The Bad, Old Days

Protestors in Vietnam are angry at China.  (Photo/Courtesy of aol.com)

So much for the "new world order;" we're back to the old...

Stronger preying on the weak - where wars aren't always cold.

China placed an oil rig off the coast of Vietnam;

Chinese ships protected it with orders they should ram

Any ships that Vietnam sent out to take a look.

Chinese used their water cannon...  Shades of Captain Hook.

They believe they should control the whole South China Sea;

Doesn't matter if the country's neighbors disagree.

Seems they took a page from Putin's playbook in Ukraine;

Seize the things you want to, first - then let the world complain.

Vietnam had rioting and Chinese factories burned.

Looks as if the "bad, old days" of history's returned.

Malaysian Airlines MH370 - Progress?

Chinese "ping detector."

After weeks of searching and not finding anything,

2 teams looking for the missing aircraft heard a ping.

Chinese took a microphone, attached it to a stick,

Stuck it in the water, hoping that would do the trick.

They think they heard something at the proper frequency

For the black box of a plane that has been lost at sea.

Experts don't know what it is the Chinese may have heard;

Could have been a pod of whales, a migratory bird,

Could have been an echo from a distant shipping lane,

But they doubt the Chinese ping is coming from the plane.

Further south, about 300 miles, another ship

(This one, the Australians') has also heard a blip.

It is towing special sensors, built for hearing pings.

I'm afraid the Chinese sailors just imagined things.

Even if Australia's on to something and they find

Wreckage from the aircraft, it will not bring peace of mind.

Data may show how and where the plane fell from the sky

But it isn't likely that it's gonna tell us why.

That's a secret someone's taken with them to the grave;

Burying the answers underneath the bounding wave.

U.S. Navy "ping detector" being towed by Australia's Ocean Shield.