BUSH'S DISASTROUS TRIP TO ASIA CLIMAXES WITH A CHECK TO THE MONGOLS-- $70,000 PER MERCENARY THEY HAVE IN IRAQ

Forget all the domestic political acrimony that stalked Bush at every stop on his ill-fated Asian escape. And forget how accelerated the disintegration of his political party was while he was trying to find a door somewhere in the Far East. There is actually a lot more to Bush's Asian fiasco than all that. He failed, miserably, everywhere (except in Mongolia which is... Mongolia). Instead of trumpets Bush's arrival in Asia was heralded by a tsunami in Japan followed by a typhoon in South Korea. Welcome to the Orient, Mr. Bush.

I didn't follow the pointless trip all that closely and all I got out of the first stop, Japan, was how Bush's "good friend" Junichiro Koizumi visits Yasukuni, a shrine to Japanese fascist war criminals, all the time, inspiring anger and tension from China, South Korea and other nations that connect Japan to the inhuman Asian war of the 1940's (before Bush's time... and he probably was too stoned or drunk in class when they went over that one). In South Korea Bush contended with the inclement weather and a little surprise by the pissed off Koreans-- who freak whenever Koizumi goes to Yasukuni and probably wanted Bush to scold him; at least Bush didn't go with him there and lay a wreath on the graves of the guys who bombed Pearl Harbor; they told him they were pulling a third of their troops out of Iraq.

Next stop was China, the actual catastrophe where Bush was under a lot of pressure from the corporate folks who pay for Republican campaigns to bring home some bacon. The Chinese laughed in his face. Beijing made it clear they're not interested in having anything to do with a duck so lame and worthless that they ignored all his pleas for something to show the folks back home. It looks like the Chinese will wait until there is an American leader with some support back home before they deal seriously with the trade issues which are causing a massive transfer of wealth from America to China. As far as issues involving religion and human rights, the Chinese told Bush he could either go fly a kite or go for a bike ride. The latter was the height of his Asian sojourn.

Unless you want to count... Mongolia. The Mongols have contributed nearly 160 troops to Bush's occupation of Iraq, the third biggest contributor on a per capital basis. According to an AP story Bush saluted Mongolia's "fearless warriors" for helping his embattled effort to establish democracy in the heart of the Middle East. One might almost think Bush was joking when he read a prepared statement that said "Mongolia and the United States are standing together as brothers in the cause of freedom." Although Bush met with President Nambaryn Enkhbayar, a Communist-turned-Bush-style free trader, inside a ger (a nice felt tent) and sipped mare's milk and listened to Mongol throat singing-- calling it "special"-- there is nothing in the press details about whether or not Bush slept in a yurt. Bush gave the Mongols another $11 million dollars for their efforts (that works out to about $70,000 per mercenary).