Both the Secretary General of the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross had acknowledged the possibility of such a conflict which could, unfortunately, whittle away the protection international humanitarian law afforded civilians and combatants in armed conflicts.

Rand, perhaps better than any economic observer, underscored the central role of incentives in driving entrepreneurial innovation and risk taking. Whittle away at incentives and at the market s ability to communicate them through price signals and you starve the growth engine of its fuel.

China may soon need to decide whether it can sit back and let the Kremlin whittle away the geo strategic gains and enhanced security that came with the Soviet empire s demise. After all, it is no coincidence that China s quarter century of extraordinary economic growth came after the Soviet threat on its border was eliminated.