of negative reactions to China in general.

This goes back to my initial point and something Evie remarked on, that people just have an inherent fear of the unknown. I have no doubt this sort of mission by the Impeccable or any other similar vessel from any other country happens all around the world as everyone is intent on peeping at other nations to probe their military capabilities. The issue arises if it makes front page news. While you and I and most other people could probably shrug that these wargames are going on every day it just does not play well to most people who will react negatively if they hear another country is actively engaged in these activities so close to their coast.

While the American public might not “hate” China much like the way they demonized the USSR, I think most will agree that they do not have an overall favourable impression of the country. Surprisingly, based on polls recently conducted in China they have a much more favourable view of the US than the US has of China.

What I am driving at here is that this incident is betraying a larger geopolitical issue for China and the US beyond the law. Of course, if China wants to be successful and enter into a relationship with the rest of the world, it is eventually going to have to straighten up and agree to follow international law. Just look at the enormous problem they have with pirate/copied merchandise that infringes on copyrights left right and center. Once they begin to clean things up I hope popular opinion will begin to swing a bit more positively. Certainly other issues such as lead paint and toxic baby formula do nothing but reinforce the negative but every country has gone through similar problems and only over time does the proper QA and government regulation kick in to better protect the consumer.

Now, China has indeed ratified this particular law so I suppose one can look at it and basically say that they are crying wolf during this incident with no legal backbone to support their claim but that brings up the salient point that strikes at the very heart of this law. How is it enforced? To my knowledge the UN has no hand in enforcing this law and that it is up to the individual states to basically work it out amongst themselves. This strikes me as one of those odd situations that run along the lines of, “Who polices the police?” In both 2001 and 2009 even though if you read that the Chinese were in error the result appears to be a loss of face to the US as they are seen to be capitulating and not pressing the issue further.

Like any issue that becomes politicized there are numerous threads running through any decision undertaken by any government. A cynic would say that most countries would follow these laws but those who are powerful enough (say, the US, China, Russia) merely use them at their own whims since they can “get away with it” with relative impunity.

Of course, this is what makes people around the world even angrier when they see actions by major players that openly bend, warp, misread, or plainly ignore such rules and laws. Growing up we all learn to never break the law but as adults we see it all the time around us. We all hope that everyone plays by the rules but as history shows, any major power is in this game for themselves.

Like I said, I’m a dreamer who hopes that people grow up and work together in harmony. Yes, it sounds like hippy flower power sometimes but it is the truth. My intent with this article is merely to show that cooperation and communication usually will lessen angst and the inherent fear people have of other cultures or things they do not know. China is ascending but their rise and America’s relative decline are not events that should be feared as long as cooperation and appreciation are placed at the forefront.

There are of course many obstacles to such a relationship, with one always being the military rights and exercises of any country that by definition are primarily meant to defend. Incidents like this, which involve the murky topic of espionage (some would say being proactive defense) are always going to happen but they do nothing but raise tensions and inflame a high degree of patriotic protectionism from both participants. Smaller countries look at something like this and throw their hands up in frustration as rules and laws are constantly being “bent” to suit a political goal. Surfing around the net one gets the impression that this incident is “playing” the way it is merely because the Impeccable is a military vessel on a probing mission. If China harassed a civilian freighter or fishing trawler than it would probably have been relegated to the back page of the news or never even been broadcasted.

I really don’t see that China is backpedalling or retreating on the issue but that is more a result of it quietly going by the wayside precisely because the US government is not pushing it further due to other political reasons. I remember the earlier incident in 2001 caused a massive stink that lasted months but this time the fracas has been left to quietly slip off into the news nether as economic issues dominate the relationship between the two countries. If this had taken place say three of four years ago I have no doubt that the Americans would be much more engaged to show the world that China is acting in a reckless manner but President Obama is caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place.

If he decides to press the Chinese or spend an inordinate amount of time railing against their apparent disregard for the law he is going to shoot himself in the foot precisely because he needs China to keep investing in US Government Bonds to help finance his stimulus package. If he decides to bring the case to the UN, he is left with the unenviable position of defending a law that his country has not even ratified as well as throwing political mud at China which he cannot afford to do so at this point in time. It’s not a stretch to assume that the Chinese government would retaliate through the economic bat or other area which would cause the US grief.

In short, even if China wantonly stretched the limit of the law, the US is in no position to make them accountable. You will remember even back in 2001 that in the end the US had to back down and even send a written letter of apology to the Chinese government over the death of their fighter pilot. This is a fundamental issue to US-China relations and it is quickly becoming clear that military incidents cannot be solved through military means. To do so is quite frankly incomprehensible as both are armed to the teeth. Thus, we are left with the diplomatic route and I am sure there is much going on behind the scenes in both countries to try and avoid such incidents from reoccurring.

Indeed, after the incident one positive reaction has been the call by many American military personnel to renew and enhance military dialogue between China and the US. An increase in military exchanges will undoubtedly help to clear up any misgivings each side has about the other and hopefully a cordial relationship can begin to grow between two militaries that seem in direct opposition to one another. China is bent on a massive naval build-up, in part due to their stunning loss of face when Bill Clinton sent part of the US Pacific fleet near Taiwan just as China was rattling the sabre in an effort to influence the Taiwanese elections. China quickly realized that it had inferior forces to deter and deny American access to that area of the world and embarked on its current increase in naval assets.

The Americans are sure to know this and obviously don’t want to see their firm grip as masters of the Pacific Ocean evaporate or be jeopardized by a growing Chinese navy. Still, military leaders obviously think and develop strategies to neutralize their opponents. This time it is no different and any sort of information that might give your own side an advantage over the other is just plain common sense even if by doing so you need to bend the law to your own advantage.

Even in today’s news coming out of the G20 taking place in London we are hopefully beginning to see some promising signs of a more robust China-US cooperation with the creation of the “economic dialogue” group and Obama’s acceptance of a trip to China later this year. Obviously, both countries are going to go about their military business separately but any sort of framework for a comprehensive treaty between these countries will do much to dispel any misgivings they might have about the other and hopefully cut down the risk of another ‘Impeccable incident’ from occurring.

China’s rise is going to be filled with numerous bumps in the road and obeying international law is obviously one of them. However, I think this is indicative of any growing country, especially one that has suddenly made a quantum leap from regional defense to the potential for global power projection. Although hawks might attempt to boost US military spending or embark on a Cold War mentality, I believe that Obama as constrained as he is by economics is on the right track by opening up more avenues for meaningful dialogue. By drawing China into International institutions and showing them the benefits, it will do much to help them in the future in both economic and military policy.

Anyways, I’ve rambled on enough. Thanks again for your insight to the “Law of the Sea.” It is obvious you have much knowledge about the issue at hand. I’ll go back later to my earlier post and revise it to include some of my thoughts from above and let’s all hope that in the years to come the G2 US-China relationship grows into one of mutual trust and understanding.

© 2009 The Galactic Pillow